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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-03-29, Page 4In the city of Washington, a regional ad- visory committee has recommended a program of strict traffic controls that would include a $2-a-day surcharge on com- muter parking through the area. This is just one of the many devices ur- ban planners throughout the world are put- ting forward in an effort to curb the global automobile culture. When you drive through the great metropolitan areas of North American and Europe, you realize that most cars are oc- cupied by exactly one person — the driver. The waste in oil, metal, rubber, man-hours, human energy and land use is absolutely phenomenal. The solution, of course, is to make public transport so attractive that those who today drive to work will find it more convenient to leave their cars at home. For those who don't really need to drive to work, but who own large cars as a status symbol, the purchase of over-sized automobiles ought to be made so expensive as to become a real deterrent. The inner cities of the world would get a new lease on life if millions abandoned their cars and used their legs more often. The increasing number of cities that are deciding to close various streets to anything but pedestrian traffic are an indication of future trends. And yet increasing affluence in the richer countries still will require drastic measures. It may become necessary to charge such high parking fees in downtown areas that bringing the car into the city will become prohibitive. Companies that provide parking for their staffs either free or on a subsidized basis: may have to pay an enormous annual tax per car for this privilege, At present, motorists pay fees on toll roads and when they cross certain bridges. The time may come when drivers may have to pay a very high toll if they wish to drive downtown when good public transportation is available. Because some time, somehow, we have to try to clear and clean our cities. LLT'S STAItr WiTh wipM You're LtAIME9 PaREEIATron pit 1Quit 'OWE 404(e r9rit5tMrl $0006t- • • • One complication Several members of Exeter council have recently expressed a desire to have another set of traffic control lights erected at the Huron and Main St. intersection. There may be some merit in the suggestion, although the hint that the sur- vey will he conducted by council at a peak Friday afternoon time is obviously un- realistic, although the traffic flow at that time should be taken into consideration with that of more normal situations. However, members should pay some heed to comments made at previous council meetings by one of their own members, Tom MacMillan. As a resident of Main St. a few yards dis- tance from the present lights at the Sanders and Main intersection, Councillor MacMillan has remarked that the lights play a part in increased "noise pollution" in his area. The main culprits are large trucks activating their air brakes to get stopped, followed by the noise of their eingines as they shift- gears to get going again. Of course, cars screaching to a halt or "bur- ning rubber" as they take off add to the problem. The point is, the proposed lights would be as close to South Huron Hospital as the pre- sent ones are to Councillor MacMillan's. Unlike Mr. MacMillan, patients would be bothered during the day and not just the evening. • We feel it's an important point to be considered by council and certainly Coun- cillor MacMillan should be able to provide some "expert" advice on the noise factor that may create a hardship for patients at the hospital. Wife swapping? Not for me 40.62:Wx,4ME:''MI:ER,vommilyzatiommnytnimmogamemmimearmasommerwormai Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 exefeRhties-Abuccafe 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 — Susan Greer Phone 235.1331 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation, March 31, 1972, 5,037 SUBSCRIPTION' RATES: Canada $8.00 Per Year; USA $10.130 She never had it so good Hereby a few notes of ob- servation, condemnation and celebration. What is there to celebrate? Why, man, it's Spring. Not only by the calendar, which happens every year, but by the signs, which happen about once a decade. The grass is gren And birds are seen The cat wants out And I've lost my gout The snow is gone I can see my lawn No mounds of ice How awfully nice I want to sing, It must be spring, There. A Canadian who does not celebrate the actual as well as official arrival of the vernal equinox should be run out of the country as a base-born traitor. Each time winter comes around, which it seems to do about every four months, I think we all have a little secret dread that this time it might never end, that winter will go on and on and on until we have shrivelled into arthritic, gnome-like creatures with permanently dripping noses and a perpetual cough. Maybe I'd feel differently if I were a farmer, but I could have kissed that first crow I saw, drifting over the drifts in February. That much-maligned creature, the crow, is to Canadian winter- haters what the warm breath of a maiden is to a juvenile just before his first kiss. This year, the whole dream seems real, so crack open that crock of vintage stuff, do a little soft-shoe shuffle, and go out and kiss the mud in your back yard. It may be the last time you can celebrate such a miracle for the next fifteen Marches. That's the celebration part. Now for some condemnation. With the disappearance of the snow, we can see what Nature so gracefully covered for a few months — all the filth that man has been sweeping under the white carpet. It's a junk-man's paradise: rags, bones and bottles. A few companies who appear to have some semblance of conscience are announcing plans for recycling of cans and bottles but the great majority of canners and bottlers are rolling right ahead with their apparent project of covering Canada to a depth of one foot, from coast to coast, with empty cans and non-returnable bottles. Congratulations are due to those who are making an effort, and the utmost contempt must be awarded to those who show their contempt for everything except the bucks by defecating their cans and bottles in our ,living room — Canada, Strange, isn't it, how govern- ments respond? Let a little guy burn some leaves in his back yard and the law is right on his back, He's broken the by-law, he's a rotten polluter, he's a disgrace to the community, and he shall be punished, promptly and ruthlessly. But when it comes to taking on a big guy, a vast corporation, government stands by, deploring and wringing its hands, and occasionally administering a slap on the wrist with a velvet glove, in the form of a tiny fine that makes the company's directors roar with laughter before they go happily back to pouring their poisons into the environment. In the matter of bottles, government could show a lead that would not imperil a single politician, which seems to be the Canadian Dream. It could insist that liquor and wine bottles be returned for use over and over again. I'm sure the distillers and vintners wouldn't quarrel with such a practice, as long as it didn't cost them. In fact, they'd he ahead. Some of those fancy bottles must cost as much as it does to produce the poison that goes into them, That's my condemnation bit for this week. Now, some ob- servations on these peculiar days in which we live. A couple of big-league American baseball pitchers decided according to the news, to swap not only wives but families. Then one of them tried to back out. The other was indignant. "I thought he was my buddy," he wailed. Wife-swapping, particularly in suburbia, is no new phenomenon. These chaps merely extended the custom. It's one that has never ap- pealed much to me. There have been occasions, and I know it's mutual, when I would have There's a little matter that needs correcting. It's the opinion a great number of, people hold that "spring break" is a time when mothers have their offspring under their care for a whole week and end up in various degrees of physiCal and mental exhaustion.' Well, don't you believe it! It may happen in a few cases, but not in "hockey families" and judging from the numbers with whom we were associated last week, that includes most of the males in Exeter — plus a few females. Hate to bore you with statistics, but this writer lugged his two offspring around to no less than four arenas and watched at least a dozen hockey games and two practices, Now you may be quick to reply that the better half still had to tend them during the daytime hours, but thats, not quite correct. She took full advantage of the busy schedule and set up stringent rules for those who wished to jaunt about the countryside and arrive home at midnight. "Sleep in," she advised each night as they trudged off to bed, their heavy eye lids half closed with exhaustion after watching the Mitchell and Exeter Hawks battle it out in their contests. By mid-afternoon, when the lads were just starting to get going again, she advised them they had to have a rest if they wanted to go out that evening to take in another contest. swapped my wife for a second- hand pair of hip waders. But for another woman? Well, I look around at the wives of all my men friends. They're lovely girls, the wives, everyone of them. However, I'm one of those old- fashioned chaps who can see little advantage to deserting the frying-pan for the fire, And you know what? I'll bet my wife won't understand that as a compliment. "It's about all we've been able 'to put away for a rainy day!" FOREST FIRES BURN MORE THAN TREES Despite their displeasure, the nap was still considered better than having to stay home from the arena. Thursday we were off to Listowel for a mite tournament, and after watching the Waxers in their two contests and three other games in between, we rushed home in time to make it to the Exeter arena for the face-off between the local pee wees and Pe trolia . Friday morning was hockey practice, the Hawks at night and then we hit the road again for a mite tournament in Belmont, Saturday. As this was written Friday morning, there was still a chance of another Exeter-Mitchell Hawk game and no doubt we'll be there too. Father is hoarse, his feet have constant chills, the skate- tightening finger is again raw and sore, our stomach is full of hotdogs and Pepsi and somehow we've missed out on a lot of sleep. '° .Mother of course, is slightly upset mentally about the spring break, but only because its over. She now faces the prospect of having her two school-age sons to look after for their few hours between school and bedtime. + + + Heck, she never had it so good! One nice thing about not being affluent is the fact you don't have to worry about your summer cottage being washed into one of the Great Lakes. 50 Years Ago The members of the Live Wire class of Main Street Sunday School of which Miss E. Follick is -the teacher, conducted the ser- vices of the school on Sunday afternoon last, Mr. Lyle Statham acted as superintendent. The review of the lessons of the quarter was taken by Edward Aldsworth, Benson Tuckey, Tom Pryde and Howard Dignan, Maurice Ford presided at the piano while Edgar Rundle acted as secretary and Russell Brint- nell as postmaster. Mr. Cliff Davis has resigned his position at Heaman's Hardware and is leaving for Windsor, The Exeter Lawn Bowling Association held its annual meeting Thursday evening of last week with about 20 members present. The election of officers resulted as follows: honorary presidents, J.J. Merner, H. Ether, Wm. Black and Andrew Hicks; president, G.E. Ander- son; vice-president, H. Spack- man; secretary R.N. Creech; treasurer, T,S, Woods, Messrs. Young and Clark have enlarged and remodelled their ice-cream parlor at the Com- mercial Hotel at Hensall. 25 Years Ago Caven Presbyterian Church has extended a call to Rev. Donald Sinclair of Allendale to become minister to succeed the late Rev. Kenneth MacLean. Mr. Stanley Love, Kippen, held a successful auction sale on Thursday. A combined meeting of the four Farm Forums met for the last meeting of the season in Thames Rod Sunday School rooms, Four reels of educational films were shown. Mr, Harold Murray, who has been in charge of the Canada Packers plant in 'Exeter, left this week for Berwick, N.S. to take over the management of a milk plant, Despite the vast amount of damage already created by rising waters and storms, we're told that the lakes won't hit their peak until May or June, so even more cottages will be endangered as sands and clay banks succumb to nature's wrath. Many comments recorded recently indicate that many are not too sympathetic towards the cottage owners being adversely affected, as they suggest they should have known better than to build so close to the water in the first place, That may have some merit, but it is now apparent that few people envisioned the height 'to which the waters are now reaching and certainly when lakefront property was pur- chased some years ago there was no indication it was in jeopardy. However, we imagine there will be little financial assistance given to those who have lost summer cottages. They're classed in the category of luxuries and taxpayers who can't afford 'such things in the first place can hardly be expected to dip into their pockets and con- tribute tax dollars to benefit someone who has such a luxury. The only fellows smiling along the lakeshore these days are those in the "second row" at subdivisions. They can clearly see that the misfortune of others may well bring them the benefit of having a lakefront lot in the near future. , The canvass in Hensall for the funds for the erection of a new recreational centre is off to a good start, 15 Years Ago Rev, N.D. Knox of Trivitt Memorial Church, Exeter, an- nounced to his congregation Sunday morning that he had accepted a call to Trinity Church, Lambeth, Paula Boulianne, of Crediton, was awarded third prize in a province wide lyrical verse- speaking competition at Toronto Monday afternoon, A carload of western saddle horses were received by CNR freight by Dalton Finkbeiner, Exeter, These horses aren't for the farm, but to fill a demand for riding horses, Bill Pollen, academic award winner, track champion, team athlete and student official, has been chosen as the outstanding boy at SI-IDHS this year. 10 Years Ago John Hall, RR 2, Ailsa Craig, won the annual McIntosh public speaking contest at the University of Western Ontario this week. He is a law student and SHI)HS graduate, Emmanuel Baptist Church; Exeter, was officially recognized as a Baptist Church by the delegates from the South Western Association of Fellowship Baptist Churches this week. J.A. Traquafr, who this week celebrates 50 years in the hard- ware industry received the Estwing Gold Hammer award from William King, district representative of Cochrane- Dunlop which distributes Est- wing hammers in this area, Exeter Figure Skating Club presented their annual carnival, "Artistry on Ice" to more than 500 people at the arena Saturday night, Drive safely :',111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111110111011111111M1111111111111I111111111111111111111111111111111111101111111011111111 0.-: NOTICE ANTI RABIES VACCINATION CLINICS 1973 Free The Health of Animals Branch of the Canada Department of Agriculture, in co-operation with the Perth County Health District Unit and all Municipal Councils, will conduct Clinics for the vaccination of dogs and cats at the following Clinics; = = Fr: FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1973 = = STAFFA Township Garage • 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p,m. 74- = FULLARTON Township Shed 2 p.m.-5 p.m. = S = = E KIRKTON MONDAY, APRIL 2, 1973 =_ = = = RANNOCH Kirkton Veterinary Clinic 9:30 - 12 Noon E Township Hall ( basement) 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. E.-- = s' = = = — = This service is offered FREE OF CHARGE to pet owners —=— _ regardless of County of residence and they are urged to pre- = = Si sent their pets for vaccination at any clinic. Dogs should be on a leash, and accompanied by an adult. Cats to be properly --±-= F restrained. = = . = a = = NOTE: Immunity following anti rabies vaccination is not per- E E manent; hence, annual re-vaccinations are g = recommended. The Health of Animals Branch, the Health Unit and the local Municipality are not responsible for accidents. 51111111111111111111111111111101111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111W Your Will, Your Lawyer and V and G Everybody needs a will. Every will needs competent administration. Go to your lawyer [or your will — to V and G to assure that what you leave goes where you want it. Eighty years of experience in administering estates stands behind our judgment and assures corporate continuity in carrying out your wishes. VG The senior Trust Company devoted entirely to serving the people of Ontario. 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