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AR a sag SEO > saan E EE 6 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2001 PUBLISHER.., GEN. MGR...... Don MacLeod MANAGING EDITOR.. Jeff Mitchell OFFICE MANAGER... Gayle Stapley ADVERTISING MGR... Deb McEachem REPORTER............... Chris Hall Freelance : Heather McCrae, John B. McClelland, Rik Davie PHONE (905) 985-7383 CHIL I WEEKEN Locna Canada Member Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc. De EZ Association FAX (905) 985-3708 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 Canadian ii {wv CNA 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 "government, therefore, should be congratulated for this conciliatory A long time coming At long last, Education Minister Janet Ecker this week offered the first concession in her government's long-running battle with the province's teachers. In an effort to restore extracurricular activities at high schools here and across the province, Ms Ecker announced this week that the government would permit some flexibility in its definition of teaching time. The revision would, presumably, allow teachers to include some out-of-class duties as teaching time, allowing them to amass the required time required by new provincial legislation. The clash over teaching time has been at the heart of this most bitter dispute, and led to high school teachers here and at boards across the province withdrawing from after-school programs. 'The teachers are, understandably, reacting with caution, waiting to see exactly what the government proposes before relenting and agreeing to resume extracurriculars. Parents and students await the outcome hopefully. We're optimistic, too. But also disappointed. Durham Region has been ground zero in this war, and most high school students here have gone for almost four years without extracurriculars. That's the entire high school career of some kids. The minister proved this week that the impasse was not insur- mountable; all it took was some give-and-take. In the meantime, hundreds of students went without the clubs, teams and activities that are such a valuable aspect of the high school experiefice. The move, but chastised for waiting so long to make it. at 985-7383. By Walt Radda RING! RING! WHAT DID 1 GET? WELL ~~ PHoto OF THE WEEK a, 0 5 . Ia » sn kT ro i Td True Blue fans Jesse and Paul Verscherun have enjoyed the Leafs' run in this year's playoffs. 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 LETTERS HELLO? OH, HI HEID}! LET'S SEE... THE GIRLS np) © WELL HAPPY MOTHER'S {GOT ME A GARDEN GooSE"/ ; DAY TO You Too |! 33 dd To the Editor: It's time for Durham hospital officials to stop laying a guilt trip on local property tax- payers. No one is denying that health facili- ties need to be properly funded and built. But it needs to be recognized that we all + need these services and the largest possible -- user group must pay for them. ~~ . The largest group of taxpayers are those paying income tax. They are also the best rotected by federal and provincial tax a shy. Pp y Pp credits and income supplement programs. Surely the best group to look to for health funding are the well protected income tax- ~+ | payers; not a smaller and less protected IT'S ADORABLE! ) | group like the householders paying personal -- "| property taxes. The good news in all this is that the Sys- tem actually works; if we allow it to. | we YES... YoU PUT |T OUTSIDE AND \T HONNS WHENEVER SOMEONE. STEPS NEAR! Assigning blame isn't the way don't subvert the system those government levels collecting taxes from the larger tax- payer pool will live up to their responsibility. And if they don't then we vote them out of office. Durham's hospital officials need to con- centrate on making the federal and provin- cial governments do what is required of them, and stop laying guilt trips on property tax paying householders who are already paying for health care through their income tax. We all have but one pocket to pull cash from. Make sure that the larger group, the income taxpayers, fund the service they all use and lay off the little guy. John T. Hulley, Brooklin To the Editor: Michele Valentino of Valentino's Fitness b would like to thank the sponsors for the \ sixth annual aerobathon. \ Brocks, Dynamic Car Wash, 1.G A. Jayson Callan Music, Kristi Wildman Reg. Massage Therapist, Sunshine Pool, Tanning Zone, Trader Sams, The Port Perry Star, my won- derful instructors Debbie Stevenson and Leslie Monkman, and to all of the partici- Thanks to all the 'Aerobathon' supporters pants who worked very hard as always to raise money for heart and stroke. Michele knows that she could not pull this off without the help of her husband, family and friends. Thank you. This year's total was $3,060.50; our grand total is $24,628. Michele Valentino Port Perry