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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-09-20, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1989. PAGE 5. Recycling success hurts Lions fundraising work With the tremendous support given to recycling programs, com­ munities are now faced with an unexpected dilemma. More and more people concern­ ed over the environment are involv­ ing themselves in recyling. And with this increase in volume there is no place to market the materials. Places like Putnams in London where the Londesboro Lions have been sending the newspapers they collect are over-run and can’t keep up with the influx of recyclables coming in. As a result, the Londesboro Lions are finding it is no longer financially or practically feasible Airfare bargains for everybody but us BY RAYMOND CANON I had to nip over to Europe for a couple of weeks and while I was over there I kept hearing about the cheap flights that were available if anybody wanted to fly around the United States or Canada. Even though we already have the cheap­ est fares in the world, or at least the non-communist world, the ac­ quisition of what is called an for them to continue with a program they have been doing for 10 years. Club member Howard Cartwright says, “We’ve had 10 good years but it has gotten to the point where it is not economical and too much work for the club to handle.’’ The volume of newspapers has increased tremendously, according to Mr. Cartwright, who says they are now collecting twice as much in Londesboro, Auburn, Blyth, and Clinton as when they started. “We get 30-ton every three months,” he said. “It’s enough to fill a 45-foot semi. We could get more if we sorted, but we just don’t have the airpass can make these fares even cheaper. “How cheap?” you might ask. I’m glad you did since I am ready with a few examples. The normal air fare from Miami to Toronto is about $300 but, with the above- mentioned airpass, you can make the trip for just $100. Want to fly from New York to Los Angeles? Be prepared to cough up about a>600 but, with the airpass, you can get away with just $200. Does that make you sit up and take notice; well, it should. One of these airpasses is nor­ mally good for 60 days from the time you start to use it. It comes in the form of coupons for each segment of your travels. There is a minimum of 2-3 and a maximum of manpower for that. I figure when Putnums receive our newspaper it takes them a week to unload it, sort it and clean it.” Also, he explains that the price has gone from $70 a ton to $10 a ton and with the market for municipali­ ties being so great it is difficult to find one for newspapers. “They are swamped with them,” he says. “It’s interesting that the govern­ ment comes up with these ideas - and it is a good one - but they don’t know what to do with all the material coming now.” In the 10 years the club has undertaken the project Mr. Cart­ wright says it brought the Lions a 8-10 coupons but some airlines allow you to buy as many as you want. One of the requirements is that you specify your itinerary in advance and only the first sector needs to be pre-booked. Some airlines even go so far as to permit you to buy a ticket for 30 days of unlimited travel and the cost will astound you - about $450. Most of these passes are to be found on American airlines but Air Canada has also got into the act. Theirs is a good buy if you are planning on going up and down both coasts since the pass can originate in an American city. One example that I like takes you from Halifax to Boston, Montreal, Tor­ onto, Calgary, from there by train through the Rockies to Vancouver, back on the plane to Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and finally to total of $15,000 which they have given to various community efforts. Three thousand dollars was donat­ ed to the Clinton Public Hospital. “We appreciate the support we have received, but we just can’t continue,” Mr. Cartwright said. However, the club is aware that some alternative will have to be reached. “We have sent letters to the Reeves of Hullett, Blyth and Clinton explaining the situation to them,” Mr. Cartwright said. “They’re going to have to do something or this 30-ton of paper is going to be sitting at the dump.” The Londesboro Lions will have one more pick-up on October 7 so New York. The cost? A piffling $600. If you took the same trip by the regular fare, it would cost you slightly over $2,000. Does it sound too good to be true? Why haven’t I heard of this before? Do you mean that a whole lot of airlines do this? Well, first of all, it is true, very true. As to why you haven’t heard about this before, I was afraid that you would get around to that. The sad fact is that all the fares that I have described above are valid only if you are living in Europe and fly to Canada or the United States. The airpass has to be purchased in advance in Europe but once you have it, the sky’s the limit as they say. Now that I have brought you down to earth with a bang, let me say that if you are angry, so am I. All this was a deep, dark secret to me until I happened to come across it in Europe the last time I was over there this year. It is bad enough to have various people flying various fares but at least we all have the same crack at any seat sales that may be taking place. Since I watch communities will have one month after that to get recycling started. Grants are only available if paper, glass and cans are recycled. Joan Addison who has been dealing with the issue in Ginton said that the Public Works Depart­ ment has been picking up glass and cans but this is a temporary situation. It is hoped that all three Councils will look at the problem and decide on measures to handle the situa­ tion. “People have realized the situa­ tion is serious, so I’m sure they will support any new recycling program in the same manner they supported ours,” Mr. Cartwright said. the airline advertisements very carefully, I was able to find my wife a really low price for a ticket to Halifax and back. She got her mother on the phone and the result is that mother-in-law has been able to come for two visits for the price of one. Since I get along famously with my mother-in-law in spite of my cracks about her flying up here on Air Canada’s broom, I was quite happy to arrange all this with my friendly travel agent. However, when it comes to finding that some people can fly in the same section as I am and at a much lower price, this makes me really mad. The word “discrimination” comes into my mind for starters and then the temptation to use a string of four letter words. So, if the next time you are flying around North America, if the charming person with a foreign accent beside you comes from Europe, the chances are that he or she may be flying the same segment as you for only a fraction of the price. Small wonder that it is quite easy to hate the airlines at times. Now I would really like to lose their luggagel Letter from the editor Blyth Council briefs Old oak may live on Change often comes at heavy cost BY KEITH ROULSTON With the end of the ‘80’s and the beginning of the ‘90’s only a couple of months away the urge to look into the future and make predic­ tions is on many people again. Let’s hope their crystal ball is a little clearer than in the past. The 1950’s when I was growing up seemed the high-point of predic­ ting about the glorious future that technology had in store for us. That future was depicted everywhere from the comic strips where Dick Tracy rode through the air in a jet-powered scooter and talked on his two-way wrist television, to the magazine articles that portrayed life ahead where we’d all live in bubble cities and fly to work in helicopters. I suppose it was something about the times. The world had just escaped World War II into an era of unprecedented prosperity. The pent-up optimist of a generation that had put its life on hold to fight a war was now let loose in everything from starting a family, (which in turn started a baby boom), to building new houses by the millions in the suburbs. A new life was starting. Going with that was the immense change technology was bringing as the great war machines of each country were converted into pro­ ducing consumer goods. Televi­ sion, jet travel, better cars, atomic power; the technological wave washed over us like breakers on the beach. There seemed to be nothing but good things ahead as we rushed toward a technological utopia. Some of the best humour around can be found leafing through those old magazines now. We still eat ordinary food, not pop a few pills guaranteed to give us a balanced diet of the necessary vitamins, protein and minerals. People take longer than ever to get to work in the cities, sitting stalled in traffic instead of skimming overhead in their own aircraft. There’s a lot of sadness too looking at these rosey-tinted pre­ dictions. The futurists didn’t see anywhere that we wouldn’t be able to swim on our beaches because of pollution. They didn’t foresee we’d be worried about the future of our entire planet because of the ex­ cesses of our own, work-saving technology. Still, many of the good things have come, at least in the case of workloads. Compare the modem kitchen to the 1940’s kitchen. Compare the automation, on the farm to the farm of 30 years *ago. Yet there’s a down side to the technology because it makes life easier for those who can afford it, but it also divides society into those who can afford the technology and those who can’t. It costs so much more to live in our modem world that it’s harder to move from the lowest rungs on the ladder to the middle, let alone the top. Farming’s a good example. Des­ pite their increased efficiency far­ mers find it harder and harder to keep afloat because production costs are so high they have to have a good deal of financing to wait out the low points of the economic cycle to get to the high points. Among the predictions of the future is wide-screen, high-defini- tion television, even three-dimen­ sional, halographic television farth­ er down the road. But what these good things mean is that we’ll get less variety in programming be­ cause it will cost so much to produce, few companies will be able to afford to make programs. Thirty years ago we had our own lively television production locally with CKNX television producing nearly 30 hours of live television a week. But as the quality of pro­ grams increased, the cost of pro­ duction increased and a local station couldn’t possibly produce shows of the quality it could buy at fire-sale prices from syndicators of U.S. shows. Local audiences just wouldn’t put up with what they felt was second best and they started tuning in imported shows instead of watching their own neighbours on television. And so we gained, and we lost. Such is the price of technology. We gain comfort but we lose a little freedom to do something other than hold down a job with a good income so we can afford all those comfort-making products. We gain toys, but we damage our environ­ ment and maybe endanger our future. When the futurists predict the good things ahead, remember the price we may have to pay. as frame for quilt A commemorative oak tree des­ tined to make way for the new addition to Blyth Memorial Hall may live on as a frame for an historic quilt. The quilt was given to the village by two residents of western Can­ ada, returning it to the place it began. The signatures of many residents in the early part of the century are on the quilt. Council had agreed earlier to accept the quilt for display in Memorial Hall. Now, Councillor Shirley Fyfe reported, the wood from the oak tree may be sawn into lumber to use as a display case if someone can cut the tree properly before construction on the Memor­ ial Hall begins. Council has been concerned over saving the tree planted in the 1930’s to com­ memorate the visit to Canada of the King and Queen. An attempt will be made to continue the life of the tree either by taking a cutting from the tree or using some of its acorns to plant a new tree. ***** Radford Construction has won the bidding for the contract to reconstruct King Street east of the intersection with Queen Street. The local company had the lowest tender of $35,330 compared to $39,501.50 from Lavis Contracting of Clinton. Both figures were over the engineer’s original estimate. ***** Attendance was down about 10 per cent at this year’s Thresher Reunion, Carmen Craig told coun­ cil as representatives of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Asso­ ciation met with council to discuss a drainage project at the fair grounds to be carried out in conjunction with the reconstruction of the Radford ball diamond. There were just as many cars around, Mr. Craig said, but they seemed to have one or two people in them instead of being full. But, he said, though attendance was off 10 per cent from last year’s figure, last year was 40 per cent higher than any other year in history. The record number of campers (nearly 300 units) boosted the daily attend­ ance. Bea Houston, president of the association praised the co-opera­ tion from the village. She also praised the Blyth merchants who had hired a shuttle bus to take people from the grounds to down­ town and back. ***** Fill from the King St. reconstruc­ tion will be used in the landscaping of the fairgrounds as part of the changes in the park. The area near the Radford diamond at the south end of the park will be filled to raise it up. ***** A donation of $100 to the Huron County Plowmen’s Association was approved by council. ***** Council learned that hunting and fishing licences will be available in Blyth through a local agent, Walsh’s Comer Cafe.