HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-01-24, Page 4Page 4 January 24, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1W0
:e50
years of marching
by all -girls' band
Seaforth is a town that seems to love nothing bet-
ter than reminiscing about the old days and cele-
brating its local heritage.
That's why it's so baffling that the Seaforth and
District All -Girls' Marching Band is having little or
no response to its call for help in organizing a 50th
anniversary'reunion for this July.
While the band - in order to survive - has had to
expand out into the rest of Huron County during
the past decade or so and is no longer exclusively
made up of Seaforth girls, it still has deep roots in
Seaforth.
Begun in 1957 as an all -girls' band at Seaforth
District High School under the direction of George
Hildebrand and continued under the leadership of
Charlie Kalbfleish since 1978, the band has given
100s of girls the opportunity to play a musical
instrument, travel throughout North America and
gain the poise and maturity that performance
demands.
It's likely that some of the best high school mem-
ories of decades of Seaforth women revolve around
the band.
The band has performed for dignitaries such as
Lester B. Pearson, Pierre E. Trudeau, former U.S.
• President Gerald Ford, Ontario Premier Mike
Harris and Mickey Mouse.
While it's played in Calgary, Toronto, Kitchener
Oktoberfest and International Plowing Matches
throughout Ontario, the band is also well known
beyond Canadian borders with performances in
Michigan, Arizona, South Carolina and Florida.
A few years ago, the all -girls' band also toured
England and France with performances through-
out.
It's safe to say the all -girls' band is one of the best
known ambassadors for Seaforth and while there's
been pressure during recent years to drop Seaforth
from the name, organizers opted instead to add
"and District" to the moniker to reflect the county-
wide involvement.
Where are the alumni, especially the former
Seaforth members, who are willing to devote a bit
of time to celebrate 50 years of girls and music?
We- hope that this important piece of Seaforth
heritage does not go unsunk.
Susan Hundertmark
Truscott deserves a real
second chanc\e at justice
In June 1959, this com-
munity lost its innocence.
And in that month, and
for the same reason,
Steven Truscott lost both
his innocence and his free-
dom.
As the history books
show, the 14 -year-old boy
was held responsible for
the rape and murder of
12 -year-old classmate, Lynne Harper.
Then, at the age of 14, Truscott was the
youngest person in Canada ever sentenced to
death, which is something that rocked the
region and shocked the world. (That death
sentence was commuted to life in prison in
1960, and he was released on parole in 1969.)
Now 62 years old, Truscott maintains his
innocence. In fact, he is still fighting to clear
his name before the courts nearly 50 years
after the murder.
In October 2004, former justice minister
Irwin Cotler decided the government had a
moral obligation to see whether fresh evi-
dence, which had come to light, could have led
to a different outcome at the original trial.
Indeed, Cotler stated a "miscarriage of jus-
tice likely occurred."
Truscott has been through a trial, appeals
from that trial, a reference to the Supreme
Court of Canada. And now, finally, the
Ontario Court of Appeal has heard arguments
on the issue of said "fresh evidence."
As reported in the Clinton News -Record, the
By Tom Williscraft
appeal court heard the fol-
lowing testimony from var-
ious sources:
• Jocelyne Gaudet, whose
testimony helped convict
Truscott, asked another
witness, Bob Lawson, to lie
to authorities.
• Bob Lawson, who owns
the bush where Lynne's
body was discovered, told
the court of appeal that on the day that
Truscott was alleged to have killed Harper, he
and a friend saw two people, a man and a girl,
in car near where Lynn Harper's body was
eventually found.
Lawson also told the court when he tried to
tell an officer on duty at the Air Force base
about the car, he was dismissed and told that
Truscott had already been charged.
Lawson also testified that during Truscott's
original trial, Jocelyne Gaudet visited him. in
order to try to persuade him to change his tes-
timony.
She wanted him to back her own testimony.
She testified at the original trial that she had
gone looking for Truscott at the time that
Harper was alleged to have been killed but
didn't find him.
Two other witnesses told the appeals court
last month that Gaudet admitted to them that
she had lied at the original trial.
• Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, Dr.
Michael Pollanen, said the doctor who
See ORIGINAL, Page 6
Ron & .lye
(school is such a\
waste of time!
Think of all the
stuff we could do
if we didn't waste
all day at school.
Think of all
the things
we could
accomplish.
'741 411t)
11,
It's crimina
b David Lace
Lets see if we can
watch TV all day
without going blind.
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