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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-07-13, Page 4I PAGE 4---.:CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, JULY 13,1,97$ Letter from an umpire (Donald Jensen was struck in the head by a thrown bat while umpiring a Little Llague game this spring in Terre Haute, Indiana. ° He continued to work the game. But later that evening he was placed in the hospital by a doctor. While being kept overnight for observation, Jensen wrote this letter: ) "Dear parent of a little leaguer: "I am an umpire. I don't do it for a living, but only on Saturday and Sundays for fun. "I've played the game, coached it, and watched it. But somehow, nothing takes the place of, umpiring. Maybe it's because I feel that deep down I'm providing a fair chance for all the kids to play the game without disagreements or arguments. "With all the fun I've had, there is still something that bothers me about my job ... some of you folks don't un- derstand why I'm there. Some of yo7 feel I'm there to exert authority over your son. For that reason you often yell at .me when I make a mistake, or en- courage your son to say things that hurt my feelings. "How many of you really u derstand that I try to be perfect. I ry not to make a. mistake. I don't w nt your son to feel he got a bad deaf rorn an um- pire. "Yet no matter ho hard I try, I can't be perfect. I co nted the number of calls I made in six -inning game today. The total n mber of decisions, whether on ball or strikes, or safes and outs, was 14 . "I tried my est to get them all right, but I'm sure Missed some. When I figured out my percentage on paper, I could have missed eight calls today and still got about 95 percent of the calls right .... in most occupations that percentage would be considered ex- cellent. If I were in school that 'grade would receive an "A" for sure. `,`But your demands are higher than that. Let, me' tell you more about my game today: "There was one real close call that ended the game ... a runner from the home team was trying to steal home place on a passed ball. The catcher chased the ball down and threw to the pitcher covering the plate. The pitcher made the tag and I called the runner out. "As I was getting equipment to leave I overheard one of the parents' cofn- ments : "It's too bad the kids have to lose games because of rotten umpires. That was one of the lousiest calls I've ever seen." "Later, at the concession stand, a couple of the kids were telling their friends, "Boy the umpires were lousy today. They lost the game for us." "I felt just terrible when I got home. Here was a group of kids who had made a lot of mistakes, which had cost them a number of runs. "The purpose' of Little League is to teach baseball skills to young men. Obviously, a team which does not play well in a given game, yet is given the opportunity to blame that loss on an umpire for one call or two, is being given the chance to take all respon- sibility for the loss from their shoulders. "A parent or adult leader who per- mits the younger player to blame his failures on an umpire, regardless of the 'quality of that umpire, is doing the worst kind of injustice to that yo,pngster. Rather than learning responsibility, such an attitude is fostering an improper outlook toward the ideals of the game itself. This irresponsibility" is bound to carry over to future years. "As I sit here writing this letter I am no longer as upset as I was this af- ternoon. I wanted to quit umpiring. But, fortunately, my wife reminded me of another situation that occurred last week. "I was umpiring behind the plate for a pitcher who pantomimed his displeasure at a'ny call on a borderline pitch that was not in his team's favor, One could sense that he' wanted the crowd to realize that he was a fine, talented player who was doing his best to get along, but ,that I was a black - hearted villain who was working against him. "This kid continued for two innings while at the same time yelling at his own players who dared, to make a mistake. For two innings, the manager watched this When the kid returned to the dugout tcbat in the top of the third, the manager ailed him aside.. "In a loud enough voice that .I was able to overhear, the lecture went like this: `Listen, son, it is time you make a decision. You can be an umpire, an actor, or a pitcher. But you can only he one at a time when you.are playing for me. Right now it is your job to pitch. And,, you ,are basically doing a lousy job. `Leave the acting to the actors, the umpiring to the -umpires, or you won't. Turn to page l4 . "... Then again, your point on the'. combat readiness of women in the armed forces is well taken." Scenic drives I'm back. In case same of you forgot, I spent a two-week vacation in the West. A friend and I flew to Calgary, then rented a car to drive around Banff National Park, British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Some people study maps and pick out tie best routes, They decide how many miles they'll drive each day, where they'll stay each night, what at- tractions they'll see and how much time they'll spend in each area. They plan ahead to make the most of every minute of their trip. That's not the way Joan and I did it, but I'll bet we saw ,as much or more than most tourists. We took one day at a time, starting each morning without a timetable to worry about. When we saw points of interest, we stayed as long as, we.wanted`if'°we found a town Young people I don't receive many letters' from young people, with comments on my ideas in this column. That's to be ex- pected. Young people quite naturally, are extremely self-centred. I know 'I was. They are becoming extremely aware of their own "self", their in- dividualism They are extremely in- terested i,. sex, love, some kind of belief they can hang onto, some guru with all the answers. And good luck to them, even though there is no such thing. They are not interested in . the maudlin meanderings of a middle-aged (sick.!) man who doesn't seem to know from one week to the next what he really believes in. It's not that I don't get along with young people. From the age of about one to twenty-one, they andI are on the best of terms. There's only one fly in the fun. I can't help teasing them. It's a - rotten 'quality and I'm always sorry when I do, but some demon urges me on. For example, my older grandson hit back when I'd needle him by saying, "Jolly good! ", when he'd try to make a Tarzan leap and land on his ear. He responded with, "Jolty bum -bum", to let me know he didn't like it. By saying a bad word,.he put me in my place. He underlined his individuality by such remarks as, "No way", when I'd try to tease him into something he didn't want to, or couldn't do, "Bugger off" when I'd pretend to mock anger and threaten dire punishment. He didn't learn these terms, from his gran, grandad, mother or father. He learned them from the other little punks at day- care. ' Teenagers are just as easily teased, and pretty vulnerable. After spending nine months goofing off, they come up to you as exam -time looms, with a tortured expression, as though they had to go to the bathroom and could hardly wait and whimper, "Sir, could you tell me if I have to write the final exam?" I reply to a freckled red -head, "Not unless you have freckles and red hair:" There are all kinds of variations on this. If it's a boy, I might say, "Not if you can take me to a trout stream and` guarantee I catch my limit." You can see the wheels spinnipg wildly in his motorcycle -haunted mind, this boy who's never caught a trout in his life. They HATE me. From about twenty-one for the next ten years, I can scarcely stand young people. They become pompous. They think their mildly socialist ideas, so hackneyed you can't believe it, are fresh -minted. They want to change the world and you: your religion, your ideas, your life-style. After that they're not so had, and they ,have acquired that rueful resignation that most civilized people get after pounding their heads against life long enough to soften them irredeemably. From about 40 on, readers and I are on the same set of rails and though they can and do attack me furiously, at least they know, most of them, that there is more gray in the world than there is black and white. Their letters are much more in- teresting thdn those of young people; witty, astringent, pejorative, The Clinton News -Record Is published each Thursday at P.O, sox 39, Clinton, Ontario, Condo, NOM 11.0. Member, Ontario Weekly Newspaper A%satiation �t Is registered os second class mall by the post office under the permit number 0117. The News -Record Incorporated in 1124 the Huron News -Retard, founded to 1111, and The Clinton New tra, founded In 1163. Total pros' run 3,300. Member Corm:Wa en Community NeWepeper Association Dlspley edvertleing . rates available on request. Ask for Meter Card No. E e#eetive Ott. 1, thy'. General Manager • J. Howard Aitken Editor . James S. PIttgeratd Adwertlstne Director • Gary L. Hoist News editor - Shelley McPhee Olde` Manager . Margaret Olbb Circulation • Freda Mcleod, $ubscriptlon Rote: tonardo • •13 per year MIA.. 411.0 Ofhor.'2*40 sometimes brutal, often kindly per- ceptive, sympathetic, nagging. They have lived, and they know that the world has them by the tail, not vice versa. In response to a recent column, half - joking, asking if anyone had a job for my daughter, I received a great letter from A. R. Kirk of Renfrew. "Yes, I have a job.,.New job requirements include a new baby in 1979, and another new baby every two years until 1989, when she and her husband will, be the parents of eight healthy children. That was an average family in the early and best develop- ment years of Canada." ;He goes on to explain that my daughter would never be out of work. "She will remodel and make clothing for her children and herself from the abundant supply of slightly used clothing you can get at a rummage sale fora song." "She will with the help of her husband and you her father, and your wife her mother, have a large fruit and vegetable garden: the children will help." Mr. Kirk goes on, seriously and I'm half inclined to agree with him. But he doesn't know a few things about our Kim and her kids. In the first place, they already look as though they'd been dressed from a rummage sale. without any re -modelling. In the second place, where do they get the land for this big garden? Young people today have very little chance of ever owning a home of their own, let alone one with garden space. What really hurts, though, is when he suggests that such a life would in- terfere with my vacation trips to exotic places. "Think of the pleasure you will have, using vacation money saved, to help out- the finances of your grand- children in small sums where most needed." Dear Mr. Kirk: Those small sures have prevented me from having a decent vacation for years. A penny saved is -a penny earned, but a dollar to my daughter is a dollar I'll never see again. Thanks anyway. Mr. Kirk and his wife are 78 and 74 respectively, with seven of a family andtwenty-one grandchildren. 1-te would like to live to be, 100 years old, "life is so interesting." Bless you sir, May .you do so. May you be pinching your wife lovingly at 98 and she responding. But don't ask me to take on six more grandboys. 1 said to my wife the other night, "I have a feeling in my bones, just a premonition', that some disaster IS about to befall me," She answered, "Oh didn't 1 tell you? The boys are corning for the weekend." or city we liked, we stopped for the 'dispensers on board and had to settle night and spent the late afternoon or for soup and sandwiches. early evening shopping or just walking On Vancouver Island, we followed a around: scenic marine drive from Sydney to We were fortunate to be travelling at Victoria. Whoever planted the signs a time ' (early June), when tourist at- must have expected all tourists to tractions and motels weren't busy. travel the other way for we missed Until June 15, the motels still charged most of his directions. Nevertheless we off-season rates. A waitress pointed out found our way to Victoria and in the another advantage of beating the process, drove around some unknown summer rush; "The people who work suburbs as well. with tourists are still friendly," she On our last Sunday on. Vancouver said with a grin. Island, we set out from Brentwood Bay Joan and I selected a general route to headed for Swartz Bay, which was follow each day, but we didn't hesitate located on the tip of a peninsula just a to deviate from the main highway. As a few kilometres north of Brentwood. We result, we took some scenic drives that never found Swartz Bay and ended up few tourists see. back in Sydney instead. But we did Of course, in the mountains, there discover a quaint small town • church are only two ways to ,go - ahead or that welcomed tourists and a beach straight down. We, chose the con- where we collected shells and watched ventional forward plan and discovered seaplanes land and take off. a new view at every twist and turn of Another scenic drive, that I t,,he.Trans Canadal-fighway. i remember well, was- one that I My fears about becoming lost in' suggested between Naat}aimo and 1ancouver were unwarranted for we Victoria. A winding road took us found our way to Stanley Park without through a little place called Cowachin a hitch. We didn't press our luck, B'ay. (That's pronounced Cow-itchin.) though; we were content to stroll The road became narrower and around the park for the afternoon and narrower; the yellow line disappeared then cross ' Lion's Gate Bridge to in places; the houses grew fewer and Horseshoe Bay where we spent the fewer. We crossed two or three rickety - night. From Vancouver, we decided not to take a direct ferry across to the Island. Instead we drove north along the B.C. coast - a route which included two short ferry trips that took us through the Strait of Georgia. On the first small ferry, we enjoyed a. hot hearty breakfast. Wepresumed the food on the larger ferry would be just as good or even better, and we waited to eat lunch on our way over to the Island even though it meant eating late. But, to the dismay of our growling stomaches, we found only food looking bridges and skirted the back of a lumber yard before emerging on the outskirts of the city of Duncan, where we rejoined the Trans -Canada. Some of you cynics will say we were lost on many of our scenic drive, but I disagree. We always knew ap- proximately where we were and we always found our way back to the main highway, although sometimes we were headed in the wrong direction. It created a minor problem that a U-turn, a detour into someone's driveway or another scenic drive around the block eventually remedied. remembering our past 10 YEARS AGO July 11,, 1968 The town of Clinton has asked the Ontario Housing Corporation to look into the need and demand for Senior citizen housing in the town. The OHC will conduct a survey by mail and if enough replies are returned, a research team will estimate the number of senior citizens living in Clinton whose housing is inadequate or beyond their financial capabilities, The demand in the arca on a rent -geared - to -income basis will he determined from information gathered through advertising, direct mail questionnaires and personal interviews, Things were rolling in Bayfield last week for the village's roller skating marathon. ,Tim Malc,iey of Bayfield and Lynda East of Clinton were the final couple to drop out after skating over eight hours. The second place winners were', Colleen° Merrier and Terry McClinchey, both of Bayfield. The Twins emerged as 'champions in the Kinsmen Pee Wee town league' last Tuesday evening when they easily defeated the Yankees 21 to 4. Members of the championship Twins are Larry Matthews, Ricky Bell, Paul Kay, coach R ick Kush, Robert Andrews, Danny Campbell, Mike Arlstett, Greg Butler, Don MacDonald, Steve Cook, James McBride, Jim Amsing and David Engel. 25 YEARS AGO July 16, 1953 We've never at any time seen more house -building going over town. A group of Clintonians got toOther the other evening and started' tickin4 off houses in process of building. They got Jo 15 in a matter of five minutes without even trying. The Flying Saucers (products of this earth, or another planet) are with us again. Mr. " and Mrs. Gordon Cunninghame, Clinton, were enjoying a quiet picnic on 14eard's sideroad, south of Bayfield on July 3, when Mrs. Cunninghame saw a very bright light in the sky which she first took to be the sun's rays reflecting from the tip of an airplane. But then she noticed that it was at disc•like shape and she could neither see nor,hear an ' Conservation Dear Editor=— We are now more than half -way through the short life -span of the area Energy Conservation Centres. The goi?ernment financing runs out Sep- tember 8. The aim of the Conservation Centres is to make people awareof the real need for energy conservation. Our non-renewable energy resources will run out and by conserving energy we not only save money,"but we allow lead time to develop 'renewable resources such as solar -energy and wind power. Since the project officially started in March, we have had several workshops on solar energy, heating with wood, insulation. And more are planned - solar heating of swimming pools, wind seminars and several film nights. Call our offices for further information. The Energy Conservation Centre has given many presentations at schools - elementary and secondary, and to groups such as service clubs, girl guides, 4-H achievement days, and Women's Institutes. These have in- cluded films, slides on solar heated buildings and alternate energy sour- ces, as well as talks on energy con- servation in the home. We welcome more of this type of engagement. As well as doing research regarding recyclingt,, we attended a recycling conference in Toronto in early June. At this conference, the Recycling Council of Ontario was formed in order to be a link between municipalities in the province to coordinate markets for recyclable materials. Hopefully, you will see a need for recycling in your community - as a way of conserving valu-able resources. Even better, would he not to produce so much waste in the first place. Members of our project have had displays at some of the energy fairs and malls. These have met with such success that more are planned for the summer. One of the group went to an alternate energy, seminar in Penn- sylvania . and came back with some great ideas for building solar walls, solar food dryers, and many other projects. A large project that is .planned for the early part of September is the Renewable Energy Tour. We are arranging to tour many homes in Huron County utilizing solar .power, solar green houses, wind energy, conservation measures and some that are completely self-sufficient. Anyone -.interested in this tour should watch for the notices or call our office. We have a large resource library at each centre and plan to put these books into the County Library System. in September. M We would appreciate your comments and suggestions. Do not hesitate to call us. Goderich 524-4114; Lucknow 528- 3304. Let's become a conserver society by choice, not by necessity. Donna Hazelton, Lucknow What's your opinion? Write a letter to the editor today and let us know a look through the news -record files ,►r airplane, although its altitude did not seem published which does considerable justice to high. " - the natural beauty of our river and harbor She drew her husband's attention to it but and when circulated freely cannot help but it vanished quickly and he rather ridiculed advertise Bayfield as a pleasant'place in the idea that she had seen a flying saucer. which to 1o11 away the hot days and build up But in ten minutes he pointed one out to her. physically and mentally. The views were It seemed to be about 600 feet to the south- prepared by Messrs. Brewer and Trott and west of the one Mrs. Cunninghame had the Descriptive matter by Mr'. J.G. Stan - spotted. They both watched it for a miticide bury. The booklets are on sale at Mr. before it too vanished into thin air. Mrs. Edward's store, Cunninghame describes the mysterious The flower gardens of Varna are object as heing about the size of a teaplate, flourishing, especially those that are hall -like with perhaps a flat top, and ex- weeded on Sundays. ceedingly bright silver in color. The W. Cooper Co. have placed a couple of 50 YEARS AGO tables in front of their store laden with July 19, 1928 second hand books. The collection is an F.C. Coombes, London, has been engaged extensive one and of considerable interest to as. classical teacher by the hoard of the lovers of old books. Clinton Collegiate Institute. The Summerhill fife and drum hand won Quite a number from here attended the first prize at Hensall on Monday. We can do Orange Celebration which was held at it. Hensall on Thursday and report an en- 100 YEARS AGO joyabie outing. July 18, 1878 The names of three students appeared in A gentleman in' town who this year paid the list of successful Normal students particular pains to looking after his garden published this week. They are Miss Florence and had got things therein all but ready to E. Johnston, Miss Marion Thompson and use, was annoyed to no small extent the Miss Marion Middleton. other morning on discovering four cows E.L. Miittell has rented the Becker place calmly eating his vegetables. This person's over. the GTR tracks, south of town, and will fence too, is one that fault could not be found get possession shortly. Mr. Becker intends with. returning to Detroit to engage again in The heat 'of the last few days has been ► building construction work. Mr. Mittel' will intense. Yesterday at 7 a.m. the ther- find this place very suitable for his work of mometer stood at 82 degrees in the shade, 95 poultry culture. degrees at 11 a.tn. Earl 17. Crich who was recently appointed On Saturday Mr. Gallanger exhibited on county patrolman was sworn in at Goderich the streets a Badger that he brow � last Thursday., him from the Black Hills. Quite a tiumbe? 75 YEARS AGO viewed it. • July 16, 1903 The notes stolen from Mr. W. Nichol, of The extension of the CPR from Guelph which mention was made last we,k, were seems to be almost an assured fact"and that returned to him by mail, having been posted the Southern route will be chosen is almost' at Stratford. On the back of one of the papers equally certain. The Company is desirous of was written the words, "by the time you touching at Clinton, the centre of the apple receive these, 1 will be safe in Chicago," belt as well as the Hub of the county and an On Friday morning our friend of the Royal important shipping point of live stock and Hotel stretched across the street in front of Manufactured goods. his premises a :banner bearing the words In the event of the CPR being extended "welcome Brother" neatly painted, but the through Goderich Township it is expected ' artist had evidently made no calculation for there will l e a station like Holmesville near rain, as the copious showers that fell soon Porter s bill. showed that -the colors were not "fast" as A booklet of Rayfield views has been they "ran."