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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-02-10, Page 4Page 4 Mmes -Advocate, February 10, 1983 alideber: Jim Beckett $Nr or: Adrien4tarte BSS Manager. Don Smith �! Ossapseition Manager: Deb Land Publications Mail Regisballott41111180rOINI8 Amit :RIPTlflN ROES* ANIni rYmMwb40 sa les (45 � eeeed 1100to s0 totter •wNevaliteares phis 1110 Q.S.T. Ootolde 40 albs 1111111ow.) oe.my leftor wetter address 130.00 alusitM.iri feeteiilla.75) .411 Q.S.T. &insole Ramie 1191100 A • • info • Noisvaaaimamommemon "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." . Thomas Macauley Pab8Mbed Each Mredr3.aeir tasmi is et 424 Mtn St., Futter, Omuta, NIM 128 by J.W. Eed ltibNeetloes`.td. Teleptteoe 1-215.235.1331 A.S.T. 081e5210e1ss We need proof it works 4 s we go to press, Exeter resi- dents are getting a chance to review the town's sweeping plans for improving its waste management systems - not the least of which is a controversial scheme to charge $2 for each bag of garbage set out at the curb. The outcome of the Tuesday meeting is far from certain. While town staff have no doubt well thought out their proposals, there is no guarantee that town ratepayers want a user -pay sys- tem. Grand Bend is the only other -munici- pality we have heard of to introduce such a program, although others have debated it. If you ask village staff or council members, they will tell you the .user -pay program has been running well in Grand Bend since its October introduction. What happens when the summer pop- ulation arrives in May, unaware of the $2 per bag rule, is anybody's guess. Will cottage renters set the bags out at the curb before they head home, not re- alizing they are not technically eligible for pickup? Will others, unwilling to pay for tags, find more creative ways to get -rid of their bags? But if you ask the permanent residents of the village, many will tell you, off the record, that they have already de- vised .ways to.avoid the charge. Some boast aver paid for atag yet. Some.takeItieir garbage to vtltif .—add- ing it to the village's commercial gar- bage collection. Others take it out of town, to London or Exeter, and those on the borders set it across the street to be picked up by the contractors for Bo - Banquet or Stephen -Townships. I. The last two solutions mean that coun- cil has achieved its goal: reducing the garbage Grand Bend pays to ship to Watford. Unfortunately, it ends up in someone else's landfill. But does the program really work as it was intended. Do Grand Bend residents really peer into their garbage pails, try- ing to see what can be eliminated. Will Exeter residents do the same? Given the right incentive, we would all find ways to cut out 'nearly every kind of garbage. We could burn papers and cardboards in the fireplace, put food wastes in the composter, buy more recy- clable containers, and stop buying prod- ucts that come triple wrapped and boxed. Some have already suggested they will invest their garbage collection tax rebate in _a "garburetor" disposal. If everyone did that, could the sewage system handle all that extra stuff? Not to be ignored either is the hassle factor of having -to make extra trips to the town office to buy $2 tags? Obviously, as a society, we lack cer- tain incentives to curb our wasteful ways. Is a user pay garbage system the answer? Will garbage really be cut down, or will it find its way to the land- fills through other channels? There have to be ways of measuring the true success of the program, not just on the number sof bags.collected by the truck. " If .the public meeting concludes there is merit in this program, perhaps it would be wise to introduce it on a trial basis. Three or six months ought to be long enough to determine if this is what we really want. A vote for equality ast week's decision by Toron- to 'City Council to award jobs to only high -scoring candidates is a step for- ward for equality in this province. In a close vote, council voted 9-7 to hire applicants for fire department jobs -based on how they rank in scored tests, -physical tests, and an interview. This vote overruled a proposal to hire the top 24 candidates, and then another 13 to represent women and minorities. While some may argue that council's decision does nothing for affirmative action programs to boost the hiring of women and minorities in . professions dominated by white males, it isn't too hard to realize that the initial proposal made the basic assumption that the top 24 candidates wouldn't be women or ,minorities'- a sexist and racist attitude. Other cities have used such quota sys- tems to fill out their affirmative action A.D.H. programs, much to the dismay of those who say they were denied jobs on the basis of their sex or °skin colour. It used to be that women were actively discouraged from applying for such jobs in the past or not taken seriously when they did, and minorities were denied jobs out of bigotry. But if Toronto City Council can confidently state ,their selec tion process gives an equal chance to all candidates, and is devoid of sexism or racism, then they can't be accused of un- fairly selecting people to achieve some politically correct ideal. That's a big "if" of course, but they • have the right idea. There is nothing io say that all 37 fire- fighters hired would not be women or iIminorities; and those who do get the ;jobs can be confident in. the knowledge -they are equals to their co-workers. A.D.H. Letter to Edits, MPs too busy for people Dear Editor: Has anyone who has a problem with something regarding the pro- vincial government been able to get hold of our beloved Mr. Klopp? Is it just mc, or does he actually get in touch with his constituents? 1 was promised by "Robin" on two \ooccasions that he, himself, his honourable self would contact me personally! I am told that His Highness is extremely busy. So am I, but I sat at home for lumber, you guys, nothing is more two weekends important than the people who put awaiting his you there. Maybe IThgot spoiled call, to ' no by living in London East when avail. e same Choo-Choo was the M.P. I person- goes for His Hon ! ally had many conversations with Durable federal him, from his home. office and Ot- counterparl, Mr. taws. Hey youirht ss Klopp, Cardiff. How come when there is Cardiff, if you like yak positions, an occasion to cut a ribbon, kiss a pay attention to what this letter baby, shake a hand, with a camera says. (media) nearjt, these guys seem to Sieve Edwards come ou>,ofie woodwork? Just re -Exeter Ikkaganzajugagiain All letters to the editor must be Signed end are subliect to Wig. "&hiker to 424 Main Street. or mall to P.O. Box 4150, &voter, Ont. NOM 136 "They've got•wind of the big break-out for tonight and hove taken steps to.stop it — we're all being paroled this afternoon" Love and other 4 -letter words St. Valentine, the old sage, is a good friend of mine. He and I have had many heart-to-heart talks. It's a privilege to chat with someone who died centuries ago, and I can only do it when I walk down the 5th Line between midnight and 1 a.m. on a clear frosty night in mid February. Sometimes I'm unable to get through to Val - when there is a lot of interference from satel- lites and space junk. But when the reception is good, I can pick up an awful lot of practical ad- vice. Since St. Valentine lived in Asia Minor, his native tongue is Turkish. That's why we use the latest version of the Instant Dig- ital Interpretation Oscillator Transmitter, a device still far from perfect (hence the acro- nym IDIOT). But it's the best we've got. St. Valentine was a bishop, and he tends to be somewhat sanctimonious. However, he tries to keep up with current is- sues, and I value his advice. I like the simplicity with which this learned man from the Mid- dle Ages can talk about the complexities of our time. Our words have become too big He insists that we in the mod- em world could overcome all our difficulties by learning the meaning of a few four-letter words and then to live accord- ingly. He claims that our prob- lems began when we allowed our words to grow in size. Their meaning becomes abuse, which in tum befuddles our minds. He suggests that we scrap most words with more than four let- ters. Love should rule always His favourite word is love. Peter's Point • - Peter Hessel This is, of course, appropriate (oops: I mean fit) for the patron saint of lovers. He says that love can cure almost eve, ng, and that love should ni e all year round, not just on February 14th. Another word he stresses is hope. HE tells me that love without hope is futile, He claims that the world was created out of hope, and that it will exist only as long as there is hope. And he says that to love, we must be pure, just and tare. By pure he means without malice, by just he means without preju- dice or intolerance, by true he means without falsehood. We've twisted the words He maintains` that we have corrupted all these four-leuer words and twisted their mean- ing. We say hope, but we mean expectations. We say pure and think not of our hearts, but our food. We say just and think how others should treat us, not how we should treat them. When we Letter to Editor say true, we think of politics or money instead of truth within us. This saint has many more treasured words which he likes to share with us. When my elec- tronic gizmo translates them into English, they often come out as ancient, Anglo-Saxon words which we use every day without thinking. Dear, fair, fine, good... the list of such splendid words is long. The latest midnight lecture - 01 sermon - St. Valentine delivered in the bush had to do with the lit- tle word free. He said: "There are fancy words expressing the same thing: liberated, emanci- pated, independent, autonomous. unrestricted." But free, he argues, says it till. "Ask a Prison- er, ask a starving people, ask ar abused child, ask a man or wom- an locked into a loveless mar. nage! They just want to be free." My encounter with Val neves lasts long enough. He makes mc think and wonder about a worc or two, and then he disappears He is gone like a dream, anc maybe he is only a dream. I have an old Valentine car( from the 1920s that shows a lit tle boy sleeping beside a pupp) dog. The sugary caption begins "If dreams came true..." and i ends with as silly little vers( about being as happy as th( King and Queen. But what if dreams came true' What if love really ruled th( world? Can you imagine th( lives we would lead? Happy St. Valentine's Day! Against casino gambling Dear Editor, I refer to the article of January 20, 1993, in the Lakeshore Ad- vance heading - Casino Drawing Card of Community. "Grand Bend Could benefit from casino" says partner. Lloyd Guiltet extolled the virtues of a casino in Grand Bend area to chamber of commerce members. He told chamber mem- bers that a Southcott.Pines survey indicates to him that the residents there don't realize what it means to the community." , I take exception to this remark. In the first place the referendum vote on casino was nearly a 90% rejection by those residents who. expressed their opinion. I assure you the issue was taken very seri- ously by both those who voted for or against. For Mr. GuiUlet to ad- vise the chamber that the residents of Southcott Pines do not under- stand the issues at stake is a most ignorant and incorrect calculation on his part. The population of Southcott Pines is largely made up of people who are or have been in business or in vocations as teach- ers, engineers, consultants, den- tists, doctors, farmers, contractors retail merchants and others. I also assure you that a big ma- jority of the residents do know the ramifications of casino in the Grand Bend area and it is not us Mr. Guillet portrays. It would be of great interest and helpful to aec the results of a referendum vote held in a democratic pro- cess free of rid- icule and pres- sure from any source. I suggest that the residents of Grand Cove Estate and of Grand Bend village, bold in- dividual referendums to determine the will of their people in respect to casinos. Many people are now speaking out against casino gambling both in the newspaper and TV media. Re - manly a member of the Ontario NDP goverment had the fortitude to speak to the media on TV Chan- nel 10 news broadcast against casi- nos in Ontario in spite of the deci- sion made by the party caucus. He offered his full -support to keep ca- sinos out of our province. Prior to that program aired on Channel 10 news, an owner of a va- riety store explained why he re- moved a slot machine from his store. The people feeding the ma- chine were mainly lower' wage earners struggling to feed and clothe their families. Somc were rc- ceavang weitttre. From their hard earned income be was receiving a lucrative commission. He said, "I couldn't live with myself to see these unfortunate people placing their livelihood in this robot when 1 knew they couldn't win. The only winners were the agency who owned the machine from wham. I received a good commission. So 1 removed the source that was de- stroying my customers and my own self esteem." Donald N. Pees of London wrote to London Free press in a recent is- sue. Quote: Gambling does nothing but randomly shuffle around wealth, not necessarily to those who need it most. The idle or care- less rich might do it for fun. Foi many individuals, however, it's not fun but at worst, desperate action, or at best, a greedy hope of getting something for nothing. It -is sheer folly to prey on people for this mo- tive which if spread too far, will stifle real charitableness and pro- ductivity and ruin our society. Eve- ry form of gambling violates the basic principle of fair return for la- bor and invesunent. The worst kind of gambling is surely the government sponsored kind. It denies the purpose for which government exist. Govern- ments should be in the business of encouraging productive labor and fair distribution of wealth, not en- ticing people to crave untamed in- come tlu+eugh an artificial concoct- ed "luck of the draw". Unquote. To that I would add, that if such governments listen to the kromot ens of casinos rather that) to the will of the people, they should be removed whether they be provin- cial or municipal CarJ'ry A. Can Grand Bend