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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1977-03-10, Page 1p- ,4) Clinton, Ontario 119. 25 cents Thursday, March 10, 1977 112th Year No. 10 Inner 1977 1976 HI 10 H1 10 MARCH 1 '25 9 2 - 34 13 3 35 11 4 44 32 • 5 40 31 6 33 30 31 58 Rain 1.18 34 26 30 21 37 28 40 32 53 30 31 22 30 29 Rain 2.5" Snow 1 " •Lobb sweeps Clinton mayoralty Former reeve Harold Lobb became Clinton's new mayor last Monday night following an election landslide where he picked up more votes than his four op- ponents combined.. Lobb received 673 of the 1,292 votes cast, while . former councillor Jim Hunter, his nearest competitor, ran a distant second with 249. George Vance, a newcomer to the • town, polled a surprising third place with 166 votes, compared to former councillor Bill Crdwford who finished fourth with 117 votes. Terry Maguire, in his third attempt for the mayor's seat finished five with 87. Town clerk Cam Proctor said the total number of votes cast represented 54.5 percent of the 2,370 eligible voters. The results' of Monday's election were in and tabulated within an hour after the four polls closed. , L.obb, 61, who has nine years council experience, seven as reeve, replaces mayor elect Don Kay who died 10 days after his election. In the December election which drew 65 percent of the electorate, Lobb lost to Kay, 493 to 889. Shortly after learning of his election onday, Lobb admitted that he thought e might top the polls but was really surprised with the votes separating him from nearest rival Jim Hunter. "Before the election everybody 10 seemed to be talking that it would be a close race," he said. He bases his win on the fact that -he campaigned on his experience in municipal politics and felt the voters reflected their desire to elect a can- didate with experience. Since his election into office, the new Harold Lobb..... new mayor mayor has been reading up on the minutes of the council meetings held since the December elections, and said he would probably sit back and feel his way throughout the first meeting or two he will chair. Lobb will be ';_._i.,naugurated 'during tonight's (Thursday's) council meeting and will attend armed with a suggestion. "I hope to get an office for the mayor, reeve or any of the councillors and keep it open for a couple of afternoons a week to , talk to people and hear their suggestions," he told the News -Record Tuesday. He plans to bring to council many of the suggestions he collected during the course of his campaign. Lobb sees his election as mayor, the climax to his political career and plans to retire at the end of his term in 1978. While Lobb revels in the throes of victory, a disappointed, second -place finisher, Jim Hunter echoed the mayor's surprise at the number of votes cast for the former reeve. "I was very surprised with the votes," Hunter said. "J thought it would be closer." The 30 -year-old Hunter ran un- successfully for reeve against Royce Macaulay in last December's election. Prior to Monday's election outcome, Education budget up lL2percent Huron County board of education afternoon approving an 11.2 percent adopted a $20,529,864 budget Monday increase in expenses over 1976. ;The increase will mean an average mill increase of five in the county raising the municipal levy to 34.7 mills. The increased mill rate is an average each municipality will have to face but board chairman Herb Turkehim said not every municipality will suffer the same fate • due to the increase. "Some municipalities will be paying ' two or three mills more according to their assessment," he said, "and some will be paying much more than five mills." Business superintendent Roy Dunlop outlined the budget for the board citing salaries and benefits as the major reason for the increase. Last year's budget slated $15,917,562 for ordinary board costs such as salaries while debt charges, transportation costs and other extraordinary needs required $2,549,548 to be spent. This year $17,386,920 will be Clinton Kinsmen get By Jim Fitzgerald Wow ! Terrific ! Those two words haven't been used to describe the weather around here since last Sep- tember, but at last, a prolonged thaw has giset in and those huge snowbanks are finally starting to disappear, .what with the temperatures in the mid fifties (plus 13C). People are a lot like trees, the spirits seem to rise in the spring just like the sap! -+ -1- + Even though we've still got plenty of snow here, you can imagine how em- barrassing it was for yours truly and spouse Lois when we arrived in Toronto last weekend to attend the Newspapers' Fonvention dressed in snow boots, parkas and gloves, only to be the subject of a lot of stares in completely snowless Toronto. It seems that what snow they did have disappeared several weeks ago, and many drivers even had their summer tires back on, (or maybe they never took them off). .+ .+ + Spring also means soccer, and con- , ary to rumors, the Clinton senior soccer club is alive and well and will be J► playing again this year in Second Division. As a result, they're having their first organizational meeting this Sunday night at 8 p.m. at the Town Hall. + + + In the newspaper business, we use Murphy's law, which iri effect says, "imagine the worst thing that can happen, and it will." Well last week it almost did. A headline on a story on Goderich Township native Gerald Tebbutt should have read, "Goderich O Township native heads giant U.S. John Deere plant." Instead, the last two words fell off the page. We'd like to apologize to the Tebbutt family for the error. ' -1- -V+ For all those Clintonians who are interested in municipal politics, and judging' by the excellent turnout at'the polls on Monday there's quite a number, the inaugural meeting for new mayor Harold Lobb will be held tonight y► (Thursday) at 8 p.m. at the Town Hall. -1-++ And speaking of efficient municipal governments we thought the following piece out of Richard Needham's column in the March 3 Globe and Mail is apt: "Whatever's done in Ottawa could be one more cheaply and efficiently at ueen's Park. Whatever's done at Queen's Park could be done more cheaply and efficiently at Brantford.', Whatever's done at Brantford could' be 16 done more cheaply and efficiently at Goderich. This brings us down to Varna, where they'd figure the thing didn't need doing." o • + + + We left the incorrect impression in last week's paper that the Merchants' Association are asking for the site on • Victoria Street for their proposed Farmers' market. They are not, and we apologize to the Merchants for the error. 14 days for track The Clinton Raceway will be open 14 Sunday afternoons this year compared to 13 in the past three years. The local Kinsmen, who initiated -and run the raceway, learned recently they had been awarded 14 race days, opening on Sunday June 26, and running until Sunday Sept. 25. The Kinsmen are looking for a new race secretary to replace Frank Cook, who retired. spent on ordinary items and $'3,142,944 on extraordinary. Mr. Dunlop said the budget was calculated an the Anti -Inflation Board remaining in operation adding that if the AIB is disbanded the board could be in trouble as far as wage negotiations are concerned. He said the budget increase for salaries and benefits, which total 74.2 percent of the budget, was based on a 10 percent increase in wages. "Of all the figures in the budget that's the one I'm least happy about," said Dunlop. "If the AIB is intact and we are successful in wage negotiations we are all right, but if that doesn't happen quite frankly we don't have enough money put aside to pay the costs." The salaries in 1976 cost taxpayers $]4,055,540 and in 1977 the budget committee set aside $15,243,290 to cover increases for their (the board's) 650 some odd employees. THIN LINE The business superintendent said his concern was based on a decision made by the budget committee in 1976. He said the committee decided to use about $200,000 in reserves the board had in an effort to keep the budget in line with 1975 and the move had left the board walking a thin line between solvency and deficit. He said he had budgeted $50,000 for this year to be returned to the reserve fund and hoped it could be built back up without the board having to use it. The budget calls for municipalities to turn over $5,609,007 to the board,which includes money needed to correct errors continued on page 3 he had predicted he might get 30 percent of the votes cast, in reality, he received 20. "I'm disappointed with the election, yes, not in losing, but in my own per- formance," he said. Hunter speculated that some of the votes he had counted on went to third place finisher George Vance, whose voter appeal compared with his own. The loss however, has not discouraged Hunter from municipal politics and he predicts he will return to the political arena in 1978. In the interim, he plans to remain active in the town and on the planning board. George Vance on the other hand is unsure of his political future. Vance, a 32 -year-old newcomer who moved to Clinton last November, collected 12 percent of the votes cast, somewhat short of the total he expected. "Being realistic though, I was sur- prised with the number of votes I did get," he_said. "Two weeks before the election I knew about 10 people in town. I managed to persuade another 156 people," he said referring to the 1466.votes that he polled. Although Vance was surprised at Lobb's voting strength, he said he saw the results reflecting a generation gap, with voters 40 years of age and over casting their ballots for the experienced candidate and the young voters dividing their votes between himself and Hunter. Fourth and fifth place finishers Bill ' Crawford and Terry Maguire were unavailable for comment when con- tacted Tuesday night by the News Record for the election wrap up. Picked new president R.. G. (Bob) Shrier, right, president of Signal -Star Publications, of which the News -Record is a member, was elected president of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper's Association last Saturday In Toronto. He succeeds Gerry Barker, right, -of the Bradford Witness, The OWNA has a -membership in excess of 300, including most weekly newspapers across the province. (News -Record photo) Man gets surprise $l0, 000 A bookkeeper's find has made Russ Archer of Raglan Street in Clinton $10,000 richer, after he discovered an old Wintario Lottery ticket. Bill Henry of. Goderich, Archer's bookkeeper at the firm's Vanastra plant, . was going through the Archer station wagon last week looking forthe car registration for the license renewal. Henry discovered a book of. Wintario Hullett gives $3,500 grants Hullett Township Council granted a =- total of $3,500 to the Hullett Federation of Agriculture and the township recreation hoard at its meeting Monday afternoon. The $1,000'granted to the Federation of Agriculture was representatives Morris Bean and Bob Peel who gave council a brief presentation on the federation and its function. A larger grant of $2,500 was given to the township recreation board to balance its 1977 budget. Road superintendent George Hoggarth reported that the use of private owned snowblowers this winter has cost $5,000. It is the first winter that the township has ever had to employ farmers and their snowblowers. Snow removal costs for the months of January and February have yet to be calculated. In final council business, a hearing on the Young Drain has been set for April 4th. The Drain is located between Morris and Hullett . Townships and represen- tatives from both townships are ex- pected to attend the April meeting. The next Hullett Township meeting will be on Mar. 16 at 1 p.m. tickets from last year's July 22 draw and handed them over to his boss. Archer put them in his wallet and forgot about them until last Monday, when he asked his daughter Karen to look up the July numbers in newspapers on file in the Clinton Library. She came home and left her dad a piece of paper saying the numbers conformed with the one on the ticket. On checking the next morning with the Wintario Office, Archer learned he was indeed $10,000 richer, and promptly loaded the family into the car and took offfor Toronto to collect their bounty. The ticket, 30209 in series 58,• would have been worth $100,000 if it had carried series 6. As for bookkeeper Henry, Archer said Tuesday "he will be well looked after." Police investigate crash Charges are pending by Clinton Police following a two -car accident at the main intersection of town on March 2nd. A car driven by Colleen Chambers of Blyth was travelling north on Victoria Street when it collided with a vehicle driven by Rodney Pepper of RR 5, Clinton. The Pepper vehicle was making a left hand turn from Ontario Street when the accident occurred. Damage to the Pepper car was estimated at $600 and $500 to the Chambers' vehicle. A two -car accident on Feb. 25, resulted in a total of $2,800 damage and sent a North West Territories man to Clinton .Public Hospital. Robert Reid of Londesboro was travelling south on Victoria St. when it collided with a vehicle driven by Michael Byrne of the NWT, near the Highway 4 bridge. Byrne was taken to Clinton Public Hospital by Seaforth,afnbulance where he was treated and -released. Damage to the Byrne vehicle was set at $1,600 and at $1,200 to the Reid car. No arrests have been made yet in, connection with a $2,000 robbery at the Clinton Hotel last week. The money was missing from the hotel's safe, but there were no signs of forced entry. Students steal $20,000 in books The Huron County Board of Education was a $20,000 victim of a combination of poor memories and quick hands in 1975- 76 when library books of that value were Tv,,o!inieind;cjns What is'an Indian Day without a few squaws complete with papooses? Robyn ricks, left. and Heather Brownridge got together as mothers do. to discuss their children during Tuesday's Indian Dayjn the Kindergarten Room of Clinton Public School (News -Record photo) • I found -missing from five secondary school libraries in the cpunty. Board vice chairman Marion Zinn said at the board meeting Monday that over $20,000 worth of books were reported missing and made a plea to parents of students to check around the house to see if any books are there, The vice chairman broke down the losses to the five secondary schools in Huron. Central Huron in Clinton had the biggest losses of the year with $6,240 worth of books missing. F. E. Madill, Wingham is missing $5,482; South Huron in Exeter reported $5,264 worth missing, Goderich District Collegiate Institute is missing $2,080 worth and Seaforth High. School is missing $1,408 worth. F. E. Madill Secondary was used as an example by Mrs. Zinn in pointing out to the board that at the current rate of loss no new books can be put in the libraries. She said the ,Wingham school suffered $5,482 in lost books and according to the school's pupil enrolment for 1977-78 the school will receive $5,100 for new library `books. "Some students are under the pression that the board has lots of money so what's the difference, but actually it is the taxpayer of this county who is being robbed," she said. The vice- chairman spoke both as a trustee and as a member of the budget committee of the board. She urged parents to look through their houses to see if there are any books around that are marked as property of the board. She said parents of students that were enrolled in the system up to eight years ago should join the search and if any books are turned up the parents are asked to leave the books in a bag at the nearest school bus depot to be picked up and returned to the scjrool. She added that no fine would be levied for any book returned and no questions would be asked. ' She offered an alternative to the board to prevent the losses. She said that the board may have to install electric scanners in the libraries to ensure librarians know who is leaving with a book. She said the scanners cost from $6,000 to $8,000 each, which in the long run would save money at present loss rates but would not be needed if parents and students would co-operate. with the board. Provincial riding gets new returning officer W: Eldrid Simmons of Exeter has been appointed returning officer for the provincial riding of Huron -Middlesex. Mr. Simmons who is the present reeve of Exeter and a former mayor of that town succeeds Russel T. Bolton of McKillop Township who resigned not long after the 1975 provincial election. Mr. Bolton at the time of his resignation, recalled that his ' first election in the riding was the by-election of May 12, 1958 and in the years since he has been responsible for five general elections and one other by-election. He also served as returning ofr►Ler for tour federal elections. New requirements of the Chief Electoral office provide for a review of polling subdivisions to ensure an average of 200 to 250 voters to each poll. Mr. Simmons said that this could result in a change in the boundaries of a number of polls across the riding where there have been increases in population. He is carrying on discussions with municipal officials and party representatives in connection with the proposed changes so that they may be carried out with a minimum of confusion for the.voter who may find he will vote in a poll different from that tb which he has been accustomed. ,4