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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1975-09-10, Page 2.11 J 132A111.1111110 1172 13russels Post 411111111111•1 WEDN ESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10,1975 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros,Publishers, Limited. Dave Robb - Advertising Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions (in advance) Canada WOO a year, Others "CcluA $8.00 a year, Single Copies 15 cents each. c'efr." VERIFIE10 "CULATION We now live in the middle of the most far-reaching revolution in .the whole history of civilization. The rate of change accelerates before our eyes. We are frustrated in our attempts Lo assimilate what Arnold Toynbee has called "the marvellous and monstrous apparatus of Western technology". Events come faster than we can cope with them. Our technological ingenuity seems to be outpacing our moral and so-cial creativity. We n ow hold in our hands the power to abolish all poverty and faminfr, throughout the world — but we seem not to have the will to do so. We now hold in our hands the power to anihilate ourselves -- and we sometimes fear that we haven't the will to stop ourselves from doing that. Fifty years ago a father could quite properly assume that. this son would grow up into a world' recognizable like his own. But children born this year will reach adulthood in a world quite different from ours. And imagination fails us when we try to picture the kind of world in which our children will !iye. In all parts of the world there are ominous signs of failure of nerve. We are in danger of letting ourselves be overwhelmed by circumstance, circumstance of our own making. This age of great achievement and expectation is also the age of great anxiety and despair: Terrible insecurities tear at our hearts and befuddle our minds, and we easily slip into ;, moods of ,:;opelessness. Tremendous technological resources are available to us as we face our very intimidating problems. But they alone will not be enough. We need to develop a new awareness of the moral and religious resources which are available to us, the special insights and perspectives which can help us cope with our current oonfusions and guide us in decisions as to how our ehcnological riches can to be used for the benefit of al I mankind. (Contributed) What future? BRUSSELS ONTARIO 111111111111, A elebr the hurcl the' cc buildir attend, membi p esen H. Car The. uit, hich obert ayes me amilies mem !so th bri Sch( with with TI Lind 8. IV Mrs. Mr. 5. Th joint! Waw parer time Joyce Joyce from Childl Visitor says thanks Dear Brussels: I have now the difficult task of trying to say thank-you to all the people who were so niee to me. My stiy in your be autift.il town was an enriching experience that I shall always remember, I hope that if you ever come to the U.S. that you will be greeted with the friendliness and hospitality that greeted die, Thank yOu again, ekpecially The itichnionds, The McCalls, The Baymonds and the Brussels Lions who helped make this exchange and Others possible, Sinterely and With Much love, Beth Dalenci (Lions ekchange visitor) P.S. Evelyn Kennedy: Thank you for the nice interview and delightful article. I got a good laugh. If I read much more like that I could AO conceited! Amen by -Karl Schu!ssler I never knew what grass roots politics was. Oh I knew what grass was. And roots. And polities. But put them all together and what do you h ave? Weeds? Seeds? Feed? The dictibnary helps a little. It says it means the col-mon or ordinary people:. The agricultural and rural parts of the country. Or it means getting down to basics. - But a fellow like Hugh Edighoffer helps all the more. He makes 'it all very clear what grass roots politics is..Because -- to my mind -- Hugh is grass roots politics. For the last eight years Hugh's been going off to Queen's Park in Toronto to represent his Perth riding. But Hugh isn't one of those small town boys that goes off to the big city and gets hooked on it. Home 'is always Mitchell. "I was born in Mitchell," he sayg, "born in the centre of the riding and I like to think that I can see out from all angles and oversee' the riding." Whenever the legislature is sitting, Hugh makes it back to Mitchell on weekends. And on Saturday morning he goes down to main street and -opens up his clothing store. Now Saturday is a good day for business in any small town. That's when the farmers come in to buy their groceries or a new outfit of work clothes. Or a sports shirt. Or a Sunday suit. 'But Hugh does a lot of other business on those Saturdays too. That's the day the whole riding knows that Hugh is at the store.To take care of their business. "This store isanoffice on weekends. I don't like the idea of people having to make appointments and going through secretaries. It's not my way of doing business. "I think I can function more rapidly. This is what you have to do on weekends in your constituency. I would only see half as many people as I do now this way." This way Hugh call see up to twenty-five people on a Sattirday. And invariably his customers start off.with, "I knoW you're busy, Hugh, but" and then they're off talking to him about their welfare check that's late, or sOrrie detail about 0.H.I.P. they don't understand or ,sotriething to do with their unemployment institanCe. Or they're talking about fartri income, Or regional gOvernment ot land use or the lOdal housing Situation.. "I think When yeti reptesent tufa! riding," HUgh Says ; "you haVe to be grown," The name has to. be familiar, Of long standing. And for Hugh it is. His father comes down to the clbthifig store he Started fifty years ago, And he can put in a tong day's work too. Theolariie has to be good,. And it is. Yon' don't laSt long in , a small town when the merchandise is shoddy. And that" goes for clothes as - well as community service. The name has to wear well. The home town folks have been looking you over ever since you were a kid. And in a small town they know everything that goes on. The townsfolk have a great memory. They never seem to forget. Hugh can pass all those rigours. He rates number one with the folks at home. And so does his whole family -- his wife, Nancy, and their four children.. Each of his teenagers take his turn behind the counter at the store. And they're learning too. It's not just behind the counter you stand. You go out front. To where the people are. WS like the sidewalk-sale Mitchell had last week. You bring your clothes outside. To the main street. You go on the street to yourself - and your , goods -- to the people. — That's what Htigh and Nancy are doing now. They:re walking up sidewalks and knocking on front doors. Their children too. Watch that Kathryn. She's:a go-getter. Hugh says it was their door knocking that helped him win the first time. Eight years ago no one in, the riding made such a direct and Simple approach. And now Hugh's trying again to win in this coming September provincial election , He wants another go at representing his people back home. "As a politician," he says, "I'm available to people for their problems. I want to talk to anyone from the attorney general on down in government. I try to contact and see what help we can find for them." , Hugh's out Walking these days. Putting his feet into the grass roots under him. He's muddying his shoe leather into that soil that raised him. He's wearing his suits - his store, suit -- that carries the "Edighoffer, Mitchell" label inside the jacket, He's out walking and' talking to the people and townsfolk of rural Perth. And he's helping me understand how government Works, How it ,really starts from home, from grass roots, from a small place with a Man. With a man that attends the softie high school basketball games I do. With a matt that joins all of uS in the opening ceremonies of the old folks residence in town , With a 1011 I can buy clothes from and talk over governthent problerns all in the saine offia, This than Makes more manageable' in la); mind the Strange Workings of a provincial govern-theta in a faraway big city in a yerY complex btireaticraCy. A Mari like ilugh Edighoffer Makes grass roots. grow - right before iny eYes, atnt b epara asior The 1 ainly e dire tare V mily ovide The Lo furn Using d prea ten de tween t to th Ruh d d mort d, He gle sf roduce 1st. Li d that b d and es nom. Anothe t J. were or s, After ti (yone alen's !clews 1 he he h a d versar uring t friends buildi Inories 0 Comm COngr ChaSe s( eMbrati A ?Lc, Nora Mem dance, toad nery an t'ePeat Phit6 Pbell, titit ef4y, ahd To the editor