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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-06-21, Page 4WAGE 4 -GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNlE,'SDAY, JUNE 24, 1987 I've been distanced from the struggles of The Holy War" involving Jim and Tammy Faye Bakkerof the PTL club, having never cast more than an inocuous eye towards the television ministry to begin with, However, regardless of one's.religious beliefs or leanings, it's been difficult not let out the odd guffaw, as the daily press regales its audiences with updaton the plight of the television ministry"'"" In fact, the antics of the principle b prayers have turned those guffaws into• knee -slapping, gut -wrenching laughter. You have to admit, some of the details have been nothing short of laughter provoking. Perhaps what the general public has so far failed to realize is that we're dealing with hwnan beings here. The poor Bak - kers have been treated like pawns in a DAVE SY chess .game, unceremoniously stripped of their television ministry and religious 'theme park. The frivolity is, over fair folk and it'g' time we recognized.the fact that these people are desperate. They require our unrequited attention and funding. Jury and Tanury Faye revealed, through straight faces and tear -stained eyes on the weekend, that their personal bank balance had dwindled to a measly $'37,000. Now I'm riot one to speculate on the general condition of the masses un learn- ing that distressing news, but I, for one, was simply devastated. Why poor '1'anuiry Faye could barely keep herself in eye shadow or lip gloss on a paltry $37 Grand. The lady' probably goes through in excess of $40,000 just in hair spars over the course of a calendar year. Throw in shimmering hp gloss, eye shadow, a ease or two of long lash and related incidentals and the bill should ex- ceed $100,000. 1 can now understand why followers of the popular P'1'1. television ministry would willingly part with several inches of dollar bills when their leader is in need. The poor woman is destitute and having lost her job her husband is tem- porarily unemployed as wells her source of income has vanished. Can you image having to face an uncer- tain future with only $37,000 in the old bankerou. It almost snakes you shudder, doesn't it? Together, as hosts of the•P'l'I. club, the couple hauled in %i mere $1,9 million last yedir. Hardly the kind of cash that could sustain the average American family. One can't be expected to keep up a de- cent thence park on that kind of stipend. Considering the magnitude of the cou- ple's dilemuua, :t would be only fittine, to launch surae kind of natioriewide.appeal. Leverage has to be brought to bear on the television public to once again restore the Bakker's bank account to a lofty and c•orrrfortable plateau. If !Maes was able to part the Red Sea, then 1 have every confidence that televi- sion ministry personnel could part green- backs from innocent viewer's wallets. • It's the North American way. Today the ministry faces a challenge of raising $70 million to eliminate debts and vesture the credibility- of the,operation Jerry Falwell has said. Falwell's PTL directors placed the television ministry and thence park resort in bankruptcy :June 12, perhaps leaving the future of the affair in the hands i(f the court. Falwell, who during the holy wars was still able to raise $8 million during PTL's Turn to page 5 THE NEWS POR ■ FOR OODERIC SINCE 184:.. EBT ALL FIOUNO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN CANADA �E4".i. '•.ft '.�1.Yi:v�C...-..iv Nf "f:l::y'-::: iLYtzL �� P.® '20 1-HUCKINB ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK 000E122iCi-i, ONT. N7A 4 6 PUBLISHED BY SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED Founded In 1848 end published every Wedneedey et Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OCNA. Bubscriptiona payable In advance 822.O0, (senior Citizens 11319.00 privilege card number required) In Canada, 880.00 to U.S.A.,' 880.00 to oil other oountrlom, Bingle copies 80C. Oloploy, National end Clesialflod edvartlming rates available on request. Ploaoa eels for Rote Card No. 18 effective October 1, 198ts. Advertising le accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographic& error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item, together with the roaeoneble allowance for signature, will not be charged for but that balance of the advortlesment «111 be paid for at the applicable rota. In the event of m typographical error advertising goods or ®ervican at o wrong prloo, dbodo or, services may not be mold. Advertlaing la merely en offer to Goll, end may be withdrawn at eny time. The Signal -Star le not rooponelble for the loam or damage of pnnollolted manuscripts: photos or other materials coed for reproducing purposes. . General Manager SHIRLEY J. KELLER Editor DAVE SYKES Advertising Manager DO.N HUBICK ?w 4ilY .e° Y..j1,_ 7,Z77, FOR ®COBWEBS OR EOIT0PIAL OFFICES.:.pDees8 prove® le1B152 -2 'i4 Second class • mail registration number 0716 Member: • the price of rot i•et on A feiv issues relative to municipal law enforcement have surfaced in Goderich and are quickli' festerthg: Last week the Signal -Star reported in a front-page story the reluctance of members of the town's police force to continue to work excessive overtime. Members of the town's force produced relatively sound arguments in favor of hiring additional personnel. • " The police commission tabled the matter for further discussion and there appears to he a bit of reluctance to pursue the matter until all the variables have been scrutinized. Mayor Eileen Palmer said the officers' case, while legitimate, would prompt inexperienc- ed people to quickly hire more people. She said the town must look at quality of policing, ex- isting manpower, productivity and high absenteeism. One senior officer has been on com- pensation and that has drastically affected the manpower situation. Police officers should. not be subjected to the kind of hours members of the Goderich force have had to turn in .lately. It reduces the effectiveness of the individual -and thus, the police farce. Use of overtime is not unusual in any business and, in fact, is cost-effective management. It's cheaper to use overtime, Experienced labour than to hire and train new recruits and pay more in benefits. But then again, overtime has its limits too. That raises a further question of the cost of .police protection, an' issue that has surfaced through the media and involves the mayors of the five county towns. The cost of police protection has many municipalities casting a longing glance towards the OPP facility on Highway 21. Some municipalities feel they simply can't carry the finan- ('iiil burden 'issrlciated with municipal police protection. There's no denying that associated costs are, in some cases, prohibitive but then a municipality, and it's people, have to collectively decide what kind of police protection' they want and how much they are willing to pay. No-one is looking, for drive-through law enforcement and many people will view OPP as ,lust that. That obviously wouldn't be the case,tthe OPP do a commendable job in their respective territories i but it could•°be perceived as being such. 'f'axpayers in the town of Goderich pay $616,000 for police protection. Of that, $54,000 represents the town's share of the operation of the central dispatch system. Salaries for the 10 officers and the secretary amount to $400,000. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing provides the town with a policing grant of $149,700 based on $50 per household. • If approached, the Ontario Police Commission will commission a study of the i-elative Inst-t'ffectiveness'of switching from a municipal to a provincial policing force. The local police commission, in order to effect any changes, is required to present and pursue its recornnicndations through town council. That the mayors are collectively recognizing a problem. and a financial burden means they are only doing their job, Resolution of"that problem may in come in different forms to the various municipalities, • Ostensibly, each municipality has to decide what it wants and what it can realistically pay for. The manner, in which the problem is addressed is another matter. Perhaps the provincial iiovernnient should he petitioned to increase the policing grant to allow municipalities to l control Inde garriless iofithe aspect their method ofpolicing, the taxpayer will foot the hill. D.S. 1\10 06. U.NOWG cure MUIR PHs'.iqu , .mATLfirLE_a i5 i.8c17'sa✓ (0/&F:/)(,/1.1 ..... ,...Instead Y f surplus on 1'62operations, council could ens with 83,000 . e 25 YEARS AGO .June 21. 1962 Instead of the $588 surplus on 1962 opera- tions for which Goderich council budgeted only a few weeks ago, it may wind up with a- bookkeeping deficit of nearly $3,000. '1f so, it will result from action of the county finance committee in providing for pay- ment this year, instead of next, of the amount due for county purposes from salt mine profits. 'l'he procedure for calculating this is laid down in the Assess- ment Act and was followed by county assessor Alexander, but the Town Council had expected payment would be required next year, not this year. When St, George's Church here celebrates its 128th anniversary next Sun- day. the special preacher for the day will come from a parish of the same age. Rev. .I.H. Webster, firmer Archdeacon of Aklavik, in the western Arctic, who served among the Eskimo for more than 25 years, is now rector of Delaware in Middlesex, where the first resident missionary arriv- ed in 1834. Bus tours of the Goderich district are in- creasing in the popularity as summer weather curves into its' own. Two large C'harterway buses arrived in Goderich on June 12 carrying a party of 74 members of the Senior Citizens Friendship ('lub of London. In all my years and years c maybe it only seems that long) as a member of the working press," l i.e. an ink -stained wretch I, 1 have never encountered anyone who requested to see my press identification card, before permitting me to interview, photograph or mudrake thein. - .. To he sure, J was quite proud of myself the day i was handed my Ontario Com- munity Newspaper Association card. I was certain it would mark me (or life as an esteemed member of the Fourth Estate, a man who could be trusted with your inmost secrets, with sensitive government documents, not to screw up the works. "The Gard," I was sure, would get me past police blockades, inside high-level meetings, into sold -out concerts, and 50 cents off my next purchase of Mci)onald's french fries. The possibilities were limitless. - Alas, no one ever wanted to see my lit- tle card. They all took my word for it when i showed up at the door and an- nounced my intention of covering the momentous event which was about to take place. Probably, they assumed that no one in his right mind would want to be a reporter, let alone impersonate one. After all, why would anyone want to pass themselves off as a member of a group with a reputation for being underpaid, overworked, always nosey and often abrasive'. - This, by the way, also explains why no one ever bothers to impersonate Revenue Canada auditors. Anyway, try though I might, I couldn't get any one to even look at the darn thing. That was, until ,June 9, 1987, This date, inconspicuous as it may ap- pear, is actually quite significant, mark- ing the 160th day, of the 160th year since the founding of the Town of Goderich. Not being the types to let such an occa- sion pass unrecognized, we at the'Signal- Star chose to marls the occasion with a pictorial tribute, in the form of a special supplement to be called "A Day in the Life," of the Goderich area. The premise for this publication was to take pictures round-the-clock on the aforementioned date, of ordinary people doing ordinary things. No oceurrance was deemed too mundane to photograph. "If anyone moves — shoot them;" was the editor's directive. Several of our less militant newsroom personnel became so excited they had to be reminded we would be using film, not live ammunition, for this exercise. This is where the 1.1) card began to come in handy. When people are holding an event, passing a cheque, robbing a hank or anything of this nature, they ex; pest to get their picture in the local paper. When they are nru , ng the lawn, going to work or making a Bank deposit. they don't seem to expect to achieve the same degree of notoriety. The first person to request proof of my legitimacy was a bus driver, who ap- parentlywanted to he sure 1 wasn't tak- ing pictures of his bus and its passengers for some deviant purpose of my own. Later, i had to -show it to a"Yrriddle-aged couple who were cleaning up after a fish fry at St Christopher's beach. Seems they were curious as to what type of per- son would want to photoOraph them and LOOKING CK 50 YEARS AGO .June 30, 1937 An event of the corning weel:'end which is creating a stir of interest in advance is the visit of the fleet of the Yachtsmen's Association of America which will calf at Goderich on Saturday for its cruise to Georgian Bay. It is expected that about 75 yachts will make port here on Saturday afternoon for an all-night visit. The cruise. which is expected. to become an annual event,, will draw 500, yachts men from Cleveland, Toledo, Rochester, Detroit and other yachting centres. It is sponsored by the Yachtmen'S Association of America and the Yachtmen's Magazine. One of the big• features of ()id Home Week will be the professional baseball game on Wednesday afternoon, August 4th. The Old Horne. Week committee. through the efforts of Mr..J.13. Reynolds, has been fortunate in being able to engage the Detroit Stars, the famous black team, and the All-Star team of New York State, made up of players from ('lass AA ball teams of that state. It is costing $1,000 to bring these teams here. A doubleheader will be played for one admission price band the prize money .will be so arranged as to provide a bonus for the winning team in each game: This ensures two real games of baseball. 70 YEARS AGO June 21, 1917 . Preparations for the 50th anniversary, of ('cinfederation celebrations are being com- pleted for one of the biggest Dominion Day programs given in Goderich for some .years. In the morning there will be a floral parade with prizes for the best decorated autos and bicycles, a baby show and the usual children's games. • At Agricultural Park in the afternoon,' there will be a grand patriotic demonstration by the school pupils, with choruses, drills, ect. Rev. A.L.G. Clarke rector .of St. George's Church will give the address. The Gard Battery from Queen's Park, London, will gine the famous .musical ride. Four ships called at the harbor during the past week. On Friday, the steamer Graham arrived with 115,000 bushels of wheat for the Western Canada Flour Mills. A steamer, Glen Staples, arrived with 150,000 bushels of oats for the Goderich • Elevator Company. The Glen Staples is an old wooden boat which had been out of ser- vice for some time until this season. She was formerly called the Caledonia and sailed in U.S, waters. from this angle Patrick Raftis tits crisis came when I was required to produce evidence of my occupation to one of our local constabulary. Seems two young children I had photographed at play earlier had inform- ed their parents that there was a strange man with a camera hanging around outside When a police crusier began following me around that evening i assumed i had the remains of some dead trout?'Can 't say as I blame them. The third, and most emharassing, iden- inadvertently committed some violation of the Highway Traffic Act. Somehow 1 didn't find it comforting to learn that, in- stead, 1 was suspected of being a pervert. Oh well. All in a day's work. • ' Seriously, though it caused me some embarrasment, and I should point out that the Signal -Stat encourages people who have doubts about a person claiming to be a member of our organization, th call.the paper and verify that they do in fact. work here. When taking pictures of young children, our photographers do try to con- ' tact parents or an adult in charge. However, when a spontaneous photo op- portunity occurs, this may not always be possible. So, if you have doubts, check , with us first. If the person in question should turn out not to he one of our employees, it is then advisable to call the police. Chances are though, if you see a scruf- fy looking bearded character` with a camera, it's just me -- and I'm harmless.