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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1978-05-11, Page 6Times-Advocate, May 11,19786 The readers write THE WH LL and FLOORSHOPPE the junction EXETER'S LARGEST DEPARTMENT STORE FLOOR COVERING * WALLPAPER FAMILY CLOTHING • DRAPES • FABRICS r [,rj w Dear Sir: We of “good taste”, cap take comfort in th© decision of the executive of the Huron County Council to lend its support to the banning of “dirty books” in senior high school classes. In presenting such a motion to council, the Bayfield Reeve said: “It was the feeling of the executive committee there should be a return to good taste in literature." Those of us who are disturbed over the decline in all the arts have now found the champion we need. There are far too few today who have a familiarity with and understanding of literature — sufficient to qualify them for the right to determine what others should read. This is most appropriately illustrated in the deep insight displayed in the Deputy Reeve’s ob­ servation. It is difficult to escape the cleverly concealed wisdom in his statement: “I think it’s the next thing to por­ nography and I can’t really tell the difference.” Such enlightened declarations emphasize the eminent qualifications of the Council and do suggest that we may not have been giving it the credit it deserves. How fortunate the residents of Huron County are! Their elected council representatives have not interpreted their mandate so narrowly as to be concerned only with political, govern­ ment and administration matters. With remarkable insight they have recognized that the electors voted them into office in order to have them deal with educational matters, book banning, censorship and “a return to good taste in literature.” This perception, of course, makes the residents doubly fortunate; they in turn can expect only good taste in all of Council’s reports and public utterances. No senior high school students need fear any objectionable material in Council’s communications. We do commend council for its stand; but we wonder if it has gone far enough. We would like to think that it will extend the scope of its concern beyond the three novels the members want banned. Although John Steinbeck has won the Nobel Prize for literature, this is no reason not to be grossly offended by his Of Mice and Men. ******* % ► X X The story of. MOTHER’S DAY MAY 14 HOW IT ALL STARTED Everybody knows that Mother's Day is a day set aside to honour all mothers — but our research depart­ ment did some digging and found out just how it all started. It seems that the mother of a Miss Anna Jar­ vis died May 9, 1905; and on the anniversary of her mother's death, Miss Jarvis started holding an infor­ mal memorial meeting of friends. ... Eventually an annual church service was started. Miss Jarvis was soon sending thousands of letters to-influential men, and interviewing other public men to plead for the state-wide observance of the day. She succeeded, first state-wide and then, nine years after her mother's death, in 1914, the United States proclaimed the first national Mother's Day. And today, most of the western countries celebrate this holiday honouring all mothers. LET'S MAKE A DEAL If the idea of Mother's Day is to honour mom — to give her the day off — then we have to make sure that she GETS the day off. So let's make a deal. . . You do the dusting and sweeping for mom today, you make the beds and tidy up, and do most of the other little things she has to do EACH day — and WE'LL do the cooking. How's that? Just say, "No cooking today, mom! I'm off to Dixie Lee!" (And you know something? You won't have to do the dishes either.) IM? % % ' Don't Forget To Wish Your Mommy "Happv IMother's Day" 1 ■is 3 ' 1 3 Dixie [ec FRIED CHICKEN EXETER TAKE OUT 235-2665 Such a perverse suggestion sends a shudder through all decent people. Examples of objectionable passages too numerous to mention can be found in much of the world’s literature: in Shakespeare, Dickens, the Greek tragedies and even as some have pointed out in unexpurgated versions of the Holy Bible itself. Children’s classics alone are full of much questionable material. It’s obviously not in good taste to have hun­ dreds of young nubile girls, with unwashed feet, trying on the same glass slipper! or to have young girls falling in love with frogs and turning them into princes! or to have a young prince taking ad­ vantage of a young girl who has been sleeping for a hundred years! or to have a young girl living with seven dwarfs! We think the county council should be en­ couraged to ban any literature it considers in poor taste. The Council is right of course in its underlying assumption that senior high school students should be protected against the realities of life. Much of reality is not in good taste. We wish to offer our support to the council. We do not think though that book banning is enough. We wish to invite all concerned citizens to join us in a crusade to burn dirty books. Two book bar-b-ques will take place: one in the public square in Bayfield and the other in the Goderich square. (It’s better to pollute the atmosphere than the minds of senior high school students.) County residents are asked to bring to either square, any books that might possibly be considered to be of questionable taste. Juries will be there; hopefully council members will sit on them; any books judged not to be in good taste will be consigned to the fire. The top prize, for the person who has the greatest number burned, will be participation on a county panel which will secretly screen, for questionable passages, all of the Ministry of Education’s Educational T.V. programs. > On the other hahd, however, anyone who sub­ mits no book deemed worthy of burning, will be running the risk of being banned for at least one year from at­ tending any meetings of Council. We are extending a special invitation to the Huron- Bruce M.P.P. to attend. Many senior high students have been “shocked and offended” to read ‘portions’ of Hansard. Several, after listening to tapes of the “question and answer” period in the House have said about some ‘portions’: “Of all the crap they have ever heard, that has to be it, and they can tell you that if that is the sort of material that their parents had to listen to, they would take away their radios and T.V. sets.” There is a desperate situation in Huron County. Hopefully, citizens in and out of the county will join us in our crusade to promote good taste in literature. In Huron County, there are still Dragons and Windmills. We salute you, Knights of the County Council. Yours very truly, C. K. Lawton on behalf of a group of concerned citizens Mr. Bill Batten, Editor, Exeter Times-Advocate, Exeter, Ont. For prior information call 271-5650 or write 1036 Ontario Street, Stratford FEDERAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BANK Mr. Kirk Armstrong, Manager, South-Huron Rec Centre, P.O. Box 1810, Exeter, Ont. FIRE KILLS! Sincerely, Mrs. Pauline Simmons Dear Sir: On May 9,1 telephoned the Rec Centre manager to inquire as to how much time would be allotted to roller skating in the arena this summer. I learned the majority of the time would be for a hockey school. Therefore, I am enclosing a copy of the letter I have forwarded to the manager of the South Huron Rec Centre. Dear Sir: This is a follow-up of our telephone conversation regarding roller skating at the South Huron Rec Centre in order that you may present it to the Board of Directors as requested. I was most disappointed when I learned the Rec Centre would be installing ice again about July 15 in order to have a Hockey School (for boys, of course) until the end of August. This is (6) six weeks of hockey in the summer. It was my understanding there would be roller skating in this new complex for the summer months, and I feel consideration should be given to ones who wish to roller skate. Enough con­ sideration has already been given to those wishing to play hockey, and the hockey is limited to boys only. What about the girls! Granted, they may never make the Roller Derby, but then how many from South Huron make the N.H.L? I have heard “Donate to the Rec Centre — Keep the Children Off the Streets”. Do they mean in the winter only? “Donate to the Rec Centre —-You Owe It to Your Children”. Whose children? Children from Exeter, Stephen, Usborne and Hay would be a small percentage attending the hockey school. Your observation was that they would be going to Grand Bend to roller skate in July and August. Then why has Zurich been successful throughout the summer? Last summer we attended the roller skating in Exeter and in my estimation there were extremely good tur­ nouts including adults. Furthermore, we as parents are not promoting skating in Grand Bend for our children any sooner than is absolutely necessary, and I do not feel we must drive to Grand Bend when we have supported this arena and are generous taxpayers in this community. The arena purchased roller skates and parents invested in roller skates last year because it was in- derstood there would be roller skating in the new arena. There will be more participating in roller skating than a hockey school as last summer proved. I feel the hockey en­ thusiasts have had their share of the arena all winter, now let’s give the roller skating enthusiasts equal rights. Boys and girls of all ages participate in roller skating versus a selected few in hockey school. I will look forward to a reply at your earliest con­ venience, and in the meantime I will endeavor to encourage the parents of this community and district to share with me or their Board of Directors their views regarding this proposal. Sincerely, Mrs. Pauline Simmons ★ ★ ★ this year. 7th game . . . Does it really Thanks to everyone I have say who was the best team? forgotten to mention. Sincerely Really when we look back Ron Bogart on it all. . . .losing 3-2 in the Coach Exeter Ha wks Guaranteed Investment Certificates Dear Sir: * Again the hockey season has ended - not on the very bright note that we had hoped for, but it has ended very successfully. Our quest for a second Jr “D” title failed by a goal last Friday and and we were disap­ pointed. We did our best all year. Sometimes some onlookers thought we could do better. It looks easy from the stands, but at ice level it is sometimes more difficult. We never gave up right to the end. Many gave up on us, but we always seemed to come back. Last Friday we didn’t lose, we just ran out of time. I believe we are still number one. The boys deserve a lot of credit. Many sacrified a lot, many were injured and still gave their best. We should be proud of the way the Junior Hawks handled themselves as a team - both on and off the ice. I hope as coach I had a small part to play in the growing up of these young men this year. Thanks must go to a lot of people. First to the team for a great effort all year. Thanks to E.M.H.A. , the arena staff, Derry And Wally for selecting three stars at home games, McKnights Men’s Wear, Bill Batten for all his trip arranging, Shirley Pratt and Cathy Whiteford for selling 50-50 tickets, John McNeilly for signing the cheques. Special thanks to Fred and Bob for their dedication and hard work. Thanks to the fans who stuck with us right to the end and who didn’t give up on us ever when things looked dim. Special thanks to my family for allowing me all the time to spend with the Junior Hawks Income Averaging Certificates R.R.S.P.R.H.O.S.P. Competitive Rates FOR APPOINTMENT PHONE Lawrence Beane RR 1, Brucefield 482-9260 representing a major trust company Opening new doors to small usiness our representatives ROSS ARMSTRONG and DINESH RASTOGI will be at Les Pines Hotel, EXETER on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month May 16 and June 6 If you require financing to start, modernize or expand your business and are unable to obtain it elsewhere on reasonable terms and conditions or if you are Interested in the FBDB management services of counselling and training or wish information on government programs available for your — business, talk to our representative.