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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1974-08-29, Page 4TODAY'S CHILD BY HELEN ALLEN THE TORONTO -11.1_11\i SYNDICATE Ronny is an alert baby of 14 months with a passion for anything that makes a noise. Happy, responsive Ronny is sturdily built with very dark eyes, light brown hair and fair skin. He has eight teeth whose arrival did not bother him at all. In fact nothing seems to worry Ronny who is normally cheerful and seldom cries. Yet this lovable youngster has a major problem, He was born with spina bifida, an injury at the base of the spine which often results in paralysis of the lower part of the body. He also has hydrocephalus ( abnormal build-up of fluid inside the skull) which is being satisfactorily controlled. Ronny has no movement in his legs but his arms and shoulders are strong and muscular. Ronny has been fitted for leg braces but they are not ready yet. When they come, he will also have a walker and will start on physiotherapy with the object of strengthening his legs. No forecast can yet be made as to whether he will walk. As if this were not enough, Ronny has no bladder or bowel control. Schedules can usually be worked out to handle that problem when a child is older. Ronny is an appealing baby with 'a winning personality, He is affectionate with his foster family and accepts strangers amiably if they will wait for him to make the first advances. Ronny is considered at least average in ability. He is saying a few words and starting to feed himself. He is eating mostly table foods now. Lovable Ronny needs parents who will give him much love, stimulation and excellent physical care. Such special people are invited to write to inquire about adopting Ronny. The address is Today's Child, Ministry of Community and Social Services, Box 888, Station K, Toronto M4P 2H2. For general adoption in- formation, please contact your local Children's Aid Society. HE'S ALWAYS CHEERFUL By TERRI IRVINE It is hard to believe that the summer is over and next week the young people of the area will be returning to their studies. For some it is a relief to be through with dreary summer jobs for which they were expected to put in long grueling hours for minimum pay. This year 1,035 young people will be returning to the local high school but, as usual, a certain number have decided not to return. The decision to drop out of school is a big one for any teenager to make. The lure of a weekly pay check, no matter how small or no matter how much work it takes to get, is a strong one. If they returned to school they would never be able to make the payments on that new car or stereo and would have to spend their evenings with noses in the books rather than enjoying new found luxuries. But, it is often easier to leave school than it is to return. These drop-outs are closing a door that is very hard to reopen. Sure, they say that they will return in a year or so but such good intentions are often forgotten when the next fall rolls around. After each summer any student will find that a certain amount of information must be relearned before continuing on with new things. For the drop-out the problem of returning is heightened by the fact that even more has been forgotten. Regardless of the tales you might have heard that an education is worth Tess and less each year and that a BA in English or Psychology will get you "nowhere", it can certainly be said that it will get you farther than the fellow with a grade eleven educa- tion. Education is a complicated thing and Moving in Closing the door wrong direction there is only so much that can be learned from a teacher standing in front of the class with chalk in hand. A great deal of the learning process in- volves social learning: the patience to put up with something that bores you, the determination to master a task that is sometimes more than you think you can handle and the ability to get along with teachers, administration and classmates with whom you have nothing in common. The education process is changing rapidly and today students are no longer forced to take subjects that bore them just for the sake of credits which are required for higher education or system of departmental exams. When there is so much choice of op- tions and programs, when the five basic subjects that parents had to slave over are all but disappearing in favour of things such as journalism, sociology, politics, and child psychology there seems to be little reason for quitting, The job market is becoming tighter and tighter each year as more of our young peo- ple go on to institutes of higher learning. Not only universities but also community colleges are churning out people who are filling many of the positions that formerly required only some high school education. When BAs are working as store clerks, nursery school teachers, truck drivers and secretaries it is time for the high school drop-out to take a second look at the possibilities open if they decide not to return to school this fall. It is the duty of all parents to en- courage their children to examine their future carefully, to be reasonably sure that the summer job they are keeping full time is the type of employment they will want for the rest of their lives. necessary, the Huron council and Mr Riddell would rather have it extended south into Middlesex instead of east into Perth. This would include McGillivray, Bid- dulph, East and West Williams townships and the towns of Lucan and Parkhill. The provincial riding would then cover an area comparable to the federal one. Party riding associations and voters would find it much simpler if the federal and provincial ridings were as similar as possible. The boundary has worked well for the federal riding so why not make the provincial one the same. The commission is supposed to be mak- ing its proposals on the basis of population. But rural ridings cannot be arranged by numbers alone. They should take into ac- count distances that have to be travelled and the fact that agricultural areas tend to become oriented in directions that -can have little to do with population or county boundaries. Hopefully the commission will take into account the wishes of the ridings and their representatives rather than depen- ding on numbers alone. "Mom's been up there all day muttering 'Just one more week . . . Just one more week . . Questions before the question By JANET ECKER I don't know about you, but we've had a real whizzer of a summer. Just a mad, gay, The Great Gatsby sort of thing. You know what I mean. You've been through it. Loitering by the pool with an extra-dry martini and the golden girls undulating past with so little on that your eyeballs pop out and splinter your sun glasses, Enchanting evenings on the beach, waves lapping, the fire glowing embers, and just the twenty-four of you. Night, and mystery, and romance. (By the way, did you ever try to glow an ember?) It's quite a feat. And speaking of feat, the only lapping I've heard this summer is our abysmally stupid cat lapping the sweat off my feet. He seems to like it — probably has a salt deficiency problem — and I must admit it gives me a strange, perverse thrill. Perhaps by now you realize that in my own far from subtle way, I am suggesting that we've had a bummer of a summer, Times Established 1873 Phone 235-1331 And you are absolutely, without qualification, one hundred and twenty-four percent right. Oh, don't think it's been a complete waste of time. We've aged two years in two months, which is quite a feat. There's that word again. Feet? We haven't just been lying around, watching the grass grow. This would, in any case, be dif- ficult, since it does not grow after about the 20th of June. But the dandelions are pretty, though short-lived, and the wild clover has a certain charm. No. We've been quite active socially. It all started after Commencement, last June. One of the teachers had a party, Teachers, after Com- mencement, are somewhat similar to Magellan's sailors, who, after battling six months to round Cape Horn, find them- selves a Pacific Ocean and a tropical island. It was a good party, as parties go, and they go too long. However, as we say in the game when we don't quite know what Advocate Established 1881 else to say, we accepted a ride home with our resident artist, who came in for some hot chocolate and burned a hole in one of the end-tables as big as your eye when no one was looking, in the process of putting out a cigarette. I think that started the summer on the wrong foot. I seem to have a fetish about foots and feet today but don't let it bother you. Well, to get back to our swinging summer social life, it's been something. We've been to a funeral and a wedding. I've never had so much kissing in my life. While the funeral was sad, in a sense, it was also a family reunion, in another. Nephews and nieces I haven't seen in years. And four of the five Smileys all together at once, for the first time in a couple of decades, The wee Colonel was in Germany. And the wake had a good touch of Irish in it, if you follow me. And the wedding was a pretty good shot, too, even though we discovered the happy couple had Amalgamated 1924 So, we're to settle the issue of Exeter's town hall via the ballot in the December municipal elec- tions! That sounds fair enough, but obviously the big question is just how the matter will be put on the ballot. It's a task that no doubt will result in some interesting debate before it is settled. First of all, council have made an offer on the old post office and if that should be accepted and they move the municipal offices to that location, the town hall issue will be even more clouded. If people want to save the town hall, there must be some ex- pressed purpose to which it can be put before ratepayers, can seriously consider the issue. Saving it merely as a "monument would be foolhardy because it would still require a considerable cash out- lay to repair the building even for that purpose. Obviously, some study must be undertaken with the alternatives kept in mind. Those in favor of saving tlie building should get started novV to come up with some alternate' and feasible uses for the building in view of council's plan to move out. At the same time, they should consider how the building can be put to better use in case council's offer for the post office is turned down. Certainly, council must be in- volved in such deliberations, but the onus is primarily on those who want to save the building to suggest uses for it and give the ratepayers a fairly accurate es- timate of what costs will be in- volved for any uses• which they suggest. In order to get the debate fully underestood by those who will be voting, this discussion must com- mence immediately to afford the proper time period prior to the election. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom been married several hours before, due to some stupid, ridiculous statute. I got to kiss not only the bride, but her four older sisters, all of them former students of mine. And their mother. Also, as it was a Ba-hai wed- ding, quite a few of the guests, ranging from suckling babes to grandmothers, were former students. I like to see them and talk to them. John H. is an artist who gave me, I think, a lucid ex- planation of how he is trying to combine the purely visual, the abstract, and his own con- sciousness. John M., on the other hand, was about to head for the west coast, but someone was trying to talk him into going to Germany instead. Margaret sang some songs that make the ripples go up and down your spine. She has granny glasses and a great grin. Len is a grave-digger. Gets twenty-five bucks a day whether he had to dig a grave or not, He offered me a special deal, on some wasteland behind the cernetery. In September he's off to England to study how to teach in a special school whose theme is Awakeness. We should call our schools Assleepness. Ah! Great to be young, Nonetheless, somebody must carry the blasted torch. I've been swimming twice. I have driven past the golf club once. I've been fishing once and caught three crappies. My wife just broke three ribs. We've been waiting for the roofer for three weeks. Arid tomorrow, we have our third big social occasion of the summer. My daughter and her husband are arriving with twenty retarded adults whome they've been retraining, for a picnic in the back yard. appears to have a good number of supporters to assist him in detailing the alternatives, and hopefully they will give him the support he needs as readily as they provided their signatures. However, it should be emphasized that without proper consideration of the alternatives and the conveying of that infor- mation to the public, the question on the ballot would be a complete hassle. + + + It appears that swimming is still one of the major topics of conversation to which we have been subjected this past week. A member of Grand Bend council (who shall remain nameless other than to mention his first name is Murray) called after learning of our heroic ef- forts in swimming competition to suggest we tackle Lake Huron. However, he had one stipula- tion. The marathon was to start on the Grand Bend shore "in the hope that you'll make it and not be able to get back", With friends such as that, who n'ted'S enemies?' ' " The local Ford dealer, who flips about in his airplane around the district, also mentioned swimming in a conversation this week. On Sunday, he was cavorting about the district and decided to count swimming pools. He said his count wasn't totally ac- curate, but he spotted about 30' pools in Exeter. The Dow subdivision area has the largest number with about nine families sporting pools in which to spend their weekends and not have to battle that heavy traffic heading for the lake shore. Huron St. has six pools, while the others are spotted about the town. Larry reports there are a total of three pools in Zurich, although he had no statistics on other neighboring communities. Pools, of course, are in- 50 Years Ago The students from Exeter High School who will attend normal school this year are: Almer Christie, Carrie Davis, Gertie Francis, Mary Horney, Ruth Lamport and Mildred Rowe. A new sign has been erected at the Central Park by the Exeter Horticultural Society. In addition to the name of the park on one side it says "Tarry a Time" and on the other side "Rest a while". William Lawson and George Hind left Monday for Toronto to attend Dental College. 25 Years Ago Tht. Brenner Garage, one of the landmarks of Grand Bend, has been purchased by Mr. John Manore. A new town of 300 homes complete with churches, school and market area is under con- struction at Centralia Airport. Charles L. Jinks, who has carried the mails to and from the Hensall Post Office to the CNR station for the past 15 years, has resigned. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Christie, Russeldale, were guests of honour at a celebration to mark their 35th wedding anniversary, September 1. 15 Years Ago Mrs, Andrew Johnston, Deborah and Ian returned Sunday after a two month visit in Mymegan, Holland. Mr. and Mrs. Norman Turnbull of Grand Bend held open house creasing in popularity each season, but we were surprised to learn that the total in Exeter has reached the point as detailed by our flying observer. + + Took one of our periodic trips to Niagara Falls over the weekend, along with a few other area residents we spotted, such as the Bob Watcher and Howard Data rs families. Spotting anyone you know this summer in Niagara Falls is a bit of a miracle, because the popular tourist attraction is "packing them in" as never before. ",No vacancy" signs are evi- dent on most motels by mid- afternoon and if you're planning a jaunt that way this fall, we suggest you check into a motel early or you'll end up sleeping on a park bench. Parking spots along the falls area are almost non-existent and most attractions have long lineups. However, we hit our favorite spot—Marineland--early in the morning and managed to get out as the throngs were just starting to pour in around noon, It's still worth the trip to see the dolphins (or ate they por- poises) and we still marvel at the intricate routines the trainers have been unable to get these animals and such to perform. They appear to do it just to get the reward of one little fish, and labor willing to work for such small pittance these days is hard to come by. The deer in the game farm were at their hungriest when we arrived and feeding them is a risky business. We still have a couple of hoof marks on • our chest to show that the animals use every trick imagineable to get visitors to drop their cones filled with feed on the ground. The smart ones even jump on the concession counters to clean up any spills. for relatives, friends and neigh- bors Tuesday evening on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary, South Huron Hospital is having difficulty meeting demands for accommodation, This week 45 of the 50 beds are occupied, the five empty being in the children's ward. Zurich may start off the next decade as an incorporated village. Barring serious dif- ficulties, the change may become effective January 1, 1960. 10 Years Ago Workmen are putting the finishing touches on the Usborne Township Central School this week and the new eight-room school will be ready for operation, Tuesday. Students will be transported by Exeter Coach Lines, The post office on the Main Street at Grand Bend closed its doors to the public Monday night and services commenced from the modern new facilities on Hidden Lane, Tuesday morning. Kids in the Exeter area have been waiting all summer for the new swim pool to be finished, but memories of the delay were soon forgotten when the facilities were opened, Sunday. Jean Henderson was presented with a gift and assured the prayers of the congregation of St. Paul's Anglican Church prior to her departure Monday, for the Kitkatla Mission on Dolphin Island off the B.C. coast. By ELMORE BOOMER Counsellor for Information South. Huron For appointment phone; 235-2715 or 235.2474 by Kit Constabaris Social Worker Two weeks ago, I mentioned Buddha's quest to understand why men, all men, suffer. The beginning of this quest was marked by his sudden flight from the life he had known, The legend says he was a wealthy prince, beloved by his father, the king, by his beautiful wife and all the king's court. His wife had presented him with a son, and he found his heart overflowing with love for them both. His father took great pains that no knowledge of disease, suffering or death ever crept into his son's awareness. Inevitably though, Gautama Buddha got away from the life of the court one day, and discovered reality. He looked at his wife and son, and knew that they and he were destined for suffering and death, like the poorest person in the king's realm. One night he stole away, into the world, never to return to his princely domain. After years of wandering and talking to people (he subsisted as a holy beggar), he found "enlightenment" and gave to the world certain noble truths. Concerning suffering he said "birth comes with pain, decay is painful, disease is painful, death is painful. Union with the un- pleasant is painful, painful is the separation from the pleasant; and any craving that is un- satisfied, that too is painful. In brief bodily conditions which spring from attachment are painful. This is the noble truth concerning suffering." About the origin of suffering he said "verily, it is that craving which causes the renewal of existence, accompanied by sensual delight, seeking satisfaction now here, now there, the craving for gratification of the passions, the craving for a future life, and the craving for happiness in this life. This is the noble truth concerning the origin of suffering." And on the destruction of suffering: "verily, it is the destruction, in which no passion remains, of this very thirst; it is the laying aside of, the being free from, this thirst. This is the noble truth concerning the destruction of suffering." About the destruction of sorrow: "Verily! it is this noble eightfold path; right livelihood; right effort; right thoughts; right contemplation. This is the noble truth concerning the destruction of sorrow." If you are trying to give a pithy account of the teachings of Buddha, the above quotations are comparable to quoting the Ser- mon on the Mount. There's much more to Christianity than that, and in the same way, there are many more stories about Bud- dha, or "the Enlightened One" as he came to be called, Many stories reveal him to be a man of humor, who could talk persuasively to people in dif- ferent stations of life. Like Jesus Christ, who followed him 500 years later, he could attract disciples with ease, and as he lay dying, so goes the story, he was attempting to comfort his sorrowing friends. Have Buddha's truth any relevance today? Ask someone who holds them. What a great man discovered Perth and Huron counties are to be commended for their stand against the proposed redistribution of the provincial ridings in this area. According to the original proposals from the Ontario Electoral Boundaries Commission, Huron MPP Jack Riddell's riding would be enlarged to include four townships and two towns in Perth County. The Huron-Bruce riding of MPP Murray Gaunt would be extended to include parts of Wellington, Perth and Grey counties. Neither the MPPs nor Perth and Huron are happy with the suggestions and they have made their views known to the corn- Mission. Municipalities and priVate citizens should support their objections. Perth council prepared a brief stating that as an agricultural county it has com- mon economic and social interests. Some of their townships should not be included in Huron with • its westward orientation towards the lake, it said. If expansion of the Huron riding is eireferZmes-Abuorafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.W.N.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh SUBSCRIPTION Notes for a summer bummer Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation, March 31, 1972, 5,037 RATES: Canada $9.00 Per Year; USA $1 1,00 r I V • 1- • • 4 '•