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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. Subscriptions are payable In advance at a rate of $20.50/year ($19.16 plus $1.34 G.S.T.) for local; $31.03/year ($29.00 plus $2.03 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $60.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or-photographs. 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 Continued on page 5