HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-12-13, Page 5Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Times—Advocate
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Opinion Forum News
I OYEARS AGO
December 11, 1996 - The
Exeter Dance Association partici-
pated in the British Association of
Teachers of Dance third annual
festival last weekend with 30
dancers bringing home 62
medals.
With more than 1,200 persons
jamming the South Huron Rec
Centre Wednesday night, they lis-
tened to compelling reasons to
keep the South Huron Hospital open. Hospital
Chief of Staff Dr. Jerry Jadd said the hospital has
been cost effective and efficiently run for more
than 10 years.
20YEARS AGO
December 18, 1986 - The area received some
bad, but not unexpected news this week with the
announcement that Protective Plastics will be
moving their operations at Huron Park and St.
Marys to Brantford.
35 YEARS AGO
December 17, 1971 - First prize in Saturday's
Exeter Santa Claus parade was won by Stephen
Central School with their float featuring a Winter
Wonderland.
45YEARS AGO
December 16, 1961 - Exeter fire chief Irwin
Ford estimated loss at between $10,000 and
$12,000 from the blaze which razed the barns of
Roger Marchand in Usborne township, Saturday
night.
At Exeter's final council meeting of the year,
Mayor Ted Pooley expressed his appreciation to
council members for their co-operation during his
10 years on council.
A handsome $4,600 organ is the present which
Main Street United Church received this
Christmas. The Goodison Estate, Wesley Lamport
and Mrs. H. Willis each contributed $1,000
towards the purchase.
Winners for Exeter's Christmas door competi-
tion this year are Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Gould,
Mr.and Mrs. Art Frayne and Mr. and Mrs. Fred
Huxtable.
50YEARS AGO
December 15, 1956 - Employment provided by
Hensall's thriving industry, General Coach Works
of Canada Limited, has resulted in an eight per-
cent increase in the village's population.
Local Kinettes began the Christmas season by
introducing a "sundries wagon" for patients at
South Huron Hospital at their December meeting.
Several groups including the Cubs and
Brownies from RCAF Centralia, have dropped in
to cheer hospital patients with songs this week.
Members of the Grand Bend fire brigade have
raised more than $250 for the muscular dystro-
phy fund of the village.
60YEARS AGO
December 16, 1946 - Mr. Stanley Tudor pre-
sented the Huron -Perth baseball cup to the
Hensall team at a banquet at the Commercial
Hotel in Hensall.
Exeter council has purchased a tractor and
snowplow to keep the sidewalks clean throughout
the winter.
The Cubs under the leadership of Jean Brock
and Margaret Melville and Assistant Scoutmaster
Ross Tuckey held a Christmas banquet at the
arena Wednesday evening.
The severe storm that swept through the district
Thursday evening completely destroyed a storage
building at the Huron Lumber Company.
85 YEARS AGO
December 16, 1921 - A couple of scuffling boys
went through one of the large end panes of glass
in Mr. Saxon Fitton's jewellery store on Saturday
night.
Early Saturday morning burglars entered the
store of Messrs. Jones and May and stole numer-
ous articles of merchandise valued at $150.
Entrance was made by breaking a rear window.
I I OYEARS AGO
December 10, 1896 - At its next sitting, the
Ontario Legislature is expected to make some
amendments to the Liquor License Act. They
would include restricting the number of licenses to
one to every 1,500 of the population, which would
cut down the number of licensed hotels one half in
most places. It is also proposed to shut down all
saloons.
ROSS
HAUGH
BACK IN TIME
Seniors' Perspective
By Jim Bearss
SENIORS' CORRESPONDENT
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Yogi Berra
Congratulations:
Jen & Jim Denys are proud parents of their new
son who was born on Dec. 1. Clayton Bruce
Denys weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. Jen is as
most of you know with the Right Path
Consulting Group and has had a couple of
informative seminars in the past. She is also
a great participant in the Annual Trade Fair
and Information Expo.
Probus meeting will be held at the Exeter
United Church, parlour room on Wed., Dec.
20 at 10 a.m. Please come in the back side
door as the Christmas Bureau is operating at
the front. A great speaker promises to keep
everyone's attention and more people are urged to
come out and find out what Probus is about.
Flu Shots:
If you missed getting the flu shot when they were
held at the South Huron Hospital, you can get yours
on Wed., Dec. 20 at 1 — 3 p.m. This time you have
the opportunity to get it in a drive-through, by com-
ing up the ambulance ramp at the west side of the
hospital. For this service, you have to make an
appointment by calling Cheryl Pfaff RN, BScN,
Quality, and Safety Infection Control Corporate
Coordinator, 24 Huron Street West, Exeter, ON,
NOM 1S2 Tel: (519) 235 — 5153. For others, you
can go to a walk in flu shot clinic in the board -room
of the hospital from 4 — 7 p.m. for your flu shot.
Legion News:
On Dec. 16 from 4 to 6 p.m., plan to come to the
Legion. Li'l Audrey is the exciting entertainment
and there will be a mystery draw and meat draws to
accommodate the day. Call 519-235-2962 or 519-
235-1167.
How to StayYoung:
1. Try everything twice. On Madam's tombstone
(of Whelan and Madam), she said she wanted this
epitaph: "Tried everything twice...loved it both
times!"
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull
you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of
those grouches).
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer,
crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get
idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And
the devil's name is Alzheimer!
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you
gasp for breath and if you have a friend, who makes
you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with him/her.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move
on. The only person who is with you your entire life
is yourself. LIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether
it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies
or whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If
it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you
can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall,
even to the next county or to a foreign country, but
NOT a guilt trip.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them at
every opportunity. Contributed by Karen Stanlake
This is the Season to protect your PIN:
As we enter the busy shopping season, Canadians
will use their debit cards in record numbers to pay
for their purchases.
Canadians love using debit cards; in fact, accord-
ing to the Interac Association, debit is the preferred
method of payment for one out of two Canadians.
As millions of transactions are processed through-
out the busy shopping season, cardholders are
reminded to shield their PIN (personal identification
number) at all times, even when nobody can see
them entering it.
The Interac association works with members,
industry partners and law enforcement to monitor
fraudulent activity and prevent debit card fraud.
Cardholders can also play a part in this fight against
fraud by shielding their PIN every time.
The Interac network is among the most secure in
the world, debit card fraud can happen. However,
victims of debit card fraud are protected by the
Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Debit Card
Services and will not lose their money.
Too Busy for a Friend:
One day a teacher asked her students to list the
names of the other students in the room on two
sheets of paper, leaving a space between each
name. Then she told them to think of the nicest
thing they could say about each of their classmates
and write it down. It took the remainder of the
class period to finish their assignment, and as the
students left the room, each one handed in the
papers. That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the
name of each student on a separate sheet of paper,
and listed what everyone else had said about that
individual. On Monday she gave each student his or
her list. Before long, the entire class was
smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I
never knew that I meant anything to any-
one!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so
much." were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in
class again. She never knew if they dis-
cussed them after class or with their par-
ents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had
accomplished its purpose. The students
were happy with themselves and one anoth-
er. That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in
Iraq and his teacher attended the funeral of that
special student. She had never seen a serviceman
in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome,
so mature. The church was packed with his friends.
One by one those who loved him took a last walk by
the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the
coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who
acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you
Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded:
"yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates
went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and
father were there, obviously waiting to speak with
his teacher. "We want to show you something," his
father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They
found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought
you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he
carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook
paper that had obviously been taped, folded and
refolded many times. The teacher knew without
looking that the papers were the ones on which she
had listed all the good things each of Mark's class-
mates had said about him.
"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's moth-
er said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather
around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said,
"I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my
desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me
to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too,"
Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another
classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out
her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to
the group "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki
said and without batting an eyelash, continued: "I
think we all saved our lists." That's when the
teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for
Mark and for all his friends who would never see
him again. The density of people in society is so
thick that we forget that life will end one day. And
we don't know when that one day will be. So
please, tell the people you love and care for, that
they are special and important. Tell them, before it
is too late. Remember, you reap what you sow.
What you put into the lives of others comes back
into your own.
May Your Day Be As Blessed As You Are Special!
(Contributed by Doug Babcock, Windsor)
Please wear more red worn on Fridays. It shows
you are thinking of our soldiers in far away places.
Red T shirts are available at the Exeter Legion. Call
519-235-2962
Living Will:
Last night, my wife and I were sitting in the living
room and I said to her, "I never want to live in a
vegetative state, dependent on some machine and
fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull
the plug."
So she got up, unplugged the TV and then threw
out my beer.
A Clergyman Walking down a country lane sees a
young farmer struggling to load hay back onto a
wagon after it had fallen off. "You look hot my son,"
said the cleric. "Why don't you rest a moment, and
I'll give you a hand." "No thanks," said the young
man. "My father wouldn't like it." "Don't be silly,"
the minister said. "Every one is entitled to a break.
Come and have a drink of water." Again the young
man protested that his father would be upset.
Losing his patience, the clergyman said,"Your father
must be a real slave driver. Tell me where I can find
him and I'll give him a piece of my mind!"
"Well," replied the young farmer, "he's under the
load of hay."
Jim B
earss