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Times Advocate, 1999-08-25, Page 7Wednesday,August 25, 1999 Exeter runes -Advocaat 7 10 YEARS AGO August 23, 1989 - Patty O'Toole was crowned Queen of the 1989 Exeter Fall Fair during the Fair Ball held Saturday night. Runners-up were Myla Lovell and Sheila Dougall. A former resident of the Exeter area, Maurice Love was named citizen of the year by the Calgary Lions Club. He and his wife Jean win an all expense family trip to Jamaica and $5,000 in expense money. Love's many contributions include the Calgary Stampede and the Olympics. More than 1,000 persons ttended last week's annual Huron Provincial Liberal barbecue at the farm of Huron -Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell. 20YEARS AGO August 22! 1979 - A preliminary report of the summer seniors program indicates that there is a need for a nursing home in Exeter. The top money raiser in the recent Exeter pool swim team swimathon was Brenda Waldeck. Joanne Malone, daughter of Jack and Irene Malone of Huron Park has been named to the youth quarter horse show team which will represent Ontario at the very prestigious American Horse Congress slated for Columbus, Ohio. 3OYEARS AGO August 17, 1969- A 20 week strike at the Central Hotel in Lucan was finally settled with workers get- ting etting wages similar to those paid in London hotels, $1.40 an hour for a waitress a 2.18 for a cook. Residents of Grand Bend were eported making good use of the new water syste , using over three million gallons during the month of July. 35 YEARS AGO ;* ROSS HAUGH SACK IN TWIE August 24, 1964 - Workmen are putting the ffn- ishing touches on the Usborne Townhip Central School this week and the new eight -room school will be ready for operation next week. The post office on the Main street of Grand Bend closed its doors to the public Monday night and ser- vices commenced from the new modern facilities on Hidden Lane, Tuesday morning. Kids in the Exeter area have been waiting all sea- son eason for the new swimming pool to be finished, but memories of the delay were soon forgotten when the facilities were opened, Sunday. Jean Henderson was presented with a gift and assured the prayers of the congregation at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Hensall were with her prior to her departure, Monday. She will be going to the Kitkatla Mission on Dolphin Island off the British. Columbia Coast. 40YEARS AGO August 22, 1959 - Mrs. Andrew Johnston, Deborah and Ian returned Sunday after a two month visit in Nymegan, Holland. Mr. and Mrs. Norman Turnbull of Grand Bend held open house for relatives, friends and neigh- bours, Tuesday evening on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary. South Huron Hospital is having difficulty meeting demands for accommodation. This week 45 of the 50 beds are occupied. The five empty beds are in the children's ward. Zurich may start off the next decade as an incor- porated village. Barring serious difficulties, the. change may become effective January 1, 1960. 50 YEARS AGO August 23, 1949 - The Brenner Garage, one of the landmarks of Grand Bend, has been purchasd by Mr. John Manore. A new town of 300 homes complete with churches, a school and market area is under con- struction at Centralia Airport. Charles L. Jinks who has carried the mail to and from the Hensall Post Office to the CNR station for the past 15 years, has resigned. 75 YEARS AGO August 24, 1924 - William Lawson aq.d George Hind left Monday for Toronto to attend dental col- lege. A new sign has been erected at Central Park by the Exeter Horticultural Society. In addition to the name of the park on one side it says "Tarry a Time" and on the other side "Rest a While" has been erected at the Central Park. The students from Exeter High School who will attend normal school this year are Almer Christie, Carrie Davis, Gertie Francis, Mary Horney, Ruth Lamport and. Mildred Howe. �pinion&Forum. Will that be breasts or bazookas? Dear Editor: There's been another horrible shooting in the United States. This time, tiny children at a Jewish day care centre in California were targetted by a madman. Sobbing parents were tolling TV news anchors that "Automatic weapons must be banned from public hands in America." Getting those millions of weapons out of the public hands would be an impossible task. In Israel, when the public want to defend their schools and settlements against fanatical attacks, they arm themselves with fully automatic weapons. 'Ban the gun' supporters use a well worn claim that "Even one life saved would be worth the expense". What are the odds that after hundreds of millions of dollars are spent, even one life is saved in any segment of our society? If saving lives is so important, why doesn't someone pay attention to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation? They tell us that each year, 19,300 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and that 5,300 die. As recently as 1995/96, a mere $4.8 million was spec it for breast cancer funding. So far, our Federal Government has spent over $400 million on firearm registration, and yet far less than 10 per cent of the nation's guns have been documented. Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to harass duck hinters, olympic shooters and collectors, our tax dollars could be far better spent on stepped-up border interceptions of smuggled automatic and hand guns that funnel directly into Canada's underworld. The RCMP and . local police forces should be bolstered so that they can root.. out gun sources aimed at the criminal element. PE -tut E. STtcxi, Thornton, Ontario Area pro 44-4* struggling to survive Dear Editor: The evenings are getting cooler and the smell of fall , is in the air. Children are preparing to return to school andtheir many winter activities. It is time for pro- grams such as Brownies and Girl Guides to begin. again. Unfortunately, many of these programs are strug- gling to survive in Exeter and surrounding areas. Due to a shortage of leaders it is becoming increasingly dif- ficult to provide a supervised, quality program for young girls 1u Exeter.. The Exeter Spark Unit currently has only one leader, which according to regulations does not provide adequate supervision. The Exeter Brownie group does have two leaders, but due to shift work one of us is only able to fiend every other week. That leaves only oneleader to supervise the girls on alternate weeks. Obviously this . makes it difficult to run a quality program. This is not a problem that is happening for the first time this year. For some time now it has been difficult to find adults to get involved, even though there is no shortage of interested girls. Having been involved with Girl Guides, both as a child and an adult, I find this very disturbing. Girl Guides of Canada provides pro- grams for different age groups which offer girls a chance to get together in a positive, fun environment and learn new skills, strong values, . and create lifelong friendships. As an adult member or leader, it can be a very rewarding and enjoyable experience. When I was a Brownie, I belonged to a group of about 30 girls with four leaders. This allowed us the opportunity to take many held trips, create special events, and participate in challenging activities which required the commitment and dedication of all four leaders. It made my experience as a Brownie a cher- ished part of my childhood that will stay with me always. With more leaders we would be able to enrich the program and provide greater opportunities for the group. With all of the challenges that young people face in our world I feel that it is very important to pro- vide programs which help to reinforce good values, self confidence and a sense of achievement. I sincerely hope that these programs not only continue to run but, with greater adult participation, grow and thrive in our community. Sincerely, HBA tax Au:ocac, Lotu MACPHERSoN P.S. Anyone interested in volunteering in any way should call Linda Randall (District Commoner, Aux Sable District) at 262-6468 or Heather Alcock (2nd Exeter Brownies) at 235-1882. Safety in numbers TORONTO -- The watchdogs the Ontario government appoints to keep an eye on its activities have been given a warning they better stop bark- ing & or they may not be around much longer. Premier Mike Harris has delivered this message by refusing to re-apppoint the environmental commissioner, Eva Liget', to a second five- year term. The Progressive Conservative premier also sent a chill through the Kother commissioners. Ligeti, an environmental lawyer and first to hold the Apost, was appointed by the New Democrat government before it was defeated in 1995. She never got a chance to show whether she would have been critical of the New Democrats, because her first report came out when Harris's Tories were in power, but she has unremittingly criticized the Tories. She said in report after report they cut envi- ronmental safeguards and staff rapidly and massively and thought out many decisions poor- ly.Ligeti said Harris was relying on air polluters to reduce emissions voluntarily and this would not work and he had no plans to cut pollution from public transit, although vehicle*are a major source. In a report shortly before the June election, Ligeti said pollution is increasing risks to health, but programs to protect residents are decreas- ing- -The (*position parties constantly used her criticisms as ammunition and a host of environ- mental groups echoed her, and Harris and his spokesmen repeatedly have been. forced to deny. pollution was as bad as she claimed. The government now argues her time was up, but an environmental commissioner probably is just getting fully informed on all aspects of the job after five years and obviously: she was let go because she embarrassed'fern& Ligeti in fact had some support in her com- 'plaints from a fellow -watchdog, provincial audi- for Erik Peters, who said in 1996 a massive amount of harmful chemicals: was being releasett. in they air and in 1998 the environment ministty failed•.tq live up to promises to tackle it and he would push until it did. But the auditor is a longer-establishet institu- tion and expected to find faults in government' and he probably does not risk having his appointment revoked. In much greater ,danger is the ombudsman, Roberta Jamieson,. who was appointed by a Liberal government in 1989 to 'investigate indi- viduals' complaints- they were treated unfairly by government and whose term is up in October. • . She also has been a constant critic of Harris, complaining he left her with inadequate funds to carry out her role and cut her staff by more than 25 per cent. In her most recent report she said Harris has cut the public service so it is overburdened; insecure,in crisis and having difficulty providing such basic services as addressing injured work- ers' • claims and ensuring deserted mothers receive cheques so they can buy necessities for children. There probably was no chance any ombuds- man would hold the job for more than 10 years* -- no previous incumbent has --- but Harris must be -watching with relief for the day she departs. The human rights commissioner, Keith Norton, has told Harris off twice, for failing to change laws which could deprive homosexuals of part- ners' employment benefits and discriminating by allowing landords to ask prospective tenants' their incomes before deciding whether to lease. Norton is a former Tory cabinet minister and probably will know how to avoid going too far. Information and privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian has irritated Harris by protesting he has cut access to and charged higher fees for information, narrowing a path critics used to find for example the government helped out his political aides by paying them up to $650 -an - hour to write speeches. However, the commissioners have some safety in numbers, -- Harris cannot fire all of them. .. A VIM FROM QUEiI'S PARK