Clinton News-Record, 1973-02-08, Page 4Time to W8 up .
With a by-election scheduled for
Huron on March 15, it brings to mind
that people in Huron have been asked to
go to the polls three times in the last six
months and, in the ease of Clinton, we
will have marked our ballots four times
in half a year,
It's beginning to look like we're elec-
tion crazy around these parts.
But the real point of the matter is that
people have a tendency to get tired and
bored of elections and there is a real
danger that they will fail to turn out at
the polls on March 15, not only because
they are getting apathetic, but because
they might feel that the by-election won't
really mean that much and hence, why
bother
Winter Carnival needs
1973
it is important, then, to stress both to
the various parties to make it a lively
election and to the Huron voters to sit Lip•
and listen to the issues, And there are
plenty of issues, if only the voters knew
it.
The quickness of the election makes it
even more important that issues and
questions be discussed as soon as
possible,
Go to one of the candidates meetings
and ask a question. Regional govern-
ment would be a good question to start
with.
What do each of the parties think
about Will they listen to the voters
and decide for or against it? Is.it really a
good thing?
IJOU
NEWS4MCQRD, THURSDAY., FEBRUARY 8,
Although it looks like the weatherman
thought we were having a Spring Car-
nival instead of a winter Carnival, there
are numerous events lined up that will
go on whether there is snow or not.
This yeds version of the snow frolic ...
sans the snow ... should 'be the biggest
and best ever.
The only way that it can succeed is if
you and everyone in and around Clinton
attend many of the events. Alt hap-
penings need the support of everyone.
Organizers and clubs alike have put a
great deal of time, energy and money
ensuring that Clinton's Winter Carnival
will please not only those in town, but all
those lucky visitors who pass through
town.
Make this the biggest nine days Mil-
ton has ever had. Now, if only someone
would talk to the weatherman, or maybe
they could hire someone to do a snow
dance.
A note for the future
Although it has little direct effect on
the rest of Huron County, the decision of
Charles MacNaughton to fight for reten-
tion of the Atmospheric Environmental
Service station at Goderich rather than
its move to Clinton seems to set a distur-
bing precedent.
There has been considerable
discussion about moving the weather
station to Clinton to the old air base
because of uncertain future of Sky Har-
bour airport in Goderich. But the real
point of interest for the rest of the county
comes in the part where Mr.
MacNaughton's letter says the
designation of Goderich as a growth
centre "suggests the importance of
retaining governmental facilities in this
community, and particularly one
associated with air and water transpor-
tation services".
To the best of our knowledge, this is
the first time the government has ever
admitted that Goderich had been
designated a growth centre. Under the
government's plans for regional govern-
ment, a few towns will be growth centres
where growth will be promoted and the
rest will not and development will, ap-
parently, be discouraged.
It appears that the government also
can change the rules of the game
whenever it wants. In the past when
smaller towns like Clinton and Blyth lost
an industry the government said sorry
fellow it just wasn't economical. Here
however, we have a case where it would
be much more economical for the
weather station to move to buildings
already constructed than to have to
build one, and the government is trying
its darndest to halt the move.
Clinton area municipal officials might
also be a little put out on the subject,
When they were trying to get the provin-
cial government to take over the air
base a year or so ago, Mr. MacNaughton
made lots of promises but came up with
no action. Now, he is personally step-
ping in to help keep a facility out of the
base.
It also brings up the question of why
Goderich has been chosen as a growth
centre. The thinking behind the growth
centre concept is that one town would
grow to provide jobs and services to the
surrounding towns. Under such
reasoning, Goderich would seem a poor
choice, because bounded by the lake on
one side, it has a limited area to serve.
Clinton, Seaforth or Wingham would all
seem to make more sense from the point
of serving a surrounding area.
Not that it matters much to us in Blyth.
We are close enough to both Clinton
and Goderich that we will be served by
growth at either place. Yet it is also
bothersome:to think if our industrial
committee got a line on some new
business or industry to move to Blyth,
the member of parliament and the gover-
nment might step in and say it should go
to Goderich.
And if we can be hurt, think how much
more hurt towns like Seaforth and
Wingham can be, who think of them-
selves as major centres and are far
enough away from Goderich to have
limited benefit from any growth there.
Ali these are the consequences and
possible consequences of this decision
which in itself if not for the reasons
given by Mr. MacNaughton would make
sense. We would agree that, the weather
station would seem to be of more use in
Goderich where there are boats and air-
craft that need it. We're just worried
about the effects of Mr. MacNaughton's
reasoning on the rest of us.
Blyth Standards
"Why didn't you think of that BEFORE you put your equipment on?"
•
Ride 'em Ivan
Zombies, teeth and black teeth
Amalgamated THE HURON NEWS-RECORD
Established 1865 1924 Established 1881 •
Clinton News-Record
A member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association,
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau,
of Circulation (ARC)
THE CLINTON ,NEW ERA
Second class mail
registration number — 0817
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (in advance)
tanacia, $8.00 per year; U.S.A„ $9,50
JAMES E. FITZGERALD—Editor
J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager
Published every Thursday ,at
the heart of Huron County'
Clinton, Ontario
Population 3,47$
THE ROME
OF RADAR
IN CANADA
Some random shots and
shafts this week. Today we
were missing some 400 students
from among 1400 at school.
That's about double for this
time of year. It's the 'flu. I've
never seen so many kids and
teachers dragging around as
though they were not long for
this world.
Croaking, sweating, dull gray
in colour, they are like so many
zombies, Why don't they all
stay in bed? Well, I have a
theory about that. Bed is
boring, unless you are engaged
in sleeping, or some other
pleasurable occupation,
Dental Health Week is upon
us, and I can't avoid the feeling
that the cruel month of
February is the logical time for
it.
I have considered dentists as
honorable, but mortal enemies
since I was a kid, As a
teenager, When my teeth had
the consistency of cheese, every
visit was a traumatic ex-
perience. Crawl into the chair,
wishing the dentist would have
a heart-attack or something
before you did, Clutch the arms
in a death-grip. Open the
mouth and prepare to render
up your soul. Mutter "Aggh,
Glug." as he asked stupid
questions about what grade you
Were in this year.
My attitude to the man in the
White coat didn't change in the
service. Just before I was ship-
ped overseas, I had 14 fillings
in one afternoon. No
anaesthetic. The maniac who
did me filled about six canyons,
then stuffed my cheeks with
cotton and went into the next
room for afternoon tea. I could
hear the teaspoons tinkling and
the heartless swine exchanging
jests with the nurse as I lay
there quivering like a trout just
pulled out of the water.
It's not so bad with the new,
"painless" drills. But there
isn't much to work on any
more. I break a piece off a
tooth, go to the dentist and
whine, "Couldn't you just build
that up one more time, Doc?"
It's rather like handing a
man a single brick, and asking
hire to construct a high-rise
with it.
However, young Jane
Almond of` Meaford thinks den-
tists are pretty fine fellows. She
has won a prize and a plaque
from them for a poster, chosen
the best for Dental Health
Week. Jane designed the poster
in Grade 5, and she's now only
twelve,
And come to think of it, den-
tists deserve a decent living
and some recognition, They are
far more interested in saving
your teeth than pulling them,
And ahy man who spends a lot
of' time looking into Mouths
like mine can't be all bad.
And an Ontario reader who
hails from Wrexham, North
Wales, wrote after I mentioned
that town in a recent column, I
spent a dreary winter there
during the war. Edward J.
Jones wants to know if I wish
any old contacts looked up or
have any anecdotes for the
Wrexham Leader,
Please, Mr. Jones. I am a
happily married man. Any old
contacts would be strictly out
of the picture, As for anecdotes
well.
You might mention the night
they cancelled night-flying, the
abomination of fighter pilots,
because of fog. We were so
overjoyed, both instructors and
students, that quite a
celebration developed.
It began with hurling empty
pint beer-mugs at the clock on
the mantel. When we ran out of
mugs and clock, another game
began. This was an old R.A.F.
favourite.
The hero takes off shoes and
socks, lies down on his back
and blackens the soles of his
feet in the cold fireplace, He
then makes footprints up the
wall, as high as he can reach,
He blackens feet again, gets up
on a chair and makes further
footprints, higher up, This con-
tinues until he is held up to the
ceiling by some mates standing
atop a table. When it's
Just when a fellow gets
around to thinking that maybe
we can have world peace, after
all, some darn fool on one or
the other side makes an an-
nouncement that shatters the
dream.
This time it's one. Dr. Nicol
Ozeretsky, a Soviet psychiatrist
who recently took a long look
at our western, capitalist way
of life and went home mut-
tering about cowboy pictures.
Dr. Ozeretsky, it seems, had ex-
posed himself to a horse opera
in a Toronto cinema and didn't
think much of it.
"This movie did not touch
me emotionally," he told a
Pravda interviewer.
"Everybody —;in" the" pietiuTe'
seemed to be shouting,
shooting, yelling and singing'at
the same time. The plot lacked
purpose. The main characters
were obviously trivial people
and they were concerned with
' personal and unimportant mat-
ters. Such a picture would have'
absolutely no appeal for a
Russian audience."
So once more we're reminded
of that awful chasm betlkeen
our world and theirs, and the
doctrine of peaceful co-
existence seems a hollow hope.
People who can't agree on
cowboy pictures are sure as
shootin' never going to agree
on more cosmic matters. A man
incapable of understanding the
motivations of the hero in a
western is naturally a man to
be viewed with suspicion for
he's a man with a different set
of values.
finished, it looks exactly as
though someone has taken a
run at the wall, gone right up
it, across the ceiling and down
the other side.
It was hilarious. We topped
this off with a game of rugger
in the mess. And by the time
this ended, it was a mess in-
deed.
For some reason, the C.O.
was not amused, when he sur-
veyed the mess in the morning.
Surly old coot. It cost about
twenty of us ten quid each to
redecorate the officers' mess.
Ah, dear. Nowadays they'd
call it flagrant vandalism, and
sock the taxpayer for the
damages. In those days, it was
high spirits, and we paid the
shot ourselves.
Or, Mr. Jones, you might
mention that Wrexham had
one of the best hockey teams in
England. We were about eighty
per cent Canadian, with several
hockey players of Jr. A, calibre.
Our C.O., an Englishman, had
lived in Canada and loved the
game. We won every game, ex-
cept the crucial last one. Our
goalie hit the ice with about
twelve pints of bitter in him.
He was outstanding. Every
time the opposing team shot,
he'd stop two of the three pucks
he saw, but miss the third,
Score, 14-2,
And a happy Valentine's Day
to all.
Fortunately, I don't take
anything that psychiatrists say
too seriously and I nourish the
hope that Ivan, himself, given
the opportunity, might be a fan
of the horse opera.
I was going to say that
things might have been dif- -
ferent if Dr. Ozeretsky had been
accompanied by an interpreter,
but he would need more than
that. He would need a student
of the cowboy movie and,
hurling modesty aside, I've no
hesitation in nominating
myself.
It is an acquired taste and I
have acquired it. So I could
have told Dr. Ozeretsky that
what he referred,- to, as
"shouting, shooting, yelling and
singing" is, in fact, an art form
as rigid as opera, as stylized as
the sabre dance. From the
opening scene (long shot, lone
rider seen approaching through
the sage brush) it is all predic-
table choreography.
The Chase, the First Fight,
the Second Fight, ' the Un-
masking of the Bad Guy, the
Discovery of the Hidden Mine
—'these are all merely
variations on a theme.
10 YEARS AGO
Thurs, Feb 7, 1963
Trustees of the Police Village
of Bayfield are this week
calling for tenders from men in-
terested in filling the position
of constable, tractor operator
and general maintenance man
for the village.
Tenders will close on
February 15. Stanley Stephen-
son, who has been employed in
this position since last winter,
will complete the month of
February.
* * *
The future of Clinton's
Spring Fair ' came up for a
lengthy discussion at the an-
nual meeting of the Huron Cen-
tral Agricultural Society,
Saturday, but the final decision
will be left to the directors who
will meet Monday night in the
Agricultural office.
15 YEARS AGO
Thurs., Feb. 6, 1958
Blyth Village is soon to have
a kindergarten class. In fact we
believe the first class for 17
children was to have opened
last Monday. Location is in one
of the rooms on the ground
floor of the public school. In
renovating the place, workmen
came upon a cache of five
straps which must have been
hidden year ago by slipping
them down through• a crack bet-
ween the wooden blackboard
and the wall. It Must have been
years ago, for Bert Gray, now
principal of Clinton Public
School, claims that he never
lost a strap while he was there
and Bert was principal at Blyth
for 22 years.
**r
Barbara Durst, daughter of
Mr, and Mrs, Milford Durst,
Isaac Street, placed first in the
class . of student nurses whet
were presented with their caps
Getting the Drop on the
Other Guy, for example, is pure
terpsichore. Any alert child
knows that when The Hero
breaks into the hideout cabin
and gets the drop on the bad
guys there'll just naturally be
one bad guy who will sneak up
from behind and get the drop
on him. Anything else would be
unthinkable. In fact there
wouldn't be any picture.
The whole pavanne is
executed in an almost austere
manner. A considerable num-
ber of violent deaths may be ex-
pected, but everyone succumbs
cleanly and swiftly. Hero and
villain are cast for easy
recognition just as checkers are
painted in contrasting colors.
The whole shebang is an exer-
cise in discipline.
Dr. Ozeretsky is farthest off
base when he assumes that
these are trivial people concer-
ned with personal and unim-
portant matters. They are con-
cerned with right and wrong,
good and evil. The approach
may be dissimilar to that of
Tolstoy or Chekhov, The
message is the same.
The cowboy fable endures for
at a recent ceremony at Kit-
chener-Waterloo Hospital.
The Commercial Hotel is
being converted into seven
apartments, each with three
rooms and a private bath,
Business as the Commercial
Hotel, will be resumed later, at
the old Public School Building.
25 YEARS AGO
THURS„ Feb. 5, 1948
Hector Kingswell led Young
Progressive Conservative
Association.
* * *
Leonard Caldwell was
named road superintendent of
the Township of Hullet.
* *
Town council is to survey
purchase of a new fire truck.
Several salary increases for of-
ficials were proposed.
*
An attraction for several
Clintonites, recently, has been
the unusual ice bridge at
Niagara Falls. This natural
phenomena attracts thousands
of tourists each• year. Mr. and
Mrs. M.J. Wakfer and Mr. and
Mrs. V.O. Spiller and their
families motored to Niagara
Falls on Sunday to see the ice
bridge.
IMMINN.1111•111•1111...
this reason. As characters they
may lack verisimilitude. But
their deeds are as solidly
moralistic as any character in
Aesop.
The one-dimensional hero
demonstrates the triumph of
wholesomeness, dignity,
honesty, even abstinence. The
cardboard villain demonstrates
the inevitable defeat of double-
dealing, avarice, booze and
being unkind to your mother.
We do not cheer ,the hard-
riding hero. We cheer his purity
of spirit.
Personally, I don't think
these values are much different
on the steppes of Russia than
they are in the foothills of
Alberta or Montana. A small
boy from Moscow, with or
without an interpreter, would
have just as much an under-
standing of the invincibility' of
the cowboy hero as the small
boy in Moose Jaw.
And — who knows? —
perhaps if we had a little of
that cowboy movie simplicity in
our international affairs we
might all find the hidden mine
of world peace.
40 YEARS AGO
Thurs., Feb. 9, 1933
Mayor N.W. and Mrs.
Trewartha entertained the
members of the town council
and town officials to an 'oyster
supper after the council
meeting.
Canadian National round
trip bargain fares to Windsor
and Detroit: $3.50. The attrac-
tion: NHL hockey, Detroit
"Red Wings" vs Boston
"Bruins".
An unusually mild spell has
created problems with area
residents, Many have reported
floodings of basements and in
one case with water six inches
deep.
55 YEARS AGO
Thurs., Feb. 7, 1918
It is the patriotic duty of
every person to assist the fuel
controller in his efforts to con-
serve the coal supply. Stores
will be closed Saturday and
Monday and all shoppers are
urged to bear this in mind.
* *
The minstrel show and .play
, put on by the Young Ladies
Patriotic Auxiliary was a suc-
cess, as everything undertaken
by these young ladies seems to
be.
ive get
letters.>
False
Dear Editor;
The opening paragraph in my
letter of January 11 read as
follows: "If the point of
Winifred V. Switzer's letter of
January 4 was to prove that
Jesus IS God, her choice of
Scriptures was unfortunate, to
say the least."
Now, in your issue of
February 1, she comes up with;
"How dare he say that any
scripture was unfortunate, to
say the least." Is not this a
classic example of taking words
out of context to try to prove a
point?
Any intelligent reader can
understand that it was "her
choice" that I said was unfor-
tunate. However, your make up
man deleted the words "was to
prove that Jesus IS God" from
the printed letter appearing
January 11, making my letter
seem as "pointless" as the let-
ter I referred to.
At present I can see no point
in trying to answer Winifred V.
Switzer since her whole
argument was based on a false
premise.
Sincerely yours
C.F, Barney,
Clinton
Thanks
Dedr Editor:
May I say a big "thank-you
for doing such a good job of
sending our Clinton News-
Record so promptly. I sure look
forward to having it each week.
It just goes to show you that
there is nothing like having the
"old town paper" to read and
to hear about the good and
friendly people there and a
place that is pretty hard to
beat,
Thank-you sir,
Mrs. Frank Evans,
London, Ontario.
FARMERS MUST BE
INCLUDED IN 'PLANNING
"Farmers must play a key
role in land-use planning,"
says Gordon Hill, Ontario
Federation of Agriculture
president. Headirig the
delegation that presented the
OFA's annual brief to the On-
tario. cabinet, last week Hill
stressed that land-use planning
is primarily planning the future
use of farm land.
The OFA asked the Ontario
government to commit itself to
a longterm land-use plan for all
of Ontario. "Planning on a
piecemeal basis is dangerous,
and runs the high risk of being
inequitable when when it
comes time to fit the regions
together," said Hill.
The cabinet was told that
farmers also need a second
commitment—compensation to
farmers for losses due to zoning
or planning. OFA spokesmen
maintained that a farmer must
not be worse off after zoning
than before.
Specifically, the OFA seeks
compensation for loss of
property value if society
re—zones and confiscates the
development rights from the
farmer's land. Hill explained,
"This is not undeserved gain to
the farmer because he has paid
inflated property tax based on
these development rights, for
many years. British Columbia
has promised such compen-
sation, and land-use planning
will not get the full support of
Ontario's farmers without it,"
Between 1961 and 1966, On-
tario farmland went out of
production at a rate of 3 acres
an hour. This accelerated to 43
acres and hour between 1966
and 1971, "Most of these acres
will never be ploughed again.
This is why we are concerned,
and why we must have these
guarantees from this govern-
ment today."
1