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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1971-09-02, Page 4PAGE 4 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS 7i(zz - 1ie eIcdt/ci 7AI Education costs, but also pays! Has the educational system produced a monster? During the fifties and sixties, money ' was lavished on schools on a scale of generosity never before dreamed of. The theory was that if students were given attractive sur- roundings, the best generation yet would result. The kids were given airy rooms, colorful decor, better trained teachers, large reference libraries, projectors, tape -recorders, TV sets and the best lab equipment, Students were allowed to work on their own; students even started setting up their own schools and courses. But in 1970 reaction started to set in. Taxpayers groaned under the financial burden. They wondered if schools were realistic with the de -emphasis on competition and marks. The worst blow of all was the students. They grew long-hair- ed and became vocal. Universities suffered student strikes and riots, high schools had student protest over courses and freedom of assemblies. Kids took drugs. This was the generation which forced the U.S.A. to re- consider its attitudes toward the blacks and the Viet Nam war. It challenged adults on the quality of life in North America, it howled so loudly about pollution that politicians were forced to listen. Whatever their elders may think ---this generation thinks for itself and searches for its own answers. A waste of money? Perhaps not, if they save the world from itself. It ns Weekly newspapers, says the St. Marys Journal -Argus, are not immune to the effects of fluctuating economies. Canada's weeklies are businesses that must operate under the same rules as other free enterprise ventures. It should really come as no surprise then that the size of the weekly paper varies from week to week. But the question does arise, particularly when news reports or pic- tures are left out for a week or more, because of a space shortage. Why not just run more pages? some ask innocently. And this question is not peculiar to this paper. Every newspaper faces the same problem and for the same reason - - adver- tising. A newspaper lives on its advertising. Money from sub- scriptions and newstand sales is a relatively small part of a newspaper's revenue. It is advertising revenue which keeps the newspaper business flourishing. To that extent newspapers are private businesses. They have a commodity to sell - - advertising - - but they also have a service to perform. The service is providing the communities it serves with news of its affairs, accurate up-to-date reports of what is taking place. Sales of the paper pay for the service but the sale of ad- vertising space looks after the columns of type, newsprint, press time, staff and other expenses necessary to publish each week, The space problem for news and pictt...,s becomes acute when there is a week with an unusual amount of news and pictures but very little advertising. On such weeks most weeklies run what is called an "open" paper, mindful of the fact that a series of "open" papers can soon put the publisher out of business. There is nothing most newspapers would like better than to be able to publish papers three or .four times as large each week. If enough advertising is obtained you can be sure this newspaper ' would maintain an even larger per- centage of news and current topical pictures than we do now. So if you are asking why a story is occasionally left out, or a picture you deem important or club announcements, it probably has been a poor week for advertising and the number .of pages. has diminished accordingly. Much better to do that, don't you agree, than to invite financial disaster? After all, if the paper cannot continue to meet its obliga- tions then there would be no news at all. from Acton Free Press ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 �N Mr % Member: Canadian- Weekly Newspapers Association s ti Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association l°e,,0 te Subseripfion Rates: VIM per year in adivaitime inn Cianrairitr,; 55,00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 10 cents FAREWELL, OLD CAR Well, it looks as though any more travelling I do before summer bids us farewell will be on foot, Kim passed her driving test today. Ir was pretty tense this morning for both of us. She was afraid she might fail her test, I was afraid she might pass it. Just to complicate matters, she turned up for her test at 9:30 a.m., only to discover that she was slated for 3:30 p.m, She claims it was their mistake, but knowing my daughter I have a good idea who made the error. llowever, the chaps giving the tests managed to work her in at 10 a. m. , when someone else failed to show up. So that meant I had time for only about ten cigarettes as I waited, pretending to read the morning paper. But it gave nie a chance to look at the people preparing for their tests. Quite a cross-section. They ranged from a skinny 16 - year -old boy who wanted a driv- er's license for his motor -cycle, to an old chap with a hearing aid and almost blind in his left eye. Both passed, but I hope I never meet either on the highway. Then a couple of former stud- ents of mine walked in. They are the type who have probably been driving for several years without a license and have fin- ally been nailed. They are pleas- ant lads, but while neither is dumber than an ox, neither is smarter. Their procedure was typical. They filled out the application cards wrong, .and had to do them over again. When Mike was asked by the officer where he lived, he jerked his thumb at Peter and said. "Two houses down from him while the officer rolled his eyes. lle wanted ari address. Then the pair sat down at the long table to fill out the written test. Ten minutes later they were sitting, brows furrowed, with about three out of forty squares ticked off, I tossed them a word of encouragement, "It might be easier if you could read and write, eh?" Unfazed, they just grinned. Peter retorted, "Yeah, we Children • Portraits • Weddings • COLOR or BLACK & WHITE GODERICH 118 St. David St. 524.8787 shouldn'ta gonna sleep in all them there English classes." Fine physical specimens both, they'll probably make excellent but dangerous drivers. I'm not implying that the driving tests are easy. They're quite tough. When I got my license, the job of testing aspir- ants was a political sinecure. The tester told me to arrive at his place of business at 6.00 p, m, He locked up the store, told me to drive him home, about eight blocks, I gave hien two bucks, and that was it. When my wife got hers, some ten years later, it was the same procedure. The police chief had her pick him up at the office, they drove around three or four blocks and she took him home to lunch. (At his place, not ours), Today there's a whole battery of physical tests, a written test on the rules of the road, and the actual driving test. A good many people are flunked, and I'm all for that. What I'd really like to see is a compulsory test come along for every driver about every two years, and a good stiff one. Could you pass, Jack, with your colour-blindness? Could you pass, lady, with your total inability to parallel park? Gould you pass, Grandad, with your arthritis? I think a great many of us would be put out to pasture. Anyway, Kim returned. I expected to see her with a face as long as a foot. She was beaming. My heart sank. There's going to be a fight here every day until she gets back to school. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1971 Ontario F of A critical of oil prices "The federal government had better start practising what it preaches, and crack down on the outrageous price increases by the oil companies," Gordon Hill, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was commenting in Toronto recently on the increased prices reported for Bunker Oil used. to heat greenhouses. "The greenhouse growers of western Ontario tell me that one oil company has raised its price on Bunker C Oil by an incredible 45 per cent, " Hill said. "Can you imagine what would happen if farmers raised their prices by 45 per cent? There would be an almighty howl, and a federal inquiry. It wouldn't be tolerated;' But the Federation doesn't intend to tolerate it either. It has reported the oil price increase to the federal Minister of Consum er and Corporate Affairs, Ronald Basford. "We urged him to bring these price increases in line with those recently espoused by the federal government, " Hill said. Oil companies charged green- house growers 9. 85 cents a gal- lon last year according to a rep- ort from the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Producers' Marketing Board. This year the companies intend to charge up to 14.25 cents a gallon. This increase will cost greenhouse vegetable grow- ers an extra $3000 per acre for heat this winter. "Completely unjustified and unacceptable, " said Hill. The marketing board was only able to get a price quote on the Light #2 Heating Oil - 15.3 cents a gallon, up 20 per cent from last year. Other suppliers refused to quote upcoming prices. Business and Professional Direct OPTOMETRISTS J. E. Longstaff OPTOMETRIST SEAFORTH MEDICAL CENTRE 527-1240 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat- urday a.m., Thursday evening CLINTON OFFICE 10 Issac Street 482.7010 Monday and Wednesday Call either office for appointment. Norman Martin OPTOMETRIST Office Hours: 9.12 A,M, — 1:30.6 P.M. Closed all day Wednesday Phone 235.2433 Exeter Robert F. Westlake Insurance "Specializing in General Insurance" Phone 236-4391 — Zurich Guaranteed Trust Certificates 1 Year 2 Years 6% 62 % 3 & 4 Years 7% 5 Years 8% J. W. H.ABERER ZURICH PHONE • 236-4346 AUCTIONEERS ALVIN WALFER PROVINCIAL LICENSED AUCTIONEER For your sale, large or small, courteous andefficient service at all times. "Service That Satisfies" DIAL 237-3300 -- DASHWOOD FUNERAL DIRECTORS WESTLAKE Funeral Home AMBULANCE and PORTABLE OXYGEN SERVICE DIAL 236-4364 — ZURICH ACCOUNTANTS Roy N. Bentley PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT GODERICH P.O. 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