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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1972-06-22, Page 4Editorial commei t Getting to know you As your new editor, J would like to say how pleased I am to be in Clinton. Being born and raised in the city of London, one tends to get used to the fast pace and impersonal nature of the big cities. It's really refreshing to come into a smaller centre like Clinton and within a week people are greeting you by name on the street or offering a friendly hand of welcome. I know I'm going to enjoy living in Clinton. Since I'm brand new at the job, things have been a little hectic for the firstweek, There are so many people to meet and locations to know,that it has been somewhat confusing. So, while I'M getting settled down, 1 liope you, the readers, will forgive me for the many errors I'm going to make. Whether they be errors of commissien or ommissien, I try to straighten them up and within a few weeks things should begin to run more smoothly. I'm glad to be here, I hope you will be too. Industrial expansion —for what? A writer on the financial page of a large newspaper has been complaining about those who say we must cutback on industrial expansion in order to conserve our resources and clean up the environment. He says it is more important to rescue a family from poverty than "to leave a given area for the quiet contemplation of the few." But many useless things are now being manufactured in the process of keeping industrial society in orbit. Heads of corporations are committed to theprofit ethic—the needs of the poor never enter the picture. Would a large corporation go broke if it-took the planet and all its people into consideration when it planned new products or phased out old? When its Board of Di rectors met to draw up the next year's program, if environment and conservation of natural resources held priority, and profits became secondary, would it lose? We don't know because so far as we know it's never been tried. We do know however, that some companies thrive despite not changing their model every year and planning obsolescence. Planned obsolescence whether of cars or clothing is an obscenity today when we have been repeatedly warned by scientists that we are rapidly exhausting our sources of energy. If we continue to expand industrially without consideration for the facts of environment, there wi II no longer be a concern about poverty—we' I I all be in the same boat and equally destitute...having turned our planet into a desert.—contributed Work is a fundamental right As unemployment continues to be one of our national problems, periodical ly a head of the government will say philosophically—in reference to those who refuse a job paying only $1.65 an hour, "well, if they don't want to work, why should they?" Other intellectual types will echo some dream for the future when, according to them we'l I al I be on a 3-or 4-day work week and ours will be a great society of leisure. Is this what we really want? Any society, all the way from primitive cultures up to the sophisticated and complex North ' . American variety, consists of individuals - who are mutually dependent upon each other. We found this out in recent garbage strikes and remember it well from some postal strikes of the past. It is a fact of life that we are interdependent. The work ethic is not a hangover from the Puritans. It is fundamentally good for man to work, to have chal lenges and to meet them, to pit his skills against problems. To provide a service to society through work, even if it isn't always the kind of job we would choose if we had a large choice, does give one self-respect and a sense of value. Man needs to contribute something to the general pot, as it were. The insidious effect of continued unemployment is to create first anxiety, then hopelessness, and finally apathy which in turn leads to degeneration of the human being. Instead of treating unemployment facetiously, heads of state and governments could be seriously involved in developing more beautiful cities with greater public services, thus creating employment. Preventive medicine in the form of gymnasiums, more tennis courts, golf clubs, bicycle roadways, gardens, you name it—where some people can be employed and others find recreation— is another area governments might consider. As a recent survey from coast to coast reveals, Canadians from labourers to executives, believe the right to a job should be a fundamental right.for all. "When 1 applied for a job as an ecologist, this isn't exactly what I had in mind!" Medeleeei eaeeeeeeeeeeee Back to brilliance Candles couldn't hold the cake THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1865 1924 Established 1 881 Clinton News-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 yearn U.S.A., $9.50 JAMES E, PITZGERALO—Bditor J, HOWARD AITKEN General Manager Published every ThurSday at the heart of Huron County' Clinton:, Ontario Population 3,475 THE HOME OF IZADAR IN CANADA 4—Clinton News-Record, Thursday, June 22,1972 About one more birthday party and they can include me out, Last Friday was my birthday, and I arrived home exhausted to discover that friends of ours had invited the whole gang to dinner, to celebrate. My birthday. I was overwhelmed, I didn't think anybody cared any more, Even though Kim gave me a kiss and a big hug and two golf balls when I got home. Yes, the whole gang included Kim and her husband, Don, the artist. But maybe get around to them later. My accounts of their wedding have tripled my fan mail to three letters a week. The party was a roaring success. A roaring success is when everybody is roaring at everybody else over some idea that, examined the next morning, seems about as exciting as a biography of Mackenzie King, A good time was had by all and Rap, their massive Labrador retriever who, when he is happy, can knock you right off your feet with one wag of his tail, I was wined and dined and punched in the ribs into the small hours. I didn't mind the wining and dinittg.but got a little sick of the pokes in the ribs. My wife kept smashing Me with her elbow and hissing. "Get up and make a Speech, Express your appreeiation." Every thee she did ILL like one of Pavlov's dogs, got up and made a speech. They were all one- sentence shots, such as, "I hafta go to the bathroom," or "I'd like to make a toast to me." My speeches seemed to go over pretty well, though drawing no thunderous ovations, but my wife was hitting me so hard toward the end that she dislocated her elbow, It was justas well, because by this time I wasn't even getting up to make my speeches. Three nights later, last night, to be exact, a friend and his wife asked us to come down and celebrate his birthday. I should have known better. At least, after the first birthday party, I was able to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning, But this one was on a Monday night, We got home at 3,15 and the alarm went off at 7.15. My old lady, who is dowh on the voters' list as "housewife", didn't stir. stirred, and stirred, and stirred one more magnificent time, and made it. It was not one of My most inspiring days on the job. I'm afraid I didn't make many young minds flower. But I pulled through on Sheer dedication. However, it was a dandy party. Our host was a eaptain hi the German army, His Wife is a Scottish Belgian, AhOther couple dropped iii. In feet, it was the perfidious couple who had held the first birthday party. His wifeis an English war bride. And us, My wife is a nut. And of course, Courvoisier was, there., In large quantities, No, he's not a Frenchman with a big family. He's a liqueur that looks like water and tastes like burning coals. But we had a great time, ,and sang songs in German, old English music-hall numbers like, "My Old Man Says Follow the Van, and Don't Dilly-Dally oh the way," We put a. terrible dent in 'that Frenchman and ate about four pounds of highly aromatic cheese, and would probably still be there belting out "Liii Marlene" and "I Belong Tae Glasgie", had not our host, with that German dash that makes them win battles but lose wars, sprung to his feet and announced that he was going to bed. That's what he thought. My wife couldn't find our car keys. He had todrive us home, after which she . found them, So, enough of birthdays, for a few days. 1' wound up with two golfballs and twO headaches. My German friend was luckier. His invitation was rather a spur of the Moment thing, so we had no chance to bey him a gift, not even ball for golf, which he thinks is silly game, which it is when you play as I do. My wife bought him a three- Believe me, no elephant ever hada memory as durable as that of a columnist who finds that some opinion, considered heretical at the time, has been vindicated and thathe has every right to say, as schoolboys do, "See? I told ya." So I've been recalling with pleasure the notes here of some months ago in which I deplored the practice of many large Canadian business firms replacing genuinely talented and creative individualists with the well-known organization men. I cited, at the time, the case histories of several brilliant men who had become victims of the bucket-shop psychologists in those personal-assessment outfits which, at so much per head, pretend to tell employers how to select their staffs pseudo- scientifically, through tests and a cursory "analysis". The idea was to find nice square men who would fit into nice square holes, to probe for any telltale signs of personality idiosyncracies. The result was that mediocrity was often valued above genius, that caution was prized above originality. The s.earch was for the 10 YEARS AGO THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1962 Over $1,000 was given away on Saturday night at the Kinsmen Stag held in the Hayfield Pavilion. Richaer are two of the important organizations in Clinton: Minor Sports and the Clinton Hospital. quart jug of milk and a tie she bought at the milk shop, (it was a real beauty, as you can imagine), and a hamburger, which she ate herself. 1 was rather nonplused, but dived into my tool box (he's a great carpenter, for a doctor of philosophy) and came up with a beautiful, rusty key-hole saw which I had inherited from my father. As I hadn't sawed any key-holes recently, I didn't figure I'd miss it. And it really is a beautiful little thing. A family heirloom, you might say. It has this blade which retracts and suddenly pops out. A sort of 19th century switchblade, lean tell you there were tears in Karl's eyes as he ran his finger over the teeth of that little rusty, dull beauty and murmured Something like "Lieber Gott im Himmel." I think in English, means something like, "Dear God, it's heavenly." Never did I think that I'd see a captain from Rornmel's desert troops break down like that over a simple little sentimental thing, In fact, he was so touched that he offered to come up and fix my plate table. And I suppose we'll. have to have a birthday party for the blasted picnic table, which is three years old this week. Oh well, maybe 1 can hack it for one more birthday party. company man, the well-rounded, not-too-intellectual conformist who would never run a risk, never, take a chance, always do "the right thing". Time after time the case histories demonstrated that the best men, the innovators and pioneers and idea-originators, were pushed back or out unless, of course, they'd the good sense to lie to their interrogators. I took the stand then, as I still do, that the method was fraudulent and that any employer who went along with it was hurting his business. Of late, in the business and financial journals, a mass of evidence has begun to pile up to Vindicate that opiniOn. ,Item: Many leading firms through the United States and Canada are becoming disenchanted with the conformity- minded organization men and are placing new stress on individuality and originality. Item: The Chance Vought Aircraft Company deliberately destroyed its files giving the results of all job-assessment and personality-analysis tests of the past, It hired, from a competitor, One casualty of the election, though possibly of a temporary nature, is the loss to the Huron Federation of Agriculture of their fieldman, and, secretary- treasury, J. Carl Hemingway. Brussels. Mr. Hemingway tendered his resignation on May 10, to become effective on May 15. The resignation was accepted by the directors, meeting here on June 19. The constitution of the Huron Federation of Agriculture provides that if the president, vice-president or secretary- treasurer takes an active part in politics, his post becomes automatically vacant. 15 YEARS AGO THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1957 Winner of the annual Silver Dollar Essay Contest held in the Clinton Public School Grade 8 this year is Miss Bonnie Hamilton, 12- year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hamilton, Albert Street, Her topic was "Beginning of a New Life in Canada", Clarence Cooper resigned from his position as printer in the backshop of the Clinton News- Record, effective last Friday, and has taken up work in the printing shop of the weekly newspaper at Lapeer, Michigan. Mr. Cooper has been with this firm for over 15 years, He is married 'to the former Jean . tiatlin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. Y. Hatlin, R,R.5, Clinton and they have one little daughter, Nancy, 25 YEARS AGO THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1941 Wait Disney, world famous creator of Mickey Mouse and Snow White, was visiting in the area on Wednesday, John McIntyre, son of br, and Mrs. H. A. Macintyre, has been successful in obtaining second class honours in the second year pre-Medical at University of Toronto. leauncey Levis, was pleasantly surprised on Sunday which was Fake's Day, when a family an executive who had been branded by one such test as "emotionally unstable and insecure" and he has gone through the ranks to top management. Item: "We just decided it was time to stop trying to fit everybody into a mold," said Gifford K. Johnson, president of Ling-Temco-Vought. "There's plenty of room in our company for the bold, brash individual who's willing to be set apart from the herd," Item: "More than ever before industry is seeking men of originality with the courage to approach problems from an unorthodde 'standpoint," said John't`te ',Tandy, a New Yeti(' executive-recruiter. Item: Colgate-Palmolive Co. has similarly changed its hiring and promotion policies on the theory that "far from blending smoothly into the group, executives at the top are usually individualistic, fiercely competitive types who rarely fit the bland ideals common among personnel men." All of this means that some of the most aggressive companies dinner was tendered him by his children at Clinton Grill. Blyth Village Council has voted a grant of $250 to Clinton Public Hospital Building Fund. 40 YEARS AGO THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1932 Mr. Boyce has purchased the Morrish stock and is selling it out here, commencing Saturday. J. T. McKnight and Son have rented the Morrish store and will move their grocery stock into it. J. Lovett will occupy the south end as a shoe repairing store. Principal Fines and Roy Allen of the Collegiate staff, are presiding at the departmental exams at Seaforth Collegiate this week. Dr. Field, Principal Garrett, Blyth and G. H. Tefferson are presiding examiners here. On Monday evening Clinton's box lacrosse team defeated Palmerston 8-4 in a well- contested game in the local arena. 55 YEARS AGO THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1917 J. A. Sutter and T. A. Managhan are at Hamilton this week attending the C.O.F, High Court as delegates from Clinton Lodge. The Princess Theatre had big crowds to see " have gone back to a very old- fashioned and sensible method of picking the best man for the job and not the safest man. The free-wheeling, open- minded, creative maverick, the kind of individualist who was once prized above all others, seems to' be coming back into his own and high time it is. A director or personnel relations, one Dr. Scott Myers, has summed it up nicely. "People, not organizations, get things done," he says and that simple concept could mean a, return of.the initiative, excitement and individual responsibility that will outmode 'the faceless robot beloved of the psYetiOlegistee Too many Canadian firms took their cue from the Americans who made it fashionable to leave their decisions to experts with their tests, graphs and their apprehension of anything short of good, grey normalcy. Perhaps now they'll concede that it was all a terrible mistake and a terrible waste of our brightest people and, anticipating that, I'm delighted to say, "See? I told ya". The Princess Theatre had big crowds to see "Self Defense". Harry Beattie, barrister of Winnipeg, who practised here prior to going out west, has enlisted and is now in England. Mrs. Beattie and two sons are spending the summer at Seaforth, the old parental home. At a special meeting of Huron County Council, it was decided to adopt the plan of the good roads system as provided by the Ontario government. • 75 YEARS AGO WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1897 The 33rd (Huron) Battalion goes to camp next Monday at London. Those who wish to join No. 4 Company should apply to Capt. Combe at once. The jubilee postage stamps were put on sale in Clinton post office at 2 p.m. last Saturday afternoon and there was quite a rush to buy and post them during the remainder of the day. The first three and one-cent stamps were bought through the Post Office wicket by C. D. McTagga rt. Inspector Wheatley deserves all praise for his energy and persistency in having the .streets so clean and tidy on Jubilee Day, He was most loyally assisted by all businessmen. Letter to the Editor The Editor. Pear Sir: I would like to heartily endorse the article in today's paper (June 15) "Careless, noisy drivers rile Hayfield residents". This complaint applies also to Clinton. I could pick out 10-15 speeders every hour of every night going past my address (a 30 mile zone). They go so fast all you can see is the colour of the car. The four men on the town police force do not see the need foe radar in the "Radar Town of Canada". These speeding delinquents and their hot rods must be known to every constable as they bomb around town day and night. I see no point of the town police car sitting in plain view on the Supertest lot to control traffic as the car can be seen for at least two blocks in any direction. The Ontario Provincial Police set up radar "TRAPS" at the edge of town charging someone $3 per mile for every mile over 30 m.p.h. but these kids are allowed to tear through town doing 60 to 70 m.p.h. and get away with it, According to statistics, someone must be killed crossing the street before any action is taken! Why are the Clinton Police- Force so afraid of the hot- rodders? Who is responsible for the force and why do they not make use of their responsibilities? Meta B. McLaughlin 206 Albert St., Clinton News-Record appointed J, Howard Aitken, Manager of the Clinton News-Record is pleased to announce tile appointment of Jim Fitzgerald as editor of the News-Record. This paper is the first News-Record under Mr. Fitzgerald's editorship. Mr. Fitzgerald is 25 years old and is a native of London. He attended Oakridge Secondary School and after graduating. worked for four years before entering the University of Western Ontario where he studied journalism and history. While in university, he was an editor of The Gazette. the student newspaper at Western. He graduated this spring and he and his wife Lois are moving to Clinton to live on Quebec Street in Adastral Park. Mr. Fitzgerald replaces Keith Holliston who resigned last week to become full-time publisher of The Blyth Standard. Opinions 'in order that News—Record readers might express their opinions on any topic of public interest, Letters To The Editor are always welcome for publication, But the writers of such letters, as well as all readers, are reminded that the opinions expressed in letters published are not necessarily the opinions held by The News—Record.