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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1979-01-04, Page 15• • ackward look at 197 CLINTON 14EWS;RECORD 714URSDAY, JANUARY 4 1979— AGE 15 May: Lack of interest may cancel CUSS music course May4,1978 Although no decision has been made, the music course at CHSS may be dropped in the future. Unless more students can be enticed to sign up for the course, the .'Huron County Board of Education may remove the subject from CHSS's currieulUrn. Gord Phillips, principal of •CHSS, explained that the major reason for the possible „ elimination of the subject 'is due to lack of enrollment in the program, Presently, there _are approximately 40 students taking part in the program. At -the beginning of the school -year, only seven students registered for the first year program while the minimum initial registration figure is supposed to be 25. Clinton's town hall is a IP building of impressive --"Tr'and unique design, and its restoration could make it one of the finest examples of our architectural heritage. This was the message of Sheila Larmer of the - ministry of culture and recreation, who ad- dressed the newly formed Clinton .LACAC at its' meeting on April 26. Huron County's high school students will have an extra four days to study for final exams after a _ move by the Huron County Board of Education Monday to make up time lost due to the recent 31 -day teacher strike. The board picked up an additional week of in- structional time on the school calendar by delaying final exams until June 22, what would have been the second last day of exams under the old school calendar. • It was hard to believe, but most Clintonians dragged out their winter garb earlier this week, as May came in like a lion, complete with record breaking cold tem- peratures and a light snowfall. Tony Chir of the Goderich weather office says that April, like March and February this year, was colder than normal, and „much colder than last year. However, April 1978 will go down as a sunny, very dry month with only about half the normal 63.5 mm of precipitation and Tony says warmer, wetter weather is finally on the way td relieve the near drought conditions in some of those newly planted fields of spring grain. Goderich site May 11,1978 With letters from Exeter, Wingham and Seaforth 'supporting Goderich ,as the central location for the proposed police communication system in Huron, Clinton -Council decided to go along with the majority. "It looks like, duet° the dernocrataic process that this particular municipality should go along with the others," Mayor Harold Lobb advised the members of" council. Although Clinton had hoped to house the cen- tral site and the council had agreed to ac- commodate it, the other municipalities «weren't willing to accepf the offer. "We agreed to hire another man to give 24- hour service and we would have extended our police station to make room for the system," Mayor Lobb explained. Exeter had initially given their tentative support to Clinton if there would be a savings in costs to locate there. "1 don't know where we failed," Mayor Lobb said, "but somewhere along the line we went wrong even though there would be a saving on the system here just on the phone lines alone." Rabies are on the in- crease in Huron County and already this year a record number of people have had to receive rabies shots. For the first four, months of the y'ear, there have been 15 cases of rabies diagnosed in animals. Ten people who have come in contact with these animals are undergoing treatment, a series Of 14 shots in he abdomen. The incidents are unusual. Five cattle have come in contact with the rabies virus, nine foxes and one horse. Seven of the ten people involved with the cases came in contact with the horse. The party's over for Clinton and area automobile drivers, as the six-month gas war came to an abrupt end s (May 11) - The crew that are taking down the old Bayfield arena are finding out just how well built the old structure is. The demolition began last , week, in preparation for a new $350,000 arena that will be built this year. (photo hy Milvena Erickson) April: Board backs away• • . • from page 14 have returned to haunt the board for the past three years, contain language that is "filthy" and consistently, refer to sexual activities ac- cording to the CWL. Excerpts from the books were sent along with about 200 letters that went out to board thistees, members of federal and provincial p-arliament, township councils, county 'council, minister of education Thomas Wells and area churches. Clarice Dalton, spokesman for the CWL, said the novels, The Diviners by Margaret Laurence, Catcher in the Rye by I, D. Salinger and Of Mice and Men by John 'Steinbeck were ob- jectionable and.should be remoVed from the list of books used in the county's five secondary schools. - 'The women bolstered their requeSt with letters of reply from Huron -Bruce MP Bob McKinley, MP'P's Jack • Riddell and Murray Gaunt and Stephen and Tuckersmith Township councils. Both township councils endorsed the resolutions, to have the books removed from the curriculum and of the politicians, only Gatiiit spoke out against the novels. Dalton said the CWL's strongest support came from Gaunt. who in a letter to the director of education John Cochrane, said he was "really shocked and offended to read some of this stuff." Gaunt said, "Of- all the crap I have ever heard, that hs to be it, and I can tell you that if that material is going to be taught in Huron County high schools when my children go' to high school, they won't be going to the public system. • "If we continue to sow this kind of, stuff in the minds of you'rig people we will sow to the wind and reap the whirlwind," he said. last week. Gasoline prices shot up 10 cents a gallon in one day from 82.9 to 92.9 cents;- 'the same as in most centres in this part of Ontario. ° There are still some pockets of resistance such as Hensall where gas is 85.9 an Goderich, where, it was selling earlier this week for 87.9 cents a gallon. As usual in most gas wars, oil company executives were silent on ths sudden se. Beepers bought May 18,1978 Within the next four to six weeks, the members of the Clinton fire department will be carrying a new accurate and sophisticated communications device to alert them when the fire alarm is sounded. With the, specifications and costs from three tenders, the Clinton, Fire Board accepted an ap- plication from Motorola to supply the Clinton Fire Deparemtnt with 21 beepers at the cost of $343 each, plus an encoder costing $660. The beeper system is now widely used in many municipalities and it consists of pocket -sized radios carried by each fireman and are used to page them to the fire hall when the alarm is sounded. A little Initiative channelled in the right direction can go a long way. The Stanley Township Recreation Committee along with the . Huron Centennial Public School and the Huron Board, of Education' have made elaborate plans for a creative playground in a park -like setting. The concept of the creative playground at the school began with the students, who had complained there was little activity on the playground. The playground will include an arrangement of climbers, posts, swings, tires and slides designed to be fun, safe and to be used by several children at the same time. . Kinsmen win—service award May 25,1978 The Clinton Kinsmen Club received special recognition last weekend when they won a major award at the Kinsmen Distrid One convention at Sarnia. The Sinclair Service Award is presented to only'one club out of the 85 Kinsmen groups in the district for a project depmed by' the Kin organization to be one of the greatest needs of the community, Kinsmen past president Paul Kerrigan presented a resume of the club's major serVice projects last year, replacement of Clinton's grandstand in the community park. Kerrigan outlined to those at the convention June: Town merchants can market June 1,1978 Clinton's Farmer's Market was turfed out by the businessmen this summer following a majority decision from the town's merchants. A. mandate sent out to some 80 members on the Clinton Businessmen's Association , by the market committee were returned with a definite nay response to' the' proposed summer market. Despite some changes, the market, which was to run for the second year, received no votes from some 22 merchants while only three yea replies _ were sent in to market chairman, Heather Ross. The major complaint the merchants had about the market was the un- necessary competition it would bring. Merchants were even more con- cerned' with the prOblern this . year since the market committee had hopefully planned to lift vendor restrictiOns, allowing more vendors, with a variety of mer- chandise and allowing those to participate outside Huron County. Clinton's newest Queen of the Fair is also one of Canada's"neweSt citiiens. •Mary Lou Lourenco, 19, of "RR1 Btucefield received her crown from last year's queen Jan Divok of Clinton on Saturday, May 27 at a special dance. Mary Lou, who beat out two other candidates, came to Canada from Portugal in 1968 and in Mar h of this year received her Canadian citizenship.. Mary Lou's duties as queen were to preside over the Clinton Spring Fair events which Were held June 2, 3 and 4. Three years of life were relived in some 36 hours for Ernie, and Mary Cooke when they returned–Tfo see Mr. Cooke's station at the No. 31, Radio School, RAF, Clinton. Mr. Cooke and his wife spent three years at the base, from 1941 to 1944 and Mr. Cooke was a radar instructor in one of the biggest "hush hush". operations of the second world war. So secret was the whole undertaking that even the members of the first contingent did not _ know until they arrived, that Clinton was the destination. , • However, when Cooky arrived back for a.day, it was no secret this time and many of hi old acquaintances during his time in Clinton were visited during his brief reunion. Closing out June 8, 1978 It was learned this week that some 36 em- ployees of: the Sherlock Manning Piano Factory in Clinton may be out of work in. the near future as one of the town's oldest industries may be closing. William D. Heintzman, president of Sherlock: Manning said that the Clinton manufacturing facilities may be moved to Hanover and con- solidated with the Heintzman and Company Limited of that town. Last week the two companies were amalgamated ' and the resulting company is running under the name of Heintzman .Limited with its head office in Hanover. Heintzman..,/ ,said manufacturing operations will continue at both the Clinton and the Hanover factories, pending consolidation in Hanover. The Huron County Board of Education was told Monday it should, trust the judgement of its teachers when deciding if literary pieces to be .used in high school classrooms are fit for educational purposes. Three .delegations attending the Monday meeting explained to the board at considerable' length why three ,English literature textbooks should not be banned from secondary 'school book lists. The books, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Diviners by Margaret Laurence and of Mice and -Men by John. Steinbeck were considered blasphemous and obscene by agroupof parents from Kingsbridge who started a campaign to have them banned from school book Dr. Tom Collins,. chairman of'the English department at the University of Western Ontario, told the board that the threebooks were -not all blasphemous or obscene but rather were of "superior quality". He said the books, all had excellent educational value. Despite nearly ideal conditions4ttendance at this year's l'24th Spring Fair was down, with about 5,000 ,peojile going through the gate at the three-day event, com- pared to an estimated 8,000 who saw the fair last year. Officials of the Huron Central Agricultural Soc iety are blaming com- petition from other events in nearby toWns and cities for some of the loss of fair -goers, but were at a loss to explain County in Show at the Spring Fair lait ( some light showers-, the Huron weekend was the biggest ever. The rain stopped Friday afternoon, and despite the beautiful fair weather on Saturday and Sunday, attendance at this,year's fair fell 3,000 to 54000. Here Ray Royce of Breslau takes shelter under his umbrella while watching the Holstein Show. (News -Record photb) (June 22) Flam 6 Wete visible for miles around early last Saturday morning when the Clinton Liv stock Sales barn burned to the ground. Fire raced through the structure s fast, that the building was completely gutted within 30 minutes: (NeWS-Recor ploto) the whole decrease. Fairholme Dairy in Clinton has announced that their home delivery service for milk and dairy products will be discontinued , as of June 13. - Jerry Holmes ex- plained that rising costs and, new regulatons set forth by the Department of Health was the mhin reason for the dairy's decision to give up the delivery that they have offered for nearly. the past 40 years,. Barn, burns. June 22, 1978 The buginess com- munity of. Clinton suf- fered another setback early last Saturday - morning when the Clinton Livestock Sales barn burned to the ground in a spectacular fire. The auction barn, which has been the centre for livestock sales in the area for several decades, usually attraetedeveral hundred area farmers every Friday night and the building had only been empty for a few hours., when fire raced', through the structure. The fire,' which caused an estimated.,damage of $75,000 was discovered at 1:03 a.m. It was com- pletely out of control when the Clinton volunteer fire depart- ment arrived several minutes later. Leo Glavin, the owner of the buildin-g- is ,not sure nwoht.ether he will rebuild or Optimistic smiles and planning for a bright future yvere,the common themes of the Clinton Public Hospital's annual meeting held -In Clinton last Monday night. The hospital, ordered closed by the Ontario ministry of health two years ago, has fought back and now board members - expect there will be a community hospital in Clinton for some time to come. Last Friday evening, the Colts snapped a three - game losing streak by drubbing the London Athletes, 1,3-6. It was only the Colts' third victory, of the season against five losses. Colt rookie pit- , Otert, Danny.. , Proctor, gained his second win of the season. Midwestern Ontario has acquired 'a , new organization. Fourteen weavers and spinners from Bruce, Huron–and Perth counties met recently in Blyth to form the Huron Tract Spinners and Weavers Guild. Ruth Knight of Goderich, the first president of the fledgling organization, said that the purpose of the guild is to promote an increased awareness and knowledge of the value of handcrafted spinning and weaving to the. Public. 'Weaving; .is an old handcraft' . in the Huron Tract. One of the best known weavers from Old is Saniuet Pentlanii, who arrived in Huron county In 1845 and whose work is still On display at 'the Royal Ontario Witisetim In Toronto., .• , the circumstances behind the project and detailed the outstanding con- tribution of the citizens, contractors and Kinsmen of the area. The Wesley-WilliS Nursery school in Clinton is planning on making further advancements by becoming a,parent co-op. Through this, . the parents will become actively involved, not -t only in the administration but also in the -actual classroom work and organization. Presently there are two fulltime teachers at the nursery, Sally McNichol and Nancy Wise. However, their workload -and responsibilities have become too great and .. " extra help is needed. Shirley Weary, com- mercial teacher at 'MSS says that board of education administrators were biased when they turned down her ap- plication of promotWn to vice - principal at the Clinton high school. According to Mrs. Weary, the fact that she is a woman, her active involvement in the NDP party and her recent prominence in the high school teacher strike probably out -weighed her ability ,and qualifications when the promotion was decided by the board. Weary said she wa5.... concerned that any one of the three factors may have worked against her but suggested that it may have been a combination of the three. She felt that she had # "reasonably good chalice" of getting the,job when she applied adding that she felt her resume contained some background 'the other candidates did not have. She said she had ex- perience teaching, had the necessary .qualifications for the job and had proven ex- perience in ad- ministration. Tom Fox. head of the history department at CHSS was the board's choice for the position of vice principal. (June 1) - Maty Lou Lourenco, centre, was crowned the new queen of the fair at a dance last Saturday night. On the left is Marilyn Van Altena of Clinton, who placed third, and on the right is Bonnie Van Ftlesen ef Clinton, who was second. The. new Queen will preside over the Fair, which opens this Friday, and runs until Sunday. (News -Record photo) Books publicly tliscussed °\N June 15, 1978 Close to 500 people sat through an emotion charged public meeting in Clinton Tuesday night to hear arguments for and against the use of three English literature novels in the Huron County high schools. In a public meeting organized by a concerned group opposed to the recent campaign to have .the novels banned from the srhools, parents, 'students, grandmothers and authors debated for almostthree hours on the merit of the novels or the reasons they shad be removed from the list of approved high school textbooks. People came from the four corners of Huron and from areas outside its boundaries. Many came 'simply to witness the debate but became deeply involved as the audience ran. the emotional gamut. Some wept openly. pleaded for cool heads' to pre•vail. Some argued and one man asked the audience to settle down and listen to their hearts as he pray,edy The meeting„ was arranged by a group opposed to the removal. of the threelliovels - The D-ty iners by Margaret - Laurence, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger - and to support their cause imported- four noted Canadian authors to defend the books. - June Callwood, a non- fiction writer, Alice Munro, a fiction writer, Janet Lunn, a children's writer and Steve Osterlund, a poet, composed a panel that keynoted the debate and each was given 10 minutes to outline reasons the books should not be removed from approved lists of text- books. Residents of Hullett Township who own ' swimming pools will now be required to make sure they are adequately fenced, according to a township's new by-law which was approved last. week. Nearly 800 people turned out for roast beef and dancing at the Kinsmen and Kinettes barbecue last Saturday night in the Clinton arena. The affair realized nearly $4,000 in profit for • the grandstand fund. Sixty-two years ago „Albert Horner and Violet united in marriage on June 6, 1916 at the home of the bride's parents by the „Reyr. Daniel Johnston of .Varna -i Presbyterian Churchi: Mr. Horner is the son of the late John W. Ho er and the former Bert Hey of Drysdale. Mrs. Horner is the. daughter of the late John Rathwell and the former Sarah Reid of Varna. Along with once owning the general store in Varna, the Harriers farmed on the eastern_ __ — outskirts of Seaforth. In 1960, however, the couple retired to the home that they still occupy at 62 East William Street in Seaforth. v,• Riddell sued June 29, 1978 , - Huron -Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell is being sued by the United Auto Workers over alleged comments -he made over the strike at the Fleck Manufacturing plant in Huron Park. The committee has been holding a hearing into a complaint by Riddell that his privileges as an MPP have been May Rathwell were, Turn to -page 16 • 44, (June 22) -.Where only several hours before 150 people watched the *Friday night livestock auction sales, only charred rubble remain d following a fire e arLy fast Saturday morning at the Clinton Livestock Sal s barn. Thd fire, which raced throughthe structure in 30 minutes, is' being blamed on careless smoking. (News-ReCord photo) • t •