HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-01-27, Page 4"Men bre never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
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Tknes-Adf>tlie, ainillary 27, 1993
INIMPItaker: Am 1lsukett
lissosillieer: Allen Harte
. Don Smith
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Education reform welcome
ast week's announcement
from provincial education minister
Tony Silipo suggested that .1 .:main
amount of reform for Gntario'sithool
boards is in the works.
Silipo referred to a need for more
) ,ublic consultation and local input in
Me education ,system is certainly cause
nough for tetany to have an uneasy
.feeling about the whole plan. Keep in
;mind that the current provincial govern-
ment has a habit of ramrodding through
unpopular reforms through the guise of
"public consultation", of 'itiding new
'tares behind "streamlining" sad "user
ipay" schernes, of introducing 'mew re-
tstrictions under the cloak .Df l'znabling
legislation".
If Silipo is going :looking rfor -public
consultation, then you .can be :sure he
has something in mind.
Not that some kind of drastic overhaul
of the .education ministry isn't -required.
iin:fact,•it's long overdue.
Things have come a longvway sinee:a
local parish would decide,tto build a
school and hire a teacher Emit, making
the :children each bring the wood for its
stove.
Nowadays, much of the decisions sur-
rounding education are made in the
?#tills of Queens Park. Some say:they're
out of touch with what goes on sin the
classrooms of the real world. , Others
argue that •.praxincial policy generally
=fleets what works best in Toronto, the
nest of the province be damned.
• And what of the local boards, all 171
:of them? Why so many? Could all the
publicly funded boards learn to settle
their differences and form a more, effi-
cient administration structure for their
regions?
--t- r ita&a=report being circulated in the
pkirsiace.oalled 'Not Carved -in Sts "'___
wuggests, could public funding of the
.separate school system be repealed un-
j .der the Constitution?
Silipo no doubt has all these things on
his mind, but has likely already formed a
preference for some kind of new plan.
You can just about bet that it includes
greater powers for the Ministry of Edu-
cation and fewer for the locally elected
•rtrustees - if they are part of that future
'plan at a11.
As any local politician can till you,
Queens Park these past few years has lit-
tle use for municipal politicians. They
only seem to get in the way of the gov-
ernment's grand schemes, stumbling
iblocks for the Ministry of Municipal Af-
=fairs, Ministry of the Solicitor General,
Ministry of Transportation, and the list
-:goes on. Several new legislations have
bypassed or eliminated some of the au-
thority local municipalities used to have.
So tan ..we expect the trustees to fare
any:?
Butthenmain, let's keep an open -mind
about "this. Education takes ,a thig bite
lout the provincial•b idgetand:also outof
:local property. taxes.. A"Atiljust about no -
:body, nobody wltill X11 you :that the
vwhole system sis inn' t II. •The boards
blame the:minimy,rthetmnaistry blames
the boards.
Whatever kind of reform the minister
has in mind, the public should not be so
gullible as to confuse consultation or in-
put with authority. Committees are nice,
butif they can't make any cancr.ete_dei-.
sumsran ',what kind of ::education • :they
vttitlollltdntttheir schools, then •they`re:noth-
ii ri core than a showpiece for a govern-
rneer<tt ° that watttstto pay :hip service tto -the
:concept of publiciinput.
The Edmonton model, as usedtm"TaI-
Ion "Region, sounds like it has promise.
1 committee with a vision, a budget,
and authority sounds like the kind of
control parents would like to see in their
;actools.
In fact, it almost sounds a little :Like
what used to be par for .the course
around here before 1969.
A.D.B.
When I lose, 1 go for broke
Losing things is one of my
specialties. And other members
of my family are afflicted with
the same curse.
Take Elizabeth. Shc owned a
pair,pf ,sterling silver earrings
given to her as a a high school
graduation present (not very
long ago). Her attitude toward
heirlooms is: if you can't use
them, why bother? So she often
serves food in irreplaceable
dishes, puts flowers into antique
vases and wears inherited ear-
rings.
Last week we left the-T`rvic
Centre after swimming lessons.
As we got to the car, Elizabeth
said: "Just wait here for a sec-
ond, l'vc lost one of my earrings
I'll be right back."
15 minutes later we all joined
in the search. We took the Civic
Centre apart. Wc drained the
pool, melted down the ice in
both arenas, sorted through 17
bags of garbage, stripped and
searched everybody in the build -
:ung and within a 1U -km radius.
We placed ads in 10 provinces
and 17 US states. People
phoned us from Texas and B.C.,
offering us single earrings with
pearls and rubies. But "one" ear-
ring did not show up.
Stephanie is also having, ear-
ring trouble. Keeping them on
the ear lobes of an 11-year,etld
isn't easy. You'd think they'd
show up somewhere. Shc must
jtavc lost dozens.
Alexander loses mostly cash.
His specialty is accumulating
his liquid funds until his wallet
bulges. He takes the wallet to
school and loses it either on the
bus, in a school yaid or in the
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Helsel
cafeteria. Or the cash drops out
of his wallet. Maybe the loonies
roll into gutters, heat registers
and glacier crevices, while the
bills are picked up by the vio-
lent gales that regularly blow
through the school. Somebody
somewhere must be picking up
a lot of crumpled bills.
Duncan only loses• non-
essential items of clothing:
, mitts, gloves, hats, scarves, neck
warmers, and sweaters. They of-
ten tum up again in unexpected
places; in the cars of total
strangers, dangling from -elm
trees, or in the lost and found
box at the liquor store.
But when I lose things, I don't
bother with trifles like heir-.
looms, money or clothing. i go
for broke. 1 have lost two bicy-
cles, several suitcases, a ping-
pong table, a dining mom table.
a lawn mower, a boat, and a
dock.
All of these items I have writ -
den off long ago. I can live with
material losses. I'm used to
Istbem. But when I lose parts of
Myself, it hurts. Let me tell you.
This morning I know I wrote
my best column ever. One that
could have won the coveted
CCNA prize or even the Pulit-
zer. I fuushed it in no time flat,
the words just rolled off the key-
board. Perfection!
I keyed the punch line. Fin-
eislted. klNipf a con -ma . was .otrt of
place. At lunch 1 toldh
how proud I was. My treaders, I
said, would be pleased. The edi-
tors would voluntarily double
my fee because they, too, would
;instantly recognize the outstand-
:ting quality'of this piece.
• Back to the computer. Go to
"File", press "Print". The laser
printer's asthmatic wheezing
soon assured me that ,wheezing
was on course. But wait, why
did the printer stop so soon?
Oh. no! I'd forgotten to "Save",
and the power had gone off for
a split second. Do you know
what that means? My perfect
column is lost forever. Neer
will I be able to write such a
masterpiece again. Sorry, you'll
never know what the story was•
about. I won't even try to recon-
struct it. The samc brilliant
thoughts never come to me
twice. They're lost in the bowels
of my Classic ll.
Me, hate cats? Me?
Its the year 2014 and the Vil-
lage of-Hensall is about w pass
its . new rodent control bylaw.
All satins, squirrels and ham-
sters will have to wear collars
anddcerare tags...
All -right, that's just plain silly;'
Ibut iii4d you,'ttow°sil yywtletld 4t
have beer! to fell rite d i
• Hensall 20 years ago 'that 'they
would be getting a cat control
bylaw by 1992. 'Keep in mind
that it was just 20 years ago that
the village finally inttvduced
dog tags for its canine popula-
tion.
It seems that since I wrote that
editorial last week, sympathetic
to council's new cat bylaw, some
have come to view me as a cat
hater. Me? Hate cats? What's
not to hate?
No, I'm kidding, of Nurse.
Cats aren't all that bad, and I'm a
long way from that cartoon of a
few weeks ago: "Teach your cat
• to .swim, get your burlap bags
here". It's not trice to joke about
such things.
Cats do hate me though. For
some reason I have a cattallerry,
and spending an evening in a
house with certain types of cat is
akin to slow suffocation. I have
to keep my distance from cats,
whether I like it or not.
I can't understand cat lovers
though. I don't just mean,people
who own cats. I'm II talking
about those people who sub-
scribe to those magazines like
the one I saw the other day. A
feature article was titled "How
to" give your cat a tummy tub".
Who publishes these things?
Literate cats, I'll bet.
But myself, I don't hate cats.
In fact, whoever owns a black
cat just south of Clandeboye
that's still alive a tt hank me for
not hitting it the:tiollver night asdt
crouched in the middle of the
road. I, on the other hand can
thank Ford for the anti-lock
brakes, and thank the two guys
who stopped for pushing me
back onto the roadway. I know,
111 get letters now telling me I
should not have swerved and
kept my course for the cat.
At bean, I'm I dog person. I
don't think anyone will argue
with me that dogs do love peo-
ple; not even cat lovers will dis-
agree. Cats, however, tolerate
people, which is why their own-
ers have to make special efforts
to appease them; hence "How to
give your cat a tummy rub". .
Cat lovers sec this attitude as
evidence of feline superiority,
and they're probably right. Dogs
aren't superior, 'they're jutst plan
dumb lovable.
I can prove it too. Think of
the image a stray dog brings ,to
mind: they're just homeless
waifs to be pitied as they
scrounge for scraps, follow
small children home from
school in the hope of warmth,
shelter and love. That's how I
got my pup.
A stray cat, on the other hand,
:is a living metaphor of a free
!spirit, not wanting or seeking
tianytfiing otter alum* tbahathian
` lifestyle undershe stars. _.ret.: •.
What does all this have to ado
with Hensall? Not much really.
.13ut it's pretty clear that village
council, like myself, have been
branded cat haters, perhaps un-
fairly.
The one point I tried to get
across in last week's editorial
was that a bylaw is only a law in
spirit. It doesn't have to be en-
forced, unless council wants it to
be enforced. Not every cat will
automatically be scooped up off
the streets, only the unlicensed
troublemakers.
You can't catch cats anyway
(you can only shoot them, that
would require a cat shooting by-
' law...let's not get into that).
Frankly, if I owned a cat, I
might be happier knowing it had
a license tag and could be re-
turned tome if lost or injured.
Are you still not convinced
that council won't declare war
on cats?
Let's take Exeter for -an exam-
ple. Did you know that in Exet-
er (and many other municipali-
ties) itis .a bylawed offense to
park .a car on the street, leaving
its keys within.
How often do you think that is
enforced? I'll bet I could drive a
different car every day for a
month.
Questions from Hensall cat owner
Dear Editor:
Your editorial was interesting
and l appreciate the recognition on
your behalf that cats who patrol
their neighbourhood we a fact of
nature and to prevent such feline
behavior is aiinost impossible.
i disagree with the seat of your
ediwrial and.can't unwire anyone
supporting the notion that this by-
law is a convenient way to capture
diseased or obnoxious eats. it is
filled with regulations which will
cost me, the taxpayer, dollars bet-
ter spent elsewhere.
The village will have to pay the
catcher his due portion plus com-
pensate the vet clinic for boarding
costs for every stray &bey capture.
That hefty amount will be borne
by all citizens not just cat owners.
Thirteen yeas ago I took in a stray
and I have spent hundreds of dol-
lars of my own money and never
billed the village for my good
deed. This cat is now a
member of our
family. Wc also
look after a dog
too, so I am not partial to one spc-111)
cies or another.
I read a letter
(rum an Exeter friend and feel por-
tions arc worth repeating again in
the paper Helen Hodgins asked.
Have you ever:
1) read an account in which a
pack of cats chased a farm animal
to tine point of exhaustion?
2) been chased by a meowing cat
while riding a bicycle?
3) been afraid to approach the
front door of a house because a cat
is meowing at you on the front
step?
beard of a meter reader , or
posunan being Sent to limergency
after an encouruer with a pit cat?
5) had a cat chase your dog up a
tree?
6) been followed on a public
sidewalk by a cat which is nipping
at your heels?
7) Suffered the indignity of hav-
ing a cat stick its nose in cerain
portions of your lower anatomy
while you we trying to have a con-
versation with its owner?
I thought not. Responsible pet
owners keep their animals healthy.
immunized and as safe as possible,
theymight even give a home to a
sufering animal. The newest by-
law passed by Hensall council
MMts its citizens as reckless,
=thoughtless souls needing more
control over their lives. i say we
have enough control we deserve a
bit of respect - repeal the bylaw
and• deal with these problems in a
more civilized fashion.
Sincerely
Janis Bisback
Hensall