Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-05-02, Page 2AHurt faiJuxpositor H• 0. Incorporating The Brussels Post Published In Seaforth, Ontario Every Wednesday Morning w ai, OIL The Expositor is brought to you each week by the efforts of; Pat. Armes, Paula Elliott, Terri -Lynn Dale, Dianne McGrath, Bob McMillan, Susan Oxford and Linda Pullman.. ED BYRSKI, General Manager HEATHER ROBINET, Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union - International Press Institute Subscription Rates; Canada '20.00 a year, in advance Senior Citizens -'17.00 a year In advance Outside Canada '60.00'a year, in advance Single Copies - .50 cents each Second class mail registration Number 0696 Editorial and Business Offices - 10 Maln Street, Seaforth Telephone (519) 527.0240 Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1WO Grind axes elsewhere To try and search for the reason behind tragedy, and to make sense out of it, is an admirable thing. To attach labels and denounce in a fit of rage and anger is another thing altogether, especially in the face of a fami- ly's grief. The recent Linda Shaw murder has sickened and saddened all who know about it. The 21 -year-old engineer was apparently abducted near her car on the 401 after the Easter weekend, beaten, stabbed and burned beyond recognition. It's a shocking thing, and a sad testimony, but the fact remains that it is the murder of one young woman. For feminist groups to issue forth media statements that her death is an example of mens' at- titudes towards women is almost as heinous as the crime itself. Certain feminist groups were quick to leap on the bandwagon after it was learned that Linda Shaw had been wearing her U.W.O. Engineering jacket at the time of her disappearance. "Montreal massacre", they mut- tered, linking her death to the Quebec incident when Marc Lepin opened fire on a class of female engineering students in Montreal, killing most. The connection may be easy for tormented minds to make, especially for those close to the victim. In a world where violence is becoming so commomplace, straws are quickly grasped in the search for the answers "why". But to issue media statements to this effect, to make front page news out of confused musings, is unforgivable. It only succeeded in mak- ing a media circus out of Linda Shaw's murder,, and it cheapened the fami- ly's grief. Interviews and quotes from feminist groups,- and from sobbing women who were not in the slightest way acquainted with Linda Shaw, served to insult her family, friends and memory. This was a single incident - one that is far too common, granted - but a single one nonetheless. With causes such as feminism, it seems as if the squeaky wheels get the grease and the radical voices rise the highest. Unfortunately, the sound in this case is not squeaking wheels. It's the scream of grinding axes. LETTE ST Sick Four women missing in one week and Ontario is closing in on California's record. The state's m00014 ,44* three disap- pearances in one day. Everyday I can pick up a Canadian newspaper and read about abducted women, children and men being murdered and God knows what else. The whole thing has become extremely ridiculous to me. When will this particular type of men think of something different to do to women - like leave them alone? It's difficult for me to try and respect all peo- ple equally when there is this senseless thing that some people do to others. I know there are women who do terrible things to people. They deserve a jall sentence equal to what a man receives. A few years ago a "friend' of mine was charged with raping a young woman about 18 years of age. I couldn't believe he would do such a thing. We went to the same church and attended many of the same church social functions. I stood by him. I was his friend and even went to court with him so he wouldn't be alone. At court the young woman was with her family and lawyer and looked a terrible mess. She looked like she could break down and cry at anytime. The court case started with the district attorney reading the statement the young woman wrote for police. It was a horrible story and I thought my friend must have gotten into this mess on mistaken identity. My friend had his turn to defend himself. He plead - and tired of it JUST THINKING ed It unbelievable to me what I had heard; from her and from him. Since he pleaded guilty the young woman did not have to drag the story out again and have her reputation, and soul, ripped apart by my friend's lawyer. "Is there anything else you'd like to say?" asked the judge to my friend. "I'd like to say I'm sorry to her and her family." The young woman and her family left and I sat .in -/the courtroom, devastated. Curiosity took over me and I decided to wait and see what sentence this man would receive. To my horror, another woman came in and more charges were read out against my friend. I left the courtroom. I never saw that man again. I hear after he finished his jail term he moved to another town so we would never have to see him again. In the worst way he had breached our trust. I hope police in his new town are keeping a watch on him un- til they truly feel he is fit to be treated with respect. That's the only person I personally knew who went to court for what he did to those women. I hear rumours about many others. A friend of mine owned a rooming house and had a terrible time getting rid of a tenant who tried to murder a nieghbour by fire. I distantly know others who have been convicted of these type of charges. Worse yet, I know many women who have undergone such treatment. I personal- ly know women who have had daughters murdered. As I get older more women confide to me the treatment they suffered as children from brothers. The reason stories like this come from them as they get older is not necessarily that they're grappling with their past and emotions, but rather that they're concerned for their nieces and nephews. There are so many nice people out there and I'm always meeting more. There's people who are fun, interesting, hard work- ing, intelligent, reliable ect... But there's an element in our society who are so strange. I've seen some pretty mean look- ing people during my life. I wonder where they come from. I'm sure this piece sounds like a rambl- ing. It's a tough topic and no solution to satisfy everyone. I just want it all to stop. "Illiteracy" spreads to the media To the Editor: I would like to commend Paula Elliott for her excellent editorial (A sad legacy to lose, April 25) on the demise of the art of language. It's bad enough that in Canada today there are millions of high school graduates who are functional illiterates barely able to read and write. What I find truly shocking is to read and hear what some of these "media people," most of massame them university graduates, write and say. On C.B.C. radio and TV! In The Globe and Mail! While I'm sitting with my old Olivetti I would also like to thank Paula Elliott, Susan Oxford and Heather Robinet for their skillful adaptation of the two articles Brian Shypula wrote for the Stratford Beacon Herald about me and the Spanish Than to page 7 R' _ RAL ' 00 S by Jeanne Kirkby Of budgets and Last Tuesday, Provincial Treasurer Nix- on delivered two benefits and one penalty to the Ontario agricultural community, with his pre-election (?) budget. On the positive side, $48 million was put towards an interest rate assistance pro- gram that is supposed to serve a function similar to the previous OFFIRR program. The provincial government expects that this designation will be considered by the Federal Government as their entitlement toward a share of the $500 million commit- ment, made in March by Federal Agriculture Minister Don Mazankowski, towards the grains and oilseeds sector for upcoming crop year. Federal government assistance is targeted towards crops and grains along the lines of the Canadian Grains Program. As Ontario is the first province to have met the challenge of declaring a specific amount, the federal government will have to decide how to respond. When we learn the fine details of this provincial interest rate assistance pro- gram, let's compare them with some of our neighbouring provinces as regarding length of term and costs. Until 1991, Alberta provides their Farm Credit Stability Program with interest rates of 9% on loans of up to $250,000 for 20 year terms. Saskatchewan's Capital Loan Program provides credit on loans of up to $350,000 up to 15 years, with interest rates of 8% for first five years, 12% for next five, and a rate based on cost of borrowing for the last five years. The Quebec Farm Credit office offers the Tandem Program, with loans either guaranteed or made directly by them, and interest rebated on the first $150,000 of the loan. Nixon's budget has also• provided $48 million to Land Stewardship programs, which will carry on the expired OSCEPAP and reflect everyone's interest in the environment. In the penalty box again, the poor tobac- co farmers have tax of one cent per cigarette adding .to their wqes. Today, one cigarette costs approximately 18 cents; 12 cents of that as taxation to support two of er thiH !Is levels of government and the remaining six cents per cigarette divided between the farmer and the packager/producer/adver- tiser/etc. Is it any wonder that farms in the tobacco belt are being sold to city commuters for comparatively low amounts, with the land forever lost to the farming community? Tobacco is a legal product and an exportable commodity. * * * " * * **• Media Coercion is a powerful force in to- day's society. Last week I heard an Earth Day phone-in radio program, in which a member of Greenpeace responded to con- cerned citizens. The caller stated that if we really cared about the survival of this planet, we would all stop eating red meat, as this was causing the demise of the Brazilian rainforests. I didn't follow her logic. There are plenty of farmers right here who would be much happier to see all Canadians buy and use Canadian meats, produced under some of the most deman- ding safety regulations in the world. There is no need for anyone to chop down good Brazilian trees so they can send beef to Canada. On the same note, I read lately that Dr. David Suzuki has determined that the high incidence of methane gas in the at- mosphere, which helped to create the hole in the ozone layer, is a result of gas pass- ed by pasturing cattle. And in New Zealand, the environmentalists are blaming the 70 million sheep for eating the rich grass, andthen passing methane gas "from their rears" into the air, creating massive pollution. The Kiwis are present- ly working to create a pill •that will counteract this. Imagine dosing all those woollies every day - over hills and into hollows on 2000 acre stations. . If we quit eating red meat, look at the problems we can get into! All those crit- ters' wandering around doing it to us. On the other hand, before science could measure the ozone layer, there were animals; sheep, cattle and many other types - perhaps even more than now. All of these animals have the same habits and characteristics as those who are now get- ting the blame for ozone damage. Let's have some common sense! w at we won't do for a picture... There's more to life than meets the eye, and it just so happens that there's more than one way for life to meet the eye, too. I discovered this at a photography seminar that I attended in Belleville this past weekend. About 25 of us community newspaper -type hacks were invited to spend three days at the seminar, put on by Loyalist Collage, to sharpen our picture- taking skills. I leapt at the chance, and the publishing company pack me and four of my cohorts off to the far side of Toronto. Beware. I've come back a changed person. I learned an awful lot in the time that I spent at the seminar, lot the least of which was that my partying capacity kicks out at about midnight these days. 1 must be get- ting (1t91I11) old. II also learned that the goofier you look when you're trying to get a photograph, the better that photograph will probably turn out to be. It's one of those bell curve things. We all gathered at the College at the end of each evening to have our pictures criti- qued - lambasted, belittled and shot down in flames - and watch a slide presentation of the best - and sometimes worst - pic- tures taken that day. Earlier, each of us had been given two rolls of film and two assignments and sent out to wreak black - and -white havoc on defenceless Belleville. "This is a great shot," lauded one of the instructors the first night as an aerial photograph of sunbathers flashed onto the OU N a r;;'ES y Paula Elliott 4 screen. "How photographer?" They let us remain anonymous for the slide show, thankfully. "1 climbed a tree," a voice wavered out of the darkness. "Great!", the instructor enthused. "That's what we want to see...get the pic- ture from every angle that you can!" I looked down at the skirt that I had been wearing that day. Obviously, sweats and a T-shirt were in order for the next morning. Another big thing with the instructors was "work the picture." "Why did you only take three pictures of this little kid? Stick with it, WORK the subject..." 1 didn't bother telling my instructor that if I'd "worked" this particular subject any longer, the little brat would have gotten his aim right and hit me square in the eye with one of the handfuls of sand that he was flinging at me the entire time. No use being incompetent and a whiner, too. One of the most valuable lectures of the weekend was a quickie workshop on how to take better "grip and grin" shots. At did you get this, r a� 4, ,MN , .. _, Flash fire severely burns MAY 2, 1890 This is the time when the average house wife is in her glory, and her better half in the stove pipe. Both olive on hard tack and sleep on boards. Neither suffer for the want of exercise, and it is useless for hull to try to sneak off to "see a friend". He has to whack the carpet. Woe is us! for our better half doth clean the house, and we have to put up with the inconvenience thereof. That is the way they do in Clinton, and the New Era is our authority for say- ing so. Miss L.A. Hambly of Brume's public school was awarded the prize offered by A.R. Smith to the person making the greatest number of words out of the letters composing the word "carpets". She had 335 words. A rather peculiar incident happened to Mr. W. Honey, the veterinary surgeon of Mitchell recently. Mr. Honey left Stratford in a sulky, leading a stallion. The horse became frightened and leaped on the top of the sulky, and came near killing Mr. Honey. The animal became entangled in the wheels and the vehicle, and it was with great difficulty that he was extricated. The sulky was badly broken, the horse con- slderabiy }dirt,' and Mr. Honey severely . the risk of giving away a trade euphimism to all of you out there in reader land who don't know what a "grip and grin" is, it's one of those famous hold-the-cheque/pla- que/prize begonia -or -shake -the -hand pic- tures that are very necessary and impor- tant but about as creative as rice pudding. Like the search for a cure for the common cold, we camera wielders are forever look- ing for a better way to take those photos. Beware. I've come back to Seaforth armed to the teeth with 101 solutions, or at least a feasible two or three. Don't be alarmed if I winch myself from the rafters at the next awards ceremony for a group photo...I'm just trying for a better angle and an uncluttered background, one of the seven deadly sins of photography. And by the same token, don't be surpris- ed if you happen to spot me crawling through the dirt at the playground with my camera, hanging by my knees from a swingset or dancing around the first baseline at a ball game. All in the name of creativity, "working the subject' and getting in with the action. Maybe I'll even have time to learn how to skate before hockey season rolls around. man in 1965 IN THE YEARS AGONE from the Expositor Archives Mr. Shaffer of Kippen is thinking of star- ting a packing house in that place this summer. APRIL 30, 1915 Mr.P. MGrath of Tuckersrnith 4th con- cession and Mr. George Brownlee of Seaforth put in a day's work last week that will stand out as a record for a long time to come. The two in a single day dug 143 rods of post holes, the holes being 36 feet apart, and in addition to this set the posts and dug one large anchor hole. They were not trying for a record but would like to hear if any two in the township can go one better, The old Queen's Hotel in Clinton that was a well-known hotel in days gone by will be known no more. Last week Mr. Wm. Elliot had a gang of men, with Mr. Dayment in charge, dividing the building in tow and will turn them around the make them into two dwelling houses with .•thei r-eonverdences-Cement wells'gali be frightened. laced under them and the sidewalk which now curves at this property, will be straightened out. An ordinary duck belonging to W. J. Sharpe of the 12th concession, Grey, has been making an extraordinary record by laying eggs measuring 7 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches. MAY 3, 1940 When the car in which they were riding went out of control and crashed through a guard rail and down a 10 -foot embankment at Liffe Creek, Dublin, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Houghton of Cromarty had a nar- row escape from instant death. They are in Scott Memorial Hospital and at last report are resting comfortably. Monday, May 20 is the deadline for Seaforth dog owners. After that date, sum- monses will be issued if licenses have not been obtained. Two years of work and planning by the committee seeking the International Plow- ing Match for Huron County was reward - Turn to page 11 • f.' 1 r 0'