HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1978-02-22, Page 2russels Post
SAME 1.4
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, ion
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros.Publishers Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Dave Robb - Advertising
In September of this year our part of Huron County
will be on show to all of Ontario. That's because the
International Plowing Match will be held here, on the
farm of James Armstrong, near Wingham.
Brussels and area people have a chance to
capitalize on the attention that's focussed near us.
We can show , the whole province that this 'is a good
area in which to live, and farm.
A group of volunteers from Brussels, and Morris
and Grey Townships is already at work to see that
our area puts its best food forward. They are
organizing a food' and welcoming booth for the
September match and they need our help.
Proceeds from this "host" booth are. scheduled to,.
benefit the Brussels, Morris and. Grey Community
Centre and it's hard to think of a better way to, keep
the profits from the huge plowing match working
here locally long after .the event is over.
It:s likely you'll get a phone call soon, from booth
organizers, asking you to volunteer some time, some
baking or some garden produce to help make the
Brussels, Morris and Grey booth one ofd the best at
the Match. (
-Agree to contribute your share if you can. People
working together made our corner of Huron a great
place to live. At the '78 International we have a
chance to show the rest of the province how it's done.
To the editor:
..Violence CHSS
Since' teenagers, from all the areas served by this
NeWspaper attend Central.Huren Secondary School, Clinton, it
needs to be brought to the attention 'of all parents of these
teenagers that several. recent 'incidents among students at this
school would indicate that discipline is getting out of hand. Or, to
putit more correctly, it iSobvious that thediseiplinarians are not
permitted to administer punishment equal to .the crinies. At the
rate the pupils are "misbehaving",, the first thing:We know there
will be one of the pupils 'killed or Maimed for life and then
there'll be a real uproar, with the' cry "Why wasn't something
done to stop it all?"
Think about what these,events do to tbe ego of pupils involved,
and the morale of all the students. Can you believe that ,a pupil
could be hung up by his feet in a washroom and left there? It
happened at C.H.S.S. last week. Can you believe that a girl could
be hit so hard en the head,that she suffered from concussion, was
hospitalized, required stitches to clpse the wound, and needed
glasses repaired. It happened laSt week at C.H.S.S. in a corridor
at neon hour. What pupil can afford a week away from classes,
biit . the Doctor says it is a must that she ,be quiet: Can you
believe that boys would deliberately Smash seven lockers?Again,
it,happened at Clinton, last Week. Surely if these students are
that frustrated, they could get rid of their frustrations elsewhere.
When 8-track tapes. were stolen.on a school bus, just, a general
statement went out to "return or replace them and no action will
be taken."'
If such antics went on anywhere other 'than at a scho61, the
pence would be involved and the culprits would receive what
they deserved °- fines, probation or other punishment. It is
understood that parents have been advised to press charges. But
would you? Or would you fear other repercussions from such
action?
Surely the 5oarcl of Education can 'authorize or legislate the
necessary measures that must be taken get. life at the School
back on an even keel. Telling the kids "You 'Must not do this
again" is a Waste of flint' and effort. Please - get behind the
prebleni and tell the Board your feelings before it is,,foreVer too
late. *
Signed:
"Concerned"
Editor's Nate; This newspaper' diSeiiissecl the letter Writer's
information With Huron COUnty's director of education John
(Continued dti Page 5)
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Behind the scenes ,
By Keith Roulston
The big pow wow
The big political pow wow took, place in
Ottawa last week and there was a great fuss
because the Prime Minister and the Premiers
of the 10 provinces didn't come up with the
solution to all that ails the country.
To listen to commentators on radio,
television and in the newspapers, one would
think that our leaders are stupid, callous and
arrogant and don't care at all about the little
guy who's suffering in the recession the
country is going through. The leaders should
move mountains to' get these people back to
work.
Now granted, for those unemployed the-
situation. is grave and very sad. It's easy to say
800,000 are unemployed and gloss over it, It's
harder to think of the 800,000 individuals
involved, of their own personal tragedies, the
grief they can feel. But I find myself
wondering these days, if the politicians should
move mountains to get these people back,,,to
work instantly, even if they could.
The problem was brought into focus the
other day by two speakers I heard on the
radio. They were talking about the need to
move from the present consumer society to
conserver society. There are those, of course,
who feel such a move is not necessary, that we
can go on foreVer with our present materialis-
tic splurge. Others; looking ahead to
shortages in fossil fuels, in metals and in
nearly all the products used today to make the
fancy *gadgets we clutter our houses with, say
we can't continue in the path we've been on
since World War II. We got to move ahead to
what we've left behind, they say. We've got to
learn to live more in the ,way people did in the
first half of ' the 20th century.
The speakers I was listening to were saying
that it is imposSible to keep up the present
pace of the consumer society too much longer.
For most of h istory, one of them pointed out,
only one person in each fainily worked outside
the home to earn an income to buy the goods
the family needed. Today, the two-worker
home is in the majority, *indeed is almost
essential for the family to live the standard of
living people think necessary, in other words,
to buy all those fancy gadgets. While food, the
basic essential for existence, is Cheaper in
relation to income than ever before, we still
have people with both husband and wife
working, who claim that they can't make ends
meet. What lies ahead, the §peaker
wondered: Will we have to go to polygamy to
put 'enough money in the family income to
meet the new standard of living? .The
speaker said that sooner or later the consumer
society has got to break down and he
wondered if that point had already *occurred
and that 'was. what was causing the current.
problems. Usually in times past we have had
either inflation or unemployment. For the past
several years we've had both.
What he was trying to point obit was that
when the switch `from the consumer to the
conserver Society takes plaCe, there will be,
t Ike editor:
As an individual. .person directly involved
with -the Walton Public School, I' would like to
state my reasons why this school should
cont inue, to exist.
In ,Kingergarten the children are all leaving
their• homes for the first tittle and need a close,
secifte atmosphere to adjust to this transition.
At Walton they have 4 years to make this
adjustment., Here the children eventually all
know each-other and this is a part of learning.
Give children a comfortable, secure feeling
and they will achieve academically.
This school is fortunate to have four of the
top full `time, teachers in Koren -County (not'
that other schools 'don't have excellent
Ontario Hydro has been mailing 25,000
questionnaires to their farm customers on the
possible results of a power blackout on the`
farm. Such questionS as: What is the "cost
resulting froni damage to farin, spoilage of
produce d lost crop or animals, cleanup and
possible extra labour" and such are obviously
designed to scare the farmer into support for
the position on electrical expansion that
Ontario Hydro favours. The questionnaire
raises the prospects of power rationing at a
time when the projected seven percent
demand for last year burned out to be only two
pereent,
short-term hardship. That hardship has to
come sometime, Government scrarnblimg to
patch up the old system is only a short-term
bandage and sometime the pain of the
transition must take place. The speaker said
that he was worried about governments taking
hasty, short-term actions that would only
complicate the problem.
In fact, he went further. He said that
governments 'all over the world are guilty of
purposedly misleading people into thinking'
the present orgy of materialistic acquisition
can go on forever, U.S. President Jimmy
Carter's proposal for an energy tax was the
only realistic proposal made by western
governments, he claimed.
• The speaker's words jrove very
troubling ones. They will be scoffed at and
deliberately ignored by others who don't want
to see the present consumer binge come to an
end. But if he is right, and. I for one have the
suspicion that he is, then we're in for a few
rough years . What is frightening about it is
that some experts try to say that the way out of
our present troubles is a ma .ssive tax cut
which would put more money in the hands of
consumers so they can "spend their way" out
of the current problems. This seems likely to
only compound problems, not solve them.
Another view of hard economic times comes
out of the book, "Small Business, Building a
Balanced Economy" by Prof. Rein Peterson of
York University. Prof. Peterson talks of the
essentiality of small business in the economy.
Businesses will grow as a natural act, he said,
but new small businesses must be constantly
spawned to add new blood to the business
world. New businesses are usually begun by
the entrepreneur, the energetic, imaginative
people who, as the commercial says, have a
better idea and are willing to sacrifice to make
it grow.
There are many things that can spur such
people into action, Prof. Peterson says but one
of these is hard times. A person is laid off or
fired or his company goes bankrupt and the
entrepreneur decides to take a fl ing and
providing his or her own job by starting a new
,business. The,, highest point of activity in
forming new small businesses,conies at :the
bottom of an economic cycle. It's possible
then, that a good deal of good could come out
Of the present problems. Canada needs an
energetic new generation of small
businessmen to p ut life back into providing
the services that people need. Among that
huge mass of unemployed there may today be
ideas brewing that will lead to new
businesses that will improve the whole
country. ‘
Every cloud has a silver lining, the old
saying goes and if we can manage to look at
the long term instead of the short term, hard
times such as our present situation can of: ten
bring benefits. It's something to remember
the next time some voice of doom booms out of
your radio giving ,the latest gloomy statistics.
teachers) but I find this unique, since they
comprise the staff.
,...folbrents who have children in this school
should give serious consideration to this crisis
andhopefully when they make a decision that
they will think of their children. Parents with
pre-school children who will be attending this
school (hopefully) also have the right to voice
their opinions. I don't mean by talking across
the fence to friends and neighbours, but by
taking time to approach or write the Board of
Education. 14o response means "Closing"
Walton Public School.
A concerned taxpayer
Marlene Robetton
The Huron Power Plant Committee has
never questioned the projections for more
generating stations, only their location. But
the Committee has also kept abreast of the
information that is presented in reams of
paper to the Royal Commission on Electric
Power Planning and, as mentioned before,
found the forecasted demand to be faulty.
It will, of course; be up to each farmer if he
wishes to answer the questionnaire, but we in
citie Writ question the ethics of Ontario Hydro
in this Matter.
Adrian wig Chairman, Huron
Power Plant Committee
Walton PS should stay open
Ontario- hydro scare tactics