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Home Newspaper of HUIb THE HERALD WEDNESDAY MAY A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Main St South Georgetown Ontario WILLIAM EVDOKIMOFF Publisher Second Clad Mill Registered Number Region failing Amalgamation of municipalities into a regional system will bring about an amalgamation of services and a resultant cut in costs Amalgamation of municipalities into a regional system will provide an improved system of planning the orderly growth of this area Lets not get this wrong Those were two of the principles behind regional government werent they Righf okay well then what has happened Costs today are high and as the region prepares for the end of the startup funds from the province the future looks no brighter In fact the financial future of is anything but bright So forget cutting costs And as far as providing for he orderly growth goes well regional council decided to take a sharp stab at that last week during its biweekly coffee clutch Two proposals which would have put the region on the road towards an official plan were voted down by council The official plan of Halton which could be the Bible on which all future development and growth throughout the region is based put in definite Jeopardy As one member of the planning committee questioned Where do we go from here Its a good question Where will the region go from here Without overall guidelines the piecemeal helterskelter type of development which is taking place in Halton will continue The regions position until that plan is drawn up on such things as rural development industrial residential balance and preferred growth areas will remain as unclear as if the region wasnt in existence at all Some of the reasons for turning down the two proposalsa regional housing policy study and a tran sportation studywere not all wrong The costs for the studies were high and nobody seemed to know exactly what would be done with them once they were completed But to give them a blanket refusal with no suggestions on what should or could be done next is wrong If the region is to justify its existence it must start playing the role it was meant to As one councillor commented perhaps the thing to do would be to look at the official plan of each municipality in Halton with a specific set of goals in mind The goals would relate to where when and how development would take place in as a whole and how each municipalitys existing plans could fit into that overall growth The factor that we are worried about is the time element Development of any official plan one covering such a road area as Halton is a long long process It entails both government consideration both regional and provincial as well as citizen input We are probably looking at a minimum of two years before an official plan for Halton is even close to being sent to the OMB for its official sanction Two years in the present hectic pressurefilled life of Halton could be critical So lets get on with it gentlemen We would hope that the planning committee will not become gunshy because of its failures last week Rather we hope they come out fighting with a much improved plan TeNN Jasgbp Ft Viewpoint- Capital punishment murder by the state By Gerry Land borough Is capital punishment right or wrong Since death by hanging has been the mandatory sentence in Canada or killing a pclke officer or a prison guard on duty Even though this is the law on the books all five condemned men who have killed law officers since 1967 have had their sentences com muted to life imprisonment Our present SolicitorGeneral Warren evident that capital punishment may satisfy the strong sense of moral and emotional outrage that many of us experience when murder is committedthere are however other crucial Issues involved The more I have studied the question of capital punish ment the more I have become convinced that capital punishment Is not the solution to murder Today many people are outraged by the above and very often unfortunately their outrage is one of dollars and cents A Gallup Poll in April showed that percent of By Bill Johnston What a way to start a Thursday I received a letter from a longtime reader of the Herald who was ex tremely upset about these editorials of mine She claimed that I was condoning the use of drugs and alcohol in them I totally agree with two points which she made in her letter Yes the young people of today need a lot of experienced advice concern and help Yes alcohol and drugs are a definite problem Canadians favour the death penalty To me that translates percent of Canadians believe in coldblooded murder If we believe murder to be wrong how then is murder by the state right Dr Paul Hnuck states that the belief that bad people ought to be punished Is one of the most evil Ideas ever concocted by man History tells us that when man lived In barbaric times murder was no less prevalent than it is today Most people who advocate the death penalty argue that the of the bad person Is the matter of real Im portance Is money and in a materialistic society money is often the be- all end all What dollar value can we place on a human life and consider ourselves to be civilized Does everything have a dollar value If percent of Canadians want cold blooded murder then percent of Canadians would appear to be uncivilized Victoria Police Chief J P Gregory advocates the death penalty In a recent story In the Star he stated the following If hanging as a method of execution Is ob jectionable to some people and I am one then surely It would be a relatively simple matter to change An overdose of heroin com bined alcohol and barbltuates air em bolism poisoned food or drink there are many and perhaps the condemned could be permitted to indicate preference Now thatawhatlcallcivlllzed As I said before if murder a wrong and many of he above are ways people murder how does one justify the other It Is argued by some that you have to have some type of deterrent But the cold hard facts arc that if a man or a woman is going to commit murder nothing la going to deter them It applies the same way when someone Is going to break into your bouse Locks dont keep them out In effect capital punishment becomes a question of he did wrong so he must be punished The problem with that Is that violence begets violence aggression begets aggression murder begets murderjus titled or otherwise It Is my op talon that until man can give life he la not justified in taking it away or any reason Cost Is a very poor standard of In order to really consider ourselves civilized we have to reach the type of thinking that allows that if we believe killing to be wrong then all killing Is wrong war abortion murder Justified murder Its something once just cant have both ways Again another favourite argument on behalf of capital punishment is what about wives and children of the slain officers who are left Capital punishment has never proven tobeadeterrent Existing data shows no proportionate increase from to in violent offences It la sad and unfair for those who are left but whoever said that life Is supposed to be fair I recently heard of a woman whose husband worked for a com pany for 33 years The company then went broke and the chap died His widow received nothing to show the mans 33 years service to business Is that fair A mother lived In a tent In downtown Toronto to be near her son who was In the hospital In this great land of opportunity Is that fair We cannot advocate caDltal on the grounds of what Is and what Is not fair nor can we advocate capital punishment on the cost of the upkeep of the prisoner this places a price tag on human life Wo cannot justify coldblooded murder by the State as an eye for an eye philosophy supposedly practised by Christians over years ago Capital punishment la the revenge of a still barbaric society It states you are bad so you must be killed Definitely dear thinking Hitler Mussolini and Stalin- to name only a fewbelieved In the right of man to decide another mans death Can we justify the murders these men committed We cannot murder the murderer and consider ourselves any different Murderers are people who someway couldnt take the stress society places on all of us If the court finds a man who murders is sane then must we consider those who do not murder Insane If thats not the case then those who murder a really not sane In some area of their thinking Yet we Who are supposedly sane are percent in favour of coldblooded murder by the state One really cant have It both ways If murder is wrong then murder by the state for any reason Is equally wrong Life is for living Pardon me as blush but thats the way it is folks I hold no qualms in saying it either life is for living and to live you must experience as many things as you possibly can see do taste smell or hear How or where you obtain your enjoyment is strictly up to you with two exceptions Your enjoyment must not be to the detriment of others and it not be harmful to yourself Which is much easier said than done For only ourselves totally control how where or even whether or not we enjoy our lives As far as what I say or write in this paper is concerned I would be fooling myself to believe anything that I write will have any great effect upon anyones life Its a dream that we would like to hold onto but just that a dream So what I write in this column is strictly stories of some enjoyable times Ive had in the past Their purpose is not to convey any great social message or theme to the thousands of readers of the Herald but perhaps to create a bit of enjoyment En their lives A belated Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers in me crowd Perhaps the mothers day gift to beat all mothers day gifts was the one I heard about The fellow had shopped high and low to find the right something to present to his mother Finally he found it A dining tent But as far as my condoning the use of drugs or alcohol goes I nave and never will promote the use of either What I condone and promote not just in this column I would never consider tacking the title of editorial to this but in my way of life is enjoyment plain and simple I whole believe in such corny things as smiling even a bit of crying and definitely a lot of loving Are Georgetowns sidewalks safe Letter to Downtown After an absence of eight years it has been my real pleasure to return to Georgetown My wife and I look forward to enjoying this our first home and also engaging in the life of what has always been an active community Unfortunately last Thur sday while shopping my wife was accosted and impeded by a drunk on the sidewalk of Main St This occurred in broad daylight and within yards of the police station Thanks to the efficiency of police charge wv ten mm My Interest is to whether there is a continuing problem on Main St Some citizens have Informed me that the comer of Main and Mill St is misappropriated by number of persons I find It outrageous to discover that many women are obliged to cross street In order to avoid lewd and scurrilous remarks Since this abuse occurs at our town centre docs this mean the community as a whole finds it acceptable Does the council find It ac ceptable Do the downtown merchants find it acceptable StaffSergeant Ward has Indicated that the police ore always prepared to help citizens if they encounter any problems of this nature At the present time though no one Is complaining If in the past you have walked on rather than get involved laying charges then please indicate by at least writing a letter to this newspaper Lets make the council and police commission aware of our concern Drop Into the Towne Sewing Centre and Inform Mr Charlie Crimes the president of the Downtown Businessmens Association This Is our community and we all have the same rights Including the troublemakers Ive been discussing But when one person finds It necessary to cross the street to avoid the unpleasantrles of a group of loiterers then he or she has just been robbed of those rights further the loiterers have assumed a power and authority solely through the use of physical swagger and social If no one responds to this letter then clearly no problem exists If such be the case I will discontinue my inquiry with the knowledge that our experience was but an unusual and isolated incident Yours Sincerely Michael Pratt Albert Street Georgetown Labor troubles on the horizon for this summer BYDONOHEAHN Park Bares a Of The Another summer of trouble in the construction Industry would seem to be ahead The Construction Labor Association of Ontario representing some companies in the province and about half of the construction industry has been issuing warnings And they appear serious enough to warrant attention The association says that demands by the construction trades or contracts coming up for renewal this year are completely unrealistic And figures cited bear it out Thus plumbers In Windsor recently settled for an end package of an hour which by the time the contract expires In April of 1977 would mean the normal Windsor plumber would be receiving a year in wages and fringe benefits In Ottawa carpenters who now receive a wagefringe package of are asking for a further This would bring them to annually Other large demands Ihe association puts forward are electricians on top of for a total and a percent increase and Kingston sheet metal workers for a boost for a OS percent Increase and a total The association doesnt say so but you suspect that many of these demands or close to them will be granted Its complaint la about the bargaining approach now followed in the province and for this It largely blames the government tinder this approach a good many contractors bargain individually And some of them it Is felt settle too easily if they are small this can be a question of either settling or going broke But when they settle they set a precedent for other workers In the particular trade as when one trade settles it sets an example for other trades And the consequences Is an Inflationary spiral The construction association wants wider bargaining areas and blames the government for not making this com pulsory At present any wide bargaining within the industry is voluntary And this would seem to be one occasion where Indus try- wide bargaining undesirable as it may be in some cases is needed The reason why construction trades were able to get such high rates in the past was that their work was seasonal But the association says this no longer applies Statistics Canada data shows that com workers In On tario average hours a week The annual earnings figures that have been used are based on a 50week year at an average of hours a week