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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1991-03-13, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1991. Letters to the editor Cream producer worries about future under proposal THE EDITOR, I would like to express my concerns on the proposal of discon­ tinuing the 50/50 split for cream producers that the Canadian Dairy Commission is considering in its discussion paper “The Butter Issue - Options For The Future’’. No further increase in the butter support price would result in separating-cream producers as a dairy enterprise. Cost of producing cream will continue to increase and we would no longer see an increase in our gross returns under the Canadian Dairy Commission’s new recommendations. Every cream producer should New attitudes needed toward violence THE EDITOR, Doug Trollope was right in his letter Feb. 27/91 - “Women do commit abuses and violence against men”, but he ommitted to explain: 1. Abused men tend to be an almost insignificant minority (Eisenberg & Micklow) 2. Men have higher rates of the most dangerous and injurious forms of violence (beating up and using weapons). 3. Abuse by men does more damage to their victims (it is more likely that a woman will be serious­ ly injured when beaten). 4. When violent acts are commit­ ted by a man, they are repeated more often than is the case for women. 5. Men who batter are those whose early life experiences have not taught them to trust, they are isolated and lack friends with whom they can be open and share their feelings and fears. He is also right when he says we must look at the overall picture. As a social worker who works with victims of violence, I agree that we must challenge the social struc­ tures that generate abusing be­ Pom not to blame THE EDITOR, To respond to Leslie Cook’s letter of Mar. 6: all studies of rapists do say that they admit to using pornography but under fur­ ther analysis these same people later admit to using porn as an excuse because it is a popular socially acceptable scapegoat and a good defence for insanity to get clemency for what they have done. The Bible or organized religion has also been cited foremostly “what made them do it.” All research being done in this area has concluded that there is no evidence to indicate porn has triggered this behaviour alone; that unemployment, poverty, social sta­ tus, religion, etc., could equally set it off. They also report that the attitudes of men and women who rape, molest and abuse are instilled early in childhood from childhood impressions or morals, values and role stereotyping, usually done by the age of five. Cartoons like the Flintstones are a good example of role stereotyping and quite clearly porn is not involved here in setting those attitudes. All these studies are concluding is that there is very strong and growing evidence to indicate the more sexually regressive society gets, the more the violence and abuse escalates and they tend to lean in that direction. To correlate any final conclusions you have to look at all the aspects of violence and abuse in society. Rape, molesting, physical and mental abuse, racism, drug and alcohol abuse, etc., are basically violent whether self inflicted or acknowledge this as a threat to their well being. I believe these periodic increases are a must for us to continue. Without them it would mean another kick in the back side of an industry that is already bruised. I see cream producers as being excellent land stewardists. A paragraph taken from pg. 17 of the report “An Assessment of the Economic Viability of Cream-Pro­ ducing Enterprises in Ontario” done in September 1988 illustrates the point. On average sample farms responding to the question­ naire have about 20 per cent of their owned and rented land under permanent pasture, woodlets, bush and swamp. The approximately 80 haviour in men. We need to address the power imbalance be­ tween men and women. Women need to obtain equality and men must learn to share power and economic resources. We need to empower all human beings, both male and female to gain control over their own lives. Public education is an essential component in the prevention of abuse. It should be given in our schools, churches, clubs and the media. People need to learn to deal with conflict in new ways that does not hurt others. Marriage prepara­ tion courses are offered by many religious denominations with excel­ lent results (Bader et.al). We can all learn to develop new attitudes about the inappropriateness of violence and abuse. Schools and families can espouse non-violent interpersonal relationships. They can denounce corpal punishment. Children can be taught non-violent ways to deal with their problems. Mr. Trollope is also right when he says that these problems must be solved at the root. Let us learn to treat each other more humanely and learn to walk in Christ’s steps. BARB BARTON-McMILLAN BRUSSELS. done to someone else and are only symptoms of far deeper social problems. Porn is not involved in the rape and molesting that has occurred in the orphanages, reform schools, and native schools run by nuns and priests over the years, most of which hasn’t come to light yet. Priests molest boys only due to their availability and in most cases the priests’ sexual mentality is below that of their victims. The authorities report that St. John’s, and St. Joseph’s in Ontario are going to make the events in Newfoundland look like a picnic and the native schools and orphan­ ages are even worse. Pornography is not involved in the sexual abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, physical and mental abuse, etc., on Native reserves which has been created by 300 years of oppression and racism yet the abuses are identical in nature to that committed by Gary Bishop and/or Thomas Shirow. Black leaders in Africa say point blank that their social problems are a direct result of Western morals and values put upon them. The same is also true in the Middle East where the West is shoving its morals and values down their throats and that war is long from over. Not only does our society affect others elsewhere but it affects itself internally as well. The violence is escalating. The human species is reacting in a way that any other animal reacts when it is caged and you try to alter its normal and Continued on page 19 per cent of total owned and rented land is classed as tillable is used for a variety of feed and cash crops, the prevalent ones being pasture, mixed grains and hay/haylage/sil- age for feed crops, and grain corn for cash crops. At a time when the government is setting aside millions of dollars for better land practices they seem to want to shut down a sector of the dairy industry that already prac-; tices all sorts of crop rotations, grass plowdown, etc. As far as I am concerned we as cream producers are a small but very important part of Ontario’s agriculture. For most of us cream is not all we produce. A lot of us use the by-product of cream (skim­ milk) to feed calves or pigs so that maybe you can see that we patron­ ize many businesses in the area. Another statement taken from the report states that “The most popular non-dairy livestock enter­ prises or cream-shipping farms are beef cattle and swine”. 3 Out of 10 Canadian Students Drop Out... And We All Pay The Price. J Every year, 3 out of 1 O Canadian students drop out before finishing high school... And they realize all too soon that it isn't as easy as they thought. The fact is, over the next few opportunities or freedom they're looking for. When 30% drop out...over 100,000 students a year...it affects everyone — parents, educators, employers, Canadian society as a whole years, the majority of new jobs Making sure that young will require a high school education as a minimum. Without it, young people simply won't have the choices, the Let's do something about it. 1*1 ____ Government of Canada Minister of State for Youth Gouvernement du Canada Mimstre d'Etat a la Jeunesse Cream shippers are not risky farmers to do business with. Another statement taken from the report backs up my remarks, “With 29 cents of total debt for every one dollar’s worth of assets, the “average” cream-shipping farm can be viewed as extremely solvent. Similarly, with only 40 cents of debt money committed for each one dollar of owner-operator’s own equity capital invested in the farm business, cream-shipping farms can be described as “low ATTENTION YOUNG PEOPLE The Blyth Lions Club is once again wishing to sponsor Youth ages 16 to 21 to participate in the Lions International Youth Exchange Program. Every effort is made to establish a visit with the country of first choice. However, placements are subject to host family availability and are not made in areas experiencing political and civil instabilities. Also Blyth Lions are looking for families who would be interested in hosting a young person from another country. For further information, please contact Lion Gord Jenkins 523-9372. Dropping out is no way out. leveraged” operations with little credit risk to lending institutions.” Ontario holds 50 per cent of the national quota allotment. So, alone, we may not stand tall but when our other commodities are considered we are as important as any of our neighbouring farmers and that we have to help thread the fabric of our community. CHARLES REGELE SEC.-TREAS. HURON COUNTY CREAM COMMITTEE. people stay in school is important for all of us...and more important today than ever before. Canada