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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-05-15, Page 1fl M1 I¢r� rY it • R.^ 174 t!"AIIIOWSPAPRIP IMoN C.4NNAUfr ewspaper Competition 1 904 • r. ...,,,..,, 137 YAR1--20 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1985 50 CENTS FER COPY 'Budding babysitter ° Helen Bowie (right), a home health care instructor from Toronto, demonstrates the proper method of holding an infant, to one of 60 Iocal youngsters attending a babysitting clinic, held Saturday at the Goderich Legion Branch. (photo by Patrick Raftis) Canada Day budget questioned by council A proposed hndget' o "'$10,000 for one weekend of festivitle$ =for Canada Day caused accusations of lack of restraint before it was passed a+oderieh council's Nay 13 meeting. "Why do we need all this? 1 just can't get excited about it. It's aq,,swful lot of money going out for one weekend. I have difficul- ty seeing where the town really benefits," said Counc. Bill Clifford: Count. Jim Searls agreed that $10,000 was too much to spend on one weekend ad- ding that $6000 was in the town's budget to spend on several celebrations, not just one. The weekend planned by the Canada Day committee includes a civic ceremony budgetted at $200, a parade at $2500, fireworks at $4000, a civic reception at $1000, and primes at $500. Other costs were $1000 for advertising and $800 for printing. Clerk -Administrator Larry McCabe estimated $2000 to $4000 could be covered ' by a Canada Day grant while the admis- sion fees for the fireworks could raise $1000. Compared to. the $6700 spent last year on the weekend, the projected $7000 to $8000 to be spent by the town in 1985 is a reasonable amount to ,spend when .promoting Goderich and Canada's birthday, said Counc. Glen garey. "I find it aionishing that we can hire a tourism/industrial promoter to promote the town and then to say we can't figure out why we're spending money on Canada Day. It's obvious we're spending money to try and promote the town and ctry." "?f it's a lack of restraint to s_ end $300 to $500 more than Iast year, I plead guilty of a lack of restraint," said'Carey. When Clifford asked for a copy of the committee's budget for the celebrations, McCabe said time was limited to book bands for the parade and buy fireworks. "I thought the minutes explained the budget. Anyone could have sat on the com- mittee if theywanted to," McCabe said. • "This happens time and time again. Unless, a committee is formed, nothing is done and yet when a committee comes with recommendations it gets com- plaints," added Counc. Don Wheeler. Wheeler said "Bah, humbug" to- those councillors questioning the weekend's budget. "Canadians as a whole don't celebrate too much and maybe it's about time we celebrated as Canadians to bring us together. We're celebrating the birthday of our country and at other similar events there was more camaraderie and more good feelings than at any other time," he said. Though the committee recommended to hold most of the festivities on Sunday, June 30 for better attendance from both tourists from Bay City and Goderich peo- ple, council decided to stick with July 1 for the parade and the fireworks. "Let's celebrate on Canada Day. They don't change the celebrations for the Fourth of July in the U:,S.," said Searl$. Army buddies meet again in Goderich after 40 years The last time John McGraw of Goderich saw his friend Gordon Fisher, the two were part of the Elgin Regiment in a small town 'tithe ljlolland countilside . The two basked in the'eelebrations of VE day forty years agoand while they lived only 100 miles a rt after Wbr1d War II, a reunion in Goderich Sunday, May 5 was their first since the war. While both had served in the Canadian Army for five years, from 1940 to 19453 after . the war, Fisher; formerly, of Col= home Township took up residence in Hamilton. "I hadn't seen him since;" McGraw 'ex- plained. "He came to see his sister who ' lives below nle and when she told him who lived upstairs, he came right up to see me. I didn't recognize him but he knew me." The former army biddies had some cat- ching up to do that afternoon and McGraw explained that they "looked at war pic- tures and one thing and another." Both McGraw and Fisher will be doing more reminiscing at a regiment reunion in Woodstock this June. spitfire producer remembers leerning to fly BY SUSAN HUNDERTMARK For Jackie Rae, producer of the Spitfire Band, last Wednesday's visit to Goderich's airport was 'more than a business trip. It was the first time he'd been back in over 40 years to the site of Number 12 Elementary Flying School at Sky Harbor Airport where • he trained to be a pilot for the Second World War. After looking aver the facilities at the airport hangar where his band will per- form for the Sky Harbor Reunion to be held this Aug. 16 to 18, Rae was muchmore in- terested in remembering the layout of the flying school in 1941. "Everything was a wooden shack then," he remembered. He flew from Toronto Island Airport with George Parsons, his former link in- structor at the flying school (and president of derieb Elevatorrs.)___ __.z _ .._ "I took off and landed the plane ' but Jackie flew all the way. He's still got 'it. We didn't get lost, turn upside down or anything," joked Parsons_ Rae's old log book from the flying school shows where Parsons signed his book with "above average" for his work on the may: -- Rae said he's also looking forward to seeing his flying instructor, Jack Pe- quegnat who will be attending the reunion. "I remember how Jack used to send me flying.to Kitchener to pick up his laundry for practice." On one such flight, Rae remembered how he got lost and flew over a fox farm, which was marked with red squares on the roof. Flying over fox farms was forbidden since the vixens kill their young because of the noise of the airplane and Rae got in hot water for his misadventure. Rae said he has mostly warm memories about his days as an 18 -year-old flying stu-, dent, one of 5,000 to 6,000 students who went through the school at Sky Harbor. Learning on an 'elementary airplane, the Fleet Finch, the students started the day in ground school and spent the afternoon in flying school for a total course of 80 hours. "When we first got there, they told us we had to be in at 10 at night which we thought was ridiculous. The work was so concen- trated with everyone trying so hard that by 8 p.m. we were so tired, we were delighted to be going to bed," remembered Rae. Every student enrolled in the program wanted desperately for himself and his classmates to succeed and a great camaraderie grew from that feeling. "Everybody wanted to fly and they all had the same point of view about suc- ceeding. It was something I really wanted to do and it felt terrific the first time I flew by myself." aA Dutch group to dedicate new fountain The Dutch community from 'Goderich and the surrounding areais planning to replace and rededicatethe fountain at the corner of Victoria and Hamilton Streets, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the libera- tion of the Netherlands. The fountain was built by area residents of Dutch ancestry 15 years ago, in celebra- tion of the 25th anniversary of the libera- tion of the Netherlands, from the Germans during World War II., Work on rebuilding the fountain will begin this week, said Evert Middel, spokesman for the commit- tee involved with the project. The rededication will take place on Fri- day, May 24, beginning at 7:30 p.m., with the laying of a wreath at the cenotaph. The party will then proceed to the fountain for the rededication, and the placing of a new plaque. A social hour, open to the public, will follow at the Goderich Legion Branch 109. A rd• dechers may be needed at facility here The Huron County board of education will start negotiations soon with , the Ministry of Correctional Services to pro- vide teachers for young offenders at the Bluewater Youth Offenders facility. The director of education, Bob Allan, told the May 6 meeting of the school board that he has been asked to. start negotia- tions with the ministry. Representatives from the ministry have previously told the board the correctional services ministry will cover the costs. However, the school board is responsible for providing programs for the young of- fenders and professional development for the teachers. Allan said it is his••understanding that the teachers would have their classes inside -the facility which has medium security. He guessed there may be 10 to 15 teachers needed to serve the maximum number of 120 offenders. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Harold Bettger, one of the organizers of the Sky Harbor Reunion from Aug. 16 to 18, and Jackie Rae, producer of the Spitfire Band which will be performing at the reunion, Mold up a poster for the "But, it was Black Friday if anyone didn't make it; it hurt everyone. Everyone wanted everyone else to do well," said Rae. Though it took an average of eight hours of flying before a pilot flew solo, Rae says he soloed after six hours and 50 minutes. "They were short of pilots so they were putting us through pretty quickly." Harold Bettger, one of the organizers of the reunion, said he remembered trying ( unsuccessfully) to get Rae to perform in a local show. "He wasn't here to do any performing; he was all for flying," said Bettger. After the course finished, the class split up and Rae went on td' Camp Borden near Barrie to learn to fly Harvards and then overseas to England where he learned to fly Hurricanes and Spitfires and how to use battle tactics. "You couldn't fly a Spitfire without event. The Spitfire plane on the poster is a copy of one which Rae flew during the Second World War. ( photo by Susan Hundertmark) becoming romantic about it," said Rae. Rae's first experience• in battle was the Battle of Dieppe. "That battle was my initiation. My squadron shot down 11 of the enemy and we didn't lose anyone. That night we had a party to celebrate." While preparing for the battle at Hawk- inge, near Dover in England, he bumped into a few of his old classmates from the Goderich flying school but there was no time for a reunion that day. During the Second World War, he com- pleted two tours of operations. As a Spit- fire pilot, he was awarded the Distinguish- ed Flying Cross and was also a Flight Commander of the 416 Fighter Squadron. Rae said he hopes a lot of the pilots he trained with will be able to attend the reu- nion. "It will be a wonderful reunion for me. Unfortunately many of the pilots are not around anymore," he said. After the war, Rae went on to a distinguished career in the entertainment industry. He produced the Wayne and Shuster Show for 10 years, produced the Oscar Peterson Show, the George Formby Show, the Giselle MacKenzie Show, the Canadian National Grandstands Shows, and his own television show from 1956 to 1959, The Jackie Rae Show. From 1960 to 1975, he composed songs recorded by top artists such as Andy Williams, • Eddy Arnold, Englebert Humperdinck, Tony Bennett and Petula Clark. From 1982, he's been the producer of the Spitfire Band, a 17 musician band which plays all the old 1940's music including the hits of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. The band has made five albums and is about to make its sixth. See photo on Page 3 Big league buddy Not many youngsters can boast of hav- ing a major league ballplayer for a buddy, but after meeting and striking up a friend- ship with Chicago White Sox Tom Paciorek during a recent trip to Florida, r Shawn Thompson, of Goderich, can make that claim. Story and photos in Recreation. Clinch first place The Goderich Senior Viking soccer team clinched first place in the Huron -Perth Conference this week. The Vikes finished the season undefeated and will have home - field advantage for the conference semi- final, to be held here Thursday. Details in Recreation. Spring concert The annual Victoria School Spring Con- cert was held Thursday night. Singing, dancing, skits and other standard concert fare were featured during the evening. Photos inside this section. Cadet inspection The 532 Maitland Squadron, Royal Cana- dian Air Cadets, underwent thew annual inspection Saturday morning at the Goderich arena. The cadets were in top form, and put on a first rate showing for the event. Story and photo inside.