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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-06-01, Page 4• PAGE 4—GODERICI-i< SIGNAL -STAR. THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1978 *CNA GCklerich SIGNAL—STAR The County Town Newspaper of Huron Pounded In 7060 and published every Thursday at Dederick. Ontorio„Member of the CWNA and OWNA. Advertising rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advance 93.00 In Canada, 47.00 to U.S.A., '30400 to all other countries, single copies 30 cents. Display adver- tising rates available on request. Please ask for Rate Card No. 0 effective Oct. 1, 1977. Second class mall Registration Number 0716. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that. In the, event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or service may net be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell. and may bo withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts or photos. Business and Editorial Office TELEPHONE 524-8331 area code 519 Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd., ROBERT G. SHRIER — president and publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER — editor EDWARD J. BYRSKI — advertising manager Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 220, Industrial Park; Goderich Second class mail registration number — 0716 Need co-operation Police business, even in a town like Goderich, can get frustrating for the men in blue. This week, Signal -Star had a number of questions for the boys down at the police station. For some of these questions, there were what one could call black and white answers. In other cases, the solution was clearly a need for co-operation from the public. Last week, one Signal -Star reader called to complain about children being left alone in a parked vehicle on The Square. The caller asked if there was a law against parents or guardians leaving young children unattended•for long periods — of time in a parked car. Chief Pat King said this week that charges can be laid if the children' who are unattended in a parked car are under 10 and are left alone for an unreasonable length of time. Specifically, charges can be laid under the Child Welfare Act and under the Liquor Control Act. The chief said much of the decision about laying a charge depends on the circumstances. If infants and small children are left alone in a parked vehicle in hot weather, with the windows wound up for safety purposes for as much as five minutes, that is considered unreasonable. By the same token, if small children are left unattended in a car with the motor running, parked on a hill, for even a few seconds, that is considered unreasonable9 Similarly, it is unreasonable to leave little children in a parked car for two hours while the driver is in the hotel having a few drinks. At the same time, charges probably would not be laid if the children in- the car were over 10 and comfortable, knowing full well where their parents were and exactly when they would return. The crief also points out that leaving children alone anywhere - in the home, by a swimming pool, in a park, anywhere - can be an offence if there is any chance the children are in danger. Persons who know of children who are being left alone - anywhere - for unreasonable periods of time and in potentially -dangerous circumstances, should notify police. + + + The new four-way stop at the corner of Blake and South Streets has been causing some anxious moments for some Goderich drivers. In a town the size of Goderich, one gets accustomed to certain routes from here to there, and one gets to know where the stop signs are located. It becomes second nature to stop. The new four-way stop is a good idea and should do a great deal to halt the hot -rodding on Blake Street in the vicinity of the high school. The war- ning signs before the stop signs are a good idea, too, but urtforturt fe'ty, they lose their impact because of the num er of parked cars and other vehicles along that stretch of road. Chief Pat King said this week the parked cars along Blake Street have been a problem for some tz time, particularly in the area of Goderich District Collegiate Institute.\ Apparently, students and teachers avoid the school's parking lots ... either beca'ise the lots are too crowded or because the people don't want to walk any further than necessary..The chief also said that since the stop sign has been erected on Blake Street, the problem has been compounded, because parked vehicles not only create an obstacle course for other motorists on Blake Street, they block the view of the stop signs and sometinies,evgn,the warning signs. The police force and the traffic committee of town council are at work on this problem. The solution may he to put up "No Parking” signs along that street ... and Chief King reminds everyone that if that happens, even the homeowners along that stretch will suffer. The co-operation of the students and teachers at GDCI is the key in 'this situation. Will the town get that co-operation in the near future? Moving a little further west on Blake Street, one encounters Robertson Memorial Public School. On Gibbons Street it is Victoria Public School. At the corner of Gibbons and Bennett, it is St. Mary's Separate School. None of these ?chool yards are fenced, and as a result, children enter the travelled portion of the roads from as many 'angles as there are op- portunities to enter. To drive past any one of these schools before or after school is treacherous for the motoring public. Chief King says that his new safety officer will be making renewed efforts to reach the students in these schools with his safety message. Oddly enough, the smallest children aren't the problem. The main difficulty is with the older youngsters who feel they are immune to disaster and afraid of nothing. How many drivers have been challenged by rude children on Blake Street who indicate by their manners and their actions that motorists should jump to their tune? There may be shock films in the police libraries. somewhere that could be shown to older students in an effort to frighten them into safety. Police warnings to offenders may be another deterrent. In the meantime, surely parents can exert some influence over their children to stick to the sidewalks and to cross the roadways carefully. Or maybe the teachers at the three schools ,should begin to police the arrival and departure of students. Certainly, teachers have better things to do than act as crossing guards ... but here again, it involves the co-operation. How do you encourage co-operation? How do you teach people to use their own heads to avoid being herded- like mindless sheep? Will that co-operation come soon? Or will someone be injured or killed first? The "nice" tourist You know me. I'm a nice tourist. I never com- plain, no matter what kind of service I get. I'll go into a restaurant - sit and sit - while the waitress gossips with her boy friend and never bothers to see if my hamburger is ready. Sometimes someone who came in after I did gets my hamburger, but I don't say a word. If the soup is cold or the cream for the coffee is sour, I'm nice about it. If the service station attendant fails to check my oil or polish the windshield, I don't even raise my eyebrows. When I. go into a store and get surly treatment and lack of sympathy With my browsing around, I don't make a fuss. ' When I register at a motel or hotel, I'm thoughtful of the other person. If I get a snooty manager who gets nettled because I want to look at my room before making up my mind, I'm polite as can be. I don't believe rudensss in return is the answer.You might say I wasn't raised that way. And it's seldom I complain about the poor room service, the broken-down elevator, the leaking bathtub faucet or the television set that won't work and refuses to refund my quarter. I've found people are just about always disagreeable to me when I do. Life is too short for indulging in these unpleasant little scrimmages. I never kick. I never nag. I never criticize. I wouldn't dream of making a scene as .I've seen people doing in public places. I think that's awful. I'm a nice -tourist! I'll tell you what else I am. I'm the tourist who never comes back. That's my little revenge for getting pushed around. That's why I take whatever they hand out...I know I'm not coming hack. It's true that this doesn't relieve 'my feelings right off, as telling them what I think of them would. But in the long run, it's a far more deadly revenge. In fact, a nice tourist like myself, multiplied by others of my kind, can just about ruin a business. And there's a lot of nice people in the world just like me. When we get pushed far enough we go down the street to another restaurant. We eat hambrugers in places Where they're smart enough to hire help who appreciate nice tourists. Together, we do them out of millions every year. He laughs best, they say, who laughs last. I laugh when I see them so frantically .spending their money on advertising to get me hack, when they could have held me in the first place with a few kind words and a smile. Robertson Memorial P.S. children pour out onto Blake Street to challenge frustrated drivers New stop sign at South and Blake obscured by parked cars, while further west the warning sign is behind a tree: Motor madness By Jeff Seddon BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER Reeve Cal Krauter •of Brussels showed a spark of superb leadership last week at Huron County Council's May session when he stood to ask the members ;hof cif'unty' council just, how many had read any or all of the books which the group had panned the month before. Krauter was referring to The Diviners , by Margaret Laurence. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Of Mice and Men by Steifiheck. These books, of course, are the ones which Huron County councillors agreed last month should be removed from the required reading list for Huron County secondary school students in the senior grades. Krauter told his associates he'd read two of the three books during the month and was ready to change his opinion about . the books. In his view, the books were not objectionable for senior high school students. None of county coun- cil's members rose to say whether or not he -she had also read the books. Only DEAR READERS Bayfield Reeve Ed Oddleifson responded to Krauter. Oddleifson admitted he had not read the books but he added, "I have read the ex- cerpts." +++ A copy of those ex- cerpts was sent to ,me in April by W.L. Barth, RR Blyth. ,A letter ac- companied the excerpts. In part, that letter said, "I am convinced that the parents, yes, and the decent citizens of our county would and will rise in revolt against the obscenity and por- nography ' that is being fed to our youth, as shown by the sheet I have enclosed." Barth wenton to suggest that the "ex- cerpts" should be printed in the Signal -Star in what he called "a column of general information". I wrote a letter of reply to Barth. Here, in part, is what I wrote: "I was concerned about the way in which you presented your material in your letter. I have no doubt the quotations are from the books, but as you arranged them, they started at the back of the book and worked for- ward. You have made a kind of "story" out of these quotations which make a fairly erotic tale. "There are eight isolated incidences from The Diviners and ac- cording to your own notes, appear between page 15 and page 280. Is it possible there could be much of value on .the pages in between?" .. "From The Catcher in the Rye, there are four instances. In Of Mice And Men, five instances. "The question I ask is whether these three books should be termed unfit for study because of such limited and isolated examples of the kind of filth and blasphemy you oppose. I•appreciate your letter, Mr. Barth, but feel this newspaper cannot publish the excerpts you provide. There are just too many readers who would be offended because the whole matter is presented out of con- text and in an unusual and volatile format. The best we.. can do is en- courage parents to read the books their children bring into the home from school." +++• In short, the list of "excerpts" , which Ed Oddleifson abhors are bits and pieces which have been plucked from the -books and woven, (very expertly, too) into a pornographic piece for circulation by mail. Interestingly enough, (referring now to The Diviners) the first one is from page 280, the second from .page 267, the 209, 210, 151, 112, 104 and 15. Obviously, the person who was "reading" the book either started the book at its finish.....the sign of someone who is looking only for highlights...or that the person deliberdtely selected spot passages for their pornographic impact on their list of "excerpts." e' The "excerpts" from The Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men all include" o'bj'ectionable language. From The Catcher in the Rye there are four examples - pages 22, 32, 102 and 192. From Of Mice and Men there are five...pages 4, 6, 9, 10, 11.(This was the one case where one was left with the idea that if you went on to pages 12, 13, 14 etc. there might be other examples of blasphemy.) The sheet is headed up thus: "Excerpts copied verbatim from three books studied by students of Huron Secondary school for their classes in English Literature during 1976 and 1977." Tacked onto the end of the "excerpts" is this little -jewel: ''The following are some of the questions asked your children and mine by the teachers of Huron County High Schools. Do they meet with your ap- proval?" Then follows five questions which are 1. The size of a man's penis can be judged by the size of his hands and feet. 2, A large penis is important to a woman's sexual gratification. 3. The man with a large penis 1'is more sexually potent than with a small penis. 4. The absence of the hymen proves that a girl is not a virgin. 5. There is an absolute safe period for sexual intercourse where pregnancy cannot occur. Next comes the telling "sum up" paragraph. "These books, and our schools, are teaching, are molding the lives of our youth in ways of filth, of vulagarity, or por- nography, lewd and obscene; and worst of all and unforgivable, spit- ting in the face of GOD. If we are to save our country from going down to destruction, we must Turn to page 7 • NN 75 YEARS AGO M. G. Cameron, M.P.P., invites farmers needing help for the present season to correspond with him and he will endeavour to put them in the way of, securing some of the immigrants who pass through Toronto. Captain Baxter, who for many years, has been the proprietor of the Island Boathouse at the harbor, ha§ sold out to Harold Turner, late of New York. D. McBrien has pur- chased the harness - making business of G. House and will carry it on at the old stand on Hamilton Street. The Knitting Company of Goderich is beginning to make shipments of hosiery for the fall trade. About six tons of their popular brands have already been shipped out LOOKING BACK this week. E. F. Garrow, eldest son of Judge Garrow of Goderich, has been ap- pointed inspector of the British American Assurance Company for Manitoba and the Nor- thwest Territories. On Monday evening, Fred, the youngest son of Harvey Tilt, met with an accident by being kicked by one of the Gundry Brothers' horses near the stable on South. He was hit under the eye and, several stitches were required to close the wound. 25 YEARS AGO Escaping unharmed In previous storms, Goderich felt the attack of a violent storm last Saturday night as heavy rain accompanied by high winds and lightning battered the district. In Goderich Harbor a tidal 1 , wave tossed boats around like matchsticks and one boat, a fishing tug owned by Mac MacDonald, was sunk. A second boat, a pleasure craft owned by Len Overholt was tossed up on the dock by the storm. Graduation day at Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph on Tuesday of last week was a special day for the Clutton family of RR5 Goderich. Edward H. Clutton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hume Clutton, became the third generation of his family is graduate from the institution. His father is a graduate and his gran- dfather, the late Alex Clutton graduated in 1888. In a colorful parade and .relgious service at Court House Park, Goderich saluted the new Queen on her Coronation Day. Huron County areas which suffered heavily in last week's big storm will receive aid from the Province of Ontario, according to word received last Friday by County Clerk -Treasurer A. H. Erskine from Acting Premier George Doucett. N 5 YEARS AGO One hundred and eighty members of Local 682 of the International Union of Chemical Workers walked off their jobs at the Domtar Chemicals Sifto Salt mine at mid- night Sunday after negotiations for a new contract broke down over demands for more money and shorter working hours. Wendy Ryan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stan Ryan of flake Street, Goderich, literally "took home the brass" after last Thursday's Awards 1w Assembly held at G.D.C.I. The awards won by Wendy included the Arthur Peachey Memorial Trophy, Most Valuable Athlete, Athletic Plaque, Honor Plaque, Year 5 Athletic Trophy, Most Valuable Senior Girls' Basketball Player and Senior Girls' Track Contributor. Town work crews were busy this week refacing the west cat -walk at Snug Harbor. The repair work is of a temporary nature, allowing boaters to get to and from their crafts with dry feet, until the Federal Department of Public Works decides just how extensive repairs they have promised will be. Paul Carroll of Goderich has been ap- pointed vice-principal at Seaforth Public School beginning September 1. He is presently teaching at Victoria Public School in Goderich.