HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1984-06-27, Page 4y4
'4-G0DERICIISIGNAL-STAR, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27,1984
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In the .'ming edition of the Goderich
Signal -Star, : ders will be regaled with the
photographs of smiling faces of the
hundreds of elementary school graduates
attending schools in the paper's coverage
area.
It's the graduation season and every
student is declared fair game for our
photographers who flock to graduation
ceremonies and wreak havoc among the
graduates while proud parents attempt to
take pictures.
It's a sport that could be easily compared
to the demolotion derby with bodies and
trophies clashing while parents and
photographers grapple for the best angles
and available spaces to shoot from.
The graduation season, while accepted
with a certain degree of resignation, is not
exactly approached with great liveliness or
alacrity by the members of the pulsating
newsroom. It's not that the event is not
important to us, it's just that after a few
years and 10 or 20 graduation ceremonies,
they all start looking the same.
But when my youngster graduates, and he
may well be the first in the Sykes family to
receive an elementary school diploma, the
paper better be there f?r something of.an in-
depth nature.
Each year we frantically rush to the six or
seven graduation ceremonies to take award
and ,in some cases, class pictures, gather up
copies of valedictory addresses and
consolidate the material into a special
supplement for the following week's paper.
It's an issue that takes time and effort to put
together but one we trust that holds some
sentimental value for the students, teachers
and parents.
Attending the graduation exercises of a
local elementary school the other evening
provoked a bit of nostalgia in this
correspondent. My thinking apparatus,
which is still in working order, con furs up
memories of tall, giggly girls and a sinking
feeling about being a Grade Niner in a large
high school.
I simply couldn't fathom a day without
recess and wondered when those bigger kids
gotto play baseball or run behind a clump of
trees for a smoke.'That's what recess was
for in those days. At least that's what I'm
told.
But some things don't change and it's
obvious from the graduation pictures that
the girls are just as tall as they ever were
and the boys haven't grown that much.
Maybe it has something to do with the air
or water. Who knows.
And while every single one of those little
urchins .may have tested a 'teacher's
patience to new extremes and been
responsible for the wholesale introduction of
stress management courses for elementary
teachers, on graduation night they present
angelic and mature images that belie their
mischievous and adventurous natures.
They all appear so innocent, so grown up
and so ready to take on the adolescent
world.
I vividly recall my own Grade 8
graduation. It was the first time we ever
attended a formal type dance and for many
of us, it may have been the first time we
wopld ever submit to the task of actually
touching a girl.
But if you were going to dance, the
touching part was compulsory at some
point. So we pretended we like it and soon
found out that this dancing might not be
such a bad sport after all.
Looking back on the pictures of those
days, I can never figure out why the girls
had ever agreed to dance with the likes of
us.
1
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A time to celebrate
Canada Day and Ontario Bicentennial celebrations will
unfold at several locations in town over four days
beginning Thursday, June 28th.
And the list of events offered for the Canada Week
celebrations is a most impressive one that will make for
good family fun and entertainment. There will be no
reason to complain about a lack of activity this weekend.
The annual Music Festival and Friends sponsored by
the Goderich Optimist Club begins Thursday at Optimist
Riverside Park and will feature some of the finest
bluegrass and folk entertainment over four days. The
festival will run Thursday and Friday evenings and the
music will start in the early afternoon both Saturday and
Sunday.
On Friday evening, the Goderich Legion will host a
dance in the Vimy Lounge to welcome members of Post 18
of the American Legion from Bay City Michigan.
The Experimental Aircraft Association will hold a fly -in
breakfast Saturday morning at the Municipal Airport and
the Legion will hold a reception at 2 p.m. Former
parishioners of St. George's Anglican Church ar invited
to attend the homecoming supper Saturday at 5 p.m.
Sunday is a day packed with activity beginning with a
special anniversary church service at St. George's and
ending with a giant fireworks display over the Goderich
Harbour at dusk. In between, you can enjoy breakfast and
supper courtesy of the Lions Club at Lions Harbour Park,
the Legion will hold a special breakfast and afternoon
levy, and civic ceremonies, involving town, legion and
Bay City officials and dignitaries, will unfold in Cour-
thouse Park at 1 p.m.
One of the day's highlights, the Canada Day Parade
begins at 2 p.m. and will make its way around The Square
and afterwards you can enjoy a Strawberry Social at the
Livery and later take in a free concert at Lions Harbour
Park.
It has taken a great deal of work by many people to
produce such a varied and impressiye weekend program.
Support the events in town in the spirit of the Bicentennial
and Canada Day celebrations.
Viewpoints differ
It's curious how those who don't give the reduction of
the federal deficit very high priority seem to be able to
cast those who want to get the deficit down as some sort of
ogres the Financial Post says.
During his leadership bid, Jean Chretien gave the
impression that those -such as John Turner- who would
like to cut the deficit, would in so doing increase
unemployment.
No doubt, those who don't worry overmuch about the
deficit, big as it is, are influenced by the traditional
Keynesian view that deficits can be stimulative riut even
Keynes expected that in good tintes the deficits would be
reduced. This has not happened in Canada for a long time.
The net federal debt has not been reduced since 1969-70.
In this new world of spend, spend, spend, it now takes 34
cents of every federal tax dollar just to pay the interest on
the public debt. That's more than twice what it cost in
1970.
This sort of stimulation clearly makes it increasingly
difficult for government -with all the demands upon it -to
find the means of helping those who are most
disadvantaged. Yet, those who claim that deficits are
stimulative often characterize those who favor a
reduction of the deficit as flinty souls who would sacrifice
Whenever I have occasion to turn my at-
tention to the procedures and attitudes of
the Public Utilities Commission of the Town
of Goderich, my reaction is on two levels.
On one level there is full appreciation of
the job done by the workers and manage-
ment. In individual cases the response is
swift and satisfactory: the general day-to-
day operations are carried out so smoothly
and dependably that we have become ac-
customed to it without further thought.
When it comes to the commission itself.
however, the impression is not nearly as
clearcut as in the first instance. At the
public receiving end the commissioners' at-
titudes can come across as unnecessarily
recll.,ive, evasive, pedantic and at times
perhaps even arrogant.
Obviously a great deal of the credit for the
good functioning of the operations must go
to the commission as well. However. there is
also an element of being a little kingdom in
the forest; if you want to have access into its
territory, you must first overcome all kinds
of discouraging obstacles.
A recent case is an ulustration. In April
this year Jirn Searls wrote to the PUC ask-
ing for a summary of remuneration and ex-
penses paid to commissioners and ad-
ministration. The commission responded
jobs for the sake of getting the federal budget closer to
balance.
The obvious contradiction in this argument is that more
unemployment means higher unemployment insurance
payments, and less tax revenue from salaries and
businesses. This can hardlydo much for the cause of
deficit reduction.
Furthermore, there's also a flaw in the basic
assumption that deficits are good for job creation.
William Mulhnlland, chairman of Bank of Montreal,
pointed to it last week.
"If governments spend a great deal of money, then in
the short term jobs will be created," he told the Winnipeg
Chamber of Commerce. "But if they spend so much that
interest rates are driven up, business investment falters
and the price of jobs created in the public sector ( or areas
clsoely related to in is fewer jobs created elsewhere. If
continued over time, this lack of private sector vitality
will reduce our competitiveness and others will pass us
by "
In fact, holding down government spending can, in the
long run, be a plus for job creation. The good guys are not
necessarily always the big spenders.
with a motion by .lames Peters, seconded by
Leonard Sheardown "that Mr. Searis he
notified by letter, including supportive
material. that he is requested to make an
appointment with the utility to view the
desired records".
The so-called supportive material does
not address the request. It refers to persons
appointed by municipal councils. No council
makes appointments to PUC.
Mr. Searls has made the correspondence
available. The "supportive material" con-
tains one interesting reference to the Public
Utilities Act, according to which "the com-
mission shall furnish such information as
may be required by the council at any
time." Since municipal councils are aware
of this fact, the reference to it in this cor-
respondence strikes one as a teasing hint
how citizen Searis, in his role as councillor
Searis, could come a step closer on the
guarded path to the secluded kingdom.
So on June 11th councillor Searis, second-
ed by councillor Carey, made a motion "that
the PUC forward at the earliest possible
date a summary of remuneration and ex-
penses paid to both elected and appointed of-
ficials for the year 1983." The motion passed
easily with the support of the majorit)o of
council members.
1
In the weeds
By Dave Sy.kes
DEAR READERS
SHIRLEY KELLER
Every so often, it should be mandatory for
Goderich residents to play tourist right at home.
You could take a week, a weekend or just an
evening but each person should get off the
merry-go-round of living, working and striving
in Goderich and view the town through the eyes
of a visitor, even for a few minutes.
A few weeks ago, I was travelling in
Pennsylvania, in Lancaster County to be explicit
where the Old Amish way of life is an important
industry. It's a great part of the world if I may
say so and I hope to go back again sometime.
While I was visiting there, I had dinner one
evening in one of their homestyle family
restaurants. These restaurants, incidentally, are
everywhere. In fact, it is difficult to find a spot
where you can buy just soup and a salad.
However, while having dinner at a long, long
table where you sit opposite your partner and
beside a total stranger, I struck, up a
conversation with the people sitting next to me.
They happened to be from Lancaster County.
They told me they were "playing tourist".
They said every spring just before the tourist
ifeason got in high gear, the tourist association in
Lancaster County offered special deals to
residents to come out and see what the tourists
see.
These folks told me they got 50 percent off on
everything - except meals. Meals. they said,
were reduced by 10 percent to 25 percent
(depend`_ng on the restaurant I for one weekend
only.
They told me they were absolutely amazed at
all the different things there were to do in
Lancaster County. They started to list the things
they had done already that weekend - and things
they still planned to do.
As they talked with firsthand knowledge about
their own backyard. i realized the great wisdom
of the plan by the members of the Lancaster
County tourist association. They knew that word
After a subsequent clarification of what or
who is an elected and an appointed official
I good grief! the decision was made by the
commission to release to the council not on-
ly the requested information hut also the
related information concerning all other
!Deaf PUC employees.
It is my understanding that this informa-
tion is now at the Town Hall where it is to be
placed on the next agenda and will find its
way to the council members, including
councillor Searis.
Other people make their own points and
some of them are likely to he quite different
from mine. I am not questioning the number
of conferences and workshops attended by
the commissioners or the amounts spent. I
have always emphatically supported the
views that the individuals who make an ef-
fort to learn are our truly effective
representatives. The commissioners deal
with complex and specialized matters and
there is no doubt that it takes a lot of infor-
mation to be on top of it all.
My concern is with attitudes and with the
methods used by the commission; I find
them cumbersome, unfortunate, outdated
and removed from the public realities of
elected representation.
Mr. Herb Murphy, the commission chair -
A
of mouth is one of the most trusted forms of
advertising - and they knew that if they could get
their own residents enthused and informed about
their attractions in Lancaster County, it would
be well worth the cost and the effort of doing so.
While the Goderich Tourist Association (or
whatever body it is that is handling those affairs
for the town this summer) hasn't planned a
special deal for residents to be tourists -for -a -
day, I spent some time this past weekend doing
some of the things that tourists do in Goderich. It
was great.
First off, I did a hilltop walk -that is, I followed
the lake along at the top of the hill just at dusk to
watch the sun go down from several vantage
points along the way. and to enjoy the sights and
sounds of a lakeport town.
Some of my favourite lookouts are from the
peaceful park at the end of Blake Street and the
pretty parkette at the end of Essex Street and the
great park by the lighthouse. Each one affords a
view of the lake that leaves a person feeling,
serene, and so in touch with oneself.
The walk itself was pleasant enough, through
well kept neighbourhoods and beneath giant
trees that are the true wealth of any community
aspiring to be beautiful.
Next, I spent part of an evening on the
waterfront - first on the north side of the harbour
and finally at St. Christopher's Beach. What a
transformation! I was impressed!
I took a walk along the boardwalk, from end to
end, just as the sun was making its final plunge
for the day into the horizon.
I dreamed of what the park will become in the
future as I noted some of the fine new trees that
have been planted and imagined what future
generations will add to that choice lakefront
locatibn.
I stopped to watch some kids playing in the
little kids park right in the centre of it all. I must
man, feels that the members followed pro-
per procedures and acted correctly in a
fashion they found comfortable. He assures
that there was no attempt to withhold infor-
mation, but maintains that to handle a
private citizen's request differently from
the proposed method would consume too
much office time. Had Mr. Searis made an
appointment, would he be let loose alone
among all the PUC books'.
With personal respect for Mr. Murphy and
the other commissioners, my conclusions
are these: Nothing in the proper and correct
procedures prevented the commission from
making the information available without
further ado. There is a mechanism in place
for individuals enquiring about their own ac-
counts. I suggest that Mr. Searls' request
for general information was the only one of
its kind, not one of hundreds. Much of this
1983 information must have been available
from T -slips and other audited material.
Quite clearly, the chosen method took
more time, not less, and drew a lot more at-
tention to an essentially simple matter. it
amazes me how often elected represen-
tatives complicate their own part in public
matters where a simple and direct approach
would save so much tension, time and trou-
ble.
have been infected by their laughter because I
took a turn on the swings and even tried out the
slide.
I marvelled at lots and lots of grass so well
kept by the Goderich Parks Department and I
was happy to see it so compatible with the sand
that usually comprises a beach. I noted the
freshly painted heavy chain fence so in keeping
with the waterfront and I liked the way the
parking was spread all along the edge of it all in
not packages.
I didn't have time for the nature walks from St.
Christopher's Beach up to the top of the hill, but I
saw many people who were exploring these
inviting trails.
A swing around The Square has to be part of
any tourist's tour of Goderich and I didn't miss
that. The brick sidewalks with trees and flowers
interspersed, the pretty lamp posts, the hanging
flower baskets, and a well groomed and shady
Court House Park are ringed with a variety of
interesting shops, each one looking ship-shape
and ready to serve. It is obvious that many
businesses on The Square are making a real
effort to be as exciting on-tthe outside as on the
inside. It's good to see.
I didn't get to the museums or to the restored
jail. Have you done those things yet?
I didn't get to Harbour Park to the band
concert or to any of the other 'green' places this
town offers.
I didn't get to sample or even observe any of
the activities at the recreational spots in town.
I didn't get a tour of the oldest homes in town
or some of the historical streets and sights of
Goderich.
Maybe I'll do that later this summer - or
maybe i'll do it when the tourist committee
offers a special weekend for residents to enjoy
The Prettiest Town in Canada. I think I'd like
that.
ELSA HIAYDON