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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-08-01, Page 2Huron ��ixpositor SINCE 1860. SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating Th. Srusools Post Publish In Sootorth, Ontario Ivory wodinaosiay Morning Ito $YaaK$. iwrrl 1Mrnogo► NMATNNST. $MNr Niws STAN: Porno Mon Sumo Oxford ADVIRT1i1N0: TM*1-Isms f1o1x CsAislrllws. 114,11111011111101101 ACCOUNTING: M Armee Dlarsne McGrath Undo Pollwsen Member Ca wlien Commaatwlr Neweead ar A.•... Ontorto Conwwrnlgr NSWSer A.Nclstlon Ontario ►ria Cowan Commonw.ulM Press Union International Pres* Institute Subscription Rotes Conoda '22 00 o year 'n advance Senior Citizens '19 00 a year in advance Outside Canada '65 00 o year in advance Single Copies 60 cents each Second class mail registration Number 0690 W11011411110AY. AIMNIST 1. 1119111 Editorial and atrslnees Offices - 10 Main Stat. i.aiorth T.4.phon. (S11) 1127-0240 fax 227-0202 Mailing Amass - P.O. b= M. i..lorth. Ontelrie. N01( IWO Concerns beyond their years Their concems are bigger than ours were at that age. But then, it seems as d their responsibilities are becoming more and more awesome. For the young people - the students and the teenagers - of the 1990's, there is plenty to consider as far as a future is concerned. It stretches much farther now than getting a car, getting a job, and buying nice clothes. The Earth is at stake, the environment is endangered, and Third World tragedies are encroaching onto our North American doorsteps. The teenager of the '90's now has to be a 'globally aware' citizen. This summer, the Canadian Red Cross Society will be hosting a Youth Conference on International Development. Set for August 19-24, at the Maple Lake Conference Centre in Parry Sound, the conference will be a think-tank, workshop and encounter group all rolled into one, aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of international issues. Stressing leadership skills and effective community and volunteer involvement, the course will be a step towards grooming the leaders of tomorrow, whether they end up serving internationally or right in their own neighbourhood. Youths between the ages of 16 and 19 are invited to apply, and the deadline is August 7. Applications can be obtained through any Red Cross branch. The Red Cross, usually associated with giving blood, has much more than just blood donor clinics to worry about. A non-political, non-profit organization with no religious affiliations, the Red Cross is dedicated to preventing and alleviating human suffering worldwide. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, co- operating and lasting peace. And so does their Youth Conference. With their world and their future at stake, it's going to be up to today's young people to take a stand and take action. With their energy and enthusiasm, things will take a turn for the better, but the Global Commitment must be made. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Canada Post hostage Ever heard of a place called Westwold, British Columbia? That's where residents held a Canada Post car "hostage" in early July. The reason: to save their 112 -year-old federal postal service. How about Heron Bay North, Ontario? On July 10, members of the Pic River First Nation Band there set up a roadblock into Pukaskwa National Park in an effort to save their post office, also over 100 years old. Mings Bright, Nfld; Aroostook, N.B., and Falmouth, N.S., are also fighting hard at present to save their post offices. And there are many more. What does all this have to do with you? Well, since rural communities right across the country are subject to the same Canada Post policy, your town could be next. Canada Post calls its privatization scheme "equal or better service"; we say it's a sham which always leaves somebody the big loser. Usually it is often customers and rural route drivers too. It all adds up to yet another way rural Canadians are devalued by the powers -that -be, who usually live in cities, far from the consequences of their ill-conceived schemes! Here's how Wes Keller, Editor of the Shelburne Free Press/Economist, sees it: "Canada Post has a curious way of satisfying the concerns of its customers. But, on reflection, maybe the corporation is simply acting in a manner consis- tent with the attitudes of all levels of government in the final decade of the 20th century. Those attitudes reflect a notion that governments Turn to page ISA • RURAL ROOTS by Jeanne Kirkby Combining fever This column may be "old hat" to my fellow farmers who drive the big machines and know so much more about the mechanical parts of farming than I do. But bear with me while I try to explain to our friends in town the affliction known as "combining fever". We all have a duty to educate the consumer. Every year about this time you notice the wheat fields are dead red, and the tops are crimped or hung well over. When the sun is warm with a few fluffy white clouds widely broken apart and fast moving, there's a lot of looking up into the sky, and nobody had better talk when the weather map comes on the telly. Good drying days! if any project was underway when this state starts, it must either he finished immediately, or put on hold until the wheat is off the fields. i have a farmer friend who stepped on a nail through his rubber boot, spent that evening with a neighbourhood posse chasing cattle that had escaped, and woke up the next morning with a severe crick in his neck. His harvesting equipment is ready to go, and in his spare time he is trying to tear down a woodshed and build a new garage all in the period of two weeks "before the combining starts". He looks like he's escaped from a war. In our shed, the door is open with the combine facing outward. The cutting head is on the machine, various nuts and bolts have been tightened and oil has been squirted in the necessary places Wagons are Tara to page IIA • Housework not my best point This has been arlcxha Iniataung week for me. At this job I've boos hired temporarily m mplace who is replacing editor Miro is ce maternity leave This week I am replacing that reporter who is on holidays and Gan play ung editor for are short week. les taken all of my time and I'm barely keeping flip. 1 have atones 1 would like to wrus and photos 1 would lie to develop this week but simply can't because of the lack of time. That are pros releases ses io read through and edit if 1 decide they are important enough to print. 1 have to prepare birth, death and marriage announcements, and Seaforth is busy with living these days. Sports scores galore keep corning in and they tate a bit of time to put onto And, of count, the rings all day with people waaliag to talk w me about whinier concerns them. The beat thing to happen to me this we is my friend staying with me for a few days to help out. He used to wait for a newspaper in Pon Elgin and had nothing to do this week. He's taken photos and is doing most of any darkroom work this week, which is a relief for mc. When 1 fmish work, or actually just leave the office, 1 have more work to do at horse. My house is a mess and all I've accomplished this past week was the laundry. The vacuum cleaner is still lying in the middle of the livingroorn floor and will stay like that probably for by Susan Oxford soruct ie tO COM. When I Set Kane I've been so toed that 1 haven't cooked for myself for awhile. Dinner some nights has consisted of a couple of Twinkles and peaches eaten over the kitchen sink. The fact that my daughter has gone canoeing in Temagami with her father and some school teachers has a lot to do with the decline of my domestic bliss. Now that 1 don't really have to cook or clean, 1 don't. I tell myself 1 have to get bads irrMD a routine because tae way I'm going now could be foresight lino the future on how I'll be living when my daughter leaves home for school. So now here 1 ani living a life free from housework and coming home dead tired to a mess abode. I figure that when my daughter does leave home I' U have to get a big dog that eats tons of food and og de that it have huge potions of leftovers. That should help keep me in line as far as domestic drudgery is concerned. • Sufferings of a TV head Morning panel discussion shows get a lot of flack, and a lot of devoted followers. Some deserve more of one than the other, and all of them are essentially filler — your life will not be the lesser without them — but face it folks, they're fascinating. And we're hooked. As you read this, I'm probably parked on my duff somewhere en- joyed my (HA!) holidays. Nothing exciting was planned for this hiatus, just slothing around, and Monday morning subsequently found me curled up on the sofa gawking at Donahue and Geraldo. I decided to forego Oprah. I didn't have that much time to waste. It seems as if the intelligence level of these morning gabfests ebbs and flows. A couple of years ago, I worked evenings and crawl- ed through the mornings on coffee and talk shows. One day, I'd be hit with a five -expert -panel exposee on environmental awareness, and the next day would find Oprah conduc- ting a rigorous investigation into bad haircuts and incompetent hairdressers. Equal time for both pressing topics, of comornin Donahue was ROUGH NOTES This past g, urse. trumpeted onstage in a fanfare and a flurry of feathers, in a program that appeared to be featuring the Las Vegas showgirls. Not my cup of tea, really, but Donahue is an in- stitution, so I tuned in. What an error. The man parades the women onstage, elicits a stan- ding ovation in their honour, and proceeds to quiz them about sagg- ing bustlines and ensuing employ- ment prospects. Way to go, Phil. A flip of the channel, and there's Gerardo, mustache bristling with outrage as he grills an attorney on the American justice system. As I said, Oprah was probably swimming out there in the void, but the bad hair -do edition was three steps back for the woman in my books. Now, you can discredit Geraldo Rivera all you like. A man who gets his beak broken by skinheads to up his rating can be a little suspect, I admit. But he's risen bravely above the by Paula Elliott empty -tomb -of -Al -Capone embar- rassment, and gone on to bigger and better things. No matter how early in the mor- ning it is, or how few coffees they've had, no one likes to be pandered to as an idiot. With his sagging line of commentary, Donahue is an embarrassment. Geraldo, at least, assumes an IQ of shoe -tying level. And he knows what to talk about. As a former journalist, he knows that the flash and raunch is out there, and that the people want to hear about it. If the lowest com- mon denominator wants to hear Donahue expostulate on cup sizes, let them. That denominator will always be around to keep him and Oprah in Gucci's for years to come. Wouldn't it be great to flip a channel and see your next -door - neighbour or Aunt Phyllis fielding questions from an audience on the hot topic of the day? These talk show hosts have to start drying up after a while. If they can't come up with something bright to say, they should open the discussion for total audience participation. Maybe even set up a boxing ring somewhere on the set for the wildly divergent fac- tions who just want to skip discus- sion and duke it out. Of course, I'd need a few more mornings off to properly research the possibilities Starting tomorrow. Besides, Donahue will be doing a two-hour special on social rehabilitation of people who pulled wings off flies in their childhoods. And how this has affected job prospects. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Cows roaming at will in 1890's backstreets AUGUST 2, 1940 An effort to locate oil in Huron County will commence Monday in Hullett Township on the farm of Bert Allan, near Harlock. Machinery is in place and ready to start. A public meeting is being held in the Town Hall here on Friday evening when the oil situation will be discussed, he said. A two -foot square hole in the middle of the floor of Silver Creek bridge, on No. 8 Highway at Lions Park, created a dangerous condition on Thursday until highway employees erected barricades and commenced repairs. The Imperial Oil Station has completed the purchase of the Queen's Hotel barn and lot on Ooderich St. East, and has com- menced the work of erecting a modern service station there. F. Ingram and Son, Stratford, have the contract. The almost unbelievably hot weather which has blanketed this district for ten days was broken to some extent this Wednesday, but not until almost daily lightning and wind storms had caused con- siderable damage to buildings and levelled hundreds of acres of�cn s. The most serious of the storms occurred Friday morning when fire caused by lightning completely destroyed a large hank barn on the former Scott farm, a short distance west of Leadbury on the 13th con- cession of McKillop, and owned by IN THE YEARS AGONE William Somerville. The barn con- tents, 60 tons of hay and 300 bushels of grain, were lost along with a hay loader and fanning mill. The fire was visible for 20 miles. The heat wave resulted in a big increase in water consumption, up many thousands of gallons daily from June. The heat, however, failed to bother 85 -year-old G.C. Petty of Hensall, who in the midst of it painted the exterior of the Petty Block in that village. AUGUST 1, 1890 The Toronto Hotel and saloon keepers have decided to raise the price of whiskey to ten cents a glass after the 1st of September. It would be a good thing if the Huron hotel keepers would do likewise. The Burdock Blood Bitters artists were here this week painting the town black and white. If Mr. Lusby would make an occasional exploit around some of the back streets he would have no difficulty in picking up a drove of cows running at large, contrary to the provisions of the cow by-law. On Monday last the fire alarm was again raised and the firemen turned out. Some person at the Commercial Hotel, in attempting to throw a lighted match out of a window, allowed it unnoticed to fall from the Expositor Archives on the window sill. It ignited the wood, and after smouldering some time gained sufficient strength to burst out in flame. A few pails of water extinguished the fire and no serious damage was done. As showing the quality of the immense hay crop taken in this year, it may be mentioned that on the farm of Mr. J. Struthers, Tunrberry, a single stalk of timothy measured considerably over seven feet in length. JULY 30, 1915 Mr. Wm. Bristow, who had the contract for the new school building being erected in School Section No. 4, McKillop, has competed his work and the carpenters are now busily getting the roof on. The walls are built of cement brick and present a very handsome ap- pearance. The euchre and danceven by Mrs. A.A. McLennan at the Com- mercial on Wednesday evening in aid of the Red Cross was the most successful entertainment of the SC$sor1. Brussels, Grey and Moms in- dependent Telephone Line now has 940 telephones on their circuit and still there is more to follow. This Monday, No. 6 warehouse owned by The Ogilvie Milling Company was discovered on fire, and an alarm sounded, but for- tunately the services were not re- quired as the blaze had been dis- covered before flames made any headway. it was found to be a deliberate case of incendiarism as oil -soaked rags and waste were found underneath the building just below. Twenty to 25 thousand bushels of wheat were stored in the' building. This is the second attempt to bum the warehouse and in is likely that an investigation of the circumstances will be bid. AUGUST 5. 1965 Construction of the new Municipal Offices to serve McKil- lop Township is well advanced at Winthrop. The new building. located north of the present Township garage, has been desig- nated as the McKillop Centennial project and will contain offices for the Township officials. as well as a Turn to page ISA •