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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1984-11-14, Page 4r Pap 7T,41TON,I Ws^REco .1ifE# NBSD. Y. NOVEMBER 14,1984 Theofglnteo tiotoblistiortiio yotibilibtob wadi) y wa P.O. box 99. Clinton. Ontario, Coliaolo. WM 10. Tal.: 41424443. 2944,19111on bow Coots*. 919.95+ SQ. 49144 . 014.,95 Pew gear 11.5.16. Panni - 455.00 pot veer 1Q k ro91$Q4rab so won" doom moll by tltai past o1Meti taaw,4r filo* pottnit itunoitow $419. 11/9 144141,19taartl Incp►geoe+nted in 1924 flaw Rtotcyt liapvrp knottio l in 19111. omit Tito C11taion boob fl►w. fountioal in 1995. Total Prowl awns 2.990. Incorporating , THE BLYTH STANDARD J. HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher SHELLEY MCPHEE - Editor GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Office Manager MEMBER Dicalev etiverti®1w0 retell amenable ow request. Avis for Rate tried. into. 141 affective October 1, 1%13. A MEMBER Hunger and death Rev. Wilena Brown of the Varna and Goshen United. Churches is one of the many local ministers who is working to help the desperately hungry people in Africa. She has spoken with local farmers, contacted elevators and talked about the problem in her community. "We need to use this opportunity to educate people," Rev. Brown said, explain- ing that the serious need for food grains is not only a problem in Ethiopia. While television reports have highlighted the tragedies in Ethiopia, further reports state that the disaster and death is a widespread problem for at least 24 African countries. Here, in a world that we can never imagine, people are literally falling in the dust, too weak to walk, too weak to live, too weak to bury their dead. These peo- ple are simply starving to death. The ravages of years of drought on Africa is showing horrifying results. It's estimated that more than 35 million people are starving there. These problems, Rev. Brown noted, are not being caused by sudden disasters, like floods or typhoons. These people live with famine and drought every day of their short lives. The hunger and death don't go away. It's a life that hopefully we'll never experience, but still the desperate situation in Africa is a concern that our affluent western world must understand. Futher- more, we must respond to their cries of help. Around the world, governments and churches, charitable organizations and in- dividuals are beginning to respond. Locally, farmers are donating food through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. This organization is urging more farmers to donate their corn and more in- dividuals to offer their financial support. The bank is based on a responsible, honest partnership between seven religious organizations. Started by the Mennonite Central Committee Canada, it is now supported by the Canadian Baptist Federation, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Christian Reformed World Relief.Com- mittee of Canada, Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and the United Church . Foodgrains Bank is only one of many organizations across Canada attempting to help the starving millions. The desperate photographs and the startling figures have been well presented. You and I can no longer ignore the situation in good conscience. -by S. McPhee Scores of humanitarian organizations and church groups across Canada are mobiliz- ing funds to feed millions of famine victims across Africa. Here is where you can send you dona- tions: Baptist Federation of Canada, Sharing Way, 219 St. George St., Toronto, Ont., M5R 2M2 tel. 922-4775. Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, 3028 Danforth Ave., Toronto, Ont., M4C 1N2, tel. 698-7770. Canadian Foodgrains Bank, 400-280 Smith St., Winnipeg, Man., R3C 1K2, tel. 204-944- 1993. Canadian Hunger Foundation, 323 Chapel St., Ottawa, Ont., KIN 7Z2, tel. 613-563-4801 (development aid). Canadian Lutheran World Relief, 1820 Arl- ington St., Winnipeg, Man., R2X 1W4, tel 204-586-8558. • Canadian Red Cross Society, 95 Wellesley St., E., Toronto, Ont., M4Y 1H6, tel. 923-6692. Canadian Save the Children Fund, 720 • Spadina Ave, (fourth floor), Toronto, Ont., M5S 2W3, tel. 960-3190 Canadian UNICEF Committee, 433 Mount Pleasant Rd., Toronto, Ont. M4S 2L8,, tel 482- 4444. CARE Canada, 1312 Bank St., Ottawa, Ont., K1S 5H7,.tel. 613-521-7081. Eritrean Relief ' Association, P.O. Box, 5027, Postal Station A, Toronto, Ont., M5W 1N4, tel. 922-7646. Christian Reformed World Relief Com- mittee of Canada, P.O. Box. 5070, Burl- ington,, Ont., L7R 3Y8, tel. 1-637-3434. Inter.. Pares, 58 Arthur St., Ottawa, Ont., K1.11 7B9, tel. 613-563-4801. ' Mennonite Central Committee (Ontario), 50 Kent Ave.,. Kitchener, Ont., tel. 519-745- 8458 Oxfam Canada, 175 Carlton St., Toronto, Ont., M5A 2K3, tel 961-3935. Presbyterian World Service and Develop- ment Committee, 50 Wynford Dr., Don Mills, Ont., M3C 1J7, tel. 441-1111. Primate's World Relief and Development Fund ( Anglican Church of Canada), 600 Jar- vis St., Toronto, Ont. M4Y 2J6, tel. 924-9192. Unitarian Service Committee,' 56 Sparks St., Ottawa, Ont., KIP 5B1', tel. 6132846827. . United Church of Canada, World Outreach, 85 'St. Clair Ave., E., Toronto, Ont., M4T 1M8, tel. 925-5931 (Ext. 241). World Relief Canada, .P.O. Box 874 Station B, Willowdale:; Ont., M2K 2R1, tel 494-9930. World University Service of Canada, Box 3000, Station C, Ottawa, Ont., K1Y 4M8,'tel. 613-725-3121. World Vision Canada, Box 2500, Streetsville P.O., Mississauga, Ont., L5M 2H2, tel 826-7370. KaIi osc Enough is enough. Today's trends are taking outrageous, obsence and disgusting to the brink. I'm not talking about punk hairdos or Boy George, that's really only harmless kid's stuff. Heck, 20 years ago people though The Beatles were outrageous and long hair was revolting. I survived it all, and don't seem to be any worse for wear. 1i fact, I've developed a certain high set of standards. I'm responsible, honest and well adjusted to boot. Yes, I stumbled through the late '60s - the time of youth rebellion, free love, wild music, or as, Bette Midler proudly proclaimed a time of, "Drugs, sex and rock 'n roll." I was an average rural teenager, interested and involved in the culture of my day, but responsible enough to know the limits. It seems today that fewer people, teenagers or adults, believe in limits, Many seem to think the challenge of the decade is to be as offensive and insulting as possible. From England this week we have a new disgusting video game called Di's Baby. One part shows Prince Charles dodging dirty diapers. Another has the prince dodging obstacles in an attempt to get to his wife Behind The Scenes By Keith Roulston R ights and wrongs While one of the signs of civilization in a modern country is the enshrinement and protection of human rights, for us as in- dividuals these .days too many rights can make it wrong. We've bleen hung up on rights, at least since the • 1960s ( and maybe before but my memory is getting bad). We got worried • about the rights of the blacks in the U.S. first and quickly moved on to other disadvantag- ed groups closer to home. We worried about the rights of the French. inside and outside Quebec, the rights ' of native people, the ' rights of visible minorities, the rights of women, the rights of- children, the rights of consumers, the rights of citizens against, harassment from perlice, and, recently, the rights of policemen from harassment by citizens. While each of these causes is just in itself, after two decades we seem to have ingrain- ed the rights issue so deeply in our con- sciousness that people seem to go around with their antennae constantly out looking for something that violates their "rights". "Gimme my rights damrnit or I'll bash you in the nose" seems to be a growing unstated code for our population. We're reverting to our childhood, really. Ask a child to do something and he'll likely say "that's not fair, how come I've always got to do the work around here. How come she gets to watch television so much." And on and 'on. We can, all of us, see people who earn more than us for doing a job that isn't that much more difficult. We can see people who cheat on taxes and get away. with it. We can pQ By Shelley McPhee Diana, seen lying on a bed calling his name. Another segment has the royal couple dodging photographers on their way to the hospital for the birth on Prince Harry, their second child. In the third part, The Delivery, players must push buttons to save Diana from an anesthetic spinal injection. And from Hollywood we have a new Christmas movie, Silent Night, Deadly Night. . It depicts a homicidal maniac, dressed in a Santa suit. The film is about a boy who witnesses the killing of his parents by a man dressed as Santa Claus. The boy goes insane and is committed to a mental hospital. Eventually he escapes, but proceeds to repeat the crimes over and over again while dressed as Santa Claus. Personally, I find these as offensive as degrading as pornography. Surely films like Silent Night, Deadly Night are a psychologically damaging. Are we testing the brink of obscenity and morality? More and more I'm beginning to think we are. Or perhaps am I just a victim of my age - adulthood? Back in the 1960s "establishment" said mini skirts were indecent, Jimi Hendrix music was mind bending, long hair was unhealthy and psychedelic lights damaged your eyes. In the 1950s Elvis shocked society. The jitterbug raised eyebrows in the '40s. Even the 1920s were considered wild. Where did it all begin? When did innocent fun turn into decadence? AU I know is that this '60s creation,. is showing her age. I'm developing moral standards that in my youth were "a bummer." +++ There is some good news to report this week - Darryl Fox, the brilliant young son of Tom and Carol Fox of Clinton recently won scholarships and prizes for Huron College's University of Western Ontario, London. For the second year in a row, Darryl was the recipient of The Col. Ibbotson Leonard Huron College Entrance Scholarship, valued at $1,500 in economics, history and philosphy. As well, another Clintonian, Judy Carter, won two English awards and the O-Pee-Chee Ltd. Award for fourth year honor students. These scholarships are awarded to students who maintain an average of at least 80 per cent. + + + There's still time to support the Red Cross Blood Donor Clinic. It's being held today (November 14) at CHSS from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and again from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The Clinton Kinettes are helping to sponsor this "life saving" clinic. see people who get preferential treatment from the boss or some government agency. We can see people who seem to be leaches on society getting along seemingly better than we are. We can see businesses we're sure are cheating us. • We've got two choices. We can whimper and complain about it and pull back into our shells, or we can push the worries about things that really don't have to effect our lives aside and get on with -things. Long ago when, as a child, I faced several months in bed convalescing from an illness, my mother gave me this choice: "You can look around and see all the people who are better off than you and feel sorry for yourself, or you can look around and see the people who are worse off than you and be thankful for what you've got:" Feeling sorry tor yourself is probably the most useless waste of energy in the world. We all fall into it at times but the successful people in the world, work hard to beat it back and get on with their lives. Too many people today seem to be concen- trating on their problems instead of their blessings: Too many people are . saying "What's the use? The government's against me, big business is against me, the rules are all stacked against me. What's the use of trying?" Their's is a self-fulfilling pro- phecy. If you don't try, you won't succeed. Even in the midst of the bad tirnes, we have more blessings than nearly anyone else in the world. Feeling sorry for ourselves, worrying too much about our "rights" for more, is a crime. This photograph was taken minutes before the demolition crew placed throughout the bridge were detonated and the old structure vacated the' area around Forester's Bridge. At dusk; the charges fell into the Maitland River. (James Friel photo) iig.arand Spice Sleeping in a box -car IT'S been a long way from there to here. Just 40 years ago, I was lying on the floor of a box -car in north-east Holland, beaten up and tied up. And half -frozen. And half- starved. Today, I'm sitting in a big, brick house, with the furnace pumping away, a refrigerator stuffed with food, and my choice of three soft, warm'beds. Forty years seems like eternity if you're a teenager, but they've gone by like the wink- ing of an eye, as most old-timers will con- firm. Back then, I was tied up because I'd tried . to escape. It wasn't pleasant. They had no rope, so they tied my wrists and ankles with wire. I was beaten up because I'd managed to pilfer a sandwich, a pipe and tobacco from the guards' overcoat pockets when they weren't looking, and these, along with a foot -long piece of lead pipe, popped out of my battle -dress jacket when the sergeant in charge of the guards gave me a round -house clout on the ear just before escorting me back onto the train headed for Germany. Served me right. I should haveignored all that stuff we were taught in training: "It's an officer's duty to try to escape," and gone quietly off to sit out the . war, which I did anyway, in the long run. But the next few weeks weren't pleasant. I couldn't walk, because my left kneecap was kicked out of kilter. Every bone in my body ached. My face looked like a bowl of borstch, as I discovered when,a "friendly" guard let me look in his shaving mirror, ' Worst of all, there was nothing to read. 'By Bill Smiley When I have nothing w react, 1 start pacing the walls. gut -I couldn't pace the walls because I was on the floor, and tied up. anyway, the light wasn't so good. One little barred window, Perhaps even the worstest of all was my daily ablutions. And I don't mean washing ori ;s face and armpits. I had to be lugged out,of the box -car by a guard, since only one leg was working, helped down the steps, and ushered to the railway bank. Ever try to do your dailies (and 1 don't mean push-ups), with two hands plantedin cinders, one leg stuck straight ahead,- the other propping you up, and a guy pointing a revolverat you? It's a wonder I wasn't ,con- stipated for life. One day the guard almost shot me. I never understood why. He was a rather decent young chap, about 21, blond, spoke a bit of French, so that we could communicate in a rudimentary way. He was a paratrooper who had been wounded in France and seconded to the mundane' job of guarding Allied prisoners. He hadn't taken part in the kicking 'and punching at the railway station, for his own reasons. Perhaps pride. He was a soldier, not a member of the Feldgendarmerie. But this day he was out of sorts. Perhaps sick of being a male nurse. His eyes got very blue- and very cold, and he cocked his revolver. All I could do was turn the big baby -blues on him and mutely appeal. It worked. He muttered something, probably a curse, holstered his gun, and shoved me roughly back into the box -car. Why did Hans Schmidt (his real name) not kill me that day? He was fed up with a job on which rations were minimal, comfort almost non-existent, and duties boring and demeaning. There was another Schmidt in the detail, Alfred. He was a different kettle, though he, too, was a wounded paratrooper. He was as dark as Hans was fair, as sour as Hans was sunny. He would have shot me, in the same mood, and written it off as "killed while at- tempting to escape." Luck of the draw. Another hairy incident in that October, 40 years ago, was the night the train was at- tacked by a British fighter-bomber, pro- bably a Mosquito, perhaps, even navigated by my old friend Dave. McIntosh. I was dozing, on and off (you didna sleep much, tied up, on the wooden floor of a box- car) when there was a great screeching of brakes, a wild shouting from the guards as they bailed out of the train, then the roar of an engine and the sound of cannon -fire as the attacker swept up and down the train, strafing As you can understand, I wasn't hit, and the bums in the aircraft didn't even ptit the train out of commission, but have you ever seen a man curled up -into a shape about the size of a little finger? That was ich. Sorry if I've bored you with these reminiscences. But they are all as clear, or moreso, than what I had for lunch today. Forty years. Time to complete the war, finish university, marriage, children, 11 years as.a weekly editor, 23 years as a teacher, a year in The San for non-existent T.B., and 30 years as a columnist. I couldn't hack all that today. But I can go to bed and say, "This beats the hell out of sleeping in a box -car." Canadian flag of poppies at service CLINTON - On Nov. 9, the pupils and teachers of the Clinton and'District Chris- tian School held their Remembrance Day. The service was held in the gymatorium. The walls had been decorated with the art from various classes. Poppies, crosses and scenes of war sur- rounded the children On one side of the stage hung the flags of France, Holland and Britain. Above these flags was placed a huge Canadian flag made of poppies. On the other side of the stage hung the silhouette of a.soldier running into battle. After welcoming the students, Mr. Bos, the Grade 5 teacher, led the students in a prayer. All stood to sing 0 Canada whereupon four Grade 5 and 6 students recited the poem "A Reason to Remember". The poem suggested that unless one actively pursues and lives a life of love and peace, then "remembrance" is a farce. • In his response to the poem, Mr. Bos pointed to the many privileges that have come with peace. Peace, in Canada, has brought with it the freedom to worship and to serve ones God as one sees fit. Canadian bravery and sacrifice were touted as the reasons that peace and prosperity had once again come to war ravaged Europe. After some Grade 3 pupils had presented the story of John McCrae and the poem "In Flanders Fields" a memorial wreath was laid. The service continued with the Last Post, a moment of silence and the Reveille. The students sang the traditional "Oh God our Help in Ages Past", accompanied by - Miss Dorothy Prinzen on the piano. Robert Roorda read his own poem "War is Red". Mr. Dos, with the help of Jody Werkema and 'April Ten Pas, student guitarists, taught the student body the song "Last Night I had the Strangest Dream". After the song, all watched an inspiring film "The Canadians are Coming". This film, provided by the local Legion, por- trayed the liberation of Holland by the- Cana- dian troops in the Second World War. It also showed how the Dutch have, since then, meticulously taken care of . the war cemeteries in a gesture of deep gratitude.tr-ie In her poem and in his diary Slotegraaf and Richard Bruinsma demonstrated again both the atrocities of war and ones subsequent need to remember to be grateful for peace. • The service was closed in prayer by the vice-principal Mr. L. Uyl. All returned to classes to be dismissed to their buses perhaps more than every ready to begin the Remembrance Day' weekend.