HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-02-15, Page 44
Exeter Times—Advocate
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
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Editorial Opinion
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TIMES ADVOCATE
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Jim Beckett — Publisher
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Scott Nixon — Editor
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EDITORIAL
Let the music play
WM• e South Huron council made the
correct decision Monday night to seek
concerns from neighbours of the
Grand Bend Motorplex before allowing a music
festival to go ahead in July, the festival is a
great idea for the area and should be support-
ed, provided neighbours' concerns are met.
The World Electronic Music Festival is sched-
uled for July 21-23 at the Motorplex, but can't
go ahead unless the municipality grants a noise
bylaw extension — the 12:30 a.m. bylaw needs
to be extended to 2 a.m. on the Friday and 5
a.m. on the Saturday.
Sounds late, doesn't it? It is, but the event,
which has attracted an average of 5,000 people
over the 13 years it's been held (mostly in
Northern Ontario) would be a great economic
boon to the area — organizers say the event
adds about $1 million to the local economy
every year and they appeared sincere Monday
night that they are willing to address any con-
cerns neighbours of the Motorplex have. The
event will have private security, OPP officers
and medical personnel on hand to deal with
any problems.
As the event attracts electronic music lovers
from across Ontario and the United States,
Grand Bend in particular and, to a further
extent, South Huron, are going to host many
people who have never been here before.
They'll be eating in local restaurants, staying in
local hotels and shopping in local stores. Many
of them will likely return, not just for the music
festival in future years, but to enjoy the area
during other parts of the year.
Sure, the music may not be to everybody's
tastes, and members of council shouldn't be
expected to dance the night away to the techno
and trance music being spun until the wee
hours of the morning, but this proposal
deserves a serious look.
The ball is in the organizers' court — they
need to show Motorplex neighbours and coun-
cil why they should agree to let the music play.
2006 Distributed by Canadian Artists Syndicate Inc.
A world of opportunity
Accustomed as we are about hearing how we
are fouling the air, bulldozing the rainforest and
continuing to wipe animals off the planet it was
welcome news last week hearing that the scientif-
ic community is abuzz that dozens of new species
have been discovered in an untouched area of
two million acres of Indonesian jungle.
A team of scientists flew in by helicopter to the
Foja Mountains in Indonesia and found new
types of mammals, frogs, plants and butter-
flies and were thrilled by possibilities of
advances in scientific knowledge from dis-
covering species untouched by human
hands, cures for cancer from miracle
plants/origin of life on earth and all that.
But for some of us, (OK, me) there is a
more basic question than that. As in, how
long will it be before we can try a long -
beaked echidnas burger?
It may take a while for hunting in the Foja
Mountains to be much of a challenge, as
scientists said the echidnas, a primitive
egg -laying mammal, allowed themselves to
be picked up and carried back to camp. But in
time, and with the proper motivation, i.e. getting
whacked on the head a few times, these trusting
creatures can be made to have a healthy and well
founded distrust of humans, making them much
more fun for hunting.
Another species known as the honeyeater bird
also won't have much of a life expectancy after
we arrive, with its unfortunate colouring of a
blaze orange face patch, ideal for picking out
through a telescopic site.
Connoisseurs of frogs legs will be happy to know
they have 20 new varieties to try, including a tiny
microhylid less than an inch long which is perfect
for dipping, garnished with several new types of
palms also found in the jungle.
On the other hand, some hunters may be disap-
pointed to find out they have more work
to do, since the golden -mantled tree
kangaroo, which we thought we had
dealt with to the point of near extinc-
tion, has pulled a fast one and managed
to survive deep in the jungle.
With all the money we pay these scien-
tists, can't they do their homework and
be sure when we have actually managed
to wipe out a species and when we have
to keep going?
It calls into question the reliability of
scientific claims when a species has been
wiped out and which ones we haven't
even started on, a point brought home by
Chairul Saleh, a species officer for the global
environmental conservation group World Wild
Fund for Nature, who said "there are many
species that have not been identified in
Indonesia."
As Bruce Beehler, co -leader of the expedition
said, "We've only scratched the surface." He's got
that right.
PAT B
BACK 4
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