The Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-01-23, Page 4Afr
•
q".
'
41.0003'14::npensate ber 1 the.a* t
mother.' 4_0 cleOatO
That the government ;boos to WM**
sate parents m the B01..11100. is another
Matter that 1 cannot fully -C910PrehemV
who the 02; cheque arrives, en the Friday
before paYday,',.'I choose not to question the
rationale behind the windfall..
Brian Mulroney's . government has
created a rather Contentious issue in .the
House of Commons for ,0,10Stioningthe
universaiitYa4.0004t0.,:. , •
OOPS iOn members pounced on the sug!*
gestion with collectiVe et Claiming. social
benefits were an inalleniihrelight.lViigawd,
V
N .•
\•••. Nvr,-
11,
monthWbaas.iuSt to live,ffl a modest:
her.
The,Conservat1ves will back aw
the untversaiity issue and defuse thi
bomb it has 'created. ,
1 say it should be lookedrat, Why shoal
people befinancially reefarded for bearing
children when the preamble, I've been led to
believe, isn't all that offensive and
presumably people don't engage in sexual
activity simply with the prospect of a $31
monthly income in mind.
The government has ' now given itf!
e4M13#1
„:
mal;n4neegr4.-:iat n. moment Won't act In eontintha
t klnd.of
distribute
lalEr9rarasln a Nie
,i4.i
equitable maimer,AiVOIvorool manner,
tospeak.
THE
NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT
SINCE NNW
Founded in 1848 and published every Wednesday et Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and CIGNA.
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114
-bcrefui out there
If you required any potitive proof that the winter season was a month old, the weekend
weather reinforced the fact.
The weather has been absolutely miserable. That's not news to the hearty residents of
Huron County who have braved the severest of Winters, but poor weather conditions re-
quire a new approach to driving.
It really shouldn't be necessary to caution or advise drivers of the obvious darii6s of
driving during the severe weather conditions of the past few days.
Barricades, which suggest that highways leading out of Goderich should not be travell-
ed upon4ple.ss there is an emergency, should be obeyed. Why risk a fatal accident or the
possibai of being stranded by travelling on highways with a history of drifting and poor
visibility due to wind -whipped snow.
• If you must travel, at least advise people that you are leaving, dress -properly and
carry emergency supplies in the car that include a flashlight, shovel, flares, sand (if
possible), blankets and food. .
Of course, the safest bet is to simply stay in the comfort of your home and not venture
out for any reason.
Those who do travel, or at least contemplate the possibility, want. the latest informa-
tion on road conditions between home and their destination point. Many motorists make
the mistake of contacting police for road information.
While any detachment of theOPP is willing to help in an emergency, they not an in-
formation or road report service. They want to keep their phone lines clear for legitimate
emergency calls and have repeatedly asked the public over the years to phone the
Ministry of 'Transportation and Communication's toll free travel information number
which is: 1-800-268-3735.
Information on all major highways is available 24 hours a day by dialing the aboye
number.
While the plow crews keep the streets of Goderich relatively free of snow, sheer
volume of snow has created some hazardous situations around town.
Most banks along town streets are piled high with snow making it most difficult to see
at intersections. Vehicles stopped at intersections must edge out slowly before drivers
are able to view any oncoming traffic in either direction. It makes for a potentially
dangerous situation, given the icy and slippery conditions of some streets, so all drivers
•are encouraged to take care on the streets of Goderich.
And, while most people may loathe the ,weather conditions, an ample snowfall is ex-
hilarating to young children and to the young at heart, as well.
Children, it has been observed, take great delight in playing on banks of snow, and
many ose a e a OW
•
those banks onto the edge of the road and many youngsters insist on walking along the
tops of those banks on their daily journeys to and from school.
Parents-sheuld-eaution-children-on-the obvious dangers_of_playing on snowbanks which
are close to the roadway.
A little precaution, extra care and common sense can go a long way during severe
weather conditions. D.S.
of thTIN
" F de of tfielva-d-xm-rdreirhave-been-seen-shding-off
Storm scene
By Dave Sykes
POSTSCRIPT
JOANNE BUCHANAN
It doesn't seem like too long ago that I was
lamenting,in this column about the fact that
we might not have any snow for Christmas.
Well, we had snow for Christmas alright
and now we have more of it than most of us
would probably like to see!
Actually, I don't really mind snow storms
like the one we had this past Sunday. It was
kind of nice to just hole up in the house for
the day with a good book—even though a pair'
of rented cross country skiis sat idle in my
car.
It had taken me a long time to get up
enough nerve and enthusiasm to try the
sport of cross country skiing because as I
have told you in a previous coltunn, I am the
world's biggest klutz and also the world's
most unathletic person. However, after
listening to some of my equally unathletic
friends rave about how great cross country
skiing is, I had made up my mind to give it a
try.
But Sunday's weather conditions were not
the greatest for a first-time skier so I decid-
ed it wduld have to wait for another time.
Some of my friends have told me that
cross country skiing is the only thing that
---- ak es the-Wititkr-beat-ab-le forthem.
I have other friends who become
downright despondent with the onset of
winter. One of them has been threatening to
ntl finer climate -for
move p
ermarie y -td -a wa
as long as I can remember. 11
though. A friend who did just that by taking gave me a chance to finish a 652 -page book of a warm house looking out instead of the
up residence in California. wrote to me and from the library. When I finished that, I wat- other way around.
said she actually missed the change of
seasons! She found the consistently sunny
weather boring after awhile. Can you
believe that? !
Recently I was talking to an acquaintance
who had just moved back to Canada after
living in New Zealand for a year on an ex-
change program.
"For about the first month we were back
here, it was cold and wet and dull. The sun
never shone and 1 kept wondering why
anybody would want to live in this country.
But I'm used to it again now," she sighed.
We all have our ways of coping with
winter. As mentioned above, some people
take up winter sports in able to cope. These
sports can actually make them look forward
to snow.
Other people cope by travelling to a warm
climate sometime during the winter moa-
ths. But unless you have a fairly lengthy
vacation period, this can backfire. Just
when you are getting used to the warmth
and sunshine in another country, your vaca-
tion time is up and you have to return to the
cold and snow—what a shock to the system!
It makes you wonder if you should have just
al tin th first lace
I guess I cope With winter by trying to ig-
nore it and avoid it as much as possible. If I
never had to go anywhere, I could pass the
—winteranonths contentedly
stays pu - p
ched some t.v., wrote a few letters, browsed
through the spring and summer catalogue,
drank hot chocolate, cleaned my closet, and
talked on the phone to friends. Being
grounded by the weather gave me a chance
to relax and get caught up on things I hadn't
had time to do. -
It was when I had to go to work the next
day that I really began cursing winter. I
started out a half-hour earlier than usual. I
warmed up my car. It seemed like it took
forever to clean all the snow off it. A large
drift had formed right behind my back
wheels and the town plough had filed in
entrance to the driveway. I went searching
for the shovel and couldn't find it. So, there I
was, kicking at the mound of snow behind
my wheels and trying to scoop most of it
away with my hands. Finally, got
frustrated and decided to just get in the car
and take a run at the mound to see if I could. _
get through. It worked and I was on my
way!
I remember studying Canadian literature
in high school. This country's climate
played a big part in that literature. We read
about how winter had made us develop into
a_ hardy inde ndent and self-rehant peo-
ple. I think this was before the invention of
the automobile though!
I guess there are some good things to be
said ahnitt_winteraatattal_ laappen_to think
's funnv Like I said I really didn't mind Sunday. It they're easier said when you're on the inside
Is homo sapiens the crowning glory of this
planet, the ultimate power over the destiny
of all creatures, substances and systems?
Does everything exist merely for us - for our
benefit, for the satisfaction Of our avarice
and subject to our extraordinary ability to
diminish and destroy balances? Or are
human beings simply another sp:ccies, with
a certain time, place and patf6rn in the
overall scheme of things? Do we own all
nature or are we pat of it?
It depends on the personal answers to
these questions how each of us reacts to a
number of potentially controversial sub- ,
jects, laboratory experiments on live
animals among them.
The recent vublic exchange of passionate
accusations over the University of Western
Ontario experiments is only a late expres-
sion in old disagreements between vivisec-
tionists and those who abhor the practice.
Is vivisection a timely and sophisticated
approach to science, with a great and im-
peccable future, or is it an outdated and un-
necessary cruelty, in the process of being
replaced by new attitudes, knowledge and
equipment?
To my astonishment, such illustrious and
highly polished personalities as Pierre Ber-
ton, Betty Kennedy and Barbara Andel let
go an unexpected stream of venom and
ridicule at a young woman who appeared as
a guest on Front Page Challenge recently.
She had been on a hunger strike for thirty
days, protesting against live animal ex-
periments, particularly the grim episode in
the laboratories of the University of
Western Ontario in London where a baboon,
with tubes implanted in the veins, arteries
and stomach, has been kept in a re8training
chair for six months.
Like most militant activists in every field,
the animal rights activists sometimes resort
to desperate methods and extreme
measures, in order to make a point with
maximum emphasis. By doing so they
alienate more moderate persons who sup-
port their basic principles and aims.
Being opposed to vigilante mentality and
unlawful means, I cannot condone many of
the drastic steps taken by militant groups
fighting against the abuse of animals, in the
name of science or otherwise. However,
there is no doubt that such activities help
focus a great deal of necessary attention on
the subject where questions ought to be ask-
ed.
The Canadian Council on Animal Welfare,
the official agency that was established in
1968 to watch over the treatment of animals
in laboratory research, is investigating the
controversial baboon experiments at the
UWO and has requested that new metnous
be explored. If a university does not respond
to the council's assessment panel, research
grants rnay be(cut off.
We are familiar with the text of excuses
and explanations offered by those who sup-
port and help finance these and other ex-
periments on live animals. I am not talking
about simple and harmless tests, but about
keeping animals alive with the tops of their
heads cut off or filled with tubes for six mon-
ths in a restraining chair. No power on earth
can convince me that these animals do not
suffer or that we as human species have a
divine right to cause such suffering for our
purpose.
The argument about eating meat certain-
ly does not provide an excuse because in the
chain of natural events many species are
food for others. Only man has added
deliberate suffering.
Many people have different opinions, if
they have thought very much about the sub-
ject at all. I am among those who find it im-
possible to place ourselves above
everything else in the universe. I feel
uneasy about people who believe that they
possess this superiority and can do
whatever suits them with other species with
whom we lead parallel lives -during the -
limited time we all have on this planet.
ELSA
HAYDON