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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-04-14, Page 4, . .•!' 41446,4 . Tinift-Adv•claRg AgNO 14, 1162 imes • . , dvoeat Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Publibed by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited LOR'.I EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARR', DE‘RIES Composition Man ger ROSS HALCH Assistant Editor DICK fONGKIND Busints Manager - Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mal Registration Number 1/3116. ?hone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada B20.00 Per year: U.S.A. $55.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and `ABS' Stit Need educating. The school crest at Exeter Public School carries the inscription: Education Precedes Success. Among the facets of ethication that should be con- sidered at the local school is an equally important mot- to: shop at home. The inscription on the school crest was included in a letter recently sent out to all parents and guar- dians indicating that the student council had arrang- ed the ough Sunburst Fashions to offer t -shirts and sportswear for sale to the E.P.S. pupils and it was noted the selection of the London firm was made "because of the quality and service that they have sup- plied in the past." Unfortunately, local stores were apparently not given an opportunity to compete for the business, although there is no valid reason to believe they would not be able to provide quality and service comparable to the London firm. In fact, their service would pro- bably be better in view of their easier access and they probably have manufacturers who can match the quality of Sunburst Fashions. There's never any question of the quality of local firms or their employees when school students come knocking on doors for sponsorship of their various fund- raising projects, nor is the quality disputed when the firms and their employees are asked to help pay the education costs of those students. It's not fair to be overly critical of the young students in their decision, but certainly their adult ad- visors can not escape with any plea of ignorance when it comes to questioning why local firms are not given an opportunity at the business. Those businesses don't ask for special considera- tions, although there are public groups which accept local bids as long as they are no more than 10% higher than outside firms. All, they ask is an opportunity. It's an opportunity that any public group should give local businesses for no other reason than the suc- cess of both is dependent upon each other. The difficul- ty in educating some people (especially educators) to that fact is nearly beyond comprehension. Time for tea, talk When nations in today's nuclear age decide to wage war, people envision someone sitting in a small room pushing a button that speeds warheads on their Vsy to targets through computerized technology. If it wasn't so serious, the manner which thleat Br twin is using to regain control of the Falkland Islands is almost laughable in terms of modern warfare. ' The Brits have decided to send the Royal Navy into battle and the fleet is currently steaming its way towards the tiny island. The trip is taking three weeks, being more reminiscent of the slow march of the foot - soldiers of some ancient battle than today's space age. A nervous world is watching the trip with con- - siderable uneasiness, hoping that the flow of words will • settle the issue before the flow of ships. Only in Great Britain can'there be a three-week notice of war to allow time for negotiation and a con- sideration of the consequences? Pity! Seat belts a must The federal government can hardly move fast enough to bring in approved standards for seatbelts for children riding in automobiles. It is still a curious fact within our society that people allow their children to ride in cars without buckling up. Often children are allowed by their parents to lie on the shelf under the rear windshield of cars travelling on our highways at speeds in excess of 100 kilometres pet hour. • In 1980 alone, 18 children under the age of five died in car accidents in Ontario. Another 1,697 were injured. Sometimes the most necessary and obvious_rules seem to take forever to be written into law. Seatbelt legislation for children is one such item. Recently, however, a ?bill which would make it mandatory to buckle up small children was introduced in the Ontario Legislature. Failing to do so would bring fines to drivers of $20 to $100. It's high time for such legislation. The bureaucratic jungle visited those who are just merely trying to avoid disaster. It's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry about some of the stories arising from _the current economic situation. Last week, this column noted that among those joining the\ unemployment ranks were people who had been working for firms whose job it was to find work for the unemployed. There were no jobs for them to find for others, so they ended up losing their own. However, the real topper to that comes in news from Los Angeles that the publisher of a magazine that instructs readers how to become "success stories" has piled up a $3 million debt and filed for bankruptcy. In whpt is probably one of the understatements of the year, Chase • Revel, the head of Entrepreneur • magazine who has always touted success, said the 'bankruptcy proceedings could taint his image. Destroy may be closer to the truth. His credibility will be about the same as a bald-headed man selling hair restorer. In an interview last spring, Revel said a key to a successful business is manage- ment, expertise, and added that a businessman must be familiar with all aspects of the enterprise. Similar to Many experts, Revel failed to heed his own advice. He indicated dur- ing bankruptcy proceedings that he was not aware of his magazine's problems and it was found that his accounting depart- ment was in almost complete disarray: accounts payable not entered for three months, bank accounts not reconciled for seven mantis, 66% (A the receivables over 60 days old, 34% over 90 days old, no ex- perienced collection person, and a third of the staff poorly organized. Revel may have helped some readers become "success stories" and no doubt the final chapter may prove beneficial to • One of the few tangible benefits of a visit by three provincial ministry officials to Exeter council last week was the news that reforms are planned in the matter of municipal grants so they will be handled • BATT'N AROUND with the editor in a more simple, certain and equitable manner in the future. The writer was pleased to learn that he wasn't the only one who was still confus- ed about assessments, equalization fac- tors and grant systems following the lengthy explanation provided by the officials. At the present time, there is nothing very certain about the grant system. In fact, school boards and municipalities have to delay setting their final budgets until such time as they get word from the various government sources as to the total grant they will be receiving in any particular year. , Some of those grants are based on the previous year's expenditures and so the government has to wait for completed auditor statements from municipalities and school boards before they can deter- mine what the current payment will be. There are also doubts that the present system is equitable and in fact that -was the reason the government officials were in attendance at the council session. Members find it difficult to comprehend why the grants to Exeter are decreasing while at the same time the levies they are required to pay to school boards,county council and the conservation authority are increasing. But obviously, the most perplexing aspect of the situation is that it is far from simple. You'd probably be quite safe wagering this week's pay cheque that no cabinet minister- or civil servant totally understands the entire system and that we are at the whim of some computer which spews out our fate in a print-out. • The great bane of our present system of collecting and distributing taxes is the great cost involved in the procedure. A sizeable portion of every dollar collected in taxation is eaten up in the process of the collection and another sizeable portion' is subsequently eaten up in distributing that money to those who get portions of it. While the process does create jobs and therefore contributes to the economy, there is no question that the money drain- ed off would create even more jobs and boost the economy to a greater extent if it was left in the hands of the consumers. It may be a slight over -simplification, but basically the money the Town of Ex, eter gets from the province has been given to the province by the residents, businesses and industries in Exeter. However, it has been estimated that for every 11 the town receives back from the money contributed by its citizens in the first place, another Si has been eaten up in the bureaucratic jungle of Queen's Park. Obviously, any system that creates a situation where it costs $2 to get $1 back is probably heavily in debt and could be bordering on the brink of bankruptcy. But don't tell the politicians. They'd probably only hire a bunch more bureaucrats to solve the problem and then it would cost us $3 to get SI back. ' ' • • • rorNIA.0.11- .6e "Just think of this as a sort of revenue sharing program." All for education... It'll be a happy day for me when my daughter completes her education, • though that is not in the foreseeable future. • I'm all for education. I make my living at it. But she already has two more degrees than her old man, is working on a Master's degree, and is talking about going after a Ph.D. after that. She has a B.A., a B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Art) in music; and a Bachelor of Education. She is now raisihg two kids and hurl- ing herself into a graduate course in Psycho - Pedagogy, whatever that is. Maybe it has something to do with studying all the psychos who are pedagogues, or vice versa. f so, she's going into a field with a ripe future, for there are plenty of us, and more heading that way every day. Especially around this time of year. However, it's not that I object to her piling up degrees. That's ad- mirable, and I'd be happy to introduce her some day as "my daughter, Doctor Smiley." It's just that I seem to. get tangled. up in certain "projects" she takes on, and find myself running around the country like a dart in a high wind. Last time, she was tak- ing a course in Ar- chaeology, and had under- taken to do a paper on folk -lore. Like her mother, she is never satisfied to do things the easy way. In- stead of cribbing some junk out of a book, as other students do, she wanted it to be original. As a result, yours truly wound up driving over 300 miles and digging up oldtimers, who could lie through their teeth and come up with some tall yarns, that were a com- bination of imagination, fact, and heifer -dust. • Had to dig one of the I made up a rapid list in my head. First off, I was rather. shocked at the number of former col- leagues who were living in penurious retirement. I • felt like the last 01» dying breed, still soldiering on in the classroom. My second shock came • Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley. .5„ sources out of a beer parlour and he spent an hour telling me that the old-timer I'd seen just before him was full of it, and then went on to a magnificent display of the pot calling the kettle black. Anyway, we had a pret- ty good day, and it only cost me about $20 (before gas went up) and a pair of leather gloves I left somewhere along the way. She got a good mark for her project . This spring, I've been suckered in again: She's doing a project on retired and soon -to -be -retired teachers, and wondered if I could dig up some relics and ask them to fill in a ten page questionnaire, and tape some interviews with some of them. • In an airy moment, I said, "No problem. Just send them along, and I'll shoot them back to you." There is never such a thing as "no problem" when you are dealing with Kim. when I began phoning these poor old souls eking out a bare subsistence . One was in Florida, another in the Bahamas, a third in California and a . fourth in New Orleans. A fifth was spending the winter skiing in Germany. In the Alps, not trudging along a cross-country trail. A couple of others were throwing cocktail parties when I called and couldn't hear a word for the bab- ble. Still another was out skiing every time I called. Finally, I rounded up enough to make some kind of showing, and everyone of them was happy as a clam, busy as a bee, and thought me an idiot for not joining their ranks pronto. Well, the questionnaires arrived, as promised. Kim had even enclosed envelopes, four or five of them with a 30 cent stamp for return. She had enough sense to send them by bus, not mail. I presume she BUT wants to complete the pro- ject this year. The envelopes were too small for the folded ques-. tionnaire. The return postage was 35 cents head, not 30. So dear b dad had to dig down t envelopes and stam Those sent but of town cost 65 cents postage, plus 35 cents for the smaller envelope inside. That runs • to a buck a -head. I soon realized I wasn't going to make much on this project. Then there were a few long-distance calls to discuss "our" progress with the project. Add a few bucks for gas, deliver- ing and picking them up. However, as I've known for years, your kids may be out of the nest, but it doesn't mean they can fly. They still have their beaks open for a nice juicy worm. Also spelled loam I am not complaining. I saw a number of old friends, everyone of whom wanted to ply me with cot - fee or something stronger. I realized that they were, on the whole, leading hap- py, useful and stressless lives, though some have had illnesses. And I began to wonder: "What am I doing beating my head against the boneheads of students when I could be lounging beside my brother's swim- ming pool in Sarasota, Fla., or out watching spr- ing training of the major league ball clubs in the south or watching the flowers grow in England now that spring is there?' Answer: "You're stupid. Get out before they carry your opt." Appreciation for electricit This time of the year strange things can happen with the weather. If you remember the ice storm of about 6 years ago you will heartily agree. Usually the ice comes down in the form of freezing rain. With the sun, the temperature rises and all the ice disap- pears. Not so with this storm. For three days it kept on raining until almost every tree for miles aroundhad been stripped. I remember see- ing one bush near London. Hundreds of white stripes owed at the tops of trees where they had split open. A farmer friend of mine. called up an equipment supply dealer that first day at noon to get a generator. When he got there to pick it up other farmers were there, would keep them all alive and well but that was the way it was. I somehow Perspectives By Syd Fletcher almost at each other's .throats trying to do the same. It seems a little strange that a farmer would have a hundred thousand dollars tied up in dairy cattle or pigs yet not possess a generator Which - • • doubt that there are quite as many farmers around now without some form of alternative energy. For as long as 5 or 6 days in some areas there was no hydro or telephones. Miles of wire had to be restrung and although crews were brought in from all over Ontario is was still a huge job. For me there was one big problem. I had about 100 gallons of water pout -7 ing into my basement per hour. With no sump pump, I had to bail it all out by hand, and every pail I car- ried out to the back yard seemed to trickle back in much faster than I could carry it out. I set the alarm clock at two hour intervals for the three days the power was off. Believe me, I have a real appreciation for the value of electricity as a labour-saving device.