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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-04-14, Page 4Why not compulsory? A select committee of the Ontario Legislature has recommended that automobile insurance should be made com- pulsory. We can only wonder why such coverage has not been mandatory for the past 40 years. Under the present laws damages caus- ed by an uninsured driver are covered by a provincial fund. The victim is reimbursed by the fund, usually at minimum amounts, and the driver at fault has a judgment rendered against him and will spend many years paying off his obligation in small in- stallments (if he should live so long). An unsatisfactory arrangement, to say the least, since the man who can't pay for in- surance is not likelx to enjoy a very large income out of which to meet the payments under a court judgment. If a person has the money to buy a car and to maintain it in saferoad worthy condi- tion as required by law, he or she should be able to afford insurance for the protection of other drivers and passengers, If not, that person should not be driving. The cost of in- surance should be part and parcel of the cost of motor vehicle operation, just as much as gas and oil. Let's get down to plain old common sense. Wingham Advance Times Directory assistance We know that telephone directories list numbers for everything from A to Z. Now we learn that they're even going to help us to get a line on saving energy, a valuable commodity in today's resource conscious world. The million-and-a-half Bell Telephone customers in the Metro Toronto area were asked recently to throw their support behind a recycling scheme sponsored by the Salvation Army by throwing their old- five-pound phone books in one of the organization's 90 Red Shield collectiOn bins. From there the Salvation Army delivered the directories to a local firm for conversion into insulation material, to help buildings keep heat in and heating costs down. And that's just part of the savings. Rescuing the old phone books from the garbage dump is a clear saving in the cost of waste management and will help fund needed community social work. The technology for recycling and reus- ing waste paper is being developed with the help of Environment Ontario's mul- timillion dollar resource recovery program. One of the best ideas we've seen...at least on paper. Every parent should attend The pain starts to ease Page 4 Times-Advocate, April 14, 1977 A sweet battle The William Neilson Company has been circulating pleas to newspapers for the past couple of weeks in an effort to have the media join their fight for the removal of tax on chocolate bars. They point out that buying bars is an impulse situation, and because most parents hand out allowances in multiples of five cents (many multiples it seems to us) the two cent tax becomes a problem and it is feared that sales will drop drastically. The problem arose, of course, when chocolate bars recently jumped 25 percent in cost and this newspaper has difficulty siding with the industry in view of that hef- ty increase. If it is a problem, why don't they drop the cost of bars a cent or two so the tax can be included in the two bits or eliminated all together? There's no question about it. Somebody-up-There does look after us poor, forked creatures here below. I have proof. When I left you last week, I was in the throes of ferocious agony in the back. Neither the doctor nor I knew whether it was a slithering disc, a boulder in my kidneys trying to escape, or leprosy of the liver, A week later, we still don't know. X-rays were taken, but the doc hasn't received them yet. Of course, it's a whole mile from the hospital, where they were taken, to his office, so that's ex- plainable. They probably sent them by mail. But the pain has eased off to a dull grind, and that's the reason for my opening statement. There does seem to be a Great Plan, and maybe Somebody does see us little sparrows fall. Because just as my back was emerging from the acute stage, I succumbed to that gross, dis- gusting, shuddering, juddering, sweating, griping, em- barrassing, exhausting ailment known euphemistically, even when it occurs in March, as the "summer 'flu'." Or, in less lady- like circles, "The dire rear." Now, I know perfectly well that had the two concurred, the bad back that made me scream when I lifted a sheet of paper, and the exigencies of my other ailment, this would be an obituary column. Doesn't that prove that the meek shall inherit the earth? Or something, You may think that is a bit Times Established 1873 simple-minded, or a coincidence. But the process, once begun, went right on. My wife had decided to redecorate the living room. She bought the paint, made a con- tract with the painter, and the work began, while I lay around shivering and wondering which end of my candle was going to burn next. Horrors. The paint was all wrong. Instead of a delicate, cool green, it went on the wall as a cold whitey-blue, about the shade you'd find on the walls of a penitentiary cell. After one day's painting, she was near tears. Didn't sleep a wink. But, and here's where good old Abounding Grace comes in, came a solution. The special dei- ty that looks after poor, down- cast, middle-aged people who are either plunging into the Depths of Despair, or sea sickly navigating Dire Straits, came to the rescue. Since I was too weak, she had to put out the garbage. While she was doing so, she came across an old color chart for paint that had exactly the shade she wanted on the walls. Shrieks of joy. Off to the hardware, hammering on the door before they were open. Back home, before the painter arrived, with another $50 worth of paint. Perfect! Joy reigns supreme in the Smiley psy- chiatric ward. Perhaps you're still skeptical. Maybe you don't believe that a Higher Power is looking after Advocate Established 1881 yOu-know-who. Consider these facts. My wife informed me, and I had to agree, because I was too shaky to argue, that she had actually sav- ed money on the deal. This may seem silly, as we had doubled the paint requirements for a room thirty feet long, eighteen feet wide and eleven feet high. Not so. If we'd stuck with the first paint, we'd have had to throw out the old drapes, and spend about $250 on new ones, because the old ones didn't go with the new paint, if you're still with me. We save vast sums like this all the time. Maybe you begin to see the pattern now. But that's not all. Because I was too sick and weak and shaky to write a column or mark exam papers, I cleaned out my drawers. Please. This had nothing to do with the dire rear previously mentioned. I'm referring to the drawers in my desk. It's all I was fit for, physically, mentally, or emotionally. And I found some tremendous stuff in there. Hundreds of letters, unanswered. Two re- quests from publishers to put my column into book form. Five re- quests to be guest speaker at something or other. A padlock for a school locker. Ancient, paid-off mortgages. Eighteen paper clips and twelve rubber bands and seven pencils. A copy of my will, unsigned. Two in- surance policies I didn't know I had. Two hundred old columns. Amalgamated 1924 CCNA BIM RIBBON IlYaR0 1974 The issue of "filth" in the books on the prescribed English courses in Huron County secon- dary schools has been raised again and has prompted the board of education to call a special meeting to debate the matter. The latest move was prompted by the complaints of a Blyth area parent who appeared before .the board last week to cite some ex- amples of the questionable literature. Several Exeter area parents had previously outlined their concerns at a public meeting last month and no doubt this too add- ed some fuel to the fire and made the trustees aware of the situa- tion. The whole affair is a little ironical in that director of educa- tion John Cochrane recently cir- culated a letter to parents asking them to join the battle to have pornographic materials moved off shelves in stores so they would not be accessible to young students visiting those stores. Some of those parents no* appear to be advising education officials that they should clean up their own act first before they start embarking on public crusades in other sectors of our society. * * There is little doubt that today's students have few qualms about using the four- letter words that were taboo in mixed company just a few years ago. After all, their English books contain those words, and it is only natural that •they should Fifteen addresses I'd been look- ing for for years. A copy of a great editorial I once wrote en- titled, "Sex and the Editor." A letter from my daughter, aged ten, at camp, wanting to come home at once. A letter from same daughter, aged eigh- teen, saying insouciantly, from Montreal, "If you ever want to see me again, send some bread, as I have one cent." We sent. Old stock certificates, im- pressively printed, total value three dollars as wallpaper. Letter from my son from Alaska, Halifax, Mexico City, Jerusalem, Paraguay, New Orleans. Letters from nice old ladies who scold me gently for my vulgarity. Letters from vulgar old men who scold me roundly for not "letting 'er rip." Letters from former students (mostly girls), who perhaps used me as a surrogate father or older brother or uncle, who tell me all their troubles, and who have now quite forgotten me, alas. I won't go on. It was a com- bination of Aladdin's cave and Pandora's box, But I do want you to get the theme. If I hadn't had a sore back, I'd never have had it get better so that I could survive the dire rear. If I hadn't had the dire rear, we'd have the wrong paint on the living room, and I'd never have cleaned out my drawers. And if those two hadn't oc- curred, we wouldn't be having a sale of whitey-blue paint, and a large bonfire, simultaneously, on the first day the backyard dries u Don't talk to me about evolu- tion, Darwin, survival of the fittest, It's perfectly obvious, as I have shown, that there is a Grand Plan for the universe, and that there is Someone, or Something, in charge of it. Now, I don't want to get into a religious squabble, or a fight with women's lib. We won't call that Someone either God or Buddha or the Geist or the Supreme Being, or The Master. Since He-She looks after all us turkeys without reference to sex, color or creed, let's just call It the Turkey-Person. 0107 assume they are acceptable in conversations. When the University of Western Ontario newspaper was printed here at the T-A about four years ago, the reporters and editors started to permit those words to appear in news stories and letters to the editor. As those journalists embark on their careers, we wonder how soon they will start slipping those words into the daily and weekly newspapers on which they work. We can well imagine the hue and cry that would be heard if this family publication allowed some of those four-letter words to appear in our columns, but as they become more and more accepted by the younger genera- tion, there is little doubt that the day will come when they will be used, unless there is some change made in our standards. * * * Teenagers, with whom we have discussed the question of coarse language, indicate that it is quite prevalent in their social circles. Surprisingly enough, it would appear to be used to a greater extent by girls than boys. Most of them agree that it is not acceptable in their homes. While on a bus trip with the Exeter Hawks last weekend, the writer was a little chagrined to hear one member of the team periodically uttering the four- letter obscenity for sexual inter- course. There were four young ladies on the bus and to this writer, his choice of words was disgusting. However, one of the young ladies was reading an English book that she had to have com- pleted for school and, if it is anything akin to "Slaughterhouse Five" which we recently completed at the suggestion of a student who was reading it for his course at SHDHS, the female student no doubt was seeing the word about as often as the hockey player was using it. So, was his language really that offensive to her? * One thing that we "old people" tend to forget is that many of the students who are given these questionable English books are, in fact, adults. That's right, they are 18 years of age and have the freedom to read whatever they want. When their parents went to school, of course, there were no adults in the classes, because in that day and age the age of ma- jority was still 21. That situation has created many problems, particularly for educators. Adults expect to be treated as adults, whether they be out on the work force or study- ing English at grade 12 or 13 in a secondary school. Teachers ob- viously have to consider the fact that they are dealing with adults when they prescribe reading courses. It becomes difficult then to draw the line at what may be acceptable for the 18-year-olds in grade 13 compared to the 17- year-olds in grade 12, and so forth down the scholastic line, Adding further to the complex- ity of the situation, is the ability of one 17-year-old to handle the offerings of an author in com- parison to the ability which a classmate of equal age may dis- play. Their own moral standards and that of their respective homes may also vary to a great extent and make one student prepared for today's prescribed English courses and another not quite able to cope. This is an area where many parents are concerned, They do not question some of the reading texts in the senior grades, but they do complain about the fad that some of those books are slowly being moved into the junor grades and they feel their offspring are not ready for them, In the same way that students and teachers differ on what is acceptable, so do parents, That's what makes the entire subject so complex and so difficult to deter- mine what is acceptable in literature used in schools. Hopefully, the vocal minority — on whatever side of the fence they may be sitting — will not be permitted to set the standards for the silent majority. The Huron board has an- nounced that their session deal- ing with the topic is open to the public, and obviously it behooves every parent in this county to at- tend. For some, it will be an in- troduction to and enlightenment of the type of books their children are reading. For others it will be an opportunity to ex- press their displeasure or their satisfaCtion. The board will then have to deal with the problem on the basis of that discussion, along with the administration and 'teachers. It is not an enviable task in this permissive society, and their decision will be ap- proved by some and denounced by others. However, perhaps it is possible to hit some sort of happy medium , . if that is possible with today's modern literature. 55 Years Ago The Young People of James Street church put on a play, "All on Account of Polly," in the basement of the church Tuesday evening. There was a very good turnout and the play was very entertaining. The cast was as follows: Amy Shapton, Mrs. H. Jones, Hubert Jones, S. Reed, Fern Short, Margaret Kuntz, Wilfrid Shapton, Hedley May, Hilda Powe, Chas. Fisher, Alice Handford, Da Johnston, Elva Harvey, Verna Coates, Clarence Boyle and Dorothy Hardy, The second ice storm to 'visit this section within a few weeks occurred on Thursday afternoon of last week. The lights were off until Sunday evening and the telephone wires suffered con- siderably, F. E. Ellerington won several prizes at the Seaforth spring show with his team of horses. 30 Years Ago The war-weary, weather-worn people of Great Britain are to receive immediate help from the Canadian Red Cross to the extent of $1,500,000. Miss Annie Elford of the Lon- don Normal School is spending this week practice teaching in Exeter Public School. A large gas tank in front of Shell Bros. & Co., garage sprung a leak and 125 gallons of gas seeped away, Fumes found their way into the drains and up into several houses. Henry Ford, who has had one of the most notable careers in the industrial world, died suddenly at his home in Detroit at the age of 83 years, The Dashwood girls have reorganized for softball for 1947. Chosen manager was Sheldon Wein; coach, Howard Xlumpp and captain, Dorothy Tetreati. Dear Editor: I feel the quality of journalism contained in the Exeter Times Advocate is declining to the level of the advertisement circular that is discarded in a pile on the Post Office's table like "junk mail". No doubt advertisements are important for the economic survival but the news articles are becoming purely gossip columns. The paper presently has very limited local appeal. May I suggest improvements needed to improve the standards tot compare to other newspapers in the area, Organization of content by the use an index on the front page would no doubt be a slight im- provement. The area correspondents who report the "personals" should be redirected towards more creative and educational types of reporting the news. They should include topics that both sexes and urban or rural residents will benefit from. Clubs and groups rather than describing who did what, could contribute new crafts, recipes, means of energy conservation, book reviews, home im- provements, gardening tips the list is endless. Advertisements such as travel agencies should describe the area attractions they are promoting in the advertisement rather than just a little box in the corner of the page. A critique of local en- tertainment and restaurants is needed to improve both the at- mosphere and cuisine. The sports department could give helpful hints on the up- coming sports such as tennis, golf, lawn bowling just to name a few. Fashion commentaries of what is new in local shops might even improve sales as much as large advertisements do. To summate, the newspaper needs more than just ad- vertisements in order to make it saleable to the public it serves. I have enclosed the renewal of my own personal subscription in the faith that improvements will be made. Sincerely, Mrs. L.D. Geoffrey (A concerned reader !) * * * RR 8, Parkhill, Ontario April 10, 1977 Sir, I sincerely hope that those peo- ple of our area who have recently found it necessary to create a controversy over inappropriately labelled 'filthy books' realize that their. efforts only serve to perpetuate interest in these books among students, a mis- directed interest which is the student's true enemy. A book such as 'Catcher In The Rye' becomes enticing because it is controversial, and as a result, the book is not read in 20 Years Ago A massed choir of 175 voices of grades three to eight from Usborne township schools, under the direction of music instructor Lawrence Wein sang for a capacity audience in Thames Road Church, Friday evening. Les Parker, past president of Exeter Kinsmen Club, was elected deputy governor of the zone at 'a rally in Simcoe, Sun- day. The women of Centralia dis- trict held a kitchen shower Wednesday for Mrs. Gerald Isaac, whose home was recently destroyed by fire. Youth Fellowship of Calvary EUB Church, Dashwood, presented. a pantomime at their sunrise service, Sunday. Those taking part were Donna Eagleson, Ruth Schade, Donald Bender, Stanley Haist, Jack Schade and Ronald Snell, Shirley Bender, Joan Guenther, Joyce Haugh, Carol Schade and Lynda Tiernan. Bronze arrowhead badges were presented to Douglas Jer- myn, Wayne Bowen, Bob Wood and Tom Arthur at the Scout father and son banquet last week. 5 Years Ago Mary Shaw, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Shaw, was chosen queen at the annual At- Home dance at the high school, Friday, Afire which threatened an en- tire business block in Hensall, was contained in the Silco Store by brigades from Hensall, Zurich and Exeter, Damage was es- timated at $50,000. E. J. Normington, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Normington, Hen- sail, has been awarded a $2,400 National Research Council scholarship. Exeter Furniture Limited is currently working on an order for church furniture to be install- ed at the Guy Indian Residential School in northern Manitoba. school where a proper appreci- tion for the book could be groom- ed, but in seclusion, and for the wrong reasons. Surely Mr. Barth, a former teacher, must realize that the debasement of sex in society is not the fault of artists such as Salinger, but the fault of society in general. The sexual inferences and vulgarity in 'Catcher In The Rye' and other legitimate literary works of art, are not intended to appeal to lust, but are intended to mirror the decadence in socie- ty so that we learn to reproach ourselves and attempt to rectify moral decay. However, without a carefully supervised approach to such literature students merely dote on the controversial aspects of the book and search no further for the artist's true intent, which is to educate rather than to con rupt. I would advise worried in- dividuals such as Mr. Barth to transfer their concerns from literary art to truly filthy, sex- ually exploitive material such as the hard-core pornography which is illegally but easily circulated in society. Artists such as J. D. Salinger, Margaret Lawrence and John Steinbeck, who have laboured to educate us, do not deserve ill- founded abuse as long as a per- son can walk into a store and get a copy of 'Penthouse' along with his milk and bread. Yours, Paul Salmon * * * Bruins Reply: What Do You Know? Well hockey season is over at Huron Park. The Houseleague Trophy was won by the Bruins. This team was the weakest team all season. Somehow they managed to have all first year skaters apart from their goalie and one other player. During the season they had to make out without the goalie due to a broken arm. Still the Bruins played on. The other player often played Novice for Exeter in tournaments so the Bruins had to do without him also. Still the Bruins made it to the finals, which was to be the best two games out of three, which the Bruins won, One parent in particular disagreed with the result and the Bruins ended up with two more games to play. Again we lost one of our regular players who moved away from the Park. So the Bruins' coach brought the goalie from the Leafs team who had been put out earlier in the season. The Bruins goalie played defence that day. The one parent who disagreed before, again came up with complaints and withdrew his son. This was not the boys decision. The other interested parent didn't care too much either way. These two boys ended up the day in tears, The Canadian coach was in- formed about the goalie being brought up and did not seem to object. The Bruins won the game and were lined up for their photo to be taken and had to listen to abuse from the so called "interested parent," The "interested parent" seems to have a short memory of some of the shady deals pulled in previous seasons. The Bruins coach did well with the kids all season and his team did well for him in the end. The Bruins parents are proud of their team and don't feel they have to pull their kids from the team in tears so as to make a point to themselves, Bruins Parents, Mr. & Mrs. Gordon Rook Mr. & Mrs. Stuart MacGregor Ganger can ve b CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY Be generous when the canvasser calls "Sure feels good to be home and away rom those reporters and flashbulbs. . ." torefeahnes-Afasocafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.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 Jong kind Phone 2351331 Published Each ThursdayMorning at Exeter, Ontario second Vass Mail" Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation September 30, 1975 5,409 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canala $11,00 Per Year; USA $22.00 0,011 rP.OPOWW0.11,1414L.