The Huron Expositor, 1998-12-09, Page 5Tad apple syndrome' in the ban
To The Editor
I have been selling
snowmobiles for over ten
years. I have been
snowmobiling for as long as
I can remember. When I was
young we used to go from
our house on Goderich
Street. It was some of the
best times of my life.
The reperc.rs.ions of
banning snowmobiles from
Seaforth are huge, much
bigger than most people
would believe. Many
businesses will lose precious
sales. Businesses like
Archie's UCO, The
Commercial Hotel, Sparky's,
New Orleans Pizza, Classics
Cafe, Pizza Train,
McLaughlin's Chev/Olds,
Middegaals Sports, Seaforth
UAP, Janet's Donuts, Mac's
Milk and Vincent Farm
Equipment (sorry if I left
anybody out). These
businesses will be directly
losing $. Those people that
own and work at these
businesses spend money in
Seaforth. Other businesses
will also lose spin off
revenues. Businesses like
Box Furniture, Cardno's
Mens Wear, Hildebrand
Flowers, Hildebrand Paint
and Paper, Sills Hardware,
Kids Kloze, Main Street
Video, Nifty Korners, Tasty
Nu, Total Image II, Seaforth
Do -It Centre, Diva Graphics
and Flower Magic. It is
tough enough to make it in a
small town, let's not make it
any harder.
I had lunch in Sizzlers just
lately with the Ski-doo
dealer from Sarnia. He
brings customers and friends
to this area to snowmobile.
They don't pack lunches,
they don't fill gas cans in
Sarnia before they leave.
These snowmobilers spend a
lot of money. We should
open our arms and welcome
them. Millions and millions
of dollars are spent each year
by snowmobilers, let's get
our share.
As 1 see it 95% of the
snowmobilers aren't a
problem in Seaforth. It's the
old "bad apple syndrome." If
Seaforth bans snowmobiles it
will only make the problem
worse. Those people that do -
come in to town on
snowmobiles aren't going to
drive on the road or obey
speed limits because they are
breaking the law anyway.
I pay taxes in Seaforth, I
snowmobile and I obey the
rules.
Barry Vincent
The law will be broken and no one can stop it
Dear Editor:
I think that Seaforth's new
snowmobile law is unrealistic and
cruel. These people obviously didn't
think the idea over at all. People can't
be expected to trailer their sleds out of
town, it's just too costly and time
consuming. Local businesses stand to
lose a lot of money. People also won't
want to move into a town with such
harsh rules.
The town also screwed themselves
because "legally" they can't host their
annual snow show. That is a big tourist
attraction and it generates a lot of
revenue for the town.
If they are going to outlaw
snowmobiles they also have to ban
motorcycles, trains, lawnmowers and
loud vehicles. It's pretty obvious that
the rules will have to be thought out a
lot more carefully.
The law will be broken and there isn't
much anyone can do about it.
Kevin Carnochan,
Age 16
Town's snowmobile ban is stupid and unenforceable
Dear Editor:
I'm curious as to how the
town plans to enforce this
new by-law. I have
discussed this new law with
a large number of people
and we all agree on one
thing, that this new by-law
is stupid and unenforceable,
and honestly. is it actually
legal to prevent a motorized
vehicle from getting gas?
Yes, I do agree with the
new by-law to a very small
point, it can be dangerous
to children having
snowmobiles running
through the streets. but the
possibility of a child being
hit by a snowmobile is slim
because the few
snowmobilers who are not
responsible (and I haven't
seen too many) stick -to the
trails.
How is a snowmobiler
who lives in town supposed
to get to the trails? Are they
too, like the people who
'need gas, supposed to bring
their snowmobiles to the
trails on a trailer? And the
same for when they want to
return home?
If snowmobiles are now
banned from town for the
reasons like they are too
noisy,. dangerous and
because they ruin property,
then why can we drive cars
in town? They too, are a
form of transportation.
They too, are noisy. They
too, destroy property when
used immaturely. They too,
are dangerous.
Correct me if I'm wrong,
but have more children not
died in car accidents then in
snowmobiling accidents?
Banning cars may sound
stupid to you, but if you
think about it, it's stupid to
ban snowmobiling because
it's exactly the same thing.
Why must you let a few
jerks ruin the fun and
transportation for everyone,
treat snowmobiles like cars,
find the ones causing the
problems and stop them
from making more. Don't
judge and penalize
everyone for others' dumb
mistakes. Treat
snowmobiling like you'd
treat any other form of
transportation. ' ,
And with all do respect,
stop the prejudice that
you're starting. You're
judging everyone on a small
amount of people, and it's
not fair to the people who
have done nothing wrong
and who have been
responsible.
'I have said what I feel,
and if it means anything, I
don't even snowmobile, so
think of the opinions of the
people who do. What I'm.
asking you now is to think
about what I, and everyone
else has said and to look
into your hearts and into
what you're doing and ask
yourselves is this right and
will it work. Consider
open-mindedly 'the feelings
of the other people who you
haven't talked to for your
decision and think and
reconsider. Thank you.
Melissa Oosterbosch
Age 17
Let's find
a way
to educate
FROM Page 4
act, that is their choice.
Instead of a total ban of snowmobiles,
let's find a way to enforce and -educate'
riders of the -existing-•rules. Let's
compromise to come to a solution for this
problem. There are lots of courteous riders
out there that just enjoy this activity.
So as snowmobile enthusiasts, we would
like the choice of coming into town to
refuel and have -something to eat on our
way.
Doug and Faye Upshall
Could Darwin's evolution come up with maple seed?
FROM Page 4
dust of the soil... and he
fashioned man from the dust of
the soil... and God then said, "It
is not good that man should be
alone" - and while the man
slept he created woman by
taking a rib - enclosing it in
flesh. And the' man named the
woman Eve.
Decades later Hollywood
confirmed Mrs. Close's story
and added realism and colour
to the pictures I had long
carried in my mind. "The
Bible" made in 1966 by John
Huston let me see the fog and
mist and swirling winds of
creation... and the making of
God's first man and woman...
with sound effects and
background music.
Protecting this version of
man's arrival was no less than
the Senate of State of
Tennessee on March 21, 1925,
passing a law forbidding the
teaching of Evolution in
school. God fearing folk had
to be protected from the wild
and crazy talcs of Huxley and
Darwin. Sadly it spawned into
a battle - "The Monkey Trial"
between Clarence Darrow and
William Jennings Bryan. 1 was
just a few months old... but in
later years I got to see the
'movie.
From hairy Homo Erectus
who roamed upright. used fire
and could likely talk - through
Homo Sapiens to thc
Neanderthal man - to thc Cro-
Magnon. our world's first artist
who left a record of fine cave
paintings as he spread to most
habitable parts of Earth... to
you and mc - it has been a
mere million years.
Are the simple, sweeping
concepts in the Bible's story of
creation now to be interpreted
by most Christians and Jews as
being merely symbolic of the
spirit and the majesty of God?
Do we now need a new kind of
scholar to re -convert the
converted? Or at least
reconstruct our ancient
teachings to incorporate the
cosmic discoveries of thc 20th
century.
The creation of the Earth,
and the origin of man has
preoccupied human thought for
thousands of years and is
responsible for many of our
beliefs and religions. The
influence for good f ancient
Biblical translations on
mankind over the centuries has.
been awesome... and so
majestically durable.
So much of the word of God
is fascinating and beautiful.
But is it simply a reflection of
man's yearning to fathom
mysteries he could not possibly
understand? The poetic
attempts of ancient scribes to
build a theological prehistory
to accommodate a wish for a
moral world surely reflects
man's desire for good over
evil.
The integrity of their
motives is never in question for
they looked at the past and
sought answers as honourable
men interpreting what was
passed down over thousands of
years as best they could. The
luxury of gazing back millions
of years through space and
time - and even taking
photographs of the past... was
never theirs.
But now millions of us
simple believers lacking the
knowledge and the telescopes,
arc woefully lagging in ways to
meld God's biblical revelations
on how in six days he made
this planet... and rested on the
seventh - and made it home for
Adam and Eve... with what we
see and hear on the learning
channel.
For thousands of years we
have said prayers of thanks to
our maker... and few of us now
want to switch to Charles
Darwin or Thomas Huxley.
Indeed there was 'a big
bang... about 20 billion years'
ago - give or take a century or
two. It was awesome beyond
anything we could conceive or
imagine and defies explanation
and comprehension. For out of
it spun violently colliding
particles, unimaginable heat
and a brilliant bath of light and
x-rays... and expanding space.
Many cannot tolerate the
vision. For what happened is
not possible. But it did happen.
Even harder to picture is what
was there before... for there
was nothing. There was no
empty space - for our own
Universe of space and time
was created by matter plying
out from the "Big Bang", and a
tiny part of it was to become
our "Milky Way" home.
As the only known human
species up to now we have had
reason to feel alone... and
superior. But our little stellar
world, here in the off -beat
suburbs, with our own sun and
our close -by circling planets is
not unique.
Nor are we alone. Within
the boundaries of our Galaxy
city... we have neighbours -
thought to number about 100
billion. Crowding is not really
a problem and it's unlikely
we'll bump elbows - for we
can't even pay them a visit. At
least not fora while.
A trip from one end of our
own "Milky Way" home to the
other is a bit more than a sleep -
over. Travelling at the speed of
light, which is pretty fast...
something around 650 million
miles an hour, one could make
it handily in a bit under
100,000 years.
And that's just a cruise
around our own back yard. For
give or take a few million,
there are about 100 billion
other galaxies - each with their
own 100 billion suns. And like
us, despite their rather
unwieldy size, are spinning
around doing their own thing...
and just maybe trying to send
messages to us.
Unless some divine hand
intervenes it is unlikely travel
to other galaxies will come
about in the foreseeable future.
And if there is a divine hand
out there, is it theirs or ours? Is
our God their God... or are
their different Gods for
different worlds?
Our closest neighbour is the
Andromeda Galaxy, one of the
100 billion giants in the wild
endless expanse of the
universe.. and here too are
some rather difficult travel
restrictions.
A space traveller moving at
about the speed of light to
Andromeda and back runs into
some inconveniences... first set
out by Albert Einstein...
It is indeed a long trip and
the traveller would have grown
about 56 years older during the
flight. A second and more
vexing problem would be the
sad discovery that on his return
nobody would remember
him... for the Earth would have
aged four million years while
he was away.
The scholars of old had the
wisdom and the knowledge of
their age. Our new scholars are
no more dedicated or honest...
but time has given them an
incredible edge. Fantasy has
become fact.
Science and technology,
rather than confronting and
denouncing the past may well
acclaim history and show us a
way to "Keep the faith."
The "Big Bang" of billions
of years ago and the resulting
expanding universe does not
totally preclude a creator.
Rather our ability now to
gather overwhelming bodies of
information and data about
our past sheds new light more
precisely on when it happened.
and was the hand of
someone there?
My own conversion' to
Darwinian Evolution was
firming up. ... until I walked
under our big maple tree as the
seeds for next year's tiny
saplings fell. They circled
down and away like little
helicopters. What a great idea
... they flew out out and away
from the tree to take root on a
new piece of ground all their
own.
Did the spirit of God design
this bit of flora to twirl around
and catch the wind._ or was it
simply the process of
evolution...?
Without a mind of some sort
and the power to reason could
Darwin's Evolution come up
with such a great idea? -
My belief in the Big Bang,
and that eons ago our
beginning was a Godless one
began to come apart at the
sight of a tiny maple seed
twirling its way to the ground.
Yes, I do believe the hand of
god was there.
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