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The Citizen, 1995-07-26, Page 4 1I 4CCNA C The North Huron BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1995 P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Publisher, Keith Roulston Eitv-ri4, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. Editor, Bonnie Gropp NOM 1H0 NOG 1/40 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 Sales Representatives, FAX 523-9140 FAX 887.9021 Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell The Citizen is published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable In advance al a rate of $23.00/year ($21.50 plus $1.50 G.S.T.) for local; $33.00/year ($30.85 plus $2.15 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Llstowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $62.00/year tor U.S.A. and Foreign. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsibl9 for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 'Down and out PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1995. Building on our strengths One of the realizations that A Taste of Country Food Fair brought home, when it was held in Blyth, Saturday, is just how many people there are in the region who are marketing their food to the public. Exhibitors at the fair represented everything from producers' associations like the beef producers, egg, milk, corn, white bean and soybean producers, to maple syrup, emu, venison, lamb, rabbit, pheasant and wild boar. There were people who grow herbs and turn them into herb vinegars or herbal tea, people who grow specialty vegetables like garlic or just plain, top of the line garden produce, people who grow rutabagas by the hundreds of acres. There were people who make jams and jellies, apple butter, sausage, even cotton candy made with maple sugar. There are dozens of inventive, hard working people who are trying to squeeze more out of the food dollar before it leaves Huron County. We need more people like them. If employment is to grow in Huron, if we're to provide more jobs for our young people, we must build on our strengths. It's unlikely that a major car plant is going to be built here If we are going to have more jobs it is likely to come from expansion of our existing businesses or the creation of new small businesses. Our strengths in Huron include the richest, most varied farming county in the province, a county that produces more farm income than Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland. Yet the after-farm processing of these products does not contribute as many jobs as it should. By encouraging more entrepreneurial activity in the food sector as organizations like the Huron Business Centre does, by linking our strength in food with our strength in tourism, we can create more jobs. These businesses may start out small but a few of them may just become important job providers in the future. — KR E ditorial A world with no rules Throughout history there have been those who have advocated the demise of all forms of government. In the international field, looking at places like Bosnia and Rawanda, we're getting a sample of what that kind of world could be like. For the poor civilians of Bosnia, there are no rules, there is no civilization. They live in a country where only the strong set the rules. Torn by civil, even tribal, warfare, they live in fear and there is no one to protect them. The one hope they have is from the United Nations but there is so much division between the members of the UN that there can be no united action to rescue these people from the desperate situation in which they live. Nations like Canada are so worried about the safety of their own peacekeepers that they don't want to take stronger action to rescue people who face terrible atrocities if the Serbs overrun their supposedly "safe areas". It's not the first time the innocent people have been butchered while the rest of the world watched and, in the case of the UN, debated. In Rawanda swift action could have prevented the slaughter of many, but the UN couldn't agree to act. In a more peaceful area, we have now created a global economy beyond the reach of government regulation. It means that you may be buying things in your local store that are cheap because they are created by slave labour. It means that a company that objects to regulations to protect the environment in one country can move to another country with no rules. We've created a global world but we haven't created the controls to make this world a civilized place to live. We are facing anarchy and many more people like the Bosnians and the Rawandans will suffer if we don't move quickly to set some framework in place. —KR Grab hold of the future Two futurists speaking on the CRC business show Venture recently said a new era is coming to business. No longer will there be large office buildings, they claimed, because the work will come to the people. People will work in their homes and small offices and communicate by computer modem. This presents a huge opportunity for rural communities to grab a piece of business activity that previously has been horded in the cities. It won't be easy, however. Natural inertia and the social side of business makes people want to get together in offices, or at least for lunch. If we're going to take advantage of the opportunity we're going to have to grab it. Just wishing won't make it happen.—KR Guest column By Erica Clark On July 3 at 10 a.m., I stepped on the Cha-Co Trail bus to begin the 12 day Oddfellow and Rebekah United Nations Pilgrimage. When I began the trip I wasn't too sure what it would be all about, or what I would be doing. I had no idea this trip would make such a difference in the way I viewed the United Nations and its role in the world. The UN Pilgrimage was sponsored by The Independent Order of Oddfellows and The International Association of Rebekah Assemblies. In return for the opportunity to go on the United Nations Pilgrimage, each delegate is expected to do presentations about their trip to the United Nations to various groups and organizations in the area. The Independent Order of Oddfellows and The International Association of Rebekah Assemblies have NGO status, meaning they are a non- governmental organization. Their NGO status means that the Rebekahs and Oddfellow can watch the proceedings of the General Assembly of the United Nations from special galleries. Before reaching New York we stopped in some other cities along the way, hence the name 'pilgrimage'. The nip started in Michigan with the delegates from that state and our three chaperones, Pat, Jerry, and Dorothy. When the bus was full we had 39 delegates, three chaperones, and of course, Steve, our bus driver. Twenty of the delegates, including myself, were from Ontario. Three of the delegates were from Newfoundland and the other 16 were from the states of Michigan and New York. By the end of the first day, when we stopped in Toronto, we had most of the delegates with us. Like several other Oddfellow and Rebekah Lodges, the Toronto lodge fed us a delicious meal in their hall. Several members of the Toronto lodge even opened their homes to us when we were billeted out for the night. From Toronto we went on to Ottawa, where we saw the Parliament Buildings, Rideau Hall, the changing of the guards, the Museum of Science and Technology, and a lot of the city. While in Ottawa the Americans on our bus expressed their surprise at how little security there was around the federal buildings in comparison to the ones in Washington. After leaving Ottawa we went down into the United States. Upon reaching Gettysburg we were joined by the other two buses from the U.S. that were doing the pilgrimage with us. We toured the Gettysburg Battlefield before going on to Washington. There_we did a fair bit of touring around viewing the federal buildings and the White House. We also went to a lot of memorials such as the Vietnam Wall, the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, and the Kennedy graves. While at the Kennedy graves we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. From Washington it was on to Philadelphia, our last stop before New York. In Philadelphia there were lots of old buildings to see since it was the capital city before Lots to see in Philly Washington was built. Among the sights were the Liberty Bell and the Pennsylvania Assembly Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution were made and signed. We also saw the Old Christ Church. Ironically enough many of the things inside the church, such as the pulpit, baptismal font, and bells are as old as the country but are still used today. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for things like the Rising Sun Chair President Washington sat in, or the Liberty Bell. Finally, on July 9 in the evening, we arrived in New York city, where we would spend the next four days of our trip. Every morning we were to have a briefing at the United Nations and in the afternoon we went sightseeing. The first morning the speaker was going to be a member of the UN Secretariat but they had to attend a General Assembly meeting instead. Photo by Janice Becker We had four speakers from the different areas within the United Nation speak to us and a man from Cambodia spoke to us about his country. Our four UN speakers were: Jim Radley, a training officer for the peacekeepers, Deidra O'Shay, who is with UNICEF, a maxi from the civilian humanitarian aide program, and another man from the economics programs. The briefings had two purposes: the first was so we could learn more about the United Nations and the second was to help us prepare for the speech contest later in the week. During the briefings I discovered that what I did know about the United Nations from the media wasn't nearly enough and in some ways exaggerated to the point of being incorrect. I learned that sending peacekeepers to different places in the world is about the smallest part of what the United Nations does, although it receives the most attention. I also learned that there are, and have been, several other peacekeeping missions that have met with far more success than Bosnia. Unfortunately this may be why they don't receive very much attention. At the United Nations I learned that most of the programs the UN has are long-term development programs involving the government and people of the country. This way, although results do not appear overnight, improvements and developments continue after the UN has left. The United Nations also provides assistance to governments for things like negotiating contracts with large companies, and forming economic and environmental laws. It all comes back to the saying "If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Besides learning about the UN and preparing for the speech contest we did a lot of sightseeing in New York. Some of the things we saw were: the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Fifth Avenue, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the World Trade Centre. Thursday, July 13, our last day in New York, we had the speaking contest. Everyone spoke on the Continued on page 5 UN tour an eye-opener