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Clinton News-Record, 1983-08-10, Page 4PAGE 4 —CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1983 The Clinton Pasmosc-avvours9 Aa published Goat Stednaeedmy .t P.O. Dam W. Clinton. ®atonia. Ceram. KIM 1St. 409.: 012-34013. Subscription grata: Cancan - °91.11 Sr. Citizen - •52.11 par year U.S.A. & loroi•n - °90.11 per yew At is re, ppt®r d EC second dams moil by visa pout ®trio aurae vita Ferrw9t a¢eroraioar 1196. The DCrocoelbscorml incoorpor.tad lw 59L0 the tierce euros-ltocwd, @counted in 5115° cosi Teter Clinton tater arm. tatrndsod ire 5119. Total puree run ®.2a0. incorporating THE BLYTH STANDARD Jo HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher SHELLEY McPHEE - Editor GARY HAIST - Advertising Menager MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Office Manaiger A MEMBER MEMBER (Display advertising violas available on r.arrrr,t. Ask tar Sate Card No. 12 .tf.cvlwe Oct. 1. 5915. Save the world for our children Is it fair to bring children into this world° I often wonder after reading the terrifying predictions of destruction that would be caused by nuclear war. Our parents, as our grandparents and ancestors before them, brought us into this world to carry on the human race, to have all the opportunities that this world offers. Today it is uncertain whether our children will enjoy these benefits. It seems that few lessons were learned from the dropping of the first nuclear bomb at Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 when more than 200,000 innocent lives were lost. Today world governments are not making unified efforts to prevent further mass annihilation, but are playing a dangerous game as they build bigger and more powerful nuclear warheads. A recent study produced by Dr. Don Bates, a McGill University doctor states that if Canada were hit by a nuclear attack, almost half its 24 million people would die immediately. Dr. Bates states that Canada would be attacked in the same way and extent as the United States, because it provides important industry, agriculture and resources for U.S. consumption. Major cities, nuclear reactors, hydroelectric dams and power generators would be major targets. The study states that 20 to - 40 o40 megatons of nuclear explosives could be dropped on Canadian targets. "One megaton," Dr. Bates explained, "is equivalent in explosive power to one million tons of TNT and is 70 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima." Few, even thqse living in small communities from major centres in Canada, would survive or remain unharmed. More terrifying statistics come from the anti-nuclear organization Ploughshares. They state that one Cruise Missile is equivalent to 15 Hiroshimas. Ploughshares states, "The U.S. plans to build 7,500 of these missiles, we believe that the deployment of Euromissiles and the testing of the Cruise can serve only to further the arms race and bring us one step closer to total disaster." Ploughshares, in a full page statement in the August 6 edition of the London Free Press went on to state, "We believe we must act together with the people of the world to affirm our common unity as citizens of one planet. We believe there is still time, if we assert ourselves and make our voices heard. We believe in the future." Ploughshares is asking people to write to the Prime Minister and local MPs, urging them to reverse the decision to allow the testing of the Cruise missile in Canada. They are asking concerned citizens to support the concept of making Canada a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and raise the issue of the nuclear arms race in local communities. Ploughshares is also organizing a Peace March on Saturday, October 22. Peo- ple from across Canada, U.S.A. and Europe will march for peace and in this area the march will be held at London's Victoria Park at 12 noon. For more information Ploughshares may be contacted at, 533 Clarence Street, London N6A 3N1 telephone 679-6281 . behind the scenes Off the track With the economy still sluggish, with the unemployment rate still at depressing highs, with the spectre of higher interest rates hanging on the horizon, with the knowledge we're falling farther and farther behind the technological leaders in .Japan, there are conferences and think tanks and Royal Commissions to find out how we can get the economy back on track again. But nobody seems to be asking, was it the right track we were on in the first place? The general aim of the people who want to set things right again is to get things back to the 1950's and early 1960's, the time of high growth and higher expectations. If we could only do that, we'd all be happy. Well, first off, we wouldn't of course. People could find just as many things to be unhappy about in the 1950's as they do today. One of the things that drove John Diefenbaker from office was the "poor" economy of the early 1960's, an economy we'd think was wonderful today. Secondly, is it possible for us to return to the good old high growth days when there's really no reason for there to be high growth? The growth of the "golden era" was fuelled by real need. With the second World War over soldiers came home to put their lives back together again. They started making up for six years of lost time, having families at a record rate, meaning there was suddenly a need for new homes and furniture and appliances and cars and just about anything else that could be manufactured. In addition there was more money around than ever before. After the depression when everybody but the very rich was strapped for cash, the war years brought unheard of prosperity on the home front. Anybody who wanted one could get a keith rot Is ton job. Women were working for unheard of wages. People were investing money in Victory Bonds because they wanted to help win the war and because with rationing, there wasn't anything to spend it on anyway. So there was a reason for the growth of the '50s, a reason we don't have now. The baby boom has stopped. The children of the baby boom, concerned with careers and other priorities, are not having babies like their parents. What's more in the last decade they've been spending every cent, not socking it away in bank accounts. The demand just isn't there for real growth. Yet the psychology isn't there. How many times have you heard some businessman say, "If you're not going ahead, you're going back." It's an ac- cepted truth. Growth is essential even if it must be a manufacutred growth. So in recent years we've had the myth of growth. People can only own so many houses, so many televisions, so many refrigerators so we must find new things we can manufacture and convince them they need. So we have fads; whirl pools, saunas, video games, swimming pools. The problem is that fads are cycling faster and faster. People used to have to scrimp and save to get a new car or a new refrigerator but today people have so much disposable income that today's fad is taken for granted tomorrow. A growth industry this year is a dying one next (just take a look at what's happened to the stock of the video game manufacturers in the last year). The only thing that remains of the 1950's is the psychology of growth. So we see Ontario Hydro which was set up to meet demand, now going out to create demand so it can justify building more nuclear generating stations at great expense. Something along the way has got a little warped here. Seems that perhaps one of those many commissions could take a -little moment to wonder if we've lost track of where we were really going in the first place before putting us back on the old track. Keeping the beat • sugar arid spice Roughing it part 2 " DO you have a personal physical pro- blem? Leukemia? Touch of cancer? Heart spasms? Crippling arthritis? Em- physema? Old age? Don't give it another thought. Just con- tact a fly -in to the northern bush, and your problem will be solved. Permanently. I warned that I'd write another column about my "fishing weekend." Here goes. What kind of people belong to a "camp" on a lake that you, can't get to except by plane or by walking 10 miles through the bush? Ten miles through the bush, by the way is like 40 miles on a highway. This is one of the first great lies you'll be told by the old-timers, who sit around drinking tea and talking about the big bear someone shot 40 years ago. "How far is it?" you ask in your in- nocence, as some maniac suggests you go over to the next lake, through the woods, carrying a motor for a boat that might be there, because it used to be. "Oh, about a mile," they say non- chalantly. Well, even an old duffer can walk a mile. They haven't lied. Except to omit the facts that the mile is a mile up -hill, a mile down -hill, a mile to the east, and a mile to the west. Nor have they lied about the bugs. "Bet- ter spray on some repellent. Could be a few flies." Did you ever wonder why men who escape from prison and head into the Canadian bush in summer aren't even pur- sued by the authorities? They come whimpering out the nearest road or settlement, pleading to be locked up or shot immediately. Aside from breaking an ankle on the "trail" which is pure jungle interlaced with rocks, a mile trip through the bush • t., would make -a session with the Gestapo a Sunday$chool picnic. Most of us can blow or wave a way a mosquito, swat a fly, demolish a bumblebee with a newspaper. How many of us can annihilate a so- called deer fly, the size of a sparrow, who fastens on one's neck, and proceeds to dine leisurely, regardless of swipes at him with tackle boxes, gas cans, and fishing rods? Well, I can't. And only the lurching, blasphemous, old fighter pilot ahead of me kept every bone in my 63 -year-old frame functioning. He was 65: Honor prevailed. We made it. And both politely but firmly refused our old buddy's sprightly request next morning that we take "another little hike" to see "another great lake." By this time, the guests had agreed that one lake looked much like another. What kind of people would do this to you? They weren't Gestapo or KGB or CIA. They were just a bunch of ordinary Cana- dians who had enough sense to know that bass don't bite in hot weather, and wanted .to see what was left of some old fighter pilots whose daring -do the previous night had piqued their curiosity. Boy, we talked a good war, but they won it. Monsters? No. Jack Ryan, a lawyer, was. the instigator, and I think he loved every moment of our torture. He probably still hates me for nearly clipping off the tail off his Spitfire about 80 years ago. His other victim was Ren Hendeson, another old fighter pilot, an Australian who married and settled in Canada after the war, brought up in New Guinea, flew in the Aleutians, instructed flying at Camp Borden when I was frantically trying to get my wings, flew two tours of Ops in WWIi, and is a raving naturalist who says things like, "What is that lovely little lizard on your neck?" Ryan's accomplices were permanent members of the camp. Everybody seemed related. Harold and Ken Rogers were half- brothers, with almost three decades by Shelley McPhee kaleidoscope Two weeks of rest and relaxation has rejuvenated my work weary body. R and R came easily with a chaise longue, a sandy bit of beach, a good steamy novel and a wine spritzer ah what luxury. The days went by simply too fast, but some nights on the lake, with wicked electrical storms crashing overhead, seemed to last forever. I enjoyed more than my share of good food, drink and the company of wonderful friends, lazy af- ternoons on the lake, midnight swims, campfires and song, sun bathing and star gazing. So much for the good life, it's back to reality, and all the projects that I promised to start after holidays. There's a mile -long list on the fridge listing all the jobs that need to be completed at our between them. Bill Turner, a millionaire who quit school at 15, was a sort of uncle to Andy Simone, a civil servant who can hardly wait to get out. Ryan and I are old buddies, based on a brief relationship in Britain about 40 years ago. He and Henderson were on the same Spitfire squadron. Henderson and I have a mutual old sidekick, Tony Frombola. And so it went. Ryan is the complete Irishman. Life of the party. Never stops working or talking. Listens but doesn't seem to. If he isn't talk- ing, he's singing. Fit as a fiddle. Trust him with my wife or my life. Harold? Old-timer, retired, 84 stories about hunting. Crafty poker player. Ken? Can do anything with motors, refrigerators, stoves, you name it. Friend- ly, open good-hearted, ends every sentence with, "eh?" A real Canadian. Bill Turner? Hell of a good cook for a rich man. A little to the right of Attila the Hun socially. Caustic wit, but never woun- ding. Andy? Looked like he'd wandered in from a Disney picture. Never stopped working. Didn't drink or smoke. Quiet, wit- ty: Sweet -natured. Dumb like a fox at poker. "Whadda, I do now?" and he's sit- ting there with four aces. I could write a column about this weekend, but of course I won't. Just a couple of general observations. The language was the worst since the last day in the teachers' lounge. Yet everybody's wife was sacred. No suggestive remarks. Only bouquets. And Bill Turner's wife, Flo, makes the best ?&$:&$! marmalade in Texas. She cuts every single strip of orange by hand, even though Bill tells her it's !$&$?:& stupid. She does. And maybe it is. But•I wouldn't trade it. Ryan, I'll get you for this. Turn over the legal affairs of my entire family to you. That'll flip your flaps. nouse. And, believe it or not, Christmas is slowly creeping up on us. i hadn't given a thought to our winter white holiday until a Christmas craft magazine arrived in the mail the other day. Christmas is less than five months away and as usual i've got great plans to create all sorts of unique presents this year. Perhaps this will be my lucky year, perhaps I'll get that sewing machine in gear. + 1- f While my garden is knee high in weeds, thanks to the recent rain, there's a really lovely garden at the Vanastra entrance. The marigolds, petunias and other types of flowers standing in full bloom are certainty a wonderful welcome as you enter Vanastra. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. John Smith of Vanastra, their many volunteer hours of planting and pruning have made this garden an eye catcher. + + + You may have noticed a new name in the News -Record. Margaret Hoggarth is our newest Kippen correspondent. She's taking over from our longtime worker Rena Caldwell. + + + Mr. and Mrs. Jack Merill, Mr. and Mrs. George Colelough and Elwin Merrill of Clinton and Mr. and Mrs. Ross Merrill of Bayfield attended the Phillips Rohfritsch wedding in Byron United Church on August 6. + + + Stay tuned to CFPL-TV London for a glimpse of Blyth. Our village to the north will be featured on the Summer Snapshots with Jim Swan. the ead',e,rs, write letters L dren help Africans Dear Editor: The Clinton Christian Reformed Church had a successful Vacation Bible School from July 18 to 22. The children brought in donations to buy New Testaments for African children. Money for the Bibles was sent to the Canadian Home Bible League. In return we have receieved the following thank you note. "The Canadian Bible 'League wants to express its gratitude to all the youngsters who have attended Vacation Bible School of the Clinton Christian Reformed Church. We are grateful for your fine contribution of $132.56 towards the distribution of God's Word to children of Africa. "Isn't great that we, who are living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world, may help children in Africa, so that they too many know about the love of Jesus Christ. "We also want to thank all the staff members of the Bible School for their help and cooperation." from, Helen Dykstra, Clinton. Look again at pornography Dear Editor: Recently the London Free Press has carried articles relating to the problems created by pornography. Many store owners have looked at the books on their shelves, and with a new awareness, have discontinued selling them. Pornography hurts men and children as well as women! No-one benefits by seeing a picture of a young girl bound with rope, looking terrified at the knife held to her throat. This very picture was front page coverage on a magazine sold in our own town. I appeal to all store owners to look again at their reading material and ask them- selves honestly, if that kind of violence and degradation is doing Clinton or the world any good? Sincerely, Barb Hodgins Party time in Alexandria Dear Editor, We would like to inform your readers that the Town of Alexandria, Ontario, will be celebrating its 100th birthday in 1984. Therefore, we would like to send a special invitation to all the former residents of Alexandria and area to come and par- ticipate in the various events scheduled throughout the upcoming year. The focal point of our centennial celebra- tions will be the "Homecoming Week" to be held from June 23 to July 2, which pro- mises to be a great opportunity to reminisce with old friends and to meet new ones. A lively array of sporting, musical and social events are being planned for this occasion. Please come and join us in our centen- nial celebrations which will be exciting and memorable. For further information concerning our centennial celebrations, please write to us: The Centennial Committee, P.O. Box 700, Alexandria, Ontario, KOC 1AO. Sincerely yours, Jean-Paul Touchette, Mayor, Town Council of Alexandria. A child's death trap According to observational surveys of children traselling in cars, safety authorities note that only a small percen- tage of children are properly restrained. This makes the family car a potential death trap for children riding in them. How many times have you seen children sitting in a moving car without restraining devices, or sitting on adults' laps, or stan- ding on car seats'.' How many times have you seen a child clinging to the dashboard? All these apparently innocent practices are acts of negligence which make your child the possible victim of injury or death. Many parents either think it is un- necessary to have special restraining devices, or else find it easier to give in to the pleas of their children. They risk cries of pain when they allow themselves to be nagged into giving the child complete freedom to move about the car, jeopardiz- ing the child's safety. What can we do to protect our children? Obviously, the first and moat `.mportant safety step is to make certain the child sits when in the car -- not a: ,omeone's lap. Se- cond, use seat belts with chest restraints. And make certain the belts are properly installed with proper attachment to the body of the car. Third, be careful of baby car seats and cribs. To be safe, they must be securely fastened. Ideally, some provi- sion should be made to secure them to the body of the car, possibly by crisscrossing safety belts into a restraining position. in children. undetected neurological and structural problems can often affect growth, posture and the development and function of vital organs. That is why it is important to visit a doctor of chiropractic after an auto incident occurs. He is trained in structural pediatrics, and is well- qualified to treat common disorders in- volving the spine and pelvis. Where his comprehensive diagnosis would reveal the need for other specialized care, he will recommend the appropriate specialty. These health views are published by members of the Ontario Chiropractic Association in the interest of better nuhlir health tti