HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-02-17, Page 4Page 4—Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, February 17, 1988
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P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, Ontario NOG 2H0 528-2822
Established 1873
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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.