Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-03-27, Page 4Y." : 7 " • .• \ iI,;(.."!4•,A0,•••9.• .." Ari .year was' ylntp_9414401. the Ameriga,11 o Washington, yet* and we 'vote re erred to as a na, raut been little time for 10 I election • worthw Islot *bore 1 feel more 0 Ode t ton' lietttnenYt4014tfoUrniikleY.414Thefir .sesrn to bo fti y room More frequent, As If ler'iblOgliecemo the suc- imago to Davis' VAPOR dtdn't lnfllct enough bor, Om and punishment on the general pub it, the forniee. Treasurer flee victory signs with artils fully extend.: ed in the manner of Richard Nixon %idle an nPecdhewas .p But aside fr 1181,er credit for by the way, 18 c goganseverythin The Oen had, call au unl , ng, lit ics. • L • gegee mind not to!; our beer troubles had sullided,000010baY With suda,baCitlitkProdtictien,end circuia- tion, the-1)403Jc 18 generally more receptive to anythint omen aheiection. WbIIe Conseritatlytgovernnient may be • an inherent ,part -igo. Ontario, people would be more willing to sacrifice their place to stand and grow, for a bottle Of good of home brew. Enough of this wateredmdown riktnerican stuff passed off as a reasonable l'acsimile to beer. lei rh" 10MI ' to egel).,., - g4 about politics. 1)0010# , about the- election. Peoplowill.growlafierX of arguing and politics. Peopic, weary of politicians. thiSwetoWniac;401.4p"erdoentlYvIes dkiirlcoaliratotiLop ift'r . that totally boring and yet is guarded as I ly as life itseif. The signs have been poppiti • rn- discriminately around town 'air with a 37 -day campaign, this ele be bearable. But just. • .1 ,141( THE FAIEWS PORT FOP CODEIRICH & DISTRICT SINCE 1848 - Founded in 1545 and published ovary Wednesday .at Cadet**, Coterie. filembetr of the CCNA end °CNA. Subscriptions psychic inedvanco.'20.55aSestior.Cithena •17.115_privilese cord number rsqutrate) pansd'N.k to uss.„-.55. to a other countries. Sitsete, 'caplets SO' utopia/. Natinnal and Maarlified adnarAillinli rains evadable on request. PtaM. ask for Wet* Card No. 15 affective October 1, JOWL Advertising is accepted en She condition that In the event of a typographical errorthe edvertising specs occupied by the erratum, atm% together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be Oersted for but that haliMoscf the advertisement will be paid for et the applicable rate. In the eyent of a typographical carer athlertildne geode or aterVilese at • wrong price, geode or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely en offer to Ball, and may be withdrawn eit any time. The Signal -Star le not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manutorlpts„ photo* or other materiels used for reproducing purposes. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER - President and Publisher DON - Advertising Manager DAVE SYKES - Editor it P.O. BOX 220 tieae 161 • HUCKINS BT. INDUSTRIAL PARK G9ropit OCIDERICH, ONT. N7A 4136 Slias/ CMember: .cNA Second class mail registration number 0716 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...please phone (819)824-6111414 The race for second spot It came as no surprise when Premier Frank Miller called a provincial election for May 2. Claiming the decision was a purely subjective and personal one, Miller is seeking a new mandate from the people of Ontario as he stakes out his territory in the manner of hjsmentor, former Premier William Davis. • Davis, while he was accused of being a premier felice-titter Who- wouldleantreither side, served as premier for 14 years before handing over the leadership of the'party in February. • While he may have handed Miller the reigns to a rich legacy of government that dates back to the early 1940s, Davis also handed Miller an issue that may well dominate the slate of issues. • • Just prior to leaving the top job, Davis announced plans for his government to extend funding to Roman Catholic secondary sehools.. . It is an explosive issue that may well dominate the campaign, but an issue that many politicians may simply want to avoid. It's been tried before with little success. Former Liberal Party leader Robert Nixon entered the 1971 election with the intention of extending funding to separate secondary schools beyond Grade 11. He attributes his loss at the polls to that promise. Obviously many people vviltwillingly support the proposal which called for funding for Grade 11 to begin this year and funding for subsequent.grades to follow. But the plan has been challenged and, at this point, is vague in definition and terms of reference. The separate system is gearing up for the eventuality of funding and Davis has left Miller a bit of a political hot potato. Ignoring the issue won't resolve the dilenuna, and it is sure to surface in the next 37 days. People will expect answers on the questidh of fun- ding. Meetings will be held ori the issue across the province and even here in Huron and Perth Counties. The two boards of education have made commitments to talk about the funding of secondary schools and information meetings for parents have already been scheduled. In Goderich, parents have been asked to meet at -St. Marys School Thursday evening to learn more about the possibility of a separate high school for this area. Miller says the concern for the government now is jobs and the infusion olincentives for small business to create them. Small businesses can create more jobs, Miller claims and it will be interesting to see what he promises to inject into that sector of the economy to create jobs. Acid rain, women's, issues and taxes will likely also surface during the campaign. At least one of the refreshing aspects of this election is the fact that all three leaders will be taking their respective parties to the polls for the first time. The 1981 election was fought between Davis, Stuart Smith ortheLihers andThe NDIes M1haeiCassidy. One would have to wonder if Ontarians could bring themselves to stray from over four decades of conservative government. The real race in this election could be for second piace7maybetaly-theoppositiorris-at-stake-here. D.& Going out on a limb by Todd Mowatt POSTSCRIPT SUSAN HUNDERTMARK It's Tuesday afternoon and deadline is looming as my editor paces back and forth by my desk and waits for the.final version of my column. It's during times like this that I think of my favorite, quotation about my profession-lyritingis easy. All you have to • do is stare at a blank piece of paper (or a blank MDT screen in my case) until the beads of blood form on your forehead'. I look out the window, think about the groceries I need to buy on .my way home from work, re -read the few lines I've managed to write, change afew words and stop to think. And, I realize I could be a case • study for the inefficient use of stress outlin- edst the Practical Stress Control Workshop I attended on Friday at the Maitland Coun- try Club. Newspaper reporters work in a highly stressful enviromnent. They're always run- ning to meet a deadline, trying to convince people to talk t� them, coaxing someone to pose for a picture and running to hide when the complaints come in Wednesday after- noon. On top of that, they're working towards fair, honest,, accurate and quality journalism. While some of us thrive on the stress, others need to learn to deal with it or quit the busiriess.-Even for-lhoseof-us-wha theivaon— it (the ones who keep a suitcase packed in our trunks in case we're shipped off to an ex- otic, war-torn country at a moment's ro es. --- A reporter from the Toronto Star who once spoke to my class in journalism school tried to warn us. He said we'd all wind up divorced, lonely, hard -drinking cynics cry- ing into our beer at the local press club. Of .course,: we didn't believe him and went ahead and got jobs . in the media anyway. But I guess time will tell if he's right. According to Friday's workshop, it doesn't matter how stressful your occupa- tion is as long as you learn the proper way to use the stress. The speaker, Dr. Richard Earle, president of the Canadian Stress In- stitute, says stress is the energy we need to dokur jobs well. Stress is not harmful to our health as long as we don't get too little or too much of it. The nature of the business of newspapers means a reporter is either working round the clock when news happens or the paper is going to press or he is drinking coffee during the lull in between times. The key to health and sanity seems to be turning off the stress until the job demands it. How you accomplish this, I haven't quite figured out yet. One of the traps we fall into is the belief that success equals non-stop effort. Since -sueeess-eome,s-fromeffortrwe-assisne-well- be assured success if we push ourselves 24 hours a day. That way, we only allow ourselves a rest when we finally get too sick -to work or can take a two w ek 'acation. You wake up one morning to discover there's nothing else in yew life but work. The light of recognition went on in my head when we -reached - this point- in the workshop. Since kindergarten (or maybe earlier), I've been the type of person who is etri-vento achieve. In September, I'd begin to worry about final exams in June. And, when exams finally . came, I'd walk into the ex- amining room ;chanting the information I'd been memorizing for weeks. I've always admired those people who started to study an hour before the exam and entered the examining room without a care in the world. They always seemed to pass (although sometimes by the skin of - their teeth) without an, of the sweat or sleepless nights I went through. Of course, they also didn't worry whether they were at the top or the bottom of the class. I was usually aiming for the top. But, when you stop to realize that heart disease, cancer or any number of ailments (not to mention wrinkles and grerhair) can result from too much stress, it's hard tedetermine who was the wisest. Oh, oh! My editor is pacing again and making loud noises about deadlines so I guess I've run out of time. I don't have time _to woixy about,X" my q_uest for a ore efficient m --- use of my stress anymore. Next week, I'm moving up my column deadline to Friday and maybe I'll finish up by Tuesday morn-. ing ' A smallassortment of thoughtsispressin to be released, in response to a couple of recent letters to the editor on timely and interesting subjects. Whether expressing support or making a case for the "other side", I believe that a good airing improves *Situations. There is the letter concerning trashy video shows on the afternoon television which the writer finds "regularly vulgar and offensive". I quite agree that we are "too passive about the kind of TV programing that is projected into our living rooms", but the activity I have in mind is pressing the "off" button. Instead of keeping oneself "outraged" every afternoon at four o'clock, why not read a good book? It would be a terrific example to children. Too many people seem to have forgotten that we are indeed in control of the "on" and "off buttons in our lives. there appears to be an increasing tendency to demand that what we do not like for ourselves must not be available to anybody else. Therein lies a great deal of real danger in our society. The second letter to catch my attention contains a suggestion that our town 'councillors go and clean the sidewalks in front of the stores on the Square where the merchants fail to remove the rubbish. I presume that the Mali grounds would be include& This is an interesting and novel idea and the implications of the letterought to be thought through. writer appears to be keen on doing the right and honourable thing in public interest, I take it for granted that she would happily adjust the councillors' remuneration upwards to the level of the workers whose duties include street cleaning. This means that the councillors would be paid approximately five times as much as they receive now - and instead of being available at all sorts of hours seven days a week, as they are now, they could count on regular practices, with special pay - for additional calls and duties.. Of colirse I know that this is nonsense. I have also qo hesitation to place under the same heading all the little stabs at the "trips and dinners" The ratepayers are said to buy the council members, whether such references are someone's idea of a joke or whether they are made in earnest, Like you and me, the council members are ratepayers at the same mill rate; they cannot spend your tax dollars sr rnine without spending their own. It follows that money is spent prudently, even if all of us do not agree all the time on every item in the budget. The final municipal mill rate figures for 1985 are expected to be available in April. In the meantime I invite the letter writer to have a realistic look at her 1984 tax bill and to study the dollar -allocation. It shows that 59.3 per cent of the tax money collected by the municipality went automatically for education and county purposes. If Your tax bill amounted to one thousand dollars last year, approximately--four-handred--doll was the money you spent for a whole year's municipal services in a civilized, healthy and attractive community. This covers everything from police and fire protection to recreational facilities and programs, roads, garbage pick-up and everything else one expects to find in a progressive and pleasant town. After you count all the services, how,many expensive "trips and dinners" will your tax share finance? Have you asked the town administrator for the pertinent facts on the subject? Did you attend the budget discussions which, with the rest of the council's work, are always open to the public? We should be in touch with the municipal work done on our behalf. There is nothing wrong with being critical of a specific action or policy, but let us be fair, to the point and factual. Did you know that when a council member attendsa municipal seminar, he or she receives no paynient for the time spent away from family and individual businesS? Within certain Limits, only the expenses are reixnbursed. It is a pity that not more council members are encouraged to take the time for furthering their municipal education from which our affairs can only benefit. I do not remember who said it, but somewhere I read an observation to the effect that - when you complain about the, expense of learning, think of the cost of ignorance. IL ELSA H4YOON 7