The Huron Expositor, 1998-05-20, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 - Seaforth, Ontario
May 20, 1998 — $1.00 includes GST
New search begins
for Mis ti&slb-o�v
Child Find begins new truck campaign
BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF
And CARLA ANN OUD
While Ontario Provincial
Police:prepare for a new
•search of Lake Huron to
find her body, Child Find is
launching a new poster
campaign for missing Mistic
• Murray of Goderich.
Murray, formerly of the
Dublin • arca. has hccn
missing from Goderich for
almost three years: She was
16 when she disappeared.
Police arc preparing to use
new sonar equipment .to
search Lake Huron for
Murray's body. '
"This isn't a shot in the
dark,""said OPP Detective
Inspector Walter Baker who
has been involved with the
case since July, 1995. He
said the police investigation.
including information from
forensics and witnesses,
lead them to believe Mistic
Murray's remains arc in
Lake Huron:
Thc search conflicts with
reports Child Find has
received that Mistic had
,been seen in Clinton,
London and 'Toronto after
the date she disappeared
'from Goderich.
Child Find is a national
organization that helps find
missing children and
provides education and -
services toward preventing
them. • •
The organization plans to
unveil 20. 38-foot.hy 27 -
foot posters on the backs of
Cuddy, Transportation trucks
in London.
The .trucks travel across
Canada and drivers will sec
Murray's fact on the hack of
those trucks with Chi'Id
Find's telephone number.
"Wci're, hoping all the
exposure will lead to calls
from the public„ said Lori
Chapman, a case, manager
with Child Find.
Murray's poster will be.
unveiled on the trucks in
London on Monday, Missing
Children's Day.
Mistic,will be the.second
missing child to be featured
in the truck campaign and
will remain on the trucks for
six months.
Mistie disappeared from
Goderich on May 31, 1995
While previous searches
of Lake Huron failed to find
a body, Baker said police
"never really stopped trying
to find equipment to meet
their needs."
Recently, a Burlington
marina, which had been
contacted two ye -ars ago,
came through with a two-
week donation of more
advanced. equipment. Baker
'said it can scan greater
distances and provide a
clearer picture -of the lake
bottom.
Medical experts have told
police that if the body is in
Lake Huron, it would be
well-preserved.
•OPP divers are expected
to test the equipment in
' Goderich this, morning (May
20),
Baker said police "owe it
.to everybody" io find
Mistie, noting he ha, been in
"close contact' with the
teen's biological mouser
Murray had been adopted
by Steve and Anne Murray
when they lived in the
Seaforth area several years
.ago
Child Find continues to
work with the Murrays,
distributing posters and,
recently, 'printing her
photograph on the backs of
CIBC Visa bills. •
Steve and Anhe will be in
London for the unveiling of
the posters.
Flower power Sadie Jansen's freshly picked flowers wilted quickly in last week's hot
weather. She spent Thursday afternoon playing with her brother, Mark and sister, Rachel
when the first wave of summer heat hit the area.
HILGENDORFF PHOTO
Hosp:ital was ready for extra load
BY SCOI'J HILGENDORFF
Expositor Editor
It was business as usual for Seaforth
Community Hospital this weekend
despite being put on alert the Exeter's
emergency room would be closed for
24 -hours.
Exeter, which serves Grand Bend,
notified area hospitals that no doctors
were available between 8 a.m. Sunday
and 8 a.m. Monday morning at a time
when they were expecting 50,000
people in the Grand Bend area.
"Seaforth's hospital is prepared," said
Administrator Bill Thibert on Friday,
after receiving word of the situation.
However, he said they were
anticipating most calls would be sent to
London or Strathroy, closer to the
Grand Bend area.
"We don't expect any significanw
volume," Thibert said.
Chief of Staff Janet Zettle said that
was the case.
Although she was not on call during
the weekend, other physicians indicated
it was not an unusual weekend at the
hospital.
"It was pretty much normal for us,"
she said.
Zettle said regular staffing levels
were maintained. If the load became
heavy in the emergency room, she said
there are other staff that can be called in
to assist, the same as if a serious
accident were to occur in this area.
'During the emergency room closure,
the Zurich Ambulance Service, which
normally takes patients to Exeter,
reported 10 calls which were referred to
the Clinton Public Hospital.
The Dashwood Ambulance Service,
which covers Grand Bend, sent 28 calls
to Strathroy, 12 of which came from
Grand Bend.
Thailand youth will farm in Seaforth area
BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF
Expositor Editor
Eighteen young people
from across Canada and
Thailand will be coming to
Huron County this summer
but they need homes.
The young people.
between the ages. of 17 and
20, are coming as part of the
Canada -Thailand Youth
Exchange Programme
offered by Canada World
Youth.
"They're meant to live
with the families and work
on their farms," said Carol
.on
the Canadian project
supervisor currently working
in Seaforth to set the program
up.
Thc town will be the
central location for the
program although young
people will be hosted on
farms across the area.
The eighteen participants
and two leaders, Dover and a
counterpart from Thailand,
are paired up; one from
Canada and .one from
Thailand.
The group arrives in Huron
County on July 21 and they
will, be here until Oct. 15
when they leave for a similar
exchange in Thailand.
Again, they will be paired.
up and working on farms in
that country.
-It provides a chance for
both nationalities to learn
about life, family- and
agriculture from the
perspectives of both, vastly
different, cultures.
"The learning is going to
come form thc people
working together." said
Dover.
"Huron County families are
encouraged to. have the two
youth take part in family
activities from meal time to
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New building planned
will fill hole on Main Street
A hole in Seaforth's Main
Street is closer to being
filled.
At Tuesday night's regular
meeting, council passed a
bylaw approving a site plan
agreement with Doug Elliott
of a local investment and tax
consulting firm for a new
building for 24,26 and 28
Main Street South.
The property is at present
a hoarded -up vacant lot,
since a big fire destroyed thc
previous building a couple
;of years ago.
"The building will he of
wood -stud, frame
construction with a Krick
veneer west, front faced
which faces Main Street,"
according to the agreement.
'The front of the building
is designed to architecturally
and contextually blend into,
and compliment the other
commercial blocks in the
heritage district."
4
Decision to support
local museum
delayed until June
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
Seaforth Council put off
until next month's meeting
dealing. with a request for
support of a community
museum, after a presentation
by former maypr Irwin
Johnston and Peter Spittal last
Tuesday night.
The deputation fflom the
"Celebrate Seaforth's History"
committee is looking for
space Ind money, and
presented four budget optioes
for a local museum to council.
Johnston asked for the
"possibility of a grant" and
stressed the figures in all
options, which included
municipal commitments
ranging from $6,500 to
$12.000 annually, were not
written in stone. •
"Anything is going to be.
appreciated," he said.
"Volunteers in town are
willing to make this work."
Council was cautious about
committing. It decided
councillors needed more time
and concrete information, and
agreed such requests can
easily become line items in
the budget.
This year's budget is late
being set because- the town is
waiting on further transfer
adjustment formulae and
figures from the provincial
government.
Before the request for funds
for a museum;
clerk/administrator Jim
Crocker had previously
warned council that a
whopping tax increase may be
in the works, or chopping of
employees and services, if
more money isn't forthcoming
from Ontario.
Seaforth is also in the midst
of restructuring discussions
with the towns and townships
of Huron County. Where a
local museum would fit in
with a restructured
municipality isn't clear either.
LOCAL IDENTITY
"Seaforth's identity is in
danger of being swept under
the carpet so we must act
now.' said Mayor Dave Scott,
who is in favour of a museum,
and an original member of the
local history committee.
At the moment the museum
committee has its eye on three
rooms on the second floor of
Town Hall.
In the most expensive of the
four break-even• options
presented by Johnston and
Spittal last week. annual
expenditures and revenues of
$22.000 are projected for a
local museum. Under
expenditures in this option,
contract services at $10,000
and salaries of $4.000 would
eat up the biggest hunks. It
assumes an annual attendance
of 5.000 with admissions at
maybe $1 each, but the
municipal grant of $12,000 is
the largest chunk of projected
revenues.
In the least -expensive of the
operating options presented
to council, expenditures and
revenues of $10,000 are
projected.
"We need the kick start of
space and money," Spittal
said. He said a prominent
historian recently asked: Who.
killed Canadian history?
Spittal suggested a local
museum would at least help
make Seaforth's past more
alive.
'Coun. Mike Hak asked the
most pointed questions. such
as: Do we have the space and
commitment?
Councillors also raised
questions concerning
accessibility and security, on
top of if whether or not it is
affordable, especially at this
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