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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-07-21, Page 5R -- GODERICH S GlalAlw•S•'1'Pt1il,.;'I`1 *84 *"% *K' ** its hot! Thousands . ,of people °`hays been seeking relief from the current, heat wave that is blanketing the. United,States trarnrnuch of Canada and hopefully it will end or at least . diminisb somewhat tomorrow. People live for the, summer months and lofty visions of balmy temperatures and holidaying in the sun carry us ,..through the everest.uf winters.,Summer- is finally here and boy are we living at the extreme end of the Fahrenheits. But the chronic complainers who cursed the wind and snow' last January ironically turn upon the other side of the scale when the temperature hits 95. , There is just no cure, weather wise or otherwise, for some -people and for anyone who has' mildly suggested where a weatherman could stickhis weather board, just think back te.,January 18, 19%7 .when the thermometer' dipped' to a refreshing -29C or -20F. , There are thousands of alternatives to beating the heat and everyone has. his own personal touch. The alternatives range from lounging in a hammock with a tall, cool comforting beverage.to visits to pools, beaches or air conditioned bars. In .fact., ,hero •,:are sevesaj..enjoyable.. methods 'of keeping cool during the summer. But, for the chronic com- plainers it is•only fair that a List of hot weather disadvantages be' given some recognition., One disadvantage of the hot weather is cleaning your car after a two 'week vacation and discovering that the kids attempted to smuggle half of the beach home in the back seat of the car. It is definitely a disadvantage when you learn that the children really weren't that crazy about the ice cream you stood in line for over a half an hour to buy and later abandoned them near the rear window of the car. A disadvantage of the hot weather is suffering from severe neck strain and.to an extreme whiplash, an affliction generally found among the male species during the su,rnmer months contracted„., while trying to 'd'rive and watch girls in brief outfits at the same time. Scientists have yet to discover a cure for the disease., A disadvantage of the hot weather is standing over .a barbeque and trying desperately to get; the coals to do something when invariably the tem- perature outdoors always seems war- mer than the coals will ever get. And the wife or other members of the family run out every 30 seconds for an hour to find out if the hamburgers side done yet' A disadvantage of smeri ulmits finding out that the children have been secretly' , forming a bug collection in the un- derwear drawer of their 'dresser but conveniently forget about- it goon questioning. A disadvantage of summer is enjoying seueta.1,4-camfortictg;...4eu4igsges-' in n afrconditioned barr during the afternoon and then stepping out ontd the street into 100 degree weather and blazing sun- shine. A disadvantage, of summer is putting on a bathing suit or bikini and realizing that perhaps you should have done some exercising during the winter months. '. A disadvantage of summer is that during the winter months all we can remember are the advantage's. Quit complaining. ee WEEK AFTE INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION is w• e ey er c on one ,kin i he ;he' on fe :co vho )C1 exp ntt mat Jnio a fe reu , be 'e the lap a Ist etcr tho lee3 i ust lone ge tr ma )ets to g): ho Cl ro e ro Le �+lp HEREIN.. HURON fter just seven short months of charges for 'the theft of the files. She ration in the county the Huron pointed out .that several people had nteer Bureau closed its doors access to the office including custodian, use of lack of funds and disputes Ed Layton, summer employee Bob een the bureau staff and the ad- Phillips or Pat- Wheeler, Spence Cum- rycommittee. things and Bob Taylor of the advisory ormer volunteer bureau, co- committee. inator, Mary Ann KOWbuz resigned The Volunteer Bureau began her position July 7. Returning to operation in January under a Local Ontario Street United Church office a° Initiatives Program grant of $12,000. days later she discovered that files During its short :life span. the .bureau confidential information had been offered°help and services to the needy of oved from the premises.. the county. When the bureau funds were owbuz immediately contacted the depleted in June,-Kowbuz asked the ton Police and threatened to lay advisory committee to appy for legal incorporation as a non-profit volunteer not be' paid even the phone was agency. A successful application would, e(Isconnected which incensed Kowbuz (k'(h'h have meant that the bureau could'`sur- - and •meant that services were definitely vive through- tax deductible donations cut off from the public. from the public but no action was taken. "The only person to raise funds kr the Committee member Taylor claimed bureau has been me." Kowbuz said, "We that the bureau was in no position to received nothing locally, funds were apply for legal incorporation since it had never given by the county or the towns," no base, He added that the advisory The only person now staffing the committee was looking to Kowbuz for bureau is Bob Phillips, a university fund seeking ideasand alternatives, student who has been _hired through the Kowbuz claimed that she has been the Experience '77 program. Phillips will only person • genuinely interested in now research possible future funding for securing additional funds to keep the the bureau. bureau operational. When the bills could One bureau employee, Reg Thompson claimed that Phillips was actually doing suggested that perhaps a church or a study on why the bureau didn't work social group could operate it. when it actually did; He added that the Kowbuz ,claimed that the bureau bureau was a success but the operatidriTtlped at least 45 agencies and groups simply ran out of funds. • and assisted another 200 needy, han- Advisory committee member Pat dicapped and elderly people. Thompson Wheeler, who is also the co-ordinator of noted that some people could not do with volunteer services at Bluewater Centre, out the services of the bureau. said the bureau didn't work out as ex- ' County development officer Spence petted and added that•it was difficult to Cummings, also a member of the recruit volunteers and equ9lly as dif-• bureau's advisory committee refused to ficult to run the bureau throughout the comment on the closing situation orthe whole county. However she operation of the bureau. acknowledged the fact that. there is a' 'It is not known if such a bureau will need for such a service in the county and ever be operational in the county in future years. stomers of Ontario Hydro have gingly become accustomed to al 'rate increases and the only good s to come from Hydro in a long time cated that next year's increase may e as high as expected. • seems that our hydro system earned uch money through rate increases year that this year's increase may ut by as much as half. The Ontario rgy Board was told that a forecast of ss revenue for Ontario Hydro this will mean a reduction in the in - se next year. recasts for Hydro's revenue for this PROVINCIAL year indicated that the revenues will be I0!) million more than permitted under the province's anti-inflation policy. Hydro originally proposed an increase of 11.3 percent for power delivered to municipal utilities. This proposal is being reviewed at hearings of the OEB which began last week. Hydro claimed that more than a third of, the revenue is attributable to in- creased export sales of electricity to the linited States, mainly the States of New York and Michigan. The rest stems from lower purchasing prices and generating costs than anticipated in bringing new uthors of a public opinion poll fished in Le Devoir Monday say that majority of Quebeckers favor beec independence if this were ac - plants into service. However, there is now a dispute over the 'method for returning the extra revenue to the consumer. The Con- sumers -Association of Canada, in- tervening at the energy board hearings wants the forecasted $109 million surplus to be used against the 1978 rates. But Hydro does not want to change its rate proposal. Hydro wants to wait until the end of the year until the exact surplus is known and then rebate the excess revenue through credits on the monthly bills in 1978, Then hydro rate changes would have CANADA The St. Jean poll said 47.9 per cent of respondents backed Quebec in- dependence when linked with an economic association while 30.7 per cent were against. The remainder were But the poll claimed that given normal patterns the majority of the undecided would vote in favor of independence with economic association bringing to 60 per cent those in favor of such an option. However 'faced with the choice of independence without economic association or the status quo, 63.2 per cent said they were in favor of con - POINTS to be made by each municipality that purchases electricity from Ontario Hydro. inflation policy. He said it would he his objective to have any such forecasted revenue from Hydro returned to the customers in the form of a lower rate • Hydro also thinks that any extra level in 19' 8. revenue ropy be wiped out by unforeseen If the rate increase proposed is cut in losses later in the year. One official half. the average householder without pointed out that the cost of having one electric heating could expect an increase nuclear generating station out of of *1.15 on a monthly/bill for about 750 commission for one day is $200,000, kilowatt hours. A residential customer Ontario Energy Minister James using electrical heating could face an Taylor, in a tetter requesting the energy annual increase of $3' . hoard's review of hydro's rates, Hydro's rates increased by 30.3 per-' specifically asked for a report on the cent this year, the highest increase ever treatment in 19)8 of any forecasted permitted by the energy board. A boost excess revenue from 197', under the anti-"ffIt rates of 2:' percent was allowed in 1976 IN SEVEN tinuing ties with Canada while only 17.3 per cent wanted complete independence. The poll identified economic issues as the greatest concern and.,spid,the results of an independence re:ferendum would depend largely on the ability of the Quebec government to convince the people ,of the viability of a politically sovereign Quebec. It is rather, unlikely that Quebec separation will lead to happiness, security or prosperity for the people of that province. Such a move holds no merit for either: English nor French speaking Canadians. Several years ago the late Senator Charles G. Power predicted that the FTench-Canadian issue would surface after the Second World War and that resentments and discontent, regardless of' their origin, would remain with Canadians untilthey were dealt with on a rational basis. , The climate , of Canada is uncertain and the uncertainties of emotions, politics, personal pride, unemployment and other socio-economic conditions provide a poor barometer in measuring whether or not Canada will stay intact. It is difficult to centralize the problems to individual provinces, and there can be no blames laid. There is a definite need for a new perspective, to view Canada as a whole. It is said that Canada's development peaked during the Second_World War but has. since declined through a network of weak governments. National unity has since been fractured by inflation, soaring unemployment and welfare costs, greed, and our lofty visions of more pay for less work. The provinces of our country are clamouring - for different reasons and needs.' The weStern provinces- may be after an energy board recommendation of .'9. percent was modified by a special select committee of the Ontario Legislature. There are 11 interveners at the hearing -and each will have a-chanceto challenge Hydro's policies and figures hut only the consumer's association seeks to represent residential Customers. Mr. Taylor expressed disappointment at the apparent lack of citizen interest in the review hearings and stated that even though he encouraged such participation there was not one ihdividual who was actively participating in the hearing. 'i primarily concerned with trade, oil prices and natural resources. Quebec is concerned about language, culture recognition and a type of freedom. The Maritimes, and Ontario to a lesser degree, are concerned about unem- ployment and faltering economic con- , It is"now difficult for Canada, to catar to the concerns of a troubled province like Quebec. The whole country has its problems and each and every province has its problems. Those problems can only be solved when all the provinces pull together. Thu od lent Iso < bo Go ler er 3,500 people arrested in New City last week for looting and other alism during a blackout in the city now complaining of inhumane tions at the jails used to house the wer was disrupted for 25 hours g which time police arrested more 3,500 looters and vandals and of - Is also estitnated that 439 policemen injured. It was one of the worst s in New York history in which e were called to make more than six 8, the nortnal arrests during tIA d blackout in 12 years. Along a one mile Strip of Bioadway the streets were lined ' with glass from smashed in jewellery store windows and in Harlem the damage was even more -widespread as looters simply ignored police. ' In most cases the looters openly carried pieees of. furniture, including bulkier items as chesterfields and chairs through store windows and ,onto the street. In one section clf the Bronx, looters drove 50 new ,,ears from a showroom. Harlem police reported that they were frequently attacked by looters, Most of whom were well,armed, Most storeowners tried to remain in their premises during the blackout but their efforts were futile for the most p rt. One of the stores looted, a bo tique, had its two floors of goods pi WI clean ineluding counters and chairs. Police attributed inost of the looting and vandalism to roving bands of kids and other local gangs. New York city police talked of their battle with looters in terms of reference usually reServed for war an,.d they agreed that it was the worst nights in the city since the shoos Ing death of Dr. Martin Luther King. Now a controversy is brewing over the jail conditions being inflicted upon the jailed looters and vandals. A spokesman for the legal aid society, whose lawyers started a slowdown Saturday, said the prisoners were denied proper medical attention, received spoiled food and were forced to sleep on floors. Prison authorities in Manhattan where the closed Tatribs jail was reopened to accommodate the unusual number of offenders during the blackout, denied Court authorities are now worrietilEla conditions may worsen and blame the lawyers for further slowing down the already clogged process. To complicate matters New York's political leaders are calling for heavy punishment of looters and arsonists. New York Mayor Abraham Beame called for tough justice on the looters and said he had no sympathy for those in jail. Manhattan borough president, Percy Sutton, said persons charged with -crimes must not be excused because they are poor„because the poor are as moral and honesePs any other people. Judges were attempting to handle the large caseload by condutting court arraignments in as little ds four to five minutes. Lawyers deliberately tried to stretch the arraignments into 15 minutes. The heat has been blamed for much of the lawlessness in New York and now the city is on a water alert because of dangerously. low water pressure caused, by thousands of New Yorkers turing on fire hydrants to cool themselVes off: barrage of criticism after the blackout but they have already 'presented a plan that should speed Alp restoratiop, Of power should another blackout occur.