The Brussels Post, 1980-08-06, Page 2WEDNESDAY,: AUGUST ,6e 1980
Serying BorneIs and the
Brum
emunity.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at russls, Ontario
By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited
Evelyn Kennedy; - Editor Pat Langlois - Advertising.
Member Canadian Community Newapaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $10.00 a Yea. .
Others $20.00 a Year. Single Copies 25 cents each.
I a
Short Shots
by Evelyn
Life is but a day at most,
Sprung from night - in darkness lost.
Hope not sunshine every hour,
Fear not clouds will always lour.
* * * * *
Newspaper publishers can now breathe
easier. The threatened shortage of news-
print has been averted. The 6,000 Abitibi
paperworkers have agreed to a settlement
and are now back on the job. The 4 week
strike had almost depleted newsprint stock-
piles in. Canada and the U.S. What would
people have done without their newspapers?
The morning paper with their first cup of
coffee has become a ritual with many folks.
* * • * .
Rivers, lakes and swimming pools are
taking a shocking toll of lives as people,
young and older, take to the water for
summer fun. Sadly a large number of such
drowning victims are children. It can happen
so quickly that one cannot take their eyes off
young children for even minutes when they
are in the water. Youngsters are daring and
take chances without rr ilizing the danger
they can encounter. No youngster, actually
no one, should be alone in the water or
without someone nearby, in care they get
into difficulty. Have fun swimming but take
care.-
• * * * *
What a change for the Toronto Argonaut
fans. The Argos, at the present time, top the
C".F.L. standings. That is almost impossible
to believe after watching their embarassing
defeats, game after game, with their
ineffectual performance in past seasons. Can
they keep it up? It is certainly a pleasure for
the Argo fans to have something to cheer
about.
* • • * * *
The Huron County Health Unit tells us
that rabbies has tripled in 1980. No pet
clinics have been planned for the outbreak is
not serious enough for that We are warned
however, to be aware of the situation and
avoid any contact with wild animals, dead or
alive..Warn children to stay away from any
wild creature that appears to be tame.
Kennedy
Watch pets for unusual behaviour.
**so***
Time after time we read of some small
business, somewhere, that has been forced
into bankrupty, brought to that by financial
difficulties. With the ever increasing expan-
sion of mills; the takeovers by big business;
the easy transportation to large centres;
people forsake the corner grocery and the
small businessmen of their own community.
They rush off to do their shopping in the
large centres where they may have a larger
selection to choose from, and, hopefully,
bargain prices., The small businessman has
been the backbone of this country for many
years and it is unfortunate that they are
disappearing, gobbled up, or pushed Out, by
big business, that has no interest, or
concern, for the people of the towns and
villages except for the dollars they spend.
•*****
• The Ontario tourism picture is brighter
this year. The ministry of industry and
tourism reports that inquiries were up one
third over last year. One of the most
dramatic increases was the number of
inquiries received in French. Perhaps some
Quebecers think it is time they ventured into
another province to find out more about we
Anglophones. It seems that folks from the
U.S. find Ontario an attractive place to
holiday this year. Exchange in their favour is
an inducement, the price of gas here also.
Judging by some of the questions asked at
the border they expect to find it advantage-
ous to shop here. Whatever influences them
to come is good. Tourism should be one of
Ontario's most desirable industries and we
have so much to offer tourists of all ages.
*•****
Some of the hay that was destined for
Prairie farmers, who were without fodder
because of the drought, they suffered, will
not reach them. About 600 bales were burnt
Wednesday afternoon of last aweek. The fire
broke out in a C.P. Rail car while it was
waiting on a siding in Wingham for the next
hay train. It was believed to have been
caused by spontaneous combustion.
The book
Let's see now. Here it is about August,
and I was, supposed to produce a book this
summer. I wish it were, as simple as, getting,
pregnant and producing a beautifUl,
healthy,, welcomed child.
Two different parties are after me, as we
say in this country, to get off my bottom -
and pop a best-seller.
Some .daffy dame in Vancouver got me
out of bed one morning at 7:10 with a
phone call, offering to be my agent, at ten
per cent. I was a little grumpy.- I have been
known to threw the alarm clock right
through a window when it goes off at 7:15.
I asked her what the hell time it was in •
Vancouver. It was 2:10 a.m., naturally, a
time when even daffy dames should be
'snoring.
Twenty minutes, later, while I was
shaving, she called again to'ask how many
pages the' book would have, what. kind of
paper, what kind of cover, what price. She
could have heard my answers all the way to
Vancouver without bothering Ma Bell.
A couple of days later, my old lady got a
call, right in the middle of her siesta, from
some publisher the d.d. in Vancouver had
called. At this point my o.l. was getting a
bit brassecl off, answering the phone calls
at all hours from old fighter pilots who ,
were flying when they called, people who
wanted an instant recipe for becoming a
syndicated columnist, and dear old ladies
who were suffering from insomnia and just
wanted to tell her they'd been reading my
column for seventy-six years.
As a result, she gave the world-famous
publisher what is known as short shrift. .I ,
don't know the etymology of the phr: e,
but basically it means being cut off at the
knees, so that your shrift, or , whatever, is
dangling in the dirt. He didn't call -again,.
and I haven't called him because I don't
want to appear to be, towering over him.
My other agent, and old friend, 'who
coulcl sell cowboy boots to Indians, and
moccasins to cowboys, dropped a line with
some suggestions and advice.
He should know better. He's been giving
me both for more than twenty years, and I
have not only ignored both, I haye usually
done the opposite, with no dire results,
except that we'd both have made some
money if I'd listened. But what good is
money these days?
First thing he suggested was a title.lf
I'd had a national contest to choose the
worst possible title for my pregnant but
un-popped book, his would have won first
prize.
Next, my Old buddy offered some ideas
for chapters: the family, the school; sex,
politics, etc. I wish he'd spelled out the et
cetera, because I don't know much about
the others.
The family. What a chapter! Dull, dull,
dull. Unfortunately, I came from a happy
him*. I didn't, hate either* farherl or 110'
mother, so there'a no mileage there. I get.
along great with my brothers and sisters,
as long as we're several hundred miles
apart. Hove my son and daughter; when
he's in Paraquay and she's in Moosonee. I
adore my grandboys, especially when I'm
waving' bye-bye as they leave for another
few months. My wife and I put .up with
each other. So what's to write about?
The school? Another dead end. I've been -
going to school: public, high, university,
air force lectures, teacher, for more than
forty years, and I know about twelve per
cent more than a six-months infant.
In math, I can't even use a calculator
without getting all fouled up, as the
Revenue Department just informed me this
week, to the tune of $810.00. And forty
cents.
• In science, I have just lately figured out
that acid rain is from kidney trouble with
Santa Claus's reinde'er.
In geography, I am quite confident that
Texas is south of some oil-producing
places, and north of others.
In history, I am content with a student's
assessment that the Church of England
was established because Henry VIII. was
fed up with the Pope.
In English, I'm pretty secure. I know the
firstline of several 'of Shakespeare's great
soliloquies:
"To be or not to be."
"Tomorrow and °tomorrow and tomor-
row..." •
But I can't remember the second line or
any of the others. And I do know what a
participle is, which is more than I can say
for the two Grade Ten's I taught this year.
SO school is out, as a subject. Now about
sex. There, I, might be able to come up with
several chapters. Despite my earlier
disclaimer about science, I do know a pistil -
from a stamen. I think.. And I got some
pretty hot stuff from an electrician one day,
when he said, "This is the female plug."
And of course anyone who reads modern
novels can't help but be pretty well versed.
(Is 'versed' a bad word? I'm never sure.) It
comes from the same root, if you'll pardon
the expression, as "perverse."
Otherwise, I know most of the stuff.
Kinky,sex is two people with Afro hair-do's
getting all tangled up. Aural sex is kissing
with your ears instead of your lips, rather
like the old myth about Eskimaux rubbing
noses. Rather odd, but whatever turns you
on, as we sex writers say. No problem with
the sex. Chapters.
As to his final suggestion, politics; I
could write a book. But nobody would read
it, because it would be banned as the most
obscene literary effort since Lady Chatter-
ly's Lover.
to write this summer
Being a public servant is not the greatest
Behind the scenes
by Keith Roulston
In these tough economic times you'd like a
nice secure job. It would- help to be well paid
and have good benefits. How about a civil
service job?
Everybody' knows civil servants, whether
they be town clerks or Ottawa mandarins
have it pretty good. We all know of course
that they don't work very hard. We all know
that they get far more than they're worth.
We know that once you're into one of those
cushy jobs you're there for life. Must be
marvellous, right?
Most likely not. Bureaucrat bashing is the
most popular game in the country these
days. People feel alienated by the size of
government. They resent the cost of
supporting that government, the chipping
away at what they consider their rightful
income by all levels of government through
taxes. People resent the red tape that
bureaucracy brings.
And so they fight back, a quiet guerilla
kind of warfare. The press and the public
take pot shots at the bureacrats. Why not,
they're such inviting targets. Besides, they
can't fight back.
But ask any civil servant and you'll find
that the role of the government employee is
not all its tracked up to be.
Take for example the level of government
closest to the people; the municipal govern-
ment and examine the role of public servants
at that level. I've spent 10 years dealing with
local government employees in various
towns, villages and townships in the area
and I wouldn't trade one of them their jobs.
Anyone' who has to deal with the public
can tell you it's no picnic. People who may
be friendly when they meet you on the
street, may be gracious when you visit them
in their own home, can often be obnoxious
when you meet them in the course of doing
business. But if dealing with the public while
clerking in a store or waiting in a restaurant
can be nerve-wracking, dealing with the
public from the position of a public servant
can be excrutiating.
For one thing, a lot of the public likes to
remind the town clerk or the town policeman
of that second part of the label: servant.
They like to throw in the faces of public
officials whenever they're in a squabble that
they pay the bills..
And squabble they do. They , squabble
because their street isn't cleared of snow
early enough in the morning. They squabble
because their hydro bill is too high even
though it was because they had the block;
heater in their car plugged in. They
squabble because their drain backed up and
it must have been the town's fault. And of
course they squabble because they think
taxes are too high.
And the poor public servant takes all the
heat. It may be the politicians who, decide
what the tales will be for the next year but
it's the town clerk or treasurer who has to
listen to the blame. The reason is simple:
he's handy while the politicians are off doing
their regular jobs, for the most part safely
out of the path .of the public wrath. And of
course because he is a public "servant" the
people feel all the more that they can dump
on the employee.
While pleasing your boss may be the bane
of your life at least you likely only have one
boss. The public servant is in a never-never .
land of having everybody as boss. The
nominal boss is the ,glected politician yet
he's a transient boss. He may be your boss
this year and want you to do things one way
but next year he may be gone, replaced by
another politician who does exactly the
opposite.
And while a small town public servant
tries to please both the politican and the
public, he is often also needed as a leader.
Take a look at the towns that are getting
ahead these days and you'll likely see a
strong administrator behind the scenes. As
government at the local level becomes more
complicated, in nearly all cases because of
the growth of programs and red tap imposed
by senior governments, the role of the public
servant becomes more important. Part-time
politicians don't have the time to keep on top
of just what the latest rules from the big boys
in Toronto or Ottawa are. They depend on
the work of their administrators to provide
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