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Clinton News-Record, 1983-03-02, Page 4PAGE 4 —C NTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 6 Ui• E R I a8 0 N,', A R D` 1980”' rho C1lnDon lariwo-tlo.o.d Is gycatintcATia o®ete 119ifectA 3e,?my tmt P.O. port ll.. /Minton, Or,AArfo• Cenodeo. lalW 166. fedi.. ASS-Axslt. ScobAcrlDelon aline. C®,aeda °06.66 Sr. Clalurr,, - '28_68 per y„or ®Browses Emr yAccr or lm ruip9oemrmd cm =wand elves mal ®y MA. pout efface. tnndor who ®orwo0t ra,n@er 1112. r1,o keen-SleastAnf loncorr reaegterd an 1f!&^l Oita ,Onoremt fActz,o-W„aer 4, Bpcnatdad /n ISM. end Tho Calweore IflAWm aro. Bmnndad en e6&5. 1„Orel gvAns ren a,?61. Incorporating 'SHELLEY McPHEEE - Editor GARY i6AISY - Advertising illean®ger JANICE AWN - Advertising PE66V 61®® - Office II/Ioen®ger MARV ANN HOLLENBECI(- Subscriptions J. HOWARD AITKEN - Publisher A MEMBER MEMBER ®deploy odvortlein® rota, m vo d Oviedo on rt,garoet Au4 for Soto Cord No. 12 offo<tivo Oct 1. 1®91 The grass is greener Funny how the grass is always greener in the next field. The person who is employed longs for a few weeks away from work. The one who hasn't a sob Tongs for the opportunity to show his skills and get a regular pay cheque. An employer worried about big debt financing for his business, thinks how for- tunate are those who can work within a weekly budget from the mor.ey he pro- vides at each month's end. The employee wishes he was the boss and have no one to answer to but himself. The householder with the small lawn wishes he had more room to grow vegetables in the summer. The one with half an acre of growing greens thinks it would be easier to shop at the store than pull out weeds. Workers in Nova Scotia dream about those big salaries in Alberta and Ontario. Workers in Alberta and Ontario dream about the peace and contentment of working and loving in Nova Scotia. Bank tellers think of the glamor of lournalism.Journolisrs think of the freedom of regular working hours in a bank. Can we never be satisfied? By Elaine Townshend 0 Just a little white lie Be honest. At one time or another, have you not told a little white lie? Surely, we've all twisted the truth to avoid hurting someo�t� feelings or to get ourselves out of an "' ^.arrassing situa- tion. We assure ourselves there's no reason to feel guilty. Everyone does it. No one will ever find out about our fib. Besides, it's just a little white lie, and lit- tle white lies are harmless. Right? One man was trapped by his white lie. His name is Fred. (That's another little white lie! ) Fred and his wife planned an evening on the town. The highlight would be dinner at a restaurant they had visited a few months earlier. The restaurant's specialty was a dessert - the likes of which Fred had not tasted before or since. His mouth watered just thinking about it. The management operated two restaurants. We'll call them A and B. The establishments were similar but only one served the special dessert. Fred was cer- tain it was R 7 - Ibehind the scents Childish ways One of the things that raising children does for you is give you a new way to look at the world. For instance, to listen to the media, one would think that the battle for more rights is a very mature, adult undertaking. We have lawyers, we have politicians, we have civil libertarians and consumer groups, all concerned with building more right into our constitution and our way of life. The struggle has been going on for years and it has often been vicious. But it's got nothing on the vicious strug- gle that's been going un at our house. We're having our fourth child go through that horrible stage when the little angel becomes a demanding little monster con- cerned about getting her way, always claiming "It's not fair" when she doesn't. And the depressing part is we know this won't end until the darling goes out the door at 19or20. Society and i seem to he fighting op- posite battles While the civil rights ac- tivists and consumer groups keep telling people they have more rights and they should grab them, I'm trying to battle my children to show them that, yes, they may have rights, but they also have respon- sibilities 1 think anybody who was ever a parent knows that you don't have to teach children about their rights They seem to grab that instinctively from the time they start asserting their independence at that terrible period we call the "terrible twos" in fact, I suppose, it goes back farther than that to *hen the kid is in the crib and fighting a battle of wits to get as much of his parents attention as possible —The Digby Courier s Fred's wife wanted to eat at restaurant A, because it was closer to home, but Fred was determined to have his dessert. He didn't care how many miles he had to drive. He and his wife arrived at restaurant B; they found a cozy table, and a waitress brought menus. Fred perused the menu once, twice, three times. To his horror, he found no special dessert. It must have been at restaurant A. He whispered to his wife, "This is the wrong place. Let's get outta here!" y now his wife's patience was wearing thin. "We can't just walk out," she snap- ped. "Here comes the waitress." "I'll get us out of this," Fred assured her. He grinned sheepishly at the waitress. "I'm very sorry. Miss, but it seems we've made a mistake. You see, we're supposed to meet friends for dinner, but they're not here and I just remembered that they pro- bably went to your other restaurant. So we'll just slip over there." "Oh, that's no problem," replied the waitress. "I'll just call the other restaurant and tell them you're here. What's your friends' names? Put more than one child old enough to waik anti talk into a room together and you'll quickly see children already know about rights. Take your little angel out to visit someone with other children and you'll quickly see him become pushy, possessive, belligerent and greedy over who should play with whose toys. It seems to me that the whole process of raising children is trying to knock the edges off this instinctive "me first" at titude. The success of a civilization is in how well parents can teach their children that their personal rights can sometimes get in the way of other people's rights. that just because you think you should have something in life doesn't mean you have a right to it. As parents, we try to stop children from thinking only of themselves but of the good of their brother or sister, their family as a whole, and through that, to the community, the country and the world. I wish the civil libertarians would talk as much about responsibilities of the in- dividual as they do of his rights. i wish the word "justice" was heard more often in a broader term. Too often it means only justice to one person. Rut justice, the dic- tionary says is fairness, rightfulness Justice is a broad term. What is "right" for one person may not be just because justice, it seems to me, encompasses all the rights of everybody. I guess the word we're really talking about here is the old fashioned term morality, something that's bigger than all of us. But in our childish, "me first" genera- tion, we don't want to acknowledge anything that's bigger than ourselves. We're just like my two-year-old. Hopeful- ly, though, she'll grow out of it. Will our society *ear los, Spring slide ride sua r and spice My last field trip RECENTLY went on my last "field trip" with students. A field trip is something a teacher lines up, fields all kinds of base hits, and I do mean base, and trips over some little item, like six kids didn't make the bus home and how come and what about my little girl and what kind of an educational system do we have, anyways? To some, a field trip is a day, or a week off for teachers and a waste of time for students. "Frills", snarls one parent. "Never had nonna that runnin' round in my day, seein' half-nekkid women and fools in long underwear, and I got a good eddication. Never outa work in my life." Says another. And they're right, of course. Field trips are frills. They cost money which would be far better spent in drilling them on how to spell "receive," even though, after five years, they still spell it "recieve." Or to put toantoo together and eventually wind up knowing what a two-by-four is. ut maybe the pinch -mouthed lady who refers to "frills" wod be a different person if she'd taken a page from Lady Macbeth's book and put a little guts into her old man. And maybe the other guy would not be so smug if he'd travelled to the East Cost and see what a fisherman must do to earn a living. Mustn't digress, though it's tempting. Wait'll I retire. Boy, this paper will burn, as the column is being written. I said it was my last field trip. Good reasons. I gave them up about 10 years ago, and let the younger, idealistic teachers batter their brains and bods out against the mass of paperwork, the planning, the endless coping with teenagers, the lower -age drinking privilege, and the soaring wage and fuel prices that make bus trips to a major by George Chapman centre such an ordeal. A trip to the city used to be a delight, when I began teaching. (Always have to use that clause; I was never a "young teacher.") I'd tell the principal I wanted to take all the Grade 11's to see Richard Burton in "Hamlet," He'd say, "Sure, I'll see about buses." I'd phone and order 120 tickets, at two bucks each. The bus would be another two bucks. We'd have seats in the or- chestra, close enough to see the foam flying from Burton's face as he spat, "Oh, most pernicious woman." The kids would run around to the stage door for autographs. We'd head home, all present, replete with culture and inner excitement. That was all there was to it. Nowadays, the field trip has become almost as complicated as one of Rommel's campaigns in the Western Plesert. It's become a microcosm of our society, in which the words, "I come. I see. I conquer.", have been replaced by, "Cover - your -ass." Today, one must apply to the county school board, on a form. Then, one must get the principal's approval, usually a matter of course, unless you're taking a group to study the latest pornographic movies, or the latest development in topless dancing. Then one orders a block of tickets. Then one sells them to the students, along with a formidable price for the bus. Then one fills out further forms, with the name, home rooms and in.;vidual numbers of the students. Then one tries to collect the money from the students who are away sick, or have forgotten, or have chang .! their minds. Then one must pay the bus company, up front. Then one must send a cheque for the tickets. Then one must fill out more forms, declaring exactly who is going to be each bus. And so on. And on. Then one must count and recount the students, make sure they get to the theatre on time, round them up for the trip home, count them again like so many cattle. kaleidoscopes Hi! Did you have any trouble finding me? The name and the location may be different, but the contents of Kaleidoscope will closely follow its predecessor, Page 1's First Column. I chose the name Kaleidoscope, for the wonderful images it conjurs up in my head. I think of Kaleidoscope as a vibrant, colorful, ever changing form. Kaleidoscope gives me a chance to comment on news and events, people and places that deserve special mention. Kaleidoscope is also a spot for News - Record readers to tell us what's happening in their lives, to keep us informed of up- coming events and news notes. 1 + + To start off the reminders, don't forget that the first Saturday in the month is coming up, and that's the time when the l,ondesboro ],ions cone around to collect your old newspapers Just bundle them up and put theni by the curb for the Saturday morning pick-up. + + r Also in the upcoming events depart- ment, don't forget to take in a few games at the Rayfield hockey tournament final rounds this weekend. ft was reported that last week's action was a great success with more than 25 local teams taking part and hundreds of fans nn hand to cheer them on. + + + From Clinton this week we have Dr George Elliott and Richard Lobb as the February winners of the Junior'(" Booster Draw Doc and Richard both won $100 + + + Rena Caldwell, our Kippen correspondent, sent in a note to say that Mr. and Mrs ,John Anderson have returned from a winter holiday in Arizona Mr and Mrs. W.J.S. Bell have returned from Florida were they attended the funeral of Mrs Mary Cameron Richardson scour the nearby taverns for the stratori, rs le -me behind those who have vanished, and return to a torrent of tirades. I've had some great trips, year ago, to the O'Keefe Centre, the Royal. Alex, Stratford, before the purpose of the trip became smothered in a paper snowstorm. Frances Hyland, Richard Burton, Alex Guinness. Great plays, students high on theatre. Never mind the bus breakdown on the way home. It was part of the ad- venture. Then the troubles began. The permissive era. Lowered age for young drinkers. Bus prices going out of sight. Creeping bureaucracy that made it a ;.:.per horror for the organizing teacher. Took my last trip. to Expo. Students throwing up beer all over the bus, after an evening in Montreal. Students acting like old maids who had just tried their first dry martini. "Who needs it?" I said. This timer I was forced into it, by the sudden illness of the teacher who was organizing it. I think it was the organization that knocked him out. I hate to admit it, but I enjoy . the trip, after the last-minute hassle over the paperwork. The kids were delightful, friendly, on time. The show was pretty good, live Shakespeare, the only way to enjoy the bard. There was only one hitch. I took my wife. Every student was in the bus, seated, ready for the trip home. No si,9l of the Old Battleaxe, who'd gone shopping. I paced up and down, outside the bus, mattering imprecations and scowling, for the benefit of the kids. She didn't show. After 20 minutes of this, here she comes, strolling along, laden with shopping ba _. I snatched them from her, hurled them into the luggage rack, told her I wouldn't sit beside her, and generally carried on. She'd got the time mixed up. The kids forgave her. I stopped playing furious. We got home on time. Maybe I'll do one more field trip, before I retire. But guess who isn't going? Right. on February 24. In Blyth, work is winding up on the new Bank of Commerce building. The new structure is an attractive addition to the the downtown area and the grand opening is scheduled for later in March. + + + Yes, it's March already. Traditionally March, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac, goes something like this, "Rain up to your craw. A sunny thaw. Slushes and sloshes require galoshes. We're snowbound all around. Sheets of sleet are forced to retreat. Cold, then we believe, a lamb -like reprieve." March this year came in like a lamb. Does that mean it may go out like a lion? Arnold Colclough, an 85 year old Clinton man isn't ruling out the possibility that we could have at least one wintry blast before the end of the season. Arnold's never seen a winter like this, but he does remember one back in 1932 that closely compared. Nevertheless people are sure enjoying this early spring. in Bayfield the Andave II recently brought in an early catch of whitefish. Don Armstrong said that avid Red Cross ask for your ])ear Editor: March is Red Cross month and the Clin- ton committee is geared to go. While times are hard and calls are many it is to be hoped everyone will give a contribution however small, to this greatly needed organization. More and more calls are being made on its resources, more and more countries are need. Withoutint it we would be poor indeed. The Red Cross is the only organization that is on the scene wherever disaster strikes They go everywhere and anywhere regardless of race, religion or political deology. The only thing they care about is human beings and how to helpthem. It is a privilege to be part of their eroic efforts golfers are already heading out to the links, and the devoted lawn bowlers are set to roll. - 4 4 - Indoor Indoor sports action at the Clinton Legion is in winning form this season. The Legion bowling team won distirct finals last week and will now compete in provincial finals, to be held in Sudbury. The dart team will be playing in district finals in New Hamburg on March 5. Congratulations, and best of luck! + + + The Clinton area will be gaining another active community club in the new future_ At an organizational meeting in Clinton last week, 45 local young people came out in support of a Junior Farmers Club. Election of officers will be held on March 23 in Clinton and new members are welcome Clinton had a Junior Farmers club several years ago which later joined with the Auburn organization. With the revised Clinton club, ,Junior Fanners will have five branches in the county. Huron also boasts one of the highest Junior Farmer memberships in the province. support on behalf of mankind. We cannot measure the amount of human suffering that has been alleviated by the Red Cross, All canvassers of our Wards take their money to the captains of the Ward they canvass and all books used and unused returned. Out of town canvassers please turn money into the Royal Bank this year as they have kindly offered to take over this task When the canvass is over the bank will forward all monies and books to the London Red Cross. The Red Cross needs the moral support of each and every thinking human being. Sincerely, E. D. Fingland. Problexus f e yo sty 1if farmers Dear E'►; itor : Many of the problems we faced last year are still with M. Some are even worse. The young farrier has been placed in an impossible position. The large amount of capital required to start even a modest farming unit requires the b: _inning far- mer to ':s crow large amounts of money to supplement his own capital- Aside from F.C.C. there is still no longer term financing from Ontario. Yet the Saskat- chewan government came up with a program, whereby Saskatchewan residents with land purchases since Dec. 17, 1 '01 will have mortgage rates rebated down to eight percent for the first five years and 12 percent for the next five years on amounts up to $350,000. The program will be operated in conjunction with the Farm Credit Corporation. Although the Land Bank Act has now been repealed commitments or contracts made by the Land Bank will be honoured by the government. Nova Scotia recently lowered the rates on its farm loan program. For loans up to $150,000. the interest rate dropped two points to 8 percent. For loans between $150,000 and $300,000 the new rate is 13 per- cent. Faced with a high debt -to equity ration, the young farmer cannot withstand any continuation of high interest rates com- bined with low returns. The young farmer of Ontario has even more difficulty competing since every other province in Canada has better long term agricultural programs for young farmers. The only assistance this province offers farmers comes from the tile drainage program. Township tile drainage loans are very important, especially to a young farmer. Well drained land allows him to maximize his cash flow and crop yields on a minimal land base. We feel the Ontario government must budget more money for the program and supply a minimum of 75 percent of the cost of tile draining Farm Credit is unable to supply enough affordable credit to meet all that is needed. This is evidenced by the decline of F.C.C. long term financing. Farm Credit mortg ;: e rates should be two points less than bank prime instead of two points above, to be of any use to farmers. We solicit your support for a speedy implementation of the Agri -bond concept. We feel this type of solution co lid be of great benefit to both FCC and to farmers. What is desperately needed is a source of intermediate financing for farmers buying machinery, expansions and livestock. This credit should have fixed rates with five to 10 year credit terms. Many of the cre,!it problems faced by farmers today are a result of financing with short term floating operating lea Ontario offer little more support for farmers by allowing foreign ownership of farmland. Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and P.E.I. all mainta i protective legislation against non-resident foreign ownership. Some provinces even restrict non -farming corporations from owning farmland. Accor 'ng to the Rural Development Outreach Program study, 7,823 acres of Huron County's best land was owned by non-resident, foreign owners in Nov. 1980. Dennis Timbrell has acknowledged there are 150,111 acres foreign owned which amounts to one percent of the agricultural land. Yet in Huron County, there are several concentrations of foreign ownership,for example Morris Twp. has five percent foreign owners. This absentee foreign ownership has a direct, impact on young fanners turning over the cycle of retiring farmers turning over their farms to young beginning farmers. By their aggressive purchasing of the best farmland at world prices, they are e -:;. blishing the price of farms much higher than the realistic market value for this area. Farmers producing a commodity supported by supply management are quick to point out the many advantages and the relative security of operating in such an environment. However, marketing boards must ensure that suf- ficient quota is available to young beginning farmers at a fair price. Since one in every five jobs in Ontario depends on agriculture it would make sound economic sense for both our provincial and federal agovernments to support our young farmers so that the agricultural industry can continue to be as strong in the future as it has been in the past. , r"1 Hans Rasmussen, Young Farmers Committee Huron Federation of Agriculture Plan to attend Dear Editor: South Grenville District High School in Prescott will be holding its 25th anniver- sary on FridayceSaturday and Sunday. Ju- ly 1-2-3, and we would like to extend to residents of this area who are former students or staff, an invitation to come back to SGDHS and spend the holiday weekend with their high school friends Our committee has finalized plans for the three-day event which include: registration, school tours, barbecues. golf tournament, wine and cheese parte. din- ner dances, pancake breakfasts, rededica- tion and ecumenical services. Registration forms for those events as well as a special anniversary yearbook, may be obtained by writing to the address below. Sincere thanks for publishing this letter Beth Morns, S(; DHS 25th Anniversary, P 0 Box 670, Pres ott, Ontario KOF, 1 T