Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1978-08-31, Page 1sur I'LL DO IT — Christine McAllister, Centre, tiles to break through the line during an outdoor game being played by Students at Bethel's Bible Church's vacation school last week. More than 50 children attend the classes in Egmondville. More photos inside. (Expositor Photo), School. starts '..T:yeday. with full day in class Scottish visitors. hitched to Argentina Robbie Sterry [by Alice 6ibbj Richard Grassick, 24, of West. Lothian, Scotland and Robbie Sterry. 19 of Perth, Scotland are a little more loyal to their team than your average sports fan. The tWO men, now staying with the Ken Doig family in Seaforth, followed the Scottish national soccer team to Argentina in June to cheer the team on in the World Cup Octet. Match. But while , going to Argentina from Scotland is carrying loyalty pretty far, the Argentina Their trip to Argentina was the subject of a front page story. in The Glasgow Daily Record, one of Scotland's major newspapers and the men were interviewed by reporterS" Tro-in BBC and kin/ television in Britain. The exploits of the two men and some• other loyal Scots wlie followed their soccer team to Argentina the same way, were also fattured in stories in German. Dutch and Atistralian newspapers. • -Richard Grassick, who dropped into The Ex-pbsitor office last week to develop some of the pictures he took on his South American trek. said a whole mystique about the trip grew up in Scotland. When the national team qualified for the World Cup match. Grassick said thousands Of Scots talked of going to Argentina for the games. One pop We* rumor .publish ed in-Scott is-h— pOpers was the unfounded tale that a group of soccer fans has purchased an' old German U-boat which was being rebuilt by Clyde shipworkers to transport the fans to South America. min the end. about 40 people flew to New York at different timesand then Started the overland journey to Cordoba. Argentina. where the match was being held... According to Grassick. one reason *the fans hitchiked to the game. is because soccer is "a poor man's sport" and this was the only way fans could see their team defending the national honour. Grassick, who worked as a photographer before taking time off for his soccer pilgrimage, took six weeks to hitchike from New York. to Argentina. When he reached Panama. he had to take a plane and boat to' Colombia. since the overland route is treacherous. in Mexico, most of his rides were with truck drivers, but in Central America. the Seats found they were often picked tip by Americans living in the country. The two men didn't link tip 'until they. and other Scots, had reached Cordoba. Although Grassick said the two didn't experience many problems on thier trip, both fell prey to robbers. Mugged Sterry was mugged in Nicaragua on the way down and Grassick was robbed in Guatemala and cheated out of more money by a crooked Peruvian border guard. • Grassick said when he was crossing the Peruvian border, the guard demanded to see his cash and took it back into the office to count. When Grassick later counted his bank- roll, he found the official had replaced a number of the $20 bills with $5 bills. Not Uncommon "Grassick later learned from other travellers that this isn't as uncommon an occurrence as might be expected. Grassick said the biggest problem was getting rides - particularly in northern Chile where both cars and trucks dwindled. Also, sonic of the lorry drivers who gave., the hitchikers a ride would demand to be .paid when they let the riders out. Right now, the major problem§ facing the 'two--m-en .is-- getting ,enough money together to get back to Scotland. Since neither have work permits. 'they hope to pick up sonic casual work while staying in the Seaforth area. - Although Grassick said .the people of Argentina made them very welcome, even putting up the fans in their homes and feeding them for nothing, it was obvious all isn't well in the country. which is now ruled bv a military dictatorship. Grassick said' Argentina is • a wealthy nation in comparison with Many bf the Central American countries and the cities and villages are clean, and the people well-dressed. However, he said Argentinians are desperately frying to maintain this lifestyle in the face of inflation, Grassieft said many factory and office workers take home about $40 a week inwages and yet a bottle of beer, although larger than found in Canada, sells for $1 a bottle. The photographer said the Argentinian government had launched a major public relations campaign before the Match opened, encouraging the people to create a good impression of their country for the visitors. Grassick said, the journalists were handled very carefully, but he heard reporters were told they would, be asked to leave the country if they deviated from covering anything but the World Cup match. Grassick said the ultra-right wing government now in power in the country has taken away many of , the citizens' rights, but many people feel the sacrifice• is worthwhile since they can now walk down the street without fearof terrorist attacks. Losing Unfoftunately, after the. Scots fans made their oddyssey to Cordoba, the team played disaStrously-losing matches to Peru; and trying with Iran, both'considered far inferior teams. If Scotland had won, Grassick said there would have been "singing in the streets." But despite the team's foss, the Scots hard fans htaove due hpaidicaatne.adventure which will be This December 30, Grassick hopes the fans who went to Cordoba can get together for a reunion in Edinburgh. After all. there'll certainly be lots to talk about. Richard 9easock • (.------"Thrtusual part of the story is how the men followed their, team - by hitchiking from --___ . _New York to Argentina to catch 'the match and then thumbing their way back to Egmondville, to stay, with Robbie's. relatives. ' A COOL DIP IN THE POOL these swimmers decided to spend last Wednesday afternoon taking a cool dip in the Lions' Club pool and who can blame them? The pool will close for the season on the afternoon of Sept. 4. (Expositor Photo) , 119th Year Whole No. 5 764 $12.00 a year. in Advance Single copy 25 cents SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1971 111 PAGES is ci cut rise . This year, students return to a full day of classes ,on'Tuesday. Sept...5 when county schools open their doors. • theIn . past, the first day back at school in the fall has often been only a half day. School buses will pick students up at the regular time on toesday morning. z- Bruce Shaw, principal of Seaforth District . I-figh School, said enrolment at the school is higher than originally projected. The projected enrolment for the 1978-79 school year was 380 pupils but a flood of registrations- in the last week has brought the number close toA00 students. At the end of last year, there were 358 students attending classes at the school. Although there won't be any new faces on • staff,. three teachers have been transferred to Central Huron Secondary 'School in Clinton. • • These are James Moore, Eric Judge and Ali Farag, Mr. Shaw reminded, students the first .day will be a. regular day of classes. • The efirolinent at .Seaforth Public School . has declined slightly, Principal 'Paul Carroll said enrolment is expected to balance out . at about 340 . students.. However, registration at the school coptinuesevery morning until the end of this week. Last ,year, 358 students' attended the school and there have been 12 new students registered at the school. The staff at the school remains the same this year. Angus MacLellan, principal of Hullett Central School, Londesboro said the projected enrolment at that school is 315 • students, an increase of 10 students from last year. There will be three new staff members at the school this fall. Marianne Johnstone of the Chatham area will be teaching Grade 4 and music classes. Mrs. Barbara Rosman is returning to teach Grades, 2 and 3 at the school. Mrs. Linda Rosman of Clinton has been hired as school secretary. Mr. MacLennan reminded parents that the first day of School will follow a regular schedule with buses returning students to their homes at the usual dismissal time. Marie Toll, principal• of Walton Public School, sa id she is expecting enrolment at the school will be about the same as last year. There were 120 pupils at the school last year. This year kindergarten enrolment at the school is up. The staff at the school remains unchanged from last year. The , projected •enrolment •for Huron Centennial • School in Bracefield is 508 students, a slight drop from the 520 stitdents who attended the school last year. There is one staff change at the school. David Kemp has been transferred from . Robertson Memorial School in Goderich to the Brucefield School. Adriaan Brand who taught at Heron Centennial last year has been transferred to Stephen Central School this year. The schools in the Huron-Perth Rbman Catholic Separate School Board Will also be holding •a full day of classes on Tuesday The schools will nor know this, year's enrolment until next week. At Seaforth s Seaforth's recreation department wants you to try your hand at beating your neighbour. The recreation department isn't ad- vocating violence, just some friendly com- petition with townspeople in a variety of events from an earth ball match to a poker rally. „St. Patrick's school, Dublin, has a new principal this year, Larry Cook, who resides. inDublin. Mr. Cook was formerly principal at St. Mary's School in Goderich. There will also be a new principal at St. Columban School. Ray Contois of Stratford will takeover the principal's duties at the school. This is his first year as the principal of a school. Sister Theresa remains the principal of St. `James School in Seaforth. There were a number of staff transfer at the school which will be publsihed in The Huron Expositor next week. Buses will pick up students for these three schools at the regular time' on Tuesday morn in e. community day These events are planned for the second annual Seaforth Community Day, to be held in the -Optimist Park on September 16. The day's events will start with a car and poker rally, leaving from the Seaforth District High School parking lot at 10 a,m.. • The route will be .approximately 25 miles . (Continued on Page 3)• The federal"* government's... spending ogbackshave cancelled the computer data service known as Canfarm, used by a number of Fluk,on County farmers. Ottawa's announcement that the Can- farm program will be cancelled to save $6 million came as a complete surprise both to the farming community and administrators of the program. Stan Paquette, of the Huron County OMAF office, a user agent of the Canfarm program, said he learned the program would be cancefied last week. He es- timated that 70 to 80 Huron Farmers use Canfarm - most as a bookeeping service. Canfarm provided farmers with advice on everything from cattle,,to bookkeeping, for a standard fee of $30 a year. Twenty-four thousand farmers in Canada, mainly small and medium:sized. operators, subscribed to the Canfarm services. . Computer - The computer and databank, based in Guelph, kept a. farmer's accounts and answered agricultural questions submitted by mail from 'across Canada. "The program* will continue until next April. , While Canfarm was a federally funded program, it was administered provincially by' OMAF offices and other user agents. Nick Whyte, R.R.2, Seaforth, a poultry farmer, said the first h.e learned of the Canfarm program cancellation.was when he was called by The Huron Expositor for a comment. He phoned the OMAF office to confirm the news, and said he was "disappointed" with the cancellation, Many area fariners learned of the . cancellation on the weekend through a Canadian PreSs (CP) story which appeared in daily newspapers. Mr. Whyte said he has belonged te .the Canfarm program since it was 'mplement- Pd ten .years ago. Farmers pay a nominal $30 fee per year' for the service. He suggested the government might have told farmers what the program was really costing and given 'the farmers a chance to pay the price. Mr. Why'te said he would have.paid $300 a year for the service. He said there still may be a chance to save the program before the final. April, 1979 cut off date if enough people let the government know their, feelings. Mr. Whyte said he believed the government was providing a service to the farmers that ,was also available through 'private enterprise. The farmer said the bank he uses offers .a similar program to the rural cerninnnity. • Low Rates When David Harrington, Canfarm's executive-director was' interviewed last week, he said the fact that, rates from the . program charged to users were' so low, requiring additional government financing, • ptpbably accounted for the program's deMinris.ell'arrington was quoted as saying there were repeated delays by the.treasury board in approvinga . revised charging policy that would have recovered about $2 million for the federal government from the Canfarm program. Two McKillop Township farmers said the cancellation caught them by surprise because Canfarm had just introduced a new double—entry bookkeeping system about a year ago. "That seems wasteful," Said Don Moylan of R.R.5, Seaforth, but he added he'd learned a lot from Canfarm and operated service thefact in th the government; first place. had d Would Pay More MI% Moylan's neighbour, Don McKercher of R.R..1, Dublin thought most farmers would have been willing to pay . more for Canfirm. "I never dream of ,it being discontinued but I wondered how long it would be so low priced," he said. Both men participated in the feed lot study Canfarm runs for 34 Ontario farmers. The comparative "figures it offers "can give you more confidence that what you're doing is right", 'Don Moylan said. Cancellation of The Canfarm, 'will mean more work for them, both men agreed. However, "We 'ye got tu do more on our own," Mr. Moylan said. No one can/expect to be immune to cutbacks when they come, he added. Beat youtt neighbour.V.' Inside this week the limn Txpositor Fifteen cold tons P. 5 Storey Farnily H isfory Book P. 7 Bean Growers tour Counties P. 15 Lake Huron sailing jaunt P. 21