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Clinton News-Record, 1974-08-22, Page 4The Jack Scott Column - In MI • "What a sale at the supermarket—ererything was marked down to yesterday's prices," More on boozing ,Ed aorta 'Co rame'ra, Populanto in losing. Human nature, says The .Bowmanville Canadian Statesman, has to be con-., sidered peculiar in many ways.. Look at what has happened since the federal election, David Lewis, the NOP leader who was defeated in his own consitituency and , whose party also lost seats, haS ' achieved much more popularity in newspapers, other media and with people generally than he ever was able to gather at the polling booths. The same holds true for the Progressive Conservative leader, Robert Stanfield. Now, everybody is praising him to the skies publicly for his many sterling characteristics, but they, in large numbers, didn't vote for him or his party. And behind the scenes some of those praising him are working* hard to replace him as soon as possible,.. We always seem to feel sorry for the losers. In newspaper circles it happens Violence anonymous • The whole world seems wrapped in a security blanket of violence—addicted to it. Violence is socially acceptable, nations and individuals believe they profit from it. The troubled, oppressed, disinherited turn to it for solutions. We're surrounded by violence in news broadcasts, TV programs, and theatre screens. In North America people have voted with their fingers their preference for it-24 weekly prime time TV shows :deal with crime--compared with eight shows 10 years ago. It's exciting fantasy which too often turns to grim reality. Last fall after a TV movie showed youths dousing a derelict with gas , and quite often. A citizen may be a no-good burn all through life, but let that person diO and his obituary will be filled with paragraphs of praise and glowing tributes. We always do our utmost to forget the bad qualities and look only upon the good when, giving anyone a send-off into the great beyond. Summing it all up we have come to the conclusion that deep down we are all a ,bunch of sentimental frauds. We don't like to kick anyone when he's down, at least outwardly where anyone can ob- serve our actions. Underneath and over .the back fence we'll cut the guy to rib- bons, but in public not a word will be said or read telling others exactly how we do feel. Maybe it's just as well in the long run. Nobody gets hurt that way and the losers or their supporters can take some solace in keeping the laudatory clipping for posterity.' lighting him afire-,-a woman was in- cinerated under horrifyingly similar cir- cumstances in Boston. Meanwhile, non-violent advocates like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, or the Berrigan brothers are assassinated or jailed for their beliefs. There's no real solution. But just for a :Wild chance why not encourage for- mations of small "Violence Anonymous" groups among world leaders, media executives, philosophers and writers. They could try swearing off addiction to violent solutions slowly, one hour, one day at a time--with the results hopefully sifting down to thO,people. it has worked for other addictions! Summer isn't always fun Summer is a special time for all of Us. For the city dweller, it's hot pavement, cool drinks and vacations time: For the farmer, it o' a time of work, of hoping for rain--or hoping the rain will stop. For children it is the very essence of childhood. For one group of Canadians it is a time of crisis. Every summer the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service runs short of blood. The normal needs go on and there is usually an increase in •the accident rate; this demand for blood and blood products increases. For the volun- teers of Red Cross who recruit donors, summer is a time of bruised dialing fingers as they step-up their efforts. Summer is a time when a great many people leave horrfa; they .move to cot- tages, they go "on aa m'OTq trips, boat trips and airplane trips. Sometimes they simply go to a neigh- bour's backyard, pool. . There is no one home to answer the telephone when the blood donor recruitment volunteer calls. Please share the joys of summer. Before you leave home, drop in at your local blood clinic and make a donation. It will take only half an hour of your time. This small effort on your part can help as many as five people back to health. Blood donors love life. / Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley Those were the days From our early files . • • • • • • Hydro survey , .? shows opinions ) split on plant Although no section of Huron County's population is overwhelmingly in favour of a proposed nuclear power plant near Goderich, recently released results of an Ontario Hydro survey show that urban people are much more positive about the Plant than are rural residents of the county. The survey's, results con- tributed to Ontario Hydro shelving the nuclear plant proposal, Hydro spokesmen said that it was the great split in attitudes towards the plant that influenced them to discon- tinue plans. "It would appear that a majority of 51 pereent of the population (in favour of the plant) would be realtively meaningless in establishing these limits, if the remainder of the population were forced to submit to a project that they viewed as devastating to their life style, culture and/or livelihood," says Ontario Hydro. Many were undecided in all three samples, 30 percent in the urban, 26 in rural and 24 in key respondents. From the urban sample, 50 percent were in favour of the plant. The rural sample showed only 33 percent in favour and key respondents showed 43 per- cent for the plant. "It appears that these segments of each sample poten- tially hold the balance between approval and disapproval of this project," Ontario Hydro said. Fifty-five percent of the people from the urban sample felt that the overall effects of this development would be good while 20 percent felt it would be detrimental. Forty- three percent of the rural and forty-one percent of the key respondents felt the plant would do more harm than good. Almost everyone surveyed agreed that the plant would stimulate industry, with 76 per- cent of the urban sample, 52 • percent of the rural and 61 per- cent of the key respondents in agreement. Although many Huron County residents opposed the plant, there doesn't appear to be any hard feelings as 79 per- • ., cent of the urban sample said they trust Ontario Hydro, as did 50 percent of the rural and 41 percent of the key respon- dents. Very few felt that Hydro has become too powerful although as many as 56 percent of the ur- ban sample alone was un- decided on that question. The survey showed that the publicity on the lack of concern shown by the hydro for the people is not necessarily true as 67' percent of the urban, 50 per- cent of the rural and 54 percent of the key respondents said they believed that hydra is con- cerned. Beauty Aides Avoiding sudden, violent death is the reason usually given for the need to fasten safety belts. But many people seem to have become immune to that appeal. A suggestion for an alternative approach, noted by the Ontario Safety League, is that a more effective appeal might be: "It may save your teeth, nose, cheekbones and chin. Avoid facial disfigurement!" Montaigne ex- pressed a similar thought when he said there was no torture a woman wouldn't undergo to save her beauty. 'PlOws-lesoord raiders are en.' courriged to express. their opinions in letters to the editor, however, such opinions do not necessarily represent the *Onions of the News-Record, Pseudonyms may be used by letter writers, but no letter will be pubNehed union It can be verified by phone. CIPICNA Mambo', Conidian Community Noveopmple MoticintIon Mainber, Onto*, Weedy sow* ilosoolotOon THE HURON NEWS-RECORD Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 TILE CLINTON NEW ERA Established 1865 "MI MOW OF IOWA. IN CANADA" I ill\ 40' 03 HUB Of HURON COUNTY Published every Thursday at Clinton, Ontario Editor - Aimee L Fitzgerald General Maniger, J. Howard Aitken Second Class mall registration no. 0817 • Once upon a time, I really enjoyed shopping in super- markets. My wife hates shopping of any kind. Most women, I believe, rather enjoy it, especially for clothes. She detests it. Therefore, she'd hand me a list as long as a foot, and off I'd go to the supermarket, Walking into that air-conditioning on a sweltering summer day was like going for a cool swim off a red-hot beach. Picking up your empty grocery cart was like getting into a boat to go gishing, or fin- ding an empty cornucopia to fill. Then there was the pleasant, leisurely stroll through the vast maze of goodies, Past the vegetable counter, where the contents were sprayed with water to make them look "gar- den fresh", Poking through the meat counter, with the red light overhead to make the meat look fresher. Along the frozen-food sec: Lion, where I always did some wild impulse buying, like fid- dleheads or fresh shrimp in a gourmet sauce. Into the fruit section, where I'd snatch up a basket of apples that looked as though they came from the Garden of Eden and tasted like wet tissue, Or grab a bag of oranges that looked as though they'd just been plucked off a tree and had about as much juice in them (and a lot more seeds) as a wite:.ied little old lady of 94. Pondering over the cheese counter and selecting a ripe Camembert, forgetting the cheese slices which were on the Tit !MEMO,. A.OGUST 22, 1974 list. Then there were the delight- ful personal encounters. The bowing and stepping back and smiling when you almost ran into a little old lady with her cart, The making friends with sticky babies riding in the baskets. The brief interchange with a . friend and the inevitable, "We must get together one of these days." The polite and friendly clerks who would gallop a quarter- 'mile up and down the aisles to find you one small item you couldn't locate. And finally, a pleasant chit- chat with the cashier, and the cheery willingness of the packers, the boys who put your stuff in bags and then carried it to your car, even in a blizzard, refusing a tip, once, then taking it with thanks. Those were the days. But they're gone. Oh, the same cruddy moodmusic comes over the speakers. The signs and banners are there, more misleading than ever. But by gosh, the price is NOT right, the service is lousy, and the old courtesy and leisureliness is a thing of the past. The vegetables are still hosed down, but now the Customer is being hosed at'well. Fifty cents for a head of lettuce? We now walk past the meat counter with eyes averted, until we come to the hamburg sec- tion and surreptitiously snatch up half a pound. The frozen food department is enough to freeze the blood. In fruit, raspberries at LIAO a pint, bananas that look beautiful at ten midis each, and rot overnight, An on and on. Cheese must be made of angels' milk. Service? You might as well be in the Sahara looking for an oasis as in a supermarket looking for a clerk. There seems to be a big cut- back on staff. Hit for the door with a full shopping cart on a busy Friday or Saturday after- noon and two of the five or' six check-out counters will be closed. You can stand in line for half an hour. The cheery boys who used to do the packing are almost non- existent, and you're lucky if they put the groceries in your cart, let alone take it to your car. The cashiers are as frien- dly as computers. Inside the store, don't turn your back on that sweet little old lady you once exchanged smiles and apologies with. She'll run you down from behind with sixty pounds of groceries, trying to. beat you to that "super-special" on aged turnips. Don't try to make friends with that cute kid riding in the basket, He'll probably throw a half-empty pop can at you, or sling a half-eaten chOcolate bar onto your clean shirt. Oh, dear reader, we are being manipulated by the super- markets. Who do you think is paying for that "free" parking, those fullpage or double-page advertisements, all that fancy paekaging? It is you and it is I, fellow,sucker. I always knew I was being taken in a supermarket. But it Used to be sort of fun. Nbw lea A nightmare, I seem to have gone on at great lengths last week about the perils of over-indulgence, but I've some further thoughts on drinking and I hope you'll hold still for them. I've been thinking, you see, about the time we were working in London and our daughter Judy was 18. She was then, as now, one of the most beautiful women in the world, She had so many young Britons pursuing her, in fact, that I in- stituted a Suitor-of-the-Week Club, tithes payable to me. I liked almost, all these potential sons-in-law for a variety of reasons. Particularly I liked their attitude to .drinking. t—was. the antithesis of the drinking habits and motivations of yoUng North Americans. On this side of the Atlantic young people very often confuse excessive drinking with maturity or even sophistication. It is a strange business, but. there's even considered t..o be something kind of smart or manly about getting zonked. 10 YEARS AGO AUGUST 20, 1964 The oat crop is in at the Varna farm of Mr. and Mrs, Orville Webber and ploughing is under way so a crop of spring grain can be sown. The board of Central Huron Secondary School agreed at a meeting last week to purchase 4.5 acres of farmland adjacent to the present site of the high school for use as athletic fields which is now occupied by a new addition to the school. Not every baby gets the same chance to meet her ancestors as Brenda Hymers had Friday at her grandfather's home. Her mother, Mrs. Maynard Hymers, her grandfather, Edward Layton, her great-grandmother, Mrs. Walter Layton and her great-great-grandmother, Mrs. Helen Dalrymple met for tea. Harvest is still moving slowly as a result of heavy rains during the past week, according to Murray R. Shepherd. Prospects are brightening as a few days without rain are allowing farmers to get back to their harvesting. Due to the severe rains, the quality of the grain will be somewhat reduced. A new bridge across the Bayfield river about two miles north of Varna is rapidly taking shape and is expected to be completed by the end of con- struction season this year, Ellwood Epps will be a guest on the Donald McDonald Spor- tsman's show very shortly. Mrs. Wilfred Coiclough of Clinton took home four prizes from the 24th annual Mary Hastings picnic at Springbank Park, London. 25 YEARS AGO August 25, 1949 Due to several washouts that occurred yesterday Morning on the Bluewater Highway bet4 wean Bayfield And ooderich, Most young men, at any rate, take up boozing in a social way for this reason, to cross the divide that, in much earlier times, was symbolized by swit- ching from short. pants to long. The young Englishmen I ad- mired also had a reason for their drinking habits that. was associated with the desire to be adult. Maturity and sophistication were identified with conservative drinking. A young man who lost control, who might, in our society, be thought of only as particularly daring or rebellious, was bran- ded there as an absolute bird- brain or square who ought, to be banished back to the nur- sery: • _ It.was a matter of masculine pride to drink intelligently and a matter of effeminate shame not, to. I think this attitude is slowly coming into our own society. Most of the young people I know in my own neck of the woods drink much more sen- sibly, certainly, than that, old idiotic gang of mine. There is traffic was detoured from that highway to Clinton and then north or south as the case may be. The annual picnic of the Ladies Orange Benevolent, Association was held at Har- bour Park, Goderich on Satur- day August 6, with members and their families present. The Snell family of Hullett Township have been exhibiting high class sheep at Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, for many years and winning prizes too, This year for the first time in nearly 30 years, Ephrain Snell will not have an exhibit at the big Fair, through pressure of work on the farm. In many cases, the farmers of Huron County are busy har- vesting their second cut hay crop which seems to be of average yield and of excellent quality. Mrs. John A. Sutter of Clin- ton visited her sister, Mrs. W.C. Woody, Toronto, on Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Adam Stewart, Stanley Township, celebrated their golden wedding anniver- sary with the help of many friends and neighbours. 50 YEARS AGO August 21r 1924 The veterans of Huron County held a picnic at Bayfield last Wednesday 13th. It was largely attended. Everyone voted it a decided success. Residents in the north end of town are complaining about groups of cow's which wander in from the county and make inroads on their gardens, Misses Beatty and Miss McDonald have returned and opened up their millinery establishments. Bert Kerr has been nursing an injured thumb during the past week. Cecil Cooper and Henry Sloman Were badly shaken up yesterday when the car in which they were riding collided even a tendency, especially on the part of the young women, to think of the young man who over-indulges as an em- barrassing, old-fashioned corn- ball. I see it as the beginning of a trend that's been assisted, although not enough, by reforms in our liquor laws. You must remember that in the days when we first ,took a drink if, was almost mandatory to buy the 'stuff by the bottle rather -than by the glass. But, of course, we still lag far behind th't British for\ the sim- ple reason that adultilritiking habits„ the model for the children, remairl barbaric. Not long ago ..C.11 an in M-titidri;.liVla' *rik4'.With-'4hV written assurance that. means would be found to tote the guests home if and 'when they became impaired beyond the ability to drive themselves. This is the prevailing attitude, that there's something quaint. or cute about losing your faculties through alcohol. It. is pretty hard to fault, Junior if he aspires to attain that social with a car driven by a Goderich Township boy on the Huron Road. Misses Margaret and Bessie Davies have returned after camping at Bayfield and G.R. Davies has returned, after visiting in Detroit. Harry Shaw has returned af- ter taking a post graduate course in England and while away toured several of the countries on the continent. Miss Bessie Watt has been spending her vacation in Bayfield. - Roy Ball entertained quite a number on Main St. when he put his loud speaker outside his windows and a good radio programme was heard. Miss Annice Bartliff has been visiting in 'Detroit. 75 YEARS AGO August 24, 1899 Mr. R.J. Cliff has bought the Pay residence on High street which has been occupied for some time by Principal Houston who will experience considerable difficulty at the distinction of being the most comical drunk at, the ball. present time in securing anything like so pleasant a place of abode. Harvesting operations will be about finished this week, but not quite a number got through last week. Miss Maud Wiltse returned to Walton the forepart of the week in time to resume charge of her school Monday. She is now early in the last half of her first year's teaching. Apple buyers have been flocking around like bees the past week with as many as seven and eight meeting in the farmer's orchard. The farmers are holding their apples back and will not sell as they expect there will be a big price. Miss Aggie Nairn of Detroit is camping with her brother's family at Piper's Mills. Master Havill of Detroit ac- companied his aunt, Miss Nairn, and is the guest of his grand aunt, Mrs. Mary Morris. Mr. and Mrs. Cook were renewing old acquaintances in Varna this week and are looking hale and hearty. The faint hope see for establishing a code of reasonable sanity among the younger folk is that some of them may react with a certain revulsion to the accepted drinking' habits of their elders. We appear to be rather revolting to them in so many other ways, often legitimately, that this might just come about. My friends in Alcoholics Anonymous have told me that in a great many cases the sons and daughters of truly sick drinkers are inclined to treat liquor with as much caution. as • '.-they' d. treat—,=live knowing how it can swallow its victims whole without so much as a farewell belch. Perhaps the signs I see of more temperate drinking among my young friends are an unconscious rebellion against the milder sickness that we define as "social drinking" and if they are learning that lesson it is the best hope that we have.