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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-12-30, Page 21• rissmisaismarmigainswaiwisfiratar tiY VGODERICFI SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, DECPMR 30, lain.. - . 976 » AiGi 5 RON SHAD �r What 1, know about sports youcould put in a thimble. If the truth were known there is very little in the sporting world, that I even care about except hockey. 1 suppose the very fact I'm a Canadiaix apcounts for. that vague interest in part. It's pretty tough to, live in this hockey - mad country and not pick up some knowledge of our national game. I don't mean .to indicate that I'm 'a hockey nut,-owhy I couldn't even identify,, all the teams playing in the national hockey ,league let alone any of the players on those teams. As for the WI -IL..,..., well I know it's some sort of a poor cousin league, but little else. International hockey is something else though. When Team Canada- goes against the Russians I'm parked in front 'or the' television ---set. like the rest of .Canada's population. When a European team tours Canada in an exhibition ^rir• e T follow thn scores perhapsmore closely than most. The sante is true when our Olympic team is in action or when we have a team playing in any other world competition.• Its not that . I'rn all that concerned with seeing Canada, successfully defend herself at our natioal game though I do like to see our teams win. Mostly it's" just that I believe the quality of the.game is so much better, and exciting, than it is in the commercial (so called professional) leagues. At present, just such a top notch contest is -underway in Europe, as the St. Catharines Fincups, bolstered by eight 'players from •other• league teams, are competing .in the World Junior Hockey Tournament. Just to make it even more interesting, they are winning. In their opening game last week they stomped all over Poland to pick up a 14-0 win. Nota bad start to say the least. Dnle Me our -t: scored Mir of those goals and goalie Al Jensen- stopped 26 shots to record a shutout. Then on Saturday the Fincups held the host Czech club to a 4-4 tie and went on o defeat Finland 6-4 on Sunday. Ron Duguay, Dwight Foster, Joe Contini, Brad Marsh, John Anderson and Dale McCourt shared the St. Catharines scoring in front of 2,500 fans in the ga.me -against Finland played in Banka Bystrica: In the tie game on Saturday the Canadian representatives managed to come ack from a two goal disad- vantage. McCourt picked up a hat trick in that match, including the tieing goal. 'with 19 seconds left. Contini added the other .Fincup goal. McCourt's `second goal against the Czechs was scored with two teammates in the penalty box. - After the opening game, St. Catharines coach Bert. Templeton noted, "I'M very pleased with the performance of the club, • especially: the ,,way they worked together'" when you consider it was the first time we played in a .regular game with part of our team and th;e kids we added.". Prior to leaving Canada, the .Fineups were under the impressignn they cculd~µ use 29 players in the tournament, When they 'arrived, however, . tournament officials told the Canadians they could use only 20 players. At this writing, Canada now has a record of two wins -and a ti1,. to stand in second place in the standing behind the,. Soviet Union who have three wins, no losses and no ties. The other teams competing stand in the following order: Finland, Czechoslovakia, United' States, Sweden, West Germany and Poland. On Tuesday Canada played Sweden. This conning Saturday they will take on the United States and on Sunday will play-the.leading Soviet Union. INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION. A former Exeter area resident nas received•the highest award available to Ontario Provincial Police officers;, a cert.ificat of valor. Receiving— the honors is Constable Diane Brock who graduated from the first class of the OPP policewomen in 1974. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Key Carpenter of Exeter and is now a member of the Sebringville OPP detach- ment. The 33 -year-old policewoman still doesn't know where she found the strength to lift an .unconscious -man HERE 1N HURON through the torn out roof of a burning car last summer and she doubts she could repeat the feat if she had to take'the-ti-me to think about it. t "I couldn't do it now," Constable Brock told th .Exeter Times Advocate last week as he recalled the still vivid details of the few brief seconds six months ago which earned her the award. Constable Brock was preparing to go off duty shortly beforebmidnight on -June 15 when her radar detected , a car travelling more than 70 miles per hour: l' "I recognized it asbeing a car we were looking for," she remembers. Giving pursuit to the car, reported stolen in London earlier in the evening, she chased it for 13 miles at speeds she was reluctant to specify. Things happened in a hurry on .a narrow rural road near the hamlet of Rannock. The car she was pursuing went out of • control and struck a tree, she explains. • "All I could see were just lights going around in the air. It rolled over several A five man committee has been charged with the responsibility of reporting to the Ontario Government on the impact and effects of inflation'ac- counting on corporate finances, The committee, announced recently by Treasurer Darcy McKeough as part of his 1977 Economic Strategy, will examine the various options open to -the Government and advise on a 'course of action for implementing a program of. improved financial disclosure in Ontario. • "Profits and debt financing are the vital lubricants of -business investment and growth, and there will be enormous public and private demands for capital,; in the years ahead. I believe it; the essential that we understand better the PR c V11NcI implications of inflation on corporate finances," the Treasurer said. "My concern is that in dealing with the performance of profits in the economy we . substantially underestimate . the impact of inflationon replacement costs. to the individual firm. "Presently, there is an obvious con- flict between the conventional ac- counting tenets which show' rapidly rising profits in inflationary periods and the stock market's negative and nervous reactions," said McKeough. "I think we have to `be concerned if . financial statements are overstating ,the profit ,performance of our industries and 'overstating the soundness of their position.'' 1 L PO times ' and subsequently .burst into flames." She immediately radioed fors'' help from the St. Mary's fire department• and then tried to extinguish the fire with her portable fire.extinguisher. It failed to douse the flames however. 'The car had landed upright and its engine. was on'' fire. A passenger had already scrambled out through a hole in the vehicle's ripped out sun roof but the driver was unconscious inside wit i head injuries. Constable Brock hopped ,up on the McKeough outlined . his worry . that individual investors are facet,' with in: complete and inadequate information on which to basetheir own decisions. This difficulty is also shared by those .who manage pension funds which account for a large and growing share of business ownership. . Committee Chairman will be Michael Alexander of Touche Ross who has been; extensively involved in a major study of this issue and has authored a number of important papers on the subject.. Other members of the committee include, Gordon. Milling, • Director of Research, United Steel Workers, Adam Zimmerman, Executive Vice President of Noranda Mines. Ltd:, Sam Martin, car's gas tank, several feet from the `burning'' engine, and grabbed the injured driver by the shoulders. That's .where she runs out of easy explanations for what happened. . 'Outweighed by 30 pounds arid with almost -no leverage to brace herself, she jerked the man out cleanly and dragged him to safety. " There was no one else in the area to offer . assistance and the passenger, although uninjured, was in a state of shock from the accident. Both occupants Professor of Business Administration,, University of Western Ontario •and James Fleck, Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Industry and Tourism. At the same time as he announced •formation of the Inflation Accounting Committee; McKeough said he was "optimistic" about economic prospects in Ontario during 1977. "I expect real output to grow at about five percent while prices should continue to ' moderate," he noted. "This will provide a sound . basis. to beginthe process of phasing out the Anti Inflation Program." "Despite the fact that the American economy has not rebounded as strongly as we had hoped, our real Gross Provincial Product is expanding at better than five" percent while prices have risen considerably less than we 'predicted," McKeough said. "Productivity has improved and some 100,000 new jobs have been created since.. mid 1975. These are welcome facts to all of us," McKeough said that he- anticipates similar trends for both the Ontario and Canadian econo,rnies for 1977,. "Published forecasts range from four percent to better than silt percent real growth,. along with a continuing reduction in the rate of inflation. No improvement. is foreseen for unem- ployment, however, and business in- vestment is expee-ted to remain of the car were wearing seat belts, Constable' Brock was quick to point out. Without them, they would have been killed or seriously injured, she•says. The driver recovered to spend the next two months in jail for dangerous driving and the passenger received six months for possession of a stolen .vehicle. The .driver also received two years'' probation for his part in the'theft. Constable Brock, credited with saving the life ofthe driver,received the .cer- tificate of valor. sluggish," theTreasurer said. • • Despite a weakness in manufacturing andconstruction sectors • McKeough ' predicted advances in • exports and ' consumer spending for the Province. "I look forward to' a greater' increase •in • new jobs than in 1976 which should help - improve our unemployment rate," •he 1 said. • • In his statement to the Legislature, McKeough • 'noted that•• Canada has significantly outperformed other. jurisdictions such as the United States and Japan .!during the, past three years. Ontario, in turn, has exceeded Canada's record of • industrial. production. Ontario's rate was 5:7 percent while that ' •of Canada: was 3.9 percent. • Despite some tough talk a few months ago, indications now are that Federal .Transport :Minister Otto Lang may be backing down somewhat over the granting of prime airport car -rental positions to the Arnericanefirm Avis. A lawsuit for $10 million filed by the Canadian firm Tilden, as well as a suit. for $,8 million filed by Holiday Rent -a• Car of London, seem to have led Mr. Lang to soften his position. The Federal Transport Minister held talks last week with the Montreal based Tilden about the firms suit for damages against ` the government. Mr. Lang CANADA • admits that the •talks are taking place but would not confirm press reports that Tilden has been offered preferred sites at certain major airports in Canada if it halts the legal action. James Tennant, president of Holiday Rent -a -Car has,s.aid that he understands the federal government is trying to arrange a deal to get the Tilden firm to drop its suit: He also suggested, in a London Free Press report, that the government may be trying to divide and conquer the three car rental firms which are suing the transport ministry for excluding them IN SEVEN from operating in Canada's major airports by relegating them to a secondary role. In addition to the Holiday and Tilden suits, Hertz Rent-a-Ca'r has filed a suit claiming $5.million damages. " Mr. Tennant admits that much of what he has been hearing may amount to only rumors, but points out that Tilden president Ted Tilden told him in a telephone conversation that lawyers,.. iron► the transport ministry had been in touch with Tilden lawyers about drop- ping the suit. Apparently Tilden called the Holiday firm to find out if a similar approach had been made in connection with their suit, Tennant said he was "distressed" by the situation. "If Tilden accepts it •(a deal), it will leave us oat in the cold," However, Tilden is still turning' down 'offers from the government. The firm has indicated as well that it,iwould not make any deals that would "com- promise" the position .of the car rental companies. According to Norm Cafik, Liberal MP, "I.t looks as if they're (the government) attempting to interchange Avis into fifth position and Tilden info fourth in the The bulk oil tanker Argo Merchant strayed -More than 10 miles off her Course last week, ' struck shoals off Nantucket Island; broke inhalf and over the next few days spilled nearly eight million gallons of heavy industrial fuel oil into the Atlantic ocean. The en- vironmental disaster occurred off the American coast in the 'Georges Bank area. Whipped by high winds anti waves el I.0 to 15 feet the 100 mile oil slick has been spreading toward the Georges Bank which is one of the world"s most fertile fishing grounds. Because of the magnitude of the spill, and the adverse VVORLDWEEK weather, American coast guard per- sonnel could do little more than monitor the spread of the slick. "There's nothieg we can do," Lt. Comdr. Barry Chambers,•who heads the special team assigned to the tanker, admitted. "It's a sad sight." In Washington, -Coast Guard officials revealed they had received a telephone call from a man identifying himself as a member of the Argo Merchant crew, That caller claimed that the ship may • have been run aground deliberately. In the past dozed years, the Argo Merchant has been involved in no less than 19 accidents.. ° The caller is reported to have said that the vessel was "old and leaking and may have been deliberately beached." Although many countries have a stake. in the disaster, (fishing ' fleets from Canada, the U.S., France, Pantugal and Russia all fish the area) thre seems little that can be done. The Argo Mer- chant went down in international water and those seeking an explanation or recompense for damages can only turn to the ship owner and the country of :registry. The Argo Merchant is owned by a filing cabinet Company in Monrovia, Liberia and it would be a near im- possibility to establish her real owners. She is listed underTebes Shipping Inc. a subsidiary of the New York based Amerishlp Inc. and was built in Ger- many in 1953. American Coast. Guard officials describe the ship as rusted and unkept and a "suspect ship" meaning the coast guard questioned her seaworthiness. In fact they had planned to board her for an inspection the day it was due to enter Boston waters. Conservative MPs suggested in parliament shortly after the disaster that the federal government should ban oil tankers with "poor international en - competition for open counters." • There are three open counters in preferred locations available to any bidder at the nine major airports, plus two counters available to only domestic bidders. Bids are submitted o,n a system -wide basis for all nine airportp by some bidders, while others onubmit bids on an airport to airport basis. In system -wide bidding recently for, open counters, the - best bid was .sub- mitted by Budget, followed by Hertz',• Tilden, Host and Avis, in that order. Host was rejected because it did not have a • vironmental sate•* records from operating within 200 miles of Canada's coast. James McGrath, (PC for St, John's East) even stgested that the govern- ment begin boarding vessel's flying "flags of convenience" to ascertain whether they have satisfactory navigational equipment and to protect the Canadian Environment." He said Canada should introduce such a Wiry as soon, as the new 200 mile fishing limit is implen'tented•on January I. • External Affair's Minister Don T;imirson agreed at least in principle.. r4s licence to operate in Quebec where two of those nine airports are located.. Then Avis was moved ahead of Tilden. According to Cafik, the firms were' led to believe that neither individual or system -wide bidding would be favoured one over the other. However, he noted, "it looks as if the government favoured the system -wide bids over the in- dividual." He said government interfered with the bidding process: "The integrity of • -the bidding process is paratnount• and should be honored, in this case, it h0 been seriously violated." He called fora "tougher regime in terms of international tankers." Conservative environment critic Bill Jarvis said tankers of "dubious registry are little more than potential en- vironmental catastrophes" and should be banned from operating within •(Canada's new 200 mile limit. At present, boarding rights only ex- tend 12 miles froh. Cat'iada's coast but "Mir. Jamieson noted that while the new economic zone deals primarily with fisheries "I think a justifiable link between those two aspects (envirentnent and fisheries) could well be established." •