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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-11-25, Page 10PA E 4-wGODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1976 Election signposts The municipal election campaign is one. week old and, already, some ex- 'citing races are beginning to shape up. ' One qf the mast interesting in the area is tP'6 contest in' Goderich and Colborne Townships between John Westbrook currently that area's representative to Huron County Board of Education, and Shirley Hazlitt of Be -miller. Mrs. Hazlitt, an outspoken candidate, says she will be giving it her "best shot" to • be elected and promises to resist the tendency to get swallowed up 'in the board's non-descript activities. in Goderich, the PUC contest con- tinues to be worth watching. Three young challengers in the persons of Dr. Jim Peter's, Herb Murphy and Bob Cornish are giving three oldtimers Bruce Ryan,. Harry Worsell aril Beg, .Sheardown - a race. Headlines like the orie last week.- Hydro rates jump 24 percent - may have sparked some of the interest. - A third contest which is catching the imagination of voters in the area is the race between Vince Young and Gordon Crabb for a seat on the Huron -Perth SeRarate School Board. Vince Young is, of course, the incumbent, with Mr. Crab` J being the newcomer, both to politics as well as to the district. Still, Mr. Crabb and, his supporters are out working, hoping to become well enough knitawn with the separate«s,chool sup- porters, in this district to make a significant dent in Mr. Young's territory. The results should prove interesting; .What promised to be a hard-fought contest between Eileen Palmer End Need to roll up our sleeves Dear Editor: I wish to comment on our upcoming election for trustees on the Huron County Board of, Education on December 6. As I :shave travelled throughout Colborne and Goderich Townships in the last two weeks. I have found 1•eal concern about our education system, .but everyone ap- pears to shrug their shoulders and say: "What can I do about it?" I would like to suggest that we take a close look • at our- selves and our problems, roll up 'o'ur sleeves, plan our ;at- tack and,then follow-up on our actions. , " . Our trustees' have a big job 'to do,; -but once elected they seem to. get ` lost in - the bureaucracy. Why? We have had some excellent trustees in Huron County;. trustees with 'ideas; trustees with backbone, but they appear,to Airport analysis Dear Editor,'` . I understand that can didates for municipal offices will be attending Meetings in which any member .-of the audience who wishes, may direct questions to any or all of the candidates. May I suggest some questions? i.e. To Mr. Dave Gower : Does he realize that his first responsibility, as a coun- cillor, is to: the taxpayers Who elected him? And if -so; Why did he not consider them first, in the past two years, rather than direct most of his time and energy to pushing through legislation permitting the spendingof largesuras of money for the airport instead of im- provement of _ roads, storm sewers etc, in the older sections of Goderich, which had been requested and neglected for years. Ari child, reaching the age of rea,son, is aware that the destruction of another per- son's property is breaking the law, yet, as chairman of the 1 Leroy. Harrison for the deputy -reeve's post, to date has not drawn much voter interest. But with two weeks of the campaign left and the public ap- pearances of the town council can- didates still to come, there could still be some fireworks between these two candidates. Next week's Signal -Star will be the special pre-election. issue. In it will be the answers to questionnaires which have been sent out to all candidates for all offices In the district. These will be printed exactly as the candidates submitted them, the only exceptions being, perhaps, deliberate attempts to. deviatefrom accepted procedures and practices: Also next week, candidates for Goderich offices will be on Channel 12. They will be appearing there to answer YOUR questions, . YOUR concerns. Make sure you get YOUR ideas across to Rotarians Ron Shaw and Pat King so that YOUR queries can be put before the candidates. And be certain to Watch the programs Wednesday, December 1 at 8 p.m. and Thursday, December 2 at 7:30 p.m. Be informed before you vote. +++ - Two letters- were received by the Signal -Star editor this week in con- nection with the election on Monday,' December 6, 1976. These letters are published 'as a special addition to this editorial in an attempt to provide the greatest opportunity for public opinion to be broadcast during this election campaign. run out of steam. I feeL our Board of Education needs to lciok° at itself and define their objectives before an efficient educational system . can operate. The Huron County Board of Education needs to do work on their curriculum. They need a specific programme throughout the county. Why, one• could move from Colborne Township to ' the Town of Goderich and think they travelled a thousand miles when they 'realize the change in the course of study. A.public relations program is badly needed in Huron County. Noone seems to know what is going on in education. It is the board's responsibility to inform the public. " It is. public's responsibility to ,ensure they have an aggressive and well informed representative. The board must take a fresh look at the productivity • • development:, camznittee, ;wi hTn;the airport committee Mr. Gower' 'directed the unlawful topping and trim- -ming . of 200' trees.. in Menesetung Park, the weeks of March 29th and April 5th, without notification to or consent from the individual owners: On March 25th Mr: Gower met with Mr. Chas. R-owland, who at that tithe was chairman of the Menesetung Par -k Property ' Owners' Assoc., whom he - ,had peremptorily summoned from his home in Chatham. -- Mr. Gower -arrogantly informed Mr. Rowland that tree trimming would begin on March 29th. Mr. Rowland asked Mr. Gower if he .was going to notify the property owners and Mr. Gower replied "No." Mr. Rowland then replied that he, for one, and other owners would sue. Mr. Gower said "Let them:". :. At no time did Mr: Rowland give any consent. How could he? That has to come in • of everyone on its payroll. I feel a review of the number of employees needs to be made — when over three quarters of the education budget is slated for salaries:. If the present trend continues there soon. won'tbe any money for. operation and maintenance costs. - Education cannotcontinue to raise its levy at the rate they have in the past two or three years. What are we as parents willing to give up? . Will it be larger classrooms; fewer field trips, less interschool activitiy -or will we demand better use of what we now have? I - suggest the .latter, but we need a board who will expect everyone (staff and parents) to put forth a greater effort. I would ask that ratepayers in Huron. County start by making an effort to go to the polls on December 6. Thank you, Shirley Hazlitt. • the chains of ioter heSks � BY SHIRLEY 1. KEIIER A ,,,week or so ago, this writer received from ,.,the Addiction Research . Foun dation a copyof the proposal for a comprehensive health - oriented alcohol control policy which was presented to the Ontario Cabinet in April, 19.73. Then last week, a yery -concerned Mario R. Faveri, Ph.D., who is director of the Community Development and Education branch of the. Addiction Research Foun- dation for the Lake Erie' Region with offices in Lon- don, made a personal visit to this writer's office. - His ' purpose? To seek assistance with his work to- educate- people concerning= the dangers of alcohol abuse, ' and to discuss ways . and means to make Huron County residents awarethat alcohol writing from each individual owner.. Any high school student :would,knov, that and Mn. Rowland-is-princ-ipal of a 500 pupil school in Chatham and an intelligent, knowledgeable man. Since 1975 when tree trimming was first men- tioned, many letters were sent, in protest, to the mayor and directly to council, yet. they never. reached the full council, consequently, council was never able to fu11y_discuss the approval or disapproval of tree trimming, which town counsel Mr. Murphy had advised against. Some of • the letters, directed to council, were taken to the airport com- mittee meeting but, when a reporter asked to see them, he was ordered out. Any citizen has a right to read council and committee minutes and mail. In fact I always thought it was " a federal offence to- tamper with other people's mail and (continued on page 20) A ?the enrich SIGNAL-STAFF SIGNAL -STAFF -0— The County Town Newspaper o1 Huron--0..:�. Founded in 1848 and published every Thursday at Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CWNA and W(to Advertising rates on request. Subscriptions payable in advance *12.00 in Canada, to U.S.A., 320.00 to all other countries, single copies 25 cents, Display advertising r s available on request. Please ask for Rate Card No. 7 effective Oct, 1, 1976. Second class mail Registration Number 0716. Advertising is accepted on the con- dition that, in the event of typographical error, the advertleing space occupied by the erroneous item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged 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 an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star le not responsible for the loss or damage of Unsolicited manuscripts or photos. • Business and Editorial Office TELEPHONE 524.8331 Ode de 519. Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. ROBERT G. SHRIER - president and publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER — editor EDWARD J. BYRSKI advertising manager Mailing Address. P.O. BOX 220, Goderich econd class mail registration number—a/16 ' 1 consumption in-this-eounty;is disproportionately high as compared to some .--other EAR READERS counties in this district. Dr. Faveri is presently assimilating statistics regarding • the . effects of alcohol in Huron 'County. Itis likely these statistics will show the amounts of alcohol purchased within Huron County; alcohol related deaths and accidents; and maybe even something about the number of known problem drinkers here. Whatever form these statistics take, Dr. Faveri will forward there to this office as soon as they are "compiled... and they will be published in this newspaper for:all to see. But one thing is abundantly clear to Dr. Faveri at this point. The rate of alcohol. consumption in Huron County is high "... very .high. . and he wants to know why. He is attempting to find out if it is indeed due to a large extent to the tourists who buy their. liquor and -beer supplies in the county while visiting'" or passing 'through here.... . or whether in fact, Huron County residents themselves are buying and consuming unusually large quantities of booze. +-l-+ It should be pointed out that the Addiction Research Foundation is not advocating total abstinence or prohibition. Far from it. The real job of the Foundation is to prevent, if possible, the development of a dependency on such things • as a-lcohol and drugs, and to make available an educational program for the people .of. Ontario about the wise use of thosecom- modities as well. The brief referred to at the outset of this column, more generally known as the Green Paper, made a strong case against heavy alcohol con- sumption. The problem . in Ontario, 'very simply put, was, and is that ill health and excess mortality becauseof. alcohol abuse is on the rise. It• Thankgou - Dear Editor:. On Saturday, November 22, 1976, The Goderich. and District • Association for the Mentally Retarded held a Christmas card sale at the Sui*oast Mall. - We would like to thank the Suncoast Mall for the useof space for the sale. ' Thanks go to Mrs: T. Jansen, Mrs. E. Carroll, Mrs. Joan Main, Mr. R. Smith, and. Mr. Wm. Derr, who acted as supervisors for the sale. Special- thanks go to 11110111116, eighteen enthusiastic Grade 6 students from Victoria Public School who acted as salespersons. These students ° =are making integration- a 'viable reality. And last, but not least, out thanks to those who pur- chased the cards. Bevan Lindsay, Vice-Chariman G..D.A.M.R. Something positive - Dear Editor-, By giving a cursory examination to recent further ..indicated that the government's trend ` toward liberalizing liquor, control policies ' (like lowering the drinking age to 18 years) is a contributing factor. The brief went on to point out that the government potentially has the power, if not the moral responsibility. to try to reverse or at least. retard those disturbing trends. There has been some action on the part ofgovernment since 1973. One of the most successful measures has been the introduction of • an .ad- vertising program (com ' ' mercials on television, for instance) which encourage; people -to think "•when they' drihk. "You are your -own. liquor control board" is a slogan which flashes across the - province's television. screens from time to time ... and is subtly educating viewers :to be aware of their drinking habits. There has also been a study of the effects of lowering the drinkingage, and sub- sequently there has been a recommendation . that it be ' raised again to 19 years. There has also been the in- troduction of age of majority cards, ,an attempt to . put added obstacles in the way of underage drinkers who want to frequent bars and clubs, as well as buy booze at -the retail outlets in the provinces. ;; - But the. alternatives .put forth in the Green Paper by the Addiction --Research Foundation have not been popular with government lawmakers. The eFoundation reports that one in - 15 Ontario residents drinks sufficient aifounts of alcohol to in- crease therisk of organic disease; one in 30 drinks at levels typically found in patients' attending alcoholism treatment centres and three- -quarters of this latter group (continued on page 20) EDITOR statistics published by the Association for Review of the Canadian Abortion Law, one could confirm the claim that readily available information and careful counselling in methods of fertility control could (would) reduce the number of abortions by two- thirds. - ARCAL counselled 903 clients in 1975 738 received abortions by vacuum aspiration — 446'used-no birth control measures; in many cases .where 'contraceptives were used, they were, used incorrectly. - Let's do something positive to reduce the number of abortions. We can start by giving broad community support to organizations like "Planned Parenthood" and the -endeavours of our public health officials in the various programmes relevant to this issue. Paul Carroll letter from home Dear Editor, -We enjoy the Signal -Star. It' is like getting a letter from home each week. Seems of recent weeks it's two to three weeks old by- the time we receive our copy in Belle River. ' However, regardless ho.w late we receive the copies, we still scan them cover to cover. Enclosed find cheque for renewed subscription. - • ' K. Melady, Belle River. On energg Dear Editor, Despite the A rom �°nence given to the ConservatThn of Energy by the news media, (continued on page 20) 40 YEARS AGO Commercial fishermen were sorely disappointed on Monday when they went out to collect their nets for the. first time in nine days. The waters have been too rough to venture out but when the waters calmed on Monday., the Mackay brothers, and John and Mac Macdonald set but to take up their nets. On arriving at 'Point Clark the Mackays-found that their nets were either lost or knotted, beyond repair by the violent ._ waters. These losses are rather shrious, this being .a LOOKING BACK poor season for commercial fishing. The harbour hill was im- passible for several hours Monday morning, being coated thoroughly witht ice: One big oil truck with trailer found it impossible to get up when the brakes locked. The truck started - to slide back and despite all frantic 'efforts On the part of' the driver, he - could do nothing but let it slide'. He reached the hill foot safely and escaped the truck without mishap, although it Was left several hours for fear of fire or explosion. A total of eight minor automobile accidents and three major accidents oc- curred during the past week owing to blowing snow and icy conditions in the Goderich area. Weather forecasts for -the -previous week, shockingly, were for cloudy; weather and rain intermittently in the area and made no mention of storms or frost. 5 YEARS AGO Tension has been mounting all week at the local Sheaffer Pen Company in Goderich between management of the Textron Canada Ltd.' owned company and employees who drive the Christmas shoppers are members of the. Inter- into action despite the poor national Union of Machinists driving conditions. and Aerospace Workers. 'The Informed sources from the workers can legally take Local 682 of the International strike action on Friday, and Union of Chemical Workers have promised to do so if their -i''evealed following a meeting demailds are not rtiet` whilet 'On., Tuesday evening that a the company refuses to 4,rievance'has been drawn tip continue negotiations • ~ until by the local committee and ° the. union takes what , they ` will be filed with term a more realisticlap- management at the local Sifto proach to the matter Salt mine in support of two There is little doubt that workers who had "their em - winter has set in if,,one just ployment terminated with the takes a. look around and DOIVMTAR owned operatton according to a number of last week. The union is local merchants that first demanding that the two men good heavy snow seems to in question be rehired: 1