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The Citizen, 1989-07-19, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1989. Opinion Detecting the detectors The Ontario Provincial Police are moving to crack down on users of radar detectors by coming up with detectors of their own. The O.P.P. ’s new gadget will allow the police to know when radar detectors are in use in a vehicle. Currently many people use the ‘ ‘fuzz busters ’ ’ to let them know when police are in the area tracking people on radar. It allows people to travel above the speed limits and only slow down when they might be caught in a radar trap. The scale of the fuzz-buster problem is truly staggering. In 1987 and 1988, O.P.P. officers seized more than 10,000 radar warning devices and there’s no telling how many are in use they didn’t find. The O.P.P. had two tests of their new detector detectors and in a 61 -hour period near Sudbury, nabbed 107 fuzz busters. In a 62-hour period near Oak Ridges, they bagged 183 detectors. Obviously the radar detector business has become one of the growth industries of the 1980’s. Now that the police have come up with their own detectors, can it be many months before some electronic genius develops a detector that detects the detectors which are detecting the detectors? This could go on for years. What gets lost in this whole little game, however, is the reality of the whole thing: speed kills. Drivers have a lot more to worry about than being caught on police radar when they speed. Lately there has been a burst of publicity over deaths on the Woodstock to London portion of Highway 401 with the inadequacy of the median between the two lanes of traffic being blamed. That controversy overlooks the fact, however, that most of the accidents are caused by people who were going too fast for the road conditions and lost control of their cars. The thousands of people who are using fuzz busters seem somehow to think they are immune to the dangers of high-speed driving. They are only fooling themselves when they think they’ve fooled police. They are playing with their lives and the lives of other drivers on the road that may be in the road when they lose control of their speeding cars. Spoiling the party Margaret Thatcher isn’t exactly a comedian but for Canadians she must have brought a few chuckles last week when she got the French royally upset as they celebrated the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Visiting Paris for the Economic Summit conference of western leaders, the British Prime Minister had the audacity to suggest that the French just may not have conceived the idea of human rights with the overthrow of the monarchy there in 1789. The British Magna Carta of 1215 and the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 dealt with the rights of the individual before the state, she said, and did so without the horrors the French Revolution brought. Well, the French were not about to put up with that. It’s hard to know what upset them more: Mrs. Thatcher’s mention of the terrors of the revolution (that saw hundreds of thousands killed) at a time when the French just wanted to party and remember the good things of the revolution, or her suggestion that maybe the French hadn’t invented freedom. The French have spent a good many years in invention, not only taking pride in the accomplishments of their nation but managing to take credit for a few things they didn’t necessarily accomplish. The French have, for instance, managed to forget the many people who co-operated with the Nazis during the second World War and remember instead (and considerably swell their numbers) the brave minority who worked with the underground to harass the Nazis. Give the mythmakers long enough and they may make a convincing argument that it was the French underground, not the combined forcesofthe United States, Russia, Great Britain, Canada and more, that finally subdued Hitler. Mrs. Thatcher should probably have been a bit more diplomatic about her put down of the French but for Canadians there was a bit of enjoyment in all the fuss. Many of us remember another birthday party back in 1967 when French Premier Charles DeGaulle came to Canada and spoiled our party by calling “Vive Quebec Libre’ ’ from a balcony in Montreal. Don’t worry kids. Your holiday won’t be cancelled BY KEITH ROULSTON People in the education business and people in this business of deceminating information are caus­ ing a lot of anxiety among school­ age kids these days with their talk about a 12-month school year in the future. Relax kids, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Pitty the poor kids. Somebody is always trying to spoil the fun. The latest 12-month school year talk is a bit like that rumour that always circulates among 14 and 15 year olds that the age for drivers licences is going up to 18. It happens to every generation as they start to look forward to being able to drive themselves: some­ body starts the rumour the age limit is going up. Then again about the time the teen gets to be 18, looking toward 19, somebody starts a rumour the drinking age is going to be raised back to 21. Maybe it’s because it’s the “dog days’’ of summer for news organiz­ ations but there sure has been a lot of play given to this proposal from a Parliamentary committee for a 12-month school year. But kids, enjoy your holiday because it ain’t going to happen. The political stumbling blocks to school all summer are just too great. First of all, can anybody really imagine teachers unions agreeing to a 12-month school year? In this day when each contract is supposed to bring more benefits to employees, not less, is it conceivable to think any proposal for teachers to work more would be passed in a ratification vote? There are other heavy economic considerations too. Of course farm­ ers would suffer if they lost the use of their sons and daughters and their neighbour’s sons and daugh­ ters in the busy summer season but then in this day and age when the urban voters calls the shots, that Continued on page 19 The Citizen. The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17.Q0/yr. ($38 00 Foreign) Advertising isacceptedon the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p m. - Brussels; Monday, 4pm- Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright (♦CNA P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1989 Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968