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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1979-08-16, Page 1w • rt ,, • 444 • "ar • • • . . . ,.. • 5 • What was once a beautiful farm, complete with a brick house, large.barn and tr6-lined driveway, is -now just an ugly mess following a destructive tornado that smashed everything in its path last Tuesday night in Oxford, Haldimand and Norfolk counties. This was the farm of Neil Muxworthy on Highway 59, four miles north of . 1 446trifV* Hickson. Now it is just a pile of rubble fit only for the dump. Hundreds of volunteers are still ,needed to help stricken residents like the Muxworthys who are faced with the task•of cleaning up and rebuilding, as insurance will cover only part of the loss. (photo by Brian Rich- man) Huron people help tornado victims by Jim Fitzgerald Organizations and individual people alike have quickly come to the aid of the several thousand residents af- fected by last week's devastating tornado that swept through Wood- ' stock, and parts of Oxford, Haldimand and Norfolk counties. Even though it's a busy time of the year for Huron County farmers, many have already volunteered to go to the area and help in the clean-up of the estimated $150 million dollar damage caused by the storm, that suddenly struck at suppertime last TuAsday night, August 7, killing three deople and wiping entire villagesoff 4t the map. Many people from Huron County have left their work and fields to help, as the -Huron Federation of Agriculture is co-ordinating car pools to go to the devastated area. Federation member Adrian said on Tuesday that 11 ca ds \contaning 44 men went do on Monday and a similar number were seftzl go Tuesday. • The Mennonite Disaster Relief Fund organizers say that help will he needed at least until the end of next Week, so more volunteer workers axe needed. If yOu can be of any help, contact the Federation office between 9 arn and 4 pm at 482-9642, and it would be most helpful, says organizer Brenda McIntosh, if some workers could bring chain saws, and wrecking tools. Already, hundreds of thousands of dollars in dcinations have poured into the W000dstock area to help the victims, mtany of whom lost a whole lifetime of work in a few minutes. Insurance covers some of the loss, but because of inflation, znany won't be able to rebuild without aid. Monetary help so far from the Clinton area includes a $500 donation from Clinton town council, a $643 donation from the Monster Bingo fund, and a $200 donation from the Huron County Pork Producers. As well, many individuals donated money during a radio-thon held on Monday that raised a bout $500,000. lice crack yegg ring. A Seaforth man has been charged with .11 court coun't of break, enter and theft following an extensive police: investigation b the Goderich Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police o \ a county -wide break-in ring. Robert Gerald Reyn Ids, 21, of Seaforth appeared in Court in Goderich on Monday, afte he spent the weekend in Walkerton Ji1, and was released on his own recognizance. He is set to. be 41 -- next Monday, August 20. Police say charges were laid after investigation into break-ins at a dozen Huron County establishments, in- cluding the Country Market. at Vanastra; the Ministry of Tran- sportation and Communication building in Clinton; Mitchell's Family Market in Londesboro; Merner's Meat Market in Dashwod; the .Hay Municipal Telephone office, the I4ensall District Co-op, the Pro Hardware, and the Huron County Shed, all in Zurich; the Seaforth Legion'; .the McKillop Township office in Winthrop; and the Goderich Township office in Holmesville. Police said that during the McKillop Township break-in, a fire was started that caused J.20,,000 damage. __The investigation, under Constables Bob Roberts, Gary Martin, and Lorne Carter of the Criminal Investigation, is continuing and more charges are pending. Police also have a warrant out for the arrest of . another Huron County man in connection with the same case. first column by jim fitzgerald "s - A pleasant fall, good day to you all. Wow, it sure has turned cold as an Arctic high pressure seeks to dominate the weather, and area campers and cottagers shiver in their lake -front abodes, while a cold northwesterly wind churns Lake Huron into 12 -foot waves. As this is being written, people are walking down main street in heavy fall coats, the mercury is only at 10 degrees C (50 F.), and the weatherman is talking of frost. Sure was a short summer. The cold will soon pass, and Fitzgerald's Forecast' calls for .six Weeks of hot dry weather yet, to come, starting later this Week; "+++ But the weather should be • ex- cellent for the Tuckersmith- Vanastra Fair set for this Friday and 'Saturday. According to reports we've received, the organizers have been very busy planning a full schedule, and more details are available in an ad on qirback page. .„ + It's certainly heartwarming to see fellow 'humans conte to the aid ,it'i ilitiChAbig. niiiiiherS te` help the ViOtitriS 1 the horrible tornado that sttlitdk The Woodstock area last week. Within an hour, the Men- nonite Relief workers were in action, and since then thousands of people have donated their time.. Those who were not able to help physically, have sent down monetary aid, so the rebuilding job won't be such a hardship' for the thousands of homeless people. + + In that story last week on Clin- ton's new tax rate we neglected to mention the separate school rate`, which will be 187.94 mills, about half a mill more than the public school rate. • +++ So far, nothing has' reached our ears on trouble caused by the complete walkciut of all Bell Telephone workers in Ontario, including the 20 men in the Clinton repair centre. Unless there is a severe storm, or "accidents," management says there will be few interruptions. ' ++.+ Here's a smile from our *main street wit to all, commodity and' futures dealers in our readership: "The price of wheat and Corn go up and down, btit the price of wild oats ays the saine." + -1- -1- Well, I have to go now, and write nother Col over on Page 2&� yoU in the funnies, • Because of its closeness, the damage has been witnessed by many from the area, and a few from Clinton were even present during the tornado itself. " Al Finch; Jack Peck, Mery Durnin and Harvey Carter, who were in Woodstock Tuesday night setting up the Kinsmen's pari-mutuel machines at the Woodstock raceway, stood less than a half mile away and watched the tornado suck up.part of the south end of town. News-R.ecord advertising director aYpist, who was on holidays at Turn to page 3 • ospital plans major expansion by Shelley McPhee Despite bed cutbacks and budget limitations the Clinton Public Hospital is not deterred, as evident in their long range plans for a $1 million renovation and expansion project at the hospital. Hospital administrator Doug Coventry announced this week that architect's drawings have been completed and the plans have been submitted to the ministry of health fpr approval. While the ministry must approve all changes made at the hospital,Mr. Coventry admitted that it is unlikely that they will make any money available in the next few years to help pay for the work. "Yet many hospitals a.re going ahead with programs such as we have planned without financial assistance from the government," he said. Mr. Coventry explained that presently a renovation and addition project is underway' ,at the Exeter hospital that is being entirely financed without aid from the government. The hospital, with help of citizens of the com,munity, will pay the cost of $700,000. The St. Marys and Listowel , hospitals are also beginning similar capital projects and Mr. Coventry claimed that public funds a.re sup- porting other hospital renovations and construction around the province. "We have managed to keep our hospital open, now let us See what we can do to keep improving and up- dating our facility so that it continues to be the best in Huron County," he stressed. "We don't expect the public to come, up with $1 million in a minute. Right now the hospital could fund 15 to 20 per cent of the costs and we'd probably look at a five year funding program for the rest," Mr. Coventry added. Out of that $1 million project, Mr. Coventry is hopeful that the hospital will get some monetary assistance from the ministry to help pay for a new elevator, A new hydraulic system, to run through the hospital's three levels, will cost $46,000. While other parts of the project can wait, Mr. Coventry said that it is extremely urgent to get a new elevator and it's replacement has been made a separate project in hope that action can be taken immediately. "The,state of our elevator now has become an emergency situation. We're having to call in a serviceman quite regularly," he explained. Mr. Coventry explained that the present hoist elevator is old and deteriorating to a state of constant repair. It stalls between floors and sometimes doesn't stop level at the designated floors. Proposed plans call for putting a new elevator in the existing shaft, as soon as possible, hopefully by fall. The installation of a new elevator could causeiome difficulties and inconveniences in hospital operation. During the month-long work period, hospital staff, patients and visitors would be forced to use the stairs to get around the three -floor building. Other changes in the hospital are not as urgent and if approved, will be taken on as a long term project,from two to five years, to making funding a little easier and so not to cause great disruptions in hospital operation. The proposed project calls for the demolition of the 100 -year-old north section of the hospital with a new two floor addition to be built with a main entrance off John Street. The ad- mitting entrance, administration . offices and physiotherapy depart- ment would be located on the first floor and a laundry loading and receiving dock, laboratory and staff change rooms would be placed in the baTsehme epnlat. n s also call for the removal of the emergency entrance from the northeast corner of the building, to be relocated at the southeast portion. The X-ray department would also be moved to this area and a small ad- dition would be built to accommodate some of these changes. "As it is, the all," Mr. Coventry explained. Turn emergency urnto piasgeto3o small," . Hullet clerk quits— Holmesv* ille deal Housewives win, Henson news p. 88 9 Help inmpoyfreid p. 108 11 'Herbicide spray p. 12 Honeymoons galore p 14 P• 3 P• 5 p 6 is accidents, concern police BY JEFF SEDDON The Huron County detachments of the Ontario Provincial Police released some alarming statistics this week showing traffic accidents,giqour seizures and in some areas traffic deaths increased dramatically in 1979. The four detachments in the county released figures Tuesday which in- dicate liquor seizures increased nearly 30 percent this year while traffic accidents increased about 10 percent and fatalities increased 25 percent. Constable Bill Wilson, community relations officer with the Goderich OPP detachment, said Tuesday the police and the courts are initiating several plans to try to combat the problem. Wilson said OPP officers will be making more use of radar on county and provincial highways while the courts have increased fines for liquor offenses and speeding. Wilson said the increased radar enforcment and steeper fines serve a dual purpose. Police hope to discourage people from risking their lives by mixing drinking and driving arid also want people that don't mix the two to be able to drive in relative safety. Of the four county detachments Goderich and Wingham show the most dramatic increases in -liqour offenses and accidents. From January to July of 1978 Goderich officers issued 162 liquor violations while in 1979 that number increased to 1,89. In Wingham the 1978 figure was 123 and jumped to 250 in one year, an increase of over 100 percent. Goderich detachments investigated 175 accidents in the first seven months TUrn to page 3 • citool vandalism expensive BY JEFF SEDDON , Acts of vandalism against Huron County's 28 schools cost the county board of education just under $10,000 in the first six months of 1979. That startling figure was given to the board Monday night along with another surprising statistic. Just under one third of the vandalism occurred in Clinton where Central Huron Secondary School was the vandals' main target. In an effort to determine the severity of vandalism in the county board administrators began charting incidents in January of 1979. The total cost and the school affected by each act of vandalism was recorded and the results of the reporting_ given to the board Monday night. Central Huron suffered the most damage by far. Ili the first three months of 1979 vandais caused $1,726.58 worth of damages through vandalism while in the last three _months $1,275.25 worth of damage Beetles eating beans by Jim Fitzgerald Huron County's white bean crop, once the crown jewel of agriculture in the county, is taking several more blows on the chin this year. Not only is the acreage of the crop down sqme 40 per cent this year, the bean, widely used throughout the world for human consumption, is being plagued by a host of natural predators this year as well. Last week, agricultural officials were advising bean growers to spray their field against white ,mould, a fungus disease that can reduce yields by as much as 75 per cent, and now this week, reports are coming in of damage by the Mexican Bean Beetle, which hasn't bothered Huron beans for years. The bean beetle damage is only. spotty in some fields, but thefe are one or two fields where the beetles have munched their way through much of the crop, reducing yield significantly. Although the beetle doesn't eat the bean pods, it defoliates the leaVeS, which manufacture the beans. Don Pullen, agricultural repreSentative for Ht4on, said Tuesday thatdatnage from the beetlit was only isolated,�nd it was likely too late to spray againat theta, par' ticularly in we early bean crops which are now starting to turn. But Mr. Pullen said it wasn't too late to spray a fungicide on the fields of white beans, especially those lush fields that had filled in the rows and cut off air circulation. , However, the spray, Benlate or Eastout, has to be put on before a cold wet spell, because once the white mould has a hold, it's too late. Should the weather turn hot and dry, then the, $23 an acre cost of the spray would be wasted. In other crop news, Mr, Pullen said the soy and corn crbp looked good, but he was concerned that an early September frost could hurt the corn significantly because it is ten days to two weeks behind normal. "Some of the later planted corn will need at least until the end of Sep - temper to mature properly," Mr. Pullen explained. • He said the Winter wheat crop was all harvested, with crop yields ranging from 40 to, 80 buphelS per acre, and the spring grain harvest Is well underway with some lOdgint reported li crop s that fell over before filling beaiseIJ of heavy, rains and Weak Stitt , 4, Mr Pullen s id the second cut hay crop is yielding , wellwhile the soy ,bean arciodking good," was done. The six month total of $3,001.83 in damages by far tops any other school. South Huron District High School was another favorite target for vandals Damages to that facility totaled $1,386.82. Seaforth District High School suffered $787.96 while secondary schools in Goderich and Wingham suffered $450.20 and $411.34 respectively. Grey Central Public School in Grey township was hardest hit amongst Weather 1979 1978 AUGUST 7 29 8 25 9 24 10 22.5 11 21 12 22 13 23 12' 11 6 16 10 5 9 26 29 25 23.5 25 28 30 10 18 15 8.5 10 11 15 Rain 6.0 mm Rain 4.1 mm elementary schools. Damages to that school totaled $1075.08 in three in- cidents. The other 23 elementary schools had damages ranging from none to $750 with the average around $300. The board seemed unconcerned about either the cost of the vandalism or the number of incidents. Most trustees indicated vandalism is something that just has to be lived with and nothing can be done about. Board chairman John Elliott went so - far as to'indicate the less said about vandalism the better. Elliott said a pike chief in the county told some trustees that media publicity of vandalism encourages vandals. Lucknow trustee Marion Zinn was in obvious agreement with the chief and suggested that reporters at the board of education meeting play down vandalism. Trustees were also at a loss to explain why Clinton was so much harder hit than any other school. Not only do vandals do more damage at Central Huron they are far more Turn to page 3 • fo- The lag several years h ve been nothing but trouble.for t? area white bleati growers, and this year IS no exception. Not only is white ,uld reducing crop Atlas, but the 11We/dean Bean Beetle IS munching hl . -her Way through sOnie, fields. The rihOtogOpher taught these beetles "tatlikg. in Goderich Township. (News‘RecordOhotO) • „., ,•'' •• ••••'.