HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-12-09, Page 2527-0240 12 Math St
(Photo by Campbell) The last boat of summer
"Ur 011 XPOSitOr
_SMC01860. Serving 014 Community lirst
•
Published at SEAFORTH-. ONTARtd every Wednesday afternoon
by McLean tiros. Publiahera Ltd
Andrew Y McLean. Publisher
Susan White, Editor
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO. DECEMBER 9, 1981
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association. Ontario
Weekly Newspaper Association and Audit Bureau of Circulation
Subscription rates.
Canada$17 a year (in advance)
outside Canacia$35. a year on advance)
Single Copies - 50 cents each
Second class mail registration number 0696
Parade here, shop elsewhere
Hundreds of people lined Seafortn's main street Saturday morning to
watch theSania Claus parade. !'And then they got in their cars and drove .
to .Stratford to thook" one Mein $1.. observer was heard to say.
And, no doubt eboui it, things were a lot quieter downtown Saturday
afternoon than they were at parade time.
Why?
Well there's no law, that says local people have to shop locally.
Downtown-merchants can try, and we know they do, to give shoppers the
best possible selection, prices and service. But they can't by virtue of
size, duplicate what's In the cities. We know people who buy everything
in Seaforth. "It's easy, I can get what I want," they say, while
disbelievers cluster around them at a party.
Then there are those who pride themselves on never darkening the
door of an establishment that's here in town. At that extreme of the
spectrum they don't even check local stores first...there's some sort of
status in saying "I got in in London."
We've got a suggestion to make. Let's make it status to say "I bought
it in Seaforth." Let's see how much•of our Christmas shopping we can do
right- here and save gas and the hassles of trips to the city.
A small town stays healthy only so long as its people, all its people,
stick together. If you've got a legitimate beef against a local store, tell
them about it. But give them a chance too to attract your Christmas
shopping dollars to the stores at home.
And remember, we wouldn't have had a Santa Claus parade for people
to watch ,before they went to Stratford to shop, if it wasn't for the Seaforth
Lions, the merchants and the many local clubs who supported it.
Santa doesn't parade in a town with a bunch of empty store fronts.
A great idea!
My son the juggler. Yes, he was able to
"fit us in" for a visit last weekend. We were
honored. It's not often that he can get home
'for about 30 hours. We see just a little more of
•
him than we did when he was 8.000 miles
away in Paraguay.
I'll try to describe him objectively. then--
move to a more subjective point of view.
He looks like his Dad, from behind. I've
been told many times. Something abOut the
tilt of the head, the way we walk. About the
sane height and build, though I'm thickening
a bit about the waist. dammit, and the hair is
a different colour, his brown, mine white.
Froth in front, he's more like-his mother.
especially the brown eyes that can turn, n
seconds from misty sentimentality to a couple
of orbs that literally burn when they hit you.
In temperament. he's a good mixture of his
parents. He has-his father's sweet, gentle.
reast_mabie manner and complete disdain for
the trivia of-life.
And he has his mother's ferocious anger
over the trivia life, her compassion, her
desire for perfection, her urge to talk until the
very bones of a listener are exposed.
Like me, 'he's lazy as a coon dog, but can
work like an ordinary, dog when it's
something he's interested in. Like her, he
wants to be loved, and to have it demonstrat-
ed. We .kiss and hug every time we meet,
rather unusual in these days for a father and
son, who usually shake hands and start
talking about money and cars and other such
fascinating things.
He's also a product of his times:. the sedate
fifties, the roaring sixties, the confused
seventies. No wonder he's a juggler.
I called him that, because from one
meeting to the next. I'm not quite sure which
balls (no pun intended) he's throwing ,up and
catching. And sometimes failing to catch.,.
And I guess the reason he'sa juggler is that
he has a streak of adventure and audacity in
him, which forces him into a cootinuous--
confrontation with things as they are.
He was a model kid until about 16: good
s in school, polite behavior with adults,
hair neatly cut, practised his piano. under
pressure. but faithhillY. Bandmaster in the
school orchestra. Altar boy at the church.
Then. one summer morning, he went
missing. He was 16. There was a thoughtful
note in the bread-box telling hits parents he
was taking off for Quebec to learn French.
Panic. His Ma insisted I visit the police,,who
were rather amused. He was only about the
sixteenth kid in' our comMunity who had
taken off that summer.
I wasn't too worried, but what goes on in a
mother's heart? I don't know. I've neverheen-
a mother, except to my two kidsrind their
mother.
Then disappeared again. Was on his way to
New Orleans when we nailed him in
Baltimore. Went to three different universi-
ties, tasting and testing. Found them all
wanting, at that particular time.
Don't blame him. Regret the. years I spend
acquiring a knowledge of English and
philosophy and history, all of which I could
have got on my own.
IfietraveJled, all over Canada-east •and
west coasts, selling vacuum cleaners in
Calgary, working as a waiter on coastal
pleasure boats.
SomeWhere along the line, after he'd been
to Mexico and thesouthern U.S. , he became a
Ba-ha-i. That meant he had to make a
pilgritnage to Haifa, in Israel. Which he did.
stopping,off in Ireland on the way home. Then
off to Paraguay for five years.
The juggler? Right now, he's in Toronto.
He is taking courses at the University in
astrology. music 'composition, and playing
jazz. Heis an expert, or thinks he is. on occult
literature.
Speaking Spanish, French and English, he
has a variety of friends and acquaintances
that would boggle the mind. Young women,
noon. '
His mother had bought a roast, a rather
rare occasion around our place these days,
baked a pie with special love, and had all sorts
of goodies ready for him. He was fasting, and
had been for a week, taking only liquids. She
was miffed.
And, among all his juggling, he spends
countlets hours working at the Ba-Ha-i faith,
attending meetings, speaking, etc.
An interesting character, the juggler.
Generous to a fault when hehas some money.
Completely unscrupulous about borrowing
when he hasn't.
But, boy oh bey, I wish he didn't get so •
angry when I can't tell him the exact minute
and hour his sister was born, so he could do
her horoscope.
A visit ficom.
Sugar and spice o d men, Brazilian waiters, blacks, French-
Canadian playwriters.
Hew does-he support himself? Well, he
my son the juggler
.
•
By Bill Smiley works two days a week at a classy restaurant
in the city as a waiter. And he is, also a
He came home. Spoke pretty good French. reflexologist, and gets $25 a rattle for
Finished high school, went off to college. treatments.
Reflexology? That's a system or probing
and prodding your nerve ends to get rid of the
pains and poisons in your body. He gave me a
.two hour treatment last Saturday morning.
and' I. (thinking I was in good' shape) hurt so
much thatl would have given hith $25 to quit.
He'll keep you up until three aan-., talking,
then either bounce out of bed at seven,
insisting you go for a walk. or sleep until
Two sides to every story, reader says
hea popular in
In the years agone
We went shopping to Stratford Mall.
Arranging to meet in the hall later, my wife
went to Kthart and I went to A & 'P to get
groceries etc. I purchased six packages of
drip coffee (on special). Waiting in the hall
and browsing for some time. I decided to get
more and left this bag at the Hiller office, next
door until I returned.
While passing the cashier. I picked up an
empty bag and after filling it, I paid for them.
As the cashier took the top few out to count
them. I noticed I had 2 pounds of regular
grind,'but 'deaded not to bother to exchange
them.
Waiting in the hall a few minutes again, I
noticed a lady with a basket of grapes and
decided we needed Some. Being in the store
anyway, I thought I -Might as well exchange
the two bags of regular for drip grind arid get
Please print the following from the
Stratford Beacon Herald, Dec. 2:1981.
"Alvin Beuerniatf. 56, of RII1 Dublin. was
granted a cimditional discharge and put on
probation for six months after he was found
guilty of shoplifting.
The manager and assistant manager of the
A & P store in the Stratford mall watched as
Beuerman put six packages of coffee into a
brown paper bag he had picked up from the
check-out counter on his way into the store
Sept. 25, 1980.
When Beuerman, went through the check
out line a-few 'fiiitriftes later he paid for a
basket of grapes but, when questioned about
the bag Containing the coffee, he told the
cashier he had paid for it before and produced
a receipt for 517.94.
He was shipped outside the store and
asked to return while police were called.
During his investigation, the officer found
a second brOwn bag containing six, packages
Of coffee whic uerman had earlier left at
the P.H. Hiller o next to the A & P.
A cashier testified t she remembered
fittlertitift parch*** at toffee from her
just a short time before his second `trip into
the Mit. The'recelpt which she had ,given
DECEMBER 9, 1,881
S. Hicks of Seaforth has sold his driving
mare, three years old, to an American buyer
for $190 and is now sorry for what he has
done. The same buyer offered Mr. Myer $225
for his grey.
We notice that Messrs. McArthur and Co..
bankers; base commenced business. The
want of a bank in Hensall has long been felt
We wish them success.
Dr. O'Shea. who has only resided in Dublin
for a few months, is now building up for
the short time reterred to by her). After die
officer brought the bag to me from Hillers. he
asked me-where the sales slip was and I said.
"Probably in the bagAt-He spread the bag
open with his hands. (Naturally you can't see
a sales slip in among six bags'of coffee. from a
top view.)
In departing, they kept one bag and the
receipt, and gave us the other, bag of coffee
and the grapes.
On our way home, we got extremely
When Cable T.V. was coming to
Seaforth nobody was happier than I. I love
American sports of all kinds and Cable T.V.
would give me an opportunity to get my fill of
them. Since it has been hooked up I have
himself an extensive practice. We wish him
every success as we are well aware that he is a
steady and energetic young man. Oust the
kind of man for a doctor.
The congregation of St. George's Church.
Walton, being desirous of purchasing an
organ for the use of the church, adopted the
expedient of inviting a number of the
gum n
curious, and dumpea the bag out on the seat
between us, with the sales slip falling out
from among the packages.
While in court I produced my receipt as
well as theirs, both for the amount of 517.94,
dated Sept. 25, 1980.
I feel the public should hear the evidence of
the defendant as well as the plaintiff in any
court case.
Alvin Beuerman
To the editor:
Thanksgiving when I turned on the T.V. to
watch an N.C.A.A. College football game.
There was no channel 7. I turned to channel 9
and it went out 1$ minutes into the show.
The following day there were two more
football games on. Still no channel 7. This is
only one occasion but there have been several
others. Why
manufacturers and agents of the different
instruments made to compete. The competi-
tion took place in the church on Friday
evening last in the presence of a committee
and a large number of the members. An
organist was present whci thoroughly tested
each instrument and after due deliberation
decision was given in favor of the Excelsior
organ furnished by Messrs. Stoll Bros. of
Seaforth, and the instrument was purchased
there and then.
Miles McMillan has sold his farm on the
3rd concession, I.R.S.. to James. Chesney,
Jr., of Feekersmith, for a good figure. The
farm contains 190 acres and with a little fixing
up will make one of the best, in the township.
DECEMBER 14,19.06
Saturday last was vestors day at the new
Willis Shoe Factory.:and during the hours the
factory was open to visitors over 1500veople
were shown through.
George Hamilton of Walton is home from
Indian Head, Sask., where he was extensive-
ly engaged in the furniture and undertaking
business; which he disposed of before leaving
the west. We have not heard what Mr.
Hamilton proposes doing. but firit that he
intends remaining in Ontario, as we are
always pleased to welcome back any of our
Huronites.
Charles Wasman of the London road.
south. Hensall has purchased a new cutter
from F. Tomlinson. Mr. McCowan also got
one the same day. Fred is a hustler to sell.
Gilbert Dick, the popular stock dealer of
Hensall, within the past two weeks' has
distributed over four thousand dollars among
the farmers of this vicinity for stock which he
has shipped.
, Peter McKay of Tuckersmith has received
a carload, 27 heads of very fine young cattle
from Algoma. He got them for winter
'feeding, but as there are more of them than
he has room for he will sell a few to any who
may require them.
DECEMBER 11,1931
W.H. Willis. a former well known resident
pay for something that frustrates you?
When asked about our rates. a friend of
mine was told it is a small town so there are
not many subscribers. Clinton is a small
town. They pay $7.49 per month. We pay
$11.23, $3.74 more per month. You can get a
real bargain and pay S128,00 a year. Only
$38.12 more than %I'M/pays $89.88
per year. Exeter pays k8.56 per month and
4102.72 a year. Iitst!t Moved from Kingsville.
a town near Windior: pop. 5,000; $11.50 a
1131111-1 1111111
and business man of Seaforth was elected
Mayor of Wiligham at the municipal elections
held in that town on Monday.
Mrs. Beam of Idaho is a guest ata,,he home
of Mr. find Mrs- J.H. Scott of Seaforth. Mrs.
Beam is a sister of Mrs. Scott and the tie
sisters had not seen each other for thirt/
years.
Misses Mary Humphries and Beth Shan-
non of Walton. spent the weekend with Reta
Campbell of Winthrop.
Lou Kirby of Walton called on friends in
Winthrop on Wednesday evening of last
week,
Mrs. Rester Richardson of Hensall had the
misfortune in going from the house to the
woodshed to fall. Fortunately no bones were
broken, but she was confined to her bed for a
week.
DECEMBER 14,1956
The final act in a drama that has been
underway it Council meetings for several
Months took place Monday evening when
Councillor John Kellar paid S25 to Mayor
McMaster.
It began last summer during a discussion of
Goderich Street paving when Councillor
Kellar suggested there was little chance of
highway paving east of Seaforth being
finished this year. Mayor McMaster was
positive the paving would be completed and
the wager followed.
Mild fall weather, which permitted paving
to continue to the end of November, settled
the bet and the Mayor won.
Will FinlaySon Visited with his mother Mrs.
James Finlayson and also assisted his brother
Art Finlayson at the new barn in Egmondilil-
le.
On Monday evening the fire truck from
Ethel was called *the farm of Pete Hellinga
of Walton to extinguish a chimney fire. What
might have been a serious fire owing to the
wind was averted. Mr. Hellinga resides east
of Walton on the former Sellar's farm.
Mr. and "Mrs. Harry Chesney of Kippen
spent Friday in London.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth McKay and family
have moved onto the farm they recently
purchased from Mrs. Wm. Martin.
our fashions, how stupid we were in
endangering our lives to prove that we were
just as brave in driving our cars at high
speeds, could drink just aS much and do sp
many other stupid things. Most of us grow
out of those particular short-sighted failings
but often we stay just as short-sighted in
other things. We are often just as bound to
fashion. both in dress and though, when we
are in our twenties, thirties and beyond as
we were when wel were teenagers. We go to
the fashionable dubs, and restaurants, read
the fashionable books, watch the fashionable
pro&rami. .buy the fashionable
clothes,, decorate our-homes 'in the, fashion-
able way, work at fashionable jobs.
Thinking "in context" is, I think, alittle
easier in a place like Huron county 'than, in
say a large city like Toronto, For one thing,
we in• Huron county live with our sense of
history. In a place that is more stable, where
we can still see houses and stores built by our
grandparents and great grandparents, we
are more likely to see things on 'a wider time
frame. We also liye close to nature, seeing
the seasons blend one to another, knowing
that summer will surely become winter' and
winter melt into summer again, that things
are ever changing yet forever the sametl
MORE WRAPPED UP ;
People in the city tend to get more
wrapped up in today; with themselves. A
fashionable New York writer wrote that if
she was anywhere else in the U.S. but New
York, she wouldn't get her hair done until
she got back to the city. Sbme people talk
about having a wine that isn't up to snuff as
if it could be fatal. When I used to live in the
city in the age of the mini-skirt, girls would
have purple knees and thighs rather than be
unfashionable. All this while people in the
world are starving, while •making our good
life of today may be mortgaging Our future.
Thilatic of "context", Mr. Nelson pointed
out, led us to think we Could just throw out
what we didn't want, like industrial
chemicals, sulphur- in the air, and other
pollutants. People never stopped to think
that we live in a closed system, that
everything goes around and around and
what you throw out today will have to be
dealt with tomorrow. They were too far from
their own history and from nature.
Yet we're not guiltless here in Huron
county either. It took a lot of pressure before
some municipalities agreed tot Sewage
treatment. A lot of farmers today aren't well
enough aware of the dangers of liqu'
manure waste, of chemical sprays a
fertilizers. Worse, with modern agricultu' .
practices they are actually ruining the land
Riot has fed us for more than a century. They
have only to look to once fertile places of the
world that are now wastelands through bad
husbandry to see the consequences. Trouble,
is, too few of us are willing to look anti! 'it's
too late, or until some high-priced expert tells
us what we should see for ourselves.
month for cable and a 'brown box converter.
23 stations, all flawless for about ,25c more
and there aren't many subscribers there
' because you can get about 30 stations with a
pair of rabbit ears and a U.H,F loop.
Wily do we pay so much and put up with
such cable? I think this should be answered
and remedied. We have put up with enough
fot long enough.
Thank you.
Michael Meidinger
To the editor:
him was not in the bag when the officer
checked it."
grapes at the same time. (This is probably: changed my views considerably._ Thave spent many tutors in frontof the T. V
when the manager thinks he saw me putting watching s_Whiasfidein and out or watching
coffee in the bag). Upon checking out and a Screen covered with nothing but snow. I am
paying for them, I told the cashier, the coffee totally fed ue, \with this. I felt compelled to
was paid and produced the receipt. (This is write this letter the day after the' American
went.
It's been brought to our attention that one forward-looking Huron
County business has a similar bus service in operation already. It's the
Dashwood Hotel and that progressive institution offers, patrons a bus
service to and from Hensel!, Exateri,, Zurich and Mount Carmel every
Friday and Saturday night.
"That's the only-way they can get them to go tpDashwood," some wit
at coffee break remarked. But all kidding aside, it's a super, idea. One
that'll certainly save wear' and tear on nerves and cars and one that just
might save some lives. I
Hats off to those smart people 'at the Dashwood Hotel. And here's
hoping the idea will spread to other Huron and Perth Hotel's.
It's an idea whose time has come. Back in the summer when Seaforth
and area was really concerned about a rash of alcohol related traffic
deaths one preventiiiYaineasure suggested was a bus service to take-
teens (or their elders for that matter) to and from big dances and other
social events in the area.
Keeps people who've had a wee bit much to drink off the roam. Keeps-
them from being a danger to themselves and others So the ar e t ,There is nothing less common in this
world than common sense. How else do you
explain how some people can package
common sense in a new wrapper of buzz
words and sell it back to us as theexpensive
product of consultant services?
had the chance to listen to one of these
consultants last week at a conference I
attended. He's a man who makes, a good
living talking to leaders of government and
industry telling them basically what they
would already know if they weren't so
wrapped up in their own-- day-to-day
activities that they couldn't see .ahead or
backwardi -or to 'either side.
Now 'I'm sure our expert. a "futurist"
skilled at telling us what to expect in the
future, didn't display his full repertoire for
us at the meeting since we were concerned
with only one small segment of the future
(people's needs in recreation and culture)
but what he did show' though, couched in
terms , complicated enough that , his message
went right' over some people's heads, was
simply the, old saying that history repeats
itself, or another, there is nothingnew under
the sun.
WHERE YOU'VE BEEN
Our expert talked about looking at things
in context, or his . "contextual way of
thinking" simply saying that if you want to
see where, you're going you have to look
where you've been. Taking a look at our
economic future, for instance, he said that
although few government officials, or pcilitic,
ians wilt admit it yet in public, PO Agee
that the days of four and five percent growth
in our Gross National Product are gone. Such
thins are still heresay with the general
public. We have come to take rapid
economic growth, annual increases in our
standard of living, as our inalienable rights.
But our expert, Reuben' Nelson from
'Ottawa, pointed out that four or five percent
growth was not normal. We see the current
slow economic growth as out of whack when
we compare it to. the years since the Second
World War when we enjoyed tremendous '
economicgrowth. However, look at econom-
ic growth over a 100 yeai period and you'll
see that our jslow growth of less than two
percent is nerinal, the fast growth of the last
30 a
points
ye orsuti,nththaet tahnoosme odl ya y. sRemember
of
e 18 too,00
he
includedincluded the industrial revolution when
fewer people were producing more goods
-than ever before.
Likewise, he said, our population boom
since World War Two is the first time since
the 1600s that the birthrate has increased
and therefore anyone who expected it to
Continue was shortsighted.
b eWc anu s en etto od
mpl:oyNpleGo:ANuliskegGeREt ewrubaapnpedNeulpsoinn
day-today life that we can't see the long
range. Mph we were teenagers we were so
busy trying to be part of the gang that we
often didn't realize how silly ate-looked in
Behind the scenes
by Keith Roulston
We're not guiltless
Reader disappointed in Cable TV