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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1972-02-03, Page 9The Better Haif The news media are so frequently ac- cused of featurh only the negative side of things that we feel duty-bound to comment on .the formation of a snowmobile rescue ser - 1,e.. The new organization has been banded together under the auspices of the Wingham and District S wmobile Association and will be prepared'on any day or hour to re- spond to calls for the services of snow- mobiles and their operators. The -provincial and local police offices will• be the contact points. I't is quite true that the occasional "freaky" snowmobile operator is the one who gets : himself into the news. News, after all, is based on reporting of the unusual, in whatever form it may occur and we are the • first to agree that the vast .majority of snow - mobile river's' are plain, ordinary decent folks. The heavy storms last winter, when families and even the student bodies of several' schools were stranded by impass- able roads, proved the, merits of the snow machines and the public spiritedness of many snowmobile owners. Thousands of them were out in the blizzards on errands of mercy when the weather was -at its worst. The organization of a properly consti- tuted rescue service is a commendable move. With a -responsible executive and a pre' arranged system for „organizinrescue missions, the new group will add one more measure of protection against the hazards of winter in the snow belt. It undeniable proof of the intention of most snowmobile owners to continue their role as good citizens. Need for Better Planning The coroner who presided over the in- quest into the death of an Ayton man in a truck -train collision near Neustadt recently scored some telling points. He lashed out at the Canadian Transportation Commission • for inadequate safety precautions at the crossing where the fatality occurred. It seems that there is a sharp hill at the approach to the crossing, which minimizes the distance in whichto see the warning flashers. It was also stated that at certain times of day it is difficult to see the red Light because a driver is facing into the sun. The county road department was also scored for inadequate sanding of the road surface. • The coroner could be right. In fact, when y'ou stop to think about such safety equip - 1{ . A ,10 ment, have you ever wondered why the warning lights for a rail crossing are not placed 500 or 1,000 feet up the road from the track so drivers would have more time to stop their vehicles? This winter the department of highways has been paying for frequent commercials on TV. They are presented in the currently popular kidding fashion—something about building faster snowplows so cars will not strike them from the rear, etc. We wonder if anyone in the same depart- ment ever dreamed of, the possibility of trail- ing their flashing blue light on a two -wheeled cart well to the rear of the plow. It would cost .a bit and it would have to be reeled in at. times, but it might save lives. Regulations Need Review A couple of.weeks ago an old woman was found dead in her home in one of our Ontario cities. When neighbors finally decided that lack of activity about_, the place indicated the need for action,. it was discovered that this elderly person, who lived alone, had been dead forapproximately a month. • ' It is chilling enough to realize that an elderly woman could be so completely alone in the world that her death would remain un- noticed for -that length of time -but the grisly facts were made unbelieveably worse when "it was learned that electric service to her home had been cut off and she had apparent- ly either frozen or starved for lack of cooking facilities, - The .p.ublig utilities representati-ve who was questioned, said that it was the custom to cut off service for only one day when pay- ment was not received, but that through some oversight •irnthis case there was no further check of the home or its owner. ' Obviously no responsible utilities official would knowinglylet any person, young or old, freeze or:starve because of an unpaid hill. However, electric,water and in some case's ,telephone services are of vital import ince. Thecorporations which are respon- sible for the supply of such services must, of course,.Thave the right to withdraw them when payment is overdue, but it would ap- pear fairly plain that no such service should be cut without prior knowledge -of the cir- cumstances of the residents in the home. In smaller communities like ours we can scarcely imagine such a possibility, for al- most invariably utilities personnel ,are ac- quainted with the residents of every home they srve. In the large cities it is a different matter. Frequently next-door neighbors are totally unknown to one another. - In a home where old people, those who are sick or disabled are in residence cutting off even telephone service, much less elec- tricity, could create a dangerous hardship. If the utilities firms have the manpower to send a workman out to physically discon- nect the service, it should also have a re-, sponsibleofficer to make certain in advance that no life will. be endangered by such ac- tion. The negligence which permitted a power cut-off to take the life of the woman inour story is an • act of criminal disregard for human safety and should be dealt with ac- cordingly. Tradition Is Slow to Change A clergyman in the United States has come under Considerable criticism after the publication of a picture which showed him dancing in the aisle of his church with one of his younger parishioners., We are too far from the scene to vouch for the' truth of the explanation that the dance was a part of the service of worship and was not intendedin any way as a sacrilegious act. - Whether the clergyman in question was just a jolly old swinger or a sincere man of God is beside the point. The thought which came' to rrtjnd was the tenacity with which human beings stick to the old and accepted traditions. Of course that is the point that many of our bearded and beaded younger set have been trying to make for the past ten years. It is an accepted custom in our Christian churches t&sing in praise of the Creator. We forget that dancing is also a form of human expression. In many parts of the world danc-' ing is farmore widely accepted than singing as a means of worship. +. • Nor have our present forms of music al- ways been acceptable within the walls of our churches. Indeed; in some houses of worship, probably right, in this community, there was a tremendous shock wave when the first organs were suggested to replace a choir leader whose only instrument was a tuning fork with which. to strike the.pitch, 4 Perhaps in some far-off day mankind will finally admit that how; where and when a man worships: his Maker is his own busi- ness. • Change in Priories Quite a few Ontario communities have been shocked to earn that the provincial. government is cutting back on road and street subsidies for the coming year. The curtailment of funds will certainly mean that repair and rebuilding programs will either be pared down or local residents willfoot the bill ata higher rate through municipal taxes. Perhaps this reduction in road subsidies is not all that bad. Every citizen who is proud of his community .likes to drive on 'good roads—but it is possible that we have been A maintaining our driving priorities at a much higher level than we will grant to other and i more essential services. Good 'roads.tend to attract votes for the party in power. Money spent on hospitals for the menially disturbed or on housing im- provements or day care centres in slum areas doesn4 create nearly as much favor- able publicity. There may' be many places where increased government assistance is desperately needed. One of these, of course, is the creation of jobs for the many who are unemployed at the present time. Federal and provincial governments have been forced to divert large sums to this effort—so it is obvious that other expenditures . will have to be trimmed back. • When you really get right down to brass tacks even poor roads and streets are not en- tirely unacceptable. We have often heard the groaning complaints of people who lived on at Ctreet that was, pitted with potholes. It is a ommon occurrence for councillors to face the sharp criticism of those who think their particular street or road is.being'neglected: At the same time we have also observed that the children who lived on those same streets had a better than -average chance of survival because motor traffic was forced to slow down in order to negotiate the rough terrain. Smooth.streets are just great -but none of us will expire if they aren't maintained right up to the peak of perfection. THE WINGHAM ADVANCE -TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited. Barry Wenger, President Robert O. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer Member Audit Bureau. of Circulations Member Canadian and Ontario Weekly .Newspaper Associations. Subscription Rate: n Subscription $10.00 a year, $5.50 tor–six months, in United States $12.50 in advance Second Class Mail Registration No .0821 Return Postage Guaranteed LETTERS To"! EDITOR Wingham, Qatt January 31,, Dear Mr. Editor: I was very pleased to re the Wingham Advance*** that thb town of Wingham fid. purchased the old Post Offlee, This I feel was great as it °if.11 beautiful old huilding. I Understand they are going, tQ, Make it into a Day Care Candie One thing I do hope that • they will do is have the clock fixed`;sti". that it will run again. 1 always have felt that it should have beeii kept going and I am sure that, there are many people that Wile • agree with me on that. T� lookup. at it and see the correct time and, hear its loud strike I am sure was; a great pleasure to the towns, people. - Hoping that some day we will see the clock in operation again. Sincerely yours, Mrs. NormanShiell. January 21, 1972 Dear Sir: We are receiving an increasing number of enquiries as to what is being done and what Can be done to assist the returning refugees and other desperately needy peo- ple in the newly -established state of Bangla Desh. We would be grateful if you would make avail- able in your newspaper the space necessary to relate what CARE is doing -and hopes.to do to provide immediate relief , and continuing rehabilitation for those unfortun- ate victims of the disastrous events described so vividly in'the news media over the past several weeks. Despite the evacuation df the majority of foreign -personnel (both government and private agencies) during the height of the emergency,' CARE Director Henry Selz, and Assistant Direc- tor, David Van Zant, were able to remain in Dacca throughout. Al- though Mr. Selz was wounded by a stray bullet during a final skir- mish in the center of Dacca, he has recovered fully and has Con- tinued to meet regularly with Bangla Desh officials in an • at- tempt to establish priorities and work out methods for. mobilizing all the available resources for the relief of those in most urgent need. Daniel Roth, the head of the CARE -UNICEF Team. is also in Dacca and negotiations are un- derway for the return of the CARE -UNICEF Team which was evacuated during the height of the conflict. - In a communication received directly from Mr. Selz last week, we learned that the Government of Bangla Desh has informed him its priority relief and rehabilita- lion needs are for food grains. transportation and housing ma- terials. Since both UNICEF and CARE have .supplies. stockpiled and enroute by sea, we anticipate an early start being made in the distributionof food stocks in those areas which can be reached by available transportation. Mr. Selz also reports that he expects to be .able to continue the Cinva ram housing program in high- priority resettlement areas where 'massive destruction of inn dividual, homes has taken place. Cinva-ram block -making ma- chines will be made available to familiestwho can make enough' building blocks of compacted earth to construct permanent flood -proof homes. CARE has available at the moment almost a million. dollars in Canadian and U.S. 'funds to make a significant start in this gigantic undertaking but this is, of course, only a Small fraction .of the estimated three billion dollars needed just to get the country back to its 1969-70 economic level (when the per capita annual income was still an abysmally inadequate $30). With an estimated six millions homes destroyed and 'one million four hundred thousand farm families without tools oranimals to work the land, all available resources from governments and private agencies will be required to pre- vent an already disastrous' situa- tion from becoming the greatest human tragedy in the history of mankind. There should be, there fore, no h®sitation on the part ot any Canadian, whatever his in come, to make some sacrifice - towards alleviating the misery c►f millions. The transportation of collected food or blankets presents a monumental problem but money can be transmitted easily. We therefore recommend that every- one who reads this message make an immediate donation to the agency of his or her choice. If CARE is your choice, the address is 63 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Kil' 5A6, the designation is CARE Rangla flesh. Yours sincerely. Thomas Kinec. National Director "Sorry, we don't have any pot ted geraniums," the clerk said. and then added helpfully, "Could you use African violets?" "No," replied the man sadly. "it was geraniums my wife told me to water while she was•gone " A SINGING GROUP froth Teeswater known as The Good - In -ten tions, introduced by ,Jan`et Whitehead get the Lions Talent Hunt show on the road with rousing selections' -This group was one of the four winners chosen to appear in \the final competition in April. --Staff Photo. ktbancieff imke Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, February 3, 1972 SECOND SECTION 'AIOW cCHE YOU C4i2 UA/CLE ,70e a '141/NO' WHEN HE DE/Nks WDM", BUT Wr, Z yEi /o WHEt/ #'/E Dl/NK3 RYE' ' TODAY'S CHILD BY HELEN ALLEN HE NEEDS A Four \ear oid•}lughic sloes not realize he is a little ho,v without a family . but he does know he has a problem - ver pour eyesight :1t first. it was feared his sight would become even worse and that he would heeome blind This does not 119W,, appear to he ttw case. because his vision is improving., it anything lie can see wtVll enough to appreciate children's television programs. and JO look at picture books Like most small hoes. llughle delights in playing with cars He enjoys music and ottcn dances to records Nonetheless. NO has many frustrations over things he can't cope with because he doesn•t se,e t hem properl,� His difficulties have made 11nghie a timid youngster. very dependent on his Coster family Rut he has been attending a special nursery school with help from the Canadian National institute tor - the Blind where his teacher s A s he is making great progress This dear small fellow needs special parents - parents who will meet the challenge ot helping a child with a disability to live as normal a lite as possible Ile should be the youngest or the onIt child in a lamp; To inquire about adopt ing Hughie. please write to Today's Child. Box 888. Station K. Toronto. For general adoption information ask your Children's Aid Society FAMILY' How to Deal With Women Lib What with this being Leap Year, and all, and the Women's Lib growing ever and ever. more shrill, it could be a bad year for the gentle • sex : men. Not that f ever did hold much :With . that Leap Year business. There might have been some merit in the idea that once every four years, a lass could pick her lad, in bygone times. But• it is my conviction, based on careful observation, that the custom is out of, date. In 'these times, it' a girl sets her eye .on a likely Candidate, she whips her tentacles -around him, hangs on until he stops struggling, and car- ries him home -to be devoured, with utter disregard of whether or not the year can be divided by four. Now 'he Women's fib niove- ment is another thing. There's scarcely a man in the country who dares make a crack ..about women.any more. He knows that the'.slightest slight will result in his head either being blown off by a grapeshot charge of vitupera- tion, or sliced off by the guillotine -edge of irony. These dames are dangerous, and they fight under their own rules. ' The only people who can stand up to them are other women, who knowa good deal when they have one, and don't believe in Wo- men'.s Lib. That's one of the things that might make it a rough year. If the two factions go at it hammer and tongs some day', what's a man to • do? He's going to be caught in the, cross-fire, no matter what he says. . If he supports Women's Lib through altruistic mdtives (like maybe his wife is a believer), he is liable to find that she will turn on him in scorn and denounce him as a boot-licker who is trying to get in on the ground floor of the revolution. If he attacks the movement from profound conviction (like maybe his„wife is against it), he is liable to find that she'll turn on him .in fury because it turns out that he.really is a male chauvin- ist pig, after all. That old saying about "sisters under the skin” is not to be sneered at. Not in these troubled times. ' I repeat, what is a..m4n to do? There was a time, not so long ago, whets `the 'male' of the species could retreat to some -sort of a simulated dugout when women got into a flap; his club, the Le- gion Hall, a bar, the poolroom, Not any more. The women have infiltrated every one of these homes -away -from -home,: and there's no place to hide. Men are constantly and plain° tively asking about Women the rather bewildered question that Anglo -Canadians have used so oft inrecent years about the Quebec- ois"What is it they want, any- way?... And getting the same non -answer. At the risk, nay. the,certainty of being assailed from- every direction that is illogical, I'll put my life on the firing -line, while the rest of you cowards skulk be- hind your wives, common-law or otherwise. • What is it that women want? Neighing much, really. Just everything they can get..I don't just mean material things, though I've never met a bird yet who wasn't convinced that one in the hand is worth two in the bush, whether they're dealing with fur coats, colour TV, labour-saving devices, new drapes—or men. But those are not important among their wants. The things they are really seeking are on a much higher plane. Forernost, they want a strong man. This is half the fun of the • game. It's a •.challenge. Some- times it takesas long as two • years before they can completely dominate a strong man. If they have chosen a weak man, he's al- ready dominated before mar- riage, which takes a lot of the zest out of the game, They want to beloved. This is a normal and even lofty aspiration. So do men.'But women want to be loved all the time. This is where things get a bit dicey. No man wants to be loved all the time. I'd like to see someone trying to 'love me at 7 a.m. as I slouch toward the bathEoom like some arthritic plantigrade (look it ,up), yawning, groaning, scratching. In the first place, I'm completely unlovable. In the sec aonfl, any woman.who tried to ex- press her devotion at that mo- ment would be.,snarled at. Women are different. Just the other' night, after an 18 -hour day, I crawled into bed, put my lini- ment -rubbed, neck on the heating pad, yawned mightily, vaguely patted my wifeon the bum, and fell asleep. Twelve seconds later 'I got a belt in the ribs fron an el- bow. "You didn't say, 'Good night, dear';" she snapped, and I got a ten-minute tirade about ° couples drifting apart when such - ainenities are omitted. I've just touched on the things women really want, and already I j .feel that I' over my head. What do they want, anyway? OMA suggests tagging for sponges, towels In a letter to chiefs -of -staff of all public hospitals in Ontario, the 'OMA board of directors recom- mended "that every sponge and towel pack be marked with a ra- dio-opaque substance". Sponges and towels not marked with lead tags or other radio-opaque sub- stance •will not show up on X- rays. The recommendation arose from a discussion of coroner's in- quests at which it was reported that towels and sponges were left in patients following surgery. The Ontaric Hospital Associa- tion has been advised of the OMA recommendation because of the need for co-operation of hospital administrators and nursing staff in irhplementing it. Also, the OMA and OHA are working to- gether to develop other operating room safeguards, including a manual and a standard counting procedure for sponges, needles and instruments used in surger3►,