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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-07-08, Page 4l Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 9, 1941 Times Established 1873 Advocote Established 1881 Imes - 1...1•4 0.0 1rm....-. SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS 'A' AND ABC MEMBER ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL Published by J W. Eedy Publications limited LORNE •EERY, PUBLISHER Editor — Bill .Batten Assistont EditQF -i- Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235-1331 d orate Amolgamated 1924 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario • Second Class Mail - Registration Number 0386 BLUE SUBSCRIPTION RATES: RIBBON Canada $17.00 Per Year; A"AR[l USA $35.00 1981 Let's add spice Canada Week has come and gone and once again most people in this area marked it in the usual manner; they did nothing to celebrate the occasion, not even on the July 1 birthdate itself. The disturbing aspect of the situa- tion is that it indicates our national spirit is sadly lacking. No doubt some people took the occasion to privately reflect on the importance of the day, but to the majority it was just another holiday with little meaning. The lack of enthuiasm for the day gives redence to those who suggest it would be meaningless to have Heritage Day declared in February. What's the point of it? Why not just declare some Sunday in February as a time to reflect on our national heritage? At least those who attend church may get some message from the pulpit in keeping with the occasion and that's more than most will get out of Heritage Day or Domi- nion Day. An even better idea may be for Ex- eter council to decree that next year local citizens will not get a holiday on July 1. That would probably produce a wave of protest that would result in people walking off the job and parading around town with placards and flags in defense of their rights. Car horns would blare and with a break at all, someone would set fire to the town's administra- tion office necessitating the arrival of tpe firemen, police and ambulance with their sirens wailing. It may get a little out of hand, of course, but at least people would know we are alive! If that sounds too dangerous let's declare that those on the west side of Highway 4 get July 1 as a holdiay and those on the east side get Heritage Day. The lone stipulation is that each group has to spend one hour of its holiday planning some appropriate activity for the other group's day off. Bet you'd have more fun than you did this past July 1! Liberal appointment Your federal government reported another appointment last week, this time .to the Canada Council, and on the surface it appears innocuous. The government informs us that appointee Mickey (Marilyn) Huband of Winnipeg owns and operates- a restaurant, is active in the community and a member of the boards of various organizations, and even that her hus- band is lawyer Charles Huband. Oh, yes— what the Liberal govern- ment failed to mention was that Mr. Huband is a former leader of the Liberal Party in Manitoba. For just a moment there, we were afraid Mrs. Huband did not have the proper credentials for a federal ap- pointment: Liberal connections. Grimsby Independent Alcohol at the wheel In our society a citizen has the right to drink alchoholic beverages. the right even to drink himself or herself silly if such be his or her tastes and tenden- cies. But this right must always be assessed in the wider social context. A person's right to drink must not be exercised in ways that interfere un- duly with the rights of other persons. If someone's drinking causes behavior that endangers you or even seriously in- conveniences you. you have the right to interfere to some degree with his or her drinking. 11 that persons drinks and then drives on a road on which you are driving. then his or her drinking becomes very much your buiness. A bewildering variety of statistics is available on drinking -and -driving and an even more bewildering variety of in- terpretations of those statistics. But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that in an alarming proportion of all traffic accidents. especially those resulting in deaths and serious injuries, there is an alcohol factor. Professor John Cohen. an English psychologist. made some exacting in- vestigations of driving skills. Here is TINSIIS rt, Some hunger victims may consider strike The hunger strike of Ireland's Bobby Sands, and his successors who have followed him to the grave, drew inter- national attention through the day-tb- day accounts of their impending deaths. Those of us far removed from the scene viewed the situation with mild curiosity at the most, the main concern being the feared after -math of the deaths with the possibility of the major insurrection that could occur In that strife -torn nation. One of the cartoonists who used his drawing pen to make comment on the death of Sands, drew a parallel to the international media coverage of the lone death in camparison to the fact that thousands of people elsewhere in the world die each day through hunger without any type of publicity or con- cern for their plight. Unlike Sands, those people do not die of hunger by choice. They are the vic- tims of famine and mass starvation i through geography, ignorance, politics and over -population. There are periodic glimpses of them through the media, and while their suffering is well known, it is quickly shunted out of mind by the complacency of most people who consider they have enough problems of their own. Well, there are indications that the complacent attitude Is going to have serious consequences for the rich nations of the world which have generally been unmoved by the tales of famine and starvation. Warns the- United Nations fund for population activities: "While im- balances created by poverty, malnutri- tion or ill health persist, the social ten- sions arising out of population pressures will permeate every aspect of the qualityof life on earth..." What we are going to witness, claim the eX4erts, is a revolt by the under- ` privileged who will multiply by the millions in the next few decades and roam the earth in search of life's necessities. Already, the problems fie so severe, that a group of Nobel Prize winners have called on the poor to rise up in civil disobedience to avert "un- precedented holocaust". The message carried by the 52 Nobel laureates to the disadvantaged masses was that they must "take their fate into their own hands". Obviously, they have nothing to lose. Death at the hands of those who would defend against them is no less frighten- ing than death by starvation. In (act, the former is less of a concern because it has the advantage of the calculated chance of success. Even in failure It is more merciful than the torture of hunger. one of the conclusions: "Moderate quantities of alcohol tend to make most drivers increase their speed, although they are usually unaware that this is happening... Alcohol intensifies any driver's tendencyto overrate his ability in relation to his performance." This conclusion comes out of carefully controlled experiments with real drivers and real alcohol. Two psychiatrists working in the same field. Dr Neil Kessel and Dr. Henry Walton make this comment: "The drinker is in the worst possible position to make the decision whether he is safe to drive or not." They add this warning: ••The drinker himself becomes progressively less able to detect his own impairment." The hands of the police and the courts must he strengthened with respect to drinking -and -driving matters. Breathalizer and other tests, it must be recognized, do interfere to some extent with a citizen's rights and liberties -- hut surely we must balance those against the rights and liberties of other citizens. Contributed Some nations have already ex- perienced the onslaught of refugees attempting to escape from their plight. Their shores have been invaded by the over -crowded, flimsy boats on which they have tackled the high seas, theelements and over -whelming odds. Attempts at turning them back have proven futile. The message to complacent nations is becoming abundantly clear. Assistance to the starving masses must be expanded, if for no other reason than the selfish one ofself-preservation. To sit idly by while the crisis builds is to invite repercussions of unfathomable proportions. Prime Minister Trudeau has put Canada into the forefront in the dialogue on reducing the Imbalances of the world economy which sees the minority .controlling the wealth and food, but the dialogue must be turned into action and the acknowledgement that not only is the problem clear but so too is the obligation to correct it. Time is running out on us having any choice In the matter. And to carry on in. a rather sombre vein, it is interesting to consider the last words of famous people, even if one wonders that they were actually spoken as recorded, or put together by admirers. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who lived to be 93, was ready to die when his time came. He watched attendants wheel in an oxygen tent and rig it up beside his bed, then commented, "A lot of damn- ed foolishness". He never spoke again. Holmes was proud of his uncle John, a legend around Cambridge. While the family was standing around the old man's bed in his final moments, a nurse reached under the covers and whispered, "He's still alive. Nobody ever died with warm feet". Uncle John looked up and replied, "John Rogers did", and passed away. John Rogers was burned at the stake in 1555. Lord Palmerston, apparently a fast man with a quip, listened to the doctor tell him the seriousness of his condi- tion, then declared, "Die? That's the last thing I'll do". He then did. Probably the most self-controlled departure was that of Joseph Henry Green, the British surgeon. He looked up at the doctor, pointed to his chest and said, "Congestion". He then put his finger on his pulse, remarked, "Stopped", and expired. The readers write By SYD FLETCHER A recent article in the sports section of the daily newspaper commented that a well-known athlete had just signed a contract for twenty-four million dollars over a period of twenty years. Such astronomical figures are no longer uncommon in the sports world where so- called superstars seem to be Perspectives able to name their price and get it, as long as they can hit the ball farther, catch it faster, or put it through a steel hoop with more hf= ticiencv than the average person. It seems to me that somewhere along the line our sense of proper values has been severely messed up. understand that the sum of $12 will feed a hungry child in a 'third world' developing country for as long as a month. Taking a look at that super -star's salary of 24 million one could say that 2,000,000 people could have their bellies full for one whole month on that one man's salary for the next twenty years. But then again. Perhaps we should not be so hasty to condemn him when many people in Canada are so con- tent to ignore the situation right there along with him, when our North American governments spend millions every day on building bigger bombs and faster war- planes. No, I have a feeling that the baseball player's fat pay cheque is merely a symptom of a society that Is often very self-centred and selfish, more concerned with 'number one' (themselves) than in developing a concern for the rest of the world. "Sorry, 1 don't make house calls." Dear Sir: Recently town council was approached by a concerned citizen in regards to the fencing of Victoria Park, on the north side adjacent to Huron Street. Her concern was for the safety of children crossing Huron Street to the Park. This matter wasdealtwith in council and referred to the public works committee for recommendation. At committee level I suggested that since some of the equipment in the park had been donatedbyKinsmen and Kinettes that they may be willing to help with the cost of the fence., (ap- proximate cost of the fence $1,200.00 had not been budgeted for). On approaching the two clubs they were willing to help with the labour and some of the cost, the town to provide the heavy equip- ment needed to erect the fence and the rest of the cost. At this time I suggested to council that letters be sent to all those residents that surrounded the park to see if they were of the same opinion of erecting a fence. The response that we received was very en- couraging; as a new coun- cillor I was impressed with the interest shown. Petitions had been signed and many letters received to the negative, but outlining alternative suggestions. As a result the committee recommended to council that no fence be erected and that alternative methods be taken to provide safety for the children crossing Huron Street to the park. Some of these being: a) New and larger signs (traffic) being erected at either end of the park on Huron Street. b) A posted speed limit in this specific area. c) Pavement markings. d) Four way stop signs at Carling and Huron or at the corners of Marlborough and Huron to control traffic in this area. e) Greater police sur- veillance of Huron Street. Some of the abovewill be referred to the police committee for their recommendations and all will be referred again to council so appropriate alternatives will be im- plemented. To all those residents in the park area who took the time to reply, I express my thanks, as well as that of council. Working together in this manner will make Exeter a better place to live, work and play with safety for all concerned. Councillor Tom Humphreys. Dear Editor: Bill #7, an act to revise and extend Protection of Human Rights in Ontario, is the most oppressive and in- trusive piece of legislation considered by Queen's Park since the infamous Cass Police Bill of 1964. Proposed by Labour Minister Bob Elgie, 97 provides for, among other things: 1) Entry by agents of the Human Rights Commission onto farms, business es- tablishments, private organizations, etc., without requirements or a court order. 2) Search and seizure of documents and records, determined by agents of the Commission as relevant to an .investigation, also without a court order. 3) Interrogation of suspected code violators as well as their employees, family members, and neighbours without benefit of legal counsel for those questioned. 4) Trial by a Commission Board of Inquiry, with wide powers to determine guilt, assess damages and meter out punishment, all without benefit of legal counsel for the accused. In 1964, when then attorney -general Fred Cass introduced similar legisla- tion to grant essentially the same powers to the police, the outcry from M.P.P.s, the media and the general public was so great that Premier John Roberts demanded and received Cass' resignation. Unfortunately, the response to Bill #7 by Premier Davis and most M.P.P.s has teen largely inaudible. Bill a has already passed first reading in the Legislature. If the people of Ontario value their traditional rights and freedoms they should appeal to their M.P.P. at once. Such totalitarian measures are absolutely intolerable to free citizens in a free society. Yours sincerely, Peeter Tammisto