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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1977-12-22, Page 1• • Clinton, Ontario 30 cents 2.2, Thursday, December 1977 112th Year -No. 51 i Weather 1977 1976 HI 10 HI 10 DECEMBER 13 36 33 9 3 14 37 34 35 4 15 38 32 34 20 16 37 33 29 20 17 38 30 33 27 18 39 28 31 19 19 35 33 39 18 Rain .65 Snow 4" No Snow Bayfield woman Tuckersmith dog catcher by Wilma Oke A 21 -year-old Bayfield woman, Marie Fitzsimons,. will be the 'animal control officer for Tuckersmith Township, beginning the first of January. Mrs. Fitzsimons wi•11 be paid $4 per hour, acting on complaints only directed through the township clerk, John McLachlan, plus 17 cents per mile. She will use the dog pound of a local veterinary clinic. Mrs. Fitzsimons will sell dog tags at $2 per tag throughout the township. The London Humane Society, whose contract with the township expires at the end of December, will be notified the contract will not be renewed. The Kippen Drainage works by-law was passed following court -of revision. Arthur McCallum, Mrs. Elzear Mousseau, Howard Shanks and Ed McBride, ratepayers affected by the drain, attended the court session. There were no formal written appeals on, the drain. Council will call for tenders for the drain early in the new year. The 700 - lineal foot drain is estimated to cost about $4,000 by the engineer, including $1,150 of overhead costs. It will have two" catch basins. A request for one building permit was approved --260303 Holdings Limited, for renovations to two apartment buildings in Plan 71 T r Road superintendent, Allan Nicholson, unable to attend the council session held at Brucefield, requested that a newspaper ad be placed in the local papers warning that overnight parking on township roads was illegal as it hampers snow removal. Passed for payment were the following accounts: Vanastra Recreation Centre, $2,995.05, general Pool gets Wintario grant Clinton received another Wintarlio cheque on Monday, this time one for $1,350 to go towards the new swimming pool heater installed at the park this summer. The Kinette Club had paid for the whole• -cost of the heater, about $5,000 and then the town put in for a Wintario grant, arid a grant under the Community Centres Act. The town hopes the Community Centres Act grant will come through by next April. In order' to get both Wintario and the CCA grant, half the cost of any project must be paid for with non -tax dollars, Didn't fit For the second time this year, a truck driver has tried to squeeze a 13 -foot truck under the 12 foot, three-inch CNR overpass on the Bayfield road in Clinton. The truck, carrying aluminum storm windows, sustained $8,000 in by Jim Fitzgerald Oh No! Here it is three days before Christmas, and I've still got a good deal of my Christmas shopping yet to do. It doesn't seem to ' matter how much planning one does, each year it boils Alkown to the same thing: running around t the last minute like a chicken with its �... head cut off. We in the newspaper business don't even think about Christmas shopping until that Christmas edition is out. Bill Smiley in his column this week pretty well sums it up. + + + Winter officially arrived last night (Wednesday) at 6:24 p.m., and for all the optimists in the audience, it 'means the days are now, growing lotiger, although painfully slow. 4 +4-+ It seems logical to us. that most ' truckers would know how high their rigs oare, or should know, if they're planning to come in or out of Clinton on the Bayfield Road. Another trucker tried to squeeze his rig under the railroad bver.pa'ss last Friday, and the bridge won agaitu,There's little chance the CNR will replace the narrow, short structure, as it would be a very expensive job on such a little used rail line. Although the weatherman has 1111 promised us a white Christmas, there have been indications that we will be in for an open winter, or an "on -again, off - again" winter. Another sign was spotted last week when Frank 'Cummings of Mary Street found a large, healthy dew worm crawling across his driveway. +++ On behalf of all the staff of the l�ews- 4 Record and the many,' many, correspondents, writers and coh- tributors who make this paper possible every week, may we wish you( a Merry Christtrias and all the best this season. damages last Thursday morning. The truck, driven by John Hall, 24, of Downsview, was westbound at the time of the incident, and tied up traffic for several hours. (News - Record photo)' County real estate board offers MLS services Prospective real estate buyers in Huron County can now shop for that dream home without leaving thecomfort of their living room thanks to the efforts of the Huron Real Estate Board. The board introduced a computerized catalogue of lots, houses, farms 'and businesses for sale in the county listed under Multiple Listing Service. Bert Alexander, chairman of the Huron Real Estate Board, announced recently that the catalogue had ,been prepared for Huron and was now in use by member brokers of the beard. He said the introduction of the catalogue was "big news" in the Huron real estate field pointing out that the Huron board has. shown more progressive thinking than most boards in Ontario and Canada.. Alexander said the MLS catalogue had been introduced to Canadian real estate boards just a short time ago and only about a dozen boards in the country had adopted the idea. He said the Huron Board was one and now can offer the public "an excellent cross section of properties and businesses for sale in the county at a glance". Alexander said the MLS catalogue is another step towards organited well informed sales staff in the board'.s 15 member brokerages. The catalogue contains pictures, prices and descriptions of properties listed under MLS as well as proximity to schools, values of properties around the area, if any have recently been sold. The catalogue contains information about the property including taxes, type of heating, mortgages on the property and also contains information vital to the prospective buyer. It lists going rates for mortgages and costs a buyer Will face if he takes the plunge and buys the house he likes. Board executive officer Lynda Smith said the catalogue removes the error prone system previously used by MLS b 'okers, She said in the past when property was listed under MLS the in- formation was put on a special form and one copy was photocopied . for each member broker. She said that copy was then sent to each broker and the broker distributed the information to sales staff. The time consuming effort sometimes resulted:, in incorrect in- formation and quite often if a change was made on the property listing it was several days getting to all the, brokers . When the board elected to go to the computerized system it divided the county into districts and the listings were summarized in the same way. The districts are based on geography and include the five county towns and a group of townships. Only member brokers are entitled to the Huron oard's MLS service and can make use o the catalogue. To Become a member the broker's staff must agree to abide by a code of ethics and standards set by the Canadian Real Estate Association. Enrolment in the Huron Board automatically enrolls brokers in the Ontario Real Estate Association and the Canadian. Association. The provincial and national organizations each hold a conference annually enabling member sales staff to update themselves on pending or new legislation, motivational theories, im- proved office management and suggested consumer concepts. It is deigned to assist real estate salespeople to provide better and standard service to the public. It is also designed to protect the public from shady reai'estate deals. accounts, $167,624.26 for a total of $170,619.31. Clerk John McLachlan reported township taxes are paid up except for about 25 per cent outstanding. There is $700,000 levied in taxes in the township for 1977. Mr, McLachlan's office hours during the Christmas period will be December 26, 27 and January 2 for having the office closed. Mr. McLachlan was authorized to send a letter to the Brucefield Fire Chief, Stewart Broadfoot, commending him and his 16 firemen for their prompt and efficient work in saving the Vanastra Recreation Centre when fire extensively damaged the washroom and dressing 'urn to page 3 • Jumping beans Mrs. ShirlejHi11, back left, played the housewife who discovers she's bought some very strange beans from Brian Chessell, who played the grocer during a skit at the Christmas concert last Friday night at Varna United Church. Playing the Mexican Jumping Beans were Dennis Roy, Mary Ellen Webster,, Krista McAsh, Susan Kirton, Shelly Stephenson, and Paul Hill. (photo by Mary Chessell) Fund building slowly for man Terry Bullen has found that proving he was innocent of manslaughter was a costly experience. In emotional terms, it meant a major dislocation in the life of the 45 -year-old separate school French teacher. In practical terms it meant a mammoth bill for legal expenses. Putting the pieces of his life back together is Bullen's task alone but the well -liked Bayfield resident is learning he has friends to help alleviate his financial worries. A five -member citizen committee sprung up in Huron County to help pay his legal costs of more than $15,000. It is six weeks since an Ontario Supreme Court jury found him innocent Of the May 22 shooting death of Ronald DeJong, 25, RR 2, Bayfield. A charge of attempting to murder the man's brother Leroy, 22, was dropped following the acquittal. The nightmare of the incident and the strain of the trial are behind him but ‘Bullen finds for the first time in his life he owes money...a lot of money. His defence was conducted by criminal lawyer James Donnelly of Goderich. Bullen has just discovered what his legal bill amounts to and he has become concerned. It is about his take- home pay for a year from the Huron - Perth Roman Catholic separate school hoard. Bullen's woes have been softened by the unexpected help he's received from friends and people he doesn't even know. Christmas cards have come with money enclosed. Some donors identify themselves, some don't. And there's the committee which is seeking money to help pay the bills. "It's just overwhelming. It really is," Bullen says. Ray Robinson in Goderich has taken Bullen's situation to heart. He is one of the five persons hoping to raise money for the teacher. Advertisements in local papers have been paid for by the committee seeking money for the Terry Bullen legal defence fund. " Robinson said the group wanted to start its campaign last June but was advised a public support campaign might prejudice Bullen's chances to a fair trial. Two weeks ago, once the matter was settled, the campaign got under way. "Here was a man who -was caught up in a situation that cost a lot of money," the long-time friend of Bullen said, "We never had any question he'd be found not guilty." To date, $170 has been raised but Robinson said Christmas may be im- peding the campaign and he expects donations to begin flowing in by neyct Turn to page 3 • jttven i es arrested Three Vanastra juveniles have been arrested -by the Goderich detachment of the OPP following a break in at the Base Factory Outlet in Vanastra on Sunday evening Christmas holidays set With the Christmas holiday season coming up, the annual confusion has arisen over who is open or closed on what days. With Christmas being on a Sunday, everything will be closed, and all business except milk depots and the odd gas station will also be closed on Mon- day. Now for Tuesday, most businesses will be open EXCEPT the banks, credit union, post office, and the liquor and beer stores, they will re -open for regular hours on Wednesday. As well, the post office will have no street mail box collection until Tuesday, December 27. The lock box lobby will be open all four days;Irowever., The News -Record will be putting out a regular New Years 'edition next week at the usual time, so we will be open on Tuesday, but ask our advertisers and correspondents to get their copy in as early as possible. In order to give our staff a well- deserved rest, the News -Record office will be closed Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but those with emergency hot-line news tips may call 482-3890 or 2- 9306 after hours. New service The Clinton area members of the recently formed Huron Real Estate Board look over the Multiple Listing Service book that was offered for the first time last week. Huron Board president Bert Alexander shows the book to, clockwise from the left, Bill Armstrong of Bayfield, Henry Mero of Mclntee of Seaforth, John Thompson of Hoist, John Duddy, Peter Damsma of Maurice Gardiner, Harold Workman 'of Clinton 1Vlclntee, and Hal Hartley of G.K. Realty. (News -Record photo) The Clinton Police Department were first to arrive at the scene of the incident after the alarm went off at the Base Outlet. The Goderich OPP arrived soon afterwards to find that a rear window had been broken into and $210 worth of merchandise stolen. The OPP noted that with charges of break, enter and theft resulting from the incident, two of the juveniles are also facing similar charges resulting from a break in at the V,anastra Rec Centre on November 13. Over $970 in damages to the centre resulted in the break in and $45 worth of property was stolen. The juveniles will be appearing in provincial, court in 'Goderich sometime in February. Investigation by the Goderich OPP is being carried out by Constable Lorne Carter and Constable Doug Spitzig. An unusual, single vehicle accident occured last Friday morning when a transport truck driven by John Hall, 24, of Downsview failed to go under the 12 - foot CNR overpass on the Bayfield Road, just outside Clinton. As a result, the truck, owned by Ryder Truck Rental of Toronto had its top ripped off and the sides collapsed. His load, aluminum storm windows, was almost completely lost • and a total of $8,000 in damages was sustained. Icy roads were the cause of a single car accident on Saturday, December 17 which sent two people to hospital with minor injuries. Melvin Irwin, 24, of Goderich was travelling south on Highway 21 jt."st north of Huron Road 18 when he lost control of the car he was driving and rolled into the east ditch. Damages to the car were set at $2,000. Irwiin and his passenger, Gerrard De Jong, 19, of Goderich were taken to the Goderich Alexandra Marine and General Hospital where they were treated for minor injuries. Six, false alarms 1; 1 startle townspeople Clinton residents may have thought for awhile last weekend that either a major conflagration was engulfing.town, or the Russian bombers were on the way as the fire siren went off a doien times. The alarms, all false, were caused when a short circuit developed in the phone cable serving the fire siren. The short was caused by water seeping into the cable. The siren went off three times Friday:. night, once Saturday around noon, and again three times early Sunday mor- ning; this time blowing for over half an hour. Two more alarms were sounded Tuesday afternoon as Bell Telephone workman checked out the lines. Volunteer firemen, after scurrying around several times for nothing over the weekend, are hoping the situation has been corrected. 1.