The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-03-10, Page 4PAGE 4-GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1977
Think about it
Huron County Board of Education
Chairman Herb Turkheim struck a
vital chord Monday during a debate
concerning Wingham trustee Jack
Alexander's continued service on the
school board. Mr. Turkheim reminded
voters across the county itis their duty
to elect representatives to the board,
and their duty as well to remove those
representatives if there is cause.
Alexander has missed three con-
secutive board meetings while
vacationing in Texas, and according to
the board's own policy should
automatically forfeit his seat.
However, at Monday's meeting in
Clinton, board members agreed to
overlook Alexander's unusual conduct
and allow him to retain his position as
trustee. Apparently Alexander would
have been in the county for the
January meeting had a snow storm not
pushed the meeting ahead into his
planned vacation time. The members
of the board seemed to feel there were
extenuating circumstances in this
particular case.
In fairness to Alexander, a former
warden of Huron County, he warned
the Wingham and area voters before
his election that he would be away
during the winter months for at least
two board meetings. (Whether or no;
he reminded them he would also miss
some vital committee meetings is not
clear,) Voters were offered a'qualified
alternate at the polls, but chose instead
to support the popular and well-known
auctioneer, ignoring the fact he would
be absent for a portion of each term.
It is the Wingham and area voters
then, as board chairman Her
Turkheim rightly observed, who
should be criticised if criticism is due.
What about those voters who knew
that their representative would -be
away from board meetings for at least
two meetings? Why would they elect
Jack Alexander under those cir-
cumstances? Why do voters. time and
time again elect people to public office
knowing full well their limitations?
Especially in the case of a county -wide
board, is it really wise to expect the
other representatives to function as an
effective team when the member
elected locally is admittedly going to
be absent for at least two out of every
12 months? Is that really the best
choice of an informed electorate?
All voters in all municipalities in
Huron County should ask themselves
these questions, for the Alexander case
is just one example of voter respon-
sibility and how it affects the entire
decision-making process.—SJK
Prankster loose
For the second time in less than a
month a local merchant has received a
bomb threaf.,ie circumstances
surrounding the .call were a little
different this time around. The caller
contacted the wife of ,one of the em-
ployees and suggested it would be a
good idea to tell her h . sband to leave
work. Otherwise he mightbe caught in
the supposedly pending explosion.
The first time an incident like this
occurred, at a local automotive dealer,
no one took it too seriously. The
building was cleared and the police
called in to investigate. No bomb was
found and everyone went back to work.
But this time no one seems very
amused.
The police aren't talking, apparently
because the merchant concerned feels
that reports of a bomb threat to his
premises are more than likely to have
a detrimental effect on his business.
And they likely are. Who wants to shop
in a store or do business in an office
which, no matter how remote the
chances, might just have a bomb
planted in it?
There is at least one connection
between the two threats. Bath were
made by a female caller. There are
other connections but police officials
don't want to talk about them just now.
The fact that some rather unstable
female person has begun to get her
kicks out of disrupting the business lite
of this community should be a concern
to everyone.
Firstly it is important that life goes
Waste
From time to time, everybody
complains about the various ways in
whichgovernment wastes money.
This week, the editor of the Signal -
Star received a letter from the
Ministry of Natural Resources... that
is, it was supposed to have been a
letter. Instead it was an empty en-
velope with another empty envelope
attached to it, the second one ad-
dressed to the Glencoe-Alvinston
Transcript and Free Press. Both had
gone through a mailing machine.
Chalk up 20 cents.
The same morning, two more pieces
of correspondence arrived from the
same Ministry. One cost 18 cents to
mail and contained a news release
about eight new species on the en-
dangered list - the Eskimo Curlew, the
•
along as smoothly as possible in the
local business world. Most citizens are
employees of one local enterprise or
another and if employers begin to
suffer economic setbacks because of
such threats, sooner or later em-
ployees suffer the same setbacks to
some degree.
Secondly, a prankster is obviously
involved here. A rather sick prankster
granted, but little more. Just suppose
for a moment that, after three or four
false threats down the road, a caller
claims to have planted a bomb and,
because by this time everyone is bored
by the routine, a building is not cleared
and the threat ignored." Just suppose
that one threat is real.
The solution to this little dilemma is
really quite simple. It is usually part of
the make-up of persons who indulge in
such amusement as bomb threats to
talk too much. Perhaps the police don't
know, at least not yet, who has made
the calls in question. But someone,
besides the caller, does.
No one likes to be a stool pigeon but
this nonsense really must be stopped
before there is any further lost
business, or lost wages to employees,
or worse still before someone gets hurt,
however accidentally, in connection
with one of these threats.
Someone should see to it, one way or
the other, that this person gets help, or
at least suggest to her that she really is
a pain in the neck and ask her to stop
her silliness while she's ahead.—RWS
Lake Erie Island Water Snake, The
Piping Plover, the West Virginia White
Butterfly, the Golden Eagle, the
Eastern Cougar, the small white lady's
slipper orchid and the pelican. Pic-
tures were enclosed.
The second envelope cost 10 cents to
mail and contained info about Quetico
Provincial Park.
While it is true the government must
keep the people informed - and there is
no intention to leave the impression
that news releases from the govern-
ment are not valid in many cases -
there does seem room for some im-
provement where the system of
mailing is concerned as well as a study
of the value of certain information to
the weekly newspapers in the
province.—SJ K
a
em
ABC,;
Thr eabrritb -
•} SIGNAL -STAR
—0 — The County Town Newspaper of Huron t-0
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Business and Editorial Office
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Published by Signal -Star Publitibing Ltd.
ROBERT G. SHRIER -- president rind plibllsher
SHIRLEY J. KELLER -- edit*.
•
EDWARD J. BYRSKI advertising manaligdr
Mailing Address: -
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BOX 220, Goderich"
Second dais mail, registration number6710'
Winter's waining
By Dave Sykes
BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER
Last weekend was the
annual Ontario Weekly
Newspapers Association
convention, held in Toronto at
the new Hotel Toronto. For
the first time in a couple of
years, I was able to attend.
My husband and I went to the
Queen City early Thursday
morning.... between rush
hours.
The highlight of the whole
affair for me was, of course,
the ceremony at which;""
Signal -Star Publisher BO
Shrier took over the
presidency of the OWNA from
Gerry Barker of Bradford.
Having known Bob Shrier for
more than a decade - both as'
a boss and as a friend - I was
proud as punch , to sit there
and see him honored by his
associates.
Bob started in the
newspaper business 25 years
ago,' at the tender age of 17.
Well, actually he was 16 ....
but he turned 17 the very next
day. As he likes to tell people,
he came up on the "ad-
vertising side" working
as an ad salesman for much
of his career. Now at 42, he's
a successful newspaper
publisher and with the
assistance of his wife Jo
DEAR READERS
Shrier, vice-president
Howard Aitken and long-time
Signal -Star faithful John
Buchanan as well as other
members of the ,,staff, he's
brought to Goderich a stable
and thriving small industry.
So it seems only fitting that
.Bob Shrier should be named
'resident of OWNA and I'm
quite certain -the residents of
the Goderich area are
satisfied that he is a deser-
ving and capable candidate
for the position t.
++=1t=
One of the avenues on
which the OWNA has been
most active has been the
mass education job con-
cerning the success and the
phenomenal growth of almost
all weekly newspapers in the
province - in fact
everywhere.
Weekly newspapers are no
longer the country cousins of
the great dailies. They are
now among the.most popular
newspapers published
anywhere in the world. They
are respected for . their
honesty, their integrity, their
concern for people. They are
unique in the com-
munications field .... and they
are read with a passion by
their subscribers.
Recent studies have shown
that weekly newspapers do
not take a back seat to dailies
in their areas. In fact,
statistics reveal that in
Ontario in the areas served
by weekly newspapers, about
24 per cent of the families in
those areas are regular and
exclusive weekly newspaper
customers. That means that
in about one-quarter of the
homes in this province
exclusive of large cities
where -'the ' arer weeklies
i '
.peal arrre di 4. 1
weekly. newspapers and
loving them).
So wd see that the role of
the weeklies is changing ....
and the new OWNA president
and his associates are
dedicated to that challenging
future, It is the age of weekly
newspapers .... and some
reports are that now the daily
newspapers are beginning to
take pointers and learn from
those same weeklies which
until recently were hardly
worth acknowledging.
+ + +
Yes siree, the convention
did a great job of enthusing
those representatives from
the weekly press. After
seeing a new OWNA film
entitled "The Weeklies", we
no longer feel like second-rate
small-town bumpkins but
rather like up and coming,
much appreciated news
people. We're a force to be
reckoned with, all right, and
we're on the march. Those
were Bob Shrier's words, I
believe.
But there were other
highlights of the convention,
including a tour of the
University of Toronto and a
wine and cheese party with
Paulite.3VIcGilabon, the :Lt.
"i{lith''''ekir Otitario. By, the
way, Mrs. McGibb'iii
reminded us she would be in
Goderich for the Jubilee
Three celebrations this
summer .... and much looking
forward to it. She's such a
gracious lady, so genuine and
unaffected.
' We also enjoyed lunch at
the CN tower ,... and in true
newspaper fashion spent
much of the time discussing
the rumors that the tower is
losing money .... public
money which might better be
put to use providing improved
public transit.
At our luncheon table was
Mike Matthews of Canadian
National Railways, who by
the way lived in Goderich on
East Street when he was eight
years old. (I person
vited Mike to Goden
summer for the celeb
and he said he wo
delighted to attend,)
Mike Matthews w
talk about passenger
and I was happy to ob
said that in his
Goderich will probably
have passenger train,
again until the pe
Canada realize that
travel is costly and
subsidized heavily.
public? purse.
Mike said that Jap
the best and most e
railway system in the
It is the busiest and
widely acceptable ni
travel in Japan. Y
Japanese railway
$700,000,000 annually.
"Passenger service
doesn't make money,
Mike.
He said that in
years, CN attempted
tract more pas
customers .... and did
successfully: With
crease in traffic ca
increase in costs. CN
quickly and painfull
again that passenger
just cannot be in theb
(continued on
Great sermon
Dear Editor;
'May I be permitted to offer
an outline of a surprisingly
unusual musical happening in
our Town yesterday, March
6th, at North Street United
Church -- for your readers
who were unable to attend )1„t
would like to hear about it?
Instead of the regular
DEAR EDITOR
sermon by the Minister, the
Rev. Ralph King, the
message was in the form of a
"musical vignette" titled
"IT'S COOL IN THE FUR-
NACE" by Buryl Red and
Grace Hawthorne. Per-
formers included the Junior
Choir and the Goderich Teen
Tones, led by the many-
*.c.lented Producer -Director
Irla Stewart ... all superbly
accompanied by Paul Howe
50 YEARS AGO
Mayor Cameron and Major
Beck and Editor Admiral
McGillicuddy were in Toronto
this week engineering the bill
incorporating the Huron,
Bruce and Middlesex
Railway, which was con-
sidered by the Railway
Review Committee of the
Legislature. It was decided
that the company should have, -
power to build in Huron,
Bruce and Grey, the county of
Middlesex being struck out.
on piano, Lorne 'potterer,
organ and very sp tial in-
strumentalists: Gary Peters,
flute; Paul Butler, violin;
John Scaman, percussion;
with Ron Butler, Elizabeth
and Ernie McMillan the
Trumpeters.
The story 'was based on
Chapter 1 - 3 Book of Daniel
when Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego were captives of
King Nebuchadnezzar in
Babylon. In this unique and
rhythmic interpretation
words cannot do justice at-
tempting to describe the
excellence of all who. took
part in this never -to -be -
forgotten performance and
the almostcapacity
congregation expressed their
appreciation by a thunderous
five-minute standing ap-
plause.
Certainly...it can be safely^
predicted if and whet
artists do a similar t
North Street United
her walls will burst
seams!
Olive Miller,
G
Feeling listless? Outd
sorts?
Fight it! Take a walk
LOOKING
The, Eighty Third Huron
Regiment announced a
number of changes. To be
captain, Lieut. J.R. Varcoe,
vice W.H. Gundry.
The popular lecturer
Charlotte E. Wiggins of
Toronto will address
.oderich;audiences' next.
week. '
Weather permitting the
Berlin and Goderich hockey
-teams will play an exhibition
gamein the West street.rink
next Tuesday evening: Thi
fame -of the Berliners.,>wlihff
have been defeated by one in
'three years and the close of
the hockey season,. should
ensure a full house. '
"25 YEARS AGO
The choice of a suitable
adjective to describe
Canada's unemployment is a
matter • for politicians these
mad ibflarch days, apparently.
'Wifetlier the situation ..l#.
seasonall transitionalor Iong-
r `seems•, to depend
whether'.. the 061'40'a iblitk It fit turning, tbe"
•
BACK
grindstone or holding the axe.
District mien seeking
unemployment insurance is
about the same as last year
with 296 filing in February.
5,YEARS AGO
r The Sully "Foundation, in
memory of A.V.M.J.A. Sully
founder"of the Dominion Road
'Machinery Company
Limited; has offered to
nate a completely land-
' and ftilly furnished,
estimatedat a
sn, K:.rra-;viae,, irci.rr rs ' Sl..000 +til
NVaR
the Town of Gode
approval is given'
struction would be co
it the spring.
The community
Goderich, Clintod
Seaforth and
surrounding areasIs
canvassed now by.
of the nominating
for the Aipsociat1Ol,
Mentally Retard
new slate of officers
local ASSociatiOn
serves; thatdistriCt.
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