PA(I . \1iNIl)Y. 1 .\I.ARY '21. 198fI. W!II YFRl;I PRESS -~h i b *, V'IIL F _Iuhlihed îwtery VW dnesiday and Photography inc. The Free Press Huilding Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor :11 Brock Street North, The only Whitby newspaper independentIy owned and operated by Whithy residents for whithy residents. P.O. Bo x 206. whitby, O0 Merchant responds to unknown caller Dear Sir: It is with grave misgivings, indeed, that I find myself having to write to the Editor of a newspaper to get my views across to an unidentified caller who felt she must hide behind a telephone to voice her opinion, but at the same time would not give me a chance to do the same. On the 7th of January, a lady who had been waiting for the Whitby Town Bus in front of my store, and upon arriving at her home called me and asked if the customer she had seen waiting in my store was the owner of the car which was parked in the bus stoP . I assured her that the car did not belong to my customer and then without even acknowledging the fact that I had spoken, proceeded to accuse me of deliberately blocking the bus stops. She said she knew I was bucking the buses and she did not like my attitude at all. I informed her when I was given the chance to speak that I was not in anyway bucking the buses (it might not be a bad idea though since they are costing the taxpayer over $600 per day), but I was bucking the fact that the buses started and ended their routes in front of my store. We lost seven parking meters (two have since been returned) because of the buses parking here, and since it is all smali business in this area we cannot afford to lose them. i opened my store four years ago and in that length of time i have seen many businesses open up only to close again for one reason or another. Let's nat put one more obstacle in the path of a smali business. Almost every week you can read an article in the paper where someone i9 again saying let's get this Whitby downtown area ta came alive. How can this be accomplished when they are removing parking meters? To entice people to shop down- town instead of the plazas, we need more parking facilities - not less. Three other reasons why I am not pleased with the buses stop- ping in front of my store are: (1) i do not like my step and surrounding area being used as a garbage receptacle for empty coffee cups, pop cans, chocolate bar wrappers, dirty kleenex and, yes, even an oc- casional beer bottle; (2) I do not like my store being used as a bus shelter nor do I like the school children lounging all over my step while my customers are forced to squeeze by them to enter my store; and (3) i most certainly do not appreciate the gutter language and rowdyisi from some of the high school students while waiting for the bus. My mystery caller also imformed me she buys cheese from my store, but I continued to buck the buses then she didn't really feel that she would like to patronize my store anymore. That, to me, in one word is black- mail. I would, therefore, like to inform my caller that threats will not intimidate me to back off. My objec- tive is to build up this business and since I have many more customers who drive cars rather than ride the bus then I will not give up until the buses have been moved to an area which will not deter customrs from shopping in downtown Whitby. i don't feel that just because my views dif- fer from the caller's that mine are wrong. I was always taught ta stand up for the things i believed in. So ta follow this advice - tight this issue I must - and fight it I wilI. M.T.A. Tobin 102 Col borne St. E. Wh it by Michael J. Knell Community Editor Marjorle A. Burgess Production Manager Karen Thompson Advertising Manager Malling Permit No. 480 Member of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce g. it. Compassion. not feninism needed Recently, the local Rape Crisis Centre placed a classified advertisement with an Oshawa newspaper advertising for "feminists" to volun- teer their time and efforts for the centre. While there is nothing wrong with appealing for volunteers for this worthwile organization, this publication must take exception to their desire for volunteers who are "feminists." According to the Gage Canadian Dictionary, a feminist is "a person who believes in or favors feminism" which is defined as "a doctrine that favors increased rights and activities for women." What has this obviously political doctrine have to do with helping victims of rape, sexual assualt or battery? This publication cannot see the connection. In a recent telephone interview, Beth Mather, manager of the centre, said, "We are basically a feminist group and that is the kind of person we are looking for." Miss Mather went on to say that the group defines a feminist as "someone who cares about women's problems" and that "I wouldn't say that we are politicar." She justified her call for 'eminist volunteers by saying that these people are less likely to make a victim of rape, sexual assualt or battery "feel guilty" about what happened to them. However, to her credit, Miss Mather said that if her organization came across an individual who was qualified to be a volunteer but said that he or she was not a feminist, they would still want that person as a member. She also said they would even consider a man for membership, but claim to have never had any men apply. This does not satisfy this publication's concern over the Rape Crisis Centre's search for feminists. An individual who is eager to help and concer- ned about the victims of these horrible crimes should not have any political bias but instead shoud be caring, understanding, compassionate, patient and loving. The last thing that is needed in a facility such as the Rape Crisis Centre, or so our limited knowledge tells us, is a political activist who will use the victim to perpetrate his or her political viewpoint. This publication is also concerned about the in- cidences whereby a man, for whatever reason is accused of rape, sexual assault or battery,falsely. A true, hard core feminist with that particular political bias, would not be apt to look at the en- tire situation and all of the "evidence" in an impar- tial, unbiased manner and may encourage the woman concerned to take her false accusation in- to a court of law. If the man is proclaimed by the court to be in- nocent, (which may indeed by very difficult) the women involved would obviously be guilty of per- jury and under Canadian law could be sent to prison for a maximum of 14 years. If a case such as this ever arcse (and we hope that it never does) then who would have been helped? Certainly not the woman, for she will surely end up in prison (and rightfully so) and the accused man will be haunted with the experience all of his life. If could ruin his family and/or business life. Surely that is not worth the gratification of one feminist's ego. Incidentally, a number of false rape charges have been filed locally...fortunately for the accused, and thanks to our competent police force few have gone to trial. While we applaud the efforts of the Rape Crisis Centre and are grateful for the apparent help they have given to the victims of rape, sexual assualt and battery, this publication feels that it must en- courage them to look away from the political world and concentrate on their charges. We are also concerned that the advertisement would discourage any qualified non-feminist from becoming a volu nteer. Someone who is politically biased, such as a feminist, would not, in our opinion, make a suitable counsellor for those women who have been through thik kind of experience. Love, patience, understanding and compassion are indeed more desirable qualities than those of feminism, and we believe there are many womein in our community with these attributes who are not necessarily feminists.