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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1973-11-15, Page 4PAGE 4 `. ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 19'73 Sharp thinking, boys! A couple of weeks ago a whole mess of municipalities, large and small, were all whopped into the same bucket to make one of these new regional set-ups. Located in Eastern Ontario, one of the local names was Durham, Durham County to be exact. Lo and behold, when the whole thing was put together in one piece the residents decided, apparently with full prov- incial sanction, that Durham would be used as the name of the new region. Naturally the people in Durham, Grey County, are a bit provoked. And why not? Obviously the name Durham was in use previously in Eastern Ontario --but that was the name of a county, not a segregated municipality. For example, no mail was addressed with Durham as a destination unless it was intend ed for the community in Grey. With all the names in the world to choose from the Easteners hadto pick on the one which would duplicate that of another place, and one which has been going under that name for the past 100 years. Perhaps it's understandable that the residents of Durham County wanted to retain that naive, but it seems ridiculous that provincial authorities are prepared to compound confusion by telling the Grey County Durhamites they should have prot- ested away back last summer. Quite probably no one this side of Toronto ever thought of the duplication ever receiving ser- ious consideration. (Mt. Forest Confederate) Who'll pipe the tune! Communication from Provincial Treasurer John White rec- eived at this newspaper office this week revealed that county officials all over Ontario are being asked for their suggestions for guidelines on the restructuring of county govenrments. It is to be hoped that Huron County councillors will accept Mr. White's challenge and offer their viewpoint to the Minister very soon. It is time now for Huron County Council to stop speculating about the future and to begin to draft some real and workable changes for the benefit of people here and all across Ontario. And according to Mr. White's communique, there will be no consideration given to half-baked briefs and parochial pussy- footing. It is clearly set out in Mr. White's letter that because the government intends to give restructured counties the same grants it now gives to regions, the restructuring must be actual "and not merely tinkering." As a starting point, the government believes that to qualify for grants, restructured counties should probably provide seven services; water, sewage collection and treatment, an arterial road system, planning, health services, a welfare program and capital borrowing. As well, four major phases or reform endorsed by government are consolidation of local municipalities, return of cities and separated towns to their counties, equitable representation on county councils and enlarging and updating councils and enlarging and updating the responsibility of county units. A fifth factor is the need to tailor local government to suit local needs. Mr. White has also declared that the seven basic criteria by which a restructured county might be judged are reviewing all aspects of local government within the county; involving the separated towns or cities; determining present servicing responsibilities; examining the county's economic resource, assessment and financial bases; defining the problems facing the area, with particular reference to present organizations and structures; encouraging public awareness, participation and understanding of issues by, among other things, publishing the county's findings and recommendations; and submitting these findings and recommendations to the affected municipal- ities and the Minister. The Minister further suggests a number of items that a restructuring study should examine including population press- ures; the boundaries of local municipalities and the county itself; existing communities of interest between variou popul- ation centres in or near the county; the relationship between the county and the cities and separated towns; the organization of county council; the appropriate division of responsibilities, the elimination of special-purpose bodies; and the degree of accountability and responsiveness that could or should be prov- ided by the organizational framework. The province is willing to share in the costs of such restruct- uring studies - 50 percent or up to a maximum provincial input of $50, 000. But as well as money, such a study needs the courage and the vision of dedicated men and women who know that if they do not do the job themselves, the day is not far off when it will be done for them. But when that happens the tune will be played by another piper. (Goderich Signal Star) R• ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 its e Member: ���v+f+!`. Canadian Weekly. Newspapers Association 4.14 Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association Subscription Rates; $5.00 per year in advance in Canada; $6.00 in Witted States and Foreign; single copies 15¢ SOON IT WILL BE 80 MILES IN 80 DAYS For years Canadians in small towns have watched the drying up of passenger train services. Community after community has had its rail services cut. Passenger service in this country is now about on a par with that in Outer Mongolia. Many communities fought hard to retain the train service, but the locals were no match for the railways, with their pub• lic relations men, lawyers, experts and the inevitable fig- ures. There is none of the romance and excitement of Canada's early railways in these figures. There is no sentiment. They show that the line is losing money, and that's all the rail- ways care about. Theydon't mention that there seemed to be a deliberate plan to let the tracks and the coache fall into such disrepair and shabbiness that even an Outer Mongolian would prefer to travel by yak. There was almost no attempt except on the big transcontin- ental trains, to provide faster, more comfortable, reliable service. The railways are perfectly happy to provide good service for cattle and hogs, but they just don't want people riding on their trains. Is our postal service going the way of our passenger train service? Is there a secret consp- iracy, high in the ranks of our postal department, to discour- age Canadians from commun- icating by mail? Are postal authorities being bribed by the Bell Telephone, the railways' telecommunicat- ions system, and other compet- itors to put the brakes on postal delivery to the point where it will diminish to a trickle, then halt completely? One would think so, on the evidence. People in business who dep- end on the so-called postal ser- vice in this country, must be losing their hair, their minds, and even their businesses these days. Last summer, when we were in England, I mailed two col- umns back to Canada. No problem. They were there right on time. My wife wrote some postcards. "Not much point, " I observed. "We'll be home before the cards get there We weren't. But have you tried the Can- adian mails lately? Don't unless there is no other way. Last night, my wife came across an old love letter, from me, and read it to the accomp- animent of my blushes and snore That letter travelled more than 200 miles, and took two days to get there, and cost four cents postage. This week, we had a letter from our daughter. She lives the vast distance of 80 miles away. You could walk it in four days, hitch -hike it in two. Yet the post office, with its computors, its fancy codes and its fast, modern trucks, took the grand total of four days to get the letter from there to here. That's really whippy service. Twenty miles a day. And it cost eight cents. Twice the cosi. for less than half the efficiency. This column is mailed from here to the city on Tuesday, foi processing. It should be deliv- ered next morning, the people here tell me. It isn't. Some- times it gets there Friday. Sometimes it doesn't. After some complaints from the city end, I took what I thought was drastic action. I sent the column by certified mail. That sounds impressive. It consists of putting your envelope inside a special env- elope, and paying forty cents for the privilege. "That'll do it, " I tl{ought comfortably. It didn't. Three days later, the city was on the blower. No column. I explained what I'd done. They said they'd go to the post office. They did. Nobody knew anything about it. After eight days, the whole sordid little, unimportant story came out. Certified mail must be sign- ed for. The elevator in the office building in the city was not working. The recipients of the column were on the third floor. No postie was going to walk up three flights of stairs. So the "certified" letter was not delivered. Worse still was the fact that it was dumped somewhere in the post office and ignored. Eight days after it was mail- ed, it turned up. Eight days, eighty miles. But by gosh, the price is right. Only forty cents. I've no grudge with the local people. They are helpful and obliging. But somewhere out there.... Sending a letter these days is about as effective as writing a note, putting it in a bottle, and dropping it in the Pacific Ocean, Except that the latter is a lot cheaper, if you happen to have an empty bottle. Next year, I'm going to hire a mule train for my mail. 0 . Personally, I don't mind paying income tax. 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