Huron Expositor, 2007-10-17, Page 51
Poge 4 October 17, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
.2 r
Opinion.
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1W0
There's �nIytwo weeks
Ieft
until. the
best
day
of
he Year
Iocai. poverty
At the same time of year that area food banks
begin to gear up for the Christmas demand on their
resources, Huron County residents are being asked
to stand up and speak out against poverty and
inequality.
Today, Wednesday, Oct. 17, is International Day
for the Eradication of Poverty.
The Huron County Health Unit is organizing an
event at 10 a.m. at the health unit building in
Clinton to urge governments to honour their com-
mitments to end poverty and discrimination.
The event will be part of organized activities
around the globe involving millions of people.
Janice Dunbar, community developer with the
health unit, says, "Poverty is not just an issue
somewhere else."
She says almost 30 per cent of Huron County res-
idents earned less than $30,000 a year in 2000,
adding that almost a third of all female -led, single
parent families live in low income.
While the sight of homeless people on the streets
of Huron County towns is so far a rare one, in
Seaforth, the continuing rise in the numbers of peo-
ple using the local food bank reminds us of the fact
that poverty exists in our own backyards.
Those on social assistance and the working poor
are the largest client group at the Seaforth food
bank, with 41 per cent of users being children, even
though the federal government promised to elimi-
nate child poverty some 17 years ago.
As well, in Clinton, a second food bank recently
opened to answer the needs of the hungry.
With the poverty line considered to be $18,849 in
2001 in Ontario for a single person (or $35,471 for
a family of four), it's clear that the current mini-
mum wage of $8 an hour (or $16,640 a year) is not
making the grade.
All United Nations countries, including Canada,
signed an agreement in 2000 to do their part to
reduce extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.
Dunbar says reducing poverty is also an impor-
tant goal for the Huron County Health Unit since
the rural poor face barriers such as fewer employ-
ment and educational opportunities, fewer social
services and support and a lack of access to nutri-
tious food and transportation.
As food banks become an ever increasing necessi-
ty in Huron communities, it's equally important to
protest the conditions that create their need.
Susan Hundertmark
Two weeks remain before
roving bands of ghosts, gob-
lins and Tranformers invade
our frontsteps in search of
sugar.
I can't wait.
Seriously.
Hallowe'en - in all its
orange, black and commer-
cial forms - has always been my favourite
time of year. Even in high school when I
was "too old" for dressing up.. I must be
regressing, because last year my girl-
friend and I dressed up and threw a cos-
tume bash.
For decorations, we did all the standard
stuff - cobwebs, candles, monster heads
and a bathtub full of fake blood. Then we
added our own special touches. We
chalked an outline of a body on our bal-
cony and taped it off with bright yellow
"police" lines.
Then I set up a tripod and camera and
took pictures of scenes around the apart-
ment with someone in the shot and of the
same spot empty. On computer, I superim-
posed the person over the empty scene
and made them partially transparent.
Instant ghost photos.
Those were posted around the apart-
ment with little ghost stories printed out
and posted underneath.
I took it as the highest compliment
when guests would look and read and
then shiver involuntarily. My night was
made when an old friend shook his head,
Aaron Jacklin
Your Community Nowsrpaper Since 1860
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smiled and marveled at how
twisted I was.
So, when I say Hallowe'en's
my favourite time of year, I
mean it.
To put it baldly, it's the one
time each year that I let
myself pretend to believe
that there's something more
to the world than what my senses can
verify. Ghosts, goblins, werewolves, vam-
pires and things that go bump in the
night. Magic.
Unfortunately, I'm a little behind on
getting in the Hallowe'en spirit. I normal-
ly take about a month to get there and
I'm not sure two weeks is going to be
enough.
There's so much to do.
I have to track down and watch as many
old horror flicks as possible. Carefully
pick through the new ones for the movies
that focus on cultivating dread in an
audience instead of revulsion at all the
gore spilled. Re -read one of the classics.
And buy candy.
Oh, I can't wait for the candy. Small
chocolate bars, "rockets" and the vile
orange and black wrapped toffee things
that weld my teeth together? Bring 'em
on.
Cavities don't form in October, right?
Yes, I'm 27. What of it?
You're never too old for Hallowe'en,
despite what teenagers say.
Ron di Dove
The autumn is such a
wonderful time of the
year. The birds are
migrating...there's a
nip in the air....
Pad '1114
41‘�, •
...and the leaves are It's the best
changing into a glorious
burst of color and
excitementl
C,k4:14
time of the yearl
Actually the birds are
migrating to avoid
storvation...the "nip" is
cold arctic air...and the
leaves are changing
because they're being
deprived of nutrients,
while the tree
conserves it's resources
in order to survive what
will likely be a
brutally cold and
deadly winterahead.
1
by David Lacey
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