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Clinton News-Record, 1983-01-19, Page 4PAGE 4 —CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1 than Clinton ,homes-Docoral Is ®cablecetod octal -68041ta aty ®t P.O. &ma 39, Clinton. Ontario. Canada. MVP ISO. tei.. en -Dose. Subscription !tato. Canada . '90.80 St. Orison '13-@111 peon year U.S.A. & torsAgra '30.09 pear yens, 11 im reig/atas,od se =wad slant email by veto imam, ethos mndar tape pavan,, rooanbor 80117. Tice eDonm-PlItmsovd Incoopv®to® In VO&e Vito NOW en isowo-®eeevd. tamredod In 1081. end The Clinton Non ere. town:da d In IOeDtotal preen roan 4.3819. Incorporating THE BLYTH STANDARD SHELLEY MCPHEE - Editor TERRY MARK - Reporter GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager JANICE ALUM - Advertising PEGGY GIBS - Office Manager MARY ADAM NOLLEid®ECA( • Subscriptions J. HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher eA MEMBER MEMBER Display odvertlsing rotes available on rogues,. Ash for Dote Cord No. IT ettoctive Oct. 1. 19e1 Life saving donation More than 20 area people, including five Clinton firemen, are benefitting themselves and the communities they live in by studying the St. John's First Aid Course. It is being spon sored in Clinton by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture. These people along with an estimated two billion hove trained under St. John's since the organization's programs began in 1883. Time and time again the value of this program has been clearly evidenced by the number of injured that have been cared for, and the countless number of Gives that have been saved by or- dinary citizens when professional medical help is not immediately available. The St. John Ambulance mobile unit is another vital part of this organization. This first aid truck and trained assistants is always seen at local events, travelling through the area to provide any needed service at fairs, horse races and sporting events. Based out of Goderich, it services the Clinton, Blyth, Bayfield, Auburn, Lucknow and Goderich areas. The unit provides transportation to hospitals, it is also a storage area for first aid equipment and offers a warm treatment ores in emergencies. The white truck sitting at the sidelines at these events has been in operation since 1968. R has travelled more than 100,000 miles, and hos now been deemed unsafe for further use. The local St. John's branch is sending out a desperate appeal to the community for funds to purchase a new unit. Already $112,000 has been raised. An additional $13,000 is still needed to buy a new first aid vehicle. For the past 100 years the St. John Ambulance, a non-profit organization, has been helping Canadians. In this urea St. John's set up the local branch in Goderich in 1959 and has since trained hundreds of people in first aid programs and provided emergency medical aid at public events. Now in turn, St. John's needs our help in order to keep this necessary service alive. Donations can be send to P.O. Box 144, Goderich in care of St. John Am- bulance. Your donation will aid the injured, and could help save o life. -by S. McPhee. CoId turkey Non-smokers will be gloating when January 26 rolls around. In case you've forgotten, that is officially known as Weedless Wednesday and it's a time when those who don't can ridicule those who still do. If you've already failed to uphold your New Year's resolution to quit smoking, or if you're beginning to weaken, hold on. Over the next week or so, and at least from January 23 to January 29, you'll have lots of support. ehind the scenes tin rofit le life With the long, cold winter nights upon us, the Canadian Roman Catholic Bishops have certainly given us something to think about besides the intrinsic value to the Canadian culture of Playboy television shows on the new pay -television channel. The Bishops enlivened the normally quiet holiday break with the release of their discussion paper "Ethical Reflec- tions on the Economic Crisis". Basically, the bishops call for a reorientation of our economy away from the pursuit of profit and toward the betterment of human be- ings. It has been labelled as Marxist pro- paganda by right wing critics and welcom- ed by union leaders. It should be a surprise to no one that the bishops took the stand they did, or that they have been supported by leaders in the Anglican and United churches as well. What the Bishops are saying, of course, is based on Christian teaching. Christ did not preach the amassing of fortunes. He told the rich man to give away all he had and follow him. It has always been a puzzlement how many of the newer evangelical "born- again" Christian movements are filled with staunch, right-wing businessmen. Christian teaching about caring for the fellow man and about poverty seem alien to the concept that the only report card that matters for a business in the modern world is the profit and loss statement. And more and more profit is being used as the only criteria for businesses. in these hard economic times a company that turns a good profit producing trash gets higher marks than a company that barely gets by contributing something useful. A company that sacrifices a good relationship with its employees in return for a few points more profit margin is given the gold medal by busineos leadership. Rut if profit is the only thing that mat- ters, why don't we elect Mafia members head of the Chamber of Commerce. They do a great job turning a profit. if profit on- ly counts, why don't we make honest citizens of those professional torches that were on "fift.h estate" recently who burn down buildings for businessmen in trou- ble' They make a great profit margin. By coming out against business for pro- fit, however. the Bishops seemed to dome clown on the side of labor Dennis McDer- mott. head of the ('anadian iahor Council certainly seemed to think so But. if Christ were to come hack tomorrow. would he really give the average ('l,(' member a much higher mark than he gives the average employer' Would he think the worker who goes on strike even though he knows the company is hanging on the edge of bankruptcy is more righteous than the eimployer who eventually closes the plant? How would Jesus look on the government employee who cries the in- justice of being held to a six per cent wage increase when that increase alone would seem like a fortune to most of the people alive on the face of the earth today? I haven't read the Bishops' paper but 1 hope in there somewhere they attacked greed, period, whether on the side of business or the rest of us. Let's face it, looking at the world as a whole, ' 1 per cent at least, of us in Canada would be called the greedy rich. We squabble over baubles while two thirds of the world very literally, wonders where the next meal is corning from. There was a time, a few years back, when the study of the writings of Henry David Thoreau was in vogue. Thoreau was an American philosopher and writer who lived more than 100 years ago. For a period of two years he set himself away from society and built a little one -room shack on the shores of Walden Pond near Concord Massachusetts. in those months he looked at life and wrote down his thoughts. Thoreau wrote many valuable things but one thing he wrote was that we need to get down to the base -rock of our lives; clear away, like the builder, the "mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice and tradition, and delusion and appearance," until we get down to reality on which to build our lives. That is What we all must do periodically, get back to the basics of our lives. if you were faced with making choices in your life what would they be? if you had to give up things in order to keep others, what would they be? We usually don't make those choices if we don't have to of course. it seems to me that that is why we continue to have depressions and wars, catacylismic things • that shake up humanity and force us to re- examine our lives. if we could re-examin4 our society more often, as the Bishops say, then perhaps we could avoid these horrible happenings but in peace and prosperity, we don't see with clear eyes, we don't get down to the Kase rock of reality. it is sad to think that we are forced to ex- pect. a future of periodic economic upheaval and armed conflict but this may be a natural way of putting a balance hack in the world. a balance we have put out of whack ourselves, both employer and employee, by getting so wrapped up in our own "profit picture" that we can't see anything else. Skier9s delight by George Chapman su a r and spice It isn't fair WITH 19newly arrived, this is the time for the gloom and doom merchants, and they're having a field -day. Just read the other day in the Globe that the western provinces are in a cataclysmic state, bordering on that of The Great Depression of the Thirties. According to this garabage, the west is only about two jumps ahead of the milleniuu a, the apocalypse. The learned professor who wrote it is obviously a pro- duct of the well-nourished post -Depression era. 1t seems that there are all sorts of people out of work in the west. They're having a terrible time existing on pogie and various welfare payments. Many of them scarcely know where the next 24 of beer is coming from. Despite the black smoke of the pro- fessor's statistics, he doesn't know what he's talking about, as any survivor of The depression in Western Canada will agree. Was listening to a couple of younger (around 40) colleagues of mine recently. They couldn't understand why their parents were so concerned with such things as bargains, and turning off the lights that weren't being used. "I guess it must have been the Depres- sion," chortled one. "They haven't got over the hard tunes, and they're scared of being destitute when they're old." "Yeah," smirked another, who makes about as many dollars in three years as his father made in 50, "they seem to have this thing. They run all over, looking for bargains, and worry about keeping up the house." Neither of these chaps, or their wives, or their children, has ever missed a meal, unless by accident. Neither has ever lived under the humiliating cloud of having to "go on relief." the ultimate in soul- destroying. "Yabbut, 1 paid unemployment for years," they chorus. Right. They paid in about $100 a year, and the minute they're fired, they start to withdraw over $100 a jlieek, and there § no shActie, no humilia- tion involved. The gums hint "owes" it to them. • They will never have to live in second- hand clothes, or eat potato -skin hash or pea soup bolstered by barley. They'll be horrified if they cant send out for a pizza, or Chinese. They will never have to ride the rods, looking for non-existent work, or depend on a good-natured housewife to give them a meal, or sleep in jail. In short, these youngish middle-aged men don't know what a real Depression is. ']'hey don't know what a world war is. They'll never know the searing reality of not knowing where the money is to come from to pay the fuel bill. it's hardly likely that they'll ever see their mothers weeping brokenly over the sewing machine at midnight, which 1 have. It's improbable that they'll miss a lot. If things get tighter, and they will, these chaps may have to curtail their daughters' dancing or skating or piano lessons inflation and the price of gas may forestall them from driving their sons, with $60 worth of hockey equipment, to the arena at 5:30 a.m., feeling all good, and a fatherly glow, after they've dumped, or picked up, the kids. But they'll miss the close-knit loyalty of a family in truly hard times, when everybody accepted the cold fact that there was no money. And everybody chip- ped in to help. odds 'n' ends At the movies . During the 1981-82 Christmas and New Year's season, the movie fare consisted of several stories with "heavy" themes - con- troversial story lines, topics to make au- diences think. Attendance at movie theatres was clown, so, producers changed their strategy this year. The 1982-83 holiday season was c'orn- prised primarily of comedies - shows that made people laugh and shows that became box office smashes. E.T. was still around, of course, and still playing to sell out. crowds. Four of the other top attractions were comedies. Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman, pulled the best reviews from critics and the most dollars from theatre -goers. it was the dispensed by billl, smiley They'll miss the warmth in the family circle that is playing parcheesi or monopo- ly or crochinole, instead of competing wildly in a TV push-button Bar Stars or Outer Space Freaks game where nobody wins except the conmen who peddled it at $299.00. They'll miss telling their kids stories, becaitrse the kids get a better story on TV. They'll miss the heartache of the children who want a doll and a pair of skis and have to settle for suits of long underwear. They'll rniss the thrill of children who look awed and exalted when they're given a dime for the matinee, instead of looking surly when their allowance is cut to three bucks a week. They'll miss the often boring, but somehow tenuous experience of having cousins by the dozens (family connections are out now.) And they'll miss perhaps the most im- portant experience of all: the knowledge that somehow, despite all adversity, they have kept their pride, have swum against the stream, keeping their heads up and trailing their families safely behind them. I don't envy them too much, these youngish middle-aged men and women, many of whom are friends of mine. They are good people. They have all the right ideas. ']'hey bring up their children right. They treat their parents (fairly ) well. They are not vicious, or malicious. They have worked hard for the cocoons they have spun. But, da►nrnii, they don't know what hard times are. Or they've forgotten, in some cases. I want them to suffer. And the trou- ble is, they won't. They just go on being happy, and comfortable, and complaisant. IT ISN"I' FAiR! story of an actor posiiik e, a %,luau ul an attempt to win a television role. Put together the names of two favorites, such as Hurt Reynolds and Gulch(' !lawn, and movie-goers are certain to be curious enough to flock to the theatres, regardless of the storyline. Best Friends was describ- ed as the story of two people who had a very special relationship. The Toy received fewer favorable com- ments from reviewers, but it kept au- diences laughing, anyway. Richard i'ryor played the part (if a clown -and -out guy who. in desperation, took a job as the toy of a bratty nine-year-old aristocrat. Kiss Me Goodbye with Sally Field was the way-out story of a woman who had to choose between her live fiance and the ghost of her dead husband. Mixed with the comedies were a few tear .Il'I ht'I':.. ,Utllt' uVl'1't ): :lil'h, ,1Ii i „Ilett.' children's classics, but the over-all win- ners were the films that made audiences laugh There were several reasons, of course. ()ne is that Christmas and New Year's are supposed to be festive seasons. I,ogically people select movies that fit the snood or help to creat,' the mood. Another reason is that during hard tunes, such as the ones people have been experiencing lately, it helps to be able to forget personal problems for an hour or two. Laughing at a farcical story on the movie screen is one way to do it A third reason is that, at the prices peo- ple pay to see a show, they'd rather come out of the Theatre laughing than crying. A good laugh is what many people call entertainment - Ontario Lung Association presents new self-help program it takes true grit to make most. New Year's resolutions stick. Especially resolutions about quitting smoking Rut that doesn't mean keeping no -smoking resolutions has to be a grim business, says the Ontario !,ung Associa- tion. Quite the opposite, says the Christmas Seal people What they have developed is a new approach to quitting that highlights the upbeat aspects of practicing healthier lifestyles The On- tario bung Association is presenting province -wide its new self-help program for smokers ever\ where who want to kick the habit Called FREEDOM F'It()M SMOKING, the program em- phasizes nutrition, exercise, personal rewards, asser trveness, and the positive benefits of saying "no thanks" to cigarettes. 11 of- fers a nuts -and -bolts way to quit smoking in 20 days - and make it stick for a lifetime. Nine out of ten smokers say they would quit if there were a workable wa1 l'he problem is when and how to wit And the lung assoc•ia- Pion believes 11 has developed a way 10 help '.niokers answer those ques- tions for themselves Whenever smokers ars ready Now Wanting to quit, says the Christmas tical people. is the key to success Rut sonretiInes finding how to quit ran be (-rah( a1 1 o help yourself or slF nieone you love keep a no - smoking New year ` resolu- Pion for a lifetime, contact your local lung association It's a matter of life and breath What's a farmer ? A farmer is a person who owns between 20 and 30 hats... They have names on the front, just above the peak, names like ... United Co-op ... John Deere ... You can always tell a farmer ... but not very much. One can always recognize a farmer by his fingers (sometimes farmers don't have all of them by the way), they are usually very big and when you shake hands with one it feels a lot like sandpaper; and they squeeze as though they really are glad to see you. Sometimes after you shake hands with a farmer he slaps you on the shoulder and dislocates it for you. If a farmer says its going to rain, it does, but rarely when their land really needs it. Farmers never go out of the house without one of those caps, that's why all farmers have white foreheads, and sometimes they wear them indoors. Young farmers wear them low over their eyes; usually their dads wear them on the back of their heads and have the uncanny ability to, in one motion, take off the cap, scratch the scalp, and replace the cap at the same angle in about 2.3 seconds. Farmers sometimes wear their hats in the house until (a) their wives make them take it off, or (b) they go to bed. Farmers like new cars and always buy big shiny ones. Within two weeks after delivery there is three to four inches of mud on the new front floor mats, the dash- board is covered with dust, a pair of work gloves, a notebook, and three books of matches. In the trunk off the new car can be found - the air cleaner off the pickup, a pair of boots caked with dried mud, a box of miscellaneous gears, cogs, two fan belts, and three spare hats. Farmers are the only people who can keep their sanity while the rest of us bang our heads on the wall in dismay over the weather, government policies, the weather, price increases, the weather, and a county council which often forgets that most of its constituents farm for a living. Farmers read agriculture bulletins, "The Canadian Farmer" and the financial page, but not necessarily in that order. They know a lot about insects, hail, crop dusting, irrigation, interest rates, curling, animal husbandry, engines, electricity, welding. futures, but can never seem to figure out what the heck those guys in Ottawa and at Queen's Park are doing. Farmers like roast beef ( usually well done): small children, especially their grandchildren; woodlots, big tractors, Hubbard squash, pot roast, and sometimes liver. They like mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade pie, and almost anywhere in Florida. They like vacations, but not as much as their wives do; like them, that is if they don't come too close together; big hath towels, dogs, euchre and Hockey Night in Canada. Farmers don't particularly like: zuc- chini, opera, liberals, hospitals, super- markets, 401, gas stations ( that's because they usually keep a gasoline pump of their own near the barn, sort of a do-it-yourself service station), implement salesmen, hank managers, and drought. Farmers are people who are convinced to spend a small fortune on a sprayer and huge quantity of the new insecticide - methyl bethyl aprozean, only to find out the day after they spray that it has been banned by the Federal Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Welfare because besides killing the bugs, it may be, just may be, kills birds and a few people too. Farmers are the peo- ple who know how to raise food in such quantity and of such quality that we are a people blessed many times over with their plenty at a fraction of the cost of what many in other less privileged countries pay to eat. A tanner is an eternal optimist who in spite of ram. when his land is soaking wet and drought when it is parched dry, hail when his tobacco or corn or tomatoes are at their peak notwithstanding interest rates and collapsing markets, government action or inaction. still get up every day, puts on his cap. and once again makes it all work for all of us. who so often take for ):ranted our farmers -- Reprinted from the I,ticknow Sentinal Ity Bill Brady. (-F1'i, ratio 4