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*COMMENT Box 248, 191 Main St. E., Milton, Ont. L9T 4N9 (905) 878-2341 Fax: 878-4943 Classified: 875-3300 Ian Oliver Pubisher Neil Oliver Asseociale Pablsher Davd Bos General Manager Rob Kelly Editeor Karen Hulaman Circulation Manager Teri Caoas Office Manager Tino Coles Production Manager The. Coula. Champion, pubiobed t wice weekly an 191 Main SI. E., Milton. Ont.. 19T 4N9 (Box 248). is 0ne of Tme Mefrolanit Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd, goup of suburban compa- ries xfiich ircirdesý Ajax / Pickering News Adoortiser Alliston HleraId/Çourier Barrie Aibvarice, Barrys Bay This Week, 80110e Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Shopping News, Bunlington Post. City Parent, Collingwood /IWasaga Connection. East York Minnor. Brin AdvocatefCoontny Rootes, Etobicoce Guanthan. Flambonoogh Poot. Georgetown lodependenoi Acton FrenPress. Kingoton mhie Week. Lindsay mhie Week, Manbbam Economiel & Son. Midianie I Penetaogulsbene Mirror, Mississooga NOews, Newrnarlcet / Auooa tra Bonn, Northunmberland NOews, North York Mirnon, liakvif le Beaver. Galîville Shopping News, Onilla Todap, Oshawa I Whloby I Clarngton mhie Wek, Petenbonough mhis Weeb. RichondHil / i mili I/Vaughan Libenal. Scanbonoogh Minror. Uobidge I Sloallvlle Tniune, Todapo Seniors. Cip ty onor GoaoBian. AaIvertislng ie accepteli on the condition tbat, ln the event ofla Ippognaplical ernon. fini pontion of the adventlsiog space occu- pied by the enroneoos iRem, togetben witfl a reasonable allowance fon signature, wiii nnl becbanged for. but the balance of the alivertise- ment miil e paie fon at the applicable rote, mhe publishen nesenves the right 10 categoneze adveroisements on decline. Not likely to change At the time this was written, Milton council was hours away from debating cutbacks to the number of local elected officiais. Unless there is a surprising turn of events, flot much wiil corne of This despite a rather weil-reasoned position put forward by the Milton Ratepayers Association, and, on counicil itseif, by newcom- er Rick Malboeuf. Council, as is the norm with most organizations, will flot move until forced to budge by some other force. Evidence of this abounds, and one argument put forward is telling. It has been said that pressure is mounting on councillors to do more by agreeing to sit on various committees where there has pre- viously been no counicil representation. Councillor John Challinor, who is in actuality someone taking his municipal duties quite seriously, advanced that rationale. If he believes it, undoubtedly others share the sentiment, flawed though the logic is. Why should councillors sit on ail sorts of committees not directly reiated to municipal business?. The people within these organizations are more than capable of advancing their proposais and iobbying efforts without the presence of municipal counciliors. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons why they are asking a municipal councillor to sit on their board it t0 get that woman or man on side witb group aims, that is, to lobby the counicillor, however subtly. The value of a committee system is largely in its power of dele- gation. Many committees of community volunteers, when they have genuine and pressing concernis, are free to appear before municipal council to state their case. 'Mis allows deeper concems to bubble up to the level wbere tbey cari be dealt with by council, wbiie lesser issues are resolved elsewbere. I private enterprise, the board of directors does not sit in on staff meetings in various departments of a given company, since, obvi- ously, tbey are flot needed there. If something happens that they need to bear about, tbey wiil be informed later in an appropriate set- ting. Council needs t0 work smarter, flot longer, and to set an example of efficiency and tinking that is in step with the times. Rob Kelly Sad loss for Walter Many will have probably heard already of the deatb of Beverly Mulkewicb, tbe late wife of former Burlington mayor Walter Mulkewich. * Mr. Mulkewicb imseif is also ili witb cancer. His late wife suf- fered fromn Parkinson's Disease. Mr. Mulkewich was an able and bonourable political representa- tive for bis community tbrough many years on Halton regional council. He was an energetic, vital politician. Althougb be at times clashed with Milton representatives and was at odds witb Milton aims, he was a fair-minded and compassionate individual, and sure- Iy remains one to this day. We ail are particularly saddened when bad tbings happen to good people. Life seemns to have a baphazard, cruel tinge at such times, only blunted by the support of friends, and thankfully Mr. Mulkewich bas many of them. R. K. lt's a matter of whose religion, flot what religion, says reader Dear Editor: In hic letter published March 31, Richard Hodgins has asked me to answer several questions, which prompts this letter. 1. Mr. Hodginc bases hic opposition to religious instruc- tion in public schooling on the Baptistic and Biblical doc- trine of the ceparation of churcli and state. The doctrine is right. The state has no business violating the integrity of church or family. The mandate of the state is to protect the integrity of both. Mr. Hodgins' application of that doctrine is wrong. Education is the responsibility of parents, flot the state, a principle affirmed by article 26, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Parents have a prior right to choose the schooling of their children." The issue then is flot whether there will be religion in the classroom. Educaion neyer happens without someone's religion being taught. The issue is simply whose religion is going to be taught. In Milton in the '80s, a congregation and the Christian parents served by the Christian Academy, providing an alternative to the State religion of secular fundamentalism, was forced from Town, and eventually the church and acad- emy were driven underground by the came atheistic cecular fundamentalism, tyrannizing public schooling and public policy in Canada today. The state has no business in the classroom of the nation. The rights of every parent to choose to send their children and direct their education taxes to the school of the parents' philosophical choice ought to be protected by the State, flot systematically and viciously violated as Mr. Hodgins advo- cates. 2. 1 agree with Mr. Hodgins that it is wrong to superim- pose the subversive because atheistic mythology of secular fundamentalism in the public schools. 3. The overwhelming majority of Canadians prefer the Theistic principles upon which Canada is founded (Canada's Charter) as modeled and taught by Moses (The Ten Commandments) and Jesus (The Sermon on the Mount) to the atheism of Marx and the permissiveness of Madonna in the public school classroom. 4. The dogmatic assertion of an theist denying the gra- ciouc, ennobling, liberating, humanitarian influences of Jesus and the Gospel in the civilizing of youth does not reflect reality but constitutes simply the irrational rantings of a mentally disturbed coul lost in hic self-imposed dream world. 5. A hundred or a million years from now, Mr. Hodginc will agree with Christ that it is better to sufer for a little while with hic followers than to be the greatest possible cuc- cess as a Christ-rejecting, self-seeker and cufer the etemnal concequences of having concigned onecelf to the helI God prepared for the devil and hic angels. As Jecus wamed: "What shahl it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose hic coul?" Do you agree with Christ's evaluation of your coul? Yes or no, Mr. Hodgins? Kenneth Campbell Milton Pud by Steve Nease OUR READERS WRITE i