Clinton News-Record, 1984-12-26, Page 4Pageft-.-CLINTONIWS-RgC01113, WEDIsI SA#t ,'DF,! F ER 263984
The Clinton News-R.ecard Is published each
Wednesday at R.O. Sox S9,- Clinton. .Ontario.
Canada. 701331LQ. Teta452-3443•
Subscription Rote:
Canada - 519.75
Sr. Cltitsen • 516.75 per year
U.S.A. foreign - 555.00 par yeer
it is roplstorod as second clots malt 67 the
post oftIIFe under the permit number 0817.
The 619470-R•sord incorporated in 1924 the
Httroe NeseeRecord. !minded .In 1443, and
The Clinton Plows Era, founded In 1865. Total
Press 01gi13.700.
Incorporating
THE BLYTH STANDARD)
C CNA
J. HOWARD AITKEN Publisher
SHELLEY McPHEE - Editor
MEMBER
GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager
eA
MEMBER
Display advertising rates
MARY ANN HOLLENBECK - Office Manager Rate la Clare d on
No ret. Ask for
Qu15t effective
October 1, 1984.
A letter to all drivers
aieidoscopQ
Please excuse us if you find your
photograph, news reports .or favourite
articles missing from this week's paper.
We've been doing a juggling act these last
two weeks at the News -Record, in an effort
to produce our newspapers around the
holiday schedule.
Today is Dec. 21., but we're on our way to
press, for the Dec. 26 issue.
And then on Dec. 28, we'll again be putting
the paper together early for the Jan. 2 issue.
Confused? So are we. It's been a two-week
scramble, but we've arranged our
publishing dates so they won't interfer with
our holidays.
In our business, the 1984 holiday schedule
is about as awkward as it could be. With
Christmas on a Tuesday, and New Year's on
a Wednesday, it makes for some difficult re-
Wednesy p
da
scheduling for a •
It means going to press early, and it
means that some articles and photographs
must be delayed. So please be patient, we'll
be back on schedule by the first week in
January. To bear a festive part?"
Dear Driver: + + -- Christmas activities took in a wide range lace and birds of iridescent plumage form
p of events from skating parties, to hockey the trimming."a
A few weeks ago, I saw a little girl struck by a car as she tried, to cross the Christmas 1884 was not the best of times, matches, family gatherings to readying for numberolldressedof o al events ladies and in G men attended
One such
street.I saw a father race toward her and hold her to him as she struggled in the but people in this area were not deterred by the municipal elections.
the depressed economic state of affairs. quietly." performance was put on by Uncle Tom's
agony ofd death. I saw all the plans that hod been made for her dashed, and I saw Christmas 1884, passed off very q Cabin actingtroupe. Unfortunately the show
Id I offerprayer that such a As the December 24 HuronNews-Record Unlike the fierce storm that' hit the area as hampered u tragedy.
By -Shelley McPhee
hearts of many. A large attendance is also beautiful present, also sorrow for leaving
expected on this occasion." their midst."
Advertisements, in big bold type, and Churches celebrated the holiday in gland
small print, promoted a wide variety of fashion. At St. Paul's
D An wick �Church oly,
items for gift giving. Clinton,
"For the choicest and newest variety of observed at this church. Willing and tasteender and olil thne association was ful
Christmas cards, Bibles, albums,
fine goods, holiday goods of all kinds and hands had made the church beautiful with il-
pric,es, silverware, jewelry, satchels, finest luminated texts, banners and wreaths of
and largest variety of China goods, toys, evergreens. The choir, largely increased for
dolls, novelties, presents for all - the right the occasion, rendered the music ap-
place to buy them is at Weir's Book Store, propriate to the day and its teaching in a
manner highly acceptable to everyone. The
Beaver Block. Inspection invited."
The Huron New -Record also took the op- sermon on St. John I 14, "The Word was
portunity to advertise its produce. A witty made Flesh" was preached by the Rector.
poet wrote in the December 24,1884 edition, Current fashions for the season were im-
"Christmas comes with lightsome cheer women readertant a rs informed on all the ago and The New n up -a to -
date styles from New York.
"Bonnet strings are quite short. A band of
beaver or otter make a coronet for a velvet
or felt bonnet. Bronze slippers and royal
cardinal silk hose are popular for afternoon
wear at home. A terra-cotta poke bonnet is
lined with old gold satin. Waves of creamy
Mistletoe and Holly;
Pay for your paper - $1.25
And let us all be jolly.
With peace on earth, and good will to men,
And joy in every heart,
Why not inspire the printer's pen
e
the look of despair that came over his face. I coo only a noted, "Very little is heard here of hard the week before, Christmas weather was w'The New Era reported in their December
thing might never happen again. o times, and our merchants have laid in large rainy and mild. In the terrible storm during
Today my daughter, who is six years old, started off to school. Her cocker stocks for the holidays, which they will no the third week of December a three -masted 26 issue,
"While the Uncle Tom's cabin
hScot, etched her leave and whined his belief on the folly doubt dispose of." e boat went ashore at Bayfield. All the crew troupe
h performers reeved word thhere on at his child
d
previousewill e . e y surpPorter'sass me the manager he statedthe crr-
makes faces; about the teacher who had eyes in the back of her head, the big year. Hitherto'a
cumstanGes and asked for his back ,
girl who does not believe in Santa Claus. has taken the lead for the class of cattle rais- report, "The annual Christmas entertain-
givenwhich was refused. He then went up to the
We talked about a lot of things - tremendously vital and unimportant things. ing, but Goderich Township is now working ment of SS No. 8 was in the school organ factory, sold his trombone to one of
its way forward. house on Tuesday, December 23. The atten-
Christmas 1884 was not celebrated with dance was very large, the room being the employees for a mere song, and 'started
N this is written she is sound asleep with her doll "Paddy in her arms.
f d d to the doors Mr. Donald McKenzie for home "
spahiel, whose name is co , w d by Clinton but membersweresave .
h I She told me about the girl who sat The Clinton New Era reported,
was dying in Rochester, and was asking him
of education. Tonight we talked about sc oo . display of meat to be made in on - o go at once if he wanted to see it alive. Go-
in front of her, a girl with yellow curls and about the boy across the aisle who d bt dl that of any At Christmas,festivities were the order of t
h d and Hull tt Township the day in 1884. From Hill ca ing to the man g
Now as
When her doll gets broken qr her finger gets cut, 1 can fix them, but when she the overabundance of glitter and fanfare crowded Between the Christmas advertisements
starts to cross the sti met - then Mr. Driver she is in your hands. Much as I wish 1 that surrounds the holiday today. A occupied the chair. The' teacher Mr. James about the
for me to be with her all the time. Christmas editorial noted, "Though Grant was assisted in the examinationspby and Ch
ristmas a edition of fie New Era featuthe
red
could, it's not possible Christmas is called "merrie" the word is Mr. Thomas Miller of SS No. 5. The pupils
So, Mr. Driver, please drive carefully. Please slowdown past schools and at in not intended to convey the meaning that showed agreat advance inthe last MeaeMs: a full page, listing more than 130 recent
tersections, and please remember that sometimes children run from behind park- "we should rejoice on account of the grand James Willis, Mr. W. Morgan, court convictions. Some 'of the charges and
theHarrisond Mr. John Weston, -spoke at fines included: Chas. Jenkins, stealing
ed cars or do the unexpected. Please don't run over my little girl. With deepest deliverance that was effected
thanks for whatever you can for her.
I am, very sincerely yours, A Father. 'From The Toronto Sun.
•
Recipient. thanks associates
•
on day we rrisor'
commemorate - the natal day of our some length on the great advancements the
grapes, $5' Edward Dawson, disturbing g a
de under the tuition of Mr. religious meeting, 50 cents; Jas. Vitie,
Saviour." pupils had ma
Still, gift giving and celebrations were Grant and all expressed themselves as drunk and disorderly, $1; S.B. Smile,
leave
part of the December 25 celebration, In sorry he was
about recitations them. $20Smale,
d bout teresting pgmf music, and Breach of Medical in- Breach of Pharmacy Act,
Belgrave, the correspondent reporte e g shooting duck, $5.
Each and everyone o these hardworking festivities - "On Christmas night there will dialogues was then gone through, after And a fewpages
Dear wasEone
for besides the Wallis'advancedMsSarah the front, and do Carrieahaed their afe calater,tfor people
show-
receive
deserve the award equally as much be a tea meeting in tt Methodist Church. A which Misses Morgan and localdoubtless filled
I one Ontario 1984 citizens of al Medal, , aspcriminals, "A large box, retrive the Bicentennial as I do. I feel I am merely. the represen large crowd expected,with delicacies and necessaries, was ex -
ted
for
tative of all associatede fine peopletheand I our proud lad es, addresseswwilleber delivered theby Jamesthe pu
pils,
presentedh a beautiful silk guard and
awarded for service to a town or conuT ria to be with them in many I the go g K ton
ty. I min grateful to endeavours. .
d I want to congratulate b
1 theProvince of Onta
for this honour on w As a member of the Business Community,
the other recipients of this award. I want to say a thank you to all the mer-
'1'he day that I .received the letter from chants who make up .the business section.
• Premier the Medal,e, 1 must me that I was asto These fine people are really, willing and s
re
shaken
n I must admit that I was
shaken a bit and I kept. thinking Why Me' I able to offer their help in the many different
not causes they are called upon to support in the
m had not than . o lot of
otherany miracles, havea bit community each year. There are not many •
more' a lot time people who weeks go by, 'but the merchants have dug
given of their and energies to their down and donated a few dollars ora prize or
communities, so Why Me? agiveaway to some organization 'or club
The press release stated the award was g
. for my work with the Clinton Klompen Feest who asked for assistance. The community
•
and for .serving on the Clinton - Hospital can show their appreciation for these dona-
tions by patronizing the local stores.
Board for more than 20 years. On turning 5To the young people of the area, I want to
hack the clock a few years, I can recall ec say that you are a fine bunch of kids and the
years on the Legion Executive, my canner- luckiest people in the world. of kids t of
Ron with the Chamber of mittee, n and the volunteer work and thousands of volunteer
Retail Merchants of sci 'itteo, now the dollars have been freely given to provide
Es I.A., many years .service on St. Paul's Clinton and area with one of the finest
assisting
Board of Management, and of recreational facilities to be found. You must
assisting in many fund raising drives and be proud of your town; work for it; speak
other•
•
nworthwhile causes. All for the good of well of it, and preserve' it in a manner that
Clinton and the only your children will be proud of what you. did
I was not the only person on these various to make your town a better place °to call
committees and boards, take the Klompen horns.
Fe -est for example:. The overall committee I have accepted the Bicentennial Medal as
puttingconsists .ofe about 30 ci suggestions
dedicated people,
re5tions together a real and genuine honour. I will treasure it
ttheir idea's and oufif •' and show it to those who want to see it.
.p regular meetings. to finalize plans and There will be times that I will wear it; and
prugrantis to y e the year,
Klompen
Feest held in May each year, an interesting when I do, I will be representing allmy
and entertaining Ethnic Festival which friends and associates who have shared
their time and energy over the past years. It
Clinton and area can p very proud a is really. yours as much as it is mine, for all
• On the Clinton Hospital hoard I ani only of you have made it possible.
one of about 15 members who have Thanks Clinton for giving me this oppor-
• Medical
themselves to the irnpruvernent of tunitY and this honour. Bob Campbell
Medical Care facilities and to the continuingClinton. ' r
service to the area by the Clinton Hospital J tree part harmony
ran w
ld in and an address. Mr. Grant though pressed from here last week' for the
ministers and other prominent men. n
English Church a Christmas Tree will bear somewhat taken by surprise replied in feel- Peamish aboys who are in the Kings
a variety of fruits and no doubt gladden the ing terms expressing thanks for the
Behind The Scenes
By Keith Roulston
Decade of nothing
The remnants Of the Christmas turkey t
cresting, uiiiuvatrve things. one or two in-
lividuals would get an idea to set up a little
shop, to manufacture crafts in their homess
or start some kind of community program
and the first thing you knew, others would
catch the bug and all kinds of interesting
things were happening. There were new
restaurants, new craft and book shops, two
new professional theatres, new publica-
tions. Towns undertook organized downtown
improvement schemes. Businesses expand-
ed and became more innovative.
Ten years has taken its. toll. Some people
got hit by the reality of a shrinking
economy. Some get hit by the reality of be-
ing older. Energy generally got sapped.
Nobody with new energy came along to take
over and keep things going. Still there have
been instances of going against the trend.
Clinton's Town Hall restoration gives -'the
feeling of there being a new energy in that
town despite the recession.
Generally, though, things are just plain
boring now. The bad news about the
economy, the constant stream of gloom and
doom doesn't help get excited to be sure but
it's deeper than that. Eventually there'll be
a few'brave individuals who will decide to go
out and do something despite the predictions
of dire consequences. Their example will be
followed by others because generally small
business people don't start a business
because of advice from financial experts but
because they want to do something that in-
terests them.
I can hardly wait for somebody to do it.
It's getting tiresome seeing people huddle
around the fire waiting for the economic
storm to blow over.
will hardly 'be cleared off the table when a c
whole•flock of turkeys of a different kind will
come out to gobble their predictions for the
new year.
We'll hear cxperls and economists and
professors and politicians and newspaper
columnists telling us the economy will pick
up, slow down, stay stagnant, lir maybe all
three. We'll hear about leading indicators,
gross national product, utilization of plant
capacity, house starts and deficits ... lots
and lots about deficits.
I'rn not much of an expert on all this and i
can't. say when the econoimiy will pick up but
1 can say what will brake it pick up: when
people get so bored they go out and start do-
ing something. (riven the penchant for giv-
ing decades a nickname i remember the
Roaring Twenties 1 we may be heading for
the Boring Eighties unless something hap-
pens to change things soon.
Nothing is happening. How can you get ex-
cited unless you take the same delight
as Sinclair Stevens in watching civil ser-
vants line up at tine Unemployment office.
Having watched economics on the small
scale of the community level for a couple of
decalos now it seems to me that there are
natural energy levels that work on the local
economy that have nothing to do with the
meanderings of the bank rate the national
balance of payments or the price of oil on
the spot market. They have to do instead
with the creative energy level of the popula-
tion in general.
Huron Countyooi 10 years ago was an ex-
citing place to be. People were doing in -
Sugar and Spica
Christmas past and present
LIKE practically everything else in the managed to hang on to the old home only by as corning Christmas Day, in our own little
frantic 20th century,...thristmas is vastly taking tourists through at a shilling a shotY town, the Band will be out the cold, play-
ing for the old people and shut-ins. Groups of
overdone. A day that was, for our ancestors, will be dining meagrely, in the only room of
a simple observance of the birth of Christ • the big house they can afford to heat; on a ladies and men from a dozen different
combined with a family get-together of nice hit of brisket and some brussels ladies organizations will be scurrying doz diff want
in for However, that's not what l started out to vast baskets of food and treats for the
th
reasonable jollity, has grown to the proper sprouts. And serves them right.
tions of a nightmare in which shopping � needy.
gifts, exchange of cards, Christmas enter= say, but I can't remember why it was, And the needy are pretty few and far
tainments, high-powered advertising and a anyway. Oh, yes, about the old days and to -
steady and relentless stream of so-called day. Well, despite all the wailing and throw- between these days, simply because we
"Christmas" music make up the accumula- ing of hands in the air at the paganism and have a whole lot more social conscience
commercialism surrounding our Christmas than our ancestors had. Outside that warm,
titin of horrors. rose ear -today, I wouldn't trade it for the old- cosy, jolly Pickwickian Christmas of a hun-
Inthe good old days,the familydied years ago lay a world of cold and
ly, and went to church, where the parson fashioned one of a hundred years ago:
gave them a two-hour appetizer. They went And don't forget, I said "surrounding" our hunger and degradation. We wouldn't let it
home and took a nip of something to take off Christmas. Sure our kids believe in Santa exist today.
the chill. While the servants were sweating Claus. Sure our pre -Christmas preparations So don't let the worrywarts spoil your
in the kitchen, preparing the vast dinner to are getting more and more hectic and more Christmas, with their perpetual complain -
come, they took a bite of lunch. Then the and more subject to commercialism. But ing that Christmas is being paganized.
ladies set off to distribute food parcels to the our kids grow out of Santa Claus, without Nothing can sully Christmas, because
any dire effects. And we eget over the pre Christmas is in your heart, in the simple
and went after that chill again. Christmas panic and celebrate the day with story on that day, in the shining eyes of a
poor, while the men put their tails to the fire
That's your ancestors I'm talking about. just as much reverence and just as much child, in the loveliness of the carols.
Mine were among the people the ladies were family fun as ever our ancestors did. Yes, and it is in the Christmas tree, and
taking the food to. I can still see them kick -I'll warrant our youngsters know just as the . gay windows, and the colored lights
ing the pigs under the bed when her ladyship much, and maybe more, about the story of against the snow and the perspiring Santa
came in, tugging their forelocks, scraping Christmas, and the coining of the Christ Claus at the Christmas concert, and the
their feet, and saying "f'ank yer, milady, child, as their counter -parts of a hundred card from a friend you haven't seen in
rank' yer, mum" as she pulled one of the thanks to
years ago knew. Mine do, anyway, years.
geese that had died of disease, and one of their Sunday School teacher. Just gird up your loins, plunge into yotir
And I'll bet we're not half as smug and shopping, enjoy the giving of gifts, run
ourself away into debt, be happy in the
selfish, despite our much -touted Y Chi
materialism, as our Victorian great- family reunion, go to church on istmas
randfathers were, sitting on their fat Day, stay away from the hard stuff, and
don't be a pig with the turkey, and you won't
go far wrong.
By Shelley McPhee
By Bill Smiley
last year's bottles of blackberry brandy,
which had turned vinegary, out of her
basket.
Today, of course, my ancestors' descen-
dants will eat turkey on Christmas Day until s
they bear a resemblance to purple pigs, rumps by the fire on Christmas Day, and let
while the descendants of milady, who have ting the poor worry about themselves. On