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a Pa tad dh i dai eh EE a la Le al 6 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2001 Distributed free in the following communities: Port Perry - Uxbridge - Sunderland - Little Britain - RR Lindsay Janetville Oakwood - Manilla - Seagrave - Greenbank - Brooklin - Ashburn - Columbus - RR Oshawa Zephyr - Udora - Leaskdale - Sandford - Caesarea - Blackstock - Raglan - Nestleton - Yelverton - Prince Albert E-MAIL: editorial@portperrystar.com advertising@portperrystar.com PUBLISHER, GEN. MGR. . ..... Don Macleod rm. i : SENIOR REPORTER .......... Chris Hall TOTS FTN TT SAC Member OFFICE MANAGER Gayle Stapley AQocna AY, y EEKEND S J VAN RY Canadian REPORTER.............. ........ Rik Davie Member Ontario Community = Newt achspaner Freelance : Heather McCrae, John B. McClelland Newspaper Assoc. ' PHONE 905-985-7383 : FAX 905.985.3708 Published every Friday by the Port Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Port Perry, Ontario - LOL 1B7 BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West ADVERTISING: Ginni Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Linda Clarke, Janet Archer, Lisa Monk, Lori Bradbury PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pamela Hickey Production Staff: Trudy Empringham, Daryle Wright, Arlene Cheel EDITORIAL POLICY: Opinions expressed by columnists, contributors and letter writers are not necessarily those of The Port Perry Star. Letters must be signed and the telephone number (which will not ba published) included. Requests that a name be withheld will be honoured only if there is a compeling reason to do so. Errors will be corrected if brought to the editor's attention. We reserve the right to edit or refuse publication of any material submitted. ADVERTISING POLICY: The publisher is not liable for siight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement, The publisher is not able for other Tors of omissions in connaction with any advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. All claims of error in publication must be made by Wednesday, noon, prior to the next week's publication, and, if not made, will not be considered. No clair will be allowed for more than one insertion. OPINION Rules on top of rules A number of proposals have come before our local politicians in the past year or so, some with good points and others not. Scugog councillors have been fairly good at weeding out the good and the bad, however sometimes it seems like the rules put in place to protect are a little too protective. At times it seems too difficult for the average guy to do what he wants, with his own money, and on his own property. In a frenzy to protect rural areas from junk yards, gravel pits and uncontrolled development, the system by which landowners can use their hard-earned piece of the township for other ventures besides farming it or just plain living on it is becoming a maze of regulations, rules and bylaws in which any land owner must produce environmental reports, impact statements and pray very hard that his neighbours think he's a nice guy to even begin the planning process necessary. Is the protection in place needed? Darn right it's needed. But are we also stifling the small-guy business spirit that once turned backyard mechanics irito business owners and saw a huge range of cottage industry thrive in rural areas. Maybe. : Adding regulations on top of regulations without a constant method by which they can be reviewed and a leeway to allow for common sense decisions has to be a priority for already highly overworked planning staff. Otherwise in our zeal to do what's right for nature and be all things to all people we will wind up with zoning bylaws and official plans that allow for little in the way of variance. We will become little more than tenants on our own land beholden to the govern- ment for anything we want to do beyond sit on the porch. HOME TEAM By Walt Radda WELL, WE TALKED HER OUT OF \ 3 : % BIA =. ; RESEND) a iN 2 anti on LW 62 Z z ie 3 . y ¥ ' "HN 3 : § 3 sik i; ERA SAE AN (EH DOLE AR Jed ' : T Mrs. Hassler of Cartwright sent in this photo of her canine pal Timber relaxing in the flower bed. We're " looking for good photos for this space, so 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 THE BOA CONSTRICTOR... YES, THAT IS A RELIEF... BUT THE PUPPY TURNED OUT TO BE THE. COMPROMISE... ~ A" 7 NES, 'T'S TRUE Mon! LOUISE HAS BOUGHT HERSELF A PUPPY! To the Editor: Residents of Union Avenue are disap- pointed in discovering that the township and Durham Regional Planners have reject- ed yet another proposal to safeguard pedes- trian safety along Union Avenue in Prince Albert. Our latest request for a three way stop sign at the intersection of Union and Josephine Avenues was turned down because regional planners feel that it could result in rear-end collisions (as reported in The Port Perry Weekend Star, Sept. 21). Our narrow road, with no shoulders and - flanked with steep ditches on either side was never built to handle the 640 vehicles that travel on it on an average day. Traffic studies have revealed that 320 of those vehicles travel above the posted 50 k speed limit. If you do the math that's over 2,240 vehicles a week, or 116,480 vehicles per year that are speeding down our street and endangering the lives of our children, and others, who must share the surface of the road. Both the township and the region know its an accident just waiting to happen and yet they continue to ignore the situa- tion. You people cater to the demands of developers and ignore the needs of your ratepayers living in the surrounding area. YES, 1 KNOW, SHE DOES HAVE A LOT OF PETS... OH, DON'T BE SILLY, THEY'RE NOT TAKING OVER THE HOUSE... ... AND THEN, AFTER WE HAVE DISPOSED OF THAT ANNOYING BEARDED FELLOW, THE PLACE WiLL BE OURS! YWYA HA HA HA! Union Ave. accident waiting to happen Every time a new housing project is pro- posed the neighbourhood has been forced into fighting against them because all access to these developments is from Union Avenue. Since 1989 you have repeatedly said no to us for sidewalks from King Street down to Major Street. You said no to our request for regional planners to extend Victoria Street eastward across to the intersection of Vanedward Drive and Simcoe Street. You have said no to speed bumps. You have said no to calming zones (like speed bumps but longer and flatter). You have said no to our latest request for a three-way stop sign. The township is very good at telling us what we can't have but has done nothing to solve the dangerous problem they have created. So when the day comes when someone is struck and killed on Union Avenue not only will the township have to deal with a major lawsuit but all members of both past and present council will forever have on their conscience that they had the power to have prevented the tragedy from happening in the first place, but chose not to do anything to prevent it. Steven Edwards, Prince Albert