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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-03-30, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, March 30, 1994 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte « Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Within 40 miles (65 km.) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $30.00 plus $2.10 G.S.T. Outside 40 miles (65 km.) or any letter carrier address $30.00 plus 630.00 (total 60.00) + 4.20 O.S.T. Outside Canada 699.00 (includes $88.40 postage) • cfri Hi UE EtIHE3ON AWA HD 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 Maln St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S8 by 1.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519235.13331 4-S.T. 1R10521.0835 I;I)ITORIAL A sigh of relief Last week's announcement from provincial finance minister Floyd Laughren that transfer payments to lo- cal governments would not he further reduced, as most municipalities and school hoards had feared, must have come with a sigh of relief. Huron's Board of Education may get a chance yet to put forward a budget without the serious tax increase most had dreaded. Municipalities won't have to go back into their budgets to take away capital projects and services in order to avoid raising taxes. In Goderich, ratepayers will even be able to revel in an actual reduction in property taxes. Everybody living in each local munic- ipality pays a considerable amount of taxes to the province each year - through income tax and sales taxes. What this means is that Queen's Park will be r_turning to each municipality the same amount of those taxes they re- turned last year. To pay less would mean the government would be keep- ing more for its own uses. Nothing comes without a price, of course, and we are left to wonder just how the province will shape its budget around this freeze in transfer payments. Ontario's coffers are still strapped for cash, and the cumulative effects of past deficits is cutting deeper into the gov- ernment's ability to make what taxes it does get count. It's like having a credit card spent right up to its limit, and not being able to pay off the interest each month. So what lies in store for us all in Laughren's April budget'? Can the prov- ince put together serious controls on ex- penditures without crippling the essen- tial services we need? Can it cut back on its dubious job creation plans that cost billions, but are worth only mil- lions. Can it avoid dipping deeper into taxpayers pockets with new taxes and increased reliance on user fees? With an economic recovery on its way we can recall the recovery after the 1981-82 recession. Many businesses vowed they would never again be as vul- nerable to fiscal crises. Maybe this re- cession has convinced governments that free spending and high deficits make them just as vulnerable when hard times return. A.D.H. Letters to the editor Ladies & gentlemen to be proud of 94. ... uurr t 'vvvriy" c2UUuL arc r!GAL generation" Dear Editor: Firday night Sheri Regier and Sevy Van Bolhuis organized a birthday party for each other. Both were 19 on March 12th, they arc also responsible young adults_ This party was held at the Kirkton Woodham Community Centre with only a few adults in atten- dance. Since Sheri goes to South Huron High and Sevy is from St. Marys, friends came from a large arca and they did themselves proud, "thank you." W,• wish trs !e th,_ c‘mnrivility know '.e tion la- dies and gentlemen to be proud of and need not wor- ry about 'the next generation' - they will do just fine. It's too bad some adults have such little faith in them. A few even stayed to help clean up and I'm sure the centre board appreciated the help. We have been to dances when some adults have acted less re- sponsible. Adults - have faith in the next generation. Rose and Jim Siddall Kirkton, Ontario P.S. Sheri and Sevy have made a donation to the London Humane Society with the proceeds from the party. What's on your m ind? The Times -Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a titin' 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 Reuel • iews ,a :Art It'd {1!11 ut 0i5,tlo r,,•,I Lette* ito thet + B.S.T. means B.S. Trotter "If 1 were a dairy farmer "with prize Catt!e" I would be offended. Maybe it is true that the "C" in Canadian stands for Complacent." Dear Editor: Even though I am not a farmer, I do occasionally read Bob Trotter's column "One foot in the fur- row." His article entitled "B.S.T. beneficial in the production of milk" prompts this response. First of all, the headline is misleading. B.S.T. may be effective in raising the production of milk, hut whether it is beneficial to consumers, or even to cows for that matter, is an entirely different issue. We are talking here about adding yet another chemi- cal, steroids, to one of our most basic foods: milk. Consumers in Huron County, which has one of the highest per -capita cancer rates in Canada, are under- standably concerned. Mr. Trotter claims that since B.S.T. (bovine soma- totropin) has been approved for use in the U.S.A., American fanners will have "a decided edge in pro- duction over their Canadian counterparts." But what of it? Since the quota system has protected Canadi- an farmers in the past and insumtountahle tariff walls will shield them from competition in the fu- ture, Mr. Trotter's argument has no merit. The article also touches on the dairy farmers' con- cern about consumer backlash. Milk is seen as a nat- ural, wholesome food. That image could be dam- aged by a puhlic perception of milk being tainted by steroids. That must be avoided and therefore the public must he educated to accept B.S.T. as totally sate. We have news tor you: the puhlic has never been as well educated and informed as it is today and will not be brainwashed. That is why there is growing resistance to the introduction of Q.S.T. That is why consumers demand that, in the event B.S.T. is approved for use in Canada. milk carry B.S.T.-added or B.S.T.-free labels. And it that, as Mr. Trotter so eloquently puts it. is stupid. then call me stupid. What 1 found most upsetting in this article was Mr. Trotter's insinuation that, with ready availabili- ty of B.S.T. just across the border, "it'll he the ones with prize cattle who want to inflate production records for breeding and sale purposes who'll do the cheating." That, I think, is beyond the pale. That is libellous. For that reason I was puzzled not to find even one letter of protest in the two issues of the T.A. subse- quent to the publication of Mr. Trotter's article on B.S.T. If I were a dairy fanner "with prize cattle" 1 would be offended. Maybe it is true that the "C" in Canadian stands for Complacent. Then, again, as a farmer 1 might see the humour in this situation. Maybe the "T" in B.S.T. stands for Trotter, and we all know what B.S. stands for. And with one foot in the furrow and the other in your mouth, it must be pretty hard to come up with a bal- anced view. L.C. de Haan. Exeter I've been a fool all my life. So naturally I get all choked up in anticipation of April Fool's Day. It's my biggest holiday. It's my Christmas and Easter and Firecracker Day all wrapped into one. Usually I lay my plans weeks ahead. I must play at least one big -joke on every family mem- ber. The kids used to fall for this one when they were younger. I'd wake them up at 7 a.m. and yell at them: "You slept in, the bus will be here in five min- utes!" And they'd fall all over themselves, struggling to put their clothes on, and yelling at me: "Why did you let us sleep so long?" and "Where is Mom?" But that hasn't work the last fel/years. No matter what I said to them early ithe morning on April 1, they yawned and answered: "Yes, Dad, I know, it's April Fool's Day." I"ve had to get them at some other time dur- ing the day, when they were off guard. Like apologizing to Alex for accidentall; stepping on and crushing his brand-new $50 multi- function Ironmap watch, which he had left ly- ing on the family room floor. Like telling Duncan that we'll have to move him to the basement because Mom needs his room for an office. (This was especially effec- tive because I had set some of his furniture out in the hall before he came home from school)., Like telling Stephanie that she won't be able to go to drama school anymore because the school had been raided and closed down by the police after the director had gone stark mad and attacked her staff with a sword. Like telling Elizabeth that her ski trip with the kids was cancelled because there have been torrential rains at the peaks for three days. And like leaving a message beside the telephone, for her to call Vermont, collect. 4 When the joke was on me Yes, in the past, such practical jokes have provided me with enough satisfaction to last me through the particularly obnoxious month of April. In earlier years, the kids and Elizabeth never quite managed to get back at me. Their at- tempts were either too obvious or too ineffec- tive. Until last year. Last year, they got me. I knew they were planning to go to the ski re- sort for a few days on April 2nd. I was sort of looking forward to being alone, because I was overloaded with office work. I had prepared some real doozers for April 1st. I was going to fool all of them well this time. But when the alarm rang at 6:45, I found that Elizabeth had already gotten up. I went to look for the children. They weren't there. All their beds were made. I went down - 4 stairs. Not a sign of then. 1 opened the garage door - the van was gone. I couldn't believe it! Confused, I staggered into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I opened the to get some milk, but to my surprise the fridge had been completely emptied. There was nei- ther milk nor anything to eat in it. Only an open package of baking soda, against which a note had been taped: "Dear Peter, sorry, 1 had forgotten to tell you that our holiday starts on April lst, and not on April 2nd as previously planned. Hope you en- joy April Fool's Day all by yourself this year. See you Sunday night. Love, Elizabeth and kids. PS: Don't work too hard." You'll agree that this was a hard act to fol- low. It took me all year to plan my revenge. Now I'm already salivating in expectation of how sweet it'll be. Happy April Fool's Day, everybody!