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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1981-09-16, Page 1"Do-si-do your partner?" Are these kids learning to square dance?. No, they're doing some exercises at the Clinton Hockey School which opened on Monday to a large at- tendance. The school attracted an overflow class to the Clinton arena. (James Fitzgerald photo) For Clinton Harvest celebration plan The Clinton Business Association and the Business Improvement Area are planning a new promotion this fall to be called "Harvest. of Values," from October 13 to October 24. In conjunction with the promotion, businesses will use a fall theme to decorate their stores, employing bales of straw, corn stalks, pumpkins, squash and harvest oriented items. During the 10 day event, an official opening of the downtown BIA revitalization project will be held with a special ribbon cutting ceremony on October 15 at 7:30 with a host of dignitaries, including representatives froth the.,piinistry of housing. • Tentatively, a number of displays have been suggested, including one by Hully Gully, farm machinery from the two dealers in town, and possibly an antique tractor collection. Other possible attractions during the 10 day celebration include a scavenger hunt, mystery shopper prizes, a harvest produce booth, strolling muscians, and the ever popular popcorn wagon, which made its debut at Klompen Feest. There also may be horse drawn wagon rides, and contests for children, and more details on those activities will be 'an- nounced later. As well, merchants will be putting out a special promotion booklet to be inserted in a nw der of area weekly newspaper, and will re clip and save coupons. Seaforth OPP office to be closed Oct. lst The Seaforth detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police will close Oct. 1 when Goderich OPP will assume its function. "It seems impersonal and that's a shame, but it (Seaforth) is not a viable operation in terms of economics and ad- ministration," says Cpl. John Dodds, press liaison officer with OPP Toronto. "It's very seldom we close a detachment because people in a community become attached to it." Cpl. Dodds says he's not sure if Goderich OPP will maintain some kind of office in Seaforth or patrol it from headquarters. He says the situation will be monitored closely after the switch at the start of next month. "1 don't like to see it happen," says first column Can it be possible? Is summer truly over? Yes, it officially ends next Monday, September 21, even though it unofficially .ends on the first day of school, or when the first puck is dropped at the arena, which was last weekend. There's talk of frost in theair, and the Fitzgeralds finally dug the potatoes last weekend, picked the onions, and hung the garlic to dry. The lure of the ice also means the hockey season has started, and even yours truly will be doffing the old blades ( and I mean old, like 20 years old) next week, as the Wednesday Night Interfaith Hockey League gets un- derway for another year. This agent was never much of a hockey player, and it gets downright embarassing to have a fellow like Bill Counter, who's 25 years my senior, skate aroung me like I'm standing still! OH well, we play only for the fun of it, and the Bud during the "fourth period" helps ease the stiff muscles. + Clinton also has an Oldtimers team this year called the Colt 35's (for those 35 years or older) and they'll practice and play Monday nights. Now I hate to say this, but some of those oldtimers can play hockey as well as some of those Canadian players did against the Russians in the Canada Cup final last Sunday night in that 8-1 embarassment to our counrty, where hockey was born and raised, and then prostituted. It leaves one scratching one's head when you see a bunch of guys making $300.000 plus a year get beaten by a bun h of guys making less than $10,000. .h'4 goes to prove again that money doesn't buy everything least of all a Seaforth mayor John Sinnamon, "myself, I would like to see the Seaforth detachment stay open." He says he understands economy was the OPP's biggest con- sideration in making the move. Seaforth is a single -man detachment. Constable Jim MacLeod says he's enjoyed serving Seaforth the last seven years. He's tentatively scheduled to join the OPP detachment at Exeter, but didn't know for sure yesterday afternoon because his transfer papers hadn'tcome through yet. OPP policed the town of Seaforth until 1953 when a local force was established. Since that time provincial police at Seaforth has been responsibile for areas outside of the town. There are 200 OPP detachments in the province. by jim fitzgerald 116th year -- -No. ,3% Wednesday, September 16, 1981 50 cents Weather 1981 1980 HI LO HI 10 SEPTEMBER 8 19 13 9 16 8 10 22 16 11 26 10 12 23 13 13 25 10 14 23 9 Rain 8 man 22.5 7 22 11 19 5 24 9 19 10 19 11 18 12 Rain 14 mm Clinton will have standards bylaw Clinton has set . a property standards bylaw, however it will not come into full effect until it has received final approval from the ministry of housing. If the town had an official plan, Clerk Cam Proctor told council at their Sep- tember 8th meeting, then final. approval would not have to come from a higher government level. However, Clinton is still in the process of drawing up their official plan for the town. The proposed bylaw states that the town will strive to conserve, maintain and keep safe, buildings and property within the town limits. When it comes into effect, the Councillor quits seat Clinton Council member George Rumball has resigned from the town council. At meeting last week, it was learned that Councillor Rumball would be resigning because of conflicting meeting nights. Council accepted his resignation with regret. Mr. Rumball was appointed to the council in the latter part of 1979. In the following election year he was returned to the council seat by acclamation. Along with his council work, Mr. Rumball is also president of the Clinton Legion and is past president of the Golden Radars Senior Citizens Club. With the vacancy, Clinton Council will now be looking for a Clinton resident to fill the remaining term as council member. A new councillor will. be appointed in the near future, and Mayor Chester Archibald noted that any candidates are welcome to come forward. Look at new clinic Clinton council has tentatively agreed to sign an agreement with the Seaforth Veterinarian Clinic, and hope to end their agreement with the Goderich clinic. The town primarily uses the services for stray dogs or cats picked up by the town police. New BIA chairman David Anstett has resigned as chairman and board member of the Business Improvement Area ( BIA) . Mr. Anstett was one of the first businessmen in the area to encourag fe,• - BIA project in Clinton. The position he held' will now by filled by Gerry Hiltz. Council agreed to these changes and approved the BIA suggestion to appoint Charlie Burgess to the board of management. town will appoint a property standards officer to enforce the regulations and a property standards committee will be selected to hear appeals and study cases regarding the bylaw. The proposed bylaw, which is 20 pages long, was drawn up by the town solicitor Beecher Menzies. Council will now study the draft copy and make any necessary revisions or changes. Improve your home Once the property standards bylaw is passed, council will be applying to the Home Improvement Program for a $50,000 grant. Given out to muncipalities each year, the grant from the ministry of housing, provides low interest loans to people in need to make repairs to their property or home. Clerk Proctor noted that the town hasn't applied for the government grant' in the past three or four years because no Clinton home or property owner had requested such assistance. This year, he noted, applications for the low interest loans have been received and the grant money will be forwarded to the town once the property standards bylaw receives final approval from the ministry of housing. • Clinton's downtown Business Improvement Area revitalization project started to take on some finishing touches last week, as workmen from Jenkins Landscaping of Cambridge laid the interlocking brick at three locations. The project Will be fully completed later this fall with the benches, lights and shrubs. (James Fitzgerald photo) Santa coming to Clinton Sat., looking for toys Santa in September? Yes that's right, the jolly old man with the big white beard and bright red suit will be riding along Clinton's streets on Saturday, September 26th in an effort to help needy children in the area. Santa and his elves will be working in conjunction with the Clinton Kinsmen Club, collecting old toys which will be given to less fortunate children this Christmas. Travelling along streets in the portion of Clinton north of No. 8 Highway from 9 am until 12 noon on September 26th, Santa and the Kinsmen will be taking the toys collected in the door-to-door canvass to the hockey championsrup.Just look at the Montreal Alouettes, who are paying Vince Ferragamo $400,000 to lead them to a one and nine win -loss record. + + + Says the Main Street Wit this week: "Show us a good loser, and we'll show you a man playing golf with the boss." 4 4 + We'd like to welcome a new correspondent to our Vanastra Voice this week, in the person of Nancy Linton. She replaces Rhonda Bjerg, who has moved to London along with her family. Nancy will be glad to have you call her with the news. We're are still seeking applications for a second correspondent for the Bayfield Bugle, after Bud Sturgeon vacated the post several weeks ago because of personal reasons. Just drop us a line at the News -Record, or call me at 482-9502 i f you're interested. + + + All this talk of trying to quit borrowing money because of the high interst rate caused the Wit to comment last week that he'd be glad to pay as he goes, . if only he could catch up with paying for where he'd been. + + + But even though inflation has ravaged the poor old dollar, and the lowly penny is only good for weighing down piggy banks, there is still one thing left the old penny's good for: the Clinton Hospital Auxiliary's Penny Sale, which opens next week. Yes, even though the copper won't buy anything anymore at the candy store, or can't even be put into a parking meter, it could still win you a major prize at the town hall in the next couple of weeks Warm dry weather returned late last week, and white bean producers didn't waste any time taking advan ge of it to harvest their rain ravaged crop. Here Les Coleman of Kippen unloads his combine last Friday. Some of the early beans had a high percentage of "pick" or spoiled beans, while the later beans fared much better. (James Fitzgerald photo) Clinton Library where a repair workshop has been set up. 9rganized by Clinton business owners Shila Murray and John Balfour; old and used toys will be repaired by volunteer effort and labor and will be sent to the Family and Cr '-en's Services, wrapp in bright ribby and bows and given to children in the Clinton area this Christ- mas. Clinton, like other muncipalities, have donated clothing and groceries to less fortunate families each Christmas, however the toy collection is a new part of the Christmas bureau that is supported by Clinton co-ordinator Wynn Homuth and the Family and Children's Services. • "It's good promotion for the town," Sheila Murray explained. "Instead of taking from people, we'll be giving." Already, the basement of John Balfour's Home Hardware store is piled high with toys, but Ms. Murray encouraged that more a re still needed. "We want to give each child a toy that they want and we'd really like to see some bicycles and skate boards donated," she .added. Next week, the toy repair shop will be set-up in the upsta irs portion of the library. Minor repairs and paint jobs will be done to the toys and they will be displayed in the former Cancer Society offices on Albert Street at the end of November. Mrs. Homuth will then take charge of the toys and will be presenting them to ap- preciative children on December 25th as part of her yearly. Christmas Bureau project. But before December 25th arrives, work must be done. toys -must be collected and repaired. "We need people that want to help with •'e the pick ups or the repair work," Ms. Murray stressed. Anyone interested in helping is asked to call Sheila at 482-3876 or John Balfour at 7023. As well, financial assistanceis needed to help purchase paints, nails, bolts and buttons to help make the repairs. Money donation boxes have been set- up at The Arbor, the Home Hardware Store and Burgess Department Store. People living in the area north of Ontario a Huron Streets should be looking throu their old boxes and trunks this week in n �e aration for the toy collection on September 26th. You'll hear Santa coming down the street, so be sure to help him and some child with your donation. Further drives in other areas of town will follow in October. In the meantime toy donations are still being taken at the Home Hardware store. Hospital has raffle draw How would you like to support your local hospital, and eat well too? The Clinton Public Hospital is giving area people a chance to do just that with a special raffle for the building fund. Raffle tickets are now on sale, proceeds from which will go -towards the fund, and three prizes will be awarded Half -a -beef, half -a -pork or half -a -lamb could be yours forthe$1 ticket prize. While the original draw date for the tickets was scheduled for September 30th, the draw has now been held over until Turn to page 3 • Bean harvest underway By J im Fitzgerald Mother Nature turned a warm, smiling face on Huron County white bean producers late last week, and after a week of dry weather, nearly three-quarters of the county's $20 million crop has been harvested. 'But although a disaster with the bean crop, used for human consumption was narrowly averted When the torrential rains ceased last Tuesday, the quality of the crop has suffered this year. The early beans are the worst affected, with up to 50 per cent of the crop lost in some fields, while later planted beans came off with very little pick" Or reject beans. However, even the beans that escaped the "pick" have suffered from a color discount becuase of low color. Bev Hill of Varna said there was an 87 per cent pick in one of his red kidney bean fields. meaning the crop has been lost and will have to be plowed under. Earl Wagner. manager of the Hensall Co-op. estimated on Tuesday that two- thirds of the crop was harvested. with the quality improving with the later maturing beans. "It could have been a disaster," Mr. Wagner said, " but they've turned out relatively good." With most of the beans off. farmers can ' now begin sowing their winter wheat crop and begin the silo corn harvest. Grain corn harvest won't start for several more weeks. ..ice-`•.�..-