Clinton News-Record, 1974-06-06, Page 4Editorial Comment
A fair Fair
4r
Behind every successful fair there are
a lot of unsung heroes who work hard
and long hours to ensure the success of
the operation, but who receive little
recognition in public.
They are never congratulated by the
general public when everything goes
right, but they are sometimes chastized
when a few things go wrong.
Such is the case with the Clinton
Spring Fair and Trade Show held last
weekend in Clinton, But in this case, we
heard little bad criticism of the Huron
Central Agriculture Society who spon-
sored the Fair, or the dozens of volun-
teer workers from, all walks of life who
made it all possible.
The weather was perfect for the Fair
and that no doubt helped boost the at-
tendance this year to 7,000. But those
people behind the sCenes contributed
just as much,
Anotherencouraging sign that Fairs
such as Clinton's /will continue to be a
tradition in this part of the country, was
the large increase of exhibitors in the
ladies' section. There were 45 exhibitors
who entered for the first time, and many
of them were young, indicating that the
ancient arts of cooking and sewing have
not been totally lost in this age of frozen
TV dinners and assembly line made
clothes.
The only big complaint that we heard
about the Fair, and we agree with it,
was: "there wasn't enough trash barrels
to throw garbage into." Maybe a local
businessman or a . service club could
remedy this situation before next year,
keeping the park cleaner.
Think before you swim
Back in the good old days--before new
math and Dr. Spock--there were rules
and regulations covering just about
every activity people did. And like the
Ten Commandments, most of the 'rules
began "Thou shalt not" or "Don't" or
"Never".
Red Cross Water Safety rules were
like that too. "Don't swim alone". "Don't
dive into unknown waters". "Don't
overload your boat,"
Psychologists said this was the wrong
way' to approach the problem. They
claimed that "Don'ts" and "Nevers" tur-
ned people off.
So the writers of rules and regulations
went back to the drawing board and they
re-phrased everything. "Don't cross the
sheet on a red light" became "Cross the
street with the green light 'only." ,
"Don't swim alone" became "Always
swim with a buddy." "Don't dive intc:•*
unknown waters" became "Investigate
unknown water before you dive in". And
so on.
We sugar-coated the instruction pill.
Last year 1339 people drowned in
Canada - an increase of 173 over 1972.
Most of the increases occurred in the
age group 16 to 30, people in the prime
of life.
Has the sugar-coated pill become a
placebo? In an effort to "avoid turning
people off" have we made them turn a
deaf ear instead?
No one wants to go back to the time
when people feared the water. Swim-
ming and boating are good, healthy ac-
tivities. But a little more respect for the
dangers is certainly indicated.
This is National Water Safety Week in
Canada. Al Thiessen, national director,
Red Cross Water Safety Service says
"Any sport is more fun when you know
the rules. The more skilled you are, the
more fun you have; the more skilled you
become, the safer you are. The Water
Safety Service wants people to enjoy
aquatic activities in safety. Common
sense goes a long way, but you need
skills too. Common sense doesn't tell
you how to perform rescue` breathing or
teach you how to throw a ring buoy.
These are not difficult skills to learn, but
they are skills which must be taught by
an expep.
"If 1-:maY —use: that word"' the
psychologists hate: Don't let another
summer go by--enroll in a Red Cross
Water Safety course this year. Learn to
swim, learn to swim better, learn to han-
dle small boats, learn the rules of water
rescue and self-survival.
"The Red Cross Water Safety slogan
is Keep in the swim. There is a
programme for every ability level, any
age group. We invite• yob to Come on
in."
Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley
I'm a genius at not saving
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"His last words were I'm dying or a cigarette!'
The Jack Scott Column -
Once it shone
we get
letters
Blood
From our early files . • • • • • •
THE HURON NEWS-RECORD
Established 1881
Amalgamated
1924
THE CLINTON NEW ERA
Established 1885
",NI SOW
04 RADA*
CANADA4
01A
Alontter, Canadian
Community Nowspapar Association
Published every Thursday
at Clinton, Ontario
Editor • James E. Fitzgerald
General Manager.
J. Howard Aitken
Second Claes Mall
HUB OP HURON COUNTY registration no. 0111?
Alainktri Onto,* Water
spar Asatmlatise
Well, were you alert enough
to fill your gas tank and pick
up half a dozen live-gallon
jerrycans of the stuff before the
price soared?
Were you smart enough to
have your furnace-oil tank
filled before the stuff turned to
black gold?
That's funny. Neither was I.
It fact, my wife informed me,
the day after gasoline prices
headed for the 'moon, that we
were riding on a pint and a
prayer.
"Dummy!," I stated.
"Dummy yourself," she retor-
ted. "Why didn't you tell me
the price was going up?"
"Twice-dummy," I respon-
ded coolly. "Why don't you
read the ruddy newspapers?"
"Thrice-dummy," was her
Unoriginal answer. "Because
you're always hogging them,
and you never talk to me, and
I'm alone all day and never see
anyone, and you come home
and bury your big fat nose in
the newspapers, and I'm sick
and tired of it."
"Bull-oney!", I snorted, and
we were off on one of those
half-hour deals so popular with
married couples, and from
which I always emerge looking
like Archie Bunker.
And there wasn't a bit of
truth in her tirade. I don't hog
the papers. I let her have the
classified ads section and the
sports section, when I've
finished with it. She's not home
alone all day, She has the cats,
Site sees people—the postman
•
and the garbage men—when
they're not on strike. And I
don't have a big, fat nose. It's
just big.
digressing. But I often do
that when I get talking about
my helpmeet, my other half, my
chicadee, my lambie, the Joan
to my Darby, that broad who is
driving me squirrely with talk
about spring cleaning.
- What I really began to
discuss was my native ability,
born knack, or sheer genius, at
missing chances to save money.
There aren't many such chan-
ces, in these parlous times, but
every time there is one, I seem
to be out to lunch.
Show me a hydro bill, and
I'll show you that it's four days
past the deadline for the
discount. By the way, that's
one sweet racket. Hydro sends
you a bill, with a certain
"discount" if it is paid within a
certain date. That means that
Hydro can get along quite
nicely if everyone pays on time.
Right? Therefore, the
"discount" is no such thing,
It's a penalty. Robbers.
Show me an income tax
return and I'll show you that I
should have been paying, and
have not been, quarterly, in ad-
vance. So I'm penalized. .
Show me a full-page adver-
tisernent featuring a big tale, 50
per cent off everything, and
show you that the paper is ten
days old, and the sale ended
last Saturday.
Show me a big jump in the
price of beef or lettuce, and
show vent a craving for red
meat and salad.
And my wife is just the same.
Show her six books of wall-
paper samples—all good,
sturdy, durable, colorful stuff,
and she will unerringly pick the
one that's twice the price of all
the others.
My swim suit invariably
springs a leak in July, before
the August sales begin. My win-
ter boots spring the same thing
in January, before the sales
begin.
If I plunge for five shares of a
sure-thing stock, a war starts,
or Nixon says something stupid
again, and there's a stock
market slump.
I don't consider this to be a
malignant thing. I don't really
believe, though it has crossed
my mind, that God has it in for
me. Maybe it's Old Debbil. At
any rate, it happens too often to
be a coincidence, and I'm get-
ting sick of it, by gum.
A typical was the first Olym-
pic Sweepstake. I forgot to get a
ticket, You'd think a guy's
friends would remind hint. But
oh, no. Not. them. Too greedy.
And I've a sneaking notion I'd
have won the million bucks.
Boy, would I show my so-called
friends, if I won that. They
wouldn't see me for gold-dust.
But there is one little area in
which my wife and I are in-
fallible, when it comes to
saving money. Every year, we
pay our house taxes in January.
I think we save about eight
dollars. That will show them,
we tell each other solemnly,
10 YEARS AGO
June 4, 1964
William Trick, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Elmer Trick of Clin-
ton has accepted a position
with the Atomic Energy Com-
mission of Canada at Toronto.
Leslie Stirling retired last
Tuesday after 14 years service
with the Department of
National Defense.
Paid admissions to the 1964
Clinton Spring Fair were up
exactly 150 percent over last
year. Officials said 3,500 per-
sons paid admission this year,
compared with 1,400 persons
last year.
David E. Scott joined the
editorial staff of the Clinton
News-Record this week. Mr.
Scott came here from Windsor,
Ontario, where he was bureau
Chief of The Canadian Press,
Canada's national news wire
service.
Over 180 contestants ,judged
10 classes of livestock at the
Seaforth Fair Grounds. High
winner was Jim Papple, RR 4,
Seaforth.
Marjorie Hunking graduated
on Saturday from the Stratford
Hospital School of Nursing.
She is the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Lorne Hunking, RR 1,
Auburn.
Mr. Fred Anderson RR 5,
Clinton celebrated his 91st bir-
thday on June 1.
Mr. and Mrs. R. Jenkins and
family of London were at home
on Chiniguy Street, Bayfield,
this week.
25 YEARS AGO
June 9, 1949
Torn Riley, Clinton, placed
third in the Lions Club Perch
Derby at Goderich over the
May 29 weekend, He reports
that the perch were biting and
good catches were made,
Arnold Makins and 13b Tur-
ner are working this summer
for ex ,Mayor J, Maurice Xing
of,Stratford. On going op to the
building, We had the sun to be
trapped in those days, mind
you.
There were all sorts of sights
and sounds and smells that
were peculiarly summer and
that the poor kids of these
modern times don't seem to
know about.
I can remember the way it
would be in the suburb where
we lived at the end of a long,
hot day that was reluctant to
leave. You could sit out on the
porch and close your eyes and
hear the last of the stout bees
getting a nightcap at the roses
and the tinkle of ice in Dad's
second drink.
There would be the soft,
distant clatter of a sprinkler
throwing its swishing cone of
Water out over the AdeWalk
and' the soft, distant curses of
'the people walking around it.
The air had a kind of stillness
and clarity so that you could
hear things far away - a boy
whistling or the long, mournful
cry of a train clear across the
town - and all down the block
the music from the radios
would come through the open
attic, they discovered a mother
coon and four baby coons.
Drought conditions were
becoming serious and a recent
heavy frost didn't help matters
much, particularly with respect
to such tender plants as
tomatoes and beans. Some far-
mers are hauling water to
prevent their crops from dying.
Damage has been estimated at
$5,000,000 a day in Ontario.
A decline in the milk produc-
tion has been caused because of
the dry weather and also the
presence of heel flies in non-
sprayed areas.
Prime Minister Louis St.
Laurent, Madame St. Laurent
and their daughter, Mrs. Samp-
son, paused at Clan Gregor
Square, Bayfield, to greet a
number of citizens and the
school children who marched to
meet them.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank
MacDonald spent two days at
the Seigniory Club in Quebec
where Mr. MacDonald atten-
ded a conference of
Metropolitan Life Insurance
agents.
Mrs. W. J. Macaulay, Win-
nipeg, Man., left on Monday af-
ter spending the weekend in
town and being present at the
Macauley-Shaddock wedding
on Saturday.
50 YEARS AGO
June 12, 1924
Wingham defeated Clinton 9-
6 at Lacrosse.
Messers Gould and Mutch
have resigned as delegates to
the Grand Lodge of the !OOP
. and J.A. Sutter and G.E. Hall
have been appointed in their
place,
Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Hellyar
and Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Durnine
each celebrated their silver
wedding anniversary on Satur-
day .June 7,
Dr. and Mrs, Donald Ross
and children are on their way
home from England where the
doctor has been taking a post-
windows.
People would be sitting out
on their porch steps in their
shirt-sleeves talking softly to
each other as if they didn't
want to disturb this lazy hush,
and sometimes you would feel
suddenly a great warmth for
humanity as if everybody,
everywhere, was soft-speaking,
shirt-sleeved and easy-going.
You would feel a tremendous
vitality and health in you,
probably from the relief that
the cool of the evening brought,
and your sunburnt chest felt
good if you wore a white linen
shirt.
If you were taking out your
girl you felt nine feet tall and
there was a moon at night
(whatever happened to the
moon?) and a ,-billion stars
(whatever happened to the
stars?) and everywhere a
fragrance of flowers. It was the
best of times for romance (and
whatever happened to
romance?)
Somehow summer always
heightened your impressions of
things, as filters do over the
camera lens. .
I remember once going with
graduate course.
A number from Clinton and
vicinity enjoyed the Moonlight
Excursion on the Greyhound
on Monday evening. The
baseball game between Clinton
and Bayfield had to be post-
poned as a goodly number of
,the players were taking in the
boat trip.
Dr. J. W. Shaw has been elec-
ted president of South Huron
Liberal Association for the
federal riding.
John Cartwright has bought
from John W. Elliott the red
barn on Mary St. which was
formerly used as a livery stable.
Mr. Jordan will move his
grocery business up town to the
vacant store next to Hawkins
and Miller, across from the
Town Hall.
Mr. and Mrs. W.T. O'Neil
have returned after spending
the winter in Orlando, Florida.
75 YEARS AGO
June 8, 1899
The strike of Grand Trunk
trackmen was thought to be
solved, but, because of a piece of
my father to his office after din-
ner for some papers he'd
forgotten to bring home. The
heart of the city had always
seemed an ugly, even
frightening, place to me, but
that hot night just before sun-
set, it seemed a kind of
fairyland and often since then,
in cities all over, at that' hour
after a summer's day, I've
recaptured that memory.
The streets were almost
deserted, as if everyone had
fled from there, and the neon
signs flashed and shone in a
purple light of sundown, sen-
ding their urgent messages to
unseeing eyes. A streetcar came
down the street, as lonely as if
it were a country road, and a
few people got out carrying wet
towels and bathing suits, and
then it went by with children
leaning from its opened win-
dows to catch the breeze in
their faces. I found myself for
the first time thinking of the
city as a friendly place.
Ah, but how I do go on! And,
after all, who knows? Perhaps
summer, or even a reasonable
facsimile, will come once more.
sharp practice it is back where
it was a week ago. The men
were informed that they had to
apply for work again before
they could start. The men then
quit and Company receipts are
dropping through loss of public
sympathy.
There has been a rapid
growth in crops since the late
warm rains.
Messers I. Taylor and W.
Manning went down to attend
the Conference at Windsor
Monday morning. The former
was there the weeks previous.
Miss Flora Frazer returned
to her home in Goderich on
Friday after. having been the
guests of Mrs. W. Alexander,
Clinton, for some days.
Mx. Gabriel Elliott is
thinking seriously of retiring
from active work this fall,
buying a property in Clinton
and taking life easier in the
future.
Mr. Henry Livermore is
doing a rushing business at the
lime kiln. He is now burning
the third time,
Ar
Dear Editor:
The Red Cross Blood Donor
Clinic would like to thank all
the donors who attended ,the
Clinic on May 13th at the High
School,
Mrs. Dot McLean, Mrs. H.C.
Howard and the group of
volunteers who assisted at the
Clinic are to be congratulated
for the excellent work they did
to make the Clinic so successful
- 233 attended with 100 new
Donors.
A special thanks to the staff
and students of Central Huron'
Secondary School for their help
and hospitality to the Red
Cross Staff.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Alma Wallace
Co-ordinator Blood
Donor Services
London Area
Searching
Dear Editor,
I am researching the history
of the Opera House. If anyone
has any information about this
theatre I would very much ap-
preciate it if they would get in-
touch with me at the. Univer-
sity.
Harry Frehner
Department of
Drama
& Theatre Arts
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
Students
Dear Editor:
We, the student placement
counsellors of the Canada
.Manpower Centre for students
in Goderich and Huron Park,
would like to thank all those,
who supported us in our Hire a
Student Week program by
either, sponsoring adver-
tisements, or placing orders
with us.
Your cooperation has con-
tributed greatly to the success
of this project and is very much
appreciated by us.
Sincerely yours,
Jane Clancy
Gary Walden
Columbus
Dear Editor:
I enclose my cheque for $8.50
for renewal, plus the front page
of issue of April 18, 1974
received May 28, 1974, you will
note it is the same year.
When one stops to think it
only took Columbus three mon-
ths to come to America in 1492
in an old boat, and it takes 40
days for a paper to come 120
miles against Columbus's 3000
miles, our transportation
system has not progressed very
much in 482 years.
Please explain this to the
post master in Clinton.
Thanking you very much, I
am
Yours truly,
John E. Moore,
Scarborough, Ont.
News-Record readers are 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 ivy)* used by
letter writers, buil* letter will
be published unless It can be
verified by phone.
Oh, I know it makes me seem
older than I really am (108),
but I just can't help
reminiscing about the an-
ticipation of the kind of sum-
mers we used to have' when I
was a boy.
You younger people won't
believe it, of course, but there
was a time when you just
naturally expected the sun to
shine for days on end--weeks,
sometimes--and we just took it
as a regular seasonal event that
there should be bright, blue
skies and long, lazy days down
at the beach. No, sir, they just
don't make the summers the
way they used to.
Why, only yesterday I heard
a small boy wishing aloud that
thered be pne hot day, maybe
in.late August, Sp-that• he could
have at least one swim in 1974,
and I found myself remem-
bering how we used th take that •
first plunge as early as mid-
May. Honest! And then by mid-
June you'd be a kind of pipe-
tobacco brown from lying in the
fine sand back of the old
bathhouse where the sun was
trapped in an "el" of the old
•
, • r I