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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-05-13, Page 4Letters the thick of it Photo by Bonnnie Gropp Looking Back Through the Years May 16, 1968 The two-day music festival of the Brussels, Blyth and Belgrave Central Schools came to a close with a concert presentation by Wingham District High School. Ninety was the highest mark awarded by Mr. Woodburn, festi- val adjudicator, with two unison choruses from the Brussels school in Grades 7, 8, 3, and 4. Six girls were given their provin- cial honours at North Huron Achievement day in Howick School. They were Judy King, Wendy MacEwan, Gorrie; Gladys Stephenson, Ethel; Donna Mac- Murphy, Listowel; Marilyn Craw- ford, Monkton. McCutcheon Motors boasted a large advertisement for a new vehi- cle by GM called Epic. The price of the vehicle, with automatic transmission, two door, heater and defroster, was only $1,899. May 16, 1973 Twenty-three young persons from Blyth took a ride around the county and earned some money for community work as well. The teenagers, members of TeenScene bicycled from Blyth to Clinton, from there to Seaforth, then to Walton and finally home for a 40 mile trip. The group earned $600 which was donated to the commu- nity. Glendale Mobile Homes Limited of Strathroy opened a new plant in Vanastra. . It was announced that Blyth would have a summer recreation prografn thanks to a group of six local teens and 1 grant from the federal government. The group of Marjory Proctor, Louise Proctor, Joyce Nethery, Nancy Adams, David Street and John Battye planned recreation and social activ- ities for people of all ages. and North Huron Citizen May 14, 1997 In spite of the cold winds and frequent rains, the Blyth Scout troop took to the waters of Rad- fords pond to test their canoeing skills. The young men and their leaders also braved the chilly May weather to camp near the pond before their Saturday excursion. Wingham District Hospital signed an affiliation agreement with the London Regional Cancer Centre to provide cancer treatment locally. It was described as a cor- nerstone event as the Wingham- London signing is the first since the province announced changes to the way cancer services are provid- ed in Ontario. Jason Shortreed of Walton, was the proud recipient of a donated racing wheelchair for his upcoming track meets. An accomplished racer in the 1500 metre, Shortreed made good use of the chair at the Goderich meet. From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post THE EDITOR, To all Blyth Minor Hockey parents: Blyth Minor Hockey Association had a tremendous season for 1997- 98. All parents can be proud of the teamwork displayed by the players and the leadership provided by coaches, trainers and managers. Supporting the players and coaching staff is the executive and without their guidance, there would be no hockey in Blyth. The present executive is completing its two- year term. Several executive members no longer have children playing minor hockey and others have served on the executive for over 10 years. That's dedication. To the association and to the children in our community. Over the past two years, the executive has encouraged hockey parents to get involved,, to attend • the meetings and take an active interest. The response has been Continued on page 6 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1998. C itizen 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 E-mail norhuron@huron.net Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil alliCULAYION 0,40 The Citizen Is published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable In advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) In Canada; $62.00/year in U.S.A. and $75.00/year in other foreign countries. 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 The North Huron Finding the balance The federal government is about to open debate on changes to the Young Offenders Act and there's no doubt there will be plenty of voices raised, taking every position from reinstating flogging to concentrating more on rehabilitation more than on punishment. Somewhere between the two extremes in public opinion is the uneasy middle ground. There are no perfect answers to the difficult problem of dealing with young offenders. The difficulty for governments and correction officials is that no one solution works for every troubled young person. Society, meanwhile wants nice simple answers, generally leaning toward harsher treatment. There's no doubt some young people have taken advantage of society's, and the government's, attempt to give offenders a chance to turn their lives around. There has been an attitude with some young people that they have a special status because of the act, that if they break the law they will be treated less harshly than adults would: even their names won't be made public. There's also the reality, however, that dealing harshly with young offenders, throwing them in jails, for instance, means they associate only with other offenders. Jails often act as a college for criminal activity. The sad reality is youth crime will not go away no matter whether society seeks rehabilitation or retribution as the solution. Even in countries where hanging or amputation of offending limbs is practised, there is still crime. On the other hand, not all offenders can be rehabilitated. We must find a flexible solution that allows authorities to choose the best path for each young offenders, rehabilitating those who can be rehabilitated while getting the others out of harm's way. The best that can be done is to make young people realize they are responsible for their actions. For some, the best way of doing this is not putting them behind bars or fences but finding ways that they can compensate their victims. In a way, jail is the easy way out for some of these young people, letting them walk away from the harm they have done. On the other hand, part of rehabilitation must be the realization that there are consequences for all actions. Even the wisdom of Solomon would be tested by the problem of young offenders. Let's just hope that anger over the failures of past policies doesn't lead us to adopt policies that will be as bad, or worse, on the opposite side of the spectrum. —KR Surprise, surprise! Ontario will face a shortage of nurses in the next decade, the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) said this week. Anyone who's been unfortunate enough to be in hospital lately would realize we already have a shortage. The ONA, of course, was talking about a shortage even for our pared-back medical system which has cut 10,000 jobs since 1993. It was pointing to the declining enrollment in nursing programs at colleges and universities. Young people see the lack of respect for nurses, the increasing workload and the attempts to cap pay, and are not attracted to the job. They see people slightly older than themselves who trained as nurses and had to go to Texas or some other foreign hospital to find work because Ontario hospitals were cutting back, not hiring. Why would they risk going to school to come out with no job, or, if they were lucky, to find a job in which they were expected to do more and more. Combine this with the fact that most of the nurses who kept their jobs were those with more seniority, and who will be retiring, and the ONA predicts a shortage of 35,000 nurses in Ontario (100,000 in Canada) by 2011. Perhaps it's time the federal and provincial governments stopped being so fixated with cost cutting and cared more about the service to the patients, including hiring enough nurses to look after people. Cutbacks have reached such an extreme, for instance, that at the London Health Sciences Centre some women are having mastectomies are now discharged the same day. What's more there are so few porters that patients being released after surgery have to walk to their cars instead of having wheelchairs to help them. If you were lying in a hospital last week as Ontario Finance Minister Ernie Eves proudly announced another tax cut, do you think you'd care, or would you sooner have a few more nurses to help you? — KR E ditorial