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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-07-19, Page 3.5•,••• •.•• CLEAR THE TRACK!—Here comes Bryan Taylor, trying to break through a human chain made•by friends in a game of Red. Rover. He was taking part in the Bible school at the United church in Brucefield all last (Expositor photo) week. Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley A couple of big anniversaries are coming up for weekly newspapers, or community newspapers, as they're called these days. In July, the Canadian Community News- papers Association is celebrating its diamond jubilee at a convention in Toronto. In Wiarton, Ontario, the Echo is celebrat- ing its 100th birthday this July. I'd like to take in both, as a member of the former for eleven years and editor of the latter for the same period. Some of the happiest years of my life, as far as work goes, were spent in the week ty newspaper business. And as work goes, it 'went a long way - about sixty hours a week. It requires a certain type of personality and outlook to be a happy weekly editor. Or it did when I was one. It's a lot different now, with young, hard-nosed editors, fresh out of journalism school, imitating tech- niques of the dailies. First of all, you had to have a complete lack of material desires. You could make a living, but you never got rich, or even well Then, of course, you had to tread the thin line between being fearless, inde- pendent and outspoken, and selling enough advertising to keep body and soul together. The guy who attacked town council for some nefarious bylaw, and the guy who went out and tried to sell ads to the six merchants on the town council were the same guy, very often. There were the inevitable typographical • •••77•••••-,..••., THE :1141.11110.N.• POVTOR ILILY 10, Wit cv. r_H.• • , aometain by, Susan.WHbite Getfin "It's no joke, growing RC Yon wttnt- to do thent or if YOU Can tAlte that 1941 h wasn't a••Mllentone to. We';.se been hit ItY couPle of family tragedies lately, the better half and I. That's been a very sobering experience for us both but ft has also made us take stock a bit and thank God or whomever that: we haven't been Personally 'afflicted. M this 'age I guess you realize how vulnerable we all' are to the completely incorn. prehensible and very unreasonable whims of fate. As I say, we haven't been personally hit, but we sympathize and suffer along with the anguish that some of those in both our families have been feeling. No, life is not a bowl Of cherries. Or if it is, there's a definite preponderance of pits and rotten fruit, Maybe realizing this is the wisdom that comes-vvith age. It's also the tempering of youthful optimism, a trimming of one's sails and a realization that we can all on this earth do a few things well but that old," my great aunt said trc put even small plans h2. te• 14W...of life ini stages, each me, after she'd just visited action without some help. 'With ft* own hassles yes, but my grandmother, her sister, I haven't gotten to that with rewards too, I think MI in a nursing home. Stage yet But I have friends can grew old with vace. And I know that's true. It's. who tell me a bit about how it These reflections ar damn depressing in fact to feels and I'm not looking occasioned by a inilestorie find that you can't remember forward to mY decline. - passed the other clay. My things like you did, do things Still, it's nottef iiving, and 32nd ilittlidaY. OHRP has spen1 5 9H 0 0 h ere 56 homes fixed u There are now 56 homes, in Seaforth that have been improved with the help of the Ontario Home Renewal Program. OHRP provides provincial funds for homeowners wanting to upgrade their house. For maintenance purposes rather than cosmetic improvement, the money can be received by those with a combined family adjusted income of S12,500 or less. To calculate adjusted income, $1,000 is deducted from one spouse if they are both working, and $1,000 is deducted from the single parent. • Each child deducts $300. These amounts are subtracted from the total gross income of the family who owns, a residence. Seaforth has been involved in the home renewal program since 1975, a year after it was implemented by the provincial govern- ment. At .present, nine applicants, are . . a approval. The town is eligible for $66,000 this year. Those qualified can apply at the municipal office for the preliminary forms. Normally, within 10 days, the application is processed. Seaforth residents, whose names are kept confidential, have been irsing the loans to replace roofs, improve cellars, sewers, and furnaces, and fix wiring and plumbing. The amount of the loan ranges from S300 to a maximum of S7,500, and a maximum of $4,000 of that $7,500 may be forgiven if the applicant's incotneis $6,000 or less, at the rate' of S600 per year. But.for every S1.25 that the family income exceeds S6,000, Si.is:deducted from the original 54,000 forgiveable amount. The interest on the loan ranges from zero to eight per cent, depending also on the income of the applicant..The total house must be upgraded to OHRP standards, select improvements when others are neces- sary as well are not allowed. Before receiving the loan, the applicant must have the home inspected, and a title search is carried out. Estimates are neces• anybody but me reallY—mY daughter's too. Yong to do much more than sing "IlaPPY Days" :(y0n have to admit she seta it partly right) and ehatter ja; lot about candles, My friends and family can't really be expect- ed to interrupt lobs and other activitieswhile I give them a monologue about how strange it feels to be this new age. But Eve been thinking a tot about it and it feels quite momentous actually to be embarking dn the second one-third of my life. Life :seems a whole lot sweeter. maybe because I like to think .1 understand it. I feel darn lucky for example, to have a healthy, happy daughter. I'd like to see more of her maybe, but I'm lucky too, to have a job I enjoy and the trade off is a bit less of her and a bit more of it than maybe I'd like in the best of all possible worlds. •00' 01M •Caa doe it neenta to, he ;$ • the slowing of anthitl0O1* making goals more time of•settling down.and enjoying what we have h.• stead of wishing for more, AMA for me at least •it's trne of realiaing, that the, most i•valnahle thing we alt have is each other. .17440PY birthday to me •444,4,, to My friend who IS new. 92 You're • • invited Adults, young people and visitors are invited to take part in a Heritage Walking Tour of Main Street (Sills Hardware and Cardno's Hall will be open for viewing)and the historic Whitman house on Sunday, June 29th from 2-4 p.m., commencing at Victoria Park. Sponsored by Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee. No charge, sary to determine the cost of the work. Two are required for any particular job, and the • home owner chooses the contractor. To this date, $57,266 is repayable and 541,066 is unforgiven. Since 1975, a total of 5159,436 has been extended to Seaforth. The program has proved to be a benefit to homeowners in town, especially to lower income families, younger couples, and senior citizens without a large annual income, said clerk Jim Crocker. And the entire town benefits from the improved homes. Hensell has also made use of the home - renewal program, servicing 28 homes since the slow start of the program in 1975. "Now," said Betty Oak, Hensall. Council clerk, "we normally have more applicants than money." 1(40...schools in January? '..Bus companylikes the. idea The possibility of closing schools for a month in the winter, whether or not it pleases the students, would make local bus drivers very happy. Winter driving is a hazard for everyone living in the snow belt but school bus drivers, with the added responsibility of a load of children, especially dread the winter months, Local bussing contractors do not have much say in a proposal currently being considered by the Ontario ministry of education to close schools in January. The The weekly newspaper business errors to harry the obfuscated editor. In a wedding write-up, the bride often came out as the "bridge." In funeral accounts, the pallbearers were apt to be described as "six old fiends" who carried the coffin to its final rest. In a small town, there are currents of jealousy and antagonism and family feuds that run deep and strong. Praise a local politician for making a good move, and his third cousin from the other side of the family would call you up and tell you, with vivid detail, what a snake -in -the -grass your first man was. Venture to criticize, however gently, an athlete or public figure, and you'd have your ears scorched by eighty-four close relatives who normally despised the guy, but rallied to their roots when an aspersion was cast on the clan. Hell hath no fury like a Women's Institute whose boring account of its meeting, including everything from who said Grace to what they ate, was cut by the ° blue pencil. And then, of course, there were the drunks who would call you up at 3 a.m. to ask you to settle an argument about who scored the final goal in. the 1934 Stanley Cup playoff. And the kooks Who would call you up and try to plant a libellous rumour, or demand that you come out to the farm and take a. picture of their home-made threshing machine. There was always some country corre- spondent furious because her "news", • consisting of who visited whom on Sunday afternoon, was crowded out by a rush of late advertising. "Why don't you leave out some ads?" There was no lack of variety in the weekly business, when you were reporter, editor, advertising manager, proof reader, and general burrboy for the tyrants in the back shop. I distinctly remember a St. Patrick's Day night, when there was , an unexpected heavy fall of snow. An elderly gentleman of Irish descent had been celebrating the day, , in thepub.. When he hadn't arrive home by ten o'cloek his housekeeper called for help. The local pubs were alerted, and the hockey rink, where there was a game in progress. Most ,of the male population,at , least half of them half -lit, stormed off to search for the missing man. We found him, covered in snow, abut a quarter -mile from his house. Back to the rink and the pubs. I remember shouting at deaf old ladies who were celebrating their ninetieth birthdays, and getting some of the most surprising answers. "How long has your husband been dead?" "Nah, he never was much good in bed." "To what do you attribute your long ;- life?, "Yas, I vvas always a good wife." And so on. • To be a successful editor, though, net necessarily a good one, you had to continually straddle fences. This becomes a bit of a chafe after a while. You had to be able to write on demand. I remember one week -When there was absolutely nothing to fill a two column, four inch space on the front page. In about twenty minutes, I knocked out eight column inches of sparkling prose in which •, the reader had to read to the end to discover that nothing worth reporting had happened that week. It sounds as though I'm knocking the game. No so. These are fond memories. And there were rewards, most of them intangible. It was kind of nice to be introduced to strangers as "our" editor. It gave satisfaction when a subscriber from away down in the States dropped in on his way to the summer cottage and said, "Sure liked that piece about the deer hunt." And there was a certain quiet pride in one's status. My daughter, aged eight,, produced the fitting requiem when I left newspaper work and went into teaching. "But Daddy," she observed,' "that means you're net the Editor any more I sadly agreed. proposal was raised at a recent provincial meeting of school bus operators. But according to Les Habkirk of United Trails bus services in Seaforth, the advantages of such a move far outweigh any disadvantages, from a busdriver's point of view. Mr. Habkirk said that the safety element alone would be reason enough to close the schools. close the schools than January though worse weather then. Any closing in the winter would be a relief, however, and would make the recruiting of drivers easier as many people will not drive a bus because of winter driving. Big savings would occur in energy conservation if the program was carried out There would be savings both in bus fuel and in heating and lighting at the schools. The most fuel is used by buses in the winter and Mr. Habkirk pointed out that if every bus in the county saved two miles per gallon for one month, by running in warmer weather, there would be noticeable savings. The class time missed in the month taken off would be made up by omitting March break and professional development • days throughout the year. Mr. Habkirk mentioned that the high schools could • consider running to the end of June to February would be a better month 'to make up the lost time. /6Eri- Elliot; chairman orthe Huron according to Mr. Habkirk who says we get board, had no comment. PUC accepts lowest pump tender At the regular Seaforth Public Utilities 5300, the extension should be installed by. Commission meeting July 11, the tender of this week, said Tom Phillips. International Water Supply Ltd, of Barrie, The working agreement with the PUC wwaastearcpcuepmtpeds.for the installation of two new employees was reviewed, with a new The tender price is 515,573. The other insurance plan added. ' tender, about 5700 more was from W.T. PUC members heard that at the corner �f Hopper and Sons of Seaforth. In other John St. and Jarvis St., a cracked and split business, the painting of the water tank in tree would cut off power to half the town if ft Seaforth was discussed, with plans to carry were to fall and damagethe main power out the project in the fall to avoid the feeder. Plans to remove the tree were summer sweating on the tank. discussed. In new business, the extension of the box PUC member Doug Fryett was not at the on the PUC truck was discussed. At a cost of meeting. , • • • • • ..• • • • • • :years Expositor .at Iibrary , Anyone who is interested in researching their family trees can now find over 100 years of microfilmed copies of The Huron Expositor at Seaforth Public Library.. Trudy Broome, the assistant librarian, said the library now has copies of the paper from 1869 to 1978 available on microfilm. Since many of the copies of the older papers on file. at The Huron Expositor office are in very fragile condition, researchers are asked to use the microfilmed copies available at the library. Balloon watching on the wee en UP, UP AND AWAY, IN YOUR BEAUTIFUL BALLOON—John Adams and Peter McOuillan of Toronto, gave area residents a thrill on the weekend as they were practising for the Canadian balloon races to be - held later this summer. The two•balloonists were visiting Janet Smale of R.R. 2 Kippen and they flew over Tuckermith township Saturday and Sunday. (Expositor photb) • BY ALICE GIBB From Hensall to Staffa, many area residents spent at least some time on the weekend craning their necks to get a better view of a colorful balloon that floated over the fields. • The two daring young men who were piloting the hot air balloon were John Adams and Peter McQuillan of Toronto, visitors with Janet Smale of RR 2. Kipper': Mr. Adams said he was basically in the, area on other business, but he is looking at the possibility of opening a balloon school locally. The balloonist said the main problem they encountered on the weekend was that area farmers use too much of their land, making it difficult for them to find a place to touch down. Although legally balloonists aren't supposed to land on the roadways, the two men found it unavoidable locally. Some area farmers weren't too happy t� see the balloon touch down in their aim fields but damage apparently was minimal. The balloon, owned by Mr. Adams, registered as CF TRQ and named "Mis Candise" is 55,000 cubic feet in size, with an aluminum gondola that can carry up to three passengers. The craft is powered by propane burners which heat the air , forcing the balloon to gain altitude. Mr. Adams said ballooning is becoming a popular sport after a revival that started about 10 years ago. A new balloon would cost an enthusiast about 512,000 but beginning „pilots can purchase used balloons for around half that price. Anyone interested in pile/dug a balloon must earn a pilot's license issued by the Ministry of Transportation. To earn die license, you must write a student exain first, spend 16 hours in pre.flight pilots training, including soloing and then taking • a final exam, Balloon pilots must know the air navigation rules and other regulations the same as airline pilots. Mr. Adams said the problem right now is that there isn't any place in Ontario where amateur balloonists can get proper train- ing. Mr. Adams said someone who decided to get into • the sport in a serious way and could train every day, could likely get their pilot' s license in three weeks. However, most balloonists spread their training over an eight month period. The closest balloonist to Huron County is a Phil Dunbar of Woodstock but Mr. Adams said he's a recent convert to the sport and isn't teaching ballooning to anyone else yet Mr. Adams, who became interested in sport flying when a balloon flew over his home in Prince Edward Island, is currently the Eastern Canadian balloon champ. While visiting the Kippen area, he's been practising for the upcoming Canadian national competition, which will be held in .Grande Prairie, Alberta later this summer. Mr. Adams just returned from the world championships in Sweden, where he competed against over 40 balloonists from around the world. The national competition tests balloon- • ists on accuracy, since balloon pilots don't ' have any directional controls except the ability to change altitudes by controlling the amount of hot air in the craft. In the nationals, there will be six different races from the "hare and hound", a kind of tag with hot-air balloons, ' and another Competition in which the balloon pilot pinpoints a place on the map mid then attempts to land dead -on. Mr. Adams said he expects there'll be about SO balloonists competing in the Albert* competition. 1.6 PILOTS The pilot said while balleorting was already gaining popularity before last year's trans-Atlantie crossing by the American balloonists, the sport is now attracting even more interest. John Adams said there are 10 licensed pilots in the province of Ontario. Mr. Adams started his ballooning career as a commercial balloonist, and worked for a series of companies doing promotional work, appearing at everything from football games to the opening of car dealerships. Now those days are behind him, and while he still considers ballooning his "fulltime profession", it's not his fulitime job. While Mr. Adams believes ballooning is one of the safest sports around, there are some hazards for the unwary. First, pilots have to make sure they avoid hydro lines and other obstacles such as trees and buildings. Since they don't have directional oOntrols, altitude control is a major part of piloting the craft. Mr. Adams said he never flies the craft in over 12 knot winds. Pilots and co-pilots don't need parachutes on board, since the balloon itself acts as a large parachute, but they do wear sturdy shoes and crash helmets as a safety precaution. Mr. Adams said they also have to be careful flying over livestock, since the sound of propane burners is very loud, and can badly frighten the animals. In order to make a hot air balloon rise, there must be a 90° F. temperature difference between the inside of the balloon and the outside air to obtain a lift. This means ballooning is actually easier in the winter months. Although Mr. Adams said the sport is one of the safest there is, he has had a few breathtaking experiences while aloft. On his first solo flight, a valve on the propane burner caught on fit*, and had to be quickly extinguished, •EMBARRASSING A secona inisnap was a bit more embarrassing. Mr. Adams was doing promotional work at an International Plowing Match in Oshawa some years ago, dropping ping pong balls on the crowd for his sponsor, when he suddenly didn't have enough lift for the available air currents. Mr. Adams and the balloon landed in a tree, next to the field where the oxen were plowing. The balloon ended up with three large tears and the oxen scattered. Mr. Adams said the experience of flying locally has been "incredible." He said the people are fantastic -1 from two local harmers who have provided him with propane at a minimal cost- to the people who followed the balloon around the countryside on the weekend. So many people stopped by to see the balloonists, that, they took eight visitors for rides at different times. Mr. Adams said few balloOnists ever go up by themselves. First, it takes four people to prepare the balloon for flight - blowing the balloon up with cold air first and then filling the propane burners to heat the air to gain altitude. When a day's flying is finished, Mr. Adams said his balloon folds up into a three by four foot sciprtiatitcyhkiresa.tloftzadnrad.rocarsnaabnbihtrtisatwncso.oppaoirtniodeiclawienhraetihfaebhbio;kicrsto each time they went up on the weekend. While most balloonists in Canada must buy their own craft right now if they're interested in sport flying, Mr. Adams said eventually balloonists hope to form a club that will make balloons available to amateurs considering the sport. In the meantime. John Adams &Uri Peter McQuillan have reminded us of the beauty of seeing one of the world's first flying machines float over our heads.