The Huron Expositor, 1981-06-24, Page 2JUNE 24, 1881
Andrew Young has sold his Royal George
colt to Dr Hurlburt of Brucefield for $130.
The doctor has got a good and cheap driver.
A few days ago a number of vagrant pigs
broke into the garden of F. Holmested. at his
residence in Harporhey. and rooted up and
destroyed a number of beautiful flower beds.
besides doing other &inapt' Mr- HOhne-
sted does hot withiti :the bounds Pf fhp
corporation' of seaforth, else tbiAvottid nslt
have; hippened to him.• as pigs and, cpws are
to run gat IMF !1F-te' at
,unseaSottaidehoittS.
We 6Vein our SiSseSsian a ptirtiOP PfAtie
*out sill of the SeafOrth possenger statiOn
honse. When the itnprnyenteam mentioned
laSt week were in progress, the front sill 'was
exposed to the atmosphere and it crtimpled
away almost like snuff. and a friend picked
up , a few of the Cotton splintirs and
presented them to us. We intend keeping
them as mementoes of the liberality of the
Grand Trunk authorities toward Seaforth.
These signs of decay are at least encourag-
ing. If the Grand Trunk folks won't pull the
building down and as there seems to be
some special Providence operating in its
favour which prevents its being burned
down it is at least some consolation that
there are signs of its rotting down.
We are informed that one night not long
ago some villainous person entered the
stable where Mr. Carter's stallion, "Old
in the years agone
Wellington." was when on his regular
rounds and with a tolfe or some other sharp
instrument inflicted a bad wound upon the
animal's tongupftpttrc4e effects of Which he
been `laid, AO' •
Messrs.'firOstenOr -and Abe!, bale ; again
,yeeeived the 01.1-0.35;•.. for .watering -Main
interested' 114X *rclo# relyt •
brat the .vvoti; Will -.he properly dOrte 'psi
Mhatever these gentletnpn,.-underkake-
alWaYS'-dn'well, • -
MA 29, 190.0
/has. Hills.and J. ,Purcellnf Egmoridville
and other small farmers. in the neighbour-
hood; have already got their hay cut.
Mable C. 'McLean. daughter of Mr. • and
Mrs. W.B. McLean. Henson is spending
part of her holidays with. Mrs. John Sproat,
Tuckersmith. Miss McLean has a position. in
Winnipeg. where she has been for two
Years.
H.S. Welsh, son of Mr. J.S. Welsh of
Seaforth has been elected Noble Grand of
Unity Lodge. Independent Order of Oddfel-
-lows, Hamilton and assumes the chair on the
1st of July.
The click of the mower is again heard in
Kippen and T. Meths. our village vulcan is
on hand as usual and prepared to keep all
machinery in good repair.
A few days ago as Robert Dinsdale of
Stanley. near kippenwasdriving to.Seaforth
he had a close, St,,.aNv serious
runiiKay,Re was driving hiS handsome and
spitedfiectrip.#, • OW* A. buggy, When opposite the fittlat .g4L .P.401e,
TtickerStitith, Ibig tetnal04iitt. V040'00:04
gate' itlineilie,ainng the road meeting Mr.
Modal4 The c04. ,although -
- Itfrm4nntfieenStPPlerttP'*ili$10P4s.'Mr, 0.insdate keeps his in 4-.pert, and got. badly'
frightened at the 'porker. The road was
itatrow ith 0 deep ditch tin either side and it
requited. all the :skill and courage the driver
could command to control the horse.
JUNE 26, 1931
The graduating exercises of the 1931 class
at the Scott Memorial Hospital. Seaforth
were held on the beautiful Hospital grounds
on Wednesday afternoon. Five nurses--Anne
Gertrude Downey. St. Columban. Ella
Margaret Roulston. Toronto. Mona Ross
McGregor. Kippen. Esther Trout, Stratford,
and Isabel Barbara -, McLaughlin. Dowal.
received diplomas. •
Dr. Aubrey Crich, Gertrude Crich and Mr.
and Mrs. Selwyn Franks of Toronto -and
Isabel Wakefield of Guelph spent the
littron (fxpasitor
Since 1860. Serving the Community tirst
527.0240
Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO every Thursday morning by
McLean Bros Publishers Ltd
Andrew Y McLean. Publisher
Susan White. Editor
Member. Canadian Community Newspaper Associat,ion Ontario Weekly
Newspaper Association and Audit Bureau at Circulation
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SEAFORTH, ONTAfilla 441e 24,. 1981
r
) ocitor gets . eal on colt
Summer: the time when the flowers.,
bikinis and the mosquitos come out...and of
course stiikers. -
Our annual' postal strike may start next
week unless God, Trudeau or san ity
intervene and since the last possibility
seems to be out we can only hope for one of
the first two to come to our rescue .
The baseball players are already out on
strike. It 'didn't matter much to those of us
who could only watch on C B C television
anyway because' NABET, the union of
technicians at C.B.C. had sabbotaged most
of the ball games so far this spring before
they f finally walked out completely a month
or so ago. --
All of us have our lives badly disrupted by
'these endless strikes. For several years
when' I was in the newspaper business we
had 'to annually figure out how to. get'
newspapers to people when there was a
postal strike.* Now in the theatre business I
have to worry, about how to sett:thousands of
tickets to people without being able to use
the mails. Some people unfortunately are in
even worse position: their very mental
health is threatened by withdrawal symp-
toms from baseball addiction.
Rather than the disruption, the headaches
and ulcers that Strikes cause, the thing that
bugs me most is the self-righteousness of
unionists and their political allies. NOw I
have no doubt of the need for unions. I can
read by history books as well as anybody and
I know that bare ly a half century ago some
,men were becoming millionaires, establish-
ing family fortunes by exploiting other
people. People were forced to work long
• hours, often even had their lives endangered
by horrid safety conditions because Making
the job safer would cut into the bosses
profits. I know that when workers tried to do
. so mething about it they were told the boss
could always find a dozen more people who
were willing to work under those conditions.
I know that when they tried to form unions
the bosses often hired sedulity guards to
beat them up. •
I also know that there' are still employers
with a streak of that kind of thing in them
today. The movie Norma Rae showed just
how tough the battle still is in some corners
of the U.S. where exploitive employers have
moved so they can relive the "good old
days".
But, just b ecause things were t ough in
the past. and 'just because there are still ,a -
few uncivilized employers lett does not mean
Time for cleanup
An angry ratepayer made a good point at Seaforth council last week.
Peter Malcolm of High St. started out complaining about the mess on a
lot next tp hi.s house. Then he expanded to talk about similar messes, in
alleyways and vacant properties all over town.
Clean them up firSt, and then go back to the owners to be re-imbursed
later Is the course of action he suggested to council.
And that probably is the best way to get action, fast, action that a few
eyesores around town demand. -.10t
But alas, it can't be done under existing town legislation.
What Is needed to put teeth into -Seaforth's desire to eliminate
unsightly areas is a property standards bylaw. Mayor John Sinnamon'
told Mr. 'Malcolm that; and such a bylaw is approved in principle in the
town's new official plan.
A property standards bylaw is often controversial. Attempts to define
what's acceptable on private property and what isn't lead to charges of
Hitler tactics and arguments on "a man's home is his castle" lines.
But a careful reading of the relevant section of the new plan (that small
yellow booklet we all received in the mail) shows the bylaw is just a tool
that empowers council to clean up the sort of unsightly messes the High
St. resident complained of:
As with all tools though, the tricky thing is who uses them. Provincial
legislation provides for a property standards officer to enforce the bylaw
and an appointed committee to which property owners can appeal the
officer's decision.
Before any of that comes into play here in Seaforth, council has a huge
educating job to do. When and if the standards' bylaw is enacted council
has a responsibility to see that it's sensibly, not overzealously eftforced.
But all talk about bylaws, enforcement officers and comrnittees'aside,
cleaning Up our own backyards, and alleys and vacant lots, is really up to
each one' of us.
A heck of a lot can and has been accomplished by individuals looking
eater their own Tittle corners of this town. Have you looked at your,
neighbourhood with a critical eye lately?
Sweet sounds return
The sweet sound of summer music will be wafting from Victoria Park
on Sunday nights again this year, thanks to Seaforth's recreation
committee.
That group has a pair of very big shoes to fill.
For at least the last five years the Sunday night concerts have been
pretty well the result of one man's efforts. That man, Dr. Charles Toll,
has retired this year and the whole community owes him a vote of thanks-.
As a councillor said at last week's council meeting, Dr. Toll organized
the concert schedulta, lottery Cato ling well-known bands taplay here for a
nominal fee),; made sure the bandstand and park were set up for• concerts;
got publicity and reported on each event; served coffee and donuts and
often paid the difference between expenses and the silver collection out
of his own pocket.
Such dedication is had to find, indeed almost unheard of, among
yOuritier "VOltintearL
Dr. Toll, for those few readers who don't know this human dynamo
personally, is over 80.
We, like many local residents, think it's really valuable that Seaforth
offers music for the whole community in that little gem of a park on
Sundays, The best thanks we can dive him will be .to patronize the
concerts and to make sure they continue 'another year.
One 'day at a time
by Jim Hagarty
High price of owning
It's been said. that in today's consumer attracted to a life of opulent affluence.
us.
society. our possessions very often .possess
dreamed of owning a house and a few acres
A friend of mine once told me he'd always
Take a house; for example. To some in the country. After years of hard work, he
people, a house is little more than a place to realized his goal and he and his wife finally
live. It's four walls and a roof - a shelter moved into a fine country home on a nice
from the wind and the rain and the prying chunk of land. They set to work stocking the
_axes of other people. They don't worship barn with calves and goats, chickens and
rabits. They planted a large garden and their property, or brag about it or shoot
theinselyes, if it burns to the ground. began renovating the house.
But for others, their house seems to be
No HOLIDAYS their main reason for living, the very
purpose of all their struggles, the only thing
For the next several years. my friend took they really want to accomplish in life. no holidays - not even weekends away. He
What a sorry epitaph to have scrawled had no spare money and no spare time. In
across a tombstone: "Here lies. Norton the simmer, he and his wife worked long Schnerd - he gave his life for his house!" after dark trimming hedges, cutting lawn,
Now to listen to me, you might get the painting fence and tending livestock. One by idea thait I'm above all this, that all my ideals one, their friends fell away because they
are lofty and that material things don't always knew they'd be interrupting the
matter to me. Well, you're wrong.
hard=working couple if they dropped in or FIGHT THE Wu
phoned. In fact, I've been fighting the lurelof fancy
One day at long last,, my friend collapsed
cars, expesive stereos, handm4 e guitars in a lawn chair out in the back yard and as he
and high fashion clothes since f was 16, and locked around him atall the work still left to while I've given in from time to time, for the do, he realized he was lonely, exhausted and
most part I've been successful in staving off unahppy. rte also knew for the first time that all those corrupting inthiences. . ,he had become the servant of the house he'd
Nonetheless, I cried real tears the day bought to serve hint. And that is when he
they towed my A% Chevy to the auto made the decision to sell his animals, cut his 'rockets. And I have not yet forgiven the garden in half and hire a young lad to work scoundrel who stale my brand new terry- around the yard. • . cloth beach towel two hours after I'd bought
The butt time I saw my friend. he and his it and taken it tO the lake for the first time. wife were on their way to a cottage they'd
Sure want more than I really need to live rented up north.
4 cOldurtabkt life and pa admit I've spent a
Material things are fine. But the price of lot Of time trylniz to accumulate tags and owning thenfis often much more than what's Itinkets and liottsehold gadget,. But as time printed on the little white tag. goes on, I'M beeoming less and less
In thirty plus years as an editor, a parent.
and a teacher. I have been inundated
(though not quite drowned) by several waves
of self-styled t4eform" of our educational
system, especially that of Ontario.
Each wave has washed away some of the
basic values in our system and left behind a
heap of detritus, from which teachers and
students eventually emerge. gasping Tor a
breath of clean air.
Most of the -"massive" reforms in our
system are borrowed from the U.S., after
thirty or forty years of testing there have
proven them dubious, if not worthless.
We have borrowed from the pragmatist.
John Dewey. an American. who had' some
good ideas, but tried to put them into mass
production. an endearing but not necessary
noble trait of our cousins below•the border.
We have tried the ridiculous. "See, Jane
vomit," sort of thing which completely
ignores the child's demand for heroes and
witches and shining maidens, and, things
that go bump in the night.
We have tried "teaching the whole
child", a _process in which the teacher
becomes rather/mother, uncle/aunt, grand-
father/grandma. psychiatrist, buddy, con-
fidant, and footbalrto kick around, while the
kid •does whit he/she damn-well-pleases.
And we wonder about teacher "burn-out."
We have tried a system in which the
children choose from a sort of Pandora's box
what subjects they would like to take, and
giving them to a credit for each subject to
which they are "exposed", whether or not
they have learned anything in it.
That was a bit of a dis'aster. Kids, like
adults, chose the things that were "fun",
that were "easy", that didn't have exams.
Farm organizations in Huron County have
formed a working group to co-ordinate
involvement by the agricultural community
at Ontario Hydro's hearings on Electrical
Power Planning in South Western,Ontario.
Ontario Hydro has released -its proposals
as to public involvement in the selection of 5
proposed routes for a 500 K.V. line to
connect , Bruce Nuclear Power to the South
Western Ontario grid.
This powif line will be used 'mainly to
export surplus power to the U.S.. and
another nuclear power plant built on this line
in the future could be a possibility.
The proposed methodology of public
involvement, timing of the hearings, head-
line just a few of the concerns the group cites
in a letter to Ontario Hydro's chairman,
Hugh MacCaulay:
June 22.'1981
R.R. #2. Goderich, Ont.
Mr. Hugh MacCaulay.
Chairman of the Board,
Ontario Hydro,
Toronto. Ontario - —
Dear. Mr. MacCaulay:
This is to inform you that farm groups in
On spelling
One of the most common phrases heard in
English speaking Countries is "How du yu
spel....?
Even advertisers hay latched on tu it. How
du yu spel hog? P-I-G. This question, is so
popular because few-people can spel wel,
even doctor and lawyers hay problems,
that's why they scribble. The sounds of
English has no definite relationship with
letters the Roman alphabet. An Latin"s"
symbol carrrepresent many founds (sugar,
pleasure, roan) or no,sound 'at all. This chaos
(Ws?) makes English very dificult tu read
sethat educators allow students tu graduate
without knowing hok' tu spel and read very
well, A highschool diploma doesn't mean
that a reclpiintcan spel at. least 20% of the
words listed in complete dictionary. How du
I spel not-correct? R-O-N-GI
Ken Tillema
600 Grand Ave.
Chatham, Ont.
that allowed them to express their indivi-
duality."
New courses were introduced with the
rapidity of rabbits breeding. A kid who was
confident that heawould be a great. brain
surgeon took everything from basket=
weaving to bird witching becauskthey were
fun.
And suddenly, at about the age of
seventeen, he/she discovered that it was
. necessary to know some science, mathem-
matics, Latin, History and English to
become a brain surgeon (or a novelist, or a
playwriter, or an engineer, etc.). •
-There are very few jobs open• in basket-
weaving and bird-watching or World Relig-
ions or another couple of dozen I could
name, but won't for fear of being beaten to
death by a tizzy of teachers the day this
column, appears.
. pie universities, those sacrosanct institu-
tions, where the truth shall make you fire;
went along with the Great Deception. They
lowered their standards. 'in a , desperate
scramble for live bodies. They competed for
students with all the grace of Merchants in
an Armenian bazaar.
Another swing of the pendulum. Parents
discoVered that their kids knew something
about a lot of things, but not much about
anything. They got mad.
The universitiKle little red in the face,
suddenly_ and virtuously' announced that
many high school eraduates were illiterate.
this area, have formed an Agricultural Power
Line Working Committee. A Chairman.
Tony McQuail, R.R. #1, Lucknow, Ontario,
and Secretary. Bill Jongejan, 1111. #2,
Goderich, Ontario. were elected at a meeting
held June 15, 1981.
We wish to point out that the Public
Participation • procedures outlined in , the
June 81, 1981, BaCkground information on the
South .Western Ontario Working groups do
not conforni to the Porter Commission's
recommendations, spicifically recommenda-
tion 6.3 in several' crucial areas:
(a) The most affected citizens seem least,
represented.
(b) The chairman of •the working groups
are being selected by Ontario Hydro
and not by the working groups.
(c) The procedures, agendas, etc. have all
been prepared by Ontario Hydro,
without citizen participation or
approval.
We find the current proposal unaccept-
able. and believe the procedure sholild be
revised as to conform with The Porter
Commission's recommendations as to these
proceedings.
We also find the timing of the I Public
Participation process absurd if public partici-
pation is truly desired. After a long delay in
its release it has been scheduled in the
busiest timein the farm calendar. It will also
conflict with holiday titre of most other
organizations representing the business
sector. To allow meaningful public involve-
mentthe public participation process must
be rescheduled to late fall and winter 1981.
We are concerned that so little effort his
been made to involve local citizens.
We, as a committee, demand to partici-
pate in the public participation 'process and
wish to appoint a representative to the
appropriate citizens committee when they
are formed.
Please give these concerns your immed-
iate attention.
On Behalf of the
Agricultural Power Line
Working Committee,
Bill Jongejan.
R.R. #2, Goderich
Ontario NTA 3X8
519.524-0859
weekend at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W.A.
Crich of Seaforth.
It will be well for the public to remember
that commencing July 1st, the postage on
letters sent from the Hensall post office will
be three cents instead of two cents, letters
going to the Old Country, Great Britain and
possessions. will be three cents and .for
Other, or Alm Ls termed, foreign countries.
the rate will OPfiVe-eg.P1s.
Xoseph,Ovot Detroit 4.11plidaylotA tits'
#00:1)*:10;bilp; • •
0*,11:#0-3('4,400' vigth*. wt hits
0400.0;ent*.Vfx,.404-MPA. T M. PrfevA
tsoin401se,.
*MEV:4W • .
Highlights cw.10 „ZIA annuli SpitfOrth-
, LicinS;ClUb.ntnnierVainival -which, Pectin:
" on. Wetinesdey and Thursday nights'i.luly 1,1
and 11, will be the official opening of the
new, $40,000. Lions pool:
• Parking on Goderich Street. Seaforth
became an offence on Monday when street
superintendent Harold Maloney and his staff
erected some 35 "No Parking"'signs along
the street.
General Coach Works of Canada Limited
will play host to district residents next
weekend when an open house will be held at
the newly enlarged plant at Hensall.
Mrs. J.W. Patterson is visiting with Mr,
and Mrs. R.K: McFarlane of Winthrop.
Rev. J.A. Feeney. London. visited with
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Feeney of Dublin.
Education" in the new plan. There will be
less money for excellence. Special Education
is educational jargon for teaching stu pid
- kids. Bright kids are looked down upon as
an "elite" group, and they should be.put in
their place.
The universities would enjoy seeing
Grade 13 disappear. That would mean
they'd have a warm body for four years. at a
cost to the student of about S4.0011.a year—
instead of three.
I am not an old fogey. • l ...am not a
reactionary. I believe in change. Anything
that does not change becomes static or dies.
Ideas• that refuse to change become des-
sicated.
I am not against spending lots of money to
teach stupid kids,, or emotionally disturbed
kids. But I am squarely against any move
toward squelching the brightest and best of
our youth, and sending off to university
people who are in that extremely vulnerable
stage of half-adolescent, half-adult, and
turfing them into closes of 200' or 300, where
they are no more than a,cy.pher on the books
of a, so-called tall of 'learning.
And I hive the proof right before me, in
the form pf several brilliant essays by Grade
13 students, better than anything I ever
wrote, who have had a chance to come to
terms with themselves and with life, in a
small class, with a teacher who knows, likes.
and encourages them, rather than a remote
figure at a podium.
that the unions are always on the side of
rightitruth and motherhood as they and their'
supporters would have us believe. The
unionists have, listened so long to their own
rhetoric and history that they seem to
believe that in any conflict they are on the
side of justice and the employer is one of
Lucifer's lieutenants.
Pardon me if I show my redneck, conserv- .
ative background when I find it hard to feel
too much sense of grievance on hehalf of
professional baseball -players who earn an
everage $100,000 a year for six months work.
I'm sorry if I'm 'not right thinking enough
that I can feel the employer is some inhuman
clod because he won't give a $1.70 raise to
the poor, impoverished postal workers who
have a starting salary of only $9.30,an hour.
I am even wrongheaded enough to think '
that the unions are in the wrong sometimes.
Take the case of the hit play Maggie and
Pierre which played in our area earlier this
-spring. The opportunity canned for the play
to move into the Royal Alexandra Theatre in
4)'oronto, one of the largest theatres in the
city so 'one that is normally held only for
American touring shows naturally. The stay
was to be for only five performances. The
stage hands union insisted• that since the
original set was built by non-union people
the set had to be rebuilt from scratch. An
offer was made to pay the stage hands for
the time they would have spent building the
set but keep the old set to at least save the
cost of materials but the union wouldn't go
along with that. The result was an
expenditure of $11.000 for five performances
of the show.
Oritake NABET, the CBC's union. NABET
isn't fighting over money in its fight 'with
CBC. It is instead fighting over the right to
decide programming at CBC. The network,
you see, wants to buy more prograiritning
front independent producers across Canada.
It's a plan that makes sense,(that in itself in
a miracle coming from CBC) too much sense
for the union., Independent programming
producers would spread out the production
of programs, help cut down on the massive
bureaucracy at CBC, reduce the pressure on'
CRC studios and facilities and the need to
build expensive new studios. It would also
however, mean that the Union which
operates only at CBC would not have
jurisdiction over programming produced
outside the corporation. That of course is
impossible.
I mean surely we Can see that the ponr,
downtrodden workers must have justice.
Sugar and spice
By Bill Smiley
which was a lot of crap. They were the
people who decided that a second language
was not necessary. They were the people
who accepted studnets with a mark of SO in
English. which means the kid actually failed,
but his teacher gave him a credit.
Nobody, in the,new system, really failed.
If they mastered just less than half the work,
got a 48 per cent, they were raised to 50. If
they flunked every subject they tooki they
were transferred to another "level," where
they could succeed, and even excel".
The latest of these politicially,inipired,
slovenly-researched reforms in Ontario is
called SERP, and it sounds just like; and, is
just like NERD.
Reading its contents carefully, one comes
to the conclusion that if Serp is accepted. the
result will be a great leveller. Out of one side
of its mouth it suggests that education be
compressed, by abandoning of Grade 13,
and out of the other side, that education be
expanded by adding a lot of new' things to
the curriculum. How can you compress
something and expand it at the ,satnelime?
Only,a commission on education could even
suggest such a thing.
There will be.lots of money for "Special
To the editor:
The fartners' concerns
Let's not forget about excellence
Behind the scenes
.
by Keith Roulston
Striking out