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The Huron Expositor, 1994-12-21, Page 4Ltd itor ial 4 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, Dkatnl.r 21, 1994 E Expositor Huron Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 TERRI-LYNN DALE • General Manager & Advertising Manager MARY MELLOR - Sales PAT ARMES - Office Manager DIANNE McGRATH - Subscriptions TIM CUMMING - Editor GREGOR CAMPBELL - Reporter LINDA PULLMAN - Typesetter BARB STOREY - Distribution A Burgoyne Community Newspaper SUBSCRIPTION RATES: LOCAL - 28.00 a year, in advance, plus 1.96 G.S T SENIORS 25.00 a yeor, in advance, plus 1.75 G.S.T. Goderich, Stratford oddresses: 28.00 a yeor, in odvance, plus 7.28 postoge, plus 2.47 G.S.T Out -Of -Area oddresses: 28.00 o year, in odvance, plus 11.44 postage, plus 2.76 G.S.T USA & Foreign. 28.00 a year in advance, plus S76.00 postage, G.S.T. exempt SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Published weekly by Signal -Star Publishing at 100 Main St., Seaforth. Publication mail registra- tion No. 0696 held of Seaforth, Ontario. Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of o typographical error, the advertising spoce occupied by the erroneous item, together with a rea- sonoble allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typogrophical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services moy not be sold. Advertising is merely on offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the toss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions and undeliverable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor. Wednesday, December 21, 1994. Editorial and Business Offices - 100 Main Street, Seaforth Telephone (519) 527-0240 Fax (519) 527-2858 Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK IWO Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association and the Ontario Press Council Booze, cruise don't mix One has to wonder if humankind will ever learn a simple lesson - if you are going to drink, do not drive. It is rare that two or three weeks will go by in this area without someone being charged for drinking and driving. There is apparently nothing that can be done to get the message across that drinking and driving is a bad mix. Each year there are campaigns from the police and various other groups warning of the dangers of this mix, and still the arrests are made on a regular basis. It should, at least, be hard to miss the reminders from the police that will be in place between now and the new year. Those reminders are, of course, the seasonal Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) spotchecks. Already, Police have stopped hundreds - of vehicles in spotchecks, and prowl nce-wi wrili some 79,500 vehicles had been slopped `�"'� ° The rules should nod be a♦ the tf—e dit oollSw If you are planning on drinking, find an alternative method of travel, be it a designated driver, or by calling for a cab. Or for that matter, on these clear winter nights, try walking if you have a destination within town...after all, a little exercise never hurts. Have a safe and happy holiday season. •Reprinted from Clinton News -Record Letters to the Editor Parents must instil values Dear Editor, I would like to add my two cents to the recent op-ed on Myths of, or lack of values education. First and foremost Canada breaks down roughly at 44 per cent Cath- olic and 44 per cent protestant denominations, (which also includes visible minorities, for the political- ly -correct). So much for so-called cultural diversity that we hear so much about. So in our speed for political correctness the majority in Canada once again submits to the screams of special interest groups. However that could be a subject for another day. If for a minute we take 88 per cent of the population of Canada professing a faith in a personal saviour and/or God and following and obeying His laws then any value -based education not fully based on Judeo-Christian values must be for these people false and therefore mythical. I believe that school is not the place to look for values education. If the decline in anything the gov- ernment has ever got into is any indication, then along with financial bankruptcy, we will also have moral bankruptcy. (I believe we have both.) The truth is either Jesus Christ is who he says he is or he is not. No other man-made religion or humanist manifesto can make the claims Christ does. So government tics the hands of school administration with laws that are contrary to the Bible. However that is not important, it was never a school, school bureaucracy, or the government's place to ever educate the moral behaviour of our children. Responsibility to morally educate the children was/is the domain of parents and should be done by parents, and government should stay out of that process. I would even happen to guess this is being done by the majority of professing Chris- tian parents to various degrees. School's place is to teach some fundamental principles, ycs: read- ing, writing and arithmetic but also a desire to constantly learn for life. Therefore schools should not be teaching any subject that deals with values, religion, origin, faith or political points of view. I know that hits the left and right, right where it hurts but you can't have it both ways or shirk your responsibilities. Either you teach amoral subject matter or you teach moral/valued base subject matter on what the majority of Canadians believe is the truth. I personally believe from the evidence and personal experience of the peace that Christ has given me in my life, that he is who he says he is and therefore I am by that choice opposed to all other religion and atheists in the world. So I would suggest that instead of screaming at the school for failing our children, let us look in the mirror and say, "I'm going to involve myself in my child's educa- tion." Who knows. You might find it educational. Bruce Bennett RR 2 Seaforth Cons bilk Hensall man An elderly Hensall man lost between $3,000 and $4,000 in a telephone scam December 6. As a result, Exeter Ontario Provincial Police strongly warn the public against fraudulent offers of expensive items. The man had been pmmisecl a car, Targe screen television or other expensive items. All he had to do was sent certified cheques to the address given to him. • "The Exeter OPP cannot stress strongly enough that these type of calls will never result in a prize. Do not sent money to these organizations," said a press release. Opinion Anti -registration logic doesn't wash Guest Column BY PATRICK RAFTIS While supporting the proposed stronger penalties for firearms - related offenses, Huron -Bruce MP Paul Steckle voices his opposition to the proposals con- cerning extending registration requirements from just handguns to all firearms. While there may be a case for not requiring broader firearms registration, Steckle has not made it (nor, to be fair, has anyone else). Steckle dismisses comparisons between registering firearms and automobiles as "not enlighten- ing," and calls automobile regis- tration "primarily a revenue - generating tool." However, Steckle's assertion that automobile registration does little to prevent the theft of over 100,000 automobiles annually, is contradicted by his own assertion that over 25 per cent of these vehicles are never recovered. A 75 per cent recovery rate on any type of stolen property would certainly sound better to the average insurance company than the recovery rate for many other types of stolen property (stereos, television, guns?). Steckle also ignores the role automobile registration plays in tracking down the perpetrators of hun- dreds of other types of offenses. "Did you get the license plate number?" is among the first questions regularly asked by police of witnesses, presumably for good reason. To suggest, as Steckle does, "there is no evidence that reduc- ing the availability of firearms in general also reduces their avail- ability to persons with criminal intent," indicates little effort to acquire evidence on his part. A simple comparison of the per- centage of crimes involving firearms in the overall crime rate between Canada and the United States could certainly be intro- duced as evidence in any such discussion. In a column in last Sunday's Toronto Star, political science professor James Laxer refers to a study conducted by the Univer- sity of California between 1942 and 1982, which discovered a close co -relation between sales of firearms and increased fire- arms homicides. Another study in Washington State revealed a gun kept at home was 43 times more likely to be used to kill its owner, a member of the family, or an acquaintance than ail intruder. In a more direct comparison, Laxer cities research from a Washington State medical doctor which concludes the higher incidence of murder in Seattle, as compared with Vancouver, was due to the much greater ease with which firearms could be acquired in Seattle. Another chilling study by a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh concluded that simply having a gun in the home more than doubles the likelihood that an adolescent family member will commit suicide. Law-abiding and responsible gun owners have no more to fear from registration than law-abid- ing motorists need fear the gov- ernment will someday take their car, simply because registration enables them to trace it. If there are indeed worthwhile reasons to oppose gun registra- tion, we haven't heard them yet. •Reprinted from Lakeshore Advance. F�s/�6ac� Methodist Church and Parsonage. Seaforth, Ont. ift • METHODIST CHURCH - The Methodists first met formally for worship in 1856 at the home of their minister, James Spading. Their first church, located across from Maitlandbank Cemetery, was replaced in 1865 by a frame church on the comer of Goderich and Church Streets. In 1877 the imposing brick church, which now houses the Northside United Church, was built in Seaforth. It was the union of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches which resulted in the formation of the United Church. The Huron Expositor and Seaforth Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) are compiling these post cards leading up to Seaforth's Homecoming August 3-6, 1995. Winthrop FROM THE PAGES OF THE HURON EXPOSITOR, DECEMBER 28, 1894 Sneak thieves arc operating in Grey. Mrs. Harvey Atwood, 5th concession, had a jar of peaches stolen from her milk house recently. *. * Wm. Copp, of town, has pur- chased a house and lot in Egmondville and intends having a stone foundation placed under the house. The residence of Mrs. Mackay, Goderich Street, was the scene of a pretty wedding when her daughter, Miss Nellie, was united in marriage to Lauchlin Kennedy of Clinton. The bridesmaid was Miss Minnie Mackay of Seaforth and the groomsman was Norman Fair of Clinton. DECEMBER 26, 1919 Farmers in the Kippen arca who have been fortunate enough to be in the turkey line have been securing good prices. One lady had a flock of turkeys of over 40 and which average $5 each. J Letters Huron group supports law Dear Editor, The Huron Chapter of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario firmly supports Bill 119, newly proclaimed legislation which, among other things, limits and in some cases prohibits, access to tobacco to young people. The facts concerning smoking and young people are quite shocking. One out of every six teenagers smokes. Because they smoke, one out of every five of these smokers will die before they reach seventy. Smoking will kill eight times more teens than drugs, car accidents, suicide, murder and AIDS com- bined. Recent research demonstrates that, tobacgo; smoke is plaid gerous.;ta children, ant};. pis, �jtb ond-hanesmoke - smoke that .is inhaled by non-smokers - contains more carbon monoxide and other dangerous chemicals' than the smoke inhaled directly by the smoker. We need smoke-free workplaces, restaurants and other public places and applaud the proclamation of Bill 119. The Heart and Stroke Foundation strongly urges young people who have started smoking to quit. And to those who are thinking about starting, don't. Kittie MacGregor President Huron Chapter Heart and Stroke Foundation soldier wounded in Italy In the Years Agone Rev. Father McArdle of Dublin was presented by the pupils of the separate school with a suitcase. The carpenters arc busy repairing the Methodist parsonage at Londesboro, which was badly dam- aged by the wind storm. DECEMBER 29, 1944 Word has been received in Winthrop that John Russel Adams has been wounded in action in Italy. * * * Recent real estate changes effected through the office of E. C. Chamberlain concern the property of Elgin H. Close to Lewis Boshart and the property of Miss Mildred Duggan, formerly of Seaforth, to Elgin H. Close. Representatives of every walk of life, numbering well above 210 overcame a severe blizzard to hon- our Dr. A. R. Campbell and Mrs, Ruth Govier, Barbara Chesney, Ross Govier and Kevin Bennett. Campbell of Hensall. * ** The lot of the corner of Market and Main Streets known as the Broderick block has been sold to Melvin E. Clarke. DECEMBER 25, 1969 An enthusiastic gathering of ►175 Teen Twenty members attending the association's annual banquet in the Community Centre, Saturday evening, nominated a total of 21 members for four offices. Activities during the past year were reviewed by President Wayne Scott and Treasurer, Cindy Eisler told the meeting that a total of $1,164 had been contributed to arca projects during the year. * * * Pupils of Seaforth Public School raised $23 for the Junior Red Cross when they sold tickets on a sugar house. They include Tina Maidens, * * * Bobby, Donny and Larry and occasionally their older sister, Pauline have added a new twist to winter fun. These children are getting lots of fun from a miniature cutter and their pony, 'Tammy.' The children arc all the family of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Cronin, RR 1 Dublin, and can be seen daily now that the holidays arc here, touring their McKillop Township farm and neighbouring fields. e ec Miss Judy Friend, has returned from India where she has nursed for the past two years, Miss Susan Friend, Guelph, are spending their holidays with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Friend. e ec Gordon Hill, President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, has attacked what he terms govern- ment ignorance and inaction regard- ing adjustments in agriculture. Does OPP policing really cost less? BY MONA IRWIN Signal -Star newspapers Is it true that OPP policing costs less? Do officers from a municipal force know their community better? Which force does a better job with community policing projects, such as school programs? An informal survey of some com- munities that have made the switch to OPP policing suggests that resi- dents of the community chose a dedicated OPP detachment - one that would only patrol within the community boundaries - as opposed to what is popularly called 'drive- through policing.' "The OPP are great guys," said Chesley Gas Bar owner Salim Shaw. "But they're badly under- staffed. It can take an officer half an hour to 45 minutes to get here. They need more officers on the road. "My honest opinion is that it would be better if we had our own police forcc." The Town of Chesley (pop. 1,800) switched to OPP polic- ing Jan. 1, 1988. They arc serviced out of the Walkerton OPP Detach- ment, and have eight hours of dedi- cated policing (they started with 10, which means that, out of every 24 hours, police must spent at least eight within the town boundaries. "Personally, I don't think it's that much of a success," says Ernie Duff, owner of Duffy's. "The local police force was here all the time. Now we have a 1-800 number, and it gets somebody here from 25 miles away." Duff says it was a "personal vendetta" against the local police sergeant that precipi- tated the OPP costing. "He rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. That's why we went OPP," Duff says. "We have a very serious parking problem, that the OPP won't con- trol," said Bruce O'Connor, owner of O'Connor Auto Supply. "We're almost at the point of hiring a meter maid. When you do that, because the OPP say that's 'below them,' you've got a problem." O'Connor says the OPP were contracted to spent 6.7 man-hours per day in the village, but "1 some- times question that" they spend even that much time. "The local police knew who the players arc," he adds. "They knew who to go after when trouble hits. The OPP don't have that advantage. "O'Connor also says its was contro- versy with the municipal force that led to the village signing an OPP contract. "Sotms le had Smarr prgb- Iems w.1th due police in this town," he says. Not everyone agrees that local policing services have doclined.