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Man tends to have an irrational dread of the new, or the unusual hazard that is often right out of proportion to the real danger. Obviously, we should take proper steps to face up to every newlyâ€"discovered hazard. But it becomes illogical, the OSL points out, when we contrast the wideâ€"spread excitement over such "new" dangers with the seeming indifference to far greater perils â€" such as mishandled automobiles, which kill more than 5,000 . Canadians a year . Hitchâ€"hiking is banned on the expressways within Metro and also on the Queen Elizabeth Way and Highway 400. _ _ _ £1} & But the first most outâ€"ofâ€"town hikers know about it after being droppedâ€"off by drivers is when an Ontario Provincial Police patrol car spots them trying to get another lift. It is deplorable there are no signs anywhere on Highway 401, Highway 400, Highway 27 or the Queen Elizabeth Way informing drivers and passengers that hitchâ€"hiking is prohibited. Carbon monoxide is a Silent killer, and the full list of victims is never known. Most known deaths from this cause occur in parked cars and closed garages. But it is suspected that many singleâ€"car crashes and rearâ€"end collisions are the direct result of drivers becoming impaired by CO leaking into the car, through a faulty exhaust system. The danger rises sharply when cool weather sets in, and car windows go up. We should always guard against the possibility of poisoning from uncommon sources. But let us also remember that poison is all around us in our daily lives, and the leading killerâ€"poison gets ready to go to work every time we turn the starter switch. Discovery of a bottle of arsenic in the bathroom closet would throw any parent into near panic. Many otherwise responsible people, though, habitually drive old cars without checking the exhaust system for leaks, even though it is known that carbon monoxide causes more deaths than any other poison. Some police officers let erring hitchâ€"hikers off with a warning. Others get summoned and the offence is punishable by a minimum fine of $20 and a maximum of $100. Silent killer In the same year the whole continent was stirred by the news that a small section of the cranberry crop had become contaminated in a way that might, just might, affect the health of someone who ate a large quantity. Millions of housewives reacted at the stores. In 1959 it became known that a dozen babies had suffocated in Canada in the first half year, through contact with thin plastic film, misused by adults. This led to newspaper headlines, and some almost hysterical demands for governâ€" ment intervention. No official action was taken, but the Ontario Safety League and other agencies undertook a public information campaign to explain why thin plastic should never be used on cots, or left near play pens. Infant suffocation from this cause now is almost unknown. Hikers penalized Ignorance of the law is no excuse but this is cold comfort to students who may be making their first ever visit to the Metropolitan Toronto area and are possibly just passing through. Top priority should be given by the Ontario Department of Highways to putting up signs at entrance ramps to all expressways detailing just what is allowed and what is not. There is now nothing to tell the stranger that you can‘t ride a bicycle down the middle of 401 if you want to. Lack of such signs provides more work for the OPP who have to continually warn hitchâ€" hikers that they are breaking the law. And hitchâ€" hikers who are caught have every right to feel angry. es o z. : 7 _They probably sound off at the police over lack of warning notices although it is not their fault. Who can blame them? Hitchâ€"hiking across Canada has grown tremendously this year. It should not, of couse, be allowed on expressways for safety reasons but until No Hitching‘‘ signs are posted the OPP should go easy on lawbhreakers. Page 4â€"The Weston Times, Thursday, August 27, 1970 Any attempt to ban hitchâ€"hiking on all roads in the province will arouse loud protests from students. Officialdom may disapprove of this relatively innocent pastime but one way to partly control the practise would be to set up official hitchâ€"hiking posts in layâ€"byes at key entrances to Metro‘s expressway system. & _ The cost involved would be minimal, students would get speedier lifts and no longer have to run the gauntlet of the law. Drivers could pull in to pickâ€"up hitchâ€"hikers setting out on long trips just like buses stop for regular passengers. _ _ fass jso2> Established 1890, Incorporating the Weston Times and County of York Herald, the Times and Guide, and the Weston Timesâ€"Advertiser. Second Class Mail Registration Number 1588 SUBSCRIPTION RATES $7.00 per year in advance to any address in Canada by Principal Publishing Ltd., every Thursday V. J. MacMillan, President and Publisher Craig Saunders, General Manager Doreen Fawcett, Editor Pat Douey, News Editor Telephone 241â€"5211 Other countries $9.00 I have learned with abâ€" solute disgust that the council of the borough of York is contemplating â€" spending $594,000 on a postage stamp size of park of 3.3 acres on the old Hopewell lumber yard property. Do the highest taxed people in Metro realize that this is $168,000 an acre and that this is only the first step? Where is the money coming from to turn the site into a park? Just as important, who is going to use it? Does council not realize that people go to parks to "get away from it all", hence the success of High Park, the Toronto Islands and the Metropolitan Conservation areas? High Park, while right in the middle of one of the busiest sections of the city, is filled to capacity because it is large enough for people to get away from traffic noise and city dirt. Up to Aug. 8 the Metropolitan â€" Conservation Authority handled 231,000 cars carrying over 1,000,000 people, not including the attendance at Black Creek Village. Cars are lined up at 8:30 in the morning waiting ‘to get into the areas because they are large, quiet, have clean water, no noise and no traffic dirt. Madam: If council has half a million dollars to spend, why do they not increase the Parks budget and give the comâ€" missioner of parks money and men to continue the progress made in 1968â€"69 in the parks already in York? The improvement in Fairâ€" bank, Nobel, York Stadium and Smythe, to name a few, was a joy to behold to say nothing of the flower beds and a bit of grass planted at corners of busy streets. This year they have been allowed to dry up for want of water and men to maintain them. A ripe example is the entrance to Smythe Park, when, in April of this year, the men moved in, dug the whole I read in a recent issue of the Weston Times that Mr. Charles H. Goodfellow, a former member of York Council, objects to the acquisition of the former Oliver Lumber Company site on Hopewell Avenue for park facilities in the upper Fairbank area. Mr. Goodfellow is well aware that as chairman of York‘s Planning Board in 1966, he supported a resolution, subsequently approved by Council, for the acquisition of lands for parks purposes in the Hopewell area that would have cost the tax payer close to $2,000,000, according toa report subâ€" mitted by Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, A. H. Savage. This would also have meant the loss of assessment from good housing stock: which would have been destroyed had they proceeded. During this period, applications were received for the redevelopment of the Briarhillâ€"Lyons area to highrise, which was subâ€" Controller sees Hopewell parkland as "obligation LETTERS TO THE EDITOR P s s $s d ns New park uneconomical Minorities must be heard thing up and left it a sea of mud, dirt, sand, garbage and a disgrace to all who see it passing down Jane St. _â€"I can only hope that perâ€" mission for the debenture of this money is refused and Ratepayers implemented businessmen‘s plan It has occurred to several of us, of the notâ€"soâ€"silent majority, to wonder whether the spokesman for the Weston Business Men‘s Association at York Council Meeting August 17 had ever seen the Official Plan, and whether he realized the impact that the proposed density would have on the community of Weston. In May, membersâ€"of the Weston _ Ratepayers Association, assisted by other interested homeâ€" owners <and ratepayers, gathered the names of 600 bona fide residents who were opposed to the proposed sale of the John St. parking lot and the implications that such sale would have for their community. Members of the Business Men‘s Association drafted the petition and requested us to organize it. This was done and took days and weeks of We talk of a parkland strip to be made out of the old Belt line, and that of the people abutting the line. There is only a small minority obâ€" jecting to it. Though I concur with the majority of York council in keeping the strip for parkland, the minority still have their rights and must be heard. That is their democratic right. Just the same as the Mr. Goodfellow expresses his concern about the "serious danger‘"‘ to small children due to "a very busy lumber yard‘" adjacent to the site. Had Mr. Goodfellow taken the time to check with the Municipality, he would have discovered that the lumber company in question is a tenant of the Oliver Lumber Company and is included in the proposed park site, thus alleviating Mr. Goodfellow‘s fears for the safety of the children, and eliminating a serious fire hazard in a basically residential area. sequently approved by the Ontario Municipal Board, subject to the following excerpt from the Minister‘s report: ‘Funds will be made available toacquire parklands in appropriate locations immediately after the zoning for high density redevelopment is _ apâ€" proved." The acquisition of a park hard slugging; and the business men were gratified when it appeared that at least a delay had been efâ€" fected. Those who worked on the project KNOW that we represent hundreds more whose names we had not time to get. Only a few days later, canvassing for the Salvation Army, we met many people who would have signed had they been conâ€" tacted. that the silent majority will speak out and become less silent. The crocodile tears shed by some of the memâ€" bers of council for the small home owner is laughable. If our tax money is not put to May we say to Mr. Cott, the Weston Business Men and the Council of the Borough of York that this project was carried out at considerable pesonal sacrifice, with no thought of material gain. If the parking lot went, the business men had much to lose; and because we love the Weston we used to know, we put our private interests aside. It seems, however, the same obligation that Council must meet, and is offset by $1,500,000 in annual tax revenues and $650,000 in sewer imposts from highrise projects in the area in various stages of conâ€" struction. + The citizens of Fairbank should enjoy the same recreational facilities that so many of us take for granted in other sections of the Borough. Mr. Goodfellow need only jump his back fence to enjoy the thirty beautiful rolling acres of Cedervale Park, acquired and developed through taxes paid for ‘by areas such as Fairbank. No to.mention the millions of dollars that are presently being spent to cover the Spadina Exâ€" pressway through this park to preserve its natural beauty for the enjoyment of Mr. Goodfellow and other area residents, again with the assistance of the taxâ€" payers of Fairbank. I could also mention the $200,000 levied for in 1970 for capital people who are objecting to the Police Communication Tower in Sir Winston Churchill Park. This too is vital and should be supâ€" ported by the press and the two million people in Metro Toronto who have the finest police force on the North American Continent. When we take the 3,100 men and women on the force and break it down to three shifts, 1,030 per shift. Out of The shame of it all is that the business community has such a short memory. Now we know how Caesar must have felt when he said "Et tu, Brute?" We have attended many, many meetings all winter and all summer to keep ourselves informed. We have not seen Mr. Cott at any of them; so perhaps the lack of understanding is on his side, not ours. We suggest that if they did understand the Official Plan, the business men wouldn‘t be so eager to give away the John St. parking ‘lot again. Yes, again. If the Official Plan is adopted, that land will be slated for commercial highâ€" rise. better use than it is now, there won‘t be any home owners large or small to cry over. We won‘t be able to live here â€" we will not be able to afford it. old story â€" money talks. that take men on holidays, men off sick, men manning the stations, how many are left on the road to protect the lives and property of a two million population. Yes these are a minority that really needs the support of one and all, we can help them, we can supplement, them, but we cannot supâ€" plant them. We have an obligation to see that their children have the facilities to grow healthy and strong â€" to see that the many senior citizens in the area have a place to stroll in the evenings â€" and we have a COMMITMENT, due to the Planning Board decision in 1966, to fulfill this most needed area facility IMâ€" MEDIATELY. The residents of Fairbank appreciate the need for area redevelopment. Not a single resident objected to the proposed Official Plan, which will infiltrate this area with highrise apartments and add 10,000 new residents. They should not be reduced to a second class status â€" they are contributing much to the growth of our Municipality. improvements, or _ the millions that have been spent in past years to build arenas, not in the Fairbank area, but, again, with the assistance of the Fairbank taxpayers. Yours sincerely, Alderman R. I. Hewitt Borough of York, Ward 8 (Mrs. G. J.) Norma M. Lynes 44 Boyd Ave., Weston, Ont. Yours sincerely, Douglas F. Saunders, Controller. Mrs. Florence Gell 20 We would like to go on record that the Weston Ratepayers‘ Association has never said, suggested or implied that we are against all high rise construction, as stated by Lindsay Cott in the last issue of the Weston Times. What we are against however, is poor planning. By poor planning we mean the type of community design which disrupts the existing residences by spot reâ€"zoning, illogical thinking and giveâ€"aways to developers. Good planning A certain farmer sowed his land with wheat. The birds came and threatened to eat it all up before it had a chance to sprout. So the farmer shot the birds. The seed germinated. The green shoots started. The wheat stalks grew strong and straight. The ears formed and began to fill, full of promise. _ Then, _ suddenly, mysteriously, as from nowhere, myriads of bugs appeared. They attacked the crop. and. rapidly reduced it to ruin. That is a "cautionary tale". The Balance of Nature is a delicate and precarious thing. If we have learned anything since prOMmIms. : Lncll, . suogen‘y, "We do not realise what we mysteriously, as from nowhere, have on earth until we leave it", myriads of bugs appeared. They said Spaceman Lovell the other attacked the crop. and. rapidly day here in Toronto. Please God, reduced it to ruin. we will realize what we have here That is a "cautionary tale"‘. on earth before we leave it for The Balance of Nature is a _ good. If we don‘t there may be delicate and precarious thing. If precious little for us to leave to we have learned anything since succeeding generatons. Not against high rise Do you discern the conâ€" troversy? Starlings were roosting in great numbers in our neighâ€" bourhood. The people whose front yards were nightly converted into gooey, evilâ€"smelling dungâ€"heaps took drastic measures to scare them away. In the course of doing this, unfortunately, some of the starlings were killed. Other residents nearby, not so directly affected by the starlings, were deeply troubled at what took place â€" and understandably so. A United Nations comâ€" mittee spent a long time investigating the factors which influenced crime and came up with the report that they could not find out what caused crime. After listing child neglect, urbanization, broken homes and such they admitted that these inâ€" fluences have provoked greatness and endevour as well as delinquency. It depended upon the person. The cause of crime is revealed in that old fashioned, yet up to date, encyclopedia of human behaviour, the Bible. From beginning to end it tells with stark simplicity the story of man as he is and gives the source of crime in the words, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false _ witness, blasphemies." It is the human heart which is at the root of the problem. If a person is not Christ controlled â€" if He is not at the helm â€" then all manner of corruption results. Our lives blight or bless others in relation to the control Crhist holds upon our hearts, upon our perâ€" sonalities, our character and our lives. Fits of rages, a cold critical attitude, conâ€" tinual carping can be exâ€" changed for self control, empathy and serenity if we I don‘t like controversy. It is my nature to avoid it as much as possible. But when strong difâ€" ferences of conviction arise you have to be controversial. To be otherwise would be cowardly. A spot of controversy arose around our way the other day. Because it contains the seeds of wider issues I‘m going to give it an airing. Perhaps I can introduce the issue, somewhat humorously in the form of a question and answer. If you can admire it from afar, at a safe distance from danger, it is a starling‘ It reminded me of a story we were told once at school. Q. When is a starling not a starling, but a pest? A. It all depends on your point of view. If you are looking directly up at it, and it does its business in your eye, it is decidedly a pest. Points to ponder should take everything and everybody into conâ€" sideration, not just the developer. Good. planning should effect a pleasant visual and psychological relationship between all residents, both homeâ€"owner and apartment dweller. Unfortunately, this isn‘t the case with the Borough of York‘s Official Plan. Mr. Cott implies that the ratepayers of Weston are lacking in intelligence to understand the official plan. If that is the case, we suggest The secret lies in our yieldedness to Him. We have not this power in ourselves. Just as the tools of a carâ€" penter are powerless to do the job until they are are Christ controlled. Thirty years ago this week . . . . A joint defence agreement was signed at Ogdenâ€" sburg, New York, for the mutual defence of Canada and the U.S. after a meeting between Prime Minister Mackenzie King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. T3 â€"f A news item from the Aug. 29 Weston paper: German marksmen scoring a hit upon a RAF reconâ€" naissance machine‘s gasoline tank led to a "rescue comedy at sea." With his gasoline leaking, the pilot turned and tried to reach England. His fuel ran out and he landed alongside a small naval vessel. To facilitate rescue, the crew clambered out onto the wings. "That‘s funny," said one sailor, "we ju your plane to be rescued ourselves. You see, been torpedoed." Both crews remained clinging to wreckage until a destroyer hove in sight them. Alarmed for the safety pointed out to the sailors tt rescued by the ship. Sailors frorn the naval craft at once the side of their vessel and took up [ monoplane‘s submerging wing. +4 The Russian paper Pravda was banned from distribution in Canada under the defence of Canada regulations. What price conservation DON REED Rev. Reed is Minister in Weston. It will only be solved by clearâ€" thinking married to compassion, and by a courage that matches our convictions. Above all, it needs a realisation that what we have to serve us here on earth, given for our use and our delight, is given to us not absolutely, but ‘"in trust.‘"‘ The truth is â€" and we forget it at our peril â€" we are stewards of God‘s bounty. And as the Apostle said: "It is required of stewards that they be found faithâ€" ful‘. It is clear that the Balance of Nature depends upon a balanced attitude and a balanced approach by all of us. In this matter of conservation there are many aspects to be taken into conâ€" sideration. The problem is urgent. It is also complex. No one in their right :nind wants the same thing to happen to the starlings as happened to the Carrier Pigeons and to the Plains Bison. Still, there sometimes comes a point when something of the "wild‘‘ â€" be it animal, bug, or simply vegetation â€" becomes an obnoxious nuisance; becomes more a menace to life than an amenity of life. When that hapâ€" pens careful and considerate control has to be imposed. I wouldn‘t want a flock of starlings to make a messâ€"house of my front drive, any more than I would allow my garden to be overgrown by weeds! the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson‘s book ‘"The Silent Spring‘‘â€"that first passionate protest against pollution through the indescriminate use of pesticidesâ€"it is this: that we just don‘t know enough about the Balance of Nature to interfere with it with impunity. ie safety of his crew, the pilot sailors that he had landed to be of Westminster United Church 1i craft at once swarmed over and took up position on the grasped by the carpenter so we too can exchange powerlessness for victory as we yield ourselves to Him. The Lord is the strength of my life. every citizen contact Mayor White, Controller James Trimbee or Alderman Lloyd Sainsbury for more details and ask for these in writing. Also we would like to extend an invitation to Mr. Cott to attend our next meeting in September, where maybe he can enlighten us on his views of what will happen to our area in the next 15 years. Yours sincerely, Mrs. F. W. Lane, \ _ Secretary, Weston Ratepayers‘ Association. , ""we jumped onto You see, we‘ve just the plane to rescue Psalm 27: 244â€"9187.