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Times-Advocate, 1982-02-17, Page 4A • Times -Advocate, February 1.7, 1982 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by j.W. Eedy Publications Limited EORNE EEDY Publisher IIM BECKETT • Atheitisint. Manager 13111 BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $20.00 Per year: U.S.A. $55.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABS' Ah, for those good old days Few people need reminding how inflation' has taken its toll on today's society. However, if there are those who may not realize just how things haV'e been changing through the years, they would have been astounded to consider some of the details -of the minutes approved this week by Ex- eter council. As part of the celebration of Heritage Day and Sir John A. MacDonald Day, council passed the minutes from a meeting of their predecessors of. January 31, 1901. Bylaw, No. 1 confirmed the appointment of municipal officers. George H. Bissett was reappointed clerk at a, salary of $100 per annum, while Samuel Sanders was reappointed treasurer at a stipend of $55 per year. Assessor A.G. Dyer received $40. • Council of the day also set tax rates. A sum of 0 Ct� J a $2,746 was levied against the taxpayers.for school pur- poses and a further $3,896 was to be extracted for municipal purposes. Another $383 was to be collected for county purposes. There was more bad news, of course. Taxpayers had debenture costs to meet and there was the matter of a sinking fund to pay for the recently built town hall. So, $1,149.84 had to be raised 'for debentures and in- terest on the town hall building fund and a further $511.04 for the town hall sinking fund. Woe to those who were delinquent in meeting their tax payments. A penalty. of five percent, interest was added on arrears after the 14th day of December. Members of the 1982 council are to be highly com- mended for staging Heritage Day in Exeter... and they'll certainly endear themselves to all the current taxpayers if they can somehow get taxes back in line with those good old days. . Taking away motivation For years now, governments — including ours in Ontario — have been urging people to drive smaller cars to help save gasoline and reduce pollution. And the public has responded. More and • more small cars are on the roads, to the extent that North American car manufacturers are having their problems. They switched late to small cars. Now, apparently, the provincial government has s; had enough of encouragement. Next year, according to Minister of Transportation James Snow, small cars will no longer' have an advantage when it comes time 'to purchase registration fees. A four -cylinder car now costs $30 a year, and an eight -cylinder car with a large engine costs $80. Next year, Mr. Snow says, there will probably be a uniform rate of $48. The minister denies that the new rates would be calculated to offset revenue losses caused by the shift to small cars. Maybe it's simply that, with the province now in the -oil business, he warts to en- courage consumption. Who knows? With this government, who ever knows? Grimsby Independent Don't need to go to pot There have been many studies and theories regar- ding the pros and cons of marijuana use, says The Pic - ton Gazette, many of which have not yet been proved. But the fact that there are conflicting theories on the harmfulness of the drug is not reason for moving toward legalization of it. However, research in the United States has shown that marijuana accounts . for the second highest number of admissions to drug treatment facilities and 33 percent of the users started their habit before the age of 14. Ours is fast becoming a drug -hooked generation. One of the most dangerous things about legalizing marijuana is that users and potential users will be vir- tually told it's all right to indulge. You cannot change the status of anything from forbidden to okay without encouraging its use. There are enough problems already in our society with legal .drugs and alcohol without compounding them by legalizing marijuana. Some anim al s� are really b Stop the world, I want to get off! After mulling over a myriad of topics for this week's column. that appeared to be one of the few avenues of escape open , to the 'writer in a search for some solu- tion to the problems in which our modern • society has placed itself. Solutions appear. negligible. What is the sense of all the turmoil? Is the only answer to bury one's head in the sand and pretend that all is well and there really is a purpose in it all? Greed and over -indulgence have in- flicted their toll on society and yet we attempt to counter the malady with a further dose of greed and over- indulgence. The venom from a poisonous snake may work as the antidote for a snake bite. but the theory does not work similar benefits when it comes to greed and over -indulgence. Tyranny has corpe full circle in our modern society. Past generations were dictated to by tyrants. They controlled the very existence of the masses. Now. the masses have become the tyrants. banding into pressure groups that attempt to control their own destiny. but in fact control very little because they are sooner or later v:c timized by their own greed and over- • indulgence. People have lost the ability to strike a balance that will preseve their ex- istence. The auto workers are a prime example of that situation. They have managed to price themselves out of the market. not only in the face of world competiton. but in the price that the average Canadian can affort to pay even if there were no alternatives. Of course. they blame the government for their plight. High interest rates have added to their numbers of unemployed, but they mast surely recognize that it is still the sticker price that- forces many potential customers to back off. Yet. they stick to their guns in negotiations with the auto firms and I 1 won't agree to any move to reduce their demands in an attempt to get the in- dustry back into a competitive position. But then. who can blame them? BATT'N AROUND with the editor Everywhere they look other employee hroups are continuing their battle for igher wages, starting with the political leaders of the land and encompassing doctors. teachers, plumbers. garbage- ment. journalists. etc., etc. Everyone wants a bigger share of the pie. None realizes that the pie has limits: that each gain adds to the infla- tion that soon nullifies the gain. Some want to stay even. Others want to catch up. Others want to stay ahead. Others have quit. their will to survive shattered. They got off the world. Perhaps I'rn suffering from a case of the mid -winter blahs. I don't know. but it is difficult to be positive when being sur- rounded by the countless reports of peo- ple chasing after the almighty buck. when it is evident that the chase is never- ending therefore never satisfying. No longer do people have an apprecia- tion for being well off and that can be dis- astrous. . The writer, as some readers know, has foined the ranks of the part-time armers.' Last week, one of the ewes in my small flock of sheep gave birth to twin lambs. One was a ewe, the other a ram. Their size at birth was almost iden- tical. However. the ewe is a little on the 1 passive side and her brother is.greedy. He is the first to reach for the taps and quite often leaves very little milk for his sister. At times, he shoves her aside, although there are ample attachments for both to feed at the same time. The ram lamb is growing by leaps and. bounds. His sister is doing badly. In fact, she is being sustained primarily because she is getting a hand-out, being fed a bot- tle supplement periodically to make up for the milk being stolen by her greedy • brother. The outlook for the ewe lamb is not very bright. In her weakened condition she is more susceptible to disease and her in- creasingly dick of fficultforernttoo find the strength to face the .competition. Her demise would not be unexpected. But. even if she manages to survive, she will not be a good breedingprospect and will probably end up in a date with the butcher. Her brother is too busy looking out, for his own needs to worry about her. Her mother has given no in- dication of going out of her way to help her survive, perhaps not realizing the predicament that is being experienced. But the ram lamb doesn't have a very bright future either. His greed ilnd over- indulgence is going to result in his being among the first of the brood to reach market weight and the inevitable date with the butcher. So. neither of them will survive: The ram less than normal due to his greed. Had he been less greedy and shared the benefits of his mother's milk supply with his sister, both of them would have sur- vived much longer, and in fact his sister may have become a useful ewe. In effect, his greed and over- indulgence won't do him any good and it has done his sister irreparable harm. He even put his mother ineeoopp�ardpp her value as a ewe isiquestionabje Host can't raise two lambs successfully. But then, animals are dumb, aren't they? . Getting .taste of oldtime ,._. ,, �J�• winter of "Cold:oW[tom. '.. - nuff fen "Ain't she a corer?" "Don't that beat all?" These and similar rhetorical questions reverberated across Canada during most . of January. The answer to each of them was' an un-. qualified, "Yup" For some reason (maybe something to do with the increasing com- mercialization of Christ- mas)- The Lord became wrathful, and when he does, it is something. He called a meeting. Pre- sent were Jack Frost, Old Man Winter, and Mother Nature. When the Lord revealed that he was peeved, each was delighted. Jack Frost rubbed his hands together, not to keep them warm, but in glee. "Let me at 'em, Lord. I've got a whole freezer- ful of cold fronts and record lows that are just settin' there doin' nothin'." Old Man Winter cackl- ed jubilantly, "Lordy, Lordy." (he was allowed this familiarity because ' of his extreme age). "I ain't had a good dust-up fer nigh on 20 year. Last year's,winter was so easy they thought I'd gone to sleep or got senile. But.I was just savin' up some snow squalls. wind chill factors and blizzards to show 'em, one of these days. that there's plenty of life in the old boy yet.' Mother nature was more dignified, as is her wont, but equally `keen. "The ungrateful varlets have been having their way with me for the past century or so. They're destroying my beauty with their acid' rain, their strip mining, their ugly northern developments, their tinkering and trifl- ing with the bounties I have bestowed on them. I'll go along. I believe the expression is, with these gentlemen." The Lord spoke, in a mightly and menacing voice, "So be it." And so it came about. Wave after w Wave after winter rolled across the land without cease, and the once -proud and scorn- ful people of the land, who had come to the conclu- sion that they could keep Jack at bay with their new-fangled devices, meet the Old Man on his own terms, and lie and cheat Mother with their public relations gim- micks. whimpered, whin- ed and were brought to their knees. Besides the howl of the wind. the air was filled When I wasn't sitting with my fingers, toes and legs crossed to keep our ancient furnace from con- king out. I was scuttling about the house, stuffing socks into the holes in basement windows, put- ting on the weatherstrip- ping I'd bought last Oc- tober. pursued by the voice of my wife remin- ding me of that fact. A colleague was huddl- ed by her fireplace on one of the worst Sundays, when she heard a thum- ping at the door. Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley with the rumble of overworked furnaces, the grinding and grunting of frozen starters and dead batteries, the thump and clatter of snowplows, the hacking and sneezing of the people, and the lamentations of the arthritic. Flying was foolish, con- sidering icing, gusting winds and long waits for the fearsome threesome to ease off a bit. Driving was dangerous: ice un- derfoot. whiteouts across highways, the chance of being blocked off and sit- ting all nig t in a car, freezing y r butt and wishing yo 'd listened to Aunt. Mabe Oil and gas bills soared. Tow trucks and car body shops enjoyed a harvest. People sat in the dark and froze when power lines came down. Skiers were stranded and snow- mobilers got frostbite, courtesy of Jack. Shutters broke loose and banged against out- side walls like poltergeists trying to scare the daylights out of you in the middle of the night. Ours did. anyway. Bewildered that anyone would be out in that maelstrom, she opened it and found another colleague standing there, shaking and shivering like a dog excreting razor blades. The guy had been out cross-cbuntry skiing, had got back to his car, almost paralyzed, and found the cops wouldn't let him go home. The road was blocked. She h had to hurl him into a hot f money for the boy next door who shovels the walk. literally digging me out in the morning, an oil bill that hurts like a sore tooth. And garage bills for about $400. The old lady skidded going into the came home one day, garage and wound up with the car half an inch from the side of garage door. This time she had enough sense toget out and leave it there. Last time. she kept trying and wound up wedged solidly halfway into the garage. This time; _I said, I said cheerily, well, fairly cheerily, "No problem. ' Gotthe keys, wentalttt and wiggled the car 'around without hitting the tree and sailed into the garage triumphantly. Stupid women. I started to, back out, moving smartly, skidded, and wedged the car securely. half in and half out. on my side. Tow - truck. Next day we shopped, came home. drove into garage. I jumped out, told er to pull on the lights so I could see the plug in the block heater. She turned the light switch instead of pulling it. until I yelled, 'Pull it. dummy.' Got groceries in. Four ours later. neighbour in- ormed that my inside tub and ply him with coffee and•whiskey to br- ing him around. Another lot of friends set off for a religious meeting 30 miles away. It wasn't storming. They got six miles and couldn't see a thing. Even the faith wouldn't get them through. They turned and came home. We got through com- paratively lightly. The old furnace, bless her, labored on like a guy with one lung swimming the Channel. Old coats and blankets at the bottom of doors kept our feet from turning into bricks. But financially, the weather hurt. Money for the snowplow man, lights in car were on. Battery absolutely flat. . By twisting the lights knob. she'd turned on the inside lights, and neither of us had noticed. Satur- day. naturally, nobody to give me a booster. Tow - truck again. Total damage: two dents in car for body work 'of over $150: two calls to tow - truck. Mutual admiration society not working too well at our place these days. Next time I hear somebody say,;; We never get those oldtime winters anymore." I'm going to punch him right on the nose. Provided he's over 80 and not too spry on his feet. Were the old daysreal)good? y e picked up a little arta- cle recently which told about the way life was here in Canada way back in the 1850's. It was a lot harder in those days. Cold and hunger, heat and swamp malaria threatened the very existence of people. From the ages of 5-7 years, children knew what it was to work. Boys had to gather kindling, round yp cattle, help in the fields and carry water. Girls had to spin, weave, grate salt, cut sugar canes, knit, and care for younger brothers and sisters. Then they had to walk' five or six kilometres to school. Playthings were few and far between, and were usually homemade - dolls made from corn - husks. chestnuts, and rags: dolls' cups and saucers made from acorns. e back were arranged t for t onthree sides of the room. In between . stood the wood stove. Children of all ages Perspectives By Syd Fletcher The schoolhouse was usually small, with low ceilings, badly lighted and without ventilation. The floor was made from rough pine boards laid loose; with cracks between them. The desks and seats, which had no shared the- same 'classroom.- The older pupils often acted as . teacher's helpers and 'heard' the lessons of the younger pupils. Math and he ng bees were often eAt home, the methods used to treat children's ailments are best describ- ed as primitive. ,Sometimes charms were worn to protect one from harm 6r disease. When children did become ill they were given cures that sometimes almost killed them. Other treatments were less severe. For example, wedding rings were rubb- ed on sties and raw potatoes on warts. The sterilizing of babies' bottles was un- known. Filth ac- cumulated orf the rubber nipples. In 1970, half of the 47.000 deaths in Canada wereof children under 5 years of age. It would almost seem that the 'good old days' were not always so good. 7