HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1971-01-07, Page 4THE CLANTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-'RECORD
Establithed 1865 1824 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
the heart of Huron CoUrity
-Minters, Ontario
Population 3,415
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OF RAbA1
IN CANADA
second class mail
registration number — 0817
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'KEITH W. AOULsTON - Editor
3. HOWARD AITKEN - General Manager
4 Clinton News-Record„ Thursdays January 7, 1971.
EajOirial comment
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Learn to live with it
FR IS ekE
THE /24'
4wf
Sugar and
Spice /By
Bill Smiley
If you can't beat 'ern, join 'em.
That's about where it stands in Huron
County now that, like it or not, we have
county education boards, The problem
now is to live with the monster and make
it work to our advantage as much as
possible, It means trying to overcome the
deficiencies of the county system while
getting the benefits the large unit
provides.
One of the big problems, of course, is
that the big board takes away all the
personal touch in education, We have big
schools where the kids feel neglected and
big boards where the parents feel they
have no say. In the old days, when there
was a school board for each school,
parents could feel that they were more on
top of the situation, Now they feel left
out because they often don't even know
who their representative on the board is.
Teachers too feel like pretty small cogs
in a gigantic wheel these days.
Perhaps one way of giving teachers,
students and parents the power to have
some say in- the running of their school
would be to organize a group to represent
all three areas in each of the county
schools.
Parent-teacher Associations are nothing
new, but too often -they are mere social
gatherings.
What we're talking about here is a
strong organization that would also
represent students. It would aid the kind
of communications that the board has
been crying for in the last year by locating
problems in the running of each school
We may be living in an age of
sophisticated communications when the
happenings of the afternoon in Vietnam
can be on the 11 p.m. news thanks to
satellites, but the best method of real
communication is still a good
give-and-take conversation around a table.
Last week participatory democracy
was illustrated at its best when Murray
Gaunt, M.P.P. for Huron-Bruce and
Robert McKinley, M.P. for Huron sat
down to dinner with members of the
Huron Federation of Agriculture and
threshed out some of the problems of
modern farmers in Huron County.
The federation members presented
well-researched briefs to the members and
the members commented on them,
explained the difficulties that perhaps
hindered some of the proposals, promised
action on others and carried on a
discussion with the rural dwellers on other
problems.
There was no politicking by the
and bringing them to the board's
attention.
It could also save the board some time.
For instance, look at the amount of
valuable time the board spent last year
deciding on who could and couldn't have
use of school facilities in the off-hours.
Why couldn't a volunteer committee in
each school look after the problem? Why
couldn't 'such a committee work to make
sure that the expensive facilities of the
schools are utilized to the largest possible
;extent by the community?
Such groups could be sounding boards
for the working out of student grievances.
Solutions could be met that could deal
with just one community without the
regulation being binding over the whole
county. Last year the board made a policy
about the questioning of students by
police on school property. The policy was
passed for the benefit of one school but
became binding on all schools in the
county. It raised a lot of hard feelings that
it was not meant to raise.
Some of the decision making must be
switched back to the local level or
discontent with the county system is
going to continfie and solidify. Surely the
county board will agree with this, but
even if they don't, parents and teachers
must go ahead and organize. It is the only
way they will be heard. Individuals cannot
get far against a giant organization with a
nine million dollar budget but larger
groups can and must, if the county system
is ever to work.
members, no trying to get on the good
side of the federation in order to win
votes.
There was no back-biting or political
pressure exerted by the federation
members.
instead there was a thought-provoking
discussion on wide-ranging rural problems
that lasted most of the afternoon.
Probably both the federation and the
members went away from the meeting
feeling much had been accomplished.
Other groups would be wise to follow
the example pioneered by the Federation
of Agriculture. Local councils, for
instance, should get together with the
members periodically to sit down and
take a look at how they can work
together to solve many problems in the
area.
The result might mean much more
effective action in the sehior governments
to solve local problems.
managed and by whom. Educators and
doctors, for example, often hide behind a
cloak of professional integrity when they
are asked to account for what they have
spent and how they have spent it, They
are not directly accountable to the
taxpayers.
And it is becoming increasingly
apparent that our money must be
managed more efficiently. There also is a
critical need for us to establish goals and
priorities in spending. What are they?
They must be established, And along
with them a new and more equitable way
to pay for them, The time has long since
passed for a restructuring of our tax
system, It is time that corporations and
industry and people in what appear to be
tax protected position pick up more of
the tax bill.
if not, that worn cliche will become
truer than ever: The rich get richer and
the poor get poorer,"
the lead
change things. The most controversial bill
being suggested by some politicians
demands jail sentences of up to three
years, and heavy fines for industrial
leaders whose companies cause dangerous
pollution.
Japan is hitting the wealthy tycoons
where it hur is most. it will deprive them
of their liberty if they fail to think first of
the general public at large, the people's
health and safety.
The greed of many industrialists is to
blame for much of the world's pollution.
Anti-pollution measures can be taken, and
must be taken. But they cost money. In
Japan, ,unfess the industrial chiefs spend
that money to make the country's air and
waterways cleaner, they are now likely to
end up behind bars. - Contributed
Things io come?
The year-end edition of
Modern Mechanics, looking
ahead to the next decade,
predicts that the television-tele-
phone and the private helicopter
loom as the next "essentials" in
our materialistic society.
I don't want to ruin your
week, but the more you consider
this the more you're apt to think
that progress is not only rapid,
but is in danger of running
amok.
The TV-phone, it seems,
awaits only mass production and
public acceptance as a
"necessity" before there'll be a
screen in every home and maybe
even an extension up beside the
bed. ' •
Think of it! When Auntie
Bthel gets you on the line her
miserable face will be right there
before you, larger than life and
twice as ugly. She, in turn, will
be looking right into your living
room, darting those furtive
glances for cobwebs in the
corner or eyeing the color of
your drink.
The private helicopter may
take a little longer, but it
appears that military models of
75 YEARS AGO
THE HURON NEWS RECORD
JAN, 1,1896
Ring out the old ring in the
new. On Tuesday night, at 12
o'clock, the town bell will ring
out the old year and usher in the
new
Mr. IL Plumsteel has sold to
Messrs. Sennett 'Drafters of
Walton, his fine young shorthorn
bull Major Booth sired by
imported General Booth.
After twenty year's service,
surgeon Milian.' J. R. Holmes
has been granted the rank of
Surgeon-Major, 33rd (Huron)
Battalion, to date from October
9,1694.
55 YEARS AGO
THE CLINTON NEW ERA
JAN. 6, 1916
'the new council, elected on
Monday last, coreprise: Mayor:
Dr. O. W. Thompson; Reeve: Jas.
Ford; Council: H. Wiltse, AL P.
Sheppard, Thomas Ilawkins,
Harry Fitzsimmons, C.J. Wallis,
W.J. Paisley.
Mr. W. N. Manning of
London, and for many years a
Well known Citizen of Clinton,
was elected to the Board of
Education in the city of London
on Saturday last.
Ira Hicks says January will be
a severe Winter month. Many of
the storms will be violent and
blizzardous, and the intervals
between storms will bring
reactionary waves of sudden and
excessive cold.
40 YEARS AGO
JAN. 8,1931
Mr. Harry 13 ell, who spent
several week's vacation with his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson
Hall of town, left New Year's
Day on his return trip to Chile,
where he has been engaged in
geographical Work for the past
three years.
Mr. Clifford Castle, who has
been with the Clinton creamery
for the past two years, left
family size are long past the
experimental stage and even the
one-place, strap-on whidy-bird,
capable of cruising and hovering
as high as 8,000 feet, is ready for
commercial production.
Financing, no doubt, will be
conveniently arranged.
Well, there's no use looking
the other way and pretending
that you can ignore these things
any more than you once thought
you could ignore the
non-telephone television.
Already I seem to hear those
familiar voices saying, "But, gee
whiz, Dad, the Smiths have
TV-phone and so have the
Jenkins and the Welshes. What
good is a phone if you can't see
who you're talking to?"
Or, in their university years,
"Gee whiz, Dad, everybody has
a helicopter these days. You
don't expect me to drive to
school, do you?"
Oh, it'll end the home as we
know it today, friends. Escapists
like myself who dream of getting
away from it all might just as
well stay put. If people aren't
looking in on you via the
personalized TV screen they'll
Monday for the O.A.C., Guelph,
where he will take a winter
course in dairy and creamery
work.
Mr. A.R. Ito mball,
superintendent of the local
Public Utilities Commission, is in
Toronto attending the Provincial
Conference.
25 YEARS AGO
JAN. 3,1946
Mr. Harry Hartlift has sold his
bakery and confectionery
business to his three tons,
Elliott, Bruce and Douglas
tartliff, who took possession
January 1. Barry Bartliff
purchased the business in 1902
from James McLay, when it was
located where Hawkins
Hardware now stands. In 1906
the business -Was moved to the
present site at the corner of
Rattenbury and Albert Streets.
Two years ago the store was
completely remodelled and
remodernized.
Voters will choose from the
following slate of candidates at
mkt Monday's election: Mayor:
A. J. McMurray, N. W.
Trewartha; Reeve: V. D.
Falconer, G. IN, Nott;
Councillors: M. J. Agnew, J. It.
A
be dropping In on you like
falling leaves from out of. the
wild blue yonder.
The old-fashioned, purely
auditory telephone is bad
enough, but at least it permits a
modicum of privacy. They can
get to you, sure enough, but you
can lie. You can say "yes, yes,
yes," and be shaking your head,
"no, no, no." You can be
explaining that you were just
leaving the house and stand
there naked as a jay bird. You
can beg off on the grounds of
sickness and look like a million.
But when they've tuned you
in on your personal closed
circuit there is no way out and
the great curse given to mankind
by Alexander Graham Bell will
have fulfilled the worst
prophecies.
I am not quite as anti-social
as this may sound, mind you.
It's just that I hold to the
olde English tradition that a
man's home is his castle and it
ought to be respected as such.
While other men are opening
their private lives to the full
public view with picture
windows, exposing themselves to
Butler, Ernest Brown, Melvin
Oriole Clifford H. Epps, R. Y.
MLitt, Clarence Livermore, C.
0, Middleton, Albert Shaddick.
15 YEARS AGO
JAN. 5, 1956
Mrs. Leroy Poth and Mrs.
William Joviett of Bayfiettl each
received Christmas greetings
from A.J. "Sandy" Mustard,
Miami, Florida. Sandy is with
the Eastern Airlines. These
letters, sent airmail, were
different in that they had been
through fire and water. The
edges were all charred and they
were marked "damaged hi plane
crash". Postmarked in Miami,
December 20, Mrs. Poth said
that they may have been aboard
the plane which crashed in
Jacksonvil le, Florida, on
December 21.
The annual Week of Prayer IS
being celebrated in Clinton this
week, and services are in the
Ontario Street United Church.
Rev. Angus McQueen, 13.D.,
London, is the speaker for the
week.
The first baby of 1956 was a
five pound, nine and a half
ounce, baby girl, born to LAC
and Mrs. John Bard, RCAF
society like goldfish in a bowl, I
am busy with my nine-foot
hedge and my moat.
I hold to the notion that a
man's home ought to be the
place where he can retreat from
humanity, a place where he can
take off his pants and his
inhibitions without fear of
discovery or intrusion. I believe
in electric fences, vicious dogs
will these
andnhuetavywhshauttters.
good
devices be when the sky is full of
travelling salesmen, wind-milling
out of the clouds to your very
front door? What privacy will
there be when any Torn, Dick or
Harry may come right into your
parlor simply by dialling' your
number?
The only hope I see, in fact,
is that one invention may cancel
out the other.
Plagued by the electronic
Peeping Tom on the TV-phone
driven to desperation by those
prying eyes, there'll be nothing
to do but strap yourself into
your little, old, tin-lizzie
autogyro, rise straight up to
8,000 feet and wait it out.
Station, Clinton, — their first
child.
10 YEARS AGO
JAN. 5, 1961
Mrs. Frank Fingland was
elected president of the 378
rti bet Clinton Hospital
Auxiliary on Tuesday night at
the annual meeting. She
succeeds Mrs. E. B. Measles,
who has been president far the
customary two year term.
Local liberals, who will
attend the National Liberal
Rally, to be held in Ottawa,
January 9, 10 and 11, will be
William Jewitt, R.R, 1, Clinton
0959 Warden of Huron), and E.
Beecher Menzies, Clinton lawyer
and president of Huron Liberal
Association.
William Edward Gerald
Brautigan is little Mr. Clinton of
1961. Ile is the only son of -Nit.
and Mrs. Keith Brautigan,
Clinton, and was born at 6:45
January 2", 10 Clinton
Public Hospital. Mrs. Brautigan
is the forMer Jean Crease, who
came to Clinton from Fife,
Scotland, just three years ago,
Long, hair or
slacks lei ihein be.
During the fall, I wrote a
column asking for readers'
opinions on such world-
shaking things as boys with
long hair and girls wearing
slacks to school, Correspon-
dence on the subject is still
trickling in.
The column was written
just after the girls at our
school had staged something
of a coup d'etat. Slacks were
forbidden, One day about
300 of them turned up in
slacks. The principal, sensibly
enough, met with a delega-
tion of the girls, heard their
cause, then asked the teach-
ing staff for an opinion.
The staff numbers nearly
eighty. Quite a few of them
have teenage daughters. An
overwhelming majority of
staff voted for slacks, I
among them.
Next morning, an an-
nouncement was made that
girls would be allowed to
wear slacks. A student made
the announcement. And there
was an audible gasp of pure
incredulity when she added,
"And also blue jeans."
Well, the world is still spin-
ning on its axis. The sun still
comes up every day. And it's
no more distracting to walk
down the hall behind a seven-
teen-year-old whose volup-
tuous bottom is revealing
itself in tight blue jeans than
it is to do the same thing be-
hind a girl whose skirt is al-
most up to her navel.
Perhaps you'd be inter-
ested in some readers coin-
ments. This is from a lady in
Georgetown, who points out
that she is no teenager, but
gets the pension.
"Dear Bill Smiley: What
has long hair to do with
what's under it? It is the
teacher's duty to dig what is
under it and teach them how
to make best use of it. I'm all
for the kids getting back to
the fig leaf if they want to. I
am also all for teachers co-
operating with them in doing
away with wars and poverty
— both of which we should
be ashamed of?'
This is from a gentleman
in Grand Valley, who is re-
tired. "Now Sir, about girls'
clothes. I personally like girls „ci
wearing a navy blue slcirt, at
least to the knees, with a
white blouse, and of course
the hair neatly tied or pinned,
or a net to keep it in place, so
it won't fall into a bowl of
soup. Now please tell me how
these things called Slacks are
comfortable, as the most of
them I see are so tight right
from the ankles up, so tight
they cut right into the body,
I feel if some of our nice-
looking females could get a
look at themselves from the
rear, when they are walking
down the street, they would
make a few changes."
Sir, I agree with you. For
the same reason I don't wear
kilts. I'm bow-legged.
A lady from Park Hill. A
long letter. These are ex-
cerpts. "So not all girls can
afford a new midi wardrobe.
Nor do too many want it. But
why have slacks so tight that
an onlooker often cannot
help but wonder if with a bit
more wiggle, all would
blow'?" Why, indeed?
About long hair on boys,
the lady says: "If teachers of
this day cannot tell their
pupils with long hair and
beards that the pictures that
this world has of Jesus are
greatly varied ... then it is no
wonder that the children are
getting the run-around .. If
the generation of today were
to be asked what is, and what
is not, old-fashioned, I'M cer-
tain their answerS would be as
varied as their clothes."
From Acton. "Slacks for
girls? Boys with long hair? I
have three girls and it would
save me a lot of money if
they Would be able to wear
slacks to school. As for the
boys wearing long hair, I say,
beg, preach: let them bel
What makes us want to tell
youth what to wear, how to
took? If a child or young
adult does not know what is
best for himself, we had bet-
ter take a second -or third
look at ourselves."
That's just a sampling.
There's a very sensitive letter
from Willy 13Iok Hanson, who
is .an artist, but I can't find
the darned thing. Oh, yes,
here it is. .Summarized. "If
the long-hairs and beardies of
today would follow Jesus also
in his actions, instead of only
in his looks, they -would be
very acceptable indeed, to-
day, tomorrow, the same as
yesterday. Girls Wearing
stacks? Why not? Cold Is
cold, for boys as well as gitit.
Whether they both should
wear jeans to 8011001, Or
'slacks, 'depends on the quality
of the subject matter".
Slacks for sexy novels?
Skirts for math? I'm bee
wildered. But thanks for the
letters.
'the ArevieSvridicate
The increase in government spending in
the past decade has been phenomenal and
in most ways this has been a necessary
and good investment in the future.
Today, for example, more than 20 per
tent of total government spending in
Canada goes to education, and health care
costs have increased from $60 per capita
in lass to almost $170 per capita in
1967, By 1975 they could double.
The Economic Council of Canada
makes this frightening forecast "if the
rate of increase of the past five veers were
to continue unabated, these two areas of
activity alone would absorb the entire
national product before the year 2000."
The rate of increase will have to be
abated, and now we tan realistically
expect that the worse is over in capital
expenditures for education and health
facilities,
But now the time has come to take a
closer look at public spending, at our
priorities and at the Way public money is
Japan takes
In a world troubled by pollution of the
sea, the air and the land, the Japanese
islanders are doing great work. The
Japanese Government recently launched a
major anti-pollution campaign, end a
special parliamentary session was called to
consider a wide-ranging set of new laws.
The session began in November and
was expected to last for most of
december. The Government of Japan
wants to beef up eight laws that already
exist, and hopes to push through seven
new bins to combat the gaming problem
Pollution is choking many Japanese
cities, fouling the air as well as the
country's rivers and shoreline, industries
in Japan have been causing some of the
world's worst -river and coastal pollution.
But the government is work'-g hard to
Democracy in action
Tax priorities needed
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