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Times-Advocate, 1987-12-02, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, December Times Established 1871 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 . 1987 A•14'‘' • Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, NOM ISO Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 BILL BATTEN Editor DON SMITH Business Manager IL's1 BECKETT ROSS HAUGH Publisher & Adsertising Manager Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES DICK JONGKIND Composition Manager Vice -President SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Tributes for Charlie The tributes and accolades heaped upon Charles Steel MacNaughton after his re- cent death were many and all were well deserved. Charlie as he was affectionately known by most residents of the Huron - Middlesex riding regardless of party be- liefs served this area with dedication and humility for more than 15 years in the Ontario Legislature. Probably the shortest tributes were the most fitting. Rev. Geroge Goth of Lon- don who was instrumental in getting MacNaughton to come east from Bran- don in 1944 said it in simple words, "I -le was a good man" and Elmer Bell, a life- long friend summed it up, "He was one of a kind." MacNaughton took the time to be con- cerned about the problems of his constit- uents while still coping with his duties in the Legislature which most of the time were of a ministerial nature. He was minister of nine different port- folios in his 15 year career in Toronto and several were of high profile and im- portance.The present representative of the riding which encompasses all of Hu- ron county Jack Riddell said being head of nine different ministries was one record which probably will never be equal led. The riding of Huron -Middlesex re- ceived a lot of benefits many of which were lasting during the MacNaughton era and they are too numerous to men- tion them all. At the top of the list would be establish= ment of the Lake Huron Water System and transferring the Centralia RCAF sta- tion to an Ontario Developement Corpo- ration industrial and housing project. We remember back more than 20 years ago when Charlie MacNaughton and Bill Stewart toured Huron Park and used their influences to begin plans for Cen- tralia College.Now it is one of the finest agricultural colleges in the provinces. The memory of Charlie MacNaughton will live for a long time in this area. A C.S. MacNaughton Scholarship fund has already been established at South Huron District High School. Each year at least one student will bene- fit because of .the works of a dedicated politician over more than 20 years. Co-operation is great A tip of the hat should go to the offi- cials of three groups in Exeter who have come to a reasonable compromise: The Exeter Optimists, Exeter Mo- hawks and Exeter Hawks recently agreed to co-operate concerning use of the South Huron Rec Centre. In recent years, the Optimists have held a very successful home and garden show early in April at a time when the two hockey teams were in the middle of playoffs. This year both the senior and junior clubs appear to have excellent chances to go far in post -season playoffs and could need home ice time until late in April. The Optimists have a good argument to holding their show, as last year they net- ted a profit of about $16,000 and most of that amount was put back into minor sports. The three groups have agreed to re- move the ice in time for the three-day home and garden show and then put it back for additional hockey games. The three have shown a lot in the give and take department and have made deci- sions much easier to make for the Rec Centre Board.Final details are yet to be worked out, but it appears they have found a good solution. As councillor Dorothy Chapman put it at a recent meeting, "It was beautiful to see the way they co-operated." While on the subject of co-operation, the recent formation of a Winter Sports Council will make that subject much eas- ier to cope with. The Sports Council which will now represent all winter sports groups will be able to speak as one voice when various issues are brought up to the Rec Centre Board. One of their first projects will be to buy a Zamboni or Olympia ice machine. This appears to be a sensible purchase. The machine will be a labour saver in that it shaves the ice.to a manageable thickness regularly and will be powered by propane rather than diesel.This should eliminate some of the unpleasant odours which have bothered spectators between periods of hockey games in recent years. Keep up the fine example of co- operation. Your efforts to improve con- ditions for the sports minded persons of Exeter and surrounding areas of all ages are much appreciated. It's reversed Last week I talked about being in a music festival with a choir and remarked about the good feelings which onc can get by performing in front of a live audi- ence. Of course, one can get just the reverse feeling whcn you arc in front of an audience and things just go the reverse of what you have planned. I can recall one time whcn my brother and I were going to sing. a duct. As we mounted thc steps of the plat- form, one of us brushed against a huge flower pot and just about sent it to the floor. Fortunately he caught if before water and flow- ers were spread all over the place. Not long after my wife and I were married I was a member of a local theatre group which put on the musical production "Brigadoon". As a member of the chorus, I was a Scottish villager. Near the end of the play I acted as a stretcher bearer carrying off one of thc characters who had been killed. Now this was supposed to be a ..................................... By the Way by Fletcher very serious scene so the cast could not understan 1 A by titters and chuck L thn :rah the J r r i 1 I un,,cr t. .•• was not too impressed . ith . after the show. Apparently as I hail reached down to pick up the stretcher I had also picked up the comer of my kilt revealing a very generous stretch of thigh as I solemnly g?t'sseci dross the stage. TY Another stage production which I was in was "The Pirates of Penzance", a Gilbert and Sulli- van play. Each night of rehearsal, onc of the main characters, the major -,general, had brought out a huge flint -lock rifle and had pre- tended to fire it off. On the dress rehearsal evening though, he did indeed fire it, its thunderous roar nearly scaring the whole cast c• Jhc back of the stare. After that th ,ugh t! were ready each night of th, pct ior- mante though the audience cer- tainly wasn't. And the last performance we got back at him. As the gun.went off, three stuffed ducks flopped down right in. front of him, dropped from high up on the,cat- walk. The major -general just fell over. The expression on his face was priceless, and the audience, after they had recovered from their own shock, joined in thc cast's mcrrimcnt. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited rRol f c Tiotnrt U-Grtrrs rio- Tarior+isn! n`n' T Let's help others Are you going to enjoy a hap- py, joyous and blessedChristmas season? While probably 99 percent of our readers in the county of Hu- ron will be able to answer that question in the affirmative, there are a few that won't be able to. At this time of the year we hear lots of stories of destitute families in some of our major cities, but it is also happening here.We would hope it is on a much smaller scale. In Huron county, there arc up- wards of 600 boys and girls who would have very little to look for- ward to when December 25 rolls around if it wasn't for a large group of volunteers. The Huron Christmas Bureau makes sure that no child in the county goes without presents and no family without a Christmas dinner. Everyone involved with the Christmas Bureau whether it be by Ross Haugh the sponsoring Family and Chil- dren's Services, thc dedicated or- ganizers, the army of volunteers or those making donations is to be commended. When we think of sharing at Christmas time it's usually the younger child which gets most of the focus.If you arc planning on making a donation to the Christ- mas Bureau, remember that older children and teenagers also need gifts. The Christmas Bureau tries to provide every child with at least one new toy, one new larger item of clothing and two pairs of new mitts along with a bag of grocer- ies to help the family over the holiday season. - The drop-off depot for gifts and donations in Exeter is the basement of thc Exeter Pentecos- tal Church at thc south end of town. Local co-ordinators are Jean Sharp and Dorothy Prouty.Overall volunteer co- ordinator for the entire county is Pauline Lingard of Grand Bend. Let's all help some other fami- ly's Christmas be as happy as ours. Shopping safari over Once again the annual shopping safari for the children's toys is be- hind us. This year - thanks to exper- ience - Elizabeth and I have stayed clear of the department store "toy de- partments" for a numbcr of reasons. Number one: The staff in these places are less than helpful. Any customcr questions result in one of the following three standard a.t- swers: "If it's not out there, we don't have it," "We're out of if, and I don't know when we'll get it again." "The person who would know is off to- day." Number two: The lineups at the "Services Desks" are too long and too slow. Numbcr three: The stuff that is piled up to the ceiling on their ware- house -like shelves• gives us thc creeps. Our kids weren't playing with toys at 811 Last year we were stung pretty badly. After the Christmas tree had been dragged out through the front - door, we had tried to put the house in order again. "We have to do something about that playroom," Elizabeth ,had said. We had been stepping over stuff for days, trying not to break our necks. "We should declare the room a disaster arca, un- fit for human habitation," I said. I ended up sorting things out, and that' whin I realized what was go - in • )iu 1 -:ds wcrcn't playing \sf(r)s air. W h;,t I ' ric •inter instead on the carpet, u. , • soh', in the door- way, on the window sill, and on top of the TV were hideous monsters, freaks, nightmares. Plastic creations of sick minds. Somehow these abominations got into our house: Triclops and Cop- Taur, Brainiac and Grislor, Mutaot Nose Divers and Power Pals, Ram - Man and Sci-Kill (I take no respon- sibility for the spelling of any "Toys in this column. I rely solely on verbal information supplied by one eight-year old and two six-year old§. with remarkable terminological knowledge about these creatures. But 1 spell 'cm the way I hear 'cm. In fairness 1 must admit that I brought one or two of these 'misfit figures into the house myself. In a state of parental stupor I had con- sented to let the kids have what they wanted so badly: Multi -Bot, He -Man )alias Prince Adam) and Battle -Cat (also known as Cringer). But who was responsible for Sheera PETER'S POINT • - or was it Wonder Woman? - and the Princes of Power? At any rate, I know what happened. The creatures reproduced. Right under our naive little noses. So He -Man begat Man -in -Arms and Webs-taur and Beast -Man and Skeletor and Orco and Moss -Man and Man-i-Faccs and other riffraff. And they outfitted themselves with outlandish looking machinery that seemed to be a cross between med- ieval road building equipment and rejects from Star Wars. But worst of all were the fiendish bodies themselves. These aggres- sive, objectionable, blood -thirsty dolls just oozed violence and evil. Much of the blame had to be laid at Santa Claus's doorsteps. Duncan had asked him for a Sec taur, a sub -human warrior riding on a giant bumble bee that flapped its wings. And Santa Baby had brought him the thing (batteries not includ- ed). Right undcr the Christmas tree it was. How could a mere mortal like a father argue with Santa? When I had time to reflect, I sat down and cried. Who were the per- petrators of this insult? Who hated children so much? Who enjoyed ruining an entire generation? A look underneath this stuff re- vealed that Mattel Inc. (USA), Mat- tel Inc. (Taiwan) and Mattel Inc. (Malaysia) seemed to be responsib, c for some of the most atrocious pieces. The same people who pro- duce, sponsor or otherwise originate the half-hour commercials on prime time kids' TV. Well, I couldn't tell you what to do, Mr. Mattel, whoever, whatever and wherever you are. You have the right to make all the garbage you want. But this year, count ane out as one of your customers. I don't like what you're doing to my kids. I've not only separated all Mattel _ toys (and others of the same ilk) from the rcst of our children's playthings. Elizabeth and I have also began an in-house cducationpl program, instructing our kids in the use and appreciation of REAL toys. War is out, farm work is in Do the kids object? Of course, they do. They'll .have to unlearn some of thc things the TV commer- cials bombard them with. They'll get over the withdrawal symptoms, though. Because the way we have rear- ranged the playroom this year will make it easy for then to he children again. Instead of Mattel's Night Stalker (a mechanical horse with la- ser guns) they'll play with an old- fashioned team of farm horses that pull a wagon loaded with hales of hay. Instead of thc grotesque, de- structive Bash -A -Saurus by Mattel Inc. (Mcxico) that kills other toys with a wrecking hammer, our kids will now learn to hitch a plough to a tractor. Instead of a Masters of the Universe Slime Pit that regurgitates hideous green slime over "the enc - my", they will have a pigsty with realistic porkers and baby piglets. And although they may hope to find Mattel's Fright Zone under this year's tree, they will discover in- stead a fenced -in pasture with dairy cows; a shepherd with a flock of sheep; a barn and a silo. Ye.s, farming will be the new rave at our house this Christmas and be- yond. I think farming may have re- formed many a wayward child in the ten thousand year or so since it was invented, and 1 expect it will continue to have therapeutic value for a long time to come. Mattel, Inc. (USA, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mexico or whatever), get lost! Either that, or sell us a good manure spreader.