The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

BIRD'S EYE VIEW So Who Needs It? There was a time not so very long ago that I felt this insanity called news reporting was for the birds - except Quail birds. If a young man came up to me now and asked ne how he should get started in a newspaper I would suggest that his first move would be to take a drive down to the Psychiatric Hospital in Port Whitby and tell then exactly what he wants to do. Anybody who has ever worked for a newspaper will know what I mean. It's like the old saying that if you're not crazy when you start you soon will be after a few months on the job. I once remember asking a good friend of mine that works for the Oshawa Times - Brian Winter, (Whitby's man of the year), how lie was this particular day and he asked me what time it was. He appeared a bit on edge and I won- dered why his state of health should be connected with the time until he explained to me that in the nornings lie was never very good but in the afternoon things got better and so did he. Fortunately on this day I had asked him how lie was during the afternoon and told him the time so he re- plied that as it was afternoon he was fine - he thought. Brian covers the Whitby beat for the Oshawa Times and it's getting to be a bigger job every day. I can understand why Brian is so involved in the history of Whitby because he reports it every day and often he is part of it as with the County Town Camival and the Peter Perry award. Now you may not think there's too much in the way of news happening in Whitby but take my word for it, some weeks things get pretty hectic. I'm glad I did not get in- volved in the recent happenings at the Humane Society be- cause another dog bite on the leg I don't need. Other times I have not been so fortunate. Once I had to go to a local cemetary to cover a story when it appeared a casket had been removed from the grave. What really happened was that the grave next to the one in question was opened and the fil from the adjoining grave slid into the hole. I found myself caught between a near hysterical woman who thought her husband's grave was missing and an official from the cemetary who seerned to feel I was to blame fe- 'he whole episode. Anôther tifne while checking out an area in the north end of Whiîtby where the Police Departnent had decided to start a fire arms range against the wishes of the local people I had to tromp all over the bush locating the range. My editor could not cross a creek and I had to take HER on ny back. I was glad on the return trip that a local resident portaged my editor back. That still didn't prevent me from getting many mosquito bites and a soaker. Getting wét is part of the job with news reporting if you're covering a fire. I don't think the firemen are really careless but there have been times when I had a choice pic- ture lined up and I was suddenly deluged by water coming from an unlocateable source. Covering Press receptions where there is a dinner is also a bittersweet experience. No matter how great the food and drink the speaker always decides to announce all the important stuff half way through the dinner thus prevent- ing the poor reporters from eating. At these type of press receptions you also have to watch how much you drink in case you get too carried away to accurately report what was happening. Another thing new or cub reporters also discover is that wben sornething is happening and there's a press reception, the poor press are always stuck with a bad location for picture taking, rotten audio system for listening and the Ballet for Whi'tby The newest introduction pleted a five year teaching to the contrinuing growth of career at the National Ballet the Arts in the Whitby-Osha- School in Toronto Gail wa area is in the field of Dorfman of Reedaire Court Ballet. Having just com- Whitby has established a new hardest chairs in the place to sit on. There are weeks though when you may be struck upon the head with an umbrella by an irate senior citizen, booted out of a slum building by the landlord, bitten by his dog, hosed on by the firemen at a local fire, and tram- pled on by a mob of kids during a parade - and you may think the whole effort of reporting the news is worth- while. If that's the case come and see me and l'Il recom- mend a good shrink. I wonder if I could get my old job back at the bagel factory........ Words from West Lynde by Norm Mealing Well, here I am again folks. As promised the column is back for another year. Between now and June 1975, I will be writing every week on happenings of interest in the West Lynde community. Fron tine to time, I will editorialize on situations affecting our connunity. The success or failure of the column depends on you so please keep me informed on what's going on. Drop me a line c/o 10 Evans Court. LYNDE CREEK PUBLIC SHOOL As we all can sec, construction is well underway on the new school. My best sources tell me that the school board is planning for April Ist as an opening day. Let's hope that they make it. W.L.C.A. MIXED BOWLING Garry McDermid phoned the other night to say that the Mixed Bowling League is set to go for another season. Planning is for a mid-September start so if you are inter- ested give Garry a call at 668-7087 or give Ivan Skolvik a call at 668-8024. Believe me, it's great fun with a good bunch of people. MEN'S HOCKEY LEAGUE The executive of the Men's Hockey League are holding a registration night to-night in the council chambers be, tween 7.30 and 9.30 p.m. The Council Chambers are on Dundas Street in the same building as the library. There is a registration fee of $10.00. Games are to be played on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. ASSESSMENT AND TAXES Bill Hoffrnan, community development director of the ballet school here as she beieves that the growth in the area hias produced a need for more arts facilities in the comnlfîwitl. AIanv people are verv much attuned to ballet and are probah/y interested in taking lessons but there is Crossley Saga Shag a coinion belief' that one must begin ballet lessons at a very early age or not at all. Certaiinly in order to becone a professional dancer training froml childhood is essential. Iloweer the jo' of dance, rhthm and exercise is attain- ah/e at arny age. At the Gail Dorfman School of Ballet classes will be available to teenagers, aduits and ROLL chîildrenî. Thîere is a/so mnuchî con-Bngyrro fusionî as to thle proper age aSmlchrei child should start ba//et. Mrs. Dorfrnan has recelived many cal/s from parents of Poyo ateTi three anîd four year olds requesting lessons for their children. She believes valu- ah/e bal/et training cannQt be HrigCsn oa given to a child under.seven. A t seven the average ,child HrigBcaa has the se/f-discipline and maturity to benefit [rom classica/ trainin g. The school opens for c/asses on September 23rd but application frsaeb-B O WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1974, PAGE 7 W.L.C.A. and AI Armstrong of Deerfield Court Covened a meeting on August 19th to discuss assessment and prop- erty taxes. Spurred on by the recent tax notices, approx- imately 125 people attended, most of whom were fightirig mad. Bill who is fast becoming a local celebrity because of his one-man battle with the County Assessors, patiently ex- plained what assessment means and how he has gone about fighting to have his property assessment reduced. Mush of what Bill said, however, was in my opinion lost because of the mood of the people. Taxes, and not assessment, were the issues and most of the comments of the crowd were directed at how best to fight the taxes. There was talk of a demonstration at city hall, a letter- writing campaign directed at the Mayor, and direct politi- cal action. Putting assessment aside for the moment, I would like to offer the following comments on property taxes. First, property taxes are higb in Whitby because of a lack of com- mercial and industrial assessment. Therefore, the burden is felt by the homcowners. Secondly, regional government lias increased expenditure, and, as a result, taxes and Whit- by, because it underwent a form of amalgamation in 1967 for whicli it received provincial grant, was entitled to noth- ing by way of grant to offset the costs of regional govern- ment. Thirdly, the only way to reduce taxes is to reduce expenditure, and if you reduce expenditure, you cut back on municipal services. Therefore the taxpayer bas to deter- mine if this is what lie wants. Fourthly, residential prop- erty taxes go in large measure towards education. The cost of education continues to rise, and can only be reduced by reducing services. Again, the taxpayer bas to determine if this is what lie wants. Finally, even if service levels remain the sarne, inflation alone will push up costs and, therefore, taxes. 1974 taxes have even established and no action, whether demonstration or letterwriting, will reduce them. They are there and they have to be paid. Policital action should be directed to future years. If a common front develops, it should attempt to influence council to hold the line on expenditures, to attract new business and industry to- Whiîtby, and, generally, to see that taxes rise at a reasonable rate from year to year. On the assessment issue, the course to be followed is also very clear. Upon receipt of assessment notices, appeals should be continued only if Bill Hoffman succeeds at the Ontario Municipal Board because they should be fought on the same basis as his war. One final comment, I would be willing to wager that every house in Lynde Creek will be reassessed if Bill Hoff- man wins his case. If he doesn't win, then every appeal will suffer defeat because an O.M.B. ruling will set the legal pre- cedent. Well, so long for this week. Keep following the column in future weeks. Support West Lynde, support the Free Press and support Whitby. ing accepted now. Since the class sizes are to be smal/ on- ly a limited number oflof applicants can be accommo- dated. It appears that if We just won't anyone is interested in tak- ing lessons at the Gail Dorf- man School of Ballet they should contact Gail as soon as possible at 668-1145 or 668-4231. DEC( 1051I GaiI Dorfman is shown here working with one of her ballet students on the bars. ýýl