Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1984-07-25, Page 4-PAGE 4 GQDERICB SIGNAL -STAR, WFDNFSDAX, JULY 25,1 DAVE SYKES r - We may never see a .show of that calibre again. But hopefully, with any luck, we will. if you missed the Bicentennial Showcase here Tuesday evening, you missed a show that offered a fitting tribute to the rich legacy of the province of Ontario. Andi it was evident from the exuberance and energy on stage that that rich heritage, that legacy of talent so evidently displayed on three stage screens, is as much in evidence now. From the opening chorus of the theme song, Celebrate Ontario written by David Fleury and Mark Shekter, which rhetorically asked the audience; Hey! Can you feel it coming? l-Iey! Can you see the glow?, through to the elaborate finale, the energy level rarely faded. The Bicentennial Showcase, commissioned, by the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture and produced by Showmaker's Inc. of Toronto is a family entertainment show designed to help celebrate Ontario's Member: Second class mail registration number 0716 EL U E RfBBON AWARD 1983 THE NEWS PORT FOR GOD SINCE 184 ICH & DISTRICT Founded in 1848 and published every Wednesday at Godarich, Ontari.. Member of the CCNA, OCNA and ABC Audit Bureau of Circulations. Subscriptions payable in advance '20.9 (Senior Citizens '17.95 privilege card number required) in Canada, '55. to U.S.A.,'55. to all other countries, 8 gle copies 50°. Display, National and Classified advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Pate Ca No. 14 effective October 1, 1983. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of typographical a . r, the advertising apace occupied by the erroneous item, together with reeeonable allowance for signature, will not bo charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid far at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely en offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for the lose 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 P.O. BOX SED HUCKINB BT. INDUSTRIAL PARK GOLDBRICK ONT. N7A 4BB 200th birthday. And that it did! • The show began in the Seventies with singer, song-writerShirley Eikhard offering a spirited rendition of Neil Young's Helpless. From' there the talented Showcase cast took the audience on a retrospective but exciting and insightful tour of the past 200 years of Ontario's history. Decade by decade, the show profiled the achievements of the people of Ontario, highlighting the work of the talented group Lighthouse, and singers and songwriters Gordon Lightfoot and Eikhard through the sixties and seventies. The Fifties featured the classic arts and the growth of those .arts in Ontario culminating with the formation of the Canadian Opera Company, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival and a memorable performance by Canadian National Ballet star Audrey Brownlow. Through the forties, the dust-bovil suffering of the Depression years and ,the carefree days of the Roaring Twenties, the cast of Dinah Christie, Cano, Brownlow, Grant Cowan, Eikhard, Rene Highway, Donald Poliquin, Denis Simpson, Lilian_ Stilwell, Kevin Alary, Carol Arsenault, Christine Donato, Brenda' Rundle and Joel Wood, ably and effortlessly carried the audience through time,offering a. retrospective look at that which is inherently Ontario. There were number of memorable moments in the show including the inerpretive dancing of Rene Highway, and th smooth movements of Denis Simpson to Donald Poliquin's hand -clapping rendition of Pepere Alfred .• which, with the help of Cano, had the audience clapping and tapping. The entire show, from lighting and sound, to the set design, through to the performance was excellent. The sound, undoubtedly was the best that will be heard in the Goderich Memorl Community Centre. At times, the sound was simply too • loud and inaudible, but those instances did not detract from the overall show; . Technically the show was pretty good and if there were any.problems with lighting, it's not likely those problems were detected by • the audience. Minister Susan Fish said the Bicentennial Showcase was designed to celebrate more than 200 years of growth and development made possible by the people who have come to Ontario from all over the world. Showcase saluted the accomplishments and contributions of each individual while encompassing ,,the Bicentennial slogan of 'celebrating together.' Tae show will continue to tour towns and cities across Ontario until its conclusion with two performances in Thunder Bay Arigust 22 and 23. The Bicentennial Showcase was a fine tribute to a rich legacy of Ontario history. FOR EUBINEBB OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...please phone (518) 524-8331 Others deserve credit Officials of the town of Goderich officially opened and dedicated its newest park at St. Christopher's Beach Friday. Both the town and its citizens are justifiably proud of the work done there. It has transformed a little used area of the waterfront into a most attractive park and setting. It is a family area, a park for walking or jogging, an area to lie in the sun and enjoy the Lake Huron shoreline. It has an attractive boardwalk and playground equipment to amuse children. It accommodates picnickers, strollers and sunbathers. St. Christopher's is truly a community park. The development of the waterfront has long been eyed as a necessary step for both industrial and recreational pursuits. Industry and recreation have co -existed at the waterfront, but the relationship hasn't always been mutually satisfactory. A waterfront redevelopment scheme doesn't just happen or spring up overnight. It is the result of years of planning, scheming and developing. While the names of the present councillors are emblazoned on the plaque at St. Christopher's Beach that was dedicated Friday, some of them have done little more than visit the site and enjoy the surroundings. The tribute for the work that has bun accomplished over the years should be shared by many councils and many councillors, including the present council. Much of the groundwork was done several years earlier under the direction of Mayor Frank Mills and his waterfront development co-chairmen, Paul Carroll and Ray Robinson. They devised and mapped out a strategy for waterfront development that has, ostensibly, been used and implemented over the years with certain modifications. In a waterfront development document, Carroll and Robinson suggested that all levels of government had to be involved with funding in order for the town to develop the area while remaining fiscally responsible. Participation in the Parks Assistance Act helped with land acquisition and other costs. _. Later the Ontario Neighbourhood Improvement Program (ONIP) played a large part in the development with gentle nudges from people like Bob Allen and Elsa Haydon. Those people won't be recognized on the plaque but they have done much and hopefully the waterfront area is progressing in the manner they envisioned. Begin had class Coming on the heels of the sleazy patronage appointments by outgoing Prime Minister Trudeau and incoming Prime Minister Turner, one could not help but admire the manner in which Health Minister Monique Begin called it quits. There will be no cushy appointment for Ms. Begin. No such appointment was sought, she said, and none was discussed. Beginning in the fall she will spend a year as a visiting professor at Notre Dance University in South Bend, Indiana, conducting seminars on topics such as women's issues and Canadian studies. After that, she told reporters, she is uncertain of her future. How different our attitude to politics would be if all MPs behaved with the kind of integrity Monique Begin has displayed throughout her years in federal office. If there is one cabinet, veteran from the Trudeau years' who will be genuinely missed by Canadians from coast to coast it is the retiring health minister. The fact that she will not be missed by those medical doctors who think they have the right to guarantee public payment as well as collecting fees privately only enhances Ms. Begin's reputation. Rightly or wrongly, most Canadians believe that without a• Monique Begin there would be no Canada Health Act, even though that legislation passed this spring by Parliament had the support of all parties. The Canada Health Act which penalizes provinces which allow out-of-pocket payment by medicare patients `las gone a long way to curtail the erosion of the universality of medicare as it was envisaged by Tommy Douglas and Stanley Knowles of the NDP. Representing the working class riding of St. Leonard - Anjou in Quebec, Monique Begin was the first woman from Quebec elected to the House of Commons. In the federal elections of 1979 and 1980 she had the largest majorities of any MP in the House. Many Canadians, male and female believed she might one day become the prime minister of this country. The manner in which she left politics proves that she does indeed have the kind of qualities one would like to see all political leaders have. Listowel Banner What a show! Ontario's Bicentennial Showcase played to a full house at the Goderich Alary; , middle row. left to right. Brenda Rundle. Dinah Christie and arena last Tuesday evening. You can read the details of the show above in Christine Michele Donato; and back row. left to right. Denis Simpson. Dave Sykes' column. The Showcase Company is. front row. left to right. Joel Shirley Eikhard. Donald Poliquin. Liliane Stilwell and Grant Cowan. (Photo H. Wood. Rene Highway. Carol Arseneault. Audrey Brownlow and Kevin by Linda Corbett) DEAR READERS SHIRLEY KELLER Recently I read a story about a woman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who experienced something no human should endure. The 18 -year old victim told police how she had been raped by two men who "took turns assaulting her and driving the car"; how they had "sexually assualted her with a pistol"; how they had gagged her and blindfolded her and stuffed her in their car trunk; how they had driven around the city stopping twice to display her to people the victim heard laughing at her. The newspaper said a 17 -year old youth.had been arrested in connection with the horror .... and that his name would not be released because of his age. Without attaching any guilt to that particular 17 -year old youth whose name we don't know .... and whose name wouldn't really matter because in this area it would be a miracle if anyone would know him if his name were revealled .... do you wonder, as I do, what would cause someone to do something like that? I suppose there are those who believe a person would have to be crazy to abuse another person so, but that isn't always the case. People who are insane will behave in a bizarre manner to be sure - think of that poor unfortunate soul who last week went wild in a McDonald's store and killed or injured 20 or more people in 90 -minutes of absolute terror. But there are some pretty ordinary people who look on sexual perversion and • violence as acceptable stuff in the movies, in magazines, in video tapes, in ordinary conversation. They see it as harmless entertainment, and I suppose it may be argued that for them it is harmless. At least harmless in the sense that it doesn't drive them out on the street to rape and plunder at will. But even if it were totally harmless, which I doubt that it is all the time, it is a mystery to me how anyone could find it entertaining. What could possibly be enjoyable about watching as another human being suffers gross indecencies to the body. Fascinating or compelling, perhaps, but hardly entertaining. I'm reminded of an old saying that goes, "Give them an inch and they'll take a mile." And I think it applies here. Recall what has happened in just the 50 or so years that I have lived. As a child growing up in a small town, sex and violence were virtually absent from my world. I knew the difference between boys and girls and there were the usual antics of curious children. I was raised in a home where mY parents were "open" about body functions and human sexuality. Maybe I was lucky, I don't know. But there surely wasn't the explicit "openness" there is today. The movies I saw while I was growing up were pretty racey in their day, I suspect. People were kissing and embracing on the screen. There was a suggestion, perhaps, of some hankypanky to come in the bedroom. But there were no blow by blow accounts, no visual aids. It was purely imagination. The violence I encountered as 1i child was in the form of cowboys shooting Indians ... or Indians scalping white men. As I grew a little older, there were Second World War movies in living colour with men dying on battlefields and in the air dnd on the sea, all for a good cause it seemed. Through the years though, there have been .many, many changes - each one subtle at the time, but if they could be viewed on 'fast 01 forward', they would be seen to have resulted in the kind of "entertainment" we see today. We gave them an inch and they took a mile ... and now we're stuck with a problem. How do we control it? Should it be stopped? Can one really go back to those days when innocence was protected? Does anyone want to go back? There are those who say that explict sex and violence should be available to those who want to read it and view -it. They say that those who don't want to read it or view it don't have to ... and it's perfectly true. But getting back to the 18 -year old woman in Milwaukee who was involved in a wide-awake nightmare that sickens the average person, could one hypothesize that she was one who had no use for viewing or reading explicit sex and violence? And could we for a moment hypothesize that her assailants were avid readers and viewers of such material ... that the power of suggestion was jlrst too strong for them to withstand ... that they no longer wanted to be hearers or watchers but deers'. And could one ask what possible protection there could have been for the 18 -year old victim except perhaps to have never allowed that power of suggestion to be produced for reading and viewing by her assailants? I don't know what brought on the attack of those two men on that young woman, but I do know they didn't get those ideas from watching baseball or reading In Search of Excellence. Maybe as some will argue, those two assailants were made wild and willful by poor parenting or a bad experience with a rotten policeman or not enough positive direction by an uncaring community or a misdirected teacher who threw them into the streets rather than take time with them. But maybe, just maybe, they were lust caught up in society's preoccupation with sexual perversion and violence. Maybe they couldn't handle it with the same degree of good sente that I would ... or you would. And if that is true, who is to blame? Is the blame mine because I didn't fight to have that offence removed from society? More than that, will that 18 -year old victim ever be able to forgive and forget that I failed to protect her from such unspeakable anguish? Our municipal by-laws are presumably necessary for the benefit of the community. How are they enforced'' Is there a rational and dependable system in place or is the en- forcement left to picking and choo§ing? And who does the picking? If the by-law enforcemen- officer decided, for inkance, not to enforce the animal con- trol and parking by-laws, the council would take him to task for neglecting his duties. If this officer waited for council's additional approval every time he faces a situation in violation of th by-laws for which he is responsible, it ould strike most people as ridiculous a acceptable. Why are zoning by-law and building code violations handled differently and on whose authority? If this type of enforcement is not among the duties of the building inspector and the chief building official, 'then whose duty is it? Periodically there are situations in which these questions surface in public. Council members owe the public clarity and a system of cool, even and businesslike ap- plication, easily understood. A recent case in point is a fish processing and wholesale business in a residential street in town. The business operation is in vioiationof the zoning by-law, building code and health regulations. Besides, it was built without a building permit. However, instead of prompt action by the huilding department as soon as the violation came to the offici""als' attention, there was an effort to establish public complaints, waiting until the next council meeting (town council is on summer scheduleWof one meeting a month) and obtaining a motion to deal with the violations. Knowing the building officials in question, I have no doubt whatever that they are - capable, dedicated and conscientious. Then why were there knots tied in the Situation? One of the factors •might be that everybody wants to be a nice guy. To en- force a law is not always pleasant, deperi- dingon the person with whom one is dealing. There could be a simple temptation to avoid unpalatable recriminations and to point elsewhere. However, certain duties do come with the territory and must be accepted just as a salary is accepted. A by-law is a public -interest statement. If a person deliberately violates a by-law, he or she is the author of the ensuing dif- ficulties. The blame rests firmly on his own doorstep and nowhere else. It would be silly and cowardly to pretend otherwise. There is in my opinion a second and more important factor why certain by-law viola- tions are brought to council first. The ad- ministrative officials ought to be able to count on council's backing in the enforce- ment of its own by-laws. However, in recent years there have been several well known cases where the council sided with the per- sons who deliberately violated municipal by-laws and sometimes even the provincial building code. In these well remembered cases, the ad- ministration had followed the proper en- forcement procedures in a businesslike manner, only to find that the violators in question turned to the council where they privately counted enough supporters for their individual interests to have the law en- forcement stopped. Inevitably, the echo of such golitieal favouritism and opportunism is heard a long time afterwards. And one must be forgiven for wondering whether the beast is still lurk- ing just around the bend. If there are good reasons for passing a by- law, then there are good reasons for enforc- ing it. If a by-law's purpose is to protect a neighbourhood, it should do ,lust that, without placing can unfair burden on the neighbours bf a person who chooses to ig- nore the lawful standards and provisions. Should there be concern that the applica- tion of a by-law fairly and evenly could cause some hardship situations not intend- ed, then the by-law ought to be revised to fit into the pattern Of our particular local needs. Surely in a small town that is possi- ble. I can relate to the administration's need for businesslike backing from a steady and reasonable council. It is to be hoped that the council can deliver. After reviewing the principles and procedures involved it ought to come up with a system of by-law enforce- ment in which the elected and appointed of- ficials understand their rightful positions and which is fair in the treatment of the general public. . Many people would like to hear the coun- cil's answer to this: If the enforcement of a zoning by-law can be initiated only after an official written complaint has been receiv- ed, could we also expect that no charges are laid under the traffic, watering, animal con- trol and other similar by-laws until there are specific complaints? ELSA HAYDON it