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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2005-05-04, Page 66 Exeter Times—Advocate Wednesday, May 4, 2005 Opinion Forum News Seniors' perspective Continued from page 5 in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation...This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, everyone you know. After reading this, forward it to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in. 1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! 2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you, chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives. 4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list. DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE. 5. A few notes about getting into your car in a park- ing lot, or parking garage: A. Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat. B. If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars. C. Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall or work and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.) 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the per- fect crime spot). 7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) four in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN! 8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathet- ic: STOP. It may get you raped, or killed.... Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsus- pecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehi- cle, which is when he abducted his next victim. 9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The police- man said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatev- er you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night. Big Businesses Jockey For Position: The Fortune 500 is out again and Wal-Mart Stores continue to widen its lead with sales of more than $288 billion compared with Exxon Mobile in second place with sales of $270 billion. But Exxon Mobil was the most profitable company last year - $25 billion and Wal-Mart was in 8th spot with $10.3 billion profit. • General Motors was third in sales at $193.5 billion, but 28th in profits at $2.8 billion. • Archer Daniels Midland was top company in the food production category followed by Tyson Foods and Pilgrim's Pride. • The biggest in food consumer products was Pepsico followed by Sara Lee, Conagra Food, General Mills, Dean Foods, which is in dairy. Smithfield Foods which is the world's largest hog producer and pork packer, followed by Kelloggs, H.J. Heinz, Land 0' Lakes and Campbell Soup. • Caterpillar is the biggest in farm and industrial equipment manufacturing, followed by John Deere and Company, Agro ranks 11th. • Sysco is the largest in wholesaling food and gro- ceries, followed by Super Valu and CHS. • Kroger and Albertson's two supermarket chains, ranked ahead of Walgreen in the food and drug cate- gory. Safeway was fourth. • McDonald's topped food service. Yum Brands, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, was second and Starbucks third. • The food and consumer products category averaged profits of 7.8 per cent against the median at 5.2 per cent. Food services came in at 6 per cent, industrial and farm equipment at 5.6 per cent, beverages at 4.6 per cent, food and drug stores at 1.3 per cent and wholesalers of food and groceries at 1.3 per cent. Information from Ontario Farmer Writers want peaceful coexistence Dear Editor: I have watched with interest the controversy between the owners of the Beach o' Pines road and the public use of the public towpaths in existence along both sides of the old channel of the Aux Sables River in Lambton Shores. These public towpaths have been in existence since the Canada Company opened these lands for settlement in the 19th ACentury. These rights of way are 33' Letters wide and would have enabled a tO the horse to tow a barge along the river. 7 dl t pr Their use as towpaths has long been �( abandoned but they are, neverthe- less, still public rights of way under the control of the municipality of Lambton Shores and/or the crown in the provincial Pinery Park. Many years after the establishment of the towpaths the Beach o' Pines Association developed a private roadway which crossed the old river channel of the Aux Sables River. In so doing this private roadway crossed two pub- lic rights of way whose dimensions would be 33' x 66' on both sides of the river channel. The ownership of these two blocks of land of 2178 square feet could be disputed. Is each block, since it passes over a right of way, public or private? In either case it makes no difference to the controversy. The fact still remains that there is a public right of way which crosses over the Beach o' Pines road on both the east and west side of the river and this right of way was in existence many years before the roadway. Canada is a young country. We have until recently had plenty of space to roam to wander and to view our coun- tryside as we wished. Our low population enabled us to maintain privacy without intrusion from the public. As well, we are not accustomed to the peaceful coexistence that does occur between the private owner and the users of public footpaths in the more populous countries of Europe. In 1984, I was an exchange teacher at Great Barr in Birmingham, England. It was always great fun having walks along the canals and enjoying the public footpaths across the ver- dant farmlands of the English Midlands. These walkways add dimension to our lives and enable us to enjoy our surroundings at a slower pace. As our population density increases, the public are being denied more and more access to beautiful landscapes or use of our natural environment. As well our obese and overweight Canadian population could well use more walking exercise. Many of us are hoping that the present controversy will be replaced with a peaceful coexistence for the ben- efit of all. Yours sincerely, JOAN AND DAVID MCCLURE Grand Bend, Ontario Keep centre open Dear Ech or: I am writing regarding last week's cover story in the Lakeshore Advance, "Practitioner will have to go." As a concerned resident of the Municipality of Bluewater, I would say that for the first time in my life I am left speechless (those who know me will find this statement alone shocking). I am flabbergasted that all the discussions and deci- sions about a medical centre that serves nearly 3000 people can be kept such a secret. How can it be that last week my family was part of a fully -operating medical clinic and this week we are not? Don't the citizens of the Municipality of Bluewater have the right to proper medical care and information that directly affects our health? To find out about these drastic changes from the newspaper after everything is already cut and dry is not only a blow to our faith in those we have elected to look after our best interests but also demonstrates a complete lack of concern on their part for our health and welfare. Maybe if we all rally together we can "strongly encour- age" Carol Mitchell our MPP, our reeve Bill Dowson, and our council members to find the necessary funding to keep our medical centre up and running at 100 per cent. We have already lost our ambulance service and our bank. If we lose our medical centre, will our pharmacy be next? There must be something we can do. MONIQUE HARTMAN Zurich, Ontario It's time to celebrate public education Education Matters Randy Wagler,Trustee, Huron Area 4 - South AVON MAITLAND DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD This week, May 2 to 6, has been designated as Education Week across Ontario, with the designated theme of "Reading to Succeed." This is an annual event celebrated by school boards and schools across the province. It is a time for students, teachers, staff, parents and community members to celebrate teaching excellence, student achievement, staff efforts, and community involve- ment. In the past, schools have celebrated Education Week with special events such as reading festivals, art exhibits, sports tournaments, careers days, staff appre- ciation luncheons, and community guest speakers, to name just a few. This year, many schools will have activities centered on literacy which of course is a key to learning, and indeed, succeeding in life. On May 4, in Mitchell, the Excellence in Education awards are being presented to students, staff, and community members for their outstanding contributions to education in our district. These awards are jointly sponsored by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers, Federation District 8, and the Avon Maitland District School Board. In addition, as part of Education Week, the Board is conducting an online Parent Survey which assists us in ensuring that the educational needs of our community are being met. I encourage all parents to take the time to complete this survey for each of your children by visiting your school's website or the Board's website at www.yourschools.ca. Parents who do not have the internet should contact your school to obtain a survey. I encourage each member of our community to do something positive for public edu- cation during Education Week 2005. If you're a student, try putting in some extra effort and see what results you can achieve. If you're a parent or guardian, consider making an extra effort to be involved in your child's edu- cation: ask your child how things are going at school; spend some time read- ing with your child; take your child on a special outing or encourage your child's teacher with a note. If you're a community member, tell a teacher you know that you appreciate the valuable work they do. Or why not visit your local school? You might even consider spending an hour or two as a volunteer. Just make sure you check in at the office so the principal knows why you're there! For my part, I will be a guest reader at one of our schools during Education Week. Our schools are just that - our schools. During Education Week 2005, let's make a special effort to highlight the great things that are happening in the schools in our communities! If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at 235-4445, or e- mail me at rwagler@fc.amdsb.ca. RANDY WAG LER EDUCATION MATTERS