Clinton News-Record, 1981-08-26, Page 11
1 16th year —No. 34 Wednesday, August 26, 1981
11
r
AUG.
18 23 4 26 16.5
19 25 8 28 12
20 26 10 29 16
21 26 9 26 17
22 26.5 1 8 25 11
23 , 27 8 27 9
24 23 14 28 8.5
L.RAINOmm RAIN 8.0IMM
Weather
1981 1980
HI LO
HI LO
Teachers, board talk
Mediation talks between the Huron
County Board of Education and its 245
secondary school teachers will resume
_after the teacher's executive committee
holds a meeting later this month.
Mediator Professor Jeffrey Gandz of the
University of Western Ontario in London
says the delay in the process has been
because teachers have been "scattered"
during the month of August.
Appointed by the Education Relations
Commission, Professor Gandz said the
present contract with the secondary school
teachers expires August 31.
"If there is no settlement close (to
August 31) they (teachers) will go through
the process of fact finding," Professor
Gandz said.
He said negotiations could go on for an
undetermined length of time. No details of
previous negotiation sessions have been
made public.
hurt as blast stuns Day Care Centre
By Shelley McPhee
Two people remain hospitalized, nearly
ne week after an explosion rocked the
ron Day Care Centre for the
omebound at Huronview.
Sandra Davidson, of Goderich, activities
director for the Day Care Centre, and Vera_
Thiel of Zurich, a day-care pa rticipant still
remain in Clinton Public Hospital,
recovering from bruises, lacerations and
burns.
Nine other people were also treated at
the hospital from injuries in the explosion
that blasted a small wing at the county
home for the aged on Thursday, August
20th.
Day Care co-ordinator Rosemary
Armstrong, Day Care client Shirley
Hatggerty . of Clinton and Huronview
resident Irwin Trewartha were also
hospitalized overnight following the ac-
cident. Day Care clients Ann Dennis of
Zurich, May Gibson of Clinton, Barbara
Bellfleur of Clinton, Olive Hardy from
Exeter, Ann Dykstra of Clinton and
Elizabeth Alexander of Exeter were
treated for cuts and bruises and released
day of the accident.
The Huron Day Care Centre offers daily
programs and activities for homebound
people, and on Thursday afternoon the
participants were playing cards at outside
tables and working on crafts when an .
explosion blasted the walls and windows at
the centre and adjoining auditorium.
Karen Seruton, another worker at the
Centre who escaped injury, said that 21
people had eaten lunch in the heavily
damaged auditorium just an hour -and -a-
;Linton gets
tough with
tax arrears
Like most other municipalities itrthe
area, Clinton council is getting tough on
tax arrears. At their August 17th meeting
council passed a bylaw which will set a
rate of 24 per cent interest on local tax
arrears.
• The Ontario government recently
passed legislation allowing municipalities
tocharge interest rates of 11/2 per cent over
the- prime on overdue taxes. Clinton, like
most other towns, townships and villages
in the area, is implementing the, higher tax
rates in an attempt to lower overdue taxes
and to discourage property owners from
not paying them.
Previously, the interest rate had been
set at 15 per cent, but Clerk Cam Procotr
pointed out, "Now people can't use the
town as a banking and loan institution."
Clerk Proctor noted that there are over a
dozen property owners whose taxes are in
arrears for 1979 or prior to that. These
people will be contacted and advised that
they must make some arrangements to
pay their overdue taxes, he explained to
council.
Notices have been sent to all property
owners in Clinton notifying them of the
new bylaw and the higher interest rate.
The bylaw is to remain active until another
is passed, or until March 31, 1982 when it
will be revised and approved again.
first
column
half before the explosion happened. She
noted that Thursday was a quiet day at the
Centre and luckily the accident didn't
occur a day earlier when the auditorium
would have been filled with stroke
patients.
Mrs. Scruton had just left her desk and
gone to the back of the building when an
electric water pump started, igniting
fumes from a broken gasoline line and
exploding in the underground line.
"When I returned to my desk it was a
complete mess," she remembered. "It
was just awful, there was so much blood."
While several people in the Day Care
Centre were not injured, those playing
cards outside were thrown from their
chairs and struck by flying glass from
nearby windows.
Mrs. Scruton and Day Care volunteers
calmly guided people away from the
building through a back doorway to avoid
the seeing the injured and the wreckage.
Even though she was fraid of possibilities
of a second explosion she noted, "No one
panicked. We've done the fire drill so
manytimes we knew immediately what to
do....;
Some of the Day Care clients are unable
to walk, others need assistance and Mrs.
Scruton said, "The volunteers were just
great. I couldn't have gotten the people out
myself."
Jim Allaway of Vanastra was one
volunteer who helped take the people
outside and he noted, "I" admired the
stroke patients, they took it so well."
Although he was tossed around by the.
explosion, Mr. Allaway said he wasn't
afraid and explained, "I was in England
' during the war so I had a few bombs drop
around me."
In the past there have been false fire
alarms at Huronview, but on Thursday the
Clinton Police and local fire department.
arrived at the scene minutes afterthe 1:45
pm call was received.
Clinton police Constable Don Armstrong
admitted that he wag shocked to see what
had happened, especially since his wife
Rosemary Armstrong was one of the
victims. Mrs. Armstrong was • in the
auditorium at the time of the blast and
suffered second degree burns.
Blood, broken glass and debris covered
the -floors and parking area at the home for
the aged but Constable Armstrong said
that everyone was in control and handled
the situation with complete .efficiency.
Volunteer help from all areas at Huron -
view rushed to the scene to offer
assistance from sweeping up glass to
preparing bandages. Resident physician
Dr. C.F. Doorly, Dr. Ray Flowers of
Clinton and Dr. Linda Steele, who is
helping during the , holidays, removed
handfuls of glass from faces, arms and
legs. They stopped the profuse bleeding,
dressed cuts and tried to comfort the in-
jured who were stretched out across the
Huronview lawns. Others stood, holding
large white sheets over the victims to
shade them from the hot afternoon sun.
Ambulances from Goderich, Seaforth
and Zurich rushed the injured to Clinton
Public Hospital. Staff there was prepared
to handle the emergency and eight
workers from the next shift were brought
in to help. Dr. W.T. Harrett and Dr. Brian
Baker, both of Clinton, along with Dr.
Steele, Dr. Flowers and his daughter
Goodness gracious, I take a week off
and all sorts of big events happen: an
explosion at Huronview, a plane crash
at Seaforth, and numerous other events
that have kept poor Shelley in .the
newsroom busy.
Thankfully, the Huronview explosion
miraculously took no lives, and served
as a lesson to us all about emergency
procedures. Unfortunately, the plane
crash turned into a tragedy with two
people losing their lives, and one other
seriously hurt.
Shelley put in a very full week
covering all the events, and the fruits of
her labors are evident throughout this
week's edition.
+ + +
While on holidays, I had the chance to
attend a couple of days of the
Professional Photographers of Canada
convention in Toronto, where I picked
up many tips on taking, processing and
selling better pictures. It sure was
humbling, however, to rub elbows with
some of the great photogs from around
the world who were there to lecture and
display their work.
Photography seems to be a
mysterious combination of artistry,
engineering, marketing, and just plain
out and out black magic.
+ + +
At the same time while I was away,
the federal government put the price of
gas up 11 cents a gallon to about a $1.81
a gallon, and it will be two bucks a
gallon before you can blink, followed by
a3 and who knows wnat. 'That's a 65 per
cent increase in price since we threw
out Joe Clark a little more than a year
ago for threatening to raise it 14 cents a
gallon.
+ + +
And then there's our own Bill Davis,
who last week spend $11 million of
yours and mine money to buy a Lear jet
so he and the cabinet can fly around the
province without having to rub elbows
with the common folk on the regularly
scheduled commercial flights.
I don't remember that being on the
Tory election platform earlier this
year. You know the one, billed as "help
keep the promise, Davis can do it."
Maybe the promise of a new plane was
one of the promises Bill whispered to
himself so the electorate couldn't hear
him.
+ + +
Another news story this week got me
wondering that if science can design a
build a space craft like Voyageur II to
work perfectly after flying 1.2 billion
miles to photograph Saturn five years
later, then how come they can't design
a $12,000 car to last more than a couple
of years.
+ + +
And finally, rumor has in that now
that the postal strike is over, stamps
will go up to 30 cents from 17, which
caused the Main Street Wit to wonder
this week that if the world is really
getting smaller, then why do they keep
raising the price of stamps.
Michelle, who is studying medicine, • are taking place.
cleaned, stitched and bandaged the • D,amage, originally estimated at the
wounded in the hospital's small $500,000 mark has now been re -assessed at
emergency room. Dr. Ken Lambert of \a$100,000estimation.
Goderich performed minor surgery to Mr. Lester said that talk of tearing down
repair an injured tendon. : the section is still under consideration, but
"The victims looked a lot worse then N„ first the suspended ceiling which was
they really were," hospital administrator :blasted out of its hold and set back down in
Doug Coventry noted, explaining that most place will be removed. After that an
of the injured suffered from many small engineer will again look at the structural
cuts and lacerations from tiny pieces of damage.
glass, resulting in a great loss of blood. ' The Day Care Centre's quarters at
The Clinton hospital, in the process of Huronview will be out of commission for
raising funds to help pay for a new, larger
emergency wing, was filled with the in-
jured. The emergency room, normally
capable of handling two cases, was filled. -
The operating room, waiting room, X-ray . .
room and examination rooms were also
put into use . while doctors and nurses
tended to the wounded.
Mr. Coventry praised Mrs. Scruton for
her responsible actions at the hospital, by
bringing in Day Care records of the in-
jured for the doctors' use.,
"It helped the ddctors in knowing who '
had heart conditions and any other.
medical history," he noted.
Beds and rooms were made available for
the more seriously injured, a waiting room
was set aside, coffee was served, and Mr.
Coventry said, "There was no panic or
fuss. The staff just went about their jobs
and treated everyone."
He noted that the emergency was a good
test for • the hospital and said that the
doctors and nurses could have handled
twice as many injuries, if they weren't
serious ones. If any victim had required
immediate surgery they would- have been
transferred toGoderich of London.
Many' people, Mr. Coventry said, are
now realizing the worth of a hospital in this
community, "It will bring it to their at- •
tention that we're needed around here."
At Huronview adininstrator Wayne
Lester says that things are almost back to
normal • in the 310 -bed home. Seven
Huronview •residents who lived above the
auditorium are still living in other portions.. .
of the home. The apartments were ndtt-e.
heavily damaged, but will need to be
cleaned.
The damaged section of Hitronview is
undergoing a detailed survey and in-
vestigations by the Ontario Fire Marshal's
office, a structural engineer, the ministry
of labor, the ministry of energy and the
ministry of community and social services
sometime to come but Mrs. Scruton is
hoping that temporary accommodations
will be set up in The next few weeks. She
noted that Day Care clients are anxious to
keep up with their programs.
Most of the furniture and equipment in
the Centre itself has been salvaged, but
tables and chairs in the auditorium lie in
bits and pieces. Articles for a rummage
sale that was scheduled on Saturday to
help raise funds for. the Centre, still
remain in the building, some are intact,
some are completely destroyed. A floor
lamp sitting on the auditorium stage
doesn't bear a single scratch, but a nearby
iron was blown to pieces, Mrs. Scruton
said. The Centre hopes to hold their
rummage sale in the future and will be
looking for greater support to help recover
some of the financial losses. It is hoped
that insurance will help to pay for some of
the damage.
Today, Clinton people are still
discussing last Thursday's tragic accident
and many are echoing Doug Coventry's
words, "It's a miracle no one was killed."
Dr. Linda Steele, second from right, of Exeter has been filling in
at the Clinton Public Hospital over the summer months. Her
emergency room training at St. Joseph's Hospital in London was
used to its fullest after last Thursday's disaster at the Huron
Day Care Centre. ( Shelley McPhee photo)
Flower show still growing for Society
By Shelley McPhee
The Clinton Horticultural Society, which
last year nearly dissolved because of
apathy and disinterest, appears to be
holding its own. This year the annual
flower show saw 28 adult exhibitors, eight
juniors and seven elementary gardeners
show a total of 226 beautiful floral
specimens.
While not up to the record breaking
entries of a few years ago, the number of
exhibitors and specitnens shown at the
August 21st show only dropped slightly
over last year's total
Viola Nelson showed a total of 37 exhibits
from her Clinton garden and w the
Clinton Horticultural Society Awad for
the highest number of points in the show.
Jean Currie had the second highest
number of points and won the Clinton
News -Record a ward.
Verbeek's Farm and Garden Centre
award for the third highest number of
points in the show went to Mrs. Ray
Foster. Mrs. Foster has been a steady
winner at the annual show, finishing in
second place last year and taking the
fourth place spot in 1979. This year, Marg
Counter was the fourth best exhibitor in
the show and received a special award
from Anstett Jewellers.
Marion Powell won the Simpson Sears
award for the best arrangement in the
show. Cela Sloman had the prize winning
gladioli arrangement and took, home the
Grace Middleton Memorial Trophy,
donated by Stewart Middleton. Catherine also won a cash prize from the Bank of
Bennett put together an arrangement for a Montreal.
50th wedding anniversary that won her a Shelley Pearson was the second best
cash award from Mrs. R. Feist. exhibitor in the elementary class and
Mrs. Margaret Middleton had the Michael Pullen finished second in the
biggest and most colorful gladioli in the junior gardeners class. Both won cash
show and won a cash award from Mrs. Bev awards donated by Mrs.. Marion McCann.
Williscraft. Cela Sloman won a cash Junior gardener Tracy Potter finished
award, donated by Evelyn Olde, for her third as did elementary gardener Douglas
prize winning dahlia. Miss Jean McEwan Maguire to win a cash prize donated by
donated a special prize for the best asters Miss Margaret Sloman.
and this was won by Bess Fingland. Kerrigan Fuels gave six cash prizes for
For their floor arrangements, Marg
Counter and Marion Powell won cash
awards donated by Miss Florentena
Marquis. Evelyn Olde displayed the best
marigolds in the show and won a special
prize donated by Ila Cudmore.
Michael Falconer was the winner of the
Men Only class and received an award
donated by Suzanne Brandon. 'Marg
Counter had the highest number of points
in the arrangement class and received an
award donated by Mrs. Jean Barnett, and
the Jean Barnett award for the novice
winner in arrangement classes was won by
Warren Gibbings.
In the children's competition, as in past
years, Gwen Holland continued to show
her horticultural talents this year and won
prize money from the Clinton Bank of
Montreal branch. Gwen gathered the
highest number of points in the junior
garde ne r class while Anne Tyndall was the
best exhibitor in the elementary class and
Auburn, Blyth callers
to get toll free service
Telephone users in Auburn ,and Blyth
have approved the elimination of long
distance charges on calls between Blyth
and Clinton, Auburn and Clinton and
Auburn and Goderich.
Peter Croome, local Bell manager. said
a survey conducted by Bell Canada
showed more than 80 per cent of the
customers in the Auburn and Blyth ex-
changes were in favor of adding Clinton to
their local calling area.
service is based on the number of
telephone numbers that can be reached
without paying long distance charges.
Because the proposed changes would
increase the number of subscribers a
caller could reach, then the monthly rate
for service will increase," Mr. Croome
said.
The survey was carried out because new
guidelines for Extended Area Service were
approved by the Canadian Radio -
television and Telecommunications
As stated in the survey letter, telephone Commission in August, 1980.
rates in the Auburn and Blyth exchange These include, 51 per cent approval on
will increase when this Extended Area the survey results, a defined level of long
Service is implemented in the third distance calling maintained between
quarter of 1983. exchanges, exchange rate centres no more
"The monthly charge for telephone than 30 miles apart and contiguity.
the best cake pan scene and winners in-
cluded Tracy Potter, Gwen Holland, Fiona
Bennett, Lauralee Johnston, Michael Tait
and Lori Colquhoun. A special junior
gardeners prize, donated by Miss Mary
Jamieson was won by Michael Tait.
Jean McKee of Benmiller judged the
entries and when her job was completed,
many area people enjoyed the sight and
scent of the hundreds of flowers and
vegetables that filled the Clinton high
school cafeteria.
After several months delay, work has finally started on a mini -mall nn the site of the
former Clinton lintel, which burned down last October. The three -store. one store}, 46.00
square -foot mall will feature a convenience store, a restaurant. and a retail nutlet. and is
being built by La mor Enterprises of London. Construction i. expected to be completed in
about 10 weeks. (James Fitzgerald photo)