i." j WHITBY.FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1988, PAGE 5 heard this line first from a cousin 35 years ago: It is better to remà *in' silent and be thought a fool than, to open your moutb and remove aIl doubt. We'quiet people enjoy uines like that. The world is full of enougb loud-mouthed but dim-witted folk; for them, bearing that line for the first time mighit be like biting into a lemon rind by mistake. Another: Truth is not a destination; it is a journey. I can't tell you where I first heard that. There's enough there* te bathe an gnat or for an elephant to swim in. Whatever that rneans. Both aphorisms corne to mid %when'.I hear of the Zundel trial in Toronto. Zundel, you will reýall, bas recently been convicted of, publishing lies.abnout the lIolocaust. He has been sentenced, to nine montbs in jail, and Monday was released on $10,000 bail pending. appeal. To Zundel, the firstquip beloiigs: He might have been better te, have remained sulent. But to those wbo drafted the law used te convict him, the second aptly applies. Can anyone know aIl of' any trutb? And should some tepics be beyond question? Did six million really die in Hitler's final solution? Sbould asking that question be against the. law? Not for a minute do I doubt the atrocities .attributed te Nazi Germrany; with the contemplation of sucb horror the mmnd reels. Neyer again should sucb Heli visit earth. The fear is that when Trutb is legislated we become one step dloser to repeating such insanities. On one hand, one can accept the history -of the Hlcutat face value: six million (or more) people were exterminated. Witbout anky reading of histary, WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Laughing at a f oot witbout refiection, witbout thinking, one cari accept conventional wisdoms. If we read the case for the prosecution properly, it is against .the law to hold that -no one <ied in the holocaust. That is an extreme position, and not even Zundel or his like make sucb a dlaim. But at what point between these two extremes does one pass fromi the bounds of acceptability to illegality? In this latest trial, Judge.Ronald Thomas early in the trial ruled that the court accepted the Holocaust as historic fact. This left Zundel with only one defence: theat be earnestly believed the main theme of the pamphlet he published (but did not write). SThomas subsequently found Zundel to be "a bigot, guilty of spreading hatred in the community." The image of such a bigot carrying the banners of free speech sbould make any right-thinking person cringe. Yet tbrougb both bis trials, there he was: at one time carrying a heavy wooden cross to symbolize the end of free speech. Last week, he showed up' at the courthouse with a small coffin bearirig the words, 'Free Speech is Dead.' If I were to write a book on the,Ilolocaust, carefully delving. into sources, searching through records, talking to people who lived 'through that period --would I be charged for carryinà on the searcli or for the conclusion I reached? And if I concluded that only four million died, would I be in breacb of the law? Was* Earnest Zundel* convicted because the court ruled tha t he did flot really believe bis own pamphlet? Or was he found guilty because of the way he went about the whole process? Judge Thomas comment: Zundel is a "bigot, guilty of spreading hatred in the community." And that is exactly what he shouId have been cbarged with. The .wbole rnatter does not rest on exactly how many people died, or on 'the Holocast itself. The real matter was about Zundel's unstated purpose: to stir up hatred against an identifiable group. Thats -the type of hate-mongering that gave rise to the Holocaust in the first place. Surely our laws can be framed in such a way that we recognize such horrors witbout for an instant restricting dissent and free speech. But to legisiate a Truth in order to get at worms? If we ail had the wit to laugh at such fools as Zundel, we wouldn't need to worry about legalities. If a few hundred of us were to show up when Zundel next appears in court we could laugb him out of ýthe hi story books. Nobody takes a fool seriously. Nobody should. New contract f or some employees «n- DEMRIE LUCHUK Scientific and professional eniployees in. tbe Province's psychiatric bospitals including Whitby bave ratified a contract giving tbem a 4.6 per cent raise for 1988, witb special adjustments for psyciatrists, occupational tberapists, nurses and pbarmacists. Gypsymroth... FROM PAGE 4 future about trie program. Provincial grants for spraying pay 80 per cent of administration costs and 75 per cent of actual spraying costs, witb the balance te be provided by the region or municipality. However, the remaining employees in general operations, institution care, office administration, administration services and tecbnical services, bave not ratified their agreement and their contracts bave gone into binding arbitration, according to Joan Gates, president of the Whitby Psycbiatric hospital employees, Local 331, df the Ontario Public Ser vice Employees Union (OPSEU). Negotiations. have been held for tbe last four months, with employees and the Province polarized on acceptable wages. Various protests over slow negotiations were launched by psych workers locally, including wearing black on Tuesday, wearing buttens with the message "Up your Offer," and picketing. The wage contract expired Dec. 31, 1987, and the Province is offering the balance of the staff wage increases of two to three per cent. The union bas asked for an increase of six to seven per cent. And proposaIs for the 1989 contract on fringe benefits and working conditions will begin this week. The deadline for this contract is January 1, 1989. Psych staff negotiators will be busy with two. contracts, and Gates says recent hi story suggests that arbitration will take " a long time." "We haven't finished one and we're starting another!" she says. ~HRRSON WOODEN PICNI C TABLES 5 models to choose from: *pressure treated lumber or solid #1 select cedar _*standard & folding _*4 or 6 inch boards p lus custom buit models to your specs from *handmade *pre assembled FREE DELIVERY UNTIL dUNE 1 rFi ~ ii655-558MYR Lt+ifor FREE demonstration at your home PRoDuCI' See the"Tanarama Coflletioni" Ladies' & Mens' cruise and active wear. Ladies cruisewear & swimwea.r from A good selection of mens' wiR soon be iii! 3Minute Tanning Sessions. Mcxxfl- for 49 2 for$89 Mon. -Fri. 10-10 10fo$49 ^20fr$89 Sat. & Sun. 10-6 S*dt Facial session.Day Care for Faia tanning $2 per session. Toddm 101-12 0. 965 Dundas t. W. (West Lynde Plaza) Whitby 668- 705~