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The Citizen, 1997-12-17, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1997. Letters Mother enjoys hearing what teens thinking Continued from page 4 had accepted this opinion. You can't please everyone, but you will never go wrong when you are true to yourself. Jackie Cook, Blyth. THE EDITOR As a mother of one of "the teens" who writes articles for "the teen page," I would like to express how proud I am of my daughter. I am impressed at how she can listen to all opinions and then feels confi­ dent in forming her own. I am grateful to The Citizen for making a medium available for her to do this. The title of the page is "For Teens, By Teens." We are lucky that we are privy to this informa­ tion as often we don't get to hear what our teens think. Erin stated how she feels about the Christmas hype in her column. This made me think about how I feel and in tum started a dialogue with my teens as to how they feel. Was this maybe the purpose of Erin's article? Disagreeing with Erin's opinion is only relevant if we can express our own. We all have a right to choose what we want to believe. We can even change our minds. Shouldn't we allow our children that right? Shouldn't we at least give them the opportunity to express what they are feeling? The way I look at it, Erin's article was not only written to express an opinion but to challenge the reader to express theirs. As adults we feel we are more mature and knowl­ edgeable, but how did we get to that point? Wasn't it through trial and error, questions, expressing opinions and making mistakes? We can't put everyone down for not agreeing with us (teens included). We have to use a more mature at lude and "agree to disagree." Beth Crawford THE EDITOR This is in response to Rhonda Gibbons' letter in last week's paper regarding the teen page. I have written a few articles for the teen page and I take offence to comments that the articles are "immature, insensitive and often have no point." As a teen, a writer and a co-op student at The Citizen, I feel each persons article should not be lumped into one individual's stereotype of teens and their views. Gibbons based her comments on only two of the many articles that have been written for the teen page. My articles have been on topics such as teen violence and depres­ sion. I see them as informative, not "immature." I interpreted "mature" in the con­ text Gibbons used it, to mean those older and not teens, meaning all teens are to immature to write arti­ cles. If she thinks this page should be written by more "mature" people then why bother having a teen page? I use this page as a medium to lead me to becoming a journalist, it gives me a chance to "dabble" in what could be my future. The comment that the page is "monopolized by a select group of people who hardly represent the teen population," is not accurate. The reason there are not many dif­ ferent names on this page is because we are the only people who have accepted the responsibili­ ty and are able to work with a dead­ line. There have been many times where the editor has asked others to write articles. They just don't do it or won't do it. I ask Ms Gibbons why she thinks the article mentioned about the accident near Varna should have been written by a more mature journalist? Does she realize that teens shoilld be allowed to, and need to, write about things that make them sad, such as death? When another teen dies we all feel sadness and it helps to get it out, or as in my article on depression, you may suffer from depression without some kind of coping strategy. This article was simply a reflec­ tion of how teens feel when a peer dies. We can't be sheltered from death so to understand we need to express our feelings. That article could be used as a simple reminder to all teenagers who think they are immortal. Reading it may help someone to think twice about stupid things. In reading Erin's article of Dec. 3, again I see that she is confused as to how Santa and the other parts of Christmas tie into that of Jesus’s birth. What she didn't see is that Santa is the spirit of what Jesus was. Santa like Jesus gives us something to believe in that we can't see. What Erin didn't see in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" is the message of how people can come together, find some common ground and use this to make every­ one happy. While Gibbons has every right to express her opinion of the articles on the teen page, can she also grant us that same privilege even if our opinions are "immature" or differ­ ent? Amy Crawford C itizen will be closing for holidays The North Huron Hospital renews CEO’s contract The executive director of Wingham and District Hospital has had his contract renewed and will begin a new term in January, according to George Underwood, chairman of the board of governors at WDH. In his preliminary remarks at the December hospital board meeting, Underwood noted that Koch had undergone a successful performance review in the spring of this year. Underwood thanked Koch for his work toward the betterment of health care, not just in Wingham and area, but now into Grey and Bruce as well. Koch currently sits on a committee whose task it is to design a network for hospitals in the newly-expanded DHC which joins Huron and Perth with Grey and Bruce Counties, effective next year. No details about length of contract were released. 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