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Times-Advocate, 1987-01-28, Page 1J 60Q PER COPY Some ducats remain for sportsmen's event A number of tickets are still available for the 14th edition of the Exeter Lions Sportsmen's Dinner. A lineup of top notch celebrities and speakers has been confirmed to assure those in attendance will spend an interesting and entertaining even- ing on Tuesday; February 3 at the South Huron Rec Centre. The headline speaking role will be shared by Danny Gallivan and Mar- ty Springstead. Gallivan will be well remembered as the long-time voice of the Montreal Canadfens on television and Springstead enjoyed a colourful career as an American league baseball umpire and now serves the league in a supervisory capacity. The world of hockey will also be represented by former Toronto Maple Leaf captain Darryl Sittter. He will be joined by two members of the current Canadian junior hockey team which almost won a medal in Europe recent- ly. They are Seaforth native Dave Mcllwain of the North Bay Centen- nials and Brendon Shanahan of the London Knights. Representing the sport of football will be all -Canadian running back Blake Marshall of the University of Western Ontario Mustangs and Cleveland Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome. Olympic swimming star Dave West will also be here along with Exeter's own Al McLean who holds a double black belt in jujitsu and is a world class judge. In additon to Springstead, the baseball scene will be represented by Toronto Blue Jays' left handed pit- cher Jimmy Key. The master of ceremonies will be floss Maxwell of St. Thomas. He has handled this chore very capably in previous years. One of the most important persons Please turn to page 3 Riddell's driver dies Earl Datars of Dashwood, a neighbor, friend and driver for Agriculture Minister Jack Riddell, was found dead in his hotel room in Orillia early Saturday. Death was from natural causes. Riddell said Datars, 55, had been complaining recently about bouts of indigestion. Despite Riddell's urging that he see a doctor, Deters had in- sisted Friday he was feeling fine and FIRST BABY ARRIVES — Craig Andrew Merner was the first baby to .be born at South Huron Hospital in 1987. Andrew, weighing in at nine pounds, eight ounces istheson of Allan and Leanne Merrier, - - RR 1, Hay. He arrived at 6:48 a.m., Thursday. The Merner s have one other son, Timothy at 18 months. T -A photo Seek public Despite hazardous driving condi- toins at times during the winter's first major storm in this area on Friday and Saturday, area drivers handled conditions very well. Exeter OPP report there were no collisions investigated during those two days. The OPP are asking the public for assistance in locating vehicles involv- ed in two recent hit and run incidents. One of those occurred on Tuesday at 5:55 p.m., when a vehicle driven by Karen Snow, Exeter, was forced off Highway 83 about one km. west of concession 2-3 in Usborne. Snow's vehicle rolled oyer in the north ditch -and -sustained damage of $2,000. The driver escaped injury. The unknown vehicle, which failed to stop, is thought to be a blue, late model car, possibly a Ford. It may have damage to the right side. Police are also seeking information regarding a hit and run in Hensall on assistance January 6. The suspect vehicle is believed to be a 1983-85 Buick, dark green, with damage to the right side. It smashed into a parked vehicle on Highway 84 in Hensel!. The only other collision of the past week occurred last Sunday at 8:40 a.m., when a vehicle driven by Paul Glavin, RR 2 Crediton, skidded into a stop sign at the junction of County Road 21 and Stephen concession 2-3. There was no damage to the vehicle and the road sign was knocked down. During the week, the local detach- ment officers responded to 29 general occurrences. There were 29 charged under the Highway Traffic Act, two under the Motorized Snow Vehicle Aet,-one under the Liquor_Licence Act and one under the Canadian Automobile Insurance Act. Three drivers were given 12 -hour licence suspensions after failing roadside Alert tests under the R.I.D.E. program. Three crashes in town Three collisions were investigated by the Exeter police department this week, none of which resulted in any injuries. The first was on Tuesday at the parking lot at MacLean's Home Hardware, Main St. N: Drivers in- volved were Paul Masse, Dashwood. and Edward Roberts, Kippen. Masse was backing from a parking spot, while Roberts:was driving through the lot when they collided. Damage was $150. On Wednesday, a vehicle driven by Leslie MacDonald, Crediton, was tur- ning left onto Huron from Main when the vehicle skidded on the icy road and hit a pole at the intersection. Damage in that one was $600. The other crash was on Saturday at the intersection of Andrew and Huron St. Fred Delbridge, RR 1 Woodham,' was turing right onto Huron from An- drew when his vehicle collided with one proceeding west on Huron. The tatter was operated by Doug Brooks, London. Damage was set at $2,100. During the week, there were five charged under the Highway Traffic Act and three under the Liquor Licence Act. drove the minister to appointments in London and then to the Liberal gathering at nearby Geneva Park on Lake Couchiching. He returned to the Orillia hotel where he was found dead by a maid. "Earl was_a_dedicated person, always on time," Riddell said. Datars had served as his driver since the Huron -Middlesex MPP was appointed to cabinet in June, 1985. Ames INN Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Fifteenth Year MASCOT FOR SKATERS — Janelle Hern is the mascot for the Ex- eter junior precision skating team. She is shown above _with team members Kelly Hern and Dawn McAdams. T -A photo dvoc & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, January 28, 1987 Price Per Copy 60 Cents Policy on school closing is to err on safety side To close or not to close'' That is the question faced by school officials when a storm like Friday's hits this area. Some fortunate souls may get up, take one horrified glance out of their frost -encrusted window and climb back into bed for an extra 40 winks. For others - school principals. school - bus - operators, road - superintendents and the police - the attack by a winter storm is a call to action. The primaryconcern of all is to make a decision in the best interests of students attending local schools in the public and separate system. No dne wants a reenactment of the infamous storm of 1971 which strand- ed many teachers and their students in various facilities for up to three days. ( Some Huron County schools still proudly display the plaques awarded for surviving that endurance testi I. Usborne okay appointments' Sandra Strang has officially been named clerk -treasurer by Usborne Township council at .their first meeting of the new year. Mrs. Strang has been acting in that capacity for some time. - Couhcil also named Mary Ellen Greb as deputy -clerk. She was previously listed as office assistant. Building inspector Herman VanWeiren presented his annual report, showing that the value of building permits issued in the township during 1986 was $683,000. Two permits were issued in December at a value of $31,000. In other business at their meeting of 1987, council: Decided to call tenders for a com- plete 1987 municipal insurance package. Commenced salary negotiations with staff members. Received an energy audit/feasibili- ty study from W. E. Kelley & Associates. Ltd. concerning the upgrading of the existing township garage and approved forwarding an application for a technical assistance grant. Approved purchase of a 16 -inch chain saw for the road department and rental of a larger saw for cutting trees when required. ENJOYING POKER RALLY Murray Traquair, Walt Mcdonald, Doug Traquair, Bob Traquair, Doreen Traquair and Mono Campbell were among the many participating in Sunday's Pineridge snowmobile club poker rally. T -A photo Paul Carroll, superintendent of operations . for the Huron County board of education. oversees schools scattered across the county from Lake) furor] to Wroxeter. As one part of the county could be experiencing a blizzard while another section is bask- ing in sunshine with not snowflake in sight. each principal is given autonomy to make the decision to close his or her school because of dangerous weather conditions. The principals rely heavily on the advice of the school bus operators. Barry Voting. supervises the 28 Murphy buses serving six local schools. He listened to Thursday night's weather report and eyed his falling barometer before going to bed. He was up at 4:00 a.m. Friday morn- ing, and out in thestorm by 5:30 to assess driving conditions in Goderich and Tuckersmith townships. Visibili- ty was almost zero, and the roads were filling in with drifting snow. Young returned home and began contacting principals to inform thein no Murphy bus would be running that day. The bus,operators working direct- ly for the school board came to the same conclusion. Both private and public bus lines keep in close touch with MTC., the police and township road superintendents, who are also vital links in the safety chain. Once the_principals receive word their buses aren't running. they plug' into their own network. The principals of Exeter, Osborne, McCurdy. Stephen. Zurich. Hensall and Huron Centennial share information among themselves. When a decision to close is made before 7:00 a.m. this is pass- ed on to the contact person designated to notify the radio stations. This year Sl1DIIS principal, Bruce Shaw has that responsibility. f Individual princ- pals are responsible for relaying deci- sions made after the deadline. ► Besides passing on information. Shaw must also decide what to do about South Huron. as 75 percent of that high school's student population is transported by bus. During the weekend's storm, Shaw was on the phone shortly,after 6:00 a.m. conferring with Charterways coordinator Ken Logan, who in turn 'had been in' touch with the road superintendents in Stephen and Usborne townships. Shaw is certain no prankster could again'close South Huron with a hoax call to CFPL, as happened once before he was appointed SHDHS prin- cipal. Shaw and his contact, CFPL newsman Dean Chevalier. went to school together and are longtime friends. - Parents of public school students were notified in December of shut- down procedures in case of, storms. and told which radio stations would broadcast news of school closures. A similar system is in place with the Huron -Perth Separate School board. Benevolent Santa Claus Santa Claus continues to be a ma• jbr contributor to the Canadian Cancer Society. The Santa Claus in this case is Ex- eter's Greg Pfaff. He recently turn- ed over a donation of $950 to Exeter branch treasurer, Joyce Black. - Each year Pfaff donates all receipts he receives from acting as Santa's helper at parties in the area during the festive season. This year's donation was the largest ever from the busy elf. "If we err, it's on the side of sale- • ty said transportation supervisor Jack Lane. "The storm of '71 taught us -a lot of lessons in a hurry. especial-. ly not to take chances." Main authority for cancelling bu:, service to the separate schools is given to the bus operators. The deci- sion not to -run the buses is passed on to one principal and he relays the message to fellow principals in his Please turn to page 3 GREAT SKIING DAY Amy Hawley and Tanya Harmon day was an ideal day for skiing in the area of the South Centre. found Sun - Huron Rec T -A photo Stephen's grant up just over one percent The road expenditure allocation for the year 1987 for the township of Stephen has been received .from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications. It calls for grants of $237.200 based .on anticipated expenditures of the road department of $474,400. The grant allocation is up $2,700 from 1986. Application is being made for the .balance of the grant for the year just concluded. Council received applications from the Dashwood and Huron Park fire departments for grants and pur- chases under the Joint Emergency Plan Program in the amount of $11,000. The requests were made by Dashwood chief Jim Hoffman and Dave McDonald, the Huron Park fire chief. The chiefs were asked to have their 1987 budgets in by February 10. Reeve Tom Tomes and clerk Wilmer Wein were authorized to sign an agreement with the pntario Ministry of the Environment regar- ding a Waste Management Improve- ment Program. - The township's involvement in this program will be in finding an alter- native location for a landfill site to replace the present site on Concession 14 which is slated for closing in a cou- ple of years. Former reeve Cecil Desjardine at- tended Tuesday's meeting of council to review the just completed year's work of the Ausable-Bayfield Conser- vation Authority. He continues to be the Stephen -representative on the authority. - No objections were voiced on a town of Exeter zoning amendment for part of Lot 512. Plan :376 and an of- ficial plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendment for Lots 6 to 10, Lake Road East Concession in the township of Bosanquet. Memberships were renewed in the Ontario Building Officials Association and the Ontario Municipal Water Association. Refuse '- bail for suspect A 31 -year-old Toronto man, Lloyd Brooks, remains in custody in Strat- ford jail on charges arising from an incident at the Exeter police station on January 18. Brooks was charged with the at- tempted murder of Sgt. Kevin Short after the latter was injured while questioning the accused over a breakin at Exeter Electric. In addition, Brooks faces charges of break, enter and theft, possession of stolen property, assault of Constable - Brad Sadler, assault of Sgt. Short, in- tent to escape custody, mischief to the office and equipment, and assault causing bodily harm by trying to suf- focate Sgt. Short. Brooks appeared"in Goderich court • for bail hearing on Wednesday and bail was denied. He is scheduled to appear in Exeter court this week.