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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-11-26, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, November 26, 1997 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lorl Advertising; Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy News• Heather Mir, Kate Monk, Craig Bradford, Chantall Van Raay, Ross Haugh Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner TransQprtation.; Al Flynn, Al Hodgert Front Office & Accounting; Sue Rollings, Carol Windsor Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple, Ruth Slight, Sheila Corbett The Exeter Times Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership EDITORIAL Publications Mail Registration Numt>dr 07511 SUBSCRIPTION RATES; One year rate for Canada subscribers - 835.00 + QST Two year rate for Canada subscribers = 863.00 + BST OTHER RATES 'r,erxN coMNrrr Outside Canada - 8102.00 Qr p 4444s ni+oc�,! Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM SS8 by 1.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-23S-1331 • Fax: 519-235-0788 G.S.T. *R1052101135 Time to end the conspiracy of silence ometimes you wonder where this world k headed. Recent news reports included a story of a man charged with having a huge collection of child pornography. A woman is awaiting trial for sexually as- saulting a very young child. A man who is a former municipal council member, has been convicted of sexual- ly assaulting a woman. A man who was sexually abused as a child jumped,pff a. bridge after courts decided two years in jail was a suitable punishment for his abuser - two years for ruining a per- son's lite. It is enough to slake you sick. What is happening to our society? Actually. nothing. This sort of thing has been going on for a long time. The only thing new is we are finding out about it. In Victorian times, male homosexuali- ty was regarded as a crime, but female homosexuality wasn't, because the Vic- toria refused to believe women ''did things like that". In Victorian times, sexual abuse of children was rampant, but "proper" folk would not mention a piano ]leg in polite company, for fear _ such an anatomical' statement would be offensive. It you didn't talk about it, it didn't ex- ist. If you didn't look at it, it wasn't there. Except it was. Enter the mass media. Victorian society could keep its dirty secrets, but this society cannot. People can, and do, complain about the intru- siveness of the press, but there is a lot of dirty linen being shaken out and hung up in the sunshine that has needed a good airing fora longtime. The police tell us people who commit sexual assaults on children typically of - tend many times hcfore they finally go before the courts. And once released from jail, they usually reoffend. Why? They become accustomed to getting away with their crimes. The conspiracy of silence protects not the victims but the criminal. You can't fight and come to terms with something that no one ad- mits happened. The victim cannot be, helped; the offender cannot be stopped. That conspiracy of silence has hidden the true extent of sexual assault, incest, child abuse and other crimes for too long. An odd thing happens when the public reads a report in the newspaper that a sexual predator has been operating in a community. More victims usually 'step forward. It is as if by openly con- demning the criminal, society frees the victims of humiliation and self -blame and puts responsibility for the crime right where it belongs - onto the crimi- nal., • Sexual victimization of a young child - or any other helpless person - is a crime that flourishes in the darkness. Society's refusal to look at such crimes is, the best protection an offender could ever have. Seeing a crime creates the need to do something to stop it. And that -is-what has been happening to'our society. The doors are open, the light is shining in. The victim is no longer the one cower- ing"in terror that "someone will find out". Distribution of child pornography via the Internet is nothing more than a new venue for an old crime. This society is not too squeamish to admit it occurs. Our courts are not too squeamish to con- vict. And we in the press will continue to publish, despite being called paparaz- zi on occasion, and despite being told we sometimes cross the line of "good taste". Reghinsed Jrunr Sau 'een City Nov. 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. i 47 Missiles and musings By Craig Bradford The postal strike/retail conspiracy I firmly believe the postal strike is a sly, conspiracy concocted by the postal union and big retailers. Now before you run down to the T -A,' put me in a straight, jacket and haul me off to the nearest psy- chiatric hospital, read me oris. I received a whack of bills last Monday, (Inc day before the postal strike was announced. While some of the bills came `from credit card companies. most were bills from hig retail chains. - Those retailers were sure to get their hills out hcfore the strike was called. interesting. How, did they know to send out those bills a few days in advance before the strike was called so thy would arrive just in time at their destinations? A View from Queen's Park By Eric Dowd • it's a conspiracy, i tell you. Now 1 have to pay those bills that came via Canada Poi t in Kt -son because if i send cheques in the mail they might collect dust in the mail box or sorting plants for wscks. if 1 choose to sit on, the bills and wait, I'II get late payment notices. prob- ably by courier, from the retailers' herrn counters and all the while my credit cards keep accumulating in- terest. Paying the hills in person is the crowning achievement of the con- spiracy. Because i have to make the special trek to London to those hig retail chains. why not kill two birds with one stamp by doing my Christmas shopping at those stores as well? Makes total sense. to me...and those conspirators. What docs the postal union get • out of this shadowy deal? Its work- ers keep collecting pay cheques with a -lower work -load for -a while; - then a paid vacation (though at only 60 per cent of their normal working wage). . Just forget those reports that the strike is over wages and job securi- ty and all that junk (mail) other media including this particular out- let tells you. It's a conspiracy. Speaking of Christmas shopping. 1 am probably the only red- blooded, all -Canadian piale in the tri -county arca that has -half of his Christmas shopping done already. - The cat; s out of the shopping hag now. Yes, i actually enjoy shop- ping to find the perfect holiday gifts for my loved ones. i even don't mind dueling Mrs. Martha Stewart-wannabe in 'the BIG MALL parking lot for the last spot in that postal code. But, of course. I go about my shopping in a very male manner. i have a master gift -list 1 check and update frequently; i systematically plan when and -where 1'11 shop to make the most efficient use of my time; and i get a testosterone rush each time 1 nab the last item in stock over a less up -to -the - challenge shopper. ' But it hasn't always hcen this way. 1 was like every other male out there on Christmas Eve in the BiG MALL wandering around with glared eyes with all my Christmas shopping in front of me and no clue as to where to begin. That method, too, is a macho af- fair. But why the big change -in my shopping strategy? Mail order catalogues. That evil junk mail (there are multiple themes here) people order their post office to chuck before it reaches their unsullied hands forced me to change my shopping ways. Bored while waiting for a phone call one day two falls ago, I flipped through a mail order gift catalogue. Not even thinking of the fast - approaching Christmas shopping season, I was hit out of left field with the. perfect gift for a loved one. Upon reading the instructions on how to order the item, I found out I had to place my order before such and such date to make sure the company could ship it from Idaho or wherever to make it to my home in time for Christmas. Ever since, I have been a .self - Starter with' Christmas shopping. Men, you too can break out of the last minute mold and prevent that almost heart attack at the BIG MALL. Just go about shopping like it was an air attack on Bagh- dad and you'll he fine. - And by the way, before 1 hear ma and pa shop owner cancelling their T -A subscriptions, just know I go out of my way to do all the shopping 1 can at local stores. That's one way to foil those con- spirators. TORONTO -- Ontario's teachers have ended their first province -wide strike, but there is no sense that their war with Premier Mike Harris is over or that there is a winner. Teachers still wear ribbons and buttons seek- ing support for their view of education, parade outside the legislature and Progressive Conser- vative MPPs' offices, sit on floors in govern- ment buildings, link hands in 20 -kilometre shows of strength and hold meetings to inform parents on their aims. Most debate in the legislature, where streams of students interjecting support for teachers are being ejected, is on the fight between govern- ment and teachers. Han -is has a big enough majority in the legis- lature to get approval for any legislation he wants and probably thought this issue would fade quickly, as have most previous, more dec- orous public service strikes. But the teachers and their supporters, who in- clude both opposition parties, are continuing the fight because they have drawn blood. A few months ago most people, who had been forced to tighten their own belts, appeared to feel justi- fiably that teachers were pampered with their short working hours and generous salaries and pensions, but polls now suggest a strong majori- ty sides with teachers. -Most probably still back Harris on his basic aims, such as forcing teachers to work longer in classrooms, reducing professional development days and using non-,eachers to instruct in some specialized subjects. But the teachers have gained support partly be- cause they have focussed concern on, and made as their main issue, Harris's second thrust, which is to take virtual control of local education, as essential to dramatically reducing cost, and di- rect it from Queen's Park. Many voted for Harris because he promised to get big government out of their lives and partic- ularly in rural areas and small towns they are be- coming alarmed that he will take away power from local boards over which they had some in- fluence and dictate the entire education system War from downtown Toronto. The teachers have flushed half a dozen of Harris's backbench MPPs into the open to admit that they have similar worries about his plan to centralize control over education in the govern- ment, which means his own office. They see it as too much power to give a premier, and know many of their constituents are unhappy. if these MPPs are willing to risk Harris's well-known anger at those who dissent, obvi- ously many of their colleagues quietly share their worries and together they have a huge number of constituents who are concemed at Harris's plan. The teachers have cast new doubt on the gov- ernment's credibility. Recently -appointed Edu- cation Minister David Johnson kept denying it had a specific target for cutting education spending, but a confidential government docu- ment and Hams have both confirmed it planned all along to cut about $700 million. The government was caught telling conflict- ing stories and Johnson, considered a straight shooter and its most respected minister and who had been brought in to rescue education, has had his 'useful reputation damaged, a high price to pay. ,This has opened another division among the Tories, with several backbenchers complaining they were never told of the target and should have been, and Harris is looking as if he never asks his caucus about anything. The teachers have been encouraged by a judge who in dismissing Harris's request for an injunction to end their strike praised them as peaceful and deeply committed to educating their students. They also have been fortified by principals who have prestige and leaped to stand with teachers and their worries about Harris's plans, when they more comfortably could have have sat on the fence. The teachers,, are still underdogs, but they have grounds to keep fighting and their most hopeful is that a growing number of Harris's friends are barking with them.