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Page 6, Whitby Fee Press, Wednesday, November 25,1992 The only Whîtby Newspaper owned and'operated by Whitby resîdents for Whîtbv resîdents! Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Imc. at 131. Brook St. N., Whitby, Ontario LIN 5S1 Phone 668-6111 Toronto Line 427-1834 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pilier,- Editor Alexandra Martin- Pro duction Manager 2nd Glass Postal- RegisÈtration .#05351, Our eyes wereopened To the oditor: Scugog dodged the bullet in the landfili site showdown.- We are Immediately relieved and elated, particularly we are happy for those whose homes and ivelihoad hung ln limbo, while the process *agonized, on. What a relief for them, a relief for the whole township. Our elation is tempered with the knowledge that the process was flot stopped and a better solution ta landfilling has flot yet been serlousiy undertaken. Zero Garbage and PEST are flot going ta dissolve because of this seeming victory.. The black cioud that has hung over us has greatly *aided in opening aur eyes ta the pîobiems of aur expanding consumer society. From the stait we have realized that we either have ta find ways ta curb oui production of garbage or we are going to have a continuing threat 0f landfilli after iandf iii. During the three-year process in which the Cartwright community was To the Edîtor: As a member af the Association for Heathcare Philanthrapy (AHP), a professional organization ai more than 2,500 Jundraistng executives for' hospitals and medical centres, 1 share wih my coliea9ues the concein about the financial situation facing hospitais today. Hospitals across the country are facing financial problemns ai vary ing degreesi service cutbacks, bed closures, staff inductions. WhIllè Whltby General Hospital has been samewhat fortunate ta date ln this regard, the continued shrinkage ln the 'bottomn line' could eventuelly impact service delivery It is unrealistic tO think that tL government can salve hospitals' prablems and, If hospitals are ta continue providing quality care, voluntary charitable contributions must play a major raie in hospitais' financial heath. Individuel and arganizational philanthropy and volunteering help ease the burden facing hospitals and, in some cases, make the critical difference in the survival of certain patient care programs. Charitable contributions permit hospitals, such as Whitby Generai, ta purchase up-ta-date equipment and continue to maintain f irst-class patient care standards. Through AHP, fundraising executives such as myseli are dedicated ta the advancemnent aio heaithcare orgenizations through phiianthropy. ln 1991, totai giving ta AHP hosptals in Canada -- including cash donation, non-cash gifts and pledges, along with planned gifts -was $344 million. ln aider ta focus attention on the important raie philanthropy plays in healthcare services, AHP as designated November 'Support. Your Local Hospital -- Give ta Lufe' month. threatened, we made submission after submission on better Ideas for waste reduction and elimination and we wiIl continue ta do se. .Whiie we breathe easieî here in Scugog, oui friends ln Whitevaie and ln Newtonville have a much daîker cloud hanging over them. There but forthe grace of the IWA go we, and we extend aur sincerest sympathy ta those communities. Zero Garbage and PEST at a joint executive meeting Satuiday passed a motion ta write the groups in those threatened communities.- We offer them aur support in attempting ta stop the MW pîocess and b ring about better solutions ta the garbage crisis than landfills. Scugog has had a near miss, an Inoculation that has strengthened the community and biought ta oui front door the seriousness ofi-the garbage overload that we ail much continue ta address. William Llshman Zero GarbagelScugog The Whitby General Hiospital Foundation will launch a holiday mail drap ta, every. househoid in Whitby, Brooklin and Ashburn later SEE PAGE 34 Campaign message del ivered Ta the editor: On behaf aif the People' Yes Committee -- Ontario Riding,, I would like ta take this opportunity to thank yaur paper for the Interest which you demonstrated throughout the Ves/No campaign. lndeed, the coverage that ail local papers, local cable and radio networks provided, sparked much lnterest by many constituehts who needed and wanted ta be better informed. With y aur help we were- able ta infoîm t hem ai the facts ln the accord in the hopes that they could make an infoimed decision. Locally we ian a. positive campaign explaining the numerous benefits ai the accord, and we thank the local media fan helping us deliver that message. I believe that the winning resuit in Ontario niigis a demonstration of. haw ifming/educating votera ai the "factsu works best when you want people ta vote for a cause you tîuiy believe in. I would like ta thank .ail oui celebrity speakers. f inanciai sponsors, T-shirt buyers -and al committee members and volunteers wha gave so much af their personal time and effort ta help with ail that we had ta do. Henry Zeczek, ChaIr Peoples Yes Committos Ontario Riding By Stephon G. Leahy There is a recent movement at ail governimental levels ta invite public Participation. This is entirely due ta lobbying by* unhappy. tpayers who feel elected officiais adpublic servants are not acting in their best interests. . A, large' sub-set of these unhappy taxpayers are those who are concernied about the enviranrnent. For many- years, governments have been woefully out ai step with their citizens when it, cornes ta enviroînmental concerns. To make up for this arrogant negligence, governments have created a mass of reports, commnittees, trusts, and rayai commissions on environmentai issues. And the public is welcomed toparticipate. guch was the case, in the Whitby cauncil chambers last week. This time it was Crombie Commission Two, off icially known as the Waterfront Regeneration Trust public hearings. Anyone wha knew a bout. the hearinigs in advance, who knew what the mandate of the Trust was, and had read thraugh the 900 pages of reports Crombie Commission One produced in the past two years, was welcomfe ta participate. 1 went ta watch. The morning 1 was there, foui citizens addressed Mi.. Crombie. The audience consisted of a journaiist, two developers' reprosentatives and the spouse af one of those speaking. (Mr. Short,thhedf th Whitby planning department aise seatin for 15 minutes.) None ai the four speakers were irom Whitby, but ail were f rom Durhamn. None af the speakers Were nordinaryn citizens. They were 'proiessionai' environmenta-- lists, leaders of various groupa. They knew their stuff; they knew the Issues, the players ln'- various governmentai departments. read the reports that had been written. They ise know a lot about wvatersheds, ecasystems and the locai birds, plantsand animais., Even. if yau could have been thora 4 9 on a Thursday morning, yau would have seon been bst i the kind af complex Oshap taika that generally takes place at these meetings.. The detail and speciaiized knowiedge that are involved in these meetings end Up being effective barriers ta public participation. Who wants ta publily speak whon you wili be told yau are addressing the wrong issues ta the wron graup or thet you don't have ailt he facts or haven't followed the right pracedures 'or aren't being reasonable/realistic. To Crombie's credit, he is less afficious than the members of Whftby's planning and developinent cammittee. But, nonetheless, one can't help but be. bewildered by the masses ai camplex information thrawn around. ft seems that many governments, --departments, committees and agencies are very happy ta have a, bewildered populace, ail the while moaning about the apathy of the public. While that isn't the case wth Crombie, there are clear signs ai deliberate barrnera ta public particpation being set by the Town and the Region. Find aut for yourselt; just try a little 'public participation yourself. You'll soan leamn there are aton of dues and procedures, a specialized language ta learn, very littie natice given for the next meeting and littie -a accessible information. That is why public participation ends up with t he "experts" from the public facing the expertsand consultants .frain governmenta, developers or corporations. The public "experts" are aimast always unpaid, ultra- determined citizens Wha have spent years tnaining themsehes se that they cen participate ln public hearingsaend meetings on a level playing field. Governments, develapers and corporations don't like them much beceuse these members* af the public are knowledgable. persistant and know how ta play the gaine. We are. lucky ta h ave a few ai them living ln Durham.'. On the other-hand, we are extremel y uilucky that they are se unnecesa,. Police judgrnent.suspect To the editor: You often write complimentary articles about the police, but do you ever, do, any Investigative' journelism Inta seme ai the dumb things aur police da, when their judgment is suspect and they have e complete lack oi common. sense. On Saturday night, Nov. 7, my wiie and -1 had a terrible, scary, bizarre, incident, when. we were attacked Iby 'three carioeds aio police in.aur.,driveway. i feel this was an unjustifled use ai police power. Aller it was aven they just said, O0kay, you can go now,0 and they drove away -- no expianation, fia apolagy. 1 sent a letter ta the Durhamn police.chief regarding this ugly, swarming Incident. 1have not received' any rep ly from the chief but 1 reaily did nat expect any response beceuse oui, police do not like controls or eccountebiliity. 1 aise sent a latter ta Ajax major James Witty who la chair af the Durhamn Police Services Board. I# aur politicins are afraid af the police, what chance has an aordinary citizen such as myseif have. >'Everyone is telling me, that I should have got the police badge numbers because, now they willl deny the incident ever happened. We have neyer- experienced an incident like this before in a'ur lives with the police, so we neyer thought of getting their badge ilumbers.W The way that femaie afficer came charging at us waving her buliy club,.it was obvious that she was expecting 'semeone more "important" than us. We are a well-dressed, middle-aged couple. Wasn't she intelligent enaugh ta know that we do nat iook like dangerous criminels. There wes fia need for her ta be se rude and arrogant. 1 can't believe that this is normal police procedure 'ta investigate an alleged mini trafi ic violation (the officer alUded ta seme report that 1 was swerving al over the 401 when we returned home earlier, but i was not'given a ticket for enything). How many times has this happened ta other people, ln Whitby in the middle of the night? Ronald McLaren Whitby The Whitby Free Press weloemes. letters ta the editar on any sub jeot of concem ta aur readers. Letters should be bnief.and ta the point - rarely mare than 300 words. Ail letters mnust be accmpariied by the name, address and telephone number of the wniter; however, an request, your name may be withheld fram publication if we agree that there is a vaiid reasan. The paper reserves the ht ta reject or edit ail letters. Send ta: The Editor, Whitby Free Press, Boxe206, Whitby, Ont LUN 5S1, or drap throughoui maàil slot at 131 Brock StN. Publ.ic hearings: a forum-for. experts Support your hospital