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The Brussels Post, 1972-05-10, Page 2Sugar and Spice by Bill Smiley Spring Blossoms in Brussels Serving Brussel,s. And the surrounding .corarnimity published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario. by MCL,ean Bros. publishers, Limited, Evelyn Kennedy Editor Tom BaleY Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association. and Ontario. Weekly Newspaper Association, Subscriptions. On advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others $5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each, Second clasS: mail Registration No, 0562. Telephone 667-6641, Community plays role There can be no criticism of the action of Huron council in agreeing to make available a.grant represent- ing 25 per cent of the cost of new construction undertaken by Huron hospitals providing the work has received departmental approval.. The hospitals had asked for one third, the remaining two thirds being met by federal and provincial grants, The Huron decision was a reasonable compromise, In acting as it did Huron coun- cillors recognized some degree of participation by the local munici- pality was necessary if interest was to be maintained. If a town is concerned with and is prepared to support its hospital it will have no problem raising less than ten per cent of new construction costs. Hospital boards most certainly have problems, not the least of which is to convince the public that the Ontario insurance scheme by no means covers all their financial requirements, Insurance revenue pays day to day operating costs but does not provide working capital nor interest, nor funds with which to replace or up date needed equip- ment. Local boards must continue to seek funds for these purposes and that is why they ask assistance of local town and township councils and associations. A hospital is a personal thing and should reflect the needs of the community it serves. To do this the community in turn must provide ne- cessary support and direction and not allow some remote impersonal and costly bureaucracy to take over To the Editor Sir: Enclosed please find an obituary for my father, Mr. Thomas Muir Thomson. One of the last things my father asked was for a notice to be sent to the Post. He had made several visits to your office in the last few years, although you yourself may not have met him. You have been using some photographs he sent for your Centennial Year and he has been receiving the paper and thor- oughly enjoyed it. In fact, more and more he would talk of his youth in Brussels and Seaforth and was looking forward to at- tending the Centennial. I don't know whether you can print the enclosed or whether many would remember him, but it was important to him. If you do, we would certainly appreciate receiving a dopy of the paper. 8 Mayfiar Court, Dundas, Ontario. Mrs. E, F. Sutter (Editor's Note: Mr. Thomson's obituary appears elsewhere in this issue) Roughly one million people read this column. And they read it roughly, because that's the way it is written. Many of the old faithfuls have read the column since the time my daughter first burped and covered the old man's shirt with baby-spew. And they have associated, and laughed and cried as I described the peculiar creature that I produced. With a little help from my wife, of course. I feel it only fair to the old faithfuls to keep them up to date. Anyone who is not interested can turn to Ann Landers or Billy Graham or somebody who writes about something important. Kim is getting married. Normally, this is an occasion of great hilarity, geniality, joviality, and sometimes even spirituality. Personally, I think she's out of her • mind. But this, at least, is normal among parents. So everything is proceeding normally. Today, I carrehome and found my wife surrounded by income tax forms and samples for material to cover one of our chairs. Normally, I wouldn't be surprised by this. It's a typical. Bilt it's not exactly the pre-wedding hysteria one might expect. And where is Kim, with a wedding about ten days away? She's in the city with her boy-friend, looking for a second-hand van in which they can eat and sleep and have their being during the summer. And they have my car. Every time the phone rings, I flinch, expecting to hear a police officer telling me they've cracked up my beautiful 1967 Dodge. And tomorrow night there's a shower for her, and the next day a dental appoint- ment, and next week an appointment in the city about a job, and another dental appointment, and a hair-dresser's appointment. And she hasn't even bought her wedding dress yet. She's not at all worried about her ugoing-away" outfit. She assured her mother, "Don't Worry, Mom; I'll be going away in my jeans." Well, I'm sorry I can't invite everyone to the wedding. You would enjoy every minute of it, but we can't get one million people ihto our living-room, though you'd never believe it when we have our annual party. Arid you'd enjoy the reception even more, with Kit's cat and ours flying into a screeching, spitting, squalling fight every three minutes. One of the biggest ordeals, of course, is meeting the future in-laws. We got through that last Sunday, and it went off fine. The kids sat nervously biting their nails up to the knuckles, as they watched it. Dot, a sensible person like myself, and I got along fine. She accepts life as it is, and does something about it. She'll be a fine mother-in-law. Doug and my wife are both nuts - about classi- cal music - and they got along fine. He and I are going trout fishing, so we got along fine. We had some chilie and some cough medicine (an excellent combination) by the *way), and could scarcely bear to part. But to get back to my thesis, and I'm afraid I've wandered a bit, we can't invite everybody. So I'll make it offiCial. Mr, and Mrs. W. B. T. Smiley announce the marriage of their daughter, KIM ELIZABETH (university drop- out) to Mr. Donald Sieber (impoverished art- ist) on May 6th, 1972. This dubious affair will take place at Kim's home, 803 Hugel Ave., Midland, Ont. (probably) That's the gist of the thing. There. Don't feel hurt because you haven't re- ceived a personal invitation. If you had, it would be like getting a personal invi- tation to the Black Hole of Calcutta. Why do young people want to get married anyway? In my day, it was the only way to do you-know-what. But with the pill, and the new concept of ,,Moral- ity", it all seems rather dopey. Oh, well, I °11 probably weep during the ceremony. And when I weep, it's sight to behold. Strong women, who have never wept in their lives except over a lost eye-lash, come up arid pat me, and try to dry my eyes with kleenex, and all they do is make me weep louder and wetter, will understand. The only a.dvite I can give at this moment is that if you have to have a daughter, have five. I imagine by the time the fifth was gotten rid of, you'd be able to control yourself, to some extent. 3 4. dev 4 t.