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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-07-04, Page 24.7EIlluron is . SIN E 4880, SERVING THE COMMUNITY Incorporating Brussels Post 10 Main Street 527-0240 Published In SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning (Di BRA RIBBON WAR 19831. JOCELYN A. SHRIER, Publisher RON WASSINK, Editor KATIE O'LEARY, Advertising Representative Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union International Press Institute Subscription rates: Canada $18.75 a year (in advance) Outside Canada $55.00 a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFO TH, ONTARIO, WENESAY, JULY 4, 1984 Second 44I mail registration Number 0696 Fight hatred Freedom of speech is one of the valued privileges of life in a democracy. But, when that privilege is used to spread hatred against any person or group, It encroaches on the freedoms and rights of others. And, even more dangerous is when it is used to. teach hatred to students disguising discrimination and lies as the truth. Jim Keegstra, a former high school teacher in Eckville, Alberta, is charged with wilfully promoting hatred against an Identifiable group. He was fired In 1982 after 14 years of teaching when parents complained about his views on Jews and Roman Catholics. He allegedly told students the number of Jews who died in Second World War Nazi death camps was greatly exaggerated and there is an international Zionist plan to control the world. Testimony from students has shown essays praising Adolf Hitler for attempting to rid the world of Jews and notebooks stating that Jews paid for Abraham Lincoln's assassination, provoked both world wars and the Russian Revolution and plan to control the world by the year 2000. The fact that one man holds such hateful opinions of his fellow human beings is frightful. Even worse is the possibility that he used his position of teacher to imprint hatred on young Impressionable minds and seems to have developed supporters ironically named, the Christian Defence League. The group of supporters plans to raise money for Keegstra's trial expenses by selling hate literature which claims the Second World War Holocaust was fabricated. We hope there are few people who would want to buy such a book. The battle against hatred and discrimination is long and hard. It requires plenty of education and a concentration on the similarities rather than the differences between people. The alleged teachings of Jim Keegstra plant the same seeds which made the Holocaust a reality. - S.H. When's the encore? The hotlday weekend was Indeed a busy one as five municipalities in the area celebrated Centennial, Canada Day and Ontario's bicentennial. Seaforth had the best fireworks, Hensall had the best parade and the Village of Brussels, and Townships of Grey and Morris held the best play. All three attracted thousands of spectators. But the three events were only a few of the activities planned for the four day weekend. Though Seaforth celebrated Canada Day on Sunday, Hensall and the Brussels area had a jam-packed list of events planned. And most were so successful that crowds had to be turned away. The success was possible because the residents of each community pulled together, worked In harmony to put out the best. The weekend was truly fabulous and this Is due mainly to community participation. It's this type of participation that has worked in small towns in Ontario in the past and this weekend proved that working together is still the key to success. All are to be commended for the wide range of activities planned for guests, especially to the Village of Hensel! which did a bang-up job of marking Its 100th birthday. Though Canada Day happens every July 1st, a centennial and bicentennial only happen once in a lifetime. But all three are significant because such celebrations make us realize the importance of our heritage. We thank our pioneers for the work they did to make such celebrations possible. And It's through such special events as were held last weekend where we can show our appreciation. The weekend was truly fun -filled and as one man said, "I was sorry to see it end --I had one hell of a good time." Now's thIS trine to start planning an encore. Let's show Canada that community spirit is alive and well in the small towns of southwestern Ontario. - R.W. Manure on his boots COUNTRY CORNER by Larry Dillon The word "farmer" can conjure up visions of an oversized man, not too bright, who wears bib overalls, has manure on his huge boots and carries a pitchfork. We see that stereotype repeated everywhere. it's in- cluded in children's books -- it's a part of tete jokes and stories you hear (remember all the "farmer's daughter jokes"). This unfavorable image is frequently portrayed on television. both in the shows and on the commercials. One commercial shows the farmer as an overly healthy clod who races across sundrenched fields in search of his breakfast cereal. That image can hurt you. The banker you are dealing with, the consultant, the accountant, the salesman or other business- men cannot help but be influenced by their subconscious. prejudices. They are profes- sionals and they should know better, but they are also human and subject to the same faults es the test of es. The way they see you, can influence the decisions that they make in doing business with you. Today's farmer needs extensive training or experience to successfully manage opera- tions that require huge capital investments. He not only knows the mechanics of his operation, but he must be able to predict market trends, manage cash flow and be prepared to make immediate decisions on inadequate information. The farmer is a professional, but the public sees him as a semi -literate moron. it's time to do something about that image. We don't help ourselves by attacking others and it does no good to ask advertisers to cancel their commercials. We must attempt to communicate our position to the public -- we most advertise. We can start by asking the farm organizations and marketing groups we belong to, to include positive references to the farmer in their advertisements. We can also start looking like businessmen. We are living in a society where a man's worth is judged by his appearance. You are what you present yourself to be. Do not negotiate with other businesses in your work clothes. Conduct your business in a suit. Have your business papers carefully pre- pared and carry they in _a professional looking folder or attache case. Consider designing a logo or emblem for your farm. Have business cards and letter - heeds printed with your logo on it. It costs very little and it looks good. Use them. It demonstrates a pride in your profession and in particular your own farm. The people you are doing business with cannot help but be influenced. if you look like a professional and act like a professional, then you're a pro. 0 • Happy Birthday Canada! Long weekend means hard work importrs and photographers, at least at the Huron expositor, groan every time a long weekend a rives. The reason we shudder is a lotig wee end means work hard (but enjoyable) work and long hours. This weekend was no exception. Besides Wintario on Thursday night, Expositor staff attended the Seaforth Optimist Club Appre- ciation Night on Friday, the Clan-Broadfoot reunion on Saturday, and a host of events put on for Canada Day in Seaforth, the centennial in Hensall, and bicentennial celebrations in Brussels. Holiday weekends are as far from a holiday as snow in summer. 1 was just looking over the schedule we prepared at the Expositor to co-ordinate covering weekend events. Here's a partial listing. Susan'Hundertmark was in Hensall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and hi Brussels Saturday to record for posterity such events as a fish fry. grand opening, antique show, arm wrestling. trap shoot, horse shoe pitching tourney, pork barbecue. drumhead service, tug of war, and a play. David Hook was at the Optimist due and family reunion. I was in Brussels on Saturday, Sunday: in Hensall Monday and in Seaforth on Sunday. I covered such events as a fish derby, parade in Brussels, sports events, parade in Hensall. beard growing contest, talent show and fireworks. There was also a ball game in SENSE AND NONSENSE by Ron Wassink Brussels and on Monday took photographs of a work crew building an addition to a church in Brussels. I'm writing this column past deadline and as yet haven't even developed all the photographs of the weekend. But 1 got to thinking. If two hours was allowed for each event attended by Expositor staff, it means we spent at least 40 hours working this weekend. The best part was the work is enjoyable and we can say, "we were there". However-' 20 films were developed andbnly a fraction of the photographs printed in this issue of the Expositor. We're hoping for more next Week, And Sihce I'm writing past deadline, here's an interesting column by Bill Johnston of the Burford Advance. Hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as 1 did. It was super, especially the good weather. Has it ever occurred to you that man is one of the few creatures who does not openly and ceremoniously hold a mating Seaton? In the rest of the animal kingdom the pruning of feathers and weird noises in the woods, usually in the spring, orchestrate a literal rebirth of nature. Indeed, such things, are nature's true signs of spring. But not. man. You don't catch us making nests in the trees, bucking horns for the desirable female, or meowing all night on the porch. No doubt man's equivalents of these things do take place, but only behind closed doors. Sometimes we find we're even embarrass- ed when the rest of.nature does not conform to our prudishness ("What are those dogs doing. daddy?" "Never mind dear."). We spay our cats, neutre our dogs, and replace bulls with plastic tubes and syringes. Our "over -civilization" has resulted in some very awkward mak-female relation- ships. We're confused about the "signs." The handsome dude winks at the pretty girl. Is he pruning his feathers or does he just have a twitch, she thinks. Meanwhile at school dances the young male and female factions, ignorant of the rules of a game for which no rules exist, separate against opposite walls creating a hhasm large enough to march the third regiment through. in an effort to remedy this sad situation I would suggest our community set the pace by being the first to declare "Mating Season in Burford." For a period of about a week, preferrable in the early spring,, eligible men and women who have clearly taken some effort to "prune •their feathers" would be considered to be in the market for a mate. Loud whistle's and cajoles by either sex would be allowed. in fact encouraged. As the week progressed. public kissing would be a common sight, and joyfully accompanied by clapping and cheers of oriTookers. The possibilities are endless. Merchants could become involved by offering discounts to new couples and featuring sales on articles necessary to set up house. Of course, we could courjt on the full co-operation of real estate salesmen and the churches. Besides the obvious benefits to those looking for a mate. the general populace would benefit by not having to travel to the woods to witness nature at its finest. And the prospect of such a spring festival would sure do a lot to sustain us during those cold winter months. Big business gets a free ride With two men leading our major political parties who have come straight from the boardrooms of business to the backrooms of politics. one can expect that the pleas of business leaders to' get government off the backs of business". will get some action. Perhaps the pendulum swung a little to far. or at least a little too rapidly to the left in the last couple of decades. But before we whole-heartedly buy the arguments of big business and send the pendulum spinning sharply back to the right, let's look at the relationship of government and business. particularly big business. To listen to big business leaders and the new right campaigners in politics. one would think that this was all a one way street, with government taking from business and giving nothing back. But business in this country gets a free ride on the back of government in some areas that competitive businesses in other countries don't get. BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith Roulston Take a look at unemployment insurance for instance. In Canada. big businesses like the mining companies and the auto mangfaciur- ers use unemployment insurance as a handy way to pay workers whenever there's a slump in business. Sales down? Lay off the men and let the government pick up the tab. Sure the cost to business in paying it's share of unemployment insurance premiums can be heavy. But compare that cost to what large Japanese fists pick up by gauranteeing virtually work for life. Japanese companies believe in loyalty to their workers and carry them on the payroll through minor slumps. if work shortage looks permanent. the compan • its retrain their employees to do new jobs. In Canada. retraining is mostly left to the government. So is training in general. In many countries, apprenticeship programs in fac- tories train workers for the needs of the companies. Canadian companies expect the government to provide the workers and complain if the training isn't exactly what they would have given if they had been designing the courses. In some countries. factories provide daycare centres for the children of employ- ees. In Canada that burden is left to government . We have spent billions on constructing toll-free roads which help business as much as the individual. We have spent billions on airports which serve more business traffic than members of the public. We have spent billions on waterways. 'ke the St. Lawrence Seaway and on hat ors ich only serve business. • Now we are being Id by businessmen that it shouldn't be their responsibility to clean up acid rain and other pollution. If society wants clean air, they say. then society will have to pay for it. It's not up to business to cut its profits to properly get rid of its own waste products. We have spent billions in government money in recent years for sewage treatment plants which serve industry. We have spent billions on air scrubbers for smokestacks of big business. Yes there has been too much government for the good of small business. But when it comes to big business. the corporate leaders are hoodwinking us if they can sell us their argument. Garage sale groupies buy junk to sell Garage sales are quite the fad these days. Many people make them part of their lives. They troop around town watching for hand -made signs and check the ads in the classified section. Drive around any small town and you'll see a cluster of cars. in front of a house. "Must be a wedding or a funeral," you muse. Then you see a pile of junk with a hoard of human magpies darting around it. snatching up bits. beating each other to another heap of rubble, like seagulls diving and screeching for a slice of french -fried spud. It's no wedding. There are no vows exchanged. except that you takes what you gets, "for better or fqr worse." lt's no funeral, except for those who pay six bucks for something that cost three ten years ago. it's a garage sale. This phenomenon resembles a mini - auction -sale minus the auctioneer. The garage sale allows the proprietor (often abetted by some of his neighbors) to get rid of all the useless items ot'erfiowing the garage. the tool -shed, the basement and the attic. It sometimes brings in two or three hundred dollars to the vendors. and the garage sale groupies go home all excited because they have bodght a three-legged chair, a horse-drawn sleigh. an umbrella with only one spoke missing. or six paperback novels for a dollar. One of my contemporaries, an habituee of these bizarre events, was more than a b' thunderstruck when he found at one sale at he could buy text -books from our school. my stamped as such, dirt cheap. He remon- strated with the owners. pointing out that the books belonged to the school and had been • SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley stolen by their children, but i hey d have none of it. They wanted cash. So much for human nature. These were taxpayers who had helped boy the books their kids had stolen. and now wanted to sell them back to the system so that other kids could steal the books they were still paying taxes for. May 1 digress For a moment? Kids do steal books. Regularly. They don't considerate it "stealing' . It's just taking something from a big institution. That's not stealing. according to about 50 per cent of them. It's just like Dad not declaring something on his income tax or Mom ordering a dress from Eaton's, wearing it to a patty. then taking it back to the mail order office and returning it. claiming it was "too small" or had smudge marks in the armpits (after she'd discoed in it for four hours.) They wouldn't steal from a friend. They might steal from their parents but they have 510 compunction about "ripping off' a department store or the government. This is fact, not fancy, as I've learned in discussions about morals. Back to the garage sales. There is no suggestion of stealing here. Both parties, buyer and seller, are perfectly aware of what's going on. The seller is trying to get rid of something he doesn't need. The buyer is buying something he doesn't need. 11's a classtc example ai uur materialism - age. We want to get rid of some of the garbage we've bought. and the buyer wants to buy some more garbage. The epitome of a garage-sale•groupie would be a person who goes to four garage sales. buys a- lot of junk, then has a garage 'sale to dispose of it. preferably with a small mark-up. But they're fun. A friend of mine. who'll make a bid on anything. even though he doesn't know what it's for, has bought two old-fashioned horse-drawn sleighs. He has worked on them until they are serviceable. All he needs now is a couple of beasts to haul the things. He'll probably wind up with a camel and a Shetland pony (and will make a fortune hauling people around when we run out of gas.) Well. 1 wish I'd had a garage sale this spring. First, I'd have sold the garage, a venerable institution. None of this electronic eye, or press a button and the door opens. It has a vast door weighing about 800 pounds. You hoist the door and it slides on pulleys and cables, and at the right moment, on a good day, it stops rising just at the height to tear off your radio antenna. The balances. filled with sand, aren't quite enough from crashing down on you? hood, but I've fixed that. To one. I've added an axe -head, to the other, a quart of paint. Perfect balance. A real buy Behind the garage is a sort of toot shed. I say "sort or. because when I've sailed into the garage on a slippery mid -winter day. I've sometime gone an extra foot and crashed into the tool shed. w rich now leans about 38 degrees to the north, I'll throw in the tool shed with the garage. but not its contents. Migawd. the stuff in there would bug the eyes of either an antique dealer or a garage -groupie. 1 have garden tools in there that haven't been used since Sir John A, MacDonald's wife told him to get his nose out of that glass and go out and stir up the garden. i have at least four perfectly good tires for a 1947 Dodge. 1 have enough holy tarpaulin (or is it holey? I've never known) to build a theatre under the stars. There's a perfectly good set of golf clubs, a wee bit rusty. There's a three-legged garden tool that must have come over with Samuel de Champlain. There's a three -wheeled lawn- mower (mechanic's special). Six hundred feet of garden hose that a little adhesive would fix. And many more, too miscellaneous to mention. And that's only the tool shed. Inside the house, there are eijht tons of books, left by my children. The attic is going to carne right through to the kitchen, one of these days. How about a copy of Bhagavad- gita, 1.000 pages. at $1.00? Man.1 wish I'd got this idea off ti:e ground about two months ago? Anyone interested in an iron crib. sides go up and down. filled with $300 worth of broken toys. exotic paintings. some records and a bag of marbles? Who needs to retire. with all this wealth lying around?