HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1973-08-09, Page 4"Well, our financial worries are finally over — we're out of money."
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Matador, Canadian
Community Newspaper
Alaoctetion
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stoplair Asocial*,
TIlE CLINTON NEW EM
Established /865
Amalgamated
1924
THE HURON NEWS-RECO/i
Established 1881
Published every Thurisday
at Clinton, Ontario
Editor w Janie* E. Fitzgerald
°noel Manager,
J. Howard Aitken
Second Class Mall
registration tidd ,1,1t)8 qt MURON coutaly
115 atWIE
of liAtiAir
IN CANADA"
It is an increasingly saddening 4MP,,
tacle -to watch the Watergate scandal as
it unfolds week by week. For it demon-
strates that many men in high places
people in public pesitions of trust — are
gradually forgetting the meaning of
plain honesty.
The Watergate is so much more than a
series of monstrous mistakes and
serious crimes emanating from the
White House. The Watergate is a symbol
of our times. Certain men are prepared
to go to extremes to gain either wealth
or power — and indeed both, for power
equals money, and money usually can
buy power,
The fact that Watergate and the sex
scandals in Britain -- as well as the
monumental money frauds now coming
to light in different nations -- capture the
headlines is significant, For it indicates
a yearning among the ordinary people
The U.S. gas supply is still the second
largest in the world, yet consumption of
natural gas has risen so dramatically
over the past decade Americans won't
have any gas in their own country unless
they halt the spiral. Gas will run out by
1988 if present trends continue.
The United States and Canada have
oil reserves totalling 45 billion barrels,
only about one eighth the reserves of
the oil-rich Middle Eastern nations.
If the present worship of the
automobile continues, by the year 2,000
there will be 300 million cars on U.S.
roads -- three times as many as today.
Isolated facts? Not at all: Dangerously
relevant signals that should be lessons
for Canada. The United States has
begun using energy at a much faster
rate than It is finding either oil or natural
gas. Admittedly, there is enough coal in
the United States to last five centuries,
but Americans don't like coal for social,
health and ,,environreental ,reaspns.,
Canadiaristannot afford tdignore the'
U,S. energy crisis. But it would be
foolhardy for Canada to adopt a short-
term view, and let the United States
drain our oil and gas supplies for the
sake of profit.
Nobody denies either that capital is
required to recover gas and oil trapped
beneath Canadian soil and waters, or
that we don't have some responsibility to
our mighty southern neighbour. But in
an energy-hungry world, Canadians
must make provisions for future
generations, •
Today's grandchildren and yet unborn
for good and true men to lead them, An
honest man is the noblest work of
creation. And there are countless
millions of honest men around the world.
But too often they are deprived, by
lack of educational opportunities, by
mere circumstance, of the chance to at-
tain positions of leadership. Then there
are others, so disgusted by the fact that
men who are but common criminals can
gain such power and wealth, that they
keep away from public life and politics
altogether.
No amount of modern technology can
replace the basic ethic that has been
established by Mankind over the cen-
turies. The morality that guides good
men along right paths has many names.
It is to be hoped that the tragedy that is
Watergate , will throw forward men with
vision -- not just south of the border --
but in various lands and regions where
honest government today is lacking.
Tale of woe
If you think you have troubles, pity the
poor Editor.
If he attends a ineetinifie's
t he doesn't lie„ inteieefolki,
If ,he writes an indepth story, it's too
long.
if he condenses one, it's incomplete.
If he takes sides on an issue, he is
prejudiced.
If he doesn't he is a coward.
If he asks for advice, he's incompetent;
If he doesn't he is a know-it-all.
If he expresses an opinion, he wants to
run the show;
If he doesn't he lacks guts.
If he Misspells your name, you never
forget it;
If he doesn't, you didn't read that story,
Once and sometimes twice a
year over a period of a dozen
years my father would decide
to get a new car or, rather, a
DIFFERENT car, since ,he
never got closer than a decade
to a new model.
My boyhood memories are
cluttered with used-car lots and
the spavined jalopies in which
my father so often came
clanking home, shaken but
proud,
, Sometimes the whole family
would join him in these ex-
peditions and we were always
astounded at the attitude my
father would take. His was a
purely emotional approach to
the motoring age, and I remem-
ber distinctly him buying the
yteckage of a 1935 Chrysler
,Tudor because it had a musical
horn. He was always buying
1927 or '28 Chevrolets because
they had a triangular marking
on the rear right fender which
indicated four-wheel brakes.
That, and kicking the tires,
were two concessions to in-
vestigating the condition of the
hot-rod of his choice.
Used.car salesmen, a shifty
bunch in those days, must have
loved him. He was so eager to
be pleased,
When I think of them now,
those salesmen all seem to have
been the same fellow, a man
named Al or Artie---wide-
brimmed Stetson, the cold stub
of a cigar in one corner of a
gold-toothed smile, the faint
outline of a black-jack in the
rear hip pocket, sawdust still
on their hands from stuffing
crank-cases. Any normal man
would have called instantly for
the cops. My father was like a
delighted child being offered a
free lollipop. We never had a
car that hadn't been driven by
an elderly couple.
After my father had looked
at the rear right fender and
kicked the tires, Al or Artie
would invite him to sit behind
the wheel. My father would be
, grinning self-consciously.
"See, the man would say,
pointing at the milage meter,
"she's just got 3500 miles on
her."
My father would stare at the
doctored meter hypnotically,
ignoring the worn floor-mats
and the posterior imprint in the
seats which starkly revealed
the true milage.
"Clean as a whistle," the
man would say and my father
would look up into his face
with shining trust.
I fell to thinking about all
this the other day on reading a
series of articles from the
magazine Consumer Reports on
how to buy a used car. The wise
car-buyer here was pictured as
a man prodding with a pencil
at the body joints searching for
over rust, standing on the bum-
per and bouncing the car to test
the shock absorbers, looking
narrowly at the oil stick (the
more enterprising lots use a
super-heavy oil to quiet a
protesting motor), racing the
engine and goodness knows
what else.
One suggestion was that the
prospective buyer should take
out the rear seat cushion_ ask
the salesman to drive, and then
crouch back there listening to
the differential.
For the life of me, I couldn't
see my father going that far.
That would surety have hurt
the sensitive feelings of' AI or
Artie, for one thing, and, for
another, my father wasn't con-
cerned with differentials. He'N,
was more interested in the
dashboard and the ornament
on the radiator cap, (He always
admired Dodges because of the
ram's-head figure up front.)
I laughed aloud when I read
Consumer Reports' advice--
"don't succumb to the easy-
going, we're-all-gentlemen-here
approach." It was precisely
what my father always Dill
succumb to, chuckling eagerly
at the witticisms of Al or .Artie
and hanging on each word as
they described the history of
the car in terms of pure fiction.
For a time, I recall, he was
interested in valves and would
ask,,, "Has she had a valve
grind?" He didn't know what
valves are any more than I do,
but it gave him an air of being
informed and the question
seemed to please the salesmen.
"I see you know cars," they'd
say. "Well, this little beauty...
These experiences gave me a
lifelong and doubtless unfair
suspicion of used-car salesmen.
When I began my own
pilgrimage to the lots it was
with the air of a man turning
into• a dark alley noted for axe
murders.
But, of course, I know now
that my father had the right
idea on used cars as he had the
right idea on nearly everything.
It was a foolish, but touching
faith in humanity and it was
rewarded, He, taken by the
bandits, would roll away with
supreme confidence, I, equally
taken, would roll away with the
glum conviction that disaster
would strike at any moment, So
I missed all the fun that was
his,
The increased demand
agricultural produce has Ma
it necessory, for many farm,
to increase their acreage, So
flutters work _several fields
different locations, wh
means that machinery hail to
moved on roads and highw
to get to the fields.
Regulations governing tr
sport of farm machinery
roads and highways set
exact limitations. In order
comply with these regulatio
a farmer may have to lo
some pieces of equipment o
trailer or truck for trans
Slow-moving vehicle signs
mandatory, as are ,permits
transporting equipment ove
feet, 6 inches in wick
Maximum width permitted
14 feet.
Accidents on rural roads a
highways cause death a
serious injury, says Don Bros;
Coordinator of public relatio
with the Farm Safe
Association. Using comm
sense and following the rules
the road are the keys to safe
especially during the sultan
vacation period when there
many more cars on the road,
cars begin to line up behi
your machinery, pull off to t
shoulder of the road to let th
by. Be cautious when enterin
road from a laneway or fi
exit. When leaving the ro
signal your intention to t
well ahead of time.
Follow the rules of the ro
You could save a life.
Since July, 1971, informat
on seat belt use has been rec
ded on motor vehicle collie
reports in Ontario. Accid
reports for 1972 show that o
40 of the 827 drivers, killed
this province were wearing s
belts, says the Ontario Saf
League. Of the 43,910 driv
injured in traffic accidents I
year, only 10.5 percent w
known to be wearing seat bel * * *
"If you Drink, Don't Driv
has long been the slogan of
safety minded. The Onta
Safety League now adds,
You Drink, Don't Walk." T
latest Ministry of Transp
tation figures reveal that 1
' percent of the drivers involv
in fatal collisions last year w
impaired. The same percenta
of pedestrians killed in Onta
had been drinking. Of the 3
pedestrians killed' in 1972,
had been drinking...71 to
point of Impairment.
Op us 1011S
• •
in order tha
News—Record readers mig
express their opinions on an
topic of public intere
Letters To The Editor
always welcome f
publication.
But the writers of su
letters, as well as all reads
are reminded that
opinions expressed in lette
published are not necessaril
the opinions held by Th
News—Record.
4—C1,11000N NEWS--RECPRD, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1973
ditorial comment
An honest man
caution
Canada must be cautious
great-grandchildren will never under-
'stand the excuses being put forward
now — the need to make profits, the
usefulness of accommodating U.S.
businesses and political leaders -- if
Canada's supplies run low within 20 to
30 years.
Let us help the troubled American's by
all means. But let us not jeopardize the
well-being of Canada later this century.
(contributed)
We're stupid once
'There's no place like home,
as some Wise Man or woman
once said, I think most likely it
Was a man.
For a woman, home means
washing clothes and dishes
eternally, scrubbing dirt,
making beds, and all those
other rotten jobs that make
"home-making'" a dirty word,
Fora man, it means a good,
hot cup of tea instead of
lukewarm coffee, a meal that
tastes like food instead of wet
kleenot, clean sheets smelling
of sun, and going around in his
underwear and bare feet if he
jolly well feels like it,
'That's exactly what I'm en-
joying today, after four days in
The Cit', I've just had a 'decent
cup of tea, a great, slurpy bacon
and tomato sandwich, and I'm
in my shorts and bare tea.
We've just had our annual
splurge in The City, and even
my wife gave a groan of pure
pleasure as we pulled into our
driveway last night and the cat
came running to greet us,
flinging herself on her back and
rolling her belly ecstatically.
There the cat, not my wife.
I haven't the slightest idea
why, but every summer, *hen
sensible people are fleeing like
lemmings from The City, the
old girl and I take off from -our
sylvan retreat in the heart of
tourist land and head for the
concrete canyons of that saute
City.
There's no ini-ellige-ea, let
atone common sense, in it. We
ten't Afford it. 'We don't even
like it. But we go,
Don't ask me for a logical ex,
a year
planation. It would be like
asking a caribou why he runs
back and forth, with wolves
snapping at his heels.
And the wolves are there. In
The City. Just waiting for us
caribou. Unfortunately', they
don't look like wolves,so you
don't know what's happening
to you until you're hamstrung. '
They look like cabdrivers and
waiters and bartenders.
But one can't blame the
wolves, can one? That's what
they are for: to weed out the
cripples.
Well, I can tell you that if
you are not crippled, at least
financially, after a few days in
The City, you've been staying
with your relatives.
For some reason, we always
stay in the best hotel. After all,
it costs only about three days
pay for each night in the swank
joint- This IS part of the whole
midsummer madness.
And, what the heck, it's only
three dollara each to see a
movie. And what the shoot,
room service charges only $1.50
for a pot of coffee, and a
meagre $1.50 for a sandwich.
And, of course, you can't take it
with you, so spread it around a
little. •
And then rileteg the switn-
rnirig. The big hotels have a
swimming pool. Of course, only
the common people swim in the
pool. That's what we tell our-
eaves every time we retnember
we've forgotten our swim suits.
This is about the point where
I start to pound'ray head,
thinking of the Mile-long
stretch of clean white sand and
clean blue water back home.
But there's one thing say
about The City in summer. It's
cool.
Oh, not out with the rabble
on the streets, They,I under•
stand, sweat just like the rest of
us.
But in the big hotels and the
bars and the restaurattts,air-
conditioning has worked a
miracle. Or something.
You can altriost go into tome
of them without an overcoat.
Some of the bars are so tin-cool
the waiters dowt even have
blue lips.But in most of them,
the customers are sitting
around racked with 'pneumonia
and arthritis.
' I don't know why comet
plaining. Nobody forced me to
go to The City. And if anyone
tried, it would be like attemp-
ting to force a mule to walk
backward. I wouldn't go there
if you paid me. Especially in
the summer.
But I Went, I guess it Was for
my wife's sake. She loves a few
days in a big hotel. No laundry.
No Meals to cook. No brains.
However, the annual
stupidity is over again, and as t
said, it's great to be home. No
more of that ridiculous Wasting
of Money on things priced seven
times too high,
No problems like that at
hoine. Nothing here but the old
cat and the new woodpiles.
Let's open the mail. Might be a
nice fan letter. Yikel Town
tsites, $484.00 Fuel bill from
last winter, $130,00 Bank
manager Wants to see Me,
guess it's back to The City,
10 YEARS AGO
August 15, Ms
Paul Bateman of Clinton has
received top marks in this years
graduating class. He received
an overall percentage of 78.2.
Not only was he- at the head of
his class there, he also won the
W.D. Pair scholarship for
mathematics. Bill Vodden, Pat
Harland and lion Levett were
tied for second with an average
of 75.7 percent.
Stanley Township has ap-
proved the installation of three
new drains. A municipal drain
is to be built on the west
branch of the Black Creek.
Several fanners have asked for
loans from the government so
they may build drains on their
own property. A few of these
have already been accepted.
The Kitchener-Waterloo
Flying Dutchman Drum and
Bugle Corps will be in Clinton
on Friday August 23 and Satur'.
day, August 24. Appearing with
them will be pipe bands from
Clinton, Goderich, Forest,
Exeter, Brussels and St. Marys.
The show is sponsored by the
Clinton Legion and the Clinton
Marching and Concert Sand.
Despite a heavy shower of
rain the Lions Club realized
over $800, Alf Scotehtner,
riding Adam Flower's
palomino led a large parade
from the New Ritz Hotel to the
Agricultural Park. Besides
bingo and other booths pony
rides were given for the
children.
25 YEARS AM, ,
August 12, 1948
St. Laurent was voted in as
Prime Minister on Saturday,
He defeated J.C. Gardiner and
C,G. Powers, He will succeed
Prime Minister Mackenzie
Xing in Novernber or, Decent-
her,
The government is giving a
grant of $75 to each county
towards the "Clean Farm Con-
test" sponsored by the Junior
Farmers. It is based on the
greatest improvement in the
home farm over a 12 month
period. County and district
weed inspectors have agreed to
help in making the necessary
inspections and judging the
farm free of weeds.
With Newfoundland joining
Canada this will make Canada
larger than Europe. It will
raise its population to nearly 13
million and give it another new
City.
The Huron County Council
picnic held in Harbor Park,
Guderith on July 28 was
favored by ideal weather. Most
of the county councillors took
time off to spend the day at the
lakeside with their families
although the harvesting season
interfered somewhat in the at-
tendance. Boating, bathing and
a little fishing were enjoyed
With a full program of sports
for those who wished to par-
ticipate,
The crops in Huron County
are considered to be quite
promising for this year in con-
trast to the poor season in
1.941. A dry spell during the
middle of June created a bit of
worry but later in the month
and during July frequent, rains
quickly dispelled this worry.
The production of field crops
are expected to be above nor-
mal.
Russell Jervis of Clinton was
one of 94 hatcherymen,
druggists and feed dealers
completing a course in Dealer
Training School Course in
Poultry Diseasea and
Management. The school was
held through July 26 to July 30
in Charles City, Iowa, He
received 'a certificate at the con-
elusion of the course.
50 YEARS Ado
August 9, 1923
Doherty Pianos received an
order for 32 pianos from
Australia and a cable order
from Japan. Doherty is
becoming well known around
the world and the staff is very
busy trying to keep up with all
the orders.
The Canadian Post Office is
amaking the minimum size of
postcards four inches by six in-
ches. It wilt soon be possible for
the tourist to send more of a
message than the usual
"Everything lovely, having a
good time."
Clinton citizens saw a new
way of moving race horses to
the track. Instead of using
railway cars or jogging along
they were transported in the
back of two ford trucks. They
say that the horses enjoyed the
ride much more than the other
ways.
Monday proved another good
day for Clinton's celebration
and it got off to a good start
with a parade in the morning.
The morning baseball game
between Exeter and Clinton
juniors was rather unexciting
as Clinton won 10 to 1, It
seems Exeter got stage fright as
they were not playing as well as
usual. The afternoon game was
much more interesting with
Goderich beating Wingliam by
two runs. The evening was
filled by a musical program
with the Xiltie Band and a
street carnival was held at the
end of the concert,
/S YEARS AGO
August 12, 1898
The first car load of organs
from the new Doherty factory
was shipped on Wednesday a
the second today, Men
being added daily.
At noon one day last wee
citizen's hat was blown off.
ter it had gone a considers
distance, another citizen st
ted after it. As he grasped i
own hat was blown off and
his attempts to catch it
knocked into a third p
whose .hat was also blown
After 'a lengthy chase the
hats were caught and the ca
of the trouble was returned
its owner,
The other evening a w
known merchant Went do
into the cellar of his stO
taking with him a lighted I
At about 2:30 aan. he receiv
a call from the night watchm
stating that there was a light
the cellar. When he gat to tl
store he found he had left t
lamp when he had gone dow
the previous evening.