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Zurich Citizens News, 1976-02-25, Page 4Page 4 - Citizens News, February 25/76 rnendnce options/ Last week's editorial in the SHDHS Guardian was critical of many students for not attending the winter carnival activ- ities. It was suggested that "many students thought the days were an ideal time to go to London to do some shopping or just days for staying home and relaxing". A couple of weeks ago, members of Exeter council deliberated about allowing tlic: local pool hall to open early in the morning, suggesting that if it was closed would attract fewer students from SHD -HS. The question arises: is attendance at classes merely a voluntary matter for students? Our answer: surely not! The comments made by the Guardian editorial suggest that the fault lies with some parents when students are allowed to stay home and rest. Students who chose to travel to London may have done so with or without parental consent. However, the school too appears lax in view of the number of students who are allowed to make their way down town to play pool or follow other pursuits in which they engage. The entire matter of attendance regul- ations requires some review. Democracy mocked Health minister Frank Miller is as popular as a skunk at a garden party as he makes his raids across Ontario to close community hospitals. While few people will. argue with the government's move to curtail costs, the manner being chosen to accomplishthat goal is highly questionable. What they appear to have forgotten totally is the fact that many of those com- munity hospitals were built by the people in the areas they serve. Thousands of dollars were contributed in this area for the erection of South Huron Hospital and no doubt the same situation existed in such places as Paris, Clinton and Durham. So, how does the health minister feel he has the ONLY say in closing those hospitals? Surely the people who worked so hard to have the facilities provided must have some voice in the matter. The situation is just another example of how governments have eroded local auto- nomy. They feel justified because they've been pouring large sums of grant money into hospitals, but they seem to forget that the money has come from the residents of Ontario in the first place and is only being returned to them. The fact remains that Miller is making a mockery of democracy as he roams the province in his dictatorial fashion. " People really do care, don't they? " w]y'o©h H(Daz Published Each Wednesday By Huron -Middlesex Publishers Ltd. HERE TURKHEIM, EDITOR Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 Member: PCNA Canadian Weekly. Newspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association Subscription Rates: $6.00 per year in advance in Canada; $8.00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 20 The Last Word by Ted Rowcliffe With apologies to Richard Needham of the Globe and Mail, my column this week will deal with a number of subjects, none of which deserve all the space assigned to me but all of which are worthy of a few lines. * * * * Having been a member of the Progressive Conservative Party for more years than I care to admit, I was interested in the leadership convention held in Ottawa over the week- end. The call of duty took me away from the TV set during Saturday's session of speeches but I at least could listen to the action on the radio...or so I thought. Twisting the dial across a dozen Canadian radio stations, all I could get was the top ten on the hit parade, repeateded endlessly. Finally I settled for an American station telling me all about the presidential primaries. Surely radio hasn't sunk that low in Canada. * * * * Although our roving reporter Ross Haugh got the assign- ment last Friday, I was wishing I had been at the O'Connor home in Clandeboye for the Bill Brady morning show. The entire population of Clandeboye must have been jammed in the kitchen for the program as Brady brought on guest after guest. It was a lot of fun just listening so I imagine they enjoyed themselves immensely as well. Brady will be hard put to keep up the interest that he generated visiting the Middlesex village. * * * The final report of the food process review board stunned me as I read the Globe and Mail Friday morning. In case you didn't catch it, the report said that the only villain -the board could find responsible for the food price inflation - after 28 months of research, was the farm marketing boards. Speculation, advertising, packaging and business profits were all innocent according to the report. The commodity boards were, on the other hand,blamed for "windfall pro- fits" for some farmers. Strange, isn't it, that there are very few businesses with a cash investment of $200,00 or more which show as little profit as farming. Dollar for dollar, profit and investment, I'm pretty sure Canadian farmers would trade places with most small businesses today. Sorry Beryl, I'm just not buying that report and I'm sure a lot ofotherCanadians will not. Too bad that the report will probably set the farm commodity groups back ten years in public relations with the consumer. Keep talking Beryl and we'll soon have no farmers left to blame: we'll have to put them all out of business. * * * * I'd like to come to the defense of a rival reporter. In last week's Independent News there was an article on the Grand Bend council meeting about merchant Leo Masse's dis- pleasure with the way council handled the problem of a few broken guard rails. Briefly, council wrote him a letter telling him to fix the posts before anyone from council had discussed the matter with him. Councillor Harold Green criticized a fellow journalist for picking out "juicy tidbits" from the meeting. "That wasn't newsworthy," said Mr. Green, in what looked like an attempt to shift the heat from the council to the press. As the only reporter present at the meeting when the item in question came up (the reporter Mr. Green was criticizing wrote his story from the minutes) I'd like to present my views. Mr. Green and his fellow councillors are elected officials. They are paid to attend council meetings to deal with the business of the municipality, and perhaps Mr. Green should be reminded that these ar epublic metings and what is said is a matter of public record. A reporter must use his own judgement in reporting and if his judgement happens to be different than the councillor, it does not excuse the councillor for his actions. If the matter in question was just a "juicy tidbit" as Mr. Green contends, I submit that it should have been handled discretely by committee and should not have been discussed publicly at all. As the only reporter present, I would also like to state that if my report on the matter had laid out council's discussion as it actually was, quoting what Mr. Green and other council- lors had to say, it is quite possible Mr. Masse would not have simply complained to council, he would likely have sued them (and me) for libel! * * tilt Bingo players in the area missed a good bet if they did not attend the recent Heritage Day Kinsmen bingo sponsored jointly by the Exeter and Hensall Kinsmen. According to the Kinsmen, attendance was not as great as expected and the prizes werelexceptionally high,The Kinsmen weren't worried about the sucess of their first bingo as they plan to hold more. They think once the word gets out on their first event, bingo players will be lined up to get in when they stage the next one.