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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1970-02-19, Page 4iT S[Q 404, THY SD rF ,'k F*EBRU � R1Ry j0,. 1 70� fetter. to . the Editor. OUr readers ite a1Eranters were (jeterinineci. not to print aliythins till e : were sue it woutc .Deno no one, therev ouki b _ very n t reo , . ,sn .rt'in No Scapegoats The actions of town council at the February 12 meeting have left many members of the general puplic who were present more than a bit disillusioned and disappointed in some members of council. We doubt if any member of council knows: exactly why an apology was given to town solicitor Ken Hunter, nor exactly -whatit was apologizing for. Certainly _there may have been some � cause for an apology if the details behind the Roberts incident had been cleared up to the satisfaction of all, but thiewas prevented by the action of James DonnellyU who interrupted Coun. Paul Carroll when the councillor asked 'if he cold question Mr.. Hunter on some points in the letter Mr. Hunter had submitted as justification for the eventsthat transpired in the Robarts property incident. -Mr. Donnelly suggested that in view of the hurt Mr. Hunter had suffered due to the -action of council and the. subsequent "manner in which it was reported in the • press," that Mr. 'Hunter .would be unable to defend himself. This is a surprising statement from -a man who is a lawyer by profession, particularly :as it was made immediately after council finished listening to a letter of. explanation . from' .Mr. Hunter that 'amounted tb airnos't 2,000 words and which .the effect of causing Coun. Giesbr`eeht to Withdraw this intention of introducing the motion referred to in the notice of motion. We would- have to say that Mr. Hunter's "case," for" want of a better -word, was won right there. if Mr. Donnelly's only intention was to -extract an apology .from council, he certainly succeeded. But this does 'not excuse him frorn interrupting Coun, -Paul Carroll, the Only' member of -council who -had--enough--guts to-continue-ta seek some answers, particularly as Mr. Donnelly had already informed council he was there as an observer only. The - references made by Mr: Hunter and Mr. Donnelly with regard to the press . reporting are equally as surprising as both infer there was something not quite right about the reporting of an action by council, made in .public, yet neither one Of them was present at any of the meetings pertaining to the Roberts ."case." 4. .Mr., Hut t is statements about the ry press had ' apparently been brought about by information- .given to Mr. Hunter by deputy ' reeve Walter -Sheardown who informed ':him nothing' had b°gen said at council that would lead anyone to believe the Robarts property. incident was the reason for the notice of motion. Quite true, ,but the -priews .does not all happen inside thecouncil, chambers, neither .does it all -happen after the subject has been broached in council. Quite often the°press 'hears ofpings that are 'going to happen in .council,' a day or two before the event. The deputy reeve also advised Mr. Hunter 'that ,things had been said in council on that night -"...and on other occasions'," " r that were favorable, to the solicitor, yet these were not reported. Not true. The inference ° ,dere is that the press deliberately doctored the news to print what,: it wanted and left out what it did notwant. '.q ..H EMBARRASSED BY CQUNCIL Being represented by the One -- would demand an apOlogY •Council made ° me feel under circiumstafce$ like' hese: embarrassed at last Thursday's An ordinary person cannot e t In g. t h e help but no` ee that no ,handled by -thee Coun'cii P;okettslHunter "nnetter ,was explanation' was given. for the • handled- or rather" failed to : be main fact. One week the Connell f still do passed a bylaw to purchase•. the • not °unders` and why the, Council necessarjr part of the °, Qbarts'` W I ' property ,..for °$2,500'— and apologized, as it never got to`the instructed Mr. Hunter to prepare 'point of even discussing the case. the legal papers for this *deed. The- only Councillor who at Next' week the:.Council learned least attempted to obtain sorpeafter the papers had been measure of clarification in the submitted to,Mr. Robarts for his facts ofthis unfortunate and signature . that . Mr. Hunter rambling cases was Coun. P. already hadmade an agreeMent Carroll. He could hardly say a with hire for an easenientat . ~few words--when--the-ease--was--- different.pnee. taken over by Mr. J; Donnelly, In conclusion I would like to who said he wasnot representing mention remarks made about. - Mr. Hunter and therefore must the Press: -Often when something , have performed in a personal goes wrong.or the Council capacity. When Mr. Giesbrecht appears in lss than favourable moved to withdraw the motion 1 •i g h t s , -4s o m m embers I e .himself had helped start with immediately try to focus the " Mr. Carroll; it completely attention on something else and finished any chance of obtaining usually attack •~ the Press. pertinent information and at Considering that Mr. Donnelly lest partly clarifying a matter of was 'a self-appointed guest of the vious public concern. Whilst Council, I was amazed that the one may admire the courage of a Mayor allowed him to use the man who changes his mind after occasion to make rernarks about important new evidence , has the Press`wh st the .newspaper come to°his attention, it is a pity representative was in no position Coun. Giesbrecht did not specify of answering 'back. The, or- evens_._ indicate whatthe accusations are always of a decisive evidence was. general nature, never specific or I doubt whether anybody left . to the point. It.:is convenient to Photo by Ron Price that meeting feeling proud and be vague, but some people are pleased; I " wonder whether getting tired of vague references: Messrs. Hunteratill Donnelly felt My information, on. the they had won a genuine and matter in question does, not good victory. If some of- thecome from' newspaper reading. Councillors may have intended Perhaps Mr Donnelly was not to play politics„ there was really aware ., that people . go to nothing, to , help . their cause meetings. Even -if no newspapers either. ' Doing nothing S. had been printed for weeks, my undoubtedly' safer on the knowledge and ,opinion ,of the surface, whilst getting involved case would be no different. The means- all sorts of dangers. Yet same applies to everybody who' there must helots of people -who attends Council meetings.: admire men with the courage to However, the -fact that• I have get involved - and to question first-hand .. knowledge of --- what is usually meekly accepted. happenings at Council meetings Mr. Donnelly's speech should and- also read newspapers places be noted for two points. In view me in a better position of of the .fact -that the Council had comparing. I ` find .. that our intended t o discuss , the ,newspaper reporting ; isaccrirate, possibility of appointing another o responsible and professional. If town solicitor .it ° was a bit others, have proof to the puzzling when Mr, Donnelly contrary, let them present it. Mentioned how-, lucky the But something , - concrete, Council was s that Mr. Hunter did gentlemen, please. not resign. M ,.What. would happen if Coun. Furthermore, Mr. Donnelly's Sheardown got " up �a't a public .. main theme was that it is human meeting and accused the Mayor, to `"make mistakes and that no in vague and generalterms; .of solicitor is perfect,, just like the doing something badly wrong? Council members'are human and Most certainly the Mayor .would therefore imperfect. This led one insist on specific facts. Yet Mr. to believe that maybe there was S heardowm . appears ti to Leu' just tie remotest possibility that entitled • to make derogatbry Mr. Hunter's handling of the' . remarks about tlie� -Press in most �. Roberts' property case could -'general terms -and without the have been . less than' ,perfect._ necessity of proving anything at • -However,--it turned -out --that Mr,. Has the Council some special Donnelly was a bit mistaken privilege that •allows members to about his friend. Mr. Hunter make unsubstantiated a accusations? t Qur understanding of the law is, perhaps, no better than Mr. Sheardown's undernding...... oL- journalism, but we believe' hearsay not to be admissible as evidence, yet Mr. Donnelly uses it to throw , mud at the press and apparently support his defence of - Mr. Hunter in leading council to believe ,the town solicitor had been gravely wronged. Mr: Hunter used it in his letter to council. The deputy reeve has, time and time again, attempted to discredit the press with -his cries: , -of "misquote," "misrepresentation," etc., and now his 'information is leading respectable people in the community to believe this is true. We have offered any member of council space in which to -state where and when any incidents of misquoting- or misrepresentation have appeared and so far no one, including the deputy reeve, has accepted the• offer • So we make Xhe offer . again now, specifically to Mr. • Sheardown: Pout up, or shut up. We are sick of being used as a sdapegoat by people for whatever reason, and no member of council is going to continue to attempt, to discredit this newspaper without being specific. • - if the Goderich Signal -Star, or any. other newspaper, ,attempts to mislead the public by3falsifying the news, the public. has a right -to know about it. If a member of town council, or anyone else, fuels they have.just,cause to believe this is happening they have a duty to - make the public aware of it. The obscuee references made by Mr. Sheardown, Mr. Donnelly and Mr. ,Hunter should not have been obscure. If anyone of these 'men felt they Had' a legitimate complaint they should have specified what that complaint was. It will be a longtime before the people who were present, at East week's council _`meeting, .will feel pride in -local gcfvernment again, and perhaps Coun. Deb Shewfelt pointed up the whole trouble with this Council when he said, "If we had gone into committee probably ,none of this would have happened. But if anyone had-' suggested °it they would have been Criticized." • The statement pointsoutthat what is lacking ' in r • thiS ° council is plain old=fa'shioned guts; the courage to stand up for what they believe to be right and defend that belief no matter what: it's quite true the:.press has been critical of suggestions. for committee ; of the whole meetings. But the press has also pointed out there are times when committee meetings are justified and one of these occasions is when matters referred to personalities. Perhaps "none of " this" would have happened if council has met in committee, Whatever 'this is. But the fault is not that. council did not meet in committee (as they certainty should have until Mr. Hunter could tell his side of the stdry) , but the fault of those " men on council who just haven't the courage of "their own convictions and refuse" to move for a committee meeting for fear_'' of criticism. ° ESTAILISHED ., a 123rd• YEAR �s W ' l► ertr ` • t-�ter of --- j - h ► County Town Niwspapor af Huron --O-w • P U S L ICA T I Cir N Published pit Goderich, Ontario -every Thursday 'morning by ;y Signal -Star Publishing Limited RBERT G. SHRIEK, president add publisher RONAL! P. 'V.,PRICE managing ed for SHIRLtY 1,i4ELLE , women's editor EDWARD 4 BYRSitl adv' ti'sing manager i ) .l � to' U �i�ritititrri Barter � Vial�+ ��t advance) .�«A.:y►�s:ru {1�'L tititSmart r'eigistration nutwuber r. WINTER ENE UliiIn IUIUI11I11UlIullluHuhI1llfIIUllllllnll($TWNI111UUIIII111U1111111HllHuIliHlHftH111111111111111I1111111111111g11111111IUIIu111U11111u11111111IIII1111111I111111HIIhIIIlu11UIU Rememb�r When ? ? ? • 60 YEARS AGO 25:YEARS AGO, Officers - -for 1945 in.' the Headlines: Advance Saltford Sunday School are: Goderich! Passing of Elevator honorary president, - Mrs. Bylaws Marks- Another Step m Hetherington; superintendent, J. the ;Progress. of Our Town — E. Harnwell; secretary,. Peter Additional Capacity .for Grain Walters; treasurer, Miss K. Handling to ,,Be Ready fbr Fall . Williams; pianist, Miss Barbara Trade. „ Cutt; roll marker, Jim Bisset; The American Road 'p' aper distribt4tor, Frank. Machinery;- Co. of .Ganda: Ltzi_, .. McKeehnie; Bible class teacher; have for the past few weeks been Mr. Harnwell; senior girls' busy at work , installing the 'teacher, Mrs. R. Walter; senior machinery in their factory on 'boys' teacher, Mrs. G. Bisset; East Street. About six carloads intermediate teacher, H. of n machinery ' have been McCreath; primary teacher, Miss delivered and more is to. follow. K. Williams. Real Estate for Sale — For • Sweet 'peat; cut daily just a Sale in the Town of Goderich: few with a sprig of green makes Ten acres'of land with house and a very, sweet remembrance fbr a barn. Apply to Charles Garrow. sick .friend or a very, pretty table Notice' to Ratepayers: .The centre. Leave your order at 52 Mayor will be -at the Council - Brock ' Street . - after 5 .p.m. Chamber every Wednesday from, . (advert) 10 until 11 a.m. to meet with Mrs. -W is m e r Hardy, anyratepayer,who desires to see_. Benmiller, spent last week with ;liim on town business_ r_ her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Ball in Miss Nellie Donog-h is in ,. Torgntu: - Toronto this week. Miss Helen McGee, Port Miss Priscilla Dalton, Kintail, Albert, went to London recently left Tuesday for Toronto to and has obtained a position with finish her trade as a milliner. Her the Bell Telephone Company. many friends 'here ° wish her Mrs. J. Leonard has received a suss• cable from her brother, Staff In the 'two elevato4 • Sgt. Gorden Yule, R.C.E.M.E., prapbsitions w -.now before ' .the announcing his arrival over ratepayers Goderich has an Gordon enlisted with the P R-C.O.C.'s in 1941. opportunity to •place itself definitely at : the head of grainzshipping points on this side of the lakes. - With out present facilities - we . have distanced nearly all other ports ,on . Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay; two years from now, .with elevator capacity more than doubled,- ourspresent magnificent record. , will look; smal. " Letter to the Editor: „The two bylaws to be submitted to the ratepayers of Goderich February 12; to grant affixed sum of taxation ° to the Goderich Elevator and 'Transit Co. and the Western Canada Flour Mills Co., should commend thennselves 'strongly to every voter- of this town who considers the future welfare::and-progress that all are anxious that our -town should have. We have reached that stage ry inour existence where vire cannot stand still, and if we wish to gather to our doors some of the wave of - advancement and prosperity- ;that is, passing over this fair Dominion, Goderich roust do something, and continue to do something, in the same generous way -that we have been this past few years. - . 10 YEARS AGO, Crown Attorney here for n1/2 years, H. Glenn Hays QC, 45, was sworn in on Monday as provincial magistrate to succeed ° Dudley Holmes who - died, last December... He followed Mr. Holmes as Crown Attorney in 1948, at an unusually " ar1y age; A. P. Boutilier has submitted "with r -egret" his resignation as a member of the GDCI board. • Popular minister of .Knox - Presbyterian"Church for the past 12 ' years, Rev. R. G: MacMillan resigned from that pastorate last week' - and has , a peed the position of Director -• of the Children's Aid-,' Society . for Huron County nwith headquarters at Goderich. Rev. R. C. McCallum, former pastor of the Free Methodist Church, Goderich, ". and - now - serving as Director of 'Public_ Relations for Lorne Park College;. Port Credit, Ontario, will be the guest speaker at the Free Methodists, Church here 'Sunday evening. D.. B. ' Such, Goderich, has been elected secretary of the Mid -Western Chiropractic Council: ONE. YEAR AGO Hydro will cost more starting' March 1, PUC Manager- Dave, Rolston announced this week. Mr. Ralston said the average - increase -to residential consumers would be approximately $1.50 per month with„ tints figure being lower for families of -one or two persons. - K. A. Childs, waste ,management engineer With the Ontario Department of Public Health, Thursday night advised ' council to reach -an agreement for an alternative site for disposing of' the town's, garbage by the-end—of—March or .-face possible provincial action under new legislation. -. Editorial comment: In today's world -antiirpori s a peicfec maiiV or an -arrogant major attraction: This is even more of- a bonus' to industry 'im an area that is as out-of-the-way. 'Tha)"Sl life By G: MacLeod Ross With the taxes this town is going THE BREATHALYSER' to be hit with this year, it would • be a mistake. to suggest the town Mr. Wishart says: Two samples are to be taken from any driver could have done anything, as far WHOM AN OFFICER HAS .. REASONABLE AND PROBABLE as making Sky Harbor 'a - GROUNDS TO BELIEVE IS IMPAIRED._ Such qualitative municipal airport — but an •offer e` ressions: as `reasonable' nd'probable' to help would have at least been a as appear to leave too much ornethi` discretion_.. in_-l'he hands of the police. Surely : the only criterion s' • should be whether the driver is handling hisautomobile with due • Duncan MacAdam has taken over as owner of Curry's Taxi,' attention to the other users of the highways. If a man can, navigate effective immediately, satisfactorily with an alcohol level of 3:3, why should he be hauled up. • The question is: Can he drive safely? letter to -the Editor 'THANKS 't"" --The l�teeuf ive and members of .the ..Maple Leaf .:Chipter, f�I�►:.:` "wish ' to :,express their sincere thanks for the'exeellent e ►verage whfota- I''as giv'en to the chapter in your newspa er during the phst year Your4iassistanw was very much appeciated. - Isabelle. Snaith dor espondi fig Sottotari 4 must be perfect, * as only Elsa Haydon sit • SLICED SAVE .30c.Ib. •4, HOMEMADE • ° ib.