HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-09-12, Page 4Big difference
There's an old adage suggesting
that what you don't know won't hurt
you.
There may be occasions when it
appears to hold true, but there are many
times when the opposite is the case.
Take the case of the local Public Utilities
Commission.
For several years, local banks were
providing an interest rate of about two
percent per month on the minimum
balance of the current account.
However, realizing that loans were
getting more expensive, manager Hugh
Davis figured that perhaps the interest
rate on bank balances should also be on
the increase.
As a result of his investigation and
request, the PUC now receives an in-
terest rate of about nine percent, not on
the minimum monthly balance, but on
the average monthly balance. That has
resulted in an increase in interest rates of
about 10 percent for the PUC and its
customers.
What is strange, is that it appears
you have to specifically ask the banks to
determine how good a deal they will
provide you. Apparently, if you don't
ask, you may not get the best deal at all,
but rather just what they want to give
you.
While most of us may be on the
borrowing side, if you happen to be on
the other side of the coin (excuse the
pun) it may well be worth while to shop
around for the best deal possible.
Certainly, the PUC manager is to
be commended for his action.
Whose responsibility?
When an estimated two million
Canadian school children climbed
aboard their familiar school bus this
morning, they represent two million un-
solved problems.
Who is responsible for them?
Most parents seem to take the view
that when their child or children board a
school bus, parental responsibility
ceases. But many school authorities feel
their responsibility for school children
does not begin until the children arrive
on school premises under jurisdiction of
the school staff.
And there is obvious validity to
both points of view, but until the ques-
tion is resolved, the Canada Safety
Council feels not enough care and atten-
tion is being given children.
mardirlaTMORS'AMMIN
It is pointless, the Council says, to
hold the school bus driver responsible.
His job is to pilot the bus safely through
traffic, often on bad roads in poor
weather conditions. That is a full-time
job. The driver is all too easily distracted
by young people who have little idea of
discipline. This responsibility gap
should be a subject of thought and dis-
cussion and resolution between parents
and school authorities,
It is the responsibility of both
parents and teachers to teach children
safe procedures while crossing a road,
waiting for a bus, getting on or off the
bus, and discipline while on the bus, and
adults are urged to take a great deal of
interest in children's school transporta-
tion.
By
SYD FLETCHER
St. Bernards and I have
had a long-lasting
relationship, These shaggy
monsters with their big
brown eyes have always had
a special fascination for me
from the time I was about
five or six years old.
We were visiting some
friends and they asked me if
I would like to see their little
puppy. Of course I was quite
eager. I was more than a
little shocked when they
opened the back door and
showed the 'pup' to me. To
my childish eyes he seemed
like a huge brown and white
bear standing there, It was a
long time before I could be
.persuaded to pet him, I
learned theithough, that
with a St. Bernard you
should carry a towel handy
to your face if drooling
bothers you at all.
Several years ago we were
at another home and they
also had a St. Bernard, much
older and crosser. We
warned the four year-old to
stay clear of it. Half an hour
later we heard a loud
barking and a child crying.
Expecting the worst we
dashed to the door. The
sobbing four year-old had a
cut behind her ear but didn't
know how it had been ad-
ministered exactly. Looking
at the size of that dog's
mouth and the child's head I
was extremely glad that the
nature of the dog was not
really vicious. Perhaps she
had stepped on the dog's toe
and it had jumped up
quickly
Barney was a half St.
Bernard and half collie
which my grandfather
owned many years ago,
Apparently he was
extremely docile in nature,
and wouldn't hurt the
traditional flea. He was
large, as big as his father,
the St. Bernard and twice as
homely. As he tended to
wander he was tied to a fence
post out in the yard,
One day he got a little
hungry, I guess, and gave
one extra tug on that eight-
foot post and pulled it right
out of the ground.
About the time that
Barney got loose a salesman,
portly by nature, red-faced
and sweating in the summer
heat, was just walking up to
the front door, Around the
corner came Barney
dragging his post as if it was
a decoration. Seeing the
salesman as -a new playmate
he rushed excitedly toward
him, happily barking, You
just wouldn't believe how
fast that man could run and
With such enthiiSiasfn.
For some reason or the
other he never came back,
Rumour had it that he was
still at a good trot, four
farms east, and wasn't
looking back,
Perspectives
Mainstream Canada L
The Easy-Credit Syndrome
11111111111111111911994009194011991991990909101111941641199999901311491AMr'4*...),
Times Established 1873. Advocate Established 1091 Amalgamated 1924
Page 4
Local Justice of the Peace Douglas
Wedlake has come in for some praise
from the Mitchell Advocate after recent-
ly levying fines against two young
drivers who squealed their car tires out-
side a senior citizens' apartment
building in the early hours of the mor-
ning.
Wedlake decided to fine the two
men one dollar for each foot of skid
mark left on the street by the tires. That
SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND
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Times-Advocate, September 12, 1979
Heavy foot penalty
dvocate
resulted in a fine of $87 for one and $117
for the other.
While lauding the JP for the
penalties, which were above the normal
for noise making, the Mitchell paper
suggested that perhaps $5 a foot would
be even more appropiate.
Of course, that will have to be
broken down into meters or some such,
to keep pace with the new metric system.
BATTRArip4140::
It wasn't dull when I cut the linoleum
Why close the doors?
By W. Roger Worth
Many Canadians appear to
be robbing Peter to pay Paul,
borrowing ever larger amounts
of money to support their life-
styles and the standards of liv-
ing to which they have become
accustomed,
Month after month, it seems,
short-term borrowing by con-
sumers sets a new record. That
includes the phenomenal
growth in charge card outlays,
as well as such items as term
lending (cars, boats, furniture)
by Canada's chartered banks,
trust companies, finance com-
panies and credit unions.
Even 18 0/o interest rates on
charge cards and 1407o - 16010
Roger Worth is Director,
Public Affairs,
Canadian Federation of
Independent Business.
rates on term loans haven't
slowed the process.
The credit granting institu-
tions, of course, are elated that
consumer credit is rising, al-
though they are a little con-
cerned about increasing bad-
debt losses.
Yet short-term lending is a
very profitable business indeed.
And with a glut on money in
their coffers, the financial in-
stitutions are bending over
backward to oblige those seek-
ing credit.
While most Canadians treat
the easy availability of credit
with respect, high pressure ad-
vertising (will that be cash or
Chargex ... or Visa) can create
problems,
The number of borrowers
who get in over their heads is
rapidly rising.
In July, for example, 1,252
Canadians went bankrupt, up
13.9 076 from 1,099 the previous
year.
In the January - July period
this year, a whopping 13,473
individuals and firms went
bankrupt.
This is only the tip of the
credit problem iceberg. Thou-
sands of other people have
been forced to resort to credit
counselling agencies and simi-
lar organizations. Many others
stave off their difficulties by
arranging a new "consolida-
tion" loan.
Still, even though credit
problems are growing and
collection agency business is
booming, it's also important
to note that Canadians are
among the largest per-capita
savers in the world.
Evidence, perhaps, that
people are more responsible
than the gloomy bankruptcy
figures indicate.
In recent weeks, several members of
Exeter council have lamented the fact
that local citizens are not taking their
responsibilities serious enough in the
matter of assisting the police in law en-
forcement work.
The suggeition is that local citizens
can help to a considerable extent by
reporting anything suspicious to the
police or taking down license numbers
of any cars they see breaking traffic
rules.
In view of their concern that people
take whatever steps necessary to keep
the town as law abiding as possible,
know they will appreciate the suggestion
from this writer that they set their own
house in order.
Ironically, the most flagrant examples
of withholding public information from
the public in the past couple of years has
stemmed from council's deliberations
over police offices. 'There's little doubt
that they have broken procedural laws,
but what is most annoying is the fact
they have chosen to go behind closed
doors to make some very improtant
decisions affecting local taxpayers.
Readers may recall the situation when
a previous council chose' to meet
without notifying the press or the public
to decide on moving out of the town hall
and into the Main St. office which was
gutted by fire early this July.
At the time, this newspaper suggested
they had met in secret, and that brought
forth some strong denunciation from
some members and Reeve Si Simmons
in particular.
* * *
This week, Mayor Derry Boyle
probabloy set parliamentary rules back
a few decades by his handling of the dis-
cussion which preceded council's deci-
sion to purchase the Barry Reid proper-
ty adjacent to the local post office for
Man, it's good to get back work after
a long, hot, wet, cold, dry summer.
A good many teachers, with a long
summer holiday, do something exciting,
interesting, or at least constructive.
Some go on exotic trips to faraway
places, and return to bore you with their
experiences for the next ten months.
Others go to the Stratford Festival, or
take a course in potting pottery, or go
on a long boat trip in their own boat, or
have an affair, or make fifty gallons of
peach wine, or grow a beard.
Still others build a patio, or tear down
a barn, or take a summer course to im-
prove their qualifications, or prepare
their courses for the fall term, Or
something equally dull,
Every year, it's the same thing with
me. I make great plans for the summer,
around the middle of June, Write a
book, go to the Yukon or New-
foundland, revisit boyhood haunts, have
an affair, grow a beard and long hair,
catch a hundred bass, shoot a par round
in golf.
And this summer, as so often I ac-
complished absolutely zilch,
I barely got my weekly column written.
I travelled no more than 120 miles from
home. I re-visited nothing except the
town library, The only affair I've had
was with a big cedar chair in my back
yard. I'm clean-shaven and short-
haired, I caught one nine-inch bass. I
did shoot a par in golf. On one hole.
I'll have to admit what my wife
suggested every second day all summer,
"You're a lazy bum.
Well, we're not all perfect. I did get
quite a few meals. Peanut butter
sandwich and banana for breakfast.
Fresh made sandwiches from the Oasis
for lunch. Chicken pies, fish and chips,
turkey dinner, Salsbury steak and gravy,
all of them frozen, for dinner,
Sometimes, when my menus began to
the new police headquarters.
The topic was listed on the meeting
agenda, but was side-stepped and never
broached until the meeting was adjourn-
ed. Members were then asked to stay for
a committee-of-the-whole session to dis-
cuss the matter.
Decisions of course, can not be made
by a committee-of-the-whole. The com-
mittee can only report back to council
and council then have to make any
motions that arise.
However, having adjourned the
original meeting, it would then become
necessary to call a special meeting,
although I'm not certain that was the
course of action followed and at this
point it doesn't matter a great deal,
although by not adhering to the proper
procedural rules, any decisions made
could be overturned and that could
prove embarrassing indeed if someone
wanted to undertake that challenge.
* * *
The main point is, that council again
made decisions without the public being
permitted to sit in on those deliberations
and hear the varying view points ex-
pressed by individual members.
That takes on greater significance
when it was indicated by the Mayor that
he ended up breaking a 4-4 tie by casting
the deciding ballot in favor of the site
purchase.
What the ratepayers don't know, is
why four members of council felt the site
purchase was best for the town and why
another four didn't.
By meeting behind closed doors, each
member becomes saddled with the final
decision, regardless of his own opinion.
Had the public been allowed to hear the
discussion and the press reported on the
varying opinions, ratepayers may have
been better able to decide for themselves
which arguments appeared most logical.
repeat themselves, I'd send out for
Chinese food.
One night, carried away by some wild
primitive instinct, I actually cooked up
fresh potatoes, green beans, and a chunk
of '2.98 sirloin, But made the mistake of
making steak gravy. It came out looking
like the inner side of a diaper, and
nobody could eat the steak.
One other memorable meal was a
stew I made. The usual stuff — onions,
carrots, meat, a couple of spuds. It
tasted a little flat, so I hit the spice cup-
board and chucked a few shots of
everything but mustard, then squirted in
about half a bottle of Worcestershire
sauce. That steak had body and a je ne
sais quoi that my old lady tried to figure
out for days.
Aside from the cooking, there wasn't
much to do., For various and sundry
reasons, too miscellanebus to list, we
weren't able to do any of the things we'd
planned. Maybe that's why we wound
up with a phone bill nudging the '200
mark. Per month,
A sick brother, the colonel, in
hospital in Montreal, flown out from
James Bay after a collapse. The
breakdown of a deal to rent a camper
and go visiting.
Worrying, and trying to help, as my
daughter prepared to head for the other
side of James Bay to teach Indian kids
music. Five years ago, that girl could
hardly write a cheque. Now here she
was, arranging all the details of a major
move, with two small boys: travel
tickets, baggage shipment, getting a
piano crated, trying to dispose of a car
that won't start, and coping with a hun-
dred other problems. Jolly good for her,
And getting through yet another wed-
ding, this time a niece frotn Edmonton,
with my old lady running in circles over
gift, clothes, and all the other garbage
connected with weddings.
One of the more ironical aspects of
the situation is the fact that Si Simmons,
who took the editor to task so strongly
over the decision about the police mov-
ing from the town hall, was the one who
perhaps could have suffered the most by
the public not knowing his position on
the latest move.
Si argued strenuously for a town-
owned site behind the library that would
have resulted in a saving of well over
'45,000 for local taxpayers.
While his position had been reported
earlier, ratepayers have no way of know-
ing whether he had any new arguments
to back his suggested site or why other
members felt that the '45,000 extra
should be spent when in fact the two
locations are only a matter of a few feet
apart.
It's a debate that ratepayers should
have been allowed to hear, particularly
in view of the difference in tax dollars,
* * *
One of the reasons cited by the Mayor
for closing the debate to the public was
the fact the land owner didn't want the
sale price offer mentioned in the
newspaper if council didn't accept that
offer.
That is a natural request and one this
newspaper would have had no difficulty
in granting, realizing that ,the purchase
price may have been changed . for
someone else had it not been accepted
by the town.
It was not a matter that required ex-
clusion of the public and press from the
total discussion.
The general asking price of the
property was already public information
or could have been secured, we assume,
by any citizen calling the realtor who
had the listing.
Wanted to see Kim and gran dboys off
for the north. Did you ever try to get a
hotel room in Toronto during the
C.N.E.? Travel agent called twelve
hotels, and the only thing she could
come up was a deluxe double, whatever
that is, at '76.00 a night. A little rich for
the blood, what? A one-night stand we
could hack, but we wanted it for four.
What would you do? I won't tell.
So, all in all, the summer was a big,
fat bore. Not any help was me with a fat,
arthritic foot when my wife was fit, and
she with some kind of horrible sore back
when my foot was fit,
It didn't help that the lawnmower
went on the blink, and I flatly refused to
take it back to the robber who charged
me '55.00 to get it going last time. "Let
the dam' grass grow, That way the
neighbours won't be able to see that I
haven't painted the falling-down back
porch." '
Oh, it wasn't a total loss. I had a
serious chat with my contractor
neighbour about building a back deck to
the house to replace the tumbled heap of
stones onto which the French windows
presently permit access. We may get it
done next year, Neighbour's too busy,
I called a guy twice to come and do
some brick-work, He'd be there for sure.
Haven't seen him yet. Water tank in
cellar began to leak. '200 for a new one,
Sat by the hour, looking at cedar
summer furniture, stripped to a grey-
white by five years of weather, and
studied just how it would look when
sanded and stained and varnished, It's
too late now to get it done this year.
Read three hundred books, Watched
three hundredthird-run movies, Almost
blind from reading. Piles from bad beer.
Man, am I glad to be back to workl
20 Years Ago
The murder trial of 14-
year-old Steven Truscott,
RCAF Station Clinton, is well
into its second week and may
continue for a third, an
observer at Goderich said
Wednesday.
Mrs. Oscar Tuckey en-
tertained at a trousseau tea
last Wednesday evening in
honour of her daughter,
Barbara, whose marriage
took place Saturday.
At the first meeting for the
season for South Huron
Junior Institute last Wed-
nesday evening, Mrs. Harry
Dougall gave a demon-
stration on the cutting, care
and arrangement of flowers,
15 Years Ago
Bonnie Foster, 17, was
crowned Queen of the
Centennial Saturday night at
the Zurich Agricultural
Society's Centennial dance.
Susan Oesch and Linda
Gascho, Zurich were chosen
as princesses,
Tenders will be opened
today on a spacious new
plant for Dashwood Planing
Mills Ltd. to be located on
Highway 4 five miles south of
Exeter. The plant will be
over 40,000 square feet.
Carole Davis and Bill Park
of Lucan received $250
Dominion Provincial bur-
saries.
Carole has enrolled in
London Teacher's College
and Bill will enter UWO. He
hopes to become a high
school teacher.
Louise H. Robertson has
been named supervisor of
public health nursing for
Huron County Health Unit.
CANADA COLUMN
By John Fisher of the Council for Canadian Unity
Conseil pour l'uniteennadienne
Cape Race Newfound-
land is not the most easter-
ly part of Canada, despite
what the song writers
claim. The distinction of
being the closest land to
Europe belongs to Cape
Spear, a few miles south of
St. John's.
Cape Spear is now a
national historic park in-
cluding the old lighthouse
which has been warning
mariners for one hundred
and forty years. Due to
fierce storms and icing
conditions, the home and
light are kept in the same
structure.
The present lightkeeper
is Gerry Cantwell who is
the sixth generation of the
Cantwell family to keep the
light, They have the right in
perpetuity to pass it on to
the next generation. This
`right' is a famous docu-
drivers! watch Dull 110115 St IN
Accomplished absolutely zilch
55 Years Ago
Dr. Moir, Hensall, is
erecting a new and modern
house on the farm near
Rodgerville, London Road.
Mr. P. Mclsaac has moved-
the telephone central into
Mr. G. Kellerman's building,
formerly occupied by the
Bank of Commerce.
The fowl suppers are on
and are being well
patronized.
One of the large brick silos
at the Exeter Canning Fac-
tory collapsed Wednesday
morning,
The teachers of this area,
numbering 135, were in
Convention at Goderich on
October 9 and 10.
30 Years Ago
The yellow corn pack,
canned for the first time at
the local canning factory,
was exceptionally good,
branch manager E.J. Green
stated Monday. The yellow
sweet corn replaced white
corn which has been grown
for many years for export.
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
of Crediton celebrated the
61st anniversary of their
marriage Tuesday.
After two years of
preliminary work the
campaign to provide a new
hospital to be known as South
Huron Hospital has ripened
and a drive was launched to
raise $200,000.
E.D. Bell has been named
chairman of the South Huron
Hospital Association;
secretary is W.G. Cochrane
and treasurer R.N.Creech.
ment in St. John's and
signed every time a Royal
visitor comes to our oldest
city. In July 1845, New-
foundlanders were having a
celebration to which they
invited Prince Henry of the
Netherlands. The Prince's
warship Rijn was lost in fog
outside St. John's, It was
feared the Rijn might crash
on the rocks. A harbour
pilot James Cantwell
went out in his rowboat into
the turbulent ocean. He
found the Rijn and brought
her through the narrow ent-
rance, The Prince was so
grateful he asked the gov-
ernor to name James Cant-
well lighthouse keeper at
Cape Spear in perpetuity."
John Fisher, Executive
Vice President of the
Council for Canadian Unity
was Canada's Centennial
S
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