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6.g 6,MhMy FrsePmss, WkàwsdayFebruar 16, 1994 The only Newspaper owed and operated by Whltby residents for Whltby residents! MEMBER 0F: !ONTARIO CANADIAN COMMUNITY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER + N N EWSPAPER ASSOCIATION E SOITO fauMCANADIAN CIRCULATIONS ONA DIVISION AUDIT BOARD ISSN#0844-398X 26,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Imc. Box 206, 131 Brook St. N, Whitby, Ontario Li N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Toronto Line: 427-1834 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pither - Editor Alexandra Martin - Prodluction Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% o recycled content using vegetable based inks.L> «D Alil written material, illstrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercal purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyright aw. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit fine to me Witby Free Press. How about moreàw cutsé? To the ENitor: Copy Of letter to Dennis Fox, chair, Ton budget committe. re. 1994 budget estimates. Dear Mr. Fox: Congratulations on your praposed buidget for 1994. The tax rates for 1994 have been reduced beiow t hose of 1993. The improved efficiencies in the Town's waste collection function wiII reduce aur taxes by an average of $650 per household. Now for some real spending cuts. The total amounit for salaries, wages and benefts in Whtby's 1994 budget is $17,673,235. I ask you to j ustify these expenses ta the taxpayers of Whitby and, if you are really concerned about cutting costs, then I challenge you ta reduce this item by 10 per cent in the 1995 budget. J.F. Sadlbr Watch those debts To the Edtor: Ater reading through the preliminary pre- budglet figures and public statements tram members of council, I was able ta predict ta the press a few weeks ago that a tax decrease for 1994 was a reai possibiityand something that council shauld aim for. Whitby did, in tact, strike a budget wvith a minor decrease, which is the way ta go. t was durinb the samne budget meeting that references were made about the Tawn's- growing 'debentures and det!. 1 would like ta caution council that, atter receiving tinancial numbers tramn the treasurer, the Town should only spend borrowed money wisely, If at ail, because these debi manies wiIl have ta be repald, possibly at a much higher Interest rate. And, taxpayers wil bu Iaaking for prudent tax savings in the future. G.rry Emm Charter member Taxpayers CoalItion More benefits with sait To the Edîtor: Stephen Moare's Viewpoint r Fbad sat costIy,' Feb. 2, The Fre Press) expressed concern for the costs of road sait. A mare constructive discussion would balance the costs with the bunefits. Studies of the benetit-oost régio of road salting range tram 6:3:1 ta 18:1:1. A st udy of the impact of roadway de-icîng, reported ta the Transportation Research Board just a year ago, documented an umpressive 8823 per cent reduct ion In injury accidents over only the f irst four hours folîowing application of de-icio sat. A separate fRB report examined the tirst option recommended by Mr. Moore, namel. substituting calcium magnesiwfl acetate (CMA) for sait. t tound that sait was the supenria de-Icer and IlkeIy to reniain the d.-icer of choice, alt hough concedling that certain .ewiromentaWl-senstive aMas e ht justify treetment with the aernative. Ontario's transportation miaistry has studied OMA and rejected ît as ineffective in climates such as Whitby's, as welI as for its expense -- about 40times thal of sait. Mr. More's second option, substituti! sand for sait, has a numnber of drawbacks, including the enormous costs of repeated applications; sand's utter lack of de-lcing capacity; the huge cost of dlean-up of roadways and, more important, catch basins ut seasan's end; and, mare ami- Mously, the e evated heafth risks of inhaling the eîevated levels of email partuculate matter. The latter convinced the state of Utah ta outlaw use of sand on streets in its major metropalitan regions as part of its air quality compliance strategy. Richard L Hanneman Presldent Sait Inetitut AlexandrIae, Vîrginla To the Edîtor: To DBIA or not ta DBIA? I attended a speciai council meeting Feb. 1 ta see democracy in action. As a third-generation citizen, a iong-time taxpayer and voter, and the husband of one of the persans with a vested interest in the meeting, I deemed R my duty ta become involved.. Since the suspension of the DBIA could only be done by Town council, K was determined thet they would hear deputations tram Gene Peacock, Daug Anderson, David Meadwell, Sean Hogue and Grant Sauter. Ater heaning al deputations, they would retire and vote on the matter and announce their decision. Incldentally, copies of the deputat ions of Peacack, Anderson and Meadwell, and we wouId have ta assume Hague and Souter, had ta bu at the Town offices the Friday prior ta the Feb. 1 meeting. At the beginning of the Feb. 1 meeting, h was announced that each persan was aliowed up ta 10 minutes to read his deputation (which was presented ta counicil port the meeting), without interruption and, at the end of each presentation, caunicil would direct any questions ta the presenter. The f irst was Gene Peacock who presented the feelings 0f the people who had signed the petitian. At the end of his presentation councillor Dan Mtchell stated that he didn't care about the petition presented. He wasn't specific about what he meant, whether he Resi-Pgn as MPP To the EdItor: Copy of an open letter to Durham Centre MPP Prummond White. Resig n tram the legisature now. You have decided ta resign t ram the NDP caucus. Thèn- you must also resign tram the legisiature now so the Premier can promptly cail a by-election. Durham Centre deserves, st the very least, the same action as that oftthe provincial NDP. Ted Gr.nhIsid Whltby beîieved petitions, in general were no good or only this one. However. no one, flot even the presenters, were ailowed to asic any questions. Councilior Marcl runelle asked a few questions of Peacock thaï had nothing to do with the petition, but mare on the 'state of mînd' of Peacock on drawing up the petiRion. Doesn't councilr Brunelle understanid that there would neyer be a petition if everyone was happy* The reasons for petit ions are ta allow the public ta question andfor correct anything that they feel is wrong or un j ust. 1 thought every individuai had the rlght to voice an opinion, especially f they have done Rt exactly as the byîaw and counicil requested. 1 believe he was wrong In questloning Peacock's reasons, bu should h ave addressed the Issues as he understood them. if R didn't understand whit the issues were, he shouîd have askçed questions about the Issues. During Doa Anderson's presentation, , yor Edwards interrupted hlm because he thought one of the comments made was rg umentative and we should be civiîzed about R. I would have thought the idea of a petition in itseif is argumentative. One persn In the audience vaiced her opinion and »aW that Anderson shudbe alibwed to speak. The mayor raised his vaice. In tact, he was the only individuai who seemed angry and upset. He said that if the heckîing did not stop (this is heckîing?), he wauld call the plice ta have the persan ejected frm the meeting. Counciilor Judi Longfield questioned how the petition was presented to the signatorles. She mentioned that Wf she had a petition that asked a person if they didn't want ta pay taxes that she would have signed ht. I don't think that she read the petition since it was very specifmc about which tax, even indicating the amount each business was paying. She also indicated that the petiin was presented .In such a manner that a lot 0f signatories did not know what they were signing. 1 think her statement was very insulting to inter thaï the downtown busines pewouid sign anything wthu under- standing it. Durlng the deputution tram Sean Hogue, 1Ihad the feeing thait he wasnt reading trom the presented deputation, but wa answermg whai was presented This Is Makthà other preser were ailowed to asic questians af the council and the board. During the meeting, I had the Impression that council was qusininothe motive of the petiianandpraising what the current DBIA board was doing. Bath councilior Longfleld and the Mayor interred that the petition wasn't representative ot how the business communlty thaught. I would have thought that '85 pet cent was a very goad Indication of what the peale want. f this le what they believe, 1 wonder what their comments wouid be if they were not aîiowed ta hoid office unles they recelved 85 per cent of the vote, or even a majority of the votes, lnstead of having ane more vote than the next cnddate. Ai lin ail, no chne whatsoever, even though t e Mayor constantly said that the purpo se of the meeting was ta 6ng the two sldes together.- However, the petitlaners were under the Impression that the meeting was to hear the deputations and accept the petition. The resuit was no changes at ail, na negatiations, no new boundaries, no new payment method and no election af a DBIA board. î do not believe that cauncil or the DBIA board realy listened or looked at the Issues. instead, they were trying ta preserve somethlng thaths outlived Its original objectives. The DBIA should be re-examined and either abolished or have a new mandate that ls representative otfits members. John Natsuhare Whltby Police work appreciated To the Editor: I would like to thank ail Durhami Regional Police off icers involved in the Investigation of a break-muet- mY aPartment. MW television, VCR and jew*y were stalen. Beca~of- the diligence of detectivo Paul Malick, everyhing was reooered and returned to me f ive days lèter. Thark yau ta ail off iers involved ai 18 division, Whitby. Donna Corey WhRWb Nobody really Iistened To the editor..,.,