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fguess it's a matter of opinion, but my vote would definitely go to Neil Armstrong. the first man to walk on the moon, Guelph just recently passed its bylaw covering can- ine indiscretions on that city’s sidewalks. Toronto is building fortresses to restrict the movements of the dog population there. And Quebec City is concerned about horses. _ If Waterloo is having any problems with its stoop and scoop legislation. nobody is talking about it. It's been a while since I've run barefoot in the park so I can't really say for sure how successful the local le- gislation has been. Quick now - who was the last hero of the western world? Was it Charles Lindbergh. the intrepid flyer who crossed the Atlantic Ocean? How about George Patton. the controversial general, or the late John Wayne. - The problem of stoop-and-scooping is back in the news in three Canadian cities. Kitchener's bylaw was nudged into action two years ago by a lady on Westmount Road who practically took the law enforcement officer by the hand and shamed him into reading the letter of the law to an owner whose dog had fertilized a church lawn. The city got 816 for that one. If he gets caught and convict- ed in Guelph it will cost him $100. Then the inflation will really hit the fan. Who could forget that exciting day 10 years ago when Armstrong announced to the world that “,‘the Eagle has landed," Our min in New York reports that 76 summonses were issued last year in that city with its estimated 700,000 dogs, but he says the bylaw is working and the What was your first thought when the first moon landing was broadcast to the earth? Mine was that the landing was just a beginning, and that In a matter of years we'd be hearing about landings from all over our solar system Mars. Venus. Mercury, vanous as- teroids and maybe even far-flung Neptune eventually Looking backto that day now. 1 can see where! was optimistic to say the very least Instead of continuing to expand. the North American space program has dwindled to almost nothing. tl say the North Ameri- In July. the Canadian Community Newspapers Ar socratlon Is celebrating its diamond jubilee at a can vennon In Toronto In Wiarton, Ontario. the Echo ls celebrating Its 100th birthday this July ld like to take In both. as a member of the former for eleven years and editor of the latter for the same period Some of the happiest years of my life. as far as work goes. were spent In the weekly newspaper busmess And as work goes, " went a long way - about sixty hours a week A couple of bug anniversaries are coming up for weekly newspapers. or community newspapers. as they are called these days It requires a certain type of personality and outlook to be a happy weekly editor Or It did when I was one It's a lot different now. With young, hard-nosed edr tors, fresh out of Journalism school. Imitatmg the techmques of the dailies First of all, you had to have a complete lack of ma- terlal desires You could make a living, but you never got rich, or even well to do Next. you had to keep your back shop happy. the printing staff And anyone who has ever tried to keep a printing staff happy knows that It's about as easy as attending a fMr'ntr' of rattlesnakes without being hit- ten Then. of course. you had to tread the thin lune be- tween bemg fearless. independent and outspoken, and selling enough advertising to keep body and soul to gether The guy who attacked town council for some nefarious bylaw. and the guy who went out and tried to sell ads to the SIX merchants on the town councrl were the same guy. very often There were the inevitable typographical errors to By Geoff Hail. Howard Elliott streets are as clean as anyone expects streets in New York to be. It’s a good thing they don't have stoop and scoop probtems; just counting that many dogs in one year sounds like a fulltime Jolt init'self. Back in Toronto, city officials have proposed a $7,000 solution to complaints by more than too parents that dogs are urinating. and defecating in a playground sandbox. They are talking about putting up a three-foot-high iron picket fence surrounding the playground and five signs asking the dog owners to clean up their dog act. Apparently as many as 16 Toronto parks already have fenced playgrounds, with some of the fences reaching as high as 10 feet - presumably to keep out lions, tigers and small elephants in the bargain. can space program because, though NASA! is based in the US. technology from Canada was used extensive- ly, and the manned space flights were of interest to the entire continent. ) For the kind of money you would have to spend on that much iron railing at today's prieetuyou might be better off to let the playgrounds go to the dogs and buy the kids their own country club. F We'll leave it to Toronto's city council to clean up that mess and go on to Quebec City where their city council has gone berserk in seeking a solution to a larger problem. It seems the horses, who attract Last weekend's issue of Weekend magazine was de- dicated entirely to the tenth anniversary of the first moon landing. it was a good issue - which is rare in it- self - but I felt like I was reading a eulogy on manned space flight. Due to increasing domestic pressures. the government of the United States has relegated manned space travel to a "back bumer" The main reason given is the tremendous expense Involved in space flights. I can see the reasoning be- hind President Carter's decision to take NASA off the priority list, With the American economy in a pro- longed slump. and the energy shortage becoming more serious by the year. it is perhaps the only logical course of action It's sad though Because with thekiemise _ tirmporariiy at least - of the manned space program, I see the demise of the harry the obfuscated editor In a wedding write-up, the bride very often came out as the "bridge" In funeral accounts. the pallbearers were apt to be de- scribed as “six old fiends" who carried the coffin to its final rest. . In a small town. there are currents of Jealousy and antagonism and family feuds that run deep and strong - Praise a local politician for making a good move. and his third cousm from the other snde of the family would call you up and tell you. With vivid detail. what a snake-in-the-grass your first man was Venture to criticise. however gently, an athlete or a public figure. and you'd have your ears scorched by eighty-four close relatives who normally despised the guy. but rallied to their roots when an aspersuon was cast on the clan Hell hath no fury like a Woman's Institute whose boring account of us meeting, mcludmg everything from who sand Grace to what they ate, was cut by the blue pencil And then. of course, there were the drunks who would call you up at 3 a m to ask you to settle an ar- gument about who scored the final goal In the l934 Stanley Cup playoff And the kooks who would call you up and try to plant a tibellous rumour. or demand that you come out to the farm and take a picture of their home-made threshing-machirte There was always some country correspondent furious because her "news". consisting of who visited whom on Sunday afternoon, was crowded out by a rush of late advertising "Why don't you leave out some ads"" Bill Smiley touriststotheoldFrenchsectoroitownby walking the streets pulling carriages, have offended a sig- nificant number of the pedestrians. They, in turn have convinced the politicians that being knee-deep in at. mosphere is fine " long " it stops there. The city council passed a bylaw making it necessary for the horse to wear '- you won’t believe this - diapers. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- mals has threatened legal action unless etmncirrEsc cinds the bylaw. The law is designed to prevent man- ure from piling up on the streets. Has anyone con- sidered calling for tenders to shovel the offending item away on a daily basis before it "piles up" too high? Let the highest bidder have the contract. pro- vided he supplies his own container to carry it on. That stuff is great on the vegetable garden. I realize this whole issue iino laughing matter. And although all of the evidence isn't in yet, we should each and every one of us decide where we stand on the matter. [ a city road. I guess if I have to take sides, I'm against the dogs and for the horses. I very rarely walk up the middle of sense of adventure that has always characterized our society. When John F. Kennedy decided to put a man on the moon. he did it for political reasons. But the space flights themselves were much more than political tools used to get ahead in the Cold War. The Apollo -program, I believe. gave North Ameri- cans something to talk. argue. cheer and dream about. Now it seems our society has lost faith in itself, Where our technology was once something to brag about. it now seems mundane and unimportant when compared to the pressing problems of inflation, mem- ployment and other domestic issues. And the astronauts represented our technology. in all its impressive arrogance, More importantly. they were concrete proof of our need to explore the unk- nown no matter what the price. Now we're left with our domestic problems. many of which seem beyond solution There was no lack of variety In the weekly business. when you were reporter. editor, advertising manager. proof reader. and general bunboy for the tyrants in the back shop elderly gentleman of Irish descent had been celebrat- mg the day in the pub When he hadn't arrived home by ten o'clock. his housekeeper called for help The local pubs were alerted, and the hockey rink. where there was a game In progress Most at the male popu- lation. at least half of the half-lit. stormed off to search for the missing man We found him, covered in snow. about a quarter-mile from his house Back to the rink and the pubs . _ l distinctly" remember a sr Patrick's Day night. when there was an unexpected heavy (all of 3097 An I remember shouting at deaf old ladies who were celebrating their ninetieth birthdays. and getting some of the most surprising answers. '. "How long has your husband been dead?" "Nah, he never was much good in bed mt ‘To what do you attribute your long life"" -Yas, I was always a good wife .. And so on To be a successful editor, though not necessarily a good one. you had to continually straddle fences This becomes a bit of a chafe after a whole It sounds as though I'm knocking the game Not so, These are fond memories And there were rewards. most of them intangible It was kind of nice to be im troduced to strangers as "our" editor It gave satis- faction when a subscriber from away down in the States dropped in on his way to the summer cottage and said he, "Sure liked that piece about the deer hunt "trR. ,. 20,4 q ’51-. Wawloo music», My, My 10, 1979 Iran's 1 Neil Armstrong where are you when we need you? o 'au' 09-} N v.1" ' \n-ynnh' a ‘CMU