HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-12-30, Page 5By Jim Beckett
All across Canada, including the many communities served by this
newspaper, there are thousands of people who give freely of their time
to help others.
Air Canada, along with the Times -Advocate and hundreds of other
community newspapers across the country have launched a nation-wide
program which will recognize as many of these special citizens as possi-
ble.
The T -A will be promoting the program and will -be soliciting nomi-
nations for "Citizens of Excellence". We hope to have at least 10 names
of deserving people to send on to the selection committee.
Now is the time to start thinking of names you can submit... people
who deserve recognition and honor because they are doing good things
for others and for their communities. It is hoped we will have the
names submitted to us by March of 1988. We will pass them along to
program officials who will judge the nominations for six different re-
gions of the country.
In July, Air Canada will recognize 300 very special people picked
throughout the country with about 140 coming from Ontario. In the fall
a banquet will be organized with the Outstanding Citizens and their
spouses as special guests.
Personally, 1 know of several people in our community who may
qualify for recognition. If you know of a person who should be included
please send us a note at the T -A with reasons for your choice. We'll
make sure it gets to the right people.
Four Exeter stores have been chosen by local shoppers as the winners
in our first ever Christmas Window and Storefront contest.
Jo Anne Dinney and her team of decorators placed first, followed by
Susan Moore and her staff at the Feather Tick. Karen Pfaff and the crew
at Looking Good placed third and fourth place went to Marilyn Waldeck
and staff- at Decorators Touch Plus.
You've probably noticed this year the entire town looked a lot brighter
with thousands more lights shining this season than in previous ones.
e The winners in the draw from the many people who took the time to
vote for the stores of their choice were all from Exeter, Ruth Insley, Ka-
thy Coolman and Grace Wurm. They each received a S25 merchandise
certificate to use in the Exeter store of their choice.
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Qne of the best Christmas presents to us all could have been the recent
signing of the arms limitation treaty between Russia and the United
States.
This softening of positions on both sides has caused the hands on the
Doomsday Clock.to be moved back from the brink of nuclear disaster to
11:57 p.m. It's pretty frightening to know that with midnight on the
Doomsday Clock meaning the end of the world, the experts have set the
hands -with only three minutes to go.
*****************************************
This reporter has uncovered a plot at South Huron District High
School Friday December 18 which resulted in teacher Terry O'Rourke
having to kiss a pig just before the Christmas holidays.
It seems money jugs were set up to see how much could be raised for
the Heart and Stroke Fund with the teacher whose jug contained the
most money being forced to kiss a pig in front of a large number of wit-
nesses. Terry O'Rourke's jug had the most money thanks to the efforts
of a couple of other teachers who conspired against him. O'Rourke was
the loser in the fun contest and certainly the Heart and Stroke Fund was
the winner as approximately $125 was raised in the event.
********************************************
Two examples of "service with a smile" retired Sunday from the busy
world of pumping gas. Jim and Murdiena Glover have been operating
the Save U Gas Bar just over the river for the past 11 years. The Save U
Sign was almost as familiar as the "Golden Arches" to my boys because
they soon realized a fill up at Glover's meant there was a pretty good
chance Murdiena would he handine a sucker throueh the window.
Times -Advocate, December 30, 1987
•
Page 5
Retailers report good Christmas
.Santa brought a good year for
most Elceterxetaileas. Despite con-
cerns about longer shopping hours,
most stores enjoyed a strong Christ-
mas season.
Mike Anstett of Ansteu Jewellers
observed that the shopping "was
well spread out instead of coming in
the last four days." He said the tra-
ditional male buyers who usually
wait until the last minute to pur-
chase jewellery were not as numer-
ous this year.
Anstett preferred seeing the shop-
pers at a less frantic pace over the
last month. "There was no big
rush," he said.
Anstett's did not participate in the
BIA initiative to keep stores open
to 9 pm for the last four shopping
weeks. They were closed evenings
until the last two weeks.
Leo Krahn of Big V described the
last week of sales as "phenomenal".
He considered the evening hours
well worth the effort and added ex-
pense.
"It worked out well for us," Krahn
remarked.
Sam the Recor
Electric's Bill Rowe
out a doubt his sale
and Exeter
that with -
Is were
well above last year's. • wever, he
did not find that staying open in the
evenings brought in many custom-
ers until the last week before
Christmas.
"It's stilla small town," said
Rowe, adding that he did not want
to extend his business hours next
year because he just did not find the
evening trade to be worthwhile.
Karen Monck at Oscar's Video and
Records depicted a Thursday which
was "swamped" with customers
renting video tapes to view over the
holidays.
"Christmas eve was our best day
ever," said Monck. She said the
majority of business was for ren-
tals, but sales of records and tapes
fit anything."
"It was steady," agreed Roxanne
Tetreault and Lorna Finkbeiner, at
Stedman's. They did not feel many
shoppers left things to the last min-
ute like past years.
"I think people shopped earlier
this year," said Finkbeiner.
Willa Wuerth would not venture a
comment on how her son received
the idea of extended evening hours,
but she did say evening business
seemed about the same as previous
years.
"We have been quite happy with
our Christmas sales," said Wuerth
about the entire season's business.
years. • _
"People weren't as mobile as they
are today," observes; Pfaff who be-
lieves shoppers are more likely than
ever to drive to London to benefit
from extended service hours.
Exeter retailers "have to be com-
petitive with what's going on in the
city," suggested Pfaff because she
describes retail as an essentially
competitive business.
"You can't be promised local loy-
alty like they used to be years ago."
Pfaff agreed that evening shop-
ping for the month of December did
not live up to many retailers' expec-
tations. Nevertheless, she does not
It's Your Business
were also on the increase.
Jim Glasgow at Smyth's Shoe
Store thought that the Christmas
business was "much the same as
any other year." However, he "was
not happy with the extended even-
ing hours.
"Nights weren't as good as they
could have been," said Glasgow.
He said his overall sales were good,
but "longer hours didn't really bene -
Karen Pfaff, BIA chairperson and
owner of Looking Good, had a lot
to say about this Christmas buying
season in general.
"We had an extremely good
Christmas," said Pfaff of her own
store's trade, but she cautioned that
Exeter retailers have to remain very
competitive with the London mar-
ket simply because shopper's habits
have changed over the past 20
expect' success overnight and be-
lieves it will take several years be-
fore shoppers will take complete ad-
-vantage of evening hours.
"You have to do it over four or
five years," said Pfaff, who saw cus-
tomers who did not expect her store
to be open evenings until the last
week before Christmas, even
though she had been open to 9 pm
since November 30.
Hobby could become success
Dianne Leibold of Crediton is
continuing a time-honored tradition
of weaving mats out of recycled ma-
terials with a machine that is al-
most 100 years old. .
Leibold bought a mat loom which
had belonged to Ward Neeb of Zu-
rich. Neeb, who owned it for at
least 30 years, was likely responsi-
ble for its modernization and motor-
ization after he purchased it from
area Mennonites.
"I've only been doing this since
January," says Leibold, who bought
the machine because she enjoys
making useful items, but dislikes
knitting. She explains it only took
her half an hour to learn how M use
the complicated loom.
It takes Leibold around an hour to
finish each mat. They can be wov-
en from her own stockpile of fabrics
or custom made with a customer's
own material. All the mats are ma-
chine washable because she prefers
to use polyester or felt fabrics.
However, customers can request
mats made with cotton, denim, or
any fabric cut into one inch strips.
The cost of the mats varies with
the length of the finished product.
Those made from a customer's own
fabric are measured at 300 an inch.
Leibold's own mats cost 450 an
inch. The loom weaves mats at 23-
24 inches wide. Some are woven
the size of placemats and others can
stretch to a metre or more in length
for use as throw rugs or carpet run-
ners.
"It's a nice hobby," says Leibold,
but she has had her problems in
finding a large enough market to
sell her wares. She displayed some
at the front of her home all summer
and only sold a few. Trips to craft
shows have not yet proven very
successful, but Leibold still hopes
to rekindle the interest in woven
mats of years past.
"Around here you've got to have
something that's different," observes
Leibold and says she tries to keep
her creations interesting with a va-
riety of colours and tasteful designs.
She has even purchased rolls of
polyester in bright colours specifi-
cally to brighten up the mats and al-
low more complementary bands of
colour across the weaving.
Leibold hopes for more success in
her business next year. Attempts at
advertising have not been fruitful.
"Pretty well it's just word of
mouth," she says of how her cus-
tomers have found out about her
hobby, but she does not worry too
much because the mats make excel-
lent gifts for her own friends and
family and she enjoys making
them.
The 303 -string loom is kept in
the basement, and, in the summer,
Leibold finds relief from the heat
while at the same .time weaving a
product that is both useful and at-
trac 'v
AT THE LOOM - Dianne
antique mat loom.
r
,.
Leibold of Crediton demonstrates how she recycles old
The photo above shows Jim and Murdiena pumping their last tankful
into my van. Taking over from the Glovers is Bob Scion of Hensel!.
RIDE program set
to blitz county
The 1987-88 Christmas -New
Years R.1.D.E. Program Blitz in
Huron County has been operating
since November 15 and will contin-
ue well into the New Year.
Exeter, Godcrich, Wingham
O.P.P. Detachments year-round
Anti -Impaired Driving campaign
has been stepped up once again to -
detcr drinking and driving at this
festive time of the year.
In last year's Blitz, O.P.P. offi-
cers in Huron County checked
7,771 drivers and charged 12 people
with alcohol-related Criminal Code
driving offenses. A total of 56 mot-
orists were taken off the road with
12 hour license suspensions and 89
people faced Liquor License Act
charges for having alcohol easily ac-
cessible to the driver.
This year from November 15 to
December 19, a total of 3,534 vehi-
cles were checked with 30 license
suspensions of 12 hours each being
issued.
MICROWAVE WINNERS - Mina and George Adams of RR2 London are
presented with their now Panasonic microwave oven by Wayne Maver of
Huron Tractor. Adams won the oven in a draw among those who purchased
tractor batteries during a promotion.
materials into new mats on her
Farm show expands
The 2nd annual Canadian Interna-
tional Farm Equipment Show to bc
held at the Toronto International
Centre, February 2 - 5, 1988, has
expanded into the new 30,000 sq. ft.
addition allowing more exhibitors to
participate.
Over 500 exhibitors representing
more than 900 companies will be
showing their equipment and prod-
ucts utilizing the exhibit arca to its
capacity. The Show features the
newest farm technology from major
North American manufacturers, as
well as many other nations and is
the largest indoor farm machinery
show in Canada and oneof the larg-
est in North America.
The excellent exhibit facility
which is located on Airport Road
near the Lester B. Pearson Airport
makes the show easy to get to and
the free parking is a great plus.
Bus shuttle service will be provid-
ed from the many parking areas to
pick up visitors and deliver them
right to the door and back upon leav-
ing.
Money saving registration cards
can be picked up at any fame equip-
ment dealer outlet, co-op store or
fccd and seed dealer. The visitor will
save S3. by calling into their local
storc so it's well worth their effort.
The Ontario Retail Farm Equip-
ment Dealers' Association (ORFE-
DA) members arc planning group
bus trips for their many customers.
Some are arranging to spend 2 days
at the show.
For the ladies who want to get in
some shopping during the show,
special arrangements for free trans-
portation tQand from the magnifi-
cent Woodbine Shopping Cen•rc has
been made.
Free educational seminars for the
farrn family will bc continuous dur-
ing the four day event.
Major agricultural meetings will
take place in conjunction with the
show each day. It is now becoming
known as Agriculture Wcck.
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