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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1984-07-11, Page 1,•6 1 9I 136 YEAR --211 ! • fatEEIT ALL PICIUNID COM UNITY NEWEIPAPIEF1 IN CANADA Pirculetion Class 85Q0 450Q 0 . Better Newspaper Gomibetition 1984 "-).*, t ' co4i—• GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1984 41! 50 CENTS PER COPY ' •• A.ww ut94"9ti99ot 1:10, c Sharon Johnston displays s,.o e of her ceramic work which she will have at the Festivalof Arts and Crafts. The Festi,al is being held on July 19, 20 and 21 in Court House Park. hi case of inclement weather, the a ena floor will be available. ( photo by Anne Narejko ) Festival of Arts and Crafts ready to go for another year This year's Festival of Arts and Crafts promises to be one of the best yet. Craftsmen, painters, sculptors and photographers from across Ontario will be displaying their creations in Goderich's Court House Park on July. 19. 20 and 21. In the event of inclement weather, the Goderich Arena floor will be available for the Festival participants to display their work. Festival Co-ordinator Michele Hansen will have approximately 100 exhibitors displaying glass blovving, leather work, spinning and weavifig, water color, oil paintings, stain glass and ceramics. There will also -be a fTOwer show put on by the Garden Club at Town Hall and -.a photography contest in the Livery. The photography contest will consist of amateurs displaying two prints. There are different categories, such as human interest or nature pictures, as well as black and white or color photos. Judging will be done on June 19 at 9 p.m. At 2 p.m. on July 19, Jerry Brodey will put on a free concert for the children on the east side of Court House Park.' On July 20. the Bluewater Shrine Club will hold a fish fry. The original location for the event was Court House Park, however, they have moved it to the area between, Hamilton and East Street. The- Bicentennial Committee. -has arranged a street dance, to be held on Friday. July 20 with Francie Scram, a local jug band, performing. LOCAL PARTICIPANTS Sharon Johnston, of•,Goderich, will be among the many craftsmen displaying their work at this year's Festival. Johnston, who does ceramics, will have a wide range of Meeting shows community support for Pioneer Museum articles on display during the weekend. She will also be demonstrating the different stages the clay mast go through before it is complete. Pie dishes, mugs, elves, flowers and clocks are a few of the products Johnston creates at Ceramics for You, a business she has been in since April. To learn her craft, Johnston has taken classes and is still attending seminars. "They are always brin.ging out something new in ceramics so I go to as many seminars as possible to keep up with the new methods." she explained. Johnston will demonstrate how to clean the items as well as the painting of them. Another local participant in this year's Festival is Mona Mulhern. Mulhern does water • color paintings of fantasy. using nature or symbolism, "but you have to look to see what the painting really is" because a lot of thought is behind each idea. Mulhern has had paintings hanging in art gailerys in London and Cambridge. She will also be in an art show this summer in Hayfield with five other women who approach water colors in their own, unique way. Taking fantasy from the mind and Kitting it on paper is not always as easy as4 may seem. Mulhern is constantly thinking of ideas for new paintings, and one way. she gets her ideas is by keeping a journal. She also reads science fiction books, and discusses ideas with other artists. Miilhern has taken short term courses at night sthool, but she finds she learns a lot by just working hard on her own. Festival co-ordinator Michele Hanserers hoping that the 1984 Festival darts and Crafts is as successful as the previous ones Were. Weekly farmers' market begins on The Square The farmersmarket has returned to The Square in Goderich and organizers hope the weekly market will carry on through to the Thanksgiving weekend: Chris Kiar. president of the Business Improvement Area Board (BIA), said that while only three v endors participated in the first weekly market Saturday, they "did very well." He said more farmers will be selling fresh produce and farm products in subsequent weeks. The market will run in Courthouse Park each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Kiar brought the concept of the farmers' market on The Square to council recently, claiming there was little traffic in the central core area on Saturday but that a weekly market could easily generate interest and traffic. Council supnorted the proposition providing the BIA could satisfy concerns with respect to parking and damage to Courthouse Park. "If Westminster Abbey can be reconstructed, why can't we reconstruct the museum!" This statement was made last Thursday at the Holmesv ille Township Hall durin public meeting held to determine' if t e residents of Huron County are interested in the future of the Huron County Pioneer Museum. The Museum in undergoing a feasibility study that will determine the location of the building, community support, programs. for visitors, types of artifacts to display, staffing of employees and where the necessary funds will come from. The study is being done by four people who make up the museum component. Chris Borgal, an architect from Blyth; hs had many years experience dealing with museums. Claus Breede is an archeologist and the director of the Bruce . County Museum. The other two members are Frank Wolman and Dorothy Doyle, management consultants. This group is to research all the areas of the Huron County Pioneer Museum and report back to County Council. FEASIBILITY STUDY The most significant part of the feasibility study for the residents of Huron County -is the location of the„museum. There are three options the. study group is to take into consideration. ,The first option is to leave the museum at 'ts present location on North Street and re v,. T -he second option is to construct a new uilding on the present site, and the third option is to move the Pioneer Museum outside of Goderich. Renovations are definitely necessary as • there are structural problems. LaSt year the museum was forced to close the top floor because it was considered structurally unsafe. At the same time the museum was required to install additional support posts on the main floor. According to Borgal, the structural •problerns are not the only issues of concern regarding the building which presently houses the museum. The fire code is another problem as the building, which is approximately 41,000 square feet, has only one fire exit. Environmental control for the artifacts is also a concern for the group doing the study. "The artifacts need a constant temperature. They cannot be subjected to high humidity and then left to sit in the cold," explained Borgal as he pointed out that the Pioneer Museum is notheated. Breede agreed with Borgal saying, "Part of our study is to do,a collections analysis. This means we go through the museum and see what materials are there and the condition they are in. Your (Huron County) museum has a superb collection but there isn't the proper housing for it. It might not last into the next generation if nothing is done to improve it." ' There was no question in the minds of those present at the meeting that something had to be done to the existing building, and several people offered suggestions on how to handle the problem. Mayor Eileen Palmer stated that Goderich Town Council has discussed the matter and they would like to see the Pioneer Museum stay in Goderich. She also said that it may be eligible for the ONIP (Ontario Neighborhood Improvement Program) funding. The Mayor also suggested that the Town could provide land for the museum to be put on if it was decided the site should be moved. There was also a suggestion that instead of constructing the entire building so it is environmentally controlled, a certain section be built for those artifacts which' Turn to page 2 • Kin'sinen Surnrnerfest on The Square If you're just finally settling down from the Canada Week celebrations, it is time to get geared up again. There is a variety of activity planned in crodericb during the month • of July beginning with the Kinsmen Club's annual Summerfest on,The Square this week. Summerfest runs for three days, from Thursday, July 12 through Saturday, July 14 and features a host of adventurous rides for the children including a ferris wheel, seveal booths and games of chance, nightly bingo games and a refreshment tent in Courthouse Park. As well, the usual carnival treats will -be available for kids of all ages. The following week, the popular Festival off Arts and Crafts will be held in Courthouse Park, a fish fry is planned and Colborne Township will salute Ontario's Bicentennial with a weekend of activities. The annual Goderich Fun Run will also take place that weekend and celebrations unfold in honour of the 10th anniversary of the Huron Historic Jail. Association elects executive The Goderich and District Association for the Mentally Retarded held their annual meeting on Monday June 18. The membership passed a new set of bylaws for the association at the meeting. The audited statements were presented and accepted, and Durst, Vodden and Bender were appointed as the auditors for the coming year. The association has a 12 -member board, of which four positions are open to election each year. Pat Spence, of Goderich, was elected to the board for her first time. Also elected were Bob Irwin of Clinton, Betty Reid of Saltford, and Don Young of Auburn. The association's executive for the coming. year was elected at a meeting on Wednesday, June 27. Mary Donnelly was elected president, Shelagh Sully is vice- president, Ellen Connelly is treasurer, and Pat Spence is the secretary of the board of directors of the Association for the Mentally Retarded. INSIDE THE SIGNAL-StAR -•:0* 4,*•10, Grader operators from several municipalities in Huron County participatediin a three-day operator's course at the county highway department shed in Auburn this week. Sponsored by the Ontario Good Roads Association and Sheridan College, the upgrading course dealt with the mechanical structure Sod maintenance of the heavy equipment as well as the principle of operation. Here Harry Scott of Sheridan discusses grading operations un a county road. The course is one of 14 offered by the Good Roads Association over 2,3000 learning days. In the past 10 years, association courses have trained over 12,000 Ontario municipal employees. (photo by Dave Sykes) Many Goderich men have • drinkin roblems survey says activities were; getting together with a few friends, attending a house party, going to a pub, listening to music, and going camping, hunting or fishing. • Many respondents claimed that friends and work associates either consciously or indirectly encouraged excessive drinking while spouses and families discouraged it. It was reported that many men had drinks bought for them or were persistently offered a drink by friends. The men were most likely to drink at parties a it'd social gatherings while 80 per cent reported they drink with a few friends or relatives in a home. Sixty-eight per cent said they simply drink at home. While the respondents tecognized that heavy drinkers should b ncouraged to get professional help if required, the most likely choice to turn for help was the Alcoholics Anonymous group. The ,eport did suggest that if an Addiction Research Foundation centre was more accessible to the community, more men might choose it as a source for help. The largest age group among the respondents was the 35 to 44 age group and three-quarters of the respondents were between the agesof 19 and 64. A preliminary report issued by the Addiction Research Foundation suggests that. a significant number of men in Goderich are experiencing problems with alcohol. The statement was part of the conclusions contained in a general preliminary report prepared by the staff of the Ontario Prevention Study conducted in Goderich and Tillsonburg in February. The report released last week offers only a preliminary account of the Goderich survey and is the first in a series of detailed, statistical reports that will be given to the community over the net few years. • The Addiction Research Foundation conducted a comprehensive survey of all males in Godertch over the age of 15 with respect to a*ohol drinking patterns, attitudes towards alcohol use, views on complications arising from drinking and opinions on the adequacy of services dealing with local alcohoLproblems. There will be a second survey and specific recommendations of action will be provided in a final report. The preliminary report suggests, however, that while the majority of of r.9.mndents did not report problems with drinking, a significant number of men are experiencing problems with alcohol. The report went on to say that the problems associated with alcohol were evident. "Since this is the first stage of a lengthy project, we are unable at present to give a full statistical representation of these answers. We can say that a significant number of men are experiencing the legal and physical consequences of drinking and driving; an even greater number are experiencing the pain of family upheaval, job loss and the social stigma that comes with a drinking problem. In our next report, we will deal with these issues in a more comprehensive way. Once we have completed the study, we will be in a position to make constructive recommendations to the town," the con s • on of the report read. towns of Goderich and Tillsonburg w -re chosen for the alcohol survey because of population, consistent annual alcohol sales patterns, stable economic base and public support for the study. The preliminary results show that over 81 per cent of the respondelts drank alcohol within 30 days of the survey date and the most likely drinking related Slo-pitch tourney Eleven men's slo-pitch teams took part in the tournament held in Port Albert last weekend. Despite the occasional shower, the tournament ran smoothly with the Mitchell Grizzlies winning the "A" division. and the Winthrop Warriors the "B" division. For more jetails, see the Recreation section. Children's programs The Goderich Recreation Department is sponsoring the Bert and Ernie Club and the Summer Special Events again this year. These programs offer a variety of activities for the local children. To find out more about the Recreation Department's programs, see the Recreation section. Theatre review Sleuth, a classic murder mystery, is now playing At the Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend. This play was given the Tony Award as Best Play of the 1970-71 Broadway season. For a complete review on the play, see page 6A.