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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1971-05-13, Page 4Mayor Don Symons made a good point Monday night at town council when he suggested it was time for an investigation of policing in Clinton, from the ground up, by the Attorney General's Department. The 'mayor said the investigation of the police would clear the air and it certainly is time to do that. For the last couple of years vague hints have been, made, both in council and by citizens of the town, of members of the police not pulling their weight, of inefficiency and even of undue influence by prominent citizens on the, police activities, In other words, Of corruption. It's time to get them out into the open. Time to see if there is any truth to thqm or if it is just an example of too much talk and too few brains. It is time to put up or shut up for the growing number of critics. How can a police force work efficiently in a situation such as this? How can there be any morale • on the force Let them serve when there are constant insinuations that they are being bought off and outright accusations that they are not doing their job? How can they do a job well when some councillor or other is regularly suggesting they should be demoted or - better still fired? And how can the town have confidence in its force when the town leaders are constantly criticizing it? Don't get confused and think' we support the salary demands of the force whole-heartedly. • Many of the demands virge on the outright ridiculous. They would mean town employees are getting twice„as much 'salary as most of the citizens who pay them. But the side effects from the salary disputes over • the past couple of years must be stopped. The facts behind insinuation and accusations must •be brought forward, if there are any. It's time to get this mess cleaned up for once and for all. dr 44# 0'1 S t,091 DIRT)' S d I T— 0.0 or i-FIRA.E. 01...cs 1-"„4 I" ?,:45" c, VI A'S op $e r't tk- 0 ---1--%nt.tior4 L 0, ‘ ira L__ ,,,,,,,,,,,, „ , ... ,, FRiggEE— ‘.91iklfJA So4C OE Sa-MikfEie 1`."`” 1.\\ t "•"",‘N- '0+ ,40.0••• we% 'Editorial comment Time to clear the air "Help Wanted" columns these days reveal that, even in office work, many employers are looking for someone who is "aggressive." Students seeking summer jobs may be 'misled by this emphasis on aggression, The world already has more aggression than it needs. It would welcome a little more service for a change. Too often in department stores, you either serve yourself or are ignored while clerks busily discuss personal affairs, It is rare to find a clerk really interested in giving the customer service. The same attitude prevails' in many offices. Few seem willing to serve any more as if "serve" and "servile" were synonymous. Job-seeking students can make up for Fiscal priorities Faced with trie "lisCar"sele—"cif business recessions, increasing unemployment and budgets slipping out of balance, treasury departments of governments often turn as a first resource to new taxes or higher rates on old ones, This may only compound the problem, The law of diminishing returns works in such a way that high tax rates actually bring less return to the treasury than low ones. Increasing the tax burden likewise impedes that very economic recovery it is most desirable to promote. A readjustment of spending priorities might be a very much better approach. Here the criterion should be one of need. Determining where the burden of recession bears most heavily, governments should avoid cuts in spending which will eat into the incomes and living standards of those already suffering most severely. This is the time to maintain or increase lack of experience by being very willing to serve and thus make a welcome addition to our work-a-day world. It may be that only menial work is available regardless of the applicant's educational qualifications. Work such as sweeping floors, cutting lawns, delivering groceries or putting out the garbage of some business concern may seem a waste of one's talents.• But floors need to be swept and garbage needs to be put out and this is part of the world's work, There is satisfaction in fulfilling a useful service to society — a satisfaction those who exploit society aggressively never know. The greatest men in history have been those who were the most humble and willing to serve mankind. expenditures— irr unemployment assistance and retraining programs, family welfare services, better housing for lower income groups, services to the poor, the aged, the children and the Indian and Eskimo minority groups. Likewise this is a time to cut back, defer or abandon expenditures on national defence, highway construction and public works — except those for which pressing need is clearly and demonstratably related to the immediate economic prbblem. If income taxation adjustments are made, their direction should be downward, not up, the criterion again being always that of providing most relief to those segments of the population most in need of it. Luxuries can be taxed more heavily, such as liquor, amusements and cigarettes.— Contributed Don't sneeze at rights of spring For ancients only 75 YEARS AGO The News-Record May 13, 1896 The Travelling Diary, sent out by the Ontario Agricultural College, will visit West Huron at the following places at the dates given. All meetings begin at 1:30. Blyth, May 22; Auburn, May 26; Kintail, May 28; Hohnesville, May 30; Clinton, June 1. All ate invited to attend. Every possible arrangement is being completed for the Queen's birthday on May 24. The various committees have the work well under way, People for miles around have signified their intent to attend the celebrations. The day promises to be the best in many years. Mr, and Mrs. James Miller leave by boat from Goderich today on a visit to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. He said he would be back to vote for the Conservative candidate on June 23. W0,;0,1,900' /11107AST MEM THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated 7HE HURON N E WS-RECORb Established 1865 1924 Established 1881 A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) second class mail registration number * 0817 SUBSCRIPTION FiNTESI, (in advance) Canada, $6.00 per year; U.S.A., $7.50 KEIT14 W, flOULSTON Bditot J. HOWARD AITKBN * General Manager N ews-Record Clinton_ Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County Clinton, Ontarici Tlepulation ;415 TEE HOME OF :RADAR IN CANADA 4 Clinton News-Record, Thursday, May 1.3, 1971 I'd give much better odds for contentemnt and longevity to the oldster who clings of responsibilities, who is imbedded in children instead of barring them from his life, who ogles the pretty dollies at the pool instead of sentencing himself to splash about with granny, the mean, old cantankerous, lusty gaffer who keeps rudely butting up against life as long as he's able and wouldn't be found dead in the mink-lined Old People's Home that is Sun City. It's only when you're dying that you truly appreciate living. And I'm dying right now. Don't scoff. I mean it. You'll be sorry next week when this column appears as a blank, white space with a heavy black border around it. I don't want any eulogies in that white space. At least, nothing fancy. Nothing like: "Here lies a noble soul Torn from this earth before his time; His words were nothing But his soul sublime." No, I don't really want that sort of thing. Although it was my first suggestion as I lay, gasping for breath, trying to choke down the rye and hot water and honey and lemon juice that somebody had suggested to my wife might Save me. We compromised, after some discussion concerning how much a letter the tombstone than charges. And I will say this for my wife. She wiped my forehead and brought me cups of tea while she sorted through my insurance policies. We Settled on.: "After all Bill kneig He'd die; So do you." It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but 1 don't quibble about these things, and I did like the last line, Alsip, we saved $367.80 on the lettering. That's almost enough to buy an automatic dishwasher. Let's put first things first. There's been a lot written about the rights of spring: poetry, music and stuff like that. To be dying of the 'flu is one of the rights of spring in Canada. It's one of the few inalienable rights we have left. • Oh, there are other rights of spring in this country, but they're becoming polluted, like everything else. There's the right to go trout fishing on Opening Day. This was once an indefinable and inexplicable delight. Nowadays, it's about as thrilling as climbing onto a subway train at rush hour, There's the right to go out and shovel and sweep back onto the road all the sand the snowblower has thrown up on your lawn duting the winter. This has 'a tendency to pall after the first five or Si, years. There's the right to cheat on your income tail. This used to be day rigetre, as we used to say, but so many people are doing it now that it's passay, as We say now. There are all sorts of other spring rights, like giving birth 'to twin lambs, going for a swim as soon as the ice goes out, Or discovering that your kid Ins quit university a week before final exams. But we're not all cut out for these things, They're sort of spotty. The only spring right that has not been interfered with by government, big business, labour unions or the women's lib is the ordinary Canadian's spring right of dying from the 'flu. I think it's probably the last spring right we'll have in perpetuity. And I think it's fitting that we should. Practically anybody can die of practically anything these days, according to the experts. And they're probably right, though I have yet to know an expert to ,be right about anything. But to die of the 'flu every spring is something that's fairly precious to us Canadians, and I hope the advertising agencies don't catch on to it, or they'll spoil the whole doleful laminas. Can't you see the ads? "COME TO CANADA FOR A NEW THRILL! INSTANT INFLUENZA!" Probably sponsored by "drink Canada dry" and "relax with Canadian club," The Yanks would flock In. Don't let them. Let's keep something for our mess -of pottage, I'm dyi,ng 'of the 'flu, and I don't want a bunch of tourists horning in, If, in a weak moment of senility, I should ever decide to go and live in Sun City , Arizona, will you kindly tuck the muzzle of a .38 Webley in my right ear and quickly, humanely, pull the trigger? Surely not since those pre-civilization days when the shaman of certain primitive tribes booted out the elders from the camp (for very practical economic reasons) has there been such a dismal fate for the old folks as this "modern" solution to the problems of the so-called sunset years. That it's a voluntary banishment, in this case, doesn't make it any the „more-attractive— A friend just back from that region tells me that the deserts of California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico are now strewn with Sun Cities, luxery-ridden villiage-subdivisions exclusively for the retired who've an income of $10,000 or more. They live in handsome, pastel-tinted homes on wide, palm-lined avenues with parks, golf courses, swimming pools, community buildings for hobbies and recreation. Children 10 YEARS AGO The Clinton News-Record May 11, 1961 Tom Leppington brought a sturdy sheet of ice down to the office for proof that it was cold Tuesday night. This is a Spring which is going to use up more fuel than is thought customary. First practice for the Legion Juvenile baseball team is to be held on Friday night at Clinton Community Park, starting at 6:30 p.m. Doug Andrews is manager again this year, with Norman Livermore, coach, Work was begun on the site of Clinton's Roman Catholic Separate School early yesterday, following the decision Tuesday night by the board to award the contract to tale Doucette, Clinton contractor. Tender price of $58,900 was the lowest one of eight received for'the job. 15 YEARS AGO The Clinton News-Record May 10, 1956 Mr. and Mts. Robert Freeman 'will be at home to their friends and neighbours on Saturday, May 12, from 3:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon and 7:00 to 10:00 in the evening, in honour of their 50th anniversary. Mrs. Jahn R. Noble, High Street, celebrated her 89th birthday at her home on Monday, May 7. Mrs. Noble is in good health and does her own housework. There is a special meeting of the Town Council this evening in the council chamber at the town hall, for the purpose of reviewing tire budget for 1956-, and setting the tax tate for the coming year. A new mill rate is to be reviewed, The time 8 • 25 YEARS AGO The Clinton News-RecOrd May 16,1946 The executive of Huron are barred except as visitors and no one younger than 50 is eligible. Ir is, in short, a kind of gigantic Happier Old Age Club idea and such a success as a real estate venture that there are dozens and dozens of them, They are designed as geriatric paradises, it seems, and just thinking about it gives me the creeps. Accounts of life in these settlements tell of a downright frantic activity--ministrel shows, square dancing, shuffle-board, bowling and Lord knows what—and it's hard to escape the notion that there's a somewhat desparate need to find gang substitutes fOr the more purposeful individual endeavors of the main steam of society. My friend got the impression of a group of people hermetically sealed from the joys, the challenges and demands of real life, withdrawn from-the joust of mankind, playing patty-cake, making sand castles and seeking forgetfulness with their toys out there in the desert. They are killing time, the enemy. The fact that it is by choice County Federation of Agriculture discussed the approaching Field Day, scheduled fox Community Park, Clinton, June 19, at a meeting in the Board Room Agricultural Office, last night. Clinton Lions Club executive held a meeting in the Agricultural Office last evening, The next club meeting will be held next Thursday evening, May 23, When "Navy Night" will be celebrated with Captain Hugh Campbell, Toronto, as special speaker. Leroy A. Brown, Clinton, recently named acting agricultural representative for Huron County, has been appointed secretary, Huron County Plowing Match. Born on a Durham County font, he graduated from O.A.C. in 1946 and returned to Clinton last Pall, after serving in the R.C.A.F, with the rank Of Flying Officer. 40 YEARS AGO THE NEWS-RECORD May 14, 1931 Mr. G. R. Paterson, former county agricultural representative of Huron, has joined the market's branch of the Ontario Department of Agriculture, and is in charge of feed and fertilizer distribution. Looks as if this year might be a very prolific one in the vegetable line. Mr. R. H. Johnson showed the News-Record a dandelion he picked up which had seven blossoms on one stock. Mr, arid Mrs. Erwin G. Zinn and family of Lanes, visited at the home of the lady's parents, Mr, and Mrs, George Holland, just South of town, on Saturday, and on their return were accompanied by Miss Viola Holland, who spent the weekend with theme takes the sting out of it. If this were a tribal custom, as it once was, there'd be howls of indignation at the terrible waste of arbitrarily exiling citizens who still have much to contribute, The fact that it is a more indirect edict by a society that has come to worship youth and to discard the wisdom, knowledge and counsel of the aged makes is acceptable and perhaps even desirable. Yet it is still oblivion, however pastel-pink you tint it. Project this Sun City concept into a general way of life, the colonization of the ancients, ,sectarianism by seniority, a sort of ' fashionable, painless geographic euthanasia, and life would hardly seem worh living after 40, much less beginning. Try as I will, I can't see how anyone profits by the theory of Sun City, It represents, on the one hand, a denial of all those contributions that men and women of true maturity can give to the young and, on the other, the denial of zest and vigor that comes from association with the 55 YEARS AGO Mother's Day will be observed next Sunday. Wear a white flower. At Willis Church, Rev. F. C. Harper, 13.D., will conduct both services. In the Morning the subject will be "The Truth of the Virgin Mother", in the evening, "As One Whom His Mother Comfotteth", The $10 prize offered by police Magistrate Kelly of Goderich, for the best name suggested for the 161st regiment, was won by Dr. W. J. R. Holmes of Godetich who suggested "The Hurons". There were several others besides the doctor who made the same suggestion, and the decision was made by a number draw. Dr. Holmes turned the money over to the War Auxiliary. Last Sunday afternoon the 161st Battalion band gave a band concert in front of the post office for over an hour and the program was much enjoyed by a large awed. Many motored from Blyth, Seaforth, Hensall and Mitchell to hear the concert. Letter to the Editor To all Ontario News Media, Open Letter: Honourable P. E, Trndeau, Prime Minister of Canada. Honourable Sir: I would like to draw your attention to a few very important matters which have, are, and no doubt, will continue to adversely affect most Canadians. These observations are based on my point of view as a small independent farmer but I am also aware of otter segments of Canadian Society who are likewise being affected by our current runaway inflation, Further inflationary trends sanctioned by your Government via suggested 6% increase guidelines will continue to affect those who cannot afford to make their voice heard. Little attempt is being made to assist such groups or individuals to cope with the present situation. In the case of the farming industry which has contributed -almost nothing to inflation, even Government pressure is being applied and is seriously jepordizing the continuation of this industry as the primary function of an Agricultural Industry which contributes 42% to our Gross National Product. I very seriously question the merit, in the face of ever increasing National unemployment, of plans of your Government to phase out the jobs of 300,000 families. This is exactly what is recommended by your Agricultural Task Force and is apparently being quickly acted upon by your Government, Two-thirds of Canadian farmers must go, — go where? The highly controversial piece of Legislation currently waiting for final reading in the form of C-176 National Marketing Legislation, masquerades as a great opportunity for farmers. In reality, it is the vehicle whereby implementation of supply management can be forced on farmers BUT WITHOUT IMPORT CONTROLS, and without ANY CONSULTATION with farmers REAL spokesmen. The continued advocation of low product prices at the farm level with exports encouraged only at farmer give-away prices will surely break the back of the family farm system ' of food production. Has your Government considered how to cope with Farming Corporations who will then control the Farming Industry? Does your Government foresee Efficiency and Productivity in an alternate State Farming System where farm labourers as non owners, no doubt show very little meaningful responsibility? Does your Government have the plans complete for Low income housing within our cities to receive the Rural Exodus about to take place? Does you Government have fund. earmarked to retrain or pensio the displaced rural residents so they may live out the remainder of their lives "in Dignity in thi Just Society?" I do not ask these question irresponsibly. There are answers. The family farm way of lif CAN be continued as a way o living and CAN continue to be great contributor to th Canadian Economy. Subsidies to farmers are distasteful to both giver and receiver but are a Means whereby low income groups ate able to buy their basic food requirements. The alternative is a Legislative Climate that will allow farmers the opportunity to price their products on cost of production as other industries with Government food programs for the less fortunate. Export dollars gained by Canada are very desirable but farmers as 6% of Canadian population should not be expected to continue to carry Canadians on their back in this North American inflated economy. In conversation with Urban Canadians, their concern is tremendous when they realize the fanners' situation, They thought "that the Department (See Page MO new generation. Everybody loses. It seems to me, too, that it would make a man or woman older much swifter than the calender alone might dictate. Forever reminded of this apartness from the greener years, conditioned in thought and action by the aged alone, all too aware, down deep, of a self-imposed sentence of uselessness, I doubt if any amount of self-conscious cavorting in such a plush, antiseptic play-pen can hide the feeling that they're on the toboggan slide of the years.