Loading...
Times-Advocate, 1982-03-10, Page 4Times -Advocate, Maish 10. 1N* imminmouninal 4 Ames dvocate Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 • Amalgamated 1924 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publkations Limited 4.4 c LORNE EEDY Publisher • JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager - BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager 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 $20.00 Per year: U.S.A. $55.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and `ABS' F:. Tough thing to prove About the only person working hard in Ottawa these days is the enterprising chap selling ear -muffs to the inarticioantsin an unprecedented stalemate that has effectively halted the parliamentary process. The bells have been ringing, but the Conservatives have refused to answer them, in ,a protest over the government's energy bill. Someone suggested that a union leader, whose organisation had been forced back to work by the government, was seeking an injunction to force the MPs back into the House of Commons. However, he was having one big problem: the court was demanding that he prove the workers involv- ed in the Commons stalemate actually perform an essential service. That would, indeed, be difficult to prove. Require some answers When the Ontario treasurer announces that municipalities will receive a 10.9 percent increase in grants, it would be assumed by most that all municipalities in the province would be treated equally. However, somewhere in the fine print; the an- nouncement was that the 10.9 percent wps on average and in fact some municipalities will end up with in- creases above the 10.9 percent and others will fall below that figure: • Exeter, for instance, will get an increase of 4.91 percent according to finance chairman Bill Mickle, or less than half the increase being granted on average and presumably as little as only a quarter of the in- crease that some may be getting. Are there, as Mickle suggests, some favored municipalities in this province? Could it be that Ex- • eter citizens are being penalized for voting the wrong way in recent provincial elections? Whatever the reason, the treasurer should be ask- ed for an explanation, either through,direct contact by council, or through the office of MPP Jack Riddell. This municipality deserves an answer to why it is be- ing treated inequitably. Mr. Mickle raises another pertinent matter in noting that some provincial grants are based on municipal expenditures of the previous year and this in turn rewards inefficiency or Qiose mupicipalities. which do not practice,tiie restrain being by the provincial government. It is ludicrous that the provincial government should encourage restraint on one hand and then ac- tually reward those which fail to comply with that necessity. Makes good sense. The federal Unemployment Insurance Commis- sion has broken with precedent to permit a sensible working plan for the Town of Durham. In that com- munity a work -sharing plan has been finalized whereby the employees of one industry are sharing layoff time rather than leaving some families with no employment: at all. The available working hours are split so that each employee works a given number of days each week. Unemployment insurance is paid for the days of layoff in the week. It was, of course, high time the UIC unbent on some of its iron -clad regulations. For many years would -be -employers who had a few days or a few weeks of work available, found that recipients of unemployment insurance benefits could not accept such part-time work because it would end their in- surance benefits and there would be a long waiting period before the benefits were restored. With unemployment increasing as rapidly as it is, many more such sensible plans will be needed. Wingham Advance -Times What's Exeter council probably won't get much opposition from employees in their recent edict that staff members will be reim- bursed for course and seminar expenses only if they successfully complete any tests accompanying those courses. It only stands to reason that employees should be expected to show enough-in- tereat and initiative in the courses to at- tain a passing grade. Councillor Gaylan Josephson, who proposed the idea, notes correctly that attendance at such courses is of no benefit to the town if the employee doesn't learn enoughto pass a test. It should be noted that Josephson was not making rules with' which he is un- familiar. The veterinarian is presently taking courses at the University of Guelph and explained to council that he has to pay the costs involved and will only be reim- bursed by his employer ( the federal goverment ) if he passes the required examinations. He correctly contends that attendance at courses should not merely be con- •sidered a paid holiday by town employees. But let's carry the argument one step farther. Why not adopt a policy making it mandatory for members of councils to write tests following their•attendance at conventions to ensure the taxpayer is get- ting some benefit from those sojourns? Just what did area taxpayers receive in the form of benefit through the attendance at the recent Good Roads convention by several council and staff members? One report indicated it was interesting but if it priimarily involved a discussion on wolf• bounties there the taxpayers in Exeter didn't get much return on their invest- ment. The wolf problem in this town just hasn't hit epidemic proportions yet, and good for the goose... it is questionable if it requires three peo- ple to bring back news about wolf bounties. I'm almost afraid to ask what wolves have to do with good roads, although the activities of some delegates may provide BATT'N AROUND .......with the editor 3C an answer that is probably best left untouched. • * .* If memory serves the writer correctly, there was a practice initiated some time ago whereby convention -goers were ex- pected to file a brief written report of the highlights of the event they attended. Regardless. it's not a bad idea anyway, in that it prompts people to jot down some of the worthwhile ideas they hear from the various speakers on the agenda. It becomes a valuable tool in assessing the value of such events to ensure that they are not merely paid vacations for elected officials, a suggestion which often arises from the Good Roads convention in particular. As noted at the outset, town employees probably won't have much opposition to council's edict on successfully completing courses before being reimbursed for ex- penses, but they may have a legitimate argument in suggesting the same rules should apply for their bosses as well. It should be made abundantly clear that the writer is not opposing attendance at conventions by elected officials. There is little doubt that most events of that nature are quite beneficial, not only from the prepared agenda, but from rubbing shoulders with officials from other municipalities and exchanging ideas and problem solutions with them. In fact; the latter may be the greatest benefit of all, but some of the information gleaned should be passed along to other officials who don't have the opportunity to attend. Information released last week in- dicates that members of Exeter council are probably far below average in the number of conventions and seminars they attended and last year the total bill to the taxpayers in that regard was Less than $2,0h0. Some individuals on neighboring councils spend that much alone in a yea It should be noted that municipal business is big business and often the in- vestment in attending a convention or seminar can be returned many times over by gleaning some pertinent tips from knowledgeable speakers and other municipal officials, especially with the complexities of grant systems and the new ideas that are unfolding almost dai- ly on topics pertaining to the operation of municipal services. But the point remains that the informa- tion should be passed along to all elected officials and town staff to ensure that the ideas garnered reach the right people as well as being a method of determining if anyparticular convention is worthwhile for uture attendance. "Hello - Dial -a -prayer?" Hit by February blahs Like everybodyelse, I've got the February Blah's'� I'm sjekjo looking out d not even being able to see my neighbours' house for snow. I'm sick to death of struggling into and out of swaddling clothes and snowboots with a zipper that doesn't work. I'm tired to the bones of mannerless, mouthy kids who don't want to learn anything, and whose basic vocaburary, and it.sure is basic, revolves around sex, sorts and booze. (That s only some of them, but they do tire the old bones.) I'm weary of having a right foot that puffs out like an adder with ar- thritis and makes me, a naturally cheery soul, a grump. m bored into a black mood by the media. Everything is terrible, ac- cording to them. The high- priced journalists and television commentators seem to take a ghoulish glee in reporting the latest • plane crash, the rise in unemployment and infla- tion, the sag of the dollar. About the only way a ' Canadian can be happy these days is to hole up with a case of whiskey, lock the door, cancel the papers, and fire a shot - shell into the the TV. It wouldn't last long, but one might come out of it feel- ing a bit of catharsis: translation - the purging of the sprit through strong emotions of pity, horror or laughter. A final blow was Miser MacEachin deciding he was ,going to tax my retitement gratuity, at source. This has been a flat sum paid topeople retiring, who had struggl- ed to work every day no • matter ho' 'theywere feel- 'ing, a thank you for being a professional. He'll ge half. I'd included it in my retirement plans. With the lavish pension he and other M.P.'s • get, he doesn't need one. Well, the hell with it. I that you had 'seen it all' and •I was an ignorant clumsy, run -of- he -mill teenager with a healthy appetite for literature of the wrong kind. Well, you still seem wordly-wise and although still greatly ig- norant and a little less clumsy, I at least have ac- quireda healthier appetite Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley decided to give myself a belated Valentine, and not let the suckers grind me down. So. I reached into a pile of unanswered mail found a pink letter, and here it is. I am more adept at denigrating myself than reaching over my shoulder to pat my back, but the situation calls for drastic measures. "Even now, calling across the years Ifeel a compulsion to phrase cor- rectly and (Heavens!) watch for spelling mistakes. Is that the result of a• good liberal arts education, or simple an old feeling - no!, a spectre of teacher -in -relation -to - student memory? (Shaky puctuation there.) "For although you pro- bably never realized it that s how I envisioned you. A 'crusty but benign' mentor. A little frighten- ing, perhaps at times awe- inspiring but at once kind- ly (not meant to make you sound like a octogenarian) and wise. "It seemed to me then 1 for the kind of stuff I should have been reading ' all along. "Too often people come and go, passing, but not touching or com- municating the things that ought to be said. Let me put it this way. I felt drawn toou somehow - 'kindred spirits' as it were. And .was always miserable because . there was only one of you and so many of us, and you could never know what was bouncing around in my head. "Then, I wantednothing else but to read and write if I could. I wanted you to know me, but was always embarassed and foolish and consequently shuffled off feeling tremendously frustrated. I thought you wouldn't, couldn't make allowances for the adoles- cent vacuum between my ears. "I' should've spoken up! Gathered together the guts that threatened to spill out on the floor when I opend my mouth. "Please, I want to read and to know; but I don't know where to start. I want to write, but don't have the faintest idea of how to begin.' "Perhaps if I'd started seriously back then I wouldn't have wasted as much time as I did at university floundering through, still feeling iD prepared and inadequate. However; you began as. and continued to be my in- spiration as I learned the hard way to force tenses to agree and whip redundant sentences into suitable, if not astounding essay form. "I thank you now, Mr. • Smiley (I could never call you Bill, even though I've reached the mature age of 23) -for simply being you. For breaking the mould that characterizes most of my remembered high school educa tors.For loan- . ing me Chaucer when I was reading pulpy epics. For being a cut above, and most importantly, an inspiration. "I salute you as a good educator and a fine human being, Mr. Smileyy and wish you all of life s best from a still infatuated heart." How does that grabyou, you old codgers? How many of you have had a mash note? The letter is two years old. Why have I wasted all this time? We could have run away together. I've tidied up the punc- tuation Anne, and there is no "u'+ in mould. But I recall you with the greatest pleasure. There aren't manystudents with a fine mind nd a magnifi- cent bosom. • New champeen declared " So..:you're going to give in eh?" the old man taunted. The boy gritted his teeth and took careful aim. Like magic, the black piece disappeared from the cen- tre of the board, replaced by the lads white one. The game had been go- ing on for two and a half hours and they haan t started till near midnight after the milking. The boy had accepted the challenge from the "champeen what always called himself because no one d ever beaten him. y played 'cancella- tion'. First one who got to a hundred won but if the losing player got a good score at the end of one round then that was sub- tracted from the other person's They see -sawed back was shooting. He never seemed to miss while the boy never seemed to get around the pegs when he Perspectives and forth. The boy's eyelids were almost to the pair Ptheyot toothpicks a needed there up. The old man's must have been the same but one would never have known it from the way he By Syd Fletcher i` wanted to. Always the score was in the cham- pion's favour but whenever it got too high he would start to tease the angry aged concenttrat edea Jitfie •harder beating the score back to a safer level. Then it happened. The unbelievable. Somehow he actually got ahead. Dog- gedly he held on, sweat pouring off his head even thodied down and stove vrr� was chilly. An hour later, he was the winner. It real- ly had happened. He look- ed up slowly expecting some show of anger bid the old man only grinned, "Good game, boy. I guess you're the new champeen of Canada, eh?" The.lad shook his head and said nothing knowing exactlyhow much he had had to be forced into play- ing on to that win that somehow he had learned more about life than about crokinole tonight.