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Times Advocate, 1997-04-16, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 16,1997 • Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord MY;-t.:ing; Barb Consitt, Qhad Eedy News, Heather Mir, Chris Skalkos, Ross Haugh, Brenda Burke Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation; Al Flynn, Al Hodgert Emnt Office & Accounting- Elaine Pinder, Sue Rollings, Ruth Slaght Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a .family of community newspapers. Ma 1aM OMMY ► 2 N, providing news, advertising and information leadership to • I EDITOR! .k1. Home of the white squirrel is hard to believe the town mascot may be under threat of extinc- tion but according to a report during last Monday night's council, that's ex- actly what's happening. White Wonder, Exeter's native white squirrel is not only a point of interest for visitors, it has be- come the official town symbol. Council has also declared June 29 as White Squirrel Day and the critters' image can be found in local stores on postcards and t -shirts. Few.people believed. me when 1 told them my new home was also the home of Cana- da's only white squirrel population and no, they're not albinos. Apparent ' - ly the Whhjte squirrelc, in Exeter are an , aberration of the grey squirrel. They can be seen in and aroundMacNaugh- ton Park, Morrison Dam and I often spot a few in my neighborhood, west of Main Street. - Some local residents have gone to g eat'lengths to protect the white'squir- ' rel and many, including rnembers of council, are outraged their efforts are being undermined. - Town -staff are currently investigating a bylaw to make it illegal :to trap or kill Exeter's mascot. Deputy Reeve Dave Urlin suggested a $5,000 fine would be an appropriate deterrent but perhaps peer pressure should take an active role in protect, ing the beloved rodent. Some people. consider squir- is It; be -Iests, fing birds of seeLs from feeders, making their homes in peo-, ple's attics; and transplanting spring bulbs. But surely the white squirrel. commands spe- cial consideration, given its rarity and the town s affinity for it. Not a town event goes by without an appearance from -larger -than -life White Wonder and,', countless dollars and effort have been 'spent strengthening the connection be- tween' Exeter and its mascot. After all, it's no,t the buglebby on.the town entrance sign people associate with Exeter. it's the phrase below it :Exeter --Home of.the White Squirrel. H.M. Your Views Letters to the editor Nurses network "On Tuesday, May 13, area nurs- es...are invited to Goderich Town- ship Hall in Holmesville." Dear Editor: . Local nurses from hospitals. CCAC and the Health Unit are working together to provide'an in- formation evening called "Nurses Caring for Nurs- es" for all area nurses to,commemorate Nurses Week. May 1 1-18. The theme this year is "Sharing the Health challenge:" Across the province as well as locally, the past year and•the future do indeed present a challenge for nurses. Nurses have faced • cutbacks. layoffs. reduction in hours. transfers and being downsized right out of a job. Facing an uncer- tain future and convinced that nursing services as . we know them will continue to change. the joint Nurses Week Planning Committee has put.together an evening to help area nurses to network and sup- port each other while learning and laughing tolgeth--- er. Nurses will, also be given the opportunity to ex- press why they provide positive and cost effective health care and what their concerns are for the fu- ture of health care in Ontario. On Tuesday. May 13. area nurses of all designa- tions. whether working, not working or retired are .invited to Goderich Township Hall in Holmesville. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with exhibits of in- 'terest for. coping with career upheaval. These will range from financial planning to special interest . groups. ways to thrive and, the Canadian Nurses d Independent Practice (CANIP). Following a 6 p.m. dinner. popular guest speaker. Dee Preikschas will, provide an entertaining talk on humor. There will be additional time for,the exhibits followed by.draws ' for the door prizes. Nurses wishing to attend are in- vited to purchase tickets from representatives in their local hospital or by calling Linda Balvert at 524-240. CCAC at 482=3411 or 1-800-265-5591 or . the Health Unit at 482-3416 or 1-800-265-5184. Thank you for helping us to get the message out to Huron County Nurses. Linda Balvert. Fran Hook. Marguerite Thomas (writer.at Huron County Health Unit) A View from Queen's Park By Eric Dowd Put'i callous Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION BATES; AM year nits for tintedo subscribers - S35.00 + GST Two year !at. for Ontario subscribers - S83.00 + GST IiANADIAN A,DDRESUS OUTSIDE ONTARIO Ons year subscription - S83.00 + GST Two year Subscription - S119.00 + GST ' OTHER RATES Outside Canada - S102.00 Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1.58 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-235.1331 • Fax: 513236-0766 small address: times.advocateeeedy.com G.S.T. 1R105210835 1 - Simple Cruelties Brenda -Briirkg,. , Laughing in the laundromat [ remember lugging big. black garbage bags full of clothes to -the local laundromat, clainiing nine washers,in a row. dumping in the dirty duds. . placing countless coins in their slots. tiring them -up all at once and staring at the overused orange -red lights that indicated things were indeed being washed., [ would then settle down to read a magazine. chat with whoever was'bored enougH-tb accompany me. or re -read . notices on old bulletin boards while the hum of machines and smell of soap hung in the air. Before l knew it. the washing machine lights had retired. but . never all at th6 slime time. of course. - Next came the drying task - trying to nab a couple of big; round. hot drums [ could count on plugging quarter after quarter into. One time a tube of ruby :red lipstick fell out of a garmenti pocket. hent -decorating a bunch • •of white shirts with angry slashes, , • - • After the'Icing-term laundry task was complete. 1 would stuff overdried garments -hack into their respectivegarbagc bags and lug them all home where they would sit in the living ' room. wrinkling. crinkling 'Ind clinging together until someone needed to -wear something. Those were my old days of: doing laundry. Mbst of the facilities l tried were • overheated. white -washed and • crowed. sporting Live -year-old magazines, with missing covers.` •[ did however. discover one • fancy one that sported a snack 1 counter with swivel stools. , Perhaps .there was a TV and a little dot machine where you, could buy mini soup boxes. - Maybe there were movies prpjected on the walls. monkeys hanging from the ceiling and -rook music blaring from rads in the tloortaps. [Think there was even a washroom on hand. Laundromats am not typically. tun places. It takes time to lug emir Jirty stuff there. and'.Iots of money to get it Jean. It seems you're always - stock=piling quarters pr loonies . or some kind of loose change. Once 1 was short on quarters so [ but a Dominican Republic coin in a washer slot it was the exact size to tit. A week later. our landlord came knocking on our door. knowing dam well we were the only ones in the building who had recently taken a trip...So much for trying to get away with passing off it' slug as a quarter in her tiny laundromat that was securely locked every night atter 6 p.m. As wonderful as they are, I'm glad my days in the laundromat • world are safely behind me. TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris may have sounded the death knell for the Reform Party in Ontario and even further afield. The Progressive Conservative premier told a think-tank there is almost no chance of defeat- ing the Liberals in the next federal election while the Conservative and Reform parties split the right -of -centre vote between them. Harris said because of this he would prefer the federal Conservatives and Reform to unite in one party, bat stopped short of suggesting which should become the dominant partner and retain its name and identity. Harris's advice makes sense, because the fed- eral Tories and Reform collected enough votes between them in Ontario in the 1993 election, even during a catastrophic Tory decline, to have won a large number of seats if their votes had been combined: Instead. Reform won only one seat in Ontario and the Tories none. Hams said he has done his best behind the scenes to unite the Tories and Reform, but had success, which should come as no sur- prise. When Reform leader Preston Manning was last in Ontario the nicest thing he said about the federal Tories was that they are good only at increasing taxes and indistinguishable from the federal Liberals. Federal Tory leader Jean Charest countered equally amiably that he will consider a merger with Reform only "when hell freezes over." Harris officially remains neutral, but his admo- nition that those with right -of -centre views should coalesce to avoid splitting the vote poses a big danger to Reform, because in Ontario they are much more likely to find reasons to group around the federal Tories. The Tories, while reduced to a corporal's guard in the Commons, have deep roots, having been around longer than Confederation, are commonly are called Canada's oldest party and have had 11 prime ministers including such not- ables as John A. Macdonald and John Diefen- baker. it is not on the cards they will yield right of Any chance to defeat the Liberals? way and drop out of existence or surrender their identity. The Conservatives now look more like a rising party. if notwinners, and • have jumped ahead of Reform in polls. while Manning seems to have spent the last year bick- ering and losing key supporters. The Conservatives appear more of a national party, partly because of their history, while Re- form's elected strength in its brief life has been re>ijional in western Canada. The federal Conservatives have some hope of winning seats in Quebec, Charest's home prov- ince, where Reform cannot expect to make much headway because of its policy of not ap- peasing Quebec nationalism. Charest looks more of a national leader be- cause he speaks French and Manning talks of using a translator in leaders' TV debates. A par- ty has difficulty appearing to speak to the whole country when its leader is seen on national TV unable to speak one of its two official languag- es. Charest has almost cleansed himself of being a Red Tory identified with the free -spending government before 1993 and made himself more palatable to Harris's supporters by adopt- ing similar policies including cutting govern-, ment and taxes and eliminating the deficit in his first term in office. Many prominent Ham's supporters are work- ing for Charest and showing it is respectable to do so. They include influential ministers like .House Leader Dave Johnson and Labor Minis- ter Elizabeth Witmer, while none of Harris's in- timateshas declared yet for Reform. Reform has said Ontario will be its main bat- tleground where it needs to break through and win seats to show it has a chance one day of forming a govemment. if it fails to gam substantially. because right- wing voters urged by Harris to avoid splitting their vote opt for the federal Conservatives,its hopes will be set back a long way and possibly forever.