Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-09-18, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, September 18, 1991 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord cCNA Second Class Mali Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Withkt 40 miles (65 km.) addressed to non letter carrier addresses 530.00 plus 54.10 G.S.T. OuUsde 40 miles (65 km.) or any letter cattier address 530.00 plus 530.00 postage (total $60.00) plus $4.40 0.5.T. Outside Canada 568.00 1 1 A price too steep he recommendation of the Lambton County Boundary Application Committee that municipal boundaries no longer define the limits of services such as water and sewage systems is nothing more than political pandering. The committee, in its desperation to reach a compromise in which Grand Bend would get future land for devel- opment, but not access to fully devel- oped township tax bases, and for the townships to get something in return, determined that the Grand Bend servic- es ought to be extended to where they are desired - outside village boundaries. While certain services, like fire pro- tection, ambulances, and hospitals are offered over geographical areas, not po- litical boundaries, other hard, perma- nent services like water lines and sew- ers do follow lines of taxation. If the county, or the province, provid- ed such things, then the story might be different. But how is Grand Bend go- ing to attract development to its village if its services are available anywhere? By 1993, the "lakeshore" community I will still have its small purchase on the lake, but will have acres to develop in- land, even though the whole point of lakefront development is to exploit the shoreline. It is true that lands previously annexed from Stephen Township have not devel- oped as quickly as other lakefront areas, and for obvious reasons. So 20 years from now, Grand Bend, af- ter having spent millions on sewage treatment plants for the whole area, in- side and outside its boundaries, may still not have the arena or public recreation facilities that the surrounding subdivi- sions are clamoring for even today. Diplomatically snaking Grand Bend's future boundaries around developed are- as is not really a solution to the village's problems. And then giving away the village's services to all takers only makes matters worse. Grand Bend may feel it has won some- thing in its bid to annex Stephen and Bo- sanquet Township lands, but it may find the price of the compromise was worse than no annexation at all. A.D.H. Time for a turn f you're in a charitable mood, you can say Exeter council's continued attempt to put a turning lane on Main Street at Sanders is commendable. If not, you can say it should have been installed long ago. Is it just our imagination, or has traf- fic on Main Street increased markedly over the past few years? As pointed out in this space last week, the problems of sharing a Main Street with a highway are common to several local communities, but it may be possi- ble that Exeter's afternoon traffic jams are not just the result of through -town traffic. We have to consider that the only way to get from the south of town to the north is to cross the bridge on Main Street. And council has also managed to make side -street travel even more un- bearable in the past few months by add- ing a few more four-way stops to Exet- er's already inflated total. Main Street is the only way to go. But if council is to permit continued development along the town's eastern and western flanks, then something will have to be done to accommodate the traffic that will otherwise head inward to Main Street before going north or south. Providing the services to get new de- velopment up and running is one thing, but the next council should also accept responsibility for the extra traffic that development will generate. Better north -south routes than just Main Street alone will have to leave maps of future plans and become reality, although the prospect of building another bridge is sobering. But something will have to be done, otherwise Exeter will become better known for its traffic jams than for white squirrels. An advanced green light may be a step in the right direction, but it is only the first step to solve a problem that isn't go- ing to go away. A.D.H. "Please go and shave. The guests are going to be here any minute," Elizabeth said, "and don't forget to trim your mous- tache It's drooping again." Alexander, who is going to be Peter's Point • Peter Hessel a teenager in February. is be- coming ever so slightly interest- ed in my almost daily shaving ritual. If he takes after me, he'll be shaving his face within a couple of years or so, whether he needs it or not. He watched me while I was applying the clippers to my moustache. "There, that's done." "There's no difference at all," he said. "Mom's not going to be satisfied. Go and trim it some more." I radically attacked the cor- ners, just to please him. "Now it's crooked," he said. "You need to cut off a little more on that side." Ihad toagree with him. and I cut the moustache shorter than I had wanted to. "Now it's too short on that side." I looked closely, and sure enough, my hand had slipped. 1 tried to straighten it out, but the result made me look like Adoh Hitler. Or like Charlie Chaplin's impression of The Great Dicta- tor. 1 hate that", Alexander said in disgust. So did I. There was only one solution. The radical one: major surgery. Mousta- cihectomy. "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley Published Each Wadneeday Morning M 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156 by 1.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. To/sphere) 1.519-235-1331 G.S.T. IRiO62iOSU MUM "Sorry, yourpicket signs wren'1 ready yet — all my sign painters have gone on strike." rir So what? Pass the sports section What do you. think of the big news? Yeah, Gretzky really took a hit. No, not Gretzky. Oh, Lindros. Well, I think the NHL ought to drop him like a hot potato. Will you forget hockey? Don't you read any other news? Sorry, I guess you mean the back to work legislation for gov- ernment workers. Boy, that's a hornet's nest isn't it? Yes, I suppose, but I wasn't talking about Canadian news at all. I was thinking of intema- tional events. Oh, of course, Yugoslavia. Yes, a real tragedy. When are they going to get a ceasefire that works? I'm not talking about Yugosla- via. What is the matter with ,everybody? I'm talking about one of the most significant events of our entire lifetimes and everyone seems to be more interested in the Jay's scores or the Canada Cup. Doesn't any- one realize the Communist Party has been toppled in the Soviet Union? That one of the most feared ideologies has been final- ly accepted as an "unfortunate experiment"? The whole course of world politics and economics may be changed forever and no one cares. 1 wouldn't say that no one cares, it's Just that..well...what can you say about it? The Americans ought to be pa- rading in the streets, for starters. They've finally been able to The Moustache Alexander ran to tell Duncan and Stephanie: "Come quick, Dad has shaved off his mous- tache!" Duncan was frightened. He ran to hide in his room. He re- fused to come out until his fa- ther retumed. The only one he knew. The one with the mous- tache. 1 went downstairs to face Elizabeth. Alexander was right behind me, feeling guilty be- cause he was sort of responsi- ble for it all. Elizabeth beamed. "You look like the man 1 married," she said. "Do you like it?" Alexander asked. Elizabeth had been bugging me for ten years to shave it off and to mum to what she con- siders normal. Now she had her will. prove that communism is a sys- tem doomed to failure. No, 1 think they're probably disappointed. How so? I expect the Americans always Hold that thought... By Adrian Harte wanted to tackle the Russians head on. For years they built up their defenses against the great threat, told themselves they were morally superior, despite Com- munism's arrogance. But in the end, the communists just went away. It's like getting a really great hand in poker only to have the other guy fold and walk away from the table - a let down. No, I don't buy that. Where is all the smug satisfaction of see- ing democracy and capitalism prevail? There is some of that in the newspapers and maga- zines, but nowhere near what one would expect. Remember what it was like when the Berlin Wall came down? The whole world was transfixed. Where are those feelings today? Perhaps the world is a little fearful of how the Soviets will adapt to a market economy. Once their technology gets up to standard they may show up the rest of the capitalist world's I had often wondered how she would like it if I really did shave it off. Now -I wasn't sure whether she was happy and hiding her feelings of esctacy or sad and hiding her disap- pointment. I only knew that she was hiding something. Any further discussion and soul-searching was interrupted by , the arrival of our guests. They were too polite to blurt out right away: "What on earth did you do to your face?" It was at least an hour later that Lynn said" "You look younger without the moustache," and Mark added: "It suits you." The next morning, we held an emergency meedng of the fam- ily council, called by Stephanie and Duncan. The subject Dad's moustache. Stephanie and Duncan felt that they had lost their Dad. The guy replacing him was just not good enough. They wanted their Dad back, and the sooner the better. Stephanie made a motion, and Duncan seconded it. Elizabeth said: "I like Dad better without his drooping moustache." "So do I," said Alexander. I guess he had to justify his ac- tion. After all, he had practical- ly made me do it. "Wednesday have a 50-50 split," I noted, "and I guess it'll be up to me whether I grow the thing back or not." "If you don't grow it back right away, 111 leave home," Stephanie threatened. "Good!" Alexander shouted. "I91 go with her," Duncan said. 1 might leave if Dad grows it back," Elizabeth said, escalating faults. For a few decades they may be happy to make an honest product at an honest price. Maybe Europe and North Amer- ica are a little worried we may end up looking like exploitive greedheads in comparision. We'd be the bad guys. Nice theories, but how come we're the only ones discussing this subject.? Everyone else in the coffee shops are discussing the postal strike and the pennant race. Maybe that's more important after all? I can't believe that. All my life I always thought the Berlin Wall was a permanent structure that would outlive me, but in '89 it was broken up into souvenirs for tourists. Even then I thought the world was still divided into capi- talists and communists - us and them - and now that's all gone and changed. It's all so fast my head is spinning, and no one else seems to notice. Yes, it is surprising. Is that all you can say? Well, I'm reminded of a song on one of my compact discs. It's quite clever really, the music be- gins and a woman sings out a few seconds of empassioned lyr- ics, spinning a tale of woe. Then she stops and the music continues for several minutes. You listen throughout the whole song, expecting the voice to come back and finish the story, but it doesn't. You realize as the music fades, that right from the beginning, there was never any- thing more to say. the Crisis. "What exactly is it you don't like?" I asked Stephanie. "Without the moustache, your nose looks bigger than your mouth." I went to the bathroom mirror. She was right. My upper lip seemed insignificant. "I wonder how much it would cost to get silicone injections into the lips?" I asked. I know ' they did wonders for Julia Rob- erts (Pretty Woman). But then I remembered my low pain threshold, and I decided that t growing it back would be less agony. We put the motion to the vote, and I supported it. In a couple • of weeks the situation will be be as before. The twins will accept me again. Elizabeth will grum- ble again. And I won't have to ge a new photo for Peter's Point. ,