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Times-Advocate, 1985-04-17, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, April 17, 1985 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 imes Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM ISO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 CNA LORNE IEDY BILL BATTEN Publisher Editor JIM BECKETT HARRY DEVRIES Advertising Manager Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK jONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $23.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' Praise too early Members of Exeter council ver- bally patted themselves on the back last year for declining to take any in- crease in their annual stipends. ' It turned out to be rather hollow . ' praise with their decision this year to grant themselves an increase of almost 10 percent, because in, effect it was making up for the fact they didn't have a raise last yeah. While an increase of $285 per member is certainly not outlandish in today's economy, Councillor Ben Hoogenboom is quite correct in sug- gesting the percentage boost is hard to justify while council members are offeringincreases of less than halfthat amount to the town employees. If a 10 percent hike is hard to justify, the decision to boost the pay for the mayor's position by almost 50 percent is completely absurd. For the past 112 years, the rate of council remuneration has been based on the rate for the previous year. Will the move to base the salary on the. average in Huron be followed by a similar move to tax local homeowners on a similar county average? Irresponsible action The irresponsible action of a number of Ontario Hydro employees in staging wildcat strikes over the Easter weekend should be answered by the full measure of disciplinary ac- tion available. Reason for the action was ludicrous: the employees were mere- ly unhappy that contract negotiators had decided to take a four-day Easter weekend. The shut -down not only caused in- convenience for the public, it also cost Missing The Southwestern Ontario Travel Association. representing the counties of Kent, Oxford, Perth. Huron. Essex. Middlesex, Elgin and Lambton, recently published a colorful and profes- sional travel guide for 1985. Tourists, no doubt, will see the area as being well endowed with special attractions and facilities through the use of extremely good four-color pictures liberal- ly spread throughout the 48 -page guide. If residents of this area expect to see a large influx of tourists streaming into their munic- ipalities this summer. they will probably be in for a major disappointment. There is no mention of Lucan, Exeter. Hensall, Zurich or any other municipality in south Huron of north Middlesex with the lone exception of the Huron Country Playhouse in Stephen Township. This area does not have a per- manent attraction of the nature of Seaforth's VanEgmond House or the "Ilome of Radar" lag by which Clinton get some mention or the county museum and jail which provides Goderich with in- clusion in the guide. On that basis. the exclusion of area municipalities may appear justified; but the fact remains. some area municipalities do ap- pear to have some of the same at- tributes of sortie •-t4f.. the municipalities or attractions which are included. Clinton. for instance. is cited as holding two major attractions each year. one of those being the annual spring fair. Well. Exeter. Kirkton. }lensall and Zurich old similar fairs each year and Lucan has one that may not be in the agricultural category. but is certainly the type which tourists Ontario taxpayers at least $3.5 million a day to buy power from outside the province and in lost sales to the United States. That is a high price to pay and few taxpayers will find it possible to generate much sympathy for workers already earning $12 to $20 per hour. Any employee has the right to withdraw his/her service, but that employee should be made to unders- tand that the job may not be available when the whim to return is acted upon. the tourist bucks would find enjoyable. Bayfield gets recognition as a delightful village where one can shop for arts, crafts and antiques. Many area municipalities feature specialty shops where arts and crafts can be found as well as an- tiques. There may not be tourist accommodation in some of those towns and villages, but that makes them no less attractive as Batt'n Around with jThe Editor potential shopping areas for visitors. The Maitland Valley Conserva- tion Authority also gets a sizeable section for outlining its fishing, swimming and hiking attrac- tions. The same advertising isnot provided for the Ausable- Bayfield Conservation Authority conservation area at Morrison Dam. There are several other ine- quities visible in the guide which should be of concern to area residents. There are two points to be con- sidered; the first being that area municipalities should take steps to have -their communities at least mentioned in the guide. Exeter's restored town hall and beautiful MacNaughton park cer- tainly deserve some recognition, as well as the splendid shopping facilities which the town provides. }Iensall's title of the bean capital of Canada is equally deserving of recognition, par- ticularly for tourists interested in the agricultural exploits of Huron County. Other municipalities have legitimate historical or cur- rent features that should be worth a line or two to make travellers aware of them as they pass through. The second point, and perhaps the most important, is that this area is devoid of major attrac- tions and therefore miss out on the millions of dollars being spent in the tourist industry. It is not something that can be corrected overnight, of course, but communities should be aware that dollars invested in tourist at- tractions snowball into revenue for other segments of the community. Perhaps we should all get our thinking caps on and attempt to come up with some ideas for at- tractions that may entice tourists. Judging from the guide, some don't have to represent a huge investment. Even Exeter's white squirrels could be promoted! In fairness to the Southwestern Ontario Travel Association. it should be explained that they also produce a seasonal newsletter which details the many special events taking place. A glance through it indicates that some area municipalities are missing the boat by not listing their events in it. Such events are listed at no charge, but obvious- ly can't be included if the Association doesn't get notifica- tion of them. There are tourist dollars out there; let's ensure this area makes a full attempt to get its share. 1 "X-rays show no ill effects from acid rain!" "Now put your clothes back on, you hypochondriac!" About girls' names For some reason, and I've no idea what it is, this column is go- ing to be about girls' names. There are several possible reasons, any of which might be the right one. First, it might be just an un- conscious reaction to the worst cold spell I can remember. The names of girls, exotic or other- wise, seem to help fight those Jan./Feb. winter blues or blahs. Secondly, I might simply be getting senile. Who knows? A couple of years from now I might be turning up at playgrounds with nothing on but a raincoat. And thirdly, the more I thought about, the more I thought about it. I don't know whether this hap- pens to you, but every so often I get some silly old song in my head, and I whistle and sing it, in- audibly, of course, because I don't want to be put away, for perhaps fifteen hours. It could be Colonel Bogey, and I play it, with variations, through my head all day. No other tune in- terferes. Just a few days ago, I got one into my skull that must date back to the Twenties, and it went on all day, through conver- sation, eating, shaving. It was: You can bring Rose, with the turned up nose, But don't bring Lula. You can bring Kate with the par- tial plate, But don't bring Lula. Some old-timers might remember it. I'm sure it goes back to the days of vaudeville, or the gramophone, as we used to call it. But I've no idea where it came from, where I heard it, why I remembered the tune, or what was wrong with Lula. Anyway, I began to con- template the names of girls, and whence they derived. We chose the name Kim for our daughter, because we didn't know whether she was going to be a daughter or another son, and the name fitted either sex. There wasn't a Kim on the horizon then. Now you can find one on every street corner. In my home form, I had two Kims, two Karens, and a Carol, and until I knew what was which, I'd ask a question and started sounding like the old song, "K -k - k -Katie." Girls' names seem to go in cycles. One year I had five Deb- bies in one class. Hardly ever hear a Debbie anymore. Aside from the fads, when every third gal has the same name, there seem to be some basic roots from which be - Sugar & Spice Dispensed by Smiley leagured mothers and fathers label their offspring. ( I've known a Robin Bird and a Pete Moss, but those were exceptions) . Some girls are named after jewels, but there aren't many Pearls, Rubies, 'OpaIs, Sapphires and such around these days. They're as old-fashioned as Elmer and Gordon for boys. Strangely, I've never heard a girl called Diamond, though I've met a few hard enough to live up to stich a sobriquet. Girls are named after some months, but not others. We can label a girt May, April or June, but you don't hear too many Februaries or Novembers floating around. I think Febbie would be kinda cute for a short girl born in that short month. Then there is the practice of naming girls after flowers. We have Iris and Ivy and Pansy and Daisy and Marigold and Rose, and even, on the occasional farout encounter, Tulip or Virginia (if her last name hap- pens to be Creeper). But they, too, have pretty well gone by the board. I don't know why. A girl is just as pretty as a flower, and often smells even nicer. Why don't we go back Jo that and call girls Petunia, Begonia, Phlox, Crocus, Daffodil? Think of the sweet little abbreviations they'd acquire. Pet, Beggie, Flocky, Crokey and Daffy. Once in a while there is a flare- up .. of old-fashioned or foreign names. Then we have a rash of Samanthas, Marthas, Ingrids, Fleurs, Leslies. The trouble is, with our fondness for nicknames, even those august names become Sam, Marty, Ingy the dirigy, Flour, and Les. Thank goodness there is a solid element of parents in our society who stick with the good old Biblical and fundamentally Anglo-Saxon tags: Ruth, Mary, Rebecca, Margaret, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Susan, Jane, Sophia and such. Not for them the exotic and subtly suggestive stuff like Sylvia, Sonya, Roberta, Giselle, Juanita. Those are the sort of names that can get a girl into trouble. How about Carlotta? Or Vivien? Trouble, trouble. Personally, if I had six daughters, Lord forbid, I'd try to get into each category, Emeralda for jewellery. September for a month. How does September Smiley sound? Sweet -pea for flowers. Sweat -pea Smiley? Ur- sula for an old-timer. Once had a slight fling with a girl by that name. Mary for the solid virtues and the religious connotations. And Diana, goddess of love, for the dangerous group. If I suddenly and unexpected- ly had a seventh, I'd name her for one 'of the great women in myth or literature. Perhaps Circe, or Cordelia. Everybody happy with those? Thank goodness my daughter has two boys, one Nikov, after a character in a Russian novel, and the other Balind, a name she made up. She'd drive us crazy if she had a batch of girls. Surrounded by talent It's amazing how little ap- preciation some people have for the fine talent around them. Take my family now. I've been telling them for years what an ex- cellent musician I am but somehow I didn't think my words are sinking in. I realize that the saxophone can have a somewhat nasal sound when one is learning it but honestly, that was a trial my parents had to live through when 1 was just beginning. The sounds that issue from the bell of my horn now have a quality that is beyond description. Something akin to the fine tones from a piece of crystal gently struck. Something like Lawrence Welk's band, the sweetest sounds this side of heaven. I get that old music stand set- up down in the basement and the birds in the trees stop their sing - By the Way by Syd Fletcher ing to listen. The cows in the field realize that a true artist has come to live nearby. The dog doesn't howl very much anymore and my daughter has at last come to ad- mit that my Music is far better than that noise that her friends force her to listen to. I'm sure 1 heard her say on the phone one night, "You haven't heard anything until you've heard my dad blow his horn!" And as for our neighbour who rushed into the house saying "What on earth is that terrible sound I heard as I drove in?" 1 can only remark that it takes a true connoisseur of the art of music to appreciate such ex- cellence as I have -to offer them. I think I'll sell tickets to a privileged `few to my next prac- tice session. Not too high a price mind you. I'm not greedy but after all, we professionals have our pride and we have to main- tain certain standards in the, industry., A