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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-04-07, Page 4Times -gip* Apil 7, 199: 1111010,1111,1111111.11me • Ames - Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publisher s, JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager Bill BAITEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager A 1 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235.1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 444 Canada $20.00 Per year: U.S.A. $55.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and `ABC' Soon out of hibernation brings u��.........�_ • The coming of spring often unscrupulo home repair contractors to the surface right along w' the spring flowers, and this year will certainly be exception due to the economic climate. - Despite repeated warnings, these firms alwa manage to bilk a number of residents through ove charging or poor workmanship. Some ply their trad on unsuspecting senior citizens while others attemp brow -beat customers by noting that repairs are re us quired immediately and they just happen to be in the 1th neighborhood with the necessary equipment to do the no job. This area is blessed with a number of skilled Ys tradesmen well qualified and equipped to handle the _ job you may have in mind. They'll be glad to give you r estimates and references. They'll also still be around e to make amends for any problems that may arise Pt through their work. It's one area where it really pays to shop at home. Who believ Not a day goes past it seems without some m tion of the plight of farmers. In the face of mount input costs and low commodity returns, farm sur �i' groups are quickly gaining new members. Things are not good down on the farm and the ' '1s little evidence that improvements will be immediat Some people apparently don't believe that tale woe. There are those who suggest that farmers ha always been crone complainers. of woe Among some farmethose who rs don't believe the tal ers themselves, at least those who sit on the Huron and Middlesex county councils That is the conclusion that could be reached i view of the sizeable tax levies both county councils ap- prOVed last week. Their urban counterparts apparently don't believe it either. If they believed that members of the farm com- munity are in financial trouble, they certainly wouldn't have agreed to increases in the two county budgets of 13.1 percent and 15 percent respectively, particularly knowing that the money was coming in large measure -from farmers who make up the major portion of tax- payers in the two counties. es tale of woe? en Had they believed that the major portion of tax-. ng payers were in financial trouble, it would have been val absurd to think of increases in taxation of that magnitude. re So, having had theircredibility:refuted by the ac- e. tion of the two county councils, farmers will have it of tested again in the next few weeks when the boards of hay education and the township councils in the same two counties come up with their budgets for the current e year. If the boards of education and the township coun n• cils are of the opinion that their farm taxpayers hay more moneyto spend on taxes than they did last yea the question of the farm economic well-being shoul be laid to rest once and for all. What about the tale of woe bei a businessmen, factory employees an Vpked by nsto payers? apparentlyWell�»wrban to that is all nibnl,ense as well It's encouraging to have our local politicians se the record straight! It's beginning to look as though taxpayers never had it•so good! Damn the torpedoes, frill speed (spending) ahead! simple justice police cruiser will check on him periodically, between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m. It's this kind of justice that's archaic and almost silly. Yet, you can bet next month's paycheque our friend won't be dumping puppies in freezing weather anymore. Seems to us there's a lesson there Archaic, but We read with interest this week the story of a paper mill worker in New Hampshire who was sentenced by a district judge to spend two nights in a garbage dump, after he was found guilty of abandoning four young puppies to the same cold environment. It was either the dump or a $200 fine, and the mill worker chose the dump. He'll bundle up in warm clothes, but he won't be allowed to seek shelter. A They When unemployment is on the increase, one of the safest jobs is held by those whose job it is to find jobs for other peo- ple. Right? Wrong! Jobs are now so scarcein parts of the country that many of the people who are in the business of finding work for others are having difficulty finding jobs for themselves. Personnel agencies in Vancouver are laying off up to half of their permanent staff or are closing their doors altogether. In short, there just aren't any jobs for those who are unemployed or for those who traditionally help the unemployed find jobs. It is certainly not a situation that per- tains only to Vancouver. It is reported in every community from coast to coast. News orts from ontreal indicate that manyfirms have froze salaries or are asidng employees to take a wage cut. That too is not confined to Montreal and, is probably more widespread than the public realizes. That may actually be the only good sign in our otherwise troubled economy. It represents one of the major attempts in the battle against inflation, a battle that our federal government tells us we must win if the economy is to get rolling again and people are to find work. • • • • • However, while the battle is being wag- ed there are over one million unemployed. The majority, it seems, are unemployed through circumstance and not by choice, although there are some in the latter category and there always will be. But obviously, our attitude about unemployment must change. Canadians characteristically have look- ed down their collective noses at people who were unemployed. When there was ample work available, there was some justification for this attitude and many of the unemployed were correctly categoriz- 1 .,, ,. ;, , ,. "How did you guess that, I'm with the environment department?" ExposedtFtoline��o me Isn't it odd how well we remember our teachers: the 'old battleaxe who e whacked us over the head r, with a pointer; the math d teacher who never scold- ed, but rolled his eyes to the heavens when you put your answer on the 11 board; the sardonic art g_ teacher who would sit down beside you anti, polish up your "painting', t which was the same one you had done last week and the week before? I remember distinctly almost every teacher I ever had. The only one I almost really "had" was my high school French teacher, but she was too fast for my gropings. Some I remember with warmth. some with sadness, some with pity and a few with hatred. I think that's about par. Until she died, I cor- responded occasionally with my Grade 1 teacher, who still thought of me as a sweet little boy with big blue eyes. She kept an eye on me through this column, and occasional- ly remonstrated with me about my choice of language. One of my favourite high school teachers has done the same, and we keep in touch. Every so often_ I receive a letter from a former student of mine. I have yet to get one that was not warm. Those who hated me can't write letters. Warm letters are one of the rewards, in- tangible but important, that teachers receive. Have you ever written to your old minister? What about those other nouns: pity, sadness, and hatred? I pitied a few: my other old French teacher who used to put her head on the desk and weep loudly and wetly, when we drove her over Petrolia Advertiser won't quietly d problems of reduced or non-existent in- come while most of their fixed expenses continue. While financial circumstances may be the major problem, there is also the mat- ter of the mental anguish associated with it and the abrupt changes in free time that can be difficult for a person to handle after punching a clock regularlyfor years. Social service, and recreational agen- cies have not yet shown any leadership in addressing the problem of helping the unemployed cope with their new and strange way of life. None of the three levels of government has taken steps to assess -the situation either in an effort to determine how they can become involv- ed in making the life of the unemployed easier. ed as lazy, shiftless people !Wing off society. However, that attitude can certainly not be termed fair in assessing those who are daily joining the ranks of the unemployed because of plant layoffs, business closures, etc. A society that can't provide all its citizens with a job should not demand that every ciitizen yearn for one. Neither can a society that creates unemployed by the hundreds of thousands forever go on look- ing at unemployment as an unhappy con- BA TT'N AROUND with the editor dition of limited duration for a small number of people. In our society, those unemployed not on- ly are unhappy, we think that they should be unhappy. Someone who claims he is unemployed and happy, is immediately suspected of cheating the system. Obviously that is a severe punishment for society to place on those who lose a job through what is basically a problem created by that society. * * * While it is proper that people lament over the unemployment situation , and in fact even become a little upset, the fact remains there is nothing being done to ad- dress the needs of the unemployed in human terms. Despite their large and growing numbers, there are no programs design- ed to help them handle their critical situa- tions. They are handed their pink slips and left to fend for themselves, facing the • It appears as though there is the hope they will just quietly disappear. Part of the problem is that those still working are having their own problems to maintain their existence and they have enough worries about their o>n future, let alone consider the plight of others. While it is imperative that the main thrust be to tackle the chore of restoring jobs, the fact remains that the needs of the unemployed must be given consideration and it is a matter that should be address- ed by all levels of government and those groups in society which have the respon- sibility and expertise to help improve the quality of life for those who are without jobs through no great fault of their own. While this area may be below the na- tional average in the number of unemployed, the needs of the unemployed are still the same as in areas where the figures are above the national average. The only difference is that this area has the ability to better assist the unemployed through this troubled time and yet there is very little being done in that regard. Why not? the edge; and science teacher with a;Ph.D., a good and kindly man per- sistently bullied by some cretins in this class. I was saddenedby the fate of some teachers who sickened or died or became mentally ill under the unrelenting pressure of the classroom, I use sense of vast, "great" and.ep ein pic. Pratt wasn't interested in the usual preoccupations of modern poets: ex- aminino his own navel; imitating badly, the poets who lacerate socie- ty, who are still hung up on Freud and sex, who think that ugly is beautiful with a few four - Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley Hatred? I never hated those who clobbered me or bawled me out. There was onlyone teacher I hated. Hwas a flying in- structor with a perma- nent sneer, a hectoring manner, and not a decent bone in his body. I swore I'd kill him some day. I still half -hope that he crashed in a stoney field while bullying some frazzled student pilot. And the student escaped with a bloody nose. All my other flying instruc- tors were tops. These vagaries came trickling into my skull - bone when two of m favorite university profs were featured in the newspapers recently: E. J. Pratt and Northru Frye. I have never wrif ten either a warm letter but have always had feeling of warmth an awe for each. E.J. "Ned" Pratt was a gentle man and a gentleman as well as a scholar. Son of a New foundland minister, he worked his wayinto the groves of acadme, and became one of Canada's "great" poets. letter words tossed in. Rather, he chose big themes, and had a gift that enabled him to make them into works of art. He was either behind, or ahead of, his time. The building of the C.P.R. the martyrdom of the Jesuits in Huronia, the evacuation of Dunkirk, the sinking of .1 minds another professor (by the wrefused. Ihabeelileve he , thought that because I was a veteran, I deserv- ed a chance. A decent, loveable man. Northrop Frye, a generation younger but a close friend, colleague, and admirer of Pratt, was another cup of tea. He was no kindly, gen- tle, elderly scholar and poet. He had a mind like a well -honed razor, an in- telligence and learning that used to make us wince, and a brilliant lec- turing technique that drew crowds from all over the university. ofHthe sfi estged ccritical minds of this century, at least in North America. He has probably con- verted more people to his theories than Jesus did in his limited time. His disciples, rather watered down, have spread across the land. In lectures, he haduta netof gthe wit Ghuurrka st oldier ho took a swipe at a ussian with his k ra blade). The Rus ian • aughed, "You d dn't en touch me." hurka replied, "Yeah? on't shake your head." Yet "Norrie" 'Frye, o, behind the scin- lating mind, the athing wit was and is nd I speak from per - nal experience) a gen- , sympathetic person, whomeachstudent is a easured human. He is nsely shy away from podium, but intense - decent, as a human mcan only be humble en I remember that I, of the great unwash- intellectually, was ex - ed to these fine minds persons e Titanic: these were o the massive bones on w which he built with con- R summate skill, his epic ( narrative poems. 1 At the same time, he eY was capable of writing G the most tender, delicate D lyrics, or such precise pictures as "Shark", to which many a student til has studied in high sc school. As agg rofessor, he was (a so a a delight. He didn't about such ive tie d nonsense as attendance, tr and when he went dream- int ing off into Shakespeare the or one of the great poets, ly his dreams and insi ht bei - rubbed off on his 1 students. wh He personally wrote for one me a recommendation ed that I be accented into pos graduate school, after and A total acceptance of life George Burns is one of my favourite television people. I guess what I like most about him is his total acceptance of life and the things that it has handed down to him. I suppose that one could say that he's so rich from his movie work that he doesn't lack for anything so how could he possibly by unhappy but not so. I have the feeling that it wouldn't matter to George Burns if he was your local corner newspaper man. He'd 'still have a good outlook on life. He sings that song "1 wish I was 18 again,' but I'm sure it's just a song to • him. I recall his saying on lifetime there wasn't the Johnny Carson show mudmore he really crav- Perspectives By Syd Fletcher one night that he has been ed. He then old for so long that it no that man ple wouoihtedld out longer bothers him. The happyy people Would be only advantage he could forhalfof [the 8to 4eyearsthe see in being 18 again • had enjoyed. would be to have a I was visiting a nephew somewhat longer life and in the hopital recently. In with all he had done in his the bed next to him was a poor old fellow --totally dif- ferent from good old George. Ile had no marks and signs of the needles which had been stuck in him, that is, where -you could see the skin from the present needles, .Every once in awhile he would ut- ter a few meaningless words btit nobody knew what they meant. 1 hope that when 1 get to that place where my mind and body are basically finished, when I'm no longer truly alive, that somebody will have the courage to pull the plugs that sustain a meaningless existence. 1