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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-03-22, Page 1'Or r oberirlj S1GNAL-ST, YEAR - 1 2 THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1973 R SINGLE COPY 20c. Jack Riddell wins in Huron Gets comfortable majority in all but two municipalities There was great jubilation across Huron Riding Thursday night as Liberal; Jtck_,litiddetlL,th41-year-Q.(d Dashwood farmer taking. hisfirst crack at politics, was elected to the, Ontario legislature with an astounding total of 8,855' votes. His nearest opposition in the by-election was Progressive Con- servative' Donald Southcott, the former executive assistant to Charles MacNaughton, who polled 5,888, votes. The two Goderich candidates entered. in the race lost their deposits. Paul Carroll, toting the NDP banner, had 1748 votes while Socialist Ed Bain had :36 votes. The trend to a Liberal sweep was appArent shortly after the first polls began to report in. At the Liberal Committee Rooms in Goderich the first pall results gave an edge to Riddell. The cheers went up as each poll reported in and when the final tally was made, it showed that la out of 16 polls in traditionally PC Goderich had given the Liberal candidate a majority. When the initial Riding -wide_, reports were compiled, it gave Riddell a comfortable majority in all. Official results across the Riding were as follows: I and Dan Murphy triumphantly hoist -a -Riddell er as newly elected MPP Jack Riddell talks on the hone with Liberal Leader Robert Nixon in Toronto. ell later described the Murphys as the hardest ing coupte-he'd ever known. Dan was Riddell's Cam; Manager for the March 15 by-election. (T -A photo) - Goderich Exeter Clinton Seaforth Hensall Zurich 'Bayfield Goderich Tp. Hay Tp. Stephen Tp. llsborne Tp. .Tuckersmith Tp. McKillop Tp. Hullett Tl). Stanley, Tp,. Advance. oa p �2 U'- 671 140 120 82 38 23 0 32 2 106 1 ,. 69 2 14'6 0 56 5 124 0 33 2 43 1 33 0 33 1388 769 784 616 , 275 307 107 452 646 832 450 674 442 .494 366 • 253 1139 825 611 :372 202 100 116 .292 240 5:30 237 396 149 195 306 178 :36 1749 8.855 5888 Goderich.,.voled'-as follows: Pow"' ,Bain . Carroll " 1 1 54 2 0 24 3 1 27 4 0 48 5 1 17 0 3• ebar. )thlc' I; 26" 18.95 Riddell, Huron MPP, to Queen's Park this d was present at the session of the Ontario uesday. gh -Ife will not be r.` worn in until Mo ay, was invited to T. "onto eral Leader obert Jul attended caucus Wednesday s C1 ror of th by-election yet settle ' but Riddell e time r reflection. the S"nal-Star Mon - one,,, his first official fie ,; arriving in Toronto meet with W..1. Ben - the Realty Services -of the Pub4lic Works ent to discuss matters affectin=,. - the former Huron Coun .Jail. i.ddell said he had promised e Save- The Jail Society he -would- do everything in his -power to preserve the entire wall at the site'if he was elec- ted. "I" haven't forgotten," said Riddell. Riddell also squelched rumors • circulating in the • Riding that he was not sym- pathetic to New Canadians. He suggested the story may have had' - its roots among; Progressive Conservative workers who were_ "grasping at (Continued on page 12) 16 17 Riddell 118 59 52 64 �70 109' 95 78 88 77 93 110 113 62 71 45 _34 Southcott 80 6:3 61 88 66 6(1 73 67 55 59 85 64 83 -56 70 . :38 71 Advance Total t.� (h 1447 thew voted in Goderich Township: Totals 100 95 68 123 66 1 196 14 7 41 18 :34 452 292 iii the 1971 provincial election, l'(' incumbent Charles MacNaughton had 9,857 votes, over 6,0(10 more than the Liberal ----Kea-puritan who- polled- :3,651 -Also in -that- election, NDP Nut Carroll had only 203 yores less than Liberal Duncan, polling :3,418 1n the 1971 election as well, Goderich voters gave PC MacNaughton a „healthy majority., in this municipality, MacNaughton polled 2,190 votes, 'more than twice .as many as Carroll who had 921 arid more than four times a5 many as Duncan with•500- Socialist Bain had :38 votes more than -twice as many as he garnered in Goderich during"the recent hy'election. About 74 percent (pf the eligible voters in the Riding turned out to the polls last 'Thursday, a warm, sunny spring-like day. Of 22,:399 Persons eligible to vote, 1„(i,57(( cast filen ballots. Riddell had '5-1.5'',, of the popular vote: Southcott :34.(3'; ; Carroll Huron Riding has bird 0 Progressive Conservative represen- tative at Queen'.s Park since 19-1:3 when another Dashwood citizen, Dr. Hobbs Taylor. was elected. After I)r. Taylor came Tom Prvde who hand-picked his successor, ('harles MacNaughton. "Charlie' held the seat for the "Tories for 1.5 years and became a successful and talented -j) d tinian having been named to nine different port- folios during his fern) of office. The last Liberal to be elected in Huron Rding was another Jack, Hensall former” .tack, Ballantyne who won the riding for the Liberals in 19:17. Southcott, ro-owner of The Exeter'Tinies-Advocate and former publisher of the weekly, The Stratford 'Times, was considered at the outset by many observer, as the favorite. Speculation was that with a good know ledge of the Riding ,ling with plenty of political know-how learned firsthand from five years as Mac•Naughton'5 executive ;assistant, Southcott would win handily. Early in the campaign, however. it became evident that South- cutt's approach was not Navin+„ a pleasing effect on the. voters. Even the arrival of Premier William .Davis and several Cabinet Ministers could not woo the voters who complained that tiouthcott was nota resident of the Riding, did not identify 'with the rural population in particular and was acting as though the by-election wv;as just ;a formality before'taking office In the dying moments of the campaign period, Southcott charged the Huron by-election wets 'the dirtiest i've seen"...In last Thursday's...Exeter "1'imesrAdyocate, tio)thiot1 was quoted as noting "distortion of facts" and "scare tactics" by. his opponents. He also cited the "media" -as uninterested in "the other sjde of the story" particularly where Vana51r•a was concerned. In the.meantime. Jack Riddell and his organization of Liberals worked }tare(.-- exit.l.......ion ,,,,,Not the least of Riddell's hard - campaigning campaigning supporter, was Murray' Gaunt, the 1N1 'P fro-11urrfi- ilritce who is so popular with the voters there. Gaunt, well-known tci Huron Riding voters because of his ansistanee on .matey oc- casion5 to residents here w 111:le-. ,a;i3;.Na1 ghton was unavailable dale to his Cabinet duties, worked in particularly the northern part of the Flron Riding with Riddell. tipeauking at his victory celebration at the Pine Ridge Chalet near Hensall, -lack Riddell thanked everyone who voted for him "i.kna►w that many of von who voted for me in this by-election voted for Charlie in other election said Riddell. "i can only thank you for voting for me and promise you that I will do the very hest 1 can for all people in the Riding- regardless of politics Despite ,►•seriou' loss of votes in last Thursday's by-election. Paul Carroll termed the campaign "successftrJ'' ..The Davis candidate was defeated a11(1 although the electorate has sent .Jack Riddell tic Queen's Park. we haV' made important gains," said the NDP standard-bearer. Carroll paid that one of the most import:int factors in the elec- tion as far as the NDP was concerted, was the opportunity to draw attention t\4, the "whole process of +'onsultation after the fact''. '.The voters have recogniiecl that democracy must be returned to Ontario,.' said ('arro+1 "People 1111151 he consulted and he per- mitted to participate in government decisions." • Addressing a cheering and elated crowd at Riddell's victory party near Hensall, Carroll told voters he'd return to the next provincial election scene "My political efforts will not be deterred." Carroll said later "The process of grassroots democracy is very dear to rhe. I will continue to fight in community 1-0ue5 it i s3"►n\ hill intention to continue to work as well for the philosophy and the principle s of the New Democratic Party." Believe it or not, this rooster is more than 85 years old. Signal -Star readers of bygone days will recall it as The Signal rooster which crowed atter every Liberal victory. It was deemed appropriate, after cover,, 25 years of PC --dom'ination---in---Huron-•County, to resurrect the crowing rooster on this occasion. The Signal rooster was first published in The Huron Signal, the Liberal paper, which was later amalgamated with The Star, the Conservative paper in Goderich. First to use it was Dan McGillicuddy, famed editor of The Huron Signal, who became the third proprietor of The Huron Signal in 1880. McGillicuddy will be remembered by old time readers as the wielder of a vitriolic pen. It was a period of intense newspaper rivalry and hard political fighting. Verbal exchanges between the editors of the two local newspapers were a lively feature of the life of the town. The Goderich Star was established in 1865 and best known in its history was the iate•James Mitchell,,who was the -editor for practically half -the period between its first publication and"its amalgamation with The Signal. Pirie voted tops A former GDCI Viking foot- ball plater. Alistair Pirie, has been selected by the teammates as the most outstanding lineman playing for the tTniver- sity of Waterloo Warriors. "Big Al" was presented with the Doug Shuh Memorial Trophy at the .annual Awards Banquet held at the Unix'ersity of Waterloo last week.,, Al starred on several Huron - Perth conference championship teams during his year• at GDCi. er. Vhite' rigger rakes. s of up -to 50, miles per slammed into the ch area Saturday with them more than of snow and as a result extensive damage in teas. The storm was idle for one death and traffic to a crawl or e_.standstill. hotly of 81 year old k Charles Hogg of ille was found Sunday about 200 feet from t loot where he had exposure. Goderich On- rovincial Police say as brought to his home intoe by taxi about 9:30 ,Y evening but a pparen- not make it from the • The body was found :00 a.tn. Sunday, one traffic accident at - to the storm caused in,' nd no deaths on local were reported. driven by Jane Lukas L. 44.2111 of :33085 Parkhill Blvd. Wayne Michigan slammed head on into a snow plow on Highway 21 just. .south •of Bayfield sen- ding a passenger Judy Agnew of • 7448 Central Street, Westland, Mic:rirgan to nospital with bruises, burns and severe lacerations to the forehead. The driver of the car also suf- fered minor injuries and the vehicle was heavily dainaged. When the 50 mile per hour winds whipped in cuff Lake Huron they wrecked havoc upon the local harbor tearing 11 freighters and barges .loose from their moorings and sen- ding them scuttling across the harbor into its west end. '1'ne only freighter to remain fast in -its mooring, the grain freighter Patterson, suffered heavy ,damage as the other boats slammed into her side tearing a hole into the engine room 'just above the water line and crumpling her stern. Ad- ditional damage was done during Sunday as the loose boats humped and ground into the Patterson and each other. The situation was termed "One hell of a mess," by harbor master Allan MacDonald. No estimates of damage have yet beer'° . 'been' reached to work at sorting out the jum- ble of vest -tell. Volunteers gathered at the harbor early '5 unday morning and many worked well into Sunday evening laying new lines to retie the free ships. Workers on the scene ex- plained that the boats had been moored for lower waters and when the high winds pushed several extra feet of water into the harbor the boats lifted snapping their lines. Stored grain had. recently been taken out of the barges in- volved and none of the other boats had any cargo aboard which meant they posed a high profile and caught more'wind. New hawser had to be brought in on Sunday for use retieing the boats. Mr. MacDonald said that. witht.au s.team...up..l.be freighters were "dead ships" and_ were tossed about at "the whim of the winds." There were no crews on any of the ships which broke loose but chief engineer Dan Rockus was sleeping aboard the Patter- son when that ship was slam- ' med by the other boats. Ile said he heard a hang at. about 4:30. a.m and got up just in time to see boats going, past. his cabin window. Mr. Rockus said he hardly felt the collision. A canal host., the Mondor, (Continued on page 3) *oglethings were moving during last weekend's late winter storm. Of 12 barge and freighters docked in fhb harbor, 11 broke loose from moorings and jammed together in a tangled heap at the end of tete harbor. This impromptu opening of the shipping season caused extensive damage which still has not been fully assessed and resulted In the early call-back of shipping crews. Dwarfed by the bigger ships, the Lac Manitoba which only last Friday ran In errand of mercy out onto Lake Huron to rescue two boaters tossed from their canoe, lies trapped until help arrives. (staff photo)