Clinton News-Record, 1979-11-08, Page 1• • •
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55
1 14th Year -No., 45
While downstairs crowds of adults buzzed around the for people of all ages, including the children's show, put
craft and bake tables, one floor above youngsters we -1-'6 on by Mary Hearn and a special shopping are for young
totally absorbed in a puppet show at the Wesley -Willis buyers. (News -Record photo)
Morning Market. The ,Saturday bazaar had something '
Thursclay, No.vemL
_ •
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Two of the area's largest employers
have announced layoffs which will see
almost 200 workers tilled.
Dashwood Industries Limited(DIL)
vice-president Al Rankin said Mon-
day that 105 production workers have
been laid off at the Centralia plant.
Rankin 'said the layoff was the
largest ever in his association with
the company and the November 2
layoff date was the earliest in the
company's history. DIL usually lays
off in mid November, he said.
In 1975 the company laid off 99
workers from a smaller staff, Rankin
stated.
Employees may be called back to
Truscott story takes new twists
The Steven Truscott story continues
to occupy national scene again ,this
week, with several new twists 'and
turns.
A Toronto Star reporter has found
one of the alleged killers brought out
in a new book and interviewed him; a
Clinton man on the murder trial jury
says Truscott was guilty; another
Toronto Star reporter who covered
the case in 1959 says that Truscott was
guilty; and Truscott himself went on a
Toronto radio station, CFTR on
Sunday, and proclaimed his -in-
nocence one again.
In an exclusive copyright story in
the Toronto. Star last Thursday,
*reporter John Kessel claims to have
talked to •Russ, one of the suspects
named as the murderer in a new book
by Toronto author Bill Trent called
Wholiilled Lynn Harper?
released two weeks ago.
The book implicates Russ, his
brother Ronny; and a . third man
called Roy in the 1959 rape -murder of
12 -year-old Harper near CFB Clinton,
now Vanastra. The book says that in
1967, Ronny confessed to the •crime
during. an interview with unnamed
officials at the Kingston Penitentiary.
But in the Star interview last week,
Russ says that the book didn't say
that his brother Ronny's confession
was made while he was in the
psychiatric ward at the pen, and he is
still taking all sorts of medication,
and drugs as treatment.
The new book, that claims Truscott,
14 -years old at the time, didn't commit
the murder, also doesn't mention that
Ronny had been shot in the head by a
policeman during an aborted 1964
bank hold-up, three years before the
confession, and hasn't been right
since, Russ says:
Russ, who was released from prison
the- same year as Truscott Was
paroled, said the prison authorities
looked into the confession, and
dismissed it.
A Clinton man who was on the jury
that convicted Truscott in 1959 said ,
last week there was no doubt in the
jury's mind that Truscott had done
the crime.
"Two pieces of evidence really
convicted him," the former jury
member said. "First, Truscott could
account for all but half an hour of his
time right about the time of the
murder, and second, he gave the
,licence,_ plate of the car that he
claimed picked Lynn up at Highway 8.
There's. just no way you can see a
plate number ,from the bridge (over
Mac Cameron dead at 53
A well-known Clinton citizen and
businessman, J.M. (Mac) Cameron
died•suddenly at his Townsend Street
home, He was 53.5
Mr. Cameron, who was a partner in
Ball and Mutch Limited, which
operated the Bali and Mutch Fur-
niture Store and the Ball Funeral
Hbmei for many years, will be buried
in Baird's Cemetery on Friday
following at 2 pm service at Wesley -
Willis United Church.
Mr. Cameron's body will rest at the
Ball Funeral Home • where visitors
may call after 2 pm on Thursday, and
a Legion service will be held Thur-
sday evening at 9:30 pm.
Complete obituary details in next
_
week's paper.
Mac) Cameron
Well, if you been neglecting to do
up your seat belt lately and thought
you could get away with it, watch
out! The police, and particularly
the OPP here in Huron County are
cracking down, when they have a
few hours to spare, and, yes you
guessed it, I just happened to be
driving my truck at the wrong
place at the wrong time, and as a
result, I'm carrying a $28 ticket
my back poCket.
And you thought the press had
some power eh? Hardly.
+++
The police report that
Hallowe'en was very quiet in these
parts, except for a few thrown
.eggs, and a g000d natured prank
or two, including, One played on
Cam Addison on Maple Street by a
couple of former students who
though Cam's picnic table and
lawn mower would look good on his
garageroof.
Hevvever, the boys were good
enough to come back a couple of
day.§, later and take them down
again,
+ •
If you areone of the lucky ones,
then next IVIoriday, Noi;ernber 12 is
.holiday, even though Sunday.'
'Nrivernber 11 is Remembrance
Day arid that is theday of the
''00vi'de tete itt tOWir,
MI the schoels In the area 'Will be
nekt Monday, but all
4ovet1ment offices, !banks, post
'60.1060 nqUo and beer storers
be closed for the day. The
holidayers will be able to do their
Christmas shopping:
Finally, our cookbook is out, and
one reading is enough to make any
mouth water uncontrollably. The
booklet is included with this week's
paper and we will announce ,the
winners of the best recipe contest
in a few weeks.
This week, the Main Street wit
says that: "While great advances
have been made in com-
munications, there's still a lot to be
said for the wink of an eye."
• + -1- +
Although this won't come as any
shocking news to farmers who are
trying to harvest wet corn from wet
fields, October past was a lousy
month. According to our keeper of
the records at the Goderich
Weather Statin, Graham Cam-
pbell, October was dull, wet, and
slightly warmer than norrrial.
October set several records,
including beirig'one of the cloudiest
on records...vdth 66 hours of sun-
shine, and one of the rainiest, with
rain being recorded on 19 of the ,31
days, In total, 137.3 min of rain,
including 15,6 cm of snow, fell on
the distriet, above the long term
average of 78.7 Om, while the
!average temperature of 102 was
lighly above the long term
e
average 9,6, 'In stly be ause of a
couple of hot da , on the 21 an r I .
the Bayfield River on the Vanastra
Road)."
Gwyn (Jocko) Thomas, a Toronto
Star reporter who covered the trial
for the papers 20 years ago, says that
Truscott was guilty.
In a lengthy piece in the Saturday,
November 3 Star, Thoma details the
trial evidence and says the new
e idence is really old evidence and
was checked out ,years ago by the
attorney -general's office and found to
be phony.
Says Thomas: "Although the
Truscott case has been the subject of
the most searching examinations to
make sure justice was done, there are
people who still don't want to believe
that a 14 -year-old boy . could be in-
volved in such a heinous crime. I
disagree. I was there and heard the
evidence."
Meanwhile, Truscott who was
•paroled 10 years ago and is living
under an assumed named in a small
Ontario town with his wife and two
children, granted a once only in-
terview on Sunday on CFTR, a
• Toronto radio station, and claimed he
was innocent.
"I am definitelyinnocent. If it takes
another 50 years. or until the day I die,
We'll never give up," Truscott said in
the interview.
"I appeal to (Prime Minister) Joe
Clark, to open the case right back to
•1959," Truscott said.
"My family and I are not publicity
seekers. We said we'd give one in-
terview to the press, and one to the
radio. We don't want to be deluged by
the media. If we have anything to say,
• we'll telephone the press "
Tuckersmith to share
centre ,operating ?debt
By Wilma Oke been overstated by a similaramount.
A part of the $177,293 debt against Clerk Jack McLachlan explained
the Vanastra Recreation Centre was that since the, error was made in 1975
lifted from the shoulders of the there has been no reason to question
Vanastra ratepayers by Tuckersmith the prior figures until ratepayers
Township council Tuesday night but objected to an addition to the
the larger portion of that debt was left Vanastra Recreation Centre.
for Vanastra to pay off. Lloyd Eisler, of Egmondville, was
Tuckersmith council took over by one of a large number of township
an unanimous vote the operating residents who attended the meeting to
deficit of $58,293.54 and this will be listen to the auditor's explanation and
paid by all the residents of Tucker- to find out how council would vote on
smith from the township's general the Vanastra Recreation Centre
funds..• debts. He questioned why auditor's
reports are so difficult to read and
why the language changes each year.
Mr. Meyer agreed they were difficult
to read but the township clerk was
available to answer questions. He
said the language changed with the
government rules calling for different
terms each year. He said a recreation
• centre should support itself each year
and that is why the capital and
revenue fund deficits were kept the
way they were.
Mr. Eisler 'said he could not find
where the council found the money to
pay off part of the operating deficit
and he was told it was a $25,000 grant
received last year.
Harvey Hammond asked that since
the mistake was made what happened
to the interest charges. He was told
that there were only interest charges
the first year, He said council had
charged it Up against Vanastra and
now you should give it back. It is lost
revenue to Vanastra.
Clerk McLachlan said, basically
there have been no interest charges
and that the township has lost money.
Mrs. Haskett asked, "When the
place (recreation centre) has been
losing money why did you want to
make it larger?"
Mr. Hammond said, "We would like
• to get everything out in the open and
start the new year of 1980 with a fresh
slate. Vanastra has more than it
wants, more than it can support. Now
we have an indoor pool, we didn't
want it; we have a curling rink we
didn't want, we have an operatiorial
deficit we didn't want. Put everything
out on the table. And we don't want
that adclitimi (referring to the $250,000
Turn to page 3
Th
Weather
But council voted 4 to 1 against
taking over the debenture debt of
$119,000 in a recorded vote asked by
Councillor William Brown. Reeve
Ervin Sillery was the only one to vote
against . the motion that • this debt
remain on Vanastra as previously
agreed upon (when the recreation
centre was built in 1974).
Claire Haskett, Vanastra buS,iness
woman exclaimed, "Same as all
along, Vanastra will have to pay for
sornething we did not want."
Reeve Sillery explained why he
voted as he did, "I was the only one
(member of council) to state at the
election a year ago that I felt the
whole township should be responsible
(for the recreation centre debt's) and
no one criticized me." He said he
respected the judgment of the other
members of council and he had to
accept their opinion.
"They don't live at Vanastra,"
replied Mrs. Haskett.
,When the recreation .complex was
built in 1974 the residents of Vanastra
agreed to assume all 'costs of the
centre when they proposed that it be
built. To make this possible council
passed a bylaw establishing Vanastra
as a school and recreation area to
make the residents able to assume all
costs. The rest of . the township
residents were never to be asked to
pay any of the costs.
3. Michael Meyer, the township's
auditor from the firm of Diegel,
Malcolm and Hagey of Stratford
attended the council session to ex-
plain an audit mistake made by
another auditor of the firm in 1975. He
had been called to the clerk's office
last week to re-pXaMine the figures
since the commencement of the
centre,
Mr. Meyer said the mistake
resulted from an effort to segregate
the capital and revenue fund deficits.
He explained that the net amount of
the 1075 capital financing, in excess of
, 1975 Capital expenditure, was credited
to current surplus instead of being
charged against the .accuinulated
capital deficit of the recreation boafd.
He pointed out there IA no overall
effect 6f this diS4reparicy* on the
— tawnthip, hooka. Rather, the' genetai
surplus for WA ond ofliqeguerit 'ears
has bee ti iiverstuted by $68'.104 - d the
Vanastra roretition board def tha
1979 1978
October HI Lo HI Lo
30 8 1 7 -3.5
31 17 1.5 13-' 2
NOVEMBER
1 13 6 11 1-4
2 1;5- • *3 , • 14 1,
9 . -2 18.5
4 1 .2 18 4
10 • .2 21 .7
aini2,5nim Rain 20.6 nitri
• Sf
t *
5
; •
5*, . • ' * ,
work in stages in either late January
or early February Rankin saidrbut
cautioned it was dependent on their
winter sales push,
He attributed the large number and
early date of the layoff to recent hikes
in the country's interest rates. Rankin
said this has hurt his company in both
sales to dealers and to home
manufacturers.
While not completely off -setting the
loss of business due to the higher
borrowing charges, Rankin said there
is a greater tendency to renovate
existing housing.
The federal government's mor-
tgage deductibility scheme would
have little or no impact in the near
future on DIL's production, he said.
In other DaShwood plants across
the country Rankin said• 16 production
personnel have been_layed off at Mt.
Bridges while small scale layoffs
have taken place at their Winnipeg
plant. In Vancouver, production has
slowed but no layoffs are anticipated.
The layoffs follow a period of tur-
moil in the front office of DIL which
saw their president and senior vice-
president resign. Michael G. Shurety
of Toronto, general manager of
Krueger Pulp and Paper Limited has
been named president following the
OctOber resignation of Jerry Finnen.
Gerry Parsons of Exeter who has
been with ,DIL for the past 10 years
left the company at the end of Sep-
iember.
Parsons accepted a management
position with Ford Dickison
Industries of Brodhagen.
Assuming the position of director of
finance is Tony, Hall who has been
with DIL for two and a half years.
The other major blow to the area's
economy is the laying off of 80
workers in the niodular home plant of
Bendix Home Systems Limited of
Hensall.
John Gillespie of the Canada
Employment Centre in Exeter said
the layoff effectively . shuts down
production of the plant which
produces single wide andTiouble wide
mobile housing units.
Bendix told Gillespie that the layoff
was a result of a lack of orders and a
high inventory. A tight money
situation was also cited as a reason
for the shut down.
• The layoffs may • be cyclical in
nature with the firm recalling
workers when orders are received.
Some workers may be called back in
about two weeks time officials told
Gillespie. •
No major layoffs are anticipated at
the company's mobile. home plant in
Hensall.
A Bendix spokesman had no
comment on the layoff situation.
Layoffs in smaller area industries
have totalled between 65 and 70
people.
Meanwhile, registrations at the
employment centre have more than
tripled in less than a week with the
local office now having 300 on file
compared to 90 on Wednesday. He
said it was not unusual for their
registrations to double at this time of
year.
All is not doom and gloom for the
overall employment situation in the
area with Gillespie citing examples of
several firms who have increased or
stabilized their work force compared
to a year ago.
Gillespie termed 1979 "as not a
particularly severe year" compared
to the employment situation a few
years ago.
In certain fields such as con-
struction there are still jobs
available, he said.
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NHL'ers thrill crowd p. 6
Fire takes homes P 7
Seniors group in Holmesyillep. 9
Bayfield's newest innkeeper. . p. 10
Heniall news p 11
Record corn crop p 12
Clinton deaths p 14
Vanastra voicings p. 16
Worm operators gone p. 17
Eleanor has birthday p. 20
Remembering p. 21
At thelegion 5 p. 22
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Russell wins 8th
Russell Bolton of • McKillop
Township has done in again!
For the eighth time Mr. Bolton, of
RR 1, Seaforth, has won the World
Hay King crown at the Royal Winter
Fair.
Mr. Bolton grabbed the title for the
eighth year in a row with an entry
composed of 85 per cent alfalfa and 15
,per cent grasses in judging that
started Monday.
The Royal runs to November 17.
Area 'grain elevators have been jaihniedwith corn, and the itheNups are long
and slow moving as memos work full blast at getting the torn 'crop harvested
befote, the gnetit.filego Because the corn has to be titled before it can be stoked,
some elevators like Pletnhig's Feed Mill here in Clinton had to Ott taking corn
for a dast.untathOt driers caught noi (News -Record photo)
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