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Home My WebLink AboutTimes-Advocate, 1978-11-16, Page 4 (2)PuHe 4 Times -Advocate, November 16, 1978 Tough rules to follow. It's a fact of life that rules are made to be broken, and that is quite often the case with procedural rules. At their latest meeting. Hensall council ''adopted a newkbylaw setting forth several stipulations regarding -the attendance of delegations at their regular meetings and -they'll be hard pressed to prevent them from being broken. d. They've stipulated that residents must notify the clerk 48 hours in ad- vance of. their intention to appear before touncil to air any -issues. That appears to be a sensible time element: but the fact is, because coun- cil holds meetings on Monday and the clerk's office is .closed over -the weekend, residents really have to have /heir intentions presented to the clerk some 74 hours before they appear. - That may not work out very well for problems that arise over the weekend and which residents want to discuss with council members. Hopefully, there'll be considerable 'leniency shown, particularly for items which are of concern to citizens. Council members, are however, quite 'Correct in expecting the courtesy of advance notice of items that may be on the agenda. Conscientious members will use that notification to make themselves aware of the issue so they can be prepared to make a decision.. w There is a question whether a rule regarding the length of time -a person can speak, or even how many can speak, is necessary. Under the parliamentary rules which should be followed by councils, that is a decision which is always in the hands of the chairman. Setting definite rules precludes the opportunity for people to express their views fully on occasions. while more often than not, the alloted time of 10 minutes is well beyond the reasonable ' time they should expect from busy council members. Protection for protectors Last week the*Ontario legislature unanimously approved a resolution asking that the Ontario government in- troduce legislation to provide income benefits to families of policemen, firefighters and correctional guards who are killed on duty. The resolution. authorized by Mickey Hennessy. MPP, Fort William is one piece of legislation which should have been introduced years ago. With the advent of the abolition of capital punishrhent.---murderers in prison for example. , already' serving life terms, have virtually nothing to lose in trying to escape. To them. what meaning -is - there in another life sentence slapped on a life sentence already being served. The job of a police officer. firefighter or a correctional guard is distinct from that of most other employees. The nature of his work ex- poses him daily to activities that poten- tially endanger his life. The report stated that in the case of a correctional service guard or an Ontario Provincial Police officer, if he should be killed on duty before he has completed ten years of service, his family would receive the same benefits offered any civil -servant. It would be traumatic in the case of any civil servant, but it must be stress- ed that while al' civil- servantsnow receive the same benefits. there m be a recognition of the degree of ris to the safety and the life of these employees. We agree with the report which says the person who daily faces dangers in his life and therefore, to the security of his family, should have some guarantee that those he leaves behind will be adequately looked after. Spray can warnings Professor •Bov-ille, a Canadian meteorologist has warned that aerosol sprays may be causing much more damage to the earth's ozonelayer, which filters out harmful ultra -violet rays from the sun: that previously thought. One of seven men studying the effect of man's activities on ozone for the World Meteorological organization, Professor Boville said that studies in- dicate a 15 per cent depletion of the By SYD FLEIHER. Unless you're a hermit living off in the north woods by yourself you meet all kinds of people. most of them 'good hard-working souls. each of them 'different in their own particular ways. Some of them stand out more than Others in your metnory because of their intenseness, their capacity for living every moment to its fullest, 1 remember such a fellow with whom I once worked, a shop teacher. With his handlebar mustache and piercing eyes he had a certain resemblance to Gordon Pinsent, star of CBC's "A Gift to Last", and seemed to share much of the actor's fire and enthusiasm for life plus a friendliness layer by fluorocarbons used in aerosols. This - compared with an es- timate of 10 per cent made two years ago. At that time the World Meteorological Organization warned of a 'possible •20 per cent increase in the amount of ultra -violet rays reaching the earth. Those cans with aerosols will have to go and we'll have to learn to push a bit harder with our thumb to get the spray. Perspectives that made his students ad- mire and respect him. Tao, his pupils couldn't help but catch his infectious desire to create something out of nothing—a whistle that really worked made out of three useless scraps df meta I.a fancy pen holder for dad's de k made from discarded hockey sticks or a lamp stand turned out on a lathe from a thick piece of dowelling. He had this talent, and it really was a talent, for seeing the good in what others deemed- as useless. He bought a used sports car that was belching out great clouds of evil smoke, ap- parently ready for the junk - heap. Before long it was running beautifully, with seemingly only a little effort on his part. To him the good price he got it for was only • half satisifactlon. The. other half was in his sense Of ac- complishment. He wasn't afraid of work; . he gloried in spending a Saturday afternoon chopping wood for a friend and was just as quick to refuse payment, muttering in his mustache that he would ask for a favour .for' himself sometime. And he played as hard as he worked, driving fiercely into the wind on his little sail -boat on a wild lake that others would shun, and cross-country skiing at a pace that left others breathless and far behind. Living his days as if there was to be no tomorrow seems to be a way of life for - this man. I don't mean that in a negative sense. He doesn't spend his time in wasteful, hurtful living but instead seems to value his moments, using them for creative enjoyment, getting pleasure out of some of the ' simpler things such as a job completed, and well done at that. I have to admire such a philosophy of life. ...r xr•r7r Met • Arel olgamoied 1024 Times Estabt,,.hed 1$73 Ad•sxase Edobbshed 1 55' Imes dvocate SERVIND CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS 'A' and ASC Published by J. W. E.dy Publications lirrtited LOON/ HOY, PUBLISHER • Editor — Bill Batton Assistant Editor — Rous Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett - Composition Manager — Harry (l'.Vries , .y; NII-M•a•IP.r ---044-J.rsgkind Published Each Thursday Morning . _; Phone 23S-1331 at Exeter, Ontario , S.c.nd Closs Moil R.Ristreti.n Number 03116 •CNA SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada BI Lob Per Year; USA 522 (JP DNA "Put me down as definitely undecided" BATT'N AROUND .... .. with the editor Give pa ren.ts:.trip input There were a couple of rather in- teresting debates at last week's meeting of the Huron County board of education. one dealing with school field trips and the other pertaining to the hiring policy." There may be a suggestion that some of the trustees were attempting togain a few pre-election headlines. but the arguments presented were worthy of consideration and certainly not blatant attempts to makepoints with electors. Seaforth trustee John Henderson' raised the question of field trips after the board received requests by some Turnberry elementary students to visit Qttawa and for a group of secondary students to visit the Quebec .Winter Carnival. The Ottawa trip cost was listed at $3.468 -.for two days and Henderson suggested that the board May net be doing, parents much of a' favor in ap- proving the trip because the parents had to dip into their pockets to pick up the tab. We particularly like his put-down on the principal who had suggested the 'parents were paying only a small po- tion of the cost because the students had conducted various fund-raising ac- tivities to garner the major portion of the cost. Certainly. the students are to be commended for•showing initiative rais- ing money through the sale of raffle tickets and chocolate bars. but as Henderson noted. the parents still get hooked because they are the main customers. It's a form Gf indirect taxation. one being used more and more in today's society. and best illustrated by our penchant for buying lottery tic'kets to augment the provincial and federal treasuries In the case of the secondary school trip. no fund-raising activities were ap- parently conducted and the, students tread parents/I were expected to pay the $110. bill for those going to the Quebec Winter Carnival. Naturally. it is a voluntary situation, but most parents will readily admit they have little choice in the matter. The pressure in denying a child the op- pQrtunity to join classmates in such an outing is just too great to overcome. That pressure. comes first and foremost from the child and can cause some real problems in the home. Secondly, parents feet a social pressure to send their offspring. know- ing full well the ramifications of hav- ing their child report•back that he/she can't go because mom or dad, say they can't afford it. During, the discussion. board chair- men John Elliott noted that if parents are'tppy about some of the expen- htVe field trips being undertaken, they aren't voicing their displeasure. He said he had never heard a parent•com- plaining about field trip apppr�ovals. That may be. and perhapg"the board has to take that to indicate general sup- port for field trips, but the fact is that parents and even the board are among the last to find out about field trip plans. Generally speaking. notes come home telling parents that trips are planned, and they have little opportuni- ty at that point to raise any serious ob- jection. Perhaps the board should initiate a policy whereby the parent are asked at the outset whether they favor a trip. not after the students have already started to enthusiastically plan such outings. If parents had an opportunity to ex- press their views before the students were made aware of the plan. then 'perhaps They would feel -free to make their feelings known. A letter sent directly to the parent from the school, outlining the trip. the anticipated educational value and the expected personal cost, would give Sugar and Spice Dispe sed by Smiley 'Arrogant, obnoxious union If this column appears in your favorite community newspaper two days or two weeks or two months after Remembrance Day. don't blame me. Blame the post office. As I write. the most arrogant.. obnoxious union in Canada is at it again. In fairness, the posties have their grievances. But they are so intran- sigent that they have lost any vestige they might have retained. of public support. after so many strikes in so few years. And their erstwhile leader, Mon sieur Parrott. was full of crap when he declared there was union solidarity. Even as he said it. hundreds of smalltown post office staffs had either not gone out at. all. or were back to work. obeying the law. However. that has little to do vltith Remembrance Day. .1978. Unless it happens to strike a responsive chord in all those veterans who went to war thinking they were fighting for freedom not anarchy. A couple of years ago. I thought I had foresworn writing columns about Remembrance bay. f thought I'd said everything I could about it: the memories. the lump iq the throat ab - The Last Post was played in the chill November air; the swapping or enor- mous lies at the Legion Hall after the parade, -_-..But^this_year, I -was a bit miffed when a zealousZone ConimiilideT down in the Brockville area accused me in the press of "knocking"`the Canadian Legion. just because 1 did notgenuflect every time the name came up. I retorted. also in the press, that it was rather olid that a chap who was invited on an average of twice a year to ad- dress Legion branches. should be so ac- cused. • • Well. it all caught up with me. This year. in a weak moment and harassed by two old buddies who were well into the grape, I agreed to guest speak at the first Lggion branch I ever joined, on Remembrance Day. My wife wasn't that hilarious about the idea. She recalled a few instances when I had been up to no particular good with that particular .branch. Like the night I got home at 4 a.m. after a turkey raffle, tottered up the stairs. called, "Look 'what I brought you, sweetie." and' flang a thirty -pound turkey, neck, legs and all onto the bed beside her. Which promptly collapsed, leaving her on the flog in the em- brance of a Yery cold, very dead ,turkey. As I recall, we dined not on hot turkey, but hot tongue and cold shoulder, next day. - Or the time 1 brought home four In- dian guys, good legionnaires all, in- sisted that they'd made me an honorary chief, and tried to explain to her why we had to put them up for the night: Or the time I went off to a one -day zone rally with a neighbour, a Great War vet, a charter member of the Legion, and a respectable citizen. And we arrived. home two days later _lo - ing like skeletons and acting like a cou- ple of veterans from the Boer War. But that's not, of course, the kind of thing I can use in my speech, No. I'll have to talk about comradeship, the flag. the Queen, the fallen, throwing • parents that opportunity without their offspring even being aware of con- sideration for such a trip or how their parents voted. Obviously, that is not necessary in the majority of trips where the cost is minimal. but it may be a courtesy that should be considered when parents are expected to make an outlay of $110 for a trip to the Quebec Winter Carnival. In those cases. the original discus- sion should be between the school and the parents. not the school and the students. The other discussion- dealt with the hiring policy and pertained to a situa- tion where a non-resident was hired for a secretarial position although many Huron people applied. , It's an age-old problem, but certainly there can be little fault found with the policy which dictates that the best can- didate be hired, regardless of residence" The only debate arises in whether the candidate may well be over -qualified and fills a job for which a county resident may be suitably qualified. . Board chairman John Elliott may have struck a nerve string when he said members should perhaps be looking at their own educational system when they had been unable to turn out a graduate qualified for a position within their own office. Now there's an issue that really. could be worth debating to say nothing about a debate on whether a person assuming a position .for -a municipal body be required to take up residence within that municipality. That's a re- quirement in- many communities, although it often results in good i n- didates being eliminated because for a variety of reasons they can not adhere to the residence rule. the torch. the many scholarships the Legion provides. the lovely dinner prepared by the Ladies Auxiliary, and all that jazz. Lest we forget. What I'd really like to do is discuss topics closer to the hearts of the ,average legionnaire: what you could get for a pack oLsmokes in Antwerp in 1944; how come a colleague of mine. who fought with Rommel in North Africa, gets a bigger war pension from the German government than I do from' the Canadian; how many girls there* were to the square yard in Picadilly. Circus on a summer evening; how anybody who believed in democracy and equality could volunteer to serve in such a fascist outfit as the military. But no. That would never do. Not with the Ladies Auxiliary hanging around, drinking in every word. And making sure their spouses drank in nothing except Words. I'll probably have to drop in a few heroic and imaginary personal ex- periences. stress the importance of the boys in arms of Those At Home, toss off an anecdote or two about Churchill. speak in hushed and reverent tones of those who got the chop, and belabor the government for not giving veterans a pension that would- purtheirr-wtthtn-a stone's throw of civil aerVice pen- sioners. It's going to be tough. f am not a reverent person. I still think it will be a great day for Canada when there are Think small 1 by Jim Smith Giving the Future Away A long, long time ago — so Icing ago that there was no such' creature as income tax and the mail did go through (honest) — the men who ran a younger version of this country recognized that very little industry was being cre- ated here. After considering matters, they discovered that most items were being manu- f'actured abroad and import- ed into Canada.'So they'set up tariffs to hurt imports. The foreign- manufactur- ers then- found that they could no longer export their goods into Canada as cheaply as they could be produced in Canada. So these foreign manufacturers bought out Canadian industries and set up operations within Cana- dian borders. . These spin-offs from the foreign companies existed for only one reason: to ser- vice the Canadian market. Almost without exception, they worked from product designs submitted by the for- eign head office and sold all of their input within Canada. Had it not been for the tariff walls, these firms would not have been producing in Canada. - Gradually these firms — which were only reluctant Canadian citizens — began to spread a peculiar ideology. Specifically, they claimed that foreign-owned branch plants — themselves — were good for Canada because they were part of the world's most innovative_corporations Because1_,of these branch plants - the branch plants claimed Canadians could buy the world's most tech- nically advanced products. The Canadian public bought the story. Eventual-' ly, as it happened, we began to believe -that Canadian - owned companies are less in- novative than foreign-owned firsts. But, at last, a reputable organization has investigated the real story about research and development as affected by ownership and demon - %rated that Canadian -owned firms are more active in R&D than .are their branch plant ; com pet it ors. The study — conducted by the federal Ministry` of State • for Science and Technology — compared the R&D acti- vity, industry by industry, with the market share of the industry claimed by both do- mestically- and foreign-own- ed firms. In all cases, it found that domestically -owned firms devoted more to R&D. For example, although Cana- dian firms (those with more than 5O'7 of their shares in Canadian hands) hold only 54.7% of the paper and allied products manufacturing in- dustry, they spend 67.2% of the R&D dollars in that in- dustry. World-wide, multi -national firms may be highly innova- tive. However, their research is conducted in the head of - lice rather than the branches and the benefits remain with the head office country ra- ther than flowing naturally to the branch plant nations. The Ministry study conclu- sively demonstrates that, in Canada, Canadian ownership is the vital.element in R&D activity. In other words, when we give away our ownership, we give away our industrial future. • Think small ' is an editorial message from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business 1 dcomn memorykali .1 55 Years Ago' Sometime during Thurs- ay night of last week. e Brothers' place near Zio in Usborne Township was visited and • a set of harness was removed and a gravel box was taken off a wagon. They were taken back the land near the bush where the harness and collar were cut into pieces about a foot long and the gravel box was cut in two in the middle. The neck -yoke was also taken. The men. of James Street congregation, numbering over 100 gathered in' the parlors of the church Mon- day for a social evening. Splendid. addresses were given by Messrs. V.J. Snell. A.J. Penhale,and W. Shap - ton. The "Live Wires" a class of young men in the Main Street Sunday School met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Aldworth, Sexsmith and enjoyed a very sociable time. An address was read by Maurice Ford while Ed Aldworth ori behalf pf the class presented Miss F'ollick with an ivory clock' and a bottle of perfume. . 30 'fears Ago =- Huron County Council en- - dorsed the recommendation of the health and hospital Committee. and adopted a proposal for the formation of a public health unit in Huron Country. Mr. and Mrs. William Sinclair, Kippen marked their golden wedding an- niversary on Tuesday Novelnber 23. " Residents of Hay township held a bee and ploughed 40 acres of land for Mr. Frank Wildfong who has been i11 for several weeks. The apartment house on William St. owned by Mr. S.B. Bow has been sold to Mr. Gordon Triebner. -20 Y,ars Ago The Hensall Public Utilities Commission has of- ficially opened its new 110,- 000 building on Main St. beside Twitchell's Garage. Mrs. William •Schlegel, Grand Bend was crowned sweetheart of Beta Sigma Phi during the sorority's "La Parisienne" dance at the Legion Hall• Thursday. - Crediton's Bill Motz, pop- ular ball star iD his younger days .and an employee at RCAF Station Centralia for the past 15 years, was honored Thursday -night at his retirement party at the station. Stratford and provincial police recovered- over $8,500 worth of jewellery and nabb- ed two suspects less than six hours after the Jack Smith Jewellery Store was robbed in Exeter early Wednesday morning. 15 Years Ago The only woman court= chlor elected in South Huron so far is Mrs.. Minnie Noakes. Hensall who pias acclaimed Friday after John Lavender resigned his seat. Mrs. Noakes previously served on the village coun- cil. Reeves elected in the area were Stewart Webb by acclamation in Grand Bend:- Glenn endGlenn Webb by acclamation in Stephen; Norman Jones in Hensall; Thomas Hall in McGillivray; and Elgin Thompson in Tuckersyith, Robert F. Love, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Loye, Hensall has .received his third fellowship from the Ford Foundation toward his doc-, torate studies at Stanford University. California in the field of mathematical inven- torytheory. A. crowd of about 100 join- ed in a requiem sact'ament for the late President John F. Kennedy in Trlvitt Memorial Anglican Church Monday. only five legionnaires left in this country,' all of -thein in their nineties, and they get together and sell the 28 million dollars of assets of the Canadian Legion, and squander the whole works on a three-week trip to Gay Paree. It will mean we haven't been in a war for fifty odd years. And it will probably mean that. after three- weeks, there are no more Canadian Legionnaires on the face of the earth. But I'll do my best. I can always giveIhe Germans a ver- bal thtynping, and bewail the fact that after being thoroughly licked, they could buy the whole of Canada tomorrow, if they wished. That should go over. •v