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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1992-08-12, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12,1992. The Other Side By Keith Roulston MNR reorganizes It just ain't fair! I don't know about you but I was sizzling last week when a Canadian synchronized swimmer was victim of a stupid ruling at the Olympics which might have deprived her of a gold medal. I was still angry the next day when I heard that an American had defeated Sylvie Frechette for the gold medal, helped along by an American referee's decision not to allow a Brazilian judge to change her mark, even though the judge had admitted she pushed an 8.7 mark on her computer when she meant to push 9.7. The higher mark would have left Frechette in a tie after the first day. The lower mark made it virtually impossible for Frechette, reigning world champi on, to make up the difference the next day. The stupidity of Olympic offi cials who refused to correct the error stirred the sense of injustice for many Canadians. The feelings strengthened by sympathy for Frechette who had already suffered the personal tragedy of finding, only a few days before the Olympics began, the body of her boyfriend who had committed sui cide. The injustice was compound ed by the decision of Olympic officials on the same day, to give an American decathelete another chance, after he had fouled out on his first three chances in the shot put. It just ain't fair. Then I got to thinking about what makes us get so angry in these things. For Frechette, for instance, it was a personal tragedy but for the rest of us, it was just something that gave us a sense of grievance. It happens over and over again. The American men's volleyball team members shaved their heads to protest what they felt was an unfair judge's decision. Kenya’s track team threatened to pull out of the Olympics over another decision that went against one of their ath letes. This sense of injustice is fairly innocent when confined to sport but in the real world, it can be deadly. How many marriage part ners have been killed or maimed by partners who feel they have been wronged? How many strikes of labour unions have been caused by perceived mistreatment by the boss? How many international trade disputes have been caused by what one side feels is unjust action by the other country? How many wars have taken how many lives to get "justice" for one country that feels wronged by another? How many people die each year in ethnic disputes like that between the Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, where people seek to right the wrongs of decades, even centuries, back? Humans are unique in this sense of injustice. Animals fight for supremacy in the pecking order or for survival in a raw world where only the strong survive, but they don't seem to carry grudges. You Blyth man fined A Blyth area man appeared in Goderich's provincial court on July 27 facing a charge of sexual assault. William G. Francis, 67, who pled guilty to the charge for which he was arrested on July, was ordered to pay a fine of $600 or spend 30 days in jail. He was given one day to pay the fine and was also placed on two years' probation. don't see animals plotting revenge on one another for some past mis deed. But for humans, nothing seems to offend us as much as a sense that justice hasn't been done. Even in countries where the "justice" sys tem isn't very developed, people seem to have an innate sense of what is fair and begrudge anyone who does something they feel is unfair. It seems to me that sense of unfairness is increasing all the time. We have improved our basic lifestyle to the point where we can live more comfortably than any generation in the past. But we've developed antennae that sense injustice in the most amazing ways. Lawyers are getting rich as people sue over this breach of their "rights" or that unfairness or inequality in the law. There must be someone to blame for every thing that's wrong in our world. We handily blame the government for just about everything that's wrong. If we can't blame the government, we look to somebody else to blame. In general, this trend wastes a lot Together we’re making good things happen. of energy that could be used more profitably, but the most frightening result is when people start looking at their neighbours as scapegoats. So Protestants in Northern Ireland, blame the Catholics for everything and Catholics return the favour. Gentiles turn on Jews (as in Ger many, the worst of those cases). Quebecois feel upset by seeing English on store signs while many elsewhere in the country still get irritated by French on the side of cereal boxes, let alone on highway signs. So despite our material comfort, we seem to be constantly unhappy because we feel hard done by so much. Maybe we're worse off than our uneducated ancestors who blamed evil spirits or all-too-human gods for the bad things that hap pened. The world to them didn't make sense and they didn't try to make it make sense. They just accepted that there was going to be injustice in the world. We may have the education today, we may have a "justice" system, but we really aren't much happier for it, just more angry and frustrated. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has undergone major changes which shift the organiza tional structure from separate disci plines to a team management approach. The changes, which came into effect June 29, are meant to provide for team management of natural resources. Decisions on natural resource management will be made at the local level by management teams. The new organization will allow for strong, efficient, decen tralized program delivery and better public service. Changes have occurred in all areas of the province. Part of the reorganization of the MNR includes the decrease of administrative and reporting layers. The province has also reduced the number of regions from eight to four and district offices have been reduced from 48 to 27. The Min istry will redeploy 500 staff to the front lines of resource manage ment. Areas will be managed by teams made up of technicians and profes sionals with resource management background. Policies and proce dures will be changed in order to allow the staff at the local level to proceed with decisions in a timely manner. The team will also be held more accountable for their manage All across Ontario,winning is catching on. Each Ontario Lottery ticket you buy helps make good things happen. Since 1975, over $4.4 billion in lottery proceeds have been used to support worthwhile social services organizations through the Trillium Foundation, cultural and recreational programs and the operation of Ontario hospitals. So get into the act. Every time you play your favourite Ontario lottery game, it makes winners of us all. Here's where lottery profits are working in your region. Northern Ontario: Southwestern Ontario: Goderich - arena expansion Leamington - purchase fitness equipment Paisley - purchase computer equipment Wiarton - purchase recreation equipment / ment decisions. Boundaries of the area adminis tered by the Wingham office have been changed, therefore, some clients who have normally been served through the Wingham office may be required to contact other MNR offices for services. Respon sibilities for Huron, Kinloss, Car rick and Culross townships have been transferred to the Owen Sound office of the Midhurst Dis trict. Minto township will now be administered by the Wellington area team out of the Cambridge District office. The Wingham office will be responsible for providing service for all of Huron and Perth Coun ties. These changes will allow for more staff time to be dedicated to the retained areas. The former Wingham, Fonthill and Cambridge Districts have been amalgamated into the new Cam bridge District. The townships to be serviced through the Wingham area office have been allocated to two resource management teams— North Huron and South Huron/Perth. The North Huron Area Supervi sor is Mr. William Creighton and the South Huron/Perth Area Super visor is Mr. Greg Vaughan. Both may be contacted at RR 5 Wing ham, NOG 2W0, (519) 357-3131. Ontario Lottery Corporation Societe des loteries de I’Ontario