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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1975-04-23, Page 2For most of the year, the song of the starlings is as melodious as the squawk of an angry parrot, the bleat of a sick goat, the squeak of a rusty hinge - combined. Even a crow sounds downright musical in comparison. He's called "The Common Starling" - STURNUS VULGARIS - and vulgar he certainly is with his dumpy appearance, his messy nesting habits and his objectionable pushiness in competing with more desirable species. You don't . really EXPECT him to have a beautiful voice - it would be quite incongruous. He sounds like he looks. But then comes spring . . . And it might be said that even the nightingale in all his glory was ever heard to sing like the starling in spring! . . . Well, that may be an overstatement, but the transformation is really amazing. Suddenly he becomes a singing star. With stunning virtuosity he lilts up and down the scale, tossing off effortless trills and cadenzas, entrancing the ear with his dazzling repertoire. "What bird is this?" you ask. "Is it the lark? the bluebird? the sweet thrush?." . . . No. Believe it or not, it's the STURNUS VULGARIS - the common starling. For courting purposes only, he's mimicking. the lovely songs of these birds - and he does, it to very good effect. At least, it seems to have the desired effect, judging by the alarming proliferation of this species in North. America. It's a welcome .change - but isn't it annoying to think that all the time he was squawking and squeaking, he could have done better? It makes you think he just wasn't trying - until courting time came along. And you just wait - as soon as that messy nest is full of screeching little ones, he'll fly off to the nearest treetop, throw back his head, open his yellow beak and say "SQUAAA-AWK!" . . .And that will be his song until next spring. There would seem to be a ' lesson in there somewhere. (Contributed) exon,mmeng....,1 "if you did anything atotind here, IPA replace Yotie ATRI by thE Sdakirl were tl uTA.40441, russels Post 'WEDNESDA`i, APRIL 23, 1975 Serving Brussels and the surroundifig community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean. Bros.Publishers, Limited: Evelyn Kennedy - Editor • Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions (in advance)-Canada $6.00 a year, Others $8.00 a year, Single Copies 15 cents each. *CNA •VERIFIED 'c...cuLATioN A lesson somewhere BRUSSELS ONTARIO CCNA On to MI farm syrup wear boots Gle bus. the mtkld We a pails. Spring lambs Amen By Karl Schuessler I think my government took a step backward when it announced that Wintario lottery scheme of theirs. But then, almost within hours, it took a step forward. When it took on another vice. Drinking. Only this time the government wasn't pushing. It was trying to' pull me away -- a little bit-- from the stuff. My government wants to tell me; the lottery is okay. But drinking has some nays. And over the next three years my Ontario government is going to spend two million dollars to tell me all about it. The government is going to show in,e the dangers of drink in a reasonable antrhealth oriented way. The health minister promised no scare tactics or bully approach. Or absolute prohibitions. Just plain common sense. I didn't get a chance to brush off the man, by saying this doesn't apply--to me.. I'm- no alcoholic. For he told me I'm the guy his government wants to reach. The casual • drinker. The" social drinker. The average consumer. The man--every man-- who makes part of his life a glass of beer, a cocktail at noon, a before dinner drink, a dinner drink, an after dinner drink, a party drink. Maybe not all in one day of course. But anyone who's no stranger to those kinds of drinks. He wants to talk to the guy who buys liquor along with the groceries. Who makes drinking part of the normals of life. He wants the parents who sigh--in relief—that their teenagers aren't on drugs, only liquor. I could see why the minister didn't have,' to be terrifying. The statistics in the recent United Church Observer are. Alcohol is implicated in 70% of one-vehicle traffic deaths and 50%+ of two-vehicle traffic deaths. It's involved in more than 50% of pedestrian deaths from traffic accidents, 64% of murders, 65% of all liver cirrhosis deaths, 39% of the rapes and 42%. of other sexual offenses. And I can't blame the alcoholic for all these social and moral upheave's: For the social costs of alcohol are closely related to society's over-all consumption: And that's been going up and up over the years. In Canada we drink 30% more alcohol than we did twenty five years ago. And we ilOt only drink more, but More of us drink: That number jumped from 60% of the population to 80%. We've made it up to number twelve ,from the top when it comes to the world's drinkingest countries. Of course drinking's been made "easier for us. Alcohol is quite available -- very much' available, even now to the eighteen year olds. And liquor .is relatively cheap, even if the price did go up not long ago. In one recent round of inflation, food costs went up 16% and booze only 21/2 %. So booze may be a good buy, but your health minister isn't telling you that. Neither is he going to tout the income the Ontario government makes off our drinking -- 300 million dollars a year. Now that's great revenue. The government wouldn't want to cut off that flow. But the government knows something else too. It , knows it has to pay dear for its drinking citizens. It knows that "normal" drinkers don't have a different drinking pattern than alcoholics. Alcoholics are simply an extension of the drinking population. France--one of the countries tha takes top honours in drinking—spends over 40% of its total health expenditures on alcohol related diseases. Fifty percent of its hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from those diseases. My Ontario government doesn't want that to look forward to. It can't afford that. No wonder it's sending out a "warning. But will' I listen? Will I let the warning become as fine print as all those bewares on the back of cigarette packages? But my governinent's told me' . I've been warned. It's over to me how: I can write and own epitaph. Compliments of the Globe and Mail editorial: "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust; If the liquor don't getcha, the lottery must!''