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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1987-05-27, Page 1Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Imes MIN voca wry,4,4 .. y ,e4t One Hundred and Sixteenth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, May\27, 1987 Price Per Copy 60 Cents Authority asking municipalities for inputonanne one member on the Authority. Those combined municipalities would determine who would repre- sent them. U had been expected that the mat- ter would be decided at the Authori- ty's full membership meeting set for' June 26. However, to give municipalities some input, it won't go to the full board until their meeting on November 27. Prout said he would attend municipal council meetings if his at- tendance is requested to explain reasons behind the proposal. Toronto resident Lloyd Brooks ap- Sgt. Sh He noted that the main reason is to peared before Judge Francis G. g have members that are better inform - Carter in Goderich court on Thursday the police ed as all 15 would attend monthly ses- and pleaded guilty to three charges to tttngthe sions where all Authority business related to a theft and assault in Ex- would be transacted. eter on January 18. h breakin. At the present time, the Authority Brooks will be sentenced on June 4 The Toronto has an executive committee and three for possession of stolen property, advisory committees and only the assault of Constable Brad Sadler and t } former meets on a monthly basis and a level III assault of Sgt. Kevin Short. the advisory committees usually It has been announced that Brooks h meet only three times a year. has withdrawn assault charges The latter, "Everyone would be involved in all against the two members of the Ex -his boots, slipped the policy decisions," Prout said in eter police department who were in- ff oiled the reference to the planned setup. - volved in the incident. ligaments leg he fell He also noted that the costs involv- The 31 -year-old man was ap- ed in having 35 directors runs around prehended around 2:00 a.m. on the $40,000 per year and this could be cut "somewhere in half" by the changes. January dafewhen Constable Sadler After pummelling the officer, the Staffmetime would also be saved s. saw him carrying items that had been accused managed to get Short's the present setup also be in con- , stolen from Exeter F,lectric jacket up around his face and neck siderable duplication as reports are . - y ss made to the various advisory 1111���...�.3;�: �.1,..r.> n z<�'a'.�,<,xiYiX�4t....?�its�..��J: Y, ,. ;;. committees. Reduced membership for Authorities is not something new in the province. At least five have already moved to a more streamlin- ed makeup similar to that being pro- posed for the Ausable Bayfield. The Associaton of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) have also made recommendations for such a change as has the ministry of natural resources. While neither group has made a concerted pitch in that direction, Pro- utsaid it is better that the Authority be organizers of their own destiny Please turn to page 3 Area municipalities which have representatives on the Ausable Bayfield Conserv*tion Authority will be given an opportunity to review a recommendation for reducing the number of directors by over one half on the Authority. All 32 municipalities presently have eft , •-• • one director on the Authority and the s,erving the 32 municipalities. province names three represen- The municipalities in the watersh- tatives, for a total of 35 people. ed would be joined on the basis of dis- At a meeting, Thursday, the ex- counted equalized assessment, as ecutive committee accepted a con- well as location. cept that the total be reduced to 15. Manager Tom Prout explained that The provincial representation would no more than three municipalities be cut -to one and there would be 14 would be joined together to share in •6¢ Pleads guilty 011 police assault Short was called to the scene and the latter escorted the accused to station while Sadler re- mained at the localstore awaiting arrival of the owner to identify items that had been taken in the reg in. man was described as beingcooperative with the two police officers at the outset, but wen berserk later in the police office and started a shoving match with ort. who had some snow on on a plastic floor covering in the office andp in hislefte as awkwardly to the floor with the assailant on top ofhim. and attehipted to suffocate him. Short managed to get a message over the radio and Sadler responded and the two managed to subdue the Toronto man. In addition to the torn ligaments, Short suffered cuts and bruises to his face and bruises to his chest. He was off duty for some time. Sadler also sustained cuts and scratches to his face. Brooks was originally charged with seven counts, including one of attemp- ted murder in view of the attackon Short. It was subsequently dropped as were three other charges that had been laid against him. There was considerable damage done at the police station and the in- cident led to a review of the methods of handling suspects. Roads still motorcyclists plague Hay Township. Drivers involved were Wandg Killeleagh, London, and Ned Ash, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Damage was set at $1800. During the week, the local detach- ment officers charged two people with impaired driving and 12 -hour licence suspensions were handed out to four others following Alert tests. There were 55 charges under the Highway Traffic Act and four under the Liquor Act. A total of 33 general occurrences were investigated. Area highways continue to plague motorcyclists. The Exeter OPP report that on Fri- day afternoon, a vehicle driven by Ruth Workman, RR 3 Kippen, pulled out a driveway onto Highway 84 east of Zurich and collided with a west- bound motorcycle driven by Leo Mun- dy, Petrolip. Mundy sustained a broken right leg, a collarbone and eight ribs and was taken to South Huron Hospital and then transferred to University Hospital in London. Damage in the crash was set at $3,500. Two weeks ago, a London motor- cyclist was killed when he ran into a the rear of a vehicle making a left hand turn in front of him in the Crediton area. The same week, two motorcyclists suffered major injuries in a collision with a vehicle in Huron Park. This week's crash was one of two in- vestigated by the Exeter OPP. The other occurred on Saturday evening on Highway 83 at concession 2-3 of * ,' . t 'a '', Ne's a first! ) r GREAT ACHIEVEMENT — Scott Murray, Hensall, was pretliented wIRi the Queen's Venturer's Award by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, grand- son of the founder of the Scouting movement, at an awards ceremony held in the Scarborough Civic Centre. Hensall Venturer given top Scott Murray, 18, a member of the 1st. Hensall Venturer, received the Qen's Venturer Award from Lord pert Baden-Powell, grandson of the founder of the Scouting movement, at. a ceremony held in the Scarborough Civic Centre on Sunday, May 24. The award represents a number of firsts. Murray is the first recipient from Huron District, and he was one of 51 Venturers from across Ontario to be honoured at the first provincial Venturer Awards Ceremony. The Queen's Venturer Award signifies that a Venturer has, in the opinion of those who know him, both the character and the ability to be of significant help to people. In order to qualify, a Venturer must hold the Outdoorman Award, the Ven- turer Award or the Duke of Edin- burgh Award (silver level); be a member of good standing; hold a cur- rent St: John Ambulance Standard Certificate or equivalent; be qualified to hold an award for service skill; complete a minimum of 25 hours of community service; act as an Activi- ty Leader or Scouter -in -Training for at least eight meetings; serve as a member of/the Company Executive; k anup-to-date record of Venturer activities; and be recommended by the Adventurer Advisor and the District Commissioner. Terming ,Scout associations "the greatest youth movement on earth", Lord Baden-Powell said "Scouts from anywhere in the worldlean meet and immediately there is a bond of mutual trust." Although Baden-Powell, 51. has seen the movement established by lis grandfather. in 1907, change dramatically, he feels Scouts today have "early Victorian" morals. . "They're not prudish" he said. "They think things through. They have a set of moral values, and they live their lives by them". The Scouting movement has spread around the world, and now has over 14 million members, Baden -rowel said. Though figures for the number of female Scouts in Ontario who receive Queen's Venturer Awards are not kept, Baden-Powell said 60,peroent of nominees in the United Kingdom are female. - Murray was accompanied to the awards ceremony by his mother, Mrs. Marie Murray, Richard Ed- wards, District Commissioner for Huron District, and Venturer. Ad- visors Peter Nyberg and Sandra Bell (ben the 1st Hensall Venturers. SOCIAL TIME Comparing notes at the dinner meeting of Zone 6 of the Municipal Police Association hosted by Exeter, in the Legion Hall are St. Thomas Mayor Jane Golding and Dorothy Chapman, a member of the Exeter Police Commission. looking on are St. Thomas Police Chief Wayne Howard and Exeter Police Chief Larry Hardy. Financing of a post -trauma unit and conducting arbitration negotiations were discussed. BEMUSED — Marcel Beaubien, mayor of Petrolia, shakes hands with Exeter's White Wonder at a din- ner meeting. of Zone 6 of the Ontario Municipal Police Association held in Exeter. (Guess who is peer- ing out from those blue eyes!) Chief Hardy extols plan for Being part of a shooting, whether as shooter or target, is one of the most traumatic' experiences a police of- ficer can have. Equally high,on the scale are assaults with weapons other than guns, and high-speed chases which end in death. The psychological aftermath can be as damaging as physical injuries, ranging from depression to complete breakdown. • The full impact may not surface for awhile, but tick away like a hidden time bomb for weeks or months. Until recently, municipal police of- ficers iri such situations had to fight their inner battles with little outside help. No longer. The first post -trauma team in Ontario for members of municipal police forces is now being set up by Zone six of the Municipal Police Authority. (Zone six encom- • passes the triangle from Windsor to Aylmer to Goderich, excluding St. Marys, Mitchell and Wingham.) Like other support groups, those who have been through something are best equipped to understand the needs of someone in a similar situation. Policemen who have been involved in traumatic occurrences are being screened to pick out those most able to help their fellow officers. Policemen's wives are also being en- listed to counsel other wives, as these incidents affect the whole family. Successful trauma unit candidates will be trained through four-day seminars at the Police College in Aylmer. When a call is received from the chief of a municipal force, the team will be on the scene within hours. The Ontario goverment has promis- ed to pick up one-third of the estimated $10,000 set-up costs for books, training manuals and a More on the inside psychologist -instructor at Aylmer, and will also absorb the cost of ac- commodation and meals. Police departments in Zone six are going to their municipalities with a request for $400 from' each to provide the rest of the financing. Once the program is under way, the cost to each municipality will be an annual maintenance fee of $75. Exeter council recently voted unanimously to support the program, Exeter Police Chief Larry Hardy seized the opportunity to speak for the program during a dinner and meeting of Zone six hosted by Exeter in the Legion Hall on May 20. His plea for support was aimed at the municipal politicians in the audience. His fellow officers already knew about Hardy's personal experience. In 1979 Hardy was assaulted by an assailant wielding a tire iron when he interrupted a break-in. As his assailant struggled to take the policeman's gun, Hardy fired one shot which missed his adversary by inches. - Hardy managed to overpower his opponent, and retained the presence of mind to continue to perform his duties by collecting evidence while awaiting the ambulance, all the time bleeding profusely from his'injuries. An hour later shock set in. Hardy recalls that uppermost in his mind was the fact he could hav't killed, or been killed, and "Who was 1 to decide to take a life?" No post -trauma unit was then in ex- istence to help a member of a municipal police force battle with both psychological oppression and physical hurt. "Neither the force nor the politi- cians knew how to deal with me", Hardy says now. "What was most traumatic was not the fact I could have lost my life, but that I was con- stantly asked when 1 was coming back. I know there's not a lot of man- power in a small department, but I felt no one cared." Adding to his woes was a threat from the man he had arrested to return and harm him. While con- valescing, Hardy slept with his revolver under his pillow. His major concern was the worry the man might harm his wife sometime when he was away. Hardy had nightmares for two years after the attack. His wife would often waken him from a kicking, fist - swinging re-enactment of the original incident. Hardy was off work for six months. He returned to dotty, had a relapse, and was off again for an additional six months. As if that wasn't enough to cope with, Workmen's Compensation acted so slowly in processing the second claim that Hardy's wages were cut off. As soon as other members of the force heard what had happened, they turned up en masse al a council meeting to ask if they could donate some of their sick time to their brother officer. "That was one of the turning points in my recovery", Hardy said. trauma team Until then, Hardy's support and solace had come primarily from his wife. Ile credits Khris with playing the key role in his return to normalcy. Hardy revealed that in the midst of -his troubles he announced his inten- tion of marching off to a council meeting to tell councillors what he thought. His wife didn't try to stop him. She said "Go ahead. And after you've done it, what then'" Ile didn't go. Now that he has come through troubled waters without going under, Hardy looks back on the experience as having a positive effect on his life. It has brought him and his wife closer together, and made him determined to stay a policeman. He and his wife are willing to turn and help anyone else in similar circumstances. They have been there, and they can empathize. Please turn to page 3 YOU'RE FROM ST. THOMAS ?OO? - Mayor Bruce Shaw found out he had something in common with William Kavanagh, deputy chief of the St. Thomas police force and director of Zone 6 of the Municipal Police Association, during a dinner and meeting hosted by Exeter. Looking on is Zone 6 chairman HaroldSchooley• police chief of Sar- ,nia township.