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Clinton News-Record, 1979-03-15, Page 4PAGE 4 ---CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1979 The Clinton News -Record is published each Thursday at P.O. mos 31. Clinton. Ontario. Crxwdo. NOM 1LO. Member. Ontario weekly Newspaper Association It 1* rpglstered es second class moll by the post office under the permit number 1117. The News -Record Incorporated In 1124 the Huron News -Record. founded In 1111. and The Clinton New Era. founded In 1003. Total press run 2.310. Clinton News -Record 'Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association Display advertising rotes available on request. Ask for Rate Card No. 1 effective Oct. 1. 1170. • General Manager . J. Howard Aitken Editor - James 1. Fitzgerald Advertising Director - Gary L. Hoist News editor - Shelley McPhee Office Manager - Margaret Gibb Circulation - Freda McLeod Subscription Rote: Canada -'14.00 per year Sr. citizen -'12 per year U.S.A. l foreign •'30 per year Council is applauded Even though they discussed many of the details in their closed committee -of -the -whole meeting last week, Clinton council are to be applauded for taking two im- portant steps on.,Monday night that will ensure the longevity of Clinton as a communityof people. The first step was the seeking of tenders to renovate the grand ofd lady of main street, the town hall, erected by our forebears as a tribute to our prosperity in such a rich and stable part of the world, and well worth preserving. Once made fit again for human habitation, the town hall can serve dozens of vital community func' tions, from a senior citizens centre, to being used as a courtroom and maybe even a theatre, should the amateur actors wish to resurrect it themselves. Since much of the money for restoration of old buildings, like the town hall, can be had from government grants, the real cost to -the taxpayers will not be that great, in fact,, it will be a mere pittance when compared to the cost of- building a new ugly box -like cement and glass structure. The controversy over remodelling the town hall has been raging since 1974 when this paper first brought the decaying con- dition of the town hall to the readers' attention, and in those six years, the cost of renovations has risen an average of 10 per cent a year. What today is costing $235,000 to do would have cost $150,000 inr1974 ' if the politicians had only then listened to the people (and the local press) irt the first place. Althbugh council's decision Monday night was only to call for tenders, and was not the final go- ahead, it still represents a big step forward`' on a road, that has been long a treacherous one. The second step council made Monday night was approval of the rec committee's recommendations to go ahead and build a new swimming pool in town. The rec committee has been thrashing over the problem for many years, and literally hundreds of volunteer hours have already gone into not only researching"the cost of the pool, but also in raising; nearly $30,000 in the trust fund by the service clubs' bingo committee. Although the two new projects come at a time when the town still owes $30,000 on the new arena floor, any delay in either case will put many children and seniors alike in - a poor position, and make Clinton less of a community. remembering our past 5 YEARS AGO March 7, 1974 After 45 years in the banking business, Ken Flett will be stepping down next week as manager of the Clinton Branch of the Bank of Montreal. The former Huron County jail in Goderich has been declared an historic site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The response from the opinion poll in last week's News -Record as what to do with the Town Hall has been good, but we need more answers. If you haven't already sent in your opinion, cut the coupon out of today's paper and mail it in. Every answer counts. Work on the new addition to the Clinton Christian Reformed School is on schedule and should be completed by early June. The addition will add four classrooms to the school which was experiencing over- crowding. vercrowding. The final game of the semi-finals of the Western Junior "D" hockey playoff between Mitchell and Clinton last Friday night. at- tracted What is believed to be the largest crowd in history of the Clinton Community Centre. The game, won by Clinton, 5-3, was seen by nearly 1,100 paid customers and along with those having passes, the arena's capacity of 1,200 was filled. 10 YEARS AGO March 8,.1969 The administrative offices of the Huron County Board of Education will be in Cen- tral Huron Secondary School, Clinton. In picking the Clinton site over the one in Goderich, the 14 member elected board rejected the unanimous recommendation of its three top administrators who wanted the office located in the now -vacant second floor of the new Huron County Administrative Building. Central Huron Secondary School's junior basketball squad is the proud winner of this year's Huron -Perth trophy. It's the second year in a row the school in Clinton has taken the top honor in two -county play. 25 YEARS AGO • March 11,1954. An all time record for the number of calls in a single day was set by the local branch of "Mom grabbed her purse, said `if you can't lick them, join them,' and took off shopping." To save or not Last week, I poked fun at ,people who are compulsive collectors, and I was one of them. Some of us save, crazy little things for which we will probably never find a purpose. Some of us save useful things, but, before the need for them arises, our houses are crammed. Saving them is our main concern. .In the other extreme, society has entered a phase labelled "throw away." We have disposable diapers and paper towels. We use paper plates and plastic forks, spoons and knives once and then toss them in the garbage. We've tried everything from paper serviettes to paper dresses. Our food is packaged in generous amounts of plastic and cardboard, which we throw away. A small thing, like a pen or a razor, is enclosed in plastic and mounted on a large shet of cardboard more.,,:donations to, trash. We eat ready -to -heat meal foil throw -away trays. Few of us want to give up the con- venience of our "throw away" society, but we are beginning to see some serious side effects. Besides the ob- vious problems of litter and pollution, by elaine townshend we seem to have lost the ability to discriminate between articles that are designed for temporary use and those made to last. For example, if the tea kettle won't boil water, the reaction of many of us is, "to throw it out and buy a new one." Why try to find out what is wrong with it? Why try to fix, it ourselves? Why pay someone else to repair it? The cost of repair would probably exceed the original price. Besides it's more fun to buy a new one! A trip to a dump makes painfully clear the extent of our wastefulness. We see chrome kitchen chairs and livingroom sofas that need only reupholstering. We might see electric appliances, such as toasters and fry pans, that just need new cords or elements. We might even see larger appliances, such as stoves and refrigerators. We- also find boxes of clothes and shoes that have gone out of, style but are still in good condition. We' could choose bitter destinations for ° our cast-offs. For example, in 'rehabilitative workshops, used fur- niture and appliances are repaired and thus give on-the-job training that some people can't find elsewhere. Church groups and other organizations send "bales" of second-hand clothing to sugar and spice Blue Monday By the time this appears in print, the worst of the suffering in Canada will bp over. And I don't mean that dreadful a look through the news -record files the Bell Telephone Company last Wed- nesday, when some 7,700 local calls were handled. The normal traffic per day is about 5,800 according to Mrs. Ruth Knox, supervisor, there. Despite rain and the snow which blanketed Goderich throughout last week, workmen found rubble still smouldering in the ruins of the old court house when they began- tearing down the west wall. Two or three _ remaining vaults were opened Saturday and the contents were found in- tact, as was the last one opened Sunday. Pink are the walls and green is the baseboard. That's the new color scheme in the police office and the north entrance to the town hall. The council chamber has received a coat of the cheeriest green and the chairs of the councillors likewise, with a good coat of varnish to the witness box, the rostrum and the rail. 50 YEARS AGO March 7, 1929 The new floor has been laid in the town hall auditorium and is said by those who haye inspected it to be a very fine job. The Wesley -Willis Sunday services were held on Sunday, marking up the new floor before it was finished, but the sanding machine, a sand roller run by electricity, soon removed the marks and left a fine smooth finishg for the oiling process. After a week or more of pleasant spring- like weather, we are in the grip this morning of the worst storm of the season. Mr. Howard Mulholland and Will Jervis, who operate the Holmesville transport trucks, arrived home from Walkerville on Tuesday evening with two new six t'ylinder Chevrolet trucks, making the purchase from Mr. B. Lavis, Clinton. When it's up to you to entertain, "Parties" magazine -Featuring decorations, costumes, games and refreshments might be a help to you. Spring number gives suggestions for St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's and Easter, also plans for showers, announcements, bazaars and children's parties, suggests fun provoking stunts and favors to make a party joyous, colorful and gay. The price is 25 cents. A picture of your children's party would be treasured now and will become invaluable later. Youngsters will change and grow up all too soon, but a ph ograph will keep them just as they are. I'�. local photographer will soon be ready for your call. The W. D. Fair Co., often the cheapest - always the best. 75 YEARS AGO March 10, 1904 On Friday evening of last week Mrs. John Gilmore of the 2nd concession of Stanley Township gave a reception party in honor of her son, Mr. John Gilmore and bride whose wedding took place on Tuesday. About 80 neighbours and friends were present who spent several hours very pleasantly in games and dancing. The violinists were Messrs. Adam and Fenwick Stewart who plied the bow with their old-time skill and the dancers expressed the pleasure which' the music afforded them. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore leave for their new home near Moosejaw next week and will take with them the hearty good wishes of their many friends. . ° Wood bees have been the order of the day through the west end of Tuckersmith over the past month, Mr. Amos Townsend's being among the latest. They of course, always end up with an evening's entertainment consisting of games, Lost Heir and a social hop. The results of the blockade on the railways are far reaching and extend to almost every branch of industry. Locally, all lines of business are more or less af- fected, the organ factory most of ail, for as the finished stock cannot be moved out the place has become overcrowded. On Friday last, 50 percent of the men were laid off but it is expected they will all be at work again in a few days. . Wanted - a girl to do housework, wages $8 to $10 a month, no washing. Apply to Mrs. G. D. McTaggart, High Street, Clinton. 100 YEARS AGO March 13, 1879 House,and lot Mr sale. $250 will purchase a small, comfortable house, Conveniently situated in the Town of Clinton. Terms, $100 down, balance to suit purchaser. Apply to James Fair. Partner wanted with $1,000 to $2,000 to take half interests in a Steam Saw Mill. Business newly established. Apply to E. Mountcastle, Clinton. needy \families overseas, where keeping warm is more essential than being in fashion. The saddest victim of our "throw away" syndrome is solid wood fur- niture, handmade with tender loving care a century or more ago. It takes a lot of work to remove the coats of varnish. and paint, from the carved corners of bureaus and the swiveled rungs of rockers. It takes a lot of patience to smooth over the scratches and dents of decades of abuse, •but the result is a beautiful and durable piece._. of our heritage that makes a graceful addition to any home. Unfortunately, few of us want to bother. How sad to see a walnut, oak or maple cabinet rotting in the dump! In recent years, historical societies have waged successful campaigns to restore old buildings to their original state and to furnish them according to their era of architecture. More and more people seem to be interested in the past and in preserving tangible pieces of our heritage. - Perhaps we are, beginning to recognize the folly of our throw -away days and are searching for a com- promise between the foolish hoarding of useless articles and the irresponsible discarding of valuable ones. February cold snap which turned us into our annual winter condition, a nation of misanthropes. Burst water pipes, cars so cold you can't even put them into reverse to back out in the morning, and tem- peratures that would freeze the brains of a brass monkey are bad enough. But we're used to them. We know that in another four months, we'll be gasping in a heat wave and , beating off mosquitoes. No, that's not the suffering we did this February. It was being smugly satisfied on a Thursday night, mildly dismayed on a Saturday afternoon, and utterly humiliated ,on a Sunday night that caused the suffering; Talk about blue Monday. That Monday in Feb., after them Rooshians had kicked the living stuffing out of Canada's finest, was so blue it was almost purple. I'm not saying that I, personally, suffer when Canada's primary export, hockey players, is no longer marketable. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that I bleed a little, in- ternally, when a bunch of rotten red, pinko communists make a group of fine, young, liberal, capitalists look like a bunch of old -age pensioners whose Geritol has been cut off. Right after the second game, I went to the clinic and had a cardiogram, just in case. I must say we took it well, ash a nation. For once, there were no alibis. How could there be, when hundreds of millions of people saw our collective Canadian noses being rubbed, in it? • Sports writers, their guts churning, praised the play of the Russians and intimated that they knew all along what would happen. As they always do, after the event. The Canadian players showed more grace. The best of them simply 'ad- mitted they were beaten soundly by a superior team. But they knew in their hearts that they, and all their highly paid buddies, were facing not a physical Siberia, but a Siberia of the soul. They were the Best in the West, and they had not been just beaten but thordughly trounced, by the Best in the East, where hockey is a relatively new sport. Not for me to ask, " ow did it hap- pen?" All the experts h ve agreed that the Russians skate better, pass better, and are infinitely superior in physical condition to the pampered Canadian pros, who weighed an average of nine pounds more than their opponents. It is only for me to ask, "Why do we suffer so much when we're licked in hockey?" And I think I know the an- swer to that. For a century or so, Canadians have been hewers of wood and drawers of water. Fair enough. We had lots of wood and water, and still have and other people need them. But we also had three superior finished products, - manufactured at home, that nobody else In the world could touch, when it came to quality: maple syrup, rye whiskey, and hockey players. • Our supremacy in these departments is virtually ended. Our whiskey has been watered more and more, our maple syrup has been thinned to the consistency of greasy -spoon gravy, and our hockey players, with a few stales rt exceptions, are more impressed with their hair -dos, their press clippings, and their financial statements than they are with beating their opponents. There is a sadness here. Rye whiskey bad for the liver, maple syrup bad for the teeth, so perhaps their denigration is not a national.disaster. But to have a hockey team that is the second or third or fourth best in the world? That is unthinkable. Every red-blooded, middle-aged male in Canada has hockey in his veins. He personally knows, or his best friend does, or he lives in, or lives in the next town to, or is sixth cousin of, or grew up with, or was preceded by only 10 years by, in school, a genuine hockey player, who made it to Junior A, or Senior A, or even the NHL, or one of its farm teams. Two of the quarterbacks on my high school football team, Les Douglas and Tony Licari, made it to the Detroit Red Wings organigation. My brother-in-law, Jack Buell, played Junior A and Senior A and became a referee. My grandson, at the age of two, was given a hockey stick and demolished his grandmother's hardwood floors in the living -room, smashing a puck around the floor with great vigor and a certain lack of control. (She finally put Turn to page 11 • Last of uncle Dear Editor: This, for the last time, is "Concerned Uncle". You will receive no more of my avuncular letters, for I think I will be leaving Clinton, probably forever. With the condemnation of "The •Diviners" - a book that received the Governor General's Award, and with the con- tinuing activities of the book banners, Huron seems to be becoming "The Red Neck Hick Capital" of Canada. I wish no longer to be around people who, on the basis of having read one paragraph of a book, according to their own testimony, feel qualified to be a public literary critic of that book. Nor do I wish to be even in the vicinity of per- sons who have the colossal arrogance to publicly condemn books that literally millions of people judge to be great classics. The implication is that those who have enjoyed and ap- preciated these books are filthy min- ded. But before leaving forever, Mr. Editor, I would like to ask one question.* How is it that some 'people seem to pretend that they do not know that "The Diviners" has been banned from the Huron County Schools? Why do they keep saying "The Diviners" should be banned when it is already banned? I suggest, Mr. Editor, that recent letters are part of a co-ordinated program to keep up the intimidation' of the County School Board. My guess is that the local chapter of Renaissance Canada has held a secret strategy meeting from which it has sent forth its letter -writers with the object of making the Board think the vocal minority is a large portion of the population. They got such good mileage out of "The Diviners" last year that they just don't want to give it up, even though it is banned, and even at the expense of giving it more and more publicity. Let the people of Huron beware! The book banners are still moving in their tun- nels. Farewell, Mr. Editor, I hope to retire to 'my spiritual home - city of Amsterdam which I first saw just before the war ended. This is the land, you know, where freedom of the press and freedom of religion' were invented, and where universal literacy was first striven for. In Amsterdam the great philosophers Descartes and Spinoza were free to develop their philosophies, as nowhere else. It is a land that has produced more great artists than almost any other. It is the homeland of Dirck Coornhert whose great work Zedenkunst presents a Christianity without theology - a system of morality independent of religious creeds. I hope to become infused with the great heritage and traditions of that land. I called myself "Concerned Uncle" because I did not want Renaissance Canada to know my •narne.Now I can drop that disguise and remain Yours sincerely, Norman Deplume, Clinton • • Poorly attended Dear Editor: On Sunday, March 10, we held an open meeting at the Clinton town hall for the Clinton Minor Soccer Association. This was very poorly attended. If this worthwhile summer project is going to continue we are going to require some volunteers on the' executive level. This is not really a heavy obligation. It requires perhaps two or three evenings over the entire summer to attend meetings and perhaps one Saturday in the early fall when the Huron County playoffs are held here in Clinton. We are of course, always open to volunteer help for coaching and we have several excellent men helping in this area now. A few more helpers would be appreciated, especially when some other volunteers wish to take a week or two off for summer holidays. I would earnestly request you people. of Clinton and the surrounding com- munity to please volunteer some time for this worthwhile summer project for our young people of all ages. More hands make the load lighter. Jack Mayhew 1979 president 111 Clinton Minor Soccer Future growth Dear Editor: As you may know, the Huron County Council is sponsoring a one -day workshop to discuss the future in- dustrial growth of your county. Our Ministry of Industry and Tourism will conduct the workshop and act as a catylist for discussion by in- troducing some expert speakers on the subject. The conclusions reached at the end of the day will be a summary of the opinions expressed by the audience. We will try to orchestrate these thoughts and desires into meaningful practical suggestions for action. This is an important workshop in that it could alter the future of Huron County. Should only a few citizens care enough to participate, your elected representatives might feel justified in placing industrial growth on a back burner. We urge you to discuss the upcoming workshop in your newspaper before it takes place to encourage all interested parties to attend and make their opinions known. If they care about Huron's future industrial growth We Turn to page 11 • to-