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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-07-15, Page 4PAGE 4—GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1987 On occasion, 1 let my cerebral ap- paratus "wander aimlessly from reality into a world where my children are helpful, co-operative little people, ready to relieve their dutiful dad from an assortment of yard work. In fact, they have been showing signs of ,willingness that acutally they lean towards "keen" on the attitude barometer. But then, at the age of six, the family lawnmower has to, be the most intriguing machine known to a little person. At this moment in life, my son is willing to negotiate almost any terms, just to get his inexperienced paws on the handle bars of the John Deere. Cutting the lawn would be the first ma- jor step towards manhood, he l lieves, ranking immediately behind driving a• forklift, which, at this moment, is first on DAVE SYKES the career path list. Knowing he has at least five years of schooling ahead before he can real' tically pursue the forklift career, Braley is content to con his way into cutting the grass. So far, we have managed to limit his enthusiasm to helping his father push the gas -engine mower and shutting it off when the job's complete. But the first born and his three-year- old sister, who is of the„ opinion her older brother is rather worldy and wise, are consumed with the desire to assist their father in every household endeavor in- volving a saw, screwdriver, pliers, wren- ches, and all things electrical and mechanical. Quite simply, they want to stick their noses into every household job. The fact of the matter is that an addi-. tional 10 or 20 stubby little fingers tends to complicate most routine chores around the house. Regardless, the children do get to assist but I live with a nagging fear that one day they will use their ex- pertise to disassemble the car, lawnmower, shed and assorted other prized possessions. Others with more experience in the parenting business have assured me that it is quite normal behaviour for children to want to help when they are too young to be of any value. Once they reach an age when they could be useful, those urges suddenly pass, I am told. Apparently it's all part of the growing up process or one of life's inexplainable laws. Try and convince a kid over the age of seven to cut the grass without opening your wallet and see how far you get. Children beyond seven years don't get off the couch for change anymore. Last week, while ,cutting the lawn in ex- treme heat, I succumbed to the insistence of the eldest child, who, in convincing manner, suggested he could be of valuable service. Handed a pair of clipp- ing. shears, he was instructed to carefully trim long grass around the shed and premises. Minutes after the explicit briefing, the boy's younger sister is viewed wandering around the yard with shears in hand. Her brother is nowhere in sight. Running towards her father, she breaks into a broad grin while excitedly blurting out a story about trimming "all the long grass at the side of the house for you dad." The long grass turned out to be former varieties of plants and flowers that have added a good measure of, colour to the southern exposure. Those plants hang limply and at odd angles now, but as I looked at my daughter and saw her face beaming with pride, all I could offer was that she did "a great job." The next lesson will be to differentiate between varieties weeds and garden plants. Opinion THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT SINCE 1848 the EBT ALL gOUNO COMMUNITY NE WBPAPEq INCANAOA' ���//// Inrrw,unn Genn 7500 45001 C C " A drttw, Newsuuuur Ctr p7AAnn 1984 Go rlc,....... • SIGNAL -STAR P.O '80 HUCKINS ST.. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH, ONT. N7A 4B6 PUBLISHED BY SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED Founded in 1848 end published every Wednesday et Ooderlch, Ontario. Member of the CCNA and OCNA. Subscriptions payable In advance 822.00, (Senior =tisane 819.00 privilege card number required] In Canada, 860.00 to U.B.A., 880.00 to all other oountrlee, Bingle copies 80C. Display, National and Cleselfied edvertlsing rates available on request. Please oak for Rate Card No. 18 effective October 1, 1986. Advertlaing le accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical , the advertising apace occupied by the erroneous Item, together with the reaaoneble allowance for eigneture, will not be charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for et the applicable rate. In the event of e typographical error advertising goods or service's at a wrong pride, goods or services may not be sold. Advertlaing Is merely en offer to nail, and may be withdrawn et any time. The Signal -Star le not responsible for the lose or damage of pnsollcited manuscripts, photos or other materiels used for re' Ing purposes. General Manager Editor•Advertising Manager ;, SHIRLEY J. KELLER DAVE SYKES DON HUBICK FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES...pleeee phone [519)524-2614 Second class mail registration number 0716 Member: eNA Music to the ears A letter to the editor this week rightly praises the work of "the local Optimist Club in presenting another outstanding music festival at Optimist -Riverside Park over a four-day pet 0. u complaints handled by police at the festival. The reality or the situation is that the story wa`a" nota vitriolic comment on the relative n►erits of the music festival or the Optimist Club and its members. An association, and an in- correct one, is being made between the. quality of the festival and the integrity of the club and the fact there were noise complaints. The two events are unrelated.mm The item on last week's front„page perfunctorily and suarily outlined the number of complaints handled by the town's force. Half of the complaints handled at the festival, were noise related: That there were only eight noise complaints emanating from a festival of that magnitude is laudable and a credit to the job done. Unfortunately, one man's music is another man's noise, and that dichotomous relationship will always exist as long as we have a festival. While the festival may have had eight detractors, it had hundr eds,.perhaps thousands, of willing participants. The story was not intended to heighten or exacerbate feelings between the club and some people who may question the musical merits of the festival. There is a pervading ambivalence with any major event. Simply, you can't please everyone. ' The music festival, and the Optimist Club, are important elements contributing to the quality of commmunity life. In 1981, when the club was under pressure to move the festival from Harbour Park, where it was staged the first two years,' the paper editorialized on the matter, praising the club for its initiative and ingenuity in bringing an event to town of that calibre. It was emphatically stated that the festival was something that was both welcome and needed in Goderich. -Tha support for tliereVt has beerrunwaverirrg-and each year -this p�aper-promotes-the- festival with pre -festival coverage, featuring a story about the events, and''1biographical in- formation and pictures of many of the performers appearing each year. . And we will continue to do so, recognizing the indefatigable effort of the members and the relative worth of the festival to the community, the club and the youth programs they ably support and subsequently enhance. Sometimes it's difficult to extricate emotion from fact in certain instahces. Something that appears to have negative connota`£ive inferences obviously appeals to the sensibilities of those either involved, or those who are merely appreciative participants or spectators like Mr. MacAdam. And it is obviously easy to believe that such a story erodes or under- mines the efforts of the club's., members and the music festival itself. That it somehow im- pacts on the entire project in a destructive manner and lays bare its deficiencies. That is,sirnply not the case. The story in no way suggests the festival is not a worthy project or that the Optimist Club members' work was in vain. I think the moot point here is the fact the story appeared on the -front page and that the headline made reference to the festival. There certainly was no malicious intent. But as Mr. MacAdam eruditely suggests in his letter, the Optimists should be applauded for their dedication, work, and capabilities in putting on a great music festival.' And we heartily endorse that disposition. D.S. '�DU "X9y You%Q'E 04' T?/E.ENDANGE,QEP L/// Bur WE r/ 7 cANr rAK.' A CNAMcE (.7:1N AM/ oL' FLy-;Sy-M/6167,® 'There's no do bt that the club's eighth rendition of the music festival was another success '�`' because of the effort expended by its members. The author, however, was suggesting the pR t� ClisC®11 Vnue passeal er paper was out of. touch with reality for publishing a story on the front page concerning noise h be carried into the lower offices in the court house. A Brussels firm is doing the work. 25 YEARS AGO July 12, 1962: The CPR will discontinue all passenger service between Goderichand Guelph, and intermediate points, effecti ie August 6. On the same date, the CPR will inaugurate an alternative highway, service to accomodate express shipments from Monday through Saturday and from Monday through Friday to handle less than carload feight shipments. A fleet of silver transports will be employed in this alternative highway ser- vice to handle package freight up to 10,000 pounds in.weight. The announcement was made by Superintendent H.E. Powell, of the London Division. Replacing the retired local agent, "Red” Wilkinson, is the newly arrived Lawrence Haworth, from Elmira, who assumed the duties of the Goderich agent on July 5. Mr. Haworth had been the agent at Elmira for the past 10 and one-half years. ' Reported from the various sections of T wn is the -untrsal iiurnber of -dead -birds ap- pearing on the streets and sidewalks. In- cluded are robins, starligs and other varieties, even wrens. Asked about the phenomenon, Dr. R.M. Aldis, of the Huron County Health Unit, suggested the growing use of grub -killing chemicals for lawn pro- tection could be the source of the feathered fatalities. The grubs, poisoned by the chemical, are picked up by the birds, resulting in the chain reaction. Another sug- gestion is that a drastic drop in temperature could result in pneumonia, a condition to which birds are notoriously susceptible. 50 YEARS AGO July 16, 1937: Great progress is beipg made on the mammoth pageant spectacle "Britannia" to be presented at the Agricultural Park,. August 3 through 5, Tuesday through Thurs- day nights of Old Home Week. Rehearsals, LOOKING BACK now being held daily, are well under way and a cast of about 600 is working well in the schedule to make the production one of ex- ceptional merit. Horsemen for the Crusaders and Tournament scenes have been enlisted and will rehearse next Thurs- day at the park. These two scenes alone will be well worth seeing. Members of the Huron Regiment hve shown a keen aptitude for the Holocau§t or war scene, and a large number have bees' turning out to put this epic into shape. Visitors at rehearsals have expressed delight at the realism with which the men have put across their scene. Tickets are already selling, and there is a great demand for them. Of $2,249 collects in fines to date this year in Goderich, Wingharman.d_Seaforth Police Courts, $1,660 was collected as a result of concentrated police attacks on bootleggers and drunkenness. In the same period last year, only $710 was collectedin fines, of which $345 was gathered in for infractions of the LCA. According to court records, there has been an increase in drunkenness, there being to date this year six convictions for be- ing drunk and six for drunk dri 'ling. Last year in the same period, although there were eight "drunks", there was only one in the more dangerous class of drunk driver and one was convicted of "drunk riding". The last mentioned was apprehended while riding a horse. Following the general practice just now in Goderich, county authorities have com- menced a program of redecoration at the court house, the job to be completed befor Old 11 me Week. Work has been commenc- ed in the lower hall of the county building. Papering and painting are in order and will service 70 YEARS AGO July 12, 1917: Owing to the putting in of a new dam and bridge at Pfrimmer's flour mills, Ben - miller, the road will be closed about July 18. The work of reconstruction will be com- pleted as soon as possible. The work will be largely of cement construction and will be an added improvement to the locality. Mr. Pfrimmer has a large stock of flour and mill -feed in hand and all customers will be supplied as usual. The mill will always be .5 accessible by the Stewart road or by way of the 13enmiller bridge over the river. The rose garden at the county registry of- fice is again in its glory and is attracting many visitors. Registrar Coats has always been very generous in distributing the flowers from his garden and this year his generosity is lacking the way of ,practical and helpful .patriotism..He sends the fresh blooms • daily to Mr. Porter's bookstore V where they are sold and the entire proceeds are contributed to the Red Cross funds. The flowers are Gold at reasonable prices • Mr. Fred Mabee, professor of chemistry at the Baptist College, Shanghai, China, is in town visiting his brother, Dr. L.M. Mabee. Professsor Mabee,as pent six and one-half years in China and On return to his work in that country in the fall of next year. He is spending the summer visiting relatives at various points in Ontario and will "then devote himself to study for a year. He speaks very interestingly of conditions in Ch ina and says that the people of that vast country are gradually awaTehing to a sense of their great opportunities, nationally and otherwise. The people of Goderich will be af- forded an opportunity of hearing Professor Mabee next Sunday when he will speak at the Baptist church in the morning and at Knox church in the evening. The equipment checklist for athletes preparing to attend major sporting events may have been radically and per- manentlyaltered by the recent action of the organizers of the 1987 World Summer University Games, currently underway in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. The organizers,. in their wisdom, have seen fit to issue each male participant of the games with a condom, as protection against the possible spread o(,AIDS in that country. While perhaps a prudent move in light of the rapid spread of th dreaded disease world wide, one has td wonder if the issuing of condoms to • athletes entering a country isn't taking the whole thing a bit too far. After all, these people are there to play games – not to "play around". It also conjures up a very weird image of the scene in the registration lines at the games. "Okay, here's your gym shorts, room key, deodorant and condom." "What's the condom for?" "If you don't know, Buddy, you don't need it! Next!" Of course, the discriminatory practice of issuing the protective devices only to the male athletes in groups could case ripples of unrest among the female por- tion of the entourage. "Okay lady, here's your gym shorts, room key.and deodorant." "Where's my condom?" You don't get one." "What if I want to – uhh -- you know:" "Lady, there's a dozen soccer players standing right over there. I just handed each one of thein a condom. You figure it out. Next!" If this kind of health planning catches on among other grotips, it could lead to a quite an alteration in public attitudes toward the once widely-distained device. Condoms have always been controver- sial. Shortly after I left ray alma matter, the college newspaper which I saw inter- mittently featured an on-going campaign against the removal of condom - dispensing machines from the washrooms. Most of the letters to the editor were in favor of re-instatment of the machines. Personally, 1 could never see what the big deal was. Unless classroom and broom -closet sex had experienced a wild surge in popularity since 1 graduated, I could't understand why students and staff could't purchase their protection elsewhere without seriously cramping their lifestyle. After years of completely ignoring the product the media is presently trying to come up With an acceptable policy for allowing condom advertisements on from this angle Patrick Raftis television and in print. Perhaps if other sporting events were to adopt a policy similar to that of the World Student Summer Games, pro- ducers of protectives could steal a page from the film companies for their campaigns. A given brand could then become "The Official Prophylactic of the 1988 Olympics". In addition to giving the condom ins- tant respectability, such a campaign would also provide some much-needed new material for television and nightclub "tomedians. Word has it, David Letter= man is positively salivating at the prospect. Meanwhile, we can only hope that all the male participants at the World Students Games have had enough basic sex education to know the proper use for the .devices they were issued. It would be embarassing indeed if the swim team from one of the less -sophisticated coun- tries were to show up for an event wear- ing what they thought was a new type of low -friction bathing suit. 41