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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-01-09, Page 4 (2)OUR POINT OF VIEW Sortie problem. Last -year this newspaper had occasion to note the dangerous situation that existed pt Morrison dam where youngsters on ggans were forced to use the same hills . as snowmobile enthusiasts. As_ a result, signs were posted at several- locations banning snowmobiles from using the 'tuns the carefree youngsters were using for their pursuits. It appeared that no one suffered from the remedy, as there was still plenty of room for snowmobiles in other areas and the danger to the youngsters was minimiz- ed. ' We understand from some parents that the situation is not good this year and the snowmobilers are 'back on the hills and many fear for the safety of their youngsters. It's• unfortunate that sndwmobilers have to be subjected to controls that com- mon sense should dictate, but nevetheless that appears to be the situation. Hopefully the Ausable Bayfield Conser- vation Authority officials will review the situation again this year and take the necessary steps to ensure that. area youngsters can enjoy their favorite winter pursuits without- the dangers of snow mobiles. Dangerous situation One of the community's faithful hockey enthusiasts has drawn to our attention the dangers that exist with the goals at the local arena. A bar extends from the centre rear of the nets and protrudes well into the goal area. This creates a situation where a goalie could fall backwards onto the protruding metal or a player could slide head -long into it. In either case, serious injury could easily occur. Some padding on the piece of metal could avert such dangers and would be in- expensive. - At a time when more and more hockey players are using vastly improved safety equipment in our favorite winter sport, it would be most unfortunate if one was in- jured because equipment at the arena was not meeting the new safety standards.being employed in hockey. It would also be wise for the local RAP committee to install more rubber mats in the arena so youngsters don't have to walk on cement floors and dull the edges of their skates so quickly. Drastic changes needed The weeks -long ordeal of the Peter Demeter trial in London is over and for those whose freedom and reputation were at stake it must have been an agony. To a lesser degree, but still significant, was the ordeal of the members of the jury who had to put up with separation from their families and risk' their jobs in order to serve. under compulsion, the legal system we have inherited from aless hectic age. It is no small matter to be thrown into Or sole ' company of eleven other in- dividuals you have probably never seen before: to be denied the right to com- municate with family and friends except under extreme circumstances of emergen- cy: -to wonder whether the boss has had to turn your daily work over to some9�ne else and to be ushered back and forth each day to a hotel room where there was no daily paper, no radio and no television. After several weeks of such isolation even the cause of justice must be in jeopar- dy. What sane juror would hold out for his own independent decision when a un - animous vote could free him and his fellows from further days of semi - imprisonment? Even to be called for jury duty in one's own county is an irksome responsibility and one which most people 'would shun like the plague. As far as we know,the pay for jury duty is still only $10`a day — a totally unrealistic figure in this age. Also, as far as we know, travelling expense to the court is still borne by the juror — while any other public servant is paid 15 or 20 cents a mile for driving is own car. It would be difficult to find a replace- ment for the jury system of trial. Its es- tablishment in Britain years ago was a great step forward - away from the sum- mary-Justice um- mary justice handed out by tyrants of cen- turies gone by. However, it does seem ob- vious that it is a system which deserves some very careful study and some drastic changes to make it fit the climate in which we live today. Wingham Advance -Times 1 Out with the old, in with the new This is the time of the year for "out with the old. in with the new." I honestly did try to do this. But it was hopeless. I got bogged down, right up to the navel, in my first attempt to get rid of the old. I decided, as my year-end project, to clean up my writing desk. This may sound simple, a mere 15 minutes of sorting and tidying. But you are •not acquainted with my writing desk. Perhaps you remember the, myth about Hercules cleaning out the Augean stables. They were filled with cattle, hadn't been cleaned in decades and there was • a veritable mountain of you - know -what. A formidable task. He did it without even using a pitch -fork. He diverted the flow of two rivers through the stables, and lo! they were cleansed. That was child's play com- pared to cleaning off my desk, and also I am no Hercules. On each side of my typewriter sits a teetering stack of papers that • reaches approximately to my head, when I am sitting at my machine. Huddled between them, like a sparrow between -two huge tomcats, squats the typewriter. Occasionally, one of the piles, like a glacier, slides majestically to the floor. My wife picks up the mess, and muttering under her breath. jams it back on the desk. She's forbidden to disturb anything there, or even to dust it. That's the main reason the piles are two feet high. I do allow her to dust the front of the desk, where the drawers are. Trouble is, she's so annoyed she piles the stuff back in any old order. This causes a problem when I decide to clear the desk at year's end. I pick upAte first letter. It is from i -farmer's wife, com- plime H'ng me on my stand 'for the t%ef farmer. It is dated 1962. That suggests that the Last time I cleaned my desk was in 1961. It also poses questions. What was my stand on the beef farmer in 1962? I'll bet it was a little sweeter than my attitude toward sirloin steak prices today. Was the letter ever answered? Who knows? So I put it in the stack labelled Who Knows. This turris out to be the biggest of the many piles I lay out on the floor. The other piles bear such esoteric labels as: To Be Dealt (With — Sometime; Needs Fur- ther Study; Look Into This; Complimentary; Over The Hill; and so on. The second largest stack is called Miscellaneous because I don't know where else to put these items. Under the last item go such things as: a passport application form; a. bill from the Strand Palace, London, England•; a Christmas card from my in- surance agent; a test for Grade 11; an offer to do the Smiley family tree for only $3.00 (must have been a small family) ; and a reminder that I am due at veteran's hospital for a chest X- ray (which I forgot all about). I have a very definite way of handling these piles. Miscellaneous I put baEk on the desk. Over The Hill, which contains anything more than six years old, goes into the wastebasket, as does Silly Old Cranks, a very slim stack of letters from ridiculous people who don't agree with me. Needs Further Study goes back on the desk, right on top of Miscellaneous. Look Into This goes back on the desk,ppn top of Needs Further Study.-dNext on the growing pile on the desk goes To Be Dealt With — Sometime. Then I lift the whole pile and slide underneath it, right of the .bottom, if you'll pardon the ex- pression, To Be Answered Definitelyin The New Year. And then, carefully and — Please turn to Page 5 11 VreP '' 1MVVAVO. ; # !XV.d mB wo rT T AW:M. OOMMPMV times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A. CLASS 'A' and ABC Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager Assistant Editor — Ross Haugh Women's Editor — Terri 'therington Phone 235-1331 +CNA Amalgamated 1924 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation March 31, 1974, 5,309 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $9.00 Per Year; USA 511.00 WE k\ Kit 10 IE.RYE H15 AN.1 Wt'Nt. G0T '' MORE FADE) To RTTEN D to►l if. Resolution went down the drain Those among our readers who have long memories will recall that the only resolution made by the writer for 1974 was to not buy any toys for Christmas that were not already assembled. Itwasa resolution madeaftera long. frustrating Christmas eve one year ago when we labored half the night assisting Santa Claus with the task of putting piece A. B. C and D into piece E. F. G and H and inserting screw 9 into hole 12 and bolt 16 into nut 24. The only nut that was left was the writer and as we stumbled up the stairway only seconds before our four sons came racing down to view their gifts. the resolution was concocted. There was just no way we were going to get involved in allowing the toy manufacturers of the na- tion to get away with their prac- tice of taking numerous pieces of plastic. stamping in some design and then tossing in a handful of nuts and bolts and relying on the customer.to embark upon a do-it- yourself toy production task. ' It was therefore with a I -knotty' better -than -you smirk that the writer watched Ms. Claus set about the task of assembling a Big Jim Sky Commander for her two youngest sons on Christmas eve. After the egg nog was depleted and her task was completed. Mr. Claus decided it.<was time to quickly set up the electric train set he had purchased for the two eldest members of the family. It would. after all. be a real cinch because what could be easier than assembling a few pieces of train track and hooking up a locomotive and five box cars. Well. as it turnedout. just about anything could be easier than assembling a few pieces of train track and a locomotive and five box cars! + + 4 - First First of all. Santa had made the mistake of getting one of those intricate trestle sets where a large bridge carries one piece of track over another. Compoun- ding this problem was the fact it had to -be made into a figure 8. +.Now some mathematical genius may have no problem figuring out . how to make 26 curves and 14 straight pieces into an intricate figure 8 running over a trestle. but as most of our math teachers will know. such a feat would be an impossibility for the writer. Adding to the problem was the fact that the trestle was com- posed of at least 12 supporting pieces on each side of the bridge and somehow the manufacturer expected the assembler to get these little pieces into the correct progression and then slide them past the tiny protruding cross -pieces • on the track. Noticing the air starting to turn a distinct blue. Ms. Claus came to the rescue and set about the task of helping her male cohort out of his predicament. Finally. the task appeared to be completed and a test run was planned. The locomotive chugg- ed around the layout and started the uphill climb over the trestle. Then it stopped. Its weight was toormuch for the flimsy support and the fail pulled apart. This was corrected and.another test was undertaken. flame problem. So the evening .. and early mor- ning hours went! Finafly Santa wrote a note suggesting that the boys trade their train in on something more dependable and he went Of to bed. - Now our resolution resolution for' 1975 is quite simple. Santa - wilt spend a quiet Christmas eve at home. Around' midnight he will take out his pen anti cheque book and fill in an appropriate figure so the boys can g0 out and buy their own toys. A small note will accompany it suggesting that they choose wise- ly and make certain they can assemble their purchases THEMSELVES. We suspect after one year. they will take their cheque and buy some new long johns or something which requires no assembly whatever. Their turn is coming ... they may as well learn the pitfalls at an early' age and save themselves some miserable and frustrating Christmas eves. • + + + One of the gifts the writer received this year was a pair IA cross-country skis. along with all the necessary equipment such as poles and wax. etc. It's a sport that is becoming more popular each year, and despite our early,experiences at the sport. we can understand why it is growing in popularity. We tried our skis out in the back garden on Christmas -day, and then as snowmobile owners will know, had to spend the next Ifew days watching.the weather- man poil winter sports with his frequent rains. However. New Year's eve saw an end to that and we were out on the trails bright and early to greet the first day of 1975. Well, as bright and early as one could expect afteroining in a New Year's eve celebration! While some people no doubt were having problems getting one foot ahead of the other, you can well imagine the writer try- ing to get one foot ahead of the other with a seven foot ski stra- ped to each of those feet. Skis, of course, are made to slide easily, although we find they slide more easily sideways than- forwards. Spread-eagles, splits and crossing toes are now part of our vocabulary and ex- plain in part the reason for a slight hitch in our normal walk- ing step these days. Our first attempt at a long- distance trek was to join some friends near Morrison Dam for brunch on New Year's day. We set off in grand style with the better half and our two eldest sons bringing up the rear. We glided easily east on Sanders St. with a slight breeze at our back helping immeasurably. The snow was a little wet in spots and .periodically we found that one ski would stick while the other kept going. That's the stuff groin injuries are made of! Making our way further towards our destination, father decided to pick out a trail to get through the bush looming ahead and chose what appeared to be a trail. It wasn't long before it became obvious that it was not a trail. Now some professional skiers may be able to get through a bush, but for a rank amateur it is an impossible task. Gliding down one slight in- cline, we landed at the bottom with one ski on one side of a small sapling and the other ski on the other side. That's fthe stuff ruptures are made of! - We finally admitted defeat, took off our skis and walked to the nearest clearing to join up with the rest of the family who had managed to find the right trail in the first place and didn't mind letting their "leader" know about it either. From there on it was clear sailing and we set off with new vigor, anticipating the glide down the hill ahead. It wasn't un- til we were part way down that we realized our momentum was going to carry us for some distance and it was going to be necessary to cross a°small (an understatement) bridge leading — Please turn to Page 5 50 Years Ago W. D. Sanders was elected reeve of Exeter and Joseph Davis, Eli Coultis, C. F. Hooper and Wm. Gillespie were elected members of the council. The general store of J. C. Moore of Kirkton together with dwelling apartments and barn were totally destroyed by fire, January 2. The store contained a stock of groceries, general. drygoods and hardware. Edward Neil, son of Wellington Neil near Kirkton,whilcrcrushing grain, had three of his fingers so badly injured it 'was found necessary to amputate the ends of them. After convalescing at her home Mildred Harvey left for Alma College, St. Thomas, to resume her art, course. 25 Years Ago ' Exeter leads the way with the -,first 1950 baby borne in Huron County. Daniel Ross, son of Mr. & Mrs. William Walters of Win- chelsea was born -at 3:45 p.m. Eight of the original• charter members of the Exeter Lions Club were honour with seats at the head table 't the • supper meeting in the Central Hotel, Friday. They are J. P. Bowey, J. B. Creech, Dr.' H. H. Cowen, Dr. Dunlop, A. O. Elliot, T. O. South- cott and 13: W. Tuckey. W. E. Middleton was elected chairman of the Exeter Public School board for 1950. The installation of the newly . elected. officers of the Ancient • Mystic Order of Samaritans took • place in Exeter in the Opera House honouring the newly elected Grand Monarch, Ivan Stewart. 15 Years Ago General Coach Works, Hensall has started construction of a pre- fabricated home. The prototype is being built for inspection by a federal government department. Its purpose has not been disclosed for "security reasons". Exeter's oldest resident, Mrs. Eliza Sims, quietly celebrated her 96th birthday, Tuesday. A quartet from Exeter, skipped by Lee Learn, captured Hensall's annual mixed bonspiel last Wednesday. A building bylaw, a new clump and at least two new bridges will be some of the projects faced by Stephen Council during the coming year, it was revealed by reeve Glen Webb at the inaugural meeting. t0 Years Ago One of the worst fires in Exeter's history destroyed the Exeter Produce and Storage Co. Ltd: plant' caused an. estimated $300,000 damage and left 22 employees without jobs.: It is suspected the blaze may have started in -the waxer pot on the main floor. J. C, Clayton, general, manager of General Coach Works Hensel! has announced the awarding of a contract to Pounder Bros., Stratford for the 17,000 sq. foot addition to the Hensel! plant. Ross Tuckey was elected chairman of the Exeter Public School Board, Monday -evening. Eugene Beaver was installed as president of the Exeter Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, he succeeds Perce Noels. 541941 Wate/t4 9-414 A happy new year Dr. Norman Vincent Peale says if you want things to be better in '75 than in '74 you must be a better person in. the new year. If the same old you goes into '75 then -the same old things are likely to happen. If you're unhappy now, you're never going• to be happy until you are a new you. Getting to be a new you takes some a concentration and willpower, and one of the things yea must do is to•lug with you into, 1975 all your failures, frustrations,, disappointments or resentments you held in 1974. You may also have to change many of your attitudes. Marcus Aurelius, a great Roman em- peror -philosopher wrote this: "To live each day as though one's, last, never flustered, never apathetic, never at- titudinizing ... here is the. perfection of character." Good advice, to' be never flustered, never apathetic; but what does attitudinizing mean? Well, I think it means to be yourself. Don't try to pretend to be something you are not. Don't strike poses. Don't build barriers. Don't attitudinize. Another good rule to becoming a new you is to expect the best. The human race is really great ...so expect the most from it (and that includes yourself) Oh, it's true it can be miserable, and violent - and rotten and wicked; but it can also be tremendously great. In spite of riots, strikes, threats to national and international life, man has the capacity, with God's help to achieve great objectives. He has the God-given intelligence to find the means of solving our most serious present-day problems. So, expect the best, not the worst, from our humankind. Now, it's true . that inevitably we will all have some hardships in 1975, some problems, some disappointments ... we are not .always going to live up to our best and often we willbe discouraged with the actions of others, and perhaps m f all with our own. But we mustn, et these things drag us down. a one day at a time, forgetting the regrets and frustrations of yesterday. Keep forging on! It's useless and senseless to make a whipping' boy out of yourself by constantly remembering you've had a failure or two. There's a story about a young minister who always berated himself for the blunder he made in his sermon by storming, "What did d say that for?" or "Why in the world didn't I think to say that?" One day he took this up with a wise old minister who advised him, "Listen Son, prepare your sermon honestly, pray to God about it, go up in the pplpit and do the best you can with it, but when you walk down out of the pulpit forget it. The congregation will .,.. so you _might as well make it unanimous!" Next, practice serenity. A person or a society must never get so disturbed that it cannot think in the presence of a crisis. Of course, we cannot become so o serene that we forget there's a big, wide world out there that we must get into. But one of the troubles of our day is that there are so many wrought -up people trying to solve the problems of others. We - need people who remember the first four,words of the Bible: "In the beginning God ... ", and a constant and firm belief that He is still in the world and will be to the end of time. Those people who have this equanimity can take charge of any crisis. We need to pump into ourselves and into society all the attitudes Jesus taught. Happy, joyful people make wonderful lives, wonderful communities and a wonderful world. He said, "I have come that they might have life, life in all of its fulness." Believe that, and you're on your way to becoming A HAPPY NEW YOU. Our response to now By ELMORE BOOMER Counsellor for Informatidn South Huron For appointment pnone: 235-2715 or 235-2474 • The -mysterious self Others are mysterious. As we look out toward them, they are seen as normal people. They do the things expected by all the rest of us. Yet we know so little about others. Each person is a world to himself. He has his stock of behaviours which makes him seem very similar to the rest of men. But true feelings are often deeply buried 'and his heart is hidden behind the curtain of external actions. As we look out upon other persons with all their similarities to us on one hand, and their private mysteries on the other, we compare them to ourselves. Sometimes we seem 4o know our 'selves' very well. Then suddenly we are shocked by our reactions and we wonder if we do know our selves at all. We are mysteries also. As we think about these things we see clearly that the "normal person is especially valued. Strange people frighten us. Different people are counted as being brave. How else cpuld they buck the usual standards? Open people are naive. Peculiar people become jokes. It isn't really the done thing to be different. Our, homes are dedicated to turning out children who come up to expectatidns. People are trained to be normal. Schools are like fa ri s turning out the regular els. And as long as some degree of normality is maintained we are happy. But some do not fit the mould. They arefrustrated, angry, "unnormalizable", •rugged creatures who will not be shaped to pattern. They ate sick. - Most on the otherhand; take on an outward shape which often does not fit the inward shape. Some' people are so- different vin +rrB� T,rgrr G between their inward and out- ward shapes that they do not know themselves at all. They are alienated from their 'selves'. They also are not healthy. It is a rule that the person who does not know himself well does not know others very well. The one who is alientated from him self is alienated- from the others. It is not too much to add that honesty, in many cases,- is a matter of degree. Where the domain of honesty ends, t of ignorance takes ove__ Dr. Jourard, a psychotherapist of some note, assays some rhyming couplets. "Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream. Externals don't portray insides, Jekylls may be masking Hydes." What are we to do when the roles we play hide aching selves? What can be done to further health for tormented souls? The man comes to his therapist who listens with sympathy to life uncovered. Normalities are forgotten and the 'soul truths' are brought out. "I never have spoken of this to anyone else before," he says. "This is the firsttime I have been completely honest with anyone for a long time." - And after listening with few words to the recital of con- tradiction the therapist is greeted with the final greeting. "Well, thank you very much for talking with me today. You have been such a help." Our client has uncovered his 'true self' to someone and in the process has seen his'self truly as seldom before. Self -disclosure is a rule of health. Dr. Jourard paraphrases the Delphic Oracle, "Know Thyself". so that it reads "Make Thyself Known, and Thou Wilt Know Thyself." He would even enlarge Paul Tillich's famous title from 'The Courage To Be' to 'The Courage To Be Known'. It does take courage to disclose one's self, for usually they are comforts and joys in the status quo. Also, of course, it ' is a frightening thing to . show our- selves to others because we don't know hdw they will react. They might be shocked, or they might even upbraid us. Self -disclosure is no guarantee of mental health. Self-knowledge is helpful only if we use it rightly. But at least the first step van be . taken toward health once we are. dealing with our 'real selves'.