The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WHITBY FREE PRESS$ WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 27, 1986, PAGE 5 "I have aworn itpon the altar of God eternal hostility agcIinst every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson 0 Advise and Dissen The Move by Doug Anderaon Lynde House was moved on Frlday - a mad day for me personaily and for many others who had worked somany years te keep It on 16s original site. For the crowd of about 100 whostarted gathering shortly before nine, it was an event te remember. The sight of a large bouse being llfted from its foun- dation and being towed down the middle of the road la indeed memorable. This was not my flrst sucb experience - people la the beritage movement get used te and somewhat bardened te such eventa. I watched the Campbel Bouse being moved In Toronte In 1972, a larger and much heavier solid masonry building. It la now a very nice museum at Queen and Unversity across from historic Osgoode Hall. lie original site whlch was slated for deveiopment la, I believe, still a parking lot. For the mayor, wbo glad-handed bis way tbrougb the crowd, it was a media event not te ha mlssed. I had vlsltedblm l inai office on Wednesday morning la an effort te try te, find the middle ground wbereby the Town and the Historical Society could start talklng again - so the Society could get some klnd of agreement that it could work wltb and the Town could avoid the political failout when the bills corne la. 1suggested that the movehaepoetponed for a week so the Town, the Histrical Society and Monarcb Investaienta (the new owners of the property wbo do not plan te develop that part of the property for a couple of years at least) could get together and try te, negotiate a workable agreement. The mayor, bowever, was adamant that the bouse must be moved - the show muet go on!I He teld me tbat, havlng made the decision, Council accepted tbe responslbllty. It's nice that our politicians accept responsibillty for their ac- tions- It's tobad the taxpayers have te pay for tbefr mltakes. Wfile tbe crowd waited for the house testart moving, 1Italked to the engineer, Tirs Stanley, and the architeet, Pbilip Goldsmith, wbo wlll work on the restoration. Tbey gave me the impression that they felt that the move was far teo rushed. The site at Cullen Gardens was not ready and the bouse was te hae "1parked" for a few days. When asked wblch way the bouse wll face Mr. Gold- smithmlad West - the only way it wouid fit on the site. The original kitchen wing, whlcb the Society hadhaeen told could ha rebuilt, will not be - there lan't enougb room. Dld Lynde House suddenly get blgger or, la the almoat two years since Cullen put It on is plans, did nobody tink te measure it? As the house left, the property onto D'Hiler St., they stopped to disconnect some more wlres. I aaked Town Administrater Bill Wallace, wbo was standing next te me, wbether the Town was haing bWled for tbe bydro, phone, cable, and telecommunication lime work. Yes, they were. "Howmucb?" Iasked. "Asmallstipend." "Howsamail? " "Bigger than a breadbox." Was the Architectural Conservancy fairly close in the $20 thousand estimate they made lat fall' He thougbt that was a "bit" hlgh but since they were belng biled by the hour, we wouldn't know until after the move was completed. The bouse moved onte Hwy. 2 at about 10:30 and headed west. There were some delays along the way - at the crossing of Reglonal Road 23 and again at the oeR crossing on Audiey Rd. wbere they had to wait 3/ of an hour for a train -but the rest of the trip went smootiny and the bouse was puiled into the Gardens at about 4:30. POSTSCRIPT .When Counillor Bruneile hagan the push to move Lynde House to Culen Gardens, he proposed that the Town mlgbt provide a one tine only $100,000 grant te, move and restore the bouse and then the Museumn would bave te find its own way without municipal funda after that. That certainly would have been a good dea1 for the Town and the taxpayers. However, Marcel could not convince the Socety that the Idea was economlcally sound, let alone a good ides. In the absence of an agreement wlth the Society, the Towvn chose to plow ahead on Ita own. Subsequent events have and will result in the following ex- penditures for the taxpayers: the move including wlre removals and the new basernent minus CuIIen's contribution resteration annual operatlng deficit $75,000 -20.000 55,000 900-300,000 at least 50,000 per year The restoration costa would have been the same anywhere but it remains un- certain wbether the Town wll ha able te negotiate any Provincial asslatance at Cullen Gardens. The operating deficit la due almoat exclusively te the site at Cullen Gardens - the long hours it must be open, and the increased staff requlred tohandle large numbers of people. Was the niove necesaary? Emphatically no 11 Wittington Investmenta was qulte prepared te sell a parcel of land te the Society or the Town up until about Marcb of thlayear but nobody ever made theai an offer. Mr. Wallace in a report te Town Coundil last October estimted the cost of the property at *200,000, half of wblcb "oud have been pald by the Provincial governent. Balancing that nuome againat the coet of the move and the blgher annual operating coes at Cullen Gardens, you reacli the inescapable conclusion that it would have been cbeaper teleave it where it was. So, not only bas the Town commltted the taxpayera to a perpetual drain on our pocketbooks, but it bas bopelessly antagonized the people that it had hoped would run the new Museumi. AU for a good show!1 If the Town had been llatenlng te the Hiaterical Society over the laat 14 years, tis would neyer have happened. Our volunteer community groupa are a resource that the Town should nurture. They are not the financially draining nuisance tbey are treated as. Let's hope no other community group la ever dragged through this sort of tbing again. WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan It la tonlgbt ln Beaver, Ont. and Lucas Letter- press, four foot-two editor of The Fiat Tail, la stan- ding on tep of a John Deere ridlng mower, speaklng. "And why do we need a new beverage rooni in Beaver'?" " Because we burned the last one down on Canada Day," shouts a literal volce from the back of the room. "lWe burned her down good. " 1"Yes, but why did we burn it down? " parries Let- terpresa, as smootb as a politician. "'Because," he says, finally getting to answer hla own question, "because a saloon has no place in a Canadian village, let alone an Ontario village. " "Saloons," he explains, "are Anerican fimages. Beaver, Ont. la Canadian. What we need la a synibol of Canadian pioneer enterprise." "Yeab," interjects tewn bowling champ Dlzzy Pins, "What we really need is a place todrink. Ever since The Lone Star got torched, we bin drier than a tiche's wlt. " "Whtat we need most," shouta Lucas, las a place te host the Free Trade Poker Stakes. Butit would be nlce, "bheadded wlth a amile to please the crowd, "if we could also serve drinks there." The crowd, Canadian to the core, smilles back. 'IWhat we need,"' saya Lucas, the closest the villagerswill get to a politician today, "las money"i. "Here here." "And a place tebulld thlsdrinklng place." "Now as 1 sSe t," Lucas argues, "«money la Our first problemi. Now Mayor Jobnny, and i loyal proposition, tbey'd ail juznpi and spend taxpayers money. But they ain't here, so were gonna have to do it ourselves. " The villagers controil their enthuaiasm. "So who's first? Who's gonna put up the firat thousand dollars to be a shareholder in the new drinklng place"' Now the villagers are Canadians first and free en- terprisers second. Taxpayers money they can un- derstand, vaguely, and approve, since itla tbeir own money they'd already spent which they otherwise wouldn'tgetback. But invest? Not hereiln Beaver. No air. No one wants to be first. Fact ls, no one wants to be second eitber, Or third. Lucas la underwhelzned by the response. "O0kay," he says, slowly. "Let's move on to the land. Wheredo wewant this drlnklng place?1' Now a curious thing happens. Everybody wants a 'place to go to drink. Somne wll argue about wbetber It should have a smoking section, or be ail smoking, or what, and someone asks If they ever heard of a drinking place that wasn't filled with amoke of al kinds. But no one wanta to live near a drinking plact. "Yuh kin put fer damn near anywhere," says voluable Tongue Twister, "So long's yuh don't put fer in mybackyard. " Then for good measure he added: "Nor in my front yard, neither. " The vlllagers pick up the chant. "'Not in my backyard," tbey say. "Njt wîtb my money."> 0f course, such a resuit could be predcted. Canadians as a whole want everytbing. 7 hey juat don't want te pay for It, and they don't %vant the sewage plant la their backyard. Or the nuclear waste dump. Nor the toxic waate disposai. Nor the low rentai houaing. Or baif way bouses. Or a day care centre.1 It's known as the Not In My Backyard <NIMBY) syndrome. 'Fortunately for Lucas and the tirsty villagers, the answer la rigbt at hand. Sbafty Hiltz, the town realtor, takes the final silence te be the rigbt tinieto announce that certain investors are willllng to flot only finance the whole operation, but provide the land and buildings too. So this la how Beaver, Ont. got a drinklng establishment te replace The Lone Star Beaver. A place as Canadian as apple pie; as cheery as the old beverage rooma of old with 'Gents' and 'Ladies and Escorta' over two different doors. . Modern, too. This la how Beaver gets its first ficenced McDonald's.