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Times-Advocate, 1979-05-24, Page 4Page 4 Times-Advocate, May 24, 1979 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1 881 imes - Advocate Mrrtat $e«A Nwren. North MfaMknee * Nerds Uwhtwn Mncw M7J Ml SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS ‘A' and ABC Published by J7 W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER ....... ..... ....i- Amalgamated 1924 Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Published Each Wednesday Morning _^^Phone 235-1331 at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386C*CNA SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00 Invisible handicap In public school, little children are taught to help a blind person across the street. The average taxpayer does not mind seeing his taxes go towards programs designed for the aged, the disabled, children or single parents. These groups of the disadvantaged members of society are highly visible. A person in a wheelchair stands out in the crowd. The public will take the time to assist him in any way possible. Today, the mood of the taxpayer is that of rebellion in regards to suppor­ ting young able-bodied men or women via social assistance programs. However, what happens when a young person is medically un­ employable? He or she may look as healthy asthe normal young adult but nevertheless has a medical condition which prevents this person from work­ ing. Although this group can get Gains benefits, society often labels them among the welfare bums. A young woman has a kidney condi­ tion which prevents her from being employed.Fortunately, she was able to get an Ontario Housing Corporation apartment in the same building as a young man called ‘Peter’. “Peter,’’she said, “You’re lucky in a way... because everybody knows that you’re handicapped. Looking at me, nobody can see my handicap.” She can’t get the full Gains pension and her case worker has no suggestions as to how she can earn more. Today, social workers must often get discouraged. The Worth Ethic seems to have dispeared; ‘society owes me a living’ is a popular notion which seems to have taken its place. But society will support those unable to cope by themselves (to support themselves). The challenge facing groups helping the “invisible” han­ dicapped (groups) is to educate the governmental agencies about the special needs of this population. Since we cannot see them, we are apt to forget them. But they are there! We must be aware of this “disadvan­ taged” group within bur community! a city counci in actionto see c<’s saw — council inaction. ” Could be a long one day Mainstream Canada Who Really Wants Polls? Child abuse The director of the Children’s Aid Society of Metropilitan Toronto says an increase in the number of child-abuse cases is part of a general social problem. It is part of the effect of the me- generation the people who care about no one but themselves. It is also caused by the stress of the times in which we live. Not only is child-abuse increasing but the number of teenagers needing help has increased rapidly because their parents don’t know how to cope with them. Our society is in a bad way. Our generation taught their children that they had a right to whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, and now those children are grown up and unable to see the rights of anyone but their own. The results of this philosophy are shown in family breakups and may even lead to the breakup of the nation itself. Spread out The value of conferences and con­ ventions has long been debated by public bodies, and while some have come up with policies regarding atten­ dance, others continue to “play it by ear”. While the number of delegates authorized to attend conventions must be questioned, there is little doubt that at least one member should be en­ couraged to sit in on events of this nature. In a recent column it was mentioned that the writer was much in demand this spring as a witness for a couple of trials. Readers, we assume, have been waiting patiently for our report on those events. Well, there’s both good and bad news to relate; and first the good. Our appearance at a Stratford court in April was cancelled. Details are rather sketchy. One of the gals in the front office took a telephone message from the Crown At­ torney indicating our presence in court was not required. With it, went our op­ portunity to cash in on the big, fat witness fee. Oh well, what can a fellow do with six bucks these days, anyway? Last Monday, we headed for the local Legion hall in response to a subpoena that had been handed to us at the local OPP office a few weeks previously. Joining us were 82 other witnesses who had been called to testify in the assault charges laid against six OPP officers at an incident during the Fleck strike last May 24. However, that too was a futile exer­ cise, as defence lawyer Jim Donnelly succeeded in getting the trials delayed for one week. So, we start all over again this week. The bad news came in the form of an announcement from Crown Attorney Bruce Long that the trials are expected to take at least three weeks to com­ plete. That’s right, three weeks! Judge Glenn Marshman, who is presiding at the trials, appeared a little shocked with that news. But his reaction was nothing compared to ours. He at least had been given some in­ dication that the trials would be lengthy, although he had anticipated something around two weeks. Yours truly had been given no suggestion that he could end up sitting around the Legion hall for three weeks. The subpeona merely stated that we were to be in court for Monday, May 14. That’s all! One day! Working a one-day court appearance into a work schedule created some problems, but they’re not insurmoun­ table. But three weeks... that’s a different situation entirely! Suffice it to say that when the next strike hits South Huron, you probably won’t see that editor out taking any pictures of the action. If you’re smart, you’ll stay clear of the area too. •A- ★ * While readers may chuckle over the plight of the editor, those smiles should dissipate quickly when we advise th(em, that as taxpayers, it will probably cost them around $10,000 per day while that event is taking place at the Legion hall. Most of the 83 witnesses are OPP, making the average daily pay around $80, a figure which is reduced by the four journalists in the crowd. The OPP come from across the province, resulting in some sizeable mileage and accommodation costs, to say nothing of the fact those big bruisers eat a lot. On top of that, their absence from the various detachments will result in some overtime pay for their cohorts, which is all part of the bill the tax­ payers will have to foot. We’re not certain that the final figure for the taxpayers has ever been set for the Fleck strike, but it was touted to be somewhere in the one to two million category. You can now add another $100,000 to $125,000 for the trial of the six officers. * ★ w During the discussion last week as to whether the trials could be delayed for a week as Mr. Donnelly requested, no mention was made of the fact that a considerable amount of tax money would be wasted in not proceeding with the hearings as scheduled. All 83 witnesses were present, along with the many court personnel. As noted, that abortive session probably had a price tag of around $10,000, although to be fair, the taxpayers would have been paying many of the wages if the policemen had been on du­ ty, rather than in court. We don’t suggest that the postpone­ ment wasn’t justified under the cir­ cumstances presented to the court. However, surely there must be some means whereby the delay could have been granted a few days previously, so the people involved could have been notified that their attendance was not required. As Judge Marshman noted, the number of adjournments and delays in court proceeding is of considerable concern. The cost to the public purse and the inconvenience to witnesses could be spared in many cases if the ad­ journments were sought a few days proir to the actual court date set. If the delays were granted, then people in­ volved could be notified of the changes. In the case in point, if Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Long had argued the adjourn­ ment request with Judge Marshman a few days prior to May 14, the 83 witnesses and court officials could have been notified of the decision and this would have alleviated the necessi­ ty of them showing up for the session. Is that too simple for our complex law proceedings? By W. Roger Worth When glib-tongued heavy­ weight Knowllon Nash of The National informs Canadians that a poll conducted for CBC television has placed the Con­ servatives ahead of the Liberals, he’s believed. Two nights later, Nash unblushingly refers to a Gallup poll that gives the Lib­ erals a five point edge in the election sweepstakes. To the public, it might ap­ pear that someone is terribly wrong in these seemingly con­ tradictory assessments. Not so, say the experts. There is no real difference between the re­ sults. Both polls are correct. ‘‘Canadians don’t under­ stand the significance of the sophisticated polls that now take place,” intones one poll- Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, ster. “Everything is compu­ terized and we take great pains to get the broadest possible in­ put. The public simply hasn’t accepted the fact that there is a margin of error built into the system.” That nifty explanation may be quite legitimate. But by publicizing such results the media can be accused of bla­ tantly misleading Canadian voters. Worse, the “sophisticated” poll results may end up affect­ ing the outcome of elections, pushing Canadians to support the party that appears to be winning. For this reason, British Co­ lumbia has outlawed polls dur­ ing election campaigns, forcing voters to decide for themselves which party to support, with­ out an indication of what their neighbours think. The burgeoning number of newspapers, television net­ works and private organiza­ tions conducting polls believe the ban unjustly restricts free­ dom of the press. Many are concerned that legislation siin-, ilar'to (hat in British Columbia will be introduced at the fede­ ral level. To many laymen, though, media treatment of poll results simply increases the credibility of something that, in at least some cases, verges on the ab­ surd. Consider the privately oper­ ated Gallup poll, the most wide­ ly used in the country. In an April election poll, Gallup interviewed only 1,014 Canadians. In this case, the views of each polled voter re­ presented a mind-boggling 14,000 people. Effectively, the public ft asked to believe that five elec­ tors polled in Prince Edward Island (population, 110,000) provided a fair indication of the party supported by most Islanders. Extended across the coun­ try, this is the sort of thing Ca­ nada’s normally hard-nosed media is more and more flog­ ging as up-front news, giving the material an authenticity it may not deserve. What’s clear is that voters are influenced by polls, per­ haps to such a degree that even an incorrect poll result becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. —x «own memory lane 55 Years Ago Miss Edna Follock and Miss May Jones of town are leaving this week for a pleasant visit to Great Britain on the S.S. “Marlock” for Glasgow, Scotland, to attend the World’s Sunday School Convention. Mr. F. W. Abbott is enlarging his flower garden on Station Street. Mr. John Taylor’s new house on Carling Street is progressing rapidly. The London-Granton stage route which has been in operation for about half a century was discontinued on Monday last. The report from the Ontario Dental College, Toronto, shows that Mr. James Walker, son of Mr. William Walker of Exeter North has been successful in securing his D.D.S. degree. extension course given by Queen’s University this winter for the first time. A new commercial service for the district “Superior Maintenance” has been announced this week. The firm will specialize in maintenance of floors, walls, ceilings and windows of commercial and residential buildings. Rev. Duncan Guest, Wyoming, who will succeed Rev. J. T. Clarke as pastor of Centralia and Whalen churches, was on Tuesday elected president of the United Church of Canada London Conference. Convinced that rabies remains a very real threat to the safety of citizens, council Monday night, agreed to secure a tranquilizer gun for police to assist in the en­ forcement of the town’s bylaw.That type of debate was featured at the recent meeting of the Huron-Perth Separate School board, with the result that trustees defeated a suggestion that only two members would be allowed to attend conventions outsidethe province. As a result, a total of six trustees will be winging their way to Vancouver this summer for a couple of conven­ tions. The taxpayers, of course, will pick up the tab. That’s an expense that is most dif­ ficult to justify and it is always in­ teresting to note that public officials often tend to think that conventions in far away places are much more infor­ mative than those closer to home? This point was proven recently in Exeter after Reeve Si Simmons attend­ ed a meeting in Orillia and came home with ideas about industrial develop­ ment that could pay dividends for the municipality. However, it is doubtful that the benefits would have been doubled or tripled by sending more members. Public bodies should be encouraged to send members to the various meeting staged by their associations, but they should also be reminded that more can be gained by the attendance of single members at several events, rather than several members at a single event. Still a mighty harsh land Perspectives One of my cousins was just a little crazy. I realized that the first time the day of the “great green apple fight.” My brother and I often visited at my grandmother’s house. As this cousin and his brother who lived nearby were about the same age as my brother and I we naturally played together a lot sailing dilapidated rafts across the pond, building dams across the little creek and riding the old pony, Teddy, three at a time. When the old fellow had enough of our company he’d break into a gallop, then stop suddenly and put his head down. Plop, plop, plop! We were on the ground. The day of the “great green apple fight” was one of those hot summer days when all the good things to do have been done and everybody’s at loose ends, not quite ready to admit that school might not be such a bad place after all. It was then that we started whipping the little green apples, not really meaning to hit anybody, of course, but just seeing how close we could come to the other guy. This cousin was a little wiry kid with dirty-blonde hair and a quick temper. We all knew that, but had sort of forgotten until one of the green apples caught him neatly behind the ear. The skin turned red right away and I guess that that’s the colour he saw. My brother and I and his brother too all out-weighed him by fifteen pounds but when he bent down and grabbed that garden rake and started swinging it in big circles, there was nothing on his here earth that could have made us stay there to have a little discussion with him about it. I can still see the three of us heading down the road, him in hot pursuit of us, all of screaming blue murder. It’s amazing how a little fear can give you a whole lot of energy and a real desire to move from one place to another. I saw him not long ago and reminded him of the “great green apple fight” but he had forgotten all about it. I guess in a case like that if you are on the receiving end it freshens the memory cells. As they say, it’s much better to give than to receive. Even though we are into the last quarter of the twentieth century, with the tremendous technological ad­ vances that have been made, this can still be a mighty harsh land to live in. At the time of writing, my heart aches for those poor devils in southern Manitoba, and in northern Ontario, who have been victims of floods. It must be devastating to see your fine farm covered with muddy water, your house or barn collapsing under the force of a vast, callous element over which you have no control. We can blame ourselves for bad judgement, faulty management, or just plain laziness. But when Nature chooses, with her random, indifferent power, to throw a big one at us, whether it be fire, flood, drought, hail or grasshoppers, there is not much to do but weep, curse, or pray. Modern man can walk on the moon, drift through the sky in luxury at 750 miles an hour, keep himself warm and clean by flicking switches and pressing buttons. He can communicate with his fellows over thousands of miles. But when it comes to a tornado or an earthquake, there is little he can do but cower until it’s over, and then try to pick up the pieces. We are not much bothered in this country by those two “acts of God.” But we have plenty of our own variety:blizzards, floods, forest fires, periods of either drought or rain that make the farmer despair. Perhaps the greatest glory of man is that he refuses to succumb to the desolation that follows these curses of nature that remind him constantly that he is a petty creature, indeed, of little Valley today, I’d probably feel like going out behind what was left of my v barn and quietly shooting myself. But they won’t do it, and that is why man will survive the worst things that Nature can do to him. He will pick up the pieces and re-build, with a stubborn and dauntless spirit that makes him refuse to give in. I’ve just finished reading The Pioneer Years, by Barry Broadfoot, about the settling of the West. A lot of people failed in their first confrontation with the eternal hardships of the prairies: the bitter cold, the vast emptiness, the terrible daily toil, the plagues of insects, hail, drought. But even more of them fought back, with little but their human refusal to cave in under almost unbearable conditions. And their ancestors are still there. And they, too, will go on fighting the savagery of this country of ours, and triumph in the end. Today’s farmer in the West has equipment his ancestor could not even dream about. He can farm four sec­ tions in the time it took his grandfather to extract a meagre crop from a quarter-section, with horses, and brutal, dawn-to-dark human labour. With the advent of the telephone and the automobile, the appalling loneliness of life on the prairies, of which Sinclair Ross writes so movingly, has disappeared. Today’s farmer may even have a small aircraft to flip him into the larger towns, or across the border to the fleshpots of the States. But there still isn’t a darn thing he can do about the weather. If there is drought, his crops burn and his cattle don’t fatten. If there is hail, he can have a year’s work wiped out in a few hours, and be off to the bank to borrow for next year. more importance in the scheme of things than an ant or a cockroach, and not nearly as capable of survival, over the long haul. If I were a farmer in the Red River ■ He may have modern, technical advice from government. He may be part of one of the great bread-baskets of the world, providing food for millions. But if it rains all summer, the bank still wants the interest on his loan, even though his crop is a disaster. Sure, I grouse just like you, and you, when bread goes up a nickel a loaf, beef prices soar, milk costs more than beer, or nearly as much, and I can’t afford a head of lettuce, without cutting down on cigarettes. But when I think of the gamble a farmer takes, the amount of work he must do, and what he gets for his product at the rail-head, I can only shake my head and mutter, “Why do they do it? I wouldn’t.” Well, my friend, it’s going to get a lot worse. With the millions of acres of junk land in this country on which to build houses, our blinkered politicians continue to allow industry and developers to buy up rich farmland, and turn it info factories that pollute with essences, highways that pollute with gas fumes, and high-rises that pollute with people. Take a trip abroad. Check the prices of farm products. Ours are still among the cheapest in the world. When you have to pay $5.00 for a pound of meat, 40 cents each for tomatoes, and $2.00 for a loaf of bread, don’t cry. Just remember that you read it here first. The farmer in this country has been getting royally screwed for decades, and he knows it. Prime Minister Trudeau chooses to call the farmers’ anger “whining.” My hat is off to them. Pick up the pieces, boys, and rebuild. We need you. Very much. 30 Years Ago Dougall-Rundle. In James Street UC, Exeter, Saturday May 21, Marian Rundle and Harry Dougall exchanged marriage vows before Rev. H. J. Snell. Saturday, June 4; Eunice Oestricher of Dashwood will receive the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the spring UWO convocation. Nurses graduating from Victoria Hospital School of Nursing are Laurene Zur- brigg, Exeter; Eva Fullerton, formerly of Exeter and Jean Krueger of Zurich. CNR freight office at Hensail broke a record of 30 years standing last month when bean shipments from the town reached 45,800 bags. 20 Years Ago Murray ’ Desjardins, municipal clerk at Grand Bend, received “B” honours in the clerks and treasurers 15 Years Ago Two Boy Scout patrols from Crediton under the ladership of S. M. Glen Northcott and troop leader Alan Browning, along with two Centralia patrols under S. M. Joe Buhagiar, spent the weekend in Hay swamp clearing up a site on the 100- acre farm of William Nor­ thcott in preparation for a July camporee for the Huron district. Damage was high in a fire which completely destroyed a huge L-shaped barn Sunday on the farm of Horton McDougall, about six miles east of Hensail. Ideal weather conditions are resulting in above average crops in Huron County. It is probable that some farmers might be cutting hay this week. Don “Chub” McCurdy, barber in Exeter for the past five years, announced this week he was moving to Hensail to the shop of the late Clair Deneau. I see your new hired man is good with a fork.