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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-08-25, Page 6Aogo. �'i Editorial&(?puucm TIMES-ADVOCJVF 1 T 1 PUBLICATIONS MAI, REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 jn Blackett Publisher and Editor ,Don Smith Deb Lord General Manager Production Manager Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario NOM tS6 • (519) 235.1331 ED1TORiAI. Plight of homeless should be a wake-up call The plight of the homeless in downtown Toronto has hit the airwaves again, thanks to a protest involving homeless people camping out in a park. We in small town Ontario were treated to images of police dragging off protesters - ugly images, violent images. For all practical purposes, the scene could easily have taken place in some totalitarian country on the other side of the world instead of in our own backyard. Like it or not, Toronto is more than a wonderland of great theatrical entertainment, fancy restaurants and shopping malls. It is home to a huge percentdge of Ontario's population, including some of its wealthiest citizens, and the very poor - a Iot of the very poor. The reasons are obvious. Toronto and other large cities are where the employment and business oppor- tunities are, the apartment buildings, the public tran- sit, hospitals, schools, museums and more. Unlike small towns, Toronto shops do not close at 5 p.m., immediately before municipal officials roll up the sidewalks. In the city, there are places to go and things to do, 24 hours per day. This is why people in small town Ontario like to visit the city on occasion, and why restless teens sometimes decide to leave home and go where the action is. As might be expected in a place where so many peo- ple live in such a small area, there is crime and dirt, poverty and drugs, and .people lung on the street, something those of us who livein wholesome rural communities find hard to understand. Certainly we have poverty here, along with mental ill- ness and alcohol abuse. Every rural community has a family or two *on welfare, and several folks who man- age to scrape by with help from the churches and local service clubs. There are a few individuals known to hold conversations with parking meters on occasion. And there are the lads who get drunk on the weekend and sometimes get into a brawl. Everyone knows who they are, and no one is particularly upset by them. In cities these individuals tend to crowd into certain neighbourhoods where rents are cheap and landlords do not care much when someone throws garbage off the balcony, where the sight of a group of people sit- ting on the curb sharing a bottle of cheap wine is unlikely to send the locals into fits of apoplexy, and where poverty is the norm rather than the exception. In neighbourhoods like this, there are doorways, alleys and a million and one nooks and crannies where someone can hide for a bit of sleep or whatever. Anyone who wants to be invisible does not choose a small, middle class community, but a crowded city slum. It is easy to fall through the cracks in such a neigh- bourhood - the reason why some people choose to live there, and others avoid the place like the plague. . Most of us reading about the violent confrontation in that Toronto park between police and the homeless p probably breathed in a lungful of healthy catta- try air and thanked whatever quirts of fate brovallt us here, instead of to a big, dirty, scary city. How fortunate we are, to be able to bravely venture into the wilds of Toronto for a bit of shopping and then run like blazes back home, where we do not have. homeless people armed with *miaow washing eye: trent jumping on cars and demsiading money, or talk- ing over public parks. Pei .►ps this could be a wake-up call on two fronts. First of all, we must realize Toronto is not on the other side of the world, but only a couple of hours away. In many ways, Toronto's problems are our prob- lems. Those homeless people could be the kids next door, or even our own children. Secondly, we should be doing a much better job of supporting the local businesses and artistic endeavours which keep our small communities vibrant and attrac- tive. Wednesday, August 25, 1999 ko, iiA% P %.4 -Li. -.;,,t.„ a 4, goi?i!IT,i14:? 7- 7, 114' .'•. ditt.041: 1;11;;Iftt *C010wWgir 4,10-**. W°11:11wil)' 21111,r411 ViWt4 sSo.1 Ittki "Exeter!" I .exchtimed to my mother, 'What's in Exeter?" That was my reaction two years ago when I received a call at university from. my mom telling me about a summer job opportunity at the Exeter Times -Advocate. Before that phone call I really only knew two things about this town: 1) their high school had a field hockey dynasty (I played for Medway High School and the Panthers were our biggest rivals) and 2) it was near the Bend. Heck, I didn't even know about the strange presence of mutant squirrels in this highway town. Hailing from the booming metropolis of Granton, we rarely travelled north (would you if you lived in Granton?) and while I had been through villages like Crediton, Dashwood and Hensall, that was as far as my knowledge about them went. Now two summers later, as I packary bags for Carleton University where I'm going to begin a Master's of Journalism program in the fall, I belieNrer how much I'm going to miss this place. When I first came to the T -A, I was thrown head first Into the newspaper- business. Brenda Burke, a former reporter was leaving immediately and I was her tem- porary replacement -- responsible for all of her former beats. Those first couple of Weeks were pretty in While I had a lot of experience with my school news- paper at Wilfrid Laurier University, I wasly ignorant to the inner workings of email town Ontario. Words like- amalgamation. dovvnfnad ng. mill rate met ate squirrel just swirled around and over my bead as I quickly tried to make sense of my new sur - to I'm eternally indebted to my publisher/editor Jim Beckett and the rest of the editorial staff for having so much faith and confidence in me and for letting me handle some of the bigger scoops like South Huron Hospitol's.temporaiy ER closing. Looking back I feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work in such vibrant communities. As an aspiring politicial journalist I have learned journalism and life lessons here; that:I will carry with me the rest of my life. Sure there are lots of things I'm not going to miss. Things like marathon Grand Bend coun- cil meetings (even though Mayor Cam Ivey and co. manage to put on an entertaining show) and making Tuesday morning dead- lines. But I will miss the people and commu- nity spirit here that makes this suck a special place to live. My philosophy has always been: Everyone, no matter who they are, has a story to tell and it's just my job to write it. I've had the opportunity to write so many interesting stories and I'll never forget. people like Gladys (Petty) Smith, the sprey 100 -year-old niece of the founders of Hensall who taught me age is a state of mind, the two Citizen on Patrol volunteers who let me tag along on one of their patrols and Napoleon and Velma. Cantin whose unwavering commitment in keeping St. Joseph's history alive was inspiring. I also have to thank the entire T -A staff, including the pony -tail brigade, for making my time here so memo- rable. We've had a lot of laughs (I won't miss the Granton jokes) and I'm certain I will always look back at my time in Exeter with great fondness. KATHIMINIE H DING ITHAD Ta BEMIS) can't AURA the Titnes-Mivecate Aetirgis Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. 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