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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-04-20, Page 5Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 20, 1988 Times Established 1871 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 ROSS HAUGH tditor HARRY DIVRIES +CNA JIM BIM TT Publisher & Adsertising Manager DO% SMITH • Composition Manager Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Difficult decisions The recent recommendations on chang- es in co.,nty government made by a pro - vine: .1 advisory committee are being kicked around by most municipalities. Each town, village or township now. has the opportunity to make their own recommedations as to which sections of the report they wish to become law. The responses will likely be very var- ied depending on the size of the munici- pality. In Huron, the Municipal Act amend- ment to specify that all heads of council, become members of county council will affect only the five towns. In Exeter, council will likely oppose - this move as it would probably mean the end of the municipal career for Mayor Bruce Shaw. Shaw has indicated his duties as princi- pal of South Huron District High School would prevent him from representing the town at the county level. Fortunately for Shaw and for the residents of Exeter, these changes cannot be put in place in time for this fall's municipal elections. The proposed change would not affect villages and townships as their reeves as heads of council are already attending county council. One of the amendments would abolish the positions of reeve and deputy reeve. This will likely pass as will the sugges- tion to eliminate the title of warden as head of county council and be replaced by county -chairman. The amendment to permit election of the county chairman by secret ballot ap- pears to be feasible along with the sug- gestion to have the county chairman eli- gible for re-election to additional terms. We would favour the continuation of annual elections for county chairman. This in no way would rule out the possi- bilty of the same person being elected again the following year. The advisory committee has suggested continuous terms of up to three years. The report calls for townships to be permitted to apply to the Ontario Munici- pal Board for dissolution of police villag- es within their jurisdiction. Locally, Stephen township would be most affected with the police villages of Dashwood, Crediton and Centralia cur- rently with their own boards of trustees. The matter of county -wide assessment has already been taken care of in Huron with the recent change to market value as the base for assessing properties. The decision on which recommndations to accept will be difficult as situations vary greatly between towns, villages and townships. The main thrust of this report appears to take a lot of the responsibility of gov- erning away from the local municipality. Probably another step closer td region- al government. Building character An article on the Huron -Middlesex - Huron Cadet Corps appeared in last week's issue of The T -A. It was issued to try t'o negate some of the comments which apparently have been heard local- ly about the Cadet Corps. We wish to publicly support the efforts of the R.E. Pooley Exeter branch- and Lucan branch 540 of the Royal Canadi- an Legion in sponsoring this group. Over the past 15 years, we have made many visits.to cadet functions and their annual parades and reviews. Captain Greg Pfaff, who came up through the ranks is to be congratulated in his efforts as head of the cadets in moulding these young men and women into better citi- zens. We havefound these young people to be very polite and respectful anytime we have dropped into their Huron Park Rec By Ross (laugh Centre headquarters. Our thoughts were supported this week by South Huron District High School principal Bruce Shaw when he said, "Our students with cadet training certainly show respect to their teachers and to the school system." Any residents of the area wishing to get a good look at the cadets in action will be more than welcome at the Huron Park Rec_Centre on Thursday, June 9 at 7 p.m. Since 1862 the Army Cadet Corps has been offering a program of personal and social development contributing to good citizenship, leadership, physical fitness and service to the community and coun- try. Keep up the good work in building character into our young people and may you continue to stand tall and proud. by Ross (laugh Tough to handle Most of us think that we could handle winhing the big lottery with no trouble. Right? A mil- lion dollars and we'd be set for Iifc. Big houses, cars, no work to do, expensive trips to thc South Seas.wouldbe there for• the asking. All kinds of money would bring instant happiness! Unfortunately it doesn't al- ways work that way. In some cases, the winner has had thc wisdom to not change lifestyles too drastically. The father of a friend of minc won a very large amount not that long ago. Interestingly enough he did not distribute huge gifts to his children. Of course they will get it all at some date in the future but basically he has not done more' for them than pay off the mortgages on their present houses. Each of the boys is working at his former job and intends to continue do- ing so. The father himself did not sell his present home or even quit work. "What value," he re - by Syd Fletcher marked, "would ,it be to•go and buy some mansion in a strange part of the city, away from the friends and neighbours who have become a part of my life over the last 30 years?" His wife didn't really want to even buy a new car. The old one ran well , and served her purposes quite nicely. A winner of six million dollars in another lottery dicd of cancer about a ycar after the prize was received. I'm sure that he would have gladly exchanged the whole ,amount for a couple more years of life. Another young lady quit her job after -getting the big bucks, bought a huge new house and adopted a whole new lift style. She gave large amounts of mon- ey to her relatives yct they grum- bled that it wasn't enough con- sidering how much she h2d. People pestered her with all kinds of projects to spend her cash. on. Six months after win- ning the lottery.she was close to having a nervous breakdown. As I said, money and material possessions certainly cannot buy happiness. 1SO Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by 1.W. Eedy Publications limited Future scientists As part of Education Week which is now underway, the an- nual Science Fair for students of the Huron Board of Education was held in Clinton, Saturday. The quality of projects contin- ues to get better and better each year and not only the winners, but all contestants are to be con- gratulated. Two students from each pub- lic school in Huron entered their exhibits with a wide variety of themes. The three top exhibitors will be taking their projects to the all -Canada Science Fair in Winnipeg in May. Heading for the west will be Tammi Medd of Blyth, Brian Hemingway from Holmcsville and Jason Venkitcsworan of Robertson School in Goderich. Their projects were "Insecticide -Killer of the Soil"; "Waste Disposal Alternatives" and Microwave Ovens", respec- tively. Category winners from the South Huron arca were Shane Pepper of Hensall Public School with his "Air Pressure to Pro- duce Energy" project and Mike McCovan and Phouc Luong of Huron Centennial in Brucefield in the computer section. A large crowd of •spectators itticuding many proud parents visited the Clinton Legion Satur- day night to view the exhibits and watch the presentations. Year after year, the Ausablc Bayfield and Maitland Conser- vation Authorities continue to support this county -wide event with special awards. Also con- tributing is IBM of Canada. it takes a lot of support and co- operation from teachers to make this type of show a success. Two t. From the ; editor's disk by Ross Haugh from this arca who have been in- volved for many years are Larry Wcido of Zurich Public School and Stephen Central's Adriaan Brand. Every school in this arca is holding special events for Educa- tion Week. So, drop in sometime this 'week to the school of your choice and sec what's new in thc education field. Special official re -opening cere- monies are being held tonight, Wednesday at Usbome Central at 7 p.m. and Exeter Public School at 8 p.m. after completion of ren- ovations following last fall's fires. While many schools arc presenting plays and operettas in connection with Education Week, principal Don Coleman and his students at St. Patrick's School at Lucan arc staging a special pro- duction of Charlotte's Web. This operetta will include nearly all students of St. Pat's. Performances continue today and Thursday at 1 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. According to,a recent survey of women's attitudes, a majority of working women rate their home lives as very good; derive more comfort than stress from their families and generally feel their lives arc now better than when they were growing up. That's the good news. Now comes the bad. About 75 percent of the 1,000 women surveyed said they suffered at least occa- sionally from what the survey calls Type E stress crcatcd by try- ing to be everything to every- body. The survey author said, " The stress that comes as a result of managing both a family and ca- reer is not necessarily bad. Rath- er, it can be a byproduct of high motivation and a strong sense of purpose." In fact, the survey showed the more satisfied the women were with their jobs, the more satisfy- ing they perceived home life. * * * * Belated congratualtions arc in store for the Exeter Optimists in sponsoring another very success- ful Home and Garden Show. The Optimists put a lot of effort into this show. The real winner; are the many spectators who had the opportu- nity to attend and the many youth groups in the arca who will re- ceive financial benefits. President Tom Bowen and treasurer Mark Hcimrich and their faithful members arc already working on plans to make next year's fourth annual show again bigger and better tha l ever. In praise of volunteers 1.5 billion television . viewers around the globe watched the Calgary Olympics last February. Many of thcm were probably intrigued or puzzled by a word that isn't very common in their language - if it exists at all: volunteers. In Calgary and the "Olympic Corridor", the approximately 10,000 mcn, women and children who had offered their services to the XV Winter Olympics free of charge were one of the main reasons why these Games became such an overwhelming success. I know. I was in Calgary for three weeks before and during the Olympics, and I worked with some of these dedicated people. In fact, I was almost embarrassed to admit that I was getting paid for what I was doing in Calgary; that I was not a voluntccr. I had never before bccn involved in any activity that crcatcd and sustained such an enormous amount of enthusiasm. These people floated on a cloud of euphoria. These were their Olympics. Canadians from coast to coast carried the flame and shared the glory and the pride. But once the flame was lit at McMahon Stadium, on top of the Calgary Tower, in the downtown • Olympic Plaza, at Canada Olympic Park and at all the other venues, the volunteers were in the forefront. They did what theyhad been trained for, and they did it well. My hat goes off to all of them. They drove cars and busts, they greeted the arriving athletes, officials and visitors, they cooked meals and prepared sandwiches, they picked up garbage and delivered messages, they looked after spectator control and security. Thcy interpreted in many 1 ■ PETER'S POINT • languages, and they kept thc washrooms clean. They provided word processing and first aid. And every one of thcm was a cheerful, helpful goodwill ambassador for Canada. A trainer from one of the Iron Curtain countries asked me: "All those people in the funny uniforms and the cowboy hats - are they in thc army?" "Yes," I said, "they arc our voluntccr army." I should have added: "They are also our seciet weapon. They arc what makes us so essentially different from you. They are at the core of our democracy." But he wouldn't have understood. Where I live, hardly a day goes by that I do not encounter at least one voluntccr. There arc canvassers for national or local causes. There are mcn and women baking and selling muffins. Thcrc arc Brownies selling cookies, Cubs selling apples, and high school kids selling oranges. But not everyoneis trying to get my money: My kids are helped by parent volunteers at school. Whcn they need medical attention at the local hospital, they meet members of the auxiliary. Our community is protected by a very fine voluntccr firc brigade. I don't know how many committees and boards exist in our immediate arca - there must be dozens, from the Hospital Board, the VON Board and the Museum Board to the Recreation Committee, the Library Committee and the Heritage Committee. Not to speak of the many Women's Institutes, service clubs, 4-H, St. John Ambulance, the Historical Society, and the many church -affiliated organizations. Volunteers arc an integral part of Canadian society. I think volunteerism works because it is a two-way street. It gives people from all walks of life an opportunity to enjoy social contact and activities and at the same time to provide a much - Plea NC turn lo page 3