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AGE 18 TERRACE BAY NEWS OCTOBER 20, 1971 LETTER TO THE EDITOR In a recent letter to the Terrace Bay News a prominent local businessman presented his opinions regarding an accident which occurred on his pre- mises. Hopefully, mine will not be the sole scream of dismay in response to the shallow, poorly re- searched and highly slanted views of this particular individual . Truly, society is mad, or rather some of its leaders are. While reading his article, the idea occurred over and over again, "Am | really supposed to take this seriously?" It is unfortunate indeed that those who have cherished convivial relationships with their customers should have in their midst an indivi - dual who through such incomplete reporting does the business enterprise in general a real disservice. In the interest of public understanding there are several points | would like to bring up which may or may not justify the attitude | finally adopted. On Saturday, September 25th at approximately 4:15 P.M. my wife and | were informed by this proprietor that our daughter had just run through a glass door. Our first reaction, to say the least, was one of frenzied concern over the health of our daughter. We were told by the owner to come over immediately and then, though we were still ignorant of the extent of our daughter's injuries, he proceed- ed to describe the problems involved in operating a business, establishment. After hanging up, the phone rang almost immediately. A housewife, who | shall not identify publicly but to whom we shall always remain grateful, disclosed to us that she had just brought our daughter to the hospital. Due to the urgency of his request to come over immediately, we had assumed that our daughter was still at his establishment. His disposition definitely suggested to me that he was more concerned with the damage to his door than to any interest in the health of our daughter. The second point | should like to discuss is a statement expressed in his letter, and | quote, "my service station attendant claims that this girl and another of the same age were 'fooling around' this entrance". In our initial conversation he stated emphatically that she had been "running in and out of there all day". If he obtained this information on the say-so of one of his attendants, | think, in the future, he should check on the credibility of some of his employees. The truth of the matter is she had never, | repeat, never used this door before. In a subsequent investigation - cont'd next column .... | discovered that she entered the premises after the movie for the purpose of using the facilities of the washroom which is openly advertised over the en- trance. It was her first experience with this door and had the proper safety precautions been taken by the owner the accident might not have happened at all. | now come to the point that had the most impact on my decision to fight rather than be intimidated by an individual such as this. Immediately following the accident the proprietor, his oldest son, and the housewife | referred to previously were attracted to the scene by the sound of shattering glass. At first there was confusion, but it will be enough to add that had it not been for the action of the housewife, our daughter might have had to walk to the hospital herself. In the course of the conversation, the house= wife turned to the son and said, "For Gods sake, take her to the hospital". The reply came back "I can't, I'll get blood in my car". Admittedly I"m prejudiced but how can you con- done such a statement as this? It is chilling to realize that such individuals exist. | claim this is just pro-+"* . vocation and exonerates my stand. The only other point | wish to make is to comment on his arrogant statement in which he says, "this ° child had no business being anywhere near the service station entrance, let alone using it". This pronounce- ment should provide a hint as to the character of this individual. | contend she has just as much right in her choice to use the facilities of this establishment as any other person whether their age be eight or eighty. As for the "brushing the incident off" remark, if the proprietor will remember, | tried telephoning him at his residence Saturday evening to discuss the situation and was told politely but firmly that he was too upset to answer the phone. However, it was obviously not my daughter he was upset about as he sent a bill for the damages in Monday's mail. The next time | talked with him was the following Satur- day and during this interlude not once did he en- quire about our daughter's health. I'll leave it to the reader to form an opinion on who "brushed the incident off". | detest the method of airing views publicly on matters of this nature and | am beginning to under- stand why, in the owner's own words, he has been criticized so often in the past. | can assure him there are many citizens of this community who are growing weary of his periodicals. Barry Walsh.