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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-12-17, Page 4,.-47r ,Rr n- n • r� k�I`{ • �l Each Wednesday Mo Second Class Mail Registration Phone 519435.1331,' is • u '`�' 'Middlesex firth Lambton ice 1873 - by J.W. Lsdy Publications, &lotted 4 LORNE EEDY Publisher • flM BECKETT Advertising Manager • BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY OEVRIES Composition Manager A; ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editoi PICK JONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year, U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 4A' Think about it While police and court statistics in- dicate that some people have not yet become convinced that drinking and driving is a costly and dangerous situa- tion, figures revealed this week should . help to make the message clearer. As- most people know, fines for im- paired drivers or those with blood alcohol levels over the legal limit, are $500 in the local court. However, representing an even greater burden for some, is the licence suspension that goes along with the conviction. Consider for a moment what reper- cussions you would experience by being without a vehicle for the next few months. It's a rather frightening pro- spect, isn't it? • Well, if the fine and suspension still haven't convinced you that the risk is too great, consider the further costs involv- 4. • ,. 4. . . VAS_• -G" �,� ed in a drinking and driving conviction. Insurance companies quickly. entev the picture and put those convicted in their high-risk' category. Basically that increases by four times the amount those drivers pay for their vehicle insurance, not just for one year, but for five. So, if your premium is in the general range of $600 currently, it will zoom to over $2,500 per annum for the next five years. That's about $50 per week, representing a drain that would sink many household budgets. Of course, the fines', suspensions and additional insurance costs can pale in comparison to the tragic consequences that befall many drinking drivers and their innocent victims. As the Ontario government cam- paign notes, only YOU can stop drinking and driving. Think about it! Hope others do too! Ain't no duck? There's an old saying that if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, then it's a duck. Right? Not so,, says Tony Carlo from the • Canadian Federation of In� dependent Businesses when he relates that to Ontario's pay equity bill, which he agrees, looks fair, sounds necessary and appears democratic. He claims there are hitches in the new law as it enshrines the unworkable concept of equal pay for work of equal value and will set ,a .plague of troubles upon the economy in general, and upon women, the very people it aims to help, in particular. At its foundation is the idea that unlike jobs can be compared with un- wavering accuracy. No such foolproof system has yet been devised and the legislators have failed to consider the im- pact on the marketplace. His�xedicitgnis that the new,law will's increasetie potential for infightingand" • jealousies among employees and- will prompt employers to look for ways around it by sub -contracting work or by. not hiring women. Pay equity is cited as a misguided concept and one guaranteed to grub' up plenty of votes for politicians whose main goal in life is to get re-elected. "No ma'am, this sure ain't no duck ! " he exclaims in his comment on pay equi- ty, adding that laws already exist to pre- vent wage discrimination in the form of equal pay for equal work and human rights legislation. What's in a name? Ever wonder how our society keeps coming up with all the new words in the language? Most dic- tionaries add thousands at each new printing and even they fail to keep pace with all the new words which are introduced almost daily. Some of those new words are actually some that have been considered slang or inap- propriate in the past, but have become so commonly used that they finally reach the point of credibility and acceptability. Of course, common dic- tionaries merely scratch the sur- face of the words which are found in use and they would become totally unwieldly to the point of causing hernias if they included all the medical and scientific words that abound. And just where do people come up with a word to describe a new object, process of whatever? Some have rather obvious roots, although the majority, it must be assumed, are just concocted from the whim of the person who has come across that new object that needs a suitable handle. My interest in all this was heightened considerably last week when the distaff member of the editorial department brought my attention to a news story from Washington State about a child who had developed Batten's disease. After suffering through some uncomplimentary suggestions as to how the editor's surname could appropriately be given to a rare and deadly disease that attacks one of the senses, 1 was left to ponder how the disease got its name. • The few plausible answers center primarily around the sug- gestion that someone named Bat- ten first identified the disease, or that some distant kinfolk was among the first to die from it after it had been diagnosed. There are those who have lakes, rivers or mountains nam- ed after them, while others have their names perpetuated in streets, parks or community edifices. Then, it appears, there are those of us who have to go Batt'n Around ...with The Editor through all life's toils and tribula- tions with the ignominy of being associated with a rare ailment that causes blindness and then certain death through faulty metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids. As it progresses, the news story explains, the disease finally leaves its victims demented. The only consolation the writer can enjoy is that his faithful readers will quickly recognize that the symptoms of the disease make its name a complete misnomer. After all, batten down the hat- ches is enough to suffer through! • • • • • While Christmas shopping par- ties and special concerts keep area residents busier than most enjoy at this time of year, those who may be looking for some ad- ditional entertainment should be advised that the current shows at London's Grand Theatre and Se- cond City are well worth the time and admission price. Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs at the Grand has been widely acclaimed and deserving- ly so. You only have a few more days to see the story which is bas- ed on Simon's teenage years, unless it is extended. The new show at Second City, which opened only this week, is appropriately called Closed Minded on Sundays -- Back After Next Election. Again the cast pokes some fun at some of the major social topics of the day and it's a great way to get away from it all for a couple of hours. * • • • • One of the periodic requests made of weekly newspapers, is to track down people for a variety of reasons ranging from in- terests in family histories to school reunions. Unfortunately, our files of old newspapers are rather weighty and often there is not enough in- formation provided to conduct such searches. Not only.that, but it can be very time consuming. ' One such request was received this week and we pass it along to readers who may know the whereabouts of Mr. and Mrs. O.J. Hunter. They were . the proud parents of the first baby born at London's Victoria Hospital one minute after the stroke of mid- night on January 1, 1947. The person wishing to make contact is Mrs. John Reynolds of Hamilton. who delivered a baby girl at the identical time in ttie same hospital to share the first baby honours. The proud Exeter father was reported as being a service veteran. Of further interest is the fact the two fathers involved missed out on a $128 income tax deduction because their daughters were born too late for 1946 deductions. Anyone knowing of the Hunters can contact the writer. VI Leifer late' again Mr. Santa Claus North Pole, N.W.T. HOH OHO Dear Santa, As usual,, my annual letter to you is laie.iI sincerely hope that �t reaches you before you begin that incredible journey . from t1OOW W•:tote • r►v � 94§, � .,Pima 'an S 1iR14 and beyond." My list is a bit longer than it has been in previous years. Perhaps you'll forgive me, 4t last year, for example, there was quite a foulup. I hever'did get the Canadian Encyclopedia publish- ed by Mel Hurtig, although I told you how you could have gottenit on sale. Now the price has gone up, and I guess I'll have to wait till I can afford to buy it myself. Since you're having some dif- ficulties in coordinating material gifts for adults (you seem to be doing much better where the kid- dies are concerned), I'm not go- ing to ask for any hardware or software this Christmas. My wishes are a wee bit on the abstract side, but as an ,occult spirit you'll find it easy enough to grant at least some of them. 1. I want to lose 25 pounds without going on a diet and without hav- ing toog, bicycle. or walk a treadmill. Just work one of your minor miracles and help me to lose in all the right places. By the way, you're a bit overweight yourself, aren't you? Maybe the two of us could have a contest or something. 2. I want to wake up on Christmas . . morning with a mouthful of hard, sticky' candy canes. They perfect teeth that never again are destroying my children's need dental work. On second teeth (see item 2, sentence 2) . thought, maybe the same magic Everywhere you turn these days, could be applied to the rest of the you find peopje thrusting candy family.If you can't do that, make canes in children's hands, the government bring in a univer- whether the parents approve or let h_ uitfli eel�an.a _ How about re o k, things wif1X, a _ st 7. I want you to s raps Post how you remember names and addresses of every lit- tle kid and recall what each one asked for, without having to resort to machine-readable "postal code • thatrixes And completely free of charge to boot. Dont you agree with me that we are betpg taken to the cleaners by our national postal service. 8. I want you to teach the depart- ment store Santas who ride in Santa Claus parades and sit on red velyet chairs in shopping malls how to speak English. Their grammar cqufuses our kids. Since Duncan and Stephanie are twins, they often approach one of your effigies together. They have been wondering why Santa always asks them: "Wad- dyous want?" and "Have yous been good?" I am certain that this little list of what I expect for Christmas will present no problem for you. As you know, I've been very good. I firmly believe in you, so don't let me down. Yours faithfully, Peter. PS: That Canadian Encyclopedia would still be an O.K. alternative, sort of a consolation prize. PETER'S PONT • I want the feds to subsidize col- umnists who write for communi- ty newspapers. Surely as a guy who can circumnavigate the en- tire globe in one night you can bring some pressure to bear on the Canada Council. 4. I want you to tell our Township to pav the 5th Line between the Mountain Road and Stewartville. The loose gravel is ruining the finish on my car. A street light at the bottom of our road would be a nice touch, too. 5. I want you to make the children's new toys disappear if they leave them lying around on the floor. While you're at it, maybe you could work the same charm on all their old toys as well. 6. I want you to stop giving out those tons and tons of cheap, i ..1 Coping with .stress Recently the Rotary Club Forest purchased a special at- tachment for one of the com- puters at my school. It is called a "BiofeedbackLab". It has four sensors whicfi can be fastened to a person's hand or arm. These sensors monitor body temperature, heart beat, muscle tension andstress. It is amazing how sensitive these sensors are. You can ask a person to count from 1 to 30and the needles on the screen will remain very constant. Just asking the same person to .spell a difficult word will make the graph go up immediately. By having the person consciously relax the needles will go down again. The primary use of this device is to help people to learn to cope with stress. By keeping the needles below a pre -determined setting the person is able to turn on a cassette with soothing music on it. One can see how a person with migraine headaches could perhaps become aware of stress - levels and learn how to deal with it before the„ headache developed, In our one classroom the situa- tion is different. We have several children who are non-verbal. One little girl in particular only moves very slightly all day long. Her position must be shifted every twenty minutes so that she doesn t get pressure sores. She seems to have very little way of By the Way by Syd Fletcher communicating With the outside world. It is also very difficult. to tell if we who are outside are hav- ing any effect on her. With the aid of this device we have been able to answer the se- cond question with a definite yes. We put the heart rate monitor _/on her and just left it for a few minutes to establish a base line. Her heart rate was about 97 beats per minute. "Let's try combing her hair," said the teacher. She did so and a the heart rate jumped to about 120. We put her on her mother's lap. The needle dropped to about 85 and levelled out there. Looking at the screen you could almost see the child purring inside. In subsequent sessions we got similar results. It seems quite clear that the child is responding to us and knows things are going, on around her. The next step which we will be progressing with is in hooking up the cassette recorder to the device. What we would like to see happen is the child learning how to turn the music off and on simp- ly by sub -consciously relaxing or tensing up her muscles. From there perhaps she could learn to turn on a small light or fan. The tremendous significance of all this is that a person who before had no control over her en- vironment will now have some ef- fect on it. As well it is extremely encouraging to the people work- ing with her to know that what they do with the child is being noticed by her. I would like to publicly thank the Rotary Club for being in- strumental in making the world a better place for this youngster.