WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1984, PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson f1dui~,a ~nd THE CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell I'm a sacred cow kicker from way back. And here I am on page 5 of your Free Press every week to kick yet another, with the helping hand of Larry Solway - actor, producer, television personality, journalist and hater of the foolish, the stupid and the perverse. On this page, I too, will vent my anger and frustration .on the foolishness, the stupidity and the banlity that we are all forced to deal with from time-to-time. As I've assured Larry, nothing is too sacred' If it's dumb - we're going to tell ya 'bout it. And if it's good and just, we'll bring word of that too. After five years of working in this town as a reporter, and after almost a year of living here, I haire gained a fondness for Whitby. There is so much that is good about this town. But there is also much that annoys me. And hopefully, I'il be able to do some good. Maybe, I'il even wake a few people up. You never know. And now, on to my first sacred cow. You know, I feel sorry for Ross Batten. Whitby's north ward councillor has been given one of the town's most thankless and frustrating jobs. He's the mayor's designate to the Pickering-Ajax-Whitby Animal Control Committee (otherwise known as the P.A.W. çommittee). It was this little group that is responsible for animal control within the area and must deal on an ail too regular basis with one-of Ontario's most powerful reactionary groups - the Ontario Humane Society. The P.A.W. committee is the 1980's version of the dog catcher. When the municipalities did their own animal control it was a political headache. And for the politicians it was an exercise in frustration. Foir you see, animal control is another one of those wonderful things called a motherhood issue. Everyone wants the dogs and cats, etc., etc. cared for but no one really wants to do it because no matter what you do you are bound to offend somebody. Well, for the last few years Batten has been making a valiant effort to do a bang-up job at animal control. He has experienced some successes. The exotic animal control bylaw recently adopted in Whitby is a good example. But you see, when it comes to animal control, Batten is all alone. For good reason, local politicians in Whitby, Ajax and Pickering don't want to know about animal control. Pickering doesn't want to know so much that its delagates don't even show up to the meetings. Pickering clerk Bruce Taylor is forced every meeting to sit there, red faced, and sputter some meaningless apology because Pickering can't send a politician who will attend the meetings. That's how important it is to the politicians. But I would strongly urge the politicians to start listening to Batten because they're going to have to start taking an interest in it for no other reason than money. O.H.S. executive vice-president Tom Hughes has all but demanded a 26.1 per cent increase in the fees paid by the municipalities. Before P.A.W. became active, Hughes would simply tell the councils how much it wanted to be paid and they paid it, because they didn't want to be in- volved. Well, it seems that Batten has got the guts to tell Hughes to "get stuf- fed" or some other applellation. And it's about time. - Personally, I'd like to see us fire the O.H.S. if for no other reason than it appears to me, having attended several P.A.W. meetings, that neither Hughes nor the O.H.S. has much respect for it. (Hughes' lack of respect is partially justified since the appointed Pickering political representative doesn't deem P.A.W. important enough to attend.) I don't really think that the O.H.S. realizes that the taxpayers of the community are paying them to priovide a service. The O.H.S. hasn't realized that it works for the P.A.W. committee. It is not the P.A.W. conmittee's function to keep feeding the society's financial furnace. When asking for public money, the O.H.S. provides a budget for the committee to exarrine. Because it wants publie money it has to justify its expenditures. Well, there's a little item on this year's budget called "Cen- tral Supply and Services" that comes complete with a price tag of $35,839 which the committee wants to eut to $21,000, which is five per cent over last year's figure. Hughes has categorically refused to detail this expenditure. He says he can justify it but he won't justify it. And since part of that money comes from the public purse, he'd better explain himself. When the town was responsible for animal control, it was one big headache. Now that the O.H.S. is in charge it's still a big headache. The question is - which headache do you want? The trouble for me is that like education, abortion, the death penalty and a host of things, people react to animal control with their hearts, not with their heads. And you see, that is why the O.H.S. has us over a barrel. So long as people think of this issue with their hearts, no sensible solutions will ever be found. And that's why Batten has got one of the toughest jobs around. He is stuck between a council that doesn't want to take thé job back and a society that doesn't seem to be prepared to justify the way in which it spends public money. I don't envy him at all. SOL WA by Larry Solway Ready or not, here I come I like good conversation. You remember "conver- sation." It's what you get when the TV is off; when the music stops blaring; when people actually ex- change ideas. My favourite conversationalist is a cousin of my wife's with a long and distinguished record of community service as a psychiatrie social worker. When she talks I listen. When I talk she walks out of the room. Seriously though.... For me there are two sets of ideas: mine and the ones not worth listening to. At least that is the view of thousands who have listened to or read what I have to say. In spite of democracy, most people get along best with people they agree with. The cousin says my problem is that I "challenge" people too much. Challenge turns people off. Makes them squirm. Feel uncomfortable. Worst of all, it makes them defensive. When people are defensive they either get ugly and aggressive or sullen and silent. What is the alternative? According to her it is to find common ground and enlarge it. She says it is important that you first listen carefully to what someone is saying or trying to say. Try to sense another person's values and ideas even before they are spoken. Having sensed them you deliberately avoid treading on them, you compromise. In her terms, if she works with a social delinquent who refuses school or work or social responsibility she does not point out the error of his ways. She tries to understand. The word is "empathy." She says my problem is that right away I hold up the mirror and tell people where they went wrong. I take another person's opinion, and if it doesn't measure up I trash it. She says that everyone is entitled to a set of values, and however misdirected I may think they are, those values are precious, they must be under- stood and accepted before they can be altered. I say I don't have the time, the patience, or the luxury of waiting while someone crawls out of the cave. So I am back in print again. I have a forum again. Archimedes, the Greek mathematician-physicist- philosopher said: "Give me a place to stand and I can move the world." He meant with a fulcrum placed in the right spot and a long enough handle, you could rnake a lever that could move a weight as big as the world. My "place to stand" is a forum. Maybe I can move something. Enough philosophy. If you have read this far you are curious beyond belief, or incredulous, or gullible, or stuck with time on your hands, or-for some mischievous reason, interested. Challenge is my style. I challenge all of us. Look around and ask questions. Be critical. Not min- dlessly negative - that is not truly critical. Critical means to develop the ability to digest information and to make judgements based on that information. On fact. On research. On educated observation. "Not liking" something isn't good enough unless you can say why you don't like it. This column will be critical and it will challenge. Nothing will be too private or too sacred. It will challenge * the mindlessness of "single issue" politics, attitudes of education and educators, religious zealots, town planners, pet lovers, senior citizens, drivers, shoppers, diners, and drinkers, lovers, liars and louts. It will be local where it coun- ts, national where it hurts, international where it matters, personal where the shoe pinches. This rnay sometimes be funny, sometimes furious. And if this long and often rambling beginning has bored you - it will be the last time. Ready whenever you are. ~1 ~ari~