HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1972-08-03, Page 4Letter
to the
Edit
Dear Editor:
We still haven't located
our C,W.A.C. friends of t
great service days of WOrld
11,
The news media have he
a great deal in other year
once again we call all Canac
Women's Army Corps Vete
to Annual Reunion through
medium of this letter
This event is sponsored by
Canadian Corps Associa
C.W,A.C, Unit No. 47, the
weekend in September, 197
Toronto, Canada. This is
31st Anniversary for
Canadian Women's Army Cc
- 1941-1972.
Here is our schedule in b
— Friday evening from 7
September 29 -- Photo vie
Wreath-laying Ceremony, S.
Time, Dancing and F
Saturday, 12 noon to do
September 30 -- Reun
LuncheA, Banquet, Dan
and Fun for all.
For complete Reun
brochure, write to C.W.
Veterans Reunion Chairm
(Mrs.) Shirley Wood He@sak
201 Niagara Street, Toronto
Canada., Telephone --- 4
4027, 781-2874, 781-4837.
Lost sister
"Oh yeah? Well, I dare you to step over this line."
More on marriage
4r--441nr,on News-hecorcl, Thursday, August 3, 1972
Hydro strike power play
As the hydro strike enters its sixth
week, it has become obvious that the
men, both management and union, in
the Clinton area have little to do with
the outcome of the strike nor do they
have any means of stopping it,
They are being run by a small
select group in Toronto who give out
orders much the same way as
generals do,
On the one hand is a tight, elite
group who are supposed to run the
world's largest power system in our
interest but act as if they were
children who had lost some toys.
On the other hand is a union that has
become so large, and powerful that
ordinary men quake at the thought of
disobeying it.
And the men in the CI inton office are
caught in the middle,
It's no secret that if men in this
area had their way they would have
been back to work weeks ago, As one
I inerrthn said: "I don't know where the
money for groceries is coming from
this week." That sums up the feelings
of the rest of the men too.
Management at Clinton would also
like to have it settled too, but they are
kept in such a tight rein by Toronto
that they can't even open their mouths
without approval first..
And when the strikes over with who
will pay? Why you and I of course.
Just look at your next hydro bill.
Poorlg paid collectors
The decision of Health Minister John
Munro not to legalize marijuana and
hashish in Canada is a good one and will
likely be heartily supported by the people
of Goderich.
Whether or not his edict to reduce
penalties for possession of the cannabis
— the plant from which both marijuana
and hashish are derived — will be as
unanimously approved by local people
remains to be seen.
There isn't much doubt that much of
the hysteria surrounding marijuana and
hashish has subsided because of the
repeated assurance that neither drug is
as dangerously addictive as the so-called
"hard drugs" — heroin, for instance.
But there are still those knowledgeable
people close to the drug scene who will
admit — reluctantly perhaps — that
hashish and marijuana are what might be
termed "starter drugs" and that a
significant number of social smokers
graduate from cannabis to the "hard
drugs". It is that fear which grips most
skeptics and it may be reason enough to
stir up some controversy about the
wisdom of lighter sentences for
possession of these drugs.
Health Minister Munro clearly has
given the matter much thought and there
are many arguments to support his theory
that some relaxation of the drug laws are
necessary. 'It may be true that just
because a person experiments with
cannabis and is. found out, there is no
justification for pinning a lifetime criminal
record to him or her.
Still, statistics show a steadily rising
number of people each year are
becoming addicted to heroin. There has
to be a reason. What is that reason?
—The Goderich Signal-Star
About cannabis
It's difficult to know what attributes
the Hon. Darcy McKeough may have in
common with the late John F.
Kennedy, but he appears to follow the
former U.S. president's opinion that
people should be more concerned
about what they can do for their
country than what their country can do
for them.
At any rate, the Ontario Treasurer
decided that businessmen should be
prepared to work at no charge for the
government and so his spring budget
decreed that the small pittance
received by businesses in their role
as "taxcollectors" should be
withdrawn.
So, many were surprised to find in
compiling their recent sales tax
returns, that the "commission" of
two and a half percent allowable to the
merchant had been discontinued.
The amount involved is not great for
most businesses, but its removal adds
insult to injury.
The two and a half percent never did
cover the cost of the paper work,
accounting and time it took to act as
tax collectors for the province and if
anything, it should have been
increased.
At the time that provincial sales tax
was instituted, most businesses had to
make large investments in new cash
registers to compute the tax with each
sale.
The returns must be mailed
promptly a in fact there is a penalty
chargedfor any business which is lax
in getting its sales tax returns to, the
provincial coffers. They don't even
provide a pre-stamped envelope.
It's clearly a one-way street and
another example of the burden
government has placed on small
businesses with no consideration for
the cost involved to those businesses
in collecting sales taxes, income
taxes, pension contributions,
compensation board payments, etc.,
etc.
To top it all off, they appear to hold
the opinion that most businessmen can
not be trusted and they employ a host
of inspectors to conduct periodic
checks to make certain the "tax
collectors" aren't cheating.
—Exeter Times Advocate
This is the life at Granddad's
THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1865 1924 Estahlished 1881
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 year; U.S.A,, $9.50
JAMES E. FITZGERALD—Editor
J, HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager
Published every Thursday at
the heart of Huron County'
Clinton, Ontario
Population 3,475
THE HOME
OF RADAR
IN CANADA
Somehow I can't get too ex-
cited these 'days about Senator
McGovern or Bobby Hull
playing against the Russians, or
any of the other hysterical
events in the press. Trouble is,
we're staying for a week at
drandad's. which is not con-
ducive to getting excited about
anything.
There's a radio and television
set and a party-line telephone,
but nobody pays much attention
to any of them. On the other
hand, there is no roar of traffic,
no paper-boy ringing the door-
bell at 7 a.m., demanding his
week's pay, no honking of horns
or squealing of tires, no raucous
sputtering of lawnmowers.
Nor is there any reek of
exhaust fumes, factory smoke,
melting asphalt, rancid fish-
and-chips, or polluted water.
The reason is simple enough.
Grandad lives in a handsome
stone house about sixty yards
from a quiet country road,
which you can barely see from
the house, hidden as it is behind
trees and hedge and shrubs.
About four cars and maybe a
couple of small trucks and one
tractor go by each day.
No blatting motorcycles,
snarling buses and grinding big
trucks. The nearest lawnmower,
and nearest neighbours, are two
hundred yards down the road,
out of sight and sound, No daily
paper, so no cheeky paper-boy
ringing and ringing.
The only sounds are the
breeze in the trees, the somehow
comforting mutter of a farmer
mowing his hay, birdsongs, the
buzz of an odd fly, and my
wife talking incessantly to her
father.
The only smells are roses,
fresh-mown hay and what's
cooking for dinner. Along with
the cleanest air this side of
heaven. The road is gravel, so
there's no stink of asphalt. The
nearest fish-and-chips are four
miles away. The nearest factory
is twenty miles away. And the
nearest water is a huge bay,
deep, clean, cold and un-
polluted.
I'm sitting typing this at
Grandad's desk, with a window
right in front of me, Looking
out, I see nearest a magnificent
bed of roses, red and white.
Beyond that a huge maple tree
with a swing dangling for the
grandchildren. And beyond
these the solid green of other
trees.
Looking out the other win-
dow, to my right, there's a mass
of flowers, then a white fence,
then a huge hay-field, often with
kids riding horses, then a line of
trees and beyond and below
that, a vast expanse of blue,
blue water, with white cliffs on
the other side of the bay.
Three hundred yards down
the road, there is a cold, fast-
flowing stream, with a real
waterfall. I've taken sonie nice
speckled anu rainbow trout out
of there. In the spring the
rainbow come up it to spawn.
Half a mile away, where the
stream flows into the bay, the
rainbow trout fishing would
bring tears to the eyes of a city
boy who has never caught
anything but a perch. Hundreds
of rainbow are taken there in
the spring and fall,
and the fishing is improving,
because the local anglers have
done a lot to preserve the
spawning females.
Across the road from the
house, there is a pasture and
beyond it a wild apple orchard
where the partridge like to feed.
A couple of years ago, I was
looking that way. Out of the or-
chard, across the pasture and
right up to the fence came a
buck and a doe. They were
perhaps seventy yards from me.
We stared at each other in
mutual admiration ( at least on
my side) for about five minutes
until they turned, flipped their
white tails and gazelled back
info the woods without panic. A
memorable experience.
A friend of mine, who runs
cattle on the adjacent property,
was out counting his beasts one
clay when he saw a black bear
amble across the' property south
of this, stroll up the fence line
and disappear.
Quite a layout, No wonder I
can't get excited about world af-
fairs in a locale like this. You'd
This coming Saturday we'll
be celebrating our 34th wedding
anniversary. Under Section 12,
Paragraph "A" of the
Columnists' Code this entitles
me to several hundred words of
reflection on matrimony.
There's nothing whatever you
can do about it. It is the law.
I feel singularly mellow on
this subject at the moment. Not
merely because we have
survived so long as a team, but
because of a party I was at this
week at the home of my very
first city editor.
Among the guests were a
dozen or more newspapermen
I've known most of my working
life. We see each other from
time to time, but it was the first
occasion in many cases--in one
case before the war--that I've
seen them together with their
wives. Many of them are
grandparents, as we are,
ourselves, and have gone
through other stresses and
tribulations of couples of our
vintage.
Now, in cold black and white,
I know, it will sound like the
worst kind of sentimentalizing,
but I came away feeling as if I'd
seen a demonstration of the
goodness and rightness of
successful matrimony, a sort of
affirmation of the values that
are eventually realized when the
partnership of a man and
woman has stood time's test.
have to be nuts to go crazy here,
while it's very simple to do so in
most "civilized" areas.
Grandad leads a simple but
fulfilling life. He cultivates his
garden, as Voltaire suggested
we do. He doesn't even have a
garden, but he cultivates his
own small plot of life. He has a
deep faith, loves nature, hurts
no man, and has an utter in-
tegrity which is rare to find
these days,
Up at seven, he reads his
Bible, makes his breakfast,
pokes about doing chores,
weeding, digging, mending
something, He's ready for lunch
and dinner. Enjoys food, though
he doesn't eat a lot and weigh's
about 98.
He drives a fairly gruelling
rural mail route (I went with
him yesterday, and that's a
column in itself,) He is the town-
ship treasurer, and enjoys
working on his books. He has a
nap. He gives the house a lick
and a polish.
He lives alone but is less
lonely than the great majority.
He likes to talk religion, politics,
pollution, what have you? He
doesn't give a hoot about money
or acquiring "things". He has
one arm and will be 80 this
month, Tomorrow he must take
a driving test, He's been driving
since 1914 and never had an ac-
cident, He's studying for it right
now, He'll pass,
Why can't we all live like
this, and be like that?
I could be wrong. Maybe it
was just a kind of truce that I
was admiring. But it looked to
me more like a victory.
I mention this partly to
reinforce my own theory widely
held in disrepute, that
marriages become easier and
more 'meaningful as they mature
and that, like certain kinds of
cheese, they must be aged. No,
not cheese. Make that wine.
The first five years, certainly,
are the toughest. That is
because hardly anybody ever
realizes what a difficult
proposition marriage really is.
No commercial enterprise ever
had the inherent pitfalls of holy
wedlock. 'In effect;' those
wedding vows hurl together in
collision two people who rarely
understand each other, whose
temperaments and habits are
very often fundamentally
incompatible.
For one thing, it may take five
years or more to realize that
biology alone, however
delightful, isn't enough to make
a happy marriage and that a
ceaseless process of adjustment,
compromise and the granting of
concessions must be made.
I think the romantic aspect of
10 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 2, 1962
Huron County would need 18
more dentists, in order to have
the ideal number, which is
considered to be one for every
1,600 persons. At the present
time there are 12 dentists in
Huron, and there are 48,882
people in the county for them to
care for.
In other words each dentist
has 4,074 people to look after.
Figures were revealed in a
brief submitted recently to the
Royal Commission on Health
Services by the Royal College of
Dental Surgeons of Ontario and
the Ontario Dental Association.
The News-Record will be on
holidays until August 16.
15 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 1, 1957
Two little girls in town are
richer by two dollars each this
week., This was the reward given
by Corporal Maurice Poirier,
RCAF Station, when he
regained possession of a black
purse containing $65
Little Misses Joanne Murphy
and Lynda Dale found the purse
near the Commercial Inn Hotel,
and turned it in to Chief Russell
Thompson. Apparently Mrs.
Poirer had put the purse in the
baby carriage and had stopped
to talk for a few minutes. Baby
Poirier had tossed it out without
his mother noticing.
Poirier was searching the
sidewalk area when Chief
Thompson noticed him and
announced that the purse was
found,
25 YEARS AGO
JULY 31, 1947
Huron Farmers attended the
first grassland field day to be
marriage has to endure if it is to
be a success. I go right along
with that marriage counsellor
who recently opined, "the
trouble with modern-day
matrimony is that too many
husbands and wives are secretly
in love with their wives and
husbands," But romance alone
isn't nearly enough. Sexual
fulfillment alone isn't enough.
It is the sacrificing of
individuality on both sides that
makes a happy marriage and
the word for that, I suppose, is
"unselfishness."
There is no formula for it.
You have to play it by ear. It is
crazy. mathematics ,in which
eacliplayer muStante into every
pot knowing that the stakes
must be shared to make the
gamble whorthwhile, a most
difficult philosophy for any self-
respecting poker player.
Just two more thoughts on
matrimony and I'll let you go.
The first is the fallacy that
marriage thrives best under
hardship. It does not. More
marriages break up on the
barnacles of economic troubles
than from any other of the many
perils they face.
If I were asked to give one
held in Canada, at the farm of
Thomas R. Dent, M.L.A. for
Oxford, at Woodstock,
Gordon Heard, Bayfield,
narrowly escaped injury while
out on his milk route on
Sunday. Just as he was about to
enter Bob Penhale's gate, a
lightning bolt struck a maple
tree about three feet from him,
ripping off the toe cap and sole
of his right shoe, and knocking
him over the hedge. The milk
bottle he was carrying flew off
in the other direction.
40 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 4, 1932
The News-Record staff is
enjoying the lovely gladioli
planted by Mr. 'Ilkley across the
street in what was before a
vacant lot.
Assistant Scoutmaster C.
Rozell and Sam Castle were in
charge of a week long camp held
by Clinton • Boy Scouts on the
Charles Williams Farm on the
bank of the Maitland. A church
parade to Ebenezer Church in
full uniform, and a game of
word of advice to any newly-
weds---though they're not
exactly queuing up for it--I'd
warn them to live within their
means, not to over-extend
through those deceptively
painless easy credit terms.
A pay-as-you-go marriage will
always be safer than one that's
far into the future. I know this
because it is advice we
scrupulously avoided all our
married life to this very day.
Secondly, I still believe that
boys and girls should wait until
they are men and women before
they make the leap.
Our_ own, marriage, ,and
of tifOSet admired anTianiartv
prove that you can't generalize
on this. We managed to make it
in spite of being child brides and
grooms.
But education, experience,
travel and advanture are as
excellent qualifications for
wedlock as they are for any
other venture and this is advice
I offer without the slightest
expectation that it will influence
anyone.
And, besides, that's all the
lecturing I'm allowed until this
very same time a year from now.
baseball with the Ebenezer
team were included in the busy
week.
55 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 2, 1917
Weather last Sunday was a
"ripper", Monday was hotter
still and so was Tuesday, but
hope is for cooler weather soon.
Miss Lucille Grant, who took
her paintings out west some
weeks ago, has swept all prizes
at the Brandon Fair. She now
intends to show at other fairs in
the west.
A picture by Master Jabez
Rands; 14 year old son of Mr.
and Mrs. J. Rands, is exhibited
in the window of W.D. Fair and
Co. A postal winter scene, the
picture promises a bright future
for the young man in the world
of art.
75 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 4, 1897
At a meeting of the Library
Board on Friday night a motion
was passed to the effect that
Oputtorts
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,
owing to the want of funds, tilt
services of the Librarian br
dispensed with entirely after
July 31st. The Room committer
will arrange for keeping the
Room and the library open
usual. Mr. Scott's services will
cease on Saturday. His salary
will be paid, however, for
August.
On Tuesday evening, August
10, the Ladies' Christian
Association of the Ontario
Street Methodist Church will
tender a garden party on the
grounds of Mr. John Gibbings,
near the Collegiate Institute.
Refreshments will be served, the
band will be present and a good
program is anticipated.
73 Sturla Roa
Chatham, Ker
Englan
Dear editor:
I write asking if you et
possibly assist me in trying
trace my sister whom I have n
seen for over 50 years, and
have not heard from her sin
1933. Her last known town w
Clinton.
She was married and marrie
name was Mrs. John
Johnston, nee Gladys Ma
Pedge.
My, wife and. I will be visitin
my son in the U.S.A. from Aln
27, 1972 to Sept. 16, 1972 at
2163 Wesleyan Drive,
Columbus, Ohio 43221
I would be extremely please
if you could possibly trace he
as we were separated throug
Dr, Barnardo Homes.
Yours sincerel.
Mr. Albert Edward Pedg