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Times-Advocate, 1985-04-10, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 10, 1985 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager v►CNA BILI BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DiCK IONGKiND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $23.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Keep it rolling The recreation c9hference in Hen- sall is over, but theplanning of this area's recreation future has barely begun. Some of the participants at the conference may have felt the topics discussed by the speakers were too general, and that "we never got to the real issues". By real issues the par- ticipant means money -- user fees, and more importantly; who pays what. Batting around responsibility for recreation facilities and programs between municipalities is not a new sport here, and it's likely to continue. But wouldn't it be nice if all those in- volved could step back and consider the larger issues first? If these larger issues had been considered 10 years ago, the existing facilities might be very different. Community pride is a good thing -- it can be a motivating factor useful in fueling the spiritnecessary for fun- draising drives for worthy causes, for example. But having competing municipalities within a short distance of each other has an ugly side too. In- stead of leading to war, as an over- dose of nationalism between countries can, it's led to "arena wars" in Huron County. The existing ice space is being underpriced so that each arena con- sistently Ioses money on it. One municipality cannot change its policy without all the others doing the same, or it will lose the business to another rink close by. In private industry, this kind of undercutting eventually leads to several .of the competitors going out of business, unable to meet their costs (witness the waterbed industry of late). In publicly -funded recreation, it leads to increased deficits and ultimately to higher taxes. The ice rinks are only one area -where a little cooperation could go a long way. All the ideas presented at the con- ference need further discussion -- discussion not only between represen- tatives of individual municipalities, but between the different municipalities as a group, and in- cluding input from the public. Let's set up an inter -municipality body that will meet regularly to try to , decide what future recreation in the seven municipalities should be, and how it will be paid for. The momen- tum of the conference should not be lost, and some joint planning is sorely needed. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications limited Making the best of it Early April snowstorms probably had some area road department of- ficials fearing they had jumped the gun on removing snowplows from trucks and graders and would have to go through the whole time-consuming exercise again. Fortunately, the snow falls didn't amount to that, but at least one com- munity probably has the cleanest sidewalks residents have enjoyed for some time. In Lucan, the big street -cleaning Guess brush had already been mounted on the sidewalk tractor and it was press- ed into action when the walks were covered with wet snow on Wednesday morning. The brush was doing a great job of removing the slush along with the winter's accumulation of dirt and grime, and there wasn't a wisp of dust in the air to bother anyone. Someone should get full marks for making the best of a situation over which others were only grumbling. who's helping pay? Area shoppers must have look- ed tv ith some awe -- and a large measure of jealousy -- on the ar- ticle in a recent issue of the Free Press which showed a London .c onuln paying $35.28, for seven c:o'ts full of groceries that were north a retail value of $779.08. No. l'rsula Gleeson did not win a tree shopping spree. She's a <uper shopper who cashes in on t rce product vouchers, coupons, retund cheques and cash refunds II) reduce her family's food hills. The story indicated she ''-.11lllales her annual savings at ,round $3.000 by using coupons and taking advantage of refund otters. .titer putting the paper away to wen up the morning mail. the • first periodical that was on my desk was a copy of "The Budget shopper'... a magazine devoted to the growing number of shoppers uho are becoming involved in conpnnnlg. refunds. contests. ''.epstakes, etc. which major companies use 10 hire then 10 I products. The last five pages in the magazine listed the *many -coupon cluhs•' tchich exist across Canada and several pages were devoted to the many con- tests and special coupons and ash refunds currently in effect. The obvious message is that :hopper's who are prepared to spend the bine and effort to col- lect coupons and send in for tel can 'save a tremendous amount 01 money on their food hills. although a look through many of the products would in- (licate they are not of use to everyone Stories in the magazine also in- dicate it is necessary to stock -pile some items to take full advantage of the refunds, and for those on strained budgets, that is not always possible. * * However, there is another side to the story. and it is not nearly as encouraging. In fact, it's more than a bit disheartening for those of us who do not clip and use every rebate coupon available. While lauding Ursual Gleeson Batt'n Around ...with The Editor and her cohorts for their smart shopping tactics, I have this startling realization -that 1 am among those who in reality are helping her buy her $779.08 worth of groceries for $35.28. As has been proven time and again. companies do not con- sistently give away all their ser- vices or products free. or even at greatly reduced rates; unless. of course. the products are over- priced in the first place or are in- tended as methods of introducing new products or to regain favor for those whose popularity may he slipping. The fact is, if every shopper followed Mrs. Gleeson's exam- ple and paid'only $35.28 for every $779.08 worth of groceries this week. the mandfacturers would be in a great deal of difficulty. So, while they move to sell their products to the coupon clippers, they have to rely on a Targe number of non -clippers to pay the full price and offset the losses in refunds. There is also a suspicion they rely on those money -back coupons to lure shoppers who ful- ly intend to send in for the refunds, but then never get around to it. At any rate, there is little doubt that as the numbers of coupon clippers and refund seekers con- tinues to grow, those of us not in the ranks are helping to pay for their groceries and assorted products. The least Mrs. Gleeson could do is invite me around to dinner or send over a pie once in awhile as an expression of her gratitude for my assistance in reducing her grocery bills. The only other hope for those of us in the "I'll zip down to the store and get something for supper" category is that the number of coupon clippers and refund seekers will reach such propor- tions that the manufacturers will have to drop the entire scheme. ironically, that does not appear to he a consideration of the many sprouting coupon clubs or the Budget shopper magazine. They continue to encourage new members, not realizing that more is not merrier. in fact. they're in danger of self-destructing if they gain too much popularity. But don't tell them...it's the on- ly hope we non -clippers have of reducing our grocery hills too. f N�\\\%\\\..,:.' p.r.:1,,,:::: .....,._ ,:s„i,:..,,.. ,-7,V. MUJLER SERVICES Steadily more pure One of the nicer things about growing older is that we grow steadily more pure. It's astonishing how we shed sin and don morality with each passing year. One night about 50 years ago, for example, I was climbing over a stone wall with my shirt stuff- ed with grapes, when a sten- torian voice bellowed, "Hi! You!" My heart leaped into my mouth, I leaped•to the ground, the grapes popped out of my shirt, and I took off like a missile, pur- sued by outraged roars and heavy boots. Later, in the sanctuary of my bed, did I regret.my wickedness, revile myself for shattering one of the ten commandments and swear that I'd never do it again? Not exactly. What I did was regret losing the grapes, revile myself for being scared half to death, and swear a return visit to the vineyard as soon as the heat was off. That's what I mean. Today, I'd never consider such a thing. Oh, I might give my golf ball a very small kick if it was in a par- ticularly bad lie in the rough and nobody was looking. I might say I'd paid the hydro bill in time to get the discount when I knew perfectly well that it was in my pocket, unpaid. But I'd never dream of doing anything dishonest, like stealing grapes from a millionaire with a huge estate and a huge gardener doubling as night watchman. Other people are the same. The older they get, the better they get. Not long ago, I visited an old ac- quaintance, a woman in her ear- ly 40s. She had a teenage daughter who was out to a dance that night. The kid was to be home by one. As the hour neared, the mother kept breaking off her monologue about her i*hurch ac- tivities, her eyes flitting toward the clock. By one -fifteen, I had to restrain her forcibly from calling the police. The kid showed up at one -thirty. You should have heard her mother. You'd have thought the youngster was utter- ly depraved. Later, as mama served tea and vehemently wondered what was going to become of thee un- disciplined, irresponsible teenagers, I couldn't help casting my mind back. Twenty-five years earlier, my hostess had been a regular young rip, whose specialties were drinking gin out Sugar & Spice Dispensed by Smiley of the bottle in backseats of cars, and going for mixed midnight swims au naturel. Recently, I spent a weekend with an old college friend. He had distinguished himself at univer- sity, not through academic or athletic prowess, but for an in- credible memory that could recall the works and tunes of all the bawdy songs ever sung. Saturday night I tried to get a few verses of Riley's Daughter, or Cats on the Rooftops out of him, but he was strangely reticent. In the old days you had to hold him down and stuff a sock in his mouth to make him stop singing. Sunday morning, he acted kind of mysterious. Wanted me to go for a walk with him. I decided he was taking me to a bootlegger's, so naturally demurred, but he in- sisted. Ten minutes later my mouth was still hanging open as I sat in the back row of the Sun- day School and watched my friend, arms waving, face beam- ing, leading about eighty small types through the strains of Jesus Loves Me. Last spring I bumped into an old Air Force sidekick in the cof- fee shop of a city hotel. Hadn't seen him since Brussels, 1945. His name was Dick, but we called him The Count in those days, because he was reputedly, and enviedly, living in sin with a beautiful, rich Belgian countess. He was a big, handsome, devil- may-care chap then. Anyway, we chatted. He was pretty fat, pretty bald, pretty dull, "Remember when we used to call you The Count?", I asked, in an effort to establish some common ground. He muttered something like, "Count me out", and launched rapidly into a spiel on the work he was doing with juvenile delinquents, through a church group. He finally ran out of breath, there was an awkward pause, then: "Guess you haven't met the wife," he said, turning to a large red-faced woman sitting on the stool beside him, eating a vast sundae. it was not the Countess. And so it goes. You can see them everywhere: people who were once steeped in sin and now pass the collection plate; who were once steeped in gin and whose inflamed noses now light the way for the valiant armies of the temperance movement. Reformed lechers lead the at- tack on pornography and pro- stitution. Reformed poachers want the game laws tightened. Ancient golfers will take off as few as five strokes from their ac- tual score. Sex fiends become saintly. it's as plain as the wart -on your nose that people improve with age, morally, if not physically. But I'd still like to know why. Is it because they have learn- ed to respect the law and other people's property? Is it because they know the day of judgement is bearing down and they're try- ing to cover their flaming youth with a nice coat .of camouflage grey? Or is it that they simply don't have the stamina to be sin- ful any more? Perhaps some of you old sin- ners could enlighten me. Not a new story On the local TV station farm news broadcast the other day I heard the announcer talking about the difficulties that pig farmers are going to find themselves in over the next year because of increased competition from American farmers and the beef industry. There will be an upswing in general costs so much so that the prices received by the farmer may be actually less than it costs to raise each pig. Believe me, it's not a new story. i was talking to a farmer who lived through the depression years out on the prairies. "in our district," he said "we were all going through grinding poverty. We sold 200 pigs at $3 each; some farmers had to kill their pigs rather than finish feeding them. We sold oats at 8 cents a bushel, after paying 5 cents to have them threshed. Wheat was around 25 cents a .................................. . y the Way by Syd Fletcher bushel, eggs 5 cents a dozen, cream 12 cents -a pound." "Next year the grasshoppers came. They would black out the sky and when they passed, nothing would be left. I've seen an ordinary kitchen broom lean- ing up against the side of a granary where we were crushing oats and when the hoppers were finished, all that was left was the broom handle and you couldn't tell it had been a handle because it was so chewed up except for the metal band which kept the bristles held together. They didn't eat machinery but by George. I've seen them eat the leather off the seat of a John Deere tractor." He finished up with a laugh. "My mother sent a steer to market and she ended up owing six dollars to the drover for transportation and handling. It took her a long time to put the six dollars together but she did. When she got the receipt back for it she had it framed and put up on the kitchen wall." Times were tough then too, folks.