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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-06-06, Page 2Huron F xpositor.2 t SINCE 1860, A otuE RIBBON AWAR(' 1983 SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating Btrtts`e h Post 10 Main Street 527-0240 Published In SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning JOCELYN A. SHRIER, Publisher RON WASSINK, Editor KATIE O'LEARY, Advertising Representative Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc Ontario CornmpnIty 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, JUNE 6, 1984 • Second class mall registration Number 0896 Q cn Let's do it HURON COUNTY Dairy Princess Muriel Huth made -butter with kids at the Seaforth and District Pre -School Learning Centre last week. Shown at top right eating crackers and butter are Anna Mailloux, Betty Little, Andrea Longstaff, and David Henderson, Nicky Longstaff shakes the cream as David Henderson watches. Jasen Wood is In the right photo and Jane Crowley and Kara Murray make butter. (Wassink photos) The first Farmers Market of 1984 was held in Victoria Park last Saturday and as in other years, the market needs support. Sponsored by the Seaforth recreation department, the Farmers Market will see only -one change this year. Instead of being held once a month, it's being run, every Saturday in June on a trial basis. The idea is, once people know it's there every week, they may, make an effort to visit the market, and equally Importaht, takeadvantage'of a stroll in the park - a park which is part of Seaforth's heritage. Last Saturday, eight vendors set up their tables loaded with produce, crafts and baking. And it's cheap. A spot in the park for each vendor is only costing them the price of advertising --$12 for the month of June or $3 a week. Hordes of shoppers should be taking advantage of the fresh garden vegetables, fresh -from -the -oven baking, and hand -made crafts. But there aren't huge crowds and fortunately for the people who do stroll to the park from 8 to 12 noon, they're getting the best of the deal. The Farmers Market is trying to strike an equal balance. Organizers want more shoppers and more vendors --more shoppers will attract more vendors and more vendors will attract more shoppers. It's a Catch 22 situation. Victoria Park has many benefits, the most attractive being the large maple trees which offer cool shade in the hottest of temperatures. There's a small playground for the kids while Mom and Dad browse. And the coffee is free. Where else can you get a better deal? The market needs more participation. Garage sales are more than welcome --the more the merrier. Bring your Junk, baking, plants or Just anything you want to sell to Victoria Park. But give Bryan Peter, recreation director a call first. The Farmers Market Is well advertised, but out-of-towners don't know about It. Perhaps large signs with arrows pointing the way to "Farmers Market In Victoria Park" will attract the cottage traffic. Then again, so will more vendors. Let's support the Farmers,Market and Victoria Park. Let's do it on Saturday. - R.W. . .- - r Recognize women Butter better It's no news that farm women are hard workers. Ask almost any woman who lives on the farm and she'll tell you that she's been up since dawn doing chores, cleaning the house, looking after the children, doing the bookkeeping, cooking the .meals, talking to salesmen and driving the tractor. And, In many cases, today she'll also have a Job off of the farm to help supplement the farm income. A 72 -page study done by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food called "Women In Rural Life: The Changing Scene," documents the heavy work load done by Ontario's farm women. It also outlines the problems they have sOch as stress, discrimination, wife battering, isolation, lack of child Care facilities, difficulties In obtaining credit and a lack of education. Along with the problems are recommendations to the Ministry which could help solve them. - Until recent years, the work done by farm women has gone unnoticed. Usually seen solely as the farmer's wife and helper, farm women now want to be regarded as equal partners in both marriage and farm enterprise says author of the study, Molly McGhee. The 85 to 90 per cent of farm women who help In the operation of the total farm enterprise want to be recognized for their labor. The33 recommendations resulting from the stuffy will be discussed at a conference for farm women sponsored by OMAF on June 21 In Toronto. The study clearly documents the Invaluable contribution women make towards Ontario's agriculture industry. It's now up to OMAF to recognize that contribution and help to solve some of their problems. -(S.H. COUNTRY CORNER by Larry Dillon D-DaV is a time for all to remember Today, (Wednesday) is the 40th anniver- sary of D -day --a day when thousands of British, American and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to France. it was the beginning of the end of World War iI. To many of us, D-day, or for that matter Remeittbiianbe Day, doesn't mean 'anything Some say it's ancient history. For pea activists, it was dreadful. War is terrible. It should be outlawed. Who needs war? if it were up to me, some say, 1 wouldn't have fought. For myself, 1 think it's the best thing that ever happened. if it hadn't --if the rest of the world had stood by and watched as Hitler and his forces continued their trek through small, powerless countries, 1 might not he here today. it's for that reasoh, for the reason of freedom, that i (as ;he Dutch say) take off my hat to the men who liberated France, Belgium and Holland. I respect the lives lost in the war. And if it happened today, 1 would do the same as the young men did over 40 years ago. Some people think war is over -drama- tized, that it was a real adventure and is being glamorized. At the start, it probably did seem like ap adventure and looked AgricultxUre vital to Huron Many of tad s farmers are in trouble, Cash crop opo ators and livestock producers are experience' g an alarming bankruptcy rate. The frightening aspect of the bankrupt - des, is that they are only an indicator of the extent of the problems that the farm community is facing. For every single farm bankruptcy or business failure that we hear of, there are a large number of farm operators who have seen the problem coming and have simply quit the business. They will sell or phase out that portion of their operation and absorb the loss themselves. They quietly bear the hardship without all the bad publicity and without hurting the people who loaned them their operating capital. Are all these farmers incompetent busi- nessmen? We often hear that suggestion. when discussing the difficulties in these segments of the farming industry. The success or failure of a business is one way used to determine the competence of the manager. Perhaps they have made some bad business decisions. One of the poorest decisions that the livestock producers may have made, was to invest their time, money and expertise in your community. These people have each invested half a million dollars or more of their own or borrowed capital in their operations. Most are spending over $100,000 each year in operating expenses. That money, being handled by the farmers, is flowing into all the towns and villages in Huron County. What do they receive in return? For the last few years, they have had the opportunity to work hard for long hours. If that wasn't enough to make them angry. they 'have had to watch the money that they have invested in their operation gradually he eaten away by continuing operating losses. To add insult to injury. they have to face unfair competition. There is a federal stabilization program that helps to reduce operating losses for Canadian farmers. However it is particularly sweet for farmers in provinces other than Ontario. These provinces have ,their own program which gives additional subsidies to their farmers. They receive this money and the federal grants, Our farmers are having to tighten their belts and make drastic cuts in order to stay in business, while farmers in some other provinces are given additional money. The Ontario producers not only have to compete with these farms, they haee to be better operators just to survive. It may have been a mistake for them to locate their operations in Ontario. They could have moved out of the province and been eligible for the additional grants themselves. • You ask if it is necessary for you to become concerned? You bet your bacon it isl AGRICULTURE/PAGE THREE SENSE AND NONSENSE Ron Wassink gttitfiorons. Arid today We get that ini'ptes- sion because the men who were lucky enough to make it back, only talk of the good timeat They rarely talk of the bad times, the times they went without food and were almost too tired to fight. Or the time they saw their buddy crumple in a heap, dead at their feet, and the times they had to shoot tack. Old soldiers never talk of such things. To them it wasn't glamorous-- their adventure was shortlived. NEVER FORGET We always keep hearing the soldier stories brought back from the war. The frightening accounts of the European, civilians and their five years of war are told to only a few. The German invasion of Holland sent shock waves through that tiny country. At the time, my parents were about 10 and for them, like most Dutch people, it's a period of their lives they will never forget. I Like the Canadian soldiers, they only talk of the good times.of which there were few. There were food stamps and gas stamps and the food didn't go far for a family of 10, especially when one brother went under- ground. He didn't exist according to German authorities, so the rest of the family had to share their food. My mother has told many a "war" story. Like the time, bombs were flying overhead, from both sides, and she and her family were forced to seek shelter in damp, water filled ditches and foxholes. Unfortunately, she is terrified of frogs -•she still is. When her father ordered her to jump in the hole, she_ refused. "I would rather die than be In a hole. with frogs." She changed her mind after a bomb burst nearby. CHEESEHEAD Then there's my uncle who was born during the war. Near the end, he was a young lad of about four. When the Germans took over his family home, throwing furniture, clothing and food out the windows, he walked up to a soldier, kicked him in the shins and gave him a proper cgrsing, "You rotten cheesehead." The soldier laughed and today, the whole family laughs at the thought of what happened. After all, it's the Dutch who are known for their cheese. SAVED BARS When my parents saw the first contingent of Canadians, there was much to celebrate. The Canadians were well respected by the Dutch. The Canadians handed out chocolate bars to the kids. Mother received such a chocolate bar and vowed to save it for her older brother who was prisoner in Germany. The odd time, she'd take it out of the cupboard and lake the tiniest nibble from it, but she did save it. Her brother returned home, was so ravenous that when she gave him the Canadian bar, he ate it so fast she didn't think he tasted it. But she was broken hearted because he never thanked her. And to this day, he doesn't remember her giving him the bar. When my uncle began his journey from Germany hack home. he decided to take the D-DAY/ ON PAGE THREE Decimation of small helps the big Few are the bad things in life that don't have at least some results. They tell us for instance, that the bad times that have plagued our economy in recent years will mean that many of oLr businesses will be leaner and healthier, ready to take advan- tage of new opportunities of the recovery. Unfortunately, the lean new look for companies will mostly be for the giant companies. Governments helped Chtysler eorpo?ation weather the storm and today it is healthie than ever. making record sales. Companie like Chrysler and Massey -Fergu- son were t big to let die, The timely aid of governmen saved the companies and thousands of jobs and allowed the companies time to reorganize for the future. Not so for many small companies. They got words of sympathy from governments and that's about all. Small companies who were on major expansion programs found their markets shrinking at the very time the cost of financing their growth ballooned through high interest rates. From small BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith Roulston factories to main street merchants and back -concession farmers, thousands saw years of hard work go down the drain. But this very decimation of the smaller businesses has actually helped the bigger ones. It lessened competition for markets and by putting more unemployed skilled people on the streets, increased competition for jobs and lessened upward pressure on salaries. Yet the very companies that died. the people who were taking the biggest risks and got caught by Fonditions (although they might have been very successful under other circumstances/ are exactly the kinds of people we need in business if we are to rebuild the economy. We need people with innovative Ideas. pruple ;rum lilt uuuum always pushing their way to the top to keep the big companies on their toes. Government. however, seems to he in a time of retrenchment. The main attention seems to be focussed in saving companies we now have, not in creating more. Yet it seems if we are to expand our economy. we need to concentrate on two areas: research and development 10 create new products, and encouraging more entrepreneurial spirit. Most of the time the government seems to be doing just the opposite. Lottery pr?+ - grams. for instance, have encouraged people to think they have a better chance getting rich from buying a one dollar or a five dollar lottery, ticket than by making the money work. Someone pointed out that if families who spent $25 a week in buying lottery tickets invested that money, they'd likely he millionaires far more quickly. But under government taxation. if they won the million in the lottery. it's tax free. If they worked hard for it. it's taxed. The lottery program has done many good things such as giving us new arenas. hall parks, art galleries and theatres. But why not. for say the next two years. put the lottery program to work encouraging eco- nomic growth. Give lottery revenues for that period to research and development projects or award entrepreneurs with good ideas with forgiveable loans to help them get their ideas off the ground. if we're serious about turning the economy around and competing in world markets we need a lot more than reassuring words from new party leaders about more concessions to big business. we need a whole new approach to encouraging new: ideas. Spring is like heaven for Ontario In the mind's eye of the poet, the painter, the composer, Spring is hot stuff. It is Oh to be in England p now that April's there (Browning). it is a bunch of gals in long nighties scattering petals as they dance in the gladsome glade (Boticelli). 1t is lambs gambolling to the notes of the shepherd's pipes (Beethoven). Now, that may be all very true in Europe, where those birds operated, and where Spring is indeed a bewitching seductress that makes the senses reel. But i am not, to my regret a poet, the only painting to which I can point with pride is my storm windows, I can barely make a tune discernible on the kazoo, and most important of all, i am a Canadian. So I'm afraid I'll have to go along with' Samuel Butler, who had a more prosaic view of Spring. Of course, Sam, though he was an Englishman, had visited Canada, as witness those immortal lines "Oh Godl Oh Mont- real!" He stated flatly that Spring is "an over -praised season ,.. more remarkable, as a general rule, for biting east winds than genial breezes." Sprit)tg, for the average resident of Ontario. SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley is like heaven, something to be looked forward to with a certain hearty optimism, mingled with a slight doubt about its eventual appearance. t Only about once in ten years does Spring actually materialize in this country. Then the natives go completely hay -wire. Forgetting the other nine cold, dreary springs, they whip off their long underwear, go for long walks in the woods, and fall deeply in love, though not necess ril , in, at order. Of course, they catch s re he dcolds, get blisters and lost. and mapeo le they normally wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with. It's also a time of promise. Every Spring I promise myself 1'11 put in a garden this year, and a few weeks later promise myself again I'll get at the garden right after opening day 01 Lhe u'uul seasvu, a u ,ester SUu mat I II gel the screens on. This goes on right through until fall, and even then I'm promising to get the storm windows on. My mother told me i was a promising boy one time, and it went to my head. i've been promising ever since. There's no denying, though, that spring is a time of resurgence of life. There's nothing so heartwarming as the sight of the annual spring crop of babies, out on display in the pram parade on the first sunny day. Their slim young mothers, who were girls just last fall, have a new beauty and dignity as they sail along three abreast, pushing honest taxpayers into the gutter. For our senior citizens, spring is the most wonderful gift of a11. They have been dicing with death all winter, and as the sun warms 5 - their old bones, they know they have won another toss. and a welcome respite. before they have to pick up said bones and—shake, rattle and roll them again. For the kids, there are drains to make. Boats to float, puddles to wade through. and lovely mud that squishes undertoot. Threats, orders and imprecations from their harassed mothers, trying to cope with the annual flood of muddy footprints and wet shirt-tails. have no more effect than rain on a duck. For the farmer, spring means another nine months of breaking his back for peanuts. For the sailor, it means leavins the wild scramble of family life for the comparative calm of life on the deep. For the housewife, it is a time to attack the house like the Assyrian coming down on the fold. For young lovers, it is a time to act even sillier than usual. Whatever it means to us. and even if it doesn't arrive until the 30th of June. to he immediately transplanted by a hot summer, it's the only thing that makes it worth while to battle our way through the winter. The year spring fails to arrive at all, 1 want somebody to take me out quietly behind the barn and shoot me. P, a