Times Advocate, 1999-11-17, Page 7'411y,November 17, 1999
Exeter Times—Advocate
7
Opinion&Forum
10YEARS A
November 15, 1989 -
Honoured at the annual town of
Exeter Appreciation Night as
Citizens of the Year were Sally
Lou•Raymond and Rick Graham.
Last minute guests were mem-
bers of the South Huron
Panthers girls field hockey team
who had won the all -Ontario
championship only the
Saturday before. Also recog-
nized were Anita Wein, Andrea Weigand and
Jacklin Wright who put Exeter on the lawn bowl-
ing map in Canada by winning the junior lawn
bowling title of Canada and Julia Merner who rep-
resented Exeter on the Stratford reette team,
semi-finalists for all of Ontario last se n.
Exeter's Safe Homes for Youth has received the
Solicitor General's award for crime prevention.
20 YEARS AGO
November 14, 1979 - Paul Pavkeje, R. R. 2,
Centralia received the Robert McKinley Citizenship
trophy at Friday's Huron 4-H Achievement Night
in Clinton. The trophy is awarded to the top county
member for excellence in 4-H, home and commu-
nity activities.
The South Huron Panthers have won the Huron -
Perth junior football championship for the se.enth
time in 11 years. Coaches are Doug Ellison and
Dave Cox and the captains are Bill Glover, Dale
Kerslake, Guy Dietz and Dave Shaw.
The 45th anniversary of the Kippen East
Women's Institute was held Thursday night.
Cutting the cake were 1934 president Carrie
Graham and current president Ruby Triebner.
Area 4-H members fared extremely well at
Thursday's Queen Guineas competition at the
Royal Winter Fair. Tom Coates of the Exeter calf •
club showed the champion Hereford. I was pur-
chased by Dominion Stores for $2.75 a pound. A
Limousin owned by Bonnie DeBlock of Denfield
won that division and placed second in the Queen's
Guineas judging. Shawn McComb of Lucan won
''the"reserv'e• title ' for Charolais. Other area 4-H
members placing in the first class group were Fred
Hern; Bill °Kinsman, Lyle Kinsman, Brian Pym,
Elaine Pym and Margaret Pym.
35 YEARS AGO
November 16, 1964 - Rev. Clinton A. Brittain
was re-elected to • his second term as president of
the Grand Bend and Area Chamber of Commerce.
Thomas Ellerington Jr. was awarded the British
American Oil Company proficiency scholarship of
$50 at the annual banquet of the Western Ontario
Agricultural School at Ridgetown.
Construction of the Parkhill Dam will be delayed
again as the Ausable River Conservation Authority
learned this week they would have to call tenders
on the major project again.
40YEARS AGO
November 13, 1959 - Norma Geiger of Zurich
was elected editor of the SHDHS Ink Spot newspa-
per.
A "minister" convicted Wednesday of obtaining
money under false pretenses was given 'a suspend-
ed sentence and ordered to repay two loans of
$300 to Exeter and St. Catharines residents.
50YEARS AGO
• November 16, 1949 - According to the latest
assessment figures, Exeter's population is now at
2,401.
Tenders are being called for the construction of
an 18 classroom school at the Centralia Airport
where a huge housing project is now underway. .
Contributions to the Exeter District Hospital fund
have now reached the half -way mark.
The first meeting of the Exeter Home and School
Association was held in the school. Friday evening.
Mrs. Ernest Jones is president.
75 YEARS AGO
November 14, 1924 - Mr. E.O. Penhale disposed
of his fifty -acre farm in Stephen Township to Mr.
Ben Makins of the same township.
William Mitchell has disposed of the
Metropolitan Hotel to Mr. T. Cameron. Mr. Mitchell
has been the proprietor for the past ten years.
The L.O.L. of Exeter has elected the following
officers for the -coming year. W.H. - H. Dignan;
P.M. - G. Davis; D.M. - W. Cunningham; Rec. Sec. -
G. McDonald; Sec. - H. Bowers; Treas. - J.
Brintnell; Chaplain - Rev. J. Foote; Lect. - E.M.
Dignan; J. Brant Committee - J. Luker, W. Littman.
BACK W4 TIME
•
OPINIONS AND L. ETERS
Worthwhile project?
Let writer know
Dear Editor:
I have observed the construction along the rail-
way tracks in Exeter and upon inquiry I was
advised that this related to the construction of a
sewage line to Centralia. It is not this line that I
wish to comment on but the potential of this work
to create the base .for the development of a walk-
ing trail along the tracks.
• At the town forum for park development a walk-
ing trail along the tracks seemed to have some
support. The current sewage line construction
completes one of the majorcosts for the creation
of a trail, that of clearing and grading. It may now
be too late to piggyback a public trail with this
project but it is not too late to take advantage of
the site work. The development of a trail along an
active railway track does pose some risk but I
believe that with some careful planning these can
• be minimized. I feel we have an opportunity at
this time to develop a walking trail from Huron
Street to Elliott Park at a reasonable cost. This
would appear to be a good time to approach the
Railroad to see if they would consider providing a
right of way along the track so that a trail could
become a reality.
The new millennium is almost here. This could
be a worthwhile project to complete for the future
citizens of our community and I am interested in
hearing from any other individuals or groups that
think it may be worthwhile to pursue.
Yours truly,
FRED SIMMONS.
Dancing with
the angels
Dear Editor:
A dear friend of the Town of Exeter has been
. lost. Lois Ruegar died in Stratford on Tuesday,
November 2.
She was an extraordinary woman who brought
smiles to anyone she passed. Her kind heart,
dance recitals in the street and unforgettable
massages in the laundry mat will be sadly missed.
Even on the worst of days, she could cheer the
saddest of souls.
Donut Delite was a familiar place to Lois, whose
staff was like family to her. She was very friendly
to all customers and loved playing with every-
one's children.
She was the type of person who people said "1
want to be in her world," or "I would love to be
just like her!"
Lois would -sever hurt a soul, was always the
first to lend a hand, and was just a plain special
lady. She will be missed by all.
Exeter's Ray of Sunshine is Now Dancing With
The Angels."
Love, THE HEARTS TOUCHED BY LOIS
Writer wants
petition signed
Dear Editor:
After listening to last Thursday's noon news on
the 'New PL' about Remembrance Day, there
seemed to be negativity concerning "Are we for-
getting our War Veterans?"
Not so! I had occasion to pick up my grandson
and deliver home to hockey practice after school.
During the trip, I heard the "tow down" on
Remembrance Day. He told me the school had a
service that afternoon for Remembrance Day.
During the service, two of his friends and him-
self read a poem "Sound of the Gun", they had a
moment of silence and a visit from two veterans
who spoke to them about (my grandson's actual
words) ''the ones who died for our country and for
everyone to remember the sacrifices made by sol-
diers that defended the greatest country in the
world. They made our history and gave us • fre-
dom".
Thanks Stephen Central School for not allowing
our .war veterans to be forgotten - keep up the
good work!
BETTY CRONYN
Time off work excuse
TORONTO - Remembrance Day is becoming
just another excuse to take time off in
Ontario's government and legislature.
MPPs are the latest to cash in on it.
Although the legislature had sat only a paltry
five out of 44 weeks so far this year, the MPPs
managed to take off anoth-
er, which they called con-
stituency, week and built up
around Ri mbrance Day.
They reasoned
Remembrance Day was a
Thursday, on which they
had to be in their ridings
attending memorial services
to the war dead, so why
bother to come into Queen's
Park the rest of the week?
They also took the whole
week off knowing the legislature is scheduled
to adjourn in early December and therefore
will sit for only a total of nine weeks in the
whole of 1999.
Premier Mike Harris approved another full
week'off, because with his majority he can
dictate when the legislature sits, but the
opposition Liberals and New Democrats had
no objections.
The three parties' paid their tributes to the
dead and talked of the importance of remem-
bering them in the legislature a full week
before Remembrance Day to give themselves
ample time to get back to hearth and home.
The parties also contradicted themselves.
Harris has gone to lengths to say he has a
busy agenda he is eager to implement and not
the stripped -down version many claim, but he
is showing no hurry to get on with it.
It also was the 'Progressive Conservative
premier who kept the legislature shut down
most of the year to dodge opposition ques-
tions that might embarrass him.
But the opposition parties who angrily
demandedhe return to the legislature tamely
surrendered opportunities,to get to grips with
him in return for yet another week back
home.
Most .provincial employees already cash in
on Remembrance Day because they get a paid
holiday, unlike the, -vast majority of other
workers. The worthy aim is that they should
use it to commemorate -the war dead.
But a number of informal surveys have
shown few public servants attend services at
war memorials or do anything else to honor
war victims and most treat it as just an extra
day off. .
When Remembrance Day. is on a weekend,
public servants who do not commemorate the
war dead anyway get a day off during the
week to compensate, underlining how fir this
designated day off has strayed from meeting
its original intent.
The civil servants who mostly do not com-
memorate. the war dead and mostly have
never served in the armed forces receive their
paid holiday for Remembrance Day although
veterans who work in private companies have
no such entitlement by law.
Several premiers over the years including
Tory William Davis and Liberal David
Peterson said they would consider making
Remembrance Day a paid holiday for vets, but
none has.
Schools since the early 1980s have found it
more useful to stay open and either take stu-
dents to community memorial services or hold
their own services and educational programs
honoring the war dead.
Before this, schools had closed to allow stu-
dents to attend commemorative public ser-
vices in the community, but found similarly ,
few did.
Harris has now suggested people should
commemorate the war dead by means includ-
ing briefly gathering in their workplaces or. •
shutting down assembly lines and observing a
respectful two minutes silence.
He should propose this as an alternative to a
day off for public servants and restrain him-
self and MPPs from taking a week off using
the excuse of Remembrance Day when the
legislature meets only nine weeks in a year.
ERIC
DVD
A VIEW FROM
QUEEN'S PARK