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Times-Advocate, 1983-06-15, Page 4Times -Advocate. Jure 15, 1903 Ames • dvocate Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Published by 1.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publisher PM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN • Editor HARRY DEVRIES • Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK IONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number I3$ . Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION BATES: Canada $21.00 Per year U.S.A. $56.00 • C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' A Reach ultimate goal There's obvious reason for elation at South Huron Hospital following the announcement that the institu- tion has been granted a three-year accreditation by the Canadian Council on Hospital Accreditation. It wasn't too long ago that members of the staff were doing their utmost to reach the one-year ac- creditation standard, and having reached that goal, it would have been relatively easy for them to rest on their laurels or take a brief respite from the discipline required to reach the top rating. That they didn't waiver from the ultimate goal is to their credit. While hospital care is something which all area residents hope to avoid, they can now take some solace in the knowledge that those charged with that care have been judged fully competent and meeting the high standards for such institutions on a national level. It is not surprising, of course, that the surveyor especially commended the obvious harmony between the board, medicgl, nursing, administration and sup- port staff at the hospital. That is the basic ingredient required on a winning team and the report almost had to delve into the realm of nit-picking to come up with some suggestions for further improvements. At a time when hospitals are reeeling under the publicity surrounding the infant deaths in one of the nation's most famous institutions, the local community and those involved in its health care should take great satisfaction in knowing that one of the few blemishes on the local hospital is in the failure to take care in always revealing the starting and adjournment times for meetings of the hospital board and the various committees. No report is complete without some suggestion for improvement, but surveyor Douglas Peart obviously, had .to stretch his imagination to come up. with any piece of constructive criticism. Meaner and leaner A Toronto research firm has come up with some interesting findings in a study of the Canadian fabric as the nation emerges from its recession. The firm claims Canadians have emerged from • the economic problems much leaner, but also meaner; more self-reliant but less tolerant of non -conformity. "What the average Canadian is saying is: 'I will work harder in order to be anything I want, but others who do not work as hard cannot expect to be anything they want as a matter of right and those who stand bet- ween me and my aspirations, as I work harder, will receive my disdain and scorn'," the report suggests. It may be difficult to imagine Canadians taking on such a strong attitude, but if the findings are correct, it does suggest some good has emerged front the economic ills. The work ethic may well be revived! Backwards in south The Leamington Post says that Ontario is the pro- ud possessor of more than half the Class One farmland in the country. It is the very best soil for growing food in all of Canada. Unfortunately, almost all of that prime farmland is in southern Ontario where 25 per- cent of Canadians want to live and work. This situation should present a moral dilemma for the provincial government. It has not! The record shows that government ministers have not spent a great many sleepless nights worrying about the foodlands of tomorrow. Whenever guidelines have been developed to preserve certain agricultural lands, ways have been found to break those guidelines for this residential development, that industrial dump, those new factories. Paving in the name of progress inevitably seems • to supersede the policies of preservation. But if a government can't preserve existing land, then it will open new land. For instance, it would seem most logical to save what's left of the Niagara Penin- sula fruitlands and direct growth elsewhere. Instead, the pavement continues to creep into the vineyards of the peninsula, while scientists try to develop hardier strains of grape vines and peach trees to grow in a less favorable climate. Logic has no place in politics. Here's another for instance: Northern Ontario's limited food growing potential is certainly worthwhile. We are going to need, in the long run, all the food - producing land we can find. In the short run, agricultural expansion in the north will help bolster northern econorhy while helping Ontario attain the government's stated goal of food self-sufficiency. Still, that's only one small step forward for agriculture in Ontario, while many big steps are being taken backwards in the south. Consider Whistler's father For those who need reminding, Sunday is Father's Day, an occasion which should obviously be marked with an abundant out -pouring of gifts and gratitude. For some reason, the impact of the old man's special day has never come close to equalling the festivities which surround Mother's Day. It's given little more than a passing thought in comparison. History shows that it even had difficul- ty getting off the ground. Mother's Day was established in the early 1900s when Anna M. Jarvis conceived the idea as a way of honoring her own mother and laun- ched an intensive letter writing campaign to U.S. senators and congressmen. In 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson pro- claimed that the second Sunday in May be set aside annually to express love and reverence for mothers of the country. The florists, card companies, candy - makers and restaurateurs of the world quickly jumped on the bandwagon to take full advantage of the material gain of the occasion. Even the churches got into the act. They planned baptisms to coincide with Mother's Day and saw their con- gregations swell to near Christmas and Easter service proportions. Father's Day, on the other hand, stumbled along from the outset. In fact, it wasn't until 1972, after nearly half a cen- tury of dedicated campaigning that Presi- dent Richard Nixon signed a congres- sional resolution instituting Father's Day as a recognized holiday in the U.S. The card companies have made a half- hearted stab at cashing in on the event, but their efforts would have been best left undone when one compares the products available for the two occasions. Mother's Daycards are filled with 4 hearts and flowers; the verses are mired deep in gushy and mushy accolades. But check through the assortment for the third Sunday in June and you'll see that the joke writers and cartoonists have BATT'N AROUND with the editor comes quickly to the forefront- when listing famous mothers. But what about Whistler's father? Well, he's been totally ignored in the adulations surrounJing the whole exercise that resulted in his wife's instant recognition. What was he doing at the time? Chances are, he was not only holding , down a regular job, but he probably had to do some moonlighting to supply his struggling artist son with paints, brushes and free board and room. To top that off he no doubt had to come home and prepare meals for his wife and son. After all, she was too busy sitting around playing model to undertake those chores. Of course, she couldn't get her . dress dirty either, so he probably had to do the dishes and the housework. Did he end up being rewarded by shar- ing in the glory? Not on your life. Nowhere is there any indication that his son even offered to paint his portrait, which may be understandable given the fact the old man was probably so hag- gered looking that there was some quer tion he would survive long enough to have such a sitting completed. That is not to take away from the con- tribution of Whistler's mother in the af- fair, nor the qualities which her son so vividly portrayed in his most famous work. The intent is merely to suggest that Whistler's father possibly made a signifi- cant contribution that heretofore has never been considered. Sunday is a day to consider the con- tribution your father makes. Chances are you'll find it's pretty significant so don't be afraid to tell him. replaced the flowery poets who came up with the Mother's Day efforts. The kids go dut and buy a pound of ju jubes or some jelly beans and hand them over in a brown paper bag, in sharp con- trast to the decorative hearts and flowers motif that adorned the huge boxes of ex- pensive chocolates that expressed their sentiments on the second Sunday in May. Oh sure, the kids tell the old man to stay in bed and rest on Father's Day; but it's not for him to enjoy some leisure while they tackle his chores. Heck no, they just want to use the family wheels for the day to go off and enjoy their own interests. Somehow, gentlemen, we've got to get this thing turned around. We're just not getting the respect we deserve. • • The imbalance of the situation can be clearly seen in an exploration of one of the more famous mothers of the world, that of James McNeil Whistler's. Whistler's mother is one whose name "The energy glut doesn't appear to have reached Otis yet." Musta Nope, they don't make them there models no more:" "Musta been a com, puter error." Hell, we ain't stocked them things for ten years." "You gotta be kiddin'. Haven't seen that rig since "75." "That part's . obsolete. You'll hafta buy the whole unit." Does this all sound familier? Are you as sick of it as I am? If the answers are, "Yes!", what are we going to do about it? . We hit the pits, although this has been a long - simmering fester, when -my wife went to a super- market the other day - not a little corner grocery, mark you - and the only potatoes they had were new ones from California or somewhere at a hell of a price. We love new potatoes. But we like them in August, fresh out of the patch, boiled or fried, slathered in butter. along with some new corn and green onions and real tomatoes that get 'red from the sun, not a lamp. I wonder how the farmers of P.E.I. and New Brunswick, as well as the local chaps, feel when they hear there are no good, old potatoes, even though they had to plow half their crop into the. pigtrough because they couldn't get a decent price. But potatoes are only one little 'synipton of a disease that affects this, country. It seems to me that with our economy in such a deplorable state, mer - been computer error chants and contractors and skilled workmen would get off their butts and get back to the business of keeping their customers happy. One way they could help Sugar and Spice I find someone who can!" Instead, we mumble angrily, frustratedly, and wind up buying the .new one, which looks cheaper, costs more, and will back down in ten months. By Dispensed By Smiley is by refusing to accept the airy waves of manufac- turers that there's a "shortage' of this, and a "new model" of that and "We don't make parts for these any more, of the other. During a war, people grumble, but put up with, more or less cheerfully, shortages, making do, us- ing what's available rather than what they want. Last i heard, Canada was not at war, and I'm fed up to the teeth with lame excuses about this being out of stock and that being out of fashion. Buy something new. Two years later it breaks down. Take it in for repairs and they look at you as if you were crazy. What? Mac, you gotta be kiddin'. Repair that toaster (iron, TV set)?. cost you too much. Have to send it back to the factory. Dunno if they still have the parts. Better off with a new one. What we should say is. "Well, listen. MAC, I hap- pen to like my old one. it was a wedding present. and it cost plenty. Fix it or which time it will be ob- solete and impossible to repair. There's something else that bothers me about this whole syndrome - the utter waste. Recently, we bought a new TV set and a new fridge. No, we weren't try- ing to get the economy rolling. though every little bit helps. The old ones were - well, old. But both were still working. • Know where the old ones went? To the dump. Something in my Presbyterian soul rebelled when I learned. this. The TV set had a fine wooden cabinet. It would have made a great liquor or record container, or hope chest. or something. Into the dump. And the fridge, in any other country, (except possibly The States) would have had a new motor and insulation in- stalled and gone on happi- ly keeping the beer cold for another five years. Net to mention the several hundred pounds of metal in it. Into the dump. I seethed inwardly. But I am not a cabinetmaker. Nor can I instal motors and insulation. All I can do with a fridge is take out the beer and put in the but- ter. But, into the dump? I felt rotten. Somebody could have used that old TV set, somebody who didn't have one. It still produced a picture and sound. Somebody could have used that old fridge, even though the ice-cream melted and the butter froze. And I'm just skirting the fringe. Our entire society is built on waste, forced consumption, and passing the buck. The lastest reci- pient of the passed buck is the computer. Get a bill for something you never bought. Write the people who sent it, pro- testing. You get a letter, with interest added and a threat. Write another let- ter and'the varlets suggest they will take away your home and throw your ag-_ ed grandmother in jail unless you pay the original bill, plus more interest. If you take it to the Supreme Court, you might, just might, get a real letter admitting there was an error, but it was the fault of "the computer". Cut down the old trees. Destroy the handsome old buildings. Pave everything in sight. Erect sti uctures that will be slums in two decades. That's Canada today. Send it to the dump. And when somebody comes into your store, waving something he wants to replace, be sure 'to say, with ill -concealed, malicious triumph. "Oh. they don't stock them there things ho more." Commercials as interesting As of this last weekend the national Progressive Conservative psrly has of- ficially put its stamp on what should have been done quite awhile ago. Joe Clark has beeh told that he no longer is leader of the party, something that should have been ap- parent to him long ago with all the internal squabbling that has torn his party apart. To give the man creat -though, it would really seem that he is a fighter. He didn't give in easily to Brian Malroney even though it must have been apparent to Clark that his days were numbered. To, give him further credit I thought that he -was more than gracious in accepting defeat, and I have no doubt that he will try to support the new leader in every way possible. Something that really disappointed me was the of John Crosbie. ranked next in importance to a major earthquake or the Perspectives way the media, in par- ticular the television crews, acted throughout the whole last day of the convention, trying to make the whole event something much more than it was. From the amount of money that was spent by the CBC on it you would have to believe that David Crombie's steps across the floor to the side' BySyd Fletcher top blowing off of Mt. Vesuvius. "You'd just have to be here to catch the drama of this," gushed a sweaty reporter breathlessly about that time: Indeed! At the end of it another reported said, "and there goes Joe Clark across the floor, dry-eyed, not show- ing a trace of emotion." What did they expect him to do -get up and throw a John Crosbie button at Brian 'Mulroney? The camera zoomed in on a couple of disap- pointed lady delegates who were misty -eyed. Then again maybe it was a little sweat from their foreheads. They took time to inter- view everybody from the fanitor to a few people rom off the street. I guess they were trying to hint that one man's opinion was as good as the next. if they want mine Land of course they're not asking; only because I wasn't there, mind you) there has . to be some better use of all that television time, i vote for a full day's showing of commercials since at least some of them are as interesting. •