HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-04-08, Page 4•
Exeter Council acted decisively Mon-
day night when it gave approval to the
building of a new arena and hall and also
came up with an acceptable agreement
with the Exeter and Area Heritage Founda-
tion for the old town hall,
It was a refreshing change from the
hedging and stalling that Council had
gotten itself into during recent months
everytime a tough or contentious issue
came up.
As one member of the South Huron
Recreation Centre Committee put it, a
council is a body of elected officials and the
public expects it to make decisions.
Otherwise, who will?
We realize that decisions are not
always easy and that the complicated ones
require more time for thought and con-
sideration, But sometimes time, itself, is of
the essence. It is a fine thing to be an ac-
curate marksman by taking careful aim,
but shooting from the hip can also have its
virtues, especially if the clay pigeon is
about to soar out of sight.
With regard to an arena, there can be
little criticism of Council in terms of the
time spent in deliberation. Two public
meetings were held and the results of those
meetings were weighed before a final deci-
sion was made. It would have hardly have
been prudent if Council had proceeded to
decide on a recreation centre without first
testing the feelings of the community on so
expensive and exhaustive a project.
Now it will be up to the other area
municipal councils to decide if they want to
share in the project. It will also be up to the
general public. Decisions, after all, do not
rest in the hands of government alone. The
door has been left open by Council, and a
swimming pool facility could still be added
to the project if the public and the other
councils involved make it clear to Exeter
Council that this is what is wanted and peo-
ple are ready to support it, both morally
and financially.
Council cannot be so readily corn-
The population of Canada is 22 million,
but there are 7 million over 65 years of age,
heaving 15 million to do the work. People
under 21 total 10 million, leaving 5 million
,to do the work. Two million government
employees leave 3 million to do the work.
Five hundred thousand in the armed
forces leave 2,500,000 workers. Deduct 1,-
250,000 provincial, municipal and city
employees, which leaves 1,250,000 to do the
Who works these days
Decisions, decisions
work. There are 250,000 people in hospitals,
asylums, etc. leaving 1,000,000 to do the
work.
Now it may interest you to know that
there are 80,000 people out of the country at
any one time and 19,988 people in jail so
that leaves just two people to do all the
work.
And that is you and me, Brother, and
I'm getting tired of doing everything by
myself !
plimented on its handling of the old town
hall issue, however.
Looking back over the long months
since the question of renovating the
building or tearing it down first appeared
on a Council agenda, one is left with the
feeling that no one on Council wanted to
take the responsibility for making a final
decision. One minute there would be ap-
proval for a LIP grant to fix it up and the
next, someone would be griping that the
restoration was going to cost the town too
much money.
It is now April. Two stop-work orders
later the Heritage Foundation finally has
total freedom to allow their workers to
proceed on the LIP grant which runs out of
time in just three short months. There is a
chance that the Foundation will not be able
to take full advantage of the $11,500.
In another incident last fall, Council's
indecision with regard to taking the belfry
down or leaving it up cost the Town some
$3,000 while a crane and work crew waited
to do the job.
Looking at the two issues, saving the
old town hall and constructing a new arena,
there is little doubt in our mind that the
latter was the more popularly supported by
the local citizenry. It seems a little ironic
to us that it took only two months (from the
time that the present arena was con-
demned) for Council to take decisive action
on a new arena proposal, whereas it took
well over a year to do the same for the less
popular issue.
We're not trying to take anything away
from what looks to us to be a pretty solid
move on the part of Council with regard to
the arena situation. We liked what we saw
Monday night.
But wouldn't it be nice if our municipal
government could see fit to make strong,
effective decision-making an integral part
of its operation?
As for the town hall, we're glad to see
its still standing, thanks to the Exeter and
District Heritage Foundation.
Rejoice! I have found
that which was lost
Rushing to the phone I dialed
the plumber who wasn't in but his
wife sympathized with me, said if
there hadn't been too much water
run, the rings might have lodged
in the gooseneck below the sink,
But if a lot of water had been
running , . well, it was
anybody's guess. She assured me
her husband would come after
five when he got home.
Still standing by the phone I
prayed, "Oh Lord, you have told
'us to give thanks for everything
but I confess I can't stir up much
enthusiasm about my rings lying
out there in the sewer. However, I
will thank you for this lesson and
I promise I will never be so
careless again,"
With that, I turned from the
phone and my eyes lit on a two
quart carton holding garbage
beside the sink. Was it possible
. . . could it be the rings were in
that garbage?
I dumped it out on a piece of
newspaper. There they were , . .
my two precious rings,
Hallaleuhjah! But where was my
daughter's, I mauled. through it
all but the ring wasn't there. Had
it alone gone down the drain?
There was an empty frozen
orange juice can about one third
full of bacon fat. I got a fork and
raked through it . . . and up came
the ring.
The relief, the joy was over
powering. Like the woman in
Jesus' parable I called out,
"Rejoice with me for I have
found that which was lost," I
phoned the plumber's wife, she
was almost as happy as I. I called
my friend, and I told the kids
coming in from school. I was
happy, happy, happy.
No matter how the rings had
got lost. If anyone was to blame
who cared? What mattered was
that they had been found.
And that's how it is with Jesus.
The joy of God when one person
who is lost and is found again is
like a woman who loses her most
precious possession which has
value far beyond money, and
then finds it.
The thing about Christ, too, is
that He actually searches for the
lost ones, goes out and looks
for them, and having found them
asks no questions. He just takes
them back and rejoices.
Marvellous, isn't it?
When I was a boy, I used to
have occasionally what were
known in those days a "bilious
attacks." They included a
splitting headache and a stomach
so jittery it would accept
nothing but hot lemonade and
lady fingers of toast. They would
last two or three days, during
which I would withdraw from the
world into whooping and pain and
darkness.
Today, of course, I would be
sent first to a specialist, who
would diagnose migraines. If
they persisted, I would then
probably go to a psychiatrist,
who would decide that I was too
sensitive for the world and put
me on tranquilizers. At age 10, I'd
probably be an addict.
We've come a long way. In
those days, my mother would
spend hours stroking her fingers
through my hair, and gently
rubbing my scalp. And I would
emerge, rejoin the world, and
ravenously gorge the senses that
had been starved for a day or
two.
I haven't had one of those at-
tacks since I was a kid, though a
bad hangover, if I had ever
chanced to have one, would
probably have been a reasonable
parallel, Maybe I'm not too
Times Established 1873
sensitive for the world any more.
But I have been feeling rather
bilious, occasionally, in the last
year or two. And ever the curious
observer, I have looked around to
find what was causing the
problem.
Finally, I zeroed in on it. The
nausea is caused by the whining
of university professors con-
cerning the communicative skills
of today's students.
They'd never put it so simply.
But what they mean is that two
thirds of the people they accept
into university can't write a
decent sentence, let alone a
paragraph, and can't express
themselves orally in standard
English.
It's perfectly true, of course.
But why do they whimper about
it? Why do they try to blame the
high schools? Why do they accept
these students in the first place, if
they're not up to scratch?
I'll tell you why. It's because
they are so hard up for money,
they'll accept anything that can
prono,,,e, its own name and isn't
walking on all fours.
The universities have lowered
their own standards, even the
best of them, and proliferated
their courses, and introduced
"Mickey Mouse" courses and
Advocate Established 1881
highly flexible guidelines in the
desperate effort to get living
corpses onto their campuses.
They are body snatchers of the
20th century, in the scramble for
government grants.
A dozen years ago, if you failed
a subject in your graduating year
in high school, you failed your
year, and repeated it. Nowadays
you would graduate, even
though your over-all average was
56, and some third rate university
called Sir Wilfred McDonald
University of the Fine Arts would
sweep you into its folds with little
squeals of delight. •
And six months later, the head
of the English Department at
good old (five years) Sir Wilfred
would bemoan in the newspapers
that the college had to set up a
course in remedial English,
because it wasn't being taught
properly in the high schools, and
the Head of Math would say the
same thing.
It would never occur to them to
look at the high school marks of
Joe, who, with many peers, is
giving them the headaches,
They would find that Joe ac-
tually got 47 in English, and was
given 50 as a gift, so as not to
"hold him back." A mark of 50, to
anyone in the know, means a
Amalgamat&d 1924
CCNA
RUA MOON
AWARD
1974
Jim Beckett's
A feature article in Saturday's
London Free Press quotes
popular Canadian entertainer
Gordie Tapp as saying he pat-
terned his "Cousin Clem"
character after farmers he knew
in the Exeter area.
Gordie . . . this must have been
quite a few years ago, becadse
the farmers around here now are
certainly a far cry from the
hillbilly image of Cousin Clem
that was seen for so many years
on Country Hoedown and oc-
casionally on the Tommy
Hunter show.
Farmers have been the butt of
hundreds of jokes on television
and they certainly must be good
natured people not to do anything
about correcting the stereotyped
country bumpkin picture so often
created by entertainers.
Mr. Tapp could visit farm
homes in this area and it's
doubtful he could find anybody
that would even remotely
resemble his country cousin.
Farmers are as modern today
in their lifestyle as any of their
urban counterparts and their true
image would be closer to that ,of
"professional businessman"
"executive" than the bumbling,
not-too-bright-character , played
by Tapp.
All too often people in the cities
and towns forget how important
the farmer is to them. They
supply us with the most vital
commodity there is, food, and it
is through their skill at planting
and production that we are able
to eat better and cheaper than
any other country in the world.
Many farmers today have
hundreds of thousands of dollars
invested in expensive equipment
and large acreages that require
skillful management in order to
be successful. The days are long
gone when anybody with a strong
back and a lot of determination
could call themselves a farmer.
This breed has been replaced
by shrewd businessmen who
must possess all the skills
necessary to run a large
organization. They are people
who can make the right decisions
in keeping up with rapidly
changing technology in the
agricultural industry.
The skills of farming have been
failure. They would find, on
inquiring, that Joe had received
42 in math, but the guidance
department talked his math
teacher into giving him a 50,
because he had promised he
would never take math again. So
he enrolls in architecture.
I have taught under both the old
and new systems of education,
The old was ridiculous, a formula
of rote learning.
The new is just as silly. It is so
muddled that no one, least of all
the students, knows what is going
on. Such words as effort,
challenge, excellence, have been
thrown out like stale dishwater.
They have been replaced by
flexibility, individual choice, a
good learning situation, and the
creativity of the child,
What poppycock. What it
means is that everything is twice
as easy as it was, the chance of
failure is remote, and the
students are being shoe-horned
into an alien world that is as
different from school as Dracula
is from Anne of Green Gables,
But all is not lost. What the
university people, and those who
would revent to the old days of
lock-step, regimented education,
fail to realize is that today the
high schools are, at least, giving
some insight into the human
spirit, compassion, dignity, and
what life is really about, to
thousands of young people who, a
decade ago, would have been
turfed into the factors and dead
end jobs at age 16, grade 10,
Maybe that's one of the good
things about high unemployment,
There's no room for this
generation. So they stay in school,
They learn something.
more demanding in the past 10
years but the rewards seem to
have increased as well. Today a
visit to practically any farm
home will show as many or more
modern conveniences than most
of the homes in town. Color
televisions and dishwashers are
the rule rather than the "little 'ol
shack out back" most comedians
refer to when poking fun at
farmers.
Much has been said and written
lately about farmers making
more money than ever before.
Closer examination of the
various people who get their
share of our food dollar will show
the farmer getting the smallest
amount of money for the greatest
amount of work in producing the
product in the first place.
Yes Gordie, if you look a little
closer at what our farmers are
really like, you'll agree there are
more Cousin Clems on television
than in the fields.
April Fools
We only received four or five
comments on the two April Fool
stories that a couple of en-
terprising reporters managed to
slip by the editor last week.
I guess nobody got too excited
at the prospects of Lirpa Loof
was to come to town.
This writer received the shock
of his life last Thursday morning
when Jim Snowden, T-A resident
practical joker, told me to sit
down before opening the paper.
He greeted me at the back door
with a message that would make
any editor shudder in his boots.
"Page 14 didn't print at all, what
are you going to do about it?" It
only took a few seconds to check
the paper and you can imagine
the feeling of relief to discover
that it was in fact an April Fool's
trick.
I haven't heard of any pranks
50 Years Ago
Rev. D. McTavish who for
three years has been pastor of the
Crediton United Church has
accepted the invitation of James
St. Church to become their
pastor.
Coates-Harvey — At the James
St. United Church parsonage on
March 30, Thomas Clifford
Coates, son of Mr. & Mrs.
Richard Coates, of Usborne, to
Miss Elva Elizabeth, daughter of
Mr. Chas. Harvey of Exeter.
The following officers were
elected at the bowlers' meeting
on Thursday'evening: President,
T. Pryde, secretary, G. E.
Anderson, treasurer, E. J.
Christie, grounds committee, W.
C. Rivers, W. E. Sanders, C. B.
Snell and Rev, A. A. Trumper.
25 Years Ago
Public school children moved
into their new quarters Monday
morning.
Claiming that taxes on business
assessments for country pur-
poses are unfair, Exeter council
Monday night endorsed a petition
asking the provincial govern-
ment to ban the practice,
At a public meeting held March
20 in the Lucan Community
Centre in the interests of ar-
tificial ice, enthusiasm ran so
high that several thousand
dollars were donated that
evening.
Ivan Hearn of Lucan is the new
president of the Huron-Perth
Baseball Association which held
its original meeting, Thursday
night in Mitchell.
In the firstgame of a two-game
total-points series of the Ontario
final Intermediate "C" 0.A.B.A.
series, the Centralia R,C.A,F,
"Flyers", last year's
titleholders, defeated Oakville
Rotary Internationals, 56-47. at
the airport Saturday,
20 Years Ago
Mr. and Mrs. Lex McDonald
who have lived in Exeter for the
past eight years, will move to
Tillsonburg in the near future.
Irwin's of Clinton and Hensall
have purchased the business of
McKnight's Ladies' Wear and
plan to carry on as did Mr.
McKnight,
Over 500 entries have been
received for competition in the
three-day South Huron music
festival sponsored by the Huronia
Male Chorus,
Jim Etherington, RR 1 Hensall,
won the $10 first prize in The
Times-Advocate competition for
the best story describing the
Easter trip to Washington by
SHDHS students.
10 Years Ago
Brenda Dinney, 16, received
the title of "At-Home" Queen at
the SHDHS .dance Friday
evening,
The lowest tender received for
the construction of the addition
for the South Huron District High
School was over a half million
dollars or 25 percent higher than
estimated.
The village of Ailsa Craig
centennial grant was approved
this week. Their project will be to
erect commemorative gates with
an ornamental fence at the en-
trance of the recreation park.
The cost is estimated at $2,500.
Bruce Perry, agricultural
teacher at, the South Huron
District High School will be guest
speaker at the April meeting of
the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture.
In a rousing finish the Old
Timers edged the Bank Boys 7.6
to win the Exeter and District
Roe league hockey championship
at the' arena Thursday night in
the third and deciding game of
the final series.
If ever I felt akin to anyone, it
was with the woman Jesus tells
about who lost a valuable coin
and her search for it.
Some Biblical scholars think
the coin she lost may have been
one off her headdress, a silver
chain which linked together ten
silver coins and which was the
equivalent of a wedding ring. If
such is the case, then I identify
with her even more,
One day this week, I removed
my three rings, engagement, and
two others handed down to me by
my mother and placed them in a
small tumbler with some
cleaning solution. Leaving the
house in a hurry I forgot the rings
until I was several miles down
the road. However, I didn't worry
about them so sure was I they
would be safe until I returned
later in the day.
Arriving back home, I was
shaken to see the glass had been
emptied and that only one ring
was lying on the kitchen window
sill. Going into the bedroom
where our daughter was
recuperating from an illness, I
asked her if her father had said
anything about my rings when he
was home for lunch,
"No," she replied, "but when I
got up this morning and saw them
soaking in the cleaning fluid I put
my engagement ring in with
them."
Alarm signals rose higher.
Instead of two rings, there were
now three missing.
I went back to the sink, the
stopper was out and the drain
opening yawned ominously. If
my husband had inadvertently
emptied the glass not noticing the
rings they could certainly have
been washed down the drain.
"Keep calm and think
positively," I told myself.
Perhaps he had placed the rings
someplace else, but if so, why
was one of them on the window
sill? He couldn't be reached by
phone and I had no car, so I just
kept searching.
Finally my daughter's husband
arrived and he hastened away to
make inquiries of my husband, In
no time he was back reporting
that my mate knew nothing of the
rings except he had found one
lying in the sink after he had
tuna' and had placed it on the
window sill,
"You actually went to a psy-
chiatrist for two and a half
years?" we asked an otherwise
sane friend of ours.
Indeed she had and the cost
would have paid for two trips to
Europe. first class.
"Any regrets?"
"Every unusual experience is
valuable" she hedged, visions of
Viennese pastries fleeting
through her head. "If only my
family doctor hadn't decided my
headaches could be cured by a
psychiatrist, when as I dis-
covered two and a half years
later, new glasses were what
was needed."
"Well, tell us about it" we
suggested. And being a talkative
soul, she did.
"The key to it all was in the
psychiatrist's waiting room.
There was this fountain con-
sisting of a lion's head from
which water gushed to the floor
in two or three tiers — the whole
thing festooned with artificial
flowers and birds. There were
the vases of dead tree branches
too, each of them covered with
yellow parasitic moss which kept
on growing week by week. That
waiting room was a shocker, and
the fountain itself made one un-
holy racket.
"The great man himself sur-
prised me on my first visit, as I
waited, sipping tea. He pussy-
footed behind me, leaned on his
crazy fountain, and stared, Then
he silently picked up my teacup
which I had dropped, and
gestured me into his office, In
two and a half years I don't sup-
pose he uttered half a dozen
sentences."
"I thought 'the silent treat-
ment' was out, — that psy-
chiatrists reacted and dicussed
things. How did his method help
you"? we asked,
Our friend described what she
called 'The Therapeutic Silence'
by which she meant that the psy-
chiatrist's peaceful, relaxed
quietness caused her to feel free
to talk about whatever was
bothering her, "Perhaps that's
one trouble with going to a
shrink," she said. "You tend to
remember past, and present
grievances and store them up for
your weekly sessions. It might be
healthier to forget such
grievances or accept, them as
your portion of foul weather. But
he allowed you to come to your
senses about your troubles, With
a raised eyebrow or a muffled
guffaw he helped you see how sil-
ly it was to regard yourself as un-
ique in having them."
"Hmm" we said, "That was
mighty nice of him, allowing you
to smarten up about your
troubles. What else did he
'allow'"?
"He allowed me to love him —
as I still do and probably always
will,"
Somewhat cynically we asked
"did the great man return your
love?"
"You're like so many un-
enlightened people" she said,
"you confuse 'love' with owning
someone. You believe it has to be
reciprocal."
"Absolutely" we answered.
"But that's square", she said.
"You're still onto the love and
marriage bit. 'Big Daddy'
(everybody called him that), by
not acting horrified when you ob-
viously first got a crush on him,
cooled the adolescent part of it,
and as time wore on you realiz-
ed, at least I did, that he was an
immensely lovable guy. and his
quiet acceptance of this feeling
— because he certainly knew all
your feelings, sometimes before
you did, helped you realize it was
okay to love him."
"Now let me see," we said,
"you love him and you always
will. How will this affect other
relationships in your life?"
"It can enhance them by
'liberating' me, which Big Daddy
said was the goal. You see thanks
to my relationship with him, I
know it's okay to love anybody,
so long as I don't expect anything
in return. You're frowning again.
Look, isn't that the way Christ
loved? If you look for the lovable
aspects in everyone you meet,
not forgetting yourself, you start
living, really living." She took a
deep breath. That had been a
long speech for her,
"What was so important about
the lion's head?" we asked.
"A person with a lion's head
fountain in his waiting room says
volumes before you ever meet
him. He says 'laugh' because
there's only one alternative —"
"You can still go to Europe,"
we said — "they're putting on
special fares almost every
month."
ago
eaceferZimes-Abuocafe
SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND
C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS 'A' and ABC
Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited
Editor Jim Beckett — Advertising Manager
Women's Editor Gwyn Whilsmith
Plant Manager Jim Scott
Composition Manager — Dave Worby
Business Manager — Dick Jongkind
Phone 235-1331
Published Each Thursday Morning
at Exeter, Ontario
Second Class Mail
Registration Number 0386
Paid in Advance Circulation
September 30, 1975 5,420
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $9;00 Per Year; USA $11.00
other newspapers played on their
readers but first prize for the
media April Fools Trick of the
year will have to go to radio
station CHUM in Toronto. •
One of the morning disc
jockeys realistically staged his
own murder, complete with
sound effects, during his
program.
Apparently it was so realistic
that the building was surrounded
within minutes by police.
Several residents in town are
reaping a few benefits from the
disastrous ice storm in March,
On Saturday this writer say at
least 10 people cutting up the
fallen branches with chainsaws,
These pieces of wood will burn
nicely in the fireplaces next year.
Many neat piles of wood can be
spotted in town and it looks as
though the bulk of the cleanup
work has been completed.
More dialogue
A public meeting last Thursday
at Exeter Public School shows
there is considerable interest in
building a new arena in Exeter.
Details of the meeting are
covered elsewhere in the T-A but
I wanted to use this column to
commend local officials for
calling the meeting in the first
place to see what the public
reaction would be to a project of
such magnitude.
The majority of people seem to
be in favor of building a new
arena instead of sinking large
sums of money into the old
structure.
The fact that a public meeting
was called to hear the opinions of
others may put us one step closer
to turning all the plans into
reality.
The big question, now seems to
be what type of building to erect
rather than are we going to build
a new arena at all?
The Lion's head
By KIT SCHILLER
Cancer can be beaten I