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Jenna pe 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 16, 1990 The Lov Revey Slay 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: InCanada $20.00 per year Elsewhere $60.00 per year. SingleCopy 50¢ EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Julia Ashton News/Features - Kelly Storry PRODUCTION Annabell Harrison Trudy Empringham Darlene Hlozan BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Accounting - Judy Ashby Billing Department - Louise Hope ADVERTISING Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Advertising Sales Representative - Anna Gouldburn PLwAOIAN COMMUN. ¥ A ve nd 0) bod reas £33055 \Ol Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Tracy O'Neil 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 TO THE FUTURE It was more than just slightly ironic that in the same week that planners with Durham Region were making pub- lic their visions of the future for this area, commuters who use the Havelock/Toronto VIA train were getting ready to see the service moth-balled. The Regional planners envision the population of Dur- ham nearly doubling to 800,000 people over the next 30 years (and they may be right in their predictions) But if that's the case, one has to wonder just how all these peo- ple are going to get from point A to point B. Today, in 1990, the people of Durham are having a tough time getting around: the roads are crowded (try the 401 at rush hour) and existing GO Transit services along the lakeshore are strained to the limit (try finding a parking space at the Whitby or Pickering GO stations. The report from the Region's planning department is at this time nothing more than a document for discussion, a point of departure, so to speak, something for the politi- cians, the special interest groups, the developers and the public to chew on for the next couple of years or so. And even if the population of Durham only grows to 600,000 over the next three decades, the question that Regs to be answered is how are they going to get from A to Which brings us back to the moth-balling of the VIA Rail service that cuts right across Durham Region, by the way. As of Monday of this week, the service disappeared, though for most of the regular passengers, they boarded the trajn for the last time on Friday. This VIA service got the axe because the federal gov- ernment cut the operating subsidy (along with numerous other VIA lines in Ontario and the rest of the country) and because the provincial government declined to take it over, even though it is clearly a commuter service and thus with- in the province's jurisdiction. To its credit, an association of passengers who use this service, has not given up, and is trying to drum up pri- vate sector interest for a provincial commuter rail service that would include the run from Peterborough to Toronto. We wish the association well in its efforts to restore the rail service through the private sector, but wonder if this will ever come to pass. And still we find it very ironic that one level of govern- ment (the Region) is talking about a doubling of the popu- lation, while the two senior levels of government are aban- doning what is a ready-made mode of moving people. If the population doubles in 30 years, Durham is going to need more rail systems, not less. What makes this whole thing even more ironic is that the Region's peek into the future sees 90,000 people in Seaton (that's north Pickering) 25,000 in Brooklin, and 10,000 in Port Perry. These three areas are nicely served by the VIA train that is no more. Sure, it would be nice to think that a large majority of these people are going to work within an easy commute of their new homes. But let's be realistic, a lot of them are going to work in or near downtown Toronto. Perhaps some day in the next few years, the private sector will become involved in passenger rail commuter service. Perhaps that's the way it should be, rather than government. What is especially galling to members of the VIA pas- senger service is that January 15 was chosen as the moth- ball date just last September, a span of five months, hardly time to let the private sector become involved in the ser- vice. (Turn to page 8) OH! THOSE PLATES Over the past few months | have been amazed at the number of personalized license plates I've seen on area cars. It seems that al- most every day a new one appears that | haven't seen before. When the plates first became available, a few years ago, | ordered one for the Star's van, and another for my wife's car. The Star plate simply says PP STAR, while my wife's plate was a little more imaginative, disguising her name with a fictitious spelling... NAN CEE. I've even thought of ordering one for my car, and | think if | was going to get a personal- ized plate, it would read VID $10. In case you can't figure this one out, it spells my last name Hvid (VID) sten (S10). Easy eh! A couple of weeks ago, | decided to docu- ment all of the interesting personalized plates | came across in my travels, and | must say | have been suitably impressed with the imagina- tion of some people. There are lots of names like KRISSY, MOOSE A, JULIE 2, DR. JACK, EMPYS, etc., similar to my wife's NAN CEE, which are basi- cally peoples names, but there are many who have used their imagination and come up with some terrific plates. Let's start out with one of the best ones I've seen. It was on a BMW being driven by a wom- an and her plate read "NOT HIZ". It's pretty obvi- ous that this was her car, and the old man wouldn't get a chance to dirty the floor mats in that vehicle without her permission. A number of vehicles use the numeral "8" in their plate, .and here are two that caught my eye. The first was on a sporty car and read KRESER, and the other was | KBR. The first was a play on the word "creator" and the second "| cater." How about a Camaro with a plate which simply stated "WICK D" (wicked), or one that was probably owned by a horseman, "GID E uP". No doubt that the next one (which Nancy found for me) was attached to a four wheel drive truck "C MI 4X4". Translation (see my 4X4). And here is a list of other imaginative Random Jottings by }). Peter Hvidsten plates: REAR VU (rear view); TUF MOM (tough mom); PARROT; NO EGGS; 4T 4ME (forty, for me), WIG WON; | CU 2 (I see you to); RUN OFF; KIM BIT; SERVE U2 (possibly a restaurant owner or a caterer); | DO SEW (seamstress); TO RICK and SNEEZE. | know there are plenty more out there, and if I can compile another list a few months from now, maybe we'll update you on the latest and greatest personalized plates in Ontario. MAN OR PERSON? Once a month, | receive across my desk a ublication called "The Independent, National dition", which is filled with editorials, comments and stories picked from community newspapers across the country. One of those short stories relates to some- thing | have always felt was ridiculous, and that is the changing of the title chairman to chairperson, if the person holding the position is a woman. The story goes as follows: Readers of this column know that we think the use of "chairper- son" is absurd. It is our opinion that contrived works mere, call attention to themselves; furthermore, there is nothing whatever wrong about the use of chair- man, since, as everyon knows (or should know), it refers to men and women. The absurdity of "chairperson" became even more so when we recently received a press re- lease from someone who referred to herself as "chairperson." Her surname was, Linseman. If this woman feels so strongly about the sexist title of "chairman", that she feels it neces- sary to be called "chairperson", perhaps she should also change her name to Linseperson! Now before anyone jumps down my back on this item, it might be interesting to note, that the writer of the ve article was a woman, not a sexist, male chauvinist pig. JUST FOR THE RECORD | don't want to get into another war in this column (it's too early in the year), but | thought | should set the record straight on my column of a couple weeks ago. (Turn to page 14) Co ag ma AN se SN