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PORT PERRY "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2000 - 7 No fooling: Celebrate April |st at Thunderbird dance Members of the Ashburn Community Board will be holding a dance on Saturday, April | at Thunderbird Golf and Country Club starting at 8 p.m. The charge is $12.50 per person which includes music provided by a DJ. and a late night buffet featuring their famous roast beef on a bun. Everyone is asked to join in the fun of the day by dressing up as foolishly as you can, or as the biggest fool you know (should be an easy one there eh?) for which prizes will be given. This event is an annual fundraiser for the folks at Ashburn and the money raised goes towards their extravagant Canada Day Celebration open to the public each July 1. Advance tickets only can be had at Ashburn General Store or by calling Diane Andrews at 655-8043. Legion Merriment Brooklin Legion will be holding an open house on Saturday, March 25 fea- turing live entertainment by Al Matthews, a great one-man-band. There is no cover charge betweén 4 and 8 p.m. and the public are welcome. There will also be a Spring Dance on April | from 8 p.m. to | a.m. Music will be provided by the same excellent D.J. who catered to the New Year's Eve fes- tivities. Again there is no charge and all are welcome. Hockey Championships and Dance In the final Brooklin Men's Hockey League play downs last week, Brooklin Legion and Brooklin Pharmacy skated to a three-all tie with John Schell, Gerry Hunt and Kevin Ibbitson scoring for Legion while Steve Wagg, John Emm and Rick Martin each scored for the Pharmacy Canadiens. According to Ken Lynde, the games first star award goes to Steve Wagg (an inside joke so I'm told). A high scoring squeaker had Tribute Homes edge CIBC 7-6. Bob Saunders had a hat trick for the winning effort, helped out by Ken Vipond with a pair of goals and Gary Evans and Dason Lyons with one each. Answering for CIBC were Kevin O'Neill with two, Greg Gibson, Peter Guiry, Wayne Misstlebrook and Tom Watson. The final match-up saw Paul Brown and Jamie Strachan's goals give Brooklin Concrete a 2-1 margin over Foundation Financial whose lone goal'was supplied by Tom Mulcahy. That placed the Legion on top of the heap with eight points, closely followed by Concrete with seven and Tribute with six. There were only four points separating the top 10 scoring leaders, a very close race this year. But when all was said and done, it was Dason Lyons who finished on top with five goals and five assists for 10 points. Congrats to all. This Saturday, March 18 the season will culminate with three great games at Luther Vipond Arena. At 4 p.m. the Canadiens (Pharmacy) play the Wings (CIBC) for the "C" Championship. At 5 p.m. the Hawks (Tribute) play the Leafs (Foundation) for the "B" Championship and at 6 p.m. the Bruins (Legion) play the Rangers (Concrete) for the "A" Championship. All are welcome to attend and cheer on your personal favourite. And also to attend the victory dance at the Brooklin Community Centre on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. featuring music by a great DJ. The cost is just $5 per person. Blood Donor Clinic Mt. Zion Masonic Lodge #39 in Brooklin will be holding a blood donor clinic on Saturday, March 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you are between 17 and 70, are in good health, weigh over 110 Ibs. and taller than 4'8" show up with photo I.D. and give the gift of life. f you have any questions call 1-800- 701-7803 and the good folk at Canadian Blood Services can answer all your con- cerns. Hmmm... My son was recently marking term papers for one of his senior Phys Ed classes when he came upon a different answer to the question "describe the spinal column." He couldn't help but smile at the answer: "the spiral column is a long string of bones. The head sits on the top, and you sit on the bottom." LETTERS People must speak up on Bill C-23 To the Editor: In April 1998 Ontario's Appeal Court Judge Rosalie Abella decreed to change the legal definition of spouse, to also include a homosexual partner. She says that the government must start acknowl- edging conjugal diversity. The courts should not wait for Canadians to change their attitude. This is the same judge who lowered the age of consent for sodomy from 18 to 14. Federal justice minister Anne McLellan chose not to appeal these rulings in the Supreme Court. In fact she had already agreed to consult with the gay and lesbian community and sided with them. And so we heard very little about it. Still there will be discussions held in the House of Commons and Canadians have an opportunity to voice their opin- ions. We have to ask ourselves: can we sup- port this? Is it advisable to have families that are headed by two men or two women and have children grow up in these fami- lies? Of course many homosexuals are loving and caring people, but children need both a father and a mother to raise them. This is so crucial. We cannot dictate people how they should lead their lives, but these are issues that in the end concerns us all. | am especially thinking of children as they will be involved for sure. We are a democracy, our government, for the people, by the will of the majority of the people. Now the people must speak. Jeannette Vander Meulen, Brooklin Bill threatens traditional family To the Editor: There was an article in the Toronto Sun on Feb. 26, 2000, "Gay Rights Policy No Joke". That should be a wake up call for us all. Bill C-23 is now before the justice com- mittee headed for third reading. If this Bill becomes law, we, the majority, will find ourselves having to forfeit our moral values and beliefs. The first blow will definitely come in our children's classrooms, where the alternative choice lifestyle will be taught and where our children's values will be desensitized. The Sun article made reference to land- lords, service providers and employers being in a position whereby they, because of overlooking a homosexual or lesbian for any reason, be it bad credit rating, unqualified for position of pasting or poor work record, could easily face a discrimi- nation lawsuit. Please understand, most homosexuals and lesbians will not likely try to take advantage of their newfound rights. But, there are many militants that will force their rights to the extreme at the expense of our moral values and beliefs. Imagine the tension these confrontations will have on our already fragile society. The only way for this Bill C-23 to become law is for the majority to do nothing and then have to face the consequences. Please call or write your MP, the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice (Anne McLellan) to say not to Bill C-23. Why is our government so determined to destroy the foundation of any healthy society, the traditional family? : Bill Tiller, Sunderland Straight 2 Talk by ALEX SHEPHERD (D101 PANIIT IN = Clarity is something members of par- liament had problems with this week. The problem had more to do with bleary eyes and lack of clarity in our minds, after a monotonous all night vot- ing secession brought on by the Bloc Quebecois' strategy to stop the passing of the Clarity Act. I must admit I'm not used to this kind of activity. I'm struck by the irony of trying to keep a clear head on the issue of clarity. The Clarity Act states the need exists to ask a clear question, as well as seeking a substantive result, to any question as fundamental as breaking up your coun- try. The legislation has both positive and negative aspects. It's negative because it makes people focus on the concept of separation. Most constitutional democracies don't even consider such a concept. The French constitution even states that France is indivisible. But the positive outweighs the nega- tive. The positive being that we can not be tricked, or be hoodwinked, by the separatists into losing such a funda- mental right as access to the rule of law. And this is also why our government requested the ruling of the Supreme Court. Initially Lucien Bouchard accept- ed the court's ruling. But when the separatists finally took a good look at the ruling the dilemma they faced dawned on them. They found that if you ask a clear question the majority of Quebecers will stay with Canada any day of the week. And why wouldn't they, all of us - French and English - have grown pros- perous together. Of course the separatists don't like clarity, or more importantly, transparen- cy. They want to win their game by stealth, a form of secrecy that doesn't allow Quebecers to understand what the conse- quences of separatism are. And what they did in the house this week is clear evi- "dence of how they are willing to abuse the rules of procedure. One night they refused to rise and be counted. Then they accused the parliamentary system of being undemocratic when the speaker noticed none of them standing and simply didn't count their votes. Meanwhile most Quebecers, includ- ing some separatists, are mature enough to realize that if they can't muster sub- stantially more than 50 per cent then their cause isn't worth pursuing. It appears the Bloc is really making some kind of last stand for their cause but no one appears to be listening. Which is good news for Canada. This is illustrated by Lucien Bouchard's trip to France. How ironic separatists go back to their old monar- chical past to ask for the blessing from a country that abandoned them centuries ago. This is pitiful and illustrates the true weakness of the separatists' position. The most important point the Clarity legislation makes is that it can put an end to the endless referendum process in Canada. Viewed this way standing up to the separatists in the Commons is well worth the effort. Canada has lost many economic opportunities, not only in Quebec but also in the rest of the country because investors are unable, or not willing, to take a risk because of the separatists' threat. I'd argue that as much as an 18-cent differential in our currency with the United States is likely related to the separatist factor alone. Although bleary-eyed, and somewhat grumpy, those of us who want to bring an end to referendum madness find, in the end, the inconveniences of this week well worth the effort. TTR A wee Fh GR med