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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-04-29, Page 4times Established 1873 snarl_ Times -Advocate, April .29, 19$1 Imes - Advocate Established 1881 dvocate s I-. WIN= Uwe III SERVING CANADA S BEST FARMLAND CWNA OW NA CLASS 'A' AND ABC MEMBER ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL Published by J W. Eedy Publications limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235-1331 eNA Amolgomoled 1924 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $17.00 Per Year; USA $35.00 Avt*vm �a` 1 .;1f emlom . a r'.?ads :atleaw tom TA aP►iN10N Give them a chance This time of year college and un- iversity students are on the prowl for summer jobs. And in a few short months the number of job seekers will swell when the high school year ends. That will put a lot of young people on the summer job market and some of them will be looking for their first full- time employment. Many employees in the Goderich area have an active summer employ- ment program and they are fully aware of the benefits of student labor. Young people have a lot to offer business and industry. But the task of finding a summer job is not an easy one. The economic, climate has dictated cutbacks in several areas and jobs are simply not as plentiful as they once were. Students now may have to knock on several doors before any opportunity presents itself. The Student Manpower office does a lot of the door knocking for students in advance and is successful in making needed placements. Many businessess and industries co-operate with the student placement centre annually which indicates they were more than satisfied with student labor. But the jobs are tougher to find each year. Students and young people have something to offer the labor force but they have to be given the chance to dis- play that initiative and talent. If you have any openings during the summer or could use some extra help, contact the student placement office and give a student a chance. Goderich Signal -Star Trend setter Hospital workers, who can't legally strike, have some legitimate com- plaints about the niggardly spending habits of governments. Postal workers, who can strike, have no such com- plaint. Neither do office workers — who can strike. The 17,500 members of the Ontario public Service Employees Union overwhelmingly approved a contract earlier this month that will provide one-year increases of 13.56 percent for clerical workers and 14.4 percent for of- fice workers. This large group of Ontario's civil servants now will earn (or at least be paid) an average of about $305 a week. No wonder an OPSEW spokesman could say: "It's the best settlement we've had so far this year." And governments continue to lead the way — upward — in the inflation battle. You'll miss us I'd like to ask the people a few questions. It's a matter of economic survival to me as well as to millions of other little people who have small stores. Whom do you ask to cash your checks when things are tight. Whom do you ask to take ads' for your organization's yearbooks and programs. Whom do you ask for con- tributions to banquets, raffles, etc. Who do you call after hours when you need a special item. Who do you ask to put up your posters for special events. Who helps sponsor and coach minor hockey, soccer teams, etc. Who donatesprizesand awards to 4-H clubs, By SYD FL.ETCHER Last week I told about the multitude of problems farmers have to face in this weird economy that exists right now I expressed amazement that so many of them have stayed with the buiness as long as they have. Despite all of the financial squeezes that farmers en- counter. despite the uncer- tainties of weather and possible crop failure. of viruses that can wipe out a whole herd of hogs. they stay with it. Why? I see a number of things that do encourage farmers and convince them that theirs is one of the hest of all worlds to live in. In the first place, I have to feel that children raised on farms are indeed fortunate. They have a chance to 4 Grimsby Independent bowling and curling leagues, local school activities, horse shows and fair days. It's your local home town small businessman. After all, he's your friend and neighbour. But when you want to make a purchase, how often do you drive past his place of business and go to a giant store thinking you might save a few cents, without giving your local merchant a chance or even comparing his prices. We are competitive with the biggest stores price -wise and our ser- vices are often better. But we can't sur- vive much longer. When we go you'll miss us. Perspectives observe nature at first hand. They grow up in an environ- ment that is relatively un- complicated and free of the bad influences that can oc- cur in heavier concen- trations of people. They have a chance to grow up with regular responsibility -- do- ing simple chores never hurt a child On the other hand it shows the child that other people. that animals depend on them thus they grow up feeling the importance of themselves in the world. The farmer himself, in most cases. is aware of his own importance. Ile knows that he and his family are feeding many scores of other people and each year is becoming better at that task North American farmers are among the most efficient in the world. Despite his growing costs and the fact that many young farmers are having problems due to them, a goodly number of establish- ed farmers are making a good living. enough to buy the same material things such as snomohiles and swimming pools. that their counterparts in industry are. able to buy. Most farmers like the way they can be outside a good part of the time. That may not be appreciated by them when the power take -off breaks in sub -zero temperatures just as they are going to 'chop' corn but many other times it is good to he out of the city's smog. The most important asset a farmer has though, is the satisfaction of being one's own boss. Nobody tells him when to stop work or start. 1f he plants his seed a week early he has nobody to blame but himself if the crop fails. That may he a worry sometimes, but on the whole it is a good thing to be able to make one's own decisions. That way, if you end up with a good, paying farm you can pat yourself on the back and be truly satisfied, which is more than many an assembly -line worker can say at the end of the day as he picks up his lunch pail and goes out the door. BATT'N Light at the end of the tunnel It's difficult to master The English language has always beenknownas one of the most difficult to master. Those of us who have been weaned on the intricacies and con- fusions of our native tongue have become accustomed to it, but even some minor consideration of the language indicates how confusing it must be for those newcomers who attempt to master it. While some words have been "americanized" the puritans still insist that we sit in a draught, while prac- ticing a craft. And so the confusion reigns and our energy wanes as the mind drains. One of the problems with our language is the fact that some words are ambidextrous and the two-way words make life miserable for the stu- dent of English. A seeded rye (caraway to go) has seeds put in, while seeded raisins have the seeds taken out. A fast horse runs; a fast color does not. When you dust crops, you sprinkle the dust on; when you dust furniture, you wipe the dust off. When you scan a page, you glance at it quickly — or you scrutinize it careful- ly. The same thing with peruse. It used to mean "to read closely" now it also means its opposite, "to run your eye over it". If you think better of a person, you admire him/her more; if you think better of a project, you may cast it aside. Similarly, a handicap helps a long -shot horse compete with the favorite, but a handicap is usually con- sidered a drawback. Sometimes a word is turned into the opposite of itself through sarcastic use: a fine condition is a far cry from a fine mess. The verbal use of the language is dif- ficult enough for people attempting to master it, but the printed word becomes even more hazardous because inflections and facial expressions can not be used in an attempt to get the feeling for and meaning of the many confusing words j'and phrases with which we communicate. It's no wonder that spelling and grammar are the millstone for most kids. There's just no reason for some of the various spellings of words which have similar pronunciations. However, people compound the problem for those of us in the com- munication business with some odd spellings of names. For many given names, we have up to four variations, and generally speaking, tend to get the wrong one each time. Even when a reporter gets the cor- rect spelling, the proof readers come to the conclusion it can't be right and so they change it. Come to think about it, the use of social insurance numbers to identify people isn't such a bad idea after all. • After an unfortunate experience a few. years Ngo, the writer implented a program of giving a short spelling test to all would-be reporters seeking positions on the staff. Of course, I don't even consider those who spell my name incorrectly when sending in their applications. One chap seeking a position in the advertising Sugar and Spice Dispensed by Smiley /1 department was quickly weeded out when he spelled advertising incorrect- ly. Two of the toughest words appear to be cemetery and convener. Most people want to make it cemetary or in one case, cementary. Convener, of course, usually ends up as convenor. It's a word used numerous times in meeting reports received here at the T -A and about one in ten of the contributors manages to get it right. Hockey fans have probably noticed that when an Ontario Minor Hockey Association representative shows up for a playoff game, he wears a bright red blazer with a flashy gold crest bearing the words, "OMHA convenor". So you see, it's not only the newspapers that make such errors. One of the beneficial aspects of the English language is that it is so com- plicated that no one can really be con- sidered a faultless user, whether by ig- norance or accident. A favorite ;letter from which I gain solace was one' received from a -reader denouncing me at great lengths for a grammatical error in an editorial. The writer, unfortunately weakened his position by having misspelled two words. And so the slaughter continues, still awaiting someone to come up with some easier method of communication. Perhaps the cave man had the right idea with his grunts. P.S. If you can't find at least two errors in this column, you're probably not trying hard enough. Answering classic question Dateline: Moosonee. How did a nice boy like you wind up in a place like this? Isn't that the classic question prostitutes are asked? Yes. Well. I realize the entire world is waiting for my answer, so I roust con- fess. I didn't wind up here. I came here. And if I don't get out pretty soon, I just might wind up here. Buried in rnud, with taxis driven by gently -laughing In- dian ladies rolling right over my Irish tweed hat. the only thing sticking out of the mud. Mossonee is not Far North. In fact, move it far enough west, and it could be a suburb of Edmonton. But it's far enough north to be one of those towns that are neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring, in this democratic, liberal -thinking, decent, next -door -neighbor country of ours. As a result, it is a combination of a nightmare by Dostoievski and a plan for a Utopian village by Tolstoy. Two -room shacks with the inevitable snowmobile parked outside, and a minute's walk away, super -modern school buildings, tidy liquor store, neat brick post office. Truly beautiful Indian toddlers. supervised by smart, smiling young In- dian womenhappy-go-lucky teenageian kids who should be in school but, with apparently no financial problems, smoke, drink coffee or Cokes, and feed the juke box, which whines the same old songs they're hearing in Halifax and Vancouver. Andthree tables away, in the same Chinese (that's tight, Chinese) restaurant, a grizzled old guy, so drunk he doesn't know whether he's sipping his toast or eating his coffee. Mean, obscene, obstreperous. But they look after him. Anywhere else, they'd call the fuzz, and he'd wind up in the stammer. Not in Moosonee. When he'd driven everyone else out, he turned on me, the cool -looking guy with the shirt and tie, the fresh shave, the snappy trenchcoat and the skiing earlugs my wife insisted I wear, even in a Moosonee heat -wave. (Glad I did. If I'd taken them off, I'd have had sun- burned ears, which would have made my old lady think I'd gone to Texas on March break, instead of Moosonee.) Anyway, this almost incoherent old drunk zoned in on me, despite my pretending to be a born-again Christian or a deaf-mute or a retarded senior citizen just out of the funny farm, and went into a lurching dialogue about Kon and how we'd captured 750,000 Ger- mans in the Falaise Gap. Suddenly we were buddies. Kon was Caen, Normandy, 1944. that was my baptism of fire. He was in the Infantry, trying to capture the mess of shattered bricks and unshattered Germans. After I'd convinced him that I was a fighter polot and not one of those jerks of bomber people who bombed their own troops. we were soul -brothers. In fact. if I'd thrown away my fancy topcoat. let me whiskers grow for five days, taken out my partial plate, and gotten incredubly plastered, you wouldn't have known us apart. We separated with one of those 10 -minute handshakes that drunks insist on. And I felt very sad. Jutside, on the street, macho young Indians, sometimes three abreast, sunglasses, thumbs in denim trousers, some pockmarked, some handsome, some menacing faintly. Playing a role. I am proud to say that not one of them pushed me off the sidewalk into the mud. I stepped off, a purely individual choice, into the mud. Middle of main street. Water two feet deep. Kids of all colours wading around in it with their 14 inch rubber boots, wildly happy, soaked as seals, oblivious to all else except sun, water, mud. Golly, it sounds as though I don't like Moosonee. That's wrong. I love it. And I'll tell why next week. Mainstream Canada It's time to stop coddling automakers /;► 11. Roger Worth Ford.t'anadoa was the first of the inajor automakers to get millions of dollars in government handouts 10 build a new plant in Canada. Then, gosernments on both sides of the border pitched in to bail out Chrysler with further millions. Novi the North American auto manufacturers and the United Auto Workers Union are seeking quotas on imported cars, effectively driving up car prices for all Canadians. Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The fact is, our automakers have already been coddled by Canadian taxpayers to a degree that is almost obscene. In addition to gosernmenl grants and handouts from the public pocketbook, Cana- dians are paying a 15°%o import duty on Japanese and other foreign made cars. As a result, North American manufacturers are able to maintain prices at high levels and still be com- petitive in the marketplace. Canadians, of course, have been buying more and more foreign built vehicles, even at inflated prices. he major reason: the for- eigners are producing better quality cars, with fewer recalls, than their North American counterparts. And when even the smallest cars sell for $6,000 or more, and interest on auto loans surpass 14°'o, that's an important plus. Naturally, a lot of Cana- dians are upset about the auto industry's push for import quotas. Recently, a majority of members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, for example, voted against the government taking such action. Perhaps it's lime the auto executives who preach free enterprise, yet line up for government handouts, learned about competition. Canadian taxpayers should not be forced to continue to pay for the bad management, as well as autoworker wage rates of $15 -S20 per hour, that have created the pro- blems in the North American industry. The readers write April 18, 1981 Chatham, N.B. Dear Editor High School Reunion: St. Thomas and St. Michaels Chatham. New Brunswick 1982 will mark the 50th an- niversary of the present St. Michael's school in Chatham. N.B. Since there were many close ties with St. Thomas through the years, a giant reunion is in the organizational stages for both these schools. The date has been set for June 30. 1982 to July 4, 1982. An effort is being made to contact all former graduates. If you are a former graduate of either of these schools. we would love to hear from you. Kindly write us im- mediately sending your pre- sent address and graduation year to: School Reunion Committee 27 Centre St. Chatham. N.13. EIN 1K4 Yours truly Mrs. Rene Noel /54 Dear Editor Agriculture Canada is continuing • its public awareness program with the theme "Don't Bring It Back." The purpose is to advise, inform and alert the travelling public of the dangers that could occur if foreign materials such as meat, animals, birds, fruit, vegetables, plants and soil were checked and cleared by our inspection personnel. Two examples of severe consequence are foot and mouth disease which came to Canada in the 1950's via uncooked sausage which resulted in a $800 million cost to the taxpayer. Another is Dutch Elm disease which arrived undetected in a shipment of logs and is now destroying Canada's native elm trees. I have enclosed copies of our brochure in both official languages explaining and illustrating agricultural and related commodities designated as allowed, prohibited and restricted. On behalf of the Govern- ment of Canada, may I ask you to help us in supporting the program by giving the campaign as much coverage and publicity as possible. If you would like to receive additional copies please write to: Information Services Agriculture Canada Sir John Carling Building Ottawa, Ontario K1A OC7 Thank you. Sincerely yours Eugene F. Whelan Minister of Agriculture CANADA COLUMN By John Fisher of the Council for Canadian Unity OE� Conseil pour I'unite'canadienne All the monuments to Samuel Champlain show him as a confident father figure. He deserves to be portrayed as the 'father of Canada' because no man left as big a footprint on Canada. But, he never played a full father role at home! Champlain married Helene when she was eleven, but didn't live with her until she arrived in Quebec at the age of 22. Helene was never happy in Quebec and after four years she packed her bags for France. So, Champlain adopted three young Indian girls and raised them as if they were his daughters. He called them Faith, Hope and Charity. When British Admiral Kirke captured Quebec and took him to Europe as prisoner, Cham- plain wanted to take his daughters wtth him but permission was denied. During his absence, Champlain dreamed of the day when he would again embrace his daughters. When he returned, he found his house empty of girlish giggles. The girls had returned to tribal life and thus the man who fathered Canada died on Christmas Day, 1635, with• out knowing the joys of being a father in his own home. John Fisher, Executive Vice President of the Council for Canadian Unity was Canada's Centennial Conn ia.1oner. Partners in tomorrow United Way Support Red Cross services with a donation to United Way