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THE ERA County Since Co HASKELL Police resignations The recent flurry of publicity regarding York Regional Police resignations seems to rep resent as The Bard once said much ado about nothing Here are the facts Since the regional force was formed in policemen have resigned not as an anonymous exofficer suggested in Hie Tribune last year a 220man force In Metropolitan Toronto the turnover between five and 10 per cent annually Taking into account the normal problems and higher standards accompanying the amal gamation of local forces into one regional department Yorks turnover rate is not alarm ing after only two years If after four or five years that rate remains above per cent per haps there would be cause for alarm Why did the men resign Last year were asked to resign because they did not measure up to the standards of the new force Other reached retirement J Alarming reasons Hardly All sorts of ne farious pressures upon officers were alleged by three anonymous exofficers in the Tribune story But until someone willing to have his name published comes forth with documented evidence of widespread dissension and unrea sonable administrative demands we see cause for concern Citizen involvement in Aurora The Town of Aurora may be on the verge of an experiment unprecedented among local governments in York Region The experiment is called citizen involvement and it implies more than just another ratepayer protest against a town council decision Its byword is action rath- It is something relatively new to smalltown planning a cooperative involvement between citizens and politicians in shaping planning pol icy rather than the traditional citizen reaction to policies already formed Last week after a hastily called meeting in spired by Aurora Councils planned reconstruc tion of treelined Kennedy Street West an in- formal citizens group in one day collected signatures on a brief asking council for a public meeting to discuss the towns road improvement policy More important however the group asked that council invite citizens into the decisionmak ing process regarding roads policy Further com ments from these ratepayers indicate they are interested not only in roads but in comprehen sive planning for the town While Aurora Council did not display un bridled enthusiasm at the prospect of having walk where only politic tread the councillors at least were receptive The suggest ed public meeting certainly not a new idea was not rejected But council now must decide if it is willing to break new ground to initiate a sys tem of citizen involvement that will in the long run help to avoid such unpleasant confronta tions as the Kennedy Street West drama because concerned and sincere citizens will have joined in the process preceding policy decisions Why citizen involvement and why now Be cause of the increasing concern of people seri ous about preserving a small town environment for which they are paying dearly citizens who regard the character of their town as an invest ment they must collectively protect And because of the mounting evidence that experts and politicians sup posed sensors of the public pulse cannot plan effectively and comprehensively by themselves Often their perceptions of a planning problem are distinctly different from those of the citizens So simultaneous with the emergence of a new breed of concerned citizens there must develop a new sensitivity and understanding in politicians unaccustomed to such intrusions For one thing citizen involvement must not be seen as an intrusion but as a right And it must be regarded as a positive step designed to avoid the squaring off and choosing of weapons that marked the Kennedy Street confrontation At the same time citizens should remember that the final decisions must be made by the elected representatives Citizens must avoid tactics and parochialism We suggest that Aurora Council call the re quested town meeting on roads policy and ap point an advisory committee of citizens which would meet regularly with council to establish a roads policy and more a traffic channelization philosophy With this as precedent council should consider ap pointing citizens advisory groups for other pol icy matters notably the thorny problem of fu ture residential growth Such groups would not be perpetual they would disband when their stated tasks were finished Old Ontario carriage sheds hitching posts fa fascinate John Lark Roman Catholic Church ON THE FRINGE Statistics lie Guy Silverman through it will benefit all Aurora and possibly make the town a model for Citizen parti cipation throughout York Region THE Readers ERA This space is reserved for the comments opinions and drawings of The Eras readers Please feet free to send yours along All we ask is that you include your name and address New citizenship law stupid reader 44year rngtdenl denied citizenship An open letter to UP Sinclair Stevens and to Hon John It has come to my attention that any person not resident In Canada for years prior to 1H7 British Subject is not stood that after seven ship was automatic I joined the Active Militia In IBM went overseas Active joined the Re- went Active again with the Canadian Intelligen ce Corp Montreal Up- lug told by a government official army that I was a Canadian Is that citizenship be ing revoked as It well is What crime or sub versive act have I com mitted Is my wife who born In Canada of Eng lish parents who were strongly proCanadian If this Is true and and Conservatives a we have no vote In forth- Canadian citizen or an coming elections then alien being married to the party political re in my opinion It is as stupid a law as the one which a former Lib eral prime minister help ed make when he grant ed the Indian Canadian citizenship FREDERICK MASON PO Box 2 There are several points went on Reserve I would like cleared up Squadron I was if you would be so good told by the recruiting of- as to help me fleer at Initial enlistment I came to Canada that being a British sub- age nine years in 1929 as were all with my parents I was a Canadian deceased from England citizen Naturalized where I and my parents Why after be- Bantams star goalie was left out of report Keep Fairy Lake for skaters Dear Editor I congratulate you giving last weekends bantam hockey tourna ment a page Those mentioned deser- Kitchener do minated the play but Steve held on making at Dear Editor On the weekend of January the snow Lake in Wesley Brooks Conservation Area and that meant the end of hockey playing and skat ing for the kids and adults outdoors had come unless they brought a snowshovel to clean off their own piece of fee The only time you will see that beautiful piece of ice cleaned off again will be by the kids with their snowshovels or by our youngsters have the opportunity to have more Ice time to practice their hockey and our lake la the perfect place for it I would like the town and the Recreation De partment to open their eyes and spend a few inches of snow door fun as possible and Also the week the not wait until the win- ice was good the people Carnival had trouble getting into Some towns have to the park because the build a skating rink we driveway was so icy that have one just wailing to it was impossible to be cleaned off drive on Now just a BERT NABUtlBS pie of shovels full of sand 378 Queen St by the works wo- Newmarket uld have solved that pro- Editor Mote week He- Department The yard stick that is most often used Is the num ber of murders that are committed in each country The result of this simple comparison shows that Americans are killing each other off and a few other people besides far faster than Canadians are eliminating fellow Canadians In fact there are more deaths by violence in Dallas population 800000 or in Kansas City than the whole of Can ada latest population million This propensity for peace order and good government has led to more than one writer on Canada referring to ft as the peaceable kingdom Historians have provided reasons for this ad herence to violence within American society Not only Is it to quote Rap Brown as American as cherry pie but It also has roots within the Ameri can experience the distrust of government a revo lutionary history and mythology with social change This is indeed a potent brew Add racial conflict a rise of militarism since 1942 and Ihe frustrations that are accruing from the urban sprawl and it is Utile wonder that America seems bent on self destruction The impact of this escala tion of violence south of the border led Prime that I they kids and players in all the wins Goalie Steven Wall ace played the full plus the two overtime had a total of seven goals cored against him This Is an average of less than two goals per game He received the a- for most valuable player In Saturdays the overtime of the final game against save on vhat appeared to be a sure goal This feat enabled our for wards to get a break away which resulted in winning goal PCs letter was the best My second letter the feel ti This problem problem that can fa- solved by the govern bring thei a phone call least it said they like vo ters writing and was a very nice letter but Newmarket EDITORS NOTE Mr fuller I right Steven Wallace played a fine series and the news papers failure to include him in its story was un intentional letter problem of having to fill Corserv alive NOP supporter dan Thank My first reply three letter of November and for your thoughtful for Statistics Canada I them in before a Liberal party telling fine pay decided lime how it Is impossible for Here was living proof of who does what How each party deals with the public when It comes All three parties re ceived same mater ial and I have proof flS with the same prob- anolysls of the problems om concerning small MBS ALICE the present SHERIDAN dng a copy My third letter came Statistics this week one page hard from Mr quote Dear Mrs 1 The letter went Newmarket solely and authority from a spill over of American violence Is greater than any military threat that NATO was designed to counter Itnt ore Canadians really so peaceful Are we once again Indulging In a form of self congratu lation that covers a somewhat different when looked at a hit more closely In our comparison of murder rates we forget that murder of one Individual by another Is bid a small aspect of the totality of violence Wo forget that the government or the stale has the legal right to murd er or to use violence slate I Include police mili tary forces and para- military organizations such as the It may be that murder of an Individual an individual is near top the ladder hut it is overtaken by such Incidents as Kent Stale massacre the charge in Winnipeg In or Riots of One must not forget that was based In part on the model of Irish Constabulary Canadians must not lose sight of their format of continental Imperialism In 1870 and religious and racial bigotry centered amongst Orange Lodges and business groups in Ontario West ern Canada as a Toronto appendage and in the pro cess shot a few metis and hung In the area of Civil strife between and he militia was called out times to support the civil power and In case of the Vancouver Island Coal Strike the Army was on duty for over a year On Canadian business interests were quite ready to pay the cost of the military when it was being used in a strike breaking role On five occa sions the militia had to step in to control bloody Orange- Catholic brawls and in to put down anti- Conscription riots One may add that the regular component of Canadian Armed forces emerged not to protect Canada from Invasion but to help preserve domestic law and order During the post W I period the police and military were active indeed While parliament was told that the necessity to In crease the Army was to cope with the possibility of the Bolshevik menace breaking out in major Cana- cities the Army had been sent by Mackenzie King to Nova Scotia to break a coal miner strike while police and strikers fought at the gates of the steel mills on Cape Breton In 1933 troops were call ed out during a strike for Union recognition within the furniture industry at Stratford It was the last time until October 1969 that the Canadian Army was to aid the Civil Power The rea son was not so much the unwillingness of established available Provincial Police RCMP and the poli tical dangers of calling out the military a lesson driven home by the defeat of the Conservatives by Hepburn Liberals In At Sudbury the asked the government call out the army as they were losing control of Ihe town during a miners strike a few years ago but with sound political sense Iho Conservative government of Leslie refused Canadian must also recall that they have respond ed rather well for a so call unmil people to take up arms Canadas Viet Nam was the Boer War though fought with slightly more moral justification World War I and Korea showed that we were willing to support our Imperial masters whether they be American or British Al this suggests that perhaps Canadians are not so peaceful as Is generally thought While we do not have a frontier shootout tradition complete with savage massacres of Indian populations we do have British Inheritance And contrary to belief that Inheritance is far from nonviolent Empires are not constructed by peaceful means British political and social history abounds with clearances de portations suppression riots In fact the Indian re servation and the extermination programs came from English experience In Ireland At present this Bri tish low and order myth Is being exposed as some what overrated by Ireland the Angry Brigade and rise of gang wars and race conflicts If wo look at the Canadian experience to as compared with the United Slates and look at the totality of spectrum of violence In Canada over the years it Is doubtful if we are in reality the peaceable kingdom is earliest date YCH addition could be completed board chairman An open report to the residents of the area which we service For us 1976 is today Rhetoric maybe Fact be before the facility would be ready for use Although we started to plan this tion in we regret to report that at labs date five yean and many dollars In architects and consultant fees later we do not know when the Ontario Ministry of Health will permit us to The government In its wisdom nu told uf this year there is to be no money for add- sad we an advised that there fully This may be true elsewhere but not In this We have documented by the way of letters and briefs to governments that It Is a denial of natural Justice to the residents of this area to put us in that category Considering the work- create In the near future we would be In trouble even if we started construction today Here are a few figures to Indicate that there Is an Imminent hospital crisis In our area We will have 10000 more people in the near fu ture Our population to beds ratio is now per and will drop to 23 when these people arrive The provincial average now la 50 a dif ference of 100 per cent When and If our addi tion Is built the ratio will then only be about three per Our outpatient facilities are critical right now Our average length of stay per patient now Is days the provincial ave rage Is days a difference of per cent Community urged to support petition urge those lead their that not yet sign- ta the petition to go to resorts of tan public you for the rapport The Era baa given to the Hay I take this York County portualty ones mere to enow the Library Town Hall Arena or MM ANN VAN one of the medical of- utilisation rate Is admissions per year to each active care bed and the provincial average Is 35 a difference of per cent If the Ontario government continues to maintain a frees on our sorely needed addition more and more residents of this area will have to go or be taken to Toronto for hospital can We feel it our duty to acquaint you with the true and alarming situation that exists with regard to your hospital LAWRENCE S RUBIN Chairman Board of Directors York