HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-03-28, Page 2Snow and high water •
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
CSTA[144111D
107;
OBrusseis POst
pwsss
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 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 (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others ,
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class mail Registration No, 0562.
Telephone 88'7-6641.
Checking the spenders
Education and health, the two
items which bit most deeply into
the provincial purse, are on the
griddle of public opinion these
days. Despite the rather deplor-
able fact that some resort to a
style closely resembling an old-
fashioned witch-hunt in their ardent
pursuit of both issues as -a -politi-
cal football, the fact remains that
a short rein has long been overdue
in some section of both departments.
hing, from lake levels
on, goes in' cycles. For
ecade or more, education
he most touted and de-
of modern Canadian society.
rsuit of education is
g on the hard fact that a
ducation does not neces-
n a safe and sound finan-
tion following graduation.'
of community colleges, on
versity expansion, has
n overdone beyond all
he day of reckoning has
While agree ing that the world
will probably s
well with not q uite the same em-
tagger along just as
r, and in particular phasis on highe
rms of education,we
the no-basic fo cuts in hospital cannot buy the
parent doWn-grading beds and the ap
rtes available to of health resou
the public.
where money s
ation of some
hospital care
consideration
If a pers
hould be a primary
on is sick and needs
. Without your health,
type, we cannot see •
partiCularly an 4er-
ing. you have noth
men with regard to case pad
that all medical men become
in the present attack on me
Similarily, the danger
ding 15
involved
dical
in sense
tarred with the same brush, Person-
ally, while athletes such a s Derek
ion dol- Sanderson are handed a mill
lars* just to go away, we ca nnot in
With all fairness find any fault
the.medical profession maki ng a
lly we substantial living. Persona
Could not handle any Of these jobs
if paid a thousand dollart per day,
The responsibility incurred through
such a IJOsitiOh alone gives us heart-
burn. In short, t form of mass
hysteria should nOt endanger the
faith of the public ih people upon
whom we depend for our very exit-
tense.,,
(St, 'Marys -Jouthel -Aeut)
Hereby a' few notes of obserVation,
condemnation and celebration.
What is there to celebrate? Why,
man, it's Spring. Not only by the calen-
dar, which happens every year, but by
the signs, which happen about once a
decade. The grass is green
And birds are seen
The cat wants out
And I've loSt my gOut
The snow is gone
I can see my lawn
No mounds of ice
How awfully nice
I want to sing,
It must be spring.
There. A Canadian who does not
celebrate the actual as well as offidial
arrival of the vernal 'equinox should be
run out of the country as a base-born
traitor.
Each time winter comes around, Which
it seems to do about every four months,
think we all have a little secret dread .
that this time it might never end, that
winter will go on and on and on until we
have shrivelled into arthritic, gnome-like
creatures with permanently dripping noses
and a perpetual cough.
maybe I'd feel differently if I were
a farmer, .-but I could have kissed that
first crow I saw, drifting over the drifts
in February.
That Much-Maligned creature i • the
crow, is to Canadian winter-haters what
the want breath' of a Maiden IS to a
juvenile just before his first kiss.
This year, the whole .dream seems
real, so crack open that crock of Vintage
Stuff, do a little soft-shoe shuffle, and
go out and kiss the MO' in your back
yard. It may be the last time you can
celebrate such a triita.ele for the next
fifteen. Marches,
That's the celebration part, Now
for Settle condemnation. With the diSap,
pearalice of the SrlOW, 'We tan see What
Nature so gracefully covered for a feW
months all the filth that man has been
Sweeping under the white darpet.
It's a jiink4iliati'S paradise! rags, bones
and hotheS. A few companies who appear
to haVe some Setilblatite of conscience f are announcing plans for recycling
dans and bottles but the great majority'
of canners and bottlers are 'rolling right
ahead With their apparent prejet t Of never,,
Mg Canada to a depth Of one. foots. frOM
coast to coast, With empty cans and non-
returnable bottles.
Congratulations are due to those who
are making an effort, and .the 'utmost
contempt must be. awarded to those who
show their contempt for everything except
the .bucks by defecating their cans and
bottles in our living room - Canada.
Strange, isn't it, how governments
respond? Let a little guy burn some
leaves in his back yard and the law is
right on hiS back. He's broken the by-
law, he's a rotten polluter, he's adisgrace
to the community, and he shall be puniShed,
pro ritrtly and ruthlessly.
But when it comes to taking on a big
guy, a vast corporation, government stands
by, deploring and wringing its hands, and
occasionally administering a slap on the
wrist with a velvet glove, in the form of
a tiny fine that makes the company's
directors roar with laughter before the
go happily back to pouring their .poisdns
into the environment.
In the matter of bottles, government
could show a lead that would not imperil
a single polititian, which seems to be the
Canadian Dream. It could insist that
liquor and wine betties be returned for
use Over and over again.
I'M sure the diStillers and vintners
wouldn't quarrel with Such a practice,
AS Icing as it didn't cost them. • In fact,
they'd be ahead, Some of • thoSe _randy
bottles must cost as ninth as it :does
to produce the peiSon that goes into
ahem.
That's my condemnation bit for this
Week. NOW, some observatiOnS on these
peculiar days in which we live.
A couple of big-league Atneridart base-
ball piteherS decided; according to the
news to swap not only wives but fairillies*
Then one of theit tried to back out. The.
other Wet indignant. thought. he was
my buddy." he
W ife, swapping, particularly in
suburbia, is lid new pheneltienOti. These
chaps merely extended the custom,
It's one that haS never appealed ninth-
tO tile. There have been OttaSiOnS, and
I know it's mutual, when I would have
swapped toy wite for a seconthband pair
Of hip waders.
Bizt for another wonianl Well, I look
around at the wives of aft my theiiitiendSi
They're lovely girtS, the wives, every
One of theiti, however', -Phi one of those
old-fashioned chaps Who can see little
advautage to tleeettifig the filiug-ipaii for
the lire.
• And you know loll bet my wife
Won't utiderStand that as a CattiPlilrierit.
Everyt
to educati
the past d
has been t
sired aim
Now the pu
flounderin
complete e
sarily mea
cial situa
The spate
top. of Uni
simply bee
reason. T
arrived!
AL
At
1