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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1967-03-23, Page 4COMFEUMOON Those swaggering Canadian Cobras `fie txeferZimes-Akwocafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND Member: C,W.N.A., 0,W.N.A., C.C.N.R. and ABC Publishers: J. M. Southcott, R. M. Southcott Editor: Bill Batten Advertising Manager: Howie Wright Phone 235.1331 ONE OF A SERIES OF CENTENIAL REPORTS Small, but vibrant That's fair enough By REV. JOHN BOYNE The 'attitude of the directors of the Exeter Agricultural Society regard- ing their proposed invelvement with the local rodeo is understandable in view of the opinion most of them hold that they have 'in the past been short- changed on some verbal agreements regarding the use of the Exeter Com- munity Park. Their desire to avoid any recur- rence of such problems is warranted and in no way should lead people to suspect they are not enthusiastic about the project which others feel will be of great benefit to the area. As the news story stated, the di- rectors of the fair were in favor of un- dertaking the project to enable the rodeo supporters to receive grant mon- ey, but they would only do so after 'delving into all of the legal aspects to determine their future involvement, In addition they also wanted written agree- ments as to their present and future involvement. That's fair enough, and in fact the only way that the project should be undertaken. That is, all parties in- volved should have a complete under- standing of their responsibilities and those should be detailed in written form. Winston Shapton of the agricul- tural society wisely counselled that there's never any problems with events that make a profit—the problems arise when debts start to incur. In this particular case there should be some consideration given to both aspects, and presumably the only way it can be supported by RAP and the Agricultural Society is to have it spon- sored by an organization whose prof- its—or losses—would be the direct re- sponsibility of that group. The rodeo in the past three years has been a spectacular event and those who point out that 'it could become a major attraction are justified in that opinion. The needed facilities will also pro- vide benefits for the annual fall fair and the Saddle Club. However, it is 'a venture that re- quires a sizeable cash investment and there should be a complete understand- ing in determining the responsibility for this money and the future upkeep of the facilities. Stephen Horner, R.R. 1 Dashwood T-A photo ,of gax Aeet Eadeeit 4ftfteed Odds are piling up One of the favorite games among cynics these days is to make prophecies on how man eventually will destroy himself. There are those who predict that human beings will burn themselves out of existence with nuclear bombs. Oth- ers say over population will lead to world-wide famine, starvation and even- tually to extinction. In recent months, the theory that mankind in time will choke to death by breathing only pol- luted and poisoned air has been gain- ing favor. In addition to all these, experts have now pointed out that the im- proper use of pesticides and fertilizers may well do the job, and a warning of this nature was handed out to farm- ers attending last week's agricultural conference in Clinton. Water management specialist Verne Spencer explained that in some areas, nitrogen in soil is building up to dangerous levels and farmers have been cautioned to use this material properly. It has already polluted some farm wells and streams to the extent that the water is not 'safe for human consumption. tion was not strong numerically -- and never has been but then, as now, they worked together to meet the crisis. The minister at the time, W. M. Martin, declared, "I would rather meet disaster with a hand- ful of devoted men and women than a thousand lukewarm ones". In that statement he summed up the attitude and experience of most of the ministers who have served here. It seems almost unnecessary to add that t h e Church was quickly rebuilt in its present form at a cost of $2,000 and the indebtedness was met al- most immediately. The present pipe organ, one of the finest in the area, was in- stalled in 1911, the gift of Miss Fanny Bawden. It has had a great deal done to it over the years but it continues to add to the beauty of our worship. No look at our history, how- ever brief, would be complete without quoting the point made by Bill Young at the congrega- tion's Centennial in 1961: "No one can measure in terms of dol- lars and cents the far reaching contribution Caven has made to this country over the past cen- tury". Yes, the Church is people — the number may not be too im- portant — what is important is the quality of their life and the contribution they make in the society in which they live. From this group came, Hon. W. M. Martin, a chief justice in Saskatchewan; Judge J. G. S. Stanbury, a member of the On- tario Supreme Court; Thomas Pryde, a Huron M.P.P.; Hon. Donald Fleming, a federal min- ister of finance and many more, A Presbyterian congregation depends a great deal on all of its lay people — especially its elders. The first laymen to serve as elders were, John Anderson, William Logie and John Strang. It should be noted that there has always been a Strang on the Caven Session. The present Session is com- posed of Harry Strang, Jack Pryde, Dr. John Corbett, Wil- liam Sillery, Carman Cann, Nor- man Stanlake, George Tinney, Mrs. Elizabeth Moore, Clifford Ersman, George Shaw. Mr. R. G. Seldon served for many years as an elder on this Session. It has been a real pleasure for me as a young minister to work with this small but vibrantly alive congregation in this town. Our roots are sound and healthy and this congregation looks for- ward to another century of ser- vice in this community and na- tion. Caven Presbyterian Church was organized in 1861 by Rev, John Logie. It is interesting to note that he was then minister of Warrensville and Thames Road. The Warrensville congrega- tion, later called Rogerville, was the forerunner of our present congregation in Hensall, which has its roots in this period. There is obviously strong his- torical justification for linking these two congregations together. They were together in the be- ginning! In the same period there was also a flourishing Presbyterian work in the Cromarty area. To- day the Presbyterian Church is represented in each of these areas with congregations in Hen- sall, Cromarty and Exeter with a combined membership of well over 500 adult communicants. The area is now served by only one Presbyterian minister with student assistance for six months. At the time of original organization there were at least four Presbyterian ministers in the area. The distance factor is no longer a key matter as it was then when people often walked to church. The reason given in the early records for the Exeter organiza- tion was that, "owing to the dist- ance from a Presbyterian place of worship it is thought expedient to form a congregation in Fran- cistown", (now Exeter north). The local congregation first met in a brick store at the north end of town — shades of the pre- sent store-front churches in the inner city today perhaps. At the first communion there were 17 members. The first C h u r c h building was built in 1863 on the north bank of the river on the west side of Main St. By 1875 there were 51 communicants in Exeter. The present brick structure was built south of the river in 1877. Shortly after the new Church opened Dr. Caven, prin- cipal of Knox College, Toronto, preached here and the Church took its name from him — as does the largest Protestant theo- logical library in Canada—Caven library in Knox College, Toronto. The first manse, the large brick home just north of the Church now owned by John Burke, was built in 1885 at a cost of $2,314.96. I would gladly pay John that amount now as a Cen- tennial project! One incident before the turn of the century indicates the staying power of this congregation. In April 1893 a windstorm blew the roof off the church and wrecked the building badly. The congrega- Shouldn't be quickly dismissed One of the oddities of the situa- tion is that officials keep changing the degree of what is considered danger- ous. In Canada the figure is 10 times lower than that in the U.S.A., as our friends across the border keep increas- ing the figure of what is tolerable to match the extent of the pollution. That situation makes little sense and it is hoped Canada does not fol- low this lead, Surely there must be some set degree of what is not safe and when this figure has been reached, people should be advised that it has reached contamination proportions. This attitude of turning our backs on various forms of pollution is almost insane and government at all levels in North America is moving at a snail's pace in coming to grips with the prob- lem. Most of the pessimistic assessments of humanity's future as set out in the beginning 'of this editorial may be high- ly far-fetched, but we keep adding so many new possibilities to the list that 'it does make one wonder if we're real- ly stacking the odds against us to the point of being unable to escape one of the listed fates. While residents here may have heard of farmers planning to dump milk in an effort to get prices up, they have already started to do so in Michigan. The supply of cow juice has already started to dwindle and our host had to almost sign his life away in convincing one near- by outlet that the milk was re- quired for a couple of youngsters. We trust the problem never reaches here, but it well could if farmers go ahead with their threat. Worthy of consideration Saddest story of the month is surely involving Pipe Major Ian McLeod of the Edinburgh City Police Pipers Band, Having recorded four distinct bagpipe tunes on tape, he sent this on to London where a rec- ord company produced 'and dis- tributed 1,000 long-playing rec- ords, 400 of which were sold. On playing the record for him- self, alas, the gallant man suffer- ed instant humiliation. Reason: it had been recorded backwards — and not one of the 400 English buyers had complained. And those Englishmen have the audacity to wonder at the rising popularity of Scottish national- ism...! * * * * Don't forget that this Saturday is the date of the annual Easter Parade sponsored by the Exeter Teen Town. This community should feel proud in having one of the most energetic groups of youngsters to be found anywhere, and they really take an active part in community events. It is to be hoped the community gives them the support for the parade that they deserve. The Town of St. Marys has now joined several other Ontario communi- ties in implementing procedures to have ratepayers pay their taxes in four instalments instead of the twice-a-year payments previously in vogue. A news item in The Journal-Argus reports that the clerk was asked to in- vestigate this possibility several weeks ago and apparently his findings showed the procedure to be so advantageous that it was quickly put into practice. There are two main advantages to the four instalments, and the first and foremost is a large saving on interest payments on bank loans municipalities must take to meet expenditures which incur before taxes are collected. The City 'of Barrie claims to have saved some $14,000 yearly on this method even after allowing extra costs of administration for the extra two col- lection periods. It is easy to see where this saving should be considered by area munici- palities as most of them now find it necessary to have loans in the neigh- After the performance we dropped in to the arena to see the last four minutes of a midget hockey game with the locals do- ing battle with a London suburb entry. It took them almost 15 min- utes to play those final few min- utes in one of the most disgust- ing exhibitions of brawling and arguing we have witnessed for some time. It is bad enough to see pro- fessional hockey players behav- ing at times like undisciplined jungle fighters, but it is worse when this tendency to excuse riot under the guise of sport gets into the ranks of minor hockey. Sports Editor Ross Haugh has commented on this topic several times this season already and it is becoming apparent that only the strongest disciplinary action by league officials can call a halt to such riotous actions. They are no help to hockey, or sport, or the development of the char- acters of boys involved. If sport is to help create good citizens, it must contain some elements of self restraint, and respect for law and order. That should be as important on the ice as off it. Players who persist in un- sportsmanlike conduct should be kept off the ice. * * * * While on a weekend trip to Detroit, we enjoyed dinner at one of the popular eating spots in the Motor City and found that turtle soup was the specialty of the house. After lengthy deliberation, we managed enough courage to try the dish and found it most de- licious, and would certainly recommend it for any f ello w gourmets. It is not our intention to re- hash the circumstances involved in the resignation last week of SHDHS principal Douglas Palm- er, but by the same token it would be a mistake if the experi- ences of the past months were quickly dismissed by all who were involved. While the main task is now to get on with the job of bringing the present school year to a suc- cessful close as acting principal Joe Wooden has suggested, it is important that there be some soul-searching to ensure that such problems do not arise again. The problems relating to the high school in the past months have not been created entirely by any one person or group. Involved were students, parents, teachers, board members, area ratepayers and school administrators. The degree of involvement does not matter now, as long as all will admit to their involvement and pledge themselves to making certain they do not allow it to arise again. * * * * Judging from reports, those who missed last week's centen- nial program at Exeter Public School just happened to miss one of the most entertaining and colorful programs presented in this community for some time. We spent most of the night flitting about taking pictures so we can't vouch for the comments, but we can honestly report that the costumes were superb. What makes that point note- worthy is the fact most of the costumes were prepared by the children themselves; and in fact most of the program was pre- pared by tne youngsters. Some classes wrote their own skits, provided their own costumes and makeup, and pupils carried out most of the backstage duties required for the mammoth show. It will undoubtedly be an event they will long remember and it is encouraging to see children taking such an enthusiastic ap- proach in our centennial cele- brations. borhood of $100,000 to meet expendi- tures prior to tax collection time. School boards and county council are in the same position, as they require huge loans to pay bills until they re- ceive their share of taxes from munici- palities. The second advantage to the sys- tem is the fact that many residents find it easier to meet more frequent payments of smaller amounts. While they end up paying the same amount during the year, some people find it most difficult to save enough to meet the twice-a-year pay- ments, and with taxes spiralling each year, this continues to be an increas- ingly difficult task. There may be some disadvantages to the system not listed in the report from St, Marys, but it is rather obvi- ous that any system than can result in lower taxes, and in addition can make it easier for some ratepayers to pay, should be seriously considered by area councils. LETTERS ME EDITOR Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 50 YEARS AGO Mr. Fred Preeter, Dashwood, has purchased a seven-passen- ger car from Mr. Wes Snell of Exeter. Miss Mabel Cudmore, nurse, who has been in New York re- cently, was home last week for a few days before accepting a commission to go overseas. She is the third nurse to go from Hensall. Now since Dashwood and Zurich are putting in hydro what is wrong with our people getting together and asking for an esti- mate of the cost of the village Crediton news Mr. Thos. Willis, Centralia, has purchased a new motor truck to use in connection with his creamery business. Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ont. 1115.7raltillitkAuthorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Dept, Ottawa, and for Payment of Postage in Cash opuhompi Paid in Advance Circulation, September 30, 1966, 4,427 Dear Mr. Batten: Re: Cigarettes and Disease I enclose a copy of a short article I have written on the above subject as part of my endeavour to acquaint the county population fully of the dangers associated with the use of tobac- co, in particular, cigarettes, I would be most grateful for your co-operation in ensuring that the information has the wid- est coverage by publishing it in your paper as it stands, rather than in report form. I put my request in this manner as each of the three sections is related to and depends on the Others. Yours sincerely, (Dr.) G. P. A. Evans, Director & Medical Officer of Health, Huron County Health Health Unit. CIGARETTES AND DISEASE "These people are liars; they want your money and they don't mind if you die". This quote is taken from an article by a highly reputable British journalist, Wayland Young, writing in one of Britain's top two quality daily newspapers, The Guardian, early in 1964. He was advising parents to say this to their children from time to time as the nauseatingly Please turn to page 5 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $5.00 Per Year; USA $1.00 25 YEARS AGO The property of the 1 at e Thomas Beaman, one-half mile south of Exeter, comprising a frame house, small barn and brick workshop was purchased by Norman Norry for $900, Rev. Ernest Turkheim died suddenly at his residence in Zurich early Sunday of a heart attack in his 52nd year. Munitions Minister Howe an- nounced a 40-mile-an-hour speed limit would become general throughout Canada to Conserve gasoline and rubber. On Easter Sunday in Elimville United Church a new honor roll was unveiled by FIG Thomas Pryde with a good number of the Legion being present, "))", 070? 7/ 15 YEARS AGO The Exeter and Grand Bend Lions are proposing to erect a summer cottage at Grand Bend for which plans have been drawn up by A. J. Sweitzer. They hope to raise at least $10,000 for South Huron Hospital. A Centralia instructor air- led two NATO pilots to safety early Wednesday morning after one crashed and died when an un- expected snow shower hit the district. All three trainees were on their first solo flight. Exeter Chapter OES last week made a donation of $600 to South Huron Hospital Association to furnish a bedroom at the hospital Jim Carter, Grade 8, won top honors at the Usborne schools public speaking finals held at Thames Road Friday night. 10 YEARS AGO Plans for a new wing and nurses residence for South Huron Hos- pital were announced at the annual meeting Wednesday night. Margaret Sanders became the fourth Exeter Girl Guide to win her gold cord, the highest award of the organization. J. Hubert Jones has confirmed the sale of his business presently conducted as "J. H. Jones Gro- ceries" to two of his employ- ees, Andrew Bierling and Howard Holtzman, Jack Doerr, Exeter photogra- pher, has received two merit awards for prints which were hung in the International Photog- raphic Exposition in Washington DC last week. The United States is angry with it for its crushing taxes on the two-thirds of the country owned by U.S. corporations. The United States is also disgusted with it for its vacillating foreign policy. A dim picture. Yes, but there is one flaming torch in the heart of this darkness. That is Uni- force. It's the only thing in the country that Canadians are proud of. It is a crack force in every sense. Every one of the 100,000 men is handpicked. They are the physical and mental elite of the generation. Their pay equals that of the average university professor. Their equipment is the best in the world. Their esprit de corps is superb. And they've earned the right to swagger a bit, and push civ- ilians off the sidewalk and openly pinch the bottoms of young ma- trons. In the Lower Frombosia incident, they proved themselves a tough, efficient and ruthless fighting machine. In the Upper Cambodia affair, they stamped out communism, socialism, de- mocracy and the entire native population in two weeks. Time Magazine nick-named them the Canadian Cobras. And the creator of this mag- nificent fighting force, envied by the whole world? Two-fisted, jut-jawed Joe Garibaldi, the ag- gressive young Defence Minister, the only man in the cabinet who got things done. And people done in. Before entering politics, the Honorable Joe, as the papers called him fondly, had fought his way to the top in the trade unions, thus learning what de- mocracy was all about. His tough, no-nonsense treatment of creep- ing socialism in union ranks made him feared and respected. He ruled the unions fairly, with an iron hand, As Presi- dent of the Canadian Destruc- tion Workers Union, he once Shouted from the platform,to wild applause,"If you Can't beat ern in the uion hall, beat 'em In the alley!" Oh dear. We've run out of Space. But all will be revealed in next week's column. In the meantime, don't rush but and buy a shotgun, or start form-ing a resistance movement. Is Defence Minister Hellyer, as he presses relentlessly for unification of Canada's armed forces, marching them straight into the twenty-first century, or straight into an abyss? It depends on whom you listen to, these days, as one admiral after another goes down with all guns blazing. But I don't like the idea myself. What will happen, for example, to the old, friendly give-and-take atmosphere that was prevalent among the services in World War II? You remember. When our air force used to bomb and strafe its own troops and ships. And the army and navy regularly took pot-shots at their own air- craft. All this jovial camaraderie will be lost. Another thing. Who will the new forces fight when they go ashore on leave? If there are no soldiers, sailors or airmen to tangle with, they'll have to fight among themselves or beat u p civilians. A bad show, either way. But these are minor things, which could probably be ironed out in about 80 years. There is another, and more frightening prospect implicit in the forma- tion of a single force. Dictator- ship. "Oh, come now", you say. "Don't be ridiculous. It could never happen here. This is a democracy. Canadians would never put up with it." Don't kid yourself, Canadians who will put up with the kind of government, taxes and weather we have now would put up with anything. And the whole business would be as painless as kicking off your old galoshes and putting on a new pair of rubbers. Let's project a little, Say 20 years into the future. Here's the picture. We have a doddering, fumbling, inefficient government. So what's new, you ask. Don't interrupt. The only reason this government is in is that the opposition is even more hopeless. Hy its tax policies, this feeble federal government has alienated both rich and poor, and has in- furiated the middle-class. The provinces thumb their noses at it, Quebec treats it with Gallia ScOrn o while bleeding it to death with blackmail.