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Image provided by: Walworth-Seely Public Library
\ TlMES - PAGE 2 - DECEMBER 24,1996 . .. . -.. .,. ..\ , . . , . . , . .. Please' Note! . - ,- . . . Due to the bpliday: seafop, we have graciously given many of our writers ,and col- umnists the week off :to spend time with their families and loved ones. Oh, what the heck, not realb: We wanted' some time to ourselves. ~dvertisers, don't necessarily want to spend big bucks during this off period. I really don't want, to work that hard during Christmas and New Year's week. Now you know the truth. - we ,will return with a vengeance after the holidays. Till then, . expect . us to goof, off .. , and give yoti fewer piigW. . , , . . . ~ ~.~ ..... ,.,, .. - ~ ... . .. .,, ..... - .<> .- ~*,.. , .,., . , . ..- .,. -. s~~,, , . - . - , J'he'Activity Scene I-:: . . . - :,' -, . ..,' . .. -, - -. . .. .. ../ Many weeks prior tb, the date;.? pote cape home from school.^^ so'n Devin's 7th grade class would be attending aproduction-of \The Christmas Ciuol\ at the GEVA Theater dn ~ednesday, December '18th; Some tickets were available for parents to .-. - ., act as chaperones. What a lovely, peaceful thought. A ~eek'before Christmas, abus load of 7th grad- ers and eager parents, hand in hand,experiencing the touching story of a man finally discovering the true meaning to ~hristmas. perhaps there -would be a bit of caroling 00 the way down and touching remembrances and discussions of the play and more holiday cheer on the return trip. Perhaps . , this could be a bonding memory between a father and his son: I forgot my own general rule, never .agree to go anywhere weeks in advance. I hate bus rides and the chances of my son even acknowledging my existence on the trip -. would indeed be a' \Christmas miracle.\ Days before, the customary overall feeling of sickness began to develop. Guys have this innate sense of'developing some physi- cal malady when'an event is approaching theyxeally do not want to attend. I woke that .Wednesday morning feeling'pretty good. I jumpe-d into the shower and my lovely bride poked her head through the door. \Feeling okay this morning?'she .. queried. \Yeah\, I s-aid, ,forgetting what .lay ahead. She had tricked me. I could not now use the aching back, upset stomach or convenient migraine in an attempt to pass off the. trip on her. In the life game of chess, I was mated. Devin was equally excited by the trip. The teacher had the class read and act out the story before the day had arrived. They watched the movie version and probably knew the story frontwards and backwards. The only surprise left in this field trip would be seeing who could push the teachers and chaperones the farthest, before pre- holiday threats and detentions were handed out. As we dressed, the dotting wife and mother announced final instructions. \Ron no cheering when Scr~oge makes Cratchit work on Christmas Eve. I better not hear any- thing about laughter when Tiny Tim stumbles and falls,\ said Patti sternly as we combed our hair. A subtle \hrrumph\, loosely interpreted as our version of \bah hum- bug\ could be heard echoing throughout the hall. Myself, I had-always thought Scrooge got the raw end of the deal. I looked upon the man as a misunderstood capi- talist, with the best of intentions and a true vision of the long term picture. As I arrived at school, teachers, born when I was in my bell bottoms pants and sin- gle scene days, handed out sheets for the chaperones. The pressure was building. \Oh my God,\ I actually had to do something! Seventh- grade boys, including my son were assigned to my group. \Did you check them all off,? queried the teacher. \Yes they are all here,\ I responded, without a real clue of any identities. Luckily, she pulled a roll- call on .the bus that reaffirmed my affirmative response. Once on the bus, my unlucky son got to sit next to dear old dad. \How ya doin',\ he -said softly. .\Okay I responded. On the entire trip to the theater and back, those were the only words of meaningful correspondence exchanged. So much for the bond- ing experience. The entire bus trip saw me staring at his back as he struck up conver- sations with chums. The endless barrage of chatter upon chatter swelling the bus seemed to dwell 'on which 7th grader liked which 7th grader and why? As the only father on the bus; csoon learned my place in the chaperone hierarchy. '. Simple stares from the \old\ guy were enough to handle any situation. When we arrived at the theater, busses frbm~ayne, ~ebster and other points were unloading their cargoes of adolescent ants. Massive mobs of kids had to be corralled into uneasy groups., It was as if-one quick move could spook them and set the herds off into a stampede. Finally, seating by-groups was arranged. I got to sit right up front, surrounded by the cream of the crop of rambunctious early teens. \Hey look if you drop a penny down this crack it falls down into sdmethin',\ said one. My evil eye quickly put a halt to any such shenanigans. Only later did we find out the crack led to a downstairs dressing room where the aloof actors felt they were being bombarded by unruly ruf- . ' fians. - , All-in-all the students enjoyed and were often mesmerized by the slick production. Once we got back on the bus for the return trip, box lunches kept the noise at bay for most the trip home. Still, talk of who liked who, was the chief topic of discussion. As the busses unloaded I immediately made my way to the school office. \I'm here to turn in my slip and get paid for this duty,\ I prodaimed. Alas, the chaperone is a job without such merit.. \Don't worry Ron, Devin is in the graduating class of the year 2002. .We'll.mark it,ojn your chart that you have done your chaperone duty,\ said Principal Ken Dean with a knowing smile. As I left the building; one thought permeated my mind. In the closing words of lit- - - tleTiny Tim, \God ble& the chaperones, each and every one.\ a. - . . , , -. . ,-* , .Deadline for the TlMES is Friday at 5 PM. The TlMES is mailed and distributed to newsstands on,Mondays. To subscribe, send name, address, city;/state/zip with a check for $16.50 ($74.50 for those,over 55) to theTIMES, P.O. Box 608, Macedon, New York 14502. The TIMES is'tegal newspaper for, Wayne County, the Town -of Walworth, the Town of MBcedon, the Town of Marion, the Gananda School District, the Wayne Central School District, The Palrnyra-Macedon School District, the Marion School District, and the Marion, Walworth, and Ontario Fire.Districts. , . The'TlMES (USPS-#005-824) is ,published for $16.50 per year by the TlMES of Wayne County, Inc., publishers, 1900 Route 31, West Wayne Plaza, P.O. Box 608, Macedon, NY 14502. (31.5) 986-4300. Second class postage is paid at Macedon, NY 14502. POSTMASTER: spnd address changes to the<TIMES, P.O. Box 608, Macedon, NY 14502. .\ ' JB-'.-*I.. \ 1 7 , ,>Ad. .*,-s\. k . 4 . 4 r, , 4 q ? i'\; ' -'l.l<?:>>._ Austin Deserves To Be' Principal The recent letter by - Mrs. Barnes regarding the hunt for yet another middle school principal at Pal-Mac hit the mark. Kevin Austin has both the experience and the knowledge to be a good principal. He is dedicated to this district, and shows it constantly. We realize it might be hard to find someone to replace Kevin. Someone who would be on all the committees he's on, someone who would. gather all the infor- mation and put together the reports and presentations that he does, someone that would show up for. every activity and event put on by the Middle School, someone who would spend as much time in that building as Kevin does - but he deserves to be principal. The School Board is wasting the tax- payers's money by doing another \search.\ The man to do the job is already in the building. Rick and Sally Robinson Macedon WCSEA Clarifies Their Name It's easy to see how bogus telephone solicitors make a living. By simply changing a word here or there, a fictitious organizations sounds very familiar. So, unsuspecting folks send in their dona- tions. The Times has worked hard the past few years to help put a stop to this behavior, and they are to be commended. However, there have been three recent articles concerning the union that-repre- sents Wayne- County Sheriff's officers. And, even though you mention having spoken with union president Chris Vande- Mortel, the name has been printed incor- rectly. We are the Wayne County Sher- iff s Employee's Association. We can't rectify any misconceptions by phone solicitors if we don't correctly identify a legitimate organization. The WCSEA does on occasion do fund-raising, although we are not doing phone solicita- tion. I'm glad you put the time into check- ing things out for us all, but I wish you would get all the facts straight before printing. as I say, just changing one word can make all the difference in the world. Chris Bray Ontario Center Road, Walworth Editor's note: Sorry Chris, I would be glad to take the blame, but we did get the facts straight. me book put out by the State, listing organizations and fund rais- ers, has the group 1isted.m we reported. The name was also repeated, as reported in the book, to the president during phone interviews. - OPEN TAM-IOPM DAILY 3291 Canandaigua Road (near the intersection of Gunanda Parkway) 3 Self-serve Bays - Open 2a hours - Vacuums .- Rev? ~hiistmas and CNappy T&ei Way to IOU alC . . . and thank you for helping to make our first year a success! Gary & Connie Qorkhuis
