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aaa [ 6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, December 17, 1991 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" The Port Perry Star 188 MARY STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO - LOL 187 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 $26.75 per year * Elsewhere $74.90 peryear. * Single Copy 65¢ EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten News Editor - Scott Anderson Features Editor - Julia Dempsey Sports Co-ordinator - Kelly Lown ADVERTISING Advertising Manager - Anna Jackman Advertising Sales - Jackie Metz Production - Pamela Hickey, Barbara Bell BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapiey Accounting - Judy Ashby Billing Department - Louise Hope PRODUCTION Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Lynda Ruhl Annabell Harrison, Trudy Empringham Robert Taylor, Marlene Moore @- @ Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Lid. Port Perry, Ontario * GST included in price Editorial Comment Punishing The Kids A Statistics Canada report this past week revealed some rather troubling statistics. According to the report, more than 4,000 juveniles were in jails, halfway houses, group homes or other facilities on any given day last year. Of these youths incarcerated, most were serving terms of three months or less, while three per cent were serving penal- ties of more than a year. Approximately 25 per cent of all those convicted in youth court were held in custody, while the rest were sentenced to probation, fines, community service or other forms of disposi- tions. According to the statistics released on Dec. 13, in 1990 and 1991, 11,537 youth court cases resulted in a sentence of either jail or open custody in less restrictive facilities such as group homes. Due to the relatively short sentences and the rapid turnover rates, the average number of youths in custody on any given day was 4,294. In the past five years, more than 60 per cent of the sen- tences have been for three months or less and 97 per cent have been for no more than a year. Another report to arise last week was the frightening num- ber of youths who carry guns. When asked why they would carry such a weapon, most responded that it was a status symbol. Police say the youths acquire these weapons in a number of ways. Some are stolen, some are purchased from under- ground sources or from the United States, while some are sto- len from homes or local gun shops. Police said some are even leased out to friends and shared. Youth crime is also on the rise, and with it has come the more violent crimes. Over the years the crimes have evolved from fists, to sticks and chains, to knives and finally to guns. The bigger the gun the better as far as the youths are con- cerned. More youths are also members of gangs or posses. These groups are involved in organized and sophisticated crimes involving drugs and violent acts. So why the increase in youth crimes over the past num- ber of years? Why the need to incarcerate more youths result- ing in more than 4,000 kids in our correction facilities on any given day last year? The reason is the rather lax Young Of- fenders Act. Under the present terms of this act, youths aged 12 to 17 can only be sentenced to a maximum of three years by youth court. For most of the crimes, the records of these young of- fenders are wiped free when they turn 17 years of age. It is because of this act and the fact that they can get away scot-free that many more youths are committing crimes. They are fully aware that they will not be severely punished for their crimes, and therefore are taking advantage of the law for "fun" and for profit. Although many in the law enforcement field have pointed to the fact that many more youths are becoming involved in crimes than in the past, there is a reluctance on the part of the federal government to do something about this act. While the number of swarmings, shootings and gang violence is up across Canada, there has not been much attempt to improve this act. There is a need to make substantial changes to this law. The laws must be changed to provide for stiffer penalties for youths committing crimes, especially violent crimes, and it must be more than just a slap on the wrist. Crimes must be handled in the courts and not the youth courts, and the penalty must fit the crime, without discrimination against a person be- cause of age. The laws must also be changed to allow the me- dia access to the young offenders' names and the freedom to include their names in the stories pertaining to the crimes. When the laws are changed, and the protective shield that we have placed around the young punks has been lifted, there won't be that grey area anymore that allows the youth of today to take advantage of the laws and laugh in the tace of the criminal justice system. | NOW 50N WATCH ME LIGHT uP ARIS Roo]. .. AL | HH ALRIGHT DAD coor! Life's Like That by Julia Dempsey I'm in desparate need of help. Remember a couple of weeks ago when | wrote in this column about my first attempt at preparing Thanksgiving dinner. It -- meaning the dinner -- was a mental disaster from start to finish. Sure, the food was edible. Nobody had to have their stomach pumped or anything. That was probably due to the fact that my mother brought the turkey, Suing 2nd potatoes. But that didn't stop me from being a basketcase from the time | agreed to host the dinner until the final guest departed. People measure success in many different ways. | said my Thanksgiving dinner was a suc- cess because nobody asked me to host Christ- mas. But | forgot, or was never told, or (more likely) blocked it from my mind like | do with all distressing things, the fact that | was to prepare Christmas dinner for my husband's family. So once again, I'm making a "Things To Do" list: Figure out the menu, clean the house, see what the in-laws are leaving us in their will, and, oh ya, the important one, find out how to cook a turkey. The in-laws have already bought the Christ- mas turkey for us -- a 25 pound ormer-gobbler that has been decapitated, de-feathered, but not defrosted or stuffed. | can probably handle the defrosting part. It could get dicey after that. But I've been putting my journalistic talents to work. Asking questions is my forte. Unfortunate- ly, everyone had a different answer to the ques- tion | was posing: How do you prepare a Christ- mas Turkey? # Barbara from my bowling team says | should cook it on high for the first 45 minutes and then at a medium-low temperature for the remainder of the time. The bird should be cooked one-half hour for every pound. Leslee, who is also on our bowling team and has four years of cooking school behind her, agreed whole-heartedly with Barbara's instruc- tions, adding that | should make sure the wings and drumsticks are secured close to the tur- key's body or else they'll cook faster and be dried out by the time the rest of the turkey is done. Leslee also says one should never put on the roasting pan lid when cooking a turkey because instead of a nice, crisp skin, it will turn out sog- gy and slimy. Sounds real appetizing, eh. If the top of the turkey looks like it is getting too brown, the cook should make a tepee out of tin foil and place it over the bird, she suggests. So | said, "Leslee, how'd ya like to come to my house on Christmas day. You can cook. | can take all the credit." For some reason, she didn't go for it. | thought about blackmailing her by threatening to find her boyfriend and tell him that all those great bowling scores she told him she was get- ting in the first series, were actually adjusted with her handicap. But | decided against it. I'd hate to be the recipient of a freak "Fred Flint- stone-style" bowling accident at Centennial Lanes. Everything seemed fine until my father-in-law phoned to tell me they had purchased a 25- pounder. After some quick arithmetic, | realized it was going to take me about 13 hours to cook the turkey and I'd have to get up at about 3:30 a.m. How did our mother's do it. | have an ink- ling in the back of my mind that the tradition of turkey for Christmas was the inspiration for the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." What else was she going to do while she waited for the oven to preheat. When | told my father-in-law that I'm not real- ly a morning person and | didn't know how | would manage getting up at 3:30 a.m. all for the sake of one dinner that would take less than one hour to eat, he tells me the best turkey he ever had was cooked at a high heat for about three hours. (This is a guy who would starve be- fore cracking an egg into a skillet!) But my mother-in-law backed him up (she's an excellent cook). She said she used that. method last year and we all survived. So | ask: How do you cook a turkey? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Re- member, my in-laws' lives depend on it. {