Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1983-01-26, Page 2J uhf 3i ron (xpositor Since 1880, Serving the Community prat Incorporating Brussels Post founded 1872 12 Main St. 527-0240 Published at SEAFPRTH, ONTARIO every Wedneaday afternoon by Signal -Star Publishing Limited Jocelyn A. Shrler, Publisher Susan Whlte, Editor H.W. (Herb) Turkhelm, Advertising Manager Member Canad/ar Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Cwpmun'ity Newspaper Associatl6n and Audit Bureau of Circulation A member of :he Ontario Press Council OM Subscription rates: &nada $17.75 a year (in advance) outside Canada $50. a year (In advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, JANUARY 26, 1983 Second class mall registration number 0698 Severe storm hits Seaforth in 1883 for 3 days Hensall's example Seaforth's Business Improvement Association (BIA) continues to stumble along without the help of a majority of its members. This week only five members of the 70 member association felt that it was necessary to attend the meeting which dealt with promotions for the year and approval of the 1983 budget. As a result there continues to be only a core group of dedicated members interested in making the BIA a successful venture. There is definite frustration in the ranks felt by merchants who are willing to put their time and effort into promotions aimed at attracting and maintaining shoppers in the community. This core of members is now working on five major promotions Slated for 1983 as well as a Possible two or three minor promotions. The increase in the number of sales promotions in '83 (there were only four pror.Uotions in 1982) has required the executive to increase this year's budget to $12,000 up from $10,000 last year. The increase means each member will see their assessment increased by 20 per cent. Unfortunately it is left up to a small number of merchants to approve and decide on the future of the BIA in Seaforth. Attempts are being made to involve more members through committee promotions chaired by individual members who will organize.their designated promotions. What is troubling is the fact that important matters such as budgets and future planning for the BIA does not concern, more members. One does not have to look far to see how a well organized and supported BIA can work for the betterment of the comr7iunity as a whole. Hensall is a perfect example of where a BIA, working closely with council, can help beautify and improve the business core and make it an attraction in a community.' Hensall is continuing its main street beautification program with a recently approved loan from the provincial government of $150,000. In Seaforth the local BIA is also looking at becoming involved in a similar program, but they feel it is necessary just to get the association off the ground through support for promotions from the membership. if present interest is any indication, the BIA could face a rough ride in the futurle. If members are interested in making the Seaforth BIA a success they should look closely at what Hensall is accomplishing. K:S. Gold in them thar jobs JANUARY 26,1883 Seaforth people have for several days enjoyed.(?) a blizzard. The storm continued for three days with business almost entirely suspended. Roads were completely blocked and there was no train on the Grand Trunk for four days. It was the severest storm in several years? So., you're a teenager,' wracking your brains trying to decide what shape your life work is going to take. In the old days the decision was a simple one. You followed in your father's footsteps. Or if you didn't like those much, you looked around the community at other jobs close at hand and got yourself apprenticed to whomever had a trade you fancied. Or if you were' adventurous, you lit out for the city bright lights and got yourself an education, and/or a job and considered yourself a self-made man. (None of this applied much to women in the old days; those who had options then were the exceptional few . ) Now, of course, the world has changed. Before you even reach high school age you face choices about what courses to take, choices which will limit you and cut future career options. Even if you make what for you are all the right•choiPes, there is absolutely no guarantee of a job at the end of all your education and hard work. As an aid for those who are wrestling with this nearly impossible - dilemma, we offer the following guide. It comes from the federal Revenue Department, which has recently released an analysis of 1980 income tax returns. A guide to career satisfaction and personal happiness it isn't. 'What it is though is a snapshot look at where there's money to be made, in. what professions and in what locations. If you're up to the long years of schooling.and self-discipline involved your best bet is to become a self-erriployed medical doctor. There are 29,000 of those io Canada and they made, on average, $62,273 each in 1980. If you're looking ahead to a wealthy old age, you're dreaming. Pensioners are among the poorest Canadians. They made an average of $8,323 each in 1980. The only Canadians worse off are listed by Revenue Canada as unclassified. There were -1-.6 mi1iti0n of them in 1980 and they had an average income of $2,193. Perhaps you have a creative bent and would -like to perform, to make others happy or enrich the nations's cultural life. Faget it if you want to _make a decent living while doing ser Self-employed artists and entertainers are the second poorest defined"occupatiodal group in the country. In 1980 they made an average of $9,188 each. Enough of this gloom, you say? Here's some more good news. Revenue Canada didn't poll them on career satisfaction, but Canada's dentists as a whole are second on the income scale. They earned an ,average of $55,328 each two years ago. The incomes reported by self-employed lawyers may point a few noses in that career direction as well. They made an average of $45,921 each in 1980. And if you're looking for the best geographical location in which to practise your occupational choice, you don't have to go far. Stay away from Sydney, Nova Scotia, where the poorest Canadians who file an income tax return live. They made, on average, $10,289 in 1980. Head instead to central Ontario, agd the city of Markham, just north of Toronto. There, in Canada's richest city, the average taxpayer reported an income of $19,133. That narrows it down, doesn't it?-S.W. The night before the opening of the Poultry Show in Mitchell, someone entered the A young man named Douglas, employed by D.D. Wilson of Seaforth, was feeding one of the mules when the animal kicked him on the side, knocking him down. He was again kicked and struck on the temple. John McNab was'able to pull the prostrate man out of reach of the brute, which could have killed him. As s.00n as Mr. Wilson heard of the accident, he ordered the animal to be destroyed. It was accordingly led out and shot. henhouse of Wilfred, Morenz, clipped the wings and otherwise isfigured two Minorca Wm. Dawson of Seaforth won the five mile skating race recently held in London. His closest rival was behind him by nine,laps. Messrs. Robert and Wm. Amos of the 12th of Hullett, cut one cord of short wood in 19 minutes on the farm of John Henderson,. Tuckersmith. The wood was sawn from a cross -cut saw. JANUARY 24, 1908 A team of frisky horses, driven by Cleve Beaker, created quite an excitement in Brussels by making a mad dash down the street on two different occasions. Cleve pluckily held onto the ribbons and between the deep snow and long run. got them stopped without much damage. Mr. F.L. Willis of Seaforth met with an accident which may have proved serious. He was in ,a double sleigh with M.Y. McLean, in front of D.D. Wilson's office when the dray horse belonging . to the Seaforth Milling Company, which was running away, came around the corner and jumped into the sleigh! Mr. Willis was knocked out, onto the ice. Fortunately no bones wore broken. The elections in South Huron to fill the vacancy in the House of Commons, caused by the death of Mr. B.B. Gunn resulted in a ,victory for M.Y. McLean. When the results became known, large crowds formed at the Liberal committee rooms in Seaforth and marched down Main Street headed by piper John Hewitt. If profit is pullets and a cockerel. JANUARY 27.1933 Seaforth and other towns in -the -local district O.H.A. schedule are experiencing an unusual ice tamine. Seaforth Beavers were to have met Goderich, but there was no ice. There was also no ice in Goderich, Mitchell and Clinton. It is hoped weather will get colder so play can resume. Guest speaker at the St. James Art Club was Mr. Leo Hagan. He gave a very informative talk on "Canadian Poets and Their Poetry." In an appeal trial between the Bank of Montreal and W.M. Sproat, Tuckersmith, Mr. Sproat was awarded judgement concern- ing the disputed payment of fertilizer in the amount of S2,040. James C. Ballantyne, Reeve of Usborne township was elected Warden of Huron County. He is 60 years of age and specializes in pure bred cattle.on his 200 acre farm. He has served on municipal council for 10 years, being reeve six years. JANUARY 24,1958 A fire on the farm of Vincent J. Lane, concession three, McKillop, destroyed a brooder house and 500 baby chicks. The fife occurred during an attempt to refuel an oil burner. Fire Chief John F. Scott estimated loss at S500. ' Gerald Agar, Staffa placed first in the individual cream grading at the 91st annual convention of the Dairymen's Association of Western Ontario. Attending the convention from Seaforth 'was H.H. Leslie and C.A. Barber. JAMES VINCENT RYAN -A number of readers commented with interest on the Jan. 12 In the years agone column which outlined the then police,, chief, James V. Ryan's many jobs. In 1933 Mr. Ryan was sanitary, weed and fruit tree inspector, tax collector, janitor of Town buildings and in charge of streets and drains. This portrait of the late chief of police was done many years ago by George Daly of Toronto, broth f Ed Daly of Seaforth who loaned it to the Expositor. What 'might have been a more serious accident occurred when Louis O'Reilly, McKillop township, was working with a tractor and spreader. Having dismounted and then getting on the tractor his foot slipped causing him to fall. The back wheel of the tractor passed over the length of his body, narrowly missing his head. He managed to roll out of the way of the spreader. injuries suffered were severe bruises to his legs and chest. An old established firm in Hensall, Drysdale's Hardware has joined the chain of Crest Hardware Stores. The store, to re -open in two weeks, will be under the name of Crest Hardware. all that matters, let Mafia take over With the long, cold winter"ights upon us, the Canadian Roman Catholic bishops have certainly given us something to think about besides the intrinsic value to the Canadian culture of Playboy television shows on the new pay -television channel. The bishops enlivened the normally quiet holiday break with the release of their discussion paper "Ethical Reflections on the Economic Crisis". Basically, the bishops call for a reorientation of our economy away from the, pursuit of profit and toward thb•t betterment of human beings. It has been' labelled as Marxist propoganda by right wing critics and welcomed by union leaders. It should be a surprise to no one that, the bishops took the stand they did, or that They have been supported by leaders in the Anglican and United churches as well. What the bishops are saying, of course, is based on Christian teaching. Chris did not preach the amassing of fortunes. He told the rich man to give away all he had and follow him. It has always been a puzzlement how many of the newer evangelical "born-again" Christian movements are filled with staunch, right-wing businessmen. Christian teaching about caring for the fellow man and about poverty seem alien to the concept that the only report card that matters for a business in the modern world is' the profit and loss • statement mark hon h gives th g pl y [3@11th t��� �GC�GiGio by *04G� I ©tu g4oim the only criteria f% businesses. in these hard economic times a company that turns a good profit producing trash gets higher marks than a company that barely gets by contributing something useful. A company that sacrifs a good relationship with its employees in return for a few points more profit margin is given the gold medal by business leadership. But if profit is the only thing that matters, why dont we elect Mafia members head of the Chamber of Commerce? They do a great job turning a profit. if profit only counts, why don't we make honest citizens of those professional torches that were on "fifth estate" recently who burn down buildings for businessmen in trouble? They make a great profit margin. By coming out against business for profit, however, the bishops seemed to come down on the side of labour. Dennis McDermott, head of the Canadian Labour Council certainly seemed to think so. But if Christ were to come back tomorrow, would he really C give the avers LC member a much higher e avers a em o er? And more and more profit is being used as Would nk the worker who goes on strike even . though he knows the company is hanging on the edge of bankruptcy is more righteous than the employer who eventually closes the plant? How would Jesus look on the government employee who cries the injustice of being held to a six per cent wage increase when that increase alone would seem like a fortune to most of the people alive on the face of'the earth today? GREED 1 haven't read the Bishop's paper but i hope in • there somewhere they attacked greed, period, whether on the side of business or the rest of us. Let's face it, looking at the world as a whole, 90 per cent at least of us in Canada would be called the greedy rich. We squabble over baubles while two thirds of the world very literally wonders where the next meal is coming from. There wasa time, a few weeks back, when the study of the writings of Henry David Thoreau was in vogue. Thoreau was an American philosopher and writer who lived more than 100 years ago: For a period of two years he set himself away froni society and built a little one -room shack on the shores of Walden Pond near Concord Massachusetts. In those months he looked at life and wrote down his thoughts. Thoreau wrote many valuable things but one thing he wrote was that we need to get down the base -rock of our lives; clear away, like the builder the "mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice and tradition, and delusion and appearance," until we get down to reality on which, to build Our lives. That is what we all must do periodically, get back to the basics of our lives. If you were faced with making choices in your life what would they be? If you had to give up things in order to keep others, what would they be? `� We usually don't make those choices if we don't have to of course. it seems to me that that is why we continue to have depressions and wars, catacylismic things that shake up humanity and force us to re-examine our lives. If we could re-examine our society more often, as the bishops say. then perhaps we could avoid these horrible happenings but in peace and prosperity, we don t see with clear eyes. we don't get down to the base rock of reality. It is sad to think that we are forced to expect a future of periodic economic upheaval and armed conflict but this may be a natural way of putting a balance back in the world, a balance we have put gut of whack ourselves, both employer and -employee, by getting so wrapped up in our own "profit picture" that we can't see anything else. The flu slowed Smiley. down this year, faithful readers Sorry if my eight or nine faithful readers missed a column. 'Twere the fault of the 'flu. 1 can usually belt out a column regardless of weather, wife, or nuclear explosions, the latter two being much alike. but this time 1 was laid lower than a grasshopper's anus, right from before Christmas through the New Year. Must be getting old and soft. it's hard to turn out a column of deathless, sometimes desperate prose when your brain is like putty, your fingers are like dough, and your legs like clay sticks. while your stomach is making like a cement mixture and producing something much like cement. 1 can usually find a topic this time of year: a savage attack on the Canadian winter. But i can't even do that. Christmas was warmer than August. warmer than England, accord- ing to a colleague who was there. and superior to Puerto Rico. where it rained and rained and blew the palm trees horizontal, according to another colleague who went off for "a week in the sun:" And serves her right. Despite my decrepitude, 1 tried to struggle through. Have you ever played chess or Monopoly with a bright eight-year-old who can beat you at either, even when you're in lop shape? Have you ever tried to repair broken toys on Christmas morning with a sharp six-year- old when your hands are shaking with the ague and your mind is fixed on your next spurt to the bathroom? Have you ever coped with a wife who moans. "But you always make the dressing and help me with the gravy!", when all you want to do is crawl into a hole, cover yourself with something, even dressing, and quietly expire? I compromised. In the shape of an sigigcaio and $pods, by BODO $ mOl@y octogenarian leper who has just had a massive stroke, 1 stuffed the ruddy beast, trussed it, and jammed it into the oven, before collapsing. But 1 got my revenge on those who had frittered around making cups of tea while 1 labored over the creatute. Told them I'd spit on my hands before i mixed the stuffing. That almost. but not quite, threw then off their Christmas dinner. 1 nibbled a bit of 'flu -filled stuffing, proclaimed it excellent. and they ate like pigs. it was only through the greatest fortitude that 1 was able to get a little brandy down. now and again, to keep Death at His distance. But it wasn't all bad. it never is. if you keep your pecker up. No small chore in these days of economic and political gloom. Because of my condition. 1 let the old girl make all the Christmas telephone calls to old friends and relatives. That probably cost me about, $200, as she has a propensity to believing that long-distance calls are made to somebody just around the corner. even when they're six hundred miles away. and can chat amiable for half an' hour about sweet fanny adams. And 1 managed to totter to the telephone on New Year's Eve and talk to a couple of old turkeys who joined the air force the day I did. I could have saved my breath, what was left of it, on that one. They were in worse shape than I was. And they didn't have the 'flu. Got some cards from old friends: Don McCuaig. asking me to come and help him dig a hole in the ice for fishing, up in the Ottawa Valley: the Cadogans of New Brunswick. telling me to get that book published. Exactly the kinds of activities I felt like. But don't worry. chaps. We'll get some of those trout yet. McCuaig, even if we have to use dynamite. And we'll get that book written vet. Cadogans. Even if we have to use a computer. a ghost writer an a team of doctors. Missed my usual card from Major McEwen who teaches playing the bagpipes in California. if you can imagine anything more incongruous. He was a mere 134 tast Oc q oe,A VUMVI by/ Bob 4PCo)1jwe "The poor, hardworking. hard -done by farmer is always misunderstood or maligned by an unsympathetic public and/or government. "The predictability and lack of factual content in your columns bothers me because 1 understand you are some Christmas, so he may be slowing down. But my old pal in Westport didn't fail me. He signs his cards only, "Your TV Repairman". but they always come through. Here's this year's: "Merry Christmas Smiley and Tots more. Thank you for another year of your cheerful wit. 1 can't imagine anyone enjoying your column more than i do. Don't you date to retire. The world needs you and you do a lot of good. Some day when i get over being silly and the swelling goes down in my head. i'll let the air out of my ego and write you a bragging letter that will make B.S. smell likes roses. In the meantime, stay just like you are and 1'11 keep buying you any p ',,er that carries your column. Earthy but uplifting. It almost ended my 'flu. One of these days I'm going to hire a private eye and track the ould divel down. My Christmas tree. erected in fifteen minutes by a friend who arrived suddenly and cheerfully. while celebrating an anniversary. didn't fall down. My grandchildren still love me....1 haven't been fired, despite due cause. My wife hasn't left me. despite due cause. All in all. despite the 'flu. not too bad. I even got a refund from National Revenue. It took only from April to late December to find their error. I'm almost healthy again. The only thing I'ni dreading at the moment. is the arrival of my Chargex account for December, sort of "teaching -journalist"- supported partially, I presume. by my tax dollars. "In conclusion. 1 think you should change the heading of your column to One Foot in a Rut." That is a quote from a letter from J.R. Upper. RR4.- Fergus, Ont. 1t is one of half a dozen received recently deploring the content of these weekly meanderings. Let me hasten to add that more than enough letters are received in praise. Please turn to page 12 the enclosed "poemis a "hand n,c down" passed along to me from a fello.v teacher 1 keep several copies handy and often find occasion to use this as a reference or hand nut a copy or two. I thought your readers might like tc, share it. Paul Carroll Principal. Seaforth Walton P S JUSTICE So he stands before you Having been brought fresh from his crimes To he dealt with by The 'Authority'. You say. 'Well. what happened to you?' Fven though you know what happened Because you heard it from a teacher Whom he called a 'dirty bastard' And you have heard it from a little girl Who has a bleeding cheek and lacerated lip As evidence of her encounter with reality So he. and the teacher, and the little girl. All want .iustice. You look al the hanging head. shrugged shoulders, Hands caked with yesterday's mud. Open toed running shoes. And you wonder 'why'. You know that there is not an answer. But you still wonder. All the, bright. trite phrases of yout training Knock on. your mind -- Poverty syndrome, cultural deviation. aggression. frustration They knock on your mind.. But somehow they don't seem pertinent. 0. they fit all right. But each time your mind lets them in It answers a vernacular 'So what! And the teacher's voice has said, 'What are you going to do about it?' And you are left alone with him To find the answers To find justice. But do we know where justice is? Whose justice? Society's justice? Little boy's justice? Little girl's justice? Teacher's justice? Is there one justice - a rule, a guide. A star to follow? You don't remember it from a university text. Or from a superintendent's letter Or from the Minister's report Perhaps Glick. or Blatz, or Smith has the answer Or Cuscinzinski or Mrs. Littlestope You wonder should people write books Wrth a kid in trout ut inem Maybe we'd get more meat and Tess potatoes if they did Mashed potatoes. creamed and buttered Bu, nothing about justice. Not this justice anyway. What did the Russian say about crime and punishment? You think he must have said something in all those pages But it eludes your grasp. So he stands before you waiting. Without anger Which has been spent, Without fear. Fxcept for an inner fear that has become a Justice? way of life. And is not felt separately in him. Perhaps just resignation. Like the resignation of a trapped field mouse So you must take action. Action. The strap? As though the way to a boy's heart is through his hands. Suspension? As though greater exposure to those who made him crooked Would make him straight Talk? Compassion? Forgiveness? Your wis- dom wilts. What about Justice?