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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-10-31, Page 4J -)e A page of editorial opinion tC1je in Ija m nbbarice- imeg �IA Published at Wingham, Ontario, P.B. Box 390 NOG 2W0• Barry Wenger, President Henry Hess, Editor by Wenger Bros. Limited Robert O. Wenger, Sec.-Treas. Audrey Currie, Advertising Manager Member Audit Bureau of Circulations Member—Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Subscriptions $200 per year Second Class Mail Registration No. 0821 Ontario Community Newspaper 4P►ssoc. Six months $11.50 Return postage guaranteed Where the dollars go A study which appeared in this newspaper last week contained the sobering Information that Wingham ratepayers are paying the highest property taxes in Huron County. Thls was, perhaps, not a startling revelation as It has long been a popular belief that taxes here are higher than in other towns around the area. All the same, to see the numbers in black and white does drive home the point. The numbers themselves, how- ever, as the study pointed out, do not tell the full story. The question now be- comes why taxes here should be higher than elsewhere and whetter Wingham ratepayers are getting good value for their money. Although few would ob- ject to paying more if they are getting more In return, no one can afford to see tax dollars wasted. As yet there is no complete ex- planation where the money goes. Perhaps our town has spent more than NOT PPD.) OFA'/Ca/NAL./TY 714/5 yeAR leykr ,LL DR5'oaZ7 AO L/3 'RALE / ,TODAY'S CHILD • BY JUDITH ADAMS This lively little fel- low is Adam, a beauti- ful little boy of nine months, Black and Caucasian in origin. He needs to find just the right adopting family. Adam was born prema- turely which left him with some gaps in Its neighbors in recent years on the up- keep of municipal buildings or on Its street repair program. Certainly the substantial contribution this year to- ward a new fire hall has had some im- pact. A brief look through the files re- veals that between 1978 and 1982 the property tax rate In Wingham In- creased by nearly 60 per cent, which undoubtedly has had something to do with the present state of affairs. All of which still leaves us with the question whether ratepayers are get- ting good. value for the money they must spend to live here. As the study continues during the coming weeks, we will attempt to provide some answers' to these and other questions. In the meantime, as town council and the new board of police commissioners begin to plan their budget for the coming year, it will do no harm at all for them to be aware of where they stand. When you are Number One in this particular de- partment, you have to try harder. What are they hiding? While members of the Wingham and District Hospital Board try•to come to some decision on whether or not to permit the public to attend their meet- ings, the meetings themselves are be- coming increasingly secretive. The meeting held last' week is a prime ex- ample. Although it was a regular, monthly meeting which, according to current practice means that reporters' (but not the public at large) are permitted to attend, in fact the only reporter at the meeting was left cooling his heels in the hallway while the board spent fully three hours of a 31/2 hour meeting closeted in comniittee-of-the-whole. An initial explanation given prior to the start of the meeting was that the board would have to go into committee to discuss "personnel matters". How- ever, when the chairman called for the motion to go into committee -of -the - whole she did not, as required by con- ventional rules of procedure, state the purpose of the closed session and, as it turned out, it was then used to discuss everything from the question whether or not board meetings should be opened to the public to the painfully slow pro- gress of the new wing. This penchant for hiding non -confi- dential matters behind closed doors is not new. It has been developing over the past few years and reached a peak earlier this year when just such a closed session was used to screen from the public the misgivings some board members felt over details of the pro- posed building project and to hammer through — despite a previous motion aimed at preventing it — final approval of the project, which never was dis- cussed fully in public. It is the task of the media to act as the eyes and ears of the public and, in fulfilling its function, this newspaper has for many years enjoyed a generally harmonious relationship with a succes- sion of hospital boards. Reporters fre- quently were permitted to sit in on committee -of -the -whole sessions, with the tacit understanding that informa- tion thus obtained would be used only as background to provide a better understanding of matters under dis- cussion. This practice has been discon- tinued, without explanation, and the subject matter for such sessions — tra- ditionally limited to discussions involv- ing personnel, property transactions or litigation — has been broadened to in- clude virtually anything which the ad- ministrator, the chairman or a major- ity of the board may wish to conceai from public scrutiny. Members of the hospital associa- tion indicated their wish for an open-door policy at board meetings by an overwhelming margin at the annual meeting last June. So far that has not been sufficient to open the doors and, indeed, it seems increasingly likely that if the public is permitted access to board meetings the discussion during public sessions will be limited to trivial and non -controversial matters, with the balance of the meetings conducted in -camera. It has been argued by both the chairman and the administrator that no other hospitals permit public access to their board meetings. That, as at least some trustees are now aware, is not true. it also misses the point that people here have expressed a desire for greater access to THEIR hospital board. For the board to deny that ac- cess, it should have very powerful rea- sons indeed. The hospital, through a fund-rais- ing committee, recently canvassed local communities for money to sup- port its building program. The support has been forthcoming, but so too have been widespread expressions of dis- content with the current state of affairs at the hospital. The gulf between hos- pital and community, which was de- scribed last year by a consultant laying the groundwork for the fund-raising campaign, has widened. If the board hopes to close it, it will have to learn to extend to the people of this area some of the same trust and confidence it is asking from them. Highly -paid help Last week Prime Minister Brian Mulroney revealed the salaries and other cash benefits paid to the heads of several crown corporations and many of these figures tend to boggle the mind of the ordinary citizen who has to pay the bilis. Topping the list is Dr. J. H. Le- Clair, president of Canadian National Railways, whose salary is from $210,- 000 to $240,000 a year, plus director's fees of $5,000 a year and S250 per day for attending board meetings. Pierre Jeannolt, Air Canada presi- dent, gets about $200,000; Claude Tay- lor, Air Canada chairman, about the same as the president; Michael War- ren, Canada Post Corp. president, $185,00(13— and the list goes on, includ- ing the earnings of the heads of the Canada Development Corp., the chair-, man of Petro -Canada, right down to Mitchell Sharp, a commissioner with Northern Pipelines, who has to get by on a measly $114,260. Before you fly into an unreasoning rage, it must be, remembered that these officials have to be recruited from the ranks of private sector companies, many of which pay salaries well above these figures to attract and hold people of outstanding ability — a fact which the prime minister pointed out. The main point in the story Is that up to this time the salaries and fees paid to the head of crown corporations were carefully -kept secrets. It is en- couraging to note that Mulroney be- lieves the public has the right to know. This obligation to make open dis- closure Is one which should be carefully noted by provincial and municipal gov- ernments as well. In fact Robert Welch, the deputy -premier of Ontario, has already said that he, personally, Is in favor of similar disclosure where provincial corporations are concerned. News Items from Old Files Jim Thompson, former member of the Bank of Commerce staff here and recently with the branch at Dundalk, has resigned from the bank and will enter the hardware business in Listowel with his brother, Rae. Andrew Scott has accepted the position as clerk at the Queen's Hotel and 'took over his duties on Tuesday. After November 1, ,CKNX v " be operated as a 100 -watt sta 1, double the power that it has been using for the past year. When this station first operated, it had a power of 10 watts. W. T. Cruickshank is general manager of the station and his assistants are B. Howard Bedford, Harry J.' Boyle and Reg Douglas. The first fall meeting of the Wingham Bridge Club was held with A. J. Wilson named president for the coming year. Other officers include Mrs. W. H. Waram, Ken Somers and John P. McKibbon. The Premier Trust Company, with offices in London, Toronto . and St. Catharines, has merged with the Security Loan and Saving Company of St. Catharines. Thomas B. Holmes, a former Wingham boy, is general manager of the company. Lorne Campbell, a former resident of Gorrie, has purchased S. Greenslade's butcher business in Listowel. OCTOBER 1949 Last week Norman Rintoul received the contract for the remodelling of the interior of the Dominion Bank at Seaforth. George Gammage, who has been on the staff of the Wingham branch of the Dominion Bank, has been transferred to Gorrie as teller of that branch. Miss Margaret Lynn Munn, Miss Canada 1949, flew to Lima, Peru, as guest of the Peruvian government to enter the Miss Hemisphere contest. With her she took a beautiful Canadian pearl platinum silver -blue fox stole, the pelts of which were produced at Wingham on the DuVal Fur Farm. The Wingham Bridge Club elected Mrs. H. Campbell president when it held its first meeting off the coming season. Vice president is R. R. Hobden, treasurer is George Williams and secretary Mrs. D. B. Porter. Mr. Kew from near London has purchased Mrs. Nelson Gowdy's 100 -acre farm on the 13th concession of Howick and has moved there with his wife and family. Ted Newton has bought the 200 -acre farm of the John Warrell estate on the same line. Harry Scott, teller at the Dominion Bank in Gorrie, has been transferred to Welland, his duties to commence November 1. OCTOBER 1960 More than 80 sales people in two hours disposed of new and used articles to the Value of more than $1,100 when the Ladies' Auxiliary to Wingham General. Hospital held its fall rummage sale. Please sign your letters A reminder to our readers: While we welcome your letters, all letters to the editor, even those submitted on behalf of organizations, must bear the signature of the author before they can be published. This is the only means by which we are able to verify the authenticity of such letters. There was great ex- citement in Whitechurch last week when word got around that a whale was swimming about in Herbert Laidlaw's outside cistern. Further investigation disclosed that a cow had broken through the board covering of the tank. With the aid of Thomas Morrison's wrecker, the animal was hauled to safety and meandered back to its owner, Gordon Rintoul. Mr. and Mrs. Wesley White, who have operated the Supertest service station at the corner of Josephine and' Victoria streets for more than two years, have decided to relinquish the business and plan to move to London. The new proprietor will be Fred Ohm. Hugh P. Carmichael was presented with a Member of Telephone Pioneers of America certificate and pin, an honor bestowed on him for a total of 22 years of service with Bell Telephone. Mrs, Gordon Rapson was the winner of a trophy at the 'Sauble Golf Course for having the ladies' low net score on opening day. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Brown Jr. have purchased the home of the late Mrs. Walker in Wroxeter and will be moving in shortly. OCTOBER 1970 Delegates to the annual convention of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture were named at a meeting of the Huron County Federa- tion in Belgrave. Selected were Mason Bailey, RR 3, Blyth, Mrs. Faye Fear, RR 5, Brussels, John Grant, RR 1, Belgrave, and Vincent Austin, RR 1, Dungannon. Before the Boy Scouts and Cubs started out to sell their apples, Mayor Miller dropped into the town hall to decide who had the best - decorated baskets. First prize winners were Keith' Cameron for Cubs and Bernd Wehmeyer for Scouts. Second prizes went to Douglas Taylor and Jim Ritter. Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Meyer, who have resided two miles south of Formosa on the townline for 39 years, moved into their new home over the weekend. Mr. Meyer, an electrician, dis- posed of his farm to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Durrer of Kit- chener. Formosa welcomes .the Meyers to the village. Death claimed a well- known resident of this community when Mrs. A. Reginald DuVal, D.C., of North Street passed away at the Wingham and District Hospital after a long illness. The new house on Highway 86 in Whitechurch has been purchased by Robert Mowbray. Jill .Taylor and Joanne Martin, senior pupils at Howick Central Public. School, were named co- editors of .this year's Ad- vance -Times •column, Howick Grapevine News. Linda Gibson and Linda Martin will collect sports news. CABBAGE PATCH CUTIES--The ladies at Gemini Jewellers In Wingham were in the spirit at last Thursday evening's Midnight Shellout sale: they all dressed In their pa- jamas. Karen Hicks, Rena Fisher, Alexa Dore and Nancy Ross took time out from their busy schedules to pose for a picture. PRESS COUNCIL The Advance -Times is a member of the Ontario Press Council which will consider written com- plaints about the publica- tion of news, opinions and advertising. If a com- plaint can't be resolved with the newspaper, it should be sent to the On- tario Press Council, 151 Slater St., Suite 708, Ot-. tawa, Ont. K1P 5H3. development, and an infant stimulation pro- gram has helped him to make a lot of progress in recent months. He can pull himself up to standing position now, but his chief way of getting around the house is still crawling and he doesn't waste any time getting from A to B. Adam sits up alone and has a good strong back and head control now, although this was a concern when he was younger. So it's obvious he can progress well with the help of that stimulation program, but whether he will catch up all the way isn't altogether certain. Adam is so appealing and responsive he tends to attract every- body he meets. He'sean outgoing, lovable little boy who loves to be with people and has a truly happy nature and a big hearty laugh:;le smiles and babbles and explores his surround- ings most of his waking hours. It's thought he will still need a stimu- lation program espe- cially in the language area, as he tends to become a bit placid if he's left to his own devices. The only 'concern about Adam's health are his digestive sys- tem for, while he's a good eater his system doesn't always handle the food he takes in as easily as it should. It's not a major concern hwoever, and he's eat- ing well and gaining weight as he should. If you think you may be the family for Adam, please write to Today's Child, Ministry of Community and Social Services, Box 888, Station K, Toronto. Describe your present family and your way of life and include your telephone number. Federation plans membership drive The Huron County Federation of Agriculture plans to hold a membership drive throughout the county during the week of Nov. 12. The object of the drive is to invite all farmers in the county to join the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. 4.y being a member, niers support the work of the largest general farm organization in Ontario, spokesman Tony McQuail explained. In addition, they can benefit from a number of programs available to members, such as the On- tario Farm Machinery Agency and Federation Farmer Insurance. Special events held during the drive will include the kick-off night to be held at Clinton Nov. 8. Gordon Hill, a former OFA president, will explain how he signed up 25 new members in the past two months. OFA accomplish- ments and benefits will be highlighted for those far- mers working on the membership drive. On Nov. 15, OFA President Harry ° Pelissero will be a guest on the CKNX open line program, talking about the OFA's recent activities and answering questions from callers. Mr. McQuail, who is chairing the membership drive, said everyone who comes to the kick-off night will get a folder of in- formation for the drive and an OFA hat. OFA fieldman Blaine Stephenson reported that fieldman from other counties will be coming to help with the drive. During the drive, farmers interested in the OFA are invited to contact Mr. McQuail or their local federation directors. The answer to winter's driving problems is quite simple, says the Ontario Safety League. Do every- thing — accelerating, brak- ing and steering — more slowly.