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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-06-14, Page 4Requires study Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 ecefealines-iimeate SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.W.N.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circu fa ti on, March 81, 1972, 5,037 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $8.00 Per Year; USA $10,00 c, r4±. Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager Assistant Editer — Ross Haugh Women's Editor — Susan Greer PhOne 235.1331 WELCOME CAMPERS Give Dad . . . The Shirt on His Back To,Help You, We've Slashed TOFF Regular Prices on Special Racks of Men's SPORT SHIRTS and DRESS SHIRTS We Have A Complete Selection Of Men's Clothing GOULD & JORY Dial 23 5-02/0 I neln knd,1 btater cn~kr '.x Now! oh 3 Year Guaranteed Investment Certificates Member Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation VG The senior Trust Company devoted entirely to serving the people of Ontario. WCTORIA.and GREY TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1 889 RON COTTRELL Manager Phone 235-0530 Kill the messenger Way back in the bad old days, when kings had the power of instant life and death, it was not uncommon for a faithful retainer to be slain when he was unfor- tunate enough to be the bearer of bad news. Today the victim has changed but the attitude has not, Now it's the press, or the mass media. Whenever the news is bad there is a great cry that the media are to blame, Would we all be better off if we never heard the truth? — Wingham Advance-Times. What is a farm? We are glad to see that Agriculture Minister William Stewart has appointed an advisory committee to recommend some kind of classification system for farms and farm operations in Ontario. Too much farm land has been lost in non-farm uses. City people have been buy- ing farm land in order to reduce their taxes, or for use with snowmobiles, or as an es- cape from city stress, or city prices. While we agree with their preference for country living, we do not agree with the loss of so Imokh valuable farm land. Developers are buying up large tracts of farm land in order to hold it for a profit when urban expansion moves in that direc- tion. In addition some government funds are going to persons who cannot really be con- sidered farmers because they do not spend all their working time farming. It is past time that all references to farmers, farms and farm lands in Ontario statutes, programs and policies be uniform and applied with consistency. Ridgetown Dominion Jewellery OPPOSITE EXETER POST OFFICE "Poor chap, wiped out overnight—freezer defrosted," Being poor has advantages The new regulations being enforced for the operation of area dumps indicates that some type of co-operative arrangement should be considered. About two years ago,, area municipalities met with ministry of en- vironment people to discuss centralized dumping facilities, but nothing concrete resulted from the meetings. Now that each dump must be covered with a layer of six inches of earth each day, the cost of such an operation is extremely high on an individual basis. A central dump serving three or four Exeter Councillor Ted Wright's con- cern over the lack of serviced building lots deserves more consideration than that given it by his cohorts last week. His information that five prospective home builders have decided to move elsewhere is most disconcerting and it is rather surprising that he appears to be the only member of council perturbed about municipalities may result in increased transportation costs, but this may well be more economical than each undertaking the new requirements. A central dump would also reduce the costs of supervision. With Exeter council now undertaking exploratory avenues for a new dump, they should consider involving other area municipalities in their deliberations. They may also be well advised to at least investigate the information that may have been accumulated by Seaforth regar- ding an incinerator. that situation, It may well be a situation that will right itself with the completion of the local sanitary sewer system, but it is .a matter that should be given some consideration to see if some short-term corrective measures can be implemented to provide building locations for those wishing to establish homes in Exeter. Edgar A. Guest Dear Lord, I do not ask of Thee Always to smooth the path for me, But grant me strength enough to bear Whate'er my portion is of care. Now for my children's sake, I pray, Help me to walk in wisdom's way, Let me not blunder. To the end Their happiness I would defend. Grant me to earn their gratitude, To understand their every mood, And through the labyrinth of youth Guide them to everlasting truth. Dear Lord, I pray Thee, make of me The father Thou wouldst have me be, Let me not hastily condemn Or ever ask too much of them, And when their little feet have strayed, Of me let them be unafraid. God grant me this . . . all else above . . That I may keep my children's love And lead them on to all that's good Of manhood and womanhood; That I, when childhood's years have flown, In their success may find my own. 4/0 left t,pinonTari oviornn4 Right in his concern PLEASING YOU PLEASES US Time to pay tribute to Art I have three brothers-in-law. One is a railroader, one is a lawyer, and the third is pretty ill right now. I've always felt lucky about them. Each of the three is a fine fellow, and we've got along with never an unpleasant word or experience between us. That's more than lots of brothers-in-law can say. Left alone, they'd probably be fine, but when the women involved start getting their knives into each other; often a coldness develops among the poor devils of husbands. My railroader brother-in-law went to high school with me, and we played football together on a couple of the best teams that ever came out of Perth Collegiate Institute and Lanark County. My lawyer brother-in-law worked with me on a chain gang one summer, when we were students, and it was the best dodge-work chain gang that ever worked for the Kodak company, We left no stone unturned in our constant vigilance to appear to be working when the foreman came around. Both these chaps are around my own age, a bit tattered around the edges from raising families and paying off mortgages, but otherwise in good shape. My third brother-in-law is a bit longer in the tooth, and I always looked on him as somewhere between a second father and second big brother. Not that he acted either part. He treated me exactly as most boys would like their fathers to treat them. And he never, ever acted the bullying, know-it-all role of the big brother. He treated me as a human being, He never implied that I was a kid and he was an adult, When he was twice my age, he talked as though we were equals. He knew I was pretty callow when I was sixteen, but he never let on. We were two men of the world together, and I've ap- preciated it ever since. He'd take me fishing when I was a kid. There was no nonsense about him being in charge, We were just a couple of fishermen. One fishing jaunt I still remember with particular pleasure. We were out in the middle of the lake when a sum- mer storm caught us. No, or few, motors in those days. You rowed. We were as wet as though we'd jumped overboard. We got to shore, with the rain still pounding down. We found a cottage unoccupied and managed to get in. We put up the stovepipes, got a fire going and foraged. There was a half can of tea leaves. So there we sat by a roaring fire, drinking hot tea and feeling like Ulysses just home from the Trojan war. It was not a miserable ex- perience or a disaster. It was a joke, an adventure. Art sat there, smoking his pipe and regaling me with earthy stories, and I sat there, happy as a clam, feeling a real man, able to cope with anything. He'd take me off to the cottage, when he was courting my sister, and I was about fifteen. What a nuisance I must have been, but you'd never know it, from him. When I was courting, I dragged home the critter who is now my old battleaxe, and her kid sister, who had tailed along. He drove the three of us to the same cot- tage, and he and my big sister accepted us and fed us without a question or a hint or a raised eyebrow. When the war came along, he was of an age at which there was no need for him to join up, no question of being drafted. He joined the air force and spent four years of unheroic, uncomplaining service, about two thousand miles from his family. He could have stayed home and made money as most of his con- temporaries did. He never said much, at times of family crises, though he was There's one good thing about being poor . . . you don't have to wonder about how to spend your money. We find that when we give one of our youngsters a nickel, he heads to the local candy counter and makes his decision in jig time as to how he's going to dispose of his ready cash. However, when he catches the old man in a weak moment and wrangles a quarter out of him ,the boy has a terrible time in decidipg how he's going to spend all that much loot and the shopping spree becomes a long, drawn-out affair. The foregoing is a bit of an introduction of the plight faced last week by members of Exeter council in their budget session, Normally, council faces the task of boosting the local mill rate, and they manage to pare it as much as possible and quickly finish the task. Last week, they found them- selves in a very unusual position. They had more money than they knew what to do with and the discussions about how it should be spent were much more drawn out than those which are nor- mally held on budgets. The "monkey wrench" that had been thrown into the deliberations was a $90,000 provincial grant and a surplus from the previous year of $40,000. It was one of the more in- teresting budgets this reporter has attended, and for a time we feared council were going to get into a spend-thrift deliberation. There was talk of increasing council salaries, putting one elected official on full-time salary, air conditioners, etc., etc., However, it turned out to be mainly talk and for the most part, we think council came up with a good budget. + + + The decision to purchase the street lighting system was not made as much on principle as it was on the fact that money was available, but it's a situation that dragged into our large family. But he was always there, always steady, always the peacemaker. He hated rows, and scab- picking, and soul-searching, and when people got into that stuff, he'd change the subject or quietly leave. Like my own father, he very rarely got . angry , but when he did, attention was paid. He believed in the old adage, as did my mother, that, "If you can't say anything good about a person, don't say anything." And I never heard anyone say a bad word about him. He's a good Christian, a good Catholic, but a down-to-earth one, not one of those pious bores, He was no world-beater, and he didn't want to be. He was no intellectual, but he had a wit as Irish as his good looks. He was alwayS a kind, and, at the risk of seeming maudlin, I would say a sweet man, I hope he reads this and knows how much his young brother-in- law thought of him when he was an impressionable kid, and ever since. And I hope the day is not too far off when he's out of that hospital bed and we can crack a jug together. STAY ALIVE WITH RED CROSS WATER SAFETY *INileeNurofSmseNweine was difficult to decide anyway. It's more or less a matter of changing ownership from one public body to another, although there will be some small saving to the ratepayers. Only time will tell if it was a wise decision, because no one can argue against the manner in which the PUC have operated the system through the years. Whether council will give it as much consideration in future years to keep it modern will, of course, remain for the future to determine. If the money had not been available we're almost certain council would have rejected the purchase at this time, and it is perhaps unfortunate that the decision had to be made with that as the main criteria, + + + The decision to build a new works department building also came about because money was available, although it had been planned for the near future and there certainly is a need for one. Valuable equipment quickly deteriorates if left to the elements. One point on which there may be some argument with the budget is the $27,000 put into a reserve fund. In essence, council assume the role of bankers for the ratepayers and that is beyond their sphere of responsibility. The money belongs to the taxpayers from an overpayment of taxes last year and a sizeable provincial grant which was given to the municipality to reduce taxes. It should have been given to the ratepayers for that pur- 50 Years Ago The first political meeting to be held in Exeter, in connection with the coming provincial election was held in the Opera House on Thursday afternoon last by the U.F.O. Mr. W.D. Sanders acted as chairman. The principle speaker of the afternoon was Hon. Manning Doherty, Minister of Agriculture and the first speaker was W.G. Medd, the 'C.F.°, can- didate. The members of the Lebanon Forest Lodge, A.F. and A,M. attended divine worship in Caven Presbyterian Church in a body on Sunday evening last Rev. G.M. Chidley, Senior Deacon of the Thames Road, occupied the pulpit and preached a most ac- ceptable sermon. Mr. John Stacey, of Hensall left on Monday last for Goderich where he has taken a position as junior with the Sterling Bank. Misses Lena and Verna Coates are taking in the Greyhound excursion from Goderich to Detroit. 25 Years Ago Very Worthy Brother W.W. Taman was presented with a 50 year jewel at Lebanon Forest Lodge No. 133 AY. & A.M. Monday. , Zion Lutheran congregation, Dashwood will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its organization and the 40th anniversary of the dedication of its present church building Sunday, Mr. Cliff White expects to have an Ice Cream Bar in operation early in July, Mr, and Mrs. J.A. Traqtiair have moved into their new home On John St. Mr, Jos. 13, Creech purchased the home of the late G.S. Howard. pose; and it should have been given to them this year. The problem that arises is the same that council faced this year. The $27,000 will be available next year and again they'll possibly be in a position where they have money to spend above that which is normally available and decisions will be based on the fact that money is available without boosting taxes. Under such circumstances, councils often spend money for questionable projects that would he quickly turned down if it meant that taxes would have to be increased. They may argue that the 10 mill decrease this year was good, but obviously it is not as good as a 15 mill increase. + + + One of the interesting side- lights was the fact that none of the council budgets came up for discussion to see if they could be reduced, but members spent a considerable amount of time assessing the RAP expenditures for the current year. RAP has periodically been a "whipping boy" for councils, and while members have the right to debate the budget for recreation and community centres, we feel they should give their own proposed expenditures equal deliberation. • When they've cut them to the bone, then they have the right to question RAP figures. But as long as they gloss over their own budget, they should give RAP the same benefit of the doubt. 15 Years Ago Rev, H.J. Snell, who has been president of London Conference United Church during the past year, presented the staff of office and chairman's gavel to Rev. Gordon W. Butt. Windsor. Pride of Huron Rebekah Lodge celebrated its 11th birthday in the form of a friendship night recently. Mass production poultry building on the Alcantuc farm West of Exeter is rapidly taking shape. The structure which will, house 10,000 turkey broilers or 20,000 chicken broilers. Rev. Alex Rapson of Main Street United Church has ac- cepted a call to Hyatt Ave. United Church, London. 10 Years Ago Area centres have contributed some $1,500 toward the district cancer campaign, Chairman Lloyd Hern announced this week, Blanshard council Tuesday night approved Usborne's plans to build an all.township central school. The children are now attending union schools in Kirkton and Woodharn, Rev. James. Phillip Gandon, incumbent of St. David's Church, Windsor has been appointed rector of Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church, Exeter and St, Paul's Church, Hensall. Jack Coulter, Gravenhurst, has joined the T-A staff as its ad- vertising representative, He was formerly with the Muskoka News. Edith Stott, daughter of Mr, and Mrs. Archie Scat, Exeter has accepted a position with the Etobicoke Beard of Education.