HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-09-13, Page 4CNA
BLUE
RIBBON
AWARD
1995
Waiting for winter
Photo by Janice Becker
Letters
THE EDITOR,
In the nature of our business
(body work and towing) our yard is
often filled with vehicles from
accidents. Over the years we've
become accustomed to people
driving slowly past our yard, or
being awakened at three a.m. by a
group of teenagers just stopping in
for a look.
In the morning we are apt to find
the odd lawn ornament gracing our
yard in the shape of an empty
alcoholic beverage.
When someone has passed away
in a motor vehicle accident and the
vehicle has to be put inside, we've
often had to ask people who go in
our shop before the vehicle is even
inside, hoping to get a look, to
please leave.
But, these broken, twisted pieces
of metal are what come after the
accident; after the harsh reality of a
loved one's life possibly being
ended in a single moment.
It is somewhat different looking
at vehicles after the fact as opposed
to when people are still trapped in
them as was the case a couple of
weeks ago when the Blyth Fire
Department was called to an
accident south of Blyth. I happened
to be in the car with my husband,
Bill, who is Deputy Chief of the
Blyth Fire Department, when the
call came in. I ended up out at the
accident. Our car was parked about
a quarter of a mile from the scene
and I could see from where I was
sitting that the vehicle in the
accident was on its side in the
ditch. I had no desire to move
closer to the accident, I only hoped
no one was hurt. However, I was
shocked and disgusted by the
people that followed the fire and
rescue vehicles out to the accident,
and crowded close to the scene.
A group of teenagers walked by
our car and laughed about whether
they should take their drinks up to
the accident. They ended up
leaving them sitting in front of the
car.
Over and over a firefighter
directing traffic politely told the
people to go back to their vehicles.
Most of the time he was ignored or
cursed at. The firefighter directing
traffic was only doing his job,
volunteering his time to protect and
keep the people at the scene of the
accident safe.
Bill came back to the car literally
dripping with sweat from just
spending 20 minutes helping cut
the roof off the car to get the person
trapped inside free. Believe me I
started to do a slow burn when I
saw a Blyth resident rush back
from the scene of the accident,
meeting others rushing up to the
accident, and start waving their
arms telling the people what was
happening. The firefighter directing
traffic didn't yet know who was
involved in the accident, yet this
person talked like they knew
everything.
Bill has told me vehicles always
follow the trucks, especially when
there is a motor vehicle accident.
This is the way it is. This may be
so but that doesn't make it any less
appalling to see these people
infringe on the rights of,someone
who is hurt or trapped in a vehicle
and can't walk away from
Continued on page 7
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1995.
C The North Huron
itizen
Publisher, Keith Roulston
Editor, Bonnie Gropp
Sales Representatives,
Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell
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The overlooked third option
It was sheer madness in downtown Blyth, Saturday. Restaurants
were full. The streets were lined with people shopping at sidewalks
sales. You couldn't find a parking space. And all this activity boosting
private enterprise came from
two sources that are ignored in
the general survey of the
economy these days.
This was the biggest weekend
of the year in Blyth. The
annual Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association Reunion was
packing them in at the fairgrounds (700 camping units plus thousands
of visitors). Meanwhile the Blyth Festival entered its second last
weekend with another sold out Saturday matinee of nearly 500 people.
Trying to pack this many people into a village of 1,000 was a feat of
considerable difficulty. And both events, which combine to pump
millions of dollars into the local economy each year, are able to do so
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers.
It's a type of enterprise virtually ignored in discussions of the
economy which pit private enterprise versus government: a third
option that has played a big part in rural life since the first pioneers
trekked through the bush to build their log shanties. Our communities
are what they are because people come together to do things that
private enterprise can't afford to do, and do them far more efficiently
than government could. Sports programs, fall fairs, volunteer fire
departments, volunteer rehabilitation of fishing streams, the variety of
tasks volunteers in rural areas provide is impossible to overestimate.
It's dangerous when the right-versus-left philosophical arguments
see only two options, to have private enterprise (usually viewed as big
business) or have government provide the service. Lawmakers can
write so many rules to regulate bottom-line business or government
employees that they make it hard for volunteers to continue. People
assume that things throughout the country are done the same way as in
the big cities and regulate accordingly. In rural Canada, however, the
health of our communities, even the health of our private businesses,
often depends on organizations like the Threshers' Association and the
Festival which keep going because volunteers ask for nothing but the
pleasure of improving life in their community. — KR
A snapshot of the future?
It has been disturbing for Canadians to watch the eruptions of
violent occupations of government and privately owned lands by
Canadian natives this summer, but perhaps we're seeing just a snapshot
of a future that faces not just the aboriginal people but young
Canadians of all colours and backgrounds.
Tired of poverty and degradation, frustrated because their leaders
seem powerless to bring change, young natives have turned to
aggression to try to get action. They are frustrated because the federal
government keeps talking about taking native land claims settlements
seriously but nothing seems to happen. They are rebellious of their
official tribal leadership because these leaders, elected under a system
set up in the non-native imposed Indian Act, talk peaceful action but
are powerless to get Ottawa to move more quickly. Tired of it all,
they've taken to the barricades.
Logically, these actions don't make sense. One leader talked about it
being time for revolution yet if it were really revolution, the native
protesters would be wiped out in no time by government firepower.
The protesters against white power are really protected by the public
opinion which would turn against a government that was too heavy-
handed in dealing with the protests.
But are the natives just ahead of their time in a society in which
millions of people of all colours are feeling more and more powerless
and frustrated? We have young people with university degrees unable
to get jobs. We have young people who aren't going to university
because they see no sense in it. We have governments telling
constituents that there's nothing they can do 'but cut social programs
designed to help the poor (while the Harris government says the only
municipal services that won't be cut are police services — got to
protect the rich). We have governments saying IZiat the global economy
leaves them powerless to act for the betterment of their citizens.
If the current conditions continue or worsen, others may someday
be desperate enough to think they have nothing to lose through
violence. We must let people feel they control their lives. — KR
E ditorial