Loading...
Times Advocate, 1997-10-22, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, October 22, 1997 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord Adleertising. Barb Consitt. Chad Eedy ' News; Heather Mir, Craig Bradford, Chantal) Vari Raay Brenda Burke.•Kate Monk, Ross Haugh Production. Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson • Brenda Hem. Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert ; FrontQffice & Accounting; Sue. Roilings, Carol Windsor Ruthanne Negrijn. Anita McDonald; Cassie Dalrymple, Ruth Slaght, Sheila Corbett The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of commurlity newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership Publications MaH Registration Number 07511 StIBSCHIPTION RATES: One year rate for Canada subscribers - $3500 + GST Two year rate for Canada subscribers • $63.00 + GST 4THERRATEb sMasr,N Outside Canada - S102.00 I ;tilts- Assoc` Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S8 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-235-1331 • Fax: 519.235.0708 /11105210036 Important to meet your candidates T he next term for Exeter Coun- cil could every well be the most critical in the history of the town. • In: fact, the shape of our community could depend on whatever position our council takes and in some measure on the negotiating- skills of our mayor. This council will be faced with many tough decisions as they are going to he an important part_of a newly - amalgamated area. Spreading the.costs of Idcal government. -over a much larger :area hay already.heen decided by the Harris government. •Ixcally, we'll be faced with downsiz- ing and the challenge of stretching the • sew tax dollars council still has control over as far as possible. This is why it's important for all local oters to have as much information ,>hhut those who will he a part of Exeter ,.ouncil...for.however long the tern could be. We remind our:readers to set aside a few hours of their time on -Wednesday. Oct. 29 to hear what many of our candi- dates have to say. The all candidates meeting is scheduled for 7 to 10 p.m. at the South Huron Ree Centre. As well as hearing why you should vote for certain candidates you will have a chance to hear from others who have been acclaimed. - Learning how those who want us to choose them as our representatives .will face restructuring, probable amalgama- tion, downloading of services previously handled provincially, etc. etc. is the best way taxpayers can get maximum value from their vote. It is vital for the citizens of Exeter to acquaint themselves with -the candidates and their beliefs and stands on important issues. The Times -Advocate has collect- ed several excellent questions from our readers for the candidates for the office of Mayor to answer. Their responses are in this issue. It is to he hoped all candidates will have the opportunity to respond to many more questions next week. Fall cleanup Nit is a great shame that people have no respect for our one and only earth." ' Dear Editor i On October 14. ;het Adult Education dass at South Huron District Hieh School. along with Mr. .McEwan's Environmental Science class. did its sec- ond annual fall cleanup of litter left carelessly on the grounds of the high school, public school, rec centre, ball parks. and MacNaughton, Elliott and Nabisco Parks. Our envimnment is one of our grave concerns. It is a great shamethat people have no respect for our one and only earth. Exeter's great parks and schools. are degraded by lack of consideration. Pollutioh is everyone's concern. Bmken glass was found in playgrounds and in the playing fields of the ball diamonds, a dangerous situ- ation for our children to be playing in. In all, 16 park -size bags of garbage was picked up, proving, once again, a successful cleanup. The only way it could have been mom successful would be not having to pick up any litter at all. We would like to thank Darlings Foodland for coffee to warm up with, Tim Hortons for the 'bits' of energy 'u keep us going, the Town of Exeter for the •-emr "nl of the bags. and the staff of the Rec t rc 'cr 'rating us set up headquarters and the bags .sea. • ,Ail ,n all a successful day. We hope that futtue Adult and Environmental Classes continue this pro- gram of looking after the environment. Steve Dettmer Adult Students Against Pollution (A.S.A.P.) !V/k/K0 4� • A Vie, 440101. TORONTO -- Doctors in Ontario who com- plain that they do not get enough respect have only themselves to blame. Doctors in four cit- ies. said their biggest problem is that the public and government.do not appreciate their work and that this has prompted about half the stu- dents in -some medical schools to plan to -prac- tise in the United States. .• But the doctors should look at some of their recent activities to Lind why the public no long- er puts them on the pedestal it once did. A year ago. many doctors, particularly family physicians and obstetricians, were refusing to accept new patients or work in emergency rooms or. closing their offices for a day as part of a strike or job action to win more pay. Refusing to treat pregnant women is about as low a blow as a doctor can deliver. Unions who stop delivering mail or close schools feel the full wrath of government on their heads, but the doctors got off easily -- they obtained their raise using mothers -to -be as bargaining chips. Doctors never demand pay increases or threaten strikes or working to rule, which are 's Park terms grubby unions use, but said the system was under -funded and they were forced to make "practice adjustments." • But people noted that they got their healthy raises at a time when thousands of workers in healthcare were being fired, and others paid by public funds felt lucky if they kepttheir jobs at frozen pay, and when those on the lowest rung, welfare, had their benefits reduced to less than a pittance. The public has seen doctors using other dubi- ous methods in trying to achieve goals and par- ticuiarly to protect their turf and incomes. The Ontario College of Family Physicians tried to block the province's worthwhile plan to train nurses to provide sone minor treatments formerly given by doctors, by urging members to lobby their patients to join the protest -- an unfair use of the relationship doctors have with patients. Some doctors not content with already large incomes have set up clinics for physiotherapy and directed their patients to them. misusing their inside track and not worrying about put - By,KatJMc rtk�� Diaries and letters Our family hasn't moved' around much during our 140 years in Canada. Family. fauns have been passed from generation to generation. So when the Schlotzhaur homestead was sold.last winter, we had quite a task to go through the contents of the house. We discovered Aunt Florence's home was a museum of our heritage. While we weren't sure why some items were saved (scrapbooks of Ed Allan exercises), we came across some real gems — wedding cards. photographs and quilts. But what has the most value to me? A bundle of letters my • mother wrote to her parents while she was a nursing student at Guelph General Hospital. These letters; provided insight ito her life before ..she'was a wife . and mother and gaive me clues to the person I knew hut didn't always understand ;r appreciate. 1 Here's an example. [ have 1 .always loved the <rutdoors but thought this was something 'unique to me. But what did my mother do when she had a morning off nursing duty' She wept for a walk in the'oountryi 1 and described the spring day in a letter to her parents. She wrote about her nursing friends. ,exams. practical jokes and get-togethers. Her letters told about Sunday dinners with Aunt viola and Uncle ()scar'. • I She also described sitting with a terminally -ill patient through the night ,tnd being with him when 1 he passed away. 1 also have her diaries from • I her life as Mrs. Monk where she chronicled not orlly momentous occasions such as the arrival of grandchildren but everyday life such as report card' marks, volleyball games and when dad finished ploughing each fall. 1 So, what's my point? Although our days and weeks are jun-packed. we should take time if not daily, then once a week to sit down and record the goings -ion of our lives. Or, keep your family's calendar or appointment book. It may not seem important now but it may be significant to someone down the road. What if von don't have time to write a diary.' That's a whole other column. We welcome vnur ovinion. MI letters to the editor must be signed and are subject to editing. Deliver to 424 Main Street. or mail to P.O. Box 350, Exeter Ont. NOM 1S6 Doctors ting established clinics out of business. The Ontario Medical Association persuaded its members to tie up health ministry operations with faxes hoping to teach the politicians not to mess with them, which would have been con- sidered childish trouble -making if a regular un- ion did it and does.not help doctors' credibility. Doctors did not win sympathy when they ex- ' pressed horror at a government proposal to make new graduates work in underserviced ru- ral and northern areas for fat fees, although or- dinary workers readily move anywhere for less . lucrative jobs. People notice also that doctors who merit that they are forced to work abroad usually go to the U.S., where pay is higher, rather than Third . World countries. The government of Premier Mike Hams had to remind doctors a month or two ago they have a duty to report suspected child abuse after a high-profile case in which a doctor failed to re- port and a child died. Doctors through the Ontario College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons. which supposedly regu- lates them in the public interest. have been seen lighting tooth and nail to protect their turf and earnings against the demand for alternative medicine. The college's latest tack is to claim that it al- lows doctors to prescribe alternative medicine without fear it will discipline or rule them in- competent, but in practice it harasses those who do and•currently has hauled one up before it and accused him of misconduct and incompe- tence -- people can read. The college also ironically injured doctors' reputation by -warning that the advance.of alter- native medicine could lead to more sex assaults on patients. This reminded one of a recent finding that at least 8 per cent of women patients aged 15 and older in Ontario reported having been sexually harassed or abused by their doctors, and Harris and his health minister said the rate of abuse by doctors was shocking. Respect is something many doctors will have to start earning.