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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1966-01-13, Page 4Like children It is most discouraging to see the attitude of the local merchants during the past few days. They have been choosing up sides like a group of chil- dren getting ready for a baseball game, as the pre- lude to the annual bickering as to whether stores should remain open Friday evenings during the next three months or whether they should remain closed. We cannot choose sides in this argument, nor attempt to tell merchants how their business should be run or what hours they should be open. This is a matter each merchant must decide for himself. We can say, however, that this strife is most unfortunate and is tearing apart the final shreds of the retail merchants' association leaving an unorganized com- munity. We say unfortunate, because this episode fol- lows hard on the heels of one of the most successful Christmas promotions the town has had in some time, and one in which petty bickering was forgotten and everyone worked together. The promotion showed something we wonder whether the merchants are aware of. The percentage of participation was high and by presenting a united front to potential customers they succeeded in stimulating interest and kept people shopping at home. There are very few merchants in town who can honestly say their sales are not up over last year. This is past now, they have had their six weeks of "Christmas dinner" of high sales and now face three months when business will not be as brisk. The united group of merchants who succeeded in keeping people shopping at home is now split and unless something is done, and in the near future, will remain split until the next time they feel they have to put on a Mg push to bring business back into town. Unity and promotion are things which are needed all year round and not just at Christmas when sales are high. We would suggest some of the people involved take a moment to consider the over- all picture and then sit down at a meeting and at- tempt to find a solution. We realize there are many who never bother to attend meetings but simply criticize the decision arrived at from such a meeting. We hope there will be enough merchants interested to attempt to settle these differences before the split becomes any wider. Some consideration is again being given to the idea of installing floodlights at the ball park at the Exeter fair grounds. While this project has merit, we feel there are a few other things which must be cleaned up first before another major project is started. A major item which should be cleared up, and cleared up in the near future, is the indebted- ness of the municipal swimming pool. Like many projects, there were many willing volunteers in the early stages of the project but as the pool was com- pleted and in use, many of these dropped by the wayside. What some people don't seem to realize is that there is still a $3,000 debt against the pool and a few local men are still responsible because of their guarantee of the loan. These men acted in good faith in order to assist in a needy and worthwhile project. It is time this money was repaid and these men re- leased from their guarantee. A fund raising drive will be conducted some time in the next month or two in order to attempt to raise this money. It is unfortunate that this is even necessary. Donations are still being accepted towards this project and a much simpler method of collecting this would be by voluntary subscription. It would be nice to see this loan repaid in the near future so some other project could be started this spring, such as lights at the fair grounds. If there is difficulty in raising this money it could well mean that there will be fewer men who will come forward to assist in projects such as this in the future. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIhlllllllllflllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ONE MAN'S OPINION by John C. Boyne Why not? 238.2005 GRAND BEND i.#1a44),;*titi r• t. W1741.73 tr,i4 44. With the editor in Kerr's Korner Poor Bill— Bill Musser we mean. He's really had a lot of troubles and problems since he decided last December to put up a cross on the roof of his house in an effort to add to already spectacular de- corations. He has been plagued with troub- les and problems so much, that he now wishes he had never started this project. Bill's a well meaning fellow but he cer- tainly is no carpenter. It took him as long to get those two pieces of wood to stay to- getherin the form of a cross as it would for the normal fellow to build a garage but he wouldn't ask for help, sore fingers and all. At last the big night came and it was time to put the cross up on the roof. He made all the necessary preparations as though he was about to mount the cross on a steep steeple of a church and had all his equip- ment ready early in the evening. After supper he put on his safety grip shoes and placing the ladder against the house pro- ceeded with the big job. He managed to carry the cross up to the peak of his house and attach it with very little trouble and secured it with guy wires so he was sure it would stay in place no matter what the weather was like. Pride can be the downfall with men and I suppose many people could say this might have caused some of Bill's troubles. He was so proud of that darned cross that he took a step backwards to admire his work and forgot he was standing on the roof of a house. The next thing he knew he was shaking his head from his position on the ground wondering what had happened. To put it lightly he injured his dignity and was lucky it was no worse than that. He also lost his glasses and had a terrible time crawling around on his hands and knees attempting to find these. He finally found them and with the help of a little tape managed to get the one leg to stay in place until he could get them repaired. Bill made the mistake of telling a few people what had happened to him and a few of the fellows were unkind enough to tease him about this. A lot of the fellows started to wonder how anyone could fall off a roof like that with such a slight pitch especially when Bill is a member of the local Fire Department. A few were even unkind enough to ask him whether he thought he would be able to hold a hose on a roof during a fire or would he like a softer job like standing beside the truck checking the valves. He hasn't really made a de- cision on this yet but feels he'll have another try at the roof sometime. Bill must have been a little stiff from his fall as there was a help wanted ad in the paper asking for assistance in taking the cross down shortly after this. Bill didn't realize the unemployment situation in the area or he would never have put that in. Those little want ads work wonders and Bill had over 100 applications for the job. Why, some people came from as far away as Ailsa Craig wanting the job of taking down the famous cross which helped win first prize in the best decorated house contest. I must admit that some of the fellows carried the joke a little bit too far. They took and got together and bought him a parachute for Christmas. They made the presentation in rather a public place and it embarrassed Bill a bit. The least they could have done was to give it to him in private. One thing which makes the complete picture seem a little brighter— Bill does not have to worry about going up on that dangerous roof and taking that cross down again. Apparently New Year's Eve the cross was blown down by the wind, at least that's what Bill tells everyone. Some people have been thinking about this though and feel they have a story for Ripley's Believe It Or Not. They can't understand how a heavy wooden cross which was well fastened to the roof and steadied by guy wires could blow down without being dam- aged. They also can't understand how none of the 30 lights on the cross were broken. I'd have loved to have seen the wind which managed that and I suppose Bill would have liked wind like that the night he fell off the roof, he might have landed a little softer. The fellows that teased Bill so much in the first place have tried to make amends and they were wondering what they could do to make up for their past actions. They finally decided that because Bill was so interested in Christmas de- corations they would present him with a large Christmas Star to be mounted on top of the cross next year. They went to a lot of trouble to get the star and Bill has it at home now and the matter is finally closed. I was talking to Bill the other night and he asked me to pass along to some people his thanks for their thoughtfulness. I'm sure they'll appreciate this and I hope they don't tease him too much, he really is a well meaning fellow. THAT FAMOUS STAR OceferZiniesiksocafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND Member: C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A., C.C.N.R. and ABC PUBLISHERS: J. M. Southcott, R. M. Southcott EDITOR: Kenneth Kerr Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ont. 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I just met him." 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111ffing RETIREMENT Set ieft9d Peas Hotson Propane Switch to LP Gas You're sure to like Hotson Gas for: • fast clean cooking • automatic heating • ample hot water • dependable refrigeration Check our economical purchase plans. As anyone who reads the daily newspapers knows there is a severe famine in India. Assist- ance is being offered by various governments including our own, the U.N., and the World Council of Churches. But is there any meaningful way in which one in- dividual can react? My own church magazine sug- gests a couple of brief answers. There are several ways in which our readers can help. One is to make an immediate response, as individuals and congregations, to the committee on inter-church aid, refugee and world service appeal for contributions to re- lieve famine in India. Another way is to send food parcels con- taining milk powder and other essentials directly to our mis- sionaries in India. We can also, as citizens, urge the government of Canada to act quickly and give generously to prevent large scale starvation". Anyone in Exeter will be able to exercise the first option next week during the Week of Prayer Services in the churches. All of the offering from these services will go to India Famine Relief. Most Christians now see that they can pray together. Papal en- cyclicals urge Roman Catholics to do so too. But we should also be able to combine our forces and resources to meet needs such as the present crisis in India. This is another area where co-operation Is essential. But it is the third way of re- sponse which particularly con- cerns me in this column. As citizens we are responsible for our government's reaction in such situations. We are ultimate- ly responsible for how our na- tional budget is spent and our ability to do more in such areas as India Famine relief is de- terred by our excessive expendi- tures on defence and related ex- penditures. James M. Minifie wrote a book some time ago called "Peace- maker or Powder Monkey?" In that book he tried to point out the 50 YEARS AGO At the meeting of E xeter Council Mr. Richard Hunter was given the appointment of asses- sor for 1916 with salary of $65. A. G. Dyer was the previous assessor. Mr. J. A. Wambold has dis- posed of his grocery and con- fectionery store to Mr. C. L. Wilson . Mr. Wilson has clerked for several years for J. A. Stew- art. Mr. George A. Stanley, who for 30 years has been clerk of the village of Lucan, has resigned. Thursday morning the soldiers from Hensall came down and join- ed the Exeter boys in a route march to Creditors. 25 YEARS AGO Workmen started Monday to construct a temporary bridge over the Ausable River to take the place of the old bridge which collapsed November 2. The con- tract for the new bridge has been awarded Wainright Construction Ltd., London, and also for the temporary bridge. Miss Amelia Acheson is having the dining room of the Central Hotel enlarged and re-decorated. The Exeter Lions Club held a three-in-one celebration at the Central Hotel Friday. It was the third anniversary of the club and the ()Metal visit of the Dis- trict Governor of Paris. Mr. B. W. F. Beavers, who has resigned as superintendent Of Main Street Sunday School after 26 years, was Sunday pre- sented with a Gladstone bag in recOgnitiOn of his services. fact that Canada would never be a great military power. But as a nation we could make a unique contribution in terms of service without strings. And yet we per- sist in spending more on de- fence than anything else. To me this is absurd. Some of the options are excit- ing. Dr. Robert McClure writing in the United Church Observer on India's health problems says, "We could wipe out leprosy as far as the actual disease goes at about $25.00 per person. Fifty million dollars would probably clean up the whole of leprosy in the whole of India. It's just the price of a squadron of airplanes — a very small squadron actual- ly. You can't get good airplanes for that." He then deals with polio and reminds us that the kind of vac- cine he needs in India is made in only two places — Canada and So- viet Russia. "Russia has given millions of doses — given it — while all that has come from Canada has been bought and paid for by Rotary Clubs and done as a Rotary project. The point is that there are 480 million people in India. Fewer than ten percent of them would be under three years of age. That's 48 million. Give us that much polio vaccine and we can destroy polio forever in India, It works out to $5 mil- lion, about the cost of a very small naval auxiliary boat —perhaps a tug". He makes a point that has been made a million times. We as a nation could make a far more po- sitive contribution if we would change the emphasis — why don't we? The answer probably is that in spite of the fact that a vast majority of Canadians are mem- bers of the Christian Church we as a people really don't care too much about what happens to peo- ple outside our borders. We will have to learn to care. Next week I would like to share with you some excellent comments made by U Thant of the U.N. on this subject. 15 YEARS AGO Exeter's first Town Council includes: Mayor, B.W. Tuckey, Reeve H.L. Snider, DeputyReeve W.G. Cochrane, councillors, B. W.F,Beavers, William McKenzie, A.L. Snelgrove, Roy Campbell and clerk C.V.Pickard. Russell and George Tieman have taken over the butcher bus- iness from their father, Mr. Addison Tiernan, Dashwood. The town of Exeter's first baby was born to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Bierling, Monday, January 8. The baby Was named Dennis Paul. Miss Clara Vosper, an honored and esteemed teacher of the Exeter Public School for 40 years, passed away at the home of her sister, Miss Ethel Vosper in Toronto. 10 YEARS AGO A neW Junior Farmers Mech- anics Club has been organized with Murray Dawson president and secretary, Keith Love. The club will meet for three con- secutive Thursdays to study re- pair and maintenance of farm machinery. The Bank of Montreal's Exeter branch has installed an "after- hours" depositary unit, This sys- tem enables customers to deposit their business receipts any hour of the day or night. A crowd of 400 Witnessed Exeter Kinsmen's Twelfth Night bonfire on the river flats Friday night. A new record has been set this winter for the amount of snow that has fallen. Fifty eight inches have covered the ground since NM/ember, SAVE TAX DOLLARS NOW AND PROVIDE YOUR OWN PENSION FOR THE FUTURE 5111111111116110111111111111181111111111111111111111111111111111111111111011111111111111111811111111181811111111fflinunhg,-; 235-0530 EXETER