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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-12-30, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, December 30, 1987 imstrt Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 Bill BATTEN Editor DON SMITH Business Manager JIM BECKETT Publisher S. Advertising Manager HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant I* DICK JONGKND Vice -President SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Don't let it pile up With our society putting out increasing amounts of garbage, especially during this holiday season, it's good to see a number of Ontario municipalities doing something about it. In this area,the town of Exeter and the townships of Stephen and Usborne have supported a resolution from the town- ship of Peel which asks the provincial government to take steps to reduce the amount of garbage going to our landfill sites. Exeter councillor Morley Hall has been a strong supporter of recycling pro- grams to replace taking newspapers and cans to the dump. Waste disposal is fast becoming an in- creasingly serious problem across Onta- rio and the reduction of waste is an im- portant step to prolong the life of our present landfill sites. We would think the time has come for the government to take measures to re- duce unnecessary packa-;n, ar 1 disposa- ble material that is generated by fast food outlets which can not be recycled. The Peel resolution called on the prov- ince to limit, curtail and in some instanc- es prohibit the manufacture, use and dis- tribution of non -biodegradable and non - recyclable material. What, that really means is we shouldn't take materials to the landfill sites which won't decompose naturally. The popularity of styrofoam and plas- tics is both a blessing and a curse on our society. While these materials may be. handy and profitable for some manufac- turers, they could be quite costly to the consumer and society as a whole. One only has to imagine the number of styrofoam containers used to paage fast-food hamburgers, plastic pal ffee cups, egg cartons which are usually dis- carded once the hen fruit gets home and plastic trays used for vegetables and meats in supermarkets. These types of containers must be cov- ered with fill when they get to a site and have no chance of decaying. By using this type of containers, compa- res make the food more attractive and sales more convenient, but the extra bur- den eventually comes down to the shoul- ders of the taxpayer. Besides financial problems caused. by this type of garbage, how about the dam- age that is being done to the environment in which we live. Our provincial government which ap- pears to be aggressive in the protection of our environment must take steps to take heed of these concerns from municipali- ties across the province and put their foot down on all but the absolutely necessary uses of products of this kind. The action must be taken soon before piles of garbage do become mountains in our landfill sites. by Ross Hough Another contest coming up Early in 1988, you'll be treated to another contest. Remember the Great Canadian Name the Kitten Contest? It turned out to be something of a record in Canadian community newspaper history. I received over 400 entries from readers. Many people won prizes. Not trips to Hawaii, mind you. But prizes that were worth the trouble, I hope. This time we're going to have a lot of fun again. And prizes. All I'm asking you to do is read Peter's Point and remember the point I'm trying to make. Easy? You bet. Here arc the rules. Save each of my four January columns, and answer some simple questions about them. In the first February column, I will include a short questionnaire which I ask you to complete and mail to your paper after the last January column has appeared. More details about the rules of the contest will be announced Tater In the meantime, let me tell you what the prizes will be: One first prize: autographed hardcover copy of Peter's latest book, The Algonkin Tribe, retail value $26.95, together with a personal letter, throe second prizes: autographed paperback copy of the above book, retail value $18.95, together with a personal letter; six third prizes: co ies_01_ cn selected Peter's Poi t columns, together with a perso letter. I hope we'll altfia lots of fun with this contest, and I'm looking forward to the next 52 weeks of Peter's Point. Remember, though: this is your column in your community newspaper. My favourite readers are those who let the editor or me know whether they enjoy what I'm writing, whether they agree or disagree with what I say. PETER'S POINT • Below, to recap, are some of the points I was trying to make in 1987. Do you recall? Many of you sent me some very complimentary letters, and I take this opportunity to thank you. A few letters were uncomplimen- tary, and I thank you for those as well — except for the one or two anonymous ones, which were, of course, a waste of time. M y favourite letter in 1987 came from Margaret Shillirpg in London. Ontario, vitro sent me a cheque in the amount of $50.00 because she liked what I had written about the rural mail. I returned the cheque with thanks (I don't accept money from readers), but 1 did appreciate what she wrote: "Your literary and journalistic efforts contribute to the quality of life in this city." And I don't even write for a London paper. Anyway, here were some of the 1987 points: Struggling with digital watches and mousetraps; people refusing to answer their telephone messages; the fear of dentists; losing things; the privatization of everything; downtowns being destroyed by shoppings malls; trying to save electricity; symbols instead of words; paying an allowance to children; parents doing sc?tool projects; weeds or lawns; smokers; banking; packing for the holidays; ketchup; marshmallows; visitors; kites that won't fly; getting lost in parking lots, Joys and mixed blessings Aerobics; Easter eggs; ageing; Canada Day; show and tell time; picnics; dollar coins; second cups of coffee;, microwave ovens; Turkey Day; fresh water; old parkas; Whippies (Men wearing hats indoors permanently). One controversial subject Capital punishment. This one resulted in only a few letters, all of them agreeing with me. Not much fun, so I'll stay away from controversy next year a n d concentrate on the real nitty gritty, the problems that cross my humble path every day. People often ask me: "Aren't you ever going to run out of ideas for your column?" And the answer is: "I don't have to look for ideas. I am faced with absolutely ridiculous problems every day. All I do is record them." Have a Happy New Year everybody! And I hope to hear from some of you in 1988. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by 1.W. Eedy Publications Limited Peace In The New Year A sincere hope for health and'prosperity go with you this New Year. " FUNNY, YOU LOOK HONEST - YOU SURE YOU'RE A POLITICIAN?" The old and the new Come Thursday night at mid- night it will be ring out the old year 1987 and ring in the new one of 1988. Before making New Year's resolutions one should take stock of what happened during the past year and what improvements can be made to make i" coming year a better one not only for our- selves, but our province and country as a whole. On the positive side 1987 was fairly successful as far as resi- dents of the area arc concerned. Just take a look at the figd res released almost every month this year by the town's chief building official Brian Johnston. The number of residential housing starts for the year was 38 up to the end of November and that's a new high. The total building permit values for the first 11 months are close to six million dollars and John- ston hopes to reach that figure by the end of the year. Last year's totals were just over four million. This means more people are liv- ing here and of course shopping here as well. Add to this two large retail stores opening which provides more employment op- portunities and we would think bring more shoppers into town by Ross Haugh from surrounding areas. When here these people will visit other stores. For arca farmers while prices arc not what they would like them to be, the weather this fall was ideal and we would guess all crops were harvested. That's a direct contrast from a year ago when beans, corn, potatoes and { other vegetables rotted in the fields. If anyone watched the Boxing Day sales rush particularly for Christmas decoratior.,, many have no doubt we will -nt.t through 1988 to enjoy another Christmas. After a lot of excess in eating habits during this time of the year, the most probable New Year's Resolution will be to get regular exercise and lose weight. Yours truly is joining with three other employees of this newspa- per in a getting lighter contest. Maybe it should be called weight adjustment, An important fac.or in making resolutions wouid he to look at what the rewards would be for sticking to your guns. In the case of losing weight it will likely be better health and an improved sense of pride. Mav each of you enjoy a Pros- perous and Happy 1988. Let's start our weight reduction on Jan- uary 2. Back in their communities Just recently I heard, a speaker by the name of Dr. Lou Brown. He comes from the University of Wisconsin and is a specialist in the area of Rehabilitation Psy- chology. He trains teachers to work with physically and mental- ly handicapped children and adults. Some of the concepts which he spoke about have far- reaching implications for all of us in the way we treat such people in job -settings and also in schools. 1 We have come a long way since the days when mentally dis- abled folks were classified as morons, imbeciles, and idiots. (Those were the terms used in my first year psychology book not that many years ago). We have come still further with our everyday treatment of them. In- stitutions where they locked chil- dren into rooms or place them in restraints all day arc gradually closing their doors. I'll give you an example. Southwestern Regional Centre for Children at Cedar Springs had almost 500 full-time resi- dents in it not ten years ago. Now there are less than 50. Those 450 children are back in By the Way by Syd Fletcher thcir own communities and most are attending regular schools. The most compelling argument for doing this lies in the fact that all children arc great imitators and copiers of other children and of the adults around them. If you place a child with deviant behavi- our in a room with ten other peo- ple with deviant behaviour then it seems quite likely that the child will never learn what is normal. Indeed he/she may get worse be- cause the bad behaviour will be copied. Now comes the.big crunch. If grouping handicapped chil- dren and adults in one big central place is not a good thing, then perhaps the sheltered workshops which you see around the coun- tryside. (ARC in Dashwood, Hutton House in London, Petro - 1 Iia Enterprises and so on) are not such a good thing after all. Per- haps specialized class rooms in schools (my own included) are not the right solutions either. Then come the cries of outrage. Teachers don't think they can copc wich a child in their regular classroom who is so very low functioning. Employers say that they don't have the time or mon- ey to train somebody who is han- dicapped. Parents are not sure that they want their handicapped child out of 'the security of the sheltered workshop. Next week I'll talk about some solutions which Dr. Brown of- fered and where he thinks we're heading in this field.