PAGE 6, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24,.1988 e "6AJ VOICE OF THE COUNTY fTOWN Published every Wednesday By 677209 Ontario Inc. Phone: 668-6111 Doug Anderson Publisher The Free Press Building 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Maurice Plfher Maurice Plfher Editor Peter Irvine Advertising Manager Alexandra Simon Production Manager ------J The only Whitby newspaper Independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. To ,whom, exactly, is the Ministry of the Environment responsible? The public? Or big business? Recently, ministry officials said that a public environmental assessment hearing on Lake Ontario Steel Company's experimental berm operation may be suspended if the ministry deems public concern to be minimal. We wouldn't deem local concern to be minimal. Residents of the area, including Thickson's Point homeowners, are concerned about the longterm Wanted: Ahearing environmental effects of the berm,. about possible contamination of water, and about the air. LASCO has, to its credit, collected a large body of information from tests done on their berm -and others elsewhere, and has maintained close ties with residents of the area, keeping them informed. Whitby's biggest industry has been most open to inquiry and have every intention of.assuring that an environmentaliy safe site is in operatior). The bail is now in the ministry's court, and if it is to be responsible, such a hearing would not only satisfy a concerned citizenry but partly lay to rest any negative environmental image that may be borne by LASCO. A hearing would merely continue the openness and public participation that would appease residents's concerns and show good faith on the part of LASCO - and show that the ministry doesn't ignore a public right. LETTERS FROM OUR READERS Reader reacts to letter criticizing day care To the editor: Re: B. Black's letter in the Free Press Aug. 17, 1988. Beyond what the letter denotes. I would like to clear some very distressing details. Marily Monroe was my idol. She seemed to be a magnificent person, as far as I know. However, what I do know about her and her homelife is very little, if anything at all --that is, other than what I have read in a tabloid or heard through gossip, loose-lipped meanderings from soundless judges. From what was written, the writer has either grown up in her h ' hl home or repeats wr read or heard the sa her opinion on day ca He'll be back I will lay me down, for to bleed awhile, then l'Il rise, and fight with youa R.R. 3,1 iat she 1as To the editor: me goes for Lre. go o Re: Day Care: Responsibilities re. I realize are bundled off. I just had to write a rebuttal! As if it isn't bard enough to manage a home and a ful-time creer, I take exception to the ignorance this woman condens re with. Read on! Where is this woman coming from? To correlate Marilyn Monroe's drug problems, ins- tability and early demise, to the much needed fact of the necessity for day care in the 80's, is irresponsible. Marilyn might have again. been helped by the stabilizing influence such care would have Dryden 1702 provided. The fact is, she had no Ivan 1988 day care available. Society in Hollywood was the source of Sincerely, many of her problems. Ivan Grose Where did the current Bowmanville generation of older alcoholics and Objection to exchange policy To the editor: With this letter I wish to suggest who to deal with when buying pets - and the animal control centre in Whitby is not one of those places. If you buy an animal from them and the animal does not take to its new home, the centre will not let you return the pet and exchange it for another. The Oshawa Animal Control Centre or Durham Animal Welfare Centre allow you to exchange the pet. The Whitby centre does not bave this sales policy, so you could get stuck with an animal which doesn't take to your home and then bave to pay extra to return an undesireable pet. This sales policy should be changed now, and I suggest that no one should deal with them until they change it. John Southern Whitby that drug and /or alcohol abuse are constant within many homes. She seems to emphasize that this occurs more often when Mom goes to work and leaves her children in the care of "inadequately trained baby- sitters." Dear Ms. Black --Mothers are trained babysitters and they get their experience being inade- quate, by comparison. Day care representatives hire trained, educated staff. It is unfortunate when certain dysfunctions occur within those systems but this is rare and most parentsfeel when they leave their children. at a day care centre for eight hours per day, that their babies are in the next-very-best care, second only to themselves. Last, but by far least, Ms Black seems to have forgotten suicides come from? I didn't think there were that many working wives in the 40's and 50's. So there must be other contributing factors. We can hardly blame day care for that generation. Also, most children have two parents; why is it Mother's that there are times in the "eighties" and not too often prior to that fathers are the single parent. When a woman dies during childbirth, there is but one parent, a father left to sustain the existence of that child. He must provide for nurture and demonstrate affections. Mothers are not the sole soul of a child. Fathers are as much a part of the living, loving, learning of any responsibility to "nurture and train" a child? A little effort on Father's part would be helpful. With housing costs, it takes two working parents to afford your own home. Or should everyone with small children live in the numerous apartments we child, just as any mother is. Mothers and fathers both participate in the conception and, in most part, the upbringing of an infant. Fathers exist! Ms. Black, do not hold your personal loss against all parents because they want "things." Parents work hard. and they do this, ultimately, for their children. Susan E. Austin Ashburn have in Oshawa and area? As well, good day care is sometimes a better influence on young children than the homes from which they come. Anyone can be a parent; it doesn't make you a SEE PAGE 10 'Official' objection to berm now made To the editor: In the Aug. 17 edition of the Whitby Free Press, I was quite disturbed by the article entitled "If no objections, no hearing over berm." Along with about 30 other families, I live at Thickson Point. executives, Ministry of the We have an active residents Environment officials, Whitby's association of which I am elected representatives, Durham currently the president. As such I regional officials, and othc.r have been very active in interested individuals and groups. meetings, discussions and SEE PAGE 14 correspondence with LASCO Day care is a necessity in the eighties LETTERS The Whitby Free Press welcomes letters to the Editor on any subject of concern to our readers. Letters should be brief and to the point - rarely more than 300 words. All 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 all letters. Send to: The Editor. Whitby Free Press, Box 206, Whitby, Ontario LItN 5Sor:drop thr ugh4Qw muiI 1t at rok SLN -, ', -- - - = In