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Clinton News-Record, 1980-09-04, Page 4'E4 con) THURSDAY, SEPTET BER 4 1980; ry The CSeiee News -record to Iwo/44 Thennley*t P.O. 019e $,. CNnt! tam. NOM ILL MOMibl t'. Merle Weekty NOWNIN er,i►sse4i•11.rl it :i..r itstetonl,,a�h ott+d s1r , �t,a1I by th, post offlc* Mrdggr'th# p$tneit ,camber $1t. Th, News-Racord IMOr,ponatod In 1124 thee. Huron 01Rws-Record. hounded In 1$$5, aMThe Clln1 sn tlaw.Rtra, tound,d In 1045. TOO noon run 3r4446 Clinton NewsRecord 04.0 A momberomodk.n Cornmunity.Newapap.r Association Dl*play advertising rates avahablo on reeluest. Ask for Rate Card, No. 50 effective Sept. 1, 10711.. ia•nerai Maneger - J. Howard Aitken • Editor Jamas I. Fitzgerald Advertising Director - Gary L. Halst News editor - Shelley McPhee) Office Manager- Margaret Gibb Circulation - Frede McLeod 4 , A Subscription Rate: Canada .'15.00 Sr. Citizen .13.00 per year U.S.A. A foreign -'3040 per year • Wage, what's the minimum Are minimum wage laws reducing the number of jobs that could be available in Canada? asks Roger Worth, director of public affairs with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The answdr..is yes, according to a recent study by two university. professors, although earlier studies indicated otherwise. While the experts differ., there is little question minimum wages (now between $2.75 and $3.65 per hour, depending on the province) have an impact on business, particularly smaller firms. Consider a few examples + Minimum wages may drive up the overall cost of labor, making Canadian firms less competitive, particularly in the international 'marketplace. While minimum wage laws affect a limited number of workers directly, every increase may force other wages and salaries to rise. + The present system effectively forces labor intensive firms to speed up introduction of new technology, in the process replacing people with machines. + The hospitality industry (resorts, hotels, restaurants) would be more competitive, perhaps roviding more jobs for unskilled p pie. As a resu , service In 'such establishments would be improved. Of particular importance to smaller firms is the fact that minimum wage laws raise the cost of training unskilled workers. And that's an important item to consider at a time when the major complaint from both big and small firms is a shortage of skilled labor. Thousands of people operating smaller businesses in Canada though, simply don't understand the need for a minimum wage. The reason : many smaller retailers. across the country work a dozen hours a day, seven days a week, earning even less than the minimum wage in their province. But at least they do it by choice. Take the plunge Thanks to the generosity of many hundreds of hard workers, more than $52,000 has been raised by volunteers towards the cost of the new $227,000 Clinton swimming pool. Along with government grants totalling nearly $114,000, only $60,000 more needs to be raised to pay off the final bill on the spanking new structure. Hopefully, with the participation of all those in the 'town and area, the remaining bill can be paid off soon, but it needs everybody's support. A giant Gala Pool Party is planned for September 13, and although $25'a ticket seems like a lot of money, the whole amount goes to the pool fund. Let's all get behind the Gala Pool Party and barbecue 100 per cent and help the kids with the pool. by J. F. remembering our past Back to the books 5 YEARS AGO September 4, 1975 In a surprising upset •the cheerleading team from Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton defeated 33 other high schools at a competition recently in Ottawa. The Clinton group included Faith Renner, Cindy Middleton, Lori Blair, Carla Brodie and Nancy Kuehl. Clinton council decided Monday night to apply for a federal government Local Initiatives Program (LIP) grant and try to repair Clinton's dated and deteriorating pool. Even though the weather was dismal and cool, it didn't seem to deter the fair- goers as the Bayfield Country Fair en- joyed its biggest crowd in recent memory when over 2,000 people went through the gates lastFriday and Saturday. Clinton has a new assistant postmaster, Ken Dobney, who started work on the first of July. Mr. Dobney, who lives on James Street with his wife, was a postal officer at Kitchener prior .to his move. 10 YEARS AGO September 3, 1970 The condition of the Bayfield beach this summer has been disgraceful and was of major concern at the village ratepayers' meeting. We humans are an untidy group, but there is also deliberate breakage of Backyard bonanza No essay this week. No controlled, clear, coherent, concise evaluation of some piece of trivia, as is my wont. It's quite difficult to keep one's brains unscrambled in a summer like this. One day you are gasping around like a newly -caught fish, trying to extract enough oxygen from the humidity to remain alive. • Next day you are pounded on the head with hail - yes, hail - or you go down to the basement and there's a foot of water in it. First couple of times, I mopped it up. Now, we just stay out of the basement until the --indoor swimming -pool has dried up, by evaporation. Once again, we have discussed at great length, What to do about the "patio." We call it that for want of a better word. We have two French doors leading onto the patio. The patio is a pile of rocks, ranging from three pounds to two hundred pounds. It has no known purpose that we've ever been able to discover. -it has no geometric or any other kind of design. It looks like something a cross-eyed architect, well into the grape, assembled once night with the aid of a bulldozer and a couple of bibulous, but mighty strong companions, in the belief that he was Je-ereating the Pantheon, in Rome. And if you walk up the back path at_. night, with no lights on, one of the protruding rocks can give a hell of a rip on the shin. Scattered among the patio rocks are bricks and half -bricks, pulled from the wall of the house by a vine that is a herbivorous Incredible Hulk. By day, it is a thing of beauty, making the old house look like something out of a book of Georgian prints of stately homes. It must be at night that it turns into a monster, snatching bricks withits octopus -like tentacles and stuffing them into its voracious maw, except for those that dribble out of the corner of its 'mouth onto the patio. And let's not speak of nights. Four mornings in a row I went out for my post-prandial coffee and morning paper. Four mornings in a row, I dashed back into the house, white- faced, shouting things like: "Call the cops. Get the fire brigade. The Vandals are here, and maybe the Goths. The Martians have landed. Gimme some brandy." Now my back lawn is not exactly pristine and perfect, a classic greensward. Let's say you couldn't bowl on it, unless you were using square bowling balls. It has its little ups and downs, like the rest of us. Some almost of ski -hill potentiality. But it's mine, and I like it. How would you like to go out and discover that a herd of elephants had been grazing on your back lawn, during the small hours? There were divots there that Jack .Nicklaus couldn't make with a nine iron. There were holes that looked as though they'd been made by Mighty Mole. There was turf arid grass and dung all over the place. It looked like a used car lot from which all the cars ,had been lifted, by--ani-ghty m-agnet. Second time I saw it., I was cooler. Elephants make bigger droppings than that, and there's been no news report of a band of rogue elephants. I figured it was horses. But then I thought, horses eat grass, they don't kick holes in it. Third morning, 1 knew it was the dogs next door, a couple of beautiful Pinchyourman Dobers or something. But they're perfectly trained and kept in at night. - Finally, I knew. It was a kid I'd failed last June, getting back at me in some twisted fashion. I rapidly ran through the group, mentally, and came up against a brick wall, They were all too lazy to • do such a prodigious amount of damage. Next, we thought of coons. There are some around. But no self- respecting coon is going to be out there digging like a dingbat when all he has to do is whip the top off the garbage pail and regale himself onA watermelon rinds and tag -ends of pizza. Fifth night, we Left on the outside light and I sat up all night with a brick in one hand and a hockey stick in the other. Nothing happened except that I fell asleep about two a.m. and dropped the brick on my bare foot. Finally, as 1 should have done in the first place, I brought my neighbor, a man on eminent good sense and wide knowledge, over to view the van- dalism. He looked at me pityingly, as he so often does. But he's not brutal. He led me gently but accuratey, as a seeing eye dog does with a blind person. "You ve had your lawn• sprinkler on? Quite a bit?" "Well, sure. My grandsons turned it on back in July. I turned the tap off, but not the -main valve. It's in the cellar. But there's been just a little trickle .coming out of it for the last month." "Skunks," he stated succinctly. "The water brought up those white grubs and the skunks went after them." I wanted to give him an argument but I couldn't find a thing to say. If it wouldn't. be a rotten pun, I ,might admit I felt a bit sheepish. Sheep were the only animals I hadn't thought of. Anyway, the water•.is turned off and the skunks are off to ravage some other plot. I learned something, an achievement these days. And I have one more mark on the lengtliy tally my granbo-ys-must a ns wer to 0-fie- day. neday. 1 bottles. This has resulted in many lacerations, specially to children. This organization considered that leadership might come from members during the summer months when the problem, of course, is at its worst. The Lions Club has done an excellent job in the off season, but is unable to cope with the problem in the summer. Therefore it is proposed that- the executive will endeavour to organize the older children into beach patrols for next summer. A number of friends and relatives and neighbors in the Constance area gathered on Friday evening .at. No. 2 McKillop School to celebrate the 25th wedding an- niversary of Mr. and Mrs. Robert MacMillan. The evening was spent playing euchre, after which the couple was presented with a gift. Ed Davies of Auburn has been pitching horseshoes for 20 years and was recently declared Senior Champion of Canada when he competed at the Canada -wide com- petition held at Dauphin because of the province's Centennial celebrations. One - hundred -and -eighteen contestants from every province in Canada took part in the three day event. After more than 30 years in business, Elwood Epps has turned over his Clinton store to new owners. Phil Gemeinhardt and Eric Collins will operate the store beginning Friday morning with an opening sale. 25 YEARS AGO September 8, 1955 More than 1,000 people were served a hot meal of baked beans, cole slaw and coffee in., the Hensall Community Park on Monday when the Kinsmen Club of Hensall staged their second Ontario Bean Festival. The old Bayfield school bell pealed forth its call to pupils to return to study after summer vacation for the last time on Tuesday morning. It was rung by the principal, Mrs. LeRoy Poth. In its time, the school bell -has been rung for weddings, for fires and by pranksters. If the rang Other than the usual time, the villagers were immediately alerted and investigated the cause. So let's preserve it. When the new school which is being built at the south side of the old building is finished, an electric bell will summon the pupils to studies. It is due to be completed byOctober30. 50 YEARS AGO September 4, 1930 A few days ago Jack Gibbings and Paul Hovey, two young men of Clinton, returned from their hike. They set out on June 28 with the western coast as their goal. They walked on foot, -for --the- most -part, wearing running shoes. Perhaps for days they would not receive a lift and they slept wherever night overtook them. Imagine their delight to suggle down between soft clean sheets in a luxurious bed after nine weeks in the great open spaces. Their broad boast is that they slept in beds only three times during their trip from Clinton, to California and back home. Thi husky young hikers do not app6ar"'a bit the worse for their nine • weeks hike. Besides a healthy coat of tan, they have a memory that will last them a lifetime. Week after operation `"I was very week after an operation. My nerves were so bad I would sitdown and cry and my husband would not go out and leave me alone. Now my nerves are much better, thanks to a booklet that was left under the door. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound surely put me on my feet. I have taken eight bottles. My friends tell me I look fine. My sister has taken this medicine too." - Mrs. Annie Walton. 67, Kingston. 75 YEARS AGO September 7, 1905 Benjamin Allan and party of Chicago were in town on Wednesday and stopped at the Rattenbury House. They are taking a round trip in a 41 h.p. auto. It is a fine machine and costs in the neighborhood of $5,100. They go to Goderich and from there take the lakeshore to Detroit. Two or three of our little fellows from Costance went to Londesboro to visit, but were received very cold. One of them came home with a black eye and Mr. Ernest Adams is nursing a sore arm which he gor cut while getting through a barbed wire fence, being chased by a goat belonging to Mr. H:Colclough. 105 YEARS AGO September 16, 1875 The merchants of this place are ap- parently anticipating a brisk fall trade, if we are to judge from the piles of new goods they are all laying in. Every one of them is now busy opening out "goods never before equalled" which they doubtless intend offering at "prices that defy competition." If the methants want to clear these off at "the lowest remunerative prices," prin- ter's ink, if properly applied (not on the goods) will produce this result quicker than anything else. Try it. The Clinton Home Dramatic Society gave their first entertainment on Thur- sday evening last, in the town hall, to a crowded house. The programme, a lengthy one, was well carried out and although the members had not much time for preparation,. they had learned their parts well. They also play in Seaforth Friday evening. We think, that ,if the club ever intends to perform before a Clinton arid' ence-a-ga-i-n, a- c hang -e- -i1 --the- programme would be advisable and would be much more highly appreciated. Summer lessons Another dog day in August is drawing to a close and for the past hour I have expended all my energy working on something for you to read in this spacer in the first week of September. I stretched out on a lounge, chair in the backyard in the shade. (One of the • advantages of working at home.) Maybe I looked as though I was loafing, but in reality, I was thinking...hard. My undivided con- centration was directed at this column, until I went to sleep. With some consternation, I roused myself to discover the only thoughts I had after all that trouble concerned the three "Hs" - hot, hazy and humid. Everyone knows about them, but hopefully in September they'll give way to more comfortable climes. I say it every year. Why should this year be different? I can't believe I spent the w17'ole summer doing only a quarter of the things I promised myself I'd do last spring. Like so many of you, I can't believe the summer is over and I'm hoping for a reprieve in September and October to catch up on a few things I by Blaine townshend missed. Summer 1980 was uneventful for me with its usual picnics in the park, lunches on the beach, drives to new places, and barbecues, sunburns and mosquito bites. I've learned a few things. For example, if one forgets to water one's flowers even though they're outside, they will die during a hot dry spell. In spite of cheap containers, no fertilizer and few waterings, my ,lonely petunias have survived. Occasionally they've ever bloomed. Question : If you see two earwigs on your back step and stomp on one, how many earwigs will be left? Answer: Three the one you missed and two more wiggling through the grass to take the place. of the one under your shoe. I've discovered a number of in- teresting looking bugs in my travels this summer, but I've been too busy avoiding them or getting rid of them to bother identifying them. The only reason I recognize my old pal the earwig is because he had his picture in the paper. I said good-bye to an old friend this summer. Yes, folks, I finally did it, traded in the old car. Isn't it strange the attachment drivers develop for their 'wheels" especially if the vehicle has been a reliable one? My dad still raves about his old '56 Meteor. He claims there's never been another car like it and never will be. My feelings weren't quite as strong for my car, but because .ft was my first one, it will probably always be special. I remember the day I got my licence and the first day I drove the car. (A friend had the nerve to suggest L needed a flashing blue light!) I remember my first flat tire, my first stall on main street and the night someone stole the voltage regulator from under the hood. As the time for change drew nearer, Shakespeare's words "parting is such sweet sorrow" came to mind - a sentiment that lasted about five . seconds after my first whiff of new upholstery. Any excuse to take a drive on those hot summer days was welcomed, and • drives on cooler autumn days.will be even better. ' Although summer is over, we shouldn't think the fun has ended. Fall opens a whole new bag of_tricksin i southwestern Ontario with fairs and midway rides, harvests and homemade baking, autumn colours and more busy weekends. write letters Preventing mistake Dear Editor:. It affords me a great deal of satisfaction to note that after having written articles previously on elec- toral reform, (a subject I have pur- sued since 1920 I see in the press and hear on the radio and television, discussions on electoral reform, I am somewhat alarmed that these discussions are aimed merely at proportional representation and are: apparently missing the most crucial element of reform —the dire necessity:, of using a type of ballot that will, accommodate more than two care didates and still produce the election of a candidate with 50 percent or more of the total electorate's support. 197o9t,ed•gth aveat-ththee -elgrect eatenrnutt:MbraeeYrvioaus131-411,ts eats / to the party whi9h formed the Government on only 35 percent of the popular vote. The of- ficial opposition obtained 40 percent, making the total opposition vote of 65 percent, democracy defeated by the ballot. It goes without saying that this defeats the very principle of democratically electing a govern- ment, or in other words, "Democracy Defeated by the Ballot." The ap- proach that is being made to electoral reform by the 'concept of proportional representation does absolutely nothing to assure that members are elected democratically, but the ap- proach now being discussed would only assure a . more even party representation on a regional basis. What is being suggested as an addition of 50 new seats, based on the percentage of party support,. regionally or provincially, would give. us two classes of members. One...those elected' as they are now, and others appointed on a percentage basis. It is my firm opinion that it would not only increase the cost of government (when- we're already over -governed) but also leave the probability of the elected members being elected by far less than the majority of the electorate. We would still be in the position of defeating the democratic principle of having members elected by the majority of the total electorate. Looking around the world today, it will be noted that the trouble spots such as Nicaragua, Venezuela, El Salvador and many more recent uprisings, have been countries where the opposition forces far outnumber the support of the governing parties, due mainly to the inadequacies of their electoral practices. In this area we in Canada are stumbling (ap- parently blindly) into the same pattern. 'We already have had to have the • War Measures Act read in this country...during peace time. One would think that this alone should be sufficient to shake out politicians into assuming their responsibility to•avert errors that are the cause of tl'at kind of distress and suffering. Life below the poverty line, is nothing short of a disgrace in a land as well endowed as Canada. Sincerely, Osborne Fansher, Bayfield Theatre memories Dear Editor: A century ago, there were more than 300 professional theatre com- panies touring this part of the country every year, (playing in Opera Houses and Town—Halli_ 1 a1m-- -trying td reconstruct the, story of their tours, and especially of Canadian actors like Julia Arthur, McKee Rankin, Harold Nelson, Ida Van Courtland, Ernie and Bob Marks, George Summers, Henry Miller, Clara Morris, Margaret Anglin, George Primrose (of Primrose and West Minstrels) and others. I also am looking for memories, programs and photos of American and British actors who toured Ontario before 1914. If you can help or know of someone who 'can, please write mie. Our theatrical heritage in Ontario is long and ' rich and 'I am trying to write a history of it which will prove that there were good shows and good actors who played to audiences outside the big cities and that small town audiences were just as ap- preciative and just as sophisticated as those in Toronto and Montreal, Diaries, scrapbooks, old theatre' programs' and photos of the -1880:1914 period are fast disappearing as old family homes are sold or destroyed. I can promise to treat any borrowed material carefully and return it promptly. Within reason (and a limited budget), I can . offer to buy items from the 1880-1914 period froth anyone. willing to part with them. Can you help? Sincerely, Mary M. Brown, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, • NSA 31(7 s