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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5. 1986 WHITBY FREE PRESS. Published every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publshing a and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 VALERIE COWEN The Free Press Building, odlsgMang Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Pubisher.- Managing Editor 1:1 Brock Street North, econNass3a1 P.0. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. The nly hltb newpape indpendntlyowne andoperted y WhtbybsiCommufrnWtybyEdsitors It's been quite a week i It has. been a week rather top heavy with con- troversial and potentially controversial news for Whitby fesiglents. If one was inclined to con- spiracy theorles they might even conclude that someone had it in for us. To begin with there is the news that Canada Post will not be providing door- to-door mail delivery In areas that are already doing without the time honoured convenience. This revelation will no doubt be a hard pill to swallow for the 1,100 Whitby residents who have been picking up their mail at the post office these A wealdy nmws .emnnt tram outstanding news perannaionb OTTAWA - I don't remember the first time I heard the call of a loon, or even where I heard it. It could have been on a lake in New Brunswick, or on the Lake of the Woods in Northwestern Ontarlo. For me at least the loon's wifd wall has always been the esséntial melody of the northern lakes. Last summer, on the Big Rideau, we saw and heard loons frequently. Once when we anchored for the night in a little bay on the North shore a pair of loons swarn slowly towards us, leaving V-shaped wakes in the glassy surface of the bay, and came so close that we could see their black and white markings in every detail. It didn't occur to us when we watched them that the loon was an endangered species. Knowing of our love for the out-of-doors, my sister gave us a book on loons for Christmas, and we finally realized how pathetically little we really knew about them. For a start, they are the oldest species of bird in the world, assuming their present size and shape some 60 million years ago. When you consider that human history is compressed into a mere million years, you begin to have some idea of the loon's antiquity. They are totally aquatic. Their feet are placed for diving, so far back on their bodies that they cannot walk, but can only push themselves along on their breast feathers. Without the right kind of water, they can neither fish norfly. Unlike other birds, their bones are solid. The weight enables them to dive easily. Those same heavy bones make getting airborne difficult, and they need a good-sized lake to get up to flight speed. They can't get off at ail, of course, if in bad light they mistake a rain-wet piece of highway for a small river and land on It. And of course, if they stay in the North too long in the Fali .and their lake freezes over, they're done for. They can't fly without open water. All being well, they winter in the oceans off the east and west coasts of the United States. Young birds, born on Canadian lakes, remain in the oceans, their winter habitat, until they are three or four years old and capable of mating. But the pressures on the loon have become enor- mous. The late-comer, man, has in the last 10 or 20 years come close to wiping out a species that has survivied everything nature could throw at it for 60 million. Pesticides, chemicals, oil slicks, and the recreational development of more and more wild space, are serious problems, but the loon's deadliest enemy is acid rain. The loon becomes another reason for Bill Davis and the rest of us to do something before It's too late. past months. Indeed, area postmaster George Alexopoulos informed a full house at last Friday's public meeting that the number will grow to 2,000 by October and with Whitby's record for housing starts, those figures are probably only the tip of the iceberg. The new community mail boxes to be installed this summer will improve the situation but for those who purchased homes with the understan- ding that they would receive door-to-door service It comes as a bit of a blow. Considering Canada Post's monstrous operating deficit, however, one has to ask if postal officiais have any real alter- natives. In fact, upon further consideration, those who cried out Friday night that community boxes are discriminatory, and that door-to-door delivery should be an all-or-non proposition begin to sound less like cranks and more like sound economic theorists. If not for the massive political im- plications, door-to-door mail dellvery would have been irradidated ten years ago. As it is, it will probably have to take a more circuitous route to extinction. Next on the list of vexing news is the Decom proposai which is to be heard by the Environmen- tal Assessment Board Feb. 26. Nothing is more aggravating than having someone go over your n Whitby head, which is essentially what Decom Medical Waste Systems Inc. is trying to do. Unfortunately, we no longer live in a world where we are allowed to zealously look after our owr\and agencies like the Environmentai Assessment Board are designed to steer us in the direction of the greater good. We ail share in the responsibility for the un- desireable side-effects of the modern era and If the town Is to convince the board in its favour, It will have to make a strong case that the proposed site s not the.best one Decom could have chosen. AIso vying for top billing as most vexatious story of the week is the news that a motion passed at last week's regional council meeting, could spell the end of Whitby's hopes for a fourth regional councillor and Monday night's speech by Minister of Transportation and Communications Minister Ed Fulton in which he promised that the long awaited Go line is a certalrity but was unable to follow through with an assurance that there will be money to put Its servicing roads in order. We are entering new times and while we make remarkable advances on every front it becomes increasingly clear that there wiil be certain trade- offs along the way. In an era when compromise is the order of the day, we will probably have to lose a few batties in the hope that we will win the-war. NOTICE There will be a meeting at 7:30 tonight for ail esidents concerned about the Decom proposal. Location: 127 Thickson Rd.