HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1976-09-29, Page 2As there is some controversy
regarding our donation of 5 acres
for the site of a new arena, maybe
a letter of explanation would be
appropriate.
Let us• state at the outset that
before writing, we have consulted
with the Department of National
Revenue, appraisers and
accountants.
Firstly, because there are such
things as 'Capital Gains and Gift
Tax laws, any transaction must be
filed at an acceptable,. figure. In
this case the figure seems to be
$16,000.
The deal would be something
like this - We would sell the site
for that sum. We would in turn
make a donation of the purchase
price. Then, since donations are
equalled dollar for dollar in
grants, the outcome would bp that
the committee would end up with
a free site and a grant of $16,000.,
should be available. The same of
course should apply to any
necessary right-of-ways.
Secondly, by locating the Arena
at the proposed site, we do not
stand to gain one additional
future lot. Nor will we gain access
to one extra existing, lot. •
Thirdly, If the committee
agrees that any different site
should be chosen, we promise ten
thousand dollars towards a new
arena. .
Fourthly, . We .believe in. the
Brussels Community. We thank
Brussels Post
'HI
ONTARIO
E
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1976
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean'Bros. Publishers, Limited.
EVelyn Kennedy - Editor Dave Robb - Advertising.
Member Canadian. Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $6.00 a year. Others
$8.00 a year, Single Copies ,15 cents each.
a
Legi
end
morn
Li
'pion
Es
gain
the
avail
dent
Win
0,P
To the .editOr
Facts- pr,:sented on
arena land. donatiom
Blyth does well
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
When our grandfathers put things in a
cornerstone,, say of a church or some public
building, I don't 'imagine they thought too
much about the contents. Everyone knew
what they'd put in--a local newspaper, a few
coins, some photographs, a document--just
any sort of officialese--to represent the times.
I, don't imagine they thought too 'much
about the day when the building would come
down, and then some future generation would
take a look. They just put in the items and let
it go.
What our grandfathers didn't know was
they were planting time capsules. That's the
name this decade gives to these time bombs --
to explode at some later specified date when
we're all gone and thp time is ripe.
But there's a difference--a big difference--
with these new time capsules. We're putting
these things away in a very deliberate and
reasoned manner. Why, we're appointing
committees to decide what to put in. They
spend, hours and hours figuring out *hat
objedts represent our age. A beer bottle? A tin
can? Bikini? Button? Cigarettes? Car hubcap?
They run into other problems, How can you
represent the intangibleS? Thing§ stith loVe
and loyalty. Or people communicating with
each other? All these are important, but how
can 'you redude them mto an object?`
And to complicate things more. 'AO can
define a culture? Much less specify the
obje 'cis that represent it?
The problems with time capsules have so
MitshrooMed that it's intraded the classrooms
of universities. I spoke with an anthropology
professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New
York. Professor Robert Ascher told. in; .e he
collected a bunch of items diig out from a
garbage dump of a farm house. And his
students had a hard time identifying items
known 'to everyone fifty years ago.
Only one or two students recognized part of
a vacuum tube from radio sets and a
',distributor cap from a 1940 car.-
See, he said. See how much we 'Change? We
change so fast We don't recongize things from
a previous generation. And even if we do still
use them, like that distribUtor cap, we dont
look underneath the hood of our car to know
what's inside. Our life--and our cars are that
complex and left to speCialists.
.Now, youtmay laugh at all this 'and say this
is a lot of nonsense. But that's not keeping the
Prime Minister from explaining atirne capsule
this week on the 18th floor of the C.N. tower in.
Toronto. Neither 'does it stop .all the other
ca sole plants.There's been arash of them
since the American bicentennial,
The tithe capsules come in all shapes and
forms Long slim ones like tocketS, in Japan at
Expo /0 they looked like huge cooking •
cauldrons. Or they can be plain Metal boxes or
plastic Cylinder's. The time of opening IS set by
committee. 100 years, 200. 500 Or into the
thousands.
When I asked the profess& What he'd put in
a time capsule, he said he didn't knoiv. The
con
Wag complex,, he'd come to the
lsio un we couldn't: package ttit "elitire
civilization in one capsule. He couldn't peel
away all the layers of our western society and
get at the Core.
1 stick with the professor on that ,one.
After running around for two weeks finding
out all about these time capsules for a CBC
Ideas programme, Fll stick, with my local
dump. NEI let the tftrowavvays of pday become.
the time capsriles of tomorrow. There's no
contriving there.No deliberating and planning
for future
my
generations.history. No committees to edit
and le
buyupd with layersol
quilts.
itWsa. I paper in old ho
I like it when the past comes at me -- in
surprises. Like the time when I took the back •
out of an old mirror in, a dresser. Reading the
newspaper' inside, I came across names of
Teddy Roosevelt, the Czarist prince of Russia
and'
th:Spa
nish revol
uti::Wthalile search 'in theiistorybooks, we dated that dresser lithinatewyear ,liakemyhistoryt
hawa.like to
rummage and serounge for it. I like to discover
it.
I'M glad I won't be around in the year 2,
Or 000, I Won't have to be served op a time
capsule, all too Contrived and packaged. The
earthlings will probably, think we were trying
too hard for pOsterity.
When it comes to posterity, it put roy
future on my kids They're the best time
4 capsules I can think of
If ever a community in Huron County exemplified
the true spirit of working together, comradeship and
brotherhood. then Blyth would head ,,the list.
For a town of hardly a 1,000 souls, the people of
• Blyth have more spunk per capita than any town in
this area we are familiar with.
One 'example is their newly restored Memorial
Hall, which now not 'only rightly serves the
community it was intended for, but also lures
thousands of tourists from all over Ontario, and the.
U.S. to see some excellent performances of Canadian
theatre.
Another example is Blyth's arena fund raising
'activities, which in conjunction with the
neighbouring townships, has gathered more than
$100,000 towards the cost of building a new structure
to replace the ancient and decaying one torn down
just. two short months ago.
Even Goderich and Exeter, with populations three
to six times as large, can't claim such a feat. Their '
fund raising schemes can't approach Blyth's for
enthusiasm.
And too, how .about Blyth's Threshers' reunion,
which attracted crowds of; near 10,000 for its
three-day run recently to the small village? It takes a
great deal of co-operation and hard work.- by a few,
people to make such an event as the Reunion the •
sucOess that it was.
Blyth has set an example that the rest of us would
do well to emulate.
(The Clinton News Record)
Time. capsules. .ettitse.. probleths.
Big Barns
the other parties that have also
expressed their confidence' bt
promising donations of ten thous
and dollars or more.
Fifthly, and finally, When w
drive in and around Brussels, we
are proud of the people who have
expressed' their faith in the are;
by building good churches, goad
homes, good farmsteads and
establishing good businesses'
Time has proven their dream'
well _founded.
Some say that economically the
time is wrong. The present Arena
was built in 1931. Maybe the
arena helped during those bad
years!.
Thank you for your attention,`
. $ • Mary and Jack Bryans,
had
the
ing
seas
with
for
Octo
Ba
n m
ails
rrol,
oun
sass
M
antm
and
Ke
Reev
actor
At
Sept
Huta
from
Com
at $c
Cont
for tl
from
Mole
miles
Th
earl
dere,
have
Th
be c
Cour
apps
asph
6,001
shoo
lurvi
mate
Th
19;01
satin
TO a
end'
teVe
Novo
repo
Fiao!
tepO
It
Cott
,wool
PrOji
TI
Corn
In
treai
Oui
deti