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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-01-18, Page 2A iAY, 1983 le litulati ;Jw SInce 1860, .Serving eet 0. nm {nity first ,; Incorporating1'1Us ieI + foul' fduf '12 Main Published at SEAFORTH. ONTARIO every Wi}dnesday; , JOCELVN As SHRIEK, Publleher FON WASSINK, Editor KATIE O'LEA,RY, Advertising Representative Member 040,1,00:CommunityNewspeperAesop; c ' Ontario Cornruegy NlowspenerAssoclaflon and' A• �••flit Bureau of Ciroulatlon A mer) es of ltho Ontario Prese.;Gounoil .j.•? 4Subscriptlon rates Ganada $18.15 a year (In advance) Outsldkcaneda S55.00 a year Onadvarice) SING Coplea - 50 cents each r prolog SEAFORTH, ONTARt`D, .WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1994 Secgpd Blase mail rogistratien Number 0696 k .. Farlriers areagain tnaltfng t►e�Idlines-Thisirtreit`sthe� u.'•er' ;. and the news, is they're getting a three cent per Titre raise for their milk. For number one fluid milk it's estimated producers will not get '49 5 cents per litre. But at the retail level; prices are jumping six to 12 Cents per Titre of milk. The price increase isn't supposed to, but Could: also aifeCt other;dairy products such as ice cream, cheese, yogurt and.butter. Two weeks ago, egg producers were told they would get.one cent per dozen less for their. eggs. If the one cent' was compared to the three''Cpnt milk raise, this should rflean one dozen grade "A" large a gs'.in the grocery store should be three to nine cents per dozen .leafs.. Unfortunately, such is not the case. In fact, nobody was concerned with the egg price drop (Only ,the farmer) and consumers didn't question if prices would be lower at the retail level.it fact, egg prices could increase in stores. Mel Swart, the NDP agricultural 'critic called the milk increase. "preposterous" because it could result in a reduction of consumption end hurt lower-income consumers and the milk producers. In an open letter.to Dennis Timbrell, minister of agriculture, Mr. Swart said the province should. impose a freeze on milk price inOreases to allow only the three cents a litre which will be paid,tothe farmer.` He demanded that an inyestigating committee of the ministries' staff, Canadian` Federation of Agriculture and Canadian Association of Consumers examine the "growing spread between farm gate and consudlter milk prices and, particularly, this latest, most outrageous of all, markupby the dairies and supermarkets." For once, a government elected official Is speaking out, In favor 'of farmers and consumers. He's right. If farmers only get three centsi why should milk cost up to 12 cents 41 itre more? The three cent increase should be across the board. The dairies say they have been faced with increases in labor, transportation and equipment costs since the last Increase to the producers. - But fhe producer also faces thesame increased costs. So why should the difference be so great? ` 1 Since 1980, MrOW/ffteekt Tr.010faS;incr¢g Fhly'a sa 11t1r fhrmerhas only retelectlitcentrlea88cent rittrediff�nceleatifled? •-- -R.W. Fight racism The 85th birthday of the slain civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. was celebrated throughout the United States last weekend by Americans who remember King'sdream of equality and peace. His birthday will become a national holiday in the U.S. next year to qelebrate the achievements of the Baptist minister who won the Nobel Peace Prize and was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis,'Tenn. Though the civil rights movement took place In the U.S., people of all colors and nationalities benefitted from King's dream. Once conf ltJ1 to the back of the•bus, American blacks now have greater opportunity to achieve. And, most importantly, it's no longer acceptable to voice racist opinions or discriminate against others because of their race, creed or color. 3 But, the dream is still far from reality. The tendency to fear, ridicule and even hate people differentfrom ourselves still lives. The."harmiees" jokes about Newfoundlanders, )Coles or any other groups disguise hatred and ignorance behind laughter and keep prejudices alive. And, With those prejudittes comes the discriminatiorf which denies Job oppOrtunitlas, decent housing and respect to certain groups of human beings. One who lattghstit r ictBt Jokes participates in discrimination. Seeforih does not havea targe population of different racial grour- has not experienced civil rights marches down Main St. But. we ouo, benefit from Martin Luther Kinp's dream. When each of uB refuses to discriminate, we mid a tittle bit of hatred. And, who knows - we may evert become better people for it. - S.H- i Small business popular BY W. RUGER WORTH Government and public attitudes Toward smaller busmes*'s are slowly getting better. and a recent study of job creation by the 64,000 -member Canadian Federation of independent Business should speedup that process. The startling report that sent most cif the nation's economic decision makers back AO their sophisticated charts and graphsntatc in no uncertain terms that Snialt medium-sized enterprises- ate more ittnpost; ant to the nation's economy than anyone hall ever ndeernment decisions that may or may not be madeon the basisofthisandother studies may dramatically affect whether hundreds of thousands of Canadians are gainfully employed, or are forced to surtive without jobs - Among the Federation's findings, which - are derived from a study using computerized data from 7,749 firms that have bees members of the organization for niore than eight years: Firms with las than 49 employees created a significant 71 per cent of Canada's net new jobs between 1975 and 1980, and an astonishing 100 per cent of the net nein employment when the statistics are $vera over the 1975 to 1982 prtiad. While the nation's big high-profile emp"loyer"s created 200,000 new jobs between 1975 and 1980, they had laid off a similar neither Of petrele by 1982. Overall, the smaller firm's Main- tained employment daring the period. The country's really small fitMS are even better at creating jobs. Firms with fewer than five eeiployeer ®creased staff by a who/Ming 16 per ted between 1975 and 1982; those with between five and nine employees hired an additional 28 per cent moreduring the period; find employment by with from 10 to 19 workers was up19 per cent. • 'Tim pew 'lbs neater) by the sn,eter busine during the 1975-1982, period coveted a wide ranee of industries. Employ - Med aanongsn(ail, independent manufactur- ers, frit' ertenple. was up about 35 per cent; retailers increased employment by 22 per Cent; wltotemale and service companies ti the amber of workers they em , . • byan average 10 per cent to 11 per cent. Donflwget, ail this was happening doting a . _ when large employers were forced td ay off about 200.000 workers .° White statistics generally make dull reading, these are particularly significant because the Federation uses them to provide a glunpse of what the future holds. That forecast: the nation's sma"tlerfnms will be the only sector to create the jobs that are so badly heeded between now and 1990. Employment b big �tpanies and governments willMalaise &boat the sante. with small corn. BfiD,00ii may' providing more than 'AUT this can't happen, though, unless goveramentsstittto understand the incites, mg, elan atrial, sig ificanceofindependent busine=ss: Indict accordingly. But if attitudes change and new govern: support new d g smart. tTteet+tria eby trenttyy- be the resditlocka that create stf many for the entrepreneurswho are ahilt irearlyiSeettag: jol s, Cas ns mild be lootung entratoee„ A • 6l4 lot eiy''ofel antis febd iy there is-final)&'a winner in the richest tax free lottery in Nettle' Americas History. The prize was 514 million and 1 didn't win it. in fact, 1 didn't even win a meagre 520 or even a free ticket if such was available. Last week, myself and 11 other Expositor employees each put one dollar towards buying 12 tickets. It was the first lottery ticket I've purchased in at least two years, and it will be a long time before I buy another. It's hard to imagine why everyone was so, gung-ho to in on the lottery. Whether the prize is 5500,000 or 510 million. shoutdh't make much difference in ticket sales. -But it does. The large prize seems to Lure out the closet gamblers who want to try their luck. The smaller prize seems like chicken feed •- not worth trying for. However, chances of winning even 520 are one in 14 million. I'm sure I'm one of the 13,999.999 becauselotteiy prizes always evade me. FANTASY • Lotteries do provide an outlet fof °tie's fantasies. And fantasize is what most people were doing last week. Linea ps were loughs eager ticket buyers waited theft orifi es bunged up computers ssppeewed out firkets. And afterwards. Oren before the draw eras held, ticket holders were already thinking up ways of speeding the nutmeg. One persoti said they cot dd buy a new car every week end styli eat spend all the interest generated by the still being chewed up in his stomach: -oat a loner SLJ' • it • cru'but: -air' rat r'a a. t9,+x, 'ono 7 mm9' tKtre ieg,cti41)13111, the Amtte:) diikedaweaur gone ner by Ron VIult& principal. Others dreamed of vacations in the Carribean and building new rnulti•thousand dollar dream homes. But fantasies ran from the sublime to the ridiculous. ILLEGAL? Listening to a group of friends discussing buying tickets, I learned that ft was illegal for non-Cutadians to mike a purchase and with tckcti Mind, rettuntotheirhome atrossthe The discussion led from one thing to another, that with someone suggesting ways of stnaggling tickets across the corder. Here's how to do it. Utile computer isn't bogged down and a non-resident of Canada did get their lucky ticket. they could shove it In the side of their mouth and walk Lungs the border. But border inspectors would be on guard andwould inunediately ask the ticket holder, who by this time is grhutingg sheepishly, to ern wide, The first traded nc-f i3to swellowthe ticket. Alas. here's where the problem arises. A WIDMER Two days, late"t, Mt. 'lucky ticket holder leartmehiisticketwbnthe jackpot • 510 million, nnfotfiteateiy,.bsdoesn=tbelie the ticket. lt's • Using all the forces available -- lucky rabbits foot, four leaf clover. lucky charm. salt over the left shoulder, and a horse shoe. -- Mr. Lucky has a lucky streak. Sitting tit/lenity on his throne, he glances back and Holy Cow. there's his ticket. It's in rough shape. but he can still make out the numbers. And it's a winner. Just as he's reaching for it, his wife flushes the toilet. The hotrifled :lottery millionaire can't believe his eyes. There's his ticket. swirling around in the toilet bowl. going down. down. burp. He jumps forward to grabthe ticket and just about has it, when its gone. He quickly rushes to the vanity. grabs' the afro comb and jumps into the toilet. head first. Using the breast stroke. and wearing • his windshield wiper glasses, he spots 'his ticket. Realizingthestotywas getting out of hand. discussion on the tottery ended. One thing the lottery did do forts was make us laugh. Andforttmateiy, it's one thing we are doing than whist George Orwell predicted in his book, Ninetecp; Eighty -Pour. Consider thc'following passage from the book, as its main protagonist, Winston Smith. tries to buck the mindennebing system controlled by Thought Police and Big metre • "They ' were still arguing, with vivid, passionate faces. The Lottery, with its weekly payout of enormous prizes, was�the one pubic event: t0 which the proles (proletariat) paid serious attention. " "It was probab there were millions of proles for whom the ,•Lottery %Das the pnncipa) if not the only reason for remaining alive. 5 • "It was their delight. their folly. their anodyne (harmless soother), their intellects • ual stimulant. - • 'Where the Lottery was concerned. even people who Could barely read and write • seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering, feats of memory. 'There was ay,qsholetribe of men who made a living simply by selling systems.; forecasts and luckyatnUlets. • inston had nothing to do with running` the Lottery. which was managed by the • Ministry of Plenty. but he was aware - indeed evr:.yune in the Party Was aware that the prizes were largely imaggineryo "Only small stuns were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being non-existent. "In the absence of any real intercommuni- cations between one pail of Oceania and - another. this was not difficult to imagine." The American media limits our world vision For a Canadian, it is impossible to imagine what it must be life to live in a totally dominant culture like the United States where nothing matters but what matters to America. C.,anadiarts have always been irked by the fact that Americans know practically nothing about our country or the rest, of the world whale we know so much about their. country. We recently were given a ggrraa hie example' of the i-ooking ran way of life. When a minor American political figure. Rev. Jesse Jackson went tint mission to Syria to get the release Of one lone American prisoner of war, he was given prominent coverage on every newscast in the United States (and of course in Canada as well). Yet, witeti Pei -Me Minister 'Pierre Trudeau visited Washington aspirtofhis world-wide peace mission. a mission to try to save Mii lieus of Lives from the certain death of a nuelearwar. American media either ignored the visit`` or ridiculed: its American influence through theme media is' gland the ct by KVA Rftlzton so powerful that nothing matters unless Inc American media says it does and if the American media says it's important, ' it immediately becomes important around the world. • Other empires throughout history have had such influence but they've had to physically subjugate people to leave their mark. The Amerf ons have remoulded the world m their into simply through modern com unications. Par Can ions, living beside this Modern, trledia giant, more domiinated by American television, movies, radiated magazines than anyone eine in the world, we can Often haije warped percention of ourselves. We start tai think that something isn't itnpofiant because the -Americans •haven`t thought it was important. Thus the Trudeau January is Sewall is s train time. For une ming, es se deng sudden. you are, tottering along a day ata time, tag yen must get 'die snow tit6s and storms on one of these Saturdays, and throw none firewood into the, cellar, and get softie bootsand*PAM Inc gloves you lost %t March. Acidifier -- batt 1. your fOok Out One tag; and there sJanuary; in all ifsmglry;atb eastwi dthIngMflkOW,land accld Hail settles m tits vers„ liodes-of yont wind as sharp as a eritch's teeth snake ht around nficaulkeds.alaties and viiidlows. There's a ,lithoid from mission lost credibility at homebecause the Americans didn't pay attention and, on a less serious note. Canadian actors, singers, writers 'and painters are not considered eperta_nt until .they leave Canada and become rectgnized in the U.S. This American perception can go to extremes that are almost laughable. For instance, when Canadians stormed ashore at Dieppe hi 1942 they took a handful of American Rangers with them, the first Ameticans to see action in Europe since America's belated entry into the war. That was all that made headlines in the U.S. even though there were only 60 Americans. and 5000 Canadians. Look at the records of air aces of World War One in American books and you'll think there was only the great. German Von Ridttoofett anal American Eddie Ridtenback- -er whose puny 26 kills would notlist him among the topdozens of British, Canadian and French•fghters. The irony is that this media' domination even ignores huge portions of the „United States. Think now, .when you imagine the United States. what visions do you get? Chances are the images you have are either in California or New York. Americans living in Iowa, North and South Dakota, Alaska or any of the other plates well outside the main media centres, might wonder if they lived in the same cindery portrayed on television, in the Movies or written about in magazines. Through the power of Inc media we have, actually, it world dominated' not by die perceptions just of Americans. but of a selected group of Americans in New York, • Washington and -los Angeles. • Surely, even the Americans -cannot benefit from such a blinkered vision. 1icr:-beforeyouknowit Sugar a n d spOco by Sia11y under Inc basement debt. Ytitt investigate and find one of the'liasehoetat Mildews -has heenblownin ailedtttiisbed on, Inc woo°� You Bamber up over tare wood, knocking Pceces oflast kntick es, anti jam *Ste cardboard In; Inc ga cieep cautiouslyduttide, Ind' nearly bust yttritim,These'stceunder that filar wolfs,. Wafttatftc d Fad that your Mt dq ate all itilid;altut,. Beat then with your bare fists until the latter'are bleeding and year ear is foil of dents. Finally get theta open with a bucket of Waiter and a barrel°Of hotter language. Slither and " your way to Work, arriving in a fou and with bare hands f led into claws, bootless feet cold .as a wits 's other appendage Come out ti work to go home and find a Iwtf=ditch of froren rain and snow covering your car, and no sign of your scraper, and another deep dent where some idiot slid into, . your cat door on the parking lot. I could go on and oh, beets only rubbing salt in the wounds of the average,adian, Get home froth work and, find that the irrnace is on the blink, and Inc repairman is Sed up for the next two days. Surely there is some way around this suddenness of January. Is there not some fat seeing: politician Cif that is riot. a oontradi tion in'terms), who would introduce SEE JANUARY/ ON PAGE 3 , 1