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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-01-31, Page 4Think small by Jim Smith with the editorBATT’N AROUND Some strange things, indeed has interest Times-Advocate, January 31, 1979 Naming Edward Schreyer Canada’s governor-general may just turn out to be the best thing the Trudeau government has done for this country. Anyone who watched Mr. Schreyer’s installation to the vice­ regal post Monday on TV couldn’t help but speculate on how much promise the former premier of Manitoba brings to the job. Without casting any aspersions at all at previous governors-general, we have to admit that Mr. Schreyer’s ap­ pointment turns a corner and brings an active, committed and contemporary man into what has been a fairly low key and honorary position. The new governor-general is a man for all' seasons, a westerner who un­ derstands western alienation, a federalist who understands Quebec’s aspirations, and a social democrat who A new era know it’s important that all Canadians share in our country’s wealth. He’ll make a valuable contribution to this country’s public life at a time when public confidence in leaders of our political parties is pretty low. While he’s not elected and therefore his powers are and should be, carefully limited, we predict he’ll have untold occasions during the next uncer­ tain five years to set an example, to listen to ordinary Canadians and pass their messages to the prime minister, whoever he may be. Just as interestingly, the young and lively Schreyer family should provide for some fun at Government House and give other Canadian families inspira­ tion. We join all Canadians in welcom­ ing the Schreyer term as governor general. We’re in for interesting times. Seaforth Expositor The success of la Beauce is hardly a secret. Recogniz­ ing that they couldn’t expect established firms from out­ side la Beauce to relocate in the region,les Beaucerons es­ tablished credit unions which used local savings to poster locally-owned companies. Virtually every one of the lo­ cal businesses is locally own­ ed. And each of the firms is small (although some have close to 50 employees, the majority have considerably less). The workers in la Beauce pull together. Wage rates are equal to Montreal wages - but productivity is higher. The Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation has de­ termined that construction costs are lower in la Beauce than in the rest of Quebec - even though the hourly wages are identical. From time to time, when a new civic build­ ing is needed, the local work­ ers chip in and donate their services. Times are tough in the rest of Canada - including re­ gions which Have traditional­ ly enjoyed enviable prosperi­ ty. But, in la Beauce^ condi­ tions have never been better.1 The region no longer tries to . attract large corporations Basically, society breaks down into two groups: the rich and the rest of us. But the rich aren’t all alike, no matter what we peasant types might think. Some were born with silver spoons in their mouths. Others are self-made. And the two groups don’t mix. The silver spooners knock the self-made; “nouveau riche” they taunt. But there’s at least one solid advantage in being self-made: if financial disaster strikes, the self-made have a pretty good idea of how to start over. Nations, provinces and even regions, it turns out, are not all that different from wealthy people. Some re­ gions are born into comfort while others — fighting heavy industrial odds with hard work — have only recently acquired some prosperity. There’s a good example of self-made regional prosperity about 200 miles southeast of Montreal in the heart of what should be an industrial wasteland. The local resi­ dents refer to their area as la Beauce and call themselves les Beaucerons. In every re­ spect, the story of la Beauce and les Beaucerohs is entirely remarkable. •' • , • ------------„ La Beauce lacks virtually . from outside Quebec; those .everything an industrial re­ gion normally needs: sea­ ports, rivers, airports, close would reduce the borrowing costs for the board, it would probably increase the cost for the municipalities, many of which only collect taxes twice a year. Regardless of the outcome, it’s basically a matter of taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another. The taxpayers pay the borrowing costs, • whether it be for the school board or the municipalities.- ’ *' However, • municipal councillors may havfe to take a look- at more fre- ' quent tax collection' dates if the in- ‘ ■ Some .reports of UFO sightings come terest rates, remain, high. Taxpayers •from questionable sources-, although, be -interested . in, saving- those standing citizens • ' ’ . • costs,, even, if it doe's require them to' .. Last fall, one .report-of a sighting —aLi.. • ,Came’Lancashire, where a UFO' -was se'en to land in.a-farmer’s field. • Three creatures with, long ears were seen to emerge from- the craft', carry- • ing a .device .that -looked.'like .a bird­ cage. The aliens-went 'directly to a herd of cows' in'the field and proceeded to take detailed measurements of the animals. Just imagine the reports that the ex­ pedition filed on its return to home base: “The earthlings we studied were ' awkward creatures walking on four legs and wearing a hard, sharp-pointed weapon over each eye. Underneath, each one was fitted with a soft growth resembling a bowling ball with the holes turned inside out.” ★ * * And while we’re on the topic of strange things, we wonder when the moguls of the Ontario Hockey Associa­ tion will come to their senses and make it mandatory for all players to wear face masks. That rule, of course, already applies to minor players, but when those kids graduate into the ranks of the more brutal realm of junior, intermediate and senior Exeter council apparently found out last week that borrowing funds can be reduced by throwing their business up for competition. While details of the arrangements were not provided, it was reported that . a “better financial and banking package” was obtained from the Bank of Montreal than had been provided in the past when the same bank handled the town’s financial affairs, automatically. Obviously, asking all the • local financial institutions for presentations was a good idea and area-and county councils should follow the example. ... pay 'munjcipgi faxes oh a'mo.nthly basis Borrowing funds to meet expenses or some other more'frequent pattern prior to the receipt of taxes is an in-'. ‘‘thannow'exi’gts. - / . ...... .•’ . -creasingly costly business .duetto-the ' • '.A' thorough, study, would- be re-’ • current interest rate levels.and we note . ' quired to', determine ‘ if the -increased ..................... ~ ..................... bookkeeping would negate the savings in more frequent tax collections, but it would appear to be worth some con­ sideration. As property taxes increase, people may also be able to budget more easily if the tax instalments were more fre­ quent. that the Middlesex County board of education is attempting a move to reduce that cost. At their recent meeting, the board instructed the staff to approach the municipalities to ask their agreement to pay their education levies in 12 in­ stalments instead of four. While that SYDFLETCHER Perspectives The number of sightings of Uniden­ tified Flying Objects appears to in­ crease during the winter months, due in part to the crazy tricks the various weather situations create in the. at-1 mosphere, pips the fact that earthlings * who battle the many vagaries of winter often.tend to get a little crazy? A lot of people get excited about the use of drugs in high schools. To me it would appear that alcohol misuse at that age level is a far more serious, far more prevalent problem. When I was teaching secondary school my senior classes and I had various discussions about the sub­ ject and they agreed with me that drinking, often at an excessive level, was com­ mon among the senior students. What really scared me was their attitude about drinking and driving. One Grade 12 girl assured me that after a few drinks she was a much better driver. Her argument was that she knew she had been drinking and consequently drove slower and more carefully and was more relaxed about it. Perhaps the problem com­ es from the adults who say, “Well at? least the kid’s not on drugs,” or those who have so much alcohol around in the home that their kids accept it as a necessary part of life, or those who insist Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 imes -Advocate I fc-TrUf lewdi Huron, NurlA MMAmH A Murth U *4 Sail tbkv M7) SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS ’A' and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jortgkind • _ Phone 235-1331 (♦CNA SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00 that beer drinkers can’t be alcoholics. My parents being abstainers, I never ever saw a drunk person when I was a young child. Thus’ I was really fascinated when we bought a restaurant down in the heart of Hamilton, right across from three hotels. It was nothing fancy but we served good food at reasonable prices. A big part of our trade was in the late evening when the hotels closed. It was almost always the same crew, a rough bunch yet surprisingly polite con­ sidering their condition. Then again, my father had a way about him that stood for no nonsense, and they all seemed to know it. There was never a .disturbance in the whole time we were there, yet the previous, owner had had three'fights in three weeks. There was one character who had a glass eye. His favourite trick when he had had a few too many was to slip it into his pocket. It was amazing the reactions he would get from a new waitress when he said, with a leer, “Say miss, could you help me. I seem to have lost something.” Over the years I worked near Toronto’s Skid Row and came into contact with the end products of alcoholism - grinding poverty and utter hopelessness, and the fascination of a child grew into pity, and then anger at a government which taxes alcohol heavily yet spends only a small amount of that tax on research and facilities to ease the problem. Ironic, isn’t it. A friend of mine was an alcoholic, twenty years ago, long before I knew him. He freely admits it. More power to him. That takes a lot of courage and self- respect. It took him about two years to kick the habit, a habit that had almost ruined him financially and was destroying his family life. What made him stop finally was an incident with his young son. The lad refused to stay home with him one evening. “All you do is sleep anyway,” he said bluntly. The father was really ashamed. A sad state when your own child wants nothing to do with you. He shook the habit off shortly after that. The ending to this story is a happy one with a man who is now a successful merchant and a sbhool bus driver, a position of respon­ sibility that obviously can­ not tolerate a drinker. He is a person whom the com­ munity respects and ad­ mires because of his tremendous accomplish­ ment. hockey, they take off their masks and expose themselves to the dangers of lost eyes and carved up profiles. The writer has been fighting a losing battle' for some time now to have*the Exeter Hawks wear facial protection, ■ but the boys appear reluctant, in part because they claim that their vision.is hampered with wire cages. . ' . . While it would be difficult to refute that, our stock reply Is that their vision would be hampered to a-much greater extend with the loss of'an eye.. .Each year, 'about a dozen players across the province.suffer the loss of an eye or serious impairment, .although ’that number has decreased how that minor players .are required-to .'Wear cages.'A Toronto junior; player recent-' ly lost an eye and nd doubt others will suffer the same fate as long as the OHA sits back and does nothing about the situation. Ironically, one of the rules in all hockey circles is that no player is • allowed to participate if he has im­ paired vision or the use of only one eye. However, they still allow players to take the risk of being banned from hockey through the failure to make masks mandatory. An added benefit of masks is the fact they would eliminate many of the fights which now mar hockey beyond the minor level. Players would quickly ^realize there was little use in squaring "off with each other, because the best they could hope for would be a set of bruised knuckles (they’re own) if they took a swing at a wire mask. Another irony is that the few* OHA players who do wear .masks are generally protecting an . injury that would have been prevented had they, worn a mask in the first place. It could be argued that the players •are of age and know what they are doing...but it does make one wonder if that is true. ! . * ’ * * . ports, rivers, airports, close J One of the more .popular books on.’the • proximity to large urban mar- . •market .these ’days is the- Guinness ,' Book of Records and naturally one of ! the more popular pursuits is attemp­ ting to eclipse some of the records or, to 1 . come up with some novel achievement • that can be listed in the thousands of categories.' . . This being the year of the child, there may be some who are wondering about the weight of the heaviest baby ever born. The winner was a Turkish infant, born in 1961, who tipped the scales at 24 pounds 4 ounces at the moment of birth. There is no record anywhere of baby’s first word. Mother’s was “Ouch!” * * * Several readers indicated they en­ joyed a recent column on some of the amusing incidents that arise with the novice hockey squad. Well, here’s another. In a recent game in Lucan, Steve Lingard found that he had no hockey pants or shin pads when he started to get ready for the game. “I can’t understand that, I packed it myself,” he commented as he sur­ veyed his unusually light hockey bag. kets, plenty of natural re­ sources and aqCess to large fi- ■ nancial institutions. What it does have is determination. Les Beaucerons have used their industrial handicaps as psychological tools in-the creation of their own region­ al economy. Almost 200 industries (in­ cluding steel, wood, clothing and food) are represented in la Beauce; only seveh years ago, just half that number ex­ isted. Last year alone, the rate of new job creation in­ creased by 12%. corporations never came any­ way — and-now there’s no need for them.. The fest of Canada con-- • tinues to dream up new Ways- to attract-multinational in-- dustry in the belief that there is no-other route to eCono- . • mic .'prosperity. Instead of studying the-industrial eco- . nomies of America', Japan • and Germany,-maybe'our in­ dustrial planners should be taking lessons from les Beau- cerons. > 6 "Think small" is an editorial message from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business© ■J Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Lot of complaining slobs Just struggled home through about the tenth blizzard of this month. You could see your hand before your face, if you had a large hand and good eyesight. Found my street more by feel than sight, turned off with a skid, went through the routine of getting into the garage. It’s rather like launching a small boat in a large surf. It takes a lot of skill and a fair bit of nerve. At the entrance to the driveway are the boulders. These are huge gobbets of snow thrown up by the snowplow, which then freezes them bigger than a large man’s head. Then there is a flat space, shovelled, about the length of a car. Then, just at the entrance to the garage itself, there is a sort of reef of ice, built up to a foot or so of frozen snow. You have to hit the driveway, and there is a large maple a foot to one side, at about 24 miles an hour. There is a great rending noise from beneath, just like rocks tearing the bottom out of a boat. But you don’t even slow down. With a judicious touch of brakes here and accelerator there, you sashay past the maple, line her up for the'mid­ dle of the garage, and goose her just a little on the flat patch. There is six in­ ches clearance on each side. All being well, you then ride up over the reef of ice, with another rending noise, this time part of your roof peeling away, slam the brakes at the last minute so that you don’t go through the end of the garage, switch off, and sit there wiping your brow. My wife is a big chicken. She won’t even try to put the thing in the driveway, let alone the garage. Maybe that’s because she has hit the side of the garage door about six times, both in and coming out. I enjoy it. I feel like a skipper whose ship is sinking,-and who has launched a boat, taken her through the surf, over the rocks, through the reef, and beach- ed her on golden sand. But inevitably, on such occasions, my thoughts turn to the poor devils, our pioneer ancestors, who had to cope with the same weather and snow con­ ditions, with a pitance of what we have to work with. When I’ve shut off my engine, feeling a bit like Captain Bligh on one of his good days, all I have to do is walk 40 yards to the house. Inside there is warmth from an oil furnace, light, an electric stove to cook dinner, a colored television to take me to lotus-land*. I can huddle in the cowardly safety of my modern home and defy the elements. Let’er snow, let’er blow. No chores to do. No trips to the bam to feed, water, milk the beasts, by the light of a lantern, in sub-zero temperature. No wood to lug in from the woodpile, or ashes to carry out. All I have to do is sit down with a drink, un­ fold my daily paper, and wait for dinner. And it’s no dinner of salt pork or canned beef, with a hearty helping of smashed potatoes and some turnips or carrots my wife had to dig up from the root cellar, topped off by some preserved raspberries from last summer’s crop. No, the refrigerator is one of our modern gods, and one of the most pop­ ular. I think it takes precedence even over the car as a twentieth-century dei­ ty. We kneel before it, contemplating its innards. We place offerings of food in­ side it, much as the ancients proffered food to their gods. And, just like the ancients, we are smart enough to take food back and eat it, after the god has been placated. Not for us the pioneers’ meagre fare. We have fresh (frozen) meat to hand. We have fresh vegetables, nothing from the root cellar. We have cheese and fruit and eggs and orange juice and a myriad other exotics that would 55 Years Ago The S.M. Sanders Manufacturing Co. have made very marked progress since taking over the Jackson Manufacturing Co. The output has been steadily increasing and new equip­ ment is being installed to add to the efficiency of the factory. The latest addition is a new cloth laying machine. A defective coal oil heater , in the north show window of J.A. Stewart made a very bad mess of the window and the articles on display. The heater had been placed in : the window to melt the frost from the glass. The heater . began to smoke making everything one black mass. An instructive and prac­ tical demonstration on shearing, slaughtering and dressing of sheep was given in Exeter Tuesday and Wednesday by W.S. McMullen and W.J. Howard representing the livestock branch of the Dom. Dept, of Agriculture. The demonstra­ tion was given in connection with the short courses in agriculture now being con­ ducted in town. 30 Years Ago Fred Darling, Jack Doerr, Norman Walper were in­ itiated as members of the Lions Club, Friday evening. Dr. Stuart Stanbury, a native of Exeter, was named national commissioner of the Canadian Red 2ross Society.' Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Wuerth left Saturday for an extend­ ed trip to California. Miss Maude Horton, former principal of Exeter Public School, died suddenly at her brother’s home in Oshawa. Ethelene and Eilene Johns who have been employed with the Times-Advocate were married in a double ceremony at Elimville United Church. make our ancestors blink in awe and fear. On the shelves in the kitchen we have another host of luxuries: canned fruit and vegetables and soup, coffee and tea and sugar and smoked oysters and sar­ dines and salmon and tuna. In the bread-box, cookies and cakes and bread that cost money but no labour. After a meal that would appear to a pioneer as food for the gods (even though half the stuff in it is going to give us cancer, according to the quacks), we don’t have to sit huddled by the stove trying to read a week-old newspaper by the light of a kerosene lamp. We can sit in comfort and read a book from among thousands in a library five minutes away. Or we can listen to music or drama from hun­ dreds of miles away. Or we can watch the same, or the news of the day, from thousands of miles away. By merely twisting a dial. How did they stand it, those sturdy forebears of ours? Wouldn’t you think that they’d have gone starkers under the burden of never-ending toil, never- ending cold and snow, never-ending monotony and loneliness, in winter? Not a bit of it. They thrived and mul­ tiplied. (Maybe the latter was the answer. There’s nothing like a bit of multiplying to pass the time.) Many of them didn’t survive, of course. Children died in infancy. Women were old at 30. But it was a lifelong test course in survival, and the tough ones made it. What a lot of complaining, compla­ cent slobs we are today! VIIIlcu vuuren But I’m sure glad I don’t have to go During the' wlnrfcfnrm out to. the barn, put hay down for the Tuesday?the tall flag-pol™t horses, milk the cows, and drag in a the school develonM mrn A EgeSht°f W0°d t0 kGeP thG St6VGS 11 found ti?at the going, tonight. bottom supports had rotted, 20 Years Ago The new Hensail post of­ fice on Wellington Street, opened Thursday. Cecil Kipfer is the postmaster. Harry Strang, RR 1, Hen­ sail, president of Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association is presiding at the annual convention of the organization in Toronto this week. Wesley’ Callcott, Mooresville general store owner, warded off a wild fox with a shovel when the an- nimal attacked him. Earl Greenlee came to his assistance and shot the fox. It was shipped to Hull for rabies tests. This winter is breaking the record nearly every day for snowfall, according to. RCAF Station Centralia met. section. Already, over 150 inches of snow has been recorded. Huron’s new MPP C.S. MacNaughton took his seat in the Ontario Legislature Wednesday after being in­ troduced to the speaker and members by Premier Leslie Frost. 1 15 Year* Ago Rev. John Boyne told his Presbyterian congregation Sunday there is ample evidence for the cynic to shout that public morality ‘is going to hell’. He cited examples of political, business and moral corrup­ tion supported by the people. Campbell Chapman has been appointed chairman for the Grand Bend Public Utilities Commission. R.G. Seldon, local motor vehicle licence issuer, was rescued by fireman Gary Middleton from his burning house just as he was over­ come by smoke. J.A.D. McCurdy School at RCAF Station Centralia has applied for approval to provide French instruction for its students. David Robinson wqn the Home and School Assoc, prize for the best designed crest for Exeter Public School. <