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The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! MEMBER 0F: @4NA CANADIAN ONTARIO COMMUNITY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION ISSN#0844-398X The Whitby Free Press is distributed free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashburn & Myrtie as welI as numerous public and commercial outiets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering & Port Perry. 28,000 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $36 + GST a Outside Canada $85 + GST Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario mc. 900 Hopkins St. /BOX 2069 Whitby, Ontario Li N 5S1 Phone: 668-611il Out of town: 1-800-668-0322 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Pubisher Maurice Pifher - Editor Donald G. Hinton - Sales Manager Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newspnnt with minirrlum 20% recycîed content using vegetable based inks. .0 Ail wnitten material, illustrations and advertising contalned herein is protected Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the expressr the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation o f Canadian copyright law. Repi non-commercial distribution should bear a credit Une to the Whitby Free -o the UàeTO ior.. lies -deserves thank To the odîtor: in response to the leterwrtten by Slmooe Hall SeUtlement House and tho Salvation Army 'LoUter disturblng,' Fre Press, April 10), I ask if they have forgotten what the Intention of the food banks are? Is It nottIo helpthose who aro struggling? Truo, thoro ls fraudulent misuse of theso faciltlos. But since when did wo bocome judgo and jury? We have al faced personal struggles and kilis because of thîs thet we must recognize the need for compassion, but In that louter, 1 found none. 1 fail to understand why thoy fee1 so, threatened by Ms. les and the Helping Hads Food Bank, when sho slmply . *stated recent clrcumistances so thatthe roadors 0of this paper knew 0f the dally strugglo that she faces at hor food bank. l19it becouse se chooses not to- conform to their Ideals and she prefrs not to disclose porsonal Information, such as that 0f a lawyer wfth hsh4er clent or that 0f a reporter protoctlng their source? Maybe th. board 0f directors prefer to romain unrecognlzod; the true path 0f the Gond Samaritan and-Chrlstan. Rb. les did stato (loUter, Fr..- Press, April 17) that she Is a registored charlty. I wondor how many people are pald Wai Smcoe Hall and -the Salvation Armny. Let us rememnbor that we are ail put on this earth for a reason, and though there are many denominations, we ail seek a common goal. .Shame on them both for thinklng thet this womnan Is their competition when, ln fact, they should thank and help hor for taklng up bath 0f their slak for feedlng ail that came 10 her home unannounced and on her days off. I know the location 0f the Helping Hands Food Bank, and 1 feel that hor fond bank albws thosein need to arrive without shame and humiliation, unlike those who are, forced 10 Une up, for hours, on the main streets 0f Oshawa for fond hampers. Whofherthls was a one-time thlng that 1 personally wtnessed or -a .regular, part. of pick-ups, People should not ý'have. 1 further endure 1 am mostof alsurprfi dîrector 0f the religlous the Salvation Army is sc wlthout compassion foi wlth the same mlssior should be proud that sI adopt the samne soîl-out have. They took advanta< nowspaper by using thE names ln the hope of cX personal attacks. To theedo. s No respect for the dead To the editor: The bass of -a close, Immediate by oprigt. famnil member is a traumatlc and permission of emotional Ume ln itself.- On April 9, roduction for our family 'blst our mother Prs.(grandmother and great- grandmother). She was a person who haci always been close to us aIl. During the procession from the *~c hurch mass to the cemetery April 12, we were appaîled at the reaction fom the public. The church mass was heki at St. Leo's ln Brooklin and the burial at Resurroction Cemetery on Taunton Road, Whitby. This is a very short Iength of, travel for a funeral procession, along Highway 12 through Brooklin and Taunton Road. Ised that the Each of the famiîy cars (children services Of and granchikiren) dispîayed a funeral critical and sign provided by the W.C., Town )r someone Funerai Home, who did everything ln n.* Ms. le their power to make this as peaceful 10 does not a Uime for us as possible. As we tpoîicy the9Y began the funerai procession,- we experienced drivers who felt we were ge of this drMvng too slow and passed ýus, Bir busIness drivers attempting to enter traffic cut >vering their us off, and at traffic lights when the f uneral cars were attempting to turn T. Joskow left, drivers did flot yield't0 respect Whitby the dead and lot the hearse drive Let hospital go private To the odîtor: WhhtbyGê,nerai Hospital Is about 10 b bel 10 ur communlty as a general hospital. Local residonts mlght consider urglng that the faci lty b. sold 10 a primae operator. To have a communlty this size without Ils own hospital is ridicubous. Can you Imagine a U.S. community 0f more than 60,000 people wthout a local generai hospital? Seling Whltby Generai to a private operator woul genorate cash for the province; reduce finandiai Iabllity for 1h. province, maintain and improve local extended heaith car.. As an additional benefit, those OPSEU workers would not have to work-for RMke Harris anymoro. P. Denton Whitby For shame To the editor: I arni'b.hind Motro MP John Nunziata 100 percent. Prime Mnlster Chretien dId promise 10 gel rid of the hiated GST and he has reneged. Shame on him. Edna Perry Whftby through. The most upsetting experience wasý ln Brooklin. W. were flot even two minutes from the church. A school crosslng guard stopped the funeral procession, not even six cars from the hearse. The, excuse we were given: there was a gap ln trafflo. Drivers ln the cars attempted to show their funoral signs but these were lgnored. Grantod our chiîdren's saf ety is Important, but where Is the respect for our dead? What was taufhttIo these children who crossed the crosswalk this day? What has happenod to our respect for the dead? We could understand the odd driver, but a sohool crosslng guard and the majorityo the drivers on the road? We can say as a famiîy that we feit that the respect to those who have passed away is no Iongeor thore, the feeling of bei.ng together was Iost and we have Brooklin/Whitby and drivers through this area to thank for that. PlIerik famiiy Brookiln Our rights violated, To the edîtor:- COPY Of letter to Audrey Macoean, chair, Durham Board 0f Educaton You have stated. that the ýC.E. Broug hton sohol controversy is a *n j Issue.u Varous board surveys lndlcated that there was dismal Parental interest 'in the, modifled track, but ail Durham trustoos had a vote that uIlMately led to a modified calendar b9lng intoduced aW 1he now Whltby school anyway.. As wel& regbon-wlde rogîstration.for the mOdifi.d rgramn makes this a Misinformed To th. edîitor:- Re: LoUter, *Her own agenda,' by George Khouri, Free Pross, April 24 Mr. Khouri,il appears that you haven't been roading the local Prout s k Tro the editor: Re: LoUter, 'Her own agenda,' Fre. Press, April 24 Mr. Khouril Mrs. Prout, as the chair for Save Our Generai Hospital, speaks for many Whitby residents (lncludîng a 31,000 signature petition) who have for two years been oxprosslng their wish to retain community-based emorgency and acute care services ln Whitby. The voice 0f our -community has boon conslstently Ignored by the district health counail, the majority of the Whitby General Hospitaboard and ils administration. We are Whltby residents and Mrs. Prout speaks for us on this issue. We, as residents, wiil b. the most affocted by the loss of these communft Ded services. (26 signatures> papers a nd are extremely minformed about tho local hospîtal Issues. My curlosity was piqued at tho fact that Il may b. your- own business Interest that, prompted 'yaur very unkind loUter, certainly not the humanitarlan Interests of the Whltby community as a whole.' Are you aware that 31,000 Whltby resid ents slgned a petiton to retain acute careand emergency services ln thoir çommunlty? That should count for somethlng. Please take senous note a? The Free Prose article (April 24) in which MPP Jim Flaherty draws significant attention Io the onormoius financlal cost of renovatlng our 'exlsting gênerai hospital 10 convert il mb oa rohab facdlity; $23 million sounds nunaffordablo," which means other viable alternatives roqulre "fairu consideration. Nat only can Whitby not afford 10, lose is acute and emergency care which currentiy roquires no renovation, the health cars budget hasn't got a spare $23 million 10 add 10 ils Coffers, espoclally when 1 h. province can't aven, properly afford 10, pay lis pnimary heafth caregivers, our hardworklng nurses and physiclans. Kudos, not criticlsm, should b. extendod Io Mrs. Prout and her teamn for ail 0f their voluntoor efforts 10 keop acute care and emergency services a viable option ai Whltby Gênerai Hospilal. Diana Petme Whltby roglonal Issue,,not Just. a. bcal one, to Our c'ommunity.' You also state that parents should b., talklng 10 their local trustees lIn order to 1nfîuence theo change.O Trustee Ross has truly tried lotb. tho parents' volce, but where'has that got hlm? In the .parents'fav'o ur, to b. sure, but, ho has been blacldisted at tho board off ice. -Trustée Bowman has already sald that trustes' hands are. tled on the Issue. ln fact, at,-tho March '26 meeting ai MoFarlano, she oponly admittod 10 boîng four Ito -six weoks bohind ln hor phono calîs. Obviously, the month of April has not boon a suffîclont amount of lime for her to play catch-up, as throo oeils orginatlng from this, house hold, ln as many woeks, have not be retumfed. -Previous conversation wth truste Bowman made me-.believet hat sho was not lnterested ln, ýepresenting tho people who eîected her. Her focus seems to be the board's agenda ln ail regards. Tr ng toinfluence changéothrough, loal rses, as you suggest, has got ,us nowhero, 'other than escalating our frustration levels. - Theo 1Leslie , Mc èFarlano presentation, that you are not sure 0 ushould'have heard,.deat with a unayIssue. l'm Irformed by the board that boundarles are decided by planning staff and that -trustees have no say ln this mattor. In'order to facikto change, it must b. staff that wo appeal to - henc;e, a presentation.' Tho process to schedule a prosentation 10 the board là a demnocratic rightof ocal taxpayers. Rogardloss 0f how unpaîatable it Is to you, Thornton parents have the rlght to their scheduled presentation and so, do Pringle parents if they décide the exorcise that option. Wo already have the Impression that our human rights have been violated in this situation, as choice has not Ltiw, oftored tiqually. Now, our démocraticerights are being squashod. Your comments anly tend 10 wlden the, chasm between us, and as that chasm widens, R, becomes much more difficuit: to.bridge. Maursen Clark Whftby