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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-12-21, Page 1Merry Christma from the kids BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER Each Christmas for the past few years, The Goderich Signal -Star has been coming to your homes in an especially large package. Con- tained in this last edition before the Yuletide season is a power -packed Christmas greeting section containing all the goodwill messages from the area businessmen and the pictures, stories, letters and poems written by Goderich and District school children. Signal -Star is proud of this Christmas bonus paper.... and we are finding it is well received by our customers. People lode to ,read what the kids have to say at this tie of year and as some of our readers tell usia:there's; always a few names that they recognie. Thaadds to the fun. The staff at Signal -Star hopes you Will once more enjoy this year Is "collectioi.,of •children's work. Taking part are the students from Robertson Memorial School, Victoria Public School, Colborne Central School, Holmesville Public School, Brookside Central School, St. Joseph's Separate School in Kingsbridge and St. Mary's Separate School in Goderich. We join with the children in wishing each of you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous, healthy New Year. Fraud charge remanded Cayley Hill of 27 Wellington Street, Goderich, was remanded to January 29 when he appeared in provincial court Monday charged with using fraudulent means to obtain $25,000 in American Express Travellers Cheques from Champion Road Machinery Company Ltd. Hill, 52, was charged Saturday after an in- vestigation by Goderich Police and the anti - rackets division of the Ontario Provincial Police. He resigned a vice president's job at Champion two years ago to pursue his own business interests after 30 years with the firm. He was also a Goderich trustee on the Huron county board of education from 1971 until he was defeated in November by Dave Gower. During his tenure as trustee he served as chairman of the board of education. Lock your car BY - JOANNE BUCHANAN Some people do their Christmas shopping at this time of year without buying anything. Unlocked car doors- are especially inviting to these Christmas thieves. They simply have to open the doors, grab Christmas parcels, tapes or even tape decks, and run away. Goderich Police Chief Pat King says there are still a, lot of thefts from cars reported to the Goderich Police Department and he feels that many of these thefts could be prevented if people would lock their car doors. "It's seldom that windows are smashed to get into a car," he says. Chief King realizes that some people are hesitant about locking car doors at this time of. year in case their locks freeze but with the nice weather we've been having, this excuse doesn't apply. Others don't lock their car doors because they don't believe that thefts happen in a nice town like Goderich; says the Chief. Not only should people lock their cars while shopping but they should keep them locked in their driveways too. Not all thefts from cars occur on the Square. Most occur ^from cars parked in driveways or.out in front of houses because there are not as many people around to, witness "the crime. - The Goderich police have also received several reports of stolen Christmas lights this year. Many of these lights are taken after midnight and Chief King Would urge those who have been leaving theft lights on all night, not to. Be would also urge parents to quesiion their children if they find them with Christmas lights and if stolen, turn them into police. Santa draws a crowd te derich There were wide eyes and happy grins as Santa Claus made a special visit to the Bennmiller Inn Saturday much to the delight of a host of children who all received guests from the old gentleman. The Inn sponsored the party for children of the staff and children under the care of Family and Social Services. (photo by Dave Sykes) 0 L STA ,.131 YEAR -51 THURSDAY, DECEMBER R;.,978 35 CENTS PER COPY ouncil shuffles committees BY JEFF SEDDON Goderich town council sounded as if it were doing a spin-off of the Abbott and Costello routine of Who's On First Monday night when it appointed members to council committees. Appointments of citizens to 11 committees of council and appointing council representatives to those committees created a bit of a problem for council. Council had about a dozen applicants for committee seats and was faced with the decision to appoint those applicants or ignoring them in favor of veteran committee members up for re -appointment and wishing to remain on their respective committee. Reeve Eileen Palmer told council that a recent organizational review done for council suggested staggered terms for committee appointees to prevent complete turnover of committee members and yet insure a mixture of new blood and experience. She said if council ignored new applicants when it appointed members to the committee it defeated /he purpose of the plan. She said if the same people were named to committee council would be "sitting back in ten years with the same people". She said she had nothing against the veteran members but pointed out that new members quite often bring new ideas. Palmer's comments were made when the first appointments were made. Four applicants indicated a desire to serve on the recreation board and two appointments were to be made. Bob Gibbons and Bill Kirkey were both at the end of their term and both indicated a desire to continue. A suggestion to re -appoint both sparked Palmer's comment. Councillor Stan Profit explained to council that the rec board members' had staggered terms and that the board had just been shuffled up. He said Jon Ginn, Bob Gibbons and Bill kirkey were all new members to the board having been appointed two years ago for the first time. Profit said it was difficult to say the board needed to be recycled when three members are only at the end of their first term. Town clerk Larry McCabe told council that it seemed pointless to call for applicants for committees if council were not going to use any. He said in the future council may avoid the situation by reviewing the committee mem- .perships and when the required number of new rnernbers is determined applicants could then be requested. Councillor Jim Searls suggested that council try to switch some members around to avoid applicants losing interest. He said people may adopt the attitude of having tried and been ignored and will not apply again. Council decided to consider new applicants for other committees and named Gibbons and Kirkey to another term 'on rec board. Council representatives on the board will be councillors John Doherty and Elsa Haydon. MUNICIPAL DAY NURSERY Hayden told council she wanted to see councillor James Magee serve on the Huron Historic Jail Board but felt that he would be an asset to the Day Nursery committee. She said she served on that committee eight years and wanted a change. The only opposition to Haydon's suggestion carne from Magee. Two of the four citizens serving on the day nursery committee do not want another term and council had three applicants for the job. Roelie Leggatt and Joan Smith did not want another term and John MacKinnon and Olive Miller did. Council was going to appoint Susan Chan and Margaret Rivers to the committee and leave the rest until Haydon said Miller also served on the jail board. She suggested that Miller be taken off day nursery and the third applicant Maureen Penn, be named to take her place. Council accepted the idea. AIRPORT COMMITTEE Three people applied for three positions on the airport committee. Three veterans, Dick Wright, Lloyd Atfield and Dick Speers, all indicated a desire to remain on the committee and Don Wheeler, Paul Spittal and Chuck Reid also put their names in for airport. Council noted that Spittal had also applied for the Goderich Economic Development Com- mittee and wishing a change on airport took Speers and Atfield off and replaced them with Reid and Wheeler. Elsa Haydon said she "felt" she had to ask where the applicants for the airport worked. She said she wanted to avoid a "concentration of one company" on the airport committee. Haydon expressed concern that Champion Road Machinery, major users of the airstrip, would have several employees on the com- mittee making some issues sticky when the committee had to deal with matters relating to the firm's use of Sky Harbor. Of the two new members only Reid is an employee of Champion. Deputy -reeve Eileen Group to set goals BY JEFF SEDDON Despite an air of confusion that prevented a group of Huron county residents from clearly defining its goals a Society for the Freedom of Choice was formed at an informal meeting in Goderi h recently. About people attended the meeting on an invitation basis and after a two hour session decided on a name for the group and came up with some basic goals for it. Goderich town councillor Elsa HaydQn promoted the gathering pointing out to those invited that she used no "rhyme or reason" in sending out invitations but had more or less included people who had been vocal in the past on issues concerning individual freedom. One of the issues at the top of the suggested list of goals for the group was lobbying for the Huron county Board of Education to lift its classroom banning of The Diviners by Margaret Laurence. The board took the novel off the approved list of material for high school English classes after the Huron County chapter of Renaissance International successfully campaigned to have it taken out of the classroom. The group not only had'difficulty deciding on its aims but had trouble naming itself. Many of the people attending the inaugural session had little concern for a name but rather seemed to have a number of issues they felt should be supported. Rather than limit itself to an in- dividual concern the group decided to delay planning any definite action until another meeting could be held and more support for the grdup gathered. Haydon said she organized the meeting to defend the novels - the Renaissance group wanted banned. She said she intended no at- tempt to "convert anyone's thinking" nor did she intend to form a bona fide group. "I feel it is very important to show people outside the county that while there are people in Huron county that want the books banned there are also people to fight against it," she told the group. Haydon said she was disappointed in the action of the county board of education and county council over the book banning. She said the credibility of the elected bodies was in doubt since many members supported the banning without reading books. She said it was "very poor due" for anyone to vote on the matter without being familiar with it. Bruce Shaw, principal of South Huron Secondary School in Exeter, told the group that he felt "some kind of voice" had to be created to balance the "negative force" given by the book banners. He said it seems everywhere he goes people are making "snide remarks" about Huron county because of the book banning and he "doesn't like being branded by the same brush". Adrian Vos told the group he was not con- vinced all information about the book banning had been given. He said he was upset when he read in newspapers that the books had been banned but then was told by a board of education trustee that the books were not banned but that "discussion of certain books" in the classroom had been prevented. He said the books were not banned pointing out that they are all still available in the school libraries. Haydon pointed 'out that one of the aims of the. Renaissance group was to have the books removed from the Library shelves. She said the board took the books out of the classrooms but the banners did not specify they only wanted them taken out of the schools. She added that the banners were very well organized and as a Turn to page I1 * Palmer and councillor Brian Knights ex- pressed an interest in representing council on the airport committee and were named by council. Ben Hey and Bruce Sully both want to stay on GEDC and both were given the nod by council. A third member Dave Gower, was selected to Turn to page 11 • Christmas wish This poem, written by Sue Smith, is based on a true incident. Sue said she wanted to write a Christmas poem and came up with this theme when she recalled similar circumstances in the `life of a very good friend of hers. She said her riend had lost a'parent when she was young nd Sue wanted to put some of her thoughts on (raper for her friend. A LETTER TO SANTA CLAUS BY SUE SMITH Before Igo to sleep tonight Lord let Santa hear me right Because here is my list of toys to bring For mommy, me, and my bird, King 1 didn't say daddy, because as you know He is up in heaven where there is no snow Mommy said he is very happy And he always remembers to pray for For mommy, she wants a leather coat A box of candy and a great big boat King said he would like a little blue swing So he can sit on it and sing Now for me Santa, are you ready? Because there are aloe of things I really need First of all 1 would like a cat A coat like mornmys and a matching hat A doll that laughs and isn't bad Not one that cries that makes me sad And anything else that is worth a surprise Because I have been good and I have told no lies But last of all there is one more present That I really want and it can't be bent Santa tell God not to take mommy from me Because she is all I have left as you can see I cried when I saw daddy go Because as you know I loved him so And I love mommy just the same So Santa 1 would rather have her than a game If all of this is too much to buy Than the last gift will be just fine Well Good -buy Santa and thank -you With all my love to you from Sue.