HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1963-09-26, Page 4Actually be wasn't Worrying
one bit, he seemed quite bap-
py and contented and never
struggled to escape from my
bands,
I solved the problem when
I emptied my plastic clothes
basket .and tUrned it lover him
on the kitchen table. Within
seconds this visitor was walk-
ing around, climbing up the
sides of the basket, apparently
looking for food.
My neighbour,, when I phon
ea to enquire whether she
knew of anyone nearby who
owned a budgie and might have
lost it, very kindly hurried
over with a budgie cage. $he
had it stored away since the
recent death of her bird. Her
husband put sand in the cage
and not having any bird seed,
had substituted some chick-
starter grain!
We transferred the budgie to
this cage. He must have been,
close to starving, the way he
devoured the food and water.
After five or ten minutes, his
appetite appeased, he settled
on one perch and tucked his
head down in his wings and
slept.
About half an hour later my
guest was calling loudly and
swinging about, very much at
home apparently in his temp-
orary accommodation. Mean-
while I had phoned several fr-
iends, asking them to tell any-
one who might inquire for a
lost budgie, that I was keep-
ing one.
Actually by now, I was torn
between hoping that the fam-
ily who had lost their p e t,
would locate us, and hoping
whoever had lost him would
not find us! He was a delight-
ful pet and very tame,
Just before dark there was
a knock at the door and upon
answering it, I met a lady with
an empty cage clutched in one
hand and a small daughter in
the other hand.
"Do you have a lost budgie?'
she enquired. "He is large,
dark' green with yellow and has
a bright royal blue tail", she
continued, before I could ans-
wer.
Reassuring her that this was
the bird I had, her joy and
the happiness Of her little girl
when "Chirpy" was returned,
were all the thanks I needed,
for the rescue of their pet. He
had flown away from home' the
day before and had spent near-
ly a full day on his own I
learned.
Can you gbess what we all
want to add to our household
as soon as possible?
BACKACHE?
..not me!
For relief from
backache or that
tired-out feeling
I depend on—
was struck down by a car wh-
ile she was apparently attemp-
ting to cross the road.
Results of the Clinton Grain
Club were the following in the
order of finish: Robert Allen,
Fred Pepper, George Turner,
Kenneth Gibbings, Ken Roger-
son, Stanley Johns.
An estimated 1,500 people
attended the. Bayfield. Fall Fair
which was threatened by rain
on various occasions. It was
opened by Thomas Pryde, Hu-
ron MLA,
10 'Years Ago
Thursday, ,September 24, 1953
A special meeting of the
Clinton Town Council was held
on, Monday and all members
were present and a decision
was reached to move the mun-
icipal offices to the old pub-
lic school on Ontario Street.
More people than there has
been for many a Wednesday;
stood on the street and at
Library Park, watching the
futile attempts of Clinton's pig-
eons to avoid the skilled top-
shooters stationed on the high-
er buildings throughout . town.
Over 140 birds were shot.
Mrs. Charles Stewart on
highway 4, just north of town
has an Easter Lily blooming
in her garden.
The Clinton News - Record
placed third in t h e Ontario
competition for the best All-
Round weekly newspaper,
Miss Margaret Joanne Cas-
tle,
a
Dunlop Street, has won a
further scholarship of $300
from the Ontario Provincial
SUGAR and SPICE
(By W. B. T. SMILEY)
4.04,41.000•WNI ,M1,04~41,,,M4P4W+4
What qualities do young
people want in a father? You'd
be surprised. And then again,
you might not. I found out the
other day when I asked about
35 teen-agers to list the traits
which they considered would
make up The Ideal Father. *
They don't want much, real-
ly. The modesty of their de-
mands was almost pitiable. All
they want is someone with the
looks and build of Rock Hud-
son, the morals of Sir Galahad,
the loving kindness of St.
Francis, the sense of humor of
Stephen Leacock, and the bank-
roll of E. P. Taylor, to name
only a few of the required at-
tributes.
As I wrote down their sug-
gestions, checking them one by
one against my own character-
istics, the hearty smile with,
which I had begun to write the
list turned into a° sick simper.
My wife has been telling me
for years that I'm a lousy
father, and I've been retorting:
"I yarn riot. I may be a lousy
husband, but I'm a perfectly
good father. Ask the kids." * *
And they, depending on
whose side the treacherous
young devils feel like throwing
their weight, would ' answer:
"He's not so bad, Morn, there
must be lots worse fathers than
Dad!" Or: "She's right, Dad,
you're not much of a father." * *
But here was proof, from
outside the family. I had only
about four of the 39 qualities
required by those teen-agers in
The Ideal Father. It hurt. I
(Continued on Page Nine)
Covered Wagon made/
It's the hot model of the '64 line. It hasn't been
unveiled yet, When it goes On public display, it will
be announced with all the pageantry of press, radio
and TV. The works,
You're bound to want one. If you do decide to
buy, finance your "covered wagon" with the plan
that's as up-to-date as a '64 model'. Use this season's
"hot" plan—the Bank of Montreal Family Finance
Plan. It's low in cost, life-insured; and the monthly
payments can be set to fit your ability to pay.
Ask about it at your neighbourhood bratich, It
fits ail model's of new and used cars,
BANK Of MONTRIAL
Fami Nance Plan
LOW-COST, LIFE-INSURED LOANS
Clinton Branelu it. G. FLETT. Manager
LondeSbototigh (Sub-Agency)
Open Mon. & Thurs,
Several months ago I told
My readers of a visit paid to
me by a friendly cow who
sampled my 'mums, During the
time we 114ve lived just outside
this small village, we have had
several strange "callers'.
I don't mean people — but
wandering animals, Stray hors-
es, chickens and ducks, deer
and even one groundhog who
came as close as the hedge .one
day and met his Waterloo in.
a running fight with our dog;
these are just a few,
A week or two ago I had
another "guest". It was oh a
Saturday and as I washed our
lunch dishes, suddenly some-
thing dropped by the outside
of the window right in front
of me. I looked up quickly and
imagine my surprthe when
saw a beautiful budgie perched
on the middle cross-bar of the
kitchen window.
Quickly I dried my hands and
quietly I opened the door to
the back yard. I stepped out-
side, hoping not to frighten the
bird. I cupped my hand gently
over his back and withciut any
trouble, -I held him, During
that morning there had been a
light shower, and this poor
bird had obviously been out in
it as his feathers were quite
untidy and damp.
One of my first thoughts as
I brought the bird inside was,
"Now that I have yOu, what
will I do with you?" because
while we have bird houses out-
side, we haven't furnished a
bird cage for inside.
We have never had a bird
in the family although I re-
call one poor bird - soul who
dropped down our fireplace
chimney one day. Fortunately
no fire was burning. That
feathered caller was a -starling
--hardly the variety to put in
a cage.
Well, here I was with a
'bird in the hand" and I won-
dered where to put him for his
own safety, as well as mine.
ine rites.
of many things
EARLIER this month,, the depart-
merit of education called together school
officials, architects, contractors and.
anyone else concerned with the build-
ing of schools to stage a conference on
school design, with the prime purpose
being to tnake education facilities as
functional as possible and - also in an
effort to keep costs down..
Although we will admit to not
reading all the reports of this .con,
ference thoroughly,'' we failed to note
where any discussion had been, held
on what steps could be taken to have
contractors more legally or financially
obligated to have • buildings completed
on promised deadlines:
In view of the situation at Clinton
and around the province, it would ap-
pear that steps shoud be taken in this:
direction to not only cut down, on
constructibn costs, but also to give the
students of these schools a fair deal
in their education.
• There can be no doubt but what
added construction and maintenance
Costs have been pushed onto the area
tax payers as a result of the contract,
ing firm's failure to have CHSS com-
pleted by the June 1 deadline, which
in fact, had been an extension • of the
original time set for completion.
: The department's clerk of works
had to be, retained for an extra period.
and could, cost up to $1,500 more,
many extra custodians had to be hired
in an effort to get facilities Cleaned
up at the last minute, and higher
priced union men had to be hired to
wire up some of the shops which could
.have 'been done by local tradesmen if
the contractor's union men had been
out of. the building.
Although Principal John Cochrane
and his staff have done a tremendous
job, some students have missed out on
their planned courses due to the un-
finished conditions of some shops, and
certainly the turmoil created by these
conditions has placed an added burden
on the principal and his staff.
- However, things were actually in
good shape at CHSS in comparison
with conditions ,in some other schools:
One Toronto school won't be finished
THERE HAS yet to be an argu-
ment on which there weren't two sides,
although the question of the CHSS
student council operating a store to
sell athletic equipment, books and
other supplies to students is one that
appears to have sides that are, very
much equal.
It is not difficult to muster up
sympathy for any merchants who pur-
chased supplies in anticipation of stu-
dent purchases, and it is perhaps un-
fortunate that they weren't made
aware of what supplies the school
would be carrying before they made
these outlays.
Now that the board has asked
that all fUtUre lines of supplies be
approved before the students start sel-
ling them, we trust the board will try
and give ample notice to local merch-
ants so they will not be "stuck" with
costly stocks of merchandise.
As for the argument itself, the
points listed in the report of the school
board meeting in this paper would in-
dicate both sides were well taken.
It was noted that the student
council store resulted in profits that
were used for buying equipment for
the school• and providing transporta-
tion for school teams; expenses that
would otherwise come out of the tax
payers pockets.
With lower prices they result in
savings to parents who have to buy
their children .these necessities, they
provide uniformity in the school's
physical training classes, and to some
extent give students business training
and responsible duties.
Certainly a well-founded argument!
On the other side of the ledger,
as Del Philp, Blyth, pointed out, they
do not show the students proper busi-
ness techniques as they do not have
to pay taxes, heat, light, etc. Due to
this they are able to operate at much
lower markups, throwing some merch-
ants in a bad light when they have
to demand higher prices front the stu-
dents for similar articles.
Added to this is the fact that a
few merchants are losing profitable
sales—merchants who pay taxes to
give these same students an education.
It also effects the community in that
these same merchants have to curtail
some of their spending habits, although
this is probably offset by the increased
savings to parents and students which
probably results ill their increased
buying habits.
THE CLINTON NEW ERA
Este 1865
I0 •
fir
01.
4/ L A4%
until Christmas and there are many
other schools in similar circumstances
where the, students will miss out on
much of their course of study this year,
It is true that some of these schools
were planned too late, and the fault can
not rest with the contractors entirely,
but that does not appear to be the
case at CHSS and in many of the other
schools,
In many instances it is a case of
contractors taking on more jobs than
what they can capably handle, and un-
fortunately it would appear that schools,
especially those being -constructed under
government supervision, are put at the
bottom of the various contractors' lists
of projects, and are looked after only
when the work undertaken for private
industries and businesses is completed,
One of the reasons for this is that
many • private contracts have penalty
and bonus clauses in them and natur-
ally contractors strive harder to have
them completed by the deadline, and.
if possible, before.
• In contrast to the local school
which has been under construction for
well -over a Year, we think of how
quickly workmen put up the burned
out Manufacturers' Building at the
Western Fair grounds and also the new
arena in that • same city.
These private concerns were in a
position to lose large sums of money
if completion was not made by their
deadlines, and the contractors chosen
probably had to make sincere promises,
backed up by penalty and bonus clauses;
before they were awarded the jobs.
In view of all this, is it not time
the government allowed penalty clauses
to be inserted in their school construc-
tion contracts, not only to save the
tax payers these added costs, but to
ensure that the students really are
getting the benefit of these new
schools?
Contractors would probably have
to cut down on the number of jobs
they had on . the go at any one time,
but it would work out to be as fair
for one as the other, and it would
certainly be fairer for the tax payers
and our students.
It is probably due to the fact that
only a very small minority of merch-
ants lose business as a result of "stores"
in schools, that only minor complaints
are raised, and perhaps if the students
undertook to compete in all lines of
retail selling, there would be a large
outcry againgt these sales and the board
would probably find they would have
to ask the students to terminate them.
Although we realize that such a
situation would never exist, perhaps
the board members should consider how
they would react if the students started
to compete with area farmers, drug-
gists and contractors.
However, while it would be easy
for us to come to the defense of some
of our advertisers against the non-ad-
vertising student store, the whole situa-
tion actually reflects a way of life to
which we are being subjected more
and more.
In order to take a stand against
student sales we would also have to
chastise church groups for competing
against the area bakers with their teas
and food bazaars, the organizers • of
rummage sales for competing with fur-
niture and clothing retailers, and the
many other activities conducted by
church and service groups that afford
competition with retailers in many
lines. And, we would also take a verbal
poke at local merchants who allow or-
ganizations to stick posters—especially
homemade—in their windows rather
than advertisements in this newspaper.
Everyone. realizes that all these
aforementioned functions similar to
the student council store — result in
many beneficial works in the commun-
ity and often do save residents money.
So, what is right and what is
wrong?
Well, it would appear that each
and every organization that in any
way competes with retail merchants
should take a long, hard look at its
operations to make sure it is not over-
stepping the mark in this competition
and creating a hardship for these same
merchants, who must make a fair liv-
ing if the community is to prosper
and grow.
Profits made by some organizations
can not always be looked upon as prof-
its to the community if they have been
made at the expense of another segment
of that community.
WS a point we feel needs honest
appraisal by all concerned, and most
of us are concerned to some degree.
4 .,Page Sept.;. 6.f 190
• Editorials .. •
Need Stricter Regulations
Students Not Alone In Competition
Published every Thursday at the Est. 1881
Heart of Huron County
Clinton,-Ontario Popdlation 3,369
.0' •
A. 'L. dOL4uHOUN, "fiabitshee
•
• WILLIAM BATTEN, Editqr-
310.4 tontilbattine In Ott Pablfeltian* and Ote
milotoni of the 'Writers ordY,Inst do not nadetierilv
agoras- the *lees of the naapspiper,
Aisthorkad es 'sitarist Vass Mail, Post OffIcss DiOirtrhent, andfor gitioitoni Pottaiiii to oath
fUslCRlttldN •ATifitt Pasieb/si idwilia .6- domed*
l
and 'Graaf 111rItafin mar't U and Fondant Wik totstsii Tie -Ghia
C C N
When Polifricknri. Were Ei.t.hnsilostiicIL
If you remember when an election brought out flags, banners and bunting
on the locarstore fronts, you're dating yourself to at least 1908, as this is when
this picture was taken. Fred Sloman dropped the post card depicting the scene
into the office. However, Clinton was all decorated up for a special event as Sir
Wilfred Laurier .and - his minister of railways, Hon. G, P. Graham visited on
September 23 of that year and .attracted .a crowd of between 8;000 and 10,000.
"Clinton was never before so profusely decorated", stated the editor of the
Clinton New Era in reporting the event; The banner apparently "sold" some
people, as Laurier was returned to be Prime Minister, The scene above shows
Huron Street and the corner building is now the Red and White store. The
Commercial Hotel in the Middle is now replaced by the White Rose Station,
From Our Early Files . • •
40 Years Ago
Thursday, September 27, 1923
Sydney Thompson has taken
a position in Clinton with the
CNR as baggageman. He is a
Stanley Township boy.
One day last week Mr. Glen
Cornish of the Base Line, while
crossing the first side road
north of town, saw a large
snake nine feet in length and
of large girth. The reptile was
seen carrying a rabbit in its
mouth so must have been a
large one. It is thought to
have probably escaped from
some circus.
About 30 members and their
friends of the LOBA held a
corn roast at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. George Hanley last
Thursday.
The hot evenings this week
have brought back not only
the return to lighter dress and
even the straw hat, but the
balconies, verandahs and even
door-steps were as much res-
orted to as they were on July
days.
Over 40 young men are
meeting in Clinton two even-
ings a week undergoing mili-
tary drill. Major Sloan and
Lieuts. Curriell and Morgan
are in charge of the corps.
Those attending various nor-
mal schools are: Myrtle Arm-
strong, Jean Farquhar, Emily
Hunter, Daisy Nediger, Jack
Bawden, Winnie McMath, Ruth
Hale; Etta Hardy, Grace Ven-
ner and Mary McIntosh.
25 Years Ago
Thursday, September 28, 1938
After '48 years behind the
forge, John West, former Clin-
ton resident, has sold his black-
smith business in Preston and
has decided to take life easy
as he is not enjoying the best
'of health.
Mrs. George Walker and
Mrs. Joseph Wilson, handed us
samples of their fresh straw-
berries this week, and here it
is almost the first of October,
Mr. A. C. Brandon, Bruce-
field, has disposed of his gen-
eral store business to Mr. Jos-
eph McCullis,
Wally Wagg, left fielder for
the Clinton Colts baseball team
has been transferred to Blen-
heim by the Bank of Mont-
real.
The Clinton Lions will miss
Lions George Lavelle and Ian
McLeod. Both have gone to
other fields and the best wish-
es of the citizens and Lions
goes with them.
Mr. Bert Middleton spent the
weekend with his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. John Middleton, and
this week resumed his course
at Guelph OAC, Mr. Ross Mid-
dleton has entered Western
University beginning his first
week at the medical school.
Champions at the CCI track
meet Were: girls, K. Cuning-
hame, H. Pickett, M. Taylor;
boys, R. Aldwinckle, Alan
Shaddick, R. Monteith, Lloyd
Fulferd.
15 Years Ago
Thursday, September 30, 1948
Award of general contract
for the construction: of the
first 50 houses of the eventual
200-home projedt at RCAF Cl-
inton was announced Tuesday.
Cost of the project, hicluding
streets, etc., will be well over
$500,00().
Kenneth, lVfcGOWan, three-
kear-old son of Mr. and Mrs
Orville Me0owan, East \Va.,
wanosh, was injured when his
hand got caught hi the cogs
of an ensilage Corn cutter wh-
ich his father was operating.
Two fingers were broken,
htlet 13atkin, four-rear-old
daughter of IVIt. and Mts.
Lloyd Batkin, Bayfield and for-
merly of Clinton, Suffered spin-
or cuts and bruiSes and a frA
aetured right femur, When she 4 ••••••••••••••••11
Command of the Canadian
Legion. She earlier received a
8400 Dominion-Provincial bur-
sary.
Clinton Newsinvilecord
Amalgamated THE CLINTON NEWS-RECORD 1924