HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1969-06-05, Page 2:f
Clinton News -Record, Thursday, lune 5, 1959
Editorial comment
It is our business
We were promised greet things Once
local .School t#Oards were .amalgamated
into one and two°county units and these
things may come topass, but a disturbing
portent it the ample evidence that both
the Huron -Perth Separate School Board
and the Huron County Board of
Education are following policies which
limit public access to public information,
The boards are only six months old and
are just starting to tackle the challenge
handed them by the voters last fall. They
haven't time to build walls around
themselves when they should be trying to
win public confidence and support for the
changes which, it is hoped, ultimately will
mean 'better education in Huron County.
The two boards are by no means.
equally guilty of this closed -door,
closed-mouth attitude which treats the
press and the public as antagonists of the
educational establishment,. '
The Huron County Board of
Education, which runs the public
elementary and secondary schools,
co-operates with the press and strives to
keep the public informed of its actions,
but too many of those actions are based
on deliberation in closed meetings. Much
of the board's time is spent in "committee
of the whole" meetings from which the
press and public are barred.
The temptation to confine debate to
the conference room and just ratify the
decisions in open meetings may be an
attractive one, but that procedure doesa
great disservice to those who entrust their
children to the educational system and
pay to support it, '
The Huron -Perth Separate School.
Board, whose domain is limited to the
Roman .Catholic elementary schooIs,
whose responsibility is no less weighty,
has taken the incomprehensible and
intolerable position that the public has.nQ
right to scrutinize its actions andneed not
be told what it is paying its teachers.
If reports of this week's meeting 'and
the statements of a spokesman were
accurate, the separate school board
considers it sufficient to issue an
antiseptic and sterile "approved" press
release announcing a pay hike bf six to
eight percent.
in reply to questions about the salary
schedule, the spokesman is reported to
have said "It's none of the public's
business."
Whose then, is it? Are we to believe that
by winning an election the board
members became infinitely wise and
infallible? Are we to accept the idea that
by electing representatives the public
relinquishes all control over the schools
on which it depends and for which it
provides the wherewithal?
If the separate school board is sincerely
concerned about the fact that St. Joseph's
School in Clinton may have only 'one
first -grader next year, if the board seeks
greater public understanding and
confidence, it will have to reconsider its
own attitude and the image it presents.
We are afraid some of our educational
leaders have been taking lessons from the
school of back -room politics of the sort
that creates a skeptical, disbelieving and
distrusting citizenry. A more progressive
guide would. be more fitting for the new
school boards.
Much ado over mutts
A bit of feedback from our readers is a
welcome thing, but we must admit we
were surprised at how much dust was
raised by last week's rather
tongue-in-cheek first -column item on the
town's dog bylaw.
Complaints about the treatment of
stray dogs were aired on radio and led
Gordon . Sanderson to , devote yesterdays
London Free Press "Sound Off" column
to the subject.
We believe the column covered the
matter thoroughly and fairly. Two 'of the
points we'd like to repeat.
The first is 'that last week's episode in
which the body of an executed. animal
was left in public for two days was simply
due to poor liaison between police, who
had the unhappy job of doing away with
the animal, and the public works
department responsible for disposing of
the body.
The second is that if Clinton's method
of handling the stray dog problem is
distasteful, there are two alternatives for
dog owners. Make sure your pet, is
licensed and tagged or be prepared to pay
through local taxes for a dog-catcher and
shelter or the services bf a humane
society.
We didn't need Mr, Sanderson to
remind us that last week's report was a
mix of news and editorial comment — it
was intentional and is something we often
do in the first column which is a .rather
informal collection of miscellany. We do
try hard to keep editorial comment out of
• our -regular news stories.
The problems of dogs"running loose is
one the town council can't ignore and one
we feel they studied and acted on in good
conscience. With a growing incidence of
rabies in Huron County, canine control
bylaws may literally be life-savers,
Humane societies shoot animals — it is
not a cruel way to destroy a dog. The
really inhumane action is that of the
person who abandons a pet and leaves it
to fend for itself and live on what garbage
it can find.
We're sure council will listen to anyone
with a better answer to the problem of
canine control and we think it would be
good if more people would attend council
meetings and concern themselves with the
many other problems the council must
handle.
Think! Don't sink!
Statistics rarely are exciting but those
we received from the Canadian Red Cross
Society recently make rather sad reading.
Last year 1,186 Canadians died because
of drowning accidents. This is a horrifying
number when we know that many of
these deaths were unnecessary — quite
unnecessary — because they were caused
by carelessness.
Lack of adult supervision was
responsible for the death of 212 children,
of which 159 were under 6 years old.
Their deaths could have been avoided if
someone had cared more. As you know, it
takes very little time for a toddler to
drown if he falls face down into a few
inches of water and no one is there to
• pick him up.
Last year, 361 people died in boating
• accidents, and again, Many of these deaths
could have been avoided. The law requires
alt power boats and Sailboats to carry one.
government -approved life jacket for each
passenger Oh board. But the lave can't
compel a person to wear the life jacket
when he is in the boat. Many times it has
been reported that a life might have been
saved if the person involved in the boating
accident had been wearing a life jacket.
This is Water Safety Week. And this
week, as welt as year-round, the Red Cross
is telling people how to enjoy safe water
activities. Through a broad program
ranging from beginners' swimming courses
to instructor ,training, the Red Cross
teaches the basic rules of safe swimming,
boating and skating as well as artificial
respiration and simple rescue techniques
for emergency situations.
What is your life worth to you — or the
life of a member of your family? Only
you can answer this question. All we ask
is that you make sure that no one in your
family becomes a drowning statistic this
summer through carelessness. As the Red
Cross puts it so aptly be water wisel
Think! Don't sink!'
THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS -RECORD
Established 1865 i924 Established 1881
.
Cftnton News -Record
A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper` Association,
Ontario Weekly NeWsjiaper Association and the Audit Bureau
Of Circulation (ABG)
second class mail
registration number -; 0817
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[RIG A. McGOINNEBS = Editor
HbWAttD AIS rKEN General Mani et
Published every Thursday at
the heart of Huron Coe—My
1 Clintori, Ontario
Po►iulation 3,4
DA HOMO
OP RADAR
IN CANADA
Photo by Ron Price
LAKE SCENE - STRATFORD
y W. Jene Miller_
The empty pew
One of the things which
Marshall McLuhan is trying to
get across to us is that the total
"image" of society which we
project is the very structures
which also determine the
"image" of society we try to
build.
In my generation of
childhood, there were certain
tasks assigned to children,
whether washing dishes, washing
the family car or carrying out
the garbage. This defined the
role by which I directed my
choices, so far as family life is
concerned, Today, the children
may play out the role of
adjusting theTV set for daddy,
or some other { position which
helps ,them ;;understand "whe
they fit " iri "tFie role of
relationships.
An increasingly loud voice is
being raised about the "image"
of family life as it is depicted on.
TV and in movies. The most
popular shows are often those
which show a distorted family
life. "Bonanza," "My Three
Sons" and "Guns of Will
Sonnet" demonstrate a
relationship without a mother
figure. Even "High Chapparel'r
has a second marriage image.
"Big Valley" and "Petticoat
Junction" omit the father figure,
except in bumbling old Uncle.
Joe. The daytime soap operas
demonstrate a horrid series of
shattered human relationships.
But perhaps the worst is
"Flipper," The chief adverse of
this show is that the little boy
consistently disobeys his father
and then turns out the hero. No
matter how badly he endangers
o the'life of others, he is made out
n!x' to ,be a hero- because he violated
s•AQt>4e)nitt~ucticlil r. o of ::;
I remember sitting in the
front room of a home where
three small boys watched a TV
western. As the hero of the film
slipped up behind the villain and
smashed him on the head with a
pistol, the oldest of the three
little boys, drew his cap pistol
and slipped up behind his
younger brother and initiated
the hero's action. However,
whereas the movie villain fell
quietly to the ground, the
younger brother let out an
agonized yell. Movies are so
much neater and quieter with
their violence. Ninety-nine
percent of the victims of
gunplay are ignored by those
who step over the dead bodies
and tell someone to bury them.
The significance of TV's
danger is not the violence,
however. There is violence in
life, and intelligent parents warn
their children of it.
The danger is that it
•.demonstrates cia„;k ;supposedly
happy relationship to existence
by broken, cruel, indifferent
inter -personal relationships.
Could the violence of youth
be simply the harvest which
adults have so carefully planted
and tended?
by Bill Smiley
Sugar and. spice
It takes a mickle to make a
muckle, whatever that means,
And it takes a lot of mickles
and muckles to make up that
peculiar agglomeration of
mammals known as modern so-
ciety, including a quantity of
crackpots and a welter of weir-
dos. Present company accept-
ed..
Four different glimpses of
modern society, the human
race, in the last few ,days have
baffled me completely. How
did we get as far as we've
come? And how come we hav-
en't got .farther?
First of these was a big proj-
ect at the big shoe factory I
work in. Teachers and students
have been slaving for months,
making canoes and planning
trips. They wound up with
about 30 canoes, maps, com-
passes and no brains.
With just a little less fanfare
than the Spanish Armada, they
set off on a sunny Friday after-
noon, holiday weekend, to
conquer the wilderness and
make Etienne BruIe look like a
Sunday tripper.
It rained all day Saturday,
Sunday and Monday in the
great national park they chose
for their insanity. The temper-
ature was a little above freez-
ing. They came back exhaust-
ed, soaked to the skin, and
frozen to the marrow.
About Se people were about
as miserable as they 'ever have
been, or ever will be, in their
lives. And already they're plan-
ning the next trip, Already, it's
a great adventure, in retro-
spect,
r know the feeling, I was a
prisoner of war, and there was
little joy in the jaunt. But
looking back, I wouldn't have
missed it for anything. Pretty
stupid, eh?
The same weekend, since the
rain ruled out anything intelli-
gent, I took two little nieces
out to the beach to see the
"motorcycle gang.” We saw
them. In all their glory. Black
jackets, beards, long hair and
frightening. The kids weren't. I
was. Frightened, that is.
When we arrived, these
young adults, and I emphasize
that they're not teen-agers,
were grooving on fireworks.
Fortunately, they were so
beered-up, and it was so damp,
that the whole thing was a fiz-
zle. They were trying to light
Roman candles and such on
the floor of a restaurant.
Adults, playing with firecrack-
ers.
What makes these people
wander about the country in
wolf packs? They get their
kicks from noise, speed and
violence, But they're people,
and certainly some of them
have brains, feelings, decency.
Yet they're capable of actions
that recall. Hitler's Brown -
shirts, and I don't think there's
Any need to go into detail, I
was glad the two police cars
were there.
The next night, there was a
big fire, about four' blocks
from our house, when a lum,
ber yard went up in a dazzling
display, And who Was there
hot -rodding it from all over
town to get a ring -side seat.
Good, honest, responsible tax-
payers. Including yours trillvi
I was so pleased (I've always
loved a good fire, especially at
night) that I left my wife
standing in her dressing -gown
and pyjamas, about a block
from the blaze, while I pressed
closer fora cheek -by -jowl view
with the other sensible citi-
zens.
"Ain't she a dandy?" And
"That's a real ripper," we
grinned into each others' or-
ange faces, a little disappoint-
ed because there was no wind,
and the firemen were prevent-
ing it from spreading, My wife
walked three blocks home, in
her night attire. I'd forgotten
her completely. What kind of
monsters are we?
And then I went back to
school after the weekend, and
here are these Grade 12 stu-
dents, in panel discussions,
sane, serious and sensible,
grappling intelligently with
the problems they're going to
have to face shortly,
They're not doing it to im-
press me. Some of their opi-
nions would curl their moth-
ers' hair. •But they don't like
society much the way it is, and
they want to do something
about it,
They get angry with each
other, disagree, grow red in
the face, ;and shout at each
other like -- well, like a group
of adults.
Crazy World, but it's the one
1 want to stay in for a while, at
least, Today's world, in addi-
tion to the old binoculars of
the historians, needs some mi-
nor chroniclers, like your hum-
ble servant, to tell it as it Was.
From our early files
75 years ago
June 8, 1894
On Friday last Means, Ab.
Cooper and McLean left here on
their bicycles for London, and
covered the distance of 50 miles
in three hours and 15 minutes.
Gilroy Br Wiseman advertise
silks that regularly Sell for 60 to
75 cents, for just 30 cents a
yard,
Due til the depression and
scarcity of money, Plurnsteel St
Gibbings offer all their goods at
Actual COST! for the month of
June they will, make no profit,
Mr. Smithson is erecting a
workshop oh the property en
Ontario St, he recently bought
from Mts. Shipley,.
55 years ago,
June 4,, 1914
Bev, Mr, Boss of London was
the guest of his daughter, Mr's,
Gunny last Week,
Miss Agnes Middleton, who
hat been in Ottawa for sattie
tBoc pursuing her` art studies,
returned to het home hi
Goderich Township this week.
ears ag
40 years 9o
June 6,199
Ian McLeod, :recent graduate
of the O,A,C. Guelph, is the new
assistant agricultural
representative for 1-Iuron County
and began work this week,
br, and Mrs, B. A. Saucier,.
Betty and Bobby, Kitchener,
Were the guests of their aunt,
Mrs, r, A, Edwards, Bayfield, on
Sunday, On their return to
1titohenet they were
.... ...•..,....•................•
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OPTOMETRY
J. E. LQNGSTAFF
OPTOMETRiST
Mondays and Wednesdays
20 ISAAC STREET
For Appointment Phone
482-7010
SEAFORTH OFFICE 527-1240
R. W. BELL,
OPTQMETRIST
The. Square, GODERIC.FH
5247661
PETER J. KELLY
your
Mutual Life Assurance
Company of- Canada
Representative
201 King St. Clinton_
482-7914
INSURANCE
K. W. GOLQUHOUN
INSURANCE & REAL ESTATE
Phones; office 482.9747
Res. 482,7804
HAL HARTLEY
Phone 482-6693.
LAWSON AND WiSE
INSURANCE — REAL, ESTATE
INVESTI ENTS .
Clinton
Office: 482-9644
H. C. Lawson, Res.: 482-9787
J. T. Wise, Res,: ' 482.7265
ALUMINUM PRODUCTS
For Air -Master Aluminum
Doors and Windows
and
Rockwell Power Tools
JERVIS SALES
R. L. Jervis — 68 Albert St,
Clinton — 482-9390
I . • •CHURCH
SERV1rES
Attend Your Church
This Sunday ,
NOTE: All Services on Daylight
Saving Time
tamminviummi
ONTARIO STREET UNITED CHURCH
op.,
"THE FRIENDLY CHURCH"
, ‘ Pastor: REV. GRANT MILLS, B.A.
1;1451 • e Organist: MISS LOIS GRASBY, A.R.C.T.
°44,C -/.9":',f SUNDAY, JUNE 8th
9:45 a.m. — SUNDAY SCHOOL.
•
11:00 a.m. — MORNING WORSHIP.
Explorers will be in charge of music
EVERYONE WELCOME
Wesley-Willis—'Holmesville United Churches
REV. A.J. MOWATT, C.D., B.A., B.D., D.D., Minister
MR. LORNE DOTTERER, Organist and Choir Director
SUNDAY, JUNE 8th .
. u., .siw.w..;iaE'm..kt . 4,'._ 'Nu �.; •'�i�'
cei ;R; .•.,,%,w, :..1 a
Sunday School, 9:45
a.m,
11:00 a.m. — Morning Worship.
Sermon Topic: "WHY GO TO CHURCH?"
HOLMESVILLE
Worship Service — 9:45 a.m. •
Sunday School — 10:45 a.m.
CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
SUNDAY, JUNE 8th
10:00 a.m. — Morning Service - English
2:30 p.m. -- Afternoon Service.
Every Sunday, 12:30 noon, dial 680 CHLO, St. Thomas
listen to "Back to God Hour" ,
... EVERYONE WELCOME --
ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SUNDAY, JUNE 8th .
The Rev. R. U. MacLean, B.A., Minister
Mrs. 8. Boyes, Organist and Choir Director
9:45 a.m. — Sunday School.
9:30 a.m. — Morning Worship.
PENTECOSTAL CHURCH
Victoria Street
W. Werner, Pastor
SUNDAY, JUNE 8th
9:45 a.m. — Sunday School. '
11:00 a.m. — Worship Service
7:30 p.m. - Evening Service.
MAPLE STREET GOSPEL HALL
SUNDAY, JUNE 8th
9:45 a.m. --• Worthip Service.
11:00 a.m.—Sunday School.
8:00 p.m,— Evening Service.
Speaker; CHARLIE SHORTEN, London
8:00 p.m.-- Tuesday Prayer Meeting; Bible Study
CHARLIE SHORTEN
accompanied by Mrs. Edwards,
who will visit with them tor a
Week.
25 years ago-,
June 1, 1944
Gpi. Arthur Aiken of
Nanaitno, B.C., spent a couple of
days at his home last week
before going on to Brockville
where he will take a course.
Sgt. Clayton Cooper of Canip
Borden and
- Mrs, Cooper of
Breekvnlle are visitors with the
former'S parents, Mr, and Mrs,
Cecil Cooper, London Road.
Mr, and Mrs. tlavid Sours of
Toronto 'visited With Mr. and
' Mrs, Geo, Phelan last week, .._
L)r, John Turhbtill of'totonto
spent a couple of days with br.
G, S, Elliott last week:
15 years ago'
June 3, 1964
The Wonien's Institute
recently presented handsome
wrought -iron gates to the
Clinton Community Park. The
sturdy Stone posts on either side
of the gateway ate topped by
huge frosted glass globes and
help to make the entrance to the
park a most fitting one. The
posts were donated to the park
by the Institute hi 1946.
10 years ago
;lane 4r 1959
Don Jefferson, Winghani, has
joined the staff of the Clinton
Cortitntinity Credit union Ltd,