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Times Advocate, 1996-11-20, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, November 20, 1996 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett The Exeter Ttmes,Advncste is a member of a family of community newspapers Business Manager: Don Smith ► g� providing news, advertising and information leadership Production Manager: Deb Lo Advertising; Barb Consltt, Chad Eedy Pews; Heather Mir, Chris Skalkos, Ross Haugh, Brenda Burke Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert Front Office & Accounting; Elaine Pinder, Sue Rollings, Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple IP • inion Publioatbns Malt Registration—Number 0386 AUMICRIMOREMIL Ons year tats for Ontario eskO Ibsrs . $35.00 + Two yew rata for Ontario enbeednen • $63.00 Otis year - Se3.00 • OST Two year saboodpliee - S119.00 + OST ORIONCATEI •• ess.00 + OST P�d Ila e, Wadem* Morning at 424 Main St. Rube, ��1�0� ISO by J.W. Reidy PoiNaatione Lt TaMolowe lruo,Riir i • Fax: 5.15 235.0761 emelt ealreaw Ileses.alesembaSeeey.eoes a.a.T. eittosei . How do we measure up? t has been said that one should judge a society not by its wealth but by how it treats the least of its citi- zens - the poor, the homeless and the hungry. Judged by that standard, how are we doing? In some respects, we measure up not too badly. There are a huge number of agencies which exist only to help the needy. When the media makes a public plea for assistance to a family which has lost everything in a fire, of- fers of money, furniture and clothing pour in. Should there be any type of natural disaster, we respond immediate- ly, and generously. At Christmas, numerous groups col- lect toys for children, and food for needy families. Children sing Christ- mas carols in nursing homes and present little gifts to the residents. Some restaurants even hold holiday dinners for the homeless and hungry. There is no time of year when we are more eager to share our wealth with those less fortunate. Lest we pat ourselves on the back too soon, there is another side to this gene- rosity of spirit. Each winter, there are stories of homeless people freezing to death in our cities,'and this winter will be no different. Some of the victims will be drunks who won't give up the bottle long enough to claim a bed for the night at a shelter. Some will be drug ad- dicts. Still others will be troubled indi- viduals who really can't look after themselves. Some want no part of charityno mat- ter how desperate their need; some pre- fer a cold park bench to the crowds and rules at the shelter; some get turned away because the shelter has no more room left. For the most part, they aren't attrac- tive to look at and they often aren't par- ticularly grateful for help. They don't brush their teeth, assuming they have any, and they don't comb their hair. They probably have lice or worse. They might talk to themselves and they can be violent. It is easy to feel charitable, when the object of one's generosity is a tiny child filled with wonder at the thought there really is a Santa when the gifts appear Christmas morning. It is easy to feel warm and giving, when the people re- ceiving the help happen to be a young family with a sick mother and a tempo- rarily out -of -work father. We want to help others, when those others are strug- gling through bad times and need a hand. It is not so easy to feel kind and gener- ous toward a filthy old man who swears a lot and drinks aftershave. He is not sick enough for the hospital, not dangerous enough for jail. And sometimes he's not docile enough for the helpful souls who dish out the hot soup. So one day, perhaps this winter, per- haps next, he'll get thrown out of his room because he didn't pay the rent again, or he'll pick a fight at the shelter and find himself on the street. Security will evict him from his favorite mall. And someone like himself, only stronger and meaner, will take his place on the warm grating near city hall. The next morning, or the one after that, some cab driver or police officer will, notice a foot, sticking out of a pile of snow. Those trying to trace his family will be surprised to find he once had a nice home, a decent job. What a tragedy, the news stories will say -another homeless man found frozen to death amid the wealth and holiday decorations. No, we need not pat ourselves on the back as long as we read, and write sto- ries like this. As long as people can fall between the cracks and die, cold and un- wanted, we come considerably short of being a benevolent and generous socie- ty. Saugeen City News Speak Out! LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Times Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a forum for open discussion of local issues, concerns, complaints and kudos. WE ASK THAT YOU KEEP YOUR LETTERS TO A MAXIMUM OF 300 WORDS, The Times Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity. Please send your letters to P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156. Sign your letter with both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. A View from Queen's Park TORONTO -- Ontario's Liberals may be on the brink of picking a political novice as leader -- some thing parties usually have been too cautious even to consider. With three-quarters of the 2,800 dele- gates eligible to vote on Nov. 30 chosen and committed, Gerard Kennedy, the former food bank director who was elected to the legislature in a byelection only in May and has sat in it only a few weeks, has a lead that has surprised many. Kennedy has 717 votes compared to the 495 of his closest rival, "Joe Cordiano, an MPP for 11. years. Four other MPPs are in the race, all obviously with more elected experi- ence than Kennedy, and he is by ho means as- sured of winning. Those who particularly value experience or have other concerns could easily coalesce be- hind another candidate and beat him. But it is a strong start for someone who was handing out food parcels just a few months ago. Ontario parties have a long history of rejecting anyone startlingly new for leader and tuning to those By Eric Dawd I imple Cruelties Brenda Burke Cooking (burning) up a storm I have recently learned how to cook. Before I took a sudden overwhelming inteii rn low-fat and one -dish recipes, my cooking abilities summed up to boiled eggs, spaghetti with plain, canned sauce and car in a bowl. It eventually became apparent that on numerous nights when my husband was tired of doing all the cooking, we'd have to settle for one of my quick non -meals or something in a box or else the often expensive, disappointment of eating frequently in strange restaurants. A growing interest in nutrition has challenged me to learn how to prepare food. I will master this new skill, even if I get trucked off to the hospital due to unintentional food poisoning or keel over after tasting what was meant to be a world-famous concoction. But it's a struggle. Cooking takes so much time and thought after a long day at work. Let's face it. What do you make when your stomach's growling, there's nothing in the fridge but a jar of mustard and a slice of mozzarella cheese and you've got to be out of the house in half an hour? For those lucky enough to be taught by their parents how to cook, the challenge is reduced to a delightful hobby. They • gleefully collect all sorts of recipes, take pride in wearing. ruffled aprons ant brag about ;I theiriblatest filet mignon. For me, and I suspect many others, we're lucky if we even own half of the handy little kitchen utensils required for flawless food creation. What does an egg poacher look like? Why do garlic crushers only have one purpose? No, we've never owned an electric can opener. For non -cookers, the greatest invention of all time, besides the microwave, has got to be the bread maker. Throw a bunch of basic ingredients in, wait a couple of hours and voila - the smell of homemade bread floats through the house so you can pretend you made it from. scratch. Does anybody really make anything from scratch anymore? When you do try this, it's quite the eye-opener. Tomatoes plopped in boiling, then freezing water, really does make their skins fall off in preparation of good old homemade spaghetti sauce. The main dreadful downfall cooking is the almighty clean-up. But before you ever consider that, you spend time figuring out what to have for supper (changing your mind many tithes lvhen you discovc you don't' have all the ingredients), then you gather i all together while the phone is ringing, the kids are yelling of the television blaring. Then yt either slop bits of it on recipe pages you speed-read or close your eyes and hope for the be by throwing a bunch of leftovers together. (Pork on a bun with peanutbutter. Now that's something new to try.) Then you struggle cooking t meal, praying it doesn't burn and hoping the stuff that goes mushy isn't done way before other food. Don't forget settin the table, serving the meal wh it's piping hot and cleaning ul everything as if the whole ordeal never happened...until next time. The easiest way to get out o cooking is to visit a friend's house for supper...But then w do you tell them when they wonder how their new split -pi gravy tastes over their hot, sp: leg of octopus? who seemed tried and trusted. Lyn McLeod, who is stepping down as Lib- eral leader, was the first woman to head a major party in Ontario and so choosing her involved some risk, but she was picked because she was viewed as a safe, dependable former minister. Kim Campbell and Audrey McLaughlin had not yet been shot down and there was no sign an ag- gressive Progressive Conservative, Mike Harris, would capture imagination. David Peterson, who preceded McLeod, had been an MPP seven years and very much of the party mainstream before he became leader. In 1976 the Liberals chose the intellectual Stuart Smith, who had been an MPP only a few months but was steeped in party activities, ru- mored another Pierre Trudeau, the highest praise of the era, and not as much an outsider as Ken- nedy. Bob Nixon, leader before that, was the son of Harry, a premier lithe 19401. The closest the Liberals or any party came to choosing a real outsider was in 1964, -when former newspaper editor, TV host and evangelist Charles Temple , On the brink of picking a novice ton ran for leader and in a byelection to prove he was worthy. He lost the byelection but fired enough Liberals' hopes so that only a week later he still ran a close second for leader to estab- lishment -backed Andrew Thompson. Two years later, when Thompson left, Templeton found Liberal MPPs were still too much against him to try again and one of the biggest, never -to -be -answered questions in On- tario politics is whether the charismatic ex - preacher would have brought a quicker end to the decades of Tory rule. The Tories similarly have opted for what seemed safe. When they chose Harris in 1990, he had been an MPP nine years and did not sound quite the revolutionary right-winger he is today, which would have worried his party. Prank Miller, who in 1985 was the hast in the long dynasty of Tory premiers, had to serve 14 years before gating the.top job and was the choice particularly of older, moms cautious pow - en in the patty. Long -serving Tory premier William Da- vis waited 12 years as an MPP and was re- nowned as bland and boring, but Tories desper ate for more flair could not quite bring them- selves to choose the more contemporary - sounding Allan Lawrence. Before him, John Robarts, solid, reliable, was picked by a party which turned down the undeniably brilliant, mercurial Robert Macaulay. The New Democrats' Stephen Lewis, often thought of as a dazzling, youthful opposition leader, was a backbench MPP for seven Hyears, as was his successor, Michael Cassidy: serving seven years as an MPP seems almost tc be the norm. Bob Rae first had to make a name as fed eral finance critic and Howard Hampton, cho- sen leader this year, apprenticed nine years on the backbenches. Patties often call for new blood, but are more inclined to choose on expo rience and repaying favors -- they have not been much for adventure. 4..) t+4.