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"A Family Tradition for 132 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, February 17, 1998 - 7 LETTERS To the Editor: had for her. Mrs. MacFarlane's Grade 6 class poses fora p Jefford, Margaret Wright, Grace Scriver, Pat Farmer, George Dowson, Archie Menzies, Winnie Irvine, Jeanne Williams, Pauline and Noreen Tease. Middle row: Phyllis Warren, Patsy Midgley, Carol Carnegie, Lorne Smith, Patricia Farmer, Jennifer Edwards, Bill Chapman, Richard Carnegie, Kenneth Dowson. In front: Barbara Fielding, Marilyn Luke, Carolyn Reed, Joanne Buller, David Morton, Jacqueline Edwards, Ivan Luke, Kenneth Crowells, Bill McLeod. The highest form of praise for a teacher Having recently read accounts of the memories of my aunt, Mrs. Aleta MacFarlane, I appreciate the respect and admiration her former students ol considered by some to be a strict disciplinarian, she was always respected by those she taught. I believe there is no finer tribute than the memories of these former students. Through her many years of teaching she influenced many young lives. Although she was hoto in May of 1954. | LITAN PEER I SFR n back row, from CE Aad Xx left: Art SRE a SRE A Donna McMullen Scugog Island A harsh lesson learned at auction To the Editor: If your readers ever decide to attend an auction, watch out! I recently attended an auction and once again, purchased two electronic items that did not work. This time, I decided to talk to the auctioneer and received a most surprising response: "So what's your point?" ...Not quite the reply one would expect from a business- man. I was advised very bluntly that a sign was posted that tells you that you buy items at your own risk, and nothing is guaran- teed. This makes good sense to warn the buyers, and it gets the auctioneer off the hook, and one should expect that occasionally you may encounter a problem. He then asked if the items were outside and I said yes, which brought me to the realiza- tion that items outside don't work, and they are there conve- niently away from electrical sup- plies. Well Mr. Auctioneer, you have taught me a very valuable lesson, and fortunately not an expensive one. You can count on seeing these two items again. But before that, I will collect more electric items that don't work. Once I gather these items, I will contact you to put them on consignment, as most items are, and we will sell them together, outside, away from electrical supply. Lloyd Morden, Port Perry Chows weren't denied lease To the Editor: Recently, there has been spec- ulation about the closing of David Chow's Restaurant. For the record, the Chows are not being denied a lease. Due to the fact that they were actively trying to sell their business, we were reluc- tant to sign a long term lease. We sincerely regret David and Helen's decision to retire and would like to take this oppor- tunity to wish them good health and happiness. The Stone Family ~ Editor's Notepad by Jeff Mitchell A DAMN FINE IDEA YOU DESERVE A BREAK TODAY: Throughout February, there's been a lot of talk about how we ought to have a national holiday in the midst of winter. Flag Day (Feb. 15) has been brought up, and one yahoo in Ottawa opined that it ought to fall on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2), then conceded that maybe the first Monday in February would suffice (it wouldn't always be Groundhog Day, of course, by what the hey). | have suggested in this very space that Sir John A. Macdonald's birthday, smack in the middle of January, be marked as a day to hoist toasts (and the cause was taken up by my corre- spondent and critic Bernie Gotham, who reports he got nowhere with the local MP, or anybody else for that mat- ter). Even Sinclair Stevens, whom | used to cover years ago, proposed setting aside the last Friday of the month and calling it Discovery Day (?), the only thing he ever said that | agreed with. None of us, alas, has been successful. The powers that be are too curmudgeonly, cheap and stodgy to budge on the issue. We are left, therefore, with no holiday break when we most could use one. And that's the funny thing: Everybody agrees we working stiffs could use the break... but nobody wants to go out on a limb and demand employers pencil in one more stat hol- iday on the calendar. Here's a modest proposal: Let's go with the Heritage Day theme first adopted by the Optimist Club in 1975. Make it the last Friday in February or the first Monday in March. We can celebrate our heritage by hoisting the Maple Leaf, playing hockey outdoors, sipping Canadian- made beer, and gathering around fires built from our old Christmas trees in 45-gallon drums. And celebrate the fact we've made it through this much winter. AN UNHEALTHY FIXATION: Maybe this has become a bit of an obsession for me, but -- Jeez! -- | am some sick of the CBC leading off radio newscasts with reports of Lucien Bouchard every time he speaks, which is usually to say nothing. Bouchard is a traitorous, treach- erous gasbag, and you know what else? He really ain't all that bright. When he's ready to get off the pot and call an election or a referendum, then the Rest of Canada should listen. In the meantime, let him blather. HOT DOG, YOU'RE A WEINER: A note of caution, folks: There's been another spate of those fantastical scratch and win tickets showing up in mailboxes, promising big cash prizes. The trick is to convince you you've won, and then get you to dial a 1-900 number, which bills you $20. Caveat Emptor. Winter Olympic games. - Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten OLYMPIC JUNKIES For the past week |, like many millions of other Olympic junkies, "| +have spent my evenings and early Olympic coverage, on both the Canadian and American networks. : Sab : There's something about the Olympics that draws me to watch sports that under normal circumstances would be of little or no interest to me at all. | find myself flipping from one station to the other to watch sports like bobsledding, luge, curling, cross country skiing, speed skating... sports that | probably won't even think about until the next games in four years. . Buteven slower paced sports, like curling, become exciting during the Olympics, and | find myself excited mornings watching parts of the: anticipating each shot. The fact that this year's games are being played in Japan, some 14 hours ahead of our time does create a problem with watching live coverage, unless you stay up all hours of the night, but even so they're still a thrill. You can't help but be impressed at the level of skill, and appreciate the incredible conditioning and determination of these athletes. It's very apparent, the best athletes in the world are all exceptional individuals. In a time when 100s of a second determines the winners of gold, silver and bronze medals, you know that these athletes truly are the cream of the crop. It always amazes me that the difference between being ranked the world's best and just one of the pack can be measured in milli seconds. For my money, there isn't a better show on television in the middle of February, and I'm not looking forward to the games ending. ON THE HOME FRONT As | write this column, Canadian athletes have won nine medals.... four gold, four silver and one bronze. They truly have struck gold this year, winning gold in snow- boarding, the two-man bobsled, speed skating and curling, thus securing more golds than in any previous What an incredible showing by our athletes... and what's even better, there's still a good chance for a few more medals before it's over, Sunday night, Canada's hockey team defeated the U.S.A. and as it heads into the final rounds, the players have their eyes set on gold. Still ahead for Canada are possible medals in women's and men's hockey and speed skating, so our medal num- bers could get even better. Congratulations to our Canadian athletes. MOMENTS I'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER - The incredible fall of an Austrian skier in the downhill "when he flew through the air landing on his head and shoulder... but amazingly was not injured. - The gruelling 15 km cross country race. in which two Norwegians skied stride for stride from start to finish. - The last race of the two-man luge where Canadians Pierre Lueders and Dave MacEachern tied for gold with Italy in a record breaking run. - Elvis Stojko's valiant silver medal effort despite being sick with a flu bug and having a severe groin injury. - The Japanese ski jumper who soared more than 130 'meters through the air and landed with perfect marks.