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Clinton News-Record, 1981-12-02, Page 4PAGE 4 - CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 ,1: 1 81 OF RIBBON A�",ARD 1980 The Clinton Nawallacord Is published each Thursday at P.O gas 31, Cllntoe, ®wtarle. Conde, NOM 164. Tela 44$•8948. Su crlptlagn Rate: Carwsde • 94.94 Sr. Citizen -'1$.N per veer U.S.A. t fa,relgn • "M).44 per veer 1t hi Einolattered as mend clava wall by the peat Who under the penult nu,i,bar NiY. The Nerra.laeseral Irotorpaaated In 1439 the tlarma itlevnoltenettl. hasandad In 141. tend This Oilmen Naw Ira. &i ncded In 1443. Total prove nun 8.84. Clinton New• Record A MEMBER JAMES E. FITZGERALD - Editor SHELLEY McPHEE-HAIST - News Editor GARY HAIST- Advertising Manager HEATHER BRANDER - Advertising MARGARET L. Gin Office Manager MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Subscriptions 0 MEMBER elselay advertising rates available axe ,avast. Aub for Rote Card No. 1$ affective Oct. 1. 1141. Farmers on guard The release last week of the emergency task force's report into the condition of agriculture in Ontario confirms what most farmers, especially younger ones, have known for some time, that the fight against inflation is being fought in the barn yards of Ontario, with the farmers being asked to man the frontline tren- ches and play the role of cannon fodder for the rest of the country. While the rest of the country eats coke, farmers are told to eat crumbs. The report, commissioned .py the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, and released at their annual meeting last week, was researched by q group of people independent of the OFA, but knowledgeable enough about agriculture to give a very accurate insight into the tremendous problems facing Ontario's farmers, who over the past five years have been producing more food for less money. Caught in a vicious circle of falling prices for their commodities, especially pork, beef and some grains, farmers have seen their input costs, including fuel, fer- tilizer and interest charges soar to unheard of high levels. But Ralph Barrie, president of the 25,600 member group, said part of the blame rests with the farmers themselves. He said farmers have too often been loyal to political parties, too obsessed with independence and too allied to narrow com- modity biases to speak with a strong, united voice on common problems. This has made them susceptible to attacks from all sides, including consumers, the media, and industry who have double standards, Barrie charged. "They embrace the philosophy of collective bargaining, monopoly pricing and market sharing, and they benefit from them. Butthey damn our marketing boards and farm organizations for trying to do exactly the some thing," Mr. Bar- rie said. And he's right. If farmers aren't prepared to help themselves, than few others will, and in the long run the whole country will suffer if we end up putting our farmers out of business and importing our food. -By J.F. It's not the end The mass media in North America, and television in particular, is certainly guil- ty of fostering and perpetrating a negative economic philosophy. They repeatedly dwell on and overuse the words, doom, gloom and recession. There is one thing for certain. The economy is not as stable as it was a few years ago. But. another certainty is that compared to the economy on a national scale, things are not all that bad in this community. The larger centres of the nation are feeling the crunch more than smaller com- munities. Somehow, the effect is substantiallylempered in smaller communities. This community, for example, never booms, but, on the positive side, never busts. The major enemies of the way people think about the economy are the national television networks in both Canada and the United States. Residents here are suf- ficiently exposed to both. As well, large circulation newspapers have contributed in a big way to the negative attitude to the economy. The philosophy, 'what we think, we become', has held fast through recorded history. if people drink something is true, then it is. The converse is equally evi- dent. If people think they cannot do something, they can not.. While the state of the economy is sick, there is a drastic difference between the flu and a terminal illness. The economy of this community can be likened to a mild case of the flu although the gloomsters would like everyone to believe it's a terminal illness. People learn many things through repetition. The phrase doom and gloom is one that some people believe characterizes the economy simply because the na- tional networks and newspapers have used the words over and over and over again. This is crowd psychology. A mass mind and a mass way of thinking. It is a proven fact there are businesses and salesmen selling as much as they ever did. Why° They choose not to believe the pessimistic prophecies or accept them as fact. If everyone chooses to believe that things are as bad as 'significant others' would like them to believe, then that negative reaction and approach will surface in' the way they talk, walk and conduct daily business affairs. Let's choose not to think in the negative manner advocated by others. Let's choose to tune out the resistive words and get on with business as usual. RGS Weathered weeds _remembering, our past 5 YEARS AGO December 9,1976 In the largest turnout in 20 years, the electors of Clinton put in a new council • Monday that will see seven of the 10 faces changed. A record 63 per cent of the municipality's voters elected a new mayor, a new reeve and six new coun- cillors. About 60 per cent voted in 1974. Don Kay defeated two other candidates for the mayor's position, replacing Don Symons, who retired from the post after 12 years. Mrs. William Porter of RR 2, Goderich was elected . as the provincial board member for the Federated Women's In- stitutes at a regional meeting held in Tillsonburg, November 9 and 10. Mrs. Porter has been a member of the London Area Women's Institute for the past 10 years. 10 YEARS AGO December 9, 1971 Mitchell Junior coach Lou Heinback is living up to his image of causing uproars in Old Age To be or not to be? Retired, that is. This is the question that many codgers of my age or near it grapple with in those lonely dark hours of the night when you've had too much coffee and can't get into the ravelled sleeve of care, as Shakespeare put it. Or get to bloody sleep, as some of his less flowery, countrymen would put it. It's a question that has also stirred a great deal of agitation among sociologists, medical reporters, and old guys who are healthy as trout and are about to be kicked out at the age of 65 with a speech, a copper watch, and a pension that will have them eating dog food by the time they are 68. It used to be a gold watch. Not no more, not with gold hovering around the $400 -an - ounce mark. In fact, just the other day, I dug out my father's gold watch, which was given me on hisdeath by my mother, because I was her favorite. I have never worn it, because I don't wear vests, and it's a big, heavy brute that must be slipped into a vest pocket. You can't wear it on your wrist, or put in your hip pocket. It's els big as an alarm clock. I took a long look at it, and if it hadn't been Sunday, might have hustled down to my friendly gold buyer. But Roots, or Con- science, or Common Sense, took over, and I sadly put it a:cay again, with such other memorabilia as my war medals, my hip waders, and a fading picture of my first real girlfriend, in a box in the basement. Roots told me it was a precious symbol dispensed by bill smiley that should be passed on to my eldest son, tS� in:it1 1:23" oria a: le. onsd .ncce tyle, me it was a rotten thing to do. And Com- mon Sense told me that there was probably about one-eighth of an ounce of gold in it. I am, however, holding in reserve a broken tooth with a gold inlay. When I came back from, . overseas and was discharged, I was given a form to present to my own dentist, listing the dental work to be done, at government expense. He was a typical WASP. He looked at the list of work, which was quite extensive, after a term on short rations in prison camp, and laughed. "Ho, ho, Bill. You don't want all that gold cluttering up your mouth. This was signed by a French-Canadian. They're great for gold in the teeth." If that dentist is alive today, I would be quite happy to strangle him. I went along with him, while noting his prejudice, and instead of having a mouthful of gold, I got one little inlay. If he'd followed directions, and counting the teeth that have been pulled, or fallen out, or broken, my mouth would have been worth about $4,000 today, instead of maybe $6. Well, this hasn't much to do with retir- ing, which we started on way back there, but it does show what inflation can do to a man. What about retiring? I look around at colleagues who have chosen early retire- ment, or who have been forced to retire because of that magic, arbitrary number, 65. Some are happy as hummingbirds and swear they would not even put their noses back into the old shoe factory (high school). Others are miserable, plagued by RIIta>ese X41 a ;feelani; of being (useless- The latter drive their wives out of their respec- tive minds, hanging around the house, get- ting in the way, edging into senility. Thus I waver. I thought some years ago that I would soldier on until 60. Surely 40 years of work is enough. Then I ani swayed Torn to page 16 • by James Fitzgerald o Zook through the news -record files the Clinton arena when he struck Greg Jer- vis over the head with a hockey stick dur- ing Friday night's hockey game in Clinton. Bayfield residents went to the polls in vote on a Liquor Plebiscite on December 6th, and approved two of the three issues. More than 60 per cent were in favor of the granting of a diningroom licence and a li- quor store, but rejected the vote for a beer store. Hully Gully Sno sport, a new venture operated by Mr. and Mrs. Randy Collins of RR 1, Varna, opened on Saturday. Although it wasn't much like winter, the enterprise will be ready to serve snowmobiles throughout the winter. Township and county officials in Bruce and Huron Counties met recently with On- tario Hydro representatives to discuss pro- posed routes for transmission lines needed to carry power from the site of the new Bruce Nuclear Power Development into the provincial power grid and to provide additional service in the Seaforth area. 25 YEARS AGO December 13,1956 Reeve John Deeves was re-elected Mon- day with a majority of 106 votes, to the reeveship of Goderich Township. The final touches are being put on toys assembled in a large room over Herman's Men's Wear this week. The group of men doing the job are the members of the Clin- ton Kinsmen Club. This is the third annual toy campaign be- ing conduce"' i by this young man's service club and it promises to be the most suc- cessful yet. The idea of the project is to make certain that no children in the Clin- ton area are missed by Santa Claus. Walter Westlake's garage in Bayfield was broken into on Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Entrance was gained by smashing a pane of glass and approx- imately $25 in silver was taken from the till. ,On Monday evening, an arrest was made by village constable Geroge Little and Corporal Sayeau. Footkmarks in the snow around the garage are said to have conformed to the shoes the suspect was wearing. 50 YEARS Ago December 3, 31 Mr. George Riehl has purchased the pro- perty of the late Mrs. Rumball, south side of Mary Street, and is erecting a modem chicken house thereon and intends to go more extensively into chicken raising. Mr. Riehl has been having much success with his chickens and feels that more room and better accommodations will result in greater success. The Ladies Guild of St. Paul's Church held Their annual bazaar on Thursday afternoon last in the school room, a bazaar which proved to be one of the most suc- cessful ever held. The school room was prettily decorated for the occasion, the booths and tea tables being very attractively arranged, and all afternoon the patrons came and went, until most every article exhibited for sale had been disposed of and a great mnay had dropped in for a cup of tea and to taste the dainty refreshments offered. The Kittle Band has again decided to put on a benefit concert, the date being Sunday everlig, December Bnrui, the process's' to be used to provide Christmas Cheer for families in town who will need such aid in making the coming Christmas season festive. Turn topage l6• odds 'n' ends by el cine towns pend Just Not Ready Sunday, November 1 - as I recall, it was a typical Indian Summer day, fairly mild for.that time of year and a bit hazy in the distance. I turned on the television to relax for a few minutes on a lazy autumn day. And there he was - the jolly old gent in the red and white suit riding behind some deer on a float in Toronto's Santa Claus Parade. Don't get me wrong. I like Santa as well as the next person. I admire his generosity and longevity, and I marvel at his seem- ingly boundless energy. Contrary to popular belief, I understand—TV that his work lasts longer than one or two days. I'll bet he's busy 12 months of the year. I11 bet he and Mrs. Claus haven't taken a decent vacation in years. Consider the work his job involved - ep- dating lists of requests, ages and ad- dresses; re -mapping his world flight; reading his mail; shopping for gifts; assembling and making some toys, clothes and other gifts; keeping his weight up; and making sure the sleigh is in tip-top condi- tion and waxing the runners; trimming his beard and supervising all those mischievous elves, not to mention Rudolph and mahis kes me feel tired just thinking about all Santa's chores. Then along comes November and December, and he's deluged with requests to ride in parades and make public ap- pearances in stores, shopping malls and even on street corners. Sometimes he takes part in radio phone-in talk shows, and sometimes he makes guest shots on shows. His arm must get tired from waving. Yet, by December 24, he still has enough strength to lift toddlers onto his knee. His iroice must become hoarse from shouting all those "I14, Ho, Ho's" on parade routes Perhaps that's why, if anyone catches him on Christmas Eve, he doesn't say a word. He just places his finger on the side of his nose and nods his head. He's saving his voice for that final hear- ty "Ho, Ho!" when he's flying through the sky with his work completed before dawn on Christmas morning. After a short respite, he jumps back on the merry-go- round again, preparing for another year. I've strayed from my opening remarks. When I spied Santa Claus on television on November 1, I was a little upset. I didn't want to spoil the Christmas magic for anyone, but I thought it was starting a lit- tle early. 1 understand, though, the old gent has to start early, if he's expected to fill aft the demands for personal visits. The main reasion I was upset was that seeing Santa reminded me of things I was not prepared to think about on an Indian Summer day - things I was going to have to do in the near future. I just wasn't ready. Now Pve run out of spate. The things I wasn't ready for on November 1 will just have to wait until next week. Have a heart! Dear Editor: This past summer, our four-year-old's pet dog died. Even now, she cries for her pet. Now, I'm to tell her someone is going to come and shoot her other pet? I dread to think of the emotional effect this will have on her. We breed purebred German Shepherds. We have kennels as well as part of the back yard fenced in. Our dogs are obedience - trained and never run loose. For an un- proven show pup, it is not uncommon to pay up to fifteen hundred dollars. We love our dogs too much to take the chance of them being smeared all over the road,.or perhaps poisoned eating rotten garbage. This isn't just becauee we have a .purebred, as we also have a mutt, who is loved and cherished and cared for just the same. I know for a fact that shooting or limiting a family's dog population will not solve the problem. My husband used to be an animal control officer. First time offenders were warned; second time fined and the third time around the animal was picked up, taken to the vet's, held three days, then destroyed. Many families knew their dogs would be destroyed, but chose not to do anything about it. Within a week, these same families would have another dog from the Humane Society or the litter down the street. Once again the cycle would start over. Many in this town are not aware of the Bluewater Kennel Club. We hold regular monthly meetings at the Clinton Agricultural Office, downstairs on the se- cond Monday of every month. We, work towards responsible dog ownership as one of our many goals. Every spring we teach Obedience Classes for all dogs. We also hate to see our garbage all over the lawn in the morning or our prize, flower bulbs dug out. We don't like the news stories about dogs biting and mauling people: Why is it we only ever hear about the "bad" dogs? As a member of this Kennel Club, I in- vite the Mayor and his Council to come to one of our meetings and perhaps we can help them to work out some sort of a solus tion without making it a Black Christmas and breaking hundreds of children's hearts. They are the ones who will REAL- LY pay and stiffer with the present solu- tion. Perhaps a bylaw should be introduced requiring proper kennels or fenced in yards for dog owners. For those who choose not to use these kenneling facilities, stiff fines which are enforced and not just tough -looking on paper may prove a deter- rent. Surely these could be enforced as are traffic fines. I, for one, will not stand by and quietly watch the town attempt to pass such , a cruel and ridiculous by-law when Fm sure a more feasible solution must be available. Dog's Best Friend, Mrs. Nola Bradley, . Clinton Barking up the wrong tree Dear Editor: With all due respect to his worship Mayor Archibald, may I say that I think he is "barking up the wrong tree" when he speaks of passing a by-law to restrict the number of dogs to a home. Dogs will be dogs, and the same goes for humans, unfortunately it is the•human who needs to be educated. How would he like to lie awake at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and listen to a barking dog for an hour or so, or on a summer afternoon or evening when your doors and windows are open? Garbage etc., is not the only complaint in this issue. Therefore I say, why waste time on mak- ing and passing a by-law in this instance, when it will do no good (unless there is some bite in it.) • Again I say, the onus is on the people who own the dogs and how do you control them, sir? A Bystander, Clinton 1 Back biting Dear Editor: In the midst of this back-biting and ear - diming dog battle, tot'U not loge sight of the fact there are responsible dog owners who never let their dogs run loose, no never! Our family has been owned by dogs for over 30 years. We have always had two dogs at a time. Not once in all that time (which included living in other small towns and the cities of Vancouver and Ot- tawa) did we receive complaints from neighbours, municipal or city officials. Granted, becoming the owner of a cute bundle of fur and even buying the requisite��i' lige gives no one the right to let that same bundle run free pillaging garbage, leaving calling cards, or even biting. Such dog owners should be fined heavily and if the culprit has no owner, then the ap- propriate measures must be taken, sad as this maybe. There are people who dislike dogs and their rights should be respected. But by the same token, if a family wishes to own two dogs (which are confined at all times) why should one "have to go"? Peggy Gibb, Clinton Do you have an opinion? llihy not write us a letter to the editor, and let everyone know. 4111 letters are published, providing they ran be authenticated, and pseudonyms are allowed. 4!1 letters, however, are subject to editing for length or libel.