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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-09-28, Page 4PAGE 4 --TRE GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, TM/aspAy, SIEPTE'MBER Z8,1978 Goderichthe SIGNAL—STAR The County Town Newspaper of Huron Rounded In 1SUS and published every Thursday at Ooderlch. Ontario. Member of the CWNA and OWN*. Advertising rates on request.. Subscriptions payable In sadirons. 'MOS In Car,ade. °11..• to U.S.A., °29.IS to all Other countries, single copies SS cents. Display advrar- tieing rages available on request, please tisk for Rate Card No..11 effective Oct. 1, 1978. Second class mail Registration Number *714. 4(16..0 114n ng is occeptad on the condition that, In the event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Rene. together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged tor but the balance el the advertisement will be paid far of the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price. goods or service may not be told. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at any thee. The Signal -Star It not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolidted nnscrlp s or photos. Business and Editorial Office TELEPHONE 524-8331 area code 519 Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. ROBERT G. SHRIER — president and publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER — editor EDWARD'i. BYRSKI — advertising manager • Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 220, Industrial Park, Goderich Second class mail registration number 0716 Kids need otiff punishment It isn't hard t are-bacicat sch Blake Street at a letting out, and se are being played o town's elementary a It is difficult to b alert and intelligent mindless misfits on th year, this newspaper h school children who ar Year after year, the 1 have been teaching safe after year, teachers have children - ride single file, both hands on the hand sidewalks, or if you.must w the shoulder facing oncomin from between parked cars; after year, parents have be lessons by constantly urging careful on the way to and from s Still motorists are terrorized d children who give the impression care for their own safety or the sa This past week, one youngster at an intersection when a motorist way had to hit the brakes hard to with a child on a bicyclewho just stop sign. The motorist shut off his with relief. He then got out and spok asking him to be more careful in the child couldn't imagine what all the exci about, but the motorist knew. He'd nea out a life. The child proceeded merrily o completely unaware of the danger just pas Another time, a motorist was -crowde o tell it is September and the kids nor' One -lust -has Ito-drive--a-long-- time when school is going in or e the life and, death dramas that ut in the streets adjacent to the nd secondary schools. lieve that children who are so in the classroom can be such e streets of town. Year after as been preaching safety for walking or riding bicycles. Ical and provincial police ty in the classroom. Year been issuing reminders to don't ride double; keep lebars; walk on the lk on the road, walk on g traffic; don't dart out obey the signs. Year en reinforcing those their children to be chool. aily by thoughtless they simply don't ety of others. was nearly killed with the right of avoid collision idn't stop at a car, shaking to the child, future. The tement was rly snuffed n his way, sed. d off the A curfew isn't: .. road by a group off cyclists who were riding four and -Iive -abreast---filling not -only their -traffic -lane but-_... spilling over onto the lane of oncoming traffic. In order to avoid \a collision with the children, the motorist pulled off to the side and let the children pass. Being justifiably annoyed, the motorist yelled at the children, "Get off the road." The children promptly replied, "Ah shut up." There must be some way to control this sort of happening. Surely there is reason for the police to be constantly on patrol between 8:30 and 9 in the morning; between 12 and 1:15 at" noon; and from 3:30 tp 4 in the afternoon in the area of the schools. Maybe they could take down names and addresses, promising to get in touch with teachers and parents on a second offence; impounding a bicycle on the third offence. Parents could then have some influence on their children. If parents are advised by police that their offspring were walking or riding in an unsafe manner, could they not deal with their children by cutting off special privileges or taking bicycles away as a form of punishment?, Teachers, too, could be part of the fight to stamp out rude, bothersome traffic from the schools. Once advised by police that certain children are traffic hazards on the road, all sorts off devious methods could be devised to convince students it is bettei to be safe than hauled up Before the teacher. In the meantime, motorists are urged to be on the watch for mindless( daredevils who flirt with death and think it is great sport. They are also urged to keep their cool and quell the desire to get out and pound somebody's child to a pulp for being insolent and vulgar as well as unsafe and troublesome. Take an alternate route if you can and avoid the hassles. It may save a life.-SJK an answer Police Chief Pat King has a point. He believes that the same people who are incensed by the term "flophouse" used to describe`The Square would be equally disturbed if The Square became a bedroom for a motorcycle gang. And, says the chief, unless there is legislation to prevent the activities on The Square which are currently little. more tha nuisances and petty vandalism, there wouldn't be any law to prevent something more serious from happening there. The Police Chief, of course, wants to see a curfew imposed. He says it would be "an added tool for police officers to use to curtail vandalism in town". As it is now, the police may see matters shaping up towards an act of vandalism but have little chance of short-circuiting the action until the damage is done. Policemen can sometimes be very persuasive and move a troublesome group along to new locations, away from temptations. But there are other times when a policeman is just inef- fective....and it is those times the police chief would like to havea curfew to enforce. It is easy to sympathize with the police chief and to agree that a curfew in Goderich is the answer. But is it? Is it ever the answer to remove freedoms from people? Isn't it still better to expect people to act in a responsible manner, and if they do not to punish them according to their misdeeds, in an effort to teach responsibilityfor anothertime? Vandalism is a problem everywhere, not just in Goderich and not just in The Square area. Van- dalism will continue to be a problem as long as there are irresponsible humans who must find an 'outlet for their desires to be in control for whatever brief time it takes to smash something. There isn't any sense to it. There never is. Vandalism is the wilful and ignorant destruction of things which are beautiful and meaningful. It will happen in the most orderly societybecause it is a compulsion with certain people in certain circumstances. Vandals come in every size, shape and color. They are any age at all. They live in good homes as well as poor ones; they each have a sick quirk that makes them immune to the pleadings of the public to protect property and respect beauty. People hate vandalism and regularly demand that it be halted, Thankfully, vandals are in the minority. The majority of people are law abiding, peaceful, respectful citizens who are no embarrassment at all. There isn'ta reason in the world why the majority should suffer for the minority and while most people are at home in bed at the bewitching hours usually suggested for a curfew, it would be sad to see everyone tarred with the same brush and subjected to the same needless legislation. By the chief's own admission, vandalism is decreasing. It would follow that if vandals were treated as harshly as the law allows whenever caught, vandalism could decrease still more. Toimposea curfew isn't the answer although a curfew would give the local police officers a law to enforce in some suspicious . situations. What is required is for police officers to be supported by the community .and in the courts whenever vandalism is proven. Vandals should be objects of disgust and ridicule for vandals are disgusting and ridiculous people. - SJK Equality in a democratic Along with this year's diplomas to Goderich District Collegiate Institute students, went this bit of wisdom which is reprinted by permission of Harper and Row, from Sidney Hook, "Defense of Democracy" in Political Power and Personal Freedom. GDCI Principal John Stringer called it the best description of equality in a democratic society he'd ever run across. It is included in, this week's editorial for your consideration: (A) The principle of equality is not a DESCRIP- TION of fact about men's physical or intellectual natures. It is a PRESCRIPTION or policy of treating men. (B) It is not a prescription to treat in identical ways men who are unequal in their physical or in- tellectual nature. It is a policy of equality of con- cern or consideration for men whose different needs may require differential treatment. (C) It is not a mechanical policy of equal op- portunity for everyone at ANY time and in ALL respects. A musical genius is entitled to greater opportunities for developing his musical talents than someone who is tone deaf: It is equality "of opportunity for all individuals to develop whatever Personal and socially desirable talents theypossess and to make whatever unique contributions their capacities permit. (D) It is not a demand for absolute uniformity of living conditons or even for arithmetically equal compensation for socially useful work. It demands society that, when the pr possible the grat (which are, of cour should be deprived o others with luxuries; (E) It is not a policy being different or bec of ENCOURAGING th restricting only that e converts talerits or posse frustrates the emerge sonalities. F) It is not a demand that that none should be. It does of leadership, like all other whose natural or acquired that everyone have a say in th leaders operating within a f laws; and that these laws in 't upon the freely given consent o constitute the community. (G) It does not make the assumpti humanitarianism that all men are It does assume that men, treated community of persons, may beco emphasis upon respect for the per individuals, the attitude which tre sonality not as something fixed but a developing pattern, is unique to the p l' dernocracyv' oductive forces of a society make ification of basic human needs se, historical variables), no one, f necessities in order to provide of restridting the freedom of oming different. It is a policy e freedom to be different, xercise of freedom which ssions into a monopoly that nce of other free per - all people be leaders or demand that the career careers, be open to all talents qualify them; e process of selecting ramework of basic urn ultimately rest f the persons who on of sentimental naturally good. as equals in a e better. The onality of all ats the per - "a growing, tilosophy of Shadows of the past By Dave Sykes BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER In the last few months, I have had several calls from Joan Reed Olsen who works with TV Ontario. The lady is busy putting together a series on retirement - how to -prepare for it, how to enjoy it, how to make it productive. It is an absolutely fascinating subject and one to which I'd given plenty of thought long before Joan Reed Olsen called me. You see, I'm in the middle years - the fabulous forties or something - and I'm starting to think about such things as setting new goals and living in a house without any children. This past weekend, there was an article in the supplement with our daily paper which told how women are reborn during their thirties. I guess that happened to me, too, although I didn't call it that. I called it "getting my act together". +++ I started 'to work out- side the home when I was DEAR READERS in my mid -twenties. At that time, our first two children were not babies any more...they were something like five and seven. They were easily left with babysitters on most occasions...but there were those dreaded summer holidays when it cost almost more for sitters than you were able to earn at the job; and there were those awful sick days when the kids weren't feeling well and you were torn between going to work to hold the job and staying at home in answer to your child's pleadings. Then, just when things started to smooth out as far as the two oldest were concerned, I was 'the mother of another child. I was back t� work by the time he was three months old or so, and found out what it was like to haul baby, the plastic sitter, the playpen, the diapers, the food, the toys...everything but the kitchen sink...from my house to the sitter's house in the morning and back again at night. In the spring, the summer and the fall it wasn't even too bad. But oh those horrid winter mornings when it was storming and blowing and too cold for man or beast. It was two or three trips to the car with the baby's gear then back to the house for the baby who was wrapped to the ears for that short two block trek. _to. the sitter's house. Then it was two or three trips into the sit- ter's house after taking in the baby and undressing him for the day. By the -time you got to work in the morning, you felt like you'd been through a wringer washer several times. I remember winning an award for something or other during those years...and getting a letter from a politician in the area. He wrote from his knowledge of my life as a mother and a wife and housekeeper and then acknowledged my award for my work as newspaper writer. "Now that's per- formance," he stated.. I never quite forgot that letter or the man who wrote it. For in., those three well chosen words, he spelled out his un- derstanding of the dif- ficulties I'd felt nobody understood. +++ But now those things are behind me. Our youngest is well on his way to becoming a teenager and he's ac- tually quite : self- sufficient. He even pampers nye a little bit these days, an enj oyalile surprise on those days when I'm at the office from sunup to sundown. So many things are different. Much of the financial pressure is off this year, for the first time in a good many years. Last year, I told myself, must have been our most expensive year to date...with two kids in university at one time. "Things have peaked and can only get better," I reasoned. And actually, it is true. If it wasn't for the rate of inflation and the ever - spiralling cost of everything from corn flakes to real estate, I'd note quite a difference in the money situation at our home. So what else is there? What's left? And now you wake up to the fact that the future is here. Twenty-five years ago you were looking forward to just this very day - kids grown up and financial problems diminishing. Now what? + + + A good many people I know who are about the same age as I am are wrestling with just this kind of a problem. And along comes Joan Reed Olsen with her brilliant idea to do a whole television show on setting new goals, goals for those retirement years ahead. It will be interesting to see what Joan comes up with, but even more in- teresting will be the variety of reactions people are bound to have to the concept of setting new gpals once others have been attained. Some people won't have any difficulty at all to set new horizons for themselves. Their only problem will be to remain realistic concerning the number of things they can really achieve in the years they have left. A few people probably won't want to set new goals. They are the people who will be con- tent to sit back and ride along with the times, taking whatever it is that fate dishes out and making no effort to Turn to page 5 -e 75 YEARS AGO In the. supplementary estimates brought down in the House at Ottawa last week, in addition to the item of $20,000 for a breakwater at Goderich were votes of $8,000 for a post office building at Wingham and $5,000 for a breakwater, pier, etc. at Grand Bend. The water and light and public works committees held meetings on Monday evening. F. 13. Holmes was awarded the contract for supplying the town with 600 tons of Fremont coal at $2.81 a ton afloat in, Goderich harbor' and the contract for the sewer on Albert and Nelson Streets was awarded to C. C. Lee at $1,135. R. R. Sallows' photographic work will be used quite extensively by Toronto publishing firms this winter. LOOKING .BACK The members of the company that played "The Country Girl" here last Friday night are all first-class actors and our townspeople, " expecting something better than usual, crowded the Opera House till nearly every seat was filled. Dr. W. Y. Hayden in- tends removing his dental offices to, the rooms on 'Hamilton Street at present occupied by Dr. J. L. Turnbull as living rooms. 25 YEARS AGO Rapidly taking shape is the new plant being built by the W. A. Sheaffer Pen Company, Ltd. on the Huron Road. The plant construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Sincerity of officials, organizations, businessmen and the people themselves was the swaying point in the decision of the Sheaffer Company to locate its new plant herei,revealed Leon H. Black, general manager of the plant at a meeting of the Goderich Recreation and " Arena Council on Tuesday night. Major T. M - MacDonald, 35, a native of,Goderich and a son of Mrs. Allan MacDonald of Brock Street has been given the award of Member of the Order of the British Empire for outstanding service in Korea. Lorne Wakelin, manager of the Goderich Memorial Arena,slnce its - opening two years ago, was appointed "recreation director and arena manager at a meeting of the Goderich Recreation and^ Arena Council on Tuesday night. The Dominion Store this week underwent an interior remodelling job which \included the in- stallation of a new refrigeration unit. 5 YEARS AGO Two officials of the South West German Salt Works located in and near Heilbronn Germany were in Goderich Thursday, September 20 to tour the Domtar Chemical Sifto Salt Mine. Angry ratepayers stomped out of a special public meeting Monday evening in the council chambers muttering "snowjob" and "whitewash" im- mediately after Goderich Town Council voted unanimously to give first and second reading to a bylaw to build the South Trunk Storm Sewer Outlet under The Drainage Act. 9• Salesmen and retailers handling Sheaffer Pen and Spiedel products throughout Canada are now asked not to_':.bend, fold, staple or otherwise mutilate" their monthly accounts as the ac- counting system at the Goderich Sheaffer Pen Co. plant, which distributes products in this country, changes over to computerized billing and stock control system. Dominion Roads and Machinery Co. Ltd. has adopted a new security system in their Goderich plants. The new system consists of ten guards under the supervision of Roy Oesch. Bill Coughlan was recently named new Domtar Chemicals Sifto- Salt Mine manager taking over from Gordon Muir who retired in August.