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Georgetown Herald A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited 22 Main Street South Georgetown Ontario WALTER C Publliher Page tit RAID THURSDAY DEC 1B7 EDITORIAL COMMENT Less Secrecy Please When Georgetowns new council starts meetings in the new year we hope for less secrecy In conducting the towns business The past year particularly has been noted for its number of meetings barred to the press We do not think there is any deep dark plot to keep back in formation from the public And we realize that a closed meeting can have advantages to a council in allowing members a better chance to solve differences and present more of a united front to voters But the effect on the press in reporting matters of public interest can be disastrous A reporter Is faced with a situ ation at open meetings where he has no background on which to draw When motions are being discussed he is in the dark about what has gone before hears only smatterings of the subject and cannot present the whole picture in the news columns There are times when in camera meetings are necessary We do not dispute these when discussions are held on personnel or on matters where the town may be appearing in court in legal suits But we cannot believe that there are as many such discussions as the number of private meetings would indicate in No So Merry Christmas News of the impending closing of production facilities at one of Georgetowns major industries is scarcely happy holiday news Directly it affects a couple of hundred employees who must find other work In the new year And indirectly it is a blow for the town at large closing potential future employment for others and abandoning production in a plant which was one of the most modern in this area It is some consolation that General will retain its building as a sales showroom and distribution centre although employment in these areas will Be much less than it is with a product ion line One cannot argue with statistics however and if a company cannot make a profit on its production there is only one thing to do Georgetown has weathered industrial catastrophies in the past closing of such businesses as the Provincial lower Shoe Brill Hosiery Sykes Tool Essex Cabinets Clay Products Federal Sales Henry Davis Wood Products These have been replaced by companies like Vanan Associates Eagle Signal TwinCee Williamson Clay Equipment Glen Knitting Baltimore Economy Forms It is an example of why a community cannot coast on present industry and must con stantly be on the alert for new News From Ottawa new member of parliament Terry OConnor has started a column which he is sending to all newspapers in the county to keep constituents in formed of his activities in Ottawa His first column last week and the follow up in this issue indicate that Mr OConnor is a first class writer who can put words together in an interesting way Readers no matter of what political persuasion should his columns and we look forward to those which will follow if he can keep up the interest standard in dicated in those published to date Our last Ottawa news notes were from another member Whiting who represented Halton well and became a private citizen again following Mr OConnors win In the Malt Bag Town Cant Handle What They Voted For at the polls this fall When two good men seek of fice only one can win We shall miss Mr Whiting He gave his best to the job and handlcdthe difficult job of looking after the business of his con while also doing his share in the major business of Canada A politician must be prepared to accede to the wishes of voters and accept the fact that more people want another party and another person to act for them at Ottawa Mr OConnor seems to be an excellent replacement to continue the tradition of strong Halton representation In the federal government BILL SMILEY Mans Inhumanity Goes On and On Dear Sirs 1 would like to make a few comments on the Georgetown elections and the letter in your Mail Bag Dec issue I agree with S Harris in stating you were remiss In not presenting the issues I glad to sec here are others who feel the same as I do 1 would like to quote a few sentences of his if I may Some people would argue that newspaper does not have the right to choose sides or commit Itself to a course of thought or action The Georgetown Herald however has not even commented on the different Issues in this election nor has it made any attempt to search out the opposing viewpoints or lo analyse them Idlsagrcelhatyou did not have a course of thought or action You deliberately omitted the platform of such good honest hard working candidates such as Joan Smith and printed instead garbage such as The Georgetown Volunteer Firemen endorse when you knew a statement was issued by the Fire Chief denying this Also thai piece of junk by the real estate gentleman against Phil If not befog a Lions member or coaching little league hockey was a they could gather against Mr Siddall he must be just about the best man we have on council I think by the results of this election you attained exactly what you set out to I also tired of hearing about east end west end old town new town I thought ihli was Georgetown and it a about time the so called old town realized that what the so celled new town fights for we all get as ft town not divided sections There a typical Canadian tragedy in the making right now and it may be too laic to avert it unless there Is a hue and cry that will rattle the halls of parliament I use the word typical because it has happened again and again in this country lived to regret it Prompted by political or pecuniary motives Canada has gone a long way toward destroying Its very self and the things that make It most dear to the average Canadian 1 am referring to pollution and the disturbance of the balance of nature In the name of progress we have fouled our own nest time and again until an outsider would think we enjoyed living In our own mess Item I with some friendly help from our old buddies Yanks has been turned into a vast cesspool which is almost unrecloimablc Item Paper mills and other industries have been pouring their poisons into Lake Superior for yearn Item if you took a drink of water out of Hamilton bay you probably be rusting within twenty lour hours Item Huge industries continue belch into the air over our big cities until youd think there was a continual fall of black snow Item Two of our magnificent rivers the Ottawa and the St Lawrence are running open sewers That a very brief pllng And now that idiot prime minister of In an attempt to save face after mishandling everything from ihe kidnappings to the uncm situation has the James Bay Project Maybe you don t know much about and it all so Tar away that it like a flood in China But that thought about all the other signs of progress is it not On they II never pollute Great Lakes They re too big So dump the garbage boys and flush out the tanks What the Ottawa and St Lawrence possible Too much running water Why should we build a sewage disposal plant Let run into river Don be stupid Squawk about the big plants polluting andthercwon be no Jobs for nobody We vesnidit all and heard it all But what heritage are we leaving behind for our children theirs A great big pile of you know what Letting and his boys around with the James Bay project is like letting a couple of bright science students play around with a nuclear bomb Here the picture The Quebec government plans a hydro project In the James Bay area one of last great wilderness areas In eastern North America It Is a mammoth scheme Sonu estimates place the cost at billion Yep Billion Where is that kind of money going to come Plan is to tinker with up to When our taxes arc so high we re known as a luxury town you can look back on Dec A as the day we voted for high rise and development we can handle I suggest to anyone In lercsted enough to lake a look at the proposed development map of Georgetown and sec what planned for Ihe downtown Mrs J Anderson OCONNORS OTTAWA I outlined briefly last week some or the background of the North Atlantic Assembly meeting which I attended as a Canadian delegate in Bonn West Germany This week would like set out some of the lighter less ponderous aspects of the trip In true Germanic tradition the conference was run with utmost efficiency meetings starting crack on time bells buzzers and lights indicating and recording the delegates wishes and simultaneous translation in and German of every word spoken Our meetings both committee and plenary were held in the Bun the parliament buildings of the West man Government Security was extremely tight withthe buildings surrounded hours a day by machinegun toting soldiers dressed in field fatigues On one casion I left my identity badge in the hotel I talked and cajoled in faltering German attempting to gain entry but eventually gave up and trotted the few blocks back to the hotel to retrieve the badge I had the feeling that Willy Brandt himself could not have got me through the security checks Into the conference without lhal plastic button On another occasion on morning off he In delegates and wives were treated to a bus trip to Co loan Our convoy of four buses was preceded by two police cars followed by one and paralleled by another all with lights flashing and horns hawing in true Mission Impossible fashion As we travelled through Bonn along the Autobahn and Into Cologne the police with finely executed military precision ran a moving blockade of all entrance and exit ramps to the highway supposedly to ensure security and a quick seven minuteson trip and undoubtedly attracted much more attention with at tendon t security problems than if we had all walked along the middle of the high way led Ted Kennedy I However not to be critical the German government was a most solicitous gracious host and of course was attempting only lo discharge its responsibility of returning the delegates home with all the limbs and faculties with which they arrived The British especially the members the House of Lords were very tiff upper lipped However two elderly during one long plenary session were wont to fill into snoring sleep side side very occasional applause from the speaker brought their heads briefly and simultaneously snapping up only then to nod slowly back down chin again resting on willed NO PAIRING Wdl as much as the trip was a working affair it did provide a brief interlude after a Ions and arduous However the serious and I suspect nerve wracking business of operating a minority government lies ahead of us We are advised by the party whips that there will be no pairing permitted that is the practice of a member agreeing with another member across the aisle to not vote unless both are present to vote This lype of arrangement long a parliamentary tradition allows for members to be absent on government or committee business without jeopardizing his party voting strength In House Thus most of my time after January will be spent elose to my Ottawa office However anyone with a problem idea comment or who simply wants to get in touch Willi rne please stop by or coll my Hiding office at I toad East 1144 1 will try lo the same day ten dams and seven rivers which run Into James Bay The damage to the area affected 170 square miles larger than the whole United Kingdom is in calculable The subsoil known to be unstable has taken hundreds of years to build up on the solid rock The tremendous weight of water in the lakes some of them miles long could cause earthquakes landslides who knows what The lakes themselves arc big enough to affect the climate of the whole area Worse the change In fresh water flow into James Bay could delay the spring breakup in the Bay and make winter longer This could affect the temperature of the water flowing out of Hudson Bay which joins the Labrador current going south and this in turn could make the whole eastern seaboard colder Prolect this a little further and it could affect the entire fishing Industry on the Atlantic shores And worst of all is the callous disregard of the native peoples or the area They are tree Indians who eke a meagre living from the fish geese and moose of this bleak area These people have never been conquered never sold their land and never ceded it by treaty They are to be uprooted and transplanted So we have the ironic spectacle of the federal government on the one hand creating vast new national parks and on the other condoning if not approving the possible destruction of another vast area This is not progress This Is rape And for what Sure it wilt create temporary jobs in Quebec for a large number A few people wilt become wealthy But It will do nothing Tor the long term unemployment situation in Quebec where unemployment seldom goes below ten per cent In a few years the jobs will be finished a few guys at push buttons will be left and the S will have another source of power At what cost SNOW WONDER Mail Bag Georgetown The Georgetown Herald Dear Sir In this day of not gelling involved 1 would like jour readers to know about who did A couple of weeks ago two boys along with two Grateful to Stranger Who Got Involved OPTOMETRIST LM Brown RO other boys were involved in ear on the ly lo a mid week church service I was it because my children were wilkuig with friends fortunately the boys never did get there as ihey were struck from behind by a ear My youngest boy was lying on the roid screaming for his While the police were about their necessary duties in a case like this a man in a truck along and heard Alan screaming Tor his mom He found from Paul where 1 He sure that Die mihulance had left and he look me out to the hospital This kind nun had passion on small boy He took the lime from his busy schedule to taxi ground stranger my concern for Ihe children the time I l even thank him I found Idler that the mm is Grant Baker who runs the Silver reek Service Center I thank God Tor Grant Baker and others like him who will take time to get involved Yours si cere I Gall The Faith of a Little Child Let Us Attempt to Regain It imMimn HUM Ml I I IN Mini Ml ll I I Mr Mrs I mi I ill illume subscription Almost everyone is familiar with letter written to little girl In the late iWtts by Charles Dana Editor of the New Sun newspaper Yes Virginia there is i The words ire famous ill over the world and hive been translated into main languages In this year it epitomizes same need to in in the hard facts sometimes are im material secondary to the spirit that is Intended V 1th the world full of torment of raging wars and revolution there is more need Ihnn ever hold Spirit of is Believe what vnu like about ihe of the Christ or the miracle htnh the angels appearing lo I lie w shepherds of the Star that led Wise Men to the place where He lay not no thoughtful person tan discount be of the lirislin is It ij he access to strip the tintnl in itself it is only an embellishment to some possibly vers ll m to the commercial dm which descends on tides mil limns is is October 1 1 overlook the feverish i of gifis that in without ll mi lit to dig deep fur Ihi true of is in our own IKts ind in tin ihoie who touch us This let tin spirit of us nut aside old resent old feuds corrosive habits which splinter our souls I it us run to welcome our neighbor of color or any persuasion even the bigot for he is the loneliest of all I us be joyous wuh hope that springs from faith that we and ill mankind can work toward a new year with goodwill all us work And lei us pray to that Great Spirit other of all that He will guide us along our path I or as Charles Dana wrote seventy four years child ill lo etui lilt stilish liltlt who thinks ink of wlnl Sun will lim hut the spoiled liltlethllrivihu is by the supirflenl tics mil the me is go Ilie most real things In the world arc those that neither children nor men can see Only faith fancy poetry love romance tan push aside that curtain and vicwl and picture Ihe supernal beauty and glory BUSINESS DIRECTORY OPTOMETRIST Hamilton O REPAIR SERVICE JOHN B0UGHT0N R E CLIPSHAM Consulting Engineer Onlar L ma Surveyor Evans Chiropractic Clinic Ouelph Street By Appointment BARRAGERS Dry Cleaners Lounderers IB Main Si Free Pick up and Delivery All work done on MASSEUR KARL J STREUTKER REG Georgetown For appointment 1717 CHIROPRACTOR GW DC Mill Street Georgetown For PHONE CARPET CLEANING CARPET CLINIC Professional Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning in Your Home or in our Modern Plant Free Pick up and Delivery ALPINE HEALTH CLUB 8779531 MONUMENTS POLLOCK CAMPBELL DESIGNSON REQUEST PHONE Water Street North KENNELS breeders of I rim Setter Shetland Sheep dogs Boarding for alt breed Slderoadt Maple Ave Georgetown