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Times Advocate, 1994-05-18, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, May 18, 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 Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner, Marg Flynn Transportation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert front Office & Accounting; Norma Jones, Elaine Pinder, Ruthanne NegriJn, Anita McDonald CCq. 0 E1)1'i ORIA14S `awns Last October, a group of local doctors threatened to with4raw their services to the South Huron Hospital emergency department, unless guaran- teed an hourly wage by the hospital. Using up a budget surplus, the hospi- tal paid up. Now that money is gone, the hospital threatens to close up the department, at least on weekdays, un- less the doctors reduce their demands. In both cases, local citizens are forced to wonder just what the future of their hospital is. Is this just the start of an end -game battle that will eventually see the nearest hospital services in Lon- don? Given the stunning lack of direction from the Ministry of Health on rural hospital issues, there is no clear answer as to whether Exeter will still have a hospital in ten or twenty years. However, perhaps it is best to view these recent troubling developments in the emergency ward as a cry for help • • inion from the province. There is no set poli- cy as to how rural hospitals are expected to staff and fund emergency rooms. On one hand, the province is convinced its OHIP fees compensate doctors hand- somely. On the other, rural doctors argue that being on call to the emergen- cy denies them the income of their prac- tices. Much of the harsh words, ultimatums, and threats of recent days are an effort to attract the attention of the ministry - the same ministry that promised a policy on the issue five months ago and hasn't been heard from since. Local residents may feel like pawns stuck in the middle of this battle, not knowing if their emergency ward will still be open next week. But it is appar- ent both the hospital and doctors want to keep an essential service available in this part of the county. The question is, does the ministry? A.D.H. Gold standard ongratulations are in order for South Huron District High School's music program. A gold medal standard for an instrumental group is an impres- sive achievement for any school in the nation. The staff and students deserve praise for bringing the school's music program so far, in such a short time. Not high on the priority list for Huron's Board of Education, music programs in this county's high schools came into being only recently. Other schools in this province can boast of impressively stocked music rooms, with instruments to loan out to budding musicians any night of the week. South Huron's program joined the school only 11 years ago, and makes do with what funding it gets. Keep in mind, none of the -local elementary schools has an instrumental music pro- gram, as do many in Ontario's cities. A gold medal performance is some- thing to be proud of; even more so when considering the competition. A.D.H. What's on your mind? Letters to the editor 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 Ad- vocate 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 ad- dress. Anonymous letters will not be published. The nastiest threat that has been made in On- tario politics in many years was that by homo- sexual rights activists to identify publicly a sen- ior New Democrat minister as homosexual. The activists warned this would be done un- less the government moved more urgently to give homosexual couples adequate family ben- efits and spoke tip to counter those opposing such benefits. Cooler heads in the gay rights movement have prevailed and the minister has not been named. News media who cover the legislature have known for years the minister is homosex- ual and frequents gay bars. He also is one of the more competent minis- ters in that he has had more successes than fail- ures in his job recently, which may go some way toward identifying him because most NDP ministers have had more downs than ups. But the media have never felt it necessary to identify the,minister as homosexual, feeling a politician's sexual orientation is personal and of no concern to the public, providing it does not hamper him doing his work. It might be helpful for the public to know, for example, if a minister using extraordinary arm - twisting to secure gay benefits also is homosex- ual. The media by and large have observed this right to privacy for those in all parties. A leading minister in the Liberal government of Premier David Peterson from 1985-90 was well known as homosexual. A newspaper noted for gay -bashing once tried to get him to ac- knowledge this, but he refused to answer and stormed off indignantly. The Progressive Conservative leader from 1985-87, Larry Grossman,noted for being hard- nosed, was asked to raise publicly the Liberal's sexual orientation, but to his credit said he would not do so unless there was some evi- dence his homosexuality harmed his perfor- mance in his job. Some homosexual rights' activists hoped the Q�l►-� tit 01 ItIHIsON AWA1tt) 1993 Publications Mall Registration Number 0388 StaiScateRieLMEAM Within 40 nd$ss (68 km.) addressed to non tetter carrier oddness* 030.00 plus 52.1.0 O.s.T. Outside 40 miles (65 km.) or any tetter carrier address 5330.00 plus 530.00 (total 60.00) ♦ 4.20 0.5.T. Outside Canada 1199.00 (Includes 588.40 postal.) Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 186 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-2354331 011101210S3s Parents have lost choices ...families have developed strong relationships with their sitters over the years.... Y Dear Editor: I would like to address this letter to the person or persons responsible for the recent investigations by Community and Social Services into various sitters in the Exeter area. I would like to believe that you are truly concerned about the welfare of our chil- dren and had good intentions in doing this hut somehow I question your motives. Perhaps at the time you were unaware what the consequences of your actions would mean to dozens of families in this arca. During the last two weeks parents have been scrambling to find alternative ar- rangements for their children. Some may be faced with quitting their jobs as they are unable to find sit- ters. Others have had to make temporary arrange- ments or separate their children and bring them to different sitters. Many parents have lost sleep and many children have cried. These families have de- veloped strong relationships with their sitters over the years and will soon be saying their good-byes. You have taken our rights away as parents to de- cide for ourselves who should be the care givers of our children? If you had concerns about the quality of care within a certain home you could have ap- proached that sitter with your concerns and also talked to other parents who used that sitter for their feed back. You also had the right to remove your child from that home. I have talked with many par- ents whose sitters were investigated and they were more than happy with the quality of care given in that home. Obviously you doubt the judgement of many par- ents who have sent their children to these sitters over the years. Hopefully we can forgive and forget and vicious rumors will stop. For now we are faced with no immediate alternative. Now is the time to take some constructive action and look at other af- fordable options for families, possibly day care. If you are concerned about the welfare of the children in the community I invite you to state your case, show your face, and explain to parents why you have done this. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the sitters in this community for their services and for being focused on what is most important which is taking care of the kids. Yours truly, Maryann Quinn Cooper Threats of exposure senior Liberal minister might gpme out of the closet on his own, because he would have been seen by the public as an example of how homo- sexuals contribute to society, but he refused. As an indication the curtain is gradually lift- ing, however, the former minister's same-sex spouse died of AIDS recently and the ex - minister allowed himself to be named in a newspaper obituary as his 'loving companion.' Homosexuals obviously have been elected to the legislature in all parties. The only one to de- clare his sexual orientation publicly is Keith Norton, who served as a Progressive Conserva- tive from 1975-85 and showed a rare bit of cou- rage as minister of education, health and envi- ronment. Norton said nothing about his homosexuality while in the legislature, like many other gays before and since, but discussed it openly when attempting to win re-election in 1990. Nancy Jackson, sister of the lieutenant gov- ernor, also talked of her homosexuality when ,running for the Tories in a by-election in 1993. Both lost, but their homosexuality had little bearing on their defeats. But most homosexuals who run will continue hiding their sexual orientation. They are enti- tled like others to privacy about sex. They also have the right to protect themselves from discrimination, which still exists against homosexuals although like other prejudices it is gradually decreasing. Some will not vote for an openly homosexual politician. Politicians who declare themselves homosex- uals risk being viewed at least as oddities and, after they leave politics, will find some less in- clined to hire or do business with them. Many homosexuals also will now have a new fear they will be identified without their con- sent and aspects of their private lives revealed although they have no bearing on whether they can serve the public effectively. The big danger is some will be deterred from running for office and some useful people will be lost.