HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1974-01-10, Page 4The Jack Scott Column - MI OM
"By the way, I'm not buying all that — I'm, just going around getting estimates."
Suburb incident
we get
letters
Snowmobiles
shoulder.
I had to admit to the
students that this was the only
good reading habit I could
remember. That seemed to be
the end of the speech. Then I
thought, "Heck, this is no
good." So I confessed that I
could say, without pride, but
with little fear of contradiction,.
that I had the most attrocious
itading habits of any male in
Canada.
I suggested
stead about
Habits. Then,
carefully, and
that I talk in-
Bad Reading
if they listened
immediately af-
Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley
A flashlight under the blanket
From our early files . • • • • • •
A
Member. Caesium
Community Newspaper
Association
1144044, 00120 WSsltyr
Amalgamated
1924
THE CLINTON NEW ERA
Established 1865
THE HURON NEWS-RECORD
Established 1581
Clinton News-IZeconi
Published every Thursday
at Clinton, Ontario
James E. Fitagerald
General Manager,
&OP J. Howard Aitken
Second Class Mall
HUB OF HURON. COUNTY registration no, 0817
4.-curfroN NEWS-RECORD, THURSDAY, JANUARY tC!, 1974
Editotiat. Comment
1974 could be worse
500 jobs lost in the area in the last six
weeks.
First, Hall Lamp of Centralia went un-
der t throwing .387 people out of work.
Three days before Christmas, the. Glen-
dale Corporation plant at Vanastra
folded, putting another 34 persons on
the unemployment list. Then on the first
working day of 1974, Bendix of Hensall
laid off 74 workers, with the possibility of
more being sent home.
Those three incidents alone are
enough to damage any industrial area,
but with as little industrial work in Huron
as there is, the bad effects are more
pronounced.
It is hoped that the jobs can be
recovered by other industries, and they
probably will, but for many, hardship will
be the keynote of 1974. •
It can be safely said that 1973 was a
very good year for Huron County, but the
hopes for 1974, at this point, don't look
as bright.
Last year was a good year for Huron
farmers, as record prices were paid for
many of their products. Beef and poultry
hit all-time highs, as did beans and
eggs, Pork was priced ,fairly for part of
the year and even the ,grain farmers
made some money for a change.
But 1974 doesn't look as bright. All
farm costs are up considerably, in-
cluding fertilizer„ fuel, feed and
machinery. Last year's high prices will
become a necessity not a luxury in 1974.
And on the indutrial front in Huron,
the economy has gone from a near b6om
to a near bust in just a little over a
month, All totalled, there have been over
With the increasing use of
snOwmobiles in this area, it has come to
the point where their freedom will have
to be restricted to certain age groups
and certain 'conditiOns.
To, ,.begin there are few safety
flatures on' rnositbf the machines, and to
let a 10-yeai3Otd run a 40 horsepower
snowmobile that 'is capable of speeds in
excess of those of many cars, is pure
lunacy.
Most snowmobilers would be much
better off if they joined a club where
they could learn first hand, the
capabilities and limits of their machines.
A snowmobile is not a toy, it is a power-
ful machine, quite capable of turning
Here it is, .the 10th of January, and
already, this writer is looking forward to
.spring.
The first two seed catalogues arrived
last week and they sent us scampering
to a warm corner to curl up with them
and drool over the abundant pictures
and almost edible color pictures, while a
raw January wind swirls snow outside
the window.
- A garden addict, such as yours truly,
envisions acres of ground covered in
beautiful flowers and mouth-watering . . . _
vegetables. For we addicts, winter is
only a palm' withdrawal period until we
ter forgokeverything I had
tore the flashlight out of my hot ward
said, they would be well on the little hand about 2 a.m., "Billy way to acquiring, Good Reading Smiley, you'll be blind by the Habits. There 'I was general time you're fifteen if you don't agreement that tkiis was a sen-
and
stop reading in dark-corners g, cubbyholes." Bible approach.
Well, I've been reading in I warned them of the depths
egra
to which a dation dark corners and bright ones, of d
on planes and .trains, in the readoholic would descend to bathroom and in bed, in get his stuff. I told them that
revolving doors and on an alcoholic or a drug addict
escalators, ever since, and I'm would stoop pretty low to get
not blind yet. I don't even wear the wherewithal for his habit. And I told them this was kid
stuff compared to what the
readoholic would stoop to.
I gave them an example: a
friend of mine during the war.
He had the habit very badly. I
lost track of him, but heard
from friends that he had
managed to kick it.
Then one day, a couple of
months after the war, I met him
in Alexandria, North Africa.
He was a handsome Sikh, with
a skyblue turban and a curly,
black beard. But right away, I
knew from the red-rimmed
eyes, the glazed look, that he
was still hooked on reading.
He was leading an old lady
by the hand. I asked him who
she was and where they were
going. He had the decency to
look ashamed as he answered
ambiguously, "Old friend
Smilee, I am knowing what you
theenk, but I got to get a
book", before hurrying off.
I heard later that the aged
lady was his mother, and he
was on his way to the slave
market. I understand he got
$19 for her. Or, in readoholic
terms, about twenty-two paper-
&Wks.
Oh, I put the fear into those
honour students. But then I
tried to soften the blow. Told
them of some of the great
discoveries for which
readoholism had been respon-
sible.
Newton, reading under an
apple tree. The old story is that
he was sleeping, but the truth is
that he had just picked up a
copy of the recently published
"Fanny Hill" and was
definitely reading. Apple fell,
hit him on the head, and we
had the Law of Gravity,
without which we'd be in very
grave shape.
And there was the Greek, Ar-
chimedes. He climbed into the
bath one day for a quiet read.
Immediately he opened his
book, he knew something was
wrong. He leaped out of the
tub, crying "Paprika!"
Somebody had put paprika in-
stead of bath salts in his water.
And thus was discovered Ar-
chimedes Principle, a very im-
portant law in the study of
physics.
I don't know much about the
Principle, but I think it's
something like, "Half a bath is
better than none."
This anecdote brought me
toward my peroration. It
reminded me that I knew of
another Good Reading Habit.
This made two. A good
Reading Habit is to read in the
bath-tub.
Someone once said that the
ideal learning situation was a
boy sitting on one end of a. log,
and Mark Van Doren, the great
U.S. educator, sitting on the
other.
My notion of the ideal lear-
ning situation would be a
classroom with thirty-five bath-
tubs instead of desks. And up
at the front, a super-tub,
preferably in pink mother-of-
pearl, for Mr. Smiley.
It might be a little expensive,
but think of the special effects
we could get when teaching
The Spanish Armada in
history, or Old Man and the
Sea, in English,
Perhaps I should add that
we'd be wearing sWitn-suits,
I know you'll be glad to hear
that Henry Pludge is coming
along just fine. He has one of
the most cheerful rooms in the
clinic with a view looking out
across the guards' cottages to
the valley. It's convenient, too,
just down the hall from the
electric-shock-treatment room
and the immersion tubs.
I was able to get some of the
story yesterday when I was up
there to visit Henry, and it
rather surprised me to learn it
began almost exactly two years
ago when he and Emily moved
into their new home in the
Forest View Park subdivision.
It surprised me because I
remember how happy and ex-
cited , they'd. been about the
move. Forest View Park is one
of those newer real-estate
developments with two! and
three-bedroom homes ready for
occupancy at a very low down
payment and the balance
spread conveniently over 60
years. The homes have picture
windows and lawns exactly 14
feet square and carports.
They're referred to in the ad-
vertisements as "ranch-style"
10 YEARS AGO
January 9, 1964
Frank Somerville Jr. didn't
arrive on the scene until
January 5th, but it was still
soon enough to be declared first
baby of 1964 at Clinton Public
Hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Somer-
ville reside at 12 Princess St.
West and have three children
at home eagerly awaiting the
arrival of their brother.
Ontario egg producers may
face a big surplus of eggs this
year with an intensification of
the swing towards larger units
of production, Ag. Rep. Douglas
Miles indicated during a
discussion of the poultry
situation. Miles said hatching
is up this year and there is con-
siderable interest in layer units
with a capacity of 5,000 and up-
wards.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Elliott,
180 Buch Street, marked their
50th wedding anniversary on
New Years Day. They moved to
Clinton forty years ago and
worked a farm and dairy on
shares with the late Abe Dur-
nin. Upon his death they pur-
chased the farm and dairy,
which still carries the same
name, Fairholme Dairy. He in..
troduced pasteurized milk to
Clinton and sold it to Russ
' Holmes in 1940.
Kenneth Stewart won the
race for reeve of McKiilop
Township, Monday with almost
a fiVe-to-one vote. His win was
over the veteran reeve Dan
Beuermann. Stewart's win was
one of four changes in the 36-
member county council. The
other new members are Everett
Mcllwain, deputy-reeve of
Goderich Township, Lorne
Durnin, reeve of West
Wawanosh and Nelson Cardno,
reeve of Seaforth.
25 YEARS AGO
January J3, 1949
Mitch Shearing was able to
pick a dandelion iri full bloom
which means there is no up-
stairs.
It was the first time in 21
years of marriage that the
Pludges had owned a new
home of their own and I'd have
given at least eight-to-five that
they'd find contentment there.
It was not until the second
month, Henry recalled, that he
began to be disturbed by the
fact that all of the houses in
Forest View Park were
precisely alike. As Henry told
me about this he began to knit
very rapidly (he has progressed
to wool therapy) and I could
see that he still has a long way
to go.
One night, somewhat
fatigued .by his efforts in the
Accountants' Ten-Pin Bowling
League, he'd got into the wrong
house, had called a cheery
"Hallo!" toward the kitchen
and had settled himself in the
living room before the
television set. It had been em-
barrassing all around when the
proper husband arrived home.
"The dreadful similarity of
our lives became an obsession
with me," Henry went on, his
on January 9. He was staying
at the Shearing summer cottage
at Drysdale on Lake Huron
when he found the flower. Also
at the Maitland Golf Course
seven members played 14 holes
of golf. The course was as green
as in spring while the weather
was very balmy.
Miss Sidney Lansing, Lon-
desb.oro, received an extra
special Christmas surprise this
past yuletide season, although'
it was a little late in arriving.
The gift was a box of "chen-
cherichees" or as they are com-
monly called, •"South African
wonder flowers". 'The flowers
were a present from the father
of a friend who lives in South
Africa. Each stock on the
flower contains a cluster of
flowers and buds. The flowers
have six petals and resemble a
Canadian narcissus.
Frank McCowan was appoin-
ted chairman of the Stanley
Township School Area Board
for 1949 on Monday, January
10. William Caldwell is vice-
chairman and George Reid, •
secretary-treasurer.
50 YEARS AGO
January 10, 1924
Hydro Electric Commission
for January has a couple of
slips of plants, started at the
same time with one grown in
the sun and the other in ar-
tificial light, the latter having
grown twice as much as the
first in two months time. The
geraniums in their window are
indeed the best to be seen but
that may be because of the war-
mth given off by the light.
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Shipley of
town celebrated their fifteenth
wedding anniversary on last
Friday evening, when they en-
tertained a number of their
friends.
When coming up from the
Piano factory on Saturday at
noon, Mr. Iddo Crich and Mr.
S.C. Hawke saw a robin flitting
in and out among the shrubs.
Robins are not usually found
up here so early in January but
needles flashing. "In the mor-
ning when I went out to the car
I'd see a dozen other men going
to their cars. We'd all back out
and fall into line. At the end of
the day we'd all seem to arrive
home together. We'd all go in,
kiss our wives on the forehead
and ask when dinner would be
ready.
"On Sundays we all mowed
our identical lawns or polished
our identical Datsuns or
Toyotas. Our lawn-sprinklers
all sprinkled in time, our lights
went on together and off
together, and our thermostats
all gave us the exact tem-
perature in unison. At dinner
Emily and I would sit and look
through our picture window
into other picture windows
framing people eating their din-
ners "
"Easy, boy," I cautioned and
Henry sank back on his pillow.
"The psychiatrist here
jokingly calls it the Forest View
Park Fixation," he said, "and,
if you're interested, it manifests
itself in a loss of identity and a
compulsion for conformity. The
suburban syndrome, they call it
these gentlemen were quite
close enough to easily
distinguish this one.
Clinton and vicinity had the
first real old-fashioned snow
storm last Saturday and Sun-
day. The temperature dropped
below zero on both days but
Sunday was a ripper. It had the
snow piled up like a March gale
but a change took place this
week and the sun on Wed-
nesday and rain today has been/
taking away all the snow.
75 YEARS AGO
January 12, 1899
Poultry pays better than the
Klondike. The output of the
United States for one year is
$11,000,000. Statistics have
been prepared as carefully as
can be done and the product of
farm poultry in one year
throughout the American
Union proved to be about
$300,000,000. In view of these
facts, more farmers are taking
an interest in their fowl. There
has even been a Huron
Association formed called the
in the medical journals."
At the end of the first year,
Henry said, he'd already begun
to fear for his sanity. He had
recurring dreams in which he
saw all the males of Forest
View Park hanging on an en-
dless clothesline, each iden-
tically dressed in conservative
suit, white shirt and striped tie.
Often, on quiet Sundays, he felt
a terrible urge to take off all his
clothes and run naked up and
down Mulberry Avenue singing
"Shortnin' Bread."
"I had to find some way of
re-discovering my i n -
dividua lity," he said simply.
I did not press Henry for the
ugly details.
Emily had already', told me
tearfully of that scene when she
came back from visiting her
mother in Toronto, of the house
painted in peppermint stripes
of yellow and purple, the
revolving searchlights on the
roof.
It had taken all her strength
to keep Henry pinned down, so
sad and ludicrous in his clown
suit, until the men had come to
take him away.
Huron Poultry and Pet Stock
Association.
Miss Ella McMath, has ob-
tained a position in a Toronto
school. She . is an energetic
teacher. and has several years
experience. Miss Taylor was
the first of the Goderich
teachers to go to Toronto to ob-
tain a school. Miss Kate Hardy,
now a teacher in Toronto, was
another. Some of the young
men teachers are possibly
working in Toronto but those
are the only lady teachers from
this town.
News-Record readers ate en-
couraged to express their
opinions In letters to the editor,
however, such opinions do not
necessarily represent the
opinions of the News-Record.
Pseudonyms may be used by
letter writers, but no letter will
be published unless It can be
verified by phone.
SUPPORT YOUR
LOCAL RED CROSS
Dear Editor:
It makes one wonder these
days what is right and what is
wrong.
Horsemen, who have been
training horses at the Clinton
track and maintaining it 'for
several years, have been or-
dered to get off the race track
by the Clinton police, to allow
racing machines from
Goderich, where they have been
banned from the local track, to
roar around the Clinton, race
track day and night, en-
dangering the lives of children,
horsemen and all people using
the track and the park.
digging and leveling the track
so the horses can have a level
racing machines are allowed on
frightened by one of these noisy
hours and hours of free labor,
not to mention expenses, in
strip to exercise on. Then these
it to tear the track up. _There
frightened by these machines.
common sense would know that
high-strung race horses and
have been horses injured when
high-powered noisy
snowmobiles do not mix..
Saturday January 5th at ap-
proximately 5:30 p.m. when a
horseman was exercising his
machines. The horse jumped
etc. It was just a miracle that
horse and the ..horse was
question were racing machines
the hub rail, injuring its leg,
the driver of the horse was not
injured 'or killed.
find that the machines in
from Goderich that were ban-
and brought to Clinton.
arrived on the scene just after
were allowed on the race track,
enoeigeuhditea
.d .and
ned from the Goderich track
the accident and informed the
horseman that these machines
and that the horseman could
not use the track at this time of
n
The horsemen contribute
There was an incident on
Anyone with an ounce of
When checking into this, we
One of the Clinton constables
gement these, fellows
Now, ,this was• all the, ,en-
theY really„tore ups
the track then. No doubt they
will tell others that racing
machines can go to Clinton and
will be backed by the Clinton
police, so I do not think that
the race track or the park is
going to be a safe place for
anyone, horse or people if this
is going to be allowed.
In the past, the horsemen
have had .very good co-
operation from the local
snowmobile operators. There
was a mutual agreement bet-
ween the horsemen and the
operators. The snowmobilers
would wait outside the track
until the horses were finished
and then use the track. This
seemed to work very well.
I think it is about time that
all people using the park and
the residents in the area that
are bothered by the noise of
these machines should make
their views known, either by,
the use of this paper or ap-
proaching the Town council.
Let's not leave it until a child
or someone is killed.
Snowmobiles can use fields,
etc., horses cannot. Maybe the
,,,solution would be for the
snowmobilers to do what the
horseman did some 30 years
ago, get together and build
their own track ) and I will
guarantee them that they will
not be bothered by horses,
For years now we have had
hot rodders on Clinton streets
from other towns because they
were not permitted to carry on
like that in their own towns.
Now I guess the same thing is
happening at the park.
A Clinton horseman
•
Only two months until Spring
•
Last week's column men-
tioned that unspeakable
species, the readoholic. That
reminded me of a speech I
made about Good Reading
Habits to a group of honour
students. So I dug up the
speech and propose this week to
pass along some of the more
worthwhile points in it.
It's not primarily for
students, but if you're not in-
terested, you can go and cry
over your post-Christmas bills.
' I became a readoholic shortly
after I learned to read. My
mother would , moan, as she
glasses.
But I don't want you to think
I just ignored my mom's ad-
monition, I have never since
read in a cubbyhole. In fact,
you can scarcely get your hands
on a tubby hole these days.
They seem to have gone the
way of spats and straw hats.
I had trouble with that
speech to the kids. The prin-
cipal had suggested the topic,
Good Reading Habits, and who
was I to tell him it was a dull
and stupid topic? .
When I sat down to write the
speech, I could think of only
one good reading habit. Many
years ago, when I was in public
school, they taught us in health
classes that you should always
read with the light coming over
your left shoulder. I don't know
why."They're still teaching it,
This good reading habit is
rather useless if your left
shoulder is higher than your
right one, as is sometimes the
case, And of course, if yott are
reading Hebrew or Persian,
and read from right to lit, it
seems more logical to have the
light coming over your right
Snowmobile restrictions necessarg
•
into a death trap for those misusers.
Clubs also offer supervised snow
recreation, where an enthusiast can sled
on marked trails with experienced
guides.
And the now accepted habit among
many snowmobilers that they can't seem
to make it more than 100 yards without a
snort of something is a bad one. Alcohol
and cars has always been a dangerous
mixture, but alcohol, snowmobiles and
night are nearly a guaranteed recipe for
death or dismeMberment.
If more snowmobilers Used their heads
before they used the accelerator, then
snowmobiling would be a more en-
joyable pastime. -
can get a "fix" next spring.
The seed, flower, and nursury
catalogue people know about our
weaknesses. They fill their books with
bounteous descriptions of the latest
tomato, or cabbage or zinnia, that sends
some of us into convulsions. They
splash in a liberal amount of color and
for many it's too much to resist. Our
guess is that the seed companies
probably sell 50 per cent more than.,they
would if the ; atalogue arrived any other
time but in January.
It's a sinister plot that someone must
end! Help!
Now where did I put that catalogue?