HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1970-07-02, Page 4Impossible to comprehend
Some of the most disturbing
testimony heard at last week's inquest
into the drowning of two SHDHS girls at
Parkhill came from Ausable River
Conservation. Authority chairman Bill
Amos,
It did not relate particularly to the
circumstances surrounding the death of
the two girls, but rather a general problem
associated with the operation of the
recreation facilities at the Parkhill dam
site,
Mr, Amos told the inquest jury that
during last year's swimming season, signs
warning of the danger of deep water in the
reservoir were destroyed on three
occasions by vandals.
In addition., rope holding the buoys
which marked off the safe swimming area,
were cut on two occasions.
Obviously, it is imp ossible for most
people to comprehend the vast amount of
stupidity shown by the people who
perpetrate such acts,
They are criminal in nature and
completely without justification even in
the sense of getting a few kicks out of
doing the damage.
While a debate on the motivation
behind vandalism of this type may serve
some purpose, the main object is
obviously a determination of how it can
be prevented.
This is extremely difficult, mainly
because the unthinking cowards who
undertake such acts work under cover of
darkness or at other times when they first
assure themselves they are not being
watched..
Short of hiring guards for recreation
areas, there is no sure defence.
However, the public in general can
assist greatly by being aware of the
situation and keeping an eye on persons
who may be acting suspiciously.
The seriousness of the crime
warrants that the police be notified,
rather than private citizens merely giving
the persons responsible a warning.
Because lives are at stake in the
destruction of warning signs and safety
equipment, it would appear that the
Authority should consider hiring
watchmen if vandalism continues to be a
problem this season.
It is an expense to which the
taxpayers should not be subjected, but by
the same token, it is an investment they
would readily make to prevent further
tragedies at the Parkhill reservoir.
P.S. — Just before press time The
Times-Advocate was advised that the
life-saving equipment and warning signs at
the dam were destroyed by vandals over
the past weekend.
High sounding utterances
When you find yourself groping for a
phrase or a word that will allow you to
speak now and think later, keep this
handy list at your fingertips. The
expression can be used singly where a
noncommittal statement is required, and
in an emergency, the entire list can be
linked together for a whole speech.
It's in process: So wrapped up in red
tape that the situation is almost hopeless.
We will look into it: By the time the
wheel makes a full turn, we assume you
will have forgotten about it too.
A Program: Any assignment that
can't be completed by phone call.
Expedite: To confound confusion
with commotion.
Channels: The trail left by
inter-office memos.
Co-ordinator: The guy who has a
desk between two expediters.
To activate: To make carbons and
add more names to the memos.
To implement a program: Hire more
people and expand the office.
Under active consideration: We're
looking in the files for it.
Under consideration: Never heard of
it before.
A Meeting: A mass milling by
masterminds.
A Conference: A place where
conversation is substituted for the
dreariness of labor and the loneliness of
thought.
Participative management: Advance
notice.
To negotiate: To seek a meeting of
minds without knocking heads.
Communications problems: They're
being stubborn.
We're trying to communicate with
you: Be reasonable, do it my way.
Re-orientation:Getting used to work
again.
Reliable source: The fellow you just
met.
Informed source: They guy who told
the fellow you just met.
Unimpeachable source: The fellow
who started the rumor originally.
Clarification: To fill in the
background with so many details that the
foreground goes underground.
We are making a survey: We need
more time to think of an answer.
To note and initial: Let's spread the
responsibility for this.
See me or let's discuss it: Come
down to my office. I'm lonesome.
Let's get together on this: I'm
assuming that you're as confused as I am.
Get more people involved: Let's tell
them how it is.
Give us the benefit of your thinking:
We'll listen to what you have to say as long
as it doesn't interfere with what we've
already decided.
Will advise you in due course: If we
figure out what we're doing, we'll let you
know.
With modifications: Will be shipped
to you in kit form. Put together (if you
can) yourself.
To give someone the picture: A long,
confused and inaccurate statement to a
new-corne r. (Adapted from I.A.C.
Rendex vous, adapted from Calgary
Power Relay, adapted from Steinberg
Parade).
Rememget de 60'a?
The past decade will probably be best remembered by area residents for the closing of the area's main
airport — CFB Centralia. However, there was also the opening of an airport — Sexsmith — located on the
farm of Leonard Greb, Hay Township. Several airplanes owned by area residents now use the facility.
Shown in 1963 at the opening of the airport are, from the left: Leonard Greb, John Watson, Elmer Rowe
and Don Bell.
N
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SEAFORTH PHONE 527-0910
Walkathon
Sat., July 11 —10:00 a.m.
To Raise Money For
The Missing Piece Coffee House
GRAND BEND
Groups leave Exeter, Zurich,
Parkhill at 10:00 a.ni. and
converge on Grand Bend
The Coffee House Will Be Open
and Walkathon Forms can be picked up after
June 24.
Contact Jack Kraft
Exeter 235-1565 or 235-0860
Notice to
Exeter Public Utilities
Water Consumers
On June 19th water restriction notices were mailed out to
all customers. Unfortunately, some customers are
ignoring this regulation.
This regulation will be strictly enforced and the watering
of lawns and gardens must be done at the times listed on
the schedule below:
West side of Main Street
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
East side of Main Street
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Your co-operation will be appreciated.
•
Or . Xes, ter'
Times Established 1873
Advocate Established 1881
Irite exeferZimes-iinsocafe
SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND
C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC
Published Each Thursday Morning
at Exeter, Ontario
Second Class Mail
Registration Number 0386
Paid in Advance Circulation,
September 30, 1969, 4,751
RATES: Canada $6.00 Per Year; USA WOO SUBSCRIPTION
Magralcs'MabaNiighkr‘SaltAAMMOVAD=.4.r:;""''
Practice what they preach ?
Tinkering with our birthday
One of the last, and one of the
few traditional Canadian holidays
is under attack by the termites
who want to turn every holiday
into a holiday weekend.
The grand old 24th of May,
with scorched fingers and the
pungent stink of firecrackers, has
been whittled into just another
Monday holiday. They're
chipping away at Remembrance
Da And the only day of truly
national Canadian importance,
celebrating the birth of our
nation, is due to go under to the
pressures of commercialism.
Hardly anybody calls it
Dominion Day anymore, and
some industries and business
firms simply ignore it.
When I was an urchin, it was an
impressive holiday. There were
bands and baseball games,
parades and panoply, and
interminable speeches about our
great Dominion, the Fathers of
Confederation, ties with Empire,
and what a great guy the Mayor
was.
It meant that school was really
over, at last, that the endless
lorious summer had final] y y
egun. It was a strong
punctuation mark in the year.
If you had a cottage, it meant
your dad had a day off to drive
the family there, get them settled,
get the boat out. It was often an
all-day job for the old man, with
an average of about three flat tires
en route.
If you didn't have a cottage,
and most didn't you went to the
ball game, or swam in the river, or
went fishing, or had a family
picnic. If yOu had a car. Many
didn't.
Those were peaceful days in
the small towns. There was no
frantic scramble for the tourist
dollar because there were few
tourists. Summer was a time to
take it easy. The days were hot
and long. The evenings were full
of hot smells and children's
voices, and parents rocking on the
front porch. Lemonade or an ice
cream cone topped off the day,
which seemed 66 hours of
enjoying life.
What a change in those
(comparatively) few years.
Today, with good roads, a car in
every garage, and a restless
populace, summer begins back
around Easter, with thousands
Amalgamated 1924
Life is filled with
inconsistencies and a couple of
events in the past week hake
vividly brought this point to
mind.
First of all, it was rather
amusing to hear high ranking
officials from the United States
indicate they had a plan to bring
peace about in the Middle East.
Perhaps that's why they're
making such little progress in
bringing peace to some of the
areas in which they are engaged in
war in Asia — they're spending
too much time trying to solve
problems in some other corner of
the world.
Their qualifications as
peace-makers would obviously
have more validity if they could
get their own house in order first.
We have no first hand
knowledge of inconsistencies in
the National Farmers' Union
dispute with the Borden
Company at Ingersoll, but no
doubt there were some evident as
the farmers arrived to picket the
company in an attempt to stop
the firm's importation of whole
milk powder from Ireland.
It's not too far-fetched to
conjure up the following set of
circumstances surrounding one of
the farmers on picket duty:
He alighted from his mattress
covered with cloth from India
and turned on his Japanese radio
to learn that farmers were
picketing the plant and were
urging his attendance.
After enjoying his bowl of
cereal from the rice fields of India
and a couple of pieces of toast
covered with apricot jam from
California, he sat back to enjoy a
good cup of coffee from Brazil,
sweetened liberally by some sugar
from Cuba.
He then pulled on his fine
English linen shirt, and fearing
the weather to be a bit cool, put
his Scottish-made sweater over
his shoulder on his way to grab his
made-in-Korea boots.
Meanwhile his wife handed
him his lunch containing
peanut-butter sandwiches made
from African nuts, a large chunk
of his favorite cheese imported
from Switzerland along with a
piece of raisin pie from produce
grown in Australia for his dessert
and a large, juicy Florida orange
for his afternoon snack.
He gently kissed his wife and
smiled sweetly as he wafted in the
scent from her French perfume
and her direct-from-Hollywood
lipstick.
On his way out the door he
almost tripped over the cat as she
gobbled up her fish dinner caught
off the coast of the New England
States and swore softly when he
noticed the Irish peat moss he had
placed around his favorite
Holland bulbs had failed to add
new life to the flowers.
How/lever, with more
important tasks at hand, he
jumped into his European-made
car and after filling up with gas
from a New York controlled firm,
he headed off to join the pickets,
practicing some snears he would
use while proudly carrying his
"BUY IN CANADA" placard.
He paraded faithfully
throughout the afternoon, taking
time out only to join in a heated
condemnation of the government
thronging the highways to get
somewhere,
I'm not complaining, or trying
to hold up prog ress, whatever
that is. Just feeling a bit nostalgic
about the leisurely pace of those
days, and wondering why we're
all rushing around like nuts,
today. But I can tell you one
thing. The clip-clop of a horse and
buggy on a soft summer evening
was a lot lovelier than the squeal
of tires and the bellow of
motor-bikes,
This summer, I'm in a bit of a
dilemma. I'd half planned to go to
England and Scotland, and just
mosey around looking up some
— Please turn to page 5
for not taking steps to sell his
bean and corn crop to Ireland. * *
Speaking of home-grown
produce, crop insurance may
never be extended to include
vegetable gardens, although if it
does, yours truly will be among
the first to sign up even if some
area farmers are finding that the
benefits may not be of sufficient
size to warrant the investment.
. If the professional men of the
soil in the district had as much
problem with getting seeds to
come up as we did, agriculture as
it is known today would be
totally non-existent.
Spurred on by the activity of
our neighbors this spring, we set
about to again try our luck at
having home grown vegetables.
This was despite a disastrous
season last year when that flood
of July 24 battered everything
into the ground except the weeds.
For the past couple of weeks
we've made daily inspections of
the ground to greet the arrival of
new shoots. Again, most were
weeds, but a dozen or so pea
plants have managed to come up,
although this ratio is rather
disappointing in view of the fact
we have over two long rows
planted.
We doubt that even the
squirrels will get their feed this
year.
The lettuce is even more sparse
and we suspect the neighborhood
rabbits walk disdainly past our
patch on their way to more
flourishing stands of the tender
foliage on neighboring plots.
However, the most
disappointing aspect of the
garden has been our complete
lack of success with watermelons.
Having a large corner of the
garden vacant this year, we
decided to try some of these
"kid-pleasers", despite the factwe
realized that unless kids have
50 YEARS AGO
The band concert given in
Victoria Park on Sunday evening
by the Exeter Band was of a high
and entertaining nature. The
selections were appropriate and
well rendered.
The Exeter Canning Factory
started on their pea pack at the
factory on Monday.
One morning last week a Ford
car driven by Mrs. Dempsey, of
Centralia, was struck by a street
car in London and badly
damaged. The occupants of the
car were shaken up but not
seriously injured.
The Lucan races on Saturday
were largely attended and were
very closely contested. The
constable got after a number of
race course gamblers and they
were fined $10 and costs and
forced to close up shop.
Mr. W. D. Sanders left Tuesday
on a two months' trip to
Vancouver and Seattle.
25 YEARS AGO
Among the liberated prisoners
of war now on their way to their
homes in Canada are Cpl. W.
Forester and L. Cpl. T. G. Rendell
both of Dashwood.
Flying Officer Glen McTavish
who has been overseas since
April, 1944, arrived in Canada on
Friday. After a 30 day leave he
will report to Greenwood, N.S.
before leaving for the Pacific.
During heavy electrical storm,
while Mrs. John Oke, her
daughter, Reta, Mr. & Mrs. Lorne
Oke and four children were
Sitting in the kitchen lightening
struck the house like a bomb,
toppling the 8 foot chimney,
blowing off the stove lids and
filling the room with soot.
Haying is now in full swing.
The weather is good and the crop
is fine.
changed since our boyhood days,
we would stand little chance of
beating them to the produce
'when it ripens.
However, after poking
through the weeds for the past
three weeks, we have come to the
conclusion that even the kids will
miss out on watermelons in our
garden.
The most aggravating point of
the entire situation is the fact
several healthy looking
watermelon plants have reared
their heads in the wife's flower
garden.
This can be explained by the
fact that at a recent serving of
watermelon, the lads were told to
sit ontheside of the patio and let
the seeds and juice fall into the
flower bed rather than onto their
shirts and pants.
The situation indicates
beyond any doubt Mother
Nature's attempt to force us out
of the gardening business. Our
garden ground was worked no less
than three times and we faithfully
studied the moon's phases before
planting our large, quality
watermelon seeds purchased at
one of the local outlets.
However, we've already
decided on our plan of attack for
next spring.
Don't be surprised to drive
past the Batten family garden and
see the head of the house leading
a contingent of watermelon-
eatingyoungsters up and downthe
terrain spewing out the seeds.
Mother Nature would never
suspect that this would be an
attempt to produce a crop and
undoubtedly will allow us to
harvest some of the biggest
melons ever grown in this district.
Orders can be placed
immediately, but will be on a first
come, first served basis.
15 YEARS AGO
The Ausable RivcT
Conservation Authority
established its office in Exeter
this week, H. G. Hooke,
secre t a ry-fieldman for the
Authority, will be in charge of the
office. •
The Exeter district didn't
contribute one single statistic to
the alarming toll of holiday
fatalities and traffic accidents
over the Dominion Day weekend.
R. D. Jermyn, Exeter
councillor, was elected president
of the Huron County Industrial
Promotion Board.
Bob Fletcher,- the swimming
instructor at Riverview Park,
recently won his Red Cross
Instructor's Badge, highest
swimming award in Canada.
The Sunday School and
congregation of James St. United
Church picnicked at Riverview
Park, Wednesday.
10 YEARS AGO
Rev. Edgar Roulston, pastor
of the' Lucan and Clandeboye
United Churches is retiring from
the ministry at the end of June
and settling in Exeter. .
Construction of Thomas
Street from Carling to
Marlborough was started this
week by Sam Sweitzer for John
Burke, realator. The street will
provide access to the lots in the
centre of the subdivision.
Mrs. Franklin Skinner
entertained at a trousseau tea in
honor of her daughter, Mary,
bride of Saturday.
Mr, & Mrs. Andrew Dixon,
Betty and Jim leave today by
plane for Vancouver from which
city they will visit Victoria,
Seattle and other points.
The biggest holiday crowd in
history flooded into Grand Bend
and the Pinery Park over the July
1 weekend,
Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager
Phone 235.1331
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