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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1985-12-04, Page 4Page 4—CLINTON NEWS,RECORD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1985 The Clinton flows-R®cord Bs published each Wednesday at p.0. Oos 34. Clinton. Ontario. Canada, NOM 140. Tei.: 402.3443. Subscription Rate: Canada -529.00 Sr. Citizen - 91.0.00 per your U.S.A. foreign 6'60.00 per year 99 0s registered as second class mall by the post office under She permit number 0017. The News -Record Incorporated In 1924 thot9uron News -Record, Pounded 1n 1001. end The Clinton News Ora. Pounded In 1009. Toted press runs 3,700. 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- tober 1, 1904. 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.