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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-03-24, Page 5ra I would bei the first to•pdmit','thai women have been taken fora ride in our; :society fora very lon,g time Alt is indeed: traditional ndeed - traditional to treat them as posseesions when they're daughters and chattles in marriage Many of our laws reflect that attitude. Women are struggling for an equal Opportunity in the job market, both in terms of finding gainful and interesting employment and in having the op- portunity to -'rise in that field once they find it. I wish them luck. But something turned up in the news recently involving Bob Dylan, of whom I have been a fan for very tong time, and a divorce proceeding launched by his wife Sara which really annoyed me. Sara claimed recently at a divorce hearing that her husband tried to force her out of. their exotic onion -domed house to bring in another woman. In a deposition before a Los Angeles Superior aft dge she allege( thatDylan stlf%e 'I�er on the face and ahe bad to lock.__ he of jn,her room as protection from. 'his°y ti lojent outbursts and „,temper tiiliElsewhere in her deposition she said of the other woman; "1 found her unex- pectedly sitting at the breakfast table with my husband and in the company of, the children, she was apparently en- joying, herself." M Sara also told the judge that Dylan Jiad ordered her out of the house. "I can't go home for fear of my safety. I was in such fear of him that I lopked the doors In the home to protect myself" Except that it involves a very prominent musician, poet and folk hero all this sounds like a fairly routine divorce action. A bit sordid, certainly messy and probably filled with half truths on both sides. Charge and counter charge. 4,0 1 to bri sacch t been all th 1st fa fed usa s." ng• have suppo re ca to sacc accept :hingis ed by` tors, illus itt of hat en c can ation, nd v nut it.l 9 Dr )n a ld the Ithy; ledoe a young country. Here in ounty we are perhaps a bit Up until recently that very de matters of historic note of st to average citizens. seems to be changing though. e Town of Goderich celebrates anniversary with a year of and now Wingham is laying mark its 100th anniversary in ommunity's Centennial .Com - w has a chairman and vice - enabling it to embark on the going ve p It; ndlit with ttit Old._ jo d oa urther step in reducing the f solid waste resulting from the owaway soft drink containers, ill ban non -refillable bottles as 1978. ment Minister George Kerr is also recommending in - of a special pollution tax on cans to Treasurer D'Arcy for inclusion in the 1977-78 budget to be introduced this y hope that at least part of the from the tax will be used in ng recycling centres for waste in various communities of the What really seems wrong t9. me, _however,18 none otthese things. It's the fact that Sara is trying to get her hands on a share of Dylan's fortune in real estate holdings, holdings in publishing companies, recordings and royalties from his songs and compositions. Before the militant females out there jump all over me, scratching for my eYes, let me say that I do not deny he probably owes Sara some' support. Certainly he has an obligation to the five children which resulted from their 11 year marriage. I can not see that he has any . obligations beyond that in set- tlement of the suit. If Sara had contributed to the ac- cumulation of the Dylan fortune (and a fortune it probably is) it would De a different matter. But in her petitiorf"Mrs. Dylan lists their assets and includes publishing, recordings and song royalties among them. Those items are the resujGriprtltfi , Uyjatt'senu Yea rs.of hard worknot Saira'$< I"b matterl the real'; -`estate;` property she lists'<ca;nefrpm' the - source. Women's rights are just great, butf* what about some rights for men? In matters like_ this the courts are; nothing Una inconsistent; In -the; case of; women who have worked most of their lives, side by side with their husbands, the courts' have ruled in several cases that they have no claim to the property and business. That they will be given support but given no claim to their rightful share of that farm. Or any other business for that matter where the wife has worked for years as unpaid help.` If we're going to sort out the sexism which has been bred into our society, let's go all the way. And let's revamp the laws so they bring 'some justice to both sides. AFTER INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION :yR HERE task of planning the celebrations which are still two years down the road. William Rintoul will chair the group with Doug Layton, Ray Walkers and Andrew Ritskes assisting as vice chairmen. • About 30 persons attending a public centennial meeting on March 9 were told by Jim Currie the Centennial Committee has been dormant for want of a chair- man. Everything else is ready, Mr. Currie said. "If we found them (chairman and vice chairman) we could be in operation IN .HURON within a week." Mr. Currie headed up the steering committee which made the initial arrangements. Mr. Rintoul volunteered for the post with the provision two to four other volunteer help as vice chairmen. The Wingham Business Association has found this arrangement effective in reducing the Load on one person, he said. The Centennial Committee is now looking for 10 to 15 people to serve as secretary, treasurer, and in chairing various sub -committees. Those at the meeting heard reports on celebrations held by other towns with examples of things to follow or to avoid. Such things as a beer garden, parade, dances, barbecue and so on were en- dorsed and it was agreed it would be a good idea to provide a central meeting place and a baby-sitting service. "Big name" entertainment, it was reported, has generally turned out badly. Ron Deyell said Listowel advised staying away from high priced bands since the crowds will be there anyway. Seaforth had Hank Snow for a dance and reported it was a flop. On the other hand, Mr. Deyell said a steel band which can "float around to dead spots" worked out well for Listowel and might be worth a try. There was some discussion early in the meeting whether the chairman's position should be a paid one. It was noted the chairman will have to spend considerable time co-ordinating the efforts of those under him and should perhaps be remunerated. No conclusions were reached, however, and the subject was eventually dropped as Mr. Rinroul and the others volunteered to fill the positions., To a question whether the centennial was expected to turn a profit, Mr.' Rintoul remarked: "We should have project in mind" to use any profits from the celebration. Meanwhile celebrations in Goderich are coming together after more than a year of planning. Those festivities will reach their high point during early July but events related to the sesquicen- tennial are already underway and will continue through to the end of the year. P - DVIN.CIAL POINTS province and to assist existing depots - Mr. Kerr said. These measures are part of Ontario's long term waste management program which will include future action programs aimed at curbing the use .of non refillable bottles by the liquor and wine industries and at improving the marketing.of waste paper. • "I have received an interim report from the Waste Management Advisory Board dealing with the issue of throwaway bottles by the Ontario liquor and wine industries", Mr. Kerr said recently. "This report is being cir- culated to the industries and to the Liquor Control Board for their com- legislation introduced last Federal Government is make it possible for a small unhappy consumersto take a pany to court on behalf of of other consumers across the er spokesmen are only giving Combines Investigations Act nt a lukewarm reaction Lawyer Jeff Lyons, who first major consumer class he country back in.1974 against ^tors of Canada is quoted as It looks great on paper but rm.,' ments before my Ministry formulates proposals." "Waste paper, including discarded newsprint, constitutes a major' share of the waste going into landfill sites. I am considering the establishment of a market agency to assist in the economic recycling of .waste paper. This, of course, requires the co-operation of the paper industry and newspaper publishers in Ontario. I have asked the Waste Management Advisory Board to look into this and give me a report within four months. If feasible, I am prepayed to extend such a marketing system to other waste products including glass and metals." CAVA Lyons more recently launched 'a class action against Ford of Canada as well. Lyons said the legislation appeared to make "too many concessions to big business" by laying down tough prerequisites to the beginning of any class action. He said he was also concerned about a provision that would allow the court to order that notice be given consumers affected by the class action. This could have the effect of discouraging class actions where a large number of con- sumers were involved because of the cost of notification. Lyons suggests there should be provisions for advance payments to be A IN made by he company against whom the action is launched so they would be paying for the notification. He did welcome a provision that would permit class actions even though the amount of money involved was different for each member of the class. This was a major problem in the current action against General Motors over alleged faults in the Firenza. GM was arguing there was not grounds for an action because different amounts were in- volved. The provisions for class actions to seek damages for violations of the Combines Investigation Act are the first to appear The Minister has also announced several other provisions affecting the bottling and sale of soft drinks. "These new measures will speed up the return of the refillable bottle system to the Ontario soft drink market and will reduce the volume of solid waste this indwstry generates and the amount of energy it consumes," Mr. Kerr said. "Throwaway containers have been increasing steadily for the past five years and they represent a significant waste of material and energy.'-' "It is our long-term objective to reduce substantially the use of throwaway containers in Ontario. We SEVEN in any federal statute although they exist in a limited form in every province except Quebec and are in use in the United States. Class actions have been sougfit at the federal level because separate actions now must be started in each province. This is costly and the decisions in one case are not binding in another. Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Abbott, ,on record as being firmly op- posed to class actions while president of the Retail Council of Canada a few years ago, said the law has been designed to avoid frivolous actions. The first limitation on class actions is are proceeding in phases in order .to avoid unnecessary disruption of em- ployment and to enable the soft drink industry to develop the distribution and collection system required by refillables. These controls are a major step toward this objective and will make a significant dent in the amount of waste and energy which throwaways represent and further reduce litter." "It is also our long-term objective to encourage the use of standard refillable bottles for carbonated soft drinks in Ontario, To this end we are now developing, in co-operation with the soft drink industry, standard refillable that they must be concerned with an offence under the Combines Investigations Act. This would permit a group of citizens to seek damages for such things as misleading advertising or price fixing, which come under the jurisdiction of the act. It would not permit class actions for such things as rusty cars or defective products. Officials say that before class actions could be permitted for defective products, for example, the law covering that item, the Hazardous Products Act, would have to be amended. Any action must be started within two years of the offence. In a case in which a k now, but there is a new war rces, allegedly attacking from Pok over the, major copper stet' of lCoIvirezi last Week IS Sources in the,Zaire capital a $OUrces say the troops were as liberators by the local and met little resistance from Jr There was no, official °n that ' f rbtii , the Zaire however. a informed `krt, sources" 14. W o RLDWEEK Associated Press said the advancing forces also took the trading centre of Sandoa. The troops are believed to be veteransof the former Katanga army who took refuge tin Angola when their secessionist rebellion led .. by the late Moise Tshombe collapsed in 1965. , The foss of the copper mines is seen as a major blow both a tono{nically turd politically to the Kinshasa government. Copper is,Zaire's major export and loss of ,KoIwezi could hurt the economy already `shaken by the closing of the l enguela raft line that -Carried the ore iarrnsw Ant*rin to thw Atlantic coast. is To most people the battles taking place in Zaire seem a little remote. Many will admit they are not -even sura where Zaire might be and certainly they don't understand the political in- volvements between Zaire, Angola and the farmer Katanga' leaders, it "'just seems another African war. That is not really a surprising attitude. A rough count this week showdd that eight wars, of varying severity, are now underway on that continentalong ,with various civil difficulties which, may escalate into war, In the Spanish Sahara, Algeria and the Moroccans are at a stand-off with frequent flare-ups along indefinite borders as they try to resolve who will nowdeposits. govern the former Spanish colony and reap the benefits of rich phosphate The 'Republic of Benin, for reasons little understood in the rest of the world, periodicallystages an attack upon itself and then' blames neighboring Togo for ag'g`ressjon. In' `Child :the Mosefem guerillas may hnve.`finally freed Madame Kloust but still control the northern two-thirds of country and have established in fact, if not in the eyes of the rest of the world, a new state. In the south of Sudan black tribesmen continue to harass the Arabs who claim to govern the area. The worst of the Angoloan civil war may be over but. pockets of strong resistance by Unita forces still exist and fighting continues. Civil war, in varying degrees of severity, continues in the Eritraia and the French Foreign Legion is hard pressed to contain independence orces in Afars and Issas. bottles in a maximum of three sizes which will be available on a voluntary basis to any bottler who wishes to use them. We will be monitoring the progress of the development of the standard bottle over the next six months and I am hopeful industry will adopt its use." The ban on non -returnable bottles will be implemented in changes to Ontario's container regulation under the Environmental Protection Act. The first phase of this regulation, providing a mandatory cash deposit refund on. refillable containers, went into effect last October. company was charged with misleading advertising, it would be two years from the verdict, Department officials said that this would limit the possibility of class ac- tions. If a company advertised that a roo' would not leak for 20 years, but it started to leak after 10, no class action would he permitted. The only exception would he if the department decided to prosecute the company for misleading advertising after 10 years. Consumers could begin a class action to recover damages within two years of the verdict in the criminal case. Then there is the ongoing war in Rhodesia which is perhaps the most publicized, if not most important, of the African conflicts. There are lesser disturbances in Uganda, South Africa, and the Conglese Republic which could escalate into furtherwars at any time. If you find you can't get all that ex- cited about the -latest outbreak of full scale fighting, and that the details of such a conflict seem to escape you, don't feel bad. Even the career diplomats are having a hard time keeping trackof who is shnotingat who, arhd just why. ti•