The Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-09-02, Page 4S:IGNAI.4-STAR, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2; 1971.
109 get grant
f ioderich Town ,.Council in its wisdom
has agreed with a recommendation of e
finance committee ..chaired y
Deputy -Reeve Dodd Gower and will make "
a, grant to' the 109 Homes'atthe corner of
_.+ninth Street and Britannia Road to
"offset the deficit in the cost of
operations:"
The decision was reached following the
appearance " at c tjncil in July.. -.-o#;, Eric
Johnston, ,presid`ent....of, the 109 Homes
incorporated. At that time, Mr. Johnston
asked for the town's considere"tion in the
matter of water and sewage costs for the
building,.. He claimed it was these ojfenses
which were thrbwin,g the project into the
red each year, , :. •
According to remarks made by
Deputy -Reeve Gower at last Thursday's
meeting of council, the finance committee
studied every possible aspect of this
question and decided that a grant of,
money would be the best way to
surmount the problem,.
We do not suggest that the .finance
committee came to the wrong decision for
we are convinced that their deliberations
were thoughtful and conducted with a
mind, to assist 109 Hornes -Incorporated.
We are merely expressing our
disappointment that this town, like some
other municipalitte"Ontario, could not
see its way clear to do more for this one
particular project designed 'expressly 'to
assist senior citizens on f'i_*ed incomes."
There was? a suggestion -by -Councillor
Stan Profit that town council sho be
prepared now to hear petitions from othe
.senior citizens who might also feel
o a
To meet
justified in their request for financial aid
from the municipality. Profjt seems to
feel the town is "setting a :precedent"
• which could cause unusual 'headaches for
council in the future.
We cannot agree with councillor Profit
on this particular matter. Financial
assistance for- 109 Homes, Incorporated
and the 12 senior citizens who' are
fortunate enough —' or unfortunate"
enough as some 'may think — to qua°I'ify
for housing there, is a ifar:different Metter,
than doling out grants .for older people
who are !jst'—dissatisfied with their
financial lot in,life.
Of course we sympathize with all
senior citizens who find living expenses
high .on savings which were put away
when things could be purchased for much
less and earnings- were substantially
smaller ,peri annum. We agree that the old
age" pension is probably not adequate. if
one wants—to live "`wittl any degree of
dignity these days.
Nevertheless, 109 Homes incorporated
is a residence expressly for -senior citizens p
on a fixed income., It .was. built at 1 .
Considerable' expense to the Town of
Goderieh. and the R-oyal,CanadianLegion,
Branch 109. It is now to be partially
maintained by"the Town of Goderich who /
Alit assist the Legion with expenses. at -toe -..--
residences.
Granted, the offering is small in
relation to the number of senior citizens
on fixed incomes who reside in this town,
but it should in -no way be confused as a
.gitt-..,to old age pensioners, but rather to
i9. H,or.s Incorp.orated.- Rf
� f
' 1-'�
Remember When ,?
60 YEARS AGO
The rebuilding of the portion
of the .Kensington Factory
which was destroyed by fire a
few months ago was completed.
The office • had--- yet tobe -
.completed but it was expected it
would' be.. ready for use at an
early date.
The summer season. at the
Sunset Hotel officially closed at
-tie end of the week since ,cooler...
fall weather was arriving and the
passenger boats were ceasing to
OA, The owners -announced the
closing to be a permanent one:
fid,' The employees of the Doty,
engine works took a day off and
had an outing at Black's point
where theY enjoyed a picn''c and
sportingevents.
The contract f the
rebuilding of the West st et rink
• was "let by, the Goderich Curling
and Skating Association to D. A.
McL"earn for thesum of $4,432.
. The question of /reciprocity
occupied a great deal of space in
..the press' of that week with the
matter, being hottly contended
by the various candidates in the
7 upcoming Federal election.
term it was .aa ounced that
there were nearly 1060 students
in total attending Goderich
institutions of learning.
Clad onlr-irrhis' t iderwear,
Thomas 'Bess of ,. riamilton,
arrived, at the farm home of
Harry Faber one mile sdnth of
Hensel' and told his story of
going to a beverage room with
two men and waking up near the
farm beaten and robbed of his .•
money and his clothes.
It' was announced that Port
Albert, located 11 miles north of
Goderich,, would be the site of
the International "Victory"
Plowing Match on October 15,
16 and 17 of that year.
"yin-rommitfee"
In September, Goderich Town Council
will begin holding one meeting per month
"in -committee" which means; j.n effect,
that the public will not be permitted .to sit
in' on these deliberations.
. Beforethe townspeople, rise in a body
to protest this bre$ch of. justice, we would
ask thein , to consider 'for a moment the
actions! of 'other government bodies in
Huron County.
Huron County Council, for instance,
usually holds one open meeting per
month except in July and 'August. But
these ,meetings, are by no means the only
tires when the county councillors sit
- • down together. to hammer out decisions'.
On the contrary, we have been told on
numerous occasions -that the measure.of a
• county •councillor's work cannot be fully
appreciated until he or she has been
observed ";in -committee". Unfortunately,
,the public never sees this possibly
.marvellous performance of county
councillors.
The Huron County, Board of Education
. holds two public meetings Or month'
except in July and August when one open
meeting per month is, scheduled. Yet a
heart-to-heart 'discussion with a Board of.
Education, rtiember will convince
ratepayers that members' are summoned
to committee, meetings at rather regular
intervals. One need only to'visit the Board
of Education meeting and witness ,the
sheaf of policies and problems which have
•t I
aIreac y been processed by the board or its
administrators in one fashion or another
prior ,to the meeting, to know that 4, gnat
deal of 'the preliminary work is done
"in -committee -_
Several members of Goderich Town
Council- particularly the older ones —
prefer the in;committee" style' of ,
holding. meetings. They say it gives them
opportunity 't ve, "in-depth discussion
t ontopics which might not otherwise be
-
fully covered during an open meeting for
fear ,pf, unfavorable` press coverage or
worse, perhaps, of airing the subject
before the prying eyes of the citizens who.
attend council meetings.
It should also be noted that all motions
for decisions of council must be made in
open session and if at that time any
Member of. council, wishes to 'make,, his
general feelings known, he • or she will
certainly have an"dppbrrii•nity to speak
publicly. ,
We can only caution council that
whenever meetings are held behind closed
,doors, some people become immediately
suspicious and for just cause in some
instances. It sometimes happens ,that the
''in committee" sessions are so complete
and so successful that discussion in open
council is cut to a minimum and the
public gains very lit �e- knowtedge-about
, the reasoning behind the decisions or the
individual thoughts of councillors which,
after all, is important .when voters are
making intelligent. decisions at the polls.
Stili not sure
Hon. C. S. MacNau hton, according t,
a news ' release _from he, office of th
'Minister -which was printed in last week's
edition of The Gode 'ch., ,Signal—Star,
"deplored • suggestions. that . the OWRC
would permit another major. discharge
from the (Listowel) lagoon, .which might.
,contaminate the (Maitland) river all the
way to its mouth at Goderich",
MacNaughtonermed this suggestion a'
"form of emofionatism". While he
admitted' the "concern' was justified and
the complaints ungerstandable" regarding
the pollution in ihe Maitland River last
spring and -noted that "Queen's Park was
not happy with this situation", he denied
'any, plans by 'the, OWRC to dump the'
contents of the Listowel lagoon into the
Maitland, R iver again.
d "The major discharge this spring
occurred when. orae cell of the lagoon was
emptied to install the piping ' to the
aeration chamber, . the Minister
explained. "Now that,the aeration process
is in operation, there is no logical reason
to empty any portion of the lagoon."
At this juncture, we wonder if it was
emotionalism that' causedus to see the
Listowel lagoon, with the aeration system
in operation, within one -foot of the top
of the cells. Could it, also have been
emotionalism of another kind, that finally
brought about the dedision to take.the
suggestion of the F. of A. and pump the'
effluent onto—the lands adjacent to the
lagoc fter months of pressure had been
brought to bear on the OWRC, the Town
of Listowel and others?
In another segment of the release'from
the Huron MPP's office it was emphasized
that the spray program was to be' regarded
only as "a temporary measure" and that,if
'successful, it may be used iii the future to
,avoid discharge' into the Maitland River
"during the summer periods".
Now. we're bvondering whatwill
happen to the effluent Stowe in the Li l
lagoon after "freeze-up" after . . • e
resit
summer periods". Is the problem `y
solved for all time by the aerators?
ESTABLI$HED i, oberttfj ,.
StGNA
1848
---0--
124th YEAR
L-STAR PUBLICATION
The County Town Newspaper of Huron
---0-~
Published at Goderich , Ontario every Thursday morning by
signal -star Publishing Limited
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' 4•••,"!ni1.• •
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ARD J. BYRSKI adverrisrng manager 'Secdnd class mail registration niimber — 0716
(Photo by, Dorn McGee",
25 YEARS 'AGO -
The annual Labour Day
celebrations, under the auspices
of the 'Trade ,and Labour
association was termed a big
success and those in charge of
the.,, arrangements, were
congratulated for presenting
such a fine programme. ,
With the schools opening
their doors . again" for another
5 YEARS AGO
Walls . wore going up around
the main central building of the
new $900,000 sewage treatment
plant.
The Cruise , Ship "South
American" a rived in harbor at
Goderich and • the passengers;
who later shopped around the
local business section, weye met
by welcoming committee and a
pip and.
Bridge accidents • were again
the topic of discussion at town
council meeting in relation to
ashaps that continue to occurr
on the bridge over the C.N.R.
tracksti..on Highway 21 north of
Goderieh.
It was announced that the
semi annual meeting for the
Eastern Elevator Association of
Canada was ,to be held ;/in
Goderich for phe first time in
any city outsitle of Toronto or
Montreal.
fter one year study; reporton CAS.
Aerations confusing, inconclusive
BY RON SHAW
At a meeting last week of the
Ontario Municipal Association a
report ' was handed down by a
special committee of the Welfare
Officers Association which had,
for the -past year or more, been'
looking into the operations of
the various .Children's Aid •
Societies operating ,, across
Ontario.
'1n
its.. .conclusions th,
'committee recommended. fn
what must be considered one of
the most confusing suggestions
'ever drawn by such a cdmmittre
of investigation iwho ary
notorious for this sort .of thing!,
that. "A Provincial takeo\er in
the areas of Children's \ici
Societies involving wardship and
• adoption was necessary "
In its second conclusion it
further suggests that. "The other
functions carried out by the
C.A.S. should. be merged with
Municipal Social Services that
operate on a,Regional, County.
District or City basis." .
The main fault one must find
with these conclusions., and
indeed the investigations, which
lead to them, is -the (act that the
recommendations take for
granted all C.A:S. organizations
fall into the same form as tke
few .used as examples and thlt
what might well be the outcome'
of these recommendations
would be another government
department operating ' from
Toronto which becomes .a
`I/crippled-giant as the victim of its
own red tape. `
Too often in recent history
this has been the case. A larger'
provincially: operated, or
organized, hoard or committee"is
set up to provide better senj.ce,
The -result is almost always a
rapid increase in costs that c'an
'npt be justified by the slight
improvement in services offered,
The new Board of Education
arrangements and the downfall
of the Regional' Government
scheme are examples of .this.,
point.
•
What' is most confusing about
the first" recommendation is that
the committee does not indicate
if it• recommends C.A.S. servjces
be taken over by tine provi nse
and operated by the department
of Health and _Welfare or if it
merely suggests provincial
administrators be introduced
into the various regions under a
plan of consolidating welfare
services which are admittedly
financed by provincial gran,tsa,.,,.,•....
If the latter were the case.
undoubtedly there would be
numerous advantages and the
service offered to families by the
C.A.S. would be continued on a
local level which is much closer
to individ'tnal problems than
administration from an office in
Torontd.
�_ Premier. Davis might well-
�1i����.��t�C�'Suen<�en'�E��•r�
foir •peoPie'4, is his ttmpitit;ti'n
slogan repeatedly states. In no
steals government more for the -
people than in the field of s?icial
r\ ices and children's aid"
supervise the children after they
It' the social services portion have been Made. wards and that
work were, split off many of the' functions that they
the re wor are now carrying ou sould be
tromh Ch`ld 1. t h
ob ious.; ccimp.hio,ations in ,merged with local-Soeial Service
tomntunication between the t.wo Departments where those
\,,,uld result and a drop in departments are now' operating
r, ice would be the outcome. on a , r"egional, city . or' county.
What the issue comes down basis."
fS the importance of operating To this writer pp ry
`tea -ears ve
<..�h social services on a local impractical and almost insane to
;el so .that the, complete consider the splitting of family
,organization is close to the -counselling' from the duties of
people it serves. An -office in caring for children who become
Toronto is too far away, to deal wards, since in many cases the
effectively with a • child , welfare object of both situations is to
•case in Huron county, reconstruct the family into a
The investigation 'leading to healthy Unit as soon'as ,possible.
thereport • in question came If this is, indeed, the case 'then
about through a concern by why divide responsibilities
many, that the C.A.S. were small between two ' different social
privately run organizations
operating entirely on tazpayers
Money „and offering _ no
opportunity. to those taxpayers -
to participate in , policy
decisions.
"It . is this commi ttee's-
feeling." the report notes, "that
the agencies are not
• representative of the people and
that they are spending the
taxpayer's dollars with boards
that are elected by memberships
sold` for 51.00.".._
• In relation to many, and
perhaps most. of the Children's
Aid Societies in Ontario 'the
report is indeed fact, The Huron
County society, hovever, is an
example of how the generalaties
of this reportresult in errors and
misleading statements. Locally
any taxpayers_ living in the area
'served by the Huron County
branch of the C.A.S. can 'vote
for board member, at the annual
meetingheld eayear and duly
publicized. Admittedly few conte
out to vote, leaving the job to
society members, but the C.A.S.
cannot be held responsible for
the apathy of those voters.
In as much as the other
societies are concerned one
would have to agree that a new
arrangement for the operation of
the board is needed, it . is
doubtful though if the answer to
the, problem ...is a' complete
provincial takeover and th€
fragmentation of C.A.S. services.
In another portion, the report
also suggests, ,"It is the
co m mittee's recomm'endati on
that Children's Aid Societies
should cease to function in /
many areas such as family,
counselling and that they should,
Opinions
"Ti- order that Signal -Star
readers might express their
opinions on any topic of
public interest, Letters to The
Editor are always welcome
for publication.
But the writers of such
letters, as well asalt readers,
are reminded that the,
tre'lit3C9Netessetrity.
the opinions held by The
-signal-Star.
workers and two different social-,
service departments.
It is hard" to disagree with the
argument that those who are.
paying the shot, - that is the
taxpayers, should have an
opportunity, to be elected to the
C.A.S. board and therefore make
the decisions concerned with the •
spending of tax dollars. If the
recommendation of the report
were -merely this, there would be
no disagreement, but to consider
re -organization in such a way as
`,o split up services and .possibly
operate a province wit child
welfare service program as a
government ` department is • to
half baked to even discuss.
The provincial government, it
is 'hoped, will slow down and
reconsider What they propose. It
the proposals carried in last
week's report to'the O,M.A. are
ever passed as legislation the
results will almost certainly
mean poorer child, welfare
services and higher costs to the
taitpayer.
Irl Saskatchewan the
government took over child'
welfare services a few years ago
and the result was a severe
deterioration in service provided
and a migration of professional
social workers to other parts of
Canada. Now that province is in
the process of trying to revive its`
' citizen 'boards, wiry -should such
a move 'work ani', -,better in
Ontario?
LETTERS
SUPPORT APPRECIATED
Dear Editor,
The Y.E.W. would like to
thank -you , and • your staf,,,f.--„for
your ' support of the youth
program which'ran this summer.
- We feel that it is cooperation
uch as you have provided which
furthers good community -youth
relations.
We were glad to see that the
Y.E.W. will continue to ruin into
September and hope that both
the Signal -Star and the people of
Goderich , - will continue to
support the endeavors of the
Goderich Recreation and'
Community Centre` Board. It is
rewarding to. feel' that the Town
of ,Goderich is progressively
minded 'in the area of recreation
and' we hope it will continue to
be so,
Your cooperation ,. and
support has been much
appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Barbara Pickett
Program Director.
GOOD LUCK, BAINS
Dear Editor,
ti I was very' surprised indeed,
on reading in your Aug. 5th
paper, and also very angry the
report given by a , so .called
"Guest Editor", on the N.D.P.
nomination meeting'in Clinton. I
was more surprised at your
paper stooping to such a
.level, and printing such a
dowr.ri_ght biased/ article,
without knowing on whom he
speaks.
I visit quite frequently in
Goderich, and have had this "
opportunity and pleasure, to sit
in rain some very " interesting
debatis, when Mr. Bains has
been presant• Believe me Mi.
Bains is a very knowledgeable
man, of tl will, and does, back up
whatever, he void his opinion
otn. He becomes very. angry 'yes,
dedicated', sincere labour man,
and • might I add a fighter of
right. It would be very
interesting, if it could be
arranged, ' to have a debate
between Paul Carroll and Mr.
Bains, to see who the 'real
intellectual is, I'd bet my money
on Bains.
Good luck Bains, and good
luck to all you fine people of
Goderich ,and' Huron County. I
only hope when the election
rolls round, you will prove you
have ,, more intelligence, than
your so called . writer of
Editorials.
,
Sincerely,
Paul' H. Simpson
' ,Hyde Park, London
NO NEWCOMER
"Dear Editor: .
In. regard to your editorial,
"Making Himself Known",
concerning Reeve Paul Carroll, I
would like to make it known
that to myself and several others
Reeve Paul Carroll was fighting
pollution long before election'
time.
We are a family which has
made use of the Maitland,
canoeing, fishing, trapping, and
hunting for years. , When we
noticed black muck coming
down at the mouth of the river
and got stuck in pot holes of silt,
we traced it up to the bulldozing
of the Benmiller ponds. 'At that
time, we ' contacted the
Department of Lands 0 and
Forests, the Maitland Valley
Conservation ' 'Authorities -and
several other people, who said
they had no -authority to stop`1t.
I then Contacted Paul Carroll,
who did reach authorities which
had it. stopped. I believe he also
reported this at the following
Goderich Town Council
meeting.
Mr. Carroll's plans for the
development` of recreation
facilities along the waterfronts
NOT A VOTING BLOCK
Dear Editor,
Because of a senior citizens'
conference which. was held
recently in Toronto, ' public
attention has been drawn to this
citizen group, and it is thought
by many that different levels of
governments and particularly the
Federal Government should
extend to the old age pensioners
additional privileges.
This I feel can only be
brought about if a sufficient
number of our interested people
who are not pn old. security
takes a hand, as the old
pensioners have no economic
pressure to exert, nor are they a
voting block.
One could go on to tell of the
_generous, way in which the MPs
and MPPs have provided , for
themselves, and the shabby way -
which the .sane people have
treated the senior citizens. And
it all boils ,down to this—the
members of parliament are not
depending on the. goodwill of
the old't4ge pensioners.
Ther people" wh were
underpaid, overworked ' and
abused in their younger working
days, when there was neither
,_trade unions in the plants, nor
contracts, nor -fringe benefits. I
have known of married men
with families working in a textile
factory for nine dollars for a full
week's work, and the legal
minimum Wages split between
two girls. There was no legal
minimum for men.
So .--many of these people
served in one or both wars,
raised their families during the.
depression P years and built the
industrial unions.
I say to the younger people in
society today—we gave of our
-best in our day and generation.
Don't you allow yourselves to be
pushed- into thinking that the
senior citizens count for little,' ' 0
, that they ha* outlived their
4'
4
• s.
f
4
� .,I> zial*Pys..a11guded dispPsal of .
J� t� ` �xdnr ;aG'�ionn��, ,g �•
...'c'ri1t' . •R h �: `�:Y • ;� �.iS`/ti(frir.g:r �Y!Ct,�►1�I'ti�'�� � .,� ,^�' .
You people of Goderich are
like Mr fl rrc �irhn is . rat Mrs. Joan Dierolf,
cn spat Y u uw .
observations. •• 'fours,
most fortunate to have a man Yoti truly, , A. Laverty
4,
2
•