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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1978-09-21, Page 4Page 4 Times-Advocate, September 21, 197$ ***■ «»*» I M I O IM , ...........: ....... ... ....................J IVantes tossed about Within the past month or so, the rumor-mill has been running full speed in this area regarding an alleged drug ring, with each new day bringing forth more names to add to the list. To date, none of the gossip has been substantiated, and while the en­ tire situation almost reaches the com­ ical stage, people should be cautioned that some of those falsely named don’t find it very humorous and could initiate defamation of character proceedings against those who continue to throw names into the mill. The editor was even informed this week that some people are of the opi­ nion he was not on a trip to Germany to watch Canada’s Armed Forces, but rather was establishing international connections for the “local mob”. While that comment was made in a light-hearted way (we hope) it no doubt will be taken seriously by someone, as are the allegations against many other area residents. People tread on very thin ice when they engage in such rumors and can often find themselves more em­ barrassed before the law then they would want from a personal and finan­ cial standpoint. A word to the wise should be suf­ ficient. Declining enrolment It's becoming increasingly obvious that declining school enrolments are the story of the future. The baby boom of the 1950’s and 60’s is now behind us, and for a variety of reasons, smaller families are now the order df the day. In 1976. there were 1,360,085 elementary school pupils enrolled in schools across Ontario. This fall, that figure has dropped to 1,294,640 students and by 1986, experts predict the figure will have dropped to 1,192,366 students. , In Huron County alone, the school enrolment has dropped 2.8 per cent from last year. What does declining enrolment in our schools mean? For some schools, particularly the older neighbourhood schools in urban centres, the declining enrolment means closure. The city of London has already been forced to close a number of its neighbourhood schools, despite the protests of parents and teachers and community organizations. The death of a neighbourhood school is a move which often speeds the dis­ integration of community feeling in a city neighbourhood but as pupil numbers decline, school boards can no longer afford to keep the smaller schools open. Although rural school aren’t as likely to be closed as those in the city, the day may come when classrooms will be boarded up or some parts of the school simply won’t be used. The dwindling number of student is • also having drastic effects on the job prospects of the teachers employed in our schools. Last year, there were 2,969 elementary school teachers who graduated from Ontario’s colleges and universities — and 1,677 of these graduates ended up without classroom teaching jobs. Even graduates prepared to take jobs in the Far North may soon find these positions at a premium. The story is the same for secon­ dary school teachers — last year 57 per cent of these graduates ended up without schools. Today school teachers have joined the ranks of other universi­ ty — educated professionals who are collecting unemployment insurance or taking jobs out of their field. But declining enrolment isn’t just affecting new teachers — it’s also hav­ ing an effect on teachers already in the classroom. The mobility which was once associated with the teaching profession is over. Today, if a teacher is fortunate enough to have a job, then there’s far less chance that teacher can transfer to another board or another area of the province. A teacher who is frustrated teaching where he or she is now, is like­ ly to have to remain in the same school longer or else consider leaving the teaching profession altogether. Right now, the future for our schools doesn’t look promising. The optimists among us still hope that as the number of students decreases, the quality of education will rise. A smaller pupil teacher ratio should mean more time for the in­ dividual student. Unfortunately, with the provincial government reducing its payments to local school boards, and with the or­ dinary taxpayer footing more of the bill for our rising education costs, it seems likely that it will be some years before students reap any benefits from the declining enrollments. Huron Expositor ‘"Walkout he damned — Pm going to go on a sit-down strike instead. BATT’N AROUND .........with the editor A florist's dream come true i Bureaucrats and politi- Perspectives By SYD FLETCHER Perspectives After one of the most interesting and novel weeks we’ve experienced, it is extremely difficult to know where to start in relating some of those ex­ periences to readers. Our note book is brimming with interesting tales of Germany in general and the Canadian Armed Forces presence there in par­ ticular and it would appear more prac­ tical to sit down and write a book than a mere column. However, we’ll attempt to present some of the information in specific stories, columns and photos over the next two or three weeks and hope you’ll find them as interesting on a second hand basis as we did on a first hand basis. Our trip was basically a “working” jaunt to Germany, and while we did manage to see a considerable portion of ther country along with our five other Ontario weekly newspaper cohorts, the Armed Forces personnel involved’in arranging the trip kept us extremely busy visiting with this nation’s 3,000- member contingent assigned to defen­ sive operations in central Europe within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, We watched Bavarian Bayonet, a brigade-size exercise wherein the Canadian troops combined to practice their military skills, with a smaller Germany army division acting as the “enemy”. This exercise took place over a 60 kilometer area northwest of Ulm and during our visit, we were able to visit dozens and dozens of small villages in that area and to talk to the Canadian troops as well as many Ger­ man residents. In side trips, we visited Heidelberg, Strasbourg and Stuttgart, most of which are located in the scenically renowned Black Forest area. Small town fairs. They’re addictive. They’re a lot different from the big city exhibitions and fairs. At those you might meet one person you know. The rides are priced right out of sight and you stand a good chance of get­ ting gypped by some of the hustlers on the midway. In the buildings it’s strictly bumper to bumper traffic so you hang onto your wallet with one hand and push with the other. At the country fair it’s a whole different world. First you make your way to the church booth and pick out a piece of your favourite pie served by somebody who might be the local mayor pitching in to help a good cause. Though there’s always a good crowd on the grounds you don’t mind as much because it seems that every other person is a friend you haven’t seen since last fair day. The rides aren’t quite as flashy or as numerous as the big fairs but the kids spend their money just as fast and seem to enjoy themselves every bit as much. You’ve got lots of time to go through the few buildings and see just about everything there is to see. It’s interesting because you know the exhibitors like the big school exhibits or the quilt made by your next door neighbour. Down at the little grands­ tand you can watch a freckle contest og the baby show, or a pie-eating contest. It’s a real shocker when you realize that the third kid from the left, just a- munching away, is your own ten year old, the one you haven’t seen since he came to ask for another dollar. I taked to one fellow who ran a food stand. It turned out that he ran a machine shop in a nearby town. He’d fixed up a trailer and came to all the fairs around with it. Already he’d picked up the lingo of the carnival men. “You got a joint here?” he asked, wondering if I ran a game at the fair. I asked him if he was mak­ ing a reasonable amount at the fairs. “Naw,” he replied wryly. “Last year I lost money. It’s a good thing I had another business . . His voice trailed off, then he brighten­ ed. “Maybe this year, though. Kinda gets in your blood you know.” As I said before, the coun­ try fairs get hold of you. Try one. You’ll like it. * * * Our first impression of Germany was that it was progressive, clean and beautiful and while first impressions don’t always count, they did in this case as the scene seldom changed on any of our outings. The lasting impression is that the country is a florist’s dream come true. Nowhere have we ever experienced such an endless sight of flowers and greenery. Every inch of space appears to be covered with gardens, while flower boxes adorn most balconies and windows. It appears that every citizen tries to outdo his neighbor in that regard and each community tries to outperform the next. Blessed by a warmer climate than we Canadians, Germans have up to three plantings of flowers and vegetables and most appear to spend a considerable portion of their leisure hours in this pursuit. One can quickly become a social out­ cast for failing to appear at a party without a bouquet of flowers, a prac- ' tice that is not all that expensive when you can purchase more blooms than you can carry for under $3.00 dt the neighborhood florist shop is you don’t want to deplete your own garden’s bounty. The second impression is that cleanliness is a way of life, Each mor­ ning, the women in the village can be seen sweeping their sidewalks and the task is not completed until they have also cleaned up any debris that may have been dropped on the roadway dur­ ing the night. The Germans are so particular in that regard, that requirements for keeping apartments and their surroun­ dings clean are included in lease agreements. Derek Quinn, a newsbroadcaster from Lahr who ac­ companied us on our trip to Ulm, reported that his lease required that he scrub down the sidewalks each Satur­ day morning. Another item covered was that there was to be no smoking in his apartment. Trips along the autobahn and country Picked up serious disease -I Times Established 1873 Advocate Established I 88 1 ........._............... OgmcWW imes - AdJvocate A UM**** '■ SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A, CLASS 'A* and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editdr — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Rdss Haugh Advertising Manager —■ Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Phone 235-11 ^CNA sub$c Amalgamated 1924 Publhhed Each Thurtday Morning at Exeter, Untatio Second Clan Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RAtES: Canada $11 .OD Per Year; USA $22.00 There’s probably only one thing more boring than being forced to watch slides of someone else’s holiday jaunt, and that is having to listen to them tell about it. But if you think that you are going to get away with only two columns about “OUR TRIP,” you might as well turn over to the real es­ tate ads right now, gentle reader. Not after I spent all that money. I’ve had two long distance calls and a letter in the past 10 days from the Chargex people. Seems we went over our limit by about double, and the bills are still coming in. Oh, well, that’s inflation. On a trip like ours, it’s probably a good idea to take notes, or keep a diary. I never do this: too interested in people and places to try to put them down. Tried to keep it all in m.v head, in pictures. Result: for 10 days after we got home I couldn’t sleep, with all those pictures, hopelessly mixed, flashing through my mind. When you hit eight countries in 14 days, it's more like low-flying than an in-depth study of the treasures of Europe. But it's amazing what you can and do see and experience. For the average traveller who is not an art expert, there is serious danger of picking up a couple of diseases, cathedralitis and basilicatis. The symptoms are similar. If you see a per­ son with head cricked right back, and mouth open, he’s probably just back from Europe. While the cathedrals are awesome in their structure and art work, they tend to make you feel like a very small min­ now ip' a very large ocean. And probably that's what they’re supposed to do. We were in the largest and third- largest in the world, in Rome and Florence, both designed by Michelangelo, and I don’t care if I never see another. They make you humble in the face of the patience, the reverence, and the genius that went into their creation. And we saw a lot of famous works of trt: the Venus de Milo, a stocky broad with no arms; the Mona Lisa, looking anything but enigmatic behind six layers of bullet-proof glass. It was no more thrill than looking at a good color photo of them in an art book. But that’s not the sort of thing you remember from a trip. You remember the highlights and the human relations, the bad moments and the exalted ones. Like going through the Dolomites, a range of mountains so forbidding they make the Rockies look genial, in a rainstorm, the driver inching around hairpin turns. Or a magnificent summer evening with good wine, good food, good music, good friends, on a balcony overlooking the beautiful Tivoli gardens, outside Rome. Or wandering around the Mont Mar- tre in Paris, haunt of famous writers and artists over the years, watching the painters at work, haggling over a picture, maybe having your portrait done in 10 minutes. Or being kicked off the grass in Monte Carlo by a surly Monacan cop. Or hustling through the rain in Heidelberg, trying to buy suppositories with your scanty German. Or sitting on your balcony in Lucerne, wondering what the poor folks were doing, as you looked over the lake to the mountains. Or admiring the lady of the streets, who saw us gawking at her as she lean­ I /x. roads revealed a total lack of littering and the farmyards in the small towns were impeccably clean. Members of our group also noted that vandalism must not be a problem. We could hardly imagine flowerboxes and other decor being left undamaged when placed at street level in Canada, although it is a very commonplace at­ traction in Germany and appears un­ molested despite the fact we seldom saw policemen in the streets in any of the communities visited. ★ * * While there are many differences in Germany, they share Canadians’ ap­ parent lo.ve affair with flirting with death on the highways. In short, they drive like maniacs on the autobahn where there are no speed limits. Our military van had a top speed of about 115 kilometers and most drivers were passing as though we were stan- 'ding still. If one pulled into the passing lane and impeded the speed of the vehi­ cle behind, the driver of the latter went into a frenzy by blinking his lights, tooting his horn, or even on occasion, attempting to pass on the left shoulder. On the twisting country roads, we saw many examples of oncoming drivers being forced to brake sharply to avoid collisions with others who were in the process of passing trucks or slower moving vehicles on hills and curves. We came to the conclusion it was best to ride along looking out the side windows and let the driver contend with the harrowing sights on the road ahead. The only time we really felt safe was during a 35 kilometer ride in a tracked armored personnel carrier. ed against a building, turned her back, flipped up her skirt, no pants on, some of the bolder spirits told me. I, of course, had covered my hand with my eyes, or something like that. Or discovering in your room a small bar refrigerator, stocked with everything from Coke to champagne. All you had to do was help yourself, mark down what you’d used, and pay for it in the morning. Can’t see a North American hotel trusting anyone that much. Or watching your wife, the insom­ niac at home, sleeping: on the bus, on the ferry, in a boat in the canals of Amsterdam, on a boat down the Rhine, on the Seine, on the train. The only place she didn’t sleep was in the hotel rooms, worrying about getting up at 6 a.m., and on the Hovercraft from France to England which took only 35 minutes. Perhaps the best part of a group tour, as I mentioned, is the relationships you form. We had Canadians from* as far apart as Daw­ son City, the Yukon, and Nova Scotia, the whole breadth of the country . We had Americans from California, Texas, Illinois, Oregon, and Iowa. And we had five Australians. Have you ever heard a lady from Texas trying to talk to a middle-aged French-Canadian or a young Australian? It’s a riot. At first we were all a bit stand-offish, tending to huddle with our own. But after a few days we were helping each other with language, funny money and lost luggage. The ladies were oxchang- cians are not stupid. Admittedly, this informa­ tion may come as a tremen­ dous shock to many Cana­ dians. (In some parts of the country, it may even rank as stop-the-pressnews.) But it’s true*. Bureaucrats and politi­ cians are not stupid. Unfortunately, those same bureaucrats and politicians are often petty, jealous and more concerned with pro­ tecting their own little ad­ ministrative kingdoms than with doing whatever happens to be best for Canadians in general at that moment This, in turn, makes the bureau­ crats and politicians appear stupider than is actually the case. This pettiness and empire­ building has resulted in hor­ rendous internal divisions. The fight between Quebec and the rest of Canada is not between races. Rather, it’s between politicians. Alber­ tans generally like other Ca­ nadians. British Columbians love Nova Scotians. But re­ lations between the provin­ cial and federal government are almost unanimously un­ healthy. And Canadians at large are paying a heavy price for this political intrigue. A quick explanation of one aspect of Canadian tax law will illustrate the nature and cost of this administra­ tive empire-building. In 1924, Ottawa intro­ duced a manufacturers’ sales tax to raise money. The tax applies to goods as they leave the manufacturers’ hands and it does bring in a great deal of money every year. But it is not a good tax. For instance, some manu­ facturers include delivery price; others The manufacturers who include delivery must charge the federal tax on the delivery cost. The other man­ ufacturers get to ship the goods tax-free. So some manufacturers pay higher taxes than others pay. There’s a lengthy list of other problems associated with the manufacturers’ sales tax but the point should be clear: this is not a good tax. A federal retail sales tax, on the other hand, is excep­ tionally good. It is easily ad­ ministered, treats all products alike and the consumer pays exactly the same amount of tax as what the government collects. But Ottawa refuses to replace the manufacturers’ sales tax with a retail sales tax because the provinces would collect the retail tax money "and pass it along to Ottawa. The federal govern­ ment doesn’t want to give the provinces collection powers - so the consumer suffers on. Sometime soon, Ottawa will try to replace the manu­ facturers’ sales tax with a wholesale sales tax. The new tax is barely better than man­ ufacturers’ tax and is definite­ ly inferior to a retail tax. However, Ottawa will still be able to collect the money directly — and that’s all that matters in Ottawa. Stupid, no. Dishonourable and petty, definitely. This isn’t good government; this is bureaucratic tyranny. Cana­ da deserves better admini­ strators — and a federal retail sales tax. •‘Think small” is an editorial message from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business < .................- —-------------—---------- -------------------- i, memory lane J 55 Years Ago The concert and recital in James Street Church on Monday was largely at­ tended and thoroughly en­ joyed by those present. The entertainment was under the auspices of the Sunday School. The Zurich Fair was held on Thursday and Friday last. The weather was ideal and the exhibits in all lines were excellent. A large crowd was present. Mr. Bordon Cunningham left on Monday to attend Huron College, London. A number from town at­ tended the Conference Epworth League convention held in St. Marys on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Lucan Juniors have captured the junior cham­ pionship of the NWBA. The final game was played in Lucan on Saturday when the home team defeated Durham 1-0. 30 Years Ago Mr. Vernon Heywood recently received a Men­ tioned Dispatches certificate ‘or distinguished service in the army. Mr. and Mrs. George Ferguson, London and formerly of Exeter won a new Ford at Western Fair. Exeter firemen will sponsor a baby contest at the Opera House for the benefit of Child Welfare. Harry Cole is attending the College of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. Mr, and Mrs. William Roh­ de, Thames Road returned on Saturday after spending their honeymoon in eastern Ontario and ML and Mrs. Edwin Miller returned from their wedding trip Sunday. Sixteen public school canvassers realized $81.60 for the Navy League on Saturday. 20 Years Ago Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Foster who have resided in Exeter for the past year were guests of honor at a family dinner at Hooke’s Restaurant, London to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. They were married in Scotland and came to Canada in 1923. Mr, and Mrs. Robinson Dick, Hensall, marked their fiftieth wedding anniversary over the week end at the home of their daughter Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Cudmore, Exeter. They met on a blind date 54 years ago. - The Exeter dairy team, made up of Pat Marshall, R.R. 1 Kirkton and Lome Hern, R.R. 1 Woodham •placed fourth in a class in which 55 teams competed at OAC, Guelph, Friday, o 15 Years Ago Carolynne Simmons has been chosen to head the SH- DHS student council for 1963- 64. Her executive includes Neil McAllister, vice- president; Linda Hunter- Duvar, Secretary; Joan Smith, treasurer; and Bob Hoffman, publicity chair­ man. Huron 4-H clubs, the largest youth organization in the county, is trying to establish a choir. Director is J.G. Burrows, local public school inspector. ■ Stephen township council approved the purchase of a $25,000 power grader at its meeting Tuesday night. Former deputy-reeve Claude M. Farrow has been appointed manager of Exeter Industrial Development Corporation. Flying Officer G.A. Houlahan, Dashwood has successfully completed the RCAF radio officer’s course at air navigation school, Winnipeg where he received his wings recently. ing travel irons, hair dryers, recipes, and anecdotes about toilets. * Ironically, from this land of separatism and stuff, perhaps the best friends we made on the tour were Quebecois. And I think I know why. I dusted off my rusty French and made an effort, and they did the same with their English. An Australian lad and his sister became almost like a son and daughter to us, A young Canadian school teacher from Calgary wept and hugged and kissed when we bumped into her after the tour, in London, We drank dinner with two handsome young couples from llhnois several times. The Ladies Texas invited us down for Christmas. Donald, from Quebec, wants me to find a School where his daughter can learn English. And I was like to be kissed and hugged to death by 18-year-old Cathy, from Oregon. My shirt Was all wet with tears after our farewell party. Very nice work, if you can get it.