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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-12-04, Page 4BLUE • REBQ:I • AW A R l 1980 • DAT, ZECEMB R4,1 It"i4 ree00 '«d ,ss 0 melt by:.tk.: ,pp4 sf ur+isr tier nsnt+lt eraeasbor put The Nswgwtrocar4t ii.totcpereted IM 1N4 Hoe Hums founikoo tn,1 ±Il11, volt Ow ,Cflatsn Plow Rrs,. f.utokol lA WO. long emu A. MEMBER 4AMESI y FITZGERALD. Edlltclr SHELLEY McPHEE. News Editor GARY HAW. Advertising. Manager HEATHER BRANDER . Advertising MARGARET L, GM, Office Manager MEMBER Display advertising rates available on request. Ask for Rata Card No. 10 effective Sept. 1, 1474. W...erether&s smoke, _There's fire Although many readers over the age of 40 will remember them well, the new popularity of wood as a heating fuel is bringing back a problem that plagued home owners generations ago - thechimney fire. A recent report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says 97 per cent_of all chimney fires across Canada last year involved wood -burning appliances, and that report says the chief reason is the build-up of creosote in chimney flues. Gordon Walt, engineering manager with CMHC, says creosote, which is composed minute particles of tars and organo substances is held in droplets of moisture formed condensation of water on the flu,. If this residue is allowed to accu ► ulate it can ignite and burn •fiercely, creating temperatures fa otter than the flame of a blazi torch, and giving -off enough he . to easily set a house on fire.. Although th : build-upw of some creosote is i ' evitable, burning well - seasoned wood will; reduce it significa 1y, Mr. Walt says, meaning wood should be air dried at least six months fter splitting, away from rain and, now. Because creosote is the result of incomplete combustion, it develops when the wood appliance doesn't have air to give off enough heat to keep the chimney warm enough to prevent condensation. There should always be enough air to keep the fire burning brightly, .especially after more wood has been added. That means being extra careful with the new air -tight stoves, by not letting them smoulder, and then opening up the draft to let the creosote. burn out. Using the new, factory built metal chimneys approved for wood burni equipment is another good idea, ,sways Mr. Walt, as gas or oil chimneys are not suitable for wood, particlarly if its an' old masonary chi ney that could let flames leak .but through cracks and chinks. Allow only a qualified serviceman to work .on that, Chimney, says Mr. Walt, and hays it cleaned at least twice a yeaVonce at the beginning of the heatin: season, and again halfway throug r it. Arlo last but not least, if you're ching to wood, make sure your surance policy allows you to install a wood -burning appliance, which could mean a raise in rates because of the higher risks. By J.F. 5 Y) ARS AGO Dece ber 11, 1975 Five out of five Clinton area doctors agree that the community will suffer a great loss if the Ontario government moves to close the Clinton Public Hospital. The . Seaforth Community Hospital stands to handle most Clinton patients if the Clinton Hospital should close, but the extra 10 Dr 12 miles that must be travelled in Case of an emergency could become a matter of life or death. The new assistant administrator of Huronview has arrived. Wayne Lester began his new position on December 1, and comes from_thet••Golden Dawn Nursing Honie in Lions Head, where he was assistant administrator for the last year. 10 YEARS AGO December 10, 1970 Reeve Hugh Flynn successfully beat off the challenge of his reeveship posed by Len Archambault in Monday's municipal elections in Hullett Township, but feels it may have hurt his chances at gaining the wardership of the county. At a meeting attended by 96 members of the congregation of the Brucefield United Church Sunday afternoo-n-, they voted to rebuild the church destroyed by fire on Those were the days ! November 20. Russ Kerr of Bayfield is learning to operate the new equipment that will provide artificial ice in the Bayfield arena for the first time. The ice -making plant and renovations to the arena give the Bayfield area a first class arena. Holly, lighted candles, Christmas bells and wreaths decorated the Auburn Community Memorial Hall last Friday night when the Women's Institute en- tertained their families and members of. the Horticultural Society to the annual Family Night. 25 YEARS AGO December 8, 1955 Some of Huron County's best' in registered shorthorn cattle leftheir homes here last week for Mexico, where they will be used to cross with the Mexican cattle and improve the strain. The well-known sire, Ashfair Royal Command, jointly owned by Clifford H. Keys and Sons, Elmadorph'Farrns, Varna, was one of the animals purchased by the Mexican government after personal selection by the Secretary of Agriculture of Mexico. ' The executive staff of the Clintonian Club are: Mrs. Tom O'Connell, treasurer; Mrs. Ed Welsh, secretary; Mrs. Hartley Can you cope? There's nothing worse than having your wife go off and leave youto cope all alone for a couple of weeks'Unless it's having her arrive home a day early and finding you up to your waist in your own filth, that you were going to clean up tomorrow. That has happened to me once, but this time I'm going to make sure. I'm going to do the clean-up a,lay earlier. First time it happened, she was un- bearable for about a week, just because there were three or four bottles of sour milk, a one -inch patina of grease on the stove, and a'kkitchen floor you could hardly walk across without getting stuck somewhere. I'll give a hot tip to some of you middle-aged guys who think your old lady has a soft touch. You know: a lazy coffee and read the paper after you've gone to work, a little dusting and a few dishes to do; a leisurely lunch watching a soap opera; a little nap, and then nothing to do but get your dinner -re dy. It's not quit like that. To keep a fair-sized house in anything like running order, a woman must go like a jack -rabbit. Or a jillrabbit, if you think I'm being chauvinistic. Migawd, I've barely time to brush _my teeth, shave and get to work in the morning, leaving the breakfast dishes all tangled up with last might's dinner dishes, because I was too tired to do them, and there was a good movie on the tube. Get home after work and there's all this mess of dishes, but I don't have time to do them. I have to go shopping for my dinner - a pizza or a turkey pie and a banana and some pears for breakfast. Get home from shopping and I barely have the energy to stick my dinner in the oven, potir myself a relaxer, and read the evening paper. After dinner, I pile some more dishes in the sink, give them a dirty look, and to dle off to mark papers, to fall asl- in front of the tube, waking up at a.m., cold and stupid, to fall into my unmade` ed and nightmare away about my wife having left me for good. Which she could. Anytime. Totter up in the morning, do my ablutions, and go down to a cheerless kitchen, with nobody snapping out the orders of the day. I'm always late for work when she's away, because when she's home I try to get away early so I won't have to get into a fight about who's going to call the plumber, why I am so incompetent around the house, and why I got a $28.00 fine for not wearing my seat -belt. I don't deny that there have been times when I wished I were a bachelor, carefree, sexy, dining out with beautiful women, taking off, alone, for exotic holidays. But boy -o -boy, when the laundry hamper is overflowing, your, last clean shirt is a white T-shirt with a burnhole on the belly, the dishes are beginning to resemble the Great Pyramid, and the ' only .clean socks you have left are white wool golf type, you begin ,to appreciate the Old Battleaxe. If I have one more turkey pie, I'm not going to grow wattles. Those I already have, the penalty of sagging jowls . But there is a( distinct possibility that I might begin )to gobble. One more frozen lasagna afd I'll be singing arias. In Italian. Actually, I can cope. I can keep myself clean, dressed, and fed. But it's the extras of housework that are destroying me. Like dealing with aluminum window salesmen, brick - workers, painters, plumbers, and electricians. My wife does all that, normally. I haven't a clue where she keeps her hills, her chequebook, and all the sundries. I was frightfully em- barrassed this week when a plumber came to finish a job, and I couldn't pay his hill. I dug out'ai] my cash and was 42 cents short. He was a good type, and told me to forget it. My wife would have given him a cheque for the exact amount. I got a receipt, I think, which I'll probably lose. Perhaps this all sounds materialistic, and not at all the sentimental nonsense a husband should feel When his wife is away, spoiling his grandchildren. Well, it is. I've written her a hundred or two love -letters. I've told her how beautiful she wad, on many occasions. I have complimented her on her brains, het" innate common sense, and anything else I could dredge up. I have admired herood taste in elms sod decorating lave tried to buck her up when she is depressed. I have listened to her. Endlessly. In short, I have been an almost perfect husband. I just threw in that "almost." But the simple fact is, she's got to get home and get the joint running again. I ca9,;t even find the television programmes I want, because she knows that channel 2 is really channel 10 and channel 3 is channel 14 and channel 6 is all French. I just flip the dial around hopefully. But what really gets me is the fingernails on my right hand. I can cut my toenails. I can cut the fingernails on my left hand. But she has to cut the ones on my right hand. And they're about half an inch long; Get borne. mania a look through thenews-record files Managhan, past. president; Mrs. Wilfred Colclough, ` first'vice- president; Mrs. - Ronald MacDonald, second vice president. Now playing at the Roxy Theatre in Clinton, Pride of the Blue Grass, the heart- warming story of a man - and a maid -and a magnificent horse, starring Lloyd Bridges, Vera Miles and Margaret Sheridan. Free Saturday matinee for public school children, sponsored by the Clinton service clubs. 50 YEARS AGO December 11, 1930 Mr. H. Cox, ex -reeve of Goderich Township, who recently underwent a serious operation in Clinton Public Hospital, was in town on Monday.. He is much thinner than was his wont, although "Herb" never carried much surplus flesh, and carried a cane, not as a swagger stick but for a real service, but he was cheerful and optimistic as to his condition, which needs only time to improve. His friends, and they are many, hope to see .Mr. Cox better than ever in the course of a few weeks. The Kiltie Band intend putting on a sacred concert in the town hall on Sunday evening, December 14. A program of merit and of a sacred nature suitable to the occasion, is being prepared. It is expected that a large number will attend and it is hoped as generous an offering as possible will be given. -The local post office is s.e1hng new postage stamps, but they used the old cut of King George, which is not a good --1,iktness of him. The two cent stamps are a bright pink, nearly a red. Do you remember the old red three -cent stamps? A lot of money has been spent in postage since they were in vogue. 74 YEARS AGO December 6, 1906 On Tuesday evening at the residence of the bride on Albert Street, the Rev. W.D. Magee performed the ceremony which made David Robb and Mrs. M.J. Morrish man- and wife. The.4ontracting parties are well and favorably known in Clinton and the customary good wishes are being warmly extended. The News-Recrod joins in the felicitations. Mr. Dick Watson of Goderich Township' is now engaged in butchering and is peddling among the farmers. He also visits Bayfield where they have not had a but- cher for sometime but need one. 105 YEARS AGO December 9, 1875 Thw worst weather we ever saw, enterec on Friday in the shape ofa thaw, the sleighing we had for nearly -a ---week; disappeared on that day in the the shape of a creek; as a consequence, now, business is very low, and we don't think will be better till we get more snow. On Thursday last, a Stanley farmer brought to town a good sized doe„ which. hew had shot in th'at township. He was asking 6 cts. per pound for it, but puchasers appeared to be scarce. A festival will be held in the Methodist Church, Holmesville on Friday, the 17th inst., when the lecture on "Courtship and Marriage" will be delivered by the Rev. W. 1 -Henderson, 1VI.A. of Godelrich. Admission is 25 cts., the proceeds to go towards paying for a driving shed recently erected. - The well- known old grey pony that sc faithfully . trotted around • with the vegetable waggon of Mrs. Pennebaker. and did other service for his industrious mistress for the last 25 years, has at last succumbed to time, like other old servants and closed his career at the ripe old age of 30 years. Christmas past Think back, what was your most memorable Christmas? How was the • event celebrated in earlier years and how did your family honor December 25? The Clinton News -Record wants to keep alive those Memories of Christmas Past and are inviting all Clinton area citizens to sent 'in their written recollections. Anyone 18 years or older is invited to share their memories with us and some of the articles will be featured in our New Year edition. As well we are offering a first prize of a year's subscription to the Clinton News -Record to the best written recollection. A second prize of $10 and a third prize of $g will also be given. We ask that the accounts be kept at under 1,000 words and they must be in to the News -Record office by Monday, December 29 at noon hour. In the meantime, get out your pen and paper and share your special - E hr i stm-as-mem-erg les ---with us . - - -- Parlor games Before the advent of tv and easy transportation, people used parlour games to entertain guests or just to pass an evening with the family. Some of the games are still around, although known by different names: others are new to us and sound a little strange. "Blind Man's Buff" had several variations in the Victorian era. In the Queen of Sheba version, the prettiest girl in the room was seated on a chair, and the blindfolded player tried to make his way to her to claim a kiss. But, at the last moment, she was replaced by an elderly relative•. Shadow Buff was another variation in which one person faced the wall while the others passed behind him. He tried to guess their identities by 'the shadows they made on the wall, and they disguised their shadows with imaginative methods. The game we know as 20 Questions was once known as characters and sometimes called Nouns. In Proverbs, one person left the room while the others chose a familiar proverb. When the player returned, he ,asked each person a question and their reply had to include one word of the - proverb until he guessed it correctly. Russian Scandal was a game in which one player wrote a story on a slate. He took another player aside and told the story to him; the first player told the second, the second told the third • and so on until the last player relayed the tale aloud to all the players. The final version was compared with the original story on the slate, and the difference between the two caused no end of laughter. People in the nineteenth century had to he inventive. If they didn't have a'piano for Musical Chairs,_they adapted the game to The Huntsman. One player was the huntsman; the' others assumed the names of his apparel and tools, such as the hat, the coat, the gun, the powder flask and the dog. He walked around two rows of chairs on which the others were seated. When he called their names, they followed him, and when he yelled bang, everyone clambered for a chair. The player that couldn't find an empty chair dropped out. Brother I'm Bobbed could be an embarrassment to an unsuspecting player. Someone who didn't know the game was seated on a chair between two other players. A blanket was nut over their heads. The one in the middle was bopped on the head and responded Brother I'm Bobbed. Then he tried to name • the culprit. Of course, he thought his companions under the blanket were being struck as well and usually suffered from Several blows before he named them as the guilty ones. Snapdragon, a most unusual game, was paft of the Christmas tradition in the British. Isles for generations. Raisins were placed in a large shallow bowl; spirits were poured over them, and they were set ablaze. When the lights were turned down, the flaming bowl made interesting irnages_on-the wall. Players sat around the table on which the bowl was placed and plucked the flaming raisins from the bowl with their fingers. Then they popped them into their mouth to extinguish the flames - no doubt suffering singed fingers and hot teingues. That is not my idea of a Christmas pasttime. My habit after Christmas dinner is to roll to the nearest couch and sleep it off. We may chuckle at our ancestors parlour games, but as the economic crunch closes in,' we may find our- selves becoming as inventive as they were. by Buri Sturgeon r the readers write letters Like Watergate? Dear Editor: In his apparent haste and zeal to justify the old township council's past- recent actions regarding Vanastra (see letter to the Editor by "Last Call Councillor, Frank Falconer" in the November 27 edition). Mr. Falconer very passionately jumps to the defense. What is he so defensive about? It sounds to me like some faint echoes of a by now almost forgotten "Watergate Affair." Anyone equally so touchy 'and defensive has no dou1 t ' good reasons for his -her defeir siveness. What I am proud about and thankful for is the democratic process. In this process, our elected or appointed representatives are not little gods above and beyond scrutiny by the Press or people, nor beyond ac- counting for their actions. In this process a former president of the U.S.A., the most powerful position in that country, Mr. Richard Nixon with big itientISTwas turned out of the White House. Irl this same process the people of Tuckersmith Township exercised their power and good common sense by voting in a new team. A new team so to speak for the Township's white house at the November municipal election. I am proud of you the, people of Tuckersmith Township. In your own quiet way you followed Vanastra's fight for recognition. And in that same quiet way each of you cast your vote, just one vote each, and yet each vote more powerful than the often slick and empty rhetoric of politics. And with your one person one vote -you brought in a whole new team into the council chambers! Feels like a breath, of fresh air to me. I believe in people. I believe that in every person, manor woman, there is a sense of fairness. I also believe that every person has the ability to think and decide intelligently for him or herself upon the basis of presenting the full facts and feelings properly and openly. I even believe that in due time our new council will exercise its sense of -fairness and with your en- Couragement wipe out the remaining blot of injustice still upon the people of! Vanastra. In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all you people throughout the township for reading my writing, stories - parables. Through these writings I talked with you, through the tnedium of the press, about the Vanastra issue. I also thank you for your comments received. A special word of thanks to you the peo'pl'e of Vanastra for your par- ticipation in Vanastra's fight for fairness and justice. Thank you for your confidence in my leadership, for your attendance at the meetings and for your sacrificial giving to pay our costs. The summer and fall of 1980 might -well be marked by future historians as "our finest hour." Rallying together against strong forces of unfairness with sacrificial and determined effort holds the promise of eventual victory over injustice. And last but not least, I want to thank the press, the reporters and editors of the three newspapers serving the Tuckersznith township area for their Eine cooperation in placing all writings on the Vanastra issue in the spirit of openness and fairness to all. Peter Mantel Vanastra