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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-04-18, Page 1RECEIVE BOOKS — The Exeter Legion bantams presented the Town of Exeter history book written by J. L. Wooden to the visiting Ernestown bantams, Sunday. The locals hope to make it in the pages of the next historical review of the com­ munity by winning an Ontario title, but the Ernestown squad put a damper on that by winning both weekend games to take a two-point lead in the series. Dave Shaw, who fired three goals in a. 5-4 loss for Exeter, is shown presenting a book to Trev Kramer. Staff photo Make valiant bid to save children A Grand Bend couple, Bill and Judy Jennison, were among the first people to come upon the scene of the tragedy which claimed the lives of two small London children Saturday afternoon. The two children, Catherine Nicole, 7, and Justin Bruce, 4, were riding in a car driven by their mother, Catherine Joan Hough, London, when it overturned in a water-filled ditch on Perth Road 23, west of Tavistock. The Jennisons were in­ strumental in getting Mrs. Hough to safety and Bill pulled the car from the ditch with his four-wheel drive vehicle in his effort to save the children, one of whom was still held in the front seat by a seat belt when the car was retrieved. Judy, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Glover, Exeter, said they were returning from Kitchener via the Tavistock route when they came to the flooded area on the county road where Mrs. Hough, wife of London dental surgeon Dr. Bruce Hough, had lost control of her vehicle which then ended upside down in the two-metre-deep ditch. Mrs. Hough had managed to escape from the vehicle through one of the windows broken in the ct'ash and she was clinging to a fence, in water up to her waist. Mrs. Jennison swam out to get the woman in the water that “was so cold it took my breath away”. Glencoe man gets 15-day jail term A 56-ye^r-old Glencoe man was sentenced to 15 days in jail after pleading guilty to impaired driving before Judge W.G. Cochrane in Exeter court, Tuesday. Frank Thomas Pierce was given an intermittent term to be served at the Elgin- Middlesex Detention Centre from 7:00 p.m. on Fridays to 7:00 a.m. on Mondays. He had been charged after his vehicle became stuck in a snowbank in Exeter on February 3 and the in­ vestigating policeman found him sitting behind the wheel in an impaired state. The jail term was imposed after the court "learned he had a previous conviction on ,a similar offence. His licence was also suspended and the accused was placed on probation. A fine of $300 or 30 days was levied against Gerald Davis Huber, London, who pleaded guilty to impaired driving on March 11. His car was also in a snowbank and he was slouched over the wheel, apparently sleeping. The motor was still operating. A breathalizer test showed an alcohol content of 180 mgs. Huber had his licence suspended for three months and was given 15 days In which to pay the fine. Ah Exeter man, Michael L. Parsons, was fined $300 or 30 days for driving with an alcohol content over 80 mgs. A breathalizer test showed a content of 120 mgs. Parsons had his licence suspended for three months Meanwhile, her husband was wading and swimming through the deep water in an attempt to locate the children, despite the fact he is a non-swimmer. He instructed a trucker at the scene to get a chain from the nearby Tanner gravel site, but the first one secured was too short to reach the car and a second cable had to be picked up. Jennison then hooked the cable to his four-wheel drive vehicle and entering the frigid water for the third time, he hooked the other end to the car and managed to haul it from the water, before police and firemen arrived. The body of the boy was recovered later several metres downstream. Mrs. Jennison was still shaken by the ‘experience when she talked to the T-A from her Grand Bend home Monday afternoon. “We both tried our heardest, but we couldn’t save them,” she said, addipg that “it just makes you sick—there was nothing we could do”. The Grand Bend residents have two children about the same age as the drowning victims. Mrs. Jennison was reluctant to talk about the incident at first, but paid tribute to her hiusband’s quick thinking and lack of concern for is own safety in his attempts to get the car from the water to save the children. and was given 15 days in which to pay the fine. The accused also pleaded guilty to a charge of wilful damage as a result of driv­ ing his motor vehicle over the lawn at Norwood Village, just “south of Ex­ eter. Damage was set at $45. He was fined $50 or five days. A Hensall man, David Barry Vanstone, was remanded out of custody un­ til May 8 for a pre-sentence report after pleading guilty to two break, enter and theft charges arising out of in­ cidents in Hensall. He pleaded guilty to breaking into the Shaw’s Dairy Store in March of this year when cash and goods valued at $349.36 were stolen. All but $56.90 of that has been recovered. The second incident took place on November 6 at the Agripress building when a tape recorder and cash were taken. None of the $150 in­ volved in that theft has been recovered A Parkhill resident, T.L. Kremer, was fined $100 after pleading guilty to a charge of driving while his licence was under suspen­ sion. Paul Cronkwright, Crediton, was fined $50 or five days on each of two charges of making false statements under the Unemployment Insurance Act. An Overpayment of $251 was involved and the full amount has been recovered. The accused was given 15 days in which to pay the fines totalling $100. Huron school rate up 8.4 percent Huron County public school supporters face tax increases averaging 8.4 percent under a 1979 budget adopted Thursday night by the county board of education. The budget calls for ex­ penditures Of $23,622,085 — an increase of 13.3 percent from what was spent in 1978. In a special session, the board had the budget ex­ plained in detail by superintendent of business affairs, Roy Dunlop. The special meeting was arranged to permit politicians in any of the county’s 26 municipalities to Still pursue GB facility Grand Bend reeve Bob Sharen confirmed Monday that the village was still pursuing a multi-million dollar recreational facility for the municipality. Sharen said an earlier report which stated the village has approached the provincial government about the possibility of erecting a $4-$6 million recreation facility was accurate. The plan would see new docking facilities, a 1,500 foot extension of the north pier and the creation of a man­ made island offshore that would contain an am­ phitheatre. Sharen said the project which would emulate the success of Ontario Place would create jobs and in­ crease tourism. He added the project would create a harbour of safe refuge and a tourist attraction at the same time. The island would be an ideal place for concerts as the sound would not disturb the village’s residents, he said. Sharen emphasised that the proposal is a number of years old with no com­ mitments from the ministry of industry and tourism being received. If approved by the senior levels of government a date for the start of construction would be two years off. Crashes in wash-out While area residents have not experienced some of the flooding conditions prevalent in other parts of Western Ontario this week, some roads have been damaged. A wash-out in Stephen resulted in one of the five ac­ cidents investigated by the Exeter OPP this week. A car driven by Gordon Scott, RR 2 Crediton, hit the wash-out around 1:00 a.m., Saturday on concession 8-9 of Stephen, resulting in damage of $1,200 to his vehi­ cle. Scott suffered minor in­ juries in the accident, which was investigated by Constable Frank Giffin. A Clinton woman, Gabrielle Miller, also suf­ fered minor injuries last Monday, when her vehicle went out of control on an icy patch on Highway 4 just south of Exeter. The vehicle rolled over in the ditch. Constable Jim Rogers in­ vestigated and listed damage at $900. On the same day, a vehicle driven by Jonathon Cooper, Dashwood, skidded off the road and struck a fence. There was no damage to the vehicle but damage to the fence was listed at $35 by Constable Wally Tomasik. Two minor hit and run ac­ cidents were also in­ vestigated. A car owned by Betty Becker was damaged while parked at the Fleck Manufacturing plant in Huron Park and a fence owned by_ Vern Weido, Stephen slightly struck by Township, was damaged when an unknown Vehi- A pilot escaped with only minor injuries when the plane he was flying lost air A QUICK LANDING __ ____ , . /. L*.* .1**3 No one was injured when this plane crash landed on the farm of Wayne O'Brien, north of Hui on Puik at noon Tuesday. Ken Towers was piloting the spray plane for General Airspray of St. Thomas when the motoi failed. discuss the $23,000,000 budget with board members. Dunlop told the board that the average increase of mill rates in the county would have varying effects, depending on local mill rates. He said the board of education have nothing to do with setting local mill rates, all it does is determine each municipality’s share of the cost to operate the education system. The lion’s share of the 23 million dollars is picked up by the Province of Ontario. After subtracting various board revenue and grants from the ministry of education along with the provincial share of salaries and transportation costs, the amount to be raised through taxation locally is 6.9 million dollars. The main culprit in the budget was salaries. Dunlop explained that it was unfair to focus on any one salary hike in the system because each had unique cir­ cumstances. He explained that the increase that appeared at the secondary school teacher panel was an inflated figure because of the 31-day teacher strike a year ago One Hundred and Fifth Year Price Per Copy 25 Cents SUFFERS BURNS IN GREASE FIRE GREASE IS THE WORD — A Saturday night fire at Les Pines Hotel was quickly brought under control, but not before an Ex­ eter man, David Rose, sustained burns to his face, hands and right forearm. He still managed to get the blaze under control before Exeter firemen arrived to assist. Carrying out a pan of hot smoking grease are Norm Tait and John Wraight, while Gerry Hartman, right looks on. Staff photo Plane flips in area field Pilot scrapes knuckles and the two-year pact that was signed after that strike. He said the reduced cost as a result of the strike make it appear as though handsome increases had been given to teachers and that wasn’t so. He meticulously explained the effect the teachers’ strike had on the budget, pointing out that had with­ drawal of services not happened, the board still would be looking at an 8 percent increase in the mill rate. Plan to rebuild Members of Zion Lutheran church in Dashwood wasted little time in deciding to rebuild their place of wor­ ship which was destroyed by fire recently. At a church council meeting, Thursday night the unanimous decision to rebuild was made. Another meeting was held last night, Tuesday to name a building committee. Volunteers from church congregation are beginning a cleanup cam­ paign this week. Rev. Mayo Mellecke said the imes - Advocate Serving South Huron, North Middlesex && North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, APRIL 18, 1979 power and was forced to make an emergency landing, just north of Huron Park The one fact that was clear to work with but estimated 4u_ . .. that the maximum amouut would be 10 percent. in the budget was that the major expense in any one area of the entire education system was salaries. Payroll eats up 76 percent of the 23 million dollar total. Dunlop said the bulk of the money spent in the budget is beyond control of the board. He said salaries have to be treated as fixed costs as well as debentures, loans and operating costs. He said he had not calculated how much of the budget the board had Monday that all the clean-up and demolition would be handled “by our own members”. Large crowds attended Good Friday and Easter Sunday services in Calvary United Church in Dashwood while about 90 persons were at a Easter Sunrise service and breakfast at the Dash­ wood Community Centre. Rev. Mellecke said a snowmobile shack is being moved onto the church property to serve as an office and meetings of the ladies group will be held in homes of members. the shortly before noon on Tuesday. Ken Towers suffered only I / ■ *4 4 , T-A photo ■ WHEEL SPINNERS fortune at Saturday's Frank Giffin and Bev Morgan were in charge of one of the wheels of Las Vegas Night sponsored by the Exeter Lions club. •Mr JK «*•*« A ▲ scraped knuckles when the plane owned by General Air­ spray of St. Thomas en­ countered trouble and came down in a plowed field on the Wayne O’Brien farm at Lot 10, Concession 3 of Stephen township. Corporal Bill Freeth of the Exeter OPP detachment said the plane had just taken off from the Huron Park airstrip and was preparing to apply fertilizer to area wheat fields. Freeth said the plane struck the soft ground and bounced only a few feet before turning over and ended up upside down. The wheels and motor were torn from the aircraft on impact, The mishap was investigaged by Corporal Freeth and Constable Jack Straughan. He told the board that most taken care of in the budget. prnoc nF nvnnnHifnnn iw Lhri TT~ ~ — ... . . education system had been areas of expenditure in the He said one area not _.._x n Please turn to page 3 An Exeter man was released from South Huron Hospital Monday at noon after suffering burns in a fire late Saturday night at Les Pines Motel. Dave Rose, 32 Victoria Street, was burned 'in his attempts to extinguish an over-heated deep fryer. He sustained burns to his face, hands and right forearm. He said from his home on Monday afternoon that doctors don’t expect he’ll need any skin-grafting. “I just have to be careful that I don’t get any infection,” told the T-A. he Playhouse gets grant The Huron Country Playhouse will carry out its first Young Canada Works program this summer. Robert McKinley, Huron- Bruce MP notified the Playhouse that their grant for $12,762 has been ap­ proved. The project entitled, “Huron Country Playhouse Youth Training Program” will create five jobs for Huron students between May 7 and September 1. The five young people will present a continuing program of children's 'theatre productions; a four week program of creative dramatics for area children culminating in a children’s show produced by children; and they will appear on the main stage along with the professional company in two of the season’s productions. “Here is an opportunity for five theatre arts enthusiasts to find work in the theatre,” said James Murphy, Playhouse Artistic and Managing Director. “Applicants for the five positions are now being sought,” he said. Madness again! Exeter's Main St. merchants will be hosting their fourth late night shopping promotion this Friday as "Moonlight Madness” gets underway at 6:00 p.m. and continues through to midnight. Once again the stores are offering extra values as an inducement to shoppers, many of them listing their special offerings in this week's edition. A couple of special attractions are also planned, one of them being a bathing suit contest at Jerry MacLean & Son's. Last fall they attracted considerable participa­ tion with a pyjama contest. Len McKnight & Son's Men's Wear will observe a special event during the Moonlight Madness. The firm will be marking its 10th anniversary, although Len will actually be observing his 30th anniversary as a local businessman. He and Norm Walper purchased the W. Taman Clothing Business in 1949 and operated if as McKnight and Walper Men's Wear. They'll be providing free coffee and oatmeal cookies during the sale period, including this Friday night. •x? Rose does maintenance work at the local hotel, but was not on duty when the fire broke out around 11:05 p.m. He was playing shuffleboard and the kitchen staff raced to get his assistance. He said he started to get a wet blanket to cover the deepfryer, but grabbed a fire extinguisher when someone pointed it out to him. Unfortunately, he misread the name on the extinguisher and quickly found it contained water when he pulled the release. This quickly sprayed the hot grease over his upper body and arms. “When I let it go, I knew I was wrong.” He then got the wet blanket and did control the blaze. “I should have followed my first instincts,” he said, referring to his original intent of getting a blanket to cover the grease fire. The Exeter Fire Depart­ ment arrived to assist. The kitchen area sustained only minor smoke damage. Apprehend suspects Two area men and two juveniles have been ap­ prehended by Exeter OPP as a result of their investigation into recent* thefts and damage to mailboxes. The two adults are scheduled to appear in court to face charges after being caught in the act over the week end. The police also reported an unusually large number of “domestic complaints” in the past week. In one incident, a woman left home and took a shotgun with her so her husband would not pursue. It was indicated the husband was merely interested in getting the gun back.