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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-08-07, Page 4The accolades given Agriculture Minister William Stewart at last week's PC nominating convention were obviously out of the category of non-partisan, but nevertheless there would be few people on any side of the political fence who could argue with them. His resignation terminates a record 14 years in one of the most difficult portfolios, an obvious indication of his ability and durability, two attributes that go hand in hand, He's had his ups and downs, of course, but he's come through many minor and major skirmishes over policies with a record that has been above reproach, and there can be little doubt that Premier Bill Davis will have a most difficult task in naming a suitable replacement. Even if one of the opposition parties has that task after the upcoming election, they too will realize that Bill Stewart's abilities are difficult to duplicate. While he has had one of the most ar- duous tasks in the government over thepast 14 years, his efforts on the broader front didn't deter his representation of his own riding constituents. Somehow he managed to find the energies required to do both jobs well. The loss of his respected voice at Queen's Park will be missed by all whom he served, but he has earned his retirement and a debt of gratitude from all the residents of the province. The leisure years Retirement. The word conjures up visions of,endless hours of happy freedom. Why, then, is it such a disillusioning ex- perience for so many people? The natural tendency is to look forward to devoting unlimited time to travel, hob- bies, grandchildren, sports and entertain- ment. All of which are enjoyable. But when one actually comes to fill day after day in these ways, life can soon pall. Fulfilment is not achieved so easily. What's missing, according to psy- chologists and human relations con- sultants, is involvement in interests outside one's self. Taking part in community af- fairs, charities, church work or worthy fund raising projects offers such oppor- tunities. Can you teach English to a new Canadian? Offer volunteer service to some social agency or hospital? Take a part-time job? There are many other ways by which you can make a worthwhile contribution. As for hobbies, they can be wonderfully rewarding outlets for one's interests and energies. They can even prove to be the basis of a profitable second career. But to get the most out of any hobby, start taking it up in earlier years. Later, you'll have the necessary skill to allow you to get infinitely more fun and satisfaction out of your ef- forts. Especially if it's the kind of hobby you can share with others. Above all, leisure years are brightened by friendships, both old and new, and by maintaining a lively interest in the fascinating world around us. Given reasonably good health, you may well find that the November-December years are the best of your life. Make PLO welcome The Palestine Liberation Organization is the recognized organization of the Palestinian people, and there should be no question about making its representatives welcome in Canada, The United Church Observer says editorially in its current issue. Canadian judgment on the PLO has been "distorted (by) the enormous propg,gFidR, job done by pro-Israeli OigarOtations,"'Tlie:Observer says. "The vast majority of the Palestinian people support the PLO. It has been given status by the UN, and if it were to become a government in exile as it may, it would be recognized immediately by scores of coun- tries," the editorial says. While some Palestinians in organizations under the PLO umbrella have committed terrorists acts, The Observer says, "we don't see much difference in dead children killed by a terrorist bomb in an Israeli kibbutz, and dead children killed, by an Israeli bomb 'dropped by the Israeli Air Force on a refugee camp in Lebanon." VtetoteferZimes-Abuorafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.W.N.A. and ABC Publisher — Robert Southcoft Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager Assistant Editor Ross Haugh Plant Manager ,,— Les Webb Composition Manager — David Worby Phone 235-1331 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Crass Mail +CNA Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation Mardi 31, 1075 5,240 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $9,00 Per Year; USA $11.00 CCNA awe RIM% AWARD 1974 Just waiting for election call Our response to now By ELMORE BOOMER Counsellor for Information South Huron For appointment phone: 235-0560 Circus life A faithful! servant I. THINK MY VA/5 ARE NUMBERED - THE VOCTOR T0LP ME I W115 P19. SOUND A5 A POLLAK All are witnesses soft chubby curves, bright eyes and smiling faces. In many countries like India missionaries are no longer allowed to 'Christianize' as they have in the past. "Our witness to Christ is just in our being there serving and loving the unlovable, the sick and the dying", said Sister Ivana, On leaving the church one wondered what kind of witness we were making, Everything we do testifies to some extent to what we are, even when we testify falsely. Others may not `get' all that we say, or discern what we leave unsaid, what we cannot, or will not, or do not know how to spy. Nevertheless, what we say and what we do adds to what is good or what is bad in the world. And what we do is more im- portant than what we say. Normally we can tell the quality of a person's life by what he is witnessing, that is, in how he acts out his interpretation to life, his sense of what is important to him in this world, and his belief in God. The true Christian is the person who has caught the vision of Christ's glory and who is freed by God's Spirit to openly witness for Him. In fact he just can't help doing so. Some of us, however, would deaden our sensitivity to God and spoil our witness. We are the losers, for it is a fact of life that when we help or witness to others we also help ourselves. (Read Romans 12) Would that when others look at us they would say what two well- to-do Indian ladies said of Sister Ivana when, one day, they came upon her caring for the sick on the city streets. One asked the other, "Why is she doing that?" Her friend replied, "She does it because she is a Christian . . no one else would act that way." Sister Ivana's witness has no need for words, How about your's and mine? Summer in the country Sitting here writing a column in Grandad's office, a pair of shorts, and nothing else, I would have to work very hard at it to be anything but peaceful, and I'm not about to. Back home, my lawn is burning to a crisp, my roses are dying for lack of water, my cat, with any luck, has left for good, and some junkie has probably broken into the house and stolen the color TV, I don't care. Out there somewhere, people are hurtling along hot asphalt in 'the heat, cursing the ob- streperous kids in the back seat, and wishing they'd never started this stupid trip. Elsewhere, guys and dolls all over the world are hustling and sweating and trying to impress each other, and pursuing the ever -dwindling buck with maniacal intensity of purpose. Everywhere, politicians are cooking up new clouts for the next session, or thinking up new ways of saying: "Maybe yes, and maybe no, and maybe maybe." Somewhere, Atabs are killing Jews, and Jews•are killing Arabs, and Christians, in time-honored custom, are killing other Christians. Somebody is winning $30,000 in the Something-Or-Other-Open with a 24 foot putt, and somebody else is losing it by missing a four foot putt. • People are earnestly taking virtually useless summer courses which will fit them for practically nothing. Unexpected and unwelcome visitors are piling in on "old friends." The visitors unload two surly kids, one ill-mannered dog, and announce heartily: "Can't stay morena coupla days. Thought about gettin' a motel room, but knew you'd be hurt 'f we didden stay 'thyou." (Sound of old friends' eyes rolling.) My son is in Paraguay, South America, swimming a piranha- infested river, or slouching through the jungle, kicking poisonous snakes out of the way, or lying in a native hut, wracked with by malaria. My only daughter is trapped in a box on the ninth floor of an apartment building, in the heat, with an 18-month hell-on-wheels boy clutching her sawed-off jeans, and a little sister in the oven, ready to join him just about on his second birthday and oh, dear, isn't it awful. Imagine having two babies in two years in these times, (Sound of Gran, gnashing teeth.) And about all of these things, all the hurly and the burly, all the muss and the fuss, all the higgle and piggle, all of the ever-lasting human struggle to prove that God's in His heaven and all's wrong with the world, or the opposite, I don't care, I just don't give a diddley- dam'. Why not? Because, at this time and in this place, I have irrefutable proof that He is in His heaven, and there ain't nobody who could improve on the world just as it is, right now. It's a cool-hot perfect Canadian day. Hot sun, cool breeze. Whatever your thermometer says, it's about 83 Fahrenheit here. I raise my head from the typewriter, and roses lean toward me, a big, matronly maple ruffles her bustles in the breeze, like a lady caught in a body-rub parlor. On the top rail of the fence, 10 feet away, two retarded robins are singing, and making, over- tures. A denuded lilac bush is whispering : "Yes, but wait 'til next year." Along the back fence, the hollyhocks stand, not row on row, but in little groups, muttering together, tossing their heads in the breeze, and looking down their long, cool shoulders at the upstart blue delphiniums, which bear a gleam of miscegenation in their eyes. Just beyond them is a field of uncut, late, late hay, bowing and tossing and rippling like a blonde teenager who has just discovered she just might be a beautiful woman. Raise the eyes but one more degree, and there, framed in green foliage, is the deep-blue -'.':AW:WgEMEZMZSSEs Amalgamated 1924 The battle lines have been drawn for the upcoming provincial election in the new riding of Huron-Middlesex and it promises to be a most interesting affair, The turn-out at last week's PC nominating convention indicates quite clearly that the party hopeful have not lost any en- thusiasm after their defeat in the by-election. No doubt a large number had been attracted to the meeting through the persuasive powers of the three candidates who had been out seeking votes. It was a keenly contested battle, which was to be expected with the calibre and popularity of the three men. Jim Hayter's appeal as a candidate who could be expected to do well in his present home area of Goderich as well as his former stomping grounds in the Stephen Township area was perhaps the clinching basis for his narrow margin over Bill Amos. The latter was certainly the most impressive speaker of the three and had some concrete platforms to present which, to this writer, indicated he was perhaps the most capable of the three. However, nominations are generally won by the person whom the party backers feel will garner the most votes in an election and not necessarily by the person who would make the best representative for the riding should he win that election. That is not intended to cast aspersions on any candidate or party, but rather indicates only that the electorate are too often fickle in their choices at the poll. They tend to consider a per- • sonality to a great extent and overlook the more desired qualities of clear-thinking and conscientiousness. As that astute Goderich lawyer Jim Donnelly noted at the con- vention, the idea is to present a candidate who will get the most votes. Our political system dictates that choice, because even if a party attracts the best brains in the country to contest an election, it all goes for nought if they can't get elected. + + + While readers have been sweltering through one of the hottest summers in recent years, neauty of the two-mile-wide bay, with the high, rolling shoreline on the other side, and the cottages so tiny that you can't see the squalling, grunting, sweaty humans in and around them. Ah, but it's lovely. And peaceful. And lonely. Not lonesome, but the good kind of lonely, when you don't want another human being, even a loved one, to spoil the mood. Maybe that's it. My Loved One is away down the gravel road, exchanging hysterical tales about their children with an old school friend. Grandad, an incorrigible 83- year-old, is out belting around his 40-mile mail route. This morning, I saw a hawk. When I was little, the chickens, who were all psyched up, would scuttle, the kids would all scream with delight: "A hawk! A hawk!" and the farmer would run in for his shotgun. Nobody even noticed this guy. He looked like a skinny, ancient kite, peering down for the dead body of a Roman legionnaire, perhaps. No chickens. No legionnaires (I haven't paid my dues). It was kind of sad. Down in the Bay, there is a big rainbow trout just waiting to show me some tricks. Yesterday, I saw two partridge flush just outside Grandad's "office" window. Tomorrow I'll see three deer standing up by the fence, looking curious, Tomorrow I'll care about the world again, and all the had things and good things hap- pening in' it. But right now, at this time, in this place, I don't care. God may be out to lunch, as I frequently suspect, But whoever it filling in for Him at this moment is doing One helluva job, if you'll pardon the expression. they may have escaped the fact that scientists have found that northern sections of our nation are losing their agricultural productivity because of a steady long-term trend towards cooler weather. The Science Council of Canada notes that this adds more impetus to the need to block all future industrial expansion into the strip of rich farmland in the south. It has been indicated that unless Canada changes its way regarding growth, it could become a net importer of food by the end of the century. That is, if there is enough food elsewhere to import. As an example of how in- dustrial growth affects us, scientists have explained that the area allocated for the new Toronto airport at Pickering is in the best five percent of Canada's farmland, and the acreage in- volved could provide annual food supplies for 40,000 people. Obviously we can no longer afford the loss of such land! + + + The Exeter Agricultural Society tractor pull. takes place I am very fond of corn on the cob, While writing to a close friend who had urged me to lose weight, I mentioned a, little guilty about having eatin so much of it lately. But I excused myself with: "I don't put any butter on it. By return mail, I received a three word answer from my 'friend: "Neither do pigs." During a debate over how to expand the sewage-treatment plant in one mid-western city, the sewage superintendent apprarently felt that his department was being insulted. "The only trouble with sewage," he protested "is that it's got a bad image." 50 Years Ago Hydro has been extended to the village of Bayfield. A business place on Main St. was raided on Thursday last and several empty cases and a part bottle of booze was found on the premises, Mr. C. B. Snell has made ex- cavation and put in the foun- dation for a new home on Anne St. Dr. Moir, of Hensall, has purchased the farm of Mr. John Bell, a mile south of the village of Hensall. Mr, Frank W, Tom has been nominated to the General Assembly of Ohio State. A $7,000 by-law to provide for an addition to the High School was passed by the council. 25 Years Ago • Mrs. E. J. Miners of Exeter will on Thursday celebrate her 91st birthday, A five-ton truck loaded with loose grain overturned in a ditch and adjoining field. The wheat owned by Sam Hendrick of the Bluewater Highway was being trucked to Hensall for processing. Mr. Oscar Anderson of Sarnia, a former employee of the Times- Advocate (who now owns his own printing plant) called on friends in Exeter this week. Veterans Land Act settlement officers swarmed over the farm of Alex MaCIntosh about two miles west of Lucan in a practical training demonstration of balanced farming, Mail carrier Norman Long of Kippen apprehensive that mail had not been taken from the box of Thomas N, Forsythe notified relatives who found he had suffered a heart attack, W. A. Balkwill with his wife and daughter is visiting with his mother, Mrs. 5, A, Balkwill, Bill Is personnel manager and pur- chasing agent for two con- struction units of the 11.C.A.F, this weekend, and there are suggestions that you should at- tend if you want an opportunity to see this type of action. With our declining fuel sup- plies, such exhibitions may be terminated due to the vast amount of fuel consumed by the machines in a non-productive manner. The same goes for car races, air shows and a hundred and one other attractions that just can't be termed reasonable at a time when some industries face slow- downs due to a decline in fuel availability. However, that situation won't affect the show this week, so get out and see the event before it becomes extinct. + + + Over the past week, con- struction crews have been busy digging up the roadway in front of the writer's house, and while the mess hasn't been too great at time of writing, no doubt some heavy rain can be expected in the next few days to turn the road- way into a quagmire. Ideal weather conditions throughout most of the con- struction project have made it easier to live with for most local residents and it's been a great boon to many mothers, if the experience at the Batten residence is any indication. Our lads have been just as busy as the construction crew and the front lawn (all three blades of it) has been filled with toy diggers, trucks and bulldozers as the kids mimic the actions of the big jobs. It provided two full days' en- tertainment and never once did they have to ask mom what they could do, We notice that a few of our senior neighbors have also found the work activity one way to pass some time as they assume the role of sidewalk superintendents. 10 Years Ago The Exeter municipal council were hosts at a banquet Wed- nesday, July 28, at the Dufferin Hotel, Centralia, to honor Mr. C. V. Pickard whose retirement as clerk of the town took place August 1. In a sobering moment at the meeting of Exeter Town Council last week, members duly moved, seconded and passed a motion that smoking will no longer be allowed at the sessions held in the rather stuffy council chambers. Don Taylor, formerly of Exeter and now working out of Hamilton has been tranferred to Nigeria. Mr. Taylor has been with the I.B.M. company for the past three years and will take over new duties with that company in Nigeria effective September 14, 15 Years Ago No interest has been shown here yet in construction of the basement fallout shelters ad- vocated by the Diefenbaker gov't, a T-A survey this week reveals, Jane Horton, Hensall topped the graduating class from South Huron District High School with an average of 86 percent, It is reliably reported that the Ontario Liquor Control Board is purchasing the site of the old cidar mill, formerly operated by Sylvanus Cann, for its store here. One London man has been arrested and charged with fraud and a warranthas been issued for the arrest of the second in con- nection with repair work done to private residences in this area, Three patrols of Exeter Boy Scouts are enjoying a camp on Georgian Bay, In charge is S. M. Douglas Harrison, assisted by Hal Hooke and Jim Sweitzer. Patrol leaders are John Mac- Naughton, Fred Learn and Ted Wilson. Last Sunday, I listened to a Sister who has spent over 40 years working and living with the hopeless and the desolate in India, She told of bet—work with lepers and with children who have been abandoned either because their parents are both dead or are sick and unable to care for them. She showed us pictures of some of the people she helps whose hands, feet and faces have been partially eaten away by leprosy. Though terrible disfigured they were clean, and in their eyes there glowed a certain peace, a quiet acceptance and even a trace of humor. These are the outcasts of society and the good Sister told us of finding one young leper sick and dying on the platform of a railway station. Because of his despised condition many people spat on him as they passed by. Transporting him to her little' hospital she cleaned him up, gave him some nourishment and made him as comfortable as possible. He told her he was a high school graduate who had contacted leprosy just before he was to enter college, His family were so terrified the dread disease might infect the rest of them they thrust him out of their home, For a long time he travelled from pillar to post, from city to city seeking help but finding none. When it finally came in the form of Sister Ivana it was too late for his physical body but when he died he did so with someone at his side who loved him and showed com- passion. We also saw slides of babies, brought to the home so full of worms and so emaciated from malnutrition they looked like ugly, scraggly, scared little animals. Yet, pictures taken a few months later revealed what love, care and food could tran- sform . . . bodies rounded out in Circus life is sharper than ordinary life. The kids are smarter. Five year old Latika replies im- mediately, "Three times 50? - that's 150." He can say his ABC's too. His mother teaches him at home by correspondence courses until he is ready to go to. high school. Latika and his brother are already training at five and four years respectively to be part of the circus. "Latika will be in an act as soon as he perfects his back flip." His uncle is training him. "The sooner the better for his confidence," he adds. Romance is intensified, Circus life is characterized by the short liaison, or if permanent, a very permanent marriage. Acts move from show to show. People ape not with the same circus for two seasons in a row. This is true especially for the younger performers who are not yet established. To marry is to break up an act, A troupe is dispersed. Marriage then is not just the joiming of two persons. A new team is formed and a new act becomes a reality. Any new friendship is reported along the efficient grapevine. Everyone is a contact in the small, closely knit circus com- munity. Everyone knows each other and their doings. And there is a compulsion to it, Babi Young had to elope to marry prop handler Eddie Belle. Prop handlers are below the prestigious performers. So Babi left the circus for three months. She had never been as free before, But when her father called desperately, the act could not go on without her, She went back. Her husband is now part of the act. Days off are now few, Christian DeGraff takes on a new identity in the ring. He is then Santani Demon. He walks He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. As rain gets into an ill-thatched house, so craving gets into an ill- trained mind. down stair steps of swords (they're supposed to be sharp) and leaves through a revolving ring of fire and sharp daggers (Are they on hinges?) His very presence commands silence. He used to be an acrobat but that doesn't turn him on any more. Nobody watches. What he has now makes people look and in this is the sparkle of life. Who cares as to the truth of the acts.. The people are there to be entertained, hoax or no. Cynicism is all around. People watch and people put on their acts. And the world goes around. Compulsion again is to be noted in Sam Garden, president of the Garden Bros, Three Ring Circus. He's gripped by the circus and evangelizes for it. "My hope is that when we're through the 110 towns we have contracted, we'll just keep going past Vancouver and down the west coast of the United States, and not have the season end," Our Mr. Garden hopes that in a couple of years they'll have two troupes, They look forward to achieving at least number two spot, No one can compete with Ringling Bros., Circus. But who knows when number two level is attained what ambitions will spring up! Suffice it to say,' to be in the circus you must promote, It is a most competitive business in the world. Free tickets are sent to institutions for the deaf and retarded, Then if possible, sponsors are found to pay for the tickets. It seems fair, as Mr. Garden terms it; the charities get half of the net profit which is often five percent. of the gross receipts. Another gateway to the dollar is found. Last year was the best year for the Garden Bros. The recession helped. Families couldn't spend money so freely so had to choose something the whole family could enjoy without too much money being spent. The entertainment value seems to be here. Dan Proudfoot wrote a lively sketch of circus life in the Weekend Magazine recently. He commented, "I joined Garden Bros Three Ring Circus for a week, which was long enough to step inside some secrets, and long enough to ache for the an- swers to more." Imagine the wheels turning in my mind as I heard of a cartoon in a French Newspaper depicting a Russian and an American shaking hands in space over the caption: The Biggest Circus of Them All! Answers! Answers all over the place! But questions,? Also questions! Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881