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Vol. 8 No. 1 The sign says it all "Happy New Year'. Downtown Penetanguishene was invaded by four partying gents who decided to pay our towna visit during the holiday season. They Year ends on a tragic note The wrenetangu Wednesday, January 1, 1975 With 8 Pages Colour Comics 24 pages Partying in Penetanguishene ran into the bearded chap, John Boucher, and his dog who bears a distinct resemblence to a famous television personality. All the gents (from left to right) Frank Engert, Kip It.appears as if the members of the Civil Servants Association of Ontario are not going on strike. The possibility still exists, but not to the degree which was expected several days ago. If a strike does occur it will be on January 10, instead of the original date of January 1. Just under 7,000 members met at nine centres across Ontario at 9 a.m. Sunday to listen to thé government's last offer and cast a vote by coloured ballot. The trend set at the meeting was over- whelmingly in favour of accepting the government offer of a 21.5 per cent increase across the board for a one year period. The meeting was held in Toronto with eight other centres throughout the province linked Bradfield, John Boucher, Terry Grand, and Frank Fohr think 1975 is going to be a good year. Here's hoping for the best for all the Citizen's readers in 1975. Staff photo Two lives claimed in separate accidents The final week in 1974 ended on a note of tragedy for this area as a three car crash and the Huronia areas first snowmobile mishap claimed the lives of two men in separate mishaps. A Toronto man, originally from Equador, was killed in a three car crash at 12:15 a.m. on the Champlain Road, on the outskirts of Penetanguishene, a mile north of Robert Street West. The identity of the dead man has not been released pending notification of next of kin in his home country. Provincial police reported that the other drivers; two Toronto brothers, Barrie and James Crawford, were on a snowmobiling trip. They were heading northbound on the Champlain Road in their own cars, when an oncoming car driven by the dead man crossed the center line and smashed into the side of Barrie Crawford's car and his snowmobile trailer. Police say that James Crawford saw what was happening and drove into the ditch but the oncoming car careened toward him striking his car head on causing expensive damage to both vehicles. James Crawford's wife suffered deep cuts to her head. Her husband's brother and his wife were both treated for minor cuts at Penetanguishene General Hospital. It took police an hour to clear the wreckage from the highway. The snowmobiling accident occurred two days earlier on Thursday. Elmvale Provincial Police report that a freak ac- cident took the life of 69-year-old Percy Braithwaite of Concession 5 just outside of Wyevale. Police officials indicated that Braitiwaite was snowmobiling on a busy trail near Concession 4 when he lost control of his machine and somehow it rolled over onto him. The victum was rushed by private car to Penetanguishene General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. No inquest will be held. The accident was the first one involving a snowmobile in our area this winter. Funeral services for Percy Braithwaite were held at the Wyevale United Church. Internment was at the Wyevale United Cemetery. Mr. Braithwaite is survived by his wife Evelyn Hood, and children Dianne (Mrs. J. Kulis of Riverside, Illinois; Bryant, Kenneth ARRY»: dOMN BEAULIEU LOOKS LIKE THINGS \) ARE GONNA BE THE SAME IN '75! / Citizen contents New Year's messages Perkies pooped Nt Playing with your ding a ling 3 A little respect for old man 74 A discreet suggestion Lafontaine en action Sports calendar Midgets win tournament Coon fF && Ww and Dennis of Downers Grove, Illinois. Mr. Braithwaite was a stepfather to Jeanne (Mrs, B. Merritt) of Richmond Hill, and Carol (Mrs. V. Truck) of Unionville. Dave Desrochers Dave Desrochers' eyes reveal his pleasure in learning of his second place finish in the Maple Valley Club's first snowmobile racing meet of the season. The Penetanguishene driver was one of roughly 100 snowmobilers who competed in Saturday's races. For the complete story on the race turn to the sports pages. Staff photo by an elaborate closed circuit television network. With an 81.3 per cent acceptance of the offer by the members present, the association leaders postponed any im- mediate action until the full membership of 19,000 has a chance to mail in their ballots. In a telephone interview Sunday, Bernard Leveque, president of the Mental Health Centre branch of the CSAO, emphasized that Sunday's vote was just a trend, and that approximately two-thirds of the members still have to vote. According to the information he received from Toronto 6,984 people voted province wide and all but 1,305 of them accepted the government contract offer. The only exceptions to the across the board offer are Department of Reform employees, and those who work at Oak Ridge of the Penetanguishene MHC, who were offered 23.5 per cent over the same one year period. The negotiations which have been going on for several months began with a government offer very close to the one which was voted on Sunday. The association's original demand was for a 61 per cent pay hike over one year. That was reduced to 41 per cent and finally dropped to 29 per cent two weeks ago. Early CSAO voting favours government offer At that time, Jake Norman, general manager of the CSAO stated, "At the table we are looking for a 23 to 29 per cent increase, and that is negotiable." A strike, if the rest of the membership rejected the offer, would be province wide, and it would be serious or critical in some respects, according - to Norman. Negotiations and the vote are for just the "operational category" of the CSAO which includes approximately 500 MHC employees in Penetanguishene, Ministry of Tran- sportation and Communications snowplow operators, health, meat, milk, and drug inspectors, civilian OPP dispatchers, along with fire fighters, welders, plumbers and electricians in government employ. Under provincial legislation it is illegal for the CSAO to strike because many of the services they provide are considered essential. A CSAO spokesman stated that along with settling their vontract the members were also concerned about those in its charge in the event of a strike. A broad set of guidelines were set up to define essential services. Then it was left up to the individual branches which had a better All money pays workers idea of local needs to determine what the essential services are. The only two exceptions are snowplow drivers and OPP dispatchers which the leaders of the association decided would not be essential services. The MHC branch met about two weeks ago to determine essential services at the hospital. Last week president Leveque met with hospital management to outline what services they considered essential. A second meeting was planned for yesterday but Leveque was not certain if if would still be held following the trend set on Sunday. He would not release details of what had been determined the essential services until after the second meeting. "They (charges of the CSAO) are not going to be abandoned,"' said Jake Norman. It is still not known for certain whether the operational category of the CSAO will strike or not. Nobody will know until just before the new strike deadline of January 10. What is known is that if they do strike it will affect another 20,000 CSAO employees on the sidelines who will sympathize with the strike or actively join picket lines. LIP projects underway at $46,000 cost Work on Penetanguishene's three Local Initiative Projects is well underway which delights town officials, especially clerk Yvon Gagne because it's free. Ina recent tour of the LIP worksites Gagne explained the trick 'is not to pay out anything" for materials. This enables the town to use all the LIP money for labour. And in the case of Penetanguishene's three projects town officials seemed to have pulled the trick off as nearly perfectly as possible, while at the same time providing for an 11 acre park, 50 park benches, and a 24 by 30 foot log cabin. The current LIP grant for these projects totals $46,000 $2,000 of which Penetanguishene contributes as its share. The projects employ 13 men. Work started on December 2 and will continue through the mid-April. The most innovative and immaginative work is being done at the Fox Street project where workers are clearing out bush to create an 11 acre park. The beautiful thing about the work is that material costs are practically nil. The 11 acres of densely wooded passive, parkland behind the old Water and Light commission store house on Fox Street are being cleared to create an active park. That doesn't mean all the trees will be cut down as at McQuire park. Rather that the thick bush will be thinned out to make the land suitable for use by people. According to Yvon Gagne the password for workers cutting trees is "'if in doubt leave it up." This insures that a minimum amount of cutting will be done to clean up the park. The 11 acre parcel of land between Church and Fox Streets is unique in that it contains three plateaus and rises 100 feet in elevation over the short quarter mile stretch between the two streets. It contains a small pond into which flow three spring fed streams. The water is good for drinking and someone caught a trout in the pond within the past year according to Gagne. While the other two projects are not as spectacular as the Fox Street one they will do much to improve the recreation facilities in Penetanguishene. Five of the 13 workers are currently building aob cabin for the Trailer Park. Gagne explained that the materials for the log cabin will cost next to nothing because all the logs are being taken from municipally owned land. The building will serve as an office for supervisory personal to protect the park against vandalism. Furthermore, it will be built as a tem- porary structure so that it can be taken down and reassembled if the town decides to relocate the park. The third project will see the construction of 100 cement supports for 50 park benches which will be assembled early in the spring. Last year a petition was circulated in Penetanguishene pointing out the lack of park benches throughout the town and the need to install them. This will probably be the most expensive of the three projects in terms of mateials but again the costs are minimal. The only material expense Gagne men- tioned was for the cement mix to create the Town clerk Yvon Gagne (glasses) and project supervisor Mr. Laurin discuss how work at the Fox Street Local Initiatives Project is going. The Fox Street project involves clearing the 11 acre park site of supports. As in the case of the log cabin, wood will come from municipally owned land. The town clerk did not say if it would cost any money to cut the logs into useable pieces of lumber except to repeat that the trick "is not to pay anything'"' materials. He added that "we have access to a sawmill." By limiting the town's material expense to only the cement mix more park benches can be built. Gagne estimated that the retail cost of a park bench is roughly $75 - $100. Through the LIP grant the town is able to build the benches for roughly $10 - $20 per bench. When the benches are completed in the spring they will be located throughout the town. dense bush to change it from an active to a passive park. This is one of three LIP projects in Penetanguishene this year. Staff photo Indian educational needs studied Although they haven't been officially in- formed yet the Indian people from the Christian Island reservation will be invited to submit briefs to a provincial task force on the educational needs of native peoples. The task force was established at a recent meeting of representatives of the five major Ontario Indian organizations in Toronto on December 18. A statement from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities in Toronto claims that "starting in January 1975, the task force will visit areas of Ontario where Native peoples reside to see the educational facilities and to hear the native peoples' assessment of their educational needs and the measures which they recommend to meet these needs." : Christian Island Indian Chief Rodney Monague said "I haven't received anything from the government yet" but added that since he would be sitting on the Simcoe County Board of Education starting in January as trustee for the Rama and Christian Island reservations. He expects to be told about the task force then. Monague replaces Chief Stinson of Rama who held the Indians' trustee's seat last year. On Friday, spokesman for the task force in Toronto said county boards of education from across the province would be expected to submit briefs to the task force. According to the spokesman the study is costing the Ontario government $34,000 up to the end of the current fiscal year in March. The task force will then be granted additional funds from the next fiscal budget. The spokesman claimed he did not know what these funds would amount to. The first meeting of the task force has been set for January 16 and 17 at the Garden River Indian Reserve near Sault Ste. Marie. William Sault, president of the Union of Ontario Indians, will be the chairman of the - task force for the first visit. The chair- manship for each of the succeeding meeting will be shifted on a rotating basis among the leaders of Ontario's five major Indian organizations. To date four of 17 locations for the task force's meetings have been firmly established: Sault Ste. Marie, Dryden, Fort Francis, and Bradford. Tenative locations have been established for the remaining 13 meeting places-but none of them are near Christian Island. The closest appear to be at North Bay and Peterbourough. The spokesman for the task force noted that "'you can't visit every locality"' but the task force is trying to be within reach of as many areas as possible throughout Ontario. Indian groups wishing to hose one of the task force meetings should write "the Task Force on the Education Needs of Native Peoples of Ontario c / 0 Ministry of Colleges and Universities Mowat Block, Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario." The task force is expected to complete its work by the end of 1975. It will then make recommendations to appropriate bodies. Prior to the release of the final report the task force will keep the provincial govern- ment and the Indian people informed about its findings at the end of each of the 17 meetings. A statement from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities claims that. "After each visit, the Task Force will inform the provincial government of the measures recommended by the native peoples of the area and will keep the native peoples fully informed of all subsequent action." _ The ieda for a task force on the educational needs of native peoples of Ontario was first proposed in a 1972 report issued by the Committee on Post Secondary Education.