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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1976, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby wp Voice of the County Town A Issistant E itor - Blake PurdY q SERVINO OVER 28,000 READERS * PubIish'edcivery Wednesday Community Editor - Brian Winter Contributing Editor - Jim Quail Production Manager - Marie Burgess Display Advertising Manager - Robin Lyon by M.BM. Publishing ýclassifiedAd Manager -, r and Photography In. m c. l n aae Marlene Byrom iruainngrSharon Lyon Box 206, Whitby. The Free Press Bujilding Mailing Permit No. 2941 Mi ke Burgess, Publisher-Managing Editor. 121 Brock Street North, Phone 668-6111: Toronto Line' 282-1004 Pe0 opemust,,resp ect auhorit People must demonstrate a strong respect for authority and allegiance to order and students must be taught it, Education Minister Thomas Wells said last week. Speakçing to a conference of' Ontario secondary school principals, Mr. Wells said that respect for authority is esstential for the maintenance of order, for freedom for the individual and for the preservation of the Canadian way of life. "Unfortunately over the past few years, soine people have been led to believe that militant challenge of authority is the way -to succeed. T'he more militant, the more successful the endeav-,ýýir. Harrassment is the way to browbea.t the opponent into submission. Confrontation- style leadership is new in Canada, but to our great discredit, it seems that more and m--ire groups are turning to it in order to achieve their ends", he said. "Confrontation is an enticing exervise. For many people who have been lured to it, it is a new game, full of intrigue and with overtones of group power and manipula- tion which some people seem to relish. Sometirnes it achieves short-teron gains, but that is merely part of the, allure, because confrontation ini the long run is over- whelmingly destructive and ultimately ineffective". The Education Minister said that, in the last 1 2 months, there have been some "classic exampples" of the futiity, destrý,.ztiveness and ineffectiveness of confrontation. "Confrontation, with ail its overtones of hostility and defiance, it a loser's game", he said. Mr. Wells warned the principals- that "it is imperative that young people understand why 'respect for authority is an essential ingredient for the preservation of our democratic system and our free society". "Our schools must provide a basis and a foundation for inc-ilcating and developing this kind of understanding amiong our young people, both by example and by formai instruction. Many young people today have neyer been taught why society bas to have miles,- why these rules should be obeyed and why those in authority should have Officèr 's wife defends police chases, Dear Sir; I have read and rereac for a second and thirè time, two letters to the editor which appeared in your March 3, 1976 edition. They concerned the tragic death of a young Whitby mother during the police pursuit of an offender. Mrs. Lintjens questions the state of the officer's conscience and says she would like to hear the explanation as to the necessity of the chase. 1 arn sorry Mrs. Litjens but there can be no reply from the police officer in question. Why? Be- cause police officers are second class citizens and are bound by the rules and regulations of the Police Act to refrain fromn making public statements. 1, however, as the wife of a police officer, have neyer sworn to anything otî';--r than my marriage vows and I refuse to be silenced and allow a great number of readers to be swayed by the opinion of Mrs. Lintjens and Mr. Bagneli. Let me assure you that I arn not the wife of the officer in- volved and that 1 know no> details other than what was printed in local papers. My husband has not discussed the case. with me because that right is also denied him. Police work is confiden- tiai, just as a doctor's or a lawyer's. >Only first class citizens are able- to corne home and unburden themnselves of the day's trials- and tribulations with their spouses. The fact that a husband is n0W widowed, three are motherless and that Whitby has lost a valuable, contributrng woman is a tragie occurrence. No one in 1their right mmnd would J argue that point, but 1 feel that the blamne for ithiis is being misplaced. >What would public 1opinion be if my husband i ost control of his cruiser during a high speed chase and was killed, leaving me a- widow with ouir three children to raise. Let me tell yoti! -The remiarks would range froin "That was hi(s job. After ail, we pay themn welI enough" amongst average citizens to "One iess pig to look over youir shoulder for" amongst the crinîinal elemnent. Lives on Une Do you think for one momnent that police 'ýfficers like putting their lives on the line at 80 and 90 miles an hour? There is enough crime ini our society that their lives are on the uine just by pu tting o n their uniforms. Instead of asking why the officer pursued him for committing the minor offence of going througlî a stop street, ask your- self how you would feel if your young son or daugh ter had been cros- sing the street at that moment on their way home frorn Cubs or Brownjes. You wouid be dembanding to know why the police weren't arouind whe-u your child wvas hit. Perhaps the- officer ini question feit the offen- der would continue to disobey more stop signs if not apprehended. In- cidentally, Mr. Bagneil, have you ever tried .to obt-lin the licence num- ber of a car that is covered with' dirt and mud which is typical of the weather we ha.ýe been having? In addition, the police cannot assumte that the driver of the car us also the owner of the car. Haven't you ever heard of car theft? Roadblocks can be set up but a roadblock does do any gQod if the law- breaker decides to turn right or left at the next intersection and the road- block is at the entrance ramp to the 401. You have no way of second- guessing the person you are followinz.' Ask yourself-, alIso whlere is the ratiojiale that lowers the drinking agc -to 18 and legally allowvs a 19 year old to drink (newspapers and radio reports g-îve the b.:eathi- alizer resuits), get behind the wheel of his car ,and turnl it into a lethal wceapon the minute he turns the key ini the ignition switch? If you, as taxpayers, would like to sec a law passed which states that police vehicles cannot exceed a certain 'speed ini urbani areas, theri by ail means write to your Menîber of Parliamnent. 1 have 110, objection. It would met-ii. that 1 could sleep a littie casier when he is on the night shift. However, the next timie your corner Beckers or Mac's Milk store is robbed and tlie police fail to catr2h tute offen- ders, please doin't write another letter to tlhe editor. That crime wil have been of your own making. If you lîandcuff our police departînents with any more inoperable laws than they are already confronted witlî, then you mnust be preîared to face the consequences. Wlîy is it that people are uîever aroused until a crime is committed that hits close to home? I have tiried to cc-nvince rPeople to ýwrite to the government about Capital Punishment, the easy bail ? aws, the lax parole 1system, etc. but no one is interested in those things. ft is only when you reahize that it ,-ould have been you in place of the Whitby mother that you start to houler. Please rememiber that it could have been you throwni on the subîý/ay tracks in- Toronîto a few mnonths agi-<),btut of course, that twasn't close euîoughi to homie. There's no0 doubt tlîat laws can be imnproved tîpon but a p~olice officer does as lie is told to do under the exisfîng law or lie is no0 longer a lolice officer. Look to recent happm-ings ln Newv Brunswick for pr:)of of that. The way the law now exists they are to pLlrsLme lawbreakers. Tlîat's what you taxpayers ask for.* luîcideuîtally, douî't forget that rmy husband and 1 both pay taxes also. If you do mnanage to persuade Mr. Alîinian andg his cotinterparts to pa~ss legislation that xvilii restrict piolice officers ini their wild joy-rides, woLuld you also take aside the criinfal cie-t nment iii this counîtry amnd ask thern if they wili alsot abide by the new restric-r tions as to speed? Aftera ail, it wouid hiardly bec sportsiiîanilu*(ce for offen- F ders to do 80 and 909 miles per hour if the0 police (your protectors)P are uîot aliowed to exceed ti 30 or 40 miles per hour. ,f Do you not realize b that police officers (even Ir ini a town the size of Whitby) deal with a Pl portion' of society thiat M' you and 1 rarely enî- l counter? These' people e: neyer go by the boý play according to, 1 If they did, we, have no need fo- police departments man beings do no to be caught when wrong. Mr. Bagnell c statisties from the Why doesn't he coi the murder rate ini E with that of Toroi he is imnpressed American sta tis tics? crimimial elernent ii counîtry still has fear of the capab of the police. If you ýaway aulymore of nîeaîîs of apprehei then you condenîr society to the saine dea th as the*- Ai-ne society. Leî's co-operi Our only hope- workable reiationshi tween ourselves as' zenis and our police are are only protec between ourseves citizeiîs anîd our p who are our onlly pr, tion froun people would destroy our of life, whether it b robbery or unurdei iguîoriiîg a stop) Sigul. It uîîust give boti you a feeing of1 imîportanîce to* be t'o attack, lin prtin group tlîat is uiot allo to, defeuîd itseif. Po mien anîd their fami- are already secouîd-c citizemis as I have sti previously (I can n( serve on a jury beci, of my m-arriage t( policeniîan) but yoru *irying to push theuîî e * îrther dlown the lac' by destroyiuig their pu image. When ail dedica ,olice offiçe.rg (I anmi iaive enough to ti, lînt evç-vyoiie is a shimi Lxamp'lýe rof law and or Whitby ýoks or but the majority are) HIoyle. have resigned because you would and others like you have ýr our made their jobs so intol- ;. Hu- erabie, what wilI you do t like then? Let me tell you! in the You will buy a gun, teach your wife and children to' luotes shoot (as the whites are SU.S. now doing in South rnpare Africa) and barricade )etroit yourselves inside your nto if homies because the with streets wilI no longer be ?The safe. n this Thie tragic death in some Whitby was certainly ilities that - tragic; bu t you u1 strip are perpetrating another their traged y Mien you insin- ýnsion uate the police officer ýi our was in the wrong. Per- ugly haps youi didn't intend rican to do that but rnany people wiIl misconstrue rite your reasoning. The blanri.- lies squarely on is a the shioulders of the 'l 9 ip be- year old who chose to citi- break two small, insigni- who ficant laws. He drove tion while under the influence sas of alcohiol and ignored olice a stop sign. The breakage -otec- of two sinaller'Laws led whio to the breakage of an way even greater law - Thotu >e by shaltniotkilI. r or 1 wishi our society would permnit nie to sign i of n1y îîame to this letter grea t as 1 believe every word 1 able have written. Unfortun- t, a ately, 1 ain unable to wed because iny fiamily is 'lice- dependant upon nmy ilies husband's job. 1 cannot class jeopardize it by having a ted î-ny naine publishied (l ýever -ani one of the old-fashi- ause ioned wives who believes o a ini usilIg lier married are naine). Perhaps 1 shahl wen live' to see, the day when Ider our îîîen on the police bile forces are treated as first class citize&s and are able ted to defend thlemlselves ln not print withiott tlieir wives iink haiving to do it anony- imig inlously. rder A Police Officer*s Wifé j- "i - despit 'rgie occurrence in XV 1 %le a imah.. ,