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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-02-24, Page 4Get even some day I- em Let's talk taxes. Page 4 Times-Advocate, February 24, 1977 Nf.veny, • Fanner bees Need full study The question of whether to repair the existing arena or build a new one has been properly asnwered by the Hensall council and parks board. In view of the deteriorating condition of the facility, it would have been a case of throwing good money after bad to under- take the mammoth expenditure required to bring the structure up to today's standards. It would have cost at least half the price of a new facility and still left the community with an old building on which the maintenance costs would far exceed those of a new one. However, was that really the fun- damental qtfestion that council and the parks board should have answered? More basic than that, appears to be the question of what type of facility the community needs and can afford. There is every indication that the availability of sizeable government grants has prompted some communities to over- estimate their needs and ability to pay and have created "white elephants". Many have found the enthusiasm and support necessary to raise the capital costs, but are now finding the operating costs are a drain on local taxes. Hensall's drawing area for capital, Operating and participatory support is com- paratively small in view of existing facilities in Exeter, Zurich, Vanastra and Seaforth, as well as the privately owned Pineridge Chalet and Hully Gully. This is not to suggest it would be foolhardy for Hensall to undertake a new arena-hall project. Far from it! They've done it before, and they can do it again. However, it would be foolhardy to un- dertake such a project merely on the basis that the present structure is worn out, without undertaking a thorough study to en- sure that the needs and abilities of the com- munity today are considered in planning a replacement, It's akin to replacing a piece of farm machinery. No sensible farmer rushes out and buys the same type of machine without investigating whether there is something on the market that may be more profitable and advantageous due to his change in farming since buying the original piece of equipment. For instance, we have yet to hear of people ensuring that a community hall is of a shape and has a suitable floor to allow roller skating, yet that is a pastime more popular with teenagers than ice skating. Few communities have considered a hall that could be properly divided to permit the operation of a day care centre and yet that too is a growing need in today's society. Perhaps Hensall would be wiser to con- sider an outdoor swimming pool in conjunc- tion with the arena and forego a hall? That would possibly add to the support for the overall project. Needs have changed considerably in the past 25 years and will do so over the next quarter century and Hensall should consider that carefully rather than just replace a facility that was erected to meet the needs of a quarter century ago. What can you do? Some reservations Residents of Huron County should welcome the establishment of a committee to evaluate the educational system in view of the growing concerns in that direction in recent years. With the inception of county boards, parents and taxpayers lost touch with education to a great extent and the evalua- tion committee should provide them with an opportunity to express their concerns and viewpoints. The ministry of education has under- taken these evaluations in 11 areas of the province in the past two years, and in each case some problem areas were discovered and corrected. However, it is difficult to comprehend the desire• of the ministry to get a "snap shot" image of the system from the par- ticipants, who will be parents, trustees, teachers and administrative personnel, A ministry official told the Huron board that they wanted impulse reactions to the reports, questionnaires and comments rather than thought-out opinions. To many people, it seems that educa- tion has been moving on impulsive trends rather than through more thoughtful processes and an evaluation on that basis may not provide realistic answers to current concerns either. We have such a crazy climate in this country that by the time this appears in print some dingbat will have spotted the first crocus peeping its dainty head through the snow. But right at the moment, any such crocus would have to come from the garden of King Kong. This winter has been not a little unlike a sort of arctic King Kong—a vast, uncontrollable monster laughing with fiendish glee at the prospect of puny man trying to cope with his whistling, frigid breath, his frosty and fickle fingers, and his extremely bad case of dandruff. Around these parts we've had 13 to 15 feet of snow, depending on whom you are conversing with. If you are talking to me, you'll learn that we've had 18 feet. My wife would say: "About twelve and a half feet," in that sickening, righteous tone of hers that has made me hurl the hatchet and the butcher knife deep in the 16 feet of snow right behind the kitchen door, to avoid temptation. Though we have a pretty good running parry-and-thrust on everything from pea soup to politics, from golf to garbage, we just don't fight about the weather. Until this winter. Now it's hammer and tongs almost every day. And I seem to have wound up with the tongs. I stagger out through the blizzard every morning, brush the snow off the car, scrape the ice off the windshield with my fingernails because she has lost the scraper, and sit there freezing my poorly padded bum for 10 minutes, warming the beast up, Then I bomb the vehicle out of the driveway, risking my life every morning; because I can't see anything coming from any direction, I park it on the street, On the odd occasion when she decides to shop , she minces out to the car, heavily garbed, climbs into a warm wagon, parks behind the supermarket and walks 40 feet to the door. Every time she goes out, it has stopped snowing for one how, the wind has dropped for one hour, and the sun gleams paley for one hour. She leaves the car out on the street when she Owlet home, I clean it off again, buck it through a drift into the driveway, climb through more snow that goes in over my boots, and totter, breathless and forlorn, into the house. "Why do you make such a fuss?" she queries. "It's been a beautiful winter day." I don't mind her scoffing at my golf game, being able to ski twice as fast and far as I, this winter she's gone too far. One of us has to break: either the weather, or me. She won't be so dam' smart when she wakes up on the first day of the March break and finds a note pinned to her pillow: "Off to the Canary Isles for 10 days. Hear they're loaded with Scandinavian girls in bikinis or (gasp!) topless. Why don't you go and visit Granddad for a week or so, Love. Fahrenheit Bill," She's a Celsius and it drives me nuts. But it's not only my wife who has helped, with the aid of this atrocious winter, to depress me. It's the cost. This is rough reckoning, but close enough. From last November the first, it has cost me, approximately: $420 for fuel oil; $120 for driveway plowing; $50 for the kid next door, snow- shovelling; $60 for battery boosts, tow trucks and other winter items for cars. That, my fiends, is 650 bucks for the privilege of spen- ding the winter in the true north, strong and freezing. Oh, Canada! You can well say that I didn't need to spend all that, Well, I dang well did. I could have saved a bit on the oil bill by burning the furniture. And I could have saved a bit on the plowing and shovelling if I had been able to quit my job and shovel about four hours a day. But itseems rather a peculiar way to save money. And of course, by now I'd be dead of a heart attack, so where's the percentage? Tell me, some of my friends who go south every winter. Does it cost more to eat down there? Less, you say, Does it cost more to drive a car down there? Less, you say. Does it cost more for accommodation? Less, you say, and you add that it can cost $52 for an ordinary double room in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, But don't you get sick of all that fresh orange juice, and those crispy salads twice a day? No, you say. Don't you feel you are deser- ting the ship, somewhat, when your country needs you, when it is the duty of every man and woman to put his and/or her shoulder to the car that's stuck in the drift? No, you say. Have you no thought, no slightest sympathy, for the pensioner who tries to peer through his frosted windows, who is scared to venture forth because he might bust his back in a foot- skid, or freeze into a statue on his way to the liquor . store? Definitely not, you say. O.K. O.K. I haven't figured it out yet, but I'll devise some way of some day getting even with all you rotten rich who are loafing arond in the sun while I battle with the Old Battleaxe about the windchill factor. In the meantime, it's the least you could do, somebody, anybody, to ask me down for a long weekend. From about the fifteenth of February to the Ides of March would be just right. Dear Sir: The article on ARC Indutries in Dashwood in the February 17, 1977 edition of the Exeter Times- Advocate contained one slight yet very important error. In the article, YACMR was mentioned, and it was explained that YACMR stood for Youth Across Canada for the Mentally Retarded, It should have read Youth Across Canada with the Mentally Retarded, We are a small non-profit organization which works within the area, trying to provide social and recreational events with mentally retarded persons. Otherwise, the article was very informative and interesting. Maureen Hartman President Youth Across Canada with the Mentally Retarded It's an ill wind that doesn't blow some good and that was certainly the case last week following the closure of a movie during the SHDHS winter weekend activities. Many of the students were ob- viously upset with the situation, but unlike many of the adults in the community, they didn't con- fine their criticism to street cor- ner chats with their friends and neighbors. They took pen in hand and wrote letters to the editor to outline their opinions publicly. For that, we give them full marks! The students clearly explained their position and it emphasized the point that the crux of the matter was in whether or not the film was rated as restricted. They had been assured it was not and obviously they nor the ad- ministration can be faulted for proceeding on that basis. However, there were a few other issues raised in the letters and we hope area parents have read them carefully so theYcan see some of the problems faCed by today's teenagers. One of the basic problems is that of an apparent double stan- dard. Most of the letters pointed out that while the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest did contain some foul language, it is no worse than what can be heard almost •daily on our TV screens. Others pointed out that some ex- tremely violent films could have been shown without any problem because they are not restricted. * * * It is not difficult to sympathize with the students in their inabili- ty to comprehend why their movie was closed down when most of them could have return- ed to their homes and heard foul language and viewed rather ex- plicit sex scenes on their home TV screens. The writer is among those who has seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and with the ex- ception of one slang expression used in the film, can certainly attest to the fact that we have viewed TV shows that depicted much more violence and sex and were far more unacceptable in their content than the movie. However, rather than argue that films such as the Cuckoo's Nest should be unrestricted, we suggest it is time that TV be ordered to clean up its act so the double standard will be eliminated. * * * One recurring theme in some of last week's letters was that the film gave students a realistic view of the world around them. It is the same argument used by the film makers and TV moguls in justifying their productions. Certainly, our society is plagued with murders, rapes, drug and alcohol problems and all the rest of the themes used in movies and TV shows. No one can deny the shows are realistic. Those things happen and at times the National News is as violent as Beretta. However, it is not realistic for people to assume that the shows depict clearly the society in which they live. The films and shows only depict the unsavory actions of a very, very small percentage of our population, TV viewers see more rapes, murders and other social problems in one week's viewing than actually occurred in this area over the past 200 years. Even the Cuckoo's Nest was not a realistic documentation of the general treatment and attitude to the insane in most of this nation's mental institutions to- day, although it no doubt depicted the attitude for some, So, when we talk about realism, it is imperative to con- sider that what we see Or hear in movies and TV may well be happening around us, but the in- cidents do not occur at the rate in which they are seen night, after night after night. It is also worth noting that many experts believe that many of the problems of society are not only depicted by TV and movies, but in fact are perpetrated by them. There are many documented instances where crimes have been com- mitted by people who garnered their ideas from some TV writer and obviously this must be a con- cern of us all. However, one of the most thought-provoking statements made in last week's letters was this: "Your child is a victim of this society and there isn't one thing that you can do about it because there just isn't any way of controlling it". That type of statement has to send shivers up your spine, but unfortunately in many instances it may carry more truth than some parents would care to ad- mit. The question arises, of course, as to what type of societ' we have allowed our children to fall victim. In many cases it is not as 55 YEARS AGO This community was visited with a rain storm accompanied by lightning and thunder on Sunday. During the afternoon there was a heavy downpour of rain, Mr, Henry Strang took the services in Caven Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning last owing to the illness of the pastor, Rev. J. Foote. Miss Mabel Wenzel left Friday for Toronto to attend the millinery openings. The contract for the new school to be built in the village of Dash- wood was let on Thursday last to Mr. Henry Willert. Misi May Gill was elected president of the Epworth League of the James Street Methodist Church last week. 30 YEARS AGO Farm Forums were held Monday night at Lumley School and at the homes of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Johns, Mr. and Mrs. T. Ballanyne and Mr. and Mrs. C. Allen. The Red Cross campaign commences across Canada on Monday next for $5,000,000. The Huron County road commission at a meeting in Goderich on Tuesday authorized purchase of 17 garages at the Port Albert airport, They will be used for equipment. Mr. & Mrs. G. A. Jeckell are visiting with the former's sister, Miss Laura Jeckell, Mr. Jeckell is Controller of the Yukon Territories. A new Canadian four cent stamp will be issued shortly to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Alexander Graham Bell. 20 YEARS AGO SHDHS students raised money to provide several paintings for the new rooms in the addition. Ministers of Exeter and surrounding district met in James St. United Church to discuss organization of a new sector project. Rev. Samuel Kerr was named chairman of the committee. Alvin S. McBride, 60, former reeve of Stanley township became the district's first traffic victim of 1957 when he died Tuesday following a two-car collision north of town, sinister as some would suggest, nor is it that far removed from the society which parents faced in their teenage years. However, the statement does suggest it is time all parents .stopped to consider the type of society they have created for their offspring. If they don't like what they see, they should not take the negative attitude dis- played by the letter writer that there just isn't any way of con- trolling it. It will be a sad day in- deed when we reach the point where the majority of people can not control the society in which they live, although the present apathy displayed by some would suggest we are travelling in that direction. It is perhaps worth repeating the theme of the recent sportsmen's dinner speaker: "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything". • One interesting sidelight to last week's movie situation was the fact that many parents were upset that the movie was shut — Please turn to Page 5 Bill Oberle and Billy Mac- donald were Exeter Mohawks' most prolific scorers in the tribe's first year in O.H.A. Senior "B" competition. 15 YEARS AGO A 17-year old Crediton Queen's Scout, Charles E. Browning, Jr. has been commemorated by the Governor General for helping to extinguish gasoline flames which engulfed the youth's father in an explosion last year, Sunday night many travellers went to jail that is if they were lucky. A heavy snow storm, that made travel north of Exeter impossible, caused many motorists to seek shelter in the town jail. Many others, less fortunate, spent the night in their cars stranded between London and Exeter. Charles Mickle, Hensall, was chosen by the international af- fairs commission of the UWO to repres\ent the university at the Model United Nations Security Council at the St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. The SHDHS junior girls wrapped up the Perthex title this week when they posted three wins to complete a perfect season, and gain a berth in WOSSA playoffs. Exeter Christian Reformed Church recently replaced an old reed organ for a new Hammond electric model, Times Established 1873 I'm told a pound of honey represents the concentrated sweetness of 62,000 clover blossoms, each containing 60 florets. To obtain this amount of honey, the bee must make 2,700,000 visits to and from -the flowers, covering approximately 5,000,000 miles. In the process of extracting the honey, the bee inserts his tiny proboscis into each separate floret which means he performs the operation 3,720,000 times to get enough nectar to make one pound of honey! That's a lot of activity and hard work. Yet, for all that, the honey would spoil and go sour if it were not for the fanner-bees. These are the ones who standing with their heads lowered toward the centre of the hive, fan their wings so rapidly that if you saw them you would see only a gray mist. They draw the bad air out through one side of the entrance while the , pure air is sucked in on the other side. In short, they provide the necessary air conditioning to keep the hive sweet and fresh. The great hive of our world has many vigorous worker-bees. But in spite of all their hard work and valiant attempts, the world is filled with the putrid stench of greed, sickness and despair. Perhaps what we need most urgently are fanner-bees to sweeten and freshen the hive by prayer and silence. Glen Clark, in one of his writings, states that silence and prayer are two great riches the world seems to have and lost and desperately needs back again, Gandhi, the Indian statesman and mystic, reserved a period for meditation and prayer every morning and evening and nothing interfered with it. In addition, he set aside one day a week for complete silence. . a day of Long John Silver, as the story goes, had a hard time finding the buried treasure because people kept stealing his map. He would probably have given his good leg just to get his hands on a reliable set of direc- tions. Canadian taxpayers are much luckier than old Long John, because they have one of the best instruction books around to help them save .money on their taxes. Do you want to.take advantage of all the exemptions and deductions you're entitled to? You're not sure of what you can and cannot claim? Well, Revenue Canada has an easy-to-read set of directions that tells you how to tiptoe through the tax return so that you pay only your share of federal and provincial income tax, no more. This instruction book is available free to every taxpayer in Canada. It's called the 1976 Tax Guide and it comes with your tax return. Here's how the Guide can help you: No matter how much money you earned last year, you do not need to pay taxes on the whole amount. There are lots of exemptions and deductions you can claim to reduce your taxable income and therefore pay less tax. You can claim a basic personal exemption of $2,090 just be- cause you're a taxpayer. If you are married and supporting your husband or wife who has little or no income, you can claim a married exemption of $1,830. For each child you support you can claim $390 if he or she is Advocate Established 1881 listening to God. The day the parliamentary commission convened happened to fall on this day of silence. The king, the prime minister and parliament had to wait an entire day to hear Gandhi speak because he would not break his appointment with God. We don't have enough silence today. We don't have enough stillness. We don't have enough prayer, Why? One of the main reasons is that we live so fast we don't have time for it, With all our inventions and labor saving devices to save time,,we have very little of that time saved for silence and prayer. Quietness and stillness always come first in everything that has permanence. Jesus' 30 silentAIL\ years came before his three IMF' years of active ministry. You remember how he admonished Martha for her constant busyness and praised Mary for her silent devotion, Clark goes on to say, "Quiet- ness, if properly done, is All. A seed, if it lets itself fall into the ground and is properly still does not have to do anything else, The same with us. If we are properly still, God does all the rest." The world certainly needs worker bees, strong, active people who are capable of leadership but it desperately needs fanner-bees, too, people like you and me, who will dedicate some of our leisure time in silent meditation to pray for the world. It's the greatest resource we have. Good character like good soup, is usually homemade. under 16 and:: $720 if the child is 16 or over, provided they have little or no income. You can claim an employment expense deduction of $150, a certain amount of contribu- tions to retirement plans or pension funds, union dues, and tuition , fees if you went to school. If you invested money in Can- ada Savings Bonds or other investments, your interest in- come is not taxed unless it adds up to more than $1,000. That's because you can claim an interest and dividend income deduction. You may be able to claim child care expenses of up to $1,000 per child if you are a working mother or a father whose wife is not living with you or who is ill. You can claim a pension in- come deduction of up to $1,000 on the income from certain kinds of pensions, and you may be able to put up to $1,000 a year into a registered home ownership savings plan without having to pay tax on the money. There's lots more you can explains step by step how to claim too, and the Guide • fill out your tax return so you claim every deduction you're entitled to. Pirate, galleons no longer sail the seven seas, and they've dis- covered just about all the gold there is in them thar hills. But buried treasure comes in many guises, so' if you follow your tax guide, you've got a good chance of finding a nice green refund cheque in your mailbox one day soon. Amaliamated 1924 "This car already has one." ettierZi Hies-AWAY:ate SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A, CLASS 'A' and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Plant Manager — Jim Scott Composition Manager — Harry DeVries 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 5,409 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00 CCNA Wit MOH AWARD 1914