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Clinton News-Record, 1985-08-07, Page 1ST 7,,1985 " 50 CENTS Town Hall future is under study Alcohol can be a potential killer • • EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is the first in a three part series on alcohol. "Do me this favor ... if you drink, don't drive, I've seen too many bodies that look like water." The strong statement didn't end there. "Don't take my wife or someone else in my family; go alone: If you must drink and drive don't take someone in the car with you." These off the cuff comments carne from thew police chief of Listowel to a group of students at the local high school. He was part of a panel of professionals the school's guidance department brought in during a 'two-week program on health and lifestyles in the 80's. However, he wasn't the .only one to bring an important message. Some very powerful words were spoken by a young man who had come from within the students' own ranks. He had been raised in town and was very popular as an athlete and eventually as coach of the town's Junior B hockey team: "Sporting activities were extremely im- portant to me," said the young man who will remain nameless for this article. "I've done it all. I've been drinking with people in the car going 100 miles an hour." He recalled times spent drinking with friends, times that ended up " being all- •nighters. He carried this on from his high school days to his married days. "I've got a family," he says quietly. "'I want to make sure that 'everything goes well with that family." He eventually got caught and charged with impaired driving during his tenure as coach. The small town . buzzed with the news. "What affected' me was the tremendous amount of guilt and remorse." He openly admitted he cannot drink and admits the hardest.thing for him is to be in control of what is happening while he is drinking. If he and some friends were con- sidering going to a neighbouring town, the call went out or haeg.4.,,the response came that the beer was available and then it was okay to go to the town. Nothing could be done without alcohol. .` Alcoholism is a disease of the body, the mind. It destroys certain things," he said. "Nothing restricts me now, it's very inn - portant that you remember that." He asked the students to be aware of how damaging alcohol is to them. . Another young man, a university student now, had grown up in town and he too was respected as an athlete. At 17 he went to Ot- tawa to play hockey and at one point he was Called to a tryout camp for the NHL hockey team the Pittsburgh Penguins. "Drinking `hurt my chances to make `hockey my professional career," he said. He wasn't alone, however. Others also lost chances. at professional hockey careers. because of booze. Drinking wasn't and isn't limited to the male domain. One young woman from Listowel who is now in university said she felt a lot of pressure to drink in high school. "Vodka doesn't smell, so I drank a lot of orange juice," she said. She was involved in heavy drinking at the beginning of her university days, but after some personal, scary experiences, she has joined a club called BACCUS - Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning University Students. `I know now how to have fun without booze. Excessive drinking scares me." Nick Warns, one of the school's guidance personnel responsible for putting the pro- gram together said the comments made by the former students are fairly typical of what he calls small town Ontario. "These towns are loaded with kids that are bored. The bright lights of the city are appealing. The kids make their own excite- ment." The annual book sale, held in conjrinction with Clinton's Sidewalk Sales, always attracts a large crowd and this year was no excep- tion. People stood waiting for the 10 .a.m. opening and within an hour many books and magazines were sold. Jessica and Jason Baker were among some of the younger shoppers in search of bargain reading material. (,Shelley McPhee photo) ree die in police chase KINLOSS - A 17 -year old Belgrave teenager, her 16 -year-old friend and a Kin- cardine OPP constable were killed on August 3 in a fiery crash, the result of a high speed police chase. Dead are Helen Wattam, 17 of Belgrave; Christine Lindsay, 16 of Honeywood and Constable Donald Craig Campbell, 24 of Kin- cardine. The fatal accident occurred when an OPP 'cruiser burst into flames after it was hit broadside by a car being chased by another cruiser on Highway 9 west of Walkerton, shortly after midnight on August 3. The chase began when an OPP officer in Wingham tried to stop a car on Highway 4, north 'of Wingham. The car continued, travellinewest on Highway 9 toward Kin- cardine and two cruisers were dispatched from the OPP detachment there. Constables William O'Sullivan and Campbell were travelling in one cruiser, Constable George Ling inthe other. - Although investigations into the cause of the accident continues, OPP Constable Gary Gaeler of Mount Forest reported to the media that it appeared that the Kincardine officers were attempting to use their cruisers to slow down the car being pursued. The idea, he said, was to box the car between the two police cars to gain control. of its speed. Constable Ling had made a U-turn to get behind the car, and it appears that Con- stables Campbell and O'Sullivan were in the process of turning on the highway so they could get in front of it. • Investigators are trying to determine if Constable O'Sullivan was making a U-turn or if the car was intended as a road block. The cruiser was a new model, with flashing lights built in to the front grille, rather than on the roof rack. The driver of the cruiser, Constable O'Sullivan, 28, suffered pelvic and spinal in- juries and is being treated at London's University Hospital. The two teenage girls who were killed were travelling in a car driven by Kevin Bruce Koehler, 20 of RR 5, Brussels. He received internal injuries and was reported to be in fair condition in University Hospital. Another passenger, a cousin of Wattam, Tammy Jean Downey, 12, of Badjeros, received minor facial injuries and was taken to Bruce County General Hospital in Walkerton. The four young people were' returning hgtne from a party that followed a wedding rehearsal, held earlier in the -evening. Wat- tam was to have been married on Saturday to Travis Koehler at the Bluevale United Church. Lindsay was to have been the maid of honor. The bridegroom who had left the party in his pick up truck, arrived on the scene moments after the accident. accident. By Shelley McPhee BAYFIELD - A fact finding committee will be set up to study the future of the 103 - year old Bayfield Town Hall. The building has been condemned by the Bayfield Fire Department. It has been estimated that repairs and renovations could cost in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $75,000. The future of the old town hall was the main topic of discussion at the annual meeting of the Bayfield Ratepayers' Association, held on August 3. After a lengthy debate, members gave the Associa- tion;eXecutive the go-ahead to form a fact finding committee. . The committee will determine the extent of repairs needed to upgrade the building, the costs and the possible future uses, of the facility. The building was condemned by the Bayfield Fire Department in April 1984, but was given partial reprieve for summer use only until 1986. The fire report cited eight main areas of concern including: main floor in need of repair; no steps to rear exits; one exit bolted shut; furniture and trash in passage to right of stage; no exit or emergency lighting behind stage; no railing at bottom of stairs; narrow exits behind stage; wood stove pipe unsafe. Brigadier Fred Clift, 1985 president of the Ratepayers' Association called' the pro- blems "soluable and not td expensive." He suggested that the $50,000 to $75,000 repair estimates were too high and the work could. be done for a few thousand dollars. Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston pointed out, "It's not a question of going down there (to the `town hall) with a hammer, a crow bar and a pound of nails. That's no solu- tion." He justified the cost estimates by explain- ing that the furnace must be replaced, the walls must be insulated, new fire exits are needed, fire retardant dry wall must be in- stalled and a new roof would be required. He ' noted that insulating the walls would cause structural changes in the building and the "building inspector would say a new robf is required." Brigadier Clift said that the Ratepayers' executive had recommended summer use only of the building. "It should be quite apparent that winter use of that town hall is going to be an expen- sive thing." He said that the executive had studied the problem and heard suggestions "from knocking the building down, putting a padlock on the door, using it for theatre or a museum." The favored suggestion so far has been the museum proposal, featuring Bayfield ar- tifacts and operated on a voluntary basis. Ratepayer Rev. George Youmatoff said he was in favor of preserving the town hall but he offered Warnings about the museum use, concerning staffing, maintenance and cleaning. He reminded the crowd at the meeting, "We've got a lot of important things to spend money on (in the Village of Bayfield)." He further noted that the town hall is a "sacred cow. We have to keep it. I'd like to see it preserved,' but with a lot of common sense. I recommend the only safe way to re- tain it now is to put a padlock on it." - Another ratepayer, Doris Hunter rejected the museum proposal, noting that a great deal of money is already being spent to renovate the Huron Pioneer Museum in Goderich. Mrs. Hunter suggested that the main use of the town hall should be as a public meeting place. She pointed out that the town hall building offers intimacy that other cen- tres can't. The Bayfield Community Centre is too large and the Anglican Parish Hall which is too small, she noted, "We can raise money. We can get the town hall back in shape," she urged. The more than 60 ratepayers who attend- ed the morning meeting applauded Mrs. Hunter's statement and many agreed with Elva Metcalf's comments, "I've lived here. since 1917 and have had great times at the town hall. I'm nostalgic about the town hall, even if you need a road map to get to the washrooms." The washroom addition at the back of the building, and the new vinyl exterior siding are two areas of concern regarding the historical restoration of the building. The Ontario Heritage Society brought in a London architect to study the building, and, according to Brigadier Clift, "what con- demned the place in his mind was the vinyl siding. It's incompatible to a historic building." Mr. Youmatoff, president of the Bayfield Historical Society agree, "They enclosed a sick body in a vinyl shell." The problems with the old Bayfield Town Hall are clearly evident. The solutions aren't as easily determined. The majority of ratepayers at the August 10 meeting indicated that they want the town hall preserved in some fashion. Bayfield Council has indicated that no financial support will be available from village coffers to help finance any repairs. Reeve Johnston has said that the village is facing a heavy slate of capital expenditure projects and the restoration of the town hall is not a priority item. He has also noted that the village already has enough meeting places. Recommendations for the future use of the. Bayfield Town Hall now rests in the hands of the fact finding committee study. Wattam wasthe mother of two children, a 13 -month old girl and a two-month old boy. She is also survived by her parents, Bob and Donna Wattam. Constable Campbell, a Toronto native, is survived by his wife. They were married last September. Funeral services for Wattam and Camp- • bell were held on Monday. Lindsay was buried on Tuesday. One Huron The fire siren goes off and everyone stops what they're doing, wondering if the fire is life threatening or a false alarm. Perhaps it's a grass fire, a chimney fire or a barn fire but any fire can be dangerous despite the cause. Only one Huron County resident lost their life due to a fire. This fatality occurred in the Village of Hensall which suffered nine fires for a loss of $66,103 in 1984. Goderich Township had seven fires caus- ing $195,001 and Tuckersmith Township had only two fires which caused $181,000 damage. A single Bayfield fire caused $40,000 damage and two fires in Blyth caus- ed $18,464 damage. One Clinton fire caused $16,000 damage. McKillop Township had the highest fire loss in Huron County with five fires doing a total of $390,000 damage. Overall, Huron County had 145 fires for a loss of $2,043,122 and one death in 1984. Provincial figures The number of fires in the Province of On- tario were down boy 363 in 1984 but the number of deaths increased by 36. Last year the province had a total of 23,675 fires for a loss of $232,211,304. In 1983, 24,038 fires caus- ed $201,637,296 damage. The 185 deaths occurring due to fire con- sist of 96 men, 51 women and 38 children. In 1983 there were 149 fire deaths with 85 men, 36 women and 28 children. Although the number of fire deaths have County life taken in 1984 fires Including ♦chicles IC;N'TING OBJECT'S Excluding vehicle increased over the past year, they have decreased by 84 since 1980. At that time the Ontario fire death rate was 3.7 per 100,000 population with the 1984 death rate standing at 2.15. In 1983 the death rate was 1.7, the lowest over the five year period. While the cause of the majority of fires is' unknown, it is suspected that 27 per cent of fires, including vehicle fires, are ignited by mechanical or electrical failure. Fourteen per cent are caused by the misuse of ignited material, 13 per cent are arson, 10 per cent are caused by misuse of an igniting object and six per cent are accidental. The reason for the remaining 30 per cent is unknown. Sources of igniting 'fires, other than vehicles, are 19 per cent cooking equip- ment; 14 per cent, smokers' articles; 13 per cent heating equipment; 10 per cent elec- trical distribution items; 40 per cent are other objects or unkown. Of these items, smokers' articles takes the majority of lives with other or unknown a close second. Smokers' articles are suspected in 71 deaths with other or unknown sources suspected in 70. Heating equipment is blamed for 19 deaths, cooking equipment 14 and electrical distribution items, three. Property category The Statistics Division of the Ontario fire Marshal's Office puts each fire under one of nine property categories. Under the residential category, 11,096 fires were reported for a loss of $91,750,178. These fires resulted in 1,484 injuries and 164 of the 185 deaths in the, province. The assembly category, which includes theatres, museums, sports, education and religious facilities, suffered 449 fires for a loss of $10,107,713. Forty-eight injuries oc- curred with one death. There were 232 fires reported in 1984 under the institutional category with seven injuries, one death and a loss of $334,026. Commercial facilities, sales and services are divided into two categories, but combine for a total of 2,144 fires and $57,428,796 loss. They also account for 216 injuries and one death. Two deaths in 880 fires were reported under the manufacturing -processing category. The fires caused a total of $33,265,285 damage and 158 injuries. Two deaths were also reported in the warehousing and storage category with 66 injuries in 278 fires, A total of $18,224,550 damage was done. In the miscellaneous structure -property category, five lives were loss with 13 other suffering injuries in 928 fires. These fires combined for a loss of $1,264,651. 'Vehicle fires were responsible for taking eight lives, injuring 105 people in 7,668 fires. Total damage loss was $19,836,105.