PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28,1983, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher - Managing Edito The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Pub rL bilshed every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-611 1 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. TIMOTHY BAINES Community Editor ANDY THOMSON Advertising Manager Second Class Mal - fegist ration No, 5351 fiegistration No. 5351 Port Whitby sewer issue realiy stirnks it appears Port Whitby may once again get the raw end of the sewage. Regional Council will be voting today on a recomnmendation which would extend the present sewersystem from Pringle Creek to Corbett Creek at a cost of $3.4 million and even if the plan is ac- cepted, it will certainly not be alandslide victory. At a Council committee meeting last Wed- nesday, the idea was shot down by a 14-13 vote with three councillors absent. So the onus lies with Scugog Mayor Jerry Taylor and Councillor Lawrence Malcolm and Oshawa Councillor Margaret Shaw, the absent councillors. It is ironic that the final decision should lie with people whose constituents stand the least to benefit from the project. A few days ago, several hours before I heard of Clark Todd's death, I wasthinking that Lebanon had become an international tragedy of the most grotesque dimen- sions. Beside Lebanon, the hopeless ingrained animosities of Northern ireland and its senseless blood- shed become almost bearable. inside Lebanon, it is almost as if the international community had conspired to fan the flames and had then delivered shiploads of arms and ammunition to let man's boundless capacity for death and destruction.have its head. If we had done that, the results could hardly have beermuch different. The Palestinian camp massacre has now been match- ed, apparently, by a Christian massacre in a Shouf mountain village - inside a church of all places. Bands of Syrians, Palestinians and Iranians are said to be fighting the Lebanese army alongside Druze and other left-wing, anti-government militiamen. And in the mid- die of all this, a Canadian from Saint John, New Brunswick, the father of five children, has died of his wounds in some mountain village near Beirut. To his widow and his children perhaps, none of this will make much sense. It probably didn't make much sense to Clark Todd either, if he thought of it much in the last hours of his life. He wouldn't be the first war correspon- dent to think how stupid it would be to die fqr a bunch of words and pictures in a remote place that no one he knew or loved had ever heard of, in a war and a country whose looks and sounds were merely occa- sional background accompaniment to the affluent rhythm of life in an uncaring North America. At a time like that, there is a-tendency to think about all the phone calls and letters a television newsman gets, demanding happy news, nice news, news of a world without death and failure and poverty and disaster. That world doesn't exist, of course, and never did. In my view, Clark Todd's death was not futile. He died trying to demonstrate that the Lebanons of this worid won't go away if they're ig- nored; that the world is too small for a single act of bloodshed to have no impact on all of us; that what is Lebanon today, is Saint John, New Brunswick, tomor- row. Mr. Todd was born in Saint John during the Se- cond worid War 38 years ago, and it is worth remembering that a Saint John at that time, was part of the allied front line in the North Atlantic. Its streets were full of haggard'sailors, who had stumbled from their ships to shake off the nightmares of a North Atlan- tic Convoy and lose themselves for a moment in civilian pleasures. They would understand that the madness in Lebanon, 38 years later, cannot continue. Mr. Todd's death reminds of that, and warns us much as the death of any man in uniform, fighting for his country, that we dare not forget. Sure our councillors Gerry Emm and Tom Ed- wards and Mayor Bob Attersley are pushIng the sewers., Development of Port Whitby depends on this sewage problem being cleared up. Whitby has not progressed to this point by remalning stagnant. There is too much empty acreage sitting down at Port Whitby just waiting to alleviate the housing problem which exists In Whltby. Some councillors who appose the sewer exten- sion sqem to be taking a hypocritical stand. They say the region aiready has enough debts from water and sewer projects and a 1.4 million loan for Port Whitby cannot be justified. On the other hand, at the same Council meeting, they go ahead and vote 21-6 in favor of watermains and sewers in Newcastle (bordering Oshawa) at a cost of about $350,000. Port Whitby residents are now faced with flogding problems and sewage back-up which gets back into Lake Ontario and increases pollution. Belleve it or not, for several years UN- TREATED sewage has gone directly into Lake On- tario not to mention Pringle Creek. Just ask some of the residents who live along the creek about the lovely aromas they get to live with. When Free Press publisher Mike Burgess ran in the Centre Ward in the 1978 Whitby Municipal electionhe reveaied at that time an engineering study that had been commissioned by the Region of Durham and apparently kept under wraps. The report revealed that the Pringle Creek Water Pollution Control Plant did not have sufficient capacity to handle daily flows in excess of 5 million galions. lp 1975 the maximum daily flow as Church column applauded Dear Editor, It's a pleasure to read the "Church Speaks" sponsored by the Whitby Ministerial Association. I especially ap- preciated the article by Rev. Keith Elford on 5.44 M.G.D., in 1976 it was 7.54 M.G.D., and in 1977 it was 6.80 M.G.D. The report specifically stated that the maximum day flows (obviously) "are in excess of the secondary treatment capacity". It further stated "by-passing of flows from the primary treatment facilities directly to PNngle Creek occurs about 8 times per year". The report also stated "the high counts of total coliforms would make swimming unsafe during the summer months". The issue is not whether or not five homes have flooded basements (as the issue has been con- veniently over simplified), but a delicate poibtical problem. Local poiticians have been painfully aware of this pollution problem for years, but have you seen any "unsafe for swimming" signs posted anywhere? Or any notices to warn you about your children playing near Pringle Creek? Would people really want to buy expensive new houses along 'Crappy' Creek? We'd call the creek some other name, but in an effort to maintain some good taste we've just called It 'crappy'l The other side of the problem is that some other councillors representing other areas really don't care if Whitby just becomes one big outhouse. When the Port Whitby sewer issue came up at Council last year, it was voted down 19-9 so some progress has been made, but it is an important cog in Whitby's wheel to get those sewer lines. Hopefully Councillors will look beyond their own backyards a little and see the need that does exist in Port Whitby. And those who don't should be held legally liable for the resulting health, pollution, and environmental problems that wilI be caused by their parochlai shortsightedness. Sept. 4/83 regarding the abortion dilemna. Not only was it thought provoking, but it was refreshing to see the author was from the Free Methodist Church. Too often the Right to Life struggle is por- trayed as a Catholic issue. It is as much a Protestarn one; inded it concerns everyone of us. Please keep the ar- ticles comingi Betty Van Hezewyk Whitby ----------