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Zurich Citizens News, 1976-05-12, Page 6Page 6 -Citizens News, May 12/76 Municipalities in Huron County will this month be asked to give some thoughtful consideration to a proposal by county council to reduce the number of repre- sentatives at the county level to 29 from 45. Wisely, members of county council agreed that the matter should be well discussed at the local level with time provided for the citizens of the county to learn about the possibility and perhaps make their opinions known concerning it. There has long been a feeling among some Huron County residents that county council has too many members. As was evident at Last week's April session, some reeves and deputy -reeves share the same view. But there is some real concern that if membership at the county level was reduc- ed, the workload would be too great for the reeves who attended. There is a fear that much of the decision-making would then fall to administrative staff, and this according to some county councillors would be the ruination of a fine democratic tradition.. There is little doubt that the county responsibility has increased over the years. While county council's members are still governed by the provincial government guidelines in many ways, Huron's elected reeves and deputy -reeves have more re- sponsibility than ever before to make decisions about more and more weighty problems. Areas such as planning and development have opened up in recent years, leaving all county councillors to the task of studying and learning everything about a totally new subject. It is a big job. Taxpayers may well ask, however, why county council finds it necessary to spend so much time on a myriad of routine problems which probably could be handled efficiently and adequately by department heads. One also wonders why valuable working hours are wasted In useless debate over matters well outside of council control—or bickering over spilled milk. Yet the problem of asking elected repre- sentatives to take more time away from their livelihood is real. Reeve John Baker of Hensall told county council at its last meeting that if he were to spend another 10 minutes per month on county business, he believes his boss would fire him. Of course, Reeve Baker as well as every other reeve in Huron County, must also spend considerably time working on behalf of his local municipality—attending meetings there, talking with voters there, solving problems there. The same problem surfaces again. Who really has the time to be a county councillor? Generally it is the self-employed, the retir- ed, the rich or the prestige -seekers w•ho accept county posts. While there are exceptions to every rule, it is proven fact that not everyone can be a reeve or a deputy - reeve because of the time involved away from the job from which a person makes his living. And right away, the potential of county council to attract the best people and do the best job is jeopardized. Municipal councils, too. might do well to look at their own membership. What kind of people are local councils attract- ing? And Why? The number of county members necessary is tied directly to the reality that the representatives at Huron council are part- time politicians. If Huron County isn't prepared to elect full-time people and pay them accordingly, then there seems to be little way around the number of county councillors who will be needed to, keep the growing workload down to a bearable weight. It may seem cumbersome. It may appear expensive. It may even be argued that the best candidates will not ever seek election. But it may be what Huron wants and that's what the county committee wants to know. Bayfield queen crowned (continued from pane 11 Community Centre where Milvena Erickson, chairman of the centennial committee acted as M.C. for the program where the Queens were announced and crowned. Mrs. Ethel Poth placed the crown on the Senior Queen as Mrs. Edith Turner presented her with a lovely bouquet of red car- nations. Mrs. Vina Parker crowned the Junior queen as Mrs. Dawna Westlake presented her with her bouquet of carnations. Mrs. Flory Oddleifson opened the envelopes and announced the Senior winners and Mrs. Marilyn Warner did the honour for the Juniors. Mrs. Elva Metcalf presented the Centennial gifts to the four runners-up. Mrs. Esther Makins then named the contestants and Mrs. Blair and Mrs. Lindsay presented gifts to all those par- ticipating. The Howard Smith Orchestra of Brussels played for the dancing and favoured with their old time music, planned especially for the occasion. The appeal for "Ladies Please Bring Lunch" to the dance as they did in years gone by was over- whelming and a bountious table was laid. Sponsoring Mrs. Hill was the Little Inn; Mrs. Scot- chmer, Ken's Motors; Mrs. Sturgeon, Don Haw; Peggy Campbell, the U.C.W. of St. Andrew's; Veronica Huff- man, Merner's Garage; Valerie Merner, The Lioness Club. Other contestants in- cluded, Catherine Ann Westlake, Wendy Greer, Karen Brandon, Nancy Koene, Nancy Fawcett, Diane Pugh, Brenda Talbot, Julia Armstrong and Pauline Armstrong in the Juniors and, Mrs. Violet Sturgeon, Mrs. Edna Mote, Mrs. Lulu Scotchmer, Mrs. Jean Bell, Mrs. Ethel Knight in the Seniors. No support from Hay Township council has decided against participating in the construction of a recreation complex in Exeter, financially or otherwise. Sand cushion tenders were opened and three received. The lowest was James Adams of RR 2 Bluevale at $1.08 per cubic yard. It is to be applied on concessions 14 and 15, lots 11 to 20. A subdivision plan for Elgin Hendrick on lot 24 concession Lake Road West was ap- proved. The plan calls for the establishment of 19 lots. Three tile drain loan ap- plications were approved for a total expenditure of $49,500. Three applications under the Shoreline Property Assistance Act were ap- proved. All three were from Cedar Bank Subdivision PlIG)wo Published Each Wednesday By Huron -Middlesex Publishers Ltd. Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 Member: 31A. Canadian Woe6cly. Newspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association Subscription Rates: $6.00 per year in advance in Canada; ,$8.00 in UnitedStates and Foreign; single copies 200. relating to the cost of stop- ping erosion along the lake shore. The next meeting of the council will be on June 7 at 8 p.m. Bayfield Mr. Ray Schell was the weekend guest of his daughter, Mrs. Effie Freeman in Woodstocl. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Taylor, David, Paul and Linda, St. Thomas ; Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Steckle Jr., Lisa and Lori of Goderich.spent Mothers Day with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Steckle Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Pongracz, Michigan are at their cottage for a few days and on Saturday evening attended the Centennial Queen Dance in the Community Centre. Very pleased to report that Mrs. James(Lorraine) Fisher is home from University Hospital, London. Mr. and Mrs. R. Roy Fit- zsimons, Terry and Kelso had as their weekend Mother's Day guests, their daughters Miss Karen and grand- daughter Miss Darlene Srnale both of London; and during the weekend the birthdays of Karen and Darlene were both. observed. The Last Word by Ted Rowcliffe Machines! Machines! I hate machines! In the old days when everything was done by hand, I admit that things were a bit slower, but at least you knew what was going on. Now with the world full of cantankerous machines, one breaks down and everything goes to pot. This week, producing the News has been about as much fun as walking on hot coals, hands tied behind your back with a hornets nest balanced precariously on your nose. A blankety- blank typesetting machine broke down last Wednesday and between trying to fix it temporarily and calling New York for over the phone instructions, in the meantime begging for help from someone who knows what they are doing, I haven't got much work done. Our only salvation was the fact that Signal -Star Publishing in Goderich was able to set much of the type for this issue on their machines. Numerous trips to Goderich were made by News staffers and finally, tired and a little frayed around the edges, the type was all set. If the repairman from New York had arrived while the paper was being done, he would have no doubt been treated like a king. Now that the job's all done, he'll likely get a meat cleaver on the skull when he appears. Now that you heard all our problems. I'll answer a question that's been asked more than a few times during the past seven days. Ever since the last issue of the News announcing the additions of a few staffers, people have been asking, "just who works there?" On the news end of the group, there are Bill Batten of Exeter, Ross Haugh of Crediton, and Kathy McKinley of Zurich and myself from Hensall gathering stories, taking pictures and selling the odd ad. Betty O'Brien is the chief at our Zurich office and production plant while Ruth Ann Negrijn fills that capacity at our Exeter office. Doing the typesettings are Lossie Fuller of Exeter, Bonnie Dale of Exeter, Elizabeth Merner of Zurich, Cathy Rader of Dashwood, Chris Haberer of Zurich. On the paste up crew, the bunch that put all the bits and pieces together, we have Mickey Struke of Dashwood, Kay Webb of Hay Township, Linda Hendrick of Zurich and Donna O'Brien of Zurich. Our photography specialist, in the darkroom and behind the camera, is Tim Stover of Exeter. And last but certainly not least is the woman who makes out our pay cheques, Pat Patterson of Exeter. That was the last ime, I looked. By the time this gets in print we may have added another one as the News organization is going through some growing pains at the present time. All in all , I can honestly say they are a great bunch of people who put in much more effect and concern than they have to. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today. There used to be a creek run across the road not too far from where I live. It was an exciting spot in many ways...and now it's gone. a great place to go for walks, particularly in e ear y morning or late evening. Long -legged -and equal- ly long -necked birds paused in its protective brush quite When they were scared up, their flapping wings were quite a sight as they lopped along gaining height. The creek was a good place to spot the odd duck and I've seen kingfishers there too. Red -wing blackbirds were plentiful and once I saw, for just a flash, either a beaver or a muskrat, I don't know which. Snakes, frogs, birds and bugs all thrived in the creek. Sometimes it ran fairly quickly over the shallows but mainly the creek was slow moving, mantled in overhanging branch- es and thick with long grass along its banks. I don't ever recall seeing a fis i in the creek, or even heat- ing about one being there, perhaps lost; but we went down fishing everytime some youngsters were visiting with friends for the weekend. But that's all gone now! The creek has become a ditch, steep sided and fast flowing. There are no more herons, those long -necked birds I liked to watch; no more croaking of frogs; no more snakes or birds or anything much at all. In the name of progress and efficiency, I suppose, the creek is now just a ditch, ugly and lifeless. I don't criticize the farmers who did it. It's his land and obviously it must have been for a purpose or he wouldn't have gone to all the trouble and expense of getting machinery in to make it to his liking. 1 guess it wasn't my creek after all, or the wild creatures who actually had a greater claim to it than I did. Progress, I guess they call it—but I couldn't help feeling sad when I saw it for the first time in its new condition.