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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-05-02, Page 2— THE HURON EXPOSITOR, MAY 2, 1984 as Hu'on ®, 4x SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating 10 Main Street Published In SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning Brussels Pint 527-0240 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 $55.80 a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH,,ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1984 Second class mall registration Number 0696 cn r'° ee Difficult task ahead Just when it looked as if Seaforth, McKillop and Tuckersmith were going to get a new landfill site north of Seaforth, further soil studies Show the site may not warrant further investigation. Representatives of the three municipalities on the landfill committee and engineers will start searching for another site, and it's not an enviable task. Opening a new landfill site tends to bean emotional issue. Most people don't want a garbage dump In their back yard. We still need dumps -- We need a place to get rid of our garbage. In recent years, landfill sites have proven they are a solution for handling garbage. They're a great improvement over the mini -dumps that littered the countryside in back road ditches; .individual dumps in swamps and bushes; and 45 gallon incinerators In backyards. But a factor that can make or break a possible lanafill site is communication. The public should be made aware of what's going on, especially when they knew the search is on for another landfill site. Good and bad points and facts about a new landfill site should be discussed, at least with nearby neighbors of a site which is being investigated. Public input can assist engineers and committees in their decision making process. end that's just what Gerry Vanden Henget would like to see happen when the landfill committee look at new locations for a landfill site. "They should get the neighbors Involved. They might as well be up -front and not get peoples backs up. If neighbors see somebody testing soll, . they're going to know It's for a landfill site," he said. Everyone wants a safe, healthy environment and local politicians agree. "If there's something wrong with a site, I don't want it," says Alf Ross; Seaforth mayor. The landfill committee have a difficult task ahead of them. Landfill sites area fact of life, But by keeping the public Informed and discussing with landowners the possibility there could be a landfill site "in my backyard" the greater the chance for success. By creating an optimistic, positive attitude, the Job of finding a site will be that much easier. PETER 0 JO a SON ARM' fs10.12 Pen pals for peace No matter what country they live In, people are basically the same. Whether they live 'In Communist Russia or Capitalist North America, average citizens are concerned with the same things - food, clothing, shelter, a job and the future of their children. And, because people are less likely to harm those whom they understand and empathize with, an American non-profit organization called Letters for Peace alms to make the United States a nation of penpals with the Soviet Union. By transforming "the enemy'' Into a nation of human beings with families and Similar hopes and dreams, organizer John Dunphy hopes to relieve the tension between the superpowers. As he says, "If a million Americans and Soviets become friends, the world will be a million times safer." Starting with a telephone directory for the Soviet city of Kiev, Mr. Dunphy plans to get directories for at least 14 other Soviet cities and write letters until he gets some response. He says the state department believes the letters will be delivered and the Soviets will welcome a chance to practice their English. Mr. Dunphy's plan is an optimistic one which will take time to be successful. And, because he is contacting ordinary citizens rather than the political leaders of Russia, the immediate impact of his plan will be minimal. By extending the hand of friendship to the Soviet Union, he is helping to change the fear and ignorance between the superpowers into understanding. He is also proving that ordinary people can act to influence world affairs instead of waiting helplessly for the powers that be to push the button that could start a nuclear war. - S.H. TO THE EDITOR We have superstitions about nutrition Fallacies and superstitions are as common today as they were in the time of our forefathers. But today, we usually laugh and poke fun at anyone who comes up with one of their brainwave "facts". Remember when a mustard plaster, plastered on the chest of feverish relative or friend, was the cure-all of most any illness. And a bowl of hot chicken broth was (maybe it is) the number one cure for a cold, In my case, it takes two weeks to shake off a dastardly cold, whether 1 take aspirin, cold tablets or good of chicken soup. Speaking of soup, there's many an old wives tale on nutrition. Old wives tales are little "rules" that have been handed down through the generations. They're tales that even today, mothers (fathers) are telling their kids about. Such tales have been around for centuries, and we've all heard them since we were kids. But are they really true? it's surprising the number that are at least partially true. 'Here's a few, courtesy of the Hallburton, Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit. Tale: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.,, Truth: Not really. Eating an apple every day will not guarantee perfect health. Apples are not extremely high in any of the essential nutrients. But they are low in calories and make a good snack or dessert. Tale: "Eating spinach will make you strong." Truths Spinach, Popeye's favorite wonder - food is very nutritious, providing lots of folic SENSE AND NONSENSE by Ron Wassink acid, Vitamin A and fibre. However, it is relatively low in calories and so will not provide much energy, nor give you Po eye- like muscles. (Of course, we needn't tell the kids this when we serve spinach to up -turned hoses.) While there is a lot of calcium and iron in it, too, absorption of these nutrients is reduced by the phytates and oxalates present. Tale: "Brown eggs are more nutritious than white eggs." Truths The color of the shell of an egg has no bearing on the nutritional value of the egg itself. White eggs have the same nutrients as brown eggs; they just come from different kinds of hens. While we're on the topic of eggs, fertilized eggs are no better than non -fertilized eggs. Also, the pastel -colored eggs, recently touted as having no cholester- ol, have just as much cholesterol as regular eggs. -They are laid by Araucana Chickens from Chile, and come in pale green, blue and pink. 'rale! "Gelatin makes your nails hard." Truth: Eating or drinking gelatin will not make your nails hard, it was thought that because nails are protein, a drink of protein would improve cracked or soft nails. This is not true. Even if it were true that dietary protein improved nails, gelatin would not do the job because it is an inferior type of protein, lacking the amino acid, tryptophan. Tale: "Garlic can cure and .prevent intestinal disorders, infections, and many other maladies." Truth: There is perhaps a grain of truth to this one. Recent studies by Dr. D. Kritchev- sky in Philadelphia are suggesting that garlic can help "lower blood cholesterol, slow the development of atherosclerotic plaque and inhibit blood coagulation" and thus help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. The big problem is, you need about half a head of garlic cloves per day. which is impractical and unsociable. Eating that much garlic may also help reduce incidence of infectious disease — no one could get near enough to infect you! (Note: garlic capsules don t have enough garlic in them to have any effect.) Of course, the more accepted (and acceptable?) way to reduce dietary risk factors for heart disease is to reduce total fats, sugar and salt. Talo: "Honey is more nutritious than white sugar." Truth: Honey does provide a few B Vitamins and trace minerals in very small amounts whereas white sugar has none. But to say that honey i s nutritious is misleading. You would have to eat 2Yi cups of honey to get as much riboflavin as a cup of milk or 19 cups of honey to get as much`calcium as a cup of milk. The only nutrient honey has in significant amounts is simple carbohydrate, also known as sugar. Teale: "Eat carrots for good vision." Truth: There is a lot of truth. in this tale. Carrots are an excellent source of Vitamin A, the vitamin involved in night vision. Actually, carrots are rich in a substance called carotene that will be converted to Vitamin A. By ensuring your diet has sufficient, Vitamin A, your eyes will quickly adjust to the dark after being in bright lights. E.g. you will be able to see in a dimly lit theatre after being in the brightly lit lobby. Of course, carrots aren't the only source of Vitamin A. Liver, spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables, apricots and water- melon are also good sources. (Liver is exceptionally Wigh.) To believe many of the old wives tales may not be harmful, but some may get in the way of wise decisions about your personal health. If you are unsure about an old wives tales or any nutrition claim you hear or see in the media, check with your public health unit for accurate, reliable nutrition information. Depopulation of farmland threatens towns Recent census - have shown that small towns in Canada are actually increasing in population but with recent developments in this area one has to wonder if our small towns and villages will continue to be around in the future. Added to the lack of government interest in keeping small towns healthy and the suicidal desire of small town consumers to rush off to the cities with their shopping dollars has come a new threat: massive, organized depopulation of farmland. Recently an auction was held in the Tiverton area. Farm auctions are nothing new of course. Farmers have been leaving the land, usually against their own desire, since World War 11. What made this one different was that eight farms were involved and it wasn't the farms themselves that were for sale but the buildings: each building to be torn down and hauled away. The land has been bought up by a large BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith Roulston corporation along with thousands of acres in Huron and Bruce counties in recent years. This sale made news, however, because unlike many of the farms previously bought by the corporation, these were cleared of all buildings. As long as there were buildings on the farms there was the possibility it might someday return to family ownership or at least someone might rent the house and local population • wouldn't die completely. But under our taxation system, a farm without buildings is virtually tax free. All the local tax goes on the buildings. Naturally, being profit oriented, the Youthful vigour is alive Dear Editor: Some say that the future of a community is vested in the well-being of its young people. Surely, therefore, the 21st century in Seaforth will herald good things for our community. A quick glance at last week's Huron Expositor (in'fact, the weekly editions from the past few months?) will confirm that the youthful vigour of Seaforth and district is not only alive, but thriving and well Just catch' those names and the youthful endeavours in last week's pages: Andrea Moore, Danielle Thompson, Ann Marie Beuerman, Dianne Campbell. Katrina Swirklis, Renee Thompson, Beth Palin, Tim Brown, Jodie Hugill, Sandra Mclnally, Angie Roth. Tracy Fortune, Ned Bosweli's 7 grandchildren and 9great-grandchildren, Lucille Delaney, Gaby White, Tracy Nichol- son, Andrew Wilson, Dwayne Pryce, Grant Ross, Sean Lane, the Minor Hockey gang, Steven Michael O'Rourke, Michael and Patrick Cronin, Cindy and Colleen McCal- lum, Jayne Delaney, Sarah Powell, Andrea Ribey, Melissa Whitmore, Brian William- son, David Scarrow, Rodney Smith, Susanne Pursley, Sherry Miller, Sherry Shannon, Brad Schroeder, Jonathan Wheatley, Mark McDonald, Greg Preszca- tor, Lisa Henderson, Erika DeWolfe, Sherri -Lynn Coleman, Tera Lyons, Liz Stewart, Bob Axtniana, Lynne Dodds, Barb Caldwell, Tamrny Janmaat, Keegan Tel - chert, Julie Smith, Adam Quipp, Tara Chuff, Cathy Haw, Chris Ketchabaw, David Hayter, Michelle Turner. Trish Rimmer, Shannon, Timmy, Bryan, Brent, Lindsay, April, Jeanne, Krissy (the kids at the Pre -School Learning Centre), David Somer. ville•Ross, Christopher Lammerant, Taylor Swinkels, Tina Dowell, Lori McLachlan. Shannon Embling, Heather Maxwell, Brenda Knight, Vicki McCall, Joanne King, Mary Ten Pas, Ruth Watts, Karen Cardiff, Kendra Shortreed, Donna White, Mark Smale and so on and so on...And that's just a partial list from those named in Section One I And you know that's fully 5% of the whole population of Seaforth — and if you address the youthful gang accompanying Dennis Beuerman in Section Two, that's quite a hefty gang of our exuberant youth highlighted in. one way or another in the pages of just one week's Huron Expositor. Wow? From here, the future sure looks good! Wistfully, A Fly on the Wall Got a beef? Write a letter today! corporation decided it was in its best interests to get rid of the buildings. In a move reminiscent of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, the buildings had to come down for big cash -crop operations. The startling thing is that nobody, outside of a few farm survival group members, seems to care. The provincial government says there's no problem. The other farmers shake their heads sadly but say a man has to sell his land to the highest offer, even if he doesn't approve of what will be done with his farm. And people in the towns seem to think it doesn't concern them at all, But it does concern all of us, whether urban or rural. A hundred years ago our towns were booming places full of industries filling local needs and exporting manufactured goods. Today few towns have a significant amount of industry. Mostly our employment depends on people services. We have merchants who depend on local farmers to increase their business. We have farm suppliers selling feed or machin- ery. We have government offices set up to fill the needs of people in the local areas. We have schools giving work to teachers, administration staff and cleaners so our children can be educated. But take away the people and we don't have any farmers to buy groceries or children to be educated. Our whole way of life depends heavily on having people living on those farms. Clear the land of houses and have a few huge corporations cash -cropping the land and we soon won't have healthy towns and villages either. it's time somebody cared. People are no happier in Florida Well, i've been to Florida, after years of denigrating those cowards who flee the true north, strong and freezing, to loll around on beaches, amidst palm trees, acquiring tans which are supposed to make us hewers of snowbanks and drawers of rusty fenders feel like an inferior breed, beyond the pale, across the tracks. You can have it. They may be more comfortable, out of doors in March, than we are, but they're no happier. They all talk about their weather, which isn't that great, when you add up the cost of getting there. their oars, their houses, their rotten kids, and all their old friends who died last year. Just like us. 1 lolled around on exactly two beaches. in both cases, the water was too cold to swim, in, except for little kids and crazy old ladies. You had to be smeared from head to tee in goop or the sun, if it happened to be out, would burn you to a potato chip. If 1 never saw another palm tree, i would riot weep. They are ugly, misshapen things, on the whole, with nothing of the elegance of a maple or an oak. There is one type that is rather impressive, soaring up like something in the South Pacific, but most are grubby little things that have to be clipped or trimmed, and the fronds hauled away. Just like home, except that I'd rather deal with autumn leaves than palm tree clippings. And you don't clip them. You need a SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley chainsaw, unless you're Tarzan. Show me a palm frond and i'll show you a pile of dry leaves, burning scarletly on a crisp October evening. As far as a tan goes, 1 got a dandy. My nose and my knees and the tops of my feet peeled. Otherwise, i came home as white as the belly of a fish, with a few freckles across the shoulders. Back to the people • The Canadians who go to Florida, that is. They're rather a sad lot. And they're everywhere. They think they are having a hell of a time. They delight in telling you that it is 68°F and it's- -4°F back in Canada. That's after you've slipped on a sweater and put on some long pants, while they sit around, growing goose -pimples because they insist on wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. They unbashedly brag about their accom- modation, They seem'to eat out every night. They run around in traffic that i wouldn't even attempt, driving forty miles to a "great restaurant' which serves fair food at arm -and -leg prices. Pity them. My little brother, The Colonel, put me up. or put up with me, for ten days out of the fourteen 1 wasted. Before 1 arrived, he'd had my daughter Kim and the boys, Nikov and Ben, for two days. Before that. he'd had my sister for about two weeks. He is extremely generous and hospitable, but by the time 1 got there, he was a little on edge, and i don't blame him. in his place, I'd have just moved out, into a motel. and said, "Help yourselves." But he pressed on, cooking special meals, taking people out to dinner, at great expense, and trying to convince me that 1 was hopelessly incompetent. We'd both lost our mate in the past seven months. He also had a dog, Cyndy, a big golden retriever, and a step -son, a big, golden boy with a cheerful charm and the awkwardness and laziness of all teenagers who like sleeping in, eating like alligators, and forgetting everything serious they are supposed to do. In addition, he had a house, which seemed to be surrounded by jungle, and sixty-four glass doors which he kept so highly polished that 1 frequently ran straight into one, thinking it was open. 1 have a large bump on my forehead to prove it. The glass doors were constantly being locked and unlocked, an unnerving experience for a guy who scarcely ever locks anything. He has to tackle that jungle. take the dog everywhere with him, and worry about his step -son's marks, attitude, motivation, and whether he'll get home tonight from the barbecue or whatever. My poor little brudder. Well, 1 finally took a little pressure off him by accepting an invitation from a couple of old friends who lived not too far away. My brother said. "He's all yours. 1 can't do anything more." This was after he'd arranged flights. a rental car and a motel where there were no rental motels, near Disney World. Two days at Disney World nearly finished me: Ben, the whirling Dervish, and Nikov, who wanted to ride anything that would scare the wits out of a human being. And Kim, who seemed inexhaustible, and wanted to get their money's worth. Spent the final two days with the old friends, went to a cocktail party, wad fed on such as fresh melon and strawberries, and lines up a door-to-door limousine service from there to home. Some incompetent) Maybe 1 will go back. Sometime.