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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-06-08, Page 1Till tapping occurs here BY JOANNE WALTERS Till Tapping -- a quaint sounding police phrase used to describe a not so quaint crime. Over the past few weeks several_ hundred dollars worth of cash has been taken from cash register tills in service stations and small stores in town, says Goderich Police Chief Pat King. He is sending out a warning to all mer- chants to be on the alert. Till tappers can be persons of any descrip- tion. They usually choose to steal from businesses where only one sales person is on duty. They ask to see something that the sales person has to gd and look for. While the sales person is away looking, they reach in the till and help themselves to the profits of the day. Chief King suggests that besides keeping an eye out for till tappers, merchants should keep their tills locked or have -a sales person always near them. They should try to keep money in the till to a minimum. They should buy anti- theft mirrors which often •act as a good deterrerft for thieves. ,A bell should ring when someone opens a store door in order to alert the sales person (who may be at the back of the store) that someone has come in. Lottery tickets should also be put away, out of reach, as these have been stolen too, says Chief King. + + + Chief King reports that in the last couple of weeks there, has also been several incidents involving people breaking into cars and 'damaging the interiors plus stealing CB radios and tape decks. The Chief would advise people with CB radios and tape decks in their cars, to write down the serial numbers of these objects (not the parts number) so that in the case of theft, these serial numbers can be recorded on a police computer to identify the stolen goods. If there is no serial number, the oWner should mark his possessions in some way in which they can be positively identified so they can be recorded on the computer also. +++ Over the weekend a person or persons en- tered the Goderich District Collegiate Institute and caused an estimated $700 worth of damage by emptying fire extinguisher's all over the school, upending chairs, smashing pop bottles and breaking into a vending machine. The incident is still under investigation by Goderich police. • BY JOANNE WALTERS Goderich folks are still talking about Jubilee 3 and. will likely mull it'dver fondly in their minds for some time to come. Who could forget it? It was a great year. And now, in an effort to keep some of that spirit of Jubilee 3 alive with the added incentive of promoting Canadian patriotism, The Founders' Day and Canada Week Committee of Goderich has planned several exciting events for this year. Goderich was founded on June 29, 1827 and in honor of founders Tiger Dunlop and John Galt,'Rine 29, 1978 is going to be a big day in this town. It will begin in the morning with an ec}imenical (interdenominational) church service at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church followed by a commemorative service in Court House Park. A lunceon will be held at Knox Presbyterian Church and will feature a surprise guest speaker, hoped at this time to be a personality from Global TV. About 1 p:m. there will be an elementary school children's birthday party on the Square complete with hot dogs and birthday cake. After this, there will be a hospitality time for citizens and senior citizens in Court House Park. And some time after this, -the Goderich Lions Club will hold their beef barbecue. About 7:30 p.m. a local variety arid talent show will be held in Court House Park and at approximately 9:30 p.m. there will be a street dance. The committee will be requesting that Goderich Town Council block off the Square and two areas of dancing will be designated. One area will be for old time dancing to the H.M.C.S• Annapolis not Athabaska A story published last week about plans of the Founder's Day committee to host H.M.C.S. Saguenay in Goderich harbor later this month had a slight error. The story said no Canadian warship had been in Goderich waters since the }MCS Nipigon arrived over a decade ago and that the closest a navy vessel had been was when HMCS Athabaska stood offshore last year during Jubilee Three. The vessel that arrived here last year for Jubilee Three was not the Athabaska but the Annapolis. One astute reader made that point clear saying he remembers the vessel well because he was on it. '1. Fitness centrepossib1e for Champion BY JOANNE WALTERS A motion to approve in principle -the future develoitment of a fitness centre by Champion Road Machinery Company in the Industrial Park area was passed by the Goderich Economic Development Committee (GEDC) at a meeting on Friday, June 2. Bruce Sully, president of Champion Road Machinery Limited and a member of the GEDC, was present at the meeting to outline some of the future plans of his company to other committee members. Sully made it clear to the committee mem- bers that the idea of a fitness centre was an idea only and that he was not even sure yet whether it could be financed or not. "It's just in the, thinking stage',' he com- mented. He based his idea for a fitness centre on the premise that healthy employees are happy employees and therefore better workers. He estimates that the fitness centre would serve about 3,000 persons including employees' families. If constructed, it would include an indoor pool, squash courts, tennis courts, a games floor and hobby shop. Sully expressed his desirability to put the centre, if it was ever realized, in Goderich Industrial Park where it would be easily ac- cessible to employees. In other business, the GEDC passed a motion to have Ken Hunter, Commissioner of Works, proceed with the service of 200 feet of Huckins Street in Industrial Park, utilizing the Public Works crew. The motion further stated that Hunter should contact the Ministry of Tran- sportation and Communications (MTC k to investigate the process of,the Ministry assuming said road, The motioalso included a section which stated that the construction costs of the above should not exceed $25,000 which is the maximum amount of money allowed for this area in the 1978 GEDC budget. The land to be serviced at the end of Huckins Street will accommodate a new Champion Roads Machinery Limited building to be known as Champion Sales Company, a service and sales organization. The land is properly zoned and work on the new building could begin as early as June 12. If the MTC assumes the said road, the town is eligible for a subsidy to help offset the costs of maintenance. The GEDC instructed chairman Gord McManus to inform Canada Trust that there is.. land available in the south west corner of Industrial Park. McManus had been contacted by Canada Trust with regards to an industrial enquiry as to the availability of 12 acres of land in the Industrial Park. P11 huffand I'ilpuff and P11. BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER Deputy -reeve Eileen Palmer told town council Monday 'evening she refuses to be "brainwashed, bulldozed and railroaded" into giving up her cigarettes for the committee meetings of council as well as the council meetings. The motion to extend the non-smoking rule to committee meetings as well as council meetings was brought forward by Councillors Elsa Haydon and Bob Allen. According to Allen, a non-smoker, the air at a committee meeting can get pretty heavy if the session goes the derich IGN on for a long time. "There is give and take," said Councillor Haydon. "You give the smoke and I have to take it." Haydon said she would not be adverse to allowing several smoking breaks during the meeting for those who wish to indulge in the habit. She said it would not inconvenience her, even if the meetings ran longer because of the breaks. This idea was supported by Councillor Don Wheeler. Allen reminded council it is a "public meeting" after all. • • "Smokers have rights too," argued Palmer. "Surely some little bit of give and take is needed," said Councillor Stan Profit who claimed the smokers have given into the non- smokers for council meetings. Profit is a cigar smoker. The motion to extend the non-smoking rule into the committee meetings was voted on and was approved. "I intend to smoke at committee meetings with or without Elsa Haydon's approval,," stated an angry Deputy -reeve Palmer. L - STS 131—YEAR 23 THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1978 30 CENTS PER COPY Teacher should rule on dirty books ' BY JEFF SEDDON The Huron County Board of Education was told Monday it should trust the judgement of its teachers when deciding if literary pieces to be used in high school classrooms are fit for educational purposes. ' Three delegations attending Monday's board meeting explained to trustees at considerable length why three English literature textbooks should not be banned from secondary school book lists. The books -Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Diviners by Margaret Laurence and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck-were considered blasphemous and obscene by a group of parents from Kingsbridge who started a campaign to have them banned from school booklists. Dr. Tom Collins, chairman of the English department at the University of Western Ontario, told the board that the three books were not at all 'blasphemous or obscene but rather were of "superior quality". He said the books all had excellent educational value. music of fiddlers and the other area will be for younger people with dancing to popular music. The dancing will carryon until about midnight. Further details about each event and their exact times will be announced in the media in the near future, says Goderich Police Chief Pat King, a member of the committee. In case of wet weather on June 29, the arena has been rented and all'the events will be held in there other than the hospitality time which will be held in the rotunda at Harbor Park. On July 1, about 10:20, depending on how dark it gets, says Chief King, the committee has decided to set off another fireworks display on the south pier, the same location as the Jubilee 3 fireworks display. Al Grant of Hand Chemical Industries in Milton will set off the display. Chief King says people should not expect the elaborate display of last year. This year's display will only be about one-third the size of last year's but it will still be spectacular, he says. Turn to page 20 • Unit exceeds fund objective Collins said the purpose of a literary piece was to educate the imagination of readers by creating "construct" worlds that the reader can become familiar with without actually living in them. He said the world created are usually ones people wouldn't normally live in but Ca . become aware'''of Brough the books'. He suggested the worlds coup be "better ones created in fairy tales orterr� le ones lived in by Hamlet". The professor said the books in question may contain portions that will be offensive to some people but added that if only material that could be offensive to people was sought out The Bible or the works of Shakespeare could also fall into that category. He said the .definition of pornography is material used for the purpose of provoking sexual arousement for its own sake. He said the. material in the three books in question was not 'pornographic in the context in which it was "used in the books. The Huron County Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society has exceeded its objective in its 1978 fund raising campaign. The Huron County Unit had set a goal of $40,200 for its 1978 canvass for funds and has managed to raise, to date, $48,000. The Goderich Branch of the Huron County Unit has also exceeded its objective by over $3,000. The canvass of Goderich and district has brought in $13,000 to date over the goal of $9,700which had been set for the branch. The Ontario Division of the Canadian Cancer Society has presented the Huron County Unit with a Campaign .• Award and has expressed thanks"to Ross McDaniel and his team of cam- paigners. Division Executive Director, H.W. Rowlands said, "It appears at the moment that, despite the many unsatisfactory comments we hear about the nation's economy, we are nevertheless well on our way to the Division objective." Rowlands went on to say that the news of the Huron , County Unit once again exceeding its objective, "is a source of inspiration for me and all'the staff at the Division office." Collins suggested that students have two major environments in which they function, school and the rest of their time. He said the 'time they spend away from school is con- sistently filled with material "I truly label pornographic". He said he stopped in at a drug store on his way to the meeting and picked a magazine and a novel off the store shelf. He said the two were what he called pornographic adding that he would "refrain from being truly offensive and will not read from the book or show you pictures from the magazine". Collins pointed, out that the material he had purchased was available to all students any time without any real attempt by parents to control it. He said the students constantly face 'objectionable material in films, televi§ion, magazines and trash novels and parents seemed unconcerned about the matter. He said schools control the use of such material through. trained professionals trained to use judgement and expertise' putting such material into proper perspective rather than sensationalizing it as the letter from the parents had done. He said the board must trust its teachers. "Banning thetbooks is the surest way I know of getting the students to seek out the books, read them, and have them adversely affect them by not having the contents put into proper perspective," he said. Collins said the alleged blasphemous material was not blasphemous but was language commonly used in every day life. He said blasphemy is taking the Lord's name in vain or making a deliberate attempt to dishonor God. He said just about everyone in society makes comments during a day that could be considered blasphemous. He said "most of us try to avoid using them in our speech but habit or reflex prevents that". He said the use of the words is "habit" not a "deliberate attempt to dishonor God." He pointed out that the children in the schools know those words exist adding that it is far better for the children to learn about "life language and sex" in a controlled environment rather than in a drug store or out on the street. "You trust your doctors and your ministers you'd better trust your teachers," he warned. Peggy Rivers told the board she represented a group of people in the Goderich area "con- cerned with the quality of education offered" and who feel it is worthwhile to "spend time showing support for ottr educational system, for the board that administers it and for the teachers involved in it". Rivers said the Goderich group did not favor banning the books and also was unhappy With the methods used 'by the group proposing their banning. She said decisions made by councils in the county. supporting the ban were based on quotations "arbitrarily selected from the books by a person or persons". She added that the motions by the councils were sent to county secondary schools without prior' consultation with the board of education,"an act we consider a gross infringment on the rights and responsibilities of the board". Rivers said the methods used in selecting objectionable material from the books made it obvious that no "intelligent and logical evaluation of the literary merit and worthof the books can be made ' without a complete evaluation of them". She said the three books were widely acclaimed by scholars to be of superior literary merit and to deprive students of Huron the right to study them would be to "isolate them in a vacuum devoid of any realistic connection with contemporary society". She said the claim that .the books and the teachers using them -were attempting to turn our youth into "vulgar, filthy, ungodly in- dividuals is absurd". Rivers said• the books have been used in the county system for more than ten years and only in senior grades by students old enough to vote, sit on juries and sign contracts. She said their. use had no adverse affect to date adding that surely a person old enough to decide if someone is guilty of a criminal offence is old enough to read any book they choose. Rivers said that a person reading a book is not necessarily influenced by the ideology of it. She said someone reading Mein Kampf does not automatically become a Nazi and someone reading the biography of John Diefenbaker does not necessarily become a Progressive Conservative. Rivers told the board that the "notoriety Huron County has received by even raising the issue is not something we should be proud of". Turn to page 20 •' Okay. all together now. Jackie, Chambers and Majorettes, under the direction of Sylvia Har- Dorle Ann McLennan couldn't quite get together mon, performed several routines for parents. on a routine as they performed with the Goderich (photo by Dave Sykes) 'Majorettes at GDCI last Thursday. The