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Times-Advocate, 1981-10-15, Page 4Poe* 4 Time-Advocat., Octob.r 15, 1901 Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 1 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited IORNE [WY Puhlr.her JIM BECKETT Ad‘ i'rti•int. Manager Bll l BATTEN ROSS HAUGH Editor Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $17.00 Per Year: USA $35.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' gitilhre Step in right direction Members of municipal councils in Huron will have little room to complain over a decision reached by the county board of education to collect levies four times each year, rather than the current practice of having the municipalities forward them only twice. Most council members have been complaining about the high cost of education for years, and the move is designed primarily to reduce the amount the board of education has to borrow before the levies start rolling in from the municipalities. The cost of borrowing interim funds has always been a large ex- penditure for the board, and with today's interest rates. it was reaching even greater proportions. In some cases, the change will not be noticed. _Ex- eter, for instance, has collected taxes on a quarterly basis for some time now. Others may now be prompted to follow suit. Actually taxpayers throughout the county will not •CNA notice any significant change as it is basically a matter of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Regardless of which body has to borrow money, the taxpayers foot the bill. It all comes out of the same pockets, and it is that very fact that sinks the argument of those who suggest the board should collect its own tax revenue. Why duplicate the cost of collection? Everyone knows taxes are already high enough without adding that un- necessary expense for those who have to pay the bills. While there may be those who complain about the board's decision to increase the number of levies, everyone should welcome the indication that trustees are at least taking steps- to cut expenses. Perhaps they'll find it so refreshing, they'll continue with other segments of their astronomical budget that will result in real savings for taxpayers, not merely a shift of costs from one pocket to another. Consider your part October 16 is World Food Day. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (founded in Quebec City on that day 36 years ago) has asked people around the world to observe World Food Day be becoming more aware of the problem of hunger and the need to increase efforts to solve it. It is appropriate that the day should fall close to Thanksgiving, a time of plenty here in Canada when most of us are appreciating the blessings of our own share of Earth. Few are as fortunate as we. Nearly 500 million people living in the world today are seriously malnourished - one out of every eight. Many millions die, not from starvation alone, but from the illnesses that prey on the underfed. In poor countries, one child in four does not live to celebrate a fifth birthday. But what can I do, you might ask? Aren't there national and international organizations whose job it is to help improve this situation? Yes, there are. But- with increasing domestic problems in Canada and the other iiid4rlalized coun- tries, these organizations are not gettidgi1j&support - financially or morally - that they need. That is why, in the days leading up to October 16, Canadian volunteer - groups, consumer and producer organizations, provin- cial and federal governments, and development agen- cies are organizing lectures, exhibitions, "hunger suppers" and other events to put the facts of the world food situation before the public. You can help by taking notice of these events, by participating when you can, by simply educating your family and yourself to a situation that should not be allowed to continue. "Food for all" is Canada's national theme for World Food Day. Wouldn't it be gratifying to do something, even a little thing, to help make this ideal become reality? Worth a try here, "In this area, drinking and driving is almost a lifestyle." commented Seaforth police chief Hall Claus when he recently addressed a group of teenagers and their parents. The meeting. organized by the Seaforth Leo Club to youth wing of the Lions t was called due to the mounting concern in that area over teenage road deaths attributed to drinking. The police chief suggested that it's a sad reflection on all society when road deaths are put into the category of "Oh well. it happens every day '. He com- pared that to the indignation. shock and call for prompt police action that would be expressed by citizens if one of these victims had met death through foul play. There may be some difference between a situation where a victim dies at the hands of premeditated murderer as opposed t1 a drinking driver. but it's a difference that is small consolation to the victim. A lawyer speaking at the same event pointed out it can be small consolation to the perpetrator as well. in view of the costly monetary settlements that are often associated with highway fatalities. Statistics show that the Seaforth area ranks third behind Windsor and Owen Sound for number of drivers convicted of impaired driving. but it should be noted that most communities have similar problems. The test is not always to count those charged. but those actually on the road and no one can really judge that ac- curatelv. Suffice it to say that one is too many in view of the danger he creates for himself and others. • Some may suggest that it's Seaforth's problem and they can have it, but that is obviously not prudent. While the results of accidents in Seaforth may be more severe recently. it could just as easily have been any other area. To the credit of the citizens of that community. they have become concern- ed enough to open discussion on the matter in an attempt to curtail the needless deaths. They've become con- cerned enough to realize that such deaths should not be lightly dismissed and perhaps even more encouraging, is the fact the youth group has taken some in- itiative to address the problem. One of the interesting approaches taken at the meeting was by a local doc- tor who noted that more people have died on the highways than through illness in the Seaforth area this past summer. However. rather than lecture the BATT'N AROUND with the editor audience on the perils of drink in an attempt to promote abstinence, he was realistic enough to point out how people can moderate their drinking habits to en- sure they do not reach the point of im- pairment when they get behind the wheel. To preach abstinence these days is vir- tually a waste of time, while pointing out the dangers of the lack of self restraint at least has some possibilities. Judging from the report of the meeting. the experts told it "like it is" without any preaching, lecturing or attempt to mold the teenagers into un- realistic paragons of virtue. it's success, obviously, will only be evident in the days ahead, but it is cer- tainly a step in the right direction and too the writer would heartily encourage the local Leo Club or some group to duplicate the effort for teenagers and parents in this area before another tragedy occurs. as surely It will. • In this day and age of rampant infla- tion and out -of -sight interest rates, there may well be a new definition for success. The best one I've seen so far comes from the Milton Champion where a farm writer had this comment: "Wet, dull and chilly weather has taken its toll with a number of farm crops this year, but corn growers have been so successful that they will likely be selling corn at a break- even price". There was a day when success usually indicated that a person made money, but apparently breaking even has now become the accepted norm in being described as successful. Even with that reduction in the criteria, there is mounting evidence that many people are having difficulty being successful, including I suspect some corn growers, despite the pronounce- ment of the Milton paper. • Having any problems with computers these days? A woman in Windsor is still shaking her head over a situation in which she became involved with one of those impersonal machines. Her story was recorded in a letter to a newspaper as follows: "We received a computer statement showing an unpaid balance of $000.00 so we threw it away. Identical statements came in for the next three months, followed by a registered letter saying that our account was being turned over to a collection agency. We mailed a cheque for 1000.00. A few day; later, the computer wrote to thank ul1 inti` full payment." "Let us prey." Nose trouble gives holiday Teachers have 20 days of sick leave (paid) due to them every year. That's fair enough. At present, I have 316 days, plus 20 for the com- ing year, built up. Figure it out for yourself. I haven't missed many days on the job and some of those were funerals of relatives and such. But how can a man show up for work as a member of the "walking wounded": abrasions on forehead, black right eye and scraped cheekbone, nose looking as though the rats had been at it, and right-, leg almost com- pletely crippled, though nothing broken? Well, he can't. And yesterday was the first time ,in my teaching career when I wasn't ill, but stayed home. I went back today with a few flesh -colored pieces of tape. and a bad limp, arousing the curiosity of staff and students alike. Strangely enough, I had been telling a bright Grade 11 class just the other day about the gullibility of students. You may remember. I'd had a very minor lesion on my big nose removed. The nurse said, "This is a big bandage." I retorted, "This is a big nose." It was all done at the hospital before 9 a.m., and I was on the job. A lad in one of my classes asked, with con- cern, "What happened to your nose, sir?" " I told him with a very straight face that a hyena had es- caped from a nearby zoo, poked in one of my cellar windows, and, sneaking up to the bedroom, had bitten off my nose. And that's why I'd been to hospital. to have an ar- tificial ndse implanted. "Oh, that's too bad, sir." he'd said, in all sincerity." Well, in all sincerity, I wish the story had been trite. For about the eighth time in my career, my nose looks like a transplant from a guy who has narrowly es- caped his life, after being shot through the nose, in- stead of the brain. But this Grade 11 class the other day didn't say a drd, though their looks re eloquent. They ;rd, want to be gullible, ping list, but got into the impulse -buying game, and arrived home with five of those white plastic shopping bags, loaded to the gunnels (the bags). Cunningly, I thought, "Well, I can handle three on one trip and go back for the other two and still have one hand free to slam the trunk door of the car." Unfortunately, my cun- ning neglected that fact that I was wearing my new arch -support, total cost $85, and that it was Sugar . r s and Spice Dispensed By Smiley A and havd me tell them that m wife did it, or I had a fight with the town cop. or I crashed while glider -flying. I wish I'd been born with a snub nose. These people, even though they are always sticking their snubs into other peoples' business, never seem to get them hurt. I mind my own business, and keep getting my nose broken or badly cut, or a candidate for cancer. Once again, the damage resulted from shopping One time I came in with two bags of groceries, slipped off my shoes at the door, went into the freshly waxed kitchen, took a kick at the cat, slipped and fell, nose -on, against the kitchen counter. No eggs broken, just the nose. This time, I went off with a reasonable > shop - hurting me like a brand new set of false teeth. I was limping heavily on the right. I arrived at theile of rocks just outside our back door. Sometimes we call it the rock garden, at other times the rock patio. Every year we plan to turn it into one or the other. or something ex- otic. But it's still just a pile of rocks, each and everyone with edges. Many a chunk I've taken off my shin by veering a little to the right. To make a long story short, I caught my right, limping foot on a heave in the sidewalk, and tumbl- ed straight into the rock pile. Loyal to the end, I clung to the groceries. In my right hand were two bags. obviously loaded with canned goods. The one bag in my left hand contained the toilet tissue and the Kleenex. I went into the rock pile like a badly ballasted ship hitting a reef. I could have been killed. My nose saved me. It took the in- itial impact before I skidded onto my cheek- bone and forehead. Bloody but unbowed, I gathered the groceries (not an egg busted, not a quart of milk spilled) staggered into the kitchen, scattered blood and . groceries everywhere. Lots of people would have been rushed to emergency and sewed and cauterized and other wise tortured. I never do that. I use my mother's old remedies. Staunch the blood with a cloth or something, make sure you haven't lost an eye, and then sock the ice - water to it. In my mother's day, hot and cold water were the painkillers and the blood stoppers. We didn't have ice -cubes then, but we had a chunk of ice in the ice -box. And we needed it. I was always coming home with a cut foot that should have had six stitches, or a cut head where a kid had hit me with a stone, or a sprain- ed ankle from football. I must admit that I add a little modern extra. I put the ice -cubes in a towel until the bleeding stops or is merely oozing. Then I take them out, wash off any superfluous blood, put them in a glass. and pour some medicine over them, just In case of shock. If my mother could see me doing this last maneouvre, she'd have gone into shock. She was TT. And that's how I got my banged -up face. But my nose saved though worse. It's a real conundrum If you knew that you were going to die, for cer- tain, within a period of months, and then were suddenly informed of a risky operation which would better your chances considerably, maybe even to the point of living several more years, would you have the operation? What if you had to give up smoking and drinking after• the operation? Would that Effect your decision? Such were the alter- natives offered to a man in London recently. He opted for the heart transplant, which though a risky operation gave him better odds than his own heart which did not have too many miles left on it. The operation was successful. A team of highly skilled doctors worked on him for many hours, combining a varie- is still alive and 'a reporter visited him on a routine follow-up story. The headline that resulted from the inter- -1 Perspectives ty of techniques, new drugs to stop infection, and a massive. array of machines worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to give this man a new lease on life. A few months after the heart transplant, the man By Syd Fletcher view was that the man was not too happy with life. He was unwilling to follow the doctors' advice about quitting smoking and drinking even though both would in all likelihood affect his chance of a good recovery. He com- mented, "I just want to show them that I can" (still drink and smoke if I want to). He felt that he had to prove to the doc- tors that he wag boss as far as his life was con- cerned. It's an interesting situa- tion, isn't it, one which doctors should examine, carefully. Perhaps in dome eases people are un- consciously saying, "Hey, let me die. I like this par- ticular pattern of life even if it's going to kill me." In some cases, I'm sure the doctor wonders If all his effort has been worthwhile. Then again, the doctor is placed in the predicament of violating his Hippocratic oath, that is, of . trying to save people's lives t becomes a real conundrum.