HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1978-08-17, Page 16Citizens News. Auclust 24. 1978
These are the beans to be consumed Saturday by human bein's
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ring on the beans
For the thirteenth straight year, the picnic
tables are being moved, the roads have been swept
clean, the refrigerators -cum cookers have been
cleaned out and the many hours of labour for local
citizens has come to fruition; bring on the bean
festival!
If there is one thing that an outsider notices
about this community, it has to be the spirit of
togetherness and the sense of caring which each in-
dividual has about this community.
There are few places of Zurich's size where
you'll find an attractive and clean downtown, core,
paved streets throughout 95 percent of the village,
active social and church organizations and a real
rarity for a village, a chamber of commerce.
It just follows through that when all of the com-
munity puts its collective heads together as it does
for the bean festival, it's bound to be a success.
One item that the bean festival can always use
is volunteers on the day of the event and if you
would like to contribute some labour to the event,
drop around by the festival kitchens and nine
chances out of ten they'll be able to put you to work. -
Polior a complicated subject
Huron County can be excused if its reaction to
the current polio scare is one of confusion.
Immunize, no matter what, we hear on the one
hand. Polio vaccine isn't necessary for those over
30, we're told the next day. And anyway, there's no,
need for all this fuss ... the polio cases are in o.x-
ford County, which is not exactly on our doorstep.
There seems to be province wide confusion
about the extent of the polio .risk and the
precautions, if any, all of us should take. There is
little co-ordination in the statements from public
health people at province, county and local levels.
Is it logical to have special advertised polio
clinics in the northern part of Perth County while
south Huron people, geographically much closer to
affected Oxford County get the shots only if they
call the health unit or their doctor?
An emergency like the polio scare in Oxford
shows that Ontario lacks a united voice, consensus
on an issue that's crucial to everyone's health.
We think that's something to be concerned
about.
The polio outbreak is a complicated subject and
we realize that out of necessity the media or those
who talk to them over -simplify in the interests of
being understood.
But the multitude of conflicting instructions the
public has been getting hasn't helped anyone.
We need public health authorities at all levels
sayingapproximately the,same thing.
They've got° time, we hope, before the next
communicable disease outbreak to get together and
do just that.
Meanwhile, we the public have to take some of
the blame for the current confusion. Public health
people have been hammering away for years telling
us to keep our immunization levels up.
But hardly anyone, unless they're travelling to
Europe or have just stepped on a rusty nail,
bothers. Parents have even been lax about making
sure babies get their first vital polio, diptheria,
tetanus etc. shots.
How many family doctors include a round of
booster shots in patients occasional health check
ups? Would it be feasible to do so?
Former Huron MOH Dr. Frank Mills has been
quoted in the Globe and Mail as saying the province
ought to make immunization compulsory. But is
legislation the answer rather than individual
responsibility?
Certainly we need to understand that com-
municable diseases like polio don't disappear just
because there aren't any cases for a few years.
They are held in check only by a high level of im-
munization among the population.
Some people object to immunization on
religious grounds and they have every right to their
beliefs. But do they put the rest of us at risk?
Some of us are lazy or forgetful about keeping
our immunities up. Polio will happen to the other
guy, never to us.
Perhaps both the confusion about what to do
about polio shots and our laxness in keeping our
booster shots up partly to date stem artl from the same
source.
We're looking for someone to tell us what to do,
to spoon feed us the absolutely correct answer. We
don't want to inform ourselves and take personal
responsibility for informed decisions.
We don't really want to have to make choices,
to know details, even about something as important
as our own health.
Is that it?
Huron Expositer
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Miscellaneous
R'►ulimibinngs
By,
TOM CREECH
Mtn
The announcement last week by Darcy McKeough
that he was resigning from his post as the minister
responsible for treasury, economic and in-
tergovernmental affairs was something that struck
most of the people of this province by surprise.
During his tenure as the most important person in
the cabinet next the premier, McKeough earned the
respect of friend and foe alike for his honest approach
to activities concerning his ministry. In a time when
the words "Parti Quebecois" are used rarely in a
complementary sense ,outside of la belle province,
McKeough has expressed open admiration for the way
in which his Quebec colleague Jacques Pariseau
operates his ministry. That takes a fair amount of in-
testinal fortitude.
In the statement which he read to the press an-
nouncing his retirement from public life, McKeough
said he was proud in assisting in reforms that the
Conservative government had put in place during his
time in office.
McKeough made specific mention of the changes
made to Local government, the maintainence of a
strong Ontario in a national context and measures
taken to have a balanced budget.
When McKeough announced his resignation a
colleague of mine who incidently is being shipped off
to Thamesford remarked that McKeough quit the
cabinet for reasons which McKeough did not bother
mentioning.
My colleague suggested that McKeough's 'dream
for a balanced budget for Ontario before 1985 was
nothing but a dream and that the honourable member
from Chatham -Kent realized this.
Another reason for his resignation could be a
result of the heat which he's taken from the property
tax reforms which have been on the go for over a
decade now and still haven't been implemented.
It's a good bet that McKeough won't be out of
politics long if you take into consideration that's all
he's done for most of his adult life.
One can almost envisage a John Turner type of
political sabbatical with McKeough returning to the
political arena possibly federally, in five years time.
He's too good of a politician to stay out of the
business for too great a length of time.
This week sees the thirteenth annual version of
the Zurich Bean Festival getting underway. For the
first time since about 1970 this writer will be there.
That's one thing that upon reflection I find sad; many
people drive a long distance to attend some of this
area's events but yet, local people won't take a ten
minute drive to enjoy the same event.
Anyway, this time around I'll be there. The
assignment is something this writer would look
forward to, even if those beans weren't being served.
To this day, I can still recall the pungent aroma of this
Huron county speciality finding its way to every nook
and cranny of the village.
See you at the Bean Festival!
* * *
It's been about ten months now since Herb
Turkheim Furniture was appointed as the Citizens
News agent and its a relationship which this writer
has enjoyed. Apparently some people think that Herb
still has something to do with the putting together of
the newspaper and as such, when some item does not
get in the paper they inform either Herb or Dan of
their displeasure. If an item does not hit the pages of
the Citizens News the only person to blame is me. I
realize it's easier to blame the person who you first
converse with but if you leave your name and number
at the office I'll be more than happy to talk things
over. This paper is put together by humans and at
times we do make boobs.
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N. I1tff WItN IOG1l NEWf
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Member:
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Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
News Editor • Tom Creech
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