Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-12-28, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, December 28. 1988 rimes Established 1871 Adsocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 A bu Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published las F.W. Eed, Publications Limited Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM ISO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235.1331 T he year 1989 could be the bust - est and most important one ever encountered .by members of council of the town ofExeter. A number of important projects wilt call- for long hours of deliberation early in the new. year and there is no doubt councillors will more than earn their sal- aries which -are slightly in excess of $3,300. - - Highest on the list of priorities has to be purchasing property for a new fire hall. Council is now -looking at a.number of suitable sites and we would hope_ a -deci- sion is made quickly. As part of the sale agreement which takes. effect on. May 1, council may rent back the fire hall property at $2,000. per month after that date. Tardiness in esta- blishing a new site could be costly. There is very little doubt that council • did the right thing in selling the present fire hall. -Although .the building may ap- pear to be in fairly good condition from the outside, costly repairs would have been necessary this year. . In addition, it's time to get the fire hall away from the intersection of Main and -Victoria streets which is becoming one of, if not the busiest corners in town. It hasn't happened very often, but just imagine fire trucks trying to go to the north end of town from the present loca- tion while the crossing guard is taking .public school students safely across the corner.. • While fire hall location is important, another very difficult task faces council and that is in selecting a new town ad- ROSS HAL (.H - Ed¢ur H- RR1 DESRIES (omposrtion Manager eNA «N. BM 'WW1 Publisher Adhertising Manager DO% SWIM Rumness Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 ar ahead ministrator or manager. As of late last week, 44 applications for the position had been received and it will take a lot of deliberation to come up with the person right for the job as it is almost certain many will 15we excellent qualifi- cations. The decision made late thisyear to create a new position was a good one. With all due respect to the present office staff which has been doing an excellent job, the town is growing to such an ex- tent that.one person is needed to be in a managerial position to deal with not only governments, but developers and other aspects of economic development and growth. . The person selected must be well versed in all municipal aspects, have managerial and communication skills and the wisdom of Job. With the addition of a•town administra-' tor, up comes the probable need for more office space and that matter will have to be dealt with by the new council. As the present municipal building . is leased, an additon is impossible, so other arangements should be made as soon as • possible. The third project is recycling and it ap- pears as if that will be off the ground very shortly. The Blue Boxes needed to separate a number of garbage materials have already been ordered. All in all it should be a very challeng- ing and busy year for council. They will need that same wisdom of Job which was mentioned earlier along with fortitude patience and many other qualities. By Ross Haugh It's calendar time again Calcndcrs arc a well- established tradition. The word comes to us via Latin: -the Ro- mans -called the first day of each month caldndae. Because many payments were due on the first of the month, Roman money Iendcrs,.landlords and tax collcc- tors kept a book called canendari- um in which they recorded who owed thcm how much and whcn it was due. One of my calcndcrs is a calen- darium in reverse. it show me whcn i have to take money to the bank to cover my, post-dated cheques. Well, not all of us arc bon with the golden touch. I sure get a lot of calendars these days, Insurance and real estate agents, hardware. tire and drugstore chains 'all seem to think that my wall space is un- limited. Most of these calendars ,are fairly useless: The squares for cach day arc too small. for ap- pointments, and thc pictures arc too tacky to serve as decorations for my filing cabinets. Thcrc arc exceptions. The Brownie calendar i purchased from Stephanie is.used to record longtdistance phone calls. We may 'not be able to cut down on them. but wc:sure keep track of thcm. There is a desk calendar i get from the bank every year. i use it to remind me of certain birthdays and anniversaries. A.huge appointment calendar covers the entire front of the fridge. it is a constant source of. puzzlement to me how theater performances, concerts, com- mittee meetings, and social obli- gations tend to cluster on certain days, while other days remain unpopularly white.- Its' the white days I often appreciate thc most. - My daily joumal is a calendar I couldn't do without. Quite apart from the fact that I must record such vital informatipn as the weather, barometric pres- PETER'S POINT • by Peter Besse! sure and temperature, i also fcc guilty if i do not religiously en- ter what I do each day - just in case it might matter to someone in the future. After all, in 500 years from now, it might bc of interest to researchers that i had lunch at Pi's, had the car re- paired at Reid's, visited the Jon- eses on Tuesday, went shop- ping on Wednesday, and cross. country skiing on Saturday. But this calendar also .pro- vides me with essential informa- tion about the world around mc. 1 can look up that one rod equals 5,029 meters, that the arca of Brazil is 3,286,488 square miles (no kilometers giv- en), that independence Day (US) will be on a Tuesday in 'our next wedding anniversary arc silk, linen, pearls and co- loured gems. (1 think i'll start saving now for a silk scarf). 1 really wouldn't know what to do witholt�this calendar. Seeing that the calendar season . is here again, i cannot help won- dering what would happen if we were suddenly deprived of these constant reminders of time pass- ing us. by. Or what would have happened to history if the Ro- mans hadn't invented them. I'm sure North.America would not yct be discovered. Even Robinson Crusoc had to keep track of time by setting up a pole on the beach-. Every day he cut a notch in the pole. For Sun- days and the first day of the.. month he cut longer notches, so that he always knew the date. Or did Daniel Dcfore pull our leg about this? - Can you imagine a world with- out at least one calendar in the house? Why, we'd constantly have to push thc date button on our digital wrist watches. Or watch the ,opening graphics of The National. i don't think there would bc law and order without calendars. We nccd them, • and thc more the merrier. To paraphrase Edward FitzGc rald: We need calendars to keep track of our unborn tomorrows and our dead yesterdays. i wish you all happy calcndae, and a Happy Ncw Ycar. 1989, and Canada Day (Cana- da) on a Saturday; that the inter- " national arca code for Swaziland is 268, and that the symbols of UDC did you give yourself credit During this holiday. season, we' have often heard the saying " It is more blessed togivethan receive". During the past fcw .months, - many Canadians used their credit cards to purchase gifts, but Consu- mer and Corporate Affairs Canada tells us that if you arc giving with- out knowing it, that's another mat- tcr. - -This . can happen if someone charges purchases to your credit card account without your prcmission, or if you don't fully appreciate .the interest costs charged for thc tise of your card. • - Ministcr Harvie Andre said recent- ly his department would begin pro- viding Canadians with regular infor- mation on thc cost of using their credit cards as most consumers do not know the real cost and end up paying more than they should. - Most.of us are aware of the poten- tial cost of losing a credit card. But what about the costs of using one? Did you realize for example that whcnyou pay only part of your bill, you arc generally charged inter-. est on the full amount. Some department stores will sub- tract the amount of payment before calculating interest if youpay more than half the amount. Also, most credit card companies charge interest from the day you make your pur- chase. Department stores, on the other hand, start thc interest clock ticking at the date of your monthly statement. Thus, the way interest is charged on department storc.cards may off- set their higher interest rate of typi- cally 28.8 percent. This would lie the case if you pay off your Christ - From the ;editor's disk by 01 Ross Haugh mas purchases within a . fcw" months. Typical rates for the more . used .credit cards range from 17.25 to I8:9 percent. Of course, you car. -avoid interest chaagcs entirely i' you pay thc full balance within the "grace period". Some cards have additional charg- es -such as transaction or annual fees.,.You can. save on credit card costs by keeping well informed about thc term and conditions that apply to the cards you use. We have personally found it is very important to examine each sales draft before signing it to en - 'sure that your receipt includes the total amount of your purchases, in- cluding taxes, so that additional amounts cannot be added later. . • We had an incident in a London restaurant a number of years ago where we didn't finalize the total at the bottom of the slip and when the charge came a fcw weeks later, thc amount was considerably more. - Since that time,. we have been very careful to put an amount in for the tip and fill in the total at the bottom of the slip. it's important to keep all sales receipts and check thcm against your monthly state- ment.- Report any discrepancies immdcdiatcly. • One of the most important tips is don't bc taken in by unsolicited call- ers offering unbelievably inexpen- sive trips to fun -in -the -sun destina- tions in exchange for your credit card numFcr. If you do, you may he left out in the cold with unauthor- izcd charges on your credit card. This type of scam is now current- ly on thc go in Western Ontario where .a firm from Tenntsscc. is of- fering something like S2,800 worth ofholiday• cruises for 'less than S300.An article from the London Better Business Bureau concerning this type of offer appeared in last week's issue of this -newspaper.• -• Wc hope most of you who have credit cards used them carefully and wisely during thc holiday season. in closing may each of you have a Happy and Prosperous New You. Predictions for '89 With every nob; year comes a boatload -of predictions from all kinds of media. Every psychic and guru in California .or Ncw Deli has to have his or her Say on what is in store for the next 12 months. in keeping with this tradition of the holiday season, i thought i might dart to make a fcw predic- tions for 1989 of my own. Most arc just being facetious, others arc wishful thinking, but all should be taken with a grain of salt (or low -sodium substitute). Here's a half dozen to get the year started. 1. Morrison Dam might freeze to a beautifully smooth surface this winter and thousands of South Huronites might rediscov- er the possibility of skating under sunshine, without a stick, and enjoy 2. The Unitcd Nations will draft a plan to guarantee world peace, but will have to scrap it whcn they .consider the armies and arms manufacturers it would uncmploy worldwide. 3. Local politicians will rise up in protest whcn the ministry of 1 Hold that thought... fr by Adrian Ilarte transportation .decides to return Highway 4 to.jiasturc. The road will be -called a hazard with too many tailgatcrs, too many humps on a too narrow roadsurfacc, too exposed to severe crosswinds causing drifting and whiteouts, and roadside ditches designed to promptly roll stray cars. • - -4. "1'V London will....never mind. 5. Cadillac will discover no car has-been built with spoked wire wheels for ncarly•'thre e decades, and will do away with their -imita- tion hubcaps (ince and for all. 6. Grand Bend will give up . their campaign to tum the resort into a "family" place. For years • now, village businesspeople have been trying to say the Fiend is at- tracting more families than ever before, yet all anyone cvcr:sces on -hot summer weekends is a wal -to-wall half -naked singles • set ith a large disposahfc in- com . Terns looking for sun nd fun ivill .ncvcr give -up their ' - vonte beach. Families needing a place -to lel' the kids build sandcastles head • for less -commercial climes. like the Pinery. • Happy Ncw Ycar!