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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-05-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2000. Editorials & Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil The Citizen is published 50 times a year 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 $100/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 newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. Publications Mail Reg. No. 09244 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 1374990 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Jpcna@<* .g- Member of the Ontario Press Council BBIEW So what now? Parents with children attending Walton Public School can be excused if they’re a little mystified and frustrated about their children’s future following Friday’s court decision that the Avon Maitland District School Board couldn’t close the Seaforth elementary and secondary schools because it hadn’t followed proper procedure. An appeals court ruled that, by not giving the Seaforth community a chance to prepare a case against the closure of its school, as it had with other schools which were designated for possible closure, the school board had acted illegally. It means the school board can’t, at least for now, go ahead with plans to close the high school and turn it into an elementary school. That larger elementary school was to have housed Walton students since their school is also to be closed. The Walton school was not directly involved in the court ruling. Yet at the same time it was affected. If plans to close the school continue, where will the students go? If not, how do parents get a school that was preparing to close, back on track. And even if the school is not closed this year, will it be next year? Uncertainty rules and the sooner the school board can put the confusion to rest, the better. In the meantime there should perhaps be one lesson for the rest of us from the victory of the Seaforth community — even if it is just a short­ term win. The cause of saving Seaforth’s high school seemed lost, yet people kept fighting and they won. Maybe the rest of us give in too easily to the “inevitable”. — AT? So much talk, so little debate Universal health care — medicare — may have replaced the weather as the most talked-about subject in Canada. Every day in some newspaper or on some talk show, the subject of the future of free health care gets rehashed again. Is there a future? Is it time to abandon the system? Should we try to mix th^ public and private system? Yet for all the talk, for all the trees that died to print all the pages in the daily press, we seldom seem to really debate what we mean by universal health care. We need a talk about the real issues, not just the headlines. What, for instance, is the purpose of medicare? Those old enough to remember the bad old days before medicare (and there seem to be fewer and fewer of us all the time) can remember when a serious illness could be catastrophic for a family. Doctor’s visits, medicine and, heaven help you, a stay in hospital, could not only wipe out a family’s life savings, but endanger its home or business. That kind of hard reality is missing for most people today — either they’ve forgotten what it was like to live in fear or they weren’t around. Medicare, first introduced in Saskatchewan by Tommy Douglas and then brought to the national level by Lester Pearson, rid the country of that fear. And because of the lack of fear, people lived longer. Lower income people didn’t put off going to the doctor because they were worried about how they’d pay the bills. Doctors, if they thought a patient would benefit by going to the hospital, didn’t have to waigh the economic consequences for the patient’s family. There’s no doubt our country is healthier and wealthier because of universal access to care. But over time we’ve changed our definition of health care. Originally medicare was designed to help create a just society in which the poor got decent medical treatment without fear of the financial consequences. As years went by, however, the scope of the program increased. The emphasis seemed to be on medical treatment being “free” instead of whether treatment would impoverish the patient. Free medical treatment became a right, whether it’s of a catastrophic nature or not. Health care became an instrument of social justice. If someone needed medical care, they were disadvantaged and society should try to wipe out that disadvantage. So more and more medical conditions were paid for by medicare. Poor women, for instance, should have the same access to abortion as rich people so abortions were included in the services. On the other hand, some childless couples feel that fertility treatments should be covered — it isn’t just that they should be childless. The problem is we can’t afford a system that tries to undo every injustice and we may lose the whole system if we try. We have to debate, really debate, what medicare is about, then decide where it’s going from here. — KR Letters to the Editor Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. Photo by Pauline Blok SO LT, Looking Back Through the Years May 21, 1975 Huron County Board of Education approved the salary schedule for secondary school teachers with an increase in the salary bill of 29.92 per cent. The salary schedule for 1974-75 was $4,058,990 for 256 teachers. In 1975-76 it would be $5,273,621. Blyth Women’s Institute celebrated its 65th anniversary. Ralph Hoba, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Hoba of RR3, Blyth, a mechanical technology student in the technical program at Central Huron Secondary School brought distinction to himself and the school by winning second in the technical contest sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (London- St. Thomas Chapter. Each student was required to submit a 3,000 word technical production report on a major industry. These were evaluated for accuracy, grammar, clarity and originality. Ralph’s report was on zinc die casting. The separate school board moved its offices to Dublin. May 20, 1987 Brussels was gearing up for its Homecoming celebration with a plea for more volunteers. West Wawanosh taxes jumped 4.57 per cent. Roller skating got underway at the Blyth arena. Mrs. Jack Knight was the new president of Cranbrook WI. Bob Harkness, owner-operator of R. Harkness Victorian Millwork in Morris Twp. won the Brantford home Builders Association Award at the Brantford home show for the display, judged the best of 105 entries. The business was located in the old Morris Twp. shed, across County Rd. 16 from the municipal office. A judging workshop organized by 4-H leaders and OMAF in preparation for the county-wide judging competition was held at the Mclntoshes’ at RR5, Brussels. Members taking part included Sandra Shelley, Kim Rintoul, Vanessa Alton and Grant Martin. Maitland Valley Conservation Authority began the second year of a long-term study of manure management practices and the problem of rural sources of pollution in the MVCA watershed. As part of the study staff visited 250 farm operators. Karla Stacey, eight, of Londesboro won a special award for stepdancing at the Kiwanis Festival in Stratford. She earned second place in novice old-time reel and was also presented a cash award in recognition of her achievement as a first-year student. Also receiving awards at the festival were Rhonda Howatt, Paula Allen, Jennifer Szusz and Kara Murray, all students of Cheryl Bromley. Lori Appleby had papered a wall of her home with ribbons won in a high school career as a star of the F.E. Madill track and field team. Madill’s Dramatic Arts Club was presenting Godspell. Blyth taxes jumped 4.7 per cent. Bruce McCall of Brussels was named chair of the MVCA. May 24, 1995 Canadian writer Timothy Findley was coming to Blyth for the annual book sale at the Festival. Brussels planned a community yard sale. Melody White was named the newest Morris councillor. The entire student body of Walton Public School joined former vice­ principal Louise Wilson to dedicate a maple tree in her honour for her years of contribution to education. A top costume and set designer, Debra Hanson was on the Blyth Festival season team. Champions for the Brussels track meet were Drew Thomas, Brent Wheeler, Ryan Mawhinney, Nolan Krotz, Scott Glitz, Evan Horst, Jason Bowin, Tyler Bragg, Candice McLellean, Catrina Josling, Jodi Sellers, Jenna Krotz, Amy Douma, Nicole Lowe, Amanda Van Beek and Sarah Exel. The Hullett school band won first place at the Walkerton Music Festival. Brussels Agricultural Society hosted a penny sale. Dairy Educator Kim Baan was making the rounds of various schools discussing milk’s benefits and life on a dairy farm. The Tigers were raring to go and the Bulldogs were off to a slow start in Brussels fastball action.