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Clinton News-Record, 1974-03-21, Page 4F;litorial Comment, Beef subsidy- wrong. Federal Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan. IS a man who has gained much respect from both the farmer and the consumer in the recent year or so. He .has championed the food producer's pause from one end of the country to the .other. He has said in effect; "You've got to start paving the farmer a decent return for his production, or he won't be there in a few years to supply any food at all." That's why it's so hard to understand his announcement last. Friday that the Federal Government was putting a "tem- porary" subsidy of seven cents on every pound of finished cattle sent to the slaughter house. The immediate effect of the subsidy announcement was to depress theprice paid to• the farmer, making it difficult for him to show any profit and still failingto knock down the price to the consumer in most supermarkets. The real problem lies in the number of cattle coming in from the United States, Some 8,000 came in last week, duty free and cut the price paid for Canadian cat- tle, Normally, only 2,000 finished cattle a week end up in Canadian packing houses, And now the Canadian taxpayer is un- derwriting, to the tune of $15 million dollars, a scheme that has accomplished absolutely. nothing. Prices on Wed- nesday sagged to $45 per hundred- weight for top finished steers, and even with the $7 per hundred-weight subsidy producers are still not breaking even. We suspect that Mr. Whelan was un- der great" pressure to appease both the United States' and the beef producers, while at the same time trying to juggle the consumer to ,keep him happy too. But nobody now, except the U.S., is happy and something must be done now. Police costs will rise A recent story from Toronto recom- mended that most of the proVince's smaller police forces should be eliminated and made into larger regional police forces. The idea is to , combine some 179 smaller forces,. including Clintori's into larger' police units, about 30 or 40, that would supposedly be better able to han- dle the policing much better at a lower cost to the towns. But who's kidding whom. Judging from the cost of running some of the regional police forces now in effect in Ontario,- the cost will skyrocket and somebody has to pay. You guessed it, you and °me, the little old poverty- stricken taxpayer. If Huron County was, made into a regional police zone, how would the force be financed? Would the province pay the shot or would it be assessed on a per capita basis to the towns? If it is the latter, then those who have com- plained that the police costs of Clinton are too high now should wait till they see the bill from the regional force. They'll wish they were back in the good old days when each town had its own force. There hasn't been one single thing, at least not that we can think of, where costs haven't skyrocketed when they were taken over by the province. The throw away generation Our principal product is not progress, it's garbage. A possible slogan for today is' "Be carefUl how you throw it away!" You know what. happens when you cast your detergents on the waters - or dump your sludge in the oceans. All that glitters likely as not litters - especially when you think of pop bottles, beer cans or aluminum foil. Cellophane is a pain when it lies mainly in the lane. It was bad enough when all we had to worry about was what we threw away in the picnic areas or the ditches beside the highways. Now we've got to watch what we throw away in space. It has been reported that a 40-pound chunk of space debris, some metal from a U.S. launched spate probe, crashed to earth. in Cuba and killed a cow. A recent count of orbiting objects was 624 satellites and 2,349 pieces of. debris. Whether it's an ancient jalopy, a piece of tissue stained with lipstick or an old nose cone, you've got to be responsible • discarders. You must learn how to throw things away intelligently. It doesn't mat- ter whether you're an actor throwing away a line, a president throwing away tapes or just an ordinary citizen throwing caution to the winds. (from the United Church). Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley The world can crumble in a week The Jack Scott Column - NI In III IN 1100 DAKEIVES RIME PousH. BST -11415 15 RIDICULOUS: "bh well, it wasn't loaded anyway." A little early From our early files • • • 0 0 • Mentbar, Canadian Community Nawspspw Association alwabw, °Maas Weakly app Awoolatlan A malgamutrd 1924 THE CLINTON NEW ER/I Estolgishvd 1865 THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1881 Published every Thursday at Clinton, Ontario Editor - James E. Fitzgerald General Manor" J. Howard Aitken Second Class Mall oistration no. 01117 HUB OF HURON COUNTY "VIII HOMI Of RADA. ill CAP:A0A" about it. When I was able to bellow outrage, my wife tried to soothe. "It's just to help the young folks out. After all, you can't take it with you." My response: "Who the hell helped us out when we were the 'young folks'? What do you mean 'take it, with you.' There won't be anything left to take. • Besides, I wasn't planning on going just yet, whatever the rest of you had planned for me." That was bad enough. Worse to come. Son Hugh came home to see his beloved parents before embarking on a pilgrimage to Israel. Every time son Hugh comes home, I put both hands on my wallet and brace myself. He's always just 'a little short'. He's prac- tising to be an extortionist, and promises to be one of the great ones. Sure enough. He had saved enough for the return air fare, but needed some bread for eating and sleeping in the Holy Land. I almost said something blasphemous about what he could do with his pilgrimage, promised: We closed the win-s, but bit my lip, reminded him of dows and opened the door, V—iiiirious "loans", and told him At home, things were in everrrI might as well take the money a worse mess, when I struggled 1. and throw it off the end of the back to a modicum of health. dock as give it to him. My family had robbed me blind. AlMost Daughter Kim was home for a visit with fat and saucy Nikov Shen. The visit coincided with 'her birthday. ,My wife, in a state of euphoria and grand- motherly gorrnlessness, gave 'Kim a cheque that made my oyes water, with real salt tears, when I heard the amount, Kim escaped with the biggest ripoff of 1974 before I was strong enough to do anything will draft him into the army for two years." So I told him how much he could have, adding, "That's my first and final offer." He accep- ted with the equanimity for which he is noted. I retired to my sick bed. Lying, there in a fever, I thought I could hear his and his mother's voices going on and on, but I wasn't sure and was too sick to care. Next morning I was told by my wife, with a certain uneasiness, that she had raised the ante a bit. "Just enough so the poor kid doesn't starve." The "poor kid" is twenty-six, and with his abilities as a con artist hasn't the remotest possibility of ever coming within hailing distance of star- vation. With real trepidation I enquired how much. I came very near to having a stroke when I learned she had almost doubled my bid, which I had thought was in trumps. After years of paying interest and mortgages and banks, I had finally got clear, and even had a few bucks ahead. I was looking around for somewhere to invest it, with the hope that I might have a few dollars extra for the odd box of beer when I arrived at the bread-and-water existence level of the old age pension. And there I was, wiped out, practically, in one weak week. Moral. Never have a joint ac- count with your wife. My only consolation was that if I'd invested in something, we'd have had an instant depression, and I'd have lost every nickel, That would be a sure thing, with my luck. A day filled with a promise of spring. ' Winter is crouched, un- decided, under every tree. On the road where a milk truck has passed by, the mud has hardened like set toffee and the thin morning sheets of ice in the shallow dips are shattered windowpanes. The sun in the cloudless sky hasn't the energy to make a decent shadow. But in the clearings it is deceptively warm, and in the early afternoon the earth is steaming, softening, relaxing. The sun is trapped along one side of the woodshed and it is warm there. The blade of the ,double-bitted axe ,is wet„,e, On the other 'Side of the 'Shed a patina of frost still lingers. Summer on one side, winter on the other. Neither quite decided. ' Walking ,about I react to the conflict. The restlessness, the need to be doing something, the 'curious, birdlike sensitivity to the first warm day. And the in- decision, too. Rake the straw away from the bulbs? Or get busy splitting more wood? I sit 10 YEARS AGO March 19, 1964 Considerable mystery surrounds 'an antiquated RCAF practice bomb found Monday afternoon near the CNR tracks just west of Clinton by Hugh Hettema, section foreman. No one can explain how the,, bomb may have 'ended up in . this area or hbw Oangerous the weapon really was. One opinion expressed was that the bomb was the type used by flyers in practice and it was practically harmless, as it emitted only a smoke puff when it landed to show how close air- men were to their intended target. Although an addition is still planned for CHSS for Septem- ber 1965, there appears to be some disagreement as to what the size of the new portion should be. A motion has been carried by the AVC calling for an addition to house -only 350 students; this addition would include four vocational shops, one commercial room, one science laboratory, eight classrooms and a' service area, including another gymnasium and enlarged vocational office, enlarged kitchen and cafeteria. The motion was reported by W. Newcombe to have been passed by a slim majority. Rev. Ronald W. Wenham was inducted as rector of St. Paul's Anglican church in an impressive ceremony Wed- nesday night. Mr. Wenham came to Clinton from St. Steven's Church, Brantford. Ironically, the fireman fur- thest from the blaze which ex- tensively damaged the Holmesville home of' Mr. and Mrs. Dave Colclough Wed- nesday, was the only one to suf. fer any mishap. E, McPherson, veteran member of the Clinton Volunteer Brigade was looking after the portable pump which had been set up in the on the chopping-block on the sunny side of the shed and notice for the first time the new green shoots everywhere. Taut, stiff, stubby, and delicate as a baby's fingers. Yet with a strength of steel, breaking the crust of the soil. The winter's debris is everywhere. Broken branches and twigs from the last gale. Bits of paper and rag. A sled on the steep grade, abandoned where it had completed its last run. Some tinsel from the Christmas tree. The dead tree itself still incredibly green. I. 'light a bonfire and begin raking. The Christmas tree burns With a .fierce crackle and roar. I bnry.the 'pitchy flame in last year's -refuse. The smoke becomes thick, seeping upward, drifting away in the slight breeze. The rake makes a precise pattern in the ground, leaving neatness and order behind, it, the most rewarding of all Work. A half-buried plank, rotting with age, is torn up. There is a pastel-pink worm suddenly exposed, distur- bed from a long sleep. By midafternoon the shat- basement of the home of Mr. and Mrs. H. Williams, to sup- ply water from the cistern. McPherson' was overcome with carbon monoxide and rushed to the Clinton Public Hospital. He suffered no serious effects and was released Thursday. 25' YEARS AGO March 24, 1949 Residents of Clinton and district are studying with a good deal 'of enthusiasm and interest a, plan to erect a com- munity memorial hall and ice arena presumably in Com- munity Park. Estimated cost is $100,000 including artificial ice. The Clinton Public School Board will require a levy of $13,731 from the Town of Clin- ton to carry on for the year 1949. This sum represents an increase of $1,293 over the 1948 levy of $12,438. It is'expected to make little difference in the town tax rate due to the fact that the town's assessment has increased in the mean time. The junior section of the grOup, Clinton Citizen's -Band, under the baton of Frank Strathearn played to an ap- preciative audience at an ex- cellent concert in the Town Hall Sunday evening. A highlight was the playing by the junior bandsmen of two numbers: 7resburg" by Han- del and "Vienna" by Haydn, The only girl member of the band, Sheila Rogers, 11, played most attractively on the clarinet, her test piece at the Kiwanis Music Festival, Toronto. For the first time telephone users in Bayfield area are able to make calls through a central in their own community. Mrs. Malcom Toms, chief operator at the new exchange had help from Miss L. Gale, London, telephone switchboard instruc- tor, during the first few hours after the exchange opened for business. tereil slivers of ice in the dips have melted, but down at the creek winter still clings to the edges. There are jagged edges of ice like bits of a Japanese wind chime. There are spring sounds. The crows settled in the bare branches of an old maple, awk- ward, disorganized fliers, and they croak raucously, ratchet- voiced, at each other. Up in the woods, behind a pale smoky mist, someone is sawing. Patient rhythm of blade biting into green wood, then the silence, the long wait, the brushing crash of a tree coming down. Dog barking. Protest of a clothes line, being, run out down the way. Chickens throatily murmuring to each other as they scratch in the pen, looking up and to the side, as they scratch, then tilting down- ward, bottoms up, to peer at the earth they've scarred. The riveting sound of a woodpecker. A feeling of change. A faint stirring of all green growth shrugging off the stun of win, ter, awakening with a yawn, struggling so daintily yet with 50 YEARS AGO March 20, 1924 Dr. C. Roberts, who has been taking a special course in the Old , Country and Vienna, arrived in town last Friday. He is visiting 'with his wife and baby at the "home of Mrs. Watt, Rattenbury Street. Mr. Isaac Dodd has made the Hospital Association a gift of $500 to, be used for whatever need seems to be most urgent. You are required to have a car license for 1924, A.C. Smith is the local issuer and is ready to give you prompt service, The Clinton C.I. hockey team beat the Mitchell High School at the Arena on Wednesday night by a score of 5 to 2, Goal scorers for Clinton were Rorke with three, 'and Nediger and Roberton with one each. Goal scorers for Mitchell were Ron- nenberg and Merryfield. Mr. R. Thorne of Mitchell was the referee. A young lad, who carelessly was driving a horse down Main Street, turning at O'Neil's cor- their brute power to break the ropes of winter. There is a fine moment then in the late afternoon when the sun seems burning down. The last hair of the frost behind the shed is gone. The refuse on the bonfire, dried by heat from above and below, flares into life. The smoke-mist in the hills has burned off. Eyerything is warm. The land- scape is caught and held for a few minutes in this glow, as children catch and hold a light in a glas:" Then the sun glides behind the trees. It is as if someone has thumbed a light switch. An immense shadow sweeps across everything. In that very in- stant the breeze quickens, chill and with a bite in it. The tones and highlights are wiped away. It is as if a lamp flaring too high in the chimney has smoked the glass with soot. I lean the rake against the woodshed and walk to the house. It will be a cold night, a night to keep the furnace on. Spring was only a promise--but, oh, what a fine promise it is! ner and going east on the Huron Road very nearly ran down Mrs. H. Peacock. The driver kept on going. 75 YEARS AGO March 22, 1889' $1350 will buy the house and lot owned by Mr. Callender on Huron Street, Clinton. It has hard and soft water and a good stable. Prof. M. Shrieves extracted 12 teeth for Mrs. Dore in less than two minutes and 16 for Mrs, W. Schaefer in less than three minutes. Both of these ladies are from Mitchell. Over 600 teeth were extracted in Mitchell in six days. Over 500 in Listowel in four days. Over 400 teeth were extracted in Stratford in three days. Miss Donovan, of Seaforth had 11 teeth extracted in a minute and a half. Inspector J.C. Hodgson who recently paid a visit to the Clin- ton Collegiate Institute reports as follows - "I have the honour to report of this Institute that it fulfils the requirement of the regulations in all respects. jpwipmm.mmp g we et letters Flowers Dear Editor: • What should we do with the Toivn Hall? Leave the town hall as it now stands for another five years when regional government and a centralized police force takes over, then raze the building and make the site into a flower garden. C.W. Fee, 343 Victoria St., Clinton congratulated Dear Editor: As a homeowner in my adop- ted Town of Clinton, I am keenly interested in the vital question of what is to be done with the old Town Hall. Part of the answer will come from the report of the engineering firm of James F. MacLaren, but in the long run, it is the enthusiasm ideas and labors of Clintonians which will supply , the nutrients for the growth of this idea. The News- Record is to be congratulated for opening a forum in which opinions can be expressed and in turn, generate the en- thusiasm such a large under taking must have to succeed. To this end, perhaps Town Council could learn something from the experience of Kingston's Council, who recen- tly restored their old City Hall as part of their tercentenury (300 years) celebrations. Un- forseen problems kept cropping up, such as hidden structural problems as old materials crumpled when any attempt was made to alter or re-enforce them. Kingston found that the old building needed to be prac- tically torn down in order to restore it. And the cost moun- ted, over original estimates, to staggering heights. The Clinton Town Hall seems to be a special case, as the building appears to be past 'saving; Perhaps:Lthe-- ,front facinpand bell ,tower.'could be saved, but this is assuming that the space at the rear is adequate for the anticipated new building structure. Maybe a new site is the answer. Whatever the final decision, it will need the enthusiastic support' of all Clinton citizens. The same enthusiasm, spirit and foresight which bust from the citizens in 1966, and climaxed in the beautiful com- munity centre and recreation complex. Yours truly John Jordan Kingston, Ontario sound Dear Editor: If the old town hall is made structurally sound then the up- stairs could be used for council meeting, court, etc. and the downstairs could be used for of- fices with perhaps the present council chambers going to the Police Dept. and the remainder of space to the Town Clerk and his staff, or vice versa. Maybe then, even the old- time square dances that used to take place there (upstairs) and were enjoyed by everyone, could be held again. Yours truly (Mrs.) C.W. Fee Clinton, News-Record readers Sr. en- couraged to express their opinions in letters to the editor, however, such opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of the News4tepord.' Pseudonyms may be used by letter writers, but no letter will be published unless It can be Yerined *Phone, Just back on the job after a week in bed with the doctor, as the old gag has it. Actually, it was a particularly virulent flu I was in bed with. I was so sure I was going to die that I even cancelled my curling dates. Still weak and shaky, but I'm glad I got back on my feet. When a guy is not on the job, even for, a week, his whole world starts to crumble around him. At school, my students, without my firm hand on the helm, were wallowing in a sea of silliness. They had discovered they could get away with murder with a substitute skipper, and I found it necessary' to flog six of them at the mast and keelhaul a few more to get them herded back into the fo'csle. They're reasonably subdued again, but there is still some friction. Because the sun is 'shining, and it's a few degrees above freezing outside, they want all the windows open. Because I still have a fever and don't want to be in a draught, I want them closed, We corn- His logical reply was that there was still ice on the bay, so it would be a pointless gesture. Left to chew on that, I regained my cool. I thought, "Well, I've given money to some pretty crazy causes in my day. I may as well subsidize this disciple as he walks in, the steps of the Master, or whatever. He looks a bit Jewish with those dark eyes. Maybe he'll lose his papers, as he usually does, and the Israelis