The Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-04-20, Page 3Inkin the blood
LETTERS
GOVERICH"SIGN,AL-STA
, THURSDAY, AY,A x% Xi, i'
.
The following is another entry received by The Goderich Signal -Star in the "Our Hoinetown
Newspaper" contest:
Closing date for the contest is Friday, April 21. All entries published in the Signal -Star will be
forwarded to contest headquarters by ,April' 30 for the final, judging. The winner will receive a cash
prize of $300 and a gold medal: ,
The Goderich Signal -Star is a member of the Caaladi'an Community Newspaper Association through
which the contest is operating• The object of the contest is to enco;uragereaders'to think about what
their commueity newspaper means toitern, their families, their lives and their communities, and to
set'those4houghts down in straightforward language..' • . •
Polished literary expression is not sought. The judges. wili'be inierested•in simple, -Clear exposition
than. indicates an awareness by ttie reader of the role of the community newspaper.,
., Let's hear from you! 0•' ,,
e .
Q4
Our hometown newspaper can only be as good, or
as bad, as the peojile who write its columns. Theirs
is not just another routine occupation, but a
*proles"s"idri"`M"ttiat requires constant change and
adaptation. ..
There is a law which says ..."Adapt yourself or
• die,"... and our hometown newspaper is governed
by this law. Not so much Wien it reports news and
records events, as''when it is fulfil I ing its function
as the opinion maker 'in its jurisdiction..
Editorial opinion must be expressed, and
inspiring articles written, fora changinguuo,rld in a
• , hometown that is steadily becoming ak1i n' to the
•M
ue Thumb
4‘,
large urban centres. Ntany of'its citizens are in
daily physical contact and the'vast majority of its
Population have access to the. National, and,
interliational news -media. Gone are the days of the
remote town, and the isolated people: Gone -are the
days of.°.tiae hometown newspaper monopoly.
On atop of all .the other changes, the' intellectual
level of the readers is ever' moving upwards and
our hometown scribes must keep one pace ahead.
HBe not dismayed oh ye scribes.... Printers ink in
the blood increases the circulation:
Arthur Laverty.
By G. MacLeod Ross
License of the Press
From tinietdtime we read that
some newspaper publisher or
editor has been hauled over the
coals by this or that government.
for publishing cfoc'urnents which
that government, considered
secret. Simultaneously- we hear
the screams of righteous ,
indignation emanating from the
said publisher. protesting the
right of the Press to tell -the public
all. In these times when
governments' become more and
More dictatorial, more and more
.secretive. more' •and more ,
surprising. and more, and more
.enamoured oftheir power, so that
the• public they are elected to
repr- • u mere
cipher: in these err Curristan.es
thank God •far any newspaper
executive who will stand .up for
truth and impartiality.
It is usually over a scoop or in
an effort Ito achieve one, that
responsibility is cast toithe wind`s
and license replaces freedom.
T.he'theorem that seems ti) be.
gaining • ground 'o.f late: ' the
theorem that'everythjng should be
told, .is the root of most. of the
-gaffes-made--by- the• Press: • Fon• Li _
everyone's innermost thoughts,
became . knowledge _what an
internecine war life would
become. Consider a society
Without manners . and without •
• politeness. It is permissible to
ha v e knowledgeol Li•n e -vent, cu. of a
series of circumstances, but
whether you should tell the world
and•his wife what you know or what
you have unearthed, depends
entirely on the repercussions it
will' have. • Consequently •the
question that should be asked
always before any• action is, taken
is: whom wil-Lits disclosure hurt
•
and whom will it benefit'' ,
• There was a very good
illustration of irresponsibility by
the London •'Srinday Times" on an -
occt°tr•rence',--in Ulster. some,
months ago, No one will disagree•
that the interplay
circumstances between the
several protagonists has • been
unpredictable; that temperament
•has been extremely sensitive, find
volatile. Suspicion has•been rife.
vet this event occurred at a time
when the responsible authorities
were striving to restore
confidence between the Catholic
minority and the Protestant
..,;,imajority-. Here is the report of
• ` Wha occurred: • "In September
1669 the Arfn-y had a _signal
`victory in its volatile relations
with the Catholics,. It got the
barricades down by talking with
the °IRA, still in its peaceful
posture.
-The Unionists complained
furiously and accurately that the
Army was negotiating with the •
IRA. But there was very' little
choice about this unless the
Army wanted to fight its. way in
• . c rov...the.barri-.,ades if'elf
rtrn l.ciest S
(which was just what the Unionists
wanted to see). "In negotiating to •
get the Falls Road barricade,.
down, General Freeland's chief of
staff, Brigadier Tony Dyball. had -
a certain number of contacts to •
-work .through, On the Belfast
-Peace Committee" he had met a
Falls Road Catholic priest named'
'Father Patrick Murphy, who had
close contacts with the
Constitution Defence Committee
which controlled the Ulster
Protestant Volunteers,,and which
was. largely dominated by Jim
,;Sullivan of the IRA. 'On Saturday
0
.10
September 6, Freeland himself
went to the upstairs room' of Si.
Peter's Presbytery on the ,Falls
Road to;rneet Father Murphy, a
businessman named Tom Conaty
(another,,Pea,ce;Caunci'1 contact),
Jim Sullivan himself and what
Murphy called "SIX QR EIGHT
GOOD M'EN, AND TRUE", WHO
ACCOMPANIED Sullivan.
'Dis_a. strously,. in the ,Army
view•, new of the meeting reached
Tony Geraghty` of"the "Sunday
Times," and the next day we
carried a ,report that the Army
wasnegotiating with the IRA: It
- was one of those hard cases where
.a .true report has unhappy
conse,uences, That night there
was a s.t t t' B lf, t
and on Monday September 8
Chichester -Clark (the Ulster,
Prirhe Minister at the time,) had to -
go on television and say that the
barricades were an act of
defiance-and'must come clown in
twenty-four' hours. ''Both Armv
and - Catholic leaders were°;'
horrified,"....Ten days later,
Catholic houses were burnt' to he rescued by means of the
and the barricades Went up., ,Goderich Fire Departments new
• hook and ladder truck. The
Thus it came about thatnat a
Near 'drowning
.Saturday
in Maitiond
Five Goclerich men had. a close
brush with death on Saturday when
they found themselves dumped
into the icy Maitland River in two
separate boating accidents, that
evening.
In the early evening, at about
4:.00 p.m., a hoat,manned by Bill
Stewart, 'Ted Horton and Hedley
Prouse started down. the Maitland'
from Auburn arid althou'g-h it made
the falls successfully. Pipers
:Dannearly spelled disaster.. The
boat dumped over '.throwing the
men into the .river. •
All three men made it to shore
however. Mr. Stewart not getting
to land until he. reached the
Maitland , Country Club • golf
course,-Mr, Horton swi ming to
shorq 'behind' the Goderich
Building ,Centre plant and Mr.
_Prouse reaching''safetynear the
old dump. e •
The incident was investigated
jointly by the Goderich Municipal
police Department and the
Goderich 'Detachment of the
On'tario Provincial Police,
Ln the second incident of the day,
g t ;o .men PutTutt, Pu Joe • river at
Prote an riot to e is Auburnin a rubber dingy -at about.
1:00 p.m. Less than 10 minutes
later Michael Kelly and William
Govier, also of Goderich: were in
the water. • ,
After staying afloat for more
than an hour Mt'. Kelly managed to
•g -et to'shore and .walked 'up on a
small, flooded island more than
60 feet•from either shore and had
Dear Edit r,
Your last week's editorial was
inadequate in the department of
facts. Quite rightly the main
theme was what is already called
the Sully park;. but a surprisingly
large part was dedicated to the' °
deplorable behaviour of the
inquisitive. Mrs. Haydon, who,
fails to grasp the situation despite
the col•leetive efforts of the rest of
the Council to enlighten her!
R'
However, what invites reaction
and comment is your failure to' do
justice to the issues on hand.
Your editorial sags that you
... concur with the remainder of
Council that the bylaw questioned
byMrs. Haydon is notabylaw„to
convey property to BruCe-
Sully...”
By-law 14 of 1972, the one you
are referring. to,' says under
section 2: .d
"That the Mayor and Clerk he
and are hereby authorized and
directed to execute on behalf of
the Corporation and,,,to seal with
the seal thereof, a ccrveyance of
the said part of Welle'siev'Street
to Bruce Allenby Sully. of the
Town of Goderich, in the County of
'Huron." -
The "said part of Wellesley
Street" is 99 ft. wide, according
to the by-law.
And yet you assure the public
that this isnot a by-law to convey
property to Mr. Sully.
Perhaps you did not know ..the
facts of the 'by-law because.
althoughit was "given .first and
second reading" for procedural
purposes, jt was not actually read
and there were no copies. at that
time.•Ant unfortunately you did.
• not think of following the .advice
.you had for your readers ---to.
stilly the bylaw at the town
Office". • •
Since that time;therehas been a
call from the Town Solicitor 'and
an xplanation that the section of
the by-law lhavequoted above was
a mistake made in his office. .
It would thus. appear' thiit thee.
is no advantage in Opening for
public discussion a •matter about
which'we ourselves are not well
!informed: ', • •
-
.I arty very much in tavola of the
proposed 'park: but not just on any.
condition.. 1 regard. Mr. Sull'v's
—request for a "buffer zone'' as a
reasonable one urfi"der the.
circumstances; -but not just any
size.
Figures like 30 ft. (your March
9th edition), 4's ft, , 60 ft. and 99 .ft
Fever been. m•en-
s er rfo`think , ra w•e s i ► c car
• until the night when the by-law is
''''passed to know what we are really'•
talking about, • '
You are talking about .all
Goderich citizens havinga chance
to voice their opinions. but I know
of no public_. meeting, scheduled
other than the Mai° 1lth Council
meeting' (according to the Notice
of Street Closing appearing in
your newspaper, to pass the hv•.
law.
juncture when the Army was
employing peaceful persuasion
and hoping to retain its neutrality,
`the irresponsible publication of
theact of°meeting, set the stage
for the vilification of the Armv,
• the mobilisation of the IRA
Provisionals and a senseless .
.trial of strength by murder; arson
ar'
and torture, which to date. f •
from assisting an amicable
solution, has served only to
produce a shambles in the course
of which tempers have flared to -
even greater heights than at first. • •
AINSLIE3
Home Dressed Select Meat
CHICKEN LEGS
' (NO BACKS)
BUTT OR ' SHOULDER
Ib.•
PORK CHOPS. LB.
MEATY -SAVE f0� Id
sP�►aE RIBS::',
EESE
NOME MADE
LB:
LB.•
Goderich 0.P. P. who investigated
this mishap note the man might
have perished .from cold on ,the
island before there was emingh
light the next morning to get a boat
out to him. ,• ,
Ail five of the men involved are
reported none the worse for Their
misadventures.•
SIGNAL -STAR
That Notice says ,that- "the
Council will at Stith' meeting hear
any person who claitlis that his
lanawil1 be prejudicially affected
by such by-law and who applies to
be heard Knowing the location,
how rlla,ny people- have 'such a
claim?
1 am not under • some self-
righteous illusion' that 1 am -the
great guardian of the .people's
rights and that those who have'so
far pot wished to discuss the
business of this park, pay less
attention to our community's
needs and feelings.
Thele vias no 'need to remind
me of something we all know—all
rriy colleagues are more
experienced in cQusicil ._matters
than I am and most of them lave.
given this Town many years of
dedicated service.I depend on
their experience,•- gratefully. in
many - Matters, but I believe they
would be the first ones. to agree
that `we each have our opinions',
attitudes and values and they
would no more demand that we a re
in agreement on every issue than
• they would suggest that'orrlu one
person should sit at the council
table.
Usually you deplore the general
apathy of the' public who does not
become easily.; involved in all
sorts of things, but if you see a
less experienced councillor who
tries to catch up by attempting to
be more thoroughly informed, you
come out 'with suggestions that
this should be instantly curbed
Counting on my °colleagues'
sense of humour ( would like to
close on this note:
If sgrnehctdy asks me (and many
people do) ill the meantime what is
our stand on Sully park. I can only
tell them ''.Watch next week's
exciting instalinent'•'.
Sincerely,
Elsa Haydon.
eeping it Clea
Jt/vrt1')
You can't put pollution in litt'l'e
compartments. It's all, tied
together,
Industrial waste, dumped
carelessly on the land can
contaminate the soil, wash into -
and pollute the waters and give off
odors or gas to contaminate the
air.
Over the past few years,
Provincial •offic.ials • involved in
air, waste and water management
have,found themselves ,working
together more and more. So many
problems involve more than a
narrow approach.
The time has come to recognize
this and unite all these activities.
That's why, as of April, 1; there is
no more Ontario Water
Resources Commission and no
more Department of the
Environment,
• It's all put together in' the
Ministry of the Environment—
one organization charged with#' •
establishing and % maintaining a
high'standard of environmental
quality.
Environment Minister James
Auld in a newsletter told the 1,700
employees of the anew • ministry
they had "a legacy of momentum"
from previous agencies and
warned them not'to .waste it.
"Interest in the problems' of
pollution is at an all-time high,"
he said. "Scare tactics won't
.,solve the problems and might lose'
.•a publicnonfiderlce. temi
ternat1 ill
and work are' required." n.
The`1111tnistr,y will deal with the
necessities of life -breathable
,air, drinkable water and
;,uncontaminated soil
The air pollution control
4
Editor's.Note; We were advised
• before publishing last week's
editorial concerning the proposed
Sully Park, that the portion of the
bylaw referring to the conveyance
of propertli to Bruce Sully would,
be cgrrected. That fact was made
known. to council at• die last
regular meeting of rown Council --
by the administrator, Harold
Walls. We attended. So did Mrs.
Haydon. However, since the bylaw
in question needed to be put before
the people to determine public
reaction•to the proposed closing
of parts of two streets in t/•re town
grev77g-•ttre a e.•• �, • •.. n .
.y aw rsian recon. reading nature trails, etc.
was one legal way in which to open
the matter ,.for public. .scrutiny
without binding the tov°n: to any
final• agreement, • wecould not
then— nor do we now— understand •
Councillor Na ydon 's alarm. When
than time comes to question the
size . of the "buffer zone"
requested by Bruce .Sully of the
town, and whether or not it should
be conveyed, we and toecitizens
of Goderich will- • we/come
Councillor Harlon %s concern.
Members of the Goderich
Horticultural Society: Mr. Laking..
gave us good economical' advice
none of which bak been followed.
To do him justice, Vii'• Such;
claimed that the Public Works
Department functioned on its' own
with no cd-operatiou orattempt to
work together ., for.the
n:iaintena'nce and beautification, of.
pour banks. ' '
The ‘time has c6tne now•when
merely keeping Coburg Street out
of the lake is the quertf ii not
beautification. On old Maps of
Goderichene will find that two to
three streets .have already
. completely vanished into the lake.
What use will the Sully Park be to
anyone creeping into the lake.
The total destruction of all
vegetation on the lake hank near
the lighthouse is nothing short of a
'crime Mr. Laking gave the town
Inane suggestions during 't'hat
meeting of 1966.on how- to best
clean up those lake banks and
° pr,eserve the slope. None of these
have heerf•followed. •
Mrs. Reg. Bell.
Dear Editor.
On . behalf of the Maitland
C'ountr'y Club. Ladies' Curling
Section. I would like to thank you
for the excellent coverage you
have given Our various events
over the past year. •
Yours truly.
Connie McIntyre.
Secr•etary•Tr•easurer.
O p
Dear Editor.
It is heartening to knot' that at
last the presence of "Creeps" is
being recognized. ,And don't let
anvone`tell you that our ''Creeps"
are slow-moving. Iris planted last
fall, now found three feet down the
bank, may not seem' like very
much. My father told me that in
his ,youth young .people used to
plan 3baseball . between the
lighthouse and the. bank. The loss
of three feet over one •winter,
builds up to a baseball field over
the years. . • •,..
In early 1966 a delegation of
Parks Dept. personnel 'a'nd
Horticultural Society members
made a trip to Hami'TTon to°consult
with L.eslie Laking who has rade
such a 'successful conversion of
Hamilton's liability areas into the
beautiful asset now known as the
Royal Botanical Gardens, Mr.
Laking Was very generous with
his time and know-how. He gave us
very '"specific. suggestions as, to'
Dear Sii'•
I realize that this letter will be
superfluous. That there will be
man's letters from people
-outragedaLthe_butchering ._of our
town. We carr no longer claim
honestly to ,living in the
"Prettiest Town in Canada."
Particularly 4 am sure that
there- will. be a letter or some
• communication from those who
.'went on February 23. '1966%,to the
Bill ()odds ;' Royal Botanical Gardens in
$tayner, but.,
April 10, ,19'12
Dear Sir:
May use the" paM of your
newspaper as an :opport' Uty t0''
thaul the people• of the 'town (;of
Goderich fox their warm
hospitality exhibited to nre While
attending° ourchristiaf Assenrikly.
of Jehovah's Witnesses,
Ata time Mien colo.- 5 ., * and-.
unfriendly faces are the;,Qrderof
the day, I 'tound the people .of
Goderich . toe be a refreshing
difference.
Thank you.
'Yours truly,o
Carol McDougall.
Dear Editor:
-- Duri-n past_ cast -two_ .or _ .three --a
Years; the theme of drug abuse
has been treated to a great deal of
publicity. There has been very
tittle' honest, valid fact; the
majority Qf,the material carried
by the media has been extremely ,
opinionated and -"highly
circumstantial. The end results
have been confusion and a lot of
meaningless debate, with very
little acknowledgement of the real
tissues involved.
This article is not a personal
opinion of whether the use of
drugs is good or bad, right .,or
wrong. It is a frank statement of
my o,w•n personal fear and'Concern
for the people whoare
experimenting with the so-called
soft drugs: fear of a, very real
danger coupled with concern for a
lot of good people.
The term soft drug' implies°
those drugs which, used on a
casual basis. do not result in.
physical addiction. Hard drug is
used -in ' the context of actual
narcotics, such as heroin, cocain.
In the terminology .of the drub
'cult, a dealer is one who sells soft
drugs, a pusher is one who sells
hard drugs. Everv',freak 14nows
the Steppenwolf song. The
Pusher: "The dealer, fora 'nickel
gonna sell you lots of " sweet
drearns,..But the pusher is a
monstexr..."
The distinction . is -rapidly
ceasing to exist. Many .dealers
are being manipulated by the
pusher., A pusher by definition, is
one who •d'eliberately goes --about
creating heroin . addicts. Once
he's hooked, it costs the average.
junkie $50 -?+100 a day to maintain
his habit. Deprived of his drug.
the fate of the addict is the
cruelest in the world. He suffers
nor • .mental and physical agony of a
'Merle
. ... •
Some ' of the. suggestions, he
made have been grossly ignored'
by those who have been entrusted
with Town decision-making:.
Waste •materials such as old
concrete. placed at the base of,
slopes, help to retain the hanks
and slow up erosion: but dumped
at the top they kill off existing
• growth whose roots are knitting
the soil together, and: make water
runways to speed up erosion.
They also add to the weight the'
bank must support. but cannot..
Old railway ties are .'very
valuable in building retaining.
walls. driving into banks for
added • 'support. and building'
nature trtrils.
"Plants` with_ spreaT1tn'g-root
systems are very valuable—e,g.
the crown vetch .used on the
roadside slopes north of town.
Also, many shrubs and trees.
There is no "instant success"
in dealing with this problem, but
unless we make a start in the right
d.ireetion we, will ,eventually end
up with our lighthouse—and all
other lakebank and riverbank
treasures --tipped over the edge
"The mills of the gods grind
slowly. but they grind exceeding
small."
Hamilton to talk with Leslie
.system hasn't 'changed. -It still Laking (head of 4•the R. B G.)
tracks down contaiYiination in the regarding'the propertreatment of
air, measures it and. takes action' our lake and river '-hanks. to
to protect man's property and his preserve and improve them.
night to. breathe freely in safety Bert Such. then, head of the
and in comfort. Parks department, was there. as
Waste management is still well as a town workman: and three
concerned • with garbage -the
household and farm wastes:
industrial and sewage wastes and
litter—controlling the disposal of
refuse and studying and
encouraging new uses for waste,
-A-pesticides control • service
guards against the abuse of weed,
fungus and pest Rillers, limiting
their effects to their targets.
And the Ministry is shouldering
the work carried- by the OWRC
- since 1956—guaranteeing a full
supply of clean water•in Ontario
and guarding aga,i.nst the
unpleasant ilfid destructive
effof wate:aonlldutrieognu.
Thereects are law
lations
to bark up the performance of
these responsibilities and, as the
comhineti operation gets into
gear, more legal muscle will he
provided,
With the growing complexity of
our society, the potential effect of
man's activities increases. ,
,It's inevitable that Ontario's
environmental protection
programs will have to deal With
more and more complex
situations.
lout this changein the nature of
TWIN) -
cannot afford to 'lose interest.
Concern about pollution cannot
be a passing fad,
It has to become a" part of
everyone's way of life.
Bl�t}
Mary B. Howell.
acid took like a headache.
Chances are he'll die. The pusher
literally sells him his life on a
day-to-day basis.
Now these people, have •
discovered a neW weapon for evil
in the soft • dings.' The hest
illustrations is, a drug called
MDA. The MDA masks the heroin
stone and produces a smooth
heavy MDA•sto.ne. Avery popular
drug,. MDA is not addictive by
• itself unless you do a lot of it.
Heroin. however, does not
require that'you do a lot of 'it to
develop an addiction, especially if
you don't know you're doing
heroin.
Anyone who doesn't believe that
junkies are being made in this
fashion is invited to check the
statistic's on the rate •of increase
in heroin' addiction in, say •
Toronto or Vancouver in the past .;
two years since MDA became. ,
ava'ilahle. The Addi.ctioii
Research Foundation can give you
the figures,
This is only a beginning. A lot of
these people didn't have a chance..
All they wanted was to 'get stoned'
and have a good trip.
Stelipenwolf's nickel these,.days
can be an in`s'tallment on a ticket to
,hell. Please, be careful.
R. Dale Burkholder..
40111 • lit
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, •
'69 CADILLAC SEDAN
DeVil Ie. Power steering, brakes, windows,
seat and trunk: Full factot•y air
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List new $9500.00. Lic. K34032.
s
,•
McGEE.
otow„onsto —
GODERICH S24 $391