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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-03-16, Page 4DV E3 i u t • RIBBON trje s � 1 ; ; anti bbaiee®Qimeg Published at Wingham. Ontario, ginger Bros. Limited Barry Wenger, President Henry Hess. Editor Robert O. Wenger, Sec. Treas. Audrey Currie, Advertising Manager Member Audit Bureau of Circulations . Member — Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Subscriptions $20.00 per year Second Class Mail Registration 'No. 0821 Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc. Six months $11.50 Return postage guaranteed Going in circles After five years, thousands of dollars in studies, and a great deal of time on the part of town councillors and volunteers from the community, it appears Wingham is no closer to Its goal of providing additional low -rental housing for its senior citizens. Just when things seemed to be rolling, a recent letter from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has once again thrown the whole project into doubt. Why? Because the ministry still Is not satisfied there are enough needy seniors here to fill those units in addi- tion to the ones already in operation, and "severe curtailment" of its budget for social housing programs has made it fidgety about going ahead without additional reassurances. Its caution is laudable. Taxpayers would be saddled with far fewer white elephants if governments always pro- ceeded with such circumspection. But we are getting a little tired of the ques- tion. About five years ago the ministry conducted its own study, concluded there was a need for additional hous- ing, and prepared to erect apartments in Cruickshank Park. When the project was scuttled, due to understandable local dissatisfaction with the choice of location, the ministry seized the opportunity to duck out of its commit- ment. All right, it said. Perhaps the apartments can go somewhere else. But first you must prove to us you still need them. After all, needy seniors we found in our study may 11a a died or found other housing. Enter a firm of Sounding the Two local townships are sounding the alarm over a proliferation of new regulations which they fear will spell the end of individual, municipally -op- erated waste disposal sites in this area. Representatives of the Turnberry and Howick councils both recently voiced concern over requirements the Ontario Environment Ministry is placing on the dumps — requirements they say could make it far too costly for any small. municipality to keep its dump open. In the case of Turnberry, the town- ship has been ordered to spend an estimated $4,000 to $8,000 for a study on a site which now has a life expectancy of only about three years, with the prospect of spending another $30,000 to $35,000 to get a new site approved. This is quite a shock to a council accustom- ed to operating its dump on an annual budget of less than $3,000. If that is not sufficient, take The case of Howick. After spending a "con- siderable number of thousands" of dol- lars to complete the ministry -ordered study, the township has now been in- formed the ministry will not accept the results without other conditions being met. Also, they say, the ministry is ordering municipalities tto\ stop their time-honored practice of bti-ning paper and other inflammable ..,material, meaning the dumps will fill up that much faster and raising additional problems of covering the material promptly to keep it from blowing all over the countryside. Nor are they alone. Grey Township reportedly has already spent a small fortune trying to meet the new standards, and every other municipality with a dump faces the same problems. One can sympathize with the ministry's concern. Shocked out of its lethargy in the early 70s when homes in Kitchener started blowing up from methane gas seeping in from decaying garbage in an old landfill site, it started taking more interest in just what is being buried where around the prov- ince. More recently, the ministry has found itself in hot water with residents of communities such as Stouffvllle, who fear they are being slowly poisoned by material from an industrial dump poi - private consultants, a `$7,500 ministry grant, and after a suitable length of time the Wingham Housing Study 1981 was produced, concluding there was still a demonstrable need for additional subsidized seniors' housing. In the interim, however, the minis- try's approach to public housing had changed, and now it was up to the municipality to carry the ball, with a promise of financial backing from pro- vincial and federal governments. This led to the creation of the Wingham Non -Profit Housing Corporation, which brings us to the present impasse. Now, it seems to us that either there is a need for more seniors' hous- ing here or else there isn't. All the studies to date have concluded there is, though the estimates of the exact level of need have varied. Population trends and biology being what they are, we may conclude that human beings will continue to grow older, not younger, and the population of seniors is likely to increase. And the Economy being what it is, it appears unlikely these seniors will be much wealthier. If the ministry has reason to sus- pect that the need demonstrated by its own studies has disappeared, then let it undertake to show it. Otherwise, it should honor its commitment to pro- vide the housing and stop wasting its own time and ours. The habit of stop- ping every second year to call for a new study serves only to line the pockets of consultants and delay completion. Per- haps it could appoint a Royal Commis- sion? alarm luting their water supply. The result has been a flurry of ac- tivity, demanding identification of old dump sites and tacking increasingly stringent regulations on new or exist- ing ones. Faced with the difficulty of tackling some of the really big opera- tions, which seem to be creating most of the problems but wield considerable politic0 clout, the ministry has had lots of attention to lavish on the smaller community operations. And there's the rub. For while it is hard to criticize officials for doing their job — and there is no doubt some smaller dumps richly deserve the at- tention — it is unreasonable to expect a rural township or small town to meet the same critieria and absorb the same costs as the much larger centres. The alternative, as one councillor pointed out, is a large, centralized dump site serving a number of muni- cipalities. While this might appeal to the province, with its unconcealed af- fection for all things regional, making it easier. to monitor fewer operations, it would never work. The cost of collect- ing and trucking refuse from across a township to a central dump has been estimated at up to $60,000 a year, mak- ing it one of the biggest items in a township budget. The alternative, expecting farmers and other residents to drive for miles to dump their wastes, is a non-starter. It is a safe prediction most would simply tip the garbage into the nearest ravine or abandoned gravel pit, reverting to the state of affairs which municipal dumps were intended to correct. There is nothing w,pong with having regulations to control dumping and prevent today's solution from be- coming tomorrow's problem, but let's keep them simple and appropriate to the matter in hand, not an endless paper chase eating up time and money. And for the Environment Ministry to demand an end to burning paper in Turnberry while at the same time permitting Inco and Ontario Hydro to continue belching thousands of tons of sulphur and other pollutants into the atmosphere is nothing but sheer hypo- crisy! Man without a view Prime Minister Trudeau is up'et. He bought a fancy home in Montreal (presumably as a place of retirement) and one of its- most attractive features was a great view of the city below. But some nasty people bought up a few of the building lots down the hill a little way and what did they do but throw up a great ugly apartment building. Now all Pierre has to look at are rows of air - conditioners in a brick wall. Not a man to be lightly affronted, Mr. Trudeau Is suing the owners of the apartment building for $100,000. A couple of years ago the same Mr. Trudeau declared that, as the soul of honesty, he would not permit any formercabinet minister to approach his former ministry on business matters for a period of two years following his departure from office. A former energy minister by the name of Gillespie forgot the rules and well within the two-year waiting period came to'the new energy minister, a Mr. Lalonde, to discuss a coal conversion project in Nova Scotia. The fact that the project might be eligible for a`few millions in government grants was be=, side the point. When the matter came under fiery discussion in the House of Commons Mr. Trudeau had a solution. He decided he would change the rules so that neither Mr. Gillespie nor Mr. Lalonde would be open to such harsh criticism. Well, you have to give him credit. Mr. Trudeau Is a man intent on getting things done his own way. 1 Ti ES A page of e itorial opinion Items from Old Files MARCH 1936 On Wednesday of last week the fire siren called the firemen to duty. At the home of Mrs. Ard on Edward Street, some hot ashes caused the floor to take fire. Damage was slight. The annual carnival put on by the Wroxeter business- men was quite a success. Winners for best costumes included G. A. Wearring, J. L. McEwen, D. Robinson and G. A. Deverell. Mr. and Mrs. A. Moffatwere the oldest married couple on skates. Jean Herd. and Jagk,Abram were the best skaters. During the storm of Thursday last, a large section of the roof on the Teeswater Presbyterian Church shed collapsed, leaving a hole about 20 feet by ten feet. No horses or vehicles were in the shed at the time. Athol Purdon of Whitechurch has taken a position in the Red Front Grocery in Wingham. Charles E. Smith has taken the agency for Cockshutt and Frost and Wood implements. - As we go to press, we learn with regret that A. L. Posliff, dearly beloved Public School Principal, prominent and active citizen of our town, passed away suddenly. MARCH 1948 Misses .Doreen Currie, Helen Sturdy and Hilda Pletch, nurses -in -training at Stratford General Hospital, received their caps on March 6. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pattison moved Thursday to their new farm on the 10th concession of East Wawanosh, which they purchased last fall from Alex Menzie. Last Saturday H. C. Brooks, local agent for the CPR, took over his new duties at Midhurst, near Barrie. This week his son, Claire, is relieving at the station until Saturday when Mr. Smalley of Milverton will take over as the new station agent. The recently elected board of directors of the Wingham Chamber of Commerce met for the purpose of electing the executive officers. W. T. Cruickshank was chosen president, Rhys Pollock vice president and' W. G (Sam) Burton secretary. East Huron District members of the Women's Institute will welcome a new group this spring when their District Annual is held. Molesworth branch, which disbanded a number of years ago, has reorganized and -already has 20 new mem- bers. Marlene Schaefer was named Queen of the Carnival and Ivan Campbell was King of the Carnival when the Howick Lions Club held its ice carnival at Fordwich. First prize winners in the costume classes included Verna Wolfe, Goldwin Holt, Harold Keil, Shirley Holt and T. J. Schaefer. MARCH 1959 At the meeting of East Wawanosh Township council, three tenders for the position of warble fly in- spector were received. Members agreed to accept the tender of Frank Thompson at $1.25 an hour. Miss Carol Robinson of Gorrie successfully passed her Grade 7 piano examination of the London Conservatory of Music. Her teacher is Mrs. NoraaMoffatt of Bluevale. Carl Smitz, who has been employed in Wallaceburg, returned to Wingham and has accepted a position at Arnold Lillow's garage at Bluevale. A number of interested couples met at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church to form a Couples' Club. Officers were elected, with Mr. and Mrs. Bruce MacDonald presidents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert McKague secretaries and Mr. and Mrs.. Andrew McKague treasurers. William G. Laidlaw, son of Robert Laidlaw, RR 2, Wingham, is one of four Canadian students named by the Woodrow - Wilson National Fellowship Foundation as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for the academic year 1959-60. He intends to use his Fellowship by studying chemistry at Washington State Univer- sity. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey McMichael of Wroxeter wish to announce the engagement of their only daughter, Shirley Ann, to Albert Lloyd Lamont, son of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Lamont of Holyrood. The wedding will take place early in April. MARCH 1969 Kenneth Lawless, who has purchased the home of Donald Lloyd on John -Street, expects to open a dental practice in his home early in May. Two Wingham families doubled their income tax deductions and family allowance when Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Taylor welcomed twin daughters and Mr. and Mrs. David Cameron welcomed twins, a boy and a girl. All were born the same day at Wingham and District Hospital. The first in a new series of photographs' of Ontario children who need parents appears in the Advance - Times this week. Today's Child, first published in 1965, will be published weekly in cooperation with the Ontario Department of Social and Family Services:, The Wingham Business Association met to elect officers for the 1969 term Past president Jack Hayes relinquished the chair to the new president, Jack Max- well. Monty Bennett remains as treasurer and Murray Gerrie is the new secretary. March 16, TODAY'S CHILD BY JUDITH ADAMS For Joseph and Terry, ,,aged 9 and 7, the most, pressing problem of their lives just now is to find the right adopting family. They are both bright, sensitive boys who understand about other people's, feelings as well as their own. They are eager to please, and very much want to feel sure off their future together. Joseph is a bright, independent boy who is well - liked by other children. He's quite protective toward Terry and feels strongly about having a black family, while Terry isn't particularly both- ered by it. At school, both boys do well, Joseph in grade 4 and Terry in grade 3. Each participates in extra- curricular activities with Joseph enjoying physical actvities, while Terry enjoys more creative pur- suits. Both boys gm e in good health except for allergies, for which thejfrreceive weekly shots. Young Terry has asthma attacks for which he needs to use an inhaler, but is very brave when he experiences them: When they do find their adopting family, it may take time for these brothers to really trust and believe they are there to stay, for they are a sensitive pair and have had a hard time accepting the disruption of their early lives. But they very much want to make that family theirs, and will respond to perceptive, warm, loving parents who appreciate them and welcome them into their lives. To inquire about adopting Joseph and Terry, . please write to Today's Child, Ministry of Commu- nity and Social Services; Box 888, Station K, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2H2. In your letter tell something of your present family and your way of life. New Books in the Library THE GOEBBELS DIARIES, 1939-1991, translated and edited by Fred Taylor The Goebbels diaries provide intimate insights into the bizarre and cruel phenomenon that was Hitler's Germany, into its leaders, its mechanisms of power, its attitude towards it enemies and, above all, the role of Goebbels himself. A stunted and disturbed, but human, character emerges:, a preacher of hatred who was also a sentimental family man; a ruthless cultural watchdog who showed sufficient sensitivity and intelligence to ap- preciate the very works of art that he banned from public view; a cynical mass - manipulator and self- confessed loather of mankind who was never- theless capable of sincere hero worship of his Fuhrer. An Amishman looks at the Canadian econom By Elmo Stoll EDITOR'S NOTE—The following article, written by an Old Order Amishman from Aylmer, Ontario, was printed in the January 5 Aylmer Express. I never expected to get inspired by a weekly paper like the Aylmer Express, but at last it has come to that. I notice almost every week where some group is getting a government grant to do something people used to think was their own responsibility. It seems there are government grants to bail out companies who are going bankrupt, grants to manufacture work, grants to re- store buildings, and even to subsidize farm products, ambulance service, and Dingle Street bridges This week I saw where the Aylmer Men- nonite Community Store is getting a grant of $51,168 to establish a recycling project even - though it is not needed - excuse me, I tneaTit to say. even though "the demand for recycled goods has declined". I also see where four local residents have been hired to "promote tourism in Aylmer". Their wages will come from another government grant, this time to the tune of $55.384 We Amish are prevented by our religious scruples from taking any government grants, and it's hard at- times to avoid the feeling that the world may be passing us by. But here is where my inspiration enters. 1 know a good thing when I see it. If we can't take grants from the government, per- haps we could take an example. I intend to talk with all my Amish neighbors and see if they will go along with me on this. We should soon have things looking brighter — a pro- mising new tomorrow for our children. We will band together, and be like a miniature Canada with a population of 35 families The first move will be for all of us to give each other a $500 cash grant to stimulate the economy. Next. Johnny Gascho used to buy quite a few of our cattle, but lately not much is mov- ing. So we will tax- each family $100 That will enable us to give Johnny a $3,500 grant to buy our cattle from us. Lest Johnny be tempted to use that money to buy cheaper cattle at Walker's Sales Arena, we will vote in trade restrictions and stiff tariffs. 1 also think faithful Levi Schlabaugh should get a grant. He has been making bug- gies for all his life, but business is slow now. There are more buggies than demand. We will create a marketing board; with the power to limit buggy production. The marketing board will put the price of bug- gies up to where Levi can makea fair profit. If Levi protests that the higher prices will depress the market still more, we will at- tempt to explain to him that we will counter- act that easily enough. We will simply tax each member of our group to make up a grant to subsidize the buggies, so they will still be cheap enough so that we can afford them. I notice that Edwin Wagler has an old building standing vacant on his farm. Its architecture is unique. The door also sags and the roof leaks in places. A grant of, let's say $10,000, would go a long way toward fix- ing it up so it would be suitable to use as a henhouse. if we taxed each family $300, that would supply the grant. We could then move Edwin's hens from their present quarters, and then hire a committee to make a study of what to do with the former henhouse. Daniel Wagler hag a small store where he sells a few groceries. 1 think he should be given a grant to paint some signs to put at the road so all of us could find it easier in the dark. Neon lights would hardly do for an - Amishman, but $2,000 ,would buy a lot of kerosene lanterns. Wieire would the money come from' We could' put a tax on the gro- ceries he sells - seven cents on a pound of butter, and 50 cents on a hundredweight of whole wheat Flour We would need to draw up an official chart, of course To administer the tax and keep the books in order would provide employment for at least one person, if we hired someone who wasn't too good at it. Oh, i see that this will really be something different. There is no point in any of us living so frugally any more., We will setup a fund to -give handouts to people who are out of work. When that fund expires, we will have a second fund they can depend on. Having various funds like this keeps more people employed looking after them. We will have something for the elderly, and something for mothers with children. if we run out of trloney, we will borrow from each other, and then we can have interest income. too. If only I can convince — or should i say, inspire. my neighbors. Some of them are pretty old-fashioned. They believe such out- dated ideas like, "You cannot make a blanket longer by cutting off a piece from one end and sewing it to the other " Most of them do not even believe in Santa Claus -- they maintain you cannot get something for nothing. Perhaps the most unusual thing of all about them is that almost to the last man. they insist. you cannot take six rabbits from a hat that contains only four With neighbors like that, wish me well.