The Wingham Advance-Times, 1969-04-10, Page 12Thu lay, sprit 10, 19
Big Money — For What?
Seveartrenes recently we have remark-
ed in this column on the unusual Ieth-,
argy of taxpayeys as far as public ex-
penditures are concerned. It was, in
earlier days, a good old Canadian custom
to challenge elected representatives on the
tax, money they spent—a custom which
was carried to such extremes at times
that progress was seriously impeded in
the name of economy.
For the past ten years or so the pub-
lic appears to have grown accustomed or
perhaps resigned to the increasing de-
' mands for tax money and little has been
said as the rates went up and up. It
would appear, however, that the forma-
tion of county school boards has suddenly
awakened the taxpayers and their elected
councillors to a new awareness of the
value of a dollar.
Several county and municipal councils
have been loud in their protests over the
salaries which are being p id to the dir-
ectors, supervisors and assistants newly
hired to take ' charge of the programs
under direction of county boards of
education.
Of course it is quite true these sal-
aries are very high. The London Free
Press on Saturday ran a feature article
on this very question and quoted figures
for the seven Western Ontario county
-boards of education. Huron, with the
smallest estimated .number of students
(13,20d) shows total salaries for five
upper level administrative employees of
$109,000. In Lambton, where there are
28,000 students the administrative salaries
for 12 people are expected to add up to
$251,000: The other counties in the group
fall into the same high-priced pattern.
Quite naturally the average taxpayer,
who is getting by on an average of some-
thing less than $6,000 a year, staggers a
little bit when he learns that he is paying
a yearly salary of up to $27,000 to one of
his employees. Inevitably he decides,
"Nobody—but nobody is worth that much
money!"
Just how an individual, or the group
of individuals •who make up a ' school
board can determine what a man is worth
is a difficult question'. The problem,
however, is not what a man be worth in
dollars and cents. Rather it is a matter
of what price .must. be paid to. obtain the
services of a qualified person to fill the
'job which .is open. In this day of ever
higher prices the °going figure is $27,000,
so that's what has to. be paid. In. most.
cases the men who can command a sal-
-,11Licp L.4
Valuable
The Wingham Lions Club has decided
to sponsor a service which,. in the course
oftime, should prove of great comfort and
valu, to mankind generally. The club will
act as the local sponsors of the Eye Bank
of Canada, Ontario Division, and)by means
of cards . available to the pinto will open
the agency through which we may donate
eyes to those without sight.
Most of our readers are familiar with
the general outlines of the Eye Bank. It
IS an organization set up to secure parts
of human .eyes on the death of the donor,
to be usedto renew the vision of those
living persons who can benefit from such
' a transplant.
The operation has been successfully
performed thousands of times. There is
no : longer any doubt about whether or
not it will work. The snag is that though
there may be thousands of potentially
twilling donors, when the time of death
approaches there . is 'so much grief and
consternation among close relatives that
ary of $27,000 from a board of education
could ask for and get an even higher
figure if they turned their interests and
energies to industrial occupations.
We believe that the public and the tax-
payer would be asking a more pertinent
question if they demanded more informs:
tion on the reasons for the establishment
of a system of education which is ob-
viously going to be more costly than the
one it supersedes. We have always had
a high regard for the intelligence of the
present minister of education and so we
have considerable faith in his judgment.
Surely the people who guide the destinies
of our whole educational system are not
so misguided that they. have set up this
very expepsive plan without adequate
reason.
Though these men are hopefully pos-
sessed of keen foresight where education
is concerned, they could certainly do with
some assistance in the field of public re-
lations. The fact of the matter is that the
public has been left grossly under -informed
about the reasoning behind all the changes.
Most parents today are willing to
acknowledge that extensive changes are
necessary if our children are to be prop-
erly educated for the space age, but they
think it is high time that the department
got down to specifics about the aims and ,
objects they hope to achieve under the
new plan.
The same thing could be said of the
plans to regionalize local governments.
We have been told over and over again
that local governments must go; govern-
ments on a regional= :basis is to supplant
the representatives with whom we are ,
personally acquainted — the fellows who
know our problems first-hand.
Perhaps this is true, but won't some-
one please spend a little time to enumer-
ate the specific Rreasons? " Perhaps we are
a little dull, but since we will be paying
all the bills, we do have a certain hanker-
ing to know why we have to deal in the
old model for a super -streamlined new
one. •
If all these' changes could be effected
within two years and the voters could see
infinite improvement in the year following
there might be an excuse for silence. As
it is, however, the benefits of these wide-
spread changes may notbe apparent for
a whole generation. The unrest which is
being generated at the present time could
well change the political pattern of gov-
ernment in this province long before the
score can be added up.
a"
Servide'
no one has the.' heart to callously ask
for the eyes.
• The Eye Bank Pian permits a ,zwould-
be donor to make the decision while still
. in good' health. .A card is provided in
this case by the Lions Club, and the donor
completes one portion and mails it to the
Eye Bank, where it is kept on. file. A sec-
._ond portion of the card is shown' to the
next-of:kin or close relative, to make_ .sure
that the wishes of the donor are clear.
When death occurs, the relative is then
asked to signthe necessary permission for
removal of the eyes, in the -full knowledge
that the wishes of the deceased are being
carried out.
The whole procedure may sound a bit
grisly to the 'squeamish, but the gift , of
sight which such a decision could make
is beyond all: consideration. By the time
death has closed our .eyelids none of us
will stand in any need of the nerves and
tissues which brought us so, much pleasure
in life. And it could be some satisfaction
to know that a portion of one's body will
live on, to serve a fellow -creature.
Doesn't Make Sense
The federal cabinet has been ' in the
throes of a soul-searching argument over
Canada's -role in the North Atlantic Treaty
Alliance ' q the question of how many
Canadian soldiers should be stationed at
home or abroad. That is a matter that
will have to be decided by the experts who
have more knowledge than we have on
which to base a decision.
One phase of the question, however,
would appear to fall into the category of
plain common sense. The prime minister
has announced that nuclear weapons must
go. Canada is to have no part in the em-
ployment of such .dreadful tools of war.
Though we are not any more in favor
of a nuclear holocaust than is Mr. Tru-
deau, we can't see the sense in this move.'
If we have soldiers rthey certainly have to
carry weapons . . . and there seems little
point in arming them . with weapons that
are completely outdated. The basic pur-
pose of having weapons in their hands
in . the first place is to deter the- enemy
from thinking it might be safe to use his
own.
Nuclear weapons are, of course, hor-
rible in their implications -- so horrible
that a whole generation of young people
has ''grown up with a near -religious at=
titude about the presence in obi* land—So
we might remind you was the first ma-
chine-gun a horrible weapon, as was the
old. 25 -pounder field artillery piece. The
Lancaster bomber was not likely thought
of as any innocent excursion craft , when
it droned over Dusseldorf. As a matter
of fact, a doubled-uplist is an uncomfort-
able weapon when it connects with the
point of a chin, but it would be hard to
imagine the point of trying -.to oppose one
with an open-handed slap.
What' we are getting around to is that
war,, or the -prevention of war is the use
of, or the treatof violence---and'it is dif-
ficult to scare off the opponent if he
knows he has you beater before the 'fracas
breaks Out. What is the point of inviting
aggression because you are. weak. and
under -armed?
Mr. Trudeau should have no difficulty
in finding a practical example of the con-
sequences of willful weakness. All he has
to do is read the e history of .Britain and
Germany between the two World Wars.
'The second one need never have started
had the Western powers held onto their
weapons.
THE WINGHAM ADVANCE- TIMES
Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited
W. Barry Wenger, •President - . Robert 0. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer
Member Audit Bureau of Circulation
Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association '
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Advertising Bates on application
A
THE RAW MATERIAL—Donna Jeffray, Ross
Jeffray and Gilbert Johann catch a ride
on a sap cart headed for the evaporator
at the Belthore Syrup Festival Saturday
afternoon. Visitors from far and wide
came to the village despite poor weather
conditions.
—Advance -Times Photo.
.
News Items from Old Files
MARCH 1920
Mr. C. R.. Copeland attended
the Dominion Conference of the
Great War Veterans which is in
session at Montreal. Mr. Cope-
land is representating the local
G.W.V.A.
Out of a class of one hundred
and fifty pupils in the Interna-
tional Auto mobile School,, To-
ronto, Percy, and Cecil Merkley
of Wingham, were among the
few that passed their final ex-
amination with honors.
The automobile left an ap-
palling record of death in its
wake' during the year 1919. In
the State of New York motor
vehicles snuffed out.12 70 lives.
In T,ronto alone sixty-eight.per-
sons were killed by auto mobiles
during the month of December,
which was just 21 more than
were killed during the same
month 1918.
Last Thursday's Mail. and
Empire contained a picture of
Mr. G. E. Buchanan,son of, the
late Frank and Mrs. Buchanan,
Wingham, and announced his
appointment as Assistant Secre-
tary of the Union Trust Co. ,
Ltd. , Toronto.
MARCH 194ero
6 a
Thursday and S. aturda.y
Specials --Smoked .Picnic Hams
17¢ ib. ; .Peameal Cottage Roll
170 ib. in the piece; Peameal
Back Bacon 250 ib.in the piece;
Alymer Asparagt s Cuttings 150
tin; Alymer Crushed Pineapple,
2 tins 250; Alymer Tom. Soup,
2 tins 21¢; Alymer Assorted
Soups, 3 tins 25¢; Sugar 10 lbs.
700, with order; at Dominion
Stores, Ltd.
Mr. J. Wells has purchased
the cottage on Edward St. „ of
the late Robert Day. Sale was
made by T. Fells.
Mr. Wilfred Ellacott, To-
ronto, son of Mrs. Jennie Ella-
cott of town, had a hair-raising •
experience on Friday of last
week when two men attempted
to steal rings from Procter's
Jewelry Store. He.and J. G.
Summers, another employee of
the store, caught one of the
'robbers and chased the other
one down Yonge Street wh i 1 e
H. Procter held the other man
till police arrived.
MARCH 1944 .
Mr. Elmer Arbuckle has pur-
chased the Salter Farm on the
12th of East W awanosh and takes
possession on April lst. _
George Edgar, son of Mrs.
George Elgar, formerly of the
lst• line of Morris, has enlisted
and is, stationed with the Tank
Corps, No. 4 Company, at
Brampton. .
»J;n,•NelsonlofIiittrdldl u .
had taken dhrer the harbor ihopt
formerly conducted by. S t a n
Sibthorpe. He and 'Mrs; Nelson
reside in the MacDonald apart-
ments.' Mr. Sibthorpe has
gone back to Blyth havingpur-
chased a barber business there.
John Pym, son of Mr. and
TODAY'S CHILD
BY HELEN ALLEN
•
This beautiful baby is Timothy of the
who needs a mother and
father to love him. He has just had his first birthday and is
developing very well, reaching most milestones ahead
average. His background is English except for one Indian
great grandparent, from whom he probably Anherited his
sparkling dark eyes. He is a healthy, active boy, big for his
age, with scanty black hair and rather fair skin. Timothy
has a babbling, happy personality, with a ready smile
showing his proud new front teeth. He has had no IQ tests,
but is well co—ordinated and appears very bright and
intelligent.. He needs pgrents who wil
heritage and who will provide a home atmosphere with a
great dear of atim'ulation. To inquire about adopting Timo-
thy please write to Today's Child, Department of Social and
Family Services, Parliament
•
•
Building,
1 appreciate his Indian
g, Toronto 5.
Mrs. Harold Victor P y m of
town, has enlisted with the
Reinforcement Section, No. 1
District Depot, Woolseley Bar-
racks in London. Jack, who is
Just over the age of eighteen,
is a brother of Flight S e r g t.
William Pym who lost his .life
on an operational flight over
Europe and was buried in Bel-
gium.
MARCH 1955
A Rollsicord camera and car
radio, valued at approximately
$200 were stolen from the car of
Ivan McKague of Teeswater, .on
Saturday night at the Royal T
dance hall, north of Wingham.
Mr. McKague, who reported
the theft to the Wingham de-
tachment of the Ontario -Provin-
cial Police said that he was at
the dance at the time of the
theft, and that the car was not
locked. Police are investigat-
ing. They have issued a warn-
ing to motorists to lock their
cars when valuables are left in
them.
Bonny .Lee Adams, 7- year-
old daughter of Mr, and Mrs .
Allan Adams, fell at a square'
fd,ange„info rick ;gw,nship, and
s t 4 le aVk surx to
nose. e girl was -re)
Yed
at the hospital, but found to
have no fracture. Also injured
at the same dance was Dorothy
Stone,. 19, daughter of Mr, and
Mrs.' Arthur. Stone, of Wingham,
who fell and fractured her left
wrist. A cast was applied and
she was allowed to go home.
•
A. M. "Scotty” Forbes, 60 -
year -old resident of London,
and Canadian Legion Service
Bureau officer, and his w i f e
Esther, received severe injuries
in a traffic accident on Sunday
night on No. 2 highway, east
of Eastwood, near Woodstock.'
Forbes, who was well known in
Wingham, was driving his 1953
Ford car with his wife as passen-
ger, when the vehicle hit a
patch of ice. The car skidded
off the road in the poor :visibil-
i:f you hear that my heltse
has been burned; or that stu-
dent rioters have oCettpiead
study and takenaxestd rn '
typewriter, don't be surprised:
The student. militants are after
me.
Their hackies were raised
when 1 suggested in a recent
column that they get away
with everything but murder.
I said it and I mean it, There
shouldn't be o.ne.law for the
rich and another for the peer,
And there shouldn't be one
law for some poor devil of a
kid who gets six months for
stealing something worth 555
and another Caw for students
who commit arson, destroy
property, and are. hailed as
martyrs.
From Halifax, one Barrie
Sandham launches an attack.
after condescendingly telling
me that he is not a regular
reader of my column, but
"glances over it" - once in a
while.
Wile admitting that he is
not one 'of them, he defends
student activists. Without
them, says he, nothing would
be accomplished in getting rid
of the dead hand of adminis-
tration in the universities:
In that case, why are you not
one of them: young Barrie?
Are you one of the hundreds
of thousands who sit back and
let a few do the dirty work,
and then get on"'the gravy train
sty and struck a hydro pole.
Chester Rs Copelanpd;, a na-
tive of Wingham and a brother
of Ermine S. Copeland of town,
was feted in London last week
onthe occasion of his retire-
ment from the post office, af-
ter 45 years of service as a rail-•
way .mail clerk, Mr. Copeland,
who celebrated his 66th birth-
day last week, joined the mail
service in July of 1910, and
served from 1916 to 1918 in the
Postal Corps in England during
the First War. For 21 years he
was a mail clerk on the o Id
"Huron and Bruce" run.
Lois Gilkinson was the lucky
lady at the Ice -Cycles in Kitch-
ener on Saturday night when,
as holder of the lucky program,
she was presented with an'Elec-
oohome Skylark .. radio' and rec-
d • player. s'iC'lkinson was
one of a party of sixrom Wing -
ham which attended the i c e
show in Kitchener. Othere were
Barbara and Marjorie Currie ,
Mrs. it.. J. Currie, Florence
Barris, and Mrs. Harold Gilkin-
son.
Sixteen rinks from Thedford,
Seaforth, Elmira, Palmerstdh,
Belmore, Brussels, Belgrave and
Wingham were on hand for the
16 -rink bonspiel at the Wing- • :
ham Curling Club last Wednes-
day. Winners of the.9 o'clock _
draw were: first, Clark Re n
wick, Belmore;,second, W.H.
French, .Wingham; third, Har-
old Walsh, Belgrave. Three
Wingham rinks were winners of
the 11 o'clock draw: first, J. H.
Crawford; second, A. M. Craw-
ford; third, Elmer Ireland.
e;a
when, the smoke ba* elm?.
There's a mixed meta etiI
defy evenan f rishr+ an tQ bet
ter, .
His letter is too long ti
quote,, but, he adopts 4 °fsmillar
type of "logien in it. When.yoil.
can't refute the argu.a+etit, Its
tack the. speaker,. So. he accuses
me of: Writing .something seri-
Musa being a subscriber to
. Time magazine; hiding' behind
someone else's opinions, writ-
ing for right-wing fanatics:
mud•slinging; and worst of .all.
probably being double -chinned.
What gives you an idea of the
coherency of the letter.
Dear boy, you. are 1M9. .peri
cent wrong. I often write' seri-
ously: 'never read. Time except..
in the dentist's office: never
hide behind (there' opinions:
write. 'for Canadians from
plumber to politician, doctor
to ditch -digger, teacher to
teenager: don't sling mud
though sometimes rocks; And
have a chin like a shovel.
That's 100 percent. The Other
20 percept is for spelling and
grammar errors; though per -
'haps this is unfelt, as you are
obviously a college student
As though. this weren't
enough, comes .a searing letter,.
dripping with sarcasm, from a
young lady in Red Deer. Alta.
It encloses a paragraph from
my column, out •of •context, and
is on behalf of all.. militant
students.
Somehow. I emerge as the
villain. "We have destroyefl
parks. universities and comput-
ers, but you and your gleeful
following have broken- the
mental, barriers and' destroyed
the values and inhibitions that
held us back. Someone had to
unleash the hounds and 1
think they should go unnot
iced." Who? The hounds?
Then she compares me 'with
her dad, who apparently wasn't
strict enough. Then: "We kids
let ourselves go.sometimes but
what an orgy of unrestrained
jealousy . .your generation has
had." • ..
Dear girl, say it isn't so. I
haven't broken a mental bar-
rier or destroyed any values or
inhibitions (including my
,own) • for. years. And I have
neveryet unleashed a single
hound. I, :too, let myself go
sometimes. But unrestrained
jealousy? Pity is the emotion,:I
feel most often ,toward young
people. ' ., •
Then sivoitta° ` newspt
men. "Yob dire know how io
use the old axe. If we stole
their (politicians) car they'd
have it back tomorrow. You can
take their name and reputation
and get paid for it." Nonsense,
love: If you stole a car, you'd
be arrested. If I stole a , mune
or reputation. I'd be sued for
libel.
Final excerpt: "The srilatit
ones work behind the scenes
and let others go to jail. Be-
sides, you've solved the prob-
lem of eternal youth." I'm
afraid I don't get the connec-
tion. But I'd be happy to serve
a jail term if the latter state-
ment were true. You should.
have my bursitis, kid, along
with y falling hair, teeth and
arch
All I can say. is: Student
activism -- 'yes: student ter-
rorism •-- no.
eete/t4 de Edam
Dear Mr. Editor:
There has been considerable
editorial comment from news-
papers concerning -the report of
the committee on religious ed-
ucation in the public schools,
headed by the former lieuten-
ant -governor, J. Keiller Mac-
Kay. While this has been well -
introduced and in a measure
helpful it has overlooked. some
very important facts in the situ-
ation.
It must be admitted that
there have been problems .with
the present regulations, allowing
religious instruction in thepub-
lic schools of Ontario. Further,
'ft is true that some- -ministers
and others --have abused the
privileges and 'bungled the op-
portunity. But even granting
this, why "throw out the baby
with the bath"?
It has been suggested that the
teaching ,of morals and the pro-
viding of courses in compare-,
Live religion should replace the
present Bible Study type of re-
ligiou's education. This sounds
fine, but whoever made morals
stick without the dynamic and
incentive of some religion?
Even the Chinese Communists
who work so hard at the stamp-
ing out of superstition and re-
ligion have built their "Maoism"
up to the point that, for a ll
practical purposes, it is a reli-
gion. Courses in comparative
religion would be a very fine
thing for senior high school stu-
dents, but not for public schools,
How do you compare religions
unless you have one of your own
as a standard for comparison?
For most of the time during
my ministry of between 25 and
30 years 1 have been doing at
least some religions education.
in the public schools. I have
not received a single complaint
from the parents of the children
that I taught, and have not had
any serious problems in connec-
tion with it. True, a few chil-
dren withdrew from the classes,
(seldom more than one or two
in a class) but this was theirper-
feet right and privilege to do so.
There was no unpleasantness or
embarassment to me or to the
children. (It is wrong to say
that there has been "forced in-
doctrination" in our pu b l i c
schools.)
It is true that there are in-
creasing numbers of people in
our midst who are of non-Christ-
ian religion or no religion. But
let us not forget that our de-
mocracy and culture in this part
of the world were established on
Christian and Jewish moral val-
ues and convictions. If it is to
be reduced to the least common
denominator of all religions and
no religion, it will be vastly
different from what we have
known in the -past
It is high sounding to say
that each denortyination should
look after its own religious ed-
ucation. Ideally, this might
be best. ;(I believe the Roman
Catholic Church is basically
o .................. w.. l..,
correct in retaining the right to
control the education of its chil-
dren). But, in reality this is very
hard to carry out. There are
too, many denominations, and
they do not have the ,resources,
facilities or personnel to do. a
good job in religious educatioH
Furthermore, many paraass are
far too indifferent to the mutat
Some years ago I was at-
tempting to help a young man
in his twenties, whose marriage
had fallen apart. His idea of
recreation , was to spend four
nights a week in`the beverage
room. I sought for tome values.
uponwhich to rebuild the mar-
riage..
awriage.. What was his Church?
None. Had he ever gone to
Sunday School? No. What re-
ligious training had he recsiv -
ed? Well, there w&s a minister
who used to come to the public
school once a week when he
.was a school boy. This was tl*
sum total of his religious train-'
ing--clearly not enough, but •
perhaps a' little better than nock,
ing. ;
If the privilege) of religious
instruction in our public schooll
is withdrawn, 'children who now
get all- too -little will get still
less, and a few will no longer
get any religious instruction.
• Thanking you for your cour-
tesy,
Sincerely yells,
(Rev.) George N. Ball,
United Church of
Canada,
Ripley, Ontario.