The Times Advocate, 2006-03-22, Page 44
Exeter Times–Advocate
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
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Editorial Opinion
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EDITORIAL
Hoping for
positives
Here's hoping some positive developments
come out of the recently -formed South
Huron Citizens' Association. The group
attended South Huron council's Monday night
meeting, bringing up a number of important
issues.
Dialogue is a good thing, and seeing members of the
public get involved is a positive step, particularly in a
municipality where, with the exception of one or two
people, council meetings are usually held in front of an
empty gallery.
The formation of the South Huron Citizens'
Association suggests that somewhere out there, some
people are actually interested in what goes on in their
community. The new committee represents another
opportunity for members of the public to get involved
and come up with ideas on how to make South Huron
better. Of course, that opportunity already exists — all
regular council meetings are open to the public and
they only close their doors to discuss personnel, prop-
erty and legal issues. But if the new committee encour-
ages more people to get involved, that's a good thing.
People around town are bemoaning the state of
Exeter's downtown and the fact some high profile busi-
nesses have closed. Mayor Rob Morley admitted
Monday night there is a problem, although he added
there are also problems in other sectors of the econo-
my, such as agriculture.
Since spokesperson Dean Ducharme identified the
economy as the citizens' committee's primary concern,
the committee's first goal should be to brainstorm
ideas on how to help businesses in the area thrive.
What can be done to fill the empty storefronts down-
town and ensure the existing businesses don't leave?
What can the community do to help their local mer-
chants? What can merchants do to convince local resi-
dents to shop locally instead of heading to the big box
stores in London?
Pointing fmgers and making accusations will proba-
bly not be effective, but coming up with positive ideas
and suggestions will be productive. Both council and
the committee should keep an open mind and try to
work together.
With this increased public participation, it would be
nice to see some members of the South Huron Citizens'
Association throw their names in the ring for this
November's municipal election. Who knows, we might
even have an interesting election this time around.
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2006 Distributed by Canadian Artists Syndicate Inc.
Will television ever be the same?
After last week's shocking announcement that Isaac
Hayes is quitting as the voice of Chef on TV's "South
Park," I'm wondering if television will ever recover.
Reports suggest Hayes, a Scientologist, couldn't bear
to be part of a show that mocks his beloved religion.
The thing is, "South Park" mocks everything and
everyone, including all types of religion. The show is
an equal opportunity offender.
Hayes was immediately branded a hypocrite
for gleefully participating while his show made
fun of everything else, but suddenly becoming
offended when creators Trey Parker and Matt
Stone aimed their twisted humour at
Scientology. Conspiracy theories are mounting,
one suggesting fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise
is in on the move, threatening to refuse to help
promote his latest piece of crap, "Mission:
Impossible 3," unless a particularly offensive
"South Park" episode concerning Scientology
was pulled from the airwaves. "South Park"
and Cruise's new movie are owned by the same
parent company, Viacom.
All this led "World Ahead Publishing" to issue
a press release last week titled "Scientologists, Cruise
declare war on South Park." The release decried the
fact a "South Park" episode mocking Scientology has
been pulled from its U.S. network and blamed "George
Clooney and his Hollywood friends" for not protesting
the move.
I know little about Scientology, besides the fact
author L. Ron Hubbard invented it and it made him a
multi -millionaire. What I do know about it is that many
of Hollywood's most annoying personalities happen to
be Scientologists — Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley
and Lisa Marie Presley to name but a few. Cruise, in
particular over the past year, has been exhibiting
behaviour suggesting he may not actually be an
Earthling (Just an observation).
But the controversy continues. A report Monday sug-
gested Hayes hasn't actually quit "South Park," but is
recuperating from a stroke he suffered in
January. Will the mystery of Chef's demise
ever be solved, or, like JFK's assassination,
will it haunt the world for decades?
And how will "South Park" ever cope with
this loss? Will Chef simply be a forgotten
character whose absence will never be
explained, or will he be killed off spectacular-
ly (the more likely scenario)? Has the show
jumped the shark, careening towards an ugly
decline? Without Chef, who will the boys go
to for advice when they find themselves in
sticky situations?
"South Park," in the wake of Hayes's depar-
ture, has declared war on Scientology, which
promises to be a fun ride. Admittedly, I don't watch
the show anymore, although I was a big fan of it when
it started. I'd like to say the show's scatological
humour is too immature for me, but that wouldn't be
honest — Cartman, Stan and Kyle have simply been
replaced by the equally ridiculous Griffins of "Family
Guy" as my TV cartoon favourites.
Chef, are you really gone?
PAT B
BACK 40
VIEW
OLEN
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