HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-05-12, Page 4T nes-Adveame, May 12,1993
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"urs Ressler. Ad+Ien Neale
' ,.ue at er: Don Smith
,ftepoeltionintoe tgsr: Deb Lord
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•80.O0'1es $2.1e O.S.T.
(BS tem) or anyeAtereervierstlr!•es
11410.00-psue $3O.00 (Wts 410.00) + 4.204.S.T.
estates canted• *WAo
No red carpet
s there a more miserable ex-
•cuse for a stretch of highway than what
is found connecting Lucan to Clinton?
We would like to ask our readers if
they have. managed to come across a
thighway anywhere else in the province
=that can boast more bumps, cracks,
:patoltes,riand ripples than what we en-
AluremiiiHighway 4 in this area. Please
•send your letters to the Times Advo-
cate, Box 850 iixeter, NOM 1S6, and
we will .not onlybe glad to publish
:them, but well send them on to the
Ministtrof Transportation for you.
There has been much noise of late
about the. fatesof"Highways 83 and 84,
-which' may be turned over to the county
for :all future maintenance, .should the
"disentanglement" ipteposal survive.
One .fact is clear, ;that both .those
.fstretches+of toadarearsfar betteri nape
:.titan .Highway 4. in .fact, we would
vven.:go •out :on a limb to proclaim our
.local stretch :of Highway 4iin far worse
condition than Highway'B3vwas before
it was xe-surfaced in 1991.
Highways, :under - our -automobile-
centred •.society, :are the very connec-
ttions :between life here and :elsewhere.
'Reaching north..frurn London,iHighway
•4,provides a'vital link for residents -and
-.businesses amf i north Middlesex -and
South Huron with the.city. ; It is.also the
preferred route forJall those :city resi-
dents heading for the lakeshores :and
cottagesron weekends.
IfHighw,ay 4 were to have been aban=
donee :tin ::the 1950s, and returned to
farmland, one can be quite certain that
probably a full quarter of the people liv-
ing in this region now would not be
here. Half the businesses and industries
might also be gone.
There is no question Highway 4 is the
lifeblood of this region, but'Yhere don't
seem to be any answers=aon`why it has
been allowed to deteriorate into its
present condition.
The present provincial government has
-ballyhooed its plan to upgrade Ontario's
infrastructure. Such spending will not
!only create: jobs (sorry, person years of
employment), but also enable the prov-
iince's industries better able -to compete
with markets where infrastructure and
-transportation routes -are so much better
*than ours.
-Well, "jobs s • 'o Capital" has so far
built us anew OMAF office (but they're
:closing the :college), and the Children's
Aid Society :are getting a new building
:tin 1Ooderich (how -much empty office
apace is therein Gioderich:anyway?), but
we -still bave .a poor excuse for a provin-
:oial highway connecting this -region to
the -world.
There :are township tar and chip con-
cession -roads more enjoyable to .drive
than -Highway-4 or., O,..,*
Let its: know .alo> i nest&
sessment of our most important -road-
way. Are we lucky to have a highway at
, or do we .deserve something better
for ourprovincial.tax dollars?
Send us those letters.
A.D.H.
"Men are never go likely
• to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Themes Macauley
Mach Wednesday et 424 Main :I :.,
ti'ksler, teres, NttM 136 ay J W. E Publications Ltd.
Ts►pihone 1.411 -2Sbi2 1
O.e.Y. otioa214en
z11
(m5.93, 141
Another good blackfly season?
Maybe there aren't any black-
flies where you live. Count
yourself lucky. Where we arc,
blackfly season will start any
day now.
I don't know whether it's go-
ing to be a good season or not. It
could be good for the blackflies
or good for mc. We'll soon find
out.
I'm not very knowledgeable
When it) comes to entomology.
My contact with the world of in-
sects is on an emotional rather
than scientific level. There are
bugs I can tolerate (like butter-
flies), and there are bugs that
drive me crazy.
1 have learned to cope with
cluster flies. Wasps and hornets
can create a minor nuisance
sometimes. My opinion of mos-
quitos is also fairly low. But
blackflies, so help mc, are the
absolutely worst. Why God
created them, I fail to under-
stand. You could easily per-..°
suade me to sign a petition for
their total eradication. Swat the
lot of them and wipe them out
forever. Let the insectivores
among the birds be satisfied
with what else is on the menu.
Maybe they'd swallow more
mosquitoes if blackflies became
extinct.
I've been told that there are 37
different blackfly species in our
area alone. Plus a few additional
species that come visiting from
next door.
While they all look alike to
me, they differ in their methods
of warfare. Strategically and tac-
tically, they use different ap-
proaches.
I'm not going to compete with
the leamed naturalists who
make a living studying black-
flies. They have their own ex-
planations. Agriculture Canada
has published a booklet on the
subject. No, I'm going to tell.the
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hemel
story from the victim's point of
view. I'm the one that gets eat-
en, and I'm entitled to have my
say.
37 species! One flies into my
hair, twirls around till it finds
my scalp, and - wham! - in goes
the proboscis tthc organ they
sting and suck with). If I rub,
this only stimulates them into
further action. Another species
goes behind the ears. It doesn't
sting right away, but waits till I
have both hands full and can't
defend myself. Then it slowly
and deliberately sinks its stinger
into my skin which happens to
be very thin in that region.
Another species crawls be-
tween my wrists and sleeves un-
til it reaches the area juicy pas-
ture. Yet another type
specializes in the lower extremi-
ties, entering between the shirt
and the trousers, no matter how
tight my belt is.
There is one species for the
hair -line and one for behind my
glasses, one for the neck and
one for the facial cavities. I
firmly believe - + although 1
couldn't prove it iPcourt - that
there is a blackfly species that
attacks only women over forty,
and another that feeds exclusive-
ly on the tender skin of infants.
One thing all blackflies have in
common: they love swiftly flow-
ing water. Most of the year we
enjoy living close to the creek.
Not in blackfly season. I know
nothing about this insect's life
cycle, but between early May
and early June, billions of them
come floating down the creek.
One - a scout - spots our house,
sounds the bugle, and it's D -Day.
The blackfly invasion begins.
Black clouds rise up fort the
water. Our resident groundhog is
the first to get hit, but the flies
leave it alone as soon as they spy
or smell human flesh. They love
us more dearly than any other
warm-blooded creatures. We're
just delicious to them. Peaches
and cream.
What can I do? I have thought
of moving the family into a city
penthouse for a month, or build-
ing an air -tight plastic bubble
over our property. I've even
asked the municipal council to
divert the creek. They turned me
down. Perhaps wc could wear
diving suits, complete with hel-
met and visor. Only such desper-
ate measures could keep the
blackflies away from our skin.
But nothing drastic is ever
done. We just suffer and scratch,
wc scratch and complain. Until
blackfly season is over. Until the
Changing of the Insect Guard.
Until the coming of the majestic
mosquito.
rro
Wtusi�ai
I drop . the cassette into the
deck and press play. The soft
voice of the jazz singer fills the
room.
This is what it's all about, I
muse. Canadian content from
an artist I didn't even know ex-
isted a few weeks ago, but now I
'don't think I can get her voice
.outef my mind.
Canada's perceived inferiority
in the artistic and cultural world
has been erased in the past few
years by a popular music indus-
try that has made its mark
around the world. Even the Ju -
nos are named after Pierre Ju-
neau in recognition of his Cana-
dian Content CRTC regulation.
Certainly it was controversial,
and I still meet those who feel
Canadian artists should either
sink or swim "on a level playing
field" (where have we heard that
before?) with the world's best.
There are those who would do
very well in any country, and
there are those who need that ex-
tra boost from having radio sta-
tions eager to fill that 30 percent
Canadian time slot.
I know my record collection
has benefitted greatly from Ca-
nadian artists. Or has it? Deter-
mined to prove I do indeed
reach out to this nation's artists,
I rearranged my CD collection
on the shelf by country of ori-
gin. To be, truthful, .tbe°iesults
Hold that
ought ...
BY
Adrian Harte
shocked me - even dismayed
me. I had five, maybe six, popu-
lar Canadian artists represented
on the shelf. A handful more
were American, one was Swed-
ish, one Australian, three Irish,
but the rest, the lion's share were
all from England.
Evidently, I am some kind of
musical bigot. I can wax poetic
about the glories of seeing our
Canadian culture reflected in our
popular music, but when it
comes to putting my money
where my mouth is, I end up
buying British. If I ,watt
.titter to Editor
nt
through my tapes and old al-
bums I know I'd find a few more
Canadian artists, but I also know
they would still be overpowered
by the rest.
The only category under
which 1 ,could say CanCon held
its own was in my pittance of
classical music CDs. Two are
Qanadian, which isn't bad going.
In my defense I suppose I can
argue I have eccentric tastes in
.musicanyway, and my CD col-
lection is in no way typical of
anyone else I've ever met. In
fact, I can proudly say I've pe-
rused the music collections of
,my English - relatives and found
ilite.likes of Bryan Adams, Rob-
tbie Robertson, and the Cowbdy
:Junkies in the mix. When
talked, they didn't even realize
they were Canadian - which is
possibly good or bad, depending
on your point of view.
As for the jazz singer's demo
tape I must ,unfortunately return,
I don't know if there will ever be
a CD to add to the collection. If
a simple Canadian Content
clause can make it possible, then
I'm all for it. After all, there's
room on the shelf.
In defence of Grand send
Dear faidtor:
As a result of your May 5, 1993
edition, I find myself in a some-
what ambivalent. position towards
the village of Grand Bend. First of
all I must come to its defence. I to-
tally disagree with your assess-
ment of its Main Street: "... the vil-
lage continues to find ways to stop
sand ... from blowing up unto their
Main Street and other undesirable
areas." Even though I agree that
some of its storefronts arc less
than aesthetically pleas-
ing, I feel that
you arc entirely
unfair in declar-
ing Grand111)
Bend's main street
an undesirable
area.
On the other hand, I am most per-
turbed by the Grand Bend Council
decision that this summer' illegal
drinking and use of drugs wille
strictly enforced." Now wc all
know that these two activities arc
very popular with many people,
younger as well as older. Neverthe-
less, I feel that to force all visitors
to Grand Bend to drink and do
drugs is a serious infringement on
their individual rights.
On behalf of the A.A.A. (Associ-
ation Against Ambiguity), I thank
you fur your time and space.
Sinwely and cheek -bulgingly,
LC.de Haus
Speak out!
The Times Advocate continues to welcome letters to Mcg editor as a forum for open discussion of beet lr,
sues, concerns, complaints, and kudos. The Times Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity.
Please send your letters to P.O. Box 860 Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156 Sign your letter with both nerve and
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