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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-06-06, Page 20Page 8. crossroads—June 6, 1984 RESULTS you'll applaud with WANT A.lS by Erm© Bombeck H. GORDON THE BRAIN RESEARCH FUND Our main purpose is to find the cause of brain tumors in children and adults. Our goal is to discover a cure. WE NEED YOUR HELP: Your financial support is vital both for medical research and to provide literature to patients. We are committed to the belief that with your help we will in time be able to prevent suffering and in- crease the hope for cure in pa- tients with brain tumors, Please help ... send a donation today to BRAIN RESEARCH FUND cdo Victoria Hospital, London, Ont. We are a non-profit, tax exempt; charitable organization. All contri- butions ontri- butions are tax deductible. Portraits to share delightful childhood changes from Sears Portrait Studio 20 color portraits for only 95 1 includes 95s$ deposit' Photographic package includes two 8x10's, three 5x7's, fifteen wallet size color portraits. No appointment necessary. 95C for each additional subject. Poses our selection. Studios located in most larger Sears retail stores. Also available in addition to package. Black Background & Double Feature Portraits Instant Passport Photos • Offer for portraits taken Mon. June 4 thru Sat. June 9 Sears your money's worth ... and,'more For the sake off this story, we'll call the high school Central. We'll place it some- where in the Midwest, say Minneapolis. Central has a football team, a band, a Latin club and until this mo- ment, it had aysenior class of about 200. To make a point, we're go- ing to let Central High School assume the burden of all the teenagers who will die IN ONE YEAR in drunk -driv- ing -related deaths. There will be no senior class at Central this year. There will be no senior class for the next 45 years! By that time, 9,000 young people will have never lived to see their diploma. Half of them may never have taken a drink or have driven the car. They will be the victims of drunk drivers. Amanda will be one of them. She always believed you had to come home with the same boy who took you to a dance. She didn't stop to think that the young boy who showed up at her door sober was not the same boy five hours later who couldn't get the car key in the ignition by himself. The junior class prophecy said Pam was going to be the next woman Supreme Court justice. She didn't like her image. She was tired of be- ing considered "out of it," so she accepted a ride home from a picnic with a boy who fell asleep at the wheel of a car with a beer can in his hand. Pam's head went through the windshield. Had Andy been born, he would have been in the class of 2017, but his mother, who died in the -1994 class, never had the chance to marry or give birth to him. She was riding a bicycle at dusk when a motorist who drank too much at his retirement party ran her down. Central High School closed its doors in 2029 as its enrol- ment steadily decreased. The halls echoed with school songs that were never sung, valedictorians who never spoke and cheers that were never heard. But more than that were the promises of 9,000 destinies that were never to be fulfilled. The people of this country champion the lives of help- less seals, unborn babies, abandoned dogs and cats, abused children, alcoholics, the elderly and the disease - ridden. When will we weep for the phantom classes at Central High? The would- have-beens, the should-have- beens who thought death was a companion to old age. To be factual I would have to point out that in the 45 years that the senior classes of Central were wiped out, 405,000 young people be- tween the ages of 15 and 24 would also have died, elimin- ating the need for 44 more Central High Schools. When you add to that the number of parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends and lovers who died with them., the toll of human misery is staggering. That's not a pun. It's a re- minder. ' Mainstream Canada. I— Startling job news from United States By W. Roger Worth Small business is not a minor force in the Canadian economy. That's a point John Bul- loch, President of the 64,000 member Canadian Federa- tion of Independent Busi- ness, has been making for years, and now many of the country's policymakers and business leaders have ac- cepted this view. Governments at all levels have started to develop poli- cies' that deal with small business 'problems, and more of the financial institu- tions and major companies are tapping the small busi- ness resource. Indeed smaller firms are finally being accepted as equals. The reason: re- search conducted by the Canadian Federation of In- dependent Business indi- cates that all of the nation's -net new jobs are being cre- ated by smaller companies. What's more, the U.S. gov- ernment indicates that the same thing is happening south of the border. Here are a few of the startling facts included in a recent U.S. re- port: During the period from 1980 to 1982, 1.7 -million jobs were lost in U.S. firms with If you want the best in new cars and trucks... See us today at 890 Wallace Ave. N. Listowel Car City. 291-1730. over 100 employees, but 2.6 - million new jobs were cre- ated in firms with fewer than 100 employees. New small businesses ac- counted for 43 per cent of the net increase in jobs during this same period. The rate of growth of new business formations is accel- erating in the U.S. New busi- ness births between 1980 and 1982 added 2 -million more new jobs than in the period between 1978 and 1980. In the Most recent period, from November 1982 to Nov- ember 1983, the number of self-employed workers in- creased 6.6 per cent,com- pared to a 3.7 per cent rise in wage and salaried employ- ees. During the period from September 1982 to Septem- ber 1983, in the six major in- dustries for which.small and large business -dominated in- dustry subsectors can be identified, small business - dominated subsectors regis- tered net employment growth of more than double the rate of large business - dominated subsectors. The point of all this? Small and medium-sized business- es are not only important job creators, but the success or failure of these firms , will dramatically affect the health of our economy and our standard of living. In future, job growth will not come from big business or big government. Indeed, these sectors are already re- ducing employment. Instead, smaller firms will play a leadership role as the economy grows. As Bulloch said in a recent speech: "We are in the midst of an entrepreneurial revolu- tion ...if you're an entrepre- neur, it's a great time to:be alive." Moats now gardens An ancient Celtic city in Brittany along the French coast is Vannes, built like an amphitheater on a hillside. Oak ships with skin sails set off centuries ago from Vannes with goods bound for Africa and Greece. The city's moats have been transformed into gardens. Chile's copper Chile's mines produce about 16 percent of the West- ern world's copper. Chile has an estimated 39 percent of the world's copper reserves. GREEN It is getting near to Father's Day again , as I write this, and I have never seen such a variety of cards as there is this year, nor did I ever suspect that there could be so many jokes made about this business of father- hood. Some of these witty cards were a half a yard high. There were plenty of sentimental cards too, and in some of these the poetry was quite fresh and beautiful. But try as I might, I couldn't seem to find anything which was even remotely in keep- ing with the particular memory which was in my mind at the time. Which wasn't surprising really because that particu- lar memory of my father was centered about one of the humblest, most unro- mantic possessions a man can have. You see, Father's Day also happens to be very near to school -ending time, and while our parents rarely gave us children gifts at any time but Christmas, this was the momentous year when I was finally saying goodbye to the battered old, hickory - swinging Public School. In those days that wonderful rite of passing out of Public School in Ontario was called "getting our entrance" and since this was undoubtedly the biggest accomplishment a lad could then achieve, I had been hinting for some time now that j really should be honored with some kind of tangible recognition. There was a lovely pitcher's mitt down in Henry's Hardware, for instance, for only $3.25. Well, in all justice to my parents, I must confess that they gave me ample warn- ing. "No," they told me, "we don't have money for that kind of spending." But I kept thinking that maybe, maybe, on that last day of school, my father and mother would somehow find a way to buy me a gradua- tion present. And surely enough, on that very day of the final examination, when my father came home after delivering the milk, there was a store -wrapped box in the wagon. The box, by the feel of it, was cardboard, about fourteen inches long and six across, and whatever was inside it didn't rattle. I thought I knew what it was and I was utterly delighted. "Oh I bet I can guess There is no doubt that boats are insidious. I found myself in Port Credit on a re- cent Sunday with a couple of hours to kill, and my feet led me inevitably to the harbor at the mouth of the river. It was.a hive of activity. People scrubbing hulls, putting on anti -fouling paint, sanding brightwork, sorting lines, stepping masts, and general- ly messing about with boats. I joined a work party Abet was stepping a big wooden mast in the tabernacle on the deck of an old fashioned sloop, and I envied the own- er. He could have been sail- ing before the day was over. At Harbour Marine Ser- vices, a big steel pinky. schooner was still in her' cradle on the jetty. She's a sweet looking boat, designed by Tom Colvin, who lives, when he is ashore, in Miles, Virginia. He's ashore at• the moment, but he won't be much longer, I had a letter from him the other ,day, in answer to an inquiry I'd made about one of his de- signs. He said if I wanted the design I'd better write him quickly, because he was leaving on another cruise in his own junk -rigged schoon- er at the end of the month, and he didn't know when he'd return. • As it happened, I'd written another boat designer, this one on the west coast, about yet another design, a couple of months earlier. He was al- ready cruising in warmer climes. He said I could reach him for the next little while, what's in that!" I said when my father brought it in. "It's leather, isn't it?" "Yes," he said quietly. "Leather, all right." "And it cost about dollars too, didn't it?" That figure didn't seem to be too far out either. Then, right before my eyes, the de- licious dream was shattered as my father ripped off the paper to reveal a common shoebox. And inside was a pair of boots — workboots for himself. A half-hour later my mother found me upstairs crying, and when I looked up I was surprised to see that she was holding, not the new pair of boots, but the old ones they had replaced. "I want you to look at them!" she said. "Look at what's left of them. Look at the heels! And the holes in the soles and the way the toe is ready to lift like a cover . . . Oave you any idea of how far those ' boots have travelled — just to keep us fed, and warm and to- gether ...?" I didn't answer, but I did know, as every farm boy knew in those days, that to plow one lonely acre. of land then meant ten miles of walking behind a team and a single furrow plow. "Would you really have enjoyed that pitcher's glove if it meant that your dad had to keep on plowing in boots like these?" she asked. And then she put the twist- ed, battered, stone -bruised boots down on the floor :be- side my bed and quietly closed the door behind her. And when I finally decided to go downstairs again and out into the day, there was a maturity suddenly come upon me that had nothing at all to do with my being proud of finishing public school. care of his 32 -foot ketch in Hawaii. It was all enough to make an anchorman want to up anchor and be off. However, I'm still lying to my ground tackle, so to • speak, and am ' likely to be doing so for the foreseeable future. Over the years I have acquired a nasty habit — namely, regular meals. On that Sunday, I strolled around to the other side -of the harbor facilities, where ship brokers have their of- fices and there are boats for sale, snug in their. cradles. Mostly fibre -glass, I discov- ered, and to my eye mostly uninteresting. But there was a raised deck cutter with a full keel that caught my eye and tugged at my imagina- tion. In my mind's eye, it be- came summer, with a hot slut and a stiff breeze, per- haps ,around the. Island of Quinte, perhaps on Georgian Bay, perhaps even in Cape Breton, on the Bras D'Or lakes. And then it was sun- • down, and we were riding to the anchor tucked neatly un- der the little cutter's bow- sprit, with the smellof coffee drifting up from the cuddy, a fresh pipe drawing well, and only two decisions ahead of us. Where and when to. go to bed — on the cockpit cush- ions under the stars, or in the big V berth in the bows. I had almost decided to sleep in the cockpit when I realized I was ashore in Port Credit on a cloudy, chilly spring Sun- day, and that I'd best get out of there before the dream turned expensive. 116th ANNIVERSARY SALE 40% off all WINDOW UNITS, some display units at one time only prices, standard 10 year ROOFING, first quality seals *7.77 bdle., we cut ODD SIZES of PLYWOOD; skid Tots of 40 bags PORTLAND CEMENT '5.99 ea.; large stock of WOOD MLDS., fantastic buys on STOVES & AC- CESSORIES: INSULATION BLOWER available: FREE in- stallation of REPLACEMENT WINDOWS; GLASS cut t� size; 1 x 3 HEMLOCK Strappings .10' I.ft.; postformed COUNTER TOP blanks '5.95 I._tt.; we sell COAL, KEROSENE & FIREWOOD. ZONOLITE INSULATION '4.99 bag; masonry & pretab CHIMNEY materials; selection of PAINT $10.00 Gal., up to $40.00 value:TOOL RENTAL SERVICE AVAILABLE. KEROSENE HEATERS, USED WOOD STOVES & HEATERS reduced to clear; ready to use MORTAR MIX '3.29 bag: No. 2 RAILROAD TIES 8' '6.00 ea_; 20% off KITCHEN CABINETS; grey PATIO SLABS 18 x 18'2.40; steel BARRELS. plastic lined '4.67; ROOF, FOUNDATION & DRIVEWAY COATING '16.95, 20 I. pail; FIBERGLASS INSULATION R-12 15", 90 sq. ft. '16.75 ctn, R-20 15", 50 sq ft. '15.75 ctn ; 40% off stock insulated entrance, wood patio 6 door units. — See our collection of old woodworking tools & relics of 116 years of serving this area with building supplies & fuel. — All above prices are CASH & CARRY, ask about our delivery service. HOWES BUILDING CENTRE 338-2210, Arthur St. W., Harriston NOG 1ZO f ORIGINALS Listowel Textiles shows you how "You Can Create a Quilted Jacket or Vest" June 25 10:00 0 1100 aorn Business Girls beware! Monday Evening June 25, 7:30 p.m. See how to make an original skirt and jacket Girls 9 Years of Age and Up July 9 20 Cabbage Patch doll clothes course every morning Mon. - Fri. 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Look through our catalogue and choose from dozens of in- vitations, reply cards and informals. As well, you may choose accessories such as personalized matches, serviettes and many other distinctive items. We offer a wide range of elegant type styles, including the popular "Wedding Script" to co-ordinate with the entire colour scheme of your wedding. Choose from traditional white or ivory, or one of the many hues offered. Look through the catalogue today at: The Listowel Banner 291-1660 The i\/IIherton Stns 595-8921 - ,N �'/, .�-•";' tea. The Mount Forest Confederate 323-1550 't -he Wingham Advance -Times 357-2320