Clinton News-Record, 1978-11-16, Page 4PAGE 4 --CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER i6 1978
page
Pooling our thoughts
Several critical decisions will
have to be made by the Clinton
recreation committee in the next
several months, and they will need
all the input of the public they can
get to make those decisions.
The swimming pool in Clinton is
on its last legs and has been nursed
along for the past several summers
until some major repairs are
made, or a new pool built. But those
major repairs would cost at least
$60,000, while replacement of the
pool could cost between $100,000
and $170,000 and that's without a
new change building.
The Vanastra Recreation
Committee and director Dianne
Durnin have offered the use of their
pool, which is covered, heated
facility' available. for year-round
use.
The recreation committee is now
faced with a decision: should they
spend at least $100,000 on a new
pool, plus an annual operating
budget of $10,000 or more, when it
will only be used two months of the
year, and there are already the
facilities at Vanastra?
Many children and adults from
Clinton are already enrolled in
swimming courses at Vanastra,
and hence are tied into year-round
programs and seldom use the
r
Clinton pool except for the oc-
casional recreational swim. Usage
of the Clinton pool has dropped
since the Vanastra pool opened
several years ago.
On the other hand, a new Clinton
pool would almost be partially paid
for because the bingo committee
has raised over $23,000 that would
be matched dollar for dollar by
Wintario and Community Centres
Act grants, assuming those are still
available.
But the recreation committee,
should it not decide to build a new
pool, would have to set up a tran-
sportation scheme to get many of
the children out, to the Vanastra
pool during the summer to enable
the children to take swimming
lessons, just as they have the
summers in the past. Many
children won't be able to take
lessons without some form of mass
transit, as their parents work and
bicycling the three miles » out to
Vanastra on a busy highway could
prove dangerous.
So the recreation committee
needs to know your decision, and in
fact, are begging you to come out
and tell them what you think. Make
next Thursday, November 23 at 8
p.m. at the Town Hall the night to
let your opinions be heard,
P
immilmauemor
"Put me down as definitely undecided."
Before the fame
Most of us create images in our
minds of famous people - movie stars,
TV personalities, singers, etc. It is
difficult for us to imagine them in
different roles, and sometimes their
previous occupations are startling.
For example, Desi Arnez, a Cuban
singer and band leader, became well-
known on TV as • the sometimes
bewildered husband of that madcap
redhead,. Lucy. .Before entering show
dispensed
by
bill smiley
Its time to remember -
If this column appears in your
favorite community newspaper two
days or two weeks or two months after
Remembrance Day, don't blame me.
Blame the post office. As I write, the
most arrogant, obnoxious union in
Canada is at it again.
In fairness, the posties have their
grievances. But they are so in-
transigent that they have lost any
vestige they might have retained, of
public support, after so many strikes in
so few years. And their erstwhile
leader, Monsieur Parrott, was full of
crap when he declared there was union
solidarity. Even as he said it, hundreds
of small-town post office staffs had
either not gone out at all, or were back
to work, obeying the law.
However, that has little to do with
Remembrance Day, 1978. Unless it
happens to strike a responsive chord in
all those veterans who went to war
thinking they were fighting for freedom
not anarchy.
A couple of years ago, I thought I had
foresworn writing columns about
Remembrance Day. I thought I'd said
everything I could about it: the
memories, the lump in the throat as the
Last Post was played in the chill
November air; the swapping of
enormous lies at the Legion Hall after
the parade.
But this year, I was a bit miffed when
a zealous Zone Commander down in the
Brockville area accused me in the
press of "knocking" the Canadian
Legion, just because I did not genuflect
every time the name came up. I
retorted, also in the press, that it was
rather odd that a chap who was invited
on an average of twice a year to ad-
dress Legion branches, should be.. so
accused. '
Well, it all caught up with me. This
year, in a weak moment and harassed
by two old buddies who were well into
the grape, I agreed to guest speak at
the first Legion branch I ever joined, on
Remembrance Day.
My wife wasn't that hilarious about
the .idea. She recalled a few instances
when If- had been up -to no particular
goowiththat particular branch. Like
the night I got home at 4 a.m. after a
turkey raffle, tottered up the stairs,
called, "Look what I brought you,
sweetie," and flang a thirty -pound
turkey, neck, legs and all onto the bed
beside her. Which promptly collapsed,
leaving her on the floor in the embrace
of a very cold, very dead turk,
As I recall, we dined not on hot
turkey, but hot tongue and cold
shoulder the next day.
Or the time I brought home four
Indian guys, good legionnaires all,
insisted that they'd made me an
honorary chief and tried to explain to
her why we had to put them up for the
night.
Or the time I went off to a one -day
zone rally with a neighbour, a Great
War v,et, a charter member of the
Legion and a respectable ditizen. And
we arrived home two days later looking
like skeletons and acting like a couple
of veterans.from the Boer War.
But that's not, of course, the kind of
thing I can use in my speech. No. I'll
have to talk about comradeship, the
flag, the Queen, the fallen throwing the
torch, the many scholarships, the
Legion provides, the lovely dinner
prepared by the Ladies Auxiliary and
all that jazz. Lest we forget.
What I'd really like to do is discuss
topics closer to the hearts of the
average legionnaire:. what you could
get for a pack of smokes in Antwerp in
1944; how come a colleague of mine,
who fought with Rommel in North
Africa, gets a bigger War pension from
the German government than I do from
the Canadian; how many girls there
were to the square yard in Picadilly
Circus on a summer evening; how
anybody who believed in democracy
and equality could volunteer to serve in
such a fascist outfit as the military.
But no. That would never do. Not
with the Ladies Auxiliary hanging
around, drinking in every word. And
making sure their spouses drank in
nothing except words.
I'll probably have to drop in a few
din
Clinton NewsRecord
ABC
business, he was a bird cage cleaner.
Dean Martin was a steel worker, and
Clark Gable was a lumberjack.
For 11 years, comedienne Carol
Burnett opened her weekly TV variety
show by standing in front _of a studio
audience and answering their
questions. Before she began per-
forming on stage, she was an usherette
directing members of theatre
audiences to their seats.
Many of today's comics are bringing
back the brand of humour charac-
.ter.ized by W. C. Fields. Because of
that, I can picture him at his earlier
occupation - juggling. I see him
juggling three objects shaped like
bowling pins; he has a fat cigar clen-
ched between his teeth, and out of the
corner of his mouth he is saying to his
shapely female assistant, "Ah,
g. .. y_.- p - o a y• `k my l
heroic and lima inar erso.�al, a �::.little chickadee."
periences,,stress the importance ib the Joseph Wambaugh, a successful
author, gathered the material for his
novels and television stories from his
true life experiences as a policeman.
Charlie Pride, who has been one of
the most popular country singers in the
United States for the past dozen years,
turned down a career in professional
baseball, but he still works out at a pro
team's training camp each spring.
Babe Ruth, one of the greatest
baseball players of all time, was a
bartender.
boys in arms of Those At Home, toss off''
an anecdote or two about Churchill,
speak in hushed and reverent tones of
those who got the chop and belabor the
government for not giving veterans a
pension that would put them within a
stone's throw of civil service.
It's going to be tough:' I am not a
reverent person. I still think it will be a
great, day for Canada when there are
only five legionnaires left in this
country, all of them in their nineties
and they get together and sell the 28
million dollars of assets of the
Canadian Legion and squander the
whole works on a three-week trip to
Gay Paree. It will mean we haven't
been in a war for fifty odd years.. And it
will probably mean that, after three
weeks, there are no more Canadian
legionnaires on the face of the earth.
Even if you're not a sports' fan,
you've probably heard of Howard
Cosell - sportscaster for an American
television network. If you haven't
heard him, you've probably heard a
comedian imitating him. He has a
distinctive way with words, and I was
not surprised to learn he had been a
lawyer.
But I'll do my best. I can always give I can hear him now: "Ladies and
the Germans a. verbal thumping and gentlemen of the jury; you see before
bewail the fact that after being you my client, the defendant - a woman
thoroughly 'licked, they could•buy the deserted by her husband, scorned by
whole of Canada tomorrow if they her friends, a victim of the proverbial
wished. That should go over. triangle. Her fate...is in your hands."
5 YEARS AGO
November 15, 1973
Rev. John Oestreicher and
his family have arrived in
Clinton and Rev. Oestreicher
will begin his duties this
Sunday as minister at
Wesley -Willis and
Holmesville United Chur-
ches.
There must be little doubt
in the judge's mind that the
best hay in Canada and • in-
deed the world must be
grown in Huron County.
For the 10th time, the
World's Hay Championship
at the Royal Winter Fair has
come to Huron County.
Last week, Russell Bolton
of R.R. 1, Seaforth in
Mckillop Township walked
off with the hay crown for the
second successive year. Mr.
Bolton, 72, captured the title
last year its his first try.
People in South Western
Ontario and in the Clinton
area will get a chance in the
next two weeks to decide
which version fits their
perspective as the Passe
Muraille Theatre Group
bring in their new production
"Them Donnellys" to a few
selected spots in this part of
Ontario.
10 YEARS AGO
November 14, 1988
CIuntrni officials expect
insurance to cover about
$30,000 of the loss resultirig
from a fire which ripped
through a municipal garage
on James Street early last
Sattitdap desireying all the
town's public work's and
remembering
our
ovr past
road equipment. Figures
from $50,000 to $75,000 were
mentioned as the overall
loss.
William Mutch who first
worked for a predecessor of
the present Ball and Mutch
Company in 1918, is selling
his interest to two em-
ployees who will join with
Doug Ball to run the hard-
ware and furniture business
on Albert Street and the Ball
Funeral Home on High
Street.
The two new owners are
Clarence Denomme, a
member of town council who
has worked from Ball and
Mutch for two years and
John "Mac" Cameron who
has been with the company
for 13 years.
25 YEARS AGO
November 26, 1953
Another one of Clinton's
oldest and most respected
citizens, W. D. Fair, has
passed along. In honor of
him who was a merchant for
a good many years in
Clinton,. Mayor W. J. Miller
has requested stores in the
business district of Clinton to
draw their blinds during the
hours of two and four
tomorrow afternoon
Last Friday at elections at
Teen Town, Jim Howes
emerged victorious as the
new mayor. Others on the
new executive are: reeve,
Don Ladd; secretary, Claire
Taylor; treasurer, Ken
Carter; councillors, Ron
Silteepe, Richard Elliott,
erne McKinley.
Ken
The previous occupations of some
famous people are well-known.
Remember Perry Como? For several
years, he hosted a weekly TV variety
show. I :ecall seeing him sitting on a
stool in front of a music stand and
crooning songs that had been requested
by the audience in letters.
A .few years ago "Mr. C." went into
semi -retirement to travel around the
world. He pops up once in a while on TV
specials, and his records are played
occasionally on radio stations. "Mr.
C." has not been forgotten.
Most people know that, before he
became famous for singing on a stool in
a television or recording studio, he
stood behind a chair in a barber shop. I
wonder if he, sang to his customers
while he cut their hair?
And I wonder how many potential -
Mr. C.s we have crooning in, the barber
shops in town.
Another rise to fame that most
people are familiar with is the story of
Elvis Presley, who gyrated his way
from a truck driver to a musical
legend.
Millions of fans were shocked by his
death and travelled thousands of miles
to attend his funeral. Elvis im-
personators .are trying to keep the
legend of the "king of rock and roll"
alive by dressing like him, singing like
him and performing like him. Presley
look-alike contests have been held, and
one fellow even had plastic surgery to
make himself look more like the
legendary Elvis.
There will never be another Elvis
Presley, but I wonder how many truck
drivers think they could sing and
gyrate their way to fame and fortune.
Truck driver to king of rock and roll;
lawyer to sportscaster; juggler to
renowned comedian; bartender to
baseball slugger; bird cage cleaner to
singer, band leader and actor -
sometimes the stories before the fame
are as interesting as the ones that come
after the fame.
Porter, Nancy Powell and
Edith Jones. The new council
is now in control of teen
town.
One of the most modern
store -fronts yet to be in-
stalled along the main street
in Clinton, has this fall been
completed at Sutter-
Perdue's hardware store.
Special -
this week only at Lorne
Brown Motors Limited - 1953
Plymouth Sedan, like new; -
reduced to less than cost,
$1,850. Phone 367.
50 YEARS AGO
November 22, 1928
David Cantelon, one of
Clinton's best known
citizens, who, although you
wouldn't think it to look at
him, will next week
celebrate his 80th birthday.
The board of managers•of
the Presbyterian Church
have bought the residence of
Mrs. M. Beadle, Huron
Street, for a manse and will
get possession soon.
Roland Kennedy, the reeve
of Tuckersmith Township,
whose home is on the seventh
concession, had the
misfortune to lose his house
arid garage by fire on
Friday.
At a meeting held in the
Bayfield Town Hall on
Tuesday evening a bad-
minton club was formed with
the following officers:
president, Dr. A. Newton -
Brady; sec. -treasurer, Rev.
F. H. Paull.; Play emit.
nnenced on that night and the
club will continue to meet
Delighted
Dear Editor:
The Clinton Legion Band and Colour
Party added so much to our service ,of
Remembrance in Clan Gregor Square
on Sunday morning.
It warmed all our hearts as • we
watched the Veterans, the Scouts, the
Cubs, Brownies and little Beavers
march around the village.
It was a delight to the Senior citizens
who could see the parade from their
apartment windows too. Thanks!
Betty Burch,
Bayfield
Remembrance
Dear Editor :
If Rene Brochu did not 'misquote'
him, the speaker at the "Remem-
brance Service" recently, said: "we
are now in a state of moral bankruptcy.
We have lost our Christian roots. , ,";
"We must cease to be Christians in
name only ..."
He also "remembered the war years
...the young people ...who combined
efforts to combat Nazism and Fascism
and their attack on Christian ideals."
This causes me to remember that
Hitler, who headed Nazism, and
Mussolini, the Fascist dictator, both
had working agreements in the
Heirarchy at Rome. I also remember
that, in the first World War, German
soldiers had on their belt buckles "Gott
mit uns". Where do you thing they got
the idea that God was with them? Was
it not from the "Christian" religions
operating in Germany? And were not
we "young people" who fought in that
war given the •assurance that 'if we
died in battle' we were assured of
heaven?
Personally, I think the "Christian
roots" were .`lost' long, long ago and
that "Christians" of today need to take
stock of themselves, individually and
collectively, as Paul says: "Examine
yourselves; are you living the life of
faith? Put yourselves to the test." (1
Corinthians 13:5 New English Bible)
"Lest we forget" can have a greater
application than has been attributed to
it.
Sincerely yours,
C.F. Barney,
Clinton.
UFO help .
4 4 °' r ?tr.trt can r it Tr
Dear Editor:... -
Recently a group of individuals in the
Sarnia area have formed a team for
investigating reports of Unidentified
Flying Objects in south-western
Ontario. We are working in conjunction
with UFO Investigation, a non-profit
organization based in Windsor; and we
are designated Post N of this group.
We are interested in receiving
reports from anyone within Lambton,
Huron and Kent counties, but would be
glad to hear from people outside of this
general area also. We promise to do a
fair and impartial investigation of all
reports and people's names will be kept
strictly confidential if they so desire.
We were wondering if your
newspaper would be willing to
publicize this in order to help inform
the public of our existence? We would
very much appreciate it if you would
consider this.
Yours truly,
Dorothy Lewis (Mrs)
Section Head
U.F.O. Investigation Post N
P. O. Box 2550
Sarnia N7T 7T1
a look through
the news -record files
each Tuesday during the
winter months.
A number of young people
of Summerhill met in the hall
on Tuesday evening of last
week and in view of her
impending marriage,
presented Miss Viola
Johnston with a granite
kitchen shower. The
remainder of the evening
was spent dancing and the
young ladies served lunch.
All reported having a good
time.
The fowl supper and play
given by the Londesboro
United Church was a great
success, the proceeds and
the Thankoffering amoun-
ting to $897.00.
75 YEARS AGO
November 26, 1903
Kippen, Nov. 25 - An ex-
plosion of acetylene in' the
basement of St. Andrew's
Presbyterian Church,
Kippen at eight o'clock
Tuesday evening did over
$2,000 in damages and
seriously injured several
persons. A tea -meeting and
entertainment for the benefit
of the children of the Sunday
School was being held in the
basement of the church when
the smell of acetylene gas
was noticed and the minister
Rev. Mr. McLennan and the
caretaker, W. Moore were
investigating the cause of the
leak in the generator. Before
it was definitely located with
a terrific crash the gas ex-
ploded. The east 'end of the
basement was blown ou't and
the school room shattered.
A large number of people
were present and im-
mediately the wildest ex-
citement prevailed. They
made a rush •for the door
leading to the yard, but so
great was the struggling
mass of men, women and
children that the doorway
was soon blocked. Those
behind were prevented from
escaping and in their frantic
efforts to make their escape,
trampled on one another. In
the course of 20 minutes the
uninjured had extracted
themselves from the crush
and had gained open air,
leaving the injured inside.
They, too, were then quickly
released.
Of those injured, the
condition of the pastor, Rev.
M. G. McLennan, is causing
the most anxiety from the
fact that he seems to have
inhaled the flame, while in
addition his face and hands
are frightfully burned. It is
feared that the reverend
gentleman's eyesight may
be permanently injured and
this afternoon his heart was
so weak as to alarm the
attendants.
There is no physician in
the village but Dr.
Mcbiarmid of Hensall was
soon on the scene of the
explosion while doctors from
Seaforth and Brudefield
were also In " attendance.
Among those injured are:
Rev. McLennan, burned on
hand§, face and neck,
inhaled flames, eyes injured,
hair burned, condition
serious; Miss Nellie Cooper,
daughter of the late James'
Cooper, lot 17, con. ' 2,'
Tuckersmith, badly burned
on face and hands; Mrs. J.
W. McLean, con, 2,
Tuckersmith, face and hands
'burned; Mrs. James
McLean, cut on head; Ethel
Algie, a child, daughter of
Robert Algie , lot 20, con. 2,
Tuckersmith, burned; Wm.
A. Moore, Kippen, burned on
scalp, face and hands; Miss
Alice Taylor, daughter of
George Taylor, Lot 1,
Con. 1, Stanley, burned;
Miss Flora Taylor, sister of
above, burned; Alexander,
son of Alex McMurtie, Hay
Township, burned; . John,
brother of above, hand cut;
Miss Linn Cooper, lot 17, con.
1, Tuckersmith; Mrs. Rev.
McLennan, cut on head;
John McMurtie, burned;
Wm. Armstrong, Kippen,
burned.
100 YEARS AGO
November 21, .1878
The Clinton Football Club
met with the Toronto
University Club at Berlin on
Saturday for the purpose of
playing a friendly game.
Several of our townspeople
have been taken in on .bogus
$10 bills on the OYitat•ie Bilk.
They were pa§sed by 'a
couple of strangers
making some slight Pur''
chase, would tender tine ir1
payment, receiving, change
ih good money. In the hurry
of business, the bilis would
pass for genuine ones. •
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