The Wingham Advance-Times, 1967-12-14, Page 9THIS SNOWMAN missed last issue due to
space limitations, but it still deserves pub-
lication. Mr. and Mrs. Stan Chadwick made
the monster in George Allen's garden.
George peeked through from behind, and
little Heather Redman, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Vern Redman obviously thinks
its wonderful.—A-T Photo.
ingbam Utercoramt
Wingham, Ontario, Thursday, Dec. 14, 1967 SECOND SECTION
News Items from Old Files
sAFt-re 140444
oata't
,oirtAtild SAFETY LOAGUG..-
THE UNINVITED GUEST
SUGAR
AND SPICE
by Bill Smiley
Beware Tiny Kim
The announcement by the Ontario De,
velopment Corporation that Wingham will
be one of the communities eligible to apply
for industrial loans, may mean a great deal
for this area. Certainly it will fill the gap
W..in opportunity which many businessmen
believed was created by the designation of
the Georgian Bay area under a similar
plan sponsored by the federal government.
Whether or not new industries will
actually be attracted to Wingham will de,
pend, of course, .to a considerable extent
on the alertness and interest of our town
and its more progressive residents, It
should be pointed out that in the case of
the Georgian Bay area the city of Owen
Sound and the large town of Collingwood
both secured a great deal of new industry
after the federal incentive plan was set up,
but the smaller community of Meaford did
not succeed in attracting similar enter-
prise,
Another point worth mention Is the
The suggestion which was brought be-
fore town council last Monday evening,
to make Diagonal. Road a one-way street
from Josephine to Victoria makes good
sense. That thoroughfare has long been
a real traffic hazard and if vehicles were
permitted to move only in one direction a
good proportion of the confusion might be
eliminated.
Even more attractive is the suggestion
that the stop signs be changed at the
intersection of Diagonal Road and Victoria
Street. .Accidents by the score have oc-
curred at that corner, due to the fact that
the through traffic was permitted to flow
While we're on the subject of traffic,
we would like to pass along some words
of advice to the high school students who
insist on interfering with traffic on the
streets leading to the school. Most of us
are pretty lenient in our views about the
younger generation. Whether they be-
lieve it or not we were young once our-
selves and we can still sympathize with
their desire to show the older folks a
thing or two.
Car operators have for years been
forced to exercise extfeme caution, par-
ticularly on John Street during the hours
1111when the students are on the way to and
from the school. It seems to be some sort
of game to prove to the car drivers that
the students can out-bluff them. They in-
sist on walking four and five abreast on
both sides of the road and sometimes
right out to the centre line. •
Under ideal driving conditions nobody
gets too alarmed—although' many a driver
Sometimes we get a bit tired of all the
monotonous complaints about how com-
mercial the celebration of Christmas has
become, According to some of the pes-
simists, all the religious implications have
disappeared in a fever of money-grabbing.
• Of course Christmas has become com-
mercialized—and thank goodness we still
have the avenues of commerce to provide
the gifts or most of our youngsters would
find the holiday dull indeed. With a
whole generation of working mothers, the
situation is inevitable.
It is great for the older generation to
close their collective eyes and dream about'
those grand old Christmases when the
kitchen reeked for weeks with the odors
of Christmas cakes and puddings cooking
in the oven of the wood range. The mind's
eye can be filled with the memory of
mother's flying needles as she knitted new
mitts for the children or stitched fancy
A meeting was held at Brucefield last
week at which representatives from many
of the school boards in the county dis.
cussed the implications of the new set-up.
The provincial government has announced
that all small community boards will be
disbanded and both public and high
schools will be controlled by one board
to supervise all the schools in a county.
Among those who discussed the hew
plan there were some who were adamantly
opposed to the new scheme -- and not
without reason. It is their contention
that little or nothing is to be gained in
the way of efficiency and that a tremend-
Os amount may be lost through the de-
case of the town of Elmira. A few years
back, when a number of local citizens
became keenly interested in securing more
industry, they banded together and pur-
chased a sizeable tract of land, installed
the essential services and advertised the
fact that their town was a promising site
for manufacturers. Within months they
were reaping the harvest of success and
Elmira's expansion is still on the move,
Last week one of the organizations in
Walkerton purchased a block of land on
the southerly outskirts of the town for
industrial purposes, Perhaps a venture of
this kind in Wingham, coupled with the
Ontario government's Incentive program,
might lead to the establishment of more
industries here.
It should not be forgotten, of course,
that the industrial loans are also available
to those industries which are already op-
erating within tho community and would
like to expand.
from Diagonal onto Victoria, The reason,
of course, was that the route was a pro-
vincial highway — but i', certainly didn't
make any sense. Visibility is poor at that
corner, and cautious drivers who knew the
intersection learned to stop their car when
going east on Victoria, despite the fact
that they were not required by law to do
so. It was, nevertheless, the only safe
way to get through the intersection.
Stop signs to interrupt the traffic on
either of the two streets would be a vast
improvement over the present arrange-
ment.
does get more than a little annoyed. But
in the winter months, when the streets are
slippery, this silly behaviour on the part
of the students becomes obviously danger-
ous. A car driver recently found he was
unable to stop his vehicle until it had ac-
tually touched one of the students. Then
he had to listen for several minutes to a
stream of abuse about his careless driving
habits.
The pay-off came a couple of weeks
ago when the ambulance, on its way from
the hospital to the scene of a. highway
traffic accident, was so impeded by the
student pedestrians that the driver had
to switch on the siren and virtually force
his way down to the main street.
If you students have as much sense as
you would have us dull older folk believe,
it is time you started to use some of this
grey matter. Is it actually worth risking
your life or someone else's for the sake
of a pointless show of bravado?
aprons for the girls. Christmas came
upon us slowly and methodically in those
days, giving us ample time to savor its de-
lights in childish anticipation.
We don't claim that our present-day
Christmases are better—but we do con-
tend that times have changed and there
is nothing we can do about it. Christmas
has become more commercial because
home life has changed—not because we
have a horde of greedy merchants.
As a matter of fact our children have
changed too, If you doubt that, get out
the knitting needles right away and whip
up a pair of those good old black and
red woollen mitts for some boy you know.
When he opens the gift on Christmas
morning he is going to think you've lost
your mind. He wants good, solid leather
in his mitts and a snug elastic cuff. And
you won't find those without going just
a little bit commercial.
velopment of such a large and impersonal
system.
Although it is premature to judge the
plan, since few. actual details have been
disclosed, we do fear that education is
going to be moved even further into the
realm of automation. Soon the students
will be nothing more than numbers in the
card file system—without personality or
individuality. We pity the marginal student
who barely fails to get along because he
need a little extra attention or assistance.
He is likely to be dropped by the wayside
as one of the expendables in a master
plan which operates an educational pro-
duction line.
DECEMBER 1918
Wilfred Pocock, son of Mr.
and Mrs. George Pocock of
East Wawanosh, and Stewart
Donaldson, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Donaldson of
Wingham have returned from
overseas.
The Misses Disney are mov-
ing their dressmaking parlors
from the Field Block to the
Crawford Block, in the old Na-
tional Hotel building.
Harry Messer of Bluevale
has successfully graduated from
the commercial course at the
Spotton Business College.
Mr. and Mrs. William Dore
are now comfortably settled in
their new red brick house on
Shuter Street,
DECEMBER 1932
Big stock of boys' suits and
overcoats at $3.95. Isard's
Men's Wear.
$9,75 buys a Royal Albert
tea set of 21 pieces, regular
$14.50 at McKibbon's Drug
Store.
On Tuesday George Haller
brought to the office lilac
twigs on which the buds had
become quite green.
Twenty-seven years ago Ed-
win Lewis became night watch-
man of this town and since that
time has served in this capacity
He is in his 78th year and feels
that the time has come for a
younger man to take over the
position, and therefore has
handed his resignation to coun-
cil,
Mrs, G, Hanna was in Mont.,
real last week to visit her
daughter, Louise, who is on
staff at the Royal Victoria Hos-
pital.
DECEMBER 1942
Sgt.- Cyril Chamney, for
many years a resident of East
WawanOsh and who has been on
active service in Britain since
1940, has returned to Canada
as an instructor and is enjoying
a furlough with friends before
reporting for duty,
Recent enlistments for ac-
tive army service have been
R. H. Montgomery of Wingharti
J. S. Finlay of Fi. R, I Wttoceter;
Dol. Ross and R.J. kiss of R,11.
5 Lucknow.
Mrs. Frank Hopper and Mrs.
Bert Mitchell left Monday for
Petawawa where their husbands
are stationed. Mrs. Hopper
was in charge of the ready-to-
wear department at the Walker
Store. Her place has been
taken by Miss Louise Thompson.
DECEMBER 1953
Ed Edighoffer moved into '
town last week and took up
temporary residence above The
Wallpaper Shop.
Al Rutherford has taken a
position with a garage in St,
Thomas.
Mr. and Mrs. Eric Walden
of Ripley have taken up resi-
dence in Hillcrest.
Dorothy Chamney, Doreen
Machan, Marykae Newman and
Sandra Smith passed the Dutch
Waltz in a preliminary dance
test in Seaforth. They are
members of the Wingham Figure
Skating Club.
Durward Preston, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Preston of town,
was re-elected to the Waterloo
City Council, at the head of
the poll,
John V. Fischer was elected
reeve of Turnberry Township in
an election contest last week.
He defeated Isaac Wright by 49
votes.
Wingham drama enthusiast•
who registered for a tour-day
directors' course here last week
were Miss Y. McPherson, Bob
Ferguson, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs.
Burrell, Miss K. MacGregor,
Miss M. Johnson, Bill Conron,
Mrs. John Langridge and Mrs.
Miles Overend.
June Hazel Darling of St.
Marys was united in marriage
to Robert Keith Thompson of
Wingham on November 28,
Attending the couple were Miss
Marilyn Darling and Ken Thomp-
son.
Gone to work
Each Christmas week the
Georgia Power Company of
Valdosta, Georgia, decorates
its glass-walled lobby with a
beautiful Christmas tree and a
Santa who sits by the tree and
waves and smiles to all who go
by. On Christmas Eve, Santa
has disappeared, On the chair
is a sign bearing this message,
"Sorry -- this is my busy night.
Santa Claus."
Dear Sir:
It is becoming evident to
me that the only thing that
ever Comes through in your
"editorials" is your preposter-
ous self-righteousness, As evi-
dence for my statement I refer
to your editorial in this week's
paper, entitled "Time for a
Few Questions",
In this article, you issue
for the enlightenment of the
community your pontifical
comments on a certain televi-
sion program . Supposedly in
the interests of the taxpayers'
money, you pull all the old
tricks; you appeal to the myth
of an evil conspiracy of city
folks waiting to devour the
righteous of the country, you
play the heartstrings by be-
moaning the passing of the
"goad old days", and you utter
wild generalizations about the
"long-haired nuts" operating
the C.B.C. (Are we to assume
you are in favor of baldness
perhaps?)
Those who have morals
or "shreds" of them are not
encouraged by your pronounce-
ments; those who, in your view,
have no morals are not convin-
ced by your ravings that they
are wrong.
I always thought that true
morality made a person humble,
even an editor.
Yours truly,
Stephen A. Jones
Wingham, Ont,
•••••••••••••••*,•••••••
Dear Sir:
As a sometimes student of
the press and a qualified pro-
fessional practitioner as well,
I blush at the cruelty and dest-
ructiveness of your editorial
Maybe it was the approach
of Christmas that got me
thinking about money. Maybe
it was Kim asking me what
"collateral" was. In trying to
explain, I got into gold re-
serves and depreciation of the
pound and inflation, and we
both wound up refreshingly
bewildered.
Only thing of any value that
came out of it was the ridicu-
lous nature of modern money.
Money, or some form of it, is
as old as man, whether it be
wampum, bits of elephant tusk
or fancy sea-shells. Gold early
became the favorite, because it
was heavy, malleable, decora•
tive and hard to get hold of.
Silver and copper made tip the
unholy trinity, and we were in
business.
But from early times, and
even into the last century,
money was real. You could feel
it, bite it, smell it, heft it, look
at it shine, and listen to it
ring. It had weight, substance.
You could put it in a sock
and feel Iike a banker. You.
could bury it in the ground
when you heard the tax collec-
tor was coming. Try that with
modern currency.
What fun it must have been
to go into a tavern with
friends, spin a gold guinea on
the table and shout: "Land-
lord! Three game pies, a
haunch of venison and three
gallons of your best brandy."
And get ten jingling shillings
in change.
Mine host stirs the fire,
cooks bustle happily off-stage
and waiters- scurry, tugging at
their forelock and brimming
up the tankards.
Compare. Today you go into
a tavern with friends, Half an
about "Waiting For Caroline"
as reproduced in the KeW
Record recently.
You are, of course, en-
titled in fact unstoppable *-
to your opinions, but I ask you
to consider this; I too am a
taxpayer and rather suspect
that there are enough other
like-minded taxpayers to more
than pay for the cost of "Wait-
For Caroline". We found
the programme realistic (and
surely you don't deny real
world happenings -- pro or con)
and professionally excellent.
Your taxes are well ac-
counted for in the slop -- sen-
timental, slobbish and eyes-
closed -- that you get more
than 95% of the time. Why
deny us our 5%? A 5% which
we pay for and is put on at a
time when adults form the au-
dience.
As for your comment
about a "bunch of long-haired
nuts" may I remind you that
most of the Fathers of Confed-
eration were both distinguished
and long-haired. As for the
"nut" part you deserve to have
honest libel law applied to you
--unless you can prove your
point legally you should have
the dignity to retract.
It is tragically easy to in-
dulge in name-calling in
print. But it is not very manly.
Yours sincerely,
Donald R. Gordon
Waterloo, Ontario.
"I have discontinued long
talks on account of my throat,"
the speaker remarked. "Sever-
al members have threatened to
cut it,"
hour later, when your eyes
have adjusted to the gloom, a
waiter, either surly or insolent,
hands you a large piece of
paper, This, eventually, prod-
uces a very small drink at a
very large price.
After a suitably lengthy pe-
riod of anaesthetisation, in
preparation for the coming
shock, another waiter, this one
morose or bellicose, hands you
another large piece of paper.
Eventually, this produces a
platter of something which
you're lucky it's too dark to
see.
Later, he brings another
very small piece of paper, with
a figure on it which you're also
lucky it's too dark to see. In
turn, you show him a piece of
plastic, called a credit card,
and sign a paper. Or if you're
just a peasant, you hand over a
number of pieces of colored
paper.
He takes it away and comes
back, promptly this time, with
a little tray. All your paper is
gone and there is a quarter
and four pennies on the tray.
He stands, glowering, until you
put another piece of paper on
the tray. He grunts, snatches
it, and departs.
On the way out, you fork
over the quarter to ransom
your overcoat, You are left
with four pennies, They don't
exactly jingle.
Point is, no real money has
changed hands. There is no
personal contact, and therefore
no satisfaction in it.
Every month, I receive a
piece of paper with figures on
it, The figure at the extreme
left is fairly substantial. Then
there are a lot of other figures.
The figure at the extreme
right bears no relation to the
first one. It is one jump ahead
of the old-age pension. This is
known as a pay cheque,
I take it to a large building,
write some figures on another
piece of paper, present both to
a nice lady, and she gives me
back some other papers, green,
blue and brown, with figures
on them. My wife gives them
to another nice lady, in ex-
change for a big basket of gro-
ceries and maybe three pieces
of real money, coins.
Once a Month we sit down
and write things on some dif.
ferent paper, put the paper in
envelopes and send them to all
sorts of people who have pit.
viously sent us pieces- of paper
with figures and the words
"Please!' or "Last warning!"
on them,
It's all very logical, of
course. And the crowning
piece of logic is that the whole
thing is based on digging gold
out of a hole in the ground in
Northern Ontario and burying
it in another hole in the
ground at Port Knox, Ken:.
tacky.
Selkighteous edihoo,
ravings not convincing Aid to Local Industry
Makes Good Sense
Needless Hazard
It's Bound to Be Commercial
Reason for Doubt
THE WINC,HAM ADVANCE i TIMES
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