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The Brussels Post, 1975-04-02, Page 2Chateau Brie, France To the editor: Hockey chairman answers criticism Dear Editor: In regard to two letters which appeared in the Brussels Post in the March 26 issue concerning the Brussels Optimist Atom Tournament, I would like to take this opportunity to express my views" on the incident these ladies objected so strongly to. In their letters, the ladies expressed concern that appointed officials: namely the timekeeper, showed favouritism towards his home team in the operation of the time clock. Firstly, I doubt that having Brussels playing in the game affected his ability to operate the clock and secondly, to the best of my knowledge, the accusation that last year's coach was operating the clock is improperly made, since he was the scorekeeper, not the timekeeper. Concerning the Milverton game with Brussels, I will admit a mistake was made by the scorekeeper. However, to err is human and considering in the tournament, there were 43 games played, one mistake on the scorekeepers part in that many games is not a bad record. In this instance we corrected the mistake by having the teams replay the last 34 seconds. If we did favour Brussels, why didn't we rule that the game was completed and Brussels was the winner? After the game, tournament officials talked with the Milverton coach and he seemed quite happy with the tournament.. As for the clock and buzzer not functioning together, they do if the automatic timer switch is set. After the game I talked with the referees and they said that in the case of the Brussels - Palmerston game, the automatic timer was on. Therefore, when the time on the clock ran out the buzzer automatically sounded. In regard to the fact of whether the goal counted or not, it is not a decision made by the timekeeper or scorekeeper. The referees make this decision. In this case they ruled that the puck was in the net before time expired and the buzzer sounded. We had nearly the same situation happen the next day in a game between Sarnia and Stratford. In. this game; Sarnia tied the score in the last second of play and befot•e the clock could be shut off the buzz er sounded to end the game. The referees in this case made the same decision as in the Brussels - PalmetstOb game,' We. regret that the. fans from Palmerston feel this way about out tournament. In the future an invitation will be sent to their team 4 and if they wish they ' may enter our tournament. However, if they decide that they do not want to come back, a team to take their place can easily be found from our waiting list. Palmerston fans may feel this way about our Tournament. However, here is a letter received from another team concerning our tournament. Mr. Frank Stretton, Chairman Optimist '.Atom Tournament Brussels, Ontario Dear Frank: Congratulations on a very well tourna- ment. The boys and officials of Port El say thank-you for a most happy a • rewarding 'weekend. I have been involved in of tournaments and none have even co close to this one. The food was excelle the hockey superb and the .hospitality out of this world. The Atom team appreciates the invitat and hope that we lived up to our expectat and will be invited back next year. If I can ever be of any help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours tr John Hun President, Port Elgin Minor Hoc Coabh, Atom Representative Te This is an, indication of how some of the other teams felt about the tournament and the treatment that they received. Palmerston received the same treatment. They played three hockey games, were fdd twice by the ladies; received awards and crests and one of their players won the free week at the Billy Harris-Dave Keon Hockey School. In addition their team was considered for the most sportsmanlike team in the tournament and were runner-up to GOcterich for this award. With these things in mind, along with the fact that it Was the referees assigned to the game, not the tournatnent officials who decided whether the goal counted or not; I say Palmerston received fair treatment. Ye-tits truly Frank Stittfoti Tournament Chairman her me nt, was POR that wer CCNA WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1975. Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited: Evelyn Kennedy Editor Dave Robb - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $6100 a year, Others $8.00 a year, Single Copies l5 cents each. BRUSSELS ONTARIO .4011111:14451223tlik"..4/, CNA Brussels Post The other side We all know that there are two sides to every story. Following an editorial in last week's Post in which we reprinted some criticism of members. of county council from another newspaper, We got a call from Morris reeve and former Huron Warden Bill Elston with his side of the story. In an effort to balance our criticism of last week we want to. give Reeve Elston's comments "equal time". The reeve's main point was that county councillors have not fixed things so that they get paid for attending two full county meetings per day. It would be hard for the average county councillor to have two meetings scheduled in one day, the reeve said. But when they are, the most councillors could get paid would be the regular $25 for a half day meeting and then another $7 if they had to attend another meeting on the same day, he said. There is no way that county council members would get paid a full day's rate plus half for attending two meetings, in one day, as the editorial implied, Reeve Elston said. The reeve said that if this editor could show him one place last year where this did happen, he would like to know about it --- an honest, above board attitude on the part of an elected official, we thought. . The former warden went on to say that yes, county councillors get mileage to and from meetings whether they drive their own cars or not. But he said many county councillors put lots of miles on their cars representing the county --- looking over a bridge or attending a fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration, for example, for which they never claim any mileage. Reeve Elston figures that it all evens out. It's fairly rare that councillors from the same area have county council committee meetings on the same day because they are usually on different committees, Reeve Elston said. But he agreed -that they do sometimes travel together to full county council sessions, and each councillor gets paid mileage. Unfortunately there will probably always be a few people who are involved in public business for personal gain and who try to freeload at the taxpayers expense. But there are many, many, more elected people who do more work than they will ever be paid for. We want to keep. the lines of communication open between elected people and this 'newspaper and hope that others, like Reeve Elston, will feel free to call us when they have a complaint or some information that they want to get out to the public. Keeping people informed about both sides of the story is as important to us as it is to them.