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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-05-26, Page 4If the other municipalities involved in the South Huron Recreation Centre follow the lead of Usborne council, there is little question but what the board of manage- ment and their staff will have to run an ex- tremely tight ship. Usborne councillors were the first to approve sharing in any operating deficit of the centre for the current year, and while they agreed to assume up to 30 percent of any deficit, they attached the stipulation that the amount would not exceed $4,000. That's certainly a business like ap- proach to take to the situation, and obvious- ly none of the councils involved could be ex- pected to give the board an open-ended agreement such as a straight percentage without any limit. It will make the board extremely budget conscious in the operation of the new centre and will require more accurate and up-to-date accounting, procedures than have been used in the past for recreation and recreation facilities in the community. If the negotiations between the area municipalities is to be conducted on an an- nual basis, it will also require early ap- proval each year for the centre budget from the councils involved. Circumstances in the past have pointed out quite clearly that budget deliberations and approvals must be undertaken in the first couple of months of the year. To delay it beyond that point could result in the same problems encountered by Exeter's RAP committee in their final year of operation. The formal agreement between the municipalities should contain specific dates when the board is to present their an- nual budget and provide specific deadlines for the councils to make their decision on that budget. It is obvious that the board of manage- ment and the councils involved will have to operate on a trial and error basis for several months before any accurate predic- tions can be made regarding the annual operation of the facility and to reach the long range goal of area recreation. However, it is encouraging to hear the comments of Usborne Reeve Bill Morley when he notes that the township is represented by capable men on the board whom council trusts to make intelligent decisions on behalf of their ratepayers. If the other councils show as much trust in their representatives, there is every indication that the operation of the facility should run smoothly once the initial kinks are ironed out. A better scheme Commenting on the fact that at a time when Canada's ability to produce new wealth is in doubt we seem to be better than ever at creating instant millionaires, the Glengarry News muses that lotteries produce no new wealth. They redistribute what we have, leaving a lot of people a lit- tle poorer and a few much richer. The Renfrew Mercury suggests a new plan guaranteed to win you at least $250 a year. The day before each of the Wintario, Provincial or Loto Canada draws just deposit the value of two tickets in a special bank account. With 26 Wintario, 12 Provin- cial and four Loto Canada draws, the total after a year will be $252. And to make the winnings even bigger, you will be paid in- terest on the money . Of course there isn't any chance of winning a million dollars, but the chances of winning a million on the lotteries is so small as to be worthless anyway. The truth about the lotteries is that from 40 to 50 percent of the money goes into prizes. That means that of your $252 entered, only from $100 to $126 is paid back in prizes. So that means that, after levelling out the odds, you could make twice as much money by putting the ticket-money into the bank. And then at Christmas or whatever time you decided to take the cash out, you will have a nice total of winnings on hand instead of cursing that you didn't win. Plan not working Recently a major Canadian bank had signs in the lobbies "Retirement is just not working." And careful investigation by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business argues that, that is true in more ways than the bank meant. Canada has all sorts of pension plans, all of them carefully "indexed" to the cost of living. At present, however, the level of contributions being made by workers to the Canadian Pension Plan is inadequate to cover the promised benefits to workers when they retire, even without indexing. This problem does not extend to the pensions of civil servants, including our MPs, whose retirement income is protected. At about the time the amount of pension benefits increases substantially because of our declining birth rate, the number of workers who support the plan will decline so that fewer workers will be paying for more` pensions. Unions are now pushing to have all private pension plans fully indexed. If Canadian industry accepts this then there will be higher wage costs. Perhaps the Senior Citizens who are now living on pensions which are adjusted \ to rising costs, in retrospect, will be the lucky ones. Ridgetown Dominion From the literary scene Educational Heresy Page 4 Times-Advocate, May 26, 1977 VAKOMPDOMIWAVAN.,,,,,AVW,N,Xiii•AMMWAVOMMOMPI.WAVOA,,,,,:wW Encouraging start "I'm afraid you'll have to give up smoking; drinking; and thinking about Quebec." Designations are unfair For years I'd been hearing about Canada Day, an annual event at which Canadian writers come out of the woods or from under stones and allow themselves to be pestered for autographs, lauded to the skies and otherwise tortured by hordes of starry-eyed students and eager English teachers, It was Jim Foley, a leprechaunish slip of a man, who spawned the idea originally, when he taught high school English in Port Colborne. Why shouldn't students have a chance to meet some real, live writers? First year it was done on a shoe-string, Foley's students raised money by collecting beer bottles and other nefarious means. A few authors and poets turned up and talked to the kids. It was a great success. Since then, it has grown in both scope and ambition, and is now a singular annual event in Cana- dian literature circles, with hun- dreds of students busing hun- dreds of miles, and a pretty good accounting of Canadian writers, good, bad and indifferent, tur- ning up for their accolades. Foley, who is no dummy when it comes to raising money, got publishers, a notably reluctant lot when it comes to spending money, to set up displays, He tapped every possible cultural well, from departments of education to Canada Council, This year I attended, along with a young colleague who is a budding poet, and we had a good time and came home dropping names all over theplace and buf- fing our cultural fingernails all over ourselves very ostensibly. "Well, after Margaret Laurence gave me a big kiss," I noted, "the whole weekend was just one mad whirl." This made my students sit up. "Michael Ondaatje's beard is neater than mine," contributed my friend Roger," but I'm a better poet, and I told him so." "At least half the writers there are regular readers of my column," I commented smugly. Three or five of them actually are, but wotthehell. "We had breakfast with Mayor Moore and drove him to his seminar," Roger tossed in, And so we went on. As a matter of fact, some of those things did happen, and some others that I have no inten- tion of revealing. Some rather interesting con- trasts popped up. For example, the novelists seem to be rather a steady lot, in comparison to the poets, who had a tendency to get into the grape. Age seems to have little to do with ability. Leslie MacFarlane, the grand old man who wrote the Hardy Boy books (and received about $50 each for them as total royalties) away back when, was honored at the same time as Young Jack Hodgins from Van- couver Island, who has just published his first novel. There's close to sixty years difference in their ages. And by the way, there's a young fellow to watch — Hodgins. He was exhausted from a combination of jet lag and too many interviews in too short a time, But he gave it everything he had, in panels and quiz sessions, He's very handsome, very eloquent, and very enthusiastic, ,and I imagine the teenagers were swooning over him. Let's hope he doesn't get caught up in the snarling and back-biting that too often stains the Canadian culture scene. Canadian publishers, on the whole, showed their usual un- inventiveness, coming out of what seemed a deep lassitude only when John Robarts of the Federal cabinet said something about more help for publishers. That's the only thing that seems to stir them. Exceptions are a few small publishers, who show some verve and imagination in design and quality of books, Farley Mowat's beard is almost as long as he is, but he has a nice wife. Pierre Berton is still combing his sideburns over his bald spot, but looks healthy and self-satisfied as ever. Suave Hugh Maclennan makes most of the other writers sound as though they'd just left Hayfork Centre. Yves Therriault, a popular Quebec writer, has a new and charming second wife who seems to like him. Lloyd Person, Saskatchewan novelist, still thinks I should devote a column to a review of his book if he sends me a copy, Mayor Moore doesn't comb his sideburns over his bald spot and looks fine just as he is, Poet John Newlove has eyes like two boiled eggs at a certain point in his progress. Some of the young fellows from New- foundland put on the liveliest show of the weekend, with music and poems, Max Braithwaite and charming wife, fit and tanned, are just back from California, During the past few weeks, the writer has attended several meetings at which education has been discussed, and certainly many people in this area have been involved in that discussion as part of the internal evaluation team of education in South Huron. One disconcerting aspect of the total exercise has been the fact that some unfortunate labels have been tossed about and it has prompted some parents to wonder whether their concern and interest is really ap- preciated. At a board of education meeting called to discuss text- books on the English course, the parents who attended to express their concerns were referred to as a "pressure group" by one of the principals in attendance. • However, at another meeting at which only a handful of parents attended, it was suggested that the lack of in- terest was due to their "apathetic" nature. While it may be a rather over- simplified statement of the situa- tion, one parent recently com- mented that it was difficult to know where she stood, "If I at- tend a meeting, I'm considered part of a pressure group, and if I stay away I'm labelled as being apathetic," she commented. Obviously, it creates a quan- dry! * * Education is the public's business and it is encouraging that parents have been formally invited to be involved in its evaluation. After all, it con- sumes a considerable portion of their tax dollars and they have an economic interest as well as the more important interest of the education of theiechildren. Unfortunately, evaluations or public meetings on education generally concern themselves with the weaknesses of the system. That's as it should be, because those are the areas that need improvement. However, too often those who and they're making movies•of a couple of his books. Uh, let's see, Irving Layton is getting old, just as he threatens in his poems. I don't know why Mrs. Jim Foley doesn't go out of her nut, running interference for Jim. Politicians, about eight of them, insisted on welcoming everybody, to everybody's dis- may. Al Purdy looks as though he needs a week in a rest home. Poet Don Gutteridge's wife, Anne, enjoyed driving us back to the motel when my driver ran out of steam. There you are, Just a few notes from the literary scene by a non- hero-worshipping weeky colum- nist who knows that when you peek behind the talent, the writer is just a dogsbody, like the rest of us. are in areas of responsibility im- mediately take on a defensive role and tend to assume that peo- ple are finding fault with everything they do. Basically, if people were asked to rate our education system on a scale of one to ten, it would probably come out at an average of around eight or perhaps even higher. But obviously, it would never hit ten. What does reach that elusive goal of being perfect? Probably nothing! Surely it does not indicate that people should ever be satisfied with anything less than ten though. When we reach a stage where we consider eight or nine being ample, it usually indicates that we wouldn't be too concern- ed if it dropped to seven. In short, when people stop reaching for perfection they usually slide a long way below that level, Education is a team effort in- volving the ministry, trustees, administrators, teachers, parents and students. When any member of that team is unable to accept criticism or suggestions for change, then he jeopardizes the team's effort and certainly minimizes his contribution. Hopefully the dialogue that has been opened will continue and there will be more opportunities for the members of the team to get together to discuss their common goal. * Election campaigns always produce some interesting com- ments and prove that people can, in the interest of their party, almost prove that black is white. That is particularly true in this area, where for the past few years, we have managed to get ourselves into the opposition at both the federal and provincial elections. So, we have the provincial PCs going around saying that we should really get back on the side of the government, while in the next federal election they'll probably point out the need for a strong opposition. Conversely, the Liberals will tell us now that we need a strong opposition, while come the next federal election they'll be en- couraging us to get on the government side of the house. The whole concept of that type of argument is, when considered fully, rather distasteful because it suggests that governments tend to find favor only with those constituencies which are represented by a member of the government. Unfortunately, it is often based on fact! * * We hesitate to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but the advertising campaign staged recently by Conestoga College is almost un- believable. The College ran two-color half page advertisements in niany area papers last week announ- cing their tenth birthday party, and inviting people to join in the tencennial celebration days. Now, before you gather up your Sunday best to head out to that big party, you should be reminded that it doesn't occur until September 30 to October 2. The advertising manager is hoping that the campaign con- tinues to grow each week until that time and by the week prior to the event he should be able to stay at home and fill the paper with colorful page after page for the Conestoga tencennial. If he can hold out long enough, he should be able to retire quite comfortably on the commission for their 25th anniversary. * * It was rather surprising that Councillors Barb Bell and Lossy Fuller weren't able to convince the male members of Exeter council to complete the renovations at the new police of- fice this year, rather than delay- ing some until 1978. Several council members had been concerned about the in- conveniences and disruption that was going to be involved if the police stayed at the town hall during renovations there, but now they don't seem to consider that such a problem at the new office. If it only involved an expen- diture of $1,000 it would seem practical to get it all completed at the present time, * * We take this occasion to welcome Howard and Peter Hughes back into the communi- ty. The two boat builders will certainly be welcomed back with open arms by the employees who will find work at Hughes Boat Works Ltd. when they start back into production at Huron Park. It should also give the area economy a shot in the arm to have the former North Star plant back in operation. • • Amalgamated 1924 CCNA IRUI 1418110N AWARD 1974 55 Years Ago Last Thursday, the ceremony of the stone laying of the new Crediton Methodist Church took place. Rev, G. W. Rivers, chairman of the district, presided at the well-attended occasion. Rev. Walter E. IVIillson, London, was the principal speaker of the afternoon. The Trustee Board stone was laid by John Sherritt, Granton. The Ladies' Aid stone was laid by Mrs. Mollard, Exeter and the Sunday School stone was laid by J. M. Southcott, Exeter. The old building on Main Street, recently purchased by C, F. Hooper, has been torn down, Mr. Hooper will erect a s tore and residence on the property. The bowlers were on the green Tuesday evening for the first time this season. Rev. Blatchford unveiled the Soldier's Memorial, and Rev. Gordon Butt unveiled a window in memory of his father, Rev. W. H, Butt a former pastor at Centralia at the second Sunday of services held in connection with the opening of Centralia Church, Rev. J, E. Reycraft, Goderich, preached at both services, which were well attended, 30 Years Ago Clark Fisher was elected D,D.G.M. at a district meeting of the Oddfellows. Exeter has joined a baseball league with Centralia, Dash- wood, Lucan and St. Marys. They also joined a softball league with Centralia RCAF, Clinton, Goderich, Seaforth and Wingham. Close to 1,000 fans attended the opening of the Huron-Perth baseball season at Dashwood May 24. Dashwood was defeated by the Lucan Irish Nine 18-14. It was the first team fielded by Dashwood in 20 years, Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Eli Coultis, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Monday at their home. Many friends called to offer congratulations. Ten Honour Graduation Diplomas and 13 Graduation Diplomas were awarded at the annual commencement exercises of Exeter District High School, held in the arena Tuesday evening. by JIM SMITH Sometime in the very near future — it may, in fact, al- ready have taken place by the time you read this -- Canada will celebrate a historic mile- stone. For the first time in more than 40 years, Canada will have (count 'em) one mil- lion unemployed workers. The last time so many Ca- nadians were out of work, the official term was "depres- sion". Today, it's known as "cyclical dysfunction", but that doesn't help the unem- ployed. This isn't unemployment like we've known in the past. This unemployment is con- centrated among the young and the unskilled. For the first time, unemployment is reaching into the homes of the well-to-do; the sons and daughters of the wealthy are as unemployable as every other youth. What will happen to the newly graduated social work- ers? What will happen to the newly graduated teachers? What will happen to the new- ly graduated history experts? The answer is the same: noth- ing. Though there's a short- age of skilled labour, there is • no significant demand for new administrators, t eachers, or members of the traditional white-collar circle. Eventually,society at large is going to recognize the ob- vious truth: our education system simply isn't preparing young Canadians for the re- alities of modern life. There iS no point in training our youth for jobs in big institu- tions when big institutions can't absorb them. Interestingly, the most practical approach to the cur- rent situation is being applied to a bunch of social drop- 20 Years A90 Air Vice Marshall J. G. Bryans, CBE, CD, air officer commanding training command, arrived at RCAF Station Cen- tralia, Tuesday, May 28, to carry out his annual inspection of the base. The whole station was on parade Wednesday morning to start the inspection. Official nomination proceedings for the upcoming federal election were conducted Monday. Elston Cardiff, Brussels, is again nominated as Progressive Conservative candidate. He has been suc- cessful in the last four Dominion general elections. He will be opposed by Andrew Y. McLean, Seaforth, who was his Liberal opponent in 1953. Some 500 Scouts and Cubs from 15 communities in the area are expected to take part in the Huron District rally at Exeter Community Park this Saturday. About 100 persons attended a banquet 0 at Armstrong's Restaurant, Tuesday evening, on the occasion of the ladies' night of the Exeter Lions Club, 15 Years Ago Five people from Exeter and one from Dashwood were among the 30 persons who became Canadian citizens at a ceremony in Huron County courthouse last week, Those receiving their papers were Mr. and Mrs. John Roelofs, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Van Amerongen, all of Andrew Street, Brigitte J. Minderlein, Main Street and Magdaline Creces, Dashwood. The summer season got off to a record start when an estimated 20,000 people visited the popular summer resort at Grand Bend over the holiday weekend. Mayor W. E. Simmons turned the first sod in a brief ceremony conducted Sunday at the site of the new Precious Blood Separate School, which is expected to be completed for September opening. Earl Douglas, London, a Bayfield summer resident, an- nounced his intention to contest the federal seat in Huron riding as a Social Credit candidate. It is believed to be the first time that four candidates have sought the seat. outs at Twin Valleys Com- munity, a project of Ontario's St. Clair Community College. The students at Twin Val- leys are what society usually calls "drop-outs". It's equally valid to say, however, that there was never any place for them to drop in to. Canada has never taught self-reliance to young people so it should not be surprising that, faced with a need for indepen- dence, the young are unable to cope. Twin Valleys teaches self- sufficiency. Students grow their own food, construct their own buildings, and learn about contemporary, people-oriented technology like solar energy. By the time they leave Twin Valleys — of- ten only a few months after arriving — they have learned skills that make them readily employable in the outside world, even while university grads are looking desperately for work. These one-time social mis- fits learn to adapt to society. They learn self-reliance. They learn skills. They are more than institutional cannon fodder. As far as the Cana- dian Federation of Indepen- dent Business is concerned education projects like Twin Valleys must be come the wave of the future. But there's an irony about the success of Twin Valleys. Even while we continue to pour dollars into university courses to teach skills that can never be applied in our economy, these children, the outcasts and rebels of mod- ern society, are receiving first- rate practical educations. Sooner or later, the upper and middle classes will recog- nize that the education sys- tem is ripping them off. +CNA Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1 881 141te toteferZimes-Ainsocate 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 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 Sale Dr/kw If An owe* lives •