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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1983-08-10, Page 21'183 LIreii fxpositor- Slnc• 1860. Serving th.Cantttm'pnity flirt lire rporating FBrUSKeh c Pirsl€ founded 1872 12 Maln S . ti '« 527-0240 Publlsbed at SEAPORTH, ONTARIO t v ry Wednesday morning• _ 'Susan 0,IVIOnagIng E01194 'T Shrler, Rublt4tter . , .. Member Caned 'unity Newspepor Association. - Ontario Comfrtdn wspaper AassO4t+on . i'nd Audit Bur of Circulation, A memb 1the Ontario Pre¢a Council ubacrlptlon rates: anada $17.75 a year (in advance) out de Canada 150. a yehr(In advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1883 Second class mail registratloh number 0696 We have a soltttion Organizing events so they don't Conflict with others Is always a difficult task, especially in a busy town. A recent editorial In the Listowel Banner tackled the problem suggesting a community calendar as the solution. A calendar which could end the business of two or three activities planned for the same weekend and ensure that t rganlzatlonsi Could Count on a full house for events would be doing the town a Service, says the editorial. Leaders of community groups in Seaforth recently said organizing events is a problem they'd like to solve at the upcoming recreation conference in November. But, we already have one solution to the problem. Unlike Listowel, we have a community calendar both In the newspaper and in the Expositor office. Oa receptionist, Joan IGuichelaar would be happy to mark your future meetings; bake sales, or ball games on either calendar so the community will be sure to attend. Also, a coupon often appears ip the paper under the community calendar which you can 4111 out and send in with your contribution to the calendar. The best part Is, it's free. That space in the newspaper and the office belongs to you'so why not use it? - S.H. Sharing poverty? Canadian workers may soon have the chance for a shorter work week, but not for pay equivalent to a full five day week. Just imagine, work four days, three days off. On holiday weekends, four days off. But many employees, to save their jobs and those of fellow workers, have. already agreed to a shorter work week. The result, less work, same pay, but they still had a job. Even with these measures in place, companies continued to suffer and jobs were eventually lost. More layoffs resulted. In a brilliant move last weekend, government officials headed by Lloyd Axworthy, employment minister, announced they had found a solution to the high unemployment problem at a think tank -- a smaller work week and smaller pay cheques. All the while, many have been on a shorter work week, not to create employment, but to save their own jobs. Some people have called the weekend'thlnk tank a stink tank because they think the whole idea stinks. People with jobs will have to make sacrifices to help those without said Mr. Axworthy. But are the employed prepared to.share with those who are unemployed? This will be a question Canadians will have to answer. But, will Mr. Axworthy's Idea work? He forgets that many people are working below the so-called poverty line. If someone was making minimum wage, $3.50 per hour or $7,280 ayear and were to cut-back to a four day work week, that employee would only make $5,824, or, $1,456 less,i A single parent supporting one child couldn't do Lt. Besides, somebody receiving $140 or more In unemployment benefits, probably wouldn't want to share a job with a minimum Wage employee. Incomes would be cut but taxes wouldn't be. A quart of milk or a loaf of bread would probably cost the same. President of the London and district labor council, Ron Pellerin said he wouldn't be against working fewer hour for less pay if it could be guaranteed more employment would result. "I could see taking less provided there was some guarantee it would make employment for others. But when you take a cut and see the jobs eroded anyway...." Employees who have agreed to work less hours, receive unemployment benefits. But this is only for the short term. Some feel less take home pay doesn't make sense. It would result in workers sharing In the poverty. Canadian labor congress representative Ray Murray said if It is a way of distributing wealth, then he favors the idea. "If It's a way of redistributing poverty and that's what it sounds like to me, then I'm against it." This would be the case with the worker receiving a basic wage. If a shorter work week Is introduced, it should start at the top. After all, the average Canadian always seems to get the short end. Let's reverse it for a change. - R.W. Opinion SI C@ *arm Write MP about arms race In view of the urgency of the world's present nuclear crisis and in view of the extreme peril in which all of humanity now finds itself, I am hopeful that you will be able to find space for the following letter. An Open Letter to, All Members of Parliament, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario Today, the terrible threat of nuclear annihilation hangs like an ominous cloud over the heads of all human beings inhabiting this earth. No danger of this magnitude has ever confronted human kind in all of recorded history. The arms race has now reached terrifying proportions and the foolish game of one-up- manship now being played by world leaders is dangerous in the extreme. For some incomprehensible reason it seems to have escaped the attention of present world powers that nuclear weapons as a means of defense or offense can never be used. To do so would spell the end of man's existence upon this planet and the continued presence of these deadly weapons poses a constant threat to man's survival. We stand today at the very edge of this awful abyss. One moment of panic, one error in judgement, one act of carelessness, one accident, can unleash a nuclear nightmare upon the world. Nothing would be left then but the smoke curling up from the ashes of our once beautiful planet. It is quite possible that there will be no human intelligence then to make any kind of an assessment, but should there be, what kind of questions would he be asking himself as he surveyed the smoking ruins in the wake of a nuclear holocaust? Firstly, l think he would have to ask himself why we did not realize that the piling up of nuclear arms as a deterent to nuclear war was not only wasteful of human and material resources but in the year 1983 had become a totally futile exercise. All humanity, seem- ingly paralysed, watched with horror as one deadly weapon succeeded another in the mad race for nuclear supremacy; a race in which all would lose; a race toward man's extinction. Secondly, 1 think he would have to ask himself why we did not realize that we had so little time left? Even back in 1983 had the governments of the world made a concerted effort to turn this thing around our chances of avoiding a nuclear war were not good, but we did have a chance. Instead, world leaders chose to squander this precious time when we might still have saved ourselves And all future generations, in a useless jockeying for position. Please turn to page 3 Chainletters, are illegal A form of chain letter has again arrived on the scene. This particular one appears to have originated somewhere in the United States, and claims to be legal. It is not legal in Canada. Any form of chain letter that requires you to send in something of value, be it money, liquor or whatever, is illegal and falls under Section 189 of the Criminal Code. • As the originators are usually unknown. the chances of prosecution are very slim. Chain letters should be dealt with in only one way --the waste basket route, G.O. Gaeler, Provincial Constable, #2788 No. 6 District Community Services Co-ordinator Energize me. CHILDREN FROM Seaforth's Playschool and Playground programs toured the fire hall, the police station and the P.U.C. last week. Brett Finlayson demonstrated how Hydro workers climb the poles and Doug Smale showed the kids how to work a hydraulic drill. 9 -year-old Andrea Rlbey won a ride In the cherry picker for guessing the correct number of hydrants In town (Photo by Hundertmark) Were we ever om the right track? With the economy still sluggish, with the unemployment rate still at depressing highs, with the specter of higher interest rates hanging on the horizon, with the knowledge we're falling farther and farther behind the technological leaders in Japan, there are conferences, and think tanks :and Royal Commissions to frnd,opt how we can get the economy back on track again. But nobody seems to be asking, was it the right track we were on in the first place? The general aim of the people who want to set things right again is to get things back to the 1950's and early 1960's, the time of high growth and higher expectations. If we could only do that, we'd all be happy. Well, first off, we wouldn't of course. People could find just as many things to be unhappy about in the 1950's as they do today. One of the things that drove John Diefen- baker from office was the "poor" economy of the early 1960's, an economy we'd think was wonderful today. Secondly, is it possible for us to return to the good old high growth days when there's Dohfind mormoo by aQ6ith 1,1©QAM©et really no reason for there to be high growth? The growth of the "golden era" was fuelled by real need. With the second World War over soldiers came home to put their lives back together again. They started making up for six years of lost time, having families at a record rate, meaning there was suddenly a need for new homes and furniture and appliances and cars and just about anything else that could be manufactured. In addition there was more money around than ever before. After the depression when everybody but the very rich was scrapped for cash, the war years brought unheard of prosperity on the home front. Anybody who wanted one could get a job. Women were working for unheard of wages. People were investing money in Victory Bonds because they wanted to help win the war and because with rationing, there wasn't anything to spend it on anyway. So there was a reason for the growth of the fifties, a reason we don't have now. The baby boom has stopped. The children of the baby boom, concerned with careers and other priorities, are not having babies like their parents. What's more in the last decade they've been spending every cent, not socking it away in bank accounts. The demand just isn't there for real growth. Yet the psychology isn't there. How many times have you heard some businessman say: "If you're not going ahead, you're going back." It's an -accepted truth. Growth is essential even if it must be a manufactured growth. So in recent years we've had the myth of growth. Peopk can only own so many houses, so many televisions, so many refrigerators so we must find new things we can manufacture and convince them they need. So we have fads; whirl pools, saunas, video games,., swimming pools. The problem is that fads are cycling faster and faster. People used to have to skrimp and save to get a. new car or a new' refrigerator but today people have so much' disposable,income that today's fad ,is taken for ranted tomorrow. A growth'' industry this year is a dying ,one next (just, takea look at what's happened to the stock of the video game manufacturers in the last year), _ The only thing that remains of the 1950's is the psychology of growth. So we see Ontario Hydro which was set up to meet demand, now going out to create demand so it can justify building more nuclear generating stations at great expense. Something along the way has got a little warped here. Seems that perhaps one of those many commissions could take a little moment to wonder if we've lost track of where we were really going in the first place before putting us back on the old track. Junk food brings back childhood memories Could a generation grow up without junk food? The people might be healthier, but it just wouldn't seem natural. Fad foods are the stuff memories are made of. Some treats seem to have always been with us - the hot dog, for example. It may have changed in size and fixings over the years, but basically a hot dog is still a hot do -g. Popcorn has been smothered with salt, hot Linter and caramel, but underneath it all remains the kernel. Crackerjack boxes still contain surprises - r sways at the bottom. Some fad foods were characteristic of the times. For people growing up in the thirties and forties, for instance, eating an ice cream cone was an event. Taffy pulls were exciting contests, and a single candy cane or licorice stick was a huge OO ddo W ° ondo b}"f 16cArico Vic. `WlTh treat. Then came the fifties and sixties, when "junk" food was more available. Potato chips were bought in nickel bags. Some brand names were popular but disappeared after awhile - Majorette and Li'l Abner, for instance. There was an art to eating potato chips. Some people squeezed and rolled the bag before opening until every chip was finely crushed. Sometimes opening the bag was a challenge. French fries were covered with smooth fattening gravy. Suzy Q's - or Curly Q's. as they were sometimes called - were thin french fries curled into interesting shapes. Some kids enjoyed surprises, especially if they were cheap. The "grab hag" was ideal for them. 1t usually consisted of stale candies, but the price was right. Some people recall treats that I haven't heard of - cherry coke, Kik Cola and Honey Sponge. My favourite luxury was the jaw breaker • a huge round hard wad of gum. 1t was probably my parents favourite too, because it kept me too busy chewing to talk. Also. in my mind. I can vividly picture the small distinctive Coke bottle that was destined to become a collector's item. Many people claim the sundae of the fifties and sixties was enormous, but maybe it was like the fish that got away. Cheese seemed to be popular in the seventies - cheese balls, cheese puffs, cheesies. In the late seventies and early eighties, more people became nutrition conscious. Natural foods and foods that were *ood for us are "in". Nevertheless so-called "junk food" is still around. Some futurists claim in a few years we won't eat food; we'll pop a pill instead. My guess is one of those pills will be labelled "junk food." Flies are big as sparrows in the north. Do you have a personal physical problem? Leukemia? Touch of cancer? Heart spasms? Crippling arthritis? Emphysema? Old age? Don't give it another thought. Just contact a fly -in to the northern bush, and your problem will be solved. Permanently. 1 warned that I'd write another column about my "fishing weekend." Here goes. What kind of people belong to a "camp" on a lake that you can't get to except by plane or by walking 10 miles through the bush? Ten miles through the bush, by the way is like 40 miles on a highway. This is one of the first great lies you'll be told by the old-timers, who sit around drinking tea and talking about the big bear someone shot 40 years ago. "How far is it?' you ask in your innocence, as some maniac suggests you go over to the next lake, through the woods, carrying a motor for a boat that might be there, because it used to be. "Oh, about a mile," they say nonchalantly. Well, even an old duffer can walk a mile. They haven't lied. Except to omit the facts that the mile is a mile up -hill, a mile down -hill, a mile to the east, and a mile to the west. Nor have they lied about the bugs. "Better spray on some repellent. Could be a few flies." Did you ever wonder why men who escape from prison and head into the Canadian bush in summer aren't even pursued by the authorities? They come whimpering out the nearest road or settlement, pleading to be locked up A kigcgi cod kprio by D606 Stra66c4y or shot immediately. Aside from breaking an ankle on the "trail" which is pure jungle interlaced with rocks, a mile trip through the bush would make a session with the Gestapo a Sunday School picnic. Most of us can blow or wave a way a mosquito, swat a fly, demolish a bumblebee with a newspaper. How many of us can annihilate a so-called deer fly, the size of a sparrow, who fastens on one's peck, and proceeds to dine leisurely, regardless of swipes at him with tackle boxes, gas cans, and fishing rods? Well, I can't. And only the lurching, blasphemous, old fighter pilot ahead of me kept every bone in my 63 -year-old frame functioning. He was 65. Honor prevailed. We made it. And both politely but firmly refused our old buddy's sprightly request next morning that we take "another little hike" to see "another great lake." By this time, the guests had agreed that one lake looked much like another. What kind of people would do this to you? They weren't Gestapoor KGB or CIA. They were just a bunch of ordinary Canadians who had enough sense to know that bass don't bite in hot weather, and wanted to see what was left of some old fighter pilots whose daring -do the previous night had piqued their curiosity. Boy. we talked a good war, but they won it. Monsters? No. Jack Ryan, a lawyer, was the instigator, and I think he loved every moment of our torture. He probably still hates me for nearly clipping off the tail off his Spitfire about 80 years ago. His other victim was Ren Henderson, another old fighter pilot, an Australian who married and settled in Canada after the war, brought up in New Guinea, flew in the Aleutians, instructed flying at Camp Borden whe,11 was frantically trying to get my wings, flew two tours o£Ops in WWII, and is a raving naturalist who says things like, "What is that lovely little lizard on your neck?" Ryan's accomplices were permanent mem- bers of the camp. Everybody seemed related. Harold and Ken Rogers were half-brothers, with almost three decades between them. Bill Turner, a millionaire who quit school at 15, was a sort of uncle to Andy Simone, a civil servant who can hardly wait to get out. Ryan and 1 are old buddies, based on a brief relationship in Britain about 40 years ago. He and Henderson were on the same Spitfire squadron. Henderson and 1 have a mutualnld sidekick, Tony Frombola. And so it went. Ryan is the complete Irishman. Life of the party. Never stops working or talking. Listens but doesn't seem to. If he isn't talking he's singing. Fit as a fiddle. Trust him with my wife or my life. Harold? Old-timer. retired, 84 stories about hunting. Crafty poker player. Ken? Can do anything with motors, refrigerators, stoves, you name it. Friendly, open, good-hearted, ends every sentence with, eh?" A real Canadian. Bill Turner? Hell of a good cook for a rich man, A little to the right of Attila the Hun socially. Caustic wit. but never wounding.' Andy? Looked like he'd wandered in from a Disney picture. Never stopped working. Didn't drink or smoke. Quiet, witty. Sweet - natured. Dumb like a fox at poker. 'Whadda 1 do now?" and he's sitting there with four aces. 1 could write a column about this weekend, but of course 1 won't. Just a couple of general observations. The language was the worst since the last day in the teachers' lounge. Yet everybody's wife was sacred. No suggestive remarks. Only bouquets. And Bill Turner's wife, Flo, makes the best ?&%S 'SI marmalade in Texas. She cuts every single strip of orange by hand, even though Bill tells her it's IS%&S?& stupid. She does. And maybe it is. But 1 wouldn't trade it. Ryan, I'll get you for this. Turn over the legal affairs of my entire family to you. That'll flip your flaps.