HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-04-22, Page 4Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett
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Production Manager: Deb Lord
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News; Kate Monk, Craig Bradford,
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EDITORIALS
Not in my backyard
is not a unique situation but
that doesn't make is any less important.
It's a classic case of the NIMBY (not in
my backyard). syndrome. Residents in
two Huron County communities are
facing the prospect of becoming the.
destination of Huron's garbage. Land-
fill site neighbors are not taking it light-
ly.
No one can blame the residents for
their concerns. Who would welcome an
increase in garbage, more truck traffic
and greater potential for the degrada-
tion of water quality for neighbors and
those downstream? Who wants Hay
Swamp, our largest forested area and _
Class_One wetland threatened?
Exeter's landfill site has been the des-
tination for Exeter's garbage for'more
than 30 years. Neighbors have lived
with it and tolerated it. Some owned
their land before the site was estab-
lished but others bought their properties
knowing the dump was in them back-
yards.
While a few people may be concerned
with the current management of the
site, all are concerned with the protipect
of garbage from Highway #8. south-
ward coming to the site during the next
20 years. .
Residents in Morris Township (the.
destination for garbage from Highway
8 northward) feel the same way. More
than 50 residents attended a public
meeting earlier this month and ex-
pressed concerns similar to the South
Huron residents.
Morris Township and Exeter councils
are approaching the issue in a similar
manner. To their credit, they have met
several times to determine what is best
for their ratepayers and are presenting a
united front to County council. Both
councils have surrendered to the fact
Huron County can send garbage to their
sites even if their residents don't want it.
At this stage, the councils hope to min-
imize the damages and get the best pos=1
sible deal for their municipalities. They
believe WS best to sell the sites to Huron
County and free themselves from the re-I'
sponsibilities of ownership 'and manage-
ment. It -may be the only way, the munic-
ipalities will receive any financial
reward from the site. ,
But will Exeter get the best passible
deal for all the effected residents? Un-
less municipal amalgamation takes
place, in the case of the South Huron'
site, Exeter residents will receive the
benefit.while Stephen and Hay Town-
ship residents will face the consequent -
es.,
This generation will feel the effects as
the site tills at an accelerated pace. If
only Exeter's garbage enters the site,,the
dump will last 60 years and future gen-
erations will, need to deal with the im-
pacts. ' ,
In any case, the future of the landfill
site will be thelegacy of this council and
this generation and will effect our com-
munity's water, soil and landscape.
KM
r
Page 4
. Times -Advocate, April 22, 1998
•
Your Views
Letters to the Editor
A great town
"You really made my day!"
Dear Citizens of'Excter:
This past 'weekend 1 had the extreme pleasure of
attending a soccer tournament in your friendly town'.
1 found the entire experience very positive. I patron-' .
ized several local businesses and was met with terrif-
ic. friendly staff, and the high school was very wel-
coming to all that attended the tournament.
tip my hat to the wonderful, sincere pcoplc'of
your town and i thank them for showing me a great
day. All of the teams involved in the tournament dis-
played great sportsmanship and camaraderie. These
young ladies played some excellent games and
should all be congratulated for a job well done.
In closing. i also tip my hat td the very honest
people of your'cnmmunity. After a quick stop at
McDonald's before, leaving Exeter at the end of the
day, 1 left my purse behind. I didn't realize the fate
of my purse until i arrived at home, 75 minutes later,
After a frantic call to the restaurant, I was assured
that my purse had been turned in and was in com-
plete safe keeping. '
Thank you for everything. Exeter. You really
made my day!
Sincerely;
Robin D. Arnold.
Point Edward. Ontario
7.4,OUR NEW KINDERGARTEN
PRoG WILL gE'TtR
PREPARE.CHILDREN FoR
LIFE IN ONTARIO INTHE
NEW MILLENIUMl't
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1\ SPA V, Hs COMPS
Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St.,
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Kids, Can't keep them in the
same clothes far long.
- They either outgrow them, stain
them with ketchup, mud and a
(number of other gooey' substances
or turn up their noses at anything
their friends no longer wear. ,
Clothing a haby is the ultimate
challenge. Try wrestling a toddler
into a complicated outfit just min-
utes before rushing out the door.
When,it comes to my, 11 -month-
old, getting the perfect fit is impos-
sible. Sleeves arc always dragging
on- the floor, tops squish, her face
when they're pulled over her head
and pants grow shorter overnight as
time marches on in hcr young life.
- Shoes arc the nightmare of all
nightmares. Some salespeople. ten
you to buy something with stiff
support.,,cspec ialf y around the heel.
Otherssay. no. flexible. man-made
fabricl are best. Still others believe
the hart foot is the `ultimate walk;
ing tool.
On my latest shopping .excursion
with Carly( she insisted nn leaning
'out of the buggy to fully experience
all long women's.dresses in stock.
'Her f'avoritc fabrics- include silky.
sheer. easy -to -wrinkle stuff.
For my daughter. being whcclrrd
through aisles and aisles of long.
feathery fabrics is the next best •
a
Simple Cruelties
By Brenda Burke
Kids kloze woes
thing. -to standing in the kitchen
with a grasp on mom's dress in a
show of new-found pulling up abil-
ities. My husband tells me she bven .
practiced pulling up on 'the dog. •
grabbing his skin and stretching it
nearly to the floor as he patiently
stood and •waited for the moment to
pass.
Back to shopping. As 'we pushed
our way around rows of ,little tyke
garments, Carly began to lean fur-
Cher and further out of the buggy.
her gurgling sounds escalating to
little whimper's. then seconds later
to a low pitched whining • that
would- predictably . transform • to
high-pitched shrieking if hcr imme-
diate nerds were not nut.
• I automatically scanned numer-
ous items marketed Obviously -for
cute looks rather than . practical
wearability.
A- , million questi„ns stormed
through my mind. What colors will
go -with what .he alrutdy has?
What air is she ;growing into -next?
What's practical.:onulortahlc:• af-
fordable. easy 10 lake on and off!
Speaking of -ca.!. on/offs ! hihs are
had news. we have IN: plastic ones
Ith Bugs Bunn! . 'fwcety Bird and
ail those guys. The problem is.
Ihey're too big around the neck so'
when you dish out the haby food..it
gets all smeared just under, her chin.
which is really hard to wipe off at
the end of the meal when she's rest-
Icss and the food •has dricd onto the • .
Colds in her neck.
There arc those small fabric bibs
barely large enough to wipe her
nose and small enough to get lostin
heaps of iytundry. We've even tried
a hard plastic bib with the big scoop
thing. It catches nearly every drop
of goop—only thing is. it's is so un-
bearably uncomfortable, she pulls-* •
off and proceeds to mash it into
whatever food is sitting in the high
chair tray.'
And diapers. We tried the cloth •
thing arid the rubber pants thing on.
top of that. To make .a long story
very short. wcrc now part of that
tint -time -parent population'that has
learned the hard way.
. In the beginning,- everything had •
to be perfect: the best clothes, •
homemade haby food, the 'right'
'toys for the.'right' age, an absence ,
of television. 24-hour rnommy ,
availability and considering ditch-
ing the dog when he once growled •
from across the room.
In the end we've learned to do'
what's most practical and smile -
inspiring for the entire family and
that just may include hiring a baby
wardrobe consultant.
A View from Queen's Park Harris needs to get back to the barricades
'TORONTO -- For a premier who is suppos-
edly part-way through a revolution, Mike Har-
ris, is remarkably reluctant to get back . to the
barricades. -
The Progressive Conservative premier has
kept the legislature closed for more than fdur
months, among the longest winter breaks on
record, mainly to avoid giving opposition par-
ties a forum to raise issues that could embar '
rass him.
Harris, who has not had the legislature operat-
ing since before Christmas, hat finally an-
nounced he will call back MPPs this Thursday
(April 23).
This is both a much later than normal start
and inconsistent, -because one of Harris's con-
stant laments until a few months ago was that
he has so much to do to complete his Common
Sense Revolution but so little time to do it,
Previous governments generally had the leg-
islature sitting earlier, and sometimes much
earlier, each year. The big exception was in
1995 when the New Democrat premier Bob
Rae, who preceded Harris, did not call a ses-
sion because he was on the ropes and facing an
By Eric Dowd
election that June and desperate to avoid oppo-
nents.
The Liberal government before the NDP had
the legislature in session in January in three out
of its five years.
While in opposition, Harris made a point of
complaining that neither the Liberals nor the
NDP made the legislature work enough and de-
rided Rae particularly for dodging facing the
House. -
To his credit, Harris had the legislature sitting
within three months of winning an election in
1995. Last year, he made a show of having it sit
even the day of the federal election, which was
unheard-of because MPPs normally spend that
day helping federal candidates..
At the time, Harris's spokesman explained:
"This is a new era. What was good in the past is
not necessarily good now. These days we have a
lot of work. it is going to require this house to
be sitting every day."
Harris no longer has enthusiasm for having
the legislature sit every day because, while not
in as deep trouble as the•NDP in 1995, he faces
sensitive issues that have emerged a year before
the next election that, he would have difficulty
handling.
As examples, he would not want to be in the
legislature day after day trying to answer ques-
tions on his policies on reforming and dumping
provincial' costs on municipal property taxes,
which are just starting to be felt and have many
communities protesting that they cannot main-
tain adequate services.
in Toronto, Harris has forced tax increases on
downtown residents that are unfair compared to
those in suburbs and on businesses that are un-
fair compared to other communities, and tried
to find stopgap help as he went along. Ques-
tions would have underlined that tie had no
clearly thought-out policy.
Harris also had plans to set up a flood of casi-
nos which most residents do not want and par-
ticularly to bring in video lottery terminals, the
most addictive form of gambling. He has sud-
denly dropped VLTs in favor of slot machines,
which he claims are less addictive, but his
whole gambling policy is so shaky and change-
able he is better off not to have it examined in
the legislature.
He would not want, to be put on the spot ex-
plaining why he will not allow cameras to catch
motorists who jgnbre red lights because his
concern about privacy and protecting a driver
from being photographed with his mistress will
not stand up at a time when people are being
killed. •
. Harris also does not want 'opponents to re-
mind that he• refused fair compensation to the
three surviving Dionne quintuplets and im-
proved it only after public pressure and admit-
ted "this has pot been our finest hour."
The premier has tried a couple of tacks to dis-
guise the fact that he has not been in the legisla-
ture. He organized a series of so-called town
hall forums at which he was questioned by
community leaders, but they turned out to have
been handpicked by local Tories and Id him
say anything he wanted.
Harris also had a parent's' group question him
about education and his party. filmed half -an -
hour of it and paid to put it on TV, but it all
looked too kind and none of it was any substi-
tute for a legislature.
1