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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-10-31, Page 2r, PAGE 2 ODERICH SIGNA :TTAR, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1974 DI.TORIAL COJkMENT Think. it over There's just 12 more days for citizens to decide whether or not they are fully •satisfied with sitting on the sidelines of the municipal scene any longer. It may just. be time for, YOU to come forth and offer yourself for a period of municipal service. Funny thing 'about elections: thd'se persons presently hblding office and let- ting their namesstand for another go around, are anxious - maybe more. anxious than anyone else - to -have some opposition. There's something about running ,for a particular slot on a municipal body and obtaining the sup- ' post of the citizens -to do the job. Those men and women who are acclaimed year after year often complain they are never really certain they *have the approval of the people.. v So though there's possibly enough ,candidates to fill the offices in your Municipality, there's possibly much more to it than that. Elections should provide an opportunity to raise .issues, hear ex•= planations, make suggestions, give direction, They should be like a new start with fresh ideas and viin soil to break straight arid true. ,They should provide the voters With a choice. Please think ' it over, citizen. Please ask yourself if you have something to of- fer either on council, on public .or separate school, board, or on the p615T18-� -- utilities 'cornmission. Anyone who has ° ever° found , fault with the way the business of these bodies is being done is a prime candidate ... and anyone who has. interest and desire is badly needed right now. ro Tips for Halloween Anything for Hallowe'en, don't be stingy,, don't -be mean, just a .little -jelly - bean. The traditional cries heard every" Oct tober 31 when the children take to the Streets 'to gather a year's supply of candy that will be eaten in a week. A few simple Rafety tips ,followed by adults will assure that these cries are the only ones heard/ this Halloween. - When your children „go trick or treating make sure their costumes have reflective material on them so drivers will have no problem spotting them. Light costumes, reflective tape or . fluorescent paint, will make them easily visible to motorists. Discourage the . use. of masks to hider• „your child's identity. Makeup is far better for -acostume and will not obstruct the child's vision. Check your child's treats before they are eaten. Razor blades and pins are sometimes 'sadistically ',placed in the .handouts and can be. easily discovered through simple examination. Set up a trick or treat boundary ,and curfew for the youngsters. Accompany the -younger children yourself and' make sure they travel in groups. , Excitement of the evening makes children forgetful of traffic safety so motorists should exercise extreme safety Hallowe'en night. If you are offering handouts keep your porch Tight on to make it easy for the child to reach your..door.'A well lit porch can prevent unnecessary. tumbles. Put away all your. outdoor furniture and discourage ° vandalism. Playthings • ancr tools should also be placed in a garage (or ,shed for the night. Don't let your children enter homes or apartments. Stay in, your neighborhood and avoid homes where adults; -are in- tolerant of children. Call on one side of the street at a time> and avoid criss-crossing the travelled areas of the street. • By observing these few safety tips - Hallowe'en can be the highlight of your child's recreation calendar and .a safe . one, Credit cards for foodst�re Some major Canadian supermarkets have started ,to accept Master Charge and Chargex bank credit cards on a trial basis for food purchases, writes Finan- cial Post staffer Susan Goldenberg. Master. Charge has upstaged Chargex in signing __ :u - stores- of leadi -food- retailers p n9 retai lers because C,hargex has deliberately shied away, from .this market until only a few weeks ago. Jumping the gun on Chargex. has been a coup for' ``Master Charge. On the other -hand, Chargex. may have been playing a clever waiting game by) letting Master Charge test the unknown waters first. 'Chargex members met some time ago to discuss going into the supermarkets but vetoed it," says a close observer of the bank credit-card systems. They felt it :would promote a bad habit, from a social point of view, of buying perishables on credit." Canadian food retailers accepting the . ° cards say they are not raising, prices to pay for the service fee because , that . • would antagonize customers. The b k credit-card operations are char ing supermarkets close . to their ming um' service fee - 2%. of gross volume com- bined with average ticket size - as. a.Ioss• leader in' the hopes that card holders will then useFtheif cards forcostlier Our: chases elsewhere. But the volume of sales on cards is low. That, means the supermarket -operator is making substantial cuts in his already -slim profit margin. for something he may• .think he • r doesn't need. One of the big ,selling points for the credit cards has been the argument that supermarkets would no longer need to accept cheques. Supermarkets don't like honoring ,• cheques because of the tedious approval process necessary and the chances of getting stuck with a bad cheque. However, .the U.S. experiences indicates the cards really don't reduce the number of cheques cashed since few customers :use the credit cards, A vrrnrrtiao Gine.. ATON aDericb SIGNAL -STAR — The County Town Newspaper of Huron Founded In 1848 and published every Thursday et Goderich, Ontario. Member of the CWNA ej d OWNA. Advertising rates on regrsest, Subscriptions payable In advance S1000 In Canada, $11.50 in all coun- tries other than Canada, Single copies 25 cents. Second crass mail'Registratlon Number 0718 Adver- figtng is accepted on the condition tnat, in the event of typographical error, the advertising space bc• copied by the erroneousltarn, together with reasonable allowance tor signature, will not be charged for but the balance of the adveitlsernerlt will be paid for at the applicable rate In the event of a typographical error Advertising goods 8r services et, a wrong price, goods or service may not be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at any time The Signal -Star Is not respon- sible for the kiss or damage of urfsoliclted manuscripts .or photos Buutl<iness and Editorial Office ' TELEPHONE 5244331 area code 516 Malting Address: r. P.O. 'BOX O, Gibderic orad Class Mail registration number -016 Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. , ROBERT G. SHRIEK—president and publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER.--editor JEFF'SEDDDN-•-editorial staff eowARD J. BYRSKI dvertising manager DAVE R. WILLIAMS—advertising representative cr Newspapers that once ran daily editions, saloons that Closed 'only on Sundays, churches that were once filled to capacity - many are now .boarded up but they never fail to move visitors, • giving them an inkling of the glamoraus "Days of ''98" in the Klondike,, Each year an in creasing number of tourists enter the Yukon and head for•the "City of Gold" to walk•its wooden sidewalks, try their luck in Diamond Tooth Gertie's gambling hall, applaud the can- can girls or par the gravel of "the creeks Dawson City, Klondike, Yukon - all `were magic • words 'at the turn of the century. They have not lost that Tragic. • How to ruin yourself BY KEVIN COX. 3rd Year, Journalism, University of Western • Ontario It's a' peaceful night at .the local - hotel. Joe and the boys, having a few. brew after the football game, look to see what girls might,- he adm*pg them from. afar. The talk drifts from booze to cats to women until .Joe leaves -about 1 a,m. - Joe ' is just _ 18, but he only had four or five 'drinks so 'he isn't particularly concerned abopt the fact that, he has to drive_t.e.n .mile,~. to.et home: He H. g•, knows the road like the back of his hand Joe. gets about two miles out of town 'when,a curve looms ahead, and 'around. that curve death is 'waiting, 'Joe, 'swings too late, the car -swerves violently, Joe's foot is. stuck, .to - the accelerator„ ,, . • That, is the way they found him the next morning, 'acefully curled up,in the back s t •with . a tree branch pro Aiding from where his lungs` 'hould have keen.' Joe Smith ` *ad at 18. 4 Five htl"t red Ontario drivers. met their elk the same way as Joe Smith la: t,, year and two hundred of thA's - were under 25, Two thousa01. more were injured, another tholisa.nd were .passengers.' - who suffered because the"driver didn't know his limit. " Some were more spectacttfar than Joe, like the man vqh() had his 'head sliced off as he- was catapulted through the wind- shield, Or ' the two 'teen -age's who forgot to;top at the lake bank- and their last em'bbrance, , was in the icy waters of Lake Huron: -Death- + from drinking and' driving 'is not romantic. It'sd, parts of young bodies strewn across the road, the hands that took the /football title on this , side, the legs that carried him there, waving in a°ghastly man, ner from t`he twisted wreckage, r The cla.5s valedictorian reduced to a vegetable because he. got the white -lines mixed up and his last confrontation was with a transport truck. , Death from ° drinking and driving is the spell of antisep- tic in - gold., hospital halls, parents' waiting, waiting until the doctor shakes his head and .without even. trying the final gut-wrenchrng scream '• it, the uselessness of it alt gets everybody should have .to, comes from the oper•ating•room, me. The' wa'ste. Pretty girls just . I)rinki•ng arid driving i5 a criminal offence. It is com- parable to intent to murder, because most of us knew we cannot control: the vehicle but do it 'anyway. ,It isn't pretty, but, that's' the.. a mass Of blood, • young guys way it is. splattered cin „the pavement. All' Who is to blame? It is -easy to - because tl)ev,,,didn't know. bet- sav •Joe should have known his ter." limit,' but how could he find' Many police 'officers agree out. I)id his .parents ever. that the, rise in automobile ac- disc•usti alcohol and driving cidents can he d-irectly related with him? 'Probably not. In to the dropping of the drinking most small towns,.booze is like , age to 18 in 1972. People sim- sex, use it but don't talk about ply pre -not really to .deal with it. the stuff. While it is 'considered Ask a doctor about drinking terrible t:o be caught with drivers and he'll :tell you. marijuana or other drugs,. it is "1 get•ve.ry sick trying to,put perfectly respectable -to spend a, these young peonple hack night in the local hotel :and together after they tried to _wipe then . threaten the, lives of themselves out, They''had the everyone on the highway. ' initial choice -and they Mew it. Children grow up believing Many, weekends I spend . all„ alcohol is a part of the' good .Friday and Saturday night iri- life, and commercials,, on f here, putting people hack television .only reinforce the . together. When you think of all idea, So when Joe is418, he gets the people who really want to drunk because. it is.acceptahle, • live, then have to, deal with even a jmired. these who did themselves in. It .noes the school system teach • is really hard to take.': the dangers of drinking and Does the law not protect us driving? Even in driving from drinking drivers? It isn't education classes the 'subject is • much of a deterrent, .because rushed over, even considered most .of us get away with It. Comical by some students, - Even a mandatory three month There is nothing 'comical jail 'term probably won't solve ahou.t the blackhox that carries the problem, although it would you on that last trip. While keep.rfrunks off. the roads for a reams of pamphlets dealing while with drugs and tobacco come Perhaps people convicted 61 out, n-o'body, emphasizes that impaired driving should tour a alcohol is the most abused drug local ' morgue and view the -in the world, _How could ,remains of their fellows who , anything that harmful become were not. as lu't•kv. such a natural part -of our daily, lives? Alcohol is the symbol of , ;oph=is-ticated society, driving- is the result of the society on the move, 'combine the two, toss in a teen --ager and the odds are 2:1 that tragedy will .result. Every time a teenager gets in - a car with more than,one drink under his belt, he is risking his life. So why do it? "Well, it's' a good fime, you get -a little hol`nbed and you forget you have problems," "I like to drive home. It shovgs I can take care of myself e17en when I've had a feW." These are the views of two ''students who have never seen • the wreckage of a hemi -on collision, heard the 1panic•kerl screams or smelt the acrid smoke of burned out car bodies. with the occupants still inside. Ask a,pnlice officer and you get a different view. "When it gets right down to Perhaps We know we are threatening our fellowme-n, but do it anyway. The revoking of licen- ces for" three years should he mandatory upon conviction for impaired 'driving and the suspension should be enforced. Cars of suspended drivers should have a different color of licence. plate 'to make the open. --der -more'visih;le All that activity is after the fact, however, because .,a young person' won't get a chance to participate.' When death beckons from -"the bottle most of us look the other wa'y and pretend .it couldn't happen to us. Tell that to the coroner when' he sees your mangled. remains pulled out of the accordion shaped family car. Tell it to your friends and fatnily when they've got that terrible pain that 'comes from bereavement,' that agony that never really goes away that vision that will wake there -up in• the middle of the night screaming, ' .,Most of .all, stop lying to yourself now. It could save your life. -, ,Corrects error produced by Canada's Qnuclear industry is dumped into the sea and all of it its carefully Dear Editor, mah'ged as is witnessed by the Allow me to correct one very exceptional -safety record of the tierious error of fact' in your . industry over the past twenty. editorial "About Nuclear five years, Power" in the October 10th Disputes do, not rage over edjtion. "where the garbage should he Lake Ontario is not a dump dumped". Instead, scientists - for atomic., garbage from and engineers are investigating Pickering, The spent fuel from the best methods of' dealing the Pickering reactors (and it is with these wastes. Because of in this spent 'fuel that most of the adoption of the CANDU the radioactive fission products system' in this country We have are °contained): is stored in , something likes twenty years in . writer filled bays within_ the which to 'carry oust these in - station itself, None of the waste (continued on page 3) MOONING BACK 75 YEARS AGO It may not be known, or gay not occur, to some of those who read the despatches which are "kindly placed'for the perusal of the public at the C.P.R. telegraph office that these despatches are received here at a much earlier hour of the day than that at which they are sent from SoutkAfrica. There • is a difference of ,seven or eight hours in time between us and South 'Africa, so` that a despatch sent to us from the seat of the mar, in the evening reaches us in mid-day and we thus have the ' privilege of • reading the news before it is sent as ivf ,were. How people managed to get along in wars a hundred years ago, when the ,news had to be sent by .sailing vessel or horse, is a matter for the exercise of one's imagination, Although Hallowe'en is not observed as it once was, the spirit of mischief still lurks in ,. • boyish hearts and sometimes, breaks the bounds between fun and positive wrong -doing. Gate stealing, tick tack and such pranks are very annoying sonietin- es to the victims, but possibly' excusable to some ex- tent on this one night in the year when everyone knows that the boys will be out and has a chance to outwit them if he can. Last Tuesday night however was marked by at least one oc- currence of which those who took. part should. - be. .ashamed. " .. Two women alone in the', Salvation Army barracks had their windows stoned ..and broken by •two lads who fled c ,ith the appearance of a man to the scene. If the culprits • could be brought to justice they should be dealt with severely, 50 YEARS AGO Some racoon -coated -spirited youths driving' 'around the square in an open ,car reported hurling refuse at passersby and other automobiles struck.an in-' ' nocent pedestrian with a par- tially decomposed pumpkin. The man was on a mission of romance and upon arrival at the house of- his betrothed was turned away. It -seems that the state of his clothing and the foul odor of the pumpkin were too much for the young female. The man was last seen' on the square seeking revenge on the young prank -iters who were reported to be heading for Clin= ton.- No reports 'of the group being apprehended Was received, The sale of homemade baking on Saturday last under the auspices of Saltford Sunday School for the Canadian Leper Colony proved quite successful and the proceeds amounting to $64 will be presented to the group. One of the country correspon- dents sniffed out a news story concerning the 'theft of some valuable property. The correspondent joined a group of vigilantes Searching fora stolen outdoor lavatory. The. building was removed from its footings and the search party, following a very distinct trail discovered the object of their search, sitting on the victim's r neighbour's front porch. 5 YEARS 'AGO Goderich Town. Council is considering a proposal made at the last .meeting ,concerning developing the South , Beach area as a trailer park and cam- ping area. Councillor Paul_ Carroll suggested that the area from the railroad tracks to the section of the lake known as the ' lagoon be established through by-law as an approved park area, He called fol a two- stage -development including trailer and camping areas, a picnic area, washrooms, laun- dry facilities, water -service and hydro. ° The Goderich Booster. Club disbanded the town's Junior "B" hockey club "at their meeting giving the main reason for the move°as lack of players. Effective October 27, the Goderich .Siftos of- the:,fentral Junior "B" League of the O.H.A. ceased operation. The move ends the 14 -year history of the Siftos and was described as being ''or the good of the (earn and the league, The G'DCI, Viking Senior -football team is in undisputed first place in the Huron -Perth conference•following their 28-6 victory oyer tl* previously un- defeated Wingham Mustangs. if the ° Vikings defeat the Sea(orth team next week they will, retain their ''undefeated record and hold the advantage of home field in their aerni.fina'1 and final games.