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The Brussels Post, 1976-12-15, Page 2WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1976 MUSSELS ONTAROO Serving Brussels and the surrounding community: Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Dave Robb - Advertising. Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association - Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $6.00 a year. Others $8..00 a year, Single Copies 15 cents each. Ah Leir,4404PIED. il?Z. Brussels Post It's a dumb idea Remember the birds Amen by Karl Schuessler You are what you eat You are what you eat. That's why 'I've never got hung up on vegetables. I mean, go all the way. Eat only vegetables. Because who wants to wind up a vegetable? I ° must admit. I have flirted. with vegetables. I've skated around the edges of vegetarian possibilities. . Lately I've had all sorts of pushes in that direction. Eugene Whelen says beef brings out the beast in me. And then there's tennis pro Peter Burwash. H e raves about his life with vegetables only. He calls people like me "flesheaters". When he puts it that way, he makes my stomach start to roll., And once it's heaving; he goes on to insist that map's not meant to eat meat. H e's not built for it. , We don't h ave fangs like lions, , we? Were our teeth meant for ripping and tearing meat apart?, And besides. Think about all the things .we have to do to make meat fit to eat: Tenderizing, curing, salting, grinding, cooking. And then in the end; all we want is only the softest parts -- the best parts of the meat, as we call them. And if Peter Burwash doesn't convince me) then statistics try. My government tells me for every pound of beef I eat, a steer has to gobble up 20 pounds of grain. That's quite a runaround. If I'd at my grain straight, and by-pass the steer, think how much more grain I'd make available to this hungry and starving world. Arid if those statistics don't do it, then the health foOd people will. Some of those folks say you don't deserve to eat meat unless you appreciate what an animal goes through before he arrives at,your plate --- and palate. These people want none of this neat and tidy Meat all packaged and wrapped in cellophane in the meat counter, None of • those pork chops and steaks stacked in a row on plastic tray snuggled next to parsley and yummy garnishes. If you *ant meat, then go back where it all starts. To the feedlotand barnyard. kill your own. Put yourself through the orgy o butchering: And then see how • your mea tastes. They say that's the ethical way to ea meat. WS; slightly immoral to chew away--in reckless abandon -- blindin yburself to everything that went on before Stop being. a hypocrite. Take ful resporfsibility for the way you get you meat. Oil e Woman desdribed the scene -- her first experience at murder in the barnyard. A squawking hen. Turned upside down. Held by the feet. The chopblock, A stump. Two nails' to 'put the head between. Axe ". 'overhead: Chop.. OopS! Not hard enough. Half job. Half death, One more try. Done. Blood Spatters. Chicken jerks. Put the hen' under a wooden box. Let her shake ,herself out of the final death throws. Hot Water. Plung body. -Pluck out feathers. Singe off pin leather and hairs. Draw entrails. Clean off.. Wash off. There. An oven ready chicken. Care to have a chicken leg? It's good and done now. Roasted real brown -- something like Col. Saunders turns out. Now, this is where I usually arrive on the scene. At eating time. But with that new ' Start-to-finish job, I can feel my lust for chicken fading fast. But don't get me wrong. I'm not turning bananas, Turning to bananas. I want you to khow I just finished stocking my freezer with a side of Rudolph Bauer'S" black Angus beef. ,It's true. I let Rudolph, do all the dirty work. But he doesn't seem to mind. It's all part of a day's work on the farm. Why, Rudolph tells me he likes meat cutting. It's quite an. art, y ou .know. I can believe it. I. can believe another thing too. if Rudolph stopped carving, I'd end up starving, ‘CauSe deep down I know if Iliad to d the slaying, I'd swear off beef for suit. o I'd become a vegetarian forlife, I'd become what I ate. A Vegetable. toille ditd -t . ft...ftders ha►pe to visit i. We have soldliettie at Canyon Lake alid are going into a nice Mobile Home park, so we will be free to use our Motor Home more, Telope to visit the Brussels area next stittnier, • I ant also enclosing. my subscription for next year. 1vIy new address = McMaster, 36505. W,Pitifida, Ave., Sp, 222.),. Hen et, earlitotoai. 102141,.. Once in awhile, a truly, hare brained scheme from some level of government gets nipped in the bud. That is what has happened partly, to one of the silliest government ideas we've heard in some time. It could still use more nipping though. It should be dropped entirely. The idea came from provincial natural resources minister Leo Bernier. One day last week Mr. Bernier said the province was planning on turning all of the campsites in its fine provincial parks over to private operators. The reason? Ontario's public campgrounds lose about six million a year and private operators, by charging campers more to stay overnight, by charging people for firewood and other things that are free at the provincial parks and by operating stores and boutiques, could make, a profit, and pay some of the profit in long term leases to the province, the Minister said. The turnover to private operators might take 20 years, the minister estimated, and meanwhile no new ,campgrounds would be built. Campgrounds that aren't leased would be closed down, he said. The reaction to Mr. Bernier's bright idea was a stunned silence, followed by a lot of sputtering outrage. The next day he backed down and said no campsites would be closed and that the province would not allow private operators to charge campers more than what the rates have been at provinCial parks. We think Mr Bernier should back down further yet and give up the idea of leasing provincial campgrounds to the private sector altogether. The publically owned and operated campgrounds in this province are one of Ontario's finest resources: They bring in tourists, they give Ontario citizens a chance to get away from it all on' low cost holidays and they perform an important role in educating people about n ature. They promote the idea that the wilderness belongs to all of us ... let's take care of it. it is doubtful that private operatdrs could make a ,prof it in provincial campgrounds Unless they change them beyond recognition. If they cant raise the overnight camping fees, private operators would be forced to instal other money makers in parks that are now a blesSed release from commercialism. We can see it all now. Pay as you swim Jellystone poolsireplacing crystal clean lakes; Drive in movies will replace nature walks.lInstead. of guided nature walks by park eMployees, private operators will have to start motorcycle and snowmobile races, with paid admissions, in order to make a buck. There's sOMething about a Wilderness Boutique that doesn't do a whole lot for the back to nature ideal. Why private operators would undoubtedly haye to install pay toilets and showers. There is Surely a 'Shortage of qualified private Operators who Would take On "the risk anyway, SiX million d011ars is not too high a price to pay to keep our proVincial parks publically operated. We're sure Mr: Bernier and his frieridS et Queens Park can • find other Ways to trim the fat on government spending, ()nark) needs its parks just the way they are now.