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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-03-16, Page 1Some *numbers! No, those numbers aren't bust measurements! They're exhibit numbers of summer bathing wear worn at Spring Fashionation by Mary Garon of Clinton, left, Twyla Phillips of Egmondville, middle, and Fran Sores of Clinton, right. The girls took part in the fashion show at Clinton Legion Hall March 8 with a full house attending. (News -Record photo by Ashley Geddes) Farmers' market alive Ashley Geddes A farmers' market may be held in Clinton again this summer if at least 10 vendors take part. The decision was made at the March 13 meeting of the Clinton Businessmen Association. Chairman of the association Heather Ross, put forth the proposal to hold another farmers' market every Saturday morning during the summer months, but it was met with some op- position. •The location of last year's market was in dispute and some of the merchants felt having their goods out on the street did little to promote business last year. Last year. the first market was held, stalls were set up on a closed -off section of King Street every Saturday morning from June 4 to October 29 beginning at Alarms costly The frequent false fire alarms in Clinton are costing the tax payers money. Since March 6 there have been five false alarms costing the municipality $70 each time. Each time an alarm is set off up to 22 volunteer firemen answer to the call. Bill Crawford, secretary -treasurer for the fire board, said some of the alarm systems are set off by heat detectors. One alarm at Huronview, a senior citizen's home, was set off by steam in the kitchen. About four false alarms have been set off this year at the senior citizen home. Several were set off this year by fault of the technical wiring system hooked up at the Ex -Cell -O Wildex plant. Recently, the Clinton Hospital has been the location for several false alarms. There will be a demonstration March 22 at the firehall of two or three different types of beepers. The town and the PUC will be attending and it is open to the public. The beepers may be worn by volunteer firemen to alert them in case of a fire and to assist while fire fighting. Although the men will not be able to talk into the beepers and be heard, it could help them by alerting them to dangers while fighting a fire, through com- munication from outside; said Crawford. 6:30 a.m. and closing at noon. Reading last year's report of the market, Ross said it was hindered from success by a poor vendor turnout, particularly near the end of the season, and "numerous complaints" of food quality. She said, however, that vendor reaction was generally favorable overall. Mason Bailey, of Mason Bailey Real Estate Ltd., complained that last year he bought a brown sugary substance passed off as maple syrup at the market. He is sure it wasn't maple syrup, he said, and a form of policing future markets was discussed but nothing was resolved. Grant Irwin of the Clinton Meat Market was not happy with last year's market. Anybody he talked to is really against it, he said, and business was, "dam poor until the market was over." Parking was a problem, he said, and recommended a different location for future markets. "I don't know how they can close down a street for so long. It's a very important part of town." Bob Campbell, of Campbell's Men's Wear, said he was initially in favor of the market last year because it was a new idea. But it didn't draw the people he expected it would. "I didn't see too many people around," said Campbell. "I didn't see too many shoppers." Mrs. Ross again repeated she was in favor of holding the market again this year and said to expect a drastic influx of people the first year was expecting too much. She was angry at some of the people who didn't show up for the meeting. "Of all the people who complain and bitch, not one is here tonight," she said bitterly. "I find this really aggravating." Henry Baker, of Baker Farm and Garden, said he was concerned about people coming from out of town and selling goods. This defeats the purpose of the market, he said, creating com- petition for the Clinton merchants. He also recommended a roof be put over the stalls. "Anyone who comes down with a couple of hundred dollars merchandise wants a place to display it - with a roof for instance." Turn to page 3 • irst du 9 By Jim Fitzgerald Although it may be still quite awhile yet before we can turn the first shovel full of dirt in the gardens, spring is here, according to many signs in the area. Last Friday for the first time in 42 days, the thermometer rose above the freezing mark, and a heavy rain last Monday washed away a good amount of the now dirty snow. Another sure sign of spring is the arrival of the "birds" back from Florida, and in particular, one Lorne Brown, whose arrival back from the coop in the south has been touted as a sure sign that drive-in weather can't really be that far away. But spring seems to be lost on the directors and owner of National Hockey League teams. While the rest of us will be playing ball, harvesting greens from the gardens, and going on picnics, those dummies will still be .trying to play hockey. According to a report on the sports pages this week, the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, 'which don't even start until April 7, may continue until - get this - June 1? How .long do they think the public will stand for this foolishness. With a name like Fitzgerald, you'd suppose that tomorrow, St. Patrick's rin Day would be a big celebration, right? Wrong. I'm a Canadian first, and the sooner we start celebrating historically Canadian events, the better off the whole country would be. When 'immigrants from countries other than the British Isles came here, they were encouraged to drop most of their cultural heritage, so why the exception for the Scots and the Irish? There are just as many Dutch people in this area as there is Irish, and yet they don't mark a special day. Just like every human being, we get tired of the same old clothes and every once in a while we step out and refit ourselves in a new outfit. So too for newspapers, who periodically like a new outfit. You may or may n'ot have noticed in last week's paper that the News -Record too is dressing a little different, and in the next few months, a few more changes will be made. The content will still be the same, we're just going to present it dif- ferently. We hope you'll like the changes, and if you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop into the office, or give us a call on the phone. Town hall should be saved by Jim Fitzgerald Clinton council agreed Monday night to send to a public committee a new study that recommends the 98 -year-old Clinton Town Hall be renovated and restored. Council took a cautious approach after they accepted the 43 -page report from Hill and Borgal, architects and planners of Goderich. Council had commissioned Hill and Borgal last fall to do the study at a cost of $3,500 and Monday night showed the study to the public. An Architectural Heritage committee, which council formed under the guidance of councillor Ron McKay, will now look into the report, meet with the public over future uses of the structure, and report back to town council. The report says that basically, the town hall is in good condition, except for cracking on several walls caused by poor design and some settling of the wall on the northwest corner due to lack of footings and poor drainage of the silty sand soil.. Hill estimates that $39,400 should be spent immediately to ensure the building doesn't deteriorate anymore, after being ignored for nearly 25 years. The necessary repairs would include un- derpinning and draining the northwest corner of the building, fixing the exterior brickwork, and repairing the slate roof. P On interior renovations, which would he worth !MR 000 Hill reeommends the public be brought in to tell council what future uses the town hall could be put to and then proceed in stages over the next several years. Hill estimates that if the town hall, including the auditorium and all exterior repairs were made, the total bill would conte to $235,700. Clintonians four years ago voted in a referendum to save the town hall, after the council at that time had another study done that recommended tearing down the old town hall, renovating the present library into municipal offices, and building a new s$nior citizens complex elsewhere in town at a total cost of $800,000. The report in 1974 by James F. MacLaren said it would cost $400,000 to fix the old town hall, and wasn't worth it. The new study recommends that the public be brought in before any money is spent on the upstairs auditorium, which hasn't been used for nearly 20 years. Hill says the 3,880 square foot auditorium is impressive, but in 'considerable disrepair". "A need should be established...(and) the issue taken to the community at large to take up the challenge (to find uses for it)," Hill says. Hill also says there are a number of grants available to help finance the repairs and rehabilitation, and if the building is designated tit heritage building, then more grants would come from the Ontario Heritage Foundation. "Based on this study, this building has stood for 98 years. It's a good building and I think it could be made into an attractive building. I think council should take on this project, get a com- mittee together, and get public sup- port," said councillor Ron McKay at last Monday night's council meeting. "I agree with McKay. I think we should clean up the upstairs then let the public in to look at it," said councillor Ray Garon. "If we're (the municipal offices) going to stay here, we're going to have to repair this building," said Deputy -Reeve Frank Cook. "The upstairs hasn't been used for a long, long, time. Look at Exeter (town hall), they don't know what to do with it," said councillor Roy Wheeler, "there's no money in the budget to do repairs outside this year." After a motion was presented to form a committee of townspeople to look into implementing the report, Mayor Harold Lobb said: "We had a vote of the people to retain the town hall. Do we have to have another vote to restore it?" "I would say that the reason to save it is because it's an historical building," Mayor Lobb said. Clinton, Ontario 30 cents Thursday, March 16, 1978 Weather 1978` 1977 111 LO P11 1O MARCH 7 26 -6 31 18 8 27 -4 41 16 9 31 -13 48 36 10 36 0 49 36 11 34 22 52 31 12 35 23 49 38 13 34 11 52 42 Snow 2" .67 Rain 113th Year —No. 11 Teachers reject latest board offer Hopes for settlement of the 19 -day-old Huron county ' secondary school teachers' strike were dashed Wednesday afternoon, when the teacher negotiating team chose not to accept the county board's latest contract offer. Shirley Weary, negotiator for the teachers, said in a press conference that the offer proposed little and wasn't worth sending to the 274 district 45 members to vote on. She said the teachers made a counter offer suggestion negotiations be com- pacted for the current contract under dispute in the pack for next year. Weary said the teachers felt that since it appeared the dispute was going to be settled by binding arbitration, the teachers "may as well be arbitrated for two years as two months are left in this contract." She said the counter proposal may present problems for the board, but if settled may "provide everyone with time to be friendly." She said the latest offer by the board, on Monday was considerably less than what was in the original contract and as she • sees it, the proposals would do nothing to equalize teachers workload. It didn't take two days to consider, but the teachers wanted to "go away and cool off." Negotiations between the Huron County Board of Education - and its striking secondary school teachers resumed Monday when the board's negotiating team invited the teachers back to the bargaining table. The board asked the teacher negotiating team to - attend a meeting Monday afternoon to hear a proposal aimed at ending the strike, now in its 19th day. Cayley Hill, chairman of the board's negotiating team, said the board had certain. proposals it wanted to make to Hill said the meeting was arranged the teachers. He said it would be in bad Monday afternoon because the full board bargaining for him to divulge the met Monday night in regular committee proposals before the teachers could Turn to page 3 • study it. Arena floor out, canvass in By Jim FItzgerald If all their plans work out, there will be a new floor in the Clinton arena by the start of the Spring Fair on June 2, the Clinton recreation committee decided last Thursday night. The rec committee decided to go ahead and replace the floor, and discussed fund raising campaigns, including a door to door canvass. Although the committee estimates the new floor could cost between $100,000 and $150,000, only $30,000 to $50,000 would have to be raised from fund raising, as the remainder would be covered by grants. Rec chairman Percy (Poss) Livermore told the committee last week that the floor was heaving badly again this year, and the boards were out of alignment. • He said he feared that when the frost goes out of the already badly cracked floor this spring, the settling concrete will cause a major breakage in the cooling pipes embedded in the concrete. Four pipes broke two years ago and were repaired by a local contractor, but arena manager Clarence Neilans said the system is again losing its saline coolant, and if a major break occurs, they might not be able to hold ice in the arena next year. If the committee can get tenders out and filled by the end of this month. (March) then construction would start as soon as the ice is out on March 31, and the new concrete pad poured before the Spring fair on June 2. Mr. Livermore said that he and Mr. Neilans toured four area arenas looking for advice and specifications, and obtained the name of several contractors with extensive ex- perience in putting in arena floors. Mr. Livermore said the secret of preventing any cracking of a new floor would be to have it insulated underneath, preventing the frost from going down. The committee has $4,000 already in their arena floor fund, and made Ron McKay chairman of a committee to canvass the area, including the four township councils. "We need to raise at least $34,000," said Ray Garon, council's representative on the rec committee. Mr. McKay said the project couldn't wait until September after the summer activities were over, ,because the concrete needed time to cure before the cooling plant is turned on. The bingo committee, which is made up of representatives from all the service clubs in town, wrote the rec committee saying their efforts this summer will be directed to raising money for the new floor, as they feel the $23,000 raised over the past four summers is enough to cover the cost of a new swimming pool. They will meet March 15 at the Legion. In other business, a plaque will be dedicated on March 31 at the arena to the late Laurie Colquhoun, who bequested $15,000 to the arena fund last year. The committee is also putting up five signs in town to direct people to the arena. Trying to learn A Central Huron Secondary student shows he Is deeply concentrating on his school work. The student took part in a class at Wesley -Willis United Church , March 9. Twenty-eight of the 29 regular students in the ctass showed up for extra tutoring during the Huron County teachers' strike. The classes were cancelled the next day after disapproval was shown by the teachers' federation. (News -Record photo by Ashley Geddes) Town still interested in police dispatch by Shelley McPhee The site of the proposed county -wide police dispatch system still remains in question, Clinton council has learned. "We were under the assumption that it would be in Goderich," reported Deputy Reeve Frank Cook. However he explained to the council at their Monday night meeting, that following a meeting with the five police chiefs, "We learned that the cost figures were fictitious, nobody really knew the cost. We won't know anything from the OPC (Ontario Police Commission) until the end of the month." He further added, "Clinton is still interested in the dispatch building." "But until the cost is brought out, we won't make a proposal to have the building in Clinton," Mayor Harold Lobb said,. Clinton Police Chief, Lloyd Westlake later added that by the end of March the OPC will have the specifications and equipment requirements for each of the five municipalities involved in the dispatch. At that time tenders will be advertised for and from this cost figures will be established. The News -Record learned that the system would cost $56,000 more if it was housed in Goderich because -of the extra relay systems needed. A delegation of 11 people appeared before council to ask about the paving and lighting of Wintercourt Crescent and high Street. The delegation brought with them a petition with signatures of 25 households representing a total of $16,000 in taxes in 1977. Members of the delegation said that Turn to page 3 Fountains in Pedestrians in Clinton will soon be able to quench their thirsts ox long hot summer days. Sometime in May this year the Lion's Club is going to sponsor the installation of two water fountains in town, one to replace the old fountain not in use at the library park corner and another in front of the radar screen. The fountains will be installed by the club in conjunction with the PUC. The Lions club also are in the process of selling 250 chocolate. Easter bunnies. The bunnies are $2 each and the buyer receives half a pound of solid chocolate. More than two dozen had been sold by last Tuesday and the club will continue to sell them until they have all been bought. A bunny can be bought from any Lion member. The money raised will be used for community services, particularly for! juveniles.