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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-01-19, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19,1994. PAGE 5. Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell ~1Citizen©The North Huron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont N0M1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1 HO Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 The Citizen is published weekly 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 © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Editorial^ warm. Lack of culture can be a pain Two images from last week: In Moscow, U.S. President Bill Clinton is photographed wearing a traditional Russian fur hat. On a visit to a nearby city, students are seen outside a university waiting for the bus, dressed with barely more than they would wear in summer, hopping up and down from one foot to the other trying to keep There are times when a lack of Canadian culture is a bother. There are times when it can be downright dangerous. Russians, steeped by centuries of their own culture, know how to dress for their own weather. Canadians, fed a constant diet of sitcoms, soap operas and movies from California, keep trying to live up to the images of what they think life should be, rather than the realities they face in real life. The problems are particularly bad in the cities, and they aren't new. In the 1960s, the first age of the mini-skirt, young women wore stripes — colourful jackets and skirts on top, boots on the bottom, separated by several inches of beet red ranging to blue, depending on how cold the flesh of their legs had become. Men, particularly the young ones, then and now, insist they should be able to walk around in summer shoes, without hats. It's insane. If our culture, as represented to us on popular television, showed us a realistic lifestyle, perhaps we would be more willing to accept the realities of life in Canada. If we had a Canadian equivalent of Beverley Hills 90210 that showed young people skiing or snowmobiling in stylishly sensible winter clothing, perhaps our young people wouldn't keep trying to pretend they're just back from a beach party, even in January. Adopting a Canadian culture, based on our own environment, would not only make people more comfortable but it might tax dollars. Think how much our medical system could save in treating people for frost bite and pneumonia. — KR Nature’s artwork Letters Photo by Janice Becker So much for good examples Sport can be such a positive force for young people. Unfortunately so much that youngsters see in sport today shows them the worst of human behaviour, not the best. Children can learn about fair play, about working hard for a goal, about co-operating to be part of a team, about accepting defeat with grace by participating in sports. Unfortunately as they look at their heroes in sport these days, they are more likely to learn about greed, selfishness, temper tantrums and breaking the rules to get an advantage. The latest example of sports teaching all the wrong things is the attack on American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, apparently carried out by backers of her chief rival, Tonya Harding. Harding's supporters figured out that if somebody broke Kerrigan's kneecaps, their skater would undoubtedly win the American championship and have a better chance to win a gold medal at the upcoming Olympic Games. It all seems unbelievable until someone mentions that an American gold medal winner can expect to reap $10 million in ice show fees and endorsements. That kind of lure of the rewards from so-called "amateur" sport led to the Ben Johnson tragedy in Canada, where an athlete was willing to cheat and to endanger his health, by using steroids so he could get an edge on the competition. Elsewhere adoring young fans have seen their baseball teams tom apart because millionaire ball players figure out they can get even more millions by jumping to another team. They have seen tennis stars who have added a new skill to the game: who can best berate officials. They have seen their heroes take drugs. They have seen their heroes gamble on the sport they were playing. They've seen the unseemly fight between their government in Ontario defending its right to make money from gambling on sports while the National Basketball Association threatens to revoke a Toronto franchise unless the government cancels its sports lottery. It's not all bad, of course. There are examples young fans can emulate: Mario Lemieux, battling cancer and ongoing back pain to play hockey at a superb level; Elvis Stoyko and Kurt Browning competing against each other year after year for figure-skating supremacy not just in Canada, but in the world, yet remaining good friends. This is sad though that the good examples seen in sport are too often overshadowed by the dark side of humanity. Our young people today need all the good examples they can get. — KR Ratepayer writes THE EDITOR, As a ratepayer of the village of Blyth, I personally have a lot of concerns about the management of the village of Blyth. My husband, Ron Ritchie and I both expressed our concerns approximately a year ago with the evolvement of the petition that was circulated. There was a lot of concern at that time with over 230 citizens signing the petition. Recently it's been made obvious to the people that village employee Bill Bromley hasn't been working full time. It do not understand why there was an advertisement in the paper for a meter reader when our full time employees are not getting their hours. I also question the number of secret meetings that are ongoing at a costly expense to our village ratepayers. It definitely appears to look subversive. Doreen Ritchie Ronald C. Ritchie. An open letter to the Minister of Health DEAR MRS. GRIER: The representatives of eight hospitals in Huron and Perth Counties meet regularly to discuss shared issues, concerns and opportunities. In recent months, the meetings of the Huron-Perth Hospital Liaison Committee have focused on the critical issue of payment of physicians for on-call emergency room coverage. We are dismayed at the lack of progress that has been made by your Ministry in resolving this problem. On call services are funded on a fee-for-service basis. Due to the low volume in emergency departments in rural areas, physicians feel that the effort required to provide the service is inadequately reimbursed. This attitude affects the provision of on call services in our area and directly impacts on the retention and recruitment of physicians for our hospitals. Emergency departments play a crucial role in service provision in smaller communities. Fee for service payments are determined by the Ontario Medical Association. Hospitals do not have the ability to ensure equitable reimbursement to physicians in low volume emergency departments, particularly in light of severe financial restraints due to the Social Contract Act and other cost pressures. At the same time, more and more hospitals with low volume emergency departments are being faced with demands for "top up" of remuneration for on call coverage. One of the hospitals in our area has already entered into an extremely costly arrangement to pay its physicians for on call coverage from hospital funds. Two more face deadlines of Jan. 31 from their doctors to pay for these services or else on call emergency coverage will cease. Letters to you from hospitals in our area appealing for action to resolve this issue have gone unanswered. At our Jan. 12 meeting, the Huron-Perth Hospital Liaison Committee passed the following motion unanimously: "In as much as the payment of physicians is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and not of hospitals, the Huron-Perth Hospital Liaison Committee demands that the Minister of Health personally intervene to resolve the issue of physician on call remuneration before the Jan. 31 threatened withdrawal of emergency on-call services in the affected communities in Huron-Perth". We look forward to your early and effective resolution of this pressing problem. Your respectfully, Huron-Perth Hospital Liaison Committee (Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Chief Executive Officers of Huron and Perth Hospitals). MPP talks of jobsOntario Training Paul Klopp, MPP Huron The figures from jobsOntario Training show that this program is doing what it was designed to do - get people working and helping employers improve their employee skills. It was recognized that business, especially small business, was where job creation emphasis should be placed. The program was targeted for people on social assistance or whose UIC has expired. To make the program user friendly the program was to be administered locally. In Huron the County's Planning Department was selected as the broker. The office is at 34B Newgate St., in Goderich. The broker's job is to select the unemployed people who qualify for the program and to provide suitable candidates for businesses which are in the program. Businesses had to be recruited and the benefits of the program explained to them. Word- of-month advertising carried the success story as the program got rolling. When I have talked to employers who are in the program the most frequent comment is that this program does not involve a lot of "redtape". The employer selects the candidate and pays the wage, however, the province helps out in the training costs. In addition, half of this money can be used to train existing employees. It helps the employer in a number of ways. Money is provided for upgrading the training of the workforce which will make the business more competitive. jobsOntario Training provides a screened list of prospective employees. The employer makes the choice. The figures show that 45 per cent of JOT placements in Ontario were. Continued on page 5