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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1974-06-20, Page 4Canadians are great ones for the do-it-yourself or home analysis. I suppose there 'have been--oh, conservatively-- nineteen million words written on the subject: "What is a Canadian?" Still, nobody seems to know. We like what we see in the mirror, but we're never quite sure what we're looking at and turn away with a vacant grin. At • least , ninety-nine and ninety-nine one-hundredths percent of everything that's been written is, to put it gently, suspect. Only the other day, for exam- ple, I chanced on an essay by Bruce Ilutchison, who hag.. Made were playing a mellow old 'cello. "Lonely and awed by the immensity of space, around us", so the piece went, "by the cold sweep of the prairies, by the stark presence` of mountains leaning upon us, by the empty sea at our door, and by the fierce' northern climate, which colors and toughens the weather of our spirit...." Oh, you know that 'kind of stuff---beautiful, but dumb. I've never met a Canadian yet who ever honestly felt that the weather of his spirit was anything more than cloudy with light showers or that the mountains were leaning on him. Supposing you met a guy in the morning bus and he said, "Gee, Jim, I'm lonely and awed by the immensity of space around us, by the cold sweep... . you'd probably move to another seat right away. And yet when you get right down to it our real sense of identity as Canadians is almost entirely phygical. Ever since the Group of Seven our ppipters have beert s getting up 7llieir easels' WIth view of prairie or forest or Mountain. If there are any people, any Canadians, visible in the landscape, they're decen- tly hidden down to the hips un- der a birchbark canoe. The canoe is Canadian. God knows what the man in it is, except faceless. Same thing in poetry. Patrick Anderson, in his "Poem on Canada", wrote, "Yes, I am one and none, pin and pine, snow and slow, America's attic, an empty room, a something possible, a chance, a dance that is not danced. A cold kingdom." This is pretty good stuff, of- ten quoted, but is it Canada? It sounds to me more like an ode to a deep-freeze locker. It's all curiously old- fashioned, this Canada of the creative artists, populated with Eskimos and ice-skaters and portaging French-Canadians, all tiny figures against a gigan- tic backdrop, and I wonder if there's anything to be gained by clinging to it. Not long ago the Army held a co,ntegt for_ gervicernen to write esSitY,con'Whii(tatia4t( means to them. I haven't read *the collection, but an official sum- mary of it suggests the line they took. It sounds as if they were all written on birch bark. Canada, to them, "is the rivers and lakes, the mountains and farmlands, the forests, and even the lonely tundra, from sea to sea. It is quiet villages, tall cities, wheat elevators sten- ding starkly on the prairie. It is the summer wind in the trees, the glorious colors of autumn, the crisp cold winter. It is maple sugar and fried trout over the campfire. It is the ski run and the hockey rink. . ." So there it is again, the em- pty, motionless, voiceless, faceless terrain, lonely as a railway depot at four in the morning, and, it seems to me, as false as an institution calen- dar. I sat with friends the other night listening to a composition called "Canadian Impressions" by Robert Farnon, a musical tribute by an expatriate, and this, too, a montage of raw scenery. Everybody admired it, ,everybody ,.praised it as "mart • vellously descriptive" but me., It angered me. It is condescen- ding music, all maple sugar and fried fish and stark moun- tains leaning on you. In a country with as much human vitality and force as this one it's time we had something to reflect a little more realistically than an awareness of our real estate. Susan Barbara Lobb, daughte of Mr. and Mrs. William Lob of AR 2, Clinton, graduated on May 31 from the Behavioural Science course at FanshaWe College, London. She presently working with the ministry of labour in London for the summer, Susan atten- ded Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton. (Beta photo) Mary Nelson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Nelson of Port Perry and granddaughter of Mrs. Edith McIntyre of Town- send Street in Clinton graduated on May 31 from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Univer- sity of Toronto. Dr. Pauline McGibbon, Chancellor, con- ferred the degrees. Mary has accepted a position at the hospital pharmacy resident at University Hospital in London and begins work on July 1st. From our early' files The Jack Scott Column 6. NI "But it'll take twice as long to accumulate ,AND if ANYOP pr eur{ ,CARs' otirtfR5 DONT -rarAK OrtiOnst. Wel 1. 6E STSucK ree gift coupons at the service station!" 01054montort 'Sanyo)._ Old faceless Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley I'm dented, not daunted Mona*, Can elan COnanunny Nowintraer Arr000tation Member, Ontario IOW* Airoodation Amalgematrd 1924 ' THE GUNPrON NEW EM Es tobIlshed 1865 THE 11111101V NEWS-RECORD Establish6d 1881 TNt 4604 l'Abgi iH CA KADA. It\ Ws of HURON tOUWY, Pub861t6d *my Thursday it Cllatan, Orstirto IMO James E. Flt Mid General altsaafiat, J. Howard Aitken tiocotid Win Mell itera11001 no. 0617 let's all chip in Tuesday night's meeting in Clinton about the proposed rejuvenation of the whole town was very well attended, showing. there is still a good interest in town over the project. The nearly 50 persons present, who represented just about every group, ser- vice club and organization in town, all seemed eager to hear of the proposals, look at examples of restoration projects in other towns, and sign their name to a paper stating they'll help in any way they can. To make the project really succeed, Clinton will need this enthusiasm sustained for the next six months until all the information is collected, analized and condensed into a presentation that Working together It is a very heartwarming to see the kind of co-operation that the Clinton Reereation Committee is getting in their project to raise funds to buy tables and chairs for the arena and support the Junior hockey club. In fact, it's no longer a rec, committee project, it has become a town project, judging by the excellent help they have been getting at the recent bingos. Nearly every service club in town has thrown their support behind the monster bingos and as a result, they are Trash can be used If you can imagine a trash can holding more than 1,500,000 tons of garbage, you have a picture of just what Toronto really needs. During this year, garbage trucks will pick up in Metro an estimated 1.59 million tons of trash. Metro WorXs Commissioner Ross Clark must find some way of buiying or burning almbst lialf a million tons of gar- bage this year for which no solution has been found and obviously nobody ex- pects him to do it in his backyard. In reality, garbage disposal is a serious matter that demands the atten- tion of all Canadians who are more for- tunate than most people in that we have a very large, relatively underpopulated land. What do other peoples do with trash? New Yorkers each year have millions of tons shipped about 10 miles offshore to be dumped into the Atlantic. Hong Kong does the same in the Pacific -- but it 974 Will be a giant Christmas present to Olin- tenians. There are many more volunteera needed to help with the project and there are no barriers, neither age, nor sex, nor obcupation, to prevent anyone from helping. In order to carry the project to its glorious end, we need the whcile town behind it. Everyone in town has agreed for sometime that Clinton is the garbage dump of Huron County in some respects, we now have a chance to do something about it, so let's all jump on the band- wagon. All it takes is a phone call to Ken Flett or Rita Ryan, and we're off. becoming an overwhelming success. Not only have the clubs volunteered men, but they have also given equip- ment, loaned tables and chairs, and helped on bingo night. As well, about ten young people of all ages are helping at the arena every Monday night and it's a credit to their character. So far, the bingos have been suc- cessful, and, already 25 tables and 250 chairs have been purchased for the community centre. And "community cen- tre" it surely is. works there, whereas New Yorkers have been warned about the growing slick of filth floating off their shores. Some U.S. cities have their trash com- pacted into solid blocks, as large as a kitchen table and hard as concrete. These are then hauled by rail to outer, suburban areas for; landfill projects smell. No need to wait for years before the garbage rots. It's expensive, but it works in the cities willing to pay the price. Scientists are experimenting with ways to burn trash — and in the process to produce a gas that could be used for heating. Butmost experts admit they are still searching for a cheap, convenient way of removing the mountains of trash that accumulate in cities every day. The truth is that the global garbage disposal situation remains a great big mess! (from the United Church) 4--CLINTON blEVMRECORD, THURSDAY, JUNE 20 Editorial Comment Had a birthday recently. Some people, especially women, are rather daunted by certain birthdays. For a young, attractive woman, having her thirtieth birthday is almost as horrible a prospect as having all her teeth out. After a couple of years in the early thirties, she realizes that she is really just coming into her best period, that of a mature woman, still mighty at- tractive, and with a new emotional maturity she didn't have in the Gay Twenties. She's in the Flirty Thirties, and enjoying it thoroughly. But with the fortieth milestone looming, panic sets in anew. She suddenly is con- vinced that. anyone in the for- ties is over the hump, headed, into a wizened old age. Strangely enough, after a couple of years in her early for- ties, she admits to herself and anyone else who will listen, that she's in the prime of life. She can still draw a whistle when the light is right, get her bum pinched if the party is rowdy enough. She's probably a grandmother, but she's "young" graittria..With a good dentist and contact lenses, she ean disguise the fact that her teeth are still there only through sheer will power, and that she's blind as the prover, biaI bat. Then that grim reaper, the gaunt visage of Fifty, comes over the horizon like a WOW sweeping down on a lamb; This time, there is no panic. Just sheer despair. She knows, with a little mathematics, that anyone in the fifties is away past Middle Age, •arid has one foot in the grave and the other on a piece of dog defecation. She is OLD, and there's no hiding the fact. Yet five years later, in her mid-Fifties, she's striding about a golf course, or screaming "Sweep!" at the curling club, or lying by a pool in Florida, holding in her gut and convin- ced she's in the Golden Age. Of course, Sixty is IT. The old mart with the scythe is lurking everywhere. There's no longer any way of disguising the wrinkles and the wattles. At 62, she gets a good tan, hides the eyes with shades, and maybe even has the jowls tucked up beneath the ears, And a good girdle does won- ders. At 65, she's collecting the old age pension, her late husband's pension, living in a house with the mortgage paid, and jaun- ting off to Rtir- ope or California, where she picks up her second husband, a well-off widower. She's never had it so good. At 80, widowed again, she's a swinger in Sunset Haven, playing bingo and the piano, and giving the eye to every fresh octogenarian who enters the place. And that's how women are daunted by birthdays. Per- sonally, I am never daunted. I have a lot of dents, but not a single daunt, A Things have changed a lot around here. My birthday used to be a small sotnething. Carefully coached by their Maher, the kids used to come up with gifts Which I a*, shucks, you shouldn't have done it accepted gratefully and gracefully. Nothing great._ Maybe a fishing-rod or some golf balls, And the old lady would bake a cake — a ready- mix. When they were older, away from home, they'd call (collect) on the occasion, wish me Happy Birthday, and suggest that they could use a little financial aid. Now, I call them up, and af- ter the usual exchange of amenities, ask coyly, "Know what day this is?" "Yeah. Sunday. Why?" I try again. "No, I mean what day of the month?" "Not. really; wait'll I check the calendar." I try again. "No, I mean what day of what month of what year? How old are you? How do you know hoW Old you are? What day reminds you?" "Oh, golly, Dad. Why didn't you tell me it was your birth- day? I would have sent a card. Or sorrtething." No, I am not daunted. But I never, ever, forgot my father's birthday. Let's see, I can still remember it. It was April 3rd. Or was it November 3rd? Anyway, I always sent him a card, even if I didn't remember until a month after the oc- casion. Anyway, I got one tall on my birthday this year. It was from my big brother. After grurnpily asking me what I was doing in bed at nom) on my birthday, he revealed the real purpose of his call. He wanted to know if had my little brother's address in Germany. I didn't. Some bir- thday greeting. But L did receive one birth- day card which touched deeply, It was from my in, surance agent. 'He never rnissea.. 10 YEARS AGO June 18, 1964 Farmers of today are now considered "big businessmen" and not the hay seeds they once were called according to Murray Gaunt, M.P.P, for Huron Bruce. They are the only businessmen in the entire economy who do not know what they are going to receive for their goods until they are sold. Janice Galbraith and Penny Bateman who are two of the 40 students studying under the direction of. Miloslawa Zablocki, graduated with first class honors from eighth grade in the Western Ontario Conser- vatory of Arts. Miss Mary Allan recently graduated from. St. Mary's Hospital, Kitchener, Mr. and Mrs. Albert McClin,, chey of Ottawa, were weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. Cart lYfeClinchey, 10 William Street Clinton. Pit, and Mrs. R.A, Simms Randy and Danielle, Down- sview are spending a week's vacation at their home, "Shangri-La". Mr. and Mrs. John Siertsema who have taken up residence in the village have purchased the former Glenn Brandon property, Brig. FA, Clift attended a drumhead service in Victoria Park, London on Sunday. It was to mark the 20th anniver- sary of 113,13ay, 25 YEARS AGO June 28, 1949 Although summer weather has been with ug for sometime, summer only officially arrived on the scene at &it Tuesday, June 21, It was one of the hottest days of the year ute til the rain carne. The Clinton Mill of Bich- mond Hosiery Limited, which employs about 35 men and girls is expected to close down tomorrow Until September, The main reason for the closure is the condition of the trade and the large stock we have on hand at present. This large stock would not make any material difference if it oc- curred during fall and winter months, but the summer mon- ths are a very quiet time for the sale of full-fashioned goods. Miss Alice Holmes spent the weekend in Toronto attending a retreat for the Associates of the Sisters of Saint John the Divine, being their guest at St. John's Convent. On her return, she visited a friend in Stratford returning home yesterday. Heavy showers last week have alleviated the drought in this country and most crops are again growing well. Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Westlake celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary last week by a motor trip to Stratford, St. Mary s, and other points in the district. 50 YEARS AGO Jun* 26, 1924 Mrs. James Steep had a flock of pheasants hatched out last Week. Dr. Field and A.F. Johns are presiding examiners for the departmental examination this week, H.W. Gould and J.A. Sutter have been in Guelph attending the 100F Grand Lodge meetings. The firm of Hawkins and Miller has been dissolved, Miller will continue in the hats dware business in his present stand and Mr. Hawkins will open a plumbing and tin- smithing business in the store next to Aiken's Harness Shop. Dr, Fred Thompson assisted the choir of Ontario St. Church on Sunday singing a solo in the anthem at both mor. ning and evening Services. Mrs. Will Pickard is visiting in London for a few days. Misses Delores Harris, Lena Steep, and Mary Turner and Douglas Kennedy, and Lorna Brown are winners of the con- tests sponsored by daily papers of the district. C.G. Middleton has been named chairman of South Huron Converse tive Association. Miss Jessie Grainger superin- tendent of Clinton Public Hospital has announced that no visitors will be allowed at the hospital at the present time on account of the epidemic of measles. 75 YEARS AGO June 21, 1899 Gail East and Maggie Easom have been awarded the special prizes at Clinton Public School. Carman Hall has been tran- sferred to the head office of the Royal Bank of Canada at Mon- treat. Dodds Holloway has joined the Royal Bank as a Junior. Harry Watkins was able to be down town yesterday for the first time in five weeks. A strawberry festival will be held on the grounds of Mr. John Gibbings under the auspices of the ladies of the On- tario street church. Dr. Tait of Blyth leaves on Monday for New York where he intends spending six weeks in special study in the best hospitals of the city. During the doctor's absence, his practice will be in charge of Dr. Crane, who for the past year has been in partnership with Dr. Hurlbert of Mitchell. Police report The Clinton Police in- vestigated three accidents this week. On June 15, a car driven by Clayton Stirling of RR 2, Bayfield struck a car driven by Barry Irwin of Clinton at the corner of Albert and Princess Street sending a passenger in the Irwin car, Brian Bell to hospital with minor cuts. Damage was set at $1,100 and Paul Lavis, son of Mr, and Mrs John Lavis of Clinton graduated on May 25 from th University of Waterloo with Bachelor of Applied Scienc degree in Civil Engineering Paul has joined the firm o Levis Contracting Co. Ltd. i Clinton where he will assist i the engineering estimatin department. Mr. Stirling has been charge in connection with the acciden A car driven by Ronal Gigurdson of Goderich struck hydro pole on Huron Street jus north of North Street las 'Tuesday morning, causin about $500, damage. Later the same morning, a the corner of Percival and On tario Streets, a car driven b Brian Murray of RR 4, Walto and a stake truck driven b Wayne Roth of Mitchell wer in collision. Total damage wa set at about $1,200 and Mr. Murray has been charged in connection with the accident.