The Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-09-09, Page 44
PAGE 4—GODERICH.SIGNAL STAR, WEUNESUAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1981
dave
sykes
1 would wager that everyone has had a
secret desire to turn back the hands of time,
to an age when summer was full of carefree
days.
Generally life as a kid was fun and free of
any reasonable measure of responsibility,
summer holidays held promise of lazy days
and goof in',around.
There are days when I would like to lift
one of those summers out the past and relive
a few memories that have become em-
bellished with time. Age has a way of
romanticizing the past.
The thoughts come to mind as summer
slipsfrom grasp and the long weekend
signals a slow transition into a new season'.
And for youngsters, the long weekend is like
an ominous black cloud that brings an
abrupt end to the good times. It's back to
school.
Many kids , with a low boredom threshold,
are anxious to return to school and some
semblance of an orderly life. If memory
serves me correct, I wasn't too excited
about getting back to the books.
But moms get -real mean this time of year.
By the end of July they start with the "only
four More weeks and you're back to school"
bit. And they throw in a tauntingly bitter
grin that throws kids into fits of despair.
By the long weekend, mothers smile and
giggle a lot to themselves and it's enough to
make any summer - loving child want to
leave home. It seemed that death would be
easier than living .through those final few
day before school.
Once the school routine was established,
however, it wasn't that horrible. ` It was
actually semi -exciting returning to school
on the very first day, having heard such
dreadful stories about the•new teachers.
"She's so mean and ugly. She: just yells,
Screams and hollers and throws kids around
the room man," Such comforting teacher
analysis was freely offered by kids in the
next grade.
It scared the hell out of me too but the
prognostications were generally over
exaggerated and blatant lies.
Although, in the second grade I had the
good fortune to be taught by a semi -lunatic.
She was a young lady, petite and quite good
looking acutally but she was rather short-
tempered and over zealous in her
disciplinary measures.
If the class got a bit out of hand, this little
bit of a thing would simply throw things at
people. Rulers, rubbers, brushes, chalk, a
bell or whatever.was handy at the time.
It was not uncommon, in this Grade 2
class. to see an assortment of objects hurled
through the air like projectiles. Occasional-
ly they met their mark too.
This little lady also had a penchant for the
strap and it was doled out with regularity for
obvious misdemeanors against the crown.
country, or whatever. The teacher situation
improved markedly after that year.
There was always a special significance
attached to the opening of school. Every
little urchin was scrubbed and groomed and
a new outfit was part of the game. That's as.
good as the class looked all year and the
grooming habits were abandoned about the •
third day.
` Teachers always handed out these, little
lists of supplies that would be required for
the year and everyone rushed uptown to
purchase pencil crayons, pencils and paper
and other useless stuff. A friend of mine
bought muselage and a ruler every year.
Nothing more, nothing less. He is now a
member of the legal profession so his stingy
spending habits didn't appear tohurt his
scholastic career.
Perhaps things are i.fferent now, but I bet
a lot of youngsters were scrubbed and un-
maculately groomed for school Tuesday.
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BLUE
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AWARD
1979
PUBLISHED•BY:SIGNAL-STAR. PUBLISHING LIMITED
ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher
DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager
DAVID SYKES-Editor
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y
Orderly developme
The reeentOntario Municipal.Board hearing into bylaw
24 of 1981 raised some interesting theories regarding
commercial development in the town of Goderich.
Bylaw 24 was passed at a March council meeting to
accommodate the construction of a on a parcel~•
of land on the corner of Suncoast Drive and Bayfield
Road. The proposed mini mall was to contain a Becker
Milk store, a doughnut shop and a health spa. The land
was zoned developmental anddesignated as highway
commercial on the official plan.
Council approved a rezoning bylaw but there was some
definite opposition to the.development. Naturally, one of
the main arguments centered on the premise that com-
mercial development on arterial roads would lead to a
deterioration of the core area.
Councillors argued that there were several vacancies in
the core and further commercial development would only
detract from the viability of the Square. Others claimed
the proposal was a gross misuse of valuable commercial
land.
Those same arguments surfaced at the hearing and
Mrs. E. Brown, lawyer for the objectors, Western Auto
Parts, suggested that the mini mall was a flagrant misuse
of one the last pieces of valuable commercial property.
Considering that sufficient vacancies existed in the
core, Brown claimed the development was not inap-
propo Hate but untimely .
One point that surfaced at council and was hinted at
Tuesday is that the town does not have a mandate to
supress competition.
Orderly and planned development is a priority but no-
one has the right to speculate on the viability of a com-
mercial concern. Assured tenancy is the only gurantee
that council can require.
• The health spa is no longer in the plans for the proposed
• mall since 'that business venture relocated in a similar
mall"a fewdoors down the. road. Since the Western Auto
Parts objectionled to an OMB hearing, the health spa
developers sought amore expeditious route:
While arterial roads are slowly being developed, is it
leading to a deterioration of the core business area?
Planner Roman Dzus said that because of a scarcity of
-highway commercial land, development should not
proceed on a speculative basis. But even if tenancy is
secure there is no reason' to believe that economic viabili-
ty is guaranteed.
In testimony at the hearing, Dzus claimed here was a
surplus •of retail stores in Goderich considering the
modest population growth patterns. He also 'expressed
concern that a diversion of business activity from the core
area would undermine the longterm viability of The
Squa re.
While there are several new vacancies on The Square,
town lawyer Dan Murphy pointed out that they were
mainly due to retirements within the business com-
' munity.
The business community itself, has not jodged any
complaints against the construction of mini malls but
have been active in securing loans and .carrying out
revitalization projects in the core.
Commercial development brings with it increased
assessment and tax revenues but the town must also
maintain priorities in planning and keep an eye on orderly
development.
Watch for school children
This week marked the beginning of another school year
across Canada and freshly groomed and newly -clothed
children enthusiastically bounced to school.
The advent of another school year also brings with it
some new problems for motorists in town.
After a carefree summer, children are approaching the
return to school in the same fashion. Their minds are not
always on the roles of safety as they walk or ride their
bikes to and from school.
This is a particularly good time of year for parents to
stress some good safety habits and point out potentially
dangerous situations along the route to school. Young bike
riders should also be knowledgeable of the rules of the
road and exercise an extra measure of' caution with in-
creased bike traffic during the school year.
Children will be going to and from school four times a
day and the concentration of walkers and bikers at those
times will put drivers on the alert.
If motorists and school children both take the time to
observe rules of the road it will be a safe year. D.S.
Skipping into f1.11
x
)y" Cath Wooden
D
EAR
BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER
I was intrigued last week by a pronouncement
in a story from thi11.s� newspaper regarding a
meeting of the Federation 'of Women Teachers'
Associations of Ontario.
It was this: "The delegates approved a
statement of priorities which included concern
about the growth of private schools and the hi -
creasing conservatism and elitism of Canadian
society."
The story went on to say that the teachers
confirmed their commitment to equal op-
portunity and to the Federation's affirmative
faction program.
Now that's a mouthful. And it could mean quite
a few things Iguess.
But I take it to infer that the swing to private
schools is thought to be because somelpeople are
growing more anal more dissatisfied with -the,
' public school system and wish to be
disassociated from It.
I also take it to mean that public school system
teachers are, not surprisingly, interested in
protecting their own jobs for the future.
But it is time somebody took a hard look' at
where this entire nation is headed from a moral
point of view. And since the public schools are at
the crux of the training system in this country, it
may be time to make a close study of why some
people are looking to alternate methods of
teaching their children.
Religion has always been a touchy subject to
discuss, but never moreso than today. And
whether we like it or not, religion is very
definitely at the bottom of much of the exodus
READERS
The guy up at the top of the page stole my
column topic. I took the liberty, of sneaking a ,h
peek at his finished product a moment ago,
and what he wrote can be called downright
thievery.
I was going to talk about all the neat first
days of school I had in my educational
career, all the rude teachers thalt tortured
me, and all the delinquent activities I
engaged in. But that would be a tad
redundant.
Because Dave Sykes has done gone and/
ripped off the words right out of my fingers,
it seems only fair that I turn this week's
column into a profile of hire. It is his
nemesis.
Spike has been editor of these weekly
offerings for about a year now and is fast
fitting into the mold of yer basic small town
newspaper editor. Every morning, he drags
his scrawny littly body into the office and
commences to scrutinize the Globe, Free
Press, and Star. This takes him two cups of
coffee and eight smokes to do.
During the past year, the bags under his
eyes have grown large enough to carry his
own paper route. I understand that the
haggard look has always been an 'in' thing
with editors, proof positive that they are
overworked and underpaid. Little does the
general public know that they are the direct
result of late-night poker games rather than
late-night, fast -breaking news stories.
% Spike is also growing proficient at 'editor
diplomacy'. This involves being able to take
,the complaint phone calls on Thursday
Morning with courtesy and understanding;
that is, until he has to go to the bathroom.
Then he just says, "Thanks . for callin'.
Bye.".
Like most small town editors, Spike is
something of a superior male. At least, he
thinks so. He often says things like, "Girls
are dumb,"' because we don't know what the
New York'Giants'ivin-loss record is.
His chauvenism is only exaggerated by
the fact that he thinks he as a great athlete.
Many is 'the morning he will come into the
office complaining of injuries sustained in
slow -pitch games and insists that the female
contingent in the office massage his injured
area. How rude.
He has his own vocabulary when it comes
to females, only proving my point about his
chauvenism. Women are dollies (cute),
sneakers (ugly), seagulls (mouthy), or
fossils (old). How rude.
However, when called upon to do a
female -type job, Spike does rise gallantly to
the occasion. Just last week, his wife sent
him off to work with the chore of locating
several soft-nippled soothers for their son.
Apparently, they can only be purchased in
Kincardine.
I walked into the office to find Spike
speaking very quietly into the phone to a
buddy there about the said soothers. "I feel
so silly," 1 heard him mumble. The next day
the soothers arrived in plain brown- wrap
away from the public school system.
One's own personal faith is a very individual
thing. And that faith can be as different is day
from night.
But one basic thing can be said about all faiths.
If one practises that faith from day to day, it
becomes an integral part of life,which cannot be
turned off and on like a tap. And the fact is, too
much is happening in our world, in our country
and in our schools today that is noncompatible
with many faiths, most especially the faiths built
on the premise that God is supreme.
The concern that teachers have about the
•'increasing conservatism and elitism of
Canadian society" comes as a ray of hope to
someone like me.
For in my humble opinion - and I must stress it
is my opinion only - there's a dearth of good
sound moral judgement in today's society and
it's robbing people of the true joy and peace of
being alive.
There's nothing new under the sun. History
repeats itself.
But wouldn't you think people would learn
from the mistakes of others all around them?
Wouldn't you think intelligent, thinking people
.could see that in comparison to the quality of
life most of them knew as children, today's mish-
mash is no improvement?
And wouldn't you think people would begin to
reason that there is something to be said for
living by a set of tried and proven rules and
regulations which down through the ages has
brought order to hLimankind and peace . and
contentment to billions?
Apparently there is a stirring now in the souls
ping, which he stuffed into his desk drawer.
I,think Dave needs to be liberated.
But then, editors are rarely liberated. In
fact, most of them are quite conservative.
Dave Sykes is definitely conservative. .He
wears his hair short enough to cause cute
little rooster tails at the top. He wouldn't be
caught dead in anything flashier than a
sports shirt with one button undone.
Spike's idea of a wild and crazy time is to
chase seagulls around with a camera.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm sure Spike
leads a very interesting life away from his
desk. Why, he often comes in on a Monday
morning talking of fun times weeding his
wonderful garden on the weekend, and
Ixi bbly visits with the mother-in-law.
Yep. Spike's a pretty darn good editor,
always ready 'to lend a helping hand to his
reporters. I just told him I was having
trouble ending my column and he said, "And
they all got run over by a big truck. The
end."
of some people who are acting on their deepest.
convictions. Theyare deliberately determined to
give their children something more than the tliin
veneer of values education that is being
promoted in today's public school classes. They
want a.little more substance for their children in
the things thatreally count when it comes 'to
readiness for life.
I say hooray. I say the children whose parents
care enough to give them the very best will be
the winners. And I say that when the majority
catches up to these advanced thinkers and sees
that it takes more than gymnasiums and buses
and greenhouses and cinder tracks' and theatre '
arts and English to make a total man, the schools
will be full again. ' •
And if that's "conservatism and elitism", I'm
all for it.
Funny thing though. .The terms conservatism
and elitism usually smack of money and social
position. Not so when it comes to this type of
conservatism and elitism. People of all walks of
life and of all financial capabilities are part and
parcel of this new wave.
It's the folks who understand that whenever
man is left to his own devices, he fails miserably.
It's the people who have discovered the emp-
tiness of doing your own thing because it feels
good fora while.
It's the moms and dads who dare to set for
their children a high •quality example of self-
denial, consistent moral behaviour, commitment •
and loving admonishment who are disenchanted
with today's public school system. •
In a free country, that's a choice people can
make. I hope it will always be so.
•