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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-04-13, Page 4limes Established 1871 ' dsotate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 r� t • Ames dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1SO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0186. Phone S19-235-1331 ROSS HALGH Editor HARRY OEYRIMS CNA CCINIA BIM lI Publisher S Advertising Manager DO% SMITH Composition !tanager Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Off to university Prospective university students appear to be practicing what their parents and employers have beeen preaching for a number of years. That philosophy says the better educa- tion -.one has the better job opportunity he or she can find, Last year's number of 42,298 freshmen students in university was a record:in Ontario's history and this figure is ex- pected to be up by 10 percent when en- rolment. applications are 'completed for the 1988-8-9 term. Back in 1980, university officials were looking at closing down some depart-- ments because of a lack of students, but now the fear of lack of space and teach- ing staff is a possibility. - At that time, 16 percent of 19 --year- ' olds were in university classes. Now it's up to 20 percent. Where do the increased number of po- tential students come from? There are three areas. More female students, more from rural areas and chil- dren of immigrant families to Canada. A survey of 16 Ontario universities re- veals 49.8 percent of all undergraduates are female and many -of these are break- ing down the barriers to formerly all- male courses. Rural students are on the rise because of the falling farm economy and children of immigrants who took menial jobs when first coming to Canada are being told the key to success is a university de- gree. Recent employment statistics reveal that university graduates have better chances of getting a job. In February of this year , when unem- ployment in Ontario was at 5.7 percent, the figure for university graduates was only 2.6 percent. Don't believe it Would you believe what the council of the city of Nottingham in England has done? - A. circular released by the, city says Robin Hood was just an ordinary forest- er and not a romantic character. It also says Robin never met Maid Marian or Friar Tuck. Just be_casue the Nottingham council decided to issue this report does not mean one has to -believe it. Why did it take a thousand years to decide he wasn't real. Of course there was a Robin Hood. Even if there wasn't we would have to make him up. He continues to be a sym- bol of fairness and real justice. By Ross Haugh Robin Hood was as -real as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. The current sheriff of Nottingham is said to be shocked by the council's deci- sion. Sheriff Royce Young said the leg- end has survived for hundreds of years in the hearts of Nottingham people and • should remain as such. It appears as if the only solution to this problem would be for the sheriff to visit council members in an attempt to change their minds. Maybe it's a situation of council not be- ing able to see Sherwood Forest for the trees. They could be out on a limb. Coming out OTTAWA -- Canadian author, journalist and nationally syndicated columnist Peter Hesscl called a press conference on Parliament Hill to declare publicly that he is a practising heterosexual. The announcement was greeted in Ottawa with utter disbelief. As far as is known, no one has ever darcd to make that kind of admission. "I'm happy to be part of thc heterosexual community whose goals I share, whose joys, pain and anxiety I have known for a very long time," said Hesse!, speaking with obvious emotion to a large gathering of reporters and broadcasters. Hesse!, in his unprecedented statement, said he was forced to confess his sexual preference because he wanted to avoid threats of blackmail. "Happily married" to another heterosexual in response to a question, Hesscl asked that the television cameras be turned off. "I don't, want people-! deeply care for to be embarrassed or hurt by this," he explained. And then, as a•husli fell over the packed conference room,• ire revealed these remarkable details: For years he has been married to another heterosexual, a woman. And they have three children (two boys• and a girl) - an obvious family situation. When a reporter asked whether he intends to continue in this 1 relationship, Hesse! said: "I see no reason why I shouldn't. Surely in this day and age people are becoming more tolerant toward heterosexuals. I know for a fact that there are heterosexuals - men PETER'S POINT • and women - in many professions: in the clergy, in education, in govemment, even in thc federal cabinet." However, whcn hc was asked to be more specific about -this latter allegation, 1-#esscl was forced to rctract his remarks. "Perhaps I have gone too far. What i meant was that there arc heterosexuals in all walks of life, even in government, even in cabinets everywhere. I did not mean to imply that there are heterosexuals in Mulroney's cabinet. There could be'some, but i don't know any personally." When pressed to give specific examples of heterosexuals in some of the other arcas he had mentioned, Hesscl again insisted that all cameras be turned off. Thcn hc proceeded to identify scores of prominent Canadians who, he claims, are of the same by Ross Haugh • sexual orientation as he is. Among them were 4 R.C.M.P. officers, 5 justices of the Supreme Court, 6 CBC hosts and announcers, and 17 editors of community newspapers in five provinces. The stunned reporters found it difficult to believe what they heard. "I have had access to the latest census data from Statistics Canada," said Hesse!, "and they indicate that between 90 and 95% of our population is either overtly or latently heterosexual." . But the reporters and broadcasters had already put their notebooks and microphones away. They weren't going to listen w any more of this. They realized that if these facts would become public knowledge, young people everywhere - even in Saskatchewan - might be encouraged to become heterosexuals. And no one knows what the consequences would be. This paper has always taken a couragcous stand in dealing with controversial issues. After all, isn't that what freedom of the press is all about? So wc hope that you, the readers, will forgive us for reporting this shocking item. The publisher and editor of this paper are presendy reviewing whether Hessel's column should still be carried. We fear that if we continue Peter's Point, some people might regard this publication as a family newspaper. Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 13, 1988 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedv Publications limited • ca "SEE KoW THEY LIKE MY PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE!" Spring is here Here we are back again after a couple of weeks free of writing this weekly column thanksto the rest of the editorial staff. It's nice to have people like Yvonne Reynolds, Mark Bissett and Adrian Harte on staff who can each tum out interesting and informative columns in a very capable fashion. Before we get started a hum- ble apology to members of the -various chapters of the Beta Sig- ma Phi sororities for an error in an editorial last week. The sororities and not the Lio- nesses arc in charge of the daf- fodils for Cancer.sale each year. They have been doing a terrific job. When the sales first began 250 bunches of daffodils were sold. This year that amount was up to 1,300 bunches: This is thc time. of the year when many of us get spring fe- ver and this writer is no excep- tion. While hockey is still going strong on the local and national scene, it's great to be able -to tune into an occasional ball game. Before we get further into thoughts of spring, it's time to send congratulations to two great hockey teams in Exeter who arc putting the town on thc map with their participation in wide:reaching playoffs The junior Hawks arc in the middle of their all -Ontario Jun- ior "D" final against Lambeth and the Mohawks arc in Camp- bellton, New Brunswick at- tempting to win the eastern Can- ada portion of the Hardy Cup. Both teams have given their many fans plenty to cheer about this year and wc wish them both well in their quest for further laurels. Sunday, April 3 was a busy day for us. In the afternoon we travelled to Hamilton with Har- vey Smith to sec the London - Hamilton junior game and got back in time to catch the third game between the Mohawks and Lanark. It was our first visit to the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. It is a beautiful building with scats t From the editor's disk by ®. Ross Haugh for more than 18,000 spectators. It's a shame they don't have an NHL franchise. Hamilton coach Bill Laforgc -has come up with a very success- ful idea. He has ordered his players not to fight and at the time of writing they have gone seven full games without receiv- ing a .major penalty. In that stretch they have won most of the games, so the plan has been very successful. Appears to be the old story of not winning hockey games_ from the penalty box. Getting back to spring, it should he officially here when the maple syrup season is over. Our modest operation of tapping four maple trees in the backyard yielded very close to a half gallon of the sweet stuff.. I; was a sticky situation around our kitchen for a -couple of weeks • with the sap evaporating away on the electric stove. As still an ama- teur in making syrup,we found it very difficult to decide when it was boiled enough. if left too long, the syrup tur ..; to sugar and taffy.. Now it's time for ,:leaning up yards and preparing for our brown thumb approach to gar- dening. - Our first effort was planting a pound of dutch sets in a patch of ground below a south window of the house on Satur- day, April 2. A few days later we were walk- ing across the road with a bunch of green onions, a gift from our mother-in-law when neighbour Rev. Brian Elder came along and wondered if the onions were up alrrady. * * * * April Fool's Day passed quietly without any pranks as far as we know. Usually daily papers somewhere try and get away with ridiculous stories, but this year April 1 and Good -Friday were the same day and many papers didn't p.uhlish. Quite a few years ago our edi- tor Bill Batten had our readers in a tizzy when he reported that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife Margaret were visit- ing the area and would he spend- ing the April 1 night at the old Winchelsea schoolhouse. The humorous part of this arti- cle' was that the Winchelsea school had been turned into a pig barn. Sports Illustrated pulled a fast one last year by running a 14 - page feature on a baseball pitcher named Sidd•Finch who learned to throw a baseball at 270 kilomet- res an hour in the mountains of Tibet. The story with pictures of Finch and real-life !Mets players and coaches was so convincing that a Florida newspaper sent two reporters to the Mets camp to in- terview Finch. "ihc Manchester Guardian, a re-. sp cted British newspaper had a little fun one April 1 with a slick advertisement for holiday cruises to the Caribbean Islands of Bo- doni and Sanscrif which are types of print used by newspa- pers. it's good to know newspaper people around the world have a good sense of humour. ig Mac changes Have. you noticed the rcccnf change in Macdonald's _recut( rants? No, It's not their latest Fraggle Rock sales promotion or their new salad dish. It's the change in staff. You used to get these fresh - faced teenagers waiting on you. Now more often than not you will see a person with grey hair behind the counter. The smiles arc the same, just a little more wrinkled around the edges. I listened to one of these senior recruits on the radio the other day. Iic happens to be one of the shift managers at a big hambur- ger franchise out in Winnipeg. Two years ago hc retired from his job as an accountant, fully in- tending to pursue his hobbies of model trains and wood working. "i had worked with model trains for twenty- years," he re- marked, "Loved it. i would spend 10 or 12 hours at it every week. I figured that when i re- tired 1 could really enjoy it. Not h% Ss d 1 h•I( hcr so. After about six months of it 1 was going stir crazy. i needed -to get out in the world and feel a little useful. I'm not making any- where near the money 1 made he - fore, but i love the contact with people. i love staying in a rou- tine." I think that you're going to see an enormous expansion of simi- lar cases and i think that it's a great trend. It would be a shame Jo sec people Crawl into a hole and forget about the rest of the world when their minds arc still alert and. they have so much to offer. A couple of weeks ago 1 talked to a 'retired' farmer. He still keeps a few acres, plants them, harvests them. He's not making much money but he's ahlc to keep himself busy and useful. My owls dad, a 'retired' mini- ster, still preaches almost every Sunday at a senior citizens' apartment building for the shut- ins there, and also acts as the chaplain for the handicapped in the Niagara I cninsdla. Not only is he serving the community hc is keeping his own mind active. More power to these people who arc such an important part of our society!