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THEERA Serving York County Sine 152 Phone Newmarket DAVID R HASKELL TERRY CARTER J ALLAN MARTIN JOHN LOTT Phone Aurora Governments must stop meddling with personal liberty This is the time of year when predictions are made for the forthcoming year One prediction is that there will be Increased intervention by governments into our private lives governments who we elected to govern This increased government intervention prediction is not a difficult one to make for over the past two months we have seen it become more apparent at both a federal and provincial level The Federal Governments antiinflation guidelines is one example An employer wishing to reward an employee can only increase his wage eight per cent up to 10 per cent A manufacturer can only increase the price of his product by eight per cent up to 10 per cent Mandatory controls became necessary because voluntary restraint did not work most everyone adopted the attitude of wage restraints are all right for the other guy but I These mandatory controls are necessary but still present many inequities For example a man making per week and receiving the allowable per cent increase will make weekly A man making per week and receiving the allowable per cent will make weekly The differential in the two wage earners increases from to per week with the increase not going to the man who can use it the In the case of the manufacturer there are many instances where he cannot pass along increased costs of imported goods he uses to produce what he sells What of the bottler of Spanish olives What of the user of Arabian oil who makes plastic goods What do they do when the Spaniards and Arabs raise the price of their olives and oil They bite the bullet for so long then close down their plants throwing people out of work sending us around the mulberry bush again In Ontario legislation the first of the year will see it mandatory for people In passenger cars to be strapped into their seats The legislation does not force passengers in taxis and commercial and school buses to strap themselves in Can you visualize or passengers strapping themselves in after they board a bus What of the poor fellow who was unlucky enough not to find a seat Would he dangle from the roof by his thumbs only to be released by the driver when his stop came up This seat belt law is an infringement on personal liberty because what right has any government to legislate personal safety Earlier in December a provincial cabinet minister suggested that teenagers carry iden tification cards and that parents be charged if they could not prove that they knew where their sons and daughters were at all times The suggestion was greeted with hoots of derision and has since been quietly forgotten by an embarrassed cabinet minister and government For what right has government to im plement legislation on personal liberty and what right has government to force rank discrimination making it compulsory for a teenager to carry an identification card and an adult not This increased government intervention in personal liberty must be stopped before it is started as it was in the case of the teenage identification card nonsense When these ridiculous and discriminatory laws are suggested they must be objected to at the outset by the individual citizen For it is much easier to stop a law before it becomes law then it is to repeal a law after it has become law Some fearess insignificant predictions By ROY GREEN HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE ERA STAFF FROM TOP TO BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT David Haskell Martin Terry Carter John Cole Bob Martin Carol John Roger Champagne Herb Vlckers Rod Splcer Paul Coates Judy Cooper Sheree Sutherland Alice Gibbons Ethel Wall Betty Bishop Barry MacDonald Ed Jim Grainger Stan Sch midt Velma Perry Dianne Simpson Barb BayUss Maureen Boseley Martha Mc Donald Claire Pollock Kay Jeannine Donna Swan Cherl Kit Lee Bob Greenfield Liz Pearson Feme Cathy McLean McAlplne and Doris Thompson How is a fella supposed to attract readers How can a columnist make sure his annual last- is well read The news staff takes care of the years news events and editorially might even handle a prediction or two The Chairman of York Region and some mayors will write predictiontype articles about where were all going in 1976 It doesnt leave one a lot of room to grab the readers with something exciting Its not fair I guess Ill have to play Fearless Forecaster David Haskell will win the title Worst Gin Rummy Player handsdown in to Davids downfall will be a decision his fellow players to play alt the critical games on Fridays Daves bad day Mary will be sued for publishing choice tidbits of gossip A newlyformed association of ghostwriters will offer to take on the cost of McGouens defence Letters to the editor Suggestion for writer of the fairy tale congratulate Patricia Montgomery on her article Fairy Talc I tins confess 1 Girl shortly Paper Tigers dont deter Members of the Association will include Milliard Susan Ford and Simon Ford and John Pope every Wintario Draw in These r linue to wheel and deal for hockey players right up to the league deadline When the dust settles they will realize they have mistakenly traded partowner Rene Bray for one of John Sikuras thoroughbred horses After the Initial shock the remaining owners will decide they have made a good deal The Flyers will incidentally make the playoffs and Security Helsinki a startle a few teams 1 suggest that The story of inconsiderate a dog owner lasl Tucsdaj clean up after the dog May I suggest she us Newsroom Notes Justice for a cop on trial Mason couldnt win By JOHN iber of the York Regional Police force Gordon Mason Is not per mitted to speak to reporters Not for the record anyway So officially he wasnt saying anything after a judge cleared him of disciplinary charges in Toronto last They could face disciplinary charges for violating such edicts After 6 years on the York force Gordon Mason has been through the disciplinary mill three times once for not wearing his hat while on duty once for failing to report a fellow officer who was intoxicated and once for allegedly using unnecessary violence against two teenagers Mason admitted his guilt on the first two charges The hat rule has since been abolished Both those cases were handled privately within the department as are most disciplinary matters Fortunately the third charge was sent to a county court judge who conducted a public hearing and found PC Mason ln- the violence charges should have been heard privately by the police commission says thats the boards job and cites the thousands of dollars in costs to the public and to Mason The cost consequence is unfortunate and in some ways unfair particularly for Mason Sending a disciplinary that discusses the most marginal of c behind closed doors Perhaps they felt the Mason case was too hot to handle in their own chambers Regardless of their reasons they did the right thing Justice and the public were served The hearing was open with lawyers representing both sides And it quickly became apparent just how flimsy was the case against the accused police officer I have never seen a case where prosecution witnesses did so much for the defences case Nor have I seen a judge who tried so hard to drag all the pertinent facts out of both sides Judge Joseph Patrick Kelly deserves accolades for his handling of the case Unfettered by the rules of a conventional trial he allowed much evidence that would not have been admissible under other circumstances This was a hearing under the Police Act According to the rules it was not a trial although for all practical purposes it was just that Judge Kelly said he wanted to find out as much as he could What he found was that Gordon Mason came to trial because two juveniles had lied to their parents and to police The hearing embarrassed nearly everyone involved Mason standing as an accused criminal because two kids lied the police farce which saw its case collapse on the hearings first day and the com plainants the boys fathers one a former provincial court judge and the other a former police officer One wonders why the police depart- supposedly expert in ferreting Deputy Chief and Staff Inspector Don Hillock conclude that PC Mason was lying and that the two boys department advise the complainants to lay a charge against Mason before a justice of the peace if they were so certain of his guilt The man with the answers to these questions Is a man who maintained a low almost subterranean profile throughout the hearing Chief Bruce Crawford His name was seldom mentioned in the testimony He wasnt called to testify During several days of the hearing he was present closeted in a consulting room r appearing in the courtroom He had would be the deputy chiefs But in a case of this magnitude the chief of police clearly makes the decisions Crawford wanted Mason charged under the Police Act and undoubtedly at the chiefs behest steered Mason in hat direction told Mason he had a choice the Police Act or criminal court also suggested that the case stay in our own ball park Mason testified Faced with official presumption of his guilt Mason was alarmed and confused He indicated the Police Act route might be preferable but said he wanted a few days It appears that Crawford was the complainants would have gone ahead One could logically conclude that Crawford wanted to be rid of Mason a free spirit who spoke his mind and made no secret of his distaste for Crawfords regimentation Acquittal in a criminal trial would have wiped Masons slate clean But a public hearing on charges laid by his employer would leave him in a position where he could not stay with the force Found guilty he would have been fired Found innocent he couldnt continue to work for the man who on the public record considered him guilty Gordon Mason was found innocent Within a few months he will quit the York force and go into business for himself He couldnt win And Bruce Crawford couldnt lose In fairness to the chief I called him Friday and asked him the questions Ive posed above On his departments investigation he J they the boys be handled within the department rather than in criminal court The chief agreed that the evidence from the investigation was contradictory The police force he said made no allegations against Mason The com plainants made the allegations and the police force acted on them he said 1 thought it was a matter that should be decided by somebody he said I asked Crawford if he wanted to get rid of Gordon Mason No not necessarily he replied Thats an assumption on your part After hearing the chiefs explanation that remains my assumption Another team the Toronto Argonauts will negotiate for the race horse but will eventually settle for a deal with the Tigers for Bray coach Jackson will immediately re activate The Sleeper Play featuring Bray John Scott of the Aurora Banner will be arrested and charged with fraud John who always writes about the money in those bank accounts which no one has touched for years will attempt to relieve the banks of the money He will use a series of clever disguises and nomdeplumes but will be recognized as always carrying a camera around his neck Ron Wallace will then write Scotts column but will change the name to ScotchFree Dan Shannon will organize a guided tour to Marmora Ernie will catch his finger in the slide projector and will be taken to York County Hospital Dan will attempt to carry on without Ernie and will fail miserably Winter will end almost immediately and my neighbors will curse me as I sit on my lawn sipping a cool drink by March the 1st In anger they will attempt to run their snowmobiles but will get bogged down in mud I will not attempt to help them My other neighbor Ned will discover to his Next summer the Newmarket Rays fastball team will win most of their games get in the playoffs and then take a week off to read the rule A provincial government order will stop the building program at York County Hospital and the recreation department will rent empty rooms at for judo classes and Scout groups Health Minister Frank Miller will suffer a minor ailment while visiting his old Newmarket home and will go to for an Xray He will wind up in a judo class and will be served a judo chop for dinner Antidevelopment groups will threaten to throw themselves into the Big Pipe as it wends its way northwards The Region will offer to plant trees all along its length This not See this column next January for further information on that one A new team to the George Haskett Softball League Team will lose every game this season I will be one of tot teams stars In spite of mounting protests thi column will continue for yet one more year People wW continue to feed the masochistic streak by reading it every week