Clinton News-Record, 1972-08-24, Page 4"We're in hick — it's full of groceries!"
A killer turned chicken
Ed for Comment
Hager plaulog leapfrog
Publicly these days, Robert Stanfield is
crowing over the fact that a former
Liberal cabinet minister, Paul HeOyer has
joined the ranks of his Conservative
party. It shows, he says, that people are
turning from the Liberals to his party for
leadership,
But is he so happy privately, one
Wonders. Hellyer is a strong man who
says and does what he likes and isn't
adverse to stepping outside party policy.
He did it many times in the Liberal party
and provided a good deal of ammunition.
for Stanfield and his colleagues when
they tried to prove even Trudeau's own
party couldn't stand him.
Heflyer was the man who pushed
through unification of the armed forces, a
policy the conservatives have always
condemned. It was only months ago that
Stanfield said he would split the forces
into three units again. How can all
Hellyer's critics now slap him on the back
and honestly say what a good guy he is?
Much the same goes for his housing
policy which was his major job under
Trudeau and which eventually led to his
split with the Liberals because they
wouldn't adopt his policies. The
Conservatives didn't think much of his
policies either.
Then, there's the fact of what Heflyer is
in himaelf, a Man who wants to be
number one. Most people believe that the
biggest thing leading to Hetlyer's
defection from the Liberals is that he was
still angry at being beaten by Trudeau
and couldn't stand being number two
under the strong leadership of the Prime
Minister. Stanfield's hold on his party is
not as strong as Trudeau's, How will
Heliyer react to these conditions? Will he
be, happy with a less strong hand at the
helm or will he try to push his way to the
captain's cabin?
The addition of Heflyer could make or
break the Conservatives. If he can curb
his bull-in-a-china-shop way of doing
things, then his obvious ability could help
the party, particularly if they should form
the next government. If he continues his
head-strong activities as in the past
couple of years, he could really hurt the
party.— The Blyth Standard.
Smoking is for chinthegs
Cigarette smoking is a major public
health problem in this country. A cause of
chronic bronchitis, emphysema, lung
cancer, heart disease, and other serious
illnesses. More than 300,000 people die
prematurely each year from smoking-
related diseases. How can we combat
this enormous problem?
Our society....says Surgeon General
Jesse Steinfeld — has been
tremendously successful in solving some
public health problems, When no
responsible action was demanded of
citizens. For example, we have purified
our water supplies, banned cyclamates,
prevented sewage for entering our
drinking water, pasteurized our milk,
made certain that meat products did not
transmit trichinosis or tuberculosis, We
immunized our citizens against smallpox,
polio, and measles.
But how about when the responsible
action has to come from people
themselves? When people must exercise
and choose proper diets to avoid obesity
and arteriosclerosis? When they must
restrict alcohol intake? When they should
quit smoking?
Speaking specifically about smoking,
the Surgeon General asks, "What is the
role of government beyond education,
when education doesn't do the job?"
There are almost 45 million Americans
still smoking.
The Surgeon General considered two
possibilities: limiting the amount of tars
and nicotine in cigarettes; and raising'
the cigarette tax, Although the Surgeon
General has not suggested banning the
manufacture and sale orcigarettes, some
prominent health experts have. But the
spectre of prohibition casts a dismal
shadow over this prospect.
Action has already been taken by 29
million ex-smokers, To find out how to
join this group, contact your local
tuberculosis and respiratory disease
association. It's a matter of life and
breath.
Round two, disaster three
'lye get
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.1. HOWARD AITKEN General Manager
Published every Thursday at
the heart of Huron County'
A Clinton, Ontario
Population 3,476
We ROME
OP RADAR
IN CANADA
4--Clifton NeW$-Recort ThursdaY, August 4`i, 197g
There is a movie called
"Suddenly One Summer.",
something like that. This is
more or less the way I feel
towards the end of this one.
For one thing, the weather
has been generally rotten. My
heart has ached for the campers,
the tenters, as temperature
drops, the winds blow, and I
turn up the thermostat on the
furnace. As I write, its more like
late October than August,
But there is nothing much I
can do about that, its happening
to everybody. However,
somebody is definitely out to get
me. I don't know whether its the
Lord, fate, or the devil, But its
too obvious to be merely
coincidental,
It, or they, started with my
car. Almost six months ago, a
gentleman backed into the front
of it. He's a mechanic and
promised to have it fixed, rather
than pay the almost exhorbitant
insurance rate. It is still not
fixed, Not his fault. We made a
date for July 31st and my wife
busted her ankle and in the
confusion, I forgot. But it's still
not fixed.
Next, I was at a public
gathering, where there were a
lot of cars parked. Somebody,
and he was NOT a gentleman,
snuggled up too close to me. The
only calling card he Left was a
deep indentation in my left front
door,
Third. And that was my
wife's fault, not mine, She was
yakking at full steam, somewhat,
like an organ with all the stops
out, It happened at a highway
motel where we'd had lunch,
backed up, knowing there were
no cars there and hit a light
standard that shouldn't have
been there. It was solid brick, It
made a boomerang of my back
bumper. There went another
hundred bucks.
Here's where I'll go along
with Ralph Nader and
company. The bumpers they put
on cars today are not bumpers,
but junkers. A generation ago, a
bumper bumped and didn't give
an inch. The thing that was
bumped gave. Today, they seem
to be a combination of plastic
and spaghetti. I'm convinced
that if you ran into an adult
male hummingbird at 50 miles
per hour you'd lose your $100
deductible on your bumper.
Well, to cut a short story long,
the car is pretty much of a
disaster area. Front grill bashed
in. Chrome strips buckled and
ripped off. Back bumper a
bummer.
Motor still great, but whole
vehicle now in classified ad
section as a "bodyman's
special".
As we all know, accidents
come in three's. Well I had my
three and thought whoever was
out to get me should relax for a
while. Not so,
As I mentioned, my wife
broke her ankle and a week
later I broke my toe. She groans
and bobbles around in a
walking cast. I groan and
hobble around. I never realized
before just how important a big
ton is in the process of
ambulation. Something like a
fish trying to swim with his tail
cut off.
Oh, it's a jolly, lively place
around our house, We should be
out at the beach, doing a fancy
crawl stroke, calling cheerfully
to each other about how terrific
the water is today, Instead,
we're stuck in the house, doing a
fancy ettiwl up and down stairs
and calling baleftilly about such
cheery things as getting the
garbage out, doing the washing,
preparing dinner.
Do you know what happens to
a couple of love birds in a cage
who start getting on each other's
nerves? One of there pecks the
other to death. Then eats him,
or her. Well, I'm pretty tender
and my wife is very tough, so
I'm keeping a close eye on her,
I gave her a big hug the other
day. It's her left ankle, my right
toe, they collided, we both
yelped and there were mutual
recriminations. Next time, I'll
hug her from behind, or
sideways, or something.
But this is all trivia. I await,
cringing, the third accident in
the second series,
And it will probably be on the
phone any minute. I was idiotic
enough to lend my car to
daughter Kim and her husband.
They took off in the poor old
battered brute a couple of hours
ago, for the city, where they
have to apply for student loans,
register for college, find a place
to live, and all such. They both
drive like chimpanzees who've
had three lessons.
They might just make it, But
if they do, my oak tree will snap
in a storm and crash on my
neighbour's roof. Or, get a
hernia carrying out the empty
beverage bottles. Or my wife
will slip on her gimpy leg going
downstairs and break her other
one.
It's not that Pm superstitious,
It's just that I have this
immutable hunch that
Somebody, up there, or down
there, is trying to punish me for
all my past sins, all at once,
And now, if you'll excuse me,
Im going to soak my toe in ice
water and sit, shoulders
hunched, waiting for the next
blow,
As an employer of White
Leghorns I have decided to set
up the world's first pension plan
for hens. This will create a
sensation in the chicken world
with which, to my horror and
surprise, I ani so intimately
acquainted.
Things have not been going
any too well in my hen house.
To begin with, one of the girls
dropped dead a month ago,
although she had been healthy
and happy until the last and,
indeed, laid a splendid egg an
hour before her demise.
As soon as I discovered her
body I hurried to Mr. Evans, the
man who knows all about
chickens, I sometimes suspect
Mr. Evans is sorry he ever said
me the White Leghorns. I am
always pounding on his door at
midnight, a shawl about my
head, asking him to hurry to the
side of my brood. He never does,
though. Mr. Evans, like all
poultrymen, is a fatalist,
Anything can happen to a
chicken, he says, including
dropping dead for no apparent
reason.
Not a week later another
pullet--if, indeed, they still are
10 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 23, 1962
To-morrow is flower show
time in Clinton and all
afternoon and evening from 3
p.m, the exhibits will be on view
in the town hall.
This exhibit is open to
everyone, whether or not a
member of the horticultural
society. Prize lists are available
from Miss Luella Johnston,
president of the society which is
sponsoring the show, or from
Clifford Epps, treasurer.
Generally the most colourful
section of the show are the
gladioli, but the roses are also
lovely.
There are special classes for
public school children.
25 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 21, 1947
Jousting with the weatherman
proved an interesting pastime
for the members of Clinton
Citizens' Band and of the nine
guest bands at the big tattoo
held on the spacious Drill
Square of RCAF Station,
Clinton, Wednesday evening.
Despite lowering skies and
spotty rain drops, the bands
outlasted and played these
nuisances, carrying through
their lengthy program and then
ended the whole thing up with a
huge dance in the Station Drill
Hall to the music of the RCAF'
Dance Band Trenton.
The next sitting of the
Supreme Court Assizes opens at.
the Court House, Goderich, on
September 8, with Mn Justice
Goriest presiding,
40 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 25, 1932
Last Thursday August 18th,
Clinton girls journeyed to
pullets--got out of the hen house
and met what was obviously a
horrible end.
This particular hen (I'll call
them hens from now on) was
always trying to escape and
frequently she did. Whenever
this happened she was chased
by cats and dogs and just
generally had a wretched time
of it. It never daunted her
though. She always wanted to
get out. As Mr. Evans says,
chickens are kind of crazy.
Well, she did get out that
particular night and in the
morning there was an untidy
pile of featb,ers on, the ground.
Coon, Mr. Evans said, with his
cold and eloquent shrug.
Thus my flock was cut to four
and included in this four was a
malingerer, a no-goodnik hen
who just loafed around all day
sneering at the other hens as
they dutifully mounted the nests
and went about their miracle.
Mr. Evans had already
briefed me thoroughly about
"broody" hens and I knew that
now it had happeded to me. My
hen wanted love, love, love.
She's lost all interest in
Palmerston and defeated their
girls 8-6 between drenching
showers which made the
diamond miserable to play on.
But we hope Palmerston will
return the game in the near
future, and we wish to have a
crowd of Rooters out to
encourage the home girls.
The Collegiate Institute will
re-open on September 1, at 9
a.m. for registration and the
Public School will also re-open
September 1.
The members of the Band
wish to acknowledge their
gratefulness to all those who
patronized their garden party
last week,
55 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 23, 1917
A meeting of the Women's
Patriotic Society will be held in
the council chamber on the
afternoon of Tuesday, August
25th, to consider holding a
bazaar sometime in the fall. All
members are requested to
attend.
On Thursday evening of next
week, the Clinton Kilty Band
will hold a grand concert and
garden party in the Recreation
Park. The band will furnish a
good program. There will be
several booths in charge of the
members of the Patriotic Society
with whom the band intends to
divide the proceeds.
We will soon have better
roads in the country now that
most farmers are buying motor
cars.
75 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 25, 1697
garly last Friday morning
some amateur burglar
endeavored to gain entrance by
the rear to Holloway and
mundane production and I was
down to three eggs a day,
maximum.
I felt kind of ashamed to go
again to Mr. Evans (I'd already
been to him that week about a
matter too delicate for the ears
of anyone but a poultryman)
and so I went to Mr. Ormiston,
the Irish old-age pensioner who
lives near us, a man with a
ready answer for everything.
"Kill the bord," Mr. Ormiston
advised, "and have me to
dinner. OI've a bottle of
muscatel of want yez to try."
Mr. Ormiston then gave me
elaborate instructions on the
procedure which boiled down to
cutting the hen's head off. He
made it sound like a lark, as if
we ought to take a picnic lunch
along, and it wasn't until I was
walking back home that I began
to think of it as murder.
' After pacing up and down in
the back yard for an hour I went
to the woodshed, got the hatchet
and walked resolutely out to the
hen house. I fancied I heard a
slow roll of drums, but it was
probably just my temples
throbbing.
Morris's tailoring and
furnishing store, where Mr.
Morris was sleeping. A pane of
glass which had been patched
was evidently pressed in and a
glass goblet inside fell to the
floor and was smashed, the
report of which awakened the
lonely inmate. On the
Dear vlditor:
I attended the ratepayer's
meeting in Hayfield last
Saturday as I thought this
would give me an insight into
the administration here. I have
just retired from the Armed
Forces with close to 28 years
service and I am contemplating
taking up residence in Hayfield.
It appeared to me this
meeting was run very
unparliamentary and the
information that was brought
forward appeared one-sided.
There were, on occasion, points
brought up the explanation of
which left some things to be
The four White Leghorns all
rushed over to the wire netting
to greet me, a scene I'd enjoyed
hitherto and which made me
feel like a gentleman farmer. I
found I was holding the hatchet
behind my back guiltily and
wore a horrible smile on my
face. "Chook, chook, chook," I
said. The hens looked at me
apprehensively, obviously
sensing something sinister.
I sat down on a stump and
watched them for a minute.
They'd been a poor investment,
I realized. What was it my wife
had said? Fifty cents an egg?
Well, perhaps. Still, it was
always a won,derful feeling to
know that they were mine and
certainly my city friends looked
at me with new interest when I
spoke in an offhand way about
"my hens".
I looked then at the guilty hen
and discovered with a start that
her cold glass eyes were on me,
accusingly. "Chook, chook,
chook," I said foolishly. I got up
and walked slowly back to the
woodshed and put the hatchet in
its place. Heck, I was thinking,
I've been in love, myself.
appearance of Mr. Morrish, the
would be burglar disappeared,
There is every appearance that
an attempt was made to the
store of confectioner Witls.
Unless some people change their
way a long-term in the
penitentiary will be their
reward.
desired. At one point in the
meeting a gentleman, whom I
found out was Mr. "Red"
Garon, asked the chairman to
be allowed to give his past
knowledge of the matter at
hand. As Mr. Garon was not a
ratepayer, he was, in my
opinion, very rudely denied the
opportunity to speak, This I felt
was very detrimental to the
meeting. I later found the
chairman's name and was
shocked to find he was a former
military man of a high ranking
commission,
G. Taylor
London,
Dear Editor;
I would like to take
opportunity through your pa
to clarify the position of
family with regard
allegations made before and
the Bayfield RatePaY
Association meeting ha
Saturday, August 19, 1972. 'I
notice calling the meeting st
such that a libel suit could ha
been launched against men*
of the executive, which cout
we chose not Oa take wishing
have harmonious relations w
the village,
We attended the meeti
expecting an apology for t
untrue statements so unjust
made on the notice which w
sent out under the signature
Brigadier G. L. M. Smit
Brigadier Smith was inform
as President of the Associati
of the untruth and inaccuracy
some of the statements on t
notice one week before t
meeting. Had he acted like rl
officer and gentleman, he wou
have at the outset explained
the meeting that the notice w
inaccurate in many particular
I feel that the people t
Hayfield are owed a
explanation of these particulai
and that the reputation of m
family should be cleared of a
the rumour which has arisen a
a result of the notice.
Blue Anchor Investment
Limited has not laid claim to al
the river flats west of Siddals
the Federal Governmen
purchased a good deal of thi
from the previous owner Mr. A
Garon in 1968 as he could hav
explained to the meeting had h
been given the courtesy of
hearing.
The fishermen have ever,
right to store their boats on th;
Federal property, as they do
and they have never been tok
by us that they could not do so
I would like to know who bar
been informed that twig
buildings were to be torn down
Why would any reasonably
association publish surf
nonsence without ever
consulting the persons agains
whom the statements wer(
made.
'There is an 'area of 25 fed
beyond the end of the whar
which is owned by the Federa
Government and so far as w(
know, the public are allowed t(
launch their boats from then
and are doing so every day of
the week.
Our claim to ownership is b3
deed and if our claim is
unfounded it would mean tha
every other ratepayer of tin!
village might well examine his
own deed to see whether In
should expect the public to be it
his backyard.
We are not prepared k
"bulldoze our way into contro
of the village property", al
alleged in the notice. Thi
reverse is the fact; that we hole
the title deeds; the village ha,
no deed to the lands involve(
and by implication the notic
misinformed the ratepayers tha
the property was not ours.
Yours truly
Sine Heroic
Hayfield
Dear Editor:
On Saturday, August 19a
1972, I attended a meeting o
the Hayfield Ratepayers
Association to explain to th
ratepayers many of the fact
that I know about the matter fo
which notice of the meeting ha
been called. Had I been give
the opportunity to speak, I coul
have clarified muc
misinformation to the benefit o
the ratepayers.
I had believed that th
meeting was to be held fo
proper information to be gainer
Because the Chairmar
Brigadier Smith, ruled me out t
order when I requested a
opportunity to speak, I do no
believe that the chairman reall
wanted to have the meetin
informed of the true facts. Thi
may in time prove to be ver
costly to the ratepayers.
"Red" Garo)
Clintor
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Established 1881 •, •
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Established 1865 1824
Clinton News Record