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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-11-25, Page 4r PAGE 4 --GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1961 DAVE SYKES There is a strong suspicion about the Sykes' household that a good measure of patience will be required over the next few years. That patience will have to be heaped upon son Bradley who is making a foray into the world of corrective vision. Although he is totally unaware, my llttle guy, barely nine months into life, will be sporting brand new eye glasses by the end of the week. Certainly, all parents can appreciate the dilemma facing the misses and I. At nine months, and cruising about the house at prohibitive speeds in a walker, the little dynamo is into everything in sight. I can offer unequivocal assurance that, unless the glasses are glued to his head, Bradley will not take kindly to wearing glasses. Kids and glasses are as compatible as kids and liver. Or so I am led to believe, although any direct experience with the problem is negligible at best. The eye problems were suspected long before the wee one even became a Bradley and proclaimed his presence in the world with a loud wail. His mother, you see, and siblings in her family have eyes that required corrective measures at an early age. With that in mind, the little lady was quick to caution that our offspring may have sight problems. True to her word, Bradley has eyes that refuse to co-operate or focus on the same image at the same time. , "If our child wears lasses, don't you make fun of him," m( ther was wont to caution, claiming .this yynical• correspon- dent tends to make light of serious matters. Mother was forced to wear glasses at an early age after minor surgery and is ob- viously sensitive in this issue. Just to add a, touch of levity to an otherwise dull depar- ture, while leaving for work" the other morning I casually remarked to the youngster, "See you later four eyes," just to get a rise out of the missus. Naturally, there will be no room for disparaging remarks once the wee one is fitted with glasses but there is a natural tendency for people to poke fun at those with specs. Girls who wore glasses were always portrayed as relatively homely types on television and in movies. Once these same 'dull dollies removed the specs and let the hair hang freely, they were suddenly transformed into luscious, lascivious, and luring ladies. So to speak. The point being, that People with glasses have been the object of much abuse and torment. Management has made that point clear and required written promise on my part that dad will not poke fun at son's glasses. The point is well taken but, initially, it will be difficult to trick the little sucker into wearing the glasses. At a trial fitting, he refused to allow the frames to even get near his tace and repeatedly yanks mom's specs right off her nose just for a good time. While there was a suspected problem with Bradley's eyesight, he hasn't given any indication that his vision is hindered in any respect. It's impossible to slip anything past the little guy without having him check it out. If the fridge door opens he appears in a flash and carefully examines the contents, he faithfully adjusts the knobs on the stereo and television and takes delight in opening the bathroom door if there's a hint of clandestine activity inside. He's an avid reader of the telephone directory, having consumed 49 pages and can spot a newspaper and magazine for eventual destruction from 50 yards. The little guy tends to get his slobbery paws on most material posseslons in the household. It's difficult to comprehend what mischief he'll v into with better vision. BLUE RIBBON AWARD Second class mail registration number -0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded In tuS and published awry Wednesday at Goderich. Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OWNA. Adver- tising rates on request. Subscriptions payable In adHncs 91.11 In Canada. °$1.N to U.B.A..'35.11 to all ether COMM Met single copies Sig. Display advertising rates available on request. please ask for Nate Card No. 11 effective Oc- tober 1, 1131. Second class mall Negistretlon Number rile. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that In the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item, together with reaseneble allowance for signature, will not be chergd for but 'Met balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the ap- plicable rate. In event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at • wrong price. geode or services may not be sold. Advertising Is merely en offer to sell. rind may No withdrawn at any time. The Slgnal•Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other materials used for reproducing put. poses. PUBLISHED BY:SIGNAL-STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor P.O. BOX 220, HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 466 Goaevicll s\5'' FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 BIA takes initiative Business Improvement Area (BIA) chairman Pete McCauley presented some interesting and noteworthy items to the Goderich Economic Development Committee last week, directed' towards promoting the town and business community. .,;;, ast.a'. Both the BIA and GEDC raised concernsaboutvacant . stores in town and discussed a positive approach in promoting and attracting business, industry and tourism to Goderich. • With respect to • vacant stores, the BIA chairman suggested the association could use such space to display promotional material, paintings and photographs. ,McCauley and his group will also actively pursue per- mission ' to spruce up the vacant People store on the Square. The group has been successful in obtaining a low interest government loan to complete the Square revitalization program that includes interlocking brick and planters. The town and the business community have combined on the project to enhance the core shopping area. Hopefully, McCauley and the BIA will be granted permission to paint and use the former People store for display purposes. In its present state the building is an atrocity that detracts from the diligent work, preser- vation and aesthetic qualities of the core area. • Using vacant stores to promote and publicize the town is not merely masking vacancies but can be an interesting and stimulating promotional vehicle for the business community and the town while providing visual stimulation for shoppers. D.S. Money to burn Is your home a "gas -guzzler"? That's a term that is usually applied to automobiles, but it can apply to homes as well — especially those with older,. inefficient, oil -burning furnaces. The average oil -heated Ontario home uses about 750 gallons of home heating oil per year, and with the price of oil scheduled to at least double in the next five years, you might be well-advised to convert to a more plentiful and likely less expensive, home -heating fuel. The federal Government certainly wants you to. Under a program known as the Canadian Oil -Substitution Program, or COSP, the governmentwill provide a grant of up to $800 to help with the cost on converting from an oil - burning system to one using natural gas or electricity, or one that uses one of these fuels in combination with oil to realize a net reduction in oil consumed. The only requirement is that the conversion should result in at least a 50 per cent reduction in oil consumed. Within this framework a wide range of options is available, from full-scale conversion involving removal of your old system to replacing only the burner or adding supplementary heating elements. The maximum grant is for 50 per cent of the cost of conversion, up to the $800 maximum, and of course the costs vary very widely. A gas conversion burner, for example, can cost only about $600, of which $300 might be refunded through COSP, while converting to an all - electric heat pump can cost up to $4,800, of which only $800 would be claimable. You would be well advised to shop around among suppliers to find out which system is best for your home, and precisely what your COSP grant would be. Then the supplier can provide a COSP grant application and complete it on your behalf. One problem is that the COSP grant, like the CHIP grant for home insulationais taxable. You must declare it on your personal income tax return, and this effectively reduces the benefit. If you are in a 30 per cent tax bracket, your $800 grant is automatically reduced to about $560. Even so, the cost of converting from oiIto an alternative fuel will be amortized within a reasonable, period, especially since the price of oil will rise so dramatically. And remember, too, that a fuel-efficient heating system is a good selling point should you ever decide to move out of your home. So, all things considered, a COSP grant to improve your home with some help from the government is not a bad deal - and it will get better as fuel costs rise. DEAR READERS SHIRLEY FELLER The city of Arnhersin Holland was devastated during World War 2. Its homes were blown to bits, its streets were a battleground, its people were evacuated and demoralized. But the Arnhem of today isn't wallowing in its misfortune of the forties. Far from it. In fact, Ar- nhem in 1981 seems to be a city pledged to the business of living well today and doing better tomorrow. While in Arnhem recently I visited an unusual but inspiring "village". Situated in an excep- tionally beautiful part of the city, this "village" is home to about 400 persons - men and women of all ages who spend their days in much the same ways as everyone else. In fact, the only difference between the residents of this `village" within Arnhem and the rest of Arnhem's populace, is that the folks who live here are all confined to wheelchairs. The "village" has some notable design dif- ferences to accommodate the inhabitants. For instance, the store in this little municipality has wider aisles than most - and lower shelves. It makes it possible for shoppers in wheelchairs to move easily up and down the stocked alleyways and look, see and reach like everyone else. There's a nice restaurant in this "village" too - and a library and a barbershop and a hair- dresser'sshoppe and a church, each geared to the "village's" residents. Nobody's kept out of this village, however. Everyone is invited here to shop at the store or borrow a book from the library or have a meal in the restaurant's dining room. It's a normal business community. The only persons who really aren'ttoo welcome are those who merely come out of mor- bid curiosity to stare and to act repulsed. To be sure, there's lots of misery here. But most of itis physical misery and not one bit more •• repulsive than some of the other kinds of social misery that is evident among so many people. Some of the men- and women who live here have jobs - some in the regular work force of Ar nhem, some in the sheltered workshops of the "village". Many resients are graduates of an ad- jacent school for the handicapped where they are educated and trained for jobs despite their physical limitations. There are, of course, some residents who are supported by the government through one social program or another. But that's not much dif- ferent than any other community where there is always a portion of the population receiving government assistance. The homes in the "village" are mostly one- storey, motel -like units. Usually, the rooms are off a kind of covered mall or heated hall. A resi- dent will have a bed -sitting room, a bathroom facility and perhaps a limited kitchen arrange- ment. Meals here are prepared in central kit- chens and served in common diningrooms where residents can come together for fun and fellowship. There are also common laundry facilities with adjoining waiting rooms, often featuring televi- sion or games tables. Some of the accommodation is in two or three storey buildings outfitted with elevators. Some accommodation allows for family living, because there are marriages in this "village" as in any other. I had the privilege to walk through the streets in this community one fall day not long ago. Although the folks I met were in wheelchairs, they were just like people anywhere. Some were taking home their shopping bags; some were walking their dogs; some had a cheery smile and a friendly hello; some were preoccupied with their own thoughts and didn't see me. My companion, a teacher at the school next door, knew many of the residents here. One girl stopped us. She wanted to talk to my friend. The conversation was all in Dutch but I did sense that it was a very normal kind of ex- change: "I haven't seen you for a while, how have you been? ; I've been having my ups and downs, how about you? ; I've taken up pottery making, what are you doing in your spare time? ; I should keep in touch with you by telephone, why don't you come over some time soon for a cup of coffee?" After goodbyes were spoken, I learned the young lady had lost both her legs during a bout with polio many years ago. This "village" af- forded her the opportunity to live on her own, make her own decisions, go her own way. She was content. And luckier in many ways than others in the world who haven't learned to accept their situation and get on with living. Milkweed sunset Photo by Cath Wooden Asad Whatever happened to the Etch -O - Sketch? Everybody had one of those magical, silent little screens with the two knobs th made horizontal or vertical lines appe t the slightest twist. Then with a shake, the lines would disappear. Yep, the good of Etch -O -Sketch was something I could deal with. Now, you've got your Atari and your Intelevision baseball, football, hockey, tennis, and soccer games, and the ever popular Asteroids and Space Invaders! Shoomph-shoomp shoomph-shoomp shoomph-shoomp, Vvrr0000p!-vvrr0000p! Liam-bam-bam-bam bam-bam-bam-bam ! Computerized video games are taking ov'erthe world. It creeps me out, man. I believe I understand where President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines is coming from. Here we have a boss of a country whose youth has done gone and .addicted aturtnseivea 4 coin-operated video games. Ferdinand dealt with it by banning the games and imposing stiff penalties on anyone caught playing with them. Obviously, computerized video games creep out the Pres. too. You see, old Pres. F.M. and I aren't' too good at coping with things we don't un- derstand. Computers are foreign to us. We don't know how they work or understand their language. To us, the computer is something that is thrust upon us in the workplace along with the almighty modern-day code, the new meaning of life, "COMPUTERS DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES!" Only the people using them make mistakes. It doesn't cleave a lot of room for excuses, you know? With this code etch -o -sketched on our souls, we go . about life dealing with computerized banking or computerized telephone operators and boy, do we ever love it when something goes wrong. l' derive a_great deal of satisfaction when 1 know I have dialed correctly and a com- puter answers me with, "This is not a long distance call. Do not dial one first." 1 merrily shout, "Cram it, lady! I didn't dial one first. Your lousy rotten computer fouled up, so there!" I suffer from a syndrome shared by many, called The Humans Are Still Best Syndrome. We fear being cast aside and trampled on by rebelling robots. The last thing we want to do is go home at night after the bank's. computers misplaced our savings account and play Space Invaders. That would be like coming home from World War i7 and playing with • toy soldiers. It's good to know that the children won't grow up with our paranoia. They are aware that computers are effective ser- vants, not threats. The children of the eighties are growing up with a basic and even advanced comprehension of com- puters. Gone age the days of Dick and Jane. Now, the first words kids in progressive, modern classrooms are taught to recognize are those that are identifiable on computers. Once those words are learned, the wee ones are able to execute simple programs. Somehow that isn't hard for us dark -age types to accept. It's all in the name of education. But, teach a child to read literature, and he will spend his money on comic books. Teach a child to program a computer to do the dishes or something and he will go spend his money on Space Invaders. The tools for learning are always the same tools for fun. The problem is, 1 missed the learning part and have a tendency to find the fun part scary rather than relaxing. Never mind. I don't think I can change. Shoomp shoomp shoomp shoomp. Vrr000p vrroop! . Bam-bam bam-bam bam-bam. They're coming to take me away vrion-vroop. They're coming to take me arwaY ti o ti-vroap. CATH WOODEN `I\ 1,