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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-04-03, Page 4Alcohol big problem Man's Pedigree Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree Discussing things as they're said to be Said one to the others "Now listen you two There's certain rumor that can't,be true That man descended from our noble race The very idea is sure a disgrace No monkey has ever deserted his wife Starved her babies and ruined her life And you've never known another monk To leave her babies with another to bunk Or pass them on from one to another Till they hardly know which one is their mother GEORGE And another thing you will never see A monk build a fence round a coconut tree And let the coconut waste Forbidding all other monks to taste Why, if I put a fence around this tree Starvation would force you to steal from me And here's something else a monk won't do Go out at night and get in a "stew" Or use a gun or a club or knife To take some other poor monkey's life Yes, man descended—the ornery cuss- But, brother, he didn't descend from us!" This column is being written in considerable pain. It is caused by one of three things. but I haven't time to see a doctor because I have to write my column. So don't be surprised if it breaks off in the middle. It's a sharp, biting pain in the chest. But don't worry, gentle reader It only hurts when I cough, laugh, blow my nose or take a deep breath. Possibly it's a heart attack, which seems to be the current fad among my peers these days. I hope it's not, because I dislike chasing after popular trends. On the other hand, it may be an attack of pleurisy. I have a cough like a lion, and am spewing oysters into tissues, toilet paper and the snow, depending on when the fit strikes me. A third possibility is that I twisted a muscle in my chest yesterday when I fell on a ski slope and decided to plow the last 50 yards with my nose, winding up in a contortion of limbs that would have made Houdini green with envy. Personally, I, subscribe to the third theory, mainly because it makes me seem like a clean- living chap, and secondly because I don't like the sound of the other two, Each is a bit fraught, At any rate, this ominous - or silly - little pain OUCH! (I just sneezed) has made me give serious thought to a topic that is all the rage these days - corporal punishment in our schools. 11 's almost as popular as capital punishment for criminals, and is even more widely discussed for, while criminals make up a com- paratively small segment of our society, rotten kids are always there in great numbers. Usually, the business of beating kids is seen in black and white. On the one hand, you have the fundamentalists, who go back to the Bible with that old chestnut, "Spare the rod and spoil the child.- These people forget that several of the disciples were fishermen, and that what this particular one meant was, "If you don't let the kid useyour spare rod once in a while, he'll grow up to be a lousy angler." On the other side are the other crazies: psychologists, who think a kid who is thumped will be warped for life; mothers who read articles by psychologists; and former child-beaters who are now school principals. And in between, as usual are all the confused, decent and sensible people like you and me and the Moderator of the United Church of Canada, who thinks the strap should be brought back. Both the extreme camps, of course, are full of crap. In the first group, we have people who were whipped unmercifully when they were kids, and by some weird type of logic, now claim it Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Doesn't hurt to raise cain Published Each Thursday Morning ' at Exeter, Ontario Second ClasS Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation March 31, 1974, .5,300 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $9,00 Per Year; USA $11.00 Phone 2351331 e. A mittee concluded that a third of the ad- missions to mental hospitals, jails and courts, and 36 percent of the welfare bill was directly attributable to over-use of alcohol. The identifiable direct cost to the province in 1971 was $17,5 million. That did not include the cost of alcohol-related crimes, accidents in industry, or police costs, One way of reducing consumption, the article suggests, is to increase the price. It points out that compared to other prices and to incomes, the cost of drink has been steadily dropping. During a recent period when the cost of food went up 16 percent, the cost of alcohol went up two and a half percent. Twenty years ago a dozen beer cost seven percent of the Canadian average weekly income. Today it costs about three percent, Addiction Research Foundation statistics show that when price goes down, consumption always goes up. When price goes up, consumption goes down. parents and community leaders who in any way play a part in molding young people. One of the basic problems is the op- tionalism being provided our young scholars. They are allowed wide choices in their subject matter, and many have strayed away from courses demanding some expertise in the basic "three r's" and it is therefore only natural that their skills in some areas are almost non-existent. The lack of knowledge of Canadian history and current events proven in a re- cent survey among 3,500 senior Canadian high school students is almost disgraceful and certainly makes a mockery of the suggestion that we live in an age of instant communications with news of our country and the world instantly at our fingertips. The survey proves that students—and no doubt their elders—spend too much time in front of the TV watching the endless diet of cops and robbers blasting their way across our screens.. Some remedial action in all areas of our education—both formal and infor- mal—need some drastic changing before the evolution process .takes us back to the grunts and sign language of our antecedents. Some potholes and loopholes Senior citizens in Exeter As The Mayor Sees.. Back to grunts The social costs of drinking are soaring inexorably in Canada as the amount of drinking goes up, The United Church Observer warns in its current issue. If Canada's drinking laws were further liberalized, to compare with those in a country such as France, it would mean "four times more alcoholics, traffic ac- cidents, crimes, mental and physical ill- ness, broken homes, welfare, medicare and insurance payments," writes manag- ing editor James Taylor. The social and moral costs of alcohol are related to the average consumption, he points out, and not to the number of alcoholics, Canadians now drink 30 percent more alcohol each than they did 25 years ago, Taylor reports. In addition, the proportion of adults who drink has jumped from 60 percent to 80 percent, placing Canada 12th in the world in consumption, ahead of such traditional hard-drinkers as the Scan- dinavians and Irish. In Saskatchewan, a government corn- It's rather ironical that at a time when teachers are seeking pay increases in the range of 40 percent that other people across the nation are telling us that our schools are turning out students who are barely literate and have little knowledge of Cana- dian history or current events. In addition, we are told that Canadian students can't spell, have trouble with sim- ple arithmetic and in general are not a well educated group. At a recent newspaper meeting it was suggested that in the near future, the copy being turned out by recent graduates of journalism courses at universities and community colleges would have to proofread BEFORE they went to the typesetters so the spelling and grammar could be corrected before it was set in print. Obviously, it's a rather depressing situation, and while we are not suggesting that teachers alone are to blame for the malady, they must surely be challenged into some soul-searching to determine if they are really doing the job for which they are being paid. School authorities at all levels must shoulder part of the blame, along with SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.WA.A. and ABC Publisher Robert Southcott Editor — Bill Batten - Advertising Manager Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Plant Manager — Les Webb Composition Manager — David Worby was good for them. They can hardly wait for a chance to get their own back And in the second group are all the other people who were whipped unmercifully when they were kids and are trying to prove that that is what made them queer ever since. I despise both groups, and will stick with the great mass in the middle. Most of us were whipped, at one time or another, but not unmercifully, and we deserved every stroke of the hairbrush, skelp of the yardstick, and swich of the willow-switch. It didn't warp us, psychologically or physically. It taught us something about the society we would be living in - that there are certain limits, and if you transgress them, you take your licks. My mother used to work over my kid brother and me about once a week, whether we needed it or not.She used a fly-swatter, which has a sting like a scorpion, or a yardstick, if we got under the bed, and the fly-swatter wouldn't reach. It did us no harm whatever and probably saved her sanity. The same brother and I were in the same class in school, and once a week our teacher, Old Mary Walker, would give us a good strapping, along with a buddy, G G. Relyea. We thought the world of her. The strappings Amalgamated 1924 It's difficult to heap praise on potholes, but they do provide some benefits. Traffic speed is considerably reduced at this time of year as drivers relax their foot on the gas pedal to navigate through the uneven terrain evident on most streets in town and on some country roads, Even the hot-rodders won't risk broken springs and sprained shock absorbers and as a result the streets become a safer place for everyone. The potholes provide a most economical alternative to those "speed bumps" used in some places to slow traffic. They require no engineering and in addition provide a sense of ad- venture because they virtually leap out at drivers at the moment they least expect one. Unfortunately the hazards they present outweigh the advantages in most instances, although if nature would cooperate and put the holes in proper places they could be left with the resulting saving in tax dollars and the shattered nerves caused by speeders on town streets and country roads. + + + Note that a chap by the name of Robert Orben has come up with a foolproof plan to get rid of the recession. "Carefully wrap it up, seal it with tape, tie it with cord, mark it fragile, insure it, take it to the post office . . . and it will never stung, but once in a while, we'd jerk back our hand, and she'd hit herself a good crack on the thigh, which doubled the number of each hand but raised our status in the class. There are only two reasons for a teacher to use a strap: 1) he or she is a poor teacher, and 2) to add a little drama to the monotony of the classroom. A word to the bleeding-hearts. There are a lot more insidious ways to warp a child's per- sonality than physical punish- ment. The real sadists of the classroom, and they are few, thank goodness, are those who use personal harassment, hec- toring, and sarcasm. These can do far more permanent damage than a good thump. Naturally my sympathies in this affair are with the teacher. I have no time for the bully, The teacher with strength of character has few discipline problems. But what about the sensitive young lady teacher who asks a lout to do something and he says: "Screw you."? So the punk gets a "suspen- sion" fora few days (translation: holiday). If I had the say, I'd turf him out of school for a year, and let his parents put up with him. It would serve both parties right. he heard of again," he suggests. + + + That loose change you have in your pocket doesn't buy much these days, but it may even be worth less than you imagined. Down in Georgetown, some counterfeit 25 cent pieces have been found. A shop owner there received a phony quarter and while it passed the eye test, when he bit on the coin his teeth sunk in. The odd coin was made of lead. Anyone who has gone to that much trouble to make worthless money out of something that is almost worthless in itself in today's inflated market place, must have a great deal of time on his hands. However, give the chap the benefit of the doubt, He may only have had in mind a chance to do his bit to ease the present coin shortage. If more of the coins crop up in Ontario, don't he too surprised to see people walking around biting coins before they accept them. Sounds as though the dentists may benefit from the racket as well. + + + Speaking of inflation, there's a story about a woman who reported that a crook stole $75 worth of groceries from her car. Took it right out of the glove compartment! + + + Few would argue with the desirability of encouraging in- dividual Canadians to save and invest and a tax break often provides the best incentive. But, in the scramble to achieve a variety of economic objectives, or correct some inequities, the Canadian tax system is becoming cluttered with complexities and loopholes that in the end may do 40 Years Ago It was decided at the council meeting on Monday evening to place a system of upright stan- dards on both sides of Main St. from Huron to Gidley St. The lights will be 150 feet apart. In this way the lighting capacity will be doubled. On Tuesday evening a beautiful religious play was presented by the CGIT in James St. Church under the capable leadership of Miss Flossie Hunter and Miss Reta Rowe. The play was entitled "Lydia, the Seller of Purple." At a meeting in the Exeter Library on Wednesday evening an organization was set up to revive the lawn bowling in Exeter. For many years Exeter enjoyed a live ' bowling organization with one of the finest greens in the past 25 years, Already over 45 have signified the intention of becoming members. 25 Years Ago Julie Dunlop was named the best actress in the play "Charlie's Aunt" presented by pupils of Exeter High School last week. A fire completely destroyed the race barn at the Community Park Saturday evening and only one horse of the seven stabled there was saved. Exeter District School Board will banquet the basketball teams which this year won two WOSSA championships, 15 Year Ago Exeter will be one of some 19 Western Ontario hockey teams more harm than the good they were indended to achieve. Take the Registered Home Ownership Savings Plan (ROSP) which lends itself to uses for which it surely wasn't intended. Designed to encourage young couples to save to buy their homes, tax advisors have talked for months about the possibility of shifting the family home from one spouse to another and then back again so that each could, in turn have that once-in-a-lifetime ROSP. It could well be worthwhile, since if the money from a ROSP is used to buy the house from the other spouse, or for furnishings, it will have escaped tax altogether. Gimmidks like these add up to bad tax policy according-to some tax authorities because they favor the nimble and ad- venturous while discriminating against the unsophisticated and those without professional tax advice. + + + We trust readers have been following the reports being submitted by the committee studying a new sports complex for the South Huron area. Committeee members have been giving the subject some careful consideration and the points they have been raising should therefore be given some careful consideration by area ratepayers, who sooner or later will be presented with the final report for their decision. It behooves everyone to digest the comments and reports being made so a decision can be reached on the basis of facts as they are revealed. participating in the Brampton Lions Club Novice Hockey tournament over the Easter holidays. Exeter Mohawk's "Buddy" Dietrich received the Gerry Smith goaltending trophy Tuesday night for the second straight year, as the agile net- minder once again proved to be the best in the WOAA Group 1 intermediate league. Members of the Exeter Lions Club entertained their children at the supper meeting at Arm- strong's Restaurant Thursday evening. to Years Ago Two SHDHS leaders, Carolynne Simmons and Bryan Baynham, expressed their views that teens are not ready for the lowering of the legal age of 18 to permit them to consume alcohol and to vote, A Crediton native, F. W. Clark, celebrated his 90th birthday. He operated the Crediton Rural Telephone System for 27 years, as well as being the Crediton Bell Telephone manager for a lengthy period. Clerk C. V. Pickard reported this week there were ap- proximately 14 applications for the position of police constable which became vacant when Constable Lloyd Hodgins ter- minated his service, Red Cross Blitz chairman Reg Beavers noted that the $1,1100 collected by the Lions Club was almost double from the previous year. Huron MP Elston Cardiff Cardiff was one of the five Veteran members honored in the House of Commons last week, BY BRUCE SHAW On March 18, council called for an open meeting of senior citizens to discuss problems and concerns that retired and near retired men and women face living in our community. The turnout, although ex- pected, was still disappointing with approximately 25 people, out of over 700, in attendance. Those who were there, however, thought that there had been definite value in the meeting, and a subsequent meeting is planned for the near future. There were several areas of concern that were brought to my attention during the recent campaign and since I assumed office dealing with the plight of senior citizens, Many centre on recreation.: what have you got for elderly women?, what's the idea of this recreation complex? Why aren't things organized for us? how can I belong to the club? Organized recreation in Exeter is administered or guided by RAP, Two members of RAP are council appointees who compose the social services committee (Lossy Fuller and Harold Pat- terson), Their concern, in part, is to meet the problems of the seniors. (Both attended the meeting on March 18.) The difficulty for RAP and council lies in the fact that there is no single group that can act as spokesman for the seniors, either collectively or individually. It would appear reasonable that the seniors be brought together under one group. The existing clubs and organizations could continue to function as they do presently, but one overall body would co-ordinate the activities of- seniors in Exeter. The executive of such a body would be composed of representatives of both the clubs and the non- member's living in town. This body would work with RAP in applying for grants, for instance, so as to avoid another 'mistake' such as that involving the Scout House. Need a mat To the Editor A number of active people in this community are attempting to improve the programs available for wrestling, judo and gym- nastics. As well, they are hoping to increase the opportunities for young people to get involved in these sports. To achieve this, it will be necessary to purchase a proper mat surface. The only mat surface now available is at the High School, and to say the least it is inadequate. A new mat area would improve the quality in these sports as much as hockey would improve if a community were changing from natural to artificial ice. A good quality four-piece mat surface costs almost $5,000. The High school has agreed to budget $1,500.00 for the mat. A number of young people in the community involved in wrestling, judo and gymnastics are attempting to raise $3,500. The mat when purchased will be used, stored, and maintained by the High School but will be available to anyone in the community involved in wrestling, judo or gymnastics assuming, of course, that they are properly supervised. Your help is needed, There are 500 tickets being sold at $10.00 each for a raffle and stag to be held at the.Exeter Arena, Friday April 25. The ticket admits two and gives the ticket holders a chance to win $750 in prizes, as well as enjoy a good meal and social evening. The raffle is sponsored by the newly formed South Huron Wrestling Association with assistance from people involved in the Exeter and district gym- nastics and judo clubs. Please remember to come out and support these minor sports, The new mat will give many young people the opportunity not only to participate but improve their skills. Ask anyone involved with young people, actively in- volved students seldom cause unnecessary worry to concerned parents, Thanks, Doug Ellison Is this fair? Mr. Editor: I wish to bring to the public's attention what I feel to be unfair usage of our Community Center, for purposes other than Com- munity enjoyment. It appears that anybody having But recreation. is only one area with which council is concerned. We are currently involved with a senior citizen housing project; ninny have talked to us about a nursing home; and there is talk in other municipalities of plans and projects available to senior citizens to help them with drug, medical and dental problems as well as legal, financial and in- come tax assistance. Another worry facing all of us or certainly should face all of us, as citizens is the man or woman confined to the home. Exeter United Church has the 'meals on wheels project' which is a tremendous start in meeting the needs of the shut-ins, But in many cases, a short, simple visit is the answer. We should be actively interested in those who cannot leave their homes, for those who are isolated from the rest of the community. All of us should be involved, but the 'younger seniors' can, in a large part, satisfy this need, Who would better know who these people are, and who would better understand their problems? What's the answer? I don't know if it would work, but I can see an active executive of the senior's with the help of a social convener (as suggested by one of the young seniors) establishing contacts with the rest of the community to determine both needs and solutions. The executive could in- vestigate concerns. brought to it both council, RAP and the commun ity at large. It would be a significant voice, in turn, in presenting requests for action to both Council and RAP. Bul , in spite of the enthusiasm that many of us have to improve the lot of the seniors, absolutely nothing will be done unless we are encouraged by the seniors, especially the 'younger seniors', to act. We realize too that many may not want any assistance, and many may not want to take part in any community endeavor, but the opportunity is being offered. See you at the next meeting. a 25th wedding anniversary or wedding reception which would indicate that they are between the ages of 18 and 50 years have priority on the hall. Anyone else, especially children, grade 7-9 which represents ages 11 to 16 pay exactly the same amount although I question their earning power. A recent incident occurred when a group of youngsters from Dashwood community set up a dance for the children of the town and surrounding areas. The dance was advertised by posters as providing money for Camp Sylvan, through Stephen Central School. $32.10 was paid through a 50 cents admission and $30.00 was paid to Dashwood Com- munity Center Board. Is this fair? Whose community is this? All adults or do our children count? LeRoy M. Gowanlock Travel info Dear Sir: As you may be aware, recent surveys have indicated that Canadians are, on the whole, a nation of travellers. At the present time over 10 percent of the population is in possession of a valid passport, As the holiday season is just over the horizon it is safe to assume that the majority of these passport holders as well as a considerable number of new applicants may soon be preparing for the annual summer exodus beyond the national boundaries. Inevitably, a certain per- centage of this group, through the lack of awareness of local customs, social taboos or local laws and regulations, may en- counter problems and pitfalls, and may require the assistance of Canadian embassies and con- sular posts abroad. Furthermore, there are oc- casions when political upheavals or climatic disasters in certain parts of the work,' can make it difficult, or even temporarily dangerous, for Canadians to visit such areas, One of the functions of the Bureau of Consular Ser- vices is to caution would-he- travellers by all available means of possible problems or dangers they may encounter. Another is to work closely with posts abroad in giving whatever possible assistance whenever Canadians do find themselves in difficulty in a foreign country. Therefore, the old adage "forewarned is forearmed" — Please turn to Page 5 „