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Times-Advocate, 1988-10-19, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 19, 1988 Times Established 187S Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 BLUE RIBBON AWARD • Ames Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 dvocate NOM ISO ;,. PCNA "� ROSS HAUGH Editor JIM RCM I Publisher A Advertising M*nager HARRY DEVRIES DON SMITH Composition Manager Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Time to get rabies shots The province of Ontario and the state of Maine are the two regions in all of North America with the highest incidents of rabies in animals. - Most reported cases of rabies in this province have been limited to wild ani- mals. But, there have been a few cases of household pets and thi's brings on the clanger to humans. Pet owners are reminded that special low cost rabies vaccination clinics will be held Saturday, October 29 and Wednes- day, November 2 at most veterinary clinics in Huron and Perth counties. In this immediate area, veterinarians at the Exeter Animal Hospital, the South Huron Veterinary Clinic in Zurich and the Kirkton Veterinary Clinic will have their needles ready for all dogs, cats and any other animal you may have. The clinics are sponsored by the Hu- ron and Perth Health Units with the co- operation of area veterinarians. The cost per animal or bird is $7. That's a real bargain.when you think of the possible consequences if your favourite pet came in contact with a rabid wild animal and that can happen quite easily. Statistics received from Dr. Gary Balsdon show that a near -record num- ber of 2,150 persons were treated for ra- bies exposure in 1985 and the following year that figure had jumped by almost 200 percent to 4,212, Although these figures are two years old;we would guess they continue to rise -somewhat like the cost of living. While the number of rabies cases con- tinue to edge up, it's amazing to realize that only 40 percent of dogs and 15 per- cent of cats in Ontario are immunized each year against rabies. If someone has been exposed to the ra- bies virus which is transmitted through the rabid animal's saliva by bite or con- tact with a cut, the cost for vaccine treat- ment is about $400. That makes the $7 per shot available October 29 and No- vember 2, a real bargain. Don't forget to take your pets to one of the area veterinary clinics on these two special days. It may save your pet's life and also make yours much more confort- able. Tears for top soil I guess I am a romantic fool. I attach meaning to objects that have no meaning. Like soil. It's only dirt. It's ground -up rock and decaying organic matter. It can be scooped up by giant machines, sifted and piled, trucked away and used for the landscaping of new housing developments. Why not? There is no law against the stripping of top soil. It's a business like many others. It creates employment, and the cash income for the owners is considerable. You can't .stop progress. We'll soon be in the 21st century. There is no arguing with realists. They've got the law, our municipal representatives, and public opinion on their side. And yet, something deep inside me churns when I see the top soil stolen away from a field. When a field created by generations of industrious farmers is raped. Robbed. (Both words have the same origin). Top soil is the living pan of the earth's surface. Where we live — in the Canadian Shield — it has taken thousands of years to build up. There was no soil here 8,000 years ago when the Champlain Sea covered the land. Since then, countless plants have lived and died to produce a forest soil. Thc forest supported animal life and a thin population of semi- nomadic Indian hunters. The early settlers came to this country because of the soil. They made the soil their own. They earned their right to own it. They cut clearings into the forest and carved out fields by removing rocks, boulders and stumps. Men, women and children spent their lives improving the soil. The pioneers are gone. Their gravestones are crumbling in hidden -away country cemeteries Their log houses, their sturdy barns. their granaries have disappeared. Replaced by four -lane highways and factory sites, by PETER'S POINT • by Peter Hesscl shopping centres and airports. And by urban sprawl. By plywood, concrete -brick, vinyl - siding and asphalt -tile. By synthetic imitations of natural products. By plastic ticky-tacky that breaks down long before it's paid for. But the owners don't care because they seldom stay long enough to observe the changes. They plant their exotic shrubs and trees into soil brought in from a hundred miles away. But they never stay long enough to sec them grow to maturity. They move to bigger and better plastic houses, with three instead of two bathrooms, with triple instead of double car garages. The top soil for their pampered petunias and geraniums is shipped in from another farmer's' field that has been raped. By Ross Haugh Heirs, speculators, developers, and builders So within less than a year, the soil disappears from what used to be Gordon Mclntyre's farm. The operator packs up his machinery and looks for another "strip mine". Where the soil is rich and fertile. Just what the city folks need for their luscious lawns. And Gordon McIntyre's fields are sold -- usually by his heirs — to a firm of speculators. They sit on the skinned "property" for a couple of years until opportunity knocks in the form of a land developer -- who does not develop the land but carves it up into lots which he sells to builders. The builders first erect dicky -tacky plastic houses on the devastated lots. Then — to cover up the scars left by power shovels and cranes and concrete mixers — they bring in top soil from a farm where the family of Duncan Robertson's used to live. Here and there on the construction site, an occasional tree has survived the onslaught, and a "treed lot" is worth at least a couple of thousand dollars more than the rest. I guess it's all necessary and inevitable in the name of progress. And as I said in the beginning, I'm a romantic fool. So don't worry if you drive by a place where the top soil is being stripped off the land, and you see a just -past -middle-aged man standing at the old farm fence, wiping his eyes with a kleencx. It's only me shedding a tear for our future, yet unborn generations. 0 HAVE AN OPINION? The Times -Advocate welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number should we need to clarify any information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. • Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: Exeter Times Advocate Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S0 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited Long ago memories We had the honour and the fun hear much anymore about chil- Friday afternoon to be the guest blains. But, bclicvc me they speaker at the Exeter Legion for were irritable. the district fall meeting of the We reminisced with the other Senior Citizens of Ontario. seniors about the radio pro - Given a free hand by Exeter grams of yesteryears. There President Pat Skinner as far as were soap operas back in the opics w4 -e concerned, we talked good old days and they were about memories of being born realty well named. Ma Perkins and raised on a farm back in the and Portia Faces Life were late 1920's and 1930's. sponsored by Oxydol and Ivory Almost all of the 130 in atten- soaps. Couldn't get any more dance were from farm back- grounds and seemed to have little trouble in relating to what we were talking about. Back in those days, the kitchen stove was the only appliance in most houses as it provided the en- ergy for cooking, baking can- ning, etc and heating most of the farmhouse. We probably remember the kitchen stove for about four prime reasons. Making toast was an ex- perience at our house with a wire toaster held over the open flame of the stove. Dad was an expert at burning toast. I was a big boy be- fore I realized toast was not sup- posed to be black. As youngsters, thc neighbour kids and us would go skating quite frequently in the wintertime and always get cold feet. The first thing to do with cold feet is stick them in the oven. When I asked the audience what was the next thing to happen with your feet in the oven, the secre- tary of the district. executive sit- ting next to me was quick to say, "chilblains". That's right with our modern convencicnces, we don't • AI From the ;editor's disk by' Ross Haugh t sudsy than that. -The subject of the telephone party lines also came up. The famous one-liner used in recent years by Lily Tomlin being, Arc you the person to -whom 1 am speaking" was not -originat- ed back in the days of the party lints. It would have been "How many of our neighbours are lis- tening? One thing we didn't talk about was hrcad baking in the oven of the kitchen stove. Lo and behold, the next morning in the mail 1 get a news release - about baking bread including a few anecdotes on the subject and herr they are: Thc art of hrcadmaking was developed in ancient Egypt Bread was the coinage of the realm for hundreds of years and workers were paid in bread. The daily average pay fora servant was three loaves. Egyptians regarded bread so highly they would cast it upon the waters of the Nile as a tribute-. to the Gods. In Egyptian tombs, the heads' and kernels of wheat wcrc bur- ied with the dead for food in the afterlife. The word bread occurs 264 times in the Bible. Thc Bohemians believed that by putting a loaf of hrcad under a baby's crib the child would grow up to have good teeth. Around the 16th Century, bread could never he placed on the table upside down because the top of the bread had received the sign of the cross. in France. people deposited three loaves of hrcad and three lumps of coal under the beds of newlyweds for good luck. In mediaeval German provinc- es, bakers faced their ovens and avoided turning their hacks to show rtspect for hrcad. in the German traditiorn hrcad has the power to cure even se- vere migrant headaches if it is dunked in milk exactly 12 hours after it is baked. In modem Romania if a person drops a piece of hrcad, he kisses it after picking it up. One cannot live by • hrcad alone. iBut. try to diet the hest you can. We will take our own advice and cat lightly. Step right up, folks Please sit down Mr. Smith,' said the inspector, "And thank you for coming today." "We started our investigation into this scandal last month," he continued, "and found many of the subscribers to the Very, Very Special Sunshine !lour were of above average intelligence. You, Mr. Smith, have a Masters de- gree in economics; run your own company, and donated $100 a month to Rcv. Bliss' television show." "Yes, that's right," Smith con- fessed without blinking. "Do you attend any community churches?" the inspector pur- sued. '"Used to," said Smith, "but the scats were hard, you couldn't cat or drink during the service, and there was no 'mote control." Remote contml?" "Yes. Rcv. Bliss knew if his show became too downbeat, we could just switch channels. ft kept him in line," said Smith. "Did you find inspiration in his messages?" asked the inspector. "Not really," said Smith, relax- ing in his chair. "That wasn't the point. He had to appeal to the widest possible audience. Everything was kept on the most general terms: Everybody is a sinner. Everyone is saved. Everything is going to llcll in a handbasket and we can't stop it." "You believe this?" interrupted the inspector. his pen scribbling turiousls . "1 don't have to believe it," snapped Smith. "1 just support it." The inspector coughed. "And how did you feet about the Rcv. Bliss' threat to throw himself at God's mercy by jumping off the Holy Termor roller coaster at his amusement park if he didn't get $10 million in pledges?" � . "i didn't send any m�iors:el for that," said Smith. "If it wasn't for thc fast food chain coughing up the cash. I think he'd have done it." "Don't you feel cheated since Bliss has been exposed for lead- ing a double life as the lead sing- er of the mock group Sins of Sa- tan, wearing make-up and killing chickens on stage, and has now fled to exile in Costa Rica?" the inspector asked with one eye- brow raised. "1'm not bothered," replied Smith. "1 rcad he has a contract with the tabloids for a comeback story every month for the rest of his days. I'll get my money's worth out of him yet. Hold that thought... by Adrian Harte Thc inspector frowned. "Didn't you worry about how much money you were giving to the Rcv. Bliss' church?" "No, not at all," said Smith. "I think 1 might have saved money instead. His brand of fundamen- talism took a great Toad off my mind. He said I don't have to donate money to AIDS societies because it is not a virus but a scourge to rid thc earth of unde- sirables. All other nasty diseases arc just a way of calling God's people home..."