HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-05-11, Page 4PAGE 4--CLINTON NEWS -RECORD. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1978
What we think
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Music lose regretted
Although no decision .has been
reached to drop the valued music
course at Central Huron Secondary
School, it is obvious that its future is
very grim.
Presently, there are about 40
students taking part in the four-year
program, but only seven students
registered for the first year of the
program this year, when 25 students
are needed in the initial year.
Although many argue that studying
music in school is a non-productive
subject, persons with a better un-
derstanding of music, even though they
may never use it in their future job or
profession are better rounded.
The study and practice of music is a
sign of an advanced civilization, and
many in this area fought hard a few
years ago to get the program im-
plemented. It's a shame to see their
work fall by the wayside.
According to CHSS principal Gord
Phillips, one of the main stumbling
blocks to signing up. more students is a
$60 a year rental fee for the in-
struments. When the program was set
up three years ago, the board did so,
only if it wouldn't cost them any extra
money.
Mr. Phillips also said there seemed
to be a lack of interest among senior
students, because they feel that
because music is an extremely
demanding subject, it interferes with
other subjects.
Whatever the reason, the demise of
the study of music in Clinton is a Toss,
no matter how small.
Sugar and Spicc/By Bill Smi
ey
Gloomy times
Canadians are in a badmood these days.
Not bad in the sense of angry or ugly. Bad
in the sense of gloomy, depressed. And not
without reason.
After riding a post-war boom, with in-
dustry•thriving, new money coming in, new
opportunities opening up, and a general
sense that the man might be right after all,
that the 20th century did belong to Canada,
we have skidded to a low that hasn't been
touched for decades.
Trouble is, during that boom, We grew
accustomed to affluence and a measure of
ease, and we weren't built to cope with that.
We were a rather dour, independent, sturdy
people, far more used to battling for an
existence than lying around enjoying life.
We just couldn't cope with the ideas: that
we would get a raise in pay every year;
that practically everybody could own a
house or car or both; that there was a job
for everybody that we might even be able to
borrow money from the bank in a pinch.
All of these were alien to,our Canadian
experience, which had always maintained
that life was real and earnest, that fun was
almost sinful, and that if things were going
well, you kept your fingers crossed and
knocked on wood.
Those of us who had grown up during the
Depression, of course, never believed for a
minute that the prosperity would last. We
went around like so many Jeremiahs,
warning the young of the horrors to come
when the bubble burst and boring them to
death with tales of our own inpoverished
youth.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately,
the boom didn't end with a bang but a
whimper.
We Cassandras of gloom were scoffed at.
There were still plenty of jobs. Everybody
could go to college, on loans and grants.
Everybody really needed a summer cot-
tage or a ski chalet or two cars or three
snowmobiles.
The banks would lend money to anyone
who didn't have two heads, and the loan
companies looked after them. The
Canadian dollar was buoyant, and we were
a little sickly glad when the Yanks had to
pay a dollar and five cents for a Canadian
dollar's worth.
If you were temporarily between jobs,
unemployment insurance was easy to get
and fairly generous.
If you were really strapped, you could go
on welfare and sit home watching TV. If
you got sick, hospital insurance looked
after all the bills. Gas for the car and fuel
for the furnace and food for the belly were
cheap and plentiful.
And then the rot set in, slowly. A touch of
mould here, a cockroach crawling there.
Strike after strike after strike made us one
of the world's most unstable industrial
countries. As a result, capital investment
Eggs wanted
Dear Editor:
I would like to enlist your
co-operation again this year
in assisting to carry out a
research program on ruffed
Grouse supported by the
ministry of natural resour-
ces. ,
As part of a continuing
research program on ruffed
grouse at the University of
Guelph, we are again at-
tempting to collect a sample
of eggs from the wild. The
eggs are required to rpovide
grouse for use in the research
project.
began to dry up. Another effect was that
many of our manufactured products had
' priced themselves out of the world — and
even Canadian— markets. •
Branch plants began to close as their
owners pulled in their horns and retreated
to the comparative stability and higher
produ-ction of the U.S. Other plants, run-
ning three shifts cut to two, then one.
Foreign investors found more fertile fields
for their money.
Our armed forces became ineffective for
lack of funds, and lost much of the pride
they had once held in their role in NATO.
It snowballed. Inflation became more
than a topic of conversation; it became a
bogeyman. Then, suddenly, there wasn't
much gas and oil left and their prices
soared.
A new, ugly racism reared its head,
sparked by the fact that so many im-
migrants did so well with so little, because
they were willing to work.
A separatist party was elected in Quebec,
and it was a whole new ball game. The
employment force swelled steadily, while
new jobs failed to keep up. Huge mining
and smelting companies which had been
stockpiling their products because other
nations could buy them cheaper elsewhere,
closed down and put thousands of well-
heeled workers on the pogey.
Small farmers fell by the wayside when
only the big ones could survive. And we
kept paving our valuable farmland with
asphalt and concrete.
Retired people saw their life's savings
gobbled up by- inflation and the falling
dollar. Small businessmen cut back on staff
and service in order to stay in business.
Doctors, fed up with to the teeth with
overwork and bureaucratic interference,
began heading for greener, and warmer,
pastures.
University students, toiling over their
books, grew ever more bitter as they began
to realize that the country did not want or
need them, that the chance of a job on
graduation was paper -thin. Thousands of
high school students who should have been
out working, went back to school and lazed
away another year, because they were a
drug on the market.
And governments, national, provincial,
and local, wrung their hands and waited for
the wind to change, the miracle to take
place, while they went right on spending
more and more taxpayers' money.
It's not much wonder that the prevailing
mood of the country is morose and'
suspicious.
But surely a nation that toughed it
through two world wars and a world
depression is not going to roll over and die.
We ain't licked yet. And spring will be here.
Probably the first of June.
Because of the great dif-
ficulty in locating nests, it is
necessary to have the co-
operation of as many people
as possible. Anyone locating a
nest within 200 km (125 miles)
of Guelph is asked to mark
the location, but not to
disturb the nest. He should
contact us by phoning collect
to: Betty Campbell, (519) 824-
4120 ext. 2703 during office
hours; at other times, call
collect to: A.L.A. Middleton,
(519) 836-3033; or Allan
Garbutt, (519)836-5346.
We will cbmd and pick up
the eggs as soon as possible,
and will pay the locator $1 per
egg fdr his trouble.
The number of eggs
collected in an area will not
be sufficient to harm the local
grouse population. All captive
birds are, of course, given the
best possible care.
Your co-operation last year
'was most appreciated. The
birds raised from eggs we
collected have allowed us to
make a number of significant
findings. Yours sincerely,
Alex L.A. Middleton,
Associate professor.
The Clinton News -Record Is published oath
Thursday at P.O. Boz 30, Clinton, Ontario, •
Canada, NOM 1u.
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"Look — the first robin of spring!"
Odds 'n' ends - by Elaine Townshend
A better start in life
The Canadian Association for the
Mentally Retarded has adopted
"Prevention" as its theme for 1978. One
of the first local groups to respond to the
idea was the South Huron and District
Association, which formed a prevention
committee early in the year chaired by
Mrs. Pat, Wright of Exeter.
The committee will work in four areas
- schools, health care, parent contact
and public awareness. By fall, it hopes
to have'a teaching kit, which will include
a cassette, a film strip and teaching
cards and will be available to clubs and
organizations interested in learning how
mental retardation can be prevented.
Three out of every 100 babies born
each year are mentally retarded. The
belief that heredity is responsible for
most of these cases is wrong; heredity
actually accounts for a very small
percentage. -
There are 200 to 300 causes of mental
retardation; some are known, others are
not. With today's medical knowledge,
authorities feel 50 percent of the known
causes can be prevented. Mental
retardation and other developmental
disabilities can occur before birth,
during birth or after birth. Parents can
take safety precautions to give their
baby "a better start in life."
Genetic blood testing and genetic
counselling are available through public
health agencies for parents -to -be, who
have a known abnormality in either's
family or who have had a previous child
with a birth defect.
Parent planning or family education
services can be helpful to couples.
Pregnancies occurring in women bet-
ween the ages of 20 and 35 contain less
risks than those occurring before the age
of 20 and after 35.
A balanced nutritious diet is vital for
both mother and baby before, during and
after pregnancy.
Parents should be aware of their
amount of exposure to X-rays and other
radiation. During pregnancy, a woman
should have no X-rays without her
doctor's full knowledge of her condition.
A pregnant woman should take only
drugs, even aspirins, that are prescribed
by her doctor, and she should avoid
social drugs - hard drugs, alcohol and
tobacco.
If a woman is addicted to a drug, while
pregnant, her baby will be born addicted
to the same drug. The fetus can also be
injured by the mother's use of drugs.
Even marijuana is suspected of having a
detrimental effect on an unborn child.
A smoking mother's child can be born
with low weight, a weak heart and low
resistance to illness during the first
critical weeks of life. But, if a woman
stops smoking in the early months of
pregnancy, her baby will be born as
healthy as though she had never
smoked.
German measles (rubella) can injure
the fetus, if contacted by the mother in
the first three months of pregnancy, and
Red measles can pose a threat to a baby
in very early childhood. Immunization
protects both mother and baby.
Regular medical supervision is
essential. A doctor can detect venereal
disease in either parent that could result
in mental retardation. A physician can
also discover thyroid disease, diabetes
or infection of the kidney or bladder, in a
pregnant woman, that might otherwise
go untreated.
A doctor can check the growth of the
fetus. If an abnormality is detected, it
can possibly be corrected or reduced.
Protection by parents and doctor does
not stop after birth. A doctor can test -the
baby for inborn chemical errors and the
parents can watch for signs of slow
development. Early detection and
treatment of many disorders can
prevent or lessen the severity of mental
retardation.
Children can develop lead poisoning
by eating paint chips from peeling walls,
and lead -poisoning can result in mental
retardation. Parents must be alert. .
A baby uses his senses by seeing,
hearing, tasting, touching and smelling.
Parents can help their child to develop
his senses and can give him "a better
start in life" by providing him with a
stimulating environment in which to
grow and learn.
From our early files .
• • •
• • •
5 YEARS AGO
May 10, 1973
The Farm Show, a theatrical
production about Clinton and
area people, was a sellout fit two
nights at Corey's Sales Barn in
Clinton. Organizers said it was
such an overwhelming success
that over 100 people were turned
away last Thursday and Satur-
day nights because there just
wasn't any more room to squeeze
them into the improvised theatre.
The bones found 165 -feet south
of the south pier at Bayfield,
November 18, 1972 by Roland
Kolter, Dearborn Michigan,
while he and his wife were beach
combing in the area, are human
bones and believed to be those of
Hank Halff and Neil Worm-
sbecker of Stratford, both 30
years of age and natives of the
same town in Holland. Both were
lost in a boating accident on Lake
Huron October 22, 1967.
Vanastra Developments of
Clinton, who purchased the
former air base a year ago have
been successful in luring a major
industry into Vanastra.
It was learned Wednesday that
Glendale Mobile Homes of
Strathroy will be locating at
Vanastra immediately and it
could mean up to 150 new jobs for
the Clinton area.
After 25 years in the auction
business, Joe and Marie Corey,
will be leaving Corey's Sales
Barns and retiring to their 65 -
acre farm at the end of the
month. The basiness on the
Bayfield Road in Clinton has been
sold to Lorne Tyndall of Clinton.
Everything from white mice to
dump trucks has been auctioned
off at Corey's.
R.S.(Dick) Atkey of Clinton
was honored Tuesday night by
the Clinton Lions for giving more
than 40 years' service to the Lion
movement. Past president Glenn
Price presented the scroll.
10 YEARS AGO
May 9, 1968
Rather proud of their good
health and old age Norman Ball.
84 and John Pepper, 88, gave a
brief" display of the art of using
the cross cut saw on Monday
afternoon. Although the 18 -inch
log got the best of both of them
both were satisfied they still had
the proper technique. The men
still chop and saw much of their
own firewood. Both are retired
farmers.
Central Huron Secondary
school should have a new two
storey $83,790 greenhouse ready
for use by September.
Although the price may seem
high, L.B. Maloney, business
administrator for the school
board explained the ground floor
will contain two occupation shops
and the top section. the actual
greenhouse will open into
agricultural rooms of the school.
Mr. and Mrs. Lorne Jervis,
lifelong residents of Goderich
Township observed their golden
wedding anniversary Wed-
nesday, May 1 at Holmesville
United Church where they at-
tended as newlyweds in 1918.
At a special meeting Monday
night Clinton Town Council
passed the 1968 budget calling for
a 25.2 mill increase on residential
taxes.
This means that the average
property owner will pay an ad-
ditional $57.95 in taxes on his
$2,300 assessment, almost
exactly the same amount as the
basic shelter exemption provided
by the province.
25 YEARS AGO
May 14, 1953
Clinton Councillors lost no time
in refusing to.grant a building
permit for the erection of a
$10,000 building for use as a
"social club" request for which
was placed before council at the
regular meeting held in the town
hall on Monday evening.
According to A.V. Hall, Kit-
chener who requested the permit,
a social club is where people get
together to play cards. If they
want a drink they can order it
through the club.
Cushions now the council is
sitting on, Yes, and foam rubber
ones at that. Truly the way of the
transgressor is hard indeed,
when the ultimate is reached and
sitting on Council must use hard
chairs, while plutocratic coun-
cillors, spending hard-earned
money, loll indolently upon
dunlopillo cushions. Labelled
"Part No. E48007", these sym-
bols of governmental mental
comfort are a recent addition to
the furnishings of the council
chamber. Do we sound a little
crusty on this matter? Well, who
wouldn't, after all there are no
cushions supplied to the press
representatives and these long
council sessions mean quite a lot
of sitting.
The 49th annual Spring Fair in
Clinton will be held on Saturday
May 30. Saturday was chosen for
the second time in two years
because of the tremendous
success achieved last year.
The fair will be bigger and
better than ever and prizes have
been increased $800 to an all-time
high of 54,000
50 YEARS AGO
May 17. 1928
The death occurred on Sunday
at his home, Albert Street, at the
age of 7tr, of John A. Torrance.
one of the most highly esteemed
citizens of Clinton and a man who
was well known throughout the
county as he had taken a very
active part in public affairs for
many years. He was the Reeve of
Stanley for nine years and was a
valued member of the County
Council as Commissioner from
1896 to 1902, attaining the War-
denship of the county in the latter
years.
Always taking a keen interest
in politics, he was president of the
South Huron Conservative
Association for 11 years. He
served as president of the South
Huron Farmers' Institute and as
president of the Hay Fire
Insurance Company.
Charlie Johnson, son of Mr.
W.L. Johnson, brought an egg
into The News -Record office the
other day which, as far as we are
aware, takes the cake. caps the
climax and knocks the spots of
anything exhj, fted thus far. It
was weighed'upon Sheppard and
Co.'s scales and weighed exactly
six ounces and when it was
broken it was found that a well -
formed egg of a large size, with
perfect shell, was inside, besides
which was another full yolk, with
plenty of white to make a large
sized egg. The whole w_gyyd-hpve
made a custard, abinelet or
enough scrambled or fried egg
for a hungry i an's meal.
75 YEARS AGO
May 15, 1903
On Wednesday of last week,
Chief Wheatley took "Old Man"
Gauley, an inmate of the Hous,Lof
Refuge, to the Asylnum in London.
Having to wait several hours in
the city, the Chief visited the new
organ factory in which Clinton
capital and labor is employed.
For the convenience of the
farming community the Clinton
post office will be kept open until
nine o'clock on Thursday and
Saturday evenings during June,
July and August.
Clinton is visited every few
weeks with peddlars offering
soaps, perfumes and trinkets of
jewelry of small vahie and in
some -cases the purchasers were
badly taken in. If the citizens
would refuse to purchase from
these peddlers. they would soon
stop coming to town and if you
have anything to purchase go to
the local drug stores or jewelry
stores and get what is required
and it will cost less money and
give better satisfaction.
Jim Corbet Jr. has proven
himself to be a good stock getter.
He is a horse of good bone and
substance with a good carriage
and stands 16 hands high. He will
serve mares at his own stable,
Albert St.. Clinton and at
fMaham's Hotel on Saturday.
100 YEARS' AGO
May 16, 1878
On Saturday morning last quite
a heavy snow storm was ex-
perienced. It was. however, of
short duration.
On Saturday three females
were arrested by Constable
Paisley. charged with keeping a
house of ill fame. They were tried
before Mr. McGarva JP. who
fined two of them 51 and costs.
each. and dismissed the other.
The band serenaded Mr. D.
Rogerson. of Blyth on Monday
night after his marriage: after
they retired a serenade of tin
pans. cow bells etc. took place
and was continued two nights.
The music was not desirable and
the participants were old enough
to know better than indulge in
such.
Considerable excitement was
created in Brucefield this week
by finding that a body had been
taken . from the Briarton Brae
Cemetery. The body was that of
a man named McDonald, buried
three years ago. and the sup-
position .is that the body was
merely token to obtain the bones.
The grave was found disturbed
by some persons in the neigh-
borhood. The widow of the
deceased, who has re -married, is
having the matter investigated.
1,1
What you
think
Good books
Dear Editor:
"A good book whether a
novel or not is one that leaves
you farther on than when you
took it up. If when you drop it,
it drops you down in some old
spot with no finer outlook, no
clearer vision, no stimulated
desires for that which is
better and higher, it is in no
sense a good book".
Can this be said of the three
books presently under
discussion? It would be in-
teresting to know how many
people, teachers, or those
who prepare and choose the
books for our schools an
those folks jumping to th
defence of these certain books
have ever read Mayham's
list of the greatest books ever
written . Hear -me name some
of them, "War and Peace",
by Tolstoy; "Pride and
Prejudice", by Jane Austin;
"David Copperfield" by
Charles Dickens; "Moby
Dick" by Melville,
"Wuthering Heights" by
Emily Bronte; "Les
Miserables" by Hugo; "Lord
Jim" by Conrad and "Crime
and Punishment" by
Dostoyeusky.
It is strange how constant
attention is given to second
rate writers. Yes, I said
"second rate" Nobel- Pri
notwithstanding. I suppos
the really great ones are
considered too difficult or too
long for the average mind.
Children who from early
childhood are introduced to
good reading, will in later
years turn away in disgust,
from that which is
blasphemous or smutty.
One question puzzles me,
what is there in these books to
defend? Four letter words
never heard in decent homes?
Outspoken crude descriptions
of the sex act? Constant
outbursts of blasphemy
foreign from a decent
Christian home.
Why such red hot rage from
our budding young journalist
Cathy Wooden? Pretty strong
opinions from a 19 -year-old
and pretty rude criticism of
her betters. Let us hope that
years will teach her much
and wish her well in her
journalistic career.
So in class, "the dirty
words are only discussed in
reference to the author's
reasons for putting them in
his book," well all right, why
did she or he do so? Lack of
vocabulary? Lack of
imagination? A knowledge
that such books would appeal
to deprived minds and sell
well? You tell me.
A writer sees her books in
handwriting, in typescript
and in proofs. There is plenty
of time for repentance.
"Reading is indeed to the
mind as food is to the body,
the material of which its fibre
is made- One half hour's good
reading each day will make a
difference in mental
thought."
E. D. Fingland
Clinton
Auction
Dear Editor:
On behalf of the Clinton
Horticultural Society. I would
like to thank Mr. R. Lobb and
Mrs. D. Williams, our able
auctioneers, and also his
helpers, the suppliers of the
many plants and shrubs so
willingly donated. and las
but not least, the enthusiastic
and generous bidders.
To all of these go our thanks
for a very successful plant
auction last Friday evening.
It is participation such as this
that not only enables us to but
also encourages us to con-
tinue our program of
beautification throughout the
town.
We appeal to one and all to
take a look .aroundryou and do
whatever you can to clean up
and beautify.
"If each one does a little - A
lot is accomplished."
Thank You,
Mrs. L. Smith, secretary
Clinton Horticultural
Societli
Standards
Dear Editor:
Much has been written
about the literature used in
the English classes at our
High School. Many parents
are very concerned about the
way God's name is used, and
how sex is described as an act
without love or marriage. We
hope there are still enough
parents and t°ixpayers left
who know what happens in
society when these standards
are no longer applied.
I wonder what side our
Editor is on, when I see him
okay the articles of Bill
Tura to page 6 e