HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-07-27, Page 4.04
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PAGE-4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1978
Worth listening tr4
Norman Alexander may not fit
the average person's conception of
a maverick, but he is and unlike
some mavericks who talk just to be
heard., what Mr. Alexander is
saying cannot be ignored any
longer.
In a detailed story in this paper
last week, Mr. Alexander pointed
out that we are giving up our
heritage, one of the most important
heritages we have -'our land.
Mr. Alexander is nearly fighting
a one man stand against the loss of
our greatest resource, the very soil
under our feet. Through ignorance
and misuse, we are letting some of
the finest soil clog our rivers and
lakes and in the process, jeopar-
dizing the very future of our prime
industry in j-luron, farming.
Every year, untold millions of
dollars worth of our best 'topsoil is
lost forever because of erosion,
mostly from running water and
although ly1r. Alexander wouldn't
put a figurb on it, the cost runs into
the millions of dollars in Huron
alone each year.
All we need to do is change the
way we manage our ' land,
especially our cash crop land and
improve runoff control. in the long
term, the investment would prove a
mere pittance compared to the
savings,., ...,.
"I have little confidence that our
generation will do much," Mr.
Alexander says. Let's prove h i m
wrong on that point.
It could happen here
At last count 145 tourists and
townspeople were dead in a small
Spanish seacoast town. Some 140
more are so seriously injured that
they are expected to die. Why? All
because a truck carrying liquid
gaseous fuel ran amuck and ex-
ploded.
Spain is a long way from, here --
but the very same Thing could
happen right on the main street of
any Western Ontario town
tomorrow. With every passing day
two or three of these ready-made
bombs pass directly through the
centres of our communities. In fact
a fuel truck did start a fire in a
town near Lake Erie a few years
ago, and if we recall correctly
some five or six business places
were wiped out-- and that with no
explosion.
Only last week there was a train
derailment which necessitated the
evacuation of many homes in an
American town because the
overturned railway cars spilled a
toxic substance. -
If there are any special
,regulations which impose ex-
traordinary safety measures on the
carriers of such dangerous cargoes
we haven't heard of them. Are the
drivers of these trucks all mature
men with especially long ex-
perience and unusual safety
records?
Do the trucks have more than the
usual safety devices or are they the
same as the one in the doomed
Spanish town which simply ran
away ,while it was unattended?
Perhaps our Ontario laws do
require more than the usual safety
precautions for carriers of
dangerous loads, but if so it would
be a relief to know what they are.
When a big tanker carrying
thousands of pounds of explosive
fuel roars through town it doesn't
take much imagination to visualize
what would happen if another
vehicle ran a red Tight into its path. '
from the Wingham Advance
Times.
remembering
our past
25 YEARS AGO
July 30, 1953
Six trim waste containers are now
waiting for Clinton's waste. We're not
expecting a miracle of cleanliness on the
part of all citizenry, but it will be fun to use
the cans. One can stands in a place of
honor directly in front of the flag at
Library Park. Will it be left there on state
occasions or will it be hustled off in
ignominy before a special ceremony?
Certainly while it is there in its spanking
new paint it makes the old, peeling, grey -
streaked, flag -pole look its worst. Until
yesterday we had not noticed the drab pole
at all, hardly. Of course someone did
mention ,that no flag flew on the day
Korean truce was signed. Is that an omen
of the worth of the truce or mere forget-
fulness?
Clinton harness horse races held on a
track that was almost perfect, in Clinton
Community Park yesterday afternoon
attracted a crowd that was close to record
proportions. Although the meet had to be
postponed for one week and the rain fell in
numerous other centres around Clinton,
yesterday, the attendance was iti the
neighborhood of 2,500.
M.L. "Tory" Gregg was master of
ceremones and described the races to the
crowd in his own inimitable fashion. The
Bannockburn Pipe Band marched to the
park prior to the races and played at in-
tervals during the afternoon.
There were five horses running in the
five races, each race was filled with keen
competition.
Mr. and •Mrs. Wilbert R. Lobb,
Holmesville, wish to announce the
marriage of their daugther, Grace Carol to
Alvin Howard Pym, Elmville, will take
place on Satirday, August 8 in Holmesville
United Church at 12 o'clock noon.
Clinton Lions Bantams came very close
to having their winning streak broken last
Thursday night, They were forced to come
from behind with a four run rally in the
sixth inning and had to he content with an 8
- 8 tie. This game gives the Clinton kids
five wins and a tic in their last six games.
Hughie Coiquhoun showed great power
at the plate for Clinton belting a triple and
a single. Doug Mann was also credited
with a three -base knock.
"Once upon a time a man stopping for
gas at a Goderich service station, asked
the attendant, is this a good town?
"You het it is," was the reply.
That was just the beginning of a casual
sort of conversation which led eventually
to the question of industrial sites. At that
point the gas station attendant offered to
get someone qualified to show the visitor
around. There is. more to the story,,and
like all nice stories, it has a happy ending -
the new "million dollar" industry, W.A.
Sheaffer Pen Company, now building in
Goderich.
If someone should stop you today and
ask y about industrial sites in Clinton,
what would your answer be?
This little tale was told by the Ingersoll
Tribune about the town of Ingersoll. See
how easy it was to put the name of Clinton
where the word "Ingersoll" was.
So easy it is to grumble and grouch about
the inefficiencies the slowness or other ills
we may feel that Clinton has, But a
"Horace injured himself when, as an MP, he tried to keep his ear to the ground while sitting on a
ence."
tact
People, places, things
I've been home for a month, and
since I didn't keep a diary of the trip,
memories come back to me in odds n'
ends'. Please bear with me while I
reminisce about some people, places
and things.
People - first ° there were the
mechanics in a garage where we
stopped for gas. One of their buddies,
was getting married that afternoon,
and they were fixing his car, making
sure the horn tooted when he pressed
the brake.
Then there was the -fellow who drove
his pick-up into the parking lot of a take
the seat beside him, and 'Ms dog was in
the seat beside him, and, hils dog was in
the back of the truck. He brought two
ice cream cones out of the store, fed
one to his dog and,shared the other one
with his girl.
Next came the guide at the
Parliament Buildings in Victoria who
said the size of the group didn't matter.
Instead of making us wait for more
people, she gave the two of us the grand
tour. Her information ranged from the
name of the architect, who designed
the building and the origin of the
marble columns, that were used inside
the structure, to the issues currently
under discussion in B.C. Parliament,.
and other free attractions in. the city
that would be worth our while to see.
a look through
the news -record files
grousing attitude will hot serve to advance
the town one whit, nor our personal
progress either.
Let's get a song in praise of Clinton read;
to our lips and be well-informed concerning
the assets of the town. Then it may prov,
easy to re -write the above little saga and ge
the name of Clinton in there when
"Goderich" is.
50 YEARS AGO
August 2, 1928
The citizens of GClinton and community
for some years have felt that the town hall
stage needed to be completely renovated.
The local members of the WI branch, who
have in the past proven themselves very
public-spirited, have now taken up this
work with the permission of town council,
who have already laid a new floor and put
in a new ceiling.
Surely this is one public matter in which
every true -hearted and loyal citizen who
has the interests and credit of the town at
heart, will concur and assist to the extent
of their ability.
The garden party and street dance, put
on in the band stand park and on the new
pavement, Ontario Street on Thursday
evening last, under the joint auspices of
the Kiltie Band and the Fire Company,
went along fine. for a time, until the rain
came, the dance having to be concluded in
the town hall.
Thursday night last, between 11 o'clock
and midnight, a severe electric storm
passed over this section accompanied by
heavy rain and between five and six
Friday morning another storm came up,
when the rain came down in torrents,
flooding all the low spots and taxing
drains to their limit and flooding many
cellars.
The street corners of Huron and Ontario
were completely under wate-r. Cellars
around there were flooded and Mr.
Camerson had some valuable dry lumber
soaked.
Mr. J.G. Sloman who has been with the
Canadian National Railway formerly the
old Grand Trunk, for the past 42 years has
reached the age limit and is being retired
on pension this week, completing his term
on Tuesday evening. Mr. Sloman has been
baggage man and shed man and had
become so much a part of the place that
Clinton station will hardly seem like
Clinton station Without "Jake" to look
after things.
ova 75,YEARS AGO
July 30, 1903
Some of the Varna girls picnicked at
Bayfield on Friday afternoon last. They
were entirely without male escorts and
dressed in picnic attire made quite a natty
appearance as they drove out of the village
with Mr. Jos. Foster's nice driver hitched
to a splendid top surrey. Miss Josie Foster
handled the ribbons. The girls reported an
afternoon's splendid enjoyment.
Mrs. Thos. Kempton of near Kintail was
stricken by apoplexy last week and owing
to her advanced age, 82 years, little
hope is entertained for het recovery. She is
the mother of Mrs. W. Cooper and Mr. T.
MacKenzie of town.
Many of Baytield's citizens are com-
plaining of the antics fl a1t old man from
Best of all, she had visited Clinton,
Ontario when she was a kid and thought
it was "a great place."
There was also the manager of the
motel where we spent our last night on
Vancouver Island. When we registered,
he asked what time our plane left in the
morning, and when we answered 7:55,
he produced an alarm clock from under
the counter.
Finally there was the lady who sat
beside us on the flight from Vancouver
to Toronto. "You two must be ex-
perienced travellers," she said.
We sure fooled her, didn't we?
Then she added that she was glad to
sit beside two such nice girls. On the
flight to Vancouver, she sat beside a
drunk.
Places as well as people stand out in
my mind. For example, there was the
washroom in , Penticton B.C. that I
spent 15 minutes trying to get out of.
Next there was a shopping mall
somewhere in West Vancouver with its
shops' laid out in circles and, semi-
circles on two levels. I felt like a mouse
in a maze.
On Vancouver Island was the dog and
cat Holiday Inn. Bears pop up in
unexpected places. We didn't see any in
the Rockies, but on a fairly busy road
leading to a lake in the interior of the
Island, to our astonishment, we spotted
a bear in the ditch about 50 feet from
the car. We would have had a picture if
a truck hadn't barrelled past and
scared the bear away.
Then came Victoria the Garden City,
with its parks, museums,. souvenir
shops, double-decker buses, horse-
drawn carriages and harbour boats.
The pace seemed more relaxed, and
even rush traffic seemed less frantic
than in Toronto or London, Ontario. In
five days, we heard only one exchange
of horn blasts.
Outside ' Victoria was the famous
Butchart Gardens with millions of
flowers in bloom. Near the Gardens
was the Fable Cottage - a fairy tale
house that a man spent 10 years
building for his family. Every shingle
on the roof, every board in the floor and
every piece of furniture was lovingly
fashioned by his hand. He made such a
good job that he and his family had to
move' because of lack of privacy.
Next week I'll continue with the
thin:,,. that stick in my mind and some
of t lessons I learned that I'll
probably remember for a long time.
1
Labels wanted
Dear Editor:
As a means of obtaining funds in
order to continue our services to Huron
County, the Town and Country
Homemakers will be collecting Kraft
labels in all the grocery stores in this
area.
We have been in contact with Kraft
Foods Limited and for each Kraft label
we obtain, they will pay towards our
cause, a sum of money. The labels we
are collecting are all the Kraft salad
dressing labels and the Kraft Miracle
Whip labels also.
Boxes will be present at all the
grocery stores in Huron County for the
conveneience of all. In this way, we are
able to ensure that as little in-
convenience as possible is placed upon
our supporters. -
Later this year, we also intend to
organize rummage sales in Clinton,
Wingham and Exeter; therefore, if
anyone has any donations for our sale,
please call the Wingham office at 357-
3222 or myself at 482.7609.
Through these efforts, the Town and
County Homemakers will remain in
existence next year and we wish to
state now, that all of the funds obtained
through your assistance will be greatly
appreciated. For this reason, we sin-
cerely hope the people of Huron County
will not only support our organization,
but assist us in our cause also.
Yours truly,
Mrs. P.C. Gonie-Tak,
development officer.
Rest rooms
Dear Editor:
I see by the paper that the Bayfield
Village Council is still "sticking its
head in the sand." Their response to a
letter from a Clinton resident who had
spent Sunday afternoon in Bayfield and
was dismayed at the lack of public
restrooms was negative, as usual.
Councillor McFadden stated that he
was unable to find any facilities. in
Clinton. I will be glad to take him by the
hand and•guide him to the restrooms in
Clinton. Bayfield should be so lucky!
I think it's time for Council to figure
put some way to make public facilities.
POSSIBLE, instead of always saying
why they think we can't have them.
Bayfield Main
Street Merchant.
Goderich "Township who comes to the
village every day or two and is almost
invariably drunk. While in this state his
appearance and language caused him to
be shunned,. We don't know where he gets
his liquor, but hope none of our local
dealers sell it to him. ...
The tourist trade is not yet up to ex-
pectation, but a big rush in is looked for
in August. The advent of a railway would
boom Bayfield and make it the most
popular summer resort along the west
shore of Lake Huron. ,
Clinton's motto. "When we do it, we do it
well," was well exemplified at the lawn
bowling tournament in London last week.
Some 244 of the hest bowlers in Ontario
competed, but Clinton's 12 swept the
boards. They won the Championship and
the Labatt Trophy. Their victory is a
record breaker for the annals of bowling,
no one club ever before winning the
Championship and the Association at the
same tournament to say nothing of the
Doubles. The hest rinks. in Ontario went
down before the Clinton quartettes.
The Championship was won by 1. Fair,
D.A. Forrester, W. Brydone and W.
Jackson. In the Association match -the
victors were J. Taylor, E.J. Howard, B.J.
Gibbings and W.P. Spaulding. The winners
in the Doubles were J. Taylor and R.
Agnew.
100 YEARS AGO
August 1, 1878
Messrs. Archy Taylor and Peter Elder of
Blyth have had typhoid fever, the former
is improving, and the latter has had it but a
few days.
The comments passed upon the Clinton
Juvenile Band by papers outside of town
are so flattering and frequent that we
begin to fear they will cause the undue
development of some of the "bumps" in
the heads of the boys.
Yesterday the Londesboro cheese
factory shipped a car load of cheese from
this station for Montreal.
Thrashing is being briskly pushed for-
ward, and we learn that fall wheat is
turning out about 30 to 35 bushels to the
acre.
On the 24th July, two young men•named
C. Beatty and C. Morrow, were charged by
Mr. A. Watt, Jr., of the 13th con in Hullett
Township with leaving his employemnt.
They were tried before Jas. Braithwaite
Esq., J.P., who fined each of them $l0 and
costs, in all over $15 each.
This case should be a warning to others
as the practice of leaving employment
when agreements have been made to work
are by no means uncommon. A verbal
agreement is just as binding as a written
one, in this respect,
What's your
opinion? Write
a leUer to the
editor today
Travel sickness
By the time this appears in print, I'll
probably be flogging around Europe,
irritable, exhausted and disgruntled,
muttering, "What am I doing here,
bucketing around on a bus, gawking at
cathedrals and listening to the yam-
mering of ,a horde of people of whose
language I know eight words' on a good
day?"
And I'll go on. I know it. "What am I
doing blowing half of my life's savings
junketing around with a bunch of other
middle-aged has-beens, when I could
be back home right now, playing golf
with a bunch of middle-aged has-
beens?"
"I must be out of my mind, paying
$24 for two hamburgs and a bottle of
winewhen I could be out at Foster's
picking my own strawberries and going
home to a great chicken dinner that
costs about $2 with tiny new boiled
potatoes, green onions, new carrots
and fresh green beans.
"I could be sitting in my own back
yard right now, looking at the Lear -like
oaks, sniffing my neighbours' flowers,
contemplating a late -afternoon swim
and sucking occasionally on a cold ale,
instead of sitting in this ruddy btis,
looking at the other turkeys who took
this trip, inhaling the fumes of
gasoline, contemplating the folly of
trips to Europe and knowing I'm going
to pay $1.25 for a Coke at our next stop,
if we ever stop.
"Wedidn't go anywhere near Lille,
so I couldn't look up Andree, but she's
probably a fat old lady now, with a
moustache. She was tending in that
direction back then. And we didn't even
go near Antwerp, so I missed seeing
Tita. I wonder if she thought I'd stood
her up that night, Friday the 13th of
October, when I didn't show up? She'd
have no way of knowing. I'd been shot
down that afternoon. Nice kid and she
said her old man had lots of money.
"I wonder if young Wilson next door,
is keeping the lawn cut. Thank the Lord
we had no cat to be fed this time. I
wonder if Kim got a job. I wonder how
The Boys are'.
That was some du we stayed in last...
night. The mattress was so lumpy I had
to sleep on 'the floor and the Old Lady
didn't get a wink, she was so excited at
those young Italians whistling at her
and pinching her bum. She made me
take pictures of the bruises to show the
girls back home.
"It wasn't as bad though, as the night
we crossed the North Sea to Holland in
that converted barge they called a
cruise ship. She must've lost ten
pounds that night. They should have
called it a crew's ship. They were the
only ones who weren't tossing their
tripes with every roll.
"The Old Girl's been pretty decent
though. She hasn't said more than four
times a day, 'My God, I'll be glad when
this is over.' And she insisted that I'm
not the most miserable man on the trip.
She says I'm about one jump ahead of
that mean old sod from Cleveland.
"About the only time she gets snarky
is when I try my trilingualism out. I say
to some young German blonde, 'Vie fil
uhr ist es bitte?" The blonde laughs
heartily, even though I've only asked
her for the time of day, because of my
accent, but my wife thinks I've cracked
a dirty joke or something.
"Thank goodness we have our tickets
home paid. for. I'm going to seek out
and kiss Trudeau on both cheeks when I
get home, even if it makes me throw
up. Canadian inflation is peanuts
compared to what they have over here.
Buck and a half for a cup of coffee. Sold
my watch in Vienna after they gave me
my bill at the bier garter'. Sold my
other pair of shoes this morning to an
Italian entrepreneur after, I'd taken a
taxi ride to a fountain to throw some
coins in it. Next item to go is my wife's
travelling iron. It weighed three
pounds when we started out and now
weighs fourteen,
"That tour guide is a dandy. He'1rbe
a millionaire when he's thirty. In every
city he recommends a restaurant run
by a cousin, at which the prices are
way below average and the food way
The Clinton News -Record is published each
Thursday at P.O. nos 30, Clinton, Ontario,
Canada. NOM 1L0.
Member, Ontario Weekly
Newspaper Association
It is registered as second class mall by the
post office under the permit number 01117.
The News -Record incorporated In 1024 the
Huron News•Record, founded in 1EJ11, and The
Clinton New Era, founded in 1u3, Total press
run 3,300.
Clinton Ne\v-I COF( 1
Member Canadalan
Community Newspaper
Association
Display advertising rates
available on request. Ask for
Rate Card No, • effective Oct. 1,
1077.
General Manager • J. Howard Aitken
Editor • James E. Flt:geraid
.' Advertising' birslttor . Gary L. Hoist
News editor • Shelley McPhee
Office Manager • Margaret Glbb
Circulation . Frdda McLeod
Subscription Rate:
Canada •'13 per year
U.S.A. •'17.00
Other .'20.00
above. Whereas the reverse is _true.
They all serve the sarh"e Something —
stew and want an arm and a leg.
"What am I doing here, on my way to
another scabrous cathedral when I
could be 'home out bass fishing with
Dalt Hudson or on the Bruce Peninsula
fishing speckled trout or wandering
through the trees on the back nine of
the golf course?
"Or just sleeping in, if I felt like it,
instead of having to hurtle out of the
sack at six to join that sickeningly
cheerful tour group at seven and climb
on that bloody. bus to charge another
800 miles down some foreign road?
"Never again boy, never again. Next
time I. want to visit the sights and
sounds of Europe, not to mention the
smells (Ah, Venice) I'll read a good
travel book. -
"Who talked me into this, anyway?
Let's see. It wasn't the travel agency.
It wasn't my wife, who has hated every
minute of it. Now I remember. It was
Frank Powell, a colleague, who did the
same trip when the Canadian dollar
was way up and the English pound was
way down. I can hardly wait to get
back. I'm going to punch that Powell
right on the nose."
Conservation centres
Dear Editor:
I would like to bring your readers up
to date on thZ Energy Conservation
Centres serving Huron -Bruce County.
It's been four months since the
Energy Conservation Centres opened
in Goderich and Lucknow. We have run
workshops on solar energy, wood
heating, and insulation. We've
collected a good library of books on
Energy Conservation and alternate
energy sources. We've done presen-
tations on energy topics to a variety of
groups and schools. We've done mall
displays and a variety of other
programs. We've tried to help with
individual questions and we've
distributed literature on a number of
energy conservation topics.
Our upcoming programs include a
wind energy seminar, in Goderich and
Lucknow; a play called "The Wiser of
Off"; displays at fairs find festivals;
film nights and a tour of alternative
energy homes and projects in Huron ,
County. The Conservation Centre
programme will be coming to an end in
the first week of September and we are
trying to determine which workshops
and activities to repeat or new ones to
undertake before this ending.
To date, we figure, we have had
contact with around 5,000 people
through our activities.
We would appreciate hearing from
readers regarding the various
programmes We have run - Have they
been useful? What have we done that
was right? What have we done that
could be improved? And most im-
portantly, what programmes would
your readers like to see run before the
project ends? Tony McQuail,
project co-ordinator.
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