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The Citizen, 1988-09-07, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1988. The International Scene Letters to the editor Ethel Wl plans meeting on recycling Going in the other direction BY RAYMOND CANON I once attended a history class in which the professor, only half in jest, pointed out that, at the beginning of the 1920’s the Russians and the Americans were attheexactoppositeends of the political spectrum. It was hard to find a country more to the left than the Soviet Union while the United States took up most of the extreme political right. Since that time, said the professor, the two have been moving in each other’s direction. The professor has since gone on to that great history class in the sky but, if he were still alive, he would nod with approval at the trend world history is now taking. It is a considerable number of years since he first made that statement buteversince the twocountries have continued the same direction and it is safe to say that at no time since the 1920’s have the two been so close together. Mikhail Gorbachev'has dis­ covered, at least officially, that the Russian version of Communism simply does not work when it comes to running an economy efficiently; the Chinese could have told him that, since they arrived at the same conclusion a few years Women Today plans open house Women Today, the self-help groupforwomen, plansan open house at its Clinton office Thurs­ day, Sept. 8 from 1 - 8 p.m. The group, which recently re­ ceived government funding to provide a Health Outreach Co­ ordinator will show its video presentation ‘ ‘ Doing it Ourselves” at 3 and 7 p.m. Members of the Board of Directors of the group will be on hand to meet people. Barbara Ancio, the Health Out­ reach Co-ordinator will also be present. The program she directs Huron population statistics released Huron County’s executive re­ ceived the latest population figures for county municipalities from the Ontario Ministry of Revenue at its August 19 meeting. The figures show the population of Huron county as 55,589. Local townships populations are: Col- borne, 1833; Howick/3122; Grey, 1918; McKillop, 1403; Morris, 1659; East Wawanosh, 1135 and West Wawanosh, 1367. Brussels population is 991 while Blyth is close behind at 899. Goderich remains the largest municipality with a population of 7348. Bayfield is the smallest with 711. earlier. When you have everything planned centrally, it is hard to get the market to work in your favour; all sorts of wrong decisions get made and then the perpetrators, having realized their mistake, are too frightened to correct it. Both the Americans and the Russians are now trying toget their economies turned around and go off in the other direction. The Americans have the simpler of the tasks; it consists mainly of their federal government having to stop living so much off borrowed money, foreign money that is, and get their budgetary deficit down to something that can be handled much more easily. In addition, they have to stop importing so much and must try to export more since they have a horrible deficit in their balance of trade. For Mr. Gorbachev, it is not nearly as simple. What he has to do or somebody else, if he happens to get replaced, is to literally turn the whole economy around and, in so doing, literally give up many of the basic tenets of Marx-Leninism which, it is quite obvious, simply do not work. The Kremlin has discovered that it cannot, in its current way of doing things, support a huge military machine, anadvanced space program, its foreign aid to like-minded coun­ tries and still have enough left over to give the Russians the consumer goods they have been promised for so long. As far as the latter are concerned, it can be safely said that will enable organizations, services and agencies to host educational events and mini-workshops to groups and the public at large, free of charge. The Women Today office is at 56 Huron St., Clinton. Visitors are not always welcome. Protection for your chimney starts here. chimney covers will save you a lot of time, trouble and future expense... •Keeps birds, squirrels, raccoons, leaved and snow out. •Acts as a spark arrestor. •Easy to install. •Common sizes available for most chimneys. •Strong and durable offering many years of service. Introductory Price $37.95 until September 30,1988. Regularly $39.95 the natives are indeed restless. When you add to all that the participation in a civil war in Afghanistan that it was impossible towin, the burden that the Russian economy was being asked to support was intolerable and Gor­ bachev stole a leaf from the American experience in Vietnam and is now getting out of Afghani­ stan. Russian mothers do not like to see their boys killed in a senseless cause any more than do Americans and Canadians. The hard job for Gorbachev is to persuade enough of the hierarchy to go along with his thinking on the matter. This is not going to be easy since many in the same hierarchy owe theirjobs to the maintaining of the status quo. In short, some of them, if Gorbachev has his way, are going to find themselves without jobs. However, they all have history staringthem in the face for the Chinese Communists discovered even earlier that the system has to be changed if there is tobeany growthin the economy and China is, as a result, further along the road of reform than are the Russians. There is a bonus in all this as the western nations have already discovered. In the technological race with the Americans, the Kremlin has come to the conclu­ sion that it was losing and losing badly. Therefore something had to be done to stop the senseless arms race, a race that in all honesty neither country could afford but the Russians far less than the Americans. Out of this new way of thinking has come the first steps towards the reduction in nuclear weapons. It makes little sense to have enough nuclear bombs etc. to kill everybody three times over. The first time is sufficient enough. All of this adds up to the fact that we are living in exciting times when change is in the air. From where I sit, these changes are most welcome. Distributed by: TOM DUIZER Londesboro 523-4359 or 523-4846 THE EDITOR, The Federated Women’s Insti­ tutes of Ontario held a Waste Management and Recycling Con­ ference in May. The conference theme was Educate/Initiate. The conference was to give those attending an opportunity to learn many of the aspects of Waste Management and Recycling and to give new skills to help promote the various ways that our garbage can be utilized. The F.W.I.O. has asked that all members try to help reduce their community’s garbage as all landfill sites are now starting to become full and land for more is not easy to obtain. ‘‘Recycling your garbage is your responsibility.” As Grey township has already made the decision to recycle we the members of Ethel W.I. are hosting a meeting for the public and W.I. members September 13 at8p.m. at Grey Central School. Ethel W.IV also hopes to be able to help in Canada Employment Centre ends busy season The Canada Employment Cen­ tre for Students in Listowel closed on August 26, 1988. Supervisor Beth Donkersgoed and Student Placement Officer Angie Karst thank everyone for their support. This year, 734 area students were registered. These registra­ tions include students from Wing­ ham, Bluevale, Listowel, Atwood, Palmerston, Gowanstown, Dray­ ton, Moorefield, Mt. Forest, Ar­ thur and surrounding areas. 554 were placed in a variety of jobs such PRINTING IS OUR BUSINESS • Colour •Business Printing • Posters • Letterheads • Envelopes • Business Cards WE CAN DO IT ALL! “THE BLYTH PRINT SHOP” We’re located Main St. Blyth Phone: 523-9211 other ways such as helping to distribute the Blue boxes in our village. / Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. ETHEL WOMEN’S INSTITUTE. Thanks volunteers The volunteer leaders of Brus­ sels Brownies and Guides would like to let everyone know that there are some wonderful people out there. The supportfrom parents and service clubs over the past year has been outstanding. We really ap­ preciate all their assistance finan­ cially and otherwise. Without their support the girls wouldn’t have the experience of Guiding. Debbie Trollope Julie Harrison Sherry Souch Wendy Heibein as babysitting, strawberry pick­ ing, painting, secretarial posi­ tions, construction, etc. Although the student office is closed, any students interested in part-time or after school work during the fall and winter can contact the Canada Employment Centre, 210 Main St. E., in Listowel at 291-2920 or 1-800-265- 3595. The Canada Employment Certtre will be accepting registra­ tions until the student office re-opens next summer. Forms • Brochures • Flyers • Carbonless Forms • Labels The wingham Sales Arena “EVERYTHING UNDER ONE ROOF’ OPEN MON.-SAT. 9-6 FRI. NITES TIL 9 357-1730 CLOTHING & FOOTWEAR For The Whole Family BULK Baking Goods Spices, Bulk Candy, Food & Grocery Items NEW & US s Furniture Antiques Carpet & Giftware NEW & USED GUNS