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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-12-09, Page 4PAGE 4—GODERICH SIGNAL STAR, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9,1981 DAVE SYKES C , a� While the aging process wages a relen- tless battle against this correspondent it strudr with ferocity on the weekend. In just two short days I suspect the process was accelerated with a velocity that added at least 10 years to my youthful ap- pearance. When I offered that theory to the life partner (Mrs. Sykes) she suggested her own age had doubled in the same period. A number of factors contributed to the rapidity of the aging process, a few of which are presented here. Sample the following. A couple weeks ago, this wretched writer regaled reader's with the prospect of the little guy (nine-month old Bradley) having to wear glasses. We feared the initiation would be a tempestuous time, trying to corral the little dynamo, who like all children is fascinated with life and intent on getting everything in his line of vision into his little hands and the vicinity of his mouth. To put it mildly, son Bradley does not like his glasses. The glasses arrived Thursday evening last and while looking at the miniature version of the sight correctors, the little lady and I looked at each other, resigned to the fact the task would begin. Considering that the wee one was near bed time we agreed to start the patience -testing process Friday, a clever ploy an my part since I would be at work. Arriving home that evening, allegiance at the better half confirmed suspicions that her day had not been filled with treasured moments. Bradley had relieved mom of her patience and it was evident the little guy was not pleased either. There was an air of mutual dislike. Apparently, having glasses tied around his head, did sit well with the youngster and he advised me of same. Mother's version is Out Bradley was most uncooperative. In fact, while mother tied glasses on the squirmer, the little guy , cried, wailed, sobbed and generally acted like mother was torturing him. He obviously doesn't un- derstand and even tried avoiding morn and those deadly glasses. It was a tough day on mom too and the little guy's wails and sobs turned her to mush. Mother even resorted to trickery and deceit, showing Bradley how she puts on her glasses but he would have no part of it. The entire weekend was spent racing after the elusive dynamo and placing the glases on his nose. He,of course, kepi ripping them off his head despite the fact mora tied them with black ribbon. We achieved some sort of a record Saturday, when Bradley managed to keep the glasses on for at least 10 minutes. Elated, we considered it a sign of progress and are hopeful he will soon graduate to 15 or 20 minutes maybe even a half hour, before ripping them off with one hand. Most of the time he defiantly throws the expensive on the floor, but has, on occasion, stuck them in his mouth for further examination. Also, to date, the little guy hasn't inherited his dad's ample honker, and his little nose won't support the glasses. They keep slipping down and he resembles a midget professor. To add to the hectic weekend, he took a nasty spill from his walker Sunday scaring the beejeepers out of mom and dad. A quick check in emergency revealed no permanent damage bit hehas fat lip for his efforts. But the little set of glasses and a bruised face and fat Hp haven't altered his truculent style. The little guy •CNA BLUE RIBBON AVYARD Second.class , mail registration number -0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded In 11NSend published every Wednesday et Dederick Ontario. 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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 NYA 4S6 adeviaTt \GNP1/4L'CPR FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 Cure in prevention Every year on our highways, thousands of people are in- jured, maimed or lolled in alcohol related accidents. WlhIle the province still attempts to crack down on the. drinking driver, the numbers proclaim the problem each year. Ontario's Attorney -General; Roy McMurtry has made Ittigniits toerack down on the drinldrg driver and said, r.`ILira frightening to think that statistically one car out of ,ever'eight aiming towards you oil the higiawdyatnight is driven by someone whose ability is impaired to some ex- tent." McMurtry wants to change that. situation and is now proposing amending legislation to the Highway Traffic Act giving police the authority to take car keys from drivers who are found to have more than 50 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood or a reading of .05 and higher. Of course now, under the Criminal Code of Canada drivers are not considered iunpaireduntil their alcohol level registers .08 on the breathalyzer. The move is intended to remove potential risks from the highways and is more preventative than penal in nature. It makes good sense considering that alcohol is involved in. half of the fatal accidents. In Canada more than 1,000 peo- ple die in alcohol related accidents. Aside from the fatalities, statistics indicate that drink- ing drivers are involved in a high percentage of ac- cidents. The proposed amendments would give police the right to take keys from drivers who register between .05 and :08 on the portable breathalyzer. The driver's licence would be suspended for a. period of1Zhouus, Ideally, McMurtry would like the changes to be in effect for the Christmas season, when many driveas.are return- ing from office and house parties after indulging in a few drinks. Effectively, McMurtry's proposal would remove the driver on the edge of legal impairment from the roads and highways. The amendment isn't likely to be too popular among motorists but it could be effective as a preventative measure. The system is used in other provinces and the only drawback appears to be a willingness among policemen to simply suspend a driver's licence for the 12 - hour period rather than lay impaired driving charges. Regardless, the legislation could go a long way towards effectively .dealing with the drinking driver problem. It won't eliminate it by any means, but it may make drivers think twice before taking to the road. D.S. There's another way Some farmers in the Grey and Bruce County region of the province have taken to militancy to illustrate the point that farmers are being unfairdy victimized by economics. Press reports and pictures have sufficiently offered evidence to the fact that some are bearing arms and ready to defend against foreclosures, their identity concealed behind dark balaclavas. And their protestation has spread to the Legislature where a farmer was wrestled to the floor and handcuffed after yelling obscenities from the gallery during a debate on assistance to farmers. Another farmer offered obscene gestures to Agriculture Minister Lorne Henderson. Certainly, it is not the first obscene gesture to emanate from the Legislature, but it may be the first directed towards a politician. It is difficult to speculate on whether the militant group is using the ploy simply to draw attention to the plight of the farmer, or have they been driven to this frustrating route by interest rates and unsympathetic politicians. Surely no one will dispute the fact that farmers are hate Mg a difficult time with interest rates and return and on products. Others, homeowners and businessmen, are in the same position as well. If the situation is that desperate, that men are driven to form vigilante groups to protect their property and life's work, the government should offer some relief or remedial measures. Admittedly, the majority of the farm- ing community does not condone the gun -toting antics of the minority, believing the message can be delivered. in less threatening ways. The. message is now clear enough and while govern- ments appease the militant groups with promises of review and.some sort df action, concrete evidence of those promises is lacking. The times are a little tougher than Canadians have known for many years and again, it is difficult to speculate on whether Canadians are simply prone to whin- ing rather than doing something about the situation. D.S. DEAR READERS SHIRLEY KELLER I absolutely loved it. At last, someone in the field of journalism in this country has taken the side of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It was David Crane, Economics Editor of The Toronto Star. The date of his column was December 6, 1981. And as far as I'm concerned, it was a classic example of telling it like it is. For once. Crane was talking about the way in which Trudeau's critics bad-mouth everything the PM says and does. Specifically, Crane was zeroing in on Trudeau's recent speech in Vancouver. You remember. It was the one after which Trudeau was "roundly chastized because he had the ef- frontery to ask the well-heeled of that city to spend less time complaining and more time thinking about the great opportunities and potential facing Canada". Crane hit it right on the head. Crane claims the reason people rail against Trudeau is because "he says things we don't want to hear or asks about issues we really don't want to think about". In Vancouver, Trudeau stated that Canadians are not concerned enough about their country. "Everyone reaches that stage when they have to ask, where do they go from here," Trudeau said, "and the same thing applies to the country. We have to ask Ourselves, 'Where are we going' Is it too big for us? Can we handle it? Can we hold it together? And what do we want to do with it? And are we prepared to fight for it even if it means confrontation and unpopularity and poor receptions that you have?" Crane says it as well as anyone could, so I'll quote him directly. "What's overlooked is that in spite of all our problems Canada is a rich and well-placed coun- try;" writes Crane. "We have good health and good education, modern industries, safe cities, clean and abundant water, no danger of running out of food, great resource wealth . and firmly established democratic institutions." "But we often don't appreciate them or think about how to better use them - for our own benefit and the world's benefit," Crane went on. "Instead we seem to get caught up in petty and vindictive issues." Crane cites the city of Calgary, for instance, that wants to buy new streetcars from West Ger- many and won't let Canadian companies bid on the contract. He talks about the provincial premiers who would "turn their provinces into independent fiefdoms". He points out how Opposition Leader Joe Clark is stalking the country "calling the latest budget dishonest and a tissue of lies, dragging debate over important issues down to the gutter of par- tisan insults instead of offering alternative ideas". And Crane adds, "Even people who should. have known a lot better dismissed the effort to devise a new constitution as irrelevant or simply an ego -building exercise by Trudeau." bean went on to complain that the Canadian Manufacturers' Association is concerned that major changes in the United States corporate tax laws may create competitive problems for Cana- dian manufacturers. "But instead of funding a major study on the subject, which the association could easily af- ford," Crane asserts, "it has spent months trying to get the taxpayer to finance the study by hav- ing the finance,department do it." "In Japan, West Germa by or the United States, the industry would put up its own money and hire the best brains available to do it," says Crane. Dalton Camp has been reading Peter Newman's new book about Canada's millionaires, says Crane. And Camp finds, "It is hard to find anywhere in Newman's book, any expression of affection for Canada, or any gratitude or appreciation for the country in which so much has been so swiftly made for so few." "One is compelled to ask oneself what they want," wrote Dalton Camp. "The simple answer is they want their own way." Camp continues: "While literally millions of Canadians are living in dread and feeling the pains of inflation and concurrent ills, the loudest cries of injury and outrage are heard from the exceedingly rick" "What is new about the Canadian establish- ment," writes Camp, "is that with rare excep- tion, it is no longer as committed to Canada as it used to be." And Crane sums it all up this way: "There is something wrong in this country about the way so many people have opted out of working to make this a better country. There is a whining selfishness or greed in much of debate that does take place." "Canada is a great country with a great poten- tial," concludes Crane. "But it will always be less than it should be until more Canadians start worrying about its future and start thinking about their country as well as themselves." Right on David. Thanks for saying it so elo- quently. There is dissension in my household. I am the dissenter, my dear sweet sister Sue is the dissentee. My older sibling and I are not exactly two peas of a like pod when it comes to the Christmas season. She., being somewhat hyper in nature, has a tendency to overdo the month-long anticipatory scurrying about. I, being somewhat humbuggish in nature, am tryin g to resist the urge to do violence to her person. ft isn't easy. Do you have any idea what it is like to wake up Sunday morning hearing Elvis Presley Sings Christmas Carols? I asked her nicely if she could put on something else, and I got Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal singing Sleigh Bells Ring. 1 groped my way into the living morn and found the stereo. It needs a new needle now but Susan is not easily discouraged. She simply finds a mirzak radio station and wanders around stretching her exelsus deos tothelimit. _... "Tyre, taste this!' sine ielenen whilst jamming a fermenting piece of Christmas cake in my hungover mouth one morning. "Last year, I ate three cakes all myself! Did I ever get hosed ! " Everyday, Susan reverently opens another little window on her Advent Calendar. "O000h, look! It's either a bunny rabbit with a bushy tan or a squirrel withtbig ears! Or maybe it's one of Santa's elves." She gets extremely annoyed when I maliciously open a little window for a day that hasn't come yet. The decorations are getting to be a bit much to tolerate. I didn't know that when she moved back from several years out west, all her steamer trunks contained Christmas decorations. It boggles the mind. On all available table space there are Christmas candles, ceramic Santas, and ceramic Christmas trees. Everything is in red and green. She has a pop-up Twas the Night Before Christams storybook on prominent display. Ob- wells I- guess- home i where -yea hang your plastic nativity scene. I carne home one day to find that she had seperated all of the windowe into little panes with black tape and sprayed artificial snow in the corners of them "That's very creative of you," I managed to squeeze out before closeting myself in my room. Territorial bounderies do not concern my sister. In she bounded bearing her can of snow spray and roll of black tape. "But I haven't doneyour window yet! Aww, come on, lemmedoyour window!" she conjoled. I tried to cover the window with my body. "No. You will not touch my window! This is my window and you will not decorate it. Shoo!" "1 know...you've got Christmas presents hidden in here, doncha? Where are they? Whatja get me?" There is absolutely nothing that can dampen that girl's en- thusiasm, not even her lemon -sucking sister. While I shuffle about hoping it won't snow, sem' at the kIte1Or tale and merrily carves snowflakes out of typing paper with the nail scissors. While she punches out shortbread cookies with cookie cutters the shape of Santas, I munnble that shortbread cookies are too darned fattening. I am not a scrooge, I tell her. It's just that . I can't keep up all this Christmasy stuff, and still be fresh for when the day finally comes. My Christmas 'season' starts December 23 and lasts clear through the 26th. That's plenty for me. The only thing she has remained reasonable about so far is the tree. We haven't got one yet. If she manages to leave it uncut until at least the weekend after next, Ill forgive her of all her excess But it's hard to trust someone who bought Cable TV for the sole purpose of watching Johnny Cash's Christmas in Scotland. But then, it's not easy to resist her either. She just might be able to squeeze a Ho Ho Ho oilvfn eyet_ CATH WOODEN