The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-06-19, Page 13THE ADvance
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ii
ingbam Zibbance-itimeli
Published at Wingham, Ontario, P.U. Box 390 - NOG 2W0
Barry Wenger, President by Wenger Bros. Limited
Robert O. Wenger, Sec.-Treas.
Henry Hess, Editor Audrey Currie, Advertising Manager
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations "
Member—Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc.
Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc.
Subscriptions $21.00 per year Six months $12.50
$23.00 beyond 40 -mile zone
Second Class Mail Registration No. 0821
Return postage guaranteed
Now that's common' sense
Assume for a moment you are a
member of a board with a public
property badly in need of sprucing up,
and you find that the budget will not
quite stretch to cover the cost of hiring
a landscaper. What do you do?
If you are some public bodies you go
ahead anyway and let the taxpayers
pick up the tab later, reasoning that the
deficit is only a small proportion of
your total budget. Others would 'do part
of the job now and put off the rest until
later. The Wingham Area Fire Board,
however, has a better idea.
When the fire board recently found
itself pressed to improve the appear-
ance ofthe land around its newly -built
fire hall, its first step was to get a quote
from a landscaper. When it compared
those numbers to the ones in its budget
and found they did not fit, the board
Let Taiwan do
Last week's news carried the sad
story of a British Columbia man who
learned in a highly disappointing way
that providing jobs for Canadians is not
,nearly as simple as the government
would have us believe.
It seems this young man came up
with a good idea and went to the trouble
of proving it would work. Recognizing
that one of the average housewife's
most objectionable chores is cleaning
around the hinges on a toilet seat with
its coupled cover, he invented a
snap -on seat and cover which could be
removed, cleaned and returned to its
place in a matter of, seconds. The item
would not have been very expensive on
the market and could be applied to
virtually any existing toilet.
members did the sensible thing: ,they
adjourned outside to have a first-hand
look at the problem and returned with a
solution.
They decided that at their next
meeting all the board members would n,
show up a couple of hours early with
shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows.
Then, together 'with any firemen who
wanted to help, they would have an
old-fashioned work bee and do the job
themselves.
There was no attempt to grandstand
or makeself-congratulatory speeches
about how well they were minding the
public purse. This was simply a group
of farmers finding a practical solution
to a practical problem. It is the kind of
common sense everyone can appreci-
ate -- and which we find all too seldom
these days.
It
He applied to the federal government
for financial assistance to set up a plant
in which the item could be manufac-
tured. Reviewing his application the
federal authorities asked whether or
not he was a manufacturer. Naturally
ouryoung hopeful said no, but he
wanted to be. Was he a wholesaler? No,
not yet. Was he a retailer.? No, but that
might follow if he could just get enough
assistance to get started.
Sorry. He didn't fit into arty -of the
categories under. which such grants
„could be approved.
With regret he eventually turned his
invention over to a firm in Taiwan,
which is now preparing to turn the
product out out by the thousands. So
much for Canadian jobs.
President gets his way Of HUronteacher strike vote
T1IVIEJ 'A page of editorial opinion June 1'9:, 1985
Leaf! my. Farr,.i19 outo phis, DING -BAT !
'At leasi mine doe5n'{ corrle From °
a Cong line of N1EATMEAD6 ! "
ALL IN THE CO,t OA/5 PAM/Ly
Items from Old Files
JUNE 1938
In the City Mission on
Sunday, announcement was
given of the transfer of Miss
M. Dedels who has labored
here .for nearly three and a
half years. Her next station
is Stratford.
Miss Isobel ,Habkirk,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.
O. Habkirk, was successful
in winning an Alumnae
Scholarship at Macdonald
Institute, Guelph, for the.
Homemaker class.
A pretty June wedding was
solemnized at Belmore when
Mary Jean, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. J. W. King, was
married to James Albert,
Complaint filed over coverage Rev Howard Pace of the
son of James Porter and the
late Mrs. Porter, Wingham.
Mr. . Richey, recently
appointed manager of the
Walker Stores, ' moved his
family from Arnprior and
they are living in William
Forgie's house on Frances
Street. Wingham welcomes
Mrs. Richey and two sons,
Douglas and Donald.
The Belmore community
welcomes Mrs. Carl Fitch.
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch have just
returned home from their
honeymoon.
JUNE 1951
Dr. W. A. Beecroft, pastor
of the Winghani United
Church,was elected
president of the London
Conference of his church. He
was chosen on the third
ballot over five other can-
didates by the 300 delegates
meeting at St. Thomas.
James Powers of Chep-
stow, secretary-fieldman for
the Bruce County Federation
of Agriculture, has been
accorded a signal honor in
his "appointment to the
executive of the National
Farm Radio Forum...He is
the only representative of
the thousands of Farm
Forum members in the
Dominion and this is the first
time such a member has
`been appointed.
e'
•
Captain and Mrs. Henry
DeVries and family leave for
Timmins soon. He has been
in charge of the local corps of
the Salvation Army for two
and a half years. He will be
succeeded. by First Lieut.
and Mrs. Kirby.
At the fourth annual music
festival for Turnberry
Township, the Challenge
Shield was won by Gilmour's
School. Stewart McGill, a
pupil of that school, won the
cup for fipe musicianship.
Winners in the solo divisions
were Patricia Deyell, Billie'
Jeffray, Verlie Metcalfe,
Stewart McGill, Joan
MacKay and Bill Rettinger.
The new fire engine, in
which Ilowick with other
townships has a share, was
in Gorrie demonstrating its
ladders and the forte with
which streams of water
could be thrown. This engine
will be kept in.the Wingham'
fire hall and manned byWingham firemen who will
.be on call in case of fire in
the township.
Miss Wilda Agar, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace.
Agar, Second of Morris, has
accepted an office position
with the Langford Radio
Supply Company at London.
JUNE 1961 -.
Dr. A. W. Klahsen of
,Zurich, who has been in
general practice there since
1958, will commence his,
duties with Dr. B. N. Corrin
next month. He was born in
South India andis a graduate
of University of Western
Ontario. pr. Klahsen, his
wife and two children will
take up residence in the
former Hal MacLean
residence on John Street.
Mrs. Jack Reavie, a
representative of Huron
Chapter, Order of the
Eastern Star, was elected
District Grand Matron of
District No. 8 at a meeting
held in Drayton.
Dr. S. G. Leedham,
Wingham, has just com-
pleted an intensive course in
cattle diseases at the Ontario
Veterinary College.
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey
Fisher, who have lived on
Catherine Street for over
four years, have purchased
the house on Leopold Street
formerly owned by Mrs. J. J.
Brown.
Miss I. Gilchrist has been
appointed Home Economist
for Huron County, with
headquarters at Clinton.
Ian Mundell of Bluevale
has been I/successful in
passing his second year
examinations at ', the
University of Western- 'On-
tario,•London, and has been
awarded the William Wyatt
Scholarship for second year
Honors History.
President Ronald Reagan is a very
determined fellow. For months he has
been trying to get the U.S. government
to approve a huge appropriation which,
one way or another, could be used to
overthrow the present government of
Nicaragua. The first try was for funds
to provide weapons and other support
for the Contras, the rebel forces which
have been conducting an undeclared
war in that country for several years:
When his bid for military aid was
turned down the President asked for
$25 million to provide "humanitarian"
relief for Nicaragua. Theappropriation
was approved last week after a bitter
debate in. the House of Representa-
tives.
Other nations, as well as many
Americans 'are now wondering how
long it will take to transform those
humanitarian supplies into military
backing for the enemies of the
established Sandinista government of
Guess- who's t
A few weeks ago, when the ,11 -man
police force ih Chatham, N.B., went on
strike, the policel chief threatened to
jail news photographers if they contin-
ued to take pictures of an unruly mob
which was smashing windows and
squealing tires.
His threats followed a now -familiar
pattern. Blame the media.
Speaking in the House of Commons
last week, Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney insisted That the fuss and
commotion which has been raised over
the question of de -indexing old age
security payments was all the fault of
the media.
No, it was not a fact that the move is
viewed as a broken promise by
thousands of elderly people. No. The
elderly were not unhappy with the
prime minister.. ,It was a fairy tale
cooked up by the media. Of course.
You see, the media doesn't have, a
name. Blame the media and you don't
have to expect answers from any single
the ountry.
It might be easier to swallow were it
not such a precise parallel for the steps
which preceded American intervention
in South Vietnam. In that far away,
country, first it was humanitarian aid,
followed by military"advisers" and
then American troops, tanks, guns,
helicopters, planes and all the rest of
the material of full warfare -= with the
loss 'of thousands upon thousands of ,.
young American lives. -
Theon -going American phobia about
anything which carries the slightest
suggestion of Communism is a threat to
world peace. In his determination to
wipe out any sort pf Red influence
wherever it may be found, President
Reagan has effectively destroyed any
possibility of reasoned discussion with
-the Soviets or their supporters. In the
meantime he is prepared to support
anynon-Communist government, no
matter how corrupt it may be.
The Wingham Advance -
Times was notified last week
that a complaint has been
filed with the Ontario Press
/Council over a news story
'and an editorial dealing with
the Huron County secondary
school teachers' contract
dispute and appearing in the
May 22 issue of the news-
paper.
The complaint, filed by
Dan A. Webster, a secondary
school teacher in Wingham,
charges that the story,
"Secondary school teachers
to hold strike vote May 28",
and the editorial, ."Looking
out for No. 1", are "a 'one-
sided presentation of the
dispute".
It further charges that the
editorial uses "demeaning
and inflammatory lan-
guage, citing thesen-
tences: "These are the,
vOorkers whose in-
flated demands would be
gouged out of the pockets of
people already struggling to
get by on far less," and
"There already exists a
strong, undercurrent of
feeling that teachers as a
group are underworked and
overpaid.''
The complaint claims that
the newspaper has at-
tempted ''to intimidate in
advance of the May 28 strike
vote" and questions whether
it adequately researched
o blame
person or specific group of persons. It's
a safe way out of any bind.
With the sort of nonsense which goes
on in high places these days, just where
would we be without the news media to
place the facts before the nation? You
figure it out.
De -indexing of old age security
payments has proven to be the hottest
potato Mr. Mulroney has picked up so
far. He obviously under -estimated the
fighting spirit possessed by most of
today's senior citizens -- and he totally
overlooked how many of them the
re both sides of the dispute.
are out there waiting for their next turn
at the ballot box.The position of The
To cap the whole question the Advance -Times is as
government was foolish enough to follows:
announce the intention of indexing
interest rates on government bonds
while cutting back on old age pay-
ments. In other words, protect the
people who have enough money for '
,Investments, but let the ones who live
close to poverty bear the crunc.
Same lessons needed
The Goderich Signal -Star believes it
is time to take some action to control
bicycle riders. The paper says:
A mother and child were hit by (an-
other) cyclist who was riding on the
sidewalk. Also last week the Star car-
ried the details about a young boywhb
was injured after striking a car''on his
way to school. Police Chief Pat King
suggested there have been many near
misses lately as children have darted
into the paths of vehicles.
That there is a lack of regard for
traffic by young cyclists has long been
a fact of lite Here. While some children
and adults are cognizant of the rules of
•the road, many simply disregard traf-
fic, ride two or three abreast and often
on the wrong side of the road.
That there haven't been more acci-
dents may be testimony to the driving
skills of town residents.
The spring and summer months
means a substantial increase in
vehicular and bicycle traffic on most
major streets and it seems like a good
time to reinforce some sensible and
practical precautionary measures.,
With respect to the news
story, we note that the
complainant has not claimed
that any of the information
contained ,in the story is
inaccurate.
As for the charge that it is,
one-sided, we would point out
that, as the story itself ex-
plained, the reporter did
contact the local district
president of the Ontario
Secondary School Teachers'
Federation and invited him
to respond to the
memorandum from the
board of education. His reply
was that he did not wish to
make any comment at that
time and that the newspaper
would be notified if and when
there was a statement. He
did not suggest contacting
anyone else within the
OSSTF and the reporter
assumed this to be the of-
federation.
Since that time he or
anyone else has had the
opportunity to' rectify any
one -Sidedness, either by
contacting the newspaper
directly or through a letter to
the editor. To date this has
not happened. We have
received' only one letter,
criticizing theeditorial,
which was published in its
entirety.
With respect to the
editorial; we Would point out
that it is an expression of
opinionwith which' readers
are free to agree or disagree.
We do not deny that some of
the opinions in the editorial
are strongly expressed.
Whether they are too strong
• appears to depend largely on
which side of the dispute one
stands. Judging from the
response to date, there has
been more widespread
public agreement with the
opinions expressed in this
ediforial than with anything
we have printed in a long
time..
However the editorial was
not intended to be demean-
ing or 'inflammatory and we
do not agree that it is. In the
case of the statement that
teachers' demands would be
"Owed out of the pockets"
of lower -paid workers, we
will concede that perhaps a
milder expression would
have got the point across.
Yet it is very clear from the
response we have received
that many ratepayers do feel
they are being gouged and
there are those who suggest
the editorial was not tough
enough.
As for the complaint
regarding the suggestion
that "teachers as ; group
are underworked a®, over-
paid " we would p out
that this was put forward,
not as the position of the
newspaper, , but as a
reflection of the feeling
which exists within this
community. 4f there is any-'
one who doubts that this is
so, we would 'challenge him
to spend a day walking and
talking with people along the
main streets of any' of the
communities in this area.
Certainly not all teachers
fall into that category and it
is unfortunate that some
very fine and conscientious
teachers find themselves
rred with the same brush,
•
ficial position of the to
P
but we believe this does
accurately reflect the public
perception of teachers in an
area where $40,000 salaries,
lengthy summer holidays
and generous fringe benefits
are not the norm.
In the editorial this is
stated by way of explaining
why teachers can expect
little public sympathy for`
their wage demands. We
note that a similar opinion
has been expressed in at
least one other newspaper in
the county, The Exeter
Times -Advocate, in an
editorial called "Out of
touch". ,��^^ —
When a complaint is riiade
to the Ontario Press Council
about a member newspaper,
•
McIntosh, Belmore and
Mildmay charge was or-
dained into the United
Church ministry at the
Hamilton Conference.
JUNE 1971
The contribution made to
he business life of Wingham
by Vern Dunlop and his wife
was recognized by the
Wingham Business
Association. The group paid
ribute to Mr. andr Mrs.
Dunlop for their 31 yrs in
usiness and presented them
ith a gift. Mr. Dunlop is
etiring. Mr. and Mrs.'Percy
eyell were similarly
onored, having retired from
he butcher business a few
eeks ago.
Bob McKay, son of Mr. and
rs. Don McKay, Leopold
treet, graduated a5 an
rchitectural drafting
chnician from Fanshawe
ollege. He has accepted a
osition with Conklin
umber Co. at Owen Sound
the newspaper is first given
an opportunity to redress the
complaint to . the com-
plainant's satisfaction. If
this is not successful the
matter goes to the inquiry t
committee of the press
council, which invites both b
sides to make a presentation V.'
and then forwards a r
recommendation to the D
council. The final ad- h
judication is made by the full t
council, consisting of 10 w
representatives who have no
connection with the press M
and 10 members of the news-. S
paper industry. This judg- -a
ment must be published in to
the newspaper against which C
the complaint has been p
lodged, L
Cla• • rification needed on
LACAC grant requests
Dear Editor,
I want to compliment your
writer on the accuracy and
clarity of your front-page
. story in the June 12 issue,
headlined "LACAC mem-
bers get grants toward cost
of repairing homes".
There are a number of
points on which clarification
may avoid readers getting a
wrong impression,
Councillor Currie's
suggestion that the request
for permission to repair my
property be returned to
LACAC for "reprocessing in
appropriate fashion" might
be taken to imply that there
was something wrong in the
way this was handled.
Council must have advice
from LACAC before it can
deal with a request to alter a
designated property. The
role of LACAC is to ensure
that any proposed altera-
tions are in sympathy with
the aspects of the property
which led to its designation
and to make an appropriate
recommendation to council.
In this case -the owners of
both properties for which
applications had been
received abstained from
debate or vote on the motions
affecting their own property.
The result was that the other
members of the committee
present tdok responsibility
for the advice being given to
council.
Mr. Miller, the ,council
representative on LACAC,
• was absent from the
meeting. All other members
were present. Council was
formally advised of the
abstention of property
owners when their own
requests were'dealt with. - •
Mr. Miller is ,quoted as
saying, "It doesn't look
right, in a way, We've only
had two requests under
BRIC and both come from
people on •LACAC who had
houses designated."
The facts are different. In
1984 council approved a
BRIC grant to itself for
$2,000, the maximum avail-
able, for repair work done on
the town hall. The town has
received a number of other
heritage property grants for
repairs on its own property.
These, are the first grants
requested by private individ-
uals.
Individuals do not "have
their houses designated
Designation under the
Heritage Act is placed by the
province in the hands of the
local municipal council. In
the case of the house owned
by Dianne Grummett, it was
designated by council before •
she purchased the property,.
Accordingly it was already '
subject to the special
restrictions which curtail the
rights of an owner to snake
alterations, It is in, com-
pensation to the owner for
giving up certain property.
rights that some limited help
is given in preserving the
property, Designation is
registered on the title `and
passes with the property
when it is sold.
The note that work on the
repairs to the Grummett
property had started before
council acted on the request
omitted to point out that
emergency repairs to halt
imminent more serious
damage from the weather
are perfectly in order. You
may have noted that the City
of Barrie, after the tornado
damage, announced that
repairs could proceed at
once and permits would be
issued later,
It would be unfortunate if
Mr, Miller's remarks (which
he is privileged to make)
were to be taken 'as a
suggestion that there was
anything irregular in the
way procedures under the
Heritage Act were followed
in this instance.
i hope council will continue
to probe as deeply as
necessary to ensure that the
rules are followed in any
other matter for which it is
responsible.
E. S. Eaton
Wingham