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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 6, 1982, WHITBY FREE-PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Edito The only Whitby newspapèr independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Pú blished every Wednesday byM.B.M. Publishing and Photography Ine. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. LESLIE BUTLER Community Editor ELIZABETH NOZDRYN Advertising Manager Second Clasa Mail Registration No. 5351 Keep a collar on town by-laws A Toronto reader recently praised Whitby's en- forcement of by-laws relating to stray dogs and cats. The reader said by-laws such as ours make urban areas clean and safe, and should be observ- ed by all residents. By-laws, lntelligently written andijudiciously en- forced, are a sensible way of makLng urban areas orderly, attractive and free of menacing strays. But by-laws, like mischievious dogs, can some- times go astray. Consider the plight of Elmira, a small town nor- th of Guelph. Stray animais in this town were con- trolled for nearly 10 years by a rural horsebreeder. In the interest of providing the service at a mini- mal cost to taxpayers, the town council decIded to tender the job of animal control officer and award it to the lowest bidder. Council spent several weeks preparing the ten- der, receiving bids and choosing a successful ap- plicant. The contract was awarded, and the new officer began building kennels in his yard, which backed on a golf course. Before long, protests were heard. from golfers with visions of teeing off to the tune of 20 yelping dogs, and nearby residents imagining sleepless nights. A brief investigation revealed that the new offic- er's residence was improperly zoned for the pur- pose of an animal farm. The- by-law was explicit - no more than four dogs could be kept on pro- perties in residential zonig. Council was somewhat embarrassed to be re- sponsIble for a violation of its own by-law, and qulckly halted construction of the kennels. Elmira has been without an aniral control offic- er for more than four months pending a resolution of the problem. Council can hardly make itself an exception to a rule of Its own making. It would seem that by-laws will sometimes wan- der off in spite of themselves. Baseball season comes to an end Dear Sir: The W.M.B.A. Ladies Auxiliary would like to thank those of you who have supported us throughout this basebail season, especially the ladies who have assisted at the bake sale, the con- cession booths and the Awards Day Banquet. Spe- cial thanks to those who attended the annual dan- ce and helped to make it a very successful event. The Executive, W.M.B.A., Ladies Auxiliary. The'origin of words has always fascinated me. We know the meaning of the words we use everyday, but most of the time we never give a thought to where they came from in the first place. i saw an item on the Broad- cast News wire the other day which rekindled my interest in the origins of the language. One word which caught my eye in the BN item was "boycott." It's a relàtively new word, it turns out, and it comes from the Ireland of the 1880's after a succession of crop failures. Lan- downers were busy evicting tenants who were unable to pay their rent. The Irish Land League, headed by the great Charles Parnell, came up with a new tactic. Ostracism. In future, any landlord threatening eviction could have a choice: he could accept a lower rent or.get the silent treatment. You guessed it: a landlord's manager, named Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, was the test case. When he refused to lower the rent for a tenant he was evicting, they gave him the business. Local shops refused to serve him, his servants left him, and his crops were in danger. In the end, Captain Boycott fled to England, and the word "boycott" became a part of the language. i mentioned "boycott" to my father, who gave me a few more. "Explain" for example.-From.the Latin 'ex', that is out, and 'Planus' which means flat. Thus, ex- plain really means to lay something out flat, where it can be examined and understood. "Panic" is another one. It comes from the French 'panique' and the Greek 'Panikos,' which means of or forthe Greek God Pan. When travellers heard what they thought were the sounds of Pan's pipes in the wilderness night, they were afraid, in fact, they "Panicked." "Ketchup" is a good one. It wasn't invented by Mr. Heinz apparently. It comes from a Chinese word, pronounced as nearly as I can tell KE-TSIAP. And it was the brine that pickled fish. It's a long way from fish brine to the tomato ketchup we all know today, but that's where the word came from. One more for now. "Denim," the stuff that jeans are made of. Again, "denim" is French in origin. It's short for 'serge de Nimes,' a cloth made famous in Nimes, a city in southern France. Hence denim really means 'of Nimes.'If you're interested, lIl do some more of them sdneday. That's not news, but that too is reality. Pear SIr: On behalf of thé group who meet at McDonald's restaurant the second Monday of each month for Crafts & Cards, I wlsh to thank Jennie and Bonnie, Mr. Smith and the bus driver for the nice trip to Cullens Gardens and the lovely lunch we had while out there. The scenery was lovely and every- thing was just grand. We enjoyed every minute of it. So thanks to all of you. Signed on behalf of the group. E.M. Freek, Crafts & Cards. Historical Society says thanks Dear Sir: The Executive of Whitby Historical Society wishes to thank the membership and friends for the splendid support given to the sale in the Oshawa Centre on October 1 and 2. This allowed us to clear more than $300 and we appreciate your co-operation. Kathleen M. Hutchings. -~~-~- 14 Cullens Gardens trip a success ý_= -_ 77777- - . l 1 1 : , . ý ý . - 1 , - , ý - 1, . ý , - ý ý , > ý 1 -; -,. , , , -- .- . ý ý e-- - ý ý 1 -", - .1 - 1 ý Il- - - -f - - - - 1 -