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a bb ak yc 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 28, 196% | The Pout Perry Shar 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE 085-7383 FAX 985-3708 EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Cathy Olliffe Billing Department - Anna Gouldburn News Reporter - Rob Streich BUSINESS OFFICE "Accounting - Judy Ashby Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Ruhl The Port Perry Star Is authorized as second Member of the i url aumorized ua sack ksondirpli bio PRODUCTION ADVERTISING Canadian Community Newspaper Association Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Annabell Harrison Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Ontario Community Newspaper Association: Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Trudy Empringham Advertising Sales Representatives Published every Tuesday by the Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ Darlene Hiozan Pat Webstor, Lisa Hulohings Port Peny Star Co. Lid. Port Peny, Ontario Editorial Comment 'of groceries. INTOLERANCE A brief story in one of the daily papers on Monday morning (the day after Easter) noted that the food drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto has fallen well short of its target and well short of the amount of food this drive collected last year during Easter Week. ~~ The story went on to quote one of the drive organiz- ers as saying the reason why the donations dropped off . this year is that it was held during March Break. Presuma- bly, a lot of people who might have taken the time to do- nate a bag of groceries were away on a holiday over + March Break That's a reasonable assumption. But the Food Bank Drive fell short by 40,000 pounds from the total raised last year. Now, 40,000 pounds is a one heck of a lot of bags ~ And we can't help but wonder if the Food Drive has not fallen victim to a deeper set of problems that seem to be making headway in this country: apathy, indifference, a lack of caring, anger, confusion and yes, downright in- tolerance. | Is it just our imagination, or is Canada moving away from the kind of society it was just a few short years ago, when people cared deeply about the well being of others, especially those in less than fortunate circumstances? Do we detect a feeling of anger, a lack of compassion that spills over intolerance? Hopefully not. But there are some warning signs ap- pearing, and they are appearing all too often. The Food Bank may be a case in point. We have heard people question the need for Food Banks. After all, they say, if you give people food, what incentive do they have to go out and work to buy their own? Or they ask "why should they spend their own hard-earned dollars to buy food for somebody else. There are hundreds of jobs going begging these days. If somebody doesn't have enough to eat, get out and get a job. Simplistic? Possibly, but it's an attitude nevertheless. : There also seems to be a growing resentment against others who are "different," be it language, culture, religion, even colour of skin. There are anti-French sentiments which show up in staunch opposition to bilingualism, and anger over the ap- parent "double standard" in Quebec where English is giv- en a rough ride. The recent confrontations between blacks in Toronto and the Police Force has rallied people with strong emo- tions to both sides. And the rhetoric coming from both sides has turned nasty. Likewise with the tempest over a book that offended those of the Muslim faith. When Muslims in Toronto dem- onstrated loudly against "The Satanic Verses," there was shock and outrage from some who could not believe this was happening in Canada. And as in the case of the prob- lems between blacks and the police, every time there Is an cient, there is a bit more fuel added to the back-lash re. More than once in recent weeks and months, we have heard the comment that if "new-comers" don't like Canada the way it Is, they can pack their bags and go back to the country they.came from. Maybe our perceptions of these problems are way off base. But somehow we are getting this feeling that the Canada of 1989 is not the Canada of 20 or even ten years ago. And we can't help but wonder what this Canada will be like in a decade or two from now. ' He POTHOLES SEEM) A UTTLE WORSE THE YEAR ! " SF Let Chatterbox by CATHY OLLIFFE Sometimes mothers can. drive you crazy. You know what | mean? Case in point was Easter Sunday. My be- loved and | were at my parents' for most of the day, nay, most of the weekend, helping - renovate their house. Doug was in the base- ment helping Dad put up wainscotting, while | was upstairs wallpapering the hall. Which was fine, but by dinnertime Sunday night | was tired, hungry and grouchy. Mom and Gramma were in the kitchen yakking when Gramma wandered out into the hall and started to tell a story about a lady she had met who read my column all the time. Trouble was, Gramma couldn't remember where this lady lived. Actually, she knew ex- actly where she lived--Gramma just couldn't recall the name of the place. "It's south of Blackwater, just off of Highway 12 on a sideroad. A little place. | should know the name of it. Oh, what is it now. It's some- thing ike Tiny. This bothers me. What is the name?" "Greenbank?" sez |. "No," Gramma said. "Not Greenbank. | know where Greenbank is." "Saintfield?" | tried again. "No, not Saintfield." "Seagrave?" "No, no, no," said Gramma, frustrated. "Sonya?" My last ditch effort. "Nol" she replied. it's not on Highway 12, it's just off of it. : That's when my mother got involved. "Blackwater?" asked Mom. "It's south of Blackwater," Gramma said. . *South of Blackwater?" *| already said that," Gramma looked at her daughter indignantly. "So it's not Blackwater?" Both me and Gramma looked at. Mom like she was from MY MOTHER'S RECITAL Mars. She was peeling carrots and probably wasn't paying too much attention. "I should know the name of this place. Gramma continued. This was really bugging her. And it was starting to really me. To remedy the situation, and to end this ridicu- lous conversation, | found the phone book and looked up the page with all the small community names on it. "This should help. | said hopefully. And be- an reading out all the names in the vicinity of ort Perry and Uxbridge. Unfortunately, Gramma said "no" to each and every name | read out. | gave up, and went back to the hall, to clean up my wallpa- pering mess. Meanwhile, Mom picked up the phone book and proceeded to read out every Single fame of every single community--even though it was nowhere near Blackwater. "Alderville?" Mom asked. "No," said Gram- ma. "Armstrong's Point?" "No." "Ashburn?" "No." "Mom," | interjected, "Ashburn is nowhere near where Gramma is talking about." Mom ignored me, and continued to read out the names in a sing-song voice. "Blackstock?" "No." "Bay Ridges?" "No." "Bethel?" "No." "Brooklin?" "No." "BROOKLIN?" | yelled. "Ma, you KNOW where Brooklin is." "Brougham?" "No." "Caesarea?" "No." "MOM, CAESAREA? COME ON, STO THIS." "Chalk Lake?" "No." "Cobourg?" "No." "En- field?" "No." "Frenchman's Bay?" "No." (Turn to page 14) -- RL RR (ek