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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-01-19, Page 4of You can take your winter and Shovel These may be.fairly stern words from an otherwise meek and mild mannered reporter, but darn it, I mean every one of them. Winter .and I have a mutual reaped for 'one another, and • our relationship is - based simply on tolerance. I was coasting allong rather nicely, thank you, as the calendar Progressed wellinto the month of January with nary a snowflake in sight, Asa rut t by this time of the year, the residents of Huron County have survived three attacks of cabin fever, snow shevelling elbow, muscle spasms from car pushing and pulling and assorted ailments compliments of the season. . - I rather detest the thought of winter more than anything. Once the cold and snow has actually descended these parts for three months, I find it bearable. It's just the thought leading up to the first snowfall that plays weirdiricks on tny suspeet ruing& The weather hadbeensoealBeifativethat I was actually convinced. that January and. February would slip idly away without hint of a snowflake. Breezes would beg** 6, out of the southwest and boots and snow shovel would be neatly packed in. the . basement, .I had visions of a green winter . and an early spring but those visions were shattered unceremoniously this weekend. My car whines, whirls and eoughs before sputtering into action, my boots and seeks are wet, my fragile bed is chilled, my driveway succumbs to drifting without even a fight and my life is clouded by poor visibility. After three days of winter, I'm ready for a room at the home and a glass of warm milk.. Everyone knew winter was on its way, it's an inevitable fact of life, but it struck with such ferocity on the weekend that if rekindled memories of involuntary' coni- finement that other- storms have ititposed: upon unsuspecting idiots like myself. There have been several. theories Pu ported on the electronic news and in the daily press, relative to the mildwinter experienced across much of the civilized world. Some have •specidated that the weather patterns over the western world have been altered by,, the Soviets while a second.theory. Suggests that volcanoes have been responsible for the mild weather that lingered into January. Personally, I suspect the variation in the weather is simply a cruel joke and 1 am not at. Wall amused. On a more technical and professional level, experts claim the weather has been influenced by jet streams, which , means little to this • amatuer meteorologist, Whether it's jet streams, comrnlet or active volcanoes interferingwith ow' space and pressure **nu, sorietldng hoo gone- awry the year, While the winter of 1983-83: held great promise" heading into the middle of January, the return of the cold, snow and wind -whipped flakes has done much to sour my usually docile personality. 1. have shovelled. 'the driveway in the morning after the snowplow has obl.Igingly blocked thelaneway only to find the wind has filled in the driveway while '1 was et work. Ii. - T shovel the driveway in the evening, the wind blows in a new load of snow overnight. My driveway attracts snow like a magnet. I will survive, barely, but I will survive the winter. It's just that I enjoy complaining every once in a while. • NA *CNA BLUE. RIBBON AWARD Second cls; mail registration number•0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded In Will and pubIlihed. every Wednesday at Goderlch, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OWN*. Adver- tisingrotes on request. Subscriptions payable In advanca;94.N In Canada, °SLAY toU.S.,A.,.'SS.N to all other count- • tries. single copies Sec. Display advertising rotes available on request. please+ aili"for Rate Card No.13 effective Oc- tober 1, 14112. Second clan mall Registration Number 0716. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that, in the went of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item, together with reasonable allowance for signature. will not be charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the ap- plicable rate. In the went of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price. goods or services may not be sold. Advertising 1. merely en offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star Is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicitedmanuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing pur- poses. 1 PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIEK -President and Publisher, DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor P.O. BOX 220. HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 4B6 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 More paperwork Canadians will soon be receivingtheir 1982 income tax feints in the mail,' so it is perhaps an ap;.: opriate time to, explain why people operating, small and medium size companies are so angry aboutthe number and complexity of the forms they are forced to fill out for government. The issue is timely -because -the -changes -in the personal income tax form during the last 20 years or so are but one example of the kind of paper -burden entrepreneurs are forced to contend with. • Let's flash, back to the 1960s. At that time, Revenue. Canada was satisfied with a four-page tax form! Canadians reported their income, lopped off a few deductions and either paid the tax bill or filed for a refund. It was a relatively simple exercise. Now, Canadians are faced with a 30 -page form, together with a muti-coloured booklet explaining how easy it is to • fill in this document. This once sunple process had become so cotnplex that more and more people are forced to visit accountants and tax preparation experts as they attempt to save money. Thankfully, this is a once -a -year happening. Such is not the caise for business people. They are forced to deal with such government oriented paperwork .on a week -to -week basis. They have to report federal and provincial government sales taxes, Worker's Com- pensation afid unemployment insurance changes and dozens of other peices of paperwork, including in- -: - formation- for that federal government monster called Statistics Canada. . In fact, most smaller firms- are spending 10 hours a week or more handling the government's paperwork and red tape. The tragedy, of course, is that the time could be better spentoperating the business, allowing the entrepreneur to expand and create new jobs, or at least maintain present employment levels: • ' The hard fact is that governments are placing too heavy a burden on business people who would rather hustle new sales than spend hours,filling informs. So this year, when you're completing. your income tax return, give a little thought to the entrepreneur's plight. If you were in his or her shoes, • you would be completing such forms virtually every week of the year. Exeter Times Advocate. Not all are lucky Prime Minister Trudeau's New Year's message to Canadians had a hollow ring. It was all about optimism, good cheer, we're going to win, we live in a great •land, etc., etc. ' • Well, it's true. We do -live in a great land. Most of us are, indeed millionaires by comparison with the people of El Salvador or Sierra Leone. Most of us. Those with jobs, particularly if we happen to be. NHL stars or prime ministers are doing all right. But more than a million and a half Canadians who don't have jobs and whose unem- ployment insurance is fast running out don't.really think this land is so great. We can't imagine the out -of -work miners in Sudbury standing up to cheer when Mr. Tr udeau concluded his heartening address. All the blame for all ourills cagnot be laid at the door of one government, but Canadians will be a long time forgetting that the most unavoidable causes of disastrous inflation and economic collapse where those measures initiated by the federal authorities. High interest rates, the bale of straws that finally broke the camel of our economy, were, after all, dictated every Thursday af- ternoon by Mr. Gerald Bouey of the Bank of Canada. The crippling price of fuels for transportation and home heating oil were not set by the oil companies under the pressure of competition. They .were ordered by govern- ment, bolstered by federal and provincial taxes. The post office, a money -loser from .time immemorial, couldn't wait for an -upturn in the economy before all but doubling its rates. There was federal money for saving businesses — if they were big enough, but very little for the assistance of small businesses which happen to employ a Mere 80 per cent of the Canadian work force. Peter C. Newman, former editor of Macleans and. a brilliant student of the Canadian economy, said the following recently in a.Maclean's feature article. "1982 will go into the economic history books as the year the Bank of Canada stopped pretending it could manage the country's monetary affairs. Gov. Gerald Bouey is clearly out of his depth and should be put out of his' , professional misery as soon as possible. Caught in the time warp of fighting yesterday's economic battles, the central banker and his dispirited crew have managed to make the worst of sad situation. "They, richly deserve to be awarded the Allan J. MacEachen Memorial Trophy for Economic Mismanagement." Untold billions of Canada's business dollars are handled by - this country's 306 crown corporations, companies which have all the protection of public funding without the requirement to open their books to public scrutiny. Canada Post joined the ranks of the crown corporations last year, so protests in Parliament about its operations and rates are no longer admissible. Now it appears probable that Canadian farmers will hand over the operation of their export markets to yet another corporation of the crown to be known as Canagrex, the unborn but already favored, son of Eugene Whelan. Apparently the farmers have forgotten that Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. — The Wingham Advance Times A different lifestyle There has been quite a serious campaign mounted this month to bring attention to non-smoking week from January 23-29. Non-smoking week has been with us for several years and the highlight of the week is Weedless Wednesday, a day in which all smokers were urged to quit for at least 24 hours. During non-smoking week, all smokers are urged to quit and the campaign has- reached national prominence as the citizens of the city of Vancouver have challenged citizens in the city of Toronto to give up the weed for good. This year, more attention has been focused on the campaign than ever before and the Huron County Health Unit can offer some•excellent literature than contains tips on cutting down and eventually quitting smoking. If you are serious about contact the health unit and enjoy a healthy lifestyle. A-4 Woodwork By Dave Sykes • DEAR READEF1:. SHIRLEY KELLER During the Christmas vacation, our family I go to special education classes. began reminiscing about the readers we had My sister's name is 'i`ammy. I have not seen when we were in Grade 1. her for a long time. She does not go to school. She For Dad and me, it was the Mary, John and lives in a hospital where they help her to learn to Peter series. For the older kids it was Dick, Jane and Baby Sally. For the younger students it was Mr. Muggs or some ogler equally unobtrusive ,.., character.. The object of all first grade primers is to relate • the experiences of the characters asclosely as possible to the experiences of the children who are reading it. Let's face it. Mary, John and Peter of my era are totally outdated. Fathers - don't walk anywhere now and the iceman doesn't visit mother's kitchen every few days. Dick, Jane and Baby Sally aren't all that rele- want either. That series featured a close-knit family,•unit where mother was always at -home and where father had a fulltime job that obvious - trust people. My father and mother cannot keep us. They fight. My mother is sick most of the time. She takes little white pills to help her feel better, and sometimes she drinks from a very large bottle. My father does not live with my mother. He lives with a new lady now. They fight too, My father is unemployed. He needs retraining to get a job, but sometimes he forgets to go to classes because he has some bad 'headaches in the mornings. My social worker's name is Nancy. She is pret- ty. She comes to visit me every week. She tells me how Tammy is. She helps my foster parents understand why I am afraid when it is noisy in ly paid him very well, The children enjoyed the house. - vacations on the farm with their grandparents ' My grandma and grandpa live in Florida all and life was definitely middle to upper class. winter. When it is warm. they come to their sum - I'm not all that familiar with the later series mer . cottage ' at the lake. They don't like my for first graders, but it is safe to say that if father and my mother doesn't, like them educators were honestly trying to write reading anymore. e material to which children could relate today, it Grandma and grandpa don't come to see me or would need to be- drastically different from my sister much, but at Christmas they send us anything 'that has ever been in the classroom presents. Last Christmas I got a video game. I before. don't know what my sister got. I know they love The text for one story might well run us - their cards always say, Love, Grandpa and something like this: Grandma. My name is Tim. I live with my foster parents. When I am grown'up: I want to live in Florida Reader disappointed •thait ._1 ger not at GDCI next time the Kinsmen and Thank you to the/people Kinettes will be able to get who came out Wedneessddaay LETTER the response we would like. night to see Kevin. To fee died Also maybe the students of I'm sorry more peop GDCI will be fortunate to not turn out. h•a meet uiis great kid, vert lot of love and a will to live thanks to a lot of PEOPLE WHO CARE. too. But I will not have a cottage here. This is not a nice place. - "I will make lots of money and I will take my sister out of the hospital. We will be very happy when we are together. Maybe then my father and my mother will come to see us. Maybe grandpa and grandma will come too. We will be quiet then, because we will not fight. It 'Will be just like a real family on television. +++ You think that sounds sad? So do I. And it may be a slight exaggeration of what's really happen, ing to our children, even right here in Huron County. But it is closer to the truth than the Dick, Jane and . Baby Sally series I'll wager. Teachers everywhere in this couyity are reporting each year, a larger percentage of their students are drawn from broken homes or homes where some -social ill has taken its toll on the children. It is frightening -,. and there's no end in sight because society doesn't seem to have a cure for what's routine all around us. It's a challenge for educators at all levels to be sure. But more than that, it is a challenge for each and every adult who has children or is plan- ning to have children in the future. We may never get back to the comfortable middle -upper-class lifestyle of Dick, Jane and Baby Sally, but at least we can aim for something a whole lot better than the Tim and Tammy truths, to which we appear to be headed at breakneck speed. Dear Editor: Last night much tory delight I had the great honor along with some other con- cerned citizens of meeting a young man with cystic fibrosis. To look at him he i looks like any other 18 year- research in CF. Kevin old. himself does not get money His name is Kevin Denbok and he is from Collingwood, for the record. Ont. Kevin has CF and While Kevin was in the knows that he will probably Goderich area he appeared live only three years, four at at some of the public schools most. With this in, mind he and other places. The keeps right on going. Kevin . responseo this was disappointmentgreat has a lot of spunk and a was Mthat Kevin did ot get a piver talent to sing aro Com chance to appear at GDCI. e What this young man has to pose. and with the say and in his songs is so Kevin was and Kinettes, a uplifting and heart render - record Kevin able to ecord a int I feel the students of called People Like GDCI were deprived of a You. kle is touring the corm" very good experience in not try promoting his record tot' Meeting him. CF. All the, are g cis from Apparently the time could this record are going for not be arranged by the school, I'm sure with other things the school does giving up one hour for Kevin would not have been asking too much. Because Kevin has the silent killer, no one can see what is wrong with hitn so they are not as quick to res- pond. It is too bad we have the time to support other things because we see what they are doing, but CF' which .is inside and not visible does not get the support it so bad- ly needs. 1 t � kills just as sure as cancer. Maybe if there is a Sincerely, Mrs. Douglas Baltzer, Dungannon, Ont. hanks f or help Dear Editor, We would like to thank all those who gave of their time to help ensure the success of .our volleyball tournament. We truly appreciate the effort put forth by the .referees, scorers and linespersons as well as those who helped : in other' capacities. We couldn't have done' it without you'. To all the teases that participated we hope you enjoyed yourselves and we hope to see you next year. Special thanks to the High School for the use of the gyms and to the Rec Board for theuse of their con- ference room. Thank You Alt The Coderich Elevators Ladies' Softball Team