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The Huron Expositor, 1982-12-15, Page 2Tile littron fxpositor Since 1860, Serving the Community first Incorporating, = Brussels Post founded 1872 12 Main St. 527-0240 Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO every Wednesday afternoon by Signal -Star Publishing Limited Jocelyn A. Shrier, Publisher Susan White, Editor H.W. (Herb) Turkheim, Advertising Manager Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspaper Association and Audit Bureau of Circulation A member of the Ontario Press Council Subscription rates: Canada $17.75 a year (in advance) outside Canada $50. a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each Second class mall registration number 0696 i co,, ia! SEAF A ONTA1BO, DECEIS/1'BiER 15, 195.2 ood st`fairt They're off to a good start. They are' the members of the new Seaforth council, elected in November to serve the town for the next three years. An inaugural meeting, a special meeting which agreed to go ahead with the purchase of a firehall and a regular monthly meeting have been held so far. Observers were impressed with the probing questions, the interest and the evidence that those who hold these Targe responsibilities take them seriously and do their homework. As several candidates said (n the election campaign, providing better services or even the same services Seaforth people now expect will be a huge challenge at a time when most taxpayers feel the economic pinch. But so far this council, with four new members who naturally have lots to learn, gives every indication of being thorough, efficient and giving it a.. darn good try. They'll need help from the rest of us. And that means offering constructive criticism to council, members and applauding when they're doing a good job. Members of the public who bitch on the street corner and ,at coffee klatches, but never ever take their grievances openly to council aren't being democratic and neither are they effective. It's a tough, usually thankless job, working in the public interest. Just ask some of the retiring members of council about that. Indeed, at times you've got to wonder why they do it. But good people do continue to work on behalf of the rest of us and we should be thankful for that. In return we can give them our interest, our support and our constructive criticism. And wish them well in the new year and the two years to follow. S.W. SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE SDCC There was pride And 500 citizens of every age bathed in the There was the splendour of accomplishment glories of their commond achievement.... The air was electric with a sense of Oh, that our governments could attend to community, their tasks in the same way. Anon ' It was a job well done! @dliWe Brussels parade pleases 1 just wanted to drop a line to you all. to let you know how pleased my children and I were about the parade. It was a very nice parade and we enjoyed it all. Dale Newman and the rest of the people on the committee deserve a lot of credit. The people who worked on the floats did well too. They all need to be commended. And 1 would also like to thank Santa Claus. Mrs. Bruce Weber, RR.3. Bruskels. Dear Mr. Drea I am enclosing an open let- ter to Mr. Frank Drea, L A. I hope you will be ab >e to publish this as it is in nse to some remarks he is reported to have made and had published last week in the London Free Press. I do not feel his remarks should be allowed to go tut - challenged. Dear Mr. Drea: A volunteer lady one day Wrote down what fblks wanted to say There was so much to do She enlisted a crew That's not playing fair says Frank Drea. Y Mr. Drea, at least 20 peo1e helped write down what people wanted to say to you, Bill Davi and the Cabinet, and we had trouble keeping up with the demand. Frank Drea told reporters "I feel only 66 letters are real." I wonder if he will personally Write each a reply, sign and seal. As a writer of one of the 66 "real" letters, I will await your personal hand written reply, or are secretaries alright for you and not for us? Mr. Drea studies letters with care And did one with another compare But the message they bore He chose to ignore And to meet face to face he won't dare. We are still waiting for your visit Mr. Drea. And finally, "All union petitions," Drea gloats Are unworthy of our taking notes But his colleagues cry "shame" For every last name Has still got the power of the vote. The Huron County Hick, (Dorothy Potter), Goderich. Seeing for the first time i ' hope it is not too late to express my feelings about the roundhouse. After the arena was demolished. 1 felt as though t was seeing this building for the first time. I should like to sec it remain on its present site. If some landscaping was done, 1 believe the roundhouse would enhance the appear- ance of the new arena. Many good suggestions have already been made for its continued use. Yours sincerely Frances Ball Seaforth It's ou I would like to express my opinion on the "round house". 1t may not be as attractive as the leaning tower of Pisa or the London bridge. but. on a smaller scale. it is a rare architectural structure in Ontario and we should preserve it. Its location is pertecl: sitting next to the new arena conveniently Now we talk only in millions, one, four and five. Thousands of dollars fail to impress anyone. i read Gordon Sanderson's November 25 report in the London Free Press, and Stephanie Levesque December 1 report in the Clinton News -Record. The B.M. Ross report did r heritage exposed to public view. it fulfills its purpose, i.e. to he a risible reminder of our heritage. Objection. that it takes up parking space, does not stand because there ii enough room for any number of cars in connection with operation of the new arena. Dr. Cyril J. Lacko Seaforth The museum question not surprise me, out the Museum Programs Collaborative report raised several questions in my tnirid. The uneasiness led me to contact a local official. 1 hope others with questions will do the same. i wondered how the figure of five million was arrived at by the M.P.C., and how the report was handled to have it verified by the Deputy Reeve of Goderich, several days before the County Council had it presented to them. l,et us not despair or be intimidated. Helen C. Rathwell 4 Regina Rd. Vanastra Keep up the great quality My dad used to write for your paper. Jim Hagarty's inc`Day at a Time" article. 1 read it from cover to cover every week Bea Fadden Keep up the great quality. 1 must say I miss Mississauga OpowfiO�� Miller killed in 1882 DECEMBER 8, I ;.- 2 The tank from which the water works are supplied was pumped dry when the railway tank was filled. It was, however, full the next morning.. The reason for the scarcity off water is due to the present small flow in Silver Creek. In ordinary times. there is enough water to keep the tank supplied, but owing to the unusual drought. water flow is not sufficient. An accident occurred when head miller at Messrs. Ogilvie and Co., when William Duncan, 26. sustained fatal injuries. Ascend- ing a ladder to repair machinery. he was decending when his coattail was caught in the gearing off two cogs. The cogs gradually drew him tighter, the revolving wheels tore his clothing and flesh from his back. Medical aid was procurred and his wounds dressed but alas the shock was too great. Mr. Duncan died two days later. Joseph Abell, with one off his dray teams, drew nearly four tons off paper on one load from the railway station to the Expositor office. This is a pretty big load. considering there is an upgrade alt the way. Seaforth this week has been aflicted with two negro minstrels performances, one by New It's Christmas time again and once again the words "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward man" are heard and once again they seem like a more far-off dream than ever. Christmas 1982 comes to us with the gift from U.S. President Ronald Reagan off a huge, frightening, new weapons system all gift -wrapped in superhardened concrete silos, designed to survive a nuclear attack and then give back to the Soviets what they themselves gave to the Americans. it even has a nice Christmassy name: The Peace- keeper. Once again the sides are lining up: the hawks on one side and the doves on the other. The hawks see the new MX missile with its new name as a necessity. The doves see it as one more step on the road to nuclear destruction. But what about a lot of us who want to be doves, who want only peace, but don't know if perhaps being a hawk on issues like this might be the only way to bring peace. For th ‘gl@ y@©n @WM the genuine Georgia minstrels and another by a bogus Croup travelling under that name. sten are busily engaged getting the skating and curling rinks in order. They have had considerable difficulty in getting water owing to the rink well being dry. DECEMBER 20, 1907 In commenting officially on the smallpox area, which now extends from Goderich to Belleville and into the northern districts. Dr. Hodgetts, Secretary of the Provincial Board of Health, said that smallpox in the last ten years had caused a loss to the people of Ontario in wages. time and outlay off 52.000.000. Christmas shoppers can get a dainty lunch from 10 cents up at Strasser's Kandy Kitchen. Seaforth. The town bell will be undergoing repairs next week and as a consequence will be out of commission. Permission has been obtained to use St. Thomas' church bell so Seaforth citizens can listen for the church bell instead of the town bell and set their times by it. If the present good sleighing continues s until after New Year's, business in town will hum. despite the financial depression. Mr. Wm. Staples and family are now comfortably settled in their new residence near Walton which he erected this summer. The house is of brick with a cement cellar and has all the modern conveniences. Cement work was done by J. Pype; brick work by Wm. Somers of Winthrop and Hunter & Son of Cranbrook did the carpentry work. The Brussels electric light plant has again changed hands. the new purchaser being Mr. Wm. Palmer a former resident of the area but now of Burkes Falls. A saw mill at the latter place is taken by Mr. Moore, the late proprietor. in exchange. DECEMBER 16,1932 Mr. Ross Duncan who lives west of Hensall recently celebrated his 90th birthday. He has been a reader of The Huron Expositor since the inception of the newspaper in 1660. The snowplow made its first appearance on the streets of Seaford] on Tuesday. The heavy snow over the weekend completely filled sidewalks and made the plow necessary. by K@Oi f RogiOv W(nl many people the answer is not so simple. We're confused, darned confused. For one thing, we remember history. We have heard so much about the foolishness of the Allies during the Second World War who did not think the Germans under Hitler would be so crazy as to provoke another war. We have seen Neville Chamberlain, the dove of peace, 'being portrayed as a fool and worse, by historians with the benefit of hindsight. Chamberlain has been loaded with blame for the deaths of so many people in Europe, at the hands of oppression by the Nazis. If only,, we're told. he had stood up to Hitler, if only he had had this country prepared, millions more would have surviv- ed. Chamberlain the dove is looked on now as { _( I-1 The Palace rink was recently opened to the public, for the first time this season. The ice was excellent. The charge which had been laid by the Town of Seaforth against- Mr. Leismer, of Bgmondville, of peddling in Seaforth, with- out the necessary license. has been with- drawn. It is understood that the town was unable to secure sufficient evidence. Charlie Pearce. 63 year old King of the Canadian Hoboes. was in Seaforth on his way from Goderich to Stratford. The king has travelled 7,500 miles on foot. His entire luggage consists of a mouth organ and a pair of bones, making housekeeping simple and freight charges simpler still. Charlie is heading for Chicago. where he will represent Canada at the International Convention of Hoboes. What may have been a dangerous fire was averted in the apartment of Nelson Glew. over Pullman's Barber Shop. in the Cardno Block. An overheated pipe ignited a partition and gave off dense clouds of smoke. The firemen under Chief ,Allen Reid controlled the fire using a chemical system on the truck. Mr. Glew was asleep and did not learn of the fire until it was over. rist avillain. Churchill, the hawk, is the hero. Not nearly so long ago the attempts of U.S. President Jimmy Carter to humanize American foreign policy brought him the charge that he was actually encouraging disruption in the world. His lack off a tough stand, people in the media claimed, encouraged the Soviets to march into Afghanistan. The least hawkish president in post-war U.S. history was blamed for bringing war closer. And yet, and yet. There's a new book out on the Reagan presidency and its policy about nuclear rearmament by Robert Scheer. it's called With Enough Shovels. The title comes from the words of one of Reagan's top advisers, one of the people who is setting U.S. policy. 0 Christmas tree (W ns4ink photo) s The adviser told the president that people could survive all but direct hits if they would go out in the back yard, dig a hole, put some doors across the hole and heap three feet of dirt on top of them and stay under ground for a few days until the air clears. With enough shovels. he said, America could survive a nuclear war and live to win the war. The thing that frightens so many people . about the new militancy in Washington is not so much the words that promise that formidable weapons like the MX will brine peace through deterring the Soveets from doing anything (thus thename Peacemaker) but the growing feeling that Reagan and his advisers think that the U.S. can "win" a nuclear war. Crazy as it seems to build more nuclear weapons to prevent war, the fact remains that we have had 37 years off peace in North America and Europe under the threat of certain destruction from massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons while after the First World War, when disarmament was supposed to ensure that it really had been the War to End all Wars. an even greater conflict came up in 20 years. Bunt's this feeling that for the first time a leader of a major nuclear power feels he can "win" a nuclear war that gives an ominous feeling to this latest war scare. Reagan advisers have estimated that with proper civil defence America would lose "only" 10 million people or so in a nuclear attack and then could bring Russia to its knees by wiping out 100 millionor so over there. Writer Patrick Watson. in reviewing With Enough Shovels recently in the Globe and Mail talks about how sr ductive this idea is to a leader like Reagan. "1t was seduction by a powerful image. You emerge from your safe fastness in the earth. secore and healthy in a world where all the enemies have been incinerated, a devastated world that you, heroically, will rebuild clean and fresh and whole." Obsessed as he is with Communism as a cancer on the surface of the earth, Reagan is prey to such seduction. He and his advisers would not only like to prevent Soviet influence from spreading, but v old like to drive Communism from the Kremlin itself. Many of us would, like to do that but don't have the means. Others with their fingers on the button before have realized that trice as it would be to see democracy come tc Russia. the price of millions of lives and perhaps destruction of the entire world is too high to pay. But Reagan seems to feel now that only the Russians would pay the price. Sure a few million Americans would die but in the long run that's a small price to pay. He seems willing to have blinded himself to results of nuclear war like the fallout from thousands of nuclear explosions that would poison the air for far longer than we could stay in our shelters. That's why peace on earth seems so frighteningly far off this Christmas. What's the true spirit of Christmas? Where is the t ue spirit of Christmas? Is it in the colou d lights- red. blue. gold and green- that brig . ten the streets of town? is it in the tin el sparkling on the evergreen trees in o r living rooms? Is it in the Christ s ads of tv, radio, magazine and newspa, r? Is it in the natalos a well-worn by impatient fingers? Is it in the "1 want this" and "i want that voiced by children and adults. too? is it in the buy now, ave a merry Christmas and pay later phi osophy? Is the true spirit of Christmas representee by the jolly old gent dressed all in red and white? Is it in the pretty wrapping paper with bows, ribbons and tags? Is it in the greeting We' That was quite a pang of alarm that lurched through the country recently when Finance Minister Lalonde had the temerity to suggest that one of our great Canadian institutions. the bah,/ bonus, was not untouchable, that he might siphon it off from those who don't need it. Finance ministers in the Liberal govern- ment like to rattle our chain once in a while. Maybe it's just for the pleasure of hearing the great. grumbling roar that ensues. Much like a small boy teasing a big bear securely attached to a stout post. or in a cage. He can always jump back. pretending he was brave. but actually scared out of his wits at his own temerity. Lalonde might just as well have sounded an air-raid siren; then, when the whole nation, Liberals and all. turned on him. pretended he was only kidding. Just a substitute warden who had pressed the wrong button. MacEachen did it a year ago. in little grunts and squeaks that hinted income tax might not. possibly. at some time in the future, if the event arose. after due consideration, and with malice toward none, be indexed to inflation. That would have given the government millions and millions of funny money to play its own brand of monopoly. He was howled at, his ancestry invoked. his personal life scarified. and his political t Oddi °w Endo, b� f fld6w! TWeewaQwd lards piled upon box in store shelves? Is it in the Christmas feast- the dinner table laden with turkry and all the fixin's? Is it in the parties- the wine. the food, the cheery times? Is it in the crush of people rushing to do last minute shopping? is it in the furrowed brows of people who wonder how they'll get everything done before Christmas? Is it in the worried looks of those who know this Christmas will not be as bountiful as others because economics won't allow it? is the true spirit of Christmas in any of these things? Perhaps, in some form, but for many people it is found in other things- simVle things that money can't buy. It s in the letter from the friend you haven't heard from in so long. It's in the phone call from someone who just wanted to say hello and wish you a merry Christmas. It's in the memories that "getting in touch" bring back. it's in the smiles of people we meet on the street. it's in the snowy crested hills and the tall, strong evergreens. it's in the sunshine days with diamonds sprinkled round and in the silent moonlit nights with stars that shine so bright. It's in the tiny handmade gift that took hours to prepare and in the cardboard star atop the tree- the star that was painstakingly cut by small fingers. It's in the carols, old and new, sung on street corners and in church choirs. It's in the tiny angel with halo slightly bent. It's in the candles and the prayers. It's in the laughter of children and the warm feeling of having loved ones near. it's in the eyes. the hands. the minds and hearts of all those who share the spirit of giving and caring. The true spirit of Christmas is found in simple things that money can't buy- faith and hope, love and peace. caring and sharing. And. it is the true spirit of Christmas that helps us survive the trying times of our lives. 11 fight for the baby bonus how longare we oto toput upwith Now. going gugoQ cod opk@ this chipping away tath our national inBaby lions? At one end they're after the Baby g Bonus. At the other, they've already cut off gnf�f �OQ�J The First of July and, by some benighted process. turned it into Canada Day. neck put on the block before cooler heads intervened and said he should merely he boiled in oil (cod liver. as befits his origins). "Me for the Bahamas.'' (where 'there is no income tax), was the cry. But trial balloons haver habit of becoming' lead balloons. securely fastened around your neck and mine. so keep an eye on those serpents. I don't know how you can do both. but 1 always liked mixed metaphors. Many a serpent has sent up a trial balloon. How about the cobra. which puffs up his neck. and then hits you when you're admiring his lack of jowls? Anyway. a howl of rage went up from everyone. including his Liberal members. when Lalonde dared to hint that the Baby Bonus was not sacrosanct. He withdrew his heavy hand like a scorched infant, Doesn't he know that the entire Liberal party owes its life to the Baby Bonus? Old Mac King, the most unpopular leader this long-suffering country ever suffered. saved his neck. and his party, by introducing it. Never mind that Ann Murray, Pierre Trudeau. E.P. Taylor. and Conrad Black, among other millionaires. have collected it. The Baby Bonus is one of the great bulwards of Canadian life. and any politician who trifles with it is risking his own political life. Ever since its inception (conception?) the Baby Bonus has been more important in this country than a national flag, a national anthem, ora new constitution. And you don't have to be bilingual to get it. For years, the average Canadian family has used it for something sensible. like a case of beer or a carton of fags. Some weirdos, who didn't need the cash. actually invested it for their children's education. At five per cent. Might as well have bought some beer or donated it to the Sally Ann. Inflation swept it away. I'd hate for my children to be trying to gd to university on the proceeds of their Baby Bonus. They might finish first term. first year. Point is, that the Baby Bonus, or whatever they call it now. has always been right up there with The Long Weekend, The Five -Day Week, Only on Saturday Nights. and The First of July in the hearts of true-blue Canadians. Now there's a name to send a shiver of pride down the bowed spine of every red-blooded Canadian. Canada Day, Just roll it around on your tongue a iew times. No puking allowed. Canada Day? Try it again. Canada Day! Maybe it doesn't quite come up to Guy Fawkes' Day or Bastille Day or Washington's Birthday. But it does have a ring to it, It rings like tapping a doughnut. You'll have noticed that France celebrates France Day. Germany. Germany Day. England. England Day. and Hayfork Centre. Hayford Centre Day. It's only logical that our parliament, eighty per cent absent, ten per cent drunk, should pass a bill to name our only national holiday, and be supported by a supine Senate. with such a striking title. By gad. sirs. I've fought the new flag, the metric system. the bollocks of a constitution, the national anthem, and the insolence of the women's lib movement. Am I to fight on alone? Will nobody rally to the old standards? Next thing you know they'll be after the Old Age Pension. our last bastion of universal poverty. Wake up, before it's too late. Avanti Canadicnscs!