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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-04-30, Page 4PAQJ 4-, -QO.i IRRIc SIeNAL-STAR, WEDNESDAY, APRIL ao 8O 1 C BLUE RIBBON AWARD Second class mail registration number -0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded In, Mg and published every Wednesday at Goderich. Ontario. Member of the CCCNA and OWNA. Adver- tising rotes on request. Subscriptions payable In advance' 16.00 In Canada. '35.00 to U.S.A.. 1,5,.00 to all others conn. tries, single copies 35'. Display advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rate Cord Na. 10 effective Sept. 1, 1979. Second class map Registration Number 0716. Advertising it accepted on the condition that in the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with reasonable allowance for signature. will not be chgreed for but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. in the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or service may not be sold. Advertising Is merely en offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. the Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage. of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER - President and Publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER - Editor DONALD M. HUBICK - Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES - Assistant Editor P.O. BOX 220, HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 486 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 Hospital board needs you If you are looking for a way in which to serve the area public on a board or committee, you might like to consider getting involved with the business of Alexandra Marine and General Hospital. There's no remuneration for serving on the hospital board, but then truly public -minded in- dividuals won't be concerned about pay checks or honorariums. It will be reward enough to know that you are helping to direct one of the community's foremost service institutions toward a better and brighter future. The election of the board of governors for AM&G will take place at the annual meeting scheduled for Monday, June 23. Only members of the hospital corporation are eligible to vote at this meeting, but for the annual membership fee of $1 anyone can become a voting member of the hospital cor- poration. Board meetings are held once monthly and there is usually one committee meeting per month for each board member to attend as well. Not a Life is a paradox Council has been grappling with some serious decisions concerning beer tents for a few weeks. And while firm 'decisions have not been made," constructive input is flooding to council from various groups and service clubs. At the last council meeting, councillor Elsa Haydon made a statement that perhaps reflects our social concerns and adds an interest perspective on our priorities. She claimed that Canada was a marvellous country adding that while there were many problems throughout the world, Goderich council could devote weeks of debate to beer tents. While council does have some serious concerns to iron out in that respect there is aninteresting paradox. There are serious problems in the world but their implications to our lifestyle are remote and most often, negligible. demanding schedule at all, for someone with the community interest at heart. Board members at AM&G come from all walks of life, and that isaas it,should be. Fortunately for Goderich and area, there is a great variety of skills '.represented on the board including engineering, accounting, teaching, nursing, farming, labor and sales. Still your particular skills and interests may be of special value to the board and you should not hesitate to offer those abilities if you think you would like that kind of work. You can let the corporation voters know you are interested simply by calling the office of the hospital administrator, Elmer Taylor, to announce your willingness to serve on the board. That's easy enough isn't it? Don't put it off. If you want to get busy in the decision-making of your community, get active today. There's no doubt this district desperately needs men and women with a sincere desire to accept added responsibility through community service. That's one thing that will likely never change. - SJK . US bungling a su Who would want to be in the shoes of United States President Jimmy Carter these days? Strangely enough, there are currently several contenders for. Carter's headaches. The prestige and power of the US presidency always seems to, attract many willing hopefuls despite the fact it is one of the most demanding and difficult jobs in the entire world. Take, for instance, the aborted hostage rescue attempt last week. A very serious Jimmy Carter went on national television to tell the world he alone was responsible for the decision to try the dangerous rescue mission, and to call if off when it seemed futile. But something doesn't ring true about Carter's impassioned explanation of the whys and wherefors of the case - and people around the globe feel it and are scratching their heads in symphony as they piece together the information given by Carter and his staff. Some are saying the presidency of the United States meant so much to Carter he was willing to jeopardize the lives of many American soldiers to gain the approval of the 'voters. These critics complain that had the rescue mission been carried Arid we have so much to worry about on our own turf. The federal health protection branch claims that Canadians eat too much and two of every three of us is overweight. Yet, our food costs continue to soar. - We must tighten our belts, the federal govern- ment has warned. We should adjust our lifestyle expectations downward. We cannot live beyond our means. We should save gasoline, don't drive. We must conserve energy,, turn out the lights. We must face the prospect of tough interest rates to keep the dollar alive. We shouldn't eat so much. Young people should wait longer to buy that first home. Pay more for oil. And through all this turmoil, psychologists are offering us a 1980 lifestyle guide . of, relax, avoid stress and have fun. It's all so simple, isn't it. D.S. rprise off successfuly, it would have assured Carter's re- election. They go so far as to predict the mission's failure and the odd series of statements about the whole affair, will result in Carter's defeat. Others are wondering why the most powerful nation in the world - the same country that had the technology and the skill and daring to put the first man on the moon - would plead simple mechanical failure in some helicopters as the reason for scrubbing the rescue mission that was supposed to have been on the drawing board for months of practice and planning. A few of the world's leaders are puzzled by the apparent diplomatic bungling of, the USA - and the total disregard (or so it seems) for the delicate balance of peace among the world's nations. Maybe Canadians have watched too much American television. But in the Land of the Maple Leaf much more cunning and finesse was expected from the neighbours to the south. Such a clumsy effort just isn't' in keeping with the past per- formances of the USA - and it's enough to keep people wondering for a long, long time to come. - SJK Board responds to Ainslie article Dear Editor This letter is written with reference to an article that appeared in the April 17 edition of your newspaper entitled "The largesse, of municipal spending: its causes and cures". A number of disturbing references made by the author,K.F. Ainslie, to The Huron County Board of Education compel me to respond at this time. I would hope that anything I say in my response does not in any way imply that I, as a taxpayer of the Town of Goderich and the other, higher levels of government, am happy about the continuing rise in education costs or for that matter costs of tall goods and services which more enlightened specialists than I have pointed out js one of the two major economic problems facing this country and the world at this time. The first specific quote in this article which I find unacceptable sta--s the Board's levy goes up by aout 3 per cent per year This fig three times the inflation rate... ". I am sure that any subscriber to your' newspaper reading an article by •one whose credentials sound as impressive as do Mr. Ainslie's would accept the quoted statement as ,fact. Fortunately for all the taxpayers, it is not. I should like to present some facts in support of my statement: ' 1. The Consumer Index for Canada, all items for the period December 31, 1969 to December 31, 1979, is as follows: December 31, 1969, 95.9; December 31, " 1979, 199.0. Total increase in the C.P.I., therefore, has been 103.1 points over a 10 year period or 107.4 percent over 10 years, or an average annual increase of 10.74 per cent. • 2. The Annual' Levy (corrected for annual under and over levies) of The Huron County Board of Education for the same period is as follows: December -1969, Mill rate 38.78; December 1979, Mill rate 80.85. Total increase in the levy therefore has been 42.07 Mills over a ten year period of 108.48 per cent over. 10 years or an average increase of 10.85 per cent per year. By comparison of these" figures I would submit that rather than the levy going up by 30 per cent per year, or as Mr. Ainslie would represent "the facts", by "three times the inflation rate", the difference between the rise in C.P.I. and the rise in net requisition is so insignificant it can be ignored. This is not an insignificant error in Mr. Ainslie's reporting. I would also like to reply to statements made by Mr. Ainslie in the "causes" section of his article where he speaks of "bureaucratic empire building". The°only comment I can make is to display the following data comparing the expenditures of the Business Th e—Iturrorrr---- County Board of Education, for which I am responsible, for the years 1`969+ and 1979. +1969 was the year The Huron County Board came into being and replaced 53 Municipal' School Boards. 1969 1979 Incidentally, all of the above figures are taken from the Audited Financial Statements of The Huron County Board of Education for 1969 and 1979. They are available for this section, to anyone, including management con- sultants, giving advance notice of their request, at the Board Offices. As long as newspapers see fit to publish and therefore appear to give validity to the opinions of various and unknown "authorities" on such mat- ters as the spending of public monies, who do not take the time to refer to audited documentation of the facts, I believe,; they do a disservice to their readership. +Salaries Fringe benefits Supplies Capital Fees and Contractual Services Other $116,346 $210,064 3,571 20,044 10,003 12,542 9,556 2,048 22,612 86;076 120,972 16,454 Total $283,060 $347,228 These figures show an increase of $64,168, or 22,7 per cent over a 10 year period, or an average of 2.3 per cent per year. I do not believe an increase of 2.3 per cent per yew -could be classified as "bureaucratic empire building". +Includes salaries of all business administration "' personnel, including the writer, Honoraria of all Trustees (16) and. appointed non -Board com- mittee members (presently five). Yours sincerely, R.B. Dunlop Treasurer The Huron County Board of Education Says Ainslie used some incom Dear Editor: I am accepting your offer to com- ment on Mr. Ainslie's recent article on municipal largesse. As a former member of council, and' a property owner, I look on myself as, pardon the pun," having been both a largessee and a largessure and therefore qualified to critique Mr. Ainslie's assumption that municipal spending is overly generous. • What I find disturbing in the.a\rticle is not Mr. Ainslie's viewpoint (we are all entitled to our own) but rather., his basing his assumptions and con- clusions on statistical data that is either erroneous or incomplete. To me no information is more destructive or damaging than misin- formation and for this reason I feel the article needs to be challenged. Most of the figures quoted in the article were either wrong or in- complete as presented. I do not wish to bore your readers with pages of figures but I think a' few examples of errors and omission are necessary to give this critique validity. In his introduction Mr. Ainslie states that from 1975 to 1979 municipal ex- --penditures, less education and county levies, increased by a whopping 137 percent. The actual dollar increase over the five year period was from $1,873,000 to $3,267,000 or 76 percent, about half the percentage quoted. The article implies that the board of education levy has increased 150 percentover tfie same `perlod:-The '— a c tu a 1 -`-`"Tactual increase was. about 98 percent. ' An example of Mr. Ainslie using incomplete data is when he lists ex- penditures of what he calls some notorious high cost, fast growth spenders. What he failed to -show or explain was that these figures are gross expenditures and are in part, or in some cases, totally offset by in- coming Gevenues. Mr. Ainslie states that soft services are eating up 50 percent of municipal expenditures. I found it difficult to determine just what he meant by soft services. An analysis of the Goderich financial statement for 1979 shows that municipal ----expenditures for hard services, that is, roads, ' water and planning, ' were $1,992,000 and ex- penditures for public services, that is police, fire protection,; health and recreation, were $1,121,000: This represents a ratio of 66 percent of expenditures for hard services to 33 percent for public services. The only items' that seem to come under Mr.. Ainslie's definition of soft services were those listed in the financial statement as recreational and cultural plete data services and those items represent less than 15 percent of municipal ex- penditures. (Note: The above figures have been rounded up to the nearest $1,000 -and were extracted from the Town of ' Goderich Financial Statement for 1979 prepared by MacGillvray and Co.). Just where Mr. Ainslie picked up his figures on the average assessment on residential property in Goderich is puzzling. A review of the Goderich tax assessment rolls show that the average assessment for residential houses in Goderich in 1979 was $3,300, not around the $5,200 stated in the article. As far as inequities in assessments being a. myth, all I would say to those who would believe they did not xist is, go to the source and exam a the assessment rolls, as I did, and en tell me inequities did not exist. Apart from using incorrect data Mr. Ainslie further erodes his arguments by, comparing actual dollars instead of real dollars. You just can't compare 1975 with 1979 without taking into consideration the fact that both the value of the dollar and the assessment base have changed. If Mr. Ainslie had taken these factors into consideration, his opening statement on municipal expenditures would read something like this: bet- ween 1975 and 1979 municipal ex- penditures escalated by a whopping 1.5 percent, making for an annual rise of ' '•Brew"percent. D"oesn't sound gifite as """'— sensational or dramatic -does it? At this point' we can scdrea pointjfor Mr. Ainslie because as he indicated real dollar municipal expenditures have increased, although far less dramatically than he implied. What the article fails to show is that there might ' be specific reasons why increases have taken place. For instance, the municipality has undertaken joint projects which have increased expenditures slightly in the short term but will save the municipality major long term ex- penditures. As they -say, "Short term pain for long term gain." Examples of the above are the East End Improvement. Project, or NIP and Hi2 No ghway critique of Mr. Ainslie's article would be complete without a comment on his corrective conclusions. s first piece of advice is that cou czl` muststart cutting services. Wh t services? , Since the major expense of services to the public is in the area of protection tp persons and property, and con- sequently the only_ -.area where Turn to page 5 e DEAR REALE Is capital punishment really only revenge? BY SHIRLEY J. KELL,ER I know we've been round this mulberry bush before, but it is one of those issues that is never really decided. What about capital punish- ment? Should we or should we not put people to death for their crimes against other humans? Just recently, 'we had a little discussion in the office about the pros and cons of capital punishment. While we generally could agree on the fact that killing in any sense ,of the word was tragic, there was no ready - agreement about the types of penalties people should pay for snuffing out the life of another. Murder isn't always murder, we felt, It's not really murder when you plot to kill a demon father or husband. It's justice, It's not murder when you kill a policeman because he's a policeman, It's madness. So what is murder? And when can the courts be certain it is murder? And that the lc_( used really is guilty of murder, for the reasons the court has stated? And here's another question that bothers any serious discussion on capital punishment. Is putting a mgrderer to death really punishment ... or is it revenge.,.. And if it is revenge, shouldn't we call jit/that avid recognize that legally killing for revenge is in a sense, murder as well? Thai brings up the cruncher query: Is murder ever right? Now we've gone full circle on this hateful subject, And the argument goes on. When someone is accused of murder, the jury is charged with the respon- sibility to decide "beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt" that the accused actually committed the deed, That in itself is a horrendous duty. Nobody would relish making that kind of a decision and I sometimes wonder if an ordinary citizen called to ,jury duty in a murder case is ever fully capable of making such a weighty decision without suffering many severe mental and emotional consequences as a result. Think abou it. Think about knowing that your dee' -ion will either set a man free or send him Jo death row where he will suffer acute'and prolonged mental and physical anguish before he is executed. And think about the execution ... if you can. The button is pushed. The current builds and is loosed. A man stiffens, convulses and dies. " And think about the chance - however remote that the decision was wrong and the man was innocent. Death is irreversible. There's no chance for apology or remedy. Ind if you dare, think about two more things. Imagine that someone you love dearly has been sentenced to die. Can you fathom the agony you would suffer though just loving that person? Or imagine that you are the one to push the' button for instant death to the convicted man. What kind of a person could do. that job without pangs of sickening uncertainty about the system? Perhaps the ' strongest. case for capital punishment is the hope that by reinstating the death penalty, others will refrain from committing the most unpardonable crime. But there isn't much evidence to that effect. There's always the expectation that the crime will go unsolved, or that the courts will be unable to make the charge stick or even that the sentence handed down, in the event of con- viction, will be less than death. If you have the temperment and stomach to murder somebody, you will have enough guts to gamble you'll get away with it. Or maybe you simply don't care. Given the uncertain evidence about the value of capital punishment as a deterrent to murder, can capital punishment be justified? If it doesn't deter, what possible good does it do? And even if it does deter, is the possibility of deterrence really enough to justify the taking of a human life?