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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-05-23, Page 2Ari Huron irAxposttor:24.__ SINCE 1880, SERVING. THE COMMUNITY FIRST � � s Ell OF HIWAON AW ARV 1983 Incorporating Brussels Post 10 Main Street 527-0240 Published in SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning JOCELYN A. SHRIER, Publisher RON WASSINK, Editor KATIE O'LEARY, Advertising Representative 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, MAY 16, 1984 Second class mail registration Number 0696 Call it gambling A couple of generations ago it was illegal for a Canadian to sell tickets on the Irish me( takes. Caught as a lottery "pusher" one could go to jail, notes the Wingham Advance Times. Reason for the stiff penalty was not Illicit movement of Canadian money to another country. The law was based on the moralistic concept that gambling of any sort was contrary to Christian beliefs, much akin to the Sunday "blue" laws. How times have changed! Now we see our^own governments going' to court to seek protection for their gambling rights. The international b. seball leagues are seeking high court Injunctions to prevent the• Canadian government from selling tickets on gambling pools. You may or may not have strong convictions about the morals involved. However, almost everybody will admit that the hypocritical stand of some cabinet ministers Is an Insult to the Intelligence of the average citizen. Last week the Hon. Jacques Olivier, federal minister responsible for his government's bid to get into gambling, appeared on a national TV network to defend the sale of baseball pool tickets. His defence rested on his claim that the pools do not constitute lotteries because - now get this - the pools are not games of chance. The ticket buyers must be possessed of "skills" in order to win. The skill in this case being able to play the odds oti one team over another for an upcoming game. If the fads want to get into the lottery racket, so be it. But for goodnee's sake call it by an honest name. Canadians do have a few brains. —Exeter Times Advocate Discontent persists To the outsider, the related issues of what's happening in the red meat Industry and how this relates to farm credit and farm bankruptcy are perhaps not that easily grasped. For every report of farmers succumbing to the pressures of the marketplace, we hear of a government report promising special measures for farmers. Despite these measures, however, it seems clear that the discontent which became evident among Ontario farmers during the past two years persists. The most t''scent evidence of this is that only four out of 125 directors of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) voted against the April resolution of the Bruce County federation calling for the resignation of Ontario's agriculture minister and his assistant deputy minister If certain steps weren't taken to satisfy red meat producers. While this action by the OFA appears to reflect continuing discontent on the farm In Ontario, the resignation last week of federation president Ron Christie suggests there are many farmers who feel handing out an ultimatum to a government minister Is not the way to go. Nevertheless, Mr. Christie's resignation and his claltrl that the OFA "has come to represent the opinions of the vocal minority at the expense of the Vast majority of the membership" would seem to leave the OFA with a basic self-assessment problem to be dealt with as promptly as possible. If Mr. Christie Is right In his own assessment of the sentiments of the federation's membership, It would seem to be an opportune time for members to speak out and let their directors know what those sentiments are. In the absence of any such outcry, however, the federations' directors. can probably assume that their militancy does meet with the approval of the general membership. Mr. Christie, a director of the OFA for seven years, says the demand for the minister's resignation has illustrated to him that the federation Is not "the credible, respectable mainstream organization I thought it to be." Challenging the credibility of any organization is always a slap in the face. But saying the OFA Is not the respectable, mainstream body it used to be might well be taken as a compliment by many who have long wanted the federation to be more outspoken In its dealing with the Ontario government. It Is Interesting to note, for example, that BIII Denham of R.R. 1, St. Marys found that four of six farmers he phoned the day Mr. Christie resigned said they supported the federation's action. A fifth farmer said the resolution wasn't strong enough and only one farmer found it too militant. Right or wrong, the ultimatum endorsed by the OFA which called for the resignatio., of the minister within 30 days If the ministry didn't come up with a subsidy plan for red meat producers comparable to their counterparts in other provinces, says there's still deep-felt discontent among Ontario farmers. It would appear that the next step the OFA has to take is to demonstrate its credibility by showing that the directors do in fact speak for most of the membership. The federation's annual meeting In September should be Interesting. —St. Marys Journal Argus TO THE EDITOR Did you live in Tottenham ? Dear Editor. 1984 is centennial year in Tottenham! A cordial invitation is extended to all former residents of the area to come and participate in the various events scheduled throughout the year. Several special weekends are planned including a Reunion Weekefld July 6-8, with a host of exciting activities. July 7th could be_,,your best chance to meet old friends and make new ones. A welcoming committee will be hosting a "meet your friends" social in the afternoon followed by a buffet dinner and a dance. if you lived here, shopped here, went to school or church here, we would like to see you again. Your presence will help to make our year a memorable one. For further information, please write to: The Centennial Committee, P.O. Box 310, Tottenham, Ontario, LOG I WO. Shtce`tely Ralph Hatton, Reeve Village of Tottenham Dave's saves We're not cursing as well as we used to r SOCCER BALLS were flying at goalie Dave Rimmer on Thursday when he and his Ihammates practised for the game against Ulinton on Friday which they won 4 to 2. They went on to win the Huron -Perth finals on Tuesday against Listowel with a score of 3 to 0. (Hundertmark photo) Sticks and stones may bre(sk ipy bones, but words will never hurt me. - This old saying, a favorite with everyone. especially kids, has more truth to it than we think. At least that's what an former American university professor has discover- ed. Maybe you haven't noticed lately, but our cursing skills aren't as good as they used to be. we're just not cursing as well, says the professor. Instead, people are relying on, a dozen "sickley vulgarities without style or impact," says Reinhold Aman. He says the average American now gets by with a vocabulary of 2,000 words from a time when a typical American had a vocabulary of 10.000 words. I'm assuming the good professor is talking good. normal words for everyday usage. not curse words. Nobody can let out a string of 10,000 curse words, can they? In a recent article, Mr. Aman says most urban dwellers "use what 1 call the dirty dozen --that common list of four -to -seven lettered sexual and scatological curses." 'SENSE AND NONSENSE by Ron Wassink It's been a long time since he has found an American insult as fine as the one he considers a classic from Alabama: "Your breath is so foul it would knock a buzzard off a manure wagon." Now that s a different way of saying that your friendly chef needs Scope. it does sound a bit more colorful than just saying, "You've got bad breath." But the good professor has a reason for our dying cursing skills. "i think there is a correlation between (the decline in cursing prowess) and the increase in physical violence. People can't throw things off verbally any more." ' Mr, Aman has tracked treads in verbal abuse for almost 10 years through his own research and thak�of an infot‘mal network in more than 60 countries! .- . He quotes Sigmund Freud to underscore the importance of capable cursing. "The first human who hurled a curse instead of a weapon against his enemy was the founder of civilization." TRADE SKILLS He says unimaginvative , and lacklustre cursings spread as Americans became less respectful of authority and traded language skills for audio-visual pleasures, such as television. But he's found that Hungarians and many other people curse much better than North Americans, The Hungarian curses "are so bad you wouldn't believe it." Typical Turkish rhymed insults. Inuit singing duels and Hindi family slurs are also far more muscular than the American dirty dozen, he says. Yiddish hisovided Mr. Aman with some favourit4inc wing: "May you have three shiploads of gold and it should not be enough to pay your doctor's bill." But he says ethnic jokes are, "remarkably constant". "Irish jokes in Britain turn up as Polish jokes in the U.S. You find anti -Brazilian jokes in Portugal and anti-Portugcse jokes in Brazil. It s always neighbours. either phy- sically or culturally." Here in Ontario, our favorite ethnic joke would be against the people of Newfound- land. And the same would hold true for them. But it's true, we could change ou: "Newfie" jokes and insert any other such race; we could even have jokes against ourselves. After all, if you can't laugh at yourself. who can you laugh at, FIND SHORTCOMING In English, Mr. Aman has concluded that a good insult should focus on a changeable shortcoming of a person and'contain one or more of certain harsh sounds as "t" or "k". "To find a short coming, think like a child. CURSING/ON PAGE THREE Trains and stations are fascinating What is it about trains and railway stations that makes them so fascinating? Thousands of people take train excursions every year. others restore old' railway equipment. more build elaborate models. And even for those of us who don't get so involved. there's still a tug at the heart strings when we hear the whistle of a steam locomotive or look at an old railway station. The fascination started early for me. We had a railway line go right through nur farm and every morning we awoke to the blast of the steam whistle as the train signalled for the crossing at the edge of nur farm. 1 remember a huge grain train with six engines and excursion trains the local public schools used to take each spring to places like Niagara Falls. i remember the first time a diesel engine hooted through the farm sending the cattle galloping in panic. Today the little station we used to go to is gone. 1 saw the other weekend that the railway now ends abruptly where a new road BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith Roulston has been built and they tell me the rails will soon be pulled up. ' All these memories come to mind when 1 glanced through a copy of Elizabeth Willmot's "Meet Me at the Station" recently. The book was first issued by Gage Publishing in 1976 and has now been reissued in Tess -expensive paperback format by McBain Publications inc. of Kitchener. Elizabeth Willmot had her own fascination with railroads and spent years travelling around Ontario photographing old stations and collecting stories about the people and the history behind them. Our neck of the woods is well represented in the book. Stations from Clinton. Blvth. Goderich, St. • Marys. Kincardine and Palmerston are all included. Sadly. many of the stations have disappeared over the years. It's 10 years now since the Clinton station vanished. There's no trace left of the station that used to sit on the beach at Kincardine. Some stations are still left. including the old CNR station on Dinsley Street in Blyth which the author once told me was her favorite of all the stations she photographed ' 11's been converted into a residenc'c these days. The story on that station and the Clinton station includes the story of my favourite railway, the old ''But -ter and Eggs" as the London Huron and Bruce Railway was known to local people. The train had one of the most relaxed schedules around and the engineer would stop to pick up people who wandered to the trackside and flagged down the train for a ride to 1 nndon to market. it was one of the early casualties of the changing times. however when it dosed from Clinton northwards in 1941 and the tracks were torn up so the steel could be recycled for the war effort The reissue of Meet Me at the Station is a boom to all those people infected by railway nostalgia. The book is especially interesting now with the news that Elizabeth Willmot has now moved to Clinton tit's becoming quite a literary centre isn't it"1 The book is available al some local bookstores or directly from the publisher at '0 Otonabee Drive, Kitchener, N2C 1L6 Ms. Willmot will be speaking at . the annual Book Sale al the Blyth Summer Festival this weekend. Cycling on Sunday not appropriate in 1884 MAY 23,1884 Mr. S. Broadfoot of the Mill Road is the happy possessor of a mare which gave birth to twin foals both fillies and they are lively, healthy and doing well. On Sunday last several bicyclists of this town rode to Bayfield and back. They made the return trip in less than three hours. This is very good, but Sunday does not seem a very appropriate day for such excursions especial- ly as they can be made just as well on any other day. Mr. Wm. Murray of Harpurhey has ducks which do their duty. He has presented us with an egg laid by a duck in his flock which measures 7 inches the one way and 91/2 inches the other. Mr. D.D. Wilson had placed in his office on Thursday a new burglar proof safe which weighs over seven tons. One span of horses drew it from the railway station. MAY 21,1909 The annual excursion of the Huron Old Boys Association of Toronto will be run on Saturday, July 3. Two trains will leave 1 IN THE YEARS AGONE Toronto that morning. the one going to Wingham and the other as far as Goderich. It is expected each train will reach its destination about 12 o'clock. The tickets are good to return on any of the regular trains up till Monday evening or on the special train which will leave Goderich and Wingham at six o'clock Monday evening iation expect a large crowd of old '' s will visit friends and relatives in the old home James Cumming of Egmond ile arrived home on Saturday last from a four month visit to sunny California. John Leemiltg and Samuel Davidson of McKillop who have been taking a course in telegraphy at the Central Business College, Stratford, have passed their final examina• tion and will receive their diplomas as graduates in this subject. MAY 25,1934 The Independert Order of Oddfellows are holding a church parade on Sunday, May 27 in Northside United Church. Seaforth will be a quiet centre on Victoria Day: No celebration has been planned and citizens will of necessity have to travel afield for entertainment. Both Mitchell and Mensal] have arranged celebrations for the day: the former featuring races, the latter ball games. Frank Grieve, student at the Seaforth Collegiate institute and son of Mr. and Mrs. James L. Grieve, of Seaforth, took part in the W.O.S.S.A. track meet at London on Saturday. Entering in the races he secured three thirds and a fifth in the finals which is considered very good as it is the first time he has taken part in such a meet. MAY 22,1959 Victoria Day was celebrated in grand style in Egmondville on Monday night with the co-operative efforts of the villagers. Many interested spectators from the village and Seaforth watched a monster fireworks display on the grounds of Egmondville School at dusk. Cash donations were collected from the residents of the village to finance the event. 1t was organized and displayed by Douglas Wilson and Garnet Stockwell, two Egmond- ville citizens. Scott Memorial Hospital has established a record this week with the birth of the fourth set of twins in the past two months. Rev. J.H. James rector of St. Thomas Church, Seaforth, and St. Marys, Dublin will leave June 15 to take up duties as pastor of Glen Cairn Woods in London, Rev. James has been in Seaforth since August 1953.