HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-03-13, Page 6PAGE 6MONNEW
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TIVJASI)AY, MAR.CB' la. 1980
irhi. Clinton No1st.FRRcorsl-.ls pudtfshtikok tta411
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What is a cord?
For some time now, the Depart-
ment of Consumer and Corporate
Affairs has received numerous
complaints from consumers as to the
quantity of wood -in -a cord, _as used by firewood merchants.
The problem is mostly due to the
fact that, according to habit and
region, people have come to interpret
"a cord of wood" in different ways. In
other words, there are two definitions
for a cord of wood.
The first concerns pulpwood and
firewood cut into four -foot lengths
(this is the only legal definition), and
it measures 128 cubic feet (8 x 4 x 4
feet),..., The second concerns sawn
firewood, is not legally recognized,
and measures 32 cubic feet (8 x 4 x 1
feet).
First woman
Madame Jeanne Sauve will become
the first woman speaker of the
Canadian House of Commons. A
woman of proven intelligence, she has
served in more than one" cabinet
portfolio with competence.
Her appointment to the highly
important speaker's pRst is a laudable
step toward broader recognition of
the valuable .part women are playing
in the life of the. nation, (from the
Wingham Advance -Times)
The problem is one of semantics:
the law recognizes only one type of
cord of wood, whereas common usage
recognizes two types.
With firewood becoming more and
more popular as a fuel, everyone is
reminded ° that there exists only one
cord -measure legally recognized in
Canada. This measure is described in
the Weights and Measures Act as 128
eubi-e-feet and -meas-uring-8 x-4 x-4 feet.
Of course, it is permitted to sell
fractions of a cord, for instance: r/4, r/
or 3/ of cord.
All merchants are further reminded
that article 33 of the Weights and
Measuires Act requires that the buyer,
receive full measure for his money:
"Every°person who, sells or offers for
sale any commodity, by number unit
or unit of measurement is guilty of an
offense if the quantity of the com-
modity that he -delivers-or offers for.
sale is, subject to prescribed limits of
error, less than the quantity (agreed
upon)."
If the 'consumer is not sure exactly
of the method of measurement used
by the dealer, he should talk with him
before buying or ordering and come to
terms as to the •exact measure to be
employed. .
Most problems having to do with
these matters arise not because of
deliberate fraud, but rather because
each, party to the transaction has a
different definition of what a cord of
wood is.
Csugar andspice
Joys of travel
Sometimes I am convinced I was
born 30 years too soon. When I see the
wonderful opportunities for travel
young people have today, I turn pea-
., green with envy.
When you and I were ybiiiig,,most of
us didn't get much farther than the
next town. A minority visited the city
occasionally, and it was considered a
big deal. And a shal whale of a lot of
people never did get to see a big city
in their entire lives. And were no
worse off for it, of course.
Man, •how that has changed.
Nowadays, young people go galloping
off to the four corners of the earth
with no more thought about it than
we'd have given .to a weekend in the
city. They're so blase about it that it's
sickening to an old guy like me, who
has always yearned to travel, 'and
never had the time or money or
freedom to do it.
In my day, during the Depression,
the only people who could afford to
travel were the hoboes. They could
afford it because they didn't have any
money. They rode free on the tops and
inside the box -cars of freight trains.
And they didn't have any ; respond
sibilitiesr except the next meal and a
place to sleep.
Looking.back, I was one of the lucky
ones. Most of my generation of youth
was forced by circumstances to stay
home, get any job available, and hang
on to it like grim death, never ven-
turing -forth on the highroads of life. I
was the envy of my classmates, when,
at 17, I nabbed a job on the upper lake
boats, and could come home bragging
of having been to such bizarre, exotic
places as Duluth,Sault Ste. Marie,
Detroit, the Lakehead.
Today's youngsters would sneer at
such bourgeois travels. They ex-
change anecdotes about Morocco and
Moscow, Athens and Australia, Paris
and Port-au-Prince, Delhi and
Dubrovnik. Fair nauseates me, it
does.
By the time he was 22, my own son
had lived on both coasts of Canada,
been to Mexico, New Orleans, Texas,
Israel, Ireland, and a hundred other
places that are just names in an atlas
to me. He's been to Paraguay, South
America, and has visited Argentina
and Bolivia. He speaks four
languages. I speak one, not toe well.
My nephews have seen more
countries than Chris Columbus or Sir
Francis Drake. One's an airline pilot,
write
letters
s+
Repair or build?
Dear: Editor: '
The .real is sue of the townhall is how
much do we pay for municipal offices,
that is, council chamber,' clerk's
office, and police office. The
restoration of . the town hall as a
historical building is a secondary
matter.
The architects and engineers, who
are professionals with reputations to
protect, say 'that the building can be
made sound again, and they provide a
plan, whether or not the town clerk
�--.a;a4modengtand..theplandpr re -pa rin _-_
the building by stages _sd that the
whole cost. does not have to be put up
at once.
The non-professionals, on the other
hand, are amazed at how a building
deteriorates when it is given no
hare ,volr.on.rOur feet in no time al till.—
remembering
ill.—
remembering
our past
5YEARS AGO
-Murch 13, 19-7
Clinton Clerk Cam Proctor threatened to
resign his post with the town over a hassle
with the town's police chief LLoyd
Westlake,
Mr. Proctor made the threat at last
Monday night's meeting during discussion
on whether to give the police department a
$100 petty cash float.
Clerk Pi-octor,had argued that,the chief
.didn't need the petty cash fund, and all
purchase should be handled through the
clerk's office. Chief Westlake was given
the $50 cash float after a 7-2 recorded vote
demanded by DeputyReeve Frank Cook.
A motion „-to have two open meetings
instead of one was tabled until next month
by Clinton council. The motion was made
by rookie Councillor Jim Hunter and
Deputy Reeve Cook and drew little
negative reaction from the rest of the
council. •
There is still much to do, but the new
covered pool at Vanastra will likely open
on schedule on April 7. As well as being the
first covered' pool in the county, diving
lessons will be offered for the first time.
10 YEARS AGO
March 12, 1970
If attempts of the CNA are successful,
passenger -train service in Clinton could be
a thing of the past. The railway has asked
permission to close down passenger
service on the Stratford to Goderich line as
rs' .
and knows Europe, North America
and the West Indies the way I know,
my way to school. Another has
worked in the Canadian north,
Quebec, the Congo, Jamaica, and
Costa Rica.
My nieces are just as peripatetic.
They've been to the West Coast,
France, England, Russia. A four-day
trip to New York, for them, is scar-
cely worth mentioning. Migawd, I'd
have given my left eyeball to see New
York when I was their aged' I thought
it was pretty earth -shaking the first
time I saw Toronto. Toronto, ye -e -c='
ch!
Thousands of university students
annually take a year off, borrow some
money, stuff a packsack and head out.
for a year of bumming around
Europe, the Mediterranean, North
Africa, India. Rotten kids!
In the last decade, the travel bug
has spilled over into the_high schools.
Some of them are beginning to sound
like agencies, with frequent an-
nouncements,over the P.A. system:
"Will the group going to Rome in
the winter break please assemble in
Room 202 at 3:30 fora lesson in tying
your toga."
"All those taking the Venezuela trip
are requested to see Mr. Vagabond in
roorr 1?7 -t 3:15 today."'
"7 who 'are' !volved in the
spr' freak trip to the Canary
Isla... should have their passports
by March 1st."
"An urgent meeting will he held
today for those who plan to take the
London -Paris trip during spring
break. All seats are now filled. If
enough are interested, we'll hire
another plane,"
It fairly makes your head swim,
especially when your own icea of a,
trip south is 100 miles to the city for a
weekend, a trip west means a visit to
great-grandad, and a trip east means
you're going to a funeral or a wedding
among the relatives.
Next thing you know, this travel
binge will bulge over into the
elementary schools, and great 747 -
loads of little shavers from Grade
Eight will be descending on the un-
suspecting residents of Hong Kong
and Rio de Janeiro. Lord help them.
The residents, not the kids.'
Perhaps this sounds like sour
grapes. Well, it is. As Shaw said:
"The trouble with youth is that it is
wasted on the young." And as Smiley
says: "The trouble with travel is that
it is wasted on kids who dgp't know a
Grecian urn from an Italian pizza."a
Oh, it's not that I haven't travelled.
I've been to Great I3ritain. And spent
two years staggering around in the
blackout or wading through the
torrential rains of bonnie Scotland.
I've been to France. Slept five weeks
in a tent in an orchard in Normandy.
Been to Belgium. Antwerp; buzz -
bombs. Know Holland well. Spent two
weeks locked in a box -car in a rii`way
siding at Utrecht. Am intimately
acquainted with Germany. Was
bombed in Braunsweig and Leipzig,
and spent a delightful six months in
salubrious Pomerania, as a guest of
the Third Reich.
Oh, I've been around all right. But
somehow it wasn't quite the same.
Rattling through Deutschland on a
train with a 10 -day stubble of beard on
your chin and a tag -end of sour black
bread stuffed into your battledress
blouse is not quite similar to climbing
aboard a 747 with your tote -bag and
waiting for the stewardess to bring
your first meal. •
Would I trade? Not on your life.
well as several other lines in Western
Ontario. Between five and 10 passengers
boarded the afternoon train to Stratford on
Monday afternoon.in Clinton.
It started out "dog eat dog" and ended
up hearts and'flowers.
That's the way things went when Hullett
Township ratepayers met to hear details of -
the `Ontario Department of Lands and
Forests proposed wildlife sanctuary. The
meeting finally. seemed to reach -a con-
census when it was agreed that the Public
Works officials should go ahead and
evaluate the land, make their offers to the
farmers involved and -See what the general
feeling toward the • project is. If the
majority of the landowners are in favor of
the project going ahead, then studies of
flooding and surveying would take place
before the actual acquisition of land
began.
Mrs. George Hopson vi t ctyfieiu worked
on eight quilt tops this winter and recently
put on a tea to exhibit her work and to help
raise funds for the 13ayfield hockey club.
25 YEARS AGO
March 17, 1955
Parents and guardians of children in
Grades 1 and 2 are being asked by the
Ontario Depar(nient of Health to co-
operate in the ,present program of using
vaccine in their behalf .totry to find the
answer to the polio problem.
More than 40 Clinton citizens attended
the special council meeting on Monday and
heard a resume of the police salary issue
from start until present. From that
meeting, another agreement was given to
the constables to sign, "ambiguously
worded" ac.,cording to Chief Ferrand.
There has been considerable talk about..
the advisability of staying opera Saturday
evening, and merchants in local towns, as
well as in other centres have been,,,vXon-
dering if they could not better serve the
public by remaining open on Friday nights
instead. -
50 YEARS AGO
March 13, 1930
'The Clinton Golf Club has arranged a
series of weekly free golf lessons to be
given in the board room of the town hall.
Mr. Geo. Cowan of the 12th concession of
Hullett went to the Clinton hospital this
week to be operted on for tonsil trouble.
Mr. H.G.W. Ashley, inspector of weights
and measures, was in town this week in-
specting the local credmeries and reports
their bottles all right. The inspection of
milk bottles is not usually done,, but this
trip was especially made for the creamery
dept e t
ar m n .
We'll hold up' both hands for a separate
highway for trucks, provided the truck
owners will build the highway.
r ----754E A RS AGO
March 16, 1905
A very disgraceful.- affair occurred in
Bayfield one evening last week"on the
return of Mr. Peter Campbell and his bride
odds'n'ends
from their wedding trip. It was rumored
around the village that they are going to be
chtvaried on their re urn, so we expected
nothing else but that they would be treated
to some tin -pan and horn music according
to old-time custom. When the word came
that they arrived, the boys, not little boys
only, but a certain class of young men of
the village, gathered and started to play
their instruments. The music did not last
long, when there was a demand made for
$5 or $10
This being refused there was an im-
mediate attack made upon the house by
the young men, ladders Were put up and
some got on the roof, while others smashed
windows. Just think, one of the young men
of the village, running up the ladder to the
upper story and actually putting one end of
the ladder through the window, Smashing
sash and all and then climbed in the
window where the,,, terrified ladies were
standing, threatening to., do further
damage if they did•,not get a certain sum of
money. There was' no. time 'to consider
what was best to do, the situation became
desperate, so hush money was quickly
agreed upon, $5 were given on condition
that they would repair the damages. This
was emphatically promised, but none of
the offenders showed up the next day.
.When the money was obtained the young
men made for the• nearest_ bar -room,
bullying meanwhile the younger boys out
of their share of the booty and left them out
on the street without even a stick of candy.
100 YEARS AGO
March 11, 1880
At Town Council, it was moved that the
location of the site of the market building,
be rescinded.
This motion gave rise to a lengthy
discussion, in which nearly' all the
members took part, some opposing it while
others were favorable to it.
It was moved that the market building
be placed with a side elevation to Albert
St., in the centre of the front; and either at
right angles to it, or parallel with Rat-
tenbury St., as the building committee
may see fit to adopt.
When the result was announced, the
Reeve rose and tendered his resignation,
giving as his reason, that he did not wish to
be a party to anything that appeared so
ridiculous'as the location of the building in,
accordance with the last motion. He stated
that the ,affair was causing considerable
comment throughout the county, not at all
favorable to the councillors.
On a motion, the Reeve's resignation
was not accepted.
It was moved that Councillor Twit-
dhwell's plan be used, which located the
building on the corner of Albert and
Rattenbury Sts., with the front and side
parallel to both streets, of which he gave
an explanation, stating that he thought it
would look better there and give more
satisfaction that anywhere else.
Hats o f f to volunteers
Every community has them. How
could a corf munity exist without
them? Those gwiet unassuming
people who give their time, talent and
energy for free to causes they believe
are worthwhile.
They raise money for charity on a
local level as well as a wide scale.
They provide transportation for
homebound persons; they visit shut
ins and hospital patients; they stuff
envelopes; they work at garage 'sales
and bake sales and any other kind of
sale they can think of.
When someone needs help, they are
there. Last year's tornado at
Woodstock was an example of people
travelling for hundreds of miles to
lend their backs to the clean up
campaign. Volunteers reach outside
their communities when help is
needed.
They assist in hundreds of ways,
large and srhall, sometimes receiving
little or no recognition. Their reward
is, I suppose, the satisfaction of
knowing someone has been comforted'
or a goal has been reached or a job
has been well done.
When I think of volunteers at this
time of year, I picture the red -
checked women and men who take
part in door-to-door canvassing for
fund-raising campaigns of various,
charities. Neither snow nor hail nor
wind nor rain nor dark of night can
keep these' volunteers from 'their
appointed rounds.
Besides the weather, canvassers
face the frustration of evenings spent
trudging to ten houses to find nine of
them empty.
Occasionally, they're met at doors
by people who are less than gracious
in their refusal to give. None of us are
forced to donate when a canvasser
knocks on our door. ' Wh• be
belligerent about it? '"
No matter how generous we may
think we are, I'll bet most of us have
thought to ourselves at one time or
another, "If we're not being asked to
shell out for one thing, it's -something
else."
Maybe that's the reason for a' few
cool receptions. Canvassers and other
volunteers are doing something they
believe in. Through them, we can
contribute, if we want to. In my mind,
volunteers are the unsung heroes of
every community. .
The practice of giving one's time
and energy freely to help a neighbor
or a stranger was most prevalent in
pioneer days when, out of necessity
people were more dependent on each
other. Remember our parents' and
grandparents' tales of barn -raising
bees and quilting bees and apple -
paring bees? ,
As society grew more sophisticated,
people became self-reliant,but the
volunteer didn't disappear. For many
years the majority of volunteers, it
seems, were women. Men brought
home the bacon, and because it was
less acceptable for women to join the
work force, they carried on the noble
art of volunteering.
Then came wars; mer, went to
battle; women replaced them in the
job mart, and things were never quite
the same. Somehow though, someone
always. found time to work for
organizations, such as the Red Cross,
or to make dressings for the wounded
or to collect clothes for refugees.
Society has undergone tremendous
change since the hard times of the
Depression. Its most recent stage was
dubbed the "me" generation, in
which each person looked after
himself.
But even through the "me"
generation, the volunteer was around,
The -numbers of volunteers may have
diminished at times, but their
dedication never failed. Today's
volunteer is usually the person who
squeezes an extra hour or an extra
evening out of an already full
calendar.
Volunteers give their time, energy
and talent freely for something they
believe in, whether it's collecting
clothes for a family whose house was
burned or helping a neighboring
community clean up their town after
a disaster or taking part in annual
fund-raising events for charity.
They deserve a tip of the hat, a pat
on the back and a big "thank you."
maintenance, and they totally
disregard the advice of the architects
and engineers who say it can be
repaired. To disregard the advice of
the professionals, for which* advice
the taxpayers s have paid out con-
siderable money, is inevitably to
advocate demolition of the present
townhall and the building of new
municipal offices.
Let us say that the cost of
demolition of the old building and
construction of new municipal offices
is the same as for restoration of the
present building, i.e. $300,000. To
demolish and rebuild presumably
requires all the money to be made
available at once. Therefore a loan of
$300,000 is required, with interest, let
us say at 1 -5 -percent. Let us say the
loan is repayable over a six year
period. Interest is $45,000 a year. In
six years interest payments are
$270,000. The total cost is therefore not
$300,000 but $570,000. Annual
payments of capital and interest
would be $95,000. And with the new
building at $570,000, dp we have a
more efficient council, 'clerk or police
force?
In contrast, if the building is
repaired in stages, it should not be
necessary to make a loan, certainl-y
not a large loan, since some money
has already been • put aside. Also,
there is no necessity to wholly restore
the building, so long as it is made
structurally sound and further
deterioration is arrested. Restoration
of the auditorium, for example, could
be indefinitely deferred, thereby
greatly reducing the estimate of
$300,000 for total restoration.
As regards to grants, there is not
the faintest chance of obtaining
grants if there is no official com-
mitment to the project. It is an ab-
solute certainty that there will be no
grants for demolition of the old and
construction of a new building. If
there should be a decision "to repair
the present building, and if there is a
determined search for grants, there is.
a good probability that some can be
found.
When other municipalities in
Ontario and acrossCanada are
• restoring their old public buildings, it
seems. dike a backward step for
Clinton to demolish its town hall as it
did the red brick post office. However,
I for one, believe that economics
should decide the issue. Which is
more economical, ,oto repair the
repairable town hall to the degree
necessary for municipal offices, or to
demolish it-- and build a new one?
Before deciding not to repair the
present building, Council should
answer that question. Sincerely,
Gerry Fremlin,
Clinton.
Help Red Cross
Dear Editor,
The Red Cross is an organization
dedicated to the answering of every
cry for help. In time of war, a million
and a half voluntary workers in
Canada turn out to help to be ready
when the need arises.
Suffering and desolation are
everywhere. The Red Cross is there,
always on time, always on the job. It
has access to prisoner camps with
parcels of food, even when the church
is not allowed in. Even some of
Hitler's dreadful camps got food from
the Red Cross.
We in Canada "so far have been
fortunate, but our turn may come,
sooner than we know. W -e are not
immune to bombing terrorists,
hurricanes or war. Then indeed would
we look to the Red Cross which never
fails.- We can only reflect. for a
moment what the world would be like
without the services of the Red Cross.
At this present time, the Red Cross is
working for those unjustly imprisoned
or detained in foreign countries.
What will be our share so this great
humanitarian society can fulfill its
great work? It cannot be too little or
too much.
March is Red Cross month, please
give generously.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Frank Fingland,
Clinton
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 allowggj, All letters, houwever,
are subject to editing for length
or libel.
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