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Times-Advocate, 1983-02-16, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 16, 1983 Imes - dvocate Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications limited LONE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager • BILL BATTEN . Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mal Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A. $56.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' With limitations Members of Huron County council have a point in opposing current waste site regulations imposed by the ministry of the environment, although they tread on questionable grounds in some aspects of that opposition. Some 'small municipalities face sizeable costs in meeting the regulations as they pertain to compaction, burning,' covering and water quality. Cerinin ylVi, the location of dumps in relation to neighbours and the amount and type of garbage, should have some consideration, and perhaps the current blanket policy.regarding dumps is unfair. However, it cannot be logically argued that the problems experienced in the past with waste site areas should be disregarded or that those problems, however small they may appear, should be condoned. The , number of neighbours is not a factor. In- dividuals should be protected from the dangers and nuisance of pest, air or water pollution whether it be merely one neighbouring property owner or one -hundred. One member questioned the logic of having the same regulations for a city as a rural township. The logic is that many rural townships add up to the same population as a city and in total can create as much •pollution and other problems associated with dumps - as that. metropolitan area. Certainly, there may be some aspects where some townships can logically have less stringent controls, but never at the expense of others, either present or future. Mobster's idea tried Al Capone and the 1939-45 Allied Armed Forces had something in common. Capone used a rubber belt studded with spikes to stop police cars pursuing him. The allies used a similar device to put German tanks out of action during World War II. Now, some police officials are taking a long, hard look at spiked belts as a means of safely stopping cars involved in police chases. It's a rubber belt with spikes, a little more sophisticated than the one the mobster used, but nevertheless just as effective. Police, however, have to be more concerned with safety than was Capone. The new device.appears to meet those requirements as a fleeing vehicle can be safely and quickly immobilized. Policemen have always faced risks in high-speed chases and the risks involved for itinocent drivers on the road at the same time has been a thorny issue. Hopefully, the new device will prove practical, halting those attempting to flee the law, while at the same time reducing the risks for others. Capone is probably wondering why it took so long for others to recognize his idea. The grass is. greener. Funny how the grass in always greener in the next field. The person who is employed longs for a few weeks away from work. The one who hasn't a job longs for the opportunity to show his skills and get a regular pay cheque. An employer worried about big debt financing for his business, thinks how fortunate are those Who can work within a weekly budget from the money he pro- vides at each month's end. The employee wishes he was the boss and have no one to answer to but himself. The householder with the small lawn wishes he had more room to grow vegetables in the summer. The one with half an acre of growing greens thinks it would be easier to shop at the store than pull out weeds. Workers in Nova Scotia dream about those big salaries in Alberta and Ontario. Workers in Alberta and Ontario dream about the peace and contentment of working and living in Nova Scotia. Bank tellers think of the glamor of journalism. Journalists think of the freedom of regular working hours in a bank. Can we never be satisfied ? The Digby Courier Jet crashes, climber hits high spot Bobby Hull may have been one of the most prolific goal scorers to lace on a pair of skates in this country in the past cen- tury, but he failed to score many points as the main speaker at last week's Sport- smen's dinner sponsored by the Exeter Lions. The Golden Jet basicmly. crashed as he used his local platform to carry on a senseless tirade against his wife. His ability and preparedness as a speaker was shown to be about the same as that of his legal foray when he attempted to de- fend himself in their well-publicized t - matrimonial settlement suit. For some strange reason, Hull and a few other head -table speakers, appear to have an unwarranted belief that they are picked as attractions for such banquets due to the ability to sing, dance, tell off- color jokes or be proponents for the various causes on whose behalf the events are staged. Some of them come equipped with an ego that leads them to believe their mere presence and an autograph is worth the price of admission. The sophisication of the audience is well above the locker room menfality.of some professional athletes. People come expec- ting to hear some insight into the Careers of the athletes, a few of the humorous or exciting moments they have shared on the athletic field as they gained fame and fortune. Hull's recollection of his career was about as exciting as witnessing a pole - sitting contest. As a paid performer at the banquet, the audience expected him to be as well prepared for his job as he would have been if playing in the sudden -death overtime of the deciding game for the Stanley Cup. The organizers of the event shouldn't have to "coach" the visiting athletes. The object of this "game" is similar tothose in which they have made their mark: to give the spectators their best possible per- formance so they'll be back in the stands for the next event. Ironically, while all the athletes espouse their support for the causes which are assisted by such banquets, their lack lustre performance tends to undermine their appeal to guarantee future sold -out audiences. Fortunately, Hull's disappointing per- formance has been more than offset by r97� BATT'N AROUND with the editor previous dinner gusts to guarantee the success of the local banquet, as well as be- ing off ',et by other speakers at last week's event. Mountain:climber Laurie Skreslet, despite a facial expression that suggests he's watched too many avalanches head his way, was certainly one of those who showed an insight into what the audience had come to hear and left a meaningful message in addition. Those of us who tramp the flat earth of Huron County can hardly imagine the physical and mental strain involved in climbing Mount Everest; and our rather mundane existence leaves us short of comprehending the need for even con- sidering such dangerous challenges.. Judging from the standing ovation reac- tion of the local audience, many must have viewed the television showing of the Canadian climb and gained some insight into what it was that Skreslet had ac- complished when he became the first Canuck to stand on the highest peak in the world. IIere was.a man who had faced death with practically every step he had taken both up and down Mount Everest. One could only grasp a s►nall insight into his account of the ability required to over- come fear and to push his physical and mental faculties to the point required for such a dangerous trek. In a personal• conversation with the climber, I was told that he spent much of his youth in war surplus stores, that be- ing an escape from a home where there was continual arguing between his parents. Ile loved to see (he equipment of war and to hear the stories from some of the°men who had participated and surviv- ed through the ever-present death and fear. While that penchant could have been transformed into becoming it mercenary, he decided that he could attain the same degree of danger and personal resourcefulness without having to con- tribute to the death and suffering of others. lie chose mountain -climbing and other pursuits where the battle was his alone to win or,lose.•Others dict not have to suffer or face death Through his love of daring and face-to-face confrontations that parallel those on the battle field. Ilis point is that there are challenges available for those who fall prey to the inner -need to bully or conquer. There are mountains to climb or natural elements on which to test one's mettle without sub- jecting others to suffering or death. Unfortunately, of course, most of those who appear to have that neetl to conquer aren't brave enough to put their abilities on the line in an individual challenge. They much prefer the odds of having a gun in their hands or preying on those who are weaker than themselves. Unlike Skreslet, they show themselves for what they really are...cowards. Who's for a Isn't it kind of nice to see the government putting the boots to some financial wheeler-dealers for a change, instead of bluntly telling us common chaps that we must toe the line with 6 and 5, with inflation, that the workingman and the farmer are greedy and should be happy that swollen rates of usury have come down, and that there's a Big Rock Candy Mountain in:the Sky, if we just continue to trust in it. (the government )? Isn't it kind of sad that a government should sit around on its big, fat tail, contemplating its big, fat navel, practically turned inside out because the comfortable pot -belly has so grown with pats on the shoulder, campaign con- tributions, and sugges- tions that, whatever hap- pens can be covered up; or obfuscated by comforting stuff like, "You're doing fine; Jack. I love ya. Just don't get caught."? Isn't it kind of nice that, once in an ice age, democracy actually Works? That a placid government, even a ma- jority one, which usually turns over every con- troversial issue to a Royal Commission which re- quires three years and millions of dollars to pro- duce a report that nobody reads, can be forced into taking strong measures by an intelligent well- prepared and determined Opposition, and actually has to get off its britt before the fandango is danced to its last note? Isn't it amazing that government, with its huge staff of "experts" in prac- tically everything, doesn't have a clue that: some trust companies are shaky; people are polluting other people's water; we are building na- tional and provincial deficits which will put our country fairly quickly in with the Third World coun- tries; our defence forces Yds baby boom? working" housewife, who has been putting in sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for twenty-five - years, walked up and gave cabinet minister Judy Erola a tax allowance for non -working spouses? This is the worst column I have ever written. Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley are a snigger around NATO; our industries, in general, are still in the 1950s, as farces equipment, management and produc- tion are concerned? Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone could put the boots to the government, as the latter has done to private enterprise? The only person who can is the Auditor -General, and after a couple of front-page stories which prove that the Canadian public is be- ing sold everything but the Brooklyn Bridge, he is swatted off like an annoy- ing mosquito. Wouldn't it be great if people actually read the statement of the Ar- chbishops, that people are more important than policies, rather than snarking, "Why don't they stick with their beads?" or, "If they're rig'tt wiry don't they let the Cana- dian Manufacturers Association re -write the Ten Commandments?" Wouldn't it be simply splendid if some "non - Nothing but questions. Of course, they don't need answers because they are rhetorical questions. But the sentences are too long. Too many clauses beginn- ing with "which". If a stu- dent offered this as an essay, I would rip it to ribbons. Maybe it's because I'm becoming confused, like everybody else in this country. But who, normal- ly a decent, responsible citizen, willing to share, to contribute, to work out something better, can be anything else but confused when he finds himself sur- rounded by veniality and apathy in high places, anger in middle places, fury in low places and , whimpering from all directions, can keep himself looking at the plateaus, rather than the valleys? There I go again. . Another rhetorical ques- -tHor .. Another rambling sentence. O.K. Let's get off this querulous note. I'm get- ting as bored as you are. No more questions. Short sentences. Right? Right! Getting rid of Trudeau is no solution. Nor is Joe Clark, who would sell his aged grandmother on the slave market to become prime minister again. Even for two weeks. • What this country needs is another baby boom. It would take a. couple of years to get it going, but if the whole nation got down to it, or up to it, the economy would soar once again. - All our industries were geared up to the fantastic boom of babies after World War .II. Everybody needed diapers, booties, baby buggies, toys, smashed spinach, soothers, talcum power, maternity dresses. Then, a little later, shoes, snow- suits, tricycles, orthodon- tists, TV sets, records, jeans, six -dollar hair- styles, granny glasses, mini -skirts. The economy was booming. The Post Office was delivering the mail. Politicians were . paid about what a plumber makes today, and they were worth every cent of it. The national debt was hust a tiny cloud on the orizon. Unemployment was a bad word from the Thirties. Every kid was going to go to university and be rich ever afterwards. There. T at's solu- tion. It's as as that of any economist I've read. Who's for a Baby Boom? Speak for yourself, of course. Include me out. But let's get the country back onits'knees, at least, if not on its' feet. Perhaps they know something My brother works for a large Japanese company, indirectly of course. Ile sells their pianos and organs. Recently he was fortunate enough to win a trip to Japan to visit the company's headquarters. It was interesting to listen to some of his stories of that country.'s customs and habits, many of them different from our own. Japanese people are not used to the western custom of sitting on chairs. When they sit at the table to eat they either squat down or kneel, seemingly quite comfor- tably. Consequently, toilets are t simply porcelain - encircled holes in the floor with a con- tinuous flushing system • underneath. Another custoni which outside ( some rare -meat lovers would find this to be all right I imagine). Then again, at twenty dollars a Perspectives By Syd Fletcher my brother and some of the other people with him found a little hard to take is the Japanese habit of cooking food very little in- deed. Fish is often served complr'#ely raw and steak is simply seared on the pound for steak, maybe one doesn't want to cook away any of the goodness. One of the other salesmen, at breakfast time took up a big spoon- ful of what he thought was corn flakes and almost lost the earlier part of his meal when he discovered that the corn flakes were really fish scales, con- sidered quite a delicacy in Japan. , A final interesting point that was noticed was that in Japan'there is little or no crime. The biggest criminal event in the English - language newspapers during the ten days that they were in Tokyo was when a man set his at ack-type dog do some other people. Big news in a city of ter' million or so, eh? Maybe the Japanese know something that we don't.