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Clinton News-Record, 1973-07-26, Page 4I,--,C4011N11)N NEWS-RECORD, THURSDAY, ADIN .26, 1973 Editorial cornmeal Canada must al;o be oa guard., The Watergate scandal that is curren- tly boiling in the country to our south Points out the many myths and fallacies that have existed for years about the American democratic system and indeed forces us to examine our own fragile constitution, if the British North America Act can be called that. Nearly 200 years ago when the revolutionaries of the new American Republic drafted their. Declaration of In- dependence, they tried to envision the future, but really could have no idea of what the future could hold for their in- fant nation. They thought they had carefully spelled out the terms of reference and limitations of both the Presidency and Congress. They had little idea, however, of the technological advances that have taken place in the last century and even less knowledge of what effect they would have on the American nation. How could they expect to know that the powers they granted the President as Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces would lead to an undeclared war that would cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars while a congress sat nearly helplessly by? How too, could they envision a bureaucracy under a President that would 'be so large and cumbersome that the top man, many times, knows little of what goes on at the bottom? Like the American system, the Canadian democratic system operates under a number of unwritten rules and traditions. Neither the American nor the Canadian constitution mentions anything about political parties, their functions or what limits to be placed on them. Mention whatsoever in the BNA Act un; der what system Canada should be governed, No mention is made of what powers a cabinet should have, where their powers end and where the powers of Parliament take over. The Watergate affair in the United States should serve to remind Canadians that our system of democratic government has no written safeguards that do, to some extent, exist in the American system. Watergate or a much worse situation could happen in Canada. We must, both the public and the press, be on guard at all times no matter who the governing party is or who the prime minister. Watergate has proven, how fragile American democracy really is, and shows that ours is even moreso. Talk is cheap The price of greatness Often Canadians tend to look at their great neighbor south of the border with a tinge of envy. Salaries seem higher, consumer goods and housing cheaper. Canada is a large land, but not a super- power like the United States. Yet the privilege of living in the world's wealthiest nation is also a great one. Crime is just one instance of how much more fortunate Canadian city dwellers are in comparison to their American neighbours. „ A recent poll showed that one person in three living in U.S., big centre-city areas has been the victim of some kind of crime in the past year. And one in five living in the suburbs has been assaulted, burgled or seen property vandalized during the same period. Fear of crime has become a fact of urban and subur- ban life. Prodded both by concern and fear, Americans are spending enormous sums for public and private policies about $8.7 billion annually according to a Rand Corporation study. Of about 800,000 security personnel in the country, only 50 percent are public police. In New York, for instance, private security men outnumber public police 40,000 to 30,000. Canada, with vast open spaces and feriver high-density urban areas, is a ludly country — whose citizens do not - so far, at least - have to cope with the grave problem facing Americans. The Watergate scandal is merely a symptom of a disease that has infected too many segments of the community -- the belief that nothing is quite as important as money. (United Church) Intimations of mortality 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: fin advance) 'Canada, $8.00 per year; U.S.A., $8.50 f JAMES E. FITZGERALD—Editor J. HOWARD AITKEN — General Manager Published every Thursday at the heart of Huron County Clinton, Ontario Population 3,4/5 THE HOME OF RADAR IN CANADA THE When I was young and ignorant and life was forever, nothing bored me more than "old people" talking so much about death. As soon as my Dad received his hometown weekly paper, he would flip to the obituaries- nd read them to my mother, inter- spersing the printed word with comments about the deceased. Often the latter was a distant cousin, or someone father had gone to school with or someone he'd recall where the dead per- son had lived, what he'd done and some of his peculiarities. I couldn't imagine why my mother could be bothered listening, She didn't, of course. She was much too busy bustling around, cooking or sewing or doing a wash. But she preten- ded to, and would drop in the ,occasional comment Or correct him on a -date. Now that I am old and not quite so ignorant and realize the brevity of our stay, I can understand. It wasn't a mor- bidity on my father's part. It was an interest in, and awareness of, the fact that death comes for us all, even for the archbishop. He knew it was closing in on his generation., quietly but relentlesaly, I am not about to start reading obituaries as a regular pre-dinner treat, but I did read three lately, with a sense of almost personal loss, though I didn't know any of the three "involved", if' that's the word. Joe E. Brown. The name means nothing to young people today. But it recalled for 'me Saturday afternoon at the matinee, almost falling out of my seat from laughing at the antics of this great clown. Betty' Grable. She was never much 'of an actretss, but she was a great Hollywood personality, in the days when there were such creatures. Pin-up girl of the western world before the centre-page, all-nude fold-out was dreamed of. Veronica Lake. Fell half in love with her when I saw her first movie. She contrived to look sexy and sinful in the days before bikinis and bra-less bosoms. Brown was an old man. But Grable and Lake were in their fifties, forgotten by the world but not exactly doddering. Each had a distinguishing specialty. Joe E. Brown had a mouth about the size of half a water melon. Grable had legs that inspired an innocent sort of lust at a time when an ugly, exposed navel would have been just that, Lake wore long, blonde hair over one eye. Half the girls in town went around half-blind trying to emulate her hair-do. My feelings of nostalgia were brought to a focus yesterday. My wife and I were at the beach. She was flat out, turning black under the sun, as is her wont. I was sitting up like a gentleman, in a their, carefully covered but Still turning red in exposed areas, as is my wont. Near us on the sand was a young couple, very handsome, with a little boy, very bad. He was bugging the life out of them; kicking sand in their faces; throwing cold water on their hot, dry bodies; running off and having to be fetched; demanding that his father do six things at once. But he was cute - , My wife *etched, then asked nostalgically and tenderly, !Would you like to be young again like that, with the little ones?" I thought carefully for 12 or 13 seconds and replied, "No." I meant it. When I look at my flab, I'd like to be twenty, even ten years younger. When my seed wart is throbbing and my bursitis in the shoulder is burning like acid, I'd like to be thirty years younger. But when I think of the agony and the ecstasy of star- ting all over again, raising those kids, sanity speaks, Days at the beach, sure. But, even though watching them like hawks, the sudden disap- pearance of one, and the fren- zied running up and down, searching, until the child was found playing with a dog, forty feet froM the water. Summer nights in a email town, yes. Until a fouryear-old vanished at bedtime, and the frantic running around the block, calling wildly, knowing there was a deep ditch full of water, and the rage when little Miss was discovered watching TV next door. Notre. Sweating out music festival adjudicators' remarks I can do without, Trying to steer out of drugs and into education I can manage to give up. I think I can even sacrifice Santa Claus parades and riding with tots on the ferris wheel et the midway. No, I don't want to be young again. It's too hard on a chap. I'm saving what's left for my grandchildren. We'll walk on the beach, and in the woods. And I'll answer, from my pinnacle of ignorance, all 'those impossible questions kids ask. And when I'm stuck, say, 'Go and ask your gran; nie." Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? It's great to be getting old, Well, anyway, older. I wrote the opther day that television may mean an end to the art of conversation, but on second thought I'm wondering if the art isn't pretty well prone already. Take away those two terrible little words "yeah" and "okay" and a staggering num- ber of people would have their vocabulary crippled. One authority has it that the average citizen Uses no more than 250 words in his dealings with his fellow-man. And dialogue that has a melody or imagination to it has become exclusively the property of the theatre. The voice of today is terse, colorless and cold. People seem reluctant to part with anything more, ."than monosyllables. Yeah, Real nice. That's for sure/Or, again, the meaningless superlatives--wonderful, fan- tastic, terrific. What kind of talk is that? The whole thing is an enigma. Education standards have never been higher. The number of printed words gob- bled up by the public has reached such proportions that whole forests are felled each 10 YEARS AGO July 25, 1963 Preparations for Clinton's Royal Canadian Legion band tattoo are well underway and top talent has been promised by the committee in charge of the program for Friday and Satur- day, August 23 arid 24. Agriculture representative, Don Miles reported on Wed- nesday that "present in- dications are we will have bum- per crops in all 'phases except corn." He noted that Huron had ex- cellent crops this year to what other areas were growing and added that he had never seen beans look better since the much needed rains fell last week, Brussels council was presen- ted with a petition last week asking that the town have a liquor vote in order to get rid of the existing men's beverage rooms in the town. The annual Pioneer Park Rummage sale attracted a large crowd at Bayfield and en- der the capable convenership of Mrs, R.G. Hunter, they raised a total of $319.45. RCAF Clinton did an out- standing job again this year when they donated 484 pints of blood at the clinic at the base. Clinton pushed across one tally in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday to nip Lucknow 4-3 in WOAA softball action. It was the Clinton teares eighth win of the season against seven defeats, Bob Livermore, Bob McDonald, and Bill Craig scored the Clinton runs. 25 YEARS AGO July 22, 1948 Despite wet weather, the elm- ton Lions Street Frolic ,vas a huge success, realizing a het profit of about $1,000. Clinton Citizens Band star- ted proceedings by playing a day to make paper. The illiteracy rate (in spite of television) is almost at zero in Canada. Yet in the face of this, we're a breed of conversational clucks, swaddled in cliches. Baboons in the darkest jungle have a vocabulary no less im- pressive than the kind of familiar noises that pass bet- ween two humans. Any nor- mally gregarious magpie can make the average human seem tongue-tied. Yet here we are with a language to express every shade of emotion, each subtle turn in the affairs of men, the key to a glittering t treasur e of :Nerds 'to project impression, `opiniori,fact.. And we igirere' for the grunt language. Imaginative conversation is generally considered foppish or effeminate. Any modern-day Samuel Johnson would be thought something of a freak. The raconteur with words of fire and quicksilver is a dead pigeon. The cockeyed idea seems to be held pretty generally that a real "he-man" is a type who must ponder and concert in Library Park, Congratulations are exten- ded to Mr. and Mrs. William R. Jowett, Bayfield and Dr. and Mrs. J.S. Evans of Clinton who celebrated their golden wed- ding anniversaries on Tuesday July 20. The firm known for the past two and a half years as Ball Brothers, has now ceased to exist and a new firm bearing the name Ball and Mutch has come into being, Ball Brothers, comprising two brothers, Douglas G. and William N. Ball have suc- cessfully tarried on this hard- ware, furniture and under- taking business, since the retirement in January 1946 of John J. Zapfe. The new partner , William J. Mutch, is no stranger in the business nor in the town of Clinton, having lived here all his life. One News-Record subscriber, Rev. Elisha A. Townsend of Ansiang Hunan, China, sent a $10,000 bank note along with a cheque to renew his subscrip- tion. He says, however, that the editor need not fear he has become suddenly wealthy, as the note is worth less than one American cent. 50 YEARS AGO July 26, 1923 Scorge Van Horne, Thorn, dale, has been appointed CNR agent, succeeding A.O. Pattison who is retiring. A.V. Holloway has purchased the old Fair residence on Whitehead and will do some extensive repairing to it,'He in- tends to move back from Peter. boro in the net too distant feture. Among the new teachers from Clinton this Year are Cecil Matheson, and Misses Amy Hellyar, Gertrude Fowler, Zetta Merrier and Gertrude Wallace. The firemen were called out on Sunday afternoon to a roof fire at the home of E.G. Cour- tice, The fire was quickly brought under control and no damage was done. E. Ward has received a car of Alberta coal. This will be something new for the Stokers to be burning Canadian coal next year, The Doherty piano factory has been very busy lately. Last week a shipment was made to Vancouver via Montreal and the Panama Canal. This is the first time that a Canadian manufacturer has chosen this route for shipping goods. Lock Cree has had his house painted, J.H. Paxman is having his gasoline pumps painted. 75 YEARS AGO July 22, 1898 On Tuesday last, five doctors were present while an operation was performed on the skull of John Baker of the Maitland, who was suffering from paralysis. .A clot of blood was found on the brain, which was presumably the cause of his suffering. Though im- proving, he is still very ii!. Mr. Stewart of Clinton, this faced high-school students and listen to the strangely for- malized jargon. They "rap" without seeming to trade ideas of any depth. The disturbing aspect is that this barren and imitative form of communication seems now to be the rule with older persons, too. Perhaps you, too, have noticed that there's more timidity about expressing an original thought in an original manner. Indeed, the only truly competent conversationalist I know is generally considered a mild eccentric, "a character." He was born a generation too late. The whole trend is to coar- seness and crylitiel TAP fifaV"83inta?tilbVeilti'v4 'Pt) heard that were destroyed in infancy with the parrot phrase of scepticism and derision: "Are you kidding?" What would have happened, I sometimes ask myself, if Dr. Johnson had been interrupted in some high-soaring speech with that popular question? Neither wit nor wisdom could' survive it, then or now. week sold the last half of June make of Summerhill Cheese Factory, to Hodgson Bros, Stratford for 7 1 /2C, It was ship- ped from Blyth Station yester- day. Mr. John Day of the 11th concession of Goderich Town- ship was among the heavy losers in last week's frost. He had 15 acres of buckwheat com- pletely ruined, In the spring, Peter McGregor of Brueefield'iMpor- ted from the Old Country, three fine entire horses; One of the animals died shortly after its arrival at Montreal, and on Wednesday, he suffered the loss of another, a very fine two- year-old colt, He has had a run of hard lack, Work on the Methodist Church in Londesboro is rushing now, five men at work putting in the joist for the first and second floors; bricklayers will resume work this week and go right along without any more delay. Mr. James McKie, the Varna blacksmith, while riding a wheel on Monday last fell and broke his collar bone; it is very unfortunate for Mr. McKie, as he has a big rush of work on hand. ----itve get letters Dear Editor: Dr. John Whiton of Waterloo Lutheran University lectured on the subject of Abortion in Seaforth District High School on May 24th. I'm sure a large crowd attended and felt it was very worth while and .now realize that Abortion ie killing and a Nazi tactic and must be stopped now. Experts in the field of em- bryology (the science dealing with the development of organisms) have established that a new individual human life .starts at conception. Yet the laws of Canada do not keep pace with modern scientific knowledge and reflect the respect for human life that is our heritage. For these reasons, and in view ofe great increase in the number of abortions in Canada in the last three years, I feel that the abortion legislation should be amended in order that full and equal recognition and protection be given to all human life, before birth as well' as after birth. Abortions should not be removed from the Criminal Code. Last year abor'tions cost the Province of Ontario six million dollars. Wouldn't it be more sensible to use this money ($6,000,000) on research and healing the sick instead of mur- dering innocent babies who cannot speak for themselves. Let us stop destruction and seek positive solutions to problems worthy of almost in- finite concern. We can do this by writing to our members of parliament and express our views in this terrible issue of abortion. Please write to your Provin- cial Member of Parliament, Queens Park, Toronto, your Federal Member of Parliament, House of Commons, Ottawa, Prime Minister Trudeau, House of Commons, Ottawa, Honorable Otto Lang, Justice Minister, House of Commons, Ottawa, and Honorable' Marc Lalonde, Minister of Health, House of Commons, Ottawa} Di. Richard Potter, Healt Min Ora WAIia n Davis and Honorable Dalton Bales, Attorney-General are at Queen's Park, Toronto. Yours sincerely, A Concerned Citizen A young Kitchener couple and their two-year old son were asphyxiated in a house trailer by fumes from a charcoal bar- becue on Dominion Day weekend. The tragedy prompts the Ontario Safety League to once again issue the following warning: smoldering charcoal can build up lethal concen- trations of carbon monoxide within minutes. The temptation to pull the barbecue inside in case of rain, or to use it for heating in a tent or trailer during dool weather, is almost overpowering, but then so are the fumes. tieing a barbecue, grill or hibachi in an enclosed or poorly ventilated area is an open invitation for an invisible, odorless, tastele and deadly guest to make a appearance. Tests have shown that i small areas, such as an 8 x 10 S foot kitchen, the carbo monoxide level produced by small charcoal fire surpasse the safe breathing concen tration in a few minutes Following a similar tragedy Washington State last year, in vestigators found that in th 13-foot camping trailer in volved, with a roof vent and louvered window left partl open, the level of carbo monoxide from a chareoa brazier rose to a danger love within 11 minutes. The lesson is clear, states th Ontario Safety League. An form of charcoal burning stov used without a proper chintne should be reserved strictly fo outdoor use. knit his brows in perplexxity 'before producing a word like "Sure" or "Mebbe". Indeed, there's a widespread belief that the use of an adjec- tive is a reflection on a •man's masculinity. Thelvery words of romance have become harsh and any young female would look askance at a lover who voiced the lace-edged sentiment of happier days. • "I dig you big, babe," snarls the modern swain. "You're fan- tastic. How's about it?" "Yeah. Okay." This is all part of the North American tradition that fluency is somehow dangerous. From the time he's old enough to hold a baseball brit t'he exliettett not to disgracediiS hex I by being "sissy". Some' "of the more astute observers of our way of life have suggested that this induces a fear complex which tends to stultify in- dividual expression. This is particularly noticeable with younger people who are more eager to revert to type. It's one of this era's more discouraging experiences to tune in on a bunch of fresh.