HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-06-18, Page 2Sugoi t
Ignoranee...444:foir: 1110111111.1.01.1.1er
WEDNESDAY t JUNE 180, 1980.
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. nity.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited
1010
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor • Pat Langlois' • Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and.
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $10.00 a Year.
Others $20.00 a Year. Single Copies 25 cents each.
4Brusse
on, 'ail
, 10
Those photos we take
Where are those pictures you took last week? Why wasn't my son's
picture in the paper?
Those are just typical of some of the questions asked of ,the Post
photographers.. Unless you're in the newspaper -business; might
indeed be difficult to understand why little Johnny's picture„,wasn't in.
the paper; or why when, you saw a photographer taking ten pictures,
only three appeared in the pArmr.
Here are the answers kJ -those questions. For one thing,
photographers shoot a lot -of pictures so there is good selection to
choose from when it comes to putting them in the paper. The Post tries
to print as Many pictures as possible, but it just isn't practical to print
every picture' taken at an , event, 'due to lack of, spAice.
Sometimes we try to put, the pictures in the next week's pap
there's enuughepace, but if there were a lot of events going on in town
that week then it's practically impossible to use what, was left over
from the week before.
Picture selection for a paper is based on viewer impact and thus the
most appealing or exciting ones are what make it on the newspaper
page. We realize it's hard when you're waiting to see a 'picture of one
of your family members in the newspaper and then it's not used, but
it's just impossible for us to guarantee that any photo we take will be
used.
Besides the fact -that newspaper space is *.a premium, the costs ,of
chemicals for developing and the costs of paper for printing the picture
are just too expensive to make it worthwhile to print every photo.
Perhaps this will help Post readers to understand just a little better
now why Little Johnny's picture can't always be used in the paper, but
we'll still continue to try our best to print as many photos as possible.
Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error the advertising space
occupied by the erroneous Item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but
the balance of the advertisement will 'be paid for at the applicable rate.
While every effort will be made to insure they are handled with care, the publishers cannot be responsible for
the return of unsolicited 'manuscripts or photos.
I'm writing this on the day of the Great
Quebec Referendum or the Clui-Oui-Non-
Non vote (sounds like a naught game for
kids.) No results have come in yet, but I find
myself viewing the evening news with a
monumental -calm bordering;on boredom.
Hundreds of thousands of column inches
of newsprint have been wasted, hundreds of
hours of television and radio time expended,
exploring, explaining and exploiting a
question that, for true ambiguity, resembles
that old-timer, "when did you stop beating
your wife?'!
Bleeding hearts all over Anglophone
Canada, whose connection with the Quebec
fact consists of one weekend in Montreal and
one encounter with one real, live. French-
Canadian have been bleeding all over the,
upholstery in which the Great Question has
been cushioned.
I sincerely doubt that there has been much
of this • bleeding taking place west' of
Winnipeg. And I sincerely believe that even
less of it has been done east of Fredericton.
In the greatLiberal-less west, the vote has
some curiosity value, but as far as I can
sense, no wrenching anguish at the possible
break-up of a'great and beautiful country.
In the Maritimes, there have been some
valid economic .qualms at the thought of a
fractured Canada, but no panic, from what I
can read. •
It stands to reason then, that my
"bleeding' hearts all over' Anglophone
Canada" are mostly in Ontario. And the only
time hearts bleectin Ontario is when there is
some chance that that province will come out
oothe short end of a deal.
, If the question had not been wrapped in
cotton wool, I think there might have been
some sense of a real potential tragedy in
Canada, instead of the bloated, pumped-op
phony issue created by pollsters and
politicians, which has produced little but
ennui outside Quebec.
I'd like to have seen a ballot with two
statements on it, one to be marked with thet
traditional X. The first would say, "Nous
partirons" and 'the second, "Je reste au
Canada." Loosely translated from my exe-
crable French, they mean, respectively,
"We quit!" and, "I stay wid. Canada."
A straight question like this would test the
validity of the PequisM claim to self-deter-
mination, and would settle, once and for all,
the nightmare of a foreign country stuck like
a thorn in the body of this sprawling country
that exists only because of Sir John A.
Macdonald, the CPR, rye whiskey, maple
• syrup and the fact that the Americans don't
like a cold climate. These are what have held
us together; not idealism,10. mutual respect,
maple leaves, or a national culture.
Whicheier side wins today in Quebec,, it's
going to be .a'hollow victory. If the Oui vote
takes it, a funny, little, passionate, rather
endearing man is going to think he's the
Second Coming, and will press on frona'one
flounder to the next.
If the Non vote takes it, the Ours are
going to scream, bloody murder, Federal
intervention, ,Anglo duplicity and faulty
reading of the stars, among other things,
It appears that it will be fairly even. This
solves nothing whatever and serves only to
make four million Quebecois mad at the
other four million. And this is about average
for any Canadian, election or vote, so nothing
Pundits talk about lack of communication,
; as though 'it had just been invented. Of
course there is. But I'll bet there's more
communication and a closer rapport between
a French farmer and an Anglo farmer than
there is between a Gaspe fisherman and a
Montreal banker, or between an Albertan
construction worker and a • Toronto stock-
broker.
They talk about two different cultures. Of
course there are. But that's no hangup.
There's a whale of a difference between an
Oxford professor and a Scottish highlander,
but they manage to stagger along under the
same crown and constitution.,
You can't tell me that a playboy in Nice
has the same moral values as a shepherd in
Breton, but they are both ,Frenchmen. A
resident of the Bronx in New York, and one
in Hayfork Centre, Mississippi, have less in
common than a dog and a cat, but they are
both Americans.
Personally, I have a 'Certain affection for
Quebec. I spent my first.two years, and all
my holidays into the teens, in that province.
But I am equally, or more fond of
Edinburgh, London, Paris, North Wales.
I. don't ) and I' don't believe ..many
Anglos,do, want to take away the language,
culture, religion of the. Quebecois. They can
all go around in their bare skin and smoke
Cuban cheroots, as far as I care.
At the same time, I don't want to be
bullied into learning another language, at
my age. I don't want some member of the
family treated better than the others. I don't
want to be told by some 'flaming-eyed radical
that I represent a class and a nation that has
no soul, that exists only to gouge others.
Some gouging I've done from Quebec.
When all the smoke settles, will there be
any fire?' Quite possibly. There is ignorance
and fear, on both sides. But I'm not
envisioning fir. Quebec politicians,
like those of the rest of Canada, are happier
when there is a, marshmallow on the end of
the rapier. '
Behind the scenes
by Keith Roulston
A visit to Huron County Gaol is an eyeopener
We live in an area blessed with
museums to help us see what life was like
in the past. But if you want a chilling vision
of the past visit the Huron County Gaol in
Goderich.
The Gaol is a much simpler museum
than many. There aren't the thousands of
artificats that are on display at the Pioneer
musuem or the other smaller area
Museums. Yet it does more to bring the
past to life than all the others combined.
One doesn't need much imagination to be
able to see what life must have been like
inside those thick stone walls.
You don't get much pleasure from a visit
to the Gaol, at least I didn't. There's none
of the heart-warming nostalgia you can get
looking at an old car, train or farm
implement at the other museums. There
are few pleasant memories at the Gaol.
From the moment you go in the long,
Whitewashed hall that leads to the inside of
the prison you can feel a chill seeping into
your bones. Before long you begin to
wonder if there is any warmth left in the
world, even on a hot summer day.
I am not one of those people who goes
into great rages about the way we treat our
criminals in Canada. I get a little impatient
when I hear of these prisoners' strikes
Where they demand the "rights" when the
reason they are in the jail in the first place
is that they violated the rights of others.
I've seen all the movies and television
shows I can take about how the decent
criminals are mistreated by the moronic,
sadistic guards.
And yet I find it sickening to visit a place
like the gaol and realize that until a decade
ago we actually locked people up in a place
like that. It's bad enough to think that
society could build a place like that to keep
its prisoners in the mid-nineteenth century
but it's Worseto think we were still using it
in the mid-twentieth century.
The Huron. County Gaol wasn't a place
for hardened criminals. It was the place all
Accused wrong-doers were taken. Walking
down that long, cold entrance hall I can
imagine how frightened and confused a
young man or woman must have been as
they were taken by the arm by a policeman.
I can imagine being put into one of those
dark, drafty cells, hearing the door clang
shut and wondering if the world would ever
be the same.
CHANGED LIVES
I'm sure the experience may have
clanged the lives of some young people
along the way. Some people, guilty of a
minor first offence, may have found that
first taste of prison life enough to last them
a lifetime and cleaned up their act, as soon
as they were back in freedom. But the
harshness of that priscin may have touched
off the rebellious streak in . some of the
other first timer's and 'may have pushed
them' further into crime. And then there
were the innocent ones. This being a
county gaol, a place where people went
awaiting trial; there must have been a good.,
many people who were inside though they
were not guilty of crime. Imagine what it .
must have been like for them, recalling
thoughts of the dungeons of ancient stories
like Tale of Two Cities.
NOT IN USE
I'm glad the old gaol is not in use any
more. I'm glade they've kept it as a way of
reminding us and I'm glad 'they haven't
tried to make it a pleasant and fun place to
be. While I'd hate to think of people
actually being, housed in there, I think it
would be a good place for school tours, to
teach both about the past and as a jolting
glimpse into the future for those who may
be on the verge of trouble.
One by One jails like this are being closed
down across the country. They closed the
infamous I3.C. Penitentiary this winter and
people have been getting a chance to see
inside this century-old prison where many
have died in the last two decades as
prisoners rioted to protest the, archaic
conditions. The prisoners haye been moved
to a neiver, more comfortable prison.' Soine
will say too comfortable.
I don't know what the answer is. Siime
say we're putting too many people in jail.
Some say too few. Some say our jails are
too' unhuman. Some• say the new jails are
like country clubs.; Some people make it
sound like all we have to do is improve the
prison system and we can rid the country of
crime. '
Well we're not going to rid the country of
crime` no matter whether we folio* the
advice of the hard-liners or the reformists.
We will always have people who will prefer
to 'break the laws, to violate the rights .M
others because they think they are smarter,
or sttonger or whateVer sick reason they
choose. Society must be protected friim
such people to protect our rights. trii mire
concerned about the rights of the people
Who get robbed or raped. or beaten .up than
One of the priSoners. But visit the Huren
-
-County Gaol and it's hard to believe that
anyone, no matter ho'w bad a criminal life
they lived, deserves to be kept like that,