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6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, June 21,1994 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Ep D> PORT PERRY STAR TTORIAL Editorial Comment Keeping From The Public "In-camera" is one of the more popular buzz words at all levels of government. From municipal politics to school boards and all the committees and boards asso- ciated, this phrase is being used more and more frequently. Whether it is simply a matter of para- noia and an attempt to protect oneself or whether it is the attempt of the politicians to keep information and embarassing sit- uations from reaching the public, one will never know. But whatever the reason, many agree this practice has become too frequent in recent years. It appears the provincial government has the same argument concerning open municipal meetings. On May 18, the Min- ister of Municipal Affairs introduced legis- lation to improve local government open- ness and accountability. Municipal politicians must now disclose sources, but not value, of income and certain assets and liabilities. It also re- quires municipalities to adopt procedural bylaws on how they will dispose of sur- plus properties. The new legislation also strictly limits the sorts of things councils, committees and boards, can discuss in private. All other voting and decision-making must take place in public. The topics which can be discussed "in- camera" are, -security of the property of the munici- pality or local board. - personal matters about an identifiable individual, including employees. - property acquisition. - labor relations or employee negotia- tions. - litigation or potential litigation. - receipt of advice from a solicitor. - any topic for which provincial or feder- al legislation requires a closed meeting. Municipal politics is the grassroots lev- el of government, and along with the school boards, is the level in which we, the taxpayers, see our tax dollars put to good use. Municipal politicians and school board representatives are also the most access- ible of all elected representatives as they are members of the community in which they are chosen to represent. Politicians cannot, and should not, be sequestered away at in-camera meetings when a decision is made. These politi- cians have been chosen to represent the people and as such should be in the pub- lic eye when the interests of the commu- nity are at stake. | TOLD You Tb Put 4OME SUN SCREEN ON BUT Jou NEVER Listen! Remember When 2? HISTORIC PHOTO COURTESY SCUGOG SHORES MUSEUM VILLAGE 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 16, 1949 Arthur L. Crook, who was finishing his fourth year on the teaching staff of Port Perry High School, resigned and accepted a position at the Collegiate Institute Staff in Smith Falls. At the livestock judging competition, Howard Trewin was third of the high juniors with Bill Ferguson as high novice. Howard Forder and Neil Moffat were tied for high seniors. High standing and high coach were won by Howard Forder who received a trip to the Chicago International. The town girls traveled to Claremont and tasted defeat 6-5 in the first game of the season. Parry, Oke and Mark passed the hitters for the Perryites with two cach. Redshaw of Claremont had 17 strikeouts to her credit. 30 YEARS GO Thursday, June 18, 1964 Five teachers of Port Perry High School left their positions and were honored by the staff. Mrs. Nancy MacMillan, Mrs. Elaine Bailey, Miss Donna Johnson, Mrs. Grace Hastings and Mrs. Althea MacFarlane all left the school. Sincere congratulations were extended to the executive and members of the Odd Fellows on the official opening of their hall. : Kathleen Ann Trenka, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Trenka, R.R. #4 Port Perry, graduated from the University of Toronto with her B.S. degree. Miss Marlene Velma Badour was among the class of graduates from the Ontario Hospital School of Nursing, Whitby, Ontario. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Badour, of R.R. #4 Port Perry. 20 YEARS AGO Wednesday, June 19, 1974 Dr. John Hammett, co-chairman of the new Port Perry organization, Town Hall 1873, presented Mrs. Bonnie Gerrow with the prize for having the closest guess in the competition determining the height of the Town Hall tower. Turn to Page 7 I ETTERS Gaming facility not welcomed on Island Open Letter to Honourable Marilyn Churley: [Last evening I was pleased to attend the public meeting the "Save Scugog Is- land" Committee held. The subject mat. ter was the proposed "Charitable Gam- ang Facihity" on the Mississauga of Seugogr Island reserve. I was proud to see so many people out on such a hot humid night, as well as being the number one news broadeast on CHEX television 11 p.m. nightly news. The Resolution No. 94-300 from the Township of Scugog was read and I'm sure you have the copy outlining the im- pact to this rural-residential area. One gentleman who runs various bingos in the Oshawa area made us aware that a 750 person facility uses 60,000 gallons of water per month. What would a 2,000 seat capacity use and what would it do to our wells? Is the soil capable of handhng an adequate septic system? Traffic a main issue, our Island Road is narrow, dark and has many curves with no paved shoulders. How can it handle more cars and buges for a facility of this capacity? Are we ag taxpayers going to be responsi- ble for the upgrades? | know I'm going to dread travelling north on the Island Road on a slippery winter might facing Turn to Page 7 Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten TO NAME OR NOT TO NAME? A few years ago, the Port Perry Star set a policy of not printing the names of people charged for a variety of offences. The reason behind the policy was because people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. While charges are public record, once the name of a person is published in a paper for having committed a crime, suspicion has been cast and the person is often perceived as being "guilty" in the eyes of the public, whether they are or not. The other, and possibly more important reason for not publishing the names of those charged, is the failure of most papers to follow the case through the courts and publish the outcome. Small community newspapers like the Port Perry Star neither have the time, staff or resources to follow each case through to conclusion and felt unless we were pre- pared to follow and publish the final ver- dict, it was not fair to the accused. But times and people change, and demand from the public in the '90s to pub- lish names of those charged with crimes has become increasingly strong. Just last week after the Star published an article about a Scugog man being arrested for armed robbery of a local Mac's Milk Store, we received a very strong complaint from a reader critical of our failure to inform the public who this person was. The man didn't care about our concerns of possibly labeling the wrong man, he wanted to know and felt it was his right to know the name of the person. While it's highly probable the accused is guilty of this robbery, imagine the effect on his life if he is later found to be innocent. Once his name has been published he will be labeled as a thief and will be suspect to that crime until the case gets to trial. Our fear in publishing names is the repu- tation of the innocent can be ruined forever. The press is a powerful tool and it can do a lot of good or a lot of harm depending how it is used. The lives and careers of many people have been ruined because of false accusations which paint them guilt before given a chance to defend themselves. That's our argument for not publishing the names of people charged, but there are many who feel we should print names. e are now in the process of reconsider- ing our policy. If we change it means the names of anyone charged with an offence, whether innocent or not, will be published in the paper. While most will probably accept this pro- cess, and enjoy reading about those being charged with a variety of crimes, this will change when someone near and dear to them is being charged. That's when some will feel exceptions should be made. We know this because we've had to deal with emotional pleas in the past. Calls from parents and friends asking that we don't publish the name of a family member or friend who has become involved in an incident and are being charged. But it's got to be all or none! We'd like to know how you feel. Do you feel anyone charged with a crime should have their named published or not? Give us a call, or write us a letter. We'd like to hear your opinion! LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Port Perry Star encourages its readers to make use of the letters to the editor column to express their opinions and viewpoints on just about any subject, as we feel a lively letters column will help make ws a better community newspaper We insist. however, that all letter writers sign their name and include a phone number for venhcaton Sorry. anonymous letters will not be published unless The Star believes it to ben the best interest of the public We also reserve the nght to edit letters with respect to thor length content or ibelous comments ------ | | \ |