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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-03-11, Page 4TeemeAdualelle, nilerah 1,1; ON. �0811111111iin *n ssesmt 'N♦MS' ar:40Mn'Haute 11UuIt1108.e tspotr. bon smith CempoolWss M..o/K: Deb t-ord 1,1)1 tllil �i.�, Take a bow t takes a big council to admit when it was wrong. Stephen Township council has done just that by agreeing to roll back a pay increase they approved ear- lier -in the year. • -When all is said and done, the -drop- ping of raises in council per diem and stipends probably won't add up to all that much on the township mill rate. But the symbolic value of dropping to a two -percent increase won't be lost on the taxpayer in Stephen Township, many of whom will face similar pay in- creases, or even decreases this year. We understand that the original in- creases were largely due to a desire to "round up" remuneration wages to the next convenient figure. The assumption was that round numbers would save time in bookkeeping. In reality, however, calculators and computers can handle the tiniest -decimals as easily as any oth- er number. But make no mistake about it, Stephen Township council has done the right thing. Bowing to public pressure is nev- er a• prideful act. Most councils would likely attempt to justify the numbers somehow and stonewall it through until the 1994 election. To review and recon- sider a bylaw with the benefit of hind- sight deserves credit. A.D.H. Anti -porn law should target evil, not examination of evil The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that there really is such a thing as pornography and it does not have to be tolerated. The court has even made some effort to define pornography as depictions of sex that are dehumanizing or coupled with violence or involving children. This decision no doubt comes, in part, :as a result of the increased publicity surrounding child abuse, wife beating and sexual exploitation present in the media in the last few years. The big change seems to be in the way pornography will be viewed. It is no longer a matter of offending people, but is now an issue of conse- quence. It is now a matter of law, rather than opinion, that pornography of the type previously described, causes harm to its participants. There has always been a spurious no- tion .that there are those who willingly participate in what are now being called exploitive or dehumanizing acts. In fact, when these individuals are in- vestigated, coercion and extreme emo- tional illness are almost always re- vealed to be at the core of the decision to participate. It is not reasonable to assume that a "normal" or well -adjusted or happy, functional person would willingly sub- mit to violent abuse at the hands of an- other person. This new law at last recognizes that there are priorities in a free society and that the protection of children and the disposstrssed from those who would ex- ploit them without regard for the conse- quences is of primary importance. The problem with this law is that it will surely be applied, sooner or later, against an artist somewhere who will claim that is is merely censorship mas- querading as social science. We may even expect some individuals to deliberately challenge the law by pro- ducing offensive material aimed at pro- voking the system. So the application of this new law is going to be of paramount importance. Prosecutors will be have to remind themselves that the object of this exer- cise is to reduce the threat of sexually - motivated violence against innocent people; not to purify the symbolic world of art. In the end, society will not be, harmed if the child pornographers are put out of business, nor will women suffer if vio- lent acts in the name of pleasure lose the cloak of respectability they receive by society's failure to disapprove of them. The problems of censorship are more complicated. Perhaps the best solution will be for police departments and crown prosecu- tors to remember that this law is meant to address a social evil, and not to inhib- it the natural - and sometimes unpleasant - examinations of human behavior and sexuality that _ must _take place in a free society. From the St. Marys Journal Argus I'dg!ve anything to be Irish I've never told this to anyone. ' sight was the number one street- in Ireland? If you didn't, don't But the time has come to be car. frank. All my life I've wanted to "How very unlike Ireland this be Irish. I've cursed my awes- whole place is!" I exclaimed tors for being un -Irish. It was most inconsiderate of them. Now I'm ready to come out with it. I am a Hibemophile. You see, I was really meant to be Irish. Long before there were troubles on the Emerald Isle, it had been Peter Hessel determined that I would be con- ceived, born and bought up in a MIEBBIBIEniiiiiiMai lovely hamlet about fifteen when I became old enough to miles south of Limerick, in speak, not realizing that I was deepest, greenest Minister. They quoting Yeats. I was utterly sur - had a Deltic name picked out for prised and w and everytbiog. To this : daay� 1y at - But due to very sevaie eoainic Voted to the .tsW4hr. Snort. The interference there was. a miaiip, bast .hoof Is Abet .my wife, And I was ooncieved and .mttbee- 'though of A9% Scottish atuces- qt only bosn.-inan ngly:imdttlld- dry, btu great eyes .(the same al city nowhere near ,lzelaal, colour as mine). You knew, of -where -the .only green thing _.4n .o urse,,that-the.Scoss:origivatcd Peter's Point • take my word for it.'Look it up. I love green, especially in trees, on lawns, and on $20 bills. In fact, I love everything about the Irish. That's why to me St. Patrick's Day is such a wonderful, stirring event. The most important day of the year. And I prepare for it. I hate to miss a St. Patrick's Day parade. Did you ever see the one in New York? I used to drive down there every March, just to stand on the sidewalk of Sth Avenue watching the marching band i and dawn majorettes and McGuiness floats and drum majorettes and American Le - glen veterans and drltm miger- Imes passby. . 1 keep -brae large cartons of St. -Patrick's Pay paraphernelja in the basement. I .can do with - Plewa mr-,ops "Men are never so likely to settle a question tightly as when they discuss It freely." ... Thomas Macauley PatilNhed Snob A :: y at 424 Mb St. WNW., Ostarlo, NOM =A0 by 1.W. Pabllrteses LN. TNoplieee 141.2411 2111621S$$ I'M YOUR DOOR - TO -000R BUDGET SALESMAN ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU A FREE DEMONSTRATION Taxed out of existence There is a really dreadful trend afoot in this province that I heartily hope will not spread to this area. With any luck it will disappear altogether. Perhaps you, too have noticed gas stations here and there with signs up proclaiming for sale "CARTON SMOKES" followed by some incredible price that seems altogether too much to pay for a box of dried leaves. Since when did cigarettes be- come "smokes"? That vulgar term doesn't say much for the people who buy them. Or per- haps it says too much. It could be. worse, I guess, re- calling what the slang term for a cigarette is in England. But I won't, simply won't be buying gasoline from a station that sells "smokes". Ontarians have to retain some semblance of dignity. But what of the ungodly prices people are paying for tobacco these days? I know I've never supported the unhealthy habit, and I've always encouraged friends and family members in their efforts to quit, but I really do hate to see all those addicts being ripped` off with so much tax. If the govenunent isn't going to come out and declare tobacco Hold that thought ... By Adrian Harte an illegal drug, then why a level of taxation that almost amounts to harassment of an industry? The argument, of course, is that the governments have to re- coup some of the increased health costs that smokers will burden the system with as they fall prey to tobacco's curse. I don't think I'd be quite ready to declare tobacco illegal. Just my luck they'd do away with coffee at the same time. Where would I, and all other news peo- Lcttcr'. to Editor ple in the nation, be then? But still, aren't there limits to taxation? Witness the current problem: Canadians, upset with high cigarette prices, are smug- gling them across the border, so the government slaps an $8 a carton tax on them to help equal- ize the price. So the tobacco in- dustry predicts reduced demand for Canadian cigarettes all round, and cancels orders from Ontario's tobacco farmers. The poor guys get hit again. I'm sum they realize opium farmers in Thailand get less harassment. Not that I entirely sympathize with the farmers either. They should have seen right from the 1970s that the writing was on the wall,. cigarettes will eventu- ally go the way of snuff. All should have rethought their farming operations as if tobacco had never existed. But then we may have a little room for sympathy for them. Their way of life, as the rest of we Ontarians, is under attack. They will know first what it is like to be taxed out of existence. Fundraising campaigns Dear Editor: Last week I was asked to buy a chocolate Easter Bunny to support a fund raising campaign. The or- ganization is one that I would like to support, but felt that I couldn't this time. Chocolate Easter Bun- nies are sold by several of our lo- cal merchants. To buy dirmigh this fund raising campaign would have a detrimental effect on these same merchants. ing to help an organization in their I realize that fund raising is a dif- fund raising efforts. In a lot of cas- ficult job, but es the results have promoted both there are still a the business and the organization. . lot of good ideas If you arc on a fund raising cotn- out there that mince, please stop and think what will not hurt our ` effect your campaign will. have on local businesses. Inour local businesses and my expeneaCe, 1 inanity. have found that Katherine Ens most merchants are more than will - PCB torage in Exeter Dear Esditor: PCBs Stows in Fuer I cannot understand lawn nouns cil not admitting the factor in having PCBs stored inratrr. Some ,questiwos ,fpr ooiwcit to Imo. If PCBs vers API why can PCBs side the provM e 2. Why do same prohibit the 'hippis9sge i! a within their jurisdiction? confident the Exeter Fire Depart - 3. If PCBs are safe, why do most meat wiU respond quickly. In rot- m ties as did rospec . it was certainly a good de- i ihe Exeter PUC cisionbn council's part. to purchaee spend thoussinds property frau Nabisco Brands for of dollars to the site of Exeter's Fre Station. have their Oven- Y Rv4 C1yrully, tory of PCBs de- suoyed? No .maIW .what and SpeCiaky & r Slalay, ld (pare boa ,PCB fire, we we