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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-06-25, Page 4Page 4 • Times -Advocate, Jun. 25, 1966 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 150 Second dais Mall Registration Number 0386; Phone 519.235.1331 • LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager €NA BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKWD Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year, U.S.A. $6.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Senseless squabble . It's rather disconcerting that a $400 share of a banner to promote the. Dave Scatcherd classic golf tournament end- ed up as a major discussion at Grand Bend council's session last week. • While the proper procedure may not have been followed in authorizing the ex- penditure, members of council had the advantage of hindsight in their favor when the matter reached the council table and that should have prompted a quick and enthusiastic endorsement of the small contribution made by the village to the event. The golf tournament attracted a host of personalities that resulted in the resort being put on the map for the entire weekend and the advertising value is in- estimable. However, even that is over- shadowed to a considerable extent by the fact the proceeds from the classic aid a very worthwhile charity. Those who have watched the tourna- ment mushroom into an extravaganza so quickly must surely find it difficult to understand why the resort council and more of its business people have not been more quick to reap the benefits available r; • a Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eddy Publications limited I SAY WE GET REAL TOUGH -- NAVE SONDRA GOTLWES SLAP THEM WITH SOME TARIFFS! by aiding in the promotion. Councillor Marsha Lemon may have her geography straight, but certainly tier thinking is far out of line, in suggesting that the council should not contribute to the banner because its placement near Oakwood golf course was actually welcoming people into Stephen Township. Other than the Stephen Township tax collector, she hopefully is alone in not recognizing that the Oakwood complex is a major part of the Grand Bend resort as is the lake, although the latter is not within the municipal boundaries either. Rather than squabbling over a minor contribution towards the biggest thing to ever hit Grand Bend, council members should have used their time more con- structively in discussing how they could get on the band wagon and ensure that the event gets the endorsement and assistance from the entire community in the future. If there was ever a case of being guil- ty of looking a gift horse in the mouth, the council in general, and Marsha Lemon in particular, must plead guilty. Worth. preserving? Members of the Ontario Secondary, School Teachers' Federation didn't take any chances in getting support from fellow teachers at the weekend conven- tion of the provincial New Democratic Party in Hamilton. The teacher delegates were each.of- fered $100 by the OSSTF in return for the promise that they would vote against the party policy of extending financing to Roman Catholic Schools. The group expected to have 100 member -delegates at the. convention, although there was considerable doubt that the $10,000 money -for -vote: budget would be enough to turn the tide as the convention was expected to endorse the party's support of RC funding. The outcome of the vote is obviously a minor issue in comparison to the bribery attempt by the OSSTF. President Rob Albert claims the of- fer was made to ensure the delegates take a position to preserve public education. If bribery is indicative of the philosophy of those teaching in the system, it is highly questionable if it is even worth preserving. Let's keep it going Readers may be coming weary of the rather consistent discussion on recreation that has been undertaken in this column over the past few weeks, but if they are ratepayers they should +elcotne the basis for that discussion. The fact is, after virtually be- ing swept under the rug for the past decade, recreation is a ma- jor topic of consideration among recreation and elected officials throughout the area and everyone should get on the band- wagon to ensure that it continues until some agreements are reached. •1t would be a total dereliction of responsibility on the part of all those involved to allow (he mat- ter to drop now when it is obvious- ly so close to reaching a head. Granted. the desired results may not he reached in the final decisions made, at least to the satisfaction of everyone, but everyone can take satisfaction that it received their best effort. There have been some major moves already ihdicat and that bodes well for futureldelibera- tions. It suggests that many have come to the conclusion that the problem won't go away and they had best deal with it and try and reach the compromises that are required. Perhaps most encouraging is the fact that the issue is starting to reach the council tables; and that is where it rightly belongs. For too long, elected officials have passed the buck onto their appointed recreation groups and in many cases, have acted unfair- ly in beipg critical of those groups when they have attempted to grapple with the problems that were really those of the elected officials. Recreation budgets have long been the source of much dismay and consternation to councils and often those budgets were sub- jected to much more scrutiny and Batt'n Around ...with The Editor chops than most of the budgets of the municipal committees. ironically, the move by the rec hoards to counter those chops by increasing rates to users has resulted in those users taking their pleas for needed financial assistance to the council tables. In retrospect, the elected officials may now be regretting their moves, but it has brought the issue into the public forum where it can best be handled. Some of those users are also be- ing forced to approach service clubs and to look at their opera- tions for cost-cutting measures and that also has added benefits as it makes everyone aware that some new policies and ap- proaches are needed for a topic that has not been given the atten- tion it deserved. Recreation, after all, is a mak- ter that should involve the entire community. While not yet formally adopted, there are a few hints at policies and philosophies starting to emerge From the ongoing discus. sions. The majority appear to be of the opinion that adult recrea- tion programs should basically be self-sustaining and that even minor programs should be closer to that point than they are at pre- sent. At the same time, there ap- pears to be agreement that recreation should never be plac- ed in a position of being available only to those in the middle and upper income levels. e/r MyLLER SFW&E' Getting rid of it Last week I described our elaborate preparations for our garage sale. 1 promised to tell how things went. Here is a,blow- by-blow account. On the night before, the garage '"was a shambles. Piles,of boxes,,. " a clutter of clothes, no place to set your foot down. The radio was forecasting showers in the mor- ning, clearing in the afternoon. The sale was to be in the morn- ing. That's what my thirty-six dollar ad said. I unpacked some cartons, but didn't know where to put the. stuff. Should I set up for an indoor garage sale? I laid out a floor plan for tables and makeshift platforms, It was hot outside, but when I opened the garage door, the place filled up with bugs. I began to doubt the wisdom of my timing. By midnight I had managed to untangle most of the clothes and to separate the toys from the dishes and the kiddy books from the adult Penguins..A woman was going to come at 7 to look for size three girls' dresses. Yes, I had said, we have a whole bunch. of them. But now I couldn't find them. The woman woke me up at ten after six. She had come all the way from the Eleventh Line for those dresses. Sorry, I said... But she bought twenty dollars worth of other clothes. It was pouring rain. And I had no waterproof signs. What is an optimist? A guy with an umbrella in one hand, a hammer in the . other, and a garage sale sign bet- ween bis teeth. When I got back from setting• up my signs, two cars were park- ed in the laneway, and the garage was full of people. The -sale had begun, an hour before the The perfect solution, therefore, is a means test so everyone pays according to his/her ability to carry the full cost of the pro- gram. Unfortunately, as is the case with all social programs, that solution is taboo 'and the reality is that some people will always be disadvantaged in such social programs, while others will get advantages they don't need. So, if recreation is going to serve the masses as it should, then the costs must maintain the difficult balance where they at- tract people and at the same time not be a burden to those picking up the direct and indirect costs. While people generally will find a way to pay for the things they want to do in life, it may help the situation if they consider their cost of recreation against other aspects of their disposable in- come, while elected officials also consider the cost of recreation in relation to such things as garbage collection, dust control or decorative brick sidewalks. scheduled time. In spite of the horrid weather, • people nei'er stopped coming. Elizabeth and the kids didn't ap- pear on the scene till 9:30. I had already sold the folding chair and the .pick axe, the weird silver wine cups adn the Power Vak (even though the; ad had called it a Power Van, and I had a couple of disappointed 'telephone callers.) It seems that bad weather does not stop garagesale enthusiasts. Maybe it even spurs them on. In- stead of serving Koolaid - as pro- mised in the ad - we should have sert'ed coffee or hot chocolate. But by 11 o'clock the sun came put. Promptly the kids set up their little table and chairs smack in the middle of the driveway. The first cup of Koolaid got spill- ed all over Stephanie's slacks. But enough people were good sports to make the children's business boom. And ours boomed right along with theirs. When it was over, the rolkin My pocket had swollen to a respectable size. It took me all afternoon to clear away what was left over, to pack it all in boxes marked "garage sale", to tie opened again in the fall. Or maybe we won't have another sale till next spring. But as sure as sunrise there will be another. What are we going to do with the money? The kids deserve a share of the loot because they had to give up excess toys like their Castle Greyskull. Now they can wish for something with play value. And what about the parents? Let's get something that won't end up on the garage sale table for at least two or three years. Yes, garage sales are hard work. My muscles still ache from carrying all those heavy boxes from basement to garage to lawn to basement. And my feet are sore from standing around all morning. But garage sales satisfy something inside me. Maybe I should have been a mer- chant, a haberdasher perhaps. It gives me great 'pleasure to sell something, even when I know that I bought if for fifty dollars and am giving it away for ten. It's not the money, it's the fact that I'm making a sale. What did people do before garage sales were invented? Did they just hoard everything? And Saturday mornings? Did they sleep in? Did they watch cartoons along with the kids? And will this garage sale age of ours last? What will happen when we discover our own stuff in somebody else's garage? Perhaps anthropologists cen- turies from now will judge our civilization not by its achievements in space, not by its liberation of women, not by its advance in computer science, but by the way in which we raid our neighbours' garages week after week. Yes, garage sales are part of our culture. Maybe at the next sale I'll even get rid of my two aluminum doors. Level of sophistication it seems that the advertisers on television would have us all believing that over the last thirty years or so that the sense of smell of North Americans has suddenly become far more acute. It used to be that dogs were given credit for being the ones that would be used to track down escaped prisoners and in my high school science i can remember study- ing about a male moth that was allegedly able to track down a friend- ly female from a hundred yards away. Now though; humans are able to he far more perceptive than that. The camera zooms in on busy department store. Hundreds of people are walking about. The lens focuses on an attractive girl riding up an escalator. Across the lobby a hand- some young man is making a pur- chase. Suddenly his nose twitches. Ile looks around, spots the girl. Her per- fume fills him with longing, so much By the Way by Syd Fletcher so that he leaps across the counter, grabs a stray bouquet of flowers (which has not interfered with his nose's selective powers apparently), runs to the escalator and presents it to the girl. She is not surprised since she knew the power of her 'impulse' perfume. Similarly we are warned that if we do not wear a non-stick, non -smear deodorant, an extra -dry foot powder, brush our teeth with fluoride tooth gel, dust our entire body with the latest talcum that somebody sitting• next to you in church may look at you with a sneer, with a twitching nose that tells you that you forgot something this morning , i sometimes wonder how those peo ple over in Third World countries can possibly survive with ail those offen- sive odours wafting around. Maybe they have just not reached our level of 'sophistication' yet. A pity, eh?