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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-05-09, Page 2} Iuron 15:EIX o i or •Incorporating The Brussels Post Published In Seaforth, Ontario Every Wednesday Morning I 10.4 The Expositor Is brought to you each week by the efforts of: Pat Armes, Terri -Lynn Dale, Paula Elliott, Dianne McGrath. Bob McMillan, Susan Oxford and Linda Pullman.. • .43 It A ED BYRSKIM 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 Editorial and Business Offices - 10 Main Street, Seaforth Telephone (519) 527-1240 Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1WO Winning Picasso in Chicago My annual Easter weekend trip to Chicago has become something I look for- ward to all year long. Chicago is one of America's greatest cities and is guaranteed to always be fun for me. This year I decided to do things a little differently. Just to save on the hefty cost of getting from the airport to downtown, and my hotel, I decided to. take public transportation. I've relied on this method of getting around in many cities around the world and am pretty good at it, although I constantly get on the wrong route. This Easter was no exception. I asked directions on which bus to take from the airport and did fine until I had to make a connection., With my suitcase and camera gear in hand I waited in a light drizzle for the wrong bus to pick me up. When I' boarded the bus 'I asked the driver to please tell me when my stop came up. He looked at my suitcase and me and told me that I was a "fool to be on this bus because this is the slow bus." He then proceeded to announce to everyone on the bus that I was a fool and caught this bus instead of the express one just behind us. Since our bus was moving there was nothing he could do but try to meet the ex- press bus, which was now passing us, at JUST THINKING by Susan Oxford the next stop. At the stop he stopped and told me I could "run across the road like a fool and try to catch the express bus, but you probably won't make it. You'd have to run through traffic now and it's rush hour here. We don't do things like that in Chicago. Not in this town." He told me to sit back and enjoy the ride and remember that I'm a fool. Which I did, but I didn't feel like a fool at all. Forty five minutes later I arrived downtown and walked through the rain to my hotel. I readied myself to meet a friend and take it easy the rest of the evening with dinner at a favourite place and blues nightclubbing until I couldn't stand anymore. The next day I went to Daley Centre to sit by the Picasso sculpture that I have grown to love. It's a huge steel sculpture with a head -like figure coming up and out of a broad upcoming base. It likely weighs a ton and is incredibly strong. After all the years it has watched over Daley Centre it has received no damage, or spray paint. I sat by the sculpture for what seemed like forever, waiting for my favourite Picasso appreciators to happen along. Finally I .saw them coming and got my camera ready for the action. About six of them, young boys dressed in fluorescent colours and dark sunglasses, approached on their skateboards and proceeded to skate on the base of the sculpture. Being a lover of practical art in action I snapped away and captured them as they graceful- ly skated around the neck of the head -like figure. They slid up and around the sculpture for a good long time before they were joined by speed skaters. Back in Seaforth, last Sunday, I watch- ed skateboarders skate on the only available place they could, a cement stair- case. I felt sad that I couldn't watch them do wonderful stunts on an allowed area in town, and wished I was back in Chicago. "No Recourse" • It seems kind of ironic that, at about the same time that local schools were in the throes of planting trees in celebration of Earth Day, Ontario Hydro was working on the final plans for hydro line installation and the removal of a number of trees in Egmondville. We giveth, and we .taketh away. For every process whereby trees are removed, either for hydro line con- struction, building or raod widening, we are assured' that trees will be put in in their place. But is this enough? Will this make up for the Toss? In the case of the trees in Egmondville, certain members of the Township Council are raising concerns to this effect, and they are to be applauded. The gain must be equal to the loss, and token conciliatory gestures just will not do. Council has been told that there is no recourse available to them in this . case, that the work must be'done and that the trees in Egmondville must come down. This is just one case among many, and some may argue that it is a small case at that, but it stands as an example of what is going on all around us. For every action to which there is "no recourse" - be it the damming of a creek, the building of glass and steel boxes at the Toss of heritage buildings, and tghe razing of a forest - the same token conciliatory offereings are made in their stead. it's time to stand back and take a long, hard look at what we are being offered, be it cash, shopp- ing malls or sickly saplings. Is it enough? Will it ever be enough? Or is it too late for it to matter anymore? It isn't too late, and if we stand back and look at the big picture, we can see that the Egmondvile tree question is a small component of a big- ger global problem. We giveth and we taketh away. But maybe, just maybe, if we gave back to the Earth a little bit more than we take, the balance that has been so sadly lacking of late might somehow be struck again. Kingsbridge Reion LETTERS TE ED 0 Mr:ECH LAKr- Cao/5E ASP nui�1�UIt1IItdUl°,gftIlll1lUl0lilUlflJlllll i 11I 11111111 Ito • TH/5 COVERS YOUR FLIGMT `SHE DELUXE PLAN tf'J L)RE YOU HAVE A PLANE To the editor: A reunion of all pupils who attended school at S. S. #2, Kingsbridge (R. #3, Goderich) is planned for July 7, 1990, anytime after 12:30 p.m. This special reu- nion will be held at the home of Marlene (Drennan) MacDonald at R. #2, Lucknow (St. Helens). We simply ask that anyone attending bring llawnchairs, cameras and refreshments. For further information phone (519) 528-2327. Sincerely, 1 Marlene (Drennan) MacDonald Graduating Class of '65. In defence of far licese plates RURAL ROOTS by Jeanne Kirkby All farmers in Ontario, be they members of general interest farm organizations or not, may purchase special farm truck licence plates and therefore reduce their licensing fees by $374 annually per vehicle. By Section 744/82 of the Highway Traffic Act, legislation was passed which defined a farmer as: "A resident of Ontario who owns farm property that is used in a farming enterprise which, in a normal production year, produces farm pro- ducts having a gross value of at least $8,000 in that part of Ontario which is west of Northumberland, Victoria and Peterborough Counties, or south of Haliburton and Muskoka." These farmers, and those earning at least $5,000 in the other areas, were given the right to purchase farm licence plates for a fee of $175, compared to the commer- cial truck licence plate licence fee of $549 for a 15,000 kg two -axle truck. It was stated that the vehicle could be used for the farmer's personal transporta- tion; the uncompensated transportation of farm products, supplies or equipment; or the compensated transportation of farm products, supplies or equipment in the months of September, October or November. It was also specified that farm products do not include products preserv- ed by freezing, pickling, cooking, smoking or curing, other than cured tobacco leaves. On Dec. 4, a meeting was hell between the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF), the Ministry of Transporta- tion (MOT), the Ontario Trucking Associa- tion (OTA) and OFA members in which alleged "widespread abuse" of farm plates was discussed. As a result, the OTA sent a letter to the Minister of Transportation in which they expressed these concerns. They felt that the commercial trucking industry was the victim of widespread un- fair competition by farm plate truck abusers. Many of their members had notic- ed refrigeration trucks with farm licence plates on the highway. They also felt that food processing plants who owned a few acres of farmland or had the word "farm" in their corporate name, were putting farm plates on their corporate vehicles. In spite of the fact that these misdemeanours all violated the Highway Act, they felt that it was impossible to enforce, and that farm licence plates should be scrapped. The OTA states that the province is los- ing over $1.5 million in annual licence fees by providing approximately 50,000 farm plates to the agricultural community, and urges the province to abolish the farm plate licence and put all vehicles used for commercial purposes under the same licensing and fee structure. If the MOT feels that bona fide farmers are being penalized by this action, the OTA suggests that some form of compensation under the administration of the OMAF could be considered. We take a lot for granted. We have been saving $374 a year per farm truck because a general farm interest group successful- ly lobbied the government of 1982 for this benefit, and according to the OFA, they must fight to retain it every few years. It is fair that the farm vehicles have special consideration. Their uses are vastly different from those of commercial lines. Taking comparatively small loads of grain from the combine to the elevators, taking the weekly number of pigs to the market outlet, bringing home the seed or fertilizer and taking it directly to the planter are much different uses than hauling a load of furniture from one end of Canada to another, bringing cars from Detroit to auto outlets in our towns, or even hauling chicken pieces up from Georgia to a fast food place. I'm sure there have probably been some abuses, but perhaps the answer is in more careful enforcement of the ex- isting law, rather than losing the benefit of the special farm plates. At a recent general farm meeting in Toronto, many representatives of commodi- ty groups and general farm interests groups felt that the idea of a farmer's registration card had merit. This would be a way of identifying bona fide farmers, and entitle them to the farm licence plate benefits. It's worth consideration. I love sports too but.. Have you ever stop, • • to notice just how much sports insinua s itself into our dai- ly lives here in On o, or Canada for that matter? It's uncanny. If we're not playing sports, we're wat- ching sports, talking about sports, harum- phing about how we're going to get involv- ed in one sport or another (NEXT year...), betting hard earned cash on sports or dressing to look as if we're prepared to leap into the thick of the action should a game break out somewhere. Even the lazy slobs „I ess the part. Grease from three burgers still glistening on their chins, cigarette clenched firmly in paw, they ooze into 'their armchairs bedecked in Adidas stripes and $100 Reeboks and bark about the lousy perfor- mance of their Major League ball team. And what is it about any organized gathering of teams battling it out for a piece of triangular cloth or chunk of spray - painted plastic on a wooden base that turns your average, hard-working, in- dividual into a rabid gambler who would cheat his best friend out of his last hockey point? It would be kind of funny if the hockey poolers weren't so deadly serious about it. The balance of life itself rests on a single point, and God forbid that the fanatic's player be benched for a penalty. The RO 111 y GSI 0, EIS Pa a Elll'tt screams of indignation ring into the night. "What! 119?? I can't BELIEVE that they called a penalty for that!! That's MY PLAYER!! Geez, what a bunch of sucks!!!" Witness the possessive streak. The "my player" syndrome is well-documented, and most of these aficionados talk about "their" players with eerie familiarity. It's as if they've sat down and shared many a beer with the guys. IS said player should strike out, make an error or foul up a sure goal, tears well up in the "pooler's" eyes. It's crushing. I was sitting in front of the television set the other night, owl -eyed, watching a late playoff game when the sheer time -span of the NHL season hit me like a ton of bricks. If you stop to consider the Cana- dian climate, and the fact that we only spend about three months of the year in T- shirts, isn't it kind of frightening that we usually watch our first hockey game of the season wearing one, and we watch the Stanley Cup finials in T-shirt and shorts, if not lounging poolside in a bathing suit? What strange people Canadians are. We love our ice so much, we let men in short pants cavorting around on a pad of it into our living rooms 9 months a year. Take a survey in any Grade 4 or 5 classroom. Chances are very good that the same kids who can't spell "pickle" or tell you the names of the provinces and their capitals can scribble Podolinski, LeMieux and Tikkanen with their eyes closed and rhyme off the 30 leading scorers, their pre- sent and former teams and their 1987 - 1990 stats without batting an eye. We've created a notion of future sportscasters. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Face it, these kids will probably never be unemployed. If they don't end up dressing in red polyester blazers and grinning into microphones on one of seventeen bizillion sports satellites networks, they'll start up professional sports pool syndicates. Baseball bookies - the wave of the future. 200 acre farm sells for $20,000 MAY 13, 1965 There are going to be no marathon council sessions in the future, if members can prevent it. In the dying hours of the Monday meeting, which ran on until nearly one o'clock in the morning, Coun- cillor Jas. Kelly made a motion for greater preparatory work and formal recommendations. Seafoi'th's fireworks display, which in recent years has attracted increasingly larger crowds, is being sponsored this year by the Merchants Committee and the Seaforth Firemen. They plan a ma- jor event on the Main St. and fireworks will take place in Lion's Park at 10:30. Huron Presbytery of the United Church of Canada met at Centralia elected Rev. Arthur Higgenbotham, Walton, as chair- man for 1965.66. In an action initiated by Constable E. MacNeil, the Supreme Court of Ontario has been asked to declare null and void a resolution of Seaforth council which ter- minated his employment. MAY 9, 1890 Mr. Michael Swarce of Colborne has a lamb which at birth weighed 23 pounds. Can a larger lamb at the age be found? If so, where? WORLD NEWS - James Se -vial, 101, and Mrs. Amy Terrence, 83, were mar- ried at Laurel Forks, West Virginia last week. Brucefield - business is very dull here IN THE YEARS AGONE from the Expositor Archives 'right now, and news is scarce. Mr. James Longworth of the 2nd con- cession, McKillop, had a very valuable two-year-old colt so injured a few days ago that it had to be killed. The animal got out of the yard and ran out to the Huron Road at Irishtown, and in jumping over a picket fence got impaled on the pickets. The poor brute remained in this position until seen by a neighbor, who had to break down the fence before he could relieve it. Mr. John Doig Sr., a well-known resi- dent of Tuckersmith, having disposed of his farm and stock to his son, William Doig, teacher, left Kippen station on Fri- day last for Algoma. MAY 7, 1915 Edward Robinson, of the Huron Road, two miles west of Mitchell, has sold his 200 -acre farm to Mr.• •Forester of Newmarket for $20,000. There is a good brick house, fine barns and conveniences on the property. Fifty-five babies were photographed by R.R. Sallows of Goderich on Monday last week, the occasion of his annual baby da when h r . eut' 'hoto, a to every baby under 18 months. A solemn send-off was given at the Clinton Railway Station on Monday mor- ning by the citizens' band to the boys of the 33rd, who visited their family and friends in and around Clinton over Sun- day. The platform was filled with adults and children. To the strains off "The Maple Leaf Forever", the train pulled out leaving many tearful faces and cheers for the boys. MAY 10, 1940 St. Patricks' Parish Hall was filled to capacity on Friday when a four -act drama, The Dust of the Earth, was presented under the capable direction of Rev. Dr. Ffoulkes. Special commendation goes to the cast, Dan O'Rourke, Helen Dantzer, Dorothy Molyneux, Ryan Jor- dan, Joe Ryan, Mary Woods, James Krauskopf, Leonard Nagle, William Hanley, Ursula Krauskopf. Miss Alva Elford, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. James Elford of Egmondvillle, has won for the second time the Graduate Resident Fellowship in Classical Ar- chaeology for 1940-41 at Bryn Maur Col- lege, Pennsylvania. Turn to +-=.re7A.• l