HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-04-22, Page 2uron ^bfxpositor
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SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, APRIL 22, 1981
n open meetings ,
In the years agorae
...
It's too bad there won't be open-to-the-public committee meetings of
Seaforth council. Now that Seaforth's nearly doubled in .size council
ckamoers could reasonably have been expected to be overflowing with
eager speCtators.
No that only happens at ratepayers' meetings and at that 'annual
Spring Rite in Seaforth, the "what are you going-to do about our flooded
basements?" meeting: (And this year, thanks to a good deal of work by
the clerk, council and the ministry of the environment, even that meeting
has been* unnecessary. Touch wood.).
But still, Most of the real business of council is conducted in committee
sessions. The nitty-gritty, the background, the why's and -why nots of
council decisioris-come out there. But so too do the candid; unguarded
comments that councillors make on issues and decisions. They
apparently fear the reporting of same in the press.
We agree that personnel, real estate and other delicate negotiations
canhot be held .in public. But the people of Seaforth probably would
benefit from fair and accurate reporting of council committee sessions.
Therein lies the other reason that open committee meetings were
apparently voted down. At least one councillor at last week's meeting
strongly objected to being misquoted and feared extra open meetings
would compound his problem..
The way to handle thet objection as we who report see it, is to talk to
this paper about misquotes or mistakes or write a letter-•to the editor;•
right after you feel they've happened.. •
Newspapers have a serious obligation to get -things straight.* . .our
credibility 'is at stake. Mistakes happen, as The whole world of
newspapers is acknowledging after the. illustrious Washington Post
learnecilast week.that a reporter had made Up a Pulitzer Prize-winning
story. But mistakes aren't made maliciously and we want a chance to
correct them.
So, come and talk. to us when you 'feel you've been misquoted. And
we're sorry the Expositor won't be reporting an Seaforth council behind
the scenes.'
.Cotmcil - and the clerk try hard to provide the-press (and public if
anyone shows up--ata regular council- meeting)-witIrveryfull digests of
committee discussions. As' welli• a recess, during meetings gives a,
reporter a chance to discuss committee items in detail whit the various
chairmen. • •
The system is, 'we think, giving Seaforth ratepayerS a somewhat fuller
view of: what council is doing than they got perhaps a year ago.
Open committee meetings would be better latit ,we're reserving
judg !ment for a while as to how seriously thelack of that impairs getting
all the council news taut to- you. •
Treq3asses, abilities
Huron board of education trustee Frank FalcOner is quite correct in
suggesting the board is being led astray by the press in consenting •to a
change in their monthly meeting date front a Monday to. ThOrsday.
At least, he's correct as far as his own situation is concerned. Mr.
Falconer, apparently, is equipped with one of those lightning-quick'
minds that requires little time for research 'on which to base a decision or
opinion, even on such complex matters as may face the board of
education.
However, he should at least excuse those of us not so richly blessed
when we suggest,that working under less stringent deadlines may result
in better press coverage for the board, and as a result, perhapi, better
understanding by the public of the decisions made by that group.
Having been a proponent of the change, this newspaper is in no way
qualified to guarantee those improverhents. However, experience does
lead us to believe that the job will be done better and will therefore be a
benefit to all concerned.
Mr. Falconer, as readers may have noted, suggested that the
reasoning.behind the change was nonsense and added that "If they had
a week to print the Lord's Prayer, they would still make a mistake.
While, there is a ter flotation to-use-some 'space to prove -him -wrong,
we"Il not be led into that temptation and will go one step farther and
forgive, him for his trespasses against our abilities.
^ Exeter Time Advocate
Dateline: Moosonee.
How did a nice boy like you wind up in a
place like this? Isn't that-the classic question
prostitutes are asked? Yes.
Well. i realize the entire world is waiting
for my answer, so I must confess. I didn't
wind up here.reatne herey And if I don't gel
out pretty soon, I just might wind up here.
Buried in mud, with taxis driven by gently
laughing Indian ladies rolling right over my
Irish tweed hat, the only thing sticking out of
the mud.
Moosonee is not Far North. In fact. move
it far enough west, and it could be a suburb
of Edmonton.
But it's-far enough north to be one of those
towns that are neither fish nor flesh nor good
red herring, in this democratic, liberal-think-
ing, decent. next-door-neighbour country of
Ours.,
As a result, it is a combination of a
nightmare by Dostoievsky' and a plan for a
Utopian village by Tolstoy.
Tivtkotim shacks with- the inevitable
snowmobile parked outside. and a minute's
Walk-away. Super--modern
tidy liquor stOre, neat brick post office.
. Truly beautiful Indian toddlers, super-
vise(' by smart. smiling young Indian
APRIL 22, 1881
ThAust which arises from Main Street is
becoming very offensive, and the council
should have the street watered.:
We notice that' J.M. McGregor, formerly
of this town, and son of Daniel McGregor of
Haipurhey, has let the contract for the
ere ion of a $10,000 brick building in
Winnipeg.
John Ward who, has removed into his new
residence on Goderich Street, Seaforth came
pretty near tidying a fire, on Good Friday.
The children had been playing in the stable
with. matches and set fire to some straw.
When noticed there was a lively blaze, but a
few pails of water quenched the flames, and
no serious damage was done.
' John Cochrane of the' Town Line between
Hay and Stanley recently soldto a fanner in ''
London township one of the handsomeSt
mares that has ever left that county. She is '
six years old and was sired by "Old, Lord
Haddow." Mr. Cochrane received ' for her
the sum of $280 cash. She was purchased for
breeding purposes. We are sorry to see such
splendid animals leaving the county but such
figures arete filing.
Mr, tull ha
ji
on exhibition at the Montreal
Telegraph' ice in Seaforth, an electric fire
alarm apparatus which. seems to be well
adapted for the requirements of the town. It
is si mple. reliable and effective: and the
cost is not out of the way. An alarm in the
engine house and one at the residence of the
chief of the Fire Brigade together with four ,
boxes placed in different parts of town could
be procured complete for about $220. . , ,
APRIL 2;7, 1906
It is quite' probable that in a very short
'e are, according to experts like Alyin
Toffier in his book The Third Wave. on the
edge of a technical revolution that will
change our whole way of life. For these
who think the world is already changing too
fast he says just wait for' what's coming.
The big changes due in the world are due
to the electronics revolution, the natural
&elution from the. microcircuit computer
chip that has been' making its impression
on the way we live. Toffler„foresees the
"electronic cottage", whereceach of us will
have sophjstieated computer equipment in
our. own homes.- tied through two-way
television connections to the outside world.,
We will be able to Work, play. shop. bank
and learn without leaving our homes.
People like Toffler. eternal optimists.
foresee great things for this electronic
brothers. •
In fact, if I'd thrown away my fancy
topcoat, let me whiskers grow for five days,
taken out my partial plate, and gotten
incredibly plastered. you wouldn't have
known us apart. We separated with' one of
time the ratepayers of Seaforth ,will have an
important manufacturing proposition sub-
mitted to theni for their- approval. The
proposition, in an informal way, has been nal
the hands of the members of the council for
sothe time, and will shortly be laid before
them in a formal manner. The proposition is
forthe establishment of 'a shoe.factory here.
The head of the company, which will be
known as. the Willis' Shoe Company is W.H.
Willis and the financial standing of the
proposed company is excellent.
George Baldwin has disposed of his Musical
instrument business in Seaforth to Richard_
.Peck and this week removed to. St. Thomas
where he has embarked in a much larger
business.' Mr. Peck is an active, reliable
young man who is well and favourable
known to the patrons of the Seaforth musical
interest 'emporium, having been connected
with it for several years and will, no doubt.
retain for it the excellent reputation and
large business which the emporium has so
long and so deservedly enjoyed.
New long distance telephones have - been
placed in Colin Kennedy's meat market.
D.D. Wilson's Office and residence, John
Rankin's residence, Wm. Pickard's'stare
and residence, 'Drs. Scott and McKay's
office, Dr. Scott's residence, W.H. Willis
store and residence, W.I. Box residence,
Thos ,Simpson's livery, W.R. Smith's
grocery, Royal Hotel, Geo. Sills' hardware
store, J.W. .Beattie's meat market and
residence.
revolution. Such ftiture-tellers have, for
instance, seen the electronic revolution as
ending many trends to having to centralize.
business and commerce. Many people. for
instance. should be able„ta_work in their
own homes doing tasks they would
normally do in offices, taking their instruct-
ions from bosses over the computer
terminal, doing the work and piping it back
through- the-mantel-of -electronics. to the_
central computer at work.
FREEING PEOPLE
The futurists see this as away of freeing
people from haVing to go downtown to an
office building. thereby reducing traffic
those 10-minute handshakes that drunks
insist on. And I felt very sad.
ifihrtside. on the street.. macho young
Indians, spmetimes three abreast, sunglass-
es. thumlh in denim trousers. some pock-
marked. some bandsome, some menacing
faintly. Playing a role. tam proud to say that
not one of them pushed me off the sidewalk
into the mud., stepped off. a purely
individual choice, into the mud.
Middle of main street. Water two• feet
deep. Kids of all colours wading around in it
with their, 14 inch rubber boots. wildly
happy, soaked is seals, oblivious to all else
except sun. w at mud. ).
All veter•ur of World War I should be
buried in Moosonee, in the spring or fall. It
would be just like Flanders fields. Mud.
Golly, it sounds as though I don't like
W.M. Doig, of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigin
has rented his farm on the second concession
.nearKippen, for a term of six years to T.C.
Edmunds of Tuckersmith. He pays Mr. Doig
$200 rent for thisyear and $300 a year for the
remaining five years- Mr. Edmunds will
make a good tenant.
Charles Wright. formerly , of McKillop,
who rented the, farm of Henry Monteith on
the 3rd concesson has got comfortably
settled in his new home and is busily at work
gettkng in •his spring crop and putting things
in general in order. Charlie likes to have
_everything tidy and in good order.
APRIL 24',1931
The barns of the farm of Joseph
5th concession of McKillop township, town
line, were completely destroyed by fire on
Monday evening last. The barns consisted of
two buildings and a large poultry house and°
their contents which ineWl d a fine cow, two
yearlings, two sheep, four lambs, 100 hens
and some turkeys-besides a large amount of
feed and sothe implements.
Thomas Farquharson, of Hamilton, and
formerly of Hensel!. is spending the summer
months here 'and will be caretaker for -ihe
bowlers' green.
We believe George Armstong of Hensall
intends erecting as soon as possible, a new
bank barn to take , the place of the 'one
destroyed by fire on Sunday.
George Holland Holland of Dublin. held a success-
ful sale of horses and cattle do Wednesday.
J.C. Kelly, son of Mrs. R. Kelly , of
congestion, competition for space in the
downtown city centres and even reducing
pollution because there won't be so many
cars on the roads:
It's a nice thought. There arc so many
exciting possibilities that the electronic
revolution could bring. It could rut the
small town back on a more even footing
with the cities again in attracting business
and industry. If information is going to
travel at the speed of light through a glass
wire so that people can stay home in the
suburbs and do their work. then why not
take it just a little farther and let them stay
home in Small towns?' The advent of
cheaper electroniei should also help the
smaller busineisman to compete.
Those are the pessibilities. The realities.
I suspect, will be different. Looking at the
history of great advances in our society the
common trend becomes evident. Nearly. all
"advances:* tend to concentrate power in
ftehweer. handsiargir
centres:
of fewerne sp.eople. population in
The Royal,Commissioti into chain owner-
ship of the newspaper industry heard last
week that the technological revoltition has
made chain ownership more attractive and
will make it more so yet. The day is
coming, we are told continually, when
newspapers, will te sent, to our home by
television. not by paper boy. The problem
'kis the cost of buying the equipment to do
that is so huge that only the very big
companies will be able afford it. Thus
the rich will get richer.
The same trend,: haebeen seen before.
'Demands for better packtiking of food, for
rd was held this week,
it was reported. er, it was agreed that
those concerne woul continue tozxplore
the financialjimp ications fProposUli'V#bich
had been advanced, in order to alleViate the
overcrowding that is: said to exist at the
school. „
Huron farmeral4ro-factil.-with4substantial
losses if inclement weather continues mud'
longer. Huron County AgriOtitural flepre-,
sentatrve Jerry Montgomery; said Wednes-
day. While seeding is generarthrougheut
the southern part of the county during recent
days. the weather hays been such that it has'
not been possible to get on the land in the
central and northern parts, he said. ,
What is just as serious as the late seeding
is the fact that cold, wet weather and snow
prevents any pasture growth, and it Will not
be possible to put stock in pasture for some
weeks, even if there is an immediate
improvement in the weather, There has been
no growth-of any kind, and there won't be
until the weather gets' warmer.
" Billie Cook, Port• Credit, visited with Mr,
and Mrs. George Coyne of Dublin.
Marilyn Mousseau, of London, visited
over the weekend with her parents Mr. and
Mrs. Elzar Mousseau of Kippen.
instance, have tended to drive the little
food processor out of buSines while the big
guy able meet the 'coil-. of new
equipment, -tighter restrictions and so on,
has been able. to take a bigger and bigger
share of the market.
We have in recent months seen. several
small town banks closed, most recently in
Shakespeare ,and Sebringville. The word
computer has net• been mentioned but I
would be willing to bet one of the reasons
for the closings was that the business the
banks were doing wasn't enough to justify
the installation bran expensive computer
systen which is almost essential' in banks
today.
SHOP FROM HOME
Likewise when we are able to shop
from home via our computer terminal, we
are not likely to be able 'to shop. with our
small town neighbour who runs the grocery
or 'hardware because he won't be, able to
afford the expensive equipment needed.
We'll be tying. into the central computer of
Loblaws or Sears to shop and in doing so.
we'll kill off the 'reason for existence for
small town, its-main Street.
There's also a good possibility the wedge
between urban and rural community will -
be driven in even further. The two-way
computer-television revolution is based on
using the cable television system. a system
that doesn't exist on nearly alt farms and
most smaller villages hi our country. Will
the.electronic revolution pass rural people
by completely?
The future will unfold in the coming
years no matter we may feel about it.
My bet, however, is that the. "revolution"
will mean more of the same more 'people
working for fewer companies and living in
fewer larger cities to do it.
Daffodils by David Hook
By Bill Smiley
women. Happy-go-lucky teenageian kids
who should be in school but. with apparently
no financial problems. smoke, drink coffee
or Cokes. and feed the juke boil.' which
whines the same old songs they're hearing
in Halifax and Vancouver.
And three tables away. in the same
Chittese4that's right. Chinese) restaurant, a
grizzled old guy. so drunk he doesn't know
whether he's sipping his toast or eating his
coffee. Mean, obscene. obstreper ous, But
they look after him. Anywhere else, they'd
call the',fuzz, and he'd wind up in the
slammer."Not in Moosonec.
When he'd driven everyone else out, he
turned on me. the cool-looking guy with the
shirt and tie. the fresh shave. the snappy
trenchcoat. and the skiing earlugs my wife
insisted I wear, even in a Moosonee
heat-wave. (Glad I did. If I'd taken -them off,
I'd have had sun-burned ears, which would
have made my old lady think" I'd gone to
Sugar and spice
How did I wind up in Moosenee?
Texas on March break. instead of Mooson-
ed).
Anyway. this almost-incoherent old drunk
zoned in on me. despite my -pretending to be
a born-again Christian or a deaf-mute or a
retarded senior citizen' just out of the funny
farm, and wencinto a lurching dialogue
about Kon and how we'd captured 750,000
Germans in the Falaise Gap.
Suddenly we were buddies. Kon was
Caen, Normandy, 1944. That was my
baptism of fire. He was in the infantry.
trying to capture the mess of shattered
bricks and unshattered Germans. After I'd- Mousonee, That's wrong. I love it. And I'll
convinced him that r was a fighter pilot and tell why next week.
not one of those jerks of bomber people who
bombed their own troops. we were soul-
treet needs watering
Behind the scenes: ...
by Keith Roulston
.
Seaforth,,has been appointed postmaster at
Windsor, pro tern, fiallowing the retirement
of the postmaster Mr. CasgraitiAlr. Kelly
' was a form& assistant in the Seaforth post
office.
APRIL 27, 1956
No decisions were reached with respect to
solving the aecomodation problem• that
exists at Egmondville school when a joint
meeting of Tuckeismith Council and Tucker-
smith area School
The future tellers and more of the same,