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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-10-12, Page 4PAGE 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THLiRSPAY, Q :TQB 12, *97..$ Stand up, be counted The municipal elections, because they have been scheduled a month earlier than normal, have caught most people off guard, including many potential candidates. Nominations for the various local bodies, including public utility commissions and municipal councils open next Monday, Oc- tober 16, and close the following Monday, October 23. Judging by the talk in the area, the earlier date of the election, November 13 rather than December_ 11, has caused more complacency than was originally thought by the provincial govern- ` ment, who moved the date ahead to avoid the unpredictable weather of December . But with the late harvest, the Plowing Match, and the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, there simply hasn't been any in- terest, which could prove very bad indeed for our local democratic system. So if you were thinking of run- ning, or letting your name stand for public office, drop down to the town hall or municipal office and pick up a form, get your ten names, and you're off. This is it, stand up and be counted. Smiling faces There were certainly many smiling faces in and around the Clinton hospital last week, when the board of governors received written approval from the Ministry of Health to go ahead and update the . fire safety standards of the hospital, with the ministry paying two-thirds of the cost. Although the ministry never said so in so many words, the approval of the renovations is like telling us that our hospital will be open for some time to come, and the community can enjoy all the benefits of the best health care syste orld. All the hospital board, the staff and area people can certainly be pleased that they all had a part - large_ or small - in saving the hospital. Only two years ago, a deaf Minis$ry of Health decided to close our hospital without any good reason or consultation with the people which the closing would hurt the most. But the people in the area, no matter how few in number when compared with the huge bureaucracy . in . Toronto, fought long and hard to retain one of the community's best assets, and for that all should give themselves a at (on the "Osgood's been on strike so often, he's forgotten where he works." Clear up Finally to the Match "What's this thing called an Inter- national Plowing Match?" some of my city friends asked. Because I was raised on a farm, they expect me to know about things like that. I answered confidently. "There are plowing competitions with tractors and 'N. ugar and Canada's sights While we were travelling this past summer, my wife remarked something to the effect that it's too bad Canada doesn't have the `attractions to lure hundreds of thousands of tourists that Europe has. • : I assured her tartly that she was all wet. This country -has everything to make it a tourist's paradise: moun- tains aplenty, great plains, deep forests, thousands of miles of coast line, a million or so lakes, good hotels, interesting cities in French and English, and good highways. It's not that we don't have enough for the tourist. We havetoo much, and we take it for granted. Tiny Switzerland doesn't, and it makes use of every inch, milking the tourist as carefully as it milks its cows, those brown ones that graze up the mountains in summer and give chocolate milk. We have , tremendous sports facilities: skiing, sailing, fishing, hunting, hiking, alot of it free or very cheap. Try going skiing or fishing or hunting in Europe. It will cost you an arm and a leg, and in many countries is impossible for foreigners. We don't have any ruined abbeys or falling -down castles, but have plenty of abandoned log houses, which, in terms of humanity, are just as touching, if not as impressive. We're a little short on cathedrals, but not on churches. Some of our towns of two or three thousand have as many as ten different,churches. You can pray standing up, sitting down, on your knees or flat on your back. You can't do this in Europe. We are . nationalistic, but in - a lackadaisical way, with nothing of the prickly pride of the French, the deja vu' pride of the Italians or the smug complacency of the Swiss or Germans. We have a certain blandness, a lack of local cojor perhaps, to the unob- servant eye. But local color often consists of nothing more than rolls so , hard you can't eat them, dirty toilets, and execrable wine, in Europe. And we certainly have hose. As ocal c or, try a house party in Newfie, S rday ni:,.• + in Sudbury, a stroll down Yong •'" t.'s Strip in Toronto, or amble through downtown Montreal or Vancouver. Or try Friday night in a beer parlor, anywhere in the country. We don't have many ancient ruins. We put them away in nursing homes. But a visit to these could probably be arranged for the tourist. People think we don't have much history. We do. We have all kinds of -it. It's just younger than that of European countries. But the Battle of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, is just as important to this country as the Battle of Waterloo was to Europe in its time. The restoration of Ste. Marie Among the Hurons at Midland, Ontario, the 17th century Jesuit mission, is just as valid as the restoration of the Roman Colosseum, ignored by the Romans for centuries. Furthermore, for the delectation of the tourists, we have a dollar that is worth 85 cents. That means their yen and marks and francs will stretch like elastic bands. And finally, we have something no other nation in the world can touch, Thanksgiving weekend, and everything that goes with it. The great sad, final flaming of our foliage before we close down for six months. If our tourist industry wasn't such a weak sister, Canada would be crawling with millions of Japanese and Arabs and Germans and Italians from about September first to the middle of October, to the point where we wouldn't have room to rake our leaves and burn them. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I hope you have a lot to be thankful for. I think we do, as a nation. We have the 'most bracing, delightful, exasperating climate in the world. We still have vast, comparatively unspoiled wilderness. (Witness the scramble for recent Europeans, now Canadians, to buy a chunk of it.) We have a very high standard of living, despite unemployment, strikes, high taxes, fumbling politicians. We have a country in which Jack is as good as his master, and servili scorned. Don't believe me? Try hiring a cleaning lady or 'bawling out your plumber. Ask among the first -generation Canadians from Europe how many of them would go back. Nary a one. The Clinton News.Record 1s published It is replstered as second class mall by the Thursday at P.O. lox 24, Clinton, • ,arta, post office under the permit number 0011. Canada, NOM 11.0. The New$.11ecord incorporated In' 1424 the Hurn News -Record, founded In 1001, and The Clinton New Ora, founded In 1045. total press rue, 3.399. Member, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Auacletlon Otsple ' ddvonralnp rotas tivolIsbld rpqud+t. Ask for *oto Card No. 4 off pe,Ive Oct. s, 1411, floor wit Morale, .J, ffeikdrd Milton tdttor+S'tMsoi ill.1010titai Adwrtisl bheid.r$ *pr.V'L&l Howe editor, th•fiiiy Mitotiiikv , 1.fficor ty lir{r Qlhb „ cottounsall»Prot Md eed Subscription Oats! Canada -'14.0$ per year Sr. cltltehti'12 pot yoar 110.t.A,1, fisrwlon •''!o'p,ir y i' , Aside .from thinking this is a pretty good place do live, I have lots of per- sonal reasons for thanksgiving. A good wife who can cook like a chef, sew like a couturier. (We almost remembered our anniversary this year. We're just a day late.) My daughter, with two children and three degrees, finally got a, job. As a dile clerk. My son is -alive and well in a South American country, which is sometimes a difficult thing to be. I have a great lad next door who cuts my lawn and shovels my snow faith- fully. I have a job I like with people I enjoy working with. I have good neigh- bors. But I must admit I'm looking over my shoulder quite often these days. I'm thankful that my health is good, but I think the Lord is trying to tell me something about my English depart- ment. Two of them have faulty tickers. A third sprang his back and was flat on it all summer. Another, a recent ad- dition, had his gall bladder removed recently. And finale, Roger Bell, whose contributions you may have Turn to page 5. with horses, and there are displays and demonstrations of farm machinery, old and new. There are all kinds of exhibits, and lots of things of interest to women like fashion shows and hor- ticultural displays: It all takes place on somebody's farm, and the exhibits are housed in what is called the tented city.' When pressed for more details, I was embarrassed to admit I didn't know -because, for one reason or another, I had never attended a plowing match. The closest one I remember was held near Seaforth in 1966. Neighbours came home telling tales about losing their boots in the mud, and I decided to pass up the match for another year. But this. year with the location. -in Wingham, just 23 miles from home (sorry, 1 mean 37 , kilometers), I decided I'd find out what a plowing match was all about. Prior commitments kept me away until the last day, but on Saturday morning, two London friends and. I wandered ardund the tented city._ .I__ suddenly •became aware of how little attention I had paid to the progress being made in agriculture in recent years. Standing at a farmhouse window and watching a tractor work on the 'back eighty' is one thing. Lining up for a parade and seeing a $70,000 monster pulling a six, seven or eight furrow plow past me is another. I felt like an ant only worthy to be scrunched under the massive tire. Behind the tractor carne teams of heavy work horses and a pair of oxen to take our thoughts back to bygone times. Before and after the parade, my friends and I trudged up and down the seven temporary streets that remained remembering our past 25 YEARS AGO October 22,1953 William A. Andrews, Clinton, son of Mr. and Mrs. F.W. Andrews, George Street has been awarded the Huron County scholarship for the highest standing of a Huron County man in any year of any course at the University of Western 0 ario. The young woman who wo e camp nion award was Barbara Gunatm, Belgrav Chief Constable seph Ferrand yesterday received a Coronation Medal commemorating the Coronation Day of Queen Elizabeth II. The second birthday party of the Clin- tonian Club will be held in the agricultural board office on November .27. Invitations will be sent to the Goderich and Wingham of th ary Hastings Club. A great number of goofy shenanigans went on in Clinton Fr' ay ' ht. happened to be downtown you have been asked to contribute a penny to a couple of poor looking students or you may have seen a dozen people looking at the sky, to see what certain high school students were gazing at, If you were a student on the 9:10 bus, you were serenaded when you got off. Some pupils had to borrow collars from obliging Ministers. The Kinsmen Club of Clinton is launching its seco • annual toy campaign this week. The i• •f commencing the search for old toys a earlier date than last year was b ugh 3 , orward at the regular meeting of tit u' c ` .v n Tuesday evening. 50 YEARS AGO October 18,1928 The funeral of Major R.R. Sloan who died on Saturday in his 48th year, in the Toronto General Hospital was held on Monday with full military honors, interment being made in Blyth cemetery. Services at his --late` residence near Bayfield and at the graveside were conducted by Rev. Mr, Gale of the Bayfield United Church, while, the service in St. Paul's Church, Clinton" was conducted by Rev. L.C. Harrison. It was one of the largest funerals seen in the district for some years. Major Sloan was second in command of the Huron Regiment and served overseas in the 33rd Battalion. The school is elosed today and tomorrow owing to the convention. The young people of the Londesboro tirm in spite of rain on Wednesday and the unceasing tread of boots. , We saw environmental displays and machinery demonstrations, heard honky-tonk pianos, church 'organs and merchants boasting about their wares and smelled Ontario pork and beef cooking. In the United Church tent, we noticed a table laden with cups of hot coffee and home-made cookies. "Surely those aren't free!" whispered my girl friend. But they were free, and delicious too! One of the things that most im- pressed my friends was the abundance of resting -places conveniently located around the grounds and the free coffee, apple cider, cookies or other treats that were usually supplied nearby. I was a little surprised to learn that each year the plowing match draws many visitors from cities. Farmers used to be characterized by their coveralls and checkered han- dkerchiefs, but it's becoming in- eteasingly - difficult to distin-WO h -the rural people from the non -rural ones. My girl friend found a clue, though. "You can always tell the farmers by their white foreheads," she observed. Call it intuition, providence or just plain luck, but we left the grounds shortly after 2 pm when there was no traffic problem. Rain and hail began falling around 4 pm and one worker described the grounds as a "foot b ." Maybe some of you were amon a frustrated folks who spent two -an -a-half hours trying to leave the parking lots. After hours of walking, my friends and I realized we had seen less than a quarter of what the Plowing Match had to offer, but at least we understood why people boasted about it. a look through the news -record files United Church are planning to show a picture show on October 24, the title of the pictures being, "The Old Slave Trail." Wiltse birth - In Tuckersmith, on October 16, to Mr. and Mrs. Milton Wiltse, a daughter, Misses Ethel Jowett and Izetta Merner of New 'Dundee motored to Bayfield on Friday evening to spend the weekend with their parents. Mr. W.J. Johnston who purchased the property recently owned by Mrs. McCullough on Maine Street, transferred his bakery and opened for business in his new quarters on Tuesday. Anniversary services were held in the Holmesville United Church on Sunday last, October 14. The weather was all that could be desired and people came from far and near, filling the church to the utmost capacity, both morning and evening, many amiliar faces of former residents of this mmunity being noticed among the crowd. 75 YEARS AGO October 15,1903 Cupid has been busy lately in the Bayfield locality. Account of. the wedding will no doubt be seen in next week's News -Record. The Auburn Union . Choir has been re- organized with the name of Auburn Choral Society and an increased membership. It will practise Friday evening. The News -Record has been informed lately by a number of farmers that this will be their last season with silos. They give several reasons the principal being the scarcity 'of labor. The tendency has heretofore been all the other way, but it remains to be seen whether there will be fewer or more silos two years hence. Mr. W.H. Ball of Summerhill did his threshing on Tuesday last using Mr. Bruce's "Blower". This is something new around these parts and so a number of farmers will be prepared to give their opinion on the work done. No doubt it will be an improvement on the old method. Mr. Reubati Jewett of Constance wears a broad smile these days. Why? Because he has another little girl, Mr. Jas. Mitchell of Varna died suddenly on Monday of last week. They were engaged in threshing and while in the'straw,mow not feeling well he came dowel and weritinto the house where he expired in a few Minuted, Dear Editor : The canvass for the replacement of the arena floor is progressing steadily. In regard to the canvass, the com- mittee would like to clear up some concerns that have developed among the citizens of Clinton. Question number one: will any of the debt be added to the tax bill? Answer: we can't have it both ways. If enough money is not raised ($90,000) then it becomes obvious someone has to pay the contractor. However, every dollar donated is worth two tax dollars. At a time when our dollar is deflated that becomes a bargain. Question two: Will someone call on me? I haven't had anyone around yet. Answer: Yes. It is our intention to call on each home, however, we are not infallible. If someone has not called on you by October 20th, and you wish to make a donation you may - take your donation to the town hall; send it to the town hall; phone the town hall at 482-• 3997 and someone will call on you. Question three: Are we getting support from the townships? Answer: The support from the townships has been excellent. In 'conclusion, the committee would like to repeat that we could have gone either of two ways. We could have paid for the contract either through taxes or through donations. Believe us, the 'donation route is by far the cheaper and will save each taxpayer many dollars. Three or four smaller com- munities in our immediate area have either completed or are completing arenas. They have had to raise much more than the $90,000 we are at- tempting to raise. Surely we in Clinton are as com- munity minded as they are. Help your committee raise this money. Donate now and save money later. Sincerely, Arena Canvass Committee. Dr. Moore, who has been a resident of Clinton for very many years, left on Monday for San Francisco, California with the in- tention of fighting life's battle to a close in that sunny state. The Dr. practised his profession somewhat in the early days of this town, but of late years passed almost out of sight and comparatively few of our citizens knew of his existence. 100 YEARS AGO October 17,1878 An effort is being made by several parties in Bayfield to run a skating rink here this winter. , On Thursday night last, an attempt Was made to rob the store of Mr. T. Marks in Bayfield by a man named Sheppard but the robber was discovered by some parties who were out latthat night, and the alarm being given, Mr. Marks with a number of men, surrounded the place with the intention of ,capturing him. On entering, Mr. Marks was shot at, the ball grazing his cheek, but he succeeded in striking his assailant with a stick. 2 Sheppard, however, again fired, and made his escape, but he was closely pursued and several shots were exchanged between him and Mr. Robinson. Mr. Rutledge headed the pursuing party, and notwithstanding the fact that several balls came very near hitting him, continued at Sheppard's heels and got up with him, just as the lad named Johnson who deserves great praise for his bravery, grasped him and held on, although Sheppard put the trigger to his breast and twice pulled the trigger but fortunately without doing any harm, as it missed fire. On being secured two revolvers were found upon Sheppard and the key to Mr. Marks' safe which was stolen from him about five weeks ago. His trunks were searched and in them were found two more revolvers. On Tuesday Mr. H. Piumsteel shipped 154 kegs of butter to Liverpool. Mr. Swartz assumed possession of the Prince of Wales Hotel on Monday morning, Mr. Ross removing to Rochester in a few days. At Mr. H. Stevens' sale on Tuesday, cows brought $28 each; two-year old steers, $22; one -year-old, $17 and horses and implements rather below former rates. Bidding was n?Ot brisk, Donors down Dear Editor: Again, I would like to thank you and your staff for your help in promoting our Red Cross Blood Donor Clinic in Clinton. Thanks also to Central Huron Secondary School, Mr. Phillips, the students and custodians for all their help. Thanks should also go to the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority for doing all the telephoning and preparing the reminder cards for mailing, as this involved a lot of time and work. Thanks also 4o. all the Organizations for- their volunteer workers who helped at the ' clinid': without your help, the clinic could not function. A very special thanks to the donors who came out to donate their blood. Our clinic was down this time, as only 162 donors gave compared to our usual 225 plus. I know some were not able to give due to colds or having had a polio immunization within the last few days. Also the weather was not very good and maybe some just didn't bother or care, but if the time comes that you need blood lets just give thanks to the few that did care and took the time to Come out and give the gift of life, so Blood is there when you need it. Again may I say thanks to everyone who helped me in anyway. with the Blood Donor Clinics in the past. Mrs. Gladys East, Blood Donor Organizer, Clinton Program success Dear Editor: Already the summer has passed wand the 1978 Student Employment Program is drawing to a close. At this time I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people of our area who helped to make the 1978 Student Manpower Program a success. Over the summer, our offices in Exeter and Goderich had 630 jobs filled by students. This was an increase,of 48 placements over the same time period .last year. As more and more people learn of our program, we are able to find an increasing number of jobs for students. I hope our communities will lend their support again in 1979, as they have this year. I'm sure I speak for many students when I say thank you to our com- munity: we appreciate the em- ployment offered by local citizens who hired students to work in their homes, their businesses, and on their farms; we also appreciate the publicity given to our efforts by the local media; and we apprecilte the work done by the enthusiastic Iyyoung people who are our program's own best advertisement. Thank you Clinton, and area. Sincerely, Jeannette M. Finnigan, Student Placement Counsellor Canada Manpower Centre for Students, t Goderich. What's your Opinion? Write a letter to the editor today and let us know too. A .. • • •i