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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-01-01, Page 41 SHOULD 1-1AVE BONHTT-IAT 5IGcE'R TAXI FoR -n-lE New Y-cARs' Rosq F u DRINK— DoNs-r DRIVE.] The world view from Mabel's Grill 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: Julia was complaining that she still had some Christmas shopping to do with two days left until Christmas. Tim O'Grady of course had his finished week's ago (he could never give cheestiltrays or fruit baskets because it would he spoiled between the time he wrapped them and the time they were opened, he's so far ahead of schedule. Billy Bean says it's too early to worry about Christmas. He'll start shopping after work on Dec. 24, just as he usually does. TUESDAY: Julia was saying she saw the interview with Prince Charles and Princess Diana on television. She said she's so glad she doesn't answer questions like how she chooses her clothes. These days when it's still dark when she gets up she can't stand to turn on the light so early in the morning so she just reaches into the closet and puts on the firstthing she pulls out. Of course at this time of the year just about everything in her closet is fit to wear for a polar expedition so she can't go too wrong. Anyway, she says, she'd hate to carry the responsibility the royal couple does of starting trends just by what they wear or do in public. On the television show the price seemed to make a habit of scratching his nose (left side)or rubbing it about every minute. She figures it will now become a fashionable habit to rub or scratch your nose, as long as you do it on the left side. WEDNESDAY: Ward Black show- ed up for the usual morning session only to find Mabel was closed. He told her off later in the week for daring to have taken Christmas off. Seems Mabel just has to get her priorities straight. THURSDAY: Hank Stokes said his Christmas got a little out of hand this year, just about like normal. There was his old mother and his brother and two sisters each of whom had three kids and the three kids had 2.5 each , each of whom got at least 3.3 noisy toys of which 1.1 broke before noon leaving the child crying and demanding that one or the other of his parents fix it. Two kids got sick from eating too much candy. One swallowed a piece of broken crayon and had to be hung by the heels and whacked on the back. One upset the Christmas tree chasing the cat: THE EDITOR: As a mother of two young hockey players some comments in a letter submitted by Paul Carroll of Seaforth were of interest to me. One dictionary defines a body check as "a defensive play, especially in ice hockey, in which a player attempts to throw the carrier of the puck off stride by bumping him with his body. "In my estimation" bumping him with his body is using physical force, regardless of what fancy hockey term we chose to mask it with. The problem we concerned parents see is the way in which this physical force is directed. Mr. Carroll's letter mentioned the problems resulting from the great physical size range in players of the Peewee age group. Body contact is permitted in the Peewee age group this year, but what many of us are witnessing is an alarming amount of body contact in the younger Atom and Novice games, where along with the physical size differences there is a lack of co-ordination and hockey skating skilss which might help a more experienced skater protect him- self. Players of this age group are very vulnerable to injury from this sort of game as they are not expecting any physical attack and therefore are caught unawares. You might ask how this could twice. The adults had an interesting time. He had an argument with his brother while playing Trivial Pur- suit and the brother wouldn't speak to him for the rest of the day. Hank's wife was in tears at the end of the day because his sister insisted their granddaughter could help with the dishes and dropped and antique gravy bowl. To top it off, one of the visitors drove off the side of the lane and had to be towed out with the tractor and another's car wouldn't start. Hank figures 364 days to rest up might almost be enough before the next Christmas but he can hardly wait until leap year when he'll get that extra day of rest. happen in an age group where body contact is not to be permitted. A good referee should have complete control of the game, and unfortu- nately there are some referees who are among those who feel body contact is a necessary and exciting part of hockey, and it shows in the way they handle games. This has a snowball effect on first the players who resort to physical force either as self-defense or in retaliation, and also on the fans who soon pick up on the atmosphere of the game. I'm sure we have all witnessed an irate spectator screaming "hit him, board him", often to children who are only seven years old! Hockey can be a physically and socially rewarding game when played under the right conditions, but we must let our referees, coaches, and most importantly our children know that we as parents want the emphasis placed on skating skills, stick-handling and teamwork, and not on how hard a player can hit, his opponent. Children do "learn what they live", so the problem of physical force in hockey does not rest only on the shoulders of the O.M.H.A. or C. A.H.A. or any other organiza- tion. It rests on all of us, as individuals, who have felt uneasy about the situation but have never done anything about it. JANE MACHAN BLUEVALE Letter to the editor PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1986. Oat itize [640523 Ontario Inc.] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. P.O. Box 152, P.O. Box 429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. NOG 1H0 NOM 1H0 887-9114 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 Look ahead, not back Many people won't be sad to say goodbye to 1985. The year has gone out with two months of bad weather, the sun appearing as infrequently as flowers in January. Farmers already facing financial crisis saw prices go down for just about everything this year. As if that wasn't bad enough, the lousy weather made it difficult to get the crops off that had been planted. With the farm economy in trouble, the economy of our towns and villages hasn't been booming either. It is easy to be depressed as the year draws to a close. We can do two things as the new year comes in. We can feel sorry for ourselves or we can try to do something to get more control over our own future. For farmers, that can mean getting out and joining one of the farm organizations fighting to win farmers a better deal. The greatest enemy of farmers has always been farmers themselves: farmers who don't want to get involved; farmers who value their independence so much they refuse to give up a little of it to mount a united front against government, big business and consumer organizations; farmers who may pay their dues to organizations but don't get involved in the actual running of the organization. Smalltovvn urban people are just about as bad. Our business community is often so divided that the businessmen can't even agree which day of the week to close. People sit back and bemoan the lack of growth in their community and throw up their hands and say it's all too big a problem to be faced. The government is against us. The big communities ignore us. Big business doesn't know we exist. If we believe that there is no future for our communities there surely won't be. Nothing is more of a self-fulfilling profesy than this kind of negativism. It's time for us to sit back and think for a while about what are the positive attributes of each of our communities. Why do we like to live here and why might others like to live here? What have we accomplished by working together in the past and how can we work together to make things happen in the future? We need to generate new ideas and we need them now. We can't afford to sit back and wait for government, either senior levels, or our own village councils, to come up with solutions to our problems. We sure can't wait for some big-business angel . to solve our problems. We need to grab control of our own destiny. It may not work, but at least we'll be doing something. And oh what wonderful, impossible things have happened when people have worked together. Let's make 1986 the year we started to do something about getting more control over our own lives. A small reward for those who give so much Nowhere is good citizenship more important than in a small community. Without it, it's fair to say, there wouldn't be any community at all. Many people toil endlessly to make each of our communities work. Without good citizens, we wouldn't have the arenas and ball parks that give us such excellent recreational possibilities. Without good citizens, our churches would long ago have fallen into disrepair. Without good citizens our community clubs wouldn't exist. For this dedication to their community these good citizens often get only criticism. They may be accused of wanting to run everything because they are involved in so many activities (accused, often, by people who never get involved in anything). They're accused of taking too much time from their business, farm or family to devote to community activities. People can work for years in community activities without getting a real thank you for the work they have done. That's why The Citizen has decided to initiate Citizenship Awards for the Brussels area and the Blyth area. We hope in the years ahead that these awards will be one small way of saying thank you to all the volunteers who give so much. It may reward those people who through their drive have made good things happen in their community, whether it be the outstanding contribution of a volunteer or the far-sighted activities of a businessman (or businesswoman) that has contributed to the well-being of the community. Help us reward these people. Nominate a deserving citizen.