HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1969-11-06, Page 1Firemen don breathing gear to fight fire in Fraser house on Bayfield Road last Saturday morning.
Provincial police called the blaze arson. — Staff Photo.
Halloween prank?
Fire in house Saturday
was set hours earlier
Bill Mehl, 6 Clinton native and long-time CNR employee who
how sells pens, calendars and other imprinted gifts for Gamester
Advertising Service- of Sarnia, is seen his new mobile office, 'a
19-foot trailer with lights, heat, Storage and display robm. Bill
designed and supplied the town souvenir plate which shows the
new radar antenna monument and proclaims Clinton "the Home
Of Radar." The souvenir is on sale'now at Anstett Jewellers:
Staff Photo
Clinton ews- Record
104th YEAR e•-• NO.46
THURSDAY, NClYINWR 6, 1969- PRICE PER COPY 16c
The News-Record office will
be closed on Tuesday,
Remembrance Day, a legal
holiday in the Town of Clinton.
Classified and display advertising
will be accepted until 6 p.m,
Monday for publication in next
week's issue. Correspondents are
asked to mail their news copy as
early as possible.
Schools in Huron County will
be closed Tuesday. Banks and
businesses in Clinton will be
closed. Tuesday garbage
collection wilt be made Monday.
Postal service Tuesday will be
normal.
Services at the Clinton Legion
Hall will be held at 9:30 a.m.
and at the Cenotaph at 10:50
a.m., with dedication of the
radar antenna monument at the
main corner following
immediately.
* * *
A meeting to form a winter
carnival committee will be held
in the council chambers at the
town hall on Nov. 12 at 8 p.m.
Each service club and local
organization is asked to send
two representatives. Everyone
interested is welcome,
* * *
The board of directors of the
Midwestern Ontario Regional
Development Council (MODA
Council) will meet at Canadian
Forces Base Clinton on Nov. 13.
It was suggested recently that
the board consider relocating its
offices from Stratford to the
base when the armed forces
move out in 1971.
* * *
The Clinton Town Council
holds a regular meeting in the
town hall on Monday at 8:15
p.m. A proposed subdivision
bylaw was to be considered by
council this month, but changes
are still being made in the draft
and it is not expected to get"first
reading before the December
session.
* * *
A 12-session farm
management course will be held
in the Clinton office of the
Ontario Dept. of Agriculture and
Food starting on Nov. 24.
Registrations are being accepted
until Nov. 17. For further
information, consult the
advertisement which appears
elsewhere in this issue of The
News-Record.
* * *
As many as seven government
ministers may attend this years
annual convention of the
Ontario Federation of
Agriculture in Toronto Nov.
10-12.
The Rev. Sister Thomas
Moore, a sure-witted,
well-informed critic of farm
organizations in the United
States, has been invited to give
an address either Tuesday or
Wednesday. It is hoped that she
will be able to come from
Wisconsin for the engagement.
* * *
Friday,Nov. 21, is a date that
is heavily underscored on over
200 farm calendars.
That is the day that the
Queen's Guineas Class will be
judged at the Royal Winter Fair
which opens Nov. 14 and closes
Nov. 22. It is also the day when
some young girl or boy will learn
whether months of loving care,
and hard work, will bring to him
or her the prized Guineas and
the recognition that goes with
the showing of the champion
beef steer.
Contestants must have been
4-11 club members during the
current year. Their steers must
have been prize winners at a
local achievement day show and
must hare gained 2.0 pounds a
day during the period of May 15
to October 15.
Weather
1969 1968
HI LC HI LO
Oct. 28 44 29 52 33
29 45 24 38 29
30 50 26 42 30
31 52 33 49 27
Nov, 1
65 48 65 40
2 44 47 52 33
3 50 44 45 30
Rain .01' SnOW
Rain .43"
An arson investigation was
started by provincial police after
fire damaged heavily an
unoccupied two-storey brick
farmhouse in Goderich
Township on the Bayfield Road
southeast of Clinton last
Saturday.
Clinton Fire Chief Grant Rath
said -he .suspected the fire was
started as a Hallowe'en "prank"
late Friday night and
smouldered until smoke was
seen by a passerby Saturday
morning.
The alarm was sounded in
town about 9:30 a.m. and
firefighters labored more than an
hour to halt the stubborn blaze,
The window to a front room
was broken when • firemen
arrived, Paper matches were
found strewn on the window sill
and on the ground beneath it.
Two separate fires were found
inside the room. Both started in
pieces of upholstered furniture
and burned through to the
cellar. One burned up a wall and
spread eventually to the attic
and roof.
The house is owned by
Isabelle and Jean Fraser, two
sisters who use it for several
weeks in the summer months.
One lives in Toronto, the other
in Kapuskasing. No estimate of
loss was available immediately,
Canadian Forces Base Clinton
held military training exercises
last Friday and Saturday nights
in what the base commander,
Col, E. W. Ryan, described as a
test of perimeter security
measures.
Reports that men were
brought from London to Clinton
and that the unusual activity was
part of a plan to provide military
aid to civilian authorities in case
of weekend disturbances Were
denied by Colonel Ryan.
"We are," he said, "supposed
to be able to Close the base any
time. This is something we will
be doing again during the
Winter."
He Said that the exercises
involved mainly stUdents and
residents of Adastral Park, the
permanent married quarters
area. A teen town dance and
weekend social events in the
Officers' Mess, the Warrant
Officers'/Sergerints' Mess and the
Corporals' Club were held as
scheduled, he noted:
In the event Of a security
alert, he said, men Would be
Sutnmoned ftom the Married
grafters and security would have
to be provided for their wives
and children. Therefore it must
be possible to 'secure both the
Military compound and the
PMQS, he explained.
During the eitercisee, Sentries
replaced the commissionaires
but the house contained only
basic furnishings and was not
filled with antiques as some
spectators at first feared,
A cistern beside the house was
drained by firemen when it
became obvious the 600 gallons
of water aboard the new truck
would not suffice. One trip out
of town with more water was
made by the old fire engine and
then Bayfield volunteers were
asked to respond with their
tanker.
Firemen wore masks and air
tanks to work inside the house
and on the roof where smoke
was heavy and heat intense. A
large crowd gathered to watch
firemen at the start, but the
rainy, raw weather thinned the
ranks quickly.
By the time the fire was out,
the room where it began arid the
one above were badly damaged,
large holes gaped in the roof and
smoke and water damage was
extensive throughout the
structure.
Among the Hallowe'en pranks
reported by town police Friday
night were: seven hydrants
opened, the rear window of a
parked auto smashed, a can
containing gasoline set afire on
the grounds of Central Huron
-Secondary School and rocks
thrown through windows of one
house, and one store.
the main gate and for four hours
Friday evening, from seven to 11
o'clock, roads into Adastral Park
were closed and guarded.
Colonel Ryan said the
participating trainees were
divided into mobile reserve
groups of about 40 men. Test
alerts were called twice each
night and the responses were
timed and evaluated. Tests of
the use and operation of
Find
Three Mt. Brydges area men
have been charged with
possession of copper scrap stolen
from the Ontario Hydro service
centre in Clinton last week. A
warrant has been issued 'for the
arrest of a fourth.
And while the burglaries of
the Clinton Community Centre
and two Beech Street businesses
two weekS ago are still being
investigated, police repotted
discovery Sunday of a break-in
at St. Joseph's Separate School
oh Beech Street and the looting
of a doiriboie at Brownie's car
wash On the Same street.
Charged in the hydro theft are
Larry Marshal, 25; David
Ooldrick, 24 and John Harnett,
28, all of rtn, 3, Mt. Brydges.
Clifford Bloornfield; 25, who
police said shared a house with
Fruit and vegetables peppered
passing cars at various points and
traffic on Highway 4 was held
up for a time after someone
wired the railroad crossing
signals in an "on" position.
The Goderich OPP
detachment said an 18 by
24-foot frame building at the
Goderich Township dump near
Holmesville was burned. Bales of
hay and straw were placed.,on
highways and set afire.
Mailboxes were taken; tires
Slashed and, in the words of a
spokesman, "there was a lot of
little stuff ... you name it, we
had it."
Rumors of a visit by the
motorcyclists involved in a
Seaforth fracas earlier in the
week, plus the predictable
Hallowe'en troubles, led to
precautions which produced
what was termed by some
observers the quietest
Hallowe'en in town in years.
Two regular policemen and an
auxiliary worked most of the
night. One cruiser with two OPP
men patrolled in town for hours
and occasionally another cruiser
appeared. PUC crewmen and
volunteer firemen were on
duty, custodial staffs kept an
eye on schools and a number of
other persons assisted in
watching for vandalism.
communications equipment was
part of the exercise, he said.
The colonel said the exercise
also served to prevent Hallowe'en
vandalism in Adastral Park or at
Air Marshal Hugh Campbell
Public School.
"It turned out to be an
awfully good night," he said,
"all the kids were off the street
at 9:30 and no one was running
around."
the three, is being sought.
The charges came after police
found a stolen Hydro truck
abandoned in a gravel pit in
Kerwood, near Strathroy, and
found more than $300 worth of
metal in a Mt. Brydges area
house. Police say the copper and
other scrap was valued at nearly
$1,000. The truck Was taken
from the Clinton centre to
transport the scrap which was
said to weigh about a ton.
At the separate school last
Saturday night or early Sunday,
someone forced open an outside
window end broke the window
to an office where drawers were
ransacked in an unsuccessful
search for Money.
The Schoed principal said
Monday that no cash is ever left
in the building.
Funeral services were held
onday afternoon for Mrs. Ruth
eleaker 21 of 373 James St 1), I • I
.Clinton, who suffered fatal head
injuries in an auto accident on
Victoria Street (Highway 4
South) last Friday evening.
Mrs. Baker died in Clinton
Public Hospital less than an hour
after the northbound
Otationwagon in which she *was
iiding hit the rear of a truck
'parked north of Harold's Shell
Station on the east side of the
*reet. The death was the first
?Paine fatality in town since
December, 1967.
Her husband, James, 23,
driver of the car, suffered a
broken nose in the 6;30 o'clock
crash and was treated at the
Otospital.
Police Chief Lloyd Westlake
'Said the tractor-trailer truck was
:owned by Carman Brindley
' Transport, RR 4, Goderich. The
chief said he drove south past
the truck moments before the
accident. He said he heard the
impact and returned to assist.
Dr. Raymond W. Flowers was
,,summoned to the scene. The
injured woman was put in a
pickup truck and taken to the
hospital where emergency
treatment was given by Dr.
Larry Kelly of Canadian Forces
Base Clinton and Dr. L. P.
Walden.
Mrs. Baker, the former Ruth
Mary Bylsma, was born in
Exeter on Sept. 3, 1948,
daughter of Brant and the late
Anne (Ten Kate) Bylsma.
Man hurt
in crash
Murray L. Biggin„of RR 2,
'.Clinton was repiirted in
Satisfactory condition at Clinton
Public Hospital yesterday with
injuries sustained in an accident
near Holmesville early last
Sunday Morning..
Provincial police from
Goderich said the single-car
crash occurred at 12:30 o'clock
on the 13th concession of
Goderich Township, north of
Highway 8.
During the week ended last
Saturday, provincial police from
the Goderich detachment
investigated seven accidents.
Town police investigated two
accidents last Saturday.
On Sunday, Oct. 26, on
Stanley Township sideroad
30-31 west of Highway 4,
Christina Wright of 12 Winnipeg
Road, Adastral Park was
involved in a single-car accident
resulting in an estimated $1,000
damage to the vehicle she was
driving. She and a passenger,
Shirley Ann Dukes of 2 Victoria
Blvd., Adastral Park, received
minor injuries.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, on
Highway 4 north of Kippen,
Edith Thomson of RR 3, Kippen
and Claire Leroy Hoffman of
Exeter were involved in a
car-truck accident resulting in
$1,500 damage to the Tuckey
Beverage Co. track Mr. Hoffman
was driving. He suffered minor
injuries and was released from
South Huron District Hospital in
Exeter after treatment.
On Wednesday, Oct. 29, on
County Road 31 north of
County Road 3, Douglas George
Thiel of Zurich struck a deer on
the road. Damage to his car was
estimated at $150.
Reginald J. O'Brien of
Edmonton, Alberta, driving a
Kincardine company's truck,
swerved off Tuckersmith
sideroad 30 south of Highway 8
oh Wednesday, Oct. 29, to avoid
a CNR train St a crossing. A
railway crossing sign was
damaged and the train stopped
and backed up- to be sure the
driver was unhurt.
Last Friday on Concession
11.12, Goderich Township, at
the junction of old Highway 8 at
Holinesirille, Glen HUctwith of
RR 1, Dresden and Dianne
1VIallough of RR 2, Clinton were
involved in a ear-truck accident
which caused an estimated total
damage of $175.
The same day on County
Road 31 south of Varna,
Richard Ostrom of Varna and
Gordon McNutt of ttk 1, Zurich
were involved in a two-car
itatecidoeno,t. Damage was estimated
Please turn to page 2;
She started school in Belgrave
and later attended elementary
schools in Hullett and
Tuckersmith Townships and at
Adastral Park. She Also attended
Central Huron Secondary School
where she participated in track
and field sports events.
A member of the Clinton
Christian Reformed Church, she
was a Calvinette counselor, a
member of the board of the
Trillium League and a Vacation
Bible School instructor.
She was a former member of
the Centennial Huron Youth
Choir and, more recently,
entertained often at Huronview,
the county home for the aged,
with a group of singers from the
Christian Reformed Church.
Health Minister Thomas Wells
announced last Thursday the
names of 44 Ontario
communities designated for
special provincial help in getting
doctors' services. Clinton was
not on the list, but .Goderich
was.
The communities — more will
be named later — have been
chosen as having inadequate
health services and will get help
under the Ontario Health
Resources Plan which guarantees
doctors an income of $26,000
before taxes.
Last June, when Dr. J. Alex
Addison retired from general
practice of medicine in Clinton,
he said one reason he was
quitting was so that a younger
man would have more incentive
to settle here and start a
practice.
"Ideally," he said, "I would
like to see two young doctors
start here. There is that much
work in the area now."
BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER
Alvin D. Smith, chairman of
the executive committee of
Huron County Council, asked
for discussion Friday on the
question of county welfare and
was rewarded with a deluge of
comments that had to be
curtailed by Warden James
Hayter in order to carry on with
other business.
The crux of the discussion
was whether or not council
should look into the possibility
of forming a county welfare unit
with trained personnel to
manage its affairs.
Clerk John Berry thought the
government would look "with
favor" on Huron County
Council if it did enter the field
of county welfare.
Said Berry, "This is about the
only matter we have not taken
over that is within our
authority."
Exeter Reeve Derry Boyle
commented, "I think the thing
we have to concern ourselves
with is the even distribution of
county welfare. In the past the
burden. has been placed on
certain municipalities.'
Warden Hayter had vacated
the warden's chair in order to
Speak more freely on the matter.
He told Chairman Roy B.
Cousins and other Members of
council that the rehabilitation of
welfare recipients was a matter
Of prime importance.
"We shouldn't have one
generation after the other
carrying On with welfare,"
remarked Hayter. He said local
Welfare officers have been
Sincere, but they are just not
qualified to deal with many of
the problems that come up in
Welfare work.
Discussion revealed that some
Municipalities in the county
have a very hisignifieant amount
of welfare payments While
certain Other areal encounter
real difficulty,
There was Some indication
that municipalities surrounding
Huron Park at the former CFB
Centralia are experiencing new
Survivors include her father
and stepmother, the former Mrs.
Elizabeth Stevens, at 149
Victoria Terrace, Clinton; four
brothers, John of Kingston, Bob
of Kincardine and Tim and
Doug, both at home; three
sisters, Mrs. Paul (Mae)
Wigboldus of Strathroy; Mrs. Co
(Betty) Zondag of Londesboro
and Jenny at home and her
maternal grandmother, Mrs.
Boukje Ten Kate of the
Netherlands,
She is also survived by three
aunts, Mrs. J. Zondervan of
Blenheim, Mrs. Jake Roorda of
Clinton and Mrs. Janet Boonstra
of Guelph.
The funeral was held at the
Christian Reformed Church in
"One doctor is coming in my
place," he continued, "...there
should be more, three or four
more. Clinton needs more."
Dr. Addison said he was
worried about the future of
Clinton's medical services.
"With me going," he said,
"that leaves just three other
doctors. And two of them are
over 70 and close to retirement.
I was talking to a friend from
Listowel the other day, which is
the same sort of area as Clinton,
and they have nine doctors in
the community,"
Mr. Wells said the designated
communities were chosen
following studies -of the
doctor-patient ratio; local
demands for services; available
transportation to nearby
hospitals and the availability of
adequate housing or office
space. Twenty-four communities
were designated under a similar
plan for dentists.
problems brought on by an
influx of new people.
Warden Hayter said modern
population was on the move and
that it was not always true that a
.local welfare officer knew the
background of the people
applying for welfare assistance.
Reeve Roy Westcott,
Usborne, said he would like to
see some figures which would
give him an idea of the cost of
operating a county welfare unit
for one year. He said the Bruce
County delegation which
addressed county council in
September painted a "pretty
rosy picture," but were using
figures from the six summer
months.
Westcott noted that in most
municipalities, the winter
Please turn to page 2
Clinton with the Rev. Alvin
Beukema officiating. Interment
was at Clinton Cemetery.
Funeral arrangements were made
by Beattie Funeral Home.
Pallbearers were Bob Baker,
Richard Jongevan and Mrs.
Baker's four brothers.
Flowerbearers were Clarence,
Wayne and John Baker,
RUTH BAKER
CFWOS
• opening
The new Canadian Forces
Warrant Officers School will be
opened officially at Canadian
Forces Base Clinton tomorrow
afternoon by Maj. Gen. William
K. Carr, commander, Training
Command, Winnipeg.
The general will take the
salute at a two o'clock parade,
present a badge to the school
and meet with its staff and
students on the parade square.
Three T-33 aircraft frOne North
Bay are slated to pass overhead
at 2:45 p.m.
After the general tours the
warrant officer training facilities,
receptions will be held' in the
Officers' Mess and the
Warrant Officers'/ Sergeants'
Mess.
Col. E. W. Ryan has invited a
number of civilian dignitaries to
attend the opening. Among the
military officials present will be
Chief Warrant Officer W. Waring,
command warrant officer for
Training Command.
The new training section will
draw students from sea, land and
air elements of the armed forces.
It will have a staff of 26 and will
accommodate 96 students at a
time in six-week courses — the
first of which commences
tomorrow.
The school will provide
leadership, management and
supervisory training to personnel
of sergeant and warrant officer
rank and will be a prerequisite
for promotion to master warrant
officer rank.
The warrant officer program
is expected to remain at CFB
Clinton until April 1971 when
both it and the School of
Instructional Technique will
move as military operations at
the base are phased out.
Woman, 21, dies after crash
Fatal auto accident
first in 23 months
Base tests security
Hydro copper
Town ineligible
for doctor aid
Want welfare local