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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1984-05-09, Page 4Pal 4. Time -Advocate, May 9, 1984 dvocate Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publisher . JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager Bill. BATTEN ROSS HAUGH Editor Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager DICK JQNGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $22.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' • Stake your claim While few people can expect to have their names recorded for posterity in history books, residents of Huron County are not among them. • County residents, regardless of their fame or infamy, can ensure that their names will be viewed by their predecessors for decades to come by being included in the atlas which is being published as part of Huron's bicentennial activities. There's a small fee attached, but it is nominal in considering the longevity that could be attained by the printed record of Huron in 1984. However, there's also one small catch. Deadline for the publication (at.least for reserving space) is May 15, so any delay will negate your opportunity to be in- cluded in what should be an important and interesting chronicle of people and places that will be a future reference source. You can reserve a space now...or join the long list of people who will literally kick themselves when they see the finished product and realize they missed.out on an easy opportunity to be a part of recorded history. Dialogue must continue "For whatever reason --politics, the recession -- there has been a dramatic increase in dialogue bet ween business and the government." That's the comment from Sam Hughes, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and it signals a situation that should be beneficial to the nation, regardless of the reasons. - It signifies that politicians are at least acknowledg- , ing the fact that the nation's future, to say nothing of their own, is tied very closely to the support from, and the well-being of, business.'That, of course, is both big and small business. During the boon years, politicians and businesses often went their separate ways, neither particularly concerned about the philosophies of the other. Each managed to succeed, often in spite of the other. However, during tougher economic times, it is evi- dent that there must be greater cooperation between the two, with politicians in particular having to recognize the inescapable truth that the non-public sec- tors of the economy form the vanguard in righting the present employment problems in Canada. By the same token, it is discouraging to learn about the huge management bonuses the auto industry is awarding to celebrate record profits, part of which were attained through government action to restrict Japanese imports. The bonuses, of course, will prompt the UAW to seek sizeable salary gains for auto workers and off the industry in total will go on another inflationary merry- go-round that could prompt some future government . to consider wage and price controls to combat the inflation. Obviously, the increased dialogue between business and government hasn't solved all the pro- blems yet. Welcome to new era Canada's courts may soon join the 20th century if recommendations from the Law Reform Commis- sion to harness videotape technology are accepted. A working paper which outlines the tentative views of the Commission, recommends that videotapes be us- ed to record statements and confessions made by suspects. That would serve as an alternative to the current procedure used throughout Canada in which the suspect's comments are written by a police officer in a notebook or are typed by the officer on a standar- dized form. The working paper argues correctly that the use of audio and video technology would provide a substan- tial improvement over those current procedures. Among the advantages would be shorter trials, a more accurate record of what was actually said and the circumstances in which the statement was made, and protection for police officers from unwarranted allegations of misconduct. . Videotaping of confessions is now routinely carried out in many areas of the U.S. and the technology is quickly spreading into a variety of other court purposes such as filming of crime scenes, surveillances and sobriety tests. Obviously, any system that can be properly employed to provide more accurate, more expeditious and higher quality justice should be given every con- sideration, particularlywhen they provide benefits for all parties concerned. - Watch for deception by omission If you remember when Jackie Gleason's "How Sweet it is" was a positive comment on a situation, you pro- bably were born in the era before sugar was pronounced one of the world's most fearsome pestilences. Sugar has been blamed for a variety of ills, ranging from obesity, heart disease and diabetes through to learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency. . It is therefore no surprising that the Canadian Sugar Institute has established a network of professional consultants across the country to assist in informing the public about the scientific evidence that is available on the health aspects of sugar as a food ingredient, and to close the gap between what the public believes and what the scientific community is say- ing about sugar and health. To that end, one of those consultants, Joan Fielden, arrived in my office last week with an armload of material on sugar. She's the national co-ordinator for the Institute's public education program. While I felt some duty to throw a few hard-nosed questions at her about sugar, it was done with the realization she was basically preaching to the convert ,d. I've long been an advocate of not using a spoonful of sugar on cereal if you can get away with using two and a carrot stick for a between -meal snack has never taken precedence over something sweet and gooey. In view of recent health problems and sizeable dental bills I probably don't carry much credibility when it comes to backing up the contention that sugar is an unfairly maligned product. .• Far be it for this writer to attempt to sort out the fact and fiction related to sugar...or any other product for that matter. Among the pile of information left by 1 Miss Heiden was a reprint from an American magazine in which a noted doc- tor was quoted as saying that "85 percent of the nutritional information the public receives is false." • Included in the comments of Dr. Victor Ilerbert was one in which he suggests that BATT'N AROUND with the editor a ploy of firms involved in nutritional quackery "is to get responsible spokesmen for irresponsible products". "The use of a legitimate name in connec- tion with a non -legitimate product lends credibility, " he says, noting that he turn- ed down an offer of $2,000 a day to be a spokesman for a health food chain. While sugar is obviously not a non - legitimate product,. I find it rather in- congruous that the Sugar Institute would include such comments in its package of information because it tends to make one question the credibility of the people who are attempting to waylay some of the con - culls about sugar. 3kffice it to say there are hazards in eating or drinking too much of any food or liquid and those who wish to avoid the f, hazard should follow a well-balanced diet as set out in the Canada Food Guide... and brush their teeth after doing so. It is interesting to note that the Nutri- tion Canada Survey indicated that half or more of the adult population is ov 'rweight, and while some would blame i sugar intake for part of that problem, it may not be a fair accusation. The department of national health and welfare points out that those who are overweight, and those who are not, do not differ greatly in the number of calories they consume. The main cause (of being overweight) is likely to be a sedentary life and, therfore, both factors, caloric intake and physical activity, need to he considered. . * Getting back to Dr. Herbert, he notes that many nutrition frauds are based on deception by omission. In other words, what they tell you is true, but it is rendered useless by what they don't tell you. As an example he notes that one pro- duct being sold as a treatement for herpes was backed by claims that 40 out of 50 herpes sufferers were symptom free after using the product for a month. Experts conducted the same test with the product and also had another similar group who were given dummy pills. The results after one month were identical for both groups. Other nutrition misinformation arises from failure to separate cause and effect from coincidence. A doctor aavoctes vitamin B injections to trail hyperactive children and Ilerbert replies that "Sure, you giwio painful shot in the butt to acid and thre ten you'll do it again if heftisbehaves, and of course the kid will behave." His final comment is that nutrition fads are not "alternative" medicine. "Any competent physician will use any remedy that works -- you just have to prove that it works. It must be evaluated by professionals." It's a point that those who rush out to buy the latest fad diet book should consider. And you can have it Well, I've been to Florida, after years of denigrating those cowards who flee the true north, strong and freezing, to loll around on beaches, amidst palm trees, acquir- ing tans which are suppos- ed to make us hewers of snowbanks and drawers of rusty fenders feel like an inferior breed, beyond the pale, across the tracks. You can have it. They may be more comfortable, out of doors in March, than we are, but they're no happier. They all talk about their weather, which isn't that great, when you add up the cost of getting there, their cars, their houses, their rotten kids, and all their old friends who died • last year. Just like us. I lolled around on exact- ly two beaches. In both cases, the water was too cold to swim in, except for little kids and crazy old ladies. You had to be smeared from head to toe in goop or the sun, if it happened to be out, would burp you to a potato chip. If I never saw another palm tree, I would not weep. They are ugly, misshapen things, on the whole, with nothing of the elegance of a maple or an oak. There is one type that is rather impressive, soar- ing up like something in the South Pacific, -but most are grubby little things that have to be clip- ped or trimmed, and the fronds hauled away. Just like home; except that I'd rather deal with autumn leaves than palm tree clippings. And you don't clip -them. You need a chainsaw, unless you're Tarzan. Show me a palm frond and I'll show you a pile of dry leaves, burning scarletly on a crisp Oc- tober evening. As far as a tan goes', I got a dandy. My nose and My little brother, The Colonel, put me up, or put up with me, for ten days out of the fourteen I wasted. Before I arrived, he'd had my daughter Kim and the boys, Nikov and Ben, for two days. Before that, he'd had my . Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley my knees and the tops of my feet peeled. Other- wise, I came home as white as the belly of a fish, with a few freckles across the shoulders. Back to the people. The Canadians who go to Florida, that is. They're rather a sad lot. And they're everywhere. They think they are having a hell of a time. They delight in telling you that it is 68 degrees F and it's -4 degrees F back in Canada. That's after you've slipped on a sweater and put on some long pants, while they sit around, growing goose -pimples because they insist qn wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. They unabashedly brag about their accommoda- tion. They seem to eat out every night. They run around in traffic that I wouldn't even attempt, driving forty miles to a "great restaurant" which serves fair food at arm - and -leg prices. Pity them. sister for about two weeks. He is extremely generous and hospitable, but by the time I got there, he was a little on edge, and I don't blame him. In his place, I'd have just moved out, into a motel, and said, "Help yourselves." But he pressed on, cook- ing special meals, taking people out to dinner, at great expense, and trying to convince me that I was hopelessly incompetent. We'd both lost our mate in the past seven months. He also had a dog, Cyn- dy, a big golden retriever, and a step -son, a big, golden boy with a cheerful charm and the awkward- ness and laziness of all teenagers who like sleep- ing in, eating like alligators, and forgetting everything serious they are supposed to do. In addition, he had a house, which seemed to be surrounded by jungle, and sixty-four glass doors which he kept so highly Hang in there, Back in the twenties it wasn't fashionable for girls to go to high school, especially when times were tough and every bit of money coming into the house was a necessity. Dorothy Lewis realized that and although she would have given her eyeteeth to stay and get an education she went to work in one of the knitting mills, sweat shops they called them because of the terrible heat turned out by the big machines. Pennies an hour was all she made and the clays were long. Dorothy never backed away from hard work, slogging beside her hus- band to build their first home even though she was pregnant, driving many a nail into the walls of the old houses that they bought, renovated and resold to subsidize their in- come as small town ministers,Many other jobs she worked at faithfully in order to con - polished that I frequently ran straight into one, thinking it was open. I have a large bump on my forehead to prove it. The glass doors were constant- ly being locked and unlocked, an unnerving experience for a guy who scarcely ever locks anything. He has to tackle that jungle, take the dog everywhere with him, and worry about his step -son's marks, attitude, motiva- tion, and whether he'll get home tonight from the barbecue or whatever. My poor little brudder. Well, I finally took a lit- tle pressure off him by ac- cepting an invitation from a couple of old friends who lived not too far away. My brother said, "He's all yours. I can't do anything more." This was after he'd arranged flights, a rental car and a motel where there were no ren- tal motels, near Disney World. Two days at Disney World nearly finished me: Ben, the whirling Dervish, and Nikov, who wanted to ride anything that would scare the wits out of a human being. And Kim, who seemed inexhausti- ble, and wanted to get their money's worth. Spent the final two days with the old friends, went to a cocktail party, was fed on such as fresh melon and strawberries, and lines up a door-to-door limousine service from there to home. Some incompetent. Maybe I will go back. Sometime. mom fully as if there was a huge crowd in front of her, go- ing visiting dying patients in the hospital and bearing Perspectives By Syd Fletcher tinue on in what she con- sidered as her true professions. The first of these as minister's wife she always seemed to do easily, giv- ing encouragement when there were as many peo- ple in her family as the whole remainder of the congregation and the col- lection was correspon- dingly small, coming back the next Sunday as cheer - the sorrow with the families. Many times. The second profession though has not been the easiest one, trying to raise three boys, all strong- minded and stubborn. Ex- cept me, of course. All persisting in doing things which have no doubt given her some hours of worry. (Maybe one or two for me). Each of us knows though that she spent many long hours trying to instil in us basic principles of decency showing us her love and respect and per- sonal acquaintance with God. In so doing we became aware of how much she cared for us leaving us always a feel- ing that we were wanted and needed despite our many shortcomings. I don't think there's anything better she could have given us. And you mothers out there who sometimes feel frustrated with the diapers and vacuum cleaners and P.T.A. meetings and ironing and bed -making and squalling kids and lack of praise... Hang in there! Without • your concern and caring 'and support this world would be a pret- ty rotten place. Happy Mother's Day!