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Ganora► Ma nag,er'' a. Howard Altkan
Editar,Jaraest, fttxaorald
,Advertlstrio 41rpctor - Gary L. Hal#t
" tiiiiwpadltor • Shelley McPhee
OtHse.19 anaper • Mergutet..GtbJr..:,
• pkcelatlen • Freda McLeod
Subsiriptiorn Rate.
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Think of the future
Canadians go to the polls on Mon-
day to decide the fate of the country
for the next decade, because any
decisions made on energy policy,
economic policy, or even foreign
policy will effect the country for the
next 10 years, or perhaps the next
generation.
So how you vote on Monday will
- decide how you, or your children, or
your grandchildren for that matter,
will live more than any other election
in recent history.
Energy, is plentifulness and
cheapness and has made Canada
what it is today, for no country with
the harsh climate and greatdistances
of ours could survive very long
without, it. Our wholelifestyle is based
on 'it, from the availability of .:cheap
food because of - energy intensive
farming, to huge : luxurious homes
that gobble, up energy in the cold
winters like insatiable dinosaurs.
So it is clear thinking that is needed
when we go into the polling booths on
Monday. We "can't afford to cast a
ballot based on silly emotion, or even
tradition. The`future is too important.
We need to conserve energy, there
is no doubt about that;but taxing it
beyond reason is no " answer, and
jacking the price up unreasonably
doesn't make the miles any shorter,
or the ; winters any warmer,' but only
serves to put money into the pockets
of those that need it- the least, the
foreign owned oil companies, or the'.
hands of a greedy provincial premier. --
That's why a vote for the Joe,
Clark's Conservatives is a vote to give
the country away to the multi-
nationals, and a vote to slit our own
throats. His energy policy is the least
palatable of the three parties.
This editorial writer has never
taken such a tough and opinionated
stand on an election before, .but
«because the whole future of the nation
depends - of this.. _election, now is the'
time to stand up and be counted. -by
J.F.
Cars from eggs
As the nation's automobile
manufacturers" suffer through some
ttrnoil, they should not only be
considering the size of their product,
but also the quality.
The consumer affairs division of the
department of transport in
Washington received a letter from a
woman in Pennsylvania who had
Learned the hard way just how today's.• r
cars -are constructed.
She 'had been shopping at a
supermarket and had packed a carton
•
of eggs among the other articles in
her shopping cart. As- she -neared
car, a gust of wind caught the shop-
ping,cart and she lost control of it and
it ran into the side of the vehicle.
Not one of the eggs was even
cracked, but it cost her $84.50 to have
the damage to the car body put right.
In her letter, thea lady suggested
that -auto manufacturers try building
car bodies- out of eggshells so they
would stand up better. (From the
Exeter Times -Advocate)
-"I'm still trying to decide between the one with the insincere smile and the one
with the shifty eyes."
5 YEARS AGO
February 13, 1975
Ontario Health Minister Frank Miller
said in Clinton last Friday night that no,
hospitals - in Huron County, including
Clinton's, would be closed as a result of the
controversial Mustard report on health.
He said that the Mustard report was
prepared to stimulate discussion and it
was never the government's" intention to
implement if: '
A historic plaque commemorating the
formation of the Town of Clinton will be
erected and dedicated this' summer,
council learned Monday night.
Council received a letter from the
Ontario Heritage Foundation telling the
town that the province would erect the cast
metal plaque in town, and requested the
town to sent them the wording to be placed
on it. -
10 YEARS AGO
February 12, 1970
A wildlife area expected to become a
major attraction for hunters and
naturalists and thousands of -Canada
geese - will 'be establishedi in Hullett
Township swamp, it was announced jointly
this week by Ontario- treasurer Charles
McNaughton and Lands and Forests
Minister Rene Brunelle.
Theprovince is' proceeding to acquire
about 5,000 acres north of Highway 8
between Clinton and Seaforth which will be
developed for a variety of wildlife species
and recreational pursuits. ,
Russel Thompson, formerly Chief of
Police in Clinton for 13 years, died at this
RR 5, Clinton home on. Friday. -.He was 64
-
Politica turkeys
It's ' a wonder ., there - aren't more
people in politics. All it requires
basically -is a strong stomach, a thick
hide, and an absolute lack of scruples
about giving. away other people's
money.
There will be only one real loser in
this mid -winter election - the
Canadian people.
After eight months of non-
government, they have to pay 60-65
million dollars for the privilege of
choosing between two flocks of
turkeys.
Let's- start with an a priori. Ed
Broadbent and the NDP don't have a
hope of forming a government. All
they can play is the role of spoilers.
So we have a choice between a
party that practical-Y.put us into
eternal bankruptcy, the Liberals, and
a party that showed' an incredible
naivete in its first•chtance to govern in
more than a decade, the Tories.
There's something desperately
wrong, with our system when we have -
two choices only: the mediocre and
the mediocre.
My gut instinct about this election is
disgust, and I'm 'sure it is widely
shared.
But it's the only system we have, at
the moment, and a maxi can't just lie
down on his face, cry, and kick his
heels in frustration, as he would love
to do.
As I write, the Liberals, after being
soundly rejected by the voters last
spring, are 20 points ahead of the
Tories in the polls. What an incredible
electorate we have!
Canadians tend to think of them-
selves as rather dour, solid, gray
people, fairly unemotional, quite
stable. The truth is that we are more
volatile, politically, than the Balkans.
After several decades of good, gray
prince ministers, whom we could
count on to never let the left hand
know what the right hand was doing,.
we embraced, with an alrrtost
religious fervour, a fiery, flarriing,
evangelical prophet out of the mid-
west, who had a Vision - and not
much else.
Rapidly becoming uncomfortable
with this, we backed right up to a
good, solid Canadian, who liked
sports, had an infectious chuckle, and
didn't know how tochop off the hands
of his friends when they got them into
the till. Mike Pearson.
Soured on him, we clasped to our
breasts a brilliant, arrogant rban`with'
a flower in his button -hole and a
flower -child in his kitchen. It was as
disastrous as an honest, homely man
who had never made the .. team
marrying the chief cheer -leader. We
became envious, and finally, em-
barrassed.
We listened to his maunderings and
his ponderings. We were at first
proud;' then baffled, then suspicious.
He seemed to have the knack of.
saying the wrong thing at the right
time.
There was nowhere to go but down,
so we happily went back to a
nonentity,. a fellow whom most of his
own party did not want, a scrambling,
ambitious, 'and colorless man, We'd
had -enough of that •-.color- aerd
charisma. We wanted someone like
Mackenzie King, only .not so crafty.
Toe.
As I write, we are witnessing the
Second Coming of Pierre and the
Second Chance of Joe. His Brilliance'
and His Ordinariness. And you can't
tell them apart. The first is trying to
hide a)1 his faults by acting like a
clam. The second is multiplying his
faults by opening his mouth. Both are
promising the moon, with our money.
They have cancelled each other out.
What I'd really like to see is a
massive rejection of both by the
Canadian voter. Everybody staying
home on election'day. Three hundred
votes cast in the whole of Canada. All
of them for the Rhinoceros Party.
But that couldn't happen. We're too
sincere, too earnest. We still believe
in the so-called democratic system,
which gives you a vote for one of two
or three guys, none of whom youthink
should lead the country.
So we go into the polling booth, start
to write an X, shake our heads, start
to write an X in another place, shake
our heads, and wind up feeling as
though we'd like. to kick the sides out
of the booth; and go off and get drunk.
And that's about the way the vote
will go, regardless of polls. We might
vote' for the local candidate, if he -she
seems a good persons regardless of
our party affiliations. We:might cast a
negative vote, against one party
rather than for the other. • .
Personally, I hope the Liberals lose,
,for several .reasons. They are in
'complete disarray. They did little to
attack inflation, except steal Bob
Stanfield's,.prsces and wage controls..
They let the national debt become
-infamous. They showed little political
conscience in forcing an election.
The Tories were on the right track,
with their tough budget. But they
went too far on their so-called energy
policy, in a land of long dj a.n-t~es, and
eight months of .cold "weather.
Canadians, will give up their
mistresses' before they'll give up their
Oil and gas.
Pre"diction? Another minority
government, worse than the last one.
years of age.
One of biggest attractions of this year's
Clinton Winter Carnival is.,bound to be Ice
Nick's '70, the ice show put on by the
Clinton Figure Skating Club and including
skaters from CFB Clinton, which begins
tonight.
The show will have 127 skaters ranging
upward from tots to teenag , They have
been working on their show under the
direction of Mr. Robert McCrabb.
25 YEARSw,AGO
• February 17,' 1955'
Completion of the new Nurses'
Residence in town is expected within six
weeks, -- according to a report of the
building committee given by chairman
Harry Ball, at the annual meeting of the
Clinton Hospital Association last night.
Mr. Ball states that in that time the
residence should be ready for occupancy
and that the board is planning now for
renovations to the old section of the
hospital.
Dr. R.W. Street, Blyth, is credited with
saving the life of. nine month old 'Sheila
Blake who suffered a severe attack of
bronchial pneumonia. The doctor kept- a
constant vigil at the baby's bedside in
Clinton Public Hospital. At one time her
temperature was recorded at 109 degrees
but the baby is now well on the road to
recovery.
Dr. James S. Tapp, (son of Jack Tapp,
formerly of Hensall and presently living in
Clinton Public -Hospital)-- has handed
surgeons of Canada and the United States
a new tool combat injured and diseased
arteries.
Dr. -Tapp has solved the problem by
devising a nylon tube treated to produce a
bellows effect and so constructed that it
would not unravel close to the ends when
united to the surrounding tissue by a
surgeon's sutures.
50 YEARS AGO
February 13, 1930
Mr. Henry Sloman is in possession of a
very handsome but fierce looking
specimewn of the owl family, the bird
being sent down from the north by Mr.
Fred . Sloman, It is very large and
::_beautifully marked, but does not "make
friends" very readily. Mr. Sloman intends
sending it to the London Zoo, where it will
be added to the collection of native wild
birds.
Mrs. Parsons of ,London,, Provincial
Organizing Secretary of the Girl Guides, is
here today investing the .Clinton Girl
Guides.
Can any good word be said of a sub-
marine? It is a mean, Sneaky, abominable.
thing and should be absolutely banned. A
fair fight and no favors might not be so bad
but the sub, and gas are not fair fighters.
For sale - Good 'rubber tired top buggy.
Cheap, will take wood for same. Bert
Langford.
75 YEARS AGO
February 16, 1905
When the cutting of what is known as the
Colborne Hill in Goderich Township was
undertaken, it was agreed that the cost,
about $1,100, would •be defrayed by
Goderich and Colborne Townships, Clinton
and the county council. Colborne's share,
as agreed upon, was $100, but the council
has 'refused to pay the amount and ac-
cordingly Reeve Middleton has entered
suit against it.
The weather of the past week has been
cold and stormy enough to remind us -all of
last -winter. On Tuesday morning the
temperature fell to 18 below zero, some
thermometers registering 22.
Mr. Joseph Freeman and Bros. of
Mullett Township, while engaged in cutting
wood for William Morris -son cut up 30 cords
of wood in two -days. If anyone can beat
that we would like to hear from them.
At 5:30 o'clock yesterday morning the
alarm was sounded from the organ factory
and half an hour later the east wing was
completely destoryed by fire. When seen
first the flames seemed to extend from one
end of the building to the other so that all
thoughts of saving it were soon abandoned.
_The portion of the factory that went up in
smoke col limned -the ° • machine, case,
finishing, machininactfiilit an0 keys�
L,u.,n, .n•.0 uui u. rndm
Between 75 and 100 men were there em-
ployed and they are not only out of work,
but have had all the implements of their
traded destroyed. In many instances the
value was considerable. It is a serious
matter with the employees and they are
feeling a little blue about it.
16O YEARS AGO
February 12, 1880
During the past week detectives have
been busy making arrests and gathering
information in connection with the Don-
nelly tragedy.
—Already 12 persons are under arrest, and
a considerable amount of evidence
collected which it is presumed will convict
some of those under arrest. The remains of
those killed were buried on Friday last.
The Donnellys living do not .manifest
outwardly much concern over the affair,
taking matters in a very cool and ,
deliberate manner, though, no doubt, their
emotions are concealed. Reporters at the
scene of the tragedy continue writing a
good deal of a sensational-n-ature, but the
substance of their reports is generally,
"interviews" and "surmises" that are of
little real account.
A number of boys whose parents suppose
they are at school, are in the habit of daily
gathering at building on Huron Street,
and idling away their time, very much to
the annoyance of the owner of the
premises. Their names would look good in
print, but they can avoid their appearance
here, by giving up the habit and attending
school. ' '
Promises, promises
Dear Editor: -
People have short memories and
are easily taken over by talk. Trudeau
tojd the people there would be no price
and wage control. After he got in, he
had a worse plan than Stanfield.
So just watch all this talk against an
Party feed
A few weeks ago on a Sunday af-
ternoon I switched on the TV and
flopped down'on the couch. Too late, I
remembered it was Super Bowl
Sunday: I watched the game for a few
minutes not because I'm a football ,
fan, but because turning the 1'V
channel meant getting up.
The underdogs were putting up a
good b -'a tle: At that- point, the game
was .closer than any of the experts had
predicted. I was struck by the hard-
hitting in the game. At first, I thought
it was only over -reaction from an un-
initiated viewer, but even the com-
mentators remarked on the hard-
hitting plays.
Then came time for a commercial,
and I was assaulted by another type of
hard-hitting - the debut of election
Campaign television ads.
Television , has played an in-
creasingly important role in politics
hi recent years. In the past two
t. campaigns in particular, the strategy
seems to be to use the medium of
television to point out the mistakes
and weaknesses of the other parties
and their leaders. . --- ,.
"Attack on the opposition" is a
phrase often heard nowadays Prom
reporters covering the campaign
trail, and it seems an apt description
for most of the tv ads.
It's not the type of strategy that
stirs my interest or excitement. I.will
be hard-pressed to become enthused
about the upcoming election_ , im-
portant though it may be.
I would prefer the parties spend
their money, time and energy
discussing the issues and their
policies' in simple clear-cut terms,
that the ordinary Dick and Jane could
understand. I would be more Likely to
listen to 60, seconds of a party's owe
positive point than 60 seconds of at-
tacks on their opposition:
On the other hand, I don't want a list
of ros) promises that I know
.realistically can't come, true, or if
they did, would pause more problems
further down the road.
Canada has problems that won't be
solved by all this fusin' and feudin',__.
and I for one will be glad when, it's all
over. But another question mark
exists. If we have ,another minority
government, how long will it be until
we go through the whole process
again?
It's ,Ironic the election will be held
a few days after Valentine's Day- I
can imagine the verbal Valentines
that will be passed amongst the
candidates. I'll bet traditional verses
are thrown out the window, and this
Valentine's Day will be hike no other
in Canada.
Meanwhile, the television rebuttals
go on. I'i'n reminded of a popular U.S.
daytime game show called "Family
Feud." During the first few weeks of
1980, Canada has had its own version
of the show - the Party.Feud. It's less
friendly and less fun toawatch, but the
stakes' are higher, and in reality, it's
not a game.
*wit M
Dear Editor:
r- 1 mPt ,a fellow roan on Albert Street
the ether day - a sort of wild,, hairy
looking fellow whom I understood to.
bo' the Main Street Wit. 1 tried to, avoid
'him but he got me by the lapels and.
pulled me up and • said' "You know
hallCoun;?,,cs going .to' tear down the town
" Npt so, • l said, not ,so..JuSt th?
opposite; They're 'accepting tenders
to..start it u."
"DQrl;'tfixing _you..- beplieve
"They're going to tear the old place
down and put up a little flat -top box'Qf
a' thing ,in' its place. And they're going
to continue to withhold repairs from.
• the library so that they can tear it
down too. They want the Library site
for a swimming pool and skating rink
four settlor citizens. Nice and central,
• .ou see."
"You're out of your mind," I said.
"Why would Council let its own public
buildings fall down. for lack of a bit -Of
maintenance? Surely they have a
maintenance fund' - put a little in each.
year and keep things up to scratch,"
"You, just wait and see," he said.
"when the tenders for repair of the
town hall come in they'll argue and
argue and argue and argue and argue
and argue and argue and argue and
decide to do nothing. The FLAT -
TOPPERS you .see, are playing the
waiting game.: They're tryij"g to -delay •
long enough for the old town hall to
fall down by itself. Then they can put
up the FLAT -TOP PALACE.
Shouldn't cost less than $2 million.
What the taxpayers should be doing,
ow that their taxes have gone up is to
be telling the Councillor for their
ward that they do not want TWO
MILLION DOLLAR FLAT -TOP
PALACE, and that they want the old
place fixed up just as they voted in
1974."
"You're insane,"- I said and tore
myself away from him.
I proceeded north along Albert
Street, and a short distance from your
office, Mr. Editor, I' met -another one -
like the firstbuta little saner looking,
less wild in the eye, the beard a little
more trimmed.
"Say" Itl said, "Are you, or are you
not, the Main Street Wit?"
"I am," he said.
I then described my encounter with
his look-alike.
"Oh", he said, "that's the : Main
Street Half -Wit. Onlya half-wit would
believe the stuff he believes. Like,
only a half-wit would believe that
after the people voted in 1974 to
restore the town hall, six years later
some members of Council would still
be doing their damnedest to block
restoration. And only a half-wit would
believe th fteritocritil designated
the town hall as, a Heritage Building
last year, they would now be trying to
find ways of tearing it down. So don't
you believe what he told you. Don't
you believe it. At the very best, • only
half of what the Main Street Half -Wit
says is true." •
-
"Thank heaven" 1 said, "but I
wonder which half is true?"
"Well," said the Main -Street Wit, "I
would imagine that THE TWO
MILLION DOLLAR FLAT -TOP
PALACE is only half true."
"How does that work out?" I said.
"Well," said the Main Street Wit, "I
would think THE FLAT=TOP
PALACE will cost only half of two
million."
All I can say, Mr. Editor, is that the
stuff that goes on on Albert- Street is
hardly better than what goes on in
Council. I've been thinking that if the
rent hasn't gone up too high, I might
move into a packing case in the
Holmes -Ville Dump, and live out_there
instead of Clinton.
Yours very truly
Albert Geiststrasse
Clinton
18c tax on gasoline will be peanuts to
what the Liberal government will
charge; M far as Broadbent is con-
cerned, talk is cheap. He hasn't ever
had the real experience. Mr. Clark
made mistakes and was man enough
to change it.
Mrs. Sarah Storey,
RR 3, Clinton.
Death penalty
Dear Editor:
- , The Police Associations_ and many
others are no* making a concerted
effort to impress the Government to
reinstate capital, punishment for pre-
meditated murder, and to increase
control over those . who 'have been
judged criminally insane.
The London Police Association has
prepared a questionnaire for con-
cerned and interested people to fill out
and sign Ibr presentation to the ap-
propriate -authorities: I would like to
invite all of your readers Who are
Turn to page 18 '•
Do you have an opinion? Why not
write us a letter to the editor, and
let everyone know. All letters are
published, providing they can be
authenticated, and pseudonyms
are allowed. All letters, however,
are subject to editing for length
or lilrrl.
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