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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-05-05, Page 8PAGE 4—GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR. THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1977 Gun controls fair In the letters to the Editor column in last week's issue, there's a letter describing the new gun controls as prescribed by the federal government. This comes on the heels of another letter from Ottawa, this one from FARO (Firearms and Respon- sible Ownership Inc.) which outlines that organization's concerns for the new legislation involving guns and other firearms. After comparing the two documents. a is clear that government and FARO are in agreement on many things, not the least of which is the feeling that firearms in the hands of lawful and responsible persons are a threat to no one. The new Ieeislation is designed instead, to reduce the access that potentially dangerous users have to firearms; to discourage the use of guns in criminal activities; and to promote responsible gun ownership. This positive attitude toward gun control will probably have the support and the endorsement of gun fanciers everywhere, Firearms enthusiasts will heartily' applaud the new regulation calling for a Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC) whicb will require that all persons acquiring or transferring firearms will have to produce a Firearms Acquisition Certificate in order to buy, sell or loan guns. Two sensible exceptions are made, though. First, persons who hunt or trap to -support themselves or their families may • lend Irrearms w cacti usher without an I. AC and secondly, persons may lend firearms to be used while in their company also without an FAC. This will allow members of the same hunting palety, for instance, to ex- change guns during the trip The new legislation makes it impossible for children under 16 years of age to pur- chase firearms. No Firearms Acquisition Certificate would be issued to young people under lG years, but the youngsters would, with the consent of a parent or guardian, he able to get a free permit to receive and use firearms to he used under specified supervision of someone with an FAC, It is good to see that the new legislation also provides for new stiffer' penalties for the use of guns in criminal activities, and that these new penalties are balanced with legislation which encourages the respon- sible use of firearms. This include the provision for penalties for persons who use,, carry, handle or store firearms or am- munition carelessly, without taking reasonable precautions for the safety of other persons. in all, the new firearms legislation seems fair and sensible. It should not only curtail the incidences of violence involving guns, but it should also reduce the toll of ac- cidents involving firearms and am- munition. It would appear that public input into this bit of government decision-making has been helpful to Canada's legis- lators. —SJK Participarks With two new parks in the development stages in Goderich, and more parkland set aside as new developreents take shape, it. may. be time to think about a —par- ticipark": Participarks, the first Canadian one officially opened in Port Coquitlam, B.C, in early April, are being developed and promoted by Kinsmen Clubs across the country with co-operation from Sun Life Assurance Co, and PARTIPaction, the Canadian Movement for Personal Fitness. The new parks feature fitness trails with several activity stations spaced along the routes. They can be easily adapted to any existing park. it seems even those in the centre of a municipality. The concept of participarks apparently originated in Europe and the use ofsuch trails there has „become a way of ,life for families and in- dividuals. Participarks are designed to be fun for all ages and, anyone from five to 85 should be able to participate in the park's fitness program without bordeom setting in, Such parks are designed to be safe for people of all levels of fitness, yet a challenge to everyone, Regardless of a person's fitness level, there should be something for everyone to do at each station. It is also important that Participarks be centrally located, attractive and easy to use. Convenience along with easily un- derstood signs and plenty of opportunity to experience some degree of satisfaction at each station are well known to be strong motivators to physical activity. These parks ere practically vandal resistant, they are in use year-round,and they are easy to build, with a limited number of different materials necessary. People are becoming more aware every day of the need for personal fitness. Maybe this is the opportune time to get involved with a participark program right here in Goderich. —SJJ .Red Cross Day Mark May 8 with a bright red crosson your calendar. That's World Red Cross Day, and "Peace Through People" is the theme of the 122 Red Cross Spcieties throughout the world, lw Webster defines peace as "a state of tranquility or quiet within oneself, a har- mony in personal relations." The world is much in need of such peace today to , �Iourefer the oppressiveness of restraints at tfome, war 'clouds abroad, the hectic ac- celeration of our modern lifestyle, and the disquieting realization that the world is finite in space as well as finite in resources. Peace depends on individuals. It begins with individuals who believe that harmony among people grows by being gpod neigh- bours, caring for others and sharing both their goods and their concerns, Although the programs - differ from nation to nation, thee aim of all Societies is to be compassionate, to understand and help alleviate the differences that can fragment and nation's drive toward a state of relative serenity for its individuals. By protecting the life and health of all peoples, and by treating all individuals with the respect and dignity due to humans. Red Cross hopes to being. about mutual friendship, cooperation, and lasting peace. This is the meaning of "Peace Through People." In keeping with its principles, Red Cross believes that each person should have the basic assurance that he will be alive tomorrow, next week and next year, health permitting, and that no man made attack will prevent crops from growing or prevent people from harvesting those crops, thus providing themselves with food and a living. In many Third World countries where the population exists on 'a few cups of grain per day, even that food pittance is not assured, for in addition to an often unfriendly nature, internal strife or political unrest can alter or even halt the production of goods needed for survival. It is crucial that all nations be as self sufficient as possible, for despite aid from other countries, the population demands of some needy countries .. outstrip the amounts 4f aid tendered. But din order 'to provide for themselves, individuals first need a climate of peace - otherwise no hope of a future is possible. The various programs of Red Cross - emergency assistance, health and water safety services, community aid projects for specialized groups,' and .blood donor recruitment - are all designed to promote and preserve health and encourage greater participation by indiViduals in their communitie. To promote peace, the Canadian Red Cross Society through its links with other Societies, is able to reach the thousands of people who have no peace. Working quietly and busily in groups throughout the world, Red Cross, with its millions of volunteers is living proof that it is individuals - people like you and mfg - who can make "Peace Through i'eople•' more than just a slogan. A 1E be Oobertth SIGNAL -STAR The County Town Newspaper .01 Huron Founded In IMO and published every Thursday a1 1.nderfch. nnlari.i Mrmbni .d rt.. ('WNA and OWNA. Advertising rates on request. Subscriptions payable irf advan..•SI: .sr in Canada, 115.50 to USA,. 120.011 to all other. countries. single copies 25 rent' hi.pin. advertising rates available nn request, Please ask: for Rate 1 and No. 7 effective O, 1 i 1978. Second class -.mall Registration Number n71G. Advertising is accepted on the . on iition that, In the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous stem, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will nal be charged for but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applica hie rote, in the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price. goods or service may not 11e sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for fhe loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts or photos, Business and Editorial Office TELEPHONE 524-8331 area code 519 Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. ROBERT G. SHRIER — president and publisher SHIRLEY .1. KELLER — editor EDWARD J. BYRSKI — advertising manager Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 220, Goderich Second class mall registration number -0716 Mona Davis of Goderich reads the poem, Canadian Recollections, written by John Galt in 83 . She read the poem at a ceremonial tree planting in Court House Park last Friday with Rev. Lockhart Royal and Mrs. Margaret Clingan, the great-granddaughter of John Galt. The tree planting was part of the Arbor Day ceremonies. (staff photo) CANADIAN RECOLLECTIONS I At pensive eve, what time the sun Peep'd through the trees, his journey done. I lov'd to walk the greenwood still, Where gloom seems silence visible,_ And note the falling hues of light, My heart partaking, too, of night. 11 When flowers, that in the noonbeam shone, Oft Within coloursthetwlikeilight myof hopesthewood, were'gone, I own'd that aw'd prophetic mood, Which sees the future as a dream, And life a shadow'd woodland stream. 111 Till through the boughs I chanced to see The heavenly orb's bright revelry, And felt assured, however late, That time would be my advocate, And make my aims, despite my fear, As stars from darkness come, appear, May, 1837 John Galt 11Y SHIRLEY J. KELLER Summertime the .song says when the living is easy. Ah yes, summertime and summer vacation and summer jobs for students. Is there a shortage of summer jobs? Is there a shortage of fulitime employment? Reading the, newspapers gives one the impression the picture is bleak, probably less bright than in former years. But I wonder. I wonder if we aren't merely reacting to reports, rather than digging in and actually doing something about creating jobs for ourselves, •The Ontario government has aninteresting advertising campaign going this year. It is advice about how to look for employment ,,.. and how to land a job. Just how many students and prospective DEAR READERS employees are heeding this advice is•difficult to say, but chances are the impact of that ,advertising campaign is fairly minimal Not long ago, a businessman stopped by the office for a chat. We talked tihout a good many things, among them the economic nutlook in Canada in general and in Goderich in par- ticular. I told him I'd at- tended a Small Town Sym- posium at GDCI a few days before,: and that one of the things the students there seemed most concerned about was the opportunity for jobs once they had finished their education. I was rather surprised by this man's answer. He said, "The jobs are there but employers just aren't hiring." Since that conversation, I've been thinking quite a bit about what he'.said. And I can begin to understand now just what this man meant. He was simply confirming what Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau has been stressing from time to time inthe speeches he's made - that the workers of Canada' mast pull up their socks and really get down to the ` business of keeping production costs in line with quality and price, so that the manufactured goods from this nation is •com- petitive on the world's market. • I got a kick out of a joke in. the London Free , Press recently, It said, "The way some people work, you wonder what they'll do when they're retired," And some people looking for jobs really give the im- pression they aren't looking for a job so much as a nice safe, soft spot to take life easy while getting paid for it. According to most economics experts. it is precisely this attitude that is killing us. A personnel officer from Bell Telephone told me one -'time that he had ten ap- plications for one position. (That must have been five years ago or set. Today there might have been 50 ap- plications for one job.) ' Of the ten young men he:. interviewed, nine of them asked questions like, .. "How much would I get paid?" "What are„ the working hours?" "What employee benefits do you offer?" "How long must I be employed here to get two •weeks vacation?" "Do you have coffee breaks?" "Does overtime pay time and half, double time on holidays?" Then he said, one young fellow stepped up to.l sand said, "I've fins high school education don't want to go to I'm interested in 1 work and I'd like to Bell Telephone, I's afraid of long hours tough job. Give mea you won't be disappo "Guess who got tie the Bell Telephonep officer asked me, ++k Sometimes ii a it is tempting ib'r$ dad to get into the a son or daughter is ji ting. I suppose ins isolated incidences acceptable. but greatest majority of is always wisesttolet get out and look for selves. • i continued onp oc ii b 0 Dear Editor: I am afraid 1 walked out of the Town Council meeting on Monday during the closing of the Borg-Warner deal. Right on the spot I could not think of another way, of protesting. But perhaps I owe you an explanation of my point. My protest was not against Borg-Warner or the deal it- self, hut against the way this Council has been recently increasingly treated by the Mayor, Whilst it is technically correct that the Borg-Warner Matter has been "around" for more than two years, it came to Town Council last fall. It is quite a major consideration for the Town in all its im- plications, connected with possible large expenditure's for the sewage plant ex- pansion and certainly with the building of the extension of Seincoast. Drive between Highways .`1 Southend R. 1'1' to now, whenever the (•uunei1's direct involvement w es un1Vliitllhle, there was Ilw Sys list minute" ei,.•1 Ii1 lei et ing called on this veil!. leer deal and one was. DEAR EDITOR simply' left with the im- pression of attempts. being made to push the matter through; Sign first, think later! Those who wanted all possible information out in the open and sought thorough deliberation in abusiness-like manner, were often pictured' • as opposing industry and indifferent to creating jobs. Subsequently, some ex- tremely important problems of the situation were pointed out by the Ministry of the Environment, the Town Engineer and the Town Solicitor, Our sewage by-law was up -dated accordingly. Apart from the necessary safeguards, the new proposal sponsored by the Town Engineer would save the Town quite alas of money. Much of the situation has been covered by the Press for your information. The most recent special meeting concerning Borg- Warner was called for Monday, May 2nd, at noon at iledford Hotel, with senior officials of the company, representatives of the Ministry of Environment, the Town Solicitor and Engineer present. I had made a commitment to another group a week before. I could not let it down and so I had to leave the special meeting at Bedford at 1 ; 30 before it was over. Prior to leaving I openly sought and received assurances that it was indeed an information meeting only, the to -be - amended .agreement would be duly drawn up after fur ther negotiations had taken place and copies would be given to all Council members before their approval is sought. The negotiating committee had been working on the matter all morning and would meet again in the afternoon, which meeting 1 understand lasted nearly until 5 o'clock. The same Monday evening at 7 :30 we had our regular council meeting. The mayor, the Town Solicitor and the Administrator could not be reached in the meantime to eiequire about the status of the amended agreement. There was no mention of Borg-Warner at the regular meeting until we were practically at the end of the prepared agenda. Then a hastily prepared motion was read to the effect of accepting the amended agreement. Only, then were we handed three typed sheets of legal size, (prepared by two dif- ferent typewriters), said to be the amendments. Admit- tedly, one could figure out, for instance, that the second sheet which started in the middle of a sentence and said' page 3 on top of it, was indeed page 3 of Appendix "B" not page 3 of the agreement! Neither the Town Solicitor nor the Town Engineer was at the meeting. Under the circumstances it. seemed to me sensible, normal and business -like to ask that the matter be tabled for one week, so that we could be given proper copies of the amended agreement. Borg- Warner had, not requested action on the spot; they do not plan to start building for a few years and it makes no difference to the jobs created at that time, When my completely harmless requestwasr my reaction was' disappointment anddis It was not my intoa vote against the Borgf agreement with the' ewere contain, we but l wouldtoldit note that we were oat shown the courtesy' through the, last sheets of paper cia' clause before the announced - the voting` tonight is the night! I could not vote because I found thhe objectionable ttaned which the maushed.t forward and p quite prepared tob:1, as a two•bit nam who tamely jumps ¶, is told. I cannot into . other councilor oflCl •'heing successfullyt a such a casual businesslike manner. thAs one is notallo; abstain from voting; in a case of conflIC,l rao Wrest), there was (conttnuedon 3''I'.ARS AG6 (inti) tJvo weeks since, there had been no crime in Huron for a period of seven months, and the Sheriff and County attorney were won• dering whether the Legislature would salary them if such a state of things continued, and it may be said the "state of things" does Continue, so far as Huron is LOOKING BACK concerned, for the men charged with crime on Tuesday are both from distant parts of the province. At the last meeting of the Goderich Lawn Tennis Club, it was decided to make the membership fee $1. 25 YEARS AGO About 16 new Canadians from Europe have recently been employed by the Dominion Road Machinery Company Limited to aid in the busy program of work now under way at this plant, Town Council at a special meeting on Monday night approved a recommendation of a committee of the whole council that a tax rate of 57 mills on the dollar be set for Putllic and Separate School supporters for 1952. This attached to a tele; represents an increase of w s senoatola Y a soven mills over last year's 50 G y Doak who mill rate. his rstCga e v Stanley atelaY,r Ori g Sunday didn't telegram h ly�}'i Rangers enaoBelt6t,' the openers lto • however. fr II heartbreak' :�rC the Beant0tgnOri' 5 YEARS AGO TrudyKernighan named GDCI's queen for 1972 at the annual "At -Home" dance. About 360 Goderich and area residents paid 25 cents each to have their names was