The Huron Expositor, 1978-11-02, Page 2Huron
Since 186Q-, Serving the Community First
Published at SEAFORTH. ONTARIO. every Thursday morning
by McLEAN BROS. PUBLISHERS LTD. '
ANDREW Y. McLEAtl. Publisher
SUSAN WHITE, Editor
ALICE. GiBB, NewsEditor
„Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association '
and Audit Bureau of Circulation
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SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, NOVEMBER 2, 1978
The mail mess
A
Post office employee bashing is without doubt the most popular
sport in this country. In fact it's very difficult to find anyone to say
anything complimentary about the national mail service, its employees
or their ,tosses.
But now that the current strike has been ended and all out nerves
are a little less frayed than they were when our bu-sinesses and our
personal lives were inconvenienced, let's not bury our heads in the
sand and hope the, postal mess Will go away.
- It. won't.
We don't see' what the government could .do when faced, with
employees who defied an act of parliament and failed to go back to
work, than what it did do: threaten them with the loss of their jobs.
Whether RCMP raids on union offices were necessary is another
question.
But the bitterness and frustration postal ' workers feel on being
forced back to work won't result in any better postal service. It'll fester
and it'll erupt, soon, into another strike.
So, whit do we do? •
We've got to look behind the strikes, the hatred, the name calling
and lack of trust in, the post office and find out what causes them.
It's easy to believe that union leaders are monsters or that outside
agitators are causing all the trouble. That's always simpler than trying
to open cornmunication and right wrongs.
Jean Claude Parroi, whose father and grandfather were also postal
workers, isn't crazy and neither was predecessor Joe Davidson . .
.another. candidate for Canada's most, hated man. They may be
unrealistic about what we• can afford to pay at the post office, but
they're not crazy. , A
They are sincere men who are•trying to do their best for fed up
workers, just like government, negotitators try to serve the fed up
Canadian public.
There must be one person in this country that both sides would trust
to study what it's like to work at the post office. To look at worker
complaints, administrative complaints, complaints from the public and
try to sort out what's valid and what isn't.
This miracle worker,.this Solomon, would have to be someone of the
calibre of Justices Hart or Berger. A search committee with members
from both sides of the postal dispute would have to find him (or her).
That at least would mean both, sides would have to keep talking to
each other.
In the years agone
Little girl killed in 1878
Behirtd the Scenes
THE SCARIEST GANG IN TOWN`— This group of sCarry-looking devils, Seaforth Public Schpol with witchy looking teacher June Boussey. More
ghosts and goblins were cleverly disguised kindergarten pupils at photos inside the Expositor. (Expositor Photo)
by Keith Roulston
Jokes and speakers
the Dundas Cotton Mill.
Ed.. Whittaker of Roxboro headed the
,) honor list in the third farm at the Collegiate
Inistitute. He is only 12 years old and is the
youngest pupil in the school.
The auction sale on the farm of James
Paterson, on the London road was very
successful. A 5 year old mare brought
$298.00; a 2 year old. $132.00 and a
yearling $115.00. The hammer was wielded.
by Thos. 'Brown of Seaforth.
The brick work on the new blacksMith
shop is now completed and it will be-ready
for occupancy in a few weeks. • While John Britton was picking. apples
he fell from a' ladder 'to the .ground, 'a
.distance of ,about 15 feet.
Mr. Louis Walker has disposed of his 100
acre farm in Usborne Twp. to Joseph Wren
for the sum 0154,500.00.
OCTOBER 28, 1928
The potato blight at Manley, has caused
.extensive damage to the .crop. which is
rotting. fasts
Mr. and Mrs. Thos'f Purcell have left for
Midland where Mr. Purcell will be on his
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
C
Walking preachers
Whoever heard of preachers walking for a-
living?
I have--just last week.
Here all along I thought they liked to talk
more than walk, t thought they'd choose
altar candles over walking sandals. Or black
suits over hiking boots.
But not so. Monkton's . Rev. Michael
Boulger •took to the, road last Thursday
miming from downtown- Toronto And the
United L hutch headquarters at St. Clair
Avenue and Yonge Street.
Two and a half days later he arrived
home--on schedule--as planned-walking the
hundred miles to his home parish.
Of course, Michael Boulger didn't do all
this because 'he likes the idea of Part-
icipaction--that effort to get all the fat and
sat Canadians out of their chairs and into
some outdoor exercises, It's not that Mike
doesn't believe in that kind of stuff. He's as'
fit and trim and lean as they come. His
walkathon proved that.
But Mike had other reasons. His United
Church in Monkton just built on an addition.
And Mike wanted to do more than exhort his
flock to pay for it. He gathered up over 100
sponsors-people who pledged altogether
$23.83 per walking mile-an'd they weren't
all United Church peOple either.
There was gold at the end of Bciulger's
walk-52.383 worth of it if he made it. And to -
get Mike off on the right foot, prayers for the
road were said when he ,started off. Along
the way=-on his two overnight stops. friends
or friends of friends picked him up and
whisked him off to their hotnes for a night's
sleep: And true to his walk, Mike insisted
these people take him back to the spot where
they picked him up the day before:
The other walking preacher I talked to last
week wasn't that precise. When he Made his
walking trip-front Nazareth to Bethlehem in
Israel two Christmases ago he didn't insist
on walking every blessed mile. Toth Harpur
and his wife, Mary, made their 100 mile trip
in five days. Tom, religion editer of the
Toronto Star and ,nn Anglican cletgsrman,"
wanted to retrace the journey of Mary and '4
Joseph those many years ago before the
baby was born in Bethlehem.
One evening Tom says, their guide drove
theM the six miles into the kibbutz they were
staving at for the night. But then, when you
think of it. Mary and Joseph didn't, travel six
Hiles off the main road to. get a night's
sleep. They probably stopped off at one of
the many rock caves that surround the
barren desert.
And as 'Mary Harpur said Holiday Inn .:
didn't put up guest houses every twenty
Hiles or so on that rocky road to Bethlehem.
The Harpurs had other reasons in mind for
their trip--different from Mike Boulger's.
They wanted to relive the experience of that
Nazareth couple, breathe in the Holy Land
air, sweat under the day's heat, stumble on
rocks, bathe their feet in water holes, and
grasp the a),ve of mighty mountains and
plunging ravines.
Of course some gold waited their trip's
end too. Toni was 'writing up their
experiences for his newspaper and drawing
up copy for a book he planned to write, A
photographer came along to take pictures.
Tom thought making a journey was a very.
apt metaphor for the Christian life. MI life is
a walk, a trek, a human journey. Didn't
Jesus take his discipleson a walking tour of
Judea and Galilee? Making a, journey is '
basic to human expeirence. It's natural and
very much a part of life.
So maybe it's no wonder a few clergYmen
are to king to the roads. These men could be
.setting a few precedents--precedents
seminaries have never trained their
ministers for; hiking. sore feet and map
orientation.
I can imagine some clergymen shud-
dering. The next time their ehittchet need
more money in the building fund, their
000111Cil will tent hem where to go. Wiih Mike
Boulger as prime eiternplar, they'll tell their
minister to hit the road--the high road of the
marathon walk. WS not only good, for his
health, but for the building •ftind, too.
If ever there was a time when we needed a
few laughs in, this. country now 'would seem
tobe it. The problem is; I'm not sure people
know what's funny anymore.
One of the great' mysteries in -life has
always been What makes people laugh.
There's no hard and fast rule about
humour. Comedy is a matter of instinct
usually; either you've. got it or you haven't.
Unfortunately even those who haven't got it
try to fake their way through often with
e excruciating results. No one without talem
would try to reproduce a painting of one of
the great masters and show it to the public,
but , womehow a lot of people think they
sl'iuld try to imitate Bob Hope as soon as
they stand up to say'something.
One of the things one gets in this business
ofjournalism is a lot of evenings out to cover
banquets .and such. Unfortunately nearly
every banquet comes with after dinner
speakerS many of whom seem to do their
best to ruin the hard work,of the ladies who
prepared the excellent meals in the first
place.
Somewhere along the line a lot of people
decided that if they were going to say "a few'
wards" at a meeting,of any. sort, they had
better add' "a little humour". Unfortunately
too often there is indeed little humour in
what they have to say. You know how it
goes. The speaker gets up and says thank
you for the invitation, remarks then
• says-"That reminds me of a little story."
What reminded him of the little story I've
never yet figured out because 99 time out of
• 100 there is absolutely no connection
between what he was talking about before to
what the story is about. -
Now it's a very traumatic experience
getting up in front of an audience as anyone
who's ever tried it knows. You can ramble on
and get what you have to say said as quickly
aspostible so you can sit down or you can try
to imitate all those good speakers you've
seen over the years. They look so relaxed,
like they're almost enjOying it. They make
the audience enjoy it too, coming up with
witty comments well delivered.
Most of us amateurs want to be like those
old pros but we haven't got .either the
ovetience or the talent to do so. I know the
feeling of terror getting up before people.
,My own urge is to write out the whole speech
before hand then read it off as quickly as
possible all• the time 'looking doWn at the
paper so I won't see anybody out there. But
being conscientious, we °Snotty try to give
that little extra. That means, of course
throwing in that famous "little it of
humour' tb lighten the situation.
But if there's one thing worse than getting
up in front of a Crowd in the first place: it's
giving your little joke and either not having
mole laugh or hearing that hesitant •
nervous little laugh that tells yoti everybody'
just being polite. When that happens, you
want to suddenly develop an instant case of
laryngitis and have to go immediately home
to bed.
A lot of people have come,' up with a
somewhat sure fire answer t4 the whole
mess. They're not going to take a chatite on"
their jokes bombing so they decide to do the
one thing that will always get a response •
from the audience: they tell a slightly off
colour joke...or maybe more than slightly off-
colour. At least half the audience will laugh'
at a dirty joke 'even if they won't laugh at a
clean one. The Other half will go along
because they don't want anybody to think
they didn't get the joke, even if they're
secretly appalled.
Then of course. there's the joke that is
adapted to fit someone prominent in the
audience, often the chairman for the
evening. Half the time, by the time the
tenuous connection between the victim of
the joke and the circumstance of the joke is
explained, I couldn't care less about the rest
of the joke.
And there's the other old standy-by, the
ethnic joke. Some speakers make a habit of
these following a Jewish joke with. an Irish
joke with a Newfie joke with a Paki joke etc.
I guess I'm just too sensitive but they leave
me a little uncomfortable. There's nothing
funnier than' listening to an Irishman tell
jokes on fellow Irishmen, or a Scot on other
Soots of a Jew on his own race, but somehow
they don't seem funny when told by
members outside the race..
You can't really blame people for trying
hard Co be funny and not really knowing
what's -funny anymore. The biggest source
of humour (?) these days is television and
that's enough to make anyone wonder
what's funny. I've sat through some shows
that were supposed to be riotously funny and
found perhaps one good line in a half h our,
But the audience is supposed to be loving it.
That "audience" of course, consists of a
taped laugh track that laughs whenever the
producer of the show wants a laugh. It must
be great to be a writer on one of those shows;
no matter how bad the joke you can always
get a laugh by simply writing instructions in
the' script where the laughs should come.
These tricks of the trade are undermining
our whole sense of humour just when we
*need it most. Laugh tracks should be banned
in television and if people want laughter in
the sound tracks of shows, they should tape
all shows in front of live Audiences. If the
writers and actors can make real , people
laugh then they've earned their money. If
they have to resort to a laugh track then
they're just encouraging non-funny people
to think they can do as good as what they see
on television.
duties running the cement mixer for the
King Construction Co.,They have 10 miles
to do which will keep them busy until the
snow flies.
Mrs. Ray Lawson and MiSs Myrtle
Lawson of Constance, held a miscellaneous
shower at the former's house' in honor of
• Misses Vina Rogerson and Kathleen
' Livingston Whose weddings take place on
Saturday.
Mr'. Stanley Hillen 'of McKillop, under-
went an operation for appendix on Friday. •
MrL Wm. Morrison of Winthrop had the ,
misfortune to get her . Wand hi the electric
wringer, requiring seven stitches to close
the wound.
John Elder, son of Mr. and Mrs. John
Elder of Hensall, who has been with the
General MotorS Corporation of Oshawa,
has been offered- and has accepted the
position of general manager of the new
General Motors plant at Regina.
The fanners in the Hensall area are
taking advantage of every tine dayrto get
up their root crops and garden- stuff.
by Bill Smiley
If you have ever, bought, or borrowed, • a
copy 'of Maclean's magazine., you have
probably been. subjected, in the past 'month
or. so, to the same troatMent . I have, 'a
variation on the Chinese water torture.
-Every second day I have received a card, or a
phony-looking certificate, or a sincere letter,
telling me of the, fabulous bargains in
subscriptions I can receive if I sign up right--
now. .• •
Heck, for only $19.95 ($52.50 at news-
stand), I can receive 70 issues of Mliclean's,
PLUS a 10 per cent guaranteed lifetime
savings, PLUS a full-color 78/79 calendar.
It's a great piece of hucksterism. And with a
good reason. If . you don't get th em
-subscribers, you don't get ads, and ads is
what a magazine gets rich on 3 not, readers.
And I can understand the slight note of
desperation in the mail campaign. The first
few issues of "Canada's Weekly Newsmag-
azine " were not exactly swollen with
advertising. There were six to eight
full-page'ads, mostly liquor and cigarettes, a
few half and quarter-pages. a couple or three
self-promotional pages all this • out of 57
pages total. Not enough money there to pay
for the coffee breaks of about 40-odd editors,
a gaggle of researchers, correspondents.
photograithers and editorial assistants. It is
to tremor with fear. •
Not that is would bother inc for more than
one minute, and a half if Maclean's went
belly up. It's a fat, rich corporation, with
many irons in the fire, most of them highly
profitable. • •
Through a judicious combination of
whining . and poisonous nationalism,
Maclean's managed to convince the Cana-
dian goverment of the necessity to kick out
of the country its only, real competition. Time
magazine and Readers' Digest.
Nor have 1 any reason .to wish the new
weekly newsmagazine ill. I have an old and
honorable association with the magazine and
its sister, buxom with advertising, Chatelaine
The latter has become, from tenuous, wispy
beginnings, about as good a magazine as a
women's magazine can get.
My association with this pair began at a
tender, age,. about 10, when received. a
contract to go out and hustle up subscribers
to either or bOth of these mags. I was a lousy.
salesman then, and Still am, and it was
Depression .year=s, but as I recall. I sold two
subscriptions to Chatelaine and one to
Maclean's, to friends• of my mother.. I
received $1.50 in commissions, and that was
the end 01 a potentially great career in
publishing.
Of course, in those days, a kid didn't have
NOVEMBER 6, 1953
Chilly air, light snow, heralds coming
cold weather. First snow of the season fell.
Enough snow fell to whiten lawns and roof
tops. A Hallowe'en party for the children
was held in Hensall Town Hall sponsored
by the 1.0.0.F. and 'Amber Rebekah
lodges. Over 250 bags of candy were given
to the. children. P.L. McNaughton was
chairman.
Artificial ice for Hensall was endorsed by
the Community Park Board at a meeting in
the Town Hall..
The death occurred in . Seaforth of .
Abigail Jackson, widow of the late Louis C.
Jackson. Mrs. Jackson w an active
member of St. Thomas'Angl an Church.
a chance against the pros.
Maclean's, and other publishing chains,
would send into a small town a highly-
trained team of hustlers to sell subscriptions.
They were fast talking, much like the
encyclopedia salesmen of a couple of
decades later.
They'd hit the town like a hurricane, about
Tuesday, and depart Friday afternoon,
laughing like open drains, with a lot of loot,
leaving behind them a host of housewives
wondering vaguely why they had sighed up
for eight years of Maclean's and sixteen
years of Chatelaine, even though it hadn't
cost them a cent, ha ha.
However, I am willing to let old business
animosities lie. If Maclean's leave me alone,
I'11 do the same for theni.
L et's. take an objective look at their
newsmagazine, the non-pareil, according to
them. It's not bad, really.
There is a strong tendency to be smartass,
as in this opening sentence, "The CBC is the
oldest whore on the block." Somebody
trying to imitate Time magazine's style.
But, on the . Whole, °the mag isn't bad.'
Considering the tribulations of putting Out a
weekly magazine in an age in which
everything is instant dead two minutes after
it's been seen on-TV, there is a fairly good
analysis of provinCial and federal news And
adequate coverage of international new, and
a few good features. One of them is
interesting enough, visually and verbally,
but bears the dreadful cliche "People" as its
heading.
There's a lot of cutesy business of printing
over yellow and purple and orange, which is
juvenile and slightly annoying.
But there is. some first-class writing.
People like Barbara Amiel and Mordecai
Richter and Allan Fotheringham seldom put
a foot wrong. The last of those is an abrasive
columnist from Vancouver who recently
suggested that the Toronto Argonauts and
the Federal Liberals.were utterly interchang-
eable, and that if the Argos backfield were
running the country% nobody would notice
the difference—anice commentary on both.
Perhaps the magazine-is happiest, so far,
in its comments on the arts and entertain-
ment. This is where Canad' is shine; we are
a nation of critics, whether we know
anything about the subject or not.
It is rather weak on sports, but then sports
are awfully dead, except for color stories,
once the hurly-burly's o'er.
On the whole, let's4ive the thing a chance,
for a month or two. But no way am I going
to sign up for 70 issues. How do I get my
money back if I die or they go broke in the
next two weeks.c.
4.% NOVEMBER 8, 1878
The recent wet weather has had a bad
effect upon the roads and they are-tioSvir
about as bad as they can be.
Thos. Kidd has removed his liquor store
to his new premises on Market Street.
The trustees of the Seaforth High School
have engaged a head master for the school
here in the person of C. Clarksome B.A.,
Toronto University.
A melancholy and fatal accident betel a
little daughter of John 'Bowdon of
'Egrnondville. Mrs. Bowden had just lifted
a pot of boiling soap suds and placed it on
the floor. The little girl was running on the
floor when she fell and thq water spilled
over her. She died shortly after that.
NOVEMBER 6, 1903
The House of Refuge Committee of the
County Council met. Mr. McBride. archi-
tect of London. prepared plans for the new
addition. If the council decides to proCeed
with the work ,tenders will likely be asked
for at once.
The Robert Bell Engine works is now
' gettting out a 121 horse power boiler for
St. Columban held a. most successful!
bazaar and bingo recently. The tea room
and luncheon were presided over by Mrs.
Joseph Kale and Mrs. J.F. Murphy.
Messrs. Harold Dodds, A. Gibbings and
John Whyte returned home from a motor
trip 'to the west.
Sugar and Spice
Pushing Macleans
men