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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1969-08-28, Page 2'CHURCH SERVICES Attend Your Church This Sunday ONTARIO STREET UNITED CHURCH "THE FRIENDLY CHURCH" Pastor: REV. H. W. WONFOR, B.Sc., B.Ccim.,, B.D. Organist: MISS LOIS GRASBY, A.R.C.T. SUNDAY, AUGUST 31st 11:00 a Sermon Topic:"Thenill.M:rkTrOnifngJeWsollrssih'ip. 5.O Wesley-Willis United ChurchLVE will • worship with us, Sunday School closed until September 7 Wesley-Willis -- Holmesville United Churches REV. A.J. MOWATT, C.D., B.A., B.D., D.D., Minister MR, LORNE DOTTERER, Organist and ,Chair Director Joint Service with Ontario Street United Church during August. CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH SUNDAY, AUGUST 31st 2:30 p.m. — Afternoon Service. 8.00 P.M. — Evening Service Every Sunday, 12:30 noon, dial 680 CHLO, St. Thomas listen to "Back to God Hour" EVERYONE WELCOME ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH The Rev. R. U. MacLean, B.A., Minister Mrs. B. Boyes, Organist and Choir Director Services of Public Worship withdrawn during the month of August. PENTECOSTAL CHURCH Victoria Street W. Werner, Pastor SUNDAY, AUGUST 31st 9:45 a.m. — Sunday School. 11:00 a.m. — Worship Service, 7;313 p.m. — Evening Service. MAPLE STREET GOSPEL HALL. SUNDAY, AUGUST 31st 9:45 a.m. — Worship Services 11:00 a.m. Sunday School 7;15 7:45 p.m. —. Sunday Evening — Hymn Sing 8:00 p.m. Evening Service. Speaker: Fred Munnings 8:00 p.m. — Tuesday Prayer Meeting; Bible Study ST. PAUL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH The Rev. J. S. Sharpies, M.A., Minister SUNDAY, AUGUST 31St Morning Services — 11:30 a.m. Guest Speaker.: THE RIGHT REV, BISHOP W. TOWNSEND a THE CLINTON NEW ERA Established 1865 • Aniatgarnated 1924 THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1881 Clinton ews Record A Member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper AssociatiOn, Ontatie Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit HUreau of Circulation (A130 second class mail registration number — SUBSCRIPTION HATES; Canada, 56.00 per year; 0817 (in advance) U.S.A., $7.60 Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County Clinton,i. Ontario Population 3,475 'ME /IOW OP RADAR IN CANADA ERIC A. •tVitdUINNIESS J. HOWARD ArtkEltil Editor General Manager • Friends, I think that the time has come for a few personal words about what this column is and is not. One thing it will be is short. My father told me when I started it over ten years ago, in Land Oak, Texas, "more people read short articles than long ones." (Thanks, again, Wilma, it's fun!) In the first place, I want to emphasize that "I ain't mad at nobody!" This column really has no axe to grind except to; provoke thought, to defend the underdog, to advocate loyalty to, our government, . to - uphold g9veriament r law, espouse n46111;7'4 aid demonstrate that the Church of Jesus Christ is not totally unaware of the world in which it seeks to be the redemptive love of the Living God. It's been a rough summer for a lot of people, including yours truly. There's nothing like getting home, exhausted, after a trip and finding a) that your wife has lost the house key and you have to break in through a cellar window, and b) that an oak limb 40 feet long and ten inches thick has fallen across your hydro lines during a storm. However, these are minor things, I got into the house with no more than a scraped knee and a bad temper, and a good neighbor had climbed up and sawed the limb in two, allowing half of it to crash down on my fence, But this is a mere bagatelle compared to what others have gone through. Teachers are supposed to recharge their bat- teries during the summer vaca- tion, and hit school in Septem- ber tanned, fit and bursting with idealism, We'll be lucky to open this fall, the way our staff is fold- ing up. A hernia and a heart attack, a total collapse from exhaustion, Various slipped discs and other ailments have decimated the ranks. All I have is a touch of heartburn, and I attribute that to a couple of days of Bloody Marys for breakfast, served by friends We were visiting, It's been a bad summer for a lot of parents, First, two kids I met on a visit to the old home town, told me nonchalantly that they'd flunked their first year at College, Their parents Weren't quite so nonchalant. Apoplectic is the word, • The column receives its shire of both bouquets and brickbats from readers. The same column will be both praised and condemned. Now, about all that this tells us is that people disagree as to what is right and wrong for . them. The important thing is to discourage inquisitions against different ideas, to encourage diversity of opinion, and to , respect the right to differ. Science teaches that creative progress is most rapid and effective in situations of great diversity rather than too strict ,control of variations. ;Furthermore, the comments fare readers prove that thoughts f are being stirred brtfiee6linfins. They warn this author that he, too, is not always right, and needs to judged by honest opinions of others. The fact is that this column Same day I met an old friend who was at his cottage. They'd left one son at home, working. The night before, my friend had received a call from the police in his home town. They had raided a big teen-age party. At his place. A friend of my daughter, a pretty, blonde 1'7-year-old, had a stroke and her right side is paralyzed. No need to ask how her family feels. A distraught mother told me three weeks ago that her 14- year-old daughter had disap- peared, run off with another kid. She phoned, collect, this week from Vancouver. Alive, but who knows what she's been doing? The lady is a good mother, in every way. Has two daughters, one a fine, steady girl, the other a young rip. Why? And everywhere you see them on the highways, dirty, bearded, long-haired, Hitch- hiking from nowhere to no- where, Some of them cluster in "communes" in the big cities, A commune is usually a fall- ing-down house in a slum area, It has a kitchen of sorts, a toilet that works Occasionally, and the rest of the floor space is covered by mattresses and sleeping-bags. Theoretically, everyone con- tributes for food, rent and chores. In reality, there are usually two or three working and the rest just drift in and out like alley cats, This prod- uces personality clashes and hassles and a very Unhealthy will have contradictions within itself from time to time. This is because sometimes the author changes his mind; and sometimes he just wants to create thinking by his readers. Journalism professors warn that newspaer columns must aim for the 12 to 14 year mental age. I hope to be guilty of violating that rule. Those who do not Iike to think will not like this column, and some who do like to think will surely not like it! St. Paul said, "When I became a man I put away my childish things." After all, it is said in John 5:4 that the waters of the pool were healing only after they had been troubled. You see, I believe that ideas like clothes may be tried on for size without having to buy them all! (--more next week.) psychological atmosphere, Add drugs to this boar's nest and you have some pretty sick young people. They claim they're opting out of a sick society, Work is a dirty word. They are meditat- ing, seeking a higher spiritual life. There's a lot of talk about vibrations and Buddha and pure love for everyone. All this in a pig-pen? The young people are rather pathetic, but I grieve more for their parents, who simply don't know how to cope with a way oUthinking and living so alien to their own. They are loving, frustrated and helpless, And I save a little pity for myself. Got a letter from my daughter, from Montreal, tell- ing me cheerfully that she had one cent. Wired her some mon- ey yesterday. Got a collect call this morning, saying „she couldn't cash it because she had no proof of identity, Phoned the Montieal telegraph office, told them it was OK to cash it. No can do. Confirma- tion had to come from our local wire office. Called them, got off a wire and presumably she cashed in, as she hasn't called back yet, So, the original bite, plus two wires, plus two long-dis- tance calls to Montreal, Should all kids, at birth, be placed out on' a lonely hillside for the shepherds to adopt? We might be flooded with shepherd's pie, but it would certainly make life a lot simpler. it by W. Jene Miller The empty pew SALTFORD RURAL ROAD by Bill Smiley Sugar and spice Photo by Ron Price 'E, LONGSTAFF QPTOMETRIST Mondays and Wedriatclays .20 ISAAC .STREET For Appointment Phone 482-7010 SEAFORTH OFFICE 627-1240 W. BELL OPTOMETRIST The Square, GODERICH 524-7661 PETER J. KELLY your Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada Representative 201 King St. Clinton 482-7914 INSLIRANPE K. W, CO,LOUNQUN INSURANCE. & REAL, ESTATE Phones; Office e82.0747 Res. 402.78e4 HAI, HARTLEY Phone 4.02-6693 LAWSON AND WISE INSURANCE — REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS Clinton Office: 482-9644 H, C, Lavvson, Res.; 482-9787 J. T. Wise, Res.: 482.7265 ALUMINUM PRODUCTS For Air-Master Aluminum Doors and Windows and AWNINGS and RAILINGS. JERVIS SALES R. L, Jervis — 68 Albert St. Clinton — 482-9390 The announcement last week that the Canadian Forces Base at Clinton would be phased out in two years time was not entirely unexPected, Ever since the close of hostilities nearly twenty five years ago rumor had followed rumor concerning the iminent closing of the Base. Each in turn was proven false. But recent rumors were different, They were based on an announced policy involving a reassessment of the armed forces. . This coupled with . the recent ,unification of the services suggested the need for fewer bases. Too, there was the over riding determination of the government to hold expenditures. While the announcement did not come as a complete surprise we suspect the equanimity with which certain Clinton merchants were reported to have accepted the word would not properly reflect the attitude of the community as a whole. After all the association which the people of Huron have had with the services goes back nearly thirty years to the time when those first RAF veterans arrived at the height of hostilities, as an advance party to set up a secret radar training school. The civilian population lost no opportunity to welcome the thousands of students who passed through the school and make at home the staff personnel who. from time to *ime were stationed there. In recent years the base and t 'ose on it Ever wonder what Huron County did to the federal government — or more explicitly the department of national defence? Within the * past three years the department has recommended the closing of both Canadian Forces Bases in this fair county and in so doing has lopped about $10,000,000 from the area economy and has terminated jobs for almost 1,000 civil' servants. That has to be considered a disaster in our books, and there appears to be no question but what the federal government should feel obligated to make some an-. ends. In the case of the closing of CFB Centralia, the federal authorities did very 1:r.' le in the way of filling the void, and rrtunately the provincial government came to the aid of this area and developed a highly successful educatonal and industrial complex. Federal authorities have already indicated they learned a few thinas from the mistakes involved in the closing down of Centralia and will attempt not to duplicate them at. Clinton. They've already avoided on' error in that the Clinton base will be pcesed out over a tivo-year period. Centralia was closed in about two months and the civilian employees were all dumped onto the labor market at once, making it difficult for many to get jobs before they were laid off. Those working at Clinton will have up to two years to find other employment and this should work to their advantage. Military personnel and residents of the communities where bases are being closed are not the only ones concerned about the present program of slashing Canada's armed forces. Thoughtful people all over the country are deeply worried about the long-range consequences of a policy which seems destined to pare the nation's defences to the bone. There is no suggestion that a well-considered plan of reduction in defence spending is unwise. Geared, as we were, to a wartime state of preparedness in the early forties, and mindful of the all-too-tudden reduction of forces after the First World War, it has taken a long time to return to a peace-time status. We have lived in a continuing fear that the USSR might become an active enemy. That poSsibility seems remote in 1969, so a further reduction in defence spending does appear advisable. The Concern now is that the reduction might be carried to a point where Canadian territOry could become a dangerous vatuum a World which is far from ready for unilateral arms reduction. What WbUIL, happen, for instance, if the United States becorne alarmed about the pOtsibility of attack over the Arctic short-cut to Europe and Asia? Dare we imagine for one rnOment that Washington would. waste any tittle in Consideration of have to an inrreasina extent been taken for granted. Perhaps too there has been a tendapcy for the service People and the civilians to each go their own way. Perhaps it was this that prompted the reaction of Clinton merchants. in the years the camp has been in existance it has generated millions of dollars into the economy of Huron and neighboring areas, the result of which all too often, have been neither realized nor appreciated. The base, through payments in lieu of taxes which have been in existence since 1953, has brought many thousands of dollars of added direct revenue to Tuckersmith and the county. While regretting the termination of a long association the end result may well be for the best. After all the phasjhe out is two years removed and in the meantime, the department of national defense and other departments of the federal and provincial governments are actively seeking out alternative uses for the base. In this they will be aided by the fact that the facilities are complete, well maintained and modern in every respect, It is not 'by any means beyond possibility that before the two year phasing out period has elapsed the plant that has served the country and communtiy so well will be embarking.on a new and greater era of service. SEAFORTH HURON EXPOSITOR A defence department spokesman also indicated the department would not strip the' base in the manner which was followed at Centralia. The procedures followed there were almost criminal. The two-year period also gives other parties interested in the Clinton property time to look at the facilities and make a decision, and at the. seine time the buildings will be occupied and will not deteriorate to the extent some did at Centralia. As stated, ,we „i*riting) government has an obligation to find ways of overcoming the economic loss through the closing of Clinton. We trust they will not have their thinking swayed too much by the merchants of Clinton, who apparently have little concern over the base closing. The merchants admit that only 20 per cent of their business is related to personnel at the base, and we-think they should have shown a bit more concern for the 300 civilian personnel at the base who depend upon the jobs for 100 per cent of their livelihood. No doubt some of the merchants were thinking of the development of the former base at Centralia when they indicated little concern for their own base closing. They should note that Clinton does not have the buildings which would attract industry and finding a suitable tenant — or tenants — for the Clinton site may be much more difficult. — EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE our rights as a sovereign nation? Certainly not We would find American troops on our soil in a matter of minutes, It is quite true, of course, that in the event of such an attack over the Pole we would have American forces in any case, but it would be vastly different if they came in as the working partners of a viable Canadian military force with sufficient strength to merit U.S, respect and co-operation. We have a greet deal of sympathy for those communities, such as Clinton, where the closing of military bates will mean actual losses to their economy, However, it must be remembered that the neighboring communities, such at Wingham, have managed to survive without such shots in their economic arms, At least Clinton and all the rest of the towns which were close to' military bases have enjoyed 25 years of prosperity the rest of us never had. It is to be hoped that Mr, Trudeau and Mr, CadieuX ere making the right decision. Certainly a nation's wealth is largely wasted in defence spending, for the dollars so expended produce nothing of any real value to Mankind, However, if they ere wrong, the price for error will be far beyond repayment. WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES I Clinton News-Record, Thursday, August 28, 1969 .The base closing as others see I_ End olon. era. Others besides merchants Fateful decisions