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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1983-02-16, Page 6editorial Lbw Sentbsel, W 16, 1. e 6 LUCKNt$V SENTINEL ,• The y iown" Established 1571 1HOM AS A THOMPSO\ • Ad.e+rt`son,g Manager SH:\RON 1 DIFT7 1 dnes.r PA1 6 I! I\(,ST'O\ Office Manager 9OA\ HFt.l1 (onipysoa.w MI -RI F. ft LIOTT - Typesetter Busoness and 1-elno za Office Telephone S2b-21x22 \Isabee* Ad.kess'P 0 Sox 4110. Levcltnrr... N06 2110 Second (k s Slash Regestrattan "'ra,mt+e 4 4 - Subscription rate, S1 S.2S per year Ie® aaed%were Settior Chiron rate, SI 2.7S per year in aaed% awe t, _S. A. and Fin, 538.00 per year he adxante Sr. Cit. t .S.A.. and Foreign, S36.110 per :Milt Is advance This week's Jamboree '83 picture slaws the Lucknow High School Band 29 years Baulch, Wayne Johnston, Ruth Anderson, Bill Baulch, Wlnnifred Stewart, Shirley ago" Shown In the front from the left are, Dan Rose, Don Thompson, Ray MacKenzie, Hodgins, Morley Chin, Marilyn Kilpatrick, George Anderson, Charlene Smith, Margaret Chln, Murray McNain, Donald Maclntyre, Joan Campbell, Don Cameron, Bruce Johnston, Mary Olin, Jim Hackett and Janet Campbell. Jack McKim and Bob Armstrong. Back, from the left are, Gladys Chin, Joyce editorial i Some farmers destroy the image of their colleagues it seems the squeaky wheel always gets the most attention. Members of the Canadian Farm Survival Association took over a farm liquidation sale near Palmerston last week, chasing off the bank appointed auctioneer and conducting their own auction which saw 5100,000 worth of farm equipment sold for 519.81. While many Canadians both urban and rural dwellers sympathize with the problems faced by Canadian farmers, the high interest rates, the large debt load necessary to operate a farm, the low prices for commodities sold at the 'market place and the lack of government programs to support farming, it is difficult to appreciate the concern for some farmers who have deliberately over extended themselves. According to the reports in the news media, the Palmer- ston farmer John Otto owes S450,000 to the Toronto Dominion Bank and the Federal Farm Credit Corp. More than half of that is a loan to pay the interest on the original S200,000 loan to buy the farm, the cattle and the feed when he started farming five years ago. Otto's father co-signed the loan when he started fanning and has put in about $200.000 in cash towards interest and operating expenses and now the bank wants him to put up a piece of property he owns with a value of about 5200,000 as further collateral which he is not prepared to do. The bank has a lien against the farm, the cattle and the equipment and decided to sell. While it is true that there should be government programs in place to assist farmers who wish to start farming. to prevent a farmer getting himself hopelessly in debt to begin farming, the person who borrows such amounts of money and places himself in such a position where he has no equity, must bear some of the responsibil- ity for the situation. Some day that money has to be repaid. Banks are at fault to a degree. There are plenty of poor advice given out several years ago when farmers borrowed money and were told interest rates were going to come down. instead they climbed to the lofty heights of 25 per cent. Just about anyone could borrow any amount as bankers became lenders instead of bankers. But the piper calls the tune and now its time to pay. While Otto and other farmers who have found themselves owing exhorbitant amounts of money through mismanage- ment, poor business practices and the curses of farming today make the most noise and find they are supported by farm organizations such as the Farm Survival Association, many Canadian farmers are quietly going bankrupt, selling out to foreign interests or going to work off the farm while reducing their farming activities to the bare minimum. Others are returning to the bank yet again to seek a new refinancing arrangement. Many are farmers who have not over extended themselves, who have used good business sense and sound management practices in conducting their farm business. But it still isn't enough. They are in trouble too. While the "squeaky wheels" are getting the attention and giving farmers the image of poor managers who over extend themselves at the banks and then expect they shouldn't have to pay back the money they have borrowed. honest, progressive and hard working farmers are losing their right to farm. It is these farmers the farm associations should be concerned about. While they don't make national headlines, it is their plight which symbolizes the accurate picture of the agricultural industry today. Strong protest greets pornographic TV progra Murray Cardiff, M.P. (Huron -Bruce) today released the following text of a letter he has sent to constituents protesting the planned showing of erotic or pornographic material on recently licensed Pay Television channels. "This is one of those issues that people feel very strongly about," Cardiff said. "My mail on this issue has been heavier than on any issue since the MacEachen budget of 1981. I'm glad to say that one hundred per cent of those who have written to me about the Pay T.V. pornography issue are opposed to allowing such material on any Canadian television channel." He added that protests against pornography on Pay T.V. have come from all parts of the riding and are heaviest among Church related groups. Cardiff stated: "The reason I am releasing the text of this letter publicly is that many who wrote to me did not include their addresses. 1 am therefore unable to write back to them directly. in any case, this is a community issue that deserves to be discussed widely because it affects and concerns all of us." Ottawa, Februaty 9th, 1983. Dear Friends: During the current controversy surrounding Pay TV programming in Canada. I have received a great deal of mail from concerned people in Huron - Bruce and the surrounding area, opposed to any airing of erotic or pornographic material on licensed television. I would like to thank you for writing and making this effort to register your iews on a subject which concerns all of us. 1 am alco encouraged that many wrote to the CRTC and to the Minister of Communications, who jointly ave responsibility for administering public policy relating to television. I have no difficulty at all in opposing empahtically any use of licensed television in Canada to use pornographic material. The CRTC has issued a press release indicating that it would like to see the television industry adopt voluntary standards for its programming to prevent such abuses. One reason they give for preferring this course is that they claim not to have any mandate to prohibit material in advance, while, after broadcast, when the harm has been done, it is for the courts to rule on questions of obscenity and of community"'standards. The CRTC also believes. however, that the current judicial definition of obscenity is J; `'nt television. My own Llie urn to page 7.