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The Brussels Post, 1975-04-02, Page 8Sugar and Spice by Bill Smiley This column is being written in considerable pain. It is caused by one of three things, but I haven't time to see a doctor because I have to write my column. So don't be surprised if it breaks off in the middle. It's a sharp, biting pain in the chest. But don't worry, gentle reader. It only hurts when I cough,.laugh, blow my nose or take a deep breath. Possibly it's a heart attack, which seems to be the current fad among my peers these days. I hope it's not, because I dislike chasing after popular trends. On the other hand, it may be an attack of pleurisy. I have a cough like a lion, and am spewing oysters into tissues, toilet paper and the snow, depending on when the fit strikes me. A third possibility is that I twisted a muscle in my chest yesterday when I fell on a ski slope and decided to plow the last 50 yards with my nose, winding up in a contortion of limbs that would have made Houdini green with envy. Personally, I subscribe to the third theory, mainly because it makes me seem like a clean-living chap, and secondly because I don't like the sound of the other two. Each is a bit fraught. At any rate, this ominous — or silly — little pain OUCH! (I just sneezed) has made me give serious thought to a topic that is all the rage these days — corporal punishment in our schools. It's almost as popular as capital punishment for criminals, and is even more widely discussed,• for, while criminals make up a comparatively small segment of our society, rotten kids are always there in great numbers. Usually, the business of beating kids is seen in black and white.On the one hand, you have the fundamentalists, who go back to the Bible with that old chestnut, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." These people forget that several of the disciples were fishermen, and that what this particular one meant was, "If you don't let the kid use your spare rod once in a while, he'll grow up to be a lousy angler." On the other side are the other crazies: psychologists, who think a kid who is thumped will be warped for life; mothers Who read articles by psychologists; and former child-beaters who are now school prinelpals. And in between ; as Usual, are all the confused, decent and sensible people like yoti and me and the Moderator of the United Church of Canada, who thinks the strap Should be brought back, iloth the extreme camps, of course, are full of crap. In the first group, we have people who were whipped unmercifully when they were kids, and by some weird type of logic, now claim it was good for them. They can hardly wait for a chance to get their own back. And in the second group are all the other people who were whipped unmercifully when they were kids and are trying to • prove that that is what made them queer ever since. I despise b oth groups, and will stick with the great mass in the middle. Most of us were whipped, at one time or another, but not unmercifully, and we deserved every stroke of the hairbrush, skelp of the yardstick, and swish of the willow-switch. It didn't warp us, psychologically or physically. It taught us something about the society we would be living in — that there are certain limits, and 'if you transgress them, you take your licks. My mother used to work over my kid brother and me about once a week, whether we needed it or not. She used a' fly-swatter, which has a sting like a scorpion, or a yardstick, if we got under the bed, and the fly-swatter wouldn't reach. It did us no harm whatever, and probably saved her sanity. The same brother and I were in the same class in school, and once a week our teacher, Old Mary Walker, would give us a good strapping, along with • a buddy, G.G.Relyea. We 'thought the world of her. The strappings stung, but once in a while, we'd jerk back our hand and she'd hit herself a good crack on the thigh, which doubled the number on each hand but raised our status in the class. There are only two reasons for a teacher to use a strap: 1) he or she is a poor teacher, and 2) to add a little drama to the monotony of the classroom. A word to the bleeding-hearts. There are a lot more insidious ways to warp a child's personality than physical punishment. The real sadists of the classroom, and they are few, thank goodness, are those who use personal harassment, hectoring, and sarcasm. These can do far more permanent damage than a good thump. Naturally, my sympa thies in this affair are With the teacher. i have no time for the bully. The, teacher with strength of, charaCter has few discipline problems. But what about the sensitive young lady teacher who asks a lout to do something, And he Says: "Screw you,"? So the punk gets a "Suspension" for a few days (tranSlation! holiday). If I had the say, I'd turf him otit of school for a year, and let his parents put up with him. It would serve both parties right. BRUSSELS POtro , APRIL:2 1975. I I f. 11 ;! : I Notice to all members of Western Star Lodge No.149 are conferring the second degree APRIL 3 4 4 4 4 4 t:* * N At The HOTEL ER * BRUSSELS,ICAN * * Ew AAA ONT. * *****--******* Friday and Saturday Nights :— The Country Crusaders 1011,- ********************* Entertainment at THE QUEEN'S HOTEL BRUSSELS *Friday and Saturday Ye Ole Gang with Howard Smith 44 sun.day Evening The Dave Chittick.Show from Hanover .0( Sunday Menut Roast Beef Dinner ***If *4( **** ***40•44-*****4 S. Cummings heads travel association People We Know Spence Cummings, develop- ment officer for Huron County, has been elected .president of the Southwestern Ontario Travel Association. Mr. Cummings said he feels he has a major task before him in the next year as chief for the year-old, eight county organization design- ed to promote the area's tourist attractions across Canada and in the northern United States. The association covers Elgin, Essex, Huron, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex, Oxford and Perth counties. The main problem facing the association, Mr. Cummings said, is enlisting financial support from the eight county councils. The association, he said will ask each county to contribute five cents per capita annually toward its budget. The province, he said, has pledged an equal amount up to $45,000 to support the associa- tion. In addition, the province will contribute $30,000 annually to be used for administration. "And so far," Mr. Cummings said, "that $30,000 is all we've had to work with." The travel association hopes operators of tourist faCilities In the.eight-county,area will become members, "We've contacted about 600 operators and we're hoping a good number of them will see the advantages of joining us," he Occupancy rate at Seaforth Community Hospital during February is up substantially over budget figures it was revealed by finance committee chairman Mrs. Don Morton at the March meeting of the board Tuesday evening. In February occupancy stood at 78.9% compared to a budgeted occupancy of 68%. During the same period length of stay increased from 8.6 days to 9 days. While admissions were down slightly emergency admissions were up 53 over budget. Patient days increased to The majority of the associa- tion's. expenses will be in radio and television advertising and production of brochures aimed at attracting tourists to the area; Mr. Cummings said, 1862 over a figure budget of 1804 Mrs. Morton said. The board discussed plans for the annual meeting of the Hospital corporation scheduled for Tuesday, April 29th. Board president Clayton Looby chaired the- meeting. Members expressed concern at the continuing absence of a representative of the medical staff at board meetings as required by the by-laws and instructed the secretary to draw the attention of the medical staff to the problem. Mr. and Mrs. Ray Miller and family and Cameron Holiday, Mrs.Ross Schlueter and family and Miss Connie Frokilage from Cambridge, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Cooper and family and Mr. and Mrs.Don Triebner and Lisa, all of Exeter and. Gerald Miller of Grey Township were Easter visitors with Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Murray Procter and Miss Joyce Pearson of London were Easter guests with their parents Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Pearson. Mrs. Mary Cameron, son David and dughter Brenda of London, were visitors last week with Mrs. Inez Camer .on. Mr. and Mrs. David Kennedy and sons Michael and Mark of Hamilton, visited with their parents, Mrs. and Mrs. R. W. Kennedy on Friday. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Houston and family of Kitchener, Miss Bar- bara Bryans of Toronto, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Bryans of London, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Bryans of Mitchell and Mrs.. and Mrs. Pearson Young of Stratford were Easter holiday visitors with Mr. and Mrs,. Jack Bryans. Mr. and Mrs. John Tooth, Lorraine and Gregory of Toronto spent the Easter weekend with their parents Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Martin. Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Douma of Woodstock, Mrs. and Mrs. Tom McFadzean of Toronto and Miss Jane McFadzean of Ottawa Remember! It takes but a moment to place a Brussels Post Want Ad and be money in pocket. To advertise, just Dial Brussels 887-6641. were Easter guests with Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Gibson, Mr, Donald McCauley, Misses Alfrieda and Melody Soloman and Mrs. Soloman of Waterloo called On Mrs, George Bone and Mrs, Dorothy McCauley on Good Friday. Mr. and Mrs. Laidlaw $trachan of Cambridge-Preston, were Easter weekend visitors with Mr, and Mrs, Bill Turnbull. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Turnbull of Seaforth Mr. and , Mrs. Jiin Fritz and family, Mrs. Hazel Baker and M r, and Mrs. Wilbur Turnbull of Brussels were guests at the same home on, Easter Day. Mr. Barry . McCauley, Diana, Terry, Stacy and. Deena Maxwell of Stratford spent Sund4 after, noon with Mr. George Bone and Mrs. Dorothy McCauley. Mrs, Jean Lahn and daughter. Nancy Jean of Hanover were Easter weekend visitors with he parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. W, Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Jim Edgar,, Shelley and Duane of Listnet were Eastor visitors with his' mother, Mrs. W. Edgar. Mr., and Mrs. W. J. Perrie' spent several days . last week ie Nashville and other points south, On their return they visited Rev, and Mrs. James Perrie in Strath. roy. Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Perrie spent Easter with Mrs. Mary Hollinger and members of her family in Hamilton. Country Singleso,. 'Dance Sat. April 12 at. Bully Gully Sport In Varna - turn west at Huron Centennial School in Brucefield. 8:30 p.m. • Music by The "BLUEWATER PLAYBOYS" Refreshments Served Watch for our next dance on April 26 at the Clinton Legion Seaforth hospital is fuller than ever ii I 11" B1 T teal a whi gan Pen Gle In g - 1 the L Goll and L 840 Ada Ron 745, F=1