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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-06-30, Page 4Not a popular month ereferZinies-Abtiocafe 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-' 133I +CNA Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation September W),,10/5 5,400 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00 Foreign Intrigue \\ R 44.0. :VW NOVI VE101 The flower pots added to Exeter's Main St. by the local merchants have added a colorful touch, but it may well serve a dou- ble purpose. Hopefully, people will be able to keep their eyes skyward and won't have to look at the growing amount of trash being deposited on the streets by thoughtless peo- ple. That's not to suggest the town looks a While Exeter will never enjoy a major industrial base, it is a bit disconcerting to note that in the past couple of years the community has been going backwards in that regard. The major blow was the loss of JF Farm Machinery and now the community is losing Tuckey Beverages, although employment opportunities at the bottling firm are remaining in the area with the new location in Huron Park. In addition to the job loss, of course, there is the substantial loss of assessment for Exeter. However, the most disconcerting aspect of the entire matter is the fact that no one in the community appears concern- ed over the situation or prepared to take steps to replace the industries. The industrial commission is basically defunct, and while the county does employ a development officer, there has been no indication that he has been made aware of the situation or that he has engaged in a Going backwards Need an idea complete mess. However, it is far from be- ing as clean as it can due to the habits of those few uncaring 'Meters, Surely there must be some way — besides fines — in making people more responsible by depositing their trash in the many receptacles provided for their use. If you have any idea on what that may be, share the information. campaign to interest industries in settling in Exeter in the facilities which are now va- cant. To our knowledge, there has been no leadership forthcoming from Exeter coun- cil, despite the fact that the loss of in- dustrial assessment is a significant one. There didn't even appear to be any representation from council in discussing the move of Tuckey Beverages with of- ficials of the firm to ascertain if there was any chance of having them stay within the municipality. One of the basic problems, of course, is the fact that there is no person or com- mittee in the community who has been given the responsibility of industrial development or to act as a liaison with county or provincial bodies engaged in this work. That would appear to be a prime re- quisite and one which council should seriously consider. "Egremont was very patriotic on Canada Day, He raised his lnade-in-Japan Canadian flag, set off his made-in-Hong Kong fireworks, watched the Irish Rovers on his Taiwan TV 'and read The Greening of America." Go ahead, wave a flag Leave it to experts Eric Shackleton, senior regional architect with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, says amateurs should quit fooling around with experiments in solar heating. Eric says everybody should leave it to the trained people in industry to develop new methods of harnessing the sun's heat as a supplement to our dwindling reserves of coal and oil. t. What ever happened to the Thomas Edisons, the Wilbur Wrights, the Henry Fords, the Alexander Graham Bells? Mr.Shackleton must have forgotten that practically all of the most important inven- tions which have contributed to human progress were not made by engineers and scientists. They were the result of human, curiosity and perseverance. Son, if you have a bright idea about how we can heat the bath water by sun power in- stead of hydro .power,-., you: .justivo right ahead. One of these days yon will get the answer — just about the time the industrial engineers are out on their coffee break. June is not my favorite month of the year. Maybe it's because on the second day of that month, about 80 years ago, it seems like, I was ushered into the world, somebody gave me a slap on the bum, I started to cry, and I've been a bit jaundiced about June ever since. It certainly has some advan- tages over, say, January. There are no ten-foot icicles hanging from the roof. You don't have to fight your way through snow- drifts to get to the car. But it has its own plagues. As I write, a three-inch cater- piller is working his way across the windowsill to say hello. I know he'll be a beautiful butterf- ly any day, but last night I stepped on his brother, in my bare feet and the dark, on the way to the bathroom. Ever try to get squashed catepillar from between your toes? No, I don't live in a treehouse. The little devils come up from the basement, or through a hole in the screen. And they have friends and relatives. Just as I typed that sentence, a black ant, about the size of a mouse, scuttl- ed across the floor and under a chair. He looked big enough to carry off one of my shoes and masticate it in a quiet corner. Insolent starlings strut about my back lawn, scaring the de- cent birds away, when they are not trying to get into my attic through a hole the squirrels have made, or pooping all over my car, aS it sits under a maple tree, which is also making large deposits of gook and gum on the vehicle. Wasps and bumble bees are as numerous and noisy and welcome as gatecrashers at a cocktail party, if you dare take a drink into the back yard for a peaceful libation. If it's humid and stinking hot, as June so often is,it's like -cour- ting earnivorism, whatever that to sit out in the evening. The ruddy mosquitoes turn you into a writhing, slapping, squirming bundle of neurotic frustration In ten minutes. Go up'north into cottage coun- try and you wish you were back home with the mosquitoes, The blackflies up there can be heard roaring with laughter as they slurp up that guaranteed fly dope you've plastered yourself with, and come back for more. They'll leave you bloody, and not un- bowed, I have never yet seen, or heard of, a June when the weather was right for the crops. It's either too wet and hot for the hay, or too dry and too hot for the strawberries, or too cold for the garden to get a good start. Only dang thing June is any good for is the grass you have to mow. Stick your head out some evening, with your mosquito net firmly in place, and you can hear the stuff growing. June is murder for young mothers, trying to get their in- fants to go to sleep at their usual hour. What kid of two in his right mind is going to settle down in bed at eight o'clock, with the sun streaming through the drapes, the birds yacking at each other, and the teenagers, who have come alive after a six-month's torpor, squealing their tires at the corner? For mothers of slightly older kids, it's even worse. On a nice, cold, January night, they can feed the kids and stick them in front of the TV set, or nag them toward their homework. No problem. On an evening in June, those same kids, from six to sixteen, take off after supper like salmon heading up to spawn, and have to be hollered for, whistled for, and sometimes rounded up physical- ly, with threats, after dark. In January, even the hardy teenager will hesitate to venture out into the swirling black of a winter night. In June, the same bird will hesitate to venture in from the balmy black of a summer night, where sex is as palpable as the nose on his face, and probably a better shape. June is a time when the land is infested with not only tent cater- pillars and other pests, but an even worse virulence of creeps: politicians, with instant remedies for age-old ills. I'll take a plague of tent caterpillars any day. June is also the time for another of the institutions that tend to maltreat the inmates: Wingham Advance Times marriage. Why anybody, of either sex, wants to get hitched in sticky old, sweaty old June, with all its concomitants, I'll never know. But they do, and people go around with vacuous looks talking about June brides and such. (No offence to my niece Lynn, who is getting married this month. Boy, that'll cost me.) June is a month when all the ridiculous organizations with which we surround ourselves have their last meeting before the summer break. It's too hot. The turkeys who always talk too much at meetings seem to go in- sane because they'll have to shut up for two months, and go on un- til midnight, June is a time when people go out of their minds and buy boats and cottages and holidays they can't afford and new cars for the big trip and fancy barbecues that will rust in the backyard all winter. June is the month when I have to sweat in a boiling building through my most unproductive work as a teacher: counting books, stacking books, ordering books, fiddling marks, planning course outlines, when I could be Three cheers for Barb Bell in her solo attempt at staging some type of celebration tomorrow night on the occasion of Canada's 110th birthday. While her fellow members of council contended it was too late to stage any type of activity in the community, Barb decided that was not the case and has organized an informal picnic in Riverview Park. It is doubtful that council should assume responsibility for such an occa- sion more than any other organization in the community, but her leadership hopefully will be rewarded by some assistance from those who think Canada's birthday should include some flag waving and a brief time out from our enjoyment of a holiday to consider our heritage and our challenges to maintain this coun- try in its present makeup, It would be foolhardy to claim that C,aaada. as it-is, is without problems..We are remindednoft them daily. But our problems.: can and must be, solved )with.- mutual respect, ingenuitY,1 im- agination, cooperation ;and a common concern for the ,future of our country. Apathy is the strongest weapon, in the arsenal of those who have given up on Canada, History is strewn With examples of peoples who suffered defeat because they lacked the will to defend what they believed in. A Canada Day picnic in River- view" Park may not solve the country's problems, but it is a start, and if a picnic was held in every community across this na- tion to reflect on Canada's boun- ty, benefits, achievements and potential, it would be a major force in boosting the pride which is required to protect that which we now enjoy. Pack your lunch, pick up a flag and let's get down to the nark and show Barb we care as much as she for this nation. * While the reason was not noted, area taxpayers may well be the benefactors from the enthusiasm shown by members of the Huron County board of education in wanting to serve on the budget committee for 1978. It can be hoped, perhaps, that all members but two wanted to serve in that capacity,in an effort to keep education costs to the bare minimum. No doubt the fact that the budget will be the one on which ratepayers judge playing golf or drinking beer or doing something worthwhile. Lead on July, with some of that hot, dry weather," some big, black bass, lots of fresh vegetables out of the garden, and an end to the vermin of June, human and otherwise. their representatives at the next municipal election will see some moves in that direction, par- ticularly after the bitter corn- njaints which were received this year. If that is the case, and one of the major reasons behind the trustees' interest in the budget, then most ratepayers would be quick to agree that annual elec- tions may well be in their'best in- terests rather than the fwo-year term which is now in effect. It is interesting to consider that municipal politicians act in direct contrast to those at the tyo senior levels. The candidates for the latter choose to follow a course of making costly promises in their election plat- forms, while local candidates are more apt to stake their chances of winning on promises of cost cutting. There can be little doubt that given that set, of circumstances, taxpayers should fight strenuous- ly to have more of their affairs conducted at the local level. * Members of the county board should also be commended for their move to start budget deliberations much earlier this time around. There was apparently con- siderable dissatisfaction this year with the "rush" that the 1977 budget was given by both trustees and administrators and earlier deliberations should result in a better product. Hopefully it will also result in a budget with which trustees will be conversant and able to answer the questions which are posed by their constituents. That was not the case this year and trustees lost considerable credibility Dear Parents and Friends: Becky and Andy competed in McCurdy's field day this month. These teams were grouped ac- cording to age with 6, 7, and 8 year olds competing. Our trip to Storybook Gardens was a tremendous success. This year since there were over 90 students and helpers going from the three schools in Huron County, we needed to use two buses. We went ahead of our friends from Queen Elizabeth and Golden Circle on our own bus. The students from McCurdy who have been our noon hour helpers also came along with us. Two high school students who had been our former McCurdy students and faithful Huron Hope helpers also joined us for the day. The London Jaycees sponsor the Amalgamated 1924 when they had to admit they didn't understand the com- plicated financial setup of their own operations. Some members of Exeter council continue to make a travesty of the public's right of access to their meetings and the situation with their recent ses- sion , was clear indication that they just don't give a damn about our democratic principles. At their first meeting in May, council decided to delay the start of their regular sessions until 8:00 p.m'. so members could spend the first hour in closed talks about the upcoming agenda without the prying eyes and ears of the public being present. However, at last week's meeting, the discussion behind closed doors didn't require the full allotted time so they enter- - tamed a motion to start the regular session some 10 to 12 minutes prior to the official 8:00 p.m. beginning. That, of course, was totally irregular and illegal, although to be fair, we understand three members of council yoted against the motion and it re- quired a deciding vote from Reeve Si Simmons to get the meeting underway before the ap- pointed time. The writer fears to complain . too bitterly about council's ac- tions, because it seems that each time we attempt to argue for the rights of the public and the press, council makes a move to sup- press that freedom, even more. However, surely they have now, reached the limit in that regard! Holiday and provide us with free admission to the park, rides on the merry-go-round and the train, hot dogs, pop, ice cream and potato chips and entertainment at the Bandshell." One of the fund raising, ac- tivities for the McCurdy Student Council was the selling of school T-Shirts. Several of our pupils have worn theirs to school as have the McCurdy students. As part of the Jubilee Celebrations the Ontario Government distributed medallions to every school child in the Province. Our pupils received their medallions as did the Kindergarten to Grade eight classes at a special Assembly last month. Each June for a number of years we have taken the children to eat out at a restaurant. This is More than a treat for them, it is an opportunity to display in public the manners and cour- tesies that are an important part of their training, Such things as waiting their turn to order, sitting quietly, waiting until everyone has been served, using the ap- propriate utensils, remaining at the table until excused and talking in a soft voice so that the other people in the restaurant are not disturbed are all necessary skills. We were proud of Our students and thank the I3urkley Restaurant for their service to us, The student group Y.A.C.M.?.. planned a special outing at a farm for out pupils the first . Saturday in June. We enjoyed seeing their picture in the Exeter paper of the children on a hay ride. Now that the McCurdy School has a videotape playback we are able to view a number of T.V. — Please turn to Page 5 55 YEARS AGO Last Sunday was Decoration Day at the cemetery and in the afternoon,the IQOF assembled to decorate* the graves of their departed brethren. Headed by Past Grand. Clark Fisher and Noble Grand A.J. Penhale, about 50 of the brethren formed a proce,ssion. At the conclusion of the service, P. G. Clark Fisher gave a short address, Silas Reed was working in one of the show windows of Hearnan's Hardware when a scythe fell, the blade struck his knee, inflicting a nasty gash which required several stitches. While attempting to alight from a moving auto, Cliff Davis slipped and fell, striking his head on the pavement. He was ren- dered unconscious for some time. The Canning Factory started on their pea pack Monday. H. Willert and Sons, Dashwood have purchased the flax mill there Mrs. S. Skinner had a fire in the coal-oil stove in her back kitchen Friday night. The fire was under control before the firemen arrived. 30 YEARS AGO Dr. D. F. Ferguson, has pur- chased the medical practice of Dr. Hobbs Taylor, Dashwood, who is now in possession. The Grigg Stationery Store has been purchased by Howard Anderson, Washington, Ontario. A new hold-up alarm system devised by the Bank of Montreal has been installed in the local bank. Representatives of most of the 60 agricultural Societies representing district No. 8 met at the Exeter arena for a banquet and to hear J. A. Carroll, Toronto, superintendent of Agricultural Societies. Myrtle Reeder, in training at Woodstock Hospital, received her cap this week. G. C. Koch left this morning to take a summer course at OAC, Guelph. by JIM SMITH. The Senate, according to popular belief, is the burying- ground of the almost-dead politician. Which makes it difficult to understand the widespread lack of enthusi- asm for this institution. Af- ter all, most Canadians seem to feel that the only good pol- itician is a dead politician. However, some politicians appointed to the Upper House refuse to bow out qui- etly. Certainly the members of the Standing Senate Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs seem determined to contri- bute some useful direction to the Canadian scene. The Committee meets reg- ularly to mull over vital inter- national issues. Currently, the topic is Canada-U.S. trade re- lations. And, as Senate com- mittees tend to do, its mem- bers have spent•most of their time listening to representa- tives of big business explain why bigness is goodness. But this Committee turns out to be rather different. Al- though big business spokes- men have been through,mak- ing their pitches about the value of concentrated com- merce to Canadian life, the Committee also invited the Canadian Federation of In- dependent Business to ap- pear. The Federation, given the .opportunity to intervene, proceeded to tear down the false economic idols of big business. We do not need, it emphasized, more corpora- tions of so-called world scale in order to compete in inter- national markets. Japan, the Federation pointed out, is the world's .„ 20 YEARS AGO xeter Kinsmen's fifth annual summer playground began Tuesday, when close to 300 children registered for swim- ming and other activities. Recreation Director Larry Heideman, who was appointed last fall, is in charge of the playground: His staff includes Shirley Wurm, Eleanor Heywood, Pat Cann, Nancy Boyle, Carol Fletcher, Robin Smith, Judy Ross and assistant director Alvin Willert. Exeter Fire Brigade's cam- paign to provide a resuscitator for this area came to a quick and successful conclusion this week when the life saving equipment was purchased by the Exeter branch of the Canadian Legion. Construction of the $200,000 Morrison, Dam is progressing well, according to Ausable Authority Fieldrnan H. G. Hooke. 15 YEARS AGO St. Paul's Church, Kirkton, will celebrate its centennial with special services Sunday and Monday R. Rev. H. G. Appleyard Bishop of the Georgian Bay area will be the guest. Stephen township students were awarded three of the four top awards at SHDHS this year. The Stephen winners were Janis Gulens, Dashwood, who topped grade 12; Mynie Verkerk, Crediton, highest in grade 11; and Judy Finkbeiner, RR 2, Crediton, leading grade 10. The grade nine top academic award went to Iris Marshall, RR 1, Kirkton. Captured in Exeter at noon Tuesday, 16-year-old Paul David Franks of Strathroy appeared in London court Wednesday to be charged with the murder of Cecil Carter, prominent Clandeboye area farmer, who was found fatally beaten in his farmyard. Hon. C. S. MacNaughton an- nounced this week that tenders are being called for hot mix paving of the Bluewa ter highway, from Grand Bend to St. Joseph. Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 HURON HOPE NEWSLETTER most successful international trader. Yet it depends on small, independent business ° for 40 per cent of its exports. And this is from the nation which also has the world's most highly developed big business. The lesson is self- evident. Then the Federation turn- ed its attention to statistics supplied by big business to demonstrate that small busi- ness is inefficient. Many of the most efficient small Ca- nadian firms are very invol- ved in sub-contracting with bigger companies; the effi- ciencies of these firms show up in favour of the big busi- ness when the statisticians go to work, however. And, of course, since small businesses are very innovative and oper- ate in creative ways, it just isn't possible to measure their productivity in the usual ways. The Federation had much more to say. A great deal of ground can be covered in three hours. And the Federa- tion used that time to build an impressive case for more small business. The senators listened. They questioned. They an gued. And, ultimately, they agreed with the Federation. Senator Deschatelets called the Federation's suggestions "some of the most imagina- tive projects to deal with the problem of unemployment that I have seen for man y years." The senators acted, all told, like men far removed from the grave, The Senate, in fact, may be more active than the House of Commons. Don't buy any lilies for your favourite senator yet.