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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1966-06-16, Page 1MAYOR DEWITT MILLER, chaplain of the local Legion Branch, read the list of names of veterans who served in the armed forces and died either in battle or since the War. He was taking part in dedication ceremonies on Decoration Day at the cemetery on Sunday. —Advance-Times Photo. ingbam btanct4intit Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, June 16, 1966 SECOND SECTION Those Terrible Teens are at it again. Riot in Montreal. Riot in Toronto's Yorkville. Teen-age boy charged with glue-sniffing. Girls nailed with bundle of mar- ijuana. Students picketing ev- erything but the public lavato- ries. Searching articles by sociolog- ists point out the obvious: that teen-agers arse rebellious, re- sentful of adults, eager to ex- periment; anxiety-ridden, reck- less, sensitive, moody. Any par- ent knows all that. "Probing" and "sensitive" TV programs point Out some more of the obvious; that teen-agers like power (boats, cars, motor- bikes; but not lawnmowers); that they like music with a big beat; that they like members of the opposite sex. Anybody who is not blind and deaf knows all that. What's all the fuss about, then? Is it a lot of overblown sensationalism in the mass media? I'm no sociologist, but I have been a teen-ager, I have two of them under my roof, and I teach swarms of them every day, so I have some qualifications, how- ever amateurish, to speak a piece. Let's try to look at the whole thing coolly. They did inherit a pretty cruddy world. Their freshness and idealism is soured at every turn by the massive march of materialism. Man is aiming at the stars with his feet firmly mired in the mud. And over all hangs the threat of an- nihilation. What do they want? They want to sweep away all the old shibboleths and start fresh. They want to be their brother's keeper. They want to communi- cate. But every way they turn, they are confronted by a great, passive resistance from a society constructed by adults for the comfort and convenience of adults. Who wouldn't be frus- trated? Students would Like to take over the universities. And re- membering some of the deplora- ble professors and ridiculous courses f was subjected to, I don't blame them. They'd like to have the vote at 18, And this might be a good thing. It would mean nobody over 25 would dare to run for public office. In this way we might get rid of vast numbers of the incompetent politicians we now have at every level of gov- ernment. They'd like to he able to non. conform (though they do cling rather frantically to the Ultra- conformity of the teen cult). Well, there's nothing wrong with being a non-conformist. I'd love to grow a beard, if it didn't emerge as a grizzled stubble that makes me look like a Bow- cry bum on a binge. I'd like to have two mistresses and a pet tiger, but I can't afford it. I'd like to go in bare feet, but I have this terrible seed-wart on the ball of my right foot, that hurts like the dickens. They'd like some direction in their lives, so they say, and blame the lack of it on their parents or adults generally. Did you ever try to direct a teen- ager to get to bed or mow the lawn? RIGHT NOW! They'd like to be beautiful or handsome. They'd like to be loved and trusted. They'd like to be given responsibility. All these longings prove is that they are human beings. You know, things haven't changed that much. When I was 18, I thought my parents well- meaning, but terribly narrow- minded. When I was 21, we used to call chaps of 29 in the Air Force, "Pop." When I was 25, people in their late 30's were completely incomprehensible. All they could talk about was furniture and fuel bills, children and chimneys, taxes and teach- ers. People over 40 were dodder- ing, senile. Don't try to understand teen- agers, Just try to put up with them. They want to fly. We want them to get on the tread- mill with the rest of us squir- rels. Remember, you too once wanted to fly. erY.0.-Avv/X/fr Each year Mike McPhail of California writes a personal note when he renews his subscription to the A-T. The McPhails have many friends and acquain- tances here who are always in- terested in what they arc doing so we will share the informa- tion with our readers, June 6, 1960, Dear Barry: It is good to hear that the main street will remain potted, and the town hall is not to be deuced, Also the new church on main street is a very beauti- ful building, Mary and I spent three days with Miles and Lillian Overend in Vernon, B.C., and as you might expect, were treated royally. I think that it was the nicest trip that we have taken, and California looks colourless JUNE 1917 The heaviest downpour of rain accompanied by the larg- est hail stones ever seen, visit- ed Wingham on Monday night. The Teeswater Motor Club have raked the stones off the road as far as the halfway house between Teeswater and Wing- ham. What's the matter with Wingham motorists doing the other half? A quiet wedding took place at the parsonage, Teeswater, on Wednesday, June 20th when Annie C., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theop. Finnen, Wing- ham, became the wife of Mr. Thomas Casemore of Turnberry. The happy couple will reside on the groom's farm on the B Line. At a recent organization of the lady Liberals of Wingham the following officers were elected. President, Mrs. Ged- des; 1st vice pres., Mrs. Thos. Fells; 2nd vice pres., Mrs. Jos. Pugh; secretary, Miss Whyte; treasurer, Miss Powell. JUNE 1931 Elmer Wilkinson and his men are engaged at painting the town standpipe. This will no doubt be one job that will be inspected from a distance on completion, especially the top half. Mr. Geo. Day is moving his barber shop to the rooms over Miller's Wholesale Tobacco Store in the Crawford Block, and has reduced the prices to Hair cuts 200, Shaves 10g. Mr. Alkin Rann, who has been employed by Mr. A. J. Walker in his furniture and un- dertaking business, has pur- -'7,MAN:iii'v;7; ,SM.04'WM after seeing Oregon, Washing- ton and British Columbia, There is a fine highway called 99 that winds its way through the mountains, over large riv- ers, and the lakes look so clear you feel you could drink the wa- ter. Vernon is a very pretty city, and it was good to see the Canadian flag flying from the public buildings, but I think Penticton was our choice of small cities. It is a beautiful place with three lakes. Family news -- Bob is still with the U, S. A.F. in New Jer- sey and Mary Ellen is finishing her first year at the Orange Coast College., Mary works from eleven in the morning till four in the afternoon at Macy's, about 15 blocks from here, We all are in good health, Sincere regards, Mike McPhail, chased a similar business in Brussels known as the Walker and Black furniture store. Mr. Rann takes possession next week Mr. Kenneth Lott has taken a position in King's Store. Mr, Carl Deans who was employed there has been engaged by the Dominion Stores in Galt. JUNE 1941 Mr. and Mrs. William J. Coulter, Turnberry, announce the engagement of their elder daughter, Jean, Reg. N., to Mr. Cedril George Moffat, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Moffat, Turnberry, The marriage to take place the latter part of June. Miss Alberta Elizabeth(Bet- ty) Lloyd was successful in the graduation examinations at Al- ma College, St. Thomas. Mr. Fred L. Davidson and his son William left on Mon- day on a week's business trip to Akron, Ohio, and Beaver Falls, Penn, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Ken- nedy attended the Magna Carra demonstration which was held in Niagara Falls, N.Y., the latter part of last week. Capt. A. W. Irwin, station- ed at Fingal, has contracted diptheria. It is reported that it is a mild case and that he is making a splendid recovery. JUNE 1952 Graduation exercises of nur- ses from Hamilton General Hos- pital were held on Wednesday, in the drill hall of McMaster University. Miss Audrey An- derson, daughter of Mr, and Mrs. Earl Anderson, Belgrave, was one of a class of 93 graduat- ing. Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Bryd- ges of Belgrave, announce the engagement of their daughter, Norma Josephine, to Charles Kenneth Downie, R. R. 1, Wing- ham. The marriage will take place on Saturday, July 5th, at Trinity Church, Belgrave, John Cruickshank, Vin Dirt- met, Norm Fry and Jack Mc- gibbon of Wingham, attended the radio golf tournament which was held at the Islington golf club near Toronto on Monday. A wedding of real interest to the people of Belmore, rook place in the Lucknow Presbyter- ian Church last Saturday after- noon when Miss Marian Mac- Donald of Lucknow, daughter of the late Dr. C. H. and Mrs. MacDonald was united in mar- riage to Mr. Alvin Mundell of Belmore. Canada's first postage stamp, the "three-penny beaver" of 1851,- depicted a beaver in a forest setting. It was designed by Sandford Fleming. Reminiscing Those Terrible Teens LETTERS TO TR EDITOR .w.!;WKWSW015.04m024 WV.SOMMAVAMIgnitidtmenoommfam The announcement last week that the Wightman Telephone System of Clifford had purchased both the Wroxeter and Howick telephone companies reminded us that everything we deal with becomes more sophisticated. Before long these purely rural telephone systems will be handled by dial exchanges. Many of the smaller rural telephone companies began in such a humble way that they no longer bear the faintest re- semblance to their original ancestors, It is a far cry from the smoothly operating dial phones of today to the equipment which was first used in country homes. Perhaps some of you can recall the first wall phones with two big jars filled with a greenish fluid fastened below the mouthpiece and receiver. These jars were "wet cell" batteries used to power the ringing circuit. We can well remember the phone in our grandmother's home, for in addition to the drooling batteries the receiver, .which hung in a hook on the side of the box, was striped with red and black rings, It was a fascinating object. In some parts of Canada where dis- tances were greater between farms and money was even less plentiful than in Ontario, folks improvised telephone systems of their own. One lad we met during the war told us how several homes on his section of Saskatchewan were linked by a communication line that em- ployed the barbed wire fences to trans- mit messages. Older second-hand tele- phone sets were used and the fences took It is surprising, says The Printed Word, that that in the raging controversy over the rights and wrongs of the Seven Days firings, the main point has been missed by nearly everyone. The main point is that broadcasting is publishing and there will always be discomfort when an agency of government, in a democracy, enters the field on a mass scale. Excitement was the basic ingredient that popularized the program. The young people who produced it and performed in it did so with a flair, sipping controversy with the gusto of gourmets tasting wine, if not with the same dignity. They took chances, stepping on political toes, and sensibilities with rapture and reckless- ness, almost daring government to stop them. Even some hide-bound reaction- aries, however they might deplore some of the content of the show, were fas- cinated. It could not continue for long. Gov- ernment agencies cannot persist in biting the hand that feeds them. When gov- ernments undertake publishing, it must be bland and innocuous. If Canada had So far we haven't heard much talk around the town about the forthcoming International Plowing Match which will be held this fall on land north of Sea- forth. It is time to take an active inter- est in this event, by far the largest and most important one on the farm calendar. Although Wingham is not the closest town to the site of the match, it is cer- tainly close enough to feel the impact of the throngs who will be attending. All public services such as eating establish- ments and service stations will benefit from a wave of extra trade, from those travelling to and from the match, as will our retail merchants. The Seaforth district is the closest the International is likely to approach Wingham for many years to come. It will provide an excellent opportunity to show our town to newcomers and Wing- ham should be at its very best, certainly as far as appearance is concerned . . . and ever more important, in its attitude the places of lines on poles, He said that nobody's business could be kept very private if the fence telephone system was used, but it was a lot better than nothing in cases of emergency and helped to dis- pel some of the loneliness of prairie life. Going even farther back, we have heard our father and uncles talking about the first telephone system used in their home town. The general store and the grist mill were both family enterprises and the fact that they were an eighth of a mile apart and separated by a river made the conduct of business a draggy affair when all messages had to be taken on foot between the two places. However, the problem was solved by some budding genius who rigged a tight wire from one building to the other. The ends of the wire were secured to the pointed ends of metal cones placed in the offices of store and mill. When a message was ready for transmission someone would tap with a metal object on the wire cone at his end until an an- swering tap was audible. Then a spoken message could be heard quite plainly at the other end, travelling without aid of electricitiy over the taut wire. How vastly different from the com- munications media of today, when radio messages control the activities of man- made satellites tens of thousands of miles out in space and a television camera continues to send back clear pictures of its surroundings from the face of the moon! an independent broadcasting system, or private broadcasters with the will and fortitude to make their so-called indepen- dence real, programs such as Seven Days could survive (if respectable). Strangely enough, the very crusaders who rushed to the support of the Seven Days co-hosts have been most blind to these realities, and have been acting like dogs biting their own tails. The young performers could not long survive in a running battle with management and its purse-strings. Only when broadcasting enjoys the kind of independence the press finally won for itself, can broad- casters afford to satirize in safety the actions of politicians. Friends of the CBC, whether vocifer- ous or quiet, should remember that an over-extension of freedom is a threat to broadcasting. Only two or three genera- tions ago, there was an important group, almost a cult, who thought that attending the theatre and playing cards were sin- ful and to be forbidden. The CBC people who become too smart should beware. to visitors and shoppers. We dream a great deal about the bene- fits which would accrue to our com- munity if another industry could be per- suaded to locate here—and no single as- pect of industry-hunting is more import- ant than the attractiveness of the town and its people, The town's development committee is presently engaged in the production of an interesting little folder which will be av- ailable inquantity for distribution at the plowing match, The folder seeks to gain attention for Wingham as a potential in- dustrial site and the chief attributes to which it points are the friendly atmos- phere of the community, combined with the very latest in educational, recreation- al, health and social amenities. No committee, however enthusiastic, can sell a community unless every citizen of the place is co-operating to the fullest extent. In the final analysis it is up to us, the people who live here, to prove what a fine town we call our own. Age of Communication Noise of the Seven Days This Is A Big Event THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Wingham, Ontario, by Wenger Bros. Limited. W. parry Wenger, President - Robert 0, Wenger, Secretary ,Treasurer Member Audit Bureau of Circulation Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association. Atithorited by the Post Office Department as Second Class Mail and for payment of postage in cash. Subscription Rate; 1 year, $6.06; B months, $2.16 in advance; U.S.A., $7.00 per yr.; roreign rate, $1.00- per yr. Advertising Rates on application.