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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1980-07-24, Page 2%nee 18.04, Serving' th'e porntneriity First . • WhIlShellet $Effgrlf, l',/NT.4419•eyci/Tharii40 004 • ArTivtgW,X,',1010AN,P40.4phor. ,•Atickcomis(*figilloi. . Member Canadian CoMmniilty NeWapaper•Asioelsodins OtiPiirk Weeldelleweeeeer.:Maeeletia*:: and.Atit1411nresOunf Cirerdadett • • ' 'SniaseripthitiRatett; • , . • • CrinadaTki advanCe) $144H1. a•Yeir, ClutsideOrnadi (10 tulvanee) 00-00 rear , , SINGL.COPIES-a45 CgNi'S EACIf , Second Class Mail Registrati Number 0696 Telephone 527-0 SEAFoRTH, ONTARIO, JOLif 24,1980 ake care with statistics At the last meeting of the Seaforth town couhall a member involved with the police committee said that, per capita, Seaforth had a high ratio of policeman to citizens. 4 _ Anyone who hes...studied statistics would surely cringe if he were to discover that ttils will be the evidence against which decisions will be made about replacing the police officer who left earlier this year. Entire books have been written on how statistics cap be abused, misused or misinterpreted. Seaforth may be setting itself up to be a textbook example. Numbers are nice, but they don't supply the, entire answer. Under . Ideal circumstances, the policeman -to -citizen ratio works nicely. Those statistics are for people surrounded by an ideal situation. ' If we're serious about our community, if we are sincere about looking into the policing vacancy, then we must look beyond the numbers. You look at your own policing problems, your 'Own unique gituatiori, and then act accordingly. If Detroit were blind enough to simply act onthose numbers they would probably be recording a higher murder rate than they already have. Relying on the numbers is the easy way out. The decision needs to be based on Seaforth's own problems and strengths. Come to a concert If you haven't been out to Victoria Park on a Sunday night to listen to one of the old fashioned band concerts, .you're missing one of the nicest things about summer in Seaforth. Sitting In the shade of the park's majestic old trees, or on a cool night, In the comfort of your own car, you can hear top area bands and musicians) for free or if you're so inclined for a contribution to a silver collection. A good crowd was out last Sunday night to hear the London Police Highland Band. This Sunday's performance is'by the prize winning klwahis Youth Band from Stratford. A tot of hard work goes into organizing the outdoor concert series for Seaforth and area people, most of It by Dr. Charlie Toll on behalf of the local Chamber of Commerce. And Sunday night's a quiet time, a welcome break from the hectic pace a lot of us keep. Take the family and you're in for e lovely evening of old fashioned entertainment. See you there, Sunday night at 7:20. There's plenty downtown Those who shopped in Seaforth duripg last weekend's Sidewalk Sales seemed to enjoy themselves and there were plenty of reports of people happy with the bargains they got here in town. Merchants on the retail committee of the Chamber of Commerce should be congratulated for their organizing of the event. Special cccasions like Sidewalk Sales are absolutely esiential if downtown Seaforth is to compete with other towns in the area, and with city stores, for local business. But there were a few problems. It seemed to us a bit enfortunate that all Main St. merchants didn't have merchandise out on the street where the people were browsing and where it contributes to giving the whole downtown a lively, festive atmosphere. Perhaps those who kept everything indoors were concerned about security, inconvenience or the weather. We think the benefits stores derive from being outside, really participating, outweigh those considerations. But we'd be interested in tOtr`vieoloints of those who disagree. Then there was the eact that three other Huron County towns had well promoted Sidewalk Sates the same weekend, some of them sending out big 32 page advertising inserts. That kind of heavy, promotion is hard to beat but perhaps these's. some way merchants' groups in aJl Huron towns can get together to make sure big sales events aren't held in the various towns on the same dates. it was just a coincidence that Seiforth's new bylaw enforcement officer started her job, which includes handing out parking tickets, about the time the Sidewalk Sale started. Merchants were concerned, and rightly so, that shoppers here not take away a parking ficket as a scuv,enir of St - srth. Sometimesin the past organizers of special Main St. events have arra t in advance to hav 46 -parking and that's the route organizers hope to ta next y r. It's a nice gesture, one that shoppers appreciate. But all quibbling aside, nearly 30 downtown businesses got together and promoted Seaforth',s Sidewaik Sale as a good place to shop. It paid off and activity here over the ,three days proves that downtown Seaforth has a tot to offer. To the editor: Memories disappear with hodse Sorn people would like to fight the demolition of 88 Goderich Street East, Seaford). Unfortanatety, there just would never be enough time. spent 11 of my 22 years in that house and was proud of it and its history. The day that my pareots sold the house (the Coleman boUse or MciViaster house if you wish) was a sad day. I would very much appreciate it if you would print this letter in order for the people "of Seaforth to know just how I feel. I was proud of my home and my town, but with my home gone, there seems to be no real reason to return. • Joanne Whitman 106-1165 Fennell Avenue East Hamilton VITAL EQUIPMENT -- A firefighter's helmet, and the large nozzle ofa --hose,-arelusttwocf-the-vital pieces -of gear found- at -every ire-handied by • firemen. These two were sitting idle during a fire at Seaforth District • Hth School early Tuesday Morning. (Photo bv In the years agone Accidents and moves a part of the past JULY 23, 1880 A number of lads in St. Marys were fined ' from Sl to $2 each for bathing in forbidden places. Workmen have been employed for the past few days in putting up an addition and generally renovating the stables of . John Hawkshaw of the Cpmmercial Hotel, Blyth. Farmers in Hensall are very bitsy at present trying to secure their hay and wheat crops.' A terrible accident occurred near Wood- ham on Friday. The victim was a 3 year old daughter of Martin Martin. Her sister. took the little girl to the field where their father and brother were working. When she left she realized her little sister was gone. Assuming she went home the three older people reassumed their work. A cry of anguish stopped the brother who was running a reaper and he discovered that the machine had severed the feet off his little sister. Two doctors were called and the child is fine. JULY 21, 190S We understand that Mr. J.C. Creig has bccn appointed acri of the Seaforth DivIiion Court in place of Mr. John Beattie who resigned. This week in Brussels. The Post got moved to their ncw premises in the old post office block. which has been very neatly fitted up. Mr. Kcrr now has onc of the finest printing offices in the country. Mr. Robt. McDonald, Sr. got a nasty tumble last week in Osborne. While leading a cow along the road. she became un- manageable and knocked him down. Five young mcn from Hullott appeared before Police Magistrate Humber of Godcr- kb, at Clinton. last week on a charge of disorderly conduct in Londesboro and were each fined $15 add costs. Mr. Guhr of Varna has completed the tir? drain in Stanley and has taken the contract for a drain in the vicinity of Exeter. Mr. M. Thompson has the foundation under his barn compieted, ene end being built of cement building blocks. • JULY 25, 1930 - Last Monday about midnight in McKillop a disastrous fire wiped out the residence of ' Charles Kleber. John Rathwell of Varna is busy putting in a new bridge on the town line. On Monday the team of W. Harvey, Zurich, took frightlat a passing auto and took to a ditch. He hit a telephone pole, left the wagon behind and ran away. The pole was smashed but no one was hurt. Nowadays it's usually motor cars that smash telephone poles. Election matters are the all absorbing topic these days. A tennis club is being organized in Seaforth and the promoters are meeting with a great deal of success. The first ripe tomato was brought into the Expositor office last week by John Mac- Tavish measuring 81/4 inches in circum- ference. JTJLY 29, 1955 • Theaaldest former pupil at the Old Boys' Reunion in Seaford: was Mrs. Ida Hotham, of Galt. William 'Pepper, 81, of HeOsall 143 the eldest gentleman present, who used to attend the school. Mrs. Jessie (Nesmith) Scott of California, came the farthest for the reunion. Former farmhands of Miss Ros' Snowden 80, in Bayficld. have been back on the farm to help clear the debris of a fire which burned a large barn to the ground. The old building contained much of thc original timber. An accidc-nt occurred on Sunday, July 24 involving one car driven by Evelyn McMullin 32 of London. who was procieding west on Main St. of Crediton when she fainted, white driving her car. Admitted to South Huron District Hospital. Exeter for lacerations to her left ear. Grand Lodge of Ontario sessions in Toronto at the C.N.E. grounds were attend- ed by five carloads of masons of Hensall. Frank Wright of Kippcn. past master of Huron Lodge. No. 224, Heosall, was unanimously elected district deputy 'grand master for the South Huron district. BJM�sitor :a ttEER• yes Seaferilt need recrectiion whole lot of problems, with the klda.," be •said, "If you look at Vanastra, people don't use that recreation centre a lot," , Isele Clark • did say hoWever, that a recreafion centre may be A start to solving some of the proemswith area youth Bd that it would be good to have. 'Fitness mentally and\physically helps ramnd out a person," he said. , dontknow if the kids noswa-daYS are all that interested in stuff like 'that," said ' Marjorie Hunt of RR 4, Seaforth. • "They're not like avhen I,w'as a kid, they seem to have gotten wilder," Said Mrs. Hunt. "It is , just hard to Say if they would use ' Lori Hildebrand said she would have little use for arecreation centre, "I'M'not much for recreation myself," she'said. -----However;Mrs:ilildebrand-of-149-Isa;-- belle in Seaforth, said something • was needed to attract new people to the town. ,• "I don't see how recreation would attract • people," she said. "Shopping facilities • may help. I drive to 'different places to• shop because I `can't get what I want here." Glen Smith of 29 Victoria St. said he is all for a recreation centre of some type. "I think we need a centre very much," • he said. "I think it will help get rid of a lot of this fooling around at night." In attracting more families, Mr. Smith said he felt more employment was neces- • saly, not sports facilities. "We need something very definitely," said Christine Taylor of RR 4, Walton. "Ytllien I Was growing up, all we did was walk up and -down the drag," she said. As an example of a recreational i.e-ritre drat attracts younger people, Mrs. Taylor said Stratford's was good. LifestYies are changing in Canada, The 30 Year: Old Canailian an .n0 longer be compared OhYsically,With the &I year old • Swede., With the hell) of Participaction and Other siriiilar ergarrizatiOns catiadians are shaping:111).- • ' • Health, oriented hving and eating Is becoming a ,welcomed rage Sports corn- • AileXes, fitness centres .and clubs are . popping :"Up everyWhere, to Meet the inereashig,demand:•• • 41View of Oar tie* fitneis oriented lifestyle, this week the Expositor Asks; •"does Seaforth need 4 recreation ce14re44: help attract youngerfamilies to.toWn and help keepchildren and teens; active?" • Recreation' is potonly neededtO attraet peOple into :Seaford!, but also t� keep the people here; said Joan Phillips of 31. in'Seafortli. ,•• .•- irYkre room • for all ages, and keep it well supervised," she said. "Theone thing that's laeking in this town is SuPervisiOn. Miss Phillips feels that; organized act., ivities will help keep younger children off the streets and away' from trouble. "They've got things to do herein the :summer, but in the winter they're bored stiff," she said. • "The young people need something to keep them busy," said Elizabeth Burns of 59 East William in Seaforth. "It would be something for them to do," she said, adding they could take advantage of such facilities during summer holidays.. Bruce Clark of R.R. 4, Seaforth wonder- ed if a recreation centre would attract younger families to the Seaforth area. "It is hard to say if that one thing would do it." "I don't think you're going to stop a _ Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley Those trying times There are times that are sent to try us. And whoever said that said a mouthful. Every time a child is born, first, second, 12th or grandchild, we are tried with a combination of fear and joy. Every time an oldster dies, we are tried with regret, sorrow and nostalgia. When a daughter is married, we are tried svithitrief, happiness, and the bank manager. „ When we're applying for a job, we are tried with sheer terror. a mind that functions like a rusty pump, and sweaty armpits. On the eve of an operation. we are tried with a sudden realization that we've let our communication with God slip rather badly In the last five years, and a shnultaneous realization that surgeons are not God, and one little slip means you've lost your spleen instead of your left ovary. Wives and husbands try us. The former 'with what Mary said to Edith before Gwen butted in. The latter with why they &utile- lxigied the lith hole. Politicians try us. And try us. and try as. And we sthvays wind up with a gaggle of geese nobody in his right mind would vote for. Preachers try us, either by reminding us are have sinned and there is no health in us, or going off into a tedious half-hour dialogue with God, who must be as bored as the congregation. Waitresses try us. They don't wipe the table. The bring the two e,ggs-overdightly tough enough to sole your boots, and the medium rare steak so ram no self respecting wolf would eat it. Or so well done you could use it as charcoal on the • barbecue. Old friends try us, somethnes thor- oughly. After IS minutes of eager conver- sation during whkh they tell you how - successful they are at Acme Screw and Gear, they ask: 'Arid how's Jack?" Since you've never had a brother called Jack, John, Johann, lan, Skan or Jan, and your two sisters are Mabel and Myrtle, this can be quite trying. Best Answer is: "Fine. How's Archie?" You then find yourself talking about two people neither of you ever knew. Some of my craftier readers will long . since have realized that this is merely an inordhaately lengthy introduction to a personal experience that is trylasp In other • words, a long spiel to a pain in the arm. Right on, crafty readers. The most trying time for the head of the English depart- ment is the end of June. Alone on your bowed shoulders and greying head is the chore of deciding what 1,500 sensitive Please turn to page 3 Maybe Huron should separate Maybe I should be the one to lead it. I rrean after all I reach a potential audience though this column every week of 10,000 or so people. Maybe I'm the one. The one for what you ask? Why, the one ID lead the separatist party of Huron county of course. I mean everybody else is threatening to separate so why not us? Sure 1 know we're usually a few years behind the fashion of the time in Hurlen so we should maybe wait a couple rr.ore years yet to get going but we might as well start thinking about it right now so we can get the plans working properly when the time CeMes. I mean why should we be left out? .„„4:',ouebec's been threatening for years. Alberta's been talking for the tast five years as if it's a separate kingdom with King Peter on the throne. Saskatchewan bris a party dedicated to joining up with the United States and even NewfouruEand is making noises like it might like to be out of the country is joined lardy 30 years ago...if the eil wells come through of course. If not they'll be glad to stay and take our money. And of COUIrSe there's British Columbia which has never been too sure it wanted anything to do with the rest of the country. Well now why should we be any different (mind you people have been saying that the people in Huron were a little different for years now). I mean we've got the credentials, The west is unhappy because the rest of the country doesn't elect the right people so that the people they elect can sit con the goverhInent side instead ef the opposition. We've been doing that for years. I mean Bob McKinley knew when quit. He knew after only a few menths. sitting On the g6vernrnent side of the house that something had to give. Either the governmeal would change or he'd get Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston turfed out and the Rutr electors would put in somebody .0- y would really uneerstand, somebody who could sit in the opposition. I mean who else but Huron oaunty consistently elects Liberais to Toronto and Conservatives to Ottawa? We've got our grievances just like other parts of the country. We don't speak French like Quebeckers but some aren't too sure we speak English either. The -west has been upset for years about railway rates, Hell, we wish we even had railways. The west is upset because Ontario is taking their oil al less than world prices. We'd Jost like to have some oil for people to steal. CHEAP PORK EtC. -1 rr.ean they might as well steal our oil if we had some. They've stolen everything else. We've been keeping the country supplied in cheap -pork. beef, milk, eggs. chickens and even pork and beans for generations now. If it wasn't for the farmers of Huron county getting so little for their farm produce the people of Torooto and Kitchener wouldn't be able to afford two cars so they would need to steal their gas and oil from Alberta at unfair prices. What's more we exported a lot of those people who are now living in Toronto or iGtchener (or these days Calgary) using up all that food and fuel. Our kids have been taking off to parts unknown for 100 years now. Maybe our biggest grievance against the rest of the country is that they didn't take some of the turkeys that got left behind (not counting you and me of course). Arid what do we get out of all of this? Well about the only thing we've got More cf than anywhere else in the cosrhtry is snow. PLENTY OF SNOW Oh, we've got plenty of that. The rest of the country took the money and the gas and oil and the uraniurrland gave us the snow. They niity have to work hard telfind their oil Write a letter to the editor .TODAY or uranium but we don't have to look hare for our snow: we just have to work hard to get rkl of it. Come mid -winter about the only thing visible in these parts is those big hyclro towers that take electricity from the nuclear pistrit down to the cities. AWful thoughtful of them wasn't it to build the first atomic power plant in our back yard at a nice safe distance from the cities? Now I ask you fellow citizens, cloesn't ali this add up to a good case for having our own separatist patty? I mean just listing all air grievances makes me think we shouldn't wait a couple more years to get going but should be right up with the latest fashions for a change. Maybe I should rent a hall. It wouldn't have to be a big one of course. I wouldn't expect many people to show up (I'm not even sure if there's anybody out there reading this.) We wouldn't want this thing b get out of hand right off the bat anyway. 1 mean it took Quebec 15 years of threatening to pull out before it finally got b the point of haviog to vote to poll out. Saskatchewan should be good for 20 years. We should shoot for 30 or 40 I guess. I rrean if we threatened to pull out any sooner we wouldn't have enough time to bargain for all the things we've been left out of in the last 100 years. No, let's start small and build slowly, but yell a lot. WOULD THEY MISS US? We'cl.have to be careful of course. We wouldn't want anybody to call our bluff too soon. I mean they just might not miss as at I if we did quit. On the other hand, if we e too slowly the whole country might be %awned by German industrialists invest - their extra cash. Gee, this thing is getting more complicated thari 1 thought Maybe I should go back to the drawing board a little longer before 1 rent the hall.