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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-12-04, Page 4TYPef-Orc.*Irt*Pepegibor 4.1991 Publittfttfiri Rickett News Editor Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Witt& 40 miles 05 to non letter canier addre.im 5q .a2 Ovtdds 40 miles (66 km.) or any letter canter address $30.00 pies 530.00 postage (total 580.00) plus $4.20 0.S.T. Outside Canada 568.00 -,, "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as hef;.they discuss it cA 4Thomas Macauley Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1.-519-238-1331 O.$.T. 08105210835 Censorship not worthwhile Grand Bend's new council, de- spite only having been sworn in Monday afternoon, already has plans to do things differently. They are already speaking of a new "unity" of council and a more defined purpose. In fact, the council members already met a few times before they took office to discuss some of their plans and poli- cies. It all sounds very nice. But we have also heard that in their at- tempt to brush up the village's image in the public eye is a plan to keep conten- tious issues out of the spotlight. Apparently, (and we have confirmed this with several sources) council plans to withdraw in camera.or behind closed doors in a "recess" at any time to discuss matters it considers too "hot" for public consumption. Because resolutions and bylaws can only be passed in open council, the pub- lic and media will only have access to council's final decisions in these instanc- es. The reasoning and discussion that led up to those decisions may be con- cealed from the public and media. It wasn't that long ago in Grand Bend that an election was fought on a platform for more "openness" about council's ac- tivities. The residents had begun to complain that too much of council's de- cision-making was being done in coffee shops and cottages. Council meetings only seemed to con- sist of complaining delegations, and the rubber stamping Of •,mysteriousresolu- tions and bylaws with deliberately ob- scure wording. The number of "development agree- ments" which were signed between the reeve, clerk and Ontario numbered companies was alarming to many resi- dents, who felt that back room deals were being struck with big -buck devel- opers without proper public input. The public, promised to clean house in the 31988 election and , they did. Those , who jiledged openness to the public propos, won. Are 'we now seeing a return to the "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" days of thee. mid-1980s in Grand Bend? .Is` tdie effort to keep contentious,. po- tentially o tentially negative issues out of the pub- lic eye and out of the newspapers going to win Grand Bend residents' confi- dence? Probably not. A.D.H. I'm not all that comfortable with the title I have chosen for this column: "Garbage by Peter Hessel". And maybe the editor would rather change it. But you'll know what I mean if you read on. I hope you won't think I'm writing garbage because I'm writing about garbage. I have recently discovered that garbage is not a laughing mat- ter. In fact, it's the most serious issue in our part of the woods. I went to the all -candidates' meeting at the school, just be- fore the November municipal elections. and it was an educa- tion for me. I was a bit annoyed when I lis- tened to the speeches of the can- didates (5 minutes each). Why did they ramble on about gar- bage so much? To me, garbage is something you collect, throw out and forget. You don't talk about it. It's not a subject for conversation like the weather. We don't go around saying: "Nice day for garbage collection today, isn't it?" I had come to the meeting pre- pared. I thought I'd ask the can- didates what they thought of is- sues which I - in my innocence - considered important and rele- vant. Recreation. Heritage. Communication between Coun- cil and residents. Taxes. You know, the traditional stuff we ask our would-be local politi- cians. But my questions and the answers they sparked were com- pletely drowned out by discus- sions about the number one pre- dominant issue in this township - and maybe in yours - Garbage. To do it justice, f will spell it Letter to Editor Council, not Zurich, the problem Dear Editor: Further to your article "Commu- nity Living concerned local coun- cils stalling program to get people out of group homes", November 20, 1991., I felt there was some need (or clarification. Firstly, there is the issue of de - 4� �G pH mes s pGarbat\`, ��N 11! '"ror�Hdmes areeve&d under with a capital G for now on. f late, and I'm going to- risk' th There were about 75 people in candidates to sum up now." the auditorium, almost every- They each had twos minutes to body asked at least one ques- wrap up. 100 seconds were filled tions, so it was a busy evening. I with Garbage, 20 seconds with am not exaggerating: more than other substances. When the local paper came (Kit, the meeting was front page3 Peter's• news. "Garbage Greatest Con- 'POlrit . fern in Mel lab."• In the week remaining before election day, some of the candi= dates modified their signs.. "Worried about Garbage? Vote for ME". "Garbage in, Garbage out . Vote for ME". "A vote for ME is a vote for safe Garbage." Guess, won oqh The candidates with the strong- est views on Garbage. Those with the` most sensible approach) to a seemingly simple but evi- dently extremely complex prob- lem. The Garbage managers. The Garbage Administrators. the Garbage Planners. • Peter -Hessel 75% of the questions and an- swers had to do with Garbage. I never knew.pepple could say so much about a Stitiject I had taken for grant until now. • Folks jtist love to',ttdk}ab0ut How many bags should each household be allowed a week? What should the bags be like. Should they be tied with a cer- tain type of knot? What if we have more? How 'i'pticli,will'you ' I don't know how anything else charge us for • additional.: bags? will be handled in the township Why does it cost so much° if Webe over the next three years. But I} take stuff to the dump ourselves? think we can sure of one And what are. ytit,t . going 'to do ttin :� a Garbage will be well' when we run out of space? �+ analyzedcategorized, We have been recycling in our or8Od ark subsidized. township for a couple of years With a little bit of luck it will now, and as far as I'm con- even be picked up and carted to cemed, I'm very happy with it. the dump where it belongs. We separate jars and cans and ; ,'Dere is only one thing wrong. bottles and put them into the re- ' 140Vd _ia t tlg &t habit e04.. cycling box. Easy, --no let deal. ple wlho are causing the Garbage So let's go to the next sub, ct.' problem. You and me. We're the No chance. Garbage and tecy- guilty Tones. When I was a kid, cling remained dOnly'i` &topic thea was almost no Garbage. of the evening.' The' mtfderator NoW it's coming out of your finally ended the question peri- ears. So what happened? Think od, apologizing: "I'm sure all of about it. Write to me about it. you have a lot more questions I'm going to address the subject about Garbage, but it is getting again early in the year. r illi i The Times AdvocatK ' • -sit ters'6 the or. They niust be tignbd Mid shouli be accompanied by a telephone number and address should we need t0 clarify any • Information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: Exeter Times Advocate Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 the Homes for Retarded Persons Mt which includes regulations for the establishment and approval of group homes. Under this Act, the focus is on the "residential" com- ponent of the program ensuring that appropriate accommodation is provided for residents. The fund- ing provides the housing and the program, staff. ' S.I.L. programs under the Devel- opmental Services Act, is a sup- port program which provides funding for support staff to assist people who have a developmental handicap to live in their communi- ty. S.I.L. programs do not provide housing or daily living costs such as utilities, heat or food. The indi- viduals pay for these costs them- selves. S.I.L. programs can offer as little as one hour of support per week or twenty-four hour support, seven days per week. Contrary to your ar- ticle, the program in question will have full time staff and supports per- rwill4a %. if erect_ iett�ty-four bours eing 1A,� rile iuduals being supported develop sl ills, we have the flexibility to reduce the support offered based on the indi- vidual's needs and capabilities. The people who will be us - 11 ing the new pro- gram are moving back to their home community from provincially oper- ated institutions. All three people have families in our catchment area. Our concern was to assist three people to move from institu- tions, not out of group homes as the title of your article suggests. Zurich council's decision limited our abili- ty to do that in Zurich. Lastly, I would like to clarify for Letter to Editor people that our issue is with Zurich council, not the community of Zu- rich as a whole. Obviously we felt that Zurich is a good place to live or we wouldn't support people to live there. Council's position "that the in- creased safety risks, especially fire" only shows that lack of under- standing and attitude towards peo- ple who have a developmental handicap. The people we support are no more risk to the community than any other segment of the gen- eral population. The people we support are not perfect citizens, but then - who is? Zurich council's decision to date docs not prevent services from be- ing developed but it does limit choice. In my view, the decision by council has created a lost oppor- tunity for Zurich as a whole, at least for the present time. Sincerely yours, John J. Gray Executive Director, Community Living -South Huron LocaTbuslnesses need our support Dear Editor. I read with interest the leuers of Patty Hippem and Wendi Schwindt written to your paper and published on November 27, 1991. I think it is time that all citi- zens in small Ontario towns direct- ed their minds to the dual issues of cross border shopping and the con- tributions made by our small town businessmen to our communities. The present recession in no way can be compared to the 1982 or any previous recession. Nor should we blame any particular political party, policy or govern- ment. The fact is, many of the jobs lost, unlike 1982, will not return and the economic situation consid- ering the municipal, provincial and federal deficits is not going to improve in the near future. Ironically, living in a small com- munity we can and should help matters for ourselves. it is neces- sary that we all attempt to shop in Exeter. At one point there were 22 closed stores in our town. One must realize that when a merchant goes out of business and the store remains vacant, the assessment on that particular building reverts from commercial to residential which reduces the mill rate by an amount in excess of $5.00 a thou- sand, which in tum increases the tax burden on the remaining tax- payers which are mostly residen- tial by at least $500.00 per closed store. This cost, along with the further multiplying effect of the unemployed staff, creates a devas- tating effect on our local economy. The funds spent in our commu- nity subsidize our community. Re- alistically, when we shop we should frust attempt to purchase in Exeter. Secondly. we should at- tempt to shop in Huron County since the majority of municipal taxes are expended on education and welfare. Thirdly, if we cannot find an article in Exeter or Huron County we should still attempt to shop in Ontario. Dollars spent in the U.S.A. for the purchase of American products ultimately hurt us the most. One might say, "Why do these fat cat businessmen in our small town need my support?" To this I can only say, because they support usl Ringette, hockey and numerous baseball teams are all sponsored by local business- men. Last year my wife and myself were in- volved in the Ted - 11 dy Bear dream auction which raised some $16,000 for child abuse aid in the County of --Huron. Every merchant`rn"this town approached for the donation of a gift, responded positively although I realize that many of them were hurting because of the present re- cession. All the money raised for this project remained within our county. Our Exeter business association has made Exeter one of the most aggressive and attractive shopping centres in the area. Many of these men are integrally involved in our service clubs. My children have participated in various functions at the youth centre built by the Eitctcr‘ ' Lions Club. Our businessmen stuff port athletics at the high wheel arid'`. are constantly being approached for donations for other local organiza- tions. One of the main arguments I hear with respect to not shopping locally is the entertainment effect of Lon- don or the U.S.A. Ironically, stud- ies have shown that the cost of driving into London and returning with respect to your automobile alone is approximately $15.00. Therefore, on a $100.00 purchase you already have a 15 percent dis- count by shopping locally. Many of our businessmen have partici- pated in the South Huron District High school athletic project where- by they will give a 10 percent dis- count with the production of the discount card. Therefore, while us- ing same we now have a 25 per- cent discount by shopping locally. It is interesting that the Ameri- can state and federal governments are spending millions of dollars on advertisements which emphasize "Buy U.S.A." and thousands of Ca- nadians are responding to the ad. It is estimated so far this year that our border communities have suf- fered a loss of revenue in excess of 2 1/2 billion dollars as a net result of cross border shopping. Many studies have sho*n the major sav- ings on U.S. purchases are for res- taurant food, liquor and gasoline. Granted, we tax certain areas a lot higher than the Americans, but we do not lay off police forces, close schools and allow the infra struc- ture of our towns and cities to com- pletely deteriorate. Likewise, our health system is respected around the world, whereas 40 million Americans do not even have any form of health insurance. Present! in Ontario there are in mass" one million people on we Times are very difficult t w n all help by saying, "i'm ing :give a local businessman a chance. it is very simple, first attempt to shop in Exeter. If you can't find what you want then try other local communities in Huron County. Lastly, go into London or some other Ontario city, but let's all try to firstly look locally and help ourselves. Sincerely, Kim McLean