HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1978-08-24, Page 3unless I sense they're about
to announce resignations en
mass- or something equally
startling., It isn't that it's .
boring. It _often -is but if
yon've followed Meetings
past you ean find quite a bit
that's of interest.
Sheer Volume
No,,. it's the sheer volume
of stuff that''s covered at the
meetifigs. Which ., ,means
story upon sty that I have
to write. W cover Seforth
council in a lot of detail in
this paper because we figure
you're interested. If you're
not, would you mind letting'
me knoW?
Then I could write one or
two short council stories
instead of 12 or 13.
Lait week's council was a
corker. Town vcretary,
Dorothy Bassett muss have
typed at lightening speed fo
get three multi-paged bylaws
ready, as well as the usual 20
or so pages that council
regularly deals with at a
meeting. Then she has to
make copy upon copy of it all.
,Then councillors,• and the
press,. have to read it all.
Council was . especially
painful because downtown
parking was discussed. I
know shoppers have trouble
finding a parking place on
Maint St. know that's bad
for Seaforth and I agree with
•••
the planning, student who
said we'd have enought Main
St, parking if merchants
wouldn't monopolize it.
Guess where I park?
Right, on Main St. in front of
the Expositor, all day long
without a cent itr the meter
when I can get awa)1 with it.
I cringed and blushed as
council members blasted
parking abusers.
And although everybody
was too polite to say anthing
I suspected thoughts, around
the council table were hark-
ening back to the row of cars
belonging to Expositor Staff
members that sit out front
most days. I could easily
have covered that part of the
council meeting from under
the press table.
embarassment bore
same fruit I've parked out
back ever since . , . most
days.
Cancelled
Perhaps ,the. unkindest cut
' of all that I received last
week was the cancellation of
the arena Dance-a-thon.
I have here before me a
Dancetthon pledge sheet
that indicates the high
esteem in which I am held by
those' who work here at The
Expositor. Those nice people
were prepared to pledge a
total of $2.25 an hour for our
" Dan ce-p-thon efforts and
that's $2.25 that the arena
PA fund won't get now.
It wasn't that 7I figtired on
dancing for 13 hours.
"You're going to feel pretty
silly when I 'come to collect
71/2 cents" I told those
generous souls here who
pledged 15 cents an hour.
But it .was such p great
excuse to get` my husband
dancing again. Who' knows,
he might have liked it?
Now I'll never know.
Additional
costs to be
paid by
province
The $60,000 r additional
cost • for Seaforth's OHC
senior .citizens -apartments, apartments,
planned for John St. will be
paid by all Ontario ,taxpayers.
Mayor Betty Cardno told the
Elq)ositor that ,some citizens
had misunderstood a refer-
ence in last week's page 1
.stpry and thought the
additional cost _because the
loWest tender on the hew
building -was not accepted,
would be paid 'solely by
Seaforth residents.
Dealer finds
Truck wheels missing
NEW MINISTER Bob, McMullen and family recently
moved to Brucefield where Rev. McMullen is taking over
the Brucefield-Kippen charge for the United Church. Rev.
McMullen is pictured here with his wife, Anne Marie and
daughter Jennifer, 11 months. •
Rev. McMullen and his wife were formally in the
Boiestown, New Brunswick four-point charge where the
minister conducted three church services a month. Rev.
McMiillen, a Toronto native, was ordained in the Toronto
conference of the United Church in 1976. He completed his
undergraduate studies at the University of, Waterloo and
worked in Orillia for, year as a' youth worker at, St.
Paul's United Church in that town. He diet his wife, the
former Anne Marie Fleichauer of Stratford at the United
Church camp af -Sifverlake.Mrs. McMullen was a teacher
at A'von Public School in Stratford before her marriage.
Seventeen members of the Pleasant Hill
Club of West Branch Michigan on a
mystery tour found themselves visiting
-their sister town of Seaforth.Tuesday.
And they were delighted.
"I never thought I'd get to see Seaforth.
We've heard so much about our sister town
on our radio station and read about it in our
local paper. And now we're here," said
one enthusiastic guest.
Pleasant Hill. Club was formed over 75
yilr9arnasagohy the farm women around West
•
Ines Yantz has b)een a member for 57
years. Dolly, as she is called; said the
members in the, early days walked mjles to
a meeting, thrceigh the bush or across a
swamp as one woman did. Some had a
horse and buggy.
"They wouldn't miss a meeting," she
said. They took their small, children with
them she •explained, even pushing a baby
carriage for miles to reach a member's
home for a meeting.
• Today there are abOut 30 members and
By Wilma Oke
something to say
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, AUGUST gol,
by Susan White'
If was a bad week
VISIT FROM MICHIGAN — Buist, Seaforth recreation
director and Paul Carroll talk to a group of visitors from the
iK
Your heading this week is misleading.
VVhen thiS appears, Bill Smiley will be in
Borne or somewhere, tossing nuns. ' in a
fountain. The perpetrator of the following is
Roger Bell, a young English teacher, poet,
motorcyclist and general disturber of the
status quo. He is also a wit, 'satirist of the
first order, idealist, lousy golfer, and
unusual farmer. His radishes look like red
softballs.. Take it away, Roger.
I am, as ,Smiley stated in his rather
flattering introduction, a novice motor-
cyclist, recently introduced to this liberating
and exhilarating pastime. Lately, however,
this freedom and excitement have become
tempered by all-consuming fear, and I am
falling victim to a psychological malady
called Highway-Biway Paranoia.
It happens almost everytime I crank up my
two-wheeled beast and ramble down the
roadways — some idiot, in his four-wheeled,
gas-guzzling monstrosity attempts to verify
the natural law which states'that, if struck by
an auto, boance 12 times on his cranium
before skidding to a halt on gravel-rouged
hands and knees,
It has reached the point where I question-
how most of these pilots of. destruction
received their licences in the first place.
Some, obviously, were given the right to run
over anything that twitches, in the days
when a driver's requirements consisted only
of being able to see the end of his nose, and
having the ability to spit and walk
simultaneously. Others •must have received
their permits from mail-order universities or
boxes of Crackerjacks. A third group is those
having connections high up in, the Ministry
of Transport. The rest, I suppose, were
granted licences out of,sheer desperation by
harrassed examiners who were afraid of
further risking their lives with those people
in future tests.
By now you're feeling I have an overblOwn
ego. "This turkey," you scream, "thinks he
is the worldls best driver." I am. At least, I
have to feel that I am, in order to survive the
army of motorized ..sassins who lurk in the
asphalt jungle surrounding my home ,•
This army has all types of killers, each
trained, in his---'own special' method of
annihilation.
There are the snales, those decelerated
demons who poke along, waiting for some
unsuspecting victim to hurtle into them from
behind and get a mouthful of taillight.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are
the quicksilvers, who feel that dogs.kids and
little old ladies' are hindering them in their.
attenits at setting a new land speed record.
The first Ontario Bean Day
at Centralia College TueSday
drew more than 300, people
involved in growing one of
Ontario's riskier crops.
White bean research was
the focus of all the day
program at the agriculture
college, but soybeans and
kidney beans were also dis-
cussed.
12 year old Tracy Gowan's condition is
gradually improving in Kitchener-Waterloo
General Hospital. Tracy, who's been hospit-
alized since the end of July following a skate
boarding accident in Cambridge, regained
consciousness August 14th.
Tracv'was involved in a collision with a car
,John Willems, 67, of Dublin, is in stable
condition in University Hospital, London,
after an accident in 'Dublin cm -Friday.
Mr. Willems, the driver of a 1976 stake
truck. was westbound on Hwy. # 8, just west
of the Dublin intersection, when a Laidlaw
Transport Ltd. truck, driven by Joseph Berry
of RR 2 Goderich, iiulled out to pass the
,Willeins vehicle.
At 'the same time, Mr. WillentS• 'made a
left turn into a driveway and the two trucks
collided.
while skateboarding along a city street, and
was thrown 20 feet on impact
She sustained head injuries in the
accident and was unconscious for 17 days.
Tracy is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Lary Gowan, West Street, and a pupil at
Seaforth Public School.
The Laidlaw Transport vehicle had $1500
dahiages to the right front side of the truek.
There was $2,000 damage to the left side
of the , Willems' vehicle *and the driver was
taken to Seaforth Community Hospital with
lun injuries. •
n Monday, Mr. Willems was transferred
o University Hospital, London. •
A Sebringville O.P.P. detachment spokes-
man said Mr. Willems was 'charged with
making an unsafe left hand turn.
I have found new wheels.
They're attached to one red pick-up truck.
Not a new model, of course. About four
years old. It's got its share of bumps and
bangs—enough to make you• think it's an
older model..
The farmer that had it before .me must
have been nearsighted. Or far sighted. Or
both. He didn't quite mAnage to miss a few
barn corners or fence posts. He believed in
antiquing his metal real good--putting in
marks and scratches to give it that
weathered look--that lived-in look. He
wanted his truck 'to look like a woriting truck,
Arid to prove the point,.he bungled up the
tail gate. He had the tail gate so crunched up
it wouldn't move in or out. The only thing
coulddowas rip it out. Unpry the tail and do
without.
But what's a truck without a tail gate'O'in
looking for a new one and one that says
FORD Written across the back. A Ford.
That's what my Mick is, My wife calls it my
Ford Folly.
"What on earth do you need a truck for?"
my wife said when I saw the ad in the paper.
"Every farmer needs a pick-up," I said.
"But you're not a farmer."
"I'm on my way to becomine one. With a
buck."
Then I had to remind her - three years ago
thought three and a half acres of land, and a
year later, a 1951 Ford tractor.
"Big-time farmer," she huffed.
"But a pi-k-up is what you need in the
country," I said, "They're handy--moving
stuff here and there."
"We're not moving," she said, "I thougl t
you said we re staying here for life.
"It's still good to have a pick-up--just in,
case the car gives out",
• Momma said there'd be
days like this. But Momma
didn't tell me about whole
weeks.
Lecig miserable weeks
when everything goes
wrong. When 'it's beautiful
outside but you're ins*, so
what -difference does tlat
make? (f
I've just, and Ihope saying ,
, it won't jinx'me, come out of
one of those weeks.
To start with, it was
council week. Anyone who
works at the Expositor will
tell you tht on that week once
a month when I cover
Seaforth coirnil on Monday
night I go around moaning
and worrying about it for
several `Jays before and
several days after The Big
Night. Instead of just
shutting ,up and writing the
stories from the meeting.
•,--.1t isn't that the meeting's
se long...since I've had
junior I leave about 1.1:30
only a few are farm women. One family
group visiting Seaforth included , Mrs.,
Ivlinmie Clemens, 81, her daugher, Lila
Dunbar, and Lila's daughter Carib! Ved
all club members.
Among the grdup was Mrs. Yantz with'
her niece Helen Brindley and her
daughters Jane Turner' and -Grace Scott.
The ladies raise money by catering to
dinners, weddings and funerals;.they have
jewelery parties and similiar money raising
events. jhe money goes to help needy
children or any special need they hear
about, but it also helps to pay for their
annual mystery trip each year.
, On their arrival in Seaforth they were
served lemonade by a reception committee
of Seaforth women who had a
bus waiting to- take them on a tour of the
town.
After a dinner they were entertained to a
card party at the Curling Club by members
of the Seaforth Women's Institute.
•. They were booked into a Goderich Motel
due to4t the lack of this type of accom-
modations in Seaforth.
"I'm not ,driving that gas eater into
town," she warned me, "I don't need all
that metal to pick up a few groceries. A
Volkswagen will do."
I didn't _convince her. And I didn't'
convince Kurt Liedtke either. He's the man
at Central Garage in Mitchell who's the
world's best doctor for a car's ailing insides.
He makes „safety checks, too.
"Karl, why did you by a truck?" he said
when I brought iti--my new old beauty. '
He didn't go for my farmer, or moving or
handy bit, either. But what could he say
when I said I just wanted ()rte. I liked it,
- But Kurt could say he was busy. So busy
he couldn't check it over for a day or two.
I should have checked out my intentions
with Kurt. He's my, car confidant and
advisor. Here; I went ahead and bought my
folly—and all along I'd been talking with
Kurt about a different first car and a possible
second car. A red pick-up truck was never in
sight.
I wanted to get my pick-up on the road. I
was anxious to get started being a farmer. So
I couldn't wait for Kurt's safety check
blessing. It had to come -from other hands
and other garages.
But the blessing came--and so did the
bills—insurance, transfer tax, four new tires,
new shocks and muffler._
It's not over yet.
' One 'folly deserves another., My wife
figured if I could afford one folly, she could
too. We made a bargain. One fat truck for
,me and one skinny V.W. for her.
This truck of mine is costing me a beetle
bug. This week I'm 'dedicating myself4O
finding her folly out of the classified ads.
She's expecting delivery by the end of the
month, And I better have one. Or my folly
won't brine much, jolly.
attending a course at Aylmer Police College.
Chief Cairns said he also had been called,
out of town.
'He said ,the two night duty officers had
worked their usual shift from 6 p.m. to 6
a.m. and were an call Saturday morning.
Chief Cairns said if there was an urgent
matter an officer would have been at the
scene within minutes.
A rear end collision on Monday evening at
Seaforth's main intersection ended the
town's 20 day accident-free, record.
A car' driven by Arnold Boss of RR 2,
Mitchell was in collision with the rear of a
car driven by Douglas Downey of Burlington
' which was stopped at the intersection.
Damage to the two cars totalled $1800.
Mr. Boss has been charged with following
too closely behind another 'hicle.
This was, the first acciden reported in
Seaforth for the month of Au st.
The gawkers usually inhabit country
roads. These are" rubberneckers who,
(2slackjawed at nature's beauty or intoxicated
by the aroma of fresh cow durig, allow their
vehicles to meander drunkenly across center
lines, onto the shoulder, wherever.
There are also the creepers, those
timorous souls who halt at stop signs, then
nose forward into traffic, and their black-
sheep cousins the ignorants, who feel that
God put them on earth to be aggressive.
Why should they yield the right of way? Let
the other slob stop.
We have the opposites, a curiously
contrary bunch who signal a left turn, then
swing right, catching enwary, fools xyho
follow the rules by surprise. Occasionally they
will cross up potential victims by not
signalling at all, then abruptly changing
direction.'
Finally, we examine the just plain
malicious, those loonies who delight in
scaring the hell out of others by approaching'
at Warp Factor Five,- from behind, then
tailgating 'for five miles. They gleefully
speed up when someone attempts to pass
them,' leaving the passer stranded and fair
game for oncoming cars. They slobber with
joy when they can run a cyclist into the ditch
or squash someone's family pet.They are the
most formidable and dangerous road
opponents because, instead of being in-
competent, they are irrational.
What frightens .me more is that, instead of
declining, this horde of motorized maniacs is,
proliferating. In view of this, I have some,
solutions for self-defense.
I could mount a recoilless 30 mm, tank
cannon on my handlebars. Whenever the
need irose, I could blast the offender to
KingdfOniCome, and sail obliviously onward.
I could buy a war surphis tank and clank
fearlessly along, crunching snails and
opposites undertread, secure in the know-
ledge that whoever ran into me would Suffer
more than I.
The government could come to my aid and
institute a new licensing system with only
two categories -- Good and Bring in the
Ambulances. Those drivers in the later
category would be required to have flashing
neon signs on' their car roofs to warn gobd
drivers of their presence, giving us time to
seek sanctuary.
It is unlikely, however, that these
solutions will prove acceptable to the bowers
that be, so I will continue my present tactics
of self-defense — riding along with fear in
my mouth and a wall, of profanity around me
so thick that a jet-powered Mack truck
couldn't penetrate.
CARDS WITH THE WL Seaforth W.I. members entertained the West
Branch ladies with a card game at the curling club. Ruth, Papple' of
'Seaforth, left talks with Pat Papple (no relation) of W,st Branch and
Marion Gordon of Seaforth who arranged the evening. (Photo by Oke)
300 attend lst Bean Day
Thieves stole the rear -wheels from a new
black pick-up truck parked in front of
McLaughlin Motors in Seaforth, sometime
Friday night or early Saturday morning,
The tires were valued at approximately
$175, according to a police spokesman.
Seaforth police are still investigating the
theft.
Neighbours heard sounds on Friday night'
but since it is a particularly noisy night in the,
alleyway beside the garage, no one
investigated. '
Ken McLaughlin discovered the theft
when he arrived at work on Saturday at' 8
a.m.
Two calls 'to the Seaforth police brought
them to the seen without uniform, by 10:30
• Bill .McLaughlin 'reported.
Police Chief John Cairns said this
situation occurs about once a year.
He said Constable Burgess is out of town,
Research personnel front
Ridgetown College, Univer-
sity of Guelph, Centralia,
and the Ministry of Agri-
culture and Food told pro-
ducers what was being done
about current crop problems,
and what new problems
farmers may face in the
future, such as new diseases
from Europe.
yfie white bean cropis
one that has a fair bit of •
problems with diseases„;..but
to compete' we have to have a
quality. product,' said Jack
Hag arty, area co-ordinator
for the ministry of agri-
culture.
Mr. Hagarty said the bean
daYprogram was designed to
•make' use of the research
plots4developed at Centralia.
' There is not much use in
having' research plots with-
out having' people come and
look at them." _
Farmers were given little
encouragement ' from ' re-
searchers that the prOblem of
ozone damage would be
overcome by. chemicals and
sprays, The damage, caused
by a combination of pollution
and'weather condition, Sias
driven white bean 'production
out of Kent and Essex
counties northward into
Huron and Perth. -
"Prospects (of a solution)
are not very good at this
time," said John Schleihagh
of Ridgetown College of.
Agriculture. •
But the problem is being
attackedfrom more than one
angle.
Dr. Wally Beversdoft of
Guelph told. farmers that
some varieties of beans were
proving to be more resistant
toozone damage than others.
Research in plant breeding
may result in even more,
resistant varieties.
Several times this summer
and spring damaging. levels
of ozone have been recorded
by researchers at Kippen.
During the lunch hour
break, Charlie Broadwell of
the Ontario Bean Producers
Marketing Board outlined''
the 1978 market outlook.
(Continued on Page 2,01
Tracy Gowan .regains conciousness
Dublin - man in condition
tow-n's sister West Branch, Michigan, about the historic old
Van Egmond house which was part of 'a tour they made of the
area. (Photo by Oke)
ystery tour brings West
Branch ladies to Seaforth
TRUCK COLLISION—John Willems of Dublin, driver of a 1976 stake
• truck, was, injured F'i'iday in a truck accident just west of the Dubljn
intersection on Highway 8. The Laidlaw Transport Ltd. truck shown here
had $1500 damage to the passenger's side of the vehicle.
Artien
by Karl Schuesster
Karl's new wheels
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
Highway paranoia
Ii6m 1140mftor i6