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Times-Advocate, 1981-08-26, Page 1E xplosion rocks Gasoline fumes leaking from a broken underground line were blamed for an explosion that rocked Huronview and sent 11 people to hospital, Thursday afternoon, and one of those injured indicated the fumes had been evident for some time. Vera Thiel, Zurich, a day- care ,patienta the Huron County home for the aged south of Clinton, said she had noticed unusual fumes in the day-care area for seven weeks before the explosion which caused damage estimated at $500,000 to a 'wing of the 310 -bed home. "All the Thursday day- care people complained. The fumes were there every SAUSAGES GALORE - Donna Prout and Marg Pavkeje were in the kitchen preparing sausages for the Sunday morning South Huron Junior Farmers breakfast at Thames Road. Suspended drivers get more penalties Two people who pleaded guilty to driving while their licences were under suspen- sion were fined $103 each when they appeared before Investigate hit and run accident The only accident in- vestigated by officers of the Exeter police department this week was was of the hit and run variety. Mrs. Charles Kernick, RR 3, Exeter reported that her vehicle was struck by an unknown vehicle while it was parked behind the Simpson Sears office in Exeter Wednesday. Constable George Robertson set damages at 8250. ConstableRobertsonis also investigating the theft of money taken from the coin boxes at the Zip Car Wash on Main street North. The theft was reported Wednesday by Ken Triebner. During the past two weeks, police have received a number of complaints of bicycle thefts. Most of these thefts have been in the area of Becker's Milk Store. Any person found with or in postlession of a stolen bicycle may be charged with theft or possession of stolen property. Justice of the Peace Douglas Wedlake iii Exeter court, Tuesday. Fined were Dale R. Conlan, RR 3 Zurich, and George A. DeGroot, London. Conlan was charged on June 26 after being stopped for an errant traffic move and DeGroot was charged on August 8. Both drivers were under suspension for unpaid fines. A charge of careless driv- ing against Douglas E. Shad - dock, Parkhill. was dismiss- ed when an independent witness told the court he saw an unidentified vehicle cut off the vehicle of the ac- cused, forcing him into the ditch on April 10 in Stephen Township. The accused had suffered major injuries in the mishap and the Crown explained that there had been no men- tion of the unknown vehicle when Shaddock first gave a statement to police regarding the accident. A Clinton area man was fined ;550 in Provincial Court in Goderich Monday as the result of an incident in Exeter on June 27 of this year. In addition Beverly Shepherd had his driver's licence suspended for three months on a charge of dangerous driving The fines included the dangerous driving charge and for theft from a car wash. week. We opened the doors as much as we could," commented Mrs. Thiel in a telephone interview from a Clinton hospital bed where she was recuperating from severed tendons in her wrist. Flying glass cut eight participants in the day-care program, two staff members and a resident of the home. - Several people were singed. Most of the day-care patients were sitting outside the auditorium when the explosion occurred and this had been cited as one of the main reasons why more serious injuries did not oc- cur. Mrs. Thiel was among those working on crafts. "We heard this BOOM BOOM and I fell off the chair on my face. Then I picked myself up and all I could see was blood. My eyes felt funny. I could feel the cuts on my face." "I could hear the fire trucks and ambulances First bean payment up Ontario white bean producers will be getting a larger initial payment on their 1981 crop. Charles Broadwell, secretary - manager of the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board made the announce- ment at Wednesday's Crop Update Day at Centralia College. , Broadwell said the first payment on the new crop would be 15.14 up from $11.34 a year ago. The licence fee paid by growers is being reduced one cent per 100 bag to 17 cents. Broadwell predicted the 1981 crop yield would be below the five year average of 13.2 hundredweight per acre. He added, We expect the average to be about 12.5 bags this year. This estimate was made a week ago and the decrease was caused by wet or dry weather or both in some instances. The best yields in recent years came in 1979 at 16.8 bags per acre and last year when the figure was 16.3 hundredweight. The acreage this year is about 110,000 acres. Last year it was 92.- 000 acres. The highest number of acres planted in white beans was 148,000 acres in 1978. The Marketing Board of- ficial said overall production would be about 7,600,000 bags. This is made up of 5,- 100,000 in Michigan: 1,160,- 000 in Minnesota and North Dakota and 1.400.000 in On- tario. Broadwell added. "This figure does not seem to be unwieldy." Advance sales on the 1981 crop in Michigan are already over one million bags. Broadwell said, "This figure is relatively normal. We are not doing any advance sales. We will sell as soon as we get beans which will likely be next week. Broadwell said he was concerned about a surplus of Black and Pinto beans affec- ting the white bean market and prices. He continued, "last year we sold to coun- tries like Cuba, Bulgaria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. I don't know what will happen this year." BEAN QUEENS - Michelle Durand was crowned Queen of the iurich Bean Festival, Satur- day afternoon. She is shown at the front left with runnerup Sally Ford. In the centre row are Pam Bregmon and Pat Bedour. Back, left, Jackie Schenck, Patty Meloche and Joanne Pepper. Staff photo coming," said the Zurich woman. "I felt dizzy and two women who worked there drove me to Clinton Public Hospital." That night, she had a lengthy operation on the tendons of her left hand and was treated for cuts on her face and arms. "I had a funny feeling, a premonition, that I wouldn't be at the (Zurich) bean festival. I had no enthusiam at day-care. I had a funny feeling," said Mrs. Thiel. Jack Carter, chief engineer maintenance supervisor, who was outside his office not far from the explosion, said he never had any suspicions of gas before. Administrator Wayne Lester credited staff members for their quick action in removing other Huronview residents from the area in a quick and ef- ficient manner. "When the explosion happened, I ran to the area, assessed the need and or- dgred ambulances," he reported. "My staff func- tioned in proper accord." The five persons kept in hospital were all listed in satisfactory condition. They were day-care co-ordinator Rosemary Armstrong of Clinton, activities director Sandra Davidson of Goderich, day-care par- ticipants Vera Thiel of Zurich and Shirley Haggerty of Clinton and Huronview resident Irvin Trewartha. Released from hospital after treatment for cuts, bruises • and minor burns were day-care participants, Ann Bennis of Zurich, May Gibson of Clinton, Barbara Bellfleur of Clinton, Olive Harvey of Exeter, Ann Dyskstra of Clinton and Elizabeth' Alexan der of Exeter. A former Exeter resident, Ernie Appleton, 89, whose room is only five yards away from the explosion says, "I heard a loud explosion and the nurses closed the rooms to keep us safe. Then they chased us to the south end, home for aged s the farthest away from the sent to the north end for the rooms to let the gas out. 1 explosion." unknown reasons and at can't smell so I couldn't "At about 2:30 we were about 8 p.m. they opened up detect the gas," "1 never thought I was in danger even though the Please turn to page 3 HURONVIEW DISASTER - Eleven people suffering from lacerations and burns were tended tc on the !owns nt Huronview following an,explosion which blasted a portion of the home for the aged on August 21. Nur<e< orderlies volunteers, doctors and ambulance attendants helped to comfort the injured before they were taken to nearby Clinton Public- Hospital. On duty police officer Constable Don Armstrong said that the small public hospital handled the.emeraencv situation with complete care and efficiency. Shell ,y M<Phee photo Ames Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Ninth Year dvoc & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, AUGUST 26, 1981 Price per copy 40 Cents Motorists oup with new radar, get 45 speeding tickets infours a Estimate of damage was not considerable damage to the disappointed volunteer. available. dugouts being built at the The incident is being in - Some of the people con- hardball diamond and vestigated by the Exeter tributing their time in the smashed tools and equip- police. redevelopment of the Exeter ment being used by volun- The new agricultural community park are won- teer personnel. building at the park is dering if their efforts are "They smashed nearing completion and was really being appreciated. everything they could think initiated during the men's Last week, vandals did of," commented one fasthall tournament over the past weekend. Two diamonds were used for the tournament which attracted gond crowds under ideal weather conditions. Many motorists in the area are becoming acquainted with a special traffic unit operating out the district OPP headquarters in Mt. Forest. The unit, which consists of three men and three radar guns, was in the area this week and in the first four days of their visit had handed out 45 traffic tickets, most of them for speeding. J 4_ The last time the unit was Dunn, Strathroy. Damage in this area, 250 were was listed at 84,000. charged with various of- Also on Sunday, vehicles fences. driven by Christina Wipp, Minor injuries were Michigan. and Chistopher reported in one of the four Groot, RR 1 Zurich, collided accidents investigated by the on Highway 21. Exeter OPP this week, That There were two collisions one was reported on Sunday on Saturday, the first oc- on Highway 81 south of the curring on Highway 84 in Crediton Road, Zurich. A vehicle driven by Drivers involved were Walso Horn, Zurich, struck a Clarence Stone, RR 3 parked car owned by Parkhill. and Mary -Anne Frederick Goodyear, Lon- don, during the annual bean festival. Damage was 8175.00 The other occurred on Highway 4 north of Exeter and involved vehicles operated by Joanne Scott, RR 3 Ailsa Craig, and William Kivlichan, London. A POSTAL AWARD - Audrey Clarke of Crediton was honoured recently for completing 17 yeors of service with the Canada Postal Services at the Huron Pork Post Office. Making the presentation at the left is area Postmaster Harvey C. Pfaff. T -A photo Stephen appoints water consultant No date has vet been set for a meeting on the con- struction of a water line to serve villages in Stephen township. However. at last week's meeting of Stephen township council. it was decided that an agreement be made with D.M. Ross and Associates for the prepara- tion of plans for water line construction to ('recti tori and Centralia. In other business at the Stephen council meeting: It was decided that council would not haul gravel to ratepayers this year. because of the poor condi- tion of the old truck, and a new truck which has been ordered. has not yet'arrived. In the past. the township has sold gravel to ratepayers However, this year. ratepayers are being ad- vised to contact local con- tractors. A contract for bulldozing at the waste control site was given to Norris Desjardine. Three tenders were receiv- ed. No appeals were received on closing a road on part lots 2,3,4 and 5.• Concession Ausable. Notice of the road closing will be sent to Huron county for approval. Tile drain loans were ap- proved in the amount of 842,- 900. Council voted to put the same three people on the court of revision for the Mud Creek Municipal Drain repair and improvement. Doug Russell. Ralph Weber and Tom Torn'»s will he at the court ee hu h will be at the township uffu c September 15 It was decided to give the Please turn to page 3 Talks with teachers on Mediation talks with the 245 secondary school teachers in Huron County will resume after the teachers executive com- mittee holds a meeting at the end of August. The medi alor, professor Jeffrey Gandz of the University of Western Ontario, London, said the delay in the process has been because the leachers have been "scattered- during the month of August. Appointed by the education relations com- mission, professor Gandz said the present contract for the teachers expires August 31. "If there is a no settlement fairly close (10 August 31) they (teachers) will go through the process of fact finding," Professor Gandz said. Ile said the negotations would then go on for an undetermined length of time. No details of negotiations have been made public. Two charged with confining Pros to attend area hockey school Next week at the Huron Hockey School will feature the appearance of 53 professional players, mostly from the National Hockey League School official Brian Gilmour told the T -A Tues- day "This will he the strongest group we have ever had as far as overall talent is concerned. young woman The Montreal Canadiens will have the largest con- tingent with an even dozen players including Pierre Mondou. Mario Tremblay. Doug Riseborough and their 1980 No. 1 draft choice Doug Wickenhauser. Included in the 11 man representation from the Philadelphia Flyers will be Tim Kerr. The pros will be register- ing Sunday afternoon and will be on the ice from 9 a.m. to 5 p m each day Scrimmages will take place at 8 p m on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights find the general public is welcome to drop in and see the pros in action. A coaches symposium will also be held next week when coaches will have a chance to observe professional teaching. A Hensall man and an Ex- eter man have been charged with abduction after an 18 year old London woman said she was picked up in Port Franks and taken to the Thorndale area. Norman Frederick Peters. 22. of Hensall. and Guy An- drew I,ee. 23. of Exeter have been charged with forcibly confining a female person. under section 247, subsection 2 of the criminal code. The incident is alleged to have taken place Sunday August 9 Police report that secondary charges may he pending The two men were ap- prehended and released on their own recognizance. They are scheduled to appear in court in Forest on September 1. A few openings remain and any area coaches in- terested should contact the school at 228-6872. Tuckersmith gets parkland The Township of Tuckersmith took over two lots in Vanastra for municipal purposes by pass- ing by-laws at last week's council 'meeting Lot 21. Plan 22. which was vacant and is adjacent to an ex- isting park, will he used for municipal parkland If government approval is obtained. Lot 26. Ilan 2:1. which was also vacant and seized by Tuckersmith for long -standing tax arrears. will be used to store sand and salt Council also passed a by- law appointing an animal control officer to enforce ex- isting bylaws to regulate. impound or kill dogs running free in the township The of- ficer is to he paid $6 per hour 21c per mile and $6 per dog impiiunded Residents with complaint.: about animals running free ;ire asked to contact the Please hoof' tr' p.rge .; A3/41\\ NEW PASTOR Mork Lowrie ,sumed the posto, al 'c-.ponsibilities of Emmaeucl Baptist Church in E,,e'e' M. Lowrie has served a on ocs-tont in several chortle Orr most recent be - mo the Knc'llwood Pork Bop- trct Chv,ch rr London, He is a gradun' - c+ Te"nes'-e" Tem- ple !_!rl<„•<ity in What. 'onooacr T• B 4 ,Tort •s 'C(.'. .Io,t,- M it 1,,.. dor Bc•r ' .. c, ,•N� .c tc,r C.. year ti`, s c, n'err l -e, c' dorohte. Nc,ahlr•0 l 4 WHEEL OUT GIFTS- Friends wheel out some summer furniture as they honored Fro'', Saturday. The Giffins have moved to Georgetown. Presenting the gifts are Earl Woo •r Knowles and Don Mousseau. The popular OPP Constable and his wife were invnlvec groups during their stay in Exeter. i 1 •',-e '' .t•',1