HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-08-18, Page 4I A country blend
Photo by Bonnie Gropp
Letters
THE EDITOR,
I always enjoy your "The Short
of It" in The Citizen, but last week's
brought back some memories of
one glorious holiday I'll never
forget_
It's more than 30 years ago, I was
working at a place that closed for
two weeks holidays in the summer.
Being a farmer's wife, it meant
working in the hay, etc.
I told my family, I wanted one
day (not a Sunday) to do what I
liked and be waited on. They all
agreed. I got a book from the
library and when breakfast came
next morning, I was served in bed,
was reading, later on went outside,
then visiting with friends at
Callander Nursing Home.
I did not have to make supper
and while my husband and children
were tired at night after working all
day, I felt wonderful.
It was just one day, but I'll never
forget it.
I thought to tell you about it. A
person doesn't need to travel far
and wide, as long as you enjoy
what you are doing.
A Faithful Reader.
THE EDITOR AND RESIDENTS
OF HURON COUNTY:
Recently, the Huron County
Health Unit has been working
toward the establishment of a
bylaw that would restrict
environmental tobacco smoke in
Huron County restaurants and
public places. Based on our
experience with local
municipalities, conveying the
importance of such a bylaw is often
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18. 1993.
C The North Huron
itizen
P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Publisher, Keith Roulston
BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. Editor, Bonnie Gropp NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0
Phone 523-4792 Phone 1387-9114 Sales Representatives,
FAX 523.9140 FAX 8637-9021 Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell
The Citizen is published weakly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing
Company Inc.
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Contents of The Citizen are ,31) Copyright.
Publications Mall Registration No. 6968
So little help for so much need
The airlift from Sarajevo of a few dozens victims of the vicious war
in Bosnia is heart warming, but critics are right when they call it largely
symbolic.
Anyone who is helped by being taken from a war zone for treatment
in first-class hospitals in Europe
and North America is one more
J ditorial person to be helped and for that
there should be relief and praise.
F-77777777777777.77777777 Still, one gets the feeling that
pictures of injured children that showed up on our television screens
had more to do with these children being chosen than real need. No
doubt there are hundreds of others who will be left behind because they
weren't in the right place to be photographed.
Prime Minister Kim Campbell is perhaps on a better track when she
proposed looking at sending a Canadian forces medical field hospital to
Bosnia to provide good emergency care for thousands, rather than a
relative handful. It is to be hoped the plan can work.
It's hard to imagine what the people in Sarajevo have gone through
during their lengthy siege. Besides the daily artillery shellings that have
destroyed the city, besides the random death that may strike a Serb,
Croat or Moslem resident because some sniper saw them as a target on
an open street, residents of the once beautiful city have gone without
food, clean water and electricity. Imagine trying to run a hospital under
those conditions.
We've done so little to help the people of Bosnia in the face of the
aggression carried out against them. Sure Canadians have sent our
forces into dangerous territory as peace keepers but they have been
helpless in the face of the full force of the weaponry of the former
Yugoslavian army, now in the hands of the Serbian faction fighting to
take over a larger and larger chunk of Bosnia. Our lightly-armed
soldiers have had little more chance than the civilians in the face of the
terror in Bosnia.
All efforts at a diplomatic solution to the problem have only tended
to reward the aggression of the Serbs. Only the threat of air strikes last
week finally got action in forcing the Serbs to withdraw from the hills
surrounding the city from which they had been terrorizing the
population. This has basically been a war, not between armed factions,
but between one well-armed faction and a civilian population.
Given what we haven't done, the airlift is a token effort. We need to
find ways, as Prime Minister Campbell has suggested, to do much
more. — KR
Who are the customers?
Three men were recently charged with thefts of cigarettes from two
area variety stores and an attempt to steal from a third. It's a common
problem these days as the high cost of cigarettes creates a black market
for those selling bargains.
A recent Kitchener-Waterloo Record article detailed how dishonest
truckers fake export of Canadian gasoline to the U.S. while selling it to
Canadian stations (thereby saving $9,600 in taxes on a 40,000 litre
load) then turn around and illegally import a half-load of tax-free
gasoline from the U.S., picking up another $7,800 in profits.
These criminals are costing the Canadian economy and indirectly
increasing the taxes other Canadians must pay. These are the obvious
criminals, but where does the stolen (or smuggled) cigarettes and
illegal gas go to?
Recently a woman on a London TV station admitted buying
smuggled cigarettes. Legal Canadian cigarettes just cost too much, she
said. Some independent gas station owners are happy to look the other
way on that illegal gas to get an advantage in the marketplace. The sad
fact is that while the actual criminals in society are a relative handful,
the people willing to profit from someone else's crime is a large and
growing number.
These people manage to justify their behaviour by blaming the
government for taxing the product too much, or the manufacturer for
making too much profit. Yet these people are quite ready to use that gas
to drive down Ontario's roadways, roadways that can only be provided
thanks to taxes paid to the government. If those smokers get
respiratory problems from their smoking habit, they'll self-righteously
demand service at our government-supported hospitals.
There is no free lunch in society. If we didn't have road taxes and
taxes to support our hospitals we would face daily tolls on our roads
and sky-high private health insurance as there is south of the border (or
no insurance coverage at all).
The cheaters think they're just cheating the government. Actually
they are cheating their friends and neighbours who must pick up the
additional costs. Nobody should turn the other way to this fraud. — KR
MOH requests views on smoking
a difficult task. Locally, there is no
consensus on the need for smoking
restrictions.
Most people forget that non-
smokers represent an overwhelm-
ing majority (about 75 per cent) of
the population. For example some
restaurant proprietors are
concerned about losing their
smoking customers, but fail to
consider how many customers do
not return or never come in because
a smoke-free section does not exist.
We need your help. We would
like to hear from people who are
concerned about the lack of non-
smoking areas in Huron County
restaurants and public places.
Please feel free to write me with
your views. Thank you.
Dr. Maarten Bokhout
Medical Officer of Health
Huron County Health Unit
Box 1120
Clinton Ontario. NOM 1L0
THE EDITOR,
It's no easy job running a small
business these days, especially a
theatre like the Blyth Festival. I
was deeply saddened to hear that
Ray Salverda is resigning as
General Manager of the Blyth
Festival. For other theatre
managers across the country, like
myself, he has served as a role
model for us in the way he guided
the theatre and staff through last
year's financial crunch.
Ray's experience with Huron
County goes back almost 10 years,
when he was production manager
at Huron Country Playhouse,
making great things happen on
stage with little bits of money. It's
also where he and his wife, Crystal,
a lighting designer and stage
manager met. Crystal's technical
talents as stage manager helped to
make Many Hands, Blyth's
"tin
memorable community play, THE
EVENT of the decade.
The Blyth Festival Board will
have a very tough time replacing
such great talents.
Jane Gardner.
THE EDITOR,
This is to the person or persons
that took my son's shoes from the
Blyth Lions Park on Friday night.
The shoes were under a pile of
clothes.
My son bought those shoes with
his own money and had taken
pretty good care of them so that he
would have shoes for school. Now
what? Is he going to have to go to
school in bare feet? I hope not.
The shoes were size five and had
the brand name of Huffy. Please
return them in one piece.
Debra Stryker.
THE EDITOR,
Some people have asked me how
the government can reduce wages,
control the deficit, yet still spend
money on items like the Huron
Country Playhouse or sewers in
Exeter. Our government is trying to
achieve three goals. The first is to
get Ontario back to work. The
opposition says government can't
create jobs, but it does. Your
province funds capitol projects
which provide work in construction
and has beneficial spinoffs in the
community. It provides the
infrastructure for other economic
activities. These are capitol projects
and the government funding is a
one time occasion and the local
community takes on the operating
expenses.
Money for the theatre has direct
benefits to Huron as the theatres in
Stephen Township and Blyth bring
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