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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1987-01-21, Page 4Page 4—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1987 Tho Clinton News -Record Is published each Wednesday of P.O. Bos 39, Clinton. Ontarie. Canada. NOM 110. Tel.: 483.3443. Subscription Rote: Conoda-571.00 Sr. Citizen - 519.00 per year U.S.A. foreign 500.00 por yeor It 10 registered as second class moll by the post office under the permit number 0817. The News -Record Incorporated In 1924 thoHuron News -Record. founded In 1881. and Thp Clinton News Era. founded In 1855, Total press runs 3.700. Incorporating THE BLYTH STANDARD) ANNE NAREJKO - Editor FREDA McLEOD - Office Manager SHELLEY McPHEE HAIST - Reporter DAVID EMSLIE - Reporter JANICE GIBSON - Advertising LAUREL MITCHELL - Circulation/Classified GARY HAIST - General Manager • MEMBER MEMPEF A RUE RIBBON AWMD 1985 Display advertising rotes available on request. Ask for Roto Cord No. 1 S effective Oc- tober 1, 1984. To build or not to build There's no doubt about it, the Town of Clinton needs apartment buildings. The only problem is, where do we put them? A local citizen has proposed two one storey buildings be located 'on three lots by the corner of Erie and High Streets, just behind the piano factory. Residents in .that area don't like the idea. They think it will decrease their property value so they want the zoning to remain residential low density. Last spring the property in question was zoned for industrial use. If a factory had decided to move in, there would have been very little the residents could have done to prevent it at that time. In the summer of last year, the zoning changed to residential low densi- ty which would not allow industries or commercial use, but single dwellings. And now, a few months later, rezoning is once again in the air. The idea of erecting apartment buildings is a good one. Some people don't want to rent or own a home because they don't want to be bothered with cutting grass, shovelling snow or doing the general maintenance work that houses require. Plus there are not many apartments available in town. The old saying, "build any where but not in my backyard" holds true as a representative suggested other locations in town where the buildings could be located. However, residents there may have the same objec- tions, and who could blame them. On the other hand, who wants to live in an apartment building out in the country? After all the arguments were presented at the public meeting on January 15, the Clinton Advisory Committee was to make a recommenda- tion to council, who in turn would make a decision as to what they felt was best - locate the apartment buildings there, or not. =It is a tough decision to make. The town does need apartments, but is that the proper location? If not, what is? ° A Idt`f'j ibple will°fie patiently waiting counciI's decision on February q°*"A e Narejkdl° Way to go Janis Dear Editor: Mrs. Janis Bisback is to be complimented on her Tetter to the editor last week outlining her experience as a member at large on the library board over the past four years. It is evidence of the continuing drama of power plays that unfold behind the great grey walls of the county castle. The imaginary soaps of Dynasty cannot outdo our own home-grown, real life versions. Our hard earned tax dollars should facilitate the delivery of programs in this county. Tax money should not be used for a few people to indulge their massive egos in power plays to see who can be King of the Castle. l'rofessional people are hired to spend their time assessing County needs and ad- minister programs to meet those needs. It is the job of elected officials to see that these various specialists and administrators of local services carry out their duties in a responsible fashion. It is not their duty to take over these jobs theinselves. I was shocked when I read that the politicians were considering a motion to involve themselves in the decisions of which books to purchase for our libraries. This is analogical to the politicians choosing the Letters vaccines to be useu uy the Yubuc tleaun Nurses or the girders for building bridges. It is further incredible that the county solicitor would encourage and support such action. The library system has been ably ad- ministered for the last fourteen years by a e professional with three University Degrees. Because Mr. Partridge and Mrs. Bisback have chosen not to conform they are being removed. Mrs. Bisback spoke against the dissolution of the Library Board in Queen's Park. Copies of the proceedings (Hansard ) of Private Bill Pr -7 are now available in each of the five town libraries. The in- terested public should take the time to glance through these reports. If the con- cerns of the public lie with censorship and other control issues it would be informative to pay particular attention to Pages T-14 to T20 of the December 17, 1986 hearing. Sincerely, J.E. and H.R. Cieslar Pamphlets to help your pet I)ear Editor: It is a sad and unacceptable fact that every year thousands of dogs suffer through long and harsh Canadian winters with in- adequate shelter or no shelter at all. These dogs cannot obtain shelter and are forced to endure terrible weather conditions. Tremendous cold spells, vicious blizzards and freezing rain can prove fatal for even the hardiest of dogs. Most of us would not even consider being out in these elements, even for a short period of time, so how can we expect dogs to live in these conditions? What kind of existence is this anyway.? While winter emphasizes the need for ade- quate shelter, "outdoor" dogs also need ade- quate housing the rest of the year to protect them from the intense heat of the sun as well as the rain. Under the Criminal Code of Canada all dogs are, by law, required to have "adequate" shelter. A doghouse should be large enough for the dog to stand up, sit down, turn around and stretch out comfortable to the fullest extent of its limbs. It should be insulated, have an interior windbreak, exterior door flap and be elevated 6 inches off the ground, facing away from the prevailing winds. These are the minimum standards the Ontario Humane Society has set regarding a doghouse. Realizing that not all dogs are "indoor" dogs, the Ontario Humane Society has published a pamphlet detailing how to con- struct an "ideal" doghouse. The pamphlet, "Ideal Doghouse for Ontario's Outdoor Dogs", provides the dog owner with all the necessary information to construct a "custom fit" doghouse that will, if con- structed properly, provide an outdoor dog with good shelter. 1 Copies of this pamphlet can be obtained by simply contacting the Ontario Humane Society at: 620 Younge Street, Newmarket, Ontario, 13Y 4V8. Office cleanup How does a person know what to sage and what to throw away? Do I need to keep this brochure with little lid bits of information in it, or will I never get a chance to use it? Do I need to keep last year's appointment book, or will I have no need for it? And how about all of these business cards that; .come in through the mail? Well, I guess I'll file the brochure, put last year's appointment book in the drawer with the year before's and the one from the year before that, and I guess I'll put the business cards in with all the rest. Cleaning up the office is a task I don't look forward to. I'd sooner clean my entire house than this 10 X 10 square foot cubby hole of an office I have. "This might come in handy some year," I tell myself, so after the busy Christmas season is over, I set to work cleaning out and sorting through files and papers stacked on Sincerely, N. Glenn Perrett Director, Humane Education Ontario Humane Society Got an opinion? Write a letter to the editor and behind my desk. I pull everything out of the drawers and must say, "So that's where that is" a hun- dred and eight times. My bottom draw contains all of my notebooks, which date back to 1983 as we'll as my appointment books. Keeping them for that past year seems logical, but why I keep them for four years is beyond me. All I know is they're there, just in case... In the top drawer are numerous business cards - some from people I've met and know, others from people I have never and probably will never meet or talk to. Another drawer is jammed full of files, some of which I forgot I even had and will mist likely never use, but then again, you never can tell when t might come in handy. So what usually happens is everything gets put back in the drawers, a little neater and in a different order with only one or two sheets of paper missing. Next comes the machine ( Mini Disk Ter- minals) we type these stories on. The screen gets dusty and the keys get dirty so every now and again it gets a good Windex cleaning. This year I even took the machine clean- ing one step further. I removed all of the white keys and "scrubbed" the dirt off them. (I'm still only half way through this task, but I have good intentions of finishing the job.) After I had accomplished enough in my of- fice, I headed for the darkroom, took a look around, and then retreated to my desk. Now don't get me wrong, our darkroom is one of the tidiest I've seen, but after tackling my desk, I lost all enthusiasm for the job. The "tidy" look lasted for, oh, about one week. Now my desk is getting cluttered again and the "lived in" look is starting to reappear. But you know, I think I like the cluttered, lived in look. Some people would say, clut- tered desk, cluttered mind, but I say empty desk, empty mind. AAA1PA Po MA WE'VE BIN HIJACKED BY SOME LOONEY! WE'RE GONG PoIUN 0o4ao4cs0 ShelIQy McPhe Ilaist The new me QUESTION - How much noise annoys an oyster? ANSWER - A noisy noise annoys an oyster. So, there we were sitting in the pub one night last week. It had been a long day at work. The full moon was shining. We were feeling frivolous and carefree. We hadn't been out to the pub in a long while. Everyone was telling jokes. The usual of- fering of off color, lewd and crude, even a few groaner jokes were going round the table. Then, it came to be my turn. I cannot tell jokes, never could, never will. I don't have the timing of a good comedian. I blush and stammer my way through dirty jokes. I don't get most jokes. I can't ever remember the punch line. Still, it was my turn. My friends waited with bated breath. I did have a joke to tell. This little ditty had been going through my head all week. I even knew the punch line. Everyone listened in great anticipation as I began — -"How much noise annoys an oyster ...." and on I went. My joke was less than well received. It didn't have any punch. There was no black humor, no shock value, none of the stuff that typical bar jokes are made of. There were no gales of laughter for my joke, no table thumping joviality, no guffaws. not even a groaner. I was the only person at the tgble giggling, everyone else greeted me with blank stares. "Say that again?" someone suggested. I knew it was too late to save the joke. They didn't get it. They didn't think it was funny. So mucb,,,.> for jokes from my daughter's "Shar"on, Lois and Bram" record album. It was the tf'vn marguerites that gave me the nerve to tell the joke in the first place. I can't handle booze anymore. After one marguerite I was giddy. ttifter two (the second was forced upon me by an inebriated friend) words started coming out of thy mouth sideways. The next day I was- still feeling the effects of my night at the pub. My head ached. My stomach was in revolt and I was forced to ease my suffering with Aspirin and hot tea. The day after that it was the same. A couple of drinks could not possibly give me a two day hangover and I finally reasoned that I was having a relapse with the flu bug that invaded my body at Christmas time. Still, it will be a long while before I can face another marguerita again. So much for my life as a bar fly. Maturity, marriage and motherhood ( not to mention margueritas) seem to have had strange effects on me. I remember otherwise, when, as a college student I could drink gallons of draft beer, disco dance until dawn, eat cold pizza for breakfast, head to class and present a 60 -page essay in Canadian Politics. ( I mail ged to get a B plus grade for that paper) . I can remember as a teenager when a Fri day night at home was a torture worse than death itself. And, on the Friday nights that I did go out, coming hornet before 1 a.m. meant that something was Featly ami s. Ah yes, the days of my youth. They were fun, but how the times have changed. Now, I think of a Friday night at home as pure peace and enjoyment. Husband and I enjoy such quiet times together. We even call it a romantic evening if we get in Chinese food, watch Dallas and head to bed at 10 p.m. with a cup of hot milk. Heaven forbid that I stay up past the nam tional news time anymore. I have a deter- mined baby daughter that insists on awak- ing each morning at four o'clock. There's no ignoring this noisy little girl when she wants a. bottle of milk. A perfect night means that Baby sleeps from seven in the evening to seven in the morning witho t batting an eye. A perfect day eans that Baby eats all her food, takes a morning and afternoon nap like the books say she's supposed to, is con- tent to amuse herself while I do the ironing, and, manages to get through the day wear- • ing the same outfit that she was dressed in that morning. An enjoyable day for me is one when I go to work at the office. I can write my stories in peace. I can talk on the telephone without Baby (alias Miss Nosy Parker) pulling on my pant leg. - A special event tor me is going to the grocery store — by myself. I meander down the aisles. I linger over the vegetable counter. I stop at the magazine rack. I may even stop in at the library on the way home. It's luxurious to be able to spend a couple of hours away from the house without Baby in tow. A wee person can make a great deal of dif- ference in ways I never thought about. I was prepared for the major adjustments like sleepless nights, curtailing my social calen- dar and diaper duty. 1 didn't know that babies meant that I would love going to the grocery store by myself and actually call it "an outing." I didn't know that babies meant that I couldn't stay out late at nights. I didn't know that they gave you headaches after two drinks. I wasn't prepared for the public scrutiny that ar, mother faces when she takes Baby shopping. One day last week my mother, Baby and I headed to Exeter for an afternoon excur- sion. Much to our delight one of our favorite stores was holding a huge 50 per cent off sale. The store was crowded. Shoppers were lined up 10 deep waiting their turn at the cash register. They were carrying armloads of merchandise, and, looking for more bargains as they waited. I could read their minds. They were say- ing to me, "The nerve of that woman, bring- ing that baby and that huge buggy in here." Baby was as good as gold. She thought the whole circus show was quite entertaining. And, my stroller is not that big. However, I knew immediately that Baby and I had to get out of the store before we were mowed down by bargain hunters. We waited outside and ate crackers, wat- ching as people came out from the store with bags and boxes M merchandise — all marked down froms.its original price to 50 per cent off. I wanted, to be in there with them. I wanted to buy, buy, buy. I wanted to find ' great bargains. Yes, Baby has changed my ways. I can think of no other event or act of nature that would make me miss a half-price sale!