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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1980-07-30, Page 13Green grass scares visitor WHOSE TURN NEXT? — Trevor Hunter, Jim Waite and Jeremy Anderson wait their turn in a relay race at Grand Bend Public School. The children have been attending summer school there for the past two weeks. Staff photo PLAYHOUSE ART AUCTION — Auctioneer Angela Armitt calls for higher bids as her helper holds up a painting 'by figure skater Toiler Cranston. The art auction was held in the barn theatre at Huron Country Playhouse Sunday evening. Staff photo BY MARY ALDERSON Old war movie PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE — Teachers told Michelle Venton and her classmates at the Library to stick their pieces of masking tape on their noses so that they wouldn't lose them while they were working on their crafts. Lambton County Library is spon- soring a children's program. Staff photo Page 1A JULY 30, '1980 Price Per Copy 35 Cents SUMMER SCHOOL GAMES — It is a fun game called grab the bean bag out of the bucket. Melissa Ablin reaches for a bean bag, while Teresa Petch runs with hers. the children are attending summer school at Grand Bend Public School. Staff photo Police finish drowning inquiry Contravening village by- laws in an attempt to revive the old casino has resulted in fines of more than $1700 for a young entrepreneur. Jim Gill, of1.0081/2 .Duridas. Street, London and 87 Main Street, Grand Bend was found guilty on six charges in provincial court in Grand Bend last Tuesday. A seventh charge was dropped. Reeve Robert Sharen represented the village in the proceedings. Gill has leased the old Lakeview Casino from owner Paul Fraleigh and re- named it the Heritage, Pavilion. Several 'small shops and food outlets are located on the main floor, and Gill says he plans to re- open the upstairs dance hall. Gill was found guilty on four charges of offering merchandise for sale without paying transient trader's fees. On each of the four counts he was ordered to pay the $300 fee and $3 court costs. On the first two counts hemas fined $10 each., On the third count the judge fined him $100. and on the fourth charge he was fined $200. Gill was found guilty of breaking a noise by-law, and was fined $100 plus $3 court costs. He was also fined for breaking a site plan by-law Funds raised at the Huron Country Playhouse Art Auc- tion Sunday night are down significantly from last year. While the gross intake of the auction was $13.000, the playhouse netted only $2,500. The net profit includes the $5 admission price as well as the percentage made in the sale of the painting. The playhouse made about $4800 last year. Playhouse manager Marc Quinn speculated that art collectors were not present at the sale, as they have been in previous years. Quinn said that most of the buyers were looking for a painting for their home. Quinn added that he thought that tighter economic situations this ear may have held people back from bidding. Nearly half of the 116 pieces up for bidding sold, All the works were subject to a reserve bid imposed by the galleries. Pieces were passed by when no one would' bid at the reserve price. The work which sold for the highest price was by Jean Paul Le Mieux, entitled Taken from La Petite Paul D'Eau. It sold for $1100. The work was passed by when it went up for auction, but later a buyer came forward and paid the reserve price. A work entitled Lake Huron by Jack Chambers sold for $675. Last year's top seller was a Ken Danby which sold for $2400. Bidding went back and forth on a work called Strawberry Thief by Cana- dian figure skater Toiler Cranston. It eventually sold for $190. All three works by artist Kay Tapson Sold easily. Two works by Ron Bolt went for $440 and $335. Two local artists had works sold at the auction. A piece by Puck Merkies went for $220, and one by Lenore Carter sold for $140. Organizer Bettie Gibbs hopes that some money will still come in. She says that occasionally people mull over purchasing a painting they saw at the auction, and buy it later. The gallery may still give the playhouse a percentage, she says. ty was a very busy one. "I graduated, got married and moved to Curacao," she says. Her husband went into business with his father and brother. They operate a car dealership and two movie theatres on the small island, Marsha says that although it's nice to visit Grand Bend there are advantages to liv- ing in Curacao. One thing she especially likes is being able to have maid service. "You don't have to be rich to have a maid," she says, A maid comes in and does the cooking, cleaning and laun- dry five days a week for about $125 a month. The Morons also have a gardener. Although there is no lawn to care for, they have to hire someone to rake the yard and keep it free of litter and dirt. Occasionally the gardener will have to pull weeds from the reddish brown soil. He gives the trees and shrubs some precious water. The water, Marsha ex- plains, is so expensive because it is brought from the ocean and the salt is removed. The desalination process turns the ocean water into drinking water. The same plant provides electricity for the island, which is also costly. Marsha estimates that it costs them about $200 a month for their electricity. They operate two small air conditioners at night only — it would be too expensive to run them all day — a refrigerator, a small freezer and a washing machine as well as their lights. She doesn't use a dryer, nor do they ever require any heat. The weather on Curacao is always hot. The temperature is usually around 90 or 95 degrees fahrenheit. It never goes below 80 degrees. For most of the year. Marsha says by having a wheeled vehicle on his property. The court ordered him to pay a $75 fine, plus $3 in costs. The total amount of fines, costs, and ba'Cle -ree'r ghtiffilted to $1713. Gill was told to pay by August 6. Cheryl Fitzpatrick of Thamesford was fined a total of $78 for contravening a village noise by-law. Two other charges for noise laid by the village were dismiss- ed. Three charges were deferred until September 2. Several other charges laid by Ontario Provincial Police were dealt with in. court Tuesday. Jill S. Carroll. London was found guilty of careless driv- ing and fined $128. Arlene McTavish. also of London was fined $53 after being found guilty of careless driv- ing. Ms. McTavish was charged after allowing peo- ple to ride on the outside of her vehicle. Stanley Piskorowski of Melbourne was fined $28 for disobeying a police officer who was directing traffic. A parking violation against Dale Aitken of Thed- ford was dismissed. P.M.VataM,M. ' Young soldiers in full dress uniform stroll down the street, Occasionally, they stop and say "hello" to girls in halter tops. The young men walk erect, beret and uniform immaculate in the hot summer weather. Maybe they stop to play a round of pinball with one of their buddies. Perhaps they spy a special girl, and pause for a brew - smiling and talking over the drink. Later they walk along the 'moonlit beach with that girl, being careful to keep sand out of their army issue boots. Then they grab a quick ice cream cone before it's time to return to their barracks. No, it's not a scene from an old war movie. It's Grand Bend on almost any evening. Look again and you'll see that the young faces un- derneath those short army hair cuts are very, very young. And the girls they are impressing are even younger - say about 12 years old. The only wars fought by these young soldiers are in the sand dunes at Ipperwash army camp. They only guns there is always a breeze, and you don't feel the heat. September and October are the hottest months because there is no wind. It seldom rains. and when it does it will pour for about two minutes and then clear up completely. Marsha says, December and January are the best months to visit the island. For that reason, tourism is becoming increasingly pop- ular. Cruise ships often stop at the island with North American visitors. Curacao's sister island Aruba is also becoming known as a tourist spot. Curacao and Aruba are no longer Dutch colonies, but they still have strong ties with the Netherlands. A great mixture of people live on the island. Marsha says that many people on Curacao speak five languages. The population of the island is about 90 percent black. These people are Africans who were original- ly brought there as slaves, they've carried are on the rifle range. And probably the hardest work they've done all day is try to figure out how to carry a tune on a worn out trombone. But these cadets are en- joying their evening of civilian life just as much as their fathers and grand- fathers did when they fought in World Wars. The only connection with- war that these boys have had is watching re-runs of Hogan's Heroes and MASH on television, For years, the young men in short hair cuts have strolled on Grand Bend's Main Street. Sometimes they stop and talk to long haired guys wearing patched jeans. More often they are on the receiving end of taunts. Roller skating is, of course, a favourite way to spend an evening on the town. Sometimes a cadet wearing a kilt as part of his uniform will give the roller rink a try. The results are usually pretty amusing for the crowd Watching, especially if this is his first time on wheels. Curacao was once a large centre for the slave trade. These people speak a language called Papiamen- to, Dutch is still the official language because Holland originally, colonized the island. Spanish and Per- tugese are often used because they do business with South American coun- tries. English is becoming increasingly important because of tourism. Marsha's husband is of Spanish descent. He was born on Curacao so that makes him Dutch, she says, Their name, Moron, is pronounced with the accent on the last syllable. Marsha laughs about her name. She says she took a lot of teasing in her school days with a name like Lemon. "I was waiting to marry a Smith or a Jones," she says. Needless to say, she doesn't like it when people pronounce her married name with the accent on the first syllable. Traditionally the cadets made the trip from Ipper- wash to Grand Bend riding in the back of old World War II army trucks. They'd sit on planks, looking out the back of the truck at the traffic. Now they arrive in the village riding in school buses. At least the buses have padded seats. Newcomers to Grand Bend stop and stare as they see the doors of the bus open and all the uniformed boys pour out. It's not often that one sees such an orderly group of neat and clean boys. The cadets' regular visits to Grand Bend have given the village an extra dimension. The army camp probably considers itself lucky to have Grand Bend near-by, with all the pinball machines, and the profusion of fast food that no boy could ever turn down. But Grand Bend should consider itself fortunate to be able to host so many young men each summer. Some fond memories of cadet life probably centre around Grand Bend's main Street on a warm summer evening. What taxes? Ratepayers in Grand Bend still aren't sure what their taxes for 1980 are going to be. Grand Bend council met Monday night to work on a tentative budget. Clerk Louise Clipperton says that the figures will not go to their auditor who will work out the mill rate. If the taxes are up a great deal over last year the budget will be re-worked to reduce the rate, Mrs. Clipperton says. Ontario Provincial Police at Grand Bend say that they have finished the investiga- tion into the drowning which occurred in the village July 20, and have found nothing to substantiate claims that the life guards did not handle the situation properly. A Bramalea man, Jong Mok Lee, drowned in Lake Huron at the main beach. The complaints came to the village in a letter from two Windsor people who were on the beach that day. The letter was read at a Grand Bend council meeting last week. The writers said that lifeguards' actions were inept, and the events prior to the victim being found were totally confusing. During the week of July 20 to 26, police at Grand Bend handled a total of 102 oc- A group of Grand Bend women may be without a meeting place for their exercise class this fall. Gina Fischer, a Southcott Pines resident, has been con- ducting an exercise class in the gym at Grand Bend Public School for five years. Recently she was informed by the Lambton County board of Education that she would have to pay $50 an hour for the use of the gymnasium. Mrs. Fischer said that she could not carry on the classes at that cost. The board said that they would have to charge the $50 an hour rate because they called Mrs. Fischer's class a commercial operation. Mrs. Fischer says that she charges $1.15 per person per class. During the past year the class has had about 16 people. For the first three years she charged nothing at currences. Seven thefts were investigated and the value of the stolen goods was estimated at $385. Police recovered $226 worth of goods. ' Police investigated 12 dis- turbances. There were 36 people charged under the li- quor licence act. and one im- paired driver, was charged. They charged 17 people un- der the highway traffic act, and 15 traffic warnings were Ontario Provincial Police at Pinery Park charged 64 people under the liquor licence act. Five people were charged under provin- cial parks act. and 31 traffic charges were laid. Three disturbances and five miss- ing persons were in- vestigated. They also in- vestigated five thefts. all. The fees go towards the cost of taped music for her tape recorder. Mrs. Fischer says she earns very little. The women meet once a week. Mrs. Fischer has asked for help from the Grand Bend rec committee in finding a way to carry on the group, She says she was very surprised at the negative attitude of the school board. She says they did not con- sider any other avenues in allowing her to continue the class. Mrs. Fischer says that she has been offered jobs teaching the "rhythmics" cr exercise to music elsewhere. But she says she prefers to stay in Grand Bend. "The girls like it here," she says. She is at present looking into the possibilities of using a hall or other facility in the village. By MARY ALDERSON the grass, right? Well, 13 Most kids love to sit on,a month old David. Moran lush green lawn and play in finds grass terrifying. I guess you would, too, if you had never seen it before. Little David is visiting with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ellwood Lemon in Southcott Pines, along with his mother. Marsha Moron. When David was put out to play on the grass, he whimpered and immediately crawled to the cement sidewalk, He found the hard surface more inviting. His mother explains that David has lived all his life on the island of Curacao when lawns are seldom seen. Curacao is just off the coast of South America near Venezuala, It's a volcanic island, so the soil is hard and dry. There are no natural rivers or streams. Lawns are hard to grow and im- possible to keep in the hot, dry weather. The expense of watering a lawn would be impossible, his mother said. The front yard of his parents home in Curacao is red dirt and David found sit- ting on grass a very frighten- ing ordeal. But other than that, his mother says they have been enjoying their visit in Grand Bend. Particularly. they like to go out on walks. She seldom takes David out in the stroller at home, because there are few sidewalks in Curacao, and it is not always safe for a woman and a baby to walk alone there. Marsha explains how a Canadian girl is living in Curacao. She was a native of Owen Sound who moved to London a few years ago to attend the University of Western Ontario. About that time, her parents moved to Grand Bend where they opened the Book Store on Main Street. At Western, Marsha met her future hus- band, who was front Curacao. Her last week at universi- VISITING GRAND BEND — Marsha Moron and her son David are visiting her parents Mr. and Mrs. Ellwood Lemon, and finding life here very different from their home in Curacao, Staff photo Profits down at auction Painting sells for $1100 Casino tenant fined $1700 for breaking village by-laws Exercise class told to pay for gym