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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-05-13, Page 1Skeptical of Lucan Klan rumors Rumors that the Klu Klux Klan is operating a revolutionary training centre near Lucan has come as a complete surprise to area residents. The suggestion of Klan activity was made in the ' Legislature on Monday by NDP Mike Breaugh, who said later he had been told that as many as 40 or 50 people could be training at a Lucan area location.'He said the centre may have been operating for the past two ' months. Solicitor -General Roy McMurtry said the police are investigating rumors of the Lucan centre, as well as others being operated in Ontario. GET GOING — Lion Jim Darling used ice cubes and a plate in an attempt to get more speed 'out of his entry in the Exeter Lions frog races at the rec centre, Saturday. Watching from the left are Mr. and Mrs. Jack Taylor, John Stephens, Doug Parsons, Doreen Tiernan and Joan'Kells. T -A photo New police office will be open today Between 30 and 35 police chiefs from municipalities throughout south-western Ontario are expected to be on hand today (Wednesday) for the official opening of the new Exeter police depart- ment office on Sanders St. The chiefs will be in town for one of their regular meetings and the opening was planned to coincide with that event. The chiefs repre- sent municipalities from Windsor to Woodstock to Goderich. WE'LL III LATE Due to the Victoria Day holiday, The Exeter Times - Advocate will be published one day later than usual next week. It will be printed Wednesday night for Thursday morning delivery. Advertising deadlines will be extended to Tuesday. The display advertising deadline will be 2:00 p.m. and the deadline for classified ad- vertisements will be 4:00 p.m. Usborne ups grant Usborne township council this week approved a grant of $9,000 to the South Huron Rec Centre for the year 1981. The original proposal call- ed for an allocation of $6,000 plus the provincial grant received for 1980, but, a successful amendment in- creased the overall figure to $9,000. At the same time a grant of $400 was approved for the Hensall recreation centre. The tender of Pollard Bros. of Harrow to supply 220 tons of liquid calcium at $135.85 per flaked ton was accepted. An appeal by Michael Taziar against a $25 assess- ment on the Brock 'Creek municipal drain was sustain- ed and the assessment referred to the township of Blanshard for disposal. The area involved was apparent- ly taken into the Beitans- Taziar drain in 1g78. The contract on the Brock drain was let to R. Nicholson Construction of Sebringville for $7,644, the lowest of six bids received. A tile drain loan applica- tion in the amount of $15,500 was approved. • They'll be meeting this morning at the Exeter Legion Hall and will visit the police office opening follow- ing their noon luncheon. Mayor Bruce Shaw and his predecessor, Derry Boyle, will cut the ribbon to mark the office opening around 2:00 p.m. Boyle was mayor when the office was erected last year. Elmer D. Bell, Q.C., will act as chairman for the event. Mr. Bell is a former chairman of the Ontario Police Commission. The Ex- eter lawyer will also be speaking to the police chiefs at their morning session. The public is invited to at- tend the official opening of the police office and open house will follow the ceremonies. Lucan residents in- terviewed on Monday were completely surprised by the suggestion of Klan activity. None had any inkling of Klan activities or had heard the sounds of gunfire. Provincial police in Lucan also denied they had any information on KKK activity in their territory. ' Lucan OPP Sgt. Bruce Shaw and Reeve Ivan Hearn both indicated they were skeptical of the reports, although the former an- nounced on Tuesday that three officers would inter- view area residents in an ef- fort to find out if there was any such activity. Hearn said he couldn't think of any location in the area where 30 or 40 people could be training with guns without being detected and suggested he favored the idea that the Klan had possibly started the rumours themselves to gain some publicity. The former Middlesex warden was planning to at- tend a county council session Tuesday afternoon and said he expected to get a lot of kidding about the KIu Klux Klan being in the Lucan area. SS board okay pact "I expect to hear plenty about it before the afternoon is done," he jokingly remarked when contacted by the T -A Tuesday mor- nsng. Hearn added that Mon- day's news was the first he had heard of any KKK ac- tivities being rumoured in the Lucan area. Breaugh said in an in- terview that sources he declined to name have told him that the trainees use handguns and semi- automatic weapons. While there has been evidence of Klan training centres using grenade launchers and automatic weapons in other countries, Breaugh said that to the best of his knowledge, this has not been uncovered in Canada. McMurtry said in the legislature he has heard "a number of rumors" over the pasttfew months about such training centres. He has contacted varioud' police forces and asked the Ontario police commission to report to him monthly on Klan activities. "To date we have been unable to detect any hard evidence to support the rumors...we are watching it very closely." Outside the legislature, Breaugh said Canada's "laws aren't really written to cover somebody who's setting up some sort of a terrorist camp...I find it a very frightening thought that somebody can, in fact, set up a little camp like that in Ontario and send people out there. That scares me." McMurtry told Breaugh he can't act until he has some hard evidence. But Breaugh said later he believes McMurtry should be doing more. "I find it disturbing that he (McMurtry) knows this kind of activity is going on and nothing is happening on it. If you don't stop. this kind of activity at its very begin- ning, then you've got yourself a real problem." In an interview, McMurtry said: "Because of our concern about the Ku Klux Klan, we're not ignoring any rumors...we take their ac- tivities seriously. We don't believe that they represent a major threat at the moment but, on the other hand, given their destructive history, we're looking at the situation very closely." McMurtry said that despite Breaugh's remarks, there is no hard evidence that any of the training centres exist. If police discovered such evidence, ' 1 expect that we'll know of it very quickly." He said the Klan enjoys news coverage and i1 is possible some of the rumors have been started by the organization itself. THE JETS — Cast members for West Side Story are: Gus Merkies as Deisel, Suzanne Patterson, Shiela Eisenschink as Graziello, Mark Creces as Action, Doug Fischer as A -Rab, Lisa Hamather, Ian Sweet as Riff, Kim Kennedy as Velma, Sean Walden as Baby -John, Moja Gans as Anybodys, Ivy Schaufler, and Paul Kaer as Snow -boy. The ploy is being put on by students at South Huron High School Wednesday to Friday. 'sky '�'�'��%'`�'. The Huron -Perth County Catholic School Board ap- proved the new salary contract with its 18 custodians in the 19 schools in the system at a board meeting Monday. The new one-year contract which becomes effective July 1 will cost the board an increase of 10.28 percent over the present contract. Ronald Marcy, Stratford, chairman of the negotiating committee for the board, said it means a fall -time custodian with the board will receive a salary of $15,750 per year. He said there are mot many full-time custodians as most are part- time. Whether a school requires a full-time custodian depends on several factors, Mr. Marcy explained, such as the size of the school, number of pupils and teachers. Immaculate Conception School playground in Stratford will become a community playground and open to the public after school hours when play and fitness equipment is in- stalled this summer. The equipment to cost about $3,640 will be installed by the park board in Stratford, and the school board will be responsible for inspection and maintenance. Mike Dewan, school principal at Immaculate Conception, showed the board members a miniature of the equipment to be in- stalled, eight different pieces. He said it would have great value as a fitness program. He explained that there was a need for the playground in the area and was the result of planning by school staff, a community parent group and Stratford Please turn to page 2 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Eighth Year VOC & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, MAY 13, 1981 Price per copy 40 Cents NEW EQUIPMENT IN PHYSIOTHERAPY — Physiotherapist Ron Khurano works with Chester Dunn on the suspension frame, while Margaret Ferguson is on the lumbar traction machine. Both pieces of equipment are new in South Huron Hospital. Dunn, on out-patient, donated towards the cost of the suspension framewhich was mode locally by McGregor welding. Scoff photo Stephen sends drain report back Stephen Township council held court of revision for the Mud Creek drain during their regular meeting, Tuesday. In view of appeals on the drainage work, it was agreed to send the report back to the engineer for further study and a new report. One of those appealing USBORNE FIRE — Fire destroyed the barn of Allen Oke, lot 17, concession 3, in Usborne Township Thursday afternoon. Exeter fire department responded and kept the fire from spreading to adjoining buildings. Damage set at $78,000 Fire levels barn Fire caused an estimated 578,000 damage to an Usborne Township barn and its contents, Thursday Exeter fireman John Morgan said the department responded just before 5 p.m. to the farM of Allen Oke at lot 17, concession 5, in Usborne, east of Exeter. Chief Gary Middleton estimated the lasses which, he said, included the barn, a 24 foot travel trailer, some sthall farm equipment and about 80 chickens. Middleton said the fire was discovered In the upper area of the barn while the chickens were being fed. Morgan said the fire chief would be investigating the cause. There was hydro 5 service to the barn but, Morgan said, Ontario Hydro inspectors would probably not be called in. Middleton agreed, saying the barn was so far gone there was little left of the building to attempt to determine a cause. He said the cause of the fire would be listed as un- determined. suggested the drain did not provide an appropriate outlet and he should not be assessed. Drainage commissioner Ken Pickering was in- structed] to undertake repairs on 200' of the Shipka drain to provide a better outlet for the Baker-Ratz drain. Council approved the appointment of Doug Lightfoot to the Crediton parks board. Lightfoot will represent the Crediton firemen. Also approved was the payment of $40 for mem- bership into the Ontario Building Officials Association, six tile drain loans in the amount of $79,000, and support of a resolution from the Town- ship of Georgian Bay op- posing more hydro generating stations in that area. A copy of the latter will be sent to Huron -Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell. Council will meet again this Thursday, at which time it is expected that the 1981 tax rate will be established. Name assistant agriculture rep John Heard has been ap- pointed Assistant Agricultural Representative for Huron County. John's emphasis will be on soils and crops. with some future work on swine. John graduated April 1981 from University of Guelph with an honours degree in Crop Science He is from a cash crop farm in Middlesex County John's father, R.F. Heard, is also Area Co- ordinator and Farm Management Specialist in Middlesex and area. John's interests include sports. fishing and farming. He is looking forward to working with the farmers of Huron County. CAFE IA 3UIET R0014 UBRARy * NURSING SW •' •PATIENT RteCC > LABORAT; vN�s Labor dispute may hit Exeter plant A labor dispute between Canadian Canners Ltd. and the United Food and Com- mercial Workers Inter- national Union has led to a lockout at the company's Simcoe plant and may affect other plants, including one in Exeter, later this month, a union. spokesman said Friday. Kevin Corporon of Toronto said 235 Canadian Canners employees were locked out of the Simcoe plant Thur- sday following a con- ciliator's no -board report in April. No -board reports for the company's plants in Exeter. Leamington, Waterford. Amherstburg and St. Davids were issued May 5, making the earliest legal lockout or, strike date May 21, he said. At peak processing times, the Exeter plant employs about 60 full-time workers and numerous seasonal employees he said. The company has a total of about 450 workers at all six plants. The union is seeking wage, pension and cost -of -living improvements over its old contract. which expired March 31. It also wants a common contract to cover workers at all six company plants. Another negotiating meeting is scheduled for today. CAN'T GET LOST NOW Visitors to South Huron Hospital won't get lost thanks to new direction Pride of Huron Rebekah Lodge. The signs were made locally by Dan Rooth. Members of the Rebekoh' Roger Sheeler with a cheque to cover costs. Representing the Rebekahs were Post President Glady, Sk Post president of the Post Grands Audrey McGregor and Joyce Morgon Add new equipment sine% donated by the present odrninistrotor Ski Gladys Skinner T- A photo Many improvements at hospital South Huron Hospital ad- minsitrator Roger Sheeler announcedTuesday.in honour of Canada Hospital Day. that many changes have been taking place at the Exeter hospital. Sheeler said. that he wanted to keep the public aware of everything that was being done at the hospital. and have the com- munity involved as much as possible. He said that he had considered holding an open house on Canada Hospital Day (yesterdays but because last fall's open house was so popular. it was decided to leave the event to the fall. One of themorenoticeable changes at the hospital is the moving of the auxiliary's gift shop to larger quarters. A new area in the lobby is being converted for gift shop use. and the present area in which the gift shop is housed will become a waiting room for patients in emergency. The hospital is also proud of the new direction signs which are posted throughout the building. Sheeler said. The direction signs. in- dicating such areas as Iabratory. emergency. or elevators were donated to the hospital by the Pride of Huron Rebekah Lodge. Two new pieces of equip- ment in the physiotherapy room have benefitted patients there. The hospital now has a lumbar traction machine and a suspension frame. Chester Dunn. a Craig votes for booze Ailsa Craig residents voted 69 percent Monday in favor of allowing .. entertainment lounge licences. Voters were- asked in a liquor plebiscite if they favored "the sale of spirits, beer and wine under an entertainment lounge licence for consumption on licensed premises." Clerk -treasurer Joyce ('oursey said 234 voters cast "yes" ballots and 106 voted against. A 60 -per -cent majority is required under liquor licensing laws. physiotherapy patient. donated funds towards the purchase of the suspension frame. which was made locally by McGregor Welding. Sheeler also said that an agreerne I had been made with Stoirrlvision. to set up a television rental service for patients in the hospital. Sheeler said that the televisions would he small bedside units. complete with earphones. so that they wouldn't interfere with other patients Another innovative move in the hospital is the use of plastic cards for patients. The cards. made by Ad- dressograph. resemble credit cards information about the patients. and OHIP numbers will he put on the plastic cards. and will travel with the patient throughout the hospital -other records will be redesigned to accept the cards. and it will speed up many of the hospital's fun- ctions. Sheeler said He added that themachtne to make the cards has been ordered and the system should be in operation in six to eight weeks Once the hospital <v•tem has been redesigned tc' accept the cards. the system will be extended to out- patients Regular visitors to the hospital's out-patient services will hrine In then plastic card and again.. tt`' should speed up <etvices. Sheeler said (ante often out- patients forget to bring along such information as Plc,c,c Rigr - One crash for district The Exeter Ol'1' in- vestigated anti one accident this week following .t week in which the accident toll was rather extensive The lo•'e collision oc- curred on Highway 4 south of Hensall on Thursday and drivers involved were Victor Kmp. Hensall and Gordon 1.ove lunch Damage In the accident was listed at $ROLL There were no injuries