Times Advocate, 1992-02-12, Page 4'Th s Muaash, -1 ►'Is, lin
1h1t)1i1111�r: J11m swam
Nous 11d1bor: Adrian Harte
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Composition Monstasrt Dob Lord
Publications Mall ffteliMeetion Number 03116
g.r.e.
WIMit 40 bib (u/aa.) addressed
to nae baler baba atlawwss ULU belie. U,10 Y.O.T.
Outside 40 nibs (0I kw) or tate►/ensu..scuta address
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Flat rate, or pay if you go?
me . of .the _interesting issues
raised during the ;last ,munici-
pal election in Exeter' was the
question of how council members
should be paid.
Some felt that councillors ought to
only be paid for the meetings they at-
tend, perhaps in an effort to encourage
better meeting attendance.
However, Exeter councillors replied
that the annual stipend accomplished
two things: it gave recognition to the
large amount of work council members
do outside meetings, even if they can't
attend, and it removed any incentive to
schedule additional special meetings
for which they would be paid.
In fact, Exeter council does have far
fewer special meetings. than many other
local councils, but that may be due to
the fact they meet twice a month any-
way, and can also have urgent projects
dealt with by town staff and other com-
mittees of council.
Nevertheless, Exeter council members
do receive a per diem rate for attending
extra meetings and conferences. As we
understand it, this payment was aimed
at compensating council members for a
loss of a day, or half -day's pay from be-
ing away from work. Fair enough, but
how does it apply now that many mem-
bers of council are retired, or work in
salaried positions that allow for a certain
am6irnt of time off work without penal-
ty-
As reeve Bill Mickle's remuneration
totals show, that per diem rate can
quickly add up. Mickle does attend
many AMO and OSUM meetings in To-
ronto, but the town, as council readily
admits, does have to pay for adding his
voice to the proceedings there.
So the question arises, should. council
be reconsidering its policy on stipends
and per diem remuneration? How
much is being a local official a volunteer
position and how much is it a part-time
job?
Or, as was suggested during the elec-
tion, is it only fair to be paid for what
you attend?
Council may do well to reconsider its
policy on remuneration, especially in
light of its commendable plan to keep a
tight rein on all expenditures this year.
A.D.H.
Happy Valentine!
Throw away your reference
books. They're all wrong. They'll
try to tell you that Valentine's
Day was named after a Roman
physician -priest who was mar-
tyred in the year 269 A.D. Don't
you believe it! Equally ridicu-
lous is the suggestion . that in
medieval England people
thought that birds began to mate
precisely on February
14th,which happened to be
called Si. Valentine's day, that
the people therefore imitated the
birds, and then the bees, and fi-
nally....
An international plot
Nonsense, all of it. It's a delib-
erate ooverup, an international
plot to hide the Canadian origin
of Valentine's Day.
It has taken me years of re-
search and travel to discover the
truth. With the assistance of a
lavish grant from the Canada
'Council (thank you, fellow Ca-
nadians, for supporting me
through your taxes) 1 fatally un-
ravelled the .real story of why we
celebrate Valentine's Day. My
official report will be published
in due course. My lawyers are
still checking the manuscripts, to
cover me against possible libel
action. But here is a sneak pre-
view. Remember where you first
read it!
Senta WUenatein to the
- rescue
1886 had been a hungry reces-
sion year in the tiny village of
Turtle Creek, which is 25 miles
north of Mjnnewatcltie: The
fanners had good crops, but
prices were way down. The mer-
chants and tradespeople vete
suffering, too. had to .
be done. And something was
done, thanks to the initiadve and
public spirit of a prior Swiss im-
migrant woman by the name. of
Soma Walienstein.- She and her
husband had ssomtUy aeltlad on
their farm, where they tried to
raise thirteen children.
Senta was a remarkable (and
very formidable) woman.
Among her many talents was the
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hesse!
skill to draw. When confronted
with a domestic crisis, instead of
sulking of nagging, she began to
doodle and draw pictures. One
day, all her cupboards were bare,
because her husband had been
unable to -sell his crop. Senta had
an idea. She gathered a whole
bunch of her pretty pictures: -
doves and haauts and. flowers.
Then she walked all the way to
Minnewatchie. She knocked on
every door in town. The people
loved her pictures: At the end of
the day, she had sold them all.
With the money, she bought
groceries as well as some paper.
brushes, and water colours. She
was not only an afist,.but also a
poet. She composed pretty little
verses to go with her pretty little
pitture& -
MarkeUng success
T9 make a .long,(but fascinat-
ing) story short, Sema Walks -
stein sent some of her illustrated
'poems to a could') ,of New York
who was a promoter. The cousin
„first tried to market her products
-under the name of "Santa Wal-
Ioai ein'p Folk Art from Cana-
da's hinterland". Sales were dis-
appointing.
He tried a new wick dot was
marginally more aa1MMdu1:
"Same$ walkingeia PiCtuit
Cards". In 1893, his company
grossed a few hundred thousand
dollars, and some of the reve-
nues actually found their way
back to Turtle Creek, where the
Wallenteins lived happily ever
after. (Their many descendants
are now pillers of Canadian soci-
ety.) Finally Senta Sold her
rights to Cousin Sam in New
York for 50,000 dollars.
Sam became a millionaire in
1905, after he had renamed his
line "Saint Valentine Cards". He
had discovered that there was a
huge market out there in the
USA for simple little pictures
with simple little messages.
An industry is born
In 1910 he called his company
Hallmark, aitotherstroke of gen-
ius, because that name had such
a sterling ring to it. Hallmark be-
came one of America's .publish-
ing giants. By the 1920s it con-
trolled the greeting card market
and a large chunk of Congress as
well. How else do you explain
the fact that in 1929 -- the year
of the stock market crash -- Con-
gress proclaimed the 14th of
February Saint Valentine's Day?
Everything collapsed, thousand
Of businesses failed, but not
Hallmark. Greeting cards were
about the only, thing people
could afford during the depres-
sion, Hallmarks had, or course,
diversified long ago. Now there
, were cards for Easter and Christ-
i suss, for birthdays and wed-
dings.... •
rm not against the greeting
card industry. It employs mt il-
lions of busy little artists and
cute little pouts all over the
world. You may ask: a what's
Petal Point? And some people
aright answer: what's the point
of St. Valentine's Day?
But you won't hear me say
that. My point is to entertain
You.
Won't you be my Vale=ntine?
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question righty
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Macauley
Published each Wednesday M at 424 Mara M»
Exeter, Oeterlo, NOM 188 by J.W.Mlleadeas sled.
Telephone 1418.235.13 1
.a;.T..rttess1eilet
"It's okay, dear — Brutus decided he doesn't w ani 10 go out
for his >, alb tonight after all
Goodbye never, never land
It must have been a month ago
my sister Julie suggested I might
join her on a skiing trip to Elli-
cottville. It was an annual get-
together for her company and
her boyfriend would be occu-
pied elsewhere.
"But...but Ellicottville is in
New York," I said.
"Yes, end you've never been
there;" she replied.
She was quite right. I had nev-
er been to the ski resort, never to
New York State, -and never, nev-
er to the UniiiefI �States at all.
You don't be11 »e -me, do you?
How could someone who has
lived in Canada for the past 18
years in such close proximity to
the border, never cross over it,
even once? I guess I never had
the motive or opportunity to go
over. What I saw across the riv-
er at Sarnia, Windsor, or Niaga-
ra never looked all that appetiz-
ing. I thought about going to
Florida once, but never bothered
in the end.
But finally, this past Friday, 1
drove over the Peace Bridge
( worrying about all the barbed
wire) and ended up in the
U.S.A. We told customs we
were going skiing and .they be-
lieved us completely. Nobody
asked my name or ran my driv-
ers license through a computer
to find out if I was on the FBI's
list of subversives.
1 guess I'm no Farley Mowat.
H13w disappointing.
Buffalo is no shining example
of American capitalism, I al-
ready knew that, but I was sur-
prised at how it managed to
make Hamilton's rough neigh -
Hold that
thought...
Adrian Hark
bourhoods look almost subur-
ban. I soon found out that New
York State can't afford enough
road signs, or the finer grades of
sand to spread on the road. Af-
ter a couple of larger gravel
chunks hit my month-old wind-
shield. I find myself hoping a
chip can be repaired without an-
other replacement.
In the end we arrived in Elli-
couville (due south of Buffalo,
I'd never heard of it either) a lit-
tle .frazzled but looking forward
to some skiing. This, 1 under-
stood was tourism, not cross-
border shopping.
I'd guess about a third of the li-
cense plates in the village were
from Ontario, so there was no
doubt that just about everywhere
would accept Canadian money.
I wish I'd known that before-
hand, because I found I really
can't stand having to peer at the.
Letter' t() Editor
corners of each bill in my wal-
let. Every other country in the
world colour -codes its money -
what's with these Americans?
As for the skiing itself? Well
it was great to be back on the
slopes again after so many years
neglect.
"I forgot how to ski," I
screamed, conking off the first
chairlift, but seconds later I
found I was mistaken. The rule
that applies to bicycles appears
to work with skis too, but I'm
not ready for Albertville.
Saturday's conditions were
good, but crowded. And when
we braved the slopes again on
Sunday we found ourselves in a
similar snow stone to what Ex-
eter was also experiencing, al-
though the snow streamer was
coming off Lake Erie, not Hu-
ron. I loved it.
Actually, there was some talk
of getting snowed into Ellicott-
ville, as the forecast called for
severalinches a day until Thurs-
day. Fortunately, we all escaped
back to Canada on time, back to
our homes and our jobs,..sigh.
So ended my first discovery of
America, brief as it was. I don't
expect it will take another 18
years of living in Ontario before
I go back again, but I can't say
I'm in any particular hurry to re-
turn.
I like Canada all the better,
and cross-border shopping be
damned.
Thanks from ChiId Find
Dear Mr. Harte:
On behalf of The Huron County
Chapter of Child Fund and the Zu-
rich Optimist Club, I would like to
express my sincere thanks for the
advertising you providedfor ow
Kid -check held at the Zurich Are-
na. As you are,atready aware
the Kid -check
was a tremen-
dous success
with 171 chil-
dren
Yacoverage e of
'this event certainly
expresses your support
towards our organizations. Thank
you once again for your contribu-
tion.
Yours sincerely
Huron County Chapter Child
Find
Cathy Pfaff, Secretary
el
Thanks to Minor Nock? Association
would IYm if t may. M�ou�h
1 like if I may, *oft
your _expires dtartta'a the
showing *sir agpiiici an to die
R.E. Pooley Ewer Bram* 167
Royal Canadian Leg * and La-
dies Auaiil cry .for
ship of the Bantam bard I� Woe
Hockey terns, as well as the
tributions mad440 die
It was widi pdde dot , , ,pert
in your Legion ;
Wednesday, Jamery io
the Legion Awtftiliry £tandrtd for
yourceromony
was very im-
pressive.
I was dao very
proud while walcb-
ingthe Fee Wee
ood apeeid third jtnaelod while
the -ice my f year old
dastahter recognized the
emblem on the Maim
die ice.
This evening brought .back a lot
d memories t .n..
of memories for me when 1 sat at
the mens and w*chod my son play
hoclkey.' Thanks to rbe laminas •
sad coaches Who take the time to
speed with ow young We in tern appectated_ people.
war
Ib
of espntt dykoaur Thanks to the
Vika lue TA•f• or gi me
the apace.
spec cW,Bveldill