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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-03-20, Page 21yw , cy SUGAR 'N' $PIF Rather belatedly, I'm reading Hugh Garner's autobiographical ..One Damn Thing After, Another, and thoroughly enjoying it. There are two types of people . • to whom .this book would app peal: those who are interested in the rather mysterious worlds of the professional writer and the publisher, and those who enjoy the reminiscences of a robust and prickly personality who has done a lot of living in sixty -odd years. • It is far .from Garner's best book. It is • repetitious and padded inexcusably with ar- ticles he has written and a speech he has made. There is nothing of the grace and strength . of his magnificent short stories or the solid skill of his good novels. • But that's as it should be. He is writing.about Hugh Garner the " man, as well as Hugh Garner the writer, and nobody knows better than he that, while the latter may be ot1i the way to becoming a Canadian literary giant, the for`iner has feet of clay, if not putty.. Garner makes it quite clear that he is far from being an Doggedly, he fought stupid editors, timid publishers, and the great apathy of the Canadian reader, sustained only by his own sublime and certain conviction that his stuff was good. It was a long, 'pitched battle, with many a skirmish, the occasional rout, and the just -as - occasional victory. But he won. At his best; Hugh Garner is one of the best short story writers in the English language, with a grasp of the feelings and motives of "or- dinary" people that is wholly credible. His novels are above average, a couple of them excellent, , notably "Cab- hij BILL SMILEY bageto.wn." Where most of us can identify with Garner is in his scorn for the petty, the bureaucratic, the ,timid, the phoney. . He is somewhat like. a "naughty" baby who pulls the cat's tail, knocks over the delicate tabtg, with the Spode figurine on it, and sits up looking around .to make stire everybody is taking notice. If Canada were the sort of country which erects statues of. its writers, heaven forbid, Garner would- be sculpted in solid -stone, a fiendish grin on his face, a chip on each shoulder, and his right arm outflung, the middle finger of that hand raised erectly in the' universal gesture. • Geo. Under -wood warns farmers to get tough admirable person, in the usual. George Underwood, a long sense. He -gets drunk at,, or c arrives drunk at, formidably time opponent of, Ontario, serious events. He tells people to do .impossible biological things to themselves. As' he tells it, he is the sort of guy, you would never invite to a second party at your place, ---becautse-he , wouldlikely --have -insulted someone the first party. Or, if you invited him to a party as the guest of honor, he'd •robably 'get into a beer parlor and forget„ all about it, leaving you, his host, with egg on your face when the `'distinguished author" 'failed to show. Despite the somewhat dim 'light in which Garner often shows himself, he makes it perfectly clear that he admires himself very much. Out of the. book comes a good, strong, healthy ego, which is fine. Every real writer must have this belief in himself, or he turns into a door -mat for editors and publishers. . And somewhere along the ha, as ydii read this book, begin to share Garner's opinion of himself. In most of us, however, sedate our lives; there lurks a hidden rebel, a 'wild non- conformist, a teller -off of the boss, a fighter for hopeless causes Garner has been, and is, all of these things and we can enjoy ourselves, vicariously, by identifying with his colorful, battleful,life. • Hydro, urged • Goderich township farmers to stand up and be counted in their fight against nuclear power stations and power corridors. The -Turnberry township -beef and poultry farmer urged` the fairrners~ to- organize' a strong land' " use"—policy for 'their protection in the future. He said the plan must be operative . rat -her- th an--1ogscly- , worded guidelines and»i must lie ' sup- ported 100 percent by the authors. , . "Agriculture is big business in Huron County," he boasted. "We shouldn't be afraid to stand up and fight ler it." Citing figures prepared in • 1971 Mr. Underwood told the members of the township federation of agriculture that Huron produced more than $100 million worth of goods not in- cluding beans, broilers, potatoes and peaches. He added that the farmers own over . , $50 :million-- worth of • machinery purchased in the • county and are promoting other • big businesses. Mr. Underwood warned the group of. n the , seriousness of Ontario Hydro ' - studies on agriculture production., He said that 'of "the 53 ' counties in the province only eight are affected by the study. The eight corn - prise two percent of.the land in the proyince and are resp"on- He learned ' earlier the frustration of a proletariat facing the establishment and this led to a. suspicion of, arld disillusionment with, authority, wWch he has retainedall his life. He fought as a volunteer lit the International Brigade in the Spanish' Civil War, This was probablythe last gallant crusade ,in the history of war, when thousands of young idealists from nations left home to battle fascism. Most of them were "scorned and derided as "reds" in their own countries. Hugh Garner has been fighting battles all his life, and a less doughty fighter would long since have been buried physically, • socially, .and • perhaps spiritually. As a, kid, he fought the obloquy ' and occasional 'humiliation of the very poor in a Toronto slum, and emerged from it tough and chip -on - shoulder. As a youth, he dropped out of school and ran head-on..into the Depression. ' . He bu.rnmed all over North .:America, riding freights, seeing country, working at many things, and storing a great fund of ex- 'perience for his future fiction. Yet Garner was clearheaded enough to realize that the Communists were using the volunteers as dupes, and- he • was never sucked in. Again a fight loomed, when Canada' declared war on . Germany. Garner joined up, in the army, right' away. •His n f.red" background was against him, so he switched to the navy, and spent a number of dangerous, tumultuous and hilarious • years before his discharge as a chief petty`' of- • ficer, (he certainly wasn't "officer material"): Then came the biggest battle of ' all, trying to become a professional writer in Canada. At the time, he had 'about as much chance as he would .have had if he'd chosen to run for king of England. sible for half ,of its food supply/ He added that Huron alone produces half of Ontario's bean supply. - The major concern the farmers have .:is. the improper use of Class One and Two soils by Hydro. Less than seven percent of Ontario's land is arable and only two and one half percent is class one and two. "Goderich township 'consists of 44,170 acres, 81 percent of which is Class one or two," he said. "It may quickly become • part of the new family of vultures invading Ontario if, we are not -careful." - The vultures, the Great Land Gobblers, are using land up at a rate of 26 acres pu hour ac- cording to 'latest stattstics Mr. Underwood said. He calculated that at that rate the.good soil in Goderich .t township" would disappear in only 17 days and the entire'county would be gone • in three years: "A hundred acees is gone. in . less time than it takes to drive to Toronto and back," he an- nounced. "In fact some of your farms could very well.be gone J_...'t`A.J�":-..,r;: �=w•hT'4::.1wr: ...i4'W.'.w..-.,.....,._��.. �� 0 before you get home from this Meeting." Mr. Underwood suggested to the farmers that urban development shouili be wat- ched closely. Figures compiled by the government show that 100 acres of ,land is used for every 1,000 people moving .into an urban -area: Thiscalculation does 'not- i•nelude- fac'tories.•-ar•. other places of employment necessary for their survival: Th' Trirnherry farmer claimed that some urban leaders and planners, believe. that ' these towns must grow and their industry expand for the people to retain healthy. "Do we necessarily need to think our children must work in a local village or town in an age when one can jet thousands of miles in a matter of hours," he asked. Reeve Gerry Ginn complied with Mr. Underwood claiming that to protect future generations „ farmers would have to keep'Hydro plans in the "back of their 'minds He said that Hydro. plans 'for a nuclear plant in Huron have been deferred but not forgotten. "The only way we are going to prevent this thing is to keep - together as a unit," tl Mr. Ginn warned. `I personally corn - mend farmers in the north for their efforts together especially ,when there is no renu me ra tion ." Suncoast Atoms perform. well in Brussels Optimist tourney The Goderich Suncoast Estates Atom All -Stars were finalists in the "A't:, division of the Brussels Optimist Atom Tournamefit last weekend, The Suns played extremely well against top calibre op- position in the tournament, defeating South London, 4-2, in the quarter -finals and beating a strong 'Oakville team, 5-1, in the semi-finals on Saturday. On Sunday. the Suns returned for the : "A" division cham- pionship final with Merriton, losing by a score of 4-2 in an exciting game before a packed house in the -Brussels Arena. Against South London, Darrell Graham, who was picked as" the Suns' oustanding player in the garhe, scored two first period goals, ,btsth on three way passing plays from his linemates. Dennis Kerr and Tim Lassaline. Jim Mathers, assisted by Brad Armstrong, and Joey Morrissey, unassisted, were the other Goderich scorers. Robert Doherty and Robert McCulloch scored for South London, who later= won the Consolation title by beating Richmond Hill 3-2 and Garden City, Michigan, also by a.3-2 score. The Suns, playing probably their best -hockey of what has been, a very successful season for 'them, carne on like .gang busters against Oakville. Their aggressive play gave the Oakville ',,team,.....:who,. _.had., defeated Ryichmond Hill "8-1 in their first game, little chance to get organized. The Suns scored once in the first period and 'twice each. in the second and third before Police report .This week in Goderich, police officers laid nine charges under the Lj, uor Control Act; 12 under. the Highway Traffic -Act; .and 14 under the Criminal Code. There were five small accidents (under $150) and there was one claim under the Mt/AC. There were once two boy silkworms who 'raced for the love of a girl silkworm. They :ended up in a tie. `The greatest sin is not murder, dope, rape, violence, robbery, pollution or just 1 . . is apath y I. „ 1 ' FIVE. WEEK Night School Course GARDENING GDCI Monday Nights — 7:30 p.m. MARCH 24 Landscaping 31 Vegetable Gardening APRIL 7 - Pruning & RerXtedial Gardening • 14 =. Annuals --- 21 • Perennials COST • $5 FOR 5 WEEK COURSE Special Speakers Each .Night Further Information • 524-7353 Andrew Vaivods. got ()akville's lone goal, beating Jeff Denomme who was picked LIS the outstanding Goderich player in the game. Darrell Graham and Joey Morrissey each had two goals for Goderich, , with 'Dave Eastwood getting the other goal. . Dave Callow had two assists for Goderich, with single assists going to Morrissey, J,im Mathers and Denis Kerr, Merriton, a Niagara District team, had defeated Garden City, Michigan, 8-3, and Listowel, 3-1, to reach the finals against'the Suns. Merriton scored three goals within a - two minute span 'midway through the first period, but the Suns cut the margin to two when Darrell Graham scored before the end of the 'period', assisted by Jinn Mathers and David Eastwood. Merriton scored the only goal of the second period to lead 4-1 going into the final frame. David Eastwood scored an unassisted goal for the Suns to account for the only scoring in the third • period. Joey Morrissey was chosen as the Suns' outstanding player of the game. The teams were evenly matched, and the Suns held their share of the territorial play" throughout the game, • � n4: . , til 1l. ItI(11SIGNAL-$TAR.THURSDAY, MARCH 2(),,1:9.75"?' •+ ')+' which was a ,citable climax, for the find hockey produced in the 'A' series of the tournament, In exhibition play, the Suns defeated Blyth, the W,O.A.A. "E" champions by a score of 6- 2 Monday night in Blyth. Darrell Graham scored four goals to lead the Goderich attack. Jim Mathers and Tim Lassaline, who played a strong game both" ways for the Suns, scored orae each. Graham and Lassaline 'also had one assist each, as (lid Denis Keri . The Suns are currently in- volved in their W.O.A.A. "B" championship final series with Kincardine, and will play tonight (Thursday) in Kin- cardine at 6:30 p.m, with the, deciding game, -if necessary, to be played here Friday morning' at 10:30 during'Young Canada Weekas a special attraction. Mernbers of the Suncoast • - Estates team, who were finalists in the Brussels tour- nament are: Jim, MacDonald,,' Jeff Denomme, Kevin Cam- . obeli, David McDonald, Darrell Graham,, Denis Kerr, Tim Lassaline, David Eastwood, Scott Ross, David Gallow,.. Robbie Kisch, Jim Mathers, Brad Armstrong and Joey Morrissey. „Coach of the Suns is Richard Madge and John 'Bakker is the team's manager. . 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