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Box 359 ® Russell, Ontario © Phone 445-2080 Vol. 2, No. 20 "You make the News" July 2, 1977 Lions Celebrate 30th Anniversary At Lions Charter Night Banquet, incoming President Jack James presents a gift to Past Thirty years age, twenty- seven community-minded men of Russell and area banded together to form the Russell Lions Club. They set in motion a tradition of service and brother- hood which to this day is recognized and esteemed by Lions Clubs throughout the valley. Of the fifty-eight clubs chartered in District A-4, Russell was twelfth to receive a charter. The Lions of the Ottawa Central Lions Club, the first Club in District A-4 to be chartered, receiving their charter on June 12, 1922, will ever have a special place in the annals of the Russell Lions. It was they, on May 27, 1947 under the auspices of Lions International, who presented twenty-seven men of Russell with a charter to create a Lions Club in Russell. Looking back over the past thirty years, we would like to express our gratitude to the community for their support. We exist to serve and thrive on Rowsell. support. Sports and recreation, the handicapped, the needy, disaster victims, senior citizens and community service are the main areas of our concern. For many years each Christ- mas season, food baskets were given to Russell's less fortunate families. Annual donations to the Ontario Crippled Childrens Society and the C.N.I.B. have become a tradition. On many occasions. crutches, braces, wheel-chairs, special glasses and other aids have been purchased for handicapped people. As well financial aid was given for a home of the elderly blind in Ottawa. Sports and recreation have always been a major area of activity for the Lions. The records bulge with references to financial support for Russell hockey teams and_ baseball teams at all age levels. During the years when we lacked an arena, the Lions built and a - i: é Reeve Gaston Patenaude delivers congratulations from the Township Council to the Russell Lions Club on the occasion of their 30th Anniversary. -- Photo by M. Rowsell. MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 4 President Dean Loucks. Photo by Mary maintained an outdoor rink for the children of the community. Thirty thousand dollars has been pledged to our present arena building fund. Seven thousand dollars was used toward the capital debt on the swimming pool. The Lions own and operate the Russell Ball Park. Many references may be found of donations to disaster funds both on a worldwide and local basis. Several local people whose property was destroyed by fire were aided. The Senior Citizens have also benefited by our existence. Here again the records site many examples of aid to individuals and the purchase of facilities and equipment for our elderly citizens in general. We have also enjoyed sup- porting the Boy Scouts, the Brownies, the Girl Guides, the Russell Twerlers and others. Now with the existence of a Recreation Association, funds are channeled in that direction. As the Ottawa Central Club so many years ago did for Russell, we in turn have done for others. The Russell Lions chartered the Navan Lions Club twenty-five years ago and Finch Club. nine years ago. All of the preceding has very briefly stated how we_ have served through giving. We also serve when staging events to raise funds. The Dances, the Carnivals, the Bingos, the Walk-A-Thons = and Bike-A- Thons, the Ball and Hockey Tournaments, the Lions B-B-Q and all the other fund raising events the community has patronized have also been a service. ' It is the duty of the Russell Lions Club to be aware of the needs of the Community. We believe the past has shown this to be the case and are confident the future shall hold the same. D22 "Loucks, President, 1976-77 Sidewalk Talk By Mark Van Dusen Dogs dying in the Streets -- For Children, it's only a matter of time Three dogs were hit by cars within two weeks in Russell last month. In one case, the dog was killed crossing the main street. It scurried into the path of the car, the driver had little chance. The driver, in a humane gesture, gave the owners of the dead dog a new puppy. In the other two cases, the actions of the faceless figures behind the wheels were calcul- ated and cowardly. They didn't stop. The cars were accelerating when they piled into the animals on side streets. Only one dog lived. It iss hard to imagine the drivers didn't see the dogs, one a large spotted breed. One of the hit-and-runs was in broad daylight. The ugly conclusion is the drivers simply refused to stop. It can be argued in all of these cases the dog should have been leashed; streets are for cars. But Russell's streets are used for more than just normal traffic. Speeding has been a problem in the village for many years. There is a subculture of driver who wrongly believes the streets are at its disposal for racing, squealing tires and "booting it" any time of day. Then there are motorists who haven't sunk to this level but who can't drive through the village without hitting 50 mph. Consider this with the influx of new and growing families in Russell. Dogs are popular pets. While the death of one of the three dogs may have been unavoidable, the two_hit-and- runs were predictable. There will be more. As the number of residents increases, the death of a human being on a village street is also predictable. It will likely be a child. Children cannot be kept on a leash and, despite training, will dash on to the street. The next time it happens, will the driver be able to stop. If not, will he bother to stop at all. Streets are for people. Cars are mechanical things driven by people who also cross streets, walk along streets, play in streets. Unless all motorists using Russell streets come to grips with this, it is only a matter of time before someone lies dying on the pavement, a victim of avoidable circumstances. Then, there will only be the unavoidable to worry about. Canada Day A Reader's View Wolfe's capture of Quebec was an accident of history: only at the final moment of victory was the English strategy sophist- icated and superior, and the victory was a last ditch effort before going home empty-hand- ed after futilely floating up and down the river for four months. At that time in upper and lower Canada there were 50,000 French settlers and only about 200 English speaking civilians -- mostly army camp _ followers. What a droll image: Wolfe tripped and captured half a continent, and the French Canadian culture is overwhelm- ed by the sophisticated machin- ations of 200 English prostitutes. The humor assumed a menacing reality for the French within a few years however when 50,000 Americans flooded into Quebec and Ontario. That reality is still with us. The English speaking peoples of Canada are mostly rootless immigrants from other places adapted to changing cultures, while the French speaking peoples are rooted deeply in Quebec, the only nation they have ever known. Confederation reflects this difference: for the French it was protection, an immutable barrier to change, guaranteeing the "nation's" boundaries and its language, culture and religion; for the English it was a passport to economic and geographic conquest and growth, guar- anteeing the transcending of boundaries and culture over half a continent and the continuation' of an aggressive, imperialist nationalism. The two ideas are clearly at sharp odds and Quebec's nervousness about the conflict- ing union was clear even in 1867, when the Quebec parlia- ment gave it a bare-majority approval. Since' then, the protection offered by the con- stitution has been slipping away as national and_ international forces envelop the world. In the last twenty years, television, American culture, and multi national economics have des- troyed old Quebec the church, the language, local business, the school system, the charities, in short the way of life. Separatism is the only obvious remaining defense: a nation state can be impose a linguistic (and electronic) curtain around itself whereas a_ province cannot. In all likelihood this will not happen as there are both expansionist and __ isolationist forces within the province of Quebec and the bare margin will probably be cast in favour of federalism -- just as in 1867. There is an alternate defence: protection accorded to franco- phone Canada by the anglo- . phone majority. Since Wolfe and Montcalm died the people's of the northern half of the continent have been adjusting and adapt- ing to other, mostly without resort to arms i.e. "comprom- ise" is what we are. If our constitution did not provide for the existence of varied religions, varied legal systems, two languages and so on, we would be Americans whose collective mentality assumes a melting-pot uniformity entrenched by armed force. Perhaps English Canad- ians have already become Americans and that is why we have such difficulty in compre- hending Quebec's desire to remain different. To be Canadian means to be open, tolerant, accepting -- not just of the French and English languages but of all people. If the Canadian-lrish have de- veloped a new consciousness from living in Canada it surely (continued on page 3)