The Huron Expositor, 1990-10-17, Page 2Huron
� xpositor
SINCE 1860. SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1990
tidltoriel and wsltess Offices - 10 Mein street. Seefurth
Telephone (519) 527-0340 Paz 527-20341
1Nallln0 Address - P.O. Ilex 49. S..$orth. Ontario. NOK 1 WO
The railway deal
Canadian National recently sold the Godcrich and Exeter Subdivisions,
the freight rail line which runs through Mitchell, to RailTex of San
Antonio, Texas.
A well-respected company, RailTex will serve companies on the line
well. Early contact with area companies shows RailTex's interest in its
customers.
But how will it serve its employees?
According to the Stratford Beacon Herald, United Transit Union is not
pleased with the situation.
CN employees are making $13 to $15 an hour. American RailTex
employees make $9 US an hour. Bruce Flor, president and part owner of
the company said wages will go down.
Twenty people work this line run by CN. RailTex proposes to run just
eight on the line.
The deal was good for CN, RailTex, and the companies but what about
the people on the trains?(-M.G.)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Good english threatened
Dear Editor
Young parents are using their
children for instruments of their
own personal glory in too many
cases. This is done at the expense
of a through knowledge of speaking
and writing good English.
Pressures from government-spon-
sored Francophone organizations in
Canada are mostly responsible for
this. They are continually promoting
own language and culture so
strongly that young parents do not
seem to be able to evaluate the
importance of their own Canadian
language and culture. Quebecers
would have us believe, as
Canadians, we have none!
Learn another language, whatever
it might be, but not at the expense
of the universal language that is
English. You owe your child a good
foundation in the English language.
Placing them in Early French Im-
mersion classes will not accomplish
this. We will eventually turn this
French promotion around. Then,
where will your child be?
This letter is written by a person
who has studied and values learning
languages, but also knows the com-
mon sense of allowing young
children the chance to have a good
future int he English language
primarily, regardless of any ethnic
background. Do not succumb to the
pressures of those who would
promote their own language for
their own selfish reasons!
Authentic studies are available for
those who are interested in their
child's future. These studies have
been done by government task
forces and school boards, but have
not been widely publicized. Please
contact Box 89, Midhurst, Ontario,
LOL 1X0 for free information. You
will learn about some of the draw-
backs and disadvantages of Early
French Immersion.
Yours Truly,
Ruth Mallory and Group
Box 89, Midhurst, Ont.
LOL 1X0
Independence needed
The Editor:
If anyone anywhere in the world
had predicted early in 1989 all the
events that were to take place in
eastern Europe before the end of
1989, the whole world would have
dismissed that person as being nutty
as a fruitcake. Yet the Berlin Wall
collapsed as did communism in all
the satellites of the U.S.S.R. in
eastern Europe. So who knows,
maybe real soon Canada will
become, finally, an independent
Turn to page 11 •
RURAL ROOTS
by Jeanne Kirkby _
Use anti -rabies clinics
While visiting the farm of an older couple recently, I couldn't help
noticing the parade of orange, tiger -striped and black and white cats
trying to sneak between my feet into the warmth of the kitchen with the
sack of dry cat kibble behind the door. Cold autumn weather can be
harsh to these unpampered creatures.
Some of these cats were pregnant; some were barely past the kitten
stage themselves; but most of them were thin and timid - a marked
contrast to the sleek fat Siamese now sprawled across my knee. You
see, my cat is a pet, a useless loving decoration whereas these others
are "barn cats" expected to catch most of their own food and justify
their existence by keeping the vermin level down in the barn.
How can you describe a barn cat? Well there's no Hill's Science
Food Diet and little cat yummies here. These are working animals,
mostly unprotected except for their ability to get into warm corners of
the barn through the smallest possible cracks. Fighting for warmth and
survival against the weather, they hold their own with farm dogs and
stray dogs. They are also apt to be in contact with foxes, raccoons and
other wild animals.
Their main food is mice and rats but they are not above foraging for
kitchen scraps or dead carrion found on the property. Sometimes a kind
owner supplements their diet with rations of dry cat food when the
pickings get thin but, generally speaking. there is no fancy food dish or
special water bowl set out for them. In short, like farm dogs, they are
exposed to diseases and contact with wild animals which may not be
evident to the farm owner.
Barn cats are always wary, if not downright wild, and they will
produce dozens of kittens every year.
Sometimes it almost seems as though humans blame female cats for
doing what a cat does almost conscientiously, that is having kittens.
You get the impression that the cat should know better And to make
matters worse. the new mother cat generally hides these kittens high up
Turd to pap 11 •
Growth chronicled by baby'
I've decided a's a mother's
perogauve W write about hex child.
And snow mint's the %sus my lift
had takaa at bite. it's gang to be a
rather difficult avic tot me to avoid
- although I du protium nut to
overload you with my baby talk.
Howe v et 1111.
Well.
At the leader a of five months,
my Rcheoca her alrcisdy
smote nicknames than
WE'LL ever be able to remember,
or that SHE'LL ever have occasion
to use. And every day as she grows
more and more lite a "little" person
as opposed to a "baby", she seems
to acquue more, as references to
her take the form of adjectives
rather than the Christian names with
which she was endowed.
But then again, I suppose 1
shouldn't really be surprised. Nick-
names are certainly the norm in
Huron County, or at least in the
Town of Seaforth. It seems I've yet
to meet a person who has not been
nicknames
•
SWEATSOCKS
by Heather Robinet
•
afflicted with one. So, why should
Rebecca be any different?
One's fine, but 1 can't even keep
up with the handles given my
daughter in the short ume she's
been a fixture in our lives.
Reebok at birth, her nicknames
have gone the full gamut - from,
Boodle Toodk, Baby Baby, and
Little Chops to Becky, Becca, Bec-
ca Bo and Bex;a Doodle. From
Genie and Res (pronounced rare) to
Freddy and Fatty, from Bright Eyes
and Cutis to Baldy and Eggy, these
nicknames read more like a
chronicle of "Who's Weird", than
something someone should be ad-
dressing a young babe.
More recently too, as a result of
an unfortunate reaction to an an -
(biotic, still another nickname has
boon added to the list. For the past
day or two, and for maybe another
day or two still, Rebecca will bear
the tag, Polka, in deference to the
multitude of rod Notches that dot
her skin frau stem to stern. My
poor child.
Still, she doesn't seem to mond. In
fact, she almost scams to thrive on
IL Each use of a niclu,amc, whether
it bears any semblance to her given
name or not, makes her break out
in a grin, and at tunes, even burst
forth into gales of laughter.
So, as long as she doesn't mind,
and regardless of the fact I had full
intentions of calling my daughter
nothing besides her given name, 1
guess we'll continue as we've
starved. 1 doubt I could get her dad
to refer to her by her proper name
anyway. He's the worst attender,
coming up with an entirely new
=idle five or six tunes daily, basad
os Rebecca's appearance or bar
Wyle quints (her abundance of ap-
petite and her lack of hair).
Besides, the majority of these
nicknames arc only tcmpu ary (1
hope). And while they may result in
a slight identity crisis from tune to
tune, they will prove useful as 1 try
to document Rebexxa's growth
process. All 1 have to do is remem-
ber the order with which the nick-
=nes were applied, and 1 have a
perfect compilation of those little
details of child maturity that every
parent should take note of.
And, if not, then at least there'll
be some documentation of just how
insane her parents were during
those formative years.
Sometimes 1 wonder just who is
the child in the family.
11
1 CALLED FoR MY Pipe,
A141 1 CALLED FoR MY BAWL,
Bu'f / COULD DO u)i r4.1 O u 1
1f4O 'E BLAMo FIPPLES
ws;r t��4PourCgt
ii \Roa��\c .5°C) /'"p�R.�s
6 77
Everything's upside down
I was pleasantly surprised by a
telephone call from a friend ;n JUST THINKING
Australia Friday evening. We
chatted about the weather, how each
other was doing and the state of our
countries.
They're gearing up for summer
now that their winter of
temperatures dipping down to a
miserable 8 degrees Celsius at night
was nearing an end. He's looking
forward to everything that summer
in Australia brings, including
Christmas. Last year he sent me
photographs of his family enjoying
a Christmas picnic on the beach.
It cost a fortune to travel to
Australia and there's no way I
could get down to visit him without
years of saving up my money first
for a plane ticket.
He's been to Canada once and
had his plane ticket purchased by
by Susan Oxford
the company he works for as his
trip to Canada was a working
holiday. I actually met him in Swit-
zerland, but he had to stop in North
America and visiting me on the
American continent was no problem
for him. I think he liked our
country, but I don't think he was
crazy about Canada. It was a couple
of Septembers ago and the air was
already getting cold.
"This is nothing," I told him. "It's
8 degrees now, and it's only star-
ting to get cold. Can you imagine
see ice everywhere on the ground?"
"Oh sure," he said. "My family
own under
used to live in Sweden. I remember
how awful every winter morning
was while we warmed up the car
and scrapped ice and snow off it.
That's why we don't live there
anymore. The winters, and the
taxes, were all we needed to tell us
to move."
Well, it seems his family moved
down under to avoid high taxes and
enjoy some of the money they
earned.
"Things are getting bad down
here now," he told me Friday.
"We're in a recession and it's not
getting better. We've been like this
for a couple of months now."
"We're in a recession, too, they
tell us," I told him.. "We're also
being hit with a consumption tax on
almost everything very soon. Have
you been hit with the same type of
tax in Australia, too?"
"Yeah," he told me. "We were
slammed with it four months ago."
We talked some more and could
see how badly each other's country
was doing. We compared our for-
tunes though, and encouraged each
other to keep on working as long as
we could and just do our best
during these times. We agreed we
should each get any debts paid off
as fast as we could to protect our-
selves.
Talking about our countries and
their problems, we didn't feel alone.
Society resolves to close beverage rooms
OCTOBER 17, 1890
Dr. H.H. Dean, of Harley, On-
tario, has been on a tour inspection
of the dairying districts of Western
Ontario. In a letter to the Toronto
Empire he makes reference to what
he saw in the county of Huron:
Seaforth was my next point and
here I found Mr. John Hannah
busily engaged in preparing to ship
a carload of eggs and butter to
British Columbia. This creamery
has made about 40,000 lbs. of but-
ter this season, which found a
market in Edinburgh during the
early part of the season, and now it
is being shipped to the far west An
excellent quality of butter is made
at this creamery and reflects great
credit on Mrs. McTavish, the
maker, who proudly exhibits a
medal awarded her at the Colonial.
The buttermilk is disposed of to
town customers and farmers, no
hogs being fed here as is being
done at Lon 1csboro. A box churn is
used. The Fargo oil test churn and
Frink's oil test charts are used in
determining the value of the cream
supplied.
Between Seaforth and Clinton are
some fine farms. The fences for the
most part are straight Farmers were
busy with the stubbles and har-
rowing them to subdue weeds. In
one field I noticed about 100 steer
and a number on every farm. I was
informed by a prominent farmer
near Loridesbom, my next point.
that it was a general practice in that
section to send the cream to a
creamery and feed the skim milk to
IN THE YEARS ALONE
from the Expositor Archives
steers, which are fattened at from
two to three years old. The shon
horn and its grades appear to be the
favourite, although a Holstein herd
has been started in the vicinity.
OCTOBER 9, 1914
The following letter was written
by Mr. John VanEgmond to his
mother Mrs. C.R. VanEgmond, of
Egmondville, has been kindly
handed to us for publication. As is
already known by our readers, Mr.
John VanEgmond is a member of
the Canadian Volunteer force
stationed at Bermuda. He writes a
most interesting letter. It is dated
Hamilton, Bermuda, September
19th, and is as follows:
Dear Mother - Well, Mother dear,
I am having all the excitement and
experience one could wish and I
certainly am enjoying it, something
new to see and do every minute.
After nine days on the Atlantic
Ocean, I have at last arrived here
on the hot, sunny island of Ber-
muda. We had a fine trip and 1
enjoyed being on the ocean im-
mense, and was not in the least
sick, although we had a couple of
mugh days, but then 1 am some
sailor, alright, having served my
apprenticeship last summer. We
were accompanied all the way by
the warship, Niobe, and she is
really some cruiser, and no one on
board was afraid of Germans as
long as the old Niobe was near. We
landed in Bermuda on September
15th and coming near the islands
was a great sight with all the
greenest of green foliage, in all
kinds of shapes. Banana groves,
oranges, coconuts and dozens of
other fruits and palms. All the
buildings on the whole island are of
white coral rock that are white as
snow and they certainly look grand.
The barracks we are in are situated
two miles from the city of Hamil-
ton, on top of a hill that overlooks
the sea all round.
OCTOBER 10, 1941
A resolution pledging the mem-
bers to use their influence to elect
men of outstanding temperance
principals, in order that the
beverage rooms might be closed,
was brought in at a largely attended
sectional convention of the
Women's Missionary Society held
on Tuesday at the Constance United
Church, with the vice-president,
Mrs. E. Toll of Winthrop, presiding.
The morning session opened at 9:14)
o'clock with representatives prevent
from Blake, Brucefield, Burns,
Clinton, Constance, Egmondville,
Goshen, McKillop, Duffs,
Moncrieff, Londesboro, Seaforth,
Varna, Walton and Winthrop.
The worship service - Christian
Brotherhood - was taken by Mrs. J.
Hogg and Mrs. W. Church, of
Winthrop, and Mrs. J. Rintoul,
Seaforth, led in prayer. Mrs. Nottin-
gham of Constance, welcomed the
delegates and Mrs. J.G. Chowan, of
Clinton, replied.
OCTOBER 8, 1964
Police are investigating a break in
at SDSS Wednesday night, when
thieves smashed windows and doors
and began a hole through a concrete
wall in an effort to gain access to a
vault in the business office.
According to principal L.P.
Plumsteel, entry into the building
was gained through a window in
the typing room. Doors into the
home economics room and the shop
were smashed open.
The door leading into the kitchen
of the cafeteria was broken, and to
gain entrance to the office a large
plate glass window was smashed.
When efforts to force the vault by
breaking the dial failed, the thieves
began to force a hole through a
concrete block wall from the prin-
cipal's office. This was abandoned
when an inside reinforced concrete
wall slowed progress.
Mr. Plumstccl said had entry been
gained into the vault, little would
have been gained. He said little
money was held overnight in the
school.