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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-12-16, Page 15.4 SI t!i K• GOPERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY. M .. ECEMBER 16, I87 PA . '"I've got the Christmas Shopping B1ueS. It's not a new affliction, I've been,getting them every year now for a very long time.. It just seemstso difficult to decide what to buy for whom aisn't. made any easier by a too: slim: Now if T were just a I e•flush, at least ,.half were problouid be. resolved.. If there were sufficient money to kick around one would not have to worry so much, about choosing. Just nip into a store, point out the first thing which catches your eye and have them wrap.and deliver'. Or perhaps a little catalogue shopping. I see by a recent newspaper story the perfect solutifor what to get the little girl' who hi everything, .is hard to please, or b Neirnan•M" cus, a Dallas Texas department : store with an incredible Christmas' : talogue, will build a doll's heuqp ,Hifi ,.is ,;rl. exact and, detailed t replica of your own home: "As complete as you wish it to be with furniture, decor, electricity, hot and cold running water, her dog's house in the back, yard, her kitten's basket,' her favorite doll in miniature too," the Catalogue promises. And, just to- add a personal touch, Neiman-Marcus promises that its building -expert will personally call on little Mary to consult over the blueprints and incorporate,any minor changes to the original design she thinks necessary. All this, for a mere $6,500 So that takes care of little Mary, but what about Aunt Matilda and Uncle Mordechai? They just seem, to have everything! Neiman-Marcus comes to the fescue again with a "His and Her's gift a matching set of American buffalo calves. Alive yet The catalogue calls upon Christmast shoppers to 'give us a4 home for our buffalo to roam.' The six month old calves will be delivered with "a cer- tificate from the American Buffalo ,Association attesting• to .the purity of. their bloodline." (Just a little guarantee that what jou' .have purchased are ac- tually buffalo) ctuallybuffalo) Perfect for Aunt Matilda and Uncle Vlordechai don't you think? And `for a mere $1,750 per set. All this is a bit .out of ni.y line finan- cially I'll admit. But that is not about to stop me from 'shopping through . the prestigious firm of Neiman-Marcus. They' have one page out of 111 in that catalogue featuring gift suggestions -for under $10. ` With Neiman-Marcus.. taking care -"of the gift problems this year, what about • entertainment. Perhaps I could . join a• • group of American millionaires who will celebrate New Year's Eve three times. They are renting a supersonic Con- corde airliner to celebrate the end of 1976. On a carefully planned time table, they will hold a midnight bash in Paris,,' again •soinletwvhere` over the Atlantic Ocean' and then wind'up' their prolonged New Year's celebrations with another • party in Washington. You see, ;because the plane flies .at.. 1,360 miles: per hour which is more than 300 rniles per klour.raster .thin :the earth_ rotates on its axis,' the group will be able to welcome in the'New Year three.tiines At • midnight In P','ris, again when they catch up..to midright over the :,q lantfc. and a :third t ixt0 a,.t,�.lmidntglit ih W ash.ingto I't ;is, reported- there are still' a few. places 'left';':' -at only`$1"4,850 per: person.' (No cut rates for couples). . - " INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION Community police forces throughout Huron seem to have their difficulties•and the Seaforth department is the latest example. In an unanimous action on Monday evening the Seaforth . Town • Council decided not to allow'a hearing for former town police constable Ronald Lauzon and then announced hiring of a replacement tofill his position: Constable 'Lauzon resigned in November for what .were described as "personal reasons" but then askedthat he be given a hearing over the affair. Lauzon had been on the Seaforth force for three years. Wayne Ellis, chairman of the council's • Global Television is asking. the -Canadian Radio and Talevision Comte mission for "commercial parity" with other private broadcasters. The request was made in Toronto recently at a licence renewal application hearing before the CRTC. At present, the CRTC licence held by Global allows 10 minutes of commercial time per: hour. If the parity request is granted with the new licences this would increase to 12 minutes per hour. Global has been in financial difficulty but now says it has begun to recover. The increase in allowable commercial time would, according to Allan Slaight, aid the networks comeback.• HERE protection df property and persons committee, said that the hearing had been •denied on the advice of the Ontario Police Commission• because the con- stable had already resigned. That resignation however had come following a request by the council that he do so or face a number of charges -under the Police Act.. Lauzon however is not without support and a number of Seaforth residents have been circulating a petition'on his behalf for a hearing. Coencil had expected a delegation from this group to make an appearance before the Monday night meeting but no one showed up. Those supporters claimthe issues over ;I•N HURON which Constable Lauzon was asked to resign are not supported. They also report -that the former police officer has retained a lawyer and plans to file a suit against the town. According to councillor Ellis however:. the .town has received no notice of such legalaction and he said it was his -un derstanding that there was no recourse open to Constable Lauzon. Council has hired' Angus Macdonald, 31, ' a. native of Scotland, to . bring the force back up to full strength. He was hired as a third class constable at a salary of $12,155 per year and begins work on December 20. • . +++ PROVINCIAL - Global was -licensed in 1972 .with the• and the network ' quickly ran into understanding it would operate with • financial difficulty -because otits heavy eight minutes of advertising per hour. , Their, .limitwas set lower than the maximum 12 minutes for other stations because the CRTC said that Global would cover the richest market area in Canada; from Ottawa to Windsor, and it had no commitment to do local programming or extend to uneconomic areas. At the same time it was stipulated that Global would confine itself to national, and retail advertising and accept no local retails commercials. All .of these factors proved•a bit much 'As -his lawyer puts it, after seven years 3f legal battles, 13 charges of'performing an illegal abortion, three jury acquittals and 10 months of incarceration, the 53 year old. • Dr. Henry Morgentaler has "won against the odds." ' At long last Dr. Morgentaler was relieved of his trials on Friday when the new Quebec government ordered prosecutions against him halted and recommended that the federal gover- nment amend the taw .on abortion. Dr. Morgentaler was quoted' as saying;;' that "I've been vindicated by three juries and I'm very happy not only for myself but also for the implications of commitrnkent to produce a wealthof new Canadian programming and had to be rescued financially by new owners headed by Allan Slaight. At the time of that • takeover, allowable commercial time was increased from eight to ten minutes per viewing •hour. Global management says the network has accumulated losses since its birth of about $21 -million. It is also working on repayment of $26 millionin long term debts: With that in mind Global is else asking for the release of $2 million in licence CANADA this whole thing. He noted that for the first time in more than six years he does not stand accused of a crime. Justice Minister Marc -Andre Bedard has said that the Crown will not be able to present mere evidence in a fourth trial above -and beyond evidence which has already •been, presented in . the three earlier cases against the doctor. When the Quebec Justice Minister went a Step further and sent a' .letter to Federal Justice Minister Ron Basford saying that Article 251 of the Criminal Code of Canada (which deals with aborti) should be amended because it Elsewhere in the County the Ausable- Bayfield Conservation Authority is expressing concern over the continuing depletion of rural, woodlots in the authority's two watersheds. 'Authority ''member Joseph Dietrich says in.a year end report to members that the situation has become "Poten- tially •hazardous" potentially•hazardous" and has resulted in a review- of the group's'- reforestation program..- Mr. Dietrich said the revisediarogram has been- adopted' by the authority's reforestation, wildlife and land use advisory board, of which he is chairman, and . will be implemented during the. coming year.' The report claims that indiscriminate depletion of woodlots by some farmers has resulted in large expanses of un- protected agricultural land. , Grand Bend ReeVe Robert Sharen told a recent meeting that bulldozer 'Operators who convince farmers to have woodlot lands cleared may be held equally liable underprovincial legislation- which prohibits wanton• destruction of treed land. . A section of the provincial Trees Act allows county councils to pass • bylaws restricting and regulating the destruction of some trees. Some critics of the.:. legislation. are : urging the government to increase the maximum POINTS fees over the next five years, saying that `they-wii•1-put-the-mone y. into -e radia program production instead. In their •presentation to . the CRTC • Global claim to spend $3.00 in Canada for every dollar that leaves the • country, though they admit the Canadian shows. are stillmoney lcfsers, •supported by profitable but cheaper programs it purchases from the United States. Mr. Slaight said_Global:is now meeting the original licence conditions except for' the commercial time aspect and the fact that the network cannot generate Canadian drama. CRTC Chairman Roy Faibish says however that he does not believe Global fines'for violations from •$500 to as high as $5,000. • • As it stands now, they point out, fines handed down by the courts are often so small that a land owner might regard them as•only slightly increasing the cost of a tree clearing project and not regard them as a deterrent at•all. Mr.. Dietrich says the increasing demand for land is another concern the 'authority may have to face, particularly where • agricultural land and .remaining •woodlots are threatened. He said the -loss of woodlots and other sensitive, water -retention feattires results in increased runoff and adds to erosion and flooding 'problems. IN SEVEN plicable. • Dr. Morgentaler's reaction was that it was "about time" as he• had been asking for just such a change during the last nine years. • His lawyer also noted that public opinion had obviously changed and the climate surrounding the• issue of .abor- tions had changed. He saidit followed that "the law should be changed." The pro -abortion groups who have been pushing to have the matter . of abortions treated as a private decision to'. • be made between the patient and her doctor, observe that the "ball is now in the Federal ceurt." Going a step 'further they'suggest•that the provincial government could' howeverissue directives to hospitals encouraging them to set up committees for abortion. . When asked about the Quebec 'governmentmove, Mr. Basford said that. he had alwaysmaintained that the affair was properly a decision for the provincial authorities. "I think, in light of the circumstances, that most people should regard it as a fair and . just decision:" Basford would not comment however on the Quebec Justice Minister's suggestion that -the Criminal Code be asa i television alternative" the public and the. commission was led to believe it would.- ' Mr. .Faibish wanted to know when Global would -achieve-that distinction. Mr: Slaight said he thought "we are there now." • , During the commission hearing Global indicated again that it still had the.idea. Of becoming a third national network at some time in the ' • future. The educational television network TV amended. Basford said, "He has not , made it clear to me whether the law should be more strict or less strict." Both the New •Democrats and.the Conservatives indicated their suport •for the Quebec. decision. NDP member Stuart Leggat said he hoped the decision.. indicates a shift in Quebec's attitudes toward abortions and that the province is 'interested in ending the "hypocrisy" surrounding the issue. •PC member ldon Williams noted "It • was. the only answer, --it had become a persecution, not a prosecution." • .Meanwhile,'°the anti -abortion group Ontario is also applying for a renewal of In their submission, TVOpoint out that they have become the largest producer of French educational programming in the world. They report that slightly more than 17 per cent of the programs on th,'t network are in French• The CRTC wxpressed special interest in this area of the TVO programming but noted that viewers in Ottawa, Cornwall and Hawkesbury would like to see even more French language content. Alliance for Life, is still screaming about alleged jury tampering during the last trial. They said, because of that, there is • no point in proceeding with charges against the doctor. 'Dr. Morgentaler has,. admitted per- forming more than 6,000 abortionsin his Montreal clinic. • Under the Criminal Code, amended in 1969; abortions can only be performed when the health of the mother is en= dangered: All abortions must be procured in accredited hospitals and be approved 'in advance by special three. member hospital committees which hospitals are not obliged to establish. l , f With Canada's new 200 mile offshore territorial limit now in effect, the question of special• arrangements with other countries wishing to fish our waters will have to be resolved. A quota system has been worked out With the Japanese and now talks are set to open with 'representatives of the European Economic Community. The EEC wants to update bilateral fishing agreements between Ottawa and individual EEC member states but External Affairs Minister Don Jamieson says Canada'' is not ready to replace existing treaties with member states, France in particular, with an over-all WOli L DWEEK agreement with the 'Common Market. "But," he says, "this does not mean we are notready to talk to the . Com- munity • about' possibilities." Representatives of the EEC have alreadyopened negotiations 'with Iceland and Norway to replace bilateral deals with a comprehensive package involving ,the Common Market as a whole. - According to Mr. Jamieson Canada will have to implen ent interim measures on January 1 to allow French, West Garman and British boats to continue fishing within Canada's 200 mile Zone. No fishing treaty could be implemented in the short run, he said. An agreement with the EEC -would be complicated by France, which has special rights to fish inside the St. Lawrence River in exchange for per- mitting Canadian trawlers to fish around. the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off Canada. Mr. Jamieson recently attended the inaugural session of the EED-Canada' joint co-operation committee, which will oversee Ottawa's new trade and co- operation agreement with the com- munity. Afterward he said the time had come where "we have got to translate the rhetoric into real'i•ty." • The question of how much power the commission should have has been a long standing argument - within the com- munity, with France frequently insisting on preserving national authority. Jamieson has said" that Canada sup- ports the idea of joint ventures between Canada and • the Common Market countries • in the fishing industry, in- cluding servicing of foreign vessels in Canada and processing their fish. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union has announced that it too is juinping on the band wagon of 200 mile fishing zones and will be implementing one around its coast line. According to the government newspaper Izvestia, President Nikolai Podgorny• has " signed a decree establishing the fishing limit as a "temporary" measure pending the outcome of the United Nations Law of the Seal. Conference. Under the decree, foreign vessels would have to receive consent from the Russian government before they could fish within 200 miles of the Soviet Union. Within the new zone, the Soviet Union holds "sovereign rights over fish and other living resources for the purpose of detecting, processing and preserving rt. them; .according to the • decree. A similar measure adopted by the United States, effective next March, was criticized by the Soviet Union last May while the Law df the Sea Conference was under way. Moscow said in an official protest that the• U.S. law "goes directly counter to the efforts being undertaken to achieve mutually acceptable decisions at' the conference," The conference decisions have still not been reached, but the preamble to the Soviet decree says the zone was being established because numerous other countries had already adopted the 200 mile limit.