Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-03-09, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, March 9, 1994 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord C G... Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Within 40 males (85 km.) addressed to non letter carrier addresses 830.00 plus 62.10 Q.S.T. Outside 40 miles (65 km.) or any letter carrier address 830.00 plus $30.00 (total 80.00) + 4.20 Q.S.T. Outside Canada 899.00 (Includes $88.40 postage) a • EDI TOR IAI4 Ell EJE 11IRi30N 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., 1• Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by J.W. Forty Publications Ltd. o Telephone 1-519-235-1331 ,-0 p v » G.S.T. *R105210835 Workers acted in good faith nemployment insurance is just that, an insurance. We see the premiums disappear off our paycheques, but we are somewhat assured that should we lose our jobs, there will be money coming to help us through a difficult time. The system has its problems. Certain industries virtually rely upon it to tide their workers through inevitable lay- offs, rather than find ways to spread their paycheques over the whole year. Workers in those sectors end up col- lecting far more from UIC than they ever pay out in premiums. But what of those workers who lost their jobs at General Manufactured Housing in late 1990? They needed their UIC benefits at that time to help them maintain rent and mortgage pay- ments, prevent repossession of their cars, and to keep food on the table. The fact they might be eligible to re- ceive vacation pay and severance bene- fits nearly two years later under a pro- vincial act that had not yet become law didn't enter into it. They needed their UI benefits then and there. When cheques for a few thousand dollars or more arrived in 1992, how were they to know their 1990 unem- ployment insurance would have to be paid back? They paid tax on that mon- ey, and spent it. Most of them now say they wish they had never seen those cheques. If they have to pay back the UI benefits, who will pay back their taxes? The main issue in this case is the ex- treme time span between when they re- ceived unemployment insurance, and when they received cheques under the Wage Protection Act. No one could have realized the two were linked, and besides, doesn't the government always know what it's doing? While there may be better ways of po- licing the unemployment insurance sys- tem to prevent fraud and ripoffs else- where in the province or country, surely its staff can be pursuing those ends and producing better results than harassing these Hensall workers who ended up caught between two governments, two years, UIC and a provincial act not yet law. The General Manufactured Homes em- ployees all acted in good faith when fill- ing out the UIC cards, and they ought to be given some benefit of the doubt in that regard. A.D.N. John Candy admired and appreciated "A good laugh is the best medicine for a better and happier place to live." Dear Editor: A short note on the sudden death of John Candy. John was definitely one of Canada's best entertain- ment talents. He gave us all a chance to temporarily forget our daily troubles and trials. What gave John his classy character was the abili- ty to be comical without being rude, vulgar or doing so at the expense of others. John, you left us with an enormous void in our entertainment field, we just hope that there are others that will follow in your footsteps. We all need a good laugh from time to time. A good laugh is the best medicine for a better and happier place to live. Thanks John... Proudly Canadian, Josh Glavin, Crediton Speak out! Letters to the editor The Times Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a forum for open discussion of local is- sues, 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. The way I was brought up, sucking was a per- fectly respectable activity. In fact, it -- together with breathing -- is the very first sign of life in humans and other mammals. Without sucking we're dead. Sucking is synonymous with sur- viving. Some of us have sucked at our mothers' breast. if our mother was healthy enough, brave enough, smart enough or whatever else might have motivated her to go the natural route. Oth- ers have sucked on artificial nipples attached to glass or plastic bottles. But no matter what our little mouths were latching onto, we loved eve- ry minute of it. Couldn't get enough of it. So why is it that this elementary word, a word that probably has its origin in the very sound a sucking infant makes, has fallen in disrepute? Why is it that I almost blush when I say it in polite company? 1 asked Alex the other day, after he had de- Hold that thought... By Adrian Harte Council's digging again Once again, given the oppor- tunity to fly, Exeter council ends up digging in the dirt. Three quarters of a million dollars is likely to be spent in this town over the next couple of years, so long as council de- cides to make full use of the Red Book funds the Liberal government is sending its way. The province is doing its part, throwing in an equal share of the money in the name of job creation. All the town has to do is come up with its share - a cool quarter million - and we're off. Since the grant share was an- nounced several weeks ago, people have been talking about the possibilities open to town. Some see a chance to upgrade recreational facilities. Maybe there's an opportunity to finally do something with the Old Town Hall - renovate it and once again make it the home of the town offices. There are even some drawings on the board that suggest it could be linked to the former police station, making it into one large public building. Could this be the home of a new town library? Heck, why not throw in an indoor pool while we're at it? No, they don't make money, but neither does the are- na's ice pad. What else might be on the town's wish list. People are cu- rious, myself included. One clared that "living in the country sucks". What he meant, of course, was that access to retail stores and places of entertainment is somewhat restricted to young people living in small communities, especially in hamlets or in the open country. He thought things might be more exciting for kids living in downtown To- ronto, for example. "Why do you use one of the most positive words in the English language - in any lan- guage - in such a negative sense?" He had no answer for me. But his look told me what he thought: "Dad, your question sucks." Of course, even before "sucks" became a de- rogatory verb in certain circles, we were con- fronted with other somewhat shady words like P.T. Barnum's: "There's a sucker born every minute". Sujker bait is a lure used by swindlers to attract a victim. And we call a wager with thing was certain, we'd be spending dollars on job creation by building something. Hope- fully something we could all touch, admire, make use of, put a plaque on for future genera- tions. No, you can't do it all with less than a million dollars these days, but there must be some- thing exiting, lasting, interest- ing, imaginative council could throw itself behind. Monday night, my hopes were dashed. Council allocated about a third of those grant funds to upgrading some sewer lines - dingy, dirty sewer lines. A quarter of a million bucks is go- ing to be buried underground, where we can't even see it. Is this the way it's all going to be spent. What's next? Do we need new street signs, maybe fix some cracks in the sidewalks, fill some potholes, paint lines on the roads? We can create jobs, but where's the fun? I'm not disputing that this kind of sewer work isn't needed. It's been on the public works com- mittee's plan for the past few years. I just think the govern- ment had in mind something more uplifting. There will be cities and towns building art galleries with this money. Those galleries will draw people to them, hire peo- ple, purchase collections. No, an art gallery isn't a high - priority for Exeter, but what lasting legacy will our shiny new sewers leave us? Well, of course, there's growth. Council once again falls pros- trate at the feet of the almighty god of growth. The god that promises us if we can grow at a few percent a year, the in- creased tax base•witl mean our property taxes will never go up. We've heard it all before. Trouble is, growth requires Tots of hard services. This town is looking at blowing several million dollars in the next few years because we need more water to fuel growth, and more sewage.capacity so it doesn't back up. And all the new people who come here to live will wonder where the town spent all its tax dollars over the years. Where did it spend all that grant mon- ey? Why is there no art gallery, no indoor public pool? Why is the library so small, and why don't we have a museum? Why do people drive to London for these things? The town is holding a strate- gic plan public meeting at the end of this month. Make sure you all come out and tell coun- cil the reason you live in Exeter and are proud of Exeter is be- cause of its sewer lines, side- walks, and high water pressure. We have to get our priorities straight. The country sucks? good! stacked odds a "sucker bet". Looking up "sucker words" in the dictionary, I also came across "sucker list". You, dearest reader, and I may recognize ourselves in the following description: Sucker list - List of names, addresses and sometimes telephone numbers of persons who are likely to be purchasers or donors, to whom advertising matter might profitably be sent, or to whom personal application might be made ("he is no the sucker list of all the local chari- ties"). Then there are expressions like "sucking up to someone" (polishing the apple) or "sucking the monkey" (drinking liquor from a bottle). But none of this excuses today's young and not -so -young to say "it sucks" as if it were a synonym for "it stinks." Much more apropos, and certainly more ro- mantic is what Christopher Marlowe wrote in 1604: "Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss! Her lips suck fourth my soul; see where it flies!" But Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth uses the word most properly when she exclaims: "I have given suck and know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me". I claim the right to use the word "suck" with- out causing pimply teenagers to giggle and hy- persensitive ladies to faint. Do you want to say that something is not to your liking? Go and pick up some other slang expression, but leave the word "suck" alone. It's a word of beauty, grace and sweetness. A word to cherish and to hold dear. You say, the country sucks, Alexander? I'm so glad it does. It means that all must be well.