PAGE 6, WIIITI3Y FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 41987 L~L2~~ ~TOWN The only Whitby newspaper irdependently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents Published every Wednesday By 677209 Ontario Imc, Phone: 668-6111l Doug Andet son Publisher Maurice Pif her Editor Peter irvine Advertising Maniaget Alexandra Simon Production Manager pA w For whatever reason, the United Way cam- paign for Oshawa, Whitby and Newcastle has corne up well short of its goal and organizers have been forced to extend the campaign in an attempt to make up the shortfall of about $700,000. Chairman Michael Starr and his team of organizers deserve better for their efforts to gather money which goes to no less than 30 .Meet the need agencies. Those provlde services that benetit a community and its residents. Many businesses, organizations and in- dividuals have annually committed themselves to help out, and did so again! this year. The time is right for others, who may have entertained funding requests yet failed to respond, to an- swer the need and push the total at least dloser to the objective. Otherwise, we fail those special individuals who volunteer time and effort to agencies which answer a need -a need any one of us might someday experience. LETTERS FROMO)UR READERS Use of one sehool only is"totally inadequate" To the editor: I would like to expand on some of the points made in your report on the Durham Board of Education and their refusai of the use of school gyms for indoor soccer, (Oct. 28, Free Press). Youth winter indoor soccer has operated in Whitby school gyms for 10 years and to my knowledge has taken place in An- derson Collegiate and Whitby Senior (now Leslie MacFarlane) for at least the last four. When we requested the school facilities this year, we were told that "due to damage to the gyms" there would be no league play allowed. Since 1 have neyer seen any damage done to the gyms and the Board has neyer informed the club of any, this response came as a surprise. (Despite repeated written and phone requests, the board has still failed to provide details of this so called damage). After pressure was applied by a large number of parents, the board modified its stance to permit children up to 14 to play and in Whitby's case to use only one school (Anderson). This response is still totally inadequate. We have always had teenagers up to age 18 playing, with no evidence of past problems I see no reason why the situation should change. These same children use the gyms during school hours. The main con- cern of the board now seems to have switched to adults playing in these gyms and I see no reason why our players should be penalized. Our organization has always used both Anderson and Whitby senior because we need them for an effec- tive program -not because we like to pay the $9,000 we have to con- tribute to the board for the privilege. The board's Ms Bodnar has suggested that Whitby parents drag their children over to G.L. Roberts in Oshawa. This is totally unreasonable given the availability of a perfectly acceptable unused gym in Whitby (Whitby Senior). Column negative to seniors To the editor: The column written by Mabel McCabe called "Reflections of a Golden Age" would, on occasion, be more aptly named "Complainings of a Golden Ager. " Her writ 'ing in the October 14 issue about seniors' activity cen- tres in which she does not point to any specific one by name, paints them ail with the same brush as being made up of uncaring and un- friendly people, huddled together in "ctliques"' as she calîs them. *Obviously this is not true, as anyone using the Whitby Seniors Activity Centre will attest to. One would have to assume that by the negative attitude displayed in this piece perhaps she is the author of her own misfortune, and any num- ber of the centre she is alluding to should be insulted by her remarks. t would seem that as far as she is concerned, nothing is right from a younger person informing her what is available for her to do, must do, to the fact that there is no one there to personally greet her. This makes one wonder why Mrs. Mc- Cabe has the idea that because she has reached a certain time in life, that that achievement deserves any more special status than a one-day- old child. Her remark that "We are the ones who endured when many fell by the wayside" is about as trite as one can get. Endured what? I'm sure that those who feli by the wayside endured whatever she is speaking about but were not quite so fortunate as she happens to be. But one could go on and on with the negatives in this column, so 1 end with this thought -Ms McCabe, according to herself, has "en'- dured," 50 she must know by now that things are not always served up on a silver platter and rather than complain, you sometimes have to get involved to try to correct the ones you don't think are right. whether you are young or young at heart. Albert Knitt Whitby Perhaps the board would rather we take ail the children to Scar- borough, where not only does the Board of Education encourage in- door soccer (for adults too! ) but provides gyms free of charge. Because of the board's actions the Oshawa club has decided it cannot operate a program this year. The board has therefore already succeeded in depriving a large number of children the pleasure of playing indoor soccer this winter. Some of the Oshawa children have registered in Whitby putting our program under even greater pressure. In spite of our unequivocal offer, for soccer in writing, to pay for any damage (real or imaginary) the board is stili refusing to provide us with the facilities we require. I encourage ail parents to telephone the board and our trustees to make their feelings known so that this unac- r'entable situation can be rectified. Doug Whyte Contest, eolumn show Whitby has heritage To the editor: On behaîf of Whitby's Local Ar- chitectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) I would like to thank the Whitby Free Press for the newspaper space and their co- operation in the running of the con- test "A Place In Time." LACAC hopes that this contest increased the awareness of Whitby residents, business people, developers and visitors of the many important ar- chitectural and historical buildings that are present in the town. At this time, 1 would also like to compliment you on the new column that has been running in your newspaper during the last few weeks. This new column 'Yester- day' is certainly stressing the im- portant message that the town of Whitby does have an important 'Heritage Fabric.' This importance has been realized in towns such as Markham, Unionville and Niagara on the Lake. In Whitby this realization has begun, but has not reached the level of the above men- tioned towns. Hopefully in Whitby, we will see an increase In the co- operation of the residents, the heritage groups, the business people, the developers and the town council to preserve and maintain the important 'Heritage Fabric' in our beautiful town. Thanks again for your support of our summer contest 'A Place in Time.' Rick McDonnell Chairman Whitby LACAC Attention pumpkin thief To the editor: This is to the person who took ou:' pumpkin from the front of our house just a couple of days before Halloween. If you couldn't afford a couple of dollars for a pumpkin, you could've knocked on our door and we would have gladly given you a couple of dollars for one. Now should we put up our Christmas lights, or are you going to take them too? P.S. I hope you carved a happy face on the pumpkin because you caused some sad ones at our house. Annoyed Whitby resident, N. Simpson The Free Press Building 131 Brock Street North. P.O. Box 206. Whitby. Ont. VOICE 0F THE COUNTI LETTERS The Whitby Free Press weicomes letters to the Editor on any subjeet of concern to our readers. Letters should be brief and to the point - rarely more than 300 words. Ail letters must be accompanied by the name, address and phone number of the writer; however, on request, your name may be withheld from publication if we agree that there is a valid reason. The paper reserves the right to reject or edit ail letters. Send to: The Editor, Whitby Free Press, Box 206, Whitby, Ontario LUN 5S1 or drop through our mailslot at 131 Brock St. N.