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Clinton News-Record, 1983-10-05, Page 4PAGE 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1983 Mho .Clletton ttioutt.Sivcoret Is puOasiterr ouch Iffittiotiotbay at P.O. Som 39. Canton. Ontario. G.vrooito, mom 1&6. Teal.: 102.0440. Srobooltiatilott Aflatm: 6m 't - 119.79 Sr. Citiawv .110.73 For your 1➢.S.A1. fotvriip - 933.610 poo yavr It is rogistorod ®s somata eioas ascot by the post offiem ovodur tiro pormit nunabor 0017. The lrlovaty0morr incorporated In 1920 tato ttmron NOTAITS_6101Lerd. founded in 1001, orad Tito Clinton Plows Ire. irwurudod in 11199. Toted prays runs 0.760. Incorporating THE RLYTH STANDARD J. HOWARD AITIKEN - Publisher SHELLEY MclPHEE = EiIter GARY HAIST o Advertising Manager MARY ANN HOLLENRECP - Office Manager MEMBER 0lepluv arvertlelete rotes a valltabla ore eal/ueat. Atli for flute Cord. No. 14 effoctive October 1. 11e3. A MEMBER Park it here How many times have you driven up and down Clinton's main streets, watching for a space and cursing the town for its limited parking° Well those days of frustration should be over. Clinton Council has worked out a deal with Clarence Denomme to provide a large offstreetparking area behind his Ball and Mutch Furniture Store. Conveniently located off Princess Street, the new lot will provide parking for dozens of cars. The area is well lit for night parking and closely situated to downtown shopping. For added convenience, a walkway will be developed from the lot to the main street. Councillor John Deeves is hoping that some type of parking area can also be established in the north section of Clinton's downtown. Thank you council and Clarence for working out an agreeable arrangement to provide us with more parking. It should settle some of the complaints and the grumbling in the south end of town. - by S. McPhee Hymn of Thanksgiving By Peggy Cameron King I am Thankful for: The sneakers kicked off in our hallway The delights of reunions The quiet that comes with the darkness The purr of the cat in my lap The fire that glows in our fireplace The man who dries my dinner dishes. I am thankful for some negatives: That my daughter's skirts are not too long, too short That my son's hair is not too, too long That I have not gained weight That our roof doesn't leak The the arm I broke was the left one That my husband is not'in+polite s. 'itam thankful that I am able:5 To buy instant mixes To hear with my own ears To see with my own eyes To set my own hair To remember first names To sleep like a satisfied infant. I am thankful for specila privileges: The privilege of turning off television The privilege of reading what I like The privilege of privacy The privilege of voting as I wish The privilege of dialling direct The privilege of spoiling my grandchildren. I am thankful that I have learned How to say no and when to say yes How to conserve my energy How to wear eye shadow How to listen to birds How to listen to bores How to control my tongue. I am thankful for freedom: From the poverty of the less -privileged From the wealth of the over -privileged From the loneliness of divorce From the igonorance of the illiterate From the tyranny of despots From the aches of arthritis. Most of all I am thankful That at our Thanksgiving table There are no empty plates There are no empty places. -reprinted from The London Free Press. Thank you swim team coaches Dear Editor: The members of the Clinton Recreation Committee would like to take this opportuni- ty to thank the Swim Team Leader, Erika Lyon and all the Pool Staff for their efforts this past summer with the newly formed Clinton Swim Team. We know that it was a lot of hard work ge,,t- ting over 70 youngsters in shape for the four Swim Meets. It was noted that during prac- tice three times a week, these young swim- mers were "really put through their paces!" Also, a heartfelt thank you should go to all the parents who assisted the leaders. We are assured that the Clinton Swim Meet was one of the best organized in the area. For many children, it was the first ex- perience in such a competition. They are all to be congratulated on a fine performance! Perhaps next year even more will take ad- vantage of the opportunity. Sincerely, CLINTON RECREATION COMMITTEE Behind The Scenes By Keith Roulston Life in a small town A community, even a small community, is a pretty complicated machine. It takes wheels operating within wheels to make a community work and very few of us ever step back and watch to see what makes things tick. I remember a few months after we moved to our town, relatives visiting from the city asked if we knew everyone in town yet. Somebody coming from a city of three million people just figured you'd automatically get to know everybody in a town of 1000 within hours. It's part of the myth about small towns. A year or so later the relatives asked again: surely we'd know everybody by now. Twelve years later, I think I know fewer people than I did back then. A community is really made up of a lot of little communities, circles intersecting circles like wavelets in the water when you throw a handful of pebbles M. You move to a new community say as a young married couple and you move into two communities: you get to know your neighbors and you get to know the people you work with. Through your work you may even get to know, well enough to say hello to at least, a few dozen other people in the community. For some people, people who like to live a lifestyle much the same as they would in the city, that may be all the people you ever really get to know. If you're a more socially involved couple, however, you move into other communities within your community. The husband joins a service club, for instance and the door is opened to a whole new group of acquain- tances, even friends. The club has events that include the wives and there are new meetings. The wife joins her club and the same thing happens when the husbands are included in socal events. The couple goes to church and there are new acquaintances. The couple has children and eventually the children go to school and the family enters a new community. They meet the teachers. They meet other parents who complain about how ridiculous school taxes are and what a rotten job the teachers are doing because they don't realize that little Meg an exceptional child and would be far ahead of the other children if only she were handled properly. The children get involved in the commuru- ty outside the school and there are more people to meet who you may have nodded to on the street but suddenly, as parents, have to work with if you want to keep these ac- tivities going. Perhaps it's Girl Guides or Boy Scouts and you meet the hardworking people who are trying to keep the local organization going. The kids play sports, say hockey and baseball, and you realize that something you always took for granted as just being there, just being a natural part of growing up in a community, is only possible because there are dozens of people spending a big piece of their free time to make it work. The inside workings of each group is a community in itself. There are the leaders and the followers, the hitchers and com- plainers and the doers. There are little political battles as people try to get their way and try to solicit support for their side from those around them. In many ways, life in a small town is more complicated than life in a big city. Most of us in a small town are involved in more of these communities within communities than we would be if we lived in a city. We have to, if we want to make our community work. We'd better be if we want to keep our com- munity alive. The harvest Sugar and Spice by Shelley McPhee T.S. Eliot said, in one of his poems that,' "April is the cruelest month." 1 won't go into the symbolism of the whole thing, but I can imagine the fastidious, old -maidenly banker, sitting by a blazing fire in his London lodgings, looking out at the rain, and writing lines like that, full of hidden allusions that drive teachers and students crazy. It's certainly true of Canada, where he never lived, the old hypocrite. April in this country can be the cruellest month of the year, when you get a snowstorm just after planting your begonias, or whatever you plant. But for Canadians, 1 would like to paraphrase the quotation, and suggest that October "is the coolest month." And I don't mean in the sense of temperature. I mean, like, you know, dig, in the language of the Sixties, October is like, well, you know, 1 mean, real cool. IF it behaves itself. If it does, it can be a golden benison on the fruits of our labors, the yellow sun slanting through the foliage of an artist gone mad, the hackneyed nip in the air that makes you hustle through washing under your arms. If it doesn't behave itself, it can be a dreary, sodden introduction to November, which should be dropped from the calendar, as far as I'm concerned, except for Remembrance Day. It's a holiday. I'm writing this in the hope that springs eternal that this October will be one of the golden ones. Days of sun and blue sky. Nights drawing in to give a feeling of snug comfort without a blizzard howling around the eaves. It's a month that, I think, accords more closely with the Canadian psyche than any other. A strange time of rest after labor and By Bill Smiley girding of the loins for what's to come. In the Annapolis Valley in N.S , in the orchards of Ontario, in the prime land of B.C., the apples are either gathered or being eaten, the rich spurt of juice flying over one's shoulder at the first crisp bite. • In the prairies, there s a great sigh of relief or groan of despair, as harvesting ends and the farmer tots up the endless hours of labor, and makes the decision whether to go south for the winter, or go bankrupt. It's a time for that final attempt to break eighty on the golf course, to shoot a duck ( just one this year, please, Lord). or to catch a rainbow trout (same refrain). For old people, it's a time of mists and mellow fruitfulness, of a little walk in the last of the lingering sun, combined with a tinge of fear for the coming ordeal.. For adolescents, it's a romanticlinterlude between the madness of summer. and the madness of winter. It's a time for falling in love. last year's infatuation obliterated by this year's anticipation. A time of holding hands, and bunting, like calves, on the street -corner before the girl heads for home and dreary parents and dreadful siblings. For little kids, it's a great montti. School hasn't yet become boring, there's still some light to play in the leaves after supper, and winter, though farthest from their thoughts, is nu grim enemy What about the rest of us? Well, there are such. diverse joys as fall fairs, auction sales, putting on the storm windows, starting again the silly social life that picks up in the fall, raking the blasted leaves, wondering if the old furnace will hold out for another year, and viewing all the horrible new "premeers" of TV shows, while we deplore Kaleidoscope the cancelling of our old favorites. It's certainly no time for falling in love. Many marriages almost founder in October, as the wife worries and nags and the husband keeps sneaking off to fish or hunt or golf and neglecting the caulking, the wood to be split for the fireplace, the leaves to be raked, the bills to be paid. But a pretty good month, as a rule. 1 wonder what it will be like this October, in Canada. Not so good, I would think, for a great many people. We're into a depression, and call it what you like, it's a fact. A hell of a lot of men and women are out of jobs, and facing a bleak winter. And more will be. 'You can count on that. The shrivelling and the panic of the moneymen are just like that .of the Great Depression of the Thirties. They're tucking up their skirts and running scared. 7'he great difference between this depression and the Great is that inflation has not only not been wrestled to the ground, it is bright-eyed and bushy -tailed, eager for another round. Another big difference this time is that taxes and interest and mortgage rates are cruelly punitive, so that those who lose their jobs are caught between a stone and a hard place. Despite the Liberals desperate measure of the six -and -five, in order to remain in power, there are tough times ahead. But don't let it get you down. All the ineffectiveness of the politicians, the growing impersonality of society, where the computer is king, can't lick that odd in- describable - the human spirit. We shall npt only endure, we shall prevail. And we may even have some fun, however grim, in doing so. Happy October, all. This week marks the start of a new look for the Clinton News -Record. What you're seeing this week is our new modular page format, a stylish design that is geared to make both advertisments and stories easier to read and nicer to look at. The modular look is a new concept that promises to make our newspaper pages look brighter and bolder, cleaner and crisper. For readers it will provide stories in neat block packages and larger photographs. For advertisers the modular system will be more convenient and simpler to understand. The old ad lingo in inches and centimetres no longer exists and now our ad staff simply deals in blocks or units. And most im- portantly, ads will look better than ever. We're excited about our new change and we hope you enjoy the new look. Remember too that this is your newspaper and if you have any ideas or suggestions please feel. free to call me. + + In the news this week we hear from The Ottawa Citizen that Janice Middleton Bretel was the top competitor in the media division at the International Plowing Match. Janice competed against 19 other men and women, but her first furrow was the neatest and cleanest. By Shelley McPhee Congratulations Janice, I'm sure that i couldn't do the same even though I have good old Colborne Township farm blood in n ie + 4 4 Another young woman from this area is also making a name for herself. Christine Hartley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hal Hartley of Clinton and teacher at College Avenue Secondary School in Woodstock has obtained a part in the Woodstock Little Theatre production, Thriller of the Year. i pristine is a straight amateur in acting, this is her first big play, but for several gars she has "hankered" to do something like this. + + + The Clinton Knights of Columbus held a successful door-to-door canvass for the Arthritis Society. They raised more than 11 400 for research into the crippling di se ase + + + We neglected to mention last week that W.G. Hayter of Varna was one of the cash donors who helped to make the Clinton F'N uiy' Sale another great fund raiser for the Hospital Auxiliary. nits might be the time of year when many people are thinking of Oktoberfest, but recently in Sea forth the Scottish were out in full force for the annual Ceilidh at the local Legion. The Bannockburn Pipe Band, with six pipers and three drummers and Norm Dunsmore's Scottish Band from Kincardine entertained the more than 200 in attendance. -1 4 -1- Mr and Mrs. Doug Crich from Willowdale were weekend visitors with Mr. and Mrs. Don Crich and Lloyd Crich of Princess St., Clinton It was a special occasion as Mr. and Mrs. Don Crich celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on Oct. 2. Their family honored them by taking the anniversary pair out for dinner. Other visitors present included Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pym of RR 1, Centralia and Mrs. Rose Crich of Clinton. 4 + + it's time for the gathering of the geese and the corn harvest. Busy squirrels are carrying off huge nuts and the leaves are starting to fall. October has arrived and with it comes the promise of a glorious autumn weekend. My best to all of you on this Thanksgiving holiday. Have yo r say D ters are not s. o:`1:''s Dear Editor: After reading "Hunter Safety Stressed" and "Hunting Can Take Its Toll On Your Health" in the September 28t'r edition of the Clinton News Record, I feel :obligated to voice my opinion. I feel that 12 gauge 00 - Buckshot should be limited to a range of 30 yards and rifled slugs to a range of not more than 100 yards as opposed to the ranges given in the above-mentioned article. Long shots on deer are not effective, and the hunters I know strive for clean kills rather than unnecessary wounding. To correct the false statement in the other article regarding hunting accidents, I will quote from Steve Cooke's article, Naturally Speaking. "In 1961, 36 hunters were killed and 118 were injured as a result of careless hunting – 20 years later, three were killed and 34 were injured" according to Natural Resources Minister Alan Pope. Hunters do listen to safety authorities and in most cases have a say in bag limits and open seasons. We are not the incompetent slobs and careless dumbbells that this arti- cle portrays us as. There is no other sport that I know of that requires you to take a course to prove you are capable and have acquired sufficient knowledge before allow- ing you to participate. I feel that the majori- ty of hunters would be in total agreement with me in this regard. Thank you. Yours truly, Murray Grigg Garage answers letter Dear Editor: One of the problems presented by the writers of anonymous letters is the fact that replying has to be done through the media. Recently a letter was received by the owner of Mcllwain's Garage in Bayfield regarding the care of a dog. However on further consideration it was obvious that the letter had been sent to the wrong ad- dress. The letter asked why a dog was tied away from the station. The writer suggested that the Humane Society should be informed. A visiting dog was, in fact, being cared for at the Tank and Tummy and had the "concerned person" taken the trouble to enquire, he or she would have learned that far from being ill-treated, the animal was receiving the best of care and 'attention. Anonymous communications are always somewhat suspect because of the failure of the writer to identify himself or herself. The assumptions made have obviously not been verified and consequently cannot cover tbe,true facts. So it seems that this disturbing matter, which distressed the original recipients of . the letter quite unnecessarily, was based on a fallacy from theoutset Sincerely, William Mcllwain and Ed Gale, Bayfield. View from the farmers Dear Editor, The letter of Keith Matthie that ap- peared in a recent issue of the Eastern and Western Ontario Farmer needs a response. Mr. Matthie has taken exception to our view that the retention of Section 31 of the Income Tax Act will be to the benefit of family farm agriculture It is our experience that cash accounting allows many farmers during any period of growth in their enterprises to show a loss for tax purposes. The flexible inventory method can also result in similar 'paper' losses. The write-off of such losses against other income can only lead to a distorted development for agriculture. If entrepreneurs wish to use em- ployment income to build up a farm en- terprise, they should be free to do so. But it is unfair to ask the public purse to provide an unlimited subsidy fol those who do this. CFFO is a strong supporter of a beginning farmers program. We have called for such a program both federally and provincially for more than 5 years. For example, we strongly endorse Ontario's new program. But to provide such a program through the repeal of Section 31 would be unfair. Unlimited write-offs of farm losses against other income would mean that those with high incomes would get big subsidies. Those with small incomes would get none. We want support for beginning farm entrepreneurs but that help should be fair. Those who need it most should be helped first - not the other way around. Our members are 'natural' competitors but our goal is to promote fair competition. Young entrepreneurs should not have to compete for opporturuties with others who are granted a special access to the public purse. We have a lot of respect for part-time farmers and their major contribution to food production. A repeal of Section 31 would result in a significant flow of public money to a number of part-time en- terprises that are first of all designed as tax shelters. We consider that an inap- propriate use of public funds Agriculture has much greater needs to which such funds should be directed. In our experience the existence of Section 31 has been to the benefit of bonafide family farmers. We have noted that R.U. Bollman of Statistics Canada in an article in the Summer issue of the Agrologist, agrees with our analysis of the present situation: ' ... it discriminates in favour of the bonafide "beginning" farmer who has no off -farm income and discriminates against the taxpayer in high income brackets who wants to shelter his non-farm income in the agriculture sector and bids up land prices as part of the bargain." The price of foodland is set by the Turn to page 5