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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-05-13, Page 1133 YEAR -19 tode ich SIGN WEDNESDAY, MAY 13,1981 50 CENTS PER COPY Association hits new low'Graham BY JOANNE BUCHANAN The Goderich and District Association for .the Mentally Retarded is desparately in need of new members. "We've hit an all-time low," says Bonnie Graham, president of the association and principal of the Queen Elizabeth School. "We've been going downhill since 1974. There just seems to be a lack of interest." Tne association, which takes in the Seaforth, Clinton, Blyth and Auburn areas as well as Goderich, has ,a present membership of 22 people. -And while these .members aregood workers, explains Mrs. Graham, there is only so much they can do. The 'association was formed in 1959, the same year that the Queen Elizabeth School for retarded children was opened in Victoria Public School. At that time the association had many members from the whole area. The association looks after the Kinsmen workshop (ARC Industries) where -23 -retarded --adults- do con- tract work and make crafts to sell. This .workshop is f'.mdecl 80 per cent by the Ministry of Community and Social Services and 20 per cent by the association. The association also looks after, the.Keays Street Group Home where nine retarded adults reside 'and learn life -skills such a ,cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. Two of these adults have now moved into their own apartment. The. group home is also funded 80 per cent by the ministry with the rest of the funds coming from theresidents' family benefits. The association,in conjunction with Tuckersmith Township,' recently started a pre-school nursery for mentally handicapped children at Vanastra. Seven children are already enrolled In the nursery which has been open since arch. There is room for'10. So what would happen to these three services if the association ever had to fold? "I guess they would fold too," says Mrs. Graham. "But we're not going to let that happen." If the workshop and the group home folded, those people uelieluLing alnlai Lltra&,q vvuwu ttdve Lu lCLUli1 Lu their parents' homes or go back into institutions. "Once the kids . are finished school (at Queen Elizabeth), where do they go? You pour money and energy into these kids and then what? If they don't have a workshop or group home to go to, it doesn't seem fair. They have a right to live outside of in- stitutions," says Mrs. Graham. She explains that the association is not trying to scare people into joining its ranks by threatening to fold. It is simply trying to build its membership back 1 pagaino "We're saying look, we can't relax. There is a lot of work left to be done. But we're not through yet." Mrs. Graham says anybody from the area can join the association by purchasing a $2 membership card. You don't have to be the parent of a retarded child to join. You simply have to be willing to help in any way you can, The -association meets once .a month. It offers public education and information, It gives mutual. support to the parents of retarded children. ' It. recruits volunteers to serve on various committees. And it raises funds. This fall, the association will be selling cardboard Christmas angels to raise money as opposed to. Christmas carda which have been sold in the past. It' Kinsmen Dlstrlet1 Governor, Grant Burgerner will also appeal to service clubs for donations. • presented the official Kinsmen charter to the Mrs. Graham says a .general meeting of the president of the new Dungannon Kinsmen Club, Clete assocition.is planned for June. There will be a guest Speak cr. and memberships will be sold at that time. ._ o Taxi owner says courtesy• Dalton, at special ceremonies Saturday evening. More pictures of the charter night appear on inside pages. ( Photo by Dave Sykes) "Maybe we don't have muchU offer besides blood, sweat and tears but we need help," says Mrs. Graham. If you are interested, please phone Gail Doak in Goderich at 524-8886, Barry Clogg itr Clinton at 482- 3048, Bill Thompson in Seaforth at 527-0108 or Don Young in Auburn at 526-7569. The mentally handicapped children of this com- munity need you. • Deni meeting with police off cerS BY JOANNE BUCHANAN A request from Goderich's police officers to meet with the Goderich Police Commission for discussion of certain rules and regulations of the force has been denied by the commission. The request from the officers, in the form of a written submission as previously requested by the commission, was received and filed at a commission meeting last Thursday. Commission chairman, Judge F.G. Carter said he , found the tone of the submission 'insulting'. He said it was the com- mission's prerogative as a management board to pass the by-law containing the new rules and regula- tions. The local officers complained in their submission that some of the rules and regulations contained in the by-law which was passed last ',year were meaningless and ambiguous. Some of them, they said, a pplied only to large police forces. The officers claimed that according to one section • of the by-law, they were to hang around thein houses at all times and be 'fit for duty and at all times be on call. They said this meant they could have no social life and couldn't go out of town. They also said that not being allowed to have another job was infringing on their 'somewhat battered civil rights'. "You can govern us on the job but have no right to do so off the job," they told the commission. Concerning the matter of 'officers living outside the municipality in which they are working, the local officers pointed out in their submission that this matter had been taken to the Supreme Court on several occasions and each time the officer had won his case. Commission members had no comments on the specifics of the submission. A request also came from the local officers to deal with the matter of drycleaning uniform shirts. The commission decided to refer this matter to the negotiating committee. carcould jeopardize business A taxi owner in Goderich has charged that ex- tended use of the courtesy car to include a private marina and the airport would jeopardize the taxi business in town. Maurice Gardiner of Goderich Taxi appeared before council Monday and suggested that a proposed extension of the courtesy system to include Keith Homan's marina, the airport as well as free rides for sailors from salt and grain boats would be detrimental to the taxi business. Over the past few years, the town has offered visiting boaters free rides from the municipal marina to various locations in town, in a car donated by Hayter Chev-Olds. This year the tourist committee was considering extending that service. In a letter to council, Gardiner submitted that such a free service was unfair to the licenced taxi drivers adding that business was generally slower in the summer. In the letter, he added that the free service did not influence the number of boats and yachts coming into the Goderich area. If council wanted to continue to offer such a service to visiting boaters, pilots and sailors, Gardiner suggested that the town could subsidize taxi rates for such fares rather than offering a courtesy car. Councillor Elsa Heydon claimed the owner's complaints were justified. "If the courtesy car just picked up boaters from the Youngsters are known to be rather inventive with umbrellas, and these Victoria school boys are no exception Camera -shy Jing Moore and Andrew Scott used theirs as a barricade on Monday waiting for their MOMS to pick them up at lunch. (Photo by Cath Wooden) municipal marina. that's okay but to add other places to the list is unfair," she said. "The tourist committee has considered operating the car from the tourist booth but have not taken a final stand. Mr. Hayter has said that if there is a controversy, he will not give the town use of the car." Jim Searls echoed Haydon's remarks about the unfairness of the situation claiming the town should not be in the business of offering free rides. "It is unfair and unjust to take business from the taxi companies and the town should not be in the business to give free rides to anyone," he said. "To. subsidize the fares is a good point. Boat owners should be capable of paying for a ride from the marina and if they can't, they should sell their boat." But council will wait until the tourist committee makes a firm recommendation at its May 21 meeting before ruling on the matter. Deputy -reeve Bob Allen claimed it was a matter of courtesy, rather than council a rbitrarily ruling on the service. "The waterfront committee is not in favor of the expansion of the service but out of courtesy, we must allow the tourist committee to operate," he said. "It would be wrong for us to act without input from the committee." Councillor Glen Carey said the courtesy car service should not be expanded until the tourist committee has made a recommendation that is dealt with by council at the J une 1 meeting. ouncil approves tender on community centre Construction of the new mini -community centre and day care nursery in the Cambridge Park area could begin as early as next week. The tender of Kelly Lyn Construction Ltd., London , in the amount of $264, 2,was selected over six other bids on the project Monday. Council approved the tender that included bids of $5,895 for air conditioning Wheelhouse to be moved by end of month Work on the proposed marine museum is progressing and the wheelhouse of the Weldon is expected to be in place by the end of the month. Herb Fraser and Associates have been hired by the town to remove the wheelhouse from the Weldon and place it on a concrete pad that was constructed last week. The actual move of the wheelhouse is expected to be completed during the week of May 25. The total budget set aside for the project was $30,000 with the town and county contributing equal amounts. The cost of the foundation is $7,000 and $16,000 for the removal and placement of the wheelhouse. The remaining $7,000 in the budget will be used for the setup of the museum. The museum will be located on town land between the train station and Goderich Elevators. The whistle and a lifeboat from the Weldon have also been donated for the display. and $85 for children's water closets. In the tender, Kelly -Lyn said construction could begin within seven days of notification and indicated it would take 100 working days to complete the community centre. It was originally hoped that the day care centre could be used by September but Commissioner of Works Ken Hunter said it would probably not be in use until December. The new mini community centre will include two classrooms for day care, a gymnasium and dressing rooms, a kitchen and an office for day care staff. The cost of the project is covered by grants under the Community Services Contribution Program ((SCP) a program funded by provincial and federal grants. The town had budgeted $270,000 for the entire project but tender prices plus engineering casts will boost the total toabout$300,000 when it's completed. The amount spent over budget will simply be pared from other CSCP projects Hunter said. The tenders for the project ranged from the low bid of $264,882 by Kelly -Lyn to $296,548. •Council also accepted a bid of $36,705 from Levis Contracting, Clinton to apply a second coat of asphalt on streets in the NIP area. The only other bid was $49,475 from E.C: King Contracting., Owen Sound. Council had budgeted $44,000 for the project. Omega Contracting of London was awarded a contract for storm sewers and road construction at a cost of $309,313. The price was selected over three other bids that ranged to a high of $434,374 from E. C. King of Owen Sound. Council had budgeted $370,000 for the sewer and road reconstruction project, in- cluding engineering fees. Any savings from the sewer and ft 'onstruction project will go towards covering the coat of the community centre. r This is Police Week in Ontario The week of May 10 to 16 has been declared Police Week Ln Ontario and this year the 'specie1 week is promoting the theme: "You and your police working together." For several years, both municipal and OPP forces have extended an invitation to the public to visit police facilitie s and meet the officers. That offer has again --been extended by _OPP Commissioner Harold Graham and open house has been declared at all district detachments and headquarters during the week. During this week, the Goderich Police force and their OPP counterparts, will have a display in Sun - coast Mall. Cost cutting spreads to board's audited statment Cost-cutting is quickly becoming standard business procedure and the Huron County Board of Education is no exception. In the past, the board has published . its annual audited statement in the county's weekly newspapers. This year, however, Director of Education John Cochrane announced that the ad- vertising policy would be rescinded because of cost. If anyone is interested in viewing the board's audited fins ,inial statement, it is available, on request, from the board office on Albert Street in Clinton. All board members were issued a copy of the 1980 financial statement. Pakistani seamen ask for protection BY JOANNE BUCHANAN Goderich police officers deal: with a variety of in- cidents every day but recently they were called upon to investigate something new t6 them: a dispute .ori boarda foreign ship docked in Goderich Harbor. It all Started when the Greek ship, Pauline C. stopped in Goderich and one.of the Pakistani seamen got off, walked up West Street to the police station and asked for protection. He told Police Chief Pat King that he had been beaten. Chief King went on board the ship to investigate and discovered that the man had been hit by an of- ficer in self defence. The man then admitted to Chief King that, in retaliation, he had ripped up four passports, including the Captain's, and thrown them overboard. He said he was afraid to go back on board the ship. After phoning the Department of Immigration, the man was put up at a hotel in Goderich overnight at his own expense. He was also taken to a local bank by police so that he could obtain a bank draft for the $3500 he was carrying around in $100 bills in his shirt pocket. Chief King said this was a precaution against the man being robbed. Before the incident was over, there were four other foreign seamen at the police station saying they wanted off the ship as well. None of them spoke very good English. After two days of investigation by local police in- volving immigration officers, the ship's captain and the shipping agents, it was arranged by the shipping company to airlift the seamen back to their home countries of India and Pakistan. Chief King said the whole incident of dealing with foreign seamen was certainly something 'new' for the Goderich police force. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Up in the air Look up in the air! Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's a Lazair! For $4.300 you can build one of these small aircraft from a kit designed by a Port Colbotne man. Read about the latest in 'freedom flying' on page 1A. Gaol lures visitors Despite the fact that tourists are tightening their money belts and admissions at the Huron Historic Gaol -were down last year. improvements have been made to the exhibits to attract visitors. Sec story and pictures on page 1A -2A. Special kids Head the article on page 7A concerning a recent elementary school teacher Professional Development Day at Victoria School where 'meeting the needs of the ex- ceptional child' was the topic of the da Regular Features Real Estate .. Pg. 12- 1:5 lid Hits Pg Church ...... I'g.:i 1 Obits . . , 1'e TV .... , i'%. t 1 t .,lupin.. Pg 1 R. Roard i'e 1 Editorials i'e. t Weddings Pg (i \ Sports Pg Farm I'g. 1 f 1 ('Iascifird. i'e In 11 i