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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1972-07-20, Page 4A weekend worth losing TA EXETER Although he was obviously not interested in arguing the point strenuously, RAP chairman Gord Baynham was quite correct in his opinion that his group should be con- sulted regarding the planned curfew for Riverview Park. As administrators of the parks, RAP should be involved in all decisions regarding those parks, and to deny them that right creates a situation similar to one a couple of years ago when council bypassed the local planning board on matters pertaining to planning affairs. The results of that situation were most unpleasant and surely members of council would not risk another confrontation with people whom they have appointed to handle specific chores. It was a member of council — Reeve Derry Boyle — who disagreed strenuously with Baynham's suggestion, pointing out it was "strictly a police matter." He's wrong on both counts. RAP should be consulted and obviously there's no such thing as it being strictly a police matter. The police are hired to enforce the laws, not set them. Chief Ted Day certainly had no intention of setting any rules, but merely in making recommendations. It's up to RAP to consider those recommendations and then ask council to approve the action which RAP deems necessary. Council, of course, then has the prerogative of doing as they see fit. Quite correct "That Croft's got his nerve — he knows it's my turn to be away with the flu!" 0, The easy way out Canada's five-year moratorium on the death penalty ends in December. Parliament must soon debate and draft new legislation.. And MP's mail is reported running discouragingly high in favor of re-instatement of capital punishment. The death penalty is the easy way out for an apathetic public. They can feel secure in the knowledge that one death has been avenged by another, that society has been purged of another threatening element. MUrder and violence is a condition of society itself. It is the pathetic story of poor mental and physical health, retardation, poverty, alcoholism, lack of educational or job opportunities mounting up in the pressure cooker of daily existence — until the final blowoff. Will the death penalty stop the psychotic killer? Will it protect society fromthe premeditated killer who 'rubs out' for a price? Invoking the death penalty for murder has just about as much logic as handing out the death sentence to the guilty party in a fatal auto accident. The punishment does nothing to get at the cause, it does nothing to deter murders or accidents in the future. There must be alternatives. More research financed out of government grants — more humane efforts and financing in the neglected areas of human misery — poverty, education, housing and job opportunities. A get-rich-quick scheme sa There's nothing quite like a summer in Canada. We have that winter that just goes on and on and on. Then,suddenly, about the first of June, it's spring. The temperature soars, the grass grows violently and we kick off our rubbers with gay abandon. Two weeks later, everybody has a cold, the roses are nipped by the frost, the furnace is still rumbling and the weatherman announces triumphantly that Wiarton or someplace had an all- time over-night low of 40 degrees on the umpteenth of June. By the time this appears in print, we'll probably be gasping for breath and wondering when this unprecedented heat wave will end. Don't worry ; it will. Just about the time you start to get the poisonous juices of winter soaked out of you. And then it will be fall, and idiots like me will be writing columns about the refreshing nip in the air. Nip in the air, Holy old Hughie! There was so much nip in the air early this summer that a chap scarcely needed a nip of anything else. Oh well, I guess it's better than living in the sweltering heat of Israel or Egypt. Though it cer- tainly isn't any safer, as those who have been on the highways recently will attest. Why does my wife remind me of a flicker? A flicker is a bird with a red top-knot. We have one in our backyard every summer. It flops out of a cedar tree, or maybe heaven, and flickers away all over the grass, sometimes within feet of us. I think it's a flicker, though I'm no expert. I can tell a robin from a sea gull, on a clear day, and that's about it. Well, why does she? She doesn't have a red top-knot. But she acts like a flicker. The bird runs across the grass at a great rate. It stops, looks about, bangs its beak into the ground about twelve times, repeats the process for some period, then flies off suddenly in all directions, for no apparent reason. And that's why my wife reminds me of a flicker. That's how our vaunted holidays began this year. I had one day off after ten months in the sausage fac- "I can't make up my mind where I want to go over the weekend!" "Parents are funny. They buy a picture like that, but they com- plain when the TV is out of focus." tory. It was a Saturday, which I have off every week anyway. It seems we had to go and see our daughter, the bride. Right away. Holiday weekend, with all the horror that entails, but never mind. Wedding pictures. Late gifts. How is she? Is the marriage working out? Motel room? Just like a flicker banging away at the grubs in the ground. I was caught by surprise, just as a grub is by a flicker. No money and the banks were closed. The car needed a muffler. I needed about three days of intensive care, During the same 24 hours, the flicker had phoned friends of ours who'd invited us down to lie around their pool. She had agreed that as soon as we had spent a day or two with the bride, we'd go straight to their place. The bride is about 70 miles north, in the resort area, through hairy traffic. The friends lie about 85 miles south, through hairy traffic trying to get north, No problem. The flicker's mate does the driving. And right in the midst of all this flickering, who calls up to see if I want to go out bass fishing but my old friend, Capt. Dalt Hudson. I'll give you three guesses. Where do you think I wanted to go? Well, we flickered off, north. Nice day. Traffic just below manic level. Arrived late. Great dinner with new in-laws. Motel room surrounded by green, with falls rushing in background. Idyllic. Next day, cold, Motel toilet backing up, Kids visited. Went for chilly swim in lake, Blew kids to terrific smorgasbord at hotel. If you ever want to become rich, you may consider un- dertaking a scheme of getting the exclusive rights to charge spectators for watching fires. Even if you were kind enough to split the take with the un- fortunate victims whose possessions are being destroyed, you could still come out in good shape. People will risk limb and life to attend fires and it therefore appears natural to assume they would be willing to fork out a few bucks to watch the spectacle. Wednesday night's fire at the Burkley attracted hundreds of people and the fortunate part is there's very little outlay in ac- commodating even such num- bers. Fire spectators are not as demanding as most people looking for entertainment. You don't have to arrange for any seats, and despite the intense heat at most fires, spectators, don't even hint that they'd like.4,6` watch on in air conditibned comfort. Unlike the people who conduct tours under Niagara Falls, you wouldn't even have to provide raincoats or rubber boots. Being a hardy lot, fire spectators have little concern for getting sprayed by hoses. Insurance is no problem either. Despite the dangers inherent in fires where gas explosions may occur or where live hydro lines or building walls may come crashing down, people don't mind taking a few risks as long as they can get as close as possible to the blaze. We don't know how you go about getting a license for such a venture, but it is surprising that some entrepreneur has as yet not come up with some scheme. If you do get the exclusive rights, we trust you'll not charge for photographers. + + + One, of the spectators at Wednesday night's fire was J. A. Robichaud, chief of the Huron Industrial Park brigade. Robbie pointed out that studies conducted by the doctor Drove them home to apartment with Mother cat and four kittens. Mother flicker somewhat horrified. Invited kids to lunch next day at motel. Immediate acceptance. Midnight. Temperature about 52. Couldn't get motel window closed. Romantic falls now sounding like locomotive in trouble. Next morning. Motel room just above freezing. Cold wind. Rain. Tottered up to main lodge for coffee. Discovered no lunch served Sundays and holidays. Kids arrive nodn, stOving. Give them two breadstick stolen from table night befT.e. Atmosphere cool, Mother flicker starts pecking grubs again. Grubs are kids. Kids resent being grubs, Show us their "studio", Have conned govern- ment into $7,000 art programme. Looks intelligent but don't ask me to explain it, Forms, colours, shapes. Finally, head for home in rain and bumper-to-bumper, No breakfast, No lunch. No brains. Nothing but intense desire to see normal abode of habitation. Arrive. Collapse. Faintly revived by hot soup. Sleep thirteen hours, Up this morning to find own toilet backing up (or is it a dream?), vacuum cleaner on blink, bnd mother flicker already making new plans for further forays. Aren't you sorry you aren't a school teacher, with all those "holidays?" associated with the Toronto fire department indicate quite clearly how arduous a task firemen face in their efforts. Studies conducted on Toronto firemen fighting such fires as the local one show that in two hours, they expend as much energy as they would in doing other labor for a period of two weeks. One had only to look at some of the local brigade to see quite clearly how exhausting the job was in the intense heat and smoke which they battled, + + + The lead story in a recent issue of the Stouffville Tribune reported that the council had voted to allow Sunday sports. It may surprise some of our readers to learn that the vote was 4 - 3 with the mayor breaking the tie , Some of the positions taken by council members were of in- terest. One suggested approval of the bylaw, was ,"ignoring God's, law for man's convenience." Another thought it should go to a public referendum, while another pointed out allowing Sunday sports was in fact less of a sin than overlooking breaches of the Lord's Day Act. "If any of us is so touchy about the subject, we should stay home on Sundays and not force other people to work," stated one councillor. "We're all a bunch of hypocrites." One of the odd aspects of the 50 YEARS AGO Rev. A. A. Trumper, rector of Trivitt Memorial Church, left this week for Winnipeg, where he will supply the pulpit of Holy Trinity Church for the next six Sundays. This is one of the most important Anglican churches in Canada, Among those from town who were successful in passing their Normal School exams were: first-class, Gladys Harvey; second-class, A. Hogarth, May Ford, Vera JOnes and Lillian Walker. The open ditch on Ann Street which runs along the south side of the old Commercial Hotel is tobe closed in for one block west of Main Street and a six foot walk laid along the top. Mr. John Hunkin has the contract. Mr. Wm. D. Davis, teller at the Canadian Bank of Commerce, has been transferred here from the Queen Street East, Toronto branch. 25 YEARS AGO It was estimated that 2,500 persons attended the annual garden party at Kirkton Wed- nesday evening. The work of redecorating the interior of the post office is almost completed. Irvine Armstrong who took a course in embalming in Toronto, will receive his embalmer's license. Ken Hockey and Gordon May were at Goderich Wednesday defending the Hunt Trophy which they won in a Scotch Doubles Tournament last year. W. F. Abbott, local apiarist, says prospects for a honey crop are the poorest there has been. Excavations at Pork Franks by Wilfred Jury were shown on a film at Westminster Hospital — the first such film made in Canada, 15 YEARS AGO Bethesda cemetery, officially 100 years old on Monday, received a cleaning when families in the Ilurondale district debate is the fact that Stouffville, similar to most other com- munities, already is the scene of Sunday sports and entertainment and one council meml4er pointed out that in reality there would be no change. All they did was legalize the activities, although it becomes difficult to understand the op- position to it when in fact Sunday sport has been a reality. The same holds true for most area communities. To our knowledge, none has approved Sunday sports or entertainment, but they are very much in evidence. Perhaps it's time some of them considered making it legal through a proper bylaw and end the hypocrisy. Laws which are not enforced should, be terminated, because they breed contempt. As an example, it is rather ridiculous that a person should get a parking ticket while at- tending a Sunday afternoon hockey game which is being staged unlawfully. We doubt that any vote in area communities would be as close as the one in Stouffville, but even if it was defeated, there wouldn't be any changes made. That's how ridiculous the whole thing is! held a bee on the burialground on lot 26, concession three, Usborne township. First temporary approval for operation of a cocktail lounge in Grand Bend has been received by C. R. Chapman, owner of Green Forest Lodge. Cottagers at Ipperwash beach rescued and revived 11-year-old Joyce Margaret Down, Cromarty, Tuesday when she was knocked over by a wave and dragged off shore by an undertow in rough water. Kirkton's Paul Brothers act; and the Hansen sisters, Florence and Andrea, pretty blonde musicians who have starred on a number of TV shows this year, were two of the numbers featured at the Kirkton Garden Party last week. Over 5000 people attended the 12th annual show. Winner of the amateur contest was Larry Lewis, Granton with his rendition of "Yours is My Heart Alone," 10 YEARS AGO Workmen began pouring the cement foundation Tuesday for the $40,000 Christian education extension to Hensall United Church. The additionwillprovide 134 classrooms for the Sunday School, an auditorium, kit- chenette, vestry and choir room. Dashwood Businessman, Joseph Zimmer, suffered his second loss by theft Monday night, when nearly $1,000 of transistor radios, radio and TV tubes was stolen from his , elec- trical repair shop on the main street. Wallace Stephenson, Toronto, has accepted a call to'be the first pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Exeter, Dashwood community centre project moved another step toward reality Friday night when negotiations were completed with the councils of Hay and. Stephen townships, Both agreed to accept joint responSibility for the property and both passed bylaws appointing the same board to administer the operation of the centre, Bic Banana Felt Markers 15° 105 OFF ALL Store Merchandise Watch For Other Specials At Our Booth PICTURES ON SALE AGAI N Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 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 ficm:liv....,!;;•'inzearommr,,:wiz,,,zugammemanotawaugemimmiremeassamorlimostse 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation, September 30, 107 1,5,175 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $8.00 Per Year; USA $10.00 Reg. 29c • 4. • it 0 tr I