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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1992-09-09, Page 4• Page 4 Times -Advocate, September 9, 1992 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Merle Business Msilagrer: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Puma:anions Mall Registration Number 0386 S +r RC(:RIED RATE C&MADA Within 40 mike (66 km.) adeleeeed to non flatter earlier addwsa.s 610.00 pies 62.10 a.s.T. caw Outside 40'MINI (65 Ion.) or any letter earner address 1.30.00 pies 122.60 (total 62.60) + 3.68 0.1.7. Outside Canada 668.00 • • inion 1':1)II'OR E U Can Grand Bend make it work It doesn't seem quite fair to predict doom for a new mu- nicipal program before it be- gins, but how on earth Grand Bend council expects success for its new user -pay garbage collection system is beyond most of us. In this environmentally -friendly age, we often forget that refuse collection used to be considered an essential ser- vice - a necessary and vital means of getting rid of organic matter that at- tracted vermin and bred disease. Nowadays. the wise property owner removes recyclable items for blue betx collection and places compostable items in the appropriate backyard bin. Now we have Grand Bend deciding to put into effect what many other local municipalities have considered unwork- able - a fee to dispose of whatever else remains for the black garbage bag. No doubt many Grand Bend residents will grumble and moan about the $2 per bag fee that will be required to tag each bag for collection, but most will pay it. mindful of the fact their garbage must now be shipped all the way to Watford since the closure .of the vil- lage's own dump. But saying that most Grand Bend resi- dents will comply does not mean all will. The cottage renter who finds sev- eral bags of garbage left over from a party will not likely feel like travelling to the municipal office for tags, at $2 apiece. In all likelihood, those bags will mysteriously appear on the curb- side on the next street over, or end up in one of the business' dumpsters. Of course, the village will need gar- bage police to spy on people in the wee hours of the morning, lest they be caught tugging an untagged black baggie io where it does not belong. Will forensic experts end up sorting through rotting masses in hope of dis- covering the offender? How long before the stores on the step are selling under-the-counter lookalike tags, 10 for 99? Yes, on the surface it is a grand idea. Pay for only what gets picked up. Those who reduce, reuse and recycle more than their neighbours pay cess. But even in an ordinary municipality, a user pay gar- bage system is not without its draw- backs. In Grand Bend, it has every pos- sibility of being a disaster. Who wants to take bets that next spring property owners will be coming to council complaining about fines lev- ied for untagged garbage found on their curb they say they did not throw out`' An honour system is what is required for such a program to work, but most com- plaints come to Grand Bend council be- cause the honour system fails far too of- ten. While it's obvious that the village can't go on hauling unlimited amounts of trash all the way to Watford forever, it remains to be seen whether a user -pay collection system will prove to be the answer council wants it to be. A.D.H. The promise trap "You promised.. " How many times do 1 hear this every day? "You promised you would read to me at bedtime "No, Stephanie, 1 said that if you cleaned up your room by yourself and didn't dawdle...." It doesn't matter how 1 qualify m� statements, they're always misinterpreted as straightfor- ward promises. "Dad, you promised you would buy me a new computer game." I had promised no such thing "1 said that the next time 1 go to a computer store, I might try to get you a very cheap game, but 1 didn't go to a computer store yet." The truth is that I haven't had time to go to a computer store because I've been coo busy keep- ing all sons of other promises that people claim I've made. 1'U learn to say "No!" Why do I constantly fall into the promise trap? I should have learned by now that when my answer isn't an outright and em- phatic "NW', it is interpreted as a promise. When Elizabeth asked me to nail down the loose board on the cellar stairs, I should have said: "No! 1 have no time to do this in the near future. Please ask me again some other day." Instead 1 acknowledged her re- quest and probably mumbled something like this: "O.K. 171 do it when 1 have some ume to spare." That response was later distorted into: "You promised me faithfully to fix that board last Saturday, and it still isn't done. 1 guess 171 have to call a carpenter " Peter's Point • Peter Heseel I don't have any trouble keep- ing real promises. I pay my bills on time. I keep my appoint- ments. When I promise of be at a certain place at a certain time. I breka my neck to get there and not to let people wait. I think I have kept all the promises con- tained in the marraigc vows. And 1 have never betrayed my country or the Queen. 1 just have trouble with my casual remarks, the ones people twist into promises. I should team to keep my mouth shut. Or to say "No!" "Will you fix the....?" "No'" I might get tears for a couple of minutes or sulking for a few hours. But thats the lesser evil. A fresh start So let's make a deal. Let me have a fresh start. Have I made any promises, semi -promises or almost -promises to you? Have said or wntten anything that could be construed as even re- motely resembling a promise? I hereby declare a total moratori- um on all my past promises. From now on, you cant. tell. me 1 promised something unless that statement is engraved in granite, executed at a lawyer's office or signed in my own blood. l'es. t may continue doing things for people. 1 may still mow the.lawn, take the van to be services, glue that broken chair, change light bulbs, bring milk on the way home from town, re- member birthdays. But I will do it all voluntarily. When I'm ready. When 1 feel like it. Not because I promised. What about your promises? And what about the promises you made to me? I can't remem- ber anybody saying to me: "I promised 1 would do this won- derful thing for you. and I'm here to do it." I know what I'll do. I'll keep a ledger of promises given and promises kept. Those who fail to keep a promise will receive a monthly statement. After 180 days I'll tum the account over to a husky bailiff for collection. Too drastic'' Maybe. But why should I be the only victim? Starting today, Iv be the promis- ee instead of the promisor. Until you all learn the differ- ence between promise and a cas- ual remark. Note from the Diamonds Dear I3drwr: Thank you for the coverage that you've given the Diamonds since we formed last fall. Wo especially appreciated the picture that you ran in June when ow co- dtairpersons presided a certifi- cate of accessibili to the linter Branch of the Royal Bank. Sincerely, Blaine Towashead IIATIONAL tTNTfY BFRNDEM g1tF.STION "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley PebNaMd E.otk Wadneed.y Morula[ at 424 Meta It., Exeter, &Keno, NOM 1366y J.W. Eedy PebMeatlees Ltd. Tels'Mna 11S11436 -1.3h. a.a.T. Mi0Sri0ells MY-ph,cr .f, /die ' twat, S.6901:0'-gelliMliC 4x4� 4, , wi /Iv :4,of ,Ci,; c t -C;2 • D 1, 2902 r. 1 / t elrill�� t ki\ Unlocking the memory At ,the bottom of 'the box, I stored away for the better part of Ia decade, was a slightly shiny, partly rusted weight linked to a I coil of steel cable. Hauling it out into the light I realized, yes, this was indeed my high school Dudley lock. This one and only combination lock served an entire tour of duty for live years of high school. Somehow I never man- aged to lose it, break it, jam it, or need it cut off my locker be- cause I forgot the combination. After my secondary education was considered complete. the lock served for a while protect- ing bicycles and such things un- til more robust items were pur- chased. Since then, it apparently languished in the bot- tom of the box with other things unidentifiable. I turned it over and over in my hands. 1 must have dialed its combination at least four or six times a day for every day of high school. Thousands of limes 1 must have used it; so why could I, now, not remember what those three numbers were? There would be no need to Keep a lock and cable in the bot- tom of a box for the next five or ten years if I couldn't remember the combination. No wait...the first number was 57 Of that, I'm sure, so I spin the dial, hoping the next num- bers will fall in line out of re- flex. Actually, the second one must be in the 20s, but, what was It, exactly? This seems like such a crimple task, but why is it so hard? When I consider all the useless, Dear Sir. I too am a resident of the newly paved Carling Street here in Eacc- er. Unlike some whose cameras arc of an esthetic nature k. grass c1,ppags bbwn into the boule- vard, mine is a graver issue, tot night a fellow aeigabour ,.d 1, scraped our at oft the The CM bad been bit by a ave car. Had ibis car been brave the speed limit, there would bane been ample Mae io avoid Are sit. extraneous information stored in my mind for no apparent pur- pose, why can't I remember something I might really need? The other day, for instance, I stuffed an old tape into the cas- Hold that thought ... By Adrian Harte sette deck and found myself be- ing able to sing along in my head with each song. Wonder- ful, 1 know the words to every single Cyndi Lauper song ever recorded. As if that is ever go- ing to be useful. The commandant walked around the chair and switched on the spotlight. blinding me. The barbed wire tying my hands together cut a little deeper. -He leaned forward and glared... "You will tell me now all the lyrics to Money Changes Everything." Of course, the middle number is 25, or is it 27. Well, it won't matter much if I can't come up with the last number, but I'm be- ginning to suspect it was only a single digit. 1 try it out. Yes, I used to spin the dial this way. then that, then up to here some- where...but what were the num- bers exactly? Ah yes, memory. What would a brain's capacity be like, com- pared to a computer hand disk drive? The brain records sights, sounds, impressions, feelings; the disk drive only ones and ze- ros If I had my choice, I'd switch all those memory cells wasted on Cyndi Lauper in or- der to memorize my personal telephone directory. It doesn't work that way, naturally. Mem- ory is unfair, unpredictable. and not always useful. And unlike that hard disk, you can't erase all those things you'd like to forget. But surely those last numbers on my combination lock can't be erased? They must be stored in here somewhere. All they need is the right prod and poke to get them out. Lets try 57-25-4 It seems almost right, but the lock won't oFen. What will historians wonder about us, in decades to come when they try to piece together this era from personal experienc es? What will they document about the post -modem, second Elizabethan, late milleimua world? Will there be elderly people who can recite ever) thing about mastering Donkey Kong, name every rap musician, and all the kinds of waxes fur surfboards, but can't remember what happened to the Soviet Un ion or how Canada resolved as Constitutional crisis? Wait a minutc...57-25-7...atid the lock pops open in my hand All is not lost, and 1 get tlx: dis tinct memories of popping it open on each of my five high school lockers. The question is, a.s 1 drop it back into the bottom of the box in case I need a combination lock some day, is will I have to go through this all again in a few years? Will it still come so easily? Carling Str�t - a drag strip! Since Street has been paved, aot y have we no- ticed an in- crease in traffic, but a dramatic incrrace d cars which seem 10 use the pstreet as a drag _ Hpwcin coo discQu- (be tovm so oonsider midiog ovomi ocw stap signs to our street 10 encoutagc the traffic 10 slow down. In the mean - dine 1 will be lobbying the local to isc our street mote y. yang people who er}jaoy die spends need to learn respect for ife. Last night it was our cat, tomorrow, it could be one of our children. Sincerely A Carling Street resident