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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-03-26, Page 4• t 4 1 •_ TImes-Advocate,. March 26. 1966 Imes - vocat eServing Huron, North Middlesex No Latlnbttrt Since 187$ Published by LW. 6edy rublicadons Limited Published Each Wednesday •Monring at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. cn Phone 519.235-1331 A LORNE EEDY Publisher NM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK fONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year, U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Reward the best Two issues arise from Exeter coun- cil's recent debate over banking services. The first and foremost, of course, is the reasoning behind the tendering pro- cess and the nautral expectation that the lowest bidder should win. To do otherwise is to negate the tendering system and the safeguards and competition it provides. While the savings involved in accep- ting the lowest of the proposals received this year may have been small it is a dangerous practice to not award the bid on that basis when other factors are basically constant. When initially introduced, the call for proposals from the local financial institu- tions resulted in a sizeable saving for tax- payers and proved the value of the practice. To maintain the integrity, competi- tion and also to warrant the time expend- ed by all those involved, there can be lit- tle argument with always moving to ac- cept the lowest bid and any current sup- plier should not be given any preference merely becausetit is sometimes easier to maintain the status quo. ori',`'%, . r •: ..„9” cir /yam - 041,1:,,i/'!i....::"" S �� n /v e' , ' — �,uowalon,.-- . �nc�a were moi€ i,i'As't4"A94: x *[V The second question that arises per- tains to the fact the financial institutions expect their proposals to be treated con- fidentially and not be exposed to public scrutiny. Bidders in all other facets of the town business neither request nor receive such treatment and there must be some ques- tion of why the town's banking business should be excluded from the same rules and conditions. Need some .rules The recent 34 percent pay increase that London politicians voted themselves emphasizes the need for the province to step in once again and protect taxpayers in such cases. At the present time, school boards in the province are entitled to set their own salaries, but only in an election year and the increases do not become effective un- til the new board members take office. That practice forces members seek- ing re-election to take a hard look at their salaries and to consider how any,, t creases will be viewed by the people they will soon be asking for votes. In the London council case, members who voted for the huge increases no doubt are hoping that their extravagance and stealth will be forgotten when voters line up at the ballot boxes in three years. Whether that will be the case re- mains to be seen, but it is evident that taxpayers need some protection from such practices when elected officials make unconscionable decisions. The practice, fortunately, is not widespread as evidenced by the reasonable increases which most area politicians have granted themselves. However, before others decide to follow London's lead, the opportunity to do so should be denied and the system adopted for school trustees should be ex- tended to councils. Legs miry never revive While those two well-known - like proportions when they are Irishmen were meeting in Washington on St. Patrick's Day, I was among a group of 60 area Canadians joining Brian and Mila on a jaunt to the U.S. and we too had ample green surrounding us. However, it was not Irish green, but rather John Deere green, as we enjoyed a three-day tour through several of the Deere & Company plants which abound in Iowa and Illinois. The outing was no doubt under- taken as a late winter holiday by the 60 area farmers and staff from Huron Tractor, but similar to many holidays, most of us returned home more than anx- ious to get back to work for a litte reg t. An advertising slogan pertain- ing to "the long green line" cer- tainly had new meaning for callused feet and tired legs that carried our bodies through the production lines of sixlants. The largest of those factories, the tractor plant at Waterloo, Iowa, is just over 2,000,000 square feet. To put that into perspective, there are about 48 acres under cover or a facility that could com- foratbly house about 23 football fields. If you put those 23 football fields together and then march up every other five -yard line, you can start to comprehend why sit- ting down at a typewriter is now considered a distinct and refreshing change. While most of us marvel at the mammoth tractors and combines that are seen in area fields, those pieces of equipment take on toy - seen in the unimaginable size of such a buildigg, where the com- ponents are stored in computeriz- ed towers that dwarf our town's tallest structures. For someone who still has trou- ble knowing Which is the working end of a screwdriver, I find it totally incomprehensible how so- meone could design a system that Batt'n Around ...with The Editor depends on split-second timing to bring the various components together so they end up in a finished form that is driven out the door and onto the nearby truck for delivery to some farmer's field. Suffice to say that only those who see'it an believe it, and while there may be some on the tour who could undertake an understandable explanation that would provide others with some insight into the production of a tractor, I fall far short of meeting Jany such criteria. . . . . • While the tours through the various plants enabled us to see production from the foundry through to the finished product for the engines and other com- ponents in the hundreds of pieces of equipment produced by John Deere, it was probably of equal interest to see what wasn't happening. Entire production lines were shut down and others were runn- ing at far below capacity and the farmers on tour were able to see first hand that all other segments of the agricultural community are suffering with them in the current economic conditions. The tractor plant, for instance, once had 16,000 employees and currently that has been reduced to almost half. That same 5o r - cent figure applies to most of the production facilities that turn out agricultural products, although the commercial product lines have not been as adversely affected. John Deere has been Iowa's largest employer and during the peak in the late 1970s had over 50,000 employees in that state 'alone. The layoffs have naturally had serious repercussions for the en- tire state and some communities in particular and there is no im- mediate change or relief in sight as farmers throughout the U.S. face the same crisis as their Canadian counterparts. Deere & Company officials are battling the deepest farm reces- sion in decades by concentrating great attention on reducing costs in all facets of their business. As one company official sug- gested to me over dinner in the head office executive lounge, farmers who want to survive will have to undertake the same goal in their business. The I like eggs all year round. Soft- boiled with a touch of butter, a lit- tle pepper and salt. Sunny -side -up with a strip of bacon or two. Scrambled with chunks of ham, poached on toast. But eggs take on a new dimen- sion at our house when Easter ap- proaches. We could do without hot cross buns. We don't need a new spring wardrobe. And we could survive without daffodils. But we must have the ritual of the e s. Firstwe bring in an armful of pussy willows and arrange them in a large vase. Then we rum- mage through the basement to find the egg cartons with last year's Easter eggs. Usually a dozen of them miraculously survive. The job of blowing out fresh eggs used to be mine. -Only I was skillful enough to perform this delicate task, or so I thought. Not this year. Now I have competi- tion. Three little people puff their cheeks and ... oops! There goes another egg. Don't squish it! Don't press so hard! Don't .... Oh, well, it's just an egg. We'll eat scrambled eggs for breakfast, lunch and supper tomorrow. Now the painting. We've tried watercolors, but magic markers are easier and more fun. We get egg heads with blue eggs and pink eyes, with and without freckles. Cheerful and funny noses and fat lips. There are originals (mine) and imitations (all of others) . But mostly there are abstracts. That way it doesn't matter too much when a little hand slips. The smudge becomes part of the design. And not one egg is like another. Purple and green are the ritual of eggs predominant colors this spring. We have lots of purple and green eggs. Lots of purple and green fingers, too. There are abstract rainbows with polka dots. And abstract polka dots with stylized bunnies. And then there is New Realism. Tulips and trees and birds. We used to stick the painted eggs on top of the pussy willow branches. But we've invented a The Peter Hessel Column new method. We now hang them with kitchen -catcher ties. There is always a better way to do everything, even to hang an egg. Don't put it there! It'll fall. And why are all your eggs on the same branch? Look how bare the other side is. It's like putting all your eggs in the same basket. But why argue? Kids have their own symmetry, their own perception of art. We mustn't interfere. Only two newly painted eggs fall and break. Dont cry, honer. We'll make one that is even more beautiful. We have lots of eggs. Do you think you could paint one that looks like a clown? Or like Daddy? Once again, our little "Easter tree" takes shape. It is not what you would call a masterpiece. But it is colorful, and it is our special way to start Easter. There is no special message in this story. It has no particular significance. I'm just talking about a family tradition. Just something we love doing together. Something better than watching TV. Who knows? Maybe when the children are grown up, they'll remember not only the Easter eggs, but also the good time we had creating them. We could, of course, go out and buy fancy chocolate bunnies and filled candy eggs and fluffy little chicks sitting in baskets filled with excelsior. And all those things are nice, too. They all add to the atmosphere at Easter. They make sweet treats and bright decorations. I guess the Easter Bunny will come to our house on Easter Sun- day and hide something for everybody's sweet tooth. And that will be lots of fun. But my guess is that long after the last chocolate stains have been wash- ed out of the new white dress, long after the sticky has been scraped from the sofa cushions, the memory of our "Easter tree" will remain. In a way, those fragile, bright- ly colored eggs provide us with a little bit of immortality. After the parents are gone, the children may reminisce: "Remember when we painted the Easter eggs?" And the vision of the pussy willow branches, lopsided and scruffy looking ,will acquire a golden sheen and will become part of "the good old days." And perhaps the custom will be pass- ed on to another generation. Have a Happy Easter! Need some justice Usually I have kept this column away from politics and political issues but before the last federal election I had a few harsh words to say about the Liberals and the way they seemed to be abusing the Canadian people. Over the sixteen years since they were in power they had increased the federal deficit .to unheard of heights till each and every Cana- dian, as soon as he/she was born 'owed' thousands of dollars, most of which was going to pay interest on the huge debt which had been accumulated for setting up social service programs such as unemployment insurance, the 'baby bonus', and old -age pen- sions. I pointed out the number of patronage appointments which Mr. Trudeau had made during his last few months of office, jobs given to cronies and friends o the Liberal party. I thought that that would all change with a new party. Wrong again! Since Mr. Mulroney has come into power he has been just as eager to reward the party with all kinds of handouts to the Tory faithful. Oh, he made a token gesture by giving Stephen Lewis, arch -deacon of the NDP, his post to the United Nations, but believe me, that was only a gesture. The By the Way by Fletcher Conservatives have been lining up, grinning from ear to ear ever since. Perhaps I am a little naive to think that such a thing should not happen. Maybe it is a little much to think that civil service jobs and contracts for government ser- vices (which rank in the billions of dollars), should go to the lowest bidder or in the case of a job to the person who is the best qualified. Imagine how you would feel if you had worked in the diplomatic service for many years, learning a variety of languages, schooling yourself in all the intricacies of managing people to the benefit of Canada, and then were passed over for an important post by a government which gave the job to an untrained former union of- ficial. It happened. Not really the way to inspire loyalty among people who are in very responsible positions. This type of legal corruption could be stopped, you know. Easily! Appoint a commission made up of all three parties which would act as a review committee for such appointments. It would not do the actual hiring but would be Ale to act as final arbitration of obvious misuses of the system and with that final say being there the party in power would think twice about giving family members all the choice plums. Hopefully, a little justice could be injected into the system.