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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-08-31, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1988. PAGE 5. The International Scene By Buffalo or by air BY RAYMOND CANON There is a rather tired old joke aboutthepersonwhowas asked how he had travelled to New York City. “By Buffalo,” came the reply. ‘Good grief,” exclaimed the other person, “How long did it take you to get there?” Well, I take a trip once of twice a year to the United States by Buffalo only by this I mean the city not the animal and I must admit that it is one of the most depressing parts of the whole trip. When 1 go through the city, I invariably take Highway No. 5, which follows the lake rather closely; it is, 1 believe, the original highway between Erie and Buffa­ lo. At any rate there is relatively little traffic on it, it is rather scenic and it certainly beats belting along on the freeway at so much a mile. However, a section of Highway 5 in Buffalo passes through the steel mills along the lake and this is the depressing part of it all. The steel industry south of the border is in pretty bad shape; two major companies are in some state of bankruptcy and others not far behind. The giant steel works in Buffalo stands forelornly on both sides of the highway with little or noactivity goingon; someofthe houses in the vicinity are either boarded up or else are just as decrepit as the nearby mills and it all reminds me of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. In many ways the plight of the steel mills is a microcosm of Buffalo. The harbour, which used to be an important trans-shipment point, is all but deserted while otherindustriesaround the city look as if they were on their last legs. Small wonder that in the United States where a consider­ able number of large cities such as Cleveland, Pittsburg and Balti­ more, have gone down hill at a rapid rate, Buffalo even stands out among them. However, mostof these cities have made something of a come­ back, leaving Buffalo far behind. Now it appears that at long last the city, which is joined to Canada by the Peace Bridge, may be picking itself up and gaining some degree of respectability. Last year I had to go to meet someone in the bus terminal; I was prepared by a dingy, cavernous old building with all sorts of strange people hanging about. Imagine my surprise when I found myself in a modern, well lit and spacious edifice where every­ body looked as if they were going somewhere. There were a few other signs as well and I began to wonder if there was something of a renaissance in progress. It seems that there is. One sign is the new electric train which goes up and down Main Street and which does not have to share the pavement with any cars. It looks quite impressive; the only problem is that it appears to go from nowhere to nowhere but perhaps it is going to serve as a network which will be a bit more utilitarian when it comes to moving large numbers of people at the right time. There is also a brand-new sports field where presumably big league ball will be played some day. The city already has a football team in the NFL and a hockey team in the NHL so baseball is a logical extension. Now it has the place to do it. There is also talk of tearing down the above mentioned steel mills and putting in its place a series of offices, parks, beaches. This would be nothing less than a godsend since the city is, in spite of its proximity to the water, virtually cut off from Lake Erie. It is very much the “in” thing for residents to come over to Canada to go swimming at one of the resorts along the north shore of Lake Erie. Buffalo does, however, have one advantage which is just now beginning to be utilized. It is right on the doorstep to Canada and close to a million trucks roll across the Peace Bridge a year on their way to or from the Golden Horsehoe, that part of Canada that extends around Lake Ontario from St. Catherines to Oshawa. Cana­ dian firms are locating in Buffalo in large numbers and it could well be that, if the city plays its Cards right, it could be a valuable gateway, especially if the free trade agree­ ment goes through. The unemployment rate has been cut in half, the people are starting to take a new pride in their city and some day Buffalo may just stop being the but end of any number of jokes about being a place nobody wants to go to or live in. 11 1 ■1,11 '■ ■■ ” a in Supposed they had held Woodstock reunion BY KEITH ROULSTON I see that the authorities upstate New York have killed the idea that some people had of marking the 20th anniversary of the great Woodstock rock concert. They won’t give a permit for people to hold the thing in their area. It’s probably just as well. They say you can never go back and it would be hard to imagine the Woodstock generation going back in this case. Woodstock, for those of you who have forgotten or never cared, was a huge rock concert that attracted hundreds of thousands of young people from across the continent to listen to music, commune with the universe, smoke dope and meet other people. They were young and fancy-free. They lived under the stars and didn’t worry about getting wet or their clothes getting dirty. For some it was the pinnacle of the 1960’s culture when the young generation rebelled against commercialism and materialism and lived for the simpler pleasures. A Woodstock reunion would Letter to the editor Writer says Citizen wrong The Editor, I am compelled to make some comments about the item in the Citizen of August 10th in regard to West Wawanosh taxes for 1988, and which item I read on my return from a short vacation period. West Wawanosh taxes have not risen 11.5 per cent in 1988. With the change (in all of Huron County) tomarketvalueassessment it is very difficult to calculate the rate of increase, because the mill rates are not comparable. The total mill rate for public school supporters in 1987, had we been under market value assessment at that time, was estimated at 14.551. The 1988 total mill rate for public school suppor­ ters is 15,534, which is an increase of 6.76 per cent. The required tax dollars for township purposes in 1988 ($138,113) is 0.892 per cent more than 1987, NOT 10.1 per cent! (None of the percentages cited in the said item is correct.) The item reports that “taxes requisitioned by the Huron-Perth (County) Roman Catholic Separate have to be considerably different. For one thing, they’d have had to start planning this thing years ago if they wanted to attract the same people back again. Where once people rolled in with napsacks and maybe small tents, today they’d have to level every hill for miles to find enough parking spots for the luxury motor homes that the same generation would insist on as the bare minimum for roughing it. Even at that some might refuse to turn up unless a new hotel was built, complete with swimming pool and hot tub. Imagine the construction project that would be involved in putting in hundreds of miles of water pipe to serve all those people. What, you thought people might carry their own water? In 1988? Get serious. Back in the rock concert days the police were kept busy worrying about drugs but they wouldn’t have time today, eventhough at least a few of the 60’s generation haven’t turned their backs on drugs completely. No, the police would be busy handling the traffic jams, telling everyone where to park their BMWs and Volvos and Jaguars. And of course, they’d be kept busy looking after them once they were parked. The boast of School Board have dropped by 14.5 per cent, largely because of a clerical error on the part of the HP(C)RCSSB, according to West Wawanoch clerk-treasurer Joan Armstrong.” That is NOT what I said. I did not say that anyone had made an error. What I did say did notpertaintotheHPCRCSSB at all, but actually referred to the Bruce-Grey County Roman Catho­ lic Separate School Board requisi­ tion which is up 113.33 per cent from the 1987 figure. My state­ ment to the reporter was that BGCRCSSB was not aware that Huron County was now under market value assessment, which made their calculation for mill rate out-of-line with other mill rates, and it opted to levy the same mill rate as the Huron-Perth County R.C.S.S. Board. I do not know which of us (the reporter or myself) erred in reporting the figure for the Huron- Perth County R.C.S.S. Board’s requistion. The 1988 figure is $36,615, not $21,072, and obvious- Woodstock was, that despite the huge crowds, there was little or no crime. Could the same be said today when all those stereos and tape-decks and cellular radios would be tempting thieves? But the boost to the economy of nearby towns might be worth all the effort. Back in the days when people wore one pair of bluejeans for months, the original Wood- stock wasn’t likely much of an economic stimulus but today, well that’sanothermatter. With our “shop ‘till you drop’ ’ society could people really go several days in the country without at least one shopping spree to ease the ten­ sion? Why there might be branch­ es of someofthe more exclusive New York shops set up, temporar­ ily at least, in the towns around to serve people who know that clothes really aren’t clothes unless they’ve got the right label on them. Yes, it’s probably just as well they won’t have a Woodstock reunion. Having hundreds of thousands of hairy hippies descend on them once was an experience the people around Woodstock survived. Having the same genera­ tion return 20 years later, materi­ alists to the core, might be too much change for people to be able to absorb. ly UP from the 1987 figure of $30,583, which is a 19.72 per cent increase. Feeling that the item in the Citizen, to which I refer above, will have given many readers a very inaccurate impression of the tax situation in West Wawanosh for 1988, I thought an explanation to be in order. Joan C. Armstrong, Clerk/Treasurer. The world view from Mabel's Grill Continued from page 4 and every Ontarian seems to flock to water each weekend. And, said Tim, it heads for Florida every winter which sure makes it typical. But Hank pointed out that there’s one thing wrong: according to the story it stays with one mate for life. Either it’s got to get modem or it’s not going to be very symbolic of today’s Ontario. FRIDAY: Doesn’t it just warm you all over, Tim was saying, to know Thieves stole a back-hoe worth $65,000 from a Hay Township road. Crime Stoppers and the Criminal Investigators at the Exeter Detachment of the OntarioProvincial Policeare asking your help in solving this theft. On December 10,1987 at 8:30 a.m. the operator of a back-hoe for Richard Bedard Construc­ tion returned to Cantain Beach Rd. in Hay Township and found his back-hoe missing. He had parked the back-hoe on Cantain Rd. 150 meters west of Hwy. 21 the afternoon before at 4:30 p.m. Because of the size and weight of this vehicle police believe a tractor truck with a float trailer was used to move it from the area. The back-hoe is described as a 1986 CASE 580E, yellow and brown in colour with damage to the right rear fender. It has the following serial #’s: CASE 580E - #17039772 Engine - #0044170099 Transmission - #0016297192 Back-hoe unit - #0017433545 If you witnessed anything about this theft or know the whereabouts of this vehicle call Crime Stoppers of Huron Coun­ ty toll free at 1-800-265-1777 or locally at 482-3821. If you have any information dealing with a crime call during the office hours, 9:30a.m. to4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Your call will not be traced nor recorded that USA Today devoted nearly an entire page to stories on Canada today. That should make up for us being ignored for another 10 years, he said. Tim had been down to the city on a quick trip this morning and brought back a copy. Julia said she had never seen one of the papers before that she ignored the boxes on the street corners in the city just on the principal thatthe publishers didn’t Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week and your anonymity is guaran­ teed. You will never have to identify yourself nor testify in court. If your information leads to an arrest you could earn a cash reward of up to $1,000. Remember crime doesn’t pay but Crime Stoppers does! HOW ARE CASH REWARDS PAID? Once an arrest has been made due to information from a trip, the caller has earned a cash reward! The members of the civilian board of directors de- cideontheamounttobepaid and do the pay-off. The co-or­ dinator will have already asked the caller to phone back, identifying themselves by their code number only. Theco-orindatorwill then ask the caller which town or village he/she would like to receive their reward in. Once that is decided a meet between a member of the board of direc­ tors is arranged regarding day, time, etc. The board member’s description is given to the caller so he/she will recognize them at the meet. The caller will be instructed to walk up to the board member and identify themselves with their CODE NUMBER ONLY! The board member will hand over the reward in unmarked small bills and they will then leave. The police do not watch the ex­ change and are not even told about them. This programme guarantees the identity of the caller will never be known to anyone. Call Crime Stoppers and get Cash for Clues leading to Arrests! 1-800-265-1777. seem to have realized yet there is a border. She wasn’t too amused to see them talking about Mounties, Eskimos and hockey as typically Canadian either. Well they’ve got one thing right, Ward said looking through the paper. They say here that Prime Minister Mulroney doesn’t get enough respect from the American media. “Yes,” said Tim, “but even that’s more respect than he gets from the Canadian media.”