The Lucknow Sentinel, 1986-09-17, Page 4Page 4-714stelinaw Sentinel, Wednesday, September 179 1986
,OF
Box AO% Lucknow NOG 2H0
528-2822
CCIVIA
Estabi!shed 1878
'Thomas Thompson
Alan Flivett
Pat Livingston
Merle Elliott
-Advertising Manager Subscription rates in advance :
-Editor '117." Outside Canada
-General Manager
$14.19 Outside Canada $56." Senior Citizen
-Typesetter 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 'occupiedby the erroneous item together, with a
reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, for, but the ,balance of the
• advertisement will be .paid at the applicable rates.
A f 11
Mountains from molehills
A molehill has suddenly been made i!�oe mountain as a simple'
resignation within the ranks Of the West .Wawanesh Township Council
has transformed into bitter infighting and 'dissension among the
members. • ,
It ail stems from Reeve Jim Aitchison's resignation from council on.
September. 2 because of health reasons. Due to .all the energy and
commitment needed to fulfil the role as thetownship's representative on
Huron County Council, Mr. Aitchison saw fit to step down from the
reeveship .to,. under a "verbal agreement" ,withthe other members of
council, sit as a councillor.
flightly. or wrongly, council moved to have a nomination meeting,
apparently disregarding the agreement struck with Mr. Aitchison. At the
nomination meeting to fill the empty seat left by Cecil. Cranston who
accepted the role as reeve, three people Including Mr. Aitchison vied for
the position which, through the drawing of lots, was awarded to Kathy
Todd, a former councillor for the township. •
However, a special .meeting was set up on September 15 and, *Oar
consultation with the township's lawyers, Colifiell learned the nomina-
tions had been disallowed through a .technicality. Under the •Municipal
• Act, a . three quarters . majority of council is needed to approve a
resignation of the reeve. This was *never carried out at the September 2
meeting. in the interim,. Mr, Aitchison withdrew his resignation of the
reeve's position•
it's quite apparent Mr. Aitchison Is entitled to return to his reeve's
position. He received the position from a vote of the electorate and,
although he made Intentions to resign, he will be allowed to stay for the
duration of his council term through the Municipal Act regulations
regarding resignation of the head of council. - •
Where doei this leave council? The apparent oversight in' the straying
from the Municipal Act has, no doubt, left a huge rift on council.
Somewhere along the line, apologies have to made to the people,
willingly or unwillingly, were dragged into this dispute.. •
A start would be a public explanation. of the whole affair which
has been kept behind closed doors and has resulted in 'rumors and
*Peculation throughout the township. People In West Wawano$h expect
honesty, integrityand hard work from their elected officials. A .situation
like this Will go a long way in undermining that thin ilne ot trust trot is
inherent between municipal, councils and the People they serve. A.A.
Editor's notet The following passage was
written by Helen Barker, a columnist with
the Stratford Beacon Herald and a former
resident of the Lucknow area. The column,
called "On My Mind", submitted to the.,
Sentinel by Kathleen MacDonald of
Lucknow, represents some reministences
of Lucknow's past when Ms, Barker was
growing up in the area. It definitely has
some historical value and, to some of our
older readers, it just might bring back a
memory or two as well. So here it is..,
By Helen Barker
When attending the Knollcrest Bazaar
on Saturday, I met a couple of with whom I
attended Lucknow public school years and
years and years ago.
Wellperhaps years and years would
cover it, After all, l'in not Methuselah at
least not yet,
We spoke of the wonderful Saturday
nights of our childhood, something that the
youth of today will never have the pleasure
of experiencing.
4
Back then, the stores remained open
until after the clock chitned• midnight.
People visited on the streets. Little girls
linked arms and walked up one side of
Main Street and" down the other. The big
girls flirted with the big boys while
mothers kept a watch on the proceedings
out of the corner of their eyes.
But it was the Lucknow Pipe Band that
we remembered best, Even today more
than forty years later, I still feel a shiver of
excitement go up my spine when I recall
the sight and sound of that glorious band
marching proudly along the Main Street on
a Saturday night, their kilts swinging and
the plaid flowing like a banner from their
shoulders.' The stirring music of the pipers
and the drummers drew people out of the
stores and those homes that dotted the
route, We cheered and clapped as the band
marched the length of the Main Street and
back W form up tinder the big elm that
stood on the tomer.
A wagon was pulled up under the tree
that carried a makeshift platform and soon
Amazing stories.
You know the old saying - truth is
stranger than fiction. Viten, there's a. lot
of evidence around which shows this is a
pretty weird world we live in.
Lately, this diligent reporter, on your
behalf, has been combing the paperat
searching for the bizzarre, the peculiar,
the out -of -the -ordinary, the unconven-
tional and the down -right odd things
that happen right under our noses,
These stories are such an abberatien
of human (and animal) behavior that
you would wonder if the reporter was
temporarily out of his mind when he
wrote these "believe it or not" stories.
With the introductions dispensed
with, we'll move right along to the
long-awaited examples of these mind -
bending tales.
Recently, the Toronto Star ran a story
from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia which told
of a "plastered pig" stolen from a
nearby' farm, •
The wrestling piggy, appropriately
named "Grunt",.was discovered by
police and turned into a veterinarian
who promptly diagnosed the porker as
"pleasantly smashed" on Jack Daniels
bourbon,
Apparently, our swilling swine had
been involved in an all-night wrestling '
party where he over -indulged. The pig ,
ALAN
slept it off and he was returned to his
owners.
In another story, a woman in Calgary
makes her living as a "pooper-snoop- '
er". Her company, called "Pooper
Scooper", will visit the yard of her
clients and clean up after the pets - all
for a fee of $25 per month.
Sounds like a pretty dirty business to
me.
A story from Manitoba. (what's with
these western type people, anyways?)
says a restaurant called the Outhouse
Restaurant was outfitted ie your basic
bathroom decor with toilet seat chairs,
bedpan flowerpots and menus framed in
toilet lids.
However, the restaurant was recently
shut down because - you guessed it - it
didn't have adequate washroom facilit.
ies.
Yup, when you think of it - people and
pigs are a strange lot,,
Wagort riding
By Akin .Riv Tett
two, three and sometimes four highland
dancers would delight the crowd.
When the Pipe Band formed up to march
back to the town hall, everyone listened
and watched until they disappeared front
sight, The magic spell broken, people all
began to talk at once and Main Street took
on the look and sound of an Old Boy's
Reunion.
Women drifted into the dry goods store
to check on material and to see which
pattern required the least cloth because in
the 1930's, women did not have much
inoney their purses.
It was often the husbands who shopped
for Sunday's roast and for us youngsters to
accompany our fathers into the butcher
shop was indeed awesome. The floor of the
shop was covered in generous layers of
fresh shavings from the lumber mill and
the butcher, a stout, jolly. man, always
wore a spanking white smock and apron.
He would roll a side of beef out for
inspection and our fathers would decide
which cut it was they wanted.
SPECIAL
In the grocery stores, housewives stood
at the counter and gave their orders to the•
clerk standing on the other side. The order
was filled while the housewife visited on
the street or went into the "5 cent to a
dollar store",
Along towards midnight, boxes of
groceries were carried from the stores and
piled into cars or buggies, wagons or trucks
and, for those who lived in town, pulled
home on a child's wagon or tucked in at the
foot of the baby carriage.
Then, shortly after midnight, the store.
keepers began to lock up, leaving the town
still and quiet as Sunday took over from
Saturday night.
Yes! Those were the days.
11,