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The Huron Expositor, 1990-09-12, Page 2Iluron Expositor SINCE 1 IMO, S$IV11 0 THU COMMUNITY Flan lacer poi a t i ng TTN firuss.is Post Purlislwd Ito Merril. Owtnrlo Ivry Weisinessiley Mornlns ID OtONtI. eb....ersl Passaspsyse N$AIMBIl aOf111N1T. Stilts haws STAN: Powis 111iNt Swaw O:fard ADVIRTISINO: Terri -trio Orly CLASSIFIEDS. SUIESCRIPTIONS ACCOUNTING. Pet Armies Olawwe Allsereth Linda PuI an M .nb.t Canodtan Co.nmu s r 1566rwopopet A..oc Ontario Conwnuoft Newspaper As.ocw,wn Omar° Press Counul Commonwealth Press Unman int . noUwwl Press lnatnuts Subacnptwn Rats Canada '24.00 a year bn advent. Sonia' Cins.ns '19 00 a year u+ Ou*s de Canada '66.00 o year In adv.... Songle Copts 60 cents each Second close most reps+. unun Numb.t Oevo WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. 1990 Editorial and easiness Offices - 10 Main Street. Seaforth Telephone (311) 327-0240 Psa 327-0242 Meiling Address - P.O. Dos M, Seaforth. Ontario. NOK TWO I'm only 17 The following piece, entitled Dead At 17, has appeared in Ann Landers syndicated column a number of times over the past years. It has been read many times by many people, teenagers and parents alike. But the statistics show that it can never by read too many times. Agony claws at my mind. I am a statistic. When I first got here, I telt very much alone. I was overwhelmed by grief, and expected to find sympathy. I found no sympathy. I saw only thousands of others whose bodies were as badly mangled as mine. I was given a number and placed in a category. The category was called traffic fatalities. The day I died was an ordinary school day. How I wish I had taken the busl But 1 was too cool for the bus. I remember how wheedled the car out of mom. "Special favour," I pleaded. "All the kids drive." When the 2:50 bell rang, I threw my books in the locker..free until tomorrow rnoming! I ran to the parking lot, excited at the thought of driving a car and being my own boss. It doesn't matter how the accident happened. 1 was going too fast - goofing off, taking crazy chances. But I was enjoying my freedom and having fun. The last thing i remember was passing an old lady who seemed to be going awfully slow. I heard a crash and felt a terrific jolt. Glass and steel flew everywhere. My whole body seemed to be tuming inside out. I heard myself scream. Suddenly, I awakened. It was very quiet. A police officer was standing over me. I saw a doctor. My body was mangled. Pieces of jagged glass were sticking out all over. Strange that I couldn't feel anything. Hey, don't pull that sheet over my head. 1 can't be dead. I'm only 17. I've got a date tonight. I'm supposed to have a wonderful life ahead of me. I haven't lived yet. I can't be dead. Later, I was placed in a drawer. My folks came to identify me. Why did they have to see me like this? Why did I have to look at mom's eyes when she faced the most terrible ordeal of her life? Dad suddenly looked very old. He told the man in charge, "Yes, he's our son." The funeral was weird. 1 saw all my relatives and friends walk towards the casket. They looked at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen. Some of my buddies were crying. A few of the girls touched my hand and sobbed. Please, somebody - wake me up! Get me out of here. I can't bear to see mom and dad in such pain. My grandparents are so weak with grief they can barely walk. My brother and sister are like walking zombies. They move like robots. In a daze. Please don't bury mel I'm not dead! I want to laugh and run again. I want to sing and dance. Please don't put me in the ground! I promise if you give me just one more chance, God, !'ll be the most careful driver in the whole world. All I want is one more chance. Please, God, I'm only 17. (LETTERS TO THE EDITOB Future may nofbeableak be as bleak 1 enjoyed litenin`rwlts t.�u n,y car radio lastThay I htI drove ImSagrth gess Alio�a. 1 got mculled walk eamomamofeaiint a desire for chgewas movibg across the rovince. 1 fen It wan die want ofa chnge dist had prompted the NDP to vry. It occumcd to tae that poape had voted for NDP .they were afraid to go wth theider two parueS for more posble but. As 1 thought of all I knew about the NDP I realized I didn't know very muh and decided 1 would mopolze all the infor- mation 1 could from the Seaforthlibrary and write a short history on the party. I located a videoape about Tammy Douglas from the library, books and magazis. 1 promise to return them so othpeople can get them. In my reading 1 laughed when 1 heard CCF -NDP lear Tommy Douglas refer to the Liberals and Conservatives as Twe dledum andTweedledee. I read old articles accusing the NDP of doing nothing Looking at the "Fate of Our Forests" Dear Editor: At this time in our History, 1 am sure everyone is aware of the "E- nvironmental Problems" due to our standard of living. 1happen to be a member of an Environmental Group in a neighbouring town. Besides making me aware of how we can all do some small thing to improve our environment, our group has had displays at the Home and Garden Shows and the Fall Fair. At times we feel we are wasting our time and energy, but to our surprise a lady approached us at our Fall Fair and told us that "due to our ef- forts," she had picked up a paper on composting, and they are now a "Composting Family". She said, "If, you turn one family around it is worth your time". Our group is also involved in a "Fate of our Forests" conference this weekend in Stratfoxxd. On Friday evening, a Native Canadian will be reciting the "Indian Prayer", and Dan Hemenway of Florida, who is one of the most knowledgeable men in the world on trees, will be speaking and showing slis. There will be reports onSaturday from the Bayfield Ausable, Maitland Valley, Thames River and Grand River Authorities, as well as reports from different area groups who have formed En- vironmental Clubs. 'chis conference is going to look at the positive rather than the negatives in our area at this time in history. We hope tofind out that the rumours about the Butternut trees going the way of the Elm Trees will be unfounded; it should be an interesting learning experience for us all. Yours truly Eva J. Laing R.R. tf2 Staffa NOK 1Y0 345-2487 Trough Day has dawned Dear Editor: Your readers should beware - Trough Day is here On September 4, the 75 membersof Parliament elected just six yes ago qualified for pension worthS30 million. 1 That's scandaloxis but true. indeed, MPs enjoy a goldplated pension plan that ordinary taxpayers can only dream about. Under the MPs' pension plan, after only six years of service, an Tarmto asysgszng for yearinedo[ togotun wuh walag a and runner a govsrn, ins Io sac thllt thNDP a f isod u nerdy b nut ssovesurneatcher hav ea . Looks like T and Tweedledeehave a few ys to do some navel- gaztng off their own. If tht ate any people out t�ie wbo votd NDP without really knowing wht the pty is about. I tope my short hstory points you tothe dmoction of material available at talo library. Itmightbe a loot through your kids bos W get you starved. The next few years promise to be extremely int ing in Ontario and Canadian politics. I know I'm looking forward to listening to radio and reading articles about the up- coming issues the NDP government willhavetodealwith.Willtherebe a Trough Day for workers and their minimum wage weekly earnings be put up to 5285.00 from 5200.00? JUST THINKIN by Susan Oxford 1 love the idea of a ma being put an real oatmle spocuiator's orofita from sailing extra properties. I've had to move in a hurry when a landlady wanted to sell her second building as empty vacancy. Months later I learned I could sue her for what she did, and 1 did and won. But before winning that case 1 went through a terrible wne of not having my own place to live for four months. Everytune real estate takes a skyward leap I know there's le who don't know their rights mg evicted by speculators. I need a break from taxes. 1 don't tarn enough money to keep paying higher and higher taxes. In January a 40 cents stamp will really cost 43 cents with takes added. Gasoline is supposed to be priced higher. 1 could be paying taxes on services like PUC and heating fuel. Where s e s am I supposed to ger the money to pay these taxes? I already work like a dog and don't want to work more. 1 have often worked +it two )obs to tarn enough to keep me below the poverty line. 1 need a rest oc- casionally. The average household income to Huron County is supposed to be $29,000. In my house, maybe 1 earned that amount over three yews. 1 realize there are some households that make twice the average or root in one year. Tax them. One of my friends works for a big insurance company and has told me some of the things the company does to hide profits. Big profits. Tax them. The new hydro rates are absurd to me. The more hydro you use the lower your rate will be and that makes no sense to me. WERE IIERE AS OS E RVE RS, PICKING UP A FELD POINTER'S OF EFFECTIVE BLOCKAT) ING Whistling in the dark I know, I'm probably the eleven- teenth writer that you've come across over the past week or so yapping on about the NDP victory in Ontario. But I want to take a survey here. All right, everyone, hands up all of you whose eyes didn't bug out of your heads when the NDP majority government win was an- nounced on Thursday night. Let me see those hands, kids. You're lying. Even you, Mr. Klopp. Put your mitt down. I would have given my eyeteeth to have been a bug on the wall at the local NDP party on Thursday evening. Either that, or a really sly dog with a loaded camera. Foregoing all of the back-slapping, ivory -flashing - and wife -hugging victory shots, I would have snuck into the bathroom and waited for the frightened, frightened victorious candidate to slink in and gawk at himself in the mirror, chewing his nails to the quick and muttering his nine -times tables over and over to himself to prove that this, indeed, is reality. Click. That would be the real picture of the NDP win. I can hear New Democratic teeth gnashing already. Get your hackles down, people. I'm one of you. But from where I sat on Thursday evening, listening to the election results from radio announcers whose voices got higher pitched every second, I didn't hear a man- date from the people. Not really. I heard a protest vote that went ber- serk. But whatever the means, the province has its ends. Now all the NDP has to do is justify them both. In the never-ending soap opera that is our national and provincial government scene, it was kind of fascinating to watch past -Premier David Peterson's dreams of an election cakewalk shoot down the tubes. As the poll results kept rol- ling in, and things got grimmer and grislier for the Liberals, I felt like dimming the lights and settling down with a bowl of popcorn for the rest of the show. "Liberal minority", I carefully predicted for the election 'who'll -do -it'. But talk about surprise endings.. ROUGH NOTES by Paula Elliott The NDP and freshly -minted Premier Bob Rae have done it now. They are IN POWER, and I'd be willing to bet my GST refund that more than one elected NDP can- didate sat up Thursday night, owl - eyed, chewing on his or her pillow. But the ball is in their court now, and the little party that could now has a five-year term in office to make or break their reputation. Ontario is the hot seat of the Federal scene, and a win in this province is a big kick in the pants for the Federal Grits and Tones. There is life after red and blue. But the New Democrats still have a lot to prove, and the next five years could prove to be very, very interesting. Even if I am watching the Drama Between the Lakes un- fold from the other side of the country, It won't be hard to tell if the glossy green of the NDP placards starts to fade to a pukey shade of lime after awhile. *****0400******00* And from the "There must be something in the water" files, a big hurrah to local hockey players making the news this week. Former Centenaires Brad Carter and Jason Buettenmiller have moved up in the ranks, with Brad heading off to the Junior 'B' Waterloo Siskins and Jason skating with the Sarnia Junior 'B' team this season. In the big leagues, Dublin's Pat Murray, late of the MSU Spartans, is moving up to the Philadelphia Flyers after waiting on their contract for two seasons, and Seaforth's Scott Dris- coll is in Vancouver this week at the Canucks training camp. This little town is turning out some big talent. Way to go, guys! Passing off the peaches Now we've hit the the tomatoes, peaches and corn on the cob meal routine which signals the "almost end" of a wonderful summer season. There's been a fantastic crop of good quality food in record. amounts, and the only thing that keeps us from varying our diets to take a rest from these treats, is the knowledge that it will be a full year before we experience this special taste of sun -ripened food again. Sometimes a wonderful crop like this gives strange problems. At the last monthly OFA meeting in Toronto, a group of us were talking to a peach farmer from the Niagara area He was telling us of their magnificent crop in which only the largest peaches could be sold. He said that there were fruit stands along the road that had other sizes of peaches available, but no price on them. It seemed that the acceptable way of paying for them was to make a donation to the seller. We asked him why those smaller fruits couldn't be used in Ontario for processing. Peach jam is delicious. Canned peaches are the mainstay in many a bachelor's pantry and using a smaller fruit gives more whole peaches to the can. An interesting alternative to alcoholic drinks is sparkling mineral water with pure juices such as peach. And peach ice cream is always popular. He replied that peaches under the large size couldn't he sold for any reason at all, even to process thein, and that these secondary peaches were being dumped or left to rat on the trees. Now, this doesn't seem sensible. If our food processing companies have to pay top dollar for the best quality of fruit, they will look around and chances are they'll buy cheaper smaller peaches from our American friends to the south, who don't have these rules about selling small peaches. They might even move their processing operation south, where labour and most other cost.` are lea RURAL ROOTS by Jeanne Kirkby Perhaps next winter we'll be buying our peach products from American based processing companies, at extra cost because of the higher oil price caused by the crisis in the Middle East. As we chew these products down, we'll be wondering why our unique Niagara fruit belt is constantly losing prime farmland to urban development We'll also be reading in the paper about how "another food processing company has packed it up in Canada and headed south". Last weekend, I had to agree with a reader on the Editorial page of the Torontl Star about the fact that there had been a American truck overturned on the 401, spilling a cargo of bananas and PEACHES ! ! ! thatthey were carrying into Canada. She wasn't especially upset about the accident What appalled her was the question: Why were they bringing peaches into Canada? In the CKNX farm news this week, i got a partial explanation of the peach marketing scene. It would seem that because of this year's bumper peach crop, the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers' Marketing Board was limiting the quantities of peaches sold into the Ontario marketplace by restricting the grade to only large size. They Also previously reduced the 1990 quota that each producer could cell. matching the reduced amounts sold last year. Turn to page tin • ,1