Times Advocate, 1998-02-04, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, F'ebruary.4, 1998
Publisher 8t Editor: Jim Beckett
Business Manager: Mon Smith
Production Manager: Deb Lord
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frensnortation: Al Hodgert
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COMA
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The, sordid soap opera continues
sst! Wait until you hear the
latest sordid sexploit from the White
House... oh, and by the way, the United
States is sending another aircraft carrier
to the Gulf in what appears to be prep=
aration for war against tray.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone, where
kiss -and -tell innuendo about what a for-
eign president does (or docs not do)
during those long, Washington D. C.
evenings, takes precedence over "real"
news.
in- all honesty, most of us on this side
of the 49th couldn't give a hoot about
American "affaires of state, and are
somewhat irritated about all the dirty
- laundry being aired. We are certainly
wondering what all the fuss is about
south of the border. Atter all, Bill Clin-
ten's presidency has been -likened to
that of another young, and reputedly
-virile (to put it•politely) president, John
F. -Kennedy, whose extracurricular ac-
tivities were not considered. grounds for
impeachment - murde'r, perhaps, de-
pending oh which conspiracy theory
you believe, but not impeachment..
This is one instance when it appears -
someone. has seriously misjudged pub-.
lic opinion and,interest. While the
American press' is publishing and
broadcasting every possible detail,
from every possible angle, the world's
media is responding to the most recent
sordid saga in the. White House with a
resounding, "Who cares?" .• ,
In most parts of the world, the puri-
tanical right wing reaction to Wild .
Bill's supposed misdoings is metre'a cu-
riosity than whether or not the president
committed adultery. And there is much
greater interest in Bill's trigger finger •
than in more southerly portions of his
anatomy.
Not unexpectedly, those covering the
news in Washington are themselves
coming under scrutiny. We are once
again hearing the term "media feeding
frenzy and it is one the like of which
has not been seen since Princess Diana
died.
Here in small town midwestern 'Onta-
rio, we wonder why we are getting con-
stant updates on the latest tacky bit of
evidence on whether or not Bill and
Monica did it, and whether Hillary will
continue to stand by her man. if they de-
cide to bounce Bill out of office over
what has whimsically keen termed "zip--
pergate", then it is news. Otherwise,
leave us to watch our soap Operas if we
need a daily - even hourly - fix of sordid
sex scandals.
The cynics among us have no doubt
decided the continuing saga of Bill and
' Monica proves the extent of American
control over Canadian media.
This is hot stuff around Washington,
_where people have a habit 'of placing
their president on a very high, very nar-
row pedestal. Perhaps Canadians have a
higher tolerance for weirdness or naugh-
ty misdoings, or perhaps the monarchy
far across the sea allows us to keep larg-
er -than -life figures safely at arm's
length.
The major Canadian press cannot ig-
nore this scandal. As has been said in
the past, when one,sleeps beside an eje-
• phant, no matter how friendly the beast,
one notices its every move. Blit too
much attention.to it could create a back-
lash, a demand,for more Canadian and
local content in our television, radio and
newspapers.
As.far as this midwestern Ontario
owned and operated community news-
paper is concerned, only good can come
df that. ,
, reprinted from Saugeeri City News
4
Your Views
Letters to the Editor
Pondering religion
"Society's trend towards secular-
ization has relegated religion to -
the sidelines of human, activity."
Dear Editor: .
When is a human activity not "religious"? ,
The answer will probably depend on your concept.
of "religion". '
Is religion a set of rituals performed at a set time
•
and place?
Is religion a person's concept of a transcending
power; a something beyond oneself!
is religion simply a way'of the simpleton to
• account for his inability to copc with the real world?
Society's trend towards secularization has relegat-
ed religion to the sidelines of human activity. ,
Could the tragedies oihumanitythat we see daily
be the result of this trend?
Bruce Perry
A View from Queen's Park
•
TORONTO -- The best efforts of Premier
Mike Harris and his government to ensure that
an enterprising opposition MPP went 10 jail
have recoiled on them.
A court last week acquitted New Democrat
Peter Kormos of assaulting a security guard in
a government building to•which he took a cam-
eraman. It was the only charge the combined
might of government and police could find to
lay against him for really doing no more than
show ,initiative in exposing a government fail-
ing. '
• The court by its verdict also rebuked Harris's
Progressive Conservatives who put effort and
expense into assuring that a char$e was laid in
a minor incident and, worst of all, put pressure
on police to lay one. among the worst breaches
of legal rights that politicians can commit.
Kormos and anothc, NDP MPP, Shelley Mar-
tel, both former ministers, went to the govern-
ment building with their party's blessing and
the photographer at 7 a.m., hoping to film
scenes that would substantiate a deluge of.com-
By Eric Dowd
Kate's takes
By Kate Monk
Area residents train for Winter Olympics
As thefhype develops for the '98
Winter Olympics in Nagano, 1 have
observed many of our'rcadcrs
training for the Times -Advocate
Winter Olympics.
Canadians are a hardy'Ic;t. We
-look winter in the cyc and laugh for
we know that we will conquer.
While our would -class athletes are
training for the easy. laid -hack
Olympic sports such as hockey.
downhill skiing and figure skating.
our readers are training for the real
sports.
Here's the lineup. -
Driveway shovelling •
Contestants are judged on speed
and precision. Marks are deducted
for any snow remaining on the
driveway and for transferring snow
onto a neighbor's driveway. Some
athletes train for this event before
they go (0 work at 7 a.rn.
Car clearing
Once again, speed and precision
are most important. Entire •
windshields and horizontal surfaces
roust he cleared before the vehicle
leaves the driveway. This must be
done manually without the aid of
letting the,car idle for 20 minutes.
Moving snow storm -
The c tact opposite of the car
clearing competition, for this event,
people are not allowed to touch the
car with a scraper or brush.
Competitors' vehicles often look
like a small snow storm moving
down the street with snow plowing
off their vehicles a, they travel.
Competitors are not easily
recognized because they can only
be seen through a small section of
'the windshield cleared by the
defroster.
Points are awarded for the,
consistency sof the trailof snow as .
well as the amount of snow and
frost left on the vehicle when the
di -iv cr reaches the destination.
Winter walking
The most dedicated athletes in
the area. these people train for both
the winter and summer events.
Neighborhood teams can he seen
power walking early each morning
regardless of the weather. they
seem to have the old mailman
motto of persevering through rain.
sleet. snow and wind. With the
skills exhibited by area athletes.
they.are expected to do.well .in
_competition.-
- Sidewalk slide and shuffle,
This is a'Main Street event for
shoppers who ,lip and slide along
the sidewalks that shopkeepers do
' not keep clear of snow and ice..
This is by tar the most dangerous
event with broken bones resulting
from faits. The event gets more
dangerous as people spend their
money in stores and have more and •
more packages to carry. Even the '
Town of Et eter parti..ipatcs-in '
setting up the course; in front of the
lawnboiwting club and 406 Main
Street:
. Boulevard snowmobile slalom
- In this event: snowmotiiler, travel -
along the boulevards, in town. wing '
the trees on corner lots J. pylons
.Quint, are awarded for packing
down snow on driveways. drr'rng
closely.to trees and flowerbed
gnomes and if possible. running
ower the toes of shovetlers. Bonus
marks are gi'en for snowmohilrng
after midnight. -
Coffee and donut biathlon .
With a cornucopia of donut and .
coffee shops in our coverage area.
this is one of the most popular
winterevents. This is purely a test
of strength and nerve,. Athletes
musi visjt their donut shop of
preference and do 20 repetitions of
coffee cup lifting. This is combined
with the donut eating component
which.requires the athlete to eat a '
- :donut in:as fewhttesas possible .
without allowing any -crumbs to tall
on the floor, -
•So do not be depressed if your: .
nut competing in Nagano. The '
Times -Advocate winter Olympics
require much more skill and
dedication.
plaints the attorney general's ministry was fail-
ing to pay wives money from its family support
plan which- their , estranged husbands had al-
ready paid in.
•The MPPs identified themselves as being
"from Queens Pork," the seat of government,
and a security guard showed them around and
they were able tofilm piles of boxes indicating
delay 'ind chaos in handling. ' '
The guard then received a cell phone call, told
them to stop, filming and tried to block the came-
raman and Kormos pushed him against a wall so
the photographer could obtain a few more shots.
The judge found later there was sortie physical
contact, but not significant enough to merit a
charge of assault. The government's role in
influencing police came a few hours after the
visit, when Attorney General Charles Harnick
announced in the legislature there had been "a
potentially serious incident" of unauthorized ac-
cess to confidential files'and Kormos and Martel
were involved.
Harnick said the government had called the
Just like Al Capone .
police, who were conducting a criminal investi-
gation, as well as the freedom of information
office to determine whether privacy rights had
been violated. . - -
in the clamour that he was taking a publicity
stunt too seriously. Harnick was heard shouting
there had been a "break-in" and "ask Kormos
what he did with the security guard." - -•
After complaints, Harnick withdrew any sug-
gestion that Kormos and Martel had broken into
the offices. But his comments could have start-
ed a chain of reaction. -
The attorney general. as chief law officer re-
sponsible for the administration of justice in -
fairness is required not to express views public-
ly on the merits of an allegation being investi-
gated against a specific person because it might
influence others in the justice system, including
police, who are supposed to act independently
of politicians:
But the attorney general declared that there
had been a break-in, which is a criminal of-
fence; that Kormos and Martel were involved,
and that Kormos did something reprehensible
to the guard.
Police are supposed to look at all the circum-
stances to decide- whether an offence wa
- committed, but could. have felt because the
minister for justice had already concluded there
had been an offence, they should find one.
All the evidence showed the guard. did not
want an assault charge laid and kept saying so.
Police had to suggest to him several times that
a .charge should be laid before he agreed. .
The New Brunswick lawyer the Harris gov-
ernment chose to prosecute also accused Kor-
mos of violent physical.activity, pugilism, fisti-
cuffs and a brazen and arrogant assault, a huge
exaggeration of what the court found.
Hams is now trying to minimize the govern-
ment's court defeat by saying. "I'm glad Peter
won't be in jail. To be honest, this is not a case
we particularly wanted to push," but his Tories
went after the• MPP who blew the whistle on
them as if he was Al Capone.
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