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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-07-18, Page 2Huron Expositor SINCE 1880. NNIVINO TNI COMM1jNITY PIMP incorporating ni• StudMI6 Post Publillblond in Sooforth, Ontario Every Wednosr.y Morning !O $YS'i1t$. Osman Mawa�e► HSATNIS 1roSSNf►. I hew MOWS STAN: Paris Men Stolen Oxford AOVSRTISINO: Terri-lyww 0.1. CLASSIf1IO$. SNIsCRIITION$ ACCOVNTINO: M Anuses pianos Allioor.tk Lines hallow M.mb.t Cwwdton Community NSwspope. A1141024. Onlorto Conwnuntty Newspaper Assoctotton Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Pt... Union Intetrwitonol Press Institute Subscription Rots Cando '22 00 o year m advance Soma Ctttsens '11.00 o year in advance Outstd. Condo 165 00 o yew in odvonce Single Copts 60 cents eoch Second rhos mod req strvtwn Number 069e WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1990 IdItori& end hotness Offices - 10 Mein Str .t. Seatlorth T.lophon. (111) 127-0240 P.: 127-0242 M.11Ing A4*. - P.O. So= 4 . Saalarth. Ontario. 14011 1 W0 A point well made A point was well made this week with regards to some uncalled- for name calling. This past Monday, a provincial court judge ruled that Ottawa joumalist Doug Small, and two others, be found not guilty of leaking Federal budget information last April. In fact, the judge ruled that the journalist and his so-called 'accomplices', John Appleby - the national defence clerk who gave Small a budget summary pamphlet - and recycling plant employee Normand Berlisle, who found the document in the waste basket from a govemment printing plant. The long and short of the issue is that the three men, primarily Small, were charged with stealing property. It was ruled that information is not property, and the only dollar amount that the journalist could be charged with 'stealing' was the worth of the pamphlets, cents if that. But the main point is well taken. Information is not property, private or otherwise. It is information, free to all. This is what differentiates Canada from Eastem Bloc countries, at least historically. And it is well to keep the Small ruling in mind when reading any newspaper, or listening to a newscast, or watching a broadcast. Without the disseminators of information, Canada would be a grey place indeed. There are those who would argue that there is too much 'colour in the news at times, but better some than none at all. [LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Genealogical Society grateful for coverage and support Dear Editor: A special thank you to Susan Oxford for an excellent article on the Huron County Genealogical Society in the July 11 issue of the paper. As well as donating cemetery transcriptions to the groups named in the article copies are also placed in Clinton, Exeter, Goderich and Wingham and Seaforth Libraries as they are completed and made available. It is not necessary to be a mem- ber to attend monthly meetings. Notice of these meetings are placed in the Community Calendar section of the Expositor and information can be had by calling me at 522-1608. Margaret E. MacLean Thanks from the Multiple Sclerosis campaign Dear Editor: I would like to take this oppor- tunity on behalf of the estimated 50,000 Canadians who have Mul- tiple Sclerosis to thank you for placing our Carnation Campaign ad slick in the Huron Expositor. Without your assistance in promoting our Campaign, we would not have been able to raise the much needed funds dedicated to servicing those with MS and their families and to conduct new on- going research seeking the cause and cure for this mysterious disease. Preliminary reports indicate that over S1 million has been raised this year. Once again, please accept our sincere thanks for joining the fight against multiple sclerosis. We look forward to working with you next year. Yours truly, Laurie Ayers Fund Raising Co-ordinator Ontario Division RURAL ROOTS by Jeanne Kirkby Ah, the country life Has ever a summer flown by so quickly? Time just races along, as fast as the green colour fades from the heads of the ripening wheat. i'll remember this week for three events, two of them uncontrollable but related, the other a continuation of a previous situation. First, last Sunday night's terrifying light and sound show. When you've unplugged everything to be ready for the gathering storm and sit on a sofa that vibrates from the frightened dog cowering under it, what can you do but watch the save troughs overflow in the flare of lightning, and hope to miss hailstc :es or a deluge of rainfall on that bean field. This is what separates the men from the boysl Does there breathe anywhere a bean farmer who sits calmly reading during an intense storm and does not pace from dao to window hanging his head out to see how hard it's raining? How about those trips off the deck in :aippered feet, a wet rainslicket over the head and a flashlight in the hand to check the rain gauge? The proper rainfall for a beanf field, as anybody knows, comes at regular intervals, is steady, penetrating, best done overnight and followed by a clear sunny morning with no humidity in the air. This is important business. A field of beans represents serious cash. (We hope) Almost two inches of rainfall fell on our land by Sunday midnight. A few days later, driving in the Clinton area 1 noticed several fields of flattened grain and a farmer from the Hensall arca told me that they had five damaging inches of rainfall in that one evening. Again, our small area loci. NI out and were past the northern limit of the heavy rainfall Tura to page 141 • M, Madonna stirs up fun trouble I don't follow the lives of the sums, but Madonna has caught my attention. Sociis she wags to see Europe this summer and proposes to finance her trip by doing con- cau, which is fine to far, except with some ltahans. The Italian Bishop's Conference says "her new show, with the symbols it uacs and the values ite, (she dances with crucifix* offence to good tame." Another group, Fam►glia Domani. has urged the cardinal of Rome to "stop this shameful spectacle taking place in Rome - a city dear to millions of Catholics." 1 feel this is a funny reaction from a country that I have travelled in and found very little reverence towards religion or other people. Perhaps the biggest tourist attraction in Rome is the Vatican and I great- ly looked forward to my visit there. One beautiful day 1 headed to the Vatican and was refused entrance by the holy guards because 1 was wearing shorts. 1 accepted that and said 1 was sorry and returned another day wearing a dress. The woman in front of me, a real belle donna tourist with blonde hair, was wearing shorts and obviously filled them much bats than 1 filled mine. She was welcomed by the holy guard with dioxin of approval aird went on into the Vatican. 1 tul Te buildinp were lovely imide and filled ale with holy awe, unlike many of the people I was with. A. a child 1 lived two years with an Italian unck and 1 can grasp spvkron Italian. These people at the Vatican were not impressed and clutched 'evil eyes' as they looked down into the tomb of Saint Peter. Men, leaning on pillars, harassed women with strange sounds. Out in Saint Peter's Square I had a tenable time as I constantly stored away child and adult pick pockets and guarded my belongings with my life. On a trip to Pompeii from Naples I had to take a local train. I wanted to see mins of the city and see some of the countryside on the way there. Instead I saw a shameful spectacle and ultimate in bad taste. A pack of young men and 1 were the only passengers on the train and they cat called to me. 1 pretended not to understand and ignored them. A group of nuns dressed in old fashioned black habits boarded. The men greeted the nuns with a JUST THINKING by Susan Oxford thunderous chorus of flatulence that would have compared with any salute Dante's angels of darfuress could have trumpeted. Aho a few minutes of hanguig my head out the window as the countryside sped by, I picked up a newspaper and began to read as 1 listened to the men. The nuns were saying nothing, but they piteously stared at me. I heard the men talking about me and my probable destination. They decided they too would get off the train at Pompeii and there harass me. 1 read the paper which, like all the previous Italian newspapers 1 had read, was fulliof stories of guts and young womdn who had been kidnapped and were found mur- dered. Seems it's quite a pastime in Italy for young men to partake in this type of behaviour. Late night bonfires with young men dancing with corpses. And none of the sons of wealthy people are ever con - v icsed. Throe was a plea in the paper for these young men to stop. The train sowed down at Pompeii and 1 sot my cuff ready and took a long tune doing it. When the train stopped the young men got up and headed for the door. 1 finished getung my stuff and stood behind them. They stepped outside and were jostling each other when the train doors closed. 1 saw them turn around and watch me standing by the door, still on board. 1 didn't make it to Pompeii. I was horrified. The next day I left the country and will never go back alone. Now Madonna wants to do her thing in Italy and the thought of it is upsetting a few people who think she will corrupt young Italians. At least she will have bodyguards. I don't care much about Madonna, but I will read the outcome of this divine comedy. DOR FA/717/FOL OL / 1.8,97-0/1;196... .., >uRN/i✓G //1/70 A Bir OFA L9Ps DDG ; Dung heaps for dollars It looks as if the town of Petrolia has gotten itself into a really smelly situation. I blanched when I heard that the Lambton County municipality is thinking of agreeing to take on Toronto's trash - in fact, I sort of snickered when the appeal letter from the metropolis was first being circulated around to Ontario municipalities. Who would have ever thought that anyone would say 'aye'? Now, I'm inclined to think that there's a darn fine bunch of sales- men working bustling around Toronto's City Hall. The more you look at the deal, your eyes start to glaze over and you start to think that, gee, maybe Petrolia would be getting an okay deal after all. In terms of green- back, money talks. Petrolia will be on the happy end of a land utilization fee of $8.55 a tonne ($21,375,000), a royalty fee of $3.04 a tonne ($7,600,000), a $1.50 a tonne allowance for road and sewer (..and sewer, and sewer, and sewer..) maintenance, totalling $3,750,000, and 40 cents a tonne gravy money to offset legal and consulting costs from environmental hearings. And as if that wasn't enough, the town also gets a dandy new set of recycling bins, composting facilities and a hazardous waste depot, and 65 to 75 new jobs will be created. But the icing on the cake is that Petrolia will get to dump its es- timated 7,000 tonnes of garbage yearly gratis. Just sprinkle it over top of Toron- to's 2.5 million tonnes. In fact, seventeen towns the size of Petrolia could sneak down to the site in the dead of night and dump a year's worth of trash without adding too much of a dent. But benefits, bells and whistles notwithstanding, the fact remains that little of Lambton County IS BUYING A CITY'S GARBAGE. "Take the money and run," says some town residents. "Run!", say the rest. Me, I'm not worried about it. After all, it's not in my back- yard. But you've got to admit that Petrolia has moxie. I mean, here we are in Huron County, scared silly by the thought of our own garbage, and Lambton has the cajones to say 'please, sir, we want some more.' Is this nuts, or what? . '\• s,�\ ROUGH NOTES by Paula Elliott Another spanner in the works is the fact that Lambton, like Huron, is in the throes of a restructuring process. If this restructuring goes through, the county will inherit the responsibility for waste management currently handled by individual municipalities. And to top it off, the Petrolia landfills' certificate of approval from the Ministry has to be al- tered...er, somewhat...to allow Metro's grungies to be shipped the 300 kilometres to Petrolia. Darned little oversights. And who would get the royalties? Petrolia, or Lambton County? This is a big question, but the way I see, stench doesn't pay atten- tion to municipal boundaries, and the flies won't just be landing on the ones who are getting the royal- ties. If the deal goes through, everyone in Southern Ontario had better get out their maps and com- passes and learn where downwind from Petrolia is. And downwind from the trucking route. Just plain downwind altogether, if we're going to start a lively game of garbage - swapping. Then again, Lambton could al- ways pencil their way out of the responsiblity. AH it would take is a line or two on the county map to restructiilz Petrolia and its Toronto residual clean out of the county. It's just a matter of signing one dotted line and erase another. Maybe Huron should buy the trash, take the cash and restructure the foul stuff out of the County. I knew there could be a bright side to this restructuring nonsense, after all. Night -owls screech for more lights in 1890 JULY 18, 1890 We notice that Mr. John Beattie has undertaken to look up the legal standing of the township of McKil- lop and manifests a disposition to poke up the officials with a sharp stick. He, or some person else, should have been at it long ago but better late than never. We doubt if there is a municipality in Canada whose municipal affairs have been more wretchedly mismanaged, and the wonder to everyone is that the ratepayers have borne the infliction 90 patiently as they have. Mr. D.D. Wilson, having pur- chased Mr. Thomas Govenlock's grain warehouse, is having it removed and placed on a stone foundation adjoining the oatmeal mill, and will keep it for storing oats in. EDITORIAL COMMENT Hitherto, the street lights have been extinguished promptly at 11 p.m. This is entirely too early; they should be kept burning until one or two o'clock at any rate. Tt is pos- sible that our town aldermen are gentlemen of exceedingly regular habits and purely domestic tastes, and that they are snugly ensconced in their little beds every night be 11 o'clock, but many of the commoner herd are not so fortunate, and necessity compels them to be abroad after a later hour. To all such is very annoying to have to stumble home in the dark at the imminent risk of breaking a new or a limb and knowing all the time that they are paying taxes for having the streets illuminated. Give us more light, gentlemen of the council. JULY 16, 1915 IN THE YEARS AGONE from the Expositor Archives A gentleman who motored from Toronto this week says he never saw better looking crops than arc in evidence all the way up. From Stratford West, the crops are not so far advanced as the East, but everywhere there arc the most encouraging evidences of a boun- tiful harvest. This is much to be thankful for, as a bountiful crop will not only help in the war but will set the wheels of commerce humming. A strange disease it is said, has recently been noticed by some of the chicken fanciers in Clinton. Chickens seem .t - 1.• ty and scratching around, then in a few moments fall dead, or seem to lose the use of their limbs, at least, before expiring. One man has lost eighteen fine birds, another seven and another nine. Thcy cannot fathom this strange malady. All the chickens thus dying have reached the size when they would dress at about one and a half pounds. It is said that a well known Tuck- ersmith farmer, whose name was not given, drove to Clinton one day last week and tied his horse in an hotel stable. When he got through with his business he walked home. Turntn el*.