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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1980-07-30, Page 4Perspectives cousin. cousin. Her hands were red and rough; she was used to hard work. Nothing wrong with that, mind you. Hard work never hurt anyone. She was fifteen and though she couldn't handle a regular program at high school there was a place for her there, a hairdressing course that she dearly wanted to take: for her a chance for something better in life. "But there's no use," she said, eyes downcast, "My dad won't let me go there anyway." "Why not. Rosemary?" I asked. "It'll be a super course and you'll like it. Maybe if I ask him." She shrugged. I talked to the man for an hour in his home, begged him to give her a chance at the high school. He hemmed and hawed, said he'd got along all right without schooling, said she wasn't needed now at home with younger ones coming up, but, "If'n it were one of her brothersjI'd let him go," he grunted. "What does a girl need all that education for anyway?" With that the discussion ended and of course Rosemary never went on. On my desk. the last day of school, I found a scrap of notebook paper with these few misspelled words. I value it still. Dear sur Dont feel bad. You wuz a good techer. And you tried. I will remember you. Rosemary. cttswn 1'l"11 e or! lane, Amalgamated 1924 CD!, BLUE RIBBON ARD A4MM.RaMAX'...UN4: P 1 gra "They've got wind of the big break-out for tonight and have taken steps to stop it — we're all being paroled this afternoon" and once one customer is served there is little argument against extending-- that service to all others who may wish it. It is not correct to assume that the cost factor will automatically limit the number of extensions. The cost factor only applies when there is a viables alternative. If you can't get ample water from one source, the price you're willing to pay to get it from another source increases substantially. The problem of providing resources to neighbors is not one confined to Ex- eter. It is perhaps the most serious question governments at all levels around the world will have to face in the years ahead as the supply of resources, both semi-renewable and non-renewable continue as diminishing commodities. In fact, it is predicted that it will result in the war to end all wars! It is perhaps indicative of the strange thinking that goes on that at ho time during the debate about water exten- sion was there any consideration given as to how Exeter consumer could con- serve water to make enough available to their neighbors or even extend the time when the current supply will have to be augmented for their own use. Is that not really the main question of the 80's? One small consolation before" date. The term "best before" must appear in both French and English with the durable life date, un- less a clear explanation of the significance of the durable life date appears in English and French elsewhere on the label. The first two letters of the date in- dicate the month, such as FE for February, MR for March and AL for April, and the figures following in- dicate the date of ther month from 01 to 31. The year may also be shown before the month, either by four numbers or by the last two numbers of the year. Blessed are they who never say "you've told that story twice today." Blessed are they who know the ways to bring back memories of yesterdays. Blessed are they who make it known that I'm loved, respected, and not alone. Blessed are they who know I'm at a loss to find the strength to carry the cross. Blessed are they who ease the days on my journey home in loving ways. Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jong kind Published Each Wednesday Morning Phone 235.1331;a t Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0346 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $14.00 Per Year; USA $35.00 818B8101111111tWat====a Couldn't win Check the guide Beatitudes for seniors Pogo 4 times Established 473 Imes. 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 +CNA Members of Exeter council and the PUC were virtually in a "no win" situa- tion when it came to making a decision about extending water services to out- of-town residents. It's one of those decisions that only the future can judge. Those who support extending the local system can quite correctly point to the fact that there is an ample supply at the present and it should be used to encourage growth in the entire area, because the town obviously benefits from any growth on its boundaries in some aspects. In fact, had the request come from a new firm planning to erect an industry on the site for which Frayne Chev-Olds wanted the water, it is obvious that a negative decision would have been even harder to make, particularly if it meant attracting that industry to the area or forcing it to locate somewhere else. One of the reasons behind the deci- sion to maintain the current policy was the fact the local firm could get a buildingpermit without town water and that it is quite likely that a suitable well can be drilled for their particular needs. Opponents of extending the service can quite correctly point out that water is only partially a renewable resource, Consumers, are you aware of the "best before" date which can help you make better food shopping decisions? "Best before" dates are placed on various food products in accordance with the requirements of Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada. These dates are intended to serve as an additional guide of freshness for the consumer. Here are a few more facts about "best before" dating. Most processor-prepackaged con- sumer products that have a durable life of 90 days or less, must carry a "best Blessed are. they, who understand my faltering step and palsied hand. Blessed are they who know that my ears today must strain to catch the things they say. Blessed are they who seem to know that my eyes are dim and my wits are slow Blessed are they who look away when coffee spilled on the table today Blessed are they with a cheery smile who stopped to chat for a little while. rwm lySYD FLETCHIER Not very often do I beg a person to do something for me but in the case of Rosemary I made an excep- tion. This young lady was not a star pupil, anything but that, but she tried her level- headed best at anything that was asked of her. Still, the work came hard for her and she lagged behind her classmates in the little Ingersoll school. Her clothes were hand- me-downs, cut-downs or gifts from a better-off third Ever since the day some 40 years ago when I chased a stick into a water- filled ditch at Winchelsea and had to be hauled out by my brother, the writer has had more than a healthy respect for water. It's a respect that borders on fear at times, but there have been many oc- casions in those 40 years that I have been rather thankful that the scare provided me with some insight into the few short seconds it takes to get into serious trouble around water. While there's no life preserver hang- ing near the bath tub, the presence of that necessary gear is something that is always checked before heading out on a boat ride. I never get envious of those "strong" swimmers you see bob- bing half' a miles off shore in the depths of Lake Huron. To each his own, I say, while paddling in water that covers my navel and still affords the oportunity to enjoy a brisk swim even if your fingers do hit the sand periodically. To each his own, I say, as my eye- balls cross trying to keep a constant vigil on the young heads splashing in the water while other adults in charge of kids enjoy a few sleepy winks in the sun. That was also a lesson learned at a comparatively tender age when a bud- dy asked me to fill in for him on the lifeguard stand one Sunday afternoon when local kids had to swim in the area east of the dam at Riverview Park. One mother arrived with her offspr- ing and came over to the stand to ad- vise me that she would keep an eye on her child as he cavorted in the shallows. She then went some distance up the bank to sit in the shade and look after that chore. A few minutes later, I spotted the lad standing in water up to his mouth and looking about frantically at his mother While the rest of you were winging around the country, smashing up and down the highways, belting about in a boat, or whining because you hadn't got Monday off instead of the Tuesday, I, like a good citizen, stayed home and had sober thoughts on Dominion Day, Canada Day, or the Firsta July, as we called it when I was a kid. I even put them down on paper. It's difficult to write something suc- cinct, sincere, and sentimental when you have a lump in your eyes and tears in your throat. But I tried. Like most moribund Canadians, I didn't run into the back yard and run the whatever-it-is up the flagpole. We don't have a flagpole. The nearest we come is a cedar post that holds one end of the clothes-line, the other end of which is attached to a cedar tree. Nor did I set off any fireworks, We have those practically every day around our house, and they don't cost a penny. What I did was slump before the slob machine and listen to a flood of flatulence from a posse of politicians who diggedly dragged out every old chestnut that had already been opened and exposed as wormy. Not only hope but anticipation of the future. My anticipations are a huge heating bill. higher taxes and worse arthritis. Our immense size, The In- credible Hulk? Our vast riches. Mostly owned by foreign companies. Our con- fidence in the future. Of the Canadian dollar? Our unity in diversity. Alber- tans letting us freeze and Quebecois letting us do it in the dark? And so on and on and on. It was so moving that I had to go to the bathroom. Especially when the CI3C types involved in reporting the whole dump job kept telling us that it was just peachy-dandy that we now had an official national anthem. 0 Canada. When I heard this, I felt a real surge of something. I can't describe it in a family journal. What do they think the organ has been playing at hockey as he couldn't get back up the incline to shallower terrain. I jumped off the stand, raced to the water, hauled the youngster out and carried him the 50 feet to the spot where his mother was sitting before she cut short her conversation with another mother and wondered what was going on. Short seconds, indeed! But the shakes from such an experience last much longer. * * A drowning. similar to most other ac- cidents, can never be dismissed •as "- just one of those things." It always represents a human error on someone's part and that, unfortunately, is the guilt some people have to carry throughout their lives. Of course, the majority of victims have no one to blame but themselves. Every kid enrolled in the local swim- ming lessons can list all the rules for water safety and every fatality represents the failure to abide by one of those rules. Ironically, many victims have passed such courses and have suffered the con- sequences of assuming that the rules were made for someone else. In face, many good swimmers lose their lives because they over-estimate their own abilities or underestimate the panic that sets in and negates the knowledge that has been learned under the classroom conditions. As long as there is water and summer, there will be drownings. It's impossible to prevent people from kill- ing themselves because there are always those who fail to heed safety rules or follow common sense practices around water. One of the great misnomers is giving games for years. while the players slouched around at the blue line, scratched their jocks, chewed gum, and looked bored. What do they `think the kids in my classroom have done every morning for the past few years. just before the prin- cipal's announcement that we beat Hayfork Centre yesterday in basket- ball, and that the Christian-Moslem Fellowship Group is meeting at 4:05 beneath any cars left in the parking lot, and then says. "Please rise for our national anthem. "? I'll tell you what happens. A doleful dirge which even the kids know is 0 Canada comes over the P.A. system. We all respond. I stand like a guardsman, chin in, chest out, 'ollow back, thumbs aligned with the seams of my trousers. En- couraged by my stance, the kids also eagerly respond to the stirring tune and inspired lyrics that fill them with pride, hope, confidence and such. One knocks her entire math set to the floor. stoops to pick it up, and is aided by classmates who kick calculator, set squares and compass in all directions. Another, lost in a world of his own, sits silently until the 4th bar, then leaps to his feet and begins to disco. A third rises with the speed of an anaconda emerging from a deep freeze, leans on the window-sill and watches the dog across the street doing his business. A fourth is back down at her desk and scratching obscenities on it before we hit the second. "We stand on guard..." For at least a decade, our Olympic athletes have stood, hand on heart, listening to what they thought was our national anthem. Tears have flowed freely over that repetitive song, written about a hundred years ago by a Couple of guys nobody ever heard of, but who weren't Rodgers and Hammerstein. Now, by an act of parliament, to which all parties agreed, because it didn't involve the building of a new post the title of "life-guard" to people who are hired to supervise swimming areas. Unfortunately they come in for citicism when fatalities occur. because they have failed to guard the lives of those under their juridiction. Too few people recognize the im- possible task that is handed to these people, although on many occasions they rise to remarkable feats in spot- ting potential victims among the hun- dreds of bobbing heads they observe in the course of their duties, One of the facts that people should understand is that a person who is drowning does not cry out for help, particularly if that persons is a non- swimmer or a poor swimmer, That is strange but true! Only their physical movements in the water can dis- tinguish them from the other people nearby who are quite safe and happily splashing about, often in a manner similar to the victim. In a crystal clear pool, those movements may be spotted by a lifeguard scanning the water, but in the murky conditions of most lakes or ponds, it is practically impossible to spot in'other than the arm movements, which resemble a person attempting to climb a ladder with one hand over the other. For those who fail to obey safety rules, there is one small consolation. Victims who have been revived from near death in the water report that the final seconds are most relaxing and it has been indicated that death by drow- ning is one of the more peaceful ways of ending it all after the initial stages of panic start to subside as you go under for the final time. . As stated, to each his own! office, the paving of some highways, the funding of some losing industry, or the cutting down of some trees to make a new national parking lot, we have an Official National Anthem. It figures. We don't move too fast in Canada, but we move. It took us only 100 years to beget a national flag. It is a maple leaf. a piece of foliage remarkable by its absence in about 95 per cent of the country. Our national enblem is the beaver, a large rat which specializes in cutting down trees, building dams which flood farmers' fields, and doing nothing whatever for anybody except other beavers, Don't get me wrong. I'm not being cynical I think the beaver is a fine animal, if you like fat rats. Some of my best friends are beavers. I love our flag, too. Every time I see a Canadian flag that has been out in the weather for a week, something sweeps through me - like a desire to mop up the kitchen counter. And I love that song. I must admit I had a certain leaning toward the other old one - The Maypull Lee, that we all learned in public school. The second line goes: "Fouremblumdeer." But it's long gone, and I doubt if there are many Canadians who would remember, or dare, to sing, "Wolfe, the dauntless hero'came..." What the heck. We can always de- pend on our money. I just checked my wallet. Sure enough, there was the Queen, looking not a day over twenty. But what's this? Horrors? On a ten dollar bill was John A., looking as though he'd never had anything but a Canada Dry in his life. Even worse, on a fiver, was Sir Wilfred Laurier, look- ing like Pierre Trudeau without been through Margaret. And the whole wallet would have bought me a box of strawberries, a quart of rye, and a gallon of maple WW Oh, 1 Canada! fly W, Roger Worth Consumers, are quick to complain abOtrt rising food prices, .many 'times Warning Canada's farmers. Yet most city dwellers simply fail to understand, the problems and risks involved in producing the crops that allow Canadians to spend. less on food than people in most other countries. Even now, farmers are getting set for the barrage of criticism that is bound to fol- low expected food price in- creases as a result of this year's disastrous drought in Western Canada. Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Fedekation of Independent Business. Here's what's happeningin the West as the agricultural community attempts to con- tend with hardship created by I the driest Prairie summer in 19 years. • This year's wheat crop will be down 25010 - 30% corn- pared to 1979, .probably driv- ing up the price of many foodstuffs by 15% - 20%. • Many farmers have already plowed under crops and reseeded with livestock feeds such as grain and corn. Now 55 Years Ago Hydro has been extended to the village of Bayfield. A business place on Main St. was raided on Thursday last and several empty cases and a part bottle of booze was found on the premises. Mr. C.B. Snell has made excavation and put in the foundation for a new home on Anne Si. Dr. Moir, of Hensall, has purchased the farm of Mr. John Bell, a mile south of the village of Hensall. Mr. Frank W. Tom has 'been nominated to the General Assembly of Ohio State. A $7,000 by-law to provide for an addition to the High School was passed by the council. 30 Years Ago Mrs. E.J. Miners of Ex- eter will on Thursday celebrate her 91st birthday. A five-ton truck loaded with loose grain overturned in a ditch and adjoining field. The wheat owned by Sam Hendrick of the Bluewater Highway was be- ing trucked to Hensall for processing. Mr. Oscar Anderson of Sarnia, a former employee of the Times-Advocate (who now owns his own printing plant) called on friends in Exeter this week. Veterans Land Act settle- ment officers swarmed over the farm of Alex MacIntosh about two miles west of Lucan in a practical training demonstration of balanced farming. Mail carrier Norman Long of Kippen apprehensive that mail had not been taken from the box of Thomas N. Forsythe notified relatives who found he had suffered a heart attack. W.A. Balkwill with his wife and daughter is visiting with his mother, Mrs. S.A. Balkwill. Bill is personnel manager and purchasing agent for two construction units of the R.C.A.F. OPEN LETTER July 22, 1980 Hon. Frank Drea, Minister, Consumer and Commercial Relations, 555 Yonge Street, TORONTO, Ontario. Dear Mr. Drea: Many non-profit and charitable organizations are deeply perturbed over your new regulations for special occasion liquor permits. I've now examined those regulations, your press release and the memoran- dum dated July 9th to "all registered representatives" from Mr. R.W. Cooper, Ex- ecutive Director of the Li- quor Licence Board of On- tario. I am, therefore, certain that the new regulations will cause financial damage to many ethnic, sports, and other non- profit organizations; they will in- they are praying these crops won't be killed by an early frost. • Those in the beef industry have been selling off parts of their herds at rock-bottom prices because they can't find or afford to feed the animals. This has driven down beef prices for consumers, but in the longer term prices are bound to rise. • Dairy farmers are in a real bind. They are forced to pay as much as $3 for a bale of hay that normally sells for $1, making many operations money-losing propositions. A lot of consumers believe farmers are fully protected by crop insurance and, other gov- ernment subsidies. That's a myth. Such programs normal- ly cover only the cost of fertili- zers and chemicals needed to make the crop grow. In fact, it is clear that many Western farmers will lose their shirts, if not their land, in this year of the drought. All this is perhaps as it should be, with those in the agriculture business accepting large losses in a bad year. But Canadian consumers should keep this summer's problems in mind when food prices rise. For if farming doesn't remain a profitable endeavour, we will all suffer. 15 Years Ago The Exeter municipal council were hosts at a ban- quet Wednesday. July 28, at the Dufferin, Hotel, Cen- tralia, to honor Mr.C.V. Pickard whose retirement as clerk of the town took place August 1. In a sobering moment at the meeting of Exeter Town Council last week, members duly moved, seconded and passed a motion that smok- ing'will no longer be allowed at the sessions held in the' rather stuffy council chambers. Don Taylor. formerly of Exeter and now working out of Hamilton has been transferred to Nigeria. Mr, Taylor has been with the I.B.M. company for the past three years and will take over new duties with that company in Nigeria effec- tive September 14. 20 Years Ago No interest has been shown here yet in construc- tion of the basement fallout shelters advocated by the Diefenbaker gov't, a T-A survey this week reveals. Jane Horton, Hensall topped the graduating class from South Huron District High School with an average of 86 percent. It is reliably reported that the Ontario Liquor Control Board is purchasing the site of the old cidar mill, former- ly operated by Sylvanus Cann, for its store here. One London man has been arrested -and charged with fraud and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the second in connection with repair work done to private residences in this area. Three patrols of Exeter Boy Scouts are enjoying a camp. on Georgian Bay, In charge is S.M. Douglas Harrison, assisted by Hal Hooke and Jim Sweitzer. Patrol leaders are John MacNaughton. Fred Learn and Ted Wilson. crease law breaking, not lessen it; and they will tend to increase the consumption of spirits. I am quite amazed at the arbitrary limits you've. set on the price which can be charged for liquor, wine, and beer at Saturday night socials and other non fund- raising events. It seems, in fact, to violate the prin- cipless of the Combines Act and certainly the low prices will encourage consumption. Moreover, it's a strange move on your part when you've refused to intervene in any number of excessive prices of essential com- modities which have been brought to your attention. The 25% to 50% increase in the levy (e.g. 40 oz. whiskey up from $1,50 to $2.00 (charg- ed by your Liquor Licence Board on these special occa- Please turn to page 5 Niainstream Canad1 a A Problem for Farmers Tirnes-Advocut*, July 30, 1910 Advocate E$tatAtishefl 1801 Anticipation of the future W.1