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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-03-02, Page 4' Pop. 4 Times -Advocate, March 2, 1983 imes - Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 1 • dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by j.W. Eedy.Publications limited LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager' Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A. $56.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' Rules only for others it's not what you know, it's who you know! That charge has travelled through government circles for years and prompted Prime Minister Trudeau to establish conflict-of-interest guidelines in an attempt to establish some integrity. It now appears that the move was more for public relations than an intent to end allegations of pork bar- rel politics. Two of his own cabinet ministers have been found in contravention of the guidelines in their dealing with a former colleague, Alastair Gillespie, over a Nova Scotia project. The ministers have admitted their participation in the affair, but backed by the Prime Minister, have con- tinued to act as if it is defensible. The question is not whether Gillespie used his former cabinet friends and his intimate bureaucratic friends to gain some advantage in the deal. The issue is whether the guidelines were breached and, if so, what action should be taken. It probably comes as no surprise that there will be no action taken by the government towards the cabinet ministers and the bureaucrats involved. After all, they just make the rules for other people, not ' themselves. People shouldn't be too upset. They escaped hav- ing the issue handed over to some other Liberal party friend to be studied at a cost of $800 a day. Worm has turned Any day now, there will probably be a bumper sticker appearing on cars in this province bearing the message to "let those western &*%$&* drown in their oil." It will be the current oil glut response to the previous oil shortage bumper stickers appearing in Western Canada that suggested "let those eastern &* %$a @ freeze in the dark". - While there are obvious repercussions in the cur- rent oil price war for the world's bankers, consumers can at least take heart in the knowledge that the benefits of supply and demand are starting to work in the oil marketplace. The economic recession, conservation and new sources of oil have enabled us to escape the blackmail- ing tactics of the oil producing nations, tactics which in no small way helped fuel the recession. • With world oil prices declining, the pressure is growing on Ottawa and Alberta to abandon their pric- ing agreement and to remove the ceiling on domestic oil and accept the full world price. Canada's need for protection diminishes as the world price falls, but removing the cap on Canada's domestic price could in turn refuel domestic inflation and erode whatever competitive cost benefit Canadian industry derives from the ceiling. Ottawa may have difficulty overcoming the allure' of the extra millions of tak dollars available by eliminating the ceiling, even to the point of denounc- ing the promise of a made -in Canada oil pricing policy. Criticism a bit late Not unexpectedly there has been widespread pro- test that some "erotic" and "pornographic" movies are slated to appear on pay television programs distributed by First Choice. A letter on this subject ap- peared last week in the columns of The Wingham Advance -Times, written by Murray Cardiff, the local member of parliament. His outspoken support for clean and inoffensive entertainment is laudable. Mr. Cardiff, along with the majority of other pro- testers, seems to have been a bit tardy in awakening to the facts of television life. Sex -oriented movies have been appearing for some time without eliciting com- ment from the public - and they were not introduced • by the pay-TV distributors. Channel 79, multicultural channel 47, and the French' channel have featured nude scenes. Even the highly uplifting TV -Ontario channel has included some explicit presentations. \ Only last Wednesday CKNX-TV aired a midnight movie which left little or nothing to the imagination not only sex itself, but voyeurism and blatant cruel- ty to a helpless animal. Those who are offended by such movies are fully entitled to their opinion and we agree with those who want to express their opposition. However, they should include more targets than the newly -introduced pay- TV companies. Wingham Advance -Times White squirrels should be protested Did you know that Exeter has the largest population of white squirrels of any town in the world? Oh, you did! Well, did you know that population of white squirrels is being jeopardi7Pd? No, neither did I! Not, that is, until two members of the Exeter "Save our Squirrels" committee (S.O.S. for short) appeared in the office this week to seek support in their fight against the practice of trapping squirrels in the community. The initial reaction was to consider the two as having qualities befitting their four -legged friends' favorite dinner treat. After all, you'd have to he nuts to think that someone wanted to rid a neighborhood of squirrels, whatever their color. But apparently there are those in the community who consider the furry creatures with such disdain that they set traps to lure them, and then ship them out of town to some unknown destination and questionable future. While the major concern is for the white squirrel population, the S.O.S. members are fearful that a continuation of the trap- ping practice could seriously deplete the entire population. f f The members of the S.O.S. are the first to admit that squirrels can be a bit of a nuisance. They steal nuts, garden pro- duce, feed intended for birds and have been known to creat anxiety complexes for some household pets. However, they are of the opinion that the nusiance is far short of the pleasure derived in return and further suggest that the creatures should be extended some squatter's rights on the gardens and nut trees that were annexed without compen- F 7. y r# BATT'N AROUND with the editor sation from their forebears. You know... the native land rights sort of thing! To show that they're prepared to put their money where their mouth is, the S.O.S. members are offering to compen- sate the trappers for any garden or nut tree produce loss that may be incurred from their four -legged friends' hunting forays. However, the offer made personally to one of the trappers, has apparently fallen on deaf ears. The traps remain. The squir- rel population diminishes! f f * Having exhausted the route of common sense, the S.O.S. members appear to have, little choice but to take their case to the public and the public's elected representatives. it does appear ludicrous that council should have to get involved in such an issue, but if one of the unique characters of the community is being jeopardized, that may be the only plausible route as the trapper does appear to ha%a some legal basis for the practice. A ban on squirrel. Crapping should he easily bylawed. No one appears to know liow Exeter received the distinction of having such an inordinate number of white squirrels, but there is no doubt that the numbers should be protected. While some treat all squirrels with in- difference, there are man in this com- munity who invite closer ties,hy treating the furry neighbours to treats. in return they get to enjoy the frenzied antics and incessant chatter that greets their handouts. A daily routine has been established at some homes and it is not dif flout( Io envi- sion the ease by which the unsuspecting critters can be trapped by those who set out treats to lure them. They have no way of knowing that the treat in a trap is to he considered any more dangerous than the one held in a friendly hand. While there is no suggestion that the trappingordisposition is inhumane from a physical sense to the animal, it is a prac- tice that oan not be justified in the niind of most people. The town's squirrels, in particular the unique white variety, should be con sidered a public entity, and not something that can be disposed of by any individual, regardless of the trappers' reasons. Goodnessscnows there are enough nuts in this town to satisfy man and beast. "Fetch!" Sod 0041 �I?%� .oa GawE.' „ae 67610,f11314 JOUIV41‘1.— My last field trip Recently went on my , last "field trip" with • students. A field trip is something a teacher lines up, fields all kinds of base hits, and I do mean base, and trips over some little item, like six kids didn't make the bus home and how come and what about my little girl and what kind ' of educational system do we have, anyways? To some, a field trip is a day, 'or a .week off for teachers and a waste of time for students.. "Frills", snarls one parent. "Never had nonna that runnin' round in my day, seein' half-nekkid women and fools in long underwear, and I got a good eddication. Never outa work in my life." Says another. And they're right, of course. Field trips are frills. They cost money which would be far better spent in drilling them on how to spell "receive," even though, after five years, they still spell it "redeye". Or to put toan- too together and eventual- ly wind up knowing what a two-by-four is. • But maybe the pinch - mouthed lady who refers to "frills" would be a dif- ferent person if she'd taken a page from Lady Macbeth's book and put a little guts into her old man. And maybe the other guy would not be so smug if he'd travelled to the East Coast and see what a fisherman must do to earn a living. Mustn't digress, though it's tempting. Wait'll T retire. Boy. this paper will burn. as the column is be- ing written. I said it was my last field trip. Good reasons. i gave them up about ten years ago, ' and let the younger, idealistic teachers batter their brains and hods out against the mass of paper= of course, unless you're adventure. work, the planning, the endless coping with teenagers, the lower -age drinking privilege, and the soaring wage and fuel prices that make bus trips to a major centre such an ordeal. A trip to the city used to be a delight, when I began teaching. (Always have to Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley taking a group to study the latest pornographic movies, or the latest development in topless dancing. Then one orders a block of tickets. Then one sells them to the students, along with a formidable price for the bus. Then one fills out further forms, use that clause; I was never a "young teacher.") I'd tell the principal I wanted to take all the Grade 11's to see Richard Burton in "Hamlet," He'd say, "Sure, I'll see about buses." I'd phone and order 120 tickets, at two bucks each. The bus would be another two bucks. We'd have seats in the or- chestra, close enough to see the foam flying from Burton's face as he spat, "Oh, most pernicious woman." The kids would run around to Vie stage door for autographs. We'd head home, all present, replete with culture and inner ex- citement. That s al there there was to it. Nowadays, the field trip has become almost as complicated as one of Rommel's campaigns in the Western Desert. P's become a microcosm of our society, in which the words, "I come. I see. I conquer.", have been replaced by, "Cover -your -ass." Today, one must apply to the county school board, on a form. Then, one must get the principal's ap- proval, usually a matter, with the name, home rooms, and individual numbers of the students. Then one tries to collect the money from the students who are away sick, or have forgotten, or have changed their minds. Then one must pay the bus company, up front. Then one must send a che- que for the tickets. Then one must fill out more forms, declaring exactly who is going to be on each bus. And so on. And on. Then one must count and recount the students, make sure they get to the theatre on time, round them up for the trip home, count them again like so many cattle, scour the nearby taverns for the stragglers, leave behind those who have vanished, and return to a torrent of tirades. I've had some great trips, years ago, to the O'Keefe Centre, the Royai Alex, Stratford, before the purpose of the trip became smothered in a paper snowstorm. Frances Hyland, Richard Burton, Alex Guinness. Great plays, students high on theatre. Never mind the bus breakdown on the way home. it was part of the Then the troubles began. The permissive era. Lowered age for young drinkers. Bus prices going out of sight. Creeping bureaucracy that made it a paper hor- ror for the organizing teacher. Took my last trip to Ex- po. Students puking beer all over the bus, after an: evening in Montreal. Students acting like old maids who had just tried their first dry martini. The hell with that, I said. Who needs it? This time, I was forced into it, by the sudden il- lness of the teacher who was organizing it. I think it was the organization that knocked him out. I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed the trip, after the last-minute hassle over the paperwork. The kids were delightful, friendly, on time. The show was pretty good, live Shakespeare. the only way to enjoy the bard. There was only one hitch. I took my wife. Every student was in the bus, seated, ready for the trip home. No sign of the Old Battleaxe, who'd gone shopping. I paced up and down, outside the bus, muttering imprecations and scowl- ing, for the benefit of the kids. She didn't show. After twenty minutes of this, here she comes, strol- ing along, laden with shop- ping bags. 1 snatched them from her, hurled them into the luggage rack, told her I wouldn't sit beside her, and generally carried on. She'd got the time mix- ed up. The kids forgave her. I stopped playing furious. We got home on time. Maybe I'll do one more field trip, before I retire. But guess who isn't going? Right. . An encouraging trend At the beginning of this century when the in- dwtrial revolution was beginning to come into full sway, it became un- fashionable to have hand- made goods in and around the house.' Somehow if something wasn't "store- bou hten" it wasn't as good as something built by a local tradesman. Conse- quently people who once worked out of their own homes or a shop behind the house were forced to either give up their trade or go to work in one of the big factories, usually on piece -work of the most degrading kind. Now however, people are beginning to change their minds about what no longer ashamed to say that they have built something with their TIOfe Perspectives By Syd Fletcher quality really is and are demanding much dif- ferent items than they have for a number of years. Craft shows are becom- ing popular and people are hands. Numerous 'cottage industries' have sprung up where people do macrame, Wood -work, stained-glass -art, por- traits, and pottery. Some of it, I suppose, is not always the best, but other work is superb. i,ocal ar- tists have become very fashionable. Maybe Cana- dians are more sure of themselves in this the last half of the twentieth cen- tury and no longer think that good art has to come from the old world or some other country. Believe it or not, there are a number of people in Lambton and Huron coun- ties who actually make a living out of writing books painting (pictures not walls) and acting. I have to feel that it is an encouraging trend.