HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-01-08, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009.
THE EDITOR,
Beginning next week, Town and
Country Support Services, in
partnership with the Twp. of North
Huron, is inviting the community to
increase their physical activity levels
in 2009 by coming out to our free
indoor walking program Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays at the Blyth
arena from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
As well there will be a free
seniors’ skate (helmets required) on
Fridays from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Walking is a great way to keep fit,
however our Huron County winters
often cause unsafe outdoor walking
conditions.
Arenas across Huron County are
offering their facilities so that
community members have a safe,
level walking surface.
Last September, Town and
Country launched our Wellness For
Seniors program at various sites
throughout Huron County.
The Ministry of Health is
supporting this initiative through
the Local Health Integrated
Network under the Aging at Home
strategy.
Our aim is focus on promotion of
healthy lifestyles, independent living
and prevention of chronic diseases.
Programs include community
exercise classes, indoor walking,
social programs, exercise in the
home, blood pressure monitoring,
nutritional risk assessments, hiking
groups, personal training and fitness
centre programs.
Come out and join the fun as we
launch our Walk This Way and
Seniors Skating programs next week
at the Blyth arena.
For more info contact Town and
Country Support Services at 519-
482-9264.
Cheryl Phillips
Exercise Co-ordinator
Nadine VandenHeuval
Wellness For Seniors
Coordinator.
Three men have been charged
after breaking into a Brussels
residence on Dec. 26.
During the early morning hours a
resident of Alexander Street home
was awakened to a loud bang caused
by the offenders breaking the door.
The suspects then stole a quantity of
alcohol prior to being chased off.
During to some involvement earlier
in the evening, the victim knew the
identities of the persons inside his
home and contacted police.
Huron OPP officers later located
the suspects at another residence
with the stolen property. Three
males were arrested and one was
held in police custody pending a bail
hearing in Goderich on Dec. 29. A
28-year-old from Huron East, a 25-
year-old from Port Elgin and a 27-
year-old Mitchell man have each
been charged with one count of
break and entering a dwelling and
one count of theft under $5,000. The
former two will answer to their
charges in Goderich court on March
19 while the Mitchell man remains
in custody.
THE EDITOR,Jan. 1, 2009 was the 75thanniversary of the passage of the
Nazi law, The Law for the
Prevention of Hereditary Diseased
Offspring.
Under this law social
“undesirables” underwent
mandatory sterilization to cut costs
associated with the care of the
mentally, physically, and genetically
deficient.
When most people think of these
kinds of laws, they invariably
associate them with the Hitler
regime. What is not generally known
is that the cheapened view of human
life reflected in these laws, and
finally the death camps, predates the
Nazis by decades. Indeed, the
philosophies that eventually led to
the Nazi state can be traced back
almost one hundred years.
Germany had been a formally
Christian nation. But in the 1800sthere were men who destroyed thepeople’s faith in the integrity and
authority of the Bible. Professors
like Graf and Wellhausen sneered at
the Bible as a pious fraud. Kant
taught that faith can only be a non-
rational leap into the dark. Hegel
taught “The state is God marching
on the earth.” Darwin taught survival
of the fittest and Nietzsche taught
that only those who had the “will to
power” were fit to survive.
These philosophies were taught in
the universities; from there they
trickled down into the popular
consciousness. More than a decade
before the Nazis were elected,
German society was functionally
atheistic, and had accepted the
philosophy of moral relativism and
the idea that for utilitarian reasons,
human life could be extinguished at
will.
Researcher Karen Davis states:“The practice of euthanasia isdemonstrated in Dr. Alfred Hoche’s
‘Medical Explanation,’where Hoche
argues for the killing of the mentally
ill due to the amount of capital that
is spent on these people who are a
drain on society. Written in 1920,
Hoche’s position displays that the
ideas and policies of euthanasia
ordered by Nazi officials were
developed long before the regime
came to power. The failure of the
welfare state in the late 1920s
persuaded the Weimar government
to consider sterilization and
euthanasia to decrease costs of
operation. The early development of
these policies in German history
sheds light on the origins of
practices the Nazis utilized.”
So let’s be clear: the loss of belief
in the authority of the Bible and its
absolute code of morality led to the
degradation of human life. Thisdegradation showed itself in autilitarian view of life. When the
Nazis came to power, abortion,
sterilization, and euthanasia were
already publicly approved and
quietly practised with the almost
complete acquiescence of
liberalized Christianity and the
medical community.
It is ironic that almost the same
arguments for abortion and
euthanasia are made in Canada
today. While we generally avoid the
eugenic arguments, the ‘quality of
life’ positions of abortion and
euthanasia proponents are identical
to those used in Weimar Germany.
As our welfare state fails we will
hear the economic arguments also.
For the most part, our academia,
media and political parties have
adopted as their own the culture of
death that was pre-Nazi and Nazi
Germany.“Those who will not learn fromhistory are doomed to repeat it”
Santayana (philosopher}
“If there is no God, everything is
permitted” Dostoevsky (Russian
writer)
Dave Joslin
OPP arrest 3 in Brussels break-in
Looking for local heroes
There are so many people out there who do
so much to improve their community.
Now you have a chance to say thanks.
Nominate that special person for the 24th
Annual Citizen Citizenship Awards.
Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area
and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the
community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the ballot
and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee
should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and he or she didn't win,
please feel free to try again.
I nominate
as Citizen of the year for
I feel she/he deserves this award because
Nomination Deadline April 30, 2009.
Name and phone number of nominator
❑❑Blyth
& area ❑❑Brussels
& area
Letter to the editorWriter blames loss of belief on degradation of life
THE EDITOR,
It is with gratitude that we extend
sincere thanks from all the
volunteers who worked the five
Huron County Christmas Bureaus
and to the many donors from across
the County who support our efforts.
By any standards this is a huge
undertaking for a volunteer group
and a program that would be
impossible to manage without the
backing of a generous community.
As we wrote this letter the
Bureaus were busy providing
Christmas relief for the many
families who need a ‘hand up’
during the holiday season.
First thing in the New Year we
will start making plans for
Christmas 2009. We are making
these plans, confident that you will
always answer our call for help.
Yours truly,
Sharon Kirkey, Chair
Barb Hogan, Co-Chair
Huron County Christmas Bureau
Letter
CAS
says
thanks
Letter
TCSS, NH invite community to get fit