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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-05-06, Page 4Nub. 'Nb. • .44.40,11,10”- -g 4 11k- hay, ,06moorrow OttAKIV11.. miet0A 411144 • A Re zoning mystery • She taught us beauty Naturally inquisitive *CNA to tribute to my mother and yours) While it is true that two public meetings have been held in order to allow Exeter property owners the right to voice objections to the proposed official plan, it is also true that many persons in town did not think to come to those meetings because they did not expect any changes in zoning to their property. This would be es- pecially true in the case of residential property owners who use their property for one basic purpose - living. It is quite possible that when Exeter Council has no strong objections to an area being zoned one way or the other, that it would be best to leave the zoning the way it was in the first place in this case - residen- tial. Mr. Gregus, in leading a delegation of William St. residents to oppose the com- mercial zoning this own original proposal) of the area, was not speaking on their behalf, but on his own. Sometimes when I'm at the mirror fixing my hair or smoothing my lipstick I see my mother's hands at the ends of my arms the same shape the same nails the same gestures I take my hands and study them wondering if they'll leave an heritage of beauty like hers did "Double-parhine,r, eh?" Her hands were never still and left a treasure-house of fine stitched quilts yards of snowy lace in intricate patterns fashioned with a crochet hook dolls exquisitely dressed in every race oil paintings of the flowers she loved and many other precious things A bit of mystery shrouds a recent re- quest from Gus Gregus of Gregus Construction to Exeter Council that an area in which he owns two lots should be rezoned residential after he had first requested that it be zoned commercial. There is no mystery behind Gregus' desire to have his two lots rezoned residen- tial. He explained that quite clearly at Council. Gregus wants the lots returned to residential so that he can obtain a building permit to build residential units, There is no particular harm in a man changing his mind, either, except that it in- volves additional time and money in this case to include the new change on the proposed official plan. The real mystery is why the commer- cial zoning change was permitted in the first place? At Monday night's Council ses- sion. Council stated quite clearly that it made no difference to them whether the area was designated residential or com- mercial. On the other hand, it makes quite a lot of difference to the residents in that area who do not want a commercial enterprise to go into their neighborhood. Yet Gus Gregus was able to convince the Exeter Planning Board and Council that the area should be rezoned commercial when the official plan was being considered late last year It is certainly not to Mr. Gregus that Council owes an apology, if indeed one was in order. But perhaps the residents in that area, particularly those whose property was directly affected by the change to com- mercial zoning, deserve some kind of an explanation as to why Council allowed a zoning change to take place, based on the wishes of one man who later changes his mind. Though often ill she never knew the sin of boredom and just before she died at 81 she talked of taking up ceramics Residents should participate She was not schooled but could discern the work of a master artist with the best of critics It was as though she had an inner eye for all things lovely 'Look up and see the rainbow' she would command us puddling in the mud Sometimes she'd prod us out of bed to make us fill our eyes and minds with the sunrise melting up in golden rivulets upon a pale grey sky A bird's song, sparkling water, a dead tree outlined on winter sunsets all this she taught to us as beauty Reeve John Baker of Hensall must be getting a little disgruntled with the NHL. The problem stems from a conflict in scheduling which has playoff games falling on Tuesday nights; the same night Baker and his council hold court in planning workshops. The problem arises from the number of, or the lack of, people who attend these workshops. On April 20, the first session, about 45 people were in attendance. On April 27, the second, 19 people, not in- cluding council and the clerk, took the time to come out. Of a village of 944 people, it meant that 920 people stayed home, preferring to watch the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders do bat- tle rather th have input into the future shape and growth of their village. The playoffs and the NHL have really little to do with the lack of interest in the planning; they are nice scapegoats however. The crux of the problem lies in the disinterest of the citizens of Hensall. Planning is not an orderly act. It is an ordeal. The ordeal pertains to people's property. -Often it is inexorably tied to future plans, income schemes and stan- dards of living. What is unfortunate is the apathy of the people. When Hensall has a plan, and they assuredly will as far as Baker and council are concerned, there will be a hue and cry about the zoning of certain areas. Somebody who wanted to develop an apart- ment finds their property zoned for in- dustrial use, Someone who owns a home and didn't attend a preliminary meeting finds his home in the middle of the com- mercial district. John Baker knows what will happen. These will be people who will be at the se- cond series of public meetings to complain. Why is it done this way? Why have you One night I remember when very young we two stood breathless close together in the frigid air watching the northern lights move and play across a velvet prairie sky in such unspeakable glory we could only hold each other's hand in silent awful wonderment and cry do our homework, supply us with support When the going gets a little rough, listen to us when we need an understanding ear, feel sorry for us when we need it and give us confidence when we require it most, The list could go on and on and all of us have a different vision of why our mothers are so im- portant to us. My mother even reads my column! At least she says she does. Husbands know they would be lost without their wives and one fellow explained to me the other clay how difficult it would be to replace his wife if he had to pay for all the work she does. He listed a few tasks that are clone everyday and too often taken for granted by us men. If these services had to be paid for at the minimum wage it wouldn't be long until the bill added up to well over $100.00 per week, If wives were to submit bills for their services it could read something like this. Dishwashing 8 hours per week Laundry 4 hours per week Babysitting dozens of hours per week Cleaning 15 hours per week Cooking 15 hours per week This is just a partial list of the duties performed on a regular basis by housewives and mothers. It's not difficult to see that if we husbands had to pay for all this it would amount to a considerable sum. And what price could be put on love and understanding? This Sunday gives us all the opportunity to salute the women in our lives and thank them for being good mothers to us and good mothers to our children. Happy Mothers' Day. Early indications are that our team may surprise quite a few people (mostly the players), It \vill he a miracle if we win any games but everybody expects to have a lot of fun. Two big sluggers, Leggs Jongkind and Right Arm liolMison have been signed to the team and this should guarantee that we at least get on base once during the season. So far none of the girls at the office have expressed any desire to form a cheer leading team on our behalf which is hard to un- derstand when you consider that our team consists of over 1,900 pounds of raw masculine talent. The team lineup consists of: Leigh Robinson, Tom Creech, Jim Scott, Dick Jongkind, Dave Worby, Lorne Eedy, Fred Youngs, Les Webb (import), Bart De Vries (import). Every day you read in the newspapers of thousands of dollars of damage caused to both public and private property by vandalism. The recent break-in and resulting damage to Huron Park industries is just one more in- dication that this is a local problem as well as a cause of concern to every community in the country. Robbery was undoubtedly the motive to the Huron Park oc- currence but the thieves were not satisfied until they had done an estimated $10,000 damage before they left. Although this is one of the more serious events of this type to happen in this area. there are numerous other acts of van- dalism caused by senseless people. Police officers work hard to follow-up any acts of wilful damage reported to them but it is nearly impossible to make any arrests unless they have some kind of solid leads to work on. This writer believes these lawbreakers should be punished to the fullest extent of the law as well as being made to pay in full for all the repairs their acts have caused. If anyone has any idea as to who the people were who did their best to wreck the offices in Huron Park they would be doing the community a real favor to pass this information along to the OPP, Perhaps if these people were apprehended quickly it would make others take a long hard look at the trouble they might be getting into for acts of a similar nature. Mother's day decided I'm this area? The sad part is that these people who will complain so vociferously at the end are probably the ones who are missing the preliminary meetings. It goes beyond the aspect of individual zoning problems though. This reaches right down to the basis of Hensall. Council and the interested citizens are discussing problems of growth. It is possible Hensall will annex. Possible is a light term. It is highly likely they will. And they'll try to at- tract new industry. Attracting new in- dustry means the tax base for residents in Hensall will go up. It means that in 10 years the population of Hensall could double. These meetings are being held to deter- mine the desires of the village, the desires of the residents. They are discussing the roots of the village; and people persist in missing them, It is not as if these people didn't know the workshops were taking place. Before the first of the series brochures on what planning workshops are and what they in- tend to accomplish were put in every mailbox in Hensall. The day of their release, Baker went up to the post office and found 42 of them already discarded in the trash bin. How many more were ignom- inously discarded at home is impossible to determine but it is obvious that either the vast majority of residents don't care or they don't know, and don't want to know. One day when they wake up and find a super highway running through their front yard with trucks stopping at the new fac- tory across the street, the downtown sec- tion revamped with a 42 store indoor mall, the boundaries of Hensall further extended into Hay township and an additional 36 mills on their taxes they'll know something had happened. It's not apt to be like this, but they won't even have the NHL to blame. Thank God for Mother's hands and for a life that added beauty to my own Although I have been accused by many of the fairer sex at the office of being a male chauvenist pig I will try to redeem myself a little this week by devoting a little space in a tribute to Mothers' Day. This is the only special oc- casion of the year that is devoted entirely to women „ . and deservedly so. Everybody knows how im- portant mothers are. None of us would be here without them. Most of us can recall dozens of times when our mothers have made life better for us. They worry 'about us, make sure we're eating properly, show an interest in what we are doing when nobody else cares, make sure we By KIT SCHILLER Bicycle fever 'Smiley' s ••••=•••••••••=111. ce and $p S You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. To these old adages might be added another, closely related. You can't create a fluent, sparkling, bilingual cosmopolitan out of a dull, middle-class, middle-aged civil servant. I'm glad to see that some semblance of sense has seeped into the senility surrounding the approach to bilingulism at Ottawa. cited for bravery in the gun- battle capture of four armed bank bandits in New West- minster, B,C. Bill Batten, who topped the graduating class in printing management at the Ryerson Institute of Technology, Toronto, has joined the mechanical staff and Don Gravett, popular member of Exeter Mohawks hockey team, has been appointed sports editor of The Times- Advocate. Al the Lions Club meeting Friday evening past DDG "Jake" Sweitzer was nominated for position of district governor, the election to take place at the convention in Niagara Falls. 50 Years Ago Mr, IL Bowers has resigned from the Exeter High School staff and has accepted a position as principal of the Fergus High School. Miss Margaret Strang, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Strang of Usborne graduates this year from Western University with Bachelor of Arts degree. Miss Vera Rowe has resigned her position with Gladman ad Stanbury, Mr, Bruce Medd graduates from 0,A,C, Guelph with the degree of B.S.A. Keith Spicer, the grand poobah of bilingualism, appointed by the Trudeau government to wet- nurse one of its favorite babies. has finally reached a conclusion that an average 12-year-old could have arrived at, without undue • mental strain, in about 15 minutes. Ile decided, and had the courage to admit, that the government program for creating bilingualism in the civil service was bass ackwards. Some unkind people might say that Ottawa civil servants have always spoken with a double tongue, even when they had only one language, and why have them speaking doubletalk in two? Instead of pouring millions into converting stodgy civil servants into connoisseurs of French language and culture, Mr. Spicer concedes, the money should be spent in the schools, teaching French to children, Great thinking, Keith. Anyone with any knowledge of learning a second language could have told you that two years ago. — Please turn to Page 14 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Arncilgamatifd 1924 Vte extferZimes-Usocafe There are times when it might possibly be safer walking down the main street in Exeter than walking on the sidewalks. Last Friday I was almost flattened by a bicycle after making an exit from the Bank of Nova Scotia. Police Chief Ted Day has repeatedly warned against the practice of riding bicycles on the sidewalks hut his officers can't be every place at once to catch these young people. Before you start thinking this writer has gone off the deep end complaining about what seems to be a minor thing, please consider the following, Our sidewalks are used by many of our senior citizens that do not have the agility in jumping out of the way of bicycles that many younger people have, It's entirely possible that someone could be seriously in- jured by one of these two-wheeled machines before the summer is over unless something is done once and for all to keep them off the sidewalks. Two suggestions that might help a little with the problem are: Parents should instruct their children. that the sidewalks are forbidden territory for bicycles. Perhaps the town could erect a couple of stands where bicycles could be left while the riders were in the downtown area. 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 Assistant Editor — Leigh Robinson Plant Manager -- Jiro Scott Composition Manager — Dave Worby Business Manager —Dick Jongkind Phone 235-1331 25 Years Ago Open house will he held at the Exeter District High School next Thursday, May 10. London and district chapters of Beta Sigma Phi met in the Regency Room, Hotel London on Monday evening, April 30 to celebrate the twentieth an- niversary of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority. Trophies for the top bowlers in the Exeter Ladies' Bowling League were presented at the annual banquet held at the Knotty Pine Inn, London, Friday night. Miss Jean Darling, R.N., who has spent five years as missionary of church of Nazere at Basin in Central province of India Waived home to spend some time with her parents, Mr. and Mrs, Will Darling last week, Play ball Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0$86 Paid in advance Circulation September 3d, 19n SAO Canoda $9.00 Per Year; USA $11,00 When spring is in the air a young man's fancy turns to . . . baseball! The same is true this year at the Times-Advocate although most of us are a long way from being young. Atthe urging of sports editor Fred Youngs a few of us have decided that playing ball may he one way of getting in better shape, Fred has enrolled us in a recreational league that should be starting soon. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 10 Years Ago Members of council will give "some serious thought" to proposals for the renovation of the town hall. Rev. William A. Gatz, who has ministered to Zion Lutheran Church, Dashwood, since June 1961 and started the Peace Lutheran congregation, Exeter in 1964 and directed the building of the new church in Exeter, has accepted a call to Ashland, Wisconsin, leaving officially May 1.5. Two new members have joined the Exeter hoard of Trade. Dr.R,W. Read and Exeter Coach Lines are now mem'be'rs of the association. Fathers and sons were left in the dark Wednesday evening as the power failure curtailed some of their activities at the annual father and son banquet. Pour thousand persons jam , med intoGrand Bend Dragway Sunday afternoon to watch the regular schedule of drag events and the special appearance of Roger Harris of Riverview, California and his J46 jet powered dragster. 20 Years Ago -Eight -year-old Sandra Walters of Winchelsea received the highest mark at the eighth annual South Huron Music Festival which completed its three-day competitions last week. UM J. Schroeder; son of Mr. and Mrs, Schroeder, Centralia, and former SHDHS student, was one of the three RCMP constables A few weeks ago I took a trip on a train from Toronto to the eastern townships. Nowhere else can one make friends so easily, and forget them as quickly as on a train. One can wander from car to car, from restaurant to bar, and even change one's seating accommodation — all of which make mingling with other human creatures easier and interesting. On the return trip I had snaf- fled the last table in the bar car — probably known by a fancier name incidently. Since there was a brisk demand for seats I felt rather guilty. A thirsty looking man appeared at the door, and was about to go away when I motioned him to the remaining seat at my table. He bowed, disappeared into the source of supplies and came out with anot her beer for me and one for himself. "You work for the railway" I said, figuring that if he didn't he was a pretty cool thief. He admitted same, adding that he had a few days off, I had just finished reading a book "Anyone Can Be a Fortune- teller" so I thought I'd try my luck, "Let me see" I said dreamily, "you live in Montreal, you're married, but not happily. You are going to Toronto to spend a few days with your girl friend." He turned pale. Quickly recovering himself, he said he happened to be separated from his wife, and was going to Toronto to spend a few days with his brother, "Look" he said, suddenly irritated. (This guy didn't like to he caught off base). "You're no ordinary woman. Most women can't wait to tell me about themselves."(This guy liked 'to boast) "Now you start by talking about me. What kind of person are you?" I told him I counselled . people for a living, and as a result I was used to not talking about myself when I first met someone. "Must begreat" he said, a trace of sarcasm in his voice "giving advice for a living". It wasn't that simple, I countered, adding that "people have a lot of feelings that trouble them. They don't want advice, but these feelings — like guilt or worthlessness are feelings nobody should be sad died with. They can destroy your efforts, your ambition, even the will to live," I thought I had made things pretty plain to him. I hoped it had been educational. But 'again he objected. Waving a hand to include everyone in the room he said "look at this crowd. They're young, mostly under twenty-five. Do you think there's one of them right now feeling guilty or worthless, or maybe suffering an identity crisis? Why I listen to these kids day after day, and what do you suppose they think is their problem — except to them it isn't a problem? They simply think they're victims." This guy left me speechless, Finally I said, "but if you're a victim what can you do?" "Nothing," he said. "Now say these kids here are all out of work, is that their fault? It's the economic system, but they're smart kids. They go on enjoying life until their unemployment insurance runs out, and then they still enjoy life by sharing with their buddies or getting on welfare. Sure they'd rather work because it pays better. But do you believe they get all steamed up if there simply are no jobs for them? Why should they? They're victims of inflation and the high unemployment. rate, Should they feel guilty or worthless about that? I was beginning to feel like a victim of the man's rhetoric. Somewhere in the hack of my mind ,was the theme of a philosphy lecure on Free Will. "But no matter what happens to a person, he IS still free to work and hope and pray to change things," I said. "11Il Thaabl'osuiwpat the human spirit's "You sound like a preacher" he said, "mid they give me a pain. What are you doing for dinner tonight?" Exercising free will and refusing to be a victim I said "I'm meeting my brother and staying with him for a few days." "I'll drink to that" he said, and the train chugged slowly into Toronto's Union Station.