Times-Advocate, 1988-07-06, Page 4•
Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 6, 1988
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Advocate fslahIished 11381.
Amalgamated` 192.
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BLUE
RIBBON
AWARD
1985
es
r. .
dvocat
Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter,_ Ontario, NOM 150
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386.
Phone 519.235.1331
PCNA
ROSS-HA1C JIM BECKETT. •
Editor .Publisher E. Advertising ,Manager
-
HARRY OfRifS
- Composition Manager
OON SWfll
Business Manatee
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00
One step closer
A move trade by Goderich council on
June 27 -nay spread its effects to other
towns in Huron county.
On a close recorded -vote of.five to four,
Goderich was officially -declared a tc!trist-
area and retail businesses will be allowed
to open on Sundays for the balance of this
summer.
' ` �hyla�w stipulatest no business
will be forced to openon Sundays and no
employees will. be forced to work.
The issu of not forcing anyone to open,
may s nd like it would work, 'but we
doubt/if that's the case. If for instance, a
-/hardware store or a food market decides
to open on Sunday, we -are- sure it won'•
be long before their competitors in the
same retail field will also be open, al-
though •it may be against their wishes. A•
buck S a buck.
- We realize that while the move by
Goderich puts them into a tourist area.
category and is only valid until Septem-
ber 4 , it could have' its ripple effects on
• neighbouring towns like Clinton, Sea -
forth, Winghant and Exeter.
When the same subject was discussed at
Exeter council a few months ago, there.
was the underlying fear that local mer-
chants -could be' hurt if businesses- in -Lon ---
don especially at Masonville Place were
allowed to open.
It will be interesting to watch how many
Dear Editor:
G
Goderich merchants take advantage of
the opportunityto open legally on Sun-
day. We would guess, it would be quite a
large percentage, especially those vv -ho
have competition from other areas which
are already open along the lake.
Let's not have this summer legislation
be so successful that they would wish to
continue it all year. That would create
problems for all area municipalities.
If and when the provincial government
passes legislation giving local municipali-
ties the. option oh Sunday shopping, those
areas under the tourist exemption will
likely have to change their.bylaws. The
current exemption is covered by the Re-
tail 131 siness Holidays Act.
It's interesting to note that the Goderich
decision was' made apparently against the
wishes of most of the merchants and citi-
zens as a whole.
Of 13 letters - received from the public
by Goderich council, 10 of these. were
opposed to Sunday shopping and of 20.
merchants at a lightly attended meeting
they were evenly split.
When local council asked for input they
received about a dozen replies opposing
Sunday shopping and only -one in favour.
We would hope that when Exeter coun-
cil--is_forced -to face the issue they are not
swayed by the minority which appears, to
be happening in Goderich.
Letters to the Editor
People often ask, when- they
know Zclla and 1 have been fortu-
nate enough to live in some of the.
world's major cij.s, "why did you
return_ to Exctcr, of alt places?" -
It's true, we -have livcd;in-`Mu-
nich, Rome; Budapest,. Cairo,
Ntcxico City, among others, and
they each had their charm and ex-
'citernent, I miss that life, of.
course.
But it's an easy question. The
main reason is .the people! Exctcr
has some of the nicest people in
the world! Its a free and easy hfc
here, and the attitude of the town's
people reflect that fact. It's "Hi,
neighbour!", "Isn't it . a lovely
day?", "Can I help you" and "I'll
keep an eye on things for you". It's
a thoughtful, giving society.
- ft's a town of well -cared for
homes, not just houses, of neat
lawrts, bright flowers, shade trees
and spotless streets. The merchants
take pride in their establishments,
arc friendly and helpful to their cus-
tomers. We arc -well policed, and
our fire fighters arc prompt and effi-
cient. Just observe our high school
disgorging its students and you
need search no further for a real
Miss Canada!
I can't say enough for our fine li-
A dry spell
. Drought.
'it's fairly- safe tq say that we
have in Sout westcm Ontario -are
•in the middlc.of a -dry slicll that is
unequalled in recent memory. -1
look •out, on my front lawn and
can't tclenthcr seeing it so
brown—Only -the yellow flowers
of tlin :rrr•'ping eharl,and the
green of the crabgras provide a
'little contrast. -
i've replanted my petunias
'twice and the second batch aren't
doing that great either: Watering
thehi with -a hose• just doesn't do
the same• job as would a general
downpour for about two hours.
'fisc ground.is so'dry that mois-
• ture`scct is to evaporate even as it
touches tfic earth. it remind's me
.• of the experiment_ which we did
in.lubh school. •
-
You took a bit of earth in• a•
beaker, weighed it. then -vigor-
ously heated thcbca kcr until eve-
ry bit -of water had evaporated
from it, then weighed the beaker
:again. Of cairn- ii was considcr-
.t 1
•
�
i
vy --
ably lighter. 1 woitld hazard a
-guess that the soil inthis .part of
the world is extremely light right
�ttoW. -
'c can expect some significant
By the
5d
Y
Fletcher
results if the drought cdntinucs
to devastate 'the crops here and
over thc.,rest•of North America
duridig the-. next .couple of
Months.
First -off, there are going to be
definite price increases in the
cost of. food• products: Farmers
who havc retained a sigrti.ficant
part of their crop from last yeatr
in the hopes of prices rising are
going to benefit greatly. For ex-
ample., soybeans which sold at
•
1
By Ross Haugh
brary and the lovely ladies who run
it. Canada Post may have its prob-
lems, but our local "posties" are of
the best. '
Just an example of the spirit of
Exctcr was witnessed the other day.
Thcrc was a minor traffic jam on
Wellington , three cars and a big
transport were stopped dead. Why?
To let a white squirrel pick its dain-
ty, leisurely way across the street!
Need I say more
Now, if thdy'd just get a light at
the comer of Main and Wellington!
Yours
Gibby
• (J. M. Gibson)
six dollars a bushel last year arc
almost double that now. Farmers
who weren't able to save any
'crop and are. operating a little
'closer to Nie wire' will be call-
ing for assistance from the gov-
emmcnt. Unlike the thirties,'
when Bennetwas in -power and.
wouldn't give a nickel to help.
at r y b dd y, thc f i-'riil OOVCrnmecnt
is already starting to help beef
formers out west who have lost
stock through the drought. '
Secondly, people (insert poli-
ticians) may have to finally start
listening to the scientists who
have been waming us about the
increase in world temperature
due to our over-corisumption of
fossil fuels (oil and coal). Some
serious altemati'ves, mgst, be
studied if we are going to avoid
.major catastrophes caused' by
our abuse .of the environment.
And thirdly, people who arc
connccied to a good water line
will continue to blithely water
their lawns. ,
1011
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
& North Lambton Since 1873
Published byJ. W. Eedy Publications Limited
"pRouGtiT ON THE PRAIRIES? PERHAPS L SHOULD SEND THEM A FEW
CASES OF PERRIER."
Weather or not
What is the favourite topic on
the street these days?
There is no doubt about that.
It's the weather and whether we
are going to get rain soon.
Hopefully by the time this is-
sue hits the street; our drought.
has been at least partially re-
freshed, but we have some infor-
mation gleaned from meteorolo-
gist Jay Campbell that will
surprise no one. -
Only 9.6 millimetres of rain fell
in this arca during the entire
month of June. The normal rain-
fall based on averages taken
from 1961 to 1980 is listed at
73.6 millimetres.
Jay tells us this is the all-time
low amount of precipitaiton for
June. The previous record was
16.3 millimetres. So far this ycar
conmbincd snowfall and rain has
totalled 296.8 millimetres com-
par.,.: to 432.5 millimetres ac-
cording to the normal figures.
One of the oddities of this
ycai's weather are the extreme
conditions. On Saturday, June
25 we sweltered through the hot -
Jest day ever in June at 38 de -
grecs Ccicius arid four mornings
later, frost was reported in sever-
al low lying areas.
These extreme fluctuations ap-
ply not only hcrc in Western On-
tario, but also in Flint, Michigan
which is about 150 miles west of
here, where a total of 14 records
were set during June. Of
these; l0 were for high tempera-
tures and four were low marks.
Campbell expects these ex-
treme conditions to continue.
For close to 50 years our weath-
er patterns have been sort of be-
nign and predicatable, but that is
changing.
Thclocarmetcorologist told us
In the next few years we could
have one winter wide open and
have snow up to our armpits the
next year."
He also calls- for this hot and
dry weather to continue for thc
next 30 days, and also in future
Froi i the
editor's disk
by
Ross Haugh
years. Campbell continued, " In
July it's normal to have four or
dive days when :the temperature
goes over 30 degrees Celcius. I
think during the next 20 years
that figure could rise to 20 to 25
days for July." - -
What is the reason for this ex-•
trcmcly dry and hot weather?
it's basically because thc Jet
Stream is staying so far to the
north and some speculation has
sun spots as being contributing
factors.
Jay went on to say, "These`.
dry patterns we have been hav-
ing seem to be feeding upon
themselves. We need something
from the Pacific Occan to dis-
lodge our present dry pattems.
As this is being written on
Thursday; we hope it has rained
"cats and dogs" before press
time and some of the information.
we have related is out of date.
*,
Modem technology continues
to amaze us. Fdr a person born
in the late 1920's, the age of
computers and modcrncommu-
nications continues to dazzle ,us.
Now that we have six months
experience pn the Apple Mcln-
tosh, along come facsimile ma-
chines to make outside commu-
nicaitons much easier.
Some of time information we re-
ceived this week from Jay
Campbell was forwarded from
his office at TV London on a
Fax machine.
If anyone wishes to make use
of our -Pax -machine -for -sending
in news or any type of commu-
nications, our facsimile machine
number is 235-0766.
.* * *
' We had .a call as this is being
written from Deb Ilodgins at the
Student Employment: Centre.
Thcrc was a typographical crmr
in a story written by her in the •
June 22 issue on page six which
listed the hourly rate for students
under the age of 1 g. it should be
$3.70 per hour:
Industry or racket?
I used to be the proud owner of
not one but two Ford Tempos. 1
still own them, but 1 now wish 1
didn't.
Lwish I had invested my
hard -carred dollars in somebody
else's technology, in somebody
else's service.
We live in a small rura:
community. I like dealing with
kcal merchants because as a rule
..rtiiey..trettt, me decently. 1 also like
. to keep some of my dough within
about a 30 km radius. Too'mtich
of it ends up either in Ottawa or
Toronto. •
So when I bought my two
Tempos from the local Ford
dealer, I thought I was doing the
right thing. And there were no
problems as long as the same guy .
owned flit dealership. -But he -
dccidcd -to sell. -Enter a new:
owner, a new service man, and a.c
new policy.
in, the past, when there was a
probiem, I called.up .the people 1
kncw, and they looked after mc.
Now, thc}Y`fix things that don't
need fixing. Now _when I phone,
they don't call back. -They give
me a -hard time. They stall. They
dodge (no pun intended). They•
..delay. They fidget...They make
excuses. They say they. will look
into it and don't. They say they
Will call me back, and they don't.
So I finally asked them to give
me the number of. the Ford district •
scrvicc rep. It took 'three phone '
calls to get a number in Oakville..
". What,'s my problem? The way i -
Took at it, it's, not mine, it's
Ford's problem. They sold me a
car for about S12,000. i drove it
for 50,000 kfn, and the hydraulic
fluid starts leaking. They tell me I
need a new "rack and pinion", and
that this would set me hack a cool
S500. That's more than 4% of the
car's purchase price. 1'.ve driven
Y
PETER'S
POINT
••
1•
-;ars
o-
f r 36 years, and I've never
- had 1 is kind of trouble. Ford told
in their glitzy sales brochure
that they're proud of their rack and
pinion steering :system Which is
supposed to give me "an excellent
ice; of the read and precise
steering response': They didn't
say that, it would last for only
50,000 km. '
I wanted to discuss this with
my dcalcr, but i ncvcr got to first
base. When I. phoned the "dealer
relations office" in Oakville, 1
was told that the Ford Motor
Company in their wisdom has
decided to "discontinue" their
service reps.' Any. complaints
would have to be discussed with
my dcalcr. They weren't interested
in me and my -problems at all.
Their uncaring response -made me
angry. I said i would contact the
Better Business Bureau- and the
Department of Consumer Affairs.
They said: "Go right ahead". They
couldn't care less.
I have scvcral choices. I can
spend S500 and get the darn thing
fixed. i can spend scvcral hours
formulating this and other
complaints, sending the list to the
BBB, Consumer Affairs, the
President of the Nord' Motor
Company, Ralph Nader and my
lawyer. I'd probably end up in
small claims'court. Whether 1 win
or not, it would cost me time and*
money.
It's an agonizing affair.�1Thc
trouble is that the whole thing_
could have -been settled long; ago
if the local dcalcr or the man in;
.Oakville had shown.thc slightest
concern for nit. They ncvcr even •
• suggested the possibility of a
compromise, a deal, anything to
make me happy. As the owner of
two Fort Tempos (an '86 and an
'87), I'm just .11arktoldrng--the
b;,g, !t.nri I'm wondering if anyone
out there has had the same kind of
experience.
. There arc three other dealerships
in our town, two selling Canadian
cars, one selling• Japanese
imports. i'll ,do some .serious
shopping -around one of Thesedays. Guess which 'dealership I'm
going to avoid .like the plague?
Why should i buy my next •twoy
cars from somebody who doesn't
care about his customers? why
should 1 buy from a -company that
doesn't' seem to &&(vb' a hoot?
Based on my. troubles, somebody
• will have to -convince me that it
pays to buy another Ford product.
•