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Page, .4,. Terrace Bay-Schrelber News, Wednesday, October. 1, 1986 Yerruce Bay Editorial, Now or never The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News is published every Wednesday by: Laurentian Publishing Co. Ltd., Box 579, Terrace Bay, Ontario, POT 2W0. Telephone: (807) 825-3747. Second Class Mailing Permit Number 0867 iin Sen ee Ro eee eg eee Conrad Felber = dieere Betty St. Amand OP ee es ee Gayle Fournier PRODUCTION MANAGER EDITOR ADVERTISING Sse eee: Mary Melo Single copies 35 cents Subscription rates per year in-town -- $14.00 f out-of-town -- $18.00 Member of Ontario Community Newspapers Association and The Canadian Community Newspapers (gp Association. os | If you are even remotely interested in renting a senior citizen's housing unit or even if you are not, you should still consider filling out a Ministry of Housing survey ques- tionnaire (unless you have already done so!). Odds are, though, you haven't. Out of over 350 surveys sent out earlier this year by the Township of Terrace Bay, only 100 were filled out and returned. The Township needs a higher response rate than that before it can approach the Ontario Housing Corporation with its subsidy application. The Township's consultant for the project, Gerry Kowalchuk, said people should even let the Township know if they are not at all interested in renting such a unit. That way, the Township will have an even better idea as to what the demand actually is out there for this proposal. Therefore, go down to the Municipal Office, pick up a questionnaire, and fill it out. It does ask some rather per- sonal questions, such as what your current gross income is, but this information (which is kept confidential) is re- quired to find out what kind of rental units would have to be constructed. Don't wait...do it today. Close To The Edge By Conrad Felber There has been a lot of talk lately about the so-called "drug epidemic."' It is to laugh. Drugs are certainly a problem--who can deny that? But they have always been a problem, and they always will be a problem. While no real drugepidemic exists, I have noticed a different kind of 'epidemic, one of self-righteous, para- * oid hypocrisy, which is sweeping the world, mainly affecting our band- wagon-jumping politicians. The national media have not been immune to this frightening trend, with hysterical editorials and risible, almost pathetic public service spots. It's cool to be an anti-drug fool. Does anybody really believe that those headline-grabbing speeches by the President of the United States will actually stop people from snorting co- caine or lighting up another joint? All of this would be comical in the ex- treme if not for the fact that El Presidente et al are being serious. In almost every sector of society south of the border, from college sports to the military to the Presi- dent's staff, drug testing has become the "'in" thing to do, so much so that urinating into a bottle is now almost as widespread as-the dope these tests are supposed to find. I say "supposed to" because the reliabilty of these tests is dubious at best. I'm not talking about a 99 out of 100 per cent failure rate either. Studies have shown that the actual success rate is more like nine out of ten. Imagine having to take this test, being clean as can be, and still fail- ing it. It could mean your job, which is why I cringe when I hear our i Aeg LY tatl TRA Lene yg CIE Mn A TL "AN | THOUGHT LIFE UNDER THE CARTOONISTS GLARE WAS BAD |" beloved Prime Minister even think- ing about the possibility of perhaps, maybe, starting drug tests within the _ civil service. We are being told we must all do our share to stem the drug plague, even if doing so temporarily abrogates our basic human rights. I say nay! If we allow this to happen, where will it end? When I say this could lead to identity:cards and other totalitarian methods of public control, I'm not kidding. Drug tests, regard- less of the honourable intentions behind them, are the thin edge of the wedge and cannot be tolerated even in a limited form for specific people. Besides, even if you are allowed to refuse to take the test (though for many people in the States, the test is now compulsory), that refusal is usually interpreted as guilt, so you lose either way. As I admitted at the outset, narcot- ics are a problem, and here I am also including alcohol and tobacco. The only difference is, those two happen to be legal. Any approach to drugs should not make such a lawful dist- inction. It's almost as if the adults in power are saying to the kids of today, "'Hey, our dope is OK, but your coke and pot has gof to go."' Therefore, instead of wasting our taxes on these sanctimonious tests or those ineffective commercials, we should begin a system of educating, not just telling our youngsters that drugs, all drugs, should be avoided. I believe this should be a priority over just about everything else taught in school. After all, what is more im- portant: knowing what a hypotenuse is, or knowing that drugs, in the end, are always dangerous and sometimes even fatal? We must all realize that (to para- phrase Bertrand Russell) drugs create a temporary suicide: ""The happiness that (they) bring is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhap- piness." On top of that, we should also find out why drugs are being us- ' ed so often by so many. That inform- ation alone will help us to understand and, in time, maybe even stop the sale and use of dope. Drug testing won'. Young hero saved tiny girl's life By Arthur Black What's your greatest fear? Some folks would answer "wide open spaces', for-others it's "being in a crowded room."' A lot of people freak out at the thought of being up in the air, while others wouldn't enter a cave if you hauled them in by block and tackle. Water terrifies a good many people. Fire does it to others. Some can't bear darkness; others fear the light. I don't know what my absolute greatest fear is, but I know one that's in my personal Top Ten. It's the Fear of Being Useless. I don't mean every- day, run-of-the-mill useless. Heck, I'm a pro at that. No, I'm talking about Big Time, capital "U" Useless. Which is to say, coming up flat when someone's life is at stake. It almost happened to me once. I was dining in a hotel restaruant when sud- denly a woman at a nearby table lur- ched to her feet, hand to her mouth, eyes bulging like ping pong balls. She was choking on some food -- might die in fact, if somebody didn't get up and do something fast. I reacted as I do in most crucial, life- and-death situations. I sat there like a piece of furniture while the woman turned cobalt blue and started to wob- ble. Fortunately another diner had the presence of mind to thwock her bet- _ ween the shoulder blades. Whatever had been clogging her pipes ended up on the lapel of her dinner companion and in a few minutes she was digging in to her Surf 'n Turf once again. Put me right off the chow though -- always does when I realize how in- herently unheroic I am. I can take out the trash, help little old ladies across the street and sing seven rare verses of The North Atlantic Squadron, but bring on a life-theatening crisis and I become pure couch potato. Which puts me about as far away from Brent Meldrum as a body can get. Brent, who lives in Massachusets, is an authentic hero, albeit- not a very big one. He doesn't even come up to my belt buckle and he only weighs about 45 pounds, but there's nothing unusual in that because Brent Meldrum is only five and a half years old. Young Brent is a TV lover like most kids his age and he was watching the tube one day last summer when his per- sonal Moment of Truth came up. He was with his pal, Tanya Branden, in the Meldrum living room. Brent's mother was next door in the bedroom, prepar- ing to go out and do some shopping. Suddenly that subsonic listening facility that all parents develop told Mrs. Meldrum that all was not well with the kids. She perked up her ears. '*Are you choking?" she heard her son ask. Mrs. Meldrum rushed into the living room to find six year old Tanya, her face bright red, convulsing on her feet. Worse still, silly little Brent was coming behind and putting his arms around her -- lifting her right off the ground. "I screamed at him to get away from her" recalls Brent's mother. "I started to panic, trying to decide should I phone for help? Should I run next door?"' Brent ignored his mother with that elaborate disdain five-and-a-half year old boys do so well. "*No; ma" he told her, "I saw this on Benson." Whereupon Brent hoisted the choking girl off the ground, squeez- ed, and banded her down on her feet. After that, as Brent matter of factly puts it: "She bended over and she coughed and it plopped out."' The candy, that is -- the one that had been lodged in Tanya's throat. Brent had employed a life-saving technique that had been demonstrated in an episode of the TV show Benson. It's proper name is the Heimlich Manoeuver. Brent, whose command of English lags slightly begind his command of situations, calls it the Time Lock Remover. Tanya's parents think that's close enough. This is one of those rare and delightful news stories that touches everyone who hears about it. Even Robert Guillaume, the actor who plays Benson and got "Heimliched" on the show Brent saw, is thrilled. "It's amaz- ing'? he marvels. "I. think it's the closest I've ever come to a miracle. I mean, for a kid that young to do something like that... what can you say? I'm almost speechless. I just want to take the kid and hug him."' A lot of folks do. Brent's been in People magazine. His story's been told in Time and Life and Newsweek. TV and radio shows have been after him and the mail has been pouring in. Even Doctor Henry Heimlich, inventor of the technique, made a special pilgrimage to the town of Lynn, Mass. to meet the youngest-known practi- tioner of his manoeuver. About the only person who isn't thrilled seems to be Brent himself. Be- ing a hero can get in the way of im- portant stuff. "Everybody's calling me. When I'm watching cartoons it's brrng, brrrng, brrrrng, How come everbody is asking me these stupid questions?"' Aw, have a heart, Brent. It's just that most of us are about ten times older and one-quarter as bright as you. We're jealous, that's all. Will Rogers once said: "'We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."' Well, I feel like giving little Brent "a great big hand. But out of respect, I'm-going to wait until the first commercial break.