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The Wingham Advance Times, 1995-03-15, Page 44 15t 1-tngbam 4t)efte-ztiitto Published each Wednesday at: Box 390, 5 Diagonal Road, Wingham, Ontario NOG 2W0 Phone (519) 357-2320 Fax: (519) 357-2900 J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Second Class Mail Registration No. 0821 We are: Jim Beckett - Publisher Audrey Currie- Manager Cameron J. Wood - Editor Norma Golley - Ad. Rep. Jim Brown - Reporter Stephen Pritchard - Comp. Eve Buchanan - Office Louise Wel-wood -Office ;m0 Memberof: OCNA CCNA, The W inghamAdv ante -Times. is amember of a family of community newspaperspro.. viding news, advertising and information leadership. Editorial Viewpoint Grand Banks guns Member the Falkland Islands? Well over a decade ago, the mighty British Navy sailed the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean WI pro- tect a tiny speck of soil off the Argentine coast which still flies the Union Jack. It was a bold and decisive move for the Prime Min- ; ister of the day, Margaret Thatcher (a politician known for bold and decisive action), and it propelled her and her party into. another term of government. Why? Simply because the people whiS cast the votes, along with the countless expatriates around the world who :` watched the drama unfold, believed protection of the Falkland residents was important enough to warrant gunfire. No one wants to see the spark of ammunition flash across our televisions any more. The planet's most powerful nations have spent al- most a half -century developing diplomatic solutions to the types of disagreements which once caused massive war. To take up arms is a drastic and last resort. Newfoundland is not much different from the Falk- land Islands. Moored off the country which claims us, we have watched for a lot of years while decisions vi- tal to our lives were made beside the Rideau Canal. The fishery is just one industry we have lost through politics, mismanagement and disinformation. The well-being of the country's tenth province has never appeared a very high priority with the central government. The cash pipeline that funds so many dis- astrous megaprojects has a scent of hush -money about it; real concern, one might think, should have better re- sults. If the Fa.11cland Islanders were surprised to see Navy gunboats steaming into their harbours; we should be astounded. Brian Tobin must carry a lot of weight to the Cabi- net Table., He has convinced the Liberal government to do something it has been loathe to do; take a stand. All the more impressive is this stand has caused inter- national uproar and will have long-tgrm effects on dealings between our country and the economically powerful nations of the European Union. It .is a move the former government refused to make; one, in fact, which that party's strongest Newfoundlander still criti- cizes. In all likelihood he is not alone in his sentiment. But for a windswept rock in the North Atlantic, it is long overdue and warmly welcome -- and enough to make one think that maybe we are a part of this coun- try, after all. y -Ken Simmons OCNA BBS �v•>nu ';•, ;. '.::3;".ti:�: h'r..k:•,,o�s� `a.;'I'•R . `... 4, � 3 .. t. �� .. �. t : �,, ¢Y•,'� "Y.Y.i•`r:` Y'.lN 3',w� r Y r3'.c. .G; h ...+� ¢:.^ �.,`�%';:�<`i',•.?..q:..•5f:,w,.c.:�a'.o •'n'�$ � �`:,�.J.. .c:t. an �.3 '9 > ! s o reason to sm& Wingftani The IDA Atoms went 6-0-0 to win their division in WOAA league playdowns and now advance to face Walkerton and Mount Forest in the league championships. Good luck. Letters to the 'Editor All letters to the editor must bear the writer's name, telephone num- ber and address. The Advance -Times wel- comes letters. We re- serve the right to edit, but will endeavor to preserve the author's intent. Deadline for letters is Monday before 10:00 'a.m.. Some• exceptions may apply. Fax: (519) 357-2900 or mail to: P.O. Box 390, Wingham, Ontario, NOG 2W0 WEDIRSI K, MARCH 15, 1895 "Me? I was an unemployment insurance claims processor" with Margaret Stapleton MARCH 1948 A highly -respected Wingham resident in the person of Mrs. ,Samuel Bennett passed away on March 11 at her Leopold Street home. The Wingham High School District Board has decided to install a course in agriculture this fall, as it was felt this would be a distinct benefit to the district. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pattison moved on Thursday to their new farm on the 10th Concession of East Wawanosh, which they purchased last fall from Mr. Alex Menzie. Mr. H. C. Brooks, local agent for the CPR, has taken over new duties at Midhurst near Barrie. Mr. Smalley of Milverton will take •over as new station agent. MARCH 1961 This mild weather is really something. Terry and Brian Deyell, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Deyell of Wingham, called at the office last week with the first pussy -willows of the season. Addison Fraser, who has been Jemployed by Charles Hodgins at the Massey -Ferguson agency for the past two years. was stricken with a heart attack on his way home from work and died about nine o'clock the same evening. Bob Wood, who has become a familiar figure to CKNX-TV viewers during the past three years, will leave at the end of the month to join the staff at CJCH- TV, Halifax. Mr. Wood recently married the former Mary Runstedtler of Wingham. An appraisal recently completed by a professional firm in Toronto shows the value of the Wingham hospital, including the boiler room and nurses' residence, the hospital's furnishings• and equipment at just over $1,000,000. It's a sad day for Ontario as the government enacts a three per cent sales tax. It may well be necessary, but it is none the less regrettable. MARCH 1971 Wingham's Second -Mile Club soon will mark its first year of operation. Russell MacKersie is president of the club. J. T. Goodall, Wingham lawyer, was elected chairman of the board of directors at Wingham and District Hospital, succeeding Barry Wenger. Robert Ritter was elected the new vice chairman. Mrs. Margaret Mundell, on staff at Wingham Public School, is among four teachers who have resigned from Huron County schools. The Ontario Department of Education's mandatory introduction of a revised credit• system in Grade 13 will mean 15 extra secondary school teachers in Huron County. Mr. and Mrs. Heinz Redekopp, owners of the Brookhaven Nursing Home, formerly the McKay Nursing Home, have applied for a 12 -bed expansion at the facility. MARCH 1981 Natural gas pipelines may reach the Wingham and Brussels areas next year, according to a spokesman for Union Gas. Olive Phillips, 100 and her sister, 98 -year-old Minerva McEwen, were guests of honor during their birthday party at 1>inecrest Nursing Home in Lucknow on Sunday. Brett MacDonald, Graham Taylor, Murray Skinn, Mike Cameron, Jeff Cameron and Coach Isabel Burke boarded a bus for Scarborough,. last Saturday morning to compete for an all - Ontario bowling championship. The tease competed in three matches, but was eliminated. Haunted by famous name TORONTO — The rich and famous have not always had a smooth path to elected politics. The latest to try is Isabel Bassett. Bassett, a TV interviewer and pro- ducer described by newspapers as a "media star" and wife of the equally wellknown John Bassett, chairman of Canada's biggest privately owned TV station among many interests, is running for the Progressive Conser- vatives in a byelection in St. An- drew -St. Patrick riding on May 11. The riding had been held by a New Democrat since 1990 and be- fore that briefly by a Liberal, but was comfortable Tory ground until 1987 and, with the Tories showing signs of revival, Bassett should have some chance of winning it back. But the wealthy and powerful have not been automatically elected. John Bassett, a confidant of every Conservative prime minister and pre- mier for half a century, failed to per- suade voters in both Ontario and Quebec he was worthy of being elected as a Tory. Roy (later Lord) Thomson, during a pause in building his newspaper empire: Hal Jackman, the lieutenant - governor who is outspoken perhaps because he is rich enough to buy his own province; auto parts magnate Frank Stronach, whose annual in- come is larger than some small coun- tries; and Mel Lastman, who made a fortune selling discount appliances as "Bad Boy", all failed in attempts to get elected to the Commons of the legislature. In some cases they ran for the with Eric Dowd wrong party at the wrong time, when another party was making a sweep. They also may have been victims of some distrust of the wealthy and successful. Many ordinary voters may wonder what well-to-do candi- dates have in common with them and whether they can understand their struggles to pay the bills. Isabel Bassett is an established journalist in her own right and has reported for and produced TV pro- grams which have been praised. She ran in much the same area in the 1993 federal election and lost, but every Tory in Ontario lost so this is no reflection on her ability: John Bassett was most in the pub- lic eye as publisher of The Telegram who seemed to have success almost everywhere he turned, owning the Toronto Argonauts football club and a large slice of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is remembered particularly for aggressively using his powers as a publisher to promote personal inter- ests, such as the Tory party, con- struction of the Eaton Centre for friends in the Eaton family and an extension of seating at Maple Leaf Gardens that would have overhung the street and blocked out the sun. He also is remembered for closing the 95 -year-old Telegram with a Toss of 1,200 jobs in a strike when many felt it could be saved and accepting $10 million from the Toronto Star, supposedly for its subscription list. He is remembered as having been given the licence for Toronto's first private TV station in 1960, some- times called a licence to print mon- ey, amid suspicion it was for servic- es rendered a grateful Tory federal government. He is•also remembered around the legislature foi getting- the Tories off the hook a couple of times. When the opposition parties wanted a TV debate between all three leaders at the same time in the 1975 election, Premier William Davis said he ac- cepted a different format proposed by Bassett's station in which he would face each opposition leader in separate debates, which he felt he could handle easier, and stuck to this despite protests. In the 1981 election Davis did not want another TV debate and said he would have one only provided all TV networks jointly produced it, but Bassett's station refused to co- produce with rival Global, the debate was never held and Davis won the election. • A wife should not be blamed for what her husband did, of course -this one may find a famous name haunt- ing her.