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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-08-02, Page 4c:. Goderich`i SIGNAL-STAR The County Town Newspaper of Huron Founded In MN and published every Thursday at Goderlch, Ontario. Member of the CW NA and MANIA. Advertising rotes on request. Subscriptions payable in advance •14.80 In Canada, 138.110 to U.S.A., '35.00 to all other countries. single copies 35'. Display advertising rates available on request- Please ask for Rafe Card No. 8 effective Oct. 1, 1978. Second class mall Registration Number 0711. Advertising 1s gccopted on the condition that In the event of typographical er'or. 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 bo paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goodsor services at a wrong price, goods or service .nay 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 Advertising Is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time.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 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 DONALD M. HUBICK - advertising manager Mailing Address:' P.O. BOX 220, Industrial Park, Goderich Second class mail registration number — 0716 PAGE 4—GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1979 Take heart regarding hospital matter This community. must. surely be rejoicing this week at the news that Alexandra Marine and General Hospital is restored better than new since recent_bee',"a,nd budget restrictions- were im- posed by the Ontario Ministry of Health. Who says you can't fight city hall? Officials at AM&G this week reported that the $60,000 which was to have been deleted from the budget as a penalty because of over -bedding has been recovered, this time as funding for 10 ad- ditional chronic beds. As well, the Ministry has approved 50 active beds, seven more than the 43 originally approved for AM&G. This brings the hospital officially to 90 -bed status including 50 active treatment beds, 20 chronic beds and 20 psychiatric beds. Actually that's, two more ap- proved beds than the hospital- had before all the restraints were handed down. It appears that much of the credit for this turn around goes to the people of Goderich and area who did such a magnificent job of letting the Ontario Ministry of Health know how they felt. Citizens wrote letters, signed petitions, made telephone calls and generally raised their voices against legislation that was clearly jeopardizing a necessary and respected health care system in the community. • Id the Ministry listened. And there i \, little doubt, too, that the board members at A G deserve some special com- mendation for th way in which they handled themselves during the whole affair. In retrospect, it Earwigs not so bad Flies are nasty. They breed in places of filth. They like to crawl around on our food. So we swat them and forget them. Mosquitoes are a real pest. They bite and leave itchy welts. So we spray them and slap at them and forget them. But not so the earwig. That little two-pronged monster is something else again. He manages to arouse a sort of savage hatred that is not accorded to either the fly or the mosquito. And yet the lowly earwig is really much less offensive than either. After all, the earwig seldom does us any personal harm. He can nip us with his little pincers, but he doesn't leave us with any itching aftermath like the is evident that their reasonable, concerned ,Jap- proach impressed the Ministry enough, despite other in -plant diffibulties well known to Toronto, to incline -an ear--towa-rd the' Goderich pleas: Now that's performance, as the saying goes. But the real bouquets must go to the staff at AM&G .... the men and women who hung in there and did such an exceptional job of keeping health care at a high standard in very adverse conditions. Nurses, doctors, technicians, clerks, typists, receptionists, administration, consultants, housekeeping staff, engineers, janitors, therapists, cooks, dieticians, everyone. It was a big job and you did it. Well done. Unfortunately, there's still more work ahead. If present indications are correct, there are still some hurdles to jump and more changes to come. However, judging from recent events it should be easy to predict that AM&G staff will rally round the cause another time, and do what must be done to keep the local hospital moving ahead. Aside from all .of this, Goderich and area people should take heart where hospital matters are concerned. They should be encouraged now that the Ministry has finally recognized the big differences between small, rural, community hospitals and big, urban, ultraflexible institutions. That great day may not be too far off. In the meantime though, let's hear it for AM&G, its board and its staff. There's was a valiant effort in a winning cause. -SJK bite of the mosquito. He doesn't leave any tracks. He doesn't continue to light on an arm or nose as does a fly. He doesn't make any noise. He doesn't make specks on the window. He and his pals'-do'n't come at us in bloodthirsty packs 'when we try to weed the flowerbed. Why do we hate the earwig so much? Perhaps because he reminds us, by his very shape, of some primeval monster. Maybe his form, magnified ten thousand times, was what our shadowy ancestors saw coming at them out of the swamp. Hard to say. But, by the way, have you found any new earwig spray that works better than ours?—The Wingham Advance -Times Want reader reaction to sports page The Signal -Star is trying to get a handle on the true reaction of the readers regarding its sports pages. Perhaps there is no better way to get the true story than to ask the people for it. Here's the problem. In this community there are hundreds and hundreds of men, women and children all year long who participate in sports. When you consider the baseball and soccer teams in the summer and the hockey and bowling teams in the winter, you may be talking as much as a third of the population of Goderich and area involved eitherl directly or indirectly. Add to that number the folks who play tennis, curl, sail, jog, wrestle, golf,.follow the horses, enjoy basketball, volleyball or football, swim, bike, skate or jump hurdles - not to mention other sporting activities that may take people's time - you are moving towards more than half the readership of The Goderich Signal -Star. And that may be a conservative estimate. There's no doubt about it. Folks have more and more time to devote to leisure hying and more and more folks are , turning to sports or sports -like pastimes. To this point, Signal -Star's sports editor Dave Sykes has been making an effort to keep as many people as possible happy. The Signal -Star sports pages don't carry something from every sport every week, but during the course of a year nearly every sporting activity in this community is covered to some extent. In fact, the,,Signal-Star is mighty proud of its sports coverage and its sports editor. But some decisions are going to have to be made shortly now. It is a kind of crossroads decision. Does the Signal -Star need to expand its sports coverage to keep its readers totally satisfied ... or could the Signal -Star serve the needs of the com- munity more completely by cutting back on its sports coverage. The answers are going to have to come from the readers, If you have an opinion on this matter, write or telephone the Signal -Star right away. What you reveal will be in strictest confidence if that's the way you want it, but really it would be more beneficial if your comments could be published or at least discussed, so that everyone can know the reasoning behind any changes irrthe future. There's no assurance your viewpoint will become Signal -Star policy, but here's a solemn promise that your opinion will be valued and considered when making any decisions about the Signal -Star's sports policy in the months to come. The Signal -Star is your hometown paper. Why not get involved by giving_y.our thoughtsonthis one? - SJK es' • • Be¢uty and the baby - • • • • By Cath Wooden 75 YEARS AGO Today (Friday) • the citizens of Drumho, Bright and Plattsville are running an excursion to Goderich. On Monday next, the Woodmen of the World of Woodstock will have a two day excursion to Goderich. Masons are now putting in the foundation for the Cloak factory building. Duririg the last ten days the temperance workers DEAR READER. BY SHIRLEY J.KELLER I am really very proud of the columns that appear weekly in this newspaper. The columns that are written by our own staff. And I get the impression from you, the readers, that you are pleased with them too. Columns by Dave Sykes and Jeff Seddon appear weekly on the front page of the second section. As a rule, those columns are full of. fun, making pure reading enjoyment for Signal -Star subscribers. - Occasionally somebody will say to me,"Working with those two guys must beaball." Yes sir, working with Sykes and Seddon has its humorous moments. They are masters of the "one-liner" ... and they liberally sprinkle `one-liners through the in-office.eonversa tion. To the outsider looking in, it -may appear as though nothing serious ever gets done in the editorial office. But that i - hardly the case. ' And then there's Joanne Buchanan's Tid Bits, an entirely different approach. to a weekly column but nevertheless, a popular feature in the Signal -Ste . Some re. dens h s ve told e th. t a.locl,: LOOKING BACK have been actively engaged in canvassing the town of Clinton in favor of local prohibition. The first annual picnic of the Goderich Organ Company employees and friends was held in Ransford's grove on Civic holiday. M.O. Johnston received the appointment of town clerk at a special rheeting of town council held on Thursday evening . last week. Joanne's column is their very favorite section of the paper. --Probably that's because Joanne tries as hard as she can to make everything in it as newsy as possible for the people who read the Signal -Star. Naturally then, Joanne's success as a columnist depends more on co- operation from the readers than any other column writer on our staff.' None of the items ih Joanne's column i.s the result of Joanne's fertile imagination. Everything is designed to inform and to solidify the community concept. In that respect then, each of Joanne's readers is a potential columnist: Each one is required to assist Joanne in her weekly search for news for and about Goderich people. Our newest column .... and for the summer only ... is written by Cath Wooden of Bayfield. Cath calls her corner "A Column" ... a rattler straight -forward name for a light, breezy bit of writing that tickles the fancy of this writer at least. When Cath came to the Signal -Star) in May, she dame highly recommended by one of her professors at Centennial College in Toronto' where .she is a Charlie Turnbull heads the list for the largest bass caught in 1904, one he pulled in last Saturday weighing four pounds and one ounce. 25 YEARS AGO Gaiety reigned supreme last Friday at the village of Auburn when a giant calithum- pian parade and a series of sports events marked the opening of a three-day centenary celebration. The village of about 200 had its population swelled to well over 2,000 for the festivities. More than 75 people over 80 years of age at- tended the Octogenarian Club gathering of the Kinsmen Club at the Pavilion on Wednesday afternoon Plans for the new Huron County Court House to be built in Goderich were approved at a meeting last Friday. between the County Council property Com mittee and Architect L.G. Bridgman of London. The building is expected to cost over $500,000 and will be started in September. The summer exhibition of paintings at the Goderich Art Club, July 29 to. August 2 included 81 contributions by local artists. 5 YEARS AGO The Goderich Signal - Star was winner of two significant awards at last weekend's Canadian Community Newspapers Association convention in Toronto and its editor, Mrs. Shirley J. Keller, was singled out for special recognition in a third presentation. The Signal -Star placed first as best all-round newspaper with a cir- culation between 2,500 and 3,999 and was also awarded second prize for its editorial page. Mrs. Keller won The Jack Sanderson Award for Editorial Writing. Goderich motorists who vacation in Southern Ontario this summer may notice a great variation in gasoline prices throughout' the region with cost per gallon differing as much as six cents. The average cost per gallon in Goderich is 68.9 cents. Twenty Young Voyageurs arrived in Goderich last week from Grande Prairie, Alberta on an exchange program. A large mill wheel was donated to the Huron County Pioneer Museum last week from the Maitland Valley Con- servation Authority. The wheel is from an old mill in Brussels. student. That professor told us we would be delighted by her "impish sense of humor". The professor knew whereof he spoke. If you haven't already been reading "A Column" by Cath Wooden, get set for a treat. She has a style that is easy to read ... and a message that will leave you chuckling. And then, the oldest column of the bunch is my own .... this one, Dear Readers. I started this column when I first came to town 11 years ago ... and although the name has changed, the general thrust is the same. It usually zeros in on particular issues •.. either in the community or in the world around us. • Column writing isn't easy. .The weekly columnist has a certain amount of space to fill in each paper and makes every effort to write material that is entertaining, informative andl fresh week after week after week. Fact is, the columnist falls on his -her face from time to time. Sometimes the efforts are less than inspired, leaving the reader Wondering why he wastes his time on it. Colu'ninists call those times "dry.. periods". It is rather like the housewife who for some reason or another just cannot get excited ,about cooking dinner and comes up with •laacon and eggs rather than work to produce a full course meal complete with a scrum- ptious dessert. And there's another little known fact about columnists. Most writers have a "style". Readers may or may not be aware of that style, but it often happens that certain people read certain columns in the paper every week .... while never quite getting around to the others. It is probably because one "style" of writing is more appealling to that reader than another. Each week in this community, readers are invited to get to know the columnists in this newspaper. And each week, columnists lose a little more of their own personal anonymity and came a little more the property of the people. And would you believe that takes courage on the part of a columnist, even in a small community like ours?' Think about that the next time you pick up your paper and exclaim,"Boy, th t column sure stinks this week." P