Page 2, Thursday, June 1, 1972, WHITBY FREE PRESS Eior,,o e *en. ... LET THE PEOPLE KNOW! Hitting home in one of the most t h o u g ht a r r e s ting, impassioned and cleverly worded briefs ever written in quest of stronger status for municipal governments, Des Newman in his first address as President to the Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalit- ies pledged: "We must show the flexi- bility and power of 'democratic' instit- utions to our youth or they willI carry a little red book and cry exploitation. " ln this context said the Whitby May- or, one group plays a highly important roI e - the media. "I do not wish to be h a r s h , but gentlemen of the media, if y ou are listening, you are the watch- dogs of democracy. Democracy occurs at ail levels of government. Watch us. We are important. We at this confer- ence, we of the CFMM represent Il mill ion Canadians. With the exception of t h e Federal gover iment, we a r e the spokesmen for more Canadians than any governm e n t , any union, any pressure group in this c ount r y. In the past we have received as individual municipal- i t i e s an d as a federation - scant and shallow coverage - the problems of the da y a r e the probl ems of communiti es where Canadians live, work and play - Gentlemen of the fourth estate pay at- tention t o us. Present us to our coun- try as we are - human beings with fail- ings , but also as dedicated men and womenwhowish to serve their commun- ities, and their country. Let our youth un derstand us. Let our citizens know what we are doing - if we do badly - say so; if we do well - say so - but let our peopleknow. If perchancewe fail in our task, let it at least be said, they tried. For when we build Let us think we build forever Let it not be for present use Nor present delight alone But let it be such work As our descendants will thank us for." W ith words 1like these Desmond New- man is making a new reputation across the Dominion as a brilliant and hard- fisted spokesman for the CFMM. In the m e a n t i m e his popul arity here at the h o m e f r on t is waning despite staunch denials by Newman backbenchers. But even as his popularity on the I o c a I scene wavers - for the moment at least - it is fast growing outside the perimeter of the county town. For Des New man as the Ieading spokesman for Canada's going-p laces CFMM, is giving d e ep food for thought to every literate C anadian - and like him or not - New- m an ' s thoughts on the direction of the C a n a d i an municipal government today make constant, good sense... Dear Sir, Mr. Norman Caf ik M. P. recently sent a memo to all his con s tituents re- garding his forth- coming survey bal- lot on the proposed new Pickering air- port. I would like to make the fol- lowing comments. Mr. Caf ik's memo offers to make availableupon re- quest any one or all of 18 informa- tion sheets, so the voters can make a knowledgablîe d e - cision on his sur- vey ballot. All of t h e s e documents were prepared by the Department of Transport, or other government agencies, andpre- sent soiel y the government's well p u b I i c i z ed view that the airport and its site are necessary an d a "fa i t accompli". I w oul1 d like to know how any con- cernedcitizen can arrive at a sen- sible conclusion, based on one side only. Surel1 y i f Mr Cafik i s truly as impartial as he claims, he will makeavailable the considerable am- ount of information from the People or Planes Committee, sothat his consti- t u e n t s can study both sides and a r r i ve at an im- formed opinion. Vera Howard, BrooklI in. THE WHITBY FREE PRESS i (Voice or the County Town) Hometown paper of Whitby, Brooklin, Myrtie and Ashburn. Published every Thursday in and for the people of Whitby. .ffices - .301Byron St. S. Whitby Mail Phone Publisher Editor Editorial Staff Display Advertising Circulation - Box 206. Whitby - 668-6111 - W. Bill'Durkee - Judy Durkee - J. Quail - Ron Winstanley - Barry Schroeder Pilots Veto Airport! tobuild runway 32 left and forget about the $1 billion Pickering Airport which he regards as a 'white elephant'. Some pilots, including Desmarais, agreed that the 70,000 people, who w o u1 d be affected by noise if another runway w as built, had no legitimate beef because they moved into the area knowing they would be affected by air- port noise. Doug Anderson said, "Mal- ton is letting too much building go on near the airport. " Desmarais suggested the goverrinent b u y up al1 the homes near the airport and resell them to anybody who is in- terested. Peoplewho rebought would be t o I d about the noise and would 1 ive in the area having been forewarned. Noise Preventives At present the pilots do as much as they can safely do to prevent noise whi1le taking off andl1 anding. The procedure is READER'S FORUM Readers of the Whitby Free Press are invitedto participate in the new weekly feature, READER'S FORUM starting in next week's issue. The Whitby Free Press will issue a challenge, upon re- ceiptof any intelligent, signed question to any member of council, town staff or any other knowledgeable person by pub- licationof your question. Queskions and answers may be posted to Readerls For- um , Whitby Free Press, Box 206, Whitby. to get the plane as high up in the air to 15 0 0, as s oon as possible, hopefully while stillover the airport, and then to cut back on power to reduce the noise. The M.O. T. has suggested turns at timeswhichthepilots refused in the in- terests of safety. Even PIlots Affected Even pilots are affected by noise. Anderson lives some 20 miles from the airport a t Mal ton and when north-west A i r Canada flights go over his house, hefinds conversation outside is useless until the plane is past. At this point the a i r c r a f t are seven to eight thousand f e e t in t h e air. Anderson said, "If I were a retired person living in a quiet community I would feel I had a definite beef. Il Strangely enough that's just exactly ho w many resi dents in Pickering feel about a new airport. Do you know something we don't? Newstips. Call 668-6111 -k moi 1-etters to the editor box 206, whitby people Need Our Trees Need People Whitbý Javceeý-