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The Huron Expositor, 1976-12-02, Page 2The issues are as different as the people who are running in the elections in area municipalities which will take place on Monday. Recreation is a hot one in many places, with repairs to old arenas or the building of new ones underway. Some taxpayers want more spending on recreation by their councils; some want less. Some people just want a clear accounting of just what their town or township is spending• now on recreation, and why. In Seaforth council - squabbles have created quite a bit of interest. In other areas the personali- ties involved , seem to be about the only issue in fights for council seats, deputy reeve and reeveships. School 'board spending and more trustee and parent control over education seems to be an issue in the school . board elections in our area. But there is. one overriding issue that tends to get lost in the, shuffle which should be of major irnportance in all the elections on Monday. And that is, how do the various candidates feel about doing business in public? There's an unfortunate trend in many local governments and school boards toward .private meet- trigs of committees or committee's of the whole, to which reporters aren't invited and therefore, of which, the public gets nertevits. We don't know why, but there is a Finds Expositor interesting Enclosed please find cheque for renewal of my subscription to the Huron Expositor for another year. I appreciate receiving it very much as I was born and raised in McKillop - and - attended public and high schools there. It is interesting to keep track of school, friends and `acquaintances. Note many changes as tithe passes.. Sincerely, Mfg. W.J.Beacock 146 Richmond Road, Ottawa, ont. it • Since 1860, Serving the Community First PA‘busbqd 4tt SE,A,FORTH. ONTARIO, every Thursday morning by, McLEAN. BROS. PUBLISHERS LTD, t• 4, ANDREW Y. MeLEAN. Publisher SUSAN WHITE Editor DAVE ROBB, Advertising Manager Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Weekly Nespaper Association and Audit Bureau of Circulation Subscription Rates; Canada (in advance) $10.00 a Year Outside Canada (in advance) $20.00 a Year SINGLE COPIES — 25 CENTS EACH Second Class Mail Registration Number 0696 Telephone 527-0240 SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, DECEMBER 2, 1976 Your right to know Otto Lang needs his wings clipped. Mr. Lang is the cabinet minister who has been in trouble with -the opposition in the House of Commons recently following revelations that his use. 'of government planes .4o fly ,between Ottawa and his riding in Saskatchewan has cost the taxpayer about three quarters of a million -dollars over the last three years. Mr. Lang_was in trouble again last week when it surfaced that he planned to have his chil'drens' nanny fly home to Scotland for free on. a Department of Natidnal ; Defense flight. A replacement nanny was reported to be coming from Britain to • Canada, also on a D.N,D. flight, at the taxpayers) expense. Mr. Lang has changed his plans as far as nannies are concerned and both his retiring nanny and her replace- ment will be flying on regularily scheduled flights, presumably at Mr. (By Lynn Lashbrook in the Rodney Mercury) In its effort to try and gafner the farm voile, the Davis government is offering to pay 100 percent of municipal taxes on farm land. The recommendation was made in the recent Blair Commission Report on Property Tax Reform. However, many other recommendations are made • giving reasdns for everyone to be concerned. To date only the New Democratic Party's response to the Commission has come' to hand. If Liberals have a response it has not been made available yet. What ever, while not Many logla have any truck nor trade with the NDP, its, submission and recommendations are interesting and in some respects, conatrtsitive, But it is the government's offer to pay 100 Atm* d fartriland taxation which has iiieryOne concerned, even the majority of farmers and their organizations, not because , it is seen aS inequitable, bet because of fear of government Control ;;Of agriculture, if the provindid government ,requires so many inindredi of millions of dollars froth*: taxation with which to Operate the province, ,it .devise a syStetti of taxation which will marked difference among politicians on their attitudes to doing public business in public. Perhaps it's a personality difference. . .some are just naturally more secretive than others. Perhaps some see• reporters as troublemakers, hell bent on getting quotes wrong and looking for a' splashy headline that'll make the villain of the moment look bad. Other people who run for political office may feel that they know best what the public wants and that the public can find out about decisions after they are made. They just, don't see the need for input and Public discussion at earlier stages, while decisions are being made, and can still be changed. Think 'about whether or not your favoured .candidates hold the above views or not. If you aren't sure, ask him or her. How the candidates for office feel about holding most Of their meetings in public, with full opportunity for press coverage and input from taxpayers will determine how much you'll be able to find out over the next two years about how. local councils and school boards are , conducting your business. This newspaper, which takes its responsibility, to' keep the public informed seriously, hopes you take the issue of keeping public business open and above board seriously too. Lang's expense. But the transport minister refuses to acknowledge that he made errOrs in lodgment by spending the three quarters of a mill!on on specially scheduled flights for himself. His time is valuable, he says, and he actually saves the taxpayers money by being able to fly exactly when he wants to fly, on planes ordered for his convenience. That's doubtful and it's another example of the arrogance of people in high places looking for ways to justify ithat, is really a squandering of the Public purse. Mr. 'Lang seems -to have learribd something from the nanny , episode. He backed down there. What's needed now is an edict from his boss, the Prime Minister, telling Mr. Lang to stop his personaly high flying ways too. equitably raise the money from all property, not relieve taxes from one type of property and add it to another. For some reason, impossible to believe, the Blair Commission — atfd the government — feel business and industry can continue tdpay higher taxes, because they can hand tax increases on to consumers. While this may be (Continued on Page 3) To the editor ;DECEMBER 1, 1876 The grist and saw mills in the Township of , Stanley, together with two arms the property of the late Wm. Turner will be sold by auction at Varna. A very pleasant event tonic place in the „vestry of St. James' Church. The occasion was the presenting of an addres and present to Miss McDonald who for the last six years has been organist of the church.. The address was read by Miss Marie Killoran and several gifts and a purse bf money was presented by M issMary Walsh. Henderson and Lamb have opened a clothing establishment in Kippen. The opening services of the new Presbyterian church were held at Brucefield. On Monday evening a 'service was held. NOVEMBER 29, 1901 Henry McBrien of Hullett, has, leased his farm to James Fluker. Peter Mclsaac has purchased ,the furniture business of Hoffman BroSt of Dashwood. Chris. Zimmerman. f Zurich, delivered the heaviest lambs this season, his flock averaging 138 pounds each. They were purchased by P. Lamont. Mr. McKellar's fine residence is nearing. completion in Cromarty. A quiet wedding in which pne of the rising young business men figures prominently was celebrated in St. patrick's Church, Hamilton. This was the marriage of John F. Daley and Miss Mary Phelan. Robert Armstrong's sale, on the bronze model farm in Hallett, was a most successful one. Horses went as iiigh as $130.00. - • George Turnbull and Geo. Dorrance intend shipping a carload of turkeys in Seaforth, for the Old Country. Mrs. D.McGregor of this town met with a painful accident when she slipped and fell nearBarton's Blacksmith Shop. Chas. Dodds has rented his farm on the 5th Concession of McKillop, to. his son Robert. A large number of the Meth odist To the editor The letter from Chief of Police Cairns concerning the local crime statistics ,rtc., and some, of the questions asked and coinments made at the ratepayers meeting prompt me to again ask for space in your paper in order to re-state my position on the matters involved. Chief Cairns seems to imply in the last sentence of his letter that I was downgrading the efficiency, ,of the police force and attempting to turn back the deck to earlier.r years. Nothing was further from my mind. I think, with others, that we have a good police force. At the time that my previous letter was written, however, it appeared that few, if any, of the present members of council would be in the next council. There would, therefore, be little continuity of thought on matters which were carried over from one council to the other. , • For the 1977 council to merely accept the recommendation of the previous council without critical examination of the ,cts would, in my opinion, be a serious breach of their responsibilities. This is "not to suggest that t).y might not arrive at the same conclusion but the decision should be theirs and based on the facts presented to them. Councillor Ellis, in his prepared statement, seems to take the position that council has . every right to be enquiring into the affairs of the Public Utilities Commission and directly involved in all their decisions. I, with many others who are on fixed incomes, might wish that this was so. Unfortunately, I can only re-iterate that such is not the case. The Public Utilities Act giVes to council the authority to establish a Public 'Utilities Cominission to look after the provision of such utilities as water and electricity. The same Act also clearly States 'that,--whore such a Constance Church presented Miss Ida Britton with a purse. It is said that Wm. Doig intends being a candidate for the reeveship of Tuckersmith at the coming municipal elections. DECEMBER 3rd, 1926 W. G. Medd , of Exeter, the progressive candidate was returned in South Huron by a majority estimated at about 1500. Election Day, was a most unfavourable day for getting out to vote and the roads in the country were very bad. About one hundred neighbors•;and friends gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Th os. Btoome at Winthrop to bid them farewell before they left for Seaforth. The family presented them with a leather rocking chair each. Wm. Kenny read the address. A number of krctic, owls have been ,captured 'near Zurich. They-seem to be. plentiful , along the lake shore and their appearance in Ontario is said to foretell of a bad winter. Miss Gladys. Luker has accepted a position as bookkeeper for T.C.Joynt of Hensall. Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Broome of Winthrop • are moving into Mrs.Hoggarth's house on North Main Street. Geo. Dundas of McKillop has built and occupies a nice new residence to take the place of one destroyed by fire last summer. A jolly evening was spent at "Lewitsons" on the Huron Road west, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wes. G. Nott. , Du ncan McKellar Jr. who has spent the past few months in the west, has returned to his home here in Cronaarty, ' A bountiful banquet prepared by the Ladies and young people of First. Presbyterian Church was quite a success. The tables looked pretty under the direction of Miss Gret to Ross. The following persons, Wilfred Smith, A.Y.McLean, Scott Cluff, Jas. Stewart, M.R.Rennie, Gibson White and Harry M cLeod. Earl Van Egmond played popular music. commission is established, the powers and responsibilities of council with respect to such utilities, is then transferred to the commission. Thus the power to set water and hydro rates is clearly vested in the commission and is not subject to review by council. Where council does exert control over the P.U.C, is where the commission wishes to borrow by debenture or incur any long term, debt. Council is the body responsible for the issuing of any debentures for municipal purposes or for authorizing any other long term borrowing. In these cases then council certainly has a duty to examine•the proposed expenditures ahil has a right to ' any information required to determine why such expenditures art!' necessary and why, they cannot be acccannodated within current revenue. I realize that such an opinion is not a )1 popular one but I would beless than onest if I stated the Situation in any other • ay. Because I live on a fixed income I too would like to see the water and hydro rates remain at their previous low levels. I would, on the other hand, be very sorry to see thd commission fail to take the necessary steps to replace worn out mains, to 'make provision to properly serve those areas of the town which now have less than adequate service or are not served at ail, and to up-date our water supply and storage system so that the town will be assured of an adequate supply of water in the years to come. While this is ,being done there is every reason why the Mayor, as the representative of coundil on the P.U.C. should bring to council reports of the commission Meetings and council has every rigl}t to discuts them. They should, however, be disctisSed rationally and with the clear underutanding that the right to make the Li,,kons is vested in the commission except wire long term borrow- . Sylvester Everett, formerly of Seaforth, passed away at the age. of 76. He conducted a butcheratshop now occupied by S.T. Holmes on min NOVEMBER 30, 1951 At a joint meeting of the Warden's Committee and the Road Commission of Huron County Council, Peter Patterson B.A„ B.Sc., of Goderich, was appointed acting engineer for the county . His grandfather Donald Patterson was engineer from 1905 to 1919 and his father T. Roy Patterson '(vas engineer from 1919 to his death in 1951. Mrs. Frank Pitider, Staffa, is a patient in Stratford General Hospital, following an 'accident when she fell on a flight of porch steps, fracturing and dislocating her' ankle. The combined choirs of St. Thomas Anglican. , Northside Church and First Presbyterian Church began practice for their annual Xmas show. Jas. A. Stewart and Mrs. F. Novak are in charge of the music. "Big" Joe Laudenbach, as he is termed by his football opponents, is making quite a name for himself in the R.M.C. at Kingston, Alvin Kerslake was returned ps Hensall's reeve for his sixth consecutive year. Lorne Luker, W.G.Parke, Norman Jones and Harry Hoy were also returned by acclamation. Mrs. Ed. Brown of Egmondville, was hostess in honor of Miss Ruth Vincent, bride of last week. The guests presented her with a tri-light lamp. Miss S.I.McLean left for Toronto and took a plane for Edmonton where she will spend some months. Dr. P. L. Brady, J. E. Keating, C.A.Barber and W.J.Duncan, were 'in London taking part in the London Curling Club bonspiel. Presumably seized with a heart attack, Gilbert McCallum, died while at work in a wood lot when-darkness set in Mr. Taylor, on whose premises Mr. McCallum was working, went to the lot and with the aid of a flash light found him sprawled near the horses, ing is involved. Questions were asked at' the meeting concerning budgets and inventories and from the answers given and statements .1 have seen in the press it seems, that these are areas where improvements Could be made in the operation of the P.U,C. Many of the expenditures which the town is going to be faced with in any year can only be estimated at the beginning of the year and much Of the revenue is lust as uncertain. The town, however, must estimate their budgetary requirements in orderto be able to apply for some Of the subsidies which are an important part of revenue and in order to be able to set a realistic tax rate. It would seem logical that the P.U.C. would be in a much better position to be able to forecast what work it would be able to accomplish during the, year if this was preceded by an estimate of revenue and expenditure for the year. The matter of inventories is purely an internal one and is ipt one which enters into the year end audit. This is one important difference between commercial or industrial auditing and municipal audits. The procedures followed by the auditors are prescribed by the Ministry in Toronto and do not take into account any stock inventories at the year end. This, of course could lead to abuses and should be controlled by a periodic internal inventory check based on good control records, The extra work involved for both budget preparation and inventory control will cost more, of course, but' in MI opinion if it had been initiated previously much of the recent unpleasantness would have not have occurred. Yours truly, Ernest M. Williams Snow fence In the Years Agone New church opened in .1876 Clip his wings Opinion Farms are businesses too A new council has to be critical, candidate says