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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-11-14, Page 2OMB xpositur SINCE 1$4O. sums() THE COMMUNITY FIRST Inttorporetlna The aruasris rust Publish•il In torch. On t or 1u Every **anomie y Mar 1t 1I ei A II awn, $mrd l -s -!--- 110111-010111M1. A sort em. Hasa- JOAN11. *S AMliia, adherdiiIl aisprammellike 104111111 10111111. iM« NMI SIAM bass[ Otderil CLAaillt1114. A000uNnuMa M Anus* slier moire % Ueda ►[thenen M.mbs' Canadian Copwmun.ty Newspaper Assoc Ontario Community Newspaper A..octasiort Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Pre.s union international Press Institute lub.crtptton Rots. Caned '2.00 . rotor. to advance Senior Citizen. '19 00 o yew to advance Outside Canada '66 00 o yew in advance Serape Copes 00 cents such und dw, r, 101i ruytstruttan Numb 06Y0 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1990 (Mts.-lel and au.ln..s Officer . 10 Mein stmt. $..forth 1.lophon. ($11) 527-0200 Pax 527-2$3$ M.111nn Address - P.O. Ilex bL ae.ferfb. Ontario. MK MO Seniors month The aging of society is not a problem to be solved, but •an opportunity to be utilized". Today's seniors are not content to sit on the sidelines. They known they can still contribute, and they are determined to do so. What seniors require most, it seems, is help and support to remain active and independent in their own community. Seniors want to be involved in the decision-making about the care and service they are to receive. They want to know, just as everyone else does, what their choices are, what the risks are, and how various options might affect their lifestyle. Too often old age is an age of no consent. Decisions affecting senior citizens are frequently made without the participation of the citizens themselves. Fortunately the County of Huron, and the Town of Seaforth, are doing their best to ensure this doesn't happen. Committees are being struck, such as Seaforth's Senior Advisory Committee, which seek out input from the senior populace, in terms of community and county planning. The responsibilities of the government, and the public for that matter, go much further than providing protection and care for the elderly. Providing opportunity for involvement and participation by the elderly should be important considerations as well. And, as we, ourselves, will someday become a part of that aging sector of society, it is our responsibility to act as advocates today, for senior citizens. Let's speak up for the interests of Ontaric's older people, making ourselves heard both within government and in the public forum. And let's start today, during National Senior Citizen's Week. Forget Crosbie Jeanne Dear Editor: Your Erudite "Rural Roots" Columnist, Jeanne Kirby, stirred my sloth-ful soul with her column last week, October 31, 1990, "Crosbie, get with it." May 1 respond please? Jeanne I suggest it's you and your brother farmers that should "get with it." And the stats in you column tearing a slice off the sides of Government, Gatt, and the Market proves, to me conclusively, the time is long past for you to do so. Why are you wasting your time writing about what has happened in agriculture? Let the O.F.A. and The Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board do that They have done an excellent job of it for the past 50 years. Form your publications Jeanne, I would judge you to be a very intelligent and articulate Lady. Why are you letting the meanderings of someone like John Crosbie take up yours and your readers' time? We all know John looks like a bloke in the sixth form who never had a date. Forget him. He's too much like Brian, perennial tough who immatures with age. If the working people want $25 an hour to fix the leak in my kitchen sink, $50 an hour to mend my wheels, and $17 and hour to Let common sense jrtiii Sometimes sway.$ from the normal way of doing things lust makes plain common thenen - espocially when u is going to result in a waste to do otherwise. Every day in the newel, you hair about war, famine and disease. And yet, because the majority of us know aothuig of what it is Nle a to be cold, htsimelar or huffy. We pay little 1111011110 to the waste ni our own lives. We've all been chasu c4i for leaving food un our plates, and certainly we've all been lectured about the starving children. Yet, for Ube most part, it is hard to see further than our own needs - and may 1 add, fairly small needs is comparison to those in comer re of the world. ever, it doesn't mean we are totally insensitive. My mother, for instance, is par- ticularly upset about an incident which occurred at a Kitchener res- taurant last week. And I must ad- -Sweatsocks mit, 1 do understand her point. In this ptrucular instance, my mother, my uncle, my two-year-old niece and nephew, and my auxintuthex, went out for lunch. Suw a there was a kiddie menu available at this particular res- taurant, my niece and nephew ob- viously ordered from u. Despite numerous requests my grandmother was dented access to that same menu. Now, obviously she is not clas- sified as "kiddie". Butrippled by numerous strokes, and confined to a wheelchair, my grandmotha has no great, raving appetite either. She simply likes to escape the boredom of her present life, and the monotony of her institute food On ox;casion. by Heather Robins Ori dila particular occasion, since poetical aim not price was the issue at limed, •y grandmother ordered has the regular menu, but re- quested that she receive a smaller portion that usually dished out. unap endy, the restmusnt was ble w do that citta'. Rules dictated that specific; proportions of food had to be handed out. whether or not, the person to receive them was capable of eating u all or not. Mom informs me there was enough waste at their table to feed a child from a third world country for an entire week. Surely no extra effort would have beat required to fill my grandmother's request? Why can't common sense prevail. Obviously a growing adolescent is going to require much more food than an 84 -year -o g women to leas than top physical condition. Nature dictates that, and if nature &NM' thea eaelataly in this case, my dit Srast oik r (or my mothers llama E adly t , is not the same as K used to be. And, 1'11 wager she's riot the only Mitis citizen that has encountered the same problem. This week is Senior Cauca Werk, and obviously there are a lot of their issues that need to be ad- dressed. 1 just thought I'd use this timely example, as one of the ways in which [the world refuses to recog- nize the senior citizen. And, the solutions simple, really. Let's use comment setae. LEST WJE FERET Ara . .,i u, .tie'«�• -Letters answer the phone at my office, then they better be prepared to ante up some of that loot to fill their food basket and clothe their shivering bodies. If farmers in this Province think that prices between the farm gate and the cash register in the super- market are in excess of what is fair and they should be getting in on the profits, the solution for them to do so is well established. That solution is called CO-OP. (Co-op by the seven Rochdale principals. Not UCO.) This writer, along with many others, worked our butts off with no monetary reward, over 50 years ago, to give the farmers and the working class the tools to deal in the market place, and cash in on those ever elusive profits. The system worked well for a good many years in Ontario and Canada, and it can work just as well again. The agricultural policies of today Jeanne are like the well known mint, a very firm exterior, but there is an awful lot of hot air in the middle. Turn to page 15 • -Rural Roots by Jeanne Kirkby On land use Recently we visited friends in their brand new home at the edge of Innerkip, Ontario. Innerkip is a small town about six miles from Woodstock, and very much like Seaforth or Blyth in size and disposition. Their freshly planted lawn was typical of the homes and yards in the surrounding neighborhood where great building and development were at various stages of progress. Remembering the fields of corn and pasture that we passed by only months ago to enter the village, this seemed a perfect example of the trend shown by the 1986 census redxt that 91,426 acres of prime farmland had be=en gobbled up for city use in the 1981-86 period. The rows of lights and framed buildings along the rough streets made it evident that here a developer's dream of new suburban housing was changing Innerkip into a bedroom community for commuters working in Woodstock. Dur new NDP provincial government stated its position on the loss of prime agricultural land to urban growth in their pre-election statement, "An Agenda for the People". it said that they would amend the Planning Act to preserve farmland, and would impose a land speculation tax to slow this conversion of valuable farm land to other uses. The amendment would also prevent the conversion of Classes 1 - 3 farmland to noxi -farm uses. This sounds all well and good, hut some consideration must be given as to how the farmer, wishing to retire, can dispose of his assets and 'horn to page is • Why feel sorry for the prune? I could hardly contain myself last night as I listened to the radio and heard a couple speak about being one of the first couples in Canada to try a male contraceptive injec- tion. A wonderful invention, this one. Seems there's a potion that can literally 'dry a man up,' and some kind soul in Canada has decided to be experimented with it for the sake of all Canadians who can't really figure out how their bodies work. The conversation flowed so natural- ly, and was so predictable, it could have been boring, if it wasn't so funny. First, of course, was the question 'Why are you doing this?' The man answered the expected answer saying his wife had been on the pill for so long that she needed a break from it. I could hear across the country cheers of thousands of thousands of women tired of side effects, mood swings, increased risk of heart attack, weight gain (which this couple sited as one of their displeasures with the pill), all shouting 'Ya. Honey, you're next!' to their husbands. -Just Thinkin The interviewer asked the next obvious question, showing that obviously he has lived or worked with women on the pill. 'Sir, will you suffer any side effects?' Came the expected reply 'Well, our doctor assured us there wouldn't be anything too serious. Just a bit of weight gain, acne and a mood swing towards aggressiveness.' It's just what the world needs right now! Thousands of agressive, overweight men with acne. And if their aggression takes the form of sexual assault, it's O.K. to a degree because, after all, the aggressor is all dried up. A reduction in the spread of AIDS! No pregnancy by rape! No tell-tale signs of incest! Hospital check-ups after rape would just be on the look out for bruises, which surely would be left after the aggression. Truly, a medical, and legal, miracle. g by Susan Oxford I envisioned a crowded courtroom with a dried up man on the stand being questioned about a crime of aggression against a defenceless person committed while in a mood swing. He's in another mood swing now, and sobbing as he tries to tell the court 'I don't know what came over me.' He gets off the whole thing because the judge decides he couldn't have been in control of himself because 'he's on drying up drugs.' Back to reality, the interviewer asked the woman 'How will you handle the mood swings?' I could see her looking up at her man, who hopefully wasn't feeling aggressive then, and say 'The best I can.' Will we see a rise in women not repor- ting wife assault or child assault because these women could 'understand' their men? And then the age old question of our century 'How effective is the contraceptive?' Who knows? It's still in the experimental stage, thanks to this kindly man. And what about reversibility? (another key question to this generation.) Well, if it doesn't accidentally dry him up forever, it may be rever- sible. And what if in the future he does have children? Not unlike the DES children, his, too, may be born with conditions such as extreme acne or excess male aggression. The effects on the children are yet to be seen. A couple of weeks ago I read a stbry in the Free Press about tribal men in Nigeria killing other men they accused of 'taking away their manly parts.' Could this be the Third World country this male contraceptive was first tried in? Seaforth telephones enter new era in 1964 NOVEMBER 14, 1890 Birchall to be hanged - The statement was officially made on Friday of last week that the Government, after due con- sideration, had decided to advise the Governor-General that it would not be in the interests of justice that the sentence of the court in the case of Birchall should be interfered with, and his Excellency certified accor- dingly. This, therefore, seals the fate of the young man, who has for so many months been confined in Woodstock jail, and about whom so much has been said and written, and before this paper reaches many of its readers Birchall will have paid the penalty for the terrible crime which he committed. The decision arrived at by the government was communicated to the unfortunate man by his wife and it is said he received the news quite coolly, and although he was visibly affected by her grief, he showed no sign of fear on his own account, and ass ROM as his interview with her was cmded he was, to all out- -Years Agone ward appearances at least, as light- hearted and jovial as usual. It seems as if he is determined to go the gallows with a light heart and a bold front. If his nerve holds out to the end, he will certainly prove himself to be one of the most wonderful, if not one of the most hardened, criminals on record. The Toronto Mail has been publishing for several days the autobiography of Birchall, as writ- ten by himself during his trial and sentence. As the autobiography has been copyrighted, no other paper can publish even as much as an extract from it. However, even at the risk of being accused of crying sour, ', we must say the readersof the prohibited press do not lose very much. Birchall seems to write with considerable freedom and accuracy, but the portion from the Archives dealing with his exploits at Oxford is the worst kind of nonsensical drivel, and is much more calculated to disgust than to interest the reader. It is too imbecile to be even funny. In later chapters, his allusion to his wife is pathetic, and shows the man to have some feeling in his composition, while his description of Woodstock Gaol is really well written and funny. The illustrations, throughout, which are made by himself, are execrable and of a very low type. The whole production has stamped on it the innate character of the man, and shows him to be a person of a frivolous mind and low moral sense. He would have stood vastly higher in the estimation and memory of the people had his autobiography never been written. NOVEMBER 13, 1911 The mobilization plans for the second Canadian contingent have now been decided, the militia department will now proceed with the securing of equipment_ It is expected that by the time the force sails, about two months hence, it will be fully and properly equipped. Five thousand horses will be re- quired for the four regiments of mounted infantry, the mine batteries of artillery, the line of com- munication, transport service, ect. The horses will probably be pur- chased locally as far as possible and under the direction of a central committee. The Rama Indians send S50 'towards the sustenance of thie families of those who have gone to the front.' The Cape Mudge Indians subscribe S100 and ask to be al- lowed to 'do their pan in the defence of our country. The Black- foot Indians want to fight for 'the liberty ty and honour of the Empire,' and they send $ 1,200 to be used in helping to bring this war 'to a strc- cessful condition for our country Tun to page 11 •