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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-02-25, Page 5Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 25, 1998 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord Advertising; Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy News; Heather Mir, Kate Monk, Craig Bradford, Chantall Van Raay, Ross Haugh Production. Anna Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Hodgen Front Office & Accounting; Sue Rollings, Carol Windsor Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple, Ruth Siaght, Sheila Corbett CCN* The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership EDI TOR 1AI, Publications Mail Registration Number 07511 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year rate for Canada subscribers - 835.00 + GST Two year rate for Canada subscribers - 883.00 + OST 1'r:ILL LYlomt s x*IAM COMM 1fte- •°A•," ss 7so., Ip OTHER RATES Outside Canada - 8102.00 Shocked at youth crime a positive sign hat is going on with our chil- dren? In Vancouver, several teenagers heat a girl and throw her off a bridge to drown. In London, a teenage girl stabs a little boy. In Chatham, police are in- vestigating the tragic death of a child found hanging by his clothes. Kids are selling dope in the school washrooms, bringing guns to school and terrorizing entire neighborhoods. It is easy to say violence on the screen is the reason so many young people are viciously attacking their classmates and committing armed robbery, rape and murder. It is. also easy to target single parent families, especially low income or welfare families. Even our provincial premier has been heard to bemoan the fact that moms are too busy earning a living to he home cooking hot break- fasts for their children. ' Some of us blame the way our courts • treat young offenders; others the in- creasingly fast pace of life in -our socie- ty; and a scary few blame the lack of. any_ "good wars to give all those feisty, young males an outlet for their. hostili- ties. We like to believe childhood is a time of innocence and beauty. Hit with'the shocking reality, the. knowledge that 'children are Capable Of.committing,hor- rendously violent crimes, we react very strongly. The fact is, youth crime is nothing new. In decades past, there were trou- bled kids who failed to adapt to the school system, and some who were vio- lent and heat up smaller children, set fires in the bathroom and stole from classmates and staff. The ones who failed to adapt usually just dropped out; the real had ones were given the strap, sent to special schools, and finally ex- pelled. The one thing they had in com- mon was they rarely remained in the school system long enough to do any real damage. Only in recent years have schools come up with a zero -tolerance -policy re- garding violence and harassment of all types. When we were children, there were schoolyard bullies who made our lives miserable. If little Bobby got beat up three days running, and had his lunch money stolen, he would likely have been advised to take a different route to school, or told to kick the bully "where it hurts most" and run like blazes. These days, heating up a kid and steal-. ing lunch money is not called bullying, it is called assault and theft; police 'would he called in imriediately. Our society has changed quite a lot. Sexual assault is treated as a crime, not Something that happens only to girls who drink Neer and dress provocatively. Child abuse is' a crime, not an attempt at discipline that got a wee bit out of hand. Bullying is clearly wrong, not just a nor- mal part of growing up. We have a much lower tolerance for violent crime in general, and crimes against children in particular. • • In a way, our feelings of shock and horror when we read'about a gang beat- ing up a kid just to steal his designer running shoes is a positive sign, an indi- cation that we are prepared to take ac- tion so all children can grow up safe. Yes, our young offenders legislation needs revamping, and yes, we need ex panded social services so we can get troubled kids effective help before they . commit violent crimes. We also -need to rekneffibet.tOt for every youngster comtrtitting`violent • crimes, there are 10 who are earning Olympic Medals, awards for being'out- standing citizens, and working toward scholarships to top universities. There are a hundred who hold down part time jobs, do volunteer work, and still man- age to get excellent -grades. And there are a thousand who are plain, ordinary good kids, having fun, harming no one, and enjoying life. :17ln:nred from Swegeen City Nen': rce1 tiio1 What's on your mind? 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 -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. A View from Queen's Park TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris has lost his zest for going to war now that he is prepar- ing for an election and anxious to avoid avoid fights where he can. Asked whether he supports the federal Liber- al government's help for the United States in bombing Iraq, the Progressive Conservative premier said he knows nothing about the issue. Harris said he has his hands full trying to pro- vide the hest education, health care, community services and environment to create jobs in On- tario. He also said he is not an expert on the Iraq is- sue, has not been privy to any discussions on it, is not even sure what the federal government is doing, will leave it to federal judgment and hopes there will be a negotiated solution. His non -belligerency is a far cry from his hawkishness in the Gulf War against Iraq in 1991. As an opposition leader, he rushed out a news release declaring Canada had to take up anus and supporting the Progressive Conserva- tive prime minister, Brian Mulroney, in provid- in mili ' aid. By Eric Dowd Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-235-1331 • Fax: 519-235-0786 �mal1:UONdy.com Q.S.T. •R105210435 SENOR SENATbR THoMPsoN? THEY SAY ThEES EES ARSoLUTELY PoSITIVELY, UNQUESTioNABLY, DEFINITELY YOUR FINAL, FINAL, FINAL, FINAL WARNING,,, 4V -111'P 1,`, .. a■`ti�l/'ti a:'i 1 • Kate's takes By Kate Monk Hurry up and relax - I had a seven -course meal on my plate last week. Council Monday night, volleyball Tues- day night, ball meeting Wednes- day night and another meeting to cover Thursday night. Throw in a full slate of interviews and stories throughout the daytime hours and I was Super -reporter. When I awoke in the middle of the night, did I roll over and go back to sleep? No way. I had to get up and watch the Olym- pics through the wee hours. And on top of that, we were heading to the Bruce Peninsula for the weekend. I felt com- pelled to do my Julia Child im- personation with an amazing menu to astound my friends in- cluding homemade baked goods. Of course I needed to pack for all contingencies - snow, rain, sunshine and wind. It never fails. When I start get- ting too crazy and starve my body of sleep and a proper diet, I open the door for the creepies and ugglies. Sure enough, a cold deveroped as the week raced by. Not the kind that hits you like a truck, knocks you down, sits on your head and then lets you get back up again after the count of three. Oh no, it was the insidi- ous kind that led me to believe I could handle it. "I'm fine," I assured everyone, as I persevered. And so, by the time we reached Hope Bay late Friday afternoon, my nose was running faster than the Canadian speed skating team. I continued to put on a brave front, coughing and sniffling , while drinking glasses of water spiked with Echinacea tincture. I was in the 'hurry up and re- lax' mode. It extended through the night and the next morning. I wanted to quickly get to sleep so I could get up early in the morning and take the dogs for a walk by the water. Breakfast . was next on the agenda and then hiking along the Niagara Es- carpment. We were here to relax and do everything. And then, as it always hap- pens to me on the Bruce, Moth- er Nature called to me and told me to chill out. Actually. she ceased to supply oxygen to my lungs and.leg muscles. It was time to surrender. - The weekend and the sniffles were much easier to deal with after that point. The remainder of the ail too brief time at the cottage started with sticky buns and a glass of cranberry juice followed by an afternoon nap. Not just a 15 -minute on the couch nap. It was a full-blown, in bed, under the covers two- hour nap. This was followed by many snacks, refreshments and the lat- est copy of Harrowsmith maga-_ zine. Next it was time for a can dlelight dinner and a relaxing evening of cards and good cheer . (because i won). I finally caught onto the idea of -going away for the weekend. i was completely relaxed and guess what, my cold subsided. I enjoyed the rest of the time to the fullest. As 1 write this, ii's Sunday night, I'm back in Exeter and know that tomorrow will be an- other 14 -hour work day. But that's OK. I'in refreshed, I'm.re- laxed and I'm ready. Harris then said going to war was the only re- sponsible course and Canada was "holding high the torch of leadership to help achieve world. peace and freedom," about the only time on record he has been moved to poetry. The Tory leader sounded almost ready to go to the front himself, but in the end reserved his pugnacity for belting around a few more golf halls. Harris also scored some political points off New Democrat premier Bob Rae, who was forced by his questions to say he stood with his federal party against the war when polls showed Canadians overwhelmingly supported it. Rae said he felt economic sanctions would work and should be continued and stuck to his unpopular stance. Rae and now Harris have broken significantly from the past, because On- tario premiers traditionally have adopted poli- cies on the Middle East dictated by the prov- ince's 191,000 -strong Jewish community and favoring Israel, which fears Iraq and would be happy to see it attacked. Harris needs new image of peacemaker This community has had power beyond its numbers through spokesmen at top levels in politics and business and its votes and fund- raising capacity that are crucial to winning sev- eral Toronto ridings. Tory premier William Davis, who like virtual- ly any other Ontario leader (including Harris) visited Israel chasing votes, once declared there "I am a Jerusalemite," trying to cash in on John F. Kennedy's "I am a Berliner." Rae showed particular courage or foolhardi- ness in breaking from the tradition, because his wife is Jewish and their children are being raised in the Jewish faith and both were re- buked by some in the Jewish community for tuming their backs on it. One unprecedented sight in the Gulf War was the undiplomatic Israeli ambassador descending on Rae's office in anger to bring him to heel and leaving looking even more livid after the premier would not change his mind. Harris is an admirer of the U.S. and normally quick to copy its policies, including workfare and getting tough on crime, and relished vaca- tioning with ex -president George Bush, orga- nizer of the Gulf War. But Canadians through many well- documented reports increasingly see Israel no longer as a brave little state fighting for survi- val in its homeland, but as occupying land it took by force, brutally repressing its inhabi- tants and reneging on promises to give it back. Harris will have noted that a large and grow- ing number share this view in letters to newspa- pers and comments on open -line shows. He also will have seen from the latest census Onta- rio has a rapidly growing Arab population, 72,000 in Toronto alone, which is articulate and could tip the scales in some ridings, and a much larger body of Muslims from other coun- tries which would have sympathy with it. Harris has fallen in polls partly because he got in arguments he could have avoided and does not want to drop further over another ,,thousands of miles away. He would prefer a new image as peacemaker.