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Clinton News-Record, 1976-10-21, Page 4fQ the public het them have e, wh re meetings and they can explain to the taxpayer t you think Peer Editor, • in your ediitorial,.submitted by :the United Church. in the October 14 issue. three ex, rypressions struck the at- tention: "Greater slices of the taxpayers pie", "We are 'treated to the . tiresome display of each trying to grab the biggest share of the conymunal r pot." and "How ,does the beleagured tax- payer -citizen choose,,."?... . Regarding "slices of the taxxpayrers pie" and "share of the communal pot" it would seem- that a little in- consistency bare. bent; difficy rt b the that they are Clinton a seryiCea responsible civic- , , not members of som �private cl aff kindergarten children, afraid somebody will tell• their mommy what they have said. yBay Clark displayed by the United Church. Why do I say that? A short time ago Robert Duffy reported under the heading: "Churches . ask Davis to tax us twice" the following: "In January last year the • five churches - Anglican , Lutheran. Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and UNITED (capitals are Mine) - presented a brief calling on the government to match, dollar for dollar, the volun- tary contributions they receive for foreign aid work. e amount: Was estimated at about $9 million." Duffy also stated: "Foreign relations generally *re a federal responsibility„ and it is federal business to raise taxes ' to carry it out," Evidently itis the objective of these religious organizations to . COMPEL all people to support their activities whether the individual desires to do so, or not. The beleagured taxpayer has as a result no freedom of worship. Is that what we want? Sincerely yours Barney, Clic 100— "oltca visions There are quite a few big, black birds floating around these days. Or had you noticed? No, they are not black geese on their way south. They are vultures. They may not look like it. They may more closely resemble political pundits, media manipulators, or triumphant Tories. But they are vultures. They are scrawny and hungry as they circle impatiently, waiting for the moribund body to fall down and become a carcass on which theycanfatten. That staggering corpus on which their beady little eyes are fixed is the Liberal Party, which composes the government of this fair landat the moment. A Gallup or some other poll revealed recently that the Liberals would receive only 29 per cent of the vote, should an election be held when the poll was taken. Add to that the increasingly virulent tone of the media towardthe prime minister, and . a gaggle of fairly minor scandals in- volving prominent Liberals, and it would. appear that the vultures will soon be gorging themselves. • There certainly is a faint stench arising from the Liberal party these days. But.. it is not the stench of death. It is more like the odour of a body that needs both a strong purgative and a good, hot bath. I don't pretend to be a political seer. Nor do I owe any political prognostications to any political affiliation. In short, I don't give a diddle for any of them. But it doesn't require more than a modicum of common sense to realize that the Liberal party is far from being on its last legs. Anyone who thinks otherwise is indulging in wishful fantasies ova form of self hypnosis. That includes the political vultures. I think they are going to go right on being scrawny and hungry. Remember, you read it here first. The Liberals may have absorbed a few stiff punches in the solar -plexus, but they are a long way from going to the mat and being counted out. Why? Use your head, man, or lady. Forget about .he polls and the press. Nobody ever won an election with either, or both. People, not polls, elect governments. And people are the most unpredictable creatures in the universe. They don't base their votes on logic or reason. They base -them on all kinds of crazy things. They base them on emotions like greed and fear. They base them on glibness and charisma. They base them on such things as Mar..garet making an as of herself on TV or Maureen having a hard time with her first baby. In these days, when the tube is so vital in a politician's getting 'to the people, the latter base their votes, in many. many cases, on dazzle rather than dependability, on rhetoric rather than reliability. A pity 'tis. 'Tis pity but 'tis true. When the crunch comes, who are you going to vote for? Earnest. youthful Joe, with his jowls jumping like a junior John Dief.? Or suave, elegant Pierre of the. Gallic shrug, the seemingly utterly reasonable approach, and the charm of a professional actor? Be honest, now. Add to that a few other facts. Trudeau has the solid support of his party, if only because he has led it to two successful grabs at the gold ring. Clark was elected leader of the Tories by barely more than one half of the convention delegates. Add again. Trudeau is a skilled and experienced politician. He has shown that he can he at the same time loyal to his henchmen and ruthless when need be. Clark is comparatively untried in the political arena, is rapidly gaining skill, but hasn't had a chance to be either loyal or ruthless. He hasn't dared. Add some more. • The government con- trols the purse strings. This means patronage and post offices and pension cheques. And don't tell me that's nineteenth century politics. It ain't. Look for some sudden benevolence by the government on the eve of election. And again. Don't count too much on the prime minister's current unpopularity. Mackenzie King was one of the most cor- dially hated prime ministers we have ever had. He suddenly became very popular and won an election, when he introduced the baby bonus. See last paragraph. Another fact. There are millions of die- hard Liberals in this country. They'd vote Liberal if King Kong or Ibi Amin (not much to choose there) were running for prime minister. What do you think they will do .in an election? Roll over and play dead? Add to this that Quebec, despite its di -illusion with its own Liberal govern- ment, will go at least ninety per cent Liberal. They may not love Trudeau, but when it comes to a choice between a guy named Pierre and a guy named Joe. there is no choice, among French Canadians. Trudeau will get a licking in the West, but that is not where elections are won or lost. While it may be on the ropes, cut and bleeding, the Liberal party is a long, long way from being carried out of the ring, feet first. Here's my prediction. Pierre Trudeau will eat Joe Clark for breakfast. 0 he doesn't, I'I1 eat three copies of the High River'Times for my breakfast. News- A r! le peb$ARe! eats TheinIiy et P.O. rest Sia. c"1q .a. OMId*. Camas. hielit it& It in registered se sressd aches mai by Hits pest /Mot evoke Ow pervell sookoor Mil. The News -Item! IMrtepsrttied le ION 11h lbws N ec, & a1 lit it$i, oat NOW ROI. .011114104 ON 1111. Ilia my children's through ,_.. sc ool " Odds 'n' ends by Elaine Townshend Defining a writer` What is a writer'? Scanning some writers' magazines. I found a few suggestions. For one thing, a writer is a person who should be read, not seen or heard. A writer is a painter, -who uses a pen instead of a brush and words instead of oils. Her purpose is to communicate to her readers what she sees, feels and thinks, and she enjoys putting her thoughts on paper. Thus a person who hates writing letters will probably never become a.professional writer. A writer is a person with an active, imaginative mind, that is constantly searching for new topics and for novel ways to use her rejection slips. She also requires a psychological resiliency to bounce back from those rejections. She can paper her walls with the notes, or she can learn from the editors' comments, such as "material too slight" or "out of our age bracket'. She is usually encouraged by the suggestion to "try us again." In a recent issue of Canadian Author and Bookman, Betty Funke recalls two of herInuscripts were returned with this note attached: "You'llt there." A , writer is often a victim of an ailment known as "Writer's Block," which Kenneth Walter describes this way: "I'm floating in the moon, slamming at a dam of truth and sadness. My heart is a wall. holdingfeeling in. My throat is a stone words won't flush out. Need a backslap. Or incision." A writer is a person'who must make a firm commitment to her chosen profession. An excellent example is Ruth Echeles' "Resolution - Day One": "Dawn's first light: Rise and write. , Brain is dead. Back to bed_" On a more serious note, Loring Mandel suggests "A writer is a person. with The Secret ; some of it he tells, some of it he sells, some of it he saves to keep himself warm." Perhaps the most appropriate description of a writer, though, is Jay Myer's scientific definition. CHEMICAL SYMBOL : S.A.S. E ATOMIC WEIGHT: Anywhere from zero to infinity. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; Boils regularly when frustrated or rejected; freezes from lack of ideas; tends to melt when properly treated with flattery; magnetically attracted to books, magazines. television, radio and theatre. CHEMICAL PROPERTIES: Increased blood pressure when in visual contact with postman; prone to manic depressive fits with every rejection letter, but produces adrenalin when a pay cheque is received and changes colour to bright red from shock. OCCURRENCE: Everywhere. USES: Keeps libraries stocked: entertains the young and old. sick and healthy; can evoke laughter or tears: helps to keep history alive and editors working. CAUTION: Highly explosive when misunderstood in- sanity nsanity is not unusual. From our early files a a • IS YEARS AGO October 27,190 Clintonians have only seven days to muster their ideas for Centennial projects and en- tertainments for next year. Canada's Centennial Year. A meeting has been called in the council chambers at 8 p.m. on Thursday. November 3 to co- ordinate Centennial projects for the towm. Council appointed a four -man Centennial Committee earlier this year to organize and co- ordinate the various projects. Members are . Royce Macaulay, Bruce Bartliff, Arthur Aiken and Steven Brown. At the Clinton Recreation Committee meeting last Thur- sday evening, Douglas Andrews was hired as manager of the Lions Arena. superisor of the Clinton Community Swimming Pool and maintenance man for Clinton Community Park and the two smaller playground parks. The rec. committee accepted the management of Clinton Lions Arena at a special meeting of town council and the rec com- mittee on Tuesday. October 18. Previous to that, the Lions Club had requested the town to take over operation of the arena on -Mary Street. Members of the new ebmmittee within the rec commitiNo1r re: Jack Irwin, chairman; rte*, Livermore. Don Kampston and Councillor Gordon Lawson. The arena manager will work w,tt i the ...above committee re, finances. moor repairs. ice rental rates. season's tickets for skating and other problems that occur. A splurge of good weather is aiding the harvesting of white beans and grain corn. Moisture content is lowering satisfactorily. Fall plowing Is progressing favourably. Mild nights are allowing all classes of cattle to remain an pasture. Parents in the town of Clinton have once more turned ,tbumbs down on* project designed solely for the benefit at their children* Due to the apathy of mothers and;: fathers of elementary school children enrolled at Clinton Public Schaal, the officers of the- Homo and School Association ,have served notice that the ac. ;ivlt el m the group will be dlteettlitiued lmmediately.. The Homo and School • ,Association is the second organization to fall within as many weeks. Clinton Brownies has been forced to disband because of tack of interest and concern among Clinton mothers. 25 YEARS AGO November 1,1951 George C. Ginn, returning officer for Huron, has things well in hand for holding the Ontario Election in this riding on November 22. Mr. Ginn reported today that the enumerators had finished their duties and that all lists now had been printed and were in his hands, ready for distribution. The enumerators' preliminary voters' lists indicate a total of 18.162 voters in Huron riding, male up as follows: Clinton 1,645; Tuckersmitt'. 1.173; Goderich Township, 923: Hullett Township. 1.071; Stanley Township, 1,144; Hensall, 483; Hay, 1,500; Stephen, 2,000; Usborne, 959; Seaforth, 1.430; Goderich. 3.264; Exeter. 1.593 and McKillop. 977. Preliminary sketches of Clinton's new 8300.000 public school in the east end of the town have been completed by the architects. Barnett and Rieder, Kitchener. whose represen- tatives presented the sketches at a special meeting of Clinton Public School Board, Friday evening. A motion was passed to adopt the architect's drawing as presented. subject to certain minor changes and to the ap- proval of the Ontarie Department of Education. G.G. Gardiner, Public School Inspector for South Huron and four members of Town Council also attended Times Square. New York, on New Year's Eve had nothing on Albert Street. Clinton, Halloween about 9:30 p.m. when the youth of the town took over the main street. following the gala party at the Town Hall. For a half hour or so. hundreds of weirdly clad young people, armed with noise makers and led by the Bannockburn Pipe Band, marched gaily and noisily Wong the main thoroughfare to the park where a big bonfire concluded the evening's festivities. The annual Halloween party was a decided success, with* full eveninak program provided. This, included" -the showing - tzlf films, judging of costumes and ending with treats of candy and noisemakers. Prize winners were: girls 1-5, Nancy Elliott; boys 1-5. Steve Cooke; girls 6-8. Donal da Freeman; boys, 6-8. Billie Falconer; girls 9-11, Margaret Steinburg; boys 9-11. Wayne McGee; girls, 11-14. Vivien Edwards; boys 11-14, Eugene McLaren. Clinton is going to have a really fine Santa Claus Parade this year. if arrangements. now under way by Clinton and District Chamber of Commerce, are fulfilled. It is planned to hold the parade late this month. A definite date will be set within the next few days. 59 YEARS AGO November 4, 1928 The marriage took place at St. Paul's Church. Wednesday last week of Leona Lillian, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. George Taylor, Clinton and Clarence James Aikenhead, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Aikenhead. Stanley. C.H. Venner. while at work at the new Collegiate building was struck on the head by a brick falling from a newly -laid wail above him and was rendered unconscious. His injury was not very serious, but it was a hard enough crack. Mr. and Mrs. L. Currell en- tertained a number of friends at a Halloween Party at the Shipley farm on the Huron Road. Dr. H. Fowler is on his annual hunting trip up north this week. Messers. K Case. Elmer Miller and Jim Kennedy eft Saturday for Niagara. Buffalo and . New York. Miss A. Bartliff has taken a position as house nurse at St. Andrew's Boyd' School, Aurora. Mr. and Mrs. S.S. Cooper, Miss Hanna sand Mrs. Percy Ladd left Montay for Redlands, California.. Mrs. W.E. Floody, Toronto is visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. }LB, Chant. Me Arnold Jamieson is laid tip fora few days with blood poisoning. Mr, and Mars. J. Radford. Londesboro, mot+w day d to Paris recently. Miss Annie Mcleod; Bayfield entertained ` aaw number of her young -Emends *t ._lltreen Party, Saturda eve nine • 7$ YEARS AGO October*, HAI 4, The treasurer of the Blyth Fair informs us that the gate receipts for this year. although the morning of the day was very wet, reached the handsome sum of S687.37. We doubt if any fair ie the county can equal this. Some threshing still occupies the farmers attention but ow friend Watt is great on the clover as well. Ensilage will be more ex- tensively fed than usual by Hullett farmers this winter. Many are busy taking up the root crop since the recent cold weather; mangolds are said to be thrifty and turnips thrifty and louse free in this vicinity. John Brigham, with the assistance of Messrs Bell and Miller of Londesboro, has put a cement floor . in the stables beneath his barn on the 13th which he recently enlarged and puta stone foundation under it. It is stated that Wednesday morning last week a deliberate attempt was made to burn down the barns of Mr. Thos. Hez-2 zlewood of the 9th concession of Hullett, but which. fortunately. was unsuccessful. Our emulsion of cod liver oil and hypophosphites of lime and soda is the best. Large bottles. 35 and 50 cents, R.P. Reekie's prescription drug store. Clinton. Successor to Sydney Jackson. N.B. - Our compound syrup of white pine and tar cures colds. 25 cents. A step ladder given away to every purchaser of one can of our pure cream baking powder we will give. without any extra charge. a strong durable five foot stcr ladder. Three 15 cent bars of soap for 25 cents. 25 cent brooms for 20 cents. O. Olson. next door to Dr. Gunn's private hospital. Good butter and eggs needed. News -Record readers ers ars encouraged to express their opinions in letters fa the editor, fever, such opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of the News - Record. Pseudonyms may he used b'y letter writershit no lei II he unless it can uh� ash hur`eaucra.tte sjistem e Huron Ounty and the town of Chi viten,, 0400 of my money that t w. td never see *gain if the big brass wouldn't go along with it. However, by October, 1975. we finally got the OK tb sell. At that time. the Clinton Clerk assured me that in the. near future, -- severances would be handled by the Town of Clinton and this would speed things -up considerably, This is how the bureaucratic system has improved sinCeim last year. In July of this year. we listed another lot with a real estate firm in Clinton. We had a buyer inabout a week. The buyer gave us until the middle of November to have all the red tape cut through so he could obtain possession. Would you believe it. that with all the modern ways that we are supposed to be able to process things ings in 1976, 1 find from both my lawyer as well as the real estate firm, that we will be extremely lucky if we even know by November 15, 76. This means that the buyer would be in no way obligated to take the property at all, yet I would have to pay my lawyer as well as the $50 to the severance board. I would be happy to hear from the readers just how democratic is the system and* why all the delay. 'Very confused, Allan Reid, Clinton. Not welcome! Dear Editor: I at one time thought Clinton to be a friendly town. I now know how hostile some people in a small town can be. Thank God I didn't get tib same reaction from Blyth where I now own a restaurant and the general public and businessmen are fantastic. While trying to set up a take-out food business in Clinton, I got nothing but problems for my efforts. To mention just a couple, the building which I had arranged to purchase on Princess Street behind Clinton Electric, I thought • was a dandy location. Renovations. a new front, etc. would have made a good looking building out of what is now there. There is a pile of junk lumber on the property of Clinton Electric which I nicely asked if they could remove. Rather than do that. the owner went to the time and trouble to put up a snow fence and block the end of mmk building completely from a view of the main street. Also with the help of the town clerk (????), (who else could work so fast with the local works department?). 24 hours from when I asked to have the lumber moved, there was a no parking sign erected in front of my business premises. I have a great following of people who come from Clinton to my restaurant in Blyth -and thought that, out type of food and se vice would go well in Clinton. So much for the thought. I must admit, there are businessmen_ in your area who thought I had a great idea (seafood and spaghetti house) and it was suggested to me, by one of them. that I let you know what pit -falls are in front of a new business, trying to establish itself in Clinton. It seems that some peopl desire Clinton to be nothin more than a retirement and a .burial ground for the older generation, as some have , o desire to tet young, fret blood in. My greatest belief is that competition makes for a better product, it's just too bad -the people of Clinton hav totake what they get becauali of a few selfish bureaucrats trying to run a town only their way. G.W. "kip"`Mc utlen, .'pillage Restaurant* Blyth