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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-09-22, Page 4Pape 4 Times -Advocate, September 22,1993 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte •urines Manager: Don Smith • Composition Manager: Deb Lord • • 1 Publications Mall Ragistratlon N1w SUHSCRIPT)ON RATES: !3aanka Within 40 miles (85 km.) addressed tenon tetter carrier addresses 830.00 plus 82.10 Q.S.T. Outside 40 miles (85 km.) or any kilter carrier address 180.00 pies 830.00 (total 80.00) + 4.20 Q.B.T. Outside Canada $88.00 Every little bit hanks and appreciation go out . ao those people who took time out of 'their schedules to join in one of the Teny Fox Runs in the ,area. The money raised goes directly to funding cancer research - and only !those 'researchers with the most promis- ing leads are chosen by the Terry Fox Foundation to receive the funding. Every :little bit counts, but the :contri- butions of the participants and their sponsors can't even be considered little. The .donations are quite significant, •Agiven;the sizes of the communities in- volved. Cancer is:a.disease that touches us all. Most .of as shave lost relatives or friends 40 one or more of the disease's many forms. Most of as fear it, worry- ing that our ,diets or lifestyles might put es: at its mercy. There is .a popular theory that a cancer cure won't be found. That with all the anoney spent on at "they would have come up with something :by now". We may not get the "tragic bullet" we all wish for: a cancer vaccine, or a wonder drug that cures it overnight (it la Medi- cine Man). But that doesn't mean we aren't seeing results. Research means a better understanding of cancer's causes, of how it can be avoided with better foods, eliminating chemicals and pollutants from ourJdiets and atmosphere. Research means better and :earlier diagnosis of cancer, so that treatments can begin when they do the most good. Oneof the volunteers with the Teary Fox Run in Exeter Sunday imows what this means. Her son, four years old, was diagnosed with leukemia. Not so long ago it was certainly fatal, claiming a large number of children each year. To- day, her son has only six months of treatments to go until he can be expected to join the.numbers who routinely sur- vive the disease. To that little boy, and his mother, can- cer can be beaten. A.D11. ,a 4 MJ:4 fii'i' • 6Y � � : x. J:.: _-���y !• • i•'. 1F >:. 4.�.. y{i\?�i . :.. } 'il'X-0,:•: kn. .. r r rr+..:..... .} T Y$��.yrypy Q�� `Y//.. �i -' i�%•�i� L �� i fib• ti � f�: •'Y�pV Thanks frOm Georgina team "The entire:weekend was handled in a professional yet very friendly manner." Dear Editor: As representative for the Georgina Rookie Ball Team, I would appreciate it if you would run the following item in your newspaper on behalf of our team and town. We, the players, coaches and parents of the TDL Georgina Rookie Ball Team would like to thank the Town of Exeter for the outstanding job done in hosting the Provincial Senior 'B' Rookie Ball Cham- pionship on September 4-6. The entire weekend was handled in a professional yet very friendly manner. The facilities were terrific and the support of the en- tire community was very evident. This was an expe- rience that our children will always remember. We commend you and applaud your effort. All the best in future endeavours. Yours truly, PJ. (Trish) Ferraccioli Scorekeeper, Bench Coach and all around team nag What's on your mind? The Times -Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a forum for open discussion of local issues, concerns, complaints and kudos. The Times -Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity. Please send your letters to P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6. Sign your letter with both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. Peter's Point • By Peter Vessel A few weeks ago, Elizabeth and I were guests at a local wedding. The parents of the bride are good friends of ours. We got to the church a bit early, and we didn't want to go in before the ushers had arrived. We sat and waited in the veil, in the parking lot, and talked a bit about weddings in general. We both wondered how many weddings we had attended in our lives. Lots. "I've never been to a wedding, though, where either the bride or the bridegroom decided in the last minute not to show up. Have you?" No, Elizabeth hadn't either. Well things went smoothly at this wedding, too. That is to say, both bride and bridegroom were there. The young bride was radiant. The young bridegroom was only slightly nervous. The service was beautiful. When the solemn moments came, when the vows were spoken and the rings exchanged, something unexplain- able happened to me that seems to occur at eve- ry wedding I attend lately. I couldn't help it, but I was all choked up. My nose started to run, and my eyes filled with water. Once again, I was caught without a kleenex, I sat there, sniffling , and thinking: "Why am I doing this? It isn't my daughter who is getting married,(thank goodness!). Why am I reacting so emotionally?" And I furtively looked around to see whether anyone was noticing my condition. Were others having similar problems? 1 tried to rationalize: What is so special about a man and a woman getting married? It's an ex- tremely common scene. People meet and fall in love. They make plans. They want to be a couple. Or a family. A clergyman legitimizes and sanctifies the union by saying a few mean- ingful and ritual things. They are pronounced husband and wife. 1 can understand why a wedding is a big deal for the couple themselves and the parents and other close relatives. But why do 1, a man past his middle prime, break down and cry at every • j CL«►- F1t tit RIBBON AWARD 1993 "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by 1.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-235.1331 Q.S.T. Mt105210835 OFCOURSE TIE 'NUMBER ONE PRIoRnY 15 MI" \ G / /144s6/f3 The lessons of Prohibition The city in which Iwas bom fins sa tong history of smuggling. On the east coast of England, its dockyards even have centu- ries-old secret tunnels, long slnoe lboardedill). strotetikklouP into Sown: Smuggling is stili a way of life on the east coast. Anyone look- ing for cheap booze or cut-price tobacco only has to ask. Every- one knows someone who knows someone. None really get rich; smuggling is just a way of mak- ing a little extra money. On a truckload of machine parts com- ing from Holland or France, there's a always room to hide a case of scotch, or several car- tons of cigarettes. Yes, it's cheaper to buy a do- mestic product abroad than to pay the high taxes at home. Where have we heard that be- fore? Our governments think they are doing us a favour by contin- ually hiking the "sin taxes". We are to be discouraged from hurt- ing our health by excessive drinking or smoking. That may work for most of us, but there are still those who ignore the warnings and want to get around the taxes - particularly when there is much cheaper stuff on the other side of the border. You can, I'm told, buy cigar- ettes clearly marked as being il- legal for sale in Canada at varie- ty stores fairly close to home. You don't have to go downtown Toronto and say "Sid sent me". I imagine too, that with all the cigaregcs.goinn, t broken store windows every week, they must be available to those will- ing to ask no questions in ex- cnange fora good discount. Southern Ontario was no stranger to smuggling during the Prohibition years. There are still those who can tell stories about rowboats and dark nights on the lakes and rivers. Prohibi ; tion is also closely tied to the rise of organized crime in United States. By the tim, r hal was once again legal, the or- ganizations were businesses too big to just disband. The bullet holes put in Com - wall's civic centre on Friday are a grim suggestion that history might repeat itself. The cigar- ette smuggling across the St. Lawrence is getting too big to be easily frightened away. There are differences between Prohibition and today's under- ground tobacco trade. When a product is illegal and in high de- mand, you charge according to your supply and the risk in- volved in getting it. A shot of whiskey would go for several dollars during Prohibition. To- day's cigarette pirates are forced to keep their prices below what the store's legally charge, but there's still money in it. 'Where there's money to be wade, there,will always be those Willing to take the risks. •It's been that way for centuries on the east coast of England. The ' smugglers themselves don't have too many moral problems - as far as they're concerned, they're just providing a legal product, minus some taxes. Most may be content to make a few dollars here and there- no more riskier than betting on the horses. £ t what of the others? Whe 1 it's no longer enough to make a few dollars on a canon, will they try to get them for free through smash and grab robber- ies at night? Or will they tum to the more profitable drug trade since they already have the boat and the expertise? Smuggling is a tough problem to solve, the more the govern- ment tightens down, the more it gets out of hand. Sin taxes aren't just about government deficits, compensating health care systems, or putting tobacco farmers out of business, they're also about creating huge under- ground economies. Can't hide it any longer wedding I attend? Men aren't supposed to do that, are they? It's not masculine, is it? Well, I used to be ashamed of my tears, and I've never admitted my weak- ness to anyone before. But I'm finally ready to come out with it. Judge roe as you wish. Laugh about me, pity me, and call me unmanly. But from now on, if you happen to be in the same church with me during a wedding, I don't care what you all think. I'm just going to sit thele and blow my nose (quietly) and dry my tears. I'm no longer going to hide the fact that I weep at weddings. And I want to encourage other men to do the same. I am tired of hiding my feelings. The time has "erne for all of us to cry'at weddings openly and unashamedly. Maybe this crying -at -weddings syndrome is more significant than meets our wet eyes. May- be it has to do with some fundamental changes finally taking place inside men's heads or hearts. 1• It musk have been dangerous for our caveman forefathers to show signs of weakness. Our for- est -dwelling and hunting forefathers had to be physically brave and emotionally tough to en- sure the survival of the tribe. Our warrior fore- fathers were trained to be stoic and heroic. But in this enlightened age, our caves have turned into comfortable homes. We hunt dol- lars instead of sabre-toothed tigers. And the only battlefields most of us know are on TV and in themovies. Surely, crying at weddings is O.K. Even for men who as little boys were told never to cry. So if at the next wedding you happen to sit in a pew close to mine, and you observe my deli- cate condition, don't snicker. Don't nudge your neighbour with your elbow and point glibly in my direction. Instead, be a good friend, SW hand mega pack of kleenex!