The Lucknow Sentinel, 1986-04-09, Page 6•
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Pollee 6—Luckinnv Sentinel, Wednesday, *kit 9, 19*
"The Sepoy Town"
BLUE
RIBBON
AWARD
1985
Thomas Thompson
Janes Friel
Pat Livingston
Joan Helm
Ivterie gmott
-Advertising Manager
-Editor
-General Manager
-Compositor
-Typesetter
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for, but the balance of the advertiSernent Will be paid at the applicable rates.
Catching up
with restraint
Municipalities and school boards have started getting in
line with the mood of the day. Fiscal restraint is the watch
word and governments and other bodies have suddenly
adopted the word with zeal.
But while municipal and board employees have •been
held to wage increases of around four per cent in the, last
year or two, and programs axed, education and municipal
demands have only lessened this year.:.
The Huron County Board of Education passed a budget
with an increase of only 3.7 per cent, below the current
inflation rate. Bruce County council approved a budget
increase of 5,56 per cent, down from last year's increase of
9.48 per cent.
Finishing dff now rare multiple year contracts would
account for some of the delayed reaction in lowering
demands.
But a statement by Huron Director Of Education Robert
Allan raises questions about how those spending our tax
dollars do ,business.,
"It is my vrOy that placing large amounts -of additional
costs into estitnatei, and then cutting themi 'out publicly is
little more than window dressing and has a very itegative.
effect on the organization. Reality is much easier to live
with than having hopes and expectations dashed.".
_
Tax payers must wonder how much of this: "window
dressing" has been cut out and how much has been left in
•previous budgets. It's easier to let some costs slide on
large projects when the money has already been budgeted.
A certain amount of leeway for unforeseen cost increases
on materials and labor is always a wise inclusion when
estimating project costs.
• But "large amounts of additional costs" need further
clarification.
.„/
:•+.4•4'64%.,k
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Chandler's Court was never meant to be
inhabited by people. In earlier times it had
hdused a number of small one-man basin-
esses on the several floors of buildings
surrounding "a year. One of these must
have been a candle maker - hence the name
Chandler's Court. But. as thedirty red
bricked structures became dilapidated.
beyond repair, teminerce left, and the
poorest of Belfast's people squatted in the
vacated rooms. it was a hell on earth
miserable overcrowded shelter for drunk-
ards, old harlots, vagabonds and thieves.
The women who had accompanied Kalb -
leen to this evil smelling quarter, paused at
the entrance to a dark stairway, its worn
wooden stairtreads strewn with refuse and
most of tine railings missing from its rickety
'balustrade.
"I won't go any further with you,
ma'am," she said. "This rat infested place
gives me the creeps. It's up there on the
first landing you'll be after finding Fanny
Conners second room on ,the tight."
Any other se -called lady of quality would
have been terrified at the thought of what
evil she. Might find at the top of those'
stairs, but not Kathleen Jamieson. In her
childhood, she too had known such places.
Only by the grace of God and her first
husband (Kelly) had she escaped the envir-
onment to which the inhabitants of Chand-
ler's Court were condemned, She lifted her
skirts above the filthy steps and Climbed up
to the second floor, '
It was dark and Kathleen had to wait
until her eyes became accustomed to her
surroundings before she could find the
second reent and knock on the door. She
had to knock several times before a
woman's face appeared. It was careworn
through suffering over the years, but
Kathleien still recognized the entmtenance
of Fanny Conners.
"It's me Kathleen. Don't you foment-,
ber, Fanny? We were children together in
the orphanage,"
The woman's eyes squinted at Kathleen
in total, disbelief. She shook her head.
"The Kathleen I knew would not be
dressed up like the bleedin' queen " she
• I ,
:osantdab tSdy
t ea* Y4a "What ' t hei o' F
would
I, be
waann
nt in;
Conners?"
It took several minutes of persuasion
before Fanny allowed Kathleen to enter
her hovel. And a hovel it was, with a
broken table and two boxes for seats.
There was a dirty curtain at one end of the
room which secluded the area far ileeping.
On the table were a few iterns of crockery.
The cups were, cracked and devoid of
handles, -
Kathleen seated herself Opt' one of -the
boxes and b recounting some of the
hood experiences they bad Shared togeth-
er, convinced neeFdanFnaycried,
was indeed her
oidfriend,
For more than an hour. Fanny retold of
her life:since Kathleen had left Belfast of
her marriage to a shipyard wetter wlio had
been crushed under a falling beam and the
ild
w4Neilavietri:evs°ehfre hsbeharer e°IncYolYusludivil cdfrr' Lib bintihnifindlYgnilgtflhoowe ra
i3rirsi,
running •ernitids, or wheeling produce
around the wholesale fruit and vegetable
' r '
•
market. Kathleen,. offered, her • money but
the poor. wean held 'her ',head: high and
re!'ll'ishiast' nothing left: but ttl •
she said sadly. "What would there to,
live for, if 1 ever . lost that?"
It ,was a very Sad'iCallileen Jamieson who
returned by Cab to the floyat Ulster Hotel.
Her.inemorieS ot tier naUve land 1144 1,e011'
iriuch better than what she . had just .
experienced in, reality.
•- When she ffound Ian waiting for her in,
their rein, She ran to hiin and threw her
rafr, am, 4sz,- h tiytnyour visit
to (he ,ss. et)w hay, -4y000o:voe ton, iri lite,
she did she
o
o
4elor
sait$c';Aotteo4hee[blieavoke
I
liere againl 1 cannot,,Wait for the spring,
wbett, we too .go; ,biiek''tOgetbet', to
-
Redtreesl"'