WHITBY FREE PRESS. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20. 1986. PAGE 5 "I have swo rn upon the altar ofGod eternal hostility against every formn of tyranny,over the mird of man." - Thomas Jefferson 0 Advise and Dissen Lynde Ho0use EDITOR'S NOTE: This la the first column by the new publilher of the Free Pres, Doug Anderson. It wlll become s regular weekly feature here on page 5 wlth Bill Swan and the editorlal cartoons by Ting. The Lynde House issue is clouded by more acrinxony, innuendo, rumours, half-truths (even outrlght lies) than any Issue that I have ever had contact with. The press coverage (including this paper) has unfortunately been consistently superficlal and has tended ta cover emotion rather than substance. As a former President of the Historical Society, my files on Lynde House are easily the moot extensive anywhere and consiat of ail the studies that have ever been done on the house (several of whlch were done under my supervision), as weil as correspondence wlth the Town and others right back to 1972. Through my association wlth the Ontario Museum Association, the Ontario Historical Society and the thousands of hours of volunteer tlxne that I have invested in Lynde House, I have acqufred an intimaste knowledgeof the special needs and problems of museuma. Through the years, this knowledge has been offered freely to the Town. Contrary ta the conventional wisdom, it was not the Ilistorical Society that frittered away the last 14 years -it was the Town admnilstration. Rlght from the beglnnlng (1972), the Town offered only token support to the Museumi and whenever long-terrni planning was brought up, they brushed the problerns aside. In 1982, when I was President, the Town was specificiaily asked in writing to assiat in negotiations with Loblaws, but the Town would not cooperate. In 1983, the Museumi lost a substantial Federal grant because the Town would not guarantee that the building would be preserved. Tis grant would have helped to stemi some of the physical deterioration of the building. For years, the Society has been caught in a squee ze between the Town and the Ontario Mlnlstry of Cltlzenshlp and Culture who set the standards for Museuins and who have over the years contrlbuted considerably more to the Museumi than the Town. The Mlnistry has consistently advised the Society to deal with the problem, of the land ownershlp. Early thla year, the Society decided to do a Feasibiity Study to examine their options. Such studies are essential to obtain any major grants fromn the Ontario and federal governments. In spite of tins, the Study was stesdfastly opposed and discouraged by Marcel Brunelle, the Mayor's representative on the Society. The town la now finding out that ils precipitous action, which ultlmately precluded the results of the Study, may have deprlved it of provin- cial governmnent assistance just as the Hlstorical Society had advised It. The animoslty that now exista between the Historical Society and the Town ha. led the society ta remove the artifacts (wich they own) leaving the Town wlth an empty sheil. The Mayor publlcly dlaims that the Town offered to store the artl.facts, but in fact a letter from Administrator Wm. Wallace states that "artifacts not going along with Lynde House should be stored elsewhere" and further saya that "the Town (would) not assume any responsibility as to their security through loss by damage or thef t." The Mayor has also been quoted as saylng that dozens of people have phoned hlm to say they want the artifacts that they donated ta. the museum to go to Cullen Gardens. Since the Society has custody and ownershlp of the artifacts, the Mayor shouid have referred these calls to Society members. As these people have not called, we can assume that either they were not referred to the Society, they were not concerned enough to pursue it or the Mayor has greatly exaggerated the situation., Does Len Culen atml want Lynde House? Has the controversy affected his of- fer? I went to see hlm on Saturday mornlng, the first time we had talked face to face since he and I had originally discussed i offer four and a haif years ago. We talked for more than an hour and a haif and hadl a frlendiy frank discussion of the differences that lay between us. Cullen reiterated the position he bas talcen ai l ong - that he is offering a place in his vilage for Lynde House, that he feel4 that it wil ha very succeasful there, and that whether Lynde House comes or not is not a major concern to in - there are other buildings he could put there. I told inm that I did not share is optlmism about Lynde House's future and Culen Gardens and we discussed my concerna in some detail. Although we dld not resolve our differences, we parted frienda who underatood each other better. On Monday, I contacted Mr. John Latimer, Executive V. President of Monar- ch Investments, the company winch bas bought the Lynde House property, Monarcb ha. a good track record ta dealing wlth heritage buildings and Latimer was apparently unaware of the Lynde House controveray at'the tume bis company bought the property. Lynde House was speclflcally excluded froni the sale because of the agreement between the Town and Loblaws; however, he expressed 'a wlllngness to negotiate if by some chance the house was not moved. For 14 years, the Town ha. claimed that when a subdivision application was submltted for the Lynde House property, they would ha ta a strong position to negotiate a parcel of land for the Museumi. It is strange and ironic that now that such a site plan is in the works, the Town is in the process of movlng the building. The Town Administration now appears to be experiencîng difficulty with their decision ta move the house. By approaching It as they have, they have made enemnies of the Society, and they have probably cut off most of their op- portunities for assistance from the Provincial govermnent. They have also commltted the taxpayers of Whitby to an incredibly expensive operation. At a meeting last Thursday wich included Ministry officiais, the Town was advised that the annual operating costs of Lynde House at Cullen gardens could easily ha $150,000 per year (most of this expense i. attributable to the fact that Cullen expects the building to be open the sanie hours that the Gardens are which i. more than the Royal Ontario Museumi). Tis i. over and above restoration costs of $200-3W0,000. The friendiy discussions that I was able to have with Len Cullen and John Latimer contraatedastarkly with the abuse, secrecy and paternalism with which the Town ha. deait with the Society. Whitby's problemas are now attracting the attention of the Toronto media. John Seweil, former mayor of Toronto, devoted yesterday's column in the Globe and Mail to Lynde House. He did not support the Town's position. SEE PG. 18 WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan Each day dozens- nay, hundreds - of Whitby residents clutch marigolds in their hands and, chins. held high, head for Toronto. And each day, at more or less the same time depending on local conditions, these same people return, At least, they look like the same people, shorn perhaps of their marigolds. The nuniber would be in the thousands, maybe more, if we counted those who commute in automobiles. But it is against the law, to drive out- side Whitby while clutching wilting marigolds. So here we speak of hundreds, and we speak of those who make their way by elbow and fleece of foot and cunning. That is, those who travel via GO bus and train. Now far be It froni me to be an alarmist. But by stealth and observation and through the useful skll of holding my breath to the count of 88, 1 have discnvered an amazing truth. That Is: The Earth has been invaded by creatures from another star system. They are taking over transportation facilities. They have started with teG ytm Particularly the trains. teG ytm I know, I know. Most of you don't believe me. Weil, you can go out in the garden and eat marigolds. For the rest: read on. The creatures froni afar are almost invisible to the huperpeople eye, and of ail Earth creatures most resemble aphids. When they first landed, an ant colony tried to enslave them. For that reason, they assume that ants are the dominate life force. But careful observation showed them that ants have one natural enemy: the huperpeople race. Now their cunning really shows. The long-term aim of the aphids is to use huperpeople to attack an- th, to make this world safe for aphids. Nobody's going to milk them, by gar. The aphids looked around for some way to study we creatures in an enclosed environment (for con- trol purposes) and yet as close to the creature's natural habitat as possible. The automobile failed, for obvious reasons. So then, they started looking around for a system that does not require-intervention of the passengers. And that's how they lucked out in the GO train. Since the aphids, <or better, Aphida, with a capital A) have as their aim first the domination of huper- people, and second, the anta (or Ants) what they need from their experimenta is some way of ren- derlng people 1) docile, 2) obedient. To do this, they have been experimenting with various gases that have these effects. Those who watch passengers aboard the GO train each evening know how close the Aphids are to their goal. If you ever travel the GO system you wiil have noticed by now that one of the main gases in- troduced into the closed car renders the passengers unconscious. Take the 5: 15 out of union station some night. Look around at the glassy eyes, the nodding heads, the pure stupefaction. First-time passengers miss this, and wii look around and think that the others are sleeping. But the drug is an insidious one, and is cumulative in ef- fect. Breath it for 40 minutes a day for a week and J you're hooked. You soon will find yourself marching to the GO train, eyes, straight ahead, a newspaper clutched under the left arm; you talk to no one (intra-species communication wiil break the speli); you glare angrily at those who talk on the train; and when the train stops at Pickering, you fly luke a fuil-back to the nearest express bus (the one with the giant marigold painted on the side), elbowing woper- daughters and offspring of the woperdaughters out of the way. The process is not yet perfected. Oh, sure, they have their successes. Take the way the drivers stand perpetuaily at the bus door punching useless holes in funny tickets. But the drug doesn't work during storms. (Ever wonder why people on GO train talk to one another during stornis, say like last Friday's downpour?) And Aphids are afraid of lightning, s0 fiee at the fir- st boit. That leaves train crews on their own. And since they had been doing the job under the influen- ce of Aphid Juice for years, it took them a full 90 minutes to figure out how to run the trains them- SEE1>G. 18