Clinton News-Record, 1976-01-22, Page 1.JANUARY
13 32 21. 19 .— 15
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19 28 -7 33 14
Snow - 23" Snow - 9"
fte c-25 years of service to the public, the Clinton Eaton's catelogue store will
he closing. in May, along with all the other Eaton's mail order stores in Canada.
,fie Eaton's catalogue was part of every home, ending another tradition in
*rat Huron County. (News -Record photo)
Eaton's order office in Clinton, 'with
tee time help and one full time
ployee, will be closing its doors for
w. sometime in May, along with all
er Eatons order offices in Canada.
The Clinton outlet began 25 years ago,
hen Mrs. Edna Fulford went to Toronto
'ask Eatons to move in to Clinton.
"It took a lot to get it here. I had to
swer all sorts of questions and then
aton's had to check into all the facts,
)tiding me. Clinton finally got the
ore and I managed it for 15 years."
The closing of Eaton's entire order
ff ices means 4,500 regular and 4,500
trt part time staff will be out of work
rossCanada.
The Eaton's catalogue started in 1884
l ezt Eaton'sfounder, Timothy Eaton of
irkton in Huron County, got several
ail orders as the result of an ad-
ertising booklet he distributed at the
oronto Industrial Exhibition,
rerunner of the Canadian National
hibition.
Eaton's has about 450 outlets Canada-
ide. Simpsons, which entered the
talogue sales business six years later
1890, has 600.
The Eaton's catalogue thrived when
vast distances separated the custoner
from Eaton's. But the growing number
of retail • stores, (62) in traditional
catalogue markets cut sales.
The displaced employees are to be
given 16 weeks notice. Severance pay of
$13 million will be paid, an average of
more .than $3,000 an employee for those
with more than a year of, service.
The company said it Was liberalizing
its early-retirement benefits. Pensions
are to be retained and all the employee
contributions and company con-
tributions are fully funded.
The spring and summer catalogue is
now being issued and two new books will
be issued later in the spring. But the
operation w nd when the catalogues
expire and he balance of the inventory
is sold.
WilmaOke
A budget -of 8,970 for the Vanastra
Day Care Centre at approved for 1976
by Tuckersmith ownship Council
Tuesday night.
Robin Gates, who was Wile Day Care
Board last year,presenteche budget to
council.
Ile said that if the Day Care Centre
could maintain an enrolment of 24
children for 1976, the deficit would be
held at $1.554 for the township to pay.
The provincial government would pick
up_ the other. 80 percent of the deficit,
amounting to $6,270.
Karen McEwing, supervisor of . the
Centre, said there are 24 part time
children enrolled at the present time.
A ten percent increase in salaries for
the three employees was approved
raising the supervisor's salary to $8,800,
the assistant's to $7,700 and the teacher's
salary to $6,2 01 '
The proposed benefits for the three
employees were turned down when
council agreed the Centre employees
would have the same benefits as other
township employees -- vacation time of
two weeks after one year's service up to
1-0 years and sick leave of one day a
month.
Council does not pay OHIP fees and
frowned on paying for courses taken by
Day Care employees to upgrade their
training.
Alarmed by a very large deficit in
recreation costs at Vanastra, %Counci1
conditionally accepted a proposed
Recreation, Parks and Community
Centre budget of $115,380 and requiring
that advertising and administrative
expenses be pared as "the budget seems
to be over optimistic". Council will ask
for an accounting of the receipts and
expenditures for recreation every three
months.
Council refused to divulge the amount
of the Vanastra recreation deficit to the
Paper marks milestone
By Jim Fitzgerald
We have a new national pastime
round here as of late but it's not a very
opular one though'. It seems we spend a
reat deal of our time shovelling snow
nd trying to get automobiles running.
+++
Last Saturday and Sunday morning
really weeded out the cars that either
needed a tune-up or a new battery or
th as the record low temperatures on
ose .two days left many a motorist
rsingtheir steel hulks and left many a
mile on the face of the local tow truck
arms and garages. And no wonder,
facially, the temperature here sank to -
C (.,28 F) early Sunday morning and
ven the mercury in the thermometer
treated into its bulb seeking warmth.
• The tenaperature set an all-time .
ecord low for the date and is the coldest
or a whole winter in some 10 years, as
ear as we can figure. Depending on
here you live in this no man's land,
pmewhere between four and five feet of
ow has been dumped on us so far this
winter, and we still have two months left
until spring!
+++
. Don't despair, though. several local
stores report that the first shipments of
garden seeds have arrived so it won't be
long.
+++
And if the snow and cold weren't
enough, another .crises has hit the
Clinton area, a toilet tissues shortage
due tb that prolonged strike by the pulp
and paper workers, which reminds us of
that tittle poem: r .
"tIandle this with special care,
It seems we ain't got none to spare.
if everyone is paper hogs.
Weil have to go back to catalogues.'.
And with Eatons closing down their
;girder stores. there won't be too many
Catalogues around + eithe
+ r.
But the shortage of that necessary
;poems temporary, we are told. unlike
the bot ntious snow crop which is a boon
totie snowrnobilers and the Winter
Carnival Committee who will meet one
;ore time, next Wednesday at 8 p.m. in
the arena. to wrap up the final plans for
he Carnival which starts next weekend.
This edition of the News -Record
marks another milestone for the News -
Record, as it is the first edition to be
printed on a brand new press at Signal--
Star
ignalStar Publishing in Goderich.
Instead of being limited to only 16
pages per section on the old press, the
new web offset press, nearly two storeys
high, can print up to 32 pages in one pass,
and up to 24 pages in one section.
Should the News -Record be more than
24 pages. the press can also print the
extra pages as a separate section and
4
press. and Wilfred Schneider and Harold
Whitlock, who presented the budget,
were careful not to reveal figures to the
press when they handed copies to council
members.
In otherbusiness of the •meeting,
Which continued past 1 a.m. Wednesday,
council received a delegation of
ratepayers who attended to discuss the
proposed construction of the Sinclair
Drain. They were Michael Connolly,
Irvine Ferris, Ron McGregor, Bob
McGregor and Eli Denys and his son.
Engineer Henry Uderstadt was present
at the meeting to answer questions.
After Council accepted the engineer's
report on the drain, Court .of Revision
was set for February 17.
Passed for payment were accounts
totalling $1,083.24- for labour costs for
construction at the Vanastra Recreation
Centre. Reeve Elgin Thompson reported
construction should be completed at the
end of the month.'
Council agreed. it would be willing to
pick. up 71A percent of the deficit per unit
occupied by a former Tuckersmith
resident in the proposed new subsidized
senior citizen's apartment to be built in
Seaforth.
The ministry of transportation and
communications'informed council it will
approve subsidy for 1976 of $51,000 for
road maintenance and $134,000 for
construction of a bridge.
Included in this week's edition of
the Clinton News -Record is a
special edition marking the Cen-
tennial year in Clinton.
Composed of highlights in words
and pictures from the past year's
events, the edition is a wrap-up
look at a very busy year in this
area.
The publication of the edition
was delayed several weeks
because of a lack of a dependable
newsprint supply, but an adequate
supply this week enables us to
bring this special edition to our
readers.
The trouble with such an edition
is not, what was in, but what was
left out. No edition of this kind can
hope to review all the hundreds of
events that have occurred in
Clinton and area in one year, so we
have skimmed off the cream of the
events and pictures, as it were.
Researched by Bev Clark of the
News -Record staff, the edition
required dozens of hours of reading
and compiling to make a summary
of events that would '".appeal to
everyone.
A few extra, copies are available
at the News --.Record, but supplies
are limited. s.
automatically collate them, unlike the
old press, which had to be "stuffed" by
hand by a mailing crew.
The new press also enables the Signal -
Star to more easily use color on their
pages when requested by customers.
Signal -Star publishes the Clinton
News -record. the Goderich Signal -Star
and the Kincardine News. They also
print some 24 other publications at their
modern, central web offset plant on
Highway 21, south•of Goderich, including
most papers in Huron County.
The Clinton Kinsmen Raceway will be
in operation again this year.
Racing will begin July 4, and will
continue until the last.Sunday in Sep-
tember, making a total of 13 programs.
the same as last year.
One change has been made so far. The
post time has been moved ahead to 1
p.m. Last year post time was 2 p.m.
The Kinsmen state that in 1975 the
wagering dropped. A total of $791,264
was bet on the 13 programs, or an
average bet of 860,866 per program,
compared to a total of $834,090 bet on the
13 programs in 1974.
Attendance also dropped in 1975, with
only 15,912 persons going through the
gates, for an average of 1,223persons
per program.
in 19741 20,815 persons, an average of
1,601 per program, went to the races.
Several factors contributed to the
decline in betting and attendance for
1976; K insmen say.
One of the worst factors was the
weather, which dogged the raceway for
over half of the meet.
Rainy, cool Sundays in August and
September scared tiff many patrons.
following a record breaking July at the
track, which runs only in the summer.
Flamboro Raceway near Hamilton
was also blamed for siphoning off many
customers. in August.
By Bev Clark
The Huronview News, a
quarterly newspaper put out
by the residents of the Huron
County Home for the aged, is
more than just a regular
paper.
"It is a means of reaching
out to more people. Putting
out; the paper gives the
residents and staff a chance
to contribute either their own
stories, or else an old-time
favorite of theirs. It is a
sharing thing, end it brings
all of us closer together," said
the paper's editor, Mrs. Betty
Scratch.
Mrs. Scratch came to
Huronview in 1974, at which
time past editor of the
Huronview News. Henry
Leishman, asked her to take
over the post. Mr. Leishman
had been editor for many
-years, but due to failing
health, had stopped editing
the paper in 1972.
Mrs. Scratch had worked
on a newspaper before. She
began with the London
Advertiser in 1922 where she
continued to be the Social
Page editor until she married
in 1928.
"Back then I didn't need
Women's Lib. I often worked
with 15 or 16 men and they
didn't treat me ani dif-
ferently. We were equals,"
said Mrs. Scratch.
The paper is funded by a
Federal government "New
Horizons" grant, created by
the Department of Health and
Welfare to assist ' senior
continued on page 15
There's no fun like snow
The curse of the motorists is a blessing to the children as
these youngsters in Bayfield proved last week with an In-
tricate snow fort and tunnels in the Village. With school
cancelled because of the bad roads, they had plenty of time
County council backsrnotion asking
to restgn over ciostng
eat minister
to build the fort. Left to right are Robbie Chapman, Darin
1 elford, David Telford, and Andrew Couper. Over four feet
of snow has fallen on the area this winter so far, and there's
still two months to go! (photo by Milvena Erickson)
Huron County Council
endorsed a resolution calling
for the resignation of Ontario -
Health Minister Frank Miller
and his top advisory staff if -
they do not reconsider their
decision to close the Goderich
Psychiatric Hospital.
Council endorsed the
resolution from the medical
staff of Alexandra " Marine
and General Hospital,
Goderich, that said the
ministerial decision to close
GPH was without con-
sultation of local health
professionals and endangered
total psychiatric health care
in the county. The resolution
called the government action
a threat to the people's rights
of adequate health care.
The medical staff of AM
and G made three recom-
mendations that called for a
reversal on the closure
decision; a withdrawal of
plans for closure of general
hospital beds in Huron County
and that the Minister and his
staff commit themselves to
decision by consultation with
representatives at local
levels. Failing action on these
recommendations the
Minister and his institutional
advisors were requested to
resign immediately.
Some councillors argued
that the final paragraph of
the resolution was a bit
drastic and that it be deleted
or altered. Health Committee
chairman. Ed Oddleifson of
Bayfield. argued that the
government used shock
tactics against the people and
it was only fair that they use
shock tactics against the
government.
"The closure was without
precedent and there is no
other hospital supplying
services- like GPH,"
Oddleifson said. "It was a
complete surprise` and they
didn't let anyone know.'
Goderich Reeve Stan Profit
said that council shouldn't be
worried about "hurting
Miller's feelings.
"We are concerned about
stepping on people's toes but
it shouldn't be the case." he
said. "The Government was
not cblicerned about the
feelings of the people in
Huron County." -
Huron County Medical
Officer at Health. Dr. Frank
Mills viewed the govern-
ment's decision as a symptom
of what is to come in health
care.
"We go from crisis to crisis
in health care in Ontario," he
said. "The closure of the
Psychiatric Hospital will
create a vacuum."
Ur. Mrlis told the coun-
cillors that it would be dif-
ficult to get patients admitted
for psychiatric care from a
distance considering that
GPH reaches every corner of
the County. He added that
general hospitals in Huron
County would likely come
under close scrutiny by the
government and it was his
understanding that 97 beds in
county hospitals would be cut.
Work began in December
on a new $300,000 'wing for
Alexandra Marine and
Gereral Hospital in Goderich
and Dr. Mills expressed
concern for the life of the new
wing and explained that
people would have to deal
with many possibilities and
changes -in health care.
"Unless we take a strong
stand now we will suffer -and
the system will deteriorate."
he said. "Our health is most
important and we need the
facility and we need mental
health pare."
Dr. Mills said only the
provincial government is
concerned about the health
care costs. Ile explained the
government wants an $80
million reduction in health
care costs this year and 8150
million next year. Ile claimed
that such pevere ,restraint
»+nares could be eliminated
if there was d 82 user charge
on OHIP which would amount
to 8100 million a year.
Council also agreed to
support the efforts o!
Goderich town council in
seeking an injunction to stop
the closing of the GPH.
In other council business
the striking committee
presented its report selecting
the chairman and members
of the ten committees of
,cottnty council.
The committees and their
chairman include; Roads,
W ingham Reeve Joseph
Kerr: Management of
Huronview, Hoyvick deputy -
reeve. Harvey McMichael;
Health, Bayfield reeve, Ed
Oddleifson: Library. Exeter
deputy -reeve Thomas
MacMillan: Property,
Hensall reeve John Baker;
Planning. Stephen reeve,
Cecil Desjardine;
Development. Clinton deputy -
reeve Frank cook;
Executive. McKillop reeve,
Allan Campbell; Social
Services. Grey reeve. Roy
Williamson: and Land
Division, Clayton Laithwaite,
appointed member from
Goderich Township.
Each chairman was ap.
pointed for a period of one
year. •