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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-07-26, Page 4Each year some 1,400 Canadian farm and rural residents are accidently killed, another 26,000 are injured and 1,500 are per- manently disabled. The accidental death rate on farms is twenty percent higher than the national rate. Those are the sobering and saddening facts complied by the Canada Safety Coun- cil at the outset of Farm Safety Week, being observed this year from July 25 to 31. Safety on the farm, is obviously riot something to be considered for only one week during the year. The statistics point out that rural residents must be aware of the potential dangers surrounding them for every minute, every day. Recent incidents in this area indicate how quickly a person can become a victim, and how serious injuries can be. Farming today is largely a mechaniz- ed operation and while mechanization has helped to bring about increased agricultural productivity and made life a little easier for the farmer, it also has in- creased the hazards on and about the farm. There are inherent hazards in all types of machinery but the biggest cause of farm machinery accidents is still human error — ignorance of, or failure to follow, safe operating practices. Failure to keep guards and shielding in place or attempting to service equipment while it is running are among the most com- mon causes of farm machinery accidents. It is also a distressing fact that youngsters in the under-10 age group ac- count for 10 percent of the machinery deaths. Farm machines are meant to be work- ing tools and not used for joy rides. Farmers must also realize that the larger equipment in use today requires operators to have the physical capacity, experience and judgement to handle them properly. There are numerous other causes of farm accidents, ranging from improper handling and storing of fuels and chemicals to imprudent operation of farm vehicles on public highways. Safety must he considered one of the most important elements of farming, because without it, everything else can be lost, The intolerably high accident rate among the rural population must be reduc- ed and it will take a concerted effort. Looking for honest people it is, an increasingly saddening spec- table to watch the Watergate scandal as it unfolds week by week. For it demonstrates that many men in high places — people in public positions of trust — are gradually forgetting the meaning of plain honesty. The Watergate is so much more than a series of monstrous mistakes and serious crimes emanating from the White House. The Watergate is a symbol of our times. Certain men are prepared to go to extremes to gain either wealth or power and indeed both, for power equals money, and money usually can buy power. The fact that Watergate and the sex scandals in Britain — as well as the monumental money frauds now coming to light in different nations — capture the headlines is significant. For it indicates a yearning among the ordinary people for good and true men to lead them. An honest man is the noblest work of creation. And there are countless millions of honest men around the world. But too often they are deprived, by lack of educational opportunities, by mere cir- cumstance, of the chance to attain positions of leadership. Then there are others, so dis- gusted by the fact that men who are but common criminals can gain such power and wealth, that they keep away from public life and politics altogether. No amount of modern technology can replace the basic ethic that has been es- tablished by mankind over the centuries. The morality that guides good men along right paths has many names. It is to be hoped that the tragedy that is Watergate will throw forward men with vi- sion — not just south of the border — but in various lands and regions where honest government today is lacking. Some sad statistics We're off ... thanks to you PROCLAMATION By authority vested in me by the Municipal Council of the Town of Exeter, hereby proclaim Monday, Aug. 6 a Civic Holiday for the town of Exeter and I respectfully request all citizens to observe it as such. JACK DELBRIDGE, Mayor 11111111111111111111•111111mumwmesessammiuma 1111111 urINIMINSTerli YOUR ROOF GETS THE FULL BRUNT OF THE WEATHER. CHECK IT NOW FOR ANY DEFECTS AND SAVE. SEAL TAB ROOFING Comes in a variety of colors. Seals down for protection against high wind and blow- ing water. $11.95 sq, GALVANIZED GUTTER Baked finish lasts for years. Will not peel, Complete line of accessories in stock. BALL-MACAULAY LIMITED CLINTON SEAFORTH HENSALL 482-9514 527.0910 262-2713 1 Money service custom built to your needs Not just mortgages — not just savings — but a lull range of the financial services most people need. High, high interest on Guaranteed Investment Certificates — low cost safety deposit boxes — registered retirement savings plans — estate administration .. . V and G has a wide ranee of money services custom built to your individual needs. Call us? Member Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation VG The senior Trust Company devoted entirely to sewing the people of Ontario. VICTORIA and GREY TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1889 ROPonNh e235 COTTRELL0503 Manager /Mow nvF .rea.FOL-70'.1" Ofeale ,sir #fdr7J,r44.1,4014e 7rATFl 1/14bu4Nr.s it Kifie/r nMY ohh Ai/0,r Intimations of mortality When I was young and ignorant and life was forever, nothing bored me more than "old people" talking so much about death. As soon as my Dad received his hometown weekly paper, he would flip to the obituaries and read them to my mother, in- terspersing the printed word with comments about the deceased. Often the latter was a distant cousin, or someone father had gone to school with or someone he'd worked for as a boy. He'd recall where the dead person had lived, what he'd done and some of his peculiarities. I couldn't imagine why my mother could be bothered listening. She didn't, of course. She was much too busy bustling around, cooking or sewing or doing a wash. But she pretended to, and would drop in the oc- casional comment or correct him on a date. Now that I am old and not quite so ignorant and realize the brevity of our stay, I can un- derstand, It wasn't a morbidity on my father's part. It was an interest in, and awareness of, the fact that death comes for us all, even for the archbishop. He knew it was closing in on his generation, quietly but relen- tlessly. I am not about to start reading obituaries as a regular pre- dinner treat, but I did read three lately, with a sense of almost personal loss, though I didn't know any of the three "in- volved", if that's the word. Joe E. Brown. The name means nothing to young people today. But it recalled for me Saturday afternoon at the Times Established 1873 matinee, almost falling out of my seat from laughing at the antics of this great clown. Betty Grable. She was never much of an actress, but she was a great Hollywood personality, in the days when there were such creatures, Pin-up girl of the western world before the centre- page, all-nude fold-out was dreamed of. Veronica Lake. Fell half in love with her when I saw her first movie, She contrived to look sexy and sinful in the days before bikinis and bra-less bosoms. Brown was an old man. But Grable and Lake were in their fifties, forgotten by the world but not exactly doddering. Each had a distinguishing speciality . Joe E. Brown had a mouth about the size of half a water melon. Gable had legs that inspired an innocent sort of lust at a time when an ugly, exposed navel would have been just that, Lake wore long, blonde hair over one eye. Half the girls in town went around half- blind trying to emulate her hair- do. My feelings of nostalgia were brought to a focus yesterday. My wife and I were at the beach. She was flat out, turning black under the sun, as is her wont. I was sitting up like a gentleman, in a chair, carefully covered, but still turning red in exposed areas, as is my wont. Near us on the sand was a young couple, very handsome, with a little boy, very bad. He was bugging the life out of them: kicking sand in their faces; throwing cold water on their hot, dry bodies; running off and having to be fetched; demanding that his father do six things at once. But he was cute. My wife watched, then asked nostalgically and tenderly, "Would you like to be young again like that, with the little ones?" I thought carefully for 12 or 13 seconds and replied, "No." I meant it. When I look at my flab, I'd like to be twenty, even ten years younger. When my seed wart is throbbing and my bursitis in the shoulder is burning like acid, I'd like to be thirty years younger. But when I think of the agony and the ecstasy of starting all over again, raising those kids, sanity speaks. Days at the beach, sure. But, even though watching them like hawks, the sudden disappearance of one, and the frenzied running up and down, searching, until the child was found playing with a dog, forty feet from the water. Summer nights in a small town, yes. Until a four-year-old vanished at bedtime, and the frantic running around the block, calling wildly, knowing there was a deep ditch full of water, and the rage when little miss was discovered watching TV next door. Nope. Sweating out music festival adjudicators' remarks I can do without. • Trying to steer out of drugs and into education I can manage to give up. I think I can even sacrifice Santa Claus parades and riding By the time our reader(s)' get• around to perusing this week's epistle, yours truly will be on his way to a two-week holiday sojourn in La Belle Province. For those of you who are not as bilingual as the editor, that means Quebec. Earlier this year, a letter was circulated by the Quebec-Ontario Journalist Exchange inviting applications for their first ex- change program for journalists of the printed and spoken media, The writer entered, and for some reason still unknown, was one of three applicants accepted to participate. So, for the next two weeks we'll be making our headquarters in Lachute, Quebec, a town located about half way between Montreal and Ottawa. During our stay, we'll be studying the way of life in a Quebec community and will have full details upon our return. The most pleasing aspect of the trip is that it will be financed by the government. Ontario will pay for the three Ontario journalists going to Quebec and that province will pick up the tab for three coming to Ontario. So, dear readers, when you look at the deductions on your pay cheque for the next two weeks, don't feel too badly about the slice being taken out for Ontario income tax purposes. The pleasure in the fact that some of that hard-earned cash of yours is paying for a holiday trip for the kindly editor. Now, doesn't that make you feel good? Consider it as money being well spent and rest assured that we'll only eat steak (or is it pork chops now?) every other day to keep the tab as low as possible so you may have enough money left from your deductions to at least take the family on a walking tour to Sarepta. We know you won't mind the sacrifice you're making on our behalf. + + + The entire Batten clan will be making the trip, and as you would expect, everyone is looking with tots on the ferris wheel at the midway. No, I don't want to be young again. It's too hard on a chap. I'm saving what's left for my grand- children. We'll walk on the beach, and in the woods, And I'll answer, from my pinnacle of ignorance, all those impossible questions kids ask. And when I'm stuck, I'll say, "Go and ask your grannie." Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? It's great to be getting old. Well, anyway, older. rffEvon 17,4. 7-1MFFic "G. 5Ays) forward to it with much an- ticipation. We've been practicing our French for a few weeks now and our eldest son is of the opinion he will have no problems conversing fluently with his Quebec cousins. After all, he successfully completed his grade three French course, so what more could you want! Yours truly has his "Je ne parle-pas French" down pat, realizing full well that it will be his most important phrase for the next few days. Having spent a few days in Montreal last year, it didn't take long to realize that our four-year French course at the local alma mater was completely useless. We have trouble keeping pace, with the quick-tongued French- men even when their speaking' English, let alone try to pick up a word or two in French. Prior to our departure, we sent away for some literature sup- plied by the government of Quebec, and it details how to ask many necessary questions in French. However, we fail to understand what validity there is in stum- bling along in asking some Quebecois in his native tongue how you get to the washroom if you don't know what he says in reply. It appears much safer to show your ignorance in the first place and hope he knows more English than you know French. And for some things — especially when one of the lads has to get to the john — the less 50 Years Ago The Ladies Aid of Caven Presbyterian Church held a most successful garden party on the lawn of Mr. E.J. Christie on Friday evening last. The grounds and booths were made very at- tractive with Japanese lanterns and bunting. Vendors, in costume, sold bananas from a pushcart. The gypsy fortune teller was on hand. The Exeter Band enlivened the proceedings with some stirring music. Messrs. T.S. Woods, J.A. Stewart, W.W. Taman and B.G. Seldon were in Kitchener taking in the W.O.B.A. tournament. Mr. Seldon was elected vice- president of the association. Mr. E.J. Homey, who has had charge of the Dominion Store in Exeter ever since they opened up here, is leaving next week for Mitchell to take charge of a new branch which the company is opening up in that town. The community games and vesper service held by the young people of James Street Church are growing in interest and at- tendance, 25 Years Ago Clinton was invaded Monday by 3,500 Orangemen and their families to celebrate the 258th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, Thomas Pryde MLA has received word that the contract for resurfacing highway 4, from the south boundary of Huron County north as far as Kippen, has been let to the Brennan Construction Company. Exeter Horse Races were rained out Wednesday afternoon and had to be called off after the first race. Over 400 invitations have been mailed for Winchelsea Old Boys' and Girls' Reunion to be held August 2. 15 Years Ago A wedding trip to their new Morrie in Nnmark followed the time wasted in translating, the better the chance of avoiding accidents. This is the first time in some 10 years that the writer has taken two weeks off in a row, and there's some question whether we'll be able to stand the pace, However, rest assured we'll give it a good shot. Gwyn Whilsmith will be taking over our advertising beat for the two weeks, while Ross Haugh will assume' command of the ship. This is the first year that the T- A hasn't closed down for a week and we trust our readers and contributors will bear with us to see if we can manage to give the staff a holiday and still keep things on the go. Actually, the editor is secretly hoping that all sorts of misfor- tunes strike and that the paper will be a day or two late on each of his weeks away just to prove he's indispensable. We're only doing it, because we knokv the other staff members are hoping for the same thing during their vacation, Knowing a couple of our cohorts, we fear they'll work around the clock and get the next issue out a day earlier just to prove that the Quebec holidayer is the one who really slows them down around here. At any rate, we're off. C'est le vie! marriage in RCAF Station Chapel, Centralia, on Saturday, July 19 of Annabelle Dewar and Mogens Pilgaard Kristensen of the Royal Danish Air Force. The groom has just completed the RCAF training program under the NATO program. Over 300 attended the Huron Federation of Agriculture open air service at the United Church summer camp near Goderich Sunday afternoon. After a ser- mon on "Power" and music by the Salvation Army Band of Wingham, Tiger Dunlop WI served lunch, Eleven bands participated in the second annual tattoo at the Exeter Community Park Friday evening. Three Exeter bands took part and the massed bands were led by bandmaster Ted Walper at the close of the evening. C.S. MacNaughton, Huron MLA and Mrs. MacNaughton attended the Governor General's luncheon in honor of Princess Margaret at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Thursday, 10 Years Ago Construction of a swimming pool in Exeter will begin around Labor Day, the committee decided last week. Funds for the bathouse are expected to be raised by next summer. The main pumphouse for Exeter's new sewerage system reflects the sporty new look engineers are giving to what's always been considered pretty mundane business. The tablet erected on a stone monument by the Old Boys and Girls in 1935 at the south end of town to honor Exeter's first council was removed to River- view Park. Mr. and Mrs. John Teevins of Grand Bend were presented with a $25 cheque by the federal post office department to reward them for foiling a possible rob- bery of the Grand Bend post office June 16. 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 — Susan Greer Phone 2354331 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0184 Paid in Advance Circulation, March 31, 1072,5,037 SUBSCRIPTION RATES:. Canada $8,00 Per Year; LISA $10.00 EINISTILIMAMAIMata=rani.-.VMM.'24,1M6::a. : . FIJO:ZWO