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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1984-09-05, Page 17 • r ea 01010011T ALA, ritoksIia 01V' ' tClrvulation Class 3500. 46[,•10) I�,1J,Aa 136 YEAR =36 Y.10,111,WiliPAPIOPI.Ill .1A A A tar Neyvgpi4per Competition 1904 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, *884 50 CENTS PER COPY Conservatives roll to easy election victor; Murray Cardiff retains seat for PCs in Huron -Bruce defeating Bruce McDonald A.Tory blud tidal wave swept across the nation Tuesday beginning with early results from Atlantic Canada and pushing relentlessly across the country.• The Progressive Conservative Party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, clearly crushed their opposition across the land in ending more than 20 years of Liberal -rule. Never before has a Canadian electorate endorsed a party with such overwhelming support as the Tory blue wave exceeded even optimistic speculation by winning 211 seats in the House of Commons compared to a puny 40 seats for the Liberals, and 30 for the New Democratic Party while one independant was elected in the Metro ° Toronto area. While the final days of the campaign were rife with specualtion that the Tories had the means to record a majority reminiscent of John Diefenbaker's triumphant sweep of 1958, no-one imagined that inood of voters had swung in such' dramatic fashion. In becoming the 18th Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney takes with him the largest majority government ever assembled in the 'House of Commons. While his margin of victory was phenomenal on a national scale, the Tory presence in Quebec was astounding. After rolling through Atlantic Canada with good results, the Tories swept Quebec Prime Minister Brian Mulroney by winning 54 ridings compared to only 15 for the Liberals, and holding a lead in four others. In the last federal election the Election '84 Murray Cardiff Huron -Bruce Citizen complains local police BY JOANNE BUCHANAN A citizen complaint alleging that local police officers are "ignoring violations for their own safety" has prompted the Goderich Police Commission to step up patrols and put more officers on overtime duty especially on ,the weekends. The' cor .mission has also ordered the police department to implement a "get lough" program with law breakers. Richard Graham of Goderich appeared before the commission last Friday saying he was "thoroughly disgusted" with the local police force and accusing them of "hiding" instead of doing their duty. In a letter to the commission, Graham said that at 1 a.m. on Saturday, August 25, because of excessive noise coming from the Square and St. Christopher's Beach, he decided to walk uptown and view the proceedings "to see why the commotion was not being stopped". "From then til 2:30. I watched cars squealing tires around the Square, car radios being played at full volume in convertibles, groups of four, five and si youths screaming at the tops of their lung: and motorcycles being driven at high speeds around the Square," Graham explained in his letter. He continued, "During all this, I saw a lone police officer in a cruiser ignore many obvious violations of the law. I believe he did so because he was afraid to approach these young people who are in groups and in one situation drunk. These youths, although only 15 or 16 years old, are big human beings and a lone police officer is no match for them." Graham also complained to the commission about the patrolling of St. Christopher's Beach. "The new black top Liberals won 74 of the 75 ridings in the province. The sweep'continued in Ontario where former, Liberal bastions fell to the blue w-ve nd many former cabinet ministers and long -service employees of theTrudeaiu government fell to defeat at the hands of neophy eTory candidates. • The Liberals did manage to hold their lone seat west of the Ontario border as former Transport Minister Lloyd. Axworthy retained his Winnipeg riding and forrner Prime Minister John Turner won in Vancouver Quadra, a new seat for the Liberals. The Tories, traditionally strong in parts of the western provinces, won seats at the expense of the NDP. With a strong showing in the western provinces, the NDP under leader Ed Broadbent entertained legitimate aspirations of winning more seats than the Liberals and forming the opposition. That failed to materialize but the NDP did bounce back, with a good percentage of the popular vote. The 'l'ory success in the, electionisr is manifested in the popular vote. The C'onservatives received almost 50 per cent of the votes in the election Tuesday while ,the percentage of votes going to the .iberals fell to 32 per cent. The NDP held il on to 16 per cent of the popular vote while three per cent of th, population voted for one of the remaining eightregistered political parties. HURON-tt,iu�L The story in Western Ontario was no different and the obvious voter commitment to change _,was indeed manifested in the many area ridings. The riding of Huron -Bruce has been a Tory stronghold for 45 years and that love affair continued undaunted Tuesday with the re-election of incumbent Murray Cardiff. Perhaps the only surprise in the 'results from Huron -Bruce was the plurality recorded by the 50 year-old Brussels area farmer. In the 1980 election, his first, Cardiff defeated Liberal hopeful Graeme Craig by only 2,000 votes but in this election he `easily out -distanced Liberal candidate Bruce McDonald, a 30 year-old insurance broker from Mildmay. NDP candidate Valerie Bolton picked up well over 3,000 votes and Libertarian Joe Yundt received 139 votes. The riding map of Southwestern Ontario is awash in Tory blue as the ridings of Perth, Oxford, ,Grey -Bruce, London - Middlesex, Lambton-Middlesex, Sarnia- Lainbton and two London ridings elected Conservatives. One thing is certainly clear from the election resglts; Canadians • voted for change in the national election and they have give the Conservative party and Brian Mulroney a clear and strong mandate to get on with governing this country. The Tories have been entrusted with a great responsibility and they will have to act. "i.gn,or. ing violations" at St. Christopher's Reach is a great Graham saw the two of them. opportunity for young drivers to test their Graham said he had stopped phoning in racing skills. While doing this after his complaints to police because "it midnight, they are depriving me of my doesn't do any good". He said he has sat u sleep," said Graham who lives on on the Square on numerous occasions an Wellesley Street. • watched the same people the same car committing the same vie eons over and over again and getting .,,yy� + with it. As for St. Christopher's B,eac .1P4' said " he town has created a great are?/or .aytime use but it's a nightmare at n•ht". Graham told the ro1 ission that he didn't blame the officer on duty for ignoring the violations he watched on the Square on the night of August 25. "Nobody likes getting his head bashed in and these kids wouldn't think twice about doing it," he said. He told the commission that things have gotten so "out of hand" here that he has heard talk about vigilante committees being formed. He said he knows of people his own age who have resorted to "throwing rocks" and "chasing kids with baseball bats" in order to protect their property from vandalism. "I don't feel I should be put in a position to have to do this. The police know about the problem and they are the ones who should be doing something," he said. Town administrator Larry McCabe said, When Chief King told Graham that there "It is my own opinion that we need was a limit as to how many officers could someone like Mery Witter who had be put on duty at one time, Graham control," referring to a sergeant who replied, "I realize you have a manpower served on the Goderich force several years problem but I want my sleep." ago. Palmer said, "That is my feeling Referring to a recent tire slashing spree also." in town, he added, "I would like to know I can go to bed at night and not have to park my car in my backyard just because some young kid has decided to vandalize everything in sight." Mayor Eileen Palmer said she had Ile described an incident which occurred on Sunday, August 12 when he took his two' year old and Four year old to the beachat 8 a.m. "In the parking lot by the new pavillion, I was greeted by four youths standing beside dew covered cars. Three of these youths were urinating in the parking lot and made no attempt to turn around. The parking lot was littered with broken beer bottles. It was obvious the youths had been partying there the night before. Why wasn't the party broken up by the police," he asked. Graham said he thought the solution was to have two police officers riding in each crusier from 9 p.rri. until 5 a.m. on at least Friday and Saturday nights. "This would be a great help for the lone officer Who has to ignore violations for his own safety," he concluded. In a verbal report to the commission, Graham told of another time when he phoned in a complaint of unnecessary noise to the police. He said he received no action and when he went looking for the police cruisers, found them both parked behind the town's Welcome Centre with the officers in them "chit chatting" back and forth. "I think they were hiding," he said. Police ('hief Pat King pointed out that a cruiser is often positioned in that area because it is a good place to catch motorists going through red lights and that periodically the other cruiser will check in with it, which was probably the case when received many phone calls concerning the night. of August 25, the same night which Graham complained about in his letter. "It was a circus in Goderich all night long and I even had complaints that the officers were 'sleeping on duty...the only conclusion I can draw is the area is not being policed properly." Palmer • suggested that additional officers be put on duty and that an auxiliary force be drawn up so that "we have a roster to call out more personnel when needed". Chief King said he would try to recruit people "willing to be put into uniform" for this auxiliary force and "use them to augment officers on the weekend so as to have two in each cruiser without going into a lot of overtime." Commission member Alvin McGee disagreed that an auxiliary force was the answer to the problem. "We don't need vigilantes or auxiliary officers. We can't put untrained people out there. We have to make better usage of the trained officers we have. These people have to put in constructive hours. We've known this and have been lax about it for some time," he said. The commission members discussed possible reasons for the increase in criminal activity in Goderich. Palmer said she felt that shift work contributed to the fact that a lot of people were out driving around the Square at night. Some of the members saiu they felt that Goderich *as drawing a lot trouble -makers from other small communities. ' Commission member Dave Gower said the fact that a police officer is riding alone in a cruiser is no excuse for ignoring violations because "he's got a radio he can use to call for help if needed". He said he felt part of the problem is that a lot of people receive warnings from police without any "firm action" being taken. "People think they can get away with things. I think we've got to get the message out that things are going to get tough. There will be no warnings, just charges. In Grand Bend, the police have taken the attitude that they're going to clean things up. They've gotten tough. They do spot checks and it's working. We've got to take steps in-house before we go out and start adding more people to the force," he said. McGee disagreed •with the get -tough approach saying, "A get -tough program. on the street is no different that at home. The ones you are cracking down on are going to rebel." ('hief King agreed. He said laying charges against some people doesn't stop them from turning right around and committing another offence. "Some people will just tot learn," he said. However, he told the commission he was willing to have his men put this get -tough policy into action as long as "you ( the commission) back us up if we get complaints". The commission told Chief King to "pile" extra officers on duty for the Labour Day weekend. even if it meant overtime. "I can't think of a better weekend to start than this weekend," said Palmer who added that the matter had been dealt with for now but not resolved. Catholic high school issue to be studied The Huron -Perth Separate School is set- ting up a steering committee to study the possibility of a Catholic High School in this area. At its Aug. 27 meeting, the board approv- ed the formation of the committee and that people Interested in serving on the com- mittee be sought. The board is looking for two parents, one from each county, one priest to be ap- pointed by the deanery and one teacher to be appointed by the Hurottpa,h teachers,, association. Others on the steering committee will, be the chairman?" two other trustees and the director. . The committee is expected to set up a plan that will help the board decide how best to provide a Catholic high school in the area. A report identifying long range planning needs, major constraints or special con- cerns and outlining recommendations is expected to be presented to the board in November. French study will be out soon A French, Immersion survey will be go- ing out across Huron County the first week of school and will be followed by four public meetings. The Huron County Board of Education issued a.press release last week which said the ad hoc committee on French Immer- sion, set, up by the board this past spring, has prepared and distributed the survey. The surveys will be sent home to every family which has children in an elemen- tary school, the press release states: The survey will also be sent home with nursery school children, and to as many other families in the county as possible. Copies of the survey will be available at school offices and at the adminstration • centre in Clinton. The survey will be col- lected at the local schools on Friday, Sept. 21. . The ad hoc committee will , also be holding public meetings at four locations during the next two weeks. All meetings begin at 8 p.m. and will be arranged to give information about present French pro- grams and Immersion French programs. ,There will also be an opportunity to ask. questions of the committee. Turn to page 3 • INSIDE THE SIGNAL STAR. Schools all over the province held their first classes of the year ' School, Goderich and Michelle Denomme, 7, gets down to work on yesterday, For malty of the chi chri€ ert ft Wtheir first time. IleTe her first day in the second grade. ( photos by Patrick Raftis) -i , teae'Ies a gamelo alChidergarten class at Victor Fastball tourney Kirkey's Kar Kare team was just one out from bringing the Labour Day Fastball Tournament's B championship back to Goderich this weekend. Bryanston won the B title With the Wingham BPs winning the A. Game details and photos from the annual tournament appear on the front page of the recreation section. Ain't Misbehavin' The Huron Country Playhouse's 1984 summer season will close September 15 with the final performance of Ain't Misbehavin'. A review of this lively musical, which opened last Tuesday, can be found on page 6A of the recreation section. Seri -Finals The Goderich Industrial Fastball League and the Goderich Men's Slow - Pitch League are now into semi-final action. Read all the details of the latest games on page 4A of dig recreation section. 11.