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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2015-12-30, Page 5Wednesday, December 30, 2015 Huron Expositor 5 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com IN THE YEARS AGONE It was a green Christmas in Seaforth Dec. 28,1888 • A green Christmas - Christmas is not much without sleighing and skating, and consequently last Tuesday was a disappointmentto a great many. Therewas a continual downpour ofrain nearly all day, and insteadof snow and ice there was lotsof mud and slush, and theat- mosphere was more like thedawn- ing of spring than midwinter.The town was, consequently,very dull, and mostpeople had to seek for enjoyment in their homes. • Notwithstanding the unfavoura- bleweather, the Christmastrade was fully as good, if notbetter than in former years. OnSaturday and Monday the townwas filled from end to end andour stores and other businesshouses were throngs from earlyin the forenoon until late in theevening. But great as the rushwas it would have been verymuch greater had there been - good sleighing. We hope forbetter things before New Years. ■ Those tobacco chewers, whoper- sist in "chewing" tobaccoduring church service and spitting upon the floor, shouldremember the advice given bya lecturer who was touchin- gupon tobacco chewing inchurch. He said, "Take yourquid out of your mouth beforeentering the house of God, andlay it gently on the outer edge othe sidewalk or on the fence. Itwill positively be there whenyou come out - sure pop - for arat wont take it, a dog won'ttake it, neither will a hog. Youare sure of your quid when youcome after it. Not the filth- iestvermin on earth would touchit." ■ The flouring mills at Dublinwere completely destroyed byfire on Thursday night of lastweek. The fire was clearly thework on an incendiary, as themill had been unoccupied forseveral months. Jan. 9, 1913 • Skating in the rink commence - son New Years Day. • The Collegiate Institute andpub- lic schools commencedwork after the holidays onMondaywith all on deck and ingood working shape. • Our hardware men, Messrs. H.Edge and George Sills are creat- ing quite a sensation through- outthe country and their storesand thronged daily by peoplefrom near and far who areanxious to profit by the reducedprices offered. They are turningover a lot of goods and taking ina lot of cash, but whether theprofits go to them or the pur- chasers is a matter on which weare not prepared to give a decision.They bring a lot of peo- pleto town anyway and help tokeep things moving. Dec. 30,1938 • The district is slowly diggingit- self out of a December blizzard - that since Monday nighthad com- pletely tied up trafficand stranded hundreds ofmotorists homeward boundafter spending Christmas here. • Mayor John C. Cluff was reelect- edMayor of Seaforth byacclama- tion on Friday night, aswere Reeve J,H. Scott and councillorsJ.E. Keating, H.E. Smith,Charles Holmes, M.A. Reid,Frank Sills and R.G. Parke. • Santa Claus paid his officialvisit to Seaforth on Friday whenin conjunction with the LionsClub he distributed 800 stockingsto children of the district. Dec. 26, 1962 • A Seaforth resident had a nar- rowescapein a fire that resultedin damage of $3,000 to the residen- ceofL.F. Ford, VictoriaStreet, early Sunday morning. • Winners of the best -decorated - homes competition werean- nounced this week by Chamberof Commerce presidentW.M. Hart. R.J. Boussey, LesterLionhardt and Wes Coombswere the winners. • Plans to burn Seaforth areaChristmas trees in a great bonfireare being completed bymembers of the Seaforth FireBrigade. • The regular Legion Christmas - concert was held in the Legion - Hall Sunday afternoon withover 300 in attendance. Chairmanfor the afternoon waslegion presi- dent Ron MacDonald.Mrs. Keith McLean waspianist. • Seaforth's Main Street has beena fairyland of light during theChrist- mas season. Row afterrow of coloured lights provide aceiling throughout the length ofthe street and intersections.Individual stores have presentedspecial effects, while a40 -foot Christmas tree in frontof the Town Hall is a blaze oflight. Adding to the effect aregay figures suspended fromlighted sup- ports on each lampstandard along the street. Dec. 28, 1988 • The Seaforth branch of theTo- ronto Dominion Bank wasone of 14 area banks to partici- patein the Good Bears of theWorld promotion this Christmas.In Huron County, approximately200 of the small bearswere placed in OPP cruis- ers.The Seaforth bank was responsiblefor selling 250 tick- ets at $leach. • A Seaforth man has beenelected chairman of theOntarioBean Pro- ducers MartketingBoard for 1989. Ken Carnochanof RR 2 Seaforth is starting hisfifth year on the mar- ketingboard, having been one of thefour District 4 (Huron -Bruce) representatives for the past fouryears. letter to the editor Ontario right to quell ignorant anti-vaxxers The irony could not be more profound: The more vaccines protect us from preventable diseases, the more complacent some Canadians have grown about getting and keeping their kids' shots up to date.Thanks to public health programs and vaccines, more than a dozen childhood diseases that men- aced North American lives short generations ago, are now largely things of the past. No kids today have friends confined for life to iron lung machines to help them breathe, one of the cruel lega- cies of polio before vaccines halted that scourge's reign of terror.Measles remains a killer in some parts of the world, but here vaccinations have largely done away with the toll the extremely contagious virus once took on survivors in sei- zures and brain damage. Try telling that to Canadians who carelessly overlook vacci- nations or, often empowered by Internet conspiracies, choose not to get them. While relatively small in numbers, both groups menace the health of others by igno- rance and arrogance.Now, Canada's largest health care system — Ontario's — is put- ting its foot down, with plans to require parents who don't want their kids immunized for non- medical reasons to get schooled up on the risks by public health officials. In a province that's had recent outbreaks of preventa- ble diseases, that's a prudent step. But it begs the question how such training can reach parents unpersuaded by sci- ence or common sense.Parents who simply overlook their kids' immunization records aren't the enduring problem. But those who want their kids exempted are another matter. For some, it's religious. Others, so-called anti-vaxx- ers, are driven by the now - debunked fear that shots can cause autism, auto -immune disorders or mercury poisoning. Ontario passed Canada's first law of its kind in 1982 that required kids to be vaccinated against specific diseases to attend school, unless they have a valid exemption. But with today's more mobile population, whipped by an Internet that makes the paranoid believe they can be doctors, that's no longer good enough.Ideally, all provinces should have a central tracking system for immunization rates and their cost- effectiveness, which Ontario's audi- tor general last year pointed out this province lacks.Ontario is at least headed in the right direction with its education sessions and plans to ramp up public awareness cam- paigns and launch an online tool to remind parents of kids' vaccination schedules. But like the proverbial horse that can only be led to water, in the end parents must swallow the responsibility. seaforthhuronexpositor.com HAVE AN OPINION? The Huron Expositor welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and accompanied by a phone number for information clarification. It is important to note, letters will not be printed without the author's name attached. All letters are subject to editing due to possible space restriction. Letters can be dropped off at the office, mailed or emailed: The Huron Expositor 8 Main St. P.O. Box 69 Seaforth, ON NOK 1WO Shaun.Gregory@sunmedia.ca www.seaforthhuronexpositor. co m