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Times-Advocate, 1988-02-10, Page 6Page 6 Times -Advocate, February 10, 1988 Times Established 1871 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 ►CNA CCNA ROSS HAUGH JIM BEC ETT Editor Publisher 8 Adsertising Manager HARRY DEYRIES Composition Manager DON SMJTH Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 More mayor responsibility The latest recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs is not only interesting, but incorporates a number of changes which could take power away from the local municipality. The recommendation would have all heads of council represent their munici- palities at the county level. In the case of the five towns in the county that position would fall to the mayors. Under the present system reeves and deputy -reeves of the towns attend county council. At the same time the head of each mu- nicipality including present reeves in townships will be designated as mayor. The number of county councillors will likely not be reduced as in addition to the mayor, each municipality is eligible to send another representative to county council under the designation of a local county councillor although the positions of reeve and deputy -reeve would be dis- continued. The second representative depends on the number of electors a municipality has. That figure will now be 2,500 elec- tors and in this area, the town of Exeter and the townships of Stephen and Hay are safely above the minimum. The change to sending the mayor to county council may have a serious effect on the town of Exeter. Early in the new year, mayor Bruce Shaw announced he was ready to try for re-election when elections roll around this fall. We would guess that Shaw will have to take a serious look at that decision and decide if he can find enough time away from his regular job as principal of South Huron District High School. It would be a disaster to lose an excel- lent mayor for this reason. What is the most important job of a mayor? It cer- tainly is looking after his own town and the requirements of his constituents and not those of the entire county, although his municipality is included. • We have read only the important rec- ommendations of the report, but it ap- pears to have tremendous impact on most municipalities and in some cases it could be adverse. The newly issued report would put many important functions of the local community under county control. These would include building inspections, rec- reation, economic development and emergency services. There are probably more. It has been indicated the Minister would like to get these new proposals into force in time for this fall's elections, but we would hope each municipality and the county takes its time to make this very important decision. If the new regulations are not put into force this summer, it will mean the town of Exeter and mayor Bruce Shaw will get a three year reprieve. All in all the new municipal recommen- dations appear to be just another step closer to regional government. By Ross Haugh The readers write Dear Ross: The nice people in Exeter P.O. forwarded the paper (that mentioned "The Billy Bishop" story) to this pleasant city of 2,000,000 people. Thank you for your helpful edito- rial; let's hope it generates some ac- tion in Ottawa! The National Film Board should withdraw this travesty of a movie, not just make a "new" one. For many years the N.F.B. has been a haven for left wing, self- styled intellectuals with little real intellect, and a self-imposed task to denegrate the reputations of good people. To be sure, they have man- aged to produce some fine films, but "The Kid Who Couldn't Miss" is not one of them! Like many World War II airmen, I was lucky enough to meet Billy Bishop, and found hirn a modest gentleman. His son, Billy Jr. and I served together on a photo-RACCL squadron. Young Billy wrote an excellent book about his father "Courage in the Early Morning". It showed the senior "Billy", warts and all. I appreciate all the members of Exeter Legion who joined me in the protest. Gibby Gibson Dear Sir: I am writing to you about our paper that we are supposed to be getting in Florida. Sometimes we were getting it on the following Monday and sometimes it takes two weeks to get here. The first week in January we got the paper on Saturday of the same week it was printed (we pretty near dropped over). Well, we did not get anyrr.ore in January. On Monday, Fcbruary 1, we got two papers, January 13 and January 27. What happened to the January 20 paper? It's not much good to us, we would like if you put the date it's sent from Exeter on the outside of the envelope. At least we would have something to goby. it's not too much trouble to do this. Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Keller Letter to the editor: I have no idea 'who owns the property beside Shaw's Dairy Store and the entrance to Canadian Tire, or who is responsible for its up- keep. The garbage that is always piled there, or thrown all over the ground, is certainly not very pleas- ing to the eye and is an awful black mark on an otherwise very pretty town. Someone - the town or whoever owns it should put a garbage con- tainer there. Maybe that would solve the problem. And people wouldn't have to look at that awful mess every time we walk by. Exeter is our home town, yours and mine. Lets keep It beautiful. S. Blommaert Responsible drivers One of the most responsible jobs which exists in the school system is that of a school bus driver. It takes a lot of courage and patience to sit up in front of as many as 70 children and get them to the schools safely. This time of the ycar, whcn weather conditions can be extremely haz- ardous the situation becomes even more difficult. Many of the routes are over twenty miles in length, morning and evening over hack roads which may or may not be plowed by the time thc driver faces them. What makes things even worse for the bus driver is the lack of consideration and common sense by some other drivers. Even with the improved stop signs which comes out of the side of the bus and the two big flashing •.•........• ... ....-.T........ ... ..... ... (by Syd . Fletcher lights on its hack, some people refuse to wait the small amount of time which it takes to load on a few children. Out they go and pass. More than one child has paid dearly when that has hap- pened. Most bus drivers arc very aware of the long line-ups wnich can form if they have to make several stops in a row and will take the time to pull over to let everybody by. On a bad morning though whcn you can't even see the shoulder, much less pull over onto it, people are just going to have to wait until the coast is clear coming the other way. Many schools have earlier dis- missal in the winter months so the buses can get away before dark but at the end of the- route twilight is approaching. Drivers must take a little more care, must have a little more patience when they see one of those big yellow vehicles slowing down up in front of them. Please be careful: your own child's life may well be at stake! Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited %' "I\ ,%vbrn‘ A, „ ifiN s\S N\ ,...:\NN,..,,, \v \\\ y\\v\vv tiro" 4111;� ra '� 1 atV \\N \ �A 'THE JOKE'S ON U5 — I PUT THE DECIMAL POINT IN -THE WRONG PLACE:' News from 45 years ago One of our fellow Creditln res- idents Calvin Fahner brought in a copy of the Sydney, Nova Scotia Post Record of February 8, 1943. That's within five days of being exactly 45 years ago. The method of page composi- tion was certainly different from what it is today. There were two advertisements and 29 different stories on the front page. This was sort of standard in those days. We have a front page of the T -A from April 30, 1953 hanging in our office. That is 10 years later and there were 22 arti- cles on the page. The Sydney edition was during wartime. Several pages con- tained lists of donations to the Aid to Russia fund and new ra- tion books were being printed. Edmonton arca miners rejected a wage increase from $4.40 to $5 per day. The comic page was interesting and featured Popeyc, Mutt and Jeff, Freckles and his Friends, Boot's and Her Buddies, Little Annie Rooney and Life's Like That. The Life's Like That cartoon depicted a lady trying to sell her husband on the idea of buying a Do you remember Christmas 1987? Maybe you don't want to. But a lot of people are going to be reminded of it very soon. My kids are in the process of writing their thank -you notes. I think Elizabeth started badgering the children on Boxing Day or on December 27th at the latest. "As soon as this program is over," they said. That's the standard answer around here. Several programs later, they were all getting ready for the big job when the phone rang: Alexander and Duncan were invited to a tobogganing party. Poor little old Stephanie had to be consoled in some way, and certainly she could't be expected to work her fingers to the bone when the boys were having fun, could she? And that's how the school holidays went. One piece of excitement after another. And January came and went. Duncan had the sniffles, and Stephanie started to cough. Then Alexander ran a temperature, and Stephanie twisted her ankle. Then Duncan developed strep throat requiring antibiotics, and Stephanie developed sympathetic pain requiring T.L.C. Then Duncan had diarrhea, and Alexander had a persistent, productive cough. "I think he needs to see the doctor," Elizabeth said at 2 a.m. one day. "It's only a cough," I grumbled and turned to the other side. I should have known better. When Elizabeth finally did take him to the doctor, he had pneumonia and an ear infection requiring antibiotics, pain killers and T.L.C. "Do you realize," Elizabeth said to me last week, "that the children still haven't written their thank - you notes for Christmas, and here we arc in February?" I knew it was February, there are four new fur coat. She said, " Maybe long underwear would be just as wane, but nobody would know it." Words of wisdom.on the edito- rial page included, "Big profits to be made raising Angoras. You From the ';editor's disk by Ell Ross Haugh should get a rabbit return on your investment". Showing at Sydney movie. theatres were Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan in George Wash- ington Slept Here and Casablan- ca starring Humphrey Bogart and and Ingrid Bergman. Radio programs on the CBC station were the Happy Gang, Ma Perkins, Pepper Young's Family and Sammy Kaye's Or- chestra. In those days tax collections in Sydney were handled by the po- lice department. Dominion Seed House in Georgetown, Ontario was ad- vertsing a new kind of vcgeta- ThankY ou calendars in my office alone, not to mention those in the kitchen, in the children's rooms, in Elizabeth's office, in t h e playroom and on my wrist watch, for heaven's sake. But I do have things other than the children's thank -you notes on my mind occasionally, and anyway, why am Ito blame for this? "Why do you get defensive?" PETER'S POINT • asked Elizabeth. "All I said was that this chore still isn't done." "I defend myself because you said it in my direction." So we had a gathering of the clan. "Now hear this," I announced, "I want you to sit down at the kitchen table right now and write your thank -you notes." "Dad, do we have to? My favourite program is on," all three of them said simultaneously. "Yes, you have to." I unplugged both the VCR and the TV, pulled out all 17 connecting cables and hid them in my clothes closet. I gave the kids a stack of writing paper, a bunch of pencil crayons and a pencil crayon sharpener. "Who do we write them to?" asked Alexander. "Whom." "Eh?" "It's whom, not who," I said patiently. "I guess I'll have to give you a list. Start by writing one to your grandparents." "But Stephanie ar d I don't know how to write yet, Daddy," stated Duncan. "That's why you are going to print yours." "1 know how to write some words," offered Stephanie. "Good, so you n ble. It was a combination of cel- ery and lettuce and was called ccltuce. Ice skating-wasadvertised at the Sydney Forum for 35 cents with 15 bands in attendance. Frank Calder who was presi- dent of the- National Hockey League for 25 years died at the age of 65. The Calder Cup now goes to the top rookie in the NHL each year. Hockey on the sports pages listed the Toronto Maple Leafs as edging the New York Rang- ers 3-2 and losing 5-3 to Detroit: The Leafs were shorthanded against Detroit as Syl Apps was out with a broken leg. For old time hockey fans, the Montreal Canadicns were listed as the Habitants and their big scorers were London native Ray Gctliffe, Elmer Lach and Buddy O'Connor. Many NHL players of those days were in the armed forces . Listed on the Ottawa Comman- dos team were Ken Reardon, Alex Shibicky and Sugar Jim Henry. There was lots of interesting reading in this paper. Thanks, Cal. can write the words you can write and print the ones you can't." "No, I think I'll print everything." She'll get far, that one. It took me half an hour t o compile a list which indicated whom each child had to thank for what present. Stephanie to Aunt Judy for this, and Duncan to cousin Malcolm for that ... It turned out that a total of 36 notes had to be produced. Thank goodness for thc computer. 1 let Alexander, the most advanced hacker among our kids, compose and print out 36 copies of: Dear Thank you for -Love , with the appropriate spaces and lines in between. Each child received 12 copies of this form together with one copy of the master list. Stephanie completed all her notes within an hour, all neatly printed, with Idvcly elaborate picture decorations — the works. Alexander started out‘likc a house on fire, but after he had done ttvice beautiful notes, he decided they weren't good enough, and he tore them up and started all over again. About an hour later he had more or less completed four notes. Duncan meanwhile was bravely struggling with his printing. Ile had one completed, eleven to go. No matter that his message looked like the footp?ints of an intoxicated crow, it read well, and it came from the heart: "Thank you for the tell skop I hey not lookd tru it be kos it dosent work Love DUNCAN'. We're still at it. We can't give up. This is excellent training for the kids. And for Dad. Have you sent in your entry for the PETER'S POINT CONTEST (PPC)? If you have forgotten, you better spring into action! The deadline is Leap Day, Fcbruary 29.