HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1973-05-24, Page 44,,O,UNTON NEWS-WOW THOR$nAY, MAY -24, ton
Are committee decisions proper?
Thki use of committees in Carrying on
the bbsiness of Municipal Councils and
area boards can result in the saving of
much time and in a more informed con-
sideration of matters before such bodies.
Instead of a council wrestling with an
Involved proposal about which members
have had little advance knowledge, a
committee of council which has studied
the matter in detail can make recom-
mendations and be in a position to an-
swer questions. Council or a board then
can make a decision based on fact, not
on personalities or as a result of sur-
mise.
While there are many advantages to
the committee system there also are
hazards. There is an increasing trend in
many municipalities towards the
decision making process being under-
taken in committee of the whole with a
terse decision then being announced in
open council.
Thus the public, is denied detailed in-
formation concerning matters that are of
public concern. Members are able to
hide behind the committee screen. Their
views are not known nor are the reasons
upon which they base their decisions.
Certainly there are areas where
private committee meetings are proper
and necessary but these occasions
should be confined to matters dealing
with personnel and perhaps, in some
cases, with discipline and with certain
negotiations where prior knowledge
would prejudice the public, In all other
cases the use of the committee system
to short circuit the right of the public to
know is a travesty of the democratic
process as we understand it.
Such would appear to be the case in
the announcement concerning the
Huron Board of Education budget.
At no time was the budget discussed
at a board meeting. The public has no
knowledge as to why a tax increase of
2.1 mills was necessary. It has not been
told if there are fewer students or more
or whether the number and salaries of
the administrative staff have increased
or decreased proportionately and by
how much. Huron taxpayers are In
darkness as to whether the trustees they
elected favor or are against the recom-
mendations of its committees and the
administrative staff. For that matter it is
not known whether or not recommen-
dations were made.
The budget of any public body is the
very foundation upon which its activities
are based.
On it depends not only the taxes
which ratepayers are called on to pay
but also the extent of the services which
those taxes will provide. As far as Huron
tax payers are aware this vital function
was carried out without any con-
sideration, without discussion.
The budget was not discussed at the
Board's April meeting nor was any
reference made to it in discussion, with
the press following the conclusion of a
committee of the whole meeting the
same evening. Yet ten days later a news
release over the signature of the Direc-
tor of Education indicated the Board had
approved its estimates of expenditures
and revenues.
While the ratepayers of Huron in effect
may be shareholders in the county
education system, board members
should remember that they are members
of a public body and not the directors of
a private company, no matter how con-
venient such a conception may be for
those concerned.
Carefully sterilized announcements by
staff people concerning board decisions
are not sufficient under our system and
deny the taxpayers of .Huron Information
to which they are entitled.
—From the Huron Expositor
Corporate responsibility
A recent survey shows most major
corporations now have a man or commit-
tee charged with handling such issues
as consumerism and ecology - social
responsibility, in short.
Threr.."_
Y vhen` ri comp riy.,is really taping an in -. ,
•terest in its social responsibilities. It
should be exposed for what it is when it
is simply corporate "window dressing"
to improve the image of the corporation.
Watch for signs that companies you
do business with are genuinely in-
terested in the good of the society at
large. Is the company willing to step out
and help - in a substantial way - social
improvement, or does it stick only to an
annual handout to the United Appeal,
worthy as that may be?
The private sector has a long way to
go. For instance, Canada's top 100 cor-
porations donate less than one percent
of their pre-tax profits to charity and
larehlmost no direct interesf,'Ilrthe
programs they do support. This is the
finding of a $100,000 study financed by
the federal government.
Business should be withdrawn from
corporations that will not take their eyes
from the profit sheets. The business
should be transferred to firms that
demonstrate social concern, expecially
in their day-to-day operations. This small
but growing group is to be applauded.
(The United Church)
How we've ruined schools and students
fog of educational jargon that
they wouldn't know reality
unless it came up and bit them.
What's happened? Maybe
I'm prejudiced, but I don't
think the fault lies with the
teachers. To my definite
knowledge, they are working
harder than ever, under
steadily worsening conditions.
They are teaching as many as
two more classes a day than
they were three years ago. They
are doing more of the un-
pleasant and uneducational
chores than they did. Such a
one is "trough patrol" as some
teachers call cafeteria super-
vision. The name is not inac-
curate.
A few years ago, supervising
a students' dance was an extra
chore, but few teachers really
minded it. One chatted with the
students, deplored their taste in
music, but felt that a good time
was being had by all,
Everybody was dressed up
and happy. The lights in the
gym were turned down but not
out. There might be the odd
case of a kid smoking pot or
slightly under the influence but
they were rareties. A regular
Sunday school picnic,
Nowadays it's more like
Saturday night in Dodge City.
A darkened gym except for the
stage where four or five
baboons caper and scream in-
cornprehensibles to the accom-
paniment of a volume of sound
that would make a boiler fac-
tory sound like a cemetery,
Someone hag thrown up
again in the boys' washroom,
Two grim-faced cops stand by
the entrance, A teenage girl is
caught rum-running not one,
but six niickeys of rye.
In the good old days, yea,s
ago, a young buck Could Wear
his own mickey in his hip
pocket, covered by his jacket.
Today, his pants are so tight he
couldn't get anything in that
pocket so he has some little girl
take it in for him. But six!
I'm drifting away from my
topic, but not entirely. The
defiance of rules, the demand
for new "rights" is all part of
the school scene today. It's a
curious mixture of apathy and
mindless defiance.
I sound as though I'm
blaming the kids. I'm not.
They're human. They'll take
what they can get and demand
more. They're pretty decent
lot, on the whole. But what girl
won't wear hip-huggers if she's
allowed to wear jeans, or a
blouse slit to the navel if she
doesn't have to wear ,a bra? /
What young man of sixteen
wouldn't like to have a crack at
growing a beard?
No, the real culprit is neither
teachers nor kids. It is the little
empire-builders in the system.
They are so far away from the
classroom, and the taxpayers,
that they have acquired a god-
complex.
They've never been in a
classroom, or not for years,
And if they are to preserve and
expand their empires, they
must appear to be doing
Something, So they scratch each
others backs, come up with
revolutionary ideas that were
stale forty years ago, and hide
behind a squid-like emission of
gobbledygook such as "input",
feedback", "communications",
"concepts" and "individual
heeds."
These are the barnacles on
the good ship Education, and
Unitas she is careened and they
are scraped off, ruthlessly,
they're likely to Sink her.
Now that's performance
Dear Editor:
On reading the report of
Clinton council meeting in May
17 paper, I am shocked by the
thoughtless action taken regar-
ding keys for all councillors to
the clerk's office.
As stated, no other town in
Huron County does this. I'm
sure most of the people of Clin-
ton are wondering about this
and feel it to be wrong.
Has the town office not got
long enough hours to transact
official business? How many
phone calls are made after
hours? Does the clerk not
produce necessary papers upon
request?
Wouldn't the people of Clin-
ton have reason to be cautious
of the idea of that number of
elected people having access tO
town papers? What happens ti ,
the' key if that persoe 'is not re=
elected?
I would be interested in
logical, reasonable answers to
these questions from the coun-
cillors who demanded those
keys.
As it stood, one person, the
town clerk, was responsible for
his office and that's the best
way. How many councillorsii
who maintain an office o
business, would like six otheil
people to have access to it?
I think those keys should be
destroyed at the next meeting--
the count taken by the clerk.
Very concerned,
Clinton
()pin ions
n order that
News—Record readers might
express their opinions on any
topic of public interest,
Letters To The Editor are
always welcome for
publication.
But the writers of such
letters, as well as ail readers,
are reminded that the
opinions expressed in letters
published are not necessarily
the opinions held by The
News—Record.
Tell your mother and
father that you want
to learn to swim NOW..
lomommimormwewlearasimmt•••••••AmmommormorialMlomomr*
THE CLINTON •NEW ERA
Atnalgamated THE FOURON NEWS-RECORD
Established 1865
1924 Esteblished 1881
Clinton News-Record
A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association,
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Agsociation and the Audit Bureau
of Circulation (ABC)
second class mail
registration nuinber 0B17
'SUBSCRIPTION RATES: jin advance)
tanaea, $8.00 per year; U.S.A., $9.50
' JAMES E. FIT2GERALD—,Editor
J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager
Published every Thursday it
the heart of Huron County .
s Clinton, Ontario
Population 3,415
THE ROME
OF RADAR
IN CANADA
Orr ewes
the same brushes and paints da
Vinci used.
I daresay that the column
was pleasing to a good many of
'the girl's enormous audience of
matrons. In fact, I KNOW it
was pleasing to the one who, at
this very moment, is thawing
out the neat little frozen brick
that will be my dinner.
It's a funny thing. Women
seem capable of forgiving a
man almost everything except
the simple statement that his
mother was the best cook who
ever slaved over a hot skillet.
Not long ago, for example, I
came home from having spent
an illicit weekend with the
Happy Hooker. I beat my wife
and children savagely when I
came in the door, drunk. My-.
and scraped,- Then
'I sat at the table and said,
"Why can't you make a lemon
pie like my mother used to
make?" THEN she left me.
I am just making this up,
mind you, but it is true that the
lowest threshold to a woman's
sensitivity is this form of un-
conscious cruelty.
I remember only too well a
little scene that occurred no
more than 10 days after our
marriage when it came to me
with stunning force that my
There appears to be a general
and growing concern about the
quality of education these days.
Not only are teachers concer-
ned, and they are, but students
and parents are beginning to
feel that they are being short-
changed.
A couple of letters to the
editors of two daily papers
recently were revealing.
In one, a university student
stated that he had read a 2,000-
word essay written by a friend,
who was an honour student. In
the essay, there was one (1)
sentence which did not have a
spelling or grammar error. And
that was the sentence in which
he repeated the professor's
topic.
In the other letter, a girl who
dropped out of school three
years ago because of the
rigidity of the system, was
flaming mad, She returned to
Grade 12 this year and
discovered, as she put it "that
education had disappeared in
the interim."
This young lady said flatly
that while teachers used to
teach for the average in the
class, they are now teaching
toward the poorest students,
with the keen and bright ones
to fend for themselves. In her
opinion, standards had drop-
ped drastically in three years.
There are few teachers who
would not agree with her on •
the last point. Administrators
and "educationists", whatever
they are, right up to the
minister, blandly assure the
public, via the media, that
standards have not been
lowered.
Perhaps they should take off
their rose-coloured glasses and
take a good, clear look at
reality, 13ut they have managed
to Wrap themselves in such a
It is true that the writing of
some controversial columns
requires raw, reckless courage.
Modesty aside, I want to say
that I am demonstrating it to
the full in coming right out
with the opinion , my dears,
that you DON'T cook the way
Mama used to cooks
I really don't know what got
into my favorite woman writer
when she penned that piece the
other day suggesting that it was
all a hoax.
The notion that, because the
dear girl failed rather spec-
tacularly with one of her
mother's recipes for steak-and-
kidney pudding, mama's magic
may have been an illusion, is
really a little silly.
(It takes particular courage
oto say this,„because it is
known that the lady columnist
is a tiger,when aroused. Thirty
years ago when, as her city
editor, I delicately re-wrote a
story by the dear girl, she
chased me into the men's room
and hurled LePage's paste at
me over the transom—IN THE
BOTTLE!)
Still, her argument about
mother's home cooking makes
no more sense than if she'd
said that she'd failed to create
a Mona Lisa in spite of using
10 YEARS AGO
May 23, 1963
Because of cold weather,
there is concern over the
growth of corn already planted
and there is also concern over
the corn to be planted as to
length of growing season.
Tom Leppington, the
energetic local gardener, has
1,000 or more flowers in bloom
on his premises at the corners
of John, North and Spencer
Street and a trip around that
way would prove worthwhile
one of these fine evenings.
It seems that no amount of
warning is ever sufficient in the
matter of firecrackers. Three
boys were playing with Randy
McClinchey outside their
residence in Bayfield about
seven o'clock, They had
firecrackers and evidentally
threw them up on the roof of
the McClinchey house. Sud-
denly there was a different
crackle and a flame. There was
not a great deal of damage
done but the McClincheys
could have lost their home if
they had not been on the spot.
15 YEARS AGO
May 22, 1958
The Doc wqs "loved hot
wisely, but too well".... that is
the feeling of supporters of Alex
Addison following the - by-
election .. He polled par-
ticularly well, even in areas
traditionally conservative
but his followers feel he was
defeated by those who could
have helped him more .,.. For
instance, his patients hated so
much to lose him as a doctor
that they voted for the PC can-
didate. This was only the
second tithe in Clinton's history
that a Liberal candidate ob-
tained a majority at home ,...
Judge Fingland established
that record.
Gerald Tebbutt, B.S,A, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Irvine Tebbutt,
R.R. 2, Clinton, graduated from
the four-year degree course at
OAC Guelph.
25 YEARS AGO
May 20, 1948
Slowly but surely the con-
ditions of Clinton's streets is
improving, following their fatal
involvement in the construction
of the town's modern sewerage
system.
Who says there aren't any
speckled trout in Huron
County? In a little over two
hours, Ferg VanEgmond and
Dr. Alex Addison hooked no
less than 20 of the beauties.
Arthur Aiken has completed
his second year in Business
Administration at the Univer-
sity of Western Ontario; Roy
Churchill has completed his
first year in Honor Chemistry
at . University of Western Oft.
tario.
The first wedding in Turner's
United Church ( Tuckersmith
Township, since its erection in
1862, was solemnized on Satur-
day, May 15, when Evelyn
Arian Johns, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. H.E. Johns, Tucker-
smith Tdwnship, became the
bride of George Anson
McKinley, eldest son of Mr.
and Mrs. Elgin McKinley,
Zurich.
40 YEARS AGO
May 25, 1933
On Monday evening, May 22,
members of the several High
School and Collegiate Institute
Boards Of the County of Huron,
met in the Council Chamber of
the town hall, Clinton. The
following were present: J,W.
Fraser, Dr. All, Eminerson,
W.A. Coulthurst, A.J. Robert-
son, P.J. McEwan, C.M. Rober-
Omi t Goderich; Col, ft Hays,
Dr, Ma Rosa, W. Black, Ft,
wife was not the cook my
mother had been.
"Listen, hon," I said, "let's
go over to my Mom's place and
she can give you her recipes for
Irish Turbot, scalloped
potatoes, orange pudding,
home-made tomato soup,
lemon pie and a few other of
her specialties,"
Right away I noticed a
coolness come over my wife.
Little did I know it would last
26 years.
My mother did little to help
this. When she'd come over to
dinner my wife would have to
physically restrain her from
going into the kitchen.
My mother used to say, "Jack
looks a little peaked. I think he
needs some Irish turbot and
orange pudding." ' •
• You'd think h wife would he.
GLAD to have someone else
cook a dinner now and then.
But no. I would sit there,
wolfing my Irish turbot,
petulantly wondering why in
heaven's name my wife was
sobbing into her pillow.
What makes this all the more
unfair on my wife's part is that
I go to great pains to assure her
that I don't EXPECT her to be
the cook my mother was.
"This sure isn't the way
Stewart, C. Aberhart. Geo.
Sills, J.G. Mullen, Seaforth;
Wm. May, W.H. Penhale, W.H.
Dearing, Thos. Jones
H.T,Rowe, R.E. Beavers, R.N.
Creech, W. Delmage, S.M. San-
ders, Louis Day, Exeter; T.C.
King, Miller Proctor, W.J. Hen-
derson, Dr. R.L. Stewart, W.A.
Galbraith, Wingham; F.
Fingland, Col. H.B. Combe,
W.H. Hellyar, Col H.T. Rance,
Dr. J.W. Shaw, Dr. F. Thomp-
son, A.T. Cooper, Clinton.
55 YEARS AGO
May 23, 1918
Hugh Maguire, who drives
the bake cart for C. Connor,
while putting the rig in the old
rink on Tuesday night, got rig,
horse and himself all tied up,
and if J.J, McCaughey had not
happened along things might
have been serious for the young
fellow. As it is, he is badly
bruised and has a damaged
right arm at present.
Last Thursday a large
gathering of farmers from the
surrounding townships met in
the Town Hall, Clinton, • and
decided to organize and join
the Society of United Farmers
of Ontario, John Ransford,
Mom used to do it," I often
say, "but what can you expect
with today's rip-off food, with
vegetables that are grown in 18
minutes in chemicals and stuff
that's had all the flavor frozen
and dehydrated from it."
"No, it isn't like Mom's," I
often say, "but I certainly don't
want you to waste your life
away in the kitchen, as Mom
did, when you can be rightfully
taking your place in society and
having a full, active life,
bowling and all that."
I would, myself, if I were a
wife, take full advantage of TV
dinners and instant foods and
canned items and, in fact, when
I'm batching, I live almost en-
tirely on frozen minute steaks
which require a cooking time of
40 seconds.
I tell my wife that. "Lemon'
pie isn't EVERYTHING," I
tell her, "and the mere fact that
I would give my right arm for
just a little piece of the kind
mother used to make is really
of no consequence."
I would tell her right now,
come to think of it, but' she has
the dinner in h6r hand and if
she throws it at me it could in-
flict a nastier wound than the
one I wear from that lady
columnist.
well-known Tuckersmith far-
mer was chosen to act as chair-
man of the meeting Robert
McMillan Seaforth, one of the
Ontario Directors of the United
Farmers, addressed the
meeting, showing the object of
the organization, William
McEwen was elected president,
and George Layton, Tucker-
smith, secretary-treasurer.
75 YEARS AGO
May 20, 1898
Jackson Bros. have
materially improved the inter-
nal appearance of their mam-
moth store, by turning their of-
fice across the end, and making
it a two-story affair, the lower
part enclosed by glass the up-
per part decorated by a fine
railing, to be used exclusively
by their stenographer and
bookkeeper, while the lower
part is a private office and
dressing room. The change im-
proves the appearance of the
store and facilitates work, a
factor in their extensive
business which this enter-
prising firm is always con-
sidering.
While out fishing the other
day, Walter Coats hauled out a
speckled trout measuring 14 in-
ches ih length.
we get
letters
Cirriculum
Dear Editor:
The Ministry of Education
has made a study of curriculum
materials that have been writ-
ten, developed and produced in
Canada, and hae issued Cir-
cular 15 - Canadian Curriculum
Materials as a result of this
study.
Most , of these materials have
been Placed in, a travelling
display which will be available
in Clinton at the board offices
on May 31 from 3:30 to 9;00
p.m.
We would appreciate any
publicity the media and public
services may give to this ven-
ture.
We shall be prepared to
provide further detailed infor-
mation should you so require,
Yours truly,
John H. Wilson
Program Consultant
Learning Materials
keys