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The Huron Expositor, 1990-04-04, Page 24Huron ositor SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST Incorporating The Brussels Post Published in Seaforth, Ontario Every Wednesday Morning The Expositor Is brought to you each week by the effortsof: Pat Armes, Paula Elliott, Terrl-Lynn Dale, Dianne McGrath and sob McMllion. ED BYRSKI, General Manager HEATHER ROBINET, Editor Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc. Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union International Press institute Subscription Rates: Canada '20.00 a year, in advance Senior Citizens - '17.00 a year in advance Outside Canada '60.00.a year, in advance Single Copies - .50 cents each Second class mail registration Number 0696 g Editorial and Business Offices - 10 Main Street, Seaforth Telephone (319) 527-0240 Malting Address - P.O. Ben 69, Seaforth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO evIslors set=s a n c i. must be the best time of all for sports enthusiasts of least those sports enthusiasts with a converter -aerated television set at :their, disP4sa1 hint only are. 00,1044„. Play,woe butt teatne into their fogl. season baseball , season lis just nicely Ilederway, and, basketball season,' well( - the college circuit's final four is finally over, but the NBA is just winding •down its season, and getting ready to dive into the playoffs. And with every channel vying to provide coverage of one game or another, there is little viewing time left for anything but sports. Those weeks of Wednesday and Saturday night hockey viewing are out of sight, as the NHL playoffs are brought live into your living room, two games per night, for at least the' next two months. And, if there is by skim off chance, no -hockey-gamelo wgiph,,there wDl always be somethuig elfle,x some baseball, some basketball, some whatever,.. But, it's not like 'I wasn't expecting this. I mean, it's been this way for how many years? - at least since the arrival of TSN on the cable network. Now, every cable subscriber has the option of watching sports events a minimum of 24 hours a day. Gone are the days when you watch- ed only your favorite team. T . KS by Heather Robinet rR k c k.i ia,a^nli na s..r...,i Oh joy! Oh bliss! Myself, I'm finding this a particularly difficult year, given the fact I am no longer privy to selective broadcasting. Thanks to some corporate decision, the Town of Seaforth now receives television broadcasts from Detroit - and Buffalo. That means, instead of watching the Blue Jays exclusively, I'm going to be forced to watch the motor city Tigers instead - or the Pistons, or the Lions. That means viewing Sparky and the boys on -and -off .the--baseball--diamond, listening to a never-ending commentary by Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey, and putting up with that annoying Tiger roar. I ask you, do Tigers ever get laryngitis? At least I can be grateful the Boston Bruins are getting limited television coverage so far this hockey playoff season. And if things continue in the vein they are already, could be the team from Bean town won't have to worry about television coverage at all, come the end of this series. In view of the other however, I suppose Ill survive. After all we do have two television sets in the house. And maybe things will get better. Then again, maybe they won't. Seems to me the tail end of the baseball season runs into the start of football season; and baseball playoffs coincide with the start up of the hockey and basketball seasons. It seems to be a never ending cycle. 1 guess I should be grateful we don't have.a satellite dish, ® e e Since I'm on the topic of sports, here's some sports trivia. On April 11, 1961, at Fenway Park, Boston's prized rookie Carl Yastrzemski singled in his first major league at -bat against Ray Herbert of the Kansas City Athletics. Yaz went on to play 23 years with the Red Sox, collecting 3,419 hits, and placing seventh on the all-time list. Barriers analysed Practical demonstration of conservation farming techniques may be the key to increasing adoption of soil conservation practices among southwestern Ontario farmers. At least, that's the sentiment of a recently published survey conducted on behalf of SWEEP, the Soil and Water En- vironmental Enhancement Program. Agriculture Canada commissioned the study to find out why more farmers aren't adopting conservation practices, and found out that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed wanted to add conservation practices to their farm management systems. Many reported they did not see any barriers to conservation adoption - aside from the perceived complexity of new tools and techniques. And many cited such common obstacles as start-up costs and concerns about changes to management systems such as weed andpest control. The report showed that widespread adoption of conservation practices will probably require more stability in the agriculture sector, as well as demonstrated proof the practices work and are cost-effective. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Misconceptions still exist about conservation farming, but are being ad- dressed through such activities as field demonstrations and research into applying conservation technology. Through that research, and through continual demonstrations to the farmers who share a concern for the environment, conservation farming techniques could become an extension of the present way of doing things. After all - there doesn't appear to be any opposition. to the project. SWEEP is a five-year, $30Ilion federal -provincial program to phosphorus loo e slice hos p p ding of the Lake Mlle Basin from agricultural -sources thri:•ugh control of soil degradation. For further ormation contact Rick Seguin, Se cur ':cone :, st, Agriculture Canada, Agriculture Ievelop„Trent Branch, `,uelph, 'tntarie. (519) 753-5433. R RAL Li 00 S by Jeanne Kirkby Coln ]r;,; ,1'list to r�•Irovide agriclturai co et I've been asked to write a regular col- umn for The Huron Expositor to expand the agricultural point of view with fact and comment. Before undertaking this commit- ment, perhaps it would be a good idea to start by letting you ', ow where I'm com- ing from, so that if you catch me off base, you will re-educate me correctly to the benefit of all. Don't he afraid to write in. Most of my life, I've lived with farming in Huron County in one form or another. As a child, I grew up on a 100 acre mix- ed farm, with cattle, cows, grain, hay, sheep, pigs, ducks..you name it! The milk was separated and we had cream for bak- ing, and the egg money bought what groceries we didn't grow and looked after the everyday expenses. My father didn't let me learn how to milk, because he always said that girls in the barn would scare the cows. I never had the experience of driving a tractor because I had four brothers who were preferred farm help, but I do know what "Gee” and "Haw" mean, what a team of Clydesdales look like when you're sitting on the top of a load of hay holding the reins and can only look down and see their heads, and I carrry a scar on my leg where a cable broke when I drove Old Nell down the gangway when a loaded hayfork missed the mow. I remember Tobe Mur - ray's threshing machine, and the comotion when the twine knotter broke on the binder. As a child, my duties included gathering eggs, feeding the ducks, picking stones, gathering in potatoes, some calf feeding, helping in the garden and orchard, and looking after younger children. I was not an especially dedicated farm youngster, but rather enjoyed a reputation for sneak- ing off whenever opportunity presented itself. Things change when you get older, and start your own household. There is nothing like responsibility and financial necessity to make one turn with dedication towards those avenues which provide one's living. And as you devote time and attention toward any specific topic, you change and become dedicated and acutely interested in that area of specification. I Warded a farmer. We cash crop various grains such as wheat, barley, corn and white beans, and we are willing to S consider any new suggestion that would seem promising. We ve also been heavi- ly involved in an agriculturally related business for many years which has put us in contact with many farmers in the area. I tell you this because as I sat down to write, I realized ;,:t the agricultural in- dustry has so many diverse directions to- day, there is an awesome amount that II do not know about farming. I still have not milked that cow, and the only time 1 at- tempted to drive a tractor with a cultivator behind it, I was the laughing- stock of the neighborhood. So I am not an expert on anything, but I am willing to learn. Many farm wives/partners are compe- tent on all sorts of machinery and have a very capable touch with the care of animals on a livestock operation, in addi- tion to doing the necessary office work and many other tasks. While I also have a very capable touch with any small animals entrusted to me, my contribution to farm- ing is mainly secretarial, acting as gofer, phone message -taker, home maker and food provider, and the "doer of whatever doesn't involve large scary machinery". Rece'htly I have been involved with a land -owners group who are lobbying for a specific policy regarding the use of the abandoned CPR rail line properties through our area. Whether our .cause is ultimately successful or not, one thing that has been impressed upon me is the need for people of common interest to work together and direct their collective energies towards their common cause, rather than trying to change situations by being a lone Don Quixote taking on windmills. Conse- quently, I am now an active member of the HCFA and represent Central Huron as a regional director of the OFA. I realize that there are other good farm associations in Ontario, namely the CFFO and the NFU. But the OFA is the group that I am learning about, and much of the material that I am hearing and reading about will probably be the material that I can best discuss. I hope that I can make a worthwhile contribution to rural life through this col- umn in our newspaper. If at times I make - mistakes please let it reflect on me alone and write in to agree,• disagree, educate or inquire. I will try to deal with your in- terests and concerns. Give me character over c I don't like to think that the only legacy that this generation is going to leave behind Will be malls, but it's beginning to look that way. And if that wasn't enough, mails with that putrid greeny -blue metal and glass embellishment that developers have been having a love affair with for the last few years. Malls are basically they be so blatantly gr�an� but must ss? A lot of the development that's going on lately has me sick my stomach at the best of times, but what inspired this latest fit of loathing was the news that they're ripping down the T:' hot Inn in London. The Talbot block, the oldest downtown streetscape in London, has been a hot potato for City Council for a. few years now. A bustling street chock-a-block with nifty little curiosity shops and a few clubs right up until 1987, the Talbot block was sucked into the great Black Hole of the Cambridge Development Corporation and shut down with a slam. In the wonderful Catch-22 that only the twisted mind of the bureaucrat ean grasp, the Cambridge Cor- poration and the City of London held their noses and pointed to the three -block stretch that they had emptied and boarded up, whining about the run-down state of the buildings now that there were no tenants in them. Icky, icily. They'll have to go. OUG O' ES by Paula Elliott ro But there was a lively little faction in London determined to scrap and claw and bring the Talbot block back to life. (Such factions are always little in London.) Every once in a while a little protest would erupt around City Hall, some Talbot Block zealots would threaten to chain themselves to the bar at Mingles in the Talbot IInn (1 applied for that job; not a bad way to spend a week, 1 thought) and City Hall would rub their chins and agree to "look into things". Apparently, they looked, they listened - or so they claimed - and they lowered the boom. Good-bye, Talbot Inn. This great old place has been an institu- tion for over 100 years now. It was about the only place that they couldn't manage to boot everyone out of, and the two resi- dent bars - The Firehall, a blues mecca and one of my all-time favorite haunts worldwide and Mingles, a hard -edged rock club with a fiercely dedicated clientele - kept bopping while the rest of the ghost - town block crumbled around their ears. I sat in the Firehall on Saturday night with a draught in my hand, having my ears assaulted by some serious kick -ass blues in the long, narrow hall, and squinted through the smoky haze at the Firehall's "Hall of Flame". Posters of old and new Firehall favorites festooned the walls, but 1 noticed that the signs heralding coming acts were few and far between. It was true, then. And what was this landmark being sacrificed for? Another mall, no doubt with putrid greeny -blue metal and glass embellishments. If you have a chance, slip down to Lon- don and visit Mingles or the Firehall. IIt doesn't matter if you've heard of the bands that are playing or not; just do it while you still have the chance. Go in and let the essence of the place ooze over you, have a couple of beers or whatever (p.s. kids - they check I.D.) and then go puke on the steps of City Hall. Then drive back to Seaforth and thank God that the Queen's and the Commercial will never be shopping malls. Local goose APRIL 11, 1890 Mr. John Somerville of Morris has a goose that is making a record by laying eggs, some of which measure 9 1/2 by 12 inches. The goose that beats that will have to stay up at night. The Grand Opera House in Goderich was crowded to the doors for three nights this week with audiences anxious to hear the famous temperance lecturer, Joe Hess, once a notorious saloon keeper and prize fighter. His forcible presentation of the temperance cause was listened to with the closest attention. A notable feature of his remarks is that he blames the continuance of the liquor traffic, not so much to the retailers and saloon keepers as on the peo- ple who patronize them and keep up the demand for the liquor trade. He deserves great credit for what he has accomplished in his own reformation and for his well - meant efforts to lead others down the path of total abstinence. Mr. Hood, of the 2nd Concession, Stanley, has placed his order with Mr. W. Giffin of Clinton for a very large white bronze monument, to be erected in Baird's cemetery, to the memory of his son who died in the early part of winter. The foun- dation has to be four feet square, and built up with solid masonry. A genuine specimen of the lynx or wild cat was shot near Milverton the other day. APRIL 9, 1916 The Goderich fishermen are making big hauls of perch and suckers this spring. Some lifts have contained over one thou- sand pohinds of fish. They are shipped to Buffalo, prices ruling at 'seven cents for produces awe- inspiring IN THE YEARS AGONE from the Expositor Archives perch and four cents for suckers. The farm of 100 acres for William McMichael, lot 34, 6th concession to McKillop, was sold on Friday last to Alex- ander McMichael, a neighbor, for $3,800. The farm is a fairly good one and the pur- chaser got a bargain at the price paid. Mr. T.M. Hamilton of Staffa met with a bad accident while in Dublin. Having tied his team to a post they becamefrighten- ed at the train and made a bold dash through the village. One horse was badly cut while the other and the wagon were slightly injured. The police are looking for persons who stole a robe belonging to Mr. Egleson of Whitechurch, and cut the harness of his horse to ribbons. Mr. Egleson had to bor- row a new outfit to return home. The of- fense was committed in a local hotel stables in Wingham, where his horse had been put in. APRIL 12, 1940 When Germany captured Denmark this week and the European war became cen- tred in the Scandinavian countries, the worst fears of John Neilson, Seaforth baker, were realized and today he wonders what is the fate of his parents, his three brothers and three sisters, whom he left in Denmark on coming to Canada 11 years ago. egg Seaforth's hopes for an Intermediate 13 hockey championship were dashed on Fri- day evening at Stratford when Whitby took the second in the two out of three game final series before 2,000 fans. The combina- tion three games and more than 700 miles of travel in less than five days, plus the absence of Albie McFaddin and Bob McCallum, were all to Whitby's advantage. Dr. Hugh Ross, for many years one of the most prominent physicians and widely known residents of Seaforth and district, died suddenly at his home on Victoria Street. Dr. Ross had been poor in health for over a year and had been confined to his home since last November. Showing at the Regent Theatre in Seaforth: that famous heart-warming story, "The Chicken Wagon Family". APEIL 15, 1965 The Bayfield River, a highway for Huron pioneers 150 years ago, came into its own again recently when four members of the ERob Brady, Laurie ondville Stockwell and ver Crew (Jack dmSmith) and a member of the District Office went by canoe from Egmondville to Bayfield. Donald McKercher is one of nine young Ontario farm people who will participate in Turn to page 5