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Times Advocate, 1993-10-06, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 6,1993 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adnan Norte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord cc... Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 BUBSGRIPTION RATES* CANADA Within 40 miles (85 km.) addressed to non tetter carrier addresses 030.00 plus 82.10 G.S.T. Outside 40 mites (85 km.) or any letter carver adobes* 030.00 phos $30.00 (total 80.00) + 4.20 G.S.T. Outside Canada $88.00 ()pinion fie White lines a safety bonus he deplorable condition of Highway 4 has been improved a good deal with this summer's paving between Kippen and Exeter. Smooth roads are a definite plus for local transportation, but even better than surface quality is safety. Here, we have seen a great improvement. When work crews finished off their work on the newly paved highway, they not only put in the requisite yellow line down the middle, but they added white lines at the edge of the road. As anyone who has driven our local roads in fog, snowstorms or freezing rain can attest, those stretches of pave- ment with the white lines at the shoul- der are much safer to drive. The white paint shows up well in poor driving conditions, and allows the mo- torist to judge his distance from the treacherous soft gravel without having to look to the centreline of the road and into oncoming glare. Bicyclists also benefit from the lines. They can keep to the right of the line on a "lane" of their own about 30 cm wide. Passing drivers can feel more comforta- ble about keeping their distance from cyclists by using the white line as a guide. The white lines should be standard equipment on any roadway that calls it- self a provincial highway, and they are a welcome addition to Highway 4 north of Exeter. We can only hope that the stretch of highway south of Exeter to Lucan (which has been in deplorable condition for several seasons) will get the same treatment when the funds are available to pave and upgrade it. A.D.H. L We'd rather not know ast week's settlement to keep the South Huron Hospital emergency room staffed with doctors was perhaps something of a necessary measure. Had the doctors waged a "strike" and withdrawn their services, it is not cer- tain 'whom the public would blame - but the action was certain to have been unpopular. Emergency rooms are the least liked wards of any hospital. Injured people, frightened and in pain, are often unhap- pywvith the treatment they receive. They rush to the hospital, perceiving they need immediate treatment and comfort, and find they are simply asked to take a seat in the waiting room. Lat- er they are shown into an examination room, and asked to wait again. It's quite a shock to find out one's emergen- cy is simply part of someone else's rou- tine. Fair or not, everyone has some axe to grind with emergency rooms all over the province, country, or world. Had South Huron Hospital been forced to close its doors, sympathy for either side of the dispute might have been hard to come by. On one hand, we have a hospital ad- ministration that is incapable of explain- ing the situation to the public in any else than terse, signed statements. On the other hand, there is a group of doctors telling everyone they're asking for "only" $1,500 a day to be on call. It was the best thing for all - sign the agreement so that no one has to find out what the public really thinks of the whole mess. ADP. 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 fight 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 Hesset Whether you live in Oxbow, Saskatchewan or in Exeter, Ontario, chances are that this Thanksgiving you'll be reminded of The Pil- grim Fathers who in 1621 "gave special thanks for their good fortune." Canadian school children from Deadman's Bay, Newfoundland to Bella -Bella, B.C. are learning all about an event in the colonial histo- ry of our U.S. neighbours, which - as it turns out - had nothing to do with giving thanks to God. Why arc little Canadians drawing, colouring, cutting and pasting all these funny -looking men with enormous hats andbeards who are sup- posed to represent Thanksgiving? There are hundreds of things for which Cana- dians can be thankful. 1 could fill 25 columns just listing them. But the Pilgrim Fathers and their alleged "First Thanksgiving" is not among them. This is Canada! We have our own history, culture and traditions. First of all, let's draw the Linc between fiction and fact. The myth is that in 1621 the Pilgrim Fathers (no one ever includes the Pilgrim Mothers, who were probably too busy in the kitchen) gave thanks to God at Plymouth Rock. And to commemorate this event, US President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a day of prayerful thanksgiv- ing. The real story of this so-called "First Thanks- giving" is very different from the myth. The only eye -witness account of the "festival" at Plymouth Rock in 1621 doesn't mention relig- ion at all, and does not even refer specifically to the giving of thanks. It bears little resem- blance to the popular imagc of tate pilgrims as a pious, somber and sober lot, bending their knees in heaven -directed gratitude. What actu- F 01 RIBBON !MAR( 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 J.W. E. Publications ltd. Telephone 1419-2351331 0.5.T. *R105210$35 ',',, e!'0 t .-r,:.r.: Hold that thou By Adrian Harte Dees Station project deserves support What is a rail station doing in a village that has never seen a set of train tracks? It seemed strange to me as I made my first visit to the Exeter Rail Station the other week. The building is now in Grand Bend, soon to become an op- tometrist's office, because it - probably had nowhere else to go. Had Dr. Anne Wilson not bought the building, it would likely be long demolished. We may not realize it now, but the residents of Exeter owe a lot to the efforts of Dr. Wilson. Re- alistically, the old station had to be relocated in order to be pre- served. Where it sat before on Exeter's west side was too re- mote, too industrial, to warrant any kind of restoration or spruc- ing up. It needed a new home. Walking into the building for the first time ever, I saw what the fuss was all about. I had only peered through the win- dows before, and wasn't much impressed with what I saw. The restorers have taken away all the old walls and ceilings that had been added in thc years after the station closed. It was once a very impressive building, more so than I had imagined. It will be impressive again. The enthusiasm Dr. Wilson showsfor her project is infec- tious. Clearly caught up in the quest for a grand and nostalgic past, she is prepared to spend a considerable amount of money on recapturing the station's old glory. The plan to add a museum to put the building into some kind of context for visitors is also a good one. Hopefully local peo- ple will be able to come forward with all those bits an pieces that will revive an ear when one did not need a car to spend a day in the city. It would be nice to see if the Exeter and Area Heritage Foun- dation might lend a hand with some of the materials for the museum. Unable to find a spot for the old station in town, they no doubt recognize the value of preserving the building's heri- tage, no matter where it now stands. It will always be Exet- er's rail station. Grand Bend never had trains. Thanksgiving in Canada ally took place that fall day is described as the first harvest festival on British -American soil, a "time for joy, celebration and carousing", far removed from any suggestion of solemn relig- ious concern... "a day of revelry, sports and feasts," long known back in England as "har- vest Home." O.K. So some British immigrants to what is now the United States did what they had al- ways done back home - throwing a party as soon as the harvest was in. As people in many parts of the world have done for centuries. Why should Canadians latch on to an Ameri- can myth? I suggest that Canadian educators arm themselves with big, fat felt pens and elim- inate references to the Pilgrim Fathers from thc curriculum. Instead, let's teach our kids about the multitude of blessings we enjoy in our own country. On this Thanksgiving Day I'm going to say thanks for the gift of freedom. The freedom to say, write and print without fear of reprisals. The freedom of living where I want to live, travelling where I want to go. The freedom of speaking the language of my choice, sending my kids to a school of my choice, attending or not attending a place of'worship of my choice. Too many of us take these freedoms for grant- ed. Yet billions of people envy us beyond our imagination because we have these freedoms, and they don't. I'm saying thanks for the beauty of Canada. For the warn -hearted, open spirit of our peo- ple. For their willingness - in spite of problems at home.- to help the unfortunate in other parts of the world by sending them food, by granting them asylum and refuge. There is just no end to the number of things for which I want to ex- press my gratitude. But stop confusirig everybody with those con- founded American Pilgrim Fathers!