Zurich Citizens News, 1978-09-14, Page 4Page 4
Citizens News, September 14, 1978
foliGOT IF
VM ON STRIKE of,
on tiouon'STdls
morn
"Actually, I don't work for Air Canada — my mother-in-law
was supposed to fly down to visit us."
1111111111111111111!111111111111111111111111111IIlIIlI11111111111111111111111111111.1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIaII111111111111111111111a11I1111;11111111111111_
iewp oint
e =
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlII111L111111111011it11111111111r1l1lII11111111111111111111111r11111g111111111(x1111111111111111(UIIIt111111I1t111t111i1111111111I1111iIa11111111111111111111(rlll t111111111a111111111 IIIIC
We need your help
"There's that Tom Jones' picture in the paper
again. I don't know why his club rates all the time."
How many times have you said or thought that
after reading your newspaper?
But did you ever stop to consider that maybe
we didn't know about your club's special event,
your new slate of officers or your family's own per-
sonal news event, be it mom and dad's fifieth wed-
ding anniversary or grandpa's ninetieth birthday?
We like to think we're pretty well in touch with
what goes on around here but we're no mind
readers. Our news and photography staff tries hard
to be in the know about what's happening in and
around town. People do call us to help and believe it
or not, we find out a lot of what's coming up by
faithfully reading this paper.
But we can't know about everything that
deserves news coverage.
That's where you come in. If someone in your
family will be 90 or has been married 50 years, call
us...we'd like to take a picture and do a story. If
someone has gotten an honour or done something
noteworthy, call us...with an item for the People
column or an idea for a full-fledged feature story.
If you're secretary, or an involved member of a
group that rarely gets press coverage call us when
you're doing something special and. we'll be glad to
come and take photos.
That's what we can do for you; here's what you
can do for us.
Please try to request a photographer, and/or
reporter two or three weeks before your event.
A photographer will go out and take pictures on
a Saturday night of other people enjoying
themselves, when it's been arranged in advance
that's part of the job.
But photographers have families and a social
life too and it's not fair to insist that they drop
everything to go and take pictures of an event that's
been planned for months on a last minute request.
We'll do our darnedest to have a photographer
at your event at your specified time if you'll do your
darnedest to be ready when the photographer
arrives.
Sometimes things run a little late and we can
put up with a wait of 15 minutes or so.
But you wouldn't arrange with your caterer to
have dinner at 7 and then delay its serving until 9.
Don't treat the newspaper photographer that way
either.
And, as much as devoted club members find it
hard to believe, someone from the paper who's
there to take photos would much rather get on with
the job and back home or back to work than listen
to your group's entertainers or "in" jokes.
To sum up, we're glad to give your group
coverage and we'd specially like to hear from you if
you feel what you group does hasn't received ade-
quate recognition in the paper.
Next time you're irked because it looks like old
Mr. Jones' is getting too much news or photo space,
call us with some of your news we can use.
Blyth Standard
eNA
\, FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications I.td.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
News Editor - Tom Creech
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
Subscription Rates: $7.00 per year in advance in Canada
$18.00 per year outside Canada Single copies 204
wlltll111111111111111111111111111111111111111111t11111111111111111111111nnii1in1111111111111U11
Miscellaneous
Rumblings
By
TOM CREECH
This is called
a column?
Good morning ladies and gentleman. Welcome to
the 37th in a series 51 columns that will come your way
this year, providing of course you decide to stick out
that long good old ZCN. (Note to myself: What a great
opening! What else can I say that will help fill this
space up? How about a revised translation of the first
30 books that Gutenburg printed. Naw, I hear some guy
who works at the Exeter paper has already done it. So
much for a good idea. )
Well here we are back to reality (isn't it awful?)
What I'm trying to say as you wade through this ver-
bal manure is that I can't think of a blasted thing to
write. It's your classical case of mental
blockheaddness justthe time when you don't need it.
On a normal week this column would have been
written on either a Thursday or Friday but due to the
fact that number one T -a editor is on a sojourn to
Lahr, West Germany which means that the duties of
the number one have been switched to number two
editor and this writer, plus the fact that I've been
somewhat "zooed" of late (and yes, I've been getting
to bed early) means that my schedule has been thrown
off kilter. (Note to self: What a great run-on
sentence. )
What all this means is that this column is being
written at 4:45 p.rn. on the day before this paper is put
together. This is `very, very, very late.
Having a mental block is something which we all
experience practically every week but it's a real killer
in this business because, about the only thing on
which we're judged is one's words and the sense (or
lack of) which they make.
* *
I had a chance on Saturday to have a brief talk
with the village's librarian, Mrs. Beatrice Rader.
Mrs. Rader asked me to mention in my column that
the services of the Zurich library and of all libraries
are absolutely free providing that you bring your
books back when they're due. Apparently some people
have been under the mistaken impression that there
was a charge for joining the library. Such is not the
case! Mrs. Rader added that the library has been
receiving many new books of late.
*
* *
Libraries have been something which I've always
had a soft spot for and I'm forever grateful for being
literally pushed into these book -filled buildings at an
early age. There is nothing which can widen a child's
horizons so much as the printed word.
It was many a Saturday afternoon that I would
enter the library just as the doors opened, pile through
the last six months of Popular Science, then the last
six months of Popular Mechanics and then delve into
"The Pictorial History of World War Two." Before
you know it, it would be five o'clock and time to leave.
One thing that I've found to be somewhat of a per-
sonal downer is that the more' this writer got in
reading on a "need" basis (i.e. reading for highschool,
university, this job) the less pleasure reading I seem
to do.
In fact, one of the last books that I can remember
reading lies on my dresser with a book mark at page
236. It appears that I'll never get around to finishing
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."
You'd be surprised at the parellels between the
two.
* * *
As something to end a column on, you might be in-
terested in reading this portion of a press release from
the ministry of consumer and commercial relations.
"Nearly $1 million was returned to Ontario con-
sumers last year through the efforts of the business
practices division of Ontario's ministry of consumer
and commercial relations, reports consumer minister
Larry Grossman.
During the 1977-78 fiscal year, "thousands of peo-
ple were able to cancel contracts and receive protec-
tion statutes," Mr. Grossman said.
In total, $971,000 was passed back to consumers.
They were helped through the division's consumer ad-
visory services branch which, through its nine con-
sumer service bureaus,. advises on consumer
problems throughout the province. Last year these
bureaus handled more than 17,000 complaints, an in-
crease of 7,000 over the previous year""
:,