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Clinton News-Record, 1976-02-12, Page 4' t d ,make, the Nserr. F►r-il ?n hou h ei a human IIv ttottv'ati+lrt, gas about' its; deadly . too' 1S, pities; r'oaca V4 46 J a7cr,'+T df. *�.�fr,aA 9 jthat t ie latest eap«ign*hotr�g'ah a cars oft s or I . cards:for msnoi's and far- tg .t Cors to, detain drivers who ay to impaired IS a pj ;niti'v'e ap.- proach, ern. wt eh, is far less; :likely to work.� and. which gives> eveo, greater powers of arrest' to`pofice., When aur • governments recognize that ' alcohol abuse reached epidemic proportions in this oanry atd are prepared to tackle it with the same zeal that might , go into eradicating any other disease, then a major step will have been taken. Then we can have new and searching. programs to understand the problem and provide broad public education to get at the root causes. Otherwise we are merely treating the symptoms while those afflicted, with the,disease continue their paths of destruction. (contributed) ntr O. r.s1 acT.fo.'T +,rpan „dr by.•a I lack r'n a'1ndan air of fatalism that; is int. +1tario' alone, More than alcohot,reJated. deaths- were Qrdd ° the . ratio between these nrd'd athsby murder speaks for itself, T i breathalyzer test 'has been a dismal failure in preventing — or at least. ' curbing -- drunken driving because of loopholes in the law and difficulty to enforcing .the system. Many,people who should not be behind the Wheel of a car because of impaired ability are able to evade even the test because it is cumbersome and awk- ward. The Ontario government this year begins to reduce highway speed limits Pear Aunt Martha and Uncle George: Wish you were here. We've been ',, aming a wonderful time up here in Huron County this winter, one .of those old-fashioned winters you used to tell me about. Uncle George. 1 hope the weather's, not too bad down there in Miami, but I know how much you miss the snow and all. Remember how you use to reminisce about the wonderful winters youused to'have when you were a .kid? You know, when the snow, was up to your armpits, and you could reach up and touch .the telephone wires? Well Uncle George, it's like that this year and I know you'll be saddened to learn you may miss it all. While you were cursing the hot sun on the golf course, it managed to snow seven feet worth here, and I just know you be sick with envy when you learn the snow is up the eaves on your house here. But don't fret, Uncle George, there are people up here crazy enough to want to switch places with you. Can you imagine! Imagine, missing shovelling the beautiful white stuff, and never ex- periencing the glorious feeling that a sore back brings one after pushing a car out of the ditch. Another funny thing around here, Uncle George, is that people don't appreciate the winter one bit, not like you told me they did in the old days. They want all the snow cleaned Off ever nook and cranny around here and hauled away, no matter what the cost. I know it sounds silty, but they want to walk. and }drive around like its the middle of the summer. Where's their -,spirit you ask? Probably buried under one ofthose 15 foot snowbanks on some sideroad. Well. • I have to go now. I see the water's dripping on the kitchen table again, and I'll have to go up on theroof again and tryand chip off some more of the ice. -Come to think of it, Uncle George, i can't recall you ever telling me about the wonderful feeling you used to have whenever the roof leaks from the ice build-up. .Oh well. Wish you were here, Your nephew, Jim ,, End of an era. For young folks and city folks. it won't mean a thing. But for small town and rural folks, especially the older ones, the end of Eaton's catalogue is the end of an era. . During a couple of generations, the catalogue .was the -key to a storehouse of treasure that Aladdin would have envied. Fifty years ago. especially for farm people in isolated locations, it was as im- porthnt as their television set is today. After a day of drudgery. a leaf through the pages was a form if escape for the farm wife. Even though there was no money for more than the essentials, she could dream over the illustrations of furniture, clothing, sets of dishes, curtains. At that time. it was literally one of the very few means of communication with the big world outside. Even if you never received a letter from one year's end to another, you could be sure of receiving mail. You carefully chose what you wanted from the catalogue, made sure you got the right number, sent `off your order, and sooner or later there would be a parcel in the mail. Eaton's was as reliable as the Bank of England used to be. Besides its exotic allure, the bulky Catalogue had a dozen utilitarian values. People didn't just chuck out last year's cataloogue, as they would in these careless. Spendthrift days. • Old copies were used as doorstops, in the backhouse, and as insulation. I have per- Senally used them, at a tender age, as shinpads for hockey. stuffed inside long 'len sks. Many a boy. in those days when the only paints of a 'women exposed were her h ds and face, learned all about women, ordbati WS fust sexual experience, if you prefer;, by Sneaking a 1 k at the corset ads when his mother was watching. Many an d r person of the gentler` lrex day spent happy hours as a little girl rctang things out of the catalogue with sots and pasting them in a scrapbook, or making paper dolls'. ''-. 'other uses were: half a dozen pages to rf the morning fire in a house where ter was scarce because there was no ly newspaper; 20 or 30 pages crit in the ape of aninsole and tucked into the boot.. hoe witha hole in the sole. "at lets not get $entittt.enta( and weepy ie% it. Eaton's catalogue is a hangover the days of the outdoor Johnny, and WY few mourn the demise of the sc►rry for the many people across the ' tin who will lose obs because the afogue has become defunct: And many a housewife will feel a real sense of loss for a while. But it won't be missed all that much. The catalogue has outlived its usefulness except. as a strictly functional means of shopping. It was no longer a cherished household article. It had become about as glamorous as the telephone directory. i know quite a few people who will be cheered by the news. These are the small town and `rural merchants who had to compete against the giant department store. They simply couldn't, and many were bitter about it. A merchant who had a stake in his community, paid taxes, and served his fellow citizens had some right to feel a tittle sour when he had to go up against a faceless, imperponal titan which could operate fr___o rpt a, hole in the wall called ah order office, contributed virtually nothing to the community. and could undercut his prices every time because it could buy in volume. And I know another group that will be happy with the bad news that they will never again have an Eaton's catalogue in the house. Men like me. and they number in the thousands. I don't care if I never see another Eaton's catalogue. Or Simpson's either. For 25 years I have- been taking parcels bac-lc to the Eaton's order office. My wife never takes them back, and she rarely keeps anything she has ordered. It's a casual: "Drop this off at Eaton's on your way to work.' And I've had to stand shamefaced in the order office. among a bunch of women, and mutter Something about the three brassieres being too small, or the panties being too large, or (he stockings not being sheer enough. And then there's the monthly bill. My wife has been carrying on a running battle with Eaton's billing department for years. Every month therels a mistake in it,'the old girl gets furious, and I have to listen to the titadq, which can goon for an hour. She has written letters which were brilliant, cutting essays in satire. She has written furious. blunt letters. She has written letters to the accounts manager, the public reiaTk fis vice-president the president of the whole caboodle. She has wept with rage and frustration when they have been ignored, and the voiceless, fs eless mutter spews 'out another +monthly '1t goofed up again. Farewell,Eaton's catalogue. You were a great tiding in your day. Hut 1, for ono.'say good` riddance. The Jack Scott Coiu • All in fan A fleeting reference here the other day to the unlikely wartime chapter in my life when ,I wrote comedy scripts for Wayne and Shuster may need ctairificat'n. So far it hasn't even been a footnote inianyof the.histories of Canada's part in the Second World War and this is"a.pity. There could be an entire 12 -foot shelf of such reminiscences that would surely cause the present generation to marvel that our side won. It is a well-known fact that Johnny and Frank' write almost all their own.stuff and I want to say right here that my contribution did not foul their record. The scripts, indeed, may still, be mouldering in an army' file, just waiting there to befuddle some unborn historian who will surely wonder what they had to do with the defeat of Hitler. The incident happened . at a time when Wayne and Shuster, having toured Canada with the Army Show, were bound for the fields of valor to entertain the troops. Which they eventually did, as you doubtless know. with great success. Some high officer concerned with "civilian morale" on what was then known as "the.•home front" got the strategic idea that the comedy team should broadcast a regular weekly program back to Canada from the United Kingdom to boost the spirits of "the folks at home." At this time I was a private in Ottawa, where, among other duties, I was assigned to write inspirational speeches for James Layton Ralston, then the minister of national defence. By the simple device of employing every patriotic cliche known to man I had distinguished myself at this task. It seemed perfectly natural, army logic being what it is, that I should then be detailed to have a go at hilarious comedy. I was met at the station. in Toronto by a captain, an ex - advertising man, fully as bewildered as I, who escorted me to a cheerless little back room at the Ford Hotel. A typewriter reposed on the bureau with a pile of pencils and foolscap paper neatly besideit. "Come down to headquarters when you complete your first script," he said. I saluted, he left and I went directly to Eaton's department store where I bought a copy of a book called Thesaurus of Humor. The Thesaurus contained some 12,000 catalogued jokes. according to the preface, for adapting in any situation and so, in the approved army fashion, l began to write alphabetically. My first script, in fact. was made up entirely of "A jokes. Mercifully, I recall only two of the•diamonds of humor I picked from the pit of the Thesaurus. First soldier: Yeah. 1 miss my dog. She was a'Dober- man." Second soldier: "Pinscher?" First soldier: "No, 1 bought her from a pet store." Second soldier: "When it's all over I guess I'll go back to my job at the Eagle Laundry." First soldier: "What'd you do there?" Second soldier: "Washed eagles." I had completed my first script and was about to begin on the "Bs". when The Army Show receivedbrders to proceed overseas. I sailed with them on the Mauretania, made 5400 in poker games, cultivated a friendship with Wayne and Shuster and cunningly kept mental notes. for future reference. of their unending and uncatalogued funny remarks. Some confusion naturally existed abouy function with the group and when we got to AIdershrif'`'I Mound myself detailed for a long period to lead route marches for the CWAC dancers and singers with the show. I was half way through -my "B" script. full of jokes about boats and babies, when orders came for me to report to CMHQ in London for another assignment. I turned in my half -completed script, gave my Thesaurus to Molly, the barmaid at the Coach and Horses, where I'd become the second best dart player. and that was the end of it. Wayne and Shuster never broadcast to Canada and Lord only knows how civilian morale back home remained so high. It was years before mine recovered. 10 YEARS AGO February 17, 1911 There Is a possibility that Clinton's Centennial project may be completed in time for use in the Centennial year. Monday night Clinton Council passed a by- law authorizing the mayor. reeve and clerk to proceed with necessary arrangements for constructing a $167.940.40 community centre in the town park. (The first two readings to the by-law were given last August 9) The centre will include a skating rink. The Ontario Municipal Board teas approved the structure in principle. Tuesday night. the Kinsmen "Club of Clinton presented a cheque for 5100 to Jack Nelson, a past district. governor, for the Kinsmen Institute of Mental Retardation building fund. Andy Peterson. president of the Clinton Club, made the presentation as a portion of an annual payment for five years to the Kinsmen an- niversary project. Sod turning for the institute building will take place during 1967. "Yes, we'll accept your offer," was the definite though swiftly considered answer from council w George Beattie and Bill Mutch on Monday night. when the two men offered their 1960 Chrysler. well-equipped as an ambulance. to the town. Terms of the offer are that the town operate the Ambulance or arrange to have it, operated by the hospital. or by an organization - not by ,en in- dividual. There will be an exercise in "what to do in the case of an accidental explosion of a nuclear missile in Michigan" which will bie carried out on Saturday. April 23. by the Emergency Measures Organization in neuron County. Stewart Forbes, EMO co- ordinator for the county advised Clinton council of the project when he appeared before them Monday night to give his annualreport. The exercise is to discover what decisions would be made locally by key ruins in charge and whet WON d be done by the people. About half of the beangrowers in Ontario visited voting places last week, and cast a total of 1.989 ballots on the question of whether or not to increase their license fee from six cents to ten cents, with the increase used to pay costs of a. storage and processing facility in Huron County. Unofficial 'count showed that 998 ballots showed a "yes" decision while 991 showed the negative. Though this was 51 percent in favour of the plan. a 66 and two-thirds percent majority was required for the vote to carry. Miss Linda Riley. ten years old student of ballet, has been invited by the National Ballet School at Toronto. to attend classes there. She is a student of Mrs. B.A. Zabiocku. 25 YEARS AGO February 15. 1951 Clinton Town Council. at a special meeting in the Council Chamber° last evening. appointed Joseph Ferranti. Guelph. as Chief of Police at a salary of 52,300 per year. and raised the salaries of all officials and employees. ef- fective today. According to W.D. Thompson. Blenheim. his firm plans to commence work about the middle of March on a new $150.000 mill and plant to replace the buildings razed in the big fire in Hensail,~t)ecember 28. Clinton Public -School Board, at its February meeting, approved a tentative proposal for the erection of a new 12 -roomed school structure on a• site on the Mackenzie property en the easterly outskirts of the town recently purchased by the Board. Many friends were extending congratulations today to D.J. "Ben' Gibbings, one of Ciintori*s oldest and most highly respected citizens who celebrated his 81st birthday. Mr. Gibbings who retired from active work at Sherlock -Manning Pianos Limited ai few years ago. hais held many • public offices to t MW.. including those Of Mayor 11*122 191.3). Reeve and Public Utifltles Commissioner. He has been chairman of the Public Library Board for twelve years and was choirleader of Ontario St. Church for fifty-four years Rev. John R'. Thompson. Rector of Trinity Anglican Church. St. Thomas will take over the parish of the church of St. Andrew Memorial. Windsor. on April 1. He is a native of Goderich Township and is a graduate of CDG l . Huron County Ht.eahh Board. at its first meeting of 1951. held at the Stealth Unit, Clinton, Thursday, teamed Frank Silts, Seaforth. chairman for the year.. Mr. Sills. who is serving his second year as a member of the board. is reeve of Seaforth He succeeds Roy Cousins. Brussels. as the board's ,chairman The board authorized a limned service to Clinton RCAF Station if agreeable on a .'see for ser- vice" basis. Clinton Colts are "ridin' high" at the top of the district OHA Intermediate group with the regular schedule completed and ten victories with only two defeats, for a total of twenty points. Playoff dates have not yet been announced. SA YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 18. 1926 The play. "Mrs. Temple's Telegram" was put on in the town hall on Tuesday by St. Paul's Dramatic Society and proved to be a success as the efforts of this organization always do. W J O'Neil weekend specials: Corn syrup. 5 lb. pail. 35 c.: corn flakes. 3 pkgs. fdr 28 c. special coffee, per lb. 48 c.; 7 ib. rolled oats. 28 c.; 3 lb, pail shortening. 49 c Some of Clinton's grand old people who are celebrating birth- days. all within a few days are Mrs. James Lindsay. 86: Mrs. William Sloman. 91, William Cantelnn, 87; Mrs. Livermore. 82. 75 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 15. 1901 A contempora calls attention to the momentous fact that S20.000.000 came into Canada as the price of cheese exported last year. It is a good showinp. Such a trade asks no bonus: it does not detract from, but rather in - (continued on page 5 Dear Editor, �► 1 feel this. is one spei must have a persona I'm writing concern, speech I heard Fr�n give on TV. h i -;► rr-r-;r Row any govetatllent member would date to $peak; to thousands and admit that he hadto choose between'a life. or money, he'd take money. In our wonderful Canada* that has the compassion tcV. send help costing thousands`', of dollars, to help find ones person lost in a plane crash, to help those' in trouble, to aid in, world disasters, I just don't" understand sushi a man, Is it possible he would like to revert to the old Eskimo's way of just leaving the old,. or hopelessly ' sick . to die by freezing. Or as the Indians did before dthey wet* enlightened by the Christian idealogy. Of course our country needs to cut down the spending. But not by cutting out our small but_„,,very ef- ficient hospitals. f-ficienthospitals. It is all very well for him to trip through the country and say one can get from here to there in so many minutes. Just let , him try to get a wife in labour to a hospital through blizzards and blocked roads, or any other emergency. He said if someone died because . he had closed the nearest hospital, he supposed he would be the first to hear about it. May God help him, if that someone should happen to be one of his own family. Yours truly, A concerned taxpayer of Clinton. Birds Dear Editor, Following is the list of birds seen in Clinton and recognized at various feeders in the community. Coopers Hawk. 1; American Keshel (Sparrow Hawk), 1; Morning Dove, 2; Snowy Owl, 1; Hairy Woodpecker, 6; Downy Woodpecker, 8; Blue Jays, 15; Black Capped Chicadee, 20; Boreal Chicadee, 1; White Beaked Nuthatch, 7; Nonhem Shrike, 1: Starlings, 150; House Sparrow, 295; Rusty Blackbird, 1: Brown Headed Cowbird. 28; Evening Grosbeak, 20; Purple Finch, 1; Cardinal, 22: American Goldfinch, 3: Darkeyed Junico, 20; Tree Sparrow, 12; Song Sparrow. 1; Snow Bunting, 28; and Common R edpoll, 6. We have aoout 16 Chicadees coming regularly to our feeders, and three of them are tame enough to eat out of Sam's hand. in fact. they peck on the pom-pom of his toque to attract his attention. On Saturday, January 31, we had an unwelcome,visitor to our feeders, the Nonhem Shrike or Butcher Bird as it is commonly known. It struck down an English Sparrow, killed it, then flew with it to a nearby shrub. wedged it in the crotch of two limbs and partially devoured it. He returned four times that day to completely devour the sparrow. All the birds disappeared completely while he was here. except two Hairy Woodpeckers who didn't seem to be afraid of him, in fact one of them challenged the Shrike and the Shrike flew away. We would again like to thank all those who supplied us with information, and remind thern that we would (continued on pages 1 The Citroen i+tewsRecvrd is published each 'Thursday at Clinton Ontario. cansd& 11 is registered as second class mad by Ise post hflice tinder die permit number 0917 The Record tnciarporated in 1+924 the Huron ?cwes.R'ewcord. founded in tail. and the'Cello New Era, founded in t1109 Total ccr ration is 2,7Se Editor • ,fare E. Fiftgerald Advertising director • Gary'. t.. Hila General Manager - J. Howard Aitken Newt shelf • v dark fro 10. Subscrlptl*rt Rates: Canada err 811,. per year B.S.A. • S12.341 sill totoY - .