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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-08-07, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, August 7, 1985 Times Established 1673 Advocate Established 1681 Amalgamated 1924 imes Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 CNA LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DiCK JONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $23.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Negative side effect Because planning is not an exact science and relies on words that are open to interpretation, debates over zoning bylaws and official plans can become interesting events. The recently completed OMB hearing into the appeal by Exeter against a proposed agri-industrial park in Hay township was certainly no exception. One by one the various expert witnesses took an oath to tell the truth and yet the opinions each expressed were as divergent as night and day. One planner termed the proposal poor planning and another defended it as being proper. Land specialists were at total odds over whether the planned subdivision met the requirements of the Foodland Guidelines and two lawyers ended up contradicting each other on many points. There were even opposing viewpoints over whether Exeter has land suitable for the type of development envisioned for the agri-industrial park on its boundaries. Now the matter has been placed in the hands of one man to decide the outcome. Whatever the decision, it will vindicate the opinions of half the witnesses and denounce those of the other half. Throughout the two-day hearing, OMB member Eugene Seaborn reminded the principals involved that he was not being asked to choose a site for prospective commercial or in- dustrial clients, but only to rule on the propriety of the Hay proposal. In reality, of course, his decision will determine whether commercial or in- dustrial firms wishing to locate in the immediate area will have a choice between sites in Exeter and Hay or only the former. It was the only basis for Exeter's objection as are most placed before the OMB by neighbouring municipalities. Regardless of the decision, the im- pact on the immediate area in general should not be particularly negative. Unfortunately, that may not be the case for the Huron County plann- ing department. That department stands to lose credibility with the "losers" in the argument and will have problems regaining the con- fidence that will be weakened. Exeter council members and the planning advisory committee must have been shocked to learn through evidence given by county planning director Dr. Gary Davidson that land is not available in town for the type of . uses envisioned in the Hay subdivision and should move quickly to have him explain publicly his reasons for that opinion and why his staff has not mov- ed to direct Exeter in overcoming that deficiency in its official plan and zon- ing bylaws. Some spectacular scenery We neglected to mention last week that Queenstown was first known as Camp. then ('an- vastown and got its present name when sonieone called it a town fit Of a Queen. After leaving Queenstown we crossed the Kawaru Dan) follow- ing the southern arm of Lake Waka1ipu to Kingston. The road then follows rolling country side which is quite similar to the English Downs. We passed through Te Ana u and travelled north through the by Ross Haugh beech forests of the Eglington Valley before entering the grandeur of the rugged Hollyford Valley and continuing through the Homer 'funnel. The Homer 'funnel is named after a pioneer explorer who ad- vocated the tunnel before 1890. The tunnel allows only one way tral1iv for all of its three-quarter mile length. Traffic going to Millord Sound is allowed Iron) on the hour to 25 minutes past and return (vehicles are allowed only . frt)nl the hall hour to Live minutes to the next hot1r. The limner 'funnel was started in 1935 under a Public Works scheme employing live men us- ing shovels and wheelbarrows This nutulx'r of labourers was Tater increased and mechaniza- tion was Iully introduced in 194h The drive was holed through in 1910. It was big enough( to crawl through. a great test for those suffering from claustrophobia work was completed in 19.53 11 was carried out al an elevation of 3.(10(1 feet in an area that averages 250 inches of rainfall per year. The tunnel (Irops 400 feet in three-quarters of a mile and the road from the tunnel to Milford Sound drops, 2,300 feet in 1.2 miles. it's downhill going. uphill corning back. Of (he many fiords which give the southwest corner of New Zealand the name Fiordland. on- ly Milford Sound is accessible by private car. The road to Milford Sound is a spectacle in itself. Highlights are the avenue of the disappearing mountain and the mirror Takes. ‘Ve have excellent slides of these mountains mirrored in the lakes and are actually miles away. Lake '1'e Anita largest of the southern lakes is also the starting point for the world famous three day walk along the Milford Track. This is a :32 mile walk from Te Anau over the McKinnon Pass and on to Mil ford Sound. The trip operates from November through to March. Many hours could he sepnt on Lake 'i'e Anau exploring many scenitespotsincluding the glow worm caves. Nearby Lake N1anapouri. stir - Our boat tour on Milford Sound was really spectacular with high mountains on all sides and we saw several fur seals sunning themselves on the edge of the rocks. There are 20 points of interest on the tour which took more than an hour. The Milford hotel complex is the original complex house of Donald Sutherland who arrived in the area in 1877. The govern- ment bought the property in 1922 and built a hotel six years later. This was destroyed by fire in 1952 and was rebuilt two years later. Mitre Peak rises about 5,560 feet above one of the narrowest points in the Sound. it is one of the highest mountains in the world to rise directly from the ocean floor. 1t got its name because its shape resembles that .of a Bishop's !lead Piece. Our launch skipper pointed out higher up, the long ice scars from glaciers which filled this fiord thousands of years ago and lower down at water's edge the little fur seals, the few escapees from the MILFORD SOUND onslaught of whales and sealers during the last century. After leaving Fiordland Na- tional Park we retraced our steps to Mossburn and to Lumsden. On the edge of Lumsden with a population of 500 is a place call - Please turn to page 5 rounded by bushcla(1 islands is possibly the country's most beautiful lake. New Zealand's most anlibilious hydro -electric power project here diverts the lake's water for 9.6 kilometres through the mountains to Deep Cove and Doubtful Sound. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited wor k wor k fid. to RecoverY1 «�049%'i1PMomoN iUt4L Waves In thirty plus years as an editor, a parent, and a teacher, I have been inundated ( though not quite drowned) by several waves of self-styled "reform" of our educational system, especially that of Ontario. Each wave has washed away some of the basic values in our system and left behind a heap of detritus, from which teachers and students eventually emerge, gasping for a breath of clean air. Most of the "massive" reforms in our system are borrowed from the U.S. after thirty or forty years of testing there have proven them dubious, if not worthless. We have borrowed from the pragmatist, John Dewey, arid American, who had some good ideas, but tried to put them into mass production, an endearing but not necessarily noble trait of our cousins below the border. We have tried the ridiculous, "See, Jane. See Spot run. Spot, see Jane vomit," sort of thing which completely ignores the child's demand for heroes and witches and shining maidens, and things that go bump in the night. We have tried "teaching the whole child", a process in which the teacher becomes father/mother, uncle/aunt, grandfather/grandma, psychiatrist, buddy, confidant. and football to kick around, while the kid does what he/she dam - well -pleases. And we wonder about teacher "burn -out". We have tried a system in which the children choose from a sort of Pandora's box what sub- jects they would like to take, and giving them a credit for each sub- ject to which they are "exposed", whether or not they have learn- ed anything in it. That was a bit of a disaster. Kids, like adults, chose the things that • were "fun", that were "easy", that didn't have exams, that allowed them to "express their individuality." New courses were introduced with the rapidity of rabbits breeding. A kid who was confi- dent that he would be a great brain surgeon took everything from basket -weaving to bird - watching because they were fun. And suddenly, at about the age wash away of seventeen, he/she discovered that it was necessary to know some science, mathematics, Latin, history and English to become a brain surgeon (or a novelist, or a playwright, or an engineer, etc.). There are very few jobs open in basket -weaving and bird - watching or World Religions or another couple of dozen I could name, but won't, for fear of being beaten to death by a tizzy of teachers the day this column appears. The universities, those sacrosanct institutions, where the Sugar &Spice Dispensed by Smiley ....................................... truth shall make you free, went along with the Great Deception. They lowered their standards, in a desperate scramble for live bodies. They competed for students with all the grace of merchants in an Armenian bazaar. Another swing of the pen- dulum. Parents discovered that their kids know something about a lot of things, but not much about anything. They got mad. The universities, a little red in the face suddenly and virtuously announced that many high school graduates were illiterate, which was a lot of crap. They were the people who decided that a second language was not necessary. They -were the people who ac- cepted•students with a mark of 50 in English, which means the kid actually failed. but his teacher gave him a credit. Nobody, in the new system, really failed. if they mastered just Tess than half the work, got a 48 per cent, they were raised to 50. if they flunked every subject they took. they were transferred to another "level". where they could succeed, and even excel. The latest of these politically - inspired, slovenly -researched reforms in Ontario is called SERP, and it sounds just like, and is just like NERD. Reading its contents carefully, one comes to the conclusion that if Serp is accepted, the result will be a great leveller. Out of one side of its mouth it suggests that education be compressed, by abandoning of Grade 13, and out of the other side, that education be expanded by adding a lot of new things to the curriculum. How can you compress something and expand it at the same time? Only a commission on education could even suggest such a thing. There will be lots of money for "Special Education" in the new plan. There will be less money for excellence. Special Education is educational jargon for teaching stupid kids. Bright kids are look- ed down upon as an "elite" group, and they should be put in their place. The universities would enjoy seeing Grade 13 disappear. That would mean they'd have a warm body for four years, at a cost of about $4,000 a year, instead of three. I am not an old fogey. I am not a reactionary. I believe in change. Anything that does not change becomes static, or dies. Ideas that refuse the change become dessicated. i am not against spending lots of money to teach stupid kids, or emotionally disturbed kids. But 1 am squarely against any move toward squelching the brightest and best of our youth, and sen- ding off to university people who are in that extremely vulnerable stage of half -adolescent, half - adult. and turfing them into classes of 200 or 300, where they are no more than a cypher on the books of a so-called hall of learning. And i have the proof right before me, in the form of several , brilliant essays by Grade 13 students, better than anything I ever write, who have had a chance to come to terms with themselves and with life, in a small class, with a teacher who knows, likes, and encourages them, rather than a remote figure at a podium. To make you weep Somehow the news story doesn't seem as it it could be true. 1 re -read it and shake my head in disbelief. 1 Ire to put it in perspective and still can't get it straight. The Salvation Army has people out asking the public for money to help support its soup kitchens. The YMCA - YWCA has to practically beg the various levels of •governments to build swimming pools for inner-city poor children. Newspapers have funds to send kids to fresh -air camps for one week out of the hot surnmer. The list goes on and on of wor lhwhile charities across the province all trying to keep their heads above water. Another organization looking for a handout is Deerhurst Lodge. Most people in Ontario are not too familiar with this place since it is a little on the ilc)By the , Way Sysby yd Fletcher expensive side. The cost for a couple staying there for a weekend would set them hack about $750 dollars Granted that the lodge is beautiful. boasting two pools. one indoors. one outdoors next' to a lovely leach. Granted that there is a full-scale Las Vegas type night club there and night club there and anything else that your typical well-heeled Ontario or American tourist might crave, but most people in Ontario will never get their noses inside the door. However, 1)eerhurst does have one important thing going for it. 11 is in Frank Miller's home riding. i guess that's what makes it so deserving of the 810 million subsidy that it got recently. it's almost enough to make you weep.