Clinton News-Record, 1985-11-06, Page 5Page 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6,1985
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Wednesday at P.O. Box 39. Clinton. Ontario,
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Inc
rporoting _
CillE !MYTH STANDARD)
J, HOWARD AITKKEN - Publisher
SHELLEY McPHEE = Editor
GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager
MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Office Manager
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October 1, 1984.
A new awakening
I shuffled my boots impatiently in the slush on the street as I -waited for
our town's Remembrance Day Service to begin.
My toes were numb and my fingers were frozen. I scrunched my toes up
inside my boots and blew warm breath on my fingers. What was the
significance of all this anyway? All Remembrance Day meant. to me was
going to a boring Remembrance Day Service and freezing to death while
there.
Away in the distance I could hear the faint echo of bag pipes. In front of
our town's War Memorial the small group of on -lookers started to turn
their heads. i•
The veterans appeared. Every face wore the same expression, grim
-and proud. i
As I" watched, not really paying attention, I made designs in the snow
with the toe of my boot. .
The master of ceremonies gave a small address ,to the crowd. I yawned
loudly. A few people turned around and gave me sharp and angry
glances. ,
then an old man limped up to the podium. On his face were a few vicious
and noticeable scars. '
• He spoke inn voice that was tired, but filled with determination. He
spoke of the tragedies and the triumphs of war.
I listened. intently as he told in detail about the suffering and the hear-.
. taches that war had brought upon thousands of men, women and their
families.' ''
At the end of his speech a warm feeling rose up inside me, I reached up
to my jacket lapel and stroked my red poppy with a new attituda. Finally
I understood. - by Jennifer Preston, Port Elgin. Junior essay. winner in
i the 1984 -'85 Royal Canadian Legion Literary Contest.
Moral standards in
the teaching profession
Dear Editor:
Our educators are people we rely on to
help the family. maintain a consistent
apporach to teaching our children, not only
the basics, but moral standards. We, as
parents, are expected to show our children a
way of life that is acceptable in today's
society: Why, is it that we cannot expect the
same type of examples to be shown within
the teaching profession?
I am not saying that the entire teaching
profession is bad, in fact Is would say 95 per-
cent of 'teachers today are of. an excellent
calibre and do teanh'our .children an accep-
table moral standard for today's society.
The question I ask is whether it is
acceptable in today's society to have a
teacher come t� work under the influence of
alcohol, and if that teacher were stopped by
police while driving a car his license would
be suspended by the courts? Is•it acceptable
for a teacher to accept a bottle of "spirits".
from a student who in turn will
automatically pass an exam?
These accusations have. been
KaieidoscopQ
substantiated by•present students or .r
students, and by other parents, therefore, in
my opinion, they are legitimate. '
The responsibility' lies in several areas as
I see it. First of all the administration
(principal) should be or should, have dealt
with this matter long before this and I feel
that he is not carrying out his responsibility
to full" capacity. Secondly, the board of
education is not ensuring that the people•
they hire are 'doing the job they are hired
for, and thirdly the teacher's peers must
know what is going on and they certainly
have not brought respectability to their own
profession. Is the teachers' union that strong
that we have to accept this type of conduct? •
As a parent, I am truly concerned that this
teacher is being allowed to' continue in our
educational system and I would like to know '
if there are any more concerned parents out
there. If so what are we hoping the system
will do to alleviate the problems? Please
write the editor if you are concerned. '
Yours truly, .
A Concerned Parent.
4,000 hours volunteered
Dear Editor:
1984 has proven to be one of the most
demanding of our 26 year's of volunteer ser-
vice to our conullunity.
The Brigade and Caret Divisions have
.volunteered close :to 4,000 hours of first aid
post duties and treated scores of casualties,
Health' and Safety reported iia the form
issue, "Every year many thousands of
• Canadians die needlessly because
bystanders, in their profound ignorance,
don't know t he most elementary of all first
aid rules". Is it not reassuring that our in-
structors trained close to 800 individuals in
C. P. R., First Aid and Health Care proigram-
mes in 1984? We have also seen over two
hundred percent increase in training during
the first part of 1985.
Ten years ago we averaged 30 to 40 in-
dividuals in our training programs, per
year. Your support has not only aided us to
do something about increasing this service
but also aided those thousands who (he
Remembrance Day and Municipal
Flection Day follow hand-in-hand this year.
Co -incidentally so or a well planned
strategy, these are two of the most
important events to be recognize& in this
democratic nation.
Remembrance Day, November 11, marks
the commemoration of the most historic
events in this century - the end of the two
world wars, and the promise of peace and
freedom.
Election Day, November 12 gives us the
opportunity tp exercise the freedom that
was fought foe.
Remembrance Day is a tradition that we
should be all familiar with. It honors the war
dead and pays tribute to the men and women
who fought for freedom. '
For the people who took part in World War
I and II, Remembrance Day is an emotional
and intensely personal occasion. It is a time
for them to remember their lost friends and
members of their families who died in
battle. It brings back unforgettable
memories about the horrors of war and the
painful experiences they lived through.
It too is a time to think about the futility of
war, the senseless power struggles between
world governments and the people who
willingly give their lives for their countries.
For younger generations Remembrance
By Shelley McPhee
Day has a less personal meaning. We may
not have the knowledge and experience of
living during war times, but we can at least
appreciate the benefits of peace, security
and freedom of choice that our country
offers.
One of the best ways that we can show this
appreciation is by casting our votes in the
municipal elections on Tuesday, November
12.
We hear a lot of talk around election time
from people who say they don't know the
candidates, they don't know the issues,
they're not interested in municipal affairs,
they say it's pointless to vote.
Apathy and disinterest are two of the
greatest faults in people today. However
many people fail to realize that their
everyday lives and services are greatly
effected by municipal government.
Take away their garbage service, their
arenas, their library and park. Take away
their schools, their paved roads, fire
protection and snowplowing services.
Apathy and disinterest will no longer exist.
The apathetic ratepayers are those who
take all these services for granted, who have
no. idea how they are provided, how they are
paid for, how they are operated.
Why bother to vote? Vote becaue you want
a say in how the services m your
milnicipality are run and finantwl Vote
agar and M.
City life is tough
This is a time of year when my heart goes
out to city -dwellers. It's a time when rural
or small town living is immensely superior
to that in the concrete canyons, the
abominable apartments, the sad suburbs of
• metropolia.
In the city; day ends drearily in the fall.
There's the long, wearying battle home
through traffic, or the draughty, crushed,
degrading ' scramble on. public
transportation.
The city man arrives home fit for nothing
but slumping for the evening. before the
television set. And what greets him? The old
lady; wound up like a steel spring because
she hasn't seen .a soul she knows all day,
there's nothing to look at but that stupid
house next door, exactly like their own, and
the kids have been giving'her hell.
He's stuck witb it. For the whole evening:
That's why so many city chaps have
workshops in ,the basement. • It's' much
simpler to go down cellar and whack Off a
couple of fingers in the power, saw than
listen to Mabel. •
Life is quite different for the small, town
male. He is home from work in minutes. He
surveys the ranch, says, "Must get those
storm windows on one of these days," and
goes in, to the good fall smells of cold drinks
and hot food.
His wife saw him at breakfast, again at
needlessly, I)ue to the nigh level of training
provided, by the Goderich Branch, we
received a fully autonomous training statics,
by Ontario Council, early in 1985.
The Goderich Branch has been faced with
an ever increasing deficit during the. 1984-85
fiscal years. We need your urgent support to
continue •to provide free first aid help al
schools, sports, and those many conclnunity
events our Mobile }'h'st Aid Post and trained
volunteers serve. "
St. John Ambulance is supported entirely
by the community it serves. We received no
government funding in this valuable ser-
vice. We need to replace ageing equipment
for First. Aid,.('.P.R. and IlealIh ('are train-
ing.
Help us 10 say we can in 198(i.
Yours sincerely,
Gary Renaud, OSt.1
Branch Chairman
income tax receipts 'will. be p1'ovided
for demi inns of $5.00 or 1nor-i'.
Derby ticket holders
never even had a chance
Dear Editor:
Bayfield held its 7th Annual Rainbow
Trout Derby the weekend of October 19-
20th. This event is sponsored by the
"Bayfield Lions Club".
During the summer numbered tickets for
the "Rainbow Trout Derby Draw" were
distributed throughout various locations for
people to buy a $1.00 ticket in hopes of winn-
ing: lst prize - $150.00 Spin Rod/Reel; 2nd
prize - $100.00 Portable Gas Barbecue; 3rd
prize - $75.00 Camping Stove. These are all
nice prizes and for only a dollar why
shouldn't everyone try their luck!
Well I know of 17 persons who felt this
way, only these tickets were never picked
up so these people didn't get their chahce! I
wonder how many more tickets never really
got in this draw. What happens to the $17.00
which is still sitting with these uncollected
tickets? Do these people get their $1.00 back
with an apology stating why their ticket
never EVEN GOT A CHANCE?
Nancy Stanley
Pizza Palace
Ticket sale
Drop-off• Bayfield.
because you are concerned about the
continued maintenance of these services
and ynprovements in the municipality you
live in.
Being informed about municipal politics is
not a complicated or time consuming
exercise. You can learn more about the
government in your community by talking
to the candidates and your neighbors. You
can read your newspaper or attend eouncil
meetings for first hand knowledge. Being
involved in your municipal government
simply means being aware, being concerned
and asking questions.
And above all VOTE! By not casting your
vote you have effectively giveir up your
chance to have a voice in your government -
notes the Ontario Advisory Council on
Women's Issues.
The 1985 election should draw more people
to the polls than ever before. Not only do we
have some exciting election challenges in
our municipalities, but the close connection
with Remembrance Day and Election Day
this year should prompt many to exercise
the rights of freedom that the world wars
were fought and won for:
Remembrance Day honors peace and the
freedom of democracy that was challenged
by war. Election Day illustrates that
democracy in action.
By Bill Smiley
lunch, has had a good natter with' the dame.
next door, and has been out for two hours,
raking leaves with, the kids. She doesn't
need him.
Instead of drifting off to the basement, the
small town male announces that this is his
bowling night, or he has to go to a meeting of
the Conservation and Slaughter Club, and
where's a clean shirt. And that's all there is
While her city counterpart squats in front
of TV, gnawing her nails and wondering why
she didn't marry good old George, who has a
big dairy farm now, the small town gal col-
lects the kids and goes out to Oro leaves.
There is nothing more romantic than the'
back streets of a small town in the dark of a.
fall evening. Piles of leaves spurt orange
flame. White smoke eddies:
Neighbors call out, lean on rakes. Women,
kerchiefed like gypsies, heap'the dry leaves
high on the fire. Kids avoid the subject of
bedtime, dash about the fire like nimble
gnomes.
Or perhaps the whole family goes to a fowl
supper. What, 'in city living,, can compare
with this finest of rural functions? A crisp
fall evening, a drive " to the church hall
through a Hallowe'en landscape, an ap-
petite like an alligator, and that first wild
whiff of turkey and dressing. that makes
your knees'buckle and the juices flow free in
your cheeks.
But it's on weekends that my pity for the
city -dweller runneth over. Not for him the
shooting -match on a clear fall Saturday,
with. its good-hwnored competition, its tipsy
friendliness. Not for him the .quiet stroll
down a sunny wood road, shotgwi over arm,
partridge and woodcock rising like clouds of
mosquitoes.
It's not that he doesn't live right, or
doesn't deserve these pleasures. Itis just
that it's, physically. impossible to get to them
easily. If.he wants to crouch in a duck -blind,
at dawn, he has to drive half the night to get
there.
Maybe on a Sunday or holiday, in the fall,
the city family decides to head out and see
some of that beautiful autumn foliage. They
see it, after driving two hours. And with
50,000 other cars, they crawl home in late
afternoon,. bumper to bumper, theold man
cursing; the kids getting hungrier, the
mothergrowing owlier.
Small town people can drive for 15
minutes and hit scenery, at least • around
here, that leaves them breathless. Or they'll
wheel out a few miles to see thsir.relatives
on the farm, eat a magnificent 'dinner, and
sit around watching TV in a state of
delicious torpor.
Yup. It's tough to live in the city, in the
fall.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Group misrepresents equality movement
Dear Editor,•
We are writing to express our concerns
about the , increasing .trend towards
polarization of women's organizations into
supposedly pro -family and anti -family fac-
tiotls. . '
We are aware that REAL Women of
Canada are mounting an organized cam-
paign to portray all feminist organization's
as anti -family. We believRlthis to be a total
misrepresentation of the organized move-
ment for equality for women in Canada.
Without exception, groups like ours which
consider themselves part of the Canadian
women's movement and define themselves
as feminist, stand firmly committed to two
principles: choice and. equality. We believe
that neither principle can exist in-
dependently of the other.
The rightto choose—to marry or to remain
single, to' become a parent or to remain
childless, to work inside or outside paid
labor force—is the cornerstone of the Cana-
dian women's movement upon which all
demands for equality are. based.
DisCr.imination against women in Canada
takes many forms. The women's movement
in ,Canada has focussed its energies on
achieving equality for all women.
It has worked hard to obtain legislation of
direct concern to women as workers such as
affirmative action, equal pay for work of
equal value and sexual harassment.
But, it has worked equally hard to obtain
legislation of benefit to women as mothers
on reproductive hazards in the workplace,
parental leave, child care, funding for
assaulted women, effective enforcement of
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support orders and family law reform.
The women's movement in Canada over
the past 20 years has continued to grow and
to receive increasingly popular support only
because it truly reflects the opinions and
concerns of the vast majority of Canadian
women regardless of age, economic or
marital status. •
As feminists, board. members of Women
Today reject. any insinuations that there is
any conflict between women's rights and
human rights.
We will continue to work towards a future
that contains the possibility of \\choice,
• equality and peace for all Canadians,!
Yours sincerely.
Debbie Selkirk, president
Women Today.
ovember marksEpilepsy month
bear Editor:
November 1985 marks Epilepsy. Canada's
second National Epilepsy Month. Along with
its 39 provincial and regional associations
from coast-to-coast, Epilepsy Canada is
planning an awareness campaign to help
enlight n public attitudes towards epilepsy.
The dampaign theme is "Epilepsy, It's not
what you think" and, as the message
suggests, epilepsy ' ' what most people
think. In fact, more the 80 per cent of the
400,000 Canadians with epilepsy lead normal
lives in the mainstream of society, often
working at high executive and
administrative levels. Yet, despite this,
these people often suffer from prejudice and
social discrimination from their peers and
their friends.
This year's campaign will feature Ross,
Epilepsy Canada's 3"2: -year-old Poster
Child.
November was proclaimed National
Epilepsy Month in 1984 by Governor General
and Patron of Epilepsy Canada, Jeanne
Sauve.
Epilepsy Canada end its affiliates
continue to expand their goals, responding
to the needs and interests of the Canadian
public and are striving to find better
solutions to the problems of epilepsy. '
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I
can be of further assistance to you.
Yours sincerely,
Marj Vere
Huron, Perth, Bruce Chapter
P.O. Box 1058
Clinton
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Blood donor clinic onNovember13.
Dear Editor:
Clinton and area has always supported the
Red Cross Blood program with enthusiasm
and concern for its community. We will be
holding a clinic on November 13 and would
urge all types to donate as we approach the
Christmas season.
Since lila clegative blood is aiwaya ►It short
supply, we would urge these donors to make
that special effort to donate.
New donors play a vital role in helping to
develop our donor base in Southwestern On-
tarib.
Thank you, Clinton and area, for suppor-
ting our blood program. We look to this bi-
annual event.
Sincerely,
Susan Eckhard
Mobile Clinic Co-ordinator
Local support appreciated by Farm Show
Dear Editor:
On behalf of the Farm Show Committee,
I'd like to express our thanks to the
businesses in and around Goderich
Township for their support of our revival of
The Farm Show in July.
We realize that many different groups
look to local business people for support,
especially in a year with many
sesquicentennial activities going on. That
makes us even more appreciative of the
positive, friendly response we encountered.
Thank you very much for your time, your
support and your enthusiasm.
Sincerely
The Farm Show Committee
Goderich Township
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