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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1972-02-03, Page 11• b The Better Half The news media are so .frequently ac- cused of featuring only -the negative side of filings that we feel duty-bound to comment on the formation of a snowmobile rescue ser- vice. The new organization has been banded together under the auspices of the Wingham and District Snowmobile Association and will be prepared on any day.or hour to re- spondto- calls for the services of snow- mobiles and their operators. The provincial and local police offices .will be the contact points. It is quite true that the occasional "freaky" snowmobile operator is the one who gets himselfinto the news. News, after, all, is based on reportingof the unusual, in whatever form it may occur and we are the �! first to agree that the vast majority pf snow - 0 mobile drivers 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 cortstl- tuted rescue service is a commendable move. With a responsible executive and a pre-ar4ranged system for organizing rescue missions, the new group will -add one more measure of protection against the hazards of winter in the snow belt. It is:undeniable prod of the intention of most snowmobile owners to continue their role as good citizens. Need for, Better. PIannino 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 minirnizes the distance in which to 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 you stop to think about such safety equip- 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 thiir vehicles? • This winter the department of highways has been paying for frequent commercials on TV. They are presented in the currently pdpular 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 Abe reefed in at times, but, it might save lives. Regulations Need Reiew, 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 for approximately a month. It is chilling enough to realize0.that an elderly woman could be so completely alone in the world that her death would remain un- noticed -for That length df time—but the grisly facts were made unbelieveably" worse when it was learned that electric service to her • home hail been cut off and she,had apparent- ' ly either frozen or starved for lack of cooking facrl`i,ties. • ° The public utilities representative who., was questioned said that it was the custom to . cut off service for only one day when pay- ' ment -was nd „received, but that: through some oversight in this, case there wa& r),o - �frther.�check of the horne or. its owner: • , Obviously no,responsibleSitiliti -official ,would knowingly let any person, young or old, freeze- or starve because oft;an unpaid bill. However, electric, water and in some cases telephone services are of vital import- ance. The corporations which are respon- 0 a sible for thksupply of such services must, of course; have the right to withdraw them when payment is overdue, -bet it would ap- pear fairly plain that no su•ch'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 c- quainted yv iith the residents of ..every home .they'serve. In the large cities it is a different matter.' Fre4uently 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 hardshi'p.. If the utilities firms have the manpower to send a workman out to physically discon- nect the serVice, it should also have a re- sponsible officer to. make certain in advance that no .life„volts be endangered, 15y `such ec- tion. K The negligence which permitted -a power cut-off to take the life df the womanin our story is an act' of criminal,. disregard for 'human safety and should be dealt with,,.ac- cbrdingly. Tradition Is SIowto Change A clergyman in the United States has come under considerablecriticism after the .publication of a picture which showed him dancing,in the aisle of his church with oneof "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 intended in any way as a sacrilegious a,ct. 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 mind 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 tern years. It is an accepted custom in our Christian churches to 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 far more widely accepted than singing as a means of worship. Nor have our presentforms 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 'withwhich to strike the pitch. 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 Priorities 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 will foot the bill'at a higher rate through municipal taxes. Perhaps this reduction in roadsubsidies 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 maintaining our driving priorities at a much higher level than we will grant to other and more essential services. Good roads\tend to attract votes for the party in power. Money spent on hospitals for the mentally disturbed or on housing im- provements or day care centres in slum areas doesn't 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 wh'o are unemployed at the present time. Federal and provincial governmer4ts have been forced to divert large sums to this effort—so it• is obvious that other expenditures wilt have to be trimmed back. When y%u really get right down t� brass tacks even poor Tads and streets are not en- tirely unacceptable. We have often heard the groaning complaints of people who lived on a street that was pitted with pot holes. It is a common occurrence for councillors to face the sharp criticism of those who think their " particular street or road is being neglected. At the same lime 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 WINGX-IAM ADVANCE -TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited. Barry Wenger, President , Robert O. Wenger, Secretary -Ti easurfr Member Audit, Bureau of Circulations Member Canadian and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Associations. • Subscription Rate: Subscription $10:,00 a year, $5.50. for six- months, in` United States $12.50 in advance Second Class. Mail Registration No .0821 Return Postage Guaranteed • LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Wingham,Qatar* January 34,: Dear Mr. Editor: 1 was very pleased to read •jus the Wingham Advance414!Of that the town of Winghaln fwd - purchased , the old Post Q>t'iatee This I feel was great as it is a. beautiful old building. . I understand they are going :M1 • make it into a Day Care Cent*, One thing I do hoFe that "thy will. do is have the clock find/fa". that it will rein again. I alMeay5 ' have felt, that it should have been kept going and I am sure that. there are many people that wilt agree with me on that. To leek UP at it and see the correct time and hear its loud strike h am sure was: a great pleasure to the towns, ~ 6 , people. Hoping that some day we will I see the clock in operation again. Sincerely yours,. Mrs. Norman Shiell. January 21-, 1972 r, 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 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 of 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 official'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 ifn Dacca and negotiations are un- derway for the return of the CARE -UNICEF Tea'm;which'was evacuated during the height of the conflict. • Ina communication received directly from Mr.Selz Last week, we learned that*the Government of Bangla Desh has informed him it riority relief and rehabilita- tion are for food grains, transortation and housing ma- . serials. Since both UNICEF and 'CARE have. supplies stockpiled and enroute by sea; we anticipate an early, start being made in the distribution of food stocks .in lhoseareas 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 in- •'dividual homes has taken place. Cinva-ram block -making ma- chines will be made available to families, who 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 (his 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 or animals to,work the- land, all available resources from governments and private agencies will berequired to pre- vent an already disastrous situa- tion from becoming- the greatest human tragedy in the history pf mankind. There should be, ther•e fore, no hesitation on l� r0 any Canadian, whatever 'his 'in- come, tomake some 'sacrifice towards alleviating t * isery of 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, KIP 5A6, the designation is CARE Rangla Desh. •- Yours sincerely'. Thomas Kine National Director "Sorry, we don't have any pot ted geraniums," the clerk saide 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 Intentions, introduced by Janet Whitehead' get the.Lions Talent on the road with rousing selections. This Hunt show group was one of the four winners chosen to appear in the final competition in April. —Staff Photo. am Abbancio i how ca.►re ? Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, February 3, 1972 SECOND SECTION •11101, ..NO1111116. "IOW ,c2 H `Yo "0441- UA/CLE" J -OE -4 .• 'wrnvO ° WHEN HE .DE/NQS' W/NC ,Bur r �Utr . zYeivo ° WHEN IIE DUNKS x.Yeii z TODAY'SCHiLD BY HELEN ALLEN HE NEEDS A. FAMILY Four year-old llughie does not realize he is a little boy without a family, but he docs know he has a problem - ver poor eyesight. At f irst. 0 was .tearOd hi` sight would become even worse and that he would become blind 'This does ,not now appear to be the case. because his vision is improving• if anything He can see well enough .to appreciate childr enfs television programs. and to look at picture hooks Like most small boys. Hughie delights in playing with cars He enjoys music and often dances to records Nonetheless, he has many frustrations over things he can't cope with hecause tie doesn't sec them properly His difficulties have made Ilughie a timid young-ster. very dependerjt on his toster tuuih But he has been attending a spec•ral nursery school with help from the Canadian National Institute tor the Blind where his teacher says he is making great progress This dear small fellow needs special parents - parents who will meet the challenge of helping a child with a disability to live as normal a lite as possible Ile should be the youngest or the only child in a 1amily '1'o inquire about,ado.pting Mighty. please write to Today's Child. Host 888. Station K. Toronto. For general adoption information ask your Children's Aid Sof'iety. n How to Deal With Women's Lib What with this being Leap Year, and all, and the Women's Iib growing ever and ever more shrill, it could be a bad year for the gentle sex: men. Not' that I 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, if a girl sets lietye\on -a likely candidate, she whips her tentacles around him, hangs on until he stops struggling, and car- ries him home to be dev red, with utter disregard of ' "p ether Or not the year can be divided by four. Now the Women's Lib move- ment is another thing. There's scarcely a man in the country who dares make a crack about women any more. 4e knows that the 'slightest slight mill 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 carestand up.,to,thpm are other, women, who know a .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 becaught in the cross-fire, no matter what he says. If he supports Women's Lib through altruistic motives (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 but 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 man to do? ' There was a time, not so long ago, when 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 nb place to hide. Men 'are constantly and plain- tively asking abo}i t women .the rather bewildered question that Anglo -Canadians have used so oft in recent 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? Nothing much, rea:,ly. 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 thosje are not "important among their wants. The things they are really seeking are on a much higher plane. : Foremost, they want a strong - man. ,This is half _ the fun of the game. It's : a ,.challenge.;, Some- times it takes as 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 be loved: 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 'bathroom like. some arthritic plantigrade (look ' i t up,l, yawning, groaning, scratching. In the first place, I'm completely -unlovable. -in' the sec- ond, 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 wife on the bum, and , fell asleep. Twelve seconds later - I got a belt in the ribs from an el- bow. "You didn't say, 'Good night, dear'," she snapped, and I got a ten-minute tiradeabout couples drifting apart when such amenities are omitted. I've just touched on the things women'really want, and already I feel that I'm -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 ar 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 implementing 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 surgery.