HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1971-12-02, Page 4Many errors besides ours
A report in this newspaper last
week created some embarrassment for
members of the Hay Township council,
and for that we sincerely apologize.
In referring to the deep wells
proposed for liquid waste disposal, we
erred in stating one site had been chosen
and approved by council.
Actually, Hay council had only
given tentative approval to the project
and unbeknown to this newspaper, had
called a special meeting to rescind this
action and withdraw any type of support
for the deep wells,
While we accept responsibility for
creating some confusion, we hesitate to
accept all the responsibility for the
criticism levelled at Hay council by a
large number of ratepayers. They had in
fact given tentative agreement to the
proposal for this type of liquid waste
disposal in Hay, and it may well have
come about without the two area
newspapers advising ratepayers of the
plan, even though the reports may have
been slightly misleading.
At any rate, the matter has now
been publicly aired and the almost total
denounciation of the liquid waste
disposal plan should indicate the course
of action open to Hay council in their
future deliberations with the Sarnia firm
attempting to secure sites in the
township.
It is perhaps unfortunate that the
council hadn't called a public meeting at
the outset to advise ratepayers what
action they were contemplating.
One of the odd aspects of the
situation is the fact many who
complained about the deep well proposal
had actually signed leases for the use of
their lands. This no doubt was one of the
reasons why Hay council gave tentative
approval to the project and in that the
farmers themselves must accept some of
the blame.
To claim the leases were given
under false impression may be partial
excuse, but it points up the problem of
not reading contracts carefully,
particularly when those contracts were
signed on behalf of Sub Surface Liquid
Waste Disposals Ltd. That should have
indicated quite clearly for what use the
land was intended.
Water problems
The plight of residents in the
K irk t on-W oodham area who have
watched their water supply dwindle,
deserves some immediate investigation.
Water is our most needed
commodity and unfortunately this fact
escapes too many people until they are
deprived of it, or at least face a shortage.
Many communities will watch with
interest what happens regarding the
charge that the pipeline that runs to
Huron Park from the Kirkton-Woodham
area is "stealing" the water supply from
that district.
Urban centres throughout the
province have their supplies in
neighboring districts; such as Exeter,
which draws its main supply from
Usborne Township.
Most of these supplies have been in
use for many years. Huron Park has been
drawing water from the
Kirkton-Woodham area for 20 years now
without any undue hardships until
recently, although individual problems
have been in evidence for some time.
But many things have changed
within those 20 years. Water
consumption for all involved has
increased immeasurably and apparently
the supply has not been able to keep
pace.
In addition, farm drainage has also
increased, and water that once soaked
back into the earth is drained off quickly
into streams, never replenishing the
ground water supply.
Farmers throughout the area have
been forced in recent years to abandon
their shallow wells and drill hundreds of
feet to gain the required amount for
their increased household needs and to
satisfy the requirements of their
increased numbers of livestock.
The legal recourse open to those
affected by the loss of water would be
difficult to assess, although the
Kirkton-Woodham area victims may be
in a better position in that they are
dealing with the government and not
some industry which would find it
economically impossible to alter its
situation.
It's difficult to understand their
charge that because they are on the
borderline of two counties and two
townships that they don't get much
representation. The situation should
suggest they could get twice as much
representation and they should certainly
attempt to do so.
* * *
They say it's an ill wind that
doesn't blow some good, and the
situation could be a boon to Exeter if
the farmers can convince the government
that the Huron Park pipeline is the main
problem and that adequate water could
be available to them again by having
Huron Park hooked into the Lake Huron
system running through to London.
That would bring the Lake Huron
pipeline within five miles of the town,
thereby reducing greatly the cost for
Exeter in hooking into the Lake Huron
system.
If Exeter PUC is at all interested,
they should make their feelings known
at this time, as it may play a part in
helping the government and the OWRC
resolve the plight of the residents in the
Kirkton-Woodham area.
Carol looks as forlorn and
wistful as if she knew a little girl
whose ancestry is mixed and
who has no parent faces an
insecure, frightening future.
But Carol is only four, so
fortunately she is spared from
forebodings. The expression is
because she is timid of strangers
and the photographer's face was
an unfamiliar one.
This little girl is Anglo-Saxon
and Indian, big for her age and
dark in coloring. She came into
the care of the Children's Aid
Society as a battered child, so
it's no wonder she is fearful of
new people. She is living now in
a foster home full of kindness
and affection, but her new
parents will need to give her
time to trust them.
Carol enjoys other children
and loves nursery school. At
home she trots around after her
foster mother eager to be
helpful. She is a strong-willed
child who needs and wants a
great deal of attention,
This little girl with her
unhappy past needs to be the
youngest in a family where the
parents are warm, understanding
and patient, and where academic
expectations are not too high.
To inquire about adopting Carol,
please write to Today's Child,
Box 888, Station K, Toronto.
For general adoption
information, ask your Children's
Aid Society.
Torbntocrelegram Syndic-4k
WHEXIMECIMIMMAISMail IMONAMMIRS7.,w 4,:v •
Itherrxekaimes-Abuorate
SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND
C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC
Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager
Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh
Women's Editor -- Gwyn Whilsmith
Phone 235.1331
Published Each Thursday Morning
at Exeter, Ontario
Second Class Mail
Registration Number 0386
Paid in Advance Circulation,
September 30, 1970, 4,675
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $8.00 Per Year; USA $10.00
VEX
auto',
,s"K
ALL 1972
AUTO SKI
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JIM GAUNT
ENTERPRISES
AUTO SKI
SALES & SERVICE
228.6716 — Centralia, Ont.
PRES_O PTIONS
Something
Old
Something
New
Middleton Drugs has spruced up with paint
and carpet.
We have enlarged the dispensary and serving
counter areas —
BUT
We have not changed the warm friendly
atmosphere — Helen Bell and Mary Westlake are
still here to greet you in their same pleasant
manner — Bob Middleton and Stan Horrell will fill
your prescriptions the "Parcost Way" to save you
money.
We all welcome you to come in — say Hello --
look around and give us your comments — we feel
the changes will make your shopping easier and
more pleasant.
Bob Middleton, PhmB
Stan Horrell, PhmB
MIDDLETON Bra 5
Pite.a,cA42-tcler-fra
PHONE 235-1570 EXETER
eMfecttNiviltsivM r-Tnci 0,?Aits%Xi (qt: r:?.?&0?4,i q..<4
11. tt. We'll Help You ...
PUT
The
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To Old
Man
Winter
SNOW BOOTS
Children's Ladies'
Men's
From $5.95 From $8.95
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We Can Also Outfit the Family In
SNOWMOBILE
BOOTS
Children's Men's Youth's & Ladies'
From $11.95 From $14.95 From $13.95
LUGGAGE The Ideal
Christmas Gift
Flight Bags .. . ... .. . .. From $19.95
Portable Bars ... . ... . From $15.95
Comfort in a duck blind
"November glooms are barren
beside the dusk of June." Thus
quoth the poet Henley. And I say
too ruddy true. As a general rule.
But this year has been an ex-
ception. I don't think I've ever
written a decent word about
November, with its "surly
blasts", its sudden, depressing
dumping of snow, its bleak and
sterile look.
I know we're going to pay for it
with a terrible winter, but this
November, for the first time in
many years, we've been ushered
into winter with the gentle
melancholy that seems un-
believable.
By the time this appears in
print, we may be up to our
noggins in snow. But credit there
is due. The first few weeks of
November this year, in these
parts, have made me decide to
give this country and its crazy
climate one more chance.
It's almost as though God had
held up his hand as the four winds
were on their mark, cheeks
puffed, ready to give us the usual,
and boomed, "Hold. The poor
devils are having enough troubles
of their own making. Let's give
them one November to
remember."
Normally, November is the
most dismal month in the year,
with the possible exception of
March. But in the latter, at least
the days are getting longer and
there's a wild hope that spring
may come again.
Normally, November means
many things, none of them
pleasant. Darkness comes early.
There is wild scramble, for many
of us, over snow ties and storm
windows. There is bitter wind
ashore and terrifying storms on
the water,
It's been a grand November for
the hunters and trout fishermen.
Perhaps not so good for the deer
hunters, with little snow. But for
the duck and partridge boys, and
the rainbow anglers, it has been
pear perfection.
Day after day of mild, almost
balmy weather has done away
with the agonized squat in the
duck blind, with nothing between
you and certain death from ex
posure except the flask of rum.
The same weather has made
trout fishing, usually undertaken
in a biting wind with half-frozen
fingers, practically a Sunday
school picnic.
Even the golfers have been able
to stretch the season by at least a
month. The only danger they face
is exhaustion from golfing in the
day and curling at night.
Normally, the squirrels would
be getting set up for the winter. I
look into the backyard and
they're gambolling as though it
were mid-June.
Surest sign that it's been a
iMann
Amalgamated 1924
We admire people who call a
spade a spade, and this type of
frankness was much in evidence
at last week's unofficial hearing
into the proposed mobile park in
the north-east corner of Exeter.
It was a controversial subject
and yet the meeting featured
high-level discussion that didn't
degenerate into any name-calling
that is often witnessed at
meetings where people are
strongly opposed to the subject
up for debate.
The issue almost became
clouded when discussion centred
around the burden of school
taxes, snow removal and garbage
pickup.
This wasn't what the neigh'
boring property owners feared
primarily and the frankness of
George Dobbs and Earl Campbell
in pointing out the main issue got
the meeting back on the right
track.
As they explained, residents
were concerned about the
proximity of the park to their
modern homes and the possibility
that such a development could
devalue their properties.
That hit the nail on the head,
and it is understandable that the
property owners should be
concerned. Each has a sizeable
investment in his home and has
every right to ward off any type
of development which could
result in a loss on that in-
vestment.
As park developer Len Veri
admitted, if he was in the position
of the home owners, he would
probably be at the meeting to
protect himself.
Generally speaking, most
people 'visualize the need for the
low-cost housing which can be
made available to people through
the establishment of a mobile
homes park.
It therefore boils down to a
decision of where it can best be
located and how it should be
November without peer is the
behaviour of our cat. As a rule,
when November arrives, with its
wind and rain and snow, she has
to be hurled bodily outside, This
year, she has actually been going
to the door and asking out.
I haven't seen any bees, but
there are still a lot of crazy birds
around who have been baffled by
the weather, and are going to be
caught with their pants down one
of these days.
And they're not the only ones,
Many a man like myself has been
lulled into a false sense of
security, hasn't his storms on,
hasn't changed to snow tires,
hasn't even turned off the outside
water, and hasn't a clue where
his winter boots are.
Oh, there'll be a day of
reckoning, all right. My bones
warn me. But to heck with it, I'm
going to live dangerously and
enjoy every day of it.
And to prove it, I'm going to
write my first, and probably my
last, ode to November.
Much-maligned
November
This year you've been
my friend,
Don't quite know how
to prove it,
But you've shown you
can groove it.
No way are you
September,
But you're one I'll long
remember,
Isn't that beautiful?
operated to ensure that it will be
attractive and not turn into a
blight on the community and its
neighborhood.
+ + +
A film shown at the meeting
indicated beyond any doubt that
it is entirely possible to ensure
the latter situation, The parks
depicted would be welcomed in
any community and by the neigh-
boring property owners.
It is now up to council to draft
an agreement that will ensure
that the developer does come up
with a park that is as good, or
better than those shown in the
film.
That will be no easy chore,
btcause it must allow the
developer to satisfy his own
economic goals and at the same
time be stringent enough to
provide protection for the
community, and the neighboring
property owners in particular.
It would appear to require that
phase one of the park should be
completed satisfactorily to all
concerned before any approval is
given to proceed with future
development.
From comments expressed at
the meeting, it would appear
there is little opposition to the use
of the land contained in the first
phase.
Approval of phase one would
therefore appear possible, and
while it alone would not be
50 YEARS AGO
The new organ has been in-
stalled in the James Street
Methodist Church and was
dedicated on Sunday morning
last.
The Dominion election on
Tuesday resulted, in the defeat of
the government of the Premier
Meighen and the return of the
Liberals to power. Han.
MacKenzie King will be the next
premier of Canada.
Mr. A. Paul, who has conducted
a butchershop here for some time
has disposed of the business to
Mr, Frank Wood.
On Friday evening last a
meeting of many of those in-
terested in the formation of a
Horticultural Society was held
in the library. The officers in-
cluded: J. S. Harvey, G. S.
Howard, J. G. Stanbury, B. W.F.
Beavers, S. J. Hoggarth, J. H.
Grieve, Dr. Hyndman, W. G.
Medd, and J, M, Southcott.
25 YEARS AGO
Roy Ratz was re-elected as
reeve of Stephen Township with
563 votes to 488 for his opponent,
Elmer Lawson.
A, V. Tiernan, Dashwood, was
elected president of Dashwood
Business' Club with C. F. Phile,
secretary-treasurer.
The officers and directors of
the Exeter Agricultural Society
held a banquet at the Central
Hotel Friday evening when 27 sat
down to dinner,
A new hook by Dr. Sherwood
Fox, president of Western
University, has just been
published entitled, 'rain(
Runnin' No More" being a
history of Grand Bend and the
Ausable River.
The Tuckersrnith Federation of
Agriculture held its banquet in
Watson's Hall, Kippen, with 180
present.
economical to the developer, he
should be prepared to gamble on
his contention that his park will in
no way devalue the properties in
the neighborhood.
+
The gals in the front office are
still shaking their heads over a
telephone call received from an
area lady last week.
The woman phoned to advise
she had bought a pie in London
and when she returned home,
found it was mouldy.
Our staff member replied there
was nothing we could do about,
the situation and suggested the
woman call the London store to
complain or call the Better
Business Bureau in London if she
wished.
"Oh, I don't want to spend
money on a long distance
telephone call," the woman
replied, "I just wanted to com-
plain to someone."
While we don't encourage
people to burden our staff with
their woes, the situation does
provide us with an opportunity to
point out the benefits of shopping
at home, particularly when the
busy shopping period is now upon
us.
Local bakers, for instance,
— Plese turn to page 7
15 YEARS AGO
School children at Mount
Carmel moved into their new
$50,000 school this week. The
separate school has three
classrooms to house the 94 pupils
enrolled.
Four members of McGillivray
council were returned to their
seats by acclamation this week.
They were Earl Morley, Duncan
Drummond, Earl Dixon and
Thomas Hall.
Exeter council, Monday night,
agreed to issue a debenture loan
of $95,000 to provide the Public
Utilities Commission with its
share of the cost of the Morrison
Dam.
Five people died in the Tuesday
morning blaze which destroyed
the British-Exchange Hotel in
Goderich.
Thieves had to abandon the
safe of Tuckey Beverages Ltd.,
on the town sidewalk early
Tuesday morning when they
found their "loot" too heavy to
load onto the pickup truck they
stole from the same business.
10 YEARS AGO
Roman Catholic School board
here will build a two-room school
on the west side of town, it was
decided Wednesday night.
Huron MPP, has received a
Distinguished Service Award
from the Ontario Water
Resources Commission "in
appreciation of his leadership in
pollution control,"
Iris Marshall, RR 1, Kirkton,
was top scorer among the 4-I-I
members at the county
achievement night at Wingham,
Friday,
The local executive of the
Canadian Bible Society are
pleased to report that the sum' of
$800 has been contributed by the
loWn and surrounding districts.
Shop at home
For Every Member of the Family
A SMALL DEPOSIT WI LL
HOLD UNTIL CHRISTMAS
SHOE Smyth's
Hitting the nail on the head
Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881
A
A
STORE
5'
9 Phone 235-1933 Exeter, Ontario
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