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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-02-15, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 15, 1989 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated' 1924 COIL BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 'Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 ROSS HAUGH Editor HARRY DEVRIES BM BECKETT .Publisher & Advertising Manager DON SMITH Composition Managr - Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 If A mistake was made ayor Bruce Shaw said in his column last week he 'neither i ttiated the idea to move to the Old T6wn Hall, nor did he vote on the propo- sal. Accepting this statement means the mayor is simply following the wishes of council in the controversial decision to consider spending about $385,000 mak- ing the Old Town Hall suitable for serv- ing as a municipal office and council chamber. Bruce Shaw has demonstrated his strong leadership ability over the past several years. He has been in the fore- front of spending over a million dollars on the sewage, lagoons. He was mayor when the arena was built after many heated arguments, and recently. Shaw. was considering the possibility of Exeter dropping out of Huron County. Shaw -has_ been tested under fire many times and has' alwayslanded on his feet with the public supporting him. It's difficult to imagine why someone with the mayor's talent, communication ability and public relations skills would allow events of the past few weeks to put him in a no-win situation as a result of council's mishandling of their decision to move back to the Old Town Hall. Whether Shaw had any input into the matter or not doesn't let him off the hook. He is the top elected official in town and the buck stops with him. As soon as the decision was made tomove back t� a building that would have been a parking lot today if some -politicians had their way a few years ago, the next im- mediate step should have been to imme- diately and personally notify the taxpay- erwho is -most affected. Expecting the mayor to do this:person- ally under the circumstances.would be unrealistic.:.... but our reeve, deputy - reeve and six councillors aren't sheep. If , the mayor wasn't leading council in the direction they were going, who.was ? Tensions between the mayor and Doug Ellison are common knowledge and must have obviously been considered at one. point or another by each and every coun- cil member. It's difficult -to comprehend why nobody showed any hint of leader- ship by taking a few minutes of their time to:inform Ellison they were think- ing of asking him to vacate his building. It has been suggested that Ellison re- ceived exactly eceived-exactly the treatment he -was enti- tled to by getting a copy of the town's let- ter to his present landlord, the Heritage Society. He did receive the minimum_ you could expect from the town, but getting the minimum is not something you would expect .to- happen under Bruce Shaw's tenure as mayor. Members of council, with the exception of Ben Hoogenboom who offered a sem- blance of an apology to Ellison at the last council meeting, have so far in this case demonstrated absolutely no leadership. Shaw shou�d-ltave delegated -somebody to explain the situation to Ellison. The fact that he didn't is no reason for the rest of council to sit back and wait for the fire- works to happen. It's said that quality rises to the top in pressure situations. We're still waiting for this to happen: Allegations. have also been made by Doug Ellison that the hiring of Grace Project Management of London to coor- dinate the renovations to the Old Town Hall and more recently to plan the new fire hall represents a conflict of interest because of Shaw's friendship with Bruce Martin of Grace. If it's not too late already, other firms should be invited to tender their services. Grace Project Management could very well be the best company available, but the choice should be made after compar- ing them with others: If they are the best for the town they will be chosen. Wheth- er they're selected or not, it should put an end to accusations of conflict of inter- est. The question of whether council is making the correct decision in the first place is another topic. • Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited Predictions from 1900 This week we received a visit from• one of the most respected and active Holstein cattlemen in Huron county in the past 50 -years who is now living a retired life in.Grand Bend. Ross Marshall brought in cop- ies of the Christmas issue of the Farmer's Advocate for the years 1900, 1903 and 1905. Right inside the front page of the 1900 paper was an advertise- ment showing high grade har- vesting machinery manufactured by David Maxwell and. Sons -in St. Mary, Ontario. There were pictures of horses hauling mow- ers, binders and rakes. The most interesting item in this issue appeared as,a full page of predictions of things to come on the farm in the future. It was entitled, " The double x-rays on the farmer in Century XX." • Starting with: All hail the 20th century dawn, old fashions now are done and gone, So with the pen of prophe- cy, we jot down marvels soon to bc. Old Father Time now disap- y Jim Beckett pears, with thetoiling chap of ----ether ther years; The 20th Century Letters to the Editor Dear Sir: This letter is about our Hospital here in Exeter; but instead. of the usual criticism, I want to compli- ment them. Although I dreaded the idea; just recently I had the dubious pleasure of staying in our. hospital for the better part of a week. I was. pleas- antly-surpriscd* - Our nurses.are kind, patient, and efficient. I saw them take time(al- though they were very, very busy) to listen, while a stroke patient painstakingty .fought to get the words out, that she wanted •to say to them. I saw them racing down the hall to a patient that was on a heart monitor, only to find.that a wire had come off the patient's chest. I saw there holding a child at night until the child fell asleep without crying. My own -children have been in various city hospi- tals, and if they woke up at night, they usually cried themselves back to sleep. The nurses were also quite effi- cient at checking patients and "I.V. s" at night. They even man- aged to change my I.V. bag one night without waking me, even though I'm a very light sleeper. Ili the various other hospitals where I have stayed, no nurse has been able to do that before!!! In fact, at one hospital my I.V. had to be re- moved, because itran dry during the night. I haven't slept too well with I.V. s since that night. The rest of the staff: mainte- nance, hospital chaplain, volur • teers, etc. were also very. kind and helpful. The kitchen staff put out meals that could compare favorably with • most of thlrrestauran'tsitt town. I even found myself asking for sec- onds! What a surprise! My only criticism is, that our hospital needs updating. Rooms should have the blood pressure unit mounted on the wall, rather than wheeling it from room to room; they should be larger for easier wheelchair access; and they should be equipped with a sink and toilet in each room. With improvements to our hos- pital rooms and equipment, our hospital could be second to none; the staff already is!! Thhnk you, South Huron Hospi- tal for the best hospital stay I've ever had! Sincerely, • K.E. Dear Sir. Council's handling of their earlier decision to return to the old town hall has been mismanaged and has become an obvious embarrass- ment. During last weeks council meet- ing, we the'public were given no valid reasons for the proposed move and many questions remained unanswered. 1. Town' hall relocation costs were announced to be at $385,000 and now we are led to believe no decision has been made to move until design and estimates are available. 2. During council meeting we were informed council weighed all scenarios pertaining to the town hall relocation. Yet no alternative plans weredivelnct'.ri KO' no cost.. comparisons revealed with. regards to staying the present town hall or relocating elsewhere. 3. When the report on councils plans to shuffle three rhunicipal projects was disclosed we Were told our pocket books would be light- ened. Now we are assured Exeter's taxes will not exceed the normal 5% increase. Council had an opportunity to explain themselves and they failed to do so. We can only hope coun- cil will act with better judgement in the future. Ron rural man, will work upon an- other plan. }lis week he will begin right well, responsive to the Sabbath bell. Going to church his good old way, in automobile rig so • gay. ' He'll -rush across his acres `now, with a lively naptha-motor plow. The furrows being neatly done, at cost of just`a little fun. No longer will he have to plod, at sowing -time upon the sod. His air -ship over the fields API From the +*� editor's disk by Ross Haugh 1.1 will fly, scattering the barley, wheat and rye. In harvest time he'll 'sit and smile, upon his reaper - newest style. cutting and threshing as he goes, leaving the bags in reg- ular rows. His wife, when short she finds her store, will simply tele- phone for more; his cultured daughter you will see, milking by electricity. He'll read his Advocate at night, basking beneath electric light; and beneath that same de- ,lightful glow, his worthy spouse will sit and sew. He'll kill his pigs and cure.his hams, as pleasantly as singing psalms; The electric button sim- ply pressed, his pork.machinery does the rest. Our prairie farmer grown still greater, will not team grain to the elevator, pneumatic tubcs to eve- ry farm, will do the business like a charm.. Fast steamships will be super- seded, cold storage will no long- er be needed; we'll shoot our goods to old John Bull, and keep his biggest markets full. Behold the 20th century way, of getting in your crop of hay; to store or stack it as youplease, just pull a lever at your case. .l In short the farmcr_and his wife, will have so very soft a life; if they don't mind what they are at, they'll have to take to anti -fat. The author of this prophetic ar- 'ticle included drawings to. go with it and they arc also interest- ing. The one about thc naptha powered plow has the driver sit- ting on a two wheel contraption with the motor behind and the one furrow plow out in front. Similarily, the .thresher looks like a riding lawn mower of to- day with the bagged grain falling out behind and for planting it shows a dirigible type airship with thc passengers throwing out seed by hand. • Better not forget the pun of the week. "Depth is height upside down". J Ammaisp- Piano lessons - fun or torture? I think every mother ( and some fathers) are convinced that their children will never amount to anything unless they learn to play the piano. Some parents never go any further than that; maybe they'll hand the kid a mouth prgan and hope for the bcst. At our house, we altady had two- ;s rr "E Y7vd-n A4i. was happening. Over the years we also acquired triangles, tin drums, a recorder, a kazoo, a little guitar, a toy drum, a snare drum, an entire drum set, an el- ectronic keyboard, record players, cassette recorders, and ghetto blasters. And still the chil- dren did not express a desire to join the National Youth Orches- tra. Something was obviously wrong, something needed fix- ing. Chanyi So we bought a piano. Not a Exeter . grand, not even a baby grand. Just an.ordinary tired old upright piano. In fact, we purchased the, cheapest piano that money could PETER'S POINT • by Peter Hesse buy in these parts. I think the move cost more than the instru- ment. But it's in working order. Alexander, being the oldest, was given thc first opportunity to benefit from piano lessons. I have to hand it to the boy, he did his best. Why, he even entered the local music festival and scored 2nd in his class. Koala Bears the piece was called. None of us will ever forget the tune as 1 long as we live. But shortly after the festival, Alexander announced that he hat- ed the piano. To be more specif- ic; that he hated piano practice. He just didn't feel like doing it regularly, or whenever we wanted him to practice.. Exit Alexander, enter Duncan. We asked him whetherpc want- lay- the piano -(.. though he•had u vtrxh y , signs of being partied arty musi- cal), and he said "Sure". Thatls just the way- he/is. A good sport. / Duncan also doesn't like prac- ticing, regularly or otherwise. Nevertheless he docs it without too much complaining. As a re- sult, he can't help,making some kind of progress, and he has been chosen to be the family's nextrepresentative at the coming music festival. He's already Please turn to page 5