HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-01-10, Page 4taw Clinton $i, *•R qrd lla Euubllith#d' o•`sl '
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:Rata Card Eln.10 offoctiVo Sept.
Gonerol Monusiar-" .i« Howard Aitkon
_Editor ,;lalnes E,•Fltzpotold.
Advertising Piractgf - Gary,E, Heist
• Nows.4Ltor, SrhoileyMcP.hoa .
Office Manog.r . Mariarot C►lbb ` '
Circulation +Fr adq Mc aarod .
4ubscriptiot Rata;
° 01 -natio -'15.00.
, Sr. Cliizata - "13.01 per your
•'•frt*• foreign.. "30.00 per year
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Should scrap meters
..-.
Now would seem to be the ap-
propriate time for the Clinton
Business Association to approach
town council on the' age-old question
of parking on the main street, and in
particular','' the old parking meter
question...
•
Part of the parking problem_,•sur.-
faced last Monday night when council
-heard again of the perennial problem
of what criteria to use for issuing the
yearly parking permits which allow a
select group to park-free'anywhere in
town without fear of tickets.
But the whole problem boils down to
whether we even need the parking
meters in the first place.- They are .
seldom enfclr'oed, except in the
summerwhen the police have student
help; so many locals ignore feeding
them; they' are costly to empty, and
repair and are subject to the whims of
- vandals; they get in the way of street
cleaning operations,in the winter; and
most importantly for the. , business
community, they drive potential
customers out of town. '
It might be true that you can't
.blame the meters for all of Clinton's
loss of customers to progressive
centres like Exeten arid Goderich`,-but
it's just one more straw on the
camel's back.
Clinton council, in our opinion,
should rip oit• the meters and go to a
two hour parking limit on our main
streets like Exeter, 'which" could -be
enforced by the police department or
a new bylaw enforcement officer, who
could also work as a dog catcher and
building inspector, two more positions
that badly need filling in town. -by
J.F,.
e'/ /Manor. t- ibukt AL
4. .
Dear-Editor:'behalf
: � ,.a a
of the press and publtd`lty
cernmittee of the Auxiliary to the
Clinton;' Public Uospitale I..wish .to
express, appreciation and thanks t(1
the and staff of the Clinton
Dews -Record for their co-operation
during the past year,*
The newspaper 'enders an iia=
portant service to the Auxiliary in
bringing : the " activities and: . ac-
complishments of the organization
before the public.
"I'm not supporting any political party — I can barely support a wi
e and four kids."
You -Fs -sincerely,
.. • > veiri.Q:lae,
Clinton.
Do you have an opinion?. Why ,not -k
write us a letter to the editor, and,
let everyone know. 411 letters are
published, providing they can be
authenticated, and pseudonyms
are allowed. 411 letters, however,
are subject to editing for length
li or libel.
R '
remembering
our past
5 YEARS AGO- ---
January 9,1975
• The Clinton Recreation Committee's
• Seventh Annual- Bantam Tournament
begins on January 9 .with 46 teams slated to
play 56 games in the seven day tournament
which runs f,lta4_wek d ._
After waiting seven.. days, Clinton finally
has.a Centennial baby. The new arrival, a
bouncing baby, came into- the world on
Tuesday night at 10:30 pm'and is a son for
. Mr. and Mrs. Mark Kennedy of -RR 1,
Londesboro. •
New election no victory for Canadians
The "accident" which plunged the
country into another election a few
'weeks ago could never be called . a
-victory for the Canadian people or a
progressive step in the handling of the
nation's -affairs. Not by a long shot,
says Jean Lachance, public affairs
officer for the Canadian"-rederation of
Independent Business. .
'In addition to the $50-60 million the.
new election will cost, Canadian
voters 'are being asked to settle the.
same difficult question they faced last
May: who is better equipped to handle
the resnonsibilities of government?
It is More of a dilemma than a
New Year spoilers
.I will not think about the election. I
will not write a word about the
election. I will put the election right
out of my mind. I am not about to let,
an election spoil my new year.
There. How do you feel` about
another election? Probably much as I
do.'Another sixty million dollars out
of our pockets to pay for the damn
'thing, and when it's all over, we'll
have another bunch of liars, or the
same ones, back in the House. It
makes one puke.
Silly sods.. Our glorious leaders. The
arrogance ,of those in, and the, lust for -
power .of those out, is no new thing in
Our Canadian political history, but
nowhere has it been better focussed
upon than in the past few weeks.
Clark's' Tories, whose favorite
epithet for the past decade. has been
"arrogance", walked into the House
of ,Commons, after six months of non-
government, stinking df the stuff. -
As though a divine light had sud-
denly fallen upon the party, they
-immediately broke most of • their
election, promises;., and superciliously
informed the nation, and parliament,
that it was going to have to bite the
bullet: more inflation, more unem-
ployment, more taxes. A little power
is.a dangerous thing •
Like a toothless lion, the Liberals,
leaderless, in disarray, and informed
only -last May that ,nobody wanted
them t� govern the country, or at least
that a great many didn't, cuffed the
. new boys with its clawless; -"btiD
powerful, paws*
Like jackals, the NDP with nothing
to lose, ran yelping in to tear off some
choice bits of meat from •under -the,.
nose of the toothless lion.
Like,looters'in a riot, the people who
sell gas and cigarettes, and
everything else that would raise
taxes, joyfully hoisted their rates,
before the budget had passed; adding
'the "tax' and a little more, to make it
come' out in round figures, a favorite
game for years.
Like 'so many hyenas, the .sstOck
rnarkets'of the country, °rejoicing in a
question. Therealchoice is -between
the erratic and sometimes inept
Conservatives and ' the. worn • out,
decimated. Liberals,." although the
NDP could spoil either scenario, Mr
L. achance°says, .,
Recent political history in Canada
tells us that a potential backlash
against those who provoked yet
another electionmight result in an
overwhelming mandate ' for the
Conservatives. When this last hap-
pened in 1958, parliamentary -op-
position virtually ceased to exist in
this country.. On theother hand, the
Canadian voter may well confirm last'"
swing to the right, sang liosannahs
while stock prices soared. And went to
the wailirigwall'when they-colPapsecl,
after the so-called "government"fell.
If you feel like me, .you'll be mut-
tering, "A curse on all their houses.°''
So, exhausted ,politicians Will
stagger back into the harness of the
campaign trail,• mouthing the same
old cliches, trying to stir something in
-the dull, sullen pond, of the Canadian
voter, who has never been more
disillusioned. •--
The media, which feeds on disaster
a cancer feeds on cells, will have a
• field day.
And you and I, Jack, when .the
smoke has cleared, will pick up the
tab, as usual,.'
Every 'vindictive bone, and he had a
lot of them- in John Diefenbaker's
buried body must be chuckling, as he
watches Joe Clark make anass. of
himself: '
Even the dust of Mackenzie King
must be stirring a. -bit as he overviews
his beloved Liberal party putting
sticks. between the spokes of , the
government's wheels, a tactic at
which he was a.master.
Mike .Pearson, wherever he, rests,
will be 'chortling and relatingthe
whole thing to a baseball game he
once played, in which the biggest bat
on the team struck out, with the count
three and two.
Rene Levesque is probably•smcsking
eight pac'k's 'a day, furious because his
tarh.e pussy -cat', Joe Clark, has upset
all his referendum plans byturning
into a mouse.
Robert- Stanfield must be weeping
into a 'pair of longjohns, and shaking
his head, slowly and sadly, as he
contemplates' the asininity of ,the
party he once led with grace and
-: , dignity.
Ed --Broadbent, the people's hero,
*ho was t}ioroughly, rejected by both
farmers andindustrial workers in the
last go -around, . is_._ probably and
desperately searching, for a formula
that will get some votes from the
middle class. °
Pierre ,Truceau, picking up the
torch that everybody eIse dropped
when it burned their, fingers, is
probably thinking, "I wonder what
May's verdict and perpetuate the
existing instability at the federal level
at a time when Quebec,, with 25 per-
cent of Cana:da'spopulation, is
preparing to choose its qwn political
destiny. . '
There. is no doubt that issues such as
leadership, the Conservatives' budget
and the voters' appreciation of who is
responsible for the fall of the
government'willcbe considered by the
electorate.
But the real issue that should
dominate the present election 'catn-
` pa ign is one of policy, and mainly
chat bloody .Margaret is, going to say
to screw up this one."
If nothing else,the election fits the
season: January sales are up for
grabs, along with cheap power,
political.
Oil prices rocket, while . our
"leaders" tell us that, we have lots, or
. there's going to be a shortage,
whicheverfits the matter of getting
votes. •
And worst of all. We're going to be
subjected to a winter of lies, hot air,
cold comfort, and a complete
stagnation of our country.
•
1 •
v
Canada's energy policy-,' Mr
Lachance says. '
John , Bulloch, President of the
55,000 member. Canadian Federation
of Independent Busl}npss; puts it _this
• way in his year-end Message
"The issue is how to turn higher
energy costs into a great- Canadian
opportunity. Voters should be asking
their ,political leaders how the $200
b iition-7-to be spent - on resource
projects in the 1980s can be used to
provide maximum long-term benefits
to Canada."
The point is that if we don't develop
the necessary 'policies- to protect
Canadian interests in both the small
and large business sectors, we could
find ourselves with greater foreign
domination of our economy, a
weakened manufacturing industry,
'serious -shortages of capital and
skilled ' manpower, and increased
disparities in income.
Maybe' the real - question all
Canadians must face in this election is
this: do we ha e..the ,.national will, to
shift from The politics of "immediate
gratification" to that of "building for
the future?"
Phenomenal opportunities exist.
Will we. have the sense and maturity
to accept the challenge, no matter
what our political` affiliations are?
Mr. Lachance concludes.
odds 'n' ends
What a' drive
"Isn't this nice?" I thought to
myself. "Driving 'to London ors
Christmas . morning with, no
snowdrifts to buck, no patches of ice
to skid br and no white -outs to worry
about. The hills are green and there's •
•riot a trace of snow in the sky or the
forecast." •
For a .moment, I felt a twinge of
sympathy for the little kids with their
toboggans and the big,kids with their,
skiis and snowmobiles, but it- t idn't
last long. This was only the second
green Christmas in my recollection,
and I was going to enjoy it: -Maybe I'd
even get to my sister's place early for -
`a change.
Chug. Chug. --�,
"What was that?" I asked myself.
Chug...chug...chug. - 'h� car was
lurching and slowing noticeably. Then
suddenly it gathered steam and we
took off again.
'Are you doing that?" my mother,
who had hitched a ride, asked. •
"Not intentionally," I grunted. •
We spotted Dad's carload about a
half, mile ahead. I was able to catch
up, flag him down and,.after a hurried °
conference, he decided to follow me in
case the car acted up 'again.
... According_ -.to the: ,weathen..office. .. in.:.
London and Toronto, this area experienced
its mildest December in. nearly 50 years,
,even though we had our average amount.of
snowfall. The" weatherman says that
balloorr will burst this weekend when sub-
zero temperatures will return..
At the"inaugural.meeting of the HurOn
County Board of Education in .Clinton, the
trustees voted officially to confirm the
• election of Wilfred Shortreed of RR 1,
Walton as chairman for1.975 and Herbert
Turkheim of Zurich as vice-chairman.
14YEARSAGO b
r__.-.J.anuary 8, 1970
C'lintori"'and district are likely to benefit
from the establishment of an ambulance
dispatch centre operating - from the
Seaforth Community Hospital.
Until recently, the service which began
December 20, could dispatch only the one
ambulance operati:ng avrom the Seaforth
• ho§pital which also served the Clinton
hospital '
The first baby of 1970 at the •Clinton
hospital was Barbara Hoggart, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hoggart. She was
born on January'2. `
The Varna United Church Explorer
group recently.held'a,Christmas party for
their mothers. Miss Cathy Taylor
presided, Miss Charlene Reid read the
•scripture, Miss Brenda Dawson gave the
prayer and Miss Nancy Fawcett read the
minutes and roll call.
25 YEARS AGO
January 13, 1955
With the foundation poured, workmen
are preparing and erecting forms for the
first storey of the new Huron County Court
House and County building being built in
Goderich. The new building slated to cost
over $700,000 will replace the 100 -year-old
building 'destroyed by fire last February.
According to A.H. Erskine, County Clerk -
Treasurer, five carloads of cement have
already been used in the construction of
'the building.
Members of the Council of Teen Town,
the local youth organization which holds
social evenings in the auditorium of CDGI
are as follows: mayor, Ken Porter; reeve,
Don "Ding" Ladd; treasurer, Dennis'
"Denny" Waymouth; secretdry, Mavis
Steepe; councillors, Margaret Ellen
Lawrence, Glencye Bainton, Catherine
McGregor, Janet Elliott, Bob McAlpine
and Richard Snell.
Word that a provincial grant of $20,000 to
the • Clinton hospital board has been
by
elaine townshend
It did. Every time I slowed to turn a
corner or stopped at a light, the motor -
stalled. The car eased onto the
shoulder of the road; Dad followed;•I
revved the motor -and our double
caravan took off again.
Fortunately, we didn't have todrive
through the city, just around the edge.
But even that was a little hectic: out,
closest call came when my stall on a
left turn caused Dad to go through a
red light. �°
"If he gets a ticket, I'll pay it," I •
m.utted,.,It seemed the appropriate
thing forme to say. '
The drive took two hours; it ufivally .
requires about an -hour and a quarter.
It wasn't snow that slowed me down.'
After dinner, my oldest nephew and
1 took my car for a spin. I steered
while he handled the accelerator. We
thought if we could justgive it a good
run aur problem's would be over. At
one point I told him to lay off thegas. gill; "I'm, not 'touching the s; I thought
you were," he said. And that's when
we realized the -gas pedal was stuck. -
It was one of the most interestingg
drives I've taken. We got back to the-- �
house safely, diagnosed the trouble as
water ip the gas line, poured hi some
alcohol (into the car, hot. me) and I
headed .for home in the early evening
with tad dose behind. .
My car sounded fine for about' five .
minutes. The. next half hour consisted
of pumping and chuggfrtg and revving
anu'urging fro Me: "Come on baby;
you can make i !"
Once I glanced in the rear vjew
mirror to discover Dad's car lights'
had disappeared. Far back in the •
distance two amber lights- were
flashing. We got gas.from the same
pump, you see. 1 '
To make a long s'to'ry short,, bath.,
cars started one more time, but I gave
up on mine about half way home when
it began stopping at every mile.
Luckily, I, Was .able to limp into a
cousin's farm yard which became an
overnight parking spot.
Everyone crammed into Dad's car
veon,dering how far'we' ' get. With a
feW-stops and starts, a lot of coughing a •
and pumping, the car -limped into Dad
and Mom's yard.
The next day'Dad, my nephew and I
retrieved my car making another
slow 'trip honiie. Needless to say, both
vehicles' ended up in garages after the
holidays. '
Christmas .Day 1979 will be one I
remember for a long tirne,,,and not
just because it was green. '
Some of you may ,recall that I asked
Santa for a new car this year; „he
didn't come through, But the
escapade on Christmas, Day, was .not
the fault of the car; it was the Iahutt of
the gas; and I refuse to tolerate any
more vyise cracks,about ray, auto. I've
decided we'll stick together for a few
rfiore years.
authatizedm as. re, ceived-her-I~-.This,g r:.ant-.--
..will be paid on a basis of $1,000 per bed for
'the 20 beds in the new nurses' residence.
Someone -withtime of his hands 'men-
tioned to us that Clinton :still boasts hit-
ching rings: They are iron rings embedded
in the cement at the edge of the sidewalk •
and we` know of the location= of *atleast
three"of them. Though the sidewalks need
re -doing in the most urgent way, still we
wonder if the old hitching rings could not
be left as a sort of symbol of Clinton as she
used to be. Might come in handy for the
next generation to tie their "hopped -up"
helicopters to.
• 50 YEARS AGO
January 9,1930
Surely the world`is getting to be a small
place. One can sit in one's home and hear
music and lectures clear acrossthe con-
tinent, or across the ocean. Mr, T.J.
McNeil chatted with his son Mr. Nelles
McNeil, Ontario, California, Who called
him up.to wish him a Happy New Year.
The pioneers of this country . lived in
almost complete isolation less than 100
years ago, and today members of families;
if they wish, can speak half across the
continent.
The Brucefieid Public Library, Awhich
has been closed for the past three weeks,
will be opened this week, and a number of
,new books . will be ready for circulation,
The membership fee wi11 be the same as in
former years.
When a sleet storm comes, those of us
dependent on hydro sort of hold ourbreath.
Butyesterday's sleet did no particular
damage.
Mrs. Synder, who has been teaching for .
some years in Summerhill School has
resigned and Miss Mxytle Powell has been,�•�
engaged as teacher for the present year.
On Mrs. Synder's resignation she was
given a presentation by the section,
75 YEARS AGO .
January12, 1905
Owing to the bad weather detaining
many from •a distance from attending the
English Church Christmas Tree en-
tertainment in Bayfield, ,the same en-
tertainment will be given in the town hall,
Varna, on the evening of January 20.•
The annual meeting of the cheese and
butter.Company was held in Holmesville
last Friday with a good attendance Of those
most concerned. The reports showed the
year to be a good one, notwithstafiding the
rather low prices which prevailed. Two-
thirds of the debt contracted for installing
the the -butter plant now being paid.
I offer a first class up-to-date
refrigerator at half cash price. It 'wi11
handle the milk from 8• to 105 cows,
requiring about 240 cakes of ice per
season. Apply to D.A. Forrester.
Mr. James Reynolds Sr. .of the 14th
concession of Hullett is making
preparations to' remodel his barns this
corning summer and has a -quantity of
,stone already drawn.
• 100 YEARS AGO -
-January 8,-1880
The Governmental Inspector for Ontario
has instructed the Town Clerk to
prosecute, without fail, all parties who
neglect to report births, ina_ rriages or
deaths, as required by law.
,Yesterday, daisies were pt'bid in the
garden of, Mr. Thomas Cooper, of this
place, this is an evidence of the mildness of
the weather.
._,very large ,amount of wood is this
winter being- brought into town, good dry
wood frequently selling at less -than $2 per
cord.
During the Christmas holidays Messrs.,
Ouimette and Taylor .of Londesboro
disposed of nearly 3110 pounds of candy.
This will give some idea of the amount of
sweets consumed. •,
The hot air furnace of St. James' Church
in Goderich Township, is to be done'away
+kith. on peeoant of it smoking. The church
will be heated with stoves,
While Miss Kate Cantelon of Goderich
Township was playing music a few days.,
since, the lamp worked its way off the.
instrument and falling • down, ignited the
oil. Had it mit been for the bravery of Miss
Cantelon, who picked the lamp uand ran
out with it, a fire _night have resulted.
therefrom. '
The Issuer of Marriage Licenses in this
town states that during .his term- of office,
the township of Kellett has furnished snore
wives than any . other township. . in the -
neighborhood. This speaks well for Hullett.
•An