Huron Expositor, 2006-07-19, Page 8Page 8 July 19, 2006 • The Huron Expositor
News
,
Beaman remembers summer of '59 as time
of innocence lost for children of Clinton airforce base
Cheryl Heath
The summer of '59 was a
surreal one for the children
of Royal Canadian Air Force
Base Clinton.
Catherine Beaman said
she believes now as she did
then that the authorities got
the wrong guy.
"I've known Steven since
he was eight years old, he
didn't do this," she told
reporters following her
colourful representation of
life as an air force child in
the '50s at Truscott's long-
awaited Ontario Court of
Appeal hearing.
Beaman said that fateful
summer changed everything
for children of that era.
"Our innocence was lost,"
she said. "At the time, I did-
n't know what rape was ...
(but I found out). I •knew
Lynne was not coming
home."
From the murder of her
friend Lynne to the soon
thereafter arrest of her
friend ` Steven, the months
between school's end at A.V.
M. Hugh Gampbell school
and that September were
cluttered with memories she
NOTICE OF NOMINATION FOR OFFICE
MUNICIPAL ELECTION 2006
•
NOTICE is hereby given to the Municipal Electors of the Municipality of Central
Huron that Nominations for the following offices:
REEVE 1 elected at, large
DEPUTY REEVE 1 elected at large
COUNCILLOR -- EAST WARD 3 to be elected
(East Ward comprised of the former Town of Clinton and Hullett Township in their entirety)
COUNCILLOR— WEST WARD 3 to be elected
(West Ward comprised of the former Goderich Township in its entirety)
may be made by completing and filing in the office of the Clerk, 23 Albert Street,
Clinton, ON, nominations on the prescribed form. Such nomination papers must be
accompanied by the prescribed nomination filing fee of $200.00 for the position of Reeve
and $100.00 for the positions of Deputy Reeve and Councillor. The filing fee is payable
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A nomination must be signed by the candidate and may be filed in person or by an agent
during regular business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. up to September 28, 2006 and on
`Nomination.Day' September 29, 2006 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
No person who proposes to be a candidate may solicit or accept contributions for election
purposes; or incur expenses, until that person's nomination has been filed. A nomination
must be certified by the Clerk, or designate, before such person becomes a certified
candidate for the office for which.they are nominated.
In the event there is an insufficient number of certified candidates to fill all positions
available, nominations will be reopened for the vacant positions only on Wednesday,
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requirements, if required, may be filed in the office of the Clerk.
Electors are hereby given notice that if a greater number of candidates are certified than
are required to fill the said offices; an election will be held. Voting Day will be Monday,
November 13, 2006.
DATED THIS 14th DAY OF JULY 2006.
Richard Harding, Clerk
Municipal Office, 23 Albert Street
CLINTON, ON, NOM 1L0
(519) 482-3997
Cheryl Heath photo
Catherine Beaman talks to reporters outside the courtroom at
the recent Steven Truscott hearings in Toronto.
wished she'd never had.
"It was a very surreal
summer. It was very
strange," she said.
Indeed, Beaman's ten-
der memories of hanging
out at the Red and White
and holding barbecues at
the Lawson farm are jux-
taposed against hearing
Lynne had been raped
and murdered and learn-
ing her friend Steven
would be hanged for it.
"Lynne was my friend, I
miss her," said Beaman
in an interview with
reporters following her
testimony at the Ontario
Court of Appeal.
She recalled that at the
time, students were sure
Truscott's name would
be cleared.
"I did not believe he
could do that. We all
thought he'd be coming
home," she said.
Beaman said though life
went on in the years fol-
lowing the summer of
1959, there have been
many incidents over the
years that brought mem-
ories flooding back.
Most recently, said
Beaman, she was upset
to learn the Attorney
General's Office has
ordered the exhumation
of Lynne's remains
when, Beaman thought,
she should be allowed to
rest.
Beaman . also told
reporters that she is a firm
believer in Truscott's inno-
cence.
"None of us thought he did
it," she said, adding the
trauma she felt about
Lynne's death doubled when
Steven was sentenced to be
'hanged.
"We all cried," she said,
noting she remembers ask-
ing her mother what
"clemency" meant after
Truscott was sentenced to
hang.
Today, said Beaman, the
order of the day needs to be
justice.
"Steve deserves justice,
and so does Lynne" she said.
Beaman told reporters she
believes the real perpetrator
knew Lynne and that he
"put her body where it could
be found."
In a short conversation
with The News -Record fol-
lowing the scrum, Beaman
expressed confidence that
Truscott's name will be
cleared in connection to
Lynne's death.
She noted she continues to
visit Clinton when she can,
and had just visited the
area on the Monday before
she testified.