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Times-Advocate, 1979-02-28, Page 4Times-Advbcate, February 28, 1979 A inION • - ..........i ----- T|- - , , i'-......-i........... -i -.irm.------t — Carrying a grudge Acts of vandalism are disturbing at any time, but two incidents in the area last week indicated more involved than the usual wanton destruction evident in most cases of property damage. The smashing of a window at the Exeter OPP office and the slashing of all the screens on the windows at Ex­ eter Public School suggested an attack against authority, and public authority at that. The perpetrators of the two crimes apparently had a grudge against someone, obviously not an uncommon excuse for muqh of the vandalism which plagues society. Unfortunately, it represents a grudge against authority, and the public should be concerned, because in reality it is an attack against the public. In terms which more people will perhaps understand even better, it is an attack against the public purse as well, because the damages will indirectly come from the public coffers. While the destruction of private or public property for nothing more than “some kicks” is a sad commentary on the mentality of some within our midst, it is not as dangerous as the in­ cidents of vandalism perpetrated by those who carry a grudge or display retaliation for authority. They obviously need some help to protect them from themselves. Bigger and better For a million years or so, human beings have been developing their bodi­ ly defences against the earth’s natural hazards — things like smoke, dust, dis­ ease, decay, and various kinds of predators and parasites. Those who were less able to survive didn’t. Those who were better equipped to survive passed on their descendants. But now, in defences built generations have been rendered useless. They have been bypassed, by a host of new hazards. Dr. Donald Chant, vice-president of the University of Toronto and founder of Pollution Probe, stated in a recent interview that there are now about 150,000 man-made chemicals in the world, and new ones are being added every year. “Yet we know precious little about most of them,” he said. “Some of them may be as deadly as DDT.” In addition, each of these new chemicals contains impurities about which we know absolutely nothing, Dr. Chant stated — not even what most of these impurities may be, let alone their effect on human life and the world as a whole. strengths to their a single lifetime, up over untold And however these substances are used, in the end they hre dumped, or es­ cape into the environment, filtering their way into the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. So, should civilization give up on ‘progress?’ Should we go back to the caves? No. But we can and should de­ mand greater maturity from our business and scientific communities. We ought to view the years since the Industrial Revolution as a kind of adolescence. Like a teenager risking a lifetime as a cripple for a few minutes of thrills, we recklessly filled our skies with ashes, our rivers with pulp mill wastes, and our lakes with toxic trickles from mines. It’s time we grew up. Unfortunately, in the present situa­ tion, each individual cannot simply look after his or her own safety. We are too dependent on the actions of others. We should expect — we should demand — that those who produce the new chemicals will test them for risks, beyond any doubt, and will have enough sense of responsibility to control what they use. It’s the least one can expect from adults. BATT’N AROUND .......... with the editor Not what's eaten...just how much 1 Perspectives XT; - »k I By SYD FLETCHER The fastest job I ever got was with a big construction company north of Bramp­ ton. As I walked through the door a big stout man, chew­ ing on a dead cigar, pointed at me and roared,“You! ” “Who me?’’ “Yeah you. Can you drive a tractor?” Though I wasn’t any too sure I agreed and not half an hour later was sitting on the seat of a big old yellow Oliver in front of a many-wheeled outfit called a packer. We were building a new four-lane highway. My job was to drive the brute wide open in second gear at about three or four miles an hour and pack down the gravel which was being laid down by a never-ending stream of trucks. Exciting, eh? Well, believe it or not there were some things that broke the monotony. One thing I learned was not to go too close to the edge of the embankment and with four­ teen tons behind you even two feet was too close. The first time I didn’t even know what was happen­ ing. I just was going slower and slower, then looking around I saw about three or four yards of wet clay being Time* Established 1873 pushed ahead of the packer’s wheels. I panicked and tried to switch into a lower gear. That was disastrous. From four miles an hour I came to an abrupt stop. The grader operator was an artist. He could peel off an inch of gravel, perfectly crowned to the centre of the road without blinking an eye. He gave me the royal hee-haw when I hiked back to where he was working but came back willingly enough to pull me out. He wrapped a cable around my front axle, then put some tension on it. No way. By this time he was pulling about twenty-five tons of dead weight. Then he made the mistake of rocking back and forth and jerked once a little too hard. That old cast iron hook snapped as if it were a toothpick in­ stead of an inch and a half thick and the cable curled back around his cab like a striking snake. It took a bulldozer finally to get me out. The guys took it in stride though. Everyone of them had got in a similar mess at one time or another, either by carelessness or by somebody’s idea of a prac­ tical joke. The truckers now, they were always trying something on the other guys. Like the character who fastened the tailgate shut on a fellow trucker’s vehicle. When the poor guy tried to release the load the gate wouldn’t open. The load shifted and there the truck was at twenty miles an hour pointing straight up at the sky, only his back wheels on the ground. Gets a little dif­ ficult to steer. I happened to be coming along and fastened my cable on the truck. After about two bounces and a little blue air he was ready to go again. Then there was the character who liked to give me my daily thrill. He drove a big earthmover right by me about every half hour. Now my machine was noisy, but his had it beaten by a mile. His favourite sport was to coast up behind me as I poked along, then open it up full blast. I think he had a small bet with himself that he could raise me at least a foot off the seat. Believe me, sometimes he came close. The one other thing I got out of that summer was a sunburn. Now there are sun­ burns and there are sun­ burns. I can still feel that one. The first couple of days were either cloudy or rainy so I was able to survive with a little baseball cap. Then it got sunny and I got burned , so I got one of those African type helmets. Ever try to wear one of those after a fourteen ton packer rolls over it? Then I got a big sombrero and it was perfect. If it went under the load I just went back, shook off the clay and put it back on. Other than a face swollen like a watermelon and streaming like a dirty creek from breaking blisters, I was all set for the rest of the summer. It’s often difficult to comprehend how some civil servants can lose sight of reality and end up making such fools of themselves. While there are numerous case histories relating the pompous at­ titudes of the people who create and en­ force some of the regulations to which people are subjected, none has quite touched the nerve centre to the extent of a recent edict from the director of environmental health for the Durham Regional Health Unit. Dr. J.E. Watt has advised local com­ munity groups that they cannot comply with regulations of the Public Health Act in the provision of meals, even on an occasional basis, technically ending church suppers and community events. According to press reports, the residents of the region have been ad­ vised that food prepared at home and served at such places as churches or community halls is contrary to the Public Health Act. “The traditions of rural Ontario are too valuable to fall prey to the pressures of big government,” Oshawa MPP Mike Breaugh advised health minister Dennis Timbrell in a letter denouncing the action of the director of environmental health. “Please accept my assurances that these meals are not only delicious, but they are prepared and served by the best and most conscientious cooks in Ontario,” Breaugh continued. Most people would probably agree that the only health problem that could be of any concern at church and com­ munity dinners is that associated with the gluttonous attack they muster on the bountiful supply of edibles with which they are favored, particularly on the dessert table. The environmental health in Durham Region must be at unusually high levels if Dr. Watt has nothing better to do than worry about the health factors associated with church and community dinners. w * * Most readers will agree that the following excerpt from Harpers Magazine fairly sums up the world situation: “It is a gloomy moment in the history of our country. Not in the lifetime of most men has there been so much grave and deep apprehension, never has the future seemed so in­ calculable as at this time. The domestic economy is in chaos. Our dollar is weak throughout the world. Prices are so high as to be utterly im­ possible. The political cauldron seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. Russia hangs, as usual, like a cloud, dark and silent, upon the horizon. It is a solemn moment. Of our troubles, no man can see the end.” Perhaps it should have been men­ tioned at the outset that the item appeared in Harpers in October, 1847. * ★ ★ Speaking about the political cauldron bubbling with uncertainty, someone has suggested that it is w’thin the realm of possibility that Gerald Ford could become president of the United States again, maybe after the next election. If Joe Clark should be the Prime Minister of Canada at the same time, a meeting between the two statesmen would be memorable. Can’t you just picture the scene. U.S. Airforce One lands at Ottawa. The door opens and the President bumps his head on the frame, inflicting a nas­ ty gash. He then falls down the stairs, to be caught by well-prepared attendants who have been through this before. In the meantime, the Prime /X Minister, recovering from a large bump on his head after walking into a rifle carried by a member of the guard of honor, has wandered off somewhere and is found introducing himself to the chauffeur of the presidential limousine whom he has mistaken for Mr. Ford. The situation would certainly prompt the necessity of having their staff members enrol in a St. Johns Am­ bulance course. *r ★ W It’s no doubt a sign of the times that the town dump has become one of the major items of discussion for council members. It appears quite frequently on the agenda, despite the fact our method of disposing of refuse has changed considerably over the years. Older readers will recall when their refuse was hauled to a site just west of the outskirts right on Highway 83. It was hardly the type of “welcome” that impressed visitors approaching the community. It was later moved to the Hay swamp, fairly well hidden behind trees, although the black smoke which encircled the location on most days hardly made it inconspicuous. Now, however, the act has really been cleaned up. It has even enjoyed a name change, going under the nomenclature of land fill site. The final touch came last week, when ratepayers were advised that they would have to have a pass to even visit the scenic spot, and if you happen to take along a bag of refuse with you, it will cost you $2.50 to deposit it at the site. That’s just a little less than the price of a good movie ... so, whatever turns you on! Advocate Established 1881 imes - Advocate *rr*6*t 1*4 Nvwm. faw* MMnrt K A Uwbte* Itacv 1Cj t:.". 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 Jongkind ____Phone 235-1331 rhinl£ small 1 by Jim Smith Freedom To Fail Roughly 50,000 small and medium-sized Canadian firms sank into oblivion last year, gone but not entirely forgot­ ten. Indeed, some economic analysts are more concerned with these firms after death than during the firms’ exis­ tence. 50,000 deaths: the statis­ tic suggests spectacular car­ nage. But is small business really a fast road to destruc­ tion? And is there something that should be done to en­ sure that fewer small firms fail? The two questions are among the most hotly debat­ ed issues in government to­ day.. First, the truth is less dis­ mal than the appearance. Small business does not guar­ antee bankruptcy (in fact, the biggest firms all began as modest concerns). Moreover, the collapse of a single firm or group of firms is not, in it­ self, bad news for Canadians in general (though the ejJ|je- rience may prove quite un­ pleasant for the unfortunate firm’s principals). A surpris­ ing number of business clos­ ings involve nothing more serious than a desire by the owner-managers to retire. And other owner-managers discover newer, more profit­ able projects and abandon their existing firms for green­ er pastures. The most important as­ pect of the question, how­ ever, is even more basic: the vast majority of business clos­ ings do not involve bankrupt­ cy. Of the 50,000 firms which close their doors annually, fewer than 5,000 are bank­ rupt. At its fundamental best, it’s worth recalling, a thriv­ ing economy should feature a continual turnover of firms. Old firms which have served their purpose and are no longer useful to the consum­ er should fade away, replaced by new firms which meet new needs. Such is the na­ ture of a competitive econo­ my. A nation which has no business failures likely has no growth, either. Failures in some sectors are necessary for success in the overall eco­ nomy. Despite 50,000 disap­ pearances, at least 60,000 new enterprises were created last year. So as long as busi­ ness births are greater than business deaths the economy is basically healthy. All of which brings us to the second issue: should new programs be introduced to guarantee that small firms will not fail? Or, to put the matter in another light, should government offer so many subsidies and direct aid programs that the business cannot help but stay alive? There are bureaucrats who believe that costly expanded assistance programs to pre­ vent firms from failing would be highly desirable. These people miss the point of a competitive economy, how­ ever. Firms which cannot stay alive have outlived their purpose; in business, as in the jungle, the rule is survival of the fittest. If assistance for the small businessman is required, it would be most valuable in terms of reducing the burden of taxation and the excessive levels of red tape and paper burden,or in protecting small firms from the monopoly power of big government, big corporations and big labour unions. Small business, in other words, can function best when market forces are al­ lowed to work and when governments recognize that the freedom to fail is as im­ portant as the freedom to succeed. "Think small" is an editorial message from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business^ -----------------------------------------------J cioNun memory Icin^ 55 Years Ago The girls of the Short Course organized a Junior Women’s Institute on Tuesday morning. The of­ ficers are: Pres., Amy Fisher; Vice-Pres., Flossie Hunter; Sec-Treas, Verna Coates; Directors, Madge Doupe, Vera Coates, Irene Stewart; auditors, Mabie Neil and Fern Francis. They expect to meet one night a month. Mr. Roy' Goulding was in Toronto last week, taking in the Mendelssohn Choir concerts. Pitch-holes are bad on many of the roads. There are some deep ones on the London Road, just south of town. They were ploughed out on Monday. The sawing match at Farquhar was attended by a large number of spectators, in spite of the fact that the day was cold and the roads were in bad condition. Rev. G. M. Chidley was time keeper. The logs were of hard maple, 20 inches in diamenter, and three prizes were awarded in each class. 30 Years Ago Saturday morning the pupils of Eden School (SS 4 Usborne) with their teacher, Miss Elaine Mitchell, were heard in a program over CKNX Wingham. Harry Strang won top honours at Huron County Seed Fair held in Clinton Collegiate Institute. Sixty years ago the women of Main St. and James St. churches organized a WMS. Mrs. E. A. Follock was honored Sunday being the only living WMS charter member. Alf Scholl of Hensall is making extensive im­ provements to the interior of his meat and grocery store. 20 Years Ago The Riverview Park project received a major boost this week when the Ausable Authority agreed to purchase the Ray Frayne property and assist the town in the development of the area. Mr, & and Mrs. Harold Whyte and David, who move to Bracebridge soon, were honored by the Lucan community at a presentation euchre and dance last week. Mr. Whyte served 12 years as hydro manager in Lucan after serving a number of years in Exeter with the HEPC. The Ladies Auxiliary to Exeter Legion gave unanimous approval at the meeting Monday night to a proposal to donate $250 in bursaries to SHDHS graduates to be awarded annually. The Main Street building owned by John Ward has been purchased by William Parker who recently bought the barber shop business of the late Norman Hockey. 15 Years Ago Two leap year children will celebrate the fourth anniversary of their bir­ thdates, Saturday, February 29. They are Elaine Powe, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Elmer Powe, RR 2 Cen­ tralia, and Alvin Lavery, son of Mr. & Mrs, Milton Lavery, Hensall. They’re two of a number of district residents who’ll welcome the extra day this month as a once-in- four years birthdate. Two plaques com­ memorating those who served in both world wars were unveiled in connection with the organ dedication at James St. United Church. Edward Lindenfield and Luther Penhale were chosen for the ceremony from among those who lost members of their families during the conflicts. Students at SHDHS again won the broomball game when they defeated the teacher’s 3-2. The game lasted half an hour and was a highlight of the paper staff skating party. The annual banquet of the 1st Crediton Cubs and Scouts was held in the Community Centre on Friday With 78 present. Guests included Rev. R. Hiltz, Exeter, Rev. A. M. Schlenker, Crediton, and Reeve and Mrs. G. Webb of Dashwood. When I leaped from the swamp of editing a weekly newspaper into the quagmire of teaching in a secondary school, I didn’t realize it was frying- pan to fire. Like most people, I had a stereotyped idea of a school teacher. Someone who had quit work while I had still two hours, plus overtime'or night work, to go. Someone who was fairly bright, rather shabby, not well paid but never really poor, looking forward to a steady pension after a mere 35 years of work. Someone who always had a modest home and a secondhand car, the re­ quired two or three children, a dowdy and modest wife, and a simple, rather sedentary profession that would enable him to live and collect his pension until he was 90. But most of all, someone who had a week’s holiday at Christmas, another in March and two whole months off in the summer. I am forced to admit, as well, that I rather looked forward to having a touch of authority. I had none over my kids, because I loved them too much. I had none over my wife, because •— well any of you married men know. True, I had been an officer in the RCAF, which suggested authority, But fighter pilots had no authority. An army lieutenant could scream and curse at his men and degrade them. And himself. If we tried that with some ground-crew chap, he’d merely give us the finger. We were merely the curious young chaps who flew the things. They were the people who made the things fly. Only once did I have a chance to be a leader of men, and thus throw my weight around. It was after I’d been shot down and captured. I wound up with about 40 Canadian soldiers. Short­ ly afterwards, their only two officers, who cursed and screamed and treated them like peasants, escaped. I was the only officer left. I was pretty keen to show that I was officer material and leadership calibre. I talked about morale, and try­ ing to escape. The only comment was made by a grizzled sergeant, who said flatly, “Screw that!” The others mere­ ly laughed. So I found out that my authority con­ sisted of cutting loaves of black Ger­ man bread into equal portions of six, with a dull knife, under the guillotine eyes of 38 of the rude and licentious soldiery. And the Only reason I had the job was that they didn’t trust each other. So much for authority. But I knew it would be different as a school teacher, I would be firm, but just, a wise and benevolent father figure, but one who would brook no challenge to his decisions. Yes, a regular Mr. Chips, accepting confidences, doling out gentle but profound advice, having tea with my students, my wife hovering in the background, enjoying the way I twitted the youngsters. What a pipe dream! I “went into” education, as it is nefariously known, just about the time of the big baby boom at the end of the ‘50s. New schools were being built, and looked like, a chain of new shoe factories. Any body of any sex, and I mean any, that was warm and breathing and had anything approaching a university degree, was being dragged off the streets and stood up in front of 30 or 35 kids who were just getting into drugs and permissiveness. Every third stu­ dent was a barrackroom lawyer. Hair became the thing for males. Jeans so tight a touch would have blown them up, and T-shirts with messages so explicit a marine would have blushed, became the thing for females. Language that would curl a sailor’s hair became the thing for both. And not only among the students. Teachers ranged from fitness freaks to alcoholics anonymous, from pedants to pederasts. The started appearing in long hair and desert boots, in gasp-revealing cleavages and mini-skirts and sadistic high boots and Afro wigs. Any day now I expect to see a lady teacher, if that has not become a Please turn to Page 15 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386(*cna SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00