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The Huron Expositor, 1982-11-17, Page 2limon fxposiior Since 1860, Serving the Community first Incorporating Bi'ussejs Pot founded 1872 12 Main St. 527-0240 Published at SEAFORTH, ONTARIO every Wednesday afternoon by Signal -Star Publishing Limited Jocelyn A. Shrlor, Publisher Susan White, Editor H.W. (Herb) Turkheim, Advertising Manager Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspaper Association and Audit Bureau o' Circulation A member of the Ontario Press Council Subscription rates: Canada $17 a year (in advance) outside Canada $50. a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each Second class mall registration number 0696 SEAFORTH, ONTAI'100, NOVEMI:,ER 17, 1982 Co 11 11 ncll ets er L' We're always calling on elected officials for leadership. But it's an ironic factof life that when we get it, we're not quite sure what to do with it. A classic example Os Huron County Council's decision to provide no pay increase to county councillors, and to insist the salaries of all county employees be held at present levels over the next year too. In a masterful parting shot, county council adopted that recommenda- tion at its final meeting before the November elections. County council is setting a fine example of restraint, that harkens back to the twenties and thirties when it and a lot of local councils took pay cuts as an acknowledgement of the tough times the people they represent were experiencing. We can only wish our provincial and federal politicians would see a similar need fir personal restraint instead of voting themselves pay increases. But whether every single county employee's salary should be held at its 1982 level is a separate question. Yes, they are lucky to have jobs, and no, we haven't heard of any wholesale layoffs of county employees, similar to what many workers in private industry in Huron have experienced. Statistics Canada -says the real income of Canadians actually dropped by 4 per cent from 1980 to 1981. And there may be some county employees whose wages have not kept pace either with inflation or with private sector wages. An across -the -board -wage freeze penalizes them. _ Perhaps a partial solution would be to freeze county workers' wages above a certain level, to perhaps hold the line with those who make ,.more than the $67 a day county councillors are paid. Or to give- only merit increases, amounts that recognize a much greater than average effort to work efficiently and save the county money. It's a tough one, but we've got to give Huron County Council a heck of a lot of credit for trying. Even remotely similar action by the county school board, f(ir example, would leave Huron County taxpayers in a state df shock. Counties take action For a long time we ignored the fact there was a problem.. The problem, according to the latest Ontario studies, is that one wife in 10 is a battered woman. But slowly, and as a result of tragedy, we've come to accept that fact and to acknowledge that battered women, like abused children, have a right to protection from society. Most thoughtful people will now agree the problem is a community concern, not a matter of whatever goes on behind closed doors being just a personal problem. We're also learning that family violence is not confined to the cities. It's a problem in rural areas, In our area too. And it's often compounded here by the lack of anonymity and the fact that there are no safe places for women who are beaten to seek shelter, except the homes of friends and relatives who may be too close to the situation to help. But that's changing and we congratulate the groups, one in Huron and one in Perth, who are setting up a home in Stratford and one in Godrich. In Huron the Mennonite churches are taking the initiative, while in Perth the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association is responsible. Those involved with social services, and the police in both counties know that battered wives aren't only a big city concern. And they explained the plans to establish these shelters. So do we. It's more evidence that rural areas, like Huron and Perth, take action instead of burying their collective heads in the sand when their fellow citizens need help. S.W. Brussels resident remembers l�0 t�n�® C@C1JOwe Another Remembrance Day has gone by, since that exciting, eventful day, Nov. 11 at the eleventh hour in 1918. That, and many more days. bring back memories of dear ones who gave their lives for a good cause. There are quite a few fellow citizens still living who remember when the First World War ceased. What were you doing then. and where were you? 1 was living in Brodhagen. Logan Township. Perth County. My father (Henry) had two steam engines and threshing machines, one a New Hamburg steam engine and a Waterloo thresher which was operated by a brother•in•law Chas Ahrens and a cousin Harry Beuermann. They were south of Brodhagen on the sixth concession. My father and 1 (14 years old) operated the Waterloo steam engine and separator. We were threshing for Pete Patterson. lot 25, conc. 15. Logan, that day. The "machine" was in the barn of course as all sheaves had to be hauled in the "barn mow". Waiting for your turn for the "threshing outfit" as it worked its way up and down the concessions. At about 9:30 o'clock Mr. Patterson came out of the barn and ran to the house and phoned Monkton to see if there was any word of the "signing of the peace.' No, not yet. So he went up to the barn again. to see that the grain was put in its proper bins in the granary. At about 10:30, he came out again and rar to the house. Again he came to the barn but it didn't seem very long after that he "Pete" came out again. ran to the house and in about five minutes, he came out of the house and skipped across the farm lawn, threw his dirty old straw hat into the air and whooped and hollered "The war is over, George. Blow the whistle on the steam engine, loud and long." But I had to tell him, he had better tell my father first, as he was boss. So Pete ran up the gangway and into the barn and in less than a minute my father came to the door and waved at me to shut down. All the men came out of the mow and 1 pulled the whistle cord. I heard the men whooping and laughing, some got onto the platform to help me blow the whistle harder. But soon father told us to quiet. as the whistle took a lot of steam, if one blew it for a long time the steam would be gone and the boiler dry and then it would blow. There was much talk and laughter and jubilation. As within two miles Kistners, Harveys, Tarrs. Pattersons, Querengessers and Youngs all had boys "over there." The weather was summer like at about 60° Fahrenheit not metric. About 12:30 Mrs. Patterson called us in for dinner. After dinner everyone went back to work, as we still had 19 farmers' barns to thresh before old man winter set in, but what a celebration that evening. That was 64 years ago. Seems like only three. George Wesenberg Brussels OO pOnBow Brussels salt ou NOVEMBER 10, 11 t2 Recently, Messrs. Pittman and Co., the well-known carriage builders of Seaforth, sent their first car load of vehicles .to Manitoba. The load was composed of several light and hes sleighs and about 30. cutters of various esiggs, It was) armed �{ivith regret that the snug little craft known as the Josephine Kidd, owned by Joseph Kidd, Dublin, was burned in Georgian Bay. it was a favourite with excursionists at Goderich the summer before st. The vessel was taken to Georgian ]day last spring and was used to transport supplies to saw mills andlumbering camps worked by Mr. Kidd. . Thomas Kidd has had plate glass placed in his front store. windows. The glass was 'imported directly from the old country. A new covering has been erected over the new stairway leading to the old Town I;lall. The quantity of salt to be furnished by the Brussels salt workers to the Association for the second year is 12,000 barrels. This is an increase off 3,000 barrels over last year. All the plows used at the Hibbert Plowing Match and eight out of 12 used at the Stanley Match, were manufactured by Messrs. Monree and Hogan off Seaforth, They were also more largely represented at the Morris and Grey matches than any other manufac- turer. NOVEMBER 115, 11907 A young lad named Andrews had his arm badly hurt at the shoe factory recently. While attending to his work, he, got too close to a belt, his arm was caught in it and before he could be extracted, the limb was badly hurt. There is a price war on among the Seaforth clothing stores in consequence of which the people should get their winter's clothing at "hard times" prices. Seaforth, has this year, put down cement sidewalks to the amount off $9,1134. From now on, improvements for the annual expenditure on the streets and sidewalks, should be very light. One early morning, recently, the Grand • Trunk Station and freight -sleds in Londes- boro were completely destroyed by fire. Mr. Steep lost about one carload of apples, and Mr. Elliott will lose two or more which were stored in the freight shed at the time of the fire. Cause is unknown. The Seaforth poultry men made a splendid record at the poultry show held in the Berlin -Waterloo fair, Waterloo County. Out of the 29 birds sent by Seaforth exhibitors, they took 21 prizes. F.L. Willis won three firsts; J.F. Daly, a second and third for White Wyandottes; and J.L. Lrown, three firsts and two seconds for White Rocks, to name a few. NOVEMBER 4,1932 Over 1,000 people attended the annual Seaforth Lions Club annual Hallowe'en ut increases Frolic. Approximately $1,000 was raised for crippled children and general welfare work in Seaforth and Huron County. The draw for a V-8 Ford Tudor Sedan was won by,.Mrs. Charles A. Adams of Seaforth. A small outbuilding to the rear of F.G. ,re? ,7,x, l� 3/n (-!_!.d-�.v.a/•-6.4� l4,cA. Aja. c1S �-,s 4:7-e/57 ld�..vL/ o 4I1 4 ;.t_d,r-e r -e /'•r lib �t aiC efil ,7,4 --°- (-,Le dr ra r n •. v / 1' . - (,• ,,,,,, jlf /. 1 /f -las arut ( �✓ I" • 125 YEARS AGO—When Frank Sills read an item in last week's Years Agone column about an 1857 New Years Ball in Brucefield he hunted up a handwritten invitation and brought it into the Expositor. His grandfather, D.L. Sills was one of the sponsors. Scott's store, was destroyed by fire on the night of Hallowe'en. The building had been overturned earlier in the evening by Hallowe'en celebrants. A car driven by J.J. Ralston of Detroit, crashed into a truck driven by Richard Sandford of Seaforth, on the Esmondville road. Both vehicles were extensively dam- aged, but the drivers escaped with only minor injuries. "Prince". a fine Russian wolf hound. owned by R. McLauchlin of Brussels was found dead recently. The cause is said to be from some unknown poison. Mrs. S. Fox of Brussels suffered painful arm injuries when the jar of pickles she was opening, broke and cut her arm. Dr. McRae was summoned and used six stitches to dose the wound. Prepare for winter at Cardnm s Grocery. Fancy pink salmon, pound tin, .10; Vigar Tomato soup, 3 tins for .25: P. & G. Comfort and Pearl Soups, 5 bars, .20. DECEMBER 13, 1957 in a light vote thatsaw only 44.28 pee cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, Seaforth electors named the same two councillors to top position as they had done in the 1956 election. These were William Ball with 439 votes and Dr. J.O. Turnbull with 387 votes. After parking his car near the Scott Memorial hospital little did Ken Willis krtow he had innocently taken the first step in a bizzare series of events that would bring tingles of embarrassment to Kincardine police. Finding his car missing after stepping out of the hospital Mr, Willis reported the theft to O.P.P. Constable Ed Johnston. After searching the area Constable Johnston reported the theft to 0.P. P. headquarters. A short time later Kincardine police called in to say the stolen vehicle had been recovered in that town and at the same time reported that a car owned by the Kincardine chief of police had been stolen. On the strength of the Kincardine report, O.P.P. Seaforth detachments were advised the Seaforth car was recovered. But not for long. A while later Kincardine came back on the air to say that while police had been out looking for their Chief's car the Seaforth car had been restolen. However they had recovered their Chief's car. it was not until a while later that police in Port Elgin reported their recovery of the Seaforth car and along with it two youths with addresses in Bowmanville and Oshawa. Smiley relives old memories friends I have come up with some items that bring back memories and voices from the past. A few months ago. a young colleague of mine was heading off to Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) with his wife and children to teach, school there. They didn't know a soul in that part of Africa. I had a thought, which occurs every so often. "Mark," 1 told him, "I have an old war -time friend who lived in Rhodesia. I'll dig up his address, and maybe he can at least give you some tips on life there." So 1 went to my old prisoner -of -war log book, and there it was. Unfortunately, Don McGibbon lived in Bulawayo, not Salisbury, to which Mark was posted. However, 1 gave him the address and a note to my old friend. There was every likelihood that he was dead, or had moved, or had got out of the colintry, as so many white Rhodesians did when a black takeover seemed inevitable. And the other day, while 1 was having lunch. a member of our staff was reading a letter from Mark's wife. It turned out that they'd been sent to Bulawayo, not Salisbury. She described conditions. pretty grim - curfews. house searches for insurgents, and soon - and the letter said: "And we're going for a picnic on Sunday with Bill Smiley s old air force friend." You could have knocked me down with a Spitfire. 1 hadn't heard from Mac since 1945, when we were both incarcerated in prison camp. We'd been on the same Typhoon wing in Normandy, where 1 knew him slightly. He'd been shot down shortly after 1 was. and joined by a wounded Australian, Frank Land. we wound up as a trio doing a train journey all over Germany: first to a camp occupied by British and New Zealand veterans of Cyprus, then to an interrogation centre at Frankfurt, then off on a long haul across the war-torn country to a prison camp. where we wound up in the same room in barracks. One forms pretty close associations under trying circumstances. We did. 1 had a lot of respect for the Rhodesians I'd met: their courage, their cheerfulness, their lack of swank. And, of course, they were only colonials, so we Canadians could needle them about that. Mac was one of the best of the best. As if that weren't enough to start the juices of memory flowing, my wife, while cleaning out drawers and boxes, came across a cache of ancient letters and pictures that I'd forgotten existed. Thereblack 1 amha, LeAcftS. at 21, ir, whadingne teeirth raIthesman opposmileync of the present), wedge cap tilted to one side. dashing moustache, cocky as only a young $Qg©Q ©nd kDk@ by DE SGIAAO@y fellow can be when he knows he's going to be a fighter pilot. And there I am again, on a prison camp identification card. complete with numbers and fingerprint, soon after I'd been shot down, looking bewildered and anything but cocky. And another photo. at another camp, front and side view, looking 10 years older, stubble of beard, mean. And finally, a photo taken soon after 'release, sporting the magnificent handlebar moustache I'd grown in camp. There's a picture of Freddy Wakeham, Canadian, Eric Necklen, New Zelander, and self, in front of our tent in Normandy. 1 am the only survivor. And another one, both leaning against a Spit fires fuselage. of two of our gang, a motley crowd, when we trained in Shropshire to take off and land Spits without killing ourselves. Jacques Van der Perren, Belgian, and Singh Thandi. Indian Air Force. Van escaped when the Germans invaded Belgium. made his way through occupied France, got over the mountains into Spain and was thrown in jail for six months. He was eventually released, got to England, joined the A.A.F., and was shot down and killed on a mission not far from his home town in Belgium. Shingh Thandi went back to India. 1 heard he was killed flying Hurricanes in Burma. We were closer than most brothers. The only one of that crowd left is Jack Ryan of Toronto. The others were from half the countires in Europe, and from all over the then British Empire. Here's a letter, written to my mother. from Casajus Pascal, postmarked M. Stammlager Xi, Deutschland. it's in French. Part of it: "Ici mon ami 11111. votre fits qui actuellement dans mon stalag..." and so on. He told her 1 was en parfaite santee (in perfect health; and tried to reassure her. How good of him. 1 don't even remember him, although 1 knew a number of French POWs. He ends by saying. in French: "I hope that he himself will be able to write you soon." Why couldn't 1 write then? Who was Casajus? Must dig into the memory cells. And on they go. A letter from my squadron leader describing my last mission. and holding out hope. A letter from a chap in Florida to my parents. He listened every night, on his short wave radio, to lists of Allied prisoners announced by the Germans. and had caught my name and home address. And a happy, happy telegram, marked Column gets good response Os er the years i have enjoyed many items and columns in the Huron Expositor. I think especially of the provocative and stimulating articles of Keith Roulston and the many Horticultural Society thanks Dublin �O ` h @ @do'OQ The Seaforth Horticultural Society wish to thank the business men of Dublin for their generous donations of moneys. time and the use of power equipment to beautify the Centennial Project at the Dublin intersect- ion. Many favourable comments have been ■ business men received by the Seaforth Horticultural Society, specially by the members of the Dublin area. Travellers on the busy highways are gladdened by the pleasant arrangement of green grass. shrubs and flowers. We thank you for your interest and particiFation. Yours truly, Seaforth Horticultural Society Ruth Beutcnmiller, i amusing anec dotes from the house of - Smiley, although lately there has been a an element of cynicism that belies some of the humour. But 1 was delighted to read the letter to the editor in the 4th November Huron Expositor by Debbie Mulley. it was a well composed, lucid, lyrical composition employing a balance of logic and nostalgia that was a treat tor me to read. For many years 1 have despaired for the future of English Literature as taught (?) by the permissive curriculum of the "New Look imposed by the Department of Education. But, after reading this literary gem by one of our high school students 1 have renewed hopes, that the beauty of English Literature will survive in future years. Congratulations Debbie. Paul L. Brady, M.D. R.R. 2, Seaforth. Sans Origine, and Important, from b4 Squadron: "Happy to inform you that your son F/O Smiley WBT is safe and well as prisoner of war. Letter follows." A letter of commiseration from my college president, when the first "missing" report went out. Finally. a letter from a chaplain in England: "So happy to be able to welcome and chat with your son, on his safe arrival in England." Dated May 25, 1945. People in those days really cared. And I've only skimmed the surface. Black focus of new book a*hood d @ M*IMW by NcAdt PAigi been Ironically, at a time when the struggle for economic survival both of the individual and many mammoth corporations dominates the headlines one of the top best sellers of this Christmas book season will once again be a Peter C. Newman look at the very, very rich in Canada. Object of this latest Newman chronicle of how the other half lives is the boy wonder of the Canadian financial community Conrad Black. head of Argus Corporation and its associated companies. It's a typical business story: thc poor boy who inherits only a couple of million dollars from his father and through hard work. good luck and the business smarts (not to mention a certain amount of ruthlessness) turns it into many millions, Peter Newman, the son of a once wealthy European Jewish businessman who fled from Nazi persecution to Canada and had to work as a farm labourer before getting established, has a fascination with the rich and powerful. He got to know them early when he attended Upper Canada College, the ritziest of the ritzy private schools where the elite of the nation get the education and the connections to help them succeed in later life. Newnan moved on to Ottawa where he wrote about the powerful of politics. rubbing shoulders with prime ministers. amhassa• dors and the other big wigs of thc capital. But he turned back to business for his heros and has turned out a series of books from the Canadian Establishment to the Bronfman Dynasty dealing with the business leaders of the country. making them take on mythical proportions with his excited prose, HEROS Whether men like ConraJ Black deserve 10 be hereos or not. the attention focussed by Ncwrhan on businessmen may have a long term good for Canada. The fact is we have not been a country to make heroes and role models of our businessmen. While in the U.S. the Duponts and the Rockefellers did some horrible things to their workers. their competitors and the environment on the way to amassing their millions. they still managed to become some kind of heros to the American people. They became part of the American way of life. It's hard to think of many similar husincss names who have worked their way into thc national psyche in Canada. There is no doubt that Canada is not as business oriented as the U.S. We have always looked 10 government as much as to business to meet our needs. The great projects like the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and thc building of the St. Lawrence Seaway have been tackled only through the heavy involvement of government. In part this is the fault of business itself. There are those loday who say the lark 111 business enterprise today is duc to too much government interference, regulation and taxation. But Canada a century. a half-cen• fury ago was as open to business as the United States and yet husinessmen didn't respond to the challenges confronting them. The result is that government took a bigger role and what government didn't do the foreign businessmen from Britain or the U.S. and later Germany and Japan did for us. VICIOUS CIRCLE The problem is that this has become a continuing vicious circle. Because of the low profile of business In the past we have not been attracting people to go into business. Our top mind instead have gone into law, government or the care taker management of foreign -o, tied branch plants. Our schools do nothing to encourage the kind of risk•taking psychology that attracts people into going into husincss for them sehcs. There arc fess courses in small business management. no studies of success- ful businessmen. Our school system is set up 10 train people to work for others. not to strike out on their ns n. to take chances, to discover new directio. Our medians, from nen spapers to radio and television new s. 5 Imes presentations leans more to the left than toward praise of (nicrprenettrial midi. FF:wi 11 A large pari of the t , in problems of foreign control on one hand and amalgamation and takeover which is turning our country over to the control of fewer and fewer multi -million- aires on the other, is that there is no regeneration of the intrepenurial spirit. Many pcoplc who have spent their lives building a comps( from scratch find, when they w ant lose!! and retire or when they're in a financial hind 'Mit there's no one to sell to (exrcpt a 1r1190101 biter or one of the large ('anadian 11ngd11nierocs. A country 1s 11111s healthy as long as there arc new people sinning into our business cnmmunits. 1hallinctng. making inovations. providing sen ices .-thought of hcfore. We arc not dmng chat in Canada. We have cond11ioned nnrsehcs to being employees, not to taking ,fiances and working for ourselves. I hal in turn is why the country is in such a muddle right now because people working for gmernm(.01 for large corpora- tions. Ione hnioh ssith the realities of the market place rhea expectations have no grounding 111 the a, toad worth of what they (In. If Peter Ntwrnan can change our way of thinking hs 'makntg bons nut of men like Conrad Plat k then he kill have accomplished something