Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-03-11, Page 1r fugitiv BY PATRICK RAFT'S Two young offenders, who escaped from the Bluewater Centre fur Young Offenders on Thursday evening, eluded police for over 20 hours before they were arrested in London, Friday afternoon. The incident began around 8 p.m. on March 5, when the two youths were noticed un ori area of the centre property where they were not allowed.. "Centre staff gave immediate chase," said Bluewater ('entre` Superintendant Carl 1)e(;rand's. However, the youths fled and managed to climb the fence surrounding the institution before staff could reach them. "It really is a source of concern that they were able to get up that fence as fast as they did," said UeGrandis. The wire fence surrounding the centre — 17 -feet high, angl- ed inward at the top and covered with a 'fine, wire Mesh — is exactly the sande type •used at*inost adult prison facilities in Ou- s r stud by L tarn), I)e(;randis said B The escapees, pursued by centre staff, police and tracking dogs, made them way through the fields surrounding the centre to the edge of Guderich -- a, distance of roughly five kilometres by road. ' '•The whole night we were only a few minutes behind therm," said Del;randis. Upon reaching Guderich, the fugitives broke into a garage at a Comux Crescent residence and stole a car, which they used to flee the area. London police stopped a vehicle answer - Mg, the stolen car's description at 420 p.rm Friday, March 6 and apprehended the fugitives driving the vehicle which was recovered undamaged. They were taken to the Elgin -Middlesex C'entr'e in London and held in custody prior to a court appearance in (;udei'ich ori Moielay tieirnirng, March 9. They pleaded guilty to charges of esc'ap- i•iag' lawful custody Limn break, enter and eri theft and each received a one-year sentence in addition to the terms they were already serving. Shortly after the breakout, the fourth since the centre opened in November 1985, residents in the vicinity of the Bluewater Centre were informed of the escape, via a telephone warning system organized after the last incident, which involved three cen- tre residents escaping on July 16, 1986. In the July 16 incident, several,hornes were broken into and area residents had encounters with the fugitives,. t)eGrandis said the entire incident was handled much better this time.' "People were aware of what was going un," he said, adding that because of close pursuit by police and centre staff the fugitives had little opportunity to enter hurries or harass residents. "The whole thing was monitored very closely and handled with as much pr•ofes- polio sronali,sin as possible " s:,u1 l)e(;randis Bluewater Centre has completed it's own inquiry into the incjdent and is review- ing security procedures. The Investiga- tions Branch of the ;Ministry of Uorrec- tionaj Services is currently conducting it's own investigation, which includes inter- views with centre staff, the escapees and area residents. .)eGrandis said a closed-circuit televi- sion monitoring system for the fence area, which might have given early warning and which could have prevented the escape, is being constructed at the centre and was already in the works prior to the escape. "We signed a contract I for the system r nine days ago and it should be in. place by the end of the month," he said Friday.- The riday,'1'he two escapees will not be returned to the 'Bluewater Centre. I)e(randis said they will „serve the remainder of their sentence at another institution. 139 YEAR - 09 GOI)FRI('H, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1987 . 60 CENTS PER COPY LocaIs like id BY TED SPOONER An informal survey of tioderich water!' ing holes revealed .little ,opposition" to a report recommending the province allow " bars and licenced restaurants to serve drinks fi'orri 10 an n. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. . . The nine -member conunittee, appointed, -by the"Ontario Government and headed by Liberal MPP Steven" Offer, proposed , 70 changes tow the prov'ince's liquor laws in-. eluding: allowing; ,the sale -Of- alcohol' at (rrenas•; racetr:acks,ttieatres and" stadiums; a bring your own booze policy" for licenced and non -licenced restaurants; stiffer penalties for underage drinking and'. keeping the legal age at. 19. " • John MaCkeigair,; Muphy's Landing . Owner, is all for the extended hours. He feels 'people have been educated about alcohol and are generally more responsible. His son Dave, a bartender, say's' shift workersat C'hanipitin and the 'nine g .et,off a.t 11:30 or 12:00 and a 1 a,m. Closing does reit give them much time to d'r'ink.. There is not enough business during tine. week to justify staying open tate, many feel. In fact, most restaurants in'the area close before 'midnight and Brunos was not open for coiiiment last Wednesday. ",Friday and Saturday nights people like to party. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes- flay there are only a handful!' of people here at I a.m. and they're mostly regulars," says Uan Nicholson, a Park House bartender. - 'People are not going to stay out late if they have to get up for work the next morn- ing, says Bruce l3ettles,owner of B and B taxi.. 'Stay out an hour longer and feel :an hour worse in the morning," he adds. MaicK.eigan (John would like the government to allow bar owners to set their own hours. • "'it I hac'e a good c'row'd at 1 a.m., I would be able to stay open till 2; if not', I could close." Police Chief Pat King believes, extended hours would not -cause any. more problems ' gieet`"'tr.. :227 a lax ne liquor laws Bartender, Jannett Middel keeps things clean at the Bedford Hotel lounge. She felt an Ontario Government committee report reeomending extending drinking hours from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. would only delay them. Fights and disturbances would occur at 2 or 2:30 a.in. rather than 1 or 1:30 a.m. It is unclear Whether the summer influx of tourists, would provide enough addi- tiona"j;bu5iness to keen the bars open late. John :Mackeigan is willing to try a 2 a.m. close. for a period of time. But in sunn- imier who knows, he says. • While most employees favoured the ex - make her work day that much longer. However, her patrons were all for the idea. I photo by Ted Spooner) tended hours, a 2 a:m. close would make for a long day.. . Many feel or hope some of the more con- troversial proposals will never become law. The bring your own 'booze, to restaurants and pay a fee is one nobody favoured. "Where is the control? Who is responsi- ble if the patron gets drunk'' If there is some left in the bottle, does it stay at the bar or do the piitrons take it. It's not clear: it will never pass," John .Mackeig'irn says. One restaurant owner, neeviously unaware of the proposals and not to sure about someone paying a fee for BYOB, surnrned up the attitudes best. • "You mean someone can corpse in with a. case of beer and order french fries" That's a load of s...t." L AbA w>: ru a f.:r, oar ea L ^ MAW F ^ Council ginsbudgett to.$5.6 million, for a ' ariety of projects. while money allocated to a specific reserve, such as -the fire hall building fund, cannot he used for any other purpose, he said. Major upcom- ing expenses for landfill over the next sever! years are one possible use for con- tingency funds, McCabe pointed out. In the end, $40,000 was left in the fire hall fund, while $80,000 was earmarked for the contingency reserve. In other major moves: $26.000 was cut from a proposed $170,000 Highway 8 expan- sion fund; $70,000 was removed from a pro- posed $100,000 reserve for land fill, $20,000 was axed from a $141.225 tourism budget; $15,000 was deleted from a proposed $30,000 reserve 'for building construction and a new runway at the Goderich Air- port; $7,000 for a computer equipment for the recreation department was tabled to a future' budget year and $10,000 was cut Turn to page 2 Goderich 'Town .Council approved in. principal, a budget of $5.6 million for municipal exper ditures in 1987 at its March 9 meeting; following a three-hour budget session, held in committee, Mon- day night. During the committee session, council trimmed nearly $380,000 off in list of "discretionary" budget items, in an' at- tempt'to keep the 1987 general municipal mill rate increase.between four and five per cent. The final mill rate for taxpayers was not set at the meting;, pending ad- justments for additional surplus left over from the 1986 fiscal year. Also still to come are requisitions from the County of Huron and the county school board, which corn - prise over 50 per cent of the average tax bill. However, based on figures arrived at Monday night, the mill rate increase for general municipal purposes would be ap- proximately 4.4 per cent. Total municipal expenditure requests forthis year, including iteihs from municipal departments, capital items and grant requests, .came to $5,998,481. Ex- pected revenues other than taxation were estimated at $3,782,472, leaving $2.351,009 to be raised by way of taxation for general municipal purposes. • If left untouched, the consolidated 1987 revenues and expenditures i as recom- mended by the budget coimnittee i would have resulted in a general municipal mill rate increase of 25 per cent. Council then went through a process of paring discre- tionary items; managing to remove about $377,600 from the total. leaving an estimated 1987 expenditure of $5,620,881 / ($5.6 million t. Major bones of contention on the discre- tionary list, included a $130.000 reserve fund for a proposed new fire hall and $100,000 contribution to an exis,in . con - Riddell stays at the h Bit' ANNE NAREJKO t LIN'l'ON - An unconteytNI nomination hos allowed Jack Riddell to stay at the helm of the new Huron riding. The Huron liberals held their nomina-. tion meeting on March 5 at the-•f,'linton `• Legion where they Selected 12 delegates to attend this year's annual convention from April 3-5, The 'second portion of the meeting was the -selection of a candidate to represent the riding of Huron in the next proviniclnl election. ' MPP and Minister of Agriculture nd Food, ,Tack Riddell, was the only pers'A in the running for the Huron riding candidacy and received a standing ovation when the, official announcement was made: • Although Mr, Riddell said it was not the "'most exciting nomination," he was pleas- ed with the loyalty shown. "I have always received strong support from this rifling," he said. 4 A Looking forward to future challenges, Mr. Riddell said, "Never have things look- ed better for the Liberal Party in Ontario. and never hive we, in this part of the coun- try, had so much to look forward to in an upcoming clectioh." The phrase, "upcniuing flection" was tossed around by both Mr. Riddell and Huron Riding President Inc,Hogan, but tingency reserve fund. A to al of $90,000 was trimmed from these two proposed items, most of it ( $70,000) from the fire hall reserve, much to the chagrin of Councillor Glen Carey,. council representative to the Fire Committee. Carey was opposed'to salting away a large portion of the budget in a contingency reserve ( which already contains $210,000) as opposed to allocating funds to a previously approved project such as the fire hall. "What is happening is a contest between an approved' project that has been budgeted for withih an approved time frame and an ultra -conservatism designed to ensure this town will never have to debenture for anything again." Carey said. Administrator Larry McCabe defended the contribution to the contingency reserve by stressing the versitility of the reserve. - Funds put into such a reserve can be used V Cts•1" T , «5A of the new Huron riding neither claimed any knowledge as to when that election mai' be held. Highlighting some of the Liberal's achievements during their time in power, Mr. Riddell said. "We have tackled pro- blems head -inn and made tough decisions. "It took courage and determination for the Liberal government to put an end to ex- tra billing by Ontario doctors and to imple Signal wins excellence award The Goderich Signal -Star was the reci- pient of an award for general excellence at the Ontario Community Newspaper Association conv'ention in Toronto March 5•-7. The Signal Star was awarded a second - place plaque fo' general excellence for newspapers with circulation between 3.,500 and 4,500. Approximately 20 weekly newspapers from across Ontario were entered in the circulation class. The association judges two newspapers of its choice kern the calendar year 1986, • The St. Marys Journal Argus was first in the general oxcefene+tt category, • rtnent full funding for Roman Catholic Schools. "We also stood up for the rights of seniors and others to ensure' they weren't overcharged for prescriptions. "And we are taking strong stands to hell; end wage discrimination against women and to give the public Netter access to government through freedom of informa- tion legislation." The unique accord with the New Democrate Party (NDP) was also men- tioned by Mr. Riddell, He said that after negotiating, both parties found they had common ground and that convinced them to sign the accord. a "But the accord was only a starting point. It helped to get the government out of the starting gate... "About 95 per cent of all the legislation and changes that we've introduced are not part of the accord.,,We left the NOP . Turn to page 2 lice review pursuit o .ley A standing order prohibiting members of the Goderich Police Fprce from under- taking high-speed vehicular pursuit of suspects, was in force from Feb. 25 until March 9, when it was rescinded at a meeting of the .Goderich Police Commission. Goderich Police Chief Patrick King tuld the .commission the standing order had been put in place in light of the department being found partly liable in the death of a, Goderich Provincial Police officer as a result of a' high speed. chase. Goderich Police Constable Peter Mason, Chief King and the Goderich Police Commission were ruled 25 'per cent responsible for the 1983 death of OPP Constable Bruce Crew by the O,rntariio Supreme Court in a decision made Feb. 20, in I.ondon. . King told the commission on March 9, that until the .situation .had been cleared up, "high-speed pursuit shall not be under- taken by members of the force for any reason." He said'he is currently studying the guidlines set down by' other forces, par- ticula.rly the Hamilton -Wentworth force, in order to come up with a new set„ ut guidelines for the Goderich•departrnent. Members of the commission. expressed concern that if the existence of such a policy 'were to become widely -known, peo- ple committing crimes or driving offences. might take advantage of it. ' "I realize we need to be sensitive tri what has happened i the j'udgertnent.i and this is obviously a reaction to what has.happen- • ed," said commission . mennber David Gower.,:. Adding_ that.; he . Could..un;ctersttt .,l_.. the concern • the situation has created among police officers. "However, I don't think we want to negtate_,their sense; of responsibiritrabOaenforcing the law." The commission agreed that, 'until a .complete review of the situation is done, the Goderich Police•Force should go.back, to 'their previous policy regarding 'high- speed pursuit of suspects, .with officers engaging in pursuit when necessary, but only at the direction of the. police chief'. .Kinsmen -plan sports dinner The Kinsmen Club of Goderich has .of- ficially announced its plans to host an an- nual sports celebrity dinner•and auction in- aid of minor athletics in town.. Celebrity dinner committee chairman Rob Sherwood -said the club hopes to stage. ' the event the day following the Stratford Rotary Club's annual dinner. The Strat- ford Club. has scheduled its' 1987 celebrity dinner for May 11 and Goderich will follow Tuesday,- May .12. Sherwood said the service club.hoped:to provide 'some needed financial assistance to minor sports groups in Goderich by building up a sports fund. through 'an an- nual celebrity dinner. Worliing With the Stratford Rotary Club will give the Kinsmen access to several celebrities and they can also tap in on some experience. "They -have been putting on a c'elebrity dinner for six or seven years and 'we are getting a lot of direction and experience from them," Sherwood said. "We hope to have the dinner and auction • on- a con- tinuous basis to. aid minor. athletics in Goderich," . While Sherwood and committee. members have been' working diligently to' attract a well-rounded head table of sports stars, he. said that plans will firm up only in the final few weeks before the event. The club is planning to sell about 300 tickets for the event. . SIGNAL -STAR. Hockey tourney The Park House Rangers defeated- O'Brien's Porkers 3-1 in the tournament final Saturday night to win the Goderich Men's Recreation League Championship. For story and pictures. see the Spcirts' section. Physiotherapy week ''Puttung People in Motion" is the th me for National Physiotherapy Week, March 14-21, The slogan aptly describes what physiotheraphy is all about. For stories and pictures, see the Community front. a • , A