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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1984-07-04, Page 4'''"Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 4, 1984 Imes - Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dv�cate cn Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by 1.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EERY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager fill I BAT LEN ROSS HAUGH Editor Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES (omposiuon Manager DICK JONGKIND Business Manager • Published Eai h 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' Noteworthy achievement During the infamous days of the headline -making strike at Fleck Manufacturing a few years ago, there was general and well-founded concern that it would be difficult for management and labor to patch up their wounds and get back to business. Well, the fears have been expelled. The recent history of the company has been one of continued growth, culminating in last week's an- nouncement of a Q-1 quality award from their major customer, the Ford Motor Company. Initial reaction to the award may be one of dubiousness, based on the fact some firms are overly zealous in making such awards as it boosts their own • image and is little more than a public relations scam. But not so in this case! This award has been received by only six percent of Ford's 3,000 supplier plants. Obviously that makes it a very commendable designation for the Huron Park firm and its 540 employees. No award of that nature can be attained without a strong sense of teamwork and employee pride. That is certainly one of the most noteworthy aspects of the situation. The community as a whole has benefitted from the growth of Fleck Manufacturing and the level of quali- ty being recorded at the plant indicates those benefits should continue for all concerned. How strange it is It's a weird, weird world. If you don't agree, just consider a few of the latest happenings both at home and abroad. In an effort to provide Canadians with a bigger chunk of the oil industry, the federal government set up Petro -Canada, which used taxpayer dollars to pay a high price for, first, Petrofina, then British Petroleum. In this way, it was argued, Canadians would be able to purchase petroleum products from their very own oil company, thus saving us all money in thelong run. Many Canadians didn't agree with the new policy, but at least there was a certain amount of logic attach- ed to the proposition. So what does the fledgling Petro -Canada an- nounce? The organization will be closing down 400 ser- vice stations across the country. Somehow, that doesn't compute. Shouldn't Petro - Canada be opening, rather than closing, stations as it attempts to make its products available to more and more of its taxpayer -owners? The wonderful world of international finance is perhaps unfolding as it should. Over the years the in- ternational banks ( including Canada's) loaned too many billions of dollars to third world and particular - 4 ly South American countries. When some recipients of the funds couldn't even pay the debt charges on the money, the once prudent bankers loaned them more money to cover the interest payments. Now that may sound like an odd way to operate a bank, but it is the Iatest move in the world of international finance that seems to come directly from Alice in Wonderland. The bankers, it seems, have allowed several coun- tries to lend a few billion dollars to a neighbor so the interest can be paid on some of the borrower's huge loans. What's mind-boggling is that high risk Mexico, which owes the bankers almost as much as anyone else in the world, was one of the lenders. That's a lot like one bankrupt individual bailing out another by sending money he or she doesn't have. The principle of connecting compensation to results seems a good one. If a company's managers can double or triple profits, then those reponsible for the good results deserve bonuses. Latching onto a good concept, the elite that run the county's Crown ( government-owned) corporations have taken the age-old business concept one step further. Recently, Crown -owned aircraft companies awarded hefty bonuses to their top executives. What's wrong with that? Last year these com- panies chalked up the largest losses in Canadian cor- porate history. The new question, of course, is what would occur if by some miracle the Crown corporations actually made money? Would the executives take a pay cut? The top brass needn't worry. Such a miracle is not about to happen. r Vocal talent finally recognized The(umnler theatre season is under way again and that spells good neWs fo area residents. There is probably no location in Ontario which is blessed with such a close prox- imity to good theatre. Even at the price of today's gasoline t that could be up o down, even as i write) it is an in inexpert sive hop to professional theatre and allied entertainment at Stratford, Grand Bend or Blyth. Given some of the other inflationary trends with which people have to deal, even the price of tickets is within the financial reach of most people. Last week, the writer joined (he open- ing night crowd at the Blyth Theatre. A couple of added attractions included some native dances and songs by a group of In- dians from Manitoulin island prior to the performance and the words of welcome from Ontario's minister of culture and recreation, the Hon. Susan Fish. However, the real highlight of the even- ing was being invited to sing with Maureen Forrester, the internationally known contralto and chairman of the Canada Council. It Will always remain a mystery how this tenor graduate of the SHIMS glee club was known to the chairlady of the program, but 1 was certainly not about to waste the opportunity to exercise my vocal chords with one of this nation's greatest gifts to the world of music. That some would put the writer at the opposite end of that scale is merely sour grapes and an envious outburst that they were not invited to do the same. . . .• There is a very strong tendency to leave that information without further clarifica- tion, hut in my usual strive for accuracy and detail, it must be explained that all members of the audience were invited to join Miss Forrester as she led in the sing- ing of the national anthem. r Actually, the reason for clarification is that i know a few area residents would be quick to set the record straight, given the fact they were also in the opening night crowd and joined in the singing. in some cases, that may have been un- fortunate, because it probably caused a BATT'N AROUND with the editor general decline in the rendition provided by the more -gifted. There was certainly a noticeable off- key performance from the balcony. Whether it corresponded to the seat oc- cupied by a certain Churchill Drive chartered accountant is probably teed left to conjecture. A discordant note emanating from the proximity of a well-known Hay Township farmer and Liberal brought forth an answer to the long-standing question of why 11,1, Sturgis scheduled glee club practices to coincide with basketball practices, or when -they didn't, why he kept saying ".lust mouth the words, Ian!" Fortunately, Stanley Township Reeve Paul Steckle was in fine form and there is no hesitation in recommending that he be considered for fund raising solo perfor- mances in the new township hall if the operating costs start to erode the municipal coffers. - While future patrons to Blyth will not enjoy the added benefit of hearing the editor and Miss Forrester sing, the trip is still worthwhile. Ted Johns has another winner in Gar- rison's Garage, a particular delight for those who know the ins and outs and col- orful characters of small town Ontario and even more so for those who have had the misfortune to encounter some of- ficious bureaucrat, particularly an in- come tax auditor. No doubt our aforementioned.accoun- tant in particular could see more than humor in the "shoe box" type record keeping. The set itself will bring back fond memories to those who grew up with the cluttered old-fashioned surroundings of the local garage that had a part for just about anything imagineahle and gome that weren't. The Huron Country Playhouse also opened last week and three male staff associates have presented the writer with their three critiques, leaving one to wonder if they were all at the same play which was A Thousand Clowns. The non -drinking member of the staff suggests it's a good night of laughs. The other two weren't laughing as much, but apparently that was based on their opi- nion that the price of drinks was too high. Obviously, the conclusion is that theatre is still a very personal preference. That's why it's possible to see people emerging from the same performances with some laughing and others crying. So, if you need a good laugh... or your preference is for a good cry... you'll pro- bably find exactly what you need at the live theatre that's available right on your doorstep. Plan to attend this summer and support those who work so hard to bring the area these vitally important professional theatres. 6 "Oh no — another lockout!" tries rt" am A It's a garage sale Garage sales are quite the fad these days. Many people make them part of their lives. They troop around town watching for hand -made signs 'and check the ads in the classified section. Drive around any small town and you'll see a cluster of cars, in front of a house. "Must be a wed- ding or a funeral," you muse. Then you see a pile of junk with a hoard of human magpies darting around it, snatching up bits, beating each other to another heap of rubble like seagulls diving and screeching for a slice of french -fried spud. It's no wedding. There are no vows exchanged, except that you takes what you gets, "for better or for worse". It's no funeral, except for those who pay six bucks for something that cost three ten years ago. It's a garage sale. This phenomenon resembles a mini -auction - sale minus the auctioneer. The garage sale allows the proprietor (often abetted y some of his neighbours) to get rid of all the useless items overflowing the garage, the tool -shed, the base- ment and the attic. It sometimes brings in two or three hundred dollars to the vendors, and the garage -sale groupies go home all excited, because they have bought a three-legged chair, a horse-drawn sleigh, an umbrella with only one spoke missing or six paperback novels for a dollar. One of my contem- poraries, an habituee of these bizarre events, was more than a bit thunderstruck when he found at one sale that he could buy text -books from our school, duly stamped as such, dirt cheap. Ile remonstrated with the owners, pointing out that the books belonged to the school and had been stolen by their children, but they'd have none of it. They wanted cash. So much for human nature. These were tax- payers who had helped buy the books their kids had stolen, and now wanted to sell them back to the system so that other kids could steal the books they were still paying taxes for. May I digress for a mo- ment? Kids do steal books. Regularly. They don't con - Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley siderate it 'stealing'. It's just taking something from a big institution. That's not stealing, accor- ding to about fifty percent of them. It's just like Dad not declaring something on his income tax or Mom ordering a dress from Eaton's, wearing it to a party, then taking it back to the mail order office and returning it, claiming it was "too small" or had smudge marks in the arm- pits (after she'd discoed in it for four hours.) They wouldn't steal from a friend. They might steal from their parents but they have no com- punction about "ripping off" a department store or the government. This is fact, not fancy, as i've learned in discussions about morals. Back to the garage sales. There is no sugges- tion of stealing here. Both parties, buyer and seller, are perfectly aware of what s going on. The seller is trying to get rid of something he doesn't need. The buyer is buying something he doesn't need. it's a classic exam- ple of our materialistic age. We want to get rid of some of the garbage we've bought, and the buyer wants to buy some more garbage. The epitome of a garage -sale -groupie would be a person who goes to four garage sales, buys a lot of junk, then has a garage sale to dispose of it, preferably with a small mark-up. But they're fun. A friend of mine, who'll make a bid on anything, even though he doesn't know what it's for, has bought two old-fashioned horse-drawn sleighs. He has worked on them until they are serviceable. All he needs now is a couple of beasts to haul the things. He'll probably wind up with a camel and a Shetlandny (and will make a fortune hauling people around when we run out of gas.) Well, I wish I'd had a Farage sale this spring. irst, I'd have sold the garage, a venerable in- stitution. None of this elec- tronic eye, or press a but- ton and the door opens. It has a vast door, weighing about eight hundred pounds. You hoist the door and it slides on pulleys and cables, and at the right moment, on a good day, it stops rising dust at the height to tear off your radio antenna. The balances, filled with sand, aren't quite enough from crashing down on your hood, but i've fixed that. To one, i've added an axe - head, to the other, a quart of paint. Perfect balance. A real buy. Behind the garage is a sort of tool shed. I say "sort of", because when I've sailed into the garage on a slippery mid -winter day, I've sometimes gone an extra foot and crashed into the tool shed, which now leans about thirty- eight degrees to the north. I'll throw in the tool shed with the garage, but not its contents. Migawd the stuff in there would bug the eyes of either an anti- que dealer or a garage - groupie. I have garden tools in there that haven't been tfs- ed since Sir John A. Mac - Donald's wife told him to get his nose out of that glass and go out and stir up the garden. I have at least four perfectly good tires for a 1947 Dodge. I have enough holy tarpaulin (or is it holey? I've never known) to build a theatre under the stars. There's a perfectly good set of golf clubs, a wee bit rusty. There's a three-legged garden tool that must have come over with Samuel de Champlain. There's a three -wheeled lawnmower (mechanic's special) . Six hundred feet of garden hose that a little adhesive would fix. And many more, too miscellaneous to mention. And that's only the tool shed. Inside the house, there are eight tons of books, left by my children. The attic is going to come right through to the kit- chen, one of these days. How about a copy of Bhagavadgita, 1000 pages, at a $1.00? Man, I wish I'd got this idea off the ground about two months ago? Anyone interested is an iron crib, sides go up and down, fill- ed with three hundred dollars worth of broken toys, exotic paintings, some records and a bag of marbles? Who needs to retire, with all this wealth lying around? A sense of belonging Quick now'. What famous band was asked to fly to Ottawa last Sunday morning to play a concert on Parliament Hill then turn around and fly back home the same night? i'll give you a clue. it's the same band that's go- ing to play at Queen's Park in August to help celebrate the Bicentennial year. Still don't know eh'? Well, here's a few more facts about this concert band. It's the oldest military band in continuous ex- istence in Canada. its members (over for- ty strong) are drawn from four different counties in South -Western Ontario. if you haven't guessed already I'm talking about the Forest Excelsior Band which is celebrating its own Centennial this year morning (July 8) at eleven o'clock in one of their regular open air services. Perspectives By Syd Fletcher and as part of its celebra- tions has built a huge por- table band,4hell which it has already used in several parades and a concert. During this year it will be playing at many other concerts including one at the' Grand Bend United Church this next Sunday The highlight of the year though has to be the trip Sunday to Ottawa, flying down in the morning from London, being bussed to Parliament Hill to play a concert there and then fly- ing back the ' same evening. It was unbelievably hot in Ottawa, a real scorcher. We sort of moved from one piece of shade to another but up on the bandshell with its white floor reflecting the heat back up at its there was no escape. We were a little awed by the whole proceedings. Not long before us on the program was the RCMP stage hand. After us were the folk singers Wayne Rostad and Murray McLauchlan finishing off with the Metropolitan Or- chestra of Greater Montreal. Great stuff eh. Believe me, we felt a tremendous sense of belonging to Canada and of being pro- ud to be Canadians. We won't forget the day in a hurry! • 1/4