WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1984, PAGE 5 fFPLETTERSTO THE EDITOR UNP Fox gives his side of the story Dear Sir: On Sept. 5, 1984, I and approximately 40 of my neighbours attended the Whitby administrative committee meeting to discuss and to receive answers to our questions concerning Council's approval allowing Grand Oak Homes to make changes again within our com- Complaii Dear Sir: I have a complaint t< make to dog owners al large, and to the various local services such as the humane society, whose function is to help the public - in this in. stant, they didn't. Last Wednesday at 4:30 in the morning, my sister Veronica was awakened by the soundi of screaming. She looked out the window and saw two large, slim dogs in front of our rab- bit hutch. bBythe time she got me up and went outside to investigate, the dogs were gone. Unfor- tunately, so were our rabbits. The screen door had been ripped open by large teeth (teeth marks wereon the screen) and, the interior of the hutch was a disoider of' shredded paper and scattered saw dust. I would like to stress that the door was overlapped by an aluminum covering. The dogs had to be notably determined to get the rabbits through both the covering and the screen. I do not feel this was the work of normal healthy dogs. We found one of the rabbits torn apart about three metres from the hutch, but the other one either escaped or was eaten. The following mor- ning my dad telephoned the humane society, the health services depar- tment in Ajax and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture in Bowmanville and all refused to investigate the situation. My dad suggested to all of them that perhaps they should test the dead rabbit for evidence of rabies in its wounds but they all refused. So there is a possibility that two rabid, or at the least viscious dogs are at large in the Whitby area. Next time it may not be rabbits that are killed, and then what will these authorities do? And what are dogs doing out at 4:30 in the morning anyway? It is bad enough that some dog owners allow their dogs to roam and mess up other people's property, but killing their pets is a little ex- treme. Cynthia Filo Whitby. munity - without any notification! These changes allowed the Rolling Hills developer to cut back on playground equipment, privacy fencing, and tree planting with a total savings of $123,000. This is not the first time that this developer has asked for changes. The truth of the matter is that this subdivision has had more than its share of "growing pains" and we deserve better treatment than what we received (that) Wednesday night. In chronological or- der, I will relate what led to my ejection from the meeting. (1) Feb. 13/84 - Whit- by Council approves Oshawa wanted to hono r Camp X Dear Sir: Please permit me to submit a historical foot- note concerning the recent commemoration at the site of Camp X. Members of the present Oshawa Council may have little, if. any,, recollection of some, of the "oid boys", but at least one of the old boys recalls an earlier effort to memorialize the now famous . wartime in- telligence centre. In the 1971-72 era, I moved a motion to have some formal recognition given to it in the Oshawa-Whitby borderland. Previous to that, I had visited the site and found that while the buildings were in a considerable state of dismay, surprisingly much remained intact. I also had the thought that some tourists might be attracted off High- way 401 by a mention of this historical location. In retrospect, I suspect council was bemused at my rare and accidental encounter with a reasonable con- cept. With a wisdom greater than my own, it passed the motion, thinking perhaps I had stumbled onto something useful without suspecting its full value. Subsequently, a suitably worded sign was raised at the old Camp X gates. • There was no special ceremony and the sign was soon removed somewhat un- ceremoniously. Some- body just carted it off totally, leaving only an idea filed in long, timeless memory. The recent photo I saw in a Toronto newspaper appeared to emphasize the Town of Whitby. The records show that Oshawa was first. Robert Moon Oshawa. changes (without public notice). After their decision was made, Coun. Joe Drumm directed the town's planning department to notify the residents. For some reason, his direc- tive was not followed. (2) June/84 - Feeling that ample time had been given for the town to notify us, I took up a petition asking Whitby Town Council to recon- sider their decision. (3) June 6t-I sent a letter to the Town requesting to present the petition. Request denied! I was told to contact the planning department. (4) June 12 - I sent another letter to the Town stating that the matter had to be taken straight to council due to the fact that the decision had already been made. Request denied! I was once again told to contact the planning department. (5) June 18.-.I atten- ded the administrative committee meeting with a number of neighbours and requested the chan- ce to voice our concerns. Request denied! (6) June 19 - I wrote yet another letter to the Town and hand delivered it . While I was. there I asked to speak to someone in the planning department. They were not available! (7) June 22 - I phoned the planning depar- tment for an appoin- tment. (8) June 27 - Finally, someone on the plan- ning staff to talk to. Un- fortunately, they could not tell me why we were not notified or why council made the decision. (9) July 12 - I wrote to the Town again requesting that our petition be accepted and to discuss the matter with council. Request approved! (10) July 16 - Council meeting - 5 p.m. Absent: East ward Coun. Joe Drumm, planning chairman Joe Bugelli, and, planning director Bob Short. I presented the petition and was told that the Town would have answers to my questions in September. (11) Sept. 5 - Ad- ministrative committee meeting. I gave a presentation that outlined our concerns about the already ap- proved changes as well as our general concerns about the development in the neighbourhood. Since the Town had in their possession the questions I wanted to ask I was really expec- ting some answers. I should have known bet- ter. The Town's position was that they had tried to do everything within their power to help the residents of Rolling Hills and that I was somehow twisting the facts because I had political motives. The only reason that the residents knew about this meeting was due to the fact that I and not the Town told them about it. Not one mem- ber of council even at- tempted to discuss the site plan changes or an- swer any of the questions put to them at the time. Instead we got the old "snow job" of how the Town had tried to be helpful and responsible. Everytime I tried to say something, I was told that I was out of order. Eventually I decided that I was going to have my say whether council liked it or not. As a result, I was told to leave the meeting and they would ajourn until the police arrived to escort me out! I left. To show their disgust with the way council was behaving, most of the people in the meeting left as welL.'(Thanks, I really appreciated the support). Whitby council may have ejected me, but they have rejected the real concerns of the Rolling Hills residents and even more impor- tantly they have rejec- ted the most basic prin- ciples of democracy -. accountability and freedom of speech! I wonder what their motives are? Dennis Fox Whitby. 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