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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1973-12-06, Page 4Clinton residents urged to cut water consumption as sewage rale doubles The Jack Scott Column al all IMI +—CLINTON NRWS4iRCORD, THURSDAY, ogcEmpgri 6, 1973 Editorial Comment Good for a laugh This has been the year of the great pay-off. The federal government seemed to have grants for anything and everything. If you ever picked up a paint brush in kindergarten you could get a Local Improvement grant as an artist and your pictures would be available to the court house or the local hospital. Senior citizens were the number one target right across the land. Any person or group who could think up an exercise that bore even the remotest resem- blance to assistance for the sad plight of senior citizens was away in the LIP race with anywhere up to $15,000 in prepaid prize money, Not that we have anything against helping the senior citizens—but some of our oldsters must have ended up more than a bit embarrassed by the sudden rush of attention and federal dollars. We have been receiving the list of LIP grants in our mail since early this year and they made laughable reading—like the $6,000-odd for the formation of a kazoo band in New Brunswick... or the hundreds of drop-in centres for people who have been dropping in at each other's homes since the beginning of time. However, it remained for a gal in British Columbia who was apparently a bit short on moral ethics but very long on wry humor, to make the application to end all applications, Dominique . Danielle, 28, of Vancouver, applied for a grant of $33,729 to equip and staff a "bordellomobile" which would travel in- terior British Columbia .to bring enter- tainment and diversion to the hundreds of lonely unattached men who work in mines and lumber camps. Miss Danielle stated her belief that her proposal met all the requirements set forth by the government to qualify for federal funds and stated in no uncertain terms that she had the necessary ex- periencti to successfully manage an operation of the type proposed. Of course It was ridiculous—and she knew it. But the whole proposal wasn't that much sillier than hundreds of others which have received federal approval and funding. Let's face it.. The money provided for LIP grants and Opportunities for Youth has done a great deal of good—but the big purpose behind it all was to keep names off the unemployment lists. (from the Wingham Advance-Times) The right gift The spiraling cost of living has all of us concerned. We shop more carefully in order to stretch our dollars. But this takes time. No longer can we dash into a shop and pick up "something nice": Now we visit two or three shops, com- paring quality, wearability, quantity or price until we find the right gift at a price we can afford to pay. Christmas shopping this year will un- doubtedly take more time as we try to get the same number and quality of gifts for the same amount of money (or less!) than we spent last year. Traditionally, this is a time when we open our hearts anc.t:our purse strings just a little wider. try to please our loved ones with just the right gift; we smile at strangers; we think about other people. There is one gift you can give which is beyond price, yet costs you no money. You don't have to shop for it, line up to pay for it, or gift wrap R. When you give a blood donation, you give the gift of life. Amid the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations when you are busier than ever, you may think "I'll do it later. A few weeks won't matter". Your're wrong. There is no manufactured substitute for human blood. Modern technology has put men on the moon, but scientists cannot reproduce blood in the laboratory. When a patient needs a blood donation, time is crucial; for him there is no "later". A blood donation takes 30 minutes of your time. You are not paid for your blood, nor is the patient charged for it. It is a heart to heart gift, made possible through the blood transfusion service of the Canadian Red Cross Society, Toys break; sweaters wear out; candy, toiletries and tobacco are consumed. All are gifts which bring joy to the recipient, but remember to give as well the gift of life. During the holiday season, ,give blood. Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley The energy crisis will do us some good Amalgamated 1924 THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1881 THE CLINTON NEW ERA Established 18G5 C4PCNA M.016.0, Canadian Community Newspaper Asooctstiott Noruer 41PCNA 0„ 161\ 12. 4, 49/ t Hub OP HURON courov Published *very Thuriday at Clinton, Ontario Editor Jamie E. Pitzgeraid General Manager, J. Howard Aitken ' Second Class Mall registration no. 0811 •TNIE HOW of NAOMI 1N CAP,ADA" Mamba., Ontario Wally Newspaper Amok*. The last stand It is surely an astonismng oversight in the realm of social combat that no one—not even Ann Landers—has dealt with the problem of how to get people to go home once you've deployed them as far as the hall. Getting them that far is no trick. I find that if I yawn luxuriously or knead my eyes or make some remark about how late it's getting or, in ex- treme cases, begin osten- tatiously winding an alarm clock, they'll take the hint. It's very seldom I have to snarl "go home." "Well, we really must be going," they say. Everyone gets up and makes for the hall. They get into their coats. They mouth the customary hypocrisies. And nobody leaves. I don't know what it is about the hall that gets people so loquacious. People who haven't done anything all night but sneeze and eat mixed nuts will suddenly burst forth in a spate of anecdotes. There is one particular friend I open the door, shrinking back as a chill blast of air sweeps in upon us. It is THEN that the women remember all the unfinished business of the evening. There will be a luncheon date to be arranged, for exam- ple, and while I am swiftly developing a case of double pneumonia, the ladies will go into details that make inter- national peace talks seem almost spontaneous. It is a desperate time for me. I could close the door and thus lengthen my life. Ah, but iP I close the door, that will start the men talking again, and it might be years before we ever get out of this wind-tunnel. I look at myself in the hall mirror and see the face of a man trapped and rapidly growing frantic. It is in these times that my mind races about concocting wild schemes to clear the hall so that I' may toddle off to my hot milk and nembutal. There was, for example, the diabolic plan I had for the in- terlocking system of doors. With three front doors, in layers, I reasoned, I could make the grand gesture of flinging open the portal, thus making my intention perfectly clear yet protecting myself from the weather. By the time I'd got to the third door the guests would surely be ready to hurl themselves out into the street. I thought, too, of installing a button in the hall which I might press surreptitiously with the heel of my shoe. This would put on a record of a baby crying. "Oh," I would say, "I must go to the baby" and, waving gaily, I would hurry off, though we haven't had a baby on the premises for 22 years. But best of all, I like to think, was the idea of The Ver- tical Bed in the hall itself! I could use this merely as a prop, glancing meaningfully at it from time to time, but if the guests persisted in hanging on I would stand there under the covers looking hard at them. THAT ought to do it. I thought of a Horizontal Bed, too, but that wouldn't be polite. of mine who needs merely to put a hand on the doorknob to be launched into a half dozen delayed-action stories. I find myself standing on one foot, then the other, my face contorted into a hideous mask of feigned interest, laughing at all the wrong places and oc- casionally murmuring, "Well, it was nice having you." "....and' then the man on the desert island cried, 'There go my Sundays!" a guest will shout, winding up, some inter- minable story and wheezing with laughter. "Well, it was nice having you," I mumble, putting my arm about him and guiding him gently toward the door. "I MUST tell you the one about the Sheik and the prayer rug " the man will protest. And I feel the glaze coming over my eyes again. The hall does not seem to have the same immediate effect on the women. They stand around waiting for the males to finish their stories. That ac- complished, everyone says goodnight for the seventh time. Chief outlines Christmas plans for, ire safety A happy Christmas can change in a few moments into a family tragedy, warns Firs Chief Clarence Neilans, in homes where fire safety precautions are neglected, Such precautions should head the, list of every sensible family's preparations for Christmas, hi says. The Fire Chief urges the public to exercise special cars in the setting uli and decoration of Christmas tress, and draws attention to the following important points: If plans call for a natural tree, it should be bought frail and green, and kept outdoors or in an unheated garage before being brought into the home for decorating. Then, one or two inches should be cut diagonally from the butt, and the tree should be set up with the butt in water which should be main- tained above the level of the cut. Check strings of electric lights carefully for worn in- sulation, broken plugs or loose bulb sockets. Only CSA. approved lighting sets and/only non-flammable decorations should be used. Declare the tree a no-smoking area and keep matches out of the 'hands of children. Do not .allow discarded gift • wrappings to accumulate under the tree. Dispose of them as soon as the gifts are opened. Even a green tree will burn if ignited by burning paper around the base. Set up ,the tree away from heat sources such as fireplaces, TV sets or radiators. Do not allow it to block access to doors or windows in the event of fire. Switch off tree lights at bed- time or when leaving the house. Fire Chief Neilans points out that tests have proved that the safest tree is a tree with its butt set in water. However, if a tree has dried out before it is set up, it cannot regain its safe moisture level. A dry tree can be ignited by a single match, to burn violently to a charred. state in a few seconds. Even artificial trees can be serious fire hazards. Metallic trees are conductors of elec- tricity, and should not be decorated with strings of lights, but illuminated with floodlights. Some plastic trees, made from styrene materials, are flammable, unlike those made from polyvinylchloride. All trees should be removed from the home as soon as possible after the Christmas celebrations. It seems that in the Seven- ties, the whole world is lur- ching, as most of us do in our private lives, from one crisis to another. Crippling strikes, crip- pling food prices, crippling political scandals, and now the energy crisis, so-called. A crisis may be defined as a turning point. Perhaps it's time we reached some turning points and did some turning in new directions. What so many people of the affluent post-war years don't realize is that crises are nothing new. Every generation faces them, meets them, and resolves them, somehow. War, depression, another war, the bomb, AU these have been universal crises in this century. Beside those big ones, a hike in the price of beef is less than monumental, and even the expected energy crisis is small potatoes. (I must be hungry.) If the energy crisis becomes more than newspaper headlines, and shortages and rationing occur, it might be the best thing that has happened to the fat-cat Western world for generations. We are in grave danger of turning into slobs, physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. Maybe we need a good purge, in the form of a sharp cut-back in our soft way of living. Get rid of some of the fat, even if it requires a surgeon's knife. Take a day in the life of an average family. Someone, very often the husband in these degenerate days, gets up first and turns the thermostat up to seventy. The beast in the basement starts gulping more energy, Our friend shaves With his electric razor. He goes down and gets his orange juice out of another beast that has been burning electricity all night, producing nothing. Then he flips on two burners on the electric stove, one for coffee, one for bacon and eggs. When they're ready, he jams some bread into the electric toaster, Then the mother stumbles down and turns the burners back on. Father drives the eight blocks to work, stinking up the environment and burning energy. The kids waffle off to a school which is probably bur- ning far more tons of coal a day than it needs to. That school has thousands of lights which are on even on a bright day. At home friend wife throws the laundry into an automatic washer which uses large quan- tities of hot water which has taken a fair amount of elec- tricity to produce. Then it goes into the automatic dryer, run by electricity, Then she tackles the ironing, and we all know what heats an iron in this day. She decides to wash her hair. More hot water. Then she sits under the electric dryer with fresh coffee made on the stove burner. At this time of year, probably half the lights in the house are on, merrily chewing up the watts. And so it goes, right across the land, all day long. The television set burns juice far into the night. Advertising signs pop on and eat more juice. Industry belches its wastes and burns energy with a lavish hand. Right now, in our kitchen, the electric oven is glowing red. It will be for the next two hours, Knew what's in it? One large potato, being baked. Multiply the juice being con- sumed by this one family by about five million in Canada alone and I think you'll agree that we're a pretty ex- travagant, even sluttish lot, when it comes to being prodigal with natural resources that are going to be exhausted and can never be replaced. And I haven't even men- tioned such ridiculosities as electric tooth-brushes and elec- tric carving knives. Don't get me wrong. I'm no Spartan. I'll drive to work rather than walk. And leave that great hulking, rusting monster, that required so much energy to be built and burns up so much more, sitting in the parking lot all day. The point is, I could walk to work, and it wouldn't hurt me. In fact, it would be jolly good for me. And I don't expect my wife to get out the scrub-board and wash her hair in rain-water. But it might be jolly good for her, if she had to. Women, and men, have too much time these days to sit around and worry about their nerves. Our fairly immediate an- cestors didn't have time for nerves and ulcers, 'They didn't need pick-up pills to get going. There was no alternative to just getting going, They didn't need three mar- tinis to whet their appetites. They were just plain hungry. Nor did they need sleeping pills to get off at night. They were just plain pooped. I'm not scared of an energy crisis, It might even be in- teresting. Anyway, / have my own energy crisis every day, when the alarm goes off at 7.15. That's what I call a real crisis. 10 YEARS AGO December 5, 1963 George Wonch, musical director for the Clinton Mar- ching Royals and their Drum Major, George McIntyre, feel that the band has done ex- tremely well for themselves in spite of the cold and driving winds. They won the Topnotch Feeds trophy in Seaforth last Saturday and placed second behind the Sarnia Lionettes the previous Saturday. In six parades they have always been mentioned as one of the top bands present. The 4-H club members received awards at the Huron County achievement night, Among the members were Neil Gemmell and Jim Papple, who each received a 12 project cer- tificate. Barb Watkins was best all-round 4-H member. Mr. and Mrs. John Fraser celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on November 23 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Fraser; Jr. Included among the many friin,ds and relatives were the best man and bridesmaid, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hudson (Mrs, Fraser's sister) Windsor, The couple received many lovely gifts including a beautiful anniversary cake made by Mrs, Ken Brandon. Mr. and Mrs. William Mclachlan celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on Saturday at the Dominion Hotel, Zurich. They were the recipients of a silver tea service and many other silver gifts from the guests, Those atten- ding were from London, Olin- ton, Zurich and Seaforth, 26 YEARS AGO December 9, 1948 Miss Florence R. Curt- ninghatrie picked some lovely blue grapes on Monday. The grapes were delicious and Were completely untouched by frost. Miss Cunninghame also has some plants which ordinarily seed themselves for the following year already showing above the ground. She has several marigolds up already. Alvin Betties won the oat competition this year. The com- petition was sponsored by the Bayfield Agricultural Society. W,R. Lobb and son, Clinton were second and in the con- tinuing order it was Allan Arm- strong, Bayfield, Edward Deeves, Clinton; Fred A. Bell, Goderich and John W. Deeves, Bayfield. Mr. and Mrs. William Sin- clair, Kippen, received their im- mediate friends during the day on the occasion of their golden' wedding anniversary. The day was ideal and much the same as their wedding day of fifty years ago. They lived on a farm two miles east of Kippen until ten years ago when they moved to Kippen, Thomas Wilbee, Seaforth Air Force veteran was appointed as the new caretaker of the Seaforth Post Office succeeding Thomas Beattie who is retiring on pension after twenty-two years of service. The latter was appointed May 2, 1926 and while he reached the retirement age five years ago, he continued in the position during the war years because of the difficulty of finding a replacement, 50 YEARS AGO December 6, 1923 • Miss Bessie McGregor left last week to spend an extended visit with her sister Mrs. Wm, Kaiser of Los Angeles, Califor- nia, Mr. and Mrs. Kaiser were formerly residents of Brucefield but left here about twenty-nine years ago. Miss McGregor will be much triiirsed in the village and community, especially in church circles, where she was very active, She was involved in many activities and was a teacher for many years. Alex Nixon held a sale of household effects on Saturday afternoon and it is his intention to move to Bluevale where he intends making his home with his nephew. Large quantities of baled hay and turnips are being shipped from the station in /31yth, with most of them going to the Southern States, where the crops have not been as good as in this locality. Mr. James Robertson who has been barbering with Mr. E. Monroe, has opened up a shop in Centralia. Mrs. W. Emigh of Ponoka, Alta; arrived in Blyth on Saturday night to visit relatives here and it is expected that Mr, Emigh will also arrive shortly, and it is possible they Will again make their home in or near here, Harry Johnston, who for- merly ran a grocery store here and since leaving has been managing stores at Wingham and Owen Sound for the Dominion Stores, has resigned this position and has purchased a grocery business in Hamilton and left this week to take possession. His mother, Mrs. W. Johnston, accompanied him and will visit in Hamilton and with her daughter in Toronto before returning. 75 YEARS AGO December 8, 1898 Mr. James MacFarlane, who is one of the most extensive sheep breeders in the township of Stanley or the County of Huron, for that matter, sold ninety-one of his best sheep to a Mr. Wineland of Avoca, Iowa, who took them west for breeding purposes. Mr. MacFarlane has made many such sales and has managed to clear a thousand a year on sheep. On occasions he goes across to Scotland to renew his stock. The farmers of Huron seem in no hurry to market their grain and it is no bad sign that they are able to hold off. There was a little rush a few days ago, presumably to raise tax money, but the fall receipts do not compare with last season. The price today is sixty-eight but some good judges feel it `gill go down to sixty-five. Mr. C. Calton is at present spending a couple of weeks with his parents and other friends in Clinton. Mr. John Cox of Goderich Township has decided to retire from municipal politics. He has been a member of the town- ship council for thirteen years, a reeve for ten and a member of the county council. In 189? he was warden of the Township. His retirement brings Mr. Con- nolly to the front for what is more natural than the reeve to aspire to the county council. Mr, Connolly is also a native of the township, in fact, he has lived on the same farm all his life, Mr. and Mrs. T. Webster of the Township of Ashfield are visiting their son Mr. Thomas Webster and other friends in the vieinity of Clinton. From our early files . • •