HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-03-07, Page 2Brussels. Post
MUSSELS
ONTARIO.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7th, 1973
=Serving Brussels and the surrounding community
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions fin advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Catlett
$5.00 a year, Single Copies. 10 cents each.
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 881-5641.
ESTABLISHED
1512
Did Huron have
alternatives?
There has been a good deal of unfair
pressure placed on federal M.P.'s in
the past months, over the qUestiOn of
capital punishment.
Across the country, the mood seems
to be that capital, punishment shond be
reinstated, and many ,M.P:'s who might
have voted against it, on the grounds of
conscience or principle, are having their'
arms twisted pretty hard by their con-
stituents.
This, detpite the fact that it was
to be a. "free" vote, with party lines
WaiVed. It maket it tough toenails for
the M.P. Who. it hanging onto his seat
by hit fingernails.
It would be a good time for someone
to define the role of a Meitbet of Par,-
liarnent.
IS he or she merely a delegate to
carry to OttaWa the wishes of what might
Well be a minority of the voters in his
tiding?
Ot it he or she a representative of
that riding,. with first the good of the
country at heart and second, the good of
his riding?
If the M.P, is merely a delegate.; why
pay someone $16 i 990' yearl Why not
just send a paper -boy Or a peritioner
to Ottawa with the wishes of the riding!?
But 'if the M.,P, is to be a represent-
ative,, he should be giVeh freedom to make
OWn decisions, especially When: it. it
A Matter of principle.
It is my fear that sonieMAisiputtitig
expediency before "obtiediehdei, the end
before the means, will be stampeded into
voting against their :private convictions..
firmly opposed to capital pun
itiiiiierit„ and I have no hesitation in 'Saying'
Stii. I don't think that it serves s the
slightest deletteht to' the drihilt o, the drug
addict ; the person momentarily
the paranoids who will murder for money.
And statistics don't impress me.
Sure, the murder rate has gone up during
the five-year. moratorium. But so have
the rates of muggings, rapings, purse-
snatchings and wife-beatings, '
To be consistent, the adherentt of cap-
ital punishment shoUld be pushing for a
revival of corporal punishment as a de-
terrent.
If We're going to revive the brutish
elimination of human life, let's go all
the way.
Loess bring back the ducking,,ttOol for
gOttips. We'd need the whole of the Great
Laket for ducking, but never mind. Why
not revive burning for wader Ali, what
a conflagration that would
Kids who stole apples would be branded
On the fothead with' a T fOr "Thief".
Prostitutes Would be Marked With a P,
and if they were also pickpOdkett, they
Would read PP,
Poachers *Mild' get twelve lashes and
be sent to the 'tundra; That means I'd
never tee a lot of my old friends again.
People caught with, illegal iireethie
Would have theit trigger fingers, or o pre-
fetably i their' WhOle hand, lopped at.
that WOUld rineati ,a etttplite of soutbpawS,
but one etand in the way of det-
etreAtt•. can Ohe? Detergents, of course',
are a different Matter. We can stand iii
the way of them; and feel at righteous'
glow.
It makes me physically ill to hear
otherwise deb -ea people say, they don't
belieVe in hangingi but they'd. have, no
objection to ending a hilitan life by ati
overdose of the villain were an
addict, or a "Sloe" tranquillizer that
would put him to tleep fOrevera,
Murder is linirder„, Whether it is tiOtie
by the individual, -Or by the etate,,_ and 'I
want no part of it,
61,
by Bill Smiley
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Sugar and Spice
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We can sympathize with members of
Huron Council as they faced the pro-
blem of what to do about the jail,
wall. A 'committee of council had
said that the wall must go if .a re-
quest for more. Ontario assessment
office accommodation is to be met,
On the one hand was the attract-
ion of more dollars in rent from
the province if additional accommo-
dation was made available. Against ,
this was the long term advantages
that would accrue to the people of
Huron if an unique historical
attraction was maintained.
In the end the possibility of
immediate dollars won. Coupled with
this perhaps was concern that acced-
ing to the province would in some
fashion bolster the county case
against any move by the province to
include Huron in a region.
What has been ignored, of course,
is that as .far as assessment is con-
cerned Huron already is part of a
region which includes as well Perth
County. The requirement for more
assessment office space arises be-
cause of this regional demand. The
committee report fails to make clear
how enlarging an existing regional
facility would contribute to con-
tinuing Huron as a region in itself.
Council is on firm ground in its
resistance to an enlarged region.
Those regions 'that have been esta-
blished are proof of the increased
costs, the growth in bureaucracy
and above all the denial of local
participation in the decision making
process that results.
Typical of what happens when the
province moves in is the require-
ment in Huron for added assessment
accommodation.
While council has spent long.
hours debating the matter and the
property committee an even longer
time concerned with details,perhaps
a bit more time to ensure that all
alternatives had been examined
would have been justified. For in-
stance what consideration was
given to the suggestion of Tucker
,slith deputy reeve
Ervin SiSillery
that Suitable accommodation is
available at Vahastra? After—a-11
there is no statute that says the
office must tontinUe in Goderich.
(The Huron Expositor,
Staforth)