Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-08-31, Page 4'AGE'#--GODEIZICH SIGNALSTAR, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 314 9,83 DAVE SYKES t_ Sleep comes easily now In fact, :.t any given moment during daylight hours, I have an uncontrollable urge to nod off. It could be at my cluttered desk at the office, while driving to an assignment, while engaging in idle chatter on the telephone, even while walking. To suggest that I am weary, lethargic and generally comatose is an understatement. Sleep rcomes•easily during, the day, hut at bight it bas become more of a luxury. ,This • coluraui comes directly from the SSo-You- Wanted-To-Be•A-Father department and is solely designed to solicit your attention and sympathy. The least any self-respecting reader could do, on my behalf, is sniffle a little at the appropriate paragraphs. ' Sobbing and heaving is permitted, cry at your own discretion. Tuesday, August 30 -Midnight- The newest member of the Sykes family screams frantically and incessantly for something to eat. Barely days into life, her lungs have the power to jolt jhe residents of a small town from a.tleep Sleep. The mother of the child, possessor of the feeding equipment, relents and answers the child's frantic calls for food for what seems like the fifth time in a few hours. The weary parents, both awake, are amazed at the child's consumption. Tuesday, August 30-3 a.m.-The child resumes screaming and again arouses parents after several ,minutes of ;heart - .wrenching subs. The father of the child, totally unawake of the circumstances, begins to get out of bed to attend to the child. He is stopped by the mother of the child who informs the father that he lacks the proper equipment to complete the mission. The father of the child is effusive in his praise of breasts, offers thanks for breast-feeding to no-one in particular and returns to sleep. The mother scoops up the screaming bundle and disappears into the darkness. Tuesday, August 30- 4.30 a.m.- Sharp screams pierce the quiet of darkness and Lege both parents lay still hoping the other will get up and tend to the problem. No-one moves. Then we both move at the same time. The mother of the screamer says she will get up; again. The father gives in, again. The child is comforted and returned to the cradle. Tuesday, August 30-4.38 a.m.-A faint but unmistakable voice can be heard from across the hall. "1 'want juicedad-.Briadler wants juice." �f Just minute's ibefora, a rsirnailloaiatio.t iltd entered the child's room through the in- vitation of an open window, bounced around before returning to the darkness of the morning. Through all that the little human dynamo didn't stir. His sister gurgles in the cradle in the next room and he's yelling for juice and dad. The father relents, and embarks on a journey for juice. Just apple juice, thank you. The father of the child bounces off the walls in the hall en route to the kitchen. Just as the father turns the corner his lead bare foot steps on a pile of miniature, metal cars. Cars withprotrusions and sharp edges. The father. grabs his foot, screams ob- scenities and hoops- around. One of the cars scoots across the nO-wax flooring and slams Otto the stove with a thundering crash. The mother of the children yell; from the bedi+gom.. The childreen are screaming too. 'it's very early lathe morning. After juice the boy insists on sleeping in ;dad's bed.. Ws like sleeping with an octopus. the father of the child gets little sleep. The mother of the child sneaks into his bed and sleeps fine. Nobody knows where they sleep anymore. Tuesday, August 30-7 a.m.- The father of the children just gets to sleep. The alarm goes off. The father gets ready and is quite willing to leave the house and do battle in the real world. He knows, at least , he has a fighting chance out there. The father of the children thinks of the mother alone with the children all day and he smiles. I eNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1983 Second class mail registration numbe 0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded In 1114111 and published every Wednesday at Goderich. Ontario. Member of the CCNA and ®WHA. Adver, tieing rote, on request. Subscriptions payable in advance '10.90 In Canada. '50.00 to U.S.A., '50.00 to all other count • tries. single copies 50c. Display advertising rates available on request. Please ash for Rate Card No.13 effective ®o tobe. 1. 1007. Second class mall Registration Number 0710. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that In the event of typographical error. the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be e:targed for but that balance of the advertisement will be pond for at the ap- plicable rote. in the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at o wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal.Stor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing pur- 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, HUCK INS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 4B6 G,of3'e°c1� Sv-3 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 Must prove his case That Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney would win the Central -Nova by-election was never a question that raised any serious doubts. The margin of victory was an arguable facet of the by-election Monday, nothing else. The Liberals did their utmost to provide. Mulroney with a test in the riding, strutting their stuff on several oc- casions. Minister after minister happened to drop in on the election -weary folk of rural Nova Scotia but their presence failed to raise the stubborn eyebrows of the conservative -backing populace. The riding has been served by a Conservative MP for the past 25 years and the only change in condition is that the MP happens to lead the party. Mulroney has survived two great challenges in his political career but the biggest challenge is yet to be met. He succeeded in defeating Joe ('lark as leader of the party and subsequently shed his sophistacted coat to do some donw-home politiking in the riding vacated by supporter Elmer McKay. But now, Mulroney must speak on behalf of the Con- servative party and convince Canadians that he is more than qualified to run the country. To date, the man has been explicity vague on his philisophies and leanings on certain' issues. He has given no indication that he takes a firm stand on. any salient issues affecting Canada. He had been almost defiant against speaking on behalf of his party until a seat had been secured in the House of Commons. With that mission accomplished, party sup- porters, and all Canadians, will be looking for a forceful and determined Brian Mulroney to emerge. The man enjoys an interesting yet potentially volatile situation. The Conservative party is far and away the most popular political choice inthe country right; w, enjoying at least a 20 point advantage over the Libe'al§ in recent polls. But to rest on that lead would simply be in- viting self-destruction. Mulroney is an unknown quantity in Canadian politics. He has never held office, he had never participated in a campaign before and now he aspires to become the Prime Minister of Canada. He obviously cannot take the Canadian voting public or the Liberals for granted. The Liberals have been in tough spots before and yet they somehow escape with the power. They have that in their favor now. If anything, Mulroney has attentive ears in Canadian voters and his performance in the House of Commons could give the party the impetus it needs. There is growing disenchantment with the present government but that attitude cannot be accepted as victory either. Mulroney enters a critical session for the conservatives and Canadian politics. He must prove himslef before the party can be considered seriously as the next governing party. D.S. Quit your complaining We who live in this particular part of Southern Ontario have been experiencing a rare phenomenon over the summer months. Too much hot weather. Cold weather is something we know about. Oldtimers can sit around and tell you about the winter of '36 or the blizzards and snow drifts of '47 but there are very few stories about heat waves, no matter how far back the memory goes. Weather is one condition of life to which we relate directly and personally. You may have difficulty buying your meat by the kilogram, but it didn't take you long to realize that 32 degrees Celsius means a darn hot day. However, the human body is not really resilient. It is usually comfortable, even when clothed, within a range of about 20 degrees. At one end of the scale we shiver and at the other extremity we turn on the air conditioning. Few of us can imagine surviving, much less working ef- fectively in the heat and humidity of the tropics. In some areas of the world, it is not uncommon for the tem- perature to reach 120 degrees in the daytime. Perhaps the reason for our apparent inability to handle wide temperature changes is that modern homes and facilities hayed coddled us too much. Our pioneer an- cestors must have put up with much greater discomfort. Log cabin and fireplace. in winter and certainly no air conditioning in summer. It must have been a little less than pleasant to be forced to cook over a log fire with the outside temperature at 90 degrees. However, winter may soon be upon us. There is no reason to express discontent at the recent heat wave. Hello in there by Joanne Buchanan DEAR READERS SHIRLEY KELLER Every time I go away from home for a few days, I like to read other newspapers from other places. I find it fascinating to see what is newsworthy in other communities ... and I am usually comforted by the fact that in general, our own paper, The Goderich Signal -Star is doing a pretty good job for the people in this area. Universally I suspect people are all tarred with the same brush ,.. they like to read about other people. And this is a job that the hometown community weekly newspapers have done ex- ceptionally well for more than a century. But sometimes I wonder if we aren't changing our attitudes a little. Maybe with the advent in recent years of television and jet travel, our sphere of interest is widening. Are we becoming a little more discerning about what we read? The appeal of the hometown paper always has been its ability to mirror all the activities of one, particular area, often no more than 50 square miles. The Goderich Signal -Star, for instance, is the only newspaper in the entire world that at- tempts to carry all the news about Goderich and area. It's unique in that sense. A specialty publication. The reflection in that mirror is constantly changing ... the people in our readership area just aren't doing the same things today they were doing 25 years ago. They don't care about the same things in the same way. They don't react to the same things in the same way. While anp'.responsible newspaper will attempt to change with the people, it's an ongoing battle at any responsive newspaper to read the in- dicators correctly and to adjust to the times smoothly and effortlessly, holding all the old readers and attracting the new ones. It's a tall order to fill. Sensing an altered at- titude is one thing; adjusting to it is another; satisfying changing needs is still another. When I first started in the newspaper business a quarter century ago or so, a respected newspaperman told me, "Names are news." As far as I can tell, that rule still hasn't changed. And the most important name in the paper- bar none - is your name. But that doesn't mean that things aren't changing. Not at all. These days, more people are doing more things ... different things, new things, surprising things. Shorter work weeks and more time for recreation and leisure provide opportunities. for folks to get involved in more activities Longer life spans and healthier, more vital senior citizens give rise to a whole new segment of community life. Generally smaller families with both mom and dad employed outside the home have resulted in changed habits for parents and children who are out in the world, doing things and making news at an earlier age. Broadening educational opportunites mean that young people are busy with exciting projects of all kinds in all parts of the world. Changing philosophies and differing points of view make way for an inestimable number of interests, all of which are newsworthy in their own right. While the hometown community newspaper endeavours to adjust to the times and to the reading requirements of the people it serves,, the task gets more and more diversified and difficult every issue. Something has to give. As the community changes, so does the community newspaper Old customs may still be respresented, but they ca (it occupy the same percentage of space. They enlist be compacted to make room for bits and pieces of other new things. As I carried out my unofficial sampling of newspapers while on my vacation, I was making a few notes. I'm not sure I understand or ap- preciate all the changes I'm seeing, but I recognize my responsibility to react to them through the printed word. In that sense then, reading newspapers on my vacation made me feel old and a bit out -of -tour" with the mainstream of life. Gratefully, not all the changes are reflected in the Goderich mirror at this time, and maybe by the time they reach here (if ever) I'll be retired or working in some other capacity. All I can say is that changes are inevitable, even here at The Goderich Signal -Star. And your opinion is just as vital as that of the next guy ... so keep reading us every week and let us know when we're doing the job we should as well as when we are failing to deliver the views from your corner of influence. And believe me, we're going to need your help to stay truly representative of and relevant for this area throughout these changing times First a bit of information, in reply to a question in Martha's recent column. Expressing her delight at the changes and developments in the Harbour and St. Christopher's Beach area, Mrs. Hathburn Wonders ( and others may do the same ) whether the Town had to pay a fortune for the large quantities of heavy chain used for landscaping and practical purposes. It is a pleasure to state that the chain was collected over the last few years at little or no cost. Part of it was purchased at scrap prices, but most of it was given at no cost other than pick-up. There were tips from seamen where to enquire about discarded chain (everybody has been most supportive of the efforts for visual improvements in the area) but most of the credit goes to Stan Meriam, Public Works Foreman, who used his contacts for diligently scouting around for chain no longer in use available for our purposes. On this occasion it should be noted that the painting of the old and rusty chain ) and you can imagine what a time-consuming and tedious job that is) was done mainly by Katimavik participants, again at no cost to the Town. I trust that Martha and others will find this information entirely satisfactory and that it adds to their enjoyment of the improvements of which the chain is an at- tractive part. +++ The main theme for today came to me as a topic on which a well -attended workshop was held at the recent AMO ( Association of Municipalities of Ontario) annual con- ference in Toronto. "Can and should municipal by-laws control human behaviour?" The subject is not new, but it continues to be intriguing and controversigl and there is no simple agreement, as tight controls appeal to some and collide with the philosophy of others. Some groups and in- dividuals are asking for more' regulations and restrictions to be heaped upon us -at every turn, others say that we are overgoverned already to the point where our initiative becomes dull, our energy becomes limp and our responsibilities are reduced to a merely dim memory of our potential. The workshop did not offer safe and satisfactory solutions; it was not ex- pected to do so. It demonstrated once more the polarization of our views on the subject and set our own thoughts in motion. The heading of the workshop was a bit off the mark, as even the most elementary and basically acceptable by-law controls some aspect of human behaviour. in our society some speed limits and stop signs are necessary. While they control our driving behaviour, they balance this with the ex- pected safety aspect for all. Do we go too far even in that? Participating in the workshop it quickly became clear that although the title did not make this distinction, what it really meant was - "Can and should municipal by-laws control our morals and private behaviour?" i think that this distinction should be always made before anyone addresses the subject. Should zoning by-laws define a "family" in a manner as to regulate such private things as who may live with whom? Are changes in social attitudes suitably reflected in the new realities of statements made in updated by-laws? Should there be .iy-laws or resolutions determining that if some people want to go to church, others are not allowed to do different things during the same period? Are we told by too many groups, commissions and levels of gover- nment what we may not do, read or view in our private lives? Leaving the moral values aside - snowa a municipal by-law regulate the number and size of our kitchen cupboards? Right here in Goderich our property standards by-law does just that. Under ordinary cir- cumstances it has been seldom enforced, but that is not the point. In many cases, if a municipal politician faces a problem or difficult situation, his first reaction is - pass a by-law prohibiting whatever it is. We should pay more attention and see in good enough time whether a by- law is a positive and progressive step in the direction of general benefit or whether it is simply anothe restriction on our rights and an intrusion into our privacy. We are rightly proud of our freedoms, out if we started to look at the many details of the situation really closely - have we not lost too many freedoms gradually on the way? 0 yes, we can always comfort ourselves by talking about it. HLSA HAYDON