Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-04-07, Page 1exelerZniesaittuocafe Board plans public meeting Press ousted b town council attendance and he was not asked to define the topics as required. His motion was quickly ap- proved by Deputy-Reeve Don MacGregor, and Shaw then ask- ed if the town employees who were present should also be Re- eluded. Simmons replied that he wish- ed them to stay for the meeting. "Will you excuse us, Bill?" Mayor Shaw asked the T-A editor Bill Batten. "It will be my pleasure," the latter replied. "I'D go home and watch the Gong Show. It will be more enlightening than this," press was not for one single dis- cussion by council, although un- der correct parliamentary procedures, that is the extent to which the press and public can be Excluded. His comments suggested he did not want the press in for any of the discussions for the entire meeting and Mayor Bruce Shaw gave no indication of how long the committee-of-the-whole would continue. The. Reeve said he had "several things" in his com- mittee report that he wanted to discuss without the press in said he may ask him to leave the meeting, Councillor Barb Bell overheard the discussion and suggested council not get in- volved in that type of situation. However, with the editor back on the job this week, Simmons quickly moved to have him removed from the meeting and council supported his action. While the press and public have been asked to leave on prior occasions when council went into committee-of-the-whole dis- cussions, those situations were different than Monday's. Simmons' move to bar the council met in secret session to make their decision on moving the police out of the town hall. When he was advised that he Couldn't bar the press from a public meeting of council, he said he would have the editor es- corted from the meeting by the police if necessary. That situation failed to materialize as the T-A editor Was on holiday for the meeting which was chaired by Simmons. The Reeve.did ask reporter Ross Haugh prior to that meeting if he had an apology, and the latter said he did not, When Simmons While Simmons' actions Were directed mainly at the press, the motion effectively eliminated the right of any citizen to attend the session. "We'll have to operate without them," he said, noting that the press "have screwed UP enough", His actions came as no sur- prise to this newspaper, He had previously suggested that he would bar the press from a meeting be was to chair in the absence of Mayor Shaw if the editor failed to provide an apology for having revealed that The press, was denied access to Exeter council meeting Monday night when members approved a' motion by Reeve Si Simmons that it meet in committee-of-the- whole. Land purchased for GB museum One Hundred and Fourth Year Price Per Copy 25 Cents EXETER, ONTARIO, APRIL 7, 1977 ROOKIE INJURED -- Hawks ciefencemcm Dove Kinsman suffered a severe cut to his eye and was taken to Picton hospital on Sunday. Trainer Bob Drummond helps him into a car for the trip, while manager Fred Mommersteeg looks over his shoulder at the rear. The attending doctor didn't think there would be any damage to Kinsman's eye. T-A photo Four hurt in collision Trio face numerous theft counts Information on loss claimed inaccurate For the second week in a row, the crash total was low in the area, but the injury count was high. On Sunday, four members of an Exeter area family were taken to University Hospital in London following a crash on Highway 4, about one mile north of Exeter. Drivers involved were Carman Cable, RR 1, Exeter, and Joseph Dewan, RR 3, Lucan. The Cable vehicle went off the road, struck a fence and then rolled over onto its left side. Most seriously was injured was Mrs. Cable, who sustained back injuries, her husband suffered lacerations to his head and their two children, Virginia and James, sustained bumps and bruises. OPP Constable Wally Tomasik investigated and listed total damage at $1,500. The only other motor vehicle accident of the week was reported on Wednesday when a car owned by Robert Traut, Huron Park, was struck by an unknown vehicle. in the Dufferin Hotel parking lot, Centralia. Damage was set at $200 by Constable Don Mason. ° DEARING SHEARING DISPLAY — Students at Precious Blood Separate School watched intently on Thurs- day as Gerald Dearing visited their classroom to put on a display of sheep shearing. He s shown above removing the final part of the fleece and below he and the students smile at the finished job. He and his wife then answered a multitude of questions from the students about sheep and shearing, including one about I T-A photo Three area men were released on bail when they appeared before Justice of the Peace Ferris in Goderich on Monday. Released on a recognizance of $500 were LawrenceKelle t, age 17, RR 3 Exeter; Gordon Milton Taylor, age 17, 411 Main St,, Exeter; and Charles Terry Holmes, age 18, also of 411 Main St. Kellett faces nine charges while the other two face seven charges each, The charges were laid by Exeter Constables Jim Barnes and Kevin Short and Exeter OPP Constable Al Quinn. They were charged after a 1977 Volare was stolen from Mathers Motors early Thursday morning. The vehicle was later recovered on Mill St, in Exeter, The trio were also charged with stealing the licence plates from a car owned by Donald Kerslake, RR 3 Exeter, and a quantity of gas from Elwyn Kerslake, RR 1 Woodham. Included in the charges were breakins at Discount Dave's, Graham Arthur Motors and DePnnr's &Moe() in Exeter. R,J. Homuth, principal of Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton, levelled some criticism at the board of education Monday for releasing inaccurate material to the press and public and for not checking with administrative staffs of schools to see if information used about the schools is accurate, Referring to a recent account of missing books in secondary school libraries in the county Homuth claimed a gross inac- curacy appeared regarding CHHS's losses. He said the figure quoted in the newspapers after the board meeting at which the issue was discussed represented the total dollar value of books replaced because of loss, theft and damage for the years prior to 1975 and not for the year 1975-76 as reported. The principal said he had a report from the school librarian stating that there were 490 books not accounted for during the 1975- 76 school year and that the dollar value f or the books would be less than $4,000, not $6,240 indicated in the newspaper report. Homuth said if the board meets his two requests he would expect the press to present to the public a "brighter picture of out staff and student body" claiming the school does not have as many "thieves" as reported, He added that being at the top of such a list does little for school morale. Board vice chairman Marion Zinn, author of the report dealing with library losses, told the board how she had come by the figures in the report adding that she had assumed they were correct. She said she wished to apologize to anyone who received undue criticism from the issue adding that she wished to publicly thank those people who had returned books since her appeal went out. Zinn laid some of the blame for the CUSS problem on the Clinton News Record claiming the newspaper blew the story out of proportion and caused some. misrepresentation. She said she North Lambton's plans for a new museum got a big NO last week when the province tran- sferred 19 acres of parkland two miles south of Grand Bend to the county, The land, situated at the in- tersection of Greenway Road and Highway 21, will cost the county $12,000, MPP Lorne Henderson said Friday, Formal transfer will likely take place next week ac- cording to Lambton warden Tom Steadman. Now that a site is assured, plans for the museum buildings can proceed, The county planning com- mittee has talked of erecting both a main building for the smaller exhibits and a barn to shelter the farm implements. The main building will have fully equipped meeting rooms for slide showings and historical meetings. It will likely be on one floor to allow full access to handicapped persons. Through an architect has drawn up preliminarydra wings, final plans will be made only when the country has a clearer idea of its finances, said Warden Steadman, The county plans to sell the Eisenbach property in Grand Bend including the two buildings presently housing Peter Eisenbach's collection. Money from this sale plus donations received will be matched dollar for dollar by the province, provided the county also chips in an equal share, the warden said. Though the value of the Eisenbach property is estimated at $125,000 to 150,000, the county has earmarked $200,000 for the museum project, This year, $80,000 will be spent, the remainder next year, Mr. Steadman said. thought the newspaper went in for some "uncalled for sen- sational journalism". She added some basis to her claim by alleging that the News Record carried another "unjust report" last week in its issue. Board chairman Herb Turkheim asked Zinn how she felt the newspaper misrepresented the account of the losses. "It was the headline, she said. "The headline read something like 'Students steal $20,000 worth of books'." Turkheim said he felt there was no way a headline could be construed as misrepresentation. He said the story carried in the newspaper would contain the information and Hit was correct that was the important factor. "The board is in no position to dictate to newspapers how to write headlines," said Turkheim, Zinn said she wrote the board of education stories for the Lucknow Sedtinel and the headline that newspaper used was better than the one used in the News Record. J.L. Wooden, principal of South Huron Secondary School in Exeter, said the board could quarrel a great deal on the number of books missing from library shelves • because the number varies through the year. He said the report used probably Please turn to page 3 )!haver .eceyeeetelethe.differenr.e boy.and girLshAe9?':.' Airplane On Wednesday at 5:15 p.m., a Mt. Carmel couple escaped in- jury when their 1949 Piper Clipper sustained $1,000 damage while landing at Huron Industrial Park, The aircraft, pilotted by Nikolaus Joseph Jeromkin, stalled on landing and hit the ground heavily, doing con- siderable damage to the un- dercarriage. He was accompanied in the plane by his wife. During the week, the local detachment officers charged 17 people under the Highway Traffic Act, laid nine charges under the Criminal Code and six under the Liquor Licence Act. Occurrences investigated included the following: seven thefts, one abandoned vehicle, one impaired driver, one break, enter and theft, two lost property, one disturbance, one wilful damage and one trespass. Four men face possession count Four Sarnia men have been charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, The car was stolen from James Regier, Zurich, on Saturday night. The four were charged by police in Hanover who apprehended them in the vehicle. A charge of theft is also pen- ding in Sarnia. A car had been stolen there on Saturday af- ternoon and was later found by Exeter OPP on concession 3-4 of Hay. Facing the charge are Harold Peter Moddejonge, Paul Neron, Daniel Ouellette and Henry Arsenault. OPP are also investigating the breakin of a 'cottage at Highland II owned by Warren May, Exeter. Sign conversion costly at resort Changing speed limit signs from miles per hour to the metric kilometers per hour is becoming an expensive project for the Grand Bend council, At Monday night's council meeting, they discovered it will cost them close to $800 to make the sign change to metric, and that does not supply them with new signs just with a sticker to cover the old speed limit with the new one. There are 45 speed limit signs in the village presently and councillor Bill Baird suggested there may be some which are not necessary. Deputy Reeve Bob Simpson explained one reason the cost was so high was due to the limit in the village being 25 m.p,h. rather than the usual 30 m,p.h. This means the village must have a special run-off of the new stickers at the equivalent lower metric limit and this increases the cost, Council decided to request the village foremean to do a check on sign locations presently in the village, check with the OPP concerning whether or not they will enforce a 25 m.p.h, speed limit; check the number of signs the OPP would require to enforce a 30 m.p.h. limit and what the difference in price would be to order the new signs at the metric equivalent to 30 m,p,h. rather than 25 m.p.h', Severn park deal is definitely off now Damage is high in bridge crash Traffic on Highway 4 at the bridge at the north end of Exeter was delayed for some time late Friday evening as the result of an accident. A motor home unit driven by Jim Bride!, Goshen street, Zurich struck the bridge. The motor home and the bridge were extensively damaged. Constable George Robertson of the Exeter police department investigated. To air issue of 'filthy books' Severn Park is dead, at least as far as Grand Bend is concerned. Monday night Grand Bend Council received official notification from MPP Lorne Henderson the Ministry has accepted the recommendations of the Grand Bend standing committee on Severn Park. . The committee's recom- mendation was to allow the park area to remain in its present state in the hands of the province, The March report shows decline Occurrences investigated dur- ing the month of March were down slightly from February ac- cording to the regular monthly report submitted by Police Chief Ted Day to Exeter council Mon- day night. A total of 122 complaints were received at the police office. A total of 75 motorists received caution notices and 16 charges were laid under the Highway Traffic Act. Six investigations were made under the Liquor Control Act and four persons were charged. Six thefts under $200 were recorded and one person faces charges. Four of the six instances of break and enter have been solved and two stolen ears were recovered. During the Month 11 motor vehicle accidents were in- vestigated with property damage totalling $5,105. "When I taught school this filth was not there," he said. The former teacher told the board that he had written letters to education administrators up to and including provincial minister of education Thomas Wells. He added that everyone up to Wells had the letters and had said a "total of nothing". Barth pointed out that former generations didn't use the kind of language used today by children. He said if people in his day, and in the days of the board members' childhoods, had written obscene things on walls in school they would have been expelled or at least received a very severe thrashing. "If that was the case then and it isn't new who is responsible The Huron County board of education is planning a special public meeting April 25 at 7:30 to take a look at a claim that secon- dary school students in the coun- ty are being subjected to "literary filth" ih the books used in English courses, Lloyd Barth, RR 3 Blyth, spoke at the meeting Monday bringing the board's attention to material from novels taught in secondary school English literature. Barth said he didn't really ex- pect the board members to know about the filth since their other vocations combined with the high number of books used in schools would not permit them to read all material but asked who might be responsible for the selection of books. He conceded that he, as a parent and former teacher himself, would not have known of the material in the books had his daughter not brought it to his attention, - He referred to three novels used in schools regularly. John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men', Margaret Lawrence's 'The Diviners', and J. Salinger's 'Catcher In The Rye'. One selec- tion he read to the board came from 'The Diviners' and read: "When apples are ripe they should be plucked, when girls are 16 they should be „ ." Presbyterian cleric moving decision was reached after public meetings indicated strong op- position to building in the area from area residents, Council also endorsed this decision. Council recommended to the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial relations they ap- prove an application from the Grand Bend Lioness' for a license to operate a "Mini-Las Vegas Night" in the village. No funds are available from the Ministry of Natural Resources to pay for the hiring of an additional lifeguard to patrol the beach this summer, Lorne Henderson MPP, wrote to council informing them he is now proceeding with enquiries into Program 40 of the Ministry of Culture and Recreation to see if the money would be available there. Due to the fact a museum will be going up just outside of the village, Grand Bend council decided to join the Lambton Historical society this year. Council passed a new building code by-law to conform with the revised Ontario building code. An occupancy clause was added to the code as well as other minor variations. Jim Clerk, Chief Building and Plumbing inspector for Lalmbtbri County attended the meeting to explain to council what was required, council accepted the lowest truck 'tender they received, a Dodge tender from Thompson- Warner in Grand Bend, Coun- cillor Bin eltliac will negotiate miner changes in the tender with the dealer, The Rev. W. D. "Riff" Jarvis has advised his three area con- gregations at Exeter, Hensall and Cromarty that he has accepted a call to Tillsonburg. He will be leaving his post here at the end of April. Rev. Jarvis has been in charge of the three-point Presbyterian charge since the summer of 1960. for the change?" he asked, "No one wants to lay blame but someone is responsible. Who selects the books for classes?" Superintendent of education Jim Coulter said the department heads in each school meet with their staff members and go over the material available from the ministry of education. He said they select the books they wish to use adding there is no prescribed list of hooks to Choose from as there was in 13arth's teaching days. A suggestion to turn the matter over to the education committee was rejected by trustee Eugene Frayne who said the subject is one the entire board should be looking at. Prayne said that when situations where "board members and parents are not filled in enough on what children are being taught, it's time it got looked at." Prone also in- dicated that he felt the board should hold a special meeting and that it should be closed to the press and public. The trustee later withdrew his motion for a closed session ask- ing that it rather be advertised as public, Board chairman Herb Turkheim praised the move and suggested that English depart- ment heads and principals be asked to attend the meeting. qttk :=1: • YOUNOttERS VISIT THE EELL5 Kindergarten students at Exeter Public School climbed to the tower of Trivitt Anglican Church Tuesday to see the bells in (Idiom Above, Rev. George Anderson ploys a tune for Rabin McLean and Stacey Purcloo, T-A photo