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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-12-07, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1994. The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $23.00/year ($21.50 plus $1.50 G.S.T.) for local; $33.00/year ($30.85 plus $2.15 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $62.00/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 Good causes taken to extremes E ditorial “1 Photo by Christina Roulston Dir. sets the record straight The North Huron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M1H0 Phono 523-47S FAX 523-9140 itizen P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont NOG 1H0 Phono 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell Most good causes are endangered, not by their opponents, but by their supporters who take them to the point of ridiculousness. The current NDP government seems bent on pushing ideas, bom of good intentions, to the ridiculous extreme. Take the new anti-tobacco legislation introduced last week, for example, particularly as it applies to not smoking on public property. Once upon a time non-smokers got tired of breathing the smoke of those who smoke and asked to be protected. It meant that either there had to be designated smoking areas with proper ventilation to carry the smoke away so others didn't have to suffer, or smokers had to go out on the street to smoke. The extra inconvenience was the trigger some smokers needed to finally kick the habit. So, it seemed to some gnome in Queen's Park, if pushing people outside was a deterrent to smoking, why not prevent students from smoking on school property altogether. Never mind that this may create dangers from smokers crossing streets for a smoke. Never mind that it causes problems for neighbours who now have students dropping butts all over their lawns and trampling the grass. Any while one would hope more students would quit smoking because of this government-sponsored harassment, one shudders to think of the next step of logic this might bring. Might it then mean we ban smoking within a kilometer of the school? Then within five kilometers? ~Letters Also in Queen's Park last week, the opposition parties were having fun at government expense over the fact labour legislation pushed through by the NDP could mean that Toronto is the major league city without baseball next spring. Baseball teams are suggesting they might use replacement players next spring if the union doesn't end its strike. Ontario legislation says it is illegal to use replacement workers. So, the opposition parties said, because millionaire baseball players go on strike, thousands of ordinary workers who sell tickets or hotdogs or clean the stadium after games, could be out of work. But there is a more ridiculous extreme in this legislation. Recently Canadian Agra, the Tiverton based company that has been spending millions in that area, dropped plans to reopen a railway line to its Bruce Energy Centre at the Bruce Nuclear Power Development The line has been abandoned. There were no rails left. Yet under the legislation if the company had started the line up again it would have had to hire unionized employees. It would have been saddled with the kinds of costs (engineers making up to $80,000 a year) that made the line uneconomical when CN owned it. This ridiculous dog-in-the-manger attitude means that there will be no jobs created because they can't be the kind of high-paid jobs unions want. The entire community will suffer because of a few hypothetical workers' demands. No one who has studied the history of exploitation of workers by companies would deny there is need for protection for unions, but this bill has flipped the weight in the other direction. It means that the kind of short-track railway companies like Goderich-Exeter Railway which successfully kept alive the Goderich to Stratford railway line can't save other small lines in rural Ontario. It means more rail lines will close because we'd rather lose jobs than have people working for less than the ridiculously high railway wages built up over the years. No one would deny that discouraging young people from smoking is a good cause. But the government has taken the cause to such silly extremes that it has lost the support of even many non-smokers. Is this good-causism gone mad or a death wish of the NDP government? Or is it a realization that the government's days are numbered and a wish to push through as much legislation as possible before the death knell tolls? — KR Best of luck in new term Across the area this week new councillors and trustees are taking their oaths of office and preparing for the three year term ahead. They face a tough term, dealing with attempts of the federal and provincial governments to cut their own costs by off-loading programs to lower levels of government. Ironically, the branch of government that has the least flexibility in financial matters is the one that's being asked to pay more. They're being asked to accomplish more at a time when the provincial government is loading them with more burdens like pay equity and job equity. We can only wish them good luck. T— KR THE EDITOR, Let's set the record straight! It seems timely to address a myth that the public education system has shut down its former business of offering morals, values and 'religious' education and has somehow devoided itself of traditional 'Christian' behaviours. No so! What better time than the approach of Christmas to review a few such activities and clarify what's really going on in Huron Public elementary and secondary schools. In addition to the year-long, daily opening exercises - which still include readings (including The Lord's Prayer) and stories of a morals, values and non- denominational religious nature, suitable to the age and grade level of the children - there are numerous learning activities and special events. For example, why not drop in at one local school and join the entire school body for its weekly "Virtues" assembly? The December topics are 'patience, peace and prayerfulness'. This event goes on all year long with a new 'virtue' becoming the focus each week. Perhaps you didn't hear about the "Parents Teaching Virtues at Home" workshop co-sponsored by the same school and the Children's Aid Society (CAS)? Maybe you'd like to drop in to one of the upcoming school concerts and witness the annual and ongoing tradition of the school-kids version of the Christmas Story or the Nativity? Try both elementary schools, for example, in my own community. If you just want to be part of the 'Christian" Christmas spirit, then drop in to most any school any morning of the last week before holidays to join in the carol singing and the assemblies which tend to start off each day, share in the readings which tend to reinforce the spirit of the season and tell about the origins of Christmas from our traditional Christian roots and as applicable to other cultures. You can listen to their bands play We Three Kings or How Far to Bethlehem-, the choirs will render The Tiny Child or Peace On Earth'. Or be a part of the growing multi-cultural traditions which teach similar values in festivals of 'light' and 'enlightenment' in any of several town and village schools where the local enrolment reflects the emergent multi-cultural nature and faith of our changing Huron County neighbourhoods. If you want to pitch in, by opening your wallet to help others, then join in the secondary school food bank drives, or the Christmas Bureau CAS collections that are taking place in virtually every school; or the multitude of other humanitarian ventures undertaken by students and their teachers throughout the system in an ongoing fashion, always... Come with our children and young adolescents and their teachers to the hospitals, to the nursing homes and to the retire­ ment centres where we lend a helping hand. Can you believe that we even have "Christian Fellowship" and "Bible Study" groups? Yes, outside the curriculum, but within a number of our buildings as complementary community or parent sponsored activities! Do you know how many churches use our buildings on Sundays? Do you know that the Gideon Society still visits every elementary annually? Have a second look. The public education system has NOT closed its doors to tradition, to values and morals, and to education about religion. And the neat thing is, we don't preach it - we actually 'live' it, through a combination of classroom learning, special events and community involvement throughout Huron County and across the world! And if you want to make it even better, join with us and share in our values vision of "Opening Up the World"! Yours truly, Paul Carroll Director of Education and Secretary-T reasurer. THE EDITOR, It is disappointing for a devoted player from Brussels Minor Hockey, after signing with the Brussels Bulls, to be told he isn't progressing well enough and should move down and play with the Juveniles. It seems when it gets right down it, the most important thing for the Bulls is to win, whatever the sacrifice. Therefore, it is no wonder that the Bulls, in the long run are losing the support of Brussels fans. Concerned lifelong citizens of the Brussels community. P.S. An invitation has been received from another Junior hockey club for the player. Hopefully he will be given the respect and support that he so rightly deserves. Paul’s Perspective Tobacco kills more than 13,000 people in Ontario every year. Each one of those deaths is preventable. Ontario's hard-hitting Tobacco Control Act came into effect Nov. 30. Aimed at reducing smoking, especially among young people, the legislation is among the toughest in North America. Why is it necessary? It's true that three out of four Ontarians do not smoke. But smoking among Grade 7 students in Ontario has increased Continued on page 7