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WIITBY FREE PRESS, MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1985. PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson f w-lp CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell Well, folks, I've got another severe case of writer's block this week - all I've got for you is a collection of some pretty random thoughts. So, here goes nothing: THE FIRING OF THE O.H.S. I note with interest that the Pickering-Ajax-Whitby Animal Control Commit- tee has finally bitten the bullet and decided to take over animal control services in the three municipalities. The committee, and the councils it represents, has been trying to delay this move for quite some time but they knew that even- tually the Ontario Humane Society and its executive vice-president Tom Hughes would have to go. Relations between the P.A.W. committee and the society began a couple of years, not long after North Ward Coun. Ross Batten became chairman. Ross took over a committee that really didn't do much of anything. They never questioned what was going on with their animal control service and basically left the responsibility in the hands of the society. Ross wanted to look at the books, he wanted to question policy, he wanted to know what was being done and how much it was costing the taxpayer. Unfortunately, the society didn't like to be questioned. Tom Hughes, at least when I was attending P.A.W. committee meetings, was not very co-operative. It appeared to me that he considered it an affront to endure questioning from the representatives of the public treasury from which, I might add, he was being paid. I remember one set of budget dicussions when tempers really started to flare. The trouble was that the society insisted on submitting a budget for approval that included humane society work. That is, their budget sumission was for more than just animal control, which was what the three municipalities were interested in. Because the society would not submit a budget that was strictly for the animal control service they were contracted to provide, the taxpayer ended up subsidizing costs that were not part of the contract. The municipalities did not want to take over the service - they knew contrac- ting it to the society was the most cost-effective method of providing the ser- vice. However, there were too many complaints from taxpayers, not enough co- operation from the society and not enough control in the towns' hands for the situation to continue much longer. While the taxpayer will probably be paying more for animal control services, I think it will be more effective and accoun- table. I have no doubt that the taxpayer will be better served once the three municipalities take over the service. A COMMENT ON LETTERS Whenever I ponder on religious issues, especially when I am critical of the fundamentalists, this newspaper normally gets a letter or two denouncing me as some Godless heathen who doesn't read his Bible and must be a complete idiot because I don't see things their way. In many ways, I find these letters amusing. Rarely do they attack what I have said, dispute the facts I have offered or disagree with my conclusions. They simple attack me for not believing in their brand of Christianity. For example, a recent letter on this subject didn't address the comment I made about the fundamentalist movement - i.e. the attempts by the Moral Majority to invoke greater censorship on the written word, the news, television, films and the stage - it merely denounced me for being stupid enough to have an opinion different from theirs and because I'm not one of them I must be wrong and I must be excluded from the ranks of the faithful. Just once, I'd like to read a letter from one of these fundamentalists criticizing me for what I have written, not from my lack of sympathy of their cause. In fact, reading these letters has given me the distinct impression that these people aren't interested in the preservation of religious freedom or of civil rights in general. What they are interested in is ensuring that their religion eventually becomes the dominating force in our society. Their general attitude appears to me to be one of: "If you don't believe the way we do you're damned, you're no good. vou have no right to share in the Christian heritage." Well, I've got news for them. No one bas a monopoly on the truth, no one bas the God-given right to tell others what to think, see, read, do, believe or wor- ship. As individuals, most fundamentalists I know are decent, law abiding people full of good intentions. But what they fail to realize is that their right to believe as they will only means something if it is granted to all people. I hope they keep writing. But next time I hope they stick to the subject under discussion, not my unwillingness to accept their policies and beliefs without question. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO PUBLIC SKATING? My daughter, Shannon, received a brand new pair of ice skates for Christ- mas. I don't skate, but my wife does and we thought we would take Shannon out and teach her. So, like a good father, I called up Iroquois Park to find out when there was public skating. I was told there was no public skating last weekend at Irouqois Park, the whole place was tied up by a hockey tournament. I don't believe it. In the middle of the largest public winter holiday of the year - a time when families generally do things together, those living in Whitby can- not use a facility they paid millions of dollars to erect. It's all well and good to have hockey tournaments and to provide facilities to the minor sports organizations in town, but provisions should be made for the general public, especially during the holidays. I mean, it's great to have a hockey tournament in town, but can't they hold public skating, even if it's just an afternoon? The taxpayer has a right to use these facilities during the holiday, don't they? WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan It may not have come to your attention before, but newspapers and the people who work for them are not perfect. Granted, the regular staff at the Whitby Free Press come close to perfection. But at other newspapers, large and small, daily and weekly, the staff simply goofs from time to time. Most Papers will make corrections of basic errors in fact. To the connoisseur of newspaper errors, that is no fun. Once upon a time, in a land not-so-far away, this writer served as editor of a daily newspaper. And as part of that career are a number of choice blunders. The first in my memory, from my first week working as a reporter: (this written by a veteran police reporter): "The car, stolen last night from a city parking lot, was found in a field early today wrecked by the On- tario Provincial Police." Those misplaced modifiers will wreck a lot. In the mid-sixties, the Federal post office caused a few labor problems when peek holes were in- stalled in washrooms. The intent was to cut down pilfering and damage. The unions involved yelled bloody murder, ranting on about lack of privacy. And of course the inevitable typographical error (the kind that can be blamed on no one) made the event memorable: "Postal unions today gave notice that they will fight vigorously the installation of pee holes in post office washrooms." Stories of such errors abound. An MP once told me about a full page ad for a men's wear store that passed proof reading by the printer, the ad salesman, the owner of the store and the editor. The ad noted a sale on shirts, and carried the word shirts in letter two inches high, in bold type, across the middle of the page. And spelled "Shirts" with no "R". The New York Times once carried a banner headline which told of President Hoover busily signing legislation:- "Hoover's Pen is Busy'" The compositor dropped the space between the "Pen" and "is", giving the President full marks for interesting activities. All the samples are not limited to the past. The Canadian Press this month published a collection of blunders from the past year, taken from newspapers around the world. Here are a few: -His only link with his rescuers is a system of taps on the wall of his concrete prison to assure them hi he is still alive: one for yes, two for no. (The Weekend Australian.) -A dangerous leak at Wimborne district offices in Furzehill could have gone undetected if a workman had not dropped a lighted match in the basement and caused an explosion. -Marya Bandyk, 22, was, a high school ballet dan- cer from Michigan whose army father "instilled a love of country in his family." She originally wanted to fly, but was told her arms were too short. (The Washington Post.) -A persistent flasher has been exposing himself to teenage girls in the Traralgon area, wearing a sugar bag over his head and nothing else. The police are said to be preparing an Identikit picture. (The Age, Melbourne.) Headlines can cause more problems. Pity the poor copy editor, who musc compress in half a dozen words the story a reporter has described in several hundred. And at the same time, counting letters and spaces so that the lines of each headline balance. It is a thankless job. It also results sometimes in unexpected results: POLICE IN IRELAND HUNT UNWANTED MAN. (Oman Daily News). ACID RAIN LINKED TO EMISSIONS BY REAGAN AIDE (New York Times). SEWAGE RISK TO CHILDREN POOH- POOHED (The Times, Tavistock, England). VISITORS TO GET WARM WELCOME AT CREMATORIUM (The Echo, Sunderland, England). COMMITTEE WANTS TO TEACH PROSTITUTES NEW SKILLS (The Morning SEE- PG. 19)