HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-01-12, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, January 12, 1994
Publisher Jim Beckett
News Editor: Adrian Harte
Business Manager. Don Smith
Composition Manager Deb Lord
o
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inion
It11E:
AI.'ARD
1993
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Macauley
Published 6aah Wedeeeday Menditg at .434 Mets St.,
Exeta, Ontario 1.56 by 1.W.Eddy Publtoadoss Ltd.
Osie -3s 1331
G.S.T. 01110e2100U
EUI"I'OIZIA1
Wanted: someone to take charge
A
s one wa.ches the snov7plows
keep the runways of Huron Park,scru-
pulously clean for aircraft that don't
land there anymore, one has to agree
that the whole facility is under -used.
Huron Park was a thriving pilot train-
ing school a little more than a quarter-
century ago. There is nothing to say it
couldn't be again, and perhaps better
than ever.
The proposal to take the modern, styl-
ish, and comfortable buildings of Cen-
tralia College should not be taken light-
ly. It. is easy for those of us who
wouldn't know the first thing about set-
ting up an aviation college to dismis
the project as just wishful thinking.But captain Barry Morris is an expert
on the subject, having visited and
worked at aviation schools all over the
world.
There is no disputing the demand is
there. The world's best commercial air-
craft are manufactured in the western
world, most of them in North America.
Where else would emerging nations
look to get first-class training? If they
are willing to invest millions of dollars
to get that training, to get their airlines
in the air, so much the better. If they
don't spend that money here, they will
spend it somewhere else. We can sup-
pose some U.S. community with an old
military airbase might rise to the occa-
sion.
What this project needs is someone to
take the reins, invest some money to
find out whether it gets a red light or
green light, and take it from there.
Huron Park was not created after end-
less government studies, site plan, propo-
sals, grant funding requests, and other
hoops and jumps. The allies needed the
facility to get airborne in World War II,
and it had to be built right away. Al-
though that would be virtually impossi-
ble today, one has to admire, if a little,
the rqsoi,ve needed to get the job done.
Yes; illions 6f dollars would be need-
ed to be invested in upgrading the col-
lege facility to take on the international
aviation industry. But then again, our
governments have invested many mil-
lions more in low-tech job creation
schemes of a much more dubious and
short-term nature. >a
If the proposal pans out as predicted,
money would be flowing into Canada,
into Huron Park. Along with it would
come business and trade contacts with
.countries eager for export and import •
markets.
It all seems like an opportunity just a
little too good to let pass by while we all
stand on the sidewalk with our hands
our pockets.
Who is ready to pick up Barry Morris'
15 -page document and find out if it is
good for more than just making paper
airplanes?
A.D.H.
What's on yotir.m�`nd?
The rimes -Advocate continues to welcorneletters 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.
. At our house, we are proud to have one teen-
ager and two 12 -year olds. You will get the
message if I tell you that they all behave nor-
mally for their age groups.
But I get upset when someone refers to Dun-
can and Stephanie as "pre -teens".
Who invented this silly name for bider chil-
dren? It's as if some people couldn't wait for
them to turn into teens. Don't rush me! I'm per-
fectly happy with just one teenager right now.
the thought of having to cope with three at a
time doesn't thrill me., Eeave my two 12 -year
old children alone and don't categorize them by
what they will inevitably become!
I'm warning you. If you callothem pre -teens
again, I will retaliate and start calling you pre -
fifties or pre -seventies.
How would you like it, if you had just turned
30 - you know, that magical age where the dusk
of youth gradually yields to the dawn of maturi-
ty - and I'd call you a pre -forty? You'd probably
use an expletive not mentionable in a commu-
nity newspaper.
Or let's say you 'were in your late fifties --
just beginning to enjoy the freedom of maturity
after having weathered the mid-life crisis -- and
I'd call you a pre -sixty. Wouldn't you be of-
fended? You'd have every reason to be.
None of the septuagenarians I know would
like to be called pre -eighties. And I am con-
vinced that some people in their twenties
would cry harrassment if they were called pre -
thirties.
So why single out those poor, defenceless
children who have not yet reached the age of
13? And the word pre -adolescents is as bad as
pre -teens. When they become adolescents, we'll
deal with it. Let's not spoil a perfectly wonder-
ful phase of life by putting a label on it that has
How many words for 'snow'?
The human body is eighty -odd
percent water.
I stand, looking out the win-
dow at weather that takes that
life-giving commodity, freezes
it solid, and gnnds it into a tine,
white powder.
Qiven the opportunity, I'm
sure it would eventually accom-
plish the same with me. It is at
times like these that I am most
aware I wasn't born in this land
of ice and snow, but like all Ca-
nadians of choice or birthright I
am most fascinated by the
weather.
My plans for the weekend
were ruined sometime around
Thursday when it became appar-
ent we were all to be buried
alive. I decided to prepare the
blast shelter for the worst and
laid in a supply of fresh coffee
beans and located the new novel
I was given for Christmas. I
also took the opportunity to play
with my new power tool attach-
ments.
Still, I was drawn back to the
windows, time and time again,
just to gaze out at the relentless
skies, dumping what seemed
like the entire contents of Lake
Hurpn on the town of Exeter.
The Inuit have dozens of
words to describe different
kinds of snow,.I understand. In
England we had only one:
snow. It either snowed or it
didn't, which usually meant it
rained.
We Canadians of the southern-
most regions have several more
words to describe snow, wheth-
er we are aware of it or not.
Forecasters warn us of snow
flurries or squalls. The terms
"snowstorm" and "blizzard" are
reserved for only the most un-
speakable assaults of tempera-
tures, winds, and burial. If the
weather is sporadic and local-
ized, we speak of "streamers"; if
so wispy and faint it only lightly
dusts the window ledges, it is
sometimes described as a "snow
fluffy".
As I watched it snow, without
end on Saturday, I tried to fit the
right term to the experience,
without much success. The
weather forecasters weren't
much help since they seethed
unaware Friday's storm wasn't
over for the handful of us in Hu-
ron county.
And, like most Canadians, I
found myself thinking back to
the truly glorious moments of
hardship, monstrous accumula-
tion, and the grinding halt
brought to civilization in snow-
storms of the past. Christmas
Day 1984, or how about 1981?
No, the Superstorm of 1977, the
three -feet in 12 hours of Decem-
ber 197.6, or the_ice storm of
April 1975? Yes, I know, the
granddaddy of them all was
1971. I've seen the pictures, but
I was living in Devon or Ox-
fordshire then. I don't remem-
ber.
There are a few Canadian hab-
it the rest of the world may nev-
er truly comprehend. I stand,
with a cup of warm coffee in my
hand, looking outlhe window,
quite sure they don't know what
they're missing.
Pre -nothing. fvly kids are children
nothing to do with reality and everything to do
with future perplexities. •
We must allow twelve-year old children to be
children. Not miniature teens. Let them still
play with toys. Let them enjoy their legos and
board games and their cuddly teddy bears. Let
them wear their children's clothes and wear
their heir like children. Let them speak like
children before their voices break.
And may I tell you a secret? Even some 13 -
year olds and 14 -year olds (although they're
"officially" teens) are better off still being real
children than being artificially .promoted to
teenage status.
There is a lot of hype out there telling kids
and their parents when children should become
teens. Part of it has to do with commercialism.
Teenagers are worth billions of dollars in retail
sales. And the sooner children become teens,
the better it is for the pushers of teenage para-
phernalia.
Our society is suffering from a malaise called
the teenage mystique. Adults in their thirties
and forties want to look, act and dress like teen-
agers. Children want to look, act and dress like
teenagers.
•There is nothing wrong with teenagers look-
ing, acting and dressing like teenagers. They're
wonderful young people, for the most part
learning successfully to cope with a lot of diffi-
cult changes in their lives. But let them be a
distinct group. They don't want to be imitated
by everybody between the ages of 8 and 90.
Do you have kids between 10 and 12? En-
courage them to be themselves! Tell them to
enjoy today and not to be anxious about the day
after tomorrow. They're equipped to handle
their own age, not the "pre -teens."
•