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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-05-11, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocated May 11, 1988 Times tslablished 18-1 Adhocate tstabh'hed 188 Amalgamated I42-1 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM ISO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 ROSS HA( (.rl (ditto HARRI Dt1RIIS CNA • 11+1 BI(KEr1 Publi+her A Adsertiung Manager DON SMITH ('imposition Manager Business %tanager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by ).W. Eedy Publications Limited It's big business A recent governmental discussion pa- per on credit card interest charges re- veals some interesting information. First of all, the credit card business is big with about 16 million Canadians holding at least one card and many have as many as three or four. Figures for 1986 showed a total of $5 billion in outstanding balances. That's an incredible sum of money. It's -estimated credit card transactions are increasing by 15 percent each year. The discussion paper reflects the con- cern that many Canadian consumers pay more .than they should because they don't understand credit and interest charges. Because of differences in the way interest is calculated, a credit card's interest rate is not a reliable indicator of the charges associated with its use. Governments at both the federal and provincial levels establish regulations which require the disclosure in a stan- dardized form of terms and cQ,pditions that determine the cost of borrowing on consumer loans. A similar system should apply for credit cards. . Interest rates on personal- loans have de- clined markedly from the peak levels of 1982, but rates on credit cards from fi- nancial institutions declined only some what, and on other credit cards not at all. The rates should be closer as some uses of -credit-cards-are ter purchase larger - items which could he considered person- al loans. We agree that credit card interest rates should be somewhat higher than personal loans, because interest costs arc only part • of the expenses incurred. The others are costs associated with issuance of cards and monthly statements and processing each transaction. Another reason for the high interest charges on credit cards is the fact anyone that pays his or her account within a spec- ified grace period does not pay any inter- est. The high rates are charged to those card users who only make partial payments each month on their accounts. Many consumers have the mistaken im- pression that any partial payment pro- portionately reduces interst charges. It's worth noting that, for all credit cards in Canada, payment of only a portion of the account does not proportionately reduce the appropriate interest charge. . For credit cards of financial institu- tions, a partial payment reduces the inter- est bearing balance from the date of the payment, but interest charges up to the payment date are based on the full out- standing balance. For retail stores credit cards, partial payments of less than 50 percent of the statement balance are not subtracted be- fore interest charges are calculated. The present application of the grace period concept by credit card companies favours consumers who pay their balanc- es in full within the grace period. Probably one step to close the gap be- tween the two concepts would be to sub- tract the partial payment before interest is added, if it is received within the grace 'period. by Ross Haugh Give me a sign, please I know our own neck of the woods fairly well. I think I, could find home without a compass from any corner of the township. But when I get to your neigbourhood it's a different story. Have you ever driven a car in Central Europe? It is impossible to get lost. You couldn't go one kilometer without finding a road sign that tells you exactly where you are and where you're headed. They have more directional signs than trees. I don't think we should go to that extreme in Canada But when I'm driving on a secondary road from Aville to Beeville, and I come to a Y, I'd like to see a teensy weensy sign that tells me whether I should turn this away or that away to get to Beeville. Most Canadian municipalities like to keep things like that a secret. I guess county or township officials think that people unfamiliar with the arta have no business being there. I'll buy that. But then why bother spending tax money on tourist promotion? Why print an expensive, glossy brochure about beautiful Beeville when tourists have a 50% chance of ending up in Ceeville which doesn't even have a motel, let alone an attraction. Or end up in a muskeg. It can work out the opposite way; of course. I once drove for miles to find a resort that had paid a lot of money to advertise its facilities. 1 followed the map, but then the inevitable happened. The road branched out, and the only sign at the intersection read "Worms for sale", pointing to the right. When in doubt, apply logic. Where there are worms, there must be a lake. I turned right, and I found not the resort I was looking for, but its competitor. It cooked good, and 1 spent my money right there. In some countries, when you enter a community with more PETER'S POINT • than two houses, an official sign tells you the name of the place, the township and he county, together with the latest population figure. On the reverse side, the sign says:„ Leaving Dceville, 5 km to • Eeville". Whenever you come to a junction, the signs direct you to the nearest village, the nearest town and the nearest city. And they say how many klicks you still have to drive until you get there. We don't operate that way. We don't like uniformity, and we hate regulation. That's why driving in Canada (and in the States) is much more adventurous. You'll never know where you might end up. We especially dislike words. Numbers are o.k. We don't reveal too many secrets that way. Telling motorists that they are headed in the direction of Winnipeg would be taking all the fun away. So we play the numbers game. Route 12 this way, Route 44 that way is all they are allowed to know, and this is especially hilarious when 44 is called.125 on the latest official Provincial road map and 66 in the Rand McNally Road Atlas that may be quite old - but not as old as the road signs. I understand there are people who settled on the Prairies just because they couldn't find their way home. Nor is this a Western specialty. I have spent delightful holidays in remote parts of Ontario by either following or ignoring my instinct and getting lost as a result. Have you ever had to fight your way out of a big Canadian city? Like Toronto or Montreal or Calgary? There is a conspiracy of silence among city road planners. They never put up signs pointing to a rival city. Anyone caught setting up a sign showing motorists how to get from mid- town Toronto to mid -town Montreal or Ottawa would be fired. And anyone erecting a sign in Montreal pointing to anywhere outside Quebec would be executed. So you want to go from downtown Regina to downtown Winnipeg? Don't look for a sign, ask at a service station. If you can find one that isn't "self service" (i.e. non -service). Don't feel badly, though. The absence of road signs is part of our Canadian way of life. And we've got more worms for sale than anybody else in the world. "PLANTING?? - I'M BURYING IT !I.” Help keep the town cleaner At the latest meeting of Exeter council, Morley Hall suggested that residents who go for walks throught the streets of town in thc mornings and at night should take along a garabagc bag and pick up refuse along the way. This idea may seem a little sil- ly, but likely would be very ef- fective. Less than a week after South Huron District High School students had collected 1,500 pounds of garbage in a couple of hours, we took a two block walk along Main street. While most merchants are very co-operative in cleaning up in front of their piaccs of busi- nesses, we did find a large va- riety of articles. These included cigarette butts and packages, drinking straws, lottery tickets, popsicle sticks, plastic cups and spoons, crushed pop cans, in- voices, business cards, klccncx, etc. The problem here lies with the person throwing the refuse away. The town has provided numerous boxes along Main strtcct for litter and it's time eve- ryone started to co-operate. If you have something to be thrown away, how long would it take to walk to the nearest lit- ter box? - If that doesn't work, council will have to start enforcing the littering bylaw which is already in effect. it calls for a fine of $10. Bill Micklc back from a trip to China, told councillors at the last meeting that littercrs in Pek- ing arc fined right on the spot. The fine there is something like 16 cents Canadian. Let's everyone help in keeping the town cleaner. * * * * Elsewhere in this week's issue of the T -A appears a story about three arca residents who wcrc amongst the 100 in the province winning Centennial awards from the Ontario Ministry of Agcicul- turc and Food. Ai, From the editor's disk by Ross Haugh t • In announcing the awards, Minister Jack Riddell said, "We want to pay tribute to those, past and present, who have made our Ontario agriculture and food sec- tor one of the finest in the world." We would like to send along congratulations to these very de- serving persons who we have been involved with many times during our 24 year stay here at - this newspaper. In this case it's ladies first as we talk about Dolores Shapton. Dolores has been involved in so many activities one wouldn't know where to start about her ac- complishments. She probably was one of Onta- rio's best travellers during 1987. As President of ,the Homecraft Division of the Ontario Associa- tion of Agricultural Societies , Dolores visited 105 fall fairs. Now that took a "fair" amount of time. Dolores has ,been a driving Wee for so many years with the executive of thc Exeter Fall Fair in many capacities and her sec- ond love, next to fairs would have to be Women's Institutes. She has been a member of the Crediton WI for more than 25 years, recently received a life membership from that group and is currently the curator of the Hu- ron South Institutes. Also receiving a Centennial award was Gordon Hill of Var- na. For more than 30 years, Hill has taken it on himself to speak for Ontario farm families. Hill was president of the Onta- rio Farmers Union from 1957 to 1960 and when -the-Ontario Fed- eration of Agriculture was re- structured in 1969 he became president and stayed in that posi- tion for a record number of seven years. Gordon has also served as chairman of the Ontario Bean Grower's Marketing Board and is currently chairman of the Onta- rio Crop Insurance Commission. The third local recipient is Bob Allan of Brumfield who is proba- bly best known for his achieve- ments over many years at the Royal Winter Fair. While helping to test and intro- duce many new grain varieties in Ontario, Allan has been able to win world championships white beans, pedigreed seed hay. One of the awards goes posthu- mously to Malcolm Davidson who was killed in a farm accident in 1970 near Brumfield. He was also a prime instigator of forming the Ontario Federation of Agri- culture and was also involved in the bean board. Congratulations to all,- you arc deserving of your awards. It was a good cure I learned at a young age not to complain about any illness around my dad. Back on the farm with his fa- ther fifty or sixty years ago ani- mals often needed doctoring and of course, veterinarians wcrc a luxury only for thc rich. Dad spoke of putting splints on hors- es' legs, of applying poultices to abscesses and of helping deliver calves. As a youngster I was entranced by all these stories but at the same time I wasn't about -to let hint use any of 'those remedies on me. To be fair, he was not above using some of these concoctions on himself, like the famous dose of Epsom salts which was guar- anteed to curt bouts of indigos - By the Way by Syd Fletcher tion or any other problems asso- ciated with the stomach. And woe betide anybody who dared to block his way to the facilities after a 'salts' treatment. Then thcrc was his sulphur 9 cure which he maintained was great for anyone who was just generally feeling a little down in the mouth. Have you ever seen raw sulphur? it's an evil yellow powder which i had a chance to view long before seeing it in my Grade 12 Chemistry class. Dad used to buy it by the pound from the local drug store. Believe me, ,t I stayed far far away from that stulff and kept a big smile on my face if he even looked toward the 1medicine box. You know, i was just thinking that we could probably reduce a lot of modem day kids' big drug bills if we just introduced a little yellow sulphur to their lives.