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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-06-26, Page 4P #," " 4 (t + 'I .f S+iONMI .TA , WE One of the basic unwritten rules of the Sykes' household' ( it's more of an understanding between parents) is that details of ,upcoming events are carefully guarded;,from §,QUBradley. It's not that we're attempting to conceal relevant information about life from the kid, or prsposelly keep him in the dark on salient issues, Rather, the four year-old has a penchant for driving his dutiful dad crazy. with an inquisitive mind. In short, given a little information, the kid is dangerous. And slightly irritating. Give the kid a little inside information on an upcoming event and he will drive any reasonably sane human around the proverbial bend in a matter of minutes. No doubt parents can understand. Inform the kid that we'll play ball or something after lunch and it immediately triggers his thought process. "When is it sK t'. DAVE SYKES lunch?", "How long is that," "Is it lunch yet?", "I think I'm hungry, do you wanna have lunch dad?" To circumvent that scenario, we tend to spell things out rather than say the actual words. But, then children know you're talking about something you don't ware them to hear. Have you noticed that children have the innate ability to render parents silly, "Don't forg t we're taking the K -I -D -S to the C-I-R-G-U4S on Friday," I offered to the lady of the house. But as soon as you begin spelling things out, kids get suspicious. Bradley picked up on it right off. "Are you going to the R -U. -S dad?" he asks as if he knows exactly what we're talking about. "I think I'd like to go to the R -U -S too. Laura do you wanna go too? We wanna go dad. What's an R -E -S dad?" At this stage parents exchange knowing glances. We're beat and reason that one of us will have to spill all the details and be subjected to a barrage of questions. For reasons unknown I volunteer for duty and make the horrific mistake of making_a big deal of going to the circus. I read the contents of an advertisement that appeared in the paper, changing ' inflection to emphasize the features of the circus. Tons and tons of elephants, I read, thrilling acrobatic acts etc. The suspense begins to mount and the children respond with resultant "Wows" and look rather wide-eyed at nothing in particular. Even Laura, who is too young t4 know much about anything, is rather impressed with the manner in which her father reads about the thrilling circus acts. I have the children worked up to a fevered ?itch with is exactly the situation I was ervently trying to avoid. Bradley insists that his father re -read the _circus advertisement several times and Laura walks about the house making rude animal noises. For three days my son asked if it was time to go to the circus yet and his behaviour reaffirmed our household policy. Don't tell the kid anything until scant seconds before it unfolds. ., We held an unofficial countdown until the day of the circus out of necessity and I misleadingly regaled the kids' minds with the propsect of fending off lions and tigersin the front row seats at the Goderich Arena. The mother of the children suggested we should possibly sit in the back row, only because the rear seats afforded a better view she reasoned. On the day of the event, milli -seconds after a very early hour in the morning, I was stirred by someone gently tapping on my body. 1 opened an eye and focused on a slightly excited boy who grinned and said, "Guess what dad. It's circus day." I'll never tell the kid another thing. Opinion THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT SINCE I X4.8 oaericr SIGN/,a-STAR MDT ALL ROUND COMMUNITY N.@wd9,TAPER IN CANADA ICpv,at on Cass 8500 4500) 0 0 s. 4 Bettor Newspaper Co.npoeuon 1984 P.O. BOX 220 HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRI PARK GOOERICH, ONT. N7A 4B6 PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED Founded in 1848 and published every Wednesday at Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OCNA. Subscriptions payable in advance '20.95, (Senior Citizens '17.95 privilege card number required) in Canada, '55. to U.S.A., '55. to all other countries, Single topica••50a. Display, National and Classified advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rate Card No. 15 effective October 1, 1984. Advertising ie accepted on the condition th.t in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together w,: a.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 geode or 'service's at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell, end may be withdrawn at any time. 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Hijackings and air disasters have always been tragedies in remote corners of the world or the product of demented terrorists in countries that seemed sufficiently removed from our own situation to be of little consequence. 13ut while the world watches the developments unfold on board a Trans World Airline jetliner on the tarmac at Beirut Airport in Lebanon where, hijackers are holding the crew hostage, two bombings aboard aircraft that left Canadian airports on the weekend has brought the problem of airport security close to home. ,• A powerful bomb exploded in the baggage compartment of a Canadian Pacific jet at Tokyo International Airport Sunday killing two Japanese baggage handlers and wounding four others. The Canadian plane had left Vancouver and while the aircraft lande(. eight minutes ahead of schedule in Tokyo the bomb exploded 30 minutes after landing. Police are still pondering whether the bomb was designed to destroy the CP jet or it it was to be transferred to another plane before going off. Within an hour another bomb exploded on an Air India jetliner 100 miles off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard. It was suggested that if both flights had been on schedule, the explosions -would have taken place over Tokyo and London, England. There was also speculation that the bombings may have originated in Toronto and are linked. The fact that both the planes left Canadian soil with bombs aboard is most disturbing and raises•serious questions about our airport security. ‘Vhile the TWA incident has sparked controversy over the safety of air travel, the tragedy of the weekend bombings should be a loud and clear signal that airport security has to be tightened all over the world. There is no reason for people who must rely on air travel to have to be subjected to the demented terrorism that we have been witness to over the past few weeks. There is no ex- cuse for innocent people dying on flights that originate in Canada or anywhere else. in view of what has transpired on the weekend, the Canadian government could show sonic leadership with respect to airport security and not just a hastily contrived knee-jerk reaction to the weekend's disasters. .fudging from the evidence of the weekend bombings, both passengers and cargos will have to be examined more carefully and stringently before planes leave our airports. It ran be arguer) that those bent on destruction and murder for a ca use will find a method - ti) their message �d ri,sti irrespective of air�µrt-t Security . - _ Hut. it is aIs() conceivable that lives could be spared if more stringent measures were im- posed on Intl, carr;o and passengers of commercial airlines. It is the least that governments and ulr 105l-tlu.ltl tit). c'onslderine the events of the weekend, Canada's airports and security systems would have to he considered vulnerable to groups and factions who resort to terrorism. There can he nu consolation to the people who have been injured and the families and lov- ed ones of those killed. but now every effort miistFbc mare to secure air (.raveTan the air- ports for the puhlir The world will still watch Beirut anxiously in hopes a settlement can be reached there and ih;lt crew it lei \,5 itt he released. In the meantime, the air travel community has a job to do. i) O. Changing from a wooden bridge in 1913 Sugar and Spice By Bill Smiley A newspaper article the other day remind- ed me of one of the inexorable laws of modern life: Things multiply in inverse pro- portion to their use. 11 is a simple fact, and we've all been through it, that there are certain things in Life that multiply like rabbits, and others that invariably disappear forever. No )natter how hard you try to get rid of pennies, they just build up, and if you carry your loose change in your pants pocket, as I do, after a week you are listing heavily to thejaght. You pile your 18 pennies on the top the dresser and start again, and aeek later you have 22 pennies in the pocket. Another multiplier is the single sock. Start out a new year with 12 pairs of socks. In three months you'll have six pairs and six odd socks. In six months, you'll have' 12 single socks. After years of suffering this, I've counter -attacked. I now buy 12 pairs of identical socks, so that after six months, at least I have six pairs of socks. Ladies used to have the same problem, before the invention of panty -hose. But this discovery hasn't lessened their problem. In .the old_daysi if they got a run, they usually had a spare single to match the good one with. But now, if you get a hole in one leg of your panty -hose, you're scuppered. Out they go,_th_e intact one ath:thebum one. Women also have other multipliers in the singles division: earrings and gloves. How many women in this fair land have seven or same and earrings proliferate ifi their solitary glory. Old keys multiply at a fantastic rate, until cupboard drawers and plastic bowls are overflowing with them. We have a huge col- lection of car keys going back to our fifth - last car, every key to the house before we changed the locks, and enough skeleton keys to outfit James Bond on one of his capers. New keys are diminishers. I have lost two sets of keys to my present car, and sometimes search for half an hour to find one of the new sets I had to order. The new keys to the new locks disappeared, and I had to take off the locks and go to the key man for new ones. I wonder where they are, at this moment? The new ones that is. Paper is definitely in the multiplier list, especially if you are a writer and/or teacher.I sit to write this column in a sort of tunnel between two massive piles of paper higher than my head. Makes me feel like AP' old badger. Bottles, particularly those on which there is no deposit return, pile up about as fast as you can empty them. But prepare to take back your beer -case of empties, and there are always two miss.W.,_Where-did-thex go?__ Is there 'a guy, or a dame, hiding behind the furnace who sneaks up when you are beddy- byes, drinks two of your beers, then eats the bottles? _ .__ ... .. For the ladies, the wrong shades of lipstick and half -empty bottles of nail polish multiply, along with saucers for which the eight exquisite simile earrings and four or _.cups have disappeared- five superb single cloves? Wire coat hangers reproduce like rats. It's quite fashionable these days for a man to wear a single Barring, and a practical chap who lost a glove would wear the other and put his bare hand in his pocket. But women don't think that way, and the gloves i't is not one of life's great problems and as a subject it would hardly cause high blood pressure in passionate discussions, but in the order of things in our daily lives it does have its place. The municipal council is tak- ing it seriously enough by including references to the matter in a by-law and has just passed a further amendment for more restrictions. 1 am speaking of dogs and where you may or may not allow your pet to accompany you in town. Although the town council' members had discussed the subject on several occa- sions, one is left with the impression that realistic thinking of all consequences had not gone far enough. You may walk (using a leash not more than six feet long), carry or drive your dog in any of the usual public street and park areas in town, but no animals, including dogs, are permitted on the beaches. On the surface this sounds fair enough un- til one looks at the newly established defini- tion of beaches. According to bylaw 63 of 1985, the beach is "that area of the Town of Goderich between the toe of the slope> and the water's edge which is located to the south of the north edge of the South Pier and to the north of the north limit of the Water Treatment Plant fence". That covers not only the beaches (St. Christopher's and harbour beach) but the entire area from the pier (included) to the far side of the water treatment plant, in- cluding roads, parking areas and everything in between. It means that you could indeed legitimate- ly walk your dog in the area beyond the water treatment plant, since it is outside the defined boundaries, but you cannot get the dog there, because the road is included in the prohibited area. It means that you are not allowed to walk your dog on the road at St. Christopher's, even in winter. It means more. The bylaw states that dogs are not permitted, without qualifying it in any way. The bylaw specifies the area, deliberately including the road and parking spaces. So one woe d have to conclude that it is rqually unlawful to take a dog into the area 10 a vehicle or leave him in your parked car while your family has a pic- nic or enjoys a swim. It means that this is a bit silly. Last summer I happened to witness a lit- tle tableau on St. Christopher's Beach. On a lovely and quiet morning a woman sat reading, with a very small dog curled up beside her on her blanket. A town official went up to her and said something with ob- vious politeness i he was doing his job) whereupon the woman quietly picked up her blanket, book and clog, walked to her car and drove away. I do not know whether it was a local person who might have come back later, leaving her little dog at home, or perhaps it had been a visitor who simply went on, taking with her the Goderich ex- perience of a summer morning. Should she return now when the prohibited area has been extended to cover the road and the parking spots, what would the town official tell her? How will the bylaw be enforced in- telligently and fairly, in its present shape? The other day, while attempting to get my coat out of the closet, I knocked down six empty hangers. I carefully fished them up from among the parts of the vacuum cleaner, took another 40 empty hangers off ELSA HAYDON 1111111. Many families travel with their pets dur- ing summer holidays. Are we spending money to attract visitors and thoughtlessly making rules to confuse the welcome we promise? I understand the basic problem and I am not at all promoting any free-for- all ideas, but I do believe that in this one area the bylaw goes to the other extreme. It the pole, tied them all together with cord, marched calmly into the basement and hurl- ed them into the woodpile. Two weeks later, I knocked down eight hangers while getting my coat, and sat down and wept tears of • fury and frustration. Pencils multiply, but there's never one in the house when you are trying to Oke down a long-distance phone message. Odd buttons multiply until it seems like a button factory. But when you need" two the same size and color, forget it. You have 6,000 buttons, no two alike. You think you don't take many snapshots. Been to the attic lately? There are 12 boxes of them up there, right from your own baby pictures, through your courting days, into your own children at every stage, and about 500 of the grandchildren. But just try to find that especially good one you want to send to Aunt Mabel. Completely vanished. Shoes multiply. My wife had about 36 pairs, most of them out of style, just like that outfit she had to get the shoes to go with. She had to tear my comfortable old shoes out of my hands to put them in the gar- bage. I go to a half-price sale, buy three new pairs, and they sit there, stiff and stark. while I go on wearing the old shabby ones. Stamps run out ;1,1 -m02 -Ines pileup to iile ceiling. Bills and receipts multiply while hank accounts diminish. Pornography flourishes as sex drive diminishes. Televi- sion channels mil1tiply awhile their contents diminish in quality. Workmanship diminishes as cost of it soars. And I've just 'touched the surface. How abour acid rain ane tis r sa e, salted highways and holes in your car'' Wa ; it always like this, or is it just a curse of the twentieth century' Make up your own list: two columns, one headed Multipliers, the other flirninishers. It will shake you. v is a pity that the town council did not take a close look at a municipality where a scooper bylaw is in effect and working, like Toronto. There is no hardship iii being prepared to clean up after one's dog. I know, as I did it for years. It ought to be treated as a normal function. I should like to see us live with far fewer ill-considered and negatively restrictive rules and put-downs. Even children are no longer brought up like this. A more im- aginative and intelligent approach to poten- tial problems would encourage us to develop our sense of responsibility instead, in this case for our pets' actions. A scooper bylaw emphasizing this would benefit all areas. As a matter of interest, the present parks bylaw as amended carries a fine of up to $300, exclusive of costs, upon conviction under the Provincial Offences Act. Im- aginary scene in an impressive courtroom. What is the charge against this woman? Well, Your Honour, she had her little dog sleeping beside her on the blanket while she read on the beach in our beautiful and friendly town.