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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1973-03-29, Page 4_4—CLINTON NEWS-RECORD,, ftlftSPAY, MARCH 29, 1973 Editorial comment On losing gracefulig Some of the statements made last week by the two most prominent conser- vatives in Huron riding did not make either look good, Perhaps the sorriest statements came from Charles MacNaughton the former member for Huron and one of the most beloved politicians in the history of Huron, Mr, MacNaughton's statement af- ter he heard of Mr. Southcott's defeat: "My opinion is that the people will live to regret it" sounds too much like a threat to make one comfortable. is the former cabinet minister trying to tell uS that the only way the Davis government will give a riding its fair share of services is to elect a Tory? If so, then it's time to kick the government out, not elect a Conser- vative. Mr. MacNaughton also joined Mr. Southcott in claiming the media had not been fair in presenting the issues. Mr. Southcott had made the same claim in an article Thursday in the Exeter Times- Advocate. He had claimed the election campaign was the dirtiest he had ever seen and said the Exeter paper (in which he holds an interest) is the only paper in the riding that tried to present his side of the issues. From what we've seen, most of the newspapers in the county gave the Conservatives equal treatment in news coverage although only the Exeter paper lent its support editorially. We know that as professional newsmen, editors do a lot of soul-searching to try , to • make sure their personal feelings about a political situation do not seep into their news coverage. Here are the facts of the news coverage of this newspaper: Feb. 14 issue, coverage of the NDP nomination meeting received 47 column inches in The Standard. It received front page play because it was the only political meeting of the week. On Feb. 21 issue, coverage of the Conservative nomination meeting was given 44 inches (including picture) on page 5. The Liberal nomination was given 43 inches of coverage on page 11 (including picture).., Tfie NDP ,had no coverage. There was no political coverage on Feb. 28, On March 7, there was 38 in- ches of coverage of the all-candidate meeting in Clinton. Besides this, the Conservatives had two stories on the visit of Premier Davis to Huron, one 13 inches and another nine inches. A story on the possibility of a power station in Huron was carried occupying 35 inches, This story included some statements by Paul Carroll, N.D.P. candidate. The Liberals received no coverage. The final issue during the campaign on March 14 gave 21 inches to a roun- dup of the activities of all parties during the campaign. The Liberals had an ad- ditional five inches; the Conservatives three and a half inches and the NDP two and a half inches. All other remarks on the election were clearly labelled "opinion" including a commentary in the March 7 issue which related some of the problems Mr. South- cott was having with his campaign and predicted a possible upset, This newspaper in trying to be fair to the Conservative candidate did not dwell at length on the Tom Wells "non-political" meeting with teachers which was boycotted by most teachers and ended up being one of the biggest blunders of the campaign. It did not mention, except in the commentary, the embarrassing situation over Mr. Southcott's statements over the jail wall or the many other cases where the Conservative candidate blundered. It would seem then that if anything Mr. Southcott got preferential treatment as far as news coverage goes over the Liberal. That Mr. MacNaughton should make such an accusation is unbecoming of a man of his obvious stature and respect. It is even more inexcusable of Mr. Southcott who is himself a former newspaper man and knows how newspapers strive to ensure unbiased news coverage. Certainly, the newspapers of the county did not sup- port Mr. Southcott through editorials, but surprisingly few threw their support against him either. Mr. Southcott well knows that it is the privilege of a newspaper editor to express his opinion on who he feels is the best candidate, and no doubt he used that privilege him- self in the past to support many Conser- vatives, including Mr. MacNaughton. From here, gentlemen, it sounds like you have been winners for so long, you don't know how to be gracious losers.- from the Blyth Standard. Wife swapping? It's not for me readers sometimes complain that we cplumnists are too frivolous or too devoted to trivia and whenever I do an insignificant essay like today's---which will concern the joys of flying a kite- -I feel a little bit guilty, In fact, if young Vernon, aged 11, hadn't made an ap- pearance at the time he did I would he composing, at this very moment, a short and tren- chant tome on the price of gold which would be read by almost nobody, including serious- minded readers. Do you realize, though, you 'older subscribers, that you may have the richest mouth in your block. I was thinking of a way to ease into the gold subject whew= spied Veron leaning dejec- tedly on our fence, the picture of a boy who doesn't know what to do with himself. He said as much when I went out to say hello. "There's nothin' to do," he said, "If I were a boy," I said, "I would he flying a kite," It was; as you may remember, ad- mirable kite-flying weather with a brisk westerly and oc- casional gusts. "Why," said Veron, "there's an old kite in our basement." It was, as it turned out, a beauty. Diamond-shaped, fashioned of thin bamboo and a kind of waxed, rice paper and eager to fly. None of that running or coaxing it into the air that some kites require. This one simply felt the wind in the fragile membrane of its sail, spread its wings and took off into the blue, growing smaller and smaller until it was some 400 feet overhead, a live thing soaring on the bright, invisible wind. My mind promptly'went back" to a kite. a `Mr. RessThad''huilt for 'Me when IwaS a a kite taller than a man and made of heavy cross-sticks and brown wrapping paper. Mr. Ross was known as the first man in our part of the world to build a one-tube radio and was properly revered forn this. But it was the kite that Up, up and away Serious-minded LETS srefrr WITH wen latrve ctilimE9 PgPftEttfrfton on wit NIit we get letters • • . }MM. THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1865 1924 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 leery Thursday at the heart of Huron County . Clinton, Ontario Population 3,4/6 rue HOME OF RADAR IN CANADA JAMES E, FITZGERALD—Ecliter J, HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager second class mail registration number — 0817 'SUI3SCRWTION RATES: (in advance) 'Canada, OM per Now; t.1.8,A., 0.56 Hereby a few notes of obser- vation, condemnation and celebration. What is there to celebrate? Why, man, it's Spring. Not only by the calendar, which happens every year, but by the signs, which happen about once a decade. The grass is green And birds are seen The cat wants out And I've lost my gout The snow is gone I can see my lawn No mounds of ice How awfully nice I want to sing, It must be spring. There. A Canadian who does not celebrate the actual as well as official arrival of the vernal equinox should be run out of the country as a base-born traitor. Each time winter comes around, which it seems to do about every four months, think we all have a little secret dread that this time it might never end, that winter will go on and on and en until we have shrivelled into arthritic, gnome-like creatures with per- manently dripping noses and a perpetual cough, Maybe I'd feel differently if I were a farmer, but I could have kissed that first crow I saw, drifting over the drifts in February, That much-maligned creature, the crow, is to Canadian winter-haters what the warm breath of a maiden is * to a juvenile just before his first kiss. This year, the whole dream seems real, so crack open that crock of vintage stuff, do a little Soft-shoe shuffle, and go out And kiss the mud In your back yard. It may be the last time you can celebrate such a miracle for the next fifteen Marches, That's the celebration part. Now for some condemnation. With the disappearance of the snow, we can see what Nature so gracefully covered for a few months — all the filth that man has been sweeping under the white carpet, It's a junk-man's paradise: rags, bones and bottles, A few companies who appear to have some semblance of conscience are announcing plans for recycling of cans and bottles but the great majority of can- ners and bottlers are rolling right ahead with their apparent project of covering Canada to a depth of one foot, from coast to coast, with empty cans and non-returnable bottles. Congratulations are 'due to those who are making an effort, and the utmost contempt must be awarded to those who show their contempt for everything except the bucks by defecating their cans and bottles in our living room — Canada. Strange, isn't it, how govern- ments respond? Let a little guy burn some leaves in his back yard and the law is right on his back. He's broken the by-law, he's a rotten polluter, he's a disgrace to the community, and he shall be punished, promptly and ruthlessly, But when it comes to taking on a big guy, a vast cor- poration, government stands by, deploring and wringing its hands, and occasionally ad- Ministering a slap on the wrist with a velvet glove, in the form of a tiny fine that makes the ecwnpalay's directors roar with laughter before they go happily back to pouring their poisons into the environment. In the matter of bottles, government could show a lead that would not imperil a single politician, which seems to be the Canadian Dream. It could insist that liquor and wine bot- tles be returned for use over and over again. I'm sure the distillers and vintners wouldn't quarrel with such a practice, as long as it didn't cost them. In fact, they'd be ahead. Some of those fancy bottles must cost as much as it does to produce the poison that goes into them. That's my condemnation hit for this week. Now, some obser- vations on these peculiar days in which we live. A couple of big-league American baseball pitchers decided, according to the news, to swap not only wives but families. Then one of them tried to back out. The other was indignant. "I thought he was my buddy," he wailed. Wife-swapping, particularly in suburbia, is no new phenomenon. These chaps merely extended the custom. It's one that has never ap- pealed much to me, There have been occasions, and I know it's mutual, when I would have swapped my wife for a second- hand pair of hip waders. But for another woman? Well, I look around at the wives of all my men friends, They're lovely girls, the wives, every one of' them. However, I'm one of those old-fashioned chaps who can see little advan- tage to deserting the frying-pan for the fire. And you know what? I'll bet My wife won't understand that as a COMplitnent. 10 YEARS AGO MARCH 28, 1963 As expected Elston Cardiff, Progressive Conservative mem- ber in Huron for the past 23 years, will have only one op- ponent in the April 8 election, that being Gordon McGavin, Liberal choice. Both men qualified in Clinton, Monday. John Lindsay having submit- ted the lowest tender, has been hired as constable, tractor operator and general main- tenance man for the village of Hayfield. Sir Ernest Cooper,, well- known Clinton - born businessman who died last Sep- tember in England at the age of 85, left an estate valued at 333,016 pounds, or ap- proximately $1,000,000, Amongst the bequests was one to Willis Cooper who is a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. A.T. Cooper, Clinton. In 1945, Sir Ernest established a $50 scholarship to be given to the student at C,H,S.S. who com- pletes grade 13 with the highest standing. 15 YEARS AGO MARCH 27, 1958 Forest Lakesides make their fourth playoff appearance at Clinton Arena against the Colts Friday night. Clinton leads the best four of seven series, three games to two. The first game here on March 18 was thrown out by the WOAA executive because Clinton dressed too many players. Six happy youngsters are winners in the speaking com- petition held by the Clinton Branch of the Canadian Legion last Wednesday night. They are Brenda Halward, Diane Manko, Lorraine Wood, Bar- bara Inder, Dale King and Silliam McKim. The top place whiners in senior and ,junior competition were Barbara and Date, who will now go forward in further competitions, John Anstett had a novel way of announcing the arrival of his daughter, Vatticia Ann — All afternoon on Thursday, and we believe on Friday, too three down-town restaurants were passing out "free" cups of cof- fee and announcing the baby's birth ..., Mr. and Mrs. Anstett have four sons .„ mother and daughter are doing well.,. At the February meeting of the Clinton Branch of the Canadian Legion, the members authorized that another $1,000 he turned over to the Com- munity Swimming Pool Fund. This makes a total of $4,000 given to the pool fund by the Legion, 25 YEARS AGO MARCH 25, 1948 40 YEARS A40 MARCH 23, 1933 Tuesday was the first day of spring, though not SO very The A.Y,P,A, met at St. James • Church, Middleton, on Friday evening. After the business period an unique program was given. Each mem- put him on the pedestal of my memory. It had been launched one wildly windy March day from the public playground near our house. Heaven only knows how much line Mr. Ross had given it--two or three thousand feet, anyway. It was just a small, steady square in the sky and it took a man's strength to hold it, Mr. Ross had tied the cord to the post of a child's swing and it flew there for a week, day and night, as the stiff March winds blew. From then on I believed that any miracle was possible. • Mr. Ross had a niece named Priscilla who was my age and my first-romanee"(or '"erush'V as we used to ISO) 4iicl.11,1 ca - he* remember`us sitting foget r o a teeter-totter, not saying anything, just gazing up at that distant speck overhead until it was time to go home for supper, Now, with Vernon's kite, I found my over-heated 1973- model nerves calming down to that dimly-remembered tempo her had been asked to come prepared to contribute to the program. The names were put in a box and drawn by the president for each number. The result was a program consisting of readings by June Stephen- son, Lucy Woods, Muriel Elliott; a Jew's harp solo by Tom Rathwell; mouth organ and organ duet played by Ross Middleton; the reading of a most interesting letter from Boyd Taylor, Rhodesia, S. Africa by his cousin, Margaret Middleton; an Irish contest by Muriel Rathwell and Gay Whitmore; a vocal duet by Rev. and Mrs. Paull; an exhibition of club swinging by Lillina Elliott; a paper on St. Patrick's Day by Carl Diehl. Miss Mary R. Stewart of Oil Springs was with her mother over the weekend. Miss Stewart and Mr, WIT Mutch of the Royal Bank staff, Hamilton, who was home with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Mutch, were each in their old places in Wesley-Willis choir on Sunday morning, the former contributing a solo. 55 YEARS AGO MARCH 28, '1918 Spring has arrived again, for the fifth time this month. The new telephone directory was delivered last week and Clinton Central has 172 town of yesteryear. As the afternoon waned so did the breeze and the memory of "flying" a kite came back, the urgent reeling in when the life went out of the sail, the playing out when a errant gust gave it that mysterious energy, the feeling of transmitting your command along the string and seeing the response up there, The two sweet old ladies who live down the block strolled by and did a double take. I was conscious of looking like an'ec- centric, but they stopped, heads tilted hack and watched the kite's gyrations and one of them smiled and said, "My, it's splendid, Mr. Scott." Afterwards, when Vernon had -gone fi Othe'fOr 'HIS' sapper, I 1).Ottaeied the•siMpIe pleasure of the afterniion and the escape it offered from the sometime lunatic realities of the day. And I wondered if maybe we don't all need that periodic luxury of escape, the painless anesthesia of being absorbed in something quite unimportant and 400 feet in the sky above. phones besides the rural con- nections, As the clays pass, the impor- tance of the back yard looms up more distinctly. Each and everyone of them available should be made to furnish vegetables abundantly during the coming season. Time enough to revert to flowers af- ter this cruel war is over. The old snake fence will soon be as rare as the sea serpent. Land and wood are too valuable to be wasted. 75 YEARS AGO MARCH 25, 1898 The Doherty Organ Factory was burned down on the mor- ning of the 1st of February. Last week - or six weeks after ' the fire occurred - the fire was still smouldering, notwithstan- ding the snow and rain that had fallen in the meantime. This may seem hard to believe, but it is a fact, nevertheless. The floods have injured a good many township and county bridges in this vicinity, and it will cost considerable to make them all secure again, Wm. Taylor and Son, Clin- ton, has the slogan "Taylor's Shoes Fit well, Wear well, Look well" and state in their ad "Cash and One Price. Butter and Eggs taken As Cash." Dear Editor; In the light of our own recent experienee, we read "with a jaundiced eye", the letter of Mr. W.E. Gardiner, re: alleged atrocities committed in the country of Malawi against Jehovah's Witnesses. Perhaps the Malawis are discriminating as to the source and quality of foreign missionaries. We were recently incar- cerated in a city hospital in a semi-private (?) room with a member of the Jehovah's Wit- nesses sect. Our doctor and one of the head nurses there war ned me not to be upset by her visitors' efforts at propaganda on my behalf. Apparently the previous incumbent in my hospital bed had been very up- set by their continuous vocal aggression. Thus forwarned, I was most observant, My room-mate, a devout Jehovah's Witness (are there any other kind) was very ill but in spite of this, her son read to her endlessly during and beyond visiting hours in a monotonous uneducated sing- song voice from their tracts, droning on and on obtruding on my privacy and needed rest. One day, with no apparent break in his reading, he laun- ched into a filthy ,diatribe against our beloved Queen and Prince Phillip, who surely exemplify the highest Christian virtues in marriage or as heads of state. I had never heard anything so malicious and por- nographic and absolutely ridiculous, On top of this, he went on to explain to his mother the "facts of life" relative to sex determination b chromosomes. He thought thi was something new. This man occasionally stop ped reading to kiss his mothe long and tenderly. What column Bill Smiley could hay made of these goings on! When her son finally left, hi mother remarked to m proudly that he had his waN paid a few years ago by th Jehovah's Witnesses as missionary to Ecuador. How A wonderful if ,;th J'e WitR'ea's w c send this "Oedipuss" (m spelling) as a witness, to th country of Malawi! "an outraged Anglican' Dear Editor: Watching the televising o the Ontario Parliament th other day, I observed th "Lord's Prayer" was repeated at the close of the openin prayer. Evidently the ones par ticipating did not realize that they were asking for "dissolution", in favor of a government by God. The "Lord's Prayer" con- tains the expression, "Thy kingdom come". A kingdom is a government with a king at its head. And the same Bible that this prayer is taken from says that at the coming of that "kingdom" for which the prayer asks all other kingdoms will be dissolved to make way for God's kingdom. Daniel 2, verse 44 tells that "the God of heaven (shall) set up a kingdom, "which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever," Referring to Jesus, Isaiah tells us: "the government shall be upon his shoulder ... and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." (Isa. 9:6,7) In view of man's failure to bring about peace, even though they have said "peace, peace when there is no peace" such a government should be welcomed by all, and a real ef- fort should be made to learn more about it. (,ter. 6:14; 8:11) What do you think? C.F. Barney Clinton A year today began one of the worst winter blizzards in many years, tying up traffic tight as a drum .., and ten in- ches of snow fell Today, dust was swirling' up the main street of Clinton, just as in mid- summer. In this section of Western Ontario, at least, the spring break-up of 1948 will long be remembered. Damage running 0 into millions of dollars, was caused as rivers, swollen beyond all expectations from melting snow and ice and heavy rainfall, jumped their banks and carried everything in their wake, The Maitland River was by far the chief of- fender, The advent of spring left the streets of Clinton generally speaking, in a bad mess, but probably no worse than in a great many other towns, especially those hit by floods, Cellar flooding also was prevalent particularly in the lower areas of the town.