Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1972-03-16, Page 4OUR POI Good news for all There was good news for everyone regarding snowmobiles in the discussion at , last week's session of Exeter council. The machine enthusiasts will have to laud council's decision to relax some of the regulations in the proposed bylaw, although there is no question but what council will revert to more stringent measures if there is a flagrant misuse of the freedoms they have extended, Complaints have been few since the original bylaw plan was outlined and there is every reason to assume the snowmobilers will continue to co-op- erate now that guidelines have been set forth. The organization of the local snow- mobile club has certainly paid dividends, because the spokesmen for the group played an instrumental part in getting council members to relax their regula- tions. There was good news too for those who complain about the noise of snow- mobiles. Councillor Ken Ottewell reported on the move being made by the federal and provincial governments to reduce the noise of the machines. This newspaper previously pointed out that if the noise was reduced, many of the complaints associated with the machines and the reasons behind officials regulating their use, would be eliminated. Of course, it will be some time before the existing machines and their noise will be replaced with newer models, but it appears that a peaceful co-existence is in the offing. Points to ponder Contract negotiations are sticky business at the best of times, and Cana- dian employees of U.S. subsidiaries are finding that their employers are not just bluffing when they warn they may close up if satisfactory terms can not be reached with their unions. In Goderich, for instance, Sheaffer Pen workers have been out on strike for some three months, and while there is an indication that most would be prepared to return to work at the offer originally made by the company, the company is apparently not too anxious to keep that offer open. Canadian workers have to under- stand some pertinent facts about their present situation. In many cases, they are being urged to seek higher wages by their U.S. based union leaders, while at the same time, those union leaders are most anxious to get U.S. subsidiaries to leave Canada and return to their own country to provide more job openings for union members there. It becomes most difficult then to assess the true position of those union leaders. In some cases it is evident they are urging Canadian workers to be adamant and unreasonable in their re- quests in the hope that the companies will in fact close their doors and return south of the border. Another point that must be taken into consideration is the pressure being put on U.S. firms by their government to get subsidiaries to return home. This action is causing consternation at government levels and has created a rift in relations between Canada and the U.S. The devaluation of the U.S. dollar has also entered the picture to end the favorable currency exchange rate U.S. firms once enjoyed in Canada. In many cases, the economic consideration that brought them to Canada has been lost. These are all points that may reach close to home in the next few weeks as members of the U.A.W. seek new con- tract terms with Hall Lamp Co. of Canada Ltd. at Huron Park. While the increase in the cost of living suggests the workers require a raise to match this increase, they should be reminded to keep that request reason- able, as well as considering some of the aforementioned points. It may also be prudent to consider the plight of the Goderich workers. Their U.S. based union has told them they can no longer afford to keep up their strike pay and they are being cut back to $10 per week. Not many people can get by on that these days. "Eureka! We've discovered a way of getting blood out of a turnip! Quirk — notify the taxation department!" Drivers deserve better fate' WADE INSURANCE AGENCY D.T. (Terry) Wade Total Insurance Service Auto — Fire — Liability — Glass Sickness and Accident Income Life — Pensions — Surety Bonds, etc. I would be happy to discuss your particular insurance needs. Call today or at renewal time. Phone Crediton 234-6368 orLucan 227-4061 VG The senior Trust Company devoted entirely to serving the people of Ontario. Five year Guaranteed Investment Certificates. Get yours now! Now Shop at Home is WCTORMand GREY TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1889 KEN D. BOWES Manager Whiting Auctioneering and Appraisal Service Profit by Experience• We give complete sale service Book your sale early to avoid conflicting dates Free service for charitable organizations NORM WHITING, LICENSED AUCTIONEER Phone c011ept 235.1964 Exeter Give to r Is. Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Times Established 1873 lizetreferZiniettabuocafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.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 ii~i Advance Circulation, September,30, 1971,5,175 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $8.00 Per Year; USA $10.00 • 4 ik9"11A N oficerip /".41. Anis A. 4 MEN'S WEAR, fk Markt" 1 /IAA elin1 yrimilsoMOINIMIP.10, Olirj"v":: 761-.14r72;47:4,7,:lift," ' • • 1 • U Fashion with a future QUALITY TAILORED You get a lot more than good looks from Shiffer-Hillman tailored clothes. The difference is more hand needle- work. It gives you a longer future of wearing enjoyment. Come in and let us show you the new Spring collection. Len McKnight at Sons (HAMA Thanks for Shopping at McKnights ompopoommommimpon Dirty players get the laurels 44.r.4.7 Having survived the past couple of days, area residents need, no reminder about the vagaries of spring weather, when Old Mother Nature softens you up one day with some blissful, sunny weather and follows that up with a dose of everything bad she can muster. However, they possibly need some reminding that the elements are more easily battled in a car than hoofing it along the street, especially when motorists fail to give any consideration to pedestrians . Drivers may enjoy the "wake" their autos make as they plow headlong into puddles and potholes, but the poor fellow on foot fails to share that en- thusiasm with a cold, dirty shower. So, give the pedestrians a brake. Perhaps some of the problem of motorists is the pent-up emotions they have sustained after driving through Lucan these days. Those fortunate enough to get through with their eye-teeth and mufflers intact must wonder just who is responsible for the mess. There's obviously been some poor planning on someone's part and a fitting punishment would be to make him (or them) stand beside the road and take all the mud motorists can splash for a 12-hour period. One of the big problems is the fact that those wishing to get to London can't even find an ac- ceptable bypass now. The roads around the village have been badly mauled by the heavy traffic and it's a toss-up to which fate is worse — getting lost in Lucan's mud or dropping out of sight in one of the potholes on the bypass roads. Surely someone has an obligation to the motoring public to maintain one safe stretch of road. It's the least they can do for that 35 bucks we just paid out for licenses to drive on the roads or that 25 cents we spend on each gallon of gasoline for taxes. Why wait for spring? Let's get one of the roads fixed up to a passable degree and then let drivers know which route to take. + + + Those new traffic lights in Exeter are still causing some problems for a few people. Seems they have the idea that the lights are to be followed only by motorists, or by those crossing Main St. A random check shows many people completely disregard the lights if they are crossing the street from one side of Sanders to the other. We watched one young lady run across Main with the green light this week and then continue her jaunt across Sanders against the red without even glancing to see if traffic was clear. Unfortunately, this type of action could end up in tragedy. It's rather ridiculous that people would take such risks for the few seconds delay they may encounter by waiting for the light to change. + + + The guessing game continues gas to when Prime Minister Trudeau is going to call an election. However, it's almost a sure bet that when he does, the Huron Liberal party will quickly be spurred into action and within a couple of weeks after the election call will name a can- didate for the area riding. Of course, most other con- stituencies will have named their candidates long before then to give the respective choices an opportunity to make themselves known to the voters. In Huron they don't do that. They wait until the last minute 50 YEARS AGO Stratford, by winning from Exeter in Stratford by the score of 6 to 3, and then holding the locals to a two all tie in Exeter, Monday night, put the locals out of the NHL by three goals. The locals were without Hindmarsh at Stratford. The game on Monday night was played in mud and water but it was hockey all the way through. Mr. Wm. Treble, Exeter's veteran in the line of moving buildings, has disposed of his moving outfit to Mr. Winegarden, Exeter, North. Mr. Patrick Hanlon and Son of Centralia, have sold their business store and dwelling to Messrs, Baker and Richardson of London. Mr. Andrew Campbell recently sold his farm in Usborne to Mr. Jas. Turnbull. Twenty five members of the Salvation Army motored to Stratford Monday to attend special evangelistic services being held there. 25 YEARS AGO Major Elmer D, Bell has been appointed second in command of the 21st anti-tank regiment at Wingham, the unit in which he served while overseas. A permit was granted to Earl Neil by council to erect a roller skating rink on Carling Street, Kenneth Herm, Woodham, has been elected president of the newly organized South Huron Junior Farmers Club. Mt. R.C, Balkwill has moved into his newly-erected home on John Street, and Mr. Percy Dunsford, who has sold his farm in Hay Township, has moved into the residence purchased from Mr. Batkwill on Andrew Street. Jean Brock of EXeter was chosen president of the new South Huron Junior Institute at an organizational meeting last week. and throw their candidate "to the wolves" so to speak and then sit around after his defeat and wonder what has gone wrong. Will it ever change? + + + When Roseanna Hanier drove her car through a wire fence near Bournemouth, England, it somersaulted three times down an 80-foot cliff. The car landed on its wheels, then slowly turned over, the Ontario Safety League reports. Roseanna's first words as she emerged from the wreckage were, "Where's my purse?" + + + We've all heard how people have jumped onto the band- wagon now that lotteries have been made legal in Canada, but there is seldom any news about' how successful they are. Well, not only the winners are smiling, if the Kin Lottery originating out of Cornwall is any indication. That lottery grossed $750,000 with a clear profit of $300,000. It's a safe bet that more and more of those organizations which in the past have counted on door-to-door canvasses will switch to lotteries to aid their worthy causes. Our gambling habits exceed our charitable ones by a great deal. 15 YEARS AGO Miss Lina Abbott, the Times- Advocate's Lucan correspondent, won the honorable mention award for 'outstanding rural news reporting' from the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association. Businessmen from nine district communities gave overwhelming approval to Friday night shop- ping at a meeting here Tuesday morning. Nearly 500 parishioners and friends of Our Lady of Mt. Car- mel Church celebrated St. Patrick's Day, Sunday, with the official opening of the new $50,000 public school. Bill Brock, Kippen, won the W. C. Wood prize for the Grand Champion in the Agricultural Engineering Division of the 33rd Annual College Royal held at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. 10 YEARS AGO Brian Hern, Woodham, was selected as best actor at the Junior Farmers drama festival in Seaforth this week, He played the lead role in. South Huron's "Bobbie pulls up her socks." Mrs. Don Wilson was the speaker at the World Day of Prayer service for ladies of the community in Caven Church, Friday. Ian McAllister, R.R. 1, Zurich, won the farm management class at Huron Seed Fair, Saturday. Don Hendrick, R.R, 2, Crediton, presided over the eleventh annual review day held at Western Ontario Agricultural School, Ridgetown, recently. Shots from a BB or similar gun caused over $400 damage to large glass panes in the new liquor store over the weekend. Anne Grayer, 17, has been chosen SHDIIS queen fot the second time. She will represent her school in the London Free Press School Queen's Club. Watching our high school hockey team in action' the other day, I could not refrain from brooding about how the game has changed. If what I was watching was "sport," and "schoolboy" sport at that, I guess it's time I was put out to pasture. Oh, it was exciting, all right. That is, if you like to watch teenage boys trying to tear each others' arms off with deliberate hooks, remove each others' teeth with high sticks, and smash each others' brains out against the beards. Throw' in some deliberate slashing, tripping, kneeing, butt- ending and a couple of fights, and you have the picture of young Canada playing its national game. Admittedly, the game is faster and more furious than ever. But furious is a word that does not belong in sport, unless you think professional boxing is a sport, which it is not, in my opinion. In vain do the coaches of high school teams tell their charges to play hard but clean. The kids have watched too much pro hockey, where most of the fans, like spectators in a Roman arena, want blood, and the pros oblige. The only thing that redeems the spectacle — and it is a spectacle, not a game — is the fact that there are usually one or two players on each team who still believe in skill rather than violence and who use their heads for something besides butting. These are the players who emerge as the team leaders, even though some of the "wild men" may have more natural ability. These are the players who almost never get a penalty, who walk away from a stupid fight rather than look for one, who put some spark into the team when it is behind. A pleasure to watch. And then there are the others. Kids who are pleasant and well- mannered off the ice, but go berserk the minute the first whistle blows. One of them expressed his philosophy to me: "Yah. Yer sposeta drop yer stick when a fight starts, but yuh don't drop it till the other guy drops his." And, of course, if the other guy is following the same principle, there could be stick-swinging match. Put four feet of hardwood in the hands of two young huskies, let them start swinging their clubs, and you have a situation more deadly than many of the duels of history, fought with lethal weapons. It's about as quick a way as any to wind up with a smashed nose, a permanent scar, a concussion, a skull fracture, or one eye. In my opinion, a great deal of the blame for the situation lies with the referees. They seem to be brainwashed into letting anything go, short of chopping a head off with a stick. The game is faster and more "colorful" that way. And the colour is that of blood. The goalie used to be protected by a sort of mutual consent. He was slower and more vulnerable because of his heavy padding. You took your shot, and if he stopped it, skated around him. Now, he comes out to stop a shot and is quite likely to get a mouth- ful of high stick. Result? The goalie starts playing dirty, to protect himself. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned. But when I played team sports — football, hockey, baseball — there were one or two "dirty" players on each team. Caught in the act, they were penalized and ostracised. Nowadays, you have to look hard to find one or two "clean" players on each team. And it's the "dirty" players who get the roars from the crowd. This is fact, and it's fact that is sobering, saddening and sickening.