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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1989-03-08, Page 2SINCE 1860, incorporating The Brussels Pose SERVING THE •COMMUNITY FiRST' Published In Seaforth, Ontario Every 'Wednesday Morning Tho Expositor is brought to you oasis week by the efforts of: Pat Armes, Noll Corbett, Terri -Lynn Dale, Dianna McGrath and gob McMillan. ED BYRSKI, General Manager HEATHER McI WRAITH, 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 o year in advance Outside Canada '60.00 a year in advance Single Copies .50 cents each Second Class mail registration Number 0696 Wednesday, March 8, 1989 Editorial and Business Offices - 10 Main Street, Seaforth Telephone (519) $27-0240 Mailing Address - P.O. cos 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK TWO ar atla not alone isgrace g°a ATSOCKS by Heather Mellwraith When is a lie excusable? Like the majority of the Canadian populace, I've been following with some -in- terest, the testimony extracted from coaches and athletes at the Dubin Inquiry. That testimony has been, particularly in re- cent days, rather interesting, to say the least. Finally, after months of denial, and subse- quently speculation by the media and the general public, we know without a doubt, that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was us- ing steroids - and evidently quite extensively. Charlie Francis, Johnson's long time coach, has finally broken down the wall of silence concerning Johnson's drug use, and admitted his athlete had used banned steroids for eight years leading up to last fall's Olympic Games. • Francis also said Johnson had used bann- ed drugs just before the Games but had no reasontouse the steroid stanozolol that cost him an Olympic gold medal. While he ad- mitted Johnson had in fact used the drug at one time, he claimed the sprinter had been clean of `it' for at least 18 months prior to the Olympic Games, because it caused his muscles to stiffen and cramp - side effects he had no desire to be afflicted with going in- to Olympic competition. That's why the cry of sabotage once the test results came in. While it is alarming to think that Johnson may have been sabotaged, it is hard to feel any compassion for the man who has repeatedly lied about his use of performance -enhancing drugs - except maybe because he obviously felt so pressured to be the best that he had to stoop to cheating. After all, that's really what it is all about, isn't it? - cheating. This whole investigation of steroid use among athletes was not initiated solely to prove Ben Johnson guilty or not guilty of the accusation launched in Seoul, Korea - but rather to reveal a growing trend amongst Canadian athletes to use drugs to improve individual performance. Whether or not Johnson was sabotaged is not really at issue here - although no doubt, there will be investigations launched in response to the sprinter's allegations of such. What is at issue, is the fact that Johnson, and other top calibre athletes, ate not earning their laurels through their oven merits. Instead they are relying a great deal en the advantage given them by artificial means, then doubling back to cover their tracks. While all Canada was hurt when Johnson was stripped of his Olympic gold medal - the revelation of the sprinter's drug use, was almost a foregone conclusion. After all 'what goes around, comes around' and while Johnson's steroid use may have been unjustly, or even underhandedly, revealed it doesn't lessen the impact of the revelation - that Johnsen used unfair means to gain the title of 'The Fastest Man of the World'. But the revelation shouldn't end there. Canada is acting responsibly in in- vestigating the use of banned steroids by its athletes. Perhaps it's time that other na- tions did the same. Canada is not alone in this fraud - it merely got caught. Work together A proposed commercial development on highway 8, immediately west of Seaforth, is garnering opposition from area merchants - and understandably so. Seaforth Merchants have worked hard in the past three years to revitalize a slowly dying main street, and are starting to see the fruits of their labors. No doubt. promise of a commercial development just outside of Seaforth threatens their peace of mind. However, it needn't be viewed as such. The project, as proposed by John Hart and partners, may very well benefit Seaforth in the long run. Not only will it provide employment for area residents, but it will serve a community that appears ripe with the promise of expansion. Hopefully with that thought in mind, there will be enough of the market to go around. And, certainly the presence of competition in any community, results in bet- ter service to the consumer. Without question area merchants are concerned a 'strip mall' type construc- tion abutting .Seaforth's westerly limits, will promote travel outside the town, rather than direct it to Seaforth's Main Street. Merchants are riot ill advised when they express fears that consumers, already on the road, will continue on to the next town or city to purchase their goods, rather than return to Seaforth's Main Street. However, Seaforth merchants themselves have a say in just how many of their fears become realized. Aggressive marketing techniques may have to be undertaken to ensure the public remains advised of the merits of Seaforth's downtown. And, once attracted downtown area consumers will have to be catered to in a way they've never been catered to before. That means; for one thing, that merchants will have to pay closer attention to the problem of park- ing on Seaforth's Main Street - do something about it, outside of moving their car every two hours. . . Yes, .there are..good and bad points surrounding the proposed Highway 8 commercial development west of Seaforth. But if the town, its merchants and the developers work together on this, it could work toeveryone's benefit in the long run. -KM. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Prayer ruling should be ignored For a hundred years Ontario has been rul- ed by the majority of votes cast by electors. Ontario has also been a Christian Society. As a part of that Christian culture we have had our schools open the day with an appeal to God by morning prayer. Now a group of three people from alien cultures and alien religions have had the ar- rogance to demand the six million Chris- tians in Ontario shall be restricted and not be allowed to open the school day for our children in the manner we have followed for a hundred y jars. Never bet we in history have three people from an alien culture been able to dictate to six million people how, or how not, they may, or may not, conduct their worship of God. Never before in history have the rulers of six million people been so insipid as to allow three people to dictate the laws for the six million people. And never before has any judiciary been so insipid that they would in- flict the dictates of three people on the six million majority. Never before in any coun- try have fifty thousand Christian teachers been ruled by the arrogant dictates of three people of alien religions. What are we going to do about it? I sug- gest that we simply ignore the ruling and that every one of the fifty thousand teachers open the school day by prayer, preferably the Lord's Prayer, as we have done for a hundred years. There are thousands of laws on the books which are out of date, or for some other reason are not applicable any more and are simply ignored. This ruling is one that should be ignored right from the start. Yours Respectfully, Frank Southern Storefronts 'combine stylings Dear Editor: I recently had a. weekend refugee from the "CITY" visit Seaforth to get a taste of small town life. As a resident (albeit a new one, originally from a small town) of Seaforth, who takes pride in the "architectural in- tegrity" of the main street, I decided that a walk uptown would serve as interesting entertainment, since the local cable com- pany had made certain that we would be unable to watch the "CBS Thriller Golf Tournament of the Week", if we stayed at home. As I had long extolled the aesthetic virtues of our main street, my friend was out the door and standing at the traffic lights before I could even get my boots on. (Bought on :Main Street) As we walked south from Goderich Street, I explained how the merchants, with assistance from, government,ageneies, were all showing common;good•spiritin maintain- ing Seaforth's unique•streetscape. My companion commented on how clever- ly many of the •merchants bad combined the classic commercial Victorian 'sty trigs with the ,heritage :;designs of an architectural school known .,as "Early Suburban :Strip Mall: circa 1962". Not ;put:outTin•'tie-least,.and -ready, .to,de- fend, my.town;tttthelast,breath, L•auggeated that,she look :higher to.the second,and.third storiesiof.Seaforth's Venerable,edifiees, Hockey fans fight at playoff game Usnaliy when there's a fight in an arena it's on the ice, but at the Bantam hockey game this weekend in Seaforth there was more action in the stands than there was on the ice. There was a good crowd out to see game two of the Seaforth vs. Tavistock playoff game, and a full complement of Tavistock fans were in town to cheer their team on. I was taking pictures of the game at the far end of the arena where many of the Tavistock fans, and a full complement of younger Seaforth fans were stationed. Nothing would have happened if all they had done was cheer, but some of those Tavistock fans started loudly commenting on how the game should be refereed, and what kind of hockey players some of the local bantams, and even players from other hockey teams, are. The Seaforth fans, many of them schoolmates of the bantams, took exception (to say the least). From time to time I would turn my gaze away from what was a hard fought -if chippy- game, to see what was developing in the stands behind me. A couple Tavistock fans thought it was funny to goad the locals, get them going, by putting down our hockey players and laughing at the retorts from the young Seaforth fans. So what we had was a running commen- tary from the Tavistock folk -mostly one particular man- about what a bunch of whimpy, dirty, lousy, etc. hockey players MY TWO BITS by Neil Corbett Seaforth has, followed by a string of retorts directed at the offending Tavistock man from Seaforth fans about the merits of weight loss. The thing came to a boil when a teenage girl from Seaforth approached a Tavistock woman (I took her to be the wife of the mouthy guy ). I thought this girl pinched the woman's leg from the way she reacted, but heard later she had knocked a cigarette out of the woman's hand. Whatever, the Tavistock woman lost it. Went completely amazon. She wasn't a small woman either, but the girl didn't back down (I don't know why she didn't, I was considering jumping onto the ice where it was safe) and there was a lot of punching, hair pulling, and some really nasty language. After a few seconds about three men grab- bed hold of the Tavistock woman, and the Seaforth girl wisely left. No one really got hurt, and the incident was basically dropped but for some choice words in the arena lobby. (Apparently this charming Tavistock woman, I'd guess somewhere around 40 -years -old, asked the Seaforth girl to step outside). I can't make it read like Seaforth fans Eventually we came to what I consider the gem of Seaforth's streetscape, Cardno Hall. Much to my joy, I saw a sight that swelled my heart with pride a new heritage plastic" sign affixed to the storefront of one of the downstairs tenants. I explained that this store had recently changed handsand in keeping with the spirit of our Business Improvement Association's objectives, the new owners had spared no expense, tying in the Early Suburban Strip Mall motif with the unique upper floor design of Cardno Hall. My friend, being more interested in the Victorian aspects of the streetscape, demurely. decided not to comment. Steadily gazing upwards and beyond the street level storefronts, she praised the many arched windows and the ornate trim integral to the different buildings. Eventually we came to Market Street and my friend asked if we could go .into the chiropractic clinic as,ahe was afraid that by taking in such ae,dose,of;the . Victorian splendor of.$ afor ,;she had developed a painful•krick.infier..neck. I calmed Mr, eaaytng,progress;,was riot ,passipg.Seafocth.hiY arid; fiat if she ,visited agam:Aext,year theyproppsed elevated r,apid ,transit ,systep would probably be .eoln- ,pleted,; making it.ev-er,so;-mu4h,. Bier for •visitorsAktrtilyappceciate:t2lerar�b teat i ber)tage of,our own. 1A.,0 dent. were completely blameless in this incident. I'd probably be quick to anger too if I had to listen to myself or my spouse getting cut up. On the other hand there's nothing more an- noying for a hometown fan than to listen to some obnoxious rival fan who acts like he owns the place in your arena. I wanted to turn around and tell that chubby guy to shut up too. But basically everyone involved acted stupidly. The only redeeming thing we can say for Seaforth is that it was kids from our town who were offenders, whereas it was adults from Tavistock, people who were parents of kids out on the ice, who acted ig- norantly. People who should know better. It's hard to know what people from other towns think of your town. But when people from outside Seaforth talk about winter athletics here, you can guess what they're saying because they've really only got one thing to say. Virtually every team from town -Bantams, Atoms, Midgets, Ringette and Broomball clubs- are at least com- petitive, and some will win at the provincial level. And that's the kind of reputation in sports that Seaforth should keep. Firebug Investigated in Hensall MARCH 8,1889 Rev. William Wye Smith, of Newmarket, whose recent volume of poems has been so favourably received by the press, and ,who has long been known as one;of our Canadian Literateurs, will visit Seaforth .in ,a few days, in the interest of his .volume. Messrs. George Turnbull ,and James Holmes cut on the farm,of the latter .one day last week ten cords of wood.in seven how's. They did not loiter much, .or <waste much time spitting on their hands. The Canada Pacific Manitoba car was at the station here on Thursday of ;last .week and was visited by a large number of ,people The display of products was much the same as on former occasions, but people seem never to weary of hearing about Manitoba or looking at anything that comes from there. Wheat has ,taken another; jump;0upwards, and as high as from $1A3 to $1.0hass,been paid during the present,week. The Seaforth auxiliary .of Abe �1Ngi}Ien's Foreign Missionary Society•S'snls ci ll4u ng the , past ;ym ear for,iss4onary purposes,;tlie haadsodne:sumof$275010ekng4rf:i r;Qr Glee of $1$,85•sover the,previous ear i°,u h.;Bb.l?il3VIa Pqt xMtlaY evening.aAlan,.t¢llo.:ltati; ' f l ►1, P vey -freely. Vas irivi,ug«along lxel a, etA d Mr-hohertiMell/SmAs,'idtiivll �.• 'C .uu .— 0 ,,04aj0.o,jlx0Knman: f ytyrv0rxkn,wnmrmxntw00.,w ...00nbvnm,.:,,-..,.,.avW«. i-1 and the. pole of the intoxicated man's sleigh struck 141r. Melds on the side of the head and glanced off, otherwise he might have sus- tained fatalwounds. When spoken to regar- ding his furious driving the man got out of his sleigh .and :wanted to fight, but was unable to stand up under his heavy load. If such men .were -more frequently brought to justice,it.n ightbave.a wholesome. effect on that class of ,gentry. ,MA;ItOlt 13,1814 Dear. Expositor • I,want to say that the two ,esw o.w jlac"t► h erecredlted.fn,theprize,winn- jmglistpf;fiensall:$eedShow as:w,inning first . andsecond prizes;forseedcorn„were not en- titlt;d;to.a,prize,,at,all„as ;theirerates,ex- -hihited rwere-notrgrown.;by .therseives, but were imported from the south. ;An exlliblfor, A to eating,reppraiseptative.ef,sevecalof the fratetlik4t etglies,tof 6estown was.l►eld,in ;the .dfelltRs llonr'WettlYPA a3'.;even(it$, �f$,orrpf T�'�8d• o-b;- ill dee Last summer H.B. Kirkby had the con- tract of putting in the John Street Sewer in Brussels. On completion of the work he put in a bill for extras claiming he had to dig through rock. The council contended there was no rock to call for such payment. He is now threatening a lawsuit to force payment. MARCH 10, 1939 Fire early Friday morning in Hensall completely destroyed a garage and an adja- cent frame building containing apartmetlts and offices. The Dashwood and Zurich fire departments.assisttd local residents to fight the blaze which took hours to extinguish. Investigation of two Hensall fires .which ,within five days destroyed a vacant residence and,a five store block of stores Is underway. Officials fear that a firebuug may beat -work in ;the village. Daring the,Seeond ,fire on Tueselay ;eight, Chief Leo Redden ,located footprints leading to the blazing <bu gof`g r's..Mill.near'by• r Pelglll,.,president of the SoafQkth di c l t on ,e,osgt$14t•Aline- Turn•to;page,OA • lF J.