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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1996 THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI ORV WINe®. Heimlich training Worried that staff or parent volun- teer lunchroom supervisors might not have the training to handle an emergency, the Halton Council of Home and School Associations has set up a series of seminars to teach the Heimlich Maneuver. During budget debates, trustees voted to cut funding for lunchroom supervisors and now each school is deciding how to watch its students during lunch. To ensure that whoever oversees the students is prepared to handle an emergency, the Association, with the St. John Ambulance, is hosting training sessions throughout the Region this month. Each session is one hour and will cost $5 per participant. The local seminar will be Thurs- day, Oct. 17 from 7 to 8 pm or from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. Enrollment is limited and avail- able on a first-come, first-served basis and all elementary schools have registration forms. Attention pet owners A low-cost rabies clinic will be held Saturday, Oct. 19 at Cedarvale Park from | to 3 pm. For $10 participating veterinary clinics will vaccinate pets against rabies -- a fatal disease for animals and humans. Southern Ontario has one of the highest incidents of rabies in North America and each year about 3,000 people are forced to receive anti- rabies serum. This year it's expected that rabid raccoons will travel from New York State to Ontario, increasing the chances of household pets or hu- mans coming into contact with a rabid animal. Food bank myths aired Georgetown Food Bank organizer Colleen Brown attempted to dispel the myth that only single parents and welfare recipients use food banks during a live chat on Talk 640 radio last Thursday. "Support comes with knowl- edge," Brown said as she discussed her plans to open anew food back in Georgetown to replace the Love In Christ food bank that closed in May. After the interview Brown said there are 250 names of Georgetown and area people who need food bank assistance, and they are not all on social assistance. "Am I what you think of when you think of a food bank user?" Brown asked. : "We have a house, a mortgage and two cars and I was permanently laid-off from my nursing job. If my husband's hours were cut, I'd be using the food bank until I could sell my house and car," Brown ex- plained, adding she is close to find- ing ahome for Georgetown's Bread Basket. Benefits United Way The employees of the CIBC are hosting a Garage and Bake Sale, Oct. 5, with all proceeds going to the United Way of Halton Hills. The sale is scheduled from 8 am to noon at 276 Delrex Blvd. Just when I was starting to think the world was starting to get it's collective sense of humour back, people went and got all uptight again. Ladies (womyn) and gentle(non-oppressing, egalitar- ian) men, non-gender-specific youths of all ages, please be seated, as we take you ona tour of the lives of people with way too much time on their hands. You' ve gotta like our culture of victimhood: how anyone, no matter how trivial the hurt, is al- lowed to grind an ax and whine incessantly about it. Well, call me a Philistine, I've been called worse by better, but, damn it, I just don't care anymore. Case in point: Last week in North Carolina, a young male was charged with sexually har- assing a young female. He is ac- cused of kissing her on the cheek. Did I mention that he's five and she, six? I seriously doubt that either could give a coherent defi- nition of the term sexual harass- ment without somehow bringing Barney into the discussion. I guess that means that most European nations, particularly France, are filled with sexual har- assers of all sorts, what with their constantly kissing one another on, not just one, but both cheeks. How do they live with themselves knowing that they were actually friendly in greeting someone? Just in case you were labour- ing under the delusion that the whole kissing-thing was the ab- solute pinnacle of litigious stu- Like some cheese for that whine? The View From Here With Jamie Harrison pidity, rest assured that there are always more idiots and lawyers who can find new and exciting ways in which, you too, can become a vic- tim. It seems in New Hampshire, an overly-amorous canine has been, quite literally, sticking his nose where it don't belong. Three women have filed suit against the owner of the dog who developed the habit of, well, stick- ing its head under dresses and sniff- ing. Evidently these women were not amused to find a cold, wet nose in that area. T'mnotsure ifthese women know this or not, but in the dog world that is considered a perfectly acceptable greeting. Humans shake hands and, up until the whole North Carolina thing, kissed one another on the cheek (though I wouldn't recom- mend this fora job interview). Dogs just aren't as formal. Bottom line: we have our greetings and they have theirs. After all, show me a dog owner who hasn't taught Sparky to shake a paw. I'm not saying there aren't peo- ple out there with real problems, people who have been unfairly put upon from the start. What I am say- ing is that I think if I were one of the people, I would be so pissed at the whining losers who have noth- ing better to do than play victim. In a recent story in The To- ronto Star, | read where Ing Wong, correspondent for CBC's The Disability Network, was denied entrance to amovie thea- tre in Toronto because she is bound toa wheelchair. The thea- tre manager, backed up by the corporate public relations direc- tor, said that the presence of a wheelchair would block the aisle and the management couldn't guarantee Ing's safety in case of fire. Really. I have use of my legs. Does that mean the theatre can guarantee my safety? Ing has reason to be upset. But she isn't whining -- she's fighting back. For several reasons, this doesn't surprise me. I've known Ing for six years. We went to university together and for as long as I've known her, I can swear on a stack of Bibles, I've never heard her whine. I've seen her get angry and I've seen her take control ofan issue, meeting it head on, but never, not once, have I heard Ing lament her con- dition. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would call Ing a whiner. A fighter? Yes. A whiner? Nope. And that's the big difference, isn't it? All of the whiners out there haven' t figured out the one thing that the real victims of life had to learn from the start: no- body likes a whiner! Let's rock the boat, send Mr. Rock some stones Once our fall fairs are over, you know that summer is shot. I used to look forward to winter, but not any more. I'm not sure if my new atti- tude is a result of old age creeping up on me or the simple fact that, having seen so many winters, I've learned that mucking through the snow isn't as much fun as striding down the fairways. I hate winter. Neither Acton nor Georgetown had good weather for their fairs. Still, thousands turned out and on behalf of the volunteers who run these affairs, I'd like to offerahearty thanks. Fair weather or foul, hun- dred of people are involved in plan- ning and putting on our fairs. As you read this, next year's events are in the planning. I hope you will make a note to attend. Like any other community enterprise, if we don't support it, we'Il lose it. So, if next year's weather isn't just perfect, throw on your jacket and come out anyway. The lines are shorter and many of your neigh- bours are already there, working hard to conduct the various activi- ties. See you at the °97 fairs. kK Further to last week's column re- garding the Liberal's law reform, | found the following campaign very interesting. Debbie Mahaffy, whose daughter Leslie was murdered, is The Way I See It With Mike O'Leary asking Canadians to put some pres- sure on our Justice (?) Minister. Mrs. Mahaffy, along with many Canadians, is not satisfied with the Liberal plan to obstinately continue offering early release to murderers. She is asking each and every one of us to send a small rock to the justice minister. She is hopeful that this kind of protest might convince Mr. Rock to repeal Section 745, which allows for the early release of killers. Wrap it ina simple note saying "I want the repeal of 745." Include your name and address. Too often I've heard people sa, "Tt does no good to protest -- they'll just do what they want anyway." I suggest that this attitude has caused a lot of the judicial mire we're in today. I'm as guilty as the next guy. All through the '70s and '80s I was so busy working that I didn't pay enough attention to what was going on in Ottawa and at Queen's Park. The G.S.T. was my wake-up call. I couldn't believe that my govern- ment (yep -- I votéd for Garth -- the first term) would shove the G.S.T. down our throats in spite of almost 90 per cent opposition by the peo- ple. When I'm wrong, I'm really wrong! I submit that Allan Rock's tink- ering with the sentencing provisions for murderers shows the same type of contempt for the wishes of Cana- dians as Muldoon, Turner et al did. This time though, there's still time to stop the government. If we do nothing, then they will continue to let violent criminals out into our midst. Please take a few minutes, write out a short note and send Allan Rock a small pebble. Maybe he' Il stop mollycoddling those who rape and murder our chil- dren. There isno postagerequired. Send your pebble to Allan Rock, House of Commons, Ottawa, K1A 0A6. Or call M.P. Julian Reed at 877-2900 and let him know how you feel. There's an election in the wind. They' Il listen to you. KeRRK The resignation of House Speaker Al McLean should make all Ontarians very uncomfortable. He was tried by the press and convicted in the kangaroo court of political expediency. Most news organizations have been firmly on both sides of the argument. At first they expressed righteous indignation at the accusa- tions levelled by former aide Sandi Thompson against McLean. Then, when some of Ms. Thompson's claims appeared contradictory, the media turned on her. That's the problem with trial by public opin- ion -- there is no resolution to the issue. So far the only accomplish- ment is that two reputations have been destroyed and two careers ru- ined. McLean, in hindsight, should have takena leave to cool the politi- cal heat. That would have given both parties the time to settle this complaint in court, where it be- longs. Instead, McLean was forced to resign in disgrace, which leads me to this question: What happens if he is ultimately found innocent? How can he ever regain his reputa- tion or his position? He can't. He's toast. : ' Workplace harassmentis a fact. I strongly support any effort to bring the perpetrators to justice, no mat- ter how rich or powerful. We do have laws and a system, however flawed, to handle these incidents. Atthe least, going through the procedure allows for some fair- ness to both parties. I hope this case causes some second thought to reviewing how sexual harassment cases are con- ducted. For the sake of all parties, we need proceed expeditiously and fairly. The guilty need to be pun- ished, the innocent exonerated. Trial by press only creates vic- tims. keRKK I was a big fan of Robbie Alomar when he played for the Jays. His attitude last year when he was leay- ing gave me cause for second thought. His actions last week -- spitting in the face of an umpire, then dragging the poor man's dead son into the altercation, quite frankly disgusts me. What is it with these ball players? For every class act like Winfield or Moliter, there are jerks like Alomar and-Strawberry. Somebody needs to tell these navel gazing prima donnas that ona scale of 500 important occupations, baseball player comes in at number 943. Alomar should be suspended in- definitely. He won't be. Some rich athletes think they' re above the laws of common decency. I wonder how long we fans will be prepared to put up with them?