PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8. 1979. WHITBY PR EE PRESS whitbyf Published every Wediseday by M.B.M. Pubishing, and Photography Inc. W Phone68-6111 Volco oftho County Town fihe a ugs, ulse-Mn nIbe Free Press Building, MicaelIa Buges, ublshr-Manglg Editor 131 Bi-ock Street North,ý hIe only Whitby newspapèr independently owned and operated by Whitby reuidents for Whitby residents. P.O. Box M.6 Whitby, Ont Community EdItor 1'- KikeKêI Contributtng Edlior -JIm Qual Production Manager -Mari Buirgess Print & Promotional Manager -Robin Lyon Classiied Ad çCarole Bertin Mailing Permit No. 460 Member of the: Bett'er Business Bureau ai Torontb t. Whitby Chamber Of Commerce Aquestion Of pirtiýeks The accidenton Michael Blvd, that took the liWfe fa Whitfby- resident demonstrates ýa certain. lack of priorities within regional .oenenalgoenet ln: tact. gvr et ý1gvrret The pres'n eate over, how long it took Durham Regonà Poiceand other emergency services took to get to the scene is secondary to this over-riding ilssueý. Government, today, is" becoming more and more .money, cofisclous. ýThis wlthi> n itselýf, is godbease in the long run, governmfent may icost«the taxpayer less m-oney. However,, the p roblem arises when government *makes the decision to cut back on essential, services., * For every dollar thatis' taken away fromthe police, fire departmients and other services, It is one dollar 0f service thepublic' losesý. Violentcrlme. is up ten'per cent in Durham 'Regionh according to" Police Chief Jon Jenkins.1,' Because the money to operate is not thee,,how can. we as, citîzens, and-or elected representatives expect police service to be Its best? Regional governrment spendi1ng priorities are wrong. Realisticaîîy speaking, the most i 'mportant services that reg'ional government provides'are,,police' protec-, tion and- water and sewage, everythlng ls s luxury., 0f every tax dollar that is coll etedby municipal governments, 55 cents goes automnaticaîîly to,,the Durham Board of Education.. That means there is only 45 cents Ieft forboth the region and the toWn. Out Of, this coesv"r.y.hingtha.t therg'lonand.thetown provide.,~' Because of the in crease in dema.ýd for - police services, the police shoüld get f irst priprity when ýit cornes to s'pend ing t he 'tax dollar.. More people are commltting 'aIl kinds of crime, m ore peo pie1, are drlnking and drivlng, more people need police'help eveýrydaY. Durhamn Regional Police deserves our.support. We are lndeed fortunate to have such an efficient, public splrited law.enforcement agency. Their record of *service speaks for itself but there Is only 50 uch.they can do with the money, -equipment and manpower that Is givento them by their political masteërs. It is Up to us to demand that regional govern'ment give priority to police services and cut funds prima rllyfrom- the -school board and other areas such as welfare paym 'ents, s al aries for civil se rvants (through a hiring freeze), equipment, consultants .that governmer)ts use for everything, Including contract negotiations. Our priorities are wrong. It is time that we put them bakIn their proper perspective. [MainstreamCa d. A Precede'nt'That Hurts' Bi, W. Roger Worth The trend by Canadien gov- ernments to tmx everyhlng ln slght galned-further ,momen- tum recently when (lie Con- servatives in Newfoundîand made hlstory 0of sorts by plmc- Ing a 4%/o (x on media adver- (ising. Quebec In(roduced'a 2% tmx on broadcast adverdsing: two years ego, but Newfound. lmnd is now the only province' ln (lie £ountry that taxes ail media advertisenents worth more than $20. Roger Wort h is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Fedération Of Independent Business. fitMay be only a matter of dîne before other, provinces fOllow suit, duplicating New- foundland's unique tux. So *ho should care, other thon the advertisers (hat are forced (o pay the tux, as well as thie radio stations and weekly and dally newspapers that have go colleet (the money. Like mny other hidden (ax, thecosswillceny epasse on (o (lie public in thie form of higlier priced goods -mad ser- vices, so consumner will even- tually foot the bill. Nevertheless, (lie public l genermlly bîmmes business for price'increase, so(the govern- ment receives thie extra revenue COJWDON PAGE s: WriUter cli-r Iiesstatemen Last week 1 wrote lettér to the Mayor an. r Council1 and placed a copi in yo 'ur, news; week too, wrote the letter hastill and it tended, to be Ion( even though 1 tried 'to 'cu' it down i n doing so.,', 'lI did flot explain somE points'too well.' 1 hope to make 3, points clealrer if 1I. may.,11 1. Imacle a mistake in the f irst -instance when 1 wrote that 2 ambulances were called for' and 1 ,rrived, the second arni- ved at 1: 30 a.m.- evidently b 'oth did arrive at the accident, but the 2nd one. *eturned at 1:30 amr. to. Pick Up some equipment before returning to Ajax ýhis was a rnisunderstan. Jing On My part frorn ;pectators' remarks.stan. ingaround on the night n question. 1 did try to Point out learly that the ambu. 3nce &f fire dept. were on ie sc 'ene within f ive' miutes because, they are 'servi 'ces stationed' ithin the town of lhitby. The second'point is the osing of'the hospital at ghts, 1 tried to, say.thaf- has had f loors, closed ,w n in the cut backs, id if is closed, at nights, Accidents such as the e- that happened on ichael- Blvd, the pro.- ým is, where do you iw the line in making a 3p decision between'an cident (to .O.. Ruddy r si di in ci -la thi m M wi wi clC nic lt do% anc to onE mi( blei d ra sna ac Hospital)' and a bad acclr dent (to Oshawa),, even' the public is confused as -to. where to go in eve-, Theý thir'd pon was to Say that- 1I and a rnajorîty' '-'f residents feel that,our high.'tax»es can be better' spenffin lmnproving what we have, now,- not 'what' we rnight have in- the future -Wityhas alwa s ha an excellent fîre dept.', police and am- bulanceservice. These & other essential ser vices mutbe retained and even improved wherever Possible. Witnesses stick by th'eir word that the ýpolice car -came from Oshawa be- ,cause the' Whitby cars were-tied up (in accident at Ha rmony Rd .,in Oshawa). 1 stated that, we only, had two cars, on parlat any one timeé (one -in Whitby, West &J in East) l'arn refering to the town of Whitby flot including the, Whitby Township (Brookl1In' Ash- burn or Columbus). I have met many people this weeke'nd.dcu- Hospital isti't coe agre WIthrny letter, that we. should aIl be concer- ned, thiey, too feel. our services are diminishing, our town centre requires help, that the council or' town departments Ignore our pleas and problems. 1 amn stili walting for some form of reply from, any member of the coun- cil or a, town department. Sincerely, ,Margaret Boyce. President, West Lynde CoMmunity Dear Sir: I would appreciate space -in your: paper to ,correct a - cornpleteîy erroneous statement made by Margaret'Boyce in her letter, w'hichi ap- peared in the last issue of your paper. Referring to the accident on Michael B1oulevard on July 27th, she states in part, "be- cause Our' hospital 'is closed- down at night..."ý and in a, following para- graph "We need' to fight for our hospital to be re-opened at night..."', Presumabîy, she is referring to The Dr. Joseph,0. RuddyHospi. tai. If so, there'is no need for a fight. The fact is that the Hospital's Emer- gency and Ouf- Patient Department 'has' neyer been closed at night since it opepned its doors 10 years 'ago. 1 want to re'-emphasize, in case some people, have been mislead by the statement the Emergency Depart- ment is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week., With reference to the ambulance taking *-the accident victims' to the Oshawa General' Hospi- taI, the ambulance atten- dants used good judg- ment in going directly to a large hospital 'Which has the capabiiity of deal- îng with 'majior trauma. The fast thing a severel y traumnatized accident vic-_ tim needs is an addltionaî transfer, which woulcl neces sariîy occur if he or she were brought to a facility that is not able to cope with -the probiem. Ontario has the reputa- tion of'having one of the finest ambulance servi- ces in the world, which is a tribute to its personnel. They know their job. Thank. you forletn me use your paper to reassure Whitby» resi- dents that we're still here day and night, ready to Yours truiy, J. lCunetsky, Admlnistrator, lob,