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

Page 6, Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, October9, 1996 The on/y Newspaper owned and operatred by Whitby residents for Whitby resîdents! MEMBER 0F: MI Canadian Community Ontano Community Newspaper Asso>ciation Newspaper Association Whitby Whltby Business Oshawa-Durham Home Chamber of Commerce in Action Builders' Association The Whitby Free Press is distributed freelo 990% of the homesi-n Whitby, Brooklin, Ashbum &Myrtle as weii as numerous public and commercial ouflets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering-_& Port Perry. 28,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $36 +. GST - Outside Canada $85+ GSI ISSNHo844-398X Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontano mnc.' 900. Hopkins St. /Box 206, Whitby, Ontario Li N 5S1 Phone: 668-611il Fax: 668-0594 Doug.Anderson - Publisher Maurioe Pifher - Editor Donald G. Hinton - Sales Manager Alexandra-Martin - Production Maniager- Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% #* recycled content using vegetable based inks. to *Ail wnltten matertal, Illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by an ymeans for commercial purposes wilhout the express permission of the newspaper is proh ibited and is a violation of Canadian copyright law. Reproduction for non-commercial dstribution should bear a credil Une 10 the Whiby Free Press. *Greed To the odItor: Re: The battie of big greed. The struggla ta achieveaa contract hotween General Motors 0f Canada and the Canadian Auto Warkars has reached an Impasse. The parkin'g lots empty as 15,000 decide that confrontation hoats worklng. MWore wil foilow ln GM plants and those 0f suppliers. The union says thae the company mades lots of money and Is able ta share R wMth the mambers (job secunity is Ika guaranteed wages). Tha company states h needs greater flexlbllty ta mun their business for the honefit af thair Investors. Neither-recognizes that the customrer out in the street.is belng pushed out 0f the market for the cars and trucks hoing- made. The Prices are too high. Do GM and CAW membars care? Probably not as each pushes ta take more of the revenue from thair mutual efforts. Perhaps the lost profits of General Motors and the bost wages ta CAW members may be a sultable punishinant for their graed. How unfortunate that R also causes harin ta many others directiy or indirectly affected by their avarice. And most peoplea wiII gain nothing, 'regardioss of which side wins." A boss ta many by the acts af a faw. Don Young Ajax Back on right track To the edîtor: I Just want -ta get the atention 0f those parents whose teens are out roaining the streats and tarrifylng others. lIlme they take ful rasponsbllty for their teens' hohaviaur. 1 Other parants as wail as myseif ara fed up with the foui language,- violence and vandalism wa have ta face wary day. Yau can't walk down- the street anymara wkthout passlng a group 0f thase klds and being harassed. Why? Do they awn the streets? Do wa as humans, haVea any nights? Do tha teens have k ail? Whe.re Is the respect gone? i hava three lads, aged slx, aight and nina, I'm tfing ta rais. them ta have and show respect taotChers, ta peoples' properties. I discipline thein when naod ho, but alsa show them love and affection. 1 lot thein know rlght froin wrong. They are also told ta coma ta us If there ls a problein, walI always ho thare Ita Isten and give support when thay raquira iL. But mostly they also know that we ara the parents, that we have the contrai. A lot 0f other parents and myseif- blarna the parents for certain yoths' hohaviaurs. 1 was toli that ana boy~s parents buy a case af 24 beer aveiy weekend for thair son, 15, and his friands ta keep thain aut of their hair. When a compiaint was made about har son, tha mothar saud «Look If you'va got a problern wïth my son, go ta hum, don't bother me." What doas that tell yau? rm not saying my housa Is a bed of rosas, but inm trying ta Put MY foot down now and correct Problems before they get toaMf controf. 1try to let my kads knaw thay are bovad and I want thain ta regard us as friands as weii as parents, anci that their fniends are always welcome ta hang out at aur home. If More parants cracked dawn on their lads' whereabouts, mayho the workf wouldn't ho headad for disaster. Ne~ sean savan- and eight-year-olds in a. bus shakter Iighting up cigarettes. Whera wore thoir parants? What are they going ta ho like whan they are 12 or 13? I dan'tjcnow'what I'm really going ta accamplish with this letter, but I hope k opans the eyos and heaits 0f saine parents and, gels their lads back on the right track, back home and off the streets. Pleasa do it now, for yaur youth's sakai t J. Ouellette WhItby Paying for Çonsumptuon Electricity, heating ail, natural gas and water ail have ana common feature. That saine feature also applies ta *an endloss Ust 0f things as diverse as the grocenies we eat, the cbothing we wear, the vacations wa take, tha cars we drive, the housing we iva ln, and the long distance phone service we use. Puzzled? The common ground is thea tha price wa pay for what wa use ln -aur dally Novs is ail based on consumption.. The more we consume, the more it cosîs US. A heating ail bu, for exampie, la determined by how many lires Rl takes ta fli the tank.Iff you traval 00 kilometres -a day by car ta get ta wark, your transportation costs are far groater than those for someone wha is only a fiva. minuta drive from the office. 1In ail cases, consumption us tied to' aur personal preferences and aur abiliy ta pay. We buy what we lika or need. Wherae we buy is based on conveniance, price and service. And haw much we buy, or don't buy, depends on what we can afford. Imagina for a moment what your reaction would ho if how much vu buv was no longer a Ifactor -n determining what yau Lat's say your hydro company deaided it was going ita change its billing method f rom the current praclice 0f charging waery home and business for the amount 0f electiclty each ana uses ln a manth. lnstead, the company dMvdes the revenues Rt needs ta stay ln business on the basis of the current market value 0f eaa'ch property it provides service ta, and bis you proportianately. Your reaction to such a suggestion would not only ho flegative, II:probably vmuld ho hostile. After ail, you would ask, what doos the value of my property have ta do wlth haw much electriaity 1 use? The answer, 0f course, is nothing. The saine is trua 0of municipal services. That is why more and miore municdpaiilies are turning ta the 'user-payo prinaipla for those services whera consumption is easy ta, measure.' Unfortunaely, the concept 0f user fees is getling a bari naine because some local polioans ara- not introducing them on a revenue-neutraI basis. f the costý of supplying water or garbage disposai, or maintaning alocalirenaio Ilbrar, Is movod ta a user fée basis, then falmess dictates that there should ho a orrespanding reduction in the praperty tax rate. But saine municVaIles aran't playîng fair and are simply adopting thair fees as an undarhanded method 0f squeezlng more out of taxpayers ta offset reductions in provincial transfer payments. But how should taxpayers pay for those services that you can't slb> a mater on or charge an entrance or user fee for? They're services which are essential ta a community and which everyone relies such as policing, lire protection, and road maintenance. If the value 0f your home or business has nothivhg ta do wfth the eîa*ccty it consumes and what you pay for that usage, then what's fair or rational about a property tax assessinent systern that lies that same value ta the amount of taxes you should pay for municpal services? The answer is crudial when It comaes ta decdlng the equfty standard that Ontanians want In a reformed tax system'. Paul Pagnulio la a member Of the Ontario Taxpayers 'Uneducated' criticism To the editor: I don't oflen read tha editari a section 0f the newspapar, my wifa lusually bnings tha gooc anas ta my attention. Laey, hawever, there. has been a lot of criticdsm 0f the Institutions near and dear ta myheart. Critiaisi for the Durham Board of Education for bringing home a wrld-class award for qualit> 0f education. Criticisin 0f the Whitby Mental Heafth Centre for bringing a vwrid-class fauilt> alter years of hard work and dedication ta the patients and the cominunity. Criticisin 0f Whitby General Hospital for' struggling wlth the contantiaus issue of employee and fiscal responsibility and the emotianal Issue 0f losing an Important omimunity heakth cara facuit>,. Whan we take a sports teain, lads or aduits, ta, the championsipfinals, I always have three things ta sa>,: 1. if you're here ta complain you're going ta have ta go ta tha back 0f the Uine; if yau'ra here ta help, thon eal up yaur Baeves and lets gelta ovwrk. 2. Worry lms about what the other guy ls doing and concentrate on Improving your own gaine. The entira teain wfl Improve with your effort. 3. The harder we, work, the luckier wa'li get With the advent of ragianalisin and GTA, aur cammunity ila becoining more and more obscure and unidientftlabîe. The people in tha aorementioned Institutions are.putting us on the map and fighting ta Improva aur future abulty. BalieV'e me, their day is just as competitive as yaurs and mine, and uneducatad citicism only creates frustration. John Vlckery How about studeénts in ed. centre? Tro the. editor: Congrauatons are certainly ln order ta the Durhamn Board 0f Education- and -Sinclair Seconda>, School as weil as OSSTF District 17. Thase "world class (?)0 failities, the Ta] M4ahal and the Palace, degflntaly contaln world class bureaucats and poltical wanabees. Whila most 0f the aboaéare celebrating the "glonaous *btictr(sounda Ike something that comas ut 0f a union meeting) perhape now Is the. lime ta refloot on (Yaur?) worid- class planning. How man>, portables are thare baside the Traj Mahaiand tha Palace? And how many OAC classes are tatght ln the samne haiVraom et tha board 0f educalion facifty (nstead f the highschooî)? How man>, conferance rooms are thoread tha, board 0f education faclity and how many of thein can handieaa ciassroomn or be openad up ta accommiodate students? k ls very clar tathis wmiter that, ln thée opinio 0f saie,0 mare ta)ç>ayers peers, parents and students know nothing about aducalian and. educationai faclites. For Mr. Snabaîen's announcement -about pending $600-mlliion ln spending cuts, ina>, isuggest ha include the 'names/ positions aI "same" people. k is aiea clear that taxpayers' mroney was wastad on the Tai Mahal and the Palace? Bath fadilles are back-to-back monents 0f' excessive spanding.' Ted Greenfili Whftby No' I mechanismn f0 surprise To the oditor: Re: New director needod for ho pia board, Free Pres, 1 amn not surprlséd that there is no lformal mechanlsm- for replacdng a director. There applears to be no moehanlsm aital I was sony ta hear that Mrs. Auk had ta reslgn, but was ~leased that she did so at the 0einn f the year. This malces choSnga replaement much easier. The election was Just held so it stands ta reason that the candidate Wth the next hlghest vote should finish out the year. Every member of that board knows who this candidate Is, and if'they can't remnember such a reent event they should be looklng for a new position. If the board chooses ta Ignore the membershlp and Waste lime wlth a nomlnatlng oemmlueeIt is rmy opinion that the oMiorate members shauld be consufted -concemling a vote 0f these nominees. <They mayal"owish to infarim the membershlp that they have tInaJly dedided ta. formaize what they have been doing al along, excludlng any effort ta secure, any farm 0f aurgent care services.' This seems ta surface e@MY lime the cdirectors feel threatened. 1 have known the candidate mentioned in this article, Norm Meang, for 23 years and I can assure the membership that In mY opinion there is not one director sittlng on this board wlth the knowledge and expertise that Mr. Mealing has and can contribute: Is this the problem? 1 concur with Ms. Vlckery (letter, -'What are the facts of fidng,' Free Press, Oct. 2). R e"îesof the reasons for this dismissal it should flot have been a public ane. The board, as Ms. Woodbury' employer, must acceptfu911 responsiblity. What an embarrassmentl Thora seems ta be no "formai mechanlsma -for dismissal. Wy question Is, why I anyone belng recruitedf or a facilty that has been delberately and systemaalily- destroyed by the very people who have beenn eletod, IBY ýaul Pagnuelo