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Clinton News-Record, 1973-03-22, Page 4The old saying "you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time," was made quite clear by the people of Huron last Thursday, In a stunning upset, Huron voters threw out the 30 year Tory rule and sent Jack Riddell to Toronto, There can be many analyses made of the Huron by-election last Thursday, but one thing is perfectly clear: the voters in Huron, and indeed the riding of St. George, are sick and tired of the Ontario Government "couldn't care less policies" . People are sick of the high cost of education, medicare, regional govern- ment, and even the high cost of govern- ment itself. The Big Blue Machine thought they could fool the voters of Huron. They thought it was an easy win, a shot in, a Conservative stronghold that would vote Conservative no matter what. They should have known that you can't fool us that easy. Bill Davis should take this upset to mean the people are challenging his "devil may care" attitude and are tired of being imposed upon and then con- sulted later. There will be many sleepless nights for the PCs for many months to come and they'll try to placate the people, but the fact remains .... the people have spoken and Bill Davis had better start listening. Jack Riddell has negated an ancient Huron saying. "it doesn't matter who the Conservatives run, the people of Huron will vote for him." As for the campaign, the PCs started on top and then slipped as the election day drew near. Their attempt to parachute a candidate into Huron who has lost touch with the people, and who thought he was Charlie MacNaughton's natural successor just didn't go over with the people. Jack Riddell, carrying the Liberal ban- ner, was one of the strongest candidates the Liberals have fielded in Huron in some years. He could identify with the people, he could talk to them,, he could also listen very well. As for the statement attributed to Charlie MacNaughton election night that "the people of Huron will live to regret it", maybe Davis will regret he ever took over leadership of the Tory party. Don't forget Mr. Davis, the whole province will get a chance in two years. 4—CLINTON NEWS-RECORD, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1973 Editorial comment A message for Bill "Very funny just pay the bill, please!" A MMI WITH YOUR 1.MA( OF CoNScIENCE COULD CO TPA IN THIS $1.151tiES5 we gel .. letters Clear and clean the cities In the city of Washington, a regional advisory committee has recommended a program of strict traffic controls that would include a $2-a-day surcharge on commuter parking through the area. This is just one of the many devices ur- ban planners throughout the world are putting forward in an effort to curb the global automobile culture. When you drive through the great metropolitan areas of North American and Europe, you realize that most cars are occupied by exactly one person-- the driver. The waste in oil, metal,rubber, man-hours, human energy and land is absolutely phenomenal. The solution, of course, is to make public transport so attractive that those who today drive to work will find it more convenient to leave their cars at home. For those who don't really need to drive to work,. but who own large cars as a status symbol, the purchase of over- sized automobiles ought to be made so expensive as to become a real deterrent. The inner cities of the world would get a new lease on life if millions abandoned their cars and used their legs more of- ten. The increasing number of cities that are deciding to close various streets to anything but pedestrian traffic are an in- dication of future trends. And yet increasing affluence in the richer countries still will require drastic measures. It may become necessary to charge such high parking fees in down- town areas that bringing the car into the city will become prohibitive. Companies that provide parking for their staffs .either. free on. a subsidized basis, may have to pay an enormous annual tax per car for this privilege. At present, motorists pay fees on toll roads and when they cross certain bridges, The time may come when drivers may have to pay a very high toll if they wish to drive downtown when good public tran- sportation is available. Because some time, somehow, we have to try to clear and clean our cities.(contributed) Those stupid squirrels THE CLINTON NEW ERA 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 (ABC) second class mail registration number — 0817 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (in advance) Canada, $8.00 per year: U.S.A., $9.50 JAMES E. FITZGERALD—Editor .1. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County' Clinton, Ontario Population 3,475 THE HOME OF RADAR IN CANADA This week, some random and rambling thoughts on a variety of topics. A friend and colleague died yesterday, and I'll miss him. He was a free soul, beholden to none, with a mind and a tongue that paid obeisance to no man and no theory. He was ill for a long time, but fought like a demon, and never gave an inch to encroaching death. Since I joined this teaching staff twelve years ago, six men teachers, all in their forties and early fifties, have died. Five of them were World War II veterans. That's a pretty high attrition rate. There are only six W.W. II veterans left on the staff, in- cluding one lady arid one vet of the German army, and we're sort of eyeing each other for signs of sudden deterioration. Guess we should make a pool, winner (last alive) take all. Don't worry, I haven't a morbid bone in my body. I've already had about thirty years more than a lot of my old mates, so life doesn't owe me a thing. Spring is more a time of birth than of death. And did we have evidence this week. Saturday morning, I often grab the chance to sleep in for an extra hour, Last Friday night the temperature went soaring up to about fifty. About four a.m., the word got around among the black squirrels in my attic that spring had arrived, and they went stark, staring, raving mad. All winter, they'd been pretty quiet, with only the occasional Saturday night party complete with drunken fights, screaming females, bawling kids and acorns rattling around like bowling balls on concrete. But this week, they pulled all the stops. I started out of a deep sleep, shouting something about the Yanks invading Canada. My wife was cowering, head under the covers. The males were bellowing like bull moose. The females were chattering like-- well females. The babies were shouting, in unison,'' Hey, Ma.Can we go out? We don't need a coat. We've never seen spring before. What's it like?" And all of them running and jumping and skittering and slithering and scuttling right overhead until it sounded like midnight at the Lumberjacks Ball. This went on until daylight and so did my wife's demands that I do something about it. What would you do? I wasn't going to go up into the attic and take them on single- handed. I was afraid to. They sounded like Genghis Khan and his boys warming up for the raping and razing of a city. There was nothing to do but batten down the hatches and hope that some overzealous lit- tle black rodent did not chew through the ceiling and drop on my wife's head That would have, as they say, torn it. At dawn the wild ululations subsided a little and I peeked out the window, There they Were, goofing about in the back yard, stupidly digging in the snow for acorns, looking par- ticularly ratty with their coats half shed, The oldtimers soon realized with disgust that it was not spring at all, and returned, up the big cedar, flying leap to the vines, scrabble up to the hole and back to the attic for a long snooze. But the little ones were baf- fled, - bewildered and belligerent. They ran around in circles. They sank to their ears in wet snow. They chit- tered indignantly. They couldn't find anything to eat. Had I not heard them talking so often, I'd not have been able to understand. But I had. And I did. I distinctly heard one baby buck squirrel snarling. "What the hell goes on here? We've been sold a bill of goods. THIS is SPRING? Where are the luscious bulbs, the green stuff, the tender shoots? We've been had, brothers. Let's demonstrate." And demonstrate they did, loudly and shrilly, for the next twelve hours, back in the attic, berating their elders. Can't blame them. It must have been a traumatic ex- perience, out of the warm womb of the attic into the bleak reality of a March day. Some of them (I hope) will be scarred for life,psychologically, But I can't kick. They've been fairly quiet since, aside from a lot of mumbling and muttering among the young ones, convinced, like all kids, that their parents betrayed them aoout life. Dang it, I've run out of space. I wanted to mention the two baseball pitchers.who have swapped not only wives but families, present some startling spring poetry, and discuss the abysmal stupidity of the Depar- tment of Education, but there's no room. Why do I let squirrels loom so large in my life? 10 YEARS AGO MARCH 21, 1963 The board of Clinton Public Hospital approved shorter visiting hours and a stricter control on the number of their visitors at their meeting, Tuesday. Times have been shortened by half an hour for both afternoon and evening and only two visitors per patient will be allowed at one time. Sunday, St. Patrick's Day, resulted in rather a harrowing experience for Mr. and Mrs. Hal Hartley, Clinton, while they were looking things over out at their summer cottage. A usually shallow placid stream was dammed up with ice and snow caused by the spring run- off and Hal was attempting to open it up with .a shovel from the bank. "Goldie" their golden retriever decided to investigate, fell in and was sucked under the ice by a terrific current. He didn't come up, so Hal thinking the water would be waist deep, plunged in after him. But he was up to his neck and the weight of fur parka and flight boots was dragging him down. His wife, Erma, plunged in because she thought Hal was being swept away. It all turned out all right, however, and Hal commented that the "luck of the Irish" was with them this day. The CHSS board gave ap- proval last week for a London food service firm to operate the school cafeteria next year. The pirates I liked it better the way it was before the Better Business Bureau put me on their mailing list. I was a trusting sort with a boyish confidence in one and all.If somebody offered me a bargain., why I grabbed it and was grateful. If somebody told me an article cost $9.95, why I just assumed that was what it ought to cost and paid up with a winsome smile. The world of business was a' mystery to me, as it still is, but it all seemed wondrously tidy and efficient and it just never occured to me to question it. Oh, I was a simple one. Then, about a year ago, the Better Business Bureau began sending me a Zeroxed sheet called "General Bulletin," a kind of continuous documen- tary of larceny, petty and grand,thievery,plain and fancy, and fraud, assorted. As a commentary on the human race it makes gloomier reading than Chekhov. In almost no time at all my faith was shattered, my sweet expression changed to one of glowering suspicion, I invested in a Yale lock for my money- belt which I had sewn into my B.V.D.'s and began to view the business world like a Mountie viewing the ten most-wanted criminals. Month after dreary month the Better Business Bureau recounts a saga of forgotten ethics and sharpies fleecing the patsies like you and me, Here, for example, in the latest bulletin, is a poor in- Many varied and interesting booths drew a crowd of over 160 people to the St. Patrick's tea and bazaar held'last Satur- day afternoon at Wesley Willis United Church. The successful afternoon netted the UCW well over $300. Raymond J. Garon, 18, retur- ned to his home in Clinton this week after completing a 10- week course at the National In- stitute of Drycleaning, Silver Spring, Maryland, where he stood third in the class of 20. 15 YEARS AGO MARCH 20, 1958 The Board of Clinton District Collegiate Institute is investigating the matter of an addition to the school building. George Falconer, John Levis and Kenneth McRae, are a committee Of three in charge of the situatiOn. An increase of maximum salary from $3,600 to $4,000 was granted its staff by the Clinton Public School Board meeting last •week. The minimum salary of $2,400 was not changed. Each of the 13 teachers on the staff will receive the annual increase of $200. For the past 24 years, Mr. and Mrs. Percy Weston have operated the little drug store on Main Street, Bayfield. Last November they decided that time had come to retire from this business and so sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Utter. Jack Forrester, Goderich, formerly of Lucknow, has taken over the nocent sap who thought he would have his chimney flues cleaned so he called a firm that advertised the job for just 10 dollars. Oh, the fool! He should have known that nobody does nothin' any more for 10 dollars. And, sure enough, they didn't. Three men spent three-and- a-half days on the job and they billed the mark for a cool $1250. When you get taken these days you get taken good. And here's a dear little lady (I fancy her looking like Whistler's Mother) who also had some chimney trouble. So they quoted her $185 for the job and she thought that was too high and finally she agreed to pay $65. That looked pretty good af- ter the first estimate, didn't it? But then she discovered that her neighbor had exactly the same job done, by a different firm, for just $18.50. These are just two out of hundreds of case histories on the open season against trusting boobs and their over- all effect on me has been a terrible thing. If something goes wrong in our house, • as it does with monotonous regularity, I negotiate with the repair men with all the confidence of a father bargaining with a kid- napper over a ransom. When a fellow fixed my oil furnace the other day, announ- ced that it was just an air-lock and that the charge would be a mere four bucks I whimpered with gratitude, It wasn't the management of the Cities Ser- vice Gas Station which had been previously operated by Mr. Utter. Dale King. A.V.M. Hugh Campbell Public School and Barbara Inder of Clinton Public School were judged the best speakers taking part in the Legion- sponsored public speaking contest held last night in the Legion Hall, Judges were the Rev. Grant Mills, Mrs. J.W. Van Egmond and Mrs. Leroy Poth, Mrs. J.A. Addison com- piled the scores. Official nominations for the riding of Huron were held on Monday in the Legion Hall, with returning officer, J.K. Hunter, Goderich in charge. For the Progressive Conser- vatives, Elston Cardiff was nominated, and for the Liberals, W.G. CoChrance was selected to carry the banner. E. Beecher Menzies, Clinton barriker, was named chairman of the Clinton Liberal Association, to succeed Cree Cook. 25 YEARS AGO MARCH 18, 1948 The Bayfield River "went out" about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday like the crack and roar of guns. The huge cakes of ice broke off and ground each other in the raging torrent. Clinton Citizens Band has elected •George B. Beattie as president for 1948, succeeding Percy Livermore, Bill Hearn is secretary-treasurer; Bill An- drews, librarian, and Charles money. It was the discovery of an honest man. Now, in its latest bulletin, the Bureau has turned to the bigger boys and takes a long, accusing look at prices ("outrageous and fraudulent"), selling methods ("deliberate misrepresentation"), adver- tising ("dishonest") and the state of public confidence (badly shaken.") My eyes got all hard and squinty reading about the system of Regular Prices or "list" prices that are set up by the manufacturers in close collaboration with the mer- chants. It is all a lovely swindle and I will never look again at those great, black advertisements of- fering "bargains" without the urge to cry, "Stop thief!" Johnson chairman of the property committee. Announcement is made by J.W. Counter regarding the New Lumber and Builders' Supplies business which he has opened in the former Thomas Wigginton woodworking shop at the northwest corners of Albert and Princess Sts., Clinton, and more recently operated by Er- nest H. Epps and Mitcheal McAdam. A large crowd attended the minstrel show in Londesboro Community Hall, Friday evening, staged by the Girls' Club of Wesley-Willis United Church, Clinton, and sponsored by the village. Proceeds of this concert are to be used to help buy fire protection for the, village. • 40 YEARS AGO ,MARCH 16, 1933 The play "Jimmy, Be Careful", put on in the town hall a few weeks ago by the young people of Ontario Street church, was repeated on Tuesday evening for local relief benefit, the admission to be either cash or donations of clothing groceries, etc, suitable for relief purposes. After the play the cast were invited by the Home and School Club to Bartliff's dining room, where they had prepared refresh- ments, Mr. Bartliff kindly of- fering the use of the room and providing hot coffee. Sunday evening sing-songs are being held after the evening service by Wesley-Willis people, The Bureau cities the case of blankets tagged at $15.95 which were sold at a so-called reduced price of $8.95 at a nor- mal profit for all concerned, electric cooking utensils ticketed at $36.95 and $49.95 sold at 12 and 15 dollars with, again, a normal profit to the merchant. I keep thinking of that vacuum cleaner my wife had bought for a mere $79 and how, as if by magic, it has been ad- vertised two weeks later at a sensational bargain of $58 and my blood comes nicely to the full boil in no time at all. If there's anything a man hates worse than being robbed it's having his wife robbed. So that's what the Better Business Bureau has done for me and I weep for the days of my innocence. Dear Mr, Fitzgerald. It it our privilege and respon- sibility to bring to your atten- tion to an important article in the enclosed "Awake"! magazine. This article deals with the atrocities committed against Jehovah's christian witnesses in_ the country of Malawi, We feel that this is vital in- formation for all Government, civic officials and news editors. Thank you for your con- sideration. Yours Sincerely, W.E. Gardiner, Jehovah's Witnesses, Clinton Cong. Dear Editor, I am writing in reply to a false statement on the front page of the Clinton News Record dated Thursday, March 7, 1973. The insinuation to which I object was that there was a lack of interest in public speaking shown by the Hensall area schools. Fact not fantasy is that 126 pupils at Hensall Public School participated in public speaking within the school. One of the senior finalists spoke in the Oral •Coinmunications Festival Competition sponsored by the Ontario Hydro and Ontario Trustee's Association on January 30, 1973 in Mount Carmel. We were prepared for the Legion Competition one full month before that held in Clin- ton. The reason for no public speaking in the Hensall area was not lack of interest but a breakdown in communication between the Legion sponsor and the school. Ron McKay, Principal of Hensall P.S. being held at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Oakes last Sunday evening. Mrs. Oakes con- tributed a vocal solo, and Mr. Morgan Agnew a cornet selec- tion in addition to the choruses. At the C.C.I. Literary Society meeting a short play was presented by the First Form pupils called "Dyspeptic Ogre'. Benson Sutter, Evelyn Lever, Norma Cook and Claire Ken- nedy had the principal parts. The Clinton Kiltie band put on a concert in the town hall on Sunday evening, after the church services. Robert Hale contributed a clarinet solo; Messrs. Rozell, Murch, Perdue and Agnew gave a saxophone selection and Miss Ann Stewart sang a solo., 55 YEARS AGO MARCH 21, 1918 J. Mulholland who has been employed in the pressing room of Jackson Mfg. Co. for some time, is leaving there to go into Langford's automobile repair shop. At the meeting of the Young Ladies Patriotic Auxiliary, the following officers were elected: president, Miss Winnifred O'Neil; first vice-president, Miss Jean Scott; second vice- president, Miss Hattie Cour, tice; secretary, Miss Belle Draper; treasurer, Miss Jennie Robertson. Harry Fremlin has moved from Ontario Street into D. Cantelon's house on Raglan St. 75 YEARS AGO MARCH 18, 1898 Everybody says "This can't be spring - it's too early," but robins and other spring birds are here, and everything in- dicates spring. Something of a modified flood was experienced here on Sunday, and quite a number of people found more water in their cellar than desirable, but no injury par- ticularly was done. Fall wheat is not much above ground, but looks well; the dangerous weather is yet to come. James Young has opened a boot and shoe store at Bayfield; he is a good workman and thoroughly reliable.