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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-11-15, Page 4Durham there the name of a county, not a segregated municipality. For example, no mail was ad- dressed with Durham as a destination un- less it was intended for the community in Grey. With all the names in the world to choose from the Easterners had to pick on the one which would duplicate that of another place, and one which has been go- ingkunder that name for the past 100 years. Perhaps it's understandable that the residents of Durham County wanted to re- tain that name, but it seems ridiculous that provincial authorities are prepared to com- pound confusion by telling the Grey County Durhamites they should have protested away back last summer. Quite probably no one this side of Toronto ever thought of the duplication ever receiving serious con- sideration." Time for town manager -Be 80 Miles in 80 days W,r(WVMgn ,' Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 ecefeamesabuorafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.NA., OM/M.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC Editor Bill Batten — Advertising Manager Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Women's Editor -- Susan Greer Phone 235.1331 THE [ AND SHORT OF IT Student Reports will be issued this week. Information about these was contained in the bulletin referred to above, NOTICE Pa rents' Night MON., NOV. 19 7:30 to 10:00 p.m. ste to Students have been given written information about this. Parents should obtain the bulletin which was sent home with their son or daughter. J. L. Wooden PRINCIPAL 'Things' happening Comments in recent weeks indicate "things" are happening locally regarding facilities for senior citizens, but those in- volved appear to be beading off in divergent directions. RAP and council have approved spen- ding $2,000 to winterize the bowling green clubhouse, but discussion by the two groups hints that this may bernerelya stop-gap solu- tion. "Other things are in the works" accor- ding to one spokesman for both groups. If, in fact, other "things" are being Considered, is the expenditure of $2,000 on the bowling green facility really money well spent? Perhaps it would be better to keep that cash for the other "things" being considered. The point is, the matter of facilities has been discussed by several people and many have different ideas of what is required and where. A study of the situation appears warranted. Let's determine what is re- quired and how (or if) it can be acquired and then set a course of action. Winterizing the bowling green clubhouse may be money wasted. Judicial inquiry Three cheers for Hay Township council in finally coming to an agreement with Hensall over fire protection services. Every ratepayer in any community should be entitled to the best protection possible for his property and that will not be so for the Hay ratepayers living in close proximity to Hensall. Sooner or later, the lack of an agree- ment was going to create a most unfor- tunate situation and everyone directly in- volved must be able to heave a sigh of relief now that Hay council have acted to alleviate any such possibility. Tor years Canadians in small towns have watched the drying up of passenger train services. Community after community has had its rail services cut. Passenger service in this country is now about on a par with that in Outer Mongolia. Many communities fought hard to retain the train service, but the locals were no match for the railways, with their public relations men, lawyers, experts and the inevitable figures. There is none of the romance and exictement of Canada's early railways in these figures. There is no sentiment. They show that the line is losing money, and that's all the railways care about. They don't mention that there seemed to be a deliberate plan to let the tracks and the coaches fall into such desrepair and shab- biness that even an Outer Mongolian would prefer to travel by yak. There was almost no attempt, except on the big trans- continental trains, to provide faster, more comfortable, reliable service. The railways are perfectly happy to provide good service for cattle and hogs, but they just don't want people riding on their trains. Is our postal service going the way of our passenger train service? Is there a secret con- spiracy, high in the ranks of our postal department, to discourage Canadians from communicating by mail? Are postal authorities being bribed by the Bell Telephone, the railways' telecommunications system, and other competitors to put the brakes on postal delivery to the point where it will diminish to a trickle, then halt completely? One would think so, on the evidence. People in business who depend on the so-called postal service in this country, must be losing their hair, their minds, and even their businesses these days. Last summer, when we were in England, I mailed two columns back to Canada. No problem They were there right on time. My wife wrote some postcards, "Not much point," I observed. "We'll be home before the cards get there." We weren't. But have you tried the Canadian mails lately? Don't unless there is no other way. Last night, my wife came across an old love letter, from me, and read it to the ac- companiment of my blushes and snorts. That letter travelled more than 200 miles, and took two days to get there, and cost four cents postage. This week, we had a letter from our daughter. She lives the vast distance of 80 miles away. You could walk it in four days, hitch-hike it in two. Yet the post office with its computors, its fancy codes and its fast, modern trucks, took the grand total of four days to get the letter from there to here. That's really whippy service. Twenty miles a day. And it cost eight cents. Twice the cost for less than half the efficiency. This column is mailed from here to the city on Tuesday, for processing. It should be delivered next morning, the people here tell me. It isn't. Sometimes it gets there Friday. Sometimes it doesn't. After some complaints from the city end, I took what I thought was drastic action. I sent the column by certified mail. That sounds impressive. It consists of putting your envelope inside a special en- velope and paying forty cents for the privilege. "That'll do it," I thoughtcomfortably. It didn't. Three days later, the city was on the blower. No column. I explained what I'd done. They said they'd go to the post office. They did. Nobody knew anything about it. After eight days, the whole sordid little unimportant story came out. Certified mail must be signed for. The elevator in the office building in the city was not working. The recipients of the column were on the third floor. No postie was going to walk up three flights of stairs. So the "certified" letter was not delivered. Worse still was the fact that it was dumped somewhere in the post office and ignored. Eight days after it was mailed, it turned up. Eight days, eighty miles. But by gosh, the price is right. Only forty cents. I've no grudge with the local people. They are helpful and obliging. But somewhere out there . . Sending a letter these days is about as effective as writing a note, putting it in a bottle, and dropping it in the Pacific Ocean. Except that the latter is a lot cheaper, if you happen to have an empty bottle. Next year, I'm going to hire a mule train for my mail, Amalgamated 1924 Has the time come for Exeter to seriously consider the ap- pointment of a "town manager"? Or perhaps give more authority to some of the managers already employed? At any rate, it is becoming rather obvious that "minor details" are slowing council down to a walk in some areas and an examination of the entire process would appear warranted. At the present, council members are being asked to undertake duties that should not be required of them. The result is an abundance of meetings and demands upon their time which are unfair and perhaps un- necessary. Basically, elected officials should be policy setters and the routine of setting those policies into action should be carried on by employees of the corporation. At the outset, let us make it abundantly clear that we in no way are being critical of any present employees or council members. They are following a practice that has been followed for many years. However, similar to many practices born out of another era, it may well be a profitable exercise to consider if some other methods of administration are more effective, That is the sole reason for our comments. + + + Some recent discussions come to mind to prompt the con- sideration for streamlining the present administration, One was the simple matter of whether a local industrial ratepayer should be given a key to the local dump so his firm could have access as they require when the attendant is not on duty. The matter was discussed for some time and then the sanitation committee chairman was asked to interview the ratepayer to determine his exact needs so council members would have some more information on which to base a decision. The subject was again broached this past week and the chairman had obviously not been able to arrange the interview and this time it was suggested that the ratepayer get in touch with him, rather than vice versa. We suggest that the elected member 'should not have been required to ferret out the details of the request in the first place. The request could have been handled by a "town manager" with council merely setting the policy. The dog control situation is similar. Elected officials should not be required to run around and seek prices for these ser- vices. A "town manager" could have garnered the facts and turned them over to a committee, which in turn would make a recommendation to council. As it is, the matter has been under debate for several months now, with pieces of information being presented now and then. But there was never enough to provide the basis for a decision and so the time spent on that discussion was basically lost. The list could be extended at length. It could also include the many little requests elected officials receive from ratepayers. These range from a faulty drain to the requirement for a load of gravel to fill a hole in a boulevard. These are items on which council should set policy and ratepayers should then make their requests known to a "town manager" who would act on the basis of that policy without wasting the time of council members. + + + .The major benefit of having a "town manager" is the fact it frees elected officials to set policies and plan the future of the community. It would remove much of the mundane work with which they are now involved and which too often dulls the interest of council members and makes their work less effective and efficient. As stated, much of the work is beyond that which should be expected of them for the amount of stipend received, Under the present setup, there are many qualified people who will not act because the job is too time consuming, Does it really have to be? 50 Years Ago Brigadier General King and several of his staff motored up from London Wednesday and inspected the recruits who have been drilling under the command of Major Heaman. On Thursday morning of last week while Mr. Richard Davis was plowing Reeve Beavers' garden, one of the horses stepped on the covering of an old well which gave way. Fortunately the well was not deep and the horse's head and front feet were above ground. A derrick from the marble shop was erected and the animal was rescued, little the worse for its experience. A fire on Saturday afternoon destroyed the large grist mill at Staffa which has been used for some time by Mr. Robert Sadler as a chopping mill. The mill was running at the time and the fire is supposed to have started from an oil engine which backfired. A large stable and garage close to the mill and also owned by Mr. Sadler were also burned to the ground. 25 Years Ago Mr. Asa Penhale has sold his fine farm on Huron St. East to Mr. Chester Dunn who will get possession in the spring. William Pearce resigned as tax collector for Exeter, effective the end of the year. Friday, November 26 will be a school holiday in Ontario to mark the birth of a royal prince to Queen Elizabeth. After serving his country for morq than 25 years as Prime Minister of Canada, Rt, Hon, William Mackenzie King relinquished his office on Mon- day. A deputation from James Street Official Board visited churches in Kitchener last week inspecting the lighting systems. A start will be made soon on installing a new lighting system in the church. In a community of this size, there may not be the need for a "town manager". In fact, we are much more inclined to believe that the system would be best improved by turning over more respon- sibility to the present employee; namely the clerk and works superintendent, While council members may think they were given the per- sonnel in these positions the necessary authority to undertake some of the work, they may well find this is not the case. For starters, they should sit down and write out the job descriptions for the various positions and then see if that is really mutually agreed upon by other members of council and the 'employees in question, Elected officials should also point out to ratepayers the necessity of following proper channels. Requests from ratepayers should be required in writing where practical and should be sent to the department head involved. Civic administration is big business and it's modern business, but it needs to be continually updated to keep up with the changes being used by other big and modern businesses in this space age society. Perhaps a study of the entire operation similar to the one recently completed for RAP would be most beneficial. 15 Years Ago A bronze plaque has been place on the wall of the council chamber of Huron County courthouse at Goderich to commemorate the service to the county during 24 years as treasurer and clerk by the late Harvey Erskine. Mrs. Elmer D. Bell was elected president of the Women's Auxiliary , to South Huron Hospital at the annual meeting recently. Immediate past president is Mrs. C.S. Mac- Naughton. Junior grade teachers at Exeter Public School defended and explained modern teaching methods in reading to parents at the monthly Home and School Association meeting. Each ac- companied her talk by visual examples of study methods. James Dalton moved one step closer to the wardenship of Lambton County when he was re- elected reeve of Grand Bend 10 Years Ago Elmer D. Bell. QC, has been appointed by county council to a three-year term on South Huron District High School board. He succeeds Larry Snider who retires after nearly a decade on the board. Members reappointed were Kenneth Johns and Roy Morenz. Milton Pfaff, former post- master and recipient of a life membership award from the local branch of the Legion died Saturday in South Huron Hospital. A storm was raised in council this week after Mayor Eldrid Sifnmons issued an ultimatum to two RAP employees, demanding that the local arena be booked in a month or he would ask for the dismissal of the rec director and arena manager, Mrs. Ken McKellar, who has resigned as organist and Choir leader of Cromarty Presbyterian Church after almost 25 years was honored by the congregation last week for her faithful service, Somewhere I read that many people treat God as they would treat their lawyer; they only call on Him when they get into trouble and do not know how to get out of it. They seem to assume God was speaking directly to them in Psalm 50 when he said, 'Call on me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.' Actually, God was speaking to His chosen people, Israel, and that verse (20) followed a statement of what He expected from them (obedience and thanksgiving) if they wanted favours from Him in times of stress. He goes on to speak to the wicked and says, 'What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you.' So, if we're going to continue to disobey His laws and forget to offer our thanks, perhaps we can't expect God to bail us out every time we get in trouble. While reviewing the latest TV coverage of the Watergate scandal and the presidential tapes discourse, we thought of what the writer of Hebrews said, 'Everything lies naked and ex- posed to the eyes of the One with whom we have to reckon,' Some of us may fidgit and wonder how comfortable and proud we'd be if a tape was suddenly unearthed recording all our past conversations. Would the backs of our necks burn when they played back that shameless family quarrel, the clever half- truth about a neighbor, the abuse we heaped on an employee? As the grumbling or filthy talk poured forth, in our own words and voices, would we cringe with shame? And how would we stand up if our every action was recorded under the glare of TV cameras? How would we make out in front of a committee of judges and lawyers inquiring into all our transactions? Asthecamerasswung a cross our past would we flinch to see ourselves slighting a colored, foreign student; deliberately making someone feel un- comfortable by a subtle gesture or look, or the many hurting, flaunting actions in which we often indulge? If we stood before the steady, unrelenting gaze of a judicial inquiry could we be sure all our affairs would stack up in good order without giving us a moment's uneasiness? The day will come when we will have to be accountable for all our words, thoughts and actions, that is, if we are to take Jesus seriously when he said, 'I tell you this; there is not a thoughtless word that comes from men's lips but they will have to account for it on the day of judgement. For out of your own mouth you will be acquitted; out of your own mouth you will be condemned'. (Matt. 12;36,37) Yes, some day we will stand and appear precisely as we are, condemned by our very own words and actions. We shall be judged on the record of our deeds which shall be shown in sharp focus and in perfect clarity. Our only hope will lie in our defense counsel, Jesus Christ, who has promised to fight our case for us providing we take the time to make a personal trans- action with him Now. Durham here ••••••••••! "Sharp thinking boys!" says the Wingham Advance-Times when commen- ting on the naming of a new Ontario regional municipality. Says the Wingham editor: "A couple of weeks ago a whole mess of municipalities, large and small, were all whopped into the same bucket to make one of these new regional set-ups. Located in Eastern Ontario, one of the local names was Durham, Durham county to be exact. Lo and behold, when the whole thing was put together in one piece the residents decided, apparently with full provincial sanction, that Durham would be used as the name of the new region. Naturally the people in Durham, Grey County, are a bit provoked. And why not? Obviously the name Durham was in use previously in Eastern Ontario - but that was AAMOWW0Ag.--*000.4,k Sigh of relief Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation, March 31, 1972, 5,037 SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada $9.00 Per Year; USA $1.1.00 ,.WE NEED YOUR BLOOD, MAKE an. A DATE TODAY. Eir LAY-AWAY TIME Come In And Choose Your CHRISTMAS GIFTS While Our Selection Is At Its Best PLEASING YOU PLEASES US WILSON'S JEWELLERY Opposite Exeter Post Office