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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1965-09-23, Page 4EDITORIALS Opportunity for improvement SOUTH HURON DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL Night School Announcement If there are sufficient registrations night school classes can be arranged in many subject areas. Some of these could be TYPING BASIC BOOKKEEPING BASIC SHORTHAND GENERAL SHOP FOODS SEWING BASIC ENGLISH MODERN LITERATURE LANGUAGES Recreational subjects can also be arranged. A few suggestions are: LADIES GYMNASIUM ATHLETICS MENS GYMNASIUM ATHLETICS OIL PAINTING LEATHER CRAFTS WEAVING COPPER AND ALUMINUM WORK MILLINERY REGISTRATION NIGHTS AT THE SCHOOL WILL BE MONDAY AND TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4 AND 5 FROM 7:30 TO 9:00 The registration fee of $5.00 is refundable if there are too few registrations in any course. The Clinton District Collegiate Institute Board and its advisory Vocational Committee offer the following NIGHT COURSES for adults at Central Huron Secondary School, Clinton. GENERAL Courses will Commence 18, October 1965 and will be held if a sufficient number of candidates register for the course and providing Instructors are available. Refunds will be made only under these circumstances. No classes will be held between 13 December 1965 and 10 January 1966. Courses will be conducted from 8 to 10 p.m. each Mon- day and Wednesday except that the technical and academic courses will be held from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. The nights on which courses will be conducted are shown for each subject. In addition to fees mentioned hereunder all candidates are required to be protected by the Board's liability insur- ance program. On enrollment $1.00 will be collected for this purpose. If you wish any courses not offered please Indicate your interest in writing to Mr. R, Homuth, Principal or Phone 482-3471 before 4 October. REGISTRATION Registration will be held in the Auditorium Monday 4 October and Wednesday 6 October froni? 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. BUSINESS COURSES All material provided. Fee $5.00 per subject. Candidates may choose 2 of: TYPEWRITING (Monday) BOOKKEEPING (Wednesday) SHORTHAND (Monday) BUSINESS MACHINES (Wednesday) BUSINESS ORGANIZATION and FINANCE (Monday) TECHNICAL COURSES All material provided. Fee $15.00 per subject. Candidates may choose 2 of: DRAFTING (Monday) WELDING (Wednesday) MACHINE SHOP PRACTISE (Monday) AUTO MECHANICS (Wednesday) ELECTRICITY (Monday) BUILDING CONSTRUCTION and HOME REPAIR (Wednesday) ACADEMIC COURSES Textbooks not provided. Fee $5.00 per subject. Candidates may choose 2 subjects if enrollment warrants classes 2 nights a week. GRADES 10 - 13 GRADE 11 NEW MATHEMATICS (Book 1) NEW CANADIAN COURSES Requires minimum 8 candidates. No textbooks provided. No fee. BASIC ENGLISH and CITIZENSHIP (Monday) RECREATIONAL COURSES Material not provided. Fee $5.00 per subject. Monday only. BASIC SEWING ADVANCED SEWING MILLINERY ART and OIL PAINTING NEEDLEPOINT DEPT. of AGRICULTURE Fee $10.00. First Class 25 October. FARM MANAGEMENT — PROFITABLE FINANCE (Monday) Clinton District Collegiate ' Institute Board requires teachers for the above mentioned night school courses commencing 18 October 1965. Applications stating qualifications will be received by Mr. R. Homuth, Prin- cipal before 30 September 1965. It will soon be open season on ducks, geese, deer, etc. This is only fair—after all it's always open season on public officials. We are now heading into that grand orgy of character assas- sination called a general election. Once again the health of Mr. Diefenbaker will be questioned. Mr. Pearson's personal integrity will be debated. In the name of "information" or ',education"; in the name of the "public" or "national" In- terest different shades of mud will be thrown by all parties. Meanwhile the newspapers will . have a hey-day because this is the "stuff" of sensationalism. Whether this election will fur- ther the cause of national unity, whether it will create any deeper appreciation of each party's poli- tical, economic and social point of view is dubious ; to say the least. While all this public blood- letting is going on many people will be saying how stupid it all is! But secretly most people will relish it and enjoy it. The mass media will no doubt have attentive audiences. We all know or should know that one of the tragedies of human nature is that we love to see people squirm—as long as it's someone else who does the squirming. There is a good deal of the rabble rouser mob in- stinct in all of us. Newspapers play a major role in reflecting public opinion—but they also create it. This is clearly seen in much of the criticism of the Church in our day. But the press too often only publicizes what is sensational. This is best seen in the handling of the inter- pretation of the new United Church curriculum. By quoting sensational tidbits out of context, by stressing only the negative aspects of the curriculum, an ugly situation was created. I believe it was created not by the curriculum at all but by the press. As the editor of the Observer put it at the time, most of the criticism came from people who "read their newspapers reli- giously, their Bibles intermit- tently and the new curriculum not at all". In any given situation a news- paper is never neutral. The ef- 50 YEARS AGO This week the building of the Hydro line will be commenced from St. Marys to Exeter and the distributing station will be built south of the water tower behind the public library. Miss Nellie Medd, teacher at Winchelsea school, addressed the Sunday School of James Street Methodist Church on the occasion of Rally Sunday. We, the undersigned, hereby agree to close our places of busi- ness each evening during the week at six o'clock sharp with the exception of Saturday night: Syd Davis, W. W. Taman, Peter Frayne, W. J. Beer, Grigg Sta- tioners, B. W. F. Beavers, W. J. Heaman, Jas. Beverley, J. A. Stewart, S. Martin & Son, Wm. Rivers, R. N. Rowe, T. Hawkins & Son. Chester Harvey, Reg Knight, Archie Davis and Harry Smith of Exeter joined the overseas forces in London last week. 25 YEARS AGO With a government survey gang at work in Stephen Township reports are current that an air- field in connection with the Brit- ish Commonwealth Air Training plan is a possibility. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Johns and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Johns returned from their honeymoon and are getting settled down to married life. Miss Reta Rowe is having the foundation dug for a new resi- dence on the Floyd property, south baindarY of Exeter. The Exeter Band were at God- erich Monday for the formal fects of its reporting will be to improve a situation or make it worse. Unfortunately most often the criterion is not: Will this report help? Will it be in the best in- terest of the community? The criterion most often is: Will this report sell papers? Will it create a hot issue? Will it give us publicity? It is my opinion that the concern of the press for frank honest reporting; its con- cern for the facts masks the frantic hunt to find a "Flash" type story. Another case in point is the handling of the Saskatchewan "medicare" issue. We heard through all the media beamed at us what a furore there was. We heard much of the chaos, the con- flict, the fight. How much do we now hear of the amazing success and effectiveness of the operation of said plan? The mass media consciously or unconsciously love to "accen- tuate the negative". I submit that this is not in the best interests of any community. I submit that it only feeds coal to the fire of the mob spirit. It does little to advance the search for workable agreements- or solutions to any problem. Still another example is the handling of labour strikes and disagreements. Much publicity is given to a strike, to violence, to the bad effects of this action. But when excellent agreements are reached or when problems are settled without chaos very little is said—you may find three lines on the next to last page. What about the handling of biculturalism in the mass media? We have heard all the examples of the problems but we are told next to nothing of the positive constructive experiments that have brought some French Roman Catholics into closer relationship with some English Protestants. It is traditional for newspapers to see themselves as p ub 1 i c "watchdogs". Information, edu- cation are stressed—so we are told and often it is so. But there are innumerable ex- amples in history where this role has been misused to create a sort of "mass hysteria"; a sort of "mob fervour". This was true for example in the first — Please turn to page 5 opening of Huron County Flying Training School, formerly known as Sky Harbor Airport. 15 YEARS AGO Elimville church celebrated its 75th anniversary Sunday, Sep- tember 24. Lorne Passmore of Exeter won the tractor championship at the 24th annual North Huron plowing match held at Bluevale Thursday. Exeter District High School captured the highest number of points at the tri-school meet held in Mitchell Friday. Athletes of St. Marys, Mitchell and Exeter competed. Grand Bend Lions received their charter at a big London rally attended by over 500 Lions. 10 YEARS AGO Mrs. Bob Jeffrey, RR 1 Hen- sail, became the 1955 Champion Cook of Exeter Fair Wednesday when she won more prizes in the domestic section than any other homemaker in the district. Urged by the Ontario Depart- ment of Health to get started on a sewage disposal system, town council Monday night authorized investigation into costs of a treat- ment plant which would take care Of the existing storm sewers and be large enough to provide for a complete system in the future. SHDHS students elected Marion Creery of Woodham, Huron Coun- ty's Agricultural Queen, to the head post of their Council Tues- day afternoon. Keith Lovell of Kippen Captured the senior boys' championship in one of the most keenly competed track and field meets in the school's history Monday. It's Fair Day! (c.'. King Feature. Syndicate, Inc., 1965. World fight. re.erced. "We finally got the car in the garage—but we had to make two trips!" I1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111116111111111111111111111111116111111111111111111111111611111111111111111111111111111111 ONE MAN'S OPINION by John C. Boyne Open season 11111111101111111111111111111111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111161111111111111111111111111111 SEE THE EXHIBITS JOIN IN THE FUN . :„.,4cankrzonameamomas For the first time in 12 years residents of Exe- ter will have the opportunity of attending night classes at South Huron District High School. What classes will be held and the number of classes will depend on the number of registrations but inquiries received to date would indicate that there is suffi- cient interest to start courses such as this here. Classes were held at the school in the 1950's but lack of interest in these brought them to a close. Since that time the general public has become in- creasingly aware of the value of these classes, so much so, that many Exeter and area residents have been driving the 17 miles to Clinton in order to at- tend the night classes there. Some residents may still have to drive to Clin- ton this year to take the course of their choice but every effort will be made to make popular courses available here. The classes offered will of course de- pend solely on the registration received. It would be economically impossible to hold classes where only two or three people indicate their interest. Where this occurs, residents may either re-register in a class which will be held here, attend the class in Clinton if one is available, or wait until such time as there is sufficient interest to warrant holding such a class here. It is doubtful whether there will be any argu- ment over the fact that RAP committee needs two full time men. The decision last week to hire extra help to assist Alvin Willert is long overdue and should help take some of the load from his shoulders which he has carried for so long. The work of the RAP committee cannot be over estimated, in that it supplies very necessary services to the town. Through a well balanced pro- gram, recreational outlets for all ages are available. These programs must be planned and administered carefully if they are to be successful. They must also make the best use of the money invested. This work alone requires a full time man and to expect one man to do the administrative work, as well as manual cleaning and repairs, is rather fool- ish. The committee is fortunate that Mr. Willert has struggled along, hampered by lack of staff, for so long. Many men, faced with a task of this size and With the editor in Dear Craig: I was beginning to think it was cold in this part of the country until I picked up a copy of the morning paper and saw a picture of a combine out west stopped in a grain field covered with snow. Like all things I guess those which are close to us seem much more real and important than those at a distance. I had to make a very difficult decision last week in regards to the handling of a major news story. To fill you in on a little background history, the South Huron District High School board appointed a new principal last spring, Douglas Palm- er. The board is also in the midst of plans for a $1,600,000 addition to the school which will double the size and allow for the teaching of many new courses previously impossible. At the present time there are 853 students attending school here and another 104 attending the area school at Clinton some 17 miles away. The new principal took over his duties July 1 and since that time has done a terrific amount of work in setting up new courses and getting the school operat- ing on a business like basis. On top of all this there are 23 new teachers at the school this year, not all as qualified as they should be. With all these changes it is only normal that there would be a little confusion when school opened and as well as this, some misunderstandings. Add to this the normal resentment some people feel towards changes and new rules and you have what can turn into a disturbing situa- tion. Unfortunately, as people will, talk start- ed against the principal, talk which was critical of the man, by people who had never met him and who had no idea as to what changes were taking place. On top of this some of the teachers from the school became critical of the principal and the changes which were taking place and started talking this up around town. This was both unfair and unfortunate be- cause as you know, talk like this grows and magnifies until it is completely out of proportion. I find it hard to understand why teach- ers, who you would think would have a strong sense of responsibility, should act in this manner. Whether they realized this or not they were actually undermining VreceferZintes-Abuorafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND Member: C.W,N.A., C.C.N.R. and ABC PUBLISHERS: .1. M. Southcott, R. M. Southcott EDITOR: Kenneth Kerr These classes are of a nonprofit nature re- quiring only a nominal registration fee. Although grants are available to assist with the cost of these classes it is still an added burden which the board must carry. It is a public service and one which resi- dents should take advantage of if possible. The growing trend today is towards workers having more and more leisure time. The importance of having a hobby is being stressed at all levels to fill this extra time available, It is important to have a good working knowledge of the hobby chosen in order to maintain interest and realize the full enjoy- ment of this. The classes are not limited only to skills for hobbies. Many of the classes will improve quali- fications and skills which will be useful on the job. Many people have found that a course in bookkeep- ing and typing taken at night school has improved their qualification's enough so as to open the door to further opportunity. The school board has made the initial start in making these courses available to residents this fall. It is now up to the general public to decide what use they wish to make of this added service. Because of this it is important to get registrations in early in order that planning of courses can take place. forced to work the hours Mr. Willert has, would have resigned and moved on to greener pastures long ago. The fact that Mr. Willert stayed 'in the face of these difficulties is a tribute to the sincere interest he has in the recreational programs of the town and must be recognized. There are few towns which use a system such as RAP to administer parks as well as arenas and recreation in general. This is hot to say it is not a good system, but it does make comparisons difficult. The town of Exeter is growing and with this, so is the need for more and improved recreational facili- ties. The town is fortunate in that it has the major facilities required in an' arena and swimming pool. With this as a base it is possible to plan a varied program of recreation which will cover 365 days of the year and satisfy the needs of all section's of the community. Adequate staff is needed to make sure these programs are carried out successfully. Kerr's Korner principal at this time for the same reasons as above. I must go on the same basis as the board did when it engaged him. He has excellent qualifications and high recom- mendations. Only the future will tell how he will handle his responsibilities here but I for one will keep quiet for the first year and watch. I am impressed with the man from conversations I have had with him and watching him under what must have been a strain at the last board meeting. He has a difficult task ahead of him but somehow I have faith in him and I believe he will be here long after some of the doubting Thomases have gone. Changing the subject, I have come across a few comments by famous men in regards to elections. Churchill I think is the best, probably because of his long association with these. He said, "Nothing is so expensive as general elections and new governments. Every new administra- tion arrives in power with bright and benevolent ideas of using the public money to do good. The more frequent the changes of government, the more numerous are the bright ideas, and the more frequent the elections, the more benevolent they be- come". Nothing I have read before so sums up the situation in Canada so well as this passage and so once again we come across another reason to remember this grand old man. One other comment of Churchill is also worth remembering at this time. "At the bottom of all tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little piece of paper — no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point". Also on the subject of elections these have been likened to the facetious ex- planation of the derivation of the word 'auditorium'. There are those who contend that this word comes from two Latin words, 'audio' meaning to hear and 'tau- rus' meaning the bull. With this in mind I start to follow the election trail next Thursday with the Liberal nomination and the following Tuesday with the Con- servative nomination. Oh well, such is life. As ever, Ken Wise decision by RAP the morale of the school and making their own jobs more difficult. To sum this up a board member, Ir- vine Armstrong, deciding to try to stop this talk and have it explained, opened the subject at the board meeting last week and asked for some answers to clear the air. Of course there was a logical explanation for these rumours but it put the principal in the unfortunate position of having to defend himself after the first week of school. My decision was this — Normally dif- ficulties with public employees whether employees of a board or council are dis- cussed in committee and so are not re- ported. In this case the discussion was in open session of the board but some board members felt it shouldn't be reported. I finally decided, mainly on the basis of the number of people who were worried about the situation, to publish the complete text of the comments of both men. I added a comment of my own of course, but basical- ly it was just a case of questions and answers. Naturally when the paper was published I had a few phone calls, some in favor of the publication, others classing it as sen- sationalism. I attempted to explain the reasons behind the publication and inmost cases I think people understood. I hope now that the matter is closed as there is a big job ahead in education in this town. Problems such as this can do nothing except slow down progress. I know there are no people qualified to judge Mr. Palmer's work at the present time as 90 percent of it has just started. The board and the general public will have to wait at least a year to find out how the operation of the school compares with that of the past. Trying to judge whether the principal is right or wrong with his policies now, is like asking a man who has just taken off in an aircraft how he enjoyed the flight. He cannot answer this until the flight is completed. In this case the flight will be the first year of school and until this time I think the teachers, parents and students who have been doing all the talking to start these rumours should keep their big mouths shut for a while and possibly they might learn something. I can neither support or condemn the Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Eieter, Ont. Authorized` as Second Class Mail, Post Office Digit, Ottawa, and for Payment of Postage in Cash Paid-in-Advance Circulation, March 31, 1965, 4,174 SLIEISCithitiOti RATES: Canada $4.00 Per Year; USA $5.00