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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-08-28, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, August 28, 1985 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1SO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235.1331 LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager eNA BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $23.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' � �6 Needs resolution Except for some minor damage and a few jangled nerves, many area residents safely watched a funnel cloud follow its bouncing path across Usborne Township last week. The close call with disaster prompts a question that arises over municipalities contributing funds to disaster, relief committees set up in areas where residents have not been as fortunate to escape. Usborne council is among those who just recently decided not to send a donation to any of the three com- mittees currently raising funds in the province. Obviously, it would have been difficult for the same council to justify seeking similar support had the funnel cloud resulted in major losses ib the township. By the same token, it can be assumed that some of the - municipalities raising funds to help their citizens recover from this year's disasters did not contribute to the funds set up in communities where disasters had occurred in the past. Some will argue that people should look after their own protection with adequate insurance. Others think that neighbors (in the widest term) have a responsibility to assist through private donations while obviously many think that provincial and municipal tax dollars should be expended. There may never be any clear-cut answer to the situation, but it is evi- dent that through their municipal ° association, elected officials should put the item on one of their convention agendas in an attempt to get some resolution. Perhaps there is a need for municipalities to include a disaster relief fund item in their annual budgets so they can draw from it to cover the requests made each year and to indicate that they would hope for the same response if disaster struck their community. Protection required William Shakespeare contended that the evil men do lives after them, but in reality it also lives with them to a considerable extent and in this day and age can be a costly situation. Civil suits are increasing at a frightening rate and suggest that to forgive and forget is much easier if the one doing the forgiving can get a sizeable monetary award to help in the forgetting. No individual or group, it seems, can expect to escape from the threat of action being brought against them, no matter in what activity they may be engaged, or how worthwhile that activity may appear to be. That's why the South Huron rec • centre board is acting appropriately in requiring that all groups using its facilities have liability insurance. It does indeed appear strange that a group of volunteers who may dedicate their time and talent to help- ing kids enjoy the benefits of a recrea- tion program should be susceptible to law suits, but they can not dismiss the fact that volunteers such as themselves have found that to be the case and have paid dearly for not hav- ing adequate protection to cover themselves. The validity of the board's deci- sion is strengthenedby the fact many of the groups now using the facilities already have such insurance and many others have indicated a desire to get the protection when the ramifications are explained to them. Unfortunately, even the apparent small expenditure will be a hardship for some of the groups and curtail less positive aspects of their programs, but it is one of the basic operating costs that must be covered. Keep a good thing going it's not often that another per- son's holiday trip can bring so much enjoyment to others, but that was certainly the case with the Haugh trip to Australia and New Zealand. Obviously, the editor was one of the major benefactors, but now it's back to work. When you get done reading this epistle you may also come to the conclusion that readers benefit- ted greatly from the lengthy respite, but all good things must come to an end as someone once said. Why that has to be was not answered by ,the author of the words, but most would agree that it is probably true. Actually, i have several can- didates in mind to provide further writing hiatuses for yours truly. it seems that most of the people i know took off on some lengthy sojourn this summer and i even have a trio of family members who could possibly he enticed to pound out a column or two on their ventures. - First of all. eldest son Scott shipped out to Yellowknife for the summer to he a member of the summer beach patrol in the North West Territories capital. That appears to be about as ludicrous as heading for Ber- muda to be a hockey coach, but he reports that indeed the Keach at Yellowknife iS a hive of activi- ty with swimmers and sun- bathers: although on many days he found it necessary to bundle up to sit on the lifeguard tower. Many of the beach lovers were tourists, no doubt sending home pictures of themselves cavorting 1 in the water with the polar bears and other arctic species. His last letter ( that was pro- bably the first one too) indicted the caribou had already• started their pre -winter migration, so the cool temperatures which have hit our area in the past week may also be indicative of an early Batt'n Around ...with The Editor winter. They're expecting it about one month earlier in the Territories. * * * * Number three son, Brett, also got the travel bug and headed off to Kapuskasing for a summer stint at a Junior Ranger camp.' He headed out with one duffle bag filled with clothes and another loaded down with bug spray, although it appears that he may have forgotten to cover his writing hand with the latter or i assume that must have been the reason for his lack of communication. Ile did find out that no matter where you travel in this vast world, it appears impossible not to come across someone with whom you have either a direct or indirect acquaintance. He got talking to one of his fellow rangers and the lads determined after some calculation that their fathers had roomed together while they were students at Ryer- son some few years ago. Not to be outdone by her grand- sons, mother managed a major oneupmanship by, treking off to Iceland with "the 11 old women from Canada." She's the champion traveller in the family, and while she had decided that her travelling days were over, couldn't resist the op- portunity to see a land which had always interested her. Where next year's "irresisti- ble" trip will be is anyone's guess. * . * * * * * Just to put a final end to Jhe travel report for the year, the writer should mention he did make it as far away as Stockton, New Jersey, stopping enroute to see the colorful glass works at Corning and the magical sight and sound show held in the ca- nyon at Watkin's Glen. The most unusal aspect of the trip was the fact it appeared to be downhill most of the way and yet it was the same thing on the way back, dispelling my fears that the gasoline account would bankrupt the wallet on the return* trip. Another interesting point to ponder is the fact that the major highways in the U.S. are far less busy than Ontario's 401. Even the interstate highway from New York city to Buffalo is leisurely jaunt that turns into something far different as one crosses the border at Niagara Falls and (leads home. wovar " -4 Sw } e;Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1573 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited "I've decided to impose economic sanctions — I'm taking away my wife's charge cards." teachers Remembering At the same time, he was capable of writing the most tender, delicate lyrics, or such precise pictures as "Shark", which many a student has studied in high school. As a professor, he was a delight. He didn't give a diddle about such nonsense as atten- dance, and when he went dream- ing off into Shakespeare or one of the great poets, his dreams and insight rubbed off on his students. He ,personally wrote for me a recommendation that I be ac- cepted into graduate school, after another professor (bt the way, I still hate him) had refused. I believe he thought that because I was a • veteran, 1 deserved a chance. A decent, lovable man. Northrop Frye, a generation younger, but a close friend, col- league, and admirer of Pratt, was another cup of tea. He was no kindly, gentle, elderly scholar and poet. He had a mind like a well - honed razor, an intelligence and learning that used to make us wince, and a brilliant lecturing technique that drew crowds from -a11 over the university. He has emerged as one of the finest critical minds of this cen- tury, at least in North America. He has probably converted more people to his theories than Jesus did in his limited time. His disiples, rather watered down, have spread across the land. In lectures, he had a cutting wit that reminds one of the Ghurka soldier who took a swipe at a Rus- sian with his kukra !blade). The Russian laughed, "You didn't even touch me." The Ghurka replied. Yeah? Don't shake your head." Yet "Norrie" Frye, too, behind the scintillating mind, the scathing wit, was and is ( and I speak from personal experience) a gentle, sympathetic person, to whom each ent is a treacl human. He is intenselstudy shy. awasurey from the podium, but intensely decent, as a human being. I can only be humble when i remember that I, one of the great unwashed, intellectually. was ex- posed -to these fine minds and persons. Isn't it odd how well we remember our teachers: the old battleaxe who whacked us over the head with a pointer; the math teacher who never scolded, but rolled his eyes to the heavens when you put your answer on the board; the sardonic art teacher who would sit down beside you and polish up your "painting," which was the same one you had done last week and the week before? I remember distinctly almost every teacher I ever had. The on- ly 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 corresponded occasionally with my Grade one: 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 occa- sionally remonstrated with me about my choice of language. One of my favorite high school teachers has done the same, and we keep in touch. Every so often I receive a let- ter 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 let- ters are one of the rewards, in- tangible but important, that a teacher receives. 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 the edge; a science teacher with a Ph. D., a good and kindly man presistently bullied by some cretins in this class. I was saddened by the fate of some 'teachers who sickened or died or became mentally ill under -the unrelenting pressure of the classroom. Hatred? I never .hated those who clobbered me or strapped me or bawled me out. There was only one teacher I hated. He was a flying instructor 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 stud nt pilot. And the student esca0ed with a bloody nose. All my other flying instruc- tors were tops. These vagaries came trickling into my skull -bone when two of my favorite university profs were featured in the newspapers Sugar & Spice Dispensed by Smiley recently: E. J. Pratt, and Nor- throp Frye. I have never written either a warm letter, but have always had a feeling of warmth and awe for each. E. J. "Ned" Pratt was a gen- tle man and a gentleman as well as a scholar. Son of a New- foundland minister, he worked his way into the groves of academe, and became one of Canada's "great" poets. 1 use "great" in the sense of vast, grand, epic. Pratt wasn't in- terested in the usual preoccupa- tions of modern poets: examining his own navel; imitating, badly, the poets who lacerate society, who are wtill hung up on Freud and sex, who think that ugly is beautiful with a few four-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 the Titanic: these were the massive bones on which he, built, with con- summate skill. his epic narrative poems. A token gesture tack in the 50's and 6O's racism was a very ugly, word in the United States. That was the time when blacks were forced to sit at the back of buses, couldn't use the same water fountains or washrooms as white people. found themselves refused jobs because of their colour or placed in the. dirtiest. toughest jobs simply because their skin was not the right shade. There was violence. True enough. Some of it instigated by whites who were not willing to ac- cept change. Some of it by blacks who were fed up with a substan- dard style of living. Then came a determination to overcome the situation by passive resistance : sitting at the front of the bus, insisting on a fair chance at jobs, the peace mar- ches, the registration at schools where no black had ever registered before. Now, in the U.S. there are many changes and blacks are beginning to he recognized as equals in -all areas. There are things that have not Ix'en fixed up yet. Look at the black gettoes of By the Way by Syd Fletcher the major cities to see that all is not right there but hirpefully things are improving. in South Africa the policy of apartheid (pronounced apart - ate), which deliberately reduces blacks to a very low status is creating bloodshed and bitterness at an ever-increasing pace. Blacks in that country are forc- ed to live in certain areas only. must carry restrictive travel passes at all times, may not vote for the white -dominated govern- ment. and are at present livinf: under an emergency set of laws which are very warlike in tont and action. 500 deaths, mostly black. have resulted in the last year. Man' more will occur before this ver tensa situation is resolved unless the white government make: some very strong changes in till way the country is being run changes which give all people i the country a fair deal. Recently the Province of Or lark) decided that it would not se South African wine in its liquo stores. This is only a toke gesture perhaps but it is at leas an indication that we do not cor done South Africa's hehaviou toward its black citizens.