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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-12-01, Page 4dc.ewn ryternory iane • Page 4 Times-Advocate, December 1, 1977 N ioN Letters welcomed The T-A was probably the envy of every weekly newspaper in Ontario recent- ly. No, we didn't latch on to some major news scoop, nor did we receive any special awards or recognition. It was of more im- portance than that. What the newspaper received was a batch of letters to the editor from a class at Precious Blood Separate School debating the editor's remarks about allowing girls to play on hockey teams registered with the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. Some (mostly boys) sided with the editor's remarks, while others differed. Regardless of their opinions, the fact they were encouraged to express those opinions publicly in the newspaper was„the signifi- cant thing. It was a valuable exercise in the democratic process and it is to be hoped that the example of these young people will spur others on to use the newspaper as a vehicle for expressing their comments on situations which affect everyone. We believe it is one of the prime func- tions of the newspaper to provide such a forum for the residents which it serves, and the teacher and class are to be commended for their actions. Plans and people The idea of workshops prior to the im- plementation of the Hay township plan appears to be a good idea but a few problems have been encountered with respect to attendance. There seems to be a large number of residents from the hamlets and municipalities turning out, but with little respresentation from the farming sector, Attendance at the earlier sessions by few farmers is understandable considering the importance of taking the crops off, but there is no excuse for not attending these latter sessions. The sending out of information questionnaires by the Rural Outreach program of the University of Guelph to in- dividuals not attending the workshop sessions may help to off-set this lack of attendance but as one elected represen- tative said, "it's the people who don't at- tend these sessions that will raise the most fuss". Lack of attendance at anything that has to do with government can be looked at in two lights: an extreme amount of con- fidence in a community's elected officials or more likely a good old case of apathy. While Hay council should be concerned about the attendance aspect of the public meetings, a more important consideration is the type of information which is coming from the workshops. It's a very rare instance where a large percentage of a populous turns out to public meetings and when it does, a dog-fight between representatives from the public and governmental sectors usually ensues. The information generated from the workshops so far has been useful and inte- resting and should assist the township and planning department in the preparation of the plan. Many citizens would justify their non- appearance on the notion that the plan has been set and whatever they say will have little impact on the eventual outcome. Secondary plans for townships in Huron county have been on the go for a number of years so it's a fair statement that many ideas from these other plans are being considered for the Hay plan. Wlat workshops allow for is a fine tun- ing of the planning process and its feasibili- ty in a specific geographic area. Tuning an engine allows it to run more efficiently, that's the role that workshops play in the Hay plans. They'll keep quiet The national magazine of the United Church of Canada, which opposes gambl- ing, won't go along with an Ontario govern- ment lottery scheme to boost its subscrip- tions with non-winning lottery tickets. Lottery losers can get 50 cents off a magazine subscription by turning in their tickets. But magazines which accept them "should be prepared", the Ontario goven- ment said, "to provide free advertising space" for the lottery program. An Observer editorial describes the scheme as "sheer cynical manipulation". But, it says, "The publishers, whose more intelligent editors might be expected to speak a warning word about the moral implications, will., we predict, keep quiet. They will publish the ads, and take their half dollars". NiqEfe.K.milt?.„1:.a,,',WV:3:Antnit,:04. "\\,k,`\ \`-.t.,,, $ • v • ' In the middle is the.answer "How long have you had this feeling that no one's following you, your phone isn't being tapped, your mail isn't being tampered with, there isn't a file on you. . . ?" God among readers Imes - dvocate Stning Setrih Moron. ',forth Middlet,i S.M. 1,,bton Um* ttn 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 —. Bill Weekley Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager Dic,kJongkincl Phone 235-1331 CCNA 11W IIRSON AWAII0 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 $1 1.00 Per Year; USA $2.00 Well, it's nice to know that God reads my column. A few weeks ago. a bit daunted after 80 days and nights of rain, I wrote Him a direct and rather petulant letter suggesting that He turn off the taps. that we'd got the message. Boy. He doesn't fool around. If I'd sent the letter by mail. He would not have received it until next spring, when we'll probably need some rain. That's why I put it in a colurhn, which he obvious- ly perused during a celestial coffee break. Within 24 hours, He had turned off the showers, brought out the sun, which I thought He'd mis- laid permanently, and favored his favorite critters with a cou- ple of weeks of the best weather we've had since July. Well. Lord, it's been great and we're grateful. But there's one flaw in the ointment, as we say in literary circles. The weather's been so glorious it has sparked a round of activities at our place that has me staggering with fatigue and reeling with confu- sion. As long as the rains poured down, we just sort of huddled around the boob tube and I had a perfect excuse for not getting the last of the grass cut. the leaves raked, the storm windows on. and the various other chores too boring and miscellaneous to mention. But the minute that Sun came filtering into our soggy lives, the Old Battleaxe whetted her edge and started whittling at me. Spent a sunny Sunday driving to the city and back (could have been golfing) to deliver a couple of outfits our resident dressmaker had made for her daughter, the student teacher, which the latter had forgotten to take last time she was here. The dummy. We found the student teacher in an advanced state of con- trolled hysteria, fingernails bitten to the first knuckle. eyes tieing Wildly, She was to start teaching next day. My wife was convinced, not without reason. that Kim would go to her first teaching assignment wearing jeans. a T-shirt and sneakers. about all the clothes she's got. I hope she had better luck than one of the student teachers in our school this week. Poor guy tried to break up a fight in the cafeteria between a couple of massive Grade Twelvers? and was kicked in the head. Anyway, that blew the first nice day. But it was only the beginning. Our front door wouldn't open. our back door wouldn't close, and if you were in the bathroom and pulled the knob to open the door, it would come off and you might be there forever. Then the pole at one end of the clothesline was bowing toward the garage at a 45 degree angle. And the squirrels had chewed a hole and were enjoying daily coffee klatches at 6:30 a.m. Lawn was nee-deep in you know what. Bricks were falling out of the back of the house, four shutters were missing, as were 10 shingles where the guys took off the ice last year. After a couple of days of "Bill, when are you going to . Bill, what about the Bill, why don't you call .. ." I was forced into action. I told the old lady to call our neighbor, a contractor, I personally contacted my Grade 9 leaf-raker. I ran into Mike at the liquor store and mentioned the storm windows. Well, sir, things began to happen around here. Our front door opens and the back one closes. You can go into the bathroom and know you won't be there for days. The clothesline pole no longer looks like a post- coital phallic symbol, The storm windows are on, The lawn is rak- ed. Even the squirrels are frustrated by a piece of tin over their hole. You might think I'd feel pretty good. But right in the middle of all this executive organization of mine, my wife got us into one of those log jams we have about once a year. She decided to get the living room rug cleaned. Quite simple. really. It's just a little old Indian rug, 12 by 18, that can be rolled up and carried anywhere by six men and a camel. She arranged for it to be picked up. Then she decided to have the hardwood floor done while the rug was away. She decided the under-rug was ready for the dump. which it was. She called the under-rug man. Then she learned that the floor finisher had to have all the fur- niture out of the living room, to operate his sander. This required a couple of moving men, as I have a sore back. We decided to take the chesterfield and the din- ing room table out through the French doors and leave them either in the back yard or the garage. covered with plastic. Times Established 1873 One of the interesting debates going on in the community these days is in regard to the proposed shopping plaza and in particular the question of how much control local politicians should have over the commercial growth of the town. It is not a debate being held solely in Exeter, and no doubt many people have been following with interest the move by Lon- don council. They have decreed that new businesses or additions to ex- isting ones be justified on the basis of population growth and distribution, personal disposable income and retail, sales per capita before rezoning is ap- proved to allow commercial growth. That basically is what a lawyer for a group of downtown merchants suggested to Exeter council earlier this month. He said the developer of the propds- ed shopping centre should be rb- quired to undertake a surverIOA determine the viability of such a development and also thdt the local businessmen should be allowed to undertake a similar survey and give their findings. Presumably, council would 'then be expected to make their decision on whether commercial growth would be permitted: the matter would be settled by the Ontario Municipal Board. The interesting inference here This was vetoed by cooler heads, of which there were very few left, by this time. Oh we had a busy busy Hallowe'en. I can tell you. The sanding machine was roaring like a bull moose in the living room. You had to vault over the chesterfield to answer the trick- or-treaters. And the latter set fire to a vast pile of dry leaves out at the curb, with a nice breeze blowing. and the neighbors phoned the fire depart- ment, reluctant to see my garage and two vintage used cars go up in a pa-boom! We've weathered the storm. Through sheer executive genius. I got all the right people in the right places at the right time, I haven't lifted so much as an ash tray. and after having a tooth ex- tracted, I found that I couldn't eat for a few hours, but could manage a little straight rye suck- ed through a straw. But next time. Lord, please don't he so literal-minded. Those Indian summers get my wife so excited she'll be the death of me. And I still have to pay off Jim and his carpenters, Mike and his helper, the rug cleaners, the floor sanders. the under-rug peo- ple. and the leaf raker. If someone said to me "Get thee to a nunnery" I'd probably take him up on it. And find that the nuns were having the whole convent redecorated. Advocate Established 1881 is that the feasibility study to be undertaken by a developer would differ greatly from a study done by local merchants. In other words, a feasibility study can ap- parently be manipulated to whatever interest you wish it to take. It also sets out to predict the shopping patterns of con- sumers, although that is rather dubious in view of the whims they usually display. The London motion passed with only one indignant voice from a member of that council. "One of the rights in this free country of ours is the right to go broke," he suggested in opposing any move to place controls on the market place. He has a point, but so do those who argue that the overall benefit to a community must be seriously considered before any development is permitted. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth, and it is a question, is obviously most difficul t for anyone to answer. In fact, it is a question that probably can't be accurately answered until after the fact. Oh, for the wisdom of hind- sight! Following our column of last week about the trip to the Royal Winter Fair with students from Exeter Public School, one of the questions that was asked by several people was whether we would do it again. That may have been a little dif- ficult to answer as we alighted from the bus after the trip, but it became very clear the following day when a letter was deposited beside our dinner plate at the kitchen table, The spelling was atrocious, but in a comilaratively neat style, the letter said: "Thank you for going. If you hadent of ben there it wouldent have ben any fun. I wouldent have got my picture drawn and I wouldent have got my picture taken with that big bull that weight 3,000 pounds. That was funny when you almost sliped in the cow manure. Those squash were very big whernt they?" The note was signed, "your son Brett". It was a letter similar to that )received by all the parents who acted as group leaders and no Dear Editor: I.am interested in recycling. For several years I have gathered up left- over and used Sunday School papers and Gospel literature and sent it to pioneer Canadian churches and foreign missionaries. The missionaries Amalgamated 1924 doubt they too would find it most difficult to beg off the next trip as well. * Speaking of kids, our counter- part up at the Clinton News- Record, Jim Fitzgerald recently noted that editors seem to be very popular people with the stork these days. He went on to point out that he had a visit from the long-legged creature a few weeks ago and then more recently, the bird dropped in to see Susan White, editor of the Seaforth Expositor, Jim concluded his remarks by adding "now, let's see what you can do, Batten". Well, for Mr. Fitzgerald's edification, Batten. has, already proven what he can do, and until such time as he and Mrs. White catch up, we shall be quite prepared to rest on our laurels, The high cost of funerals is one of the favorite debates of many people, while funeral directors periodically mount a campaign to explain the services they provide and the reason for the charges. Well, we have a new service they can list, if our experience of last week is any indication of a regular practice of funeral direc- tors. While attending a funeral in London, one of the young men employed in the firm advised that the front tire on the family bus was going soft due to a nail being imbedded in the sidewall, With the service about to com- mence, we asked him to call a service station to have the tire changed so it would be ready to join the procession, However, in checking to see that some corrective measure was being taken, we found two of the firm's young funeral direc- tors busy jacking up the bus and, replacing the tire themselves, being careful not to soil their striped trousers. The job was completed by the time the vehicle was required. write; "There is indeed a famine of Gospel literature on the foreign field. Unfortunately there is no Gospel Literature printed in the West Indies. To send away for it is very costly," There have been over 9,000 pairs of eye glasses come in for missionary work in Dominican Republic, Haiti and other un- developed countries, I receive parcels every day. Several missionary projects want used stamps, The used greeting cards (pictures only) are sent to countries who do not read English. The poor children are thrilled with the pictures, Missionaries have said these used greeting cards are often the only pictures in the native homes. There is always a need for good used clothing, especially children's clothing. Jesus said, "Gather up the fragments (left-bvers) that remain, that nothing be lost," Proverbs 12:27 Living Bible reads:. "A diligent man makes good use of everything he finds," God has abundantly blessed our land but will He continue to bless us if we continue to wage what others could use? Waste is sin. May I suggest our government have some recycling programs 55 Years Ago The second annual High School Commencement exercises were held in the Opera House Friday evening of last week. Prof. H, R, Kingston, of the Western University Extension Depart- ment gave an illustrated lecture on "The Wonderful Heavens". The scholarship for proficiency was awarded to Harry Seldon and the gold medal for general proficiency to A. Bruce Medd, Southcott Bros, have pur- chased from Miss L, Johns the Johns block on Main Street at present occupied by them and by the Post Office, Marks Bros. appeared in the Exeter Opera House on Wed- nesday and Thursday evenings and drew fairly large houses, The oyster supper which was held in the Town Hall at Crediton on Friday last was a splendid success. A special meeting of the Exeter UFO was held in Senior's Hall Thursday evening with addresses being given by W. Black, MP and A, Hicks, MPP. 30 Years Ago Mr. Eric Mcllroy, proprietor of Lakeview Casino, at Grand Bend is suffering from burns received when he carried a burning stove from an apartment near his winter home in the Pinery. Over 3,000 envelopes were sent to the district families at the first of the week by the Exeter Branch of the Canadian Legion to raise funds to be sent to Care for the hungry families of Britain. Mr. and Mrs. John Perkins celebrated their diamond wed- ding anniversary on Sunday. William H. Golding, Liberal member for Huron-Perth will serve again as deputy-chairman of committees of the whole House. 20 Years Ago Graham Mason, air force veteran, is the new president of Exeter Legion. He succeeds Harry Holtzman. Receiving the most honors at Huron County 4-H achievement night in Wingham Friday were Developing Reading Ability During the past few years, many people have shown concern for what has been called a decline in the basic reading skills of students. I believe this concern is well founded and an examination of what influences the develop- ment of reading ability is wor- thwhile. First, reading ability is not really "basic" for most students, It is an ongoing learning process which requires years of training and practice. Advanced levels of reading ability are demanded as a student progresses in education and different kinds of reading ability are required for different courses of study. Many people seem to think that reading is learned easily in the elementary school years but in fact, reading skills are taught by teachers throughout the school system. Parents should be aware of this and students should be encouraged to continue to develop existing and new reading skills. Secondly, not all students are able to develop reading skills as quickly as the educational system demands and because of this, developmental reading courses are offered to give special emphasis to reading skills in the areas of teaching new reading skills and providing remedial help to students who are weak in their reading ability, These special courses are usually taught in a workshop style where students can work individually or in small groups in a variety of skill areas including rate building, comprehension,, improvement, vocabulary building, speed reading, study and research skills, Participation in these courses can be quite valuable to students who wish to where people could earn their money and keep their self- respect instead of wasting money on foolish projects or simply handing out welfare and unemployment insurance. The government should pay for ideas and research on recycling. Recently the public libraries in Chatham and Windsor had book sales. The libraries could have thrown these books in the gar- bage but instead, hundreds of people are enjoying these books and the libraries received some extra money. What are the motives behind throwing out useable worthwhile articles which are bull-dozed over at the land fill sites? Are we simply too lazy, too selfish and too wasteful to think of others and of the future? Mrs. Geraldine Schell Charing Cross, Ont, NOP IGO Patsy Marshall, RR 1, Kirkton, and Gerald Wallis, RR 1, Granton. Both were presented with a watch and a trophy, Gerald scored the highest marks in the county and Patsy was tops in the dairy clubs. Town council Monday night postponed decision on a recommendation from the police committee to purchase radar equipment at a cost of about $1,500. Winners of the store decoration contest were an- nounced this week, They were the Burkley Restaurant. Russell Electric and Jack Smith Jeweller, Winter weather will prevent the completion of the Morrison dam this year, although the road will be opened. William Hess, son of Mr. and Mrs, Albert G. Hess, Zurich, has received his embalmer's licence from the Ontario Embalming School, Toronto and is now with a funeral Home in Woodstock, 15 Years Ago Exeter streets were jammed with spectators Tuesday to herald the arrival of Santa Claus and the two other Christmas floats which formed the Exeter Businessmen's Association parade, along with the Legion Pipe Band. Principal H. L. Sturgis reported to the SHDHS board that there is some agitation among schools in the Huron-Perth conference to withdraw their athletic teams from the Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association, Exeter's first two-year council has a new deputy-reeve and councillor as a result of Monday's election. Councillor Bill Musser defeated incumbent Claude Farrow as deputy-reeve and new council member is Norman Ferguson, a driver at RCAF Station, Centralia. Sandy Ingram, five-year-old son of Mr, & Mrs. Ray Ingram, Hensall, fell while playing in the barn at his home and fractured his leg. improve their progress at school and to increase their enjoyment of reading. A third influence on the development of reading ability concerns the lifestyle of modern society, Television, for example, has changed the leisure time activities of students. For many students, hours of reading for pleasure have been replaced with hours of television viewing. The resulting negative influence on developing reading ability is obvious. In addition, students have more mobility today and have become increasingly involved in sports and social groups. While these activities have positive affects on developing maturity, an im- balance of these activities over reading and studying `nay result in a well-rounded individual who cannot read or learn very well. On the other hand, the establishment of a reading hour as part of a family's lifestyle has great benefits to developing reading ability. If an hour is set aside every day or every two days for all family members to read individually, or to read to each other, or to discuss what has been read, then interest in reading is stimulated and skills in comprehension can be developed. Weekly family outings to the library also stimulate interest in reading. Methods vary from family to family, but what is important is that reading becomes part of everyday living and that the value of reading is shown to children, Parents and teachers have enormous influence on the development of reading ability and it is hoped that the present concern from parents and teachers over the decline in reading skills will result in a new awareness and improved op- portunities for students to develop their reading ability both at home and at school. Comment from... *IMO Huron Miotritt By R. D. GRAHAM 4 I