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Times-Advocate, 1987-01-14, Page 61 Page 4 Times -Advocate, January 14, 1987 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgama ed 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 ' BILL BATTEN - Editor JIM BECKETT • HARRY DEVRIES Advertising Manager Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager , SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' ' Cost only one factor Deliberations will be held later this month among members of the Exeter and Area Fire Board in response to re- quests from Stephen and Hay to have amendments made to the current agree- ment and the territories covered by the local fire brigade reduced. There is nothing unusual about the requests and they are not precedent set- ting in that previous changes have been approved. Basically, Hay and Stephen have decided that certain areas in their municipalities will have fire protection provided by other fire departments. If that coverage area is reduced, then the costs they share with Exeter and Usborne would presumably also be reduced. ' Those who are directly affected by the upcoming decision are the residents of the areas to be removed from the Ex- eter fire department coverage and add- ed on to other departments. Those residents presumably have been directly contacted by their respec- tive councils and advised of the propos- Don't d ed changes, which could, in some -cases, increase the response time for any fire which may occur at their location. If they have concerns pertaining to the proposed changes, they should ensure that their municipal officials are well aware of it before the changes are approved. There is a suggestion that the cost factors involved in fire protection form part of the basis for the requested .changes, and while that is an important consideration, the time factor in response to a call is equally important and may outweigh the protection cost in terms of damage to property or the loss of life. People should expect to get the best protection possible and should ensure that that will be the result of any propos- ed changes. Representatives of all four municipalities also have an obligation to ensure that the final decision is in the best interests of the participating municipalities as a whole and that the proposed changes do not adversely affect any or all to any appreciable extent. eny rights In his inaugural address to Hay coun- cil, Reeve Lionel Wilder called on members to ensure they debate items on their agenda to the fullest but to then ac- cept decisions that are made from those deliberations. That's sage advice, to a point, but su ely Wilder is not suggesting that all cou cit members must suffer in silence if they think the decision reached by the ma jor,Wy is improper. Certainly, members must abide by the decision of the majority, but should not be expected to support that decision to the point of inaction if they believe the decision was wrong and should be changed. Many bodies have moved to rescind motions after being convinced that the original decision was incorrect, whether it be from a lack of judgement, lack of information or any other factor that may have clouded opinions or reason. There are many occasions on which people have second thoughts, are given new information or find that their deci- sion is unacceptable to the majority of their ratepayers. Obviously, those who seek to change decisions must do so in an appropriate and public manner and not through disruptive or stubborn tactics. To suggest that decisions should not be reversed or that the minority must always accept the wishes of the majori- ty without further question or action is improper. Rule by the majority brings certain obligations to the minority, but does not preclude their right to continue to protest or seek to have decisions altered. Really cause "I guess they'll be talking about this one for a while, on both sides of the ocean." ^ That was a comment contain- ed in a recent column penned by Team Canada junior Brendan Shanahan from the Londoh Knights, and the surprising thing Is that his prediction was far from true. Yes; talk about the recent world junior championship game between Canada and the Soviet Union will be going on for a while, on both sides of the ocean, but that was not the game to which Shanahan was making reference. His comment pertained to the pre -game brawl which ensued between the Canadians and the Americans and it is rather in- teresting, although not surpris- ing, that the final game brawl has probably pushed the other inci- dent into oblivion although it too was a disgraceful situation and further shamed the Canadian team. Of course, the Americans were tb blame for that squabble. Shanahan notes that it was precipitated by two U.S. players "who were unnecessarily -stan- ding on our side of centre". That was backed up by a reporter who witnessed the dastardly deed of an American player who "wandered over the centre red line" during the pre -game warmups. Certainly, Canadian hockey players should not be expected to condone any opposition player unnecessarily standing or wandering over the centre red line. Such a foul deed is,deserv- ing of quick and just retribution so Canada's goalie gave the American a tap with his stick on for battle the back of the skates. No doubt it was a friendly tap and nothing akin to the slashing across the skates that the Russians did to anger the Canadian youngsters a couple of days later. Surprisingly, the American player apparently didn't take kindly to the gentle tap (or whatever it was) and started a pushing match with the goalie. The respective teams were already on the ice, so they didn't even have to leave their benches to take up the battle, which at this Batt'n Around ...with The Editor point was a fair one-on-one skirmish. How it develAped into a full- scale brawl may be found in Shanahan's account. "I raced over and when I got there I was in full flight, so I wound up with a punch that took me from the goal line to the red line and let it loose on No. 19, Bob Corkum". "I knocked him flat and I thought I'd be getting punched from every direction, but the rest of our guys raced over and helped out. When I got a chance to step back and take a look at everybody going At it. I kind of laughed t� myself, wondering what all these Czechoslovakian people were thinking of us crazy Canadians and Americans." No doubt Shanahan has been able to stifle his laughter by now, but the Czechoslovakian fans and many others around the world, are probably still wondering what makes "us crazy Cana- dians" tick when we lace on a pair of skates and head out to do battle on the ice, both before and during games. The reality is that the Canadian game of hockey is based on in- timidation as much as skill, both at 'home and in international games. It was certainly a large part of the strategy against the American team as noted by post- game comments and certainly begs the question whether the pre -game battle was also part of the strategy. Most of the Americans were college players and as one noted, they didn't have fighters on their team because that's not the style of hockey that is encouraged and the fight in- timidated some of the players. When the- skill of European players advanced beyond that of some of the Canadian teams in in- ternational hockey, it took some time before it became apparent that inti'Midation was not going to be enough to regain supremacy on the ice. This nation's success was buoyed when teams were picked on the basis of skill to compete internationally although the game has changed little at home. • Violence is still encouraged by executives, team officials and fans and perhaps is best evidenc- ed by the plan by Harold Ballard of the Toronto Maple Leafs to provide gold medals to the retur- Please turn to page 5 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by j.W. Eedy Publications Limited SMOKING OR NAN-SMOKING WALL? A wonderful name A few months ago, the Great Canadian Name the Kitten Con- test became subject number one from coast to coast. It over- shadowed political scandals labour unrest and natural disasters. Our family was getting a kitten. The kitten needed a name. And readers responded as they have never done before. All in all we received over 400 kitten names, most of them very original. Before I tell you why our kitten was named Fluffinuff, let me tell you the sad truth. Fluffinuff is no longer with us. Oh, he is alive and well and living only three minutes down the road. And he is still our kitten. Well, you could almost call him our cat now, he's grown so much. But unfortunate- ly we are - as Alexander put it with tears in his eyes - separated. We knew that Alexander was allergic to cats before we got in- to the kitten business. It's not the dander, the allergist tells us, but the protein in cat saliva. Alex- ander was getting his regular allergy shots, and we had no idea how sick the boy could get. As soon as the kitten arrived in our home, Alexander adopted him as his own. Stephanie liked to cuddle him too, but she has twenty-five dollies, teddies and other cuddlies to look after. The kitten was just one more to her. And Duncan stayed more or less aloof. HE WANTED A DOG. Starting the very first night, Alexander was very, very ill with asthma. Medication brought tem- porary relief, but things went from bad to worse as he became more and more fond of the kitten. After two weeks of agony and . several trips to the doctor we were forced to admit defeat. A very sad family council decided that kitten would have to go back to his mother. Fortunately space was still available, and Alex- ander is allowed visiting privileges. The other kids have more or less forgotten by now. While the kitten was with us, he became a regular at the local veterinary clinic. Why, he was immunized against rabies, distemper, mumps and measles. He was dewormed whether he needed it or not. He became very good at swallowing pills. His claws were shortened. His ears were cleaned. He had his own deluxe litter box, a food dish, a water howl. a sleeping basket - you name it. But the financial ex- pense was nothing compared to the trauma of having to part with him. And not a day went by without letters. Letters with kitten names. The very understanding "breeders" of kitten agreed to name him Fluffinuff after we chose that name in yet another family council. The name Fluffinuff was a compromise. For days we had said: "We have enough names now to choose from." But every day more letters arrived. "Enough!" we cried, "enough." And then a letter came from Mavis Lawrence in Taber, Alberta, who suggested the name Enough. Her footnote: "Having raised four sons, I think Duncan needs a dog; a cat is for girls." Both Elizabeth and i saw "Enough" as a good name and suggested it to the family council. Alexander agreed. Duncan abs- tained. Stephanie said she liked Fluffy the best. Three people sug- gested Fluffy: Brenda Kroeker of Strathmore, Alberta ; John Cameron (age 7) of Eden, Manitoba; and Christopher McNeil of Arnprior, Ontario. So we tried to put Enough and Fluf- fy together. Kitten really was a fluffy little thing. "Enough Fluf- fy" didn't have a good ring, but "Fluffy Enough" did. It was Kirstin Jeffrey, the patient teenager whose bed Kitten has adopted as her own who came up with "Fluffenough". From there is was a small step to the final "phonetic" spelling. I wish I could share more of The wonderful kitten names sug- gested uggested by readers as far away as Sun Luis Obispo, California ( Ester Merrill: "Tinker Toy" ). une of the most original names was SPADE which is made up of the first initials of each family member (submitted by Marg An- quetil in Orangeville, Ontario). Other runners-up included "Recess" ( by Mr. Whelan's Room two, Neepawa Area Col- legiate, Neepawa, Manitoba), Diesel, Best Man, Alternative, Hallow, and many, many others. The four co -winners have already received their prizes - an autographed, enlarged colour photograph of Alexander and Fluffinuff. All entrants have received a xerox copy of the photo with a personal greeting. Thanks again. They story of Fluffinuff is both sad and happy. The real winner, 1 think is the kit- ten. Ile's got a wonderful name. That's understatement Last week I mentioned that I am not much of a mechanic. That is something of an understate- ment. When -I try to fix something usually three things on either side of it end up in worse shape than when I started or at the very best of times the ijob takes a fraction more time with me than it would the average person. • Let me give you a shining example. I discovered that my little Japanese truck had a flat tire one morning just as I was starting out for work. My wife asked if there was anything she could do but I assured her that this was just a minor problem and , that she might as well be on her way. Famous last words, of course. Although the truck was three years old it had never had a flat tire. Consequently I did not even know where the jack was. After a little struggle I located it under the seat hiding behind three pop cans and a glove. Incidentally I had thrown the mate to that glove out not two weeks before in the belief that I would never find its partner. That did not help my. disposition. The jack, never used before and having been liberally doused with water by the guys who hose out the truck in thecar wash, was completely rust bound. I found another old jack from - By the Way •Syd Fletcher my work bench and with it was able to get the truck up high enough to take off the tire. I got under the bumper at the back of the truck and looked at the spare, thinking that with the way things wereoing that it would probably be flat. It looked lots hard enough though and I figured that things were looking up. Maybe I'd only be a few minutes late. The tire appeared to be fasten- ed with a chain and a large rusty nut. None of the wrenches which were under the seat seemed to fit it. I began to think of the Japanese in rather unfriendly terms wondering how on earth a lady would ever manage to change a tire on this lovely little vehicle. After ten minutes of struggling with the nut using every available wrench from my toolbox I decided that I had bet- ter call the school and let them know I'd he a little late. As I got off the phone it struck me that maybe I should read the booklet that came with the truck. Would you believe it? All you had to do was insert the jack han- dle through a little hole just above the license plate, turn anti- clockwise and that chain around the tire worked just like a little crane. Down came the tire and set itself right on the garage floor as nice as you please. Five minutes later I was off and running. ' As they always say, when all else fails, read the directions; Amazing fellows, those Japanese! }