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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1972-12-14, Page 4This year it could be you By RAY MacISAAC (From The United Church Observer) Christmas is a time of happiness and home, a season close to everyone. But Christmas is a fragile thing and easily destroyed. I did it with no more than a few drinks and a moment of carelessness. It was just two years ago Christmas Eve that I ran my car through an intersec- tion and killed the parents of two small children. For those orphans Christmas will always be a time of sadness and regret - just as it is today for my own children. That last day on the job was pretty much like any other except that everyone was a little keyed up for the holiday and busier than usual with last-minute details. By the time it was over I had worked up a first-rate headache and I wasn't looking forward at all to the boss's party. He made it a practice every year to invite the people from his department to stop by his house for a Christmas get-together. I suppose I could have passed it up but everyone was going and I felt almost obligated to attend, The streets were thick with a cold, wet fog as I drove across town, and the traffic was heavy with shoppers. By the time I got to my boss's house my headache was worse and I was sorry I hadn't gone straight home. But once inside it wasn't so bad. I chatted with the other fellows from the company and drank three eggnogs with them. Three was my limit. After a while my headache went away and my tension eased. Perhaps my reflexes also eased a bit, but at least I was relaxed. A little later, when I walked out to my car, I noticed the fog had thickened and there was real ice in the air. It even oc- curred to me that the roads might be a bit slick. I didn't think much about that, though, closed in by the car and with the heater going full blast. I was warm and content, further enclosed by the buffeting fog - and on my way home to share Christ- mas with my wife and family. When I looked down at the speedometer. I was surprised to see that I was ten miles over the speed limit. That gave me a moment of concern and I took my foot off the gas - too late. I looked up to find myself rocketing into a main intersec- tion. I was already too close to see the red light that had been hidden by the fog. All I could see was the couple directly in front of me, so close and surprised looking, pinned there by my headlights. As I remember it now, I had already heard the crunch of their bodies against my car by the time I got to the brakes. But even then the brakes didn't stop me. One mo- ment I was seeing those shocked, terrible faces: the next they were gone and I was skidding crazily across the intersection, where I finally crashed to a stop against a parked car. I struggled out of the car, my left side numb and lacerated from the impact, and stumbled back into the intersection. I found the woman first. She lay sprawled and bloody with her head at an impossible angle, obviously dead. Her husband was still alive, but he stopped breathing as I knelt beside him. I put my hand to his heart - and drew it back quickly from the crushed ribs. He shouldn't have lived even those few, agonized moments. If every driver in the country could have seen those torn and ruined bodies as I did, there would be far fewer deaths from carelessness. I stood staring down at them, unbelieving, surrounded by the litter of their death. Gaily wrapped packages spilled their contents onto the streets. There was a big, jolly Santa Claus sticker smeared with blood. And just down the street a loud speaker on a music store was playing Silent Night. I was sick right there in the street - and then I ran, heading for home on foot. I just had to get away from that place. In the distance I could hear the sound of sirens, but I kept going and tried to pretend they had nothing to do with me. Even when I felt another man's blood drying on my hand I couldn't believe what had happened, I had had three eggnogs and I could walk and talk as well as anyone. I wasn't one of those irresponsible drunks you read about in the papers. Kill someone? Other people did that sometimes, but not me. A lifetime of being just an ordinary person, a lifetime of not hurtingothers - let alone killing them - wouldn't let me accept it. It has been two years now since the police came to my house that night and arrested me. I've come to accept what happened, and to realize fully the price my own family has paid along with the family of the people I killed. Each day I remember that night more clearly - especially during this holiday season. And I know that because of my carelessness Christmas will never be the same again for many people. Now Christmas is here again and there is a feeling of festivity about. People will be finishing that last day of work and heading for home. They'll be stopping at office parties or at the boss's house or maybe at the neighborhood tavern - and depth and ugliness will seem a very long way away. But those things are never farther away than the moment's carelessness that always comes to the other guy. Two years ago I was that other guy. This year it could be you. "Everything I do lately seems to annoy you." Many Thanks . The Exeter Board of Trade extends sincere appreciation to those who contributed in any way to Saturday's successful Santa Claus parade. Special thanks to all those who entered floats or contributed to the cost of bands, costume rentals, treats, etc. and to the kindly OPP Sergeant from Lucan who climbed out of his sick bed to play his important role. Parade chairman Jim Hennessey also expresses his gratitude to the members who worked so hard to organize the event. Good News For Budget-Strained San tas • • . 20% FF SPORTING GOODS For All Ages Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 liteexefeames-Abuocate SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC Editor — Bill Batten -- Advertising Manager Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Women's Editor — Gwyn Whilsmith Phone 235.1331 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation, March 31, 1972, 5,037 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada ;8.00 Per Year; USA $10.00 Supreme Salad Dressin Westons Fruit Cake Golden Hour Assorted Chocolates Cream Corn NAVEL Oranges 9 32 oz. 654 2 Las.$1.29 140z, 994 14 ox. 2 /4 94 Doz. 594 Requires some consideration Inhumanity goes on and on 15 Years Ago Retiring clerk-treasurer, R.W. Morlock was presented with a chair recently by municipal officials of Stephen township. A barn owned by Howard Pym, RR 1, Centralia, prominent junior farmer and 4-H club leader, burned to the ground Tuesday night. Two head of Mr. Pym's Holstein herd were lost in the blaze along with a large quantity of hay, straw and grain. Ervin Ratz, RR 3, Dashwood, won the $150 draw in Exeter Businessmen's Association Christmas jackpot Saturday night. His ticket was selected by Constable John Cowan, Making one of his numerous trips to school concerts in the area, Santa Claus listened to requests from Hurondale School children following their program Tuesday night. The annual SHDHS com- mencement variety show will be presented this week. 10 Years Ago The final canvassing for the Canadian Bible Society was completed in the area this week, and total donations reached $885, This is $85 more than last year. GIC L.H. Randall, RCAF Centralia CO, presented James B, Kirkland, ' Exeter, with a department of national defense award of merit for 15 years' service. Mr. Kirkland. worked at the station as a messman from 1948-53 The annual turkey rolls are being staged and so far, 24 of the birds have been won, In the women's leagues, Mary Goodwin and Alice Arthur won for high triples and Doreen Prance and Audrey Fairbairn won birds for thier high singles, To prize winner among the area 4-H clubs who received prize money was Donald Weigand, who placed first in both the Zurich calf and tractor maintenance clubs. The initial canvass for the Exeter and District Swimming Pool campaign already has raised Over $4,000. There's a typical Canadian tragedy in the making right now, and it may be too late to avert it, unless there is a hue and cry that will rattle the halls of parliament. I use the word "typical" because it has happened again and again in this country, and we have lived to regret it. Prompted by political or pecuniary motives, Canada has gone a long way toward destroying its very self and the things that make it most dear to the average Canadian. I am referring to pollution and the disturbance of the balance of nature. In the name of progress we have fouled our own nest, time and again, until an outsider would think we enjoyed living in our own mess. Item. Lake Erie, with some friendly help from our old bud- dies, the Yanks, has been turned into a vast cesspool, which is almost unreclaimable. Item. Paper mills and other industries have been pouring their poisons into Lake Superior for years. Item. If you took a drink of water out of Hamilton bay, you'd probably be rusting within twenty-four hours. Item. Huge industries continue to belch into the air over our big cities, until you'd think there was a continual fall of black snow. Item. Two of our magnificent rivers, the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, are running, open sewers. That's a very brief sampling. And now that idiot Bourassa, prime minister of Quebec, in an attempt to save face after mishandling everything from the FLQ kidnappings to the unem- ployment situation, has launched the James Bay Project. Maybe you don't know much about it, and it's all so far away that it's like a flood in China. But that's what we thought about all the other signs of "progress', it is not? "Oh, they'll never pollute the Great Lakes. They're too big. So dump the garbage boys, and flush out the tanks." "What? Pollute the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence? Impossible. Too much running water, Why should we build a sewage disposal plant? Let 'er run into the river." "Don't be stupid. Squawk about the big plants polluting and there won't be no jobs for nobody." We've said it all, and heard it all, But what heritage are we leaving behind for our children, and theirs? A great big pile of you know what. Letting Bourassa and his boys play around with the James Bay project is like letting a couple of bright science students play around with a nuclear bomb, Here's the picture. The Quebec government plans a hydro project in the James Bay area, one of the last great wilderness areas in eastern North America. It is a mammoth scheme. Some estimates place the cost at $10 billion. Yep. Billion, Where is that kind of money going to come from? Plan is to tinker with up to ten dams and seven rivers which run into James Bay. The damage to the area affected, 170,000 square If you want to enjoy a lively discussion these days, simply mention the "Big Toe", Exeter's recently opened coffee house. It has been in the headlines for the past couple of weeks, and while all the publicity has been far from favorable, it has cer- tainly helped to achieve one goal in that people now know about it. We've refrained from any comment to date, primarily because we have been unable to find sufficient time in the Christmas bustle to drop in and see how the coffee house is operating. However, Thursday night, we sat in on a meeting with some of the proponents of the coffee house and some other local citizens and came away at least with a better understanding of the aims of the coffee house, as seen through the opinions of two of the main backers, Fred Simmons and Dave Brooks. It may surprise a few of our readers to know that there are within this community, many young peope who don't have home — both literally and figuratively. For these people, the coffee house provides a real need, and some adults perhaps should hang their heads in shame that it took a group of young people to attempt to fill the need. However, the majority of young people find the coffee house an alternative to sitting in restaurants, standing on street corners or driving aimlessly about in their cars. Many of the young people are among those whom people consider the "good" kids within the community, while others are certainly at the other end of the scale. It is frequented by youths who take drugs, and certainly this is a concern of many in the com- munity; and is often cited as one of the main reasons why it should not be allowed to exist. However, there are also many young people within our schools who take drugs. There is also a strong likelihood that even some youths who attend area churches take drugs. Should the schools and chur- ches be closed down? It should be clearly understood by everyone that the adult ad- visors and the youths themselves have set forth hard and fast rules that drugs are not allowed on the premises at the Big Toe. Fred indicates that anyone enquiring where drugs may be obtainedleave is quickly asked to + + + That may present some of the positive aspects of the coffee house and certainly there are miles, larger than the whole United Kingdom, is incalculable. The sub-soil, known to be un- stable, has taken hundreds of years to build up on the solid rock. The tremendous weight of water in the artificial lakes — some of them 70 miles long — could cause earthquakes, land- slides, who knows what? The lakes themselves are big enough to affect the climate of the whole area. Worse, the change in freshwater flow into James Bay could delay the spring breakup in the Bay, and make winter longer. This could affect the temperature of the water flowing out of Hudson Bay, which joins the Labrador current going south, and this in turn could make the whole eastern seaboard colder. Project this a little further and it could affect the entire fishing industry on the Atlantic shores, And worst of all is the callous — Please turn to page 5 some negative ones as well. Police Chief Ted Day has voiced some great concerns, and while many object to his manner of presenting those concerns, he has an obligation to the com- munity to express his fears as he sees them. Many missed his point that he was attempting to advise parents and the young people about some of the problem areas in the hope that steps would be taken to alleviate them. A warning based on cir- cumstantial evidence may be questioned by some, but it is still better than waiting until concrete evidence crops up that would result in closing the Big Toe down. + + + This writer, having in- vestigated coffee houses some time ago, is of the opinion that adult supervision is required at all times. It is certainly not a guarantee against problems arising, but it is a strong deterrent. We do not suggest the adult Advisors must be in the forefront. Obviously many of the youths involved are quite capable of running their own affairs as they are in such organizations as high school student councils, A successful advisor speaks only when questioned or when he feels the situation has reached a point where he must step into intervene. The big problem, of course, is 50 Years Ago While Mr. Frank Taylor was running a shaper at the Ross- Taylor planing mill on Tuesday afternoon, in some manner his hand came in contact with the knives and as a result, he lost part of the ring finger of his right hand. The "Stand Bys", a class of boys of the Main St. Sunday School had a very enjoyable outing Saturday at the home of their teacher, Mr. Charles Aldworth, Sexsmith. The home of Mr. W.C. Pearce on the second concession of Hay narrowly escaped being destroyed by fire Tuesday evening last. The fire, which had started in the cellar, had gained considerable headway before noticed, but by the heroic efforts of the family and neighbors, it was soon under control. The South Huron Choral Society went to Clinton Thursday evening last and sang Handel's "Messiah", Several of the foreign delegates to the World's Temperance convention visited Exeter on Friday last on their tour of Western Ontario getting in- formation first hand of the success of the prohibition movement in Ontario. 2S Years Ago Provincial Constable John Ferguson has received a new provincial police car equipped with a two-way radio. Santa Claus arrived by air at RCAF Station Centralia and was greeted by the entire personnel. Monday was the heaviest day of Christmas mail when 46 bags arrived on the morning train. Mr. Gerald Lawson has just completed a course in horology, or watchmaking at the rehabilitation school in Toronto. Six of the new wartime houses are now ready for occupancy, Lucan's new water system, a $100,000 project was put into operation Thursday when Reeve Harold Culbert turned on the main valve. g g • WIDE SELECTION 0 OF JACKETS • HOME of FAMOUS NAME ti' to g SPORTING GOODS g v. 1 Nother's Trophiesi ri: tl EXETER iT 8 Anne Street — Just West of Main , & q iv .f g. PHONE 235-2261 ....v. it Itdztgitqtdtitilqisiz:ft ,.4et?At !gi Ait'rkiWgil:?:4t:?.t OrdtIttg#1:FW4Ni c:Nt.t:t UU g SAVE on these Pre-Christmas Values * * * ENTER OUR CHRISTMAS RED BRAND BEEF DRAW AND Blade Roasts lb• 79t Short Ribs lb 75t Ground Chuck.89t Shoulder Roasts lb.75t EXTRA VALUE Coleman Wieners 1 0 LB BM $499 Stock Up For The Holidays PEPSI or GINGER- ALE 28 oz. 6 FOR $ Plus Deposit BOYLE 'S LUCKY DOLLAR Dashwood 237.3471 Open Fri, Till 9 p.m. in finding people who are willing to spend some time at the coffee house. Obviously, if more adults were prepared to spend time with youths in the community we wouldn't have many of our present problems. ' In conclusion, we are con- vinced of the need for some type of youth drop-in centre. We are equally convinced that it must have adult supervision. The questionable point is whether it should be provided by the community or by the youths themselves. We feel it is the responsibility of the community, both from an interest and financial standpoint. It does not necessarily have to exist in its present location or form, nor do we think it has to be open six or seven days a week. A drop-in centre could be established for weekends in the upstairs of the town hall. It° is large enough to provide some room for cards, checkers or chess along with a ping pong table or craft corner, Washroom facilities are available and the rental cost could certainly be carried by the town, The situation deserves some serious dialogue from all con- cerned parents, citizens, service clubs and community leaders. What are your opinions? a 4 Place Your Orders NOW for Fresh Hayter's TURKEYS At Competitive Prices We Also Have Ducks, Geese and Chickens * * * WIN $35 Worth of Groceries * * * •IP a •