The Huron Expositor, 1978-10-12, Page 2pecially when smokers "Were around.
—Mb. Muriel McLachalan of R.R.3,
Kippen said they had considered it and,,"I
thing every home should have one."
Mrs. Mary Bruxer of R.I. 1, Dublin said,.
"No. 1 guess we should but we never
have," She thought it would be a good idea
to have a smoke detectors.
Peggy Price of Egmondville said her
family had one now and she thought it was
a worthwhile investment. -
Roy Dalton of 57 George St., in Seaforth
said he had never thought about installing
one in his home but "yes, definitely" it
goodis idea.loof
76 Nelson St. in Hefisall
said he hadn't really thought about
was
Boba Carlisle
installing one.
Mrs. Frank Forrest of 158 King St.
Hensall "NO, we haven't up to the
present time." She added that she had
seen smoke detectors advertised but she
said she just didn't know that Much about
them and it would depend where they had
to be put in the home. "We just haven't
talked that much about it," she said.
~ugar
b
The lop.0foritirtg
he Auroo xilosito
Since 1560. Serving the Community First
Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, every Thursday morning
by McLEAN BROS. PUBLISHERS LTD.
ANDREW Y. MeLEAN, Publisher
SUSAN WHITE, Editor
ALICE GPM, NewsEdItor
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Asspciation
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
and Audit Bureau of Circulation
1
In a time when health authorities are concerned over Canadians
general lack of fitness, it's gratifying to learn more children than ever
are involved in team, sports in Seaforth.
Unfortunately, while-younger Seaforthites are getting some much
needed exercise taking part in sports from soccer 'to baseball to hockey,
older members of the community are proving too willing to leave the
_ _work.of.coaching.the teams small loand_of faithful volunteers, Not
surprisingly, some coaches are becomiryg frustrated by the lack of
support for the teams and they won't be /offering their services again.
The sad story. was documented last week in the Expositor in a sports
page story by Alice Gibb.
Now while coaching „requires -a certain amount of dedication,
knowledge and a genuine love for the sport, supporing the. team your
children are 'on doesn't take more than a few hours every now and
then. It's pretty much, a rule of thumb that any ,team. does. better on
home ice or home playing field. One major 'reason is players ilavetheir•-•
fans out. in full force to support-them and Ai encouragement. In
Seaforth, this isn't alwayS the case.
One of the-major disappointments. faced by many coaches of young
teams this summer, was to find only three or four people in the
bleachers to" cheer their teams on. Often these were the same loyal
supporters,while other parents simply dropped their children at the
park and went home to have a beer, maybe watch the pros in the major
leagdes On teleyjsion or simply to do other. . things. Coaches even found
it difficult to tr4nsport teams 'to out-of-town games since they couldn't
find parents willing to spare a few hours and a.car to help drive the
kids.
As one assistant coach„pointed out, it's sad watching young children
putting their all' intoe game and not having anyone standing on the
sidelines to give therm a well deserved pat 'on the back: . •
It's not surprising some coaches are beginning to feel like little more
than babysitters who are giving parentsspare time to do other things..
. If parentSfeel it's worthwhile to have their children involved in team
sports as players rather than „spectators, then it's.time parents 'did,
more than pay their child's registration fee and drop him or he?. off at
the • park or arena. .
With hockey season now approaching, Seaforth needs coaches,
assistant coaches and volunteers to take turns. driving to games. But
perhaps even more importantly, kids on the teams need to feel their
efforts are appreciated, whether they're playing in 'a houseleague or
competing out of town. Next time you take you.child tothe game, why
not stay andwatch the action? Who knows, you might even find you'd'
like to try your hand at coaching.
A hard man to replace
Arthur Maloney is going to be a hard man to replace. Mr.
Maloney, who has been the province 's ombudsmanlor the last three
years, is leaving the offibe to step back into his criminal law practice.
His often thankless job as ombudsman has involved investigating
reports, and complaints lodged by private citizens.against government
agencies. The position of ombudsman was' first created in
Scandinavian countries when government officials became concerned
that the rights of the ordinary citizen were being threatened by the
Increasing red tape of the government bureacracy,
In the time he's been in office, Arthur Maloney has investigated
omplaints of people being illegally detained in the province's mental
health centres, cases of land expropriation by government agencies
and the complaints of residents of the province's penal institutions. As
the province's first ombudsman, Mr. Maloney has als0 devoted
considerable time 'to publicizing the office and making himself
available to the public at open sessions held around the province.
The ombudsman has earned harsh criticism from Members of the
government who feel Mr. Maloney is 'spending too "Much Money' in
fulfilling his job or else is interferring in matters best left up to the
elected members of government.
,Whether these criticisms are' justified will be partially answered ty
Mr. Maloney's successor who doesn't fabe an enbiable task in filling
his predecessor's shoes..
We hope Ontario's second ombudsman will overlook his own
personal political beliefs to the same extent Arthur Ivialorey has in the
past in his role as guardian of the, rights of the individual.
In an increasingly complex world, the ombudsman's office is one of
-our most-effective government watchdogs.
To the editoti
Thanks for the jobs
Already the summer has passed, and the
1978 Student Employment Program is
drawing to a close. At this time I would like
,to.take this opportunity to thank the many
people of our area who helped to make the
1978 Student Manpower Program a success.
Over the summer, our offices in Exeter
and in Goderich had 630 jobs filled by
students. This was an increase of 4'8
placements front this time last year. As More
and more people learn of our program, we
are able to find an increasing number of jobs
for students. I hope our torinntinities Will
lend their support again in 1919, as they
have, this year.
I'm sure I sneak for many students when I
this second week in October has some-
thing for everybody. If you're Canadian you
can sit down to a dinner of turkey, squash
and pumpkin pie and say "Thanks, Lord, for
another year of harvest bounty."
If you're American, you can say hip, hip,
hooray for Chistopher Columbus. Because3
on a moonlight night 486 years ago,
Columbus sighted land in what turned out to'
be a new world.' America.
And if you're Jewish, you can celebrate
the most important and sacred of holy days,
Yom Kippur, the Day Atonement.
You can take your pick. And mine is
Thanksgiving. But to be more accurate, I'll
take the words, Harvest Festival. Because
harvest is what this time of the year is all,
about. Once again, the riches of the land
pours out in staggering amounts. The
harvest comes in. The harvest come home,
Despite the no-rain and then the too much
rains, despite the beetles and pegs despite
the winds and cloud, the earth gives.ip an
extravagant harvest.
The churches especially the rural ones
By Debbie Ranney '
It's Ore prevention week and it was- with—
thought in mind that this week Expositor
Asks decided to ask "Considering that it's
fire prevention week have you ever thought
about installing-a smoke detector in your
home?
Mrs. William Carlson of R.11.1, Seaforth
said her family alread,has one ar&-has had
it for about a year.
"We're really happy with it. It makes_us
feel safer," she said.
Mrs. Jack Butson of' R.R.2, Staffa Said,
"Yes we have one in our home and we gave
them as Christmas gifts. Of course we
haven't had to use them but I think we
sleep better knowing it's there."
The Butsons got their smoke detector in
the fall of last year.
Mrs, Clifford Eedy of R.R. 4, Walton said
they had thought about it but they had
electric heat in their home and she
imagined they probably woudin't get one
until it was compulsory.
She added that she thought it would he
good if detectors were contoulsory es.
One of the deepest satisfactionsinwritinga
column of this kind is the knowledge that you"
are getting into print the angers and
frustrations of a lot of other people, who
have no recourse for their resentments, and
consequently take them out on the old man
or'the old lady.
How do yob know this? Well, because
people write you letters cheering you on to
further attacks, and other people come up to
you, perfect strangers. shake hands warmly,
and say, "By the Holy Ole Jumpin! Bill, you
really hit the nail on the .heed."
This can be a little *disconcerting, as you
are never quite sure which nail they are
referring to. If the congratulator is a woman,
I smile ' weakly and change the subject.
Because sure as guns, though she thought
you were one of nature's noblemen for your
assault on male chauvinism last week, she'll
turn on you like a -snake when she reads
tomorrow's paper; with the column exposing
female chauvinism.
Speaking recently to a class 'of potential
writers in a creative writing course, I tried to
pass along the personal satisfaction one gets,
from this type of personal journalism. '
I emphasized the "personal" satisfaction,
because there's a lot more of that involved
than there. is _ of the other kind, financial
satisfaction. Columnists • and free-lance
writers have no union working for them, nor
any professional a ei on, —as have
doctors, lawyers, tea' ers.
They have only the own talent and wit
and perseverance with hick to' penetrate
the thick heads and t cker skins of editors
and publishers.
But it's a great f eling when you vent your
wrath. say. about the rapaciousness of
mechanics, and you are button-holed six
limes in the next three days by people with
horror stories about mechanics you can
scarcely believe.
Trouble is, they all want, you to write
another column about mechanics, and put
some real meat into it: This means, in effect,
that they would happily stand in the wings
and applaud when you were Sued for libel.
Some readers would like you to be
constantly attacking whatever tt is that they
don't like. Capitalist friends are aghast when
you refuse• to launch an assault on capital
gains taxes. Welfarist friends think you are-a
traitor and a fink when you won't.attack the
government for not providing color TV for
everyone on the take.
I am not by nature an attacker, and I think
there is nothing more boring than a writer of
any kind who tries to make a career of being
a "hard-hitting" journalist.
Once in a while my gently bubbling nature
boils over. Throwing caution and syntax to
the winds, I let my spleen have a field day
Thanksgiving day ,Monday was spent
around our house bringing in the final
produce from the garden, and I c'an't think of
a Much- better way to spend the day.
Looking at the calendar it seems
—impossible that it, was only those few short
months back that we plowed up the garden
and worked the soil fine and sowed the
seeds, all the time thinking of the bumper
crop we'd bring in. We never thoug t, f
course, of -the weeds or the long hours elf
work involved in helping, thaie seeds do
what comes naturally. Somewhere along the
line the prospect of that bumper crop got
hist. Like true farmers we worried because'
there wasn't enough rain, celebrated when
the rains came then cursed when the rains
refused to stop when we'd had enough.
The conditions of the summer seemed
ideal for weeds. You'd just work your way
through the garden and get it all clean when
you'd look behind and see the weeds to your
knees where you'd started out. Somewhere
along the line in late August or early
September we gave' up and let the weeds
have their way.
Thus it was something of a surprise to us
when we went out to dig the carrots which'•
we could hardly see and found them large
and plentiful: so plentifnl we—don't quite
know what we'll do with them all. It's the
same with the beets. We had cucumbers
coming out our ears before the frost came
too and without any effort to protect them
from frost, our tomatoes _kept producing
until Thanksgiving weekend. ,
Now if we had been the kind of meticulous
gardeners for whom a garden with more
than three weeds two inches high is a
catastrophe, this bounty wouldn't have been
so surprising. But somehow, given the
conditions, it reminded use again just 'how
lucky we are to live in such a land of plenty.
People in' many parts of the '‘World must
strive long and hard just to get enough' food.
to keep' them alive. Here, even under less
than perfect conditions, we have an over
abundance.
Yet for all our gdod luck, we Canadians
don't seem to have much appreciation for
Out •good fortune: Thaeksgiving probably
had less Meaning than our other holidays.
lbw many Canadians really stopped and
took stock of all they had to be thankful for
on the weekend/ Instead most Were busy
worrying about the failing the ,rising
cost of living or the high itheniplOYMent.
We're like the man who looked out on a
sunny day and saw one tiny cloud On the
horiton and then spent 'so Mitch time
and try to throw some sand in ,the grease
with which many aspects of society are
trying to give us a snow job. And that's one
of tbe finest paragraphs I've ever writtenf -if
mixed metaphors are your bag:
Fair game for the hard-hitter are; garage
mechanics, plumbers, postal workers,
supermarkets, civil servants, and politicians.
Most of them can't hit back, and everybody
hates them, except garage mechanics and
their wives, plumbers and their wives, etc.
Smaller fry are doctors, lawyers, teachers,
used car salesmen. Tfiey all squeal- like
(Wig rabbits Wit attacked, but nobody
pays much attend n to them except doctors
and their wives. e c. etc.
There. are a few areas-s that even the
hardest hitters avoid. When have you,
lately. read a savage attack on greedy
farmers, callous nurses, or unloving moth-
ers? And yet. there are lots of them around.
One of these days, perhaps, one of these
hard-hitting writers will muster enough
guts, after about five brandies; to launch an
aft-out attack on the• audacity of women,
th in king they're as good as men. Boy, that
fellow will learn what real hard-hitting is all
about.
Personally, i can't stay mad at anybody
long enough tobea voice of the people, or a
public watch-dog, or • any of of —those
obnoxious creatures who try to tell other
people how they should feel. •
- The only constant in my rage is the blatant
manipulation of self-seeking politicians who
will twist and warp and wriggle and squirm
and bribe for self-perpetuation in office.
Best example of the moment is Torey
governMent in Ontario, which has called a
totally unnecessary election in that province
through sheer hunger far greater power,
• Otherwise, I get a great deal more joy
from touching the individual life than
inflaming •the masses. When I get a letter
from an old lady in hospital, •crippled with
arthritis, who has managed to get a chuckle
out of my column, it makes me feel good.
Recently, I got a letter from a young Scot
who has immigrated to Canada. He says: "I
have learned more about Canada and
Cartadians through reading your column than
all the accumulated wisdom from the
Canadian, newsmagazines, novels and TV
programs I have absorbed.",
Now there is .a .man with his head screwed
on right. If I, as 'a newcomer, tried to get my
impressions of this country from news-
magazines and TV programs, I'd catch the
first beat or plane home.
So, I guess I'll just try to go on talking to
people, getting sore, having some fun,
,looking for sympathy in the war between the
sexes. That's what life is all about, not
plumbers and politicians and other horrors
of that ilk.
M0000!
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
October
grateful enough. Having to feel thankful can
be suffocating and a never-ending debt. God
can be made out to be some petty tyrant.
Someone who says "Look at all I've done for
you. Now be. grateful." Or you're made into
a kid again with your mother right behind
you and whispering in your ear, "Now, say
thank you to the nice man."
But in harvest• hOme festival you don't
have to come that r ute. Thank-you come as
a response to erwhelming gifts., They
come automatically to God,, the lavish Giver.
That's why 'L like the Harvest emphasis.
The Giver of the harvest accent. Thanks-
giving will come sure 'enough. Spontaneous
enough.
1 just read in the la test United Church
Observer magazine an• article editor by . Al
Forrest. He said about ten years ago a trend
set in to down play the fruit of the field
celebration. Instead the more sophisticated
city folk wanted a fruit of the loom sort of
thing. So on one Observer Thanksgiving
magazine cover, was pictured an altar with a
garden tractor, bicycles, toys, a couple of
electric typewriters, two chain saws and, one
small pumpkin. The• church, was going to
celebrate the harvest of the lathe and the
drill,the power saws the jack-hammer.
But the idea never caught on. As modern ,
and up-to-date as all those things were, the
thought never made a public smash. .A
cornucopia of factory gadgets just didn't do
the trick. Besides, back to the land and back
to nature becameiii. Pollution, litter and non
recyclables were Out. Why celebrate all that
on a harve, altar.
So it's back to land and the bounty of the
land on Thanksgiving altars. Al Forrest
lauded his old boyhood church for all its
harvest plenty lavished everywhere in the
church: on the altar, on the window sills, in
. the corners and round the center posts.
Everywhere: Everywhere. The goodness of
the earth all over.
It took time to decorate that old church
yes. But to Al it was all worth it. It was one of
the best days of his year. And the memory
sticks with him still.
A lavish altar. Lavish gifts. A lavish God.
We do ourselves and our children a great
favor, if we'd take the time and celebrate
this kind of day--a harvest home day.
Expositor asks:
Have you considered installing ,a mule detector?.
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0696
Telephone 527-0240
Subscription Rates:
Canada (in advance) $12.00 a Year ,
Outside Canada (in advance) S20.00 a Year
SINGLECOPIES — 25 CENTS EACH A
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, OCTOBER 12, 1978
They're our kids
say thank you to our community: we
appreciate the employment offered by local
citizens who hire students to work in their
homes, their businesses, and on their farms:
we also appreciate the publicity given to out
efforts by the local media; and we appreciate
the work done by, the enthusiastic young
people who are our. pregtarti'S own best
advertisement.
Thank you Seaforth and area.
Jeannette M..Finnigan,
Student Placement counsellor (197f)
Canada Manpowei Centre for Students,
35 East S t tea, Coderieli
Ontario. NIA 1N2
take their cue. And at this harvest home
festival time, they lavish -their altars in
bounty. The whole front of the church blazes
in the oranges of pumpkins, squash and
carrots. It-sings out'in golden tones of grain
and zucchini. The stalks of corn and the
loaves of bread proclaim the blessings of
another year.
And confronted with this staggering
goodnesS, you can't help but pause and
marvel. Yes, this has been a good year. As
the Lord •promised. His seed time' will
produce harvest time as long as the earth
endures.
Faced with all the richness, you have to
admit to this earth's goodness. You have to
say thank you.
I like this approach. I like the order of that
approach. 'The altar declares the bounty of
another Lord's year. It spreads out the
banquet of his harvest. And then you
respond. You react.
- So often Thanksgiving gets twisted. The
accent is on my giving thanks. I become the
center of the attention. I examine my
feelings of thanksgiving. The burden is put
on me--up front. And all too often, I'm
scolded into saying "thank you'''. I'm
shamed. I'm made to feel guilty that I'm not
Behind the scenes
by Keith Roulston
The best way to spend Thanksgiving
worrying 'about-the possibility that the one
cbud could bring rain that he couldn't enjoy
the sunshine:
On the weekend I also watched the news
and saw pictures from Vietnam where war is
raging again, this time between the
Communists of Vietnam . and the Com-
munists of Cambodia. The poor villagers of.
Vietnam who don't care about politics of any
sort are caught in the middle of a war again'
as they and their ancestors have been for
centuries. Compared to this, what does
inflation matter?
There were pictures too of-the death and
destruction in Lebanon where the so called
"Christians" and the so called "Moslems"
are destroying their homeland in an attempt
to destroy each other.' Watching that, we
should' be so thankful just to live in peace,
'even without all the other great things we
enjoy,
The only people in Canada who seem
really thankful are those who have had to do
without what we have today. People who
lived through the Depression and have a
good memory realize how good our lilfe is
today. People who lived through the horrors
of the war and remember it well feel the
same way. Unfortunately our population is
made up for the most part of people who
have never suffered or who have convenient-
ly forgotten the suffering and can see only
the whole bunch of golden eggs that might
be inside the-goose and we're too impatient
to let her give them to us one. at a
I'm biased, but I think a good deal of the
probletif with Canada is that people aren't
cbse enough to the land anymore. In my
garden .1 can see the miracle of life. I can
remember that pumpkin we bought for
Hallowe'en two years ago that we saved a •
handful of seeds from. We planted the seeds
and last year got a few More pumpkins and
_planted their seeds and this fall we have A
several large pumpkins ,each bigger than the7
original pumpkin we bought. That's the
miracle of nature.
I've also seen the time when beautiful
young plants shrivelled up and 'died in the
heat or when seeds didn't come up at all.
These things make us more appreciative of
tbp success. Here in the country and' small
tdanis, we're kept in touch with the realitie
of life. The earth, the changing Of the
seasons, the-hardships and the goOdtintes all
give us a kind of wisdom that can never be
learned in the classrooms of the greatest
universities. 'We realize more than a city
person can the place of -man in nature. And
hopefully, we at least are thankful for our
blessings.