HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-03-14, Page 22 GODERIC SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1974
E0DITORIA
r sly,�..�erYriwralG•a+J.).Atd,1a,.
Opportunity lost?
Next week, Goderich Memorial Arena
ill be a hive of -activity. Young Canada.
Hockey Week will be iii full swing for its
25th season and PeeWeeVucksters and
their families from all over will be con-
verging on Goderich for the biggest little
hpckey tournament in the, world.
The.Goderich Lions Club with. Young
Canada Week Committee Chairman Don
Shortreed, has been spending long,
- tedious hours _preparing the host of
plans necessary to make this tour-
nament the best one ever. Many special
• events- are scheduled by the Lions and
the commendation of the, community
must go to this active group'of men.
. „,�, It is too bad. that the community has
failed to get behind the tournament
again this year. It' is too bad that
Goderich • does not recognize Young
Canada Week as a golden opportunity to
w show off The Prettiest Town An Canada
.., to roll out the welcome matand make
visitors here want to come back again
some other time ..when hockey is over.
For a few years now, this- newspaper
has been heralding the importanceof an -
a -14 ou4=9-0-0•rdie-acted= - e' -#art _._t ---r aai e--- .—..
(il
Young Canada Week the most talked
.about holiday event of the year. All sorts'
of activities have been advocated " -
anything to keep the arena ,crowd in-
terestea_betweerf, games and to put
Goderich's tremendous attributes in the
foreground. Very little new has
materialized:.
Instead, there's word from the
Goderich Lions that the parade
scheduled to be held in connection with
this year's silver anniversary tourney,
'has had to be . cancelled. While no
specific• reason was given, it is evident
that local participation has been at such
alow ebb it has been impossible, -to
muster' the necessary help to make the
parade reality.
If interest ' is being lost in' Young
Canada Week here - if future ,tourneys
will be smaller with less people involved..,.:
part of the blame can;' be laid squarely -
at the feet of Goderich citizens who
didn't see their chance to parley an
established ,tournament into an annual
winter's -end fun fest And frolic. Truly an ,. ,
pp " "u 'y•� —In a recent edition 04 The
Village ° Squire published by
Keith , Rou lston of 'The Blyth
Standard, an article on the
county weekly newspaper in-
dustry described The Standard
as the newspaper ,which is best.
a� known for its, strong editorials.
Last week's' Blyth Standard
'bore evidence of the type, of
strong editorials to be found in
its pages. An editorial entitled
"Here we go again" found fault
with "someone in Goderich"
who, according to The 'Stan-
dard,
tan-dard, conceived.t'he idea of tur-
ning an unused piece of
--;property into an• athletic-
, cultural centre. -
To be fully appreciated, the
'editorial. must be read in its en-
tirety and here it is for your
consideration," '
I only ask that after you have
•read it. -. and digested it - you
will take the time, to sit down
and write.your comments con-
cerning it to The Goderich
Signal -Star. Ours may not.be
the" most electrifying editorial
page in the, county, but we db
try to air all sides f.•ll.issues.
.Let's " have your' opinion
about the. following, editorial
reprinted from•The Blyth §tan-
dard. , • .
/HEFiR WE GO AGAIN
'Sometime back, someone in
/,Goderich had. a • marvelous
/ idea:. I-1•e� wanted. to—see- an_.
` unused piece of -property turned
into an athletic -cultural centre.
' `"Problem, was, though, that.
the price tag was $1.5 million
dollars and that •'kind of bread
- don't grow on trees,- •even in
Goderich. He realized that the
local council wasn't about 'to
ante up more than a million
• dolrat°s, so another solution
had' to be found. You guessed
it; like ev?ry other costly
scheme in Goderich, this fellow
'decided to call it, not a
Goderich. centre, but a county
:centre and thus have the 50,000
• people in the county paying for
wearing =eatberf This,•:,Q.Quld result in it'
" "It's an a•l1-too familiar tune,,
all sort : of headaches for- th c rt f '
4
TME. -DRAM CL.-a.Q HAW/NI G A 4 A P Ti
,T"O N. L'aAly, FO 1.105.
t E LTO G ST
v ---Q
ort nit
'sed-.... _ w
Goderich not ready.
A tip of the hat this week goes .to the
local ,tourist cornrnitteewho has put
Goderich before the American people at
Cleveland through the Bluewater Annual
Americ'an and Canadian -Sportsmen's
Vacation and Bpat Show from March 1-
10
From time to time, Goderich people
wonder just where their'tax dollars to the
tourist `committee are going,. and it is
good to know that The Prettiest Town jn
Canada is getting some weilzdeserved
publicity wheretourists are known to
gather.• d
It -is interesting to note that Jack
-Thomson who is working on behalf .of
Goderich at Cleveland, predicts that the
seve're_gas,'shortage in the United States
will bring American" tourists to Canada
and' Goderich in droves. this surnmer.ir.
',Seeing, will be believing, of course,
r but .despite the 'fact that tourism is sup-
posed to be a major industry in this part
of the country, it is difficult to imagine
that Goderich and area will be ready for
a,large influx .of fun -seeking tourists.
' In the past, Goderkich and area people
' s• have been about arelaxed as it is safe
to get during the peak of the tourist,,„
season. Very little effort is expended• on
the part of- indiv.i,ials.. even
businessmen = to lure the tourists off.
Highway 21- and into Goderich.
Goderich sits on a� gold'" mike of
.scenery and natural recreational
facilities and really does not capitalize
o.n these asset's as it should.
This summer With experts from 'all
predicting tourism 'on the rise for
this area, it is to be hoped that Goderigh
citizens will find,new ways and means of
entertaining these .,,iimpo; Cant guests.
There's nothing' to Idse- and plenty of:
money to gain.
•
Wiwi about- slower Ivche1
Accordingto the speech from the
throne delivered when the Ontario
Legislature reconvened, • recent jy, the
provincial government will make the use
of seatbelts compulsory. While this
could become a contentious issue in the
minds of some, most' people agree that
The case for seatbelts has beenproven
time and' time again.
Folks who abhor seatbel re those
who don't like to feel confi - pinrrert-
.dower d �ariytirne. There's no doubt about
it. Seatbelts fasten' one securely and
thereare those persons Who complain of
feeling trapped and uneasy, while
Wearing them.
On the other hand, seatbelt supporters
are generally people who have been in-
volvred with accidents either firsthand /
or as nurses, doctors, policemen, am- /
bulance drivers, bereaved loved ohe
..�
EAR READERS
.ry
BB Shirlai-'1. Keller
tOOKINO BACK 1
"75 YEARS AG Q
J. K. McCulloch the
renowned skater from Win-
nipeg gave an exhibition at the
rink last Friday evening. He,ie
a strongly built young man and
seems to be as much at home
on skates as the majority of us
are in our boots, An instance of
this was his feat of. jumping
�, r
over five barrels placed on their
sides. He also gave exhibitions
of figure skating, skating on
stilts and speed skating.
W. Warnock, our well-known
horticulturist has ' anticipated
the balmy air of spring by cut- ,.
ting a number of shoots from
fruit trees in his orchard and
placing 'them in water in his -
house where they" have _-
blossomed profusely:
The Lucknow• •and Wingham
papers of last week..all make
mention of a great and so far_ •
unexpj',ained'• noise that- was
heard in • these places: One
paper says windows and doors ,
were rattled and another. that'
the were two shocks. as `if two
large, cannons. had been
discharged. One popular theory
is that it may have been a
boiler explosion and another
suggests an earthquake. It is
probably one of.those P.things
that will remain'unexplained •
until the end of time.
The Richardson firm which
controls the big „mill elevator
here had 4,000 bushels -of oats „
r • . and peas destroyed in a gra;n '
Of- COtn se•. I las a familiar.
second verse as well which will
see the rest of us in the County
balking at picking up• the bill
and then the third verse will
come along with Goderich
lamenting how backward and
short-sighted we all are
.because'we won't go along with
'their plan.
"Certainly it' would be nice
for the citizens of Goderich arid
immediate area to'have an irk-
door swimming:. pool, an out
,door lighted tennis court. and
quarter -mile track,' a '500 -seat
theatre, a seniof citizens wing
and- health club with saunas,
squash and handball and exer=-
cise courts. Heck, we wouldn't
Mind. having one here in Blytl
either. But such facilitjes
should be paidfor by those that
are likely to use them. There's
no denying that if there was an
ind000r swimming pool in the
county swimmers from othep
towns would use it -in winter,,
when their own'pools are out of
action. .13ut surely , the 860
residents' of Blyth shouldn't
-m have to pay for something that
will only be used. by probably
less than a dozen people from
Blyth "in the winter. And if we
in •Blyth, oer ly 20 miles away,
would get little benefit from the
facility, how can you expect the
people of Exeter or VVingham
or.For_dw.ich,.-pla.ces.-ma.n-y miles-.
from' Goderich, to be happy,
t. about kicking in to support the
project:
"The problem •of centraliiirig.
things in Goderich is that the
.:town, despite what its citizens.
might think, is not the centre of
activity in the county:` The
county is centred on Highway'4
and thus to be central to the
county something must be
along that highway, somewhere
in the Blyth to Btucefield area.
r "Then too, comes the fact
that ' when it comes to
recreation • facilities, you 'just
can't go very far with_ cen-
tralization. ,,Most, forms. of
recreation must be locally cen-
And for_ every person who - IIS of a
a'driver or passenger wh• is dead
because of cinched seatb= ts, there are
two or three who can .ttest to lives
saved through ' having seatbelt firmly
fastened.
If,{ seatbelts do ecome compulsory.
through govern.; - nt legislation it is -en-
tirely possiblpi`:ccident victims will be
unable .to 'co ect from insurance Com-
panies: unites it can, be proven they were
-the f ure.
d while seatbelts may be a factor in
s-ving lives, there is no doubt at alf that
If cars and trucks were built to travel at
much reduced speeds than _prase itly-•
even more highway traffic deaths could
be prevented. Too bad the government
isn't planning legislation to this, end.
,1131 U 1)
r•AI[S
49oDettxb
EIGNAL— STAR-
-0-'- The County Town Newspaper of Huron -=-O--
Founded in 1848.and published every Thursday at Goderich, Ontario. Member Of the
CWNA and OWNA. Advertising rates on request. subscriptions payable In advande,
St '•0 In Canada, $10. in all countries other than Cahada, single copies 20 cents.
Se and class mait,Retratron Number 0716. Advertising Is accepted on the condition
that, In the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied• by the
erroneous item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged.,
for bt`the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the
event of a typographical error advenlsing,goods qr services at n,t'rong price, goods or
service may not be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn et
any time. The signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited
,manuscripts or photos. , A
Business and Editorial ,Office
TELEPHONE 524.8331
area code 519
Mailing Addrss:
P.O. BOX 40, ,Goderich
SecOnd close mill regIstration number --0716
•
Published by Signal -Starr PubI1$hing Ltd.
'ROBERT G. SHRIEK—president and pubUshar
SHIRLEY J. KELLER---editor
BILL DliViMiCK-oditorlal staff
JEFF 8EDD0N-editorial staff
EDWARD J. BYRSKt--advertising man$gsr
DAVE R. WILLIAMS -advertising reprisentative
tred: No parent wants to drive
" 20 'miles or more to take his
child to %take .part in a
recreational activity (unless,
that child is of - exceptional
calibre). Most recreation is part
of,community activity, and, that
means must be within a radius
of .10 miles at most Certainly
athletes of exceptional ability
nay travel farther for special
training but this represents
•
only a hiii'ndful of, persons.
"An$'°thirdly comes the poOrnt
- that most of the 'facilities
• proposed already existoin the
county. At Vanastra, the for-
mer air base' south of Clinton,
there ' are track :and field
facilities, an indoor ' gym. and
just about everything else you
could want "'"(except' that the
pool•.is outdoors, but plans were
drawn~ up while the 'base was
still in -operation to enolose the
pool), Perhaps, as Clinton
recreation director Bev Wilton
pointed, .out, these facilities
were turned . down by • the
provincial government last year
when it discussed .a sports
training facility for ,the whole.
province, but -surely it can be
fixed up to meet the standards,.
necessary for Huron for' a lat.
,
•less, than$1,5 million.
:°As for the 506 -seat theatre,
we ai''r'ready have one in the
county, right here in Blyth and
•
we ARE. at- thecentre of the
county. Many people feel
Memorial Hall will become an
unofficial cultural centre for
the county when -renovation
work is completed and it won't
•
cost the taxpayers in the rest of
the County a red cent.
"No,: the rest of the people in
Huron county just ' aren't
willing to` fork over more cash
every time someone in
Goderich, has some more city
ideas. ° If Goderich `residents
have ,city=tastes, they're,' just
going to have too pay thebill
themselves."
'Readers are cordially
invited to express 'their
opinions of local,vrovin•-
cial and federal issues
through the - Letters to
the Editor column of The
Goderich Signal -Star. .
All letters must be
signed to be published,
although pen names are
permissible providing it
Is understood that -upon
request from. another
'r`eader, the letter writer's
true name will be
revealed. , ..
•
While there is no limit
to , the length of a letter
-whttch can be offered for
publication, the editor
does reserve the right to
delete portions of any
copy submitted for in-
clualion , in this
newspapers
Take an active .interest
in 'your, hometown
newspaper. Write aletter
to --the Editor today.
•
NOTICE= THE GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR WILL PROVIDE
REPRINTS OF PICTURE% WHICH HA .E APPEARED IN
• THIS PUBLICATION. ONLY 8 INCH x 10 -INCH • PRINTS
• -'WILL'BE MADE. OOST WILL BE.$5••EACH..ALL'ORDERS •
MUST BE PLACED WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER THE PIC-
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MUST BE PREPAID. THE SIGNAL -STAR ,WILL NOT BE
'HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR"ANY DAMAGE .WHICH..MAY
OCCUR IN MAILING. PLEASE ALLOW ONE MONTH FOR •
warrhttrge—fire inN° Gananoque
• last. Thursday. The grain was
fully insured,''however.
50' YEARS AGO
The contractor for -the..
Goderich Waterworks intake is
already at -work on the. job. , A
steam shovel and a gang of
men are .removing the earth
alongside, the sedimentation
basin and the work will be con-.
tinned right the
on the land
end• Of the job first.
The dedication and.unveling
of the • fine bronze memorial
tablet erected by the people'of
Knox church in honor of the
men of the church who 'fell in'
the • great war will be solem-
nized on Sunday evening. A
"special musical program will be
submitted by the choir • con-
sisting of appropriate solos and
anthems. All veterans are
especially invited to attend
with or without uniforms to
pay respect' to their fallen
comrades. •
'The Huron' County Breeders
Assoc. held a fairly successful
consignment sale in Wingham.
last' week, Forty-nine head of
cattle were disposed of at an
average of $81.25 a head. The
best price for a female was $165
and the best bull went for
$13250. `
The •W.C.F.M.'s new salt
- -block 'is now ready -and itis ex._
petted that a day4or two now
will' see it in operation. It was
figured that the work would be
completed • by the end of
February and that the new ad-
dition would triple the Output
of the salt bloat.
5 YEARS AGO.
• Kevin Lahn, the Easter Seals
"Timmy" for 1968 will drop
the puck to open the nineteenth
"annual- Young Canada" Week
Pee Wee iockey . tournament.
• Whipper Billy Watson the.
British , --Commonwealth
wrestling champion will also be
at the Goderich arena to carry
Timmy out to centre ice for the
: {(
opening ceremonies
More than 1200 people
braved'the cold and fog to see
the Goderich Figure Skating
Clubs annual ice extravaganza.
FAp EDhTOl
•
fl
as
Dear •Editor,
-„„At the present' time we ap
• pear to be faced' with a shortage
of essential • food.. This, we
believe, can be traced directly
to the disruption of our), rural.
communities.
,Por years farmers have been
led from one 'boom to bust"
situation after , another, and
each time fewer and fewer sur-
vive. They have °been sacrificed
and .become victims; rather
than beneficiaries, of
technology to agribusiness
• profita and a cheap food policy.
We hope that governments
and society' in general will now'',
recognize the 'dsnger signals
resulting from many years of
exploiting farm people and
farm resources, and .accept the
family farm asbeing tie most
dependable and efficie►t means
• of producing sufficient food.
G. Austin