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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-12, Page 15Cijmrnunit *Entertainment *Features *Religion *Family *More SECTION • Students enjoy county health fair At left, Grade 7 Robertson student.Marie Burbine tries the Smoking Sam display at the Huron County chapter of the Canadian —Cancer Society's booth assisted by society member Gail Bettger during last week's Health Fair at GDCI. Smoking Sam shows the amount of damage caused to the lungs by one cigarette. In the photo below, Con- stable John Marshall of the Goderich OPP detachment adjusts the seatbelt on Chris Laithwaite, a Grade 8 student at Holmesville Public School, prior to her ride on The Convincer, a crash -simulator designed to encourage the use of seatbelts. BY WILLIAM THOMAS Hurtin' songs torn from the ages of life I live in a place Called Wainfleet. Wainfleet is a town the way Liechtens- tein is a country. To pall it tiny only flat- ters it and excites the townsfolk to talk about renaming it `Greater Metropolitan Wainfleet.' . The risk of living among plain country folk is the possibility of contamination by country and western music. Actually it's not so much the music as it is those dang- ed song titles. Occasionally I'll venture into the city. That's Port Colborne, six miles down the highway as the combine crawls. Port Colborne is a city the way Thornhill is a mountain. Port Colborne has a hotel call- ed the Belmont. Wainfleet would have a hotel except it couldn't fit it between the feed store and municipal offices. I don't know why I go to the Belmont Hotel except that they serve up the best 'chicken in the basket' in the Western Hemisphere and anywhere else that hens cluck and get plucked. Everytime I leave that place I'm so depressed — "I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling". And that's precisely the reason. Country and western song titles, just like that one. They're sad and lonely; cruel, in a coun- try kind of way. I was in the Belmont the other night and up on stage pickin' away at those tor- tuous twangs was a group called the Night Raiders. This would not be my first choice for the name of a country and western band. "Stark Naked And The Thieves" has always been a favorite as has. "Ned Nostril And His South Seas Paradise, Put Your Blues On Ice, Cheap At Twice The Price Band". Both reveal a lot about the artists. Anyway, there they were — The Night Raiders — their Dingo boots astompin' and their toothpicks keeping time as they wailed away "How Can Whiskey Six Years Old Whip.A Man 'Of 32?" I was, a tad down to start with and then they played: "I Got Tears In My Ears From Lyin' On My Back Cryin' After Losin' You." That did it. I went from down to depressed in six bars, two choruses and 'four-draft'beer. - I took to reminiscing about a lost love Used To when the band struck up: Kiss each Other On The Lips But,It's"All Over Now". I really started missin' her until they made me remember: "She Got The Gold Mine, I .Got The Shaft". Then they wiped the last bit of smile off my face with "I£ You Want To Keep The Beer Cold, Put It Next to My Ex -Wife's Heart". I needed a lift so I requested "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down." I asked Mike the bartender for his best whiskey and he sang ".lack Daniels, You Been A Friend To Me". My name isn't Jack Daniels! I was so lonesome I could die so I went to the phone to call her but when the band played: "I'm Down To My Last ComeI Health Fair Over 4,000 people visit health fair displays in five Huron County towns consultant says and photos by Lou -Ann Hope Story There was something for everyone at the last of five Huron County Healtli'Fairs held at Goderich Dictrict Collegiate Institute on November 4. About 1,200 people crowded the east gymnasium at GDCI to visit the various health displays set up by local and area health associations, said Sheryl Gilbert, health education consultant with the Huron County Board of Health Unit which organized the fairs. "The idea of the fairs was to present in- formative displays to people of all ages in and interesting way' so they could learn something about themselves," Gilbert said. The only criteria used for groups who wanted to set up displays was they had to offer a hands-on health related activity which would give the people feedback or teach them specific things about a topic, Gilbert explained. Fourteen groups had at least one display at the Health Fair. The groups included the Huron Centre for Children and Youth, St. John's Ambulance, the "Huron County chapter of the Heart and Stroke Founda- tion of Ontario, the Huron -Perth County Lung Association, 'a display by the blind, Wingham and District Dental Society, Goderich OPP, the Ontario Fitness Coun- cil, the Huron County chapter of the Cana- dian Diabetes Association, Alexandra Marine and General Hospital, the Huron • County chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society, Family Planning, the Huron County Health Unit and Public Health Inspection. The display which attracted the most at- tention was that of 'the Goderich OPP. Their display, called The Convincer, allowed interested persons the opportunity to ride a crash simulator. The sled -like vehicle mounted on an angled trailer trave lied down the trailer at a speed of 8 km per hour and crashed into a fixed object. "We „hope to show the importance of wearing a seatbelt even in the most minor of collisions because it doesn't have to be a vehicle travelling 60 or 70 km' per hour"to get an impact. Even a 6 km per hour colli- sion without a seatbelt can cause a person to be pushed into the dash," said Constable John Marshall, adding that the average accident takes place within 40 km of home at speeds of 60 km or less. "We are finding that riding The Con- vincer is far more effective (in getting peo- ple to wear seatbelts) than watching a film or telling them about what can happen if they don't wear' seatbelts," Marshall added. At the Huron County chapter of the Canadian Diabetes Association's -display, Richard and Chris Payne (president and treasurer of the chapter respectively) were administering blood sugar tests. Visitors at the display round have their level of blood sugar read to see if it was within er unit of blood). normal his invoelved pricl ng the tip of of blood whicfinh was er th a needle tro• then put int get machine Which read the blood's sugar level." " If there is a readingJ over 10 (mmol per unit of blood), we ask ¶he person to come back in an hour and ha a the test again. If the reading is still high, we advise them to see their doctor. The test doesn't say whether you have diabetes, it only tells you if your blood sugar is high," Mrs. Payne said, adding that she expected to do about; 300 tests while at GDCI. About 12 people were found to have high blood sugar levels during testing done at" the four previous `Health Fairs. Seeing how effective your lungs were was the idea of a test offered by the Huron County Lung Association. A person's lung capacity was measured Turn to page 2 - and Get Me", I hung up. Even though didn't make the call she'd get the message because the last thing I ever said to her was: "If The Phone Don't Ring Honey, You'll Know It's Me". I was better off without her I thought as they whipped up the crown with "Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone". They were lookin' right ,at me when they sang: "The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me" and had the nerve to announce a "lady's choice" when they played '.. "Losin' The Love Of Your Life Can Be Harder Than Scrapin' Grits Off An Old Fryin' Pan". Could any man be sadder than when he =. hears "My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him"? Sometimes those country titles put it all in piercing perspective for you — "You're The Hangnail In My Life". 'Sometimes they paint a picture — "The Woman Behind The Man Behind The Wheel". There's always intrigue — "1f Fingerprints Showed Up On Skin 1 wonder Whose I'd Find On You?" Somebody's always leaving — "Texas In My Rearview Mirror" and somebody's always hurtin' — "I Don't Mind Goin' Under If It'll Get Me Over You". They make you feel like you're being jerked around — "The Right String But The Wrong Yo -Yo". Sometimes there's a promise — "You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith Too". Sometimes there's no hope at all — "Sudbury Saturday Night". They do, however, convey "You're u acertain Thn sense of marital delicacy — „and "I Reason Our Kids Are Ugly Wouldn't Take Her To A Dogfight." And a sense of the present — "My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink and I Don't Love Jesus". Whatever it was, I was sad. I was down. I felt lower than a midget liftin' hub caps off of a chopped -down Chevy with four flat tires on Beaten Street. It had to be the music because I walked into the Belmont a sane and happy man. I thought maybe there was a religious way out so I quietly pulled the lead singer aside and requested "Drop Kick Me Jesus, Through The Goal Posts Of Life". He lied when he said he'd play it because he started the second set with "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights". I went up to him again and requested — "You Broke My Heart, You Stole My Money And You Killed My Pitbull `Blue' •— But Still Say The One For Me Is You." Turn to page 13 • In the above photo, Sharon Gloor, a volunteer attendant with St. John's Ambulance in. Goderich, presents a CPR demonstration'on an infant to a group of interested students at last week's Health Fair. At right, John O'Keefe watches Grade 5 Robertson students Kelly Muir and Dawn Baker take rt in the climbing stairs portion of the fitness tett, conducted by the Ontario Fitness Co Heil during the Health Fair held at GDCI.