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Times Advocate, 1999-09-29, Page 7Wednesday,September 29, 1999 -Tompro. Exeter Times -Advocate Opinion&Forum OYEARS AGO1116 September 27, 1989 - Despite the effects of Hurricane Hugo, the overall attendance at the three-day Exeter Fall Fair was comparable to recent years. Secretary Gwen Coward said an excellent Sunday afternoon crowd upped the total atten- dance to about 3,500. Patti O'Toole is the Fair Queen. 20YEARS AGO September 28, 1979 -.South Huron Hospital received its accreditation from the Canadian Council on Hospital Accreditation. The best weather in years helped bring about 3,800 people to the 1979 Exeter Fall Fair. Helen Brand was named Fair Queen. The new Queen was crowned by last year's winner Tracey Campbell. Second was Cindy Brown and Valerie Finkbeiner was third. A calf owned by Joe Gower was judged the best finished calf and was purchased by Darling's IGA for 91 cents per pound. 30YEARS AGO September 27, 1969 - "Jinx ends. It didn't rain" read the T -A's headline about the weather that graced the Exeter Fall Fair of 1969..Fair Queen of the year was Patti Glenn of Grand Bend. The Zurich Fall Fair opened right on the heels of the Exeter event on Monday, but still managed to bring in about 2,000 spectators. 35YEARSAGO September 27, 1964 - Exeter assessor Eric Carscadden reported to council Monday night that the population has dropped by a total of 86 while assessment has increased by only $85,000. Members of Hensall. council expressed disap- pointment Monday night that their request for a Centennial grant to repair and renovate the arena was turned down on the grounds it was not a suit- able project for such an occasion. A complaint of pollution in the Aux Sauble River west of .Exeter will be turned over to the Ontario Water Resources Commission but it is doubtful if such an easy answerwill be found to the problem in regard to the lagoon operated by the town for Canadian Canners and drainage problems in the area of the canning factory. 40`YEARS AGO • September 26, 1959 - Ross Tuckey of Tuckey Beverages Ltd. of Exeter has been elected presi- dent of the Canadian Carbonated Beverages. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dobbs and Mayor and Mrs. R.E. Pooley who are on a trip to the west have been held up on their return owing to snow storms. The Ontario Department of Education has given tentative approval to the $60,000 three-room addition to Exeter Public School. Official opening of the new central school in MacGillivray Township will be held Friday evening, October 23 it was announced this week. 50 YEARS AGO September 28, 1949 - Jim Tomlinson and Donna Wells were proclaimed senior champs at the recent Exeter Public School track meet.. Lorne Ballantyne, 17, is believed to be the youngest ever to win the South Huron .champi- onship in Friday's South Huron plowing match held near Dashwood. Exeter Town Council will. sponsor a contest among students at Exeter Public and High Schools to provide a new crest for the municipality. 60YEARS AGO September 26, 1939 -The Exeter Hydro Commissiom, due to a surplus of funds, decided to refund to hydro users in town ten percent of the amount they paid the year before. 75YEARS AGO September 27, 1924 - C.J. Wilson who bought from William Dougall of Hay , the bald-headed eagle captured on the Dougall farm a few months ago has presented it to the London Zoo. On Tuesday, Jack and William Snell, Lloyd Schroeder, William Wareing and W. Geddes left by motor for Bedodore Bay and Port Elgin on a trapping and hunting expedition. 1 I OYEARS AGO September 28, 1889 - Mr. B. Case of Usborne has purchased the 100 acre farm in Hay Township from Mr. Abel Walper, paying therefore the handsome sum of of $6,000. " ROSS HAUGH BACK IN TIME OPINIONS AND LET !IRS Thanks for the entertainment Dear Editor, I would like to express 'My appreciation to the Exeter BIA and all those who performed, for the entertainment provided on Friday evenings in the Parkette. I hope this will be a regular event next summer and more summers to come. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend all perfor- mances, but next summer I shall arrange my schedule around the Parkette evenings. So thank you to all the performers and back room people who made it all possible. Yours sincerely, JOHN SANDERSON. There's already beer in corner stores Dear Editor: The Toronto Star's Queen's Park Reporter, Theresa Boyle let her slip show in their Sept. 23rd edition. Her opening sentence read "Ontario is not likely to sell beer in corner stores any time soon- ". She claims that the remark was made by Consumer and Commercial Relations Minister - Bob Runciman. In spite of what the Toronto Star tells us, there is an ever growing scenario of beer and liquor being sold in "corner" stores. Toronto's bedroom communities of Janetville and Beeton have quite recently seen their I.G.A. grocery, stores get into the beer, wine, and liquor business. The sleepy towns all around Ottawa where so many civil ser- vants raise their families have booze outlets in everything from; -a Home Hardware to grocery, Co- op, confectiorfary, and general stores. At present, there are well over 100 "corner" stores in Ontario that are licenced by the Province of Ontario, and the list is growing. While the Peterson Liberals just promised to have beer in corner stores, the Harris government Seem to be getting on with it, without a lot of fanfare. PETER E. STICKLESS Thornton, Ontario A teacher should accompany teenagers Dear Editor: My name is Toni and I'm in grade three. My school is Stephen Central. I was one of six stu- dents to be picked to work on the computers for 45 minutes at the Plowing Match, 1 was so excit- ed! When we got there, there wasn't a teacher to supervise us when we were on the. computers. It was very confusing and unorganized. . There were some teenagers that could help us. On one of the computers there was a bad movie being shown. There were two people in bed kissing and then some violent stuff. One of the Dad's went up and told them to turn it off. I left the computers after only five minutes. I was very upset. We went to more places and learned more stuff. I think it was fun at the Plowing Match but not on the computers. Next time there should be a teacher with the teenagers. By Toni MacPherson, Age 8 Dashwood { 2 . E(ty'' `d i s i oFlr a me o tr. scuts,` 'oncerns. Smearing squeegee kids TORONTO — There are only a few hundred of them in a few larger cities, and the vast majority of Ontarians have no contact with them — so why is Premier Mike Harris spending so much time attacking squeegee kids? The Progressive Conservative premier has decided since win- ning re-election in June that getting rid of squeegee kids will be a symbol of how he is deter- mined to protect middle-class Ontarians. The squeegee kids, who wash windows of cars stopped at intersections for a fee, have been on some streets in downtown Toronto for a couple of years, and some drivers feel they are harmless while others feel they intimidate them into accept- ing their services. There are nearly 200 in Toronto and probably another 100 or. so elsewhere. Most residents probably have never seen one. But Harris has made them appear a huge threat to society by making them the main target of his policy statements since the election, promising tougher laws to eliminate them and other aggres- sive panhandlers. When he retreated to the countryside with his caucus to plan for the fall session of the legisla- ture, the premier put squeegee kids at the topof his agenda. He put the same emphasis on the squeegees when he announced that the legislature will start on Oct. 20, and has rarely emerged from his office to talk to the media without seizing the opportuni- ty to blast squeegee kids. His new attorney -general, Jim Flaherty, has joined in energetically, telling caucus he is deter- mined to stop the intimidation. He announced on a, TV program that he hopes to have legislation passed before the end of this year and would not exclude sending to jail any squeegee kids who dis- obeyed it. Flaherty also called one of those hokey news conferences of which the Tories have become so enamoured, where he brandished a squeegee, promised that such tools in future will be seen only in gas stations and tossed it into a conve- niently -placed garbage can. It reminded one that Harris began his 'whole squeegee policy with a stunt. He arranged during the election campaign for police to hold a news conference at which they appealed for new pow- ers to deal with the squeegee kids. The premier then stepped up and promised to provide them, misusing police for political purposes. Harris seems to be going to a lot of effort to crack a small problem, but he has been looking for a new issue. He won the last two elections on tax cuts, but this magic is wearing off. He won in June with 45 per cent of the votes compared to the Liberals' 40 per cent, not a com- fortable margin considering the Tories' advan- tages. Harris has leaned toward promoting himself as the champion of law and order, but did not push it in the election campaign and did not need to. He knows why many middle-income Oritarians who are doing well under his regime are wary of anything that seems to threaten their privileged lives. Harris hopes to convince them that the squeegee kids are a menace rather than a petty, localized nuisance, and get them off the streets, and they will reward him for saving them from the barbarians at the gates. Attacking squeegee kids also has helped Harris sound busy, although he has done little and had the legislature sit only seven days so far this year. It also has diverted attention from his misadven- tures since the election. His new social services minister, John Baird, called a news conference to claim that the Tories have moved many, welfare recipients to workfare, but had no statistics to prove it and later admitted they had moved only five per cent. Transportation Minister David Turnbull pro- nounced a highway safe but had to improve it after accidents, and Consumer Minister Bob Runciman wanted to combat rising gasoline prices but Harris had to tell him that is a federal responsibility. No wonder Harris would rather smear squeegee kids. ERIC DOWD A VIEW FROM QUEEN'S PARK