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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-02-17, Page 4Page 4—Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, February 17, 1988 f P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, Ontario NOG 2H0 528-2822 Established 1873 Thomas Thompson -Advertising Manager Subscription rates in advance: Rob Bundy -Editor Pat Livingston -General Manager 51790 Outside Canada $6000 S1490 Outside Canada $5840 Senior Citizen Second class mailing reg. no. 0847 Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisment will be paid at the applicable rates. Sports heros costly Sports is big business in this country and in the United States. Billions of bucks are spent each year on advertising rights, ticket sales and souvenirs. The armchair quarterback will sit through endless beer commercials to watch the World Series or the Stanley Cup finals. In return, these beer compnaies, for example only, pay the ball club or hockey team all kinds of money for the right to advertise during the event. Next in line is the club who then must pay the' players on the team mega bucks to play so 'the beer companies will have something to advertise during. And what happens? The players demand more. The club demands more. And, surely, the beer company must increase its prices to pay for it all. And the armchair quarterback ends up paying more for a six pack just so athletes like Andre Dawson can make more money • in one season than the Gross National Product of Indonesia Dawson recently lost...lost, mind you, a binding arbitration which will see him make $1.8 million dollars (in U.S. funds) to play baseball next season. He lost because he had asked for just over S2 million. Com'on now. How much is one mon worth. Dawson will not solve the problems of the Middle East during the next baseball season. He won't discover a cure for cancer. He won't even, we imagine, free any hostages from Iran. But we'll pay him well over S2 million Canadian to play baseball. It doesn't seem right, especially when he complains that he actually wanted more than that. In a world beseiged by terrorism, racism and numerous wars,. wouldn't it make more sense to pay guys like Dawson a mere 'living' like the rest of us and put the remainder of his wage towards a cure for AIDS? Our priorities are all out of whack when kids are dying of malnutri- tion in Africa but baseball players can become instant millionaires overnight...and complain about it. R.B. 70 years ago February 17, 1918 Tractors for farmers - With a view to en- couraging the production of larger crops in 1918, the Dominion of Canada has bought 1,000 Ford tractors, at cost, and any farmer in the country who wishes to secure one of the machines may have one at cost plus freight. It is thought the tractors will cost about $800 each. The government has also secured an option on another 1,000 trac- tors, to be bought outright, if the demand warrants. The tractors were thoroughly tested before purchase and all have been pro- nounced satisfactory. They are designed to handle a four furrow plow with a speed of 2.5 miles per hour. When all goes well, the tractors will turn eight acres in ten hours. The heatless days - The three heatless days last week in Lucknow were very much like a prolonged Sunday - to those who didn't go curling. The order to go heatless seemed to be pretty well obeyed with the weatherman having gone a change of heart by providing some relatively warm weather. The Fuel Controller estimated that in Toronto alone, there would, be a saving of some 30,000 tons of coal with a proportional While travelling between Goderich and Lucknow last week, through beautiful Belfast and metro -Dungannon, not to men- tion downtown Nile, I was reminded that Ontario drivers have a lot to learn about playing it safe on the hiways and biways of the province. First there was the big yellow school bus that stopped at the intersection of the Con - session road and the highway...it waited for a few moments, until my vehicle was in striking distance, and then pulled out quickly forcing, me to "hit the binders" as the saying goes. After cursing the yellow bus and its not so yellow driver by flashing my lights a couple of times, I was able to safely pass the slow moving vehicle. I wondered aloud why the driver wouldn't have waited until I had passed the intersection before pulling out. There were no other vehicles behind me and he had a busload of kids to worry about. I guess getting home in time to watch Wheel of Fortune was more important to that driver than the safety, of those kids and me. By the time I had cooled down a bit and continued down the snow covered road, I noticed a pair of headlights rapidly ap- proaching me from behind. When the car had gotten to within, oh, six or eight inches of my back bumper, it slowed down just enough to avoid ramming me. As the lane was clear ahead, I kinda figured this guy was in a rush and would pass. Nope. He stayed on my bumper for miles. Had I had occassion to hit the brakes again, like I was forced to .do moments before because of the bus, that guy would have joined the shovel and bag of sand I have in my trunk. This occurrence is not peculiar to the roadway between Dungannon and Lucknow. It seems to happen no matter where you drive in Ontario: Drivers in this part of the country feel the need to be as close to the car infront of them as human - ON TNE SIDE ly, or mechanically, possible. Does anyone out there have any idea why this is Ontarians are the worst bunch of tailgaters in the world...except for Malaysians, but that's a different story. I lived in Alberta for a number of years and I tell you, if you got within five car lengths of the car infront of you on the highway in that province, he'd stop and have you charged with harrasement! Maybe its because the speed limit here is 80 kms while in Alberta it's 100 kms. Anyway, because of having lived in a pro- vince where tailgaters are hated and therefore almost non-existent, I get real nervous when I know the guy in the car behind me has no way of stopping in time if I start to slow down. Winter, of course is the worst. Ice and snow makes it hard enough to drive without having to worry ,about locking bumpers with the car behind you. Besides having the wish that drivers in Ontario would think a little more when they get behind the wheel and start driving 'on the defensive instead of the offensive, I have this dread fear that I, too, will start to drive like most of the folks on the road...poorly. If that happens, if I ever unthinkingly put another driver in danger by my actions behind the wheel, I will take to roller skating to work each day. I wish that bus driver felt the same way. It's tough enough watching out for yourself without having to worry that the' guy behind you may be stupid enough to get you both killed. I did make it to work unscathed that day, by the way, but what about the next time? If you're driving,` have a safe week. SENTINEL MEMOIRS savings in the towns and villages in the province. 50 years ago February 17, 1938 Spectacular carnival - Lucknow's new community hall and arena, brilliantly lit and bedecked with flags, was the setting for the most spectacular ice carnival this village has ever seen. The gala event was staged by the Lucknow Arena Club. A near capacity crowd of 1,200 people paid admission, jammed the buildingand swelled the gate receipts to approximately $265. There was keen competition in all events and the judges certainly had no easy task in making their decisions. A total of $150 in prizes were awarded during the carnival. 25 years ago February 20,1963 Factory changes hands - The Beatty Ladder Factory has been sold. The Sen- tinel was officially informed of the deal by two spokesmen for the purchasers who were in town last week. Sixty to seventy people, both male and female, will initially be employed at the plant with possibilities that this number may be increased. Advertisements in this issue are calling for applications for all positions. Toronto interests, whose names have not been released, have purchased the com- pany and plan to manufacture a line of fur- niture and wood products. The manufac- ture of ladders will be discontinued. Election lists - Enumerators who have the responsibility of compiling the list of voters for the April federal election, are busy at their job this week. Enumerating officially began Monday and must see completion by Saturday of this week. Alton heads Weather Insurance - Sam Alton of Lucknow was elected to head the Western Farmer's Weather Insurance Company at the annual meeting held in Woodstock on Thursday. The appointment is for a two year term. Mr. Alton has served on the board of direc- tors for sic years. 10 years ago F'pbruary 15, 1978 Raises $44,000 - As of Monday last, 377 lottery tickets have been sold in the Lucknow and District Community Centre Lottery. Tickets have been purchased by people living as far away as New York. The total deposit to date is just over $31,000. Donations to the Community Centre Fund have totalled $13,379 to date bringing the bank total to $44,000. Closed doors damages image - Some trustees of the Huron County Board of Education feel that too much business is being done behind closed doors and that the policy is clouding the board's public image. The board asked its executive commit- tee to check into items handled in commit- tee of the whole to see if more could be brought to the public's attention. Herb Turkheim, Zurich trustee, said he was concerned that the board was dealing with too many items in committee of the whole. He said the last private session of the board took three hours which, he said, is three times longer than the board nor- mally spends on its monthly session.