i. anki 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. December 18, 1984 editorial comments (Ef ALO {0 1 ABOUT TIME GOME CONCERN WAS SHOWN My WEED Y WoRkLD chatterbox by Cathy Robb A REAL DRIVER'S EDUCATION '"Beware the boat," says Liz the Whiz, my twerpey teenaged sister, with a toothy grin. The boat, as she so aptly put it, is a relic of an era when status cars were built to house small armies and cost a week's wages to fill up with petrol. The captain of the boat is a rapidly aging coffee drinker named Reg and his crew of young swabbees are driver education students at both Port Perry and Uxbridge High Schools. Whiz catches a boat ride every Tuesday night in an effort to get her license before she reaches middle-age. The boat picks her and her two colleagues up at Ux- bridge High School but the majority of driving is done here in Port Perry, where the drivers-to-be are hoping to take their driving test. The first time I saw the boat, it was see-sawing back and forth in front of the Hair Shoppe, attempting to parallel park in between a Volkswagon and a pick-up truck. The young sailor in the driver's seat was snarl- ing with effort, lips pursed, eyes strained, fingers clen- ched around the wheel in a death-grip. The next time I saw the boat, it was parked outside BJ's Donuts last Tuesday night, while its occupants, in- cluding Whiz, sat inside filling Reg with coffee. And talk- ing about their lessons, what they'd learned so far, how Betty almost hit the Stop sign and Whiz's lead foot. It was my duty, as the token big sister, to pick Whiz up and take her home. Which I did, causing Betty to throw Whiz dagger looks. "I'll get you for this," she threatened, as we head- ed for my car. "Why did she say that?" I asked Whiz, later. "Oh, now that I'm gone she has to sit in the car alone with Craig," Whiz replied. "I see," I said, remembering the short skinny guy with a scowl on his face. It was also my duty, as token big sister, to feed my little sister. So we headed to my apartment to stuff the Whiz with spaghetti (it's cheap). Once the Whiz was sufficiently blo: ted, we settled down for a nice cuppa tea, and just as we did, the phone rang. It was Annabell, who handles one of the town's fire phones. She also works for the Star and often tips us off to accidents and fires within the township. "There's an accident, sounds like a bad one, out on 7A," she said into the receiver, without identifying herself. 'Right on the highway, just east of Brenda's My heart started to pound, the way it always does when I head out to an accident. I hung up, and told the Whiz to grab her coat. "It sounds like a bad accident," I relayed to Whiz as we rushed to my car. "So stay right with me and re whatever you do, don't get in the way. If a cop tells you to move, move. Same goes for a fireman or anyone else at the scene." She nodded her head numbly. For me, it was another accident to be photographed for the pages of the Star. For Whiz, it was the thrill of the unknown. On the way to the scene, we talked about other ac- cidents and I found myself describing the carnage I've seen in my years as a reporter. I told her how many of those accidents were alcohol-related and she said, "Oh yah, I know. I just handed in this project on impaired driving." Our conversation, however, was cut short. It was a swift trip to the scene of the accident and the lights of emergency vehicles were visible for miles. It was a clear night, fairly warm for December 11th, and the roads were dry. Which is why we were so surprised when we saw the two cars. Knocked about a hundred or so feet apart by the im- pact, the one car, a small Chevy, was crunched into a shape half its original size. The other car, a Pontiac, was still smoldering from the flames, just extinguished by Scugog firefighters. It sat there, hunkered down on the side of the road like a dead animal. Everywhere there was broken glass and debris. At the time we didn't know if anyone was hurt and didn't dare tangle with a policeman to ask ---- they were just too busy. But by looking at the wreckage, we gathered somebody must have been hurt pretty bad. The place saddened and sickened us both. Whiz was whiter than a sheet, and I probably wasn't much bet- ter. I took my pictures and we left as soon as we could. On the way home we talked about what we'd just seen, trying to second-guess what had happened and more importantly, why it happened. The weather con- ditions were fine, the road was straight and visibility was just about normal. ""The guy must have been drunk," Whiz suggested. "You know, when I was doing my project, I found out that most fatal accidents are caused by drunk drivers." She shook her head, near tears. "Why do the jerks have todo it? Is that damned booze so important to them that they have to go out and kill people?" I reminded Whiz that we didn't know if anybody was killed, or even hurt. It wasn't until the next day that I discovered a fine, young hardworking wife and mother was dead, and a 74 year old man, with no injuries, was charged with hav- ing more than 80 mg. of alcohol in his bloodstream. "Figures," Whiz said, when I phoned her with the news. "It's always the innocent people who get hurt." (Turn to page 6) Happy Hour Somewhat reluctantly, we must concede that the proverbial government's move to ban 'Happy Hour' in Ontario's pubs and restaurants is a good one. As of last Friday, reduced price drinks or two drinks for the price of one during certain hours are a no-no for the proprietors of Ontario's licenced establishments. Since many establishments had been holding "Hap- py Hours' between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m., fears had been raised that patrons leaving work would take advantage of the reduced prices to have one or two (or more) drinks "for the road, jump in their cars and attempt to drive home. . And as drinking and driving has become a menace of deadly proportions, we applaud any move that tries in even a small way to reduce the number of drinking drivers on the roads and highways. However, we are becoming more and more convinc- ed that banning "Happy Hours" may make it appear as if the government is doing something about this menace, when in fact the real solution to the problem lies with the courts and police forces. Some European countries have draconian laws on the books which result in even first time offenders spen- ding time in the slammer, and not just "easy time" on weekends. Ontario police forces step up their anti-drinking and driving campaigns over the Christmas and New Years season with spot checks and road-side breath tests. The campaigns seem to be working, yet for the other 11 months of the year, police forces just don't have the man- power to maintain the campaign. Also, the government right now is launching a very hard-hitting TV ad program which vividly depicts the hor- rors that can result from drinking and driving. It may help, a little, just like banning "Happy Hours" may help a little. But there are still drunks on the road, and from time to time we hear of horror stories where a driver has had three, or four and even more drunk driving convictions and still manages to get behind the wheel of the car, like a time bomb waiting to explode in the face of an inno- cent victim. We are convinced that public education campaigns are just part of the solution to this problem. We have heard of at least one small town newspaper (similar to the one you are reading now) that makes a point of prin- ting the names and addresses of every local citizen con- victed of a drinking and driving charge, right on the front page. Maybe that helps in that particular community. But we have to agree with the growing number of people in all parts of this country who believe the real deterrent lies in stiffer penalties handed out by the courts, including jail sentences and five year or longer licence suspensions for repeat offenders. Bingo! There is a corporation in this province that seems to be recession proof, is never hit by a strike and just keeps ringing up the profits year in and year out. The annual report of this corporation announced last week that it has just turned a tidy profit of $216 million in the fiscal year 1983-84, a handsome increase of $53 million over the previous 12 months. Total revenue climbed to $661 million, that's an in- crease of just over $111 million from the previous year. It is obvious that public demand for the product turned out by this corporation is growing in leaps and bounds. So just what is it that keeps the cash registers click- ing and humming in times when a lot of other businesses and industries are barely able to stay one jump ahead of the receiver? Why it's your favourite lottery company, the one run by the provincial government with six different schemes designed to take the money from your pocket and turn it into a dream of striking it big. Yes, the Ontario Lottery Corporation is doing quite nicely, thank you. In the past nine years, some $1.1 billion has been turned over for sports, fitness, culture, health, research and other causes. There are those who say the government should not be in the lottery game, that it's nothing more than an in- direct tax hitting hardest those who can least afford it. Others say the government has no right making profit off people's vices. There may be a few critics, but they are obviously far out-numbered by those who play the games. In fact, 85 per cent of Ontarians purchased a lottery ticket over the past 12 months. That's not bad in a province which still considers many vices to be crimes. Heck, it wasn't too long ago that Irish Sweepstake tickets had to be sold under the counter in brown paper bags. » I ee SS Consett