Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-04-13, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 13, 1994 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor. Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager. Deb Lord .)74 Publications Mall Registration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Within 40 mites (65 km.) addressed to non tetter carder addresses 530.00 plus 52.10 Q.S.T. Outside 40 tiles (65 tint.) or any tetter caner address 530.00 pea 530.00 (total 80.00) + 4.20 0.3.T. Outside Canada 599.00 (Includes 588.40 postage) Opinion El)I'I'()IZI:kI, Holding onto what we have entralia College's closing, an announcement made a year ago, hit this area quite hard. A large educational in- stitution, a major employer, and a cen- trepiece of this region's roots in agricul- ture is to disappear. By the end of May, the dream of 1967 will be over, a victim of the continued financial belt -tightening of a cash- strapped province. For those not directly affected by the closing, it has been something of a sad example of the state of the local econo- my. Most expect it will have some re- percussions as staff members either lose their jobs or move away. Now we learn there will be other felt repercussions. The recreation centre which the college has managed for these past two years will not return to its former owners as a public facility. Instead it will be "boarded up" like the college, in the hope someone may soon be interested. It's hard to believe no one has yet come forward with concrete plans for the excellent buildings the college oc- cupies in the industrial park. It is hard- er to believe the recreation centre is better off locked up than being put to the good use it has been these past years. Stephen Township has plans to do a little upgrading to the public halls it has already. The recreation committee is also pressing for a significant addition to the hockey arena. If only the build- ers had simply put the arena and the rec- reation centre side by side all those years ago... The Huron Park Recreation Centre won't be missed because of its contribu- tion to local architecture. Its austere military motif isn't high on the list of heritage conservators. In fact, a few of the volleyball players might gladly take a hacksaw to some of its beams if they were told it were safe to do so. The Huron Park Recreation Centre will be missed because it is a building with real value. It is probably the best, but not the prettiest, hall this side of Lucan. No one else in this area had the sense to build something on its scale, although many might wish they had. To take it away now from those groups that have come to rely on it, is less than fair. If it were in a state of disrepair and no one could afford to fix it, then clos- ing it might be understood. To have it sit ready to use, but locked up for the want of someone to clean the floors and washrooms, and take the bookings, is shameful. Township council might not want to make a permanent commitment to the building, but at least they seem to recog- nize its worth to the community. What is disappointing is that even though the decision to close the college was made a year ago, it has taken until now for discussions about the fate of the Recreation Centre to start. We must hope it isn't too late. A.D.H. Your Views Letters to the editor Grand Bend Airshow R.A.A.C. to prepare breakfast Dear Editor: 1 read your paper's article on the proposed Grand Bend Air show and Static display at Huron Park and would like to correct one item. The breakfast being prepared on the Sunday May 29th, will be made by the Exeter Chapter of the Rec- reational Aircraft Association of Canada (R.A.A.C.) #4987 and not by the Stephen Township Fire De- partment. The Exeter R.A.A.C. #4987 usually has a fly -in breakfast at Sexsmith Airport this weekend, howev- er we are moving it to Huron Park in order that more people can take part and enjoy the displays. Respectfully yours, Dave Frayne - Chapter president —1 A View From Queen's Park By Eric Dowd By Eric Dowd TORONTO - The New Democrat govern- ment and organized labor are trying to get their romance going again, but finding not a lot of people care. The NDP has made significant overtures to patch its rift with traditional allies in the union, caused when it cut public sector pay last year. It eased the cuts for many by finding savings elsewhere. It opted against further slashing or transfer payments to municipalities, schools and hospitals, which seemed a possibility as tax revenues fell and would have been passed on to employees. Premier Bob Rae has enthused workers in construction, the biggest and one of the most heavily unionized industries, by making creat- ing jobs his theme for re-election, mainly by announcing a new building almost every time he steps from his car. Even building company heads say good things about him. Rae was behind a settlement which avoided union . members striking at Ontario Hydro by accepting their demands of job security and representation on its board of directors. The province, when it suits its purpose, maintains the utility is independent, but crucial decisions like this are not made without the backing of the premier. Rae has appealed to union members to 'think who their real friends are', arguing they would not be treated anywhere near as generously on union issues by Liberals or Progressive Conser- vatives, which is true, although the other par- ties would contend they would not allow the economy to get into a mess that would make slashing public service pay a possibility. Rae has gone so far as to phor.3 Sid Ryan, one of his most bitter critics and Ontario presi- dent of the Canadian Union of Public Employ- ees, which represents particularly municipal and hospital workers, who said last year he was 'going to work to get Bob Rae out and put him in the ranks of the unemployed' after his union voted to end support for the NDP government. Rae dropped hints he is willing to discuss giv- ing public sector workers new advantages in "Men are never so likely Ali settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley Published Each Wedneedey Morning at 424 Maki tit., Exeter, Ontario, NOM ass by J.W. Reny Publications Ltd. Telephone irbi9-235-13 1 •S.T. 1R101210435 Your Views Letters to the editor Article did appear "These children unselfishly donated their own money to this very special cause which I feel should have been made public." To the Editor: 1 am writing to you to express my concerns in what 1 feel should have been published in your paper but wasn't. Hensall Public School Grade 5 and 6 class held a box lunch special March 1st with all proceeds being donated to the Heart and Stroke Fund. This small class raised a considerable amount of money and both the Zurich paper and TA were there to take pictures. The following week the picture and story were written in the Zurich paper but were never published by the T.A. These children unselfishly donated their own money to this very special cause which 1 feel should have been made public. Heart and Stroke Disease is the number one killer in Canada and each and eve- ryone of us are affected in some way by it. We ei- ther have the disease ourselves, know of someone that has it or we have lost a loved one from it. I tru- ly believe that publishing articles like this one brings out the best in people. When people see kind- ness in this nature they tend to be more giving and kind themselves. 1 am very disappointed that your paper did not find children who gave so much to such a good cause, newsworthy. Maybe this was because of more hockey games that had to be published that week, and the next, and the next; that this small article couldn't have also been published. I have personally kept watch on how much hock- ey gets published over other sports and other articles in your paper. Take for example March 30th week; four pages of hockey and on top of that one page of road hockey- madness. Yes, 1 agree to the madness part of it. A year ago I wrote an article about the Ex- eter Elites Baton Club because so many people didn't know that the town of Exeter even had such a club. This club travels all over Ontario to represent our town of Exeter and will this year be travelling to the United States to have Exeter represented there. This article also was never published. 1 feel that a small town's newspaper such as the TA should have an obligation to serve the communi- ty in general and not just cater to the sports minded clientele. Yours truly: P.L. Webber RR 1 Exeter, Ontario Editors note: Actually, a brief article about Hen- sall Public School's fundraising activities for Heart and Stroke appeared on page 9 of the March 30 edi- tion of the Times Advocate. Rekindling the romance with labour bargaining and more say over pension funds to which they contribute and in a striking conver- sion Ryan has let it slip that he will vote NDP in the next provincial election, despite serious misgivings. Ryan explained without much enthusiasm: "I am left of centre and that is the only party right now that I am aware of that is left of centre," adding nervously, "I hope my members aren't listening." The Ontario Public Service Employees Union representing most provincial employees has praised the NDP for its new law giving them rights to bargain on staffing and training and engage in political activity. The Ontario Federation of Labor, which last year voted not to support Rae until he retracts his pay cuts completely, has congratulated the NDP on another new law aimed at improving conditions for homeworkers particularly in the garment industry, which it said will reduce ex- ploitation. Several regional labour councils, which last year barred NDP MPPs who supported public sector pay cuts from their meetings, have al- lowed them back in. The OFL has toned down a call by some pub- lic sector unions for a one -day strike and in- stead will put out a package of protest informa- tion, although some teachers, who teach but don't learn, still talk of striking. OFL president Gord Wilson also is touring la- bor councils, putting it this way: "Our friends (the NDP government) violated our rights. The question is do we throw them out of the neigh- borhood -- or take them into the back room, knock some sense into them and make sure it never happens again?" Wilson has been repeating almost word for word Rae's argument that the gains labor made through having an NDP government, particular- ly in conducting strikes, will be wiped out if the Liberals or Tories get in.' But in the most recent by-election in March the NDP won only 6 percent of the vote and in a still more recent poll it had only 10 percent. The union leaders' message so far is not getting through t� ifietittrik and file.