Zurich Citizens News, 1976-11-03, Page 4Page 4 -Citizens News, November 3, 1976
Arable land
The controversy around the loss of
arable farmland in Canada rages as
municipal planners and developers
pressure all levels of government for
greater access to agricultural land. The
statistics make strange reading — 26 acres
an hour disappear, 7,000 acres of Niagara
Peninsula farmland zoned for construction
and on the other side of the ledger
thousands die daily of starvation in the
Third and Fourth World.
Confronted with these contradictory
statements, politicians argue that it is
simplistic to compare world food shortages
with the loss of prime land in Southern
Canada. For, the reasoning goes, even with
the steady encroachment of farmland there
is more than enough acreage left to feed
Ontario and still export food products.
Somewhere, like so many of the
arguments in our technological age, people
miss the point. Food and its distribution
are among the most crucial questions fac-
ing planet Earth as its ability to feed itself
declines daily. As cities grow around the
world there is greater need for food
producers everywhere to be encouraged to
stay on the land and help meet this world-
wide crisis.
Yet here in Canada, truly one of the
breadbaskets of the world even if we use
only the 13 percent of our land mass con-
sidered to be potential agricultural land
(only 2% is prime agricultural land) more
and more farmers leave the land every
year, less and less of their farms are
viable, the acreage is paved over or built up
and agriculture seen as a second-class
business.
We believe that provincial and federal
governments must get their priorities
straight and encourage by whatever means
available people to keep their land in
production, to foster farming as a proud
means of earning a livelihood and to return
more land to agriculture, rather than
diminishing it daily.
We do have a responsibility to people
outside this country who are starving and it
is right to question how best we use our ex-
isting farm land.
Dogs
Dogs have been described as "one of the
stickiest political issues" facing many cities,
not just in Canada but in the United States
as well. In particular, the problem is the
disposal of their droppings.
Some three billion pounds of solid waste
are dropped annually, and that is pollution
to a very high degree. In Chicago if you
do not pick up after your pet you can
be fined up to $1,000, and other areas have
come up with similar ideas to deter dog'
owners from allowing their pets to go where
they please.
Worms from dog feces can enter virtually
every organ in the human body and these
infestations can result in high fevers, con-
vulsions and blindness. These worms can
be transmitted by direct contact with ex-
posed waste, but they may also be picked up
by petting animals that have rolled on con-
taminated grass or soil. The worm eggs may
lie dormat for a long time and children
may get them on their hands as well.
Now, while we in Zurich do not have the
large number of dogs a place the size of
London has, we still have the problem they
cause. The children of this village deserve
to be protected just as much as those in
larger cities do and pet owners should real-
ize their responsibility.
If you walk your dog, don't forget to take
along a super dooper pooper scooper—use
your imagination if you don't want to buy
one. Just remember to pick it up and put it
in the garbage before you're responsible for
someone becoming very ill. ,
While on the subject of dogs, in this vil-
lage there are .some dogs who seem to de-
light in strewing .garbage all over every-
where. Unfortunately they do not do this
just on the property of their owners, but on
everyone else's property as well. They have
even gone so far as to enter garages, tipping
over large barrels in order to reach the
garbage stored there.
If you own a pet, it is your responsibility
to make sure he does no damage to anyone
elses health or property. If you are unable or
unwilling to do so, then you are not worthy
of having a pet, and don't be surprised if
some day your dog just disappears.
004.40. Maks
by CLiYh, McKinley
—
If you ever want a precise definition of organized confusion
just be around to help with next year's Goshen United
Church supper. At first glance you would swear no one knew
what they were doing, how or why but as you get into the
swing of things you see there is method in most of the mad-
ness.
There are pots of hot food everywhere, covering the
tops of both stoves and overflowing onto the floor. Aromas
so delicious you can hardly stand it permeate the entire room
and you feel yourself getting hungrier and hungrier. There
are, of course, ways to get around this, for example, you
offer to cut the cakes and pies (of which there must be 100)
and the pieces that break off are all yours. Or, you take
charge of the dressing and the crusty pieces that aren't
good enough for the paying populace taste absolutely delici-
ous to you.
At the church supper last week there seemed to be even
more pots than usual and by lifting the one lid after the other
you could get the full effect of the steamy aroma of potatoes,
dressing, turnip, gravy and hot water. Wait a minute, Hot
water?
This is soon explained. Unfortunately someone turned the
hot water heater off by mistake the night before and through-
out the entire evening the dishwater had first to be heated on
the stove. The only good thing about it was the dishes were
washed in very hot water and of course cleanliness is import-
ant.
But the first sitting of hungry people settled in and for
just over an hour they proceeded to devour a goodly amount
of the delicious food. When they were finished, there was
only one half hour to clear the tables and reset them in order
to prepare for the second sitting. You should see those ladies
move.
When the second sitting has had its fill, everyone heaves a
sigh of relief. There was only one minor problem during last
week's second sitting, a few of the people were saying they
felt quite cool. Of course none of the workers had noticed any
such problem, they were so busy running around and the
kitchen must have been close to 80—but no one could under-
stand the complaints. After all it was a brand new furance,
what could possibly be wrong? The answer, became ob-
vious after a small investigation, the only thing turned on
was the fan, not the furnace. It was in fact doing nothing
but blowing cold air on everyone.
Oh well, these things happen.
After all the paying customers have departed, there comes
the most enjoyable moment of the night for the workers. The
tables are cleared once more, only this time only two of them
are reset. It is time for the workers to eat their supper and
it isn't long before there isn't too much food left. It's a good
job the dinners only happen once a year because the dessert
table is enough to send anyone crazy.
The final cleanup follows with everyone trying to locate
their particular pie plates and pots, but you can never tell
what might be in them. One pot was half filled with turnip,
another pail still held a lot of coleslaw and other pots were
half filled with other remnants which the pot owners tried to
disperse among any wlio would take some. Next year 1 think
I'll dig up every stray pot I can find, take them to the supper
and just leave them lying around. I'll probably bring home
enough food to last for a week at least, and no one will even
notice.
I think I'm going to have to give up taking pictures. This
time I was at Stuart Steckles getting some pictures of his
cider press when the film in the camera ran out. I went to
nay car to get another one and discovered I had locked myself
out with the keys hanging tantalizingly in the ignition.
Well, I'll have to do a little touching up on the paint job "
but with the aid of a coat hanger I was finally able to break in,
grab another film, get it into my camera and get back to the
cider press in time to catch the end result of the cider press-
ing as it flowed into the pails. •
A few more days like that and I'll have to retire.
MainIcgh eaz.v0/4_ �]QCn7g
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
-
4, CNA Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
Manager - Betty O'Brien
News Editor - Cathy McKinley
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
Subscription Rates; $6.O0'per year in advance in Canada;
nited tae -an. arel ,n'sin leco•left 200