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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1964-10-08, Page 9A Community With Spirit Ontario's small villages will never dis- appear as long as they can muster the enthusiasm and imagination evident in the Bluevale area, Last Friday evening the people of that village and its sur- rounding rucai community gathered to start discussions on the possibility of erecting an arena. Since the project is so far only in the "talk" stage, nothing very definite could be decided, but the formation of a com- • mittee to carry on into the planning and money -raising phases was the first and logical step. The highly successful arena venture at Be!grave naturally served as a model for rhos-, who want to see something similar done in Bluevale. Everyone in • this area knows what excellent work has been done with young people under the guidance of the Belgrave arena com- mittee, The fact is that arenas are just as important in the small villages as they are in the larger centres --perhaps more so. In the small places there are not as many competing activities and the arena usually becomes a true focus for local activity and a source of deep pride to those who have sponsored their con- struction. The arena contributes immeasurably to the proper upbringing of the younger generation. Invariably those teen-agers who do get into trouble are the ones who do not have enough healthy recrea- tion to keep them occupied, A well rounded program of sports provides the ideal way for youngsters to work off their extra "steam." The Bluevale arena project is a high- ly commendable undertaking, and we hope that its sponsors are greeted with loyal support in their efforts to do some- thing concrete for their community and its young people, We would like to as- sure the committee that The Advance - Times will lend every possible assistance. This is Progress Hats off to the flying enthusiasts who have formed the town's first flying club and to Bill Cruikshank, who has created an excellent landing strip on his farm just west of the town. They have accomplish- ed much, not only for people who are interested in flying, but for the entire community as well. We are living in a fast-moving age and a good landing field is a valuable • asset for this town. It will soon be just as vital to our development as our high- ways and our railways, What appeals to us most about the project is the fact that the men who wanted a landing strip did not wait for the local authorities to pay for it. They tackled the job themselves and carried it through. Bill Cruikshank himself is not only a good pilot; he is a flying instructor as well and has introduced several young people to the keen pleasures of flying. This, in itself, is a valuable contribution at a time when we can fully anticipate that our children are likely to find flying as commonplace as operating a car, Bill and the members of the flying club have moved Wingham well into the van of progress and we wish them every success in their venture, Interesting Criticism You will recall that this column has • referred several times to what is called "the Norwich Plan" of improvement for business districts. It is quite likely that we will continue to refer to it until such time as our own merchants take some concrete action to investigate its benefits. Merchants in Walkerton were recently addressed by John Lingwood, an archi- tect from Kitchener, who was the speaker at a meeting sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, Here are a few of the things he had to say: Downtown merchants should smarten up the appearance of their businesses • before shopping centres develop outside town as satellites of the business com- munity, said Mr. Lingwood. Walkerton, he stated has gone halfway towards this goal. He described the lighting as good, but noted that while one block on the main street had no ugly structures he • counted 18 different shades of paint on the buildings. Store owners, he said, should get together on one neutral background color for the entire block. This will create the impression of largeness and solidity. One block ata time should be selected for renewal. Large, flashing signs are too garish and can negate the good done by other improvements. A sign regulating by-law for the town would be an asset, he said. Nothing garish should be used above the -first storey. Merchants should urge truckers to use the alleys at the rear of their buildings and leave the street free for shopper traffic. At the same meeting of the Chamber it was announced that a small business management course will be put on, starting in January. The classes will in- clude management, accounting, retailing, marketing for manufacturers, purchasing and bookkeeping. We would recommend that the Wing - ham Business Association might do worse than visit their Walkerton confreres and study the progressive activities in which they are involved. Growing Tiresome A good many English-speaking Cana- dians are becoming fed up with the at- titude of some top-level leaders in Que- bec. The noisy little egotists who are • directly responsible for the threats and the violence in French Canada are, to some degree understandable. For many of them the present unrest provides the first opportunity they have ever had to gain widespread attention for themselves. Much more revolting, however, is the role of the politician who loudly protests that he, personally, is not in favor of violence ... and then goes on to use the violence of others as a weapon to achieve his demands. Premier Lesage himself has employed these tactics on several oc- casions, notably at the time of the Do- minion -Provincial conference in Quebec City a few months ago. He was full of co-operation and brotherly love at the meetings with the other provincial pre - 4, miers, but his statements to the general public and the press were the opposite. We listened to an address by one of his cabinet ministers a year ago which bristled with threat§—not of what he, himself might do, but what the French- speaking agitators might do to the rest of us. Only the other day another lead- ing politician said, " . .. 1 wouldn't kill the Queen, but—". Again the threat of a weapon in someone else's hands. Sympathy for French Canada is wear- ing thin. Many people in the other pro- vinces feel that the French-Canadians wakened up to the need for progress about 100 years later than the rest of us and now are trying to pin the blame on anyone but themselves. If they would quit threatening and start co-operating there would be no limit to the horizons of progress for both English and French cultures. THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at \Vingham, Ontario,. by Wenger Bros, Limited W. I3arry Wenger, President - Robert 0, Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer Ttember Audit Bureau of Circulation; Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Associ- ation; Member Canadian Community Newspapers Representatives Authorized by the Post Office Department as Second Class Mail and for payment of postage in cash Subscription Rate: One Year $4.00: Six Months- 52,25 in advance U1.S.A,—$5,00 per year; Foreign rate 55.00 per year Advertising Rates on application THIS WEEK & NEXT A 'War. care' Election By RAY ARGYLE The election campaign in the United States has reached the half -way mark. Less than a month remains to the Nov. 3 balloting and despite President Johnson's apparent command, ing lead, experts believe the contest will bp decided in the last three weeks. The campaign has been dull because it has lacked that one great element of exciting elec- tioneering -- suspense. But if it has been a dull campaign, it has also been a dirty one. Sen. Goldwater's charges against the Democratic regime started out as attacks based on a definite political philosophy. He was for minimum govern- ment interference in private life, and against the philosophy of the Democrats (and of all Canadian political parties ex- cept possibly Social Credit) that the government must be active in a wide area of public life. These areas include federal aid to education, public power and cheap electricity, medicare, social security, urban renewal, agricultural price supports and other elements of the so•caIled welfare state. Something seemed to go very wrong with Sen. Goldwater's campaign right after Labor Day. According to the Gallup poll, his support steadily de- clined — from 31 per cent at the time of his nomination to 21 per cent in late September. The Senator's charges grew more reckless then. He began to make asinine comments about Secretary of Defense Me. Namara (whom Goldwater call- ed "Yo Yo" McNamara) and said that Lyndon Johnson was waiting for an air mail letter to find out what happened in the Gulf of Tonkin. Democrats zeroed in on Gold - water's most vulnerable spot— fear that if he became presi- dent he would blunder and brinkmanship the U.S. into a nuclear war. Democratic TV ads were so tasteless and offen- sive that some were withdrawn from showing, but those that were seen made it clear the Democrats were fighting Gold- water chiefly on a "war scare" campaign. Sen. Goldwater, as the Democrats had hoped, is him- self the main issue of the cam- paign. President Johnson has so far avoided even naming his op- ponent although he has refer- red to him as a "ranting, raving demagogue." It has fallen to Sen. Humphrey to slash back at Goldwater, with Democratic national chairman John Bailey attacking the Republican vice- presidential nominee, Bill Mil- ler. Johnson has ignored Mil- ler entirely — this was the man whom Goldwater had said would "drive Johnson nuts." The president's speeches have been almost boringly simple. They have contained none of the rousing rhetoric of John F. Kennedy although in some cases the same speech writers have been at work. President Johnson has so far made no dramatic promises, other than to assure voters he is best equipped to keep the country out of war. Sen. Gold- water, as the challengers al- ways have to do, has made many promises, such as cutting taxes 25 per cent over five years, and pushing back Com- munism all around the glebe, )liis attacks on the adrnlnis- traton have been vocal, but de- livered with bad timing as well as little sense, He chose poi,- ertyriddeu West Virginia as the puce to criticize the poor and President Johnson's war on poverty alike. Ile picked the big city of Atlanta to attack the new Supreme Court ruling that city voters should have as many representatives in state legis, latures as rural voters. The list is almost endless. The so-called white backlash remains the big question mark of the campaign. President Johnson says that for every voter who will desert the Democrats because of the civil rights bill, two are leaving the Republican ranks because they can't support Goldwater. Democrats have two main fears. First, that the so-called backlash, especially among lower income, working class voters will be greater than ex- pected. It's believed, for in- stance, that many people who plan to vote for Goldwater are concealing their intentions when quizzed by the pollsters. The second fear of Demo- cratic strategists is that over- confidence or boredom will lead many Johnson voters to stay at home election day. REMINISCING OC:OBER 1914 Phyllis Johns, of John St. has beaten some of her elders in showing the true Patriotic spirit She made twenty doll's bonnets and held a millinery opening and sold them all for which she received two dollars and sixty five cents. She donated this to the Ladies' Patriotic Society. Three cheers for Phyllis. The Sewer on Francis street, between John and Patrick streets, has been completed. The con- struction of this sewer was done by day labor and when complet- ed has cost the town at the av- erage of 77¢ per foot. This is considered the cheapest sewer put down in Wingham. While attending the Brussels Fair on Friday last, Master King McDonald, the thirteen -year- old son of Mr. Geo. McDonald of Bluevale, met with a very severe accident. He was in the act of crossing the street when he was knocked down by an auto. He was at once taken home and medical attendance summoned, when it was found he had two ribs broken and was severely bruised and scratched about the face. OCTOBER 1928 Miss Caroline Wcllwood le ft on Monday for China to resume her duties on the Mission Staff of the United Church. One of the prizes offered by the Chas. Chapman Co. of London, for the neatest loose- leaf note boot submitted h\ Ontario High School students has been awarded to Miss Net- tie llomuth of Wingharn high School. Nit.. and Mrs, 11. Damm, al- so Clarence, Clayton and Ger- trude Datntn of Durham, spent Please turn to Page Three THE ROYAL VISIT of Queen Elizabeth to Canada began October 5, when the Queen end Prince Philip boarded the royal yacht Britannia at Summerside, P.E.I. Char- lottetown, Quebec and Ottawa are the only cities being visited, with the tour ending October 13.—TNS Photo. ingbani UtiancoZinte Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, Oct. 8 , 19tt4 SECOND SECTION SUGAR AND SPICE Canada, Act Your Age! By BILL SMILEY There is one country in the world that I feel sorry for. It has all the outward attributes of a spoiled -rotten teenager. It is good-looking, if a little gangly. It is strong and well - made, if a little inclined to flab- biness. It has always had a big allowance because its mother and father came into a lot of property. But all the signs of the mixed- up adolescent are there: t h e sudden flaring resentment over nothing; the great desire to be loved and made a fuss over; the surliness when things don't go right; the sullen apathy towards anything worthwhile; the absor- ption in material things; t h e flashes of decency; and the im- pulses towards vandalism. It must be dreadful to see a child you love, one who has brought sun and laughter as an infant, pride and joy through the growing years, turn into one of these creatures. It is equally sad to see a country one loves turn into a schizophrenic, whining with self-pity one moment, swagger- ing with threats the next, brag- ging with one breath, complain- ing with another. I'm talking about Canada. There is something sick in our country today, and I feel for it the same baffled sorrow that I feel for the teenager who has a good mind, with nothing more on it than bashing around in a big car and smashing things up, who has a fine body, with nothing more to do than let it go to pot. I don't know quite what has brought me to this state of gloom, but the flag debate cer- tainly helped. An insignificant issue, ineptly introduced by an inadequate prime minister and immediately attacked by an in- credible leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition. People complain, periodically, that Canada gets little or no at- tention in the world press. Thank goodness! if newspaper readers in other nations could peruse some of the juvenilia that has passed as debate in our House of Commons on the flag issue, they would shake their heads in bewilderment, a n d write us off as a nation about one jump ahead of the Congo. Personally, I don't care whe- ther our national flag is three mangy maple leaves, or three beavers eating the left thigh of Sir John A. Macdonald, or three roosters crowing "0 Canada" from a dunghill. But I do care that my country shows none of the signs of strength, maturity and wisdom that might be ex- pected from an adult democra- cy. Another thing that has pro- duced my present mood is the threat to the life of the Queen. if she has enough gumption to visit Canada, on invitation. Which she has. Would that the shrivelled punks who threaten her had as much. Canadians are not made for bowing and scraping before roy- alty. But who, except a few fan- atics of desperate paucity of soul• would want to harm this rather plain, rather sweet, quite dignified and extremely cour- ageous woman who does h e r earnest best in an extremely difficult role? The answer is, only those who have adopted the philosophy of the communist and the fascist — that the end justifies the means. The Queen has nothing to do with imperialism or co- lonialism or any of the other "isms" that Quebec is belatedly excited about, after sitting com- placent under a dictator, and a corrupt one, for years. I hereby announce that if any- body takes a potshot at t h e Queen when she visits Quebec. I will personally call up a crowd of creaky old fighter pilots and march on that province. I doubt if we'd have a banner. because if you told an old fighter pilot to follow a flag into action he'd tell you promptly what you could do with your flag And it would be painful. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps the nixed up teenager will. as so many have done, grow up, stop tearing things down, and turn into a rank old reactionary like me. I hope so.