Newmarket Era and Express, 12 Feb 1953, p. 11

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For PUygronad Eqwpwefrt Where are the old familiar faces We thought of those wistful words in one of Charles Lambs es- says when we attended a recreation commission meet ing on Thursday night Feb after an absence of several weeks Not only had some of the old members departed but the presidential itself had a new occupant links tins are substantial Rotary dub handed a cheque to justify them we hate SaS the Sroand it was new face has been for the three year by Don Glass Its owner op from to the seat of authority Mr J Dick Buchanan of the Aurora re commission in place of ajj- Don mass who is now a Among the faces we Rev George two for- members of the commission who had a fine record for punc tual and regular attendances The Rev Purchase decided to retire- Mr- did likewise from He has been suc ceeded by Councillor Vic councils representative who formerly did very valuable work for the commission- found his Don Glass has done invaluable work for the commission we have often in the past good reasons for baity as an organizer and as a good chairman A year ago he asked to be allowed to retire for the reason that he felt one man should not continue to act as chairman for too long a per iod- When he was voted back to the chair he said he would ac cept only on the condition that in a new chairman would replace him- That has now been done His successor Dick Buchanan is one of the originators of the Aurora recreation commission His bestknown contemporary on the commission was Swindle who retired some time ago and was honored with a life membership and a framed scroll as testimonials from his col leagues of the great services he had rendered to the community through the commission It was fitting that on Thursday the commission made Mr in tribute to the work he has done an honorary member of their body Mr Buchanan is of course thoroughly familiar with all the work of the commission- We have never known him absent from any of its meetings that we have attended We should not be surprised to learn that he has the highest attendance rec ord of any member of the com mission It was in the nature of things that he was elected to the chair and we wish him every success in his new and import ant position The Aurora recreation com mission has achieved great suc cess and conferred a great num ber of recreational benefits on the community- Its work is con cerned mainly with the interests of the young though the claims of the elderly in recreational matters and the shutins are not neglected It is an organization whose activities are entirely free from graft or selfinterest Gift A memorable highlight of last Thursday nights meeting was the gift of the large sum of from the Aurora Rotary club Bob Gundy came to the meeting and on behalf of the for that amount to chairman Buchanan It was a truly mag nificent gift made possible through the aggressive peanut which the Rotary club car ried through last year- is a lot of money to raise by the efforts of a local service club we think that most people will agree that the members of the Rotary club are deserving of the highest commendation for their magnificent donation Mr Gundy made ihe presen tation in modest language and briefly He handed a letter from the secretary of the club Delahay in which it was specified that the money should be devoted to the pur chase of playground equipment for the children For this out standing gift chairman Buchan an expressed the thanks of the commission in suitable terms We could be wrong but we believe the gilt of is by far the largest sum thgt has been handed over by any local club or organization for purely com munity activities- The Aurora Rotary club is young but it has certainly gone places since its inception We have no hesita tion in describing its gift to the Recreation commission as a won derful event in conununity wel fare in Aurora Another Highlight A personal highlight of the meeting was the attendance of Mr from the Com munity Programs department of the education department of the provincial government from which Recreation commissions derive their annual grants Mr Eilbeck was present in order to elucidate problems in the work of the commission He took oc casion to pay tribute to the most successful work being carried on by the Aurora commission We have no personal acquaint ance with Mr which leaves us free to say that he impressed us as a most compe tent departmental representa tive Without fuss or affecta tion he displayed a most inti mate and wide understanding of his job He talked freely on the work of recreation commis sions what they could do and could not do and he answered all questions raised with an easy and ready facility Besides this knowledge of his job Mr revealed him self as a most likeable man In him the Community Program department has a most efficient representative with a pleasing and convincing personality Routine Work A considerable amount of routine work was carried through during the evening including considerable correspondence fi nancial statements and reports from chairmen of committees All of these testified to the very successful worthwhile activi ties in which the commission is engaged Among the members of the commission present at the meet ing were the following chair man J Buchanan Les Stead- man vicechairman Don Glass Councillors Davidson Jones and Murray and King J Of- ford and the secretarytreasurer Harvey Bell DOANHAIL AURORA TELEPHONE PAGE ELEVEN i TO HELP THE SUFFERING aSf Mayor Initiates Relief Fund Harris Concert Friday Night In an effort to alleviate the suffering caused by unprecedented floods the mayor Dr Crawford Rose has inaugurated an Overseas Flood Relief Fund with drives for funds being made by the churches and other town organizations including the junior chamber of commerce the Lions and Rotary clubs Mr Fish managM of the Imperial bank and Mr A We Ik manager of the Bank of Montreal have agreed to act as treasurers for the fund At the United church on Fri day Feb- Mr Harris will give a concert Those taking part will be the high school choral groups the public school choir the Aurora junior church choir and under the conductorahip of Mr Harris The concert will begin promptly at The devastation and Buffering caused by the floods the worst that have occurred for centuries have evoked universal sympathy for the sufferers and it is con fidently believed that the finan cial response from Aurora un der the sponsorship of numerous workers and organizations will be of recordbreaking J WILLIS The RenU Drug Store Aurora Social News HUNDRED AND FIFTYTHREE ARROGANCE REBUFFED To submit the name of Mr S Mills for term on the planning in all the circum stances that have been made public was sheer arro gance Since Dr the chairman of the board sponsored the nomination of Mr Mills by an appearance at council while the matter was being dis cussed he must be indicted in this act of arrogance In our experience the extent of such arrogance is un matched A member of a subsidiary council body resigns his office while a year of its tenure is still uncompleted and in the process of resignation reprimands the mayor and members of council for alleged impropriety in the conduct of business and a basic error in administration is invited to reconsider resignation then proceeds to reaffirm the resignation and in so doing repeats his following all of which he is nominated for a further term of three years service Such a nomination in such circumstances would be farcical if more important issues had not been at stake As we see it the election of Mr Mills in the circumstan ces concerned would have made a laughingstock of the town council Such an election would have involved the admission that the reprimands inflicted on the mayor and council were both justifiable and acceptable The authority of council would have been submerged in a triumph on the part of one recalcitrant member of the planning board We are profoundly glad that the mayor and four members of council saw the situation in its true colors and refused to be wordily browbeaten into an ignomini ous surrender Weequally regret that the reeve deputyreeve and two members of council were prepared to accept such proposed humiliation The incident has provided the citizens with a closeup revelation of the mentality of a section of the Aurora Planning board BETTER LIGHTING Introduced by Mr George Baldwin hydro chair man the hydro superintendent Charles Copland gave a very impressive outline of two types of lighting for Auroras Main street extending from the Aurora dairy to Allans service station In the course of his remarks Mr Copland said he felt that Aurora should have the best possible type of lighting subject of course to cost The majority of people will commend such a sentiment By coincidence we were writing in our issue of January on Main street which we described as a Street of Shadows after the closing of the stores The approximate cost of the new lighting system out lined by Mr Copland was from to 7000 Some discussion was initiated but not pursued on the question of whether the town or the hydro should bear the cost of the installation of equipment The matter of the cost of installation and who shall bear it will with other contingent matters be discussed in joint meetings of a council committee and the hydro commission At present Main street is a Street of Shadows Means should quickly be found to redeem it from its primitive condition With the widening now in pro gress and a new system of lighting installed Main street Aurora could be transformed into one of the best busi ness thoroughfares in Canada D1DNT HE KNOW In a recent issue of the Aurora Banner the editor urged the need for the laying of a floor in the arena to provide for among other uses the holding of a Trade Fair Didnt the editor of the Aurora Banner know that the reason why no floor can be properly and safely laid down in the arena is because the condition of the structure at its northeast end is so bad that such an addition would be impossible The proposal for the holding of a Trade Fair origin ated with the Rotary club and the idea was later coopted by the Board of Trade Any legitimate and reasonable methods that will stimulate local business and attract visitors to town are to be commended and a Trade Fair certainly meets requirements But where to hold the Trade Fair That fa the pertinent question In this way the arena came under consideration and the editor of the Banner got going with an editorial urging the need of the laying down of a floor The question was brought up at a recent meeting of the Rotary club and our information is that pressure on the part of Mr Gordon Hoffman elicited the admission during the discussion that no floor could properly and safely be laid down for the reasons given above We suggest that the editor of the Banner should have been aware of these facts at the time he wrote the editorial urging the need for a floor in the arena In the absence of the facta Banner readers could easily draw wrong conclusions and thereby misplace the blame We further suggest that if the editor of the Banner had been as diligent in ascertaining the real facts on the condition of the arena as he was in blasting us in our efforts at informing the public on the facts he might have written a more convincing editorial Our Mayor Says Irate Citizen Ghost Hovers In Town Hall From the point of view of prestige the last meet ing of council was critical Four men who should have known better voted the wrong way Thus their prestige as members of the chief executive body was lost by themselves but saved by their remaining colleagues and the mayors deciding vote Two of these votes that saved councils prestige were cast new members Mrs Moffat and Councillor Bill Davidson They deserve a hand from the electors They made it clear that council not the planning board is still master of the situation in the munici pality of Aurora The planning board members responsible for an attempt to jettison the auth ority of council may now take pleasure in licking their wounds Dr Boulding was in the offing when the verdict was given He was anxious to have his former colleague and nominee Millsi back again Reeve Cook DeputyReeve Murray Coun cillors Davis and King swallow ed the harsh and bitter medicine Mr Mills administered to them in two letter sent to council Councillors Moffat Davidson Jones and Murray handed the medicine back not liking the taste of it It was left to Mayor Rose to throw the bottle away Mills Resignation Stays Our readers are familiar with the circumstances in which Mr Mills resigned from the planning board in November J He was invited to reconsider his deci sion In December he re affirmed his previous decision to resign In both letters he criticized the action of the mayor and council Despite all of this he was nominated foe a new three- year term on the planning board What amazed us was that Reeve Cook lately promoted to the office of Warden should not only have condoned the charges of incompetence made in the Mills letters against the mayor and council but should have shown such a ready willingness to put their author back on the board What would Mr Cook feel towards a member of the county council who charged the Warden with Jnpropriety of conduct We suggest that Reeve Cook should have rallied to the sup port of Mayor Rose and other members of council It would have been to his credit had he got hopping mad and repudiat ed with scorn any attempt to put Mr Mills back on the board In supporting him Reeve Cook deserted his mayor and fellow- councillors and in giving their support to Reeve Cook Deputy- Reeve Murray and Councillors Davis and King were guilty of similar desertion The four members of council who voted against the return of Mills deserve praise insomuch as their votes represented a de fence of the authority of council The reaction to the stand taken by Mayor Rose is best summed up by the remarks of an Irate citizen who said Nobody can kick our mayor around The Crestfallen Looking up the word crest fallen we find it thus defined With drooping crest chagrined or fortified dejected or dispirit ed Any one of these defini tions it seems to us was appli cable to Messrs Cook Murray Davis and King when they realized their cause was lost All four appeared to be suffering from a drooping crest The For most of the evening the chairman of the planning board Dr was hover ing around like the ghost he mentioned at the nomination meeting in November hut in the precincts of the council chamber but not deigning to take a chair within the chamber itself He was however within hearing distance of what was going on and quickly responded to the call of Councillor King who desired to ask him a ques tion The question was whe ther Mr Mills was so useful that the planning board wanted him back The ghost came In from the shadows stood just Inside the doorway of the council chamber and said in a voice that all might hear Mr Mills was the most valuable member of the plan ning board But the ghost seemed startled when Councillor Davidson stood up and asked whether Aurora needed a planning board The brusque question so sur prised the planning board chair man that he mixed hi dates as he mixed hi Shakespearian ghost at the nomination meeting and s the ha been a plan ning board fa Aurora for list or It was Fathers night at the Home and School Association last Monday The main feature of the evening was ft visit from the members of the Square Dance club who organized a square dance for the members of the association Mr and Mrs Gordon Stocks Stratford visited last week at the home of Mr and Mrs Dal- ton Richardson Mr and Mrs Jim Emmons were recent over the weekend of Mr and Mrs Carl Emmons They attend ed the graduation dance in illia on Friday evening Jan 30 Mr Floyd Corner returned this week from a business trip to Florida Dr J Henderson left on Sunday for a months holiday in Florida Mr and Mrs Clarence Davis recent guests of Mr and were as the Planning Act itself was not in operation until the year When the tievote was an nounced the judge in the per son of Mayor Rose was called on to pronounce sentence and give his deciding vote The crestfallen four knew their plans were doomed and so did the planning board chairman still standing in the doorway The judge voted against the motion declared it lost and a moment later the planning board chairman departed One had the feeling that the whole occasion provided a good setting for the singing of The Old Grey Mare Aint What She Used To Be Debate When the usual monthly ac counts came under review an item of gave rise to a con siderable quibble for which Reeve Cook was mainly respon sible It was a charge by the town foreman for hours of Sunday sanding and gravelling when the streets were icy and dangerous In the early hours of Sunday morning Jan when most people were com fortable in their beds Jim was out on the job of reducing the risks to life and limb when freezing Tain had made the streets almost impass able Two other Sundays were included in the account he submitted It is true he has a fixed wage but these were most unusual conditions and it seemed to us that the charge was reasonable subject to no precedent being established However the ac count was examined and dis cussed until the shadow of old Scrooge seemed to be levitating around the council table Final ly the account was referred back to the finance committee Booster Leaflets The attitude of Reeve Cook towards the bucks which Jim Goulding asked for in rec ompense for his Sunday lifesav ing activities was in strange con trast to what he was prepared to spend on town booster leaflets Mr Jones thought 100 was enough but Mr Cook flapped his benevolent wings and called for more generous spending This was in answer to a board of trade delegation led by the new president Mr E It has been suggested to us that some employers could boost the town by paying better wages and provide more security for their employees by pension schemes and the like It could be that the board of trade will presently be tackling these worthwhile problems Unless we are misinformed a good many wageearners in Aurora could do with a boost in their weekly takehome pay Little Symphony Orchestra Mr Rod Smith and Mr John came to council as a delegation on behalf of a dona tion from the town to help the promotion of the Coronation Little Symphony Orchestra with Mr Smith doing the talking which ha did with all the sym phonic persuasion of a preacher giving a plug for church funds The outlet Rod Smith asking for was only the dry sum of or perhaps Rods pleasing smile and af fable plea will no doubt secure for him the number of council votes necessary to get the out let he asked for and we wish him success It could be that some prosperous industrialist in town with a real love of music and a shine on the Little Sym phony will write a cheque for A donation to the Coronation Symphony Or chestral What a boost to Au rora Why the man who gave it would get a plaque to his name New Members Councillors Moffat and David son are initiates In municipal work Neither Mrs Moffat nor Mr Davidson were elected to council but were acclaimed This situation was not of their own choosing but arose from the absence of an election last year Our first impressions of both councillors as a newspaper ob server are that they are doing well Mrs Moffat has already shown that she wants facts She asks pertinent questions She has a questioning mind and a ready ability to state her point of viev Mr Davidson is hard- headed and practical and quite fearless Our first impressions are that the electors will get good service from both these two new members of council arid this newspaper wishes them well Mrs ffm Valentine Torooto They attended a dance put on by the Miami Beach Association Rev Howie presided at the annual meeting of the United church on Wednesday evening and Mr acted as secre tary The meeting opened with a short devotional period after which reports of the various took place Every department of the church show ed success Hie membership for was The names of Mr Walter Johncox Herb and Roy w added to the board of ciders to replace retirements Harold was appointed to the board of stew ards The Womens Association served refreshments at the dose of the meeting Rev Calvary Baptist church preach ed the ordination service in the Gospel church on T ev ening when Rev B was ordained into the ministry Rev Wright has been in charge of the Aurora Gospel church since April Mr and Mrs Harold Oliver Toronto were weekend of Mr and Mrs T Oliver Greeting Cards Agent For Era Classified Ada Hake It A Habit Meet Your At a HESS Two Gradual 5-1- ar A I Wishes to announce that the east room town hall is being retired citizens A- First meetings helcldr mornings Feb 21 DOORS OPEN DOORS OFEN MATINEE SATURDAY AT JC SATURDAY MEN of STEEL J a MONDAY TO A t Mr 1 i itit f mum POWEI Ill- A I

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