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e w ~<: "~ Published every Wednesday By 677209 Ontario Imc. Phone: 668-6111 Doug Anderson, Publisher VOICE 0F THE COUNTY TOWN The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whithy residents for Whitby residents. OFThe Free Press Building 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Maurice Pither Editor Peter Irvine Advertising'Managerf Alexandlra Simon Production Manager Sue Blanchard Circulation Manager t's flot the amount of money that 15 disturbing as rriuch as the timing and method employed wheri Whitby councillors voted them- selves a pay hike. Ignore any Caimns that such matters involve municipal persoDnnel and should be discussed behind closed doors. These personnel just happen to have been elected and are therefore responsible to their electors. Part of that Poor timing responsibility is to discuss their remuneration in an open forum, flot in secret. The public may thon learn of the arguments in favor of a whoppinq pay raise, and any arguments against may also be heard and considered. And such a forum should have- been held before last November's municipal election, thus avoiding the truly awkward situation. of award- ing oneself what is a substant l increase. We don't argue with the amount, it's probably still Iess than councillors' remun- erations in manymunicipalities. But the way in, which those dollars were awarded makes it unacceptable. Coim cil credibility i doubt after vote for pay raiLse To the. oditor. It is regrettable that Whitby cauncil, for gr-eed, further jeopardized their credibility and image as a mature and reasonable bady. This pay raise a»f 29 per cent they gave theinselves, behind closed doors, is excessive and irresponsible' and should be rescinded; doing tbings in this way is less than honorable. Pay raises of this- proportion for part-time work are flot in lime or commensurate with services received. Alsa the one-third tax free can no longer be justified. hwas 'cowardly' To the. editor:. I arn disturbed at Whitby council for the niost cowardly way of giving themnselves a whapping 29 per cent inrease without provding any prior notice ta the public as ta their plans in this regard. In fact th-ey showed a total lack of integri1ty by passing by-law 2554-89 witlh ail the three readings during one council session. This cawardly action reflects the lack of integrity and professiona]iam on the part of cauncil as- a whole. To add further insult ta, the Whitby taxpayers, this raise was passed at an in camera meeting, closed ta, the public. Cowardly IDEED. W.A. Lioveiock Whitby One councillor claimis he earns about $2 per hour as a coundillor. People must surely wonder why on earth this man would knock himiself out the way, he did to get re-elected. The sane councillor publicly advised another councillor ta, forget any promises or obligations ta their supporters, and get on with running this multi-million dollar corporation and pay noa attention ta people with complaints. This attitude is what we can expect ta receive for our additional 29 por cent. Same counc1lors managed somehow ta, get elected ta regional council, which almost triples their part-time earnings, but they still conteimptuously aggrandized the Whlitby portion by another 29 per cent, giving them $31,000 plus. It is apparent that the inanner in which remuneration is set for councillors and the mayor should be reviewed. Perhaps a mare A plea to the dog owners of Whitby To the. editor.: I killed your doi laot night. Maybe you dont care. After ail, you let him run. around the streets loose. I gutiess it was too much trouble ta keep hini tied up. Maybe you were toc busy ta take bim out for a walk so yau just let Im out alone. He was a beautiful big black dog. Male or femnale, I dan't know. But I will always xemember his eyes and the way that he looked at me as he lay in the ditch unable ta move. It was Tuesday riight, Jan. 31 around 6:30 p.m. that I was diigdown Garden Street with myvthree mail chxildren an the way ta, my daughter's browni e meeting. He was there inL a second in front of my car. Trhere was no tume ta, miss him kbefore I heard the bang of bin hitting the car. I pulled over and jurnped out. He was lying in the ditch trying ta, pull himself up but Mio back legs were broken. A few seconds later I flagged down a policeman who immediately called the Animal Control Centre. While we waited for thernita arrive, we covered yaur dog with a blanket. The very ind policeman petted him trying to ease bis suffering. We couild bath se. that he was dying. That night my children prayed that somehow your dog wauld live, but the next morning when I called the animal contrai centre, I was tald that he had died and that you, bis owner, could not be found. Perbaps you will not cry wben yaur dog does not came home again. It doesn't matter. My cbildren and I cried for him that night- while he lay in that ditch. Perhaps many of you dog owners in Whitby wbo continuously let your doge run loose don't care about your pets. ButlIbeg you ta please have a thaught for people like myself and my children who end up standing by. the aide of the road, crying while we watch your dog die. Shame on yau. Jenxîifer Maclsaac Whitby open, public venue would be in order. I would assume this colossal increase of 29 per cent is for the three-year termn of office. Incidentally a regional councillor such as the one who dlaims he only maies $2 per hour would have ta work 42 hours per day 365 days a year or 298 hours To the. editor.: I detect a tauch of arrogance in the rejection by Whitby council of a notion by two rookie coundilors ta provide early agendas as done in neighbaring municipalities. An insensitive putdown characterizes this quote by a veteran councillor: ..yu are here ta, run a raton and that's your job andyou had better betaking it mare seriously than tr-ying ta, get agendas early ta seven or eight complainers.' Remarks by other veteran councillors were in a similar vein. Is it that these "retreada" are becoming too snug in their conifortable pews? Strange that staff should have per week per year ta equal his monumental part-tme incarne af $31,000 plus. It it is possible for bum ta put in these hours, then under these circunistances, I feel bis 29 per cent increase is justified. Shirley Priest Whitbe ta work overtime on a Friday night (at added expense ta the ratepayer) ta prepare agendas only made public on the day af the meeting. While counciilors are elected ta make decisions ta run the municipaiity, they aise are elected ta be generous in facilitating responses by ratepayers. Ikapid growth in Whitby means ratepayers must be vigilant with respect ta council's actions. Surely we can expect a fairer and more sympathetic response if and when the abaved resolution is re-introduced. Sincereiy, Doug Henderso Whitby "Do I hear twenty-five?" A to 'uch of arrogance in rejectiion of agendas? LETTERS The Whitby Freec Press welcomes letters to the Editor on any subject of concern to our readers. Letters should be brief and to the point - rarely more than 300 words. Ail letters must be accampanied by the name, address and phone numnber of the writer; however, on request, your name rnay. be withheld fromn publicationi if we agree that there is a valid reason. The paper reserves tMe right to rejeet or edit ail letters. Send ta: The Editor, Whitby Free Press, Box 206, Whitby, Ontario LiN 5S1 or drop through our-mai1sIlot at 131 Brock St.,N. A 1, pq cowl PAS *W I As 4 C fj cet** e el r ý*j **454 te cf Io marc eu - -------------