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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-09-22, Page 4• Pose 4 +TbIMei*e, s•ptember 22,1982 Ames - • • dvocate Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873. Amalgamated 1924 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN ROSS HAUGH Editor Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class' Mal 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 'ABC' Look at the choices The support for the federal government's "six and five" wage and price guidelines continues to mount, although there are signs that not everyone thinks it is an equitable system. Huron County council debated the issue last week and Stanley Reeve Paul Steckle noted that a six per- cent increase across the board was not fair when con- sidering wage variances that range from $10,000 to $40,000 per year. It's not a new argument, of course. Many have pointed out that straight percentages increases the spread between the top and bottom ends of the pay scale. A six percent boost for one is $2,4000 per annum and only $600 for the other. The employee receiving that $600 hike pays the same amount for a gallon of gasoline, heating oil, loaf of bread, quart of milk or theatre admission as the one \ who gets $2,4000 and so his/her increase does not go as far in meeting the costs of the basic necessitites of • life. In total dollars, the $600 boost does not add to the inflation spiral as much as the $2,400. If inflation is to be curtailed, those in the top echelons will have to take less on a percentage basis than those at the bottom. One opinion eXpressed at the county council ses- sion indicated any changes in the percentage systems could lead to discontent among employees. County of- ficials may have to decide whether discontent is worse than unemployment as they battle to keep costs in line. Perhaps those employees expected to be discon- tent should also look more realistically at the same choices. Turn the lights on About 15 years ago, many motorists in Ontario in- stalled "running lights" on their vehicles for use dur- ing daylight hours. They believed the lights reduced their chances of being involved in highway collisions. However, the government banned the use of the lights but now there is evidence to suggest they should reconsider that edict. There's strong evidence that driving with low beams on during the daytime is a safety factor. When Greyhound Bus Line ordered its fleet to operate con- tinuously with headlights back in the 1960's, daytime collisions decreased 24 percent in the first year. More recently, when the Checker Cab Company in New York.City used headlightsduringdaytime run- ning in a one-year trial, collisions were reduced 7.2 percent. Daytime lights have been mandatory year-round in Sweden since 1977. So far, there hasn't been a full report, but partial data for one-year shows multiple vehicle collisions were reduced 4.8 percent. A federal law requires head and tail lights on motorcycles to light up automatically when they are put into gear with the engine running. And Ontario mandated the use of motorcycle headlights at all times in July of '77. A big plus for using headlights during the daytime is that they increase the "safety gap" by making • highway passing less risky. Brightness becomes the main factor in detecting objects as ambient light declines and the ability to discriminate colour is lost. Bright colours and shiny bumpers fade as that light fades. - Running lights, on the other hand, erasure that a .. vehicle stands out, regardless of background. And these can be either headlights or a combination of headlights and driving lights, for example. Tests by Transport Canada researchers on two- lane highways, first with oncoming vehicles unlit, then with their low beams on at various intensities, show- ed unlit vehicles created a more dangerous situation than expected. During those tests drivers underestimated the distance of upcoming lit vehicles, reporting them to be closer than they actually were. And they overestimated the distance of oncoming unlit vehicles. In the light of this evidence, it was concluded that it's safer driving during the daylight with the low beams on, especially on two-lane highways, as well as anytime light conditions are poor. Trees have revenge Aecot;ding to the Farmer's Almanac, and other "usually reliable sources", this year's winter weather is supposed to be on the unpleasant side, with more than the usual amount of snow and cold. Area residents have already had fair warning that the weather is capable of some strange things, having experienced a frost in August, adding to the woes of a summer that was late in arriving and ear- ly in departing. We're told by some experts that there's going to be a slow return to the "ice age" and there will be other phenomenon to be considered, such as volcanic dust. As usual, of course, most people will adopt the wait and see attitude, taking each day's weather as it comes. There are obviously enough other things to worry about without sending people over the brink of sanity by undue concern of what will befall then some three or four months hence. Those who procrastinate in preparing for winter will get some consolation from the experience of a friend who spent some of those infrequent warm summer weekends storing up winter fuelwood. While others were enjoying the refreshing waters of their favorite swim- ming hole or imbibing on cool drinks in the shade of a tree, he was out cutting up trees and hauling them hone to his woodshed. You can just picture the sweat pouring profusely from his brow as he wielded his heavy chain saw in the hot sunshine, the sawdust clinging to his skin in itchy layer and the mosquitoes buzzing happily above his bead• before sucking out their final food before hibernating, or whatever mos - for the vrinter. the tiserlikil wwt and his woodpile amply stock- ed for the coming winter, he appeared to have the last laugh as he stood and • t surveyed the gleaming cords in his ' backyard, and shot a glance of disdain at the squirrels who were still soaking up the sun and not joining in his early comple- tion of storing winter supplies. . . But alas, Mother Nature struck a cruel blow. Unleashing her fury in a mid- September storm, the ' dark, ominous clouds soon appeared over the woodpile and the wind gusted ferociously. Although the storm lasted for only a few seconds, the wood -cutter and his family were shaken to bear a loud crash in their backyard and a glance out the window quickly confirmed that a giant cottonwood had been felled, its rotted trunk no match for the brief, summer blast. There, deposited beside the woodpile, was all the firewood needed for the com- ing winter, if not the winter after that too. Perhaps it was retribution for not enjoy- ing that shade tree when he, was suppos- ed to this summer? . . • . • . One of the grandmothers on staff here at the T -A suggested to the editor last week that he write something about the need for washrooms to be made available during soccer tournaments in Exeter. Seems some of the area's young soccer Wpm. get together fm' thdr annual skirmish at the high school playing field and washrooms at the school were not available. . 4 visitors I suggested, based on experiences gain- ed by travelling with four sons, that the need for washrooms was not a high priori- ty for boys. Any good sized tree will ac- complish the same goal as a washroom wall in protecting one from unwanted eyes. - • She agreed that the young soccer players didn't appear tooupset by the lack of washroom facilities for. the day -long event, but noted that grandmothers, mothers and small sisters weren't quite as comfortable in seeking out good sized trees. In fact, she indicated the day had ruin- ed several months of toilet -training for her granddaughter and the impropriety of make -shift washroom facilities could scar her for life. The little gal, after enjoying the soccer matches, joined the family in a post - match dinner at one of the local restaurants. When she announced that she had to go to the bathroom, her mother was pleased that they had finally reach- ed a spot where proper washroom facilities were available. However. the little gal immediately burst into tears and succumbed to a minor tantrum at the very suggestion of using the restaurant's washrooms. "No, I want to go out and pee on the grass," she wail- ed, apparently considering that ex- perience one of the joys of life. So. there you have it, you male chauvinists who organize local soccer tournaments. If you hope to have mothers, grandmothers and sisters on the sidelines cheering your budding young stars, perhaps some consideration for their necessities would be warranted and appreciated. After all, there aren't that many good sized trees available at the local playing field! "If MacEachen does as well in External Affairs as he did in Finance, . I'm building a bomb shelter!" Hornet in the bathroom There must be something sweet about our big old house. We've all heard about somebody having a bee in his bonnet. But a hornet in the bathroom? I just killed a dirty big brute a few minutes ago, disposed 'of the corpse, sat down at my typewriter and heard an ominous sound, like a tiny chain saw, looked up for the source and saw three more of the beasts crawl- ing on a window. With nothing else handy, I picked up a particularly waspish letter from one of. my readers and beat them to death with no apologies to conservationists. You don't play around with hornets. • They'd obviously crawl- ed in the open bathroom • window after being "ex- terminated" by the chaps doing brick -work on the house. They'd run across a nest in the bricks and thought they'd killed all the hornets with an aerosol "bomb". They hadn't. During the summer, one of my grandboys was stung by wasps, cosily nesting in a wood -pile. We eliminated them with a vicious counter-attack. Last week, my wife. touring the outside of the house to check the bricks, came across a huge, old- fashioned bee -hive attach- ed to a corner of a window. It was not uninhabited, as a little careful observance proved. I had experience as a kid with these things. We'd find them in the woods, get a long stick to knock them down, and usually get well stung in' the process. • - So, it was down to the store to get a "bomb". The Sugar and Spice Dispensed By SmNey instructions said to use it at dawn or at dusk, when the bees are quiet. I decid- ed to do the job at dusk, so had a little snooze after dinner. Woke up when my wife came in, beaming as though she'd just won a lottery. She'd climbed a ladder and bombed the bee -hive, silly nit, without even having me there to hold the ladder for her. Anyway, we got rid of that lot. A few years ago I was having a new roof put on the house. The roofers rip- ped open a hornet's nest and the neighbors were treated to the sight of three men doing what ap- peared to be a Spanish fandango 30 feet up in the air. It was funny, but not to the roofers, who were badly stung. To bee or not to bee. I hope that is no Ionger the question. I don't want to wind up with a bee in my bonnet about bees, wasps and hornets. But I wish they'd go and build somewhere else. A lot of other strange things went on this past summer. The back of my house looks naked, after being covered for years by • a beautiful vine. Had the whole thing torn off because it was creeping into my brickwork like an octopus. Somebody stuck two lines of stakes with red tops around two sides of my house. Somebody else put dabs of paint of various hues all over my lawn. Green, yellow and red. I suppose one's the Bell, another's the gas company, and the third is the public utilities, or maybe just someone who likes painting lawns. I've never seen any of the mysterious painters, and aln beginning to grow. uneasy. If they all start putting in cables and gas lines and water lines under my lawn, anything could happen, with today's workmen. Can't you imagine them getting all tangled up down there? Pick up the telephone and you get an electric shock. Turn on the tap and gas hisses out. Flip on your furnace and water comes gushing up through the ducts. We've had woriunen hurtling in and out all summer carrying. 'pipes and things, as we switch to gas. We've had men come and dig up the lawn in the wrong place, replace the sod sloppily, �{�and leave another gash that will turn brown and die. We've been awakened every morning by great thuds and pounding as the brick -work progresses. But I feel sorry for the masonry men. They just get their scaffold up and the rain comes pelting down. They sit in their truck until it clears up, climb the scaffold, and get soaked in another shower. • We had family from the middle of June to the mid- dle of August, three days holidays, then more fami- ly. Two 90th birthdays in the connection. My heart sank as that letter arrived near the end of August, that cheery lit- tle letter from the high school principal, telling us about Opening Day. I felt as if I'd had no holidays at all. To cap it all, I'm broke. New furnace and brickwork cleaned me out. Painting the house will have to wait until next summer. And I hope you had a grand holiday, too, especially if you took it in August, which was more like October. A real drag -racer Seeing a bunch of anti- que cars on a tour here a few weeks ago made me think of an old green '46 Chew truck that my brother and I used to rat- tle around (quite literally) in. My brother was quite an electrician and had rigged the old buggy up with about twenty yellow ✓ unning lights, and two or three blue ones. Meeting it on the road you , would swear that there was a huge semi coming down toward you. For us, that little truck was 'our first real taste of independence. Though it wouldn't go very fast we just outside of the city, since we put every penny Perspectives By Syd Fletcher 1111111111111111111111111111111111 travelled almost every street in and around • Hamilton. I'm sure we became a familiar sight to all the people around Al- bion Falls, a little place we had into gas and repairs on the truck. One of the beauties of that particular vehicle WIN that it was so old that you couldn't really hurt it too much. My father didn't seem to mind us decorating it in our own fashion, even taking the box off the. back of it and ridi,ig around with just the frame and wheels show- ing: We liked to pretend that there was all kinds of power to the truck that way - of course it was so light without die box and a load that the wheels would squeal even in third gear. Exciting stuff, eh? Well, we really thought that we were the next thing to a real drag -racer