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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1987-03-18, Page 4Page 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1987 The Clinton News•Record Is published each Wednesday o1 P.O. Bos 39, Clinton, Ontario, Concede. NOM 11.0. Tel.: 442.3443. Subscription Rage: Concede• 911.00 Sr. Citizen • 110.00 per year U.S.A. foreign 500.00 per year 19 Is registered as second class moll by the post office under the permit number 0017. The News -Record incorporated In 1924 thefluron News -Record. founded In 1001. and The Clinton News Era, founded In 1463. Thiel press runs 3.700. Clinton News -Record Incorporating (THE BL'TH STANDARD ANNE NAREJKO - Editor FREDA McLEOD - Office Manager SHELLEY McPHEE HAIST - Reporter DAVID EMSLIE - Reporter JANICE GIBSON - Advertising LAUREL MITCHELL - Circulation/Classified GARY HAIST - General Manager CCNA eA MEMBER MEMBER E meson' AWARD 1985 Display advertising rates available on request. Ask for Rate Card No. 13 effective Oc- tober1,1904. A good program Although a little slow in getting off the mark, Huron County Council have finally joined neighboring counties in making rabies shots man- datory for all dogs and cats. Rabies cases in Huron County almost tripled in 1986 and the area has been listed among those in which the incidence of the dread disease is ex- pected to continue at above normal proportions. The good news is that pet owners will face a minimum fee of only $6 for the shots at veterinary clinics during the next few weeks and that cost is small indeed in comparison to the ramifications of having unprotected .animals at your home or farm. The price is also very low in relation to the $5,000 fine which can be levied against owners who fail to comply with the mandatory regulations, and, hopefully, officials will be diligent in searching out pet owners who fail to accept their responsibility. It does appear strange that regulations must be invoked to spur some into taking what is only common sense action, but you can rest assured that those who have suffered repercussions from rabies will be among the first in line and that should say something to those who may be less mov- ed to action. ( Exeter Times Advocate ) Hydro shouldn't be allowed to pollute environment Dear Editor We are all part of this instant and disposable era - it takes the hard work out of everyday occurrences and allows for a fast and efficient lifestyle. This automated era has a short history, but rapidly we are pay - Int; for it with the after effects of its waste products - pollution of our water, air and soils. Ontario Ilvdro has made a commitment to society to encourage this instant and disposable era, despite the financial or ecological costs. This sentiment has been further encouraged by lenient governments who provided, for Ontario Hydro, the ex- emptions to the very legislation that was meant to protect this province. Agriculturalists care about the environ- ment, they depend upon it for their livelihood as well as for their recreation. "i'welvice hundred landowners of Bruce, Huron and Middlesex Counties provided the Consolidated Hearing Board the ultimate plan that would protect the environment, protect agriculture, prevent acid ram, preclude nuclear waste and reduce the overloaded landfill sites - all without a change in lifestyle. it was rejected for the more fashionable and popular solution. i)ue to proficiency and efficiency, agricultural commodities have glutted the market - is this the cause of a misguided theory that agricultural land is a disposable resource too? Today, we have sufficient good agricultural land; today, Canadians have the cheapest food in the world: today, we have a glut of grains - but what about tomorrow? We gave the Hearing Board a plan to offer to the Ontario Government an opportunity to regain control of Ontario Hydro. We gave them a plan to use electricity efficiently. A plan to reduce acid gas emmissions, to reduce nuclear production of electricity and thereby nuclear waste. to produce electrici- LQttQrs ty from our natural resources and to utilize energy efficient technology (available but hidden from view ). We gave them a plan to protect all aspects of our environment - air, water, forests, wildlife and lands. We gave a hope to the future generations of our province. The Board rejected this plan. instead, they favored eliminating a transmission corridor in the north, and recommended the use of agricultural lands for the building of transmission corridors between Bruce to London and London to Nanticoke. Nothing else will be changed - acid gas emissions continue, nuclear wastes continue to grow with nowhere safe to put them, garbage sites invade our backyards with their cancerous sediments leaching into our waterways and Ontario Hydro continues to crack the whip over the Ontario Government. Who really won that public hearing' We all lost. our environment will continue to decline, our agricultural resource will be ir- revocably' invaded, and the future genera- tions will be the ones to bear the cost. The Foodland Hydro Committee is down but not out, we won some battles and we lost some, but the war is not over yet. For once agriculture stood firmly together. We are better for it and we hope that the Govern- ment of Ontario will recognize the oppor- tunity we have placed before them - to change the future of this province without changing its lifestyle. Yours truly, ,Jane Rose, ( Mrs. ) Foodland Hydro Committee Don't base hiring on property ownership, says reader Dear Editor, in response to Helen Rathwell's sugges- tion to Hire ('lintonian" i say. "Surely you jest," or more colloquially You gotta be kiddin To suggest that people ought to be hired on the basis of their property ownership or place of residence is a parochial, ludicrous view which must be opposed. if it will appease your fear of an echo in the town tax chest, rest assured my proper- ty taxes will amply make up for those not payed by the newly hired Director of Nurs- ing of the Clinton Public Hospital. For you see, i, like many others, leave Clinton each early morn to make my way in the world... outside of Clinton. i, in particular, travel to Goderich, where i work as a teacher. If only the decision in hiring were as sim- ple as you suggest - "Are you a Clinton Tax- payer? Well you get the job!" Health care is a bit more sophisticated than that. it has been for quite some time. I'm sure the decision was not an easy one for the hospital's Board of Directors. I'm also sure there were many qualified and talented applicants. 1 am doubly sure that local ap- plicants would agree that the decision should not be based on where one pays one's taxes, but rather, who would best fullfil the duties required of one in the position. i suggest that if you look around your town you may be amazed at how many, like myself, are "imported." If the quality of any communities life is to be improved or at any rate, maintained, it must be open to the outside. The community aught to say "Welcome", not ... Stay Out! i say Welcome. Sincerely, Philip J. McMillan. Be proud of figure skaters Dear Editor: A good crowd was out to see our Stars on Ice this past Sunday. Clinton has many excellent skaters td be proud of. Everywhere we go whether it be club competitors or Invitationals, you hear the comments: Watch those Clinton skaters, they're good! r 01 a small town we nave an outstanding number of competitive skaters representing our club everywhere we go. The Clinton club will,also be hosting a spr- ing school this year from Mirch 23 to April 14. Joan Merner, President, Clinton Figure Skating Club The main event After being struck down with yet another round of the flu last week, I had to create various ways to keep myself entertained. The first thing I did was finish the second book in a series by V.C. Andrews, but because the book was so intriguing, that didn't take long. So what was my next alter- native - of course, the television. For close to a year I've heard all kinds of excited voices explaining why wrestling is so entertaining to watch these days. One day I decided to discover for myself what all the hype was about, and after watching a couple of fights, I wasn't overly impressed - or so I thought. After my first glimpse of the "new" style of wrestling, I told everyone that "wrestling isn't what it used to be." From there I'd go on to explain about the Mighty Igor who fought when I was just a kid. My father and ,I used to sit ourselves down in front of the television each Saturday afternoon for one hour I now you can watch it almost all day) in the hopes of seeing Igor fight. Why, we even went to see him in person at the Brantford Civic Centre! But as I grew up, my interest in wrestling dwindled - that was until recently. Over the past few weekends, I have turned my television on when I knew wrestling would be shown, and while I did a little bit of cleaning or paperwork in the room, my eyes would wander to ,the screen. But 'lately, much to my surprise, they don't wander any more, they are glued to the box that shows one person applying a figure -four -leg -lock, another person performing a hip toss, or so- meone applying the sleeper. And the next person to walk through my door gets the benefit of my new found knowledge! Last Saturday I really had the wrestling bug. The Main Event was on at 11:30 p.m. and I was on the edge of my seat or clen- ching my fists for the better part of the hour and a half show. The big attraction on this show was the Battle Royale which saw 20 men in the ring at once. Among these men were Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. ( Anyone who watches wrestling will know that these two used to be the best of friends but are now the worst of enemies.) The point of this match was to throw everyone over the top rope and out of the ring. If you were the final man left in the ring, you would win the prize. Well, Hulk disappointed • his little Hulksters by getting thrown out of the ring relatively early in the match so I focused my attention on one of the smaller men - Koko B. Ware. Now Koko isn't very big, but he has a beautiful parrot, does a thing he calls the bird dance and is a darn good wrestler. Koko held his own, being double teamed at times, and was the fourth to last man thrown out. When I first started to tune into the "new" wrestling, it was all of the gimmicks they used that I didn't like. After all, the Mighty Igor wore cutoff long johns, he didn't have rhinestone studded outfits. He didn't have a ghetto blaster piping him in, and he didn't have Randy, The Macho Man, Savage's Elizabeth. But these gimmicks work - just listen to my mother after she's been watching wrestling. Yes, even mom's gotten into the act. A phone call on Saturday evening or Sunday will quickly reveal her feelings about the matches. There are some wrestlers she "just can't stand" but there are others she likes. Some gimmicks she thinks are okay, while others she finds a little too much. I guess that makes mom your average wrestling fan. I think wrestling fever runs in our family. My two-year-old nephew will promptly body slam his mother or father if they are loung- ing on the floor and someone suggests he show his wrestling ability. In my other brother's home, wrestling has been banned from their television because he, like me, wants to see if those holds will really hurt an opponent. Being a weight lifter, his wife and dog don't stand a chance! So now I've found a new reason to look for- ward to the Weekends. Only thing is, I'll have to put a television in every room if I hope to get any housework done. BLOCK PARENT BY APPOINT MENT ShQIIQy McPhee Nast Confessions of an afternoon napper it's 3 p.m. I stumble over to the coffee machine and refill my cup. Maybe it will help. it's 3:15 p.m. The caffeine hasn't worked yet. i take a stroll around the office in an ef- fort to shake the cobwebs from my head. If i can make it through this next hour, I'll be okay. Only 45 minutes to go. Can i make it? 1 don't like three o'clock. it's my bad time of day when all i want t6 do is curl tip in a corner and have a little snooze. Everyday I fight the three o'clock battle for I am a confessed Afternoon Napper. Just sit me down in a chair for five minutes, give me some peace and quiet and I will happily slip off to slumber land. Unfortunately for me, life does not readily accommodate Afternoon Nappers. It seems that the old-fashioned notion that sleep is an honorable and healthy pastime has been tossed aside in favor of a lifestyle that demands speed and efficiency at all times of the day. Today sleep is regarded as a strictly noc- turnal activity, and even that habit is being threatened. it seems that futuristic scien- tists are developing a new pill that will strike out the basic human requirement for sleep. You will simply pop one of these pills for the equivalent to eight hours sleep. Thanks,' but no thanks. I may be forced to give up my afternoon naps, but nobody's go- ing to take away night slumber tithe. it's bad enough that this fast paced socie- ty makes life miserable for the sleepy-eyed ti Afternoon Napper. We are accuseu of ueing lazy, sick, boring, or just plain strange for sleeping in the middle of the afternoon. Jobs can be laid on the line by insensitive bosses who think that sleeping during the work day means irresponsibility and carelessness. As a fervent advocate of afternoon naps, i reason that a mid-day snooze helps to refresh the mind, rejuvenate the body and generally makes me a more pleasant person to deal with. Allow me a 30 minute cat nap in the after- noon, and 111 have lots of "get-up-and-go" to comfortably carry me through the rest of the day. Forbid me my blessed sleep and i'll be crabby, unproductive and lethargic. I have learned to get by. My job does not allow me an afternoon rest. My • baby daughter does not believe in afternoon naps. "Please Caylan," I beg her. "Have a little sleep for Mommy." She is not easily coerced. i try lying down with her. i tempt her with warm bottles of milk or a quiet story time in the rocking chair. Nothing, but nothing can get this busy toddler to steep in the daytime. In a desperate attempt to keep myself awake and tolerable for the remainder of the day, Baby and I usually head out for an afternoon walk. The fresh -air and exercise always does me good and invariably Baby falls asleep. 1 gaze at my sleeping daughter with envy. If only I could get in the buggy too. On rare occasion comes the opportunity for an afternoon nap. I never miss the oppor- tunity for such a joyful repose. I kick off my shoes,, curl up on the bed and crawl in under my favorite afghan. It must be a sin to sleep in the afternoon' for no sooner than 1 lay down to rest, the telephone rings, there's a knock on the door, Baby will awaken from her rare afternoon sleeps. Husband will stop by from the office I leap from my comfortable resting spot. One is never supposed to be caught having an afternoon sleep. We are conditioned to believe that sleeping in the middle of the day is a waste of time. There are a few exceptions. Babies are supposed to sleep in the daytime. Old people are allowed to sleep in the day, so are cats and dogs. in Mexico it's an age old tradrton to have an afternoon siesta. In England, afternoon tea allows time for rest and relaxation. Yet in North America, the afternoon nap remains socially unacceptable in the work place or in the home. Sleeping on the job is grounds for firing. Sleeping in church is frowned upon. Even yawning is considered to be discourteous. Have you ever tried to yawn and not show it? It's difficult to disguise a yawn, but we attempt to politely control it by keeping our mouths shut and our eyes wide open. One ends up making strange facial gestures as they y=awn through clenched teeth and watery eyes. ' Yawning, however, is an involuntary bodi- ly function that requires the opening of the mouth and inhaling deeply. It's impossible to suppress. The most satisfying yawn allows you to open you mouth wide, squeeze your eyes shut tight, take in a deep breath and slowly exhale while stretching your arms over your head. A yawn and a good stretch is best after a luxurious afternoon nap. Now, please just let the sleep.