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Clinton News-Record, 1977-02-03, Page 44 PAGE 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1977 :}'.•}.::'•:rti}v:,::•:•:.:Whot titiwe. thi .;.;•\. vr} :`y Tougher gun controls Last year's assassination attempts on the life of U.S. President Gerald Ford spurred research into the per- sonalities of assassins, both male and female, American and other. According to Priscilla Johnson McMillan of Harvard, a ' common characteristic of assassins is their desire to escape direct confrontation. That means, in her view, that anything - anything at all, that will, make it more difficult for an assassin to carry out the deed might prevent it. Lee Harvey Oswald might never have shot John F. Kennedy if he had to risk a confrontation by buying a rifle across the counter instead of ordering it by mail, according to Mrs. McMillan. She adds that Oswald, like the other assassins she studies, was constantly torn within about whether or not to carry out the deed. They were not single-minded fanatics obsessed with assassination. They were not dedicated • and angry actiVtsts. Rather, they were quiet people who could not express their anger directly. But with guns easily ava'i'lable, •they found a way. . Nor need these guns always be used on others. A mental patient in Whitby, Ontario, recently blew off his own head with a gun he had ptirchased moments before. A waiting period, like the pause for reflection between the purchase of a marriage licence and the wedding, would help to eliminate many im- pulsive uses of -guns, says the United Church. Those who oppose gun control regulations as an infringement of personal rights ought to consider that sudden death by .a bullet is the ultimate infringement of personal right. If, stiffer controls will impede even one such killing, they should be en- couraged. Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smi ey Me and my car Boy, am I glad I'm not rich! There is nothing wrong with money in itself, th ough the love of it is reputed to be the root of all evil. It's what money brings in its wake that can make life a nightmare. For the past four days we've been a two -car family, and it's been a real brute. We- need two cars about as much as we need two houses, and I still don't know how I got into this fandango, but I'm in it, and I wish I weren't. There wasn't a thing wrong with our old car, except that it was getting a bit long in the tooth. Or so everybody said. I didn't think a 1967 Dodge, with only 48,000 miles on it, that ran like a bomb, was something to be ashamed of. Dogs are said to age about seven to one, in comparison with humans. Thus, a nine-year-old dog would be like a 63 -year- old man. That seems fair enough: missing some teeth, missing.some hair, and getting a bit stiff and arthritic. But there are old dogs and old dogs, of both species. I don't know the ratio for cars and humans. but I'd guess it would be about eight to one. So, my 10 -year-old car would .be about 80 in human terms. To some of you young people, 80 might . seem a great age. But to my personal knowledge for some people life begins at. • 80. And many an old girl in a home for the aged will back me up. they know, from personal experience, that some of the guys, at 80, 82, 84 are among the most dangerous men they've ever met in their lives, socially and sexually. We've all been reading lately about the Male Menopause. At least I have. I think I came through it all right, but you never really know. Only last Sunday aft erneon I was giving my wife a big blast because she didn't want me to join the poker club and go to the Legion Hall and play shuffleboard with the boys after work on Friday. She was a bit taken aback for about one minute. Then she snapped that she didn't care what I did. 1 could go and stand on my head in a snowbank. I could go out and play poker six nights,.a.week, as long as I didn't take more than a dollar with me, and didn't `expect me to serve lunch to a lot of men who'd leave a dirty mess to clean up and burn holes in the rug." I don't know how I got away over here beind the barn when I started out talking about the horrors of being a two -car family. Anyway . • People made disparaging remarks about my old Dodge. A mechanic wanted to buy it. Cheap. When I suggested 11,300 as a fair price, he laughed so .hard he had a mild heart attack. "Smiley, you've run that old wreck into every tree in Blank County •This was a gross canard. That car has hit only one tree. I'll admit that it has hit the same tree - the one at thee.� end of my driveway - three times, once'by my wife, once by, my daughter, once by my son-in-law, but never by me. That shows you how rumors spread. It did have a wow in the front bumper from the time I hit a light standard. The back bumper was somewhat like a boomerang, because I bombed through two feet of snow in my driveway last winter, skidded. across the street, and hit a telephone pole, backwards. But only one tree. On one side, the chrome was stripped off and the door caved in, when the Old Lady has an argument with the side of the garage. But the other side, until today, looked like a new ear, except for the rust, which had eaten a bare 12 inches up into the fenders. Key words they are "Until today." After today I have m atching doors, both without ' chrome, both looking as though Paul Bunyan had taken a grievance and a kick at the door, in that order. Inside, the ear is like n ew, if you dont mind a bit of foam spilling out of the sea ts. You can tell it has been a one -owner car. The two inches of cigarette ashes on the floor are all of.the same brand. You can understand how sentimental a chap could get about such a car. Like an 80 -year-old uncle with a few scars and wrinkels but a lot of zip still in the old bawd. Peoplehavemade love in that car. People have been taken to hospital in that car. ,Babies have been brought home from hospital on their fifth or sixth day in the world, in that car. I loved that car. But it was too randy for me. It was Male Menopause No. 2, the one that comes at 80. So I bought a new one. Not really n ew. Anybody who buys a new car today is either rich or ripped-off.Jumped all the way up to a '72. But I still have the old one. My wife loves it now, too, after asking me for five years if I expected her to be seen in p ublic in "that old wreck." So I have two cars. I juggle them in and out of a one -car garage and a one -car driveway. Today I had the new one off to • work. Although I have told her 7000 times that she can't back the cat out of the garage, she 'tried it. 1 don't know what her technique is.1 think she looks over her left shoulder and twists the wheel to the right. Or vice versa. r.. Anyway, she creamed it right up against. the post . of the garage, could neither forward go ;nor back, and t now have matching" dented doors. Sans chrome. At least it wasn't the new five-year-old one. Member, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association The Clinton News -Record 1s published each Thursday at P.O. Box 39. Clinton, Ontario, Canada, NOMILO, U is registered as'second class mail by the post office under the permit number 0817. , The .News -Record Incorporated in 1924 the Huron News -Record, founded in 1881, and the !Bunton• New Era, founded In 1885. Total press run 3,100. Clinton NewsRec( )F( 1 iC A ' Member Canadian 'Community Newspaper Association Display adkertising rates• available on request. Ask for Rate Card No. 7 effective Oct. 1. tie'}*. • eif ABC tic►ief MMNager-JY i owird'Aitken Editor • Jainet E. Pitigeraid Advertising fiftcter Gary Lo. H1 let • Assistant editor Chrlt Zdeb ., Office Manager - Margaret Gibb Circulation • Freda Mt`l.eod Accounting - Marian WI rr; , s.v Suibstription Rites: Canada - $12 per year U.S.A.-$15.59, Other •$18 Single Copy • 25c e r .1, WHAT Alit 109 PEOPLE COMPLAINING REKNIT-toUii1: ALLOWED To GO ANYWHEQE V/ PLEASE? "We'll fight to the finish" Odds 'n' ends , by Elaine Townshend Questions A few questions puzzle me. • For example, why does a dentist pry your mouth open, wedge two rolls of batten between your gums, shove his tiny vaccuum halfway down your throat, prod your teeth with his miniature ice pick and then start asking questions, such aS "How's your car running?" "How- do you, like this weather?" or "I X-rayed this molar the last time you were here, didn't I?" Why does a doctor ask you where it hurts, press the area with cold fingers, note your flinch and query', "Feel that?" - What does a doctor's "Uh-huh!" really mean? Why does a nurse use the plural pronoun "we"? "How are we feeling this morning?" "Now, we'll have our bath?" "It's time we took our medicine." Why do the creators of TV commercials think all viewers are dummies? They must think we're dummies. Otherwise, why would they air such stupid promotions? Do they honestly believe the highlight of a housewife's day is throwing a new, cling -free sheet into -her dryer? Do they think women swoon over the man dressed all in white, who's peddling garbage bags? Why are the best shows on television reruns of reruns? -When a woman driver passe a male motorist, why does he feel convened to overt'paid-heft a If we couldn't ask "How arse you?" how would we greet people? If we couldn't remark about the weather, how would we break an awkward silence? One fellow, who recently returned from Florida, noted: "The people down there don't know how to begin a con- versation; the weather always stays the same." Why do we complain about the weather? It doesn't do us any good; we can't change the forecast. A green Christmas doesn't seem right, but a foot of snow makes travelling difficult: Why are we never satisfied? Why do we always eat too much at special meals, such as New Years, Christmas and Thanksgiving? Why don't we learn our lesson from one bloated holiday to the next? Why do we make New Years' resolutions, when we know we'll break them? Why do we glorify the warmth and friendliness of . Christmastime and then forget the. feeling for the next 12 months? Why do the years pass faster as we grow older? Why oes 24 hours seem like only a moment to some of us and like an eternity to others? Why do we think we have to keep up with the Joneses? Why are we busier than anyone else? Why are our problems the most difficult to solve? Why is our sorrow deeper than anyone elses7 Why is our pain worse than that felt by others? Why do we take so much for granted, including health, freedom and love? • From our early files . • • • 10 YEARS AGO `February 2, 1967 . . Clinton's eighth annual minor hockey weekend was a decided success as far as competitive hockey and seriousness of the' teenage boys participating but spectators were few and far between. The Friday evening program was the best supported of the three evenings. It was unfor %inate that this district experienced the heaviest snowfall of the winter during minor hockey weekend. The three Visiting American teams - Dearborn, Mich. ban- tams and peewee and bantams from Clinton, New York State - provided excellent competition, for the Clinton and Adastral. Park teams. The US teams requested as much ice time and games as possible. Each played two games here. The best efforts by the visitors was a 5-3 win by the Clinton, N.Y. bantams over Adastral Park and Dearborn and Adastral Park bantams played a 4-4 tie. The town teams both won the - feature games on Saturday night over their Clinton, N.Y. guests. Two employees of the Clinton office of Bell Telephone Company of Canada have completed 21 years of continuous service in telephone work and were rewarded this week. - They are Mrs. L.M. McCann, a long distance operator and Don McArthur, a serviceman. Mrs. Arabell Bushell, Strat- ford, president of the Stratford flub of Tecumseh Council of Pioneers of Telephone Com- , panies, was in town on Monday to present life membership cer- tificates and pins. With construction started over the weekend oil Clinton's , new arena and community centre, interest has increased in both the building and finance committees: Shantz and Hicks Construction Limited, 'Waterloo, moved onto the site 'in Clinton Community Park last week and excavation began Monday for the $224,660 centre. The Clinton and District Community Centre Centennial Fund received another boost Monday night when. -Huron Centrad Agricultural Society gave $350. According to fund treasurer Andy Peterson there is over $6,220 in the fund at present. 25 YEARS AGO January 31, 1952 Erection of a .new memorial hall by Minton Branch No. 140, Canadian Legion, stilF=1§•-a•,.live topic of discussion among members, and the matter came up again at the monthly meeting in , the Legion Hall Monday evening. Although no 4finite action was taken at the meeting, it was - agreed that the new building should be constructed this year, if at all possible. The Branch has purchased vacant land on Kirk St., near Huron County Health Unit, for the purpose. "The trip was very en- couraging," Mayor G.W. Nott commented, following return of a deputation representing Clinton Town Council which paid a double-barrelled visit to the Ontario Parliament Buildings, Toronto, Tuesday. In addition ti? Mayor Nott, the deputation consisted of Reeve W.J. .Miller, Ald. C.W. Drap.sr and Thomas Pryde, MLA for Huron, who introduced the local men. The , group interviewed Hon. William Griesinger, Minister of Planning and Development, with regard to the Province's par- ticipation in the proposed 150 -unit housing project in Clinton. "The Federal Minister, Hon, R.H. Winter, was coming to Toronto Wednesday, to talk with Ontario authorities regarding housing," the Mayor reported. "We're hoping for some developments." The deputation also in- terviewed C.A. Robbins, Chief Engineer of Maintenance, Ontario Department of High- ways, regarding installation of a stop -and -go light -at ,the main intersection in Clinton, in the absence of the minister and deputy minister. The Department wilt send a man to Clinton to make a survey in this connection. No promisee were made by the officials. 50 YEARS AGO February 3, 1927 The annual meeting of the Clinton fire brigade was held Monday evening, when the resignations were received of Fire Chief Harry Glazier, after thirty-five years service and Capt. Bert Kerr, after thirty years of service.' Officers were elected as follows: Chief, -Richard Tasker; captain, A.F. Cudlnore; lieutenant, L. Cree; secretary -treasurer, Carl Draper. We had our January thaw last weekend and since we have been walking very carefully to escape broken bones. Mr. J.S. Burtons fell and I it received minor injuries and a shaking up the other day. The streets have been in a very slippery state all week. The middle of the King's highway is about the only safe spot to walk. The members of ,the Sung People's Society of Wesley -Willis church were invited to the home of the president, Mr. Leslie Pearson, in Goderich township, on Monday evening, when.a large number of the young people went out for the sleighride and enjoyed a very pleasant social evening together, under the hospitable roof of the House of Pearson. The annual meeting of the Ladies' Bowling Club was held last week, when •the following officers were elected for 1927: Hon:. president, Mrs. John Zapfe; President, Mrs. G.D. Roberson; 1st Vice: Mrs. C. Rumball; 2nd Vice: Mrs. R.S. Smyth; Secretary, Miss Amy Howson; Treasurer, Mrs. W.J. Stevenson. 75 YEARS AGO January' 31, 1902 The annual meeting of the Clinton Gun Club, Limited, was held at the Mason House on Tuesday evening, when a goodly ;number of the members were present. The reports presented showed that everything in con- nection with , the club is satisfactory and prospering, the treasurer's report showing •a balance of $92.40 on hand -with no debt. The following are the of- ficers elected for the ensuing year; President, JE. Cantelon; Vice Wm. Foster; Sec., LET Blackall; Treas., J.E. Hovey; directors, N. Fair, O. Johnston, R. Graham, A.J. Holloway' and Geo. Hinchlev. The townspeople will be glad to learn that James Smith's property,next to the Clarendon hotel, will again assume store fronts, which will greatly im- prove the appearance of`the main streets. It was., on the 29th of March 1900, that, the disastrous fire occurred here, and since'that time one of 4he best parcels .of property in town has lain idle. The stores in this block rented readily and Mr.. `Smith has lost considerable revenue thus derived by not rebuilding. The other day S.S. Cooper bought the property,, and has plans about prepared for rebuilding a block of three or four stores, above which will be roorfls that can be used as offices. Mr...Cooper says that those wishing Vt. rent may have apartments- built to. suit them- selves. • 100 YEARS AGO February 1, 1877 Harm Weld hve " considered Conservative MP Robert McKinley. (Huron) said • the federal government should change its apparent decision to purchase a British -built hovercraft for west coast search and rescue operations and instead buy one made by a Grand Bend•firm. Mr. McKinley said In the Commons last week that, in view of the fact the federal department of industry, trade and commerce had invested several million .dollars in a .program 'to develop a hovercraft industry . in Canada, he wondered' whether the . government would seriously consider purchasing hovercraft made by Bell Aerospace, the Grand Bend firm: Treasury board president Robert Andras said he would take note of the suggestion, adding that •if a • cabinet a decision is z made on the purchase of " hovercraft, "it will be announced in the ordinary process." In an interview outside the Commons, Mr. McKinley said he was pushing for the government to consider buying the hovercraft from Bell Aerospace because it meant Canadian jobs. "We're talking about unemployment, and that's (purchasing outside the country) throwing away jobs." In his riding Bell Aerospace, which has been operating at Grand Bend for almost six years, is in Mr. McKinley's riding. Jim Mills, managing director of Bell Aerospace, said in an interview that the i1 company, which at one time employed as many as 180 persons, now has 26 em- ployees., - Mr. Mills said his company, a division of Textron Canada Ltd., makes two sizes of hovercraft — the Voyageur and the smaller Viking, which he said, was developed especially for coast guard work. The larger Voyageur, depending on its size and equipment, can cost between $1.8 million and $2.3 million while the Viking costs bet- ween $900,000 and $1 million. The Voyageur is equivalent in price to the British -made hovercraft the government is said to be considering. The contracts for building the _Bible Christian Church in this town were given out on Saturday last, Mr. Copp getting the brick . work, and Messrs. Cooper and McKenzie the carpenter work. The total cost of the building, including fencing etc., will be about $3,500. Although the cold has not been so intense here as it has been in some former winters, the frost has been sufficiently severe and continuous as to have made .ice near two feet thick, making tyle ice crop a splendid one. Mr. Allison is rapidly fill& all the ice houses in town, with these crystal blocks, and will lay up a large stock of his own to supply customers next year. We question if any County in the Dominion can show as large a number of papers published within its limits, as can the county of Huron, and as newspapers are supposed to represent an intelligent and' pushing community, this county must consequently be the most intelligent and energetic. ,There are already nine papers published, and a tenth about to be, in this County, four of them being in the Conservative, and five in the Reform interest. Let us give their names. While a Signal is given Goderich, a Star also. twinkles; and able Expositor advocates Seaforth's claims; Exeter ad- vances as its Times demands; Brussels is .kept fully Post -ed, Times Advai%ee In Wingham as• elsewhere; and Blyth intends to Review the county; Gorrie's Vidette "speaks for the eastern corner of. the county, while Clinton's New Era urges "equal rights for all," and steadily labors to haste on what its name implies. More than a year since a traveller came to this town, accompanied by a fine spaniel. Previous to his departure, he gave the dog to a person here, with whom it has remained ever since. One day last week the traveller returned to town, and the dog, by some canine instinct, became aware of the fact, and finding at a hotel some articles.'belonging to his former owner, seated himself thereon, and would not permit their removal or handling, until the party himself called for them, when the dog gave unmistakable evidences of pleasure at meeting his old master. Licence stickers 0 selling poorly With slightly over one month to go before the February 28 deadline, over 2.4-rriilliori ' automobile owners have failed to pur- chase their 1977 licence renewal stickers, Minister of Transportation and Com- munications James Snow revealed today. Snow said, "If motorists do not soon make the effort to renew their passenger vehicle registration, the line- ups at issuing offices could be unbearable by the middle of February." The red stickers have been on sale since December 1, and a Ministry spokesman stated there will be no extension of the deadline set for the end of February. The stickers are available at 300 licence issuing offices throughout the province. The annual fees for automobiles will remain at $40 for eight cylinders: $32 for six cylin- ders; and $23 for four cylinders or less. To complete the renewal, motorist should take along their motor vehicle registriion permit, com- pleted proof of insurance form and the appropriate fee. Insurance_ forms are avacilable at l eenEe issuitfg offices and many Ontario liquorstores. News -Record 'readers are encouraged to • express their opinions in letters to the editor, however, such opinions 'do not necessarily represent the opinions Of the News - Record. Pseudonyms.. may be used by letter writers, but no letter will be published unless it can be verified by' phone. Mvertising... helps you judge good from bad. CANADIAN AOVEP'fSING ADVISORY BOARD r at •