HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-04-17, Page 1u
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In what seems to becoming an annual event, the Bank of Montreal branch in
Londesboro was robbed by a masked man last Thursday morning, and $1,787 is
missing. For teller Pat Thomas of Clinton, it was the also the second time she
has, been through a robbery at the bank, a subbranch of the Clinton office.
Here investigating constable Jim McLeod (back to camera) of the Seaforth
detachment of the OPP, who was off duty at,the time, talks to John MacDonald
o€ CFPL-TV: (News' Record photo-) -= --
By Shelley McPhee
For the second time in little over a
year, the normally quiet hamlet, of
Londesboro has been complet :iy
Last Thursday, April 10 the st .all
Bank of Montreal in .the village Was
robbed of about $1,700. It was' the
1980 1979
-----tif -- ---J4 'LC - -41L--, _ 1.0
APRIL
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second robbery at the Clinton branch
bank in 15 months.
The April 10 robbery occurred at
a.bout .10. 30 am when a man wearinjg a
nyTon stocking over his hexad.
demanded money from the teller Fiat
Thomas.
The robber fled in a stolen 15174
iquor fines up again
As of midnight on April 13, the fines
for consumption of liquor, having
liquor and unnecessary noise Were
put back up to $104 in Huron County.
Provincial Judge William Cochrane
gave his approval to raise the fines
after a new Provincial Offences Act,
lowered them . in Huron County by
over $75.
•
The ,act, introduced on March 31,
took the fine setting powers o,ut of
local hands and put 'them under
provincial jurisdiction. It overruled a
law set by Judge Cochrane last
August, which put the fines for such
charges'•at $104 in Huron.
The new lower fines, which were
criticized- by- 'police -forces Atm oughout---
the county, set a province -wide
penalty for having and open bottle of
liquor or case of beer in a car at $18.
Minor consumption of liquor , and
unnecessary noise were dropped to
$28. All these were previously $104.
Working under a new section of the
act, the old fines have been re-
instated. However, now there will be
no out of court payment for these
pen'kl'ties, instead summons will be
issued and the charged must appear
in court.
Police chiefs from across Ontario
will be meeting with Attorney
General Roy McMurtry at a sepcial
session in Alymer on April 23 when
the fines and other pirin" of" -t e --
-T revised act wiW be discussed:
BayfieidfheIiens strikeaverte
A strike by the 21 man volunteer
Bayfield Fire Department was
averted at the last minute Monday
night, when the firemen agreed . to
meet with the Ontario Fire Marshal's
office over a pay'dispute.
The firemen wanted a $4 per hour
raise in their pay from $6 to 10, while
fighting fires, and were given a full
rejection by the Bayfield Fire area
board in a meeting last Saturday
morning..
. The firemen had threatened to
refuse to answer fire calls after 8 pm
Monday night if their demands were
not met, but agreed, to the com-
promise. •
The Bayfield fire area includes all
of the village of Bayfield and parts of
Stanley and Goderich Townships, and
includes about 2,000"people, as well as
a large cottage base.
,.However, the News -Record has
learned that the area . wouldn't have
been -'-without fire protection, as
several former firemen . agreed to
answer any calls and would gets
mutual aid from. the Clinton,
Goderich, and Brucefield brigades.
Bayfield fire chief Don Warner, a
20 -year veteran, of the department,
said the risen,only get paid when they
are fighting fires, which works out to
about $160 per year for firefighters
and $385 for the chief.
"The raise would have cost the fire
area board only $2,1'00 a year," Mr.
Warner said, based on an average of
18 fires.
As ' well as fighting fires, Mr.
Warner said the volunteers are
required to attend 18 firefighting=
practices and 12 meetings a year, p,
mutual aid meetings with other
county fire departments during the
Rash of break-insplague town
Four Clinton businesses and one
school have been hit by vandals and
thieves in the past few days.
" Clinton Police Chief Lloyd Westlake
said in was unlikely that all the in-
cidents were connected and the police
are continuing their investigations.
Approximately $60 in change was
stolen from Malone's Gas Bar on
Huron Street on April 12. -
The theft was discovered by an
employee at the gas bar and occurred
sometime between midnight and 7
am. Thieves gained entrance to the
building, by breaking a large plate
glass window on the east side of the
building.
- On April 14, over 14 bottles of liquor,
valued at over $60 was stolen in a
first column
break and enter at the liquor store on
Maple Street.
Police reported that thieves broke
into the building through a window.
Sometime between April 12 and
April 13, the Clinton and District
Christian School was vandalized.
Rooms and desks in part of the
building were ransacked, but rtothing
was stolen.
Money was taken from a coin box in
a break, enter and theft at the
Douglas Tea Shoppe on Princess
Street. The incident occurred between
April 11 and 12 and entry was gained
through a window.
On April 12, Murphy's Garage on
Huron Street was broken into for the
second time in three days, but nothing
Despite the cold temperatures
and the two inches of snow on the
ground, this is the 16th of April, not
the first of March and spring, we
assure you this time, is just around
the corner, at least we hope so for
all the local cash croppers' sake.
The local gardeners are also
hoping ' for better weather, in-
cluding yours truly, who has a
basement full of plants ready to go
outside. ,Looking back three years
ago, at this time in April the gar-
dens were all, in and up and the
trees were out in leaf and there was
even some corn planted. But it did
snow a week later.
+ + +.
But here we are eternal optimists
,and included in this week's editon
is our annual Garden Guide, and
we all feel here, our best effort yet.
You'll find all sorts of garden in-
formation in it and most of it will
apply to any size garden, from a
window box to half an acre.
In tough economic times such as
we are all facing,•gardening takes
on even more importance, not only
for its value in lowering your food
costs:, but also in its usefulness as a
therapeutic tool to forget all your
troubles. And'what better way to
take out your frustrations then to
try and jerk out a bind weed plant!
+ + +
Well, Clinton made the national
headlines last week over this mice
issue, and it caused the Main Street.
Wit to comment that the rest of the
country will think tkie'town's full of ,
murderers and rodents, as the only,
by
jim fitzgerald
time we make the news is by way,.of
Steven Truscott or mice.
+ + +
Well, despite the snow on the
ground and the fact that the NHL
hockey playoffs will go until June,
baseball season is here and the
boys, both young and young at
heart, will -be taking to the local
diamands within a couple of weeks
(we hope). .
Minor baseball registration
continues this Saturday from 10 am
to 1 pm at the Clinton arena and as
this is the final day, we'd advise
any boy to make sure you're there
to sign up. Cost for the entire
season is only $10.
+ + +
The Wit says that one of the
hardest things ,about making a
living is the realization that you
have to do it again next week.
+ + +
Thanks in part to their highly
successful pancake breakfast last
Sunday morning at the arena, the
new ,Clinton Optimist Club was able
to turn $2,000 to the swimming pool
fund and at the rate the money's
coming in, it won't be long before
that new pool is paid for. "Many
hands make light work."
+ + +
The Clintonfiremen were called
to a chimney fire early Tuesday
evening at the . home of Tom
Wheeler on East Street and stood
by whife the fire burned itself out
with little damage. Torn says the
fire was NOT caused by faulty
wiring !
fe
• 4,
was stolen. Police reported that an
employee had been working there,
left for a short period of time and
when he returned, found the garage
had been broken into.
In other police news, Judy Mew, 17,
of RR 3, Harriston received minor
injuries following . an April 12 ac-
cident, • - '.
Miss Mew was injured when she
and a second car driven by Joseph
McMahon, 19,- ,of Clinton collided
while travelling down Princess
Street. Damage to the McMahon 'car
was set at $1,000, while $900 damage
was caused to the Mew vehicle.
year.
Many other fire departments, like
Clinton, are paid an honorarium plus
an hourly rate while fighting a fire.
As, well as their pay increase
refusal,. Chief Warner said the fire
Turn to page 3 •
At high school
• Pontiac Grand Prix car which was
found on Saturday, ,abandoned in a
gravel pit northeast of Dublin, The
;,vehicle, bearing two different licence
plates, had been stolen from license
Goderich car lot . earlier the same
morning.
The OPP described the masked
robber as a man aged between 25 and
30 and about six feet tall. His head
was covered in a nylon stocking and
he was dressed in dark coveralls. He
weighed between 175 and 200 pounds
and police say the teller didn't see a
weapon.
Police roadblocks set up through
the area failed to catch the robber and
as of presstime Wednesday, he was
still at large.
Mrs. Thomas believes that the
second robbery at the bank was a
coincidence. Last January 30, 1979
two men wearing ski masks, one
holding a sawed-off shotgun, held up
the bank and stole $1,600.
With a third man waiting in a
getaway car, they fled at high speed
from the village. Massive police
roadblocks failed to catch the men
and they still remain at large.
Thomas.., the.,., bank teller in_
charge when both robberies occurred
was not injured, but was badly.
shaken. She said that now she's
watchful of other people and felt that
both robberies were just' a coin-
cidence.
Although she offered few comments
on the incidents she did noited; "It
gives my lungs good exercise from
the screaming."
Earl Hilderley, manager of the
Londesboro and Clinton branch of the
Bank of Montreal said that after the
first robbery, a second bank em-
ployee was cent to the Londesboro
branch to guard and help Mrs.
Thorn as.
"We had to think of the employees'
• safety, sand we • thought we had the
problem' licked," he explained.'
Now the future of th e bank and how
it is operated is under discussion by
the division, but Mr. Hilderley said
that no final decision had been made.
The Londesboro bank, which is a
sub -agency of the Clinton branch, is
only open on Tuesdays and Thur=
sdays
Safety belt
saves driver
Rev. James - Broadfoot, 41, of
Clinton escaped with minor injuries
on April 12 after the car he was
driving rolled onto it's roof.
The Goderich OPP reported that
Rev. Broadfoot was travelling
westbound on Highway 8, east of
Clinton, when his car veered of the
highway, went into the ditch and
rolled. Damage to the car's roof and
windshield was set at $1,500.
Rev. Broadfoot credits his safety
belt with saving him from any serious
injury.
Two cars received $650 in damages
after an. April 10 collision .in Hullett
-Township.
A car driven by Robert Madill, 51,
of Clinton:received $400 after it met a
parked car owned by Bev Nott of RR
4, Clinton. The Nott car was parked on
the edge of Concession' 2 and 3 in
Hullett when the accident occurred.
Damage to the car was set at $250.
Mouse problem "dying" off
The invasion of the four -legged
rodents at Central Huron Secondary
School (CHSS) has abated somewhat
following the visit of a professional
exterminator last Thursday.
The pest control officer was called
in after most of the 800 member
student body walked out in protest
last Wednesday morning and paraded
down to the Huron County Board of
Education offices on Albert Street
where the shouted slogans and waved
placards for an hour before returning
to school.
Gord Phillips, .principal of the
school, said the exterminator visited
the school Thursday, and spent most
of the day baiting empty lockers with
a very stong mouse poison.
Mr. Phillips said the poison is an
anti -coagulant that takes effect within
24 hours and when the mice die, their
60 Clinton residents
protest gravel roads
By Shelley McPhee
Over 25 people filled the Clinton
council chambers on April 8
petitioning council to pave their
streets.._
The delegation presented a petition
signed by 60 .residents in the nor-
thwest corner of Clinton asking that
portions of Rattenbury Street -West,
Pugh's Terrace, North, Princess and '----
Spencer Streets be put on council's
top priority list for reconstruction and
new lighting.
In a lengthy discussion, council
listened to the delegations' com-
plaints and suggestions, but no firm
commitment was made.
Mayor Harold Lobb suggested that
when a proposed subdivision is
de 'eloped in the area in the near
future, muchof the the street work
will be done.
Councillor Robb Parr suggested
that council investigate the cost of
issuing a debenture to pave all the
streets in town, but Mayor Lobb said,
"That was fine 15 years ago. Now
interest rates are too high to do it all
at once. We have been doing three or
four blocks a year."
Council was sympathetic towards
the residents complaints and Mayor
Lobb agreed saying that not much
work had been done_ in that corner of
Clinton.
"We are being ; treated as second
class citizens," delegation spokesman
Hal Hartldy told council.
He said that Ward 4 had been
neglected over the years and less
travelled streets in town had been
givenpreference. Mr. Hartley told
council that he had lived in Ward 4 for
over 35 years and little work had been
done on the streets in the area. He
said he had lived -half a lifetime in
mud."
"I am ashamed to take people on
the street that approaches my home,"
he said and suggested in that in
Clinton's 105 years, all the streets in
town should have been paved.
John Wise, another member of the
delegation noted, "We're giving you
the opportunity to do this end of town
by coming to you. 'Many of us are
trying to keep our properties in shape
as the town has asked us."
He cited mud and dust as a major
problem on the streets and noted that
some people can't even hang out
laundry because of the dust problem.
Mr. Wise said that once last summer
he had to water down the street with a
garden hose' to control the dust. He
also warned council that some
residents in the area are considering
moving if nothing is done.
-riartley said walking along the
streets is sometimes nearly im-
po§sible because of the mud and no
sidewalks.
"I'm in favor of debenturing and
getting the whole town paved," Mr.
Wise said. "I don't mind my taxes
going up, but do it now before it goes
up even higher."
Oouncillor Ron McKay questioned
the need of sidewalks and the
delegation agreed that if they'd give
up the possiblity of having sidewalks
if they could have paved streets.
Luella Leppington, another resident
who signed the petition, wrote an
additional letter to council voicing her
complaints,, Mrs. Lepping`ton, who
has lived in the northwest area of
Clinton for over 50 years wrote, "We
have no place to walk, only on the
road, in mud."
bodies tend to dry up and mummify,
"There is little odor, hopefully, that
way."
Mr..Phillips said the school will also
implement a program of regular
locker inspections to try and keep old
lunches from accumulating and
giving the mice food.
The mice have been living, in the -
hollow spaces , behind the lockers,
from where they make raids through
small ventilation . holes into the
lockers and get into the students'
lunches, gym clothing and books.
Mr. Phillips said the school has
always had mice, but this year was
particularly bad because of the mild
winter with now snow cover, so the
mice came inside the school, where •
they found ideal breeding conditions.
One of the school's veteran
custodians said the cleaning crew had
the problem under control before the,
student protest.
"They were just looking for an
excuse to get an hour off school," he
laughed.
The mouse situation drew national
attention, and was reported on the
CBC National News Wednesday night,
and made the pages of ' several daily
newspapers from Prince Edward
Island to British Columbia.
15 teachers cut by board
The Huron County board of
education announced it will require 15
fewer secondary scl .oql teachers next
year as a result of declining
enrolment.
The board approved the cut at their
monthly meeting and it will reduce
the number of secondary school
teachers to 252. Last year the board
employed 267 secondary school
teachers on a full-time basis..
With the teaching changes, Central
HuronSecondary School in Clinton
will have their teaching staff reduced
to- 55 from 60 and F.E. Madill
Secondary School in Wingham will
emply 63 teachers compared to 69 last
year. Goderich District Collegiate
Institute will lose four teachers from
57 -member staff and South Huron
District High School in Exeter will
lose a full-time and half time teacher.
Seaforth District High School will
retain its 22 teachers with the addition
of a half time staff person.
Despite having to cut back by 15
teaching positions, 10 positions will be
covered by attrition. Personnel
relations administrator Peter
Gryseels said there was a chance that
further resignations and retirements
could provide openings for the five
teachers who will not be rehired by
the board.
However, the board will have to fill •
vacancies for one academic teacher
and two technical instructors since
the other teachers fail to meet the
qualifications.
Gryseels estimated that secondary
school enrolment may decline right
through 1984 which would result in
fewer teaching positions.
Elementary school teachers are in
a more favorable . position as
enrolment is expected to drop off by
only 20 students over the next year.
,The board decided to retain all 352
teaching positions.
One new teaching position has been
created at Holmesville Public School
after enrolment increased by 17
•
pupils in the past year. The board also
agreed to rent a portable classroom
for Holmesville to accomodate the
students.
Superintendent Don Kenwell said
the average class size there now is 32
and the portable will reduce that
number to 28. The board had banked
on the , building . of , the Goderich
Township Hall at the school site which
would make a new gymnasium
available for student use. The school
gymnasium would have been turned
into a library making an extra room
available as a class room.
Schools checked
for asbestos
BY DAVE SYKES
Huron County schools have been
checked, or are in the process of being
checked , for dangerous asbestos
levels.
Director of Education, D.J.
Cochrane said last week the board is
carrying.. out a directive from the
Ministry of . Education to check all
schools in its jursidiction. The
Ministry issued the edict last month,
requiring all boards to conduct a
studyof school buildings.
"Our plant superintendent, Bob
McVean and his maintenance staff
have checked or are in the process �f
checking ,all schools in the county,"
Cochrane said. "We have also been in
touch with the architects of these
buildings to determine if asbestos was
used at%d where."
Cochrane admitted there have been
some staff concerns over the problem
but the inspections have not turned
up anything so far.
In many schools asbestos was used
around duct work and many makes of
ceiling tile contained the fire retard
dent material to meet fire resistant
specifications.
Turn to page 3
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