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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-05-18, Page 23Page 16—Crossroads—May 18, 1983 ackgarnrnon rd c By JEFF WARD Not a very good roll and a tough one to play. If it were only one pip higher, a 5-3 or a 6-2, I would take a chance and run a back man to the midpoint. But as it is, running looks too risky because X leaves two ex- posed blots while giving up his anchor. X should not play the 5 as 8/3 because it takes a valuable builder out of play. This kind of move should be avoided like the plague when any reason- able alternative exists. Moving checkers to the lower home board makes it much harder to make the critical 5-, 4- and 7 -points. In this case, X would find it very difficult to ever make good use of two extra men on the 3 -point. By process of elimina- tion, this pretty much leaves 13/8 as the best 5. But what about the 2? There are two reasonable possibilities: 8/6, ' r 6/4. Play it safe or ake a chance? If X had a huge the race, playing lead in it safe would make more sense. Then, if X were lucky enough to escape being hit for the rest of the game (and he would have to be lucky), he would almost certainly win. But after this roll, X leads by only 12 pips in a very long race — not much of an advantage. • That's why X should use the 2 to unstack the 6 -point with 6/4. X thus threatens to make a good point by covering the blot next turn. The blot may be hit right away, but this is no disas- ter. Losing ground in the race doesn't matter much because the game is far from becoming a simple race. After being hit, X should have no trouble re-entering immediately. In fact, X may hit 0 as he enters "'srgs12IViA Hockey greats Bobby Orr set a record for de- fensemen in 1970....What was it, and when did the Bruins retire his number? ANSWER: '6L61 '6 XJonuo f'Aop -sent uo JJO pimp.; 'woos -uo5005 o ul s;u!od 001 ORM o$ uowesuelep 1s !f cow OWp) -eq JJp '1!oJjea $sui0BD 'OL61 'S l 411oyy u0 12 211111 7$,1011 ez Pay 5-E to sending back third 0 man. Points are numbered 1 to 24, starting with X's honie board at the lower left. A move, for example, from the 7 -point to the 3 - point is written 7/3. 7/31' means that a man was hit on the 3 -point. 7/3(2) means that two nen were moved to the 3 -point. REAR VIEW MIRROR RETURNS FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION Rear View Mirror is back again with two golden oldies. First, the return of an epi- sode from a series that, in 1966, drew an average audience of almost three million people. He's Wojeck, the 60s answer to Quincy, everybody's favorite medi- cal examiner.. Then, from the series Close -Up in 1958, Pierre Berton interviews Canada's best-known "versi- fier", Robert W. Service, 84 years old and living at his villa in Monte Carlo. Both will be aired Sunday, May 29 at 2 p.m. on CBC Television. 0-0-0 By its fifth episode Wo- jeck, starring John Vernon, was attracting the largest audience of any Canadian - produced program. Wojeck, a coroner constantly exposed to the seamier side of life, and death, took on the sys- tem. He fought anything — government, big business, even the meTiiic-W. . pro est — when faced with injustice. Thisepisode called Listeia An Old Man Is Speaking, deal with society's neglect of the aged. Frederick Mueller, placed in an old folks home against his will, witnesses the death of his roommate. Wojeck gets involved and discovers criminal negligence, cover- ups and fraud. Guest star- ring as Mueller is Ludwig. Donath, best known as Al Jolson's father in the two films about the, singer's life. Also starring are Patricia Collins, Carl Banas and Ted Follows. Immlimilmillaftw Bill Smiley A ispirft summommirow One of the greatest pieces of miscasting (and there have been many) in that long-running n. elodrama called The Liberals Ride Again — And Again — And Again, was the naming of one Paul Hellyer as Minister of Defence, back in the Pear- son days. Hellyer's qualifications were awesome: ambition; an abysmal lack of knowl- edge of things military; a to- tal insensitivity toward any- thing not affecting his own career and ambition. A political opportunist from the word go, he leapt at the chance to be Defence Minister, as a step toward his next ambition, Minister of Finance, and an easy Rif- fle from there, with a little nudging, politcal 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 him- self 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 climber onto the front pages. Hellyer's plan was simple, as simpleton's plan 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 plastic green bag coiored uniform, and declaring from the -housetops that Canada was the first country in the world to unify its armed forces. - It wasn't promoted as des= truction, of course. The PR machine ran smoothly. The plot would increase effi- ciency, save money, im- prove communications, create instant pie in the sky, and stop servicemen'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 single -handed - r ly he accomplished what Germans had not managed in two world wars — send those forces,:; Feeling into dis- array, dismay and despon- dency, from which they have never recovered. Esprit de corps was turned into dispirited corpse. Tradi- tion was swept into the scup- pers. Proud regimental names were trampled un- derfoot. Color and gallantry and high standards and self- sacrifice were put into the mincer, and came out as the dull -green Canadian Armed 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 Canadian public, so recently so proud of their seamen, soldiers, airmen, sat back and watched with corpse 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 mut- iny, the army would rebel, and the air force would drop a couple on Whitehall. Can you imagine the enor- mous foofawraw in the U.S. if some political upstart tried to pull such a deal? The resultant clamor would re- sound 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 job, the Canadian 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 air force, and an army that had fought with the best of them and stood their ground. By the time he had finish- ed, we had a homogenous but anonymous thing that was neither fish, fowl, nor good red herring. Our armed forces were ef- fectively castrated. There were still good people in them, but pensions and pro- motions became the name of the game. About 90 per cent were either officers or NCOs. 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 be- came a laughing -stock. Can- ada became known as a country that wanted a first- class ride for a third-class ticket. And Pieree Trudeau, who managed to avoid any con- flict 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 leadership, 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. But 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, Distin- guished Flying Cross, who left this country in disgust after serving it for years, in combat and afterwards. New Hampshire's White Mountains, topped off by 6,2' -foot Mount Washing- ton, are the highest east of the Dakotas and north of the Carolinas. DEAD ANIMAL BUSINESS FOR SALE in Southern Manitoba, built and in operation since 1969. Will assume partial mortgage. Reason for selling is health. For further information, contact: LARRY MARLATT Box 53, Pilot Mound, Manitoba. ROC 1P0 Phone 1-204-825-2744, Manitoba or 291-3176 It's all reallyquite From my neck of the woods, there is really no publication that serves my needs like Crossroads. Along with 55,000 other people I find current and accurate TV listings, great advertising bargains, interesting features and topical often humorous columnists. Like I said, it's really quite elementary - there's no other choice for me but Crossroads. Crossroads The largest circulation weekly in midwestern Ontario.