HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1977-05-11, Page 2Brussels post
ORME LS.
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY , MAY '11, 1977
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 *CNA
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $8.00 a year. Others.
$14.00 a year, Single Copies 20 cents each.
li
8**S\m' "T"L 1972
It's unfortunate
Former Brussels clerk-treasurer Bill King really
didn't have a whole lot of choice when he was asked
to resign by council last week. His letter of
resignation says as much. It would have been
impossible for him to continue to work with a council
which had expressed such a lack of confidence in
him.
The Post doesn't question his resignation but we
do question the way the whole matter was handled.
If there were problems with the way the clerk was
performing his duties, and all council members
except Reeve Cal Krauter say that there were, surely
the correct and the human way to treat the matter
would have been for all parties concerned to sit down
and work out how the situation could have been
improved.
Firing the man, and in effect it was a firing,
without giving him a chance to listen to complaints
and solve them, is a very harsh route to take.
Many of the complaints against the clerk
concerned routine administrative matters. Perhaps
the problem was that former clerk King was
experienced and had developed ways of handling
village business that a new council did not agree
with. A clerk with more than 17 years of experience
may have found it hard to take direction from a
relatively inexperienced council.
But surely both . parties could have worked to
resolve their differences. Then if after a lot of effort,
no compromise could be reached, the council,
elected by the people of Brussels to make decisions,
could have asked the clerk to resign.
Council acted hastily and an experienced clerk and
dedicated servant of the people of Brussels has been
lost. It's unfortunate.
Small cars
The Ontario government has gotten a lot of flack
about its budget proposal to raise car license fees, to
a whopping $60 a year for 8 cylinder cars, and
proportionately smaller amounts for smaller cars.
Maybe the license hike is unpopular becau'se it
recognizes a fact which most of us want to continue
to ignore. That's that big cars are gas guzzlers,
ridiculously inefficient consumers of energy, which
just about all of us' admit is in short supply.
The license hike is a tiny step but we'll believe that
Queens Park is really serious about promoting small
cars as energy savers when government limousines
are Pintos instead of Lincolns and Aspens replabe:tha
Chryslers that top ministers have at their diSpOsal."
Our addiction to large bars is the reason'that each
Canadian uses twice as much energy as a Finn, a
German, a Dane or an Englishman. Each Canadian
uses more energy than. an average citizen of any
other country Of the world, except the U.S.A. and
there's evidence that we're gaining on them too.
We have more cars, larger cars and cheaper cars
than the citizens of every country in thevvorld except
the U.S.A. Our 8 Million cars each consume an
average of 100 gallons of, gasoline a ear and 25 per
m cent of all the oil used in Our coUntry
y
. Sall cars Use
400 to 500 gallons of gasoline a year less than the.
the biggies do.
The average Canadian has doubled his per capita
consumption Of energy since 1960. Experts estimate
that If we demand more energy at the same rate,
consumption will doUble again in the next 12 years,
On shaky kegs
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
House in order
I mentioned last wetk how I was. getting
my old farm house in shape. You probably
figured I just 'had a surge of energy or
spring hung in the air and I had to get out
on the land.
Well, maybe. But the best reason of all is
I'm going away on an overseas trip. In 'a,
short time my wife and I will be off to Israel
where gather material fora CBC radio
series on the Future of the Jews.
And when you pack off for another
country, you have to get. your house in.
order. Right? •
If you think the old farm house is getting
a working over • you should sec this place.
It's never looked better. My wife has this
thing about cleaning whenever she goes
.away.She cleans out every drawer she can
lay her hands on. She washes the
windows.She clears out the closets and
gives away old clothes.
I can't imagine why she's so diligent
when we're not even going to be around to
enjoy all the tidiness.
"It's always nice to come home to a
clean house," she insists.
But only the good Lord knows what the
place is going to look like after the kids live
in it for three weeks on their own:
But that doesn't stop her. She keeps on
doing all those little jobs she's put oft: for
months. Repair the vacuum cleaner hose,
poliSh the brass candle sticks, defrost the
refrigerator and rearrange the dried
flowers in the vase.
"But the trip? Why don't you get ready
for the trip?" I keep asking:
"I'm ready," she says, "Whenever I get
the house in order. I can pack my bags in •
ten minutes:"
Now, that's ridiculous -Statement.
Doesn't she. it takes hoUrs'and hours
to pack? To give careful thought to ClOtheS.
The kind..The athOunt. Doesn't she realize
you have to go through dry runs? Lay out
your clotheS.On the bed. Pack them in the'
•• ba ck .. •,,,
cu tti ng On our. energy use by ,3 long , trips And And the seats doat
percent in 1975 and the figuree aren't alway§ feel •Iika -youe best living room
in yet for 1976 0. but it, COUld just be sofa but even small cars are a lot MOre .
that the high cost Of energy fia§lbeced . ' 4m-both riding-and- luk-utioua than the
us ,,td. start conserving it, , average' horse and buoy,
• Exoeitantoublio transit .$yeterhai, • .. -
• cities and towns that are compact and And it's with horses and buggies
i0
Oat of larga datt,,. help- .k6e0' energy
that we might end up if We continue
bankrupt Ouetalvea by- driving .1 10. ,• ..,•_,. built fairly 61066 together, and the high
consumption down ih'' European . cars,6 ahtioa,.."get6 scar cer and its .ljtio
COUntriaa, ge . , , her, , ,
bags. Test out. Try out. See if they all tit
"We're not'going by ship, you know," I
insist, "when you can take a whole steamer
trunk full."
Then you have to .polish your shoes.
Buy new laces. Get yoUr hair cut. Decide
on what books you're going to take. How
many tape recorders to bring along. What
to do with the interview tapes.
"I can be ready in ten minutes," she
'Says.
"But this is part of the fun, " 1 say.
"Getting ready. Looking forward to the
trip. Anticipating. Reading up on sonic of
the places we're going to sec."
But she keeps on vacuuming the
upholstery. Rototilling the garden. Glueing
together a piece of cracked wood from a
china cabinet door. Sewing up the cuff on
the new pair of pants my son bought.
"Just say the word. be ready in ten
minutes," she says.
She does take some time out for sonic
real weighty matters. We go into town and
sign the new wills made out by the lawyer.
We get out shots. We tell the kids where
we want to be buried - just in case. We let
them know ' how we feel about the
upcoming Ontario election. We take our
stand on the Alaskan oil pipeline through
the MacKenzie Valley and Quebec
separation:
Finally; we're ready. I should say, rat
ready. Pro all ready to io to Israel. rye
been ready for a month now. Packed.
Ready. Set. Go.
My wife says she's almost ready. Just `a
few last minute itesm. Like weed out the
flower beds: Darn some socks. Go see Otto
Kunz and give him his 8i st birthday
present of. beer .and cigars, Transplant
some tomatoes.
,And When shegets that all done, she'S
ready. Remember? It's only going to take,
her ten minutes .to pack..
We saved about a billion dollars by Sure they are • uncomfortable