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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-03-03, Page 5�fO Pre hi�eyt►t'�ldl lsy . tijl a. x, celIed i'.uF T-�}ieId Marshaj MhajfDr a w. �►rnin Dadar'VC DSt),,1110' President 70. 1114„ ,9f the Republlc:'Of Uganda, 3f ya care to use his self appointed ofticia tltlea :. President „.T'di is, tor all sliftent a: - purpose, holding 240 American residents of his African country prisoner. They ='mays not heve'been thrown injail, just yet.anyway, but they have been ordered. net to leave Uganda which is not one of the most pleasant directives to receive. Iv not pe greet ea 4ix hours. My only contact with ug flan officials was a search of my :velliele for arms which gathered they ere 4%1.4 disaPRointed in not finding. wdbld like to relate a couple of, • Incidents from some other African cetpitries which .might throw some light on. prfieial processes in such states as Driving a former French air force peraennel carrier (just why is another Wiry) was once stopped by a road bkick in Nigeria .where a smiling and friendly army chap asked for our pasSportk There were four of us' in the vehible, two-41janadians, an American artd, a Tunisian. We handed over our travel -documents and the soldier read all Nur, page by page, cover to cover. The interesting thing was that he read three of the passports uPside-down. Well into the jungle country on the north shore of the Congo River, an of- ficer of the Central African Republic nolo. forrin crooned us at another road WO* and galfed to see our passports:" this time there was justmy wife and me: , When I handed thenroVer he studied the front Of mine sounding out "Ca -na- da. . .Canada:'. With the special smile reserv,ed for such officials frozen on my face nodded. Speaking in French he looked up and observed, "Your name is 1 -started to explain that my name atipeared on the inside page but by that time he had turned to my wife's passport. "Ca-na-da, her name is Canada too?" he asked. For a moment I hesitated but just couldn't pass up such an opportunity, "Yes," 1 replied, "we are married." The policeman' just nodded and sent us on our way. While working in French speaking West Africa I had been registered by profession as a 'Technicien Agricole.' In English that translates simply to gricultural Technician which is no profession at all so 1 had to come up with a description of my job which would be better understood in English speaking. Africa. acrnsi de *0 the Cameroon. where ' °Mei over the form I had Juit, "Cowboy... where are yotir gUnsr; I tried to explain that I WAS real cowboy, who Worked with cows, but he would have none of it. It was notruntil a two hour search of our vehicle and 'ef- fects heti produced nothing in the way of firearhis that we were allowed to go on our way. Don't get me wrong, not all African officials can be judged by these examples, but a good many can. 0, Thd moral of the story is that, despite being in a rather tight position at the moment, those Americans now trapped in Uganda will someday have e wealth of such stories. It's not all bad. There are hter moments. ht Exeter area rpen have been Ily appointed as the first members e new South Huron Recreation r Board of Management and are n tkie process of complying with the al committee of Exeter town 1. e new board has been set up to see operations of the new South n Recreation Center and replaces former Recreation and Parks mittee of Exeter council which was onsible for the old town arena before s closed by the Ministry of Labor. arena has now been replaced by the raphy and actio I am ip, It bidd more ting. son spea com hy hing ag out long met hip, how nly cha anity bed sbyt Pagt Ontario Royal Commission on ric Power Planning, better known e Porter Commission, is making an sion to its public participation 'ties in the form of a new 'Outreach ram' designed in accordance with Commission's commitment to de information to the people of rio, with the aim of increasing their rstanding of the complexity of s involved. rough this,- it is hoped that on's process of inquiry will be e possible. e program consists of two main,t such org 1 oh new recreation complex. Exeter Mayor Bruce Shaw will serve as the board's first chairman. Their terms of reference charge thern with looking after the operation and management of the new facility the promotion of the facility, hiring of necessary personnel to operate the center, and to submit a budget, recommendations for job descriptions and a recommended length of term for Board members to Exeter town council and a the councils of the three par- ticipating townships. Mayor Shaw said recently that the new board has visited other recreation INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION IN HILJPION centers and found that most operate on a budget of approxitnately $120,000 per year and end up with deficits of about $7,000 which are apportioned to the member municipalities. He said the board. would meet with representatives of Cambrian Facilities in an effort to establish a budget for the balance of 1977. Members will also be deciding what personnel to hire and establishing rental fess for the facility. The Board is still considering whether or not the swimming pool portion of the complex will be included in the areas for which the board is responsible. Mayor AFTER Shaw said that in their investigations, the board found that in communities where facilities came under separate management there were real problems, while where they were combined under one board (as in the case of St. Marys) they ran very smoothly. The new board will also be considering the operation of recreation program in the area and determining whether they, or some other group, will be responsible. In a related matter Exeter town council terminated the services of . recreation director Jim McKinlay. McKinlay had been given a temporary layoff on November 19 when the Recreation and. Parks committee ran out of funds. The 13 -week time period allowed by the ministry of labor for "temporary layoffs" elapsed last Friday and McKinlay's services were thereby terminated. He appeared before council and in a letter addressed to them, advised that under the statutes they were now required to pay him a separation equal to two weeks' wages; including vacation - pay at four per cent for those two weeks. When Mayor Shaw indicated there was no report from council's committee regarding "McKinlay's future status, council agreed to follow the regulations PROVINCIAL-130INTS parts, the schools program and the adult education program. The former ,is directed primarily toward the high school students, and could be utilized in geography, science, political science and future courses. The adult education program seeks to involve adults through community groups, service clubs and other organizations, as well as through the provincial adult education network. The Outreach office can help those interested to develop a suitable program, and can provide background support materials. In a recent letter to newspaper editors across the province, Commission spokesman Catherine Hunt noted that - planning Ontario's electrical future affects us all. "How are we going to be living in the future? Will our lifestyles demand ..greater supplies of electricity, or less? How will we produce electricity? Will there be a greater dependence on alternate sources such as solar, wind and methane? Will our centres of population be the same? What im- plications does this have for our dwindly supply of good farmland?" Ole asked. Ms. Hunt said, that aS the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning nears its final stage of hearings, scheduled to begin in mid-April, "Outreach" hopes to facilitate an ef- fective dialogu6, between the public and the Commission. "Through this program," she ex- plained, "the RCEPP is providing in- .. formation concerning the Commission and its inquiry and will help those in- terested to plan activities around this." "A large number 'of schools have already become involved in this way and many special interest and community groups have also indicated an interest." The Outreach guidebook, a 100 page document which gives background in- formation and suggestions for Outreach activities, is now available, free of charge from the Commission. "Our concern," Ms.' Hunt told the editors, "is that the people of Qntario are aware of this program and the in -el portance of the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning to them." The program she said is to provide the youth of Ontario with an opportunity to participate in planning the future electrical power system for the period 1983 to 1993 and beyond. It is to outline the variety of issues and concerns which revolve around the Commission's mandate and to promote and make the payment ef $529,61. Mayor Shaw said the the new Recreation Centtle Board of mannement may be in a position to seek personnel in the future and McKinlay said he would consider the matter when the time came. Exeter council was also given formal notice last Week by Robert Welch, Minister for Culture and Recreation, that they would be eligible for a Wintario grant of $512,650 for the construction of the new Recreation Centre. The minister advised that a progress payment of $127,368 would soon be sent by his ministry. an inter -disciplinary. approach to ex- ploring them. The program hopes to -familiarize students with the possibilities for ac- tively participating in the planning process, and with the planning mechanisms themselves and to generate a sense of responsibility amongst these students by inviting them to research and produce written submissions to the Commission. Those interested can contact Ms. Hunt or John Neate at the RCEPP offices, 14 Carlton Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B spe ay a ispl zens e poor old CBC. Now that everyone stopped looking under turntables behind tape decks for communists in rganization, Rene LevesqUe comes wer in Quebec and there are rumors search will start all over again, this for separatists.. C president Al Johnson said tlY, however, that he would have of it, Although the publicly -owned. cy will make major programming ges this fall to more fully integrate English and French language net - be, Mr. Johnson says there will be no h -hunt within the organization for om het doe and it". vtn Box age rais gt hie or de et cent assertions in the United States the program of tivil defence in the e Union is giving that country, an in the balance of nuclear forces has under some dispute from , a ber of Western attaches and foreign Mats in Russia according to the e Soviets do have an , elaborate to, so detailed that some city ,ents know precisely to width ear In b ,train they are assigned for tlation, but Western officials living wow ere skeptical about its ef. tness in helping the coUntry "11'111104r attatk., CANADA IN SEVEN "We have never engaged people on the basis of political blood teSts and we are not going to start now," he said after outlining Z9 English and French television network program ch.anges. He defended Radio -Canada, the French arm of the national television and radio broadcasting system, saying its news and public affairs employees "have been systematically applying the highest standards of journalism". Mr. Johnson's remarks followed a week—of almost unprecedented attacks on the CBC by senior Liberal politicians, including members of the Trudeau cabinet. • In recent days a succession of cabinet ministers, and other senior Liberal politicians, have lashed out at the CBC, including former cabinet minister Mitchell Sharp who said the CBC had done "bloody little" to foster national unity. There were demands yr" the Senate for an inquiry into the claimed separatist presende within Radio -Canada sup- porting the separatist Parti Quebecois. government of Quebec in its in- dependence campaign. In outlining his program changes Mr. Johnson discussed plans for expanded neWs , and public affairs programming, c� -productions of English and French television services, including a new situation comedy to be filmed in both languages, a new variety and sports shows. He passed only lightly over the separatism dispute in the speech, but later told reporters he did not accept allegations that Radio -Canada is biased against federalism. He said any investigation of the kind suggested in the Senate should cover all broadcasting systems in Canada, in- cluding, the privately owned CTV Television Network Ltd. and Global WORLDWEEK Given the Soviet passion for secrecy, thoie who have studied civil defence admit that they have no way of knowing the full seope of the preparations or the strategic assumptions underlying them. But they do questipn arguments In the United States that the program could be gIVIngltussla an edge In the balance of nuclear forces. ' 'For a number of years the theory of mhthal deference has been based oh the ,„iiisumption of mutual destruction. The belief Abet neither side could Win a ' titieleitt war 'and therefOre neither side *mid be prepared to start one. , ' Now the nontention hht been Made by Maj. -Gen. George 3. 'Keegan Jr., ' recently retired as the American Air Force's chief of intelligence, that Soviet civil defence plans enable the Russians to count on a reasonable rate of survival from a nuclear exchange. Enough to allow their military and industrial" establishment to continue functioning. ' That assessment is disputed however hy Harold Brown, the incoming , ''Vecretary of defence, who maintained , that American missiles could still destroy the Soviet Union. It is neorly impossible to resolve theot *dispute because the question on which t the debate hinges is unanswerable, whether the Soviet leadership is Convinced that its extensive civil defence program can limit destruction a "acceptable" level. - formal request by the New York Times to discuss the question with the Soviet ministry of defence was rejected. "Unfortunately, such an interview is not tiossible," a 'Russian ministry Spokesman said Besides evacuation plans, the Soviet program includes a network bf fallout shelters and compulsory lectures, drills and examinations at schools and lobs. Although the retired -end active military Television as well as the CBC. "I'm not goigg to get into a public debate with members of Parliament and I recognize that there are people who allege that the CBC is biased," he said. "To say somebody is biased is to say somebody is systematically seeking to promote a particular point of view. I simply do not believe the CBC does that." The CBC makes 10,000 journalistic decisions every day in production of news programs across the country and is bound to make mistakes, but "taken in its totality, I think that French -language news and current affairs programming men who conduct these sessions are said to take them quite seriously, the effort generates considerable irreverence and black humor among many ordinary people. "What do you do when you hear the alert?" goes a standard joke. "Put on a sheet and crawl to the cemetery slowly. Why slowly? So you don't spread panic." There is likely to be less frivolity and better training arribng workers in key military related industries. Fallout shelters and evacuation plans exist, theugh how comprehensively is not known. is balanced and fair". Mr. Johnson said all news media have an obligation to explore the issues that con fronVanadians. He said the CBC is always ready to defend itself before the Commons broadcasdng committee. Senators were talking last week of forming a special Senate committee to investigate the charges of bias. Tlfe CBC president said early ex- periments on co-operative Engl ish- French programming succeeded only in "offending people in two languages instead of one". As formidable as the program may sound, Western military men assigned to embassies in Moscow warn that relying literally on official plans and publications, as some believe General Keegan and others have done, can produce exaggerated pictures of the effectiveness of civil defence, as of any other area of Soviet endeavor. "It's no different from a guy who writes that his collective farm is doing fine, that everything's going well, the plans have been fulfilled, when in fact agriculture is rjddled with problems," a Western officer explaisus.