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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-08-13, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, August 13, 1986 WOE RIBBON A. AH[) Imes - 1 dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 150 Second Class Mail Registration Number Q386: LORNE EEDY Publisher Phone 519-235-1331 pas, eNA ir‘ JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DKK fONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year, U.S.A. 665.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Must be equitable Agriculture -Minister -lac may appear a little harsh in turning down requests for assistance from the fruit farmers in the Niagara area whose crops were devastated by a severe hail storm recently. However, the local MPP is quite cor- rect in noting that providing assistance to farmers who failed to purchase crop insurance would totally undermine the insurance plan. While many farmers now gamble on escaping such losses, it only stands to reason that none would buy crop insurance if- the government con- tinually opened the public purse to com- pensate the various losses experienced periodically throughout the province. Riddell told area turnip growers the same thing last winter when he attend- ed a meeting at Centralia College to discuss the turnip mosaic virus problem that wiped out much of the area crop last season. All but a few appeared to agree with his reasoning and any change in that policy for the fruit growers would ob- viously send up howls of protest and belated claims for assistance - f oom • 1 . se groups such as the turnip growers if there was any bending of the policy. While it is obvious the policy must be followed in an equitable manner, it does not reduce the sympathy that must be ex- tended to farmers who already get prices below their production costs for many products. Crop insurance becomes another input factor that, in those cases, adds to the actual loss being experienc- ed by farmers and explains why many are forced into taking the gamble of not buying the protection. That gamble, however, must remain an individual decision and not one in which all taxpayers must be forced to in- dulge. The latter already contribute in- directly because the crop insurance plan is subsidized from the public coffers By the- same token, governments must treat all sectors of society in a similar manner and should indicate quite clearly to all that assistance will not be forthcoming for any losses when public or private insurance was available to those whQ stiffered the' losses. 0010.1, More paper work The Ontario Environment Ministry is more interested in creating work for its own bureaucrats than it is with pro- tecting our air and water. A prime example is the provincial crackdown on hazardous waste. In their quest to purify the environment - admit- tedly a noble cause - the mandarins at Queen's Park have created a paper mer- chants dream. They have come up with a stagger- ingly complicated 120 -page document called a "Registration Guidance Manual for Generators of Liquid Industrial and Hazardous Waste." It's more com- plicated than a federal income tax return form and includes chapters on how to determine if your firm must register with the Ministry; how to read flowchart ex- planations; a summary of waste streams requiring generator registration and something called "new manifest waybill `+� requirements." And this copious paperwork isn't just for your giant corporate polluter with. serious discharge problems. Because' newspapers are printed on paper which contains chemicals, your humble com- munity newspaper is on the polluters hit list. We have received official notice, in English and French, of course, that we will face a stiff fine unless we wade through the paper in order to register our enterprise with the Ministry. No doubt many medium to small businesses are facing the same red tape requirements. None of this, of course, has anything to do with the real pollution pro- blem facing Ontario. But it does give the people at the Ministry of the Environ- ment something to do besides counting ceiling tiles in their Toronto offices and we suppose we should be grateful for that. Watch for signs I taught for a couple of years at a high school in Woodstock. One of my fellow teachers had gone through a terrible experience the previous year. His son was in Grade 12 in the same school, cap- tain,of the football team, an honours student. One night my colleague came home from school and found hiseson on the living room floor, dead. An efnp- ty paper bag and a bottle of airplane glue were beside him. The father had a nervous breakdown not long afterward and was off school for six months. I have riot heard of any students sniffing glue lately. I think the word has gotten around that it is a pretty foolish thing, to do. Hopefully we can make,it just as plain that other drugs and chemicals are, equally dangerous. A parent once asked me if it is possible to spot kids *who are get- ting into drugs. Yes, .there are signs, if you know what to look for, One of the most obvious is a By the Way by Syd Fletcher marked change in behaviour and appearance. School grade may drop suddenly. Students may not Bare about activities such as sports that were once important. 1 Sarnia Gazette Bed times may vary con- siderably. They can withdraw from family and friends and spend time with new acquain- tanoes; people they don't want their parents to meet. And they can be very anxious, irritable and suspicious. .- To be fair, all of the above can, also just be a part of growing up. Did you know though that mari- buana smokers get reddened or loodshot eyes? They often use sunglasses to hide them. A persis- tent sweet or lingering odour on- their rrtheir clothing can be another indication. If money, jewelry or other valuables begin to disappear, that could be a sign that they have been stolen to pay for drugs. Unfortunately, drug abuse and criminal activity usually go hand- in-hand. a OPIOPY Man-made wonder If you were asked to name Alberta's greatest tourist attrac- tion, there's little doubt that Banff, the Calgary Stampede or Edmonton's Klondyke Days would be among the top choices, but indications are that those at- tractions are in danger of losing their position to a shopping mall. A shopping mall? Well, not just any shopping mall, but the West Edmonton mall in particular. During the writer's stay in Ed- monton-, one of the extra- curricular activities planned by the hosts of the World Sheep and Wool Congress was a trip to the mall and it is indeed an almost unbelievable place. We were given about three hours for our visit, and while that length of stay in a shopping mall would normally be more of a test than I could endure, it actually was the minimum time in which one could walk from one end to the other and give even a cursory glance at themany, atlyectibin. If you. wanted 40 -do some *Mow shopping, you'd need `another three hours and there's no way of estimating the time required to participate in all the activities. Made rather infamous now by its ill-fated giant, roller coaster, the mall covers a vast area and employment will range around the 20,000 mark when the hotel phase is completed this fall. The mall has somewhere around 400 retail stores and many of those are duplicated in the two- storey structure. Store owners found their sites so lucrative in the. first phase of the construc- tion, that they signed up to have their stores in the second phase as well. Attesting to the fact that much " of the business comes from tourists is the fact that several Edmontonians to whom we spoke said they didn't go to the mall to shop, although it is suspected that it may merely be fashionable to deny that patronization. * * * * * * Regardless of from where they come, the mall was crawling with Batt'n Around ...with The Editor people and there were lineups to many of the special attractions. Those include a two -acre water sport area that boasts of some seven or eight giant water slides and, of course, the pool area boasts one of those wave -action facilities. There were so many people in the pool that the in- trigue of the wave is required to entertain the bathers because there wouldn't be much room for swimming. Beside the water sport area is a full-sized skating rink that was well patronized by would-be Gret- zkys_staying in shape during the summer. The amusement park area is a jumble of rides to test the for- titude of the most adventuresome or to delight the youngsters. E'en with the roller coaster boarded off behind its shroud, the amuse- ment section probably equals that of the Western Fair. Cages and aquariums throughout the complex hold a wide variety of animals and birds, ranging from tigers to the vividly colored salt -water tropical fish. Another huge area provides for some underwater scenery as two 20 -foot submarines follow a course through the water that also provides the habitat for one huge shark which spends its time slowly circling in front of its underwater cave. Another sec- tion provides for the periodic ap- pearance of three trained dolphins in front of a section of stands that accommodates about 250 people. * * * * * It's virtually impossible to ac- curately detail. the scope of the mall verbally or the many other interesting "streets" and attrac- tions that abound. Suffice it to say that visitors would need a hefty pair of shoes and a very fat wallet to see and do all that is available. App`rently Mississauga is in the running for the second major mall planned by the Edmonton developers so area residents may have a shorter trip in the near future in which to see such a place for themselves. That announcement is un- doubtedly striking fear into the hearts of retailers and amuse- ment park operators within a fairly wide radius of the Toronto .suburb. Meanwhile, if you're close to Edmonton, a visit to the mall is on the must -see list although it will never surpass the beauty of Banff. Stop for a sniff The word "barbecue" the dic- tionaries tell me, comes to us via American Spanish and Haitian Creole. It appears that a bar- bacoa was a framework of sticks set on posts, a contraption with which the original inhabitants of the West Indies roasted whole pigs and who knows what else. Maybe so. But we all know the barbecue has become a symbol of leisurely summer living in North America. Like the dandelion, it has spread from the suburbs right across the countryside un- til it has reached even the remotest valley or hilltop. We also know that barbecues are now big business. In its latest form, the gas barbecue, it is pum- ping millions of dollars into our economy. I was at a friend's place the other day. These people live in a tar paper shack propped up by a tree on one side and a retaining wall of angelstone on the other. They don't have electricity. They have one of the last outhouses in the country that is still in work- ing order. And they haul their drinking water from a well with a bucket on a chain. But they do their hotdogs on a 3 -burner, $600.00 gas barebue with deluxe cast-iron grids and fancy red- wood shelves. its working area, they tell me with agleam in their eyes, has 550 square inches, which my pocket calculator tells , me, converts to 3,548 square cen- timeters. Impressive? To some. When I was growing up, having a radio was a status symbol. in the 50's it was a TV, in the 60's a colour TV. A couple of years ago is was a VCR. And gas barbecues have been the cat's meow for a while now. Well, I'm a notorious status symbol resister. I didn't get a col- our TV till 1980, and our VCR is a 1986 model. I will fight against having to buy a gas barbecue un- til Canadian Tire or Home Hard- ware no longer carry what I con- sider real barbecues, the kind that works with charcoal. Our present model is now four years old. It cost $12.99 and has cooked approximately 100 to 120 meals. My charcoal consumption during that period was probably around eighty or ninety dollars. So my total cost per meal is under, a dollar. But the pleasure I get out of messing around with the real thing cannot be measured in dollars and cents. To me, gas is an artificial, mysterious and dangerous substance. I know, you gas addicts will tell me that it is of organic origin. But what disgusting stuff is it made of? Manure'? Garbage? And you cook your food over it! I could never develop a close relationship with a propane tank or a spark igniter. And what are those "natural lava rocks" that are supposed to •nitate "real barbecue flavour?" y go digging for lava on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, when the Canadian forest is full of " healthy hardwoods, the stuff that honest to goodness charcoal is made of? • I am proud to cook my steaks or hamburgers over genuine charcoal that takes skill to light and time to bring to a warm glow. Standing over my little grill, wat- ching the coals turn from black to white with red, orange and pur- ple tongues licking up, sniffing the unmistakable smoke, is an experience I don't want to miss. I don't care how fast a gas barbecue works. When I'm the chef, I'm in no hurry. And I like to imagine how my charcoal is created. By artisans. By husky Canadian lumberjack types in plaid shirts, swinging broad axes and pulling double - handed tree saws. They chop down selected oaks and hickories. The woods echo from their blows and their rustic songs. They build their kilns or piles ac- cording to ancient tradition, and when the charcoal is ready, they fill it into paper sacks made of Canadian pulp. Everything about this product is wholesome, ap- pealing, even romantic. You can have your Model S-6000 with the 30.000 BTU burners, the up -front dual con- trols, the heat indicator and the fold -away chrome -plated shelf area. I'll take.what I've got, I think I'll drive into town right now and buy another three "economy barbecues" - now $14.99 - before it's too late. Before they disap- pear altogether like spinning wheels or ice boxes. I'll put two of them into the shed -and save them for the time when my pre- sent barbecue is worn gut. They should last me for the rest of my barbecuing days. The third one I'll keep, in its original box and preserve for posterity, together with a hag of charcoal. After my, death, these are to be donated to the Museum of Civilization. In the meantime, if you happen to pass our place when I m doing a barbecue, you're welcome to stop and have a sniff of the real thing.