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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-01-07, Page 4A' PAGE 4-GODERICH&IGNAL.STAR, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7,1981 dave sykes • i1 i BLUE RIBBON AWARD My shovel can't take this any longer and is beginning to show signs of strain Not to mention me. To lay it on the line gang, I am not par- sticularly fonds of winter. To qualify that winter may not be so bad but the severity of the season m these parts can lead to insanity I am told. I absolutely detest skiers, snowmobilers, hikers, curlers and other idiots who take delight in substantial snowfalls. There is nothing delightful about our weather. Skier's are particularly irritating this time of year and often flit about with enthusiasm at the hint of -a flake. People who find happiness in snow drive me wild. I will admit that winter has some recreational, value but' Ie don't ski, either downhill, uphill or cross country, curl or drive a snowmobile. And it has been years since this correspondent made a snow woman (nudge. nudeP+ angels in the snow SINCE 1845 THE NEWS PORT FOR GOUEki X11.& 1DISTRICT or even a snow fort. Perhaps I have 164 -that boyish en- thusiasm that used to keep me entertained in the snow for hours. Over the past several days we have en- joyed an entire winter season,* about three days featuring wretched wind -driven snow. Yech! People in California are wearing shorts at this very moment but in Goderich our shorts are of the thermal variety and used only to maintain heat in vital areas. I managed to keep my vital areas warm but over the weekend this rural resident was blocked in for three days thanks to wind, snow' and an unknown vehicle malfunction that seems to have corrected itself. For three days I was marooned and the only reason I retained some semblance of sanity . was because of football. - . Fortuneately my little b and w screen was inundated with football games and not once in thm 190 crampc T watehod .rid Howard IsseinesswiNewsessiemnisseeireiwP Founded in 10 and publisher every Wedn.esdav a9 Goderieh;,.Ceterio. rADaiher of the CCt A erd OWJf9A. A tiirg rote* on lealuei7: Subs ?1ption* payable in advance '15`.50 -in: Canada..'Si_oo to 17.3. A.: "33.00 to oD other a n - tries; single copies 50`. Display advertising rotes available on request, please ask for Rote Card No. 10 offs time sober 1, 1111111. Second class maid Registration Number 0710. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied bythe erroneous item, together wish, reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but the balance of the advertisement will .be paid for at the ap- plicable rote. In the event of o typographical error advertising goods or services of a wrong -price, goods or service mey net be ,,,I . is merely an offer to tell, cod mew *,e alithdrersr, et deg Orem. Tin Signal -Star it not responsible for the loss or`dartibge of unsoilcifed mmnus ripts;,photos or other materials used for reproducing puri Pwn s PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK - Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES - Editor - 'Second class. mail registtotion number -0714 zr P.O. BOX 229r HUCKINS`ST.-,_s_ INDUSTRIAL PARK ' GODERICH NIA 4B6 aro Cassel utter a word.,It was pure pleasure. But then there are certain drawbacks to being snowed M. On normal Saturdays and Sundays Poke great delight in preparing a hearty brealdast and reading several newspapers while consuming cups of 10W-30 that I refer to as coffee_ selieweiteretwas even unable to purchase a newspaper and suffered from extreme with- drawal and tension. I had to reser to reading .,,the same paper two and three times. The football games provided an alternate security blanket and actually rate high on my priority list next hi reading newspapers. But when it comes right down to it, I need several. pages of ink an the weekend to survive. Without that quota I have been known to become testy. And during the r shutin period I even had to resort to walkinggreat lengths to purchase cigarettes. pos. milk and other life- sustaining commodities. I don't pit my little bod against the elements unless the task is important. . . I must admit that as I stared out the patio doors into the stark, white oblivion there was much consternation about the household. The prospects of life without newspapers were frightening but I found solace in the Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, Toilet Bowl and anything else that resembled a football game. Football, however, will soon came to a conclusion -with the Super Bowl and I have a dreaded fear that I may be seclueled again without a single ' game o turday newspaper. Curse the thought. And if that happens I suppose I could always tackle the breast -high drift blocking the bask door or the catecrete-like mass at • the end of the driveway. But then I would have an excuse to go to work. - FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please Phone (519) 524-83,31( tough `decision Trustees ottie luroi Olin-Boarad'ofEdQ tagain wrestled with the ongoing saga of Monthly allowances this At their repair monthly meeting Monday the board - passed passed a motion to rethin their present allowance of 5300 per month while board cliaiciinan-- IIonald McDonald, received :a nominal increase in bis monthly stipend. But the vote -was close. Themotiion carried on a 8:7 vote while one trustee was absent,. T'he board -Of education deals with an annual budget in excess of 525 Million and relatively small increases in trustee's allowances seem insignificant in relation. But members of the board are divided on the issue and the split betwgeen opposing views is almost equal. Under the Education Act, trustees on the Huron Board are entitled tons muchasS400:per..month for their service. For the past four years trustees .have voted in favor of keeping, their allowances at 5300 per month or 53,600 annually., ' Cine side is clinging to a strong moral obligation to the taxpayers, working with a sense of public service. Dorothy Wallace said all trustees knew the pay was 5300 when they ran for office. And some board members have maintained the lofty ideal that restraint on allowances is setting a good example. But y'cc chairman Bert Morin -argued that public Difficult for small fir The major multinational oil., -companies (sometimes known as the seven sisters) may be their ownworst enemies. At a time when the big oil firms are spending millions of dollars on advertising programs to drum up public sup- port for their cause, the ugly side of their method of operation is starting to show. While profit increases of 25 percent or more have become the industry norm over the last couple of years, evidence presented during recent hearings indicates the seven sisters have been systematially squeezing in- dependent gasoline retailers, making ,it extremely dif- ficult for the smaller firms to operate. The apparent reason: the independents have proven to be at least as efficient as the multinationals, creating unwanted price competition for oil company operated or franchised outlets in many markets. The independents contend their suppliers (the big oil companies that run the refineries) create havoc when they become too successful. Supplies may be cut, wholesale prices raised, or a combination of both. Sometimes this results in the independents being forced to Well I woke lip Sunday morning, with no way to start my car and drive to work. The snowball I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert. I stumbled through the snow, and caught the Sunday sounds of tires slippin' on ice, and it took me back to August, when the sun was shining- and everything was nice.. ..Kris Kristofferson, eat your heart out. Hey! Stormy enough for ya,? There's nothing like a good old Huron County bliz- zard to get everybody's blood rushi rt.,'Yup, we are a hardy bunch, wie Huron Countyers. A bit of snow and wind isn't going to mess up our plans, no way. We are not sissies. Well, meet of us aren't sissies, The white stuff flying witty nilly, through the air on the weekend frightened your weak-kneed reporter enough he keep her :71111 ly 11V seareeaiienit t r uusWere and their efforts to set constraint examples by freezing monthly allowances. Another trustee said raises he allowances amounted to mere pennies in comparison to the total.education budget. If trustees were 'to receive a 10 per cent increase or $30 per month extra it would amount to $5,760. A 550 increase per month would cost $9,600 annually for al116 trustees. Therese no denial the trustees must put forth con- siderable effort in their work with the educationalsystems> Their time may be . well,, worth more than the 53,600 allowance they receive annually. Trustees should know what they are getting in for at election time and in any public service there is a degree of sacrifice. Those who have served on the board know the extent of the sacrifice. But a raise is difficult to condone when newly elected trustees vote in favor after only a few meetings. Voting for a raise simply because there hasn't been -"one for four or five years is a vote in the wrong direction, The trustees are the most familiar with the work in- volved and only they know what kind of pay scale the job deserves: And if the job is well done there should be no second thoughts about public opinion.. The public wouldn't have any second thoughts either. Having the power to raise your own salary can be a sticky situation in public service but it is one the board will be grappling with each year. D.S. s to operate. sell out to the majors. The recent hearings involved a successful Quebec in- dependent gasoline retailer with 35 outlets in the province and the -nasty methods used by the firm's multinational suppliers to restrict expansion by the smaller retailer. The evidence indicated that Imperial Oil and Petrofina, for exampie,das plenty of gasoline to,sell, but only on a basis that wouldeffectively allow the multinationals to set the new price. New Brunswick's Irving Oil (49 percent owned by multinational Standard Oil of California ), on the other hand, said it refused to sell gasoline to an independent dealer. At thesame time, the company was 'exporting gasoline with Ottawa's approval. The case against the multinationals could not be con- tinued when several major refiners started supplying the Quebec retailer with at least minimal amounts of product. Yet this is only one example of an independent gas retailer being squeezed by the powerful seyen sisters. In fact, most independents are afraid to talk publicly about <the issue, fearing repercussions from the refiners. Layers a winter Photo by Cath Wooden D .EAR READERS BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER ' When I was reading through the Peat, Mar- wick report at a recent meeting of the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital board, I was struck by a recommendation which said that in the future, long-term care facilities should not be located hereral areas. .. In fact, the report was very explicit about one well-known Huron County facility for seniors. It said that an error in judgement had been made in the past when so many expansions were permitted at Huronview Home for the Aged, just outside Clinton. "The location of beds in Huron County shows a strong overall imbalance which has been created by the large number of extended care beds at Huronview County Home near Clinton," the report stated. "These beds have been added without, overall planning and general con- sideration of the dislocation of residents using the facility." "Although probably not acceptable," says the report, "a inajor redistribution of these beds throughout the region would be the most desireable option." There's no question about that final assertion. It probably would not be acceptable to close beds at ..Huronview and reopen them in other com- '.munities. That would be a costly solution indeed. But it all brings to memory a county argument storm -stayed under her covers -until three o'clock on Sunday afternoon while the wind howled a round her window. You were not about to catch me going out to play a Jeanette MacDonald in that weather. At least, not until intense cabin fever set in. There I was, stuck inside a teeny tiny apartment with a wild cat, no feline food, and only stupid boring football games to watch on TV. "I have to get out of here!" I moaned to no one in particular. The brave intrepid journalistic side of me began to take over and I decided to venture out in the vast white blizzard and obtain dramatic photographs to document the event... and pick up some cat food and a Sunday paper on the way. • Out I embarked and tunnelled my way to the car. After much scraping and brushing and snow up the pantlegs, The Car would not start. The Car would not even turn over. The Car was not proud enough to even try. Curse The Car. I tunnelled back inside and thought for awhile. "I cannot shirk my duties," I said to my cat and began to wax my cross-country skis. "I will put my camera around my neck and my poles around my wrists and my scarf around my neck and go to,the store!" Which I did. I skied to the store at a speed of ap- proximately 98 kilometers an hour, which was the speed of the wind pushing me along hard -packed snowmobile tracks.. I was having 'a great time. I was having such a great time, I' sailed right passed the store 'and down four more blocks. Finally, I Bunged for a stop sign and wrapped myself around it. It was then that I realized the moment had come when I had to turn around and face the wind. Which I did. I stopped every foot and a half to take a picture as an excuse to rest until 1 finally reached the store. Looking more like the Abominable Snowman than Jeanette %even rageu about 15 or. 20 years ago. At that time, when an addition was • proposed for Huronview, the people in the Exeter area favored decentralizing the county facility .... and building the new accommodation in that com- munity. County council debated the issues pro and con. -It-was such along time -ago, i can't recall all the implications. I . do know that from a cost stan- dpoint, it was shown that it would be more economical to add on at Huronview. Everything under one roof. One staff. One administration. No duplication of services. Hindsight is always 20-20 they say. -In this case, it is no different. 1 In those days, the priority was mainly a place, to put aging folk who could no longer care for themselves. There was very little emphasis on dignity and lifestyle. Nobody cared much about recreation for the elderly or physical and mental therapy for seniors living in a county institution. All that's changed now. Nearly two decades of social medicine and publicly fended programs have made everyone more aware of the fact that oldsters are people too. And everyone seems to have had second thoughts about centralized facilities: I was one of those who favored the Clinton location for the additional beds for the elderly. I, like so many others, looked mainly at the dollars involved. You may be surprised at that confession. Macleoiralu,1 spent hall an flour in the store to thaw -out. "Just browsing," I told the clerk as I pretended to be pricing all the. cat food. - After purchasing my staples, I..mounted my skis once more and began the trek home with the grocery bag in my teeth. I was thinking of all kinds of . things I could do inside that were not boring. I fell down many timeseand considered waiting for the plow to come by and just push me along until I got home. But that would be giving up, I' said to myself and pushed on. - Finally, I arrived home and shook my frozen fist at The Car as I passed it. The Cat had not a Meow of pity for her mistress as I fell through the apa rtment door. Oh well, I thought. At least I took some highly dramatic photographs of white snow flying in the air to document the event. If only I'd.'re9nembered to put film in the camera. You're right. I wasn't so close to retirement then as I am now. Old age didn't seem to be messing on me. But I honestly think that I still favor cen- tralization of many of the costlier facilities - schools, old age homes, hospitals. It still makes the greatest amount of sense to -me as a tax- psye>i . I recognize the problems that centralization causes, but somehow I think those kinds of problems can be overcome. Distances can be managed more economically than some other difficulties, such as provision of adequate plant _and reliable equipment. Why not organize the people in the various communities to take care of their o.wn mobile and semi-mobile seniors? Why not support ahe aged in their efforts to stay in their homes until it is no longer feasible? - Then why not take care of them in the very best long-term facilities we can possibly provide ... with absolutely everything necessary to make those last days comfortable? Probably a county operated, government assisted home for the aged? Maybe even.atClinton? And why not consider subsidized tran- sportation services from the county towns and townships to_Huronview as a regular part of the annaul operating expenses if that's what it takes to keep our elderly people happy? Why not, if we sincerely want a workable compromise? cath wooden INN