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The Huron Expositor, 1996-03-06, Page 1Education Huron Board suffers loss with passing of Superintendent. See page 3 4Health Dr. Robert Shepherd talks to hospital board about Huron Hospice. _ See page 2 New hospice logo Sports Centenaires fail to complete sweep * JW* but up 3-1 CENTENAIRES over Lucan. JR DEVELOPMENT HOCKEY CLUE See page 6 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Seaforth, Ontario Briefly Damage to doors Seaforth OPP report a rela- tively quiet week aside from damage to a front and side door of a John St., Seaforth residence on March 2. It's not known if entry was gained. The incident is under investigation by OPP. Beware of suspicious calls It has been brought to the attention of The Huron Expositor that elderly resi- dents, frequently widows, in the.Scaforth area, have been receiving repeated phone calls. from people claiming to .hc stockbrokers and wanting to sell stocks to them or to their deceased husbands. Seaforth OPP advise resi- dents if you're leery about a caner trying to sell you some- thing or someone has told .you you've won a prize but there's a fee, try to get infor- mation from them like a name or company name. That way you can check out their legitimacy with thc Better Business Bureau or have police check through the Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. But don't give them any personal details and if you're really concerned, give police a call, advises Sgt. Frank Young of the Seaforth OPP. But, he adds, it won't do any good unless you have a name or business name of the caller. • Works Superintendent off for six months Works Superintendent John Forrest is back in town with his right ar in a sling. He will he off n compensa- tion -from live .6 -ix months as a result of th ecent acci- dent when he caught his hand in one of the town sanders. He says more surgery will be required to repair the dam- age. but is optimistic that after rehabilitation he will once again have full use of. his hand and arm. McLlwain back. with Penguins Hockey player Dave McLlwain is hack in the big time again. The eight -season National Hockey League veteran was traded .to the Pittsburg Penguins by the Ottawa Senators Friday for an eighth -round pick in this year's draft. Ironically, the Pens are the NHL team that first dr.tt'ted Dave a decade ago. in 1987. Since then McLlwain, 29. has played for Pittsburg; Winnipeg. Buffalo, Toronto. the Ncw York Islanders and, most recently the Senators. The Senators gave up on him after training camp this year and called him up for only one game , when he reg- istered an assist. He has hcen on loan to Penguin affiliate Cleveland of the International Hockey League. He was the Lumberjacks' leading scorer so far this season with 30 goals and 45 assists for. 75 points and an iHL first -scam all-star. March 6, 1996 — 75 Cents Plus GST Murray preliminary March - In like a lion! begins in Goderich BY MONA IRWIN SSP News Staff The preliminary hearing for a Goderich man charged with second-degree murder started in Huron County Court yes- terday. Steve Murray, 46, was charged Sept. 15, 1995, in connection with the death of his daughter, 15 -year-old Mistie Nicole Murray, who has not been seen since May 31, 1995. No body has been found. He was released Oct. 4 on $125,000 bail. Murray also pleaded guilty to one count of breaching his bail conditions. Provincial Court Judge Garry Hunter sentenced Murray to time already spent in jail. Murray was arrested Friday, March 1, by Sebringvifle OPP in" con- nection with a Breach of Recognizance warrant held. by Goderich Police. He was remanded in cus- tody until a March 4 bail hearing, and thenremanded back into custody until the preliminary hearing started yesterday. One of the condi- tions attached to his bail was that he not contact a specific list of people, most of them Crown witnesses. The March 2 charge was in connection with an allegation that he contacted a Crown witness. The preliminary hearing is expected to last four days. Taxpayers to foot the bill for Bluewater centre damage BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff• Somebody screwed up and now taxpayers are going to have to pay the price for last Thursday's riot at the young offenders facility near Goderich. says the distressed Director of Education for the .Huron County public hoard. The Huron hoard runs a secondary school at the Blucwatcr Youth Centre, itself the responsibility of • the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services. where two of three houses or units were "totally destroyed". They incurred estimated damages of 1rom$250,000 to $ I -mi l lion before Ontario .Provincial Police and a spe- cial crisis intervention 'team from London sot the situa- tion under control. in about two -and -a -half hours. with emergency assistance from striking civil servants. • "i will start using four-letter profanities if i talk any more about it." Paul Carroll said on the morning after. "I guess I'm annoyed because it didn't have to happen. "It's big. imagine the rami- fications for us. 1 think i saw in the Free Press 53 kids have been re -located. Do you know what that docs to our CONTINUED on page 12 ROAD CLOSED IV POLICE OROEA-REI. 1311 H.T.A PHOTO BY DAVID SCOTT SIGN OF THE TIMES - Highway 8 was closed down Sunday in Seaforth after blizzard conditions made area roads impassible. Local radio reports said that although only a few highways were officially closed, all roads in Huron, Perth, Bruce, Grey and Wellington counties were considered closed for most of Sunday. The OPSEU strike has slowed down plowing and sanding as well as official road closing notices. Snow squalls and freezing rain continued Monday night and Tuesday. Police cautioned motorists recently to stay put during the stormy weather. Centre looks like war zone after riot BY MONA IRWIN SSP News Staff The two vandalized 'iving units at Blucwatcr Centre for Young Offender look like war zones after Thursday's rampage. Clothing and sneakers are flung about. Cushions and mattresses have been thrown on the floor and walked on. Furniture is overturned, hent and broken. and in many places you have to pick your way carefully through a stew of -cassette tapes. hits of a Monopoly game, hooks and other debris. What appears to he canned whipped cream is sprayed along a wall Comments and obscenities arc written on other walls. Ceiling fans arc bent. in one room. an unopened chocolate her perches on the wooden frame of a chair. Everywhere there's a snowfall of candy bar wrappers and juice boxes. And the main sound Friday. was the crunch of broken security glass underfoot. as superintendent Wcs Bellied a small group of media on a tour of the upstairs -unit. The downstairs.unit was closed off because poiicc wcrc still picking theirway through the mess to gather evidence. "I've been in correctional services for 20 years. and I've never seen anything like it." Bell told reporters. The youths' routines have been altered by the labour dispute, said Bell — programs have been shortened or temporari- ly terminated. and a lack of cooking staff means they're down to two meals a day. "At this age group. you have issues when you change rou- tines," he added. The approximately 100 res- idents of Blucwatcr went to brunch Thursday with only the "ustial horseplay." hc •1 • PHOTO BY MONA IRWIN BLUEWATER DAMAGE - This scene of office damage is from one of the rooms youths barricaded themselves in during the riot at Bluewater Centre for Young Offenders. They eventually called for help and staff pried off a window and freed the youths: said. "'Then at 3:30. every- thing went up." The two damaged units are medium wenn!) units. Bell said the only reaction from the one maximum security unit resi- dents'was. "Whey's dinner"" About half the residents in Blucwatcr took part in thc riot. A small group in one of the vandalized units locked themselves into a staff office as the riot began and called for hclp. Staff pried thc screen off a window to get them out. Thcrc were no hostages. said Ross Virgo. a spokesman for Ontario Correctional Scrviccs. because staff left the units when it hccame obvious the situation was get- ting Out Of control. By about 6 p.m.. half the youths had surrendered, and negotiations were going on with thc remainder. who wcrc still barricaded inside, said Ken Tufts. another OCS spokesman. By about 7:30. all the youths were out. Thcrc were no escapes. About 46 wcrc taken to thc Elgin -Middlesex Detention Ccntrc, in London, and 12 were taken to the Niagara Regional Dctcntion Ccntrc. Approximately 50 are still in Blucwatcr, in a wing which. was not involved in thc riot. An ambulance was at the scene. but only minor injuries" were reported. Fisc trucks wcrc also called when the youtas in the downstairs unit began setting fires. The OPP surrounded the building shortly after the siege started. Blucwatcr correctional offi- cers arc mcmhcrs of the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union. and were on the picket lines, but Bell said the picket lints went down whcn additional staff — including some who wcrc on thc lines — wcrc called in to help deal with the riot. The OPP Western Region's Criminal Investigation Team is investigating the incident. Virgo said he could not give any information • about staffing levels, because that is a security matter. During the strike, security positions have hecn filled by management and OPSEU mcmhcrs who arc working under thc essen- tial services agreement. Blucwatcr, which opened in the mid- l980s. houses young offenders from 12 to 17 years old. it offers individual and group counselling as well as school upgrading.