HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-08-09, Page 44 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, August 9. 1995
Your Community Newspaper Since 1860
TERRI•LYNN DALE - General Manager
& Advertising Manager
MARY MEII.OR --Soles
PAT ARMES - Office Manager
DIANNE McGRATH - Subscriptions
LINDA PULLMAN -Typesetter
TIM CUMMING - Editor
GREGOR CAMPBELL
- Reporter
BARB STOREY
- Distribution
A Burgoyne Community Newspaper
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TES:
weeky y Signol-Star Publish gin at 100 Main S. Seaforth. Publication
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erable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor.
Wednesday, August 9, 1995
Editorial and Business Offices - 100 Main Streef.,Seaforth
Telephone (519) 527-0240 Fax (519) 527-2858
Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69,
Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO
Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper
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and the Ontario Press Council
Wasn't that a party!
In the words of the Irish Rovers, "Wasn't that a
party!" Homecoming '95 was a chance to meet old
friends again and new friends for the first time.
A thank you goes to all those people who volun-
teered their time to make Homecoming '95 such a
success. From the organizers to the cooks, from
those who made floats for the parade to those who
helped set up tables...thank you all. It was a true
community effort! A special thank you goes to the
members of the Homecoming committee who devoted
close to three years to making Bill Pinder's dream a
reality!
It was a real treat to see the old photos and his-
torical artifacts in displays and in store windows.
Although it probably doesn't need saying again,
Seaforth has a rich historical heritage. If only we
could have a public museum in which every weekend
could be a Homecoming of sorts.
For this weekend at least Seaforth was truly 'the
Friendly Town.' Perhaps we can each find ways, in
our own lives, to maintain that positive spirit all
year round.
Thanks go to all you visitors who took the time to
come back to Seaforth and for all those people who
live right here and gave their time so generously.
"Wasn't that a party!" It sure was!. - (TBC).
Letters to the Editor
Local hospitals great things
Dear Editor:
On a recent vacation to
northern Ontario, I experienced
a minor medical emergency.
With an hour drive to the
nearest medical centre which
servied a population of 57,000
people plus tourists, I found
myself waiting for six hours to
be examined, treated and
released. The waiting room was
,overflowing into the adjoining
corridors with patients to be
examined. There was only one
doctor and limited assisting
staff. The situation put me in
mind of those movies where
the spouse is taken in for a
heart attack and passes away,
or the little boy who fell is
now paralysed just because the
hospital was understaffed. All
in total I spent about 20
minutes with a doctor. He
assessed the situation, took x-
rays, formed a cast and I was
off for the hour drive back to
the cottage. On my way there I
realized how fortunate I was to
doctor in Seaforth. Whenever
there is an emergency, a doctor
is there in a few minutes, if
one is not already. If x-rays or
blood work is needed, you can
be assured it will be performed
at any time of day. I know that
Seaforth Community Hospital
does not have the same
population or the volume of
emergencies that this hospital
had but, in comparison, the
service received is so
extraordinary. I guess it just
goes to show, you never know
how good you have it until you
neat it.
Jennifer Roth
Hen sal I
Seaforth native thanks committee
for wonderful Homecoming event
Dear Editor,
I would like to take this
opportunity to express my
sincere appreciation to all of
those individuals and groups
who made the Seaforth Home-
coming such a tremendous
'success. For months we have
been anticipating this exciting
event and you did not let us
down.
It was a wonderful opportun-
ity to renew friendships, social-
ize and meet new friends. I'd
like to commend those who
decorated the town to make it
look so festive. The photo-
graphs from the past, old
yearbooks and memorabilia
were a nice touch. Hours of
time, planning and preparing
for activities were evident in
the success of everything I
attended. I sure appreciate the
efforts of everyone who made
this a perfect weekend and I
thank you.
Scaforth is a wonderful town
and I'm proud to call it my
home.
Sincerely,
Trish (Rimmer) MacGregor
Kippen
No answers, just questions in killing
My memories of Brian
Smith will always be fond
ones.
He shared Master of Cere-
monies duties at a mock
awards night for journalism
students at Carleton Univer-
sity. He stumbled through
some of the silly, pre -scripted
jokes which were put in front
of him. He graciously took
the good-natured ribbing my
journalism classmate gave
him on stage as drunken
students roared with laughter.
Brian Smith was a class act
that night. The busy TV
sportscaster agreed to take
part in an evening without
glamour or black ties, just
because he was asked. For
that one night he acted like
he was one of us.
Now, only a cheap video-
tape remains as a record of
that evening and of Brian
Smith. A coward with a rifle
put a bullet through his head
last Tuesday.
A woman who is only about
a year older than myself is
now widowed. Why? Because
some miserable piece of
One
View
BY TIM CUMMING
gepetic garbage had more
bullets than brains.
I did not recognize Alana's
face from the front page of
The Globe and Mail. The
photo showed a woman cry-
ing into her hands, her world
destroyed. It could not be the
Alana I know. The last time I
saw her she was a teaching
assistant in my television
journalism course. She had
brains, looks and a promising
career as a journalist. I rarely
saw her without her warm,
trademark smile...except when
a newscast was late. Could
this be the same woman? No,
it must be a cruel joke.
A camera operator from
CJOH-TV was the only one
who adequately summed up
last week's tragedy:
"This is not really happen-
ing."
What was Brian Smith's
mistake? He walked through
the front doors of the televi-
sion station where he worked.
What was his crime? He had
the recognizable face of a
member of the media.
I was not friends with Brian
and Alana. I knew them only
at a distance. But this sense-
less shooting is perhaps a
little bit more real to me
because I briefly knew those
who are affected.
This bullet didn't just take
away a familiar face from the
TV screen. It took away a
husband from a family. It
took away a human being,
ending his hopes and dreams
forever.
For members of the Ottawa
media it will be a chilling era
they now enter. Fear will
invade their lives daily.
The question is eating away
at me:
Why?
Why?
flashback
Where's no better place than
I know you'// like it too.
Soldier greeted with party
FROM THE PAGE$ OF
THE HURON EXPOSITOR,
AUGUST 16, 1895
Jacob Weber of Egmondville
has sold the Carlin farm on the
second concession of McKillop
to Thos. Lane of Tuckersmith
for the sum of $4,500. It is at
present occupied by Charles
Wright.
* * *
Wm. Scott, of Brucefield,
shipped 12,000 pounds of wool
to Lawrence, Massachusetts
last week.
* * *
Thomas Dinsdale, of Kippen,
the veteran thresher, has pur-
chased one of the latest
improved engines from the
Leonard Company, London.
* * *
• R. B. McLean, of Kippen,
has barley which yielded 58
bushels to the acre.
* **
Wm. Jewitt, of McKillop,
near Leadbury, arrived home
from Algoma, bringing with
him a number of samples of
grain grown on the farm of
Wm. Murray of Tuckersmith.
* * *
Mrs. Chas Lowrie, in writing
from her home in Scotland,
says, "Crops of all kinds are
looking well; Butchers' meat is
one shilling per pound; eggs,
1 s.6d per dozen; sugar, 2 d.
per pound."
AUGUST 13, 1920
An aeroplane passed over the
town in an easterly direction
about seven o'clock on Sunday
evening. This was the first one
to be seen this year.
* * *
The Farmer's Sun of last
week says "J. J. McGavin of
Walton, Huron County, sent in
four 1150 pound steers to the
United Farmers. J. H. Scott, of
Seaforth, sent in 22 butcher
cattle."
* * *
In the Years Agone
The genial townsman, Robert
Murdock, of Brucefield, started
this week as mail carrier.
The Expositor extends hearty
congratulations to W. H. Kerr
on having completed his 40th
year as editor and proprietor of
the Brussels Post, one of the
newsiest and best edited week-
ly papers in Ontario.
* * *
Tom Sills, young son of Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Sills, Seaforth,
had a leg fractured when he
was knocked down and run
over by another boy on a
bicycle.
* * *
The Main Street in Brucefield
has had a quantity of gravel
put on it. Road commissioner
McCartney has charge of the
work and he well understands
the art of good road making.
AUGUST 17, 1945
A homecoming party was
held in Looby's hall in honour
of P/0 Thomas B. Melady,
recently returned from two
years overseas service in Afri-
ca, Italy and England. Jas.
O'Connor read the address and
Alphonse Cronin made a pres-
entation.
* * *
For the first time since 1942,
motorists will now be able to
secure all the gasoline they
desire.
* * *
Scaforth men who have
recently returned from overseas
include Pte. Charles Woods,
who spent five years in Eng-
land, Sicily and Italy; Tprs.
Arthur and John Cameron, who
spent five and three years
respectively in England, Italy,
France, Holland and Germany;
Sqd. Ldr. I. E. MacTavish,
who made 67 missions over
enemy territory and W. O.
James D. Southgate, who made
eleven missions over enemy
territory.
* * *
A welcome home party and
presentation was recently held
in the Armouries in Seaforth
for John J. Holland M.M.
AUGUST 13, 1970
When Mr. and Mrs. C. A.
Barber of Seaforth, visited their
grandson recently at the Prov-
incial Park at Balsam Lake,
where he is Park Manager, it
was an opportunity for a four
generation gathering.
* **
Seaforth Legion Hall was
filled Saturday evening of last
week as friends and relatives
honoured Mr. and Mrs. Mervin
Nott on the occasion of their
25th wedding anniversary.
* * *
Police are searching for
thieves who gained entry into
an Egmondville apartment
occupied by Dr. Martin Haynes
on Friday evening.
* * *
Town recreation director
Douglas Andrews was uncon-
scious for seven hours over-
night Monday after he was
assaulted and hit on the head
while walking through Clinton
Community Park.
* * *
Four tires were slashed on a
car belonging to Maryln
Krieger of RR 5 Brussels
which was parked on John
Street in Seaforth Monday
night.
Idioms throughout the ages
Coup de grace The final
blow: "Ne had been getting
deeper and deeper in debt; the
fates delivered the coup de
grdce when he died." The
phrase is French for "stroke of
mercy." It originally referred
to thc merciful stroke that put
a fatally wounded person out
of his misery or to the shot
delivered to the head of a pris-
oner after he had faced a firing
squad.
All things to all men (people)
Saint Paul says that in his mis-
sionary work, he was "all
things to all men"; that is, he
adapted himself to those
around him in order to convert
them to Christianity. Today,
the phrase is most often used
unfavorably about someone
who is too flexible or accom-
modating.
Gesundheit (guh-ZOONT-
heyet) German for "good
health." Like the English
phrase "Bless you," it is con-
ventionally said to someone
who has just sneezed. This
reflects the superstition that a
sneeze can cause the soul to
fly out of the body; saying the
phrase prevents this from hap-
pening.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
There is, of course, no
reasonable answer. Some
individual was sick in the
head. Society is sick in the
head.
Maybe we've grown too
selfish. Maybe we've grown
away from the land. Maybe
the preservatives in our food
are making us crazy. Maybe
we've lost our way, our roots,
our values. Maybe govem-
ment funding cuts have hurt
mental health programs. May-
be there are too many guns.
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
Maybe we have to kiss our
sons and daughters and tell
them we love them because
there are no guarantees there
will be a tomorrow.
Maybe we have to live
every day as if it were our
last.
Maybe we have to help
create a kinder, gentler world.
There are a lot of maybes
but no real answers.
Wake-up call
comes for
Liberals
by DAVID SOMERVILLE
The recent Ontario election
may have given federal
Liberals a glimpse of their own
political future.
The Ontario Liberals, of
course, were blown away in
that election despite beginning
the campaign with an over-
whelming lead in public opin-
ion polls.
A whole host of theories -
many of them bizarre - has
emerged to explain the Liberal
Party's collapse.
Some say it was Liberal lead-
er Lyn McLeod's fault. Some
say Ontarians wouldn't vote
for a woman as party leader.
Others say that the party's poli-
cies were to blame; still others
say the Liberals were just too
plain wishy-washy.
More likely, however, the
Ontario Liberals were simply
in the wrong place at the
wrong time.
The wrong place being
smack dab between an easily
angered electorate and an
increasingly arrogant federal
Liberal party in Ottawa; and
the wrong time being when the
whole question of gold-plated
MP pensions became a hot
issue.
MP pensions, of course, are
not strictly speaking a provin-
cial matter. They are a federal
concern. However, voters
often do not make such subtle
distinctions when they place
an "X" on a ballot.
To voters a Liberal is a
Liberal or a Conservative is a
Conservative no matter what
level of government they rep-
resent. In other words, provin-
cial parties can get caught in a
political crossfire between
Ottawa and the province.
That's exactly what happened
in 1995 to the Ontario
Liberals.
The key issue was MP pen-
sion reform. A recent poll
showed that an overwhelming
majority of Ontarians want the
super rich MP pensions
brought into line with what's
available in the private sector.
The federal Liberals, however,
cynically proposed token
changes that left the MP pen-
sion plan an insulting outrage.
Then to makc matters worse,
in thc midst of the Ontario
election, thc federal Liberals
rammed their sham changes
through a House committee
after only twelve minutes of
debate. Talk about arrogance.
Not surprisingly, such high
handed tactics angered Ontario
voters. This anger was in turn
focused by the group
Ontarians for Responsible
Government, which spent
$50,000. on a media campaign
urging voters angry about MP
pensions to vote against the
provincial Liberals.
Obviously, the people lis-
tened. On election day they
sent a strong message to the
Prime Minister. He had better
heed it.
Unless the federal Liberals
act to bring MP pensions into
line with what's available in
the private sector they will
mcct the same fate as thcir
Ontario counterparts.
/)avid Somerville is
President of The National
Citizens' Coalition.