HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-04-28, Page 1PUT IT HERE — Hawks captain Steve Jennison, who missed the final
two games of the series due to a badly cut arm, didaP let the injury
hamper him in accepting the OHA trophy from a league official in
Stayner, Friday. Staff photo
House in Woodham
is gutted by fire
...„. ,
GOOD OLD SCHOOL DAYS One classroom of Osborne Central School resembled the good old days,
Tuesday. Debbie Taylor wears the dunce hat. From the left are Scott Pincombe, Brenda Miller, Jamie Chaffe
and Schoolmaster Al Beattie, T-A photo
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One Hundred and Fourth Year
EXETER, ONTARIO, APRIL 28, 1977
Price Per Copy 25 Cents
A VARIETY OF ARTICLES — Friday's rummage sale sponsored by the
South Huron Hospital Women's Auxiliary realized more than $4,100.
Above, co-conveners Louise Giffin and Mary Jane Taylor show some of
the articles before the auction sale got underway. T-A photo
Night in new cells
won't be comfortable
Staff, students defend books
A fire shortly after midnight on
Sunday completely gutted the
main floor of the Woodham home
of Gerald Lawson.
Fire Chief Gary Middleton said
his department fought the blaze
for four hours and he set total
property damage at around
$40,000.
It was the sixth major fire loss
in the area this year and the 18th
call answered by the brigade.
The early Sunday fire broke out
in a chesterfield and Middleton
said the cause appeared to be
careless smoking.
Mr, Lawson was at home alone
at the time and ran next door to
get help in calling the fire
brigade.
Middleton noted that it took his
department over 20 minutes to
assemble at the hall and make
the trip, and by the time they
arrived, the entire lower floor
was on fire,
Some of the furniture and
appliances had been com-
paratively new, as the home was
being redecorated, he said.
Intense heat and heavy smoke
hindered the firemen in their
battle to save the frame dwelling.
The Lawson home was located
right next door to a home that
was destroyed by fire three or
'few" years ago. . \'•
Noting the time it takes the
department to make the trip,
Benefits probed
for North Star
Liberal MPP Jack Riddell
(Huron-Middlesex) asked Labor
Minister Bette Stephenson on
Tuesday to find out if employees
of Northstar Yachts Ltd., which
went into receivership, are en-
titled to back wages and other
benefits.
She said she would look into
the matter.
Riddell said the company went
into receivership last January
and "the workers have told me
that they are not getting any
back wages, severance pay, holi-
day pay or OHIP premium
payments that the company
defaulted on."
The company was located in
the Huron Industrial 'Park at
Huron Park.
Middleton said the people in the
Kirkton-Woodham area should
perhaps consider purchasing
some type of fire equipment.
He explained that a tank truck
with a portable pump could be
operated by two or three men to
possibly contain a blaze until the
Exeter or St. Marys firemen
arrived.
Damage high
in collisions
Damages amounted to $3,350 in
*two accidents investigated this
week by officers of the Exeter
police department.
Thursday, vehicles driven by
William Kernick, 93 Mill street,
Exeter and Marie Bedard,
Zurich collided on Main street,
south of Sanders. Constable Jim
Barnes set damages at $650.
Saturday, Constable George
Robertson listed damages at $2,-
700 when vehicles driven by John
O'priscoll, Sarnia and John
Norris, RR 3, Exeter were in
collision at the intersection of
Alexander and Andrew streets.
Rev, George Anderson
reported to police that sometime
SaturdWnight.,--someone threw
an object through the sign in
front of Trivitt Anglican Church
causing damage of $120.
Constable Robertson is in-
vestigating. •
The same night, an unknown
vehicle drove over the lawn at
Exeter Public School causing
considerable damage.
Two juveniles have been ap-
prehended, and charged with
break and enter as the result of
two incidents at the Canadian
Tire store in Exeter.
They will appear in juvenile
court in Goderich at 'a later date.
Constables Kevin Short and Brad
Sadler are the investigating of-
ficers.
The local police department
has received several complaints
regarding youths using skate
boards on town streets and being
towed.
Parents are advised that there
is a law preventing such action.
Bicycle licences will be on sale
this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:90
p.m. at a cost of 75 cents.
English department heads,
students and principals of Huron
County's five secondary schools
were unified in their support of
books used in their English
courses during a presentation to
a special meeting of the Huron
County board of education in
Clinton, Monday.
About 200 people jammed into
the board office to hear the
presentation, which was re-
quested by the board after a
Blyth man had told them at a
previous meeting that some of
the texts contained "filth".
This was denied by all the
speakers, who asked parents to
have faith in the teachers and the
students in their classroom dis-
cussion of the books in question,
such as John Steinback's "Of
Mice and Men" and "Grapes of
Wrath" and Salinger's "Catcher
in the Rye".
The speakers outlined the use,
the reaction and the importance
of teaching such modern
literature to students, All agreed
that there was nothing immoral
about the books and if taken in
proper context, act as a valuable
learning device for the students,
Audrey Tiffin, English head at
Wingham, explained to the board
that "literature acts as a mirror
of life".
She denounced those who ac-
cused teachers of being immoral
by using such books. "We do
have some morality," she com-
mented.
Ms.# Tiffin said that to limit
students' experience would deny
her of the objective of "filling
their cup to overflowing". She
said the language in "Grapes of
Wrath" was realistic.
She said students learn through
the books and hopefully this will
make it unnecessary for them to
go through some of the bad ex-
periences outlined in those
books.
The Wingham teacher said
students have very dis-
criminating minds and asked
parents to trust them. "If you ex-
pect good things, you'll get
them," she opined.
Hospital is
accredited
South Huron Hospital has
recently been granted Accredited
Status by the Canadian Council
on Hospital Accreditation. The
Council establishes standards for
hospital operation and assesses
hospitals to ensure that the
standards are being met.
The survey conducted by the
Council covers all areas of
hospital operation including the
governing body, medical staff,
nursing service, dietary,
emergency, housekeeping,
maintenance, laboratory and X-
ray facilities, medical and other
clinical records, pharmacy and
administration,
At the present time, ap-
proximately fifty percent of
Canadian hospitals are ac-
credited. These hospitals
represent about eighty percent of
the care being provided to
patients across the country.
Hospitals participating in the
Accreditation program gain the
knowledge that they are at least
equal to other Health Care in-
stitutions which have become
officially accredited. This
voluntary program is a leading
movement for improvement in
the quality of care for the sick
and injured.
The principal of the Wingham
school said he could not be con-
versant with all the 20,000 books
in the school library and those
used on the English course, but
said that if Ms. Tiffin said they
were alright, then he knew they
were alright.
He explained that the choice of
books is a collective decision of
the teachers, superintendents
and the board itself if a book was
not on the approved list supplied
by the ministry of education.
The board was told the choos-
ing of books was not an easy
matter, considering that student
ages range from 12 to 22,
Noting the choice between cen-
sorship and free choice of books,
he said "somehow we must steer
a course through the conflicting
opinions".
"We don't have dirty books on
our course of study," he conclud-
ed, although quickly admitted
that opinion may not meet
everyone's agreement.
While answering a question
from a board member, Ms. Tiffin
said that one student had advised
her that while students did use
bad language at times, they
didn't learn it from books,
She said the coarse words in
The Huron-Middlesex
Progressive Conservative
Association members were told
they should have nominated a
candidate before this at their
annual meeting held at Pineridge
Chalet last week.
Harry Parrot, Minister of
Colleges and Universities told the
200 people present they were
already late in their nominations.
"The Premier is not saying
when there will be an election,
and I don't know when one will be
called, put I feel you should be
ready," said Mr. Parrot.
There is a strong possibility
that the on again, off again Ex-
eter Rodeo will be on again this
year because of interest shown
by the South Huron Recreation
centre board of management,
According to Jack Malone,
Rodeo Association secretary, the
management board has asked
the Exeter Rodeo Association to
present a rodeo sometime in ear-
ly August, with profits to go
towards the recreation centre.
Evaluation
group busy
Meetings! Meetings! . . . and
more meetings! seems to be the
theme of the day for Jim Chap-
man, internal chairman of the
Cooperative School System
Evaluation Project being con-
ducted in the South Huron public
elementary and secondary
schools.
"Some days as many as ten
groups are holding committee
meetings, analyzing the survey
responses which parents.
teachers and students have been
returning in above average
numbers. They are working hard
and certainly putting a high
degree of effort into their task of
preparing a report and
recommendations on their
specific area. Some committees
have met 4 or 5 times in an effort
to complete their work."
Reports should all be in by ear-
ly next week and they will then
be .compiled into one combined
report which will be used by an
External Evaluation team as
they visit and evaluate the
system in the latter part of May.
The External Team, of about
10 people, is made up of
educators, and Board members
from various parts of Ontario
and they are responsible for the
next phase in the evaluation
program. Once the internal
report is completed their task is
to verify what the report says or
modify it as they discover
strengths, weaknesses or con-
cerns that the internal com-
mittee missed.
While in the area, the Team
will be visiting schools, atten-
ding Board meetings and talking
to teachers, students and parents
in a general effort to evaluate
the school system,
Later, both the internal com-
tnittee and the external group
will meet to form a final report
to be submitted to the Board for
consideration and action.
some of the books were not used
in the classroom.
The Wingham teacher
suggested that no one in the
audience had turned off his TV
after hearing a hockey player
Huron county parents found
out this week there is a con-
siderable difference between a
public meeting and an open
meeting of the Huron County
Board of education that is open
to the public.
At the latter, there is no oppor-
tunity to speak, unless you have
been invited to do so by the
board,
That fact left some of the
parents attending Monday's dis-
cussion of English books "very
frustrated" according to Olga
Davis, one of the many Exeter
area parents on hand.
"I was really frustrated," she
said. "I don't think we got a fair
shake."
Mrs. Davis noted that when
she had attended a previous
meeting with the board when a
"Frankly, I think you should
have nominated a candidate by
now."
Mr. Parrot went on to discuss
some of the issues he sees in the
riding, one of the main ones being
the hospital situation.
"Just two days ago the
Ministry of Health announced a
bed need study will be done in
Clinton and if needed the hospital
will stay open," said Mr. Parrot
adding, "I'd bet a lot of money
that hospital will stay open as I
p-ri familiar with that area."
However, Mr. Parrot urged
Later, in meetings and dis-
cussions with rodeo enthusiasts
and horsemen, indications were
that there is enough interest to
make the event worthwhile.
The Association is off to a late
start on organizing the event.
There will be a public meeting on
May 5, at the Ontario Develop-
ment Corporation offices in
Huron Park, to attempt to get
livestock and official r sanction
from the Ontario Rodeo Associa-
tion for the show.
The Association has enough
money to begin the
organizational process, but not
much extra after donating last
. year's profits to the Recreation
Centre.
Plans are being made to hold
the rodeo on the weekend of
August 6-7 rather than on the
Labour Day weekend as it has
been held for the previous 13
years of its being.
The rodeo nearly went out of
existence this year because of an
apparent lack of interest. At the
two public meetings held earlier
this year, eight attended one and
seven the other.
A 28-year-old Crediton man
was killed late Friday night when
his car left Highway 83 and
crashed into a tree east of
Exeter.
Barry H. Morlock, a salesman
for a dental supply company, was
returning to his home at RR 2
Crediton at 11:45 p.m., when the
crash occurred. He was alone in
the vehicle at the time.
The 1977 model car slammed
into the tree a mile and a half
west of the Staffa Road and was
wrecked,
Dr William O'Connor, Grand
Bend, attended at the scene and
pronounced the victim dead,
A post mortem was conducted
at Stratford General Hospital the
following day by Dr. Robin
Waite,
OPP Constable Al Quinn in-
vestigated and set damage at
$5,000. Cpl. Bill Freeth assisted in
the investigation.
Morlock is survived by his wife,
the former Christine Cameron of
Rerun, and son, Michael. He is
also survived by his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Ray Morlock. A full
use bad language in a recent
NHL game.
"I frankly teach a Christian
ethic in the classroom," she con-
cluded.
Clinton department head
Blyth area man termed some of
the books as "filth", the delega-
tion had been advised they would
only be allowed to have one
speaker and he would be given 25
minutes in which to present his
case.
She said that Monday night,
the board listened to five English
department heads and five prin-
cipals from the secondary
schools, along with four
students, and no time limit had
been set on their discussions.
The Exeter lady indicated she
had expected to have an oppor-
tunity to discuss some of her con-
cerns with the teachers.
Several other parents who
attended the meeting — to ex-
press their views either pro or
con — were also upset over the
fact that board chairman Herb
those present not to forget the
good things done by Frank Miller
during his term as Health
Minister.
"Mr. Miller cut health costs in
my riding alone by one million
dollars and my office has not
received one complaint since
then concerning the quality of
health care available." ,
Mr. Parrot admitted the
Conservative party has made
mistakes and done a number of
things which were unpopular to a
lot of people.
"But," he demanded, "take a
look at the other parties and ask
yourself if either one of them
would have had the courage to do
the things needed to close the
budget deficit. I think not,"
"I am proud of the responsible
attitudes taken by our govern-
ment in the past three years as
we have managed to decrease the
number of civil servants we
employ and also decrease a
budget deficit from two billion
dollars to one billion three
hundred million with the promise
of a balanced budget by 1981."
Mr. Parrot said it was im-
portant' the Conservatives form
the next government because the
other alternative which is gaining
strength in the government is the
NDP party and their socialist
policies.
"No one should underestimate
the seriousness of the threat of
socialism," urged Mr. Parrot.
"The socialists are willing to do
whatever they feel necessary to
form the next government and if
they are to be stopped, the rural
constituencies must stop them."
Mr. Parrot then returned to his
original plea that the association
begin gearing up for an election
saying he felt certain if the right
man or woman were convinced
they could win, worked hard on
their campaign and had the
support of the grass roots Con-
servatives, then they would
surely win the riding,
obituary appears elsewhere.
There was only one other ac-
cident investigated by the Exeter
OPP during the week, it also
involving a single vehicle.
On Saturday, a vehicle driven
by John William Ducharme,
Barry Morlock
Elizabeth Twiss suggested that a
study of words apart from the
Message they convey is futile.
She said it was less painful for
students to experience the chaos
of human turmoil as outlined in
Turkheim would not allow them
to speak.
Turkheim said it was an open
meeting of the board, but the
public would not be given an op-
portunity to express their views
or ask questions of the teachers
and principals,
In addition to being frustrated,
Mrs. Davis said she was also up-
set over the fact that Goderich
principal John Stringer
suggested those who were con-
cerned about the language in
books constituted a "pressure
group".
Rev. Bruce Pierce, Crediton,
who also attended the meeting,
expressed concern over the
Goderich principal's comment.
"We're not a pressure group,
just a group of concerned
parents," Mrs. Davis stated.
Anyone expecting to spend a
night in the cells at the new Ex-
eter police office should take
along a bottle of liniment.
In keeping with new provincial
regulations, the bed in the cells
will be of a metal construction
and there will be no mattress or
any blankets.
The floor may be a little cold
and damp as well. It will be con-
crete.
These are some of the re-
quirements for cell construction
that will be followed in the new
office according to police com-
mittee chairman Ken Ottewell,
who this week released final
plans for the renovations. Some
1)ashwood, struck a tree on
Church St, in that village.
Damage was listed at $800 by
Constable Bob Whiteford.
During the week, the local
detachment officers charged 12
people under the Highway Traffic
Act, four under the Criminal
Code, five under the Liquor
Licence Act and two under the
Narcotic Control Act.
One theft was also in-
vestigated, involving the loss of
$800 worth of tools and equipment
from the Mr. Fibreglass plant,
located about two miles south of
Exeter on Highway 4.
Owner Clarence Gilbert
reported the breakin to police on
Saturday morning,
Constable Bill McIntyre is
investigating.
Several area residents also
advised police that their mail
boxes were damaged on Friday
night. They included three in
Usborne township owned by John
Pym, Joan Fisher and Mrs, Tony
Verberne, as well as one in
Stephen belonging to Carl
Schroeder.
some of the books rather than
have them face such turmoils in
real life.
"They can evaluate them un-
harmed," she stated.
She went on to say that it is not
the role of literature to offer
model behaviour, however it
should offer ideas on loyalty and
humanity.
Miss Twiss said that students
are testing various values in
school and it is better to test
them in books rather than
through life. If not allowed to
test them, they won't mature,
she stated.
Clinton student Mark
Nicholson said students tend to
skip over some of the so-called
questionable words in the books
and this doesn't create a stumbl-
ing block for the rest of the book.
"Teachers are responsible
enough to choose the books," he
suggested and brought, some
laughter when he said they were
doing "as good as can be ex-
pected" in their duties,
Clinton principal Bob Homuth
said the publicity over the books
has prompted many students to
find out where these books are.
He said there were none on the
Please turn to page 3
of these requirements have been
prompted by the fatal fire at the
Stratford jail.
He said the office has been in-
spected by an official of the On-
tario Police Commission and
work will commence this week
on the project, The police are ex-
pected to move some time in
May.
Ottewell said that plans of the
renovations were not made
public last week because the
deed for the property had not
been received and the inspection
by the OPC had not been under-
taken.
Contracts for some of the work
have already been approved by
council, and some of the people
working on the project will in-
clude grade 11 students from
South Huron District High
School,
The students will be building
steps to replace those leading to
the basement in the new office,
as well as some counters for the
reception area.
Ottewell, who teaches in the
woodworking class at the school.
said the students often undertake
special projects of this nature
and noted that it gave them an
opportunity to put their learning
into practice without the board
having to purchase the
materials. The materials, of
course, will be provided by the
town.
"The projects must have a
suitable learning experience and
fit into our programs," he ex-
plained.
The house will contain six
main areas. There will be an of-
fice for the chief, a general
reception area, work area for the
staff, an interrogation room, cell
room and the bathroom. The
basement will be used for
storage,
The renovations will not all be
completed this year, Paving of
the parking lot and some carpet
in the chief's office will be
delayed until next year,
"We don't want to spend any
more than what is needed to get
the building functional this
year," Ottewell explained.
Exeter rodeo may
get another chance
Parrot a vises area PCs
to choose candidate
Parents felt frustrated
Crediton man killed
as car crashes tree