HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-10-09, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 9, 1991
Publisher: Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adrian Harte
Business Manager: Don Smith
Composition Manager: Deb Lord
CGNA
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386
$UBSCRIPTIOIY RATES: CANADA
Within 40 miles (65 km.) addressed
to non letter cancer addresses $30.00 plus 52.10 G.S.T.
Outisds 40 miles (85 km.) or any letter canker address
530.00 plus 530.00 postage (total 560.00) plus 54.20 G.S.T.
Outside Canada 568.00
•
•
1:1) I "1'O R 1:11,
Acclamation isn't a choice
0 n November 12, we will be
going to the polls to determine
the future of our respective
municipalities. Unfortunately, a few of
us will have very little choice in candi-
dates; some may have no choice at all.
A candidate becomes a candidate with
just ten signatures on a nomination
form, and if no one else runs against
him or her, then an acclamation puts he
or she on council for the next three
years (*. ALcpt in Grand Bend - which
will need another election next fall).
The assumption that a candidate goes
unopposed because he or she is clearly
the best person for the job can be erro-
neous. Often, in small municipalities
no one wants to hurt the feelings of a
longstanding incumbent by running a
campaign against him or her and other
candidates worry about the indignity of
losing an election campaign. However,
the real loser is the voter who was not
allowed to exercise a choice on election
day.
Getting a councillor through ten signa-
tures on a nomination form is not the
same as seeing them win an election.
Let's see some more interest out there
in municipal politics. One benefit of liv-
ing in a town, village, or township is
that election campaigns are extremely
inexpensive compared to those needed
to vote in a city mayor or alderman. Fi-
nances are not an excuse.
From a journalistic standpoint, we hear
from people all the time who complain
that their council isn't doing this or
shouldn't be doing that. So where are
these people at election time? We hope
that every one of them has nomination
forms that will be handed in by this Fri-
day afternoon.
Every candidate who comes forward to
run this fall has the right to be proud of
the fact they gave their neighbours a
choice at the polls, regardless of whether
they win or lose.
Those who win a seat by acclamation
have the right to feel just a little guilty.
A.D.H.
come from way back
As some of you may remem-
ber from a previous column, I've
recently celebrated another bith-
day. It •was a "round" one, and
the party Elizabeth threw for me
was grand. I won't tell you di-
rectly how old I was, but I'll
give you a few clues.
It occurred to me to look up
what kind of things happened in
Canada and in the world about
the time the stork decided to de-
liver me. If you don't believe in
storks, that's too bad.
Dumped into the world of
problems
I discovered that the days of
my arrival were not exactly the
golden "Good old days". In fact,
I was dumped into a world full
of serious problems. In compari-
son, many problems we face to-
day seem pale and easy to solve.
Hem is a sampling.
Guess when I was born!
Democracy was under attack
in many countries. In Italy, the
Fascists were in power under
Benito Mussolini. In Germany,
Adolf Hitler and his "National
Socialist German Labour Party"
(the Nazis) were chomping at
the bits, waiting to take over the
government. In the Soviet Un-
ion, Josef Stalin's Communists
were purging the country of all
opposition.
The threat of Communism
was taken very seriously in Can-
ada and other westem countries.
In February (in the year of my
birth) the Department of Nation-
al Revenue in Ottawa prohibited
the import of goods from the
Soviet Union.
In August, eight Canadian
Communist leaders, including
the party's national secretary
Tim Buck, were arrested under
Section 98 of the Criminal Code
and charged with belonging to
an unlawful association. In No-
vember, five of them were sen-
tenced to 5 years in prison.
In September, coal miners in
Saskatchewan, went on strike to
force the recognition of the
Mine Workers' Union and to
press for better working condi-
tions. Thrceof theistrikers were
killed and 23 persons were in-
jured in a confrontation with
the RCMP at Estevan.
Depressed/depressing world
All over the world, the "Great
Depression" took its toll. In
downtown Winnipeg, 6000 un -
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hesse]
employed cla§hed with police
in April. Six demonstrators
were hospitalized, cars and
windows were smashed. In
British Columbia, where the
unemployment rate was almost
30%, 12,000 men were being
fed and housed in makeshift
camps. On the Prairies, many
people lived close to starvation.
In Saskatchewan alone, where
a severe drought affected about
4000 square kilometers,
150,000 people were desperate
for food, clothing and fuel.
Although prohibited by the
government, the Indians under
Chief Buffalo Bow of the File
Hills Reserve in Saskatchewan
performed the rain dance for
two days, and nights non-stop.
Soon after, all of Saskatchewan
was drenched in rain for two
days.
Prime Minister Richard. Ben-
nett resisted demands by dele-
gates of Canada's unemployed
to institute "the dole" - pay-
ments to jobless workers. Ben-
nett said he would not "put a
premium on idleness" and
called the delegates "Reds". He
refused to pay their train fare
home, but offered them instead
a one-way ticket to the "Work-
ers' paradise" - the Soviet Un-
ion. None accepted his offer.
in September, a bank panic
spread through the United
States: 305 banks closed that
month, and 522 in October.
Gamblers, crooks and
dictators
Gambling, lotteries and pro-
hibition were big social issues.
In April, police in Victoria
seized 40,000 tickets for a Ca-
nadian National Lottery that
was supposed to launch a
sweepstakes of more than a mil-
lion dollars.
In October, the king of the
gangsters, Alphonse) Capone,
also known as Scarface, was
convicted - not of his role in the
Saint Valentine's day Massacre,
but of income tax evasion and
sentenced to 11 years in prison.
(He was released eight years lat-
er, apparently dying of syphilis,
but he lived for another eight
years).
Bloody dictatorships, political
fear, world-wide depression,
rampant crime -- that was the
bed of roses they had ready for
me and my generation.
Surprisingly, a few good
things also happened in he year
of my birth.
On the bright side....
In May, Henry James and
Robert Frost received their
well-deserved Pulitzer Prizes. In
New York City, the Empire
State Building and the George
Washington Bridge were offi-
cially opened.
In September, Maple Leaf
Gardens was opened in Toron-
to, drawing a crowd of 13,542
who watched the Chicago Black
Hawks beat the Toronto Maple
Leafs 2-1. The British Parlia-
ment passed the Statue of West-
minster, which gave Canada fi-
nal independence from Britain
(Except - at Canada's request -
for constitutional amendments).
And in October, the schooner
Bluenose beat the Thebaud for
the International Fishermen's
Trophy. Boasted Angus Wal-
ters, Captain of the Bluenose:
"Tine wood ain't growin' yet
that'll beat the Bluenose!"
O.K., now you probably know
how old 1 am. "The good old
days? Why, they're only just be-
ginning.
NOTE: The winners of the
Great Canadian Poetry Contest
will be announced in Novem-
ber.
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Macauley
Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St.,
Exeter, Ontario, NOM 188 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Telephone 1-618.238.1331
/R10021043l
"Compost joined 11 unions so he could stay on strike all year round."
1 was always convinced
I can still clearly remember
my father installing seatbelts in
one of the first cars he owned.
They were still optional extras
inthose days, but my father, a
jet fighter technician, believed
in belts so much he wouldn't
own a car without them.
Consequently, I grew up wear-
ing a seatbelt whenever I got in
a car. To me, riding in a car
without one would be like for-
getting to close the door.
So when the Exeter Police in-
formed me they were bringing
the OPP's seatbelt demonstrator,
the "Convincer", to town, I
didn't really think it would see
much use. I foolishly thought
that with seatbelt use obligatory
since the late 1970s, and the
only intelligent way to drive
since long before that, there
would only be a handful of peo-
ple_totry_ the machine.
With October designated as
Seatbelt Month, all police forces
have a watchful eye out for of-
fenders. Last Wednesday, local
motorists without belts got a
break: instead of a $78.75 fine,
they were given the chance to
ride the Convincer.
As I drove up to the OPP sta-
tion, I couldn't figure out why
there was such a crowd of cars
in the front driveway. But all
had drivers or passengers caught
without seatbelts. Between the
town police and the OPP, about
20 offenders per hour were ar-
riving at the station to take a
ride to save the fine.
I admit I was surprised to dis-
cover that many people take the
risk of driving with their seatbelt
loosely dangling down beside
the door, people who manage to
start the engine and drive away
ignoring that warning buzzer's
plea.
One by one they hopped up
into the machine and listened to
the Goderich OPP's John Mar-
shall explain how the device
only simulated 'a five mile per
hour head -Ott _crash. To emplla-
Hold that
thought...
13y
Adrian Harte
size the low velocity nature of
the demonstration, Marshall
even walked alongside the vic-
tim as the chair descended the
rails to slam against the stops.
Most riders were suitably im-
pressed.
"That's five miles per hour?"
said one incredulous victim.
"That's impressive. You've
convinced me. That's only five
miles per hour?" said another.
Naturally, I had to give it a try.
In one brief moment when there
wasn't a motorist nervously hop-
ing to avoid a ticket, I hopped
on for a ride. After watching
about 15 people test the seat-
belts of the device I thought I
knew what to expect. This will
be quite a jolt, I thought, as the
sled ran the runners. It was a
JOLT! All my limbs and organs
seemed to come free of their
normal positions for a moment,
I and I knew that if the belt hadn't
been holding me back, 1 would
have hurt myself on the "dash-
board" of the device.
Marshall told me he once had
a smart alec remove the belt on
the way down (there's lots of
time). The poor guy probably
thought he could brace himself
against the impact in the same
Letter to Editor
way people think they can hold
on tight to a steering wheel in a
crash. Marshall said the guy
ended up flying over the dash-
board and hitting the back of the
OPP van.
1 noticed Marshall had set the
machine up in front of the OPP's
lawn.
There are a lot of weird no-
tions surrounding seatbelt use. I
suppose there are some who
consider it an infringement of
their rights to be forced to wear
a safety device. That may be so,
but why would they still not
wear one anyway?
And there are those who some-
how believe that seatbelts can
actually cause injuries. Every-
one has heard stories of how so
and so's friend of their cousin
was thrown clear of an accident
in which they would have been
most certainly crushed. No one
seems to have personally met
these survivors and no one
seems to have really proven
their claims. I've been to acci-
dents where the car has been
mashed to the point you can't
believe anyone is alive inside;
but there they are, cut with
glass, bruised, but alive inside
their seatbelt.
As one comedian put it:
"These guys who want to be
thrown clear of an accident, just
where do they think the open-
ings are in an automobile?
Well, there's the exhaust pipe."
On Exeter's Main Street the
other day I watched a car tum
off Sanders. In it were two
young mothers, smoking away,
no seatbelts. One toddler was
wandering the back seat, the oth-
er bouncing on his mom's lap.
i couldn't help but think of
Darwin's Theory of Natural Se-
lection.
Readers write from New Guinea
Dear Adrian:
As I sit here in my mountain
home in the bush of Papua New
Guinea and read about your bicy-
cle ride for Multiple Sclerosis, i
am full of envy. of the few
things i miss from my Canadian
existence, is my 12 speed touring
bicycle. 1 set out once, to ride
from London to Grand Bend into
such a head wind that I was ped-
alling downhill standing up to
keep upright. Somewhere halfway,
I decided to veer off towards Exeter
with the wind only on my
side and a much
easier ride.
Iwill not be
home in time to
join you in the M.S.
ride in 1992 but i
look forward to at-
tempting it in 1993.
Fed and I look forward to our
weekly Times Advocate, sent to us
by our daughter, Susan Mayer. Our
congratulations to Cheryl, we have
enjoyed her column as well as Pe-
ter's Point. We arc also looking
forward 10 sharing our Papua New
Guinea three year experience with
all our friends in and around the
Exeter arca.
Bikpila blesim yupila olgeta.
Fred and Elinor Clarke
V.i.M. in Koinambe
Papua, New Guinea
1