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Times-Advocate, 1988-01-20, Page 40 Page 4 Times -Advocate, January 20, 1988 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 ROSS HAUGH Editor DON SMITH Business Manager +CNA JIM BECKETT Publisher & Advertising Manager HARRY DEVRIES DICK JONGKIND Composition Manager Vice -President SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 No apathy in Stephen In recent years, a number of munici- palities in this area were forced to call second nominations in o • er to fill the required slate of elected o icials. This should not be the situate • n Ste- phen township when nominations : 1 around this November to select the five people to guide the township for the next three years. The recent resignation of councillor Drew Robertson and the call for applica- tions for a replacement brought an even dozen volunteers. This immense response to fill a vacancy for only 11 months appears to be indica- tive of the interest at least 12 people in Stephen have in how their municipality is iperated. There are probably three reasons why any ratepayer would wish to get into mu- nicipal politics at this time. The first and we would hope the prime reason for most of the 12 in Stephen would be their genuine desire to assist in making their municipality a better place in which to live. The second would be for a person with a specific complains, to try and get some action in resolving their problem. An 11 month stint on council would give a new person a chance to get "their feet wet" and fintl out if they have the time to serve on council and really enjoy serving their municipality. Regardless of their intentions, it's re- freshing in this age of apathy and the atti- tude of "let Joe do it" to find people will- ing to serve their community. Best of luck to the newest Stephen councillor Pat O'Rourke. He has experi- ence on a number of farm and church groups and should be"a valuable addition to council. The selection was made by secret ballot by the other four members of council. Misuseis abuse A perverse spirit of obtuse pigheaded- ness is casting a pall over our fair and democratic nation. Some people in posi- tions of authority are abusing their pow- er. Their attitude seems to be "I give the orders around here; be quiet and do as you're told". Communication between the goverlitors and the governed is breaking down. The voice of the ordinary, average Canadian is often ignored. Sometimes the results are tragic, and at other times merely ludi- crous. Recent news items sound more like the plot for a social satire, or candidates for Ripley's Believe it or Not, than actual oc- currences. Take thc, case of the little native girl, snuggled into her Indian carrying pack, who was put through the luggage scanner at Winnipeg airport because the security , guard refused to heed the protests of the parents and other bystanders. Only after the baby showed up on the screen, and had been subjected to a potentially dan- gerous x-ray, did the guard acknowledge that the pack did, indeed; contain a living, breathing human being. Speaking of babies, how about the preg- nant woman in Montreal who was admit- ted to hospital and told by her doctor that her stomach pains were just that - pains in her stomach. Despite her protestations that the pains might herald something else, she was left alone by the doctor and , a nurse. Shortly thereafter, the woman arose from her lied and gave birth to a prema- ture baby in a hospital washroom, assist- by Ross Haugh ed only by another patient who responded to her cry for help. Authorities at Edmonton airport gave the "my brother's keeper" concept a whole new meaning when scraps of paper pieced together after being found in the washroom of a DC-10 on its way from Amsterdam to Vancouver washroom al- luded to a bomb on board. Out came the RCMP and the SWAT teams, confining the 255 hapless passengers to the aircraft for an hour. That seems like a strange strategy, he note was to be believed. The passengers did not resume their journey until seven hours later, leaving behind fingerprints and handwriting samples. The people waiting in the airport termi- nal knew more about what was going on than did those on the plane. Some inter- viewed later said they were told nothing while detained. The misuse of power is also exemplified in the attitude of some unions who disrupt the welfare of innocent victims to strengthen their own demands. Sixty-nine unionized grain handlers have halted one-third of the nations' grain shipments while demanding the right to control the highly technical Prince Rupert Grains terminal in Sas- katchewan. The plea that many farmers are being hurt financially and Canada's reputation as a reliable supplier is being damaged falls on deaf ears. These hold- up artists have power, and want more. This all happened in Canada, you say? Pity. They were up Are you one of those few Canadians between the ages of 2 and 92 who are not (yet) downhill skiers? if you are, this column is aimed especially at you. And it was written by someone Iikc you. I am almost .ashamed to admit it. It is Tike' admitting that you can't drive or that you've never learned to read or write. It's a stigma, that's what it is. But no, I am not a dov itf shier. I was meant 19 learn before 1 was in kindergarten. In fact, one of my earliest childhood memories is going down a ski slope on tiny skis while being held by ,my mother who was an excellent skier. Maybe that did it for me. Ever since then I've been • frightened out of my wits by the very thought of downhill skiing. About twelve years ago I PETER'S POINT • learned to cross-country. Therein lies another tale or maybe another column. But I absolutely refuse to submit to downhill training, in fact, I'm reluctant to come within close range of the chairlift. The Iv/ Yvonne Reynolds only thing that would appeal to me about downhill skiing at all are the aprs-ski activities. What is the great attraction for people, I wonder, in being towed to the top of a mountain by a mechanical device, and then struggling down to the bottom, only to repeat the process over and over again? It is obviously something we non -skiers will never understand. I ask you: is it natural? I don't mind if people go up and down mountainsides like yo- yos or jump out of airplanes or go over Niagara Falls ih a barrel. Let them have fun. What I object to is the notion that unless I do Please turn to page 5 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North. Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited Under a new heading This is our first column under a new heading and•no, it's not a typographical error. While the column will come from the editor's desk it is pro- duced by way of the editor's disk. Since late December the Times Advocate has been produced completely by way of Macintosh Plus computers. It has taken this old dog that long to leam the new tricks. We have managed it with the help of Mark Bisset and Adrian Harte. Adrian composed the graphic which will appear every week with this epistle. ****************** Exeter councillor Morley Hall will be pleased to hear that a number of municipalities in On- tario are getting serious about garbage recycling. Hall is the leader of the local. council push to find altemate ways to get rid of garbage and thus lessen the load on waste fill sites. Exeter is not in a precari- ous situation as far as their gar- bage site is concemed, but a number of townships including Stephen arc running out of space. In a year-end statement, Har- old Corrigan chairman of Onta- rio Multi -Material Recycling says close to two dozen Ontario municipalities launched curbside multi -material recycling pro- grams during 1987 to bring the total number of households served by the "blue box" pro- grams to 546,000. oft If various municipalities hold to their present plans by the end of 1988, more than 1.3 million households will be involved in recycling. Created by Ontario's soft drink bottlers, their packaging suppli- From the ' editor's disk. by Ross Haugh ers and interested industry asso- ciations , OMMRI funds up to one-third of a community's capi- tal costs and 100 percent of the "blue box" launch promotion costs. The organization also provides technical support and training for municipal officials involved in the programs. The Ministry of the Environment and the munici- pality also contribute towards the costs. A "Class One" curbside pro- gram involves the collection and recycling of newspapers, glass bottles a::d jars, steel food and beverage cans, aluminum cans and plastic soft drink bottles. Householders simply put the re- cyclable materials in their "blue box" for curbside pick-up on reg- ular garbage collection days. We noted with interest a recent Toronto Star article that the city of Toronto collected Christmas trees on the first three Wednes- days in January for recycling.Thc trees will be recycled into wood chips by the Toronto Recycling Action Committee. Let the chips fall where they may, but it sounds like a goo( use for the trees which are use( for only about three weeks. ******************** It's also interesting to note that the new Sky Dome in Torontc will include a 400 -room hote - with 70 suites overlooking the playing field. We.wouldn't have the nerve to ask about the price. Private executive boxes at the Sky Dome went on sale in Octo- ber and are the most expensive of any stadium in North Ameri- ca.They have an annual rental fec of $100,000 to $225,000 with lease of 10 years. While the public share of con- struction costs wil remain at $6C million, the overall costs have in- creased from an estimated $244 million a year ago to $383 mil- lion. The dome will certainly in- crease attendance for the Blue Jays , the primary tenants of the facility, but we arc not sure that baseball should be played inside under ideal weather conditions. It will be a big improvement in Toronto over Exhibition Stadium which was not designed for base- ball, but we would still prefer the likes of Tiger Stadium in Detroit or Fenway in Boston with tradi- tional parks and real green grass the way the game was planned by Abner Doubleday. Make shop at home easier During the two weeks befdre Christmas I found myself spend- ing a lot of time in thc city malls doing the traditional Christmas shopping. I know that if the local mer- chants read that opening state- ment that the hackles on the back of their necks arc going to rise and that the initial comment will be "Why didn't he do his shop- ping locally?" Well, as a matter of fact, I did and I do. My family and I pa- tronize almost every onc of the stores in town if the prices and service arc equal to the stores in the city. If I am about to pur- chase a particular item I usually take a look at the price here first and will then ask myself if it's worth driving a few extra miles. However, I have found that shopping in the malls does have some distinct advantages, espe- cially in the Canadian winter. Once you get your car parked and are inside the mall you are out pf the elements and can shop without freezing as you go from store to store. If you want a cup of coffee and a donut, there's a little shop right at your elbow. I've found that having shopped in a mall for quite a while that you actually get to know the clerks and sales people just as you get to know them in your lo- cal community. The manager of onc of the clothing stores is the Ick!By the Way .,Y Syd Fletcher by Syd son .of 'a teacher who used to work for me. I find too that you often meet friends and neighbours right in the mall and because it is warm and because there are convenient benches to sit down at you can stop and chat for a while. i think thatowhat is happening is that the old Atmosphere of meeting at the general store on a Saturday night is happening again but a slightly different setting. 1 it strikes me that if the small towns are going to compete for the business of their community, especially in the winter months, that they arc going to have to adapt the physical setting with which they greet their custom- ers. Ottawa, which has to be one of the coldest towns in Canada in winter, has done some unique things in this direction. in one arca of the city they have put arches right over the sidewalks on both sides of the street, creat- ing a unique glassed -in green- house effect. People. can walk in comfort from store to store and don't feel as if they have to hur- -ry from place to place. In slim- mer time the windows are opened up and the breezes can flow through but there is still protection. Musicians arc en- couraged to put on little shows within the closed -in arca, and displays from the stores can be put right out on the new street arca adding to the floor arca of the stores. Most small towns could do this through a joint effort of munici- pality and the small businesses involved. Everybody would benefit, including the cohsumers who would enjoy shopping right in their own neighbourhood.