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Fe proponents of a casino in . South Dakota. CounCil members too are
Grand Bend may want to -. aware that crime rates can be expected
know when their project can • to increase with such an influx of people
seeking quick money and turned away
from the 4ab1es _withaathing_teft in their
pockets.
As mayor Tom Lawson so correctly
points out, the main group seeking quick
money is the provincial government.
Faced with borrowing billions it can
never repay, Bob Rae's caucus is said to
be seriously considering getting itself
into the one game they can always win -
as odds 'makers.
Gambling has long had a stigma at-
.tached to it - the wages of sin and all
go ahead. The rest of -us just want to
-know why it shoulitvuthead.
They are -alsoAelling • us that village
council supportsthe-proposal in princi-
ple. Ilthis islrue then council's discus-
-sion.at -their .lastpublic councilm
.eeting
was .only_for the tenefit of the media,
because council -.decided they had no
right to officiallysupport something of
that magnitude ,'without getting public
approval first:
Council are quite right in thinking
that licensed .gambling would -.font-
pletely change Itie complexhin. 1ST hat. The publicAtreingtaally going to
Grand Bend. It would:also-have tr men." 'AIRAmary -reluctant-Mid-low something like
that*L.thange the face of Grand Bend
forever. :The investors aren't likely to
ask amere few hundred -people for their
ppinions when thousands of jobs and
Mill' ions of dollars are at stake.
:The real question is, if council is faced
with genuine opposition :to gambling in
Brand Bend, would theytave the con-
:ae to look a gift horserin the -mouth
.andsay "no thanks"• 9
:Or would.Lthey tear .a page 'from the
provincial Aoverrunent's battik And :AM -
flounce that the public is misinformed -
:and go ahead anyway?
- A.D4 .
surable effect on -most surrounding
communities - mostmf.,:which cannot
expect to .be consulted,on whether or -
not they want a :gaming .cesitre just
dowrrihe road.
-The -project's investors will also be
vatting out all kinds of reassuring -sta-
tistics -proving that building a casino is
second- :only to constructing a new
church in -Orand Bend. _But statistics
show that.;OntariansAne mot .1kely :to
monsidemesgambling _centre lonlyitours
Isom Detroit; Windsor, or Torontolote
TIM 4-1111F4jatith7ls.-facility away intiti
•What if it rains?
• I am writing this column late
at night, on the eve of tomor-
row's big sale.
We live in a big old house in
the country. It's full of stuff al-
ready. But somebody is always
bringing in new things. We can't
let everything pile up. We'd suf-
focate. So once or twice a year
we hold a garage sale.
We usually plan it weeks
ahead. The date is very impor-
tant. Not too early or too late in
the year. Not during school holi-
days. Not on long weekends.
Once Garage Itle Saturday
has been piclentbreur selection
committee (Alexander, Stepha-
nie and 1; Elizabeth and Duncan
don't care), there is no turning
back. The events have their own
dynamics.
First of all, an ad mug be
composed. But before we place
the ad, we've got to know what
we have to sell. It means getting
the stuff from the attic, the cel-
lar, the garage, and the shed -
where we store our &atop sale
collection year-round.
We used to place a shy -little
ad that cost five bucks and
brought us maybe a dozen shy
and stingy customers, mostly
lookers.
Not just any old garage sale
Not this time. This time we
turned bold. Our ad had 300
words. lts heading; "Calling an
garage sale Rivers!" 1t started
like this: "You're probably won-
dering about this strange ad.
This is not an ordinary garage
sale ad because this is not an or-
dinary garage sale. It is a special
occasion which you cannot af-
ford to miss."
As we viewed our stieggpPle
...iteasures, we took n • -••." • m
sewe picked items to be in- as head of the _Critical Review
eluded in the ad. "Toys - espe- Department idaton't begin- until
daily for fun -loving kids to the tomorrow. If anything goes
90s... Water -Pik (only wed -Among, she will be the first to an -
once)... love seat (for kids, not -astounce it. While she never sug-
•.forlovers)... genuine silver wine, ggests a price before the sale (she
,meally would prefer to send the
whole shooting match to the
township dump), she makes her
valuable contribution by point-
ing out that a price was 'much to
low", after the item has been
hauled away by a gleeful and
lucky purr,haser.
Once .again I went over the
checklist. Do we have enough
change? Are there enough signs?
At -ihe track of -dawn -we-must
distribute them at strategic loca-
tions throughout this and several
„jolter townships. The lawn is
Streshly mowed.
DivineAlinrvenikon?
The kids mait:so excited, we
could hardly get them to bed. A
last look at the sky made them
w' ,ied.
What if it rains tomorrow?"
"ft never rains when we have a
garage sale, you should know
that by now."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Trust me. I have ( connec-
• tions."
"What do -you mean, connec-
tions?"
I pointed my eyes; upward, to
the heavy clouds, but seemingly
far beyond them. Not saying
anything, I stood there for a
while, slowly scanning the sky
from east to.west.
I dont know what Alex and
Stephanie ritget.edBut I
know that
MC.
And because of his trust, I hope
and pray that it won't rain tomor-
row.T111et you know next week
•how it an went.
4
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hessel
cups in the shape of animals...
books (all .autographed, some
even by the authors)..."
The folks at the paper needed
some convincing that this ad was
for real. Only when I plunked
the $63 on the counter in hard
cash, did they take me seriously.
Sharing the work
I prepared a checklist. All
members of the garage sale task
force got their jobs. Stephanie
decided which toys will be sold
and which are still essential. We
separated them into buckets of
different colours. Once in a
while she sneaked into the gar-
age and moved a couple of
'things -from the "Sell" bucket to
the "keep" bucket.
Alex made the signs. This was
his first opportunity to conuner-
cialize .his ca11igraphyskiUs. He
also proved his leadership skills
again by recruiting DIHICAIIIS
help. In fact, he appointed Dun-
can as chairman of the Koolald
Subcommittee. Duncan co-
operated and prepared the re-
freshment table.
I served as transportation
chairman, setter up -per, labeller
and pricer. Eliagjoeth's ()option
. • '
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
. . . Thomas Macaulay
aittiver 42411iste $t.,
NovneaiW. u8 PM$aSUons Ltd.
rY_
Teli,11011•01..N1
Going insane on Venus
A concerto for a rainy day.
There is such a piece of music, I
recall. • We'd better start writing
more items like that if we're go-
ing to come to terms with this
"unseasonal" weather.
As far as I can tell, tempera-
tures have been running a good
six degrees or so below what
they shoidd be. The jet stream
has been driven so far south that
we've just got a solid flow of
arctic air to keep ourselves
.warm.
Monday was the first day in
.rover a week when it didn't rain.
fkAgain I'm driven to thinking
Iabout that science fiction short
.c story I once read where all the
astronauts slowly went insane
because it never stopped raining
on Venus. No doubt that author
was inspired by a spring just like
this one.
Spring is supposed to be a
time of year when we .all get
goosebumps about all the things
we're going to do in the great
outdoors that don't require R -
factor clothing These days.
we're just relegated 10 putting
them All off for ,,yet Another
dayaand another.
I figure I'm about eight or ten
bicycle rides short of my quota
already. In fact, if I didn't have
to walk the dog four or five
times a day, I might not go out-
side at all.
It doesn't appear I'm alone ei-
ther. The video stores and the
magazine racks in this town arc
empty. The library is doing a
11111.1111111=1111
booming trade. I've even taken
to flipping through a video mo-
vie guide, searching out four and
five star movies I may not have
seen.
Perhaps instead I should be
writing a short story. Like how
Ontarians all went insane in the
mid-1990s when it wouldn't stop
raining.
Yes, I know, there's a little
Iffillishine out there now, but I'm
-isot so easily fooled. It's just a
-ruse to get me out there without
a full rain suit. The clouds,
pregnant with moisture, are nev-
er far enough away. Did you
know that at any given time,
more than 300 thunderstorms
are lashing the earth?
The way things are going, I'd
be better off on Venus. At least
then I'd know tomorrow's weath-
er: "sulphuric acid shower ex-
pected in the morning, followed
by sulphuric acid storms in the
afternoon..."
OPP thank searchers
The Editor
On behalf of the ,women and
men of.the Ontario -Provincial Po-
lice in No. 6 District, I wish to ex-
tead our sincere gratitude to the
many volunteers who assisted in
the March 1992 search for three
year old Anthony Richardson.
This uagic event served to unite
the community in an outpouring of
support for the Richardson family.
Dozens of vol-
onteer searchers,
wing donated
masquipment, food
and fuel, gave tire-
lessly of them-
selves during the
entire 16 day search.
Emergency Servipes personnel
worked hand in hand with local ser-
vice clubs, businesses, and citizens
ID ensure that every possibility had
been explored.
Nothing can reverse the uagic
events of March 5th, 1992. Howev-
er, the uemendous support for the
Richardson and Gravelle families
demonstrated that we can find
Mdiwj1iiuir,C,nonnunities.
• A.V. Collins
uperintendent
Thanks to volunteers
Dear Editor:
Volunteers at the Huron Adult
Day Centre enhance our day pro-
gram and help provide, the vision
of the Hwun Adult Day Centre.
We believe that by providing
community support in a warm and
caring environment, as well as of-
fering supportive relief lo caregiv-
ers. with the volunteers help we
can meet the needs of acollartgiag
society.
Thank you to all 4/110
usly
and
very coelockiallY
•ofalb (23.682
talents in the past year.
Apart from the person growth the
volunteers acquire when .yolunteer-
ing at the Huron Adult Day Centre,
they also have the opportunity of
learning new skills, meet-
ing new friends,
and perhaps, just
brightening up
Wale"be.sday.
Our staffoc. rog-
nizes the very valu-
able services pro-
vided by our volunteers such as
providing transportation to and
from our centre, giving whirlpool
baths, helping with crafts, games,
exercises, meal preparations, bowl-
ing, water therapy, ceramics and
musical 011LefittilUlle.41t, just to
name a few.
Because of your love, warmth,
and empathy, volunteers, you truly
do light up our life, thank you vol-
unteers, one and all.
Sincerely,
Lois Fitzgerald
volioisp,coolimpf