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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-04-27, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 27, 1994 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Advertising Barb Consitt, Theresa Redmond News; Fred Groves, Catherine O'Brien, Ross Haugh Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Robert Nicol, Brenda Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner, Marg Flynn Transportation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert front Office & Accounting; Norma Jones, Elaine Pinder, Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald ccw 0 EDITORIALS S Coming up short There are some very compel- ling reasons why the Town of Exeter should not be even considering rebuild- ing the Old Town Hall into a fancy new structure to house the municipal offices and the library. First and foremost, there is the "edi- fice complex". Otherwise known as "build it and they will come", the com- plaint is that larger public buildings usually have a way of increasing the public payroll. More offices end up creating new job positions, that require new photocopiers, computers, phone lines, meetings etc, etc. Why else do we suppose the Children's Aid Society took so much heat over their new build- ing in Goderich? Secondly, we have to wonder if the town can afford it. Most probably, we can't. With a third of the infrastructure grants already going to sewer upgrades, the town will probably still come up a half million or more short on being able to do anything serious to those two buildings. A wheelchair ramp or eleva- tor for the library alone is bound to eat up a hundred thousand or more. And what about taxes? While the town budget can handle the $263,339 needed to make up a third of infrastruc- ture grant package, can we afford any aka" to makeThis project a reality? That depends,.of course, on what the fi- nal bill might be. The sale of the police station might help, but not much. Nevertheless, there are also some compelling reasons why that corner should be renovated. The library is un- dersized and inaccessible, and the Old Town Hall will be sitting empty by this summer. And although some may be trying to re -interpret the outcome of the March 30 strategic planning meeting, tape recordings of the presentations still show that the lack of an architectural and cultural centrepiece in Exeter does • • inion Qy 81_ UE RIBBON AWARD 1993 Publications Mail Regletration Number 0386 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: CANADA Within 40 mBu (65 km.) addressed to non letter carrier addresses 830.00 plus 82.10 Q.S.T. Outside 40 mites (65 km.) or any letter carrier address 830.00 plus 830.00 (total 60.00) + 4.20 Q.S.T. Outside Canada $99.00 (Includes $88.40 postage) Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St.; Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519.235-1331 Q.S.T. #R105210135 trouble a good number of people. The suggestion the hall be demolished to make way for a park wasn't much ap- preciated. That building, although un- impressive by the standards of other small communities, was constructed by the town's founders as a lasting monu- ment. To tear it down now would be an act of disrespect, and a loss of a kind of architecture never to be duplicated again. The town isn't forced to spend its share of the infrastructure grant funds. But as one gentleman pointed out at last week's council meeting, two thirds of that mon- ey has already come out of our pockets, in provincial and federal taxes. It is al- ready our money, and if our town coun- cil weren't bright enough to realize some of it should be spent in our town, they wouldn't be serving the taxpayers well. Grant funds are routinely available to help construct new sewer lines, rebuild roads, and even install sidewalks. This infrastructure program is a rare opportu- nity to take on projects that otherwise might not get done - the idea is to create jobs, not just get them done a year or two early. Some feel this project is being ramrod- ded through, only days after the March 30 meeting. Council has given this item top priority, but faced with a September deadline for a final grant application, they will have to know by then whether the plan will fly. This mayor's committee will be charged with coming up with options for the Town HaiiLlbiary cut Her. Council will have to decide whether enough money is available to proceed. The dis- appointing answer may be that Exeter is not the wealthy municipality it used to be, and plans to upgrade public build- ings may have to wait for another gener- ation. A.D.H. Speak out! Letters to the editor The Times Advocate continues to welcome letters to the editor as a forum for open discussion of local is- sues, concerns, complaints, and kudos. The Times Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity. Please send your letters to P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6. Sign your letter with both name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. A View From Queen's Park The politicians have been expressing their outrage at the crime of the year in Toronto without even touching on one of the main is- sues, race. The shooting murder by robbers of a 23 -year- old woman customer in a trendy restaurant in a respectable downtown neighborhood has been described by news media as 'the end of Toron- to's innocence." Fears have been expressed that the city once known as Toronto the Good is on the slope to having an unsafe, crime -ridden core like many U.S. cities. A security video showed four young black men committing the robbery. Young black males are responsible for a huge amount of vio- lent crime invloving guns in Toronto far out of proportion to their numbers. No- one reading daily reports of crimes in news media could have the slightest doubt of this, although the province bans police from collecting statistics on who commits crimes ac- cording to race. Media generally in the past have merely flatly Il By Eric Dowd reported the offences and avoided making cor- relations between crime and race, worried that pointing to high crime among some members of one racial group might imply that all in that group are prone to crime. No one would doubt that the overwhelming majority of blacks are law-abiding and the crimes corhmitted by a tiny minority. The media this time have shed some restraint. The Globe and Mail noted 'a growing tendency toward violent crime... among young black people and particularly among young black people of Jamaican origin.' it said there must be a discussion of this issue in which black voices should be prominent. The Toronto Star, which has been so anxious not to offend it often avoids describing crime suspects rather than say they are black, pub- lished a column by a black writer saying blacks generally are 'horrified at the increasing pen- chant of some of our youths to maim and kill.' The black community feels it is being be- trayed and given a bad name, he wrote. The first step to finding a solution must be to ac - Hold that thought... By Adrian Harte The second -last modern man Somewhere iri the foothills of Mount Everest is a Shirpa who will become the last person on Iearth to get an automated bank teller card. I figured for sure I'd be the guy just before him to get one. The other day, I knuckled un- der and finally signed up to get one of those idiotic plastic cards added to my wallet. This was the guy who cut up aii but one of his credit cards a few months ago and felt liberated. But back to the teller card. i have many reasons for having put off getting one for so long. i don't really trust them. When my dad's card was lost a few years ago, we discovered just how easy it is for a crook to de- fraud the system. PIN numbers mean nothing to the brave, bold, and crooked. I could tell you how, but the RCMP wouldn't appreciate seeing it in print. Be- sides, I too have a card now. To be truthful, this is my sec- ond card. The first one ended its life after I gave it its first try about seven years ago. The bank sent it to me without ask- ing. i couldn't get it to work, so I ripped it in half and tossed it away. I later discovered some- one had programmed it so my chequing account wasn't proper- ly classified - why, I don't know. Good riddance, so I thought. And while other people were paying bills and drawing cash at all odd hours of the day, I was still dutifully waiting in line to have my money cared for by hu- man beings. Now that the bank is abandon- ing Saturday how:), nun is t)ioiil- ising cheaper transaction costs, i have to find a way to embrace this plastic card. it's the way of the future that I'm going to have to live in. Still, I'm going to miss all those people at the bank, now that I may no longer be a regular visitor. Mind you, i've had the card a week now, and haven't had the urge to use it yet. Old habits will die hard. Mile 'n a quarter: Speaking of old habits, i can't help but no- tice that we in the rural areas still speak of the local conces- sion roads as being"mile 'n a quarters". Indeed, they are. When the British surveyors de- cided to map out this region of heavy forest more than a centu- ry ago, they chose to make little squares, 1.25 miles on each side. I can only presume this was to make for a convenient number of hundred -acre farms within each block, or maybe having a new road every 5,280 feet proved roe'expensive: • Someone must know the real reason, even if its logic disap- peared with the horse and bug- gY. What I'm still amused by is our insistence on describing the distance between concession as "mile 'n a quarters". A day doesn't go by without someone giving instructions to "go past the red barn to the next mile 'n a quarter and turn left..." In this day and age when all cars are calibrated in kilome- tres, as are road signs, speed limits, and speeding tickets, why are we using an old meas- urement? Surely we've all fig- ured out by now that the con- cessions are spaced almost exactly two kilometres apart. The margin of error is only about 11 metres. i'rn sure in a future age, when kids grow up unaware miles, yards, feet and inches ever ex- ist, they'll figure out the conces- sions were laid out under the metric system, in two kilometre blocks. Race and crime a thorny issue knowledge openly there is a problem, but many are not willing to address the issue only. The politicians have not shared this enthu- siasm for discussing the issue openly - Liberal leader Lyn McLeod seemed almost afraid to ask a question. She shuffled around saying she hoped no one would think her adversarial or partisan and the issue was extremely complex and all parties would have to work together, but she sincerely wanted to deal with fears -- eventually she asked what the New Democrat government is doing to deal with violent crime. Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris was content to seek a program in which people would hand in guns and in return receive vouchers to spend. Other opposition speakers merely blamed the NDP for cutting spending on police. None men- tioned the issue of some young black males be- ing responsible for too much crime, for the pol- iticians it does not exist. They felt it was too dangerous to mention and had a recent example to deter them. McLeod f claimed last fall there was a 'growing problem of welfare fraud' among Somali immigrants and was bashed by both other parties and many editorialists for 'tainting an entire community'. although there has since been a lot of proof her facts were right all along. But politicians should be willing to discuss the issue because it is the only way to find so- lutions. Some say the real problem is young black males are at the bottom of the socio- economic ladder. if this is true, although others sharing the bottom are not as violence -prone, recognizing it will encourage the public to pro- vide more social resources and jobs. Young immigrants from one Caribbean coun- try are said to be more violent, which would mean focussing on a sub -group and stricter im- migration checks. Some say through history each immigrant group in turn has had difficulty adapting and eventually things will turn out all right, but this is no consolation to those who may be kilted along the way. Ignoring the fact a small group causes too much crime also has done nothing to make it o awa