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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1996 THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI ORM? WHINIS A Montgomery Christmas The Village of Norval gets into the holiday spirit in a big way this week- end with A Montgomery Christmas Weekend --a celebration on honour of Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, who lived inthe Presbyterian manse from 1926 to 1935. There aré events planned for all ages and tastes -- everything thing from a Christmas craft workshop for children, a tour of heritage houses, exhibits and demonstrations by the Ontario Woodcarvers Asso- ciation, to major bazaars and an author's signing of the edited ver- sion of Montgomery's own cook book. On Saturday, Santa Claus will visit Norval to join in he festivities at various venues. For more information call 905- 873-8661. Caner scheduled for more TV appearances Caner Tony Lolic of Harrington's will be making an appearance on CTV's HOMEStyle with Anne Kennedy, Nov. 29 at 1 pm. The show will be broadcast nationwide. In addition to the Nov. 29 show, Lolic will make another appearance in a few weeks and show host Kennedy has asked him to tape more segments in the spring. Lolic will likely be doing segments on wicker restoration. Following a feature on Lolic in The Gemini, he and wife Vicki have been flooded with work. As Tony says, "We have chairs up to our ears." The calls started coming in at about 5:30 pm on the Wednesday The Gemwas delivered, and haven't stopped since. Moore Place hosts Christmas concert Moore Place Day Care will be host- ing a Christmas concert at Joseph Gibbons Public School in Moore Park, Dec. 15 from | to 2 pm. Youths from the school will be performing a variety of traditional Christmas carols. A jolly, bearded guy ina red suit is also planning to make an appear- ance at 1:30 pm. Local Guides and Scouts host Xmas food drive Guides and Scouts from Georget- own, Ashgrove, Hornby and Glen Williams will be conducting a door- to-door foodbank drive to help stock Georgetown's Bread Basket, Dec. a This blitz will start at 9 am and will continue until 2 pm. Special grocery bags have been donated and will be distributed. Some of the most needed food items are baby foods, baby cereals, formula, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, pasta, rice, spaghetti sauce, tuna, and canned fruits, vegetables and soups. The Georgetown drop-off loca- tion is the Georgetown Terminal Warehouse, located at 34 Armstrong Ave. Williams Mill Christmas Open House Blown glass, pottery, weaving, drawing, painting, andstained glass are all featured at The Williams Mill Creative Arts Studio 2nd Annual Christmas Open House, Nov. 29 to Dec}. Area artists have gathered to cel- ebrate the season. Hours are from 6 to 9 pm on Nov. 29, 10 am to 6 pm, Nov. 29 and Dec. 1. For information call 873-4092. We have just entered the Fall Gourmet Festival. Surely no pe- riod of the calendar year yields the number of arrivals on the nosh and imbibe scene as the month of November. If you can wander your way through the next seven weeks in the calorie jungle and not increase your weight, you are either a pillar of virtue, or you just plain hate goodies! First: the President's Choice Insider's Report has arrived on each of our doorsteps. This is the "Home for the Holidays" version and if this little magazine won't make you hungry -- nothing will. It's been around for less than a week and I have read it twice! I have enough exotic foods lined up to increase my body weight by - 25 per cent -- if I really go at it! And then there is anew sign up in your local liquor store that says the Nouveau Beaujolais arrives on Nov. 28. The true wine aficionado would not be caught dead without at least a case of this traditional fall wine. Flown -- mind you -- flown Only In Georgetown from France! Of course, Nov. 28 is the Ameri- can Thanksgiving Day and in some respects, is a bigger holiday than Christmas in the U.S. Everywhere you look or listen, there is talk of families coming home for the holiday, for roast turkey and pumpkin pie. Having witnessed a few Thanks- giving celebrations in the States, I can attest that it is every bit as spe- cial as they say. And now I'm told that the annual milk calendar is on the way to each of your homes. Surely every kitchen in Canada has ahallowed spot set aside to hang the milk calendar. This is food pho- tography to make your mouth wa- ter! 'Good stuff flows fast, freely Finally, I must make the tradi- tion pre-Christmas trip to the Kitchener Farmer's Market. To beat much of the crowd, I leave Georgetown at 5 am on a Satur- day morning and am back for breakfast by 9 am. Now, what's on the list this trip? Heavily smoked pork sausage with garlic, smoked pork chops, home cured bacon, cheddar curds, Mennonite coffee cake, cheese bun sticks, fresh trimmed pig tails for roast- ing and whatever else happens to reach out and tug at my sleeve. Naturally, your favourite su- permarket has now displayed all those great Christmas foods, so you can stock up early, which means that you will have to stock up again later. Smart merchan- disers! Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Grab your dish and spoon, your bib and cup -- and let's go at it! Bill Ellis is an Associate Broker with Johnson Associates Halton Ltd., Realtor, in Georgetown. -- Zz Are you getting sick of seeing Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, on every @ TV talk show, lately? "Yes; "Yes, "Damn She had she's | right, I her 15 annoying, am. Tell minutes always the of fame. with her money- Move little grubber to on!" squeaky go back to voice." England." Cheryl Poirier, Todd Bussell, Craig Osatchuk, Norton Crescent Mountainview Road Pennington Crescent There is a sound when a tree falls -- Please hear it The P.M. is off on another trade mission. Last weekend he was in Manila and met with, among others, Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Mr. Chretien, to his credit, took the op- portunity to raise the issue of human rights in China. According to re- ports, he didn't actually use the words human rights, but he got his point across. President Zemin didn't take the criticism, however mild, laying down. The President pointed out that we in the west should not pre- sume that our system (of democ- racy) is better than China's. Most Canadians would find that position laughable. After all, we enjoy freedoms that most Chinese peas- ants couldn't even imagine. The P.M. also praised China's leader for incorporating the "pre- sumption of innocence until proven guilty" into their legal system. The fact that dissident Wang Dan was sentenced to 11 years in prison, af- ter a secret trial, and 17 months in jail without charges, probably doesn't count. I'm not discounting the P.M.'s efforts to further the cause of human The Way I See It With | Mike O'Leary rights. It's a noble cause and this was one of the first instances where Chinese officials even allowed the topic on the agenda. These meet- ings are carefully stage managed, with the agenda set months in ad- vance. China must be feeling the pressure of world opinion to even allow this 15 minute exchange to happen. The people of China will never hear about it, but in the world of international diplomacy it was a coup for Mr. Chretien. The old prov- erb of "the journey of a thousaiid miles begins with a single step" rushes to mind. As a society, we in the west are consumed with rights. When the U.S.A. slaps the Helms-Burton law on us, we scream that our rights are being trampled. Quebec is always pressing for the right to secede from our country. Civil rights issues fill the news. Some think criminals have more rights than victims. Anyone who is against rights is guilty of a wrong. I got to thinking about the whole "rights" issue -- on the same day I was reading about our P.M.'s ef- forts in China, Bishop Tonnas hada letter read in every Catholic church in the diocese. The Bishop is draw- ing attention to the fact that many people in this country are encourag- ing us to accept the concept of eu- thanasia. You can call it mercy killing (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), right to die, or whatever you like. The bottom line is that some people want the right to decide who should live or die. Mr. Chretien's own party passed aresolution lastmonth which supports euthanasia. The P.M. has said that changing the current law is "not an urgent priority for me." Be careful here; if Sheila Copps says, during the upcoming campaign, that the Liberals won't allow euthanasia then I figure we have a problem. I find it incongruous thatthe same politicians who would lecture the Chinese about rights, would at the same time consider denying the "right" to life to the aged and infirm. Those promoting this position will scoff at any suggestion that we as a society would condone the wholesale slaughter of the old or the handicapped. Of course, had I told them in 1969 that the loosening of abortion laws wouldresult in a mini- industry being established and that well over 100,000 babies would be killed annually, they would have scoffed then too. History is on my side. As soon as we, as a society, relax the fundamental respect for life we should have, holocaust is the result. am not at all comfortable with the "quality of life" argument. Most of us think the quality of life of the poor in Calcutta or in China, for that matter, is terrible. Should we, as a people, recommend we put an end to their suffering and nuke them? I am suspect ofa prime minister who would send our army, at huge cost, to improve the life conditions of the Hutus and Tutsis while not defend- ing the right to life of our own aged and infirm. The last three months of my fa- ther's life had very little quality. In all those days however, I never wished him dead. My step-mother, brother, sister, and our families, kept vigil with him. We looked to the doctors and nurses to keep him as comfortable as possible. It was a traumatic time. But would it have been right to allow some third party to hasten his death, to spare us and him the suffering? I don't believe so. Most of us have heard the quote from the Old Testament: "To every- thing there is aseason, andatime for every purpose under the Heaven." We can see the poverty and suf- fering in Africa, China and else- where. Compassion drives usto help. The unborn and infirm don't get international TV coverage. We can't hear their cries for help or see the misery in their eyes. It's up to you and me to speak out in their defense. Their silent screams can only be heard in our consciences. Listen carefully, lest one day that scream be yours. Mike O'Leary is acolumnist for The Georgetown Gemini.