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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-11-16, Page 1Clinton men iace charges A Clinton man and youth each face a total of eight charges following weekend break-ins at Sifto Salt and Maitland Country Club. Ferdinand Reinsma, 18 and Harold Colclough, 16, both of Clinton each face three charges of possession of stolen goods, three charges of break and enter, one charge of possession of house breaking tools and one premises. Goderich, Police Constable Peter Mason with assistance from constable Larry Webb, after being alerted to suspicious activity at the Sifto plant, apprehended the pair. A subsequent search of their car, left on Highway 8, produced the stolen goods from the Maitland Country Club. charge of auto theft. A subsequent search of Clinton homes Sun - The two were charged after a break-in at the -day unveiled stolen property related to the Maitland Country Club last Saturday in which break-ins at Champco Parts building and $1.000 in cash and booze was stolen from the Champco Sales building in the Industrial Park. Voters' decision removes doubt BY JEFF SEDDON "Someone must feel a great burden today because I feel like a great load has been lifted from my shoulders." That was a corhment by mayor Deb Shewfelt Tuesday morning after he was soundly defeated by former mayor Harry Worsell in Monday night's municipal election. Shewfelt was seeking a third term as mayor and was opposed by Worsell and incumbent councillor Don Wheeler. The final count Monday night made it appear as though Wheeler and Shewfelt shared votes that Worsell didn't get. Town clerk Larry McCabe said Wednesday the final figures on the mayoral race gave Worsell almost twice the votes.J,u__nner-up Shewfelt received. Worsell's support was greater than that of Shewfelt and Wheeler combined. Wors,el-1, who vacated the mayor's chair in 1974, was supported by 1,701 voters. Shewfelt got the nod from 909 electors and Wheeler picked up 639 votes. Worsell's margin ofvictory makes him the popular choice of the voters in Goderich. That obscure title is given any candidate that receives more votes than the total of all other candidates. McCabe said the 1978 election enjoyed an excellent turnout at the polls. He said 57.9 percent of tte eligible voters in Goderich voted Monday night. He based that percentage on the ballots cast for mayor pointing out that the figure could be slightly higher or lower because it was possible not all electors voted for mayor. He said the percentage is slightly less in the reeve race. That total indicates a 56.9 percent turnout which he said is still excellent. Many major cities only get 25 or 28 percent voters turnout so you could say the turnout in Goderich was excellent," said McCabe. The reeve's race, a rematch of'the 1974 battle between Bill Clifford and Eileen Palmer was no contest. In 1974 Clifford edged Palmer by 23 votes to win the deputy -reeve's chair and in 1976 Clifford was acclaimed reeve and Palmer returned to win a seat as . deputy -reeve, defeating councillor Leroy Harrison. When the ballots began rolling in Monday night it quickly became obvious that Palmer was a shoe -in. The advance poll gave her a slight edge that turned into an easy victory by a 689 vote spread. Clifford received 1,249 votes to Palmer's 1,938. Roy Breckenridge was odd man out in the race for council seats. Seven candidates were in the running for six seats and the former building inspector and businessman in Goderich was a little over 330 votes short. Stan Profit led the polls Monday night and easily won another term as councillor. Profit grabbed 2,450 votes and was followed by newcomer Jim Searls with 2,135, incumbent Elsa Haydon with 2,028, incumbent John Doherty with 1,863 votes, and newcomers Brian Knights with 1,801 votes and James O. Magee with 1,794. Breckenridge said Monday night he was not disappointed with his standing in the election claiming he ,,made a last minute decision and possibly the wrong decision. He said his wife was not saddened by the loss and that. he had, not hurt anybody by running for council. He added "you get out of something what you put into it and I didn't put much into this". He said he felt his experience in town affairs made him a decent choice for council but added that obviously the voters disagreed. WHAT DID IT? Shewfelt said he really didn't know why he polled as poorly as he did. He said he couldn't believe The Square beautification project was an issue the voters were greatly influenced by and that he .didn't think the vote was a backlash against real estate brokers. He did say that possibly there were a great number of things going on at the council table that the ratepayers simply did not understand. He said the arena project, the Neighborhood Improvement Program, the new lights being installed on ball fields at Agriculture Park and the widening of Highway 21 may all have combined to make taxpayers feel their tax dollars were being spent in great gobs. He said the projects at Agriculture Park, including the arena, were funded by private donation and not supported by one cent of tax dollars and that cost sharing with senior governments reduced the town's share of other projects dramatically. "I just think there was too mucli°on the go that the ratepayer didn't understand," he -laid. Hee added that he probably would not return to municipal politics but would .put his energy and time into his private business interests. Wheeler said he felt the voters based their choice on personalities rather than platform. He said he was confident of some support after his door to door campaign but shrugged and added that the "support didn't show up at the polls". NO CONTEST FOR REEVE Incumbent reeve Bill Clifford said he didn't know what caused him to get so soundly defeated in the race for county representation. He said he felt the vote would be closer than it. was. Both Palmer- and Cliffor-d worked hard on their campaign. Neither made issue of the 1974 vote Clifford narrowly won. Palmer com- mented on it once at an all candidates session claiming both candidates were friends and that there was no re -match as far as she was concerned. She advocated tighter budgeting in her campaign and said she was dead set against expenditures in The Square beautification. She said the money spent on the, brick paving on The Square was frivolous and that the whole sidewalk in the downtown area could be doneforthe cost to do half. BOARD OF 'EDUCATION Dave Gower carried his popularity at the council table into an election for school board.. trustee and edged incumbent Cayley Hill for one of two Goderich seats at the board. Gower polled 1,359 votes to Hill's 1,248. Both followed incumbent Dorothy Wallace who led the trustee vote with 1,984 votes. Followers of Goderich politics felt Hill's absentee rate at the board level was the main reason- for his •defeat. Many felt that Hill's business, which took him out of town a con- siderable amount of time during the recent secondary school strike, upset ratepayers to Turn to page 20 • 131 YEAR -46 ,,THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1978 35 CENTS PER COPY Take it away Harry The final votes were counted and the three, Candidates for mayor of Goderich were all smiles Tuesday after voters here elected for- mer mayor Harry Worsell to the, mayor's chair by a huge majority. Worsell was congratulated uil ing condition is stable BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER The former Polley's Livery Stable on South Street was saved from the wrecker's hammer during the weekend when Dorothy Wallace of Goderich put her name to a cheque for an un- disclosed amount of money. "Somebody had to sign his John Henry," said Mrs. Wallace, also a member of the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Com- mittee (LACAC). "The time had,dome when the only real solution was financial." Mrs. Wallace said she signed the cheque but is not working on the project alone. She also said the figure of $165,000 for the property which was reported in some press accounts, was high. The immediate concern of the new owners is to ensure the building is heated for the winter months. The 110 -year-old structure was pur- chased from Ken Hutchins, formerly owner - Post Office to close Saturday The main post office in Goderich won't be open on Saturdays in the not too distant future. Goderich town council agreed last week with B.J. Barnes, public affairs manager for the southwestern district of the Ontario postal region, that if keeping the wickets open on Saturdays is costing more money than the customers using the service will justify, the main post office should remain closed on Saturdays. "It's only good business," said Reeve Bill Clifford who made the motion to concur with a recommendation in the letter from Barnes. A study conducted on four consecutive Saturdays last summer, showed that on any Saturday in that period, an average of only five customers required service. Salaries for staff on Saturdays runs in excess of $3,100 per annum, the letter pointed out, and seems all the more wasteful and useless when one considers there is a sub -post office at Fincher's on The Square about 180 yards away from the main post office building. Councillor Elsa Haydon seconded Clifford's motion, but suggested she found it stran=ge that the post office authorities would consult council on such a small financial matter, while they would not accept any recommendations about larger postal interruptions or more substantial sums of money which may be in the public's opinion considered Waste. "I'm surprised he didn't use both sides of the paper to write this letter if he's so interested in saving money," quipped Deputy -reeve Eileen Palmer. "It would be nice if you could keep a business open just on the -days you made money," mused Mayor Deb Shewfelt. - Councillor Stan Profit voted against the motion. He said that to support the motion would be to vote against jobs for Goderich citizens and would affect the salaries those ' postal emplpyees earned. No date Has been Set for the start of the Saturday closines. by his opposition, Don Wheeler, left,'' and in- cumbent mayor Deb Shewfelt. Worsell received .1,701 votes to Shewfelt's 909 and Wheeler's 639. (photo by Jeff Seddon) proprietor of Glenmark Lumber who had stripped the place earlier this fall in preparation for demolition. Mrs. Wallace said a furnace remains in the building, but it has been completely discon- nected and will require some work before it is operational again. A company has been formed to look into the possible uses for the building, says Mrs. Wallace and the opinion of anarchitect will be needed before anything definite can be decided. One suggestion immediately put forward by interested persons is to use the historic premises as a centre for the performing arts. As a member of the LACAC, Mrs. Wallace had worked towards preserving the stone building because of its historic significance, as Turn to page 20 • Senior Vikings, an unanimous •choice. Mark Frayne, Eric Mitchell and Dave MacKenzie of the GDCI Senior Vikings football team whoop it up after they clobbered Stratford 62-0 to win their second consecutive Huron -Perth conference football championship, Saturday. The seniors, perhaps the best team the school has produced, despite its , long standing tradition of excellent football teams, failed to give up a point through the entire schedule. More pictures and stories on Page 12.