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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1984-03-07, Page 4BLUE RIBBON A4NARD Incorper+ailting HOWARD AITKEN -Publisher SHEI,LEY McPHEE m Editor GARY HAIST - Advvrtlaing Manager .- MARY ANN H LLENOECK - Offlaa Manager MEMBER [Modem advertising rates assailable on rearrest. Ask For Rot®. -Cord. Pio. 1® effective October 1, 14113 A MEMBER Vanastra takes a stand The Vonastra Public School future will not .be decided without input from the community. A publicly appointed committee is studying, in depth, the future of.the elemen- tai school. anoLtnr_o.public meetings bpve clearly shown that _parents .are willing to come forward in defence of theiFithpol. Vanastra, has been stamped with a negative label for years. It has unfairly been called Huron County's ghetto, but in fact, longtime Vanastra residents have strived to create community spirit and turn an abandoned airforce base into a thriving hamlet. Vanastra, with a population of 650 is an active community and a major in- dustrial area. There are close to 22 industries operating in Vanastra, the largest of which employs 70. Along with the school, the village boasts a recreation cen- tre, a curling club, a church, daycare centre and active service. clubs. Residents and township council have worked to create and maintain these facilities and with this same determination and drive they hope to keep the Vanastra school as a viable institution. A review committee, working under the direction of the Huron Board of Educa- tion, hos until the end of the school year to determine the best future for the school. The final decision will rest with the education board. The school, suffering from low _enrolment may not be able to operate as it is now. Closure is the final ultimatum, but efforts are being made to find a More op- timistic solution and ways that it may continue to operate under d revised format. The future success of the Vanastra Public School is an important issue to the people of the 'community. Not only will its closure effect the education of the children, but it could also have a detrimental effect on the community. Residents realize that the school is a valuable asset to the community, one that will help Vanastra to grow and prosper. Public meetings have discussed with emotion and pride the benefits of keeping a school in Vanastra. These facts have been well stated, but now the people must determine how the school can best continue to function. Dealing with low enrolment, the poor state of building repair, limited budget, lack of equipment and need for increased con- tact with other schools are issues that need answers. "Principal John -Ross stated -his view honestly and simply. He said, if the com- mittee recommends that the school remain open, it should also recommend that the condition'of the building be improved and that the facilities that are used by pupils; staff and community are brought to a standard of excellence that reflects , the pride that the Huron County Board of Education has for each of its schools." Only when these problems are dealt with and logical solutions determined, may the Vanastra School future look brighter. -by S. McPhee. Behind. The Scenes By Keith Roulston Serious look at comedy One of the hardest things in the world ata time like this when the .world needs a little laughter, is tabe funny. Every week I sit down in front of my bat- tered old portable typewriter and yearn for a witty, entertaining column to come whipp- ing out of my finger tips and onto the page. Unfortunately_ the brain behind the finger- tips isn't often iiri the -mood to' be: witty and - something witlessly dull with all the bounce of a lead balloon dribbles out instead. Comedy, you see is darned hard work. It's easy to get worked up about some issue of the day and m a rage of passion, whip out 700 words in a blur of flying typewriter keys and pent-up emotions. It's .a lot harder to sit back and turn the whole issue around and come up with the humorous side of it all, to show the absolute ridiculousness of the world. It's a lot more dangerous too. I remember one of my first published humor pieces in the old hometown paper when I was growing up that nearly stopped my writing career before• it began. That summer the village had been invaded by earwigs that seemed to be everywhere. There were stories of people having to check their slippers in the morn- - ing before they put them on or risk having their toes amputated by the vicious little in- sects. 1 wrote a satirical (I thought anyway) , column saying I thought the earwig should be put on the town crest because it was tru- ly symbolic of the community. It brought an irate telephone call from a local lady who didn't know, until I told her, that the whole column had been m fun. Nothing is more crushing to the ego than to have someone Snow lob .74 s By Shelley McPhee Sugar and Spice It's Al garbage SOME people grow benevolent and kindly as they get older. I just get more violent. I hope I turn out to be an Angry: Old Man. And I know I will, if I can just hang on long enough to get old. It's a world to turn anyone, even a gentle, sweet chap like myself, a bit savage. Don't think that I'm just getting crotche- ty. I've been crotchety for years. You hear • people -going around all .over _ Canada__s_ay- ing, `My, isn't that Smiley crotchety?" And others replying, "Yes, crotchety .is the word. If there's a word for it, it's crotche- ty " Mind you, I love the world around me, and up to half a dozen people, and I laugh like a mental case at some of the things I see. But there is a limit to the amount of garbage I can stand being thrown in my face day after day in the year 1984 A.D. That makes me just like the Prime Minister. For instance. We have so much surplus wheat that we have a national hernia, trying to lift it from here to there. Politicians go white trying to. Why don't we give it away? I don't mean the farmer. I mean Canada. Pay d the going rate to people who are starving. Up go the taxes. So what? They go up anyway. For instance. Our educational system take your jokes seriously. Of course comedy isn't good for the ego of the writer anyway. People don't take com- edy seriously.Shakespeare, for instance, -wrote many comedies but most people will talk about his tragedies, Macbeth, Hamlet and the others when they talk about his .great .plays, ..0 e. ,ight,_listenithg_t ,the sun dience leave after a performance of my first play I heard a lady who had been sitting nearby tell her friend that the play had been a lot of fun but it didn't say much. Having thought I had cleverly worked a lot of thought provoking comments into the com- edy, I was about ready to take a life (hers or mine, I'm not sure which) . So the temptation to start taking oneself seriously instead of playing the clown forever is always there. The great comic ac- tor wants to say something "significant." Or, comic writers can get tied up in endless discussions of what makes things funny. I'm not sure if they ever come up with the answer to that but I know what isn't funny at all: a roomful of people talking about what is funny. . And you can't escape it anyway if you've ever been known as being funny. The other night I heard a commentator blasting Woody Allen because he'd begun to take himself tao'seriousiy'and stopped being fun- ny. Now poor Woody has two choices: he.can go back to being funny and have people put him down as a lightweight or he can get serious and have all old fans desert him. It's a lot easier being serious Woody but it's more fun to be funny. Red Cross help is worldwide In these times of chaos, world disaster and conflict among nations, the Red Cross is needed more and more. Its need increases steadily as more countries appeal for help. They are never refused. Some people prefer the Salvation Army. No one is so Misinformed as to criticize the work of this splendid organization of dedicated people. However, to compare them with the Red Cross is wrong and simply admits a lack of knowledge of the work of each society. The Red Cross finds missing people. It has admittance to prisoner of war camps, where no other organization can go. It distributes food parcels to the often near starvation prisoners. It has access to the field of battle, to minister to the wounded, protected by its Red Cross insignia. Hundreds of thousands of volunteer. helpers do relief work everywhere. The Red Cross sets up blood donor clinics which save hundreds of lives. It is a wonderful thing to give blood and those who do. deserve great credit. However to set up such clinics, the Red Cross must have money. If they didn't have clinics, people couldn't give blood. No money, no clinic: It's as simple as that. The Clinton Red Cross committee hopes that local people will greet the canvassers generously. Last year, for the first time, the Clinton group nearly reached its $5,000 goal._. The canvassers are optimistic that the pledge can be made in 1984. The local Royal Bank has offered to take charge of the donations. The Clinton Red Cross committee for 1984 includes, Margaret Allan, Besa Fingland, Margaret Caldwell, Helen Cooper, Greta Nediger, Val Galachiuk, Win Homuth, Garnet Harland, Ken Flett and Bill Counter. By Bill Smiley caters to the mediocre, to mass -production of the mediocre, just like big industry. The intellectual elite among our kids are starved to death, that is, bored to death, and the kids who are below average are swept under the rug. , This means our Schools are full of fat, lazy kids who are there only because they don't want to face the lean,told world. I'd turf out on his or her tail, at 16, every kid who wasn't interested. And I'd let hien back in,_with generous help, when he became interested. For instance. Daily, newspapers 'lie daily. Not downright lies. They merely slant, distort and color the "news," depending on their policy and politics. However, it's a free country, and I guess they're free to lie. For : instance: Television couid be a tremendous force for spreading peace and love in the world. What it does is spread jam on cake, and violence on ignorance. With a few notable exceptions, it serves its patrons garbage in a fancy wrapper. Its entertainment does .not entertain. Its news seeks out the sensational or the silly. Its commercials are aimed at a world of morons. Do you really believe, for example, + that a certain. brand of beer is making Canada famous throughout the world? Or that you can • get clothes cleaner . in cold .water than in hot? Or that you'll never make it if your armpits sweat? aIeido$c�pe your s Pear Editor ) .1440ral,g0d106. . Dear Editor: Beia lin avid reader of the London ee Press and having this ,.-called Liberal Slush rind rammed down my throat by the aforementioned newapalier., and being rather skeptical of the whole "bit" f took these reports with the old proverbial "pinch Salt". Now, on the front page of Saturday's Lon- don Free Press (March 3) the caption read, "It helps to know Liberals." I, and thousands more, must accept this "Slush Fund" as being authentic. To make a point, and respectfully submit a suggestion to our local. ruling - body in Clinton, that, if Chatham, Woodstock and numerous other areas can utilize this rather sleazy act, Why not Clinton...? We can always use extra money to pay for our never ending renovations, moving of- ficials from this residence to that, paying parking tickets, etc. etc anddthereby saving .-us taxpayers lime and money ewe --hare not, - ..got. Hoping-action":i i thisinatter s_:taken_at the earliest possible moment, before the source dries up, because I firmly believe all chances will have evaporated by Christmas 1984 and it will be too late for these "Goodies". In all sincerity, Frederick H. Jackson. And for all this obscenity the three big U.S. networks last year split over two billion dollars in profits. The CBC, which give us the same refuse, generally, came up with its usual deficit. This shows the superiority of Canadian television. Somehow. For instance. There are two laws. One for the rich and one for the rest of us. And any lawyer and any policeman knows it. If you're a dumb kid from Newfie, or an Indian who got drunk, you_ can rot in .jail. for _a month or two before your case is even heard. If you're a middle-class doctor or businessman, and you have the money and the right connections, you're home free and everythingis hushed up: For instance. Poverty. Twenty million people living in one of the biggest countries in the world, with enormous natural resources. And millions living in sordid, squalid poverty. For instance. The Church. Again with a few notable exceptions, it does not face life. It wrings its hands, or washes them, Pilate - fashion. You don't see many preachers charging into a finance company and bran- dishing a whip these days, do you?. For instance. This column is about gar- bage. And I just remembered 'this is gar- bage day and I forgot to putmine out. On Tuesday I had a preview peak of the Clinton Library and I guarantee that you'll be impressed with the results. The renovation work looks fabulous.. and I think we certainly got our money's worth on the project. The library is closed for the next couple of weeks while the books are moved to their newly redecorated home. Hopefully an open house will be held in the near future to show of the new facility. +++ Also from the literary world, a story written by our own Alice Munro has gone onto Hollywood. Alice's story, Boys and Girls was made into a short film, part of the mini-series Son and Daughters. •Produced in Toronto and broadcast on CBC -TV, the film has been nominated for an Academy Award in the liveshort action films category. The episode is about a farm girl, played by Toronto teenager Megan Follows, who feels cheated when her younger brother is treated better because he is a boy. ++ From the theatre world comes a report that James Roy, director of Victoria B.C.'s Belfray Theatre, has gone on to the Manitoba Theatre Centre. By Shelley McPhee James, a Huron County native, was the founder of the Blyth Summer Festival. + ++ Those who are interested in helping Clinton Klompen Feest are reminded that a committee meeting will be held on March 13 at Van Damme's Holiday Lodge. Any help would be appreciated in this effort to make Clinton's unique Dutch festival even bigger and better. + ++ Also on March 13, a second meeting will be held to investigate the future of the Clinton Town Hall auditorium. The meeting will take place at the Legion Hall, starting at 8:30 p.m. + ++ It was incorrectly reported that the Clinton Hospital Celebrity Auction will be held on April 21. The auction is set for April 2$, so be a sure to keep that date open. + ++ Goderich Township history buffs are making steady progress in preparation of the township's 150th birthday. Gerry Ginn has been collecting some humorous township trivia and recently he called to pass on the following gem. In a 1882 motion, Goderich Township council agreed that the funeral expenses for John Gordon, amounting to $14 be paid and that his effects be sold by William Stirling to refund the expenses of the funeral, as the deceased had no friends in this country. + ++ Stanley Township will be celebrating its 150th birthday in 1986 and a group is now collecting local history for the upcoming Huron County Atlas. If you can help please call Ivan McClymont, Stanley Clerk Mel Graham or any member of council. + ++ On March 1 the Clinton Rebekahs held another successful card party. Winners were: high scorers, Norma Ashton and Jean Henderson; low scorers, Della Slavin and Gordon Richardson; lone hands, Audrey •Walsh and Jim Cox. Draw winners were Elmer Murray, Jean Henderson, Oscar Priestap and Racheliohnston. + ++ The Evening Unit of the Ontario Street UCW would like to thank everyone who attended their recent card party. Prize winners were: high, Lula Merrill and Frank Thompson; low, Anne Lawson and Bob Lawson; lone hands, Della Slavin and Ted Fothergill. Environment Ontario sponsors Pitch In 1984 RCAF reunion Pitch -In', the annual environmental and Hunters since 1980 in support of Pitch- June; development of a' comprehensive event staged by the Ontario Federation of In, including a major advertising campaign educational information kit to be made Anglers and Hunters will be co-sponsored to help launch the first event. available to schools throughout the pro - this year by Environment Ontario. "We are going to continue to support vince; special workshops and seminars as Environment Minister Andy Brandt told Pitch -In and to work with you this year," part of the Ministry's summer educational the annual meeting of the 46;000 member said the Minister. "However, Pitch -In also program. 'Environmental Explorations'. Federation in Windsor on Saturday that his merits the support of business which has aThe Anglers and Hunters staged the first Ministry will sponsor Pitch -In '84 as part of stake in the environment equal to that of the . pitch -In in 1980 as a weekend event intended the Ontario bicentennial celebration, public and government. It is my hope that to stimulate tter clean-up and other en - "We are pleased to participate in an event you find�sponsorship from the private sector vironmental projects by volunteer groups which focusses upon concern for the en- in 1985. and individuals in local communities. Pitch- - work and which stimulates and en -"We aro making Pitch -In 84 part of the In was extended to a full week of activity in courages thousands of Ontario residents to Ontario Bicentennial Celebration as a i982 work together on environmental projects in- special event of my Ministry," said Mr. a tended to keep our province clean and safe," Brandt. The Federation estimated that 200,000 said Mr. Brandt. Environment Ontario plans other ac- people participated last year when more The Ministry of the Envj'ronment will pro- tivities as the environmental component of than 1,770 projects were held in 82 ,com- vide a one time grant of $75,000 to assist the the Ontario bicentennial celebration, in- munities and thousands of students from 1984 Pitch -In, to be held May 7 -13th. chiding: special speakers and events as pari more than 1,250 schools in all parts of the Mr. Brandt said Environment Ontario has of the 31st Annual Ontario industrial Waste province participated in special school pro - provided a total of $275,000 to the Anglers Conference -to be held in Toronto in mid- jects. Dear Editor: Current and former members of the Telecommunications Branch of the Royal Canadian Airforce and its successor are planning a reunion in Kingston this year. The idea is growing and spreading across the country, to the point that even the com- mittee is surprised at the overwhelming popularity of the idea! Why plan a reunion for this year? Well, first of all, it's the 50th anniversary of the founding of a Telecom Branch in the RCAF. Celebrations are active for the RCAF 60th anniversary this year; less well known is that the' fledgling Air Force struggled along for ten years before members of the RCAF provided their own telecommunica- tions. Army signallers provided the telecom services for the early years of the air force, and then four stalwarts from the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, plus three RCAF remusters became the first RCAF Telecom members in June '34. They were employed at Camp Borden in a school for wireless mechanics and operators. Airmen have always been quick learners, so it wasn't many months before the Airforce was able. to manage onits own and train all of its own -telecom Early in World W-ar II, the nowtremen- dously expanded Telecommunications Branch built • a home for itself " arid' fts thousands of different and amazing' black boxes of electronic wizardry including radar near the farm town of Clinton, On. tario: The airforce years at ..Clinton_ have - come and gone. With integration of the Forces, Clinton was closed and most of the Telecom training was integrated with that of the former Royal Canadian Corp of Signals. The home of a Branch is often its training school, and Kingston isnow becom- ing the recognized home of airforce telecommunications. So much for 'history. To get back to the present, the Reunion is happening on the weekend of .May 25-26 '84. There is a large program of events, but the main attractions will be old friends, old memoriesand old stories. If any of your . readers' who have been among the tens of thousands of servicemen and women who served with our Branch want to join us, they should write in soon, as we are forced to limit numbers. Write to the "Airforce Telecom Reunion Committee, ' CFB Kingston, Ontario, K7L 2Z2. Spouses are cordially invited. (.Providing you can stand allthe ndstalgia11' Yours truly, I..R. Drury. Committee blues Oh give me your pity! I'm on a committee, Which means that from morning to night We attend and amend And contend and defend Without a conclusion in sight. We confer and concur, We defer and demur, And reiterate all of our thoughts. We revise the agenda With frequent addenda And consider a load of reports. We compose and propose, We suppose and oppose, And the points of procedure are fun; But though various notions Are brought up as motions, There's terribly little gets done. • We resolve and absolve; But we never dissolve, Since it's out of the question for as To bring our committee To end like this ditty, Which stops with a period — thus. from the Canadian Cancer Society Newsletter St. Johns helps St. John Ambulance reminds you that first aid, promptly and properly applied, can save a life or minimize the effects of an in- jury. More than 115,000 people in Ontario took a St. John Ambulance course in 1983. If you'd like to take one, contact the St. John Ambulance branch listed in your phone book, or the provincial office at 46 Wellesley St. East, Toronto, M4Y 1G5.