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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-12-03, Page 4Pogo 4 Timis-Advocots, Decernbor 3, 1966 FLUE H EiUiUN f .ARG Imes - dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone S19-235-1331 cn eNA meli% LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager 4.1.., BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKJND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Pounding tables Ontario's major farm organization, the Federation of Agriculture, establish- ed an historical first at the annual con- vention in Toronto by electing a female president. That, in itself, offers no immediate hope for an end to the economic woes of many farmers in the province, but the leadership of Brigid Pyke is at least ex- pected to set the Federation on a more. militant course. Delegates were not overwhelming in their support for the Wolfe Island dairy farmer as she gained only a narrow vic- tory over incumbent Harry Pelissero who repeatedly warned of the "table pounding" methods that could be ex- pected from Pyke and her supporters. Presumably, the majority of delegates felt that the Federation need- ed a new sense of direction, although there will no doubt continue to be the debate whether more is attained through the carrot or stick approach to any situation. The first order of business for the new president will be to mend the rifts that have arisen during an unusual open election for the post; and the second will be to muster the support of more Ontario farmers for the Federation so she can convince those who need convincing that her organization does indeed speak for the majority of farmers in this province. The Federation has been plagued in the past not so much by a lack of leader- ship, but rather a lack of support at the grassroots level as various commodity groups have headed off in their own directions to further their own causes. Only when farmers recognize that their strength comes from the unified voice will they be able to make inroads against the economic depression that continues to swell. If there was more table -pounding undertaken in the kitchens along the con- cessions in Ontario to enlist more support for the work of the Federation, there would possibly be less need for table - pounding when the organization made approaches to the senior governments. Pushing for change To the obvio)Is consternation of some and the pleasure of others, Ontario is quickly heading into wide-open Sunday shopping. While the matter is currently before the courts it is becoming rather evident that even that may not stem the tide and the reason is that most stores now defy any plausible description to provide an equitable solution to the fact that people have a definite need to have sources of some goods available. Convenience stores have expanded to the point where they present competi- tion to even the large grocery chains; drug stores. compete with gift outlets; and so the list goes. Coming up with a sensible criteria is virtually impossible as more and more retailers move to become all things to all people. About the only way that Sunday shopping can be controlled is to have a specific list of items that can be sold on that day. That would be nothing short of a law enforcement headache. If anyone has a plausible solution it is imperative that it be presented very quickly because the hand -writing is now clearly on the wall. That doesn't mean that all retailers will have to stay open or that everyone will have to join the move to Sunday shopping. That will be an individual choice. Too much access During the past few years, the senior levels of government have moved to open up the public's ac- cess to various information through the enactment of freedom of information rules. Unfortunately, recent incidents have shown that those same governments have been extreme- ly lax and careless in protecting information on individual citizens that should have most Canadians more than a little uneasy. -- A federal employee recently took home income tex informa- tion on every Canadian citizen who had filed tax returns in the past year and there is still some mystery as to the intent of that action. However, there is even more mystery involved in how the employee's actions could have been so easily undertaken and whey it took so long to uncover the d. Now the provincial auditor has found disconcerting knowledge that their governments have been extremely complacent in protec- ting that personal information, despite the fact those records could be used for a number of damaging schemes if they fall in- to the hands of the unscrupulous. The computer age has brought forth many advantages but as yet it appears that governments have failed to recognize that the ease 0 4 by which they can now add infor- mation on citizens is comparable to the ease by which that infor- mation can be sourced by those who have no right to do so. . * • • . Ironically, it appears that while governments are busy keeping tab on taxpayers, they have fail- Batt'n Around ...with The Editor .err..: ed miserably in adapting com- puters to keep track of their own inventories. One could speculate that part of the problem may be that so- meone has stolen the computers assigned to inventory control. The auditor found that the bureaucracy has been lax in keeping track of moveable assets and in the ministry of natural resources alone, there were 3,500 unaccounted-for items with a total value of $1.7 million. The auditor selected 225 assets from inventory listings from various ministers' offices and 60 of those items, or more than one- quarter, could not be located. That include& everything from color TVs to outboard motors, and while it is anticipated that some may be recovered through an update of records, it is believ- ed that many never will be found because they have probably been stolen. It should not go unnoticed that officials told the legislature that thousands of dollars worth of equipment was missing from ministers' offices after the new Liberal government took over from the Conservatives. Did the spoiled kids take home their bats after losing the game? • * • . • There is, of course, some good news in all this and it is par- ticularly so as Ontario citizens start to stock up their bar sup- plies for the round of festive parties. Somewhere out in the province there is some $705,000 worth of booze that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario has lost. Okay, on your mark, get set. I'll take the area south.of Sud- buryand you can have the north and we'll track that stuff down. With any luck at all, the editor won't draw a sober breath until midway through 1987. Or, do you suppose someone has already beaten us to that cache? Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lamblon Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publkations limited "I DIP ALL I COULD --- I BLEW MY HORN AT IT!" Put headlights H you are like me, driving with your headlights on all day, every day, you don't have to read on. There is no point in preaching to the converted. Although you might be interested in the solu- tion I offer. , .This•,column is addressed to '$viverS who somehow believe that they can save money by keeping their headlights off until the onset of darkness. It's the energy savers I encounter every day that I'm angry at. What are you trying rove? That your eyes are able to penetrate dusk, fog, rainstorms and blizzards? Maybe your's can, but what about us mortals? How do you expect us to see you and to avoid colliding with you? According to Transport Canada, 120 lives could be saved in this country alone every year if people kept their headlights on routinely all day. In addition, 11,000 injuries would be avoided. The total number of accidents caused by the "energy savers" on Canadian roads is 38,000 a year. I drive an average of 150 kilometers a day. Hardly a day goes by that I am not annoyed by motorists who refuse to switch their lights on when they should. And I've had several near -misses on the highway because of drivers who either "forget" their headlights or think that their bat- teries or generators or light bulbs would wear out too fast if they followed safe driving rules. Do you know what I think of these drivers? They're amateurs, and they should restrict their driving to their back yard or the occasional trip to the nearby shopping mall - in broad daylight only. - The professionals, the ex- perienced drivers, keep their lights on all the time: most RCMP and provincial police cruisers, buses, trucks have their headlights on all day. All federal government .vsbie,Ags, including those of the Arntadgferces, follow the same policy. Not long ago I was driving on the Trans -Canada Highway in a steady downpour. It was the mid- dle of the day, and therefore "legal" for cars to drive without headlights on. After a while I caught up with a recreational vehicle that lumbered along at 50 km an hour. The road was straight, and the dotted line would have allowed me to pass, if the vehicles approaching me would have had their lights on. But practically every second car coming in the opposite direction was chauffeured by an "energy saver". I couldn't see it until it was 100 meters ahead of me. I decided to stay behind the camper, and so did a long string of other vehicles. But the potential of a serious accident, maybe a "multiple vehicle crash", was very high. Not because of the poor visibili- ty, but because of thoughtless, in- considerate drivers. on I think we should realize a very basic driving fact that seems to escape many if not most motorists. SWITCHING YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON MAY NOT HELP YOU TO SEE BETTER, BUT IT -HELPS OTHERS TO SEE YOU! Headlights are two- way optical signals. They enable YOU to see where you're going, AND they enable OTHERS to recognize you on the road. So even when you can see perfectly well where you're heading you may be involved in a serious accident because your car was not properly visible. It's worth spending a few extra dollars for a light bulb or two, because driving with your headlights on might save your 'life and the lives of others. I have discussed this with several pmple, and here are -some of their arguments: "I can see perfectly well until it's com- pletely dark; why should I turn my headlightsrpn ? 1 don't feel like wearing out my lights. If I drive with headlights on in the daytime, I forget to switch them off, and then my battery runs down. I think driving with my lights on increases my gas consumption.:." In the long run, I think there is only one solution: design cars so that the headlights come on automatically as soon as the engine is started. If we agree that driving with headlights is safer, then why bother having a light switch at all? Can we turn the brakes off? Of course not, that would be ludicrous. I suggest that it is equally ridiculous to have a proven safe- ty device -headlights -and to pro- vide it with an on and off switch. Presents cruel side When a warm soft spring rain is falling and the wind is blowing gently through the trees one tends to think favourably of mother nature and the benefits she can bring us. Unfortunately that same wind and rain can be an enemy if their intensity and volume increase. This has really been brought home to me this year as I have been watching the erosion taking place one hundred yards away from my house along the Lake Huron shore. In the three years that I have lived out here the water level has risen by three or four feet on calm days and much higher than that when the wind comes in strongly from the north or nor- thwest. The effect on the shoreline has been devastating. This year has been the worst. I took a walk along the beach yesterday. A week ago it was all sandy. Yesterday after a couple By the Way by Fletcher of days of high wind and waves the beach is covered with new driftwood and fist -sized rocks that make the walking a little treacherous. Beside the beach is a cliff covered with small trees. These are gradually sliding down the hill; their roots are exposed. Every puff of wind sends sand and topsoil flying into the air or down to the beach below. Layers of clay form the `toe' of the cliff. The water has cut into these layers and shaped them in- to strange shapes as if a giant sculptor has been at work. Thirty years ago my neighbour's father bought his cot- tage. Then you could walk out several hundred feet to the water. Now he is perched precariously, a cement wall his only protection from the lake which is even now cutting in and around the wall so that it too may be soon absorbed into the merciless waves. Mother Nature has her cruel side.