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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-07-04, Page 2401138sitor SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating Th. anneals Post Publish d In S•aforth, Ontario Every Wading/edgy Morning to arattiintl. daw.►.l Mentes MIATHIS tiONNIT. 0/her MIMf1 STAPP: Pool. Mott WOOS Oxford ADVI*T1$1141e: Tam -lyes elois cLAWS/PISD$. SUOSCJIIPTIONS ACCOUNTING; Pel Armes Dl.nn. Ms4r th Untie Pulhason Member Conoenon Community Newspaper Assoc Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union Internohanal Press Institute Subscription Rates Canada '22 00 o year in advance Senior Citizens '19.00 a year in advance Outside Canada '55.00 o yew in advance Single Copies 60 cents each Second class moil registration Number 0690 WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1990 editorial and $Uwln.ss Offices 10 Main Street, WO.forth Tal.phon. (319) 327-0240 Fos 327-0242 Mailing Address - P.O. Sou 49. $.afoorth. Ontario. NOK 1 WO All we can do is hope A record -breaker was announced this past Canada Day weekend, and it was not a record to be proud of. The Ontario Provincial Police reported that as of Monday, close to 400 liquor -related charges had been laid in Grand Bend for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a three-day tally topping last year's four-day total charge count of 367. Charges included drinking in a public place and drinking underage. Great to see that all of the Federal and Provincial alcohol - constraint related programs are working so well. Meanwhile, just down the road, the Pinery Provincial Park reported that quietest -ever long weekend, with a full house but only five to ten liquor violations and "..a lot of families." Booze is draining out of the parks and into the streets, it seems. If the possibility of losing a license, losing a car, spending a night in the cooler or killing themselves and others won't deter liquor violators, what will? Common sense dictates that drinking on the streets is an offense, and offensive. Common sense tells us that if someone persists in violating liquor laws, he or she will be caught and charged. And what we read in the papers, and see and hear on the news, tells us that all of the flashy commercials and glossy promotions won't stop drinking violations. The only thing that is going to begin to make a dent in the figures is common sense. And educated common sense has to be instilled at home, long before these 14 and 15 year-olds are Caught drinking on the streets, and in their cars two years later. Because that's the age that it's beginning to happen, everywhere. Even here. AH we can do is hope that one of Seaforth's young people, whoever it might be, only gets fined this summer, and not killed. P.E. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Concerns sparked over Adult Business Education demise Dear Editor I was outraged to hear the decision to cancel the Adult Business Education program at Seaforth District High School. How can you possibly allow something so beneficial to be dis- continued! I was one of the twenty women who went to the A.B.E. program last fall. I can not begirt to tell you how much it has helped me, along with the other ladies in my class. Thanks to the upgrading and cour- ses taken, I as able to obtain my Grade 12 diploma, and enter a 3 month co-op placement in which I could apply these skills. I enjoyed the fact that I was in a classroom with others my own age and we all become like one big family, of- fering each other tons of support and help. The courses that were offered Dear Editor: I am writing in regard to the recent decision to cancel the Adult Business Education program at Seaforth High School. As an employer of the co-operative program I feel that the community is losing a great service. We gained much from the program as we were able to train a student for four months at no cost to us. After that period we hired this student as she is now fully capable of taking over all office duties. The advantages to the student are extremely important. The student we worked with gained her Grade 12 through the program, which was an important achievement for her. I also saw her confidence and self esteem grow as she successfully completed all tasks given to her without a lot of supervision. 1 remember the day she was left to helped me to develop my skills, and in the end obtain my current job. I know I speak for all the other women in the program, that we have all benefited immensely from it. Not just in upgrading our education, but our own level of self-esteem as well. Therefore, I feel it would be a great loss to others that are interested in this program if it is not continued! I know if it were not for the hard work and support of Deani Van Pelt, Susan Wheatley and Jim Empringham, among others we would not have had such a suc- cessful first Adult Business Education program. I hope it continues to help others as it has helped me! 11 Yours truly, Cheryl Kelly ABE BABE GRAD 1990 Has the Bend changed, or have I? This is Eruct becoming a dodihark summa fur me. Between giving up on Nair for good, realizing that Toronto is really no graft shakes after all and findin* my greatin life wavering between a� to see India from the back of an elephant andforward toa home with reallyatluciC shag carpeung in the winter, another borne truth has struck me. 1 really don't enjoy Grand Bend much anymore. It tonic me a while to figure this out, and the realization sunk in kicking and screaming, but it finally hit me this past Sanuday as I meandered down the infamous Strip late at night with a couple of friends. Even up until this summer, a top to the Bend to soak up some sun and suds and ogle some bods was a highlight. "We've GOT to get to the Bend a lot this summer," 1 can recall telling people in May, and "It's supposed to be sunny on Saturday...wanna head to the Bend?" To be honest, the Bend just doesn't hold the fascination that it man the office Ice all by herself and how important she felt. Credit should also be given to the two instructors of the program, Deani Van Pelt and Susan Wheat- ley. They were always there for the girls to encourage them and keep their spirits up. Many of the girls were single parents and this program would give them the skills to enter the job market and become independent. These girls had decided to change their lives and I feel that others should be given the opportunity. One only needed to attend the graduation ceremony to understand the great impact this program had on the girls and their families. As one little three-year boy said as his mom received her diploma: "Way to go, Mom." Janis Dougall R H 1)ougall Bldg Prod Ltd used ID. Far one thing, the whole Isrdacipe has been screwed up there, amt between the town's Widea toarchhocht anlap some condoss on the bd Mr. Archie Gibb's tyrannical threats about paving his side of the beach or fencing it of f far his i nnaediate family, the beach itself seams to be bolding on to life with a kind of sad desperation. It's a fight to the death to hold on to your chunk of towel t afelt t a little beige as we were walking along the strip. To be IN at the Bend, you have to bedeck yourself in as much neon as you can cram onto your frame, and then some. Glowing phosphorescent stnps of neon tubing are big, ap- parcndy. Don't ask me why. I made a vow to myself at the beginning of the summer that 1 would not bow down to the great neon god that seems to rule the fashion scene every three or four years, and I'm fighting an uphill battle. Especially at the Bend. It's as if everyone has this great desire to be as soon as they hit the town limits. Then there's this age thing. Now, 1 don't consider myself past the age ROUGH NOTES by Paula Mutt of beach tannage by a kxtg shot, but is it just me, or is everyone ataning to look a lot younger these days? 'Mere it was, half an hour before last call on the streets of the Bend, and I pegged at least five girls at around 14 or 15. I felt like bolg than to go horse and get to 1 mentuxhed this phenomenon to someone the next day. -They're not getting younger..:you're gewrhg older, he replied calmly. I blanched. He's right. When you stop and coldly con- sider it, the Bend is not really everything that it was ever cracked up to be. It will be a crying shame if the beach itself ever disappears under a sea of concrete, as u promises to do, and thousands of teenagers who are hovering on the pimply -faced verge of adolescence nigh[ at this moment will miss out on a great institution of summer if the Bend folds, for whatever reason. But as for mc, I'm just as content lately with a small beach out in the middle of nowhere where 1 can lounge in my decidedly un -neem bathing suit,crack a brew un - harassed, read a book, and let my dog run. Somehow, this just seems a heck of a lot move attractive than sitting in a steamy car for an hour and a half waiting for a perking space, paying six dollars for said space, fighting for territorial rights on six feet of beach space and tap-dancing over puddles of God -knows -what on the sidewalks outside of pricey beach rag shops. Maybe 1 have outgrown the Bend after all. And I'm breaking out in a cold sweat at that thought. „IE t1.SuALLV AT TSE /AXE Bur 1L 6 -or .so /WO./ fr Et MyCoNSrirvpoN CAN Y TAKE /T / " "The times, they are a -changing". When I first came to live in Walton nearly 30 years ago, we had two grocery stores to supply our households with all the staples, an combination egg grading station/cold storage, an antique dealer, a viable CPR station delivering mail and goods to customers of the line, Duff's United Church and an Anglican Church, a eight grade red brick school used by all the kids who could walk to it, a barber shop/Lost Heir hangout for the men, the Post Office, a feed mill, the Community Hall, McGavin's Farm Implements on the main corner, Mark's Garage and the Hotel. Today we have a newer primary school, the same farm implement dealership in operation where the old school used to be and expanded into two businesses, a feed mill, one church, and grain storage elevators as part of a large grain buying and selling operation on Mill Street where there once was a muskrat pond. , Y-� Is this Progress? The Post Office moved across the street into the back of Humphries Store many years ago, and the other grocery store has become a tea room. There's a welding shop on Main Street and the hall now belongs to the Walton Women's Institute with the Walton Area Sports Club in charge of a tidy playing field beside it. One of the more. visible changes has been to the Hotel, now a good restaurant with bed -and -breakfast facilities. But we are no longer a self- sufficient little village. In many ways, we are a group of strangers that never seem to quite get the opportunity to become acquainted and get a sense of community. To people in nearby larger cities, the chance of owning their own home in this comparatively cheap real estate market seems like the opportunity for dreams to come true, and so lately our community includes people who commute quite a distance to their jobs. Some newcomers are easier to meet than Business Education is valuable Dear Editor: It has come to my attention that the Huron County Board of education is considering the removal of one of its newest adult education programmes. I am refer- ring tb the Adult Business Education programme that was offered at S.D.H.S. 1989/90. This is a programme that is aimed at giving adults who did not finish their secondary education another chance. At the same time as they are receiving their credit courses in the school environment, they are gaining experience using this new Information in the working environ- ment. 1 have been one of the workplace trainers involved with this programme. This has given me the opportunity to be able to ex- perience an adult's growth in con- fidence in her knowledge, her work and her achievements. The programme has been the opening of a new door for these adults. Several of the first graduating class have made plans to continue their education in College or University. Others have found themselves a better opportunity in employment. The programme has been successful for these adults. Is the Huron Coun- ty Board of Education sure it wants to give up a programme that has already established such a bright record? Yours truly, Shirley Carter RURAL ROOTS by Jeanne Kirkby others but as many are two income families, their time for socialization is limited. About the only place that one can expect to regularly exchange greetings with old friends and meet new neighbours in Walton has been at the Post Office wicket of our General Store where we are always greeted and well served by a good group - our postmistress and the rural mail carriers. Now we hear that this is about to change. Canada Post recently was pleased to announce that they will show a profit this year while at the same time claiming to provide exemplary service all over Canada. It's easy to make a profit when you charge more and cut back on your manpower. According to the Toronto Star, 1000 villages and towns will have their postal services "privatized" this year, which means that instead of having an official post office, the postal franchise will be given to a business already existing in a community. As an example, in the Limehouse, Ontario general store which took this duty, the Star reports that the new franchisee was making 13.9 cents an hour compared to Ontario's new minimum wage of $5.40 an hour. How many of these arrangements will be intact six months down the line? If no existing area business takes on this responsibility, we are probably in for green boxes and travelling to the nearest town for special mailing needs. We're not sure what the future looks like for our present mail carriers or the rural people served by them. The Walton Post Office now serves 240 families, with four rural routes. In the 1800's, the same area was covered by post offices in Bushfield, Orchill, Winthrop, Leadbury, Constance as well as Walton. As people grew used to shopping in distant stores to hit the bargains, the revenue to the village general store has been progressively diminishing. Our one grocery outlet is still here when we need them during storms and emergencies, but we take a lot for granted when we drive by them to do our main buying elsewhere. People use farm related businesses for specific reasons, and there is not the amiable meeting with the village folk around the centre stove that used to occur while you waited for your bacon to be sliced in the general store. As food producers, we are always anxious when USA markets sell product to Canadian food processors at a lower price than we can afford to produce it. When our village businesses watch us drive by to purchase specials in the large retail stores, are we not guilty of doing the same thing to them that the American competition is doing to the agricultural industry? And in this way are we not contributing to the decimation of our country population and the demise of our villages? Is this progress, or the Inevitable change of a developing society? 1 do not want to gee the disappearance of the country way of life. 1