1969-09-10; Clare Sentinel

              CITY LIBRARY
4T.I & MCEWAN
XX
mtintl
Fifteen Cents
14 Pages
Clare, Michigan. Wednesday.  September lo, jq^
Our 91st Year New Series Vol. 78
No. 1
Clare County Probate Judge
Recommends New Court
Quits
PROBATE JUDGE ALEXANDER STRANGE, II
Alexander Strange II,
Probate Judge for Clare
County has resigned that
position, effective, officially, October 1, although
he will be absent for a
short vacation immediately.
Judge Strange, a partner in the law firm of
Strange and Hole of Harrison, lists primary reason for his resignation
as financial.
According to Judge
Strange, the position of
Probate Judge for Clare
County is supposedly a
part-time position.
Actually, he says, the
position is too involved
for one judge part time
and not enough for two
judges.
The position, says the
Judge, should be regarded
as a full time one.
Judge Strange had informed the County Board
of Supervisors of his feelings some time ago. The
Board did not appropriate
any additional funds for
the position and, in May
of this year, Judge
Strange notified the Board
of his intention to resign.
The resignation of
Strange as Probate Judge
leaves a vacancy which, it
seems,     nobody    really
wants to fill.
He first "obtained the
position, unopposed, in a
special election in July
of 1965, following a string
of vacancies in higher
courts which eventually
left the position of Probate Judge open.
Now that the judge has
resigned, there is really
no one who seems to want
the job. And, according,
to Strange,"it is unlikely
that any attorney will
move into Clare county,
just to fill that position."
The Probate Court
handles such matters as
estates, determination of
heirs, marriage waivers
and juvenile affairs. High
on the courts list of activities is the probate of
wills and the juvenile affairs such as child neglect and adoption cases.
Currently, when the
welfare organizations
find, say, cases of child
neglect, it takes an order
from the Probate Court
JO have the child removed
lrom an unwholesome
home and placed in a foster home.
The question has been
raised, what will happen'
to these children without
a Probate Judge to issue
orders for their proper
care? Will they have to
he left in unwholesome
home situations? No, according to Judge Strange.
Arrangements have
been made, he says, to
have a visiting Probate
Judge come into the
county regularly to handle
such matters.
The visiting judge, according to Strange, will
most likely be Probate
Judge George Johnson
from Gladwin County.
Judge Strange is of the
opinion that Judge Johnson will be able to handle
the Clare county case
load as well as that of
Gladwin county.
For this extra duty,
Judge Johnson will probably receive around $100
See Judge Page - 10
System
By Clare County Probate Judge Strange
Board Of Education Accepts Citizens Group
Recommendation For Clare School Facilities
At the Monday evening
September 8, meeting of
the Clare Board of Education, the Board accepted the recommend-
.ed proposal of the Clare
Citizens Committee on
School Facilities that a
new elementary building
to accomodate grades K
through Four, be constructed on the present
school property.
Also included in that
proposal is the renovation . of the present elementary building to be
used for the intermediate
classes.
Approval of the proposal by the Board means
at this time, a go-ahead
on soil analysis of the
site.
The cost of the completed program was given
by the Citizens Committee as nearly two million dollars. Burke Rilette, Chairman of the
Finance Committe, has
stated that a construction program of two million dollars could be financed by a bond issue
costing approximately 6
and one half mills.
Bernard Wyman,
Chairman of the Building
and Sites Committee for
the Citizens Committee
had reported to the group
that there were three sites which could be considered for the construction   of a  new building.
They were the Marie
Schug property, the present adminis tration
building site and the gen-
BOARD MEETING At their Monday evening, September 8 meeting, the Clare
Board of Education, among other business, approved a 9% pay increase for non-
instructional staff. They also authorized the participation of 29 Clare Seniors
in a vocational technical program to be held at the facilities of Mid Michigan
Community College in conjunction with High schools of Gladwin, Beaverton, Far-
well and Harrison. Shown above are the Board members ( 1. to r.) Joe Johnston,
Gary Rayburn (Admin. Ass't), Dick Snyder (Supt. of Schools), Elmer "Bud" Anderson (President of School Board), William Warner, Forest Sogge, Glen Thomas
and Bernard Wyman.
eral area of the relocatable classrooms.
In a group discussion
of the sites by the citizens group it was decided
that the site adjacent to
the present relocatables
was most ideal, pending
soil analysis.
The group had decided
that construction of a-
nother classroom building on the present school
property was not most
favorable, due to the present overcrowded conditions, but the committee
felt   that   site  would  be
(Sentinel photo)
most acceptable to the
voting public.
Further business at the
Board meeting included
discussion of the traffic
situation around the
schools when the school
buses leave in the evening.
There was also discussion concerning safety
crossing guards, whether
school custodial people
or other individuals
should work in that area;
whether they should be
hired by the city or the
school   system;   whether
they should be deputized.
The Board will make a
decision on these matters
when they have received
the results of a Triple A
safety study conducted on
the area and its traffic
safety problems. The
Board expects to have
the results of the study
by their next meeting,
September 6.
Additional action by the
Board included acceptance of the Student Policies as outlined in the
student handbook for this
year and  the authoriza-
Clare County
Official Dies
CLINTON R. CASE
Clinton R. Case, 70,
of Eight Point Lake, passed away suddenly at the
Central Michigan Community Hospital Sunday,
September 7,
Jake" as he was
known by his many friends
and associates became
interested in county government when they moved
to the Eight Point Lake
area and was elected Garfield township supervisor
in 1957, a position he held
at the time of his death.
He also served as
chairman of the Clare
County Board of Supervisors. At the present
time he was one of the
commissioners on' the
East Central Michigan
Economic' Development
Commission, representing Clare, Isabella and
Roscommon counties, at
Delta College andamem-.
ber of the Middle Michigan Tax Assessing Officers. He was also a life
member of the Crystal
Masonic Lodge.
Born November 11,1898
in Crystal, he was united
in marriage to Gladys
Ruddock in Lansing, December 24,1925, who survives together with one
son Clinton L. Case of
Houston Texas, two
grandchildren, one sister, Mrs. Leo Ewin of
Chicago, Illinois and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services Will
be held this Wednesday
morning, September 10
from the Coker Funeral
Home in Farwell at 11
o'clock with Rev. Donald
Smithgall officiating and
burial in the Mt. Hope
Cemetery in Lansing at
_2;30 p.m.	
tion for 29 Clare High
School students to participate in an area vocational technical studies
program to be held at
Mid-Michigan Community College this year.
Tte   29   students will
be bused to M.M.C.C. for
* 9i3b'a.ra. classes and return by bus at 11:30 a.mi
Along.- with students
from Gladwin, Beaverton
Farwell andHarrison^the
Clare students will receive vocational instruction in such technical
areas as Conservation,
Drafting, Machine Tools,
Building Construction and
Merchandising, among
other areas.
The Board also authorized a 9% increase in salaries for non-instructing
personnel.
Baccalaureate for the
1970 graduating class was
set for June 7; Graduation
to   be   June  12   of 1970.
R. R. Crash
Claims One
A collision between a
pick up truck and a train
claimed the life of a Clare
resident Sunday, September 7 at 2:20 p.m.
Harry Ivan Gustin, 67,
of Clare, the driver of the
pick up, died as a result
of injuries received in the
accident which occured
at the intersection of Is-
abelle Road and the C &
O railroad tracks a mile
east of Clare. .
According to the engineer of the C & O train,
Gustin had slowed down
for the train prior to the
crash.
The impact of the collision knocked the box
from the truck and popped
out the windshield although the cab of the
truck was otherwise unharmed.
Investigating State Police officers from the Mt.
Pleasant post believe that
Gustin may have been
thrown from the truck
with the collision, after
which the truck may have
rolled over him.
Gustin, who Was conscious after the accident,
was. taken to the Clare
Hospital where he died
of his injuries,
o He had turned 67 on the
day of the accident.
Harry Gustin Was born
September 7, 1902, the
son of John and Nellie
Parker, in Flint and was
a retired foreman of Flint
See Railroad Page - 11
Judge Strange in announcing his resignation
as Clare County Probate
and Jevenile Court Judge
issued the following
statement. "Today's
Probate Court is the stepchild of our judicial system! The workload, duties and responsibilities
of the Court staff in the
supervision of estates,
guardianships, mentally
ill, on the Probate side of
the Court, and, most importantly, juvenile delinquency, neglect and child
abuse, on the Juvenile
side of the Court, have
drastically increased.
The court rules under
which we operate have become increasingly complex and time consuming."
It is a sad thing that
the Supervisors who control the purse strings fail
to recognize the importance of the problems of
the County Probate and
Juvenile Courts. When
local government abbro-
gates its responsibilities,
they are inevitably assumed by the state or federal government, with a
consequent erosion of local control. The situation in Clare County is
an excellent example of
the reason why County
Probate Courts, as the
Justice of the Peace are
outmoded, and will soon
be replaced by multi-
county Probate District
Courts, subject to state,
rather than local control.
"Unfortunately the salaries of the court staff
from the Judge on down
have not kept pace with
the demands for technical
skill and competence. The
compensation is nowhere
near that paid for positions of similar responsibility in industry or
other county agencies.
Examples: Our Juvenile
Officer, with a Masters
degree in guidance and
counselling is paid $2.83
an hour with no paid vacation or other fringe
benefits, and limited to
payment for forty hours,
each week> yet he works
many additional hours
with no compensation
whatsoever. Most school
systems would pay a man
with these qualifications
a starting salary of $8,000
'or more for nine months
work!"
"Our Register of Probate, whose position is
one of great responsibility, possesses a knowledge of probate law and
proceedure far greater
than that of the average
probate practitioner. Yet
'after 13 years in this position, her salary is only,
about $100.00 each week,
less than that of the average janitor."
"Our Probate Clerk not
only operates our electronic court reporting
system, but handles the
paperwork on juvenile,
guardianship and estate
matters, including scheduling of hearings and
notification of interested
parties. Her compensation is roughly half that
of the court reporter for
the District Court, and
only about a third of that
of the court reporter for
the Circuit Court."
As Clare: County Probate arid '-JuVeflile Court
Judge, for, more than four
years, I have seen the
workload grow from a total of 269 hearings in 1964
CARROLL R. McBETH
Carroll R. McBeth Gets
Promotion at Local Co.
Chandler Evans Inc.
(formerly Holley Carburetor Company) of
Clare, a division of Colt
Industries Inc., has a
new Plant Manager.
Carroll R. McBeth replaced Ed Royer, former
Plant Manager on September 1 when Royer
moved to Detroit to accept a position with ah
auto parts firm.
McBeth, who is a graduate aeronautical engineer from the University
of Cincinnati, joined the
Holley Carburetor Company in 1941 as a Field
Service Engineer. From
1941 to 1943 he was assigned to the government
and stationed in Eritrea,
Africa as a technical representative.
He became a Section
Engineer for Holley in
1952 and Quality Marta-
. ger for the company that
same year.
In 1955 he was promoted
to the position of Assistant to the Executive Vice
President. Promoted a-
gain in 1958, McBeth served six years as Manager
of Automotive Products
Manufacturing.
From  1964  until     his
promotion to Plant Manager he served first as
Assistant to the Vice President and General Manager of the Aircraft Division and also served on
special assignments at
the direction of the President of Holley Carburetor Automotive Products,
Division.
McBeth , who is 55,
and his wife have eight
children ranging in age
from 10 to 24.
to 649 in 1968. The greatest amount of time is
spent in the Juvenile Division on matters involving child abuse, juvenile
delinquency and neglect.
In 1968 there were 110
hearings held on these
matters, and in the first
half of 1969 alone, over
133 of such makers were
heard! In addition to the
time devoted 'to judicial
and administrative duties, the Judge must
spend a considerable'a-
mo.unt of time keeping up
with decisions of the appellate courts, attending
seminars, and in meetings with school,' court,
police and social welfare
agency personnel. All of
these require that the part
time Clare County Probate and Juvenile Court
Judge, who is required by
law to be an attorney*
must devote more than
half of his working time
to his Court, for compensation which is less than
one-third of that of the
Circuit Judge, a full time
position; In fairness to
m.y family and my law
partner, unfortunately I
can no longer afford to
devote the time required
to properly serve the
Court, and must return
to the full time practice
of law. I deeply regret
the necessity of this decision, and will particularly miss the Juvenile
Court work.' It is always
challenging - sometimes
frustrating, but more often rewarding. We have
a great bunch of young
people     here  in    Clare
See Text Page -. 10
Clare Women
Think Fast
Thanks to the quick
thinking of two women
from Clare, a television
stolen from the Western
Auto Store in Clare located next to the Bell
Telephone office on Mc
Ewan Street Was recovered and the person who
took the set apprehended.
The two * women (who
wished to remain anonymous) each, separately,
saw the suspect break
the large plate glass window of the store, take the
television set and depart
in a car.
Both women thought
quick enough to take down
the suspects license number and his physical description.
They then informed
Clare Police Chief Elry
Tice of what they had
seen.
Tice, through the vehicle license number and
the cooperation of the
State Police post in Detroit was able to identify
the suspect.
Tice called Carroll B.
Range, 33, of Livonia at
his Livonia home and obtained Range, s confession
to the crime. Range
brought the television set
back to Western Auto and
appeared in District
Court where he plead
guilty to a charge of malicious destruction and a
charge of larceny.
He was given .the
choice of a $75 fine and
costs plus a $.3 judgement fee or 15 days on the
malicious destruction
charge and a $45 fine
plus a $3 judgment fee or
eight days on the larceny
charge. He paid the fines
and costs on both charges.
He also made restitution
to Western Auto Store for
their borken window.
According to Chief
Tice, Range is quoted as
saying "I got awful drunk
in your town." . In his
conversations and meetings with Range, Chief
Tice describes him as
being "very cooperative."
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