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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-08-19, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, August 19, 1987 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1801 Amalgama ed 1924 imes t dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519.235-1331 • LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Llmked Hollow words The people of Canada must surely be forgiven should they take with a grain of salt any suggestion from Canada Post that it intends to play tough with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers if the union carries out its threat to go on strike next month. One needs only to look in brief retrospect to the recent strike by the Letter Carriers of Canada to get some. idea of the "toughness" of Canada Post. That precedent -setting settlement was nothing short of an unconditional surrender by a Crown corporation speak- ing so loudly about wanting to bring the salaries and benefits of the letter carriers in line with comparable jobs in the private sector. The settlement came very close to the previous contract with the let- ter carriers. Replacement workers were the answer, Canada Post said, to keeping the mail flowing when the letter carriers walked out. If the letter carriers didn't want to work, the post office would replace them with people who were will- ing to do the job. Empty words, as it turn- ed out. Now, the Crown corporation is asking us to believe it is sincere in its cur- rent "get tough" approach and the pro- mise to use replacement workers for striking members of CUPW. Canadians are in a no-win situation as the latest rift develops between Canada Post and its employees, based on the current track record of the corpora- tion. At the very least, it appears the most merciful tack, perhaps, would be for the pdst office to give in quickly to the demands of the union and spare us from a long, drawn-out strike during which the movement of mail by Canada Post is ef- fectively brought to a halt. We certainly would not advocate such a decision, but make the statement merely to point out; the corner into which the post office has painted us. As a result of the settlement with the letter carriers, CUPW -finds itself in a situation of having nothing to lose by striking. Canada Post has little enough time to come up with a solution before next month's .deadline. No matter how short. the interim, however, it would be better spent in trying to do just that instead of wasting precious time in firing useless salvos of threatened toughness. Mandatory tests A seven month study by the Ontario branch of the Canadian Bar Association raises an already asked question. Should people be forced to submit to drug tests? The issue is almost certain to end up in court, which is where it belongs. But it seems mandatory drug testing, as sug- gested by those engaged in the fight against drugs, is a violation of civil rights. Ending the sale and use of illegal drugs is a worthy goal. But forcing peo- ple to submit to a test without even a hint of prior wrongdoing is outrageous. It comes down to having to prove we are in- nocent. If we refuse the tests because we feel it is a violation of our rights, we face insinuations of guilt. Reactions of others would likely be that we have something to hide. Employers should help drug - dependent• workers with rehabilitation programs and deter drug abuse with education and preventive measures, rather than alienating employees with A My one big contribution to the world of gardening comes with the planting each' spring of the huge sum of six tomato plants out around the end of the house. I've never been one to plant a great big vegetable garden. I seem to•keep quite busy enough, thanks, with hoeing the weeds out of my bright red salvias without tackling much more. But tomatoes are different. I have a weakness for toasted tomato sandwiches which goes back a lot of years to when my grandmother used to have myself and three or four cousins at her house for the holidays. About the time ' we were ready for bed everybody would want something to eat. Her solution, and I suppose a pretty thrifty solution for all those hungry boys, was toasted tomato sandwiches. drug tests, said Sandra Chapnik, chair- man of the committee that released the report. Chapnick said random testing wouldn't help identify drug abusers among employees responsible for the safety of others, such as pilots and railway and bus drivers. "Those with a drug or alcohol dependence will find ways to avoid detec- tion," she. said. The report says : "For such a test to be conclusive, an airline pilot, for example, would have to be tested at each stop or tested upon reporting for duty, . then stripsearched and sealed in a cockpit. The real victims will be the majori- ty of non-users whose privacy will be con- tinuously invaded. Allowing employers to invade their employees' privacy to this extent is not the way to fight the>tvar against drugs and this is one war that we won't fight us- ing a weapon that is really a double- edged sword. big pplanter I was at a neighbour's house recently and to my surprise she was using one of those old toasters just like Grandma Flet- cher's. She said that the newer By the Way by Syd Fletcher ones kept on breaking down but this one just kept on forever. When that little toaster would get really hot and the bread was fresh there would he only about. thirty seconds before the tell-tale plume of smoke would start com- Mitchell Advocate. ing out. of the top of the toaster. Grandma's toaster was electric. but it didn't have the pop-up feature. When one side of the toast was done you just opened the doors. The toast would slide down and with a little flip it would be in position to do the other side. When the toast came out it had little black bars criss-crossing it and although it was toasted on the outside the inside was still soft and white. Butter that and pop on one half- inch slice of those huge bright red beefsteak tomatoes and you had a treat fit for a king - and no need ' to pay a fancy chef either. Then you could sit back for an hour and listen spell -bound to one of Grandma's stories -about her childhood back in the days before automobiles, before electric lights even. Ah, those were the good times. "MY WIFE CAN STILL FIT INTO HER CILD MINI — THE CAR,NOT THE SKIRT." Have a brown thumb The number of personalized licence plate! seen on area vehicles appears to be on the rapid increase. In four years since Ontario allowed special requests to be stamped out by inmates at Millbrook Penitentiary more than 120,000 drivers have paid the extra fee of $100. Every application that may ap- pear to be doubtful is checked quite closely by the Own Choice Plate Review Committee and they teleconference each week to sift through a stream of 125 or so requests for favourite Alpha- numeric expressions that our drivers would like. Many requests are rejected for no -no words or cryptic messages related to drugs, alcohol, sex; violence, death religion, criminal activities, vulgar slang, racial slurs, slander or those that are derogatory to public officials and law enforcement. Rhonda ('lark, supervisor of the licence assistance section says the committee has become sophisticated at weeding out naughty, controversial or poten- tially offensive requests. She says the committee hasn't heard many complaints about potentially offensive plates slip- ping through in the past four years. Over the years, fewer than 1,900 requests have been denied. There are a number of in- teresting plates seen around here. First of all here at the T -A, publisher Lorne 1' edy has 52'I'FN which is a newspaper term on his plate and production manager Harry DeVries leaves little doubt of where he resides with EX- ETER on his licence plates. Huron Motor Products has plates beginning with HMP and then number from one to now we believe about 15 on their vehicles and a London automobile dealer- ship has similar identification. Local lawn bowling enthusiast Pete McFalls has the word Jitney on his car. We heard of someone in the II- derton area driving a 1955 Oldsmobile with a plate reading by Ross Haugh IT'S A 55. Gib Dow of the Iron- wood golf course can be identified by the Mr. Dow on his plates. The EXETER on Harry's vehi- cle is the only one we have notic- ed with the name of a town. There should be someone in Zurich or Lucan willing to do the same. With the six letter or digit limita- tion it would be difficult to get Russelldale or Dashwood or Ailsa Craig on a plate. In Toronto the owner of a Lam- borghini has a plate that reads IXLR8. The committee quickly rejected a request for NE14SX. - The state of California with already well. over 900,000 specialized plates has increased • the maximum number of letters and digits to seven. * * * * * * What's causing the unusual weather we have been enjoying. or plagued with here in Western Ontario in the last year or two? In the late fall last year the clouds opened and rain came pouring down for weeks causing problems for farmers and just the plain ordinary gardener of which we admit to being a member. Now here in 1987 in many com- munities, rainy spells have been few and far between. Both of these extremes have• caused problems and now we are referring to little things affecting our garden and we know that's nothing compared to some of the almost disasters experienced by farmers. Last fall most of our tomatoes rotted in the wet ground. This year it's the opposite with a few of the red fruit suffering from dry rot. Only a few of our tomotoes have been affected, but we know of others who have been hit hard. A few days ago we decided to sample our potato patch to see what had transpired. The first hill produced nice big spuds, but in the second came a surprise. Yes, they were still large potatoes, but they were already starting se- cond growth with sprouts some as long as an inch. That's what potatoes usually look like in the spring after going through a dark winter. So are the magical works of Mother Nature. This year for the first time thanks to the syggeation of our better half we planted a few sunflower seeds expecting them to reach to height of maybe four or five feet. Probably because of daily watering they are now in excess of eight feet. They were planted for the ex- press purpose of becoming bird feed. That is certainly the case as the birds are the only ones that will be able to reach then(. From this bit about gardening you are right in guessing we do not have a green thumb. No, it's brown. But, we do have fun. Entitled to taste There is no point in arguing over matters of• taste. If you belong to those millions of Cana- dians who buy their ketchup in 5 -gallon pails, you have the option of switching channels right now. You're entitled to your taste, I'm entitled to mine. But I've got to get it off my chest: I consider ketchup a form of pollution. I have nothing against spreading the stuff on el-cheapo hamburgers or on plastic hot dogs. No matter what you put on top of them, they'll improve. So go ahead and drench them with ketchup. No harm done, as long as you don't dribble all over your T-shirt. I;,am talking about real food here. My children cannot eat meat, eggs, potatoes or any other main course food without squishing ketchup all over it. I think about 10 per cent of our food budget must go for ketchup! I am seriously considering the possibility of leading a pipeline all the way from Leamington, Ontario to connect the 11..1. Heinz Company plant with our kitchen. Just open the tap - out comes the goop. If I had any money to invest at all, I'd buy shares in the ket- chup industry. I have the greatest respect for tomato growers and canners. I love tomatoes, and there are dozens of ways to enhance the flavour of food with tomatoes and the versatile products made from them. Believe me, the Iast,thing I want is to cause massive unemployment in southwestern Ontario. But do we really need this ab- dominable slosh called ketchup? Isn't it an insult, to any self- respecting cook who creates a tasty meal only to have people disguise its flavour out of all recognition with ketchup? Don't people like the taste of scrambl- ed eggs, for example? Their distinctive flavour is completely lost when ketchup is poured over them. Not to mention steaks, roast, pork chops, chicken or turkey. Enhance the flavour of meat with spices, wine or even pineapple. O.K. But ketchup is killing everything. And it's not just the kids. I PETER'S POINT • watch people eat in restaurants. They re ketchup -crazy. They may as well save the money and eat standing up in their own kitchen. If I'd own a fine restaurant, I would refuse to have ketchup on the premises. Should guests ask for it, I'd say: 'Sorry, Madam or Sir, we are proud of our cooking here. We go to a lot of trouble put- ting the flavour into our meals, and ketchup takes it away, hides it. If you want ketchup, we advise you to go to Macdonald's or Harvey's.' I've been in a fairly fancy restaurant recently where they try to'get around the ketchup pro- blem in a wonderful fashion. They don't display ketchup bot- tles on all the tables as they do at Greasy Joe's. But if anyone asks for ketchup, they'll bring a small serving of catsup - at the price of $1.95. Same stuff in a fancy dish, with a fancy spoon, and a fancy pronunciation. At the risk of being sued for libel by all the fast food chains in Canada, I wish to state categorically that I consider ket- chup fit for people with sand- paper in their mouths instead of taste buds. Yes, cave man (and cave woman) probably would have benefitted from camouflag- ing the appalling flavour of the grub available to them. Ketchup probably goes a long way in hiding the offensive stench of rot- ting meat or fish. But please, keep it away from your marinated roast beef, your garden -fresh broccoli, your home -fried potatoes. What is it about ketchup that makes it so attractive to so many people? Why is it that children who won't touch a beautiful, ripe tomato just picked from the vine will gobble up the sticky com- pound made from tomatoes? Is it the colour (the same as blood)? Is it the consistency (the way yo0 have to fight to get the stuff mit of the bottle)? Is it because ket- chup - in addition to ripe tomatoes - also contains vinegar, sugar, high -fructose corn syrup, salt, onion powder and spices? Or is it a form of addiction difficult to get rid of? Are you hooked on ketchup? I know that there are more serious issues facing us. I am merely curious why it is that YOU like ketchup. If you have anything to say about the subject, I'd he thrilled to hear from you. Via a letter to the editor.