Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-01-21, Page 4PAGE 4 GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1987 Last, night I would have giben almost anything to have seen the pleasing visage of Knowlton Nash. Even just a sample of his winsome, boyish smile would have sufficed. I was in desperate need. In fact, even a fleeting glimpse of a hulk- ing Mike Duffy in the cold of an Ottawa night or the sight of a dapper Joe Schles- inger reporting from the White House would have sent this agent's mental faculties into a state of delirium. In short, I was a crazed man. The Sykes household was minus the family' television set this week and the first night 'sans tube', I must surnbit, was not a pleasant scene. Even now, it is difficult to talk about. For several weeks the television set had grown darker and darker and had reached the miserable point where the Cosby fami- ly was barely discernible unless all the members were flashing toothy grins. It DAVE SYKES was grim to be sure. But we watched unfailingly, knowing that if the set was taken for repairs, we would be forced into a lifestyle foreign to the 20th century family. We knew, ultimately, we would have to talk to each other, play with the children, read and generally engage in creative and mind- mmulating activity,. What a wretched way to live. Was there life without television? I had suspected that, given the right conditions and variables, man could survive for hours without it. In fact,' people like the Guiness brothers who ducument such silliness have even proven same. • Being an intellectual of lofty and am- bitious pursuits, I was not afraid to face life without television. No, rather, Iwas concerned it would inflict lasting aid ir- repairable damage on the poor children. Ah, yes, the children. As responsible parents we must be ever cognizant of the needs of the children. I was certain they could not face life without a healthy and regular dose of the old boob tube: To this point, their young lives have been duly regulated and influenced by the offerings of Sesame Street, Polka Dot Door, Mr. Dressup and his sidekicks, Casey and Fin- negan, with the odd measure of Flints,t s an& Jetsons thrown in to balance thhir viewing fare. When 1 arrived home, I expected to be greeted by two growling beasts, driven to deviant acts by a lack of exposure to the tube. To be honest, I expected to find the life partner gagged and tied to a chair. .That was hardly the case. The state of the household was as normal as normal gets. It did not appear as if the mother of. the children had been bound, gagged or even mildly threatened during the first televisionless day. Most of the wallpaper was intact, the furniture was still inside the house, there were no holes in the ceilings and the plumbing was operative. It looked, at first glance, as if all had gone well. And so, on that first evening we read stories, we 'played I Spy With My Little Eye, we read stories, and we made up our own stories with each family member get- ting a turn to shape the plot line. It went well, except that son Bradley complained that, regardless of the story line, Laura would unceremoniously pro- claim that everyone "got hit by an airplane" as her contribution to the family story' hour. The children's seem nochalance puzzled me and when I as d Bradley if he missed not watching his programs he casually offered, "No. Laura and I just got playing and we forget there was no television." Oh. Well, the adjustment period was a little more difficult for the father who was on his hands and knees, toying with a long abandoned 12 'inch black and white telelvison set, trying to breath life into its useless tubes. Is that you Knowlton? .Are you there Mike? Opinion THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT '- SINCE 1848 • theQBE 6T ALL POUND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN CANADA Code r ir Iv \l�fN} ytl S 1 G -N AL -STAR - P.O. SOX i 'Ea HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH, ONT. Eo➢7A 4EIS, PUBLISHED BY SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED Founded In 1648 end published every Wednesday at poderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA end OCNA. 8ubocr.iptione payable In advance 622.00, [Senior Citizens 619.00 privilege cord number required) in Canada, 260.00 to U.S.A., 660.00 to all other countrioe, Bingle coploa 60.. Olmpley, Notional and Claemlfled advertising rotate available on request. Pleamo sok for Rete Card No. 16 effective October 1, 1986. Advertising le accepted on the condition that In'tho event of e' typographical error, the odvortising epode occupied by the orroneoue item, together with the reasonable allowance for eigneture, will not be charged for but that balance of the advertlooment will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of 0 typographical error edvortioif+g goods or earvice. et a wrong price, goode or services° may not be mold. . Adverileing le merely en offer to eell, end may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star le not reeponeible for the lana or damogo of pnoolicited menuecripte, photo° or other materials unod for reproducing purpoeoe. Gen rarManager SHIRLEY J. KELLER Editor DAVE SYKES Advertising Manager, DON HUBICK FOR BUSINESS INESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...please phone 15181524-26'14 Second class mail registration number 0716 Momper:►CNA CCNA Exploration in education •1`.:._1'•. Over the next two years, an exciting experiment in co-operative education will be con- ducted jointly between a local industry and local educational institutions. The Huron County Board of Education has agreed to commit sufficient funding W support a new program which, if successful, could positively alter the future relationships between the business and educational communities. Called Ties to Business and Industry Incentive Fund the project, between Goderich District Collegiate Institute I GDCI) and Champion Road Machinery Company Ltd., has received hoard approval for a two-year period. The program is designed to establish an ex- change of services between Champion and GDCI. The exchange could include the provision of school services to the comany in exchange for access to Champion facilites to introduce school students to contemporary technology in a manufacturing environment. The school Will offer such services as a blueprint reading course for Champion employees, while Cham- pion's well-developed marketing system, advanced technical and computer systems could be made available as educational tools for high school students. Such co-operation between business and educational leaders is an encouraging sign that both parties have seen the inevitable challenge they face in the fast -approaching future. To- day's students must be exposed at an ever -earlier age, to the high-technology they will need to deal- with in their careers. With the rapid pac.e of industrial advancement in modern in- dustry, no longer Wil a basic education suffice as background for on-the-job training in high- „ technology field's. Industry needs a nearly -finished product from the educational system — a graduate stu- dent who is familiar with the advanced systems and techniques currently. in use in the^ manufacturing sector. Such a student can only be provided if schools have hands-on access to today's equipment. The cost of making this equipment availablein schools would be pro- hibitive, so this new program is not only a welcome inititive — but also. an economic neccessity. Huron County Board of Education Director Bob Allen has described the program as "an exploration in education,” and "the beginning of 'a new line of learning and teaching techni- ques." He. has not exaggerated its importance. While the initial benefits of the program will be shared between Champion employees and GDCI students, the eventual impact will be much broader. The Champion-GDCI program is seen as a model to assist other schools in developing program directions which are relevant to community and regional needs. The program has a maximum fundable budget of $20,000 for which up to $15,000 will be Covered by a Ministry of Education Grant. The Huron education board will spend a minimum of $5,000 on the program. In an age of skyrocketing educational costs, these sums are small enough price to pay indeed, for an investment which should yield massive returns in terms of employable graduates and profitable local industry. All the forward -thinking participants in this program should be commended for their ob- vious insight and concern for the future. — P.R. Board moves to raze hospital section , , 25 years ago. January, 18, 1962: Members of the Hospital',s Board of 'Governors were of the opinion that it was time to tear down the old section of Alexan- dra Marine and General Hospital and replace it with a modern, one -storey, 30 -bed addition. The new unit would in- clude children's wards, four -bed wards and some private rooms since all services had been included in the previous expan- sion program. Huron County Council turned down a recommendation by a 29 to 7 vote that an auxiliary building be constructed on the property at the corner of South Street and Britannia Road because accomodati.on in the new Huron County Building was con- sidered inadequate. The Goderich Siftos ended their six game losing streak in convincing style and • handed the Woodstock Warrious. a 9-3 drubbing. The boys puttogether one of the. finest team efforts and some of the pret- tiest goal that have been seen at the arena this year. . 50 years ago January 21, 1937: With three Liberals in -the field for the Wardenship of Huron County, the nine Liberal county councillorstook 45 minutes to make a choice from the members of the party, it being the Liberals turn to elect the presiding officer for 1973. J.M. Eckert, reeve of. McKillop, was reported by the caucus as having beep selected in the first ballot. The fact that Mayor MacEwan gets right into the spirit of whateve he undertakes to do was demonstrated very clearly at coun- cil's meeting. A motion requesting that Provincial, County and town police be allowed to hold target practice in the Na- tional Building on Newgate Street, had just been read and the councillors were rather slow in voting on the • matter. "Come on fellows," said His Worship, probably, forgetting that be was dealing in a matter of guns and police, "Hands up." There was an air of jubilation and quiet satisfaction at the annual vestry meeting of St. George's church., Consigning a $4,000 mortgage on church premises to the flames by Miss Salkeld, president of the. Women's Guild,, accounted for the trium- phant end of much hard work on the part of the ladies and congregation. 70 years ago January 18, 1917: Word has been received that Signaller Robert- Carey, son of Mr. O.F. Carey of town, has won the military medal for bravery. He Went out to repair -the telephone wire under the enemy's fire. Mr. Carey is with the artillery having gone with a battery from Kingston. Mr. James McClinton of the University Training Corps, Toronto, is home on his last pass. He returns to the city on Friday morning and expects to go to Ottawa on Friday night. There he will be attached to the Aviation Corps, having a lieutenants commission: A change in the time of departure of some of the rural mail carriers has come into effect owing to the new train ar- rangements. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 (the routes to Kintail, Benmiller and Carlow respectively) now leave at 8 in the morning. Huron County Planning and Develop- ment Committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22 in the Court House coun- cil chambers, Goderich. Huron County Executive Committee will • meet at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan, 26, in the Court House council chambers, Goderich. Huron County Library Board will meet at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27, in the Court House council chambers, Goderich. Huron County Council will meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, in the Court House council chambers, Goderich. The Traffic committee will meet .Jan. 21, at 9 a.m. in the Goderich Town Hall council chambers. The Adininistration and Personnel Com- mittee will meet Jan. 21, at 3:30 p.m. in the council chambers. The Goderich Recreation Board will SA. CIVIC CORNER meet Jan. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers, ' The Local 'Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee will meet Jan. 22 at 7 p.m in the council chambers. . .The Business Impr'ovement,Area board will meet will meet at 12 noon -on Jan. 22,, Goderich Town Council will meet Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m in the council chambers. A Small Business Seminar will be held in the council chambers from 7-1Q p.m. on Jan. 27. The Committee of Adjustment will meet Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Penniesfrom, heaven, or froth the other place? Displaying their usual impecdable sense of the ironic, the federal government has choosen as the design for the soon -to -be - circulated $1 coins, a loon. Of course the loon was actually second choice to a group of canoe -paddling voyageurs, but when so- met3ne lost the original dies for the new coins, the feds opted for to replace the fur traders with something with something more in keeping with the idea of adding yet another coined currency to the already jingling pockets of Canadians. The whole idea is looney What we really need, in terms of a cur- rency change in this country, is not the ad- dition of another coin at the top of the scale, but the abolition of one at the bot- tom. Yes, it's time we got rid of the virtual- ly valueless penny. Anyone who hasrever approached a soft.- , drink machine with a pocketfull of change, only to discover they cannot purchase a ."1 soda because the coins rattling in their pockets are all brown ones, knows the frustration the one -cent piece can create. No longer are there even gumboil machines which accept the copper as pay- ment for their wares. The only use left for the lowly penny, is the payment of the ac- cursed seven per cent provincial sales tax, which causes nearly every item one buys a to total some ridiculously uneven amount. As Murphy's Law would have it, just as one never has anything but pennies in their pocket when they need a larger coin, neither can we find a couple of coppers when star bill .comes to some silly amount like $20.02. So, we are forced to hand over'a second $20 bill and receive one $10 bill, one $5 pill, two $2 bills, three quarters, two dimes and THREE BLASTED PENNIES, in change. • As our day continues in this manner, we eventually end up with a pocket full of ob- solete coinage in our possession. The pro- blem of what to do with the pennies then arises? The most logical thing would be to simply empty our pockets and cast the un- wanted coppers into the street. Hawever, the ingrained sense of frugality possessed by most people makes this option un- thinkable. Besides, that would be littering. So instead, we save them. People save pennies in piggy banks, mason jars, dresser drawers, cardboard boxes = they toss them in all manner of receptacles. Personally, I have this large beer mug, the side of which is emblazoned with the slogan "This place will drive you to drink," into which I recently took to de oaitirig "The 13i'Wi' Nufsoiic " at the end of each clay. Suprisingly, even though this mug is large enough to hold the con- tents of more bottles of beer than t ,noW care to drink all at once (about three), it takes only a couple of months before the from this angle Patrick Raftis thing is brimxhing with pennies. So, once again,. I am stuck with the problem of what to do with the pennies now that the mug is full? I could round them a11 up and try to buy something with them, but I can't stand the looks you get from sales clerks and people in line behind you, who are not -so -patiently waiting while you count out $10 worth of pennies. I' could round them up and take them to. the bank to exchan for real money, but that is also a rather tedious process. Maybe I'll just get another mug. All this' aggravation makes me wonder why there is only one thing you can buy, which always costs an even $1, or $2 or $5 — no pennies'involved. This of course, is lot- tery tickets, which are sold.by (you guess- ed it) the government. The reason for this is clear. The Treasurerbf Ontario does not want to have to put on his desk a large mug, the side of which is emblazoned with the slogan "This Wace drives me to drink," into which to deposit the""pennies collectedamong the.Alast lottery mints... He would need a very large mug indeed. • And so, I put it to you. Should this nebulobs Coin be finally put out to pasture? I offer a penny fot` your thoughts. In fact, I'll give you a whole mug full.