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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-11-18, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, November 18, 1987 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM ISO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 BILL BATTEN Editor DON SMITH nies eNA JIM BECKETT Publisher & Advertising Manager HARRY DEVRIES Business Manager Composition Manager CCNA ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Vice -President SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $¢5.00 A postal battle on Will rural Canada lose its battle with Canada Post? As the result of a recent decision, some 5,221 rural post offices are in danger of being closed or fran- chised. The only post office in the South Huron area which is threatened at the moment is Brucefield, but it likely won't be long before places like Kippen and Varna are on the hit list. It appears the recent change of ownership of the Brucefield _gener- al store which houses the post of- fice precipitated the possible clos- ing. Since becoming a crown corpora- tion, Canada Post has been ordered to stop operating at a.loss by 1989 and one way is by changing the ru- ral delivery system. As postmasters retire, resign or sell stores contain- ing post offices, Canada Post con- verts the operation to a contract ba- sis. Richard and Judy Israels bought the Brucefield store in March of this year with assurance from Can- ada Post they would be named tem- porary postmasters. Less than seven months later they were offered a new contract based on commissions which would cut their revenue considerably and also decrease their potential revenue. If the Israels or anyone else re- fuses Canada Post's contract the post office will be closed and re- placed with green group boxes. We doubt if the financial benefits from cutting rural mail service will make much difference in the current postal deficit. Don't rural customers deserve the same service as their urban or city neighbours? At the moment at most post offic- es in this area, those with rental boxes pay an annual fee of close to $7 while those in cities with door- to-door delivery don't pay a user fee. Postal officials at a recent meet- ing in Brucefield said door-to-door delivery costs are $86 per month while super group box service is maintained at $36 per month. It's time Canada Post catches up with the times and distributes cost- cutting measures more fairly be- tween the urban masses and their country cousins. Maybe they should take a look at how the United States postal ser- vice operaties at a profit with first class postage at 22 cents compared to our 36 cents. Old parkas never die , Having been placed under a considerable amount of pressure, I consented to accept a very generous pre -Christmas present: a brand-new parka. For the past three years I 1 id successfully protested that I already had a parka, and why would I want to own two? Elizabeth argued that the garment I insisted on wearing winter after winter no longer resembled a parka but a torn tarpaulin. I'm not that easily embarrassed, and so I delayed the .n,vitablc until with the aid of two burly salesmen she just cornered me at the local men's wear store. They overpowered mc, tore my parka off and pulled a new one on me that I must confess fits me well. The price was right, too, although that, of course, was not my business. Now I'm actually looking forward to wearing this all -Canadian, down and feather filled protective article in all kinds of weather. But I cannot let this occasion pass without reminiscing about my old parka that has become a good friend over the past 15 years. I feel like a traitor or unfaithful lover, abandoning it for a newer model. It has never let me down. it hasn't even worn out in spite of what Elizabeth says. Oh, it may be a little frayed along the frort edge that hides the big, indestructible zipper. And maybe its once olive -coloured outer shell has turned into an honourable field -grey with light - brownish splotches. But its inside is as brilliantly red as when I first laid eyes on it. You sec, this had been my very first parka. Until then I had struggled through the winter with a non-dcscript assortment of top coats, heavy jackets and what I have you. None of these 'remain in my memory because they had no personality. When I went parka hunting in the year of 1972, I wanted something warm, with a hood, but also something that didn't require a second mortgage to finance it. After rejecting a number of alternatives as either too expensive or not comfortable enough, I fell in love instantly with "my parka" when I finally found it. It was a beauty. But could I afford to spend $100.00 on a winter coat? This was one of the extremely rare occasions in my life when I became extravagant buying clothes for myself. I felt guilty forking over all that money. But my, the parka felt good in the deep freeze that followed. I wore my parka in the West End of London, in the old quarter of Warsaw, and in a snowstorm in Kentucky. I wore it walking through the frigid streets of Zagreb, Yugoslavia and in the cold January breezes along the Adriatic Sea in Montenegro. I was almost arrested once as i tried to hide my camera in it on the Albanian border at Lake Scutari. I was glad I had taken it along to Washington another winter when the US capital pretended to be Ottawa or Moscow. But most of all, I enjoyed it where it belonged — in Canada. I would have never survived four winters of waiting for the bus as a commuter if it hadn't been for my parka and its hoed that sheathed my head and allowed, only the steam to rise through my mouth as through a narrow chimney. I wore my parka when I first tried cross-country skiing in the Laurentians, and when I carried Stephanie in a back -pack exploring a frozen beaver swamp. As with all good friends, I often took my parka for granted. I used to throw it on the floor carelessly as I came into the warm house from the hostile outdoors. Then one of the children would curl up in it and cuddle into its downy lining. Or the kids would wear it and run through the house looking like E.T. And cats would find it lying on a bed somewhere, snuggle up and fall asleep in it. I wore it on the way to the hospital when Alexander was born one frosty February night, and I wore it on the way to say. goodbye forever to my mother. I wore it to cut Christmas trees and to pull the children on sleighs and toboggans. Sometimes I'd zip and button it to the hilt, stomping against the raw wind, looking like an Inuit carving. And sometimes I'd wear it open, wondering whether the time had come once again to put it away for the season. How can I dispose of my old parka? I can't, of course. I refuse to give it away or to sell it at our next garage sale. I will keep it the way farmers used to keep a horse that was too old to carry a rider or to pull a Toad. I think I'll keep it on a sturdy hanger in the back of my closet until I die. Maybe once in a while I'll take it out and wear it for a sleigh ride or for a walk through the wintry bush. Or for a walk down memory lane. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited EMPLOYMENT CIENI " PATHETIC CASE- 1-1W'5 A WORKAHOLIC" Time to drive carefully Each fall with the first snowfall and icy road conditions comes the need for most drivers to leam how to drive in this kind of weather all over again. This thought was brought to the fore quite forcefully Tuesday moming when two women lost their lives in a tragic accident on Highway 21 between St. Joseph and Grand Bend. We don't know many details of the crash other than police offi- cers reported the road condition as snow -slick. OPP officials are continually calling for defensive driving methods not only during the win- ter months, but throughout the entire year. One policy for all OPP cruisers is to drive with their headlights on at all times. Regardless of weather conditions a vehicle with lights on can be seen much easier than one with- out. We probably fall into the same category as most motorists that we occasionally get in a hurry and probably drive offensively. Another caution to motorists in extreme cold and frosty weather, don't start driving in the morning without having all windows clear of snow and icc. Last winter we received a ticket for driving without being able to sec properly with some of the windows iced up and only a few peck holes to see through. This may have seemed like an expen- sive lesson, but it was a valuable lesson and we will be tyring to make sure it doesn't happen again. A few minutes spent clearing your windshield could mean the difference between life and death. Just remember it doesn't take by Ross Haugh long for an accident to happen. While on the subject of driving we will pass along a few safety briefs picked up from around the world. Prince Edward Island and Al- berta have joined the other prov- inces when they implemented mandatory scat belt legislation on July 1 of this year. Police, taxi drivers and drivers of commer- cial vehicles are exempt from this legislation. The Michigan Department of Transportation is casing irritated motorists forced to drive through slow traffic construction zones by adding "frowney smiley' signs along sections of freeways now being rebuilt. The faces start with a frown and change gradually to a smile each time, showing the number of miles of constructionl ahead. A wide, smiling face signals the end of construction. The province of British Colum- bia is reviewing driver licencing test procedures with an eye to toughening up driver's exams and issuing master -class licences for drivers with top marks and good driving records. The plan is intended to improve drivers' abilities by offering dif- ferent colour licences as incen- tives. The ordinary white licence would be standard, but experi- enced drivers would get a chance to cam a gold licence. This plan is as a result of an in- crease in personal injuries in the first half of 1986 of 18 percent from the same time period a year earlier. Australia recently introduced a similar system which will be im- plemented over three years. Driv- ers will be issued different colour photo -licences relating to their record and ability. The top driver's licence in gold will last five years and cost the equivalent of $35 U.S. funds to current licence holders who have never had their licences suspend- ed. At the bottom of the scale are black 12 -month probationary li- cences costing $70 and issued to drivers reinstated aftcr.suspen- sions. There areother dangers Every time you open a newspa- per or a magazine recently there is an article about AIDS. My of- fice received just rece.tly a whole document rushed out by the Min- istry of Education about AIDS. Teachers arc sent to whole day conferences to learn how to ad- minister the document to senior classes. My dentist is wearing rubber gloves last wcck when he puts in a new filling for mc and explains that it h; a new precaution against AIDS. One of my teachers ex- presses fcar of sending her youngster to nursery school be- cause of the 'chance' of being in- fected by some unknown child. Frankly I am sick and tired of the whole topic. Maybe I am be- ing like an ostrich with my head in the sand, ignoring something which is 'going to engulf our whole socicty, but I think it is time that we put things a•little bit into perspective. First of all, let me ask a few questions which I think are fairly pertinent. Number one. flow many pco- plc do you know who have died from AIDS? Secondly; Flow many people do you know personally who have cancer or heart disease, or ........... B....................... T, Way Y by Syd Fletcher have died of those two illnesses during the last year or so? Third. How many young pco- plc have you heard of in your county who have died in a car ac- cident over the last two years? Let me fill in the blanks for you from my own experience. In case number one 1 know absolutely no one of my personal acquaintances through work, my community or my friends who is suffering from this pmhlcm. Cases number two and three. Without any effort at all I could name two dozen friends, ac- quaintances, or people '1 have made contact with in some way or the other, who have had their lives snuffed out by the three big killers in our society: heart,dis- ease, cancer, and car accidents. Do we have special seminars to drum up ways to indoctrinate children about the hazards of drunk driving? Docs the death of a fifteen year-old girl two weeks ago in a car crash make the front page or the death of a child leuke- mia victim make news? You and 1 know that the an- swer is no to all those questions. We have become nonchalant about the death occurring con- stantly around us and instead seem to have become paranoid about a disease which will proba- bly not affect the majority of the' population. If some of this money which is so frantically being directed to- wards AIDS research because of all sons of pressure groups could be directed toward the big three killers named above maybe one of them could be defeated.