Clinton News-Record, 1977-02-03, Page 1•
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"
With snow up to the top of his roof, this giant tandem
snowplow from the Clinton office of the ministry of tran-
sportation and communication tries to bash a hole through
plugged Highway 4, just north of the Vanastra turnoff,
Tuesday afternoon. With drifts up to 20 feet deep on some
sections of the highway, officials are hoping the weather
will ease so they can get the highways passable after what
is described as the worst storm in 50 years. (News -Record
photo)
Schools closed, aid offered
Municipalities in Huron County may
be eligible for both Federal ,and,
provincial aid, as a result of the crip-
pling snowstorm that hit the are for the
.last week.
Ontario Premier William Davis said
on Tuesday that he .would set up a
especial emergency cabinet committee to
"assess the' need for emergency
!*financial and logistical support" for
snowbound areas.
Also, the Federal • government in
* Ottawa, in an unanimous vote in the
Commons, approved a proposal that the
federal government consider absorbing
or defraying the cost of storm `relief
operations. ,
As of presstime, however, the News -
Record hadn't learned the extent of the
offers, or if anyone in Huron would
apply.
11 :With all the roads blocked, some for up
to six days, and nearly all schools closed
y' since -last Thursday, it may be several
weeks before all the children are back in
school in the rural areas.
Huron County director of education,
JQ1ui Cochrane, said.. that some town
schools would be open yesterday
Wednesday, but "it is liable to be more
than a week before we have all the kids
back from some of the back con-
cessions."
Although many students have missed
*up to 12 days of school this month, he
said the board does not have immediate
plans to extend the 'school year to make
up for the missed days.
Mr. Dochrane , said education
regulations permit the cancellation of
some school days for inclement•weather,
although students are expected to put in .
185 days, while teachers go up to 200
days.
He said that the board would discuss
the problem at their meeting next
Monday.
Meanwhile, the mail is piling up at the
Post office, as there has been no rural
route service'since last Wednesday, and
no inter -town connecting service since
early last Friday morning. Service is
expected to get back to near normal by
Friday, if the roads stay open.
Normal deliveries of milk, bread, and
fuel oil were also halted by the storm
and at one time Tuesday morning, there
wasn't a quart of milk available in town,
continued on page 3
tzza
W.,at has been described as the worSt
nolystorm in 50 years,brought life to a
hear standstill in Huron • County and
tflu011 of Southwestern Ontario for nearly
a week.
High winds, heavy sn..ow, and near
record sub -Zero temperatures closed
:most roads from Wednesday of last
Week, January 26,,, until late Tuesday,
February.lst.
Thousands of people were storm-
' stayed during the onslought, and high-
way, county «�and township road crews
fought a• losing,battle around• the clock,
fighting hopeless odds to keep the roads
open. f .
The snow and winds finally died down
late Tuesday night, allowing read crews
to get out and open some of the roads
clogged by up to 20 -foot drifts.
The public works crew in Clinton,
however, stayed ahead of the storm, and
although a few streets in Town were
down to one lane traffic for a few hours,
Clinton was kept open.
The storm, described by some as the
worst in 50 years, and by others as the
worst:in this century, left even the un-
shakable provincial highways crews
shaking their heads.
Maynard Hymers,' a veteran
snowplow driver with the Clinton office
of the Ministry of Transportation and,
Communication, said that the big blow of
1977 was far worse than the blow of
January 1971, which everyone thought ternoon T, until late Tuesday night,
would never be surpassed.
Dick Steep, a patrolman and dispat-
cher at the Ministry's Clinton office, said
that the. ,great storm of 1971 "was a
picnic" compared to the one this year.
He said, that although most crews
generally work 12 hours, on, and 12 hours
off, the highways were so bad that many
of the men worked 18 or 20 hours without
relief.
The highways in the Clinton area,
plugged solid from early Friday af-
presented almost insurrrYountab•1•e
problems for the crews.
Mr. Steep said that even though the
Clinton area wa,e far better equipped
than in 1971, the crews were still unable
to keep ahead of • the drifting snow, as
winds .blew up to 55 "miles per hour,
almost steadily for six days.
Coincidentally, the great storm of 1977
started on the same day, January 26, as
the big storm of 1971, .
continued on page 3
'(dice run mercy mis sions
Clinton's Police. Chief and Constables
became delivery boys and ambulance
drivers during the snowstorm which
crippled the town and surrounding area
last weekend.
Beginning with the transport of an
expectant mother to 'hospital, last
Thursday, the department's activities
failed to let up until Tuesday. c._ ,
A run for blood to- Alexandra and
Marine Hospital, Goderich for a patient
undergoing_ surgery at Clinton Public.
Hospital was followed by a snowmobile
delivery of groceries to a stormbound
resident on Cemetery Road Friday.
Three Vanastra children were brought
into town after their parents became
snow stayed . in Goderich and police
made another run out to the fortner air
base to get a man requiring insulin to
Clinton Public Hospital for treatment.
The most crucial delivery made by_ the
police was the transporting of a town
man to University Hospital, London for
treatment on the dialysis machine.
Chief Lloyd Westlake said the trip by
four wheel -drive truck, with the help of
Steve Cooke, took four hours to reach
London.
Yesterday, Wednesday, while the area
has enjoyed a break in the bad weather,
the after effects lingered with Provincial
Court being set. back until March. Chief
Westlakewith the help of a Justice of the
Peace, adjourned all cases to be tried in
February, to next Month.
Clinton, Ontario
25 cents
Thursday, February 3,-1977
• By Jim Fitzgerald
Somehow, it seems appropriate to
ention the weather. ..again...in this
space, in light of the events around here
the last seven days.
• -i- -}- -}-
Since we published last. week (and
many of our rural readers haven't read
that one yet) it's been one giant whiteout
in' the area, and indeed much of the
province, as ' Mother Nature seeks to
prove that weather records are made to
be broken. For those who remember the
big blow of '71, which we thought would
be the biggest, the "super big blow of
'77" will loom even bigger it the future.
The acts of bravery and heroism are so
w numerous they're almost impossible to
recount..
+ + -{-
We merely scratched the surface in
this edition detailing various accounts of
such honorable actsso if we missed a
few, forgive us. Up until Tuesday af-
ternoon, it .looked: like.this.week'.s .paper
would never see print.
But along with the heroic acts there
was also some stupidity,.like the people
out last Sunday for a "Sunday Drive" to
see what was happening, or the motorist
from London- cursing the policeman
when he was told the highway to London
was blocked, and he couldn't get through
the barricade.
+++
Like the snow, records continue to pile
p too: 51 days straight of snow; coldest
nuary since 1918: 44 consecutive days
without the temperature getting above
freezing; . . and so on and so on. When
Will it end? The groundhog saw his
shadow Wednesday, so it's anybody's
guess.
Now' that the snow has finally. quit..
for awhile', let's hope everything is back
to normal,, including many events
$ched qle d last weekend wh
ich have been
ahead week,like a et
. nil a#h ahe
iri�aw�, bahtatn
f
tri'
tandthe l..,d
n e
to'ur�i�sl<nieChildren s
iti�lel'
ntwaraxma,
The snowmobile, which nearly went into extinction the last couple of years,
proved a real Godsend in the last week as it was the only way to reach isolated
houses and farms in the worst storm in memory. Liere a group of residents
from the Ninth Concession of Goderich Township prepare for a trip home after
buying groceries in Clinton. (News -Record photo)
Storm brings people's best
With most roads in the area blocked.by
snow drifts for up to six days, strangers
and natives became much closer,
working side by side to help ease the
emergency situation.
Road crews, police, snowmobile clubs
and CB'ers banded together to make
sure no one suffered any undue hard-
ship.
When the full force of the storm hit
Friday, the Clinton Legion, along with
several other area businesses, became
homes for stranded motorists until the
blow was over,
About 4Q people stayed at the Legion
on Friday and Saturday .nights with the
Legion members banding together to
feed the stranded and - trying to keep
them entertained.
Terry Maguire, the Legion's en-
tertainment chairman, ..said. __.ft. _was
fantastic What the Legion members did
for the stor"m-stayed. He said the
hospital also helped by bringing
blankets.
Many people were also stranded at
area industrial plants, which haven't
been open since last Thursday..
Twenty truckers andmotorists were
kept warm and well fed- at Debbie's
-Custard Cup on Friday and Saturday
nights and a four hour respite in the
weather early Sunday morning allowed
most of the early travellers to escape.
The Clinton Hotel, the Parker House,
and, the Elmhaven were booked solid,
with the Hotel sleeping people in the
dining roomy '
The _police had nothing but praise for
the local snowmobile clubs, who time
after time made trips into the country
with vineries for storm -stayed
resident s.'"''° "` _
The Clinton and district snowmobile
club .had a convoy travelling to Vanast
t
a
on rue-sa d ,�g
as r hwa 4 was blocked
SOW Until 2 ,nil.' and then was'• open en
pp only
for et'nor` onC iliffflcp
•
The Clinton Police department 'also
made several emergency runs, in-
'cluding the .taking of a Clinton man to
University Hospital in . London on
Monday for a hook-up on the kidney
dialysis machine.
Constable Don Armstrong, who ac-
companied the man in a four-wheel drive
truck piloted .by Steve Cooke of Clinton,
made the trip in three hours on a cir-
cuitous route down the Bayfield Road,
down Highway 21, and back across to
Highway 4.
Const. Armstrong had nothing._ but
praise for the Citizen Band Radio people
who monitored their trip to the city, and
were standing by to call in an Armed
Forces helicopter in case the 'truck
became stuck.
The man had missed two other ap-
poi.ntments..with.the machine and. _had .he
missed the third; it "would have been
game over," Const. Armstrong said.
'The township road crew also went out
of their way to make sure that no one on
the blocked country roads ran out of fuel,
or that dairy farmers .would have to
dump their milk.
In one incident, Goderich Township
roadsuperintendent Joe Potter reported_.
that his crew, along with several far-
mers with snowblowers, managed to get
to most places and get supplies in or
milk out; and he said that only a few
dairy farmers in that township had to
dump milk. .
Elsewhere, dozens lot'-•residenta along
highways opened their homes to
stranded motorists, and the people in
Kippen were particularly praised for
looking after 11 passengers in a nor-
thbound bus. that became stranded near
that hamlet, Sunday night.
Bob Rowcliffe of Hensall, armed with
• a front end loader ander,
e a a srlov�blow ,
managed aged to open a path -Froin 'Hensel' to
Ki ....�en Mondaynight,. and s was
lipthe bu .
freed. -and headed west�to•4i -..ghwa. ,2
Y
M50,000 plant levelled
112th Year No. 5'
Namoommimmommirminarmimil
Weafher
1977•. 1976
HI LO HI LO
JANUARY •
25 27 22
26 25 14
27 7 -2
28 15 2
29 5 -8
30 . 9 -2
31 16 6
Snow 10"
36 11
40 28
2819
22 9
29 18
20 3
25 -10
Snow 13"
Vanastra fire leaves 40 jobless
About 40 Vanastra and area residents Broadfoot said it was lucky that there unanimous support, Mr. Schneider said,
woke last Thursday morning to learn were no buildings nearby. but no solution has been reached as to
they were out of a job following a Although firefighting equipment from who would pay for its maintenance.
A459,000 x000 fire which , destrpyed Huron .1in }�.aa drucefl, ld,u �.IN,04e, ;tsthek fire. ;a Vanastra is situated. in, 'Tuck ersmith -
Acoustics in the early morning hours. _ within minutes ofCthe alarm
No cause has yet been determined for
the blaze which began at 1:45 a.m. and
brought under control by Brucefield and
Clinton firefighters five hours later.
However, Brucefield fire chief Stewart
Broadfoot said the fire marshall would
be up to investigate the fire as soon as
the roads -are opened.
Meanwhile, ' Wilf Schneider, part-
owner of the 'loudspeaker manufacturing
plant, said.„Tuesday afternoon that he
was still unsure if the plant would' be
rebuilt. , •
Brucefield and Clinton firefighters
arrived ''at the fire shortly after the
alarm was sounded, battling near
blocked roads and ' poor visibility to
reach their destination. Mr. Broadfoot
said only 10 firemen were able to reach
the station in response to the alarm.
In Clinton, the fire alarm was sounded
twice, after only four men had been able
to reach the station by the end of the first
alarm, assistant chief Fred Lobb said.
On arriving at the fire, the deep snow, '
sub -zero temperatures low water
pressure, as well as high winds created
problems for the firemen in their.at-
tempt to bring the blaze under control.
"The • fire started on the wind -side
(west side) of the building and has
broken through the wall by the time we
arrived,” Mr. Broadfoot said.
The firemen concentrated on keeping
the fire from spreading and Mr.
, Mr
Schneider said part of his building may
have been saved if Vanastra had had a
fire truck of its own.
Huron Acoustics was partially burned
in Nov. 1973, and since ' then, . Mr.
Schneider and several other Vanastra
businessmen have been trying to get a
fire truck for the former base. There was
little interest in the idea at first but it
gained momentum last fall when the fire
insurance. rates for the community in-
creased drastically.
Regular meetings on the fire truck for
Vanastra, have indicated almost.
Township.
When contacted by the News -Record
Tuesday night, Township Reeve Ervin
Sillery said council had been approached
on the idea of operating a fire truck out
of Vanastra, but had not
final decision.
A representative of the fire marshal 's
office in Toronto is expected to un-
dertake a survey of the township's
firefighting operation in the near future,
Mr. Sillery said, the outcome of which
would have to be considered before
anything final on a truck for Vanastra
can be decided.
reached any
Accident tab hits s28,000
Goderich OPP constables investigated
30 accidents, totalling $28,295 damage,
during last week's snowstorms, and
never even left the office.
Community Service Officer, Constable
Bill Wilson said that while OPP cruisers
were able to patrol area highways for
stranded motorists last Friday, .im-
passable roads the remainder of the
weekend kept all officers in the detach-
ment headquarters. Ventures into the
storm were made only in cases of
emergency. - •
-Minor accidents, sometimes -involving
three and four cars, occurred on all
highways surrounding Clinton but
fortunately all were minor, Const.
Wilson said.
What injuries there were, he said were
sustained by motorists who • were not
wearing safety belts at the time of the
accidents.
Const. Wilson said area snowmobile
clubs and Citizen's Band radio clubs were
a great help to the detachment in.helping
to reach stranded motorists and deliver
groceries to storm -stayed residents, and
extends a word of thanks to all of them
for their efforts.
�
••.f.• . • . .;' , ,a " , : 0� °lei
Neatly 40. people' are out o work , followln a b p .
last ,Thursda imrrnin tltt�destroyed t eHurooust CS
tianiuf i,Vanastra. Flre .,f.rom rueefleld ,
o;ett�,rho'� 'pto>rt � .�?�ti4 ,
d- h e road
andllntori.w+ro haft -voted- kiii„ '+irrrf�loelr d >
„r �
• abs !sick 'bl Water .fid t ght#rl the blaze lfl fir. eco d to
•
ratttoes. the fire is beln'" !Brest! • abed by the Fre Mar
shall's office) and pail, .owner Wailed Selmelder 'doesn't
• know if the cbtx'ipany Will rebuild. (lewslteeord ptoto'
n
•