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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1969-09-11, Page 4ud� -Times, Thursday, Sept, 11, 1969, It Won't Happen Tomorrow Municipal representatives who attend- ed a question and answer session on regional government in Hanover last week emerged from the gathering little wiser but perhaps a mite calmer. Our own re- action was that the meeting with Provin- cial Treasurer Charles MacNaughton and Municipal Affairs Minister Darcy Mc - Keough did not provide too much infor- mation about the shape of things to come. The two amiable ministers did reassure the mayors, reeves and councillors that regional government would not be thrust upon them; in fact they emphasized the government's insistence that larger scale municpal planning must result from a de- sire on the part of the municipalities them- selves to enter some scheme of regional- ization—and the suggestion certainly was left that it would probably be several years before the Grey -Bruce -Huron area is ready for the change. The second subject before the gather- ing was that of assessment --a topic which has created deep uneasiness in municipal circles. The provincial government is assuming responsibility for assessment .. which in- the past couple of years has already been removed from the jurisdic- tion of local councils and turned over to the counties, and now to the province. Mr.. McKeough, we thought, made a good case for the assumption of assess- go. a ment by the province, as he explained the .inequalities which have existed between municipalities in the past and the nearly • impossible task of fairly distributing pro- vincial grants and subsidies on this basis. Though the meeting failed to provide any solid ,answers to when and how regional government will be implemented, the fault (if indeed it was a fault), did not lie with the two ministers. Several peo- ple spoke from the floor on subjects which had little or nothing to do with the specific questions the delegates had come to discuss. Asan example, Eddie Sargent, the irrepressible MLA from Owen Sound, took advantage of the occasion to attack the government for wasteful spending practices, a subject which, of course, be- longs on the floor of the Legislature in Toronto An impartial chairman with the power to confine the discussions to regional gov- ernment and assessment problems would have saved valuable time for all concerned. The need for such meetings between government officials and the people they represent is becoming increasingly obvious. The lack of communication which has characterized the formation of county school boards hasalarmed the public to a point where all major changes on the part of government have become suspect. The Ghost Still Walks Although the Hanover meeting did help to allay fears Of disrupting change in municipal government, it has done noth- ing to fell the ghost of regionalism in other phases of municipal life. The Public Utilities Commissions of the province have been warned that they are likely . to find themselves grouped under regional com- missions before long. Hospital boards are fighting the spectre of regionalization; conservation authorities are worried about „the same thing. Inevitably the men who serve on _these. oardst d, a rnr` rts$iona find � A emset'resd noble to plan with any sort of intelli- gence. Much of the time spent by public boards is devoted to an attempt to peer into the future and to provide direction and guidance so that our public services will operate smoothly and efficiently. With the certainty of major changes hanging in. 'the air it is impossible to make sensible decisions. If the Ontario government is to serve the best ‘interests 'of •this prospering pro- vince, one of its first and most import- ant moves should be to set up a planning committee which will come to grips with the entire subject of regionalization, pre- pare a clearly -slated outline of the changes which are likely to take place and honestly and openly tell the public what is going to happen. " Naturally it is impossible even for the `best -informed officials to spell out the exact details of the switch to larger units of administration, — but a good many of those details are undoubtedly marked out right now. ' Political expediency demands that the disclosures be made slowly and carefully. The net result, however, is con- fusion and distrust. Fiction Becomes Fact Federal Justice Minister John Turner's declaration before the Canadian Bar As- sociation that wire-tappingand electronic eavesdropping are to be made criminal offences makes good sense., He allows for some exceptions—notably in the pursuit of known criminals, where the import- ance of. the crime involved merits unusual methods. • 'Mr. Turner would, however, permit electronic • invasions of privacy only after police have. applied for permission and that permission should be available only from attorneys -general, not from judges. The difference lies in the fact that the AGs are elected and therefore accountable directly to the voters for their decisions.. The justice minister's announcement was, of course, greeted with complaints from many police officers across the coun- try. They have protested that -the law against wire -tapping will leave them at an unfair advantage against the criminal who has unlimited access to all the latest de- vices which assist the crook. Mr. Turner's decision has been made after a considered assessment of what are the more important values—and he. has evidently concluded that there is less danger from the criminal who hoodwinks the police than there is from a police force which has the means of snooping into the private life of any and every suspect. Electronic devices hove become so sophisticated that no one is safe from them. New parabolic .microphones with- out wires or radio transmitters can pick up conversations hundreds of feet away. n Telephones can be turned into live micro- phones, even at rest in their cradles. Given free use there would scarcely be a place left in a settled country where absolute privacy would be assured. Welive so complacently that we often forget the awesome power we haveturned over to the very organizations . we have established. A police force can become a threatening arm of partisan politics and an• instrument of tyranny. It has happen- ed in dozens" of countries just as highly civilized as our own. If you have never read George Orwell's book, "1984" you should do so. He has drawn an unforgettable picture of what can happen to a society which; becomes too complacent about the organizations of power which it has established. His star character is Big Brother, a faceless master organizer who has quietly shaped his power structure so that he can control every facet of daily life throughout the nation — all in the guise of paternalistic protection for his people. They find that they have traded every shred of freedom and independence for protection which has changed to persecution. In Mr. Turner's words, "Fear, or sus-, picion of surveillance, even imagined, kills dissent. And when dissent dies, democra- cy withers." We profess to abhor those obscene in- trusions into private life which have characterized' the Communist way of life. Let us be very sure that we do not in- stitute them in our own country under some other and more acceptable name. .M..NN.OHMIC 0114.MRM1Nj..tIb.NN..N.M..M1.H'IN....N..".NNNN. THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert O. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer Member Audit Bureau of Circulation Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association Subscription Rate: 1 yr. $6.00; 6 months $3.25, in advance; USA $7.00 per yr.; Foreign rate $7.00 per yr. Advertising Rates on application Second Class Mail Registration No. -0821 Return Postage Guaranteed News items SEPTEMBER 1934 Miss Olive Cruikshank of the Manitoba Agricultural Cob' lege, Winnipeg, was the guest of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Cruikshank , Tumberry, on Wednesday. Miss Cr u i k- shank's many friends will be pleased to learn that she had . accepted a position on the staff of Ontario Agricultural College,, Guelph. The Wingham High School Board have not been fortunate with their selection of princi- pal, Mr. Wright, who came with :his household effects from Cochrane and has resigned be - cause of ill health. The ladies on the new staff are Miss Finch, Mrs. (Dr.) Parker, Miss Hamil- ton and Miss McConnell. For the present or until university opens, Mr. Ernest Linklater, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Linke later, has kindly consented to act as principal and students are assured an excellent staff and school under his guidance. Miss Margaret Ross of Bay- field is teaching at S. S. No. 9 Turnberry. Miss Mildred Green of South- ampton, has been engaged to teach in Zetland School. Mr. Dudley Holmes has pur- chased Mr. John Glenn's resi- dence on Frances Street. Mr. and Mrs. Murray Mc - Leish have rented the residence of the late Mrs. John Robinson on Shuter Street. Messrs. Fry and Blackhall have purchased the cottage on the hill near the flour mills from the Taylor Estate. Mr. J. G. Stewart, real estate agent closed the deal. Mr. Samuel Bennett's bunga- low on Leopold Street and Dr. J. A. Fox's house on Centre Street are nearing completion. This is an add`: ion of two ex- cellent homes in Wingham. Mr. William Gunn the gent- leman, who has recently purch- ased the Walker & Clegg fac- tory buildinghas leased the C. P. Smith residence on Patrick Street and the Stevenson house now occupied by Dr. Fox on Diagonal Road. SEPTEMBER 1934 Mrs. R. H. Lloyd and Miss Dorothy Lloydentertained their Sunday School classes to a day's outing at the Lloyd cottage at Bruce Beach on Saturday. The, party motored up during the morning, had a dinner and sup- per there, returning during the evening. Dueto a fire that broke out in the pool room ext to his. store, the stock in G eo r g e. Schaefer's dry goods store at Goderich, was damaged some by smoke. The fire occurred on Saturday. Among the Matriculation Scholarship winners announced by the University of Westem Ontario, is Ottis L. Brandon, of St. Marys, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. L. Brandon. Ottis is • one of the leaders in the 14 counties of Western Ontario in die recent upper school exam- inations. She obtained first class honours in no less than nine subjects. Value of th e scholarship. •is $20 t of free tuition in Arts for two year% On Wednesday evening last week a local rink, W. McCool, C. Armitage, E. Nash, skip, won the twilight trebles at God- erich. They carried home. windbreakers as prizes. Mr. George Scott has been appointed agent for tit* P'fude i,. tial Life InstIMICO 0. in Wing- ham replacing Mt. MM[* chael who has been appointed Assistant Superintendent ndent r this district with headq irte. 'in Listowel, Mr, William Shoebottorn, ,Belgrave goad,, has purchased a chopping Mill at Melbourne, Ontario, and will take nes- sion October ist, SEPTEMBER 1944 Messrs, W. G, • Hamilton, Duncan Kennedy and W. W. Armstrong attended the Legion School of Instructiop on Sunday which was held in Listowel. They were accompanied by Mr. A. M. Forbes of London, adjust- ment officer for this district, who gave an address at the morning session. Fire, caused by a gasoline ° engine backfiring about 9:30 Sunday morning, destroyed the barn and garage belonging to James Michie, Concession 5, Morris Township. The loss in - eluded the season's crop of hay and grain;, Threshing had not yet been done. Miss Ada Brophy of St. Au- gustine,has entered St. Mich- ail's Hospital as a nurse -in - training. A graduate of Wing- ham High School, Miss Brophy is well known here. William T. Abraham, son of Mr, and Mrs. Tom Abraham of Wroxeter, has been chosen as winner of the Massey Schol- arship for Huron County this year. Mr. Abraham, is a stu- dent entering the second year at the O. A. C. this fall. George Brooks, Lower. Wing - ham, bagged an owl when he was oBt hunting last week. The owl had a wingspread of 491 inches. He located,, the owl at the bend of the Maitland near Zetland and picked if off With one shot. Jimmie Henderson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Henderson of town, was rushed to Wingham General Hospital on Wednesday. night last week and underwent an operation for the. removal of his aPPendix. The little fellow is making a good recov- ery. to Dr. L. Cattell, who spent a few weeks in Wingham this sum- mer as assistant to Dr. R D., Wilkinsenjoyed his time here. Mayor DeWitt Miller has re- ceived the following letter: Cardiff, South Wale: September 3, 1969 Dear Mr. Miller, I would.like to express my appreciation for all the kind nesses and hospitality extended to me during my short working stay in the town of Wingham. Everywhere I went, and I sup- pose I went to many place s where doctors are not usually seen, I met nothing but a kind welcome, anda most helpful response to perhaps many of my more ludicrous questions. I wonder whether you would be kind enough to express my appreciation to the Wingham Town Council foran experience which I found very memorable in all ways, and in particular for the many kindnesses which were shown to me by individual e $ M#114411. A QUI left on Monday to enter training at the Eigiu MemOrlai Hospital at St. Thomas. pilot to her de, pasture about sixtyof het i en* gathered at the home of Mrs. 11,, E. McKinney -hem a Pres- enation was made The following Wingham b!sinessmen made contribu- tions to the prize lists for the Wingham Lions' Frontier Days celebration; Mason's Boo k Store, O'Bright's Men's Wear, 1. G.A. , Dunlop, Shoes, Sted- man's, Queens Restaurant, Mrs. D. J. Taylor, Huron Motors, Red Front Grocery, Howson and Howson, Brunswick Hotel, Car' michael's, Harry Angus Gro- cery, ,Iidvance-Times, Hasel-° 3rove's Smoke Shop, Slosser Barber Shop, Downe's Service Station, Templeman Cleaners, Canadian Tire Store, David McKee, Deyell's Meat Market, Armitage's Dry Cleaners, Ham- merton Studios, Brown's Shoe Repair, Callan Shoe Store, . Mc- Kibbon's Drug Store, Vande's Drug Store, Simpson -Sears, T. Eaton & Co. , and Burke Elec- tric. Dr. R. B. Paltrier, who has been associated in the medical profession with Dr,, 8. N. Cor- rin in Wingham for the past two years, has taken a position with the Wrinch Memorial Hospital, operated by the Home Mission of the United Church of Canada at Hazelton, B. C. Dr. Palmer expects to leave Wkngham in November, and will assume his new duties in January. The hospital, has ,56 beds_and 80 per cent of the patients are Indians. Hazelton is situated 200 miles from Prince Rupert. A native of Norwich, Ontario; Dr. Pal- mer graduated from the Univer- sity of Western Ontario in 1941. He conducted a medical prac- tice at Wroxeter for seven years before coming to Wingham .ln July, 1953, where he became associated with Dr. Corrin and the late Dr. Wlfliarn Connell. W. 'O. , Struthers, of Minden, Ontario, arrived in town on Monday to take over the posi- tion of manager of the Wingham branch of the Bank o f Com- ' me!ce, Glenn looks quite grown up for three -and -a -half but actually this Little boy , is rather immature for his age. He is a handsome lad, as you see, with lovely grey - brown eyes, softly curling light brown hair and skin that takes a beautiful tan. Glenn is usually active, outgoing, exuberant and mischevious, but in contrast can be quiet and uneasy, especially with strangers or when over-. tired. He likes to "play with his tricycle and wagon and, like most boys, is fond of. cars. He loves small animals like kittens. Glenn has his favorite TV programs — cartoons and 1 Love Lucy -- and he enjoys listening to records. His background is Anglo-Saxon and Italian with one Negro grandparent. He needs .parents who will be understanding.if he takes time to settle in his new home and who will provide love, direction, and stimulation. To inquire about' adopting Glenn please' write to Today's Child, Department of Social o"d Family Services, Par- liament Buildings, Toronto 182. ( .NMssuss. too • ouseallobs..N.NWNNN.b..NHI members of the Wingham com- munity. My best wishes to you and perhaps with a bit of luck 1 may have the, opportunity of meet- ing eeting you again some time in the not too distant future. Yours Sincerely, Dr. L. Cattell • 0--0--0 Midland, .Ontario September 2, 1969 Dear Editor: I have never been at the new junction of Highway 4 and, 86. I have onlyseen it from the corner of Diagonal Road and 86. Are there any, buildings at the dangerous comer? It has been my experience that a flat, clear intersection is extremely dangerous no mat- ter how many waming s i g n s there are, whereas a similar intersection with buildings or a dip or. grade so you can see the '+through" road surface as you approach it, is more likely to alert you. Sincerely, Stan Dane S.S. Guest Editorial Future Homemakers?? Did you know that in your own com- munity young girls are being deprived of learning such basics as cooking and sew- ing? Yes, right in F. E. Madill Secondary School, sufficient facilities have not been set up to teach Home Economics to all those who want it. In a school the size of this, one would think that there would be enough teach- ers available to fill the position of teach- ing Home Economics. Two teachers are presently on the staff and they can only handle a restricted number of students. Even if more Home Economics teachers were employed there have been no pro- visions left in the plans for future Home Economics rooms. This certainly seems to By Nancy Kirkland 128 prove the lack of interest by the adminis- tration of the school in this branch of teaching. Girls are told they simply cannot take this subject because it is not available at this time. Some are able to obtain it dur- ing Grade IX but not Grade X. Others never have a chance to take it at all. Do you want every girl tb be given the chance to gain all the valuable informa- tion she could be taught in Home Econo- mics? ' Well then, show the administra- tion at F. E. Madill School that you are interested. If their attention is brought to this matter some important changes may be made in the future. ° ....AP Why don't girls just get . mar- . ried, ' the way - they used to? What is this desperate thing in modern society that . insists a girl must get a degree or be- come :a nurse or learn a skill, such as punching an adding machine. Frightened, frantic parents, with . the shadow of The Depression peeking over their shoulders, are ramming their daughters, willy-nilly, into. something they can. "fall back on:" -The. irony. Of course we want them to get married. Eventually. To a nice boy with a nice job and prospects; a nice home, lice children, a nice neighbourhood and atthe end, a nice. pension. But first we want them to have anywhere from 13 to 18 years of "education" so they'll have something to fall back on. We are tacitly admitting that if they do get married, they're going to . be abandoned, di- vorced, or their husbands are going to die at 28. So, they have to have something to fall back on. Why don't we just let them get married and fall back on their husbands for a living? My wife has. been falling back on me for almost 23 years and I'm still in reasonable condi- tion. Even though my back has fallen -a bit into my front. • I suppose you think this . is just a diatribe. Well, you're right. But there:s a reason for it. My wife and I have nursed and cursed and wheedled and needled our daughter through high school. She hated it in Grade 11, loathed it in Grade 12, and abhorred it in Grade 13. But by a combination of blackmail, bribery and piteous whining, we made her stagger through the process, I promised, "If you just get your Grade 13, you can do whatever you want. Go to col- lege. Get a job. Drop dead. But you'll never regret it." Already she's regretting it. Now she has to go to universi- ty, which she's about as much interested in as she is in catch- ing leprosy. This whole column ..is in- spired (or uninspired) by the harrowing effort of getting Kim organized at university. She thought she might be able to hack university • if she had a pad of her own; a grill to burn beans on and burn toast on, and maybe a sleeping bag on the floor, and a few psyche- delic posters and a few cock• roaches and her cat for com- pany. This was all right by me. bbiYkas?i"._.j I've slept in barns and box cars. This was freedom from home. and .parents and all' the awful things they . represent, such as- cleanliness and godli- ness and so on. But : her mum had different ideas. And her mum, as I have reason to know, is a domineer- ing, forceful, overpowering and illogical woman, like most other women. So Kim is going to stay in a nice home, with a very nice middle-aged couple. As far as she's concerned, it's getting otit of purgatory and into hell. I've never heard of anybody being kicked out of hell, bite I imagine she'll manage it with- in about three weeks. If ' you have a teenage daughter, you`ll• know what I mean. They're absolute slobs until they're married, when, by some strange process, they go around emptying ash trays be- fore anyone hasused them. But three weeks of dirty. bare feet and a bedroom that looks like a Salvation Army old -clothes depot and a bath- room that looks as if it went down with the Titanic and even that charming, calm land- lady will be screaming, "Out! Out!" • However, I guess the trip was worth it. We met a nice lady in the registrar's office who reads my column (hello, nice lady, keep an eye on my beloved). We had a couple of roaring' fights with subsequent tears, which is good for every-. WAY. And we got home, after a fairly disastrous stopover with friends, to be greeted by our 'other rotten kid, the vacuum cleaner salesman, who has de• tided to go back to university . after two years of drop-out, Who has made $3,500 in the last eight months, who has "Maybe enough money to pay my fees," who was just drop- ping in at the old oil well to see if it was still pumping. Somebody said, "Life is short and life is sweet." Thank goodness it's short. HOLD BINGO AT GODERICH HOSPITAL The Wingham Lions Club sponsored a bingo at the Goder- ich Psychiatric Hospital Wed - nesday evening of last .week. There was no charge and all prizes were donated by the curb. Lions who conducted the bingo were Lloyd Casemore, Bill Tiffin, Fred McGee, Jim Gregg, Jack Hayes and Russel Zurbrigg. U• 0 f '0