HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-03-10, Page 4Pagef4-Citizens News, March 10/76
don 't care how many beads you have...I don't want it back!
itorial Comment
The unfortunate fire near Thunder Bay
which claimed the lives of a father and eight
children underlined the absolute necessity
of having fire protection in all areas.
Under present conditions, each munici-
pality is responsible for its own protection.
If a municipality is not in a financial position
to provide its own protection, agreements
are usually made with neighbouring muni-
cipalities.
•
In the case in question, the fat& fire was
located some distance outside the area
covered by the fire department. The area
in which the fire occurred had no agree-
ment.
Due to the seriousness of the fire, it was
easy to scorn the fire department which
refused to attend the fire. In all fairness
should be not be scorning the municipal
council which neglected to cone to an agree-
ment.
The chief of the brigade in question
said publicly that he felt media criticism
was unfounded since the fire had already
consumed the house before the fire call
was received.
Another factor which has not been
mentioned is the fact that once a fire depart-
ment leaves its home area and enters a
municipality with which no agreement has
been made, all protection for the fire
department and equipment is void.
If a firemen is injured or killed while
fighting such a fire, there is no insurance
to compensate for the loss of income while
a wife and children of a fatally injured
firemen. Fire department equipment is also
not covered and in the event of an accident
involving a fire truck, serious court cases
would result.
Let's be fair! It's not the firemen we
should be blaming, it is the council which
neglected to have a fire agreement signed.
Readerfeels hospital cuts political
'ro the Editor:
Not much has changed since
the time of the "Family Com-
pact". According to James
Scott in "The Settlement of
Huron County", Colonel Van
Egmond had the following to
say about the rulers of the
province in the year 1873. "The
ands here belong to hardhearted,
arrogant, oppressing and tyranni-
cal disposed men, ignorant of
the tcquisites...etc.''
►' 'tppears that our present day
ul ,�
are the same type of
mien. hardheaded, arrogant,
oppressing and tyrannical
disposed, ignorant of the requisi-
tes that our smaller rural comm -
unites need for their existence.
A professor at the University of
Western Ontario recently pointed
out that to his regret the small
rural towns were losing contin-
uously in population because of
the lack of services required for
the mostly retired older people
who would vastly prefer to live
here. Health Minister (the
Executioner) Miller perfectly fits
the description the old Colonel
gave to his contemporaries, and
Premier Davis by not assuming
his responsibilities as premier,
displays the same attitude.
Fortunately we do not live in
the Colonel's time, or I have
heard tempers that were hot'
enough that would tempt people
to take up arms. What we can
do though is fight with the weap-
ons that are available to us, and
they are letters and cards and
telephone calls to every MPP you
can think of, be it government or
opposition.
Ask questions as: "Why is it
that nine out of ten hospital
closings are in opposition rid-
ings?" "Why is a new hospital
needed in Miller's riding?"
"Are we going into an era where
at election time we have to guess
who will form the next govern-
ment, so we make sure that we
arc in a government riding?"
Is that the way democracy is
heading in Ontario? These arc
valid questions that require an
answer and we better ask then.
I am also perturbed by the two-
handed statement that the
liberal leader, Stuart Smith, gave
to the press. He sounded like
a government economist.
On the one hand Miller is
doing a great job and should
be commended. On the other
hand maybe he could have done it
different." What kind of state-
ment is that?
We can already see the hand-
writing on the wall when parlia-
ment convenes in early March.
Some token opposition by the
liberals. The NDP, who always
had a more humane approach
to any problem, will be the only
real opposition against the closing
of our rural hospitals, and if
you people in the other parts of
the county think that it won't
affect you, you better think again,
for th e next time your wife has
to go to your hospital for a
delivery, the bed may be occupied
by a mother from Clinton and
you have to take her to London
or Stratford.
Of course no one in his right
mind can quarrel with the state-
ments made that we have to
economize in order to lick infla-
tion, but that is not the issue.
The issue is if we want to jeopard-
ize the health care for those we
love and for ourselves, when
surely other ways can be found
to effect the same savings.
The forays into the rural country
side by Miller look a lot like
guerilla warfare against those
who didn't vote the way the PC's
would have liked us to, and the
soft statement by Stuart Smith
sounds like a party leader who
has no stomach for an election.
It is regrettable that with two
highly respected MPP's from the
liberal part in Huron County, who
are fighting valiantly to save our
towns from further erosion, we
cannot, if we want to be consis-
tent, vote for then anymore if
their party doesn't back them up.
Adrian Vos
Blyth
GMSA Meet
The February meeting of
G.M.S.A. was held on Friday the
27th in the Zurich Mennonite
Church, with 18 girls and one
visitor present. The roll call was
answered by the girls saying a
Bible verse they had learnt. We
were then divided up into four
groups and members all did
crafts in these groups.
For the next meeting each girl
is to bring a recipe for squares
of which we are going to put
together and make a recipe
book. Refreshments were then
served after which we were
dismissed.
The
Last
Word
by Ted Rowcliffe
Well, it's been quite a week
No heat, hydro or telephone had most of us 'feeling sorry
for ourselves, grumbling a little when no one was listening.
We were pretty hard done by, we all agreed.
After all, the TV wouldn't work. The stereo was useless.
Cold meals were the order of the day. As the blackout
stretched from hours into days, most people arranged for
auxiliary power or propane stoves and those who couldn't
moved in with friends who weren't affected. It was pretty
tough on all of us.
But what about the farmers? For them it wasn't just a
little inconvenience because the TV was off. They weren't
worried about a little discomfort from lack of heat or cold
meals. To most farmers, the lack of hydro was a very real
threat to wiping out their livelihood.
Beef, dairy, swine and chicken farmers all found them-
selves in a fix, mainly for water but also for ventilation.
Some were well prepared with auxiliary power generators
but many had to scurry to find alternate power before it
was too late.
In our area, at least most were lucky. Neighbour helped
neighbour and catastrophe for the individual farmer was
averted.
One farmer lost thousands of fowl due to a lack of ventila-
tion and no doubt some operations will not know the total
effect of the blackout for some time. It was tough, for all of
us, but in retrospect and compared to some others I guess
we weren't really that bad.
* * *
Since things weren't too comfortable at home, I took
advantage of the London Farm Show to get warm on Thurs-
day night. While some of the new machinery was a little
baffling, it was a good chance to talk to area farmers and
those involved in selling to farmers.
A good number of local dealers and manufacturers had
displays. My knowledge of farm operations increased sub-
stantailly from discussions with such people as Don Stewart
of Epp's of Clinton, Bill Roweliffe of Hensall, Mac Campbell
and Lyle Humphrey of Big '0'. Gerry Smith of Kongskilde,
Clare Elston of JF Farm Machinery, Paul Steckle of C&G
Farm Equipment and many more.
We also enjoyed some of the displays, discussions and
demonstrations by such groups as the Middlesex 4-H Clubs,
The Ministry of Agriculture and some manufacturers.
Perhaps because I'm not a farmer, I was more interested
in displays that did something rather than the ones that just
sat there. There were a lot of others who obviously felt the
same way as the largest crowds of people gathered when
there was some action.
Also at the Farm Show, an injust situation in tariffs for
produce crossing the border was pointed out by the Ontario
Agriculture Minister William Newman, keynote speaker at
the show.
It was hard to believe!
Meat coming into Canada has a tariff of three cents a
pound while Canadian meat going into the States is nailed
with a ten percent tariff or 30 to 40 cents a pound.
American soybeans conte here duty free while Canadian
soybeans have a 60 cent per bushel tariff.
And the list went on and on. Mr. Newman promised he
would approach the federal government to rectify this unjust
situation and hopefully they'll listen.
Zurich WI
Quilting was the order of the
day when Zurich W.I. met on
Monday, March lst.
Twenty-six members were pre-
sent and 12 visitors assisted with
4 large quilts. A pot -luck supper
was enjoyed by all present. A
short business meeting was held
when two members, Mrs. H.
Thiel and Mrs. C. Gelinas were
welcomed back after their stay in
hospital.
Donations of money were made
to the disaster victims in Guate-
mala and the Heart Fund.
Mrs. T. Meyers and Mrs. L.
Klopp were appointed to a
nominating committee for the
annual meeting in April.
Quilting was also continued on
Wednesday.
Published Each Wednesday By Huron -Middlesex Publishers Ltd.
HERB TURKHEIM, EDITOR
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
Member:
*CNA Canadians Weekly. Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
Subscription Rates: $6.00 per year in advance in Canada;
$8.00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 20(