Clinton News-Record, 1975-03-13, Page 4Editor
Open the doors
We are wholeheartedly in agreement
with a recommendation made by
Councillor James Hunter and Deputy
Reeve Frank Cook at ' last Monday
night's 'council meeting that there be
two open council meetings per month
in Clinton instead of the usual one open
and one closed.
Even though one might agree with
Mayor Symons who said that they
weren't trying to hide anything by
meeting behind closed doors once a
month, we have noticed that many,
many times a motion or a by-law is
simply rubber-stamped at open council
PAG
4,CLINTON NEW!, 'ORD, `1 URMMAN, MARCH 13 1975
with little or no debate. Most of the
opinions and controversies were
already thrashed out in the back room.
It makes for simple and quiet council
meetings, no doubt, to ,have already
made a decision, but part of our
democratic system involves debate,
and no politician is being fair to those
he represents by hiding his or her
opinions behind a closed door.
The individual smaller committees
will still meet in private, and council as •
a whole can still meet for a short while
before the open meeting twice every
month.
Alcohol out hustles oil
While Syncrude Canada Ltd. had a
hard time finding $2,000 million to
extract an essential liquid - oil -
Canadians cheerfully spend more than
this amount annually on the con-
sumption of another liquid - alcoholic
beverages. So writes Basil Jackson in
the latest issue of The Financial Post.
In the year ending March 31, 1972
(latest figures available from
Statistics Canada), Canadians spent
$2,100 million for 424,934,000 gallons of
booze. Of this total, federal and
provincial governments skimmed off
more than $1,000 million in taxes.
• While alcohol may be good for
breweries, distilleries, the advertising
industry and government coffers, what
is it doing to drinkers and the
economies- of health care? Marc
Lalonde, minister of national health
and welfare says in The Post: "The
harmful consequences of alcohol cost
Canadians more than $1,100 million a
year.
Estimated costs of alcohol-related
motor accidents run to $500 million
annually. It costs Canadian industry an
estimated $1 million per working day,
or about $250 million a year.
And the direct health costs, based on
hospital admissions, appear to run at
least to $350 million a year."
let us spay
Veterinarians in British Columbia
started giving a break March 1 to low-
income pet owners. The Financial Post
reports that such owners will be able to
get 30 percent to 40 percent discounts
on the costs of having dogs and cats
spayed and neutered.
The owners eligible for the discount
include those over 60 who are receiving
the province's guaranteed income
supplement, the permanently han-
dicapped, and single parents on long-
term assistance.
The B.C. Veterinary Medical
Association estimates there will be
about 150,000 persons in British
Columbia in these low-income
categories.
Sugar and Spice/By Bill Smiley
A salute to High Garner
Rather belatedly, I'm reading Hugh Garner's
autobiographical One Damn Thing After
Another, and thoroughly enjoying it.
There are two types of people to whom this
book would appeal: those who are interested in
the rather mysterious worlds of the professional
writer and the publisher, and those who enjoy the
reminiscences of a robust and prickly per-
sonality who has done a lot of living in sixty -odd
years.
It is far from Garner's best book. It is
repetitious and padded inexcusably with ar-
ticles -he has written and a speech he has made.
There is nothing of the grace and strength of his
magnificent short stories or the solid skill,of his
good novels.
But that's as it should be. He is writing about
Hugh Garner the man, as well as Hugh Garner
-the writer, and nobody knows better than he that,
while the latter may bean the way to becoming a
Canadian literary giant, the former has feet of
clay, if not putty.
Garner makes it quite clear' that he isfarfrorn
being an admirable person, in the usual sense.
He gets drunk at, or arrives•drunk at, formidably
serious events. He tells people to do impossible
biological things to themselves.
As he tells it, he is the sort of guy you would
never invite to a second party at your place,
because he -would likely have insulted someone
at the first prty. Or, if you invited him to a party
as the guest of -honor, he'd probably get into a
beer parlor and forget all about it, leaving you,
-his host with egg on your face when the
and emerged from it tough and chip -on -shoulder.
As a youth, he dropped out of school and ran
head-on into the Depression. He bummed all
over North America, riding freights, seeing
country, working at many things, and storing a
great fund of experience for his future fiction.
He learned earlier the frustration of a
proletariat facing the establishment and this led
to a suspicion of, and disillusionment with,
authority, which he has retained all his life.
He fought -as a volunteer in the International.
Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. This was
probably the last gallant crusade in the history of
war, when thousands of young idealists from
nations left home to battle fascism. Most of them
were scorned and derided as "reds" in their own
countries. '
• Yet Garner was clearheaded enough to realize
that the Communists were using the volunteers
as dupes; and he was never sucked in.
Again a fight loomed, when Canada declared
war on Germany. Garner joined up, in the army,
right away. His "red" background was against
him, so he switched to the navy, and spent a
number of dangerous, tumultuous and hilarious
years before his discharge as a chief petty of-
ficer (he certainly wasn't "officer material").
Then came the biggest battle of all, trying to
become a professional writer in Canada. At the
time he had about as much chance as he would
The girls' way
It now appears to be the turn of the Junior Miss to be
analyzed, cautioned and generally Uncle Dudleyed.
This sort of dissection goes in cycles. One week it is the
juvenile delinquent. The next week it's the kooky, mixed-up
middle-aged man, like me. We get a run on havoc -crying about
bored housewives, followed by a spate of warnings and cures
for the perils of the retirement years. It is the age of free, un-
solicited and often unqualified advice embracing both sexes
and every arbitrary group from infancy on.
The accent of late is on the young ladies, particularly those in
the mid -teens who may be giving some thought to what they'll
make of their lives. It's a subject that must surely interest
everyone except possibly the young ladies themselves.
Certainly those 1 have had the pleasure of studying seem to
grow up 'without any apparent torment of soul-searching, slip
almost effortlessly by automatic transmission into either
marriage or some sort of career and give the impression of
being by far the best -adjusted and most sensible group in
modern society.
Still, the fact remains that however lightly or easily the
transition between girlhood and womanhood may be achieved,
the decisions that are made in those tender years are the most
important and irrevocable of any they may make in their
lifetime.
Hence, this current wave of counselling by an older, wiser
and duller generation.
The Junior Miss, cold-bloodedly assessing the two main
choices that confront her, might be forgiven for being just a
little downhearted. The limitations are formidable to left and
right.
If it is to he the career, she must accept the fact, for all the
brave talk of equality of the sexes, she's entering a world in
which the deck is stacked for the male.
Women now make up 30 percent of the labor force and the
number is growing, but as a general rule their work is less
interesting, less challenging, less rewarding.
Gossips
Dear Editor:
I hope that you will allow m
to use your column to deal wit
a group of very cruel people.
These people seem to be
thriving on their ability to
create unhappiness.
There seems to be a certain
number of Clinton citizens who
are more than interested in the
private affairs of others these
days. Suddenly, I feel that I am
considered notorious because
mind my own business an
allow others to do the sam
unless I can be of help to them
Gossip, I am not afraid of, bu
this time these dear chatt
people have used 'my childre
as an excuse for thei
ignorance.
Whoever started this choic
bit of trash could be hel
responsible through a Court o
Law. I had to set up a form o
defence by notifying th
Children's Aid of my innocence
When I realized what thes
people were trying to pass of
as the truth, I felt that I should
reach those in authority before
this lie went any further.
Fortunately, I am an open and
honest person with nothing to
hide and everyone of the people
close to me justify my in-
nocence.
I really didn't realize how
popular I had become. I would
like these people to know that I
would gladly keep them en-
tertained through a weekly
column in this paper called
"My Private Affairs." This
way I could keep them in-
formed about the facts of my
life and be reassured that it's
the truth.
I am sorry that I am not able
to live up to the lovely waste o
words that I have heard lately.
I guess it's because I am no
causing enough sen-
sationalizing through my title
as "separated woman". It's too
bad that I don't need to caus
unhappine's's for others.
I feel that people like th
guilty of the above situatio
cause crime to flourish so well
People give up trying,to remai
worthwhile because of thes
people who think themselves
too good to be bad. People who
thrive on making others
unhappy must be miserable
and cold and are truly the
unhappy and miserably lonely
people in this world. It's a sad
fact that these people are no
capable of creating anything
worthwhile for themselves.
Sincerel
Mary Lee Jame
Clinto
P.S. I am sure these peopl
must search the paper for an
choice bit of information so
hope this makes them stop an
think.
I
In the field of science, for example, only a tenth as many
women as men are employed for most of the professions so
there is bound to be frustration for the brightest or most am-
bitious young women. •
If it is to be marriage, as it most often is, the dear girl need
only pick up any magazine or newspaper to read the
documented belly -aches of vast numbers of young wives .and
mothers who, rightly or wrongly, feel that life has closed in
around them, that they're chained to a domesticity that denies
them freedom.
If they took this seriously they would surely come to look
upon the role in the home as restricting, unsatisfying and a
denial of any full participation in society.
The most feminine of activities, then, appears to have as
many drawbac,(s and frustrations as the alternative of finding
a niche in the more masculine world.
About the only worthwhile advice that could be given to these
gals en masse, it seems to me, is the kind that came the other
day from the head of Massachusetts' Smith College for Women,
one Dr. Thomas Menden Hall, who stressed the particular need
for them to pursue their education to the limit.
Dr. Hall noted that a full -two-thirds of all able secondary
school students who fail to reach university are female and it
just might be that they're the ones who need it most.
If the career is her aim, then she needs to be genuinely
competitive and not simply accept the lesser, more mechanical
tasks. It should not be so, perhaps, but her academic
qualifications can be crucial if she's to be anything more than a
chore girl.
If, on the other hand, her decision is matrimony then
education as a means of broadening her horizon, of giving her -
special interests and knowledge to combat the restrictions of
housewifery may mean the difference between the well/ -known
tedium and a real sense of participation.
It was always good advice, of course, but now it may be
urgent. Learn, little lady, learn while you may.
From our early files ... •
10 YEARS AGO
have had if he'd chosen to run for king of March 18, 1965
England. 9 Miss Carol Brown, daughter of
Doggedly, he fought stupid editors, timid Mr. and Mrs. William Brown,
publishers, and the great, apathy of the.Canadian Seafortti, (formerly of Hensall),has -received word that she has
der sustained only by his own sublime and ccessfuil assed with honors
lately, and the situation here in weather nas been all that one days to get it from the bush to the
town is easing slightly, although could wish for — roads are in fair yard.
there still is a decided shortage of shape and a big turnout is hoped 100 YEARS AGO
accommodation. for.
Two deserving financial A. T. Cooper has purchased March 18, 1875
campaigns are now in progress in vacant lots facing Mary Street The partnership formerly
Clinton and District and where the old rink used to stand existing•between Messrs. Straith
bout Huron and it is to be hoped he will have and David, has been dissoldvebd,
"distinguished author" failed to show. rel su Y P elsewhere throug
Despite the somewhat dim light in which certain Conviction that his stuff was good. her Associate Solo Performers County the Red Cross and them landscaped and present the premises being purchase y
P It was a long, pitched battle, with many a examinations in piano from both
Garnerc often showstehimself, m makes it per-. the occasional rout, and the just -as- the Royal Conservatory of Music, Easter Seals - but a house -to- them to the town. A part there Mr. David.
admires himself very much. skirmish, madewould be a vast improvement if it Several counterfeit half -dollars
featly clear that he occasional victory. But he won. Toronto and Western Con-
Out of the book comes a good, strong, healthy At his best, Hugh Garner is one of the best • servatory of Music, London. Mr. and Mrs Dan Schwann, giving ego, which is fine. Every real writer must haveA bylaw by
this belief in himself, or he turns into a door mat short story writers in the English language, with E.bylaw committee, Menzies, headededtey
a grasp of the feelings and motives of ordinary the bylaw at the annual meeting
house campaign is being rn
neither case. were seeded and levelled. and quarters have been taken in
thistown,evidence of
Mrs. Arnold Hill has returned
to her home in Toronto after who are moving to Clinton shortly recent manufacture. By close
visiting her sons, Ross and to conduct a bakery business, examination the triad coins may
mons and their were guests f honour at a easily be detected.
foreditors and publishers. eo le that is wholly credible:
And Public Hospital board,
His novels are above average, a c p to officially change and have the
book, you begin to share Garner's opinion of 1 ``Cabba etown." hospital operated erated by a 15 -man
himself. identifywith Garner is in governors.
Norman
Fitzsim es s o
families and other relatives in ' p.resentation party held at Mr. Geo. Dobson has sold his
Benmillerof fiftyacres on the Huron
Clinton for a week.Tuckersmith to Mr. Rich.
Mr. and Mrs. FredArkell, residding.� his next neighbour. Mr.
Goderich twp. visited on Sunday Dobson is to have the use of the
Ballads
Dear Editor:
In response to the letter of th
"enchanted Watermelon en
thusiast - the following:
Dear Watermelon,
Thank you very much for you
critique about "the Ballad of th
unborn" in the Feb. 27 paper. I
was a real eye opener, for you ar
undoubtedly an expert o
literature for you dare to speak i
the name•of it.
Furth`e'rmore;•""you must he'c
person of great learning for th
words you used are very "ex
somewhere along the line, as you read this P P le of them of Clinton
pensive". I also take for grante
where they have been farm that •you are a person Brea
excellent, notably g p A k 11 Road, experience for you mentioned th
Where most of us can board of d 75 YEARS AGO Carter, good old days• In short, I see yo
In most of us, however, sedate our lives, there Last weekend saw one of the ex a prison who has hoc
h' scorn for the petty, the bureaucratic, the with Mr and Mrs. Gordon March 16, 1900 til next October.
lurks a hidden rebel a wild nonconformist, a is sco w
best seed fairs ever held by the h Stanley.
J Jewis has two lambs he is arm i , last heavy thaw there.
' timid the phoney.
t m
cans fa°" t ass;- ..a ht f.CJC 1 � .:. �• - �� � j ,�.� b h •. a¢ �r� srr� ti 1 .. ; e } aatt " �. , � i f ,as i! c�a VC • '�- ' Bill is the rel/s+on"Wirt
as a ,,�• •r
. `� "�`�rnew ria e °�- � � S.as _
���17�' .� that .r P
causes.._ __ ' overthedelicatetable Improvements Association. h outstanding all lbs.He thinks they will go h and very—s Garner has been, and is, all of these tlir5gs and Pulls the - cat's tail, knocks Robert Fotheringham is again
we can enjoy ourselves, vicariously, by iden- with the Spode figurine on it, and sits up looking iI Institute. tote The l9 year- cents per lb
' h t have a summer detected cies deep
writing an
tifying with his colorful, battleful life.
Hugh Garner has been fighting battles all his
life, and a less doughty fighter would long since
have been buried physically, socially, and
perhaps spiritually.
As a kid, he fought the obloquy and occasional
humiliation of the very poor in, a Toronto slum,
THE CI.INTON NEW ERA
.Established 1865
Huron County seed chamption,
around to make sure everybody is taking notice.
collecting 38 points
XIII d t captain H Beacon Bayfield Line, has
If Canada were the sort of country which
erects statues of its writers, heaven forbid,
Garner would be sculpted in solid stone, a
fiendish grin on his face, a chip on each shoulder,
and�his right arm outflung, the middle finger of
that hand raised erectly in the universal gesture.
Mambar. Canadian
Community NawapapM
Association
a
Clinton News-�Zecorcl
Published every Thursday
at Clinton, Ontario
Editor • Jame E. Fitzgerald
Genual Mansel,.
J. Howard Aitken
Second C14'4 ,1111411 ,.,,.
nitration no. O$i1-'"
NUB OF HURON COUNTY
itiattCRIPtION RATES:
CANADA $10.00
U.S.A. $11.60
SINGLE COPY .2.6sf
ec rng • � t s
Warrant Officer,
Donaldson has retired from the Cadet Corps, a member of the Beacom Jr. This wil a ,�
RCAF, having completed 29 Students' Council and reeve of venient for Jack as it is adjoining
years of service. Teen -Town. his own farm. Mr. Beacom is
Ken McNairn, local carpenter, Mrs Lloyd Makins who un- renting his farm on account of
was successful in obtaining his derwent
• the recently -held removal of goitre, returned home illness. He .intends making h
clinic on custom laying of floor on Tuesday from Clinton Public permanent abode in Clinton. Taxation
coverings put on by the Arm- Hospital. Mr. Wm. Cook moved last week
strong Company - makers of well-. 50 YEARS AGO to their new home at Port Albert
known vinyl floor coverings. March 19, 1925 and Mr. McNevin, who have Dear Editor: thousand words.
Robert B. Campbell of Pickett Eggs for hatching were ad- resided in Wingham for about a Revenue Taxation of Canada Knowledge can he learned,
and10Campbell he stag nightgthe vertised at $4 per hundred or 65 year, has `returned and now provides an information ser- experienced too, but wisdom is a
$100 draw at the stag atlately vice to the public to enable gift.Wisdom is not bitter nor does
Clinton Legion Hall, last Friday. cents for a setting of 15 by D. M. resides in the house oc them to complete their own it lack love. You think it to be of
The proceeds from the well -Lindsay, RR 3, Clinton. copied by Mr. Cook.
Old Boy's Reunion will be held A purse containing a small sum income tax returns if they find good taste and of wisdom to
attended evening will be used to that their question is not an- chuck trash like "the ballad of
reduce the present mortgage on in Clinton in August and so far of money was found in Jackson the unborn" n the garbage can.
h been received from Bro's store, but although ad-
. swered in the "Guide" (Copy
Gerald old Grade s u en i d S f
of the Clinton District Collegiate rented his farm
undertone of bit -
f. hotel an ea orth is to have a iciness a lack of love and
to his nephew,
1 b con- number of Fire Engines In town. wisdom, for see Mr. Watermelon
there happens to be an enormous
gap between knowledge and
w isdom . There are people,
simple people, who have had
hardly any education but with
one glance, one smile, they are
able to say more than for
example Pierre Berton with a
t surgery twice for failing health and also his wife's
diploma at
etters
the Legion Hall.
replies have
as far away as Jacksonville, vertised several tmes, the owner enclosed with each income tax Ther c is wher c yo
Florida; Indiana, Ottawa and has not yet turned up. your lack of wisdom, for you see
sir, this lady wrote ,his piece e
Toronto. A record attendance is J. B. Laing, PrgWeptalcarefully' return
eLong adistge).
ance telephone 1
literature with compassion. She
Clinton Town Council held a expected and Ntllet's are - being. through
Wednesday nquiries may be made free of ._
special meeting in the Council arranged to take care of those through the books, and °Come
Chamber Monday evening, who do not have accommodation town treasurer, on the charge from 8:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. „,..
for their stay. plimented him very highly: on Mondays and Tuesdays and Nowa-Reoord renders sen
chiefly for the purpose of con- from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on eourxpod to express th+Nr
sidcring applications for the A suggestion has been mode manner iii which they were kept. In letters to the editor,
about organizing a lacrosse team W. Doherty and Co. eh,o esbeen Wed-fiesdays Thursdays and - �' ash positions of Chief Constable and getting this
Fridays. The number to call is
Assistant Constable Jack P. —• this k a sure sign of spring. ettin in some large
the necessarily roprotlant the
pointe urger, London, was ap- A. T. Cooper has had his winter but they Zenith 0-4000. opinions too Nlowit-Motlyd..
pointed Chief and James A. �� inflows finished in hardu2od, largest of the season last trill
Pseudonyms may be used by
Could you inform your
Thompson was appointed which is the latest, .a tew Tuesday. It came frbm the farm letter writers, motor
and other of J. Aver on the London road, 'readers of the above?
Assistant Chief. nial; i�inc nick built y' yHolds of Yours truly, be un".Gs N CRR b1
A few families have been inipro‘e.mcnt5made'tohis store. findw;iyhauled h P.Rnyeot of Mrs. K. our man, phone.
fwo weeks ft•om today --- April Hullett and G. May Public Relations Officer. ....r.ifle+rb
mo. ing out to the new housing .2 _- is ll„r o Show Day. The Goderirh township. It toot, two
development at RCAF Station
•u showed me
25 YEARS AGO
March 16, 1950