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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1984-11-07, Page 4• kl +c' ', a Wlr °11 la,EtY, NM/EWER 7, 1984 ES it was rather welcome., relief toseek respite behind the old MUST ,, word pro- cessor )Monday after a weekend with the dynamic duo. N Perhaps 1 am just growing oldand weary but, even council assumed a faIe air of entertainment after a rigorous weekend of childrearing. • And after careful reflection, I would have to admit that the weekend tally, in terms of score, favored the kids by a hefty margin. I may not even have been in'the game. I don't think the sight of daughter Laura walking aobut with bits of styrofoam hang- ing from her mouth got tome. Nor did I even bat a parental eye when son Bradley assisted with the chore of dishwashing, while indiscriminately dispensing with gallons of hot water and suds ill the process. That didn't bother this dutiful dad. And did I even raise a brow in disbelief when the dynamic duo emptied the, entire tents of the lower cupboard, including 142''cans and assorted bottles of gooey stuff? No siree. " It takes more than that to stimulate this scribe. � ilddali l<even vole iimloelchor- E�et goo w re b cak�'X`et' Q ' . '� bits to eat froaa"the waste;'basket under the. kitchen sink? s, Not even a declble, Solnettimes I'm so cool underpressure its Wig' And did it crack my coot to find the con- tentsof my personal comforting beverage empty after returning from answering the phone but not knowing egaclty where or how the liquid disappeared? I would have to ad- mit to being alliittle disturbed at this point. And 1'submit that this intrepid cor- respondent-wamaysn't even phased at the pro- spect of, discovering all 128 pages of his Saturday paper scattered about the living room floor. We see it all in this business. And did I evert flinch when gooey bits of cookie stuck to my pants after sitting on the couch? Fathers soon learn to accept these setabacks. However, I will admit to drawing the line when son BradleY doused his sister with garlic salt. 'ifit dance in the h and'I 1n „ e unchefl an: to iYr v ' f Vatlone e yon been playingthe garlic powder, Bradley?" I questioned.t "Now." . , "Well it sure smells in here, 1 countered While following the., odour to determine the source. ,,, The source turned out to be sister Laura and upon close exainination-it was evident her lir and much of her upper torso was covered in garlic powder... , "laid you pour the powder, -:on ice," I de- mand in firm tones knowing I've got the evidence to stick him with this,one. "Well I just shook it a little and Laura walked underneath it," he offers as, if entire- ly innocent of any wrongdoing. Father can't help but smile and then everyone breaks into fits of laughter in- cluding the kid who smells like the kitchen of an Italian restaua'rant. I figure after 10 more baths she'll smell like'nornial, Alli call it was a pretty routine weekend of babysitting. THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT SINCE 1848 Founded in 1848 and published every Wednesday et Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OCNA. Subscriptions payable in advance '20.95, (Senior Citizens '17.95 privilege card number required) in Canada, '55. to U.S.A., '55. to all other cauntriee, Single copies 502. Display, National and Classified advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rete Card No. 15 effective October 1, 1884. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will netts' charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid far et the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, geode or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or dealing's of unsolicited manuscripts, photce or other materials used for reproducing purposes. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER -President and Publisher DON HUBICK - Advertising Manager 0.00.0000001.1 the •ch P P.O. BOXHUCKINS ET. IIVOUSTRIAL PARK ` r GODERICH, ONT. N7A 4B6 SV07 DAVE SYKES - Editor Member: Second class mail registration number 0716 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...please phone [519)524-2614 Medals deserved The dedicated efforts of the volunteer has been the subject of news reports and editorials of late in this newspaper. It seems that many groups, especiallyythose that cater to the activities and development of children, are in need of volunteer help. It was suggested at that time that often the work of the volunteer goes unnoticed. This week it was a pleasure to announce the winner of the of the Provincial Bicenten- nial Medals, offered to 1,984 Ontarians for their community service. We salute the people of Goderich and area who were both nominated and selected to receive the Bicentennial medal. You are deserving and worthy recipients. Ostensibly, the medals recognize individuals for their volunteerism and service to their community. The recipients for the town of Goderich; Mac Campbell, Ellen Connel- ly, James Kinkead, Donald Bert MacAdam, Nancy MacLennan, Connie Osborne and Ed Stiles, have all contributed to the community in different ways, but in selfless ways. Their acts have always reflected and generated a community spirit and interest. No doubt there are others who have equally contributed to the community in some way but whose efforts remain anonymous to much of the community. In a way, the Bicenten- nial medals represent a much broader salute to the volunteers of all communities. Perhaps such awards should be made on an annual basis and not just every 200 years. He stands alone. REMEMBERING He stands alone — Remembering In front of the monument. The wreaths have been placed, People have come and paid their respects. Now he stands alone — Remembering. The skies overhead are cold and grey, Very little sun shines on his day, Tiny snowflakes fall gently on his face, But he stands alone — Remembering. His face is weather-beaten, wrinkled, A tear shapes at the corner of his eye, But his stance is straight at attention, And he stands alone — Remember;ng. He hears the guns in the battles gone by, He hears the noise of the dead and dying, He relives these days for a few moments in his mind. Now he stands alone Remembering. He thinks of his return home, and the , celebrating. He thinks of his wife, children and grand- children Who today can live free — because of him. , It becomes very clear for all to see Why he stands alone — Remembering. LEAH SMITH Freetow/P. E.I . First Place Intermediate Poem The gathering By Dave Sykes POSTSCRIPT JOANNE= BUCHANAN A friend and I were talking the other day about how much we hated our hair. "I just can't find a style that I'm happy 4 with," she groaned. I shook my head in total sympathy. I knew just how she felt. Women who walk around with perfectly coiffed heads of hair at all times remain a mystery to me. They have obviously mastered the art of using a curl- ing iron while I have not. The struggles I've had with my hair go back a long way. When I was a little girl, I remember screaming bloody murder while my mother tried to comllahe tangles out of my. freshly washed stianllls as painlessly as possible. Then there was the nightly ritual of hav- ing aving her put it "up in pin curls" so that I could wear it curly to school each morning. Sleep- ing on bobby pins wa'sn't so bad but when I advanced to sleeping on rollers, I hated it. They were prickly and itchy and when you laid your head on the pillow, they dug in. I could never get comfortable. Please don't get the idea that my mother was some kind of sadistic torturer who en- joyed sticking objects into her little girl's head. I actually wanted her to put the rollers in and would remind her if she forgot. I was willing to stiffer great pain—all for the sake of forcing my naturally straight hair into a mass of unnatural curls. Another memory I have of my "childhood hair" includes barrettes and hair bands. Barrettes weren't too bad but those plastic hair bands, with the teeth that slowly bore holes into one's head, left somcthing to be desired. They were killers but they clung to y head (elastic ones always slipped)oo forced the hair back out ofmy eyes. Then "bangs" come into style. There was a fine art to having bangs that looked just right. They had to be touching your eyebrows and couldn't be any higher or you wouldn't be fashionable. My mother would cut my bangs and while she was cutting, I would be looking up to see what the scissors were doing. Of course, in order to look up, I would have my eyebrows arched high. Then I'd lower them when mom was finished and my bangs would be half way up on my forehead. To make matters worse, they would often be uneven and as mom tried to make one side match up with the other, they would become shorter and shorter. Much to my horror, I would then have to go to school looking like Moe of the Three Stooges (you know, the one who looked like he cut his hair while wearing a bowl on his head). All through high school, I wore my hair long and straight and parted in the middle. Everybody wore their hair this way—girls and guys—whether it looked good or not. Long, straight hair was"in" back then. This was before the invention of the blow dryer, so washing one's long hair was an all- night project. You had to be sure you weren't going out anywhere so you could sit around all night and wait for it to.dry. At the end of Grade 13, I got all my hair cut off. I went from long to short in less than an hour. It was a great shock to my system that I still haven't fully recovered from. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't want long hair again. After you get to a certain age, it just doesn't look right on most people. But short hair presents a whole new set of problems. It sticks out all over Your head if you sleep on it funny. And it's boring. Being bored with your hair is dangerous. That's when you're likely to be tempted by "The Perm". I have so many horror stories about the perms I've suffered, that I could write a book. I still remember the first one I ever got. My hair took to the curl a lot faster than the hairdresser had anticipated. The end result looked like a wig that had shrunk and been placed back on top of my head. Or, I think my. brother described it more adequately when he said I looked like an over -stuffed Shirley Temple. My own mother kept bursting into uncontrolable fits of laughter as she tried fo console me. I'm hardly ever happy with my hair, whether it is permed or straight, short or long. Whenever I see a nice style in a magazine, I take it into a hairdresser and ask him to duplicate it on my head. I figure that if I get my hair styled the same way it is shown in the magazine, somehow my face will magically be transformed to look like the model's. But it doesn't work that way. And even if the style does look good in the hairdresser's shop,, I know that one strong gust of wind will ruin it. I will never get it to look the same way again. I used to go to just any hairdresser. I'd walk in when I was totally frustrated and de- mand, "Cut it all off!" This would often have disastrous consequences. Now after all these years of trial and er- ror, I've finally found a hairdresser to stick with—even for perms. Still, I always hate the perm when it's first done. It never looks right until it's grown out for at least a mon- th. I'm due for 'another one this week and I know after it's done, I'll be busy thinking of ways I can hole up in my apartment until it grows out some. I wonder if anybody would notice if I wore a paper bag over my head to work. Probably not... There is no reason for parks and recrea- tion to bump into industrial and commercial interests in the commercial harbour.' One cannot truly and lastingly promote the former to the detriment of the latter. I have always actively furthered the cause of parks and recreation and continue to do so, but with the idea of upgrading these elements to the rightful level of importance compared to other, more traditional municipal services and community needs, never by attempting to downgrade legitimate interests of a differnt kind. In my vision parks invite compatible and usefully comforting partnerships; they are not pushy upstarts awkwardly stepping on toes. This kind of thinking went also into the Goderich Waterfront Parks Master Plann- ing Study, processed in consultation with general and commercial waterfront in- terests and adopted by the town council in September 1981. The first implementation stage was the successful and popular St. Christopher's Beach improvement, finished early this year. The next phase of develop- ment is going to be the main beach area touching the commercial harbour. parks and recreational elements in the area, without encroaching on the legitimate ac- tivities of the commercial harbour. Such a realistically compatible parks policy is even more important now when the federal government is spending seventeen million dollars on the upgrading and expan- sion of the commercial harbour to which the local industry will add its own development dollars. This council has probably never knowing- ly abandoned the parks policy direction adopted in the past, but somehow in the background a confusing signal must have been sent to the consultants who are prepar- ing the new drawings and so far they have not been redirected to take a clearly more suitable approach. The commercial harbour has its own rightful place in the affairs of our communi- ty. In that particular area these needs simp- ly come first. It is unrealistic to ask the Goderich Elevators to change its truck traf- fic patterns to accommodate a certain parks design. On the contrary, in that area the company's requirements and preferences ought to set the priorities around which the When making detailed plans for this next parks element could try to fit those non phase the council would do well by following interfering features which create a pleasant the basic philosophy of the master study and human interest atmosphere for the public. numbers of big trucks at work without being a nuisance. That is one place to start. A whole lot of improvement and beautification could be centred in the main beach area, after the St. Christopher's boardwalk has been extended. The small mineral spring spot on the opposite side could be well enlarged and turned into another green and attractive oasis, partly also for the truck drivers who have to wait long periods of time at the elevators. The ex- isting green areas could be improved and a number of small bealfty spots could be created in a secondary and supportive role throughout the area. Lots of very nice things could be done without interfering with the primary purpose of the waterfront industry. It was Goderich Elevators Limited who donated the ship's wheelhouse for the crea- tion of the Marine Museumadj cent o its premises. The company ap- preciable goodwill for neighbourly relations with other interests. It would serve no good public purpose to frustrate the company with unreasonable demands on its time and patience. Until the town council comes up with much better ideas, I invite all members to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the text of the 1981 master study, particularly the report on the public meeting �aigb' rg"-i ii it "o "'tor Itis r� ur � 'i "p ,. -. ,�. v,� _ . �. ,..., ELSA HAYDON