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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1971-12-23, Page 4Editorial commeitt )4e. Clinton has reasons to be merry this Christmas. Few of .us a few short months ago would have thought the prospects for our town would be quite so bright when Christmas, 1971 came round. But suddenly the town and district is filled with optimism instead of gloom. Santa Claus, or some other supernatural personage, has sent us John van Geste! with his ideas and money and the former air forces base, which was beginning to look useless, will soon be brimming with activity again and pumping money into the economy of the county. What better Christmas present could we get? The best thing about the marvelous turn of events is that change in the attitude of the people of the county. The feeling of optimism will do more for the county than the work of Mr. van Geste!, in the long run, for it will cause people of the area to invest in their own future and only by doing so can we ensure a long and steady period of prosperity. And only by invest)ng in our own future can we ensure that the kind of community we most want is built. For these reasons, we should be thankful this Christmas because we have receiyed• a precious gift, one which we didn't do that much to bring to ourselves. And as Christmas passes and the New Year nears, we should each resolve to do our best to use our new found prosperity to improve our community so that it will not only be well off financially but well off as a community. Your driving is Medical science has tackled many, and conquered most major diseases but there is no immunization against Traffic Accidents. The Dominion Automobile Association is joining with other Safety Organizations and Government Agencies to ask the members of the motoring public to be alert to the dangers on our highways. This campaign for highway safety is most important, especially during this Christmas and holiday season. Country-wide acceptance of the slogan "Safe Driving is a Family Affair" will go a long way in bringing down the tragic death total that occurs each year. The Dominion Automobile Association reminds drivers that although the main responsibility • for accident prevention relies on the safe driving habits of the person behind the wheel it is also of vital importance that the vehicle itself be in a family affair top mechanical condition. Icy, wet roads, poor weather conditions and visibility problems all combine to complicate the job of driving safely. If there was any particular time of the year when we should be at our peak in safe driving habits, it is now. No family, no matter how loosely knit can bear the burden of a traffic death during the festive season. Each member of the family must accept his or her responsibility in preventing accidents. From the smallest youngster who should practice the common everyday safety rules as taught to him by his parents and at school, to the ' man or woman behind the wheel, whose responsibility it is to not only watch his own driving habits but must be prepared to allow for the mistakes of others. The Dominion Automobile Association reminds all drivers at this time of the year that "Safe Driving is a Family Affair." HE CLINTON NEW ERA Established 1865 Clinton Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD 1924 Established 1881 ews Record 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 RATES: (in advance) ,Canada, $8,00 per year; U.S.A., $0,50 KEITH W, ROULSTON * Editor Jr HOWARD AITKEN General Manager Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County A Clinton, Ontario Population 3,475 THE HOME OP RADAR NCANADA for Santa 4 Clinton News-Record, Thursday,, December 23, 1971 *IliN)NN.fslmmpom -...( '.-44 4 :..,..:,.......,.„,:::,,,,...„7" 7,. 4. , M 0/ ,,,,— ,.;;W:/...:0";VW,.... / :4 % i rd„. VN t i...4)...,..,,...1, (.1;t r%,i, ,5 4.,,k, f . .....A,„,.... ..--,..........,,,,,„,11.:,..:r..1,).,..4..4 4:- ,:.,,,,.,......,/.....,....•, ,:-.......p.:,,,..,........„,• .00, . - ,,I,:t0,....,.... AIM': '. " T1) ))''''')INT4k W ,..... And what other goodies' have you got for us Santa .'MYSZMI'VzWaMtrAtrYSZOtaW:MaSSziftrMr5t1WZMM(MrAaVtaMMEzaZCS!ZMattUfezitrat4t(refr5laT5z55aWZMVsaMtaftrr4:4MyAly514VacMME5105TMZYAaMV*A'SoMZMMMUMMY4ZY5:MtaftrOoatilEZMZMMTS;ZezSYSAMUMMY:taY6ZEZYSI:STAOAIMYS2IMMSe44mimty4layda Letter to the The Editor, Re-Farm Posts As a private bulldozer operator I get the feeling, one side of the story is being aired and nobody has bothered to listen to others, I do not believe these so called "private operators" were bent on destruction or carelessness. At the time, I had the impression we were helping. This operator thinks the Federation's fears are groundless, and will not be caught On the fence again. A Private Operator Looking forward to Christmas has become something less than unadulterated joy. The thrice-blasted tree with its' inevitable crooked stump, the ever-increasing cost of gifts: these and other aspects of the festive season have turned the festive part of it, at least, into an exercise of hectic futility. I think many will agree when I say that there's a huge sigh of relief on Christmas night when the last of the wrappings have been put away, the last of the dishes washed, and we can sit back, look at the lights„ and listen to thusic. It's a lot easier on the nerves to looks back on Christmases of the past. They were probably justas frantic, but in retrospect they have a sort of rosy glow about them. There's one that still causes me a pang of remorse and shame. My mother was making the usual huge turkey dinner, with all it entails. We were to eat about four. Around two p.m. my kid brother and I sneaked, yes, sneaked off to the matinee. About the same time, my older brother and sister went for a long walk with a friend. None of us got home until about 5:30, and there was Mom stuck with the ruins of a magnificent dinner, on which' she had toiled for hours. She didn't say anything, but I, for one, felt like a rat. I was about ten, and it was the first time I ever realized how thoughtless and selfish kids can be. Which reminds me that my own two thoughtless, selfish brats will be home this Christmas. Hugh's a vegetarian and will have his little bag of whole brown rice. Kim's on R6ses If I had even a small talent for fiction writing I would sit right down and make a tender, well-rounded Christmas vignette of the incident at Counter No. One of an F. W. Woolworth emporium last Saturday afternoon at approximately 3:30 o'clock. Not having the talent, I will just have to set down the details without embellishment and hope that they will convey to you something of the pleasure they gave to me. Counter No. One is the jewelry counter. I Was Standing within five feet of it, leaning against a penny weighing tnachine, waiting for my wife who was somewhere in the crowd purchasing worthless trinkets to be stuffed into children's stockings. There were three girl clerks Working behind the jewelry counter and one of there was beautiful, She would be 18 of 20, I'd guess, I was struck by her resemblance to the younger Eli zabeth Taylor. "A million'dollar baby in the five-and-ten-cent store," I thought, I guessed that she would be part-time Christmas help for She some kind of a crazy diet. By some strange coincidence, the vegetarian becomes a carnivore and the diet goes out the window, when they're home. It's tempting to think of making them a nice nut salad, and cooking a small duck for their parents only. Another Christmas I'll never forget was that of 1944, deep in the heart of Pomerania, behind barbed wire. We didn't have to worry about buying gifts, sending cards or making long-distance calls to relatives. Maybe that's why it was so much fun. Not even a tree to wrestle with. We exchanged gifts. I gave a pair of gloves to one of the artists, and he gave me a caricature of myself. Someone else gave me a pack of smoke'S and received a• razor blade that had been used only once. And there was the Christmas dinner. We had saved every scrap we could from the last of the Red Cross parcels, We had two tins of salmon with delicious creamed sauce made from powdered milk. There were potatoes au gratin (we'd hung unto a hunk of cheese.) And there was that fantastic cake...crumbled Graham crackers and mashed turnips held together by a bit of marg, with two melted chocolate bars stirred in. It was cooked on top of the stove, and weighed about 18 pounds, one pound per man. With dinner went kriegie brew. We'd saved enough prunes and sugar to make a potent potion (just add water and let it ferment for a couple of weeks). After scoffing the lot, we lay around on our bunks, with the turned occasionally to one of the other girls to ask about prices and such. As I was speculating idly this' way a messenger boy in a gray uniform came through the swinging doors. Under his arm was what obviously was a flower box. It was at least four feet long. He looked up over the heads of the crowds at the signs which mark the counters by number and went directly to the jewelry counter, "Linda Webster?" he asked the beautiful girl. "That's me," the girl said. And he handed her the box. The girl was so clearly astonished by this that I couldn't resist moving in closer to satisfy my curiosity. I pretended to be studying some earrings a foot away from her and watched her as she opened the box. They were dark red rotes, six of them, long-stemmed in a nest of lacey fern. The girl looked down at them, gasped and gave a low, crooning sound of pleasure. She looked up at the other two girls Who, of course, were Watching her closely and beckoned to them to cotne and look, firelight flickering from the battered stove. Did we talk about home and loved ones? We did not. We just lay there and groaned, like 18 pythons who had simultaneously swallowed 18 goats. Most of us were sick half the night, but it was worth it. It was the only time for months that we hadn't been hungry, and the only time for months that we wouldn't be. Other Christmases swarm into memory. I'll not forget the one when my wife was having the family, for the irst time. She fussed all day and had everything just so. She was going to show her mother and aunts that she was no slouch of a housewife. Her eyes were darting everywhere, making sure that everything was in order. The atmosphere was about the same as that at Cape Kennedy when they're going to fire at the moon. Finally, the supreme moment. She ushered everyone to the table and rather grandly ordered me to take the turkey out of the oven. I did, but the dam' pan was red hot and I dropped the whole works, gravy, grease, dressing and turkey, on the shining kitchen floor. I'll spare you the details, but I've never come closer to sudden death, even during the war. In parting, I have three wishes for my loyal readers: that your Christmas tree doesn't fall over just after you've finished decorating; that you don't drop the turkey; and that you have the best and happiest Christmas you've ever had, with people you love. Both girls instantly left their customers and came up to admire the flowers. "It's that fellow who tried to talk to you this morning," one of the girls said. "I'll bet that's him," the other said. The girl who had received the flowers now took a card from the box and read it: "To Linda Webster, Counter One." "Isn't that cute?" the first girl said. "How did he know your name?" the other asked. "Gee," said Linda Webster, Counter One, "that's cute," The girl who had received the flowers stood a moment, admiring them, While the other two returned to their posts, smiling inscrutably to each other with the eternal wisdom of the female, Then she placed the lid on the box, reverently, and put it under the counter, I returned to lean up against the weighing machine and when 'my wife came from out of the crowd we went to the coffee 'counter where I told her what I'd seen. "We'vt, been shopping alt day in this mob and that'd the first thing I've seen that seemed to be 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, Dec. 21, 1961 Every year we get at least one peculiar item along with the Christmas mail, This time it was a lovely card with bells on wishing us a Merry Christmas, but there's no signature at all. Just a sort of general greeting one might say. Aside from the fact that it was mailed in Scarborough, we have no clue. A presentation ceremony will be held in the council chamber of the town hall on Friday, Dec. 22, at 7:30 p.m. for members of "Clinton Legion Juvenile bas'eball `team, which this year won 'the ' oBA Juvenile "B" championship. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, Dec. 20, 1956 There must be something shaking to a small child's face in Santa when he drives around at this time of year, and sees so many of the jolly old fellows. They seem to be posed on half the roofs, in front of many doors, and in so many store windows we lose count. Ron McKay was named mayor of 'Teen Town' on election night held for that thriving youth group. John Elliott, who was runner-up in votes for the mayor's chair was named reeve. Judi Cluff is secretary and Mary Helen Yeo is treasurer. Six councillors chosen for the coming year are Sandra Addison, Sylvia Bell, Frank McDonnell, Jack Finley, Wayne Mcgee and Douglas Norman. in the Christmas spirit," I said. "There is a Santa Claus," my wife laughed. "I must write a piece one day on the use of the word 'cute'," I said. "This girl made it sound like 15 other words." We finished our coffee and headed for the street, As we patsed Counter No. One I nudged my wife and we glanced across at the girl. She was standing there, serving a customer, but her eyes were lifted over the heads of the hurrying throngs. She was Watching the main entrance and the people who were coming and going. Like any other nice girl she was waiting for Santa Claus. WHAT IN THE WORLD Is OXFAM? Travel Agency? - Baby food? - Airline? Detergent? Development Agenztyl OXFAM 444 INTEAN.14110NAL aEVELCOMENT pEopLe 9/ Eglinton Ave., Emit Toronto 315, Ontario 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, Dec. 26, 1946 A/13 Robert Step, Clinton's contribution to the Royal Navy, permanent status, had the unique distinction of being one of those chosen to act as a member of a Canadian group of 100 to march in the parade at the inauguration of the new Mexican president. George Braithewaite, Clinton Creamery, operated by Canada Packers Ltd., was successful in capturing first prize in ten entries in one of the classes of the Butter Quality Competition of the Ontario Creamery Associafion.' Sgt. Everett Lobb; RCAF, Trenton spent a week's vacation with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Lobb. 40 YEARS AGO Thursday, Dec. 17, 1931 Cliff Levy was one of th prize winners at the Winter Fai at Guelph last week makin something of a sweep in the Buf Orpington class. Duncan Cartwright, who ha been a member of th News-Record staff for the pas three years, has joined the staf of the Brussels Post. According to a publishe report, Mrs. L. E. Doherty, former citizen of Clinton wa. again elected president of th WMS , of Central United Churci Clinton. Noble Holland had a fin display of fox hides in Clinto last Saturday. 55 YEARS AGO Thursday, Dec, 28, 1916 The following have qualified for the electors to pass judgement on them on Monday next: Arthur C. Clarkson, Harry Fitzsimons, W. T. Hawkins, Bert Langford, Murray McEwan, R. J. Miller, W. J. Nediger, W. J. Paisley, J. P. Sheppard, Harrison Wiltse. Miss Rudd, the obliging librarian at the Clinton Public Library, spent Christmas at Toronto. Marriage of Mary Alice McLaren, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert McLaren and Edward C. Glen, only son of Mr. and Mrs. William Glen, Stanley Township, took place at Ivanhoe Farm, Hensall, on Jan, 3 at high noon. 75 YEARS AGO Wednesday, Dec. 23, 1896 Heart Disease Relieved in 30 Minutes — Dr. Agnew's cure for the heart gives perfect relief in all cases of Organic or Sympathetic Heart disease in 30 minutes, and speedily effects a cure. It is a peerless remedy for Palpitation, Shortness of Breath, Smothering spells, Pain in the Left Side and all symptoms of a diseased head. One dose convinces. The children of St, Paul's S. S., will have a supper in the school robin on next Monday evening at 6 o'clock. Froth that time until 8 o'clock they Will amuse themselves with games and amusements, when IVIr. Brewer has kindly consented to give them one of his entertaining half-hours with the magic lantern, Christmas is bright with hope The ghosts of Christmas past Editor.