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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-02-28, Page 2� Hurono F xpsitor SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating The Brussels Post Published in Seaforth, Ontario Every Wednesday Morning +a 1 kj; ,A+k The Expositor is brought t® you each week by the efforts of: Pat Armes, Paula Elliott, Terri -Lynn Dale, Dianne McGrath and Bob McMillan. ED BYfi8SKI, General Manager HEATHER ROBINET, Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union international Press Institute Subscription Rates: Canada '20.00 a year, in advance Senior Citizens -'17.00 a year in advance Outside Canada '60.00 a year, in advance Single Copies - .50 cents each Second class mall registration Number 0696 liJ!!Yl�rti;,kii�fii+£ir.� :t§ e13 it4:iy'vi4iii;;Lr �:.::fi:A •::}'t:+ ::•ia:. Editorial and Business Offices - 10 Main Street, Seaforth Telephone (519) 527-0240 Meiling Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK IWO Interest rates remain a problem Fickleness no female trait I've heard that, it is a woman's perggative to change her mind, but never have I heard that statement applied to the other gender. I'm not sure if that's because men should never be allowed to make a decision in the first place, or because they'd take advantage of that perogative if it were ever offered them. Recent experiences with home renova- tions have caused me to ponder this ques- tion somewhat extensively, as I am shown daily that fickleness - or indecisiveness - is not a trait that should be applied primarily to women in the throes of home decorating. Seems to me there's a lot more decision making held up by a husband's uncertainties about style, efficiency and his own good taste. I make this statement from personal experience of course, but without any intent to malign my good hus- band's taste - he did after all pick me, right? Home decorating however, is another matter... Take our bathroom as an example. Because of the age of our home it was most evident when we moved in that an update of the plumbing facilities would eventually be in order. We've chosen now as the time to snake that update. After endless discussions about color, style and cost I finally figured we'd made our decision, and were ready to place our orders. It was only a matter of weeks (and preferrably days) before our bathroom SWEATSOCKS by Heather Mobilnet 1.`,Stivtm1.c:mmom:\::mnT.i;:Jt.::•:.v.::M,•.ea'i Yk:m}} ivmmCv.:.vy1'}' would finally undergo the transformation from merely functional to comfortable as well. I hadn't counted on my husband's in- decisiveness - perhaps more rightly labell- ed as a perfectionist nature. Seems the more we learned about the plumbing trade, and the fixtures and extras available in this -day and age, the more un- sure he became about what would best suit our needs, and the theme of our home. So it was back .to the drawing board, where we teetered and tottered for several more weeks between pedestal basins or vanities, whirlpool or cast iron tubs, ar- borite tops or marble, and placement of lighting gand heating. . Yo u d have thought we were debating the merits of indoor plumbing as opposed to outdoor. And we still haven't made a decision about faucets. I don't know if that's good or bad, since our initial orders have been changed so many times, from one thing to another and then back again to the original, that we're probably driving the people we're dealing with a tad crazy. No doubt they dread receiving a phone message that reads, Please return the ral1 Myself I've gotten quite used to the fact that my husband is less than anxious to make a decision that may tie him to a cer- tain tain fixture or "look" for the rest of his life.`iI'm growing used to the fact that evening discussions that start out with, "I've finally decided that we should go with a vanity in the little bathroom" will be followed by statements like, "but I real- ly like the look of the pedestal", "No, the vanity is more practical" and "I've chang- ed my mind again". You should hear the discussions under- taken when it comes to discussing final placement of these articles in the room in question. I never imagined a quarter of an inch to the left or right, or the number of inches out from the wall, could be so crucial. Obviously they are, and obviously our in- decisiveness is slowing down at least a portion of our home renovations. However, we will probably be happier in the long run. Or at least I hope so. In the meantime I'll be able to keep fit running stairs as I'm forced to floss and brush on one floor, and shower and flush on another. Despite dire predictions earlier, Finance Minister Michael Wilson proposed no new tax increases in his budget speech last week - at least not directly. The main thrust of Mr. Wilson's latest set of fiscal proposals is to reduce the federal deficit through tighter controls on governmental expenditures. We've heard that before. Part of this control is to be exercised by eliminating, reducing, or capp- ing increases on a wide range of specific federal economic support pro- grams. Along with that, Mr. Wilson proposes significant caps on, or reduc- tions in, the level of transfer payments to provinces, a move that may avoid raising federal tax rates, but will almost certainly lead to tax increases at the provincial or municipal level. Six new income tax measures were proposed,- all described in the budget papers as largely of a houskeeping nature. Admittedly, two of them are relieving provisions, since one would extend the benefits of the prepayments program for child tax credits to larger families with incomes above the present maximum threshold level, and another proposes an in- crease in the foreign property ownership limit for pension plans and other deferred income trusts. The other new tax measures deal with the tax treatment of cultural pro- perty, dispositions of real estate by non-residents, and limits on contribu- tions to Registered Education Savings Plans - just more anti -avoidance provisions. The agricultural sector was left relatively untouched by the budget cuts, except for the elimination of the Livestock Feed Board and the transfer of its function to Agriculture Canada. Farmers will however, continue to be hampered by the issue of high in- terest rates - unresolved in this budget. High interest rates have inflated the value of the Canadian dollar by more than 18 per cent since the end of 1986, seriously limiting the ability of farmers to compete on the international market. From January 1987, for example, .to December 1989, the average chartered bank prime interest rate rose by 4.25 per cent. That has taken more than 900 million dollars out of the pockets of Canadian farmers in additional debt servicing costs.: Canada's high interest rate policy has also inflated the price of many of the goods and services that Canadian farmers have to buy at a time when they are already under financial pressure because of international commodity prices. Things may only get worse in 1990. What may have been Tess apparent to those listening to the Minister's speech last week is that while Mr. Wilson did not announce any new taxes, several "new" tax measures already introduced are scheduled to take ef- fect in 1990 or 1991. Chief among these is the Goods and Services Tax, now expected to come into force next January at a seven per cent rate. Add to that the impact of several tax measures announced in December in conjunction with the reduction in the proposed GST rate from nine per cent to seven per cent. Not the least of those was a staggering increase in the rates of personal income surtax, a tax that was originally introduc- ed as a temporary measure, and was to be eliminated when the sales tax reform measures came into effect. So much for promises. However, Mr. Wilson has at least responded to cries that his budget ad- dress the federal deficit more directly. The overall expenditure control plan, and the associated savings in public debt charges are expected to account for overall savings during the next two years of $6.1 billion, and total sav- ings over the next five years of $16.7 billion. Let's hope Mr. Wilson's economic projections are accurate. This commitment, if not more, is necessary to ease pressure on the Canadian dollar and to allow lower in- terest rates to reappear. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 1 5pE4/ V6 of so/ N/t/& RUBBER, �%% . /1,6) �!//i'E IVO 0/1/4" CdOVLD C c% -CI /F TH/ P/LO u/JRE. COLD®W 4/ . h1 8/r / m Brochure full of untruths Dear Editor: Parents For French brochures are full of untruths! They are not only full of un- truths, but fail to print the negative results of early French Immersion.' French promoters are aware of the "Swain Report", "A Decade of Research", Ministry of Education, 1981, and they are aware of the "O.I.S.E. Report," (Ontario. Institute for Studies in Education), and the "Trite Report," (Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education, 1988 over 7 years). They do not print the whole truths from these reports. For example, they refer to the Swain Report as affirming the benefits of Early French Immersion for children. It actually states on page 45 and I quote, "a major problem in evaluating educational programs is the selection of a control group", also, "a problem without a solution". The 0.I.S.E. Study "showed that younger children do not necessarily learn faster in Early French Immersion, at least not with a second language". The Trite Report discovered "even the brightest of children, those who displayed an eagerness to learn and with excellent English skills, were experiencing problems with the early French Immersion program. When they switched to English, they flourished". A quote in Toronto Life Magazine, March 1986 by Katherine Govier reads as The writer stays "We can free the writer in you!" I .read the advertisement in Writer's Digest ("Your monthly guide to getting published") with some interest. It was an eye-catching, full-page blowout accom- panied by a pastoral photo of a woman, looking fetchingly fresh and windblown, perched by the seaside with her writing pad on her knee. She was no doubt jotting down something warm and witty. "I'm living my dream," she gushed. I grew skeptical. "I can tell you, there's no more rewar- ding life than the writing life," she went on. I laughed aloud. "So if something deep down inside of you says 'I want to be a writer', l urge you to send for your free Blank Blank Blankity- Blank catalogue today! ", she pressed. If something deep down inside of you says '1 want to be a writer', I shot back at her, take a good, strong laxative and hope that it's gone by the morning. Although 1 have the weekly joy - or agony, depending on the week - of seeing my own handiwork in black and white in the newspaper, 1 too have been wrestling with the "I want to be a writer" demons. I've often put down a book and thought, 'I could have written that.' Sure, I could have written it. Only a few complicating modifiers are holding me back. It's more like, 'I could have written that if somebody would go to work for me, s ackled...for ROUG. '. I_i OT by Paula Elli tt wash my dishes, feed my beasts, do my laundry and shower me with praise every 4 or 5 paragraphs.' It's those nagging lit- tle details that are cramping my style. I could be a Pullitzer Prize winner by now, otherwise. A North American poll revealed that about 40% of a population are aspiring novelists. 1 figure that about 50% of that 40% are huddled around in student cafeterias and smoky jazz bars, speculating on their cerebellums and say- ing, "Yeah, I'll write a book one day, when II think the world is ready for my way of thinking, you know?" We can safe- ly eliminate them from the equation. That leaves 20% who probably do have the capacity to actually pen a seller. If 20% of the world's Real Estate agents make 80% of the money in that profession, I'd hazard to guess that Stephen King and Danielle Steele make about 73% of the money to be had in novels. So what is the main difference between the people who SAY that theycould wri to a book, and the people who actually DO it? Sweat and tears. That's what cracks me up about these S "Free the Writer in You" blasphemies. They fudge the truth. Why don't they show a picture of a writer, owl -eyed, on his 10th cup of coffee, in front of a blank piece of paper at 5 o'clock in the morning with a 9 o'clock deadline? Or sobbing quietly on- to his corrector ribbon because he's just used up his last synonym for "said"? Or lining the litter box with rejection slips? II haven't gotten that far yet, but the pro- spect terrifies me. I worked on a book for two or three weeks a few summers ago, and I'm still hauling the fruits of my labours around kr a box with me, why, I don't know. I do know that as soon as 1 open that box, I'll shriek in horror, throw what I do have written in the trash and either a) start all over again or b) give up the dream altogether. I don't like either idea. Maybe I just don't like the idea of /kick- starting myself into action. But I do have a viable excuse. My coffee pot is broken. Yeah, that's the ticket....my coffee pot Is broken! When I get my coffee pot fixed, THEN I'll finish the book. And I'm out of typewriter ribbon, too. Gosh, what a shame. follows, "Immersion is a product of paren- tal demand", "it has been successful because it is backed by a strong lobby group". A recent study done by the second largest School Board in Ontario, (Ottawa - Carleton) in 1989 reveals that at least one out of every five children drop out of Ear- ly French Immersion (20%). The drop out rate increases with each year of early French Immersion. This causes serious ad- justments back into English classes and re- quires psychiatric treatment in some cases. Parents are brainwashed into believing that French is going to be an advantage in the future in order for their four year old to get a job later. In the meantime, the children are learning to speak Frengish, according a Professor at Simon Fraser University in B.C. Frengish is a jargon that is uncorrectable when learned very young. If parents wish to be brainwashed in- stead of investigating the truth, that's one thing, but please consider what you are do- ing to your small children. Cost is a big factor concerning the implementation of the French language, but destroying the future potential of your children because of the coercing of a dying language on them is pathetic to say the least (French is 12th in spoken languages of the world)! Tarn to page 8A Goderich Taverns combed for liquor. FEBRUARY 28, 1890 News of the World: A gang Of highwaymen robbed a stage coach between Sonderburg and Glensbug, in Germany, after beating the men in charge into insensibility. The Salvation Army barracks in Wingham have been broken into a couple of times lately and considerable damage done, the last time, the stove, flag, two drums, organ and tambourine were partly or entirely destroyed. A reward has been offered for the conviction of the guilty par- ty or parties. Messrs. Smith Brothers, of Lake Road, Stephen, lost a very valuable young bull. It is supposed that the animal was chok- ed by a piece of turnip. The animal was valued at $200. An 1899's ad: "The equivalent in English money of $2,500 was once offered by an old lady in London for the return of a favourite cat which had strayed or been stolen. People called her a 'crank', and perhaps she was. It is unfortunate that one of the gentler sex should ever gain that ti- tle, yet many do. It is, however, frequent- ly not their fault. Often functional d tl change IN THE YEARS AGONE from the Expositor Archives {'•if �:•,:;:�:isoisl`ir;:�:•?:::::j:�:�r?:::•r:;:}::}:::•,:::::tib:::; woman's entire nature. Don't blame such sufferers if they are 'cranky', but tell them to use Dr. Pierce's Favourite Prescription, which is an infallible remedy for 'female weaknesses'. It will soon restore them to their normal condition." FEBRUARY 28, 1915 Perch fishing with hooks is now proving a most profitable occupation at Goderich, and many large catches have been made in the past few weeks. The barn at the rear of what is known as the McKim property in Walton was burned down on Saturday night, and for a time threatened to prove serious to other properties. The building was used as a storehouse by W. G. Neil, merchant, and the cause of the fire is a problem. It was one of the oldest buildings in Walton, and had weathered many a storm in the past fifty years. ilierangements will apparen y a On Wednesday evening of last week, a bunch of men arrived by the C.P.R. and proceeded to make a search raid on all of the hotels in Goderich, It is said every house was visited and diligently searched, but so far as can be learned, in only one place was the forbidden booze found, and only in a small quantity there. Mr. John Armstrong of Tuckeramith has purchased the cottage of Mr. Ben Cole in Clinton for $750, and Mr. and Mrs. Arm- strong intend taking up their residence in that town shortly. The thaw of the past week has left the roads in a pretty bad condition, there be- ing neither good sleighing or wheeling. MARCH 1, 1940 Huron County will play an important part in the Empire air scheme. After an emergency meeting, Huron County council agreed to rent Sky Harbor Airport to the Crown at a nominal rental of $1.00 a year. Turn to pale 8A A .1�