HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-04-18, Page 2•
OPINION
Huron
pOgitor
SINCE 1880, §ERVING, THE COMMUNITY FIRST
Incorporating
10 Main Street
Published in
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO
Every Wednesday morning
Brussels Post
627-0240
4oceurtr A. SHAPER, 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
SEAFORTH,-ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1984
Second class mall registration Number 0896
Inq.uiry futile
The royal commission inquiry Into the mysterious deaths of babies at
Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital has been suspended while lawyers
Involved in the hearing try to find a way to work within guidelines set by a
recent Ontario Court of Appeal ruling.
The ruling said that the public would consider any conclusiofis drawn
by the commissioner as statements of fact, which would prejudice further
legal proceedings.
The inquiry is being held to determine the cause of death of several
babies at the hospital. Because of the ruling, Mr. Justice Samuel Grange
said he has heard some evidence that's considered crucial to the
Investigation and may now be considered irrelevant.
After hearing news accounts of the Inquiry, one gets the impression
that someone Is on trial. Fingers have been pointed to certain nurses and
a possible public reaction is, "Did she do it?"
When the suspicious baby deaths were first discovered four years ago,
nurse Susan Nelles was charged with murder. But the charges were
dismissed after a preliminary hearing. Since then, the case has been In
the courts and In the hands of the lawyers for four years.
Questions now being asked of the hospital staff require Indepth and
concise answers of events that happened four years ago. How anyone can
remember exact details, down to time periods of certain days Is simply
amazing.
From this standpoint It seems the inquiry Is a waste of taxpayers'
money. According to news reports, the cause of baby deaths has been
determined - overdoses of digoxin. Because of the ruling, Judge Grange
could be prevented from assigning responsibility to individuals in the
deaths In his final report. If so, continuing his inquiry seems futile.
"Slaves" appreciated
Raking lawns, clearing away debris and scrubbing windows are all part
et the ritual of spring cleaning. These Jobs, which can be enjoyable do a
sunny spring day, can become overwhelming to seniors who are
physically unable to complete them. And, i;i Seaforth, a large population
of senior citizens means there are a good number of people who. need
help with their yard work.
The Seniors' Slave Day put on by the Seaforth Junior Farmers Is a
great solution to the need for help with outside work. About a dozen
members of the Junior Farmers spent last Saturday cleaning up the yards
of approximately 15 seniors. The demand for help was so great that the
volunteers will continue to work next Saturday to complete all requests
for assistance.
As well as getting the Job done, the Junior Farmers spent some of their
time visiting and enjoying refreshments. By conoperating, both the
seniors and the volunteers made the day enjoyable.
Through the Seniors' Slave Day, the Seaforth Junior Farmers provide a
valuable community service and still manage to have some fun.
-S.H.
TO THE EDITOR
.1
Don't dump
Ever get the feeling somebody doesn't like
you? I have for the last three years. And it's
happened every spring.
Its not that I don't like spring - it's my
favorite time of year. I don't mind seeing all
the dead grass once the snow has gone and I
don't mind spending a -weekend clearing
dead branches off my lawn. Bet I detest
rotting carcasses of wild animals:
The firstspring at our new home, my
sense of spring fever came to an abrupt end
when I noticed a peculiar smell wafting over
our property. It always happens when
there's an east wind and the smell comes
from a nearby swamp 1 knew it wasn't the
fresh smell of daffodils.
Upon further investigation, 1 found a huge
pile of muskrats lying in the water filled
roadside ditch. And the only way i knew the
soggy mass was muskrat was by their long,
rat -like tail. They had no fur.
i complained to the Ministry of Natural
Resources and they promised to look into the
matter. At that point, 1 wasn't thinking
about Anne Murray's song, "Muskrat
Love".
But last year, the same thing. Another
grotesque pile of skinless rats. A neighbour
informed me that a backhoe was called in to
bury the animals.
Shake up post office
To the Editor:
On Apr. 7 at Winterhaven Florida, we
read the Huron Expositor, published April
4th.
An Etobicoke customer complained of
not receiving her paper for a week or more
after publication.
We received our paper on l e Saturday
Paper
every week but one, when it was there on
the Monday.
We thought that the Seaforth post office
staff did a terrific job. Maybe Goderich
post office or Toronto area could do with a
shaking ti{.
Keith and Ruth Thorbnrn
s late
Dear Sir:
We have not been receiving the sapper
until Monday, Tuesday of the folrowing
week, and often events that are happening
on the weekend are over before we know
about them.
We would appreciate receiving the
Expositor by Friday.
Thank you,
R. Murray
Scarborough
Upside-down logic
Last week, Ronald Reagan urged a
world-wide ban on chemical weapons. His
real aim is to squeeze the money out of a
reluctant Congress to get back into building
chemical weapons in the U.S.A. (which
Nixon stopped back in the early 70's).
Reagan's theory is that by building up
chemical weapons, we scare the Russians,
and they then agree to a ban on chemical
weapons production.
Mr. Reagan also proposes that we build
more nuclear weapons (over 8,000 cruise
missiles alone). again so that we can end up
with fewer missiles. This is what Senator
Edward Kennedy called "voodoo arms
control". The Russians of course will
respond by "countering" our buildup, and
to no one's surprise, the world will end up
with more nuclear weapons on both sides.
Mr. Trudeau d ately wants the arms
race stopped, and so he nt skittering -all
over the world with his peac itiative. In
order to demonstrate just how much he
longed for disarmament, Trudean put $50
million tax -dollars tato Litton Industries to
build the guise missile guidance system, he
agreed to test the cruise missile in Canada,
he opposes a "no -first -use" policy for
NATO, he opposes the idea of Canada
carcasses in
JUNIOR 4)1114 ER SLA VES—A doze
Seaforth Jurllor Farmers spent the'day last
Saturday cleaning the yards and windows o
about 15 seniors. Shown above are Sharo
Pethick, Dianne Oldfield; Nancy Schade,
Steve Steinmann, Bryan Vincent and Kevl
Dutot. (Hundertmark photo
my backyard ,
SENSE AND NONSENSE
by Ron Wassirik
ea • Since such drastic methods of disposing of
the carcasses-had.to be used; I was sure such
an' incident would not happen again, But I
, was wrong.
NOT FLEAS
Two weeks ago, I went for a walk with my
dog. My dog, an investigative mutt, has a
nose for anything that smells fishy. I saw
him smelling and then, rubbing his body on
a pile of what I thought was dirt. The
thought of getting a flea collar was not
pursued when I found the dog tearing into
something gross, it was a dead animal,
devoid of fur. In fact, there were three such.
creatures.
Upon further investigation, i found the
hairless animals were raccoons and the only
way 1 could tell was by a small band of fur on
the legs and by their paws.
i don't think of myself as the great white
hunter but at the same time, I don't
condemn people who hunt or trap. Some of
my best friends supplement their income by
trapping fur beaeing animals. •n
Its people who have no respect or regard
for the health and welfare -of others that
upset me. It's unfortunate that a few
trappers give the fur industry and hunters a
bad name. -
I discussed the "animals in the ditch"
problem with a respected trapper who also
became upset. But he said the Ontario
Trappers Association has advised trappers
to return animals carcasses to the bush from
whence they came. They would in fact be
food for the wild.
BIODEGRADABLE
It would satisfy me if such was the case. If
a trapper can walk for miles to get his game,
then the least he can do is walk those same
miles to get rid of his garbage. The dead
animal, minus his fur, is biodegradable and
won't be a pollution and health hazard if
disposed of correctly.But a pile of
.abandoned wild animal carcasses is a
disease time -bomb. It's also an ideal
breeding spot for flies.
1 spend enough time burying groundhogs
my dog proudly drops on my front dour step
after a successful hunt. But the fresh and not,
so fresh are two different situations. Arid it's
the not so fresh that makes me mad.
It's tune the trapping' associatlon and
Ministry of NaturalResourcesget tough
with those who don't follow guidelines. The
Canadian fur industry has had enough
problems especially with the emotional seal
hunt debate without being hassled from
individuals such as myself.
Trappers can do their thing, but don't get
people such as myself involved especially
when I don't want to be. I can live with live
raccoons - they don't bother me and vice
versa. But at the same time, I don't want to
live with the dead one dumped in "my back
yard". It ruins my enthusiasm for spring.
P.S. At last week's Optimist canoe race, 1
was taking pictures of the race at one of the
five bridges. To my horror I was almost
trapped. A rusting leg -hold muskrat trap
was set on the edge of the river bank - a
dangerous device, especially for the young
and curious kids watching the race.
1960's produced a materialistic generation
I sometimes think my parents' generation
most be having a good laugh at the way my
generation has turned out.
There's a line I liked in the movie The Big
Chill about a group of friends from the
idealistic day of the "revolution" who are
now together for the funeral of one of their
number who has comtnitted suicide. "1 hate
to think," the character says, looking back,
"that it was all a fashion". Sadly, 1 think it
was,
The thoughts came to mind when i picked
up a big city daily the other day and saw the
second or third column by a certain feminist
writer on the subject of her forthcoming
wedding. i knew that lady (or is that
acceptable these days) back when marriage
was the furthest thing from het mind. Back
in the late 60s she was one of those
determined students in my journalism class
you know were going to make something of
herself, She was bright, attractive and had a
touch of ruthlessness about her. While we
more timid people might get a weak news
story, she'd push until she got something
becoming a nuclear weapons free zone, and
three times he voted in the U.N. against a
mutual, balanced and verifiable nuclear
weapons "freeze".
All this upside-down logic is very
confusing to the public, and it seems we are
helpless to stop it. So here's a suggestion.
If we have to be schizophrenic, let's at
least reverse the contradictions between the
words and the deeds. Let's claim that we
want a world chock-full of chemical
weapons, but refuse to build them in order
to deter the Russians from not building
them.
Let's demand that every ounce of the
world's uranium be made into nuclear
weapons, but refuse to build any nukes
ourselves in order to make sure the
Russians don't leave any fissionable mater-
ials lying around uselessly in the ground, or
waste it frivolously by making electricity.
Let's insist vehemently that the arms race
go on and on forever, and to prove the depth
of our conviction, let's trot on down to the
U.N. and vote in favor of the freeze.
Sipcerely,
T. James Stark
President
Operation Dismantle (Inc.)
BEHIND THE SCENES
by Keith Roulston
that would win her a front-page by-line and
the approval of her tough, newspaper -hard-
ened instructors.
In the 15 years since then she's made
quite a career for herself while many of her
less aggressive classmates have made the
compromises that must come with choosing
marriage and motherhood along with career.
Now, like a few other feminists, she's
discovered marriage. While most people
slipped quietly into marriage (and some-
times out of marriage) in the last decade and
a half, this wedding has provided grist for a
columnist on the largest circulation daily in
the country. She bubbles on about choosing
the right dress and china pattern and Sets
paid more for each 'column than I make in a
week. ,
Next I expect we can wait for the columns
on the joys of motherhood. i never know
whether to laugh or cry when I meet one of
those couples who have put off children for
so long but have finally got around to it with
a vengeance. You know the ones. When you
used to visit them they'd stare in horror at
the antics of your kids and rush to protect
their 5200 figurines. And you knew that once
you left they were going to talk about all your
failings as parents.
Now they are the perfect parents. They've
read all the books, memorized all the stages
of -development. Their child will read by
three and be geniuses at the computer
console by five. By eight they'll no doubt
have solved the problem of hunger in the
third world.
These lately -married careerists (of both
sexes) and late -comity parents are like
drunks who found reit on: their conversion
is so complete and the r new faith so strong
they're insufferable.
I suppose the parents of these careerists
must be thankful they're finally getting
grandchildren but they must also wonder
what all the fuss is about. After all, they
managed to put these well-educated career -
oriented offspring into the world without
nearly as much difficulty. For them, having
children was just a natural part of life. You
didn't have to study up for 15 years before
you took the big plunge.
And so my generation, the generation that
was going to bring about the revolution has
come full -circle. Most of us, some later than
others, now have the house and two cars and
kids, just like the parents we rebelled
against. Except that the generation that
denounced materialism is now, with the two
income family, the most materialistic
generation in history,
College friendship is richest award
Heard something on the street the other
day that really tickled my funny -bone. Just
as i walked past these two little boys, about
eight years old, I heard one say: "If you
gotta die, why go to college?" So help me,
that's what he said. 1 don't know whether
they were talking about reincarnation or the
increase in university fees, but it shook me
y go to college, indeed? Especially if
ya gotta die. I went to college. And went and
went and went. i started right after high
school, and what with one thing and another,
I was a married man with a child by the time
i got a degree, nine years later. Nobody can
tell rime you have to go to college to get into
that predicament
The fust year I was there, I learned three
things. One was how to shoot a pretty fair
game of pea pool. The second was how to say
i love you' in Portuguese so I could
converse with a babe i met front Brazil. (i
. think it goes "En to amo"). The third was
that I wasn't going to pass my exams, so,
with a sudd n'burst o otism, I joined
the Air F • just before ex time.
Re • ,g after the war, I w0 a lot older,
sadde . and wiser. i was dete bled to get
down to business, and make ery minute
•. it was during this peri of intense
stu a that I learned some things at have
SUGAR AND SPICE
by Bill Smiley
stood me in good stead during the years
since. The fust was how to sleep daring a
lecture, with my eyes open. This has proved
invaluable at church, political meetings, and
the many after-dinner speeches inflicted on
a weekly editor.
This period also gave me my fust lesson in
• simple economics. 1 had quite a bankroll
when I was discharged. My pay had built up
while I was behind the barbed wire. Well,
sir, within a few months I had discovered
that you cannot live indefinitely on your
capital. Within a year I had learned that two
absolutely cannot live as cheaply as one,
unless one of them doesn't eat.
Despite the fact that all I picked up at
college was a family and a few bad habits, i
would strongly recommend it to any young
person. You 11 be amazed at how quickly the
learning seeps in to you. The very fust time
you're on holidays, you'll see how far you've
outdistanced the folks at home on the farm.
Why, your Dad probably won't even know
the names of the French romantic p ts.
And your mother, who has been trying to
give you the impression that she knows more
than you, wont even be able to discuss
intelligently the basic causes behind the
French revolution.
Your home -town girl friend will swoon
with delight as you puff your new pipe with
an air and tell her emphatically that
Schopenhauer's philosophy puts women in
their proper place — mere vessels for the
perpetuation of the race.
Trouble is nowadays, going to college is
becoming so expensive that about the only
way you can get there is to have rich parents,
and make such a hellion of yourself around
town that they'll be glad tQ ship you off for
four years.
if your parents aren't rich, next best thing
is to look over your elderly uncles and aunts.
Find one who's a little shaky on the pins or
has a bad heart. Take out a large insurance
policy on auntie, with yourself as the
eficiary. Some daywhen she's up on the
ladder, painting the ktchen ceiling, blow up
a paper bag and burst it. If this doesn't do
the trick, get her to So for a walk with you
along the edge of a cliff. If she's too nimble,
and doesn't go over when you trip her, you'll
have to figure something out for yourself.
Perhaps the richest reward of those
college years is the wonderful friendships
you'll make. One fellow I knew very well at
college is a big stage and television star now.
But do you think he's forgotten his old
friends? Not a bit of it.
When i was in Toronto last fall, 1 went
around to see him backstage one night. He
shook hands with me, pleased as punch.
You'd think a big, important chap like that
wouldn't have time to bother with a
small-town editor. Not him. And he's going
to pay me back that 525 he borrowed just as
soon as be gets that big Broadway role. He
even gave me his autograph, without me
having to ask. That's thsort of real, lasting
friendships you build fit college.
Maybe the kid who stied all this
reminiscence was really saying: ' `IQ ya wa nta
pie, I'd go to Mollie's."
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