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Times Advocate, 1995-09-13, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, September 13, 1995 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett The Exeter Times Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers Business Manager: Don smith 16 060A011 COMj.� . providing news, advertising and information leadership Production Manager: Deb Lord Advertising; Barb Consitt f���thi i c`���o.• News: Heather Mfr, Chris Skalkos, Ross Haugh, Brenda Burke Production' Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Flynn, AI Hodgert Front Qf ce & Accounting; Elaine Pinder, Sue Rollings, Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple r inion 1)IT()R1:\1.S Help wanted orkers wanted - starting wages and benefits $32.25 per hour. Applicants should have strong mathematical skills including algebra and geometry. Excellent communications skills are needed as well as a working knowledge of personal computers. Applicants must have problem solving shills, work well in teams and have the flexibility and motivation to pursue additional training throughout their career. A second language or more is a plus. The above advertisement is fictional- but the requirements are very real according to Yves Landry, president and C.E.O. of Chrysler Canada, in a recent address to Kiwanis International conventioneers in Windsor, Ontario. The big three automakers will be replacing some 200,000 retirees in the next five years and the applicant who appears at the gate with the above qualifications is guaranteed work. Mr. Landry lambasted our educators for their failure to react to the needs of today's employer. He said that while tenure and academic freedom are essential intellectual rights that need to be defended and protected, they must "never become the reason and / or the justification to force-feed a curriculum no longer adapted to our needs." The bottom line, as suggested by Mr. Landry, is that the demands of the workplace are outpacing reform in the educational system. Premier Harris and company would be well advised to heed Mr. Landry's words, the number of "educated" Ontarians currently receiving social assistance readily attests to the validity of his claims. West Nipissing this week Justice system has one less impairment 0 n September 15, impairment - either by drink or drugs - became no longer acceptable as a defence against serious crimes, such as sexual assault and manslaughter. It's about time. The use of such a defence made a '"mockery of the judicial system as a whole, afd turned the Supreme Court into a bad joke after it decided, on September 30, 1994, that Henri Daviault, 72, of Montreal, could not be convicted of sexually assaulting a 65 -year-old woman who was in a wheelchair - because he was too drunk to know what he was doing. Accused persons would have to show they were so extremely intoxicated they were in a condition close to insanity, or in a robot-like state. Within weeks of the ruling, two drunks were acquitted of assault and sexual assault using this defence. A third man was acquitted aggravated assault against his common-law wife because he was stoned on cocaine. How is it that a condition induced by the accused could then become a legal defence for the accused? Justice Minister Allan Rock reacted to close this appalling loophole with that amounted to for governmental bureaucracy - astonishing swiftness. Bill C-72 was endorsed by all parties in the House of Commons, approved by MPs and the Senate in June. Among Mr. Rock's comments recently when announcing the new law was: "Canadians have signalled to this government that individuals must accept responsible for their actions." How is it that the highest court in the land managed to miss such a basic premise? Goderich Signal -Star 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 1S6. Sign your letter with both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. A View From Queen's Park By Eric Dowd Publications Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES• CANADA Within 40 miles (65 km.) addressed to non letter carrier addresses 533.00 plus 52.31 A.L.T. Outside 4b miles (85 km.) or any letter Ciffief address 833.00 plus 830.00 (total 63.00) + 4.31 A.L.T. Outside Canada 588.00 plus 86.93 ALT (Includes 588.40 postage) Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Mali St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 188 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd Telephone 1-519-235.1331 • Fax: 519-235.07 8 s.s.T. sit1052101135 FREEZE, KID! WHERE'S YOUR HELMFN ?I ratters By Heather Mir Watch out for wasps As my column counterpart mentioned last week, the season for fall fairs has arrived. And with the end of summer, sting- ing insects such as wasps and hornets seem to show up at eve- ry outdoor gathering. Cotton candy, caramel popcorn and candy apples sold at fairs al- ways attract wasps and hornets. These insects, in contrast with honey bees, are scavengers and can transmit infection along with their venom. This is partic- ularly serious when introduced in the throat area. Reactions are generally less severe in children than in adults but are increasingly severe as the individual receives repeated stings over a period of time. Some of the symptoms of stings include localized swell- ing, an itch rash, dizziness, vomiting and in some cases dif- ficulty breathing. Anaphylactic shock, the result of a severe al- lergic reaction, .is occasionally fatal. Because many problems with wasps and hornets occur in rural areas, it is important to have an anaphylactic shock kit on hand for emergency treatment with- out a doctor. Those who have been diagnosed as suffering al- lergic reactions may already have an epi -pen (epinephrine) to inject adrenalin into the blood- stream. Recently a 44 -year-old Lon- don man, Mike Samler, died af- ter being stung on the tongue while enjoying the long week- end at Long Point Provincial Park. The sting occurred when Samler took a sip from a bottle. He spit a yellow jacket wasp out but the bee had already stung him. The Port Rowan OPP re- ported an autopsy done last Sun- day showed the cause of death was anaphylactic shock. If you are stung and find swelling occurs or you have dif- ficulty breathing, go to the hos- pital immediately for treatment. • Only one person in 200 is al- lergic to insect venom. In this case, the person's immune sys- tem is sensitized by the venom from one sting and a later sting can provoke a severe reaction. A London doctor said only one person in three million is likely to die from a bee, hornet or wasp sting. If you notice wasps building a nest near your home, a commer- cial wasp and hornet spray which stun insects on contact is your best bet. If insects are en- tering a crack in a wall, an in- secticide dust such as carbaryl (Sevin) will be carried back to the nest by passing insects. Y.Ilow jacket nests in the ground, mud daubers or papery nests of hornets all should be sprayed at night when the in- sects return to the nest and are inactive. Wear protective cloth- ing and have someone nearby in case you have a reaction to a sting. TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris is cutting busy as a barber on Saturday morn- ings trying to save taxpayers money, but he has some priorities mixed up. Harris and his Progressive Conservatives have quickly reduced spending on welfare, housing, daycare, services to abused chil- dren and transportation for the handicapped as well as, to be fair, subsidies to business. The province will ask a welfare mother with two children to live on about $1,086 a month, but a case can be made that it first should have reduced some of its lavish ben- efits to workers in the public sector. Most contribute between 7 and 8 per cent of their pay toward pensions and taxpayers must match it. As one result, teachers commonly on comfortable salaries of more than $60,000- a -year retire on useful $42,000 pensions -- about $10,000 more than the average work- er's wage -- on topof old age security. The vast majority of private sector workers who help provide these truly gold- en years do not even have a pension plan of their own to which their employers contrib- ute. A government forced to cut welfare should consider whether it can continue contributing so generously to its employ- ees' pensions. Many senior public servants, including deputy ministers, city clerks and police chiefs, retire from one job while still in their 50s with pensions around $70,000 and more to take highly paid jobs in the private sector as consultants or lobbyists or manag- ing security for banks and other companies. Government should be asking whether it is fair to pay a retired police chief a hand- some pension while he also collects a large salary at a time when it cannot afford to help a crippled person get to woek. Many teachers and other public sector workers are allowed a specified number of days off sick without losing pay, and can accumulate those they do not take off so that on retirement they are paid a 'gratuity' Harris busy cutting of up to half a year's pay, commonly $30,000. Teachers collect this bonus merely for go- ing to work when healthy, something they would be embarrassed trying to explain to their ethics classes, on top of cozy pen- sions, which is even harder to justify when the welfare cuts will put abused children in more danger. Many of the several hundred mostly well- paid employees at the legislature have no work when it is not sitting and some are not required even to show up. This year the legislature has not sat even one day, because the New Democrat gov- ernment defeated in the June election did not want to give the opposition parties a forum in which to run a campaign against it, and last year the elusive NDP had it sit only 71 days. But even under other governments it of- ten met fewer than 100 days. The Tories would be in real difficulty explaining why they pay employees to sit around while they lack money to fund reasonable welfare ben- efits. Provincial employees get paid holidays that include Remembrance Day, although probablyn of one in a hundred goes near a war memorial, and teachers have profes- sional development days that for many are extra holidays on top of three months they already have off, while taxpayers cannot maintain adequate services for children. Any struggling welfare mom who has the misfortune to wind up in court will see judges working even less. The province is trying to coax judges to sit five hours a day for 170 days a year, but most do not sit anywhere near this and anyone slicing a golf ball in midweek risks hitting a judge. The welfare mothers and the disabled have one thing in common; they do not have much political influence. The fact teachers and judges have a lot bigger voice is encouraging Harris to pick on the little guys.