HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-10-16, Page 10THE ADVAACE.
TUIIES A page of editorial opinion Oct. 16, 1985
1fje ingiam bbance-Mimeo
Published at Wingham, Ontario, P.O. Box 390 - NOG 2W0
by Wenger Bros. Limited
Barry Wenger, President 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
$23'.00 'beyond 40 -mile zone
Second Class Mail Registration No. 0821
Planning a library
During the recent Library Week,
patrons of the Wingham Library were
invited to look at and comment on an
architect's plans for converting an old
building on Edward Street into a new
library. It is estimated the restoration
would cost some $400,000, of which
council hopes to obtain half through a
grant from the provincial government
and the balance from local citizens
through taxes and fund-raising.
The comments received included
suggestions for improving accessibility
and function of the building. However
they also included some questions
about the wisdom of committing so
much money to such an old structure.
One such comment; included in a care-
fully -written, two-page list of sugges-
tions, is well worth repeating. Affer
several suggestions for improving the
use of space in the proposed plans, the
writers make the following point:
"The restoration of an old building
is worthwhile if three conditions exist.
Firstly, the building should be histor-
ically significant. Secondly, it should
be architecturally pleasing and signifi-
cant. Lastly, it should suit the proposed
new function.
"This building has been moved
from its original location and is appal-
lingly) derelict. This building is not a
Six months $12.50
Return postage guaranteed
fine example of an era or style; it is
plain and uninspiring. The Tong sash
windows provide little area for library
shelving and the appalling condition of
the structure would make restoration
as costly as starting anew .. .
"It is hard for us to believe that
anyone would even entertain the
thought of renovating such a derelict,
uninspiring structure, let alone actual-
ly begin to proceed."
Added to the comments of these
writers is the point raised this week in a
letter to the editor, which notes that the
Town of Forest will build a brand-new
library at a cost of $151,000. Nor will
this be some plain -Jane steel shed. Ac-
cording to The Free Press report it is
designed to resemble a turn -of -the -cen-
tury railroad station, in keeping with
its location near the CNR tracks and a
caboose the town uses as a tourist
information centre.
The direct cost of the new library to
residents of Forest is estimated at be-
tween $50,000 and $80,000. By compar-
ison, the Wingham council's plans to
renovate the Edward Street building,
even with a 50 per cent grant, will re-
quire a local contribution of nearly
$200,000.
It is something worth thinking
about.
Hallowe'en at its best
Money collected on Hallowe'en
night by Canadian schoolchildren is
helping to spread the life-saving
knowledge of one of this decade's most
significant medical advances. The
United Nations Children's Fund, UNI -
CE F, is saving the lives of millions of
children through' the distribution of
Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS). ORS
prevents the reverses dehydration'
caused by diarrhea, the leading cause
of child death in the Arid.
ORS is a simple mixture of two
tablespoons of sugar and half, a tea-
spoon of salt, dissolved in a Titre of
water. Fed to the child orally, it
dramaically increases the body's abil-
ity to re -absorb the precious water and
salts lost .through diarrhea. Mothers
are now able to prepare and administer
the solution at home because of their
new knowledge and widespread distri-
bution of ORS. Previously, treatment
forsevere dehydration was accessible
to very few, as it could only be admin-
istered in a hospital intravenously.
The use of ORS, in conjunction with
- the immunization of children against
communicable diseases, the return of
breast-feeding and the monitoring of
children's growth and development,
accounts for a tremendous increase in
survival through infancy.
You can help UNICEF continue the
work of dispensing ORS and the knowl-
edge of its application by giving to
UNICEF when trick -or -treaters call at
your door with their UNICEF boxes on
Hallowe'en night.
Confid'encelsth'e key
Through the Tong years of the
Great Depression Canadians were
blessed by the absence of one partic-
ular catastrophe which plagued the
American publtc. Here in Canada .not
one chartered bank failed. In the face
of all the other hardships, in this coun-
try we knew that money in the bank
was safe —.if we had any money to de-
posit.
In the States, however, many
banks found themselves unable to meet
the flood of withdrawals and those who
had money on deposit frequently faced
personal bankruptcy as a consequence.
Canadians have grown ever more
confident of our banking system, to the
---peint-where-i ost-of--us--believed thel-no-_-
Canadian bank could possibly fail: We
have believed that our federal laws
made bank failure impossible. Thu,s'we
were surprised and shocked to learn
that the Canadian Commercial Bank in
Edmonton and the Northlands Bank in.
Calgary were teetering on the brink of
disaster, saved only temporarily by a
bail-out provided by the federal gov-
ernment.
Panic spreads quickly. So within
the past couple of weeks the Mercantile,
Bank, another of Canada's smaller
banks, has been driven into dangerous
waters because Canadians have awak-
ened to the fact that banks can and do
fail in this country.
There has been much moaning and
groaning over the fact that taxpayers'
money has been used to 'pay off the un-
insured depositors who were about to
lose' their money in the failure of the
two western banks. As much as we may
dislike taking the financial rap, the
federal pay-off is absolutely necessary
to maintain public confidence in' our
banking system as. a whole. Without
such a monetary guarantee, the entire
banking system could be in danger.
The lesson to be learned from the
giant mess-up is that federal author-
--i re-s—must establisfi an inspection sys-
tem which will prevent any such situa-
tions from arising Y'n the future. The
management practices of both of the
banks which failed were so lax that
their weaknesses should have been de-
tected by federal bank inspectors long
ago.
Dependable banks we certainly
must have — but since events have
proven that the paxpayers must bear
the burden of the collapse, these same
taxpayers deserve the protection of
adequate supervision of bank manage-
ment.
Still no seat belts
Friday's K -W Record' carried the
picture of a school bus resting on its
roof, the emergency escape door at the
rear wide open after 22 student pas-
sengers -.had been taken _to_.hospital_
-The accident 'occured when an
east -bound vehicle on Highway 401
veered onto the shoulder of the road,
then crossed the median strip and was
In collision with the school bu'and a
tractor trailer truck. The bus rolled
into a shallow ditch, where it came to
rest on its roof.
If that bus was equipped like most
,school buses in Ontario, without seat
belts, one can imagine the chaos within
4he-- vehi-cle -as-Its"?._passengers -were-
tumbled from their seats to the roof,
and the scramble there must have been
to reach the rear -door exit.
We have still heard no logical rea-
sons why seat belts, which are required
by law in all private vehicles, are not
mandatory in school buses.
5riANGc Till/NGf 601/1P ON /Not1/OG7OIJ14/
Items from Old Files
OCTOBER 1938
Wingham Reeve Fred L.
Davidson had his drilling
outfit in operation .near
Watford recently where he
has a contract to drill an oil
well. It is expected that it
will be necessary to go down
abqut 400 feet to strike oil.
This is Mr. Davidson's first
contract at drilling for oil,
but he has carried on a well -
drilling operation for many
years.
Jack McNabf Lucknow
captured the club cham-
pionship at' the Alps Golf
Course last week. In the final
playoff, Mr. McNab com-
peted with Ken Somers and
Dr. W. A. McKibbon. It -Was
reported •to have been a
great match "with all three
men tied, at the 17th hole.
However Mr. McNab won
the 18th hole and the
championship.
A. .provisional training
school in artillery opened in
the Wingham. Armouries
Monday evening. Lectures
will • he given. Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday
. evenings for the next nine
weeks. A similar course is
being given by the same
instructors at Port Elgin on.
Thursday, Friday and
Saturday evenings.
Mr. and Mrs. Wellington
Mann celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary at their
home in Bluevale on Mon-
day,. They were married at
the bride's home in Listowel
on Oct. 17, 1888 and have five
sons and four daughters
living, 38 grandchildren and
one great-grandchild.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Sheill's twins, Murray
Watson and Marilyn Isabel,
were baptized recently in
Brick Unite Church by Rev.
J. B. Towns nd. They are the
first twins to be baptized in
the church.
OCTOBER 1951
Wingham Fire Chief Jim
Carr paid a surprise visit to
the Wingham Public School
last week and, with no ad-
vance warning, sounded the
fire alarm. `All of the
children were cleared out of
the building in 45 seconds.
The chief said he was. quite
pleased with the way the
mr.dc their exit and
also stated the school is in
first-class shape.
The victim of a tragic
accident at the. Fry &
Blackhall plant in Wingham,
Francis Ste. Marie, died
early Tuesday morning. Mr.
Ste. Marie suffered a
fractured skull on Friday
morning of last week when a
scaffolding on which he and
Kenneth Johnston were
'working . collapsed 'and
allowed both men to plunge
-to the floor. Mr. Johnston
fortunately landed ' on his
feet, while Mr. Ste. Marie
'struck his head in the fall.
Mr. and Mrs. William
Bieman and Mr. and Mrs.
Albert Bieman and boys of
Belgrave visited Sunday
-with Mr. and Mrs. Howard
A faithful reader
renews subscription.
Dear Editor,
As you will see, the en-
closed cheque represents the
50th renewal to the local
newspaper. Of course bread
it many years before that.
My father was William
James Henderson, who lived
in, the red brick house at the
Junction on the farm later
owned by Russell Henderson
and now owned jointly by my
brother Lloyd and myself.
Our family subscribed to
both The Times and The
Advance' for years. When I
went school -teaching it was
natural for me to subscribe.
That was in 1934.
A. M. Henderson
Bruce Mines, Ont.
McKelvie of Walkerton.
The Huron Temperance
Federatibn is holding a
convention on Oct. 24 at the
North Street United Church,
Goderich., G. A. Shewfelt,
president of the Ontario
Temperance Federation,
will be the guest speaker.
OCTOBER 1961
A district engineer for the
Kitchener and Owen Sound
districts of Bell Telephone
said at a recent Wingham
Lions Club meeting that
Wingham and district would
have dial telephones in
operation by the end of 1962.
A new building will have to
be put up in the town, but no
starting date has been an-
nounced.
Fire destroyed three
chicken brooder houses
owned by Bill Edgar of
Fordwich just before noon on
Tuesday in an intense blaze
that sent black smoke
billowing hundreds of feet in
the air. It is thought a blow
torch caused the fire. 1
The Wingham Public
School Board has accepted,
with regret, the resignations
of . two of its teachers. Mrs.
Emerson Shera, who has
been teaching at the school
for the past 21 years and
Mrs. M. McKenzie, who
joined the staff two years
ago, will retire at the first of
the year.
F. John Bateson of
Wingham has been installed
as district commander of the
Royal Canadian' Legion.
John Pattison of Wingham
was appointed secretary.
A beef judging team from
the Blyth-Belgrave 4-H Beef
Calf Club representing
Huron County at an interclub
competition at Guelph, last
week topped a class of 11
other teams. Murray
Coultes, Wingham and
Murray Scott, Belgrave,
proudly accepted the Beef
Cattle Improvement Associ-
ation Trophy.
Mrs. Norman Elliott of
Wingham won the R. . E.
McKinney Trophy recently
for low net score in an 18 -hole
New-buIidM for library
would be better than old
ladies' golf competition held
at the local golf . course
s -up at the event
?rs. W. B. McCool
B. Conron and tied
Bunn
were
Mrs..
were Mrs. A. DuVal and
Mrs. J. Kerr.
OCTOBER 1971
A number of teachers from
Sacred School in Wingham
attended a workshop at
Goderich Tuesday. The
purpose of the workshop was
to enrich the teachers'
background for the Canadian
Catechism with reference to
content, suggestions for
teaching and use of visual
aids. Those attending from
Wingham were Principal
Mary O'Malley, Jim Steffler,
Mr, G. Roberts, Mrs. E.
Carter and Mrs. P. Graham.
Dane Griffith of C;brrie..
doesn't fool around When he
goes fishing. Last Saturday
morning he landed a 14 -
pound rainbow trout. The
fish measured 34 inches from
nose totail and had a girth of
18 inches. Mr. Griffith was a
bit close-lipped about where
he caught the monster, but
he did admit it was from the
waters of Lake Huron = and
that's a fairly large lake.
An organizational meeting
of a new Wingham broom -
ball league was held Sunday
night at the Wingham arena.
Three teams have registered
to date and a fourth is ex-
pected. Executive members
are: president, Francis
Merkley; vice president,
Brian Douglas; treasurer,
Harley Gaunt and Larry
Elliott, secretary.
Following the anniversary
service at St. Andrew's
Presbyterian ' Church in
Wingham Sunday evening,
the congregation honored
Mrs. Betty Feagan, who is
retiring as Church secre-
tary: John Donaldson read
the address and a gift was
presented to Mrs. Feagan by
Jerry Smith.
Dancing to the music of
Tiffin's Orchestra was en-
joyed in Whitechurch last
Friday evening when a
reception was held for Mr.
and Mrs. Lorne Durnin,
(Gertrude Schojt
newlyweds. Calling was done
by Brian Rintoul, Elroy
Laidlaw extended best
wishes on behalf of the
assembled crowd and Jack
Gillespie made the presenta-
tion of a gift of money.
Dear Editor,
On Oct. 2 the London Free
Press reported that the town
of Forest was building a new
library at a cost of $151,000.
The town has 2,600 citizens.
Our town of Wingham with'
3,000 citizens is con-
templating building a new
library out of an old, derelict
structure. This would cost
$410,000.
1 ask two questions: 1.
Have you seen the conditions
in the present library? 2.
Have you seen the old
New library building
is more appealing
Dear Editor, build in Wingham than
I read in The Wingham Forest?
in
•
Advance -Times a coun- Ido hope that new people
cillor's comments that it was will run for council, as some
ludicrous not to spend councillors have little regard
..$-4.10.040... on__an_.o.id-building---fu1 the taxpayers-'—.---- --- ---
for a library. A modern, new library at a
I read in The London Free cost of approximately
Press that Forest (popula-
tion of 2,600) is building a
new library of 2;800 square
feet for a total cost of
$152,000.
Is -it more expensive to
$151,000 is more appealing
and feasible than the old
structure renovated at a cost
of $410,000.
Pat Bailey,
Wingham
building on Edward Street
which is to be restored? It
looks hopeless on the outside
and is worse inside.
Grants available to restore
old buildings are 30 per cent
plus 20 per cent heritage
grant, To construct a new
building the grant is 30 per
cent.
The new building would be
energy-efficient and would
blend into a concept of a
modern-day library.
Dr. McGee built a new
building using local labor
and a local firm (Royal
Homes) . Can we not do the
same? A new building would
serve our generation and
future generations.
Consider these facts and
make them known to the
public citizens of Wingham. I
have been a library member
since 1914,
M. Myrtle Metcalfe
Wingham
TODAY'S CHILD
BY JUDITH ADAMS
Some viewers may
recognize Kirk. He was
`featured in Today's
Child before, when he
was quite a bit youn-
ger, but we think the
changes he has made
are impressive enough
to feature him again.
Kirk will be four next
month. He was. born
• prematurely and had
meningitis soon after-
wards. That, and some
medication which his
mother had to take
while pregnant, left
this boy fairly handi-
capped. His muscle
tone has been weak so
that he still doesn't
walk and needs back
support to sit up. In
most ways he is func-
tioning at about the 212.
year level, though he
understands and is
very aware, beyond the
ability he is showing to
communicate in words.
Kirk does stand up
holding on, and one of
his daily exercises is to
stand at a special table
designed to help
strengthen his leg mus-
cles, and play with his
toys in a standing pos-
tion for about half an
hour each day.' Last.'
time we featured Kirk
he wasn't talking. Now
he's saying single
words very clearly,
such as , "mine,
mummy, cookie, bus
and hi'', and he's very
responsive generally. A
therapist who tested
him recently thinks he
will: have good speech
eventually.
Kirk's greatest asset
is his sunny nature.
He's a happy little boy
who only cries if he's
frightened by loud
voices and anger, but
cheers right up with a
hug and reassurance.
Parents for Kirk will
be able to welcome him
just as he is, with the
hopes and uncertainties
he carries with him. He
has made such surpris-
ing progress to date
that nobody is setting
any limits on his future
potential. He's a
delightful little boy who
very much needs to be
someone's special son,
and he needs the
family, soon. If you
think you may be the
parents for Kirk,
please write to Today's
Child, Ministry of Com-
munity and Social Ser-
vices, Box 888, Station
K, Toronto. Describe
your present family
and experience with
children, and include
your telephone num"ber
in the letter.
Use common sense
on library proposal
Dear Editor,
I read Councillor Currie's
comments about your
editorial on the library. The
cost of $410,000 fo-r the
reconstruction of an old
building to be made into a
library is stupid.
An article in the Oct., 2
London Free Press ,ported
Jhittf e -'frown of Forest,
population 2,600, is building a
new library of 2,800 square
feet for a total cost of
$151,000. Is it more expensive
to build in Wingham than in
Forest? The answer is no.
Dr. McGee has built a
beautiful dental office using
the local firm of Royal
Homes. A 30 per cent grant
would be available on a new
structur.e_. Council .would be
wise to talk to the Forest
council, which decided
renovating an old library
would be too costly and old
buildings do not lend to
_modern Ii brary.,conce_ptc
modern, new library for
$151,000 is more feasible than
$410,000 for an old building.
We need a larger facility
for the library, so let's use
common sense and at least
investigate alternatives.
B. F. Bailey
Wingham