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8 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, September 5, 1990 Letters io the editor Sam says "Goodbye" to his many friends, supporters To the Editor: There is so much that I could say in an attempt to cover all the things that should be covered over my past 14 years as your M.P.P for Durham East. The immediate item that comes to mind is a "THANK YOU" to all of you from myself, Kathryn and our three children Draydon, Rion and Collin, for your continued support and confidence over these many years. I of course would be foolish to presume that all of you voted for me. However, I am an ardent supporter of the democratic process, and as good fortune would have it, I was always victorious at election time. A good part of my electoral success belongs to the Durham East P.C. Association, who were, and still are, a strong team and without their help my luck would have been different. There are too many people to mention but if you would indulge me the recognition of our present President, June Smith, and my long-time cam- paign manager, fundraiser and friend Doctor Peter Zakarow, Judge E.R. Lovekin, who gave me the opportunity, and Professor J.P. Lovekin who pro- vided insight, also to my office staff Mona, Aimie, Lanny and Jo- Anne, Thank You. I have been a Progressive Con- servative, but, generally speak- ing, I never took hard partisan ap- proach to problems. I sincerely made my judgements, be they on major policy issues or individual constituent concerns, on the basis of what would be fair to enhance | couldn't agree more with the people who are voicing their disgust about dog owners who re- fuse to pick up after their pets. Certain areas in this town are so bad you can barely walk a few feet before you have to dodge more dog manure. One area | hear a lot of complaints about is the Apple Valley walkway an playground. | personally have not been through that play- ground, but if it is anything like the disgusting mess along the waterfront, along the open piece of land north of the boat launch, in the outfields of the Water Street ball fields, and on several of the school's properties, | know what you are complaining about. | hope these dog owners don't have children who go to school, who play baseball, soccer,or like to play in the park, because it may be your child who slips and falls in the stuff, and you'll end up cleaning the mess anyway. The mess cannot be attributed to a few stray dogs who roam loose at night. It cannot be blamed on the geese, ducks, raccoons, and skunks either. We cannot even blame man's best friend. The dog is just a scapegoat for the "real culprit", the inconsiderate, ignorant DOG OWNER. Af- terall a dog doesn't care where it goes, they are not tugging their own leash to visit the neigh- bours, and parks for an unsociable visit. It's the one who has the leash wound around his hand that decides where this dog is going to go. What do these dog owners think? Do you feel that your one little doing its business on a lawn isn't going to that noticeable. Well when you have half the owners in this town thinking that, you have a huge problem. The amount of it that is piling up, is not some- thing the o'le "stoop and scoop" is going to solve, the town would have to hire a bulldozer, and dumptruck to haul this load away. I'm not saying that all dog owners are doing this, | have seen the odd one with the leash in one hand and a plastic bag in the other, while taking the dog for a walk. Even though it isn't that much of a chore, these people should be commended for not following so many others twisted philosophies. Why do these owners bring their dog to your or into the parks and playgrounds? imple, they don't want the garbage on their Back Talk a a lawn right? Well dog owners, we don't want it on ours either! | can remember the philosophy of one of our neighbours when he took his dog out for a walk. He constantly thought that the dog's outhouse was on the corner of people's lots on our street, or at the corner of our hedge. When we "politely" asked him to let his dog relieve himself elsewhere, we were "not" so po- litely informed that he didn't figure any of us had . any right to complain. Afterall, he said, this part of the lot, is the boulevard, which of course is Township property even though it is directly in front or to the side of your house. In other words it isn't your property, so why do you care. Now, isn't that an intelligent response? What's even worse, this fellow is the first to be heard hollering at the top of his lungs if a neigh- bourhood dog even briefly stops to smell the wet dew on his perfectly groomed front lot. My one hope is that these owners who so de- liberately let the dog go where it wishes, are not the same one's complaining about the garbage, or the appearance of our downtown. If so, you are the solutions to making it look better. My challenge to these people is to leave your dog in your backyard for a week. Don't take it. for a walk, and don't clean up after it. Take a look at what your one little dog has created. Now, the week is up, and you fit right in, YOUR lot looks like everyone else's in town, and my guess is, you probably don't like it very much. it is long overdue for the Township to do Sopistiing about this mess. If we can be charged for dumping garbage, these people n to be fined for dumping theirs. If some- thing isn't done, it's only going to get worse. If they can get away with their disgusting habits, they are not going to stop until forced to do so. There is only one solution thus far, that | have witnessed, that tends to work. The dog came visiting, with owner in tow to do its business on a certain person's lawn. The owner pats the dog when finished, and they are on their way. What was the property owners solution? Sim- ple, they got out the scoop, cleaned up the 's mess, and put it in a bag. Then they pro- ceeded to do the neighborly thing, they returned his belongings. They left it on his nice green lawn in exactly the same form that they had found it on their own. our community, or assist in- dividuals in the realms of prac- ticalities. I would often ask myself, when faced with a pro- blem, "in what way would I ex- pect a member of parliament to solve this problem?' Often, the answer was not forthcoming and when that was the case, I would seek people's opinion across the riding and, yes, call upon my spouse for input. As a result, I always felt comfortable that my final decision was reached after many prospectives were canvass- ed, and more immportantly, I prided myself in making a deci- sion, be it for better or worse. This process takes its toll. Many people who I consider as friends often were alienated and their rebuff would hurt me personally. No United Way funds From Page 7 that United Way Agencies do a great job of raising funds for com- munity programmes but in the North, there are several agencies that do not have this option open to them nor may they want it due to its limitations. Respectfully, Susan Scholfield Executive Director Big Brothers/Big Sisters of North Durham. Alas, a politician does learn to develop a thick skin, and I began to understand the phrase "that's politics." : I can not, in so brief a space, relate to you my kaleidoscope of political experiences. For me, political experiences really means "people,"' because politics IS "people." In any event, all of those stories, I'll save for the book. In general, let me say that I at- tempted to take all things in good humour, with serious concerns seriously, but myself, not too seriously. As your representative at Queen's Park, I was proud to play a small part in Ontario's history. This included from the end of one of the country's longest serving political parties in power, to an unprecedented majority govern- ment, with some minority govern- ments thrown in for good measure. By the way, my ex- periences tell me that minority governments are a balanced government where every elected representative has an important stake in the process. All of the above formulated for me a basis where if my decisions resulted in some demoralization, (for instance, I was never suc- cessful in picking our party's new leader), I would find refuge in working for my Riding represen- ting all of you. However, recent- ly, even that haven was becoming Turn to Page 10 writers sign their name. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Star encourages our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column to express their opinions and viewpoints on just about any subject, as we feel a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that all letter rry, no anonymous letters will be printed. er -- For Better or For Worse® STieks A COUPLE OATMEAL COOKIES, AN' I LIKE THAT TROPICAL. JD a. OF by Lynn Johnston MICHAEL, YOU HAVE. WHAT DID HE TAKE? TMETO Had YOUR -- z OWN LW AE AND AN MAKE LE. NCH | MY ON LUNCH) 2 Editorial Comment (from page 6) : tions, parking areas and most important, customers just wait- ing to buy their tickets. For communities like Port Perry and Scugog, it will be a much-needed service that will spur residential, commercial and pehaps industrial growth (if we can ever get the sewer problems sorted out) Not only will it serve those who commute to the city each day, but anybody who must travel into Toronto for any reason and doesn't want the headache of driving by car. We salute the decision, even if it does smack of vote grabbing, coming as it did in the middle of a tense election campaign. But it's a decision that any political party in power would have had no choice but to make. P po Now that the promise has been made to start the service in the fall of 1991, let's hope that promise doesn't get fudged some time between now and then. It's just too important to too . many people. | EMMERSON INSURANCE BROKERS LIMITED 193 QUEEN ST., PORT PERRY, ONT. LIL iB9 PHONE (416) 985-7306 ALL LINES OF GENERAL INSURANCE *» » » HOMEOWNERS - FARM - AUTO COMMERCIAL