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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1971-02-18, Page 1A two week postponement and a cold stormy February night did not dampen the spirits of the members of the Independent Order of Oddfellows No. 67 Exeter when 350 persons enjoyed a sumptuous hot beef dinner in the Exeter Legion Hall Saturday evening catered to by the Legion Auxiliary. Garnet Hicks acted as chairman for the evening.. Highlighting the banquet was the cutting of a large birthday cake by Bro. George Hawkins, oldest veteran present. Other veterans honoured were Louis Day, Rol and Williams, Frank Will race on `thundermugs' A bit of frivolity has been added to the program for the Crippled Kids weekend at Pineridge Chalet. Sunday afternoon, municipal councillors from four area communities will compete in a "thundermug race". The teams from Exeter, Zurich, Hensall and Hay Township will consist of three officials. One will drive a snowmobile. Another will ride on the machine and hold onto a trailing toboggan. The third will sit atop a toilet on the toboggan. The program, with all proceeds for crippled children, gets underway Saturday afternoon when mooseburgers will be available for all visitors. Entertainment will be provided in the enlarged chalet. A dance will be staged at night, along with snowmobiling. Sunday gets underway with a pancake breakfast and during the afternoon mooseburgers and barbecued moose will be available. BEST iN SNOW — The top award in Sunday's "fun match" dog show at Huron Park stayed close to home. The best in show award went to Susie, a Miniature Pomeranian shown here with her owner, Mrs. Carolyn Murdock and daughter Kelly of Huron Park. QUEEN CONTESTANTS AT KI R KTON — One of the features of the weekend's Winter Carnival at Kirkton was the choosing of a Queen. The six contestants are shown above. Back, left, Wendy Bladder, Mary Ann Marriott, Grace Paton, and Norma Switzer. Front, runner-up Joyce Russell and Queen Roberta Neil. Accident total skyrockets as weather plagues area Former Grand. Bend councillor Ian G, Coles said from his London home Wednesday morning that he is following his plans to challenge the eligibility of two elected Grand Bend officials. At the inauguration meeting of Grand Bend council held January 11, Coles through 'his solicitor Andy King of the London law firm of Miches and Miches said he would be challenging the eligibility of newly elected councillor Murray A. Des Jardins and Public Utilities Commissioner Lawrence Mason. Coles told the T-A Wednesday, "the matter is in the hands of my solicitor. We are planning to proceed with the action. Some people think there is a time limit on this, but there isn't." Des Jardins, a former clerk was elected to a council position at the December 5 election and Mason, a PUC board member for many years was re-elected at the same time. Coles, who is a property owner in the Southcott Pines area of Grand Bend was defeated in a bid for re-election at the December vote. At Monday's regular meeting of council, Reeve John Payne brought up the same subject in his opening remarks. Payne said "This move to challenge elected officials is ridiculous. Any fuss should have been made on nomination night. The Reeve went on to say, "Obviously they were hoping for their own election." "These currents are unsettling. I think we have a good council with combined brainpower of good quality and we will get a lot of work vr. accomplished, if this witch hunting ceases", continued Payne. Iwo Murder hearing to be continued The preliminary hearing into the non-capital murder charge against Clarence George Blyde, 2 Crediton, is expected to be completed, Friday. The hearing started on January 22 and resumed last Friday. However, it was still not completed. Blyde was charged following i the death of Miss -Pearl Fahner, Crediton, on November 22, 1970. PART OF FASHION SHOW — Visitors to this week's Open House at Cerittalia's College of Agricultural Technology will have three opportunities to watch the school -s Pashion Show, The show will ,be on tap at 2.30 and 8 p.m., Thursday and 1.30 Friday afternoon. Three of the participants will be from the left, Jan Hodgiris, Linda Humphreys and Barbara Dougall. T.A photo, Area residents prominent at PC event Dalton Camp blasts. ckinie VETERAN ODDFELLOWS — Exeter 1.00.F, No. 67 celebrated it's one hundredth birthday Saturday night with a banquet and dance. Members of the lodge for 50 years or more are shown here. Back, left, Frank Triebner, Asa Penhale, Roland Williams and George Hawkins. Front, Bert Rivers, Walter Cutbush and Louis Day. T-A photo. Local lodge marks 100th anniversary '4 Residents of South Huron ended up playing important — And some controversial roles in the weekend's leadership convention, of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party. Huron MPP C. S. MAcNa.ughtori and Exeter lawyers E. D. Bell and O. V. Laughton were in the thick of the muddle which arose after the voting machines showed incorrect tallies at the end of the first ballot, Mr. MacNaugh ton was involved as campaign manager for the eventual winner, Education Minister William Davis, while Mr. Laughton was head scrutineer for the Davis camp, Mr, Bell, a past president of the Association, was deputy elections officer and was one of those who declined to sign the returns of the first ballot after the discrepancies appeared. He said this week he was not a bit surprised when the machines broke down, "In fact, it was just what I expected." For over three hours the three Exeter residents were involved in the discussions about the course of action to be taken with the voting. Mr. Laughton said the machines were out by some 120 "I'm concerned about this challenge, some of these people get elected by acclamation, they couldn't get elected if they tried," added Payne. When questioned after the meeting, if he had further information on the challenge the Reeve said he didn't but was only getting some things off his chest. In other business, Councillor Dave Jackson reported on progress of — Please turn to page 3 Minister arrives at local church Rev. Austin Gedcke assumed the duties of pastor of the Exeter Pentecostal Tabernacle late in January. Rev. Gedcke who served the last two years in Stratford succeeds Rev. Floyd Rhude who has moved to Midland and is starting a new church. The new pastor here graduated from Eastern Pentecostal Bible College in Peterborough in 1967 and served his first pastorate in Bracebridge. While in Stratford, Rev. Gedcke along with his wife Marie originated drive-in church services on a' Dominion Stoke parking lot, These services met with marked success and are continuing each summer during July and August. Rev. and Mrs. Gedcke, both natives of the Own Sound area have two small children aged two and three years. Tentative okay given addition Exeter council this week gave tentative approval to Mr. and Mrs. Russell Wilhelm to build a large addition to Braemor Manor Nursing Home on James St. The couple hope to build a 36' by 80' addition at the rear of the present home and have ail their residents at one location. At the present time, the ladies in their care are at Braemor Manor, while the men live at the corner of Sanders and Andrew St. They requested tentative approval from council before commencing any further plans or requests to the department of' health, Gift of machine could be costly A gift being considered by the Exeter Kinsmen could cost local ratepayers between $8,000 and $9,000 it was predicted this week. The local service club has offered to purchase an ice making machine for the arena, which would scrape and flood the ice. However, to make room for the Machine, Reeve Boyle told council that space would have to be provided at the north end of the arena. This would necessitate the removal of some seats as well as tieing the Space of one dressing room. This in turn would require the erection of new dressing rooms at the west side of the arena, just north of the toilet facilities installed a few years ago. Council held little discussion on the matter and it was turned over to the finance committee for consideration. Davis campaign and was advised the youths were at the convention a their own expense as an academic exercise. The two teachers who accompanied the students, Roy Stephenson and Joe Fulop, indicated some students were carrying Davis placards, but a number of others had buttons from other candidates as well. A few students became involved in demonstrations for Mr. Davis, but it had not been pre-arranged. Main concern over the episode appeared to be the suggestion that the Hon. C. S. MacNaughton had arranged the trip for the students and had helped enlist them to support his campaign to have Mr. Davis elected at the convention. The Times-Advocate this week received a copy of a letter sent by Mr. MacNaughton to the Po or weather, road conditions, no visibility and two vehicles at the same location at the same time combined again last week and the result was 15 motor vehicle collisions, five injuries and property damage of over $10,000. To date this year, the Exeter OPP detachment officers have investigated 51 collisions. During the same period in 1970, a total of 28 highway mishaps had been reported. OPP Cpl. Ray Brooks said the large increase was mostly attributable to the winter driving conditions faced by area motorists this year. Due to the large number of crashes this week, Cpl. Brooks reported on only the major ones in this week's press release. A large number of the crashes occurred last Wednesday when blizzard conditions returned to the area. Highway 4 between Exeter, and Hensall was closed for a four hour period by police as visibility was reduced to nil. Before conditions improved, eight accidents had been investigated by OPP Constables Bill GlassfOrd and Ed Wilcox. Some of the vehicles were involved in two crashes as pileups occurred, At 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, a car driven by Dr. Lorne Mullen, London, was involved in a crash south of Kippen with a truck driven by Ken Peckham, RR 3 Granton, The latter was hauling a, mobile home from the Boise Cascade factory in Hensel]. Thieves damage vending machines Two brealtins are under investigation by OPP Constable Ed Wileox this week. Both involve soft: drink machines located at the Huron Park arena and the recreation centre. The thieves got an undisclosed amount of silver from the machines, It was thought to be less than $100. However, they damaged the machines to the extent of $700, They were owned by Turkey Beverages Ltd,, Exeter, local school principal in which he states that "neither I, my office, nor the committee for Bill Davis were aware that students from South Huron were planning to attend the convention", "Certainly, I regret any embarrassment that may have been caused by the fact that some of the students participated in a demonstration for the Hon. William G. Davis, however, it would appear that their participation was an understandable development, since I think it would be difficult for any young person to sit idly by while the hoopla of a convention was taking place all about him." Mr. MacNaughton said that reports he received suggested that several of the students accepted Davis signs for display — Please turn to page 3 Damage in that crash was listed at $900. Before the truck and mobile home could be removed from the scene, it was involved in another crash. Michael Connolly, RR 3 Kippen, had stopped because of the truck and he was then hit from the rear by a truck driven by Charles Blasashill, Ingersoll, The Connolly vehicle was pushed ahead into the mobile home and damage to the car was listed at $1,100. The Kippen area man sustained minor injuries as his car was caught between the two other vehicles. A similar accident had been reported in the same area Tuesday night when a transport truck driven by David Dettmer, Fall from bed in earthquake After two sleepless nights, Mrs. Marjorie Dukes of town finally received word that her daughter, Mrs. Iris Gratton, of Monterey Park, California, Which is situated close to the area struck by last week's powerful earthquake, was safe and well. Mrs. Gratton and her daughters, Dianne and Deborah, live a few blocks from the Veteran's Administration Hospital where many persons were killed or injured when some of the buildings collapsed. While Mrs. Dilkes was fraritieally trying to place a telephone call to her daughter the letter was vainly trying to contact her mother. Eventually, Mrs. Gratton was able to reach her brother, detective James Tomlinson through the London City police Where he happened to be -on duty when the call carne through. She said when the quake Arndt at 6 'tem. she and the children were thrown out of bed, the walls cracked and the plaster fell. However, the damage was not severe enough to warrant the Oration family evacuating their home. Triebner, Walter Cutbush, Wilbert Rivers and Asa Fermate. N. G. Bro. Norman Stanlake welcomed all those present followed by Grace by Bro. Rev. Sam Kerr. Bro. Ross Taylor brought greetings from the Town of Exeter. Toasts were proposed: to Exeter Lodge by Bro. Harold Rowe and responded to by Bro. Norman Stanlake N.G.; Bro. Alex Meilde to the visitors with Bro. John Broadfoot, Brucefield, responding; . Bro. Bruce Delbridge to the veterans with Bro. Asa Penhale responding; Bro. Robert Blair to the ladies with N.G. Sister Gladys Skinner of the Pride of Huron Rebekah Lodge responding and presenting a $100 cheque on behalf of her Lodge; Bro. Charles Salter, Kitchener, to the District with Bro. Robert Fraser, Brussels, replying; Bro. Gerald McFalls gave a short history of the origin of Grand Lodge; Bro. Percy Noels expressed thanks to the ladies of the Auxiliary and was replied to by Mrs. Keith Brintnell, Bro. Ross Rowe was the musician and accompanied a very hearty sing song. Mr. Harry Stanlake an Exeter Old Boy, entertained the gathering with many acts of magic. Start renovation for new industry Renovations of the large hangar at the former Grand Bend airport property that was recently acquired by Bell Aerospace of Canada are being completed. Purchasing agent R. Dolan said. Wednesday morning that an office staff of four or five people from Buffalo would be moving in around March 1. The building is currently being re-painted and fire alarms and the proper safety devices installed. Dolan said "We should be ready to get moving shortly." Bell Aerospace, a division of Textron Incorporated of Buffalo purchased the building and some land from Eagleson Construction of Grand Bend and plan to manufacture hovercraft air cushion vehicles. District dog best in show Susie, a miniature pomeranian owned by Mrs. Carolyn Murdoch of Huron Park got off to a good start in the dog show business when she captured the top award in Sunday's "fun match" show held At the Huron Park Recreation Centre. It was the first start for Susie or Mrs. Murdoch In a show of any kind and they won the best in show award. In fact, Mrs. Murdoch wasn't aware of Sunday's show that was. sponsored by the Forest City Kennel club of London until she read about it in last week's T.A. A total of 52 dogs of numerous breeds were competing, Dogs of championship calibre were excluded. It gave new dog fanciers and young animals a chance to get acquainted with show conditions. Other local exhibitors were Mrs. Sea England of Crediton, Earl Campbell, Exeter and Al and Carol Preece of Centralia, Exeter, was involved in two crashes. The first crash involved a car driven by Mrs. Patricia Anne Fraser, Huron Park. Damage to her car was listed at $1,200 and she was taken to South Huron Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Shortly after, a vehicle driven by Frank Radford, Clinton, skidded into the truck driven by Dettmer. Radford's vehicle — Please turn to page 3 Continues in effort to unseat officials votes and the candidates and their representatives decided to use paper ballots after they couldn't -get any guarantee that the same problems wouldn't arise on the next ballot. A high peed Zerox machine was employed to produce the necessary paper ballots and "someone went out and brought back ballot boxes from city hall and we were back in business," Mr. Bell reported. He said in his opinion the paper ballets were much better and quicker with 1,700 delegates, although for larger numbers the machines would be faster. Mr. Bell said most of the delegates remained good natured through the waiting period and that the majority of them stayed until the last count was taken in the early hours of Saturday morning. Commenting on other aspects of the convention, the former st PC Association president said that about one-third of those in attendance were young people and confirmed there are some things the party must learn in dealing with the young people. "As in the other parties, we've got to find a way to marry up youth and age." His overall feeling about the convention was that there were places where it could have been improved, but "it was a good tight battle and far from the dull affair many people had anticipated." Kept busy It was certainly anything but a dull affair for Mr. Laughton, who as chief scrutineer for the Davis camp, had the task of trying to get the vote tallies to the Davis camp before they were received by the other leadership candidates. Helping him in that cause we're two other area residents, Mel Geiser and Bill Schlegel, who were scrutineers at some of the 15 voting'posts. They were backed up by an extensive communications network and codes were employed to keep the figures from getting into opposition hands. Lorne Kleinstiver; a delegate from Dashwood and a member of the elections committee, said he was exhausted after working from 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. He said the breakdown of the machines took the zip out of the convention just when it should have been peaking. "It almost made me lose faith in mechanical devices," he stated. Regardless of the lengthy time it took to finally get all the ballots taken, he said the convention was a good exercise and should stimulate more interest in government. Controversies Area persons involved in the controversies included students from South Huron District High School and Huron MP Robert McKinley. A Toronto reporter said the students, who attended the convention on Thursday, found themselves recruited as demonstrators for Education Minister William Davis. The reporter then called Mr. Wooden to question him about the students' involvement in the Ninety-sixth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 18, 1971 Price Per Copy 15 Cents