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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1979-08-30, Page 1Although the call was immediately' made and the. Blyth and Clinton Fire Departments quickly arrived on the scene, nothing could be ddne to save this recently renovated house from destruction. Uncontrollable flames and heavy smoke quickly destroyed the home and all the personal belongings of the Hugh Flynn family, who live four miles north of Clinton. No cause has been deter- mined yet, but damage was estimated to l?e at least $50,000. (News -Record photo) by Joanne Buchanan "My faith hascarried me through* admits Mrs. Hugh Flynn of RR 1 Londesboro as she sits In her tern- porary trailer home and . talks abqut the fire which completely destrgyed her family home and all its, contqnts last Saturd y afternoon. Those contents included new school clothes for the, Flynn's three children who still live- at home; refinished antiques from the original Flynn homestead; 25th wedding ° an- niversary presents including a silver tea service anal' new stereo; a silver ' dollar and ii0 cent piece collection; trophies . and silver trays. on,_by the Flynn children over the years; and a large library of books including eight or nine sets of encyclopedias and a Bible with family records in it. • Total damage to the Flynn home, located four miles north of Clinton on concession eight and nine, is estimated to be at least $50,000. A new addition, including living room, kitchen, bathroom and two porches, had just been made to the house about four or five years ago. Mrs. Flynn says she and her husband will build again as soon as they get the mess from the fire cleaned up. She says- her husband is working on the building plans already. Still optimistic, she also says, ,"I believe my next house will be even more satisfactory than the ogler one." Mrs. Flynn is thankful that no one was hurt in the fire. "We didn't even lose a cat," she says. "The cats are upset though because they can't sleep in the porch where they're used to sleeping." She is also thankful that the barn and other buildings did not burn. "Our job is still here. We still have all the cows," she says. The records for the dairy cows were lost in the fire however and Mrs. Flynn says it will be difficult to .= z- ,..�� �:�� . -444th--Year.. No. . 5y �. - h+ rsdayi August 30, 19=79 , 33 Cents remember which ones are bred •and when they are due. There were also Some other records lost in the fire. Mr. Flynn, a former reeve of Hullett Township, is the president of the ;Western Ontario Athletic Association and some of those records were burned. Mrs. Flynn is a Blyth Figure Skating Club tester and she had four or five suit- cases full of test sheets, music sheets and club decorations in the house when itburned, Last Saturday morning Mrs. Flynn drove her husband to Blyth to get his combine. She went on a few other errands and then went to Hully Gully to pick up her daughter's motorcycle which was being fixed. Meanwhile her husband had returned home to work on the combine. He was there until about 11:30 am 'and then went to his t brother's farm to"ork, Two of the Flynn childre,nn_ are married. The other three children were all away visiting friends at the time of the fire. Mrs. Flynn says she was. told later that a former neighbor had driven by her house at 2:20 pm and all looked well. Another neighbor phoned 'the Blyth fire department at 2:30 pm so Mrs. Flynn thinks the fire must have taken off very quickly. Although no cause has been determined yet, Mrs, Flynn thinks the blaze may have started with an ex- plosion in the television set. She remembers adjusting the TV just before she left home that morning and §he _noted. that the_ _fine seemed to be centered ih the corner of the house where the television sat. While Blyth received the initial call, the Clinton fire ,department were also called to the scene to attempt to douse the uncontrollable blaze. Mrs, Flynn says a water truck followed her to the.., house. As soon as she turned off High- way 4, she could see smoke and knew a house or barn was on fire. It wasn't until Mrs. Flynn got Closer that she discovered it was her own home that was engulfed in flames. A neighbor came quickly to tell Mrs: Flynn that all her children were safe. When• her husband arrived on the scene, the firemen hosed him down so he could go into the house and get his wallet which contained about $500 or $600 from a milk cheque Which had just been cashed. The Flynn's neighbor, John Spence, managed to save the Flynn car by driving it away from the. fire as soon Turn to page 3 Chain letters may trap you Although the Goderich Detat- chment of the OPP has not received .any reports, it is rumored that a chain letter scheme offering participants a chance to make more than $200,000 in just two weeks may be operating in this area. Some police say the letter, which asks participants to contribute $100, is illegal. The letter itself states that the scheme is legal and has been ap- proved by legal counsel. "All memorandums are passed by hand from person to person...and no letters are being passed through the mail," it states: "The mails are not being used to solicit. Of course there is 'no law that prohibits persons from sending money via the mail. The letters are being distributed in Sarnia, Petrolia, 'London, Kitchener, Hamilton and Toronto, among other centers. The Ontario provincial police anti -rackets squad in Toronto says Weather 1979 1978 HI Lo HI Lo Aug. 21 27 11.5 24 • 6.5 22 28 13 26 8.5 23 27.5 18.5 30 14 24 26.5 1$ 24 17.5 25 23 9 20 13 26 24 12 24 9 27 24.5 14 23.5 15 No Rain Rain 9.36 mm Sheardown sentenced to .one year in jail BY JEFF SEDDON Timothy L. Sheardown, of Goderich, was sentenced to one year in jail Thursday when he pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with intent to wound town police Sgt. George Bacon. The charge stemmed from an in- cident May 23 in which the 28 year, -old Goderich man opened fire on a car on Cambria Road shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon and finally surren- dered to police just after midnight after a 12 hour standoff at the Goderich Manpower Centre. Too other charges against Shear - down as a result of the incident were dropped. He was in provincial court Thursday for a preliminary hearing into charges of intent to wound, possesion of a firearm dangerous to the public peace and using a firearm while committing an indictable offence. Before the hearing ended Sheardown pleaded guilty to the charge of intent to wound and the crown agreed to drop the other charges. • Sgt. Bacon was the only witness to testify at the hearing. He told the court the incident began just before noon when Sheardown game to the police station claiming he had assaulted someone at the Maitland Country Club where he was working. He told police he had gone after a fellow worker with a shovel. Bacon said no complaint had been lodged against Sheardown but that the man wanted police to help him. An • officer drove him to the Goderich Psychiatric Hospital for an interview with Dr. Michael Conlon, a psychiatrist at the centre. Less than an hour later Dr: Conlon' sent Sheardown home and a police cruiser dropped him off on The Square. It was shortly after that that police got a call saying someone was shooting at a car on Cambria Road. Bacon told the court Sheardown fired three shots at a Volkswagen driven by A. J. Hamilton missing the driver's head by inches. He,Isaid two of the shots pierced the rear window of the car and exitted through the windshield. He said measurements of the bullet holes in- ° dicated the slug missed the driver by eight inches. Bacon said Sheardown then proceeded up East Street carrying the 12 -gauge shotgun. When spotted by police Sheardown ran into the Canada Manpower • Centre entering second floor offices. He fired a shot into the ceiling and ordered seven employees into an office telling them to call the police. The employees escaped unin- jured. The sergeant said when he got to the Manpower office the door was closed. He said he called to Sheardown to open the door but got no response. He said he pressed himself against the wall adjacent to the door and using his left hand he turned the knob and flung the door open leaving his 'arm exposed in the open doorway. The second the door opened Shear- downfired through the doorway. Bacon �,ardei oeoao,l> ower d ld ° Clinton od k at sought out wing for the . annual' 1 .0.-01104 the as a ld area i1 et oaf thel> wen ; ►how Ga dener s an pian ardeners alike enjo�red � �c�ay ofleu+i ri' t e v • e' e colors ,.. lois �► and +cut , ,,. .,ft n g�s t g (Newsa>ecord photp7 said he heard the shot and felt the breeze from the slug on the hair of his arm. The sergeant said that after Sheardownhad surrendered he told him that "I meant to shoot at you. ' If you had your body in the door you'd be dead. You're a good cop but I meant business." Bacon said Sheardown then asked him if he had hurt the officer's arm. He told the court Sheardown in- dicated his intention was to die. He told Bacon he would be carried out of the Manpower office "feet first" saying he had "nothing to live for" and that the "world was against him". He told police he did not want to see any members of his family saying: "All I want to do is die". Police cordoned off the area around the Manpower office ' and, with the assistance of an Ontario Provinci$1 Police Tactics and -Rescue Squad and OPP negotiaters, began to outwait Sheardown." Alrwas quiet until about 7:3o p.rn. when Sheardown fired three shots toward The ;Square where a large crowd of onlookers had gathered. One man was slightly wounded by the shots when a pellet struck him in the cheek. Bacon told the court he had been a Turn to page 3 Teenagers hurt Two -teenagers were taken to Clinton hospital where they were' treated for injuries sustained in a Saturday morning motorcycle acs ,cident. The Goderich OPP reported that Michael Carew, 17, of London was treated for major injuries while a passenger on the bike he was driving, Martin Dean, 18, of London was treated for minor injuries. The 5:10 am accident occurred when the' Carew motorcycle which had been travelling north on Highway 4, just south of Clinton, went onto the shoulder of the road, hit a concrete slab and landed in a corn field. Damage to the motorcycle was set at $x,000, The Clinton Police also investigated a motorcycle incident this , week, involving'the theft of a vehicle from Ray Potter's Ford Equipment lot on Huron Street in Clinton. Although the report is riot com- pleted, the police said that the motorcycle wass reported rted missingon August 5an�it was recovered the same day, In a ditch" on Pugh's Terrace. The $1,200 bake was not damaged. flatly that the scheme violates Section 189 of the Criminal Code and Sarnia police agree. However, Police Chief Bob Brooker of Petrolia says chain letters are flourishing there and he isn't certain they are illegal. Brooker says the Criminal Code is open to interpretation in this area and in any case he is not acting unless he receives complaints. He' said he personally knows.ten people who have made $4,000 each through the scheme. "It's a grass fire and I don't know how you are going to stop it." Although London police say they aren't aware of any chain letter schemes, one London woman said she was approached a week ago to buy one but:refused. "You can make $204,800 without any risk if you will invest $100 in yourself for one day and follow the instructions in this memorandum exactly as they are written," the letter says. There are slight variations in the scheme but basically it operates this way: Participants are asked to buy the letter --described as a memorandum --for $50. The person joins a list of names and is asked to send another $50 to the 12th- name on the list. The person then sells the letter to two other people for $50 each. This must be done within 24 hours the letter says. If the chain is not broken, the person should receive $204,800 within 12 days. Record flower exhibit The judge of this year's Clinton Horticultural Society's annual flower show had her hands full last Friday as she had to pick through a record 360 entries by 35 exhibitors in the adult. classes, and 153 showings by 22 children. Last year, 33 adults showed 266 exhibits, and 20 children showed 120 different exhibits. Jean McEwen of Goderich Town- ship was the top point getter in the tough competition, and took home the Horticultural Society's trophy, the, Sint/Ism .Sears• award. for ...the -best, arrangement in the show, and the Florentine Marguis award for the best dinner table arrangement. Marion Powell, also of Goderich Township, took home the Clinton News -Record award for the second highest point total, , and Bram Ein- 'denburg took home two major awards including the Baker's Farm and Garden award for the third highest point total and the Ila Cudmore award in the men's only class. Mrs. Ray Foster got the Anstett Jewellers Award for the fourth hightest point total, while Ila Cud - more won the Grace Middleton Memorial Award for the best arrangement of garden flowers. Phyliss Tyndall won the Mr. R. Feist award for the best arrangement by a first-time exhibitor, and Evelyn Olde won the Bev Williscraft award for the best gladiolus in the show. Mrs. Eindenburg had the best dahlia in the show, for the Evelyn Olde award, while Dorthy 'Marguis won the Jean McEwen award for the best petunias. In the Junior Gardeners'. classes, Gwen Holland • won the Bank of Montreal award for gathering the most number of points, while David Pullen won the Mrs. Marion McCann award for second, and brother Michael Pullen won. the Margaret Slornan award for finishing third. Kerrigan Fuel awards for Junior Gardeners with animal made of vegetables went to Michael Pullen, Gwen Holland, David Pullen, Henrietta Snieder,` Christine Baker, and Julia Ann Baker. Michael. Pullen and Chris Kerrigan won' the,Mrs;A.; " edtSlornan,awards,for the biggest mangel and smallest tiny tim tomatoe respectively. Gwen Holland and David Pulklen shared the Charlie Cook Memorial award for being the most helpful Poetry contest p. 2 Foresters gather Colts finished p. 5 p. 6 Middleton news p. 8 Stamp collecting p. 11 Bill Mutch dies p. 14 Plunkett reunion p. 16 Scout leaders needed p. 17 Where oh where has the _summer all gone? You've heard that refrain before, as most of us suddenly realize that the great . warm, carefree days are, as a card player says, euchred. Everyone (except mothers with restless, impatient little ones) will be sad the summer went so quickly, and school starts on Tuesday. Although summer doesn't really end until September 21, the first day of school tradition marks the end of the good times for child and adult alike. + + -�- But before summer ends next Tuesday morning ,when the school bell rings, there are several events yet to attend in the vicinity, in- cluding the Bayfield, Fair, which runs Friday and Saturday, but mostly Saturday. The whole fair is back at home in the fairgrounds and the new community centre, so organizers are looking for a big crowd. Unfortunately, due to a death in our family, I won't be able to show at the fair this year, and exhibiting in Bayfield always proved to be tough competition. sr (, + 1 r. There is also a special feature at the KKirismen Raceway on Sunday when the track hosts the fifth 1 of the Centennial renew Clinton1 on Centenri a a Pace.e. You remember t he i Cl in o n Centenni.1 in1975, don't you? Sure was fun.i We should have an Old + Boys reunion every five years. What d'ya say, should we? Well, if we can't have a celebration, we can at least enjoy the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend; ` our last until Thanksgiving on October -8. As is, usual, most banks) businesses and the post office will be closed on Monday, as will all government offices and liquor stores. There will be the usual Saturday service at the post office, but no mail will be dispatched until Monday afternoon. Some parents will be glad to see their teenagers back in school, says our rnain street sage, who says the kids have discovered that science has devised something to penetrate walls. It's called a stereo. + +' + Another sign that fall is fast approaching us is the flooding this week of. the Clinton arena In order to make ice for the upcoming hockey school, which starts on September 10 and runs through to the 30th. Contrary to rumors floating around the area, the school is still on the go, and there are still plenty of, openings, says manager ou in Clarence �'eilans sari get t g Out the co on from last fillip o t o b y g p week's paper, or ontactng the arena,