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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-11-06, Page 4Paps 4 Times -Advocate, November 6, 1991 ter:_ - Publl��lef: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adnan Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 UURSCRIPT1ON RATES: CAlyikin Within 40 notes (65 km.) addressed to non letter carrier address+ $30.00 plus $2.10 O.S.T. outside 40 nates (85 km.) or any tetter canter address 630.00 plea $30.00 postage (total $60.00) pies $4.20 G.S.T. outside Canada $68.00 "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley Published Each Wednesday Modem at 424 Maio $t., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 146 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-231-1331 •.s.T. M101210436 i;1)IT()R1.\I,ti Voters, start your engines The cynicism which surrounds many municipal elections is really unwarranted. Even though many of us complain that each government is just as bad as the next one, that is simply not true about mu- nicipal councils. Just ask a news reporter who spends night after night at a variety of council meetings and she can tell you that indi- vidual personalities do make a real dif- ference in the direction that municipali- ty takes during that council term. Not fill councils are created equal. There are councils which quietly rubber stamp all committee reports and resolu- tions, yet which gett stuck when faced with a crisis. There are those who spend more time arguing about what's wrong than actually working to fix things. Some councils gladly hand out financial support to local organizations, and others fight over every last dollar. There are those who aggressively seek out ways to improve the environment, or bring new jobs to town, or to solve a host of other problems. The kind of council a municipality has is completely determined by the person- alities elected to the various positions of authority. Each council member has certain issues they regularly pursue. Those personalities are determined by vote. So cynicism should not be enough to keep you from the polls on Tuesday, un- less of course you have already voted in one of the advance polls. A.D.H. The Sirens - a Hallowe'en Story, Part 2 of 2 Continued from last week - Then we danced. All three of us together. There was music all around us, but everything be- came quieter now. And the si- rens had stopped singing. As they held me in their arms, I felt their great strength. I knew as soon as the dance started that it would be the end of me. I sensed that I was doomed. But I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop. I wanted this dance to last forever. It is strange, I thought, how we wish some things to end soon, and others to go on forever. We want our pain to end, but our pleasure to last and last and last. Then it was dark. Black as in a long tunnel. Silent as the Milky Way. My ears rang, and I lost my balance. I dropped to the floor. I lay on the hot floor, I don't know how long. I saw the walls tuming flame - red. The ceiling also changed to crimson. Now the singing start- ed again, and through a mist I saw the sirens standing over me. I just lay there, unable to move. As they slowly raised their arms, palms up, I was lifted by an invisible force. I floated in a horizontal position. In a pool of hot, red air. 1 rose up and up, face down at first. Then I turned around, I was weightless. As I discovered my wonderful new freedom, I performed slow som- ersaults like an astronaut. It was a physical and spiritual sensation. I was still attached to my body, but I had lost all sub- stance. At the same time, my senses were acute. I saw ulti- mate beauty. 1 heard music so awthat it made me cry. My hair stood on end from the in- tense pleasure. I knew I was about to die. Per- haps 1 was dcad already. I had no will power, no desire, no re- sistance. I just wanted the music again. "Music!" I shouted. I needed the music. Now! I knew I would die without the music. Peter's Point • Peter Hessel Parthenope and Leucosia float- ed toward me. As they stretched out their hands, I shuddered. The beautiful faces of the sirens were those of very young wom- en. But their hands were gnarled like dead branches and stained, with prominent blue veins and bulging arthritic knuckles. I was horrified. The women reached for r me, but I did not want their hands, their hideous hands, to touch me. I tried to turn away, but I couldn't. I was locked in mid- air, in an upright position. The women moved their fin- gertips close to my face. My eyes bumed. My vision was blurred. My glasses were gone. I also knew that I was now with- out clothes. And yet I did not feel naked. My body had disap- peared. My mind existed in the midst of red, fiery nothingness. Now the sirens took off their white gowns. They were cov- ered only with their long, thickly flowing black hair. They held their hands behind theft backs, and they beckoned me with their heads. Their shining eyes and their gentle smiles promised me a garden of earthly delights. But I was no longer tempted. I had seen their hands. Suddenly I saw the heroic fig - Letter to Editor ure of Ulysses. He had escaped from the sirens who were tempt- ing him and his crew. He had or- dered his sailors to plug their ears with beeswax. Then the sailors had tied him to the mast of his ship. Although he almost died from desire when he heard the song of the sirens, the ropes prevented him from leaping to his certain death. On my odyssey I had no crew, no ship, no mast. I was at the women's mercy. What did they want? Why me? Their eyes were on me again, piercing my soul. This time I could not resist them. I had no defence, and I had lost my will. I was doomed. I closed my eyes, resigned to my fate. My ears began to ring again. Short, piercing rings. I awoke from a deep sleep. I had fallen asleep in my office chair. The telekiane was ringing right be- side me. Automatically, instinc- tively I picked up the receiver. "Are you there?" It was Eliza- beth's voice. It took me a few seconds to retum to reality. "Where were you?" she asked. "I'm not sure," 1 said, surprised by my own voice. "I went over to your office ten minute ago, and you weren't there," she said. "The computer was on, but you weren't there. I went upstairs, I called you, and you weren't there either. Where did you go?" "I don't know," I said. "Well, come home now. Sup- per is getting cold. The kids are impatient. They don't want to wait any longer. Hallowe'en is very important to them, -you know." "It's important to me, too," I said. I hung up, and I thought to myself: "More important than anyone will ever understand." Space saver tires dangerous Dear Editor. Was Linda Shaw the victim of a space saver tire? I stopped to assist and provide light for a young London couple charging a tire on Hallowe'en eve- ing. They were patted on the hard packed gravel portion of the Cre- diton road to Grand Bend. Having installed the space saver tire on the wheel next to the paved road the gentleman gently acceler- ated the car to move forward only to have the space saver tire bury it- self deeper in the gravel. With the young lady driving while we pushed the results were the same. In one last desperate attempt she tried the car in reverse while we pushed and thank heavens it moved out of the hole. Only when we pushed the car was she able to drive it on to the paved roadway. Space saver tires should be banned from the highways. I for one will never ever buy a car un- less it comes s led with a stan- dard conventionW spare tire. The idiots who thought up and authorized the use of space saver tires must have had some empty apace between their ears; then again, money talks at any Harry A. No remembrance for a video game war , This time last year I wrote about the dilemma of Remem- brance Day for those of us, now the majority of the population, for whom World War Two is an impossible memory: something which happened long before we were born. Since then, I can think of two things which have made me ponder this situation even more. The first and foremost is that only a few months ago, this country was at war, if it can be called that. Some have de- scribed it as no more than the first step' in George Bush's re- election campaign, but I prefer to think of it as the perfect chance for the Pentagon to test out its latest gadgets on live tar- gets. But we were at war, and at the time it had us a little worried. Even if you didn't believe the Pentagon's posturing that Iraq's army was a terrible and fear- some force, there was still the awful thought -that if America's poodle, Israel, couldn't stay out of the conflict then the whole Arab world would jump into the fray and give us a new digit to add to our short list of World Wars. But Canadians were at war, manning aircraft and ships that were truly at risk in the battle zone. They all returned home safe and sound, as did nearly every last American and ally, meaning that veterans of the Persian Gulf War will have en- tirely different stories to tell of war than those who served and survived World War Two, the Hold that thought... By Adrian Harte Korea ,nnflict, or Vit ,lam. Evemedia were sucked into portraying this new "sani- tized" version of war. Video re- plays of how smart bombs were carefully guided to specific, mil- itary targets made everyone for- get that lives were being lost. Only a fraction of all bombs and missiles dumped on Iraq were of the high-tech variety, the rest were just the usual, indiscrimi- nate raw tonnage, the full results of which we have yet to see to- day. So even though many children were frightened by depictions of the Gulf War on television, un- able to distinguish local video footage from that half way around the world, has that fear now long faded? What do they remember now, I wonder. I al- most shudder to think what Re- membrance Day posters are be- Lettcr to Editor ing drawn up in the schools this week. Will we have F -18s re- splendent on fields of bomb sight video screens, all like some nice Nintendo game? How will that honour those who still remember a very dif- ferent kind of war? A war that 50 years ago today was going very badly for Britain, who was waiting for the eventual involve- ment of a reluctant America. While the Gulf War was rag- ing in Iraq, I spent a few days in England to attend my grandfa- ther's funeral. In World War Two my grandfather made tanks during the day and sheltered from the bombs at night. Among his mementoes were a few photographs and letters from his brother who had served in the Territorial Army before the war and signed up for the real thing when conflict broke out. I unfolded and read my great- uncle's last letter home before he was fatally wounded during the Japanese invasion of Singapore. How could he have known? Today, his grave sits in a mili- tary cemetery surrounded by thousands of other white stones all in neat rows. I visited it once, long ago when I was too young to really understand. Not that I think I understand any better now. Policy deters fundraising Dear Sir: It was wonderful to barn the re- cent tag day canvass by the South Huron Auxiliary raised $9 700AQ�_ This amount —Win aCTO� to lite S18,500.00 receipts from the spring and fall Auxiliary Rum- mage Sales, has a total of $28,500.00 for 1991. The number of volunteers conducting these throe events is over 200 people. This is remarkable, and a sign of goodwill from the community in support of a local appeal. For the first time, a hospital can- vass was held in Grand Bend, un- der the hard-working guidance of Mary Fran Gaiser. The village and subdivisions of Oakwood and Southcott Pines conducted their individual canvass and raised $2,300.00. The only sad part of this report is that there was no can- vass in Grand Cove Estates, but this is not the fault of the residents of that subdivision. The reason is that no person or organization can enter the Grand Cove Estates subdivision for the purpose of asking for funds from the residents. The director* of the Rice Group have effectively closed the doors from all local fund raising events, whatever they may be. Surely this policy should be changed. There are two reasons for making this statement. First, the residents of Grand Cove Estates probably re- ceive more services from South Huron Hospital on a per capita ba- sis than any other area in Huron County because it has the highest rate of residents over 65 years of age. They require the services of the emergency ward, ex - ray, blood tests and physiother- apy. The hospi- tal auxiliary do- nates all its funds to the hospital to provide better equipment and services in the hos- pital, which may otherwise not be available. Most elderly pmple appreciate such services and want to contrib- ute to them. Canadians have the reputation of being the highest con- tributors in the world for donating funds to sort the sick and needy, the old and the young. Also worthy of mention is the fact that more Canadians offer volunteer ser- vices per capita than anywhere else. My second reason for believing the Rice Gray policy is wrong is this: Having involved with fund raising for the Cancer Society for many years, we were never al- lowed to include 'The Cove' in our canvass. In recent times, I have been a volunteer driver for cancer patients going to and from London for treatment. For five years 1 have knocked on doors in Grand Cove Estates to pick up patients, always to be received with a welcome smile. There are many, many examples of business corporations contribut- ing to socially desirable organiza- tions. It would be equally desirable if the Rice Group would open its gates and allow the residents to participate in a canvass if they wish to do so. However, if this is not possible, surely the Grand Cove Residents' Association should be given the right to plan and conduct its own door to door canvass. Everyone should have the right to support the needs of the community in which they live and not be deprived of their right to help others. Sincerely, Carfrey A. Cann C`.r,rwt Rin i