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The Brussels Post, 1974-10-23, Page 2WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1974 BRUSSELS ONT0110 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros.Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspa'per Association. Subscriptions (in 'advance) Canada $6.00 a year, Others CCNA i 7,11hr $8.00 a year, Single Copies IS cents each. Second class mail Registration No. 0562. Telephone 887-6641. vERINACI CIRCULATION 4Brussels Post EVA1140110 1172 The biggest employer "Who is the largest employer in Perth County?", a letter to the editor appearing in Perth County weekly papers asks. Turns out the largest employer is the Perth County Board of Education with a staff of over 1,000, an influence on over 30,000' people and an annual budget of over $14,000,000. The letter is written by a group of Perth County teachers who are interested in sparking interest in the school board trustee elections that will take place on December 2 and in "encouraging active voter participation on election day". The precise figures that they cite belong to Perth County but voters in the area who will be voting for the Huron County School Board or the Huron Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board would do well to keep in mind that they too are voting for trustees who will employ and influence a large number of people and spend a great deal of money. It is the job of our elected trustees to keep in touch with the ratepayers and their educational concerns, and to explain the parents' concerns to the administrators. They have to interpret the wishes of those who elect them, a thing which it is impossible for the administrators, who are only hired hands, to do. The administrators of our school boards are highly educated, intelligent men (we don't know of a woman among them ... the women are still in the classroom). Because our school systems are now complex and large operations, they are naturally more knowledgeable about the detailed parts of the whole than are the trustees. A trustee who feels he is right and is supporting the wishes of those who elected him, but has had no great amount of experience at public speaking must find at times that he is at a disadvantage when confronting a smooth talking official with all the facts at his fingertips and backed by many thousands of dollars of support specialists. This makes it all the more necessary that we have as board members people who reflect the views of those who elected them, who have opinions and are not afraid to express them. We need more trustees who can delve in and understand the complexities of modern education, without letting their complicated nature become an excuse for not acting as an advocate for parents and taxpayers. In an increasingly complex society specialists are necessary but equally necessary is the common sense which an informed trustee, in touch with his community, can contribute. The public has a responsibility to inform itself on the educational issues and on the duties of a trustee in Huron County. Attend the November board meetings. They are all open to the public (although few private citizens attend). Then give the December 2 board of education elections the serious consideration they deserve. To the Editor Post keeps her In touch Sir; Enclosed is my cheque for slit dollars. Thanks for reminder, I really enjoy reading tny Brussels paper. I like to keep in touch With Brussels as I consider it My home town. I'm looking forward to playing there again on November first and SecOrid our little band. Thank you again. Ruthie Hinton ',Cll. I" -CILs Sugar and Spice By Bill Smiley I'd planned to write a column about Thanksgiving Day this year but the days went shooting by and suddenly it was past. However, I was undaunted. As the preachers and writers tell us every Christmas, there is no reason that peace on earth and goodwill toward men should be confined to a single day. Nor is there any reason that we should give thanks only on the second Monday in October. So here goes. Did you stop and give thanks on that -day? Or did you just enjoy the long .weekend, stuff yourself with turkey, and slump in front of the box to watch football? I hope you did better than that: at least went for a drive and gorged yourself on the Pall panorama of colour, reason enough in itself for a deep and fervent thanks. I started to think of all the things we Canadians have to be thankful for, and the list seemed to be endless. First of all, we should be grateful to be living in Canada, no matter how we squawk at income tax time, and gripe about the weather. Without getting misty-eyed or waving a flag about it, this is a grand country. Our society is far from perfect, and there are injustices, and we are often badly served by our leaders, and yes, the Americans own too much of us. But these things are more than offset when we start piling things on the other side of the scale. What are some of the goodies? Well, first, there are the intangibles. There are very few places in this country where a person is afraid to walk alone, even at night. We have lots of air, some of it hot, some of it polluted, but most of it clear and clean. Nobody is literally starving 'in this country, though the old-age pensioners would give you an argument there. Nobody lives in fear of the boots hi the hall, the pounding on the door, the secret police, Our only secret police are the mounties, and every time they try something secret, the papers find out, and spread it all over the front pages. chortling. To continue the list, we have equality of speech. Even the Prime Minister can swear in a public place, such as the House of Commons, and get away with it. We have equality of welfare benefits.. The old lady with $600,000 salted away in bonds gets the same old-age pension as the old lady who has two herring salted away. We have equality before the law. What's that you say?There's one law for the rich and one fotra the poor? Nonsense. It's the same law.• The only difference is in the amount you steal, and the lawyers you can afford, If yob steal' big, and can afford a battery of lawyers, you got a light sentence. If you steal small, and try defend yourself, you get the works. We have equality of opportunity. A any of our native people. Just ask a Me or an Eskimo if he,doesn't have the san opportunity as the white boy who has fight his way through Upper Cana( College, Trinity College, and Osgoode H law school. He'll tell you. Just be sure doesn't have a beer bottle in his hand wh you ask him. And we have peace in - our land. 0 there's the odd little fluster. Like th Mackenzie rebellion in Ontario and th Papineau rebellion in Quebec and the Ri rebellion in the West and some kook tryin to put a half-nelson on the Russian head state in Ottawa and a rabble of nativ people attacking the =unties in the sam place. But these.are just trouble-makers, Right? There's no question about it. In thi, glorious nation of ours, everybody i equal. The only rub 'is that, as George Orwell put it, some are more equal than others. Well, those are just h few of the things for which we should give thanks. Then there are all the more tangible things. We have more oil and-gas than we need, but by George, we've made sure the price is right, and those energy-squandering Yanks can go cold and use candles. We have two of the longest railroads in the world. How about that? Even though both of them despise would-be travellers by rail, we have two of the longest railroads in the world. We have sonic of the finest wheat in the world coming out our ears, even though we don't seem to be able to get it into the boxcars and onto the ships to feed the hungry of the Third World. And how many nations in the world call brag that they have the second-best hockey team in the world? That's part of our national heritage and I think we should all , give thanks for it. There's only one rub m this glowing picture. Our inflation -rate, believe it of , riot, isn't soaring quite as rapidly as some of the other countries in the west. But don't worry about it,. Among them, our politicians, business leaders and uriiI3telf bosses will soon have that Sorted out, an we'll be up there with the best of Be them honest now, Where would you rattled live? Europe, with all those PeoPle„ans, pollution and culture and stuff? In the v. where the Great Exorcism is not takMg plate? In Australia, full of Australiaos? just sit back and give thanks that yoilar,e acanadialL in the best of all possible worlds.