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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1987-12-09, Page 2Enzsitor SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating The Brussels Post Published- in Seaforth, Ontario Every Wednesday Morning The Expositor is brought to you each week by the efforts of: Pat Armes, Neil Corbett, Dianne McGrath and Bob McMillan. ED BYRSKI, General Manager HEATHER McILWRAITH, Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Ontario CoMmunity Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council ComMonwealth Press Union International Press Institute , Subscription rates: Canada '20.00 a year, in advance , Senior Citizens • '17.00 a year in advance Outside Canada '60.00 a year, in. advance 'Single Copies • .50 cents each Second class mail registration Number 0696 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1987 Editorial anciElusiness Offices - 10 Main Street, Seaforth _ TolophOne Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1WO Crime Stoppers can work Town's Christmas spirit aroused Anybody who wasn't in the holiday mood prior to the weekend, certainly should have been by the time Seaforth's• Annual ChristmasParade wound down. Despite the fact there was no snow for the event, the 1987 Christinas Parade, complete with its barrage of brightly litfloats, simply negated the rumor that whiteness is a necessity in evoking one's true Christmas spirit. One didn't need to see snow, to get caught up in the festivities Friday night. The town reeked of the spirit of Christmas. Obviously I have nothing but praise for the parade,the-people-who-were-responsible for organizing it, and the people who took up the challenge and participated. Even the spectators too, are to be commended for having the good sense to come to Wain to view Seaforth's first attempt at a parade of different proportions. I suppose I could go on forever about the parade itself, but what happened in Seaforth Friday night was much, much more than just the physical success of a Christmas parade. And surely everyone present in town could sense that. It was more than the number,of floats, the pinhig. of Christmas. music over the PA The announcement that Crime Stoppers is coming to Huron County is welcome news. For the last month, Constable Jeff Sabin of the Goderich Ontario Provin- cial Police Detachment, has been busy learning, organiiing and preparing for the program which is to start in mid-March of next year. So far, he has found the communities, media and police officers very cooperative. Needless to, say this is a good sign. Crime Stoppers is designed to solve crimes that have been on the burner • for a while, but for one reason or another, haven't been solved. When the , police have cases such as these, they re-enact the crime on television and publish articles in the newspaper. From this they hope to get some leads from callers. The police have fOund people are reluctant to phone police with informa- tion. They're afraid Of the criminal coming after them or they. simply do not . want to get involved. However, Crime Stoppers allows the caller to remain anonymous. The caller does not need to give his -her name, address or any other identifying inforrriation. And to top it off, if the inforrhation is useful, the caller is eligible for a reward. Crime Stoppers has worked in other counties and it can work in, Huron County as well. But -there's One catch - we all have to pitch in and help. - Clinton News -Record. Write to Santa Claus The Huron Expositor, as in previous years, welcomes letters to Santa Claus. Santa is an avid. reader of this newspaper and again has renewed his subscription. In an accompanying letter, he writes, "I enjoy reading The Ex- - positor each and every week. It's one way I can keep tabs on the children who have been goodihroughout the year. I especially keep. an eye on the letters to Santa section." , Santa says he reads every letter he receives from children requesting gifts for Christmas. And that includes letters that appear in The Expositor. Children are again asked to write to the address listed below. A "Letters to Santa" box is also located in THe Expositor office. Send letters to: - Santa Claus C?O The Huron Expositor Box 69, Seaforth, Ontario HOH OHO MAINSTREET UPDATE They is you, in development When it comes to making a community prosper, the magic comes from you. Even the academic theorists are starting to say corruntinity development starts at the grass roots and works up —and that means you — the person reading this article. Sure you say ... "what do I know about community development': or business is business what can I do about it; or that's Council's job; or the new economic development eornnlittee will do it; or let the BIA executive look after it; or what are we paying that Mainstreet Coordinator for anyway; or doesn't Huron County have a department for that; or maybe that Jack Riddell or Murray Cardiff have an eye out for tit etc. Any one of us can think of some pretty good excuses for past- ing the buck fdr promoting community deVelopmentand than find some great reasons for criticizing everyone else when either nothing happens or it seems to hap- pen too slowly for our own likirig. The bot- tom line is that community developnlent starts with you. In other words "THEY" is you. The theorists also acknowledge the ball has to start tolling somewhere. Seaforth't Mainstreet Canada project May be justThe right place. Seaforth is now. 15 months into the mairittreet project and a lot has been ac- corriplished. Some of the Major things in- clude a Consumer Survey — we now knew where Seaforth sits in the marketplace, and a Downtown Improveltent Strategy we have a -strategy for downtown himroVerrient charted out. betign work has been completed for seven downtown storefronts and We've got $200,000 to make downtown streetscaping improvements over the nett four years. 'The historical front perch on the Town Hall has been tiedenttructed. Our brief oil Hwy No. 8 improveinents has resulted in e Provincial comrnitinent to proceed, In the past year the BM Members reCeiv- ed 10 neVitiettett, took on roar Marketing proniOtiorit, ordered the new Chiisbnas decorationt, are providing some very' lovely Christmas vfrindows, and had one of the best BIA Clitittnias parties ever. Couneil established. an Economic Development Committee including local business representatives. We've worked very hard to help bring the pants factory to reality and are looking at where we go from here. The committee recognizes the impor- tance of the existing businesses and in- dustries in Seaforth and district for economic opportunities and hopes to get lines of conireurdeation and cooperation opened up. We've developedan incredible archive of historical photos and have an illustrated history of Seaforth at Boston MillsLPress for publication at this very moment. Seaforth has enjoyed terrific press coverage. 'Me town*s name has also been promoted far and wide at special presentations such as the an- nual convention of the Ontario Industrial Development COuncil, the convention of the Association of Counties and Regions of On- tario and the annual Planning Conference of the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Aff Several local industries were provided with the opportunity to meet with a senior ad- visor with the Ontario Ministry of Industry Trade and Teehnology. We even hosted the Premier of Ontario for lunch! It really has been an outstanding year. Although there are many variables iri- volved I'm convinced the Mainstreet Canada project has contributed to the fact the dollar value of building permits is up 132 percent so far in 1987 over 1986; there have been five new businesses come to the Main Street in the past year; two huskies:Set haVe expanded their operations; five existing businesses have had relatively smooth tram sitions m management; five downtown buildings changed ownership with Mote favorable return on investment scenarios and generally there is a growing feeling of positive optimism on the Street! All of this hat the ball rolling, but it it you that has to keep it rolling and "snowball- ing". There are 80 downtown basinestes, 50 some downtrivin building owners, another 50 or so important businesses and industries in the immediate area. There are the teheols, Turn to page 18A.' SWEATSOCKS by Heather McIlwraith system and the colorful display of lights, that made Seaforth's parade a success. PEOPLE made the Seaforth Christmas Parade the novelty it undoubtedly was. There was an overwhelming excitement present in town Friday night, and it was evi- tions. Filially people were realizing the benefits of teamwork. Obviously whatever happened, it was good for Seaforth. Not only did it result in a successful Santa Claus Parade but it really and truly generated a feeling of good will dent both_on_the_sidelines_andin_the_parade_within-the-townrand-to-its-neighbors-to-th line itself.e north, south, east and west, who visited Fri - Anyone who was witness to what ap- day night. By no means was Seaforth a Grinch -like town prior to this year's Santa Claus parade, but undeniably there have been pro- blems on the Main Street, and an apathy amongst all the townspeople. Hopefully some of that disappeared Fri- day night, and the town can look forward to of adjustment, it was apparent something even more community participation and wonderful had transpired in Seaforth. Sud - spirit in 1988. denly people were working together toward If so, then the 1987 Christmas Parade, a common goal, instead of wandering ff • turned out to be more than its organizing separate_direetions tosuittheir_own ,aspits— _ccounittee•ever linp_ed it _would _ _ peered to be general confusion down at the Seaforth and District Community Centres, prior tothe parade start, no doubt felt it first. There was a kind of comarderie unlike anything I've ever witnessed in town since I've been here. As parade participants assembled, final decorations were tacked in place, and costumes were given that last bit Summit may be, new era of peace With the air of festivity and celebration surrounding the summit meeting between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and American President Ronald Reagan cur- rently taking place in Washington, you would think these, two men were getting together to open a World Fair, rather than mulling over the fate of the entire planet. While the two leaders meet to discuss (and actually sign) a treaty that will eliminate mediuni-range nuclear -armed missiles from Europe, novelty peddlers are cashuig in on the quick craze for Items -Soviet all over the United States. While preliminary groundwork is being laid for the ultimate goal of reduction (dare we hope for elimination?) of long- range nuclear missiles as well, the man -in - the -street is stocking up on Gorbachev T- shirts and an assortment of items emboss- ed with the traditional Soviet Hammer and Sickle symbol. Apparently pet toys in the shape of the heads of the two heads of state are selling like crazy as well. All this merchandising in connection with the summit can hardly be considered surprising, especially since the recent American tour by the Pope himself in- spired sales of such tacky items as Pope - on -a -Rope Soap. Since this is the first visit to the USA by a Soviet Leader in 14 years, I guess the mer- chandisers have to peddle as much as they can while Gorbachev is in town. In that case, I have a few suggestions. Since the treaty to be signed today will ban a total of about 2,800 US missiles and 3,800 warheads and about four times that FROM THIS ANGLE by Patrick Raftis many Soviet warheads, we will be left with the rather considerable problem of disposal. Current plans appear to be to simply blow the missiles up in test ranges. Excuse me, but I thought the idea of the whole thing was to avoid detonating anything. Blowing up all those missiles just has to be bad for the atmosphere, so why not get on the summit merchandise bandwagon and sell them. Give every American the opportunity to own his own Intercontinental Ballistic Missile or nuclear warhead (preferably, the two wotildn't be sold as a set, but I sup- pose people could always swap later). Sales of course would be strictly regulated (just like handguns in L.A.) and pur- chasers would be required to ign a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. What, you might ask, would anyone do - with a ballastic missile or nuclear war,head? Well, you might have asked the same question about Pet Rocks, but people still bought them. Still, there are some potential household uses for both items. For example, We all know the frustration of trying to remember where you put those candles when a power blackout occurs. Keep a nuclear warhead in your basement for a few years and you won't have to worry about blackouts, as you will have a • glow -in -the -dark family. Convenient, huh? Also,.as a basement conversation piece, it sure beats a sump -pump. The missiles could be used to beat the high cost of home improvements. Why pay a contractor thousands of dollars for labor to build a backyard swiming pool, when you could fire your own Pershing II straight up in the air and have it come straight back down? Instant excavation! What if it doesn't come down where you had, planned? So your neighbor gets the pool. What are friends for? .For the hot -rod enthusiast who isn't get- ting all he wants out of his turbo V-8, I understand the rocket engine in the stan- dard issue Cruise Missile goes from Zero to 60 in about .25 seconds. The leftover missile portion could be used to hold up one end of a clothesline. Of course, you can come up with your own ideas as well. While this whole concept is, of course, ridiculous, the event which spawned it is not. Let's hope the current sunimit is only the beginning of a new era of peace and trust between nations. ' Curling, skating rink among biggest DECEMBER 9.1887 The additions and improvements to the :turling and skating rink are now nearly completed. and Mr. Jas. A. Anderson has been engaged to take charge of it this season the same as last. By the new addition thirty feet have been added to the rink, and it is now 162 feet in length and 62 feet in width. To stand at the entrance and look in it present the appearance of a little world by itself. This rink, once completed will be one of the largest curling and skating rinks in the pro- vince outside of the bigger cities. J. McCaughey, of Hullett, a few days since disposed of an entire colt 17 mon- ths old, sired by Robby Burns, to Mr. T. Wallace, for the neat sum of $150. Mr. John Beattie informs us there has not for years been so much business in the Divi- sion Court as at the present time. This is, no doubt, geed for the clerk, Bailiff, and legal gentlemen, but it is not a healthy sign of the country. On Saturday last as Mr. Geo. Habkirk, of McKillop, accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. Gordon, was returning home from Manchester, he met with a very unfortunate mishap in Clinton. Opposite Mr. Tippling's blacksmith shop in that town some children had rolled up a large snowball and left it on the side of the road. When opposite this Mr. Habkirk't horse, a young animal, got frightened at it and made a Mulder' bolt to the side of the road, upsetting the buggy into the ditch, and throwing Mr. Habkirk and his daughter out. The horse got away, and with the buggy ran into flatteribury's hotel yard • ° IN THE .YEARS AGONE 'from the Archives where it was caught, but not until it had bad- ly wrecked the buggy. Mr. Habkirk got his side injured and Mrs. Gordon got her shoulder hurt. DECEMBER 6,1912 The report of the honors in the last Toron- to Medical Examinations was published on November 23. It is a pleasure to state that Mr. Frank L. Eberhart, of Staffa, a graduate of the Seaforth Collegiate Institute headed the honor list of his year. Mr. Eberhart is now in his fourth year, and has the distinction of having taken honors every year - at Toronto Medical College. Mr. Eberhart is a so'n of Mr. and Mrs, Charles Eberhart, of Hibbert. He is doing credit to himself and his early trairiing. Eleetric lights have been installed in the curling and skating rink replacing the old gas lights. The fire alarm was sounded at about eight O'clock Friday morning. This time it proved a genuine alarm. The fire was in the residence of Mr. Sutherby on High Street. • The firemen were promptly on hand and the fire was subdued without serious damage being done. But about eleven o'clock the fire broke out again and this time it appeared to be more serious. However, the place was 'Well needed and the fire was seen - extinguished. About 10 o'clock Monday evening the firemen were again summoned to the same building. This time the fire had gained con- siderable headway before it was noticed. Stairs were badly dharred and the side of the building was burned through. But the water soon subdued the flames without do- ing much further damage. The Cause of this fire is a mystery, as there was no person in the house at the time. None of the furnitiire was removed on Monday night, but any damage done to it was principally by water. There is insurance on both the building and contents. The building belongs to Mr. A. Cardno whose residence adioms. DECEMBER 10, 1937 The condition of Arthur C. Routledge, Seaforth groceryman, driver of a car which struck a C.N.R. freight engine at noon on Monday, was much improved, Scott Meniorial Hospital reported Thursday. Mr. Routledge was alone in his car and on his way to his home in Egmondville When the crash occurred. He apparently never saw the train which was just pulling into Seaforth station at between 15 and 20 miles per hour. According to eye witnesses Mr. Routiedge drove directly into the train, ap-