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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-01-26, Page 4Page '4 Times -Advocate, January 26, 1983 im es -/"advocate Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publitiher 11N1 BECKETT Advertising; Manager BILI BATTEN - Editor -HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager 0' ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A.,$56.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' • Can be too obliging Exeter Councillor Dorothy Chapman has every reason to be concerned with the periodic problem coun- cil members face when they are asked to make speedy decisions with little advance notice or information. She contends that for any decision required at a regular Monday session, members should have the background information available to them the previous Friday so they'can study the matter, and its implica- tions, and then make a decision with some forethought. It is not the first time that the problem related to on -the -spot decisions has been broached by members, but similar to the discussion this -week, there was no action taken to attempt any remedy -and so it is likely that similar situations will arise. • It is obviously impossible to enact rules and regula- tions that can be applied to every situation. There are problems that arise periodically when members can not have the luxury of a reasonable time frame in which to consider the pros and cons. But those are restricted to emergency situations and are very few and far between. Certainly, the matter over which Mrs. Chapman raised her concerns, could not be placed in that category. A delay, even of two weeks, would not have been unreasonable under the circumstances. Basically, the problem to which Mrs. Chapman makes reference, is created by. council members be- ing too obliging. That, of course, is seldom regarded as a fault, but it can -be and has been. We live in a society where ``instant" becomes an integral part of life, ranging from our breakfast cereal to the final news of the night before returning to bed. Oddly enough, people may take days and weeks to make up their minds on some particular issue, but when they approach others who may then be involved through, those decisions, they expect immediate answers. Preferably yesterday, in some cases. Mrs. Chapman' s concern should obviously not be dismissed by council. Some policies should be established by council and relayed to the public regar- ding`the .time frame required in presenting requests for municipal decisions. A farmer's prayer As farmers and ranchers, dear God, give us the pa- tience and wisdom to understand why a pound of steak at $2.90 is high,but a three- ounce cocktailat $3.00 is acceptable. And, Lord, help me to understand why $4.50 for a ticket to a movie is not bad, hut $3.50 for a bushel of wheat that makes 50 loaves of bread is considered unreasonable. Aird a 60 -cent soft drink at the ballgame is okay, but a 20 -cent glass of milk for breakfast is inflationary. Cotton is too high at 65 -cents a pound but a $20 shirt is viewed as a bargain. Thank you, God, for your past guidance. I hope you can And corn is too steep at 3 -cents worth in a box of flakes help me make some sense out of all this. but the flakes are sold for 50 -cents a serving. And please, God, send some rain. And also, Lord, help me understand why I have to give an easement to the gas company so they can cross my property with their lines, and before they get it installed, the price of gas has doubled. And while you're at it, dear God please help me unders- • tand the consumer who drives by my field and raises 'his eyebrows when he sees me driving a $30,000 tractor that he helped put together so he could make money and drive dpwn that right-of- way they took from me to build a road on so he could go hunting and skiing. Board can't have it both ways Some Iluron County hoard of education trustees have a "double standard" when it comes to matters pertaining to follow- ing proper prckedures. At their recent meeting, some trustees suggested that merchants who are upset with competition from students who sell a variety of products in fund-raising ef- forts should fellow' a policy of making written complaints to the hoard and not merely pass those along via telephone calls. On the other hand. when they discuss- ed Exeter's recent edict of with -holding the hoard's share of unpaid municipal taxes, they decided they should have the board's lawyer talk the matter over with the town's lawyer. , Certainly. that is not the correct pro- cedure in communicating with the town. In fact, The Town of Exeter does not have any one law firm which acts exclusively on its behalf. Rather council chooses to appoint solicitors for each item that arises. in view of the fact local lawyers often find themselves in a conflict of in- . terest position with clients who may he dealing with the town on a variety of issues. Surely. if the board members, or their solicitor, have a message to conununicate with Exeter it should be communicated directly. The ultimate decision of whether Ex- eter wishes to have its solicitor involved should rest with council; particularly in view of the fact that few lawyers act free of charge these days. it would he absurd for Exeter to receive a bill from a local lawyer who has not been retained by there for discussion with the board; and it would he just as absurd for the board to expect a local lawyer to discuss the matter with the board's solicitor at his own expense. The board of education has every right • to turn the matter over to their solicitor, but the other end of the discussion should be directly with Exeter council until such time as the latter wish to turn their part of the discussion over to a lawyer. The decision to deal rather indirectly with Exeter•is in sharp contrast to the BATT'N AROUND with the editor suggestion from some hoard members that merchants who complain about students' competition in fund-raising sales must make formal complaint~ to the hoard. Seems the board members were of the opinion that a telephone call from con- cerned merchants to the hoard office or hoard memhers was not an appropriate form of complaint. There is no doubt that a written com- plaint is the best method for anyone air- ing a viewpoint, but it will fie a regressive step in the matter of dealing with the public business if that is a hard and fast edict the board members choose to impose. Surely, any ratepayer should be given a hearing, whether that ratepayer wishes to air an objection with a board employee or elected official via a written com- munication or a verbal communication either in person or over a telephone. As the editor of a newspaper, I have first hand experience in knowing that most ideas or complaints would never materialize if a policy of "put it in writing" was followed. Many topics for editorial or column opi- nions come initially from readers who call to voice their viewpoint on a matter of local interest. While they are initially urg- ed to put their ideas into letters to the editor, it is generally found they are un- prepared to do so and so editors often end up expounding on the ideas presented. To a great extent, elected officials are in the same boat. They have to be prepared to listen to the ideas, whether they be constructive or otherwise, and. then take the action that is dictated by the information they receive. 'When elected officials, or people who work for the taxpayers, aren't prepared to act on telephone complaipts or those they receive other than in writing, the system is in a great deal of trouble. Board members should recognize the reluctance of merchants topublicly state their concern over what they conceive as unfair compietition from students in sell- ing merchandise to raise funds for school projects. They know that it could be damaging to their businesses' le complain, given the fact they have to rely on those same students for some of their livelihood. They'd be prepared to give up their anonimity if they could be assured of not being subjected to retribution; but unfor- tunately that is not the way that life is at all times. Surely the manner of communication is not the issue; it is the message that is be- ing communicated. The board members who voted to refer thecomplaints and a review of the policy to a committee are right. When they get done with that, they should review the policy regarding the complaint procedure. "Can't be too careful these days --- I even make my shadow walk in front of me." Lower than grasshopper Sorry if my eight or nine faithful readers missed a column. `Twere the fault of the 'flu. I can usually belt out a column regardless of weather, wife, or nuclear explo- sions, the latter two being much alike, but this time I was laid lower than a grasshopper's anus, right from before Christmas throilgh the New Year. Must be getting old and soft. • It's hard to turn out # column of 'deathless, sometimes desperate pro- se when your brain is like putty, your fingers are like dough, and your legs like clay sticks, while your stomach is making like a cement mixture and pro- ducing something much like cement. I can usually find a topic this time of year: a savage attack on the . Canadian winter. But I can't even do that. This Christmas was warmer than August, warmer than England, ac - 'cording to a colleague who was there, and superior to Puerto Rico, where it rain- ed and rained and blew the palm trees horizontal, ac- cording to another col- league who went off for "a week in the sun." And serves her right. Despite my decrepitude, I tried to struggle through. Have you ever played chess or Monopoly with a bright eight-year-old who can beat you at either, even when you're in top shape? Have you ever tried to repair broken toys on Christmas morning with a sharp six-year-old when your hands are shaking with the ague and your mind is fixed on your next spurt to the bathroom? Have you ever coped with a wife who moans, "But you always make the dressing and help me with the gravy! ", when all you want to do is crawl into a hole, cover yourself with something, even dressing, and quietly expire? I compromised. In the shape of an octogenarian probably cost me about $200, as she has a propen- sity to believing that long distance calls are made to somebody just around the corner, even when they're six hundred miles away, and can chat amiably for .half an hour about sweet fanny adorns. And! managed to totter Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley leper who has just had a massive stroke, I stuffed the ruddy beast, trussed it, and jammed it into the oven, before collapsing. But I got my revenge on • those who had frittered around making cups of tea while I labored over the creature. Told them I'd spit on my hands before I mixed the stuffing. That almost, but not quite, threw them off their Christmas dinner. I nibbl- ed a bit of 'flu -filled stuff- ing, proclaimed it ex- cellent% and they ate like pigs. • It was only through the greatest fortitude that I was able to get a little brandy down, now and again. to keep Death at His distance. But it wasn't all bad. It never is, if you keep your pecker up. No small chore in these days of economic and political gloom. . Because of my condi- tion, I let the old girl make all the Christmas. telephone calls to old friends and relatives. That to the telephone on New Year's Eve and talk to a couple of old turkeys who joined the air force the day I did. I could have sav- ed my breath, what wag left of it, on that one. They were in worse shape than I' was. And they didn't have the 'flu. Got some cards from old anus was a mere 84 last Christmas, so he may be slowing down. But my old pal in Westport didn't fail me. He signs his cards only, "Your TV Repairman", but they always come through. Here's, this year's: "Merry Christmas Smiley and lots more. Thank you for another year of your , - cheerful wit. I can't im- agine anyone enjoying your column more thajn 1. do. Don't you dare to retire. The world -needs you and you do a lot of good. Some day when I get over being silly and the swelling goes down in my head, I'll let the air out of my ego and write you a bragging letter that will make B.S. smell like roses. In the meantime, stay just like you are and I'll keep buying any paper that carries your column." Earthy but uplifting. It almost ended my 'flu. One friends: Don McCuaig, lip of these days I'm going to h►. e a private eye and track the ould dive! down. My Christmas tree, erected in fifteen minutes by a friend who arrived suddenly and cheerfully, while celebrating an an- niversary, didn't fall down. My grandchildren still love me...I haven't been fired, despite due cause. My wife hasn't left me, despite due cause. All in all, despite the 'flu, not too bad. I even got a refund from. National Revenue. It took only from April to late December to find their error. I'm almost healthy again. The only thing I'm dreading at the moment, is the arrival of my Chargex account for December. asking me to come and help hitn dig a hole in the ice for fishing, up in the Ottawa Valley; the Cadogans of Slew Brunswick, telling me to get that book published. Exactly the kinds of ac- tivities I felt like. But don't worry, chaps. We'll get some of those trout yet, Mceuaig, even if we have to use dynamite. And we'll get that book written yet, Cadogans. Even if we have to use a computer, a ghost writer and a team of doctors. Missed my usual card from Major McEwen, who teaches playing the bagpipes in California, if you can imagine anything more incongruous. He Aware of alternatives One of the good things that has happened from the energy crisis is peo- ple's awareness of other' alternatives to the wasteful habits that we have had for the last hun- dred years or so. ,i People have gon ahead with thorough insulation of their houses, are driving less, and are turning their thermostats down con- siderably and putting on a sweater during the early evening hours. One of the biggest changes that I have seen over the last five years or so is the re -introduction of wood -burning stoves. When I was a youngster the only person who had one of the big black stoves was my grandmother. Hers sat in the middle of .the kitchen and doubled as a cook -stove. One , of our them up behind the stove. In a few minutes they would be steaming away Perspectives Py Syd Fletcher tasks when we went there was to haul in the wood or coal. On cold winter nights that old stove would get so red hot that you could almost see through it. But believe me, nothing felt so good when you came in from the cold wind out- side. You could take off your wet clothes and hang and a few minutes after that they would be dry. Somehow the little register one has now in the corner has lost something of that Hd`vour. Young people now think that it is 'in to put in an air -tight stove and scour the country aide for wood tqq.. burn. Along with the Woodktove, of course, one has to have the four-by- four our-byfour truck to haul the wood home, the chainsaw, and a strong back to liftall that weight around. I must say though that the whole change in philosophy is refreshing. If you remember back in the '60's you'll recall that many of the young people then were only concerned with burning their draft - .cards (south of the border) or living in dirty communes. It seems to me that the change is for the better. Those people who are try- ing to do something about their world, to make it a better place to live in by saving some of its resources, deserve to be commended.