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STI Ea pti (IRR ST ae Psa IN i GET if Wg eS See EE RT REED SUS Ee Jae 6 - "WEEKEND STAR" THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2001 EDITORIAL POLICY: Opinions expressed by columnists, contribufors and letter writers are not necessarily those of The Port will be corrected if brought to the editor's attention. We reserve the right to edit or refuse publication of any material submitied. POLICY: The publisher is not liable for slight changes or SPE PUBLISHER, GENERAL MGA... 00n MacLeod gra ets AE. i, MANAGING EDITOR.. Jeff Mitchell VAR Pa NAS "TSA TD mbes OFFICE MANAGER... Gayle Siaploy Aocna WEEKEND STAR Grader, oe CNA ADVERTISING MGR... Deb McEachem Pm - SERRE Newspaper REPORTER.............. Chris Hall Member Ontario Community aL XN Association Freelance : Heather McCrae, John B. McClelland, Rik Davie Newspaper Assoc. PONE 105) 385-7380 Published every Friday by the Port Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Port Perry, Ontario - LoL 187 E-MAIL: editorial @portperrystar.com Distributed free in the following communities: Port Perry - Uxbridge - Sunderland - Little Britain - RR Lindsay Janetville advertising @ portperrystar.com Oakwood - Manilla - Seagrave - Greenbank - Brooklin - Ashburn - Columbus - RR Oshawa Zephyr - Udora - Leaskdale - Sandford - Caesarea - Blackstock - Raglan - Nestleton - Yelverton - Prince Albert Star. Letters must be signed and the telephone number (which will not ba published) included. Requests that a name be withheld wil be honoured only if there is a compeling reason 10 do so. Errors ) ermors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher is not able for other errors or omissions in connection with any advertisement in any subsequent issue of the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. All aims of error in publication must ba made by Wednesday, noon, prior to the next week's publication, and, if not made, will not be considered. No claim will be allowed for more than one insertion. BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West ADVERTISING: Ginni Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Sandra Spiers, Linda Clarke, Janet Archer, Malcolm Lennox, Lisa Monk PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pamela Hickey Production Staff: Trudy Empringham, Daryle Wright, Arlene Cheel, Richard Drew OPINION Cynical? Yeah, we're cynical One can be forgiven for feeling just a wee bit cynical about the integrity of our federal politicians these days. It seems barely a day goes by without some high-level politico in Ottawa stepping in it, then wriggling like crazy to avoid taking any responsibility whatsoever. Take the most recent Stockwell Day fiasco: First, he admits to having met with an undercover agent, who Alliance Party officials thought might be just the guy to dig up more ditt on the Liberals. A few days later he's denying he ever met the man. Then of course there's the PM, Jean Chretien, who years ago was denying he ever had anything to do with attempting to land loans for a hotel in his Quebec riding. Then as information trickled out he admitted to a bit of arm-twisting, and, well, you know the sordid tale from there. All of this - and, boy, there are lots of other examples - would be kind of amusing, were it not for all the lying going on, and the context in which it's taking place; we'd be willing to wager that public confidence in federal politicians is at or at least nearing an all-time low. It's getting so we're not even surprised when an MP like Rahim Jaffer has an assistant impersonate him on a radio program, and then denies it like hell until he realizes there's no way but to 'fess up. Cynical? Oh, yeah: we're cynical. Who in their right mind wouldn't be? : DOYOUL FIND THAT ITIS \ UNUSUALLY MUDDY. THIS SPRING? ---- ==" WHAT DO YOu MEAN BY UNUSUALLY? - Remember all that snow? Greg Grant's kids Haley, 8, and Taylor, 7, do. If you have an interesting picture we could use for Photo of the Week, please drop it by The Star office, or give us a call at 985-7383. LETTERS Who decides what's to be censored? To the Editor: By defeating Melinda Crawford's motion to temporarily remove controversial reading material from the classroom, those on the Durham District School Board who voted against it have once again shown the propen- sity for a double standard. Though the motion did not call for the removal or ban- ning of said material from libraries, the motion was still equated by some with cen- sorship. Well guess what? If this is a case of cen- sorship, then the school board is already guilty. The day they decided to stop the reading of Bible stories in the classroom, they agreed to censorship. It seems they are worried about offending some people, if stories about people like Samson or David and Goliath are read but, in this case, they don't seem to concern themselves that such people may be guilty of intolerance or prejudice. The concern has also been raised that if you stop Harry Potter, what's next? Okay, so what do you do when someone comes along and wants to read "Mein Kampf" or the rantings of James Keegstra? What about the ravings of Marilyn Manson or Eminem or the drivel of "Playboy" and "Hustler?" Do you ask the question, "if we stop those writ- ings, what's next? Anyone with a lick of common sense knows what the answer to that one is, Well, the Bible just happens to be the world's all-time best seller, outstripping by far its nearest competitor and it has been around for thousands of years. If it's okay to read Harry Potter in the classroom, then it's okay to read the Bible and it's okay to read such other classics as "Pilgrim's Progress" or "Chronicles of Narnia." We're not talking about the teaching of Christian or Jewish doctrine here. We're talking about the reading of the Bible as lit- erature, just like Harry. And if the reading of such literature amounts to the disseminating of religion, then the reading of Harry Potter amounts to the disseminating of the Wiccan religion. You can't have it both ways. And all the other alternatives that are offered for students who may be offended by Harry Potter or any other literature (such as head phones or going to the library), apply equally to those who may be offended by the books I've just mentioned. So the next question | want to ask is this. Since the school board has shown they are against censorship and support the reading Harry Potter in the classroom, when are they going to support reading the Bible, "Pilgrim's Progress," and the "Chronicles of Narnia?" Fairness demands it. Anything else can only be construed as being hypo- critical. Joe Prochazka, Oshawa A CS eas PAR pg SLSR ESR A Ch BSR Ee