HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1968-11-07, Page 4414
Page 4 -- Wingaam A.dvance-Time$, Thursday, Nov. 7# 1968
The Facts of the Matter
One, of the commonest accusations
leveled against newspapers today is that
they are constantly .playing up the short-
comings of youth and ,ignoring the many
commendable characteristics of young
people. According to some of the critics
the papers' will make columns out of
young people in court, or student upris-
ings, but seldom mentionthe fine' contri
bvtIQns whtch youth makest iety.
Such criticism is directed more to the
daily press than to the weekly newspapers,
but, in any case we° have become a wee
bit tired of the subject.
Hearing the old refrain again last week
we picked up ten meekly newspapers from
the top of the he'af,ton,our desk. Some of
the .papers were published in larger cen-
tres, others in vil.lages. Here is what we
found:' 1 ,
Every paper carried sports stories in
which children or young people were con-
cerned. As well, there were reports of
4-H meetings, clVildren's and teenagers'
meetings and activities in church organize
-
tions and In many cases we found high
school news.
The lead editorial in one newspaper
•
•
praised students for their participation in
raising money for an arena fund. Pictures
and stories in these papers Included ac..
tivities of Teen Town, uides and Brown,
ies, Scouts and Cubs; winners of public
speaking contests; an account of a bicycle
rodeo with pictures of the winnors; the
scholastic awards won by a former resi-
dent; nriore than half a pageof story and
pictures of young wi ners in a plowing
etch.
another paper a half Page was de-
vo d a school safety patrol and in the
same paper a young fellow and his horse
received recognition after ' winning a
trophy.
Two papers reported high school corn-
mencements in detail - and each carried
several columns of type and pictures Of
award winners and,valedictorians.
Had we. examined 40 papers the re-
, sults would have been the. same.
It would .appear that those who are
critical of newspapers in regard to their
coverage of .stories concerning young-pea-
ple are jUst like most other humans—they
, tend to remember only the lurid and the
colorful.
• '1'
Decent Hallowe en
While we are on the subject of young
people, the youthful element in, Wingham
deserves a pat On the-baCk4r. enjoying
HatloWe'en without making Other people
suffer, for their good times. ' There was
. no cases of serious damage or disruption
'here.
One hduseholder even remarked on the
courtesy arid good manners demonstrated
,
by the 'kids who call$d at his door for
..
treats..
Would that as much could be said for
the adult population across the country!
The outbreak. of malicious and sadistic
cruelty which was reported the following.:
days is scarcely believable in a civilized
country. Apples loaded with broken glass,
razor blades and needles; cookies contain-
.
ing poison—all this sounds like something
straight from the gates of Hell.
. How little we know about one another!
If such incidents were isolated to one or
two places in the land they might be
credited to persons of unbalanced mental
condition --but theyvwere neither isolated
nor rare. The same fiendish practice was
common to towns and cities right across
the nation.
These lethal booby traps were not the
product of crime -ridden slums—they were'
the facts of life in supposedly healthy,
normal communities as familiar to us as
Seaforth and Mount Forest and other quiet
Western Ontario centres.
The nature of this sort of act is so
hideous ,that the offenders should be lo-
cated at all cost—and the first examin-
ation should be . made by a psychiatrist.
DpiOg. Their Part
e \gingham Towne ' Playerse a group
of amateur /actors and actresses who have
Put on several., stage 'productions in past
months, deserve a word of commendation
for the contribution they are making to
the life of the, Community. The -ready availability of moving pic-
tures and .latterly of television entertain-
ment has threatened the extinction, of am-
ateur drama, once, an important form of
expression in Ontario's towns and villages.
it is interesting and, refreshing to find a
group' of people who are Willing to devote
the long hours to rehearsal ,necessary for
a properly -presented play.
The ?layers have also proved the fact
that the public is sstill keenly, interested in
stage productions, for .despite the counter -
attractions of "so many other activities,
the plays presented so far have drawn
good attendances.
One reason for the suctess of these
dramas is the selection- of excellent ma-
terial, rather than the superficial sort of
-Plays which were in common use a few
years back.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
evenings of next week the Towne Players
will present Noel t °ward's "Blithe Spirit'
and we know you can) look forward to
some really fine entertainment.
:Do They.VVarit Pecke?
Last week, when it was announc'ed that
the U. S. had ceased all bornbing and shell-
. Iry of North -Vietnam in an effort to for-
ward the peace talks In Paris, the first re-
action from the South' Vietnamese gov-
ernment was a. refusal to sit down at any
conference table where the Viet Cong 'was
a also present.
Naturally, in land where bloodshed
and violence have been so common, there
are, bound to be bitter hatreds and fears,
On the surface, the leaders of the South
Vietnamese government may seem justi-
fied—but we also wonder whether there is
a. sincere desire on their part to end the
• fighting. The state of war in which they
O ave existed almost constantly for 20
years has. long since become a way of life.
,Immediately.following the war the French
pbured in men and money and arrns and
soon after that., the Americans assumed
the role the French had abandoned.
A peaceful settlement, an end to the
fighting, would certainly create a crisis for
the government people in Saigon who have •
been secure in office as long as they co-
operated with •the American supporters.
• With U. S. funds drastically curtailed and
a return to some sort of self-reliance
many of the present leaders might find
s themselves not only 'unemployed, but high -
O ly unpopular,. '
One of the nasty aspects of the' Am-
erican position in South Vietnam is the
O faCt that it has often had to fight not only
O the North Vietnamese regular forces and
the Viet Cong, but the government of
South Vietnam as- well.
They Call' it Apathy
• The president-elect of the Canadian
UniOn of Students says that the greatest
problem whichl faces his organization is
the -apathy, of a great many students at
present on campuses across the country..
They don't seem interested enough to get
into the act when sit-ins and other dis-
ruptive demonstrations are demanded by
the union leadership.
We have taken the time to talk to as
many university students as we can con-
tadt. This unrest among students is an
interesting and important development of
Our society. Most of the students which
the CUS leader would c1a4sify as apathetic
are, in fact, merely law-abiding. They rep-
resent the broad average of sensible young
people who will soon become responsible
adults in a busy world.
They are not apathetic; they are.simply
uninterested in the violent approach of the
militant leaders. They are the sort of
ycitingsters who know that higher educa-
tion is extremely valuable and that the
years are slipping bf all too quickly. They
want to get on with their studies and
take their places in a world of well-
balanced men and women.'
Naturally they want some changes and
improvements. But they recognize the fact
that changes must be accomplished in an
orderly and legal way or the entire so-
ciety of which they are a part will come
tumbling down around their ears.
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O THE WINGHAM .ADVANCE a TIMES
Published at Wingliam, Ontario,. by Wenger Bras, Limited
Barry Wenger, Preildent - Robert cr. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer
Member Audit rtureau of Circuit:Wort
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4
00
SUGAR
AND SPICE
by Bill Smiley
1 shall 'lever forget
Ditnmer mid dimmer grow
the pictures of men, young
Men, full of blood and juice
and desire to live, staggering
under greatcoats and full
packs into the fearing and ter-
rtble hot hail.
Fainter and fainter come the
Minds of ch.oking and eougb-
ing and retching, as their lung$
are seared and their guts are
splattered and they gvlown
a pig -squeal of agony, a howl
for mother, or a scream for
God to do something.
Ifollower and hollower be-
come the annual reminders
that we "remember Owe,
that "they died for us", that
"theygave their lives for free
dom."
-
Remembrance Day is becom.
ing about as important, except
for a dedicated few, as the
24th of May, the Queen's
birthday.
O Vimy Ridge and Ypres ay in
the histori books now. And if
there's one sure way to take
the life out of something, its
to put it in a history book.
• But they're not history for
that ,72-year-o1d, head bowed,
standing at the cenotaph on
Nov. llth. •He was a little,
throbbing, terrified piece Of
that history, 50 years ago.
And he remembers. Mud and
misery, girls and guns. And the
faces that will never grow old
and wrinkled and filled with
pain, like his own. For a few
minutes, it all comes -back, and
a luinp comes in his throat and
his eyes grow wet -when The
Last Post sounds in the sombre
November air.
Behind him, with their blue
berets, and balding heads, and
bulges in the wrong Plaaes, are
the "young fellows" of World
War II. And despite the gener-
ation between,' their thoughts
are much" the same. Girls and
guns. bitter ale and bitter cold,
garnodwolthed.faces that never(
The faces that will never
light to the joy of children,.
The hearts -that Will never
wrench with the sorrow of
children. The mouths that will,
grin forever. but will never
smile again; or whisper a pray-
er; or kiss a woman, or gulp an
ale.
But then Reveille stiendsy
00000
IisISi$ftsUftuii.s
Dear Sir: ,
Having read your editorial
concerning, criticism of,minis- •
ters as' advocated by Dr. A. C.
Forrest, and noting your con-
cern re criticism of local clergy,
as a layman, like yourself,
must try to define their role in
.any community, whether it be
• the town of Wingham, in the• ,
city. of London or in Metropoli-
tan Toronto; •
r fail to see any difference
in the kind of Work dod has cal-
led them to perform,. which
mustbe twofold; firstly*, that of
bringing people to acknowledge
of the love of God for man, for
saint and for sinner alike, and
O secondly to proclaim the gospel
of Jesus Christ w.hich is a mes-
sage of repentance and forgive-
ness through a saving'Imowiedge
of the word of God.
There are two kinds of peo-
ple who attend our churches.
There are those who are earn-
estly trying to live a Christian
life as Jesus wants them to and
as taught to them by their min-
ister y.tho want te recharge their
spiritlhal batteries once again
and to feel the spirit of fellow-
ship KW -like minded people
and the persons who are groping
for assistance in the fall of
overwhelming temptations which
are proving too much for them
to withstand—in short, the sin-
ners, and believe me, there
seems to be jest as many big,
bad, sinners inside a giv en
church in any given community,
on any given Sunday as there
are outside the building. Just
keep your eyes and ears open.
As for proclaiming the love
of God to the exclusion to al-
most total omission of the fear
of the Alnlighty, your minister
and mine will simply cite "the
fear of the Lord is the begin-
ning of wisdom" for man. As
for a Creator who will put-up
with a lot of nonsense and yet
love us, creatures—listen to his
words "as ye reap so shall ye
sow "--"vengeance is inine—I °
wil 16PaY".
through Christ is con-
tinually warning us not to take
precipitous actions against our
fellow men for we will bOcome
As guilty by our aetions as the
.transpsessor. Unfortunately this
world does not heed His words.
and the heads lift, and the
little scattered knot of onto*ers disperses, and the parade
moves off, back to the warmth'
• of the Legion Hall, and beer
and comradeship and a turkey
dinner and funny. stories that
have polished and embel-
lished and garnished by the
y
And that's 'about what Re.
membrance. Day has come to
be in this land, that sent thou-
sands and thousands of its
young men off to fight the
.Kaiser or Hitler,. 3,000 Miles
away. ,
What do the young• sters
think or it? Almost nothing. A
few, whose fathers were killed
• before they knew them, won-
der a bit, feel a strange yearn
Most are indifferent, They
know they should leek solemn,
and they db. But there's no
understanding. .
Some are even hostile,to the
whole idea. Anti -war on gener-
' al principles:, they have the
mistaken idea that Remem-
brance Daysoinehow a giOri-
fication of war, It's Just the Op-
posite.
O Those in their twenties and
thirties are- even less interest-
ed, if possible. The whole thing
is a drag, a sentimental jour-
ney, for old and middle-aged
- squares.
And what about the old and
O middle-aged? We must face it.
• Only a minority of them feel
- some emotion. And most Of
these -are , people who were di-
rectly touched by the loss of a
brother, husband, son:
•
But on the whole, Canada,
despite heavy losses of Youth,
was scarcely touched, at home,
by the two great world wars.
And Remembrance Day, as eld'
soldiers are supposed to do, -
won't die. It will just lade
away. .
.Perhaps it's just as well.
Both wars were bloody sham-
bles best forgotten. But I hope
' there's a special place for old
soldiers when they finally fade
away. A place. Where all the
'young faces are; and there's
'lots of beer, and they can
exchange lies .with. Roman .1e-
gionnairad .and panzer troops
and caltfederate ,fighters and
veterans of Waterloo.
qt.
00000 11.100WOO o oo o o Tit riirl ornerti o 000000000
•
//( 4%47
TO THE
„
Hence the strife around the: •
globe, and here at home, •
God's laws are Just and
im-
itab1e. "He makes the. rain to
fa• 'll on the just and on the un -
'just". He also said "Wire thy
neighbor as thyself". We have
the double standard of morality
O about us to fight and we need
• the ,two edged sword of justice
and retribution for the txans-
gressOr as well as the softer •
edge of mercy and compassion
for the sinner who reperiteth.
This world has both kinds of '
people and while sins will not
• go unpunished neither will re-
pentance gounrewardedby our
Father who is in Heaven.
• Welcome Mr. Passmore, •
may you help our respected
Editor find in your church 'those
truths which my minister. has
'helped me to find in my own.
Yours very truly
E. .C. Beard
St. Heiens
Mr. and Mrs. Ross Errington
attended 'a class reunion of
Stratford Teachers' College at
the Victorian Inn on Saturday
evening in Stratford. ,
Mr. Archie Aitchison re-
turned on Sunday after spending
the past month with Mr. and
Mrs, Bob Morgan at Kerwood.
Mrs. W. I. Miller and Iso-
bel and Miss W. D. Rutherford
spent a few days' with Mr. and
Mrs. Gerdon lvicintyre at Rich -
Mond Hill.
MO. Gordon McPherson is
visiting mar Ottawa with Mr.
and Mrs. Keith Black and fam-
ily. '
Patients in Wirigham and I
District Hospital froth our com-
munity are nonald Murray and
George Swan. Ross Gammie
spent a few days, in Toronto in
hospital. A speedy recovery is
wished all these sick folk.
Mrs. Adeleen Dowling of
St. Tacobs spent the week -end
with Mr. and Mrs. BO Aitchi-
son and family. .
• Rev. Roberts of Belgrave
will -be gu&st speaker at the Re-
membrance Day setvice at the
St, :Helens Hail at 2 o'clock an
November 10t1i. The Lueltriow
Legion' and Auxiliary,will be in
atten4attee, .
Top ci
on toun
Iibre people needed
.school b�ards
We new have to vote on our
representatives on the County
School Boards, What'sthedif-
ference? What sort of person
should we elect?' To have some
Idea,- we have to have a. few ,
facts,
Pint. we've Moved, aiong
way from the little red school-
house* The County Bear looks
atter public schools, tglh
schools, separate schools and.
retarded children's schools; and
they look after the -whole
county. Taking a verY, rough
,guess, they might be spending
about 10 MILLION DOLLARS of ,
our money each, year-'- apart •
from capital expenditures,
,Spealting for. myself; / want to
•
make sure that QM representa-
tives are people who can think'
in these terms -who are net
scared by large figures—or SO
bentiMbed by these bilge figures
that they forget that WOO is " •
still a lot of money.
Secondly,- they've got to
have either the brains or the
:experience, preferably both,. to
SET UP a county -wide organi-
zation to take over and absorb ,
a whole variety of existing ed-
ucational organizations --each
with different rules and proced-
ures. - One old school board ,
may have been dead against
subsidizing, a teacher,taking an
improvement course; another
one May have been cautiously
in favour but the amount of
subsidization was restricted as
were the courses to be takenand .
the amount to be. paid by the
school board; and another Orthe
old boards May have been helps -
bolus in favour Of any cot* •
whatever' with 'no'restrictions at
,alL Some of these provisions
may have been tight in the con-
tact with the teachers and the
new County Board can't over- •
twn the apple -cart and just say,,
"This is what we're going to
regardless of what happened in,
the past." ';'Ybu have to blend
it in somehow Until you can get
it On the traak, of onepolicy
for the wholcoun,ty. And? y,ou7,
Itersjs.42,&#.119444/.0.14
that policy. If the first person
Whorapplieg.is a "good •guy''you
may set up your policy In such
a way that you let the -load ,.
guys'. take iiivantage of you--
and.7you" means the taxpayer, •
I've been saying for years:
"There's no substitute for com-'
INnsense,".- Unfortunately,' ord-6 '
Mary comMonsense just isn't
enough for the Cptinty School'
Board representatives. When
you're dealing with big business
(as a County Board is) the.im-
plidatfons and liter consequen-
ces of some Of the decisions are
very difficult to foresee; soyou
want someone who is able to, •
take a keg View of any propos-
thinkers. You also
want someone who won't hesi—
tate to change a decision if it
turns out that his former decis-
kin isnot producing the desired
'results. If he has no compre-
hension of the ways of big bus-
iness we are in deep troub le.
You -can't run an outfit spend -
$10,000,000 a year the way
you run a corner Focal( store
(with Apologies to are grocery
Octet owners),
1, Thirdly; we've got to get a,
to= who IS aware,. in 1968, Of
.what education is and what it
. is trying to do, Easy? Try to
pin it down. •
, One of the big and far -reach -
Ing changes it that Mr, County
Board, i going ,to be resNesAle
for educational policy in a way
that the old school boards never
were. We are moving out of
the hewers- of -wood and drawers -
of -Tater category. We are'
still ultimately responsible for
the details of where she fences.
will go, the typo of brick in the
building and so on but new we
also have a say in the type of
education. that will be. provided
for OUR children, While we
will still -be within a provincial
Dept. of Education framework,
we will get away to a large ex -
tont from a Toronto- oriented
idea of what the children in'
Huron County need.
Now try to define education.
Ideas of.e'atning a living,.
Intellectual eurioSity and ad-
venture, establishment of Moral,
cultural and political values,
Sympathetic tolerance and un-
• derstanding of ones fellow man, -
the art of communication, all
flit through our heiads. Are
these all? Wha xder do ther
come in? If you dolt define
what �1 want to achieve, you,
•don't know if you're
successful systun or not,
businessman can toll by
at his profit. What aro.= pr
its?
,
;peaking for myself,
I **et want •a, Screwball system.
which is one big grandiose ex- .
periment --and the guinealigs
are our children; nor do"' Want
,f0dy.cluddy system Which
sO hudders
cis ,anat4mweidnemooatichtmanarg,
' Your new county School Board
with the help' of its 'professional
staff are going to be responsible
for getting the right balance
hbleotwcee7ilyotr me..uastitduthayother--
hence
Or woman --who has An appreci-
ation.of education. '
at a recent
Seminar Of .the Ontario School
TrateeS Council' it $4‘1S:
tioned that it might lake up to
four meetings ' a 'Week during the
first Year or sato get the new
Boards on the road -l -so don't
think you're voting your repte-
sent4tivo into a nice: easy Jab.
It's probably true that the °Man*. '
you need is. one Who doesn't
know how he can afford the
time.
now .g0 'ahead 01.1.0 vote.
Norman Shepherd,'
r,.
82nd ANNIVERSARY'
SATURDAY, -.NOVEMBER 9th, 0100
Festival Of Praise featuring
- THE4 :I( ITCHO1P, :CITADEL , BAND.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10th
° Family " Worship1,1 J00 a.ni.. °
Evangelistic Servicei7,77.:011: VAC
isional Commander. '
REV. H. W. HAMILTON, Dip. Th., Rector.
Organist. MRS. GORDON DAVIDSON:
22nd SUNDAYAFTiR TRINITY NOV. 10 ,
11:00 a rn. Morning Prayer? Sermon and
Church :School
AiNNouNcomErs
Christmas Tea & Bazaar-:=Noverber 27, Parish .Hallir
S.S. Guest Editoria
lei
Why Do People Hate?
Today in a world full of prejudices and
conflicts no one seems to realize that there
may be an underlying thought, in my op-
inion, causing the past riots and revolu-
tions.
, It has been said that the difference
between love, and hate is very slight. In
this light we must realize then, that the
hate apparent today in the race riots and
the competition of the United States arid
the Soviet Union and past conflicts may be
due to its opposite. I submit that much
of the anger and hate has evolved from a
strong love of a country, a man or 'an idea.
Throughout the ages, civilizations 'have .
developed A pride or love°, if you like --
of their countries. Without this they would
not have tried to expand, their boundaries
or incr6se their economic status, When
°two or More countries build up the love
of their country the conflict resulting be.
tween them is inevitable.
Within this hemisphere, Canadians in
the year 1967 seem •tti have shown the '
rest •of the world that their great love is
By Neil Gowing
truly for the country in which they live.
By the many and varied gala celebrations
, such as Expo to celebrate Canada's one;
hundredth birthday, they demonstrated
how great the pride in their country it.
To be sure the love of a Man is greatly
emphasized by incidents in the United
States after the assastination of John F.
Kennedy and Or. .Martin. Luther King Jr.
In the case of the latter, the racial upheav-
als whrch resulted from his death are
certainly a sign of hatred provoked from
the love of a. man—a truly great man;
Christianity is an example of an idea
proqucing grief and hatred from a doc-
trine of "love thy neighbour." .Opposition
to the religion by parts of Spain and fit -
Cons such as Arabs have lead to blood-
shed.
In the World today, the conflicts which
appear in the news originated frbm pride
or love bur have.°,1i*come eV:elated by,
fast spreading 'hate. Therefor*, love, not
hate,' has and will breed more hata until
the end of the world,
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