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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-03-17, Page 4Page 4 Times-Advocate, March 17, 1977 Stubbornness prevailed Speak, listen, understand Councillor Steve Pfaff may not be too far off the mark in citing"stubbornness"on the part of some members of council for the delay in reaching an agreement with the Heritage Foundation for the lease of of- fice space in the old town hall for the police department. Despite an acknewledgement that the proposed police facilities are acceptable and that a delay in approving the lease is unfair to the Heritage people, council members continue to vacillate on the issue and some of their reasons certainly do border on an apparent stubbornness, If they were dealing with some sinister landlord, their attitude would possibly be understandable, But, in fact, they are deal- ing with a group of local taxpayers in- terested only in preserving and restoring one of the community's landmarks, They are a non-profit organization, interested only in having enough rent money to make their project viable. ' While the rental fee appears reasonable, those members of council who NOTE — The following editorial was written before council's secret meeting, Tuesday, in which they voted to buy a house and move the police out of the town hall. In view of that decision, the word "stub- bornness" in the following is probably not strong enough as this newspaper is of the opinion council's decision was absurd and detrimental to a project being undertaken by a group of dedicated citizens interested in preserving a local landmark. Hopefully, they will persevere, in spite of council. hold the opinion that it may be high, should realize that the "excess" would be poured back into a community project. They could look upon it as a form of grant, if they would prefer, and certainly assistance with the project to such a minute amount should not be given begrudgingly, Councillors should seriously look at the alternative if they fail to reach an agree- ment over the lease. They would presumably have to find suitable quarters elsewhere for the police, and while accom- modation could be found, it would probably be no cheaper and certainly would not be in such an advantageous location. However, the main problem would be that their withdrawal could spell the demise of the town hall restoration project, because the operating costs will be more difficult for the Heritage Foundation to meet than the capital costs of restoration. In all likelihood, the town would end up with the hall back on their hands, and then council would have to face the costs of restoration or demolition on their own or continue to let the facility deteriorate as their predecessors have done. It is also rather amusing to hear the concern being expressed on the type of facility that will be provided for, the police in the town hall and the type of activities with which they may have to contend. That was never much of a consideration when council members were the building ad- ministrators. It's time some members did some soul- searching to see if their stubbornness is precluding a reasonable decision. "When I said I pinched them, it was merely a figure of speech!" Divorce could be costly Commendation deserved Fire Chief Gary Middleton was high in his praise of the efforts of the local volunteer brigade in fighting the extremely hazardous fire last week at Ralph Genttner Fuels Ltd. The praise is indeed justified, because there can be little doubt that the firemen performed quickly and efficiently in preventing what could easily have been one of the most disastrous fires in this com- munity. - They went about that task with little regard for their own safety, although most of them knew full well what the dangers were. This newspaper adds its commendation to the firemen and certainly to Fire Chief Gary Middleton. The department, under his leadership, is one of the most active to be found in any community of this size and they,maintain a continual training program that has paid dividends, not only in the most recent fire, but also previous ones which they have successfully brought under control. Fighting fire requires skill and knowledge of what is required under any given situation (which changes with prac- tically every fire) and the volunteers give clear indication of their proficiency and dedication to the task. The community is fortunate to have men of this calibre ready to come to their assistance in emergency situations. The old spinoff racket ONE of the great rackets these days is the television series "spinoff". When a TV producer has a popular show, and one of the secondary characters is even mildly amusing, first thing you know that character has a show of his or her own, This proliferates until you have spinoffs of spinoffs. It's like taking a bottles of fine whiskey, doubling the quantity by adding an equal amount of water and selling it at the same price per shot as the original. Then take this mouthwash and further dilute it by adding more water, and you go on selling this at the original price. It works fine and makes a lot of money until the consumer finally realizes he could get more bang out of a glass of buttermilk, and he starts drinking buttermilk, and you are left with a large.supply of gargle on your hands. Norman Lear was the first TV producer to realize that people like watching bigotry and bathroom jokes even more than they like watching violence. Thus was born All in the Family, one of the great money-makers of all time in TV land. From this was spun off Maude, The bigotry became - phoney liberalism and the bathroom jokes became bedroom jokes, but it was the same slick formula, and it worked. It was only a step from the slick to the sick, and brother Lear came up with Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, which, while not quite a spin-off, is of the genre, Its favorite refrain is "Oh Gawd. Oh my Gawd." Excellent fare for the morbid or diseased mind. Another good original show, The Mary Tyler Show, spun, Or spawned Phyllis and Rhoda, each starring one of the most self- centred unpleasant women a writer could dream up, and each laced with borderline bad taste, There's something wrong with all this, I suppose, in a free en- terprise system, and nobody forces you to watch the garbage. But there it only so much that the stomach will take before it will spew. And there is only so much that the mind will take before you will experince an intellectual vomit, and switch to watching the wrestling matches, where at least nobody is trying to pretend it's anything but phoney. However, perhaps I'm rushing my fences a bit, I'm a realist. If everybody else is getting into the spinoff business, maybe I should jump on the bandwagon. There's Money in it, and besides, it might be one way of putting an end to it. My record is perfect. Just after the war, I met an old buddy who'd become a broker. He was investing in gold stocks and hauling in the loot. Gave me a hot tip. I plunged with some of the back pay I'd built up while in prison camp. Met the guy six months later, He'd lost his home and his boat and was selling farm machinery. I owned 300 shares of Muskeg in Northern Ontario, After that I stayed away from the market until mutuals were the thing. They were showing tremendous growth, and poten- tial. Once bitten, I hestitated, but then dived in with my $200 savings. It seems I arrived just after the mutuals had nibbled some of that biscuit Alice did so she could go through the rabbit hole, or whatever. They shrank almost overnight to $85 worth. Last November, in one last desperate effort to enjoy a luxurious old age, I bought two $100 Canada Savings Bonds. Two weeks later there was an election in Quebec, and now we don't even know whether there'll always be a Canada. In January of this year, I bought a second-hand Ford, A week later I read in the paper that the Ford Motor Company was making payments for ex- traordinary rust to owners. of Fords in my vintage, Then I read the small print. The payments had ended on Dec. 30 1976. My ford has rust, So, with a track record like that, maybe I can administer the kiss of death to the spinoff business. Thought I'd start by producing some spinoffs of my column. There's no problem about talent. My family is loaded with writers. Both my son and daughter specialize in pathos. They can write letters so pathetic that you are weeping all over the, page and writing a cheque at the same' time. My wife can knock out a grocery list as long as your arm without even stopping to suck the pen. And she is not only talented as a writer. She's an outstanding and out-spoken critic, as well, She can rip up the punctuation and purpose, the style and sub- stance of one of my columns with both hands tied behind her back. Which is the only way it is safe to read some of them to her. And there'll be no difficulty about content. My daughter is expert on Women's Lib, music and mooching. My son is fluent in English, French, Spanish, the Indian dialect of the natives of Paraguay, and mooching. And the old lady is an expert on everything, and admits it. She has been bottling up this veri- table fountain of knowledge for decades, except during break- fast, before and after dinner, and all weekend. Giving her a column of her own would be like punching a 20-foot hole in Boulder Dam, In two or three years, I might even get the grandboys into it. At the moment, they are busily stuffing their memory banks, As soon as they can write, you may expect some sizzling stuff: Five Years as a Misunderstood Child; Daycare Centre Depression: the Inside Story on Sadistic Social Workers Who Make YOU Give Back a Toy You've Ripped Off From Some Other Kid. If my column spinoffs don't put an end to the spinoff nonsense in about30 days, eat every paper in which this one appears, with or without ketchup, Readers will recall our sad tale of last week about the weatherman making another of his frequent attacks on the writer by ruining our visit to the CN tower in Toronto. However, despite the view be- ing spoiled by dense fog for our luncheon at the world's tallest building, the event was not a complete loss. Joining our table for the luncheon was a press 'salesman from Montreal, and for the length of time it takes to eat a 46- pound salad-meat mixture (the weight is our youngest, salad- hating son's estimate, not ours) we enjoyed a dialogue with our guest on the current situation in Quebec. It was extremely revealing! Jean is a native of Quebec Ci- ty, and after working about three years in Ontario (London) returned to his home province, but to the more bilingual city of Montreal. It is here, he claims, that the move to separatism is the strongest and it is due primarily to the English speak- ing citizens of that city. His explanation is that iii Quebec City, and indeed in most other parts of the province, the language issue is of little con- cern. The majority of residents speak French and go about their business in what is basically a unilingual atmosphere. But not so in Montreal! There are many English speaking residents in that city and it is their stubbornness in not lear- ning French that has embittered many of their fellow French speaking citizens. Jean related a story about his wife going to a bank in Montreal to transact some business. The manager of that bank could not (or at least would not) com- municate with her in French and she had to be transferred to some other individual. As our dinner guest related, most French speaking citizens have accepted the challenge to learn both languages, but the English speaking have not. He claims that those businesses which have pulled out of the province since the election of the Parti Quebecois are operated by people who refuse to learn how to speak French, His reaction to their withdrawal was "good riddance!". Perhaps Bert's example was better in that many Quebec citiZens have never really felt married to the rest of Canada, but rather have just been engag- ed over these many years. They claim to have benefitted little from the engagement and we've "used" them only when it was in our interest to do so. While Quebec envisons a future as happy bachelor or spinster, they do not feel threatened by the suggestion from some Canadians that they Dear Editor, Upon returning from a two week holiday in Jamaica I wish to extend my views. In spite of all the political unrest and violence we had read about, and indeed in spite of the warnings we heard, we chose to go to Jamaica. Seemingly the mass media that has accomplished so much toward bringing all countries within our reach, has in fact deeply affected the tourist in- dustry of Jamaica. In this country with its predominately high rate of unemployment a slackening of the tourist trade truly strikes deep affecting so many people. Jamaica is richly endowed by nature. Their's is a country where one can bask in the warm sunny days and enjoy the over- whelming calm of warm starry nights. The mild breezes sway the sky- sweeping palms and gently roll the inviting blue green ocean. Contrasting the sky and sea one can glory in the green expanse of the countryside that is abun- dantly spotted by colourful blooming flowers, During our brief stay we snot only experienced the extreme warmth of the land but also the people. Everyone we en- countered seemed foremost concerned that we should feel welcome, comfortable and at home. On the planned tours and even on our private excursions, the Jamaicans were pleased to tell us all we wanted to know and suc- ceeded in implanting in us some of their great pride for their native land. While in Jamaica we stayed at the Club Caribbean at Runaway Bay. We enjoyed the informal but stately accommodations, the savory meals and the in- terestingly unique entertainment program. We had never before ex- perienced such open hospitality and superior service, David Scales the General Manager and his staff made our stay com- fortable and enjoyable but most of all memorable. As we left Jamaica our only regrets were that we could not stay longer. Elly VanBergen Times Established 1873 will end up being married to the United States. The prospect of being a bachelor or spinster in North America is not particularly of concern, because in effect they feel they haven't, been treated much better than that in their present engagement anyway. And, as far as being married to the United States, there are some residents of the province who don't see that as being any worse than being engaged to Canada, and perhaps could even be better. Some Quebecers suggest we'll have to follow them into that marriage if they go, so they rather snicker at our war- nings that the U.S. is not a suitable partner for them. * • * At any rate, there can be little doubt that this nation is at a very precarious cross-roads situation, whether we look upon the pre- sent situation as a marriage, engagement or whatever. However, there can be little doubt that the rest of Canada would lose considerably if Quebec withdraws from the na- tion, and it serves no useful pur- pose for us to shade that fact by suggesting Quebec would suffer as well. Two ills never made anyone well! While many of our readers may suggest there is little they can do regarding the situation, that may not be entirely correct. As the people to whom the elected officials of this nation are responsible, we do have a big say in the future of the country. Many should also realize it' is time to stop their negative thoughts about their Quebec brothers and sisters and start thinking of them more in terms of valuable and equal members of the family. It's time we stopped complaining about hav- ing French printed on the sides of our corn flakes boxes, etc., etc. It wouldn't hurt a bit, in fact, if more of us took the time to learn how to read that particular side of the box, or at least demanded that our children be educated to the point where they can. Instead of heading south, north or west for our next vacation, we should consider travelling east to better understand the thinking of our fellow Canadians in Quebec • and let them know we are sincere in our efforts to have them remain with us. It may also give us an idea of the feeling a person experiences when he can't communicate in the same tongue as his neighbors. , Yes, there are many things we can do, but sitting back and merely hoping that the situation corrects itself is not one of them. We all have a stake, even if one considers only the "alimony" we'll have to pay if our marriage is terminated, Advocate Established 1881 Author Joyce Landorf tells the story of a little boy showing his friend the doormat in front of his house with "Welcome" written on it, Pointing to it, the little fellow says, "That's the first thing I learned to read. It says, 'Wipe Your Feet! ' " It reminds her, she says, of all the times we say one thing but communicate quite another. For instance, we may tell our child, "Pick up your clothes; your room is a mess! " What we are communicating is, "You're so dumb! How long am I going to have to tell you these things?" We can say, "Hello, how are you?, but communicate by our tone, "I really don't have time to listen," Or, we can purr, "Darling, you do it this way," when all the time we're saying, "Stupid!" Some people claim only seven percent of what we communicate is verbal. The rest lies in such things as vocal pitch, inflections and facial expression. To be a good `communicator' takes a lot of practice and serious thought. A few weeks ago, I sat in on a seminar on Communication and we were told there are three parts to communicating: 1. talking, 2. listening and 3. un- derstanding. Many people like the `talking' part best and about the only time anyone else around them gets a chance to speak is when they stop for breath. The sad thing is that most of these compulsory talkers go on and on without saying anything very important. We must train our tongues. St. James likens the tongue to a bucking bronco or wild horse out of control or a spark that can start a mighty fire leaving only carnage in its wake. We can build people up or tear them down with our tongues. We can wound or we can soothe. The listening part of com- munication is just as important and just as much work as talking, We are told we hear only about 20 percent of what is said to us. This is because we don't really listen. We need to learn to 55 Years Ago Stratford, by winning from Exeter in Stratford by the score of 6 to 3, and then holding the locals to a two all tie in Exeter, Monday night, put the locals out of the 'NHL by three goals, The locals were without Hindmarsh at Stratford, The game on Monday night was played in mud and water but it was hockey all the way through. Mr. Wm. Treble, Exeter's veteran in the line of moving buildings, has disposed of his moving outfit to Mr. Winegarden, Exeter, North., Mr. Patrick Hanlon and Son of Centralia have sold their business store and dwelling to 'Messrs. Baker and Richardson of London. Mr. Andrew Campbell recently sold his farm in Usborne to Mr. Jas. Turnbull. Twenty five members of the Salvation Army motored to Stratford Monday to attend special evangelistic services being held there. 30 Years Ago Major Elmer D, Bell has been appointed second in command of the 21st anti-tank regiment at Wingham, the unit in which he served while overseas. A permit was granted to Earl Neil by council to erect a roller skating rink on Carling Street, Kenneth Hern, Woodham, has been elected president of the Amalgamated 1924 talk less and listen more. Someone has pointed out God gave us two ears and only one mouth! Sensitive listening is actively caring about what another person is saying and surely this,is one of the most important things needed in our society. Perhaps, like King Solomon, we need to pray for 'listening hearts'. Which bring up the third part of communication: understanding, We need to train ourselves to look behind the thought expressed in the words people say to us. Our seminar leader stated, "We must stop being so prickly and instead of becoming defensive about something someone has said to us, we need to look beyond at what the person is really saying and why." I imagine 99 percent of us would say we want to com- municate with those around us and yet, we constantly set up roadblocks to hinder it. We don't allow people to share their feelings often because we can't take the risk of having them expose themselves. We become defensive and put others down. We provoke guilt in people by saying such things as "It's all your fault. . ." We can make communication difficult by trying to keep the peace at any price and thus build up resent- ments. Some of us are great at second guessing others (especially our spouses or children) and finish their sen- tences for them. And, as stated before, we can dominate the whole conversation and thus hamper communication, Another block to com- munication is anger. There are three ways in dealing with anger: Surpress it and get ulcers; ex- press it and give other people ulcers and confess it (to God and the other person) and get it out in the open where it can be aired. This brings us back to the beginning to Joyce Landorf's story, It would probably be a lot better if instead of saying, `Welcome', our doormats read, 'Please Wipe Your Feet'. Because you can't beat loving honesty when it comes to good communication. newly organized South Huron Junior Farmers Club. Mr. R. C. Balkwill has moved into his newly-erected home on John Street, and Mr. Percy Dunsford, who has sold his farm in Hay township, has moved into the residence purchased from Mr. Balkwill on Andrew Street. Jean Brock of Exeter was chosen president of the new South Huron Junior, Institute at an organizational meeting last week. 20 Years Ago Miss Lina Abbott, the Times- Advocate's Lucan correspondent, won the honorable mention award for 'outstanding rural news reporting' from the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association. Businessmen from nine district communities gave overwhelming approval to Friday night shop- ping at a meeting here Tuesday morning, Nearly 500 parishioners and friends of Our Lady of Mt. Car- mel Church celebrated St. Patrick's Day, Sunday, with the official opening of the new $50,000 public school, Bill Brock, Kippen, won the W. C. Wood prize for the Grand Champion in the Agricultural Engineering Division of the 33rd Annual College Royal held at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. 15 Years Ago Brian Hern, Woodham, was selected as best actor at the Junior Farmers drama festival in Seaforth this week. He played the lead role in South Huron's "Bobbie pulls up her socks." Mrs. Don Wilson was the speaker at the World Day of Prayer service for ladies of the community in Caven Church, Friday. Ian McAllister, RR 1 Zurich, won the farm management class at Huron Seed Fair, Saturday, Don Hendrick, RR 2 Crediton, presided over the eleventh an- nual review day held at Western Ontario Agricultural School, Ridgetown, recently. Shots from a BB or similar gun caused over $400 damage to large glass panes in the new liquor store over the weekend. Anne Grayer, 17, has been chosen SHDHS queen for the second time. She will represent her school in the London' Free Press School Queen's Club. During his conversation, Jean repeatedly referred to Canadian unity as a form of "marriage". As in any successful marriage, he noted that it was necessary that the partners have the mutual love and respect of each other and it was the task of both parties to work as hard as possi- ble to make that marriage work. "Tolerance is not enough," he stated. It was interesting that at a banquet the same evening, Bert Shea, of Imperial Oil in a passionate plea for all Canadians to strive to maintain the coun- try's unity, also used a similar example, He pointed out that English speaking Canadians had to woo Quebec as they would a girl whom they wished to marry, He pointed out that males in that situation don't take no for an answer without putting up an ex- tremely good battle to win the lady's favor. They use every "weapon" at their disposal in the fight for her hand. Bert, we should mention, has spent a considerable portion of his life in Montreal too and urged his audience to do everything in their power to keep this great country unified. * Phone 235-1331 +CNA 14t ftlIGtegon UP OUR 0111PLIIIIKTi- 'MET WOE? UNER Tdr 13111P6t! exeltRimes-Abuorate SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0,W.N.A. CLASS 'A' and ABC Published by J. W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY, PUBLISHER Editor — Bill Batten Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Advertising Manager — Jim Beckett Plant Manager — Jim Scott Composition Manager — Harry DeVries Business Manager — Dick Jongkind Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation September 30, 1975 5,409 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canatia $11.00 Per Year; USA $22.00