The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE ERA WED NOVEMBER 1968 VOL NO Editorials A good council Newmarket voters face a difficult choice this year in that they have two excellent candidates for the towns most important elected office Tom Surgeoner a merchant of many years in the town an experienced municipal servant a good famil been fair honest and honorable with is one choice George Richardson a ma capable man a man who has devoted service a man who is experienced in takes a stand because he believes it of firm convictions an honest of his adult life to dedicated politics and a man who right is one choice that Mr Surgeoner should be elected Mayo of The Era suggest Mr has the vitality and him an able administrator for Newmarkets top post His leadership qualities his honesty his his siveness quantifies him for the Mayors chair Mr Surgeoners stand on Urban Renewal more investiga tion before final approval Mr Surgeoners stand on annexation dont bite off more than is necessary- are qualities that will make him an excellent mayor He will be backed by the experience of Reeveelect Clare Salisbury and Deputy Reeveelect Bruce Eves Mr Surgeoner as mayor will only be successful by the council sitting with him The Era therefore suggests the following should be elected to Council Seneca Cook because his council experience will be needed Herb Elines because of his community service Bob Forhan because youthful vigor is needed on this years council Hugh Grant because his experience as the towns planning board chairman will be invaluable Ron because the knowhow of a successful busi nessman is essential Henry VandenBergh because a youthful and progressive attitude is needed to resist any attempt to make a change The Era suggests that the following candidates would best serve the interests of ALL of Newmarket Mayor Tom Reeve Clare Salisbury Reeve Bruce Eves Council Seneca Cook Herb Elines Bob Forhan Hugh Grant Ron and Henry VandenBergh Editor As publicity chairman for the Santa Clans Parade Com mittee this year I would like to thank you and your staff for the many considerations you have giv- The Era has helped up tremendously to let the people know how and what our committee has been doing since the fall until now just a day or so before the parade Without your help Im sure this would not have been pos- The front page coverage of our Santas letters has been a wonderful opportunity to get the local childrens interest aroused in the parade and we are hoping that perhaps these letters can appear annually in the paper Yours truly SANTA CLAUS PARADE COMMITTEE Mrs Publicity Chairman est the article in the Oct Era by John and Connie Gorman who are travelling around the world What first captured my interest was the mention of the Patricia out of Southampton I think an error has crept in here The Patricia is not one of her majestys ships but a passenger ferry owned by the Swedish Lloyd UK Ltd I was on her the sum- met- of when we had two weeks in Spain and enjoyed the trip immensely We had one day and two nights on board and it was a pleas ant journey with good food a casino a bar open alt day and danc ing I cannot understand Mr Gorman the writer complaining about the poverty and misery in Spain I was left wondering If there was a connotation implied I do understand that con ditions can vary very much in dif ferent parts of Spain as they do in any country But where we were the people were very happy-natur- the children were conspicuously well dressed and the adults well dressed and clean They had not reached the sophisticated stage of mistaking pleasure for happiness and were delightful and obliging I cannot speak more than two or three words of Spanish and the people could not speak any Eng lish but such was their nature that if you went into a store to buy anything it was not a nightmare but a real pleasure We saw a lot of bullock wagons and managed to get a movie of one The owner was as happy What poverty we saw was mainly connected with the churches They were reminiscent of the glorious days of Spain but arc now falling badly into decay The socalled poverty is indolence If one can put off until tomorrow why do it The philosophy of I wish I could go again M Heptinstall Newmarket Club has assisted families at Christmas for many years We send large food baskets and other items to families in our general area who are experiencing difficulty Value of goods distributed last year to families and 247 children exceeded A donation to this worthy cause would be greatly appreciated and may be made payable to the Newmarket Lions Club as follows By cheque or money order to the above address By making your donation at any Newmarket bank If you know of any fam ily needing assistance please for ward to me or committee mem bers their name and address N Williams Christmas Bosket Chairman SUGAR SPICE By Bill Smiley They do remember THIS WEEK By Ray Goodbye and thanks Recently I wrote a col umn about Remembrance Day It may have had a touch of bitterness in it But so many things have come up since then that I thought you might he interested First of all a light note A lady in Ontario remembers something from away back there During the First World War my husband came home on from Belgium Although his pass said he was clean and free from lice while we were riding on the underground in London I watched the lice crawling up and down on his coat collar So I had to scorch all the seams of his clothes as soon as I got him home and shave nil his hair off him everywhere to get rid of them Next at our school we had the usual Remembrance Day service Rut It wasnt the usual one This year we let the students plan it They threw out the old hymns and a lot of other things Instead against a back ground of old songs from Imth world wars student read com mentary he had written himself It began with In Flanders fields the poppies blow It was simple and moving and honest Then everybody sang that haunt ing folk song Where have all the flowers gone They went to young girls and the young girls Then the Roll of Honor from our school Some of the older teachers cant take this They went to school with the boys on the list Last Post silence Reveille Over The students were silent and sol emn and involved Afterwards in the class- room we discussed the service and the day Id brought along some photos and souvenirs They were fascinated After an incredu lous look at the cocky young black- haired fighter pilot and then one at the harassed grayhaired teacher they pelted me with came that magnifi cent CBC documentary on World War I with Raymond Massey old soldier wounded on those fields narrating It was spellbinding anil horrible I kept looking for one of my five uncles who were there dri ving mules dragging through mud Finally came the follow ing letter Because its personal no names no address Dear Mr Smiley I have just read your article entitled shall Never Forget and I must write to you I am years old and I do not consider Remembrance day a drag a sentimental journey for old and middleaged squares My father fought through many of the worst battles in World War I He was a machinegunner He never talked about his experiences except for once when he told me of a little village that he had seen far below him in a valley in France He said only that he wished he could have died and been hur ried there He never said anything about the War but he drank Life was hell for him and for all of us Mamma said lie was terribly changed when he came home from overseas He died when he was mid he had a mili tary funeral and he was as much I was 18 when he died and up until was 16 I almost hated him for the drinking and the trouble Rut I began to under stand him and by the time he died we knew and liked each other Since then Ive learned more about the War and Ive made certain that my children know about it too So on Remembrance Day we go to the parade and pray at the Cenotaph with the veterans and the kids know that it is not just for a Grandpa they never knew but for all the people who fought and suffered in all wars And even the youngest boy four understands a little bit of it all It will be a long time before everyone forgets Thank you so much for a very touching Thank you for a very moving tribute It is now five years that I have been writing every week to fill this space You may not have read this column for that length of time because it is published in many papers across the country and not ail have carried the column since it began The reason for mention ing this milestone Is that due to other work this is the last week which I shall be able to write for this space During the five years of columns a total of about articles I have commented on probably just about every type of news event which has occupied Canadian interest I have tried to provide a serious discussion of the issues of the day This has not al ways made for brightness because there are many subjects which are deadly serious and require deadly serious discussion I have left it to others to comment on the state of the world And thank God we have people who can look at the lighter side of world affairs if we had to always be serious wed have to stop the world and get off We wouldnt be able to stand it Because I have had to write these columns several days before their publication its been difficult to be as timely and as up- totheminute as I would have liked When dealing with situations which could change almost over night Ive had to project my thinking ahead and restrict my comment to things which could not change Glad to say Ive been caught out only once that I can re call I was convinced that Prime Minister would not an nounce an election when he did So as the Prime Minister was telling the country It would soon be vot ing again there was I saying that Mr Trudeau would be sure to wait until the fall and his first Throne Speech before calling a vote But against that my crystal ball was more often clear than cloudy I commented on the possibility of President Johnson deciding to quit some weeks before he actually announced he would not be seeking another term I picked Mr Trudeau as the successor to Prime Minister Pearson five months before the Liberal conven tion And I correctly called the out come of the elections The column which I still feel the best about however was the piece I wrote in the spring of drawing attention to the fact that we had bettered the peacekeeping record between World Wars I and Peace between those two wars lasted just years We equalled that mark in and since then have avoided global war for more than 23 years compared to the 20 years and months be tween the cud of the First World War and the outbreak of the Sec ond World War This is not to say of course that the world has really been at peace these Inst years but at least it has avoided world- The most sorrowful col umn I had to write and I am sure anyone writing on world during this period would agree with me dealt with the of President Ken- Writing these 250-col- umns I have tried to balance my topics between matters of strictly Canadian concern and Internation al subjects The reaction I have had from readers convinces me that Canadians are indeed Inter ested in foreign When com bined with humanitarian angle this can produce a burning issue such as the subject of Canadian aid to lliafrn It would be nice to say my columns influenced opin ion or changed government policy They hnvent Rut theyve had a following of readers in many Can adian towns which I have apprec iated I thank all the readers and the editors who have permitted these articles to see the light of day