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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-10-13, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 13,1982 imes - Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lanibton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited • EORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Ad'. 'rosin}; Manager 1 I l Os Bill BAT FEN 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 $20.00 Per year: U.S.A. $55.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and `ABS' $414,4 x Put up or shut up Under the Canadian legal system, a person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. It is up to the prosecution to prove guilt. That same basis of justice should hold true for groups as well as individuals, and it is therefore ap- propriate that the Huron -Perth Separate School board have challenged the council of Zurich to present some evidence to back the claim that the board has not prac- ticed the same restraint as have municipal councils in Huron. Zurich has circulated a petition calling on the school boards to restrain their spending and that resolution has met with general approval from other councils in the county. Whether Zurich decides to accept the challenge to provide the background information and documenta- tion to support the claim of lack of restraint remains to be seen, but it is an opportunity that municipal of- ficials should not overlook. School boards are an autonomous group, of course, and do not have to answer to municipal councils, but rather only to the electorate. However, now that they've been given the challenge to examine the school board's operation, they should jump at the chance or forever hold their peace. The Separate School board have opened the door for municipal officials to examine their operation. It's probably a calculated risk in that trustees are assum- ing municipal councillors will not expend the time and effort to meet the challenge. The ball is clearly in Zurich's court and they ap- parently have the backing of many other Huron municipalities. It's time :to put up or shut up! Bunch of lunatics Any doubts that the nations of the world were not on the brink of lunacy were dispelled this week in the release of the study on the world's military expenditures. The report indicates that more than ,$1 million a minute is being spent worldwide on the military, with nuclear stockpiles exceeding 50,000 -weapons. The enormity of the figures are beyond the com- prehension of most people but one comparison perhaps sheds some light on the future. In World War II, three million tonnes of munitions were expended with the resulting loss of 40 to 50 million people. The world's current nuclear weapon stockpile is listed at 16 billion tonnes of TNT. We'll sure go with a bang! Some other comparisons have been made by the study, indicating just how the military spending has diverted the world's resources from areas in which it would create some benefits. • Spending per soldier averages $19,300 worldwide but only $380 is spent perschool-agechildforeducation. • For every 100,000 people, there are 556 soldiers and 85 physicians. An estimated 100 million people worldwide are engaged directly or indirectly in military activities. • In 32 countries, governments spend more for military purposes than for education and health care combined. • Nuclear missiles can go from Western Europe to Moscow in six minutes but the average rural housewife in Africa must walk several hours a day for 'the family's water supply. • NATO and Warsaw Pact forces have atotal of 100,000 tanks, enough to form a column stretching the approximate 1,760 kilometres between Paris and Budapest. Leave some for the needy With some indications that the current economic crisis may be turning around, albeit ever so slightly and slowly, there was a hint last week that the federal government may be moving to curtail some social assistance programs. The government, similar to most of us, is having trouble getting enough money to meet some of the bills. The unemploy- ment insurance program is paying out billions and now many workers in this country have lost their benefits under that program and have been forced to go on welfare with its drain on the treasury of all three levels of government. In a recent poll in the U.S.A., 1,000 peo- ple were shown a list of programs and asked to state which of them they thought should be cut. Thirty-nine percent thought the axe should fall on "welfare programs". The poll was repeated several months later, but the words "welfare programs" were replaced by "Help for the needy". This time only nine percent suggested slashing the item. The same type of reaction could be ex- pected to any move in this country to cut social assistance programs, such as children's allowance and old age securi- ty pensions. There would be lond and loud wailing if there was any attempt to cut either pro- gram entirely. Many people need the assistance provided. However, the fact remains that thousands of Canadian families in higher income brackets do not require children's allowance to keep food on the table and there are a large number of senior citizens who can well afford to be without old age security pensions. Because both are currently taxable, the benefits aren't all that great for the rich, but the cost of including them in the system is sizeable. If the government did decide to drop the rich from the programs, there would have to be some sort of "means test" to deter- mine who would L excluded and that would be distasteful to many people. si BATT'N AROUND with the editor s y However, it is a move the government should seriously consider while there are still some Canadians with "means" to test in the face of the huge bill the nation faces to keep the bureaucratic jungle operating. The majority of social assistance pro- grams cost two or three times the amount of money that is actually dispersed and any moveto eliminate or lower that drain on the economy would appear worthwhile. The savings would ensure that those who really need the assistance continue to receive it. • • A judge in Minneapolis was outraged when he saw a man wearing a hat in the courtroom and ordered the man to leave, which he did. Shortly after, it was pointed out that the man had been awaiting sentence on a burglary charge. Just a final note to area residents that nomination time for municipal and school board positions opens today (October 14) and you have until October 18 to file papers with the clerks in charge of the system. As it has been pointed out here before, ratepayers have the responsibility to en- sure that the best possible candidates are available for the various elected positions and that chore is even more important this time around in view of the fact that those elected will be serving for a three- year term. That's a long time to be saddled with an ineffective representative, but it's too late to change that after Monday night. Keep an eye on the list the clerks will be posting in their offices to ensure that some "duds" won't be acclaimed to office. People get the type of representation they deserve and if the normal amount of apathy regarding municipal politics con- tinues, that doesn't speak well for the future in some cases. At time of writing there have been few indications of any election races in area communities and it appears some may even have problems filling the slates. Where are all those people who have been complaining about the operation of muncipal governments and school boards for the past two years? Strange how they crawl back into the woodwork when it comes time for them to show that they could do better! If you happen to be visiting in Fryburg, Ohio, in the near future, be warned that the police in that community are going to do their job. A sign was recently erected stating that "Effective immediately, there will be no parking at the no parking signs". Now that's really getting tough! "I moved to this country to get a new lease on life — now they've raised the monthly payments on it. " Rest In a war, front-line troops who have been par- ticularly hard pressed for some time by the enemy, are occasionally given a spell of R & R behind the lines. Rest and Recreation. It gives them a chance to get clean, to sleep a de- cent sleep, to eat some real food instead of something resembling dog -food out of a can, and perhaps even get a few cold beers or watch an old movie. Then, supposedly rested, they go back to the front lines, the fear, the filth, the lousy grub, and the physical effort and in- dignities involved. Well, I've just had 12 days R & R, and it was great. Now I'm back in the front lines again, and as General Sherman said, "War is hell". My wife was away for 12 whole days, which I devoted to Rest and Recreation. My kind. But mine was a little dif- ferent from the typical R & R of an army unit. Nor- mally, while serving in the ' front lines of the domestic war, I'm clean, I sleep decently, the grub is ex- cellent, there is no filth, and the only problem is the constant harassment of the Top Sergeant, my old lady. During my R & R days, I did the opposite to what soldiers do. Let myself get dirty (I didn't shave, wore old, shabby but comfor- table clothes, didn't make the bed once, slept in my underwear.) I slept like a log, but on my own terms, from about 4 a.m. until noon, or 6 a.m. until afternoon. Or whenever I felt like it. I ate well, but not in the same manner in which I eat on the front lines: meat, potatoes, and recreation vegetables and dessert for dinner; a. simple breakfast of a boiled egg or a banana with toast, peanut butter and tea. "And don't forget your vitamin pills." Nope. I had bacon and eggs for dinner. I had ice cream and peaches for didn't watch any old movies. I don't think the TV set was on more than twice during this golden period. Thus, I didn't have to quibble with anyone about what we'd watch, which I do on the home front. I didn't watch nuthin' and I'm sure I Sugar. and ,Spice Dispensed By Smiley breakfast, if I felt like it. If I didn't I had apple studel and pears, or maybe just a hunk of cheese and a glass of beer. And I chose my own hours. None of this eight o'clock breakfast. Sometimes I had it at 4 a.m., sometimes at 11 a.m. None of this noon -hour for lunch. At three in the afternoon, I might settle down to a good book, and a big plate of head -cheese, a huge dollop of cottage cheese, a dill pickle, a rosy tomato, right out of a friend's garden, cut into chunks (m wife likes them sliced) and half a can of cold pork and beans. A good protein diet. Occasionally, I'd splurge on a frozen food meal, but they're general- ly pretty lousy and very expensive. And another trouble is that I read the directions, and forget them, or get engrossed in a book or newspaper. As a result they were overcook- ed and overflowing into the oven (a cardinal sin), or they were half -raw and I threw them out. And another difference from the soldiers is that I missed nuthin'. What I did do was go to a couple of movies at the local cinema, all by myself. My wife just won t go to movies, because she falls asleep after 10 minutes. She suffers from insomnia, and can sleep only in movies, on boats, trains, buses, or aircraft, on none of which I can close my eyes. One of the most restful parts of my R & R period was sitting in the backyard, feet up, reading a good escape novel. No guilt feeling, nothing to do but bat away the odd wasp. Another was reading the morning paper, perhaps at three in the afternoon, without just sitting there with the thing on my knees, listening to all the troubles about our children, her father, the upcoming wedding, her lack of sleep and my general shortcomings as a husband and father. Another was forgetting about money. I just piled all the bills on the counter in the kitchen, and put them out of my mind. She likes paying bills. I abhor it. Another was the telephone. If I felt like answering it, I did. If I didn't I didn't. For me, the telephone is one of the great sores in modern society. Every time it rings, somebody wants something. It never rings to bring you good news. I answered it a few times, found the caller had a wrong number and quit. All in all, it was Elysium. A quiet trip to the library to pick up four more books, a coffee in my favorite place;, a little Mopping, a quiet dinner of cucumbers, ham, tomatoes and a couple of hard boiled eggs, a quiet read until ' four in. the morning. But paradise were not enow. Despite the fact that I washed four days of dishes, ran the vacuum over the floor, and made the bed, I was caught in the act. . I knew exactly when her bus was coming in. I was to meet it. Despite this, and due to my sleeping habits (I'd had one hour the night before), I had a fine dinner, then fell deep into the arms of Mor- pheus, and missed the bus. She was, shall we say, pur- ple with rage. Then she checked the garbage pail, and found there were only two little bags in it. It's usually full. This convinced her that I'd been too lazy to cook a meal and had been eating out all the time. All hell broke loose. Imagine be- ing subjected to a tirade because you haven't filled the garbage pail. Next time she's away, I'll have three garbage bags full of empty mickeys, frozen food boxes, and great bundles of corn husks. Answers are coming Last week I talked about some of the problems of the metric system. We all know that such a major change is uncomfortable for us and many of us are not happy with the way that itwas pushedthrough without consultation of the general population. How- ever, at this stage of the game we might as well get used to it and do our best to live with the new set-up. I'll give you a little ex- ample that I use with the students to show them how the metric system works. There are six basic terms used for all metric measurements, whether you are talking about grams or metres or litres. If you have an idea of those terms and their meanings you can unders- tand the metric system pretty easily. store to buy some light bulbs. We need a variety of sizes depending on the use we are going to put Perspectives By Syd Fletcher 111111111111111111111111111111 The six terms are: milli = one thousandth, centi =one hundredth, deci = one tenth, deca = ten, hecto = one hundred, and kilo = one thousand. The comparison 1 use goes like this. We are going to the them to work on. A kilo -watt bulb (1000 watts) would be useful for a barn yard light while a hecto -watt bulb would be just right for the hall -way. For' the little night light a deca-watt bulb would perhaps be a little strong but not too bad. Your pen -light bulb is probably a deci-watt size (about 1/10 of a watt), the light in your watch a centi- watt bulb (1/100th). Last- ly the light given off from the gleam in your eyes when you understand all this would be about one milli -watt. ,s Got it? Of course you have. Now I'll leaveyou with the next problem that I give the grade seven and eight students. If a general has many legions of men and has to send some of them to put down a small riot of 50 people, would he send a full legion 0000 men), a deci-legion, or a milli -legion? (I'll give you the answer next week. ) 4 1