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Clinton News-Record, 1969-10-23, Page 9Editorial comment' The beaches Several weeks ago in this space there appeared a warning about preservation of the public's right of access to waterfront land. Since that time, we are told, a landowner in the Town of Goderich sought permission to, buy and close a 99-foot public right-of-way to the Lake Huron beach. J. C. Hindmarsh wrote to the editor of the Goderich Signal-Star to express his opposition to the idea and the following paragraphs were excerpted from that letter: "With our need for more public beaches — not to mention access to existing ones — steadily increasing, it is a bit disconcerting to note the efforts to dose existing ones. "The frustration of being surrounded are for all by miles of beach and river Property most of it completely inaccessible — has long been the lot of Goderich area residents. `''The Policy of township councils seems to be to keep beach right-of-ways impassable, or, as at Bluewater Beach a few years ago, to allow cottagers to fence them, and charge the public wishing to use them. "A prize case, in Goderich Township, is where a cottage was allowed to be built part way down the lake bank, square and true in the middle of the public road.. The direct path to the beach takes one up the east side of this roof, across the ridge-pole, and down the west, — a procedure, understandably , rough on morale of all concerned, not to mention the shingles And so it goes. Let's communicate down here The miracle of clear communications between earth and bodies in space is demonstrated week after week. Screens come alive with men walking on the moon. Across 60 million miles of space come television images of the planet Mars. Soon another Apollo craft with men aboard will head into space for the moon for further exploration of the moon's surface. Yet all these amazing feats bring into glaring focus `humanity's greatest weakness. Good communications among nations, among races, between rich and poor are still lacking. The earthly plaque now on the moon says: "We came in peace for all mankind." But, in too many of the world's nations, peace is a foreign word. In Vietnam, in Nigeria, in Israel and the neighbouring Arab lands, men with hate in their hearts and weapons in their hands continue to kill each other. The dispossessed and the poor may see space exploration as a Herculean technical achievement. But they can not share either the intense interest and enjoyment of the world's affluent people, or the real sense of achievement and national pride of most Americans. For them, the problems of day-to-day existence are too pressing, too harsh. The. vast majority of mankind lacks nutritious food and adequate shelter. There are not enough doctors to treat the ills, of the people. Most men are rewarded poorlYliir their long hours of work — particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America., And the fault lies with communications among people. Men are only too eager to listen to what is being .discovered on the moon or near mars. but too often they do not wish to hear about the troubles of the family next door or about the dilemmas of other nations. , Barriers of language, of racial and economic differences, of variations in tradition and culture divide men who may live very close to each other. When astronauts speak to earth from space, all of us feel close to them despite the quarter of a million miles separating them from our planet. We communicate with them. Now it is time to begin communicating with each other down here on earth. — Unchurched Editorials, United Church Board of Evangelism and ,Social Service. Time • • • • Bikini Atoll in the Pacific has been declared safe for the return of its people, 11 years after the last of 23 experimental nuclear explosions which devastated the tiny island. In 10 years, coconut palms now being planted will begin to bear fruit. So nuclear war won't really be so bad. All we'll have to do is find some quiet place underground to hide for 11 years. Then we can come out, get the planking started, and in only 10 years we'll have food to eat again. 0021"11111 ei:0:;za•*: I'd go hunting if Clinton News-Record SECOND $gCTION T.HuFispAy, OCTOBER 2$, 1969 try working hard at doing nothing Let's • J. E. LONGSTAFF OPTOMET RIST Mondays and Wednesdays 20 ISAAC STREET For Appointment Phone 482-7010 SEAFORTH OFFICE 527.1240 R. W. BELL OPTOMETRIST The Square, GODERICH 524-7661 PETER J. KELLY your Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada Representative Office: 17 Rattenbury . St. E. Clinton 482.7914 ILI SERVICES ALL $ERVICEs ON STANDARD TIME ONTARIO STREET UNITED CHURCH "THE FRIENDLY GH4JRCHu N S Pastor: REV. H. W. VVONFOR, lii ‘ B.Sc., B.Cpm., B.D. 4! a , t. Organist: MISS LQIS GRASSY( A.R.C.T., o '` If *Y- REFORMATION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th 9:45 a.m. — Sunday School. .11;00 a.rn. -7 Morning Worship. Sermon Topic: "The Protestant Spirit" , Wesley-Willis — Holmesville United Churches REV. A. J. MOWATT, C.D., B.A., B.D., P.D., Minister MR. LORNE DOTTERER, Organist and Choir Director SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th 9:45 a.m. — Sunday School. 11;00 a.m. — Morning Worship. Sermon: "IS GOD UNJUST?" — No. 2 HOLMESVILLE 9:45 a.m. — Morning Worship. 10:45 a.m. — Sunday School. Saturday, October 25th, 10:00 a.m. "Jingle Bell Jamboree" at Wesley-Willis — All Welcome — CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th 10:00 a.m. — Morning Service. 2:30 p.m. — Afternoon Service. Every Sunday, 12:30 noon, diii 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 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th 9:45 a.m. — Sunday School. 10:45 a.m. — Morning Worship. BAYFIELD BAPTIST CHURCH Pastor: Leslie Clemens SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th Sunday School: 10:00 a.m. Morning Worship: 11:00 a.m. Evening Gospel Service: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. Prayer meeting and Bible study Business and Professional Directory OPTOMETRY INSURANCE K. W. COLQUHOUN INSURANCE & REAL ESTATE Phones: Office 482-9747 Res. 482.7804 HAL HARTLEY Phone 482-6693 LAWSON AND WISE INSURANCE — REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS 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 AWNINGS and RAILINGS JERVIS SALES R. L. Jervis — 68 Albert St. Clinton — 482-9390 TOWN DUMP Will Be Open SATURDAY, OCT. 25 WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29 FOR THE CITIZENS OF CLINTON FROM 1 - 3 P.M. _ THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE; HURON NEWS-RECORD Established '1865 1924 Established 1881 Clinton News-Record A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) Published every Thursday at second class Nail rigid-ration number 0817 SUBSCR iPTION RATES: (in advance) Canada, $6.00 per year; U.S.A., 0.50 ERIC A. McGUINNESS — Editor J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager the heart of Huron County, Clinton, Ontario Population 3,4/5 /10/11E 01" RADAR IN CANADA This is the time of year when the hunting stories are flying around. ,Each time they are retold, they become a big- ger lie or a little funnier. I don't mind the stories when they're funny, or big, fat lies. But there's nothing more boring than listening to a hunt. er telling you in deadly earnest the entire story. of how he would have got his bag of ducks, or bagged his deer, if the fates and the weather, and anything else he can think of, had not conspired against him. It's as dull as listening to someone relate what happened on every hole of his golf game, or every hand of bridge. He would have shot par or made his grand slam if, if, if . - Getting back to hunters, you'll never hear that earnest, serious teller of tales admit- ting that he couldn't hit the side of a barn with a handful of beans, from three feet. Or that he's as quiet in the bush • as a tank on a hot tin roof. No. there's nothing wrong With him. It's the gods, or his gun jammed, or sheer bad luck. Quite a few of the chaps on our staff who are keen hunters urge me to join them. This means standing around in a swamp and chest-high boots af- ter walking an hour to get there, gazing sullenly for hours at a sullen sky filled with blackbirds and swallows and non-existent ducks. I've been able to fight off the temptation for several years now. I used to be a fair shot. There's many a tree, fence-post and tin can in the country that can testify to that. and I used to enjoy hunting. It really was pleasant to get away from the old battleaxe for a few hours on a lovely, autumn day: But I've 'never been a fanat- ic. Any tendency I had toward becoming one was cured forev- er last time I went deer hunt- ing. I got lost twice, was al- most shot once (he hit the hound instead of me,), and was dam' nearly drowned on the way home from a remote is- land, in a blizzard,,a high wind, and a leaky boat. Hunting is for the birds, lit- erally. In proportion to num- bers, there are more hunters killed,. wounded, or disabled for life from heart attacks and arthritis, than birds. Another thing that puts me off is the type of people who hunt. There is a large percent- age of high-grade morons among them. I've just read in the Wiarton Echo a story about two "hunt- ers" who shot and killed two wild, white swans that had made their home near a beach resort and were a delight to cottagers. What is there to say about "hunters" , who shoot swans? A couple of years ago, two chaps I know went out to the local golf course and shot ev- ery black squirrel in sight. This takes a lot of nerve, stam- ina, and bush-lore; walking around a golf course, slaugh- tering half-tame squirrels, with three ounces of meat each on them. Then there are the "hunt- ers" who go off for a good drunk in the bush. It gives them a chance to play poker, grow a beard, curse, belch and do all sorts of manly things like that. They could do the same thing by checking into a motel room for a week. But they enjoy wearing big boots and rough clothes and making rude noises. Then they come home and let their wives push them around like puppets for the other fifty-one weeks. The finest hunters are those who love nature. They respect and admire and are curious about their prey. They shoot only when they know what they're shooting at, try to kill cleanly, and follow the wound- ed deer or retrieve the wound- ed bird at any cost. I've no quarrel with them. But I think most ,of 'them would be just as happy with an unloaded gun or a, camera. There's no real appeal in hunting for me any more, though ; love to get out in the bush, preferably alone. 13ut if they ever declare an open season on school adminis- trators, I'll be right back there, gun on shoulder, keen of eye and hard of jaw, tireless in the chase, and relentless in the kill. I wouldn't even mind tak- ing part in wiping out the en- tire Species, though I'm against this sort of thing, normally. Our doctor chum who is chief pathologist at a big city hospital has been over to our shack, storing up energy for the long winter to come, and lengthening his vacation a day at a time as the Indian Summer weather, all blue and silver, kept unfolding. He fairly oozed guilt. "Just one more day," he kept saying, looking like a man who'd filched the Crown Jewels. He's a fairly typical case, in other words, of the successful male who never quite manages a conscience-free, philosophical approach to indolence. It seems almost a rule that the more dedicated a man is to his work the harder it is for him to play. I have personally known types who, with three weeks to rest and recuperate, took the entire period just to get out of gear. By the time they'd got around to idling in neutral it was time to get back on the track. Physician, I kept saying, heal thyself. But it was no good,' Until the day he left he clearly felt himself a thief of time instead of the rightful owner. I could not help but think, waving goodbye, that there went a man who is a brilliant success in his healing profession and a wretched failure in the therapeutic art of loafing. By his bed in the guest room I had 'cunningly positioned a framed copy of an essay on this subject by Richard Plant, the travel writer and authority on the pleasures of leisure. The underlined paragraph goes as follows: To the editor: As a student of Central Huron Secondary School, I am both concerned and I might say, a bit distressed over the attitude of your newspaper toward our school. It is my opinion that your reporting staff can find only the bad points of our school and for some unknown reason forget to mention the highlights of Central Huron. In regard to the walkathon which was staged by the school on Oct. 8. What other activity would be more worthwhile in order to have the whole student body participate? I'm sure that if you had walked the 16 miles in the hail and pouring rain, you would think twice about calling this endeavor by the students a racket. This statement must be brief because the student's letter arrived close to our deadline, but We cannot'Leave all the charges unanswered and we want it understood that The News-Record never called the CHSS walkathon a racket. The newspaper did sponsor two students in the walkathon and the editor backed a third. Robert M. Elliott of Goderich Township, vice-chairman of the Huron County Board of Education, in the course of a recent board meeting reportedly suggested that students. find ,"more constructive" wayS to 'mite funds and was Hooted as saying "Waikathons ate becoming quite a ratket," The words Were his, not ours, "The vacationist must allow his mind to stretch out like his body. He must begin to un-tense. The muscles uncoil, the limbs unlimber, the nerves become pleasantly unbent. When this surrender has been made the contemplative attitude will take hold, even' for people who do not know what the word means." This is magnificent advice and, almost always, ignored. Of all the visitors we've had in the last dozen years only one was able to complete the transition to the boneless, supine posture of absolute ease. Since he was a natural-born bum to begin with it proved nothing. I have found that the only way to get men of action or men of purpose to loll effectively is to treat them' like children, to make a game of doing nothing. The one honest-to-goodness tycoon we ever had over here was a' classic example. He kept looking, at the woods and wondering if the timber was marketable. He stared at the stream and pondered how to harness it for power. He was so conditioned to coralling money that a sort of panic engulfed him when he removed his spurs. I treated him like a child. "In all the years we've been here," I told him on the beach one day, "I've never found two stones exactly alike." The competitive urge was aroused. He rolled over on his belly and began to study stones. So far, the school has collected over $1,000 from the walkathon. I'm sure that if people thought it to be a racket, they would not have sponsored the walkers. Why does the public always hear the bad aspects of school news? Why doesn't the school get any credit for its dances? For the sports' department which is producing winning teams? For the Student Council which is the best ever for CHSS? Why not report about the majority of students who are concerned with their school and the good image they are trying to put forth for the general public? I am of the opinion that you consider Only news which will and were reported by a veteran newsman who covers all regular meetings of the school board for a group of Huron County weekly papers. All that The News-Record did and all it ever does, in its news columns (as opposed to the editorial page where we do express Opinion) was to publish an objective account of happenings at the school board meeting. We Wanted pictures of the walkathon participants and had arranged in advance to obtain them from a member of the school staff$ but his camera malfunctioned and the pictures did not turn Out. We did Our best, however, and published a news report Which was Certainly Sympathetic. It noted the In one single afternoon he became almost human. The problem, of course, is not one of individuals, but of the social indoctrination of a culture so preoccupied with production and profit that "lazy" has become a four-letter word. Like the ants we worship industry. Respectability is equated with toil. Anxiety naturally settles in when a man is freed, even briefly, from the swarming hill of our insect life. That is why a positive philosophy toward doing nothing is so vital, why there must be justification for sloth even if it is only through semantics. I, myself, never loaf. I contemplate. I am not lazy. I am stretching my mind. Mere pretence, you say? Not at all. Every man needs to lie prone upon the earth and feel it spinning through the void. Every man needs to tune in to the inexorable rhythm, the steady, throbbing pulse of time and life so that he may orient himself. Every man needs to pause to look at clouds or blades ofgrass or the veins in the yellowing maple leaves or the infinetely varied shape of pebbles, to hear the wind, to smell the air, to taste the last warmth of the autumn sun. Only then does he rise above the dismal world of things that crawl. (The Argyle Syndicate) present something for the public to talk about and ultimately criticize CHSS and the student body. I feel that you are more concerned with selling newspapers than keeping CHSS out of the dirt. I for one, and I know there are many students who feel the same way, would like to see some good news about our school published in your newspaper. We happen to be proud of CHSS and it's like a slap in the face when we read the adverse publicity that you and your staff have been publishing about us. A "Concerned" Grade 13er. Clinton, Oct. 21. hardships encountered and the effort put forth by the students. Does the public hear only the bad aspects of CHSS news? We think not. At least not from The News-Record. Of 10 or 12 front-pap news stories on CHSS in 'Ole 1968.69 year, only one — the student walkout — might be considered bad news. Memories are apparehtly short when it comes to the stories about award-winning actors and public speakers. Or pictures and stories on champion wrestlers and basketball players. And what about coverage last year of the At Ifotne, the cadet activities, vocational training courses and the,Red Cross blood donor clinic? This year there have been two instances of unfavorable news. Six inches of space were devoted to complaints about student parking and alleged littering and trespassing problems around the school. The complaints were voiced at a town council Meeting and appeared beneath a small headline on page 6. The subject was mentioned again last Week when it was announced that school and town officials Would meet to discuss the complaints. We plead innocent to any charge of blowing up or exaggerating the matter, We do Wish we had been invited to attend and report on last week's meeting and we always welcome notice of news events both big and small. We might note also that several weeks ago we contacted school officials and the Students' Council and asked to explore ways that students might cover some of the school news for us. A group of students have an appointment to visit our office to discuss the idea further this afternoon. We don't rely on huge, sensational headlines to sell papers on street corners. last of our papers are sold on a subscription basis and good news far outweighs the bad in every issue, But we Canna ignore the bad news and it will probably always be true that the man who bites a dog attracts more attention than the dog which bites a man. A CHSS student complains ... and The News-Record replies