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The Citizen, 1995-05-10, Page 4The 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.) fcr 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 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 C The North Huron itize P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell 111-1- eNA The river's bend Photo by Jeannette McNeil Letters BINGO, without smoke THE EDITOR, I am writing on behalf of the Huron County Smoke-Free Coalition. Our group consists of local residents and agencies who are concerned with the rights of all people to a tobacco-free environ- ment. We are aware of a number of persons in the county who would prefer a smoke-free environment in bingo halls. May 31, 1995 is World No-Tobacco Day. In celebration of World No Tobacco Day, we are challenging the local service clubs to host a non-smoking bingo night during the week of May 29 - June 3. Our proposal is for one night only, as an experiment, to see if the concept of providing a smoke-free bingo evening might be received on a more regular basis. As a result, many individuals in the community may have a renewed interest in bingo. Please support this initiative by encouraging the service clubs who host bingo to participate in the smoke-free bingo night. Anita Looby Huron-Perth Cancer Society Member, Huron County Smoke Free Coalition. THE EDITOR, For the past year the Huron County Health Unit has been working with the Town of Goderich to establish a non-smoking bylaw. The proposed bylaw would require Goderich restaurants to designate two thirds of their seating area as non-smoking, and designate enclosed public places and municipal buildings as smoke free. The bylaw was defeated on a four to four tie vote at a Feb. 17 council meeting. The aim of the bylaw was to protect people from second hand environmental tobacco smoke. Second hand tobacco smoke has Immediate adverse effects on people suffering from asthma, chronic bronchitis and heart disease. As far back as 1986 environmen- tal tobacco smoke was recognized as the most important preventable cause of disease and death in the developed world. There is solid overwhelming evidence that tobacco smoke is an important cause of respiratory symptoms and disease in infants and children whose parents smoke and in non-smoking adults. People addicted to tobacco are quick to remind us that they have the right to smoke, tobacco is a THE EDITOR, The volunteers in Blyth raised $1,788 for the Canadian Cancer Society during this year's legal product and this is a free country. Smokers do have the right to poison themselves and degrade their health. They have the right to engage in this high risk behaviour. If people wish to risk their lives by racing automobiles on a race track, they have their right to do so. If, however, they wish to race their cars down public highways they are stopped, fined and imprisoned. Smokers have a right to poison themselves but they do not have the right to poison innocent bystanders. This proposed bylaw is a small step in the right direction. It is, however, just the first small step. This bylaw will help to create a general climate of disapproval of smoking. This will help to protect children and young people from the example of those, who despite its grave risks, continue to smoke. I would urge residents of Goderich to contact their council members and let them know how they feel about the smoking bylaw. The residents of other towns should also lobby their council members for a public environment free of tobacco smoke. Yours sincerely, Dr. P. Englert, President Huron County Medical Society. campaign. The generous contribution of the community and the efforts of the volunteers are greatly appreciated. Thelma Johnston Convenor. Dr. urges for smoking bylaw Blyth raises $1,788 for CCS Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Stan- dard, Brussels Post and the North Huron Citizen 47 YEARS AGO MAY 12 , 1948 The Huron County Tuberculosis Association organized free chest x- rays for all county residents. Morris Twp. council agreed to settle for two of the six sheep belonging to Jos. Shaw, which were missing at Lewis Armstrong's property, believed to have been separated by dogs. Council petitioned the Highways Department to install a caution light at the Hwy. 4 intersection in Belgrave. The Canadian Legion in Brussels began to set up a football (soccer) club. Between 1939 and 1946, the average wage jumped by 150 per cent. A 60 acre farm off the highway sold for $1,600 while a 100 acre property on the highway with hydro and good buildings was list- ed at $4,500. Brussels Hardware sold paint for $1. ONE YEAR AGO MAY 11, 1994 Several young artists earned the honour of having their artwork dis- played at Elizabeth's Art Gallery in Goderich. The artists were Teag Onn, Shanda Loder, Michael Continued on page 5 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1995. Losing a generation's 'war' As Second World War veterans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of their war to save freedom for our country, the signs continue to grow that the "war" their children fought to give Canada a distinct identity of its own, is being lost. Anyone who remembers the Canada of the 1950s and early 1960s, will recognize how different our country is today. Those were days when if one looked at television or listened to the radio or read a magazine, it was often possible to think you were just part of the United States. American influence so dominated popular culture that there was no sense of Canada being a distinct country at all. At the time the Beatles invaded North America there was hardly a recording studio in Canada to let our singers record. It didn't matter because in those days before Canadian content regulations for radio stations, Canadian radio stations wouldn't have played Canadian records anyway — they just assumed our performers weren't good enough. Today we have major stars who can continue to live here while performing around the world: Anne Murray, Celine Dion, Brian Adams and many, many more. In the early 1960s it was almost impossible to get a Canadian magazine. Government legislation denying companies tax write-offs for advertising published in foreign-based magazines created a booming Canadian industry. Today, with a new invasion of split-run U.S. content magazines, that industry is in danger. In the 1960s watching private television stations in Canada often made you think you were watching a U.S. station. The programming was the same, only the ads changed. Canadian content rules bought some semblance of Canadian programming. But last week the House of Commons Heritage committee proposed Canadian content for private stations be dropped. They would let the bad old days come back when the broadcasters could make more money by selling cheap American imported programming for full-price Canadian advertising. In those days, the one way Canadians could get a sense of who they were in the mass media was by watching CBC which was the dominant network in Canada. But the proliferation of stations has weakened CBC's impact on the country and last week that Commons committee proposed weakening that impact even further by taking CBC off the airwaves and putting it only on cable and satellite services, depriving millions of rural Canadians of its service. The CBC is short of money but the Heritage Committee proposes it should give up coverage of its biggest money maker, professional sport, so private broadcasters can make more money. Not that professional coverage would be missed in Winnipeg. They've lost their Winnipeg Jets because, although they filled the arena regularly, they couldn't have the kind of TV deals that provide the money to pay huge salaries for hockey players. Back in 1967 when the first NHL expansion took place, no Canadian cities were included. Eventually Canada got some teams. Today the NHL seemingly would love to be rid of those teams because they want franchises in places like Denver and Phoenix instead. Globalization, free trade, government debt, the big business agenda, they've all affected the ability of Canada to retain a sense of cultural identity. Thirty years of progress seems in danger. The greatest accomplishment of the baby boom generation may be lost. We must fight moves like those proposed by the Heritage Committee if we are to retain the gains. — KR Thanks, vets. Thanks, Holland Holland said thanks, this past week, for the sacrifice of young Canadians 50 years ago in giving them back their freedom. Canadians should say thanks to Holland this week for giving us back our history. The tumultuous celebrations in Holland have been a tremendous time of nostalgia for the generation that fought the war. For generations born after the war, however, those celebrations were a revelation: Canada's youth either didn't know what had happened, or had filed the information away as a piece of useless trivia and turned to more important things like the latest movie or rock video. The Dutch gave younger Canadians a sense of the importance of the efforts of the parents and grandparents. Their tremendous joy reminded us why fighting the war was important. And they shamed' us a little. Dutch children have been taught to be grateful to Canada while we have paid little attention to our own history. Hopefully we've learned our lesson to remember our history. — KR E ditorial