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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1994-03-02, Page 3News from other areas Breastfeeding centre opens in Walkerton WALKERTON - A breastfeeding Center has been established at the County of Bruce General Hospital to promote breastfeeding success. The centre will operate on Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the hospital's Community Health Centre. All women are invited to par- ticipate, pregnant, lactating or not. Group facilitator Catherine Young, of Chesley, is a former Leche League Leader, mother of three and a breastfeeding coun- sellor. For further information call Young at 363-3778. Clinton BIA decides not to disband CLINTON - Despite a low attendance at the annual meeting, of the Clinton' Business Improvement Area (BIA), the - organization has decided not, to disband, but instead ,to stop .presenting the summer Street Carnival. . ,Prior to the Meeting, the BIA board had decided that unless more members showed an interest and offered to .help with program, the BIA .. would be disbanded. With 100 members and seven associates who pay a levy to the BIA; there were 11 people at the meeting. Don Sootheran, BIA chairman, said, "People there definitely felt the BIA was still needed." Casino group seeks backing GRAND BEND - Proponents of a permanent casino for Grand Bend tried to elicit a firmer commitment from the municipality recently. Hotel owner Erwin Schottroff said a meeting was held between interested parties including casino promoter Lloyd Guillet, Mayor Tom Lawson and Deputy Mayor Cam Ivey. Schottroff said the promoters don't want to be left behind when the province permits more casinos. According to Schottroff, the councillors committed to "renewing their vows" to ett- iorse a casino locally "but I don't know how far they will push it." Hibbert gets recycling and user fee garbage. MITCHELL - User fees for garbage and curbside recycling are coming to Hibbert Township. Beginning April 1, a form of `mandatory'., blue box recycling is corning to the township with an agreement through Bluewater Recycling,.of Grand Bend. Also, township council provided an effective incentive to recycle by implementing a $1.50 user fee for each bag of garbage col- lected at the. landfill site after • April 1. • Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, March 2, 1994 — Page 3 Canada. is 'a world disgrace': LeClerc BY TIM CUMMING Canada has a philosophy of `MEism,' where the rights of one outweigh the rights of the many,.a former criminal -turned -youth -evan- gelist said on Feb. 19. "I bring a message to the govern- ment that we have some major things wrong with our country," said J. Serge LeClerc to a crowd of about 150 at Auburn Community Hall. The call for individual rights should not permit individuals to spread hate, commit violence against women or distribute serial killer cards, he told the crowd. He said there are social epidemics never experienced before such as suicide among young people and • teen sexual assault. "We are dealing with statistics Canada has never seen before, statistics that have never happened since Adam and Eve." LeClerc painted a picture of ram- pant social illness in Canada, including some of the worst child ' poverty in the industrialized world. "We're a world disgrace," said the former gang lender, a product of rape born in an abandoned ware- house to'a 14 -year-old mother. The former career criminal gave the audience an account of his own life in which he, committed brutal assaults and repeat escapes from -prison. At . the age of ' eight LeClerc skipped school. His unwed mother was declared unfit despite the fact that, in her son's words, "she didn't smoke and she didn't drink and she didn't -swear and I had never known a slap, I had never known a harsh: word from her." ;When his mother was taken from him, the young LeClerc decided the world was unfair ,and unjust and everyone was, against him. He was Sent to a training .school where he claims he was.. placed in solitary confinement. The • speaker, who graduated from university while. in Youth evangelist, former criminal J. Serge LeClerc spoke in Auburn. (Tim Cum- ming photo) prison, was labelled `irreparably brain damaged' as a youngster. He stabbed an adult at the training facility after what he described' as physical and verbal abuse. While he forgets the pain of the physical abuse, LeClerc said the vicious words stayed with 'him his entire lift. "You start to believe the, words," he recalled. "Your spirit shrivels, you start to believe you're inferior, that you're bad, that you're no good. Parents should be careful not to say harsh words to their children even when meant in jest. "What an awesome power parents have, they don't realize . they can. tear their children down with one word." Society at the time believed that poor children brought their bad fortune on themselves, according -to LeClerc. • "Society believed if you were poor .Or ignorant or living in the inner city y'ouwere genetically inferior, that you brought it on yourself, that you were lazy and bad and ugly and stupid," he said. "I wonder if we've changed that much in 40 years." He told of spending months in solitary confinement at prison where "1 learned how to hate." Eighty-three per cent of criminals return to prison shortly after release, he said. LeClercdescribed prison asthe only business • that grows on its own failure rate. LeClerc said he was changed from his criminal ways after encountering a Christian who vol- unteered in prison. Deciding that he had nothing to lose he began to attend chapel. He had never spent any time in church and was prejudiced against religion. "Like many people, I confused religiosity with spirituality." He said the only difference between his days as a criminal and today as a youth evangelist was that he is now a Christian. "The only thing that has changed is my belief in God," he said. "Jesus Christ isn't my crutch, he's my backbone." He urged Christians to follow two simple biblical rules. "Jesus only told us two things: love God and love your neighbour: How hard can it be? Then why aren't we doing it?" A veteran of many fights, LeClerc described to the audience the pain Jesus Christ might have experienced leading up to his crucifixion. • The former drug addict also spoke, strongly against alcohol abuse in our society. "More teenagers die from alcohol usage than all the World Wars combined," he said.. According to LeClerc, a powerful alcohol lobby convinced Parliament not to add a label to alcohol bottles warning pregnant women not to drink. The youth evangelist also, •turn to page 5 Plain or Garlic Pork Sausage 1 69 Lady's Choice 6 Varieties 796 rn LUCKNOW H1V1RsoRY S March 2^' to March 5'" Ox Tails LB .99 Pepperoni Smakestrcks e. • 65EA. Lea Groun4Beef 528-2242