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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1967-11-16, Page 2or 2 The .Goderich .Sit. nal Star, Thursday, Nov. 16, 1967 ` ials • i q w r .well . anc�fa ehail The valediction, or "bidding fare- well" of Goderich District Collegiate In- stitute's 1967 Grade XIII. graduates at Friday's commencement exercises had an added dimension unique to this year. Not only was it their official fare- well to bosom churns and newly -sainted teachers (how quickly the times of ten- sion are glossed over once the mill is curt, but farewell to a syste , the merits and demerits of which ha 1peen debated publicly and privately for years. Theirs is the distinction of being the last senior matriculants to sweat through the annual ordeal of standard- ized Grade XIII final examinations. The Ontario Department of Education has announced it will discontinue the dreaded "departmentals" this year. But it is not .this fact itself which d=serves comment. What impresses us most is the style with which the GDCI class, put the cap on an era. An estimated 800 teachers., par- ents, relatives and friends were told. by Principal John Stringer of the signal accomplishments of the graduating class. Not only did five students earn the coveted Ontario Scholarship for atta•n- ing' 80 per cent on seven final papers, but a few others fell only one or two marks short of the required 560 -mark total. In addition, the class as a whole outstripped the provincial average. in two key. resects. Ninety-four per c:nt of the papers written were passed, corm pared with an average for .the prow:nee of 85 peent; 27 per cent of the pap:rs Were in thea First Class Honours bracket—well over the Ontario average of 1.5 per cent. The Iron's shire of credit for this achievement, of course, rightly belongs.. to the students themselves. However, without the guidance and assistance of highly -skilled instructors, and without an atmosphere of intellectual .thirst created jointly by an enlightened school, administration and parental patience and understanding, such an accomplish- ment would be. impossible. Perhaps it is just as well the 1967 class will be the last to write the stan- .dardized exam:naticns; to use the show- busiriess cliche, it's a tough act to follow. But whatever criteria are used to measure the success of subsequent graduating classes, the achievement of -the students. of GDCI—'67 yvill remain a'n outstanding example and challenge. c. to those who fallow. To the "vale" of the Centennial class', then,let us in true 'Ciceronian spirit add, a; simple but enthusiastic ave! thanks, They're easily taken ° for granted. No .parades, oi—daily street or afrols or regular meetings with impressive speakers keep them in the public eye. But throughout the year, around the clock, the 'Goderich volunteer Fire Department is on call to protect lives and property in the community. It's a common -question,. and one which we heard several times following last week's fire at the Mathieson weld- ing plant -"Where was the fire last night?" As long as one's own property is not threatened, . it seems easy to roil over and go back to sleep, assured that the situation is well in hand. The word-otimouth d'eschptionS the next morning, and reports or photo-=-- graphs hotographs in the- press, however, cannot tall. the whole story of the work, the ,frustration, the sacrifice of privacy which go into rnaking.Ya fireman's 'job what it is. Goderich has had two particularly no: -able examples of the -quiet dedica t:on of the Fire Department in the last month. Most, recently, at the Mathieson fire, the boys spent five hours battling a stubborn blaze which summoned th:'m at 11:30 on a cold, snowy night, whip most of the town lay sleeping. A few weeks before, the $125,- Y boys C30 fire at Conklin Lumber .kept them cn th sc _ n e from 7:30 Saturday _ h until 4:30 Sunday morn;ng. Afterward th; re i at least another hour' of work cleaning the equipment, re -rolling hoses and preparing for the call, which - coo ld .come the same day, or not for several weeks. In both these major fires, the full volunteer force of 17 men, plus auxili awry volunteers, .police and members of the Clinton Fire Department, pooled their resources in the common cause of stemming destruction. This is where the speed and skill acquired on the -ken:: and at mon.hly .fire drills come into play --any time, without warning. In addition to the two major blazes already mentioned, we can recall off- hand at least three others in the past month, Fire Chief Ted Bisset says it is th) heaviest concentration of fires in such a 'short time which, he has seen in his. four years as chief. Perhaps this ..yf act makes the pre- sent the most appropriate time for us - all, as citizens *Of Goderich, whether or not we have ever had need of their services, to say "Thank You" to Chief Bisset and his squad for a splendid job, splen'didty achieved. first things first The -call for co-operation to create a single province -wide farm organiza- tion, issued recently in Goderich Town- ship by Charles 'Munro, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture; was echoed over the week -end "at the fed- eration's provincial convention. We feel it is a sensible call, buts one ,which should be answered only after long and earnest thought, and con= sultation by the two major parties in volved. - There is little doubt that orgahiza- t:on by fhose most directljr concerned with agriculture is the best answer to the threat of rampant. urbanization which is already gobbling,up vatireas of our prime growing land, and to the threat of an economic system which is forcing many farmers off the land.-- - This second " threat may well, as Mr. Munro told members of the God- erich Township federation, become a more acute -one as the federal govern- ment looks for ways to ,tighten the -nation's economic bejt. By the same token, the apparent reluctanceof.the Ontario Farmers' Union to rush into amalgamation with the OFA '-may not be entirely retrograde. . At present, the OFA and the O U - represent widely disparate viewpoi is on a number of key issues. A hasty m ,,r- riage might produce an offspr:ng ,doem- ed Eby its very ' cumbersomeness, or worse, by :factional undercurrents. Perhaps the.saner approach would be to undertake an open-minded and continuing assessment of the areas of unity of thought before. attempting to evolve a unity of structure. 14111 W4e attberirll .ignat-#Ptar .rj The County Tawe Newspper of Neve* --t_- Poblished at ' Goderid+, Ontario every Thursday morning by SlgnalStar Publishing limited aosur fi. SHRUiM . President end Publisher Member of C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A;, and A.L.C. 120th Year arf Pvbiketlee KENNETH C. IOlTOO Managing $ v r 'tom Mos !6S a Y To U.L.A., $4 44 •th►aee i b mowsxsd as Ottawa end for eym.nt of Paltigt M club Class Mall, Poet Offk. Dept., The first, furrow - the western homesteader breaking ground. He reached the virgin prairie beyond the end of the railway line by a canvas. covered wagon or "prairie -schooner" which he slept in if the weather was bad or the -ground swampy, At other times, he slept in a tent. His first chore on reaching his location was to break enough ground to plant a crop. This established his ;,pvvnership. Hee set up a pole at the edge of his plot, tied a cloth to it, directed his plow to it, and drove a parallel furrow beside the first one, back to the starting point. Not until his plowing and -seeding was finished did he being to build a permanent shelter. The. prairie pioneer in some ways had an easier life than the first settlers in Eastern Canada. He did not have to carve his farm out of virgin forest, or carry his grain to the mill on his back over rugged, winding trails. lie. could haul it to the nearest elevator by wagdh across open land. But his home was often Many..miles from his nearest neighbours. The loneliness was bad in summer and almost unendurable in winter; some of the early settlers gave up and -pulled out, But by 1911, immigration to Canada had swelled to nearly one third of a million per year, and most of Ahem were settling .on the prairies. Messages from The Word i By Rev. J. Donald MacDonald, North Street United . Church A DISEASE AND ITS CURE Why is the French-speaking citizen of Quebec often sus. picious and sometimes hostile towards people from the rest of Canada? Why' do many White, Ang1o:Saxon: Protestants dis• like Catholics, French Cana. dians and people of ethnic origin? Why does race hatred flourish and abound in , the Southern U.S. in the same part .of. _the. country in..which church attendance and religious zeal are at the highest level? What makes one uneasy when the per. °son next to one on the bus is "colored" or "different"? Why arewe less than happy to learn that the specialist to whom we have been referred is a.,woman doctor? ' .,T a trouble is PREJUD:CE - a ave and often pitiful emo- do and sociological disease of o r time. This disease threat. ens to' make Canadian Unity an impossible ideal, bodes future dark clouds of racial unrest for the United States, halts man's progress and thwarts,the spirit of community among peoples.. WHAT A MALADY! Like most illnesses, PREJU.. DICE has its 'causes. Negative, false and abstract ideas about persons, places and things are most often symptomatic of this ness. T individual with, approach -is seldom,._, if ever, in danger of coritracting- thi — disease. However, once. con. tracted, the. disease is apt to .spread rapidly throughout the body, blocking mental and spixUlla .. growth... and de ueloop,. ment, The., disease is con. tagious, as it "rubs off' a per. son to others, and can prove fatal. One person infected with this disease ,can easily infect scores of -others. It is thought that one cause of the disease is the virus ".lack of knowledge". Apparent. ly, the more we know ab'c*tt people, especially people who are different from us, that is, who dress differently, speak differently, look differently and' worship differently, the less likely we are to contract PRE. JUDICE. -In- fact,.:--rn:u y__diag— nosticians. of this disease are concluding that exposure toper. sons of other races, creeds and memo FRAM THE editor To date four names have reached' our desk, of area persons Who have', received the special Centennial medal "for valuable - service to the nation" from. 'the office of Secretary of State Judy LaMarsh. Congratulations to Miss Mary, McMillan, Judge .Hetherington, Fred Millar, and the Rev. G. L. Royal. M1 SHERMAN H. BLAKE Meet Your Municipal Officials,- 1 Sherman Henry Blake, clerk --treasurer of the Town of Goderich for the past 24 years, first came to the town in 1940 as an accountant with the Royal Bank. The 58 -year-old native of Wood. bridge, Ontario, began his employment with the bank in 1925, As. clerk -treasurer, he is the general co-ordinator of Goderich's municipal government, although in a salaried rather than an elebted capacity. He is directly responsible to the elected officials of the municipality, and indirectly responsible to the Ontario Municipal Board, the Department -.oi., Municipal Affairs and the Pjanning Branch of the Ontario Legislature. In addition:- secretary-treasurer ddition.secretary-treasurer to Council and all its committees, and to the Maitland Cemetery Board, He and his wife, Dorothy, Who live at 263 Cobourg Street, have two daughters, Linda, a high school teacher ,tri Kitchener, and Mary Helen, who teaches public schoot'1h Scarborou . Mr. Blake is an elder of Knox Presbyterian Church. (Staff Photo). ° ED. NOTE °•- This is the first in a series of feature- articles designed to acquaint Our readers witli the persons charged with the /responsibilities of running town affairs in a non -elective capacity. I ` skin 'colors is serving to im- munize individuals against this. malady. Contraction of the i11. ness in early childhood how- ever, makes the hope of -cure rather remote. A change of environment sometimes helps under these circumstances. .. -Another, causeipf.:t ,e:;_disease,. is. believed to 'be a strain of virus known' as "stn'ITgness"; This strain makes most head. way in the complacent, Self.' satisfied types of individuals who' feel superior to everyone else. Persons..w.119.... gather...._.in_ socially exclusive "cliques" and feel . happiest in the com. _ pany of persons whose_ opinions are most like their own are in the greatest danger from this virus strain. Persons who "label others" are. often very susceptible as well. People who, 'think their religion better than anyone else's, are possibly the most Seriously infected. Another "less known virus strain of the disease is fear. It seems to be rather •harm. less in times of peace, but often deyelons in epidemic propor. tions in times of war. Apparent. ly this is due to hateful feel. Inge, that are -more intense in such periods. Jesus, great physician that he was, prescribed a "cure" for this dread plague. He said it could be prevented and cured if we "love one another as he loved us". He said that all. inclusive love was the answer. Another helpful • way to banish the disease is to- read care. fully the lives of . such per. sons as Quaker Rufus Jones, Hindu Gandhi, Negro Marian Anderson, Rabbi Liebman, Jew Albert Einstein, Father Damien and others. Thank goodness . there is a curel DOWfl Mems a 55 Ygs AGO, 1912 1.431,114o • The annual meeting of the Alexandra Hospital Trust was held at the court house Monday - evening. His Honour; Judge Holt president .of the hospital board, was in'the chair. Early Tuesday morning, a break occurred at the power house which shut off the whole electric lighting sysietn of the' town. However did•people get along before electric lighting came in? Huron County Pw4 city and Improvement • Association held an orgiZa.tional meeting at Clinton this afternoon. Officers were elected and plans outlined. County Council will be asked at December meeting to assist. About 2:30 o'clock Suinday morning the alarm was sounded . for a fire in Brown and Pathe. nick's Day Goods Store on the Square. Firemen were quickly on„ the scene and extinguished ""#ie blaze without much trouble. Plans for acorn.nencementof rural ma°.1 delivery in this see. tion axe.under consideration of the Postal Department, it was announced recently. Mr. 011er. head, a Post Office official was in Goderich last week and a plan to cover Goderich town. ship was prepared. 15 YEARS AGO, 1952 The Octogenarian club room in the basement of the public library will be reopened for the winter, it was announced Mon. day, by D. J. Patterson, •sec. retary of the Kinsmen Octo. genarian committee. Reg. McGee was re.elected president of the Goderich Sad. dle Club at its annual -meeting Monday night. - The Goderich Junior Cham• ber of Comraerce held a suc. cessful ladies' night at the Brit. ish EXchange Hotel, Wednesday evening. About 500 fans watched Cen. traits Flyers edge out .Samis Pontiacs, 8-6,,Friday night at the Memorial arena. The Flyers held the lead from the first period. Ashfield: Mrs, Ed Riley, of san,'..Franc.is,�o, cane. by plane,i to .vis with her mother; Mites. =-Neil'McDo cid, of Kintail. Forty-two members of 532 Maitland Air Cadet Squadron visited NortirBay over the week. end. They left Goderich Satur. day morning and returned the same evening. At 8:30 i m., a `'`bus took them to Centralia where they bearded four Dakota aircraft which swiftly took them to their destination. ' TEN YEARS AGO,` 1957 • The Goderich Organ Com. `pany factory, idle since 1955, has been sold to Scotsmith Furniture Limited, of London, who will begin production by mid-February. • The company specializes in the manufacture of high grade church furniture and is headed by L.J. Scott, of London. A total of eight barges and boats are tied up at .Goderich harbor, forming the. nucleus of the winter fleet. Official opening of. Camp. bell's new drug store was held Saturday when many visited the lovely new store. A new florist shop will soon be opened on The Square in Goderich, It will be operated by Wilfred J. �Denorrne, form. erly of Clinton, who has been with a Clinton florist, K.C. Cooke, for the past 16 years. Eir Ii troub1d forced an airplane to, land at Sky Har. bour airport about 1;20 p.m.. - Monday. It carried 'three men, two of whom have been named in criminal conspiracy charges in connection with an interna.` •tional car smuggling ring. ONE YEAR AGO; 1966 Full houses, greeted the three performances +) of 'Nester Too' Late' presented by Goderich Little Theatre -.last; week in MacKay Hall. Members of. the ,audience said they were pleased with the play but were more excited about the other two pro• ductiens of the season, both of which are being written special. ly for the GLT. • After two five-minute over. time periods, played on top of regulation time, the result was still., a scoreless tie between Goderich and Wingham col. legiate football teams whowere playing a sudden death game for the championship of the Euro n.P e r t h intercollegiate football league. After the over. time, played in semidarkness, the opposition coaches, Wayne Horner, Goderich . and Bob Campbell, Wingham, met at m_dfield, shook hands and de. clared the two schools co.cham. pions. Goderich Township Federa. tion of Agriculture held its annual banquet meeting in Holmesville United Church last- Thursday. Although adverse weather conditions prevailed, 9Q persons attended. Goderich CWL opened its No. •441-eer meeting with a pot luck supper with the nuns present Thirty-two members attended and a penny sale was conducted with the profits given 'to the Vanier Instifute for the CWL Centennial -project. Carl Govier, RR 1 Auburn, was elected zone director at the annual zone . meeting held by the Ontario Farmer's Union at Clinton last week. • You're right Judyl "Rotten management" certainly des- cribes the CBC. That's polite language. There are other words, which couldn't be seen in print, or heard on radio and television, to describe that cor. poration. Why all the fuss? Miss La - Marsh pointed out that the re. ports the present Government and earlier Governments 1 ave commissioned over the past few years have indicated rotten management. The outgoing CBC president. J. Alphonse Ouimet, and Miss LaMarsh exchanged sharply. worded letters.. He demanded she substantiate -her charge. She refused, saying she was re. "sponsible only to the Prime Minister and Parliament. T. PRYDE - & SON -- Memorials Finest Stone and Experienced Workmanship DIST Frank Mcllwain REPRESENTATIVE 5247801 or 200 Gibbons St. 524-8435 5011 WE SPECIALIZE IN DOING ALL FORMS OF YOUNG STEER — . CUT FREE Sides of REAL LEAN Hams.- a MAPLE LEAF -- SLICED BACON Beef LB. 5 7c " Pork La 53c LB. 69 "EXTRA SPECIAL" ONLY ZO-�� PairL�r+d 2.9 5 ' OPEN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON OPEN THURSDAY • FRIDAY 'TIL $ P.M. FEATURING Horne Dressed Inspected Meats