The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-04-26, Page 4PAGE 4--GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1979
the
Goderich
SIGNAL' -STAR
The County Town Newspaper of Huron
Founded In 100 and published every Thursday at Ooderlch, Ontario. Member of the CWNA
and OWNA. Advertising rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advance '14.50 In
Canada. 15.00 to UI.S.A., •35.N to all other countries, single copies 33'. IHpplay advertising
rates available on request. please ask for Rale Card No. $ effective Oct. 1, 1V$. Second
class mall Registration Number 0716. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that in the
revere, of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item,
together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but the balance
of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rata In the event of a
typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or service may
not bo sold. Advertising is merely qn offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at any time. The
Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts or photos.
Business and Editorial Office
TELEPHONE 524-8331
area code 5.19
Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd.
ROB RT G. SHRIER — president and publisher
SHIRLEY J. KELLER — editor
DONALD M. HUBICK - advertising manager
Mailing Address:
P.O. BOX $20, Industrial Park, Goderich
Second class mail registration number — 0716
All in approach`
Something was definitely out -of -whack at
Goderich town council a week ago when by a 6-3
vote, council agreed it had a right to investigate the
whole laundry question at Alexandra Marine and
General Hospital, It may never be exactly clear
why this tempest in a teapot was allowed to bubble
so freely, but it is abundantly evident that town
council overstepped its authority by requesting an
appointment at the hospital to inspect the laundry
facility which is no longer functioning there. Talk
about locking the barn door after the horse has been
stolen.
Council could rationalize that because five
citizens wrote to the town asking pertinent
questions concerning the laundry closing, it had
every right to seek answers. But certainly there
was much responsibility on the part of council
members to recognize that the board of AM&G is
made up of dedicated people with as much ability to
understand and to make decisions about hospital
affairs as the council has to understand and to
make decisions about municipal affairs. Each
group has its area of expertise, its own problems
and its own _jurisdiction. To boldly intimate by any
subtle means that council has the authority to over-
rule hospital- board is -inviting hostility and
severe communications breakdown.
It may already be too late to smooth over the
wounds that were opened when town council so
awkwardly,;. and unwisely challenged the board's
wisdom. While the board went into closed session to
discuss the town's request, it wasn't difficult to
guess that the board was not kindly disposed to the
idea of telling all to town cou.n_ci1-. The board's quick
and terse public reply to council's action last week
was evidence enough that board members were
mightily miffed at council's indignance.
It is also surprising to note that Councillors Jim
Searls and Jim Magee both claim the former
laundry facility at AM&G isn't in bad shape at all.
Certainly members of the hospital.board who have
been working on this laundry question for about
four years must have been shocke.d'to learn that
Jim Searls on one brief inspection could give ap-
proval to a structure that was known to board
members to be in terrible shape and was
pronounced to be unsafe by a firm of building
consultants from London hired by the board, and
condemned by a representative from the ministry
of health with the same powers as the Ontario Fire
Marshal.
It certainly must have given the board cause to
reflect when it learned that Searls felt a bit of
plaster and some repairs to the truss work would
put the old laundry facility in top condition again.
After all, the board past and present at AM&G has
had some well qualified people listed among its
membership, and it is hard to believe they all
missed what was so clearly evident to Searls on his
single outing at the hospital.
Usually this newspaper does not like to see
matters of public concern handled in closed session.
In fact, Monday evening's in -camera meeting of the
hospital board to discuss the town's request
probably could have been thrown open to the press
with much relish by the board..
But there has to be a certain admiration for the
hospital board members who have extended to town
council a measure of courtesy that was missing
when town council deliberated so openly and so
unthinkingly on the hospital's affairs. There must
be a quiet "bravo" for the board that now allows
town council the privilege to...learn ,the board's
response before the public has access to it, and
without the embellishment of heated discussion and
quotable quotes. .
ejs. GP
DEAR EDITOR
Thanks
Dear Editor,
The Goderich Kinsmen
and Kinette Clubs would
like to thank everyone
who helped to make the
"Goderich Bike Ride for
Cancer" a success:
The bikers: 53 with
pledges of over $2,600;
the volunteers: members
of the Goderich C.B. club,
St. John's Ambulance
and Darryl Carpenter of
the Cyclery, ; The
Goderich Police and local
O.P.P.: for' their
assistance and co-
operation; the local
merchants for their
generosity: Zehrs
donated the cookies and
Tuckey Beverages
donated the pop that was
given to the bikers; Park
Theatre and Mustang
Drive -Inn, Champion
Motor Graders and
Adair's Grocery -Pop
Shoppe donated the draw
prizes for the entrants;
Mr. Stereo provided
lively music to send the
bikers out and to
welcome them hack.
Thank -you to all who
participated in any way.
Sincerely,
Mike and Adele Drennan,
Kinsmen and Kinette
Clubs, Co -Chairmen,
Bike -Ride for Cancer.
Up to date
Dear Editor,
To keep you up to date,
some of our most recent
donations for' the
proposed cultural centre
in Goderich have come
from Ron and Debbie
McPhee, Dr. and Mrs.
Bruce. Thomson, Mrs.
Roberta M. Hays, Mrs.
Bernardine Kinney, Dr.
and Mrs, David Walker,
W.J. Hughes Realty
Limited, Don McCauley
and Ron and Peg Shaw.
These contrih'utionsare
very much appreciated
and in . addition to
It:s.furan.y__The...board_W-AM&G-probably would--- Preserving the stones of
have been delighted to sit down with any or all of the historically
town council members to talk rationally and in Turn to page 5 . Anchors awash
telligently about the hospital's internal affairs and
labor relations. The board would likely have been
pleased to tour the 'group - in safe numbers, of
course - through the condemned facilities.
So much depends on theapproach, doesn't it. And
on knowing which things are your business .... and
which things are not. -SJK
Getting around
Guess what special week is coming up May 27 to
June 2. You can't guess? It isn't surprising. It will
be National Transportation Week in Canada and it
will be seven glorious days and nights dedicated to
the men and women who keep the country's wheels
turning, wings aloft, ships sailing and pipelines full.
Some interesting statistics were outlined in a
rete -ase frcon the National Transportation Week
Secretariat. For instance, Canada's transportation
industry represents more than 20 percent of the
gross national product. The transportation in-
frastructure is one of the country's greatest
physical assets. Serving the many millions of
surface, marine and air transportation vehicles,
the nation is interlaced with a fantastic array of
transportation paths.
There are more than 500,000 miles of highways
and streets, 60,000 miles of rail lines, thousands of
miles of inland and coastal waterways, an air
network that logs some 230 million miles a year and
78,000 miles of pipelines.
Yes sir, there have been some dramatic changes
since the days of the paddle and the canoe,,.Spanning
the length and breadth of Canada like giant con-
veyor belts, the transportation system provides a
constant flow of commerce over the nation's air-
ways, highways, rail lines and waterways linking
metropolitanareas, cities, towns and villages with
farms, fields, factories and markets.
Transportation brings in raw materials • and
carries out finished products, forming a far-
reaching extension on both ends of the nation's
assembly line. If transportation ground to a halt in
this country, the economy would stagnate. There
would be anarchy. -
The theme for National Transportation Week is
"Keep Canada Moving". It's a particularly apt
slogan for a particularly necessary service. Think
about it. And while you are at it, try to imagine
what the next 100 years will bring to the tran-
sportation industry. - SJK
Nollommodmm
By Dave Sykes
75 YEARS AGO
Business has improved
this week, the roads
enabling farmers to get to
town and on several days
there were quite a few
rigs in town.
George W. Black has
just about completed the
painting of the stea_mer__
Manitou and the vessel is
now in fine order for
summer tourists.
Perch are being caught
in fairly large numbers,
the clearing of the harbor
of ice and refuse
seemingly having in-
duced the fish to return to
their old haunts.
In spite of the deter-
mination of a number of
proprietors who have
deferred building on the
chance of a future drop in
the price of material, the
building •community ' of
town and vicinity will
have a busy time. A call
DEAR
READE
it
BY
SHIRLEY J. KELLER
Last week, I enjoyed a
few days holiday in
Frankenmuth, Michigan.
For those who have been
to that lovely town, you
will not be surprised to
hear me say it was a
marvellous ,pxperience.
For those who have never
visited Frankenmuth,
you must believe me
when I tell you to make
plans to go there soon.
One only has to driv,e
down the main street in
Frankenmuth to know
without a doubt the
people there are pulling
together as a team.
Frankenmuth is a
community' in every
sense of the word ... a
community of citizens
with similar background,
similar ideals, similar
goals, and perhaps more
important, a common
bond of faith in a living
Saviour.
As we trudged up and
down the interlocking
brick sidewalks and
looked at the sites from
under decorative lighting
and revelled in the beauty
of an architecturally
controlled core area
which is alive with
flowers and shrubbery
even at this time of year,
I couldn't help but think
of Goderich and the
pitiful quarrel that just
won't die over sidewalks,
lighting, architectural
controls and parks.
And I thought to
myself, "What's wrong?
Why can this community
pull it off and Goderich
only gets deeper and
deeper into argument and
dissention? Why can't
Goderich people pull
together in this manner,
aid put forth a friendly,
LOOKING BACK
on Architect Fowler
shows that he has in hand
the completion of the
public library and con-
tracts. have also been let
for the erection of a
handsome stone cottage
with bungalow roof for
W.L. Horton on St.
-George's Cresecent.
At 10:30 a.m. Friday,
the private car St.
Lawrence reached the
Goderich station with
manager J.H. McGuigan
and general freight agent
John Pullen of Montreal
and several other of-
ficials. A hurried in-
spection was made of the
company's property both
uptown and -at the harbor
and, after a brief con-
versation at the station
with Messrs Alex
Saunders, W.L. Horton,
William Burrows and
representatives of the
press, the train left for
the east at 11 a.m.
unique and consolidated
front to the world?”
Everywhere t went and
whenever I had the op-
portunity in Franken-
muth, I talked to people.
There was the elderly
gentleman on the parking
lot who told me he had
lived in Frankenmuth all
his life and had never
seen the place change
like it has in the last few
years.
"Is that good?" I asked
him.
"Yes," he responded in
his German tongue.
"Everything is better.
And ,the people, they
come to Frankenmuth.
They come here in the big
buses. I never see noting
like it when I was a boy."
There was Maria who is
the wife of the roprietor
o The Bavarian Haus
otel in Frankenmuth.
25 YEARS AGO
The biggest Young
Canada Week in the
history of the pee wee
hockey tournament came
to an exciting close at the
Goderich Memorial
.Arena on Saturday night
with the Winnipeg squad
def eating_ _the_._Goderb h
Lions team 5-4 for the
East-W„est challenge
trophy.
A mass prognostication
of what the world will be
like in 2,000 A.D. is being
made in Goderich this
week by approximately
500 school children whose
predictions will be
checked 46 years from
now. Their consensus will
be vacuum sealed in a
time capsule and en-
tombed in a wall of the
Sheaffer Pen, Company's
new plant here,
Construction crews of
the Bell Telephone'
They came to the town six
years ago and business is
good.
"I think everything you
do that is worthwhile
takes work," she told us.
"And the people here
work hard. People come
from all over to our
chamber of commerce,
asking what it is about
Frankenmuth that makes
the place so different.
They want to be like us,
you see. But I think it is
the people. Some people
just don't want to work,
but in Frankenmuth,
everybody works hard."
There was the lady at
the big Lutheran Church
in Frankenmuth where
there are 4,000 members.
This 5voman wasn't from
Frankenmuth, but she
knew the community
well.
"Frankenmuth isn't so
big. But they draw from
Company arrived on
Monday to start work on
the take-over program of
the Goderich Municipal
Telephone System by the
Bell Telephone Company.
The Reverend ' Ian
Hind, pastor of Goderich
-Baptist Church - since
1951, will leave his charge
-here in June to assume
the pastorate of First
Baptist Church in Brock-
ville.
5 YEARS AGO
A team of researchers
from Ontario Hydro is
carrying out a
preliminary study of
public attitudes and other
related social factors in
Huron County. It is the
first step in a sequence of
events that would lead to
full public participation
in the selection of a site in
the county for a
generating station.
Goderich Town Council
last week voted not to
proclaim a Pro -Life Week
in Goderich.
This year the students
at G.D.C.I. will have a
shorter ballot for school
queen,hut by no means an.
eaisier job to select a
winner. The. nominees
are Tanya Palmer,
Debbie Turner, Joanne
Walters, Mary Van Rooy
and Susan Freeman.
While the national mail
services shutdown has
hecn unpopular with the
public in Goderich, ob-
servation of the local post
office suggests that it has
been unpopular there too.
The Huron County
Board of Education
approved a budget of
$13,185,831 for 1974 at a
special meeting Monday,
up 9.4 per cent over last
year.
all the rural routes
around Frankenmuth.
People on the farms and
in the villages, all have
somebody who works in
Frankenmuth. They shop
here. They come to
church here. This is their
community, and they are
proud of it," she said.
There was the pretty
little waitress in the
coffee shop who was so
helpful and obliging you
just wanted to sit down
and talk to her.
"Frankenmuth has
between 4,000 and 5,000
people," she said. "I'm
not really sure. I don't
live here and I haven't
.had my tour yet. Every
spring all the staff in the
businesses in
Frankenmuth get a four
of the town and get filled
in what's happening so
they can answer
questions for visitors."
And last but not least,
there was the plump
waitress at The Bavarian
Inn who gave us a broad
smile and a questionnaire
to fill in.
"We want to know what
you liked about The Inn
or what you didn't like,"
she laughed. "Give it to
me on your way out and I
will give you each a book
of coupons worth $12."
She was as good as h'er
word. We got tickets
offering $1 off on 12
gourmet meals from
May -1979 through April
1980. Column readers are
welcome to these free
vouchers from me just
for the asking.
I'm keeping the passes
to the theatre per-
formances. I hope to go
back to Frankenmuth
real soon.
A