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The Times Advocate, 2005-03-16, Page 5Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Exeter Times—Advocate 5 Opinion Forum News ROSS HAUGH BACK IN TIME 10 YEARS AGO March 15, 1995 - The Kirkton- Woodham Farmers club reports an increase in 1994 sales of $537,000 from the year before. President Albert Weernink said rebates paid to members during the year based on the amount of products purchased totalled $185,575. 20YEARS AGO March 13, 1985 - Cecil Desjardine has been named president of the Hay Township Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company for 1985. Howard Datars is vice-president. 25 YEARS AGO March 16, 1980 - Saturday's annual carnival of the Exeter figure skating club attracted more than 1,000 persons to the two shows. Guest skaters were Laurie Prout of the Exeter club and her partner Bill Scriver who placed sixth in the 1980 Canadian novice pairs championship. Marie Tieman is president of the local club and Pat Down was carnival convener. Guest skaters at Sunday's annual carnival of the Zurich -Grand Bend figure skating club were Vicki Miller of Dashwood, formerly with Holiday on Ice and Linda Shipley, formerly with the local club and now skating out of the Aurora figure skating club. Patti Down of RR 1, Hensall has been named Princess of the 1980 Western Ontario Farm Show. 35 YEARS AGO March 17, 1970 - Crediton is to lose another land- mark. The chopping mill on Main street has been sold by auction. Earl Lippert bought the land and the building will be torn down. The Exeter Hawks after losing the first game elimi- nated the Lucan Irish in the OHA Junior "D" semi- final series with four straight wins. Randy Parsons and Barry Baynham each scored four goals for the Hawks in the series and John Hayter was a stalwart in goal. 40YEARS AGO March 13, 1965 - Exeter council Monday accepted the resignation of Constable Lloyd Hodgins from the local police force because they felt they could not meet his demands for an $800 pay raise and a five day week. Police committee chairman Ted Wright said the $4,000 annual salary of Constable Hodgins was in line with the other two men in the community. 45 YEARS AGO March 17, 1960 - Walter Creery, son of Mr. and Mrs. Theron Creery of Usborne has been awarded a Canadian Council Pre -Masters Scholarship of $1,200 for studies in philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. Spring floods in town threatened to drive families from their homes as water rose rapidly Wednesday afternoon. A well balanced beautifully costumed carnival on - ice was staged at the Exeter arena when an audience of 531 viewed the Exeter figure skating club 1960 presentation. 50YEARS AGO March 14, 1955 - Emerson Erb of Zurich and Gilbert Dow Jr. of Exeter were named directors of the Huron County Whole Milk Producers at a meeting in Clinton Tuesday. 55 YEARS AGO March 14, 1950 - Stuart McBride, a student at Exeter District High School has won a $1,250 Scholarship at the University of Western Ontario. Inspired by the work of the Boy Scouts Association, S.M. Sanders has donated a plaque to the Exeter District High School. 60 YEARS AGO March 15, 1945 - Sgt. Ed Hunter-Duvar, a mechan- ic at Centralia Airport who came to Exeter from Summerside, Prince Edward Island has purchased the property of the late Richard Pickard and following his discharge from the air force expects to go into business here. Six pairs of twins, four in consecutive fashion has been a record established by a Durham cow owned by Mr. Orville Cann of Usborne township. Mr. Ben Williams and son Roland have purchased the fine brick residence of Mrs. Thomas Harvey. 80 YEARS AGO March 15, 1925 - The curfew bell in Exeter was rung at 9 p.m. Monday for the first time since passing of the bylaw. During the first electrical storm of the season the bank barn on the pasture of Sherwood Hunter, on the Townline between Usborne and Biddulph townships was struck by lightning and totally destroyed. More money to enhance independent living Dear Editor: Town and Country Support Services joins other Community Support Services (CSS) in applauding the Ontario government's recent announcement of new funding for equipment for home -care services to sup- port people who wish to live independently and partici- pate in their community. On March 4, the Ontario Ministry of Health announced a new province -wide investment of $9.1 - million in funding to CSS and Community Care Access Centres (CCACs). This funding will give Ontarians with disabilities and frail elderly persons the opportunity to live independently with the assistance of new medical and diagnostic equipment. The money will be used to purchase home support medical equipment which will assist people in their own homes, in supportive housing and adult day programs in their community. This equipment includes mechanical lifts, bathing equip- ment, intravenous and feeding pumps, as well as devices designed to increase mobility and indepen- dence such as door openers and wheelchairs. We are encouraged by the government's ongoing commitment to community health care. This funding will have immediate and positive impacts on the lives of thousands of people in our community, help them to live independent, active and meaningful lives, and pro- vide community programs that promote health and well being. Town and Country Support Services serves a pre- dominantly rural area, Huron County, which has been identified as having one of the largest proportions of seniors in all of Ontario. Independent living is a valued way of life in our area, with many elderly residents choosing to remain in the communities and the homes they have known all of their lives. For agencies such as ours, there are particular challenges of isolation, lack of public transportation, medically underserviced areas and hazardous winter driving conditions. The Ontario govern- ment's financial Letters ment is commit- tO the crucial Editor ensure that we are able to provide quality and essential ser- vices to many people in Huron County who otherwise would be without help. Sincerely JEAN YOUNG, Executive Director, Town and Country Support Services A tribute to the Hensall Sherwoods SeniorAA hockey club Dear Editor: We gave it our best! On behalf of the club, I would like to thank the following for their very generous support and ded- icated hard work. • Hensall Bluewater Arena • Sweater sponsor- ship • Equipment and transportation suppliers • Media reporting • Beverage sponsorship • Volunteer "Boosters' covering home games • Scorekeeping and timing officials • Music playing and announcers • Intensely dedicated coaches • Committee members covering: bar, fundraising, home gate duties • Executive for finance and administrative duties • Always dedicated Sherwood "fans". A special thanks to all the players who helped us throughout the season making many personal sac- rifices in time, money and of themselves - then blended it with blood, sweat and tears. "It has been a pleasure to have served as presi- dent with the club and to have come to know some very fine young men - a truly great club. Yours truly, RICK MCGEE Hensall Sherwoods President The Turner Report WELCOMETOTHE BUBBLE It's probably certain now that the cost of money will not be rising until at least October, and then by just a quarter point. By this time next year, the prime rate could well be at 4.75 per cent, just a half point higher than now. This will constitute the longest period of below -5 per cent money in Canadian history. Clearly one result of cheap money is that people borrow more of it, because they can afford to make the payments. They borrow more to buy more. That's why car sales have been booming, especially for expensive ones, and why $8,000 plasma TVs are flying out of Future Shop doors everywhere. And, when it comes to real estate, cheap money is a total aphrodisiac. And this brings us to a point made in this column a year ago: The Greater Fool. It works like this: You buy something at a high price; but paying too much is okay because you figure you can find a fool greater than you to buy it GARTH later. TURNER So, people bought Nortel at $100 THETURNER six years ago, even thought it had REPORT exploded higher in a wave of spec- ulative frenzy, because there was a lineup of people wanting to buy the stock. The one who really gets whomped in this process is, of course, the last guy in - the Greater Fool, the one who bought Nortel at $120, only to sell it in disgust at $10. Lots of assets have attracted fools, including gold, stocks and houses. But of these, the most dangerous could well be real estate, since it is also the easiest to finance, leaving the greatest amount of debt in its wake. The last asset bubble in the housing market erupted in the late 1980s, leading to a wrenching loss of wealth in the early Nineties, as thousands of Greater Fools regretted having bought at the very tippy -top of a cycle. I remember visiting lines of peo- ple camped out in the mud and dark of a Mississauga construction site, waiting to buy houses as the site foreman posted new, higher prices on the side of the sales trailer. Flash forward to March, 2004. In a grotty 19th Century Toronto factory about to be converted into brick -and -beam lofts, a line of potential buyers snakes into the cramped sales office. Every few min- utes a bell rings out, and everyone trapped in the line - hastily filling out offers to purchase - knows what it means. Prices have just gone up another $5,000. Ding, ding, ding. By the end of the day, con- dos yet to be built had risen in price by $20,000. Flash forward to February, 2005, where a new development of luxury condo apartments in an Ontario resort yet to be built are sold out in 20 min- utes in a Toronto hotel room - at prices ranging up to $2.5 million. The development was not even advertised - just promoted quietly by letter, offering prospective buyers a chance to "get in" before any- one else. Like other fools? In central -north Toronto, in a 1930s subdivision of brick houses on 30 -foot lots, a two-storey fixer - upper came onto the market for more than $600,000, and was sold in a few hours for $100,000 more than the asking price after a brief, but intense, bidding war. The top price ever paid for a house in this neighborhood in 1995 was $500,000. In early 2004 that house easily fetched $1 million. In early 2005, it was worth $1.2 million. This is called an asset bubble - when the price of a commodity is propelled higher by surging demand than overwhelms supply. Today that demand is being fuelled by two things: First,as mentioned, the cheapest money in an entire generation. Today the prime rate is just 4.25 per cent; five-year mortgage money is available in the 5 per cent range; and below -prime variable rate loans are debuting as cheap as 2.99 per cent at one major bank. Making the issue even more extreme is the fact folks can buy a home today with no money down. Not only have several of the big banks brought in no -money mort- gages, but the government's own Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is endorsing home buys by people with no savings. The second accelerant here is a firm belief by all the folks buying (and borrowing record amounts), that prices will continue to rise. Ever since the life - altering events of Nine Eleven, real estate has been the asset of choice, since for most people it repre- sents a traditional storehouse of wealth. Besides, the last housing meltdown was almost 15 years ago now, and memories have faded along with mortgage rates.