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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1983-07-13, Page 4PAGE 4 —CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1983 Ms Clanton tilowt-ilocorr 10 publishes® outgo Wlorinecday at P.O. Eon ,e. Clinton. Ontario. Canaria. WWM 169. Tel.: X11 2.3488. Subscription Rato: Canada . °10.98 Sr. Citizen . 93.98 par year & Poral®a - •38.8e par year 19 le rsiiotorutt see moconel clams mall by egos pool office uramr the Formo19 number 111117. Thu ti®rr®.&acord Bncorparoted 1n 192 Me iiuraa Wa zro-Roeord, founded in 1891. and The Clinton %ism Ent. fouadod in I. Total prase run ®.898. Incorporating (mE RLYTH STANDARD) J. HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher SHELLEY McPHEE - Editor GARY HAIST = Advertising Manager MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Office Manager A MEMBER MEMBER Display ado/sensing rates amailable on request. A5rk for Rog® Card No. 12 affective ®c9. 1. 1981, Don't challenge the highway The ministry of transportation and communications has some good news to report. However Ontario drivers have a long way to go before the highways are fatality and injury clear. Perhaps this will never happen, but it's still goal we should aim for. At a time of year when more of us are travelling farther from our homes, it's reassuring to hear that motor vehicle fatalities are at their lowest in 24 years. In 1982, 1,138 people died in highway -related accidents, down 21.2 per cent from 1981. Within that, pedestrian fatalities declined 24.5 per cent - from 237 in 1981 to 179. Injuries dropped 7.5 per cent, down to 92,815 from 100,321 in 1c(81. While the figures have dropped, we must agree with Mr. Snow comments, "it still appalls me that just over 94,000 people were killed or injured on our highways last year. To put that figure in perspective, that's more than the total population of Guelph or Peterborough." Of great concern to Mr. Snow is the tragic increase in motorcycle deaths in the post year. Last year, 126 motorcycle drivers and passengers died in accidents, up 107 in 1981 - a 17.8 per cent increase. Injuries are up as well, from 5,189 to 5,641. These statistics are alarming but not surprising after reading further stats from the Ontario Safety League. The Safety League points out that the number of people licensed to drive motorcycles in Ontario has more than doubled in the past 10 years. However, less than 20 per cent of new riders take training lessons. There continues to be a problem with bikers and passengers who refuse to wear proper clothing; including helmets, jackets, pants, gloves and boots. Although it may be fun and feel refreshing to zip down streets and highways on a motorbike, when you're wearing only a pair of shorts and a Tight t -shirt, it is definitely not safe. On a motorbike there is little protection and without proper clothing, even a minor spill could cause major injury, the Safety Council warns. Mr. Snow has pointed out that he hopes the fatality and injury statistics, "will remind every driver of the need of care, common sense and respect for the rules of the road as we enter the summer months, traditionally the worst for motor vehicle accidents." Yes it's summer, time to enjoy our paved, straight open highways, not a time to 'challenge the road and our lives. -by S McPhee /-- behind the scenes Work together to prevent abortion I don't know about you but I'm sure sick of having every newspaper and radio news broadcast dominated by the antics of those two fanatical groups on either side of the abortion issue. Instead of Dr. Morgentaler coming back from California, I wish he had taken all his supporters with him to get them out of our headlines for a while. The anti- abortion people could maybe have gone to Europe for the summer. That might keep the two groups far enough apart to let the rest of us live in peace. Discussions on abortion are usually something I stay well clear of. That's because there are no discussions on abor- tion, only arguments. It's the fastest way to lose friends I can think of. Both sides are sure they have Right on their side. The ho- ly crusade for women's rights takes on the plain Holy Crusade in many cases. Views are so extreme that one side might as well be talking Greek and the other Swahili. If I admit, for"insthnce, that I personally am against abortion, that makes me a male chauvinist, secretly wishing, no mat- ter what I may say out loud, to keep women barefoot, pregnant and in the kit- chen. I am against abortion, however, for the same reason I'm against the death penalty. Any society that downplays the value of life by condoning its taking, is not civilized. It is opening the door to many more ugly practices in the name of prac- ticality. Some Indian tribes, for instance, used to send their old people off to die alone because the tribe didn't want to bear the burden of looking after people no longer useful to the society. We, of course consider this barbaric, but what's the dif- ference? On the other hand, I feel more than slightly uncomfortable being associated with fanatics who attack people with harden shears in their protest against 1)r Morgentaler. There is a certain fanaticism on the part of the pro -lifers that keith roulston has cost them a lot of support of less fanatical people. But fanaticism isn't all on one side. t'nere's a lot of lack of reason on the side of supporters of Morgentaler even though tnese are often portrayed as the good guys by the media. All the full isn't that abortion is against the law in the country it's that Morgentaler isn't ready to live with the law we have. Pro -abortion supporters would have you believe that thousands of women aren't served by the present law but the argument looks a little weak when you see the figures that in Toronto last year there were more abortions than live births. No matter which side you're on, those figures should be cause to stop and think. When there are more abortions than live births in a city that size, something is wrong. You can look at it from too many pregnancies being started or two many lives being ended but it's still a sad com- mentary on our society. There simply should . not be that many unwanted Pregnancies hi the first place. Why in ,heaven's sake can't these two fanatical sides stop their fighting for awhile and attack the real problem? What have either side been doing to prevent pregnancies in the first place? We desperately need more birth control education. We've got to make it easier,for people to get. We must stress to everyone, whether young or old, male or female, the responsibility not to start a life they don't want to continue. And we must give them the tools to be responsible. Abortion should not be a form of birth control. It can leave too many emotional scars for the individual woman and to society to let it become too prevalent in society. it must be a method of absolute last resort. This whole burning issue, however, could be a non -issue if the two groups would work together in prevention instead of battling each other over who should have closed the door after the horse got out. Red Cross needs rare birds The Canadian Red Cross, Ontario Divi- sion, issued an appeal today for all Red Cross Rare Birds to flock to the summer blood donor clinic being held in their com- munities. "it's a Rare Bird who takes the time to remember others during the summer mon- ths by being a Red Cross blood donor," said Janet Jones, Chairman of Blood Ser- vices for Ontario Division. According to .Jones the need for blood and blood products never takes a holiday. While there is not a bluuu siuyi.age in On- tario at this time the blood bank does dip during the summer months 'with so many regular donors away. "The situation is especially serious following every summer long weekend. That's the time we really need our Rare Birds to attend Red Cross blood donor clinics just prior or just after each long weekend," she said. For the time, date and location for a Red Cross blood donor clinic in your communi- ty just contact your local branch. Lazy, hazy days of summer sugar ond$piCe Well, now that Joe "Kamikaze" Clark has been replaced by "Jaws III" Mulroney, we can all sleep quiet in our , beds again, and drift into summer` senescence, along with our parliament. That's something that has always rather intrigued me — the long holidays enjoyed by politicians. The only people who come near members of parliament, when it comes to holidays, are teachers, and at least they are of some use. Can you imagine a huge company shut- ting down for the summer, unless it had to, because business was bad? Yet our government, looking after, sup- posedly, the needs and welfare of about 25 million people, and running a deficit of over 30 billion dollars, can close up shop for several months without a second thought. Does nothing happen in the summer'? Are the poor souls in the House of Com- mons so exhausted from scrambling to get into the TV picture right behind the leader that they are burned out? Or are their brains so drained from thinking up witty ripostes like "Hear! Hear!" for Hansard that they simply must climb into a ham- mock and let the moss grow back into their craniums? Oh, I know the country keeps going. Thanks to a dedicated civil service, which hangs around steamy old Ottawa, slaving away in those air-conditioned offices, breaking away from the coffee break to sign the pension and welfare checks, we stagger along somehow. But what would happen if a real crisis occurred? Let's say Cuba decided to in- vade Canada about the middle of July, just to make the Yanks even more uneasy? Wouldn't it be foofawraw? by Rod Hilts Most of our obsolescent planes and tanks are .in Europe. Most of their pilots and drivers are on leave. The four ships of our ' navy that are riot in drydock for more pat- ches are cruising in the Mediterranean, or the Sargasso Sea, or somewhere. Our Minister of Defence would probably be in China, trying to buy some fighter planes that don't crash every time they catch a pigeon in their intake. Our foreign affairs minister would pro- bably be in Cuba selling guaranteed bulls, at which he is an expert. Our prime minister, God bless him, could be — you name it. Actually, if it happened, the Cubans would probably be so baffled, they'd just go back home and try to think of invading some country that showed a little panache, formed a guerilla opposition, died with a smile on its face while singing the national anthem, or even welcomed the "liberators", as all conquering troops are, called these days, with wine and flowers. First of all, if they attacked our major cities on a July weekend, they'd find them as empty as Napoleon found Moscow. If they wanted to kill somebody they'd have to head north. Can't you see a tank -full of Cubans sail- ing intoone of our national or provincial parks on a Saturday night, and trying to find a place to park? No Canadian is likely to die singing 0 Canada. The first couple of bars are so slow they'd put the firing squad to sleep. But any red-blooded Canadian will fight to the death, and those of his children, wife and mother-in-law, to hang onto that cam- ping spot he got up at 4 a.m. and drove 200 miles, and fought off six other site -hungry campers to squat where he had a view of the water. kaleidoscope Calling all single girls? I have come across an interesting list of Clinton's most eligible bachelors. Only problem this they're all long gone, I'm sorry to say. One hundred years ago The Clinton New Era published an unique feature series on the town's bachelors. Each week I'm going to reprint some of the mini -features on these men which were reported to be, "marriageable and perhaps manageable men of note." "Issac Rattenbury - The subject of this sketch has not only a local but a provincial reputation. He is widely known from his connection with the Rattenbury House for many years and also as a famous hor- seman. Ike was the first male child born in Clinton and is about 36 years, though he don't look that much. He stands about 5ft. bin. in height, walks as straight as a rush and is rather a good figure. As to looks, Mr. Rattenbury can hold his own with the crowd and has a good standing sandy complexion. Whenever you meet Ike he is full of business. His forte is in buying and selling horses, of which he is an excellent judge. We do not think that the weaker sex bother him too much, and the prospects are they never will. He seems to be per- fectly happy when driving a good fast horse, which he always does, and not at all in a hurry to settle down in the felicities and quarrels of a married life." 1 personally won't be updating this And if the Cubans did manage to get up north and slaughter a couple of thousand Canadians, the rest of us worildn't even notice. We'd think the machine-guns were motor -boats and mutter about "all these damned city people" coming north and destroying the peace and quiet. Just suppose they did get up north, knocked off a couple of thousand, and headed back to the cities on Sunday night to take over the centres of power, like the post office, the pubs, and the poolrooms. Their forces would be completely demoralized by the Sunday night traffic. Their tanks and armored cars would be sideswiped, rearended, and stopped so often in jams that they'd over -heat and stall. The drivers of these military meanies would be psychological basket cases. If they parachuted into Vancouver, they'd be surrounded, in some districts, by junkies begging for some of that clean Cuban stuff. If they bit Montreal in force and started shouting orders in Spanish, they'd get nothing but shrugs. Somebody would say, "Speak white, man." The next guy along would say, "Parlez francais, sale cochon." If they hit Toronto, and demanded to see the boss, some flunky would tell them that Bill Davis was at Go -Home Bay for the weekend and couldn't be disturbed. All would not be lost, of course. By the time the Cubans had got back into their planes and flown home, bewildered, Peter Pocklington would have threatened to buy Cuba; John Crosbie would have organized the Newfie navy; and Joe Clark would have called for a new leadership cam- paign. Just a summer "scenario", the latest fad word, for your consideration. b, Y Shelley McPhee century old feature. It seems that the New Era society editor, who originally wrote the series, took More than his share of verbal and physical abuse. One young Clintonian threatened him by saying, "It's a confounded shame that you should be thus exposing the young men of this town. Whose business is it what they wear or how they cut their hair? If you put me amongst the rest, I'll raise a row, see if I don't. The society editor attempted to retaliate, but before he had spoken more than half -a -dozen words, the concerned young man gave the editor, "a crack across the eye which accounts for the bandage' he has been wearing all week." + + + Back to 1983, I've been asked to remind you that the Clinton Library will be holding its annual book sale on July 28. For a few cents you can pick-up some great hardcover and paperback books, perfect for summer reading. + + + A bouquet this week goes out to the Blyth Anglican Church Women (ACW). last week they were on duty to feed members of the Bluewater Kennel Club and judges at the annual dog show in Blyth. Kennel Club members report that the ACW did a commendable job, providing sandwiches for lunch, a roast beef dinner, complete with salad bar and a pancake breakfast. The ladies worked hard for two days for a worthy cause. Profits from their meals have helped to purchase a new furnace for the church. + + + Mr. and Mrs. A. Leibold of RR 2, Clinton were visiting in Chatham on the June 24 weekend with their daughter Marion Malcolm and granddaughter Kimberley. While there, they attended Kimberley's graduation at the Queen Elizabeth High School. Mr. and Mrs. Leibold also celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary on the same weekend. +++ '— Had a call from former Clintonian Doug Andrews the other day. He reported that after 37 years his wife Marian has beat him on the greens. Doug and Marian play at the Bayview Golf Club and recently Marian's 81 score beat Doug's 83 final mark. Doug says that he'll now be using Marian as a caddy. + + + Clinton taxpayers should note that last week's front page headline was incorrect. it reported that taxes would be increasing by 11 3 per cent. In fact, the budget will go up 11.3 per cent and taxes by only 6.43 per cent. Sorry for the confusion. the readers write letters Schof ear eeds your hell Dear Editor: In an item from town council, which I read in your paper several weeks ago, it was inferred that the restoration work on Clinton's j NR School -on -Wheels in Sloman Park had been nearly completed. This is emphatically not so: indeed, nearly all the restoration work to the pre- sent time has been done by one man only. More volunteer help is very urgently needed from any able-bodied adult — so, if you would like to be part of the restoration of this magnificent relic from the past, please call Ron Young at 482-7904, after 6:30 — he'll be glad to find you a job! Sincerely, Ms. Toby Rainey, Goderich. The Pill The Pill There's something I can't understand; I guess I never will. It's about a certain somethin' They refer to as the Pill. The doctors tell of benefits Or side effects they find, But always they just say "The Pill" They never say what kind. There's several different kinds of pills There's Carters and there's Doanes There's Aspirin and Bufferin To ease your aching bones. There's different shapes and sizes; Some are round and some are flat. There's one that tastes like chocolate But I won't go into that. There's sleeping pills and diet pills, And pills to ease your mind But up to now they've always had A name for every kind. That's why it don't seem too fair to me To simply say "The Pill" Who knows? It might be somethin' That's a cure for every ill. You take the Senior Citizens, sakes alive That pill might be a miracle For folks past sixty-five. They say that people use them so Somethin' won't occur Grandma Jones is ninety An' she says they worked for her. So I suggest all drugstores. That want to build goodwill Give the Senior Citizens the Name of that there Pill If we don't know the name of it. We won't know how to buy it Course it might not help us - But -by George - We'd like to try it. Beneath the political glamor By W. Roger Worth Vacation time has arrived, and most of the nation's politial heavyweights ( and lesser weights) will soon, be returning home, some of them exhausted after the months of harrowing political games played in our capital cities. The more dedicated politicians are returning to tasks that may be no less onerous than many of the duties carried out in Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies. Party fences have to be mended, con- stituent problems looked after and there is an endless round of the politicking necessary to (hopefully) ensure re- election. It's true, our politicians are among the highest paid in the world, particularly con- sidering their lucrative pension schemes. And it is also true that there are many Canadians who have it much worse, such as our army of unemployed. Nevertheless, our elected represen- tatives pay a heavy price. There is a com- plete loss of privacy; telephone calls from constituents arrive at all hours of the day and night, and for some, there are the long separations from families. In many ways, our politicians face an unresolvable dilemma. Simply put, there are not enough hours in the day to handle people's individual difficulties and, at the same time, give sober and thoughtful con- sideration to proposed provincial or federal legislation that will impact upon us all. Many of the problems are so complex that our elected officials need to spend in- creasing hours in briefing and reading time just to get a basic knowledge of the issues. In fact, the social -worker, problem -fixer function has significantly intruded on what should be the politician's prime role. As well, issues that some may view as crucial can generate heavy mail and telephone ac- tivity. Last year, for example, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business ran a national campaign to battle budget measures that would have badly damaged smaller firms, asking its 64,000 members to express their feelings to local members of Parliament. The politicians were inun- dated with calls, and the most devastating of the tax measures were eventually over- turned, proving once again that individual feedback does have an impact. The message here is that our elected representatives have a thankless job. per- forming the thousands of small tasks the public never hears about. Yet, by and large, they provide a service to the county that is invaluable, no matter which party banner they wave. 1