HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1999-04-21, Page 9IOYIAM AGO :.
April 19, 1989: The tremen-
dous response to Exeter's first
Dining for Seniors"noontime din-
ner on April 4 in the Exeter
lions Youth Centre surprised
and delighted the volunteers
whose planning and hard work
contributed to the event's suc
ROSS
HAUGH
cess. BACK IN TIME
20 YEARS AGO
April 18, 1979 - The South
Huron Intermediate Hockey League has completed
another successful season with the Zurich
Buckeyes taking the championship. The top scor-
ers in the league were Rick Schilbe of Zurich; Brian
Gilpin, Centralia College ; Brian and Fred
Campbell, Hensall and Ron Funston of Centralia
Marauders.
Lori Noyes of; Lucan will be the soloist with the
Ontario Youth Band on a on.e month tour of
Europe this summer. She is the daughter of George
and Shirley Noyes.
35 YEARS AGO
April 20, 1964 - Drs. R.W. Read and D.A. Ecker
attended a four-day scientific assembly of the
College of General Practice as part of a formal pro-
gram of 100 hours of post graduate study every
two years.
Town works crew began installation Monday of
the block -long sewer extension on William and
t tiling streets.
$2,000 National Research Council bursary has
been awarded to Mark D. Bender, R. R. 2, Hensall.
He's the son of Elton Bender.
Count de Beaufort, world renowned racing dri-
ver and sister Joan A. van Limburg Sturm were
weekend visitors wittrMr. and Mrs. Ward Fritz.
40YEARS AGO
April 20; 1959 - In a plebiscite, Wednesday,
Lucan residents will decide if they wish to have a
government liquor store established.
Thieves stole cash and merchandise with a total
value of. $500 from Gascho Bros. and Stade and
Weido Hardware in Zurich Friday night.'
One hundred and sixty persons sat down to din-
ner at the father and son banquet for Boy Scouts of
Exeter, Wednesday.
Monday night was ladies night at the AOTS
men's club of James Street United Church. Guest
speaker was Mrs. Bren de Vries.
Exeter Mohawks won the Western Ontario
Athletic Asociation Intermediate "B" champi-
onship. The Mohawks chalked up 30 victories
against five defeats in the league and playoffs.
50YEARS AGO
April 19, 1949 - At a meeting in Mitchell, Stanley
Township farmer )algin McKinley was elected to
carry the Progressive Conservative banner for the
riding of Huron -Perth in the next federal eiection.
Ushering in a new era for Hensall Bell Telephone
users, a common battery exchange was put into
service replacing the magnet exchange that served
the community for years.
Mr. C. Jinks of Hensall who has been in the
implement business for the past 30 years has sold
out to his partner William Park.
The Exeter Chamber of Commerce did a good
piece of work when it turned down a proposition to
sell stock for the establishment of a factory in
Exeter for making electric freezers. Two men who
were trying to interest people of Exeter were con-
victed of taking thousands of dollars from the peo-
ple of Waterloo county.
Principal H.L. Sturgis and Mr. Andy Dixon of the
Exeter High School, together with two students
Evelyn Desjardine and Charles Cowen attended the
OEA convention in Toronto.
75 YEARS AGO
April 20, 1924 - Mr. William Kernick entertained
about 65 youngsters of Exeter to a maple taffy pull
at his sugar bush on the third concession of
Usborne township on Good Friday afternoon. The
youngsters had all the taffy they couldeat and
needless to say they had a very jolly time.
Mr. Bruce Medd. who has completed his year at
the Guelph O.A.C. leaves the latter part of the week
for Walkerville where he has secured a position for
the summer with Waikerside Limited.
Mr. F.C. Hooper has purchased a new Ford
truck for his egg business.
Miss Dorothy Balkwill of Stratford Normal and
Miss Marguerite Kuntz of London Normal School
are spending the Easter holidays at their homes.
The elusive dove
of peace
-ar Editor:
Somewhere, sometime I have heard or read that dur-
ing the whole period of the recorded history of
mankind there hav ; been fewer than a hundred years
that were free of wars. I can neither quote the source
nor support the accuracy of the statement, but it would
seem to be credible, perhaps even an understatement.
The Phonecians, the Greeks, the Turks and the
Israelites were always fighting enemies who blocked
their way or threatened security. Later, in the Middle
Ages and beyond, there even developed a sort of code
of ethics between and among warring partners. There
were declarations of war mutually acceptable cease-
fire periods, formal surrenders by the losers and.
treaties of peace. There were outcomes favourable to
the winners but often not settling the causes that
brought on the outbreak; in which case the war u5
broke out again, such as in the case of the Hundr
Years war, the Seven Years war, etc.
Historically, it would seem, wars have ended in out-
comes but rarely, in settlements. Old scores were sel-
dom wiped out and new sores were opened. Besides,
war as a means to an end is little less than primitive
and barbaric. More than a century and a half ago
Alfred Lord Tennyson foresaw a possible progression
from war to peace when he wrote "Locksley Hall" in
1842:
Heard the heavens fill with shouting
And there rained a ghastly dew
From the nations' airy navies
Grappling in the central blue.
Came the end:
Till the war drum throbbed no longer
And the battle flags were furled
In the Parliament of Man,
The Federation of the World.
There the common sense of most
Will hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the peaceful earth will slumber,
Lapped is universaklug.
But Tennyson had misgivings, even then, as we have
now, when he wrote: "When shall allmen's good
become each man's duty, and peace, like a shaft of
light, lie across the lands?"
This writer does not presume to judge what is occur-
ring in Europe on the part of action and counter action,
but he can wish that things were otherwise. The dove -
peace metaphor is a fitting one. We wish that it would
stop its restless flitting about and come to hover and
nest, shedding its aura of quiet gentleness over fami-
lies, communities, among our provinces to the bounds
of our land and our world. Then we as individuals
might feel and find an inner peace of mind and soul,
"that Peace that passes all understanding".
GERRY DOBRINDT
Exeter, Ont.
Write those letters
Dear Editor:
A few weeks ago a federal court in Saskatchewan
convicted Senator Eric Berntson of criminal fraud, for
diverting $42,000 from legislature expenses to his pri-
vate company. He was sentenced to serve one year in
jail and to repay the $42,000. He is currently out on
bail.
This conviction increases the number of convicted
criminals in the Senatefrom one to two. Last year,
Senator Michel Cogger was found guilty of accepting a
$218,000 bribe to influence the federal government to
purchase $45 million in computer-assisted translation
services. Both convicted politicians were appointed by
then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as Progressive
Conservative senators.
Both Berntson and Cogger intend to remain in the
Senate until all judicial appeals have been heard. They
have the support of the Senate leadership and
Progressive Conservative Party Leader Joe Clark to do
so. Yet both senators still earn their $75,000 -a -year
salaries as convicted criminals. We think the Senate
should quickly dismiss the two senators. That such
people in our Upper Chamber can still work and draw
high salaries speaks little for the way politics operate
in Ottawa.
We are asking Canadians to writeletters of protest to
Joe Clark and the Senate leadership to have the two
senators fired. For more information about this protest
campaign, please write to us at WatchDog Newsletter,
247 Leeds Drive, Fredericton, NB E3B 4S7 (or e-mail
us at dmurrelleunb.ca).
Sincerely. DAVID Manns i., EDITOR
WatchDog Newsletter
Harris flcxibie?
TORONTO — A milestone of
sorts has been passed in Ontario
when a senior cabinet minister
leaves his wife of 32 years and
forms a relationship with a
glamorous woman minister and
their political lives go on as
before.
Ernie Eves, finance minister
and deputypremier in the
Progressive Conservative gov-
erns, `• If Premier Mike Harris,
has st 3ted from his wife,
Vi( seen often with Culture Minister Isabel
Bas:
They have been pictured together at arts events
and reported taking a joint vacation. Both are
celebrities. Eves is Harris's unquestioned right-
hand man who managed the party's tax and deficit
cuts which are its main assets in an election and is
an eloquent spokesman for it, not seen as much but
more polished than Harris.
Bassett, widow of John Bassett, who ran CFTO
Television and the former Toronto Telegram, was
well known as a TV commentator before becoming
an MPP.
Eves also has now announced; after long hesita-
tion, he will seek re-election in the Parry Sound
area he has represented since 1981. Bassett will
run again in mid -Toronto, where she has been
MPP since 1995.
These events set several precedents. Eves is the
first minister•to acknowledge publicly while in
office he broke up with his wife and is involved
with someone else, let alone another cabinet minis-
ter.
Many ministers and even premiers like others
over the years have had marital problems, particu-
larly because they have to be away from home
often.
But politicians generally have considered it an
asset to have a spouse and appearance of harmony
in the • „ and kept_ their marxia.ges. officially.
iiitacC_ • .' distrown. carsa s'atid"ttieiriarties.
• John Robarts, while Tory premier from 1961-71
was known to have a. strained marriage, but waited
until after he retired from politics before he
divorced and re -married.
A later premier, ,still alive; bought a condo in
Toronto for a wornn aide and some associates
understood he wouinarry her, but he never did,
placing priority on preserving his marriage and
political career.
Eves waited until the last minute before deciding
whether to run again and may have worried how
his marriage breakup would be accepted in his rid-
ing: Tories particularly have traditionally made a
big issue of promising to preserve family values
and are doing it this election.
But Eves has judged his breakup will not be an
obstacle (he also would have delayed pondering
going into the financial world) and is probably
right. Few these days will hold it against a politi-
cian that his marriage has failed and most in Eves's
riding will have had it happen in their families.
Another precedent is that Eves's marriage
breakup and new attachment is the first among
Ontario politicians reported by media reasonably
extensively, although as part of other stories about
him rather than as news in itself.
Media mostly did not report politicians' marital
problems either because they did not know of them
or a tradition and gentlemen's agreement they.
would reveal them only if they affected their public
performances.
Media did not mention at the time Robarts's mar-
riage problems or the later premier's setting up a
home for a mistress. Harris also has at least six
others in his cabinet including himself who have
had broken marriages, almostall before they
became ministers, without their becoming a public
issue.
Eves has said his marriage breakup was difficult
personally because it caused turmoil in others'
lives, but he and Bassett do not feel awkward about
their relationship.
He said he is trying to keep his personal and polit-
ical lives separate, although obviously he will be
asked at some point how as finance minister he can
refuse ftinds to a minister he will meet at closer
quarters later.
Butnews media are taking more interest in politi-
cians' personallives, a trend which has spread
from abroad -- yet another way Ontario society is
changing.
ERIC
DOWD
A VIEW FROM
QUEEN'SPARK