Loading...
The Huron Expositor, 1997-09-17, Page 1New Book New book front one of Seatorth's most famous authors. See page 3 Anniversary The Seaforth and District Horticultural Society turns 25. See page 14 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 -- Seaforth, Ontario Briefly Mayor's gavel disappears The mayor's gavel has mysteriously disappeared from Town Hall's council chamber. For the second Seaforth Council meeting in a row, last Tuesday night. Mayor - Irwin Johnston was forced_ to do without. When he first noticed the old wooden official gavel missing before last month's meeting, he asked all council- lors to check their drawers. It wasn't there. He used a rock last week. New subdivision Developer Dan McTeague's intention is to start the con, struction of services for a subdivision northeast of town as early as next spring. clerk/administrator - .Jim Crocker reported to Seaforth Council Tuesday night. The town has "received the first draft of -the subdivision sgteement as- developed by the municipal soliciter," his report states. This draft is being reviewed by McTeague and Bruce Potter. MISTIE MURRAY New poster of Mistie Murray distributed Child Find is distributing a new poster of Mistie Murray, missing since May 31, 1995. The organization received an unconfirmed report on Aug. 25 that the young woman from Goderich, who lived with her family in St. Columban before then, had been seen. It is the first such sighting since her father, Steve, was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in connection with her disappearance last spring. At that trial witnesses testi- fied they saw Mistie in Goderich,: Clinton, London and Toronto in the summer of 1995, after- the last sighting recorded in Child Find's orig- inal missing poster. Her mother Anne said she hopespolice will have a new investigation. The new poster also includes a "newer" pho- tograph of Mistie, which her mother Mopes is a better rep- resentation. Mistie was born in October 1978, she was 5' 3" tall and 115 lbs. at the time she went missing, with reddish -brown hair and greyish -green eyes. Child Find recently moved its Seaforth office from the Main Street to the public school. 4 September 17, 1997 — $1.00 includes GST Murder case resurfaces as Truscott seeks DNA testing PHOTO BY GREGOR CAMPBELL PRIME MINISTER PONDERS PROMOTION - Seaforth District High School Prime Minister Brent Ribey, complete with dome painted with bear paws, poses in front of a poster promoting a new club at the school called "Pumped," whose particular purpose is to pump up participation. The club met several times in the summer to make sure it was prepared. Residential rate goes from $12.10 to $20.25 Bell's rate in Seaforth jumps 69 per cent BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff Bell Canada's residential rate in Seaforth will have gone up exactly 67.35 per cent in a year if its new tariff is approved by the Canadian Radio -television and Tele- communications Commission (CRTC). And, if this most recent 13e11, plan goes through it will be cheaper -and advantageous for Seaforth residents to slide down the road to nearby Dublin to make telephone calls to London at the start of 1998. Council unanimously car- ried a motion last Tuesday night to support a joint sub- mission concerning the "inequities" of Bell's tariff notice (6038) to the CRTC "which would see among St. Anne's in As expected, St. Anne's Catholic Secondary School in Clinton had the biggest swing in enrollment when area stu- dents headed back to class at the start of this month. It now has 441 students, compared to last year's October enroll- ment figure of 297. This is because another grade has been phased in. The school now accommo- dates students in Grades 9 through 11. Seaforth Public School's enrollment was up by a dozen other things, an increase in residential local rates from $16.15 to $20.25 on Jan. 1." This town's residential rate was $12.10 per .month when Bell first pitched its "modern network for all customers" to Seaforth Council last sum- mer. That. and yet another Bell rate increase of about $2 since, have been approved by the CRTC and implemented here since the -beginning of 1997. GODERICH AS NCC As it stands, this latest Bell tariff notice means Seaforth will receive free calling to Goderich on top of its'current residential calling area, whereas Dubliners next door would have Ilderton and - London added to their calling won't be able to. al Dublin would have access Council's motion stemmed to London/Ilderton's addi- from and supported corre-. tional 21-2,852 access lines, spondence it received from whereas Seaforth would only Huron Telecommunication's have access to an additional Co-operative Ltd., earlier last 6,719. Tuesday that pointed out sub- Coun. Michael Hak said missions on Bell's tariff that Watford, about the same notice had to be into the size as Seaforth, has London CRTC by Sept. 26. and Strathroy in its local call - Huron Tel explains the ing area right now.' logistics of. Bell's widely Other councillors comment - variant local calling areas as ed that Seaforth doesn't based on what Bell has appear to be getting full value defined as natural calling for all the recent rate increas- centres; called NCCs. There are nine in the 519 area code, one of which is identified as Goderich in the current CRTC tariff notice. FULL VALUE? Seaforth might have London in its calling area area. too, Huron Tel maintains, if That they could call Goderich were not declared a London free. But Seaforth NCC. Under the Bell propos- means for Clinton has biggest swing in enrollment es. "The submission would request the plan be modified to include Seaforth in the London calling area," Huron Tel's correspondence states. "Goderich (town) has already agreed to support a joint sub- mission as has Tuckersmith Communications Co-opera- tive Limited." and Seaforth District High •School's enrollment the first week was down by 12 stu- dents - 331 to 343 and 353 to 341. respectively, first week compared to last October's actual enrollments. Huron Centennial School at Brucefield has 16 fewer stu- dents, 405 to 389. Clinton Central Huron is up by four students, 683 to 687. • The.Huron County Board of Education secondary school figures are described as "iffy" because enrollments 1most a quarter of i8Y GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff Almost one out of every ;four people in Seaforth is a i"senior citizen" and nearly one in five is aged 70 or folder, according to the 1997' federal census. Those seniors 70 -years -old up make up 19.1 per cent is town's population, or le out of 2,228. and 65 5 or alder comprise per cent of our.popula- almost one-fifth. has the highest per - centage of "70 pluscrs" of all of Huron County's 10 towns and villages. This year's census figures indicate that :tge group makes up 12.8 per cent of:H.uron County's population, 17.08 per cern of Bayfield's, 17.11 per cent of Clinton's, I40; per can of Goderich's, *per cent of Exeter's, 15.5 per cent of Clinton', cent of Wing cant CCM cent The comparative Mitchell in Pe 13.6 per cent. vary during the school year because of the flexibility of programs in semesters. Fifty fewer elementary stu- dents enrolled in all Huron public schools at the start of this month - 6,262 from 6,312 - as compared to last October. There are also 45 Hewer high school students - 3,829 from 3,874. SEPARATE SCHOOLS The,Huron-Perth County Roman Catholic Separate School Board at Dublin says it. has slightly fewer elemen- tary school pupils and more students in high school, this year as compared to last. It has 3,822 in elementary and 1,292 in high school. Last year's respective actuals were 3,831 and 1,127. St. Patrick's School in Dublin has gone from 153 to 154, and St. Columban School has dropped to 172 from 174. The enrollment at St. Michael Secondary School in Stratford is up by 21 stu- dents, to 851 from.830. o. s- popu ation seniors When you add those people 65 -years -of -age to this oldest age bracket, Seaforth had 350 seniors out of a total popula- tion of 2288 when the census avails tarkeni +l As There are also slightly r females than mal or 1,197 to 1.091. There are almost as many public school ratepayers (1,810) in Seaforth than separate school ratepay- Perhaps the most controver- sial murder case in Canadian history. that of Steven Truscott, then of the Vanastra area and convicted of a child -sex murder when 14 -years - old, may soon return to the nation's conscience. Truscott was sentenced to be hung by the neck until dead for the 1959 strangling death of I2 -year-old Lynn Harper near the. old airbase, on the outskirts of Clinton. • Both were Grade 8 class- mates. Sun Media. Newspapers reported Friday that promi- nent Toronto defence lawyer James Lockyer has been asked tore -open the case and Truscott, described. as "elat- ed" and now 52 -years -old, has consented to the same.. DNA testing that recently cleared Guy Paul Morin and David Milgaard. • Lockyer represented both. Sophisticated DNA forensic testing determined :thy didn't commit the high -pro- file murders they had been charged with. Truscott spent four months . on death row. I8 Goderich jail before the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal but commuted his death sen- tence to life imprisonment. He served 10 years in peni- tentiary before being paroled when he was 24. He was dis- charged from parole in 1975. He now lives under an assumed name in Guelph, has three children and a grand- child. Truscott was the youngest person sentenced to death in Canada since 1875. following totals for the 1 Expansion plan for town A "potential business expansion and retention pro- ject for Seaforth" may be in the works. Deputy-clerk/economic development officer Cathy Garrick reported to last Tuesday night's council meeting that she and admin- istrator Jim Crocker met with Paul Nichol of the Huron Business development Corporation and Jane Muegge .of the Ontario Ministry on Sept. 3 to dis- cuss it. "OMAFRA will 'help design the process and train the volunteers, the BDC will assist us with determining appropriate resources and local volunteers will be trained to carry out the pro- ject," her report states. Economic development was highlighted as an area requir- ing attention in the survey completed by the town last year. "Following that a group of interested citizens met to dis- cuss potential economic development projects," Garrick's report continues. "Thr first project completed by the.volunteer committee was to create promotional material and a booth at the road. superintendents trade show in June. - "The group also identified meeting one-on-one with local business owners as a potential project which might ead to other economic devel- opment activities."