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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1984-11-14, Page 4Pop. .1 -1P wRR '4+. • Tlmos-Advocoto, Nov.mbor 14, 1984 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate cn Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by I.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL 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. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $22.00 Per year, U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Closed is not open Members of Huron County council dismissed all sense of propriety when they moved behind closed doors for over an hour at their November meeting to discuss the fate of the Pioneer Museum in Goderich. Warden Tom Cunningham said the closed session was held to allow members the opportunity for "open and frank discussion". Such nonsense! No meeting held behind closed doors away from the prying ears of the public can be classified as open discussion. To suggest that the only manner in which a frank discussion can be held is to meet in secret casts asper- sions on the conscientiousness of all members. If they can't be frank and open when dealing with the public's business with the public in attendance, they simply don't have the right to be dealing with the public's business in the first place. Compounding the impropriety of a secret session is the scope of the subject. It has been recommended by a county committee that $2.1 million be spent on reconstruction of the facility. +CNA If the closed session was held to determine if members could come up with that amount from their private contributions, then it may have some justifica- tion. If, however, they plan to ask the ratepayers to help foot the bill then they'd be well advised to throw all their cards on the table and allow those ratepayers in on all discussions pertaining to the various options available. The 26 municipal councils have now been asked for their input into the decision. Will they be given some of the information denied the public, or are they too to be considered unfit to be privy to such frank discus- sions and information? If they are interested in being fair to their ratepayers, the municipal councils should withhold any discussion on the subject until such time they have been assured by county council as a whole that they have all the information available and that all future discussions and deliberations on the museum at the county level will be held in public. The taxpayers deserve nothing less. Small step taken Canada's unemployed have every right to feel betrayed by the new Mulroney government as cam- paign promises to immediately create "tens of thousands of jobs" have gone the way of other similar promises made by the government. However, they should not lose hope. With the economic statement tabled by Finance Minister Michael Wilson, there is clear indication that the new government is moving to get the economy back on track to solid growth and that could promote jobs in private enterprise. That's obviously where the jobs must come from if they are to be long-lasting and not a further hin- drance to the equally important goal of keeping the deficit under control. The cost of servicing that deficit and continued government spending are at the roots of the unemployment problem and obviously the need for remedial action is as accute as unemployment. Wilson has intitiated action to keep the lid on spen- ding, but certainly will have to look at other methods than those announced this week to make further chops. Holding the line is not good enough; the spending line must be pushed back. Thursday's statement was a step in the right direc- tion, but only a small step that must be duplicated many times through the term of the government's mandate. Keep on truckin' to the answers It's certainly far from unprecedented, but it is difficult to recall a more surpris- ing turnabout by an Exeter council than the one indicated last wekk over the issue of commercial trucks parking in residen- tial areas. Councillors, similar to the rest of us, have the prerogative of changing their minds, but in this case it was totally unex- pected and in fact everything was poin- ting to more severe regulations for truckers while it now appears that regula- tions will be almost non-existent. A review of the situation maybe of some interest, but does little to shed any light on reasons for the sudden turnaround. At their September meeting. council voted to oppose an application for a minor variance from Bert and Elaine Knip to allow them to park their truck at 22 Sher- wood. That was followed by council nam- ing an ad hoc committee to establish new regulations for trucks in residential areas and council members concurred with the report of that committee when presented. The planning advisory committee also concurred with most of the recommenda- tions which called for size restrictions and even hours of operation. Council then en- dorsed the endorsement of the planning advisory committee and asked the ad hoc committee to come up with specifics per- taining to the size limitations and those were on the agenda for last Monday's ses- sion when council did a complete about- face and decided that regulations wouldn't be required at all. Instead, they opted for (at least if silence means consent) a type of permit system envisioned by Reeve Bill Mickle and Mayor Bruce Shaw. . . • . The permit system as outlined is basically a cop-out and Mayor Shaw toys with reality to suggest that it would enable council to fulfill their respon- sibilities to ratepayers who have concerns or complaints about trucks being parked in their neighborhoods. The only restriction cited would arise from complaints from neighbors when in- dividual truck operators appeared to have their permits renewed. Now, that's a system that just doesn't BATT'N AROUND with the editor work, either in principle or practice. in fact, the writer shudders to think of the ramifications of any system that could rest upon the whims of a neighbor or place any individuals in a situation where they had to document the times and types of nuisances being created to protect their enjoyment of life. While it has been well-documented that the majority of citizens have no complaint over a neighbor parking a truck in his driveway, it is also clear that the com- plaints which have arisen indicate there are some problem areas and the neighborhood squabbles that could arise when those individuals faced their ac- cusers would not be in the best interests of any one. The real problem, and one that council members would come to know only too soon, would be in the matter of ad- judicating the renewal of permits where complaints may be registered against the applicant. Without proper guidelines and regula- tions, those would turn in to shouting mat- ches based on hearsay, matters of opinion and other intangibles that would be almost impossible to resolve. To resolve them equitably without some ill -feelings would be impossible. . . • There are some questions that must be answered by council. The first is whether commercial trucks will be allowed to park in residential areas. Given the stance taken at last week's session, it would appear that members are of the opinion that the answer to that is now in the affirmative, although that too could presumably change as drastically and suddenly as the earlier stand taken by council. The second question then becomes whether there will he any rules and regulations with which operators will have to conform. If there are rules and regulations then they must be spelled out in specifics and be of a nature that can be enforced by the police or bylaw officer. with or without complaints from neighboring property owners. There must be some basis in law for regulations if they are to be enforced, as well as penalties spelled out for those who contravene them. The permit idea, with neighbors virtual- ly acting as enforcement officers, may have enabled council to side-step the issue in a confrontation with the truck owners, but in reality it is merely abdicating the responsibility to arrive at a decision on whether trucks will be allowed in residen- tial areas, and if so, under what regula- tions, if any. The basic question remains and must still be answered by those with the authority to answer it. . 4, "1 voted Trudeau in '80 and we got Trudeau.. . "... this year, I voted Mulroney and we got Mulroney.. . Let's see. What's new and you haven't even got No, it's the double oo today? College teachers your leaves raked. Mulrooneys that are going on strike. Librarians As a sad, sad result, we upset. I made an unfor- coming off strike. Auto are inclined to turn in tunate remark in a column workers going on strike. upon ourselves, to blot out about "Mulrooney" soun- U.S. won't help with acid the horror and the ding as though it was the rain. Police demand violence and the brutality other side of the tracks. It return of capital punish- of society, and to lock was as funny as an old ment. Russians accuse ourselves into a little cup- rubber boot. But I did ap- U.S. of non-cooperation in board composed of money plaud the lady Mila, for their new "peace" over- and "things" and "rela- many aspects of her tures. Man stabs woman tions," hoping the nasties character. 48 times and is sentenced will go away. They won't. Now this. In my old to three months. Well, the magnificence of the world is unfolding in its accustomed manner. But all is not lost. A black bishop from South Africa has been awarded-- and Spice the Nobel Peace Prize. Eugene Whelan has not been sent to Italy. (Not because he couldn't speak Italian, which he couldn't, not to mention English, Perhaps our wincing but because he was a and flinching are an ex - Liberal.) ample of the human spirit It must be giving Joe trying to stay alive in a Clark, who has been time when the brutishness stabbed in the back so of the Middle Ages looks often it's become a minor like a Sunday School pic- irritation, and has had his nic, in comparison. heart cut out and thrown Perhaps it's something to the wolves, a great deal older than that: a retreat of satisfaction to be the to the family, the cave, the ropeman on the guillotine. tribe, when the earth Feel some pity for poor shook and the great beasts old Eugene, and poor old howled their final agony. Bryce Mackasey, who And man whimpered. didn't get to go to that villa Iley, that's pretty good, in Portugal. One of two eh? things happened. Either Don't worry. I'm not go - they had too much pride to ing to go on like a guru. scuttle into a judgeship or I'm just trying to establish the Senate, or they were the fact, which every too greedy to settle for reader knows, that our something so small and so own affairs become more sordid. Your guess. important than a train You may, believably, wreck in Italy, a flood in wonder what all that leads India, or an outbreak of to. We shall see. the dire rear in hayfork It's extremely difficult Centre. today to he an alert, To get to the point, the aware, compassionate Mulrooneys are after me. person when policemen Not Brian and Mila, bless are shot like rabbits, there their hearts. They can is war all over the world, take a joke. They wouldn't children are starving, try to rub me outt don't men beat up their women, think. 0 E9MoµTogaSbuN411— s "... next election, for the good of the country, I'm NOT voting!" What's new today? Sugar Dispensed By Smiley paper, where I was editor, appears this scurrilous bit: "Re column So far as Mila Mulroney and a 'name sounding from the wrong side of the tracks' is served up by `Mr. Constant Mouth, 1944, Bill Smiley ( ex -nazi war camp nightmare)'; "A Mulrooney myself, 1 ponder "constant -mouth's deeds of herosim or herosim/not. "And do not make sport of his toruture, nor judge his ( imprisoned utterings ) he now sings: 'fell well' or "Ile that cannot praise."' It is signed: "Barbara Mulrooney, Clan Mulrooney, 3-dimensional writer -poet, -artist humanitarian." What in the name of whatever is a three- dimentional writer? Anyway. there were a lot of...and...'s in the publish- ed letter. suggesting it was originally libellous or worse. Just don't plant a bomb in my bathroom, or Bill Smiley's I'll have the whole lot of the Smileys down on yiz Mulrooneys and we lived on the other side of the tracks, too. When we felt like it. But closer to home, somebody hates me. It's sort of nice. I'm sick of be- ing a good, gentle, kind man like Bill Davis, Prime Minister of On- tario, who was also described as shifty, am- biguous, slippery, ruthless and d so on. Media tripe. A man from a neighbouring township, wrote me a hate letter this fall. It was supposed to be witty, but devolved into sheer malice. It was an at- tack on teachers. I'll quote only bits. Most of it is libel. ``Willy, you re- mind me of the provincial handle on the thunder - mug - always there but never in... You, along with that effete corps of over- rated and over -paid su- called teachers, at e always articulating some complaint about municipal, provincial and federal legislature." I won't bore you with the rest of it, because it is bor- ing. It suggests that none of us has the guts to tackle the establishment, or run for office. Robert S. O'Neil, i was a town councillor when you were wetting your Pampers. I have been challenging the Establish- ment for years, in this col- umn and face to face. I have been president of a large tourist association. President of a publishers' association. Treasurer of the local Red Cross; Member of the Library Board. Member of the church board. I am tired. Of you and Mulrooneys. Get stuffed, both of you. Can't right the wrong With the recent swing upward in the number of police deaths in Canada there has been an understandable outcry for the renewal of the death penalty. For example, the family of the murdered policeman Woodstock is taking up a petition which will be presented to Mulroney early in the next session asking for a free vote (as opposed to a par- ty policy decision) on the issue. Personally i am totally against capital punishment. Why? in states where there is capital punishment as op- posed to none there is no visible decrease per the death penalty has been abolished. If hanging is not acting Perspectives By Syd Fletcher war capita in the number of violent crimes. Therefore it does not act as a deterrent. Despite the recent rash of murders crime has not increased in Canada since e�. as a deterrent then it simply becomes a system of revenge. in that case the hangman (and society indirectly, certainly the people who vote it in) become murderers also. Two wrongs don't make a right. Surely we have progressed beyond the an- cient `eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' society which is not much better than savagery. Finally. In the last year two men have been par- doned of crimes of which they were wrongfully con- victed. Both spent many years in prison. At least we can free them now, perhaps repay them finan- cially for some of the hor- ror into which they were placed. What do you suggest could have been done to right the wrong if they had been executed?