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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1985-11-20, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1985. Where did you buy this shampoo called Neet? Dave Smith The world view from Mabel's Grill [640523 Ontario Inc.] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Be!grave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. P.O. Box 152, P.O. Box 429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. NOG 1H0 NOM 1H0 523-4792 Subscription price: $15.00; $35.00 foreign. Advertising and news deadline: Monday 4 p.m. Editor and Publisher: Keith Roulston Advertising Manager: Beverley A. Brown Production and Office Manager: Jill Roulston Changing times have something to teach us Less than a year ago Progressive Conservatives in Ontario met in Toronto to choose the next premier of the province. This past weekend they chose another new leader and the people of the province could barely suppress a yawn. A year ago all the candidates had a certain sheen to them, the feeling of political infallibility. The leadership convention of the Ontario PCs had about it a feeling of a coronation, the choosing of the natural heir to the throne of the province. Today of course the new leader is just the leader of the opposition. He doesn't appear nearly as invincible. On the other hand, the Liberals looked like a bunch of bumblers distined to be ever in opposition. Today they are the government, riding remarkably high in the opinion polls. With the elevation has come the elevation to positions of power and prominence, people we know by their first names. Murray, the local boy, has become Health Minister and his face appears on the television news nearly every night. Jack the teacher and auctioneer is now in charge of agricultural policy for the province. A former colleague in weekly newspapers is now an executive assistant to a cabinet minister. Cabinet ministers and executive assistants to cabinet ministers have always had an aura of greatness about them, a sense of somehow being above and beyond us, a sense of being smarter than we mortals. But suddenly here are people from everyday life in those high positions. Are they better than we thought or are the top politicians just more human than we usually think? The lesson to be learned from these changing times is that we shouldn't hold politicians in such awe. There are smart politicians and their are dumb politicians, honest ones and crooks. Just because they hold positions of great power doesn't make them any less human. Seeing people from our own little Huron county communities running the province should remind us that our own ideas, our own intelligence, can be just as good as the politicians'. Unnecessary dangers on our roads It's a da.ngerous time of the year to be driving on our highways. Darkness stays late in the morning and begins early at night. The skies are dark and sombre all day long. The roads are wet and slick. And farmers are busy taking off the harvest and taking it to buyers. Faced with high costs and low returns for farming, it would be difficult to ask farmers to spend more for safety features on their equipment such as signal lights on all wagons and trailers but for the good of both the farmer and the other users of the road a little common sense on the part of the minority of farmers who are careless would go a long way toward making the roads safer. At a recent Grey township ratepayers meeting complaints were aired against people who use public roadways for unloading corn from combines to trucks or wagons. Those who stick to the main highways may not have encountered such problems but the concession roads and even county roads have become more dangerous places because of this practice. Then there are those seemingly-mile-long trains of grain wagons hauled along highways with following drivers left to wonder just when the tractor driver might decide to turn a corner. A new hazard is approaching with the coming winter. Some farmers create mini-blizzards of snow by pointing their snowblowers across the roadway. Someday a driver will get lost in that whiteout and an accident will result. And there are farmers who cleanout their lane and push large clumps of snow onto the public highway causing drivers to nearly lose control when they hit them. It isn't just other drivers that are in jeopardy here. If something does happen and negligence of the farmer can be proved, he will face a large lawsuit. Even if he has insurance to cover the loss, all farmers will pay through higher liability insurance. Prevention is the best cure. A little common sense now can save a tragedy and its repercussions later. There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town (if not in the country) gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering Society. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations, we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: This morning's session of the Round Table Debating and Filibustering Society was ad- journed due to it being Remem- brance Day. The Remembrance Day ceremony had the biggest attendance in years but it had nothing to do with the fact that the sun shone for the first time in weeks so people just had to get out and enjoy it. It didn't have anything to do with the threat of an arms race making people more sensitive to the occasion either. What it had to do with was tomorrow's election. Every politi- cian in town and the townships showed up to make a good impression. Most of them manag- ed to get to lay one of the wreaths too. Poor Ward Black must have been a little late thinking about that angle because he missed out on being the one to lay the town's wreath or the one for the Masonic Order. He finally got his chance, although nobody could quite figure out how he managed to get himself made representative of the Wo- men's Institute. Still he was pretty impressive with his medals shining and clanking as he bent over, then saluted, ramrod straight. There was the odd cynic who wondered how Ward managed to get so many medals when he always claimed he was only 55 and couldn't have got farther than Camp Borden even if he had lied about his age, but most people were suitably impressed. Even the cynics were quite willing to accept Ward's medals when he started buying rounds at the Legion afterward. TUESDAY: Julia Flint was wond- ering this morning if she should really be drinking coffee after the talk in the papers about people who drink too much coffee having more heart attacks. She almost talked herself into ordering tea instead but Billy Bean said that was definitely against the rules. It was one thing to have a woman in this formerly all-male organization but having a woman drinking tea was too much. "Next you'll be reading tea leaves" he cracked. The guy from the newspaper was in saying that if everybody listened to the story and stopped drinking coffee some peole would have to go out of business. Somebody said yeh, what would happen to Brazil and to the coffee companies and somebody else asked Mabel if she'd be able to stay afloat if coffee went down the drain but the newspaper man said that wasn't the kind of business he had in mind. The newspapers of the country would disappear, he said, if the reporters ever stopped drinking coffee. For one thing, he said, he'd never stay awake to report what THE EDITOR, First let me say how glad we are for the opportunity to have a community newspaper. My wife and I would like to join the many others who are wishing you and your staff good success for many years to come in our community. I was very disappointed in your choice and use of the supposed 'comic' on the editorial page of the Nov. 6 edition. I realize it was meant to be a humorous take off on a popular radio jingle, but I think that it was in poor taste. The comic certainly has its facts of history mixed up. If the native people of this land would have been 'living and learning' they would have caught on faster and would have or should have 'planted' many more pioneers. The shameful way that native people have been treated in went on at council meeting if he didn't drink six cups of strong coffee before he went. WEDNESDAY: Ward Black miss- ed this morning's session. He wasn't in mourning from last night's election results but suffer- ing because of his success. Somebody said he'd been at Ward's victory party and some of the other winners were there. If the voters could see how ridiculous these politicians could look, he said, they'd demand another vote so they could change their minds. THURSDAY: Tim O'Grady said he had a new idea for a buSiness to start as a sideline. With the way people are getting worried about the banks, he said, he wants to start a new factory making mattresses with pockets on the bottom. FRIDAY: Julia said she's changed her mind. Back when Prince Charles got married she cried, she said, because she'd always fancied herself married to a prince. Now after seeing the way people in the States have been behaving to- wards Charlie and Di, she figures that selling insurance is a great way to make a living afterall. Canada should cause all of us a great deal of shame. There are a lot of cries for the correction of injustices in many places in our world, perhaps we need to start right here at home. I would encourage you not to mar our community by feeding the mis- understandings that breed pre- judice and injustice. I realize that it is not an easy task. But perhaps we can work at it together. SINCERELY, DOUG ZEHR BRUSSELS, ONT. THE EDITOR. Dear Sir: Asa long-time4.esident of the Village of Brussels, I would like to thank you for giving us our own paper again. However, in looking forward to the future, we must not Continued on page 5 Letters to the editor