HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-04-23, Page 4• . Ttmos•Adirocott, April 29. 1966 Bt F RiEiS.�^. Ames -. dvocate Servins South Huron, North Middlesex North Lambton Since 1873 Published by ).W. Eedy Publications United Published Each Wednesday Morning M betel, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Main Registration Number 0366. ( r �� Phone 519.235-1331 eNA LORNE EERY i'ubisber JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager MI. BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DKK JONGKWD Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year, U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Need concerted effort „. While Olney, Illinois and Exeter, On- tario enjoy the apparent common denominator of being the white squirrel capitals of their respective countries, the similarity basically stops there. Olney has promoted the white squir- rel to the point where it has become a well known focal point for the communi- ty and it is impossible to drive through the streets without being well aware of the town's mascot. Attractive "squirrel crossing" signs have been erected; the Olney police and firefighters have arm patches with white squirrels on them; and there is even a state law which protects Olney's white squirrel population. In contrast, Exeter has been slow to take advantage of the community's white squirrel population and the promotional value that it presents. There's been some activity in that regard but it's been'Wow in developing and the very lack of pro- tection afforded the unique species •has led some to suggest that the white squir- rels could well disappear through natural and human causes before the majority of citizens will come to the realization of how valuable they could be. Despite the community backing the squirrels have received in Olney, the population there has decreased from 800 to a present total of about 150. Part of that is due to the fact Olney's white squirrels, unlike those in Exeter, are albinos and their resulting poor eyesight makes them easy prey for cats -and unwary drivers. Some of the squirrels have bred with nor- mal grey squirrels and that too has led to a decline' in their population. Exeter's white squirrel population is far below those levels and therefore is in greater jeopardy of being eliminated without a concerted effort to protect it. That must be the first step; follow- ed quickly by the combined efforts of the entire community to make White Wonder as much of a promotional attraction as Jumbo or Wiarton Willie. Olney seized the opportunity provid- ed by a quirk of nature and it would be incomprehensible if Exeter failed to do likewise. "You startled me- I thought you were 'taxes"!" Worthwhile suggestion As noted recently, the letters to the editor column is one of the most in- teresting portions of any newspaper and it can also be a worthwhile endeavor for the letter writer as that person gets to ex- press an opinion that may lead to some beneficial results. David Ball of St. Marys recently sug- gested, through a short (46 words) letter, a viable method of motorcyclists to reduce their risk on the highway. As every driver knows, motorcycles, are not easily seen at times, and Ball recommends that the riders wear orange vests of the type used by hunters to pre- vent accidental shootings in the bush. It's a suggestion that has con- siderable merit, and while the color may not be to the liking of the macho motor- cyclists, it's still preferableto the pastel colors used to line the coffins of the in- creasing number killed because they were not spotted by another motorist. Agreeing with the critics It's not often that people who attend performances of live theatre, musical productions or art shows come away with the same opinion as. the critics dispatched by the various news media to review those ever ts. Although the writer gets in- vited to those events on occasion in the anticipation that he will do a review, that task is seldom undertaken primarily because my expertise in the field of the performing arts ( plu;wmerous other fields i hear you say) is not adequate to form the necessary judgements. in fact, I otter wonder whether I was at the same event as some of the professional critics after reading their reviews. in- variably, it seems, the perfor- mances f enjoy are those which are most negatively panned by the critics and conversely, some of the programs at which 1 it'ave little trouble dozing off or feel the urge to leave, get rave reviews from the critics. It's getting to the point where I almost feel intimidated about expressing an opinion, either privately or publicly, before reading the reaction from the critics. After all, there is something disconcerting about enjoying something which is later revealed as something that was not enjoyable in the minds of the experts. Generally speaking, critics are profoundly negative in their reviews and there's a suspicion that they often read the audience reaction and then take the oppos- ing view' just to be controve al or to set themselves abov'the general audience. Many of diem are extremely verbose and there's a suggestion that they sit down a few days prior to a performance or exhibi- tion and check through their dic- tionaries for a new list of adverbs Batt'n Around ...with The Editor and adjectives and then set about writing their reviews using their new words, whether they really apply to the situation or not. in view of the preceding, it was more than a little surprising to learn that my reaction to the re- cent performance at London's Se- cond City was echoed by many of the reviewers who were on hand. Performed on its Cornerstage theatre, the Second City show is entitled, Ontario: Yours to Recover. If there is a fault in the show, it is that the laughter often drowns out some of the per- formers and it is an event that one should probably attend twice ust to pick up some of the highlights that may have been missed originally. While Second City is probably best known among the "younger crowd", it certainly is'entertain- t ment that all ages can enjoy, as long as you can accept the ir- reverent comedy and at times, off-color language. The new review takes a satirical look at a large number of current subjects, ranging from modern marriage, extra billing, the mid -East situation, career women right through to the energy of postal workers. There are no props or elaborate costumes to make it a colorful show in the usual theatre tradi- tion, but the ability of the actors to basically mime a setting brings it alive for the audience in an uncanny way. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Second City is the speed with which the players move from one skit to the next. The spotlight dims from the stage and in a split second appears again to illuminatethe next skit and one is Left bewildered in trying to com- prehend how the transformation has been completed. If you've been brought up by teenagers who invariably turned off the Maple Leafs final few minutes so they could switch channels for Saturday Night Live, you'll have some apprecia- tion for the type of show that is presented on the Cornerstage. I've managed to get to the last three and this one is probably the best to date. Garbage is my job I agree with you, this heading leaves something to be desired. Garbage by Peter Hessel may not attract quite as many readers as Airport by Arthur Hailey or Shogun by James Clavell. But let me follow the trend to one -word titles to tell you about my strug- gle with the unwanted materials that accumulate in our house. First of all, I have come to recognize something inevitable. Our society may be changing. Women are entering professions and trades: previously reserved for men, and vice versa. We see more and more women in the police forces, in the armed forces and in hockey. On the other hand, there are increasing numbers of male nurses, secretaries and librarians. But no woman has ever tried to take away from me what seems to be the last bastion of male exclusiveness: the handl- ing and disposal of domestic garbage. In other words, the garbage is my job, my responsibility. No one is trying to take that away from me. It is mine, all mine. Although we live in the country, we are fortunate enough to have garbage pickup. So I don't actual- ly have to load the stuff in the back of the stationwagon and drive it to the dump. Unless I forget to put the garbage out on Friday mornings. If I do that, then I have to make a trip to the dump on Saturday. Before 6 p.m. If I get there at 6:15, I have to make another trip on Monday. I speak from experience. Throughout the house, waste paper is collected in every room in incredible amounts. In addition to newspapers, magazines, junk mail, paper bags, notes, lists, catalogues and what have you there are facial tissues (general- ly referred to as kleenex) that seem to fill up all available con- tainers every day. I am convinc- ed that our family alone keeps one logger, two papermakers and three printers in the work force. All this stuff I dump into a green plastic bin, where it is allowed to mingle with other non -smelling garbage like bottles, jars and broken toys. Then there is the sticky, odiferous, colorful material that •accumwates for the most part in 'he kitchen. The only time I The Peter Hessel Column have atn opportunity to identify the components of that mess is when Elizabeth is missing silver spoon or Duncan can't find his sister's barrettes he had no `-usiness playing with but did anyway. Then I get to know what was dumped into the heavy metal containers on every day of the week. Out of respect for your feel- ings4 I will spare you the juicy details. And these searches don't happen every week. Maybe once every two weeks. Thursday night is garbage night. The garbage truck comes between eight and nine on Friday morning (except when Friday is a holiday, then it comes a day earlier, which usually means a .trip to the dump on Saturday). But on regular Thursday nights, I not only collect the current seven or eight assorted waste baskets and garbage cans distributed at strategic locations throughout the house, I also per- form my duty as garbage coor- dinator in the garage. I prepare everything for the takeout, although takeout time is not un- til Friday morning. I can't leave the garbage outside over night, because of our rich rural fauna. I tried a few times, using a variety of tricks like weights or. stacking the cans on top'of each other. The moment I open the garage door on Thursday night, the animals spread the word that the garbage is coming out. And as I place the cans, dozens of rac- coons, squirrels, = chipmunks, mice, voles, moles, wildcats, bob- cats, domestic cats and dogs from the village, as well as blackbirds, crows and ravens line up behind the•ditch, waiting for me to close the garage door. The result of their forays does not become evident until dawn. Too many tims did I pick spaghetti out of the gravel, saran wrap out of the grass, orange. peel out of th ulvert. No more Thursday a. -digit takeout. I'm thinking of redesigning my entire garbage disposal system. There must be an easier way. Like pelletizing the *hole shooting match. Or turning it in- to propane gas to drive our gas guzzling wagon. Do any of you men have new ide�aas? How do you solve your (amity garbage problems? I don't elcpect to hear from women, since they know nothing about garbage disposal. We men have to work. this one out ourselves. Garbage is really important to us, isn't it? As a matter of fact, it is one of the only ways in which we can still prove our masculinity. Here is something nobody else can do. Wow! I have to run. Elizabeth will be home soon, and if she sees that I didn't bring the empty garbage cans in, there will be hell to pay. It's a good outing if you're look- ing for some light entertainment' to get your mind off the ills of this world. You'll be reminded of them, of course, but only from the humorous side. Things have changed At one time I can remember that it used to be a bit of an insult to a person when you said that he would grow up to be a ditch - digger. I guess that people thought that if you went through school and got an education that you wouldn't have to get your hands dirty. Perhaps there was a bit of snobbery involved too; sup- posedly one did not have to be very smart to push a shovel around. Maybe all that was true at one time but things have changed. High technology has come to the ditch business. I got a little lesson in that this last weekend when I discovererd that I had severe problems with my septic tank system and that i would have to have a ditch dug. My good friend, Archie Donald, whose business is usually putting in thousands of feet of tile drain for farmers, took pity on me and came out on a Saturday afternoon when he should have had his feet up in front of the television. I looked at the big backhoe that he brought in and thought, "No By the Way by Fletcher sweat, with that outfit we'll have this done in a few minutes." Then I found out it wasn't quite that easy. A level had to be set up along with a little telescope on top of it. The fall of the land had to be taken into consideration and as the backhoe moved along a cons- tant check was made to make sure that the water would drain away properly and not just sit in a low spot and create as many problems as it was supposed to solve. When Archie puts in a whole system for a farmer he uses a laser beam outfit that is set up far across the field, locks in on a sen- sor on the big tiling machine and tells it cxactly how deep to dig as it goes along. After watching him work on my little project for an afternoon I had the feeling though that my hundred and fifty feet of tile would work just as well as a big system would simply because of the knowledge and expertise that he put into the job. It's nice to know that there are people around who take a little pride in their work even though it will be covered up by three or four feet of clay when the job.ls finished.