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Times-Advocate, 1983-08-10, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, August 10, 1983 imes - Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 I L dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited EORNE EEDY Publisher • JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HA1&GH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A. $56.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' One ahead, two back A rather serious allegation arose during the discus- sion of town staffing last week and it is obviously one that should not be dismissed without some immediate investigation and action. While defending his argument that the works department staff should not be reduced, the town's works superintendent indicated that the current level of work has made it impossible for the staff to main- tain some roads and similar investments with the result that one road surface has been lost due to deterioration and a sizeable investment in a culvert is in jeopardy. Obviously, that is a situation that can not be con- doned in view of the resulting cost to the taxpayers. Improvement projects undertaken at the apparent cost Worthw While donating body organs may be repugnant to some people, a large majority probably have no qualms about what is removed after their death. In fact, many would indicate that they would consider it worthwhile to have those organs used to improve the quality of life (or even life itself) for some recipient. •However, statistics indicate that there still re- mains a critical shortage of such organs as kidneys for the couple of hundred Ontario residents who could be spared from the costly and time consuming ordeal of dialysis if there were sufficient donors. A London kidney specialist, appointed co- chairman of a task force designed to raise awareness of the need for kidney donations, says the problem is not that people don't v'ant to help, but that they can't face the idea of death. As a result they don't give their *CNA of existing roads or culverts is certainly not progress and could be labelled as being one step ahead and two back. While there is little value in any attempt to assess the blame for the situation at this point, it is disconcer- ting to note that there were no decisions made to en- sure that the "problem is going to be immediately corrected. Surely, town policy and subsequently someone's job description should ensure that preventative maintenance is given top priority to protect the in- vestments made in past years. Regardless if it's an error of omission or commis- sion, it's an error that should have been corrected last week. hile gift consent on the optional portion of their driver's licence to donate their organs in case of death. Therefore, half the 400 people in Ontario requiring kidney transplants each year have to continue enduring dialysis treatments. Thanks to new drugs which reduce rejection rates, kidney transplants are close to 90 percent successful. Transplants represent a one-time cost of $15,000 to $20,000 in comparison to the annual cost of $30,000 for dialysis done in hospitals. Successful transplants also mean patients can be healthy, normal, productive peo- ple again. Given that set of circumstances, it is rather disap- pointing that so few willing donors are available. Think about it! Why haven't you signed the con- sent form on your driver's licence? They're showing them Remember that 65 -year-old Swede who could out - exercise, out -run and was generally more fit than a 30 -year-old Canadian? The study that compared the two was instrumental in increasing our awareness of fitness. News of that fit 65 -year-old Swede put a bomb under us, launched the national fitness program, Par- ticipaction, and challenged smug and paunchy Canucks to get outside and get in shape. Several years later though, we've got an asset that is probably turning those 65 -year-old (maybe they are 73 or so now) Swedes green with envy. We've got a group of senior citizens, some of them in their eighties, both men and women, biking their way across Canada. It's an absolutely amazing story; another exam- ple of the sort of energy, determination and willpower that Terry Fox showed the rest of us in his historic run. Oh, they've had the odd injury, the group says. But nothing serious. The senior bike riders recuperate, and re -join the trip. They've picked up at least one senior citizen en route.The ride, and what it says about older peoples' ability and character, in- spired awoman in the west to pack up, get on her bike and join them. With no grant money to speak of, this group of seniors inspires every other senior citizen to think of the possibilities life still holds. And inspiring younger generations' awe and respect. Move over, 65 year-old Swede, for cross-country Canadian bike riders who are older than you. Huron Expositor It's going to be do nothing day Everyone loves a holiday, right? Wrong! While holidays, such as the recently marked Civic Holiday, give most people a welcome rest from their normal work- ing chores, there are a great many peo- ple for whom such events are not welcome, albeit more in retrospect than anything. Practically everyone watches the calendar in anticipation of a holiday, but when it arrives the event is tarnished by having to host unexpected company or undertake some of the yard or home duties that have been held too long in abeyance. For others, the holiday does bring forth the expected pleasures of rest, relaxation or a special outing, but they return to the work place only to find that they have to hustle ,just that much harder to make up for the work that piled up while they en- joyed the time off. Those of us in the weekly newspaper business are in the latter group. Sure, we take off some of the holidays, but often find that it is the occasion for special ac- tivities at which people expect someone to be there with a camera. People with deadlines often get caught in the same way as the chap who had the short blanket, and in an attempt to cor- rect the problem, cut off one end and sew- ed it on the other. The resulting benefits are questionable. There is also a third group for whom holidays are often less that they're crack- ed up to be. Those people find they have to work harder prior to the event to have the supplies on hand for people who have 4 to stock' up for the holidays. As a result they need the holiday to recuperate, let alone try and enjoy it. it's too bad that the world just couldn't !and still for a holiday. That would enable everyone to maintain the same pace prior to the event or after. Unfortunately, it seems that people still have to eat, drink and do a hundred and BATT'N AROUND with the editor one other things on holidays and that ends up making it less than anticipated for those who supply their needs. s $ ♦ • r The foregoing is just an attempt by the writer to justify membership into the American Nothing Foundation (ANF'). That's a group founded with the laudable aim of protesting the tendency to create special days and weeks. You know, there have been so many special days or weeks designated that there is now a serious overlapping. Na- tional donut week has had to share lop billing with save -a -tree week and some groups which have claimed a whole month for their special interests find that each of the 30 or 31 days corresponds with something else. National Nothing Day will be a 24-hour period when people just sit, without honor- ing or celebrating anything. The number of members in ANF in unknown, the group publishes nothing and holds no meetings or conventions. in keeping with the intent of the event, no date has been established. So, you can observe it when you wish. I think i'll mark it down for next Tues- day, although some may claim i've already observed it for this year. In fact, there's a questionable comment about it already developing into a month-long celebration. What do people expect after a guy's been sitting around eating donuts for a week? Regardless of how harshly people may be treated, the sense of humor ap- pears to be almost irrepressible. For ex- ample, most of the jokes circulating in iron Curtain countries deal with shor- tages and lineups at food stores. Here is a story that is purported to be going the rounds in Czechoslovakia lately: A young woman was seeking help for her sick mother and called at a doctor's office, begging him to visit the old lady. At first the doctor declined firmly, saying that he was too busy. But as he studied the young woman a trace of a smile crossed his lips and he .said, "Let's make a bargain. i will treat your mother, but you must give me one entire night." The desperate woman thought it over briefly and agreed to the suggestion, whereupon the doctor said, "Very well, tonight's the night. You will get into the lineup at the meat store at nine and my wife will relieve you at seven tomorrow morning." "Pity to waste all of this incompetence on us - ever consider running for council?" Don't give it another thought Do you have a personal physical problem? Leukemia? Touch of cancer? Heart spasms? Crippling arthritis? Em- physema? Old age? Don't give it another thought. Just contact a fly - in to the northern bush, and your problem will be solved. Permanently. I warned that I'd write another column about my "fishing weekend". Here goes. What kind of people belong tb a "camp" on a lake that you can't get to except by plane or by walking 10 miles through the bush, by the way is like 40 miles on a highway. This is one of the first great lies you'll be told by the old-timers, who sit around drinking tea and talking about the big bear someone shot 40 years ago. How far is it?" you ask in your innocence, as some maniac.suggests you go over to the next lake, through the woods, carry- ing a n,otor for a boat that might be there, because it used to be. "Oh, about a mile", they say nonchalantly. Well, even an old duffer can walk a mile. They haven't lied. Ex- cept to omit the facts that the mile is a mile up -hill, a mile down -hill, a mile to the east, and a mile to the west. Nor have they lied about the bugs. "Better spray on some repellent. Could be a few flies." Did you ever wonder why men who escape from prison and head into the Canadian bush in summer aren't even pursued by the authorities? • They come whimpering out of the nearest road or settlement, pleading to be locked up or shot immediately. Aside from breaking an ankle on the "trail" which is pure jungle interlaced with rocks, a mile trip through the bush would make a session with the Gestapo a Sunday School picnic. Most of us can blow or wave a way a mosquito, swat a fly, demolish a bumblebee with a newspaper. Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley How many of us can an- nihilate a so-called deer fly, the size of a sparrow, who fastens on one's neck, and proceeds to dine leisurely, regardless of swipes at him with tackle boxes, ga- cans, and fishing rods? Well, I can't. And only the lurching, blasphemous, old fighter pilot ahead of me kept every bone in my 63 -year- old frame functioning. Ile was 65. Honor prevailed. We made it, And both politely but firnily refused our old buddy's sprightly request next morning that we take "another little hike" to see "another great lake." But this time, the guests had agreed that one lake looked much like another. What kind of people would do this to you? They weren't Gestapo or KGB or CiA. They were just a bunch of ordinary Cana- dians who. had enough sense to know that bass don't bite in hot weather, and wanted to see what was left of some old fighter pilots whose daring -do the previous night had piqued their curiosity. Boy, we talked a good war, but they won it. Monsters? No. Jack Ryan, a lawyer, was the instigator, and I think he loved every moment of our torture. He probably still hates me for nearly clipping off the tail off his Spitfire about 80 years ago. His other victim was Ren Henderson, another old fighter pilot, an Australian who married 3ndsettled in Canada after the war, hrought up in New Guinea, flew in the Aleutians, instructed fly- ing at Camp I3orden when I was frantically trying to get my wings, flew two tours of Ops in WWII, and is a raving naturalist who says things like, "What is that lovely little lizard on your neck?" Ryan's accomplices wc: a permanent members of the camp. Everybody seemed related. Ilarold and Ken Rogers were half- brothers, with almost three decades between there. Bill Turner, a millionaire who quit school at 15, was a sort of uncle to Andy Simone, a civil servant who can hardly wait to get out. Ryan and I are old bud- dies, based on a brief rela- tionship in Britain about 40 years ago. Ile and llender- son were on the same Spit- fire squadron. ilenderson and I have a mutual old sidekick, Tony Frombola. And so it went. Ryan is the complete Irishman. Life of the par- ty. Never stops working or talking. Listens but doesn't seem to. If he isn't talking, he's singing. Fit as a fiddle. Trust him with my wife or my life. Harold? Old-timer, retired, 84 stories about hunting. crafty poker player. Ken? Can do anything with motors, refrigerators, stoves, you name it. Friendly, open good-hearted, ends every sentence with, "eh?" A real Canadian. • Bill Turner? Hell of a good cook for a rich man. A little to the right of At- tila the Hun socially. Caustic wit, but never wounding. Andy? Looked like he'd wandered in from a Disney picture. Never stopped working. Didn't drink or smoke. Quiet, wit- ty. Sweet -natured. Dumb like a fox at poker. "Whadda I do now?" and he's sitting there with four aces. i could write a column about this weekend, but of course i won't. Just a couple of general observations. The language was the worst since the last day in the teachers' lounge. Yet everybody's wife was sacred. No suggestive remarks. Only bouquets . And Bill Turner's wife, Flo, makes the best ?&%$"! marmalade in Texas. She cuts every single strip of orange by hand, even though Bill tells her it's !$%&'?:& stupid. She does. And maybe it is. But 1 wouldn't trade it. Ryan, 'i'll get you for this. Turn over the legal affairs of my entire fami- ly to you. That'll flip your flaps. Ready for band concerts During the last twenty years or so i've been a member of the Forest Ex- celsior Band. Oh there were a few years in there when we didn't live in Forest and 1 didn't actual- ly belong to it but for a good part of the time i've played along with. a fine group of people in a lot of different concerts. The hand has changed a lot over the years. At one point we used to be a mar- ching hand as well as a concert band. When i first joined we had those heavy red uniforms similar to the ones that the RCR ar- my band have. ('an you imagine what it was like The style of music has changed a lot 100 over the years. At one time the Perspectives marching down Front Street in Sarnia on a hot July day in one of those tunics. r, By Syd Fletcher band played a great Ileal of classical and semi- classical pieces with a few marches and polkas thrown in for variety. Now we still play some of the classical music but it is in- terspersed with a variety of tunes by contemporary composers like henry Mancini and titles like Dixieland Jamboree for Big Band. Next year, during its centennial, the hand will be playing a number of concerts through South - Western Ontario. if you enjoy music you'll pro- bably have fun at one of out concerts. Hope to see you there!