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The Huron Expositor, 1987-11-25, Page 21-Eruron E-1, xpos o r SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating The Brussels Post Published in Seaforth, Ontario Every Wednesday Morning The Expositor is brought to you each week by the efforts of:Pat Armes, Nell Corbett, Dianne McGrath and Bob McMplan, • • ED BYRSKI, General Manager HEATHER McILWRAITH, Editor Member Conadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Ontario Ci5mmunity Newspoper'Association Ontarle Press Council Commonwealth Press Union InternotiOnal Press -Institute Subscription rates: • Canada '20.00 a year, in advance Senior Citizens • 47.00 a year in advance Outside Canada '60.00 a year, in advance Single Copies • .50 cents each ond class mail registration Number0696_ WEDNESDAY,. CEMBER. 2, 1987 Editorial and Business Offices. 10 Blain Street, Seaforth Telephone (519)527-0240 Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK IWO Makes fiscal sense Although it will mean financial woes,for Seaforth, Clinton, Goderich end Exeter, the move by Wingham's board of police commissioners to pull out • of the Huron County Communications system, appears on the surface to be an exercise in, good fiscal sense. Every indication is the town will be able t� purchase a similiar service from a system in Hanover, but at almost half,the costit now pays into the Goderich-based Huron County -system. • Wingham Board Chairman Fred McGee makes it clear the Wingham commission is not pulling out because it has been displeased with the Ser- yice provided by the Huron County system. The service itself has been satisfactory, Mr. McGee says, but any attempt by the Wingham commission to convince:the Goderich-based centre to cut operating costs in order to • reduce the financial burden on the member municipalities has seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps those responsible for planning the system's • operating budget failed to take seriously any suggestion Wingham might opt out if the costs were not cut. As it turns out, they were unwise to have • , done so. . •. • Just recently the Wingham Board of Police Commissioners was unanamous in. its decision to tell its Huron County Partners it wanted out of • the system which links the police departments in Goderich, Seaforth, Ex- -eter,-Clinton and Wingham. •' If Wingham is indeed able to purchase the same service from Hanover for at least $8,000 less than it was being asked to pay for service from the Huron County system in 1988, then the commission has served the ratepayers of Wingham well. What, however, will happen to the remaining four towns utilizing the- ' , county system?. • Canada Post losing credibility Dear Editor: The Canada Post Corporation corporate plan of privatization has drawn a lot of media attention over the past few months and I would like to let your readers know. what Wilno, Ontario has done in order to en- sure the survival of our privatized postal outlet. • We have undertaken as an emergency and temporary measure, a subsidy program to offset some of the fixed operating expenses related to the operation of the Post Office in the General Store in Wilno. The contracts • for operation on a commission basis will not in any way compensate the Whiteheads, our Postmaster, with a realistic income or cover fixed expenses like heat, hydro, bon- ding, liability insurance nor compensate for the fact the post office space can not be oc- cupied by groceries or other goods which would on resale, realize a profit for them. We do not wish any one to misconstrue this emergency subsidy as a user pay fee, but no one should be expected'to work at a loss•for CPC. Privatization of our -Post Office is a clear act of economic injustice to our Postmaster and to the economy of our rural community. The emergency subsidy will be in place until Canada Post Corporation and the Federal Government resume their respon- sibility as an employer and provide postal service in Wilno with a salaried employee who also receives all benefits according to the conditions negotiated for all Postmasters in rural Canada. Respectfully, Mrs. Patricia Sanderson Wilno Community Spokesperson and Chairperson, Ontario Chapter Rural Dignity of Canada. FROM THIS ANGLE • by Patrick Raftis Decisions about future There comes a time in the life of every toddler, when he has to make a decision on the age-old question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" In years gone by, such worthy profes- sions as firefighter, doctor, lawyer (oddly, newspaper reporter seldom nukes the top ten on these lists) headed the parade of oc- cupations which youngsters aspired to. Tunes were simpler then. "Dad, when I grow up, I want, to be a Yuppie," is becoming the pronouncement most commonly made by career -oriented youth in living rooms across North • America these days. Fathers, with their usual keen atten- tiveness have been heard to reply, "No darn way are you getting a puppy," before resuming their perusal of the evening paper. Were Dear Old Dad paying a little more attention, he might be slightly unnerved by the expression of such a goal by his offspring. Seems like everyone today wants to be a Yuppie (a silly acronym for Young Urban Professional), which is odd, because over a decade age, when Yuppies were Hippies, everone simply wanted to get rid of theni. Today's Yuppie is everything yester- day's Hippie was not – well-groomed, &m- eet -kid, financially secure and upwardly mobile. They have their own tully delielopeci set of status symbols. No Yup- pie could be complete without a con-. &Melanin (preferably one here, one in • Florida), a closet frill of the latest designer fashions and of course, an appropriate car. The car is extremely important. What was once considered the hallmark of suc- cess , the large North American automobile (the kind that devoured gasoline with the same vigor you imagine Orsen Wells would have devoured a stack of pancakes), is out. Today you must own a brand new, sleek, European -built driving machine to be considered stylish. The car milk also be hi A-1 Shape. While nostalgia buffs can still get buirry with OWn- ing a car horn that goes "Ooan-Gaah," the • same sound eminating from your engine block will earn you looka of seem from to day's well-heeled set. I know this from per- sonaLeiperience. • Before last month, it was also advisable for a Yuppie to have a substantial stock portfolio and the ability to converse in market lingo. Now, it's much wiser to claim you had all your disposable funds tied up in real estate. While it seerns like they are everywhere, society has still not reaehed the point where everyone has the financial capabili- ty ancf the materialistic outlook nec- cessary to become a member of the Yup- pie fraternity, Despair not! As one condemned, by lack of fiscal acumen, tO remain forever on the entry ramp to Life hi the Trendy Lane, I have decided to start my very own Social phenomenon. We will be called Young people who Kouldn't Kare less about Kondos (or pro- per spelling). For simplicity's sake, We will be known as Yirkkkies. The critera for becoming a Yukkkie will be simple and tantelest. We will drive either very old North AmeridEin autothobiles, or newer (Viet frugally -manufactured in some obsure Asian country. We will live m low rent apertMent bitildingS – the kind where the doomis often mit takenly arrested aS a vagrant, or cOmintrially-owned far- mhouses,. We will spurn the lure of the. demon Perrier, and instead drink Blank Label beer. We shall overcome' Our fashion guru Will be Levi Strauss and we will carry placecards questianing the manhood of people like Leo Chevalier and Pierre Cardin. Before the entire western world gets caught up in the Yrikkkie craze, before we become the subject of Hollywood movies and TV dociirdentaries I must admit, I have some reservatiOnt. For Orie thing; fit Ynkkkiea are begbin- ing to sound 8 bit like Hippies– and we all know what they grew up to be. Christmas creeping towards summer Contrary to the readings of my calendar, there are no 12 months of recuperating time between Christmases. Sure, it may have started out that way, but personally I think things have changed. Preparations for Christmas seem to be star- ting earlier and earlier .each year, and if it keeps up -Christmases may soon be back-to- back. Maybe I'm wrong but... I remember a time when all I did was struggle to keep my excitement under check during the last week before Christmas. Ob- viously, when you're a preschooler with no brothers andsisters_(Y_eI),Y--9--going to know too 'much about the big event unless • you've been coached, •or at least, until after the first visit to Santa. Claus. I don't even think, back then, that mom and dad had the Christmas decorations' up much in advance of December 25, and certainly the tree • wasn't up until the last week. But things are changing, and now that. I take the time to look back, Christmas really has been inching its way towards summer. (Like most of us, it probably doesn't like the cold weather). Certainly as I've grown older I've anticect considerable more time has been spent each yearuipTeparation kW Christmas. Maybe that's because the elder you get, the more involved you are - and the more respon- sibilities you have regarding the event. Maybe not. SWEATSOCKS by Heather McIlwraith. But think about it. When you enter school you enter a world where there . is increased emphasis an Christmas, at least the secular Christmas. As a student there are of course, Christmas songs to be learned and sung, Christmas art to create and Christmas concerts to take part in, to name a few of the activities. That means you're probably ,preparing for Christmas at least by the start of December. As you grow older you get drawn into the world of Christmas shopping. And although some people do leave it until the last month (week, day - whatever) some prefer to avoid the rush and do it well in advance of the December 25 deadline. Businesses and stores therefore are now promoting Christmas well in advance of the season. In some places there are even such things as Christmas stores that.promote the once yearly event,on a year-round basis. The spin-offs of that are amazing. This_year, for example, in Seaforth, the deadline for the town's Christmas window decorating contest was November • 19; the town's Christmas tree was in place by that date; and the official turning on of the festive lights -(on the trep, the Main Street) took place November 20. It all hap- pened a little soon for my liking. Eut.thet seems to be the trend.• • Even at my parent's home, where I dan't remember the Christmas decorations get- ting up before raid -December at the earliest, Chrittmas preparations started early I figure dad is bored, because.the house is lit an with more strands of lights than normal, the Christmas tree is up, and he's made inroads' on his infamous' Christmas scene which has a place of honor under the tree. • • Even the Christmas baking seems to be 'getting done earlier this year, and certainly company Christmas parties are being held a little sooner than I'd ever irnagined. Yes, from where I'm sitting Christmas no longer appears to be a festive' day/week of every year: In fact, it -no longer seems to be confined to the month it actually falls in. And if it continues to inch its way backwards, 1 can't see it staying confined to the months of November and December for much longer. I'm predicting next year we May even see the Jolly Man in Red, out with the best of them, on October 31. Rural community employs emergency Open letter to: Right Honourable Brian Mulroney: Is it really possible that you have lost touch with the voting public? Is it really possible that you have lost touch with your friends from Manicouagan? Is it really possible that you have lost touch with your own backbenchers? Is it really possible that you have lost touch with the needs. of Rural Canada? When the mail was transported by train, it took four days for a letter to reach Van- couver from Halifax. In urban areas we had two mail deliveries a day and one on Satur- day. Christmas cards were being sent for two cents. All employees were .proud to be part of the Canada Post Office Department: most rural postmasters worked on weekends- without pay, "the mail mutt go Hum'. Rural post -offices have always been the heart of a community where people met to pick-up news and exchange news. Those were the days. Then carne the boxes identifying a deadline for mailings in order to enjoy the subsidy LETTERS TO ThE EDITOR best of service; then, the boxes sorting the "in town" and "out of town" mailings in order to enjoy the best of service; and now, you have the "superboxes" in order to enjoy the best of service. The result, two days lanai within a city, three days between ma- jor centres in the province and four days between major centres from province to province. Have you already forgotten the rural service? Now, the greatest invention is set -siring the needs of Canada Post Corporation: publici- ty. You are spending millions of dollars with the media, telling the Canadian voters how geed of a service you are committed to pro- vide. In the meantime, jobs are lost all across Canada: the most devastating results are felt in rural communities, where a local voter must provide the postal service at a loss in order to maintain postal service in their community. Going back 40 years. Why would Canada Post cause such a tur- moil and lose credibility? All Canadians are asking for is: service — service — service. Provide the postal service from east to west and west to east, and, from north to south and south to north and I will pay the going rate, be it by government subsidy or by in- crikesed postal rate. I object paying 36 cents j• -to increase the ivory tower executives: I will gladly pay 50 cents for real service by post office employees, who could still be pro- ud of their job! J.G. Gelinas (a rural Canadian) Box 373 • Alfred, Ontario •KOB 1A0 • Seciforth DECEMBER 2.1887 Seaforth has done well this year in the way of extending its borders. In fact we are safe in saying that few towns can show a bet- ter record. In order to let our own residents as well as the outside world knew just what we are doing in the way of building up the town, we have secured from the principal contractors a list of the buildings completed in Seaforth this season and the amount these' buildings cost. The total outlay for Seaforth contractors this season was $72,373. No doubt there are various other improvements which we have not obtained and it would be safe to estimate that the total expenditure in building in this town for the present season will amount to fully $80,000. It will be seen that there have been hi all 27 new residences erected, and notwithstanding this large addition to the house accommodation of the town, there is not a vacant house in it. These facts speak for themselves. At the present rate of going We shall soon be assuming city airs and hav- ing our town incorporated as such. The first sleighs for this season appeared on the streets on Monday, and the occa- sional one has been creaking around every day since. But there is not yet sufficient snow for sleighing although wheeling is ex- cellent on the main roads. Five Miles west of , this there was no sleighing of any account. A wedding party from the county created considerable excitement in town Wednes- day evening. The male portion of the party . had evidently indulged over freely in Anti - Scott, and in starting for home the Whole party, some seven or eight carriages, drove up Main and Goderich streets as- hard as their horses could run much to the danger of has great growth IN THE YEARS AGONE from the Archives their own safety as Well as the safety of others who happened to be in the streets. As they were turning the corner at the Royal Hotel one Of the Vehicles nearly upset and the lady in it fell out, and it is a wonder she was nOt seriously hurt, but the got into the vehicle again and they started of It would serve them right it the Mayor would find out who they are and have theth punished for furious driving. • NOVEMBER 29, 1612 Several farmers complain of the wholesale destruction of black squirrels which has been going on for yeas by sport- smen. The forests M this vicinity are now becOnling thinned out and the protection for the squirrels not so great as it used to be and consequently they all the more easily become a prey to the sportsinan's gun. As a resultlif tlig they are becoming very kaYee and are likely to be driven Out altogether. Although the open season is short, a good many are of the opinion that shooting black and grey squirrels should be entirely pro- hibited for two or three year's tO allow thein to pranogate. Indian summer seems to have jumped in- to the lap of Whiter. Last week the weather was balmy and summer like. This week it has. been Snot./ and cold. The annual meeting of the Walton Beef Ring was held at the home of John Bennett last Friday evening. John Smilie acted as chairman and George 1VicFadzemi as secretary. Thirty-two head of cattle had bin butchered *during the pad_ season, averaging 450 pounds Of dressed meat and totalling Six and a half tons. DECEMBER 3,1937 For the first time iri 16 years Hensall will have no =liming election. All offices in the village were filled by acclamation on Mon- day evening, members of the 1937 council and school board being re-eletted, Records fell on Friday evening as more than 800 people filled every available space in Cardno s Hall to see the second amateur contest sponsored by the Seaforth Athatear Athletic Association. Practically every form of entertainment Was given as more than thirty amateurs from–the–entire district von:Meted for the - prizes offered. D. L. Reid Wan the master of ceremonies and his ultra-cornie costume and wise-driackt were an amusing feature The prize winners were: (Seniors) Keith Sharpe and A. Finlayson, the Hillbillies Of Egtanildville m secceid, McCallum sisters of Blyth in third, and the Bornholm orchestra in fourth. The junior winners were DONS and Jeanette Tank of Palmerston, Porothy dollop irt second; Edna dollop inthird, and Isabel McKellar, Margaret 'Dale and TOM to page 19 •