1967-04-06; Clare Sentinel

              It •;*%.„
The  Clare   Sentine
Ten Cents Copy
Fourteen. Pagee
Clare. Michigan —■ Thursday, April 6. 1367
Eighty-seventh Year
New Series Vol. 75. No. 31
Three Commission
Members Re-elected
There will be no reshuffling of occupants in City
Commission chairs following the city election April
3. AH three incumbents
won re-election in light
voting that indicated low interest and small public desire for change in city government.
Elected for two-year
terms ending in 1969 were
Ray Owens with 219 votes
and Robert Walters with
217. A one-year term went
to Roy Dunbar who counted
Conservation Department forces are combat ready statewide
for another forest fire season which may hit one of its most
dangerous heights during the next several weeks before the
spring green-up. The Department's air arm of 13 pilots and
planes, backed up by 50 towermen on standby alert in
northern Michigan, is logging thousands of miles each day,
monitoring the forest fire situation from the skies. On the
ground, about 130 fire officers, the hard core of the Department's, fire-fighting attack, stand poised for action with
rugged, mobile equipment. New to their mechanized might
is this large tanker (bottom photo) with its wide-angle
spraying boom which will be field tested this year against
explosive crown fires.
Panel To Present
Recreation Needs
Seven members of a
panel will join in a public
discussion Monday evening
of Community Recreation
in Clare, and will explore
who a program might benefit, how to supervise it,
and where financing would
come from.
The panel will appear on
a program for Clare's Business and Professional Women and sponsors are
hopeful that it may be a
starting step for authority
. -. and organization of such a
ft;* community effort.
On the stage in "_ufc meeting to be in the Doherty
Hotel are Ken Barnes the
manager for the Chamber
of Commerce, Willard
Koch the mayor, James
McNamara the superintendent of the Clare Intermediate School District, A.D.
Dighera from the State Department of Education, and
Mrs. Pat Maxwell, a representative each from
Clare Public Schools and
the school physical education staff. Moderator will
be George Devenny of Ra-
.„.dio Station'WCRM.
The public is invited to
attend the panel discussion
and invitations have gone
to all service organizations
in the city.
An outline for the discussions provides for proposals for recreation for
retired persons and senior
r       citizens groups, for adults,
1 Proud Boys
Win Plaques
Clare Cub Scout Pack
3620 met Monday evening
March 27 in the St. Cecilia Church basement for
%heir monthly pack meeting.
Highlight of the evening
was the Pinewood Derby
contest when each boy
raced his car which was
solely a father-son project
from start to finish.
Honor plaques went to
Dennis Dalton who was 1st
place winner. Dennis also
won the 2 nd place award
for workmanship.
Michel. Collom was
second place winner and
3rd place winner was Mike
Bi       Hales.
The best design award
went to Mark Hales, and
tv -(Joe    Schroeder   received
1st place workmanship a-
ward.
and for youth groups.
The BPW says that there
are a thousand youths of
school age in the city area
that have need for recreational supervision.
Among other questions
for the evening will be the
listing of existing facilities for recreation, how
they could be used and
improved in a new supervised plan.
Save With
'oupons!
'-jiWl
-COUPON'.PAYS.
\mi
SAVE!
7* _   ,p)
'"-imiimfflmiMMl--:''
Coupon Days!
They' re coming April 13,
14, and 15, those fabulous
bargain hunting days in
Clare when shoppers can
pick up savings on items
advertised in coupons in
The Sentinel
Coupon offers are easy to
find in The Sentinel. They
are all on a big, colorful
two-page spread.
Shoppers just find a coupon offering percentage
discounts, or a particular
item wanted at a super
special reduction. Clip
the coupon and take it to
the store and reap the savings.
Any merchant wishing
information on how to join
in offering bargains is invited to call The Sentinel
386-9938 and arrange to
list his specials in the issue of April 13.
The last Coupon Days
in March were riots of
wonderful success, store
traffic, and delighted shoppers and new friends.
Any businesses interested
in acquiring part-time help
can contact Larry Eastley
at 386-9945. This concerns
this fall's seniors wishing
to go on the work-study
program, for the '67-'68
school year.
For those not familiar
with the "co-op" program
it consists of a senior student going to school half
of the day and working the
other half.
214 votes in the closely
bunched top three.
Willard Bell with 155 and
Wende! Colvin with 105
Werfe unsuccessful in challenging the incumbents. AU
totals are inofficial.
Canvassing of the vote
and the traditional swearing-in and seating of the
newly elected commissioners is automatic with no
change in Commission personnel. Mayor Willard
Koch and Commissioner
Tom Bradley have terms
continuing until April 1968.
Ask 7 5 T© Raise
In Water Rate
The Clare City Commission, meeting on Tuesday
evening this week, postponed final action on revising water and sewer rates, but resolved fo; set
new higher rates after
thinking it over one more
week.
A special meeting is to
be called for this question next week.
Commissioners heard
William Gourdie, member
of the consulting engineering firm of Norton, Gourdie, Miller & Batzer in
Traverse City, interpret
a study of Clare Water and
Sewer Department costs
and revenue.
He recommended adding
a little more than 75 per
cent to present rates to
bear the cost of routine
operation, pay the city's
share for expanding the
systems, -and budget for
expected increases in operating the newer expanded
services.
Figures from Gourdie's
report agreed with City
Manager Glen Cain's contention that present revenue levels do not quite
meet costs of operating
and maintaining water and
sewer services and equipment under today's conditions. Revenues were declared far below anticipated costs after improvements are completed.
So, present rates for
customers using domestic
unmetered water, amounting to $28.00 for water
alone and $9.33 for sanitary sewer service (per
year,) would be increased
under Gourdie's plan, to
$36.40 and $29.00 making
an annual bill to home owners of $65.40 payable in
three installments.
Commercial and industrial customers with metered water would be subject to increases in similar percentages.
Also recommending a
rate increase, but without
an allowance for depreciation and added cost of new
equipment, Cain proposed
$56.00 per year for the
combined water and sewer
service to domestic customers, and the same percentage added to metered
rates.
A motion by Commissioner Roy Dunbar was to
fix the new combined rate
at $56. per year, and it
won a second from Commissioner Robert Walters.
The call for a vote was
answered by several
"Aye" responses, but the
uncompleted vote and the
motion with its second were
stricken from the record
after more discussion indicated that the Commission
was willing to study the
problem a few more days
and put it on the agenda for
a special meeting in one
week.
Several members of the
Commission quoted opinions from residents of the
city and indicated they
would welcome discussion
of the proposed rates
during the time before the
special meeting.
Name Three
To Tax Board
Appointment of three
members to the 1967 Clare
County Tax Allocation
Board was announced Monday by Judge Alex Strange
of the Probate Court.
The y are James Babcock, president of the Far-
well Board of Education,
Arnold Stamman of Harrison representing municipal government, and Robert
Carter the representative
at large.
The three appointments
are made each year by the
Probate Court to join other
county officials on the
Board.
Sign For
L. League
Registration for Little
League baseball for boys
will be held April 10 and
11 between the hours of 6
and 8 in the evening at
Clare High School. The
fee is $1.00 per boy and
he must be accompanied by
a parent.
Boys who will be eight
years old July 31 or before
or 16 years of age August
1 or later are eligible to
play.
EDITORIAL
OPINION
,*, Clare Cub Scout winners in their annual Pine-
wood Derby are, from left: Mark Hales, Dennis
' * Da-tott, Joe Schroeder, Michael Collom, and Mike
Doing What
They Have To Do
City Commission members, talking about public
reaction to the proposed higher rates for Clare water
and sewer, revealed Monday that there is fear that
rates may go exorbitantly high, —there may be lack
of understanding reasons for the hike, —there is concern among commissioners themselves that higher
rates may become a hardship on elderly, retired residents and those of low income.
Commissioner Robert Walters told fellow members
that he informed one Clare citizen that the new combined rate for water-sewer would probably not be a-
bove $50. per year after the citizen heard a rumor that
water alone might cost that much. Commissioner Ray
Owens also said that concerned residents had questioned    him about how high the new rates might be?
We guess that all Commissioners have sometimes
heard protesting residents say that if rates go higher,
the  customers  will drill their own private wells!
Some people remember that before last year's
vote on bonding the city for the proposed improvements in water-sewer services, the promise was
that, "Voting Yes on all three (proposals) would not
increase the property tax nor put a burden of any
kind   on   property   owners  in  the   City  of Clare."
But despite this there should be no reproach toward the Commission for considering and enacting
new rate schedules for water and sewer service, It
is truly good management of public business and to
fail to adjust rates would be just as surely mis-management, -and result in disaster.
It's hard to say what rates would be "a burden,"
Commissioner Roy Dunbar quoting from a report
Monday evening showed that comparable small cities
have various rates for similar Services, *•- almost
all higher than Clare's proposed new adjusted rates,
and averaging about $100. per year.
Higher living expenses are the result of present
times and conditions and cannot honestly be blamed
on those who must break the news to us that, "The
Price Has Gone Up."
Humming Over The Highways
Robert R. Aronson, president of Electric Fuel Propulsion, Inc. of Ferndale
(on right) explains to Consumer Power
Clare Manager C. J.  Allen how his
electric car stops for refueling on intercity trips and instead of saying, "fill'er
up", the driver asks, "charge it."
Sentinel photo.
Electric Car Clean, Quiet
An electric powered
auto, one answer by modern science to the problems of traffic noise and
air-pollution exhaust
fumes, visited Clare
Tuesday and attracted
quite a crowd of admirers.
Major auto builder sand
electric equipment supply
research firms have long
regarded electric automotive power for private
cars as more than a
novelty. Robert Aronson
of Detroit has developed
a storage battery type
that he believes has superior features and his
visit here Tuesday was a
re-charging stop in a demonstration tour from
Ferndale, Michigan to
Cadillac.
His brand new Mars II
Electric Car is an experimental model that
might lead to market production some day and put
many motorists "humming" along the streets
and highways in cleaner,
quieter travel at low cost.
Mars II looks a lot like
other small compacts,
goes from 70 to 120 miles
on one battery charge.
Aronson's trip logs show
that average cost per mile
is less than 2 cents for
recharging and battery
depreciation.
A manual transmission
has four speeds forward
and the car accelerates
from 0 to 40 mph in ten
seconds with a top speed
of   60   miles   per hour.
Chances are that more
Clare residents would
have   seen  Mars II if it
had arrived here at Consumers Power service
building at the scheduled
5:00 p.m. for a recharge.
But the delay for five and
one-half hours was unavoidable and had nothing
''to,.do with the auto's performance/-
Sightseers andpublicity
movies along the route
used up more time than
Aronson had planned, and
a wrong turn at an expressway exit wasted
more time.
C.J. Allen, Consumers
manager here and Axel
Johnson, area line foreman met Aronson when he
arrived at 10:30, and connected his recharge lines
in   the   building garage.
An estimated 45 to 50
persons watched Mars II
being "refueled", and inspected the battery plant
and   talked   to Aronson.
To demonstrate that his
Mars II may become useful for more than just city
streets driving, Aronson
and other officials of his
firm, Electric Fuel Propulsion, Inc., of Ferndale
made a trip last month
to Washington, D.C.-logging mileage, stopping
time for battery charges,
and the expenses.
It was called the
"maiden voyage" and
enough facts were compiled to enable Aronson
to "log" an hypothetical
trip that would go like
this;
A distance of 340 miles
in  total  elapsed time of
8 hours and 18 minutes.
Cost would be $5.99 for
the battery recharging
and depreciation. Average
speed of 50 miles per hour
and three stops for 80
percent recharging at 30
minutes per stop," -all
figured in the total trip
time.
Mr. Aronson told onlookers Tuesday that he
has shown inter-city travel to be not only possible, but very economical
at the present time.
He said that a serious
drawback to this type of
travel at present is the
total lack of battery
char g i n g stations
conveniently located, and
accessible to motorists.
It is his prediction that,
"The first electrics on
the market will have to
rely on slow, overnight
recharging by small
chargers built into the
cars which can be plugged into household circuits."
The Mars II already
has a built-in charger for
115 volt, or 230 volt circuits, but an additional
charger outside the auto
can also be used at
higher rates. An alternator automatically recharges the power plant at a
low rate in motion while
the driver's foot leaves
the accelerator while
coasting or braking.
The motor is 15 horsepower. An accessory 12-
volt battery operates
lights, radio, horn, etc.,
there is an aircraft type
gasoline heater and defroster.
Coleman Must
Fill 3 School
Board Positions
Henry Ranck resigned as
a member of the Coleman
Board of Education April 1
in order to accept the position of Wise Township Supervisor.
In his letter of resignation Ranck stated his
two years as a Board
member had been an educational and rewarding experience but felt he could
contribute greater public
service as a township supervisor.
The Board of Education
is • currently considering
public spirited persons who
would accept appointment
to the position until the
annual school district election on June 12th, at which
time they would run for
the two year balance of the
term.
Terms of office of two
other Board members also
expire at the June election.
They are Carl Toth, who
has indicated he will be a
candidate for re-election
and Harry Brugger, who
has decided not to run a-
gain.
Nominating petitions for
school board members may
be picked up at the Coleman
Superintendent of School's
office in the Elementary
Building.
(6
99
sNo
Dumping
Doesn't the inexcusable
litter and carelessly dropped trash along our roads
and streets make you sick
and angry?
One farm resident in
West Grant has "had it,
-right up to here" with the
sight of litter along the road
he travels back and forth
to Clare. He expresses
his bitterness and that of
most of us, ina little rhyme
about the ugly trash.
'Trouble is, —heblames
people from "town" for
doing all the littering while
the true solution might be
catching and punishing all
the disgusting violators regardless of where they live!
Anyway, here is his rhyme,
-written "to the Editor" of
The Sentinel:
"Just because we make
our living from the ground,
"That's no sign we want
our highways littered with
garbage and tin cans from
town.
"Because some day your
name may be found!
' 'And we farmers will get
you on the rebound.
"And haul all this junk
back to town,
"And in your front yard
it may be found.
"That will be our kick
from the rebound.''
The author named this
protest, "West Grant's Tin
Can Alley" and if it did no
more than make us all more
helpful in anti-litter efforts
it would be a good poem.
Fluoride Cards
Appointment cards will
be in the mail after April
11 for children's Topical
Fluoride treatments this
summer.
Schedules for the May
and June treatments will
be scheduled next week
Mrs. Fleming
Honored At
Retirement
Mrs. Harold Fleming was
honored at a surprise dinner party Thursday evening last week, held in the
Congregational social
rooms with 86 attending.
The occasion recognized
the many years of service
she had rendered at the
Clare School.
Given by the Clare Education Association in cooperation with the administration, secretaries,
custodians and school
board, it was kept secret'
Until time of the dinner.
The guest of honor then
had to be told, to attend.
Her own church circle, in
charge of the dinner, also
kept the secret from her.
Following the dinner, Albert Schumm, elementary
principal was toastmaster.
Songs were sung with Lloyd
Conley at the piano. For a
bit of humor there was
Cont. on Page A-8
Fine judges of good horses, are these
4~Hers from Clare and Gladwin counties who participated in a State judging contest April 1 at MSU in East
Lansing. The Clare county team placed 12th among youths from 37 counties.
Seated (1 to r) are JoAnne Walter, Mar
lene Maxwell, Diane Dunkle, Lynda
Dawson all of Clare county and standing are Karen Lloyd, Dan Lawson,
Mark Bohham and Diane Crawford all
from Gladwin county.
Photo by Carolyn Bay,