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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1974-08-15, Page 4we get letters, .4CLINTON NEWS-RECORD, THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1974 Editorial Comment Clearing the air Last Monday night's council meeting cleared up many things that council Would have better told the people of town In the first place, If they had told the press and the People what their plans were in regards to the fate of the old Town Hall, then Many of the misunderstandings would never have occurred and tempers would never have become overheated. But the job of any paper, in part at least, is to be the watchdog of the people. Not everyone can go to a coun- cil meeting, and it takes an expert eye and a deep interest to keep up with the complicated running of any modern municipality, Because of the above factors, then, most taxpayers in general and Olin- tonians in particular, depend on a paper to keep them in touch with how council is spending their money. For that reason, we saw red at coun- cil's action and thought the people should know about it. For that we do not apologize. That is our job. Stop the slaughter Masses of mangled metal strewn across the province after the mid- summer long holiday weekend were the silent tombs of over 40 persons who lost their lives in traffic accidents. Buckets of tears have been shed by the families who lost loved ones; .by friends whose pals were snatched from them; by people in general who weep with frustration and fear for their own safety. When will the slaughter end? says the Goderich Signal-Star. Death did not overlook this part of On- tario either. Four teenagers died in an accident just north of Goderich. Just four of forty or-more traffic victims ... but four from the district. Four friends, Four loved ones. Four teenagers from the district. When will the ,salughter end? During the weekend, provincial of- ficials suggested that a serious study be made into the advantages of lowering the highway speed limit. Some feel this is the only way to curb the slaughter, the endless killing which goes on on the highWays.:Thok to the United States of America, these traffic analysts say. There, hundreds upon hundreds of lives But if we went off the beaten track and attacked without good reason, then we indeed extend our apologies and a wrong is righted, Nor was there any motive in this paper to personally attack any member of council, We condemned what we thought was wrong on part of the whole council, not any individual member. In the past, we have both praised and condemned many of councirS actions, and we shall continue to do so in the future. Most people, when elected to public office, know that they have a huge burden of trust to carry from their electors, and the press's responsibility is to make sure that trust is used honestly. that trim is used honestly. An excellent example of that trust being misused occurred in the United States last week that resulted in the resignation, for the first time in history, of a President of the U.S. The whole, dirty tale was brought to light by the press of that country, who withstood great criticism at the outset. have been saved in recent months because the speed limit has been reduced and strictly enforced by police. Let's stop the slaughter. A National Roadside Traffic Survey conducted between April 17 and June 15 in eight provinces finds that about one quarter of the drivers providing breath samples had been drinking. According to early results from the survey, ap- proximately one third of these drivers had blood alcohol concentrations at or above the legal limit of .08 percent. This means that, in this night-time study bet- ween the hours of 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday of each survey week, about one in 12 drivers tested was legally impaired. Let's stop the slaughter. Seat belt usage was measured in the same survey, according to a report from Transport Minister Jean Marchand. Of those drivers with lap belts available, 13 percent were observed wearing them, while of those drivers with both lap and shoulder belts available, eight perceht were observed Wearing the complete' system. Let's stop the slaughter. The Jack Scott Column - 011 - - "Dad — what's 'air'?" On the wagon • • . Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley My wife called me dear today From our early files • • • 0 • • 0 Member, Canadian Community Newspaper Association p,,D1 AN COMAiwvo RS A SO Welber, Online Weekly Newspriper Aseeelation Ali eq A" 0,4 OA P1 oS (01°‘ Pubilihed every Thursday at dlintOn, Ontario Editor • James E. Fitzgerald General Manager, J. Howard Aitken Socond Ohms Mall rOgleiratIOn no. Wit 1 I ° le, wog, HUB OP HURON tOUNTY Aimmum we get letters Dear Editor: For some time now, we in the Exeter area, who subscribe to the Exeter Times-Advocate, have been enjoying the column, "Odds 'n' Ends written by Elaine Townshend. This is a stimulating, in- teresting and sometimes amusing column written by an up and coming young writer. What I would like to know is why you do not include her column in your paper? It cannot be you are unaware of her ability. Is it because someone has become too non- chalant and has not ap- proached her? All I can say is "shame on Summer reflections: some good, some bad. First we'll give the good news, then the bad, as the current crud goes. If you don't know what crud means, ask your family doctor. Or somebody else's family doctor, if you don't trust your own. A family doctor is someone in the family. That means you try to get everything for free. So if he tells you that you have a little headache once in a while, take an aspirin, relax, you know you have a monumental brain tumour. On the other hand, if you take somebody else's family doctor, beware, He'll probably tell you that you have a possible brain tumour, that you should relax, and take plenty of aspirin. Well, I hope that takes care Of that. I didn't really mean to get onto doctors, Grand chaps, actually. Hut I have a lingering resent. Meta against a R.A.F. doctor who insisted on giving me my annual anti.tetanus shot (a ditty great injection in your ahoulder) the night of Our passing-out patty, from a training course on Spitfires. I told him I had a bad back, a wrenched knee, a toothache, phlebitis, and pneumonia. He said, "Jolly good", and sank en elephant, needle 410 my shoulder. I had the satisfaction of seeing him stunned by a Coffee you", for not encouraging one in your own locale. To Elaine, I would like to say "keep up the good work." It's young people like you we need in our communities to keep our papers alive and in- teresting. Sincerely, Edith R. (Mrs. Alvin) Lobb RR 2, Centralia (Editor's note: We are very aware of Bayfield's Miss Townshend and her talents and we in fact have her doing some very interesting feature stories for the News-Record that will be appearing in this paper in the very near future.) cup hurled from behind the piano. It was thrdwn by our C.O., who, despite the fact that he'd had his pants pulled off and beer poured liberally over his lower torso, was still very much alive. And a moment later, I had the satisfaction of seeing the C,O. caught right between the eyes by a dinner-plate flung by a New Zealander who said, "Whizzo" when he saw the Commanding officer fall to his knees, trouserless. This was in the good old days, when it was more or less expected that you'd smash up the mess before you graduated. It wasn't vandalism, in the modern sense. You had to pay for everything you broke, and you took full responSibility for what' you'd done. It was a wild, free, careening sense of destruction, perhaps based on the sense that you were destructible and were going to be destructed. Perhpas that is what makes young people tick today. If they tick. Some of them don't even seem to be wound up, let alone tick. As usual, I've gone far from my theme. The good news and then the bad news. It's like a Newfie or Polish joke, both of which I despise. Good news? is not raining; the town engineer is not'going to cut down 31 Maple trees un, til he hies again heft year, My grandbaby is a little devil, One Dear Ed'tor: My sympathy goes out to the little girl whose loss of her towel at the Clinton swimming pool was recorded in a letter recently. I too got quite a jolt one mor- ning a month' ago when I went out to water a huge lovely plant on the veranda and found there was no plant. It was too large for a child to carry, and I can- not replace it as the lady I got the slip from has passed on. Plant lover, Fanny Clark, Hensall, Ont. of my students wants to come around and talk. My wife called me "Dear" today. My bursitis is not hurting too much. There's a rose bed in the backyard which hasn't produced a rose in three years, but this summer has a fine touch of green (three baby elms). I don't have a heart con- dition, though I'm not sure about me liver. The electric storm last night didn't hit my oaks, The plumber gave us a big bag of fresh beans out of his garden. Bad news? My grandbaby is a devil. He and his mother are living in a dome (no lights, no water, no electricity, no toilet). I left an $8.95 library book out on one of the lawn chairs yesterday and it rained all 'night. There's a nest of yellowjaekets up in the roof and the roofer will quit, after he's taken half the shingles off. Two stings will do it. The boys who are going to do the pain- ting will all have fallen off a ladder and broltA. ,"'r right arms cline they're ready to go. My mistress has the mumps. My doctor has a needle, My wife has a tongue, My cat is heterosexual, My daughter is cheerful, My Son is eheerful. (This is bad news because it means they are both going to make a touch). All in all, it's a ptetty average summer, so far. A member of one of the larger chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous, noting a fleeting reference here to the absolute abstinence forced upon me by my witch doctor, has urged me to write a piece or two on the evils of booze. Hallelujah, brother! "An article or two offering advice to your younger readers would be most appropriate", he writes. He did not include a tambourine. Otherwise the in- vitation is very difficult to resist. So I won't. My first advice to the young person would be to keep a close check on his plasma proteins and the delicate ratio of his albumen to his globulin. The Globulins will get you, kids,;,if you.,don't watch out. „ I've no idea what they are or how they function, but if mine were a little nicer to each other I wouldn't be so dry. I also did rather poorly with a test in which they pump some kind of nasty dye into your left (arm, let it get all roiled up like a cocktail in your innards for a 10 YEARS AGO AUGUST 13, 1964 Rain has considerably delayed the harvesting of spring grains in Huron County, Some of the barley has been sprouting in the swath and recently- harvested grain is darkened in color because of the weathering effect. Clinton Town Council, Mon- day night, voted 5-3 against a motion to give second and third readings to a bylaw which would bring about the im- plementation of the National Building Code of Canada for Clinton. It doesn't really matter whether the duck stays in the pond or heads for shore. It's just. about as wet in either location these clays. Irene Okahashi has enlarged her dry cleaning plant by having six new Westinghouse automatics laundromats and two dryers to make her business a one-stop laundry and dry cleaning service. During the four clay official opening last weekend, over 200 persons availed themselves of this new service, This is the last week of playground supervision and the children at Clintoifs three playgrounds are busily preparing for their grand finale on Saturday, August 15. The children from five to 12 years of age have had the benefit of a supervised playground for the past six weeks. A staff of eight girls has had a magimum of 170 children enrolled. 25 YEARS AGO AUGUST 18, 1949 Rev. Hugh C. Wilson, com- menced his ministry at Wesley- Willis United Church, Clinton, Sunday morning when the ad- dressed a congregation which practically filled the bottom portion of the church auditorium, Three members of the On- tario Provincial Police have been assigned to patrol Grand Itend until Sept, 15, The McKellar clan held their annual reunion at Lions Park, half hour and then remove a mickey of blood from your right arm to see what's happened to the artificial coloring in its merry passage from arm to arm. I think I knew I was in moderate trouble when the• doc- tor studied the beaker full of my essential juices and mur- mured, "Hmmm. Singapore Sling." I thought for a minute he might drop a cherry, a slice of pineapple and a swizzle stick into it, but all he did was to caution me gravely on the alternatives between drinking and non-drinking. Doom, I believe, was the word he used. This hardly qualified me as the traditional advice-giver of the missionery,-or evangelical- breed. In fact, 'any of the per- sonal suggestions I might have for young people might welt disturb the members of AA. For one thing, I hate to give up drinking even, the good Lord willing, temporarily. I can recall few of the memorable moments of my adult life that weren't Seaforth, on Monday August 1, with about 50 persons atten- ding. Next year's officers in- clude president. A. Laurie Colquhoun. The severest electrical storm in this district in years- both in the matter of intensity and time, struck with full fury bet- ween six and ten o'clock yester- day morning.- It resulted in the complete destruction by fire of the fi,ne bank barn of Arnold Dale, Hullett, with the entire season's crop implements and some livestock. Walter C. Smith and Ellwood Epps again qualified for the ten-man Canadian team in the International .22 calibre Pistol Match which was held on the Connaught Ranges, Ottawa, last' week. Mr. and Mrs. Adam Stewart loanley Township will be celebrating their golden wed- ding on August 20. 50 YEARS AGO AUGUST 14, 1924 Earl Cooper, who has pitched some good games for the Purity's this season, has secured a good position in Toronto, On August the 20th at Queen's Park, Stratford, there will be held a basket picnic to which all those interested in that policy are cordially in- vited. The Senior Canadian Girls in Training camped on Mustard's Plats in Hayfield during the week of August 1 to 8 under the capable leadership of Miss Stone. There Were in all 15 girls there. A large number of members of London Chamber of Com- merce, who are on a motor trip through this section ,of Huron County, stopped in Clinton for over an hour. They brought a pipe band which delighted the large crowd that had gathered to welcome them Collyer has released a number of pheasants which he has hatched from eggs supplied by the government. It is hoped that by several people trying to raise these birds and then release them, the- pheasant heightened or complemented in some measure by liquid spirits. That goes all the way from our wedding night with a magnum of the finest Canadian cham- pagne to just the other evening when, cold and wet from a fishing trip, we de-frosted with tall hot rums with dabs of but- ter melting on top. I think the ex-alcoholics make a mistake in not con- ceding that drinking can be en- joyable, relaxing and civilized, They seem to feel that this ad- mission will make drinking seem too attractive, almost a form of license. Consequently, their attitude sometimes ap- pears to be entirely prohibitive which, of course, is the worst possible form of education., The Alcoholics Anonymous ' people are generally more sen- sible. Their real concern is to demonstrate that liquor, which may be a good companion in moderation, may also be a one- way passage to oblivion. I would have to start out, then, with the proposition that drinking is a good thing and population which has been badly depleted can become larger. 75 YEARS AGO AUGUST 17, 1899 The new firm, consisting of the Newcombe brothers, who will open out in a dry goods business in the old Gilroy & Wiseman stand on September 1st. will be designated Newcombe& Reports which come from Petrolia where they were engaged in a similar business, state that they are shrewd, energetic, and wholly up-to-date. Mr. S Halstead has sold his feather renovater to Mr. Heywood, and returned to Goderich where he has secured a job in the organ factory. Mr. Halstead was engaged in the feather- cleaning business for 17 years and has tired of it. The farmers of Dakota, or at least some of them, are having a hard time of it this season, hail storms having laid low their crops when they were looking well and just at the point of maturing. - During to the absence of rain, water has become a luxury, many of the farmers having to that the real, basic problem is to keep it a good thing. The abuses of liquor that concern me, since I am neither an alcoholic nor anonymous, are the abuses that so often make it necessary to give up the pleasure. I offer my advise only in the hope that it may influence some younger reader so that he, too, may enjoy in the future a Tolly's light ale in that lovely pub where Byron drank on the banks of the River Cam, so that he may sip a Calvados in the moonlight on the beach at Can- nes with his sweetie, so that he may relax on a cold night with just a hot rum as I described, so that he may nurse a Pernod and; watch 'the beiges 'go by on a street' cafe by a canal in AM-- sterdam, so that liquor, in short, may be a comforting and genial occasional friend. That means moderation and the knowledge that a friend may be a terrible enemy. It comes down to this advice: Take it easy. haul it for their stock as well as for their own use. we get letters Dear Editor: The Clinton Poll staff would like to express their regrets about all the interruptions in the open' swim periods during the week of August 4th to 11th. Mechanical problems and their subsequent remedy caused a delay on Wednesday. The strainer had to be re- wielded, and it took so long that the chlorine residue had to be built up again. Then on Friday, threatening thunderstorms and lightning caused an early closure of the pool. On Saturday afternoon, the chlorine tanks ran dry, and because of a strike at the sup- pliers, Dow Chemical of Canada, further shipments were delayed. We sincerly regret these in- conveniencies and interrup- tions and hope that there will be no more repeats of these in- cidents. Thank'you for your co- operation, The Clinton Pool staff. Auctions Dear Editor: I Write this as a sort protest against implied warm ties and said statements of fa that are used at auction sal Now, I enjoy these sales a have, in the past, successful bid on many things, but ha stayed away from applian type items, that is, until t sale on July 20th in Clint when I acquired a refrigerat I remember the auction making a statement of fact th all appliances worked and after you acquired them th didn't, don't come back to hi but see the person who put up for sale. When the frid came up for sale, the auction again asked "does it work?" voice in crowd said, "YES.", Anyway, I bought it, haule it back to my cottage an plugged it in. It started an ran, As the hour was getting o I closed the cottage and retui ned to the city. When I cam back last weekend (8-3.74) found this machine had ru two solid weeks and the ice cubes never froze. Statement. I fact - Does it. run? Answe YES. Implication - It dot what a refrigerator-freezer supposed to do, I am unable to see the perso who put the item up for sale e it was part of an estate, so VI stuck with a square white bo: Is there anyone in the Clintot Goderich area who service these machines? By the wa: it's a McClary square model D.R. Cools Lane of Pines Bead Bayfiel Town Hall Dear Editor: The Action Committee of tl Clinton Environmental I provement Program have h one meeting during July, wi only the chairman and vic chairman being present fro the established committee Directives as to the job functi 'of each of the' committees w :,tliicussed,'•but-no; i (lewd ire tives,Will be Iksifed by' the A t.ion Committee until early September. The committees will then able to operate separately obtain information to be pass on to the Action Committee The Action Committee had meeting on August 8th with committee from Town Coun The Town Hall along wi other topics was discussed. The Action Committ unanimously agreed th during the period the To Council was conductit feasibility studies on the To Hall,under prese arrangements with. consultan it would be better if the To Council first completed studies to their satisfacti before the offer of assistance the Action Committee utilized. Therefore, since there' h been no directives issued by Action Committee and/or t chairman of any committee t member(s) any statement ma pro or con re: the town Hall a member(s) of any committ are their own person viewpoint(s). In closing, this quotab quote: "Add one small bit. the truth and you inevitab subtract from it." Clinton Environment Improvement Program KG. Flett, chairm Heinpfleoord modem aie en couraged to express. Mel opinions in letters to the editor however, such opinions do necessarily represent th opinions of the Newrillsoord, Pseudonyms may be used letter writers, but no litter be published unless It can verified by phone. THE HURON NEWS-RECORD . Established 1881 THE CLINTON NEW ERA Amalgamated ESifildishod 1865 1924