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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-04-03, Page 6Pape 8 Times -Advocate, Apt 9, 1991 Publisher. ilm Beckett News Editor. Adrian Harte Business Manager. Don smith Composition Manager. Deb Lord i% Second clear Mal Nefsiedon Number 0388 SUBSCRIPTION RATES_ CANADA Within 40 mass MS tom.) addressed to nal letter senior addresses $70.00 Pas 1230 0.S.T. "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley outisde 40 mks (61 km.) Si any latter cantor address $30.00 plea $30.00 postage (total *60.00) pies $4.20 O.ti.T. Outside Canada SUM PeMlebed fade Weilesedey at 434 M. St., Exeter, Ont$e, J.W. wifleadene I.W. elephoto OAT. O8fl fla 1.:1)1'1'OR1;11, Sorry, still not convinced While it was flattering to think the Keith Spicer Commission would come to our town to hear our concept of what Canada should, or could be, but a week after it has departed us and gone on its way, one is still left wondering what it was all about. It is fairly hard, if not impossible, to believe that the travelling Commission will be able to take all the disparate views of all those people it comes into contact with, and boil them down into one concise document that will, once and for all, define What Canadians want- the Handyman's Guide:to Nation- al Repair. It's also hard to believe the statistics the Commission is claiming. They pre- dict they will have heard from about a million Canadians before June. Let's see, in a country of about 26 million, that's one in 26 people. But in Exeter, a town of about 4,000, we got less than 20 people out to the meeting, and some were even from out of town. Is this a typical response to the Commission, or are we more apathetic than most? One also got the distinct impression from the meeting, that the moderator wasn't hearing anything new. There was a fair amount of Mulroney bashing, fran- cophone bashing, thosewhofeel Quebec is special, those who think its day in the sun is over, and those whq wrapped themselves in the flag and spoke of pa- triotism at all costs. The moderator just nodded and didn't appear "surprised by any of it. So what is the Spicer Commission? Is it to create a document that will shape a new Canada? Is it just an expensive ex- ercise to force Canadians to reflect seri- ously on their country? Or is it more an attempt to circumvent the radical left wing media -dominating establishment in Quebec and hear from the more moder- ate, non -separatist populations? The latter appears the most plausible scenario, and the one most likely to be pursued by a government that finds itself knee-deep in a separatist rally every time it sets foot in Quebec. If true, that means the Commission whistle stops around the rest of the prov- inces won't mean nearly so much as we might want to believe. If they mean anything at all. A.D.Q.-.- "1T MAY DE .NAKED TO YOU , MUT IT'S MICHAEL WILSON — PROOF TO ME!" Our daily diglycerides "Stephanie, you haven't fin- ished eating your peanut butter toast. Do you expect me to throw half of it out?" "Those are the crusts, Dad. You know I don't like crusts." "This isn't the crust, it's more than half the bread. You've eaten less than half of what I gave you." "O.K., give it back to me, I'll eat some more of 11" I don't know how many times I've gone through this routine. I can't estimate what our annual bread budget is. But much of it is wasted. Half of the bread we serve the kids at home ends up in the compost. I'll never know how much of the bread they take on their school lunches ends up in the school compost. Elizabeth and I eat different kinds of bread, including dark rye, six -grain, and whatever else seems interesting, different and healthy. But the kids want what they call "real bread", i.e. the white rubbery stuff that takes no effort to chew. It certainly doesn't have a crust. My 3rd New International Webster defines crust as "the hardened exterior of parts of bread". I assure you that the "real bread" our kids like has no "hardened parts." They'll eat carrot sticks, nuts, licorice and hard candy including candy canes. They don't find these too hard. But they don't know how to deal with the "crust" of white bread. Bread lecture It was time once again to give them my famous bread lecture. The only way to make them lis- ten to it - other than tying them to the banister with ropes - is to de- liver the lecture just before they get their allowance. That way 1'*n always assured a captive au - di. nee. I used to start with "When I was a kid..." but I've changed my opening phrase, because the kids are not in the least interest- ed in my past. They don't care about anybody's past except their own. "When you were still a bunch of tiny little atoms that could only be seen under the most powerful microscope in the PETER'S POINT e by Peter Helsel world, and nobody had even thought of putting you together to make you into babies, bread was very special" "Why'?" "Because in those days when you were still too small to be seen, people thought that thn7w- ing away bread was a sin. And I still believe that today. In the olden days people had to work very hard, not only to grow the grain, to mill the flour and to bake the bread, but also to earn enough money to buy the bread." "I don't get it," Duncan said. "If they baked their own broad, then why did they have to buy "Good question, Duncan. Only some people baked their own bread. The other had to buy it. They were called btead- winnexs. The point is: they all had t0 work hard for it. And wasting fbod, especially bread, made them Heel badly. Just as it makes tie feel badly when you're wasting it." "Why don't we bake our own bread?" Stephanie asked. Now Elizabeth was getting nervous. She gave me a signal I have long ago learned to interpret as "enough is enough." She had I had a little bread dis- cussion later, when the kids weren't around. "I really don't think you should lay this constant guilt trip on them about a few bread crumbs," she said. "We're wast- ing a lot of things that are far mote costly than bread." Bread is special "I agree." I said, "but bread is special. It's sacred. And I con- sider it sacrilege to throw any of it out." "It goes in the compost," she said, "just like the celery and on- ions you pick out of your sal- ad." Bread. Is different "Bread is different...." "I'll tell you how different it is; she said and she read to me fnom a r. Here it bread all 675 of h. It's made of unbleached white flour, true enough. But it's also made of water, sugar or glucose frucose, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, matin, sodium stea- roly-2-lactylene, calcium propi- onate, whey powder or concen- trated liquid whey, yeast, vegetable oil, salt and delicious, mouth-watering mono- and di- glycerides. I agree it's special, but it's no more special than any other processed food we buy these days." I guess this stuff is not exactly what St. Thomas Aquina had in mind when he said: Thus Angel's Bread is made, The Bread of man today: The Living Bread from Heav- en... O wondetous gift indeed! White squirrels, 50 metres tall Tell me if rm wrong, but don't we have an image problem? This white squirrel thing is cer- tainly cute, but I don't think any- one who hasn't seen one be- lieves they're real. I would guess that most out-Of-towners consider the white squirrel some kind of folk legend - on the lines of Wiarton Willie perhaps, if they've heard of us at all. But we can't blame it all on the squirrels. 'there appears to be a very real possibility that Exeter isn't even on the map. I've heard councillors complain at town council meetings the county fre- quently publishes maps that don't include Exeter. The Lon- don Free Press, that bastion of perpetual misinformation, has also been known to publish arti- cles that cite the county's three largest towns as being Goderich, Clinton and Wingham. Wait a minute, we're number two; how could we get bumped by both Clinton and Wingham? Are you still not convinced? Then just try to imagine yourself at the intersection of Fanshawe Park Road and Highway 4. Look north up the hill and what do you see? A sign giving the number of kilometres to Lucan and Clinton. What's missing - the distance to a larger town be- tween the two, of course. at also be willing to bet big money that if you stopped a hun- dred people on the streets of London and asked them to name two or three towns directly north of the city, Exeter would be way down on the percentage of re - Hold that thought... By Adrian+forte ,- sponses. A local businessman pointed out that if you're approaching Exeter from the east, the first signpost' signalling our existence is at Fullerton. Why, he asked, is there not a sign pointing the way to Exeter on Highway 7 where it just says "St. Pauls"? Clinton, I suppose, gets a bit more recognition than we be- cause poor bewildered motorists are faced with having to make a decision there. Once they reach the main intersection, they must figure out which road is the con- tinuation of Highway 4 and which is Highway 8 to Gode- rich It takes a lot of preparation to be ready for such a critical moment - hence the early warn- ing signs. Clinton also has a giant radar dish standing in the street for no good reason. This is alarming enough to make people dozing in the back seat to sit up and ask where they are and say they didn't know the DEW line was this far south. Exeter has none of this, just a few traffic lights to slow down the cars enough to stop them from funning over our skate- • boarders, but notslow enough to notide'those white things bounc- ing across the lawns aren't donut wrappers. There's just no noto- riety otariety in it. Maybe I'm overlooking some postive points here. Perhaps there is some good in anonymi- ty. After all, if the virtues of this town were widely known, then everyone might want to live here. We'd have no way of keeping them out. All the rifraff would get in (which doesn't ex- plain my living here). Anonymity is nice, but being just plain ignored is not. I say it's time to strike back. How about a 50 -metre tall, King - Kong size white squirrel strad- dling Main Street up by the park. Maybe not, but if you have some better ideas rd like to hear them. We need something a little more dramatic than a sign off the highway, half -hidden in a cornfield. Letters to Editor Blue boxes delivered To the Exeter Rebekah Lodge Exeter Club Qt+ a s aannd theExetleer Waste Manage- ment Committee Re: Blue Box Deliveries I am writing on behalf of Coun- cil to express our ' lode for your generous contra , , , in de- li raring Nue boxes to household- ers throughout the Town. Your efforts have both saved the Town a considerable mm of money and served to get our re- foot. I am cer- tain the citizens of Exeter will want to join with me in you and the o lien service organizations which helped. Accordingly, sant this letter to the Times Advo - cafe and asked that they print it as a letter to the Editor. I believe that your enthusiastic support will help to ensure that there will be full participation in the recycling program. Thank you Yours very truly, Bruce F. Shaw Mayor -The Corporation of the Town of Exeter Legion responds to letter Dar Sin A letter to the Editor in the re- cent nt Exeter 'tunes Advocate is very ,,.. , ' : to Legion mem- bas in : - - and. especially to the mem ' - . of Branch 498. We understand, that times of beravemeni, relatives Legion members. unfamiliar with Legion policy ,can become con - To say that Legion members she not for oar` to every Legion len hellions of dopers * Mews. wenn hospitals, widows and wklowers every year. All Legion members pay dues, these dues e pay for programs to all war veteran and their if they gustily. We even will pay for they are th funeral cif enough to do so by theemselves. I have called the writer of the let- ter in this paper �lune told Iabout the conlenta of this leerlack off knowied on her port, and possibly a lack of not completely informing her at the time of her Baling us to inform us of the passing of one of our mem- bers, at least she could have given mea phone call to tel us of her in - tendons on writing the letter to the Editor. In closing, I must say all military veterans are entitled to a Legion service, if the family asks for one. Service Officers at each branch look aider Legion veterans in order to ensure dant they, and the texas - es, ars awed for in a manner that swats the dignity and heroism for which they fought for during military service. Ron Preddent, Branch Grand Bend Legion.