Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1984-05-16, Page 4Times -Advocate, May 16, 1984 imes Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 • dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy`Publications Limited LORNE EERY Publisher JiM BECKE TT A(h.rti'ing Manager 47,7 B11,1_ BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $22.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' q Frustrating setback There's little doubt that success begets success and that's why Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle and the members of his industrial and tourism promotion committee have every right to be extremely frustrated and upset over the fact a government regulation has apparently thwarted attempts to attract a German couple to establish a dental laboratory in the community. • Mickle is quite correct in suggesting that having Udo and Brigitte Wollkopf settle here could have been the key to attracting other German based businesses and industries. Immigrants have often tended to establish in pockets throughout this nation's history. The German, French, Dutch and English roots of communities in this immediate area is testimony to that fact. There is, after all, a sense of security in locating in an area where others of the same background, language, or religion are established. The German couple were certainly keen on Exeter, as evidenced by the fact their plan to move here had reached the stage where it led to the unfortunate discovery that a provincial regulation would negate that desire. Certainly, one would expect the government to en- sure that any professional wishing ,to establish a business would meet the standards required by that profession in the province. But surely a four-year residency rule is beyond the realm of reason and has nothing to do with professional standards. This community has invested a considerable amount of money and countless hours by the Reeve and his associates in attempting to attract business and in- dustry and it is indeed frustrating that such roadblocks pop up just when some success on that considerable investment appears to be at hand. Hopefully, local officials can convince provincial authorities that reputable and qualified people should not be deterred through a protectionist policy. Such regulations usually only protect those who are inefficient or seek to charge more for their services than they are worth. Lawyers must act There's a suggestion that some of Ontario's lawyers have been dealing for too long with the criminal element. Some of the latter's concept of right and wrong has been rubbing off in too many instances. Misappropriations of clients' funds by Ontario lawyers in the first three months of 1984 have resulted in claims to the Law Society of Upper Canada -for com- pensation of $26 million. "Despite the disbarments, claims are skyrocketing," a Toronto crown counsel reported in a recent trial of a lawyer who had misappropriated $2,173,000. "Thereis an inability on the part of the Law Society to policeits members and make sure this type of activity doesn't happen." The number of lawyers involved (nine for the first three months this year compared to 11 for the total of 1983) is perhaps not a staggering statistic, but the amount of money involved does reach into that realm. Hopefully, the best legal minds in the province will come up with procedures to rectify the situation before there is an erosion of the trust that clients must have in .their legal advisors. A wonderful world A couple of generations ago it was illegal for a Canadian to sell tickets 9n the Irish sweepstakes. Caught as a lottery "pusher" one could go to jail, notes the Wingham Advance Times. Reason for the stiff penalty was not illict move- ment of Canadian money to another country. The law was based on the moralistic concept that gambling of any sort was contrary to Christian beliefs, much akin to the Sunday "blue" laws. How times have changed! Now we see our own governments going to court to seek protection for their gambling rights. The international baseball leagues are seeking high court. injunctions to prevent the Cana- dian government from selling tickets on gambling pools. You may or may not have strong convictions about the morals involved. However, almost everybody will admit that the hypocritical stand of some cabinet ministers is an insult to the intelligence of the average citizen. Last week the Hon. Jacques Olivier, federal minister responsible for his government's bid to get into gambling, appeared on a national TV network to defend the sale of baseball pool tickets. His defence rested on his claim that the pools do not constitute lot- teries because - now get this - the pools are not games of chance. The ticket buyers must be possessed of "skills" in order to win. The skill in this case being able to play the odds on one team over another for an up- coming game. If the feds want to get into the lottery racket, so be it. But for goodness sake call it by an honest name. Canadians do have a few brains. Bicentennial interest needs push In his jottings last week, Iluron- Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell called into question the choosing of 1984 as the year in which to celebrate Ontario's bicentennial. The inference is that the PC govern- ment of William Davis has chosen the date for whatever political mileage can be made from a celebration of this nature, although Jack's attendance at a school tree planting last wetk would indicate that some Liberals are also not about to miss out on any opportunities which may arise. Regardless of the argument over the selection of the date, it appears that bicentennial fever has certainly not reached any significant peak in this area,, Most municipalities were wise enough to makeapplication for their -share of the cache of taxpayer funds set aside by the province to help them suitably mark the occasion, but to date there have been few projects undertaken in the area to dispense those funds. In fact, most communities now have thbir own annual celebrations or festivals in place and there is neither the physical or mental resources available to tackle yet another promotion. No doubt some will merely add the bicentennial funds to their present ac- tivities or promote an historical flavor'in their events. At any rate, interest in this area will probably not gain much momentum and perhaps Jack is right in suggesting that one of the most notewe ac- complishments of the whole event will be 4 the planting of a few thousand Eastern White Pine. So, keep your shovp1 handy, Jack! Who knows, all that tree planting may at least make Ontario's politicians among the BATT'N AROUND with the editor more physically fit in the nation as the bicentennial year moves through to its conclusion. • While the government may be accused of attempting to get some political gain from the celebrations, there are those who have been quick to follow in their footsteps in that regard. A press release was received at Exeter council last week informing members that the Ontario Bicentennial Commission has granted formal accreditation to three wines, all the products of T.G. Bright & Co. Limited. That rather aroused my curiosity, and with the offer of a toll free phone list by which people can.get more information on Ontario's bicentennial wines, i made con- tact with the winery staff at Niagara Falls. J. Guilliland, sales administration manager, said the accreditation by the Commission indicates that the Ontario 1 government feels the particular wines are of superior quality. That prompted the question as to whether the Ontario government members or the Bicentennial Commission had sampled all the wines available in On- tario to grant the accreditation. The com- pany spokesman wasn't certain as to the answer on that, but did explain that in fact his company had approached the Com- mission and whether other wineries had done the same was not known to him. In further discussion, it was learned that while the Bicentennial Commission members felt the three Brights wines were worthy of the accreditation, their findings were apparently not shared by Toronto officials who accredited some An- dres brands for their anniversary celebra- tions this year. Basically, the winery firms attempt to get accreditation from various organiza- tions and in return put a special label on the bottles for promoting the centennials or other birthday parties that may be staged. Its accreditation has more souvenir value than anything, I suppose, although the contents are probably not in that category. No doubt the firms hope to stimulate business with the special labels, but wine connoisseurs seldom select a wine by judging the shape of the bottle or the col- orful label. The year 1984 will certainly live up to its Orwellian prognostication if we have Big Brother starting to choose our wine for us. "See —1 told you it was a dumb name for a boat!" Friends deador deaf There's . something rather ghoulish about revisiting your old home town after forty -odd years and giving a speech about what it was like to grow up there forty -odd years ago. The younger people don't know what you're talking about. The people your own age are either deaf or dead, and don't know what you're talking about either. Well, that was a recent experience. I was asked to speak at a Chamber din- ner in Perth, where I was reared, after a fashion. Special theme of the evening was the celebra- tion of the 150th birthday of the Perth Courier, the second oldest weekly newspaper in Canada. Perth, down in Eastern Ontario, was a centre of culture and class Crich and poor), when Ottawa was a brawling lumber - town and Toronto was Muddy York. My speech was the ideal moment for a lapse into rQtundic hysteric hyper- bole, and plain old bull - roar. I successfully avoid- ed all three, as is my wont. I just told the truth, as always. And, as always, I received a standing ova- tion. The standing ovation, which used to be a rare and heartfelt response to a speech in which a politi- cian promised new roads, ' new docks, or a new post office, has become as emotional as a good sneeze. It is now a chance for people to get off their - bums, up from those hard. chairs borrowed from the funeral director, on which they have squatted for two hours or so, and stretch their arthritic joints. It also signals the end for those who have fallen asleep. You can hear the groan of relief welling beneath the hearty handclapping. I didn't praise the Chamber of Commerce. In fact I stuck a needle in- to them. As a former weekly editor, I know all about the Chamber of Commerce, in another town. We met monthly if we could get a quorum. Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley There were always four of ,us. • I guess that was a quorum : the President, two members dragged out of the pub or off the curl- ing rink, and me, as reporter. Talk of new in- dustries, new approaches to tourism, and a general up -grading from the park- ing meters floated through the air for two hours, then we'd all go happily home, for another month. This one was a little dif- ferent. The officials talked in hundreds of thousands of dollars, mostly govern- ment grants, where we us- ed to talk about the im- possibility of raising $200 for a tourist information booth: At any rate, the Perth Chamber was gracious and exceedingly generous. I think the whole trip didn't cost me more than $100. I also needled the - publisher of the Perth Courier, but rather gently. I've been over that route, and publishers get the nee- dle from readers so regularly that they barely feel it, except when it goes to the bone or the heart, which it does every time. What shook me was how old a lot of people were. There I was, feeling a ripe, old twenty-eight, and these ancients came shuf- fling up and saying, "Hey, Bill, remember the time we...?" My only resort was to say, "Hoor you?" When I found out. I was mortified. A great strapping chap stuck out his hand and said, "Bill?" I responded, "Noor you?" He just said, "Roy", and there I was confronted, and recogniz- ing a first cousin,I hadn't seen since 1945, he just out of the navy, I just out of the air force, having a cou- ple of beers together. We hadn't seen each other, or exchanged so much as a card, since. A few other faces emerged from ' the bald heads and lined faces: Cam Chaplin, a raw-boned dairy farmer who tackled in football like a brick wall hitting a heap of mar- shmallows; Jack Scott, another boy of the same ilk; Kay Lightford, sister of my old college room- mate, and her brother, Grover, a widower with six children who married a widow with four, and who grasped me earnest- ly by the lapels and told me I should consider mar- rying again. Aside from a few, it was a family reunion. My big sister, dammer, who in- stigated the whole affair, put me up for three days and tried to force-feed me. Her son, Pete, an Air Canada captain, just hap- penedto drift up from Montreal, and his little sister, Heather, took a jaunt down from Pem- broke. I used to baby-sit them. My little sister, a nurse, drove with her hus- band, some white-haried old guy called Jack Buell, with whom I'd played foot- ball forty years ago, floated in from Brockville. We had quite a time, swapping lies and figuring ot?t who was dead, who'd had a stroke, who was divorced and why. We'll probably not ever be together again until the day my ashes arrive in an urn. Something unusual, and very moving for me, oc- curred at the dinner. I was told that an elderly gentleman, or as some put it, "an old man", had been waiting outside the hall for about two hours, wanting to see me. A bit bewildered, I told them to have him come in. And I finally nailed the old devil who have been writing me for years, sign- ing himself, at first, "Your TV Repairman", and later, over the years, just "YTVR". I knew he lived in Westport, Ont., but couldn't answer his blunt and caustic comments, his kind . and encouraging notes, his sensitive letter when my wife died. And there he was. He wouldn't come in to din- ner. He had to drive home, in the dark, at over 80 years. He'd come all that way just to say hello, Smiley. He gave me a gift which I though might be a chamber -pot, with his sense of humor, neatly wrapped. It turned out to be a beautifully hand-• wrought wooden bowl, which I shall treasure. More about him later. Shoulder not available The tobacco farmers are screaming to high heaven. it seems that the bottom has dropped out of the cigarette market and that over 800 jobs may be lost in the tobacco kelt area this year because acreage will have to the cut back. The tobacco interests feel that the federal and pro- vincial governments are putting so many taxes on a package of cigarettes that the average person just can't afford his smokes anymore and is thus look- ing for cheaper bad habits. They feel that the government is acting in a two-faced manner in that it is actually using cigarette tax money to support a heavy . anti- smoking campaign entitl- ed "Butt -out!" Too bad, fellows. I can't needs that little old disease anyway? Lost jobs? The land's still -there boys. You'll just have to switch to some Perspectives By Syd Fletcher really feel too sorry for Au. Surely you realized Mat the hand-writinghas been on the wall or a number of years since ir- refutable proof came along that smoking is a direct link to cancer. Who Asa tyl s* ifi X0itit other crop. (I understand that peanuts is a j great alternative for that sandy soil, and if a peanut farmer can rise to be president of the United States great things could happen to you too). And as far as the government of Ontario's "Butt.Out" campaign is concerned they could do a lot worse things with their money (like buying a ten million dollar executive jet and a multi-million dollar oil company when oil prices are dropping like a stone). Let's give the Tories credit for doing something that will benefit untold millions who don't even bother picking up that first cancer stick because they know now that kissing a smoker is about as much fun as lick- ing an ashtray. Sorry my friends, you'll have to find some. other shoulder to cry on.