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Clinton News-Record, 1974-12-19, Page 4,,Mlni•MgownOW Mews-Record readers are en- couraged to express their opinions In litters to the editor, however, such opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of the P4sws-itecord. Pseudonyms may be used by latter writers, but no latter wIN be published unless it can be verified by phone. The 'Jack Scott Column NM 10 YEARS AGO Dec. 17, 1964 Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Hunking of Londesboro celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary, recently and in honor of the, occasion were en- tertained at a family dinner held at the home of their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. William Moore of Goderich. The Clinton Public Hospital Board Auxiliary met December 1 at the nurses' residence. They decided to buy an ice-making machine for the hospital, agreeing one which manufac- tures 100 pounds of ice per day would be satisfactory. Mrs. Russell Kerr is recuperating, but still confined to her home after a fall sustained at their son's home 10 days ago. Mrs. Mary Grigg, wife of Clinton Lion A. Gladstone Grigg, won the $500 first prize in Clinton Lions Club annual Grey Cup draw. Mr. Grigg sold her the ticket and wins himself $50 for selling the top prize ticket. Rev. Lorne Sparks, president of the Bayfield branch of the Bible Society and Mrs. Esther Maki ns, secretary-treasurer wish to report a most successful canvass. The sum of $233,65 was realized, an increase of $60 over last year's amount. Reaction to the new Canadian flag in Clinton is widely varied according to a "man on the street" poll con-, ducted Wednesday by the Nests. Record The ruling of the Ontario Departisient of t titication and the Municipal Hord in. validates the trusteeships of Merton Merner and Jack Sturgeon who were elected to office by a heavy Hayfield vote, After January 1 they will no longer be residents of Stanley 50 YEARS AGO Dec. 25, 1924 David Crawford former manager of the Commercial Hotel and son of Mrs. Susan Crawford, Clinton, but latterly of Dublin, has purchased the Graham House from J. Dorsey, and is already in possession, N.W. Trewartha has pur- chased the building formerly occupied by The New Era from G. E. Hall. Mr. Trewartha in- tends fixing it up as a business location.Mrs. S.J. Mcllwain has moved into the property recently purchased on Albert St. next to McIlveen bakery. John Cuninghame has pur- chased the old Coles property which adjoins his own on Huron St. Doherty Pianos Limited have concluded a very successful year. W.N. Manning, general manager, on his visit to the fac- tory this week left a cheque for $500 to be distributed among the employees, Among those visiting out-of- town for Christmas include: Miss M.A. Stone, Essex; Miss B.F. Ward, Rockville, Maryland; Miss Annie McDonald, Woodstock; Mr, and Mrs. R. Horsley, Wood- stock; Miss Sadie Watkins, Flint, Mich.; Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, Detroit; A. McGraw, Paisley; E.G, Coustice and Miss Hattie and Sybil, Hamilton. TS YEARS AGO Dec. 22, 1999 Alexander Watt, of Hullett has bought from the executors of the Wm, Murphy estate, the fifteen acres of land on the nor- thern limit of the town at present in the occupancy of Mrs. Murphy. The property is well situated with a conifer- table new fratte house. He takes possession about the first of February. Dr. David Kennedy has finally decided to retire from municipal life and consequently will not be a candidate on January 2. He has devoted much time to the work of the council, particularly as a mem- ber of the street committee. He has been• a member of the coup= cil for eleven years two years as councillor, three as deputy- reeve and five years as reeve. Mr. Helps of West Wawanosh delivered a bullock to Mr. S.H. Smith on Tuesday which tipped the scale beam at 2,210 pounds and netted the owner close to $90. It was a big fellow but Mr. Helps said with a little more feeding he could have increased the weight to 2,500 pounds. Owing to the severe snow storms, business has been at a standstill. Snow fell about thir- teen inches on the level in one night and has beaten therecord for a number of years. People have been storm-stayed many different places along the line. 100 YEARS AGO Dec. 24, 1874 Mr. Thorton informs us that, should the weather be favorable, the skating rink will be opened this Thursday evening, The Clinton Brass Band will be in attendance, Mr, Robert Fitzsimons, who has carried on the butchering business in this place for a number of years has disposed of his business to Messrs. J. and J. Tewsley. On Saturday last, 43 car loads of grain, amounting to 17,500 bushels, were shipped from this station valued at $16,163.00. This is one evidence of the large amount of grain that has been bought in this town, and the energy displayed by shippers in h'aving such a large quantity shipped and for- warded in so brief a space of ti roe, we get letters Clean Dear Editor; Some weeks ago, an article was printed in your paper asking Boyes Transport Ltd., along with others, to clean up their yard. We immediately said "clean up what?" We have one of the cleanest transport yards in the country. Go and inspect this ,please. Upon calling the town office, we were told the complaint was tanks. Yes, it took several weeks to have thousands, of dollars worth of tanks installed underground. This was done long ago, The point is this: this degrading remark was published in the paper and yet not a soul ever came to see -if there were still tanks in the yard. Whoever is responsible for this act should come to the company and 'discuss the mat- ter before taking it in his hands to publish such a remark. The garbage is also taken weekly by our own truck to the dump with no help from your garbage collector and I would say we are one of the big tax- payers in Clinton. Iva Boyes, secretary-treasurer, Boyes Transport Ltd., Clinton. Agricultural Tidbits WITH ADRIAN VOS The Wolf League of Canada was quick to jump on a resolution passed at the annual meeting 'of the Ontario's Federation of Agriculture which demanded limited rein- statement of wolf bounties in areas where wolves and coyotes are killing livestock. It seems a reasonable demand. These same people would probably be the first to complain of, dogs running at large around schools and demand that they be destroyed. No one wants the entire wolf population wiped out, only that it be controlled. For the wolf league that's already too much. * * * Ontario has not the slightest inkling of the total population that can eventually be accom- modated in Southern Ontario. It appears that the government is willing to let things go as they are and when the limit is reached we will see further what has to be done about it. In the meantime new cities are build on agricultural land where-ever industry chooses to locate. One way to give incentive to industry to locate in Northern areas would be to build Hydro power plants along the north and east shores of Georgian Bay and give them a discount on electricity rates because of less need for transmission lines. Once industry locates there, the population will automatically follow, as has been shown by the mining towns, The Ontario government doesn't see it this way for they encourage Ontario Hydro to locate on the Shores of Lakes Huron and Erie. Jack Riddell, MPP Huron South, questioned the Davis Government on why the new Ontario Energy Corporation doesn't plan to research alter- nate energy sources as wind, solar and geothermal forces. But again the policy seems to be: "When we run out of present sources we will see what can be done." The gover- nment is far-sighted but only where it concerns hydro's present concepts. * * Not all farmers want to preserve agricultural land. There are quite a few who are willing to sell the birthright of their children for a good sum to developers. They argue that the children may be better Off working as labourers in the fac- tory built on their land than continue to subsidize the con- sumer. The solution still is that the farmer gets an adequate return oh his efforts, so the land value of a farm, is the same as for a factory. Township. 25 YEARS AGO Dec. 22, 1949 No matter how much people are hoping for "A White Christ- mas", at the time of writing prospects did not look too rosy, although colder weather was prophesied. The mild spell star- ted Saturday and has con- tinued right up until the present. This morning the dew worms were all over J.S. Snider's lawn on Albert St. The egg situation has everyone dizzy following the spectacular drop in prices on Saturday last with the ter- mination of the British con- tract. Eggs that were bringing 47 cents a dozen on Saturday were selling at 30 cents or less on Monday. A king-sized Arctic owl which crashed the windshield of a bread delivery truck operated by Johnny McGraw just about left farmers north of here without bread over the weekend. Near Leburn, McGraw's truck nearly crashed into the ditch when the owl came through the windshield scattering glass and feathers in all directions. Miss Joyce Grigg has accep- ted a position with Supertest Petroleum Corporation, Lon- don. She spent the weekend at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A.G. Grigg, Arrival of the Vatidoc with winter storage cargo of 241,000 bushels of wheat marked the end of navigation for the season at Goderich port Deceits- ber 14, The winter fleet of six vessels is smaller than last year's fleet of 12, Many vessels ate wintering at ...Arnetican ports because of the increase in ratea,' "501' 511IP To foR1? 'YOU CAN'T ?(158 CANADA ARDOND —WE'LL lb WHAT WE'RE Toll) WREN WE'RE Gool? a4p 1014'In Light fantastic It was at this pre-Christmas party, you see, when something almost instinctive drew me to the handsomest woman in the room. Watching her I'd that feeling, as the lyrics of the old song go, that we'd met before---but who knows where or when? And, clearly, it was reciprocal. Several times I fielded her appraising glance. Finally, summonsing my three ounces of raw courage, I asked her to dance. She fell naturally into my arms, as if she'd been there many times before. I heard her soft voice in my ear. "One-two, three-four," she whispered. "One-two, three-four." And gallantly, I whispered back: "One-two, three-four." "Jack!" she cried. "Molly!" I cried back. Well, sir, it took us back like an arrow to the golden years of the Embassy Hall and Mr. Gurney's classes in ballroom dan- cing, guaranteed to make or break you in the terpsichorean social graces. We wereion the average, sweet6,.16, We were united; some two dozen of us, by the common bond of misery. One way or the other we were all misfits, hoping that a mastery of the fox trot and the waltz at 50 cents a lesson, would open at least a crack in life's door. Everyone, even Molly, was locked in the iron grip of shyness. Everyone was either too fat or too thin, a strange herd of bean poles and butter balls cast together in the dreamlike wish that we'd become Fred, Astaires or Ginger Rogers. Mr. Gurney was a wiry, intense little man with a pencil moustache above thin lips and a frustration that brought him constantly to the lip of hysteria. The sight of his awkward squad shuffling disconsolately about the waxed floor would cause his voice to rise to a thin scream. "Dance, you idiots! Dance!" he would cry. leaping up and down in livid anger. His wife sat with an upright piano seemingly in her ample lap, an enormous woman draped in folds of flesh. Her hands were like starfish, sparkling with imitation diamonds. The chords of "Tea For Two" came like thunder across the bay. When Mr. Gurney's ire reached a point of maniacal fury he would grasp Mrs. Gurney about her thick waist and they would twirl madly about the floor to demonstrate how simple it all really was, Once, when Mrs. Gurney went down, shacking the building to its foundations, Mr. Gurney turned from her and strode angrily away, holding his forehead with his hand as if suffering the final humiliation. It was wonderful for our morale. The classes fell into two distinct phases. The first four or five lessons consisted of us looking down at our feet, moving pain- stakingly through the steps Mr. Gurney had shown us, and counting aloud. The over-all effect was of some tribal rite of the morning, the heads all bowed, the drone of the toneless coun- ting a half beat behind Mrs. Gurney's shaking piano. s, The subsequent lessons consisted entirely of trying to break us of this habit. "Look up! Look up, you idiots!" Mr. Gurney would scream hoarsely, but we'd learned our earlier lessons too well. In self-defence we had voluntarily paired-off into partners--- all, that is, except the two wretched extra boys who were forced to dance together and were always exchanging blows in the outer corridor about who would accept the feminine stance. My chosen one and I never looked at each other as we slid about woodenly at arm's length. We never talked except to mumble, "Sorry," or "My fault." I would solemnly gaze down over the crinkly material of her shoulder into the deep dimple in her left elbow, utterly hypnotized. Molly still has'the dimple, but she's overcome the blight Mr, Gurney left on so many. I could have danced all night. From our early files • • • THE CLINTON NEW ERA Established 1865 Amalgametecl 1924 THE HURON NEWS-RECORb estohlished 1881 eNA Mornims4 Cinedlion Community Now000por Association Published livery_ Thursday at Clinton, Ontario Mdmeer, Omar% Wiskip spoor Paisalition stlesOiliOroN HATO: CANADA $10.00 MICA. $11.$0 SINCILK COPY ,2so Editor - James E. Pitsgatrald Sara 00 NAOM J. Howard Aitken Second Clime Mali General Manager, r AbA" I Nelstrallon nil: 01117 110/ HU6 OP HURON, COUNTY, PAGE 4--C 4,--CbINTON NEWS-RECORD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER .19, 1974 The redistributionquestion We are having a great deal of trouble understanding the motives behind the planned redistribution of the provincial ridings in Ontario. A bill to change the electoral boun- daries in Ontario before the election next year was brought to light last week. It was the second report of a three man Commission that was looking into a fairer distribution of seats, according to. population, in Ontario, By the looks of the new electoral map, however, the commission seems to have done more damage than good. The new riding of Huron would run all the way from Goderich to Strathroy on the south, a distance of over 60 miles, and would include only five townships in Huron and six townships in Middlesex County, as well as the towns of Clinton, Goderich, Exeter, and Strathroy. At its One must have sympathy for the Canadian housewife, says the United Church, as she struggles with con- tinuing inflation, Yet it must be remem- bered always that she is one of the more fortunate victims of this economic malaise that affects the whole world. Because she and her family can eat. There are too many others who don't eat regularly, and hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, who have gone hungry and died during the past 12 months. Photographs taken in the West African country of Mali recently show once-proud nomads scratching in the dust for grain after an air-drop. In the African region below the Sahara, known as the Sahel, drought has gripped entire nations. In Ethiopia, the worst drought in a century is said to have killed 250,000 people. They who hunger are the true victims of inflation, for the aid they seek is slow AR appeal to parents In the so-called good old days, a great many who are now middle-aged men were in the newspaper business. That is, they had a paper route and made a bit of spending money, even in the depression years. I was closely associated with a paper route myself, although I didn't exactly have one. My kid ,brother did. I was sort of his business manager or financial adviser. Every Saturday night, after he'd made his weekly collections, I would inveigle him into the bathroom, lock the door so nobody could hear, and give him some sound business advice. I'd remind him that he was too fond of candy and pop and other tooth-rotting confections, that he had no willpower, and that he'd only squan- der his hard-earned fifty cents if he didn't invest at least part of it every week. He didn't know much about investments and wanted to put some of his money into a piggy bank. I'd tell him severely that that was no way to make his money grow. He should give it to me and watch the interest pile up. He'd bawl a bit, but then he'd come around af- ter a bit of arm-twisting,.and see the point. The point was that I was stronger than he was. I'd always let him keep part of it, maybe twenty cents. I'd take the other thirty cents and invest it. I invested it in the Saturday night movie, a bottle of pop and a chocolate bar. It was a wise investment and paid good dividends. The many movies I thus enjoyed enriched my ex- perience of the human condition, enlarged my vocabulary, and added to my personal pleasure in life. It took him about two years to catch on, two of the best years of my life. There was of course, a confrontation. He swore I had conned him out of at least sixty dollars. I scoffed at this and told him it was only about fourteen. But the little devil had been keeping his books. Last time I saw him, in Germany last spring, he informed me that with compound interest, I now owed him $44,000 and if I didn't come up with it, he'd be interested in taking it out of my hides I am still an inch taller than he, but he out- weighs me by forty pounds. So we compromised. I told him that if he paid all my expenses on my trip, I'd dig up the money somehow. He did. And thank goodness I haven't seen him since. All this has been brought to mind by a recent development in the delivery of daily newspapers. it is just another sign of our affluent age, when even the kids have so much money they don't • have to work. For years, I've taken two daily newspapers, morning and evening. They take opposite political stands, and both are so warped that if I take a stand in the middle of their polarized south-east tip, the riding would brush the City of London, • Meanwhile, the rest of Huron County would be in the Huron-Bruce riding, in- eluding' the Townships of Hunett, McKillop, and Tuckersmith, and the Town of Seaforth, which are presently in the Huron riding, The whole thing was an attempt tO equalize the populations' of the ridings, but it has thrust together people with historically very little in common, and put apart people who by tradition and geography, were united since the area was opened in the 1830s, Whether or not protest at this point will do much good or not will have to be seen, but it seems the government is trying to break up traditional voting boundaries as a first step towards regional government. in coming. Many nations want to buy wheat for their people, but can't afford the high prices. Late in 1972, a ton of wheat cost $79. By March this year, it had all but tripled in price. Between 1972 and 1974 fertilizer, which is a vital tool for faster agricultural development, had doubled in price from $70 to $135 a ton. Shipping costs are rising rapidly, and general disenchantment with inflation in the rich countries does not help the aid picture, Politicians who are under fire over rising prices look less kindly upon • development assistance for poorer nations. Yet their need today is greater than it ever was, Sky rocketing oil prices have hurt the poor of the world more than they have hurt us. Canadians, in assessing the impact of inflation on their lives, also should remember the hungry. For they are in the midst of a disaster that was not of their own making. points of view, I am right in the temperate zone, which I prefer. At any rate, it seems that these titans of the press cannot,simply can not, secure young carrier girls or boys to peddle their papers. The morning paper has simply given up. No delivery. The evening paper has hired indepen- dent agents "operating their own vehicles." This means guys who drive 'around in di-6r own cars and hurl thepaper out the car, vVindow in the general direction of your house. In the gold old days of about six weeks ago, I felt a little tingle of warmth when the door-bell rang. "Ah, the paper boy," -I would remark wit- tily. And it was. The boy, or sometimes girl, was faithful and loyal, even in the foulest weather. I knew the country was going to hell in a hearse, but I felt that this was hummock of decency and virtue in a morass of miseries. Now I feel a very strong tingle, not of warmth, but of rage, at paper-delivery time. It is my custom when I arrive home after a hard day on the assembly line at the pupil-factory, to take off my jacket and my shoes, and take on a cold beer before proceeding to peruse my paper. This entire routine has been spoiled, not to say desecrated, by the new delivery method. I still go through the first parts of the procedure; but the beer tastes flat as I stew around, waiting for the paper. It arrives any time between four and seven. That means I have put back on my shoes and gone out in my shirt-sleeves in the winter to search around in the snow for my paper as many as four times. This is not conducive to lowering a man's blood pressure. At least they put the thing in a plastic bag. But this is covered in three minutes when it's snowing, which it always seems to be when I go out to look for my paper. To add insult to 'injury, I receive a letter from the circulation department of the big, fat, rich, lousy newspaper telling me that the price is going up and that "We feel this is a reasonable price to pay for dependable delivery to your driveway six days a week," Well, let me just say to the circulation manager that I don't want the paper delivered to my driveway, but to my house. My car can't read. And let me add that the service is not depen- dable, in its present condition. And let me fur- ther add that if you can't do better than that, I will shortly tell you what you can do with your newspaper. Sideways. This is a direct appeal to all parents. Please cut off your children's allowances, so that at least some of them will be available to peddle papers in the old way. This is a cry from the heart. Civilization is . sinking. Must this last vestige of normalcy go down with it? The real victims of inflation Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley