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Clinton News-Record, 1983-05-11, Page 41' at;F. 4 CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, Wan )NESij 1Y, MAY 11, 1983 RIBBOIN? AW,AR;O 1980 Who (Hasson Pious ®exord oo Pub00009od rood, Wdo®anrodoy or P.O. Som 39. ClIOnton, Onencto Coneitto, n1eI191a.e t®e 0012 3993 beebccrepr0en Moto. coondn •10.80 br Chizon '13.00 Por pesos tovoOr3n •98.811 per your It Is ro80otorod ca. =atom taboo 000001 by rho Paas o49tco ,.odor rho permit rovroaturor 8817 Pho otos..-Nocard 0n¢®rporrgewid In 1980 rho Wasson lmvwm-®ocord. hvmax9o4 In 0881 owed nee C00nton More aro founded In 11893 ➢oral proem un a Zee incorporating THE BLYTII STANDARD J. HOWARD AITKEN . Publisher SHELLEY McPHEE - Editor GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager MARY ANN HOLLENSECK - Office Manager MEMBER MEMBER Display odeortleln® 'otos ovolloblo on roayaoet deeps for Moto Cord iso 17 000octivo Oct 1 1981 New role for Iibrc,ries Far from being outdated by the influx of electronic communications, the printed word is gaining steadily in its importance and influence. Newspapers and magazines are enjoying circulations far in excess of pre -television times, despite the fact .that subscription prices have been forced steadily upward. One might logically expect that patronage of public libraries would have been in a sharp decline for the past couple of decades, but the fact is that the libraries ore enthusiastically meeting new and ever larger demands, not only from adults whose interests cannot be fulfilled by a TV diet — but by an increasing number of young readers. It was, of course, the invention of the printing press which released mankind from the long darkness of the Middle Ages. Printed pages told of the vast, in- teresting world beyond the confines of the country village and the poverty -ridden city of those times. At last the human mind was afforded a chance to accept new ideas and the dreary stagnation of the dark ages began to lift. The Mechanics' Library, one of the eorliers organizations to provide accessible reading material in this country, opened the door of learning to a people who could not afford to buy books. Later, Andrew Carnegie's farsighted generosity expanded the library system. Finally, governments at all levels lent their assistance to the cause. Today's public libraries not only make books on jheor shelves available for a tiny fee. They have gone further by establishing story hours for children, often with the help of volunteers; many libraries have films available for public view- ing. In some places softcover books are being placed on neighborhood store shelves for loan to readers. In short, libraries have become active adjuncts to the educational process. Radio and television are certainly valuable lines of communication in modern society, but the percentage of time devoted to cultural and informative program- ming is not impressive. Public libraries have an important role to fill by making available those great works which have farmed the basis of our language and culture. from the Mount Forest Confederate. ba..indthe scenes Resp ns ility of a press If democracy is to be safeguarded, we have been told endless times. one of the precious freedoms that must be protected is the freedom of the press. Unfortunately, it may be that the greatest danger to democracy and to freedom of the press is the press itself. No one argues more for freedom off the press than the press. Bring up the subject of censorship and members of the press see their freedom threatened . Bring in government proposals to limit the growth of chain ownership of newspapers and some people in the media see a danger to freedom of the press. Leave the chains alone to expand, and some other people in the media say freedom of the press is threatened. And let any politician in power complain about the way the me *a has covered a story and the press treats us to visions of jack -booted shock troops closing clown the presses in some totalitarian country. Yet the real danger to free expression in the media is that the respect people have for the media may become so low that nobody believes what they read in the paper or see on television anymore. Already the credibility of the news media, according to surveys, is just slightly better than the credibility of politicians. And some members of the media seem to be dniu,g their darndest to earn even less respect for their profession. Recently there was the case of the Montreal newspaper which gave blazing headlines to the fact that Joe (lark was booed in Toronto when he spoke French. The clear implication in this French - language paper was that the Con- servatives in Toronto were all racists and bigots Maybe some were. but the boning v‘ as heard only when Joe ('lark spoke Second consecutive month French, not when David Crombie or Brian Mulroney spoke French. Perhaps there was some other cause tn anti -French sentiment be ind a booing. But the re;a r,int in the Montrenewspaper was not a case of fine journalism but a political act, interpreting an incident in a very personal way that could change the view off the people of a whole province. There is also the case of the "budget leak", where the television camera picked up pages being flipped by Mark Lalonde the day before he was to present the budget. The television crew and their station both claim that there was no at- tempt made to get a peek at the budget and that may have been true initially. But the credibility of that argument is shot to pieces by the fact that the station was not content to just use the video tape it had but instead stop photographed the pages, photocopied them and distrubited them to the leaders of the opposition. 'The resulting uproar and demands for the resignation of Lalonde may have brought gladness to the hearts of Eric Neilson and all who hate Lalonde and the Liberals and would like to see them out of office, but it didn't win a lot of respect for the media. These are just two of hundreds of cases a year that eat away at the trust the public has for the media, and it's too bad because, cliches aside, we do depend on journalists to save democracy. Without being well informed we cannot make the decisions we must make to make democracy work. If we don't have the facts, how can we decide, for instance, the right or wrong of Reagan policies in Central America,)the correct course to have our government take in the confrontation with the Soviets over the nuclear arms race. The danger is, that in its irresponsibility, the media may, like the boy who cried wolf, not be believed when it really is needed to save democracy. County welfare cases decrease For the se( (mid (consecutive month the ,o( i;iI services committee has been able to report .1 decline in the number of its i;eneral assistance cases to Huron County. Council Sin(. Fehruar‘ the number of people on welfar(' has decreases) in March. 27 cases were 1 luseli as crnplovinent was found and 1n April R. another 20 cases closed as the lob markl't improved It encouraging to see people are pr( kin.; nip employment said social 'cr\ ices nnrrniner chairman Robert Bell The nnl\ had 111'ithat the number of wel(,irl ( in the coling is sip! up considerably from last year at this time. in March of 1982 there were 155 general assistance cases, compared to 243 in March of this year One reason for the decline in the number of cases is that several municipalities in the county have taken advantage of the ('OED programs Twenty-one people have been hired directly from the social ser- vices caseload to work in these various municipalities in the county in other social service business, county council w,ll not he entering into an al" cement .1' the present time with the Huron ( rung Family Crisis ('entre Pitching in 7910rS d and Hunters tie C'sharia F `"'nthShy1Cn co- :011 ,radaLd ��sast <y avarn.e<tau a, JUgV 1 and spice A ;r. sphited corpse One of the greatest pieces of miscasting land there have been many) in that long- running melodrama called The Liberals Ride Again' — And Again — And Again, was the naming of one Paul Hellyer as Minister of Defence, , . ck in the Pearson days. Hellyer's qualifications were awesome: ambition; an abysmal lack of knowledge of things military; a total insensitivity toward anything not affecting his own career and ambition. A political opportunist from the word go, he leapt at the chance to be Defense Minister, as a step toward his next ambi- tion, Minister of Finance, and an easy shuffle from there, with a little nudging, political knifing, and treading on tender toes, into the BIG JOB. But Minister of Defence, in peace -time, is a rather tame, backwater spot. Hellyer had to do something to force himself into the limelight. He, or one of his ill-advised advisors, came up with a gimmick bound to gather headlines. It wasn't quite as dramatic as Moses parting the Red Sea, but his scheme, and scheme it was, propelled the political climia '-r onto the front pages. Hellyer's plan was simple, as simpleton's plans often are. It was to destroy the morale of the fighting forces by rolling navy, army and air force into a glutinous ball, stuffing it into a pias green -bag -colored uniform, and declarin from the housetops that Canada was the first country in the world to unify its arm- ed forces. It wasn't promoted as destruction, of course. The PR machine ran smoothly. The plot would increase efficiency, save by Shelley McPhee money, improve communications, create instant pie in the sky, and stop ser- vicemen's noses running. When Hellyer went to work on Canada's proud armed forces, an axe in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other, almost singlehandedly he accomplished what Germans had not managed in two world wars — send those forces reeling into disarray, dismay and despondency, from which they have never recovered. Esprit de corps was turned into dispirited corpse. Tradition was swept into the scuppers. Proud regimental names were trampled underfoot. Color and gallantry and high standards and self- sacrifice were put into the mincer, and carne out as the dull -green Canadian Arm- ed Forces. Hellyer has a lot to answer for, but his ego, and the murky twilight of politics, will combine to cloud this petty piece of poltroonry. What is unfathomable is that the Cana- dian public, so recently so proud of their seamen, soldiers, airmen, sat back and watched with utter lassitude. Or perhaps they were smothered in the smoke screens laid down by Admiral Hellyer. What is even more astounding is that the armed forces put up with it. If such a thing were attempted in Britain, the fleet would mutiny, the army would rebel, and the air force would drop a couple on Whitehall. Can you imagine the enormous foofawraw in the U.S. if some political upstart tried to pull such a deal? The resul- tant clamor would resound from the very heavens. A few, a very few senior officers in Canada's forces, mostly naval men, fought back. They were promptly purged. Not garotted, or shot. Simply retired early. Since Hellyer's hatchet lob, the Cana - kaleidoscope The Ontario government has proclaimed May as Family Unity Month to recognize the family as the foundation of our society. The month-long celebration stresses the important role the family plays in our lives. It's a perfect time to remember how much our families mean to us and an opportunity to tell them so. "Invest time in your family," is the message during Family Unity Month. This celebration of the family is the perfect opportunity to replace good intentions with a good plan of action. Mrs. Donna Mawson of Rich, British Columbia is one lady who is particularly interested in her family. Mrs. Mawson is tracing her family tree and has discovered that her great gran- dfather, John Findley Yule was married to Isabella i,esles Morris, in Clinton on August 4, 1870 by Rev. W.R Roach She also has information from the 1871 Clinton census records regarding the Morris family - Alex, 50; Ellen, 45; Ellen, 17. ,lames. 15; Marg, 9; George, 5. if you have any information on these people please write Donna Mawson, 10459 [Dennis Cres., Rich, B.C. V7A 3R7 Eric Schellenberger of Clinton is wearing a big smile this week. He was a $1,000 winner in the Junior C draw Winners of 150 included, Marg Reickarl dian forces have gone steadily, and not slowly, downhill. When he began, we had one of the four or five best navies in the world, about the third largest airforce, and an army that had fought with the best of them and stood their ground. By the time he had finished, we had a homogenous but anonymous thing that was neither fish, fowl, nor good red herr- ing. Our armed forces were effectively castrated. There were still good people in them, but pensions and promotions became the name of the game. About 90 percent were either officers or NCO's. There was nobody left to fight. The ships weren't fit to put to sea. The aircraft became quickly obsolete. The tanks you couldn't even sell to Lower Slobovia. Canada's NATO forces became a laughing -stock. Canada became known as a country that wanted a first-class ride for a third-class ticket. And Pierre Trudeau, who managed to avoid any conflict except with his wife and the Tories, didn't give a diddle. Hellyer's rocket fizzled, of course, because there wasn't enough powder to keep it aloft. He ran for the Liberal leader- ship, was creamed. He started a party of his own, which vanished into thin air, he turned his coat, went to the Tories, ran for leader, and was creamed again. No regret for that. is ut the stench he created lingers after him; the damage he did is almost irreversible. I can hardly wait to get my hands on a book by Admiral Brock, telling it like it is. And I'll shoot a copy to my brother, the Colonel, Distinguished Flying Cross, who left this country in disgust after serving it for years, in combat and afterwards. Ron Austin who won two draws, Ray Oesch, Marlene Hart, Russ Archer, Reg Wilson, Doug Norman, Betty Ann Graf and Jirn Hayter. Be sure to check your front doors next Tuesday. I've noticed that some people have not picked -up their Focus news- magazine. Focus is now being delivered to you door so be sure to check. if you have any questions or changes you'd like to make regarding the door-to- door delivery call us at the News -Record. We'll pass the message along to your paper boy or girl. Congratulations to Cheryl Flynn and Michael Overholt, both of Clinton. The two Fanshawe College students recentely graduated as apprentices of the Advanced Motor Vehicle Mechanics program. Completion of the in -college training course took place on April 29 The Klompen Feest Singers will be giving a preview concert at Huronview on Tuesday. May 17 Dressed in tradition Dutch costume, the singers will join other local talent in the 7 p m concert The plans for the Clinton Spring Fair are also well underway and the Clinton Kinettes will he in charge of the the Queen of the Fair contest this year Part of the program will include a dinner for the queen contestants and their mothers, to be held on May 31, a week before the fair. Three guest speakers, Ramona Hum- phrey and Mary Garon, both of Clinton and Nancy Harris from Thorndale will be advising the girls on grooming, poise, makeup and public speaking. They will also give a detailed outline of respon- sibilities of the queen. Be sure to check the queen contestant ad in this week's paper. The entry deadline is May 24. it's time to think summer and on Saturday the (Tinton Rec Committee will he holding registration for the Summer Playground program. Please be sure to include your child in this worthwhile program. if your car needs washing, your appetite needs a sweet treat or your spirit needs a boost he sure to visit the (1-iSS music club's car wash, bake sale and sing -a -long it will also he held on Saturday. The high school is a busy spot these days The spring concert and formal are now over, but the drama club is readying for its production June Groom The show is billed as an hilarious comedy and will be played nn May 12, 13 and 14 at 7 30 p m in the ([TSS gymnasium Tickets are still available e Reader gives praise for music Dear Editor: I cannot let the writer of a letter concer- ning musical education in last week's Clin- ton News Record. go unnoticed. I have a feeling this parent t who prefers to remain unidentified) does not understand the full meaning of education. Thank goodness for most of us it is no longer restricted to the three R's but does indeed include such enriching programs as the musical one at CHSS directed so ably by Mr. Rob Parr and his accompanist Mrs. L. McGregor. This unknown parent questions music having three of the highlights during Education Week. Surely this simply reflects the energy and enthusiasm of the Music Department. It is significant that the program attracts the student who also does well academically. I attended the latest concert given by Mr. Parr and his pupils this last Saturday. As usual it was excellent and gave the whole audience a most enjoyable evening. I am the mother of two of the teenagers who have benefitted from the musical course and I would like to say a very warm thank you to those responsible for this educational addition to all our lives. Yours truly Jane M. Davidson Blyth Festival needs your donations Dear Editor, Believe it or not, it's been eight years since the Blyth Festival presented its first play on the stage of Blyth Memorial Hall. Only through the loyal support of the peo- ple of our region, the hard workers at the Festival, the Canada Council and the On- tario Arts Council have we been able to be financially successful and we wo '.d like to continue to grow and stay in the "black". May is our annual fund-raising cam- paign month. It is also the month we start to think of summertime, sunshine, and the warm, radiant glow of a mid -summer's day ... these things will soon be upon us and with them will come that celebrational sense of the opening of I:lyth Festival '83 on June 24. We are so fortunate to have a successful theatre that is making headlines across the country, right at our fingertips to en- joy. Janet Amos has another exciting season planned for us with an excellent cross- section of topical themes. You can get a head start on getting the best seats by subscribing early through our handy voucher packages which are on sale until June 18 at only $20 for four vouchers that can then be exchanged for tickets anytime. This is a saving of $8 by purchasing early. Please join us in continuing to make the lyth Festival a success by purchasing a general membership at $10; a supporting membership at $25; an associate membership at $50; a Patron at $10-I or more. Tax deductible receipts are issued for all donations $10 and over. I'm sure you have noticed by this point of my "plea" that I refer to our theatre as the Blyth Festival. Why not the Blyth Summer Festival? Because we are active in fall, winter and spring as well. Our program of music, theatre and children's perfor- mances featuring renowned names; the art gallery and the dedicated 80 -member choir the Blyth Festival Singers that pulls members from as far as Huron Park and Listowel, all keep Memorial Hall busy year-round. We extend a special invitation for you to share in the excitement of live Canadian theatre. We know your afternoon or even- ing will be pleasurealily spent. Wouldn't you like to become involved as a new member ( or if you've been a member, wouldn't you like to renew your membership 1? Back a winner. Call the box office for more information at 523-9300 or myself at 523-4331. Sincerely, Elizabeth Herman President, Board of Directors, Blyth Centre for the Arts. March of Dimes says thank -you Dear Editor. On behalf of the staff at the Ontario March of Dimes and the many thousands of physically disabled adults with whom we work, thank you for your support during our Ability Fund Campaign this year. Your generosity means that more money can be directed into providing vital services and programs for disabled men and women By running our ads, your readers are now more aware of both the contributions which can be made by disabled people when given the op- portunity and the work of the March of i)imes in providing these opportunities Please extend our words of appreciation to the members of (linton News -Record "We ('an't Help Without Your Help " Sincerely. Thomas M. Daly Director of Resources