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Times-Advocate, 1980-04-16, Page 4+CNA u ar and S asps sed by Smiley Buil Cabo*. er..0 Mainstream Canada ........ .......... . ............ ........... .... ........ ...... ..... ...„„ .... memory Ion .e Bucking Bell Canada. The present rate for resi- dential service; $8.55 per month. To put things in perspec- tive, the differential between the business and residential rates in the U.S. is much, much, less, depending on the area, and in Britain the vari- ance in only 18%, compared to the 300% plus differential in the Ontario-Quebec region. Why is Bell Canada out to clobber small business? The answer, it seems, is that the company is simply continuing a process that started many years ago on the assumption that smaller busi- nesses need telephones and were badly organized, so re- action against such discrimi- natory pricing policies. would be minimal. Such is not the case any- more. The 55,000-member Canadian Federation of Inde- pendent Business is already battling against the 35% price increase in Ontario and Quebec and will tackle phone com- panies in other provinces if they attempt to duplicate the process. Bell Canada already has the highest rates in the country. Now the company wants more, and much of it from the sweat of people operating small and medium-sized enterprises. What this country needs is more competitive, independ- ent businessgs. Canada does not need telephone monopo- lies that charge what the mar- ket will bear, particularly when one considers the pres- ent business rate in Quebec City. is $23.15 per month, vs • only $17.95 in Edmonton. Something's 'amiss. the pupils of Mrs. Russ Broderick and a comical one-act play presented by members of the IOOF and Rebekah Lodges highlighted the variety concert at SH- DHS Friday night. Principal Mrs. Greta J. Lavender, Hensall, has resigned from the Zurich Public school staff. Miss Sheila Fahner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fahner, Exeter was winner of the top award for a clarinet solo in the 15 year and under class at the Kiwanis Music Festival at Stratford, A five-year-old Yorkshire sow, owned by Lloyd Davidson, lot 23, Con. 18 Elma township had a litter of 20 pigs Sunday. Is Years Ago The Anglican young people from Exeter and Hensall won the Huron Deanery AYPA dramatic trophy that had been in Clinton for the past 23 years. The cast in- cluded Greg Harness, Fred Wells, Clark Forrest, Lynn Page, John Harness and Linda Wells. An alteration to the proposed vocational addition to SHDHS added a cost of over $150,000 to the project, which brings the total to • $1,635,000. The main changes in the plan involves the auditorium, and gymnasium facilities in the school. Plans for massive twin piers to protect Grand Bend harbour from drifting sand, have been sent to Ottawa for federal government con- sideration. The estimated cost of the project is $1 million. By W. Boger Worth • The executives at Bell Canada have more nerve than Evel Knievel, the prominent showman who wanted to leap across the vaunted Grand Canyon. For years, Bell has been grossly overcharging (to the rip-off point) small and medium-sized businesses in Quebec and Ontario that are forced to have a telephone service to survive. This is particularly true when one considers that the lowest rate for the smallest business in the two provinces is an unheard of 300% more than similar residential rates. Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Now Ma Bell has complete- ly disowned customers oper- ating independent businesses, not even considering the fact that these smaller enterprises create a majority of the coun- try's new jobs. In its latest proposal to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, Bell wants to shove through a 23% rate increase for householders.` But for Canada's small and medium-sized businesses, the company believes rates should go up a whopping 35%. Even now, small entrepre- neurs in Montreal and Toronto are being charged $27.35 per month for a service that is many times used less than the residential telephone. 55 Years Ago Fire' destroyed two barns on the farm on Geo. Jeffery, Thames Road, together with the livestock, implements, grain, etc. The fire started from a spark from a gasoline engine. Mr. Jeffery suc- ceeded in getting out a team of horses, but 26 head of cattle, two horses and nine pigs perished in the flames. Mr. George Windsor of town, had a narrow escape from asphyxiation. He was found unconscious in his home about six o'clock in the evening by friends, who had not seen him around all day. Escaping coal gas was the cause. A play "Welcome Home Jimmie", was presented in the Opera House by young people from James Street United Church. The cast was Silas Reed, Wilf Shapton, Alma Harding, Wilma Powe, Amy Shapton, Thelma Taylor, Leonard Pfaff, Hedley May and Rita Rowe. 30 Years Ago Blanshard Base Line School is being re-opened next September after being closed since 1939. There were only six pupils when it closed. There will be 20 when it re-opens. An old landmark, the Sodom school on the Lake Road is being demolished. The 53-year old bridge in McGillivray Township seven miles west of Clandeboye, was blown to smithereens by the seventh Field Squadron RCE of London to make room for a modern span over Mud Creek. 20 Years Ago Some fancy tap-dancing by Dear sir: I have recently been reading where millions of Canadians have been signing a well-organized petition urging Quebec to remain within Canada. The intent of most Canadians in this matter is an honourable one, for we have been taught from birth to look upon Canada as one country. However, perhaps we owe it to ourselves and to our children to try a little harder to see what is going on. In the past 12 years we have seen Canada tran- sformed from an English,, speaking country with one bilingual province, to a country which, because of the astute presentation of Expo '67, the '76 Olympics, and through direct action by the Trudeau Government, is now recognized officially in the eyes of the world as a primarily French-speaking country. Despite a still-large English-speaking minority in Quebec, the English language is no longer tolerated there, But both New Brunswick and Ontario are now bilingual, with their civil services being changed over to French-Canadian control faster than the eye can follow. The remaining provinces will be similarly converted within . the next few years. Billions of dollars of our taxes have been poured into our provinces and into Francophone Associations across Canada to achieve that goal, both by our Federal Government and by Quebec itself. Our Federal Government public service, our armed forces, the RCMP, and 429 Crown Corporations including Air Please turn to page 5 Perspectives government would leave beef farmers alone, let them be the independent cusses they had always been in- stead of being controlled by a marketing board. We talked hockey. He'd played a good brand of hockey in his day and was the kind of guy who wouldn't dream of dropping a son off at the rink to get rid of him for an hour. He was there, supporting, offering advice from his own experience, proud as punch When the kid did well, and just as proud if the plays didn't work out that game. He was no chauvinist though. The daughter got the chances too, and equal doses of time and interest. I have a feeling that the little ones coming up would have got the same effort too, out of a schedule that many other men would have shirked. He worked hard. Too hard sometimes perhaps, but that goes with the territory for a farmer. Somebody has to clean the mud out of the clogged 'combine', handle the stubborn beasts that won't go willingly up a ramp, and then go home to finish chores that have to be done whether you really feel like it or not. Alot depehds on you. Maybe I've made him out to be some kind of a saint. He wasn't. Not too many folks are. At the same time, now that he's gone so suddenly, I feel A tremendous sense of loss and a terrible awareness that each one of us is so very mortal. Amalgamated 1,924 .Part 4. Timaa-Ady.octatto, April 16, 1989 Tim Istobliiiinici 1473 Advocate Estokilishectia SIEVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND. C.Afri.N.A.,Q.W..N.A. CLASS 'A' ABC Published by J, W. Eedy., Publications Omitted. LOEHR EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager Dick Jongkind Published Each Wednesday Morning Phone 235-1331 at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 'Canada $14.00 Per Year; USA $35.00 Impressive plans of those same facilities. The main point that must be remembered in the current proposal is that it will be staged over a number ,of years. Some immediate development is necessary, but due to financial con- siderations primarily, some of the planned facilities won't materialize for some years. It is the immediate development of an additional softball diamond that is number one on the priority list and hopefully the community will get behind the fund raising scheme to bring that to fruition as quickly as possible because the need has been well es- tablished over the past couple of years. After that priority has been met, another review of the project should be undertaken to ensure that the remain- ing priorities are still in their correct order based on the current and predic- table future needs of the community which the park fills. Some changes may well be evident as time progresses and participation requirements change. "We don't have to worry about how to raise next month's rent — the landlord told me HE'S raising it," No wonder people get sick successful seasons. One of the interesting sidelights is the fact that both teams drew good crowds in the finals, and while that is as it should be, fans should be reminded that the kids were playing an equally ex- citing brand of hockey when they started out late last October. They would probably be the first to agree that some of the teams in their own league provide competition that is as strong as they faced on their way to the Ontario titles. Perhaps everyone should keep that in mind when the hockey season gets un- derway again in six months, especially when minor teams throughout the area are going to have to look for more fan support to offset their increasing costs. Congratulations Concern warranted waseimorszazu.,.--.,„ Local residents can't help but be impressed with the redevelopment plans outlined for the Exeter communi- ty park. It would give the community one of the most complete recreation areas to be found in any town this size, yet it cannot be considered grandiose in view of the interest currently being evidenced in the pursuits that would be facilitated. Recreation, of course, is an ever- changing scene that suffers from the vagaries of the human involvement. Interest runs high at times, while dur- ing other periods it wanes or even dis- appears. That makes the need for flexibility paramount in any planning process. One has only to look at the many changes which have taken place at the park over the years to understand that point more fully. The community park has seen the establishment of ball diamonds, band stands, rodeo rings, pony tracks and the subsequent demise What do Exeter and Lucan hockey teams have in common? Well, if you saw them out hammering away at each other on the ice, you would assume they had very little in common, except the desire to beat each other. In most seasons that's what happens, but this year the Exeter midgets and Lucan pee wees share something else in common: an Ontario championship. Each of the area teams brought its community a provincial title after some exciting games with other top teams from across the province. It's a feat that deserves commendation and hopefully the members and coaches of the two teams are basking in that this week as they look back on their highly Police Chiefs in Huron County are correct in their concern over the lessening of fines for some liquor and highway charges in that the deterrent factor has been drastically diminished. There's an old adage about having "a licence to steal" and perhaps the reduced fines will be considered as part of the "licence" to drink while under age, carry liquor in a car or create un- necessary noise with a vehicle. Certainly, the comparison between a $28 or $38 fine and one of $104 is one that needs little comment and in today's inflationary times it could well be termed a "licence" with little punishment attached, particularly when divided among three or four young people who may be apprehended while getting their kicks. However, there is some question whether the $104 penalty really serves as a strong deterrent, given the in- creased numbers which have been appearing in local court in recent weeks. By SYD FLETCHER I always respected him. He was the type of person I could stand and talk to at the arena for an hour or two at a time and wonder where the time had gone. The kids would be coming off the ice and it would seem like 5 minutes had passed. It seemed that we had a lot in common, though he was a successful farmer and a businessman while I was in a totally different occupation. We talked of the state of the country. He was quietly optimistic. Maybe the Last September, the writer was prompted to make comment on situations where consumers could find themselves receiving bills for failing to support various businesses and ser- vices. The column was prompted by an an- nouncement that one of the chartered banks had instituted what was termed a non-service charge. It was a monthly charge of 25t which was to apply "if there has been no activity in your ac- count". It was facetiously suggested that con- sumers could start to get a monthly bill from the charge card company for not making any transactions or from the TV repairman because they hadn't bothered to use his services. People, it was hinted, cbuld even be prompted into having fires or 'auto collisions so they wouldn't have to face any added costs for not using their in=- surances. Although it was written with tongue- in-cheek, the column hardly turned out =to be as preposterous as reality itself, if one can judge from recent news ac- counts of some of the billing procedures with which the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) is ex- perimenting. It came to light last week that several medical clinics in the province were billing OHIP at a flat rate of $6 a month for each patient on their roster, rather than payment for specific con- sultations. The Toronto Star claims that a St. Marys Medical Clinic was paid $712,788 in 1978 for the 10,400 people on its list of patients, although many of them did Marking examination papers brings out the best and the worst in a teacher. Any tomfool 'can set an ex- amination. Any other idiot can write the thing. But marking the finished, or more often unfinished product is something else. In some ways, marking exams is the absolute anus of the sometimes creative body of teaching. It is to the teacher what an over-flowed toilet is to the plumber. Normally, a plumber's life is a fairly happy one. Whanging away at pipes, Cursing gaily as he tries to unscrew a rusted nut. Dropping a dirty great wrench on the customer's new tile floor. And writing out a whacking great bill at $14 an hour, plus parts which must be made of 24-carat gold. On the whole, a satisfactory, fulfilling life. A plumber is usually a smiling, affable chap, much like the highwaymen of olden times, who grinned gallantly as they stripped the passengers of the stage of their valuables. It's the same with teachers, You seldom see a teacher who is not smil- ing, except between the first of September and the end of June. They too have their little joys in everyday life: bullying kids; cursing the principal under their breaths; gossiping venomously about colleagues who are having more fun than they; happily whining about being under- paid and over-worked; thanking God that it's Friday. A challenging life of dedication and idealism. But both parties have one craw in their ointment, or fly in their throat, or whatever you call it. When a plumber walks in, rubber- booted, and faces a floor covered with water, sanitary napkins, toilet tissue, and semi-dissolved feces, his normally serene mien becomes one of stony stoicism. And when a teacher finishes a term not visit the clinic regularly. The doctors, it should be pointed out, were acting only as directed by OHIP and there is no suggestion of any wrong doing on their part. That the same could be said for the OHIP practice, would be impossible. * * * One of the reasons for the practice is apparently to reduce the amount of paper work for OHIP and presumably the clinics which were instructed to im- plement the experimental program. Every business would welcome the opportunity to reduce its cost of billing customers, but setting up flat rate monthly payments is obviously absurd. It is very doubtful, for instance, that every resident of the area would ap- preciate receiving a bill from this —newspaper each month for .one Classified advertisement, regardless of whether they inserted such an adver- tisement., Such procedures just don't have any place in the free enterprise system and obviously some government departments have to be continually reminded of that fact. The bottom line on the whole con- troversy is that once again it is the tax- payer who is being asked to pay for stupid ideas formulated by civil ser- vants. * * * Speaking of public servants, Exeter clerk Liz Bell appears to be on a colli- sion course withcouncil by hinting that she will not be available for special evening meetings because there is no extra pay in it for her. She advised council last week that a at school, utterly exhausted, empty of ideals, drained of dedication, and faces the marking, of about 180 exam papers, his nbrmally congenital expression turns into something expressed in a cheap reproduction of the Crucifixion. Nobody looks quite as crucified, staggering home with both arms full of exam papers, as the English teacher. His/her thoughts about Phys. 'Ed, teachers, shop teachers, business teachers and others who don't have for- mal exams are unprintable in a family journal. Their attitudes toward science teachers, with their true-false exams, are barely less charitable. These ruminations, none of them original, recurred to me as I sat serenely during this year's March break, pursuing the current crop of regurgitations, wild guesses, and hopeful meanderings that constitute the average student's exam. Thwarted from pressing into the frozen North, while so many of my colleagues were heading for the sunny South, by that common enemy, the common cold, I shucked off all resent- ment, irritation, and hopes for a holi- day, and marked my papers. It was my old lady who had the cold, and she stayed out of my hair for a change. I sat like Solomon, alternately amused, bemused, bewildered, and oc- casionally bewitched, by the out- pourings of adolescence. Some were simply stunned. Others were desperate. seeking any port in a storm, 'Some had a clue, but couldn't solve the case. And very occasionally, there was sheer delight in seeing a keen, original mind at work. I mentioned the chore as bringing out the best and the worst in the harassed pedagogue, peering, pencilling, pouting over the payers. One becomes a philosopher: "Oh well, what the hell? We can't all be brain surgeons," after reading the ef- forts of onewho has professed the desire dr)=-= planned committee-of-the-whole to dis- cuss the initial budget proposals would have to be held in the course of the nor- mal office hours because her evenings were all filled. The writer doesn't enjoy working evenings either, but when I took on this job I was fully cognizant of the fact that newspaper editors and reporters have to work some evening beats because that is when news events are taking place. It's part of the job. So too is it part of the job for clerks in small municipalities where serving on elec'ted bodies is basically a, volunteer position. The stipend in no way compensates people for taking time off their regular day-time jobs to attend council sessions. It would be a dangerous practice in- deed for the local council to start holding day-time sessions because it would make it impossible for the vast majority of ratepayers in this com- munity to consider running for public office. This is not to suggest that the clerk doesn't have some legitimate criticism of her current work load or stipend and hopefully if that is the case, it can be worked out to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned by the special employee relations committee which will be drawn from council and members of the town's staff. It can not, however, be satisfactory if it results in council being forced to hold any special meetings during the normal working day in other than emergency situations. for such a profession, and spells it 'brain surjen." One becomes a philanthropist: "He's flunking badly. But he did clean the blackboards and plug in the record players and said 'Have a nice holiday, sir', and he's going into the old man's business because there's nowhere else to go, so I'll give him 10 marks for operation and attitude. That'll please the Guidance Department." One is amused, She wrote on the out- side of the paper; "I did my best, Mr. Smiley, I hope your in a good mood when you mark this," I,took off a mark because she mispelled "you're." One is appalled. Question: "Use a sentence containing the word morale," Answer; "A hero thinks he is greater than ordinary morales." Things like this make the young teacher panic and ask self, "What's happening? I'm not getting through to these kids at all." Not to worry. The kid will probably be a good mother. Occasionally, one is enchanted. One of those students who is a wall-flower in class, obviously shy, hiding behind drooping eyelids, flowers on paper, all inhibitions forgotten in the sheer joy of expression, and turns in a brilliant piece of creative thinking. And the teacher is momentarily elated, realiz- ing he has kindled, a flame. All in all. an enriching experience, giving the marker a good look at a good cross-sectionof youngsters, a few good laughs, some self-doubts, a certain humility, a delightful feeling of playing God, Jr., and the odd flash of sheer satisfaction, if not joy. To heck with holidays from now on. Spend a lot of money getting nowhere With a lot of disgruntled fellow- travellers, get home exhausted and dis- appointed. From now on, I'm going to stay home and mark papers. Marking examination papers It's obviously more of a factor than a figure one-third or one-quarter lower, of course, but one wonders if some other form of punishment wouldn't be more persuasive. There's little doubt that a youth caught with liquor in his car would think twice if he lost his driving privileges for three months or so. That's not a drastic punishment, but one which appears more devastating to a young person that a few dollars, es- pecially when he and his cohorts are often given up to 30 days in which to raise their share of the fine. It is obvious that people have to be hit where it hurts to provide a strong deterrent to breaking the laws and if that spot isn't the pocketbook, then some other avenue should be explored on a trial basis. Meanwhile, a lessening of the at- tack on the pocketbook itself appears a backward step.