HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-08-24, Page 1•
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Polio booster cIjjJjcs
Special clinics will be held
throughout Huron County in September
to adin.inister polio vaccination shots,
the Huron County Health Unit has
announced.
The special vaccination clinics had
been halted last week when they ran
out of adult vaccine. However, there is
plenty of vaccine for children 18 years
and younger.
1.44 McHugh, a public health nurse at
the' Clinton office of the Huron County
Health Unit said that most of the
children had been done in an ongoing
process held during tie school year,
Mrs. McHugh said that before the
adult vaccine ran out, nearly 2,000
persons were given shots at the Clinton
clinic.
Ontario health minister Dennis
Timbrell had announced that becausb'
of a vaccine shortage, no further adult
clinics wbuid-be held outside a seven,
county area around the outbreak in
Oxford County. The measure was taken
so that available vaccine could be
channelled to the areas where it was
most needed.
There have been .no new reported
cases of the disease in the last week.
Dr. Brian Lynch, Huron County
Medical Officer of Health, said that
once things get back to normal after
the summer holidays, and vaccine
supplies are replenished, then clinics
will be held in Huron.
"There's no real need for people in
Huron County to have the vaccine right
now,"Lynch said last week.
Timbrell announced that a million
113th year —No. 34
Thursday, August 24, 1978
30 cents
timing
doses of vaccine are scheduled to be,,
ready for a province -wide im-
munization program in September, and
another 500,000 in October from Con-
naught Laboratories.
Lynch said people overreacted to
news reports of the polio outbreak in
Norwich, in.Oxford County, but people
have calmed down because the press
has calmed down, he said.
The current polio outbreak is at-
tributed to visitors to Canada from an
area in the Netherlands where fun-
damentalist Protestant sects oppose
immunization, About 100 cases have
been reported in that country, but only
four in Ontario.
Health officials recommend adults
get a booster shot every five years.
Weather
1978 1977
NI
LO HI l0
AUGUST C C F F
15 29 18.5 73 47
16 28 17 75 58
17 23 14 71 55
18 29 13 63 52
19 31 15 68 45
20 22.5 9.5 66 38
21 24 6.5 70 47
Rain 32.4mm
Rain 1.60 in.
Contractor has unttirrtaay to sign
rn
Clarence McDowell of Exeter, who
last week was awarded the contract to
replace the arena floor in the Clinton
Community Centre at a tender price of
$160,963, has until Friday August 25 to
sign a contract with the town or lose his
$15,000 deposit cheque.
McDowell in a written letter to
Clinton's engineering firm of James F.
MacLaren "Ltd,, of London said he
wants out ,of the contract, but ac-
cording to the tender form, the con-
tractor can't back out of any tender
submission• before the tender is
awarded and they must sign a contract
- within seven days or lose a $15,000
certified cheque.
The cheque is required when each
company submits a tender to do the
job.
Council last week had accepted the
McDowell tender after a two-hour
closed meeting to which the press was
invited. At that closed meeting, the
Clinton recreation board and town
council aeeidedw to. accept the tender,
against the advice of their engineer and
the town solicitor.
The confusion all started three weeks
ago when the rec committee accepted
the tender of McDowell at a special
meeting on August 3. The McDowell
tender at $160,963 was the lowest of
three invited tenders which included
John Hayman and Sons of London at
$202,648 and Kelly -Lyn Construction of
London at $199,860.
The acceptance of the tenders was
subject to checking by the engineer and
approval by town council, but then
engineer Bill Knowles of the London
firm of James F. MacLaren Ltd.,
Clinton's engineers, told the town that
McDowell had made a mistake in his
tender and forgot to include the price of
first
column
the hot and cold brine system and
would lose about $40,000 on the project.
The engineers had estimated that the
job would cost a total of $176,690 which
included not only replacing the arena
floor with a new, insulated floor, but
also a hot brine system to
prevent the frost from going down
again and causing the floor to heave
badly.
Also in the contract was a new
drainage system for the floor,
modification to the west end` lobby,
constructionof a new tractor room at
the 'north •.end of the arena and
replacement of the protective screens
at the ends of the boards with tempered
glass,
Alllenders were invited tenders and
eacl bid must be accompanied by a bid
loan or a certified cheque.
Both town solicitor Beecher Menzies
and engineer Knowles recommended
that the rec board and council let
McDowell out and award the contract
to.the'next lowest'bidder, Kelly -Lyn' of
London. •
• • •
Should McDowell take the job, then
the rec committee would have to raise
about $80,000 from, donations, as town
council said they won't put any tax
dollars into the scheme.
The Ontario government would
provide $40,250 from their Community
Centres Act grant, while Wintario
would provide another $40,000 grant.
The engineer and the rec board had
hoped to begin the job last Monday and
have their new floor ready. for ice by
the first of next year.
The engineer has said that the job
couldn't be started until at least now,
because of the extensive frost in the
ground under the floor estimated to be
12 feet deep in places.
Test holes scheduled to be drilled in
the floor Monday to see if all the frost
was out yet, weren't done.
The arena staff has been running hot
brine through the cooling pipes all
summer to try and get the frost out.
Rec chairman Poss Livermore asked
that drilling not proceed on Monday if-
it's
fit's known for sure that the -floor can't
be replaced this year.
Meanwhile, the fund raising com-
mittee is waiting for a final go ahead
before they start canvassing the area
for donations.
Tom Trick had a hard time maneuvering his feet as he paraded around the
Clinton Library. Park, Tom does not usually dress this way but donned this.
special outfit to join with au group of other youngsters who led a hobo parade on
Saturday afternoon. News -Record photo)
School Board bans The Diviners from course
BY JEFF SEDDON
The Huron County Board of
Education has finallbecome involved
in a firey issue surrounding three
English Literature books being used in
the . five county high schools and
decided Monday nigli't to bap one of the
"" hree books from use in Huron county
classrooms.
The issue surrounding the ' three
books — Of Mice and Men by John
Steinbeck, Catcher in the Rye by J. D.
Salinger and The Diviners by Margaret
Laurence -- has involved hundreds of
county ratepayers, students and
teachers in the past months and in a
surprise move at Monday night's board
of education meeting, Seaforth trustee
John Henderson asked the board to
take The Diviners off its list of ap-
proved novels.
Henderson made the request when
Goderich Twp. to get centre
Thanks to the generosity of a
deceased Goderich Township resident,
people of'that township will be enjoying
their own community centre within the
next two years, at no cost to the tax-
payers.
Goderich Township council agreed at
a special meeting last week to accept a
bequest from the late Mrs. Pearl Woon,
to be used exclusively to build a
community centre in memory of her
late husband, John, a long-time
Communications in the rural
areas of Huron County is about to
suffer a severe blow that will set it
back 75 years: the multi-party
telephone lines began disappearing
last week. ,
What this will do to the state of
gossip around here is anybody's
uess, but you can bet the rumors
will be fewer and further between
now, with only two and three party
lines.
At one time, the old 10 or 12 party
lines were the only, source of com-
munications, and news of events,
notices of community happenings,
and even some highly speculized
gossip travelled along their wires.
There are almost as many
stories on use and abuse of the party
line as there are people using them,
but they were an important .part of
our heritage, and will be fondly
remembered by many.
Nowadays, with good roads all
Year, instant communication from
every part of the world, and our
growing independence of each other.
the party line has become a
nuisance, and most rural sub-
s fibers are glad Ma Bell saw fit to
get rid of most of them.
Many Lake Huron beaches are
among the best in the world,
comparing to even the golden, girl -
speckled sands of the Caribbean,
according to a news item . in Bill
Batten's •column in last week's
Exeter Times -Advocate.
Bill relates how a. crew from the
city 'were filming a commercial on
the beach at Grand Bend recently,
but it didtr,'t have anything to do with
extolling the virtues of that resort
tpwrl.
Turns out the Scene Will be used ,to
pyo', o'te; airfll
golden sands`. or the Caddo 5e
winter,
. when the la�+sdcl� a the
t
Will look more,like the Arctic Circle
than a tropical paradise.
Bill says that while CP Air no
doubt was looking at the Bost
element in using the Grand Bend
location to depict a sunny winter's
day in the Caribbean, one wag
suggested it was a far different
approach than what one of our
senior levels of government would
have 'chosen.
They no doubt would have flown
three film crews to the Caribbean
for a week's shooting.
Our apologies to the hard
workers down at Zurich for that
little fluff in last week's column. The
Bean Festival is this Saturday,
August 26.
+ -+- +
Many persons in this area were
gladdened last week when Ontario
Premier Bill Davis announced that
Frank Miller . would be the new
provincial treasurer.
You remember Frank? He blew
into Clinton couple of years back,
closed the hospital, and then breezed
out again.
Well+, the hospital's still open,
thanks to a united community effort,
but many people have expressed
hope that Mr. Miller will see fit to
close something in government to
save some tax dollars.
The local slo-pitch club, of which
yours truly is a half-baked member
(T would have said half-assed, but
then the News -Record might be
banned from the grade 13 reading
list) has had an active season, and
continues to play, some good ,and
bad, but mostly fun ball over the
`summer. -
We've won as many as we lost,
which, is some consolation, and this
Thursday, night takeron'twth'�ef:giants of
p°kP"•ay � t A! q,; ••
;r`... r
o..er t
�g���s �1�� ,°
that
i
al halt
r e u r n town '� us luck.
41
ishuc
resident farmer of the township.
Although the size of ,the bequest has
not been divulged, it is believed to be
between $70,000 and $100,000, and
Deputy -Reeve Grant Stirling, who is
'also chairman of the township's
recreation committee, said on Tuesday
that the money had been put into a
`special trust fund until required when
construction of the building begins.
"I'd like to see it up within two
years," Stirling said.,"It will definitely
be located in Holmesville, the only
hathlet in the township."
"It would be centrally located there
and would serve the general public as
well as township residents," he said.
Sketch plans for the community
centre, which would include a hall and
a gymnasium, were shown at an en-
thusiastic township recreation com-
mittee meeting last week, but more
public input will be sought before final
specifications are drawn up.
"We don't want to build a white
elephant that no one will use," Stirling
said.
The bequest, along with a community •
centres act grant and a Wintario grant
could give the township from $125,000 to
$175,000 to work with.
"We're not too sure about the Win-
tario grant, money's getting pretty
tight," Stirling said after council had
met with Wintario officials.
Goderich girl
Nancy Ross, 26, of Goderich escaped
serious injury on Saturday night after
the car she was driving rolled into a
ditch.
The Goderich OPP reported that
Miss.R.oss was travelling on Highway 8
north of Holmesville when the car she
was driving left the road, entered the
ditch and rolled.
Damage to the left side and roof of
the vehicle was set at $1,500.
Bevan James Bonthron, 29, of
Hensall was taken to Clinton Hospital
where he was treated for minor in-
juries after the van he was driving
struck a piece of farm machinery on
August 16.
The Clinton Police"said that damage
to the Bonthron vehicle was set at $300.
He had been travelling east on Huron
Street in Clinton and was struck by a
piece of farm machinery, protruding
from an unknown,' red Ford pickup
truck. The pickup was westbound on
the board was in the process of ap-
proving a list of textbooks for, use in
high schools during the 1978-79 school
year. He told the board the 'book was
improper for use in county classrooms
adding that he felt the board would be
"slighting our job" if it allowed the
book to be taught.
The board meeting was witnessed by
about 40 people, most of whom were
members of the Huron branch of the
Renaissance Group. The Renaissance
movement is dedicated to "cleaning up
our schools" as- Huron branch
spokesman Lloyd Barth said Monday
night.
The whole question of the board
approving material for use in the
escapes injury
Huron Street and did not stop at the
scene.
It was also reported to the Clinton
Police that on August 21, $13 worth of
gasoline was stolen from Malone Fuels
self -serve station on the western limits
of Clinton. The station attendant was
unable to obtain the licence number but
noted that the vehicle was a green half -
ton truck.
Storm leaves
By Mary Chessell
A vicious thunderstorm swept
through the area on Saturday af-
ternoon, knocking down trees and
blacking out power, but there are no
reports of serious injury or major
damage.
The storm, which swept off of Lake
lstee touched down. rw'la sc
sev e
fit• arida thunderstorm that
rat �
swept
th
Vou
g
h
�
e
tlast
s
t
� �iht, w �h froth k�t rtieetet'iidiefe, treed 'were the end bidWitoiit
of
a barn on the farm of the late Ttxth Mackie)
�� lcie, seattering
lumber mbbean fief
u er irr a c� There e e was also extensivedamage
tt t0
hdilcll , and �'e+�a a`t
age �tr e� Wayne Taylor fora'nearby
photo by Mary Chessell)
classroom came under fire prior to
'Henderson's request for banning The
Daulners.
Colborne Trustee Shirley Hazlitt
suggested that the board's sanctioning'
of books for use in classrooms was a
"farce". Hazlitt said it "seems silly for
the trustees to sit down and read a List
of books they know nothing about and
say yes you can teach this and no you
can't teach this."
The Colborne trustee pointed but that
many trustees have been away from
the classroom atmosphere for long
periods of time and that many had no
professional experience in teaching to
know why material would be beneficial
or not beneficial in a classroom.
t just doesn't add up," she said.
Goderich trustee Dorothy Wallace
added that trustees are in no position to
read a mathematics text or a science
text and judge its merits or benefits for
use and said she felt the same about
English textbooks.
Board chairman John Elliott told the
board that the books in question were
slated for use in the classrooms this
year. He said they would be used in
Grade 13 optional English courses in
Central, Huron Secondary School h
Clinton and South Huron Secondary
Turn, to page 3 •
damaged trail
Huron about 3 p.m., hit hardest in an
area from Bayfield through to Mitchell,
blacking out the hydro, and blowing
down trees.
The viotent windstorm brought down
a number of trees and large branches
in the Bayfield, Brucefield, Varna -
area. Mailboxes were torn off, and cars
damaged by fallen limbs.
A twister apparently touched down at
Wayne Taylor's. His implement shed
had the sides sucked in and one corner
ripped up. Several sheets of steel were
ripped off his barn and trees were torn
off. There was extensive damage to his
car's roof, trunk and fender. A wagon
was ' moved about 50 feet, then the
gravity box came off and landed 100
feet from the wagon.
A section ,of barn at the Blackie place
was destroyed, and at John Ostrom's
on the Parr line, a spruce tree broke off
about 15 feet up and landed on his car.
Had the car not been there, they feel
the porch roof would have been badly
damaged. There were a number of
power failures in the area as well.
Mrs. Norman Baird of the Brucefield
weather station said 18.4 mm (.70 of an
inch) fell during the 30 -minute deluge.
Don Eastman, operations manager
at the Clinton office of Ontario Hydro,
said a lightning strike on a tran-
smission line between Clinton and
Goderich knocked out power to parts
of the county for varying lengths of
time.
Part of Clinton was off for 30
minutes, "' while some euston ere
in
Bayfield were out for 11/ hours,
No damage
to
crops s
was
reported, p
nrte
d
AS
the spring grain is 96 percent lfaf+•
vested.