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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-08-10, Page 4Page 4—Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, August 10,1988 P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, Ontario NOG 2H0 528-2822 Established 1873 Thomas Thompson -Advertising Manager 'Rob Bundy -Editor' Pat Livingston -General Manager v, RIIuo GIRGU L ATION PAID Q? BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1988 Subscription rates in advance: $1790 Outside Canada $6090 $1490 Outside Canada 55890 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. A church struggles with its conscience Later this month, the United Church of Canada will do something it has done often in the past - confront a moral and theological issue head on. While a number of United Church members undoubtedly wish the divisive issue of the ordination of gay and lesbians would go away, they know it won't. It has become well known in recent times that there are gay ministers in the United Church, as in other churches. But their sexual orientation, for the most port, has been kept very quiet. Now it is the United Church that is deciding to make a firm decicion on the matter. A controversial report presented by the church, "Toward a Christian Understanding of Sexual Orientations, Lifestyles and Ministry", recommends that men and women not be barred from participating in all aspects of the church, including the ministry, just because of their sexual beliefs. In seeking to resolve the issue, the United Church has once again em- barked on a courageous course. While some say it would have been wiser to ignore the issue, there Is no turning back now for the United Church General Council. The issues for the church are social as well as scriptual. There is no doubt that the Bible condemns homosexual acts. Leviticus states clear- ly: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." It also states, however: "Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the water, that shall be an abomination unto you." Yet both shellfish and lobster are commonly consumed by people of all faiths. Already the United Church and others have reinterpreted and discarded parts of the Bible in light of new social truths, but is the church ready to alter the Bible's instructions about homosexuality? And what about those gays who have already been ordained? All Canadians will watch with interest as the General Council of the United Church of Canada confronts its conscience and attempts to tackle this touchy, modern-day dilema. R.B. Just for the record, I feel compelled to offer this short reply to the Letter to the Editor which appeared in last week's Sen- tinel. The letter, from a Ms. Elizabeth A. Wall of Toronto, accused this humble scribe of having "a limited perspective", a "lack of culture and exposure to city liv- ing" and "expressive of narrow mindedness". Ms. Wall, I stand by the opinions I ex- pressed about city living and hope that you will keep in mind the audience those opi- nions were intended for. I based my opi- nions on having spent a great deal of time in Toronto over the years and on the fact that I have visited every major city in the world including Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Rome, Cairo, Sydney and countless others. The point the article in question was try- ing to make, a point obviously missed by you, was how a small town like Lucknow differs from a city and what the citizens here can do to promote those differences in a positive manner. And if that makes me cultureless and narrow minded, so be it. By the way, I love visiting Toronto but when looking for a place to raise kids, I'd take small town anywhere first, thank you very much. Besides being narrowminded and lack- ing in culture, this newspaperman is also a collector of trivia. Every now and again, I dig out my trivia file and engage in a feast of facts. Since I'm sure others enjoy such a repast just as much, I'd like to share some of my facts with you. I found these facts in the latest edition of Harper's. - The Coca-Cola Company registered $350 million in profits last year...in Japan alone. ON THE SIDE by Rob Bundy - In the United States, Coke made a mere $324 million in clear, cold profit. - In Moscow, 95 percent of all ice cream consumed is vanilla. - Still with the Soviets, last year three peo- ple were crushed to death in liquor store line-ups. - The total number of people worldwide who have died of AIDS since 1981 is 72,504. - The total number of people who have died of measles since 1981 is 14 million. - Every second of every day, the United States spends $8,607 on its military. - Last year, Chrysler paid its president Lee Iacocca an hourly wage of $8,608. - If you take a• job today, your chances of being paid less than $5 per hour are one in three. - In a recent survey, 24 percent of boys bet- ween the ages of 13 and 15 said it was ac- ceptable for a man to rape his date if he had spent "a lot of money on her". - In Japan you can buy a bag of thousand - year -old ice chipped from a galcier for $1.50. - Your chances of being injured in an auto accident at sometime in your life are'1 in 140. And here's one little trivial fact I really like - a couple of years ago, a man in New York decided to commit suicide by jump- ing in front of a subway train. He didn't die and promptly sued the New York Transit Authority for $845,000 claiming the engineer should have been able to stop the train faster. It's a fact. Have a good week! ...AND UNTO THE ARK NOAH BROUGHT THE ANIMALS Two (3Y TWO OR . MNY6E THREE BY THREE... / THE UNITED CHURCH _ooKS FoR GUIDANCE 70 years ago August 15, 1918 Waste paper as fuel - Waste paper is be- ing used as fuel by some women who will devise every way possible to cut down their coal bill. They have taken old newspapers, wrapp- ing paper, cardboard, or any other waste paper and torn it up into small pieces and placed it in small water -tight containers. Boiling water is then poured over it and it is left until the mass becomes soft. This mass is made into small balls which are set in the sun to dry. When thoroughly dry they are ready for use. They catch fire quickly and burn slow- ly - a good substitute for coal indeed. Recent heat wave - Now that the heat wave appears to be over, or at least broken, we may talk about it. From Wm. MacDonald, local keeper of the weather records, we learn that Tuesday of this week came very close to being a record breaker. The temperature in the shade reached 99 and that mark was passed here only once, about 20 years ago when a record of 100 was made. SENTINEL MEMOIRS Tuesday of last week, when it was 106 in London and 113 in Detroit, we had a cool 96. 50 yeardago Augus�t- 1, 1938 Fire Company elected - The Lucknow Fire Company elected a new slate of of- ficers on Monday night when they held their first election of officers in over twelve years. Following the voting, W.A. Sloman was elected as Chief of the department. A vote of appreciation was tendered for retiring officers and the Company also protested the habit of motorists parking close to fire hydrants. It will ask the Village Council to have this practise rigid- ly prohibited. The spreading elm - A real old village landmark, a spreading elm, stands ma- jestically at the rear of Murdie's warehouse. Last week, Joseph Mallough and Bert Ward undertook to measure the top spread of this monster elm and found that it had a north -south spread of almost 96 feet. The tree is estimated to be 75 feet high and these gentlemen are wondering if there's another elm in the area to equal or beat this tree for size. Its days are numbered however, for in the centre of the tree are a number of dead limbs. Soon this towering monster will be little more than fire wood. 25 years ago August 14, 1963 Montgomerys off to Japan - Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Montgomery are currently enjoying a trip to the Pacific and Far East as guests of the Ford Motor Company. This is the second year in succession that Montgomery Motors has placed high in a nation wide spring sales contest. Last year, Gordon and Ruth were guests on a trip to the British Isles. Law enforcement welcomed - Lucknow now has, for the first time its history, a full-time police officer. He is Const. Joseph Balzer. The village residents who have a respect for the law and a desire to see it en- forced welcome him. Already, Const. Balzer's presence in Lucknow is apparent. His task is not an en- viable one, nor will it assure a crime -free community - but it will certainly help. 10 years ago August 9, 1978 Lucknow Lions exchange - Two young people who are visiting Canada on the Lions International Youth Exchange have found that Canadian lifestyle is not that much different from their own in Austria and the Ivory Coast. Sebine Cournil, from Africa's Ivory Coast, and Hansjora Teissl of Austria have been staying with two host families in Lucknow. Sebine is staying with Grant Chisholm and family until August 143 while Hansjora is visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Barry McDonagh until August 18. Although the lifestyles are similar, the two claim, they both say the food is dif- ferent. They always have three full course meals each day"and say they never eat sandwiches at home which, of course, are popular here.