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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-01-09, Page 4• a "There, it's a fixed up now.," Now any fa er, with even limited ex periencce, knows those few Ample words mean that something bas b en totally, and possibly, irrevocably ged, destroyed and otherwise dismantled. My son tends to cart . r th0 a vYntxto with in ...,ereasidagrregolo y it� gh a A, lot. tem. 1_. Whether he's within the line of sight or not, hen I hear him boast and spuriously suggest that "something" is all fixed up, it's a signal that our horme, neighbourhood and perhaps much of the free world, is in grave danger. My first tendency is to dive to the floor and cover my head. But, for the most part, I merely close my eyes, sigh and try to iin- agine what it is exactly that has required the mechanical talents of my soon-to-be four son. We had such a session Saturday While precariously perched on a chair in the kitchen and miserably failing in ~ at- tempts to imitate a wallpaper hanger, I could hear strange sounds emanating from the roonia nearby where my so was engaged in enma foray of uainfel gefiVitv., THE NEWS PORT F9R GODERICH & DISTRICT SINCE 'MS Founded in 1848 and published every Wednesday et Ooderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OCNA. Subscriptions payable in advance •20,85, Monier Citizens '17.85 privilege card number required) in Canada, '55. to U.S.A., '55. to ell other .countries, Single copies 5Ot. Display, National and Classified advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rat.Card No. 15 effective October 1, 1984. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical array, the advertising apace 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 applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services et a wrong price, goods or services may not be Bold. Advertising le merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts; photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER - President and Publisher, DON HUBICK - Advertising Manager DAVE SYKES - Editor ,• clkot P.O. BOX 220 H INS INJC STR AL 1NOUSTRIAL PARK ST. GODERICH, ONT. N7A 4136 ` deC,n Gt‘IeO Member: *CNA • As 1 did battle..with wallpaper wrinitlea that seemed ° tomultiply with every sruoothln sero e a couple of balms, twangs`'There,, now Tits itan'sd all Mof1psedb," I hroke theeard silencemyson. proudly roclaim as he walked lin the room b°ubbingl€' i.�aq�.s �la viae. `into :�. eyes and let toy head � into my chest, f tried tteii:'de on the spam statement. • There was d "fixing"- and Inc. e re:; h: tion brat. my son's ren ' ered something useless terfully restored it to working Axed the screen door, the sequences of nothing that cumbed to hands had ft before he order.. Had he ag one he syste .teeny dismantled on a winter day just to "see how it worked." Was he again wreaking havoc on all things elec- trical and otherwise in fine working Order, armed with his father's forbidden tools? I feared the worst. "Ah, ex use me litradley, but, ah just what is it exactly that you have fixed,''' I asked while climbing off • the chair and bracing myself for his .explanation: "The typewriter," he. as if I should have known without a • "You fix ust fine,. I e.. aelthig why the t 14lte w Coke lu,th .first pplaec.. '� is a load oif tray i n?nd. 'knowing ou dtod typemiter il� all fixed."J Yeah, ' the typewriter's fixed but . . eouldn't fix your measuring tape," l e"said i whilie giving me , Unit. /woebegone sad "bo fiillYla k that says, "`y�teuse dl 'i illi Y_._. • me.' • "You couldn't fix my measuring tape.. There was nothing wrong with my measur- ing tape. But obviously now something is' wrong with my measuring tape," the dad • says,.his voice rising notieably. Within a flash the youngster produces the measuring tape in two pieces. The tape has been pulled outof the casette. The father closes his eyes, shakes his head p and wimpers a lot. "Little boys just like to see how things work, don't they dad?" he reasons as if it Will rationalize the entire situation. "How will you hang the tape on yaur belt?" ,) If I ever hear my daughter say,"there, it's all fixed," I'm going to leave home. .Second class mail registration number 0716 - M . FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...pleeee phone [519)524-2614 Cthmiss.ioiidjd little. The Grange Commission will no doubt be a subject of intense and spirited conversation for weeks to come. In a report released last week, Mr: Justice Samuel Grange reported what had. already been established; that some of the baby'deaths at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children were deliberate. ° After a probe thatatook nearly two years and cost the people oflantario nearly $3 million, Grange suggested that atleast eight and as many as 23 babies, died as a result of a deliberate act of the administration of overdoses of the drug digoxin. . No dobut, parents of the babies that died in hospital during that period and even the taxpaying public must "wonder what fruitful or even remotely purposeful task the com- mission served. That is not to condemn the mannerin-whichGrange-conducted-the commission nor.the findings of his two-year inquiry. Ostensibly, Grange was placed in a tenable position at best, right from the start. Forbidden by the judicial system to point an accusing finger, even if he was ableto lay blame in any one direction at any one person, Grange merely probed into' the agonizing details of the suspicious deaths at the renowned hospital. It would be safe to conclude that.Grange capably performed his task but that does not supercede the fact that the legitimacy of the task cannot be questioned. • An earlier investigation and report by a team from the Atlanta Centre for Disease Con- trol had already suggested that many of the deaths were directly attributable to over- -doses of the drug digoxin. Grange, in his summation, could merely uphold the findings of that team. What the publicly funded royal' commission did accomplish was to put the parents of the deceased infants alid the many prefessiorials who 'cared -for therri, under undue pressure and public scrutiny: Parents angrily and, perhaps, justifiably, questioned the ultimate purpose ref the commission in that it only confirmed that criminal action led to the deaths of several infants at, the hospital. They were probably looking for so. much more and view the commission as another miserable failure in an already futile justice system. But, while the commission suggests that those who execute the judicial system per- formed their tasks perfunctorily in assessing the situation and pursuing justice with the arrest of Susan Nelles, Grange endorses a move to complete compensation for. her legal costs. Nelles, Who hhs been cleared of all charges ,laid against her in connection with the deaths.at Sick Kids,.isjlow.suing the province and police for nearly $1 millioh. �Ontorio'Aitoritey=G�ireral tryMcMl.Trtry-ltias-said-the~provi ee-z ill compen.sat-e,Nelles° for her legal fees in fighting the murder charges -ata -preliminary hearing if she does not pursue legal action against the ptovince. The royal commission was only an, exercise in agony that dragged parents and hospital workers through the details of the agonizing ordeal once again and in public. 4 ' Authorities have no new evidence or new "leads to suggest that charges will ever be laid in this case. All we know is that there is a murderer who may never come to justice and a hospital with a tainted imager musipa"'iris'ia ;rgiYrepair,e1}5-----• ti Icing on .the harbour By Dave Sykes, DSTSDRIpT ;JOAlN-NE,BUCHANAN When God was handing out green tnumps, he missed both of mine. It's true. I confess.;I am a plant murderer. I bet I've killed hundreds in my day. Some of my friends can be glassed as my partners in crime when it comes to pant killing. I have visions of us playing a game like 'Name That Tune'-. This game ,would be called `Kill That Plant'. Instead of saying `I can name that tune in three notes',• etc., one of us would say `I can kill that plant in three weeks' while the other would reply 'Well, I can kill thatplant in one week.' We'd finally get our bet whittled down to two days and the final challenge would be, `Okay, then go ahead and kill that plant!' • There are many ways to kill a plant. You can overwater it,or not water it all. You can keep it in a darkroom or stick it directly in the blaiing sun. You can put it in a pot that is too small. You can flick your cigarette ashes into its soil and blow smoke onto its leaves: Or -and this is one of the fastest methods I've found -you can locate it right' beside a hot air register. • In my apartment, I am presently growing a stick. This stick started out as a lovely looking palm tree before the leaves all turn- ed brown and crisp and dropped off. I was thinking about throwing it outobut it is in this huge pot filled with dirt and it is too heavy for me to lift. --One-4f..iny,friends..su-ggested that I take a spoonful of dirt with me every time 1' lei ve� my apartment to go outside. That way, in about 20 years, the pot should be light enough to lift and I can throw it out, stick and all. However, I'm becoming rather fond of my stick. It has become a rea .conversation --i e_ _mi= -pie 'urthe a It is so undemanding. It just sits in a corner .and never needs attention. Some weeks I water it in the hopes that it will grow leaves agar But if it doesn't, that's okay. In our editorial office here at the Signal- Star, we have one small plant. It has been with us for several years. Former employee Cath Wooden donated -the plant to us when she left. Her parting words were, `Don't worry. This plant thrives on neglect.' She was right. This poor old plant, which we affectionately call E.P. (short for Editorial Plant), just sits on top of a filing cabinet collecting dust on its leaves day after day. About once every six months sot meone will ask, 'Has anybody watered E.P. lately?' and then go and give it a drink. E.P.'s soil is as hard as a rock and is also a very funny color. The only light it gets is artificial. But for some reason, it keeps on living and has even grown some new shoots. Now if only I could train my plants at home to do this well with so little care. Getting back, to my plants at home,, so- meone recently asked me why they looked so healthy. "It's easy," I said. "Wisen the old ones die, I just throw them out and replace them with new ones." Unfortunately, this is getting to be ani ex- pensive undertaking. and I'm seriously con- sidering a long-term investment in some silk or dried plants. I'm just not ready to «give up on the real thing yet. It's hard to believe that my ancestors once tilled the soil for a living. They grew crops to feed their animals and had huge gardens to provide ' themselves with nourishing vegetables. If I had been a pioneer, my family would have died of scurvy or starva- tion. I planted a reasonable facsimile to a garden once. But when things started to grow, I wasn't sure what was a weed and what wasn't. And when I went in for a closer • inspection, there .were too many, worms,. slugs and other bugs to suit me. So, I stayed away and the weeds took over: I have never attempted to grow another garden. It's easier to buy vegetables at the grocery store. .1 don't like vegetables anyway and I'm, not sure whatever possess- ed me to try and plant .some in the first • place. I.'ll end this column here and ponder that for awhile. I think I'll also water E.P: and then go home and talk to my stick. Maybe I can convince it to grow some leaves. Christmas tree stolen . D r-edltor7 --- ----.• _- ad e.-be-st-Chrristmas .troe around and it. I planted ,you in 1970, fertilized you, in didn't cost a penny, just a saw and wait or winter dug the snow away from you and, on the owner to go away. occasion had Christmas h his Y grew up to be a beautiful Blue Spruce on my while I had the worst. I would like to tell you front lawn. This year, I went out to put lights just.what Ithink, you are a sick person. • on you and about eight feet of your top was Eugene McGee Sheppardton g on you. ou I reckon you. had the best Christmas ever, missing. • -Nova-someone-out_thece_can hrag_that, le Some time ago I received a telephone call from my son who lives in Stratford. He asked me in particularly solicitous tones how I was doing. That was fine. Theh he enquired whatmotivated me finally to take up driving. That puzzled me greatly. It turned out that oae of his friends whose family lives in Goderich,told my son what he had learned while visiting home = that driving on the Square I had run over an old man. I know the front end of th car only from the direction in which I am sitting in the :passenger seat. By choiee, t have never learned to • drive and this is 'not going to change. This completely fabricated rumour left us laughing, but later my thoughts.returned to the subject of gossip and rumours and small towns. 1 am sure'you have noticed that our lovely and friendly town is a fantastic place'for all • kinds of rumours. Perhaps all mall towns - and villages are like this. This being my only experience m small town living, I am not familiar with the style. Personally I find this trend quite funny, but it would be interesting.to know how a • cw 4q. • Sts,, story about a non -existing event gets" its very first thought and line. It. is easier to understand that a real incident could be embroidered and dressed up in the travels between persons. But a completely fabricated one? Whydo people do this? I am talking about private lives and personal happenings. • When I was on the municipal cauiiicil I heard alternately that I am -a C ember of either , the Liberal, New Democratic or Conservative Party,' together with some • juicy snippets of related happenings which had never taken place. All three parties are honourable ' (to borrow. Mr. Mulroney's favourite word) and it is constructive in our system to be a member af any of thennC Tt is a fact that for reasons of.my personal philosophy I. i am not a joiner p•generalities, but prefer to make my choice at election time ..on the issues at stake. It was never important to explain it. �-1owever, there is one area of recently growing rumotirs that I would like to put to rest. 1 hear repeatedly that -in the municipal elections coming up lategr in the year 1 am going to run for all kine'' of -positions, from mayor to reeve to councilor and so on. This is not going to be so, The usual thinking seems to Fie that if one person shows a great deal of interest and 'participation in municipal processes and procedures, it must be for reasons of personal ambitions for a voting and paid ' position. I became interested in municipal matters and attended'meetings years before I joined the town council..I served as a councillor for twelve years, working at promoting' a philosophy and style I felt had been overlooked. I did not run again in the last election, because I had essentially nothing new to add; I do not think that the public benefits when the council members simply . grow roots. in. their chairs. My municipal intetest continues; I' have-nnerely;chosen a different Way to participate and contribute, I have said all this before, but it appears that over the last two years the message has faded. This is just a confirmation. There can be .no reason to change my mind -.For election purposes it might not be exactly wise to deny the rumours of my intentions at this point, but I do not play games. Besides, I-vvant to save myself some wear and tear. By the way, I forgot to ask what happened to the old man on the Square. ELSA HAYDON