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While it is only human nature a teacher should sympathize with the problems of teachers and, in most issues, support the federation to which he (or she) belongs. It is also true, as the OSSTF spokesmen point out, that teachers are parents with children in our schools. They are taxpayers and members of the community. They are concerned with the cost and quality of education just as their neighbors are. Present legislation permits a teacher to sit as a trustee on a board other than the one that employs him. At present York has two such trustees, a trustee who is a former teacher and a trustee who is married to a teacher. As for people who have "some connection” with the profession. how far does this go? Dees it in- clude the trustee who has served the board for many years and now has a daughter who is a beginning teacher? Does it include the candidate whose mother was a A small group of parents in Thornhill recently charged that teachers want to take over the York County Board of Education. They alleged more than 50 per- cent of the trustee candidates seeking election December 2 have some connection with the teaching profession. Their charges not only resulted in a split in their own organization. The charges also resulted in protests from the York County Secondary School Federation and a request from the present board that the question of a teacher’s right to sit as a trustee be referred to the Ontario School Trustees’ Council. Recently the sitting Richmond Hill Council passed an amend- ment to the town’s Official Plan which will pave the way for a property standards bylaw. This is a necessary document before the town can take advantage of monies available from the federal and provincial governments to improve the housing stock of the municipality. Some federal txunds are available to the municipality to modernize services to make it possible for the individual home owner to make improvements to his home. Other funds are available in the forms of loans, with forgiveness clauses and at reasonable interest rates, for the home owners themselves. ow far does this go? DOes it in- Iude the trustee who has served 1e board for many years and now as a daughter who is a beginning aacher? Does it include the andidate whose mother was a So let us keep our perspective. Assess the candidates on their merits and elect those who will serve us and education in York best, regardless of their oc- cupation. Property standards bylaw seems desirable So rather than to be feared by anyone, a property standards bylaw should be a very welcome piece of legislation. One cannoi yet praise or criticize the Richmond Hill bylaw because it has not yet been prepared. One has been recom- Most Canadians are rightly apprehensive of the importation of American culture and mores into Canada, but a Rexdale mother has hit the nail squarely on the head in her concern over the use of American textbooks in our schools. But the key to determining how that information can and should relate to one’s-self is the level of understanding one’s own background and heritage. Certainly, the acquisition of a well-rounded personality and healthy, broad-based outlook, both personally and nationally, requires the delving into and critical study of many sources of information. (Guest editorial from The Etobicoke Advertiser - Guardian) THE LIBERAL. Wednesday. Nov. 27, 1974 Need to curb cultural inroads from the U.S. Students (pus? first be proviged [0101 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, [AC 4Y6 Ontario PUBLISHER W-S. COOK EDITOR HAROLD BLAINE The Liberal is published every Wednesday by Metrospan Publishing Limited â€"- North Division, which also publishes The Banner in Aurora-Newmarket and the Woodbridge Vaughan News. OIbe liberal teacher before the candidate was born, or the trustee whose brother is a teacher in some distant part of the province? The teachers currently on the board have served their con- stituents well. And during the mass resignation of teachers early in the year many teachers, former teachers and people connected with teachers, heartily and outspokenly disagreed with the stance taken by their federation. Teachers can make a valuable contribution as trustees, in- terpreting the system from the inside, so to speak. They help lo provide a balance in discussion and policy decisions. We agree it w0u|d be a mistake to have a board of education which is tOp-heavy with teachers. But it is not the teachers alone who have the vote. They, in fact, and their families, form but a small minority of the electorate. Let the voters decide. If there are more active teachers on the new board than on the present board, don’t blame the teachers. It is your decision, Mr. Voter. Say it at the polls on Monday. when you elect the new trustees. To bar teachers totally from boards of education would make as much sense as barring lawyers from municipal councils, the Legislature or the House of Commons. It is our elected representatives who make the laws, and new laws make work for lawyers, don’t they? mended by the planning depart- ment. We feel it should have high priority when things settle down and members of council have time to consider what such a bylaw should contain. Staff and public input will play an im- portant part. But the final document will have to be the responsibility of council and of no one else. When the town has adopted a property standards bylaw, its provisions will be enforced by a committee of three citizens â€" not by council or by anyone in its employ. So the fears some people have that it will be used to create a hardship on citizens, should be alleviated. The main reason, and this must be emphasized, for passing such a bylaw is to benefit the residents. This will enable the town to respond to requests for good housekeeping practices on neigh- boring pr0perty, be it residential. industrial or commercial. the firm ground of their country’s own history â€"- politically, socially, morally and economically â€" before they are thrust out to explore the greater heights of the world at large. The struggling Canadian text- book industry, without much government help until recently, has laid only a very shaky gr0undwork of information on the nation’s heritage. American publications and electronic media have so far been permitted to surge in upon the great Canadian void. Only time, increasingly stringent government controls, and increasingly generous government subsidy of the Canadian textbook industry can turn back the inroads of American culture and permit us to at last deveIOp the Canadian identity. Unfortunate Hill election isn’t being contested on facts, issues Dear Mr. Editor I have hesitated writing this letter but Gerry Crack’s disertation of last week is the straw that broke my silence. I’m disappointed that Gerry would put his name to such a concoction. I’ve known him for many years and would not have believed he would stoop to the flagrant use of rumor and innuendo in a municipal campaign. Want Richvale library retained Dear Mr. Editor Members of the Mark- Vaun Women’s Institute have asked Richmond Hill Town Council to reconsider the proposed closing of the Richvale Library (formerly Vaughan Centennial Library) as reported in “The Liberal" some time ago. It is fine to build a new bigger library in the BAIF subdivision but we would still like to keep the one situated “in our midst" as it were. were. Secretar me people (no nut we: in: The people at the extreme yv h d l . WILLIAM RAE, 162 Garden Avenue. a em any dynamlc 29 Savarin Street, south end of the town of _ . Richmond Hill do not have Langstaff- presence to the come” m Scarboro. $9mi|lion Hill municipality needs Lazenby’s 11 years of experience Dear Mr. Editor I have followed, with interest, “the letters to the editor" in the last few issues of your paper. With the election fever running high it would seem some of Mayor William Lazenby’s opposition are more in- terested in personal attacks than anything else. Mr. Lazenby, at least the way I read it, was trying to show his community and family involvement and his total commitment to our town. Mr. Woodhead. who is an active opposition worker, and Mrs. Mills whose husband has been the op- position's campaign manager, attacked the mayor's article in a very slanted and opinionated way. If-thi's Citizens Advisory Committee has facts in their position of misuse of office by any elected official, let them present them, documentarily. If not they should shut up, and your newspaper, with a reputation of integrity to maintain, should refuse to carry such mealy mouthings. As a citizen of Richmond Hill I am concerned a group of soâ€"called experts can band together, all six of them, and emit utterings access to much in our area. But “the library” was one place to which our children could walk after supper and on Saturdays. Many of us would not allow our children to go to BAIF with the added danger of cars coming from all directions. This library was built for us. We are happy to share it. But please, can it not remain “our library". (MRS. H.) RUBY GLASSEY, One person is going to quit your newspaper delivery if you don’t meet his requirements of what should be printed. Lastly a letter was printed by a former candidate for councillor in Ward 4. This has to be one of the most absurd pieces of journalism I have ever seen. If it was not so misin- formed and vicious it would be almost funny, as if the writer was acting out some sort of play. rIn in); lifie of work I have to write many letters, some of them under extreme pressure. Fifty percent of the pressure ones are torn up the next day after I have had a good look at myself in the mirror. Maybe some of above mentioned should have been they would have us believe “came from the mount" itself. I’m sure they mean well, and I even agree with many of their concerns. But I’ll be darned if they’re going to steamroll me into accepting their every utterance as Gospel. One of their group suggested the rest of us had better heed the committee's directives because this group was made up primarily of professional, well-educated people. To that I can only reply a wise old man once advised me never to confuse education with intelligence. It is, in my opinion, un- fortunate this election is not being contested on the issues and the facts. We the people of Richmond Hill deserve better. Let’s leave the smut peddling to those sleazy magazines that make no pretence of what they deal 1n. Not in The Liberal. You are our community paper, not the tool of the noisy pressure group minorities. In closifig le't me offer a couple of {apps Dave Schiller was rejected in his mayoralty bid two years ago because the people did not feel he had lent any dynamic presence to the council in The point from the last letter that struck me is that Mayor Lazenby must be running the town single- handed without help from anyone. I wonder how that makes the other eight members of our fine town council, plus a good town staff, feel. The last point that may be worthy of mention from a letter is that some are looking for “An Election Platform". This smells to me of party politics which I and many like me believe has no place at the municipal level. Our municipality should be run by a council of local residents who are com- munity involved and not by strings pulled from elsewhere. the previous three-year term. In the two years since that election Dave Schiller has not been involved in any contributary function in this community. We‘ve had plenty of local projects requiring the expertise and effort of many volunteers. Men and women of the town got the job done and we know who they were. Dave Schiller's name is not among them. Why not? KENNETH FOSS. 154 Driscoll Road, Richmond Hill. Taxpayer revolt? Dear Mr. Editor: A few chronic com- plainers may occasionally grumble about high taxes. But unfortunately, a “tax- payer revolt" is destined to remain little more than a catchy phrase. Many politicians are confident most taxpayers will remain relentlessly apathetic to government spending. I sometimes believe the government and the tax- payers have formed a sadoâ€" masochistic alliance. If the above is the type of people and thoughts that Mr. Lazenby’s opposition has surrounded himself with, then I suggest the only protection we have is a Lazenby vote. Finally, to the people who might still be undecided. The Lazenby experience on council of 11 years alone is necessary to be the head of a nine million dollar business, not with a candidate of very limited experience. If you had a Hancey, a Rowe. or a Wainwright in opposition, then you might have a choice, but not in the present opposition. Your vote is needed to protect yourself. TOM GRAHAM. 173 Mill Pond Court, Richmond Hill Violent electiqn meeting emotions Dear Mr. Editor, I am writing this letter in anger over a recent election meeting that took place at Richmond Hill High School Friday last. I am about to vote for the first time in a municipal election. I went to this meeting to try to learn more about the candidates and the issues to aid me in my voting. What I found was a poorly- run. poorly-chaired meeting exuding feelings of bit- terness and distrust. The speakers and the audience were on the same level. The microphones weren’t handy for the speakers, and the chairman couldn’t see most of the questioners. Also the submitted written questions were unidentified. The thing I objected to most though was the general polarization of the meeting and its violent emotions. I have always found if you try to understand your opâ€" ponent, then the feelings of bitterness and distrust vanish. I feel that no matter who wins, the people of the town will have to work together â€" that is what a village community is all about. I found no evidence of a community spirit in that meeting. Instead, I found various factions jockeying for power. Let Richmond Hill from this election united with a spirit of goodwill and community spirit, not a feeling of vindictive arrogance. The greatest danger in municipal politics, as I see it, is that the majority will be apathetic. Thus a small clique will gain power, and then the minority will dictate to the majority. That is not democracy. Only if all the people become active citizens will true democracy grace our divided community. Community interest, not self-interest, should be the More letters on Pages 5, 13 Letters Amused by reverse antics of Hill council Gashouse Gang Dear Mr. Editor, I know this is a very serious and significant election coming up in Rich- mond Hill. but I can't help but be amused by the sudden reverse antics of the town council’s “Gashouse Gang” of close cronies and bloc-voting buddies over Ward 5 Councillor William Corcoran's proposed trailer camp in the wilds of Ward 5. I guess it‘s one thing for this bunch to be all warm and comfy during their ‘in camera’ club meetings and planning committee run~ throughs. but it's quite another when they realize on the eve of an election that the citizens are aware and indignant over what has been happening. When mobile homes were mentioned to Richmond Hill Regional Councillor Gordon Rowe last week on cable TV, I thought he would fall out of his chair. It was as though somebody had tossed him a hot potato. Mayor Lazanby now says, “. . . it's no secret that Mr. Corcoran’s proposal was a total embarrassment coming from a member of council.” And Planning Committee Chairman Ward 4 Councillor Dave Stephenson '5 amazing verbal gymnastics in his non-answer to Marilyn Watford’s inquiries in ‘The Liberal’ recently were quite incredible. Maybe we could get this group of bosom business buddies together one last time for a rousing chorus of “Those Mobile Homes Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine." On second thought. they don’t seem to be singing in tune very well' lately. BOB McADOREY, RR 2, Gormley motto of this election. MALCOLM JARDINE, 20 Centre Street West, Richmond Hill Dear Mr. Editor Being a long time resident of Richmond Hill, I do realize that there are too few important issues in this municipal campaign, which normally indicates good past performance by our administrators. â€" 71h, due respect to Mr. Schiller! ‘ By reading your pamphlet “Dave Schiller’s official stand on major issues” QUOTE: “Growth rate. . . To ensure that new residents can be properly integrated into our com- munity, the town's growth rate should not exceed 4.3 percent in any given year or no more than 25 percent within a five-year period. Rapid growth would only destroy community iden- tity." UNQUOTE I do respect your educational background, but please explain to me how you could promise not to exceed a growth rate of 4.3 percent when you speak of a 25 percent growth rate for five years in the same sentence. What a con- tradiction! Contradiction in Schiller's position Only a Mr. Crack pot could get confused by such issues. I’m sure that my fellow citizens of this town do realize you propose more than triple the growth rate Richmond Hill enjoyed in the past 10 years. (Figures 55 per Citizen’s Advisory Group Newsletter 74-5) MRS. ESTELLE STEINER, 367 Kerrybrook Drive, Richmond Hill