HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1985-12-04, Page 4Page 4—CLINTON NEWS,RECORD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1985
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Incorporating
THE BLYTH STANDARD
J. HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher
SHELLEY McPHEE - Editor
GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager
MARY ANN HOLLENRECK - Office Manager
Display advertising rates
available on request. Ash for
Roto Card No. 15 effective Oc-
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MEMBER
A
Lights on dayand night
Several months ago the provincial government issued a warning to all
car and truck drivers that called for lights on motor vehicles travelling
the public thoroughfares to be turned on 30 minutes before sunset and to
be left on, for 30 minutes after sunrise. So far, we haven't seen much in-
dication that the law is being observed.
Naturally, since sunset and sunrise times are not the same for any two
consecutive days in the year, there is always room for doubt about the ex-
act minute at which the driver must reach for the light switch. However,
since having your headlights on a few minutes early or late doesn't cost
one extra penny, the safety -conscious driver need not consult the national
weather service to come to a sensible decision.
Unlike the unthinking motorists who persist in driving without lights
during the hours of dusk, both morning and evejing, there is an ever
larger number of drivers who turn on .their headlights whenever they
drive; even in broad daylight. It's a good habit to acquire. Sorin of the
other drivers; on the road may not have the keen visiri'i ` n' are lucky
enough to possess and the simple act of turning on your tigers in l.aylight
hours might well save some lives — one of them your own.
You might think headlights shining on a bright, sunny day, are totally
superfluous. However, have you never noticed, on a summer day, how an
oncoming car can disappear into the deep shadow cast by a line of road-
side trees? Your eyes have shuttered themselves down to accorninodate
to the bright areas and thus your vision for objects in the dark shadows is
almost non-existent. Headlights on a vehicle in the shadow are totally
visible. -
Since it costs you nothing, why not get into the halbit of turning on your
headlights, no matter what the time of day or night?
—from the Wingham Advance Times.
I
"Mark of true maturity"
Dear Editor: make mistakes. It is a mark of truc'niaturi-
1 . want to express our appreciation to ty when we attempt to correct there.
'concerned parent' -. Dan Steyn for his
apology in the Clinton News -Record on
November 27, 1985.
As we.make our way through life we all
Thanks Dan.
Yours truly,
Bob Allan
Director of Education
Canvass raises $1,800 in Clinton
Dear Editor: .
Regarding the recent 'arthritis campaign,
thank yous are in order to the following:
'1'o the•rnember-s of St. Joseph's Council 7645,
Knights of Columbus ( Clinton) for providing
the manpower for the canvass; To the
residents of Clinton and area for their
generosity. A total of $1,800 has been raised
to rlate.fnr• arthritis research.
If for any reason, you were missed in the
canvass and you still wish to donate, it's.not
too late. Send your donation to The Arthritis
Society Box 952' Clinton Ontario ( NOM 1IA ) •
'or drop it into the Bryan Lavis Insurance Of-
fice at 14 King St. Clinton.
Sincerely,
Bryan Lavis
Campaign Chairman
From baby -boom
Kaleido-scope
The first few months of a woman's
pregnancy can go easily undetected, but
soon there's no mistaking those tell-tale
signs.
It all begins when the smell of the morning
coffee brewing in the office sends you in a
frantic rush to the bathroom.
Then comes the uncontrollable desire to
eat peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches,
breakfast, lunch and supper.
And people become suspicious.
You know when you're pregnant when
your baggiest pair of jeans don't fit
anymore and drastic wardrobe changes
must be made.
Your favorite blouses, high heeled shoes,
dresses and slims skirts are relegated to the
back of the closet in favor 'of giant sized
pants and jumpers.
Shopping for maternity clothes is a trying
task. It's a shocking sight to see yourself in a
full length mirror, garbed in yards and
yards of dress material.
You insist that this size 10 dress is miles
too big and ask the sales clerk to bring you a
smaller version. Instead, she brings a
pillow, tucks it in under your outfit and says,
"See dearie, you'll fill this out in no time."
The world of maternity fashions is a
mysterious one. Obviously the people who
design these clothes have never been preg-
nant. They favor cutesy buttons and bows,
ruffles and dainty flowers, huge plaids and
wild colored stripes, none of which flatter a
pregnant woman's ever expanding figure.
You know you're pregnant when your
regular sized panty hose no longer reaches
your waist and your new queen sized version
stretches up to your ears.
You know you're pregnant when you can
no longer tolerate wearing your favorite red
spike heeled shoes and you opt for practical,
unflattering, flat heeled black loafers.
And you know you're pregnant when you
suddenly find yourself saying "Excuse me,"
all the time. In your mind's eye you can still
squeeze through those same little spots, but
}
By Shelley McPhee
in reality it's an impossibility. Fortunately
most people obligingly make way for
pregos. However, people are less courteous
on the Toronto subway.
It's a- tremendous shock to find that you
can no longer maneuver your way through
the turnstile, dash down the stairs and leap
onto the subway car with your former agili-
ty.
There's no favoritism shown to preps on
the subway. The crowds shuffle and bump
you around; they show no compassion; they
won't give up a seat and you are left
desperately clinging to a pole, praying that
a sudden stop won't send you rolling down
the aisle.
You know you're pregnant when you can
no longer find a comfortable seat in the
house. The sofa is too soft, the rocking chair
is too hard. The floor is just about right, but
once you're down there it's a major effort to
get back on your feet.
You know you're pregnant when no one at
the Christmas party asks you to dance to a
fast top 40 tune but the gentlemen in the.
crowd graciously :.• ' ale; if only
they knew that you'd much rather dance to a
livelier tune than be awkwardly spun
around the room to the long drawn-out
strains of Engelbert Humperdink crooning,
"Please release me, let me go."
You know you're pregnant when you no'
longer fit behind the steering wheel of your
car. You push the seat back a little, then a
little more in search of a comfortable
distance between your belly and the wheel.
Just when you think you have found the
right position you realize that you can no
longer stretch your foot to reach the gas
pedal. Then there's a seat belt and an
awkward fitting winter coat to deal with.
Walking, you realize, is more convenient
and more comfortable than driving the car.You know when you're pregnant when you
spend more than half -an -hour at the frozen
seafood counter in the grocery store. An
overwhelming desire to eat haddock, sole,
shrimp and crab - all at one time sees your
grocery cart filled to capag'ity with an
unusual amount of those familiar blue fish
boxes and you happily head to the check out
counter whistling the Captain Higtlliner
tune.
You know you're pregnant when you can
no longer turn around in those itty- bitty
public washroom stalls, and the handicap-
ped cubicles no longer seem so big.
And you know you're pregnant when you
feel the first flutter of life inside your belly,
and all the inconveniences and unpleasan-
tries of pregnancy are soon forgotten.
A day off
So you want a day off.
Let's take a moment to look at what you are
for.
There are 365 days available for woric
There are 52 weeks per year
Of which you have 2 days -off each weekend
Leaving 261 days available fori,work
Since you spend 16 hours each clay away,
from work
that accounts for -170 days
'!'here are 91 days left for work
You spend 30 minutes each day on breaks
'!'hat accounts for 23 days each year
Leaving 68 days for work
You spend 1 hour a day for lunch
'!'hat accounts for another 45 days for work
Leaving 22 days for work
You spend 2 days per year for sick leave
Leaving 20 days for work
You take 9 holidays per year
Leaving 11 days for work
You take 10 days vacation each year
'heaving 1 day left available for work
And no way are you going to take that day
off:
Jack's Jottings
By Jack RiddQll, MPP
Consumer and Commercial Relations
Minister Monte Kwinter has ordered a •
'judicial inquiry to look into the handling of
wine contaminated with a suspected cancer-
causing agent.
Recently, the Ontario government pulled
a total of 13 brands of ports, sherries and
fruit brandies - eight- Ontario products and
five i•mpoi-ted brands - from LCBO shelves.
'!'hese products were found to contain unac-
ceptably high levels of the chemical ethyl
carbamate.
Kwinter stated that the' LCBO was first
warned. of this situation in 1979. The high
levels were produced through the use of a
yeast booster called. urea, •which produces
ethyl carbainate as a by product of fermen-
tation. At this time, the LCBO decided to
prohibit the use of urea, but no public state-
ment was made.
In 1982, the matter rose again,at the LCBO
identifying the concern about continuing
high levels ea ethyl carbamate. Again there.
was no public statement and no.product was
removed.
At the direction of Kwinter, the LCBO is
not' testing samples of all 2,500 brands of
alcoholic beverages sold until they are
satisfied they have identified all products
containing excessive levels of ethyl car-
bamate. Two of the products now removed
from i.CBO shelves were identified by this
testing, after Kwinter made his announce-
ment.
DEALING WITH
DRINKING AND DRIVING .
In 1984, more than 550.people were killed
and 27,000 people were injured in Ontario ac •
-
cidents where alcohol was a factor. The cost
to taxpayers has been estimated at more
than $200 million. These 'statistics,' however,
• do not begin to take into account the suffer- )
ing they represent for thousands of families../
Two recent announ•cerhents have .
demonstrated. the Liberal government's in-
tention to crack down on those who drink
• and -drive:
Attorney General Ian Scott has stated the
government will establish a one-year
• automatic driving suspension for a first
drinking/driving conviction and a two year
suspension -for a second conviction. These
suspensions are four times longer than those
currently provided for by law. .
One of the' key aims of the ' photo driver
licencing prograin announced recently by
Transportation and Communications
Minister Ed Fulton was to -make it easier to
apprehend :suspended drivers who continue
to drive: with someone else's licence. Now,
Fulton has stated the Liberal governrn.ent
will -create a one-year.suspenSion for a first
convcition of driving whole prohibited or
suspended. A-secondor subsequent convic-
tion on -the same charge would carry a two
year suspension. - .
In his announcement, Fulton also stated
his ministry is prepared to deal seriously
with a chronic drinking driver. Drivers who
history suggests a problem with alcohol, or
other patterns of behavior' which pose 0
serious risk to others on the road will be sub--
to the baby -bust Sugar and S'pice
Unprecedented changes are affecting the
dynamics of population growth in/Canada,
says a federal government report. ,The
postwar baby -boom, which saw an average
of four births per wornan,'•has fallen to an
all-tirnl' low of 1.7 births per, woman: a
• "babe -bust". The rate of fertility has fallen
so low that the present generation may not
even replace itself.
In addition, the age structure of the
population, until recently relatively stable,
. has been dramatically upset. Although it
grew steadily in the 1940s and 50s, the pro-
portion of children under age 15 has sharply
declined. In 1961, this group was 34 percent
of the population; by11981, it had shrunk to 24
percent. The disruptive effects on the school
system have become evident.At
At the other end of the spectrum, increas
mg numbers of elderly people can he ex-
pected lo put unprecedented strain on
Canada's financial resources.
'These and other projections arc part of a
recently released Statistics Canada study:
Fertility in Canada: From Baby -boom to
Baby -bust. The study was directed by Dr.
Anatole Romani tic.
The baby -bust is a phenomenon with
many causes, says the report. For example,
fewer people are getting married; they are
also marrying later in life and the divorce
rate is rising. There are fewer unwanted
pregnancies, and it seems to be more social-
ly acceptable for people to remain childless.
However, there are also other, subtler
"social transformations"underlying; the
statistical evidence, says the report. One is
the incrr'asing role of women in the labour
force and all parts of society. Many women
must find a way to extend their time to en-
compass working outside the home as well
and handling children.
Expe s ponder what the trend toward .
fewer children means in terms of the fami-
ly, family life, and the role of the child. For.
example, French demographer Philippe
Aries feels the day of the "child -king" is
over: couples are no longer planning life in
terms of their .child ind his or her .future.
Children's role in our society scents to be
diminishing.
Between 1961 and 1981, the baby -boomers
began to move through adulthood. The com-
bination of large numbers of young workers
and scarce jobs, due to a- had economic
situation, has forced fierce competition for
available jobs, with less chance for ad-
vancement..
If present trends continue our low fertility
will lead to • decreasing numbers of young
workers by the 1990s; earlyn the 21st cen-
tury there will be large numbers of post-war
baby boom retirees, the report says.
However, there are signs that this trend
may be reversing, says an independent
report by Dr. T.R. Balakrishnan, a Univer-
sity --of Western Ontario sociologist and
former director of Western's Centre for
Canadian Population Studies.
Dr. Balakrishnan studied 5,315 women
from each province, randomly selected by
computer generation of telephone numbers.
The women ranged in age from 18 to 49.
Forty-five minute phone interviews were
conducted with each woman. Most women
aged 18 to 24 said they expected -to have
more children than the present 1.7 average;
in this age group the average number of
children was 2.25. On average, women aged
30 to 34 expected to have 2.01 children.
The drop in fertility appears to be.levell-
ing off. However, Dr. Balakrishnan points
out that people's expectations as to their
desired number of children can change for
many reasons, a main one being the state of
the economy at the time.
ject to suspension for an indefinite period.
As well, information on the hazards of
drinking' and driving will be increased
substantially in the Ontario Driver's Hand-
book and the written examination. The goal,
as Fulton explained, is 'to reinforce the
message that alcohol and- motor vehicles
are a deadly combination. • .
FARMERS IN t,
• 'IRANSITIO'N: FIT
Farre families in Ontario are facing pro-
blems -of low commodity prices and high in-
put•costs, with the result that several hun-
dred • farmers are expected to lose their
farms this year. .For this. reason,
Agriculture and Food Minister Jack Riddell
has introduced the Farmers in 'Transition or•
FIT program.
FIT is a $6 million program designed to
help farm families with severe financial
problems. Through FIT, the Liberal govern-
ment hopes tocurb the loss of family farms.
Where this can't be done, the' program will
assist farm families to re-establish.
Oneof the first steps will be to temporari-
ly defer action against farmers in trouble
wader, three provincial assistance plans.
Other FIT measures include the hiring of
successful farmers to act as independent ad-
visors working in the interest of the
farmer's, financial assistance during the
period of job search for farm families -who
are forced off their farms by financial dif-
ficulties and advice on how best to use pro-
vincial and federal social -assistance pro-
gr'ains.• '
Portentous- phralses
• You'll possibly be wondering where and
what Smiley has been up to lately. No
critical colwnns on the political scene; no
sharp little vignettes on our society; not at-
tacks on anybody or anything.
Well, 1 haven't felt up to scratch for a
while. And where in the world did ''up to
scratch" come from? At least it's lasted 0
long time.
That's more than cyan -he said for some of
the current mumbo -jumbo. i wonder how
long it will take for politicians and ad-
ministrators to stop using that portentous
phrase, "At this point in time" whenever
they open a paragraph and don't know what
they're going to say? All it means is, "right
now," or "today," but it has a nice,
mellifluous, phoney ring to it.
Another one that is going to die a sure
death, i sure hope, is "The bottom line."
There is no such thing as a bottom line.
Everyone has- a bottom, and unless you've
lost both legs at the hip, there's something
below that. Even if you haven't, there's
something below your feet, and something
below that, until we get right down to hell.
And there's probably something below that -
perhaps a natural gas well - and below that
you'll find a couple of Albertans, pumping
on some kind of bellows. And they have to be
standing on something. So. Where's this
famous bottom line?
Those expressions will last as long as,
"That'll be the frosty Friday," and "All
righty." And good riddance. A proper idiom
in English must stand the test of time before
it is accepted. After all, you can't have your
cake and eat it, but half a loaf is better than
none, unit's von want fn be up the creek
By Bill Smiley
without a paddle.
However, I wander, as so often. What
really bothers me is not that Mr. Davidson.
or Williamson or whatever his name is,
backed into the Prime Ministership of On-
tario without winning an election, or that
Brian Mulroney is going to crack that
massive jaw if he doesn't stop grinning for
the TV cameras. Those are trivia.
What I'd like to get down to is some of the
more important social and sociological mat-
ters in the press that affect our daily lives.
After watching the Blue Jays get their
tails clipped, and then the World Series, I
was faced with a question that must have an
answer: How can baseball players spit so
much?
You've all seen thein: '!'hey spit in the
dugout. They spit when they come up to bat.
They spit if they make it for first. The pit-
cher spits. The coach spits. The only one we
can't see spitting is the catcher, and he's
probably expectorating through his
faceguard bars. -
Where does it all come from? You and I
could probably spit twice in a minute, but
they spit all the time. I know they chew
snuff, tobacco and gum, but that doesn't ex-
plain it. There's only so much fluid in the
human body, though if you'd ever had dire
rear, you wouldn't believe it.
How would you like to be trying to steal se-
cond, and slip in a great gob of tobacco
juice? Perhaps someone could illuminate
me on this matter. And while you're at it, ex-
plain why they paw the ground continually,
like nervous buffalo, getting dirt in their
cleats, and then knocking it out.
•
It's still the best spectator garde in the
world, even including cricket. Football is
dull, with one gang of gangsters trying to
disassemble another gang. Hockey is fast,
but incredibly dirty, with the hooks, spear-
ing and elbows in the nose.
O.K. That settles baseball, except for my
questions. Let us no it our brows over
another problem.
It seems that women in the armed forces
want to go into combat, just as about ten per
cent of the male armed forces ever do. The
brass is agirbit. I don't know why.
Anybody dumb enough to go into the
military is obviously dumb enough to serve
as cannon fodder,
So we have one group of women wander
ing down one side of the street with peace
banners, and another group quick -marching
down the other Fide with banners proclaim-
ing, "We wanna shoot somebody."
I see no reason why the male- members( of
the services should object, if the females
want to fight. I can just see the rude and
licentious male soldiery sitting around the
stove, drinking tea, and sniggering,
"Wonder how the gals are doing on that
night patrol?"
i can just see them booting a female out of
the side hatch of an old Dakota full of
paratroopers saying, in their courtly way,
"After you, ma'am.'''
The only thing that worries me is giving
the ladies promotion. Most of them already
act like sergeant -majors in their own
homes. Give them a commission,- and life
wouldn't be worth living for the ordinary,
slovenly, lazy male so-called fighting man.