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Times-Advocate, 1981-02-18, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 18, 1981 Times Established 1173 Advocole Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 ereli Vie Imes - dvocate MUGGERS? 4441.0 ,....w.. •.....+. I,a•./1 .t a ,.> .=ebr ,lova' SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS 'A' and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235-1331 •CNA Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Regestration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $17.00 Per Year; USA $35.00 Burning questions Packing your bags for a holiday stay or convention at some posh resort hotel? Better toss in an asbestos suit, a good long length of rope or even a parachute. Hotel fires have been occurring with alarming frequency in major cities across North America and the death and injury toll is creating an un- easy situation. While all fires can be serious, those in hotels are most frightening because of the large number of people involved, the lack of adequate rescue equipment to reach top floors and the contradic- tory advice given to patrons in case of fire. • There's little doubt some answers are needed and the only encouraging aspect of the recent increase in fire fatalities is that the leadership will probably come from the hotel owners. Owners in Las Vegas have already found out that people are avoiding that city due to the two recent hotel tragedies and they'll have to come up with some strong assurances for patrons before they start coming back. Whatever steps they take should be emulated by other hotels in North America if they are to maintain the faith and business of would-be guests. In the meantime, there's going to be a major clamor for a ground floor room next to the exit. What is love? Love defies definition. There are things that cannot be defined but which are perceived and understood by the heart. It is not always easy to express our love to someone; our tongue is tied and our throat is all choked up! Why? Because love is felt but not spoken. In other words. it is often by tenderness alone that love is manifested. Tenderness is at the centre of love. just as poetry is found in the in- terior of things. Put two ounces of tenderness into your relationships with others and you will see that you do not need to know the definition of love nor to have a rich vocabulary in order to make others realize that you are thinking about them and that you love them. What modern man suffers most to- day is coldness and dryness. Noise and alcohol. gifts and parties will never warm the heart of man if kindness and tenderness are lacking. We often rightly say that we must take time out in order to live and not let ourselves be victims of situations. It is no less true to say that we must also take time out to love and prove it by our actions. What is the definition of love? Dont look for it in books! Rather, look for it in the everyday acts of life! Build it yourself with the events that happen and people you meet! Author unknown Distributed by the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews For Brotherhood/Sisterhood week. 1981 Take care You say you love me but sometimes you don't show it. In the beginning. you couldn't do enough for me Now. you seem to take me for granted.. some days I even wonder if I mean anything at all to you. Maybe when I'm gone, you'll ap- preciate me and all the things I do for you I.m responsible for getting food on your table. for your clean shirt, for the welfare of your children - a thou - By SYD FLETCHER Last week i probably sounded like i was on the -Temperance' bandwagon. talking about the tc•Iiow from Alcoholics Anonymous who visited our school i guess i am bothered about it when i hear parents say of one of their children. caught in an alcohol-related traffic case Well at least it w•asn t drugs Believe me after teaching senior secondary school students 1 have to remark that alcoholism has to be one of the severest problems fac- ing our youngsters in today's high schools Students are faced with a barrage of television commercials that • sand and one things you want and need. Why, if it weren't for me you wouldn't even have a car. I've kept quiet and waited to see how long it would take you to realize how much you really need me. Cherish me - take care of me and I'll continue to take good care of you. Who am I? i am your job.... Author Unknown Perspectives indicate that it is the 'in - thing to sit and have a beer with the gang. and also with tremendous peer pressure to he one of the group who drink almost every weekend. it has become a com- monplace problem in our society The girl who came to our scho,lknowsall about it. She started drinking at 13. simp- ly tor the thrill of it. Soon she was drinking every day. and often came to school drunk. carrying a bottle out to the parking lot. Then she started on drugs mari- juana LSI). PIIP You name it She had tried it. Pregnant at 15. she lost custody of the baby for a year and a half She got it hack after joining Alcoholics Anonymous and going straight for 5 months. Then the old habits came hack. She almost died from an Overdose and another time almost succeeded in killing herself Sounds grim. doesn't it? ('an you believe that her habit was costing $250-$300 a day'' She raised money by' selling drugs to other kids. She is not proud of her history Some nights. not so many months ago, the •creepy c'rawlies" still bothered her. with a sensa- tion of hugs crawling over her body till she had to get up and change the sheets to convince herself that nothing was really there it was a frightening pic- ture. for me and for the children It seems obvious that drugs are about as easi- ly available as alcohol. That means that we have to make sure that our children are thoroughly educated about the problem and that we all, parents and teachers, also become aware of the symp- toms so that early action can be taken if we see that our children are involved. � pr Fc- l'o.. Sou�AL BATT'N AR r • ■ a e-` CANADA COLUMN Despite the difficulties The storm which lashed the area last week points up the great difficulty that can be experienced in a winter election and calls into question the advisability of the scheduling undertaken by Premier William Davis. While it is hoped (not for the Premier's sake necessarily) that winter will come to a quick and quiet conclusion. there is certainly no guarantee of that. It is interesting to wonder - what would have happened had the winter storm arrived a week later and dis- rupted the nomination meetings plann- ed by the local riding associations. What would happen, for instance, if a prospective candidate found it was im- possible to drive from his home to such a meeting due to a freak storm that hit only one section of the riding? That possibility would make for some head -scratching by the association ex- ecutive. particularly if the absentee candidate was the one favored to carry their standards into the election. Of course. all candidates would be equally affected by any adverse weather during the campaign, so there is no particular problem there.. But what happens if some areas are socked in with a blizzard on March 19? It would be extremely difficult to permit a postponement for only half a dozen ridings, particularly if the results of the election in the remaining ridings unaffected by a storm were to be released. That would possibly alter the voting patterns and would bring anguished cries of "foul" from the defeated candidates in any ridings where the vote was delayed. • You can let your imagination run wild to come up with a bushel of plausi- ble problems thatcan be encountered in a winter election and it is interesting to note that the same provincial govern- ment changed the dates of the municipal elections for the very reason of escaping winter difficulties. So why are we having a provincial election during the winter months of 1981? Well. one of the main reasons is that Premier William Davis has been ad- vised that his ranking -in the popularity polis is at a high and the election call was made with the sole purpose of tak- ing advantage of that situation. While a month would not have made th t- much difference, it has been in - &dated the Premier stayed away from an April or May date due to the fact two of his children will be married in the spring and a later election would have played havoc with the planning for those two nuptials. There are times, or course, that the government can not escape a winter election. although the difficulty may not be that great when it is noted that the last winter election in Ontario was way back in 1905. No doubt the government of that day also learned that their popularity was at a high. Or did the Premier in 1906 have a couple of spring weddings in his family? Whatever the reason for the election, or the difficulties that may arise, the Sugar and .Spice Disp>ased by Smiley Z")- inescapable 1inescapable fact is that Ontario residents are slated to go to the polls on March 19. The Tories have already outlined some lavish plans to stimulate the On- tario economy, but that is little more than an attempt to buy votes. In this election, citizens must judge the government not so much on their plans. but on the record of perfor- mance. Conversely, the opposition par- ties must be judged on their planned programs and not simply on their abili- ty to attack the government's perfor- mance. Federal elections in recent years have proven the difficulty with which the electors are faced. Robert Stanfield was soundly trounced when the, Liberals managed to convince Canadians of 'the great dangers in- herent in Stanfield's plan to bring about wage and price controls. After being elected. of course, the Liberals in- stituted his suggestion. Last winter. Joe Clark and his Tories went down to defeat over their budget and planned increases in energy costs. The Liberals fiercely attacked the proposals and then came up with a comparative budget and energy cost in- creases once they regained power. Small wonder that many voters become skeptics! However. one of the parties has to be elected. so it behooves us all to give the matter some serious consideration as the campaign get underway this week in the local ridings. Names for girls is subject For ,one reason, and I've'no idea what it is. this column is going to be about girls' names. There are several possible reasons. any of whichmight be the right one. First. it mightbe just an unconscious reaction to the worst cold spell I can remember. The names of girls, exotic or otherwise, seem to help fight those Jan./Feb. winter blues or blahs. Secondly, I might simply be getting senile. This was shy wife's suggestion when I told her my subject. Who knows? A couple of years from now I might be turning up at playgrounds with nothing on but a raincoat. And thirdly, the more I thought about it. the more I thought about it. i don't know whether this happens to you, but every so often I get some silly old song in my head. and I whistle and sing it, in- audibly. of course, because I don't want to be put away. for perhaps fifteen hours. it could be Colonel Bogey, and i play it. with variations, through my head all day. No other tune interferes. Just a few days ago. I got one into my skull that must date back to the Twenties, and it went on all day. through teaching. conversation, eating, shav- ing. 1t was: You can bring Rose. with the turned -up nose. But don't bring Lula. You can bring Kate with the partial plate. But don't bring Lula. Some old-timers might remember it. I'm sure it goes back to the days of vaudeville. or the gramophone, as we used to call it. But I've no idea where it came from. where I heard it, why i remembered the tune, or what was wrong with Lula. Anyway. I began to contemplate the names of girls, and whence they deriv- ed We chose the name Kim for our daughter. because we didn't know whether she was going to be a daughter or another son, and the name fitted either sex. There wasn't a Kim on the horizon then. Now you can find one on every street corner. In my home form, I have two Kims, two Karens, and a Carol, and until I knew which was which, I'd ask a ques- tion and start sounding like the old song. "K -k -k -Katie." Girls' names seem to go in cycles. One year I had five Debbies in one class. Hardly ever hear a Debbie anymore. Aside from the fads, when every third gal has the same name, there seem to be some basic roots from which beleaguered mothers and fathers label their offspring. 'I've known a Robin Byrd and a Pete Moss, but those are exceptions). Some girls are named after jewels, but there aren't many Pearls, Rubies, Opals. Sapphires and such around these days. They're as old-fashioned as Elmer and Gordon for boys. Strangely, i've never heard a girl called Diamond, though I've met a few hard enough to live up to such a sobri- quet. Girls are named after some months, but not others. We can label a girl May, April or June. but you don't hear too many Februarles or Novembers floating around. I think Febbie would be kinda cute for a short girl born in that short month. Then there is the practice of naming girls after flowers. ,We have Iris and ivy and Pansy and Daisy and Marigold and Rose. and even, on the occasional farout encounter, Tulip or Virginia (if her last name happens to be Creeper). But they. too, have pretty well gone by the board. 1 don't know why. A girl is just as pretty as a flower, and often By john Fieber of use Council for Canadian Unity MCA/ I• o canadienae Conseil Pam' falait Canada is not known for violent earthquakes inflict- ing death and destruction. But each year, Canada records more than 300 shocks measuring 3.5 or more on the Richter scale. Fortunately for us, the more serious quakes occur in wilderness areas. But not su on the south coast of Newfoundland. In 1929, our worst earthquake struck Newfoundland kill- ing 27 people and wrecking havoc in fishing harbours. The Newfoundland quake was considered a major catastrophe because it registered a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale. In 1946, Vancouver Island was struck by a 7.3 on the smells even nicer. Why don't we go back to thatand call gins Petunia, Begonia, Phlox, Crocus, Daffodil? Think of the sweet little ab- breviations they'd acquire. Pet, Beggie, Flocky, Crokey and Daffy. Once in a while there is a flare-up of old-fashioned or • foreign names. Then we have a rash of Samanthas, Marthas, Ingrids, Fleurs, Leslies. The trouble is, with even these august names become Sam, Marty. Ingy and dingy, Flour, and Les. Thank goodness there is a solid ele- ment of parents in our society who stick with the good old Biblical and fun- damentally Anglo-Saxon tags: Ruth, Mary. Rebecca, Margaret, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Susan, Jane, Sophia and such. Not for them the exotic and subtly suggestive stuff like Sylvia, Sonya, Roberta, Giselle, Juanita. Those are the sort of names that can get a girt in trouble, How about Carlotta? Or Vivien? Trouble, trouble. . Personally. if 1 had six daughters, Lord forbid, I'd try to get one into each category. Fmer(aIda for jewellery. September for a 1 mdltth. How does geptember Smiley sound? Sweet -pea tor flowers. Sweet -pea Smiley? Ursula for an old-timer. Once had a slight fling with a girl by that name. Mary for the solid virtues and the religious con- notations. And Diana, goddess of love, for the dangerous group. If I suddenly and unexpectedly had a seventh. I'd name her for one of the great women in myth or literature. Perhaps Circe, or Cordelia. Everybody happy with those? Thank goodness, my daughter has two boys, one Nikov, after a character in a Russian novel, the other Balind, a name she made up. She'd drive us crazy if she had a batch of girls. Richter scale, but the damage was slight because it occured in a lightly populated area. Had it happened in Victoria or Vancouver, it would• have been tragic. Newfoundland was hurt not by the earthquake but by a gigantic tidal wave which followed a few hours later. It rolled into harbours lifting fishing boats onto the land. The •retreating wave sucked homes into the sea. Moat people died from drowning. Wharves and fishing equipment were wrecked. The wave came . without warning -when Newfoundlanders were relaxing after the earth- quake. Mainstream Canada A Break for Small Firms By W. Roger Worth Finally, most provincial governments have recognized that small businesses are decidedly different than the powerful national and multi- national companies that some- times control the marketplace. The evidence: during the last few years nine of Canada's ten provinces have adopted proposals to provide a lower corporate lax rate for smaller firms. While there are a variety of reasons for the increased sup- port for independents, it Roger f3'orth is Director, Public Affairs. ' Canadian Federation of Independent Business. appears most provincial gov- ernments now recognize that smaller firms are creating a majority of the country's new jobs. While big companies are laying off employees and closing down plants, smaller firms are picking up at least part of the slack. Quebec and Nova. Scolia joined the trend to lower cor- porate tax rates for smaller firms last year, and Prince Edward Island is now the only holdout. While the corporate tax rate is only minimally lower in most provinces (90/o for smaller businesses vs a general corporate rate of loo in New Brunswick, for example), the national trend is significant. Brien Gray, Director of Provincial Affairs for the 57,000 -member Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the attitudes of politicians and bureaucrats toward small business have changed dramatically over the last few years. "They're redity starting to understand that smaller firms are the real job creators in Canada," he believes. "We've been battling for a better deal for small business for years," Gray emphasizes. "Finally we're seeing some real results." DOLLAR SEAM Try the tightwad's route to help outrun inflation By John G. Sayers, CA Companies, big and small, know that they must keep tight control of their spending and ensure they get value for their money. Yet individuals who do the same thing are often Dollar Sense offers general financial advice by mem- bers of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. called tightwads. Don't let the label bother you. Be. come a tightwad. Unless your income is keeping ahead of inflation, it's the only route to go. Here are some tips to help you become a tight- wad: • With the Canadian dollar not far above its recent 47 -year low against the U.S. dollar, vacations in the States are too expensive. Stay at home where your dollar is still worth 100 cents. And with interest rates also around 'record highs, don't even think of borrowing for a vacation. •Try cutting your number of movies in half, with their accompanying food and parking tabs, and you'll be surprised at the money you save. •Seek out those inexpen- sive restaurants, and have that after-dinner drink at home. • Have you brown -bagged it recently? Restaurant or cafeteria lunches cost much more and are no more nutritious. On the other hand, if both you and your spouse work and company cafeterias are subsidized, you might want to consider having your hot meal at work. •lf husband and wife both work and one spouse has all health benefits paid by the employer while the other doesn't,, be sure your family is listed with the firm that pays the full shot. • When buying home entertainment, do your homework. Consult con- sumer magazines, decide on the best buy and model in your price range, then shop around for the best price. • Consider the extended warranties available on major appliances and home entertainment equipment. They're worth their weight in gold when the fridge conks out on the hottest day of the summer. • Rental equipment -• from TV's to water heaters to cars -- make expenses more predictable and avoids large cash outlays. Sit down with a pencil and paper and compare the costs of buying versus renting. • Consult the weekend section of your newspaper for dozens of places you can take your family free or inexpensively. When con• sidering entertainment away from home, check whether children get in free or half-price and whether there are more expenses inside once you've paid the entrance fee. John Sayers is with Dun- woody & Co., Chartered Accountants, Toronto. WANT TO KNOW HOW TO LIE DOWN ON THE !OB? BE A+BLOOD DONOR