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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1984-10-24, Page 6Lucknaw Sentinel, Wednesday, October 24,, 19$4—Page 6 r "The Sepoy Town" Established. 1873 The Lucknow Sentinel, P.O. Box 400 Lucknow NOG` 2110 Telephone: 528-2822 Thomas Thompson - Advertising Manager Sharon Dietz - Editor Pat Livingston Office Manager Joan Helm - Compositor Merle Elliott - Typesetter Subscription rates in advance Outside ; Qo $16 0° Canada "'ori• Senior Citizens *1ao Outside i 3 Canada 43 00 Second class mailing reg. no. 0847 Advertising -is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographicalerror, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged. for, bait, the balance of the advertisement will be paid at the applicable; rates. j b BLUE RIBBON AWARD Reopen 'ie goti ations Bruce County Health Unit nurses have been locked. out of their work place after withdrawing services for two-day durations, once a week, from October 4. The nurses say the lockout action by the county has deprived; the community of the necessary services provided by them. The county board of health says the nurses are on strike. The county says its offer is significant and the majority of the nurses can expect an immediate increase in their base salary. The board of health says it recognizes the. Bruce county public health nurses are underpaid and their offer is an attempt to .bring the nurses in line with neighbouring health units. Non - monetary issues can be addressed in the future. The nurses want a settlement : beneficial to all members of the union. The proposal eliminates re- troactivity, education allowance, mileage cost of living allowance and freezes: salaries for 1985. The nurses point out that in their opinion they are being asked to give .up money to get money and they will be paying for their. own. salary increase. At present the twosides are not negotiating, except through their statements in the local media.Unfor- tunately they shouldbe addressing their concerns across the mediation 'table. The nurses provide valuable services to the people of Bruce County and as professionals they should be paid salaries which reflect- the contribution they make. The county istrying to curb costs inall departments as they attemptto.adhere to provincial guidelines which suggest budget increases of five per cent. The nurses,' , • situation however must be rectified. Their salaries must be brought in line' with current standards. The county» board of health recognizes this: There are questions that should be asked however, about, the county's role in the negotiating. The nurses say they want to return to the bargaining table. They did not resort to a strike even though it was their legal right. Services have been •withdrawn because the county lockedout the nurses. . Is the county making an example of the nurses? .They are the smallest union employed by the county and they are all women. County Council, including the board of health, is predominently comprised of men. It. is also interesting that the county health inspectors and dental division aswell as the health unit secretaries and audio technicians are presently organizing a union. By choosing; the smallest union; who just' happen to be women, and locking. 'them out of their work place, the county has indicated to any other employees, union or otherwise, they intend to take' a firm, stand on wage negotiations even when they recognize the employees are underpaid. The ball 'is in the county's court. It is the county which' has to get negotiations started again. The nurses c,'annot return to the bargaining table until the county instructs its lawyer to contact the mediator and bring the two parties together. 0 • Students at Khiloss Central Public School enjoyed visiting the ',classrooms at the school's open house October 18. 'Clockwise • from the upper left photo: Kristen and Jeremy O'Neill admire the Hallowe'en Tree in Joan Black's claiss- room, Chris Montgomery, grade 1, teaches his brother, Greg, 4 how to play the Mr. Mugs game In Betty Anne Elphick's room; Colleen Knorr and Marlta:MacDougall look into the smoke stack of the traln in Debbie Price's room, td` see what they can see and. Mark Addison, a grade 1 student, takes the opportunity to Look over the spider display in Audrey MacDonald's class roan'. [Photos by Sharon Dietz] From early spring until late fall, the pioneers had time for little .else except' hard manual labour: With only the simplest tools - axe, hand saw, and chisel, they chopped down the mighty . trees of the forest and cleared the land. Plowing the dearly won earth was .a slow, furrow by furrow operation, and the soil was sown in a similar manner to thoseof biblical times. Then came the harvest. This too was an arduous task; the rhythmic swish of a scythe slowly moving through the golden stand of grain, and all hands, •large or small, engaged in binding and stacking the sheaves. • It was only in winter that. the, . mind reflected upon the achievements of the past year, and contemplated . on the prospects for the next season. As far as Flora MacCrimmon was concerned, if the future was no better than the present, she would be living in a world' beyond her wildest dreams. She had a roof over her head, a fire burning in the hearth and the certainty of three meals every day of her life. What was more, she hada good provider for a husband and a child who was growing up in his image. A few years ago, • she never would have imagined living in REDTREES by Don Campbell such a bountiful place as Redtrees; nor the human tragedy she would have to endure to reach that place. ' Sometimes in her quiet moments ' of reverie, she returned in' memory to the little mining village, where as a young bride she had lived with her first husband in a "wee bot and ben". Her name was Flora Fraser then, and though her husband James worked in the cramped confines of the narrow coal seams, he. hardly earned enough' to keep body and soul together. Flora was obliged to work as a sorter on the surface, separating the shale from the coal, her delicate hands chafed and cut by the black • stones. 'When she found she was pregnant, the prospect of losing her' work induced them both to emigrate to Canada. It was a terrible voyage on a ship called ;the Mavis. Many of the passengers died of typhus and were buried at sea. Amongst them her husband, James. She recalled the bitter tragedy and the fears she felt as a pregnant woman, confronted with the reality of being deposited on a, strange shore with nobody to help her. , She remembered vividly, the time when a shy young piper called .. MacCrimmon came like an angel of mercy 'and spoke gentle words of comfort and courage, on a »windswept deck. ' "Dinna wory too much, Mrs. Fraser. I'll, no see ye want, and I'll care frae ye until ye baby's born." There was nothing in the man's heart except compassion,; but even with his re- assurance, her troubles • were not over. During a heavy storm, Flora was crashed amonst passengers on the gangway and some days later, her immature child was miscarried. It was inevitable* perhaps, that the two; should be drawn together. It ended in their marriage which; although at the time was merely for convenience, developed into an enduring love beyoiid• their . expectations. All these things Flora remembered vividly as though they had happened only yester- day. Neil MacCrii`nmon too was not without his memories. Although blessed with a good wife, child, and •a future of promise in a great and bountiful land, he, like all other exiled Scots, often thought with a twinge of deep nostalgia about the ' mountains and glens of the "auld hame". The roots of race and tradition are deep. MacCrimmon refelcted with' pride that his ancestors were both pipers and fighting men. He remembered the story of how his father and grandfather had stood together' at' the little of Waterloo. As the cannon balls dropped around the British squares, his grandfather had rebuked his father for not paying attention to his music: "My God lad, dinna let +a few iron balls take ye mind off the chanter!" Perhaps the most vivid memory was of his father reading from a book of poems by Sir Walter Scott on the day he left for anada. There was something very profound and prophetic in those words. "Too oft 'shall the note of MacCrimmon's bewailing , ' Be heard when the Gael on their exile are sailing; Dear land! to the shores when unwilling we sever; Return, return, return shall we never!