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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1974-01-24, Page 4Summer hazard in Winter We tend to think of droweiing as summertime hazard. While it is true that the majority of people drowned: in Canada each year meet death in the late spring and summer months, almost 10 per cent of drownings occur in winter. From November 1972 through March 1973 alMost 120 people died by drowning in Canada. Many of these fatal ac- cidents took place on ice-covered lakes, ponds and rivers. Skaters ventured onto ice too thin to bear tneir weight; hunters took im- prudent -short cuts; snowmobilers, lured by wide open expanses on frozen water- ways did not stop to think of the weight of their machines. Last winter was a particularlyadene ,for ice safety. Cold snaps were'follqweC1 by unseasonal thaws. This type of weather pattern creates what is called "rotten" ice--ice which appears solid but which is actually honeycombed with air pockets. Ice which was safe for sports only a few days earlier, was safe no longer. The Canadian Red Cross Water Safety Service, concerned by the high toll last winter has some tips and reminders for winter sport fans this season. "Ice safety starts with a check of con- ditiona," says Al Thiessen, National Director of the Canadian Red Cross • Society Water Safety Service. "This check should take place EVERY time, before you go on the ice. Currents, tem- perature changes, rain all affect the solidity of an ice surface. If you're not sure about an ice surface, stay off it." "If, in spite of your precautions, you do fall in, try to stay. as calm as possible. Panic 'is your‘greatest danger,. Don't at- tempt to clamber out of the hole. The ice will probably keep breaking under you. Reach your arms out over the ice surface. Kick with your feet and legs to get your body into a horizontal position. ' Try to slide onto the ice surface. Even if the ice breaks, „continue this met69d. You must distribute, ;Out-body - ht oVer as" wide a area of ice surface as possible. Once out, stay flat and wiggle your, body away from the hole, until you are on really solid ice again. Report your accident to police as soon as you can, to prevent others from falling in." "And finally, if someone else goes through the ice, don't rush up to help. Stay back from the hole and extend a pole, a branch, a ladder, or a rope to him. You can improvise a reaching assist by tying sweaters and wind- breakers securely together. Tell him to kick with his feet and to stay flat, that you will pull him to safety." Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley The Jack Scott Column - - MO "We're busy rigid now—could yo u come back when you're better?" 14014 Of ammo fio ericioA. From our early files . • • • • • 4-41,orrogNgweaocoRD, THURSDAY,, .JANUARY 24. 1974 Editorial Comment History strikes again common these clays to blame the Arab nations for the economic woes now troubling the world. But the malaise goes much deeper than the decision of oil rich countries to either limit the, flow of oil, or to raise the price of this vital commodity.. The eicploitation* of men and of riailo-ris goes back to the mists of time. Ever since the white, Western nations built their industrial revolution on coal and .steel, the world has been developing unevenly. European countries, par- ticularly the great powers of the last .century. and early this century, used the wealth of their colonies to enrich them- selves, and thus forced other peoples to serve their economic needs. Cheap labor from Africa and Asia enabled American settlers to' grow much richer. than would have been possible under normal circumstances. To put it plainly, the poor nations within the global community consider that ,the development of the world has not followed normal. patterns. Today, they are trying to take remedial action. , Those who'do not un- derstand the poverty that exists in the poor lands, may call it retaliatory action. But thid is an unjust viewpoint. Already the economic distortions the people of affluent lands have taken for granted in the past, have gone on for too long. The sufferings of two billion people living in poor lands and poor regiOna have gone on for too long. The energy crisis will hit them also, of course. And yet history has struck at mankind once again -trying to make humanity aware of the fact that international as well as in- dividual greed and selfishness serve_ no one. (contributed) Last Sunday's severe ice storm in the district served to remind all of us how helpless we are against nature's vagaries. It also demonstratively brings home the pant that we can't live happily for very long without our hydro. For most of use, power was only off less than an ' hour, and meant minor inconveniences, but for a• few, the'power was cut for up to 24 hours, and in a few cases,• it was off nearly 30 hours. Our collective hats have to be doffed to the men of all the service areas for the outstanding job they did in restoring hydro, or telephone or the other service so quickly. Many of the men worked around the clock, with no time off and few breaks. Their devotion 9n the job goes beyond their normal call of duty. It's not likely ' that such devasting ice will hit the area for many years to come, but if it does, these dedicated men will be there to answer the call. Yes, you may call Yes, you may call • me Grampa. The kid arrived three days too late to be any use as a tax deduction. But we can't all be perfect. Aside from that, he is. Per- fect. According to •the ladies. He's a dandy little.fellow, with rosy cheeks, his mother's auburn hair, his father's eyes, and his grandfather's sweet lit- tle rosebud mouth. He's very peaceful and sleeps a lot, so he doesn't seem to have anything of his maternal grandmother in him. There are certain occasions in our lives that are peaks, even though most of the time we seem to be down in the valleys. These are the times when something special happens. They don't have to be milestones, like graduations and weddings. In fact, these are often so formalized, they can be excruciatingly dull. No, I mean those rare events that are crystal clear, even with the passing of years. I don't remember a thing about my birth, for example, and that was supposed to be something important. But I remember vividly the day in public school when I was sick, sick, sick, was too proud or too shy to ask to leave, and vomited on the classroom floor and all the way down the hall to the lavatory, with my best girl watching the whole sordid thing. I was nine, and that was my first affair. It died in the bud. I remember a baseball game, in my teens. I was at bat. Bases loaded, two men out, the count 0,nee and two, The next pitch me gramps was obviously low. I dropped my bat and started to jog to first base, forcing in the win- ning run. "Stee-rike three!" bellowed the umpire, Game over, Instant ignominy. I'll never forget my first real job. Arrived at the docks about midnight, thrilled beyond reason. I was going to be a sailor. Found a bunk. Couldn't sleep, with the excitement of it all. My heart resembled a drumniing partridge. Had a big breakfast and prepared to enter manhood. I was seventeen. My boss took me in tow, gave me some brasso and a rag, led me into a men's urinal, pointed at the brass foot-plate and said, "Clean it." Another big day was the one on which. I passed my wings test. I had flunked one two days before because the inter- com was almost useless. The instructor would tell me to. do a steep bank to port and I'd do a slow roll or a loop. He took a dim view. It looked like washout and back to manning pool to wash dishes for_ the duration, But I got a second chance, flew like Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and walked on air for weeks. Another time that is etched in my mind is my first visit to London. As the train neared the great city, I was trembling so violently I couldn't light a cigarette. It was probably the thought that I, a small-town, smalltime boy, was actually about to enter the setting of a thousand stories, the home of kings and queens, the fertile spawner of a vast empire, I didn't stop shaking until I'd downed two pints of bitter. You'd think a chap's first operational flight against the enemy would be a highlight. Mine wasn't. I was , too busy or ignorant to be even soared. All those red and green things zip- ping past the cockpit might as well have been Christmas tree lights, instead of tracer bullets. But I don't suppose I'll ever forget the day I was shot down. One minute there was the snarl of engines, the whack of cannon shells, the crump 'of flak and the dirty black spots in the sky, as shells burst. Mates all around me. Next minute there was total silence. No engine. No mates. No flak. Just the blue sky above, the dun earth below coming up swiftly but dreamily and me thinking, "Well, there goes that date with Tita in Ant- werp tonight." There are lots of other peaks. The day I decided I was in love with a girl, once and for all, and took the plunge, lifter deciding that I wouldn't marry until I was forty and had ex- plored every means of escape. And the day my son was born. Hugging the knowledge that I was a father and had a son, even though I 'was in hospital a hundred and fifty miles away when he was bir- thed. And the day my daughter 'was born, slipping into the world as easily as she has slip- ped in and out of, equally ridiculous situations ever since, Anyway, the birth of my grandson was one of the peaks, I can tell, You can't fool an old peak than like me. Men of ire To tell you the truth, f'm a pushover for those fhagazine quiz things designed to reveal your secret, innermost charac- ter. Only yesterday I got the highest possible marks in a self- inflicted examination called 'How Edgy Are You?' Boy, am I edgy!! answered yes to every question. Yes, when, lying in bed I often compose rude letters to local authorities. Yes, it irritates me when someone in my proximity chews gum. Yes, I know more than two people whose very presence makes my temperature rise. Yes, it maddens me when the person behind me in a theatre keeps fidgeting. Yes, yes, yes! DaLnIn i t alLyes! With a chid little-sinile--for-J don't often get 100 per cent in anything-- I then flipped to the rear of the magazine where I learned that I have absolutely no elasticity or resilience and that I'm in grave danger of losing my inner balance. This is about par for these quiz games which go on the assumption that if your emotional response to life is a 10 •YEARS AGO January 23, 1964 Frank • MacDonald has notified his parents Mr. and Mrs. Ron MacDonald, 122 East St., Clinton, to tell them that he will be leaving the Panama Canal Zone no later than Saturday: He and his family have been in Panama for the last six years but since the trouble has broken out, matters have radically changed. Former Detroit Red Wing player Jack McIntyre officially opened the new Brussels arena and ice plant Monday night. McIntyre is currently the coach of the Listowel juniors and plays for the Guelph Regals in the Ontario Senior League. Mr. and Mrs, Roy Scotchmer and Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Makins spent a day last week at the home of their brother-in- law, Ernest Vodden in Woodham. Robert M. YOungblut, a for- mer Auburn boy, has been promoted to the position of In- struction Manager in the Ot- tawa Education Centre of the IBM. He will be responsible for all customer and marketing training activities carried on in the centre 'as well as co- ordinating the many special educational activities required for the federal government. 25 YEARS AGO January 27, 1949 Still no snow, in fact the weather is more like summer than ever as Mrs. J,B, ,MacMath proved when she brought in a few heads of let- tuce and some parsley. She brought in some from her gar- den in Holmesville, Fit. Sgt. Alexander Velleman, Clinton, was one of 12 men chosen from the entire student body of the Signal School, Fort Monmouth, N.J. to receive the Honour Reward for the month of December. He was selected because of his superior qualities and adeptness in his classroom plus excellent soldierly conduct in his com- pany. Mr. and Mrs. E.J. Crawford, Concession' 13, Hullett Town- ship, on January 18 celebrated their 56th wedding anniver- sary. Mr. Crawfordj'N and Mrs, Crawford who is 76 are both in excellent health and celebrated the occasion with just a small gathering of friends. The snow finally fell in fairly substantial quantities Tuesday morning and Wednesday. Clin- ton finally has a wintry look for the 'first time this year. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Little and daughter Beth, returned today after spending a few days with their parents in Port Colborne and Stevenson. 50 YEARS AGO January 24, 1924 Ben Gerry,' Brussels, celebrated his 90th birthday on Sunday. Although the tem- perature was around 23 below zero, he attended Wesley-Willis church. Then on Monday, he carried out his usual custom of skating on his birthday. Mr. Robt. Cole, of Milden, Sask. who has been visiting his mother Mrs. A. Cole, Blyth, ex- pects to leave for his home on Friday. It is seventeen years since Mr. Coles last visited. Blyth and old friends and neighbours in' Morris Town- ship. Mr, George E. McTaggart, C.N.R. agent of Blyth for the past seventeen years, has been removed to Watford. He had visited Clinton many times in those years and leaves behind many 801detted friends', His wife, daughter of the late Mrs. Thompson of Albert St., and family will remain in Blyth Un- til spring. The cost of maintaining dry For a man whose threshold of indignation is as low as mine, this could mean a pretty indolent life, riding around en- dlessly on strange buses, eyes closed, chin sagging. Sure, I could hammer nails in the basement, but nothing caused me to lose my inner balance more quickly than a sharp crack on the thumb with a hammer, the regular thing for men of my elasticity. I console myself with a secret, innermost conviction that, like most psychoanalyses in popular magazines, this is just to fill space. It. may well be that a burst of bad temper causes all sort of physical reac- bons.' The endocrine gliinds, tak`,".84, 'quit Cold:" Muscular tension increases. Blood pressure soars. Sugar courses madly through the blood- stream. But I hold to the theory, you see, that every motor needs some revving now and then, and like a whole lot of other emotions--fear, joy, love, hate-- there's nothing quite so therapeutic as giving them full cbws and heifers was shown to be $8.60 a week according to a survey made by the Ontario Agricultural College with dairy cattle, They also came to the conclusion that the best way to handle veal calves from dairy cattle is to market them at the earliest age that markets will accept the calf. Messrs. Gordon Sutcliff and Harold Warrener have bought out the Bedford Hotel', Goderich, leasing the buildings and purchasing the fran chisings. Mr. Bedford is retiring from the business but will remain a citizen of Goderich. 75 YEARS AGO January 26, 1899 Mr. Louis Durand spent a few weeks visiting friends in St. Joseph. Mr. Durand intends opening a dry-goods store in St, Joseph. Mr. F.J. Ball of Base Line left on Wednesday of last week for Escondito, California, where he may make but a short THE CLINTON NEW ERA Eslohlishottl 1865 Morami, Canadian Cerawarnity Ntivispepar Aneclatkon NUB OF HURON COUNTY throttle. Nobody will ever con- vince me that the way to, dissipate a good, healthy an- noyance is to drive nails or take a bus ride. The way to dissipate it is to get rid of it by leaping up and down and beating your pudgy fists to your temples and shouting and generally making a , fool of yourself. For surely temper is man's built-in safety valve, cunningly designed to take the homicide out of watching television com- mercials, waiting for wives in the rain, topping drives off the first tee or any of the eight million other commonplace things that co'me, to rough every man's edges, Show me a man who.. files away his little irritations, who presents a false facade of serenity when he's mentally at the full boil, 'and you show me a man who is storing up an awful cache of dynamite that's bound to detonate one day with a terrible bang, Better, I say, to go to pieces like a gentleman, little by little, tantrum by tantrum. stay or remain for several mon- ths. Mr. Ball has contemplated taking this trip for some time and has finally made it. Mrs. Connell of Clinton is spending a few days with her daughter, Mrs, Wm. Carter in Hullett. Hullett can boast of having the largest boy in the county for his age. The youngest son of Wm. Farquhar is only twelve years old but weighs over 140 pounds. Ruts and railroad tracks are pitfalls of many an inex- perienced driver, especially in winter, says the Ontario Safety League. When crossing them, first slow down, then steer across them as squarely as possible. If caught in tracks or ruts, decrease speed before turning out of them. * * * When pulling a trailer on slippery pavement, be sure to have chains on the trailer. The Ontario Safety League says that thi8 will help prevent sideslips. Amalgamated I924 we get letters Request Dear Editor: Throughout the year there are happy days and sad days — days when you're up and days when you're down, But around Christmas time we make 'an ef- fort to create 'happy days, and we're helped in this process by everyone around us. . Sometimes it's a very tough job to make people happy, even at Christmas time -- and "I'm talking about the children who are afflicted by muscular dystrophy. Christmas to them certainly brings many little pleasures, but in the back of their minds it is another year ticked off on a, calendar that may only contain, nineteen years. It's going to' take a major ef- fort to make Christmas a happy' time 'for these children. Toys and other gifts are only a tem- porary diversion. The only thing that will lift the cloud from their minds is hope. That hope lies in the success of medical research. We realize that the new year means the arrival of .Christmas bills as well as the usual crop that come at the end of any month. For us to add another account may cause you a mOment's 'concern, but it is not , a demand -- just a request. The amount is unspecified and can be measured only by the size of your heart -- it's a donation to help the many children with MD .who cannot ask for them- selves. That's why we don't hesitate to put their case. We know that you will help them if you can. Yours truly, Mary Ann Wickham, Registered Nurse MDAC National Director P.O. Box 392, Station F Toronto 5, Ont. Tenders Dear,, Editor: 84Oti;;Inight,'be;:.'intereSted to include' in your next edition the news that tenders are now being called for renovations to Building 71 and a greenhouse addition at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology, Huron Park for the ministry of agriculture and food. The renovations, covering approxiinately 5;000 sq. ft,, con- sist, of converting an abandoned prefabricated metal barrack into areas for laboratory, mechanics, implement and other storage; office space, lunch and wash rooms. A new prefabricated greenhouse, 18' x 30', will be added to the building as well. Specifications call for struc- tural alterations to relocate windows and install overhead doors, new interior stud par- titions, resilient floor tile, washrooms, and painting the building inside and out. New mechanical and electrical ser- vices are also included, as well as an asphalt paved driveway in the sitework. Approximate construction time for the contract is estimated at four months by ministry of government services staff who designed the , project, Yours truly, Jack Riddell, M,P.P. . , Huron. 'News-Record readers are en- .couraged to express their opinions in letter 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. THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1181 °Mob WNW Thank—gou whit more varied than that of a head ,of cabbage you're in bad trouble. My own, scores have proven that I am a failure at marriage- -though I've been married more than 30 years --and that I'm miscast in my job---more than 30 years at that, too--and maybe I shouldn't have been born in the first place. Take temper. The average man, it seems, loses his temper twice as often as women or about six times a week, usually in the hour preceding a meal, and this is regarded by several leading psychologists as 'an abdication of manhood.' Instead of flying off in all directions, the victim is urged girPaiisie 'and take several deep 7 breaths or to run down to the, basement and hammer nails for awhile. Another alternative is to collapse physically ("close the eyes, allow the chin to sag and the body to go limp,' it says) or, if it's a severe case,, ''take a bus ride on some not too familiar route.' I didn't make this up. That's what it says. Published every Thursday at Clinton, Ontario Editor AMINO IL illiasereld General Manareiri , J. Hoorah! Aitken Second Clain Male repletrallosi Se. 061T ew- Zecon