HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-04-07, Page 4Page 4 Times-Advocate, April 7, 1977
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Suppress freedoms
It's usually not hard to find out when
you've won a point. Invariably, the van-
quished stoop to some childish antics in an
effort to get even and certainly Exeter
council displayed that type of attitude this
week when they barred the public and the
press from Monday night's council
meeting.
Members of council are upset with the
press for revealing that they held a secret
meeting to make a decision on moving the
police out of the town hall.
Reeve Si Simmons has spearheaded the
move to have the press and public barred.
He threatened to have this newspaper's
representative removed from a meeting by
the police if he failed to show up at council
without an apology for revealing the secret
meeting.
The fact that he succeeded in having
his fellow elected officials follow his lead is
slightly surprising, because we had always
judged them to be reasonable people, who
took their elected responsibilities serious-
ly.
That they would join in such a callous
act of denying the ratepayers of Exeter a
report of their proceedings suggests they
too are capable of thinking that they have
more power than the laws of this land
provide for them.
Council's actions are not particularly a
denial of any freedoms the press may enjoy
as it pertains to covering council meetings.
The press has no rights beyond those
granted to any citizen in this community.
Unfortunately they haye chosen to deny
any citizen in this community the right to
attend a council meeting,Their action Mon-
day night would have excluded any citizen
as well as the press and that obviously
must be of deep concern to all ratepayers,
if in fact it does not concern the elected of-
ficials.
Such basic freedoms have been
preserved by the gallant action and
sacrifices of thousands and thousands of
people through the past decades and it is
ironical that a man who has often repeated
the "lest we forget" should so easily forget
and set himself up as a person who would
lead a movement to supress those
freedoms.
Mr. Simmons and his fellow members
of council owe the ratepayers of this com-
munity an apology for denying them access
to their own affairs.
Keep looking
Huron county taxpayers must obvious-
ly cheer the decision made by the board of
education last week in declaring two
superintendents' positions redundant and
moving the two men involved back into the
role of principals.
Many people have questioned the huge
administration costs over the past years
and hopefully the board will continue to
take an objective look at the overhead costs.
of education in Huron on a systematic
basis.
Enrollments will continue to decline in
the next few years and obviously other per-
sonnel cuts will have to be made in the
future to reflect this decrease.
One of the frightening aspects of last
week's report on the board decision was a
comment from director of education John
Cochrane advising the board they would
have to move now on the shuffle or live
with the present staff for the next eight to
ten years because he couldn't foresee any
openings at the principal level for that
period of time.
Surely the board does not have to wait
for staff retirements or resignations before
they can consider reducing staff numbers.
Taxpayers would like to think that as
the enrollments drop in the county school
system, a corresponding decrease can be
made in the teaching and administrative
staffs without having to wait for
retirements or resignations.
Beer and baseball
We were looking forward to the revival
of baseball in Toronto and even got to fan-
tasizing about tripping off to the south to
catch a pre-season game.
Then all of a sudden it became more
and more obvious that the whole reason for
reviving baseball was to boost beer sales:
In the name of freedom and equality and all
those "sacred" banners we must make
sure the rules allowed everyone to imbibe
freely in the park as part of their favorite
sport. After all, only the prudes would op-
pose such freedom.
The anti's naturally mounted the op-
position to selling beer in the park and the
government read the signs to support the
ban.
That was enough to stimulate all those
guardians of sport and freedom who sound
off on the radio, or in newspapers, claiming
the "vote" wasn't fair. (Shades of Rene
Levesque's referendum to come.)
All the talk about beer has-a tendency
to dull our enthusiasm for baseball now. If
all the pressure being brought on the
government to change its mind is
successful, we'd hate to have to drive out of
the parking lot after a game. After all, it
would only take one driver who over-
imbibed to do a lot of damage.
Milton Champion
The world is too small!
Feeling really mean
Riding on in majesty
Don't expect the usual collec-
tion of optimistic opinion, cheery
chat, and happy household hints
normally found in this space, I'm
feeling really mean this week,
If St. Francis of Assisi himself
showed up, I'd probably snarl.
"Stop feeding those bloody
birds! All they'll do is dump all
over us."
My normally sunny nature is
soured by a sore back. It started
out as just a little pain, like a
breadknife going into my
kidneys. You know. The sort of
thing that makes you emit a
startled "aarf!" when you
straighten up after brushing your
teeth and spitting in the sink.
Lots of guys have that. It goes
with the territory.
Then my two grandboys came
for the weekend. They weigh
about fifty pounds between them.
There's a certain amount of
jealousy. Nobody can play the
same tunes on their fat necks
that Grandad can. by
simultaneously sucking and
blowing. As a result no sooner do
I get one kid grinning and giggl-
ing. and plunk him down, than
the other is standing there. arms
extended.
As any grandfather knows
(grannies are smarter and
threaten to wash their faces and
the kids run), it is literally im-
possible to ignore the upstretch-
ed arms of a tyke.
Consequently I reckon, roughly
that I lifted about a ton and a half
of grandbabbies off the floor
over the weekend. Another forty-
odd times I leaned far over and
separated them when mayhem
seemed imminent.
As any old codger with a
slipped disc or crumbling
vertebrae can tell you, this is
known as the poor way, one of
the worst, of curing a sore back.
The other poor way. the ab-
solutely worst. I won't tell you,
as this is a family journal.
To top it all. I have a week's
vacation coming up, I have a
fairly grim certainty that I'm go-
ing to be spending it, and a cou-
ple after it, flat on my back,
Put you to bed. That's what
doctors do when you go to them
with a sore back. First they poke
you hard a few times in the
sore back and ask, "Does that
hurt?" Of course it does. Then
they feel your belly, which is not
the greatest erotic experience in
the world. They tell you take a
deep breath. They tell you to
cough, They seem fairly sure you
have a hernia. In the back?
"Can you move your legs?"
they ask, ignoring the fact that
you walked from your car into
their outer waiting-room, and
from there into the torture
chamber. "Does it hurt to sit for
long periods?" Damn right,
You've just sat in the waiting-
room for an hour and a half after
your appointment time, and
almost fainted when you stood
up.
Then, non-plussed as usual,
they take off their glasses and
nod solemnly. "Yes, it seems
sore all right. We'd better get a
picture of that." Translation: I
haven't a dine; but maybe it will
go away by the time you get'it X-
rayed and the prints get back to
me. About 48 hours.
They give you some painkillers
"in case you have some pain,"
At this point tears as big as tea-
bags are spurting out of your
eyes from pain. You emit
something between a groan and a
squeal of pure pain as you
clamber down from that jeesly
high bed in their office.
Pain? Migawd, my wife came
up this morning to see why I
hadn't come down for breakfast,
I was lying on the bedroom floor,
weeping. I'd just tried to put my
socks on.
Twice today, a police car pull-
ed up as I was trying to get out of
my car. They'd seen the door
open and one leg emerge. Two
minutes later another leg hove
into view. After three more
minutes. a crouched. swaying
torso followed, They thought I
was plastered. I was merely try-
ing to straighten up without
screaming.
All right? We know where we
stand? Don't expect any
sweetness and light in this
column.
Now, Let's deal with that
young rip, Margaret Trudeau.
My wife is on her side.
Newspaper columnists have
been generally kind, I asked a
young person the other day for an
opinion on Margaret's
shenanigans, and got the predic-
table answer, "Sheez oney
dooner own thing. Snuthin
wrongth that."
I heartily disagree. There's
such a thing as responsibility,
though the word makes people
cringe these days. If you can't
stand the heat, fine, get out of
the kitchen. But don't run into
the public square and whine that
you're just trying to find , ourself
as a person, That's juvenile. I
Ever wonder how far you had
to get from home before you
eliminated the risk of running
into someone you knew, or at
least knew someone you knew?
The answer is probably . • .
nowhere!
In this day and age of jet travel
and shallow roots, even the
remotest part of the world is
hardly a safe place to let down
your hair, because stories of
your escapades will probably
reach home before you do
through an unbelievable meeting
with someone.
Several years ago, this writer
had that fact brought home quite
vividly. While sitting in a back
corner of the Red Garter in San
Francisco, we were spotted by a
Dashwood girl who was in that
city working as a nurse,
This past weekend, we joined
the Exeter Hawks on their
travels to Wellington and it end-
ed up being akin to old home
week.
While sitting in the Mad
Mechanic's (not getting oiled,,
just having a night cap) then
members of our group joined up
in a conversation with some peo-
ple at the next table.
Before the night was conclud-
ed, we expected to find out that
the chap was really one of our
long lost cousins.
However, as it turned out, he
was really only an old friend of
Pauline Lingard's, a real estate
buddy of Tim MacFarlane's and
a fellow who had sold Ron
Bogart's brother a house. The
latter situation was difficult to
comprehend, because it turns out
that Gary Rorabeck sells real es-
tate in Picton and Ron Bogart's
brother lives in Western Canada,
Further conversation resulted
in an introduction to his compa-
nion and we sat in bewilderment
as he and George Pratt finally
determined they had been school
mates at Picton and the chap had
even dated George's sister.
Of course, they knew Barry
Glover, who now resides in Pic
ton and also the Gravlevs,
To top it all off, Derry Boyle
was vigorously greeted by a lady
in the hotel the following mor-
ning and she turned out to be a
sister of Jack and Tom Triebner.
And when we arrived at the
Wellington arena we found that
Harold Tripp's brother was there
taking tickets,
have never been a fan of her hus-
band, but I admired his domestic
loyalty on this undoubtedly pain-
ful occasion.
Speaking of the Trudeau's, I'd
love to disinter a column I wrote
a few months back, when the
Liberals were on the ropes, and
the political vultures were swar-
ming to pick the bones of the
P.M. But that would be saying "I
told you so." one of the nastiest
sentences in the English
language. A prophet is indeed
without honor in his own country,
Sometimes in his own kitchen,
Good for Harry Boyle, head of
CRTC. He has made it clear that
our national broadcasting com-
pany. whatever its faults, is not
merely a tool for keeping the
Liberal government in office.
contrary to the opinions of some
Cabinet ministers.
About sweet teeth, I've never
heard such absolute crap as the
banning of saccharine because
some mice got some cancer
when they were stuffed with the
stuff. Far better, I presume, to
die of cigarettes or booze than to
expire from drinking two or
three hundred cans of
saccharine-sweetened drinks a
day, I guess diabetics and fatties
don't swing much weight at the
polls,
There. I've vented some of my
Venom, and my back feels better
already. Instead of feeling like
Prometheus, with that vulture
tearing out his liver, I merely
have the more moderate pain of
a dog excreting razor blades,
We're not certain how many
other old or mutual acquain-
tances were renewed over the
weekend, but no doubt there
were several. It's a small world,
indeed!
Yours truly happened to be in
charge of the billet
arrangements during the Hawks
stay at the Four Seasons in
Belleville and when we an-
nounced to the team manager
that we had placed ourself in the
same room with trainer Bob
Drummond, he almost died
laughing.
Seems that Fred
Mommersteeg had Bob as a
house guest one night and
couldn't get to sleep because of
the latter's snoring.
Even coach Ron Bogart joined
in the laughter, suggesting that
the trains that rumbled past our
window would in no way compete
with the noise we were yet to en-
dure.
Well, everyone knows about
the pot calling the kettle black.
The next morning when we
arrived for breakfast, the kindly
coach was aimlessly wandering
around the foyer in a state of
utter exhaustion. Our first
thought was that he had been un-
55YEARS AGO
The James Street choir
motored to Hensall on Friday
evening of last week and ren-
dered Stanier's Crucifixion to a
large audience in Carmel
Presbyterian Church.
This district was visited with a
downpour of rain during Monday
night. Several cellars in town
were flooded.
Work has commenced on the
excavation of the basement for
the new Methodist Church at
Credition.
The merchants of Exeter held
their first Dollar Days Friday
and Saturday of last week.
Large crowds from far away
came to town. One of the features
of Dollar Days was the presen-
tation of three hundred pounds of
granulated sugar, divided into
seven prizes, for the seven
nearest guesses to the number of
peanuts in a jpr in the window of
J. W. Powell's store window,
30 YEARS AGO
One of the worst snowstorms of
winter swept the country last
week.
Mr. John J. Cornish who two
years ago purchased the Harding
residence on Main Street, has
disposed of it to Mr. Frank King
of Stephen Township.
E. R. Hopper was elected a
director of the Western Ontario
District Funeral Service
Association at a meeting in
London, Friday.
It has been a fair maple syrup
season but a long drawn-out
affair.
Ellis Pearce has returned
home after visiting for two
months with his sister, Mrs. J. E,
Whiting at Bella Coola, B. C. He
enjoyed the thrill of skiing in the
mountains dressed only in a
bathing suit.
20 YEARS AGO
Erie Heywood has sold his
residence on Albert Street to
Homer Dobbs of Biddulph who
gets possession May 31,
The Senior girls basketball
team of SHDHS won the Perthex
champion; hip and the trophy
donated by J. W. Weber, Exeter.
Gwen , Spencer, Hensall, was
presented with her Gold Cord, the
highest award in Guiding, at a
banquet in her honor in Hensall
United Church Friday evening.
able to sleep while corn-
templating the second game of
the series, but our ensuing con-
versation revealed that he had
been unable to get to sleep due to
his room mate's excessive snor-
ing. Seems that Ron and the third
member of their bunk house,
Noel Skinner, had threatened to
wheel their companion's cot out
into the hallway or onto the
balcony or at one point merely
considered folding it up with its
occupant still inside.
Obviously we wouldn't want to
revel the identity of the snorer,
but suffice it to say that Ron has
left explicit instructions that he
does not want to' bunk in with
Fred Mommersteeg if there are
any further outings.
How did we make out with
Dum Dum? We took advantage
of the information and quickly
booked into another room before
it was time for bed.
However, the chaps in the next
room to him indicate they were
bothered by the almost constant
rumbling of the trains that went
past their windows. We didn't
bother to advise them that there
hadn't been any trains in the
night. After all, we just never
— Please turn to Page 5
A new home being constructed
by Lionel Kendrick on Wellington
Street collapsed during the heavy
wind storm Wednesday night.
"EPS Panorama" a variety
show at the public school, en-
tertained capacity crowds in the
school auditorium Tuesday and
Wednesday nights.
The two-storey frame house of
Gerald Isaac, RR 1, Clandeboye,
was completely destroyed by fire
Saturday morning.
15 YEARS AGO
Al Scholl, owner of Al's Super
Save Market, Hensall has pur-
chased the Silco store in order to
enlarge his facilities,
Postmaster Harvey C. Pfaff,
town, has been named
emergency measures co-
ordinator for the Exeter area.
Tenders are being called this
week for construction of the
million-dollar-plus addition to
Clinton collegiate which will
serve as Huron's vocational
school.
Plans are being made for the
visit to West Middlesex, April 5,
of Prime Minister Diefenbaker
and Mrs. Diefenbaker,
Lee Learn was grand champion
at the Exeter men's curling club
this week when he skipped his
first draw winner to victories
over the other two draw winners.
Times Established 1873
There is a legend from the
Middle Ages that says when the
Colosseum of Rome falls the
world will fall, The Colosseum,
an historic and romantic
monument is nothing now but the
remains of long dead civilization,
And if it falls the world will go on.
There is one thing which if it
falls will surely cause the world
to fall, And that is the Cross that
stood on Calvary's Hill. If it ever
crashes into ruins it will carry
down with it the memory of the
Man who died on that Cross and
this would be the tragedy of
tragedies.
The Cross is not falling,
however, and Jesus is still riding
on in majesty across the world.
Every age has produced its skep-
tics, every epoch has had its
catcallers but after 2000 years He
still rides on.
Just a few years ago, some of
the so called intelligentsia were
trying to get rid of Jesus and
make Him out to be just a fond,
nostalgic sentimentality. Yet
today He is fascinating thousands
and thousands, perhaps as never
before, Musicals and movies are
produced based on His life. Even
as I write this a TV super-special
called Jesus of Nazareth is being
presented on a major American
network, No, no one can ever
write Jesus off. r
I'm ,told that in Damascus
there is a temple of which the
origin is misted in antiquity. It
was first called the Temple of
Jupiter. Later, it became a
Christian church, the Cathedral
of John the Baptist and the faith-
ful gathered there until the 7th
century AD. At that time Islam
swept across the Middle East,
took the temple and turned it into
the Mosque of Omayyad. The
Moslems painted out every
Dear Bill:
I would like to comment on the
council buying the house for the
Police Headquarters, Mr.
Ottewell's letter to the Citizens of
Exeter in The Times-Advocate
and the 'article in the London
Free Press a few days ago.
To begin, if the house is such a
good buy, I wonder that a
business man did not buy it long
ago as it has been on the market
for months! Many taxpayers,
including myself, feel it is not a
"good buy". It is not only the
initial cost of $23,000 for the
house, but all the renovations, the
upkeep, heat and utilities. The
Town will lose the taxes on that
property when it becomes a
public building.
It was not very fair for the
council to let the Heritage
Foundation have the plans drawn
up to suit the Police and then hold
a secret meeting and decide to
buy the house with very little
deliberation. This money is ours,
the taxpayers.
The Town Hall is central —
there is plenty of room for
parking — and the ideal place for
Police Headquarters. I do not
know how the Reeve could say
"From what I gather, the
Heritage Foundation wasn't too
Fussy about the police being in
there. The property committee
said they were told if they didn't
like the offer to go". Why would
the Heritage Foundation have
plans drawn up to accommodate
the Police if they wanted them
out?
I was not a member of the
original committee to make
recommendations for the future
of the Exeter Town Hall, but I am
a member of its successor, the
Exeter and District Heritage
Foundation, As Mayor Bruce
Shaw has said, "In a certain way,
It's a betrayal of trust".
The seven members of the
committee, and especially Doug
Gould, have, put in many hours —
they are all dedicated citizens of
Exeter — and the antagonism of
Advocate Established 1881
reference to Christianity but I'm
told that the paint keeps peeling
off revealing Arabic words
streaming across the archway
and proclaiming: "Thy
Kingdom, 0 Christ, Is an
Everlasting Kingdom and Thy
Dominion Is Unto All
Generations,"
You see, it is impossible to wipe
Christ out, or paint Him out or
write Him off. No smart,
sophisticated generation like
ours will ever really be able to by-
pass Him.
The reason Jesus has continued
to hold such an indescribable
fascination for over 2000 years is
that He has the power to tran-
sform people's lives. He worked
miracles on the shores of Galilee
and He does the same among his
people of our age.
Some see the crucifixion as a
defeat but it was not. His enemies
broke His body but they didn't
break His mind or His love. And
they could not break that mar-
vellous truth He taught, the truth
which still lives to-day. That
truth being that He loves people
and wants to help them. He
knows the weakness in human
beings; he never hits them when
they are down but rather, lifts
them up. He changes people, He
pulls them through hard and
difficult times. He can never be
written off because of what He
does in the crises of our
existence. When we can't handle
things anymore, He handles them
for us.
And that is why His name still
holds such fascination and that is
why He still rides on in majesty.
We have the choice, as there has
been in every generation, to
ignore Him, to join the catcallers
and throw rocks, or to unite with
those who acclaim and follow
Him.
some of the council and the
Building inspector all through
negotiations would exhaust the
patience of a saint!
Before the Town Hall was
turned, over to the Heritage
Foundation, nothing was ever
said about the deplorable con-
dition of the Police office. Now, it
seems to be brought up con-
tinually! We were not respon-
sible for this condition. The Town
Councils, past and present,
certainly would never go on
record for keeping up public
buildings!
Thousands of dollars were
spent on the council chambers
and offices in a building the Town
does not own and never will. Any
money paid for rent to the
Heritage Foundation would be
going into the Town Hall
Restoration so the Town would
not be losing out. The Town Hall
will belong to Exeter,
Mr. Ottewell has said "coun-
cil's first obligation is to act in the
best interests of all citizens in
making sound financial
decisions". Do you, the tax-
payers, think council is doing
this?
Sincerely,
Marion D. Bissett
Letter to Editor:
The Ontario Federation of
Anglers and Hunters is currently
entering its 50th year of Con-
servation in Ontario. To
celebrate this event we wish to
publish a history book and would
appreciate receiving material,
facts and figures from past
members, clubs and associated
groups.
Anyone with information on
past history on the 0.F.A.H, or
Conservation in Ontario should
sent it to:
Ontario Federation of Anglers
& Hunters,
P.O. Box 1269,
CAMPBELLFORD, Ont.
KOL 1L0
Amalgamated 1924
exeferZimes-Ainioatfe
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
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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
a s at Exeter, Ontario
second Class Mail
Registration Number 0386
Paid in Advance Circulation
September 30, 1975 5,409
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