HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-07-01, Page 44 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JULY 1, 1995
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Published weekly by 5ignol-Stor Publishing of 100 Main 5t., Seaforth. Publication
moil registration No 0696 held at Seoforth, Ontario. Advertising is accepted on
condition that in the event of o typographical error, the advertising space occupied
by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not
be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable -
rate. In the event of o typographical error, odvertisinggoods or services of a
wrong price, goods or services may not be sold Advertising is merely an offer to
sell and may be withdrawn of any time. The Huron Expositor a not responsible for
the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for
reproduction purposes Changes of address, orders for subscriptions and undeliv-
erable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor.
Wednesday, July 1, 1998
Editorial and Iusinoss OHicos - 100 Main ffroot.,Soaforfh
Tolopaoeo (519) 527-0240 /ax (519) 527-2050
Mailing Addrou - P.O. Sox 69,
fotsfortb, Ontario, NOK IWO
Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper
Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association
and the Ontario Press Council
Publication Mail Registration No. 07605
Canadians have much
to celebrate tomorrow
To The Editor:
On behalf of my wife
Kathy and myself, I would
like to extend my very best
wishes to all of the residents
of Huron -Bruce, and indeed
to all Canadians, on this the
131st Birthday of Canada.
On July 1st, we as
Canadians have an
opportunity to celebrate the
benefits of living in a country
like Canada; a nation that has
been built firmly upon the
values of peace, open-
mindedness and tolerance.
Our society places such a
strong emphasis on equality
and co-operation that we
have gained considerable
global praise and envy. This
year, as in the past three, we
have once again earned the
United Nations designation
of being the best place in the
world in which
to live.
I have said it
before and I
will say it
again; there is
no place that
exemplifies the
aforementioned qualities like
right here in Huron -Bruce.
Our strong agricultural
background is a characteristic
upon which the country was
founded. Our peaceful and
quiet surroundings are
coveted by others and serve
as a source of pride for all
within our boundaries.
Over the past year we have
continued to make
tremendously productive
contributions to the global
community. Among other
things, we enjoyed the
honour of hosting world
leaders in
Ottawa for the
formal signing
ceremony of
o u r
international
t ban on the use
of anti-
personnel landmines and we
expanded our support for
human rights enhancement in
foreign countries through an
increasingly proactive role in
organizations such as NATO
and the United Nations.
Domestically we have once
again started to celebrate
together. This year we
formally commenced our
Millennium preparations and
we saw our financial picture
dramatically improve as we
achieved a balanced budget
for the first time in over a
generation. As a result, our
exports have increased and
our interest and inflation
rates continue to remain
extremely low.
Indeed, as in the past 130
years, Canadians again have
much to celebrate this year.
Our determination and
conviction serve as an
inspiration and example to
the world of the fact that
Canada is a capable and
compassionate member of
the community of nations. As
Canadians we should be
proud of our achievements
and confident in our future
together....
Once again, I would extend
my best wishes, for the
future, to each and every one
of my fellow Canadians.
Sincerely,
Paul Stcckle, M.P.
Wasting what
we don't want
Government waste comes in many
forms from • goin9 ahead with,
cancelling and going ahead with
military purchases to reimbursing
officials for the cost of parking at
airports.
Canada Post has just issued it's
annual report for 1997 to 1998
highlighting a net profit of $36 million.
Where's the government waste in
that.
It's all in the report.
Literally.
Copies of the report were sent to
weekly newspapers which struggle
daily to find enough space and time to
cover local events.
There isn't time to sort through a 48
page report to write a story that would
take the space of a photograph
captured at a town event or a story
following the controversy of keeping
Seaforth s high school open.
It was a waste mailing it out
(assuming Canada Post has to pay).
From the weekly paper perspective, it
was a waste printing it.
From any perspective, it was a waste
printing sections of it on glossy paper
and the rest on heavy, high quality,
expensive paper.
And dont forget, this is a .bilingual
country so an equal number of pages
printed upside down and on the back (if
you're English speaking) is also
included but will never be used.
So much government' material,
beyond Canada Post, comes through
weekly newspaper offices every day.
While information is always welcome
and may spark a story idea, too much
is sent out that simply ends up in the
recycling bin after only a quick glance.
STH
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t -mail address is:
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Letters may he edited for both length and content.
Don't /orger to check out our homepage at:
www.bowesnet.com/expositor/
Class of 1932.
Remembering `Beans' Ibbotson
Jim McNairn was heading up Main
Street, taking long determined steps. He
was in uniform. His first words were
"any idea where I can get a beer?" I met
him as I crossed towards Phillips Fruit
Store on my way home. (I may well have
been coming from a poker game in the
back of Johnny Bach's store) Jim had
just arrived off the 10 o'clock train.
Home from the war...it was late August
1945.
We shook hands, and as he walked on
he turned and said, "Beans was on the
Toronto train with me." Beans was
Lorne Clyde Ibbotson. He had been gone
from town for almost three years. We
were school chums from kindergarten
through high school. He lived about a
quarter mile south of the train station in
a small white frame house...right on the
border of the town and the village. In
fact his mother's house was in Seaforth
and their shed was in Egmondville. The
old flax mill was next door just south of
the house. A lane ran along the nqrth
side that went back to Christic's
slaughter house.
It was early fall and still warm so I
took off across the tracks to see him.
Warrant Officer Ibbotson was sitting on
the back porch soaking in all the
goodness of being home and alive. Not
all wireless air gunners
returned...especially those attached to an
English Royal Air Force bomber.
squadron.
The first thought I had as I saw him
was remembering the blue fold -up air
mail letter I got a year earlier
postmarked Gloucester, where he had
scrawled at the end...."If anyone tells
you a Wellington can't get home and
land on one engine...tell him he's nuts." 1
still have the letter.
"Son-of-a-b...it's good to see you
Ish...you're the first person I've talked to
besides Mom since I got home." "I came
straight here from the train." ("Ish" was
a name stuck on me by Johnny Cardno,
for in the late 30's I sported a haircut Tike
Ish-ka-bibble, a horn player in Kay
Kaiser's big band). Over all the years I
knew Beans, his widowed mother
worked at Duncan's Shoe Factory..as did
his sister Marion. Funny how one
remembers the little things. I 'still recall
how intrigued I was as a small boy when
Lorne told me his mother was a Seventh
Day Adventist...1 wasn't sure what that
meant. I don't think I even associated it
with religion - but ever after when I met
her I was somehow fascinated by this
distinction.
I well remember his Ieaving...you
could say he left with a bang. There was
a good hunch of fellows in Grade 11. A
bit carefree and wild sometimes,
showing a bit of high school macho. And
sadly,•cvery fcw weeks one or two would
be missing from class...gone off to the
war. Al Smith was our six foot four
teacher and for some reason on
Wednesday June 3rd, 1942, he hit
Lorne...and knocked him to thc floor. (In
those days some of the unbridled male
student exuberance and tomfoolery mct
with harsh discipline - today thc teacher
would be fired and likely sued). Beans
was very angry. fie never returned to
school. He joined the Air Force thc next
day - on June 4th, his birthday...He was
18.
Although wc lived at opposite ends of
town we spent a lot of time together
through the early part of our lives. We
were in the Scouts together and wc both
attended Northside United Church and
Sunday School. Through public and high
school, in every class wc sat within a
fcw feet of each other. But there was one
sharp distinction. Beans gave us all good
reason to respect him...and to hate him.
We all took armloads of hooks home and
we studied hard and long - and the best
most of us could do was flounder around
in the 50s and 60s. The odd time we
might get a 70. Lorne never took a hook
home. He never bothered to study, even
at exam time...yet he walked off with 90
or better in almost every subject.
That is probably why it was said that
when he graduated at Guelph with his
"wireless air gunner" wings he got the
highest marks in the history of the
station. However it was also reported
that while others made Sargeant on
graduation he got only two stripes. It
was Corporal Ibbotson. Something to do
with his lack of respect for rank and
discipline. Beans was heard to say..."yes.
I did seem to be peeling more potatoes
than most of the others."
Like other wireless air gunners he
trained on Ansons, the twin engine
planes so familiar in the early 1940s in
the sky over Huron County. They came
out of the R.C.A.F. station at Centralia
and thc R.A.F. Navigation Air Observer
Station at Port Albert. north of Godcrich.
Both were integral parts of the
Commonwealth Air Training plan and
were probably more important in
winning the war than we then realized.
Although he enlisted earlier. Neville
'McMillan Icft grade 11 like Beans. to
join the Air Force. He was apparently
severely reprimanded for coming in a bit
to low and circling the town...and
louring his old Alma Mater.
For an hour we talked about everything
from thc girls in town to who was home
from thc war....and sadly we
remembered and talked about our friends
from school who would not he coming
home. Names came up like Art Fraser,
Frank Devereaux, Frank Casson. Jim
Broadfoot. and Van Bell. Van lived
across the street just a couple of hundred
feet away from thc porch where we were
sitting. Van was killed flying one of the
speedy A.V. Roc light bombers. The
Mosquito...the only plane made of wood
- hard for radar to spot. It was at that
time the fastest and most versatile
bomber made.
As Beans told of his return and thc
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