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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-02-23, Page 41– — Frankly, the winter weather, or lack of it, has Canadians totally contused, Not that it would take much to confu e a Canadian in the first pplace But, the mild winter has added a new wrinkle to our normally staid, boring, and frigid lifestyle. A winter without below -zero temperatures, raging 'blizzards, blocked roadways, angry motorists, happy children and delighted oil men is simply not Canadian.. In fact, we have a certain image to maintain as hearty Northerners who brave the cruelest of elements simply to survive. That image is fast fading in the face of one of the mildest winters on record. Personally, the absence of snow delights me all to hell and this is one of the few years I haven't been married to a snow shovel for three months. While there is a certain ethereal quality about a tranquil snowfall, albeit a minimal one, I rather enjoy the fneedonn of linevenlee the traneilility of idly llagellitlailipll allow. While there have been>ceitain and Mel obvious befits to the .anowlesa whiter, such as reduced heating and snow -removal costs, there are also some blatant drawbacks to mild weather. For instance: Canadians can be generally lumped Into aakgroup or tate ' ory of people renowned as�"gripers and complainers. Canadians love to gripe and complain about anything, And when 1t comes to rain, drizzle, snow, 'winds, cloudor sunshine, it would take a good mall to oat -complain a cranky Canuck. If anything, Canadians know their weather and they are even more adept at complaining about a weather. However, so f this winter, I haven't heard any d • , ' ood grumbling about the nasty state of t " jet streams, high and low pressure systems and generaly rotten weather. Not even a deeeat °niurmur. Without nasty weather, to date, People have bad little to taut about. Why during the months ,of January and February it was impossible to pass a semi acquaintance on the Street without exchanging Pleasantries. and conientaries on the current state of the weather. If there is anything people have in common, it's the weather. Aside from talking about the weather and sex, the only thing people enjoy mere is complaining about the wind-chill/factor or a recent snowfall. Without an impending low-pressure system to dissect, I would suspect that many Canadians have little tota kabout. In fact, it may be safe to, assume that without any meterologlcal disasters ; Canadians have stopped tacking to each other. And that creates an unfortunate situation intheSeeiatetrlietlireof'thiscountry. The only safe way to approach strangers.' ' in this .50isatri was under the guise. old . tl; lin „ PAS laining a boutthe weather. ' t d:you think of the west] we're' having?" was about as Sate open g line as anyone could ask for In w terms of mating habits, the weather Ilnar.4 least Coffered the male species .a chance t speak to an attractive member of the ops Posite ,silex before she offhandedly' replied "Bug off, creep!" Idle chattei about the weather is now a non -entity; It just doesn't exist' because the weather is not of a catostrophic nature, People tend to. ignore idle chatter about- good or middle-of-the-road weather. It doesn't make for good :conversation... So maybe a storm or two wouldn't hurt any. It , would at .least get .people talking to one another. BLUE RIBBON AWARD Second class mail registration number -0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT rounded In N M and published every Wednesday at Ooderlch. Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OWNA. Adver- tising rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advance' 19.90 In Canada, 'SAM to U.S.A..'SO-N to all other count- • tries, single copies SOC. Display advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rate Card No.13 effective Qs - totter 1. 1909. Second class mall gegistrallon Number 0710. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of'typographIcel error, the advertising space. occupied by the erroneous Nem. together with reasonable allowance or signature. will not be charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for the ap- plicable p- plicabie rate. In the event of a typographical error adver#!sing goods or servicesat • wrong price, goo i. add may be rmay not Is• sold. esponsible for the loss oridamape of unsolicited ng is merely en maner to luscrp photos or10 her mateslals used ordrawn at any time. The s producing pur- poses. ugnal-Star is t pose. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor P.O. Box 220. theaet. ' HUCKINS'ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK G O GODERICH N7A 4B6 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL _ please A step to preservation In last week's edition of the Signal -Star, a front-page . story outlined " council's intentions concerning the Heritage District Conservation plan for the town of Goderich. The Heritage 'District bylaw was passed by town council in January 1982 after due circulation and" notice. . -►s a result of conusiiit and public pressure, council delayed. an -Ontario Municipal 'Board hearing into the matter, wanting to meet with objectors to the plan and attempt to satisfy their concerns. There was no obligation on their part to pursue that course of action. Last week council endorsed a Motion that changes the intent.pf the original bylaw. The heritage district was to include the Square and radiating streets but the new motion calls for only the circular' portion of the Square to be considered for the designation. The motion further stipulated that property owners wishing inclusion be included and those wishing to be excluded from the plan • be allowed that option. 'Council was also seeking legal advice on the matters " There is a divisi'i•among< 'i petty owners in the af- ••fected area concerning themierits and disadvantages of the district designation. Many people have fears their rights as property owners will dissipate while others are anxious to take advantage of the grant program that the designation brings with it. The issue will be a live one for a long time and two citizens, offer the following information on the subject. Author addresses concerns Dear Editor: and West - Street and the course that arises is this: I am writing to you regar- eight vista lots just off the "Why put my house in the ding the Heritage Con- Square. There are of course Heritage District Plan if you servation District Plan pro- many other old and in- have not designated it for posed for the Square in the teresting buildings in the preservation? Why not just odistrict, but our main simply leave it out of Hill and Sorge', Ar - Town Goderich.My firm endeavor and the intent of an altogether!" This is a key chitects and Planners was heritage district plan, is to question. My answer is that commissioned by the town to preserve significant groups. heritage districts do not rely prepare this plan and I per- of buildings and not only on buildings alone but sonally was in charge of the necessanrily individual on other' significant document. My main purpose buildings. Accordingly we characteristics, which in the, in writing is to address the selected an historic building case of the Square is the uni- concerns of the residents preservation area .that en- que radial street layout. We who have houses in the compassed the main wanted to preserve the designated hrea. A public business area and that was layout and its charming meeting was held on far smaller than the entire historic ises ambience bience, fevistas, -isThe January25and a d oer - heritageNelson, Elgin, Victot ria aned d residences therefore, while residents attended to ex- Nelson, press their concerns in being Waterloo. We then prepared interesting, were leftout and included in the heritage ' detailed policies . for the no restrictive policies district. I respect their opi- preservation and restoration thereto were developed. nions and while authority of the commercial buildings. To a large extent the deci- ultimately lies with the town These were developed using ,rasion now is threefold: council, I would like to ex- elaborate elevational draw- 1.Leave the Plan as is with plain some of the reasons for ings and careful text. housingvestock and with how and why the plan evolv- For all buildings outside the restrictive five and ed in the manner it did. this "commercial . historic policies on any houses.e e Under Part 5 of the On- building preservation area, p li Take nin the tario Heritage Act, a we clearly stated that NO 2. heritage outarea housesof those only restrictive heritage poles were to apply. I sho state that this intent is ependent upon the council of the day indeed not to enforce restric- tive heritage policies on the residences as the Plan ad- vises. This I have assumed, and I appreciate the opinion of those who may not wish to assume as such: The only policies pertaining to the tion.' The area chosen was,outlying residences are fairly large and is bounded those that have been in place by Nelson (north) Elgin for a number of years, the main one being the town zon- ing by-law. This I hope, briefly but squarely, (no pun intended! ) explains how the heritage plan was prepareff and what it. „says. When we were preparing the policies we had many meetings with the business community because it, was on their buildings that the heritage policies would really apply. We did not consult in any significant way the residents of the housing stock in the municipality may designate for ,preservation districts of architectural and/or historic significance. The town coun- cil, with advice from their appointed Local Architec- tural Conservation Advisory Committee (L.A.C.A.C. for short) chose the Square as a possible district for designa- tion. My firm was hired to prepare a plan of preserve - who wish to be taken out. 3. Reduce the heritage area to the commercial buildings on the circle, West Street and the eight vista lots and thus taking out the en- tire housing area. It would be amiss of me to recommend, in this letter an (south) Waterloo (west) and Victoria (east). The purpose of selecting the area was primarily because of the uni- que radial plan layout. It was not selected because every building in the area was to be preserved. It was selected because this area contained a unique and beautiful street layout with associated interesting vistas, wide boulevards of trees and an historic am- bience, As the study of the plan district because no progressed it became quite addi- evidenteon- historic thathe principal te plated or proposed in the ciistoric building stock was the commercial buildings Plan. ow, the question of facing the Court House Park Jy alternative, without first discussing it with the L.A.C.A.C. I would like to believe that we can still keep the larger designated , area and ensure no restrictive policies are put on any houses as we had always in- tended. This is the richer, nobler and more comprehen- sive option. If however, the Town Council feels in its wisdom that this would engender undue concern for the residents then of course alternatives 2 and 3 will have to be considered. I do hope however the issue can be resoled soon as substantial grants of money are available for the business community to whom the building preservation part of the plan pertains, and a lot of work is poised to start as soon as the plan is approved. Inconclusion I commend the mayor and her council and the L.A.C.A.C. for their perseverance in seeing the 'heritage plan along its often rocky path, and I am confi- dent the outcome will reflect the fair minded and reasonable attitude of the community of Goderich. Sincerely, HILL & BORGAL, ARCHITECTS. Nicholas Hill. Medical society reiisters pretest over closure Dear Editor: The Huron County Medical Society wish to register their protest to the Minister, regarding the proposed closing of the Bluewater Centre for Mentally Han- dicapped. The present centre is providing excellent facilities for treatment and long stay care. The program en- cograges group interaction and occupational therapy Mem.OriRs N; DEAR READERS SHIRLEY KEL .E , The other day on a radio talk show there was a rather heated discussion about thefact the people today seem to -have no respect for the law. It was observed that people simply do not keep the lawsof the land. The big question was, "Why? Why don't people keep the law?" Then some sanity was introduced with the question, "Why should people keep the law?" I've been pondering this whole question ever since - and at every opportunity I have been asking people for their opinions. Why should people keep thelaw? One man I spoke to is a former member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He said he recalled part of the motto of that group which stated, "Laws should be of government, not of men." "It's the only way people can have respect for the law," he commented. "There must be one law for everyone:" I have' no intention of getting into the hot water of discussing the ways in which laws in Canada are abused. Ornby whom.: That's such -a ticklish issue that only the foolhardy would dare to broach it in a newspaper column. Suffice it to say that I am of the firm opinion that the law ,soften does such a good job of protecting the innocent until proven guilty, that the guilty often go unpunished. But that's not news to anyone. What does annoy me is the fact that the legal eagles of our country continue to pass laws that are virtually unenforcable. One such law is that which says it is.pnlawful to copy a record, for instance, or a piece of sheet music. The copyright law. Yet everyday in this nation, peoplee breaking these laws without any apparentaare that is not available in the present nursing homes. We feel that a mass discharge of these patients to facilities with poorer supervision ,will adversely affect these patients. Yours truly, Dr. Brian Baker, Secretary, Huron County Medical Society. problem. In fact, such law, breaking is so com- mon it is hardly recognized 'as a crime any more by anyone. How many kids do you know who exchange records and tapes so that their friends may copy them? Or how many times have you made copies of music or of a play just to keep costs down to an absolute minimum? It happens all the time. Right? And who cares? I suppose one could say that those who know the law exists should keep the law out of respect for the law. But that's very idealistic to say the least. The truth is, people accept the fact that their little indiscretions will go undetected and therefore, since there's little or no risk involved, it seems perfectly reasonable to forget the legal technicalities and do what everyone else is doing. There's safety in numbers. But that's only one example. Someone I spoke to about this matter drew my attention to the seat belt laws or the legal speed limits. Do you always buckle up? Are you always within the speed limit when you drive your vehicle? This person was particularly, perturbed about the routine police checks for seat belts... or the speed traps set up by police. The gripe isn't with the fact that the police perform these regular checks. The real misery comes when you are sitting in your car receiving a ticket from an officer of the law for your 'crime" while dozens of other drivers drive by committing the same offence and getting away without so much as a stiff warning. I had to agree that a much better system would be to put up a road block and stop absolutely everyone - and to be fair, this is done from time to time. The point is, though, unless the law is con- sistently enforced across the board, people lose respect for it. And then there's television commercials like the new one for raisin bran that makes a com- plete idiot of the law. It depicts a motorcycle C.O.P. (Constable On Patrol) stretched out in a sunny spot behind a billboard, catching a bit of shuteye. But when the cereal -laden truck goes by, the officer takes off after the truck with great purpose, only to enjoy a bowl fo raisin bran with the driver upon halting the vehicle. - Now I ask you. How does a farce such as that enhance the law in the eyes of the public? I wonder if it even sells raisin bran. When you get right down to it, the issue is more' than disrespect for the law. It's a greatdeal more than lack of respect for policemen and lawyers and judges. It's lack of respect for all authority, including . teachers, school crossing guards, bylaw enforcement officers, govern- ment officials, ministers, even to some extent employers I suppose. Respect for all things iS taught, I think, by good healthy example for the events we see and hear as we are growing up, and by the fair and equitable dispensation of authority as we mature. By the same token, respect is lost when the things we see and hear all around us - as children or as adults - makes a mockery of authority. It's like so many, many things that have gotten out of hand in our society. We gave an inch and we lost a mile. We allowed -opportunity for self- indulgence and ended up with a whole ,mess of social miseries. LACAC is just doing its job Haydon'SaYS Dear Editor: To complete my ob- servations concerning the Heritage District situation, please allow me to add these thoughts. A few town council members and others are asking some rather astonishing questions - astonishing in the sense that they do not really address the substance of the matter and because the answers are simple and obvious. 1.Why is the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) so adamant on the Heritage District Designation? For the same reason the tourist committee is carrying out its mandate of doing its best to promote tourism; or the planning board members are steadily and vigorously working on updating the town's zoning bylaw ( which states in detail ETTER what is allowed and what is not allowed concerning all our properties and also our property -related activities, without a provision for op- ting out). The list of such examples is long. LACAC is carrying out its mandate. There is con- siderable heritage interest among the residents in the town; previous councils recogniz d this interest and concern. Only a small number . of habitually negativ individuals opposed it, mainly the same persons who fought against the BIA, The Square area im- provements and other progressive and constructive endeavors. Our Square area is unique. It is far more than an ac- cidental collection of in- dividual properties. Your ancestors planned and created this richly different town centre for the future, with a vision. This unique area is a natural for heritage concern and interest. Neither the council nor LACAC could possibly ignore it or treat it as just another piece of • real estate, if they want to maintain credibility in long -terra vision or short- term hortterm leadership. LACAC members work only in advisory capacity to the town council, in ac- cordance with planning and heritage procedures. The decisions in all stages have been made by council. If council wishes to undo what two previous councils had carefully prepared over four years and legitimately concluded more than a year ago, let it do so clearly calling a spade a spade and without trying to create a vague impression that somehow LACAC is to blame. 2.Why did LACAC (and council decide) to designate the entire Square area when residential property owners do not wish to be included. During the four years of taking the project through all its stages (including public meetings) and finally passing the area designation bylaw in January 1 2 (council voted unanhnously in favor at third reading) when owners of only three properties objected, there was no way of knowing what was going to happen sud- denly two weeks before the elections late in' 1982 when a large petition was presented. 3. Why is LACAC still insisting on the designated area when the larger op- position is knwon? The way I read it, LACAC is not insisting on the boundaries. In the absence of any clear facts as to how many and who exactly is opposed to the bylaw, LACAC did the only thing It could do rationally and in a businesslike manner - recommended to council that the Ontario Municipal Board hearing be rescheduled, with the request that any residential propertyower be excluded if thowner Turn to page 6