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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1994-05-04, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, May 4, 1994 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Advertising; Barb Consitt, Theresa Redmond News; Fred Groves, Catherine O'Brien, Ross Haugh Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Robert Nicol, Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner, Marg Flynn Transportation. Al Flynn, Al Hodgert front Office & Accounting; Norma Jones, Elaine Pinder, Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald ccw • • inion HL UL RIBBON AWARD 1993 Publications Mall Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Within 40 miles (65 km.) addressed to non letter carter addresses 630.00 plus 62.10 0.$.T. Outside 40 miles (65 km.) or any tetter carrier address 630.00 pigs 630.00 (total 60.00) + 4.20 O.S.T. Outside Canada 699.00 (Includes 688.40 postage) Published Each Wednesday Momkug at 424 Math St, Exeter, Ontario, NOM LSO by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519235-1331 6.8.T. *R1052106315 hl)I'1'ORIA1. Decisions, not documents f town council members were all rocker scientists, they'd be out de- signing rockets. They would leave the fussing and fiddling of tedious munici- pal matters to someone else. We have to be thankful, in some ways, that anyone expresses an interest in municipal politics at all. We have to be thankful the public doesn't elect one - issue candidates with only one axe to grind. Fairness in all matters, understanding of the muncipal process (slow as it may be) and a general mistrust of upper lev- ees of government is a good combo for any municipal politician. So why are battle lines being drawn in the Exeter council chambers? Two, if not three, council members are clearly unhappy with the March 30 Strategic Planning Meeting. One would rather have had all the infrastructure grant al- location spent before the question was put before the public. Another would rather believe only a small number of people at the meeting truly understand what's right for this town. Is it true a hundred people were all wrong. Were they so easily swayed by a mayor's speech about a need for a heart and soul for Exeter? Is that what we have to believe? Do armchair critics who took no inter- est in attending the Strategic Planning meeting have a right to second guess all those people now, whispering in coun- cillors' ears they represent a silent ma- jority'? Where is the dividing line be- tween constructive and destructive criticism? Council should also find a way to put these endless disputes over documenta- tion behind them. A two-page summary of a meeting is just that: short and to the point. Most municipalities are criticized for producing windbag -length docu- ments most citizens would rather landfill than read. So why did council adopt a blow-by-blow official minutes -style document? To keep a few councillors happy? So what, who will read it now? It was also painfully clear most council members were unfamiliar with the con- cept of a mission statement. They are all written like a futurist's concept of a pie -in -the -sky utopia that will never come to pass. Just because a piece of paper describes an Exeter no one will ever really see doesn't mean millions will be wasted on trying to get there. Mission statements are an optimistic way of viewing the future: positive rein- forcement and all that. One can also view Official Plan documents as being wildly optimisti . Barely is the ink dry on a new Plan and someone is applying to rezone a parcel of land for a use coun- cil thought would be on the other side of the street. Documents, plans and statements are nice window dressing. Council should take note of them, file them, and get on with what really matters - decisions. There are enough serious issues coming up in the next few months that could af- fect the skyline of this town for the next century. Those decisions, not the pieces of paper, are what councils are elected for. Those decisions are what will matter at the polls next November, not what's in the filing cabinets. A.D.H. Your View Letters to the editor Assistancefor disabled "1 would like to invite you to an information meeting...." Dear Editor: Each community has families with members who have developmental disabilities. Christian Horizons is a trans -denominational organization that is at- tempting to meet the needs of these families. Currently there arc over 1000 Christian Horizons programs I )cared in Ontario which include residenc- es, supported independent living, day programs and family groups. Local chapter support, educate, and encourage families, making every effort to assist all concerned through one of these programs. After speaking with a number of people in Huron County, I feel there is a need for a local chapter to be set up in this arca. Are you someone who is concerned about future living accommodations or life style for a loved one? Perhaps the concern is with future employment? The time to speak up is now. I would like to invite you to an information meet- ing to be held on May 18, 1994 at 7 p.m. at the Clin- ton Christian Reformed Church. During this meet- ing we will discuss what your needs are and what we can do to assist. Please call me (during morning hours) at 523-9691 for further information. Linda Renkema Londesboro wir7n A View From Queen's Park By Eric Dowd Not all the votes in Ontario's coming election are to be won in places like the sprawling brick suburbs of Scarborough and rolling rural routes around Kenora. New Democrat Premier Bob Rae and Pro- gressive Conservative leader Mike Harris have both gone trolling as far as Israel for support, although no-one including their political oppo- nents has dared call it that. Rae went on a visit he called a 'trade mis- sion' and did, in fact, include talks with trade officials. But there can be more than one reason for any trip. Ontario's Jewish community is impor- tant politically. Its numbers can make a differ- ence in at least half a dozen Toronto ridings. its members tend to be better educated than most and include particularly businessmen, pro- fessionals, opinion -leaders and other movers and shakers, many of whom have relatives and friends in Israel whose welfare concerns them. Hold that thought.... By Adrian Harte Fl: a sense of loss It was like I'd lost a good friend. Saturday's news over the radio that a Formula One rookie driv- er, Roland Ratzenberger, had been killed in a qualifying ses- sion came as a shock. Fl had been tragedy -free since 1982, the year Canadian star Gilles Villeneuve lost his life behind the wheel of his Ferrari race car. But on Sunday, when the real- ization sank in that the car spin- ning across the television screen wasn't Ratzenberger's, but Ayr - ton Senna's, I didn't want to be- lieve it. Although his name is a house- hold word in many countries around the world, Senna's For- mula One racing isn't as well followed in North America as elsewhere, and not everyone might realize his death meant the loss of the hest driver on the planet. Being an FI fan in Canada re- quires enough dedication to get up very early Sunday mornings to watch it live, or to stay up very late to see it delay -taped. When I first became captivated by the modern-day gladiators testing their nerves and endu- rance in super -technology race cars back in 1988, Brazilian Ayrton Senna was already rec- ognized as one of the best Grand Prix drivers ever. Senna was the guy you rooted against, because unless his car failed or he had some bad luck on the track, he made winning look easy, and the race a little dull. When the Williams team gained the upper hand in sheer speed in 1991, Senna had a hard time defending his World Championship. Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost were able to use their Williamses to hold off Sen- na's talent in '92 and '93. He didn't make it easy for them. In 1994, Senna got a seat with the Williams team, was report- edly being paid $2 million per race, and was expected to run away with the championship once again. We will never know if that was to be. Senna lost his life, at high speed in a corner on the San Marino track. He was in the lead, with young rival Michael Schumacher close behind. Maybe Formula One has made a tragic mistake. Aware that the world's top racing circuit had become more of a battle of mil- lion -dollar supercars than their drivers, the governing body took steps to rob the cars of some of the technology that was begin- ning to dominate. Tires were slimmed down in 1993, and computer -controlled suspensions were banned in 1994, along with ABS brakes and traction control. How strange that what were decried as "driver aids" for race cars are marketed as "safety features" in the real world's showrooms. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw, I don't know. i've watched countless crashes of FI cars at horrific speeds. I've seen them do back flips, land upside down, spin while airborne, and lose nearly all parts,outside the cockpit. In every case, the driv- er would unbelt himself, and storm away, cursing his own carelessness, or that of a rival. Why after all these years, should Formula One lose two drivers in one weekend? If this is a return to a more competitive breed of racing, I'm not sure 1 like it. Tom Creech, a former writer in these pages, and another rac- ing fan will have to join me in the next few days and raise a glass in Ayrton Senna's merno- ry• The '94 F1 season will go on, but missing the best driver in the world, it will offer only a hollow victory for its champion. Rae offended many Ontario Jews in 1991 when, unlike most Canadian politicians, he re- fused to support the Gulf War against Iraq, then doing its best to rain missiles on Israel. Rae said sanctions would have worked eventually and the allies should have stuck to them. The Israels ambassador paid a decidedly un- diplomatic visit to Rae's office and left dis- tressed at failing to persuade the premier to change his mind. Rae would not want the Jew- ish community to continue being mad at him. The premier took an official photographer to record his trip and it will be surprising if his work does not turn up in Rae's election litera- ture. Harris quickly followed to talk to Israeli lead- ers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and watch cere- monies in Rome remembering Holocaust vic- tims and attended by the Pope. Harris's office said his trip was part of the ed- ucation of a 'premier in waiting'. The Tory Israel playing its part in the election leader has been trying to convey that his being elected to Lavern is almost a formality and he has to make appropriate preparations. Rae journeyed around often as a private citi- zen, but Hams previously had not shown much interest in seeing the political centres of the world. His foreign wanderings have been most- ly around golf courses in the United States. if Harris had wanted to see the key centres where decisions are made, he also could have gone to many other places before Israel. But Harris was reviving a Tory tradition. Wil- liam Davis, premier from 1971-85, was fond of trotting off to Israel, planting trees, proclaiming 'lam a Jerusalemite' and kicking up such a fuss, when a Palestine Liberation Organization representative wanted to attend a United Na- tions meeting here, that the meeting was can- celled. Harris has not performed such dramatics, but when the legislature in mid-April marked the 46th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, the Tory leader was able to recall his 'hectic trip' to that country. Harris praised its industrious people and scen- ery and history and reminisced about his stay in a kibbutz, which would go down well with the many friends of Israel here. Rae, fumbling for words as he often does on emotional occasions, recalled his own 'wonder- ful visit to Israel' and the 'sense of vibrancy and tremendous dynamism ' he found there. Liberal leader Lyn McLeod had to admit she has never visited Israel and must have felt quite left out. It is possible she is rushing to hook on the next plane. But the Liberals are being careful not to ac- cuse Rae and Hams of going to Israel for votes, because it would sound like they are suggesting the trips were unjustified and that would offend some people here -- it might even be seen as anti-Semitism. i