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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-12-02, Page 2xpositor ee. littr en 527-0240 12 Mein St. SInce thin Swing the Co munity tirat Pubilithed at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO every Wednesday afternoon by McLean Bros. Publishers Ltd. AndrewY. McLean, Publisher Susan White, Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Weakly Newspaper Association and Audit 8t(reou of Circulation Subscription rateo: canada$17 a year lin advance) suttald*C„11fIsla alfearlin advance) Single Copies - 50sents each Secgnd,c)ass mall registration, number0606 Adeirilling Is aecteeted en the candilien that In the event of a tyttontitplikal error the tovortisina epees eseiketodna the ethatrieire Ition, tiestato with teseittitik allowance let signature, will not be Charged tor but • the beim* it Ito* advettletionint wilt be paid for at the applicable rata While dinky Witt WM be Med. * **ate handfed with ate. the publishers cannot be responsible tor `14., titiiittti Of iiitiodriffid WW1. ryink dishes issolves drivel It was a meal fit for a king when it was over, I setback with my coffee and felt the contentment of unhurried thoughts wash over me. Nine of us had polished off a fine roast of pork along with great quantities of trimmings, but now there came the reckoning. Every plate, glass and pan in the house had been used to prepare the feast and with no automatic dishwasher in sight, a long period of cleaning up awaited us. It was' b prospect no one anticipated with joy, except for me. love-lives, their careers, their plans, their disappointments and sometimes, their neighbours. NO BIG DEAL Perhaps it's the faCt that people don't have to Irk at each other while they're talking. And neither one dne-to the other and said, "I would like to dliCass-my problems with you." There's no big deal. It just happens. In fact, people seem to talk more freely when they are first engaged in some other activity. One day at a time by Jim Hagarty t offered to dry. The women, of course, instructed me to take my coffee and go Sit in the living room but I protested that I wanted to help. They finally relented and I was thrown a towel Now, I am oot one of thoserare creatures who simpl y loves to work but I' do enjoy drying the dishes after a meal. CO-OP EFFORT It is not the actual process of tdwelling off wet dishware that I find so appealing. Instead; it's the strange effect that a co-operative efforrat the kitchen sink has on people. It opens them up and allows them to say things they'd never say under illy other situation. Many a personal problem has been aired and thus dissolved while the dishes were being done and how that the automatic dishwasher is faking over the Idtchr of mote and more homes. I wonder where people are doing their talking. If you took two people, sat them down at a table across from each other and ordered them, to talk* about things that really matter, they'd be bound to drift into drivel within seconds. 'But positioned at the sink, with cupboards fttli of dishes to clean, the two would' sdon bet discussing their "Wanna gofor a walk'" is an open invitation for some meaningful convers- ation because the worlds seem to flow more easily as you stroll by the storefronts downtown. People think of things to say that they wouldn't have thought of under any other circumstances. The atmosphere In a typical psychiatric hospital often induces craziness in many of its patients who may have been only mildly ill when'they were admitted. Over-zealous psychiatrists, who sometimes tend to forget that they ate experimenting with actual, living human beings, seat- their Subjects in uncomfortable armchairs in beige, sterile rooms, place a tape recorder on si table in front of them and order them to express What it is that's bothering them while behind a two-way mirror in the room, a group of psychology majors witness the exchange for their university projects. The psychiatrist is puzzled when his Patient fails to open up and another round of "talks" is scheduled for next Thursday at 10 a.m. The well-meaning. doctor might achieve, more results were he to invite his patient home to upper and throw him a dishtowel after the meal. SEAFORTH. ONTARIO. DECEMBER 2, 1981 Strong, united "No" Huron County, Ontario's toxic waste capital? That's not a joke, It—could be reality, now that the provincial government has come to the conclusion ,(after a year of wrangling and millions spent) that South Cayuga is not a suitable site for Ontario's poisonous chemical toxic wastes. Number two on the list when the site was announced last year was our own Ashfield Township. We support 100 per cent theHuron County Federation of Agriculture's stand that Huron is not the place for toxic wastes from our cities. We agree with Tuckersmith farmer Jim McIntosh that since Huron farmers don't send manure to Toronto, the cities have no right to expect Ontario's rural municipalities to take care of their offal. We said in an editorial last year that the problem of toxic wastes is one that can and must be attacked at the source. The plants_ which produce toxic wastes , as by-products must develop ways of making those wastes safe and neutral, instead of expecting the province as a whole to pick up the tab. The costs of disposing of such-wastes have to be included in those company's products. If that makes them economically unfeasible, then we'll have to do without. The toxic waste disposal dilemma is an offshoot of the consumer society. Produce what we think we need, and to hell with the environmental and social consequences, the philosophy goes. That's not good enough in 1981. Instead Ontario must adopt a policy that makes the industries which produce them responsible for their own toxic wastes. It's not a case of "Not in my backyard" so much as a .corporate and governmental responsibility to see that toxic wastes are eliminated or at least neutralized and contained, as close as possible to their source. That's the way farmers operate and it's a conserving way of looking at life that big industry and government is going to have to copy. There are those who'd applaud the coming of a toxic waste disposal site to Ashfield Township. It would bring jobs, the argument goes, and that land isn't much good for farming anyway. To them we say the enormous hazards involved in transporting life-threatening wastes from the cities where they are produced away up to Ashfleld Township, over often treacherous snowbound winter roads, outweigh that argument. The solutions to disposing of industry's toxic wastes do not lie in rural Ontario. Anywhere, That's what we have to say and keep repeating with a strong, united voice. Tot a nice story It's not a nice story for Christmas. Charities in Winnipeg whqoperate depots offering free clothing r the- needy report they've had to turn people away because they've run, out of winter clothes to giveaway: Long lines of needy people are standing in snow for up to three hours waiting for the depots to open. When they open, sometimes, the cupboard is bare. Hard to believe isn't it at a time when perhaps 75• per cent of the population is discarding perfectly gOod clothes in favour of the latest fashion? Hard times, and an influx of people into the city looking.„ for non-existent jobs are being blamed for the need for more warm used clothing. Mothers with babies arein the line-ups, people one worker said "who haven't had anything new for years". There are also a lot of older people living on fixed incomes, sorting through the used clothing recks. City welfare provides between $13 and $17 a month per person, depending- on age, as a clothing allowance'. That won't go far to buy a winter coat for anybody. But in any case, this clothing allowance often goes for food. It'-snot a pretty story and we who live in relative affluence don't like to be reminded of others who might be both cold and hungry this winter. But they are there. They are in Winnipeg ad likely they are in Huron County too. There's not a lot we can do from here about Winnipeg's lack of warm winter clothes. But here in Huron there's a Christina& Bureau operated by the countyrs .family and children's services. Think of it and the people who need what it .has to offer when you're sorting through the clothing your family has outgrown. The fact that some people face Christmas 1981 without warm coats should be enough to make us all shiver. And to make us act. dharity_begins at home and in Seaforth that means the Christmas Bureau, right On Man St. It opens on Monday, December 7. DEC., 2, Mil The Rev. A. W. Hartley of Hensall. had the misfortune lately. to lose a valuable cow and Mr. Rodgers of Rodgerville. with his characteristic kindness went among the people and raised the sum of $60 to make up the loss. James McEwing of Tuckersmith has sold his farm, farm stock and implements to Edward Aubrey. The farm. was sold for $7.000: andthe stock and implements $l.000 making SliQ09 cash down, for the whole. The faun, contains 100 acres and is situated-on the Oh concession. J.J. Fraser, who. has been a resident of Hensel{ for some time, left on Tuesday for Centralia. On the evening previous to his depirture he was treated to, an oyster supper by a num* of his friends. We understamil that Wm. Grieve. has- definitely determined to be a candidate for the Reeveship of Maintop at the next election, the present reeve having declared his deterimination that .he will not again accept the position. J.P. Brine_ held a very successful auction sale on the farm of Alexander Forsythe, Tuckersmith on Wednesday last. The attend- ance was large and the auctionees succeeded in keeping up the interest throughout the entire sale, and consequently bidding was spirited and animals and articles brOught To be or not to be? Retired, that is. Tiii? is the question that many codgers of my age or near it grapple with in those lonely dark hours of,the night when you've had too much coffee and can't getinto the ravelled sleeve of care, as Shakespeare put it. Or get to bloody sleep, as some of his less flowery countrymen would put it. It's a question that has also stirred a great deal'of agitation among sociologists, medical reporters, and old guys who are healthy as trout and are about to be kicked out at the age of 65 _with 'a speech, a „copper watch, and a pension that\will have them eating dog food by the time they are 68. It used to be a gold watch. Not no more, not with gold hovering around the $400-an-ounce mark. In fact, just the other day. I dug out ms father's.gold watch, whiph was-give me on his death by My mother, because I was her favorite. I have never worn it, because I don't wear vests, and it's a big, heavy brute that must be slipped into a vest pocket. You can't wear it on your wrist. or put it in your hip pocket. It's as big as an alarm clock. I took a long look at it, and if it hadn't been Sunday, might have hustled down to my friendly gold buyer. But roots, or conscience. or common seise, took over. and I sadly put it away again, with such other memorabilia as my war medals, my hip waders, and a fading picture 9f my first real girlfriend, in a box in the basement. Roots told me it was a precious symbol that should be passed on to my eldest son, of which I have Only one. Conscience told me it was a rotten thing to do. And common sense told Pte that there was probably about one-eighth of an ounce of gold in it. I am, however, holding in reserve,a broken tooth with a gold inlay. When I came back from overseas and was discharged. I was given a form to present to my own dentist. listing the dental work to be done, at government expense. He was a typical WASP. Hi looked at the list of work, which was quite extensive, after a term on short rations in prison canto, and laughed. "Ho. ho, Bill. You don't want all that gold cluttering up your mouth. This was Signed by a French-Canadian. They're great for gold in the teeth." it that dentist is alive today, I would be quite happy to strangle him. I went along with him, while noting his prejudice, and instead of having a mouthful of gold. I got one little inlay. If he'd followed directions, and counting the teeth that have been pulled, or fallen out, or broken, my mouth would have been worth about $4.000 today. instead of maybe $6. Well. this hasn't much to do with retiring, which we started on way back there. but it does show what inflation can do to a man. high prices. The cattle sold amounted to $460; horses $865 and other articles; $530.50, the total amount realized by the sale being $1855.50. DECEMBER 7, 1906 Thomas Murdock. flensall's old, esteemed and enterprising livery proprietor, is. drawing' stone for the foundation he intend$ putting under his dwelling prepatory to brick veneering it. , Wm. Gosentock has disposed of Hill Side. the handsome residence property of the late Dt•cQ1Citin. The price paid was $.5A0- The purchaser, is Hugh MeGammend recently frOm Scotland and he has, taken up his residence -there. We have pleasure welcom- ing Mr. McCarnmond• as a resident of Seaforth and we trust his stay with us will. be long and pleasant. Messrs. EcEwen and Goletthorpe of Goderich were in Seaforth on Saturday last. Both gentlemen are interested in --the Maitland River Power Co. and were here on business in connection with the 'Company. Mr. Goldthorpe is a hustler and now has a scheme for building electric railways throughout the country. He says ,Goderich. Seaforth and Stratford' are undoubtedly going to be the big places in the part of the province. eye because "There will be a lot less children to play_with this Christmas". The ad then quoted the number of therapeutic abortions given the past year. Immediately when me word • about . the plans leak out the pro-abortion lobby began to scream loudly. The ads were in bad taste, they , said, although the ads seemed; downright subtle compared to previous anti-abortion ads seemed downright subtle compared - to. prevous anti-abortion ads which showed an aborted fetus. The ads woytt cause -some- women svho had had an abortion to be filled --with guilt at this time of 'the year, when love, should be in the air. It would depress women who had lost a child through more natural muses. Mr. Lewis in his radio column brought up all these things plus taking on the English grammar in the ads. He spent about a minute What about retiring? I look around at colleagues who have chosen early retirement. or who have been forded to retire because of that magic, arbitrary number, 65. Some are happy as hummingbirds and swear they would' not even put their noses ' back into the old shoe factory (high school). Others are miserable, plagued by illness and a feeling of being useless. The latter drive their wives out of their respective minds, hanging around the house, getting in the way, edging into senility. Thus I waver. I thought sew years ago that I would soldier on until 60.- Surely 40 years of work is enough. Then I am swayed by my father-in-law, who recently retired at •86. and my wife, who cart barely stand` me at home for a weekend. If we lived in a decent climate. I'd probably be retired and happy. There's 'nothing would like better than to saunter down to the square, play a game of chess with Some other old turkey, drink a little vino, and watdcb the girls go by, with cackling. remarks. Try that in the local square, and they'd be carting you off to the last restingplace, frozen solid in a sitting position. Why don't we all give up, we old gaffers? You know why? Because we are not old gaffers at all. In my chest beats the heart of a 15-year-old maiden (who has been smoking_ since she was two.) In the old days, we'd be retired, happily playing chess or shooting pool, because our sons would be looking after us, and our wives would feed us well, and know their place. and our daughters-in-law would be producing hordes of grandchildren to light us on our way. These days, we are still looking after our sons, and our wives are avaricious and spoiled, and oiiiedaughters-in-law are alrtady separated from our sons and not keen on having more than one and a half children. Oh, I keep my staff on its toes. One day I announce firmly that I'm going to retire next June. Their faces light up and they say, "Oh, chief. how can we get along without you." Another day I say, "Well, haven't decided yet. What with inflation and all, y'lctiow„.." And their faces drop into feet. and they say. "that's great, chief. How could we get along without you?" And I smile. To myself. I've fintly figured out the solution. Retired men, unless they have some insane hobby. Aikeirokitigyose trellises, drive their wives crazy. If my wife will sign a written agreement, duly witnesied, that she will go out and get a job (she once was a waitress, shouldn't be any trouble) the moment I retire, I'll do it. I don't want her hanging around the house, spoiling my retirement. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, something every Canadian agrees with: until he has to listen to somebody else say something he thinks is wrong. The thought came to mind a couple of weeks ago on listening to a radio commen- tary by Stepehn Lewis on the subject of some infamous anti-abortion ads in Toronto. Mr. Lewis today is a media person but earned his fame as leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. Both he (and his father David, leader of the federal NDP) spent many years working for left-liberal causes. He fought or equity, for the underdog, for openessiti society. He battled for honesy in governmenty-ahattlethat oft brought-him- t hard against the sometimetocratic nat- ure of the Bill Davis blue achine. Pew-- people would be stronger advocates of the right of free speech than Mr. Lewis. That was before the anti-abortion ad issue. The ads in question were prepared for use in the Toronto subway and bus system. 'They showed a toy soldier with a tear in his Grappling with codgers' question Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley inallailW10101.110.0111110.1"......111.11111111.10. Kindness makes up for lost cow In the years agone Hoegy Bros. of Walton are doing good work with• their chopping mill. They will run Monday. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of each week. We wish them success. Mr. A. G. Smillie of Tuckersmith attended the sale of imported horses of Mrs. S.J. Prouse, at Ingersoll, a few days ago and ptirchased a very, handsome Clydesdale Oily. She is *bright bay, eighteen months old and Mr. Strtillie paid $225 for her. He intends to keep her for breeding purposes. DECEMBER 4, 1931 Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Bedard and family of Detroit visited last week at the home of their uncle and aunt, Mr. and. Mrs. Joseph Mero of Seaforth. They were accompanied by J. Bedard of the Bluewater Highway. a brother of /Ws. Mero's. Warden Beattie of Seaforth and Reeves Thompson of Tuckersmith and Eckert of McKillop._ ire io Goderich this week attending the December session of the Huron County Council. On Saturday night, Hensall's villagers noticed a reflection of fire a little to the northeast of our village, when it was learned that one of the barns of Robert Cooper, Of near Kippen had been completely destroyed by fire originating from the explosion of a lantern that was in use and as only one of the sons of Mr. Cooper was at home, the fire spread quickly before anything could be done. Howard Leary spent Sunday with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Leary of Staffs- Mr. and Max. John McCarthur of St. Marys spent the weekend with relatives at Walton. DECEMEI1 19$6 • Possibility of thererection of a new bank building in Hens.all was seen as the flank of Montreal purchased the bowling: green property from the village, The olo was approved by HenSall CoUeeil •Monday night. S.!atPrthrolige ate lOvestigiting en assault. which occurred uesday about 6 &Clock when $70 was reported siOleo. George De Jong, caretaker at St. James Church was leavin$ to go home he told police when an assailant attacked him-and stole $70. - Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Lovell of Kippen spaiit the weekend in St. Marys, guests of M.. and _Mrs. Thomas R. Graham. Mr. and Mrs. J. Gordon. ‘.'sio arrived in Walton last week from Httinilton have taken up residence in the Hoy apartment. Mr. Gordon is employed'in the C.P.R. section. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Krauskopf and Billie of Ferndale, Mich.. and Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Nicholson of London visited with Mr. and Mrs. James KrauskopL of the three or four minutes talking about how it was incorrect to talk about "less" children, that it should be fewer, that the only way to have "less" children was to have each child smaller. It proved to him, he said, what kiod of uneducated, primitive minds support- ed the anti-abortion campaign. Leaving aside, the fact that there are doctors, lawyers, university professors and artists who are against abortions, whatever happened to the Stephew Lewis of political fame standing up for the poor, the uneducated, the little guys? HAD THEIR WAY ' Well Mr. Lewis and his fellow abottionists had their way. After a vigorous campaign of , pressure the Toronto Transit Commission cteversed its decision to -accept the 'ads. Justice was done from the, liberal, right- thinking point of view. Of course had it been a pro-abortion-on-demand advertisement that had been cancelled it. Would •have been a denial of freedom of speech. • Simlar inconsistencies in liberal, modern thought can be detected in the reaction of many liberals to the Western Guard, the Ku Khtx Klan and other neo-nazi groups. Freedoni of speech; freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, these freedoms taken for granted in our society liberal thinkers are often willing to withold from such groups because they don't like what they have to say. In London these days there is a bitter dispute over what should be taught in the schools. Here in Huron.County liberals tame out fighting when some people wanted to limit' access in the schools to some books which they felt weren't fit for students. The liberals said that the students were capable of judging for themselves. But in London the same kind of peOple who were in favour of students judging for themselves are now against it. The debate has been on whether .or not to give the " creationist" view of the beginning of the world equal time with the "evolutionary" theory. Fifty years ago the battle was-to get the "evolutionary" theory into the schools against the "creationist" view so things have exactly turned around. Leading opponents of this new move have been the professors of the University of Western Ontario. So much for free thinking. Intoleance is intolerance whether from the left of the political spectrum or the right. Trouble in this world comes when people feel that they have found the only secret of the universe; what they know how the world should be run and no one else does. At one time only the Pope Was supposed to be infallible. Today it seems half the population is. The new religious converts, those" struck-by-lightning, born-againers are ready to force their way of thinking down anyone's throat because they have the only true answers: The educated, left-liberal elite are I often just as bad because they have seen the light that hasn't come to the lesser types. Such thinking is dangerous no matter who it comes from; no matter-how well-meaning people are. Movies-like the James Bond type tend to portray great dangers to the world that come from evil men plotting to take over The world, Yet the greatest tragedies have come because of people who were convinced they were right, that they had a cause. Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin and the Ayotollahs, Richard Nixon, all thought they knew something that other people didn't, that they " had to put the world in its proper order because nb one else was -capable of it. The day we think that we have the right to shut off the-other guy's freedom of speech, no matter how little we like what 'he is saying, we are heading down a dangerous road., Listening part of freedom of speech Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston