HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1983-11-23, Page 4PAGE 4 —CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23,1983
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Incorporating
(THE BLYTH STANDARD
J. HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher
SHELLY McPHEE - Editor
GARY HAIST - Advertising Mu. o .r
MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Office Manager
MEMBER
Display advertising rotes
available on request. & h for
Nola Card. 60c. 10 affmcflve
October 1, 1903.
A
MEMBER
Heritage benefits
One good thing about the recession has been the impetus it has given to
preservation of Ontario's abundance of heritage buildings. Where once it was
quicker and easier to wreck and rebuild, with little regard for history, hard times
have made renovation and restoration more attractive.
Much of the credit for fostering this marriage of economics and conservation is
due to the Ontario Heritage Foundation and local architectural conservation ad-
visory committees whose efforts have saved dozens of historic properties from
neglect.
' While not everyone finds late Victorian architectural styles appealing, struc-
tures of that era were solidly built and would be enormously expensive to
duplicate, if indeed the craftsmanship were available. Additionally, they have
historic value and are nostalgic reminders of a more gracious and leisurely style
of living.
With on annual budget of about $2 million, the foundation headed by Londoner
John White has been on instrumental catalyst in the rejuvenation of some 30
buildings for use as town halls, libraries and other public services.
A prime example of what has been happening in small towns across this part of
the province is the heritage conservation plan unveiled this month for the main
street of Seoforth, described by Goderich architect Nicholas Hill as "one of the
finest late nineteenth century streetscapes in Ontario."
A key element of the ambitious project, which could eventually encompass
more than a score of buildings, is restoration of the town's 108 -year-old Cardno
Opera Hall. Owner Ken Cardno, a great-grandson of the builder, has been a
prime mover in obtaining a blueprint for his town's beautification.
His efforts now have been rewarded with a $25,000 grant from the provincial
building rehabilitation and improvement campaign (BRIC) toward the estimated
$52,000 cost of Cardno Hall restoration.
If it encourages private investors to join in the rejuvenation of Seaforth's
historic main street, it will be tax money well spent. From the London Free Press.
Behind The Scenes
By Keith Roulston
Fame and fortune for me
I have reached one of those milestones in
life, the kind of changes that Saul underwent
on the road to Tarsus. I have decided that I
want to be famous.
I have made this decision knowing it will
require a great sacrifice. I do not want to
become famous, for instance, because of the
attention it will bring. I have no wish to be
disturbed at my dinner in some swank big -
city restaurant by buzzing autograph
seekers. I have no desire to have quiet
cocktail parties disrupted by panting
voluptuous females wanting to add another
celebrity to their victory list. I would as soon
retreat to a cabin in the north woods
somewhere undisturbed even by the
National News if I had my druthers.
But no, I have decided to sacrifice all this.
Looking around, studying the way of the
world, I have decided that there really is no
alternative but to be famous. That thought
was reinforced last week by the fuss over
the appearance at a Progressive Con-
servative fund-raising meeting in Toronto of
Charlton Heston. Charlie, as we rich and
famous people call him affectionately, was
brought in from the United States to talk to
some of the greatest minds of the Ontario
Conservative party each paying $150 to hear
the great man talk. Not that he really felt
he'd left his homeland. There were
American flags everywhere at the dinner, a
choir sang the U.S. anthem and there was a
toast to Ronald Reagan.
Then this star of many American fihns
including The Ten Commandments, brought
his essage to the assembled politicians and
community leaders telling them, basically,
that if we'd all just get behind Mr. Reagan
the world would be a better place.
rine and good. The man has a right to his
opinion. If he can get people in high places to
listen to him more credit to him. But then I
heard the part that changed my life. I
listened to Hugh Segal, one of the Tory
policy advisers, say on radio that guest
speakers like Mr. Heston are paid from
$5,000 to $12,000 to make these speeches.
Gadzuks! You not only get a chance to in-
fluence people but they pay you what used to
be a year's salary to do it. (The first thing
I'm going to do is demand a raise for trying
to influence you column readers.)
That's the interesting part of being
famous. You can make more from not doing
what you're famous for than all the ordinary
people do for doing what they're best at. I
don't care, for instance, if somebody would
pay me what Wayne Gretzky makes a year
playing hockey. I'd just love to get what he
gets from doing soft drink commercials and
having his likeness cast in miniature in
plastic to thrill all the little girls who'd like
to take the real thing home to cuddle.
Once you're famous, you don't even have
to be very good at the extra -curricular
things to be paid big bucks for them. I don't
know how Gretzky can submit himself to do
some of those commercials ( I'll bet he can't
stand to watch them because I can't.) The
idea of Charlton Heston's ideas running the
world is as frightening as ... well, as Ronald
Reagan's, another ex -actor nobody took
seriously at first.
Anyway, I want it! I want the power of
being able to talk about things I don't know
anything about and having people listen.
And I like the idea of getting rich from it
even more.
Fleas who came to dinner
by Arlin Hackman - Federation
of Ontario Naturalists
It began just as I was sitting back from a
delightful dinner with friends. An innocent
itch around my ankle. Thinking nothing of
it at the time, it wasn't til I'd returned to the
privacy of home that I discovered the truth.
By that time 1 was scratching hard and,
sure enough, there were the little red
signatures of those uninvited fall house
guests - fleas.
Fleas aren't a subject for polite conversa-
tion, I know. But in one respect they're no
different from the mosquitoes, horse flies,
deer flies, gnats and insects we go on about
all summer long: they bite, in some cases
with serious consequences. So we might as
well stop squirming sheepishly in our seats
and talk about how to find relief.
The way to controlling the common flea
which comes indoors along with the family
pet in late summer, early fall, is an
understanding of its life cycle. Adult fleas
prefer your pet's blood to your own. After
breeding, the female lays eggs in the
animal's bedding, cracks in the floor or
other nooks and crannies. A few days later
the eggs hatch larvae, which feed for
several weeks on dried organic matter
such as the excreta of adult fleas) before
retiring into cocoons. Adult fleas emerge
from this pupal stage in one week to a year,
depending on the temperature, and in this
way are able to survive our harsh winter.
The point is, flea collars and pet
treatments alone won't rid your house of
these pests. Despite all the misery they
cause, fleas only spend 10 percent of their
time feeding on your animals and, occa-
sionally, you. The other 90 percent is spent
borrowing your home to raise their families.
And they've got pretty good survival skills.
Not only can their tiny legs propel them out
of harm's way on 13 inch leaps; they have
been known to survive without food for as
long as six years. Then too, they typically
breed fast enough to keep ahead of all but
the most persistent chemical campaigns.
So when fleas cote home for lunch with
your dog or cat they'll likely want to stay the
night. Fortunately, since I don't have a pet,
my encounter ended with a hot shower for
me and a washing machine for my clothes.
But for those of you who have animals, be
prepared to treat both them and every room
in your house for a period of time until frost
kills the fleas outside and puts an end to
their migration indoors. For advice on per-
sistent infestations you may wish to consult
a veterinarian.
Tabletop adventure
Sugar and Spice
by Shelley McPhee
Why I became a teacher
Friends of mine in all walks of life can't
understand how I can stand teaching as a
vocation. With striking originality, they
ask: "How can you stand it?" '
So, with another few months of my chosen
way of life under way, I thought I'd look at
it, and try to give them an answer.
Perhaps we could start with elimination.
It would take an act of God, or a change of
sex, or something equally dramatic, to
makc me an engineer. I have just completed
the lob of truing to change a typewriter rib-
bon. It took me 39 minutes. I wound up with
ink all over my fingers, my face, and a clean
shirt. And guess what came out when I
began typing? Red words. It was one of
those half -red, half -black ribbons, and I'd
got it upside bassackwards. The only reason
you are reading this in black is that it is be-
ing reproduced by someone else.
My lack of engineering skill precludes my
making a fat living where the real money is
these days: as a repair man. If you have a
son or daughter pondering a career, for the
things – plumbing, electricity, TV, cars.
Took my lawnmower to a repairman the
other day. It wouldn't start. Picked it up
three days later. The bill was $41.16 – one
dollar and 16 cents more than half what I
had paid for the new machine a few years
ago. The bill for labor was $27. You could
have a baby for that not so terribly long ago.
for tnat not so terribly long ago.
I've never wanted to be a scientist. Can't
see spending my life in a lab trying to find a
new additive that will make clothes whiter
or a new chemical that will make deodorant
dryer than ever.
Medicine, since I have never had a secret
desire to be God, held little appeal for me.
It's a noble profession, and you can make a
By Bill smiley
pile of money by peering into people's aper-
tures, probing their flab, making their blood
tspurt, and writing prescriptions among
'other things. None of those things turn me
on, though.
Dentistry, ditto. I can see no particular
charm in standing at an angle most
acrobats couldn't maintain for 10 seconds,
gawking at gums and crumbling renova-
tions. One look into my own mouth would
give me nightmares for a week. To heck
with the $50,000 a year.
Then there's the law, of course. There's a
great deal of poppycock about the majesty
and the integrity of the law. All of it stems
from lawyers and judges. But I wouldn't
care to be associated in a profession where
there is, despite all disclaimers, one law for
the rich and another for the poor.
Shakespeare said it nicely: "Let them hang
all the lawyers."
Another field that brings in a mighty good
buck is accounting. But where's the future
in that for a fellow who can't even account to
his own wife for the way he behaved at the
party on Saturday night?
Quite a good career these days is "work-
ing for the government." Certainly you'll
never be fired, unless you turn up drunk four
days in a row and rape four different
secretaries. Even then, you'd probably just
be "transferred to a less sensitive area," or
put out to pasture on a pension.
When I was a student; we used to say
scornfully that if you couldn't do anything
else, you went into the ministry. This was a
base canard, of course, but the delights of
the parsonage never really got me excited. I
wouldn't have minded pounding the old
pulpit a bit, but I couldn't have stood the old
biddies and the back-stabbers and the con-
stant mendicanting.
Kaleidoscope
What I thought I might be was a professor
of English. Sit around in a book -filled study,
dispense wisdom to awed students, and give
the occasional brilliant lecture. Well I've
since met some of my old friends who chose
that path. They're more boring than the guy
who comes to fix my furnace.
What I really and truly wanted to do when
I was young and romantic was to become a
foreign correspondent. Influenced by
movies, I wanted the works: trench coat,
snap brim felt hat, bylines from Hong Kong
and Nairobi.
Nearest I got to that was editing the coun-
try correspondence from contributors to a
small-town weekly. That wasn't a bad voca-
tion, except that you worked 60 -odd hours a
week and never made any money.
I guess my secret desire for years was to
be a writer. Perferably a pipe -smoking,
enormously popular, immensely wealthy
one, several times divorced, world traveler,
a lecturer in great demand, yet with a dep-
th, a plus quality in my novels that would
put me up there with Hardy, Conrad, Hem-
ingway. With three or four of my novels
turned into smash hits on Broadway and in
Hollywood. And all, my own hair and teeth.
Only trouble with that wish was that I was
too lazy. Oh, the talent was there. No ques-
tion about that, as we novel -writers manque
can assure anyone. So instead of becoming a
Hemingway, I became Bill Smiley, a
chronicler of the tribulations and the trivia
of the mid -20th century. And not a whit bit-
ter or disillusioned about it.
That wasn't quite enough to keep a body
alive, so I became a teacher. Not only
because most other professions fill me with
nausea or loathing. But because I like young
people, words, ideas, and two months
holidays.
It's hard to believe blit Christmas is fast
approaching - just five weeks away.
Weatherwise it's seemed more like Indian
Sumner around here, but everyone seems
to be getting in the festive spirit and stores
and homes are beginning to show their
holiday lights and colors.
Bayfield, Clinton and Blyth shops are
already dressed for the festive season and a
few wreaths and lights are starting to ap-
pear on local homes.
Clinton's Board and Batten shop has
added a new look to their store this season.
That new front window really makes one
Clinton's oldest homes, turned store, really
look attractive.
+ + +
Christmas means that January and
February- are following close behind, After
last year's mild winter, few are fiit'eca sting.
what the first seasn of the year will bring.
Hallett Reeve Toth Cunningham says that
he's heard that the this winter will offer a
repeat performance of last year. Hope
you're right Tom!
Just to be on the safe side however, the
Ministry of Transportation of Com-
munication's Winter Road Reporting Ser-
vice went into operation on Nov. 14.
Ministry offices throughout the province
By Shelley McPhee
have up-to-date information on condition of
all the provincial and secondary roads, 24 -
hours -a -day, seven days a week during the
winter months.
Area numbers to call include: London,
681-2047; Stratford, 271-8321; Toronto, 416-
248-3561 and Windsor, 253-3536.
Be sure to keep these phone numbers on
hand. They could help avoid serious traffic
accidents and unnecessary blizzard driving.
+ + +
It's also time to be sending those overseas
parcels and cards on their way, but Dutch -
Canadians will be finding some difficulties
with the mail system.
All mail addressed to the Netherlands has
been returned to sender because of a postal
strike in that country. Canada has been
holding all mail meant for Holland at the
"' .request of the Dutch postal authorities since
Nov„ 10. This mail will stay, in -;Canadian
dispatching exchange offices.
+ + +
Clinton's St. Joseph's Catholic Women's
League held their Christmas draw and Lana
Gahwiler won the hooked rug. The macrame
Christmas tree was won by Evelyn Olde and
the dough people were won by Maryse
Wilson.
The church group also thank everyone
who auended lhelr bazaar anti wane sale.
+ + +
Don't forget, the Clinton Rebekahs will be
holding a card party on Dec. 1.
last week at cards, the euchre bingo
game was won by Olive Bell. Other winners
were: high lady and share the wealth,
Barbara Thom; low lady, Marie Gibbings;
high man, Elmer Murray; low man, Warren
Gibbings; lone hands, Margaret Thorndike.
+ -1-+
One observant chef called to say that our
cookbook edition, included in last week's
paper, featured an American measures
conversion chart.
Oops, looks like we goofed. This metric
stuff is for the birds.
Just a few days ago I thought I'd start
using metric lingo myself. I confidently
marched up to the grocery meat counter and
asked for a kilogram of cold meat, only to
find`, that a kilogram equals;.about two
pounds, not the one pound of bologna that I
really wanted. From now on I'll stick to the
old way.
Anyway for those chefs who are having
problems with the cookbook's metric chart,
th, n '-nistry of agriculture and food will be
coming to the rescue next week with an
Imperial conversion chart.
VQ your s
Y
Deur Edit ° r
Queen : P: '_c or`. '.it'ilia
free for the asking
Dear Editor,
The Monarchist League of Canada is an
organization which seeks to explain to
Canadians the value of constitutional
monarchy, and to defend vigorously the
Crown from both the misinformation and
attack which occasionally surround it.
As part of our ongoing program to
publicize the work of the Queen and the
institution which she graciously represents,
the League sells to its members sheets off
colour stickers of Her Majesty wearing both
the Order of Canada and the Canadian
Order of Military Merit. These we en-
courage our friends to use on mail (when
stamps bearing Her Majesty's portrait are
so frequently 'out of stock'), on tax and
other forms, as favours for children,
decorations and so forth.
Due to a printer's error, we have some
5000 sheets of stickers surplus to our order,
and we have agreed with him to distribute
these, free of charge. Accordingly we invite
your readers to request their com-
plimentary sheet of 30 'Queen of Canada'
stickers by writing to: The Monarchist
League of Canada, 2 Wedgewood Crescent,
Ottawa, Ontario 1{1B 4B4. It would be ap-
preciated if a self-addressed, stamped,
business -size envelope were included.
Teachers, guide leaders, 4-H groups and
other youth organizations are, of course,
welcome to request multiple copies. In this
way we hope that an error may be turned to
advantage and allow more Canadians to
manifest publicly their undoubted loyalty to
our Sovereign.
Yours sincerely,
John L. Aimers,
Dominion Chairman
and Founder
School anniversary
Dear Editor,
Streetsville Secondary School would like
to announce the celebration of its twenty-
fifth anniversary on April 27 and 28.
Any assistance in informing former
students and staff would be appreciated. A
special plea is being made for relevant
photographs which could be duplicated and
returned.
Please address pictures, requests for ad-
vanced registration, or other inquiries to:
Larry Bebensee, Streetsville Secondary
School, 70 Joymar Dr., Streetsville, Ontario
L5M 1G3 or phone: 826-1195.
Sincerely,
Larry Bebensee.
Fire fighting
in the country
Dear Editor:
Just a note of thanks for again supplying
an interesting little filament of news to be
used in the weekly "Report from the
Country."
Reference is being made to a story in your
Bayfield Bugle section. That was where
Percy Renner strolled past the fire hall,
noted the absence of equipment, and with
true small town curiosity, asked where the
fire was. He was horrified to find it was at
his house. But fortunately damage from the
chimney fire was minimal.
City folks cannot understand why small
towners race after the fire reels. They put it
down as morbid curiosity. They do not
understand that smalltowners possibly
know the family whose home is being
threatened, and want to be there to help in
any way they can.
This items should be part of the late
Saturday night newscast scheduled for
presentation on November 19.
Again thanks, and thanks, too, for keeping
your splendid weekly products in my mail
box.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Carr,
CKCO-TV's
"Country Editor"
Help for people
mho are breathless
Practise pursed -lip breathing! Learn how
to cough! Exercise your chest muscles!
These are just a few of hundreds of sug-
gestions in "Help Yourself To Better
Breathing," a new booklet published by the
American Lung Association especially for
persons with emphysema and chronic bron-
chitis, and available in Canada.
Chock-full of excellent "how-to" hints,
this large -size, 24 -page booklet is illustrated
by famous artist Roy Doty. There are first -
person stories about how people have learn-
ed to cope with breathlessness. And specific
directions on how to clear breathing
passages of mucus.
Exercises for postural drainage and
building stamina are illustrated.
Another section of this bright, helpful
booklet identifies troublemakers, such as
air pollution, extremes of weather, infec-
tions, and smoking and how to avoid them.
"Help Your Medicines Help You"
describes various medicines and the impor-
tance of working closely with a physician.
There are spaces within the booklet to write
individual directions for taking each
medicine.
Breathing aids, such as nebulizers,
respirators, oxygen, humidifiers and
vaporizers are described. There is even a
section or. eating to feel better.
The "Keep Living Your Life" chapter can
help people suffering from chronic bron-
chitis or emphysema lead full, enjoyable
lives despite their illness.
"Help Yourself To Better Breathing" is
available from your local Lung Association,
the "Christmas Seal" people. It's a matter
of life and breath.
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