Times-Advocate, 1978-07-20, Page 1Motorcycle tossed 45 meters
No inquest will be held into
the death of two teen-age
boys who were killed
Thursday night when their
motorcycle pulled from a
laneway into the path of a
car on Huron County Road 2
north of Sarepta.
Dennis Leo Hoffman, 14,
driver of the motorcycle,
was killed instantly, while a
passenger, 13-year-old
Donald Roderick McPhee,
London, died enroute to a
London hospital.
The pair suffered multiple
injuries after being hit by
the car driven by Paul
McInnis, 22, of RR 3 Dash
wood. He was unhurt.
McInnis had been south
bound on the county road,
while Hoffman was
proceeding westerlyoutof his
parents’ laneway. The car
driver told police he felt that
the motorcycle was about to
stop as it came out the farm
laneway, but at the last
minute it darted into the path
of the car.
Hoffman, the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Leo Hoffman, RR 3
Zurich, was not licenced to
drive the 1976 Suzuki
motorcycle on the highway.
He and the machine were
tossed 45 meters from the
point of impact, while
McPhee ended up 20 meters
^iway in the west ditch.
Damage in the accident
was listed at $1,240 by OPP
Constable Bill Osterloo, who
was assisted in the in
vestigation by Cpl. Dave
Woodward. Dr. Charles
Wallace, attended as coroner.
Some gef $3,000 hike
after arbitator's decision
Huron taxpayers will be
paying a higher tax bill next
year to foot the cost of the
county’s 273 secondary
school teachers awarded 6.75
percent salary increase.
The increase was awarded
by David Johnston, dean of
law at the University of
Western Ontario. He was
appointed arbitrator by the
Huron County Board of
Education and the Ontario
Secondary School ’Teachers
Federation (OSSTF) to
resolve the remaining
monetary issues after the 31
day strike-lockout situation
ended April 13'.
The arbitrator’s report
dated July 10 covers the 1978-
79 school contract and is
binding on both parties.
Board chairman John
Elliott said at a press con
ference Tuesday ratepayers
will be faced with a tax in
crease next year, as the
teachers salaries exceed the
school board’s budget and
provincial funding.
Elliott said the 6.75 percent
increase works out to be a
total grid cost to the board of
9.18 percent, with in
crements for experience and
qualifications.
He said with the grid cost a
qualified teacher achieving
10 years experience will
receive a $3,000 raise.
“I’d say that is a pretty
significant increase.”
Education director John
Cochrane said taxpayers will
be responsible for the over
budgeted amount because
“anything over provincial
ceilings is picked up 100
percent locally.”
However,
representatives refused
will
board
to
Take all of it...
townships tell GB
Grand Bend council is
tight lipped about an offer
from two neighboring
townships to join the village
instead of losing land to the
village through annexation.
Bosanquet and Stephen
townships decided to make
the'offer after a meeting in
which the two townships
failed to persuade Grand
Bend to drop itsTeghi adtiori' 'recommends' annexation,
to annex a portion of the
townships.
“We are waiting for
consultants’ report on
nexation before we have any
comment,’’ Reeve Bob
Sharen said Tuesday.
Grand Bend has officially
been notified by only Stephen
Township of the offer to
amalgamate. They have not
heard from Bosanquet.
The only reaction to the
Stephen letter came from
councillor Bill Baird.
“Let them play their
games,” he said.
The second half of a two-
part study into annexation of
nine neighboring sub
divisions is expected to be
completed by the end of the
month. If the report
the
an-
Grand Bend will likely go
ahead with annexation
procedures, Sharen said.
“There is no question we
would win our case before
the Ontario Municipal
Board,” he said.
The area Grand Bend is
considering annexing would
increase the village
population and more than
double its assessment.
area collision
say what the contract
cost, only that it is over the
amount the board had
budgeted for teacher salary
increases.
Since
appeal
'’Shirley
of the
mittee, said the only avenue i ...
left for the board is “pass the !c <
bill onto the taxpayers.”
Defending the increased
tax burden, Shirley Weary,
spokesperson for District 45
of OSSTF said taxpayers in
other counties have already
paid additional educational
costs and it has just taken a
“little longer’’ for the
situation to reach Huron.
“I don’t think the Huron
taxpayers want any less
education for their children
than anywhere else,” she
said, adding that “better
education is one of the by
products of more money.”
The report follows two
days of arbitration hearings
in Goderich last month,
where both sides presented
their cases.
The teachers demanded
between a 10 and 11 percent
pay increase, based on a two
percent across the grid raise
and an increase based on the
cost-of-living.
The board offered a
percent total increase
eluding a 2.2 percent in
crease for increments or $905
more across the grid.
With the new wage set
tlement, <•- teachers salaries ’•
will now range from $12,276
to $27,275, compared with
$11,500 to $25,550.
Dean Johnston awarded
the county’s five principals
and vice-principals a five
percent raise, increasing a
principal’s maximum salary
from $35,800 to $38,090. There
is only one principal eligible
for maximum salary just
Please turn to page 5
The accident was one of
four investigated by the
Exeter OPP this week.
On Friday, John Hall,
Kitchener, suffered minor
injuries after the car he was
driving went out of control on
Highway 83 east of Exeter
and rolled over three times.
The driver said he swerved
to avoid an animal on the
highway.
Damage in the accident,
which occurred at 1:10 p.m.,
was set at $2,000 by Con
stable Wally Tomasik.
Damage of $9,500 was
estimated in a three-car
crash on Highway 21, just
north of the Highway 83
intersection on Saturday at
10:15 a.m.
Drivers involved were
Frederick W. May, Toronto;
Harry Widdifield, Forest,
and Stanislaw Brudnicki,
Goderich.
May was northbound and
was stopped for traffic to
clear before making a left
turn when he was hit from
behind by the Forest car.
The May vehicle careened
across the road into the path
of the southboundBrudnicki
vehicle.
There were no injuries
reported by Constable
Tomasik.
The other accident oc
curred on Monday at 11:15
a.m., involving vehicles
operated by Pamela DeJong,
Alexander St., Exeter, and
Albert Bacon, Belgrave.
Both vehicles had been
proceeding along Highway 4
just south of Exeter and the
local woman was stopped to
make a left turn when hit
from behind by the other
vehicle.
Constable Tomasik listed
total damage at $425.
the board cannot
the settlement,
Hazlitt co-chairman
negotiating com-
6.4
in-
imes
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
One Hundred and Fifth Year
Drought in district
not critical as yet
The dry weather is cutting
yields in Huron County crops
but nobody is pushing the
panic button.
“It is serious but I don’t
think it is critical,” Mike
Miller of the Huron County
agriculture office said
Tuesday. “If we get rain in
the next few days most of the
crops will be able to recover
to a great extent.”
Miller said the crops in
Huron are looking sur
prisingly good considering
the dry weather. Areas east
of Huron County witji lighter
soils are in much ^worse
shape, he said.
White beans ih the
flowering stage are being
hurt by the dry weather.
Pasture and second cut hay
have been sharply reduced
and farmers who depend on
pasture are forced to use
their stored feed to sup
plement the poor pasture,
Miller said.
The early turnip crop
harvest has been delayed by
the dry weather by about two
weeks, said Frank Kints of
Huron Produce.
“Normally, we start early
turnips on July 15, but this
year we won’t be able to
start until August 1,” he
said.
Kints said the crop isn’t in
critical condition yet but the
yield in the early crop would
be less than in a normal
year.
Please turn to page 5
ON HER WAY — Tracy Lewis, injured in a 33-foot fall from the railway trestle in Exeter on Thursday is hoisted back up to the
top of the trestle in a rescue by the Exeter fire department and attendants from Hoffman's Ambulance. Shown helping the girl
and watching the action from below are firemen Gabby Mol and Norm Tait, Exeter Constable Kevin Short and ambulance
workers Ron McLinchey and Kim Marshall. Staff photo
Bullets, stones
break windows
Two thefts and two acts of
vandalism are being in
vestigated by the Exeter
OPP this week.
Charges have already
been laid in regard to one of
those thefts reported on
Thursday from the Huron
Park residence of Shawn
Wells. Part of the $160 taken
in the breakin into the home
has been recovered by in
vestigating officer Bill
McIntyre.
The other theft was a
picnic table from the
ministry of transportation
and communication rest
area on Highway 83 east of
Exeter.
On Friday, local con
tractor Norval Jones
reported damage to a front
end loader which had been
parked at a gravel pit in
Usborne township.
Damage of $200 was
reported after vandals had
thrown stones through the
windows in the machine.
Police believe a high-
powered rifle may have been
used to break windows in a
tractor owned by Exeter
Produce on Wednesday
night. Thie machine was
parked at a Stephen
Township farm when the
damage occurred. Damage
was set at $150.
Resource head
leaving district
Don Pearson, resources
manager for the Ausable-
Bayfield Conservation
Authority for the past two
years has resigned.,
In a letter to the chairman
of the Authority, Roy
Wescott, Pearson said he has
accepted a position with the
Upper Thames River Con
servation Authority as
project manager for the
proposed Glengowan dam.
Pearson’s initial duties in
his new capacity will be to
act as the co-ordinator for
the environmental
assessment study which is to
be conducted bn the
proposed dam which has
been surrounded in con
troversy.
His duties as resources
manager will terminate
September 5.
Pearson came to the local
conservation authority in
June of 1976 following stints
with the Central Lake
Ontario Conservation
Authority and the Not-
tawasaga Valley Con
servation Authority.
RESCUE COMPLETED — Exeter firemen assist in carrying Tracy Lewis to an ambulance after her fall from the railway trestle.
Shown with the carrying basket from the left are: Wayne Pearce, John Morgan, Jim Hoffman, Gabby Mol, Gary Middleton,
Kevin Short and Lester Heywood. Staff photo
Girl survives tumble
from railway trestle
A vacationing 14-year-old
Wallaceburg girl continues
to show improvement after
being seriously injured in a
33-foot fall from the railway
trestle just south of the
Highway 83 crossing in Ex
eter on Thursday afternoon.
Tracy Lewis, visiting her
sister, Lorraine, for the
summer, decided to take a
walk with her dog around
5:00 p.m. After walking
along the tracks, the girl sat
for a while on the edge of the
trestle and when she got up
to return home, tripped and
plummeted into the brush
area below.
Her sister became con
cerned at about 6:00 p.m.
and began to look for the
girl. She covered the area
around the trestle and heard
a response from the girl ly
ing in the bush below the
bridge.
Tracy’s dog, Cleo, a
Doberman, was lying beside
her when rescuers arrived
and the animal had to be
called off before attempts
could be made to rescue the
girl.
Exeter police, two am
bulances from Hoffman’s
Ambulance Service and the
Exeter fire department
arrived within minutes of
receiving the call at 6:55
p.m.
Constable Kevin Short,
ambulance attendants Ron
McLinchey and Kim
Marshall descended • the
steep banks along with
firemen Norm Tait and Gab
by Mol to assist the girl,
while other members of the
fire brigade and ambulancd
attendants Jim Hoffman and
Jim Leeman prepared for
the rescue from the top of
the trestle,
After the injured girl was
strapped onto a stretcher
board, a carrying basket
was lowered over the side
and she was placed in it and
then hoisted to the top.
The rescue took about 15
minutes and the injured girl
was then rushed to St.
Joseph’s Hospital, where
she was originally listed in
critical condition.
She suffered broken bones
in her right ankle and crush
ed vertebrae. Doctors ex
pect she will be undergoing
treatment for her back in
juries for six to 10 weeks.
Exeter Constable Kevin
Short said the girl told him
she had lost consciousness
after her fall. She was con
scious throughout the rescue
attempt and Short said she
retained her sense of humor
throughout the ordeal.
SAFELY UP — Ambulance attendant Jim Hoffman and members of the Exeter fire department
grab the carrying basket holding Tracy Lewis after they had hoisted it to the top of the
trestle. Staff photo