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Clinton News-Record, 1967-07-27, Page 7SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley Buffalowed Bill happy ever afterwards? except the winner. I don't operate that way. I am racked, harrowed, tortured. One day I think I have the winner. My wife agrees. The Jcids don’t Jike it, or I suddenly rernernber a better one that I read last week, and spend two hours searching for it, only to find that jt should have been ip the Stinks’ file, Another day I have every­ thing narrowed down to the TOP TEN. I place them care­ fully on the floor beside my desk. And iriy wife, tidying up while I’m not around, puts them back in with the others, shuffles them, and I have to read the whole ruddy lot again, in the process discovering sev­ eral Which were much better than the TOP TEN. ... My ears are already burning because I can hear the shouts of indignation from right across the nation, when the winner is announced. It will definitely be, for all other en­ trants, the worst column they’ve ever read. Ah, the hell with it. Here I am, an old fighter pilot who dived into the blazing flak at Caen, scared stiff because 199 people are going to think I’m a clod for not picking their col­ umn. Next week, the winning col­ umn will appear in this space, even if I have to write it my­ self and donate the prize to the Stupid English Teachers Asso­ ciation. xNow, here’s what to do. If you want your manuscript back, and have not already in­ dicated so, please write to me at 303 Hugel Ave., Midland, Ontario, and it shall be sent. Then, take Jt to the editor of your local newspaper. Just say, “This column won Honorable Mention in the Smiley-to-Expo Contest.” He’ll print it. If he doesn’t he’s a cad, and you can tell him so, from me. There is some absolutely peruse them for the' eighth . first-rate stuff in the heap, and time, narrowing down to two. And he would make a decision. And everybody would be un- I think I can say, without :ear of contradiction, that I am he stupidest English teacher in Canada if not the whole of North America, I may add that I am the most d under-headed columnist between Vancouver and Marysvijlq, Newfoundland. 1 Why? Aside from the things that naturally spring to minti, it’s this crazy column contest, that’s why. English teachers spend their 'winters muttering and ' cursing into the small hours as they read and mark What are jocosely called essays. At the end of June the intel­ ligent ones begin their holi­ days, or run off with some­ body’s mistress, or get roaring drunk. The stupid one starts a guest-column contest and spends his whole summer mut­ tering and cursings into the small hours, reading columns that make him extremely inse­ cure about his future as a col­ umnist. Well,! guess you know what all this is leading up to, That’s right, chaps, I . still haven’t picked the winner of that fan­ tastic prize of 50 fish. Like a jerk, I didn’t put a deadline on entries, and the damn things are still coming in. But that’s not the problem. They’re all so rotten GOOD. Readers of Sugar and Spice, or at. least a couple of hundred of them, are among the most literate, articulate and witty in the land. How would you like to be asked to judge a beauty con­ test in which every entrant was a rkriockout and also the daughter of one of your best friends? That’s how I feel. A person with some method in his madness would probably sort the entries into groups: Excellent, Very Good, Pretty Good, A Definite Potential, Lousy, Stinks, and so on. Then he would put an elastic band around each group. He would then put aside all except the Excellent. He would CHILD ABUSE in almost every case, it should, be printed. ^back’car^delW "Mattress (lllu»tr»t«d below) Attractive blue rayon damask Micro-Quilt* cover! Quilted to foam over firm Adjusto-Rest* colls assure restful sleep. Crush-proof border won't sag! Reg. price: *89“ slEE?^S04.95 Matching Box Spring extraWntfUNiffihg "George Hees was quoted as saying h$ will be the next Prime Minister of Canada. . If the Liberals are thrown out of office, they will be able to look back aridplace the blame . on Jack Pickersgill, the man responsible for moving Channel 3 closer to Toronto. As we said before, this will interfere with the two Buffalo channels in the Toronto area. Yes George, you could very easily be the next PM. If elec- ted, will the Conservatives move Channel 3 back to Barrie where it belongs? * ♦ ♦ N.H.L, fans will be happy to hear that there will be a total of 22 Wednedsay-night games on the CTV network. Games will originate from Toronto and Montreal. Saturday-night games Will be carried by the CBC and will originate from Toronto only. Batings for Wednesday games will likely be higher than for the Saturday games. ♦ ♦ ♦ BATMAN returns for a third season with a female addition to the cast. You guessed it... Batgirl is the newcomer^ Actress Yvonne Craig will play the role of Barbara Gor. don, Commissioner Gordon’s daughter. She will have purple Batgarb, complete with tights, gold-lined batcaps, and a utility belt full of Batgirl devices. She’ll ride a batgirleycle, complete with Batfins trimmed in white lace, . a gold-frlnged seat and a large gold bow. From the Dynamic Duo to the Terrific Trio! <V V IBwfe J By R. J. Chi Ider hose The abuse of children by their parents is as old as time and the human Tace itself. In this day and age it seems preposterous tlia.t children should have to be protected from those who are supposed to love them most. But it .is true. The problem — as a modern fact - went unnoticed as rec­ ently as ten years ago, It was only six years ago that the identifying term “Battered child syndrome” came into, medical use, It refers to a clinical con­ dition in young children who have received serious physical abuse, generally from a par­ ent or foster parent. It is a significant cause of childhood disability and death, Unfortunately, the syndrome is seldom recognized in time, . Other terms used to des­ cribe maltreatment of children are “abused child”, “gross neglect” (implies starvation), and “cruelty” (resulting in mental and emotional damage). The sadism of parents is Well noted. How many children suffer repeated “falls”? How many people press pillows against a baby’s face? How many babies are left on windowsills in the hope that a plunge will be fatal? Bathtubs are a favorite site for infanticide, People have im­ mersed babies in hoilingwater. And sometimes in ice water followed by confinement in the refrigerator. Starvation is quite common, as is the practice of chaining children to their beds to keep them out of sight and sound of the adults. Who are the child-beaters? They aren’t necessarily from , the lower socio-economic groups. They are as likely to be the wealthy as the poor. ' Social workers move among the poor, and cases of child neglect come to their attention more often. But, psychologists suspect, quite as many cases occur in the better-class dis­ tricts. They just don’t get re­ ported. The more important question seems to be why. The most common factor among people who abuse child­ ren is that they were abused as children by their own parents. Histories of family violence have been traced through three generations. A recurring factor is that of stress. The person who ass­ aults ‘a qhild is under severe strain. It can be an emotional strain, pr a problem related to money, job, debts, But when such an adult at­ tacks a Child in a fit of par- ental rage, it is more than just ' taking but his or her frustra­ tions on the child, To this per­ son the child itself appears to be the cause of the problem, This is why the person who has savagely beaten or even killed a child will often saW to the police or doctor: “It was his own fault. ... he drove me to it.” The physical signs of severe maltreatment are well doc- umented. They include mill, tiple skull and bone fractures, deep bruises, ruptured internal organs, burns, scars and whip cuts for which illogical explan- ations are offered, The child who is psycholog­ ically assaulted is far more difficult to spot, and the chances of legally doing anything about it are nil. No one knows: how many thou­ sands of children are emotion­ ally crippled, mentally warped, retarded, or driven insane. Many survive, with no vis­ ible signs of injury, only to grow up and perpetuate the savagery on their ownchildren. What can be done aboiit.it? Not much. Thus far we have left the problem entirely with social workers and the med­ ical profession. Doctors are in a difficult ’ position. Should a general pract­ itioner ask parents to pay for skeletal x-rays of a child which can serve as evidence for the police to use against the par­ ents.? Understandably - too, the doctor is nervous about involve-• ment i|i epurt appearances, ad­ verse publicity, and possible legal actions taken against him for false accusation, This is true for all of us, We strive for non-involvement. Yet the welfare of children is a moral responsibility shared by society as a whole. A few things seem obvious: -r early detection will remain the crucial step in protection of the child; - reporting cases to the cor­ rect authorities won’t neces­ sarily protect the child; in fact, it will- probably increase the danger of subsequent assault; *- parents of this type’ are so disturbed, or have them, selves been so badly damaged in childhood, that social case work alone,cannot prevent fur­ ther neglect and injury to their children. The enactment of mere leg.- islation is no panacea. It won’t end the mutilation of children. ' But it might help until such time as the’ legal profession develops a better understanding of the factors that cause par­ ental abuse. . Until such time as lawyers have as much regard for the rights of a child to protection against harm as they liaye for * the legal rights of the parents. Meanwhile, in our Imperfect world of today, we can only ask oup hospitals to retain a child who has been severely battered and beaten, or who has suffered more than one attack, until its removal from its home can be arranged, As for the parents who bring their battered child to the hos­ Tagging Smallmouth Fishermen this summer may still find the sport relaxing and rewarding but it could be a bit more too, especially if they reel in a Small Mouth bass, This particular fish is the object of a study being inaugurated at Bale Du Dore in Lake Huron, just north of Douglas Point. These fish are being tagged by the Great Lakes Institute which is endeavouring to de­ termine how many Small Mouth bass there are for anglers to catch and the migratory habits of this particular fresh water species. Fishermen in the area who haul in a tagged Small Mouth bass are asked to return the tag and information concern­ ing the location of the catch to the Great Lakes Institute at Underwood. 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