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Times-Advocate, 1987-10-07, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 7, 1987 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519.235-1331 PCNA Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager . SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Point is lacking The people of Ontario are up in arms over the bilingualism debate. The Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada (APEC) is claiming that the jobs and culture of English speaking Canadians will be threatened while the other side says that French which is in our history and throughout our culture is what makes us more cosmopolitan than our neighbours to the south. At the heart of the controversy is legislation passed last November - with support of all three parties in Ontario's legislature. Known as Bill 8, the new French Language Services Act guarantees francophonesjn areas with a significant French-speaking minority the right to receive services in . their own language at hospitals, liquor stores and other provincially operated institutions by 1989. (French is already an official language in Ontario's courts and educa- tion system) . APEC is now lobbying for repeal of the bill. The organization which claims 7,000 members nationwide, most of them in Ontario - says that extending French ser- vices is a costly and unnecessary step in a province that is 95 percent anglophone. And it maintains that the bill will prevent unilingual anglophones from getting government jobs. APEC's point seems to be lacking. It looks like they are the only ones who don't know that English is universally spoken; is a better business language than any other, is flexible and adaptable. What else can one say to these poor peo- ple to assure them that English will never be threatened in this country, or in the world, for that matter? Mitchell Advocate Waste of money Antique furniture, pine plank floors, comfortable beds, delicious food, and a cozy fire all contribute to the perfect getaway anytime of the year." That's how Bayfield's Little Inn describes itself in a promotional brochure. And the description is no ex- aggeration. The 19th century Inn, nestl- ed in a picturesque village on Lake Huron, is an ideal setting for a retreat. Many local residents know this because they've been there. They've also paid their own way. Which brings us to Lambton County Board of Education's controversial deci- sion to spend an estimated $3,000 in tax- payers' money in order to hold a two-day "workshop" at the Inn. Put simply, the trip is a waste of money. Trustee Bill McLean has correct- ly pointed out that the board can draw up its objective`( the official reason given for the outing) in its own board room on Wellington Street in Sarnia. Besides that, the objectives of the board seem relative- ly clear to anyone applying any common sense. Trustees should be striving to pro- vide the best possible education at the least possible cost. You don't have to go to an old Coaching Inn to figure that one out. During times of economic restraint, trustees must not only act responsibly with taxapayers' money, they must be SEEN to be acting responsibly. And they can't do that while devouring rack of - lamb at one of Ontario's finest country Inns. Sarnia Gazette Not pleasant - but true A farmer friend of mine was filling his silo with corn a couple of weeks ago. The machinery at the top of the silo broke down so he went up to work on it. After working up there for a few minutes he called down to a cou- ple of men down below and said that there wasn't much air up there. They thought he was wind- ed from climbing up the ladder but when they saw a brown gas coming out of the silo called up to him to get out in a hurry. When he got down he was violently ill but recovered in a few hours. He was extremely fortunate to have gotten out when he did. Other farmers haven't been quite so lucky. Farm fatalities in 1987 are up by 50 per cent from the first six months of last year. In many By the Way by Syd Fletcher , cases the accidents could have been prevented by a little more caution. In one case a victim fell head first from an aluminum ladder which was leaning against a grain bin. In another a man was opening the tailgate of a truck. It rolled backward pinning him against another truck. A child was a passenger in a tractor cab. The cab door open- ed when the tractor hit a series of bumps. The victim fell from the tractor and was run over by its rear wheel. A man using a chain saw to take a limb off a tree. The saw kicked back and struck the vic- tim in the throat. A tree which was being felled was attached to a tractor by a rope and three lengths of chain. As the tractor was pulling, a chain broke and struck the victim in the face and chest. Not very pleasant facts, but nonetheless true. Let's take time to be careful. Hear about former pastor In our column this week we will touch on three'subjects. At least that's our intention as we ap- proach the typewriter keys without any mention of surrogate motherhood which was covered so precisely by one of our cohorts last week. We had the privilege of cover- ing the annual regional meeting of the Huron -Perth Presbytery United Church Women in Grand Bend, Tuesday night. The guest speaker was Rev. Don Irwin of the New Hamburg United Church. In addition to tak- ing his picture with some of the ladies in charge we asked if that was the church that was at one time Evangelical. His answer was yes and we then said we were originally members of the Evangelical churches in Dashwood and Crediton. At this point his wife in- tervened saying, "Oh, my brother once preached at Crediton". It turns out her brother is Rev. J.V. Dahms who was one of the ministers at our wedding away back in 1951. For anyone in the area in- terested Rev. Dahms is still go- ing strong as a minister and pro- fessor of theology in Regina, Saskatchewan. Rev. Irwin and his wife Alice are no strangers to this area. At one time he was chaplain at the Ipperwash Army Camp and the couple resided in Grand Bend. They are related to Ned and Vera Armstrong and good friends of the Godbolt family. The Irwins spent something like 25 years as missionaries in Korea before coming back to Canada and returning to the ministry. * * * * When this is being written the Toronto Blue Jays and the Detroit Tigers are engaged in a real battle for the American by Ross Haugh baseball league eastern division championship. Regardless of the outcome the Blue Jays were winners in one category and that was in atten- dance figures. The Jays with one of the worst stadiums as far as watching a ballgame is concern- ed are far ahead of the other eastern teams in drawing customers to the old ball yard. The Jays with a record atten- dance of 2,778,459 outdistance the Tigers by almost a million fans. There are acouple of reasons for the small crowds at Tiger Stadium and owner Tom Monahan is responsible for one of them. Monahan in addition to owning the baseball club and Domino's Pizza is also the top shareholder in PASS, the Detroit cable televi- sion station which carries many of the Tiger games. It's already rumoured that the number of games to be aired on PASS next season will be drastically cut because of the ef- feet on Tiger Stadium attendance. * * * * * For any sports fans in this area with asatellitedish this station is a boon with not only coverage of baseball games, but they also carry many of the Red Wings hockey contests and the Detroit Pistons in basketball. The other reason for the V' decrease in attendance appears to stem from the team's poor start and although they have come alive since the all star break, the fans haven't respond- ed as one would think they should with a pennant contender. * * * * * * The next topic came up with sort of simultaneous news announcements. The first was a press release from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters regarding the importance of firearms being locked up when not in use by hunters in the province of Ontario. The release .reminds us that every year careless storage of firearms is a factor in many accidents. At about the same time the state of Florida has changed their gun carrying rules. Their present law of requiring everyone carry- ing a concealed weapon to carry a permit of licence will continue. Here's where the ridiculous part comes in. Anyone carrying a gun out in the open can do so without a permit. That means that anyone with a record of men- tal incompetence can carry weapons as long as they are readily visible. Sounds like a lot of nonsense. Happy Turkey Day Happy Thanksgiving Day! to be honest, maybe we should real- ly say: Happy Turkey Day! I. know it sounds very zoological, but it's true: for many people, the centre of attention and attraction on this statutory holiday in October is Big Bird. How many hours are spent by the average housewife - or househus- band - selecting, purchasing, preparing, stuffing, roasting, basting, checking, worrying over, decorating and finally serving and devouring a fine specimen of Meleagris gallipavo, and how many minutes does that same person - or anybody else in the household - spend during that same period giving thanks? My guess is that - not even counting the cleanup - the average ratio is about 6 hours of turkey to 3 minutes of thanksgiv- ing. And a lot of. the thanks may be directed to the turkey on the table or to the cook. There is something definitely mythological about this huge dead bird being placed in front of the carver. And what about the blood -red cranberries? I have a suspicion that what Canadians are really celebrating is a ritual of sacrifice. The turkey becomes a symbol for something - and I wonder what it could be. A family waiting for the turkey to be carved up is like the crowd PETER'S POINT • in a Spanish arena waiting for the Matador to deliver the fatal stab to El Toro. Or like the Paris mob awaiting the execution by guillotine .of King Louis XVI. . There is absolute silence and glowing anticipation just before the knife goes in. And then all hell breaks loose. That turkey isn't eaten, it is devoured, ravished, annihilated. We become savages, immolating our victim, our sacrificial fowl. Strange, isn't it, that we don't respect turkeys very much on a year-round basis? In fact, turkeys are among our most flagrantly discriminated birds. To call somebody a turkey isn't exactly a compliment,- is it? We're not offended when so- meone compares us to an eagle (eagle-eyed), a nightingale (it proves we can sing) or a dove (it shows how peace -loving we are). We don't mind being called as wise as an owl or as swift as a swallow. "My littlechickadee" is a term of endear rnent. So why is it that we call a movie or play that bombed, a turkey? Why does Alexander call his sister a turkey, and why does she break out in tears when he does? And yet, bn Thanksgiving Day, we worship the very species we ridicule at other times. I wouldn't be surprised if we did it to atone for our sins against this splendid, gentle, innocent stout, majestic Canadian bird that endures all this malicious slander without raising a single gobble in its defence. And if you think this is all so much gobbleygook, or if you don't get Peter's piont, you're a turkey.