The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-06-20, Page 6Page 6--Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, June 20, 1979
The
LUCKNOW SENTINEL beaching in the west
LUCKNOW, ONTARIO
"The Sepoy Town"
On the Huron -.Bruce Boundary.
Established 1873 -
Published Wednesday
Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822
Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, NOG 2H0
Secondclass mail registration number - 0847
A SIGNAL
PUBLICATION
SHARON J. DIETZ - Editor.
ANTHONY N. JOHNSTONE - Advertising aid
_ General Manager
PAT LIVINGSTON - Office Manager
MERLE, ELLIOTT - Typesetter
MARY McMURRAY. - Ad Composition
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Social costs of nuclear power
If the Hydrogen bubble in the 'nuclear
reactor' at :`Three Mile Island near
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania had exploded
in April, everyone livingin a 20 mile
radius of the plant "would have been
evacuated. _That would have involved
636,000 persons; . a ' little under', the .
population of New Brunswick.
Everyone ,knows that ;"the bubble
tecede:d as mysteriously and unexpect-
edly as it appeared. But it engraved the
threat of disaster on millions of minds
as never before.:It reinforced a belief
that science and technology. do not have
as many answers about nuclear danger
as some may have thought. The hydro-
gen bubble had not been foreseen in
manuals. No one really knows the
long-term effects of low-level radiation
received by "thousands. of Pennsylvan `—
ians. No`one:can control the'. wind which
blows escaping radioactive gases. No -
drug, surgery or diet can help victims.
who have been overexposed. No. one
knows for certain how to store or
neutralize the radioactive wastes which._
have been accumulating in this country
•for 30 years and which.wi11 remain lethal
for thousands of years.
Nuclear energy is not just a U.S
problem. Power plants are locatedover
much of the world. Ontario gets 28 per.
cent of its electrical energy ftorri nuclear
k 'power plants. Recently a senior tech-
nician of the Bruce Nuclear Power
Station'. resigned after leaking to the
press confidential documents,' dealing
with radiation hazards and leaks in that
plant: Quebec and New Brunswick also
have nuclear generating stations plan-
ned orin operation, and British
Columbia and Saskatchewan are em-
broiled in controversy over the mining
of uranium as nuclear. fuel.
Although Candu reactors are appar-
ently less likely to suffer the kind of
accident that happened at Three Mile
Isiand, they can offer no guarantee of
safety. Existing nuclear reactors need to
be carefully/re-examined for possible
design and /operator malfunctions, and
no new ones should be built until we can
more confidently combat the ills they
can unleash. This reduction in available
energy would mean some changes in
our lifestyle but that is a far More
ink,e'F'terms U.*acv war bolo..
vara nr..orrimr, ava»eru m
Iryt��MM.
e
manageable situation . than a nuclear
accident. Since nuclear power is'harnes-
sed through processes designed- by the
human brain, the possibility of accid-
ents will nit go. away. Other sources of
power, - such as solar energy, are far less
dangerous and. . their development
should be accelerated.
The physical devastation 9f a nuclear
accident is obvious,' A .Maksachusetts.
Institute of Technology report in 1975
,said . that a .meltdown of a nuclear
reactor the size of the one at Three Mile
Island could kill 3,300 people, inflict
45,000 with fatal latent cancer,, affect
' 45,000 more with non-fatal illness and
contaminate 2,000square miles. But we
• Must raise an. even broader question::
' -Can we' afford the social costs pf more
nuclear accidents 1i Harrisburg's?
No price 'age can be placed on these
costs. How can. • minds,:be reassured
when. 30 to .40 years may have: to pass
before cancer rates show whether
accidental nuclear exposure had any ill
effect? Who can determine the anguish
of a'. pregnant woman who wonders if
her unborn ,child has .been harmed?
Doctors cannot agree on the chances of
genetic damage to future generations:
Some -women in Pennsylvania are
considering abortions rather than risk-
ing deformed children,
Other consequences of such accidents
show up 'n less obvious, ways. Already
in .Pennsylvania persons suffering from
anxiety and depression are beginning to
overload psychiatrists' offices: Lawsuits
charging physical and mental damage
are already being filed:
Long-term fear, uncertainty and
- emotional anguish are devastating to
the human spirit. The resulting chaos
and breakdown of community, family
and individual health is a soeial cost of
nuclear power which. we cannot afford.
In the long run, nuclear plants may be
even more hazardous to our mental
health than to phsyical health: —
That is why the churches continue to
press for a public inquiry into the matter
•.sof safetyaand for a moratorium on new
facilities until such , an inquiry is
concluded and the results made public.
• (Contributed)
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BY HAROLD B. BURNS
bavidson where I went to teach in
January, 1920, was about eighty miles
north of Regina. It had a modern school -
Grades '1 to 12 - with about five hundred
pupils. I had "a grade 7 - twelve year olds.
I think every teacher finds it hard work
at first; I certainly did. Davidson was a
pleasant place to live. • We skated in
winter and shot prairie chicken in the fall.
Social life for me centred around the
church; I was in the Bible Class and the
choir. I was in Davidson for a year and a
half.
I was saving as much money as I could.
in order to go to the University of
Saskatchewan at Saskatoon in September
1921. That summer I took orders for
nursery stock for; Mr. Lovering of the
Department of Agriculture. Marjorie
Lovering (who was later elected to the
Saskatchewan Legislature) had been at
Regina Normal" School when I was and.
had "invited me to a party at her home.
The Loverings were very kind' to me.
My • savings just saw me through one
year at University. Soback to teaching!
In May 1922 I went to Gooseberry
Creek seven miles south east of Walsh,
Alberta. The three members of the School
Board one Finnish, one Q,prtnan, one
Ukrainian - were anxious to get the school.
re -opened. It had to be scrubbed clean; I
did it.
The first day ten kids showed up,he
second twenty. They were glad to get
together especially to play ball but they
were anxious to learn too. I had no
discipline problem§'.
I discovered,; however, that there was
no money to pay the teacher. I rented a
room in the Guenthers' home, ' bought a
coal oil stove for five dollars to cook my
meals and ate" on credit. Later in the
summer the kids brought me melons - up
to six a day. Were they good!
After school I would get into running
togs and run to the next concession and
back. This paid off because twice at local
picnics, I won the race and got the five
dollar prize provided by the Elevators.
The Guenthers spoke little English and
I was very lonely. At Teachers' Conven-
tion in Maple Creek I met two ladies who
taught some miles away so I got a horse
and rode to visit thein. Coming home
after dark in a drenching rain storm I
became lost in a rye. field and had to.
spend the F rest of the night on a bed •-of
sheaves. Fortunately, the horse stayed
with me and we arrived back at seven
a.m. soaking wet. School dismissed early
that day.
After five months I received $95. (More
followed later for these people had the
will to pay.) So' I. went to teach at
Ingebright. This was better; I got 5100 for
three months work. After Christmas that
year I went to Carmichaelon the' main
line of the C.P".R. west of Maple Creek.
There I was paid regularly,
But my 'savings wouldn't take me back
to the University ` of Saskatchewan.
Rather :discouraged, I returned to Luck -
now and was pe rsuaded by my family to
finish my education in Ontario.
My -experiences in . the West are
treasured memories. Hard times can be
good times, too.' .
Mrs. Mary Campbell and little Carolyn Elston show off their new Centennial gowns at the
Centennial Luncheon on Monday held by the Whighaappn► and District Hospital Auxiliary.
Winghants celebrating Its 1100th year this year and m' lily town functions have chosen a
centennial theme. Mary crocheted the trim'for her dress which she.made and Carolyn's
grandmotherdid the smocking on the front of her pinafore. • [Sentinel Staff Photo]