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THE HERALD Wednesday January Page Opinion Page -LETTERS- 30 years ago The familiar click sound of rock colliding against rock a sound long absent from the ears of local curlers was finally returned as the North Halton Golf and Coun try Club opened to curlers John A Gunn president of the board of directors of the Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital announced the launching of a fundraiser expected to raise up to million Thomas A Dillon president of the Thomas A Dillon Co of Toronto and a resident of Glen Williams is the chairman of the campaign Allen Francis Haltons agricultural representative was assisted by Earl Whitelock whom he succeeded in office when a new building to house this government service was officially opened in Milton Mr now associated with Halton and Peel Trust and Savings Co in Burl ington cut the ribbon to open the building The building is the extension office of the Department of Agriculture at the Centre building on Main Street Milton 20 years ago Members of L Association Cana- Francaise elected Roger as president when they held their annual meeting in Sacre Coeur Parish Hall Serving on the 1970 executive are Francis Landry first vice president Mrs A Lachance second vice president Miss Therese St Jean secretary Andre Trudelle treasurer and the committee convenors are Mrs A Parent Ed Hayes Bernard Jac ques Adalbert Albert and Jacques Trudelle The stork bypassed Georgetown for the first five days of the new year On Jan at in the after noon Donna daughter of Mr and Mrs Wayne weighed in at seen pounds even Mom and daughter went home on Jan 11 Ed Van of Park Motors in won a trip to Japan and Expo 70 for selling cars Park Motors was second in the Ontario Toyota contest which started early last yciir and won a 10day all- expense paid trip lo Japan for Mr Alphenand his wife 10 years ago Springlike weather conditions forced the postponement of the Hills first annual Publicity Director Haltons History from our files Tony Evers of the said the postponement will leave only a week before the winner of the snow sculpture contest goes to Quebec We all have the power of self- hypnosis Dr Boyd Hoddinott told his audience at the University Womens Club and he decided to try to prove his statement by demonstrating the techniques used to provide the relaxation leading to a hypnotic trance Joshua Markus was the winner of a McDonalds watch for the month of December in the Herald coloring contest Robin Switzer presented the watch to Joshua on behalf of McDonalds Restaurant Optimist Erik Peterson vice president of the Acton club was one of the Optimists who manned the phones in Acton for the cerebral palsy telethon over the weekend The Optimist took calls from Milton Georgetown and Acton 5 years ago Students at Centennial Public School have adopted a Humpback Whale named Olympia who regularly haunts the waters near Yarmouth Massachusetts Sarah Geh Diana Morrow and SaraLynn are part of a Grade class that adopted the whale with the assistance of Judy a teacher involved in gifted educa tion classes An afterhours book drop became a a 1 a 1 at the Georgetown branch of the Hills Libraries Chief Librarian Betsy said the drop box was installed because of the public demand for it largely attributed to the of fines during 1983 Georgetowns Richard is playing in the Globe Production of and hes loving it He plays the central character called Patrick and said all the adults are being very helpful to him Richard is and is in Grade at Georgetowns Centennial Public School Consequences severe if Iyake fails Continued from Page rest of Canada reject its political will to rejoin the Canadian federa tion Meanwhile the Montreal Chamber of Commerce is putting out the message that the accord is the most important the most fun damental issue facing the country today On top of this the prime minister assures that the accord is moderate and reasonable and if it is rejected the province will have to reconsider many things STRONG MESSAGE To put it mildly its not helpful to be spreading this type of message The accord still to be ratified by New Brunswick and Manitoba faces an uphill battle And one would think political leaders would want to create a constructive climate for possible if not pro bable failure There is no reason why the coun try cant survive without the Meech Lake accord just as it would survive with it Why turn it into the most monumental issue in Homosexuals are the only source of AIDS in Canada Family Coalition member says Dear Sir After a letter of mine regarding AIDS and homosexuality was published as The letter of the day on the Toronto Sun I was called by Radio for a phone- in show last Thursday The show hosted by Wayne lasted two hours The other guest was Jack Layton chairman of the Toronto Board of Health My main contention was that the source of AIDS in Canada is only homosexual although the virus is transmitted through a number of means from homosexuals to to heterosexuals and finally to children The time to act is now before AIDS becomes a plague of much larger proportions such as it is in certain parts of Africa where it has spread to all of the population My main criticism in this mat ter towards the media and the government is that homosexuals in particular and society in general are not told the whole truth- That AIDS can be eradicated only by asking anybody who engages in homosexual acts to abs tain from such acts eg anal sex and other unhealthy or perverse sex practices involving ex crements 2 That condoms easily break when used for anal sex as publish ed in a report from the US Public Health Service and may be com pletely ineffective to contain Ihe virus even if were not break ing as the HIV virus that causes AIDS is much smaller than the smallest pores of condoms That homosexuals are highly at risk as the virus is present mostly In the homosexual popula tion and because the average number of partners per month figures are so high to guarantee frequent encounters with infected persons That condoms offer a false sense of safety they are only five to per cent effective according to the Canadian Consumers Report in normal vaginal use for a period of one year and that the probability of infection increases when condoms are used for periods longer than one year About this last point I was bewildered by the reaction of both the host of CFRB and Councillor they would refuse to understand how the probability of infection would increase when con doms are used for longer periods of time Is it not just common sense Mr who claims to unders tand statistics and has a university degree would refuse to admit that probabilities of independent events multiply when those events are combined Let us assume a failure rate of condoms of 10 per cent per year without considering other un favorable factors eg that these were tested on women by measur ing resulting pregnancies which may occur only in a few days of the month Let us consider the years 1990 to 1995 It is true that in 1996 the failure rate is still the same 10 Reader agrees that theres no GO transit DcirSir I want to offer my thanks to Mr Keith Wilcox for his letter publish ed in the Herald on Jan the heading No GO he outlined many of the problems of the North West GO tine I endorse his letter My last conversation so meone in the GO office was to com plain bitterly about the poor opera tional decisions which resulted in delay specifically the decision to stop the GO train in order to allow a freight to overtake and pass A of people were at least minutes late for work Let hope that other letters from frustrated GO users will pour in to the newspapers and into the Ministers office Improvement IS possible J H Georgetown per cent for that year in dependently from other years but what is the use of not getting in fected in if I had already been infected in The important question is What is the probability that I will not get infected during the next seven years of regular condom use while engaging in homosexual acts with an infected partner Simple calculations show that by the end of 1996 a homosexual per son will more likely have been in fected than not That Is the pro bability of infection for seven years is over per cent I had hoped that for such a trivial calculation I did not need to exhibit the fact that I have a degree in Computer Science that I am a computer consultant and that I teach a computer subject to graduate university students So much for condoms While a woman to have one pregnancy during a period of seven years is not tragic getting infected once within seven years is deadly Can we claim to be caring for homosex uals and the rest of society if we will not disclose to them the whole truth What we should tell homosexuals and is that they must refrain from homosex ual acts altogether In this case condoms are the worst option Giuseppe Gori Vice President Family Coalition Party of Ontario EDITORS NOTE For a copy of the calculations write the Family Coalition at 56 Hewson n 2N9 Write us a letter The Horn Id wants lo hear from If you have an opinion want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is St Georgetown Out Ail letters must be signed Please include jour address and telephone number for verifica tion The Herald reserves the right to edit letters due to space limita tions or libel US slow to discover free trade Kevin Bell our history Undoubtedly part of the strategy is to apply more pressure on the holdout provinces making them feel like nationwreckers if they dont get the accord through their legislatures But this doesnt have to be done on political platforms and through Christmas and yearend messages There are telephones And there is absolutely no need for the prime minister to keep hammering on the shortcomings in the 1982 Constitution even if he is trying to convince us of the need to fix them Whats the point at this stage in telling they were betrayed and humiliated by the 1982 agreement The major federal players of including the prime minister were all Quebecers If after due consideration the Meech Lake proponents still insist on telling us that the accord was the greatest invention since the wheel lets at least try and spread the same message in every part of the country Word travels fast these days In Canada only a hermit could have escaped hearing about the CanadaUS freetrade agree ment But many S businessmen have been slow to discover that the two countries are reducing trade barriers While Canadians were assaulted with a barrage of publicity as the freetrade talks became the focal point of the hotly contested 1988 federal election few Americans knew much if anything about the pact Many are finding out about the deal only now Almost one year after the deal went into effect the US Depart ment of Commerce reports that in quiries from small businesses are starting to flood in The depart ment has fielded more than inquiries about the agreement but officials admit that a large percen tage of businessmen still dont know anything about the deal dont think that the American business community has paid a lot of attention to it George Washington University economics professor Robert Dunn who specializes in CanadaU S rela tions Even though the United States has more trade with Canada than any other country the American business community has been distracted by other events Dunn says The threat from the economic powerhouse in Japan the movement towards an economically united European Community in 1992 and the dramatic events in Eastern Europe have occupied US businesses attention PUSHED OFF In the first year of a phasein there would normally be a lot of at tention paid to it Dunn says It got pushed off the business pages It isnt where the big trade flows are its where the trade troubles are that attract attention Many American businesses are wary about international trade Faced with a blizzard of forms that businessmen have to fill In when selling goods to government departments and complicated tax rules that tend to discourage in vestment abroad many businesses have not been eager to look for business opportunities outside US borders However some firms have seen an opportunity to drum up business by explaining to small companies that trade with Canada is now less complicated than it once was The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the accounting firm Peat Maravick has been en couraging small companies through seminars and newsletters to take a chance on Canada If youre a small business and you never thought of shipping to other countries maybe you- should think about Canada one of I the firms partners told the newspaper Its now just as easy as shipping to somewhere down the street If more US firms are trying to take advantage of the simpler rules for shipping to Canada they cant be blamed for a steady decline in Canadas trade surplus since the pact came effect Dunn asserts The steady rise in the Canadian dollar in relation to the US buck is probably more responsible for the decline in the trade surplus than the freetrade deal he says Besides the agreement is geared to benefit Canada more than the United States he says The gains of such deals usually go to the smaller countries Canada has more opportunities to export to the huge US markets but it isnt adding much to the US market Under the about 16000 out by 1998 tariffs on will be phased