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HU oi _ a, ar A EP J rg, a a a a 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 7, 1989 @he Povf Perey Sar £2720 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ Darlene Hlozan EDITORIAL J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Cathy Olliffe News Reporter - Rob PRODUCTION Annabell Harrison Trudy Empringham BUSINESS OFFICE Accounting - Judy Asiby treich ADVERTISING Advertising Office Manager - Gavie Stapley Billing Department - Anna Gouldburn Retall Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis ales Representatives Pat Webster, Lisa Hutchings (GC CNA | 5 = Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario Editorial Comment UNDER SIEGE One of the most cherished rights we enjoy in our democratic society is the freedom to say and publish anything, no matter how repugnant it may be to some or all. Quaintly speaking, it is called freedom of expression. Possibly because we in Canada have enjoyed that right for so long, we have come to pretty well take it for granted. But there are some limits, set down in law. A court may decide that a certain piece of writing slanders or libels an indvidual, or incites hatred, as in the case of James Keegstra and Ernst Zundel. There are incidently, a fair number of learned observ- ers and commentators who feel that the likes of Keegstra and Zundel should not have been hauled into court for their views. : Today, the right of freedom of expression seems to be under siege. The case garnering the most publicity in re- cent weeks centres around a novel, "The Satanic Vers- es," written by Salman Rushdie. Certain passages in this novel have angered Muslims world-wide, including Can- ada, and their anger has been flamed by the appalling cry from Iran's Khomeini that Rushdie must die. He has also put a $6 million bounty on the head of the author. Over the weekend, about 2,000 Muslims protested the book in the streets of Toronto, which is their right. But as they marched, many chanted "Death to Rushdie." Ac- cording to press reports, one of the spokesman for this crowd said "if somebody, if some dog, has satirized (the Prophet) it will be condemned to death. according to Is- lam law." Strong words indeed, that leave a sense of horror in the minds of most Canadians. That a religious leader in a far-off country can call for the death of a writer of fiction, and stir his followers into a rage in many countries, is something totally alien to our democratic thinking. But there are other, less dramatic incidents that have recently taken place. Toronto City council and the Toron- to School Board, for example, have withdrawn their ad- vertising from a Toronto newspaper (the Sun) over a col- umn that appeared several weeks ago. The column by Mackenzie Porter, suggested that only native born Canadians should have the right to seek public office, not naturalized Canadians. It was a state- ment of tremendous stupidity, and the publisher and edi- tor of the Sun have said so publicly. But they refuse to is- sue a front-page apology and the Council and School Board are using their financial clout to force it. The issue Is not that column, no matter how stupid or offensive it may be. But when city councils and school boards start wielding their ad dollars in an effort to muzzle or censure the press, society is in trouble. And a debate is raging over the ideas by a University of Western Ontario psychology professor, who has come up with a theory that Orientals are superior intellecutually to whites and whites to blacks. Premier David Peterson has called on the university to remove this professor. And he should be removed, only if it is proven that his "theories" have no basis in science, something which so far, nobody has done. We are not defending what Rushdie, Porter and others write and say. We are defending their right to say it. But death threats, bans, censorship, and wielding financial muscle are an a-front to our fundamental freedoms. I'm not the cub reporter around here any- more...ladies and gentlemen, it's party time. After nearly six years of playing second fiddle to the honourable John B., I'm still sec- ond fiddle--but at least there's a third fiddle now, and his name is Rob Streich. Yup, like Scugog Township itself, the Port Perry Star has grown like a good weed, and Pete has found it necessary to hire himself an- other reporter. It must be pretty hard for ole John B. to handle. After all, until | was hired, he ran the entire editorial department by him- self, working days, nights and weekends cov- ering community events. | like to think things eased up a little for John B. when | signed up, but in the last six months the community has foisted even heavier de- mands on the two of us. Pete has taken up a little of the slack, but with a pair of twins on the horizon, he won't have any extra time to de- vote to the news room once Biff and Betsy ar- rive squealing in some delivery room. Thus the search began for fresh blood. Af- ter placing ads in the Globe & Mail, the Toron- to Star and several community newspapers, with little response, | called my old alma mater, Sheridan College. The lady | talked to on the phone was Jo isinmeyer, now journalism coordinator at the college. When | was in school, back in 1981, a retired medical writer from the Toronto Star was head of the journalism department, a feis- ty bespectacled man named Ben Rose. Ben recently left all the frustrations, noise and demands of teaching behind him. Jo told me that when he retired, the students sold all the old-fashioned Underwood typewriters (that weigh about a half a ton each) and gar- nered enough cash to throw him a big retire- ment bash. When | was at Sheridan, those Underwoods were the bane of our daily existance. Our class would spend hours ruminating over those dated keys, painfully extracting stories SO LONG, JIMMY O with the limited amount of skills we had gleaned from hours of instruction. We were all so green, then. Horribly naive, but with the carrot of our destinies as world-famous jour- nalists dangling in front of our inquisitive nos- es. Alas, those old Underwoods are gone now. Instead, the students at Sheridan work on up- to-the-minute computers that are far more so- phisticated than the ones here at the Star. But other than the new technology, and the retirement of Ben, things don't sound too dif- ferent over in Oakville. Surprisingly, Jo re- membered me--as the kid who should have one into a career in radio journalism. When | eft Sheridan she told me I'd be wasting my life in newspapers. | don't know about that. Thanks to the news- paper biz, | met Doug and married him, I've won a couple of awards, and I've gotten to know a whole lot of people here in Scugog. | wouldn't want to trade any of it. As well as remembering me, Jo said she knows a lot about Port Perry. As a matter of fact, her great-grandfather, Edward Mundy, was one of the founders of this newspaper. So she was pretty enthusiastic about recom- mending one of her students, Rob Streich, for the job here. A day after | talked to Jo on the phone, Rob was talking to John B.--a week later, last Wed- nesday, he started. That makes two Sheridan _kids at the Port Perry Star. And two "Robs"-- my maiden name was Robb. | guess Edward Mundy would be proud of his great- granddaughter. Anyways, I think Rob will fit in nicely around here. He's a smart one, with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. | hope that Rob is received as well as | was by the people of this area, who were so kind when | was new to the job. No doubt he will be--this is one heckuva friendly place. You just can't help but be wel- comed.