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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-08-15, Page 2OPINION Huron SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating Brussels Post 10 Main Street 527-0240 Published in SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning JOCELYN A. SHRIER, Publisher RON WASSINK,Editor JANET MACDONALD, Advertising Manager Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union International Press Institute Subscription rates: Canada $18.75 a year (In advance) Outside Canada $55.00 a year (In advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 19,; Second class mall registration Number 0698 Time to buckle up Seatbelts saves lives and reduce injuries In many traffio accidents -- statistics have proven the fact. Despite the seat belt legislation in existence In Ontario for the last few years, .some motorists and passengers of cars and trucks don't buckle up, That's all goingto change. Transportation and Communications Minister James Snow Is getting tough with the motoring public -- especially the drivers of large trucks. Locally, the Seaforth police department has been told to enforce the seatbelt law. When the law first came Into effect, the fine for not wearing seatbelts was $28. That fine has increased to $53. "'At $53 a crack, we'd Just as soon see people wearing seatbelts so we wouldn't have to lay a charge," says police chief Hal Claus. It's been observed that local motorists are not In the habit of buckling up. Estimates' range as high as 90 per cent of those who don't wear seatbelts. The police department in particular say they can tell who are the out-of-town visitors or those passing through Seaforth. They are wearing seatbelts. However there are exceptions to the rule. A motorist is exempt from wearing a seatbelt if driving in reverse; are In and out of their vehicle such as a bread man or milk man; operate a garbage truck; or are exempt because of medical reasons. Some motorists may feel it's their right to buckle up or not to buckle up. But these same people say they have a right to drive — why don't they refuse to pay their license fees? • Be safe — use seatbelts. You're not only protecting yourself but also saving a 553 fine. - R.W. Lightening paralyzes man's arm in 1934 IN THE YEARS AGONE NE AUGUST 14, 1959 Seaforth firemen were called to Egmond- sille school Monday morning to extinguish a fire in the roof of the building, The school w -as being shingled at the time with work being in progress on the north side. Smoke was noticed on the south by Grant Finnigan who called firemen, Damage was estimated al 5500 by fire chief John F. Scott. The petition circulated during recent weeks calling for a vote for repeal of the Canada Temperance Act will be on file at the County Registry Office in Goderich for 10 dais from Aug. 13. The Huron Citizens Legal Control Committee reports that approximately 10,500 eligible voters signed the petition. AUGUST 10, 1934 During Thursdays electrical storm light• ping struck the home of Patrick Reynolds, Hullett Tow nship. The bolt followed down the chimnei ,,it, -pipes into the kitchen stove hunting ait '4 loud crash into a ball of flames. One manarm was paralyzed and a woman fainted. Paper was stripped from the walls as if by magic. but fire did not break out. There were eight people in the kitchen at the time of the crash as some highway workers had taken refuge from the storm. Seaforth Veterans of the Great War were in Toronto over the weekend attending the (,ops Reunion. A special train going through town early Saturday morning was well patronized. Many other veterans drove down on Saturday or Sunday. AUGUST 13, 1909 The third annual celebration under the auspices of Lady Nairn Camp, Sons of Scotland will be held in Seaforth on Wednesday, August 25. Quite a number from Hensall and vicinity took in the circus at London on Tuesday last. Mr. T.J. Berry, Hensall's well known and enterprising horse buyer leaves this week for the Old Country accomfaanied by his own Master Wilson ands Intends bringing over some heavy draught stallions and fillies. AUGUST 8, 1884 A food many of the people in and around the village of Wroxeter were attracted to a field of fall wheat belonging to Robt. Gibson which he was cutting with a self binding reaper last week, many being anxious to see how it worked before risking an investment in one. Mr. Wm. Cudmore of Kippen a very enterprising and energetic dealer has six carloads of most excellent cattle which he proposes shipping to the old country. We understand that Mr. Michael Mc- Quade has received the agency for Tucker - smith for the Globe Lightnmg Rod Campany of London. TO THE EDITOR, McQtiail still active in NDP Dear Editor. I'm writing because some of your waders may he curious to know why 1 am not running for the NDP in this election. Since 1 am Valerie Bolton's campaign manager 1 guess the press didn't think there was a story there as they did with Graeme Craig. However. 1 have been getting asked about it and I'd be glad for e` eryone to know my reasons. The NDP has a long standing commit- ment to equality for women and it is the only party with an affirmative action program within its structure. Women have an important and " currently under- represented role to play in the Parliament oil our country. it is important to do more than talk about equality, 1 worked diligently to ensure we would have a well qualified WO an candidate in Huron -Bruce and 1' working hard now to help her get elect A . nd reason is to give voters a wider choice and to give more people an opportunity to participate in the political process. f believe in participatory democ- racy. I've enjoyed being a candidate and the many opportunities for public service i've had. 1 think it is nice to share those opportunities. I've been very pleased with the way our campaign is -going m..Huron-Bruce. If any of your readers would like to get involved in our participatory democratic effort they should contact me. As the campaign manager 1 may not be in the limelight but rm still pretty involved. Yours sincerely, Tony McQuail Horse racing story down-to-earth Dear Sir: Congratulations to the reporters who worked on the McCall story. It was a good down-to-earth story. i have raced horses all over Canada and have yet to read as interesting a story as this one. Herse racing is big business in Canada and it needs tall the attention it can get; 1 wish you people would write a weekly article on local horse ring here and elsewhere. Mso a few pictures Would help to, Thank you R. Jack Lemon Seaforth. Ont- Photos by Wassink The pig is the smartest of farm animals Priscilla is pink and plump and cuddly. She loves to eat tuna fish sandwiches. She owns her own wading pool and as it turns out, Priscilla is an excellent swimmer. Priscilla is a pig. Not just your average pig, Priscilla is special. She became a hero last month, when she rushed out into a lake near Houston Texas and saved the life of an 11 -year-old mentally retarded boy. The boy had gone out in the lake too far and he was drowning. Before anyone else could respond to his cries for help Priscilla the pet pig leaped into the water and swam out to him. Frightened spectators thought both boy and pig were lost when they went under, but persistent Priscilla fought her way to the surface with the boy desperately clinging to her collar and leash. She swam to the shore and waiting help, dragging the boy behind her. The pig who loves hes adoptive family (and tuna fish sandwiches) has won a place in the COUNTRY CORNER by Larry Dillon hearts of the American people by her courageous actions. Is the story a hoax? An elaborate game being played at the expense of the American people? It is possible, but not likely. Hog farmers have been aware of the intelligence of their animals for many years. The pig is the smartest of the farm animals. They are just as capable of developing a like or dislike for individual human beings as a dog Is. They respond favorably to kind treatment and they sometimes react in dangerous ways to harsh treatment. Because of this interesting characteristic of the animals, it takes a special kind of person to be a good hog farmer. At times the farmer must have almost superhumanpatience with individual ani- mals, If he tries to force a sow or boar to move somewhere he may find that he has six or seven hundred pounds of stubborn animal to move, One animal may make tine desired move easily while the neat may resist all the w The farmer who speaks softly to his animals and tries to reward desired behavior with a kind word or a little extra food will succeed where others fail. He has less trouble with them, but he still has -his patience tried on a regular basis. If they are not in the right mood, pigs can be just as stubborn and -contrary as any people. Most hog farmers have. at one time or another, found it almost impossible to move an animal. If the farmer loses his temper. the hog will almost certainly win. I learned from an older and more experienced farmer, that if the hog refuses to move where 1 want it to go. .l should immediately try to prevent it from going to that spot. 1 knowl it sounds crazy. As crazy as the gentleman's method may be f have tried it and it works. If the hog is in a contrary mood it is going to try its best to do jusf-the opposite of what it thinks that you want it to do. 1f that means pushing past you to get into that pen or weigh scale that only moments before you couldn't get it to go into , that is just what it will do. The hog has a surprising level of patience • and determination itself. Any hog farmer will be able to tell you of some sow that patiently chewed it's way through the stone wall of an SEE PIG/ ON PAGE 3 Modern parents must learn to say no The hardest thing in being a modern parent is saying ':no" to children. How many generations of parents have said to themselves: "My children are going to have it better than 1 did"? First settlers in Canada saw a bright future for their children without' the poverty, crowding and class restrictions of the old country. Subsequent generations saw a life for their children that did not mean as much back -breaking work as they went through. Parents of my generation could hope that their children wouldn't face hardship such as they experienced in the Great Depression or the war. For my parents the magic potion to give their children a different life than they had was education. Educators promoted the idea: get more education. live a better life. Our parents in many ways gave us the better life they wanted for us. Never in history has mankind had such material comfort. We work fewer hours, have more • BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith RouLston money to spend on our leisure, have in our electrical and electronic slaves. more ser- vants than a Roman emperor. Yet there is still that feeling that we want to give our children what we didn't have. But what's left to give them? We want to give the kids the one thing we don't have: 24 -hour -a• day happiness. Today it seems to me, we're not content in making our children's lives better: we're trying make them perfect. While the constanfccry of younger generations for years has been hat parents don't remember what it was like to be a kid.1 think the problem might be the opposite. We perhaps remember too much the things that made us unhappy anti we want to prevent our kids from being uphappy about anything. They shouldn't have to wear clothes that are the (east out of fashion. They should have ail the latest games and gadgets that the rich kids had when we were young. They should have everything that money can buy. And, when kids ask for these things. complain that "everybody else has one". how does the modern generation say no? Our parents could say they couldn't afford. Yet for a large part of our population today their parent have succeeded so well in giving them a better life that we can't really Claim we You can fight city hall One of the cynical, apathetic remarks of the 20th century is, "You can't fight City Hall," 1 think it's American in origin, as are so rhany of our colorful expressions, but it reflects a conception that has contributed to the skepticism that permeates many aspects of our life. ;. In essence it betrays a weariness of the individual spirit in a world that is growing ever more corrupt, violent and treacherous. it means basically that the individual hasn't a chance against the burgeoning bureaucracy, the petty patronage, the you -scratch -my -back -and -I'll -scratch -yours philosophy that has always,been with us, and always will but should be resisted stoutly and sturdily whenever it rears its ugly head. Jesus fought the City Hall of His time, and won, though He lost His life. Sir Thomas More fought the City Hail of his time, which included his king, the nobility and the clergy, and' refused to nudge an inch to save his life, because he was right, and City Hall was wrong. Joan of Arc fought her City Hall, in the form of her own king, traitors to her vision, and an opposing army. She wound up being burned at the stake, and became a saint. Her opponents are mere footnotes ip history. Oliver Cromwell fought his C"tty Hall, won his fight, and taught British royalty to mind its pees and queus, if you'll pardon the expression. WilliamLyon Mackenzie took on the City Hatt of his day, and though his only battle with it was a typical Canadian charade, he left SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley it smarting. I could name a 100 others who cocked a snook at City Hall, and lost many a battle, but won many a war. The United States is a classic example. Another is the Republic of France, Mahatma Ghandi practically had the British Empire begging him to go change his diaper and leave it alone, Well, it's nice to be in the company of such. even if only for a little while, and only in the imagination. The Fourth St. Fusiliers, of which I am a proud, wounded veteran, hat fought many a skirmish, several sharp encounters, and a prolonged war of attritton against the local town council, and the will of the people triumphed to the extent of a dozen trees being uncut, a new sidewalk installed, and a desert of pot -holes turned into a paved street. You've heard of the 30 Years War, the 100 Years War, the War of the Roses, the War of Independence, the Boer War, and The Great War, followed by that sickening euphemism. World War II. Not to mention Korea and Vietnam. Well, a lot has been written about them, and Millions died in them, but for sheer intensity of emotion, I think the Fourth St. War outdoes them all. I hat s the reason tor this bit of history. In three or four hundred years. the Fourth St. War may be almost forgotten, were it not for some humble scribe to get it down on paper. It has lasted between seven and nine years, and the veterans will even argue hotly about the duration - 1 do remember that the hundrdds of children who were going to be slaughtered by traffic if the town council achieved its insidious ends are now replaced by grand- children in many cases. i do remember that the first rush to the barricades was about as organized as the French revolutionaires' attack on the Bas- tille, 1 do remember that one lady threatened to chain herself high in the branches of a maple tree if the town engineer carried out his plan of massacreing maples. There were other Threats of a similar but unlikely nature, such as everyone lying down in front of the bulldozers, blowing up the town hall while council was in session, or kidnapping the town engineer and giving him a cement -bar- rel burial in the bay. Fortunate: cooler heads pr'vaii. After can't afford it. We so want to keep our children from being unhappy that often we give in. Yet what we have to face is that although - there may be no end to money and the gadgets we can buy them. there is a limited amount of happiness. Our , parents might have thought that if they just had an easier life, happiness would follow. But, we know that no matter how much material comfort we have, people still have their minutes, days. months of unhappiness. We all have our up days and our down days. Material goods don't mean much when a marriage breaks up, friends fight, or we fail in our jobs. And by trying to shield our children from unhappiness we are not preparing them for the real world they must sooner or later face. Hard as it is. modern parents must learn to say "no" now and then to let kids know there's no perfect world. half the street was ruined. the works department ran out of money. Over the years, they tip -toed around the potential explosion, filling in the odd pothole and letting the street turn into the semblance of a long -forgotten country lane. But this spring, falsely feeling that the ancient hatreds had cooled, with new people moving in. and old people dying off. they foolishly raised the desecrative idea again. Cut down the trees. Tear up the sidewalks. make it a one -block thruway to nowhere. Like an old, dormant volcano. the people rose in their might and descended on the works committee like a disturbed hornet's nest. The air was filled with vituperation. calumny and blasphemy. Council cooled off like a bull confronted by an angry elephant. Another meeting was called. Again. The People rose in their wrath. They formed a committee. It consisted of a brilliant mathematician. a contractor, a doctor, a lawyer. and an indomitable nurse Not just a few angry people to be baffled by engineering jargon. I don't want to go into the brilliant counter-attack. the superb tactics, the incredible strategy of The People. It's too exciting. You wouldn't sleep tonight. But we won. The trees stay. the sidewalks will be rebuilt, the thruway will continue to be a residential street, thousands of children will not be cut down by thundering trucks, and the road will be paved. Y,mi - heht City Hall.