PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1979, WHITBY FREE PRESS Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, 'he only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whit [rublished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Phâtography Ine. Phone 6686111 le Free Press Building Publishor - Managlng Edîtor 131 Brock Street North, ;by residents for Whitby residents. P40. Box 206, Whitby, O gt Community Editor --Brian Winter Contributing Editor -Jim Quail Production Manager -Marj Burgess Print & Promotional -Robin Lyon Manager Classified Ad -Leesa Menard Mailing Permit No. 460 Member of the: Better Business Bureau of Torontà Whitby Chamber of Commerce Election is Tuesday; your vote counts! On May 22, Canadians will go to the polis to cast their ballots in a national election, an election which is very important for the future direction of our country. There has been plenty of opportunity for the residents of Ontario Riding to find out what their candidates have to say, both through the press and through ail- candidates' forums. In today's issue of the Fre- Press, we have reports on what t4le five candidates for thls r iding had to say to the High School studeniof Whitby at Anderson and Henry last week. We also published reports on an all- candidates' forum in our May 2 Issue. The candidates for Ontario Riding are: Norm Caf ik, Liberal (the incumbent); Scott Fennell, Progressive Conservative; Geoff Rison, New' Democratic Party; Rolf Posma, Libertarian Party; and Dawn Carreil, Marxist-Leninist Party. Whitby residents will have their last chance to hear these candidates in an open forum, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the municipal building. We hope as many people as possible.will turn out for this forum, for it is your interests that will be represented by one of these candidates after May 22. On May 22, don't forget to vote. Vote for the candidate of your choice, but do vote. In a democracy, if is a privilege that many citizens of this world do riot have. We do not intend to recommend ahy particular candidate: we have presented the views of all. The choice is clearly yours. You have had the opportunity to find out what the candidates stand for. On May 22 make your choice. The future of Canada depends on your ballot. Broadbent DOW 1/7y1)/4J; 7 WE --/ 7/1AE57-9cc & Trudeau challenged on capital punishment To Broadbent: Dear Sir: Through advertise- ments, the Canadian Police Association will be urging voters to influence political candidates for a return of the death penalty or face the results. "Political parties," the association's president added, "are ducking the issue, not even wanting to know that it is there." The police are also quite aware that violent crime in the U.S.A. could spread over to us, nor can they disregard the brutal facts that in the last 3 years 20 Canadian police- men have been murdered, that 13 convic- ted killers, when released from prison, have kilied again, and that murder incidence has risen from 1 per cent per 100,000 of population to 3.3 per cent. Re Mr. Ed Broadbent's House of Commons printed debate on capital punishment, June 15, 1976, his flair for a repeti- tive use of "moral" has little affinity with true morality. Saying, e.g., that "all people have an equal moral claim to exist" should not apply to those proven guilty of plotted murder. . And his assertion that "on the retentionist falls the moral onus to prove that killlng by the state Is lustifled"' Is a ratier astounding case of wish- ful thinking. As the NDP leader isn't averse to getting into religion and theology, one pertinent biblical pas- ,sage states, "Any man who murders shall be killed; for to kill a man is to kill one made like God. Thus, a fatal attack on man is indirectly an assault on God. This law, even anteda- ting the Mosaic laws, is a permanently valid one. Likewise, "an eye for an eye" (Ex. 21:24) sim- ply means that justice be done by the court. The same view is held by Jesus (Jn. 19:11) and Paul (Acts 25:11). Although our politi- cian's idea of removing violent crime by chang- ing the environmer has some merit, yet if also gives a murderer an easy excuse. Essentially, the real problem in man himself. And re Mr. Broadbent's maintaining that "our constituents don't have time to consider the ar- guments on C.P.", I 'm convinced the public is not so uninformed, read- ing newspapers and lis- tening to discussions and debates on T.V. While E.B. wants the punishment to fit the crime, he contradicto- rally asks, "Does murder require 'cold-blooded murder' by the state?" This emotionalistic phrase (my quotes) has no factual basis what- ever. And why cite A. Camus' phrase -"the emotional hangover of vegeance" since this atheist also declared that "man's condition is absurd and meaningless?" Finally, while Mr. Broadbent is right that the officiai position of the hierarchy of certain mainline churches and other Christian denomi- nations favor abolition, I'm sure that individual members have freedom' of conscience. A few churches take no official stand, but signifi- cantly, strictly funda- mentalist denominations are close to 100 per cent for retention. John Knott 17 Quebec Street Oshawa, Onf. To Trudeau: Dear Sir: Having questioned Mr. Broadbent's ideas on cap- ital punishment, I must, to be fair, still challenge Mr. Trudeau's and also briefly Mr. Alan Borovoy's. In 1976, the ~-prime minister said in the Commons, "If a majority vote against C.P., some people are going to be hanged. Their death would be - a direct con- sequence of the negative, decision made by the House on the bill." This clearly showed no strong leadership, but was an attempt to scare, not to say, blackmail the op- ponents of Bill C-84 into voting against their con- victions for fear of being regarded. as executio- ners. As murderers are responsible for their own deaths, Trudeau's promised "just" society and a "free"' vote were meaningless. Thus the liberal leader, not.caring the least about the realistic persuasions of the great majority of Canadians, was and is still bent on sublectively deciding what is good for all! Is this the end of participatory democracy? If a secular humanist government, in its comfortable lvory tower, is too stubborn to want a national referen- dum on C.P., as -Mr. Joe Clark does, on a literally life and death issue, it has no right to continue exis- ting. As we know, Trudeauism .morally vio- lated ifs own law on the death penalty while it was still on the books. Such an act fosters dis- respect and mistrust. Last year, Alan Borovoy, head-. of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, gave a good address at the morning service of an Oshawa church. Afferwards, in an adjacent room, he know- ledgeably answered a number of questions. I was, however, taken aback when he told me privately that he was totally against C.P. and that his national organi- zation "was going to work like 'mad' (my euphe- mism) to get MP's across the country to support abolition." Unlike Mr. Clark, lt's only too obvious that he has no genuine concern for the greatest personal civil or civic liberty - the right to life! The .doing away with the ultimate penalty in any country is, l'm cer- tain, a most shortsighted, stupid, immoral act that is bound to backfire. Yet truth is the last thing many people want to hear. John Knott, 17 Quebec Street, Oshawa, Ont. Prisoner wants pen-pal Dear Sir: i am an inmate in the Ohio Penal System and have lost all contact with the outside world in regards to family and friends. I would like for you to place an appeal for pen- pals and friends for me in your newspaper. If this will cost money will you please let me know how .much so that i can send it. Since I only earn three dollars ($3.0o) a month here, it may take me a month or so to send the full arnount, but i will send it. This would really be appreciated since i am very lonely and without mail. It's depressing too, when i see everyone else getting letters and I don't get any. I am a white male, 29 years of age, black hair & mustache and brown eyes. i stand 6' 2 " and weigh 175 pounds. I will answer letters from young or old, man or woman. i wIll answer them all. It may take a while, but i will answer them all. I hope ny plea for friends and pen pals will be printed. It would mean a lot to me and hopefully everyone concerned can make a new friend. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely yours, James A. McKnight 143.915 P.O. Box 511 Columbus, Ohio 43216 Editorial & advertising copy must be in by 5 p.m. Friday because of ï W U ~ ~ - - ---i' - Monday DJa il., 1