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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-02-12, Page 41 Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 12,_1986 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgama ed 1924 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 ►CNA a 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: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Turn the tables Exeter council's complaint over the amount of red tape involved in applying for funds under projects administered by the senior levels of government calls in- to question the validity of some of those giveaways about which federal and pro- vincial politicians like to brag. Notwithstanding the fact that coun- cil left their application for an ONIP grant to the eleventh hour, the required information for the application would have been a costly endeavour in terms of the hours needed to compile what the civil servants dictated. Given the reality that the applica- tion's chances of success ranged from poor to nil, coupled with a question of whether the town could afford its own share of the $500,000 program, council decided not to proceed with the invest- ment of time required to submit an application. The opinion was expressed that the complicated questionnaire was an ob- vious attempt by some civil servants to justify their position and it prompts the question of whether the success of the ap- Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications UmKed plications is similar to that of the English teacher who marked his exam papers by throwing them across the room and gave top marks to the One which carried the farthest because its weight suggested the student was the most verbose. The problem related to government programs and their seemingly endless quest for questionable information is not confined solely to municipalities. The cumbersome paperwork has been touted as one of the reasons why' many farmers failed to apply for assistance under the OFFIR program, despite the fact they are being offered up to $14,000 in free money. Perhaps the solution is for someone to come up with a similar questionnaire to be filled in by prospective politicians and civil servants. Most hopefuls would quickly sour at the arduous task and the resulting tax savings from the decline in successful candidates could be left with those in other segments of society to spend as they see fit, without all those complicated forms needed to get their own money back under the present system. Doing the job Speaking on the air recently, a social programs worker voiced her regret that there has been opposition in some communities to the establish- ment of group homes for retarded and psychiatric patients in residential areas. Out came the familiar and wellworn complaint. The media, it seems are responsible for public attitudes. It grows more tiresome by the' month. Whatever goes wrong, blame the media. That is nothing more than the old "shoot the messenger" syn- drome. If the news is bad, blame the guy who told you; not the people who Easier Following last week's session of Exeter council. the writer sug- gested that 111e meeting would have lasted only about 15 minutes if the town was located in Perth and not Huron County. The suggestion was based on the last that a considerable por- tion of the session had been spent dealing with topics stemming f1'o111 county sit(Ia11011s such as t11(' police communication system. the comity library system and the county planning department. While the facetious statement may Wive had some basis for Validity. there is lilt I('doubt that even it 1'.X('1(1' '.IS a part of another county. the affairs of that county as they relate to the town would probably he given just as much con si(Iera1 ion and deliberation. Mayor Bruce Shaw had occa sion to remark that Exeter ap- peared to be obstreperous whenever county matters are 00 the agenda or broached by members, but in that context, his comment should he observed as being positive to a considerable degree No doubt some members of county council have the feeling that Exeter representatives go out of their way to stir up mat- ters. but it is perhaps an excuse for their 0W0 lack ()f conscien- tious consideration for matters that affect their ratepayers as residents of the county. Certainly, local municipal councils should debate county issues in an effort to reach a con- sensus on how they would like their representatives on the coun- ty council to vote on the issues whi h arise. In some cases that 1118v he merely to give some Guidelines. while in others, it may 1 created the trouble in the first place- , We wonder if that. social worker actually believes news stories about uncharitable public attitudes would have made more community homes available to the less fortunate members of our society? Quite the reverse. Those who are unwilling to share the benefits of their hygenic neighborhoods with those in need have been held up to the scorn of more charitable residents. The same situa- tion is less likely to occur in future because the news people did their jobs properly. Wingham Advance -Times living in Perth? be more of a directive. in effect. reeves and deputy - reeves are acting on behalf of their councils and therefore some of the decisions made reflect hack on those municipal councils as well as county council in general. 'i'he recent pay increases those county councillors granted to their department heads resulted Batt'n Around with 1111kT he Editor in considerable consternation froth many ratepayers and there is every reason to believe that had the issue been dctxlted by the local councils. many of the reeves and deputy -reeves would have ar- rived in Goderich with a different stance as evidenced by the pay increases local councils have ap- proved for their own depart nein heads and staff. The library issue is another which should have been on the agenda of those municipalities where libraries are located. Ex- eter Reeve Bill Mickle is quite correct in explaining that the local councils approved the in- volvement of their libraries in the county system in the first place, and should have some say in any changes being considered in that system at the present. Exeter's consternation over the operation of the Huron police communication system is un- questionably valid. although that 1 is not a county council matter as such, but rather involves only the five county towns. - The bylaws for the operation of the system and the involvement of the member municipalities are quite specific, and it is perhaps fair to suggest that Exeter has been lax in not ensuring that those bylaws have been followed in the past. ('ost of the communication system has been spiralling in re- cent years and it's high time the decision making process was turned back to those whom it was originally extended by mutual agreement. The struggle between Exeter and the county planning depart- ment is well known to most and while it may be the issue in which council has been most obstreperous, that has been an necessity due to county council's failure to give the matter the at- tention local officials desire. It's almost as though county of- ficials are hopeful that the issue will somehow go away, but oh- viously they fail to comprehend Exeter's tenacity. *t ** While local council sessions would possibly be abbreviated if county platters did not get on the agenda, it would be to the loss of local ratepayers and to a con- siderable extent, their counter- parts in other municipalities. The time spent is in the in- terests of better county govern- ment and communication and it would he embellished if other municipal councils took that responsibility as seriously. Perhaps if that was done. the need for Exeter council to he seen as obstreperous would he diminished to a considerable extent. MILLER SERVICES "Relax- it's only had news for those who own dollars!" Those green tyrants I lead a fairly busy life. In ad- dition to large chunks of time spent working, driving, sleeping, eating and reading, I occupy myself with activities like shovelling snow, or mowing the lawn, repairing broken toys, fid- dling with malfunctioning ap- pliances and running errands. I'm a busy -man. So the last thing I need is houseplants, right? You guessed it. I have houseplants all over the place. No, I don't have a green thumb. But I have 17 green liabilities (with a seasonal varia- tion of plus or minus two). Why do I do it? I'm a pushover, that's why. If I had any sense at all, I'd chuck the lot. Give them away or simply throw them out. But no, twice a week or so I spend precious time with my plants. Pretending I know what I'm do- ing. I water them whether they need it or not. I mist them whether they enjoy it or not. 1 turn them around. I clean them u Once a month or whenever I happen to remember, I give them a squirtbf revolting -looking plant food that may or may not be good for them. I have no idea whether my plants survive because of my care or in spite of it. But survive they do. Some of them are lush. Some look skinny. Others look mediocre all year round. The on- ly plants that ever flower are those that shouldn't. Like my asparagus plant. It sends up long, spindly shoots with funny little balls that turn from green to yellow and then pop, leaving a mess on the floor. The most consistent non- flowering plants I have are my begonias and African violets. They have extremely efficient foliage, though. Dq my houseplants add to the'decor? I' know they don't. With the possi- ble exception of my three triffid- like Wandering Jews that serve kl The Peter Hessel Column .......... .... .................::. in lieu of curtains. • The scrawny bamboo is cer- tainly not decorative. It has been dormant for about five years. When its leaves looked like barley straw, sickly yellow, I doc- tored it. Instead of pitching it - as was suggested by my constant advisor who specializes in destructive criticism. I gave it a ruthless brushcut, and it went in- to a sulk. It hasn't forgiven me yet. If my houseplants were failures, I'd get rid of them and spend more time doing something useful like answering mail. Or paying my bills. Or touching up the paint in the kit- chen. Or watching the National. If they were more successful, I might even have fun looking after them. But as things stand now, my plants are giving me a max- imum amount of work and minimum amount of gratifica- tion. What am I going to do? Any ideas? Should I buy books and spend some time reading and following rules? Should I turn the job over to my seven year-old? Or should I get rid of my plants at the next garage sale? Would you like to buy them, cheap? I cold use the space on our wide window sills to display some bric-a-brac. It doesn't need fertilizer. And it never. makes you feel guilty because it doesn't threaten to die when neglected. Help! How do you cope with your houseplants? I don't want to hear from the aficionados. If you spend three hours a day in the greenhouse attached to your liv- ing room, if you belong to the Houseplant Growers Association, if you own a dozen ultraviolet and two dozen infrared growing - lamps, ,don't call me. I'm not in your league. But if you wonder whether you deserve your houseplants or whether they deserve you, if you use imagination instead of hor- ticultural expertise, if you get an- noyed at your plant and call them names that are neither Latin nor common, you may write to me and share your frustrations with a fellows sufferer. Especially I'd like to hear from people who have successfully detached themselves forever from the clut- ches of their green tyrants. We purple thumbs must support each other. • Should be stepping in Although I'm not in favour of a great deal of interference on the part of government and figure that if people are left alone they can usually solve their local pro- blems i also feel that when most of the population is strongly af- fected that the government st.ould consider stepping in. This is the case with the cur- rent liability insurance issue which is plaguing many municipalities and organizations. As an individual you may have noticed a twenty-five or thirty percent increase in your car in- surance premiums over the last couple of years. Consider yourself lucky. Some municipalities have been hit with a whopping one thousand percent surcharge over 1984 premiums. As you can well imagine this is playing havoc with the budgeting process. in some cases the towns or cities are not able to find any insurance company to insure them at any cost. Part of the problem stems from a recent settlement for over 3 million dollars against a town. A boy was riding a mini -bike on town property which was not pro- perly posted with No -trespassing signs. Ile had a collision with c4!By the Way by Syd Fletcher another bike and ended up being paralyzed. Despite his and the other person's carelessness and the parent's lack of supervision, the municipality was successful- ly sued. At present the decision is being appealed. Our society has become obsess- ed with the idea that if someone floes you wrong that money can make everything right. In the above case, also, the judge seems to have the erroneous notion that insurance companies have endless resources. Not so, of course. Somebody has to pay the bill. Guess who is going to pay the shot for an increase in that town's insurance cost. - Unless the government steps in and puts maximum limits on set- tlements there are going to be some serious results. Towns will be forced to go without in- surance or will end up with poorer coverage. Organizations like summer camps will close down because they won't be able to insure their counsellors. Other similar programs will be reduced. The bottom line will be heavy tax increases as towns and cities are forced to insure themselves in a master insurance pool. •