Page 6, Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, February 8, 1995 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! MEMBER OF: ONTARIO CANADIAN COMMUNITY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER " ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS CNA DIVISION AUDIT BOARD ISSN#0844-398X The Whitby Free Press is distributed free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashbùrn & Myrtle as well as numerous public and commercial outlets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering & Port Perry. 27,000 COPIES DELIVEFRED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $34 + GST • Outside Canada $80 + GST Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Inc. Box 206, 13.1 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario L1 N 581 Phone: 668-6111 Out of town: 1-800-668-0322 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pifher - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% recycled content using vegetable based inks. mo the iYewéitor... A 'people' problem All written material, illustrations and advertising contained.herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyright law. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit line to the Whitby Free Press. Poor judgment To the editor: So Town council has decided to give its advertising to a non-local paper. Well, why not? Why would you want to support a local home- grown business when you can send our money out of town? So what if that local paper has more exposure to the community; is located in the economically suffering downtown core of Whitby; covers Whitby issues exclusively and in depth including a recap of what council did at committee and council meetings; reports on the sporting activities and outcomes of our children and mature citizenry alike; gives the student population a forum to report on school activity; and much, much more? Rationale. The Free Press quote was higher. I don't suppose that could be perceived as an investment in our community's continuing healthy economic future? Perhaps that is an idea just too radical for our current municipal councillors. i'm sure the decision has no connection to 'the other paper's' open support of the mayor and council; or the owner of The Free Press running for a seat on regional council. The good news is that the Whitby Free Press is sure to continue to provide excellent, in-depth coverage of ail the important happenings affecting Whitby's future, in spite of council's exercise in poor judgment. JoAnne Prout Whitby ECEs encouraged To the editor: We are encouraged by the direction promoted by the report of the commission, 'For the Love of Learning! It recognizes that contributions are made by a variety of groups including early childhood educators (ECEs). Training and practice of the ECE includes strong emphasis on developmentally appropriate programming for children. The report, in a general way, addresses the contribution that may be made by ECEs. We must ensure that this important contribution is recognized and used to f uli advantage. Starting formai schooling at age 3 does not remove the very real gaps that currently exist between the education system, as defined by the Ministry of Education and the child care system as defined by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. There is still no "seamiess" day for the children of Ontario. There will continue to be a need for before- and after-school programs and for early childhood education programs for the three-year-olds not participating and infants, toddlers, junior and senior kindergarten and school age children whose parents work. Recommendation of an earlier school start is framed to address problems brought about by poverty and other factors counter to healthy development. Participation by three-year-olds would be according to their parents' choice. A great deal of public education would be needed to ensure that the children who would benefit most from this early intervention are included. Addition of three-year-olds to the school system as space becomes available, as the report suggests, depends a reat deal on the commitment and buy-in" of the school officials involved. Some phasing in may be necessary for financial reasons, but experience has shown that school officials can show reticence. Association of Early Childhood Education Ontario To the editor: Re: Ferret foes (Free Press, Feb. 1) Kizzit, Brooklin's ferocious ferret, is no greater danger than most household pets. Although the potential to do harm is present, the reality is that a neutered house pet represents minimal cause for concern. l've worked 24 years with animais in two of the world's major zoological collections, and l've had a variety of household pets over a 50-year period. I've been scratched, chewed and leaned on by the best, and what little I have learned along the way is that when people/animal problems develop, the f ault invariably lies with the human side of the equation. Animais get caught up in the problems, they don't create them. The present ferret situation has brought out some fairly spectacular misinformation that should be considered: 1) Yes, this ferret is the result of many generations of captive breeding and probably a good house pet (owner Laurie Williamson/veterinarian Dr. Rick Keir). Ferrets are, however, still regularly used for hunting. They are sent into burrows to force the prey animais out, in the same way Support for Auxiliary To the editor: I would like to thank the many supporters who have donated to the many events the Whitby General Hospital Auxiliary has organized in the past year. Fund-raising events such as the walkathon, fashion show, bingos, bazaars, Santa noses, HELPP lottery tickets, raffles, tag day, and the gift shop in the hospital, have helped us to raise money for the betterment of patients. The hospital is a community place and the Auxiliary is one of its best foundations. For well over 26 years we've managed to do our part on a volunteer basis to offer a range of services to help provide quality patient care. The donations from our community help us provide the necessary funds to do this. On behalf of the Auxiliary, I say thank you to everyone. Pat Wilcox President that Jack Russel terriers are used to flush out rats and rabbits. And. by the way, the reason a ferret/Jack Russel owner carres a spade while out hunting is to dig the animal out if it kills while underground and stays to enjoy the meal. There is certainly potential. 2) The intent of the present bylaw is not to prevent the keeping of non-native species as pets (veterinarian Dr. Walter Ingwersen) but rather to prevent all potentially dangerous animais from being kept as pets. Dr. Ingwersen's comment implies that native species as pets are okay when, in fact, Ontario provincial law expressly prohibits the keeping of native species except by special permit. Like many others, i enjoy my non-native house cat. And who ever said that a native black bear made a good house pet, anyway? 3) Dr. ingwersen also comments on the legitimacy of the emus permitted in agricultural areas of the town. He feels that escaped emus could have tremendous impact on our ecosystem (!'m having real problems visualizing To the editor: Re: 'One-stop monopolizes care services, Flahierty charges,' Free Press, Jan 25. Mr. Flaherty was stating his opinions on the new legislation passed in December that deals with long-term care or, as it is often referred to as, one-stop shopping for home care. Mr. Flaherty came to the meeting on Jan. 23 at Fairview Lodge to state his opposition to the legislation but did not have the courtesy to stay and listen to the views of the people in attendance. Durham Centre MPP Drummond White, on the other hand, stayed the whole meeting to listen to what the 40 people in attendance had to say. t appeared to me that all were in favour and had some very in- telligent ideas on implementation. Mr. Flaherty stated that, in his opinion, the time frame for implementation is too short. He tries to leave the impression on your readers that implementation would be April 1. This is not rue. The beginning of implementation will only start after April and will take up to four years. The government realizes that this is a massive undertaking and that is why they are allowing the the local emu population running amok). Unfortunately, he seems singularly uninformed about the real iegitimacy problem these emus present. The Australian government claims ownership of all animais of, or descended from animals of, Australian origin, including all emus. Furthermore, the Australian government reserves the right to restrict who may possess these emus, and expressly forbids commercial trade in the birds. I suspect that there is not a single emu legally held in the Town of Whitby. R is possible PAW operatives are knocking on the wrong door, for the wrong reasons? But let's put things into perspective. The thing to remember is that a small dog (such as a Jack Russel terrier) under control is a great pet but a smail dog out of control can be dangerous. Now substitute 'ferret' for 'dog' in the previous sentence. People, not pets. There's the reai problem. John T. Hulley Brooklin legislation to be implemented over such a long period, a little ai a time. It would appear to me that Mr. Flaherty is only concerned with protectng his fnuends in the private sector. He is certainly not concerned with the plight of the seniors and the disabled. He also claims that this is just another attempt by the government to create another big bureaucracy. But he failed to tell you that this one organization will replace the need to have up to 17 offices of bureaucracy as they would be brought under one umbrella. The changes will not cut out nurses of other care agencies but might cut some of the people at the administration level so there is no duplication and overlapping. And the Victorian Order of Nurses is not a fully private sector organization, they receive funding from non-profit organizations. The care of seniors and disabled, in my opinion, is not or should not be a made-for-profit service as Mr. Flaherty seems to support. Seniors and disabled, be very wary of Mr. Flaherty and the Tories, for they are not out there for your interest. 'Protecting friends' To the editor... Bernle Emoff WhltbY