1970-03-18; Clare Sentinel

              CITY LIBRARY
4TH &  MCEWAN
46617
XX
Fifteen Cents
12 Pages
Wednesday, March 18, 1970
Our 92nd Year New Series
Vol. 78 No. 28
Controversy Continues
Over Building Permits
J^.*w*<wKUiw-*i.^**i-3~
DAY AFTER — Participants on both sides of the Coleman
school contract dispute meet in the Board of Education
office Friday for a followup discussion on the long-awaited
agreement, reached in a 6 1/2 hour bargaining session
the night before. Seated (from left) are Coleman Board
of Education  President Robert Kerr, Superintendent of
Schools Norval S. Bovee, Donald Callahan and Tommie
Saylor, president-elect and president, respectively, of
the Coleman Education Association. The new master contract will become official when, and if, ratified by the
teachers* Sentinel Photo
Some two hours of the regular meeting of the Clare City
-Commission Monday night
were taken up by discussion
of three controversial building
permits issued last month
after repeal of a city ordinance.
At the Feb. 16 meeting of
the Commission, the city
granted threebuildingpermits
for relocatable homes upon
the request of James S. Bicknell. In order to do this, the
city first had to revoke Ordinance No. 244 which provides
for a public hearing on any
permit requests for the construction of relocatable
homes. Ordinance 244 defined
relocatable structures as
"factory assembled living
units in two or more sections
to  be transported to site.'"
At recent Commission
meetings, groups of citizens
from the two subdivisions affected by the Bicknell permits
have protested the city's February 16 action. One of the
building permits was for a lot
in the John W. Foell Subdivision, and two were for the
Brookwood Subdivision. A
house has already been constructed at the Foell Subdivision site.
Because of numerous complaints from the public, the
City Commission held a special meeting on the matter at
the end of February, at which
Ordinance 259 (used to repeal
Ordinance 244) was rescinded. In the meantime, the commission had been advised by
City Attorney Harold Hughes
that neither of the ordinances
were valid because of procedural errors in enacting them.
After rescinding Ordinance
259 the Commission agreed
to withhold granting of additional permits for relocatable
homes for the time being.
Following Hughes' opinion
and the rescinding action by
the commission, some citizens have contended that the
three buildingpermits granted
to Bicknell should be revoked.
The city, in turn, says that,
with the validity of the ordinances pertaining to relocatable homes in doubt, the
city must use its building code
as a guideline. Specifications
or Bicknell's relocatable
buildings have been found to
comply with Clare's building
code.
To help resolve the confusion, the commission sent a
letter to State Attorney General Frank Kelley some weeks
ago. No answer has been received. At Monday's meeting,
the commissioners decided to
send another letter to the attorney general giving more
details of the situation. A call
to City Attorney Harold Hugh-,
es during the meeting Monday
night secured the further advice that residents bordering
the Bicknell lots in the Brook-
wood Subdivision might resort
to a civil suit in order to halt
construction of any more relocatable houses.
Teachers To Ratify
Coleman Dispute Nears End
Sheriff Gets Funds
Negotiators in Coleman took
a giant step toward resolving
the long-standing school dispute Thursday night by reaching an agreement on a new
master contract. The agreement came during a meeting
that lasted from 7i30 pjn. to
•2 a.m.
On Monday night the Coleman
Board of Education tentatively
approved the terms of the contract as negotiated. The board
cannot actually ratify the proposed contract until it is presented to them in full document form, according to Coleman Superintendent Norval
S. Bovee. v
Final approval of the negotiators agreement will not
come until ratification by the
teachers. The teachers met to
consider ratification Tuesday
night.
Specific terms of the latest
master contract agreement
cannot be revealed until ratification by both sides. Last
week, however Bovee said
that Thursdays meeting would
center on the disputed subject
.of individual te&aikt contract
return deadlines.- *" ""
Gordon Lee, a state mediator
from Detroit, attended bargaining session last Thursday.
Disagreement between the
board of education and the
teachers, represented by the
Coleman Education Association, has existed since last
summer. In past months, the
dispute has resulted in abrief
strike by teachers, court orders, law suits, and a ruling
by Michigan Employment Relations Commission.
Several times each side has
rejected contract proposals by
the other. Earlier, a contract
agreement reached by both
negotiating parties was soundly rejected by the teachers.
Basis of the dispute was thd
teachers- refusal to accept a *
deadline for return of individual contracts. Tom Saylor,
CEA president, has stated that
any such deadline would limit
the teachers' bargaining power in master contract negotiations.
In January, the Employment
Relations Commission agreed
with the CEA's contention that
the Coleman Board had indulged in unfair labor practices
precipitating the seven-day
strike in September. , The
language of the ERC's-ruli^,
The Clare County Board of
Commissioners set the salary of Under sheriff Allan Henderson at $6,510 at their regular session in Harrison
Monday.
The Commissioners also
heard recently appointed Sheriff Raymond Lippold request
permission to purchase new
equipment for bis department.
however, apparently setla'JulV   , -•*--*• ^-«-	
1 statuatory iieadliiier-for the'^J kipppld, told the board mem
return of teacher contracts;
It was the CEA's refusal to
accept this part of the ruling,
coupled with the issue of retroactivity of any new master
contract, that held up a settlement of the dispute until
last Thursday.
Clare Hospital's
Blood Program
Pre Census Report
For Clare County
The new census, which
is now getting under way,
will spotlight the many
changes that have taken
place in Clare County in
the last 10 years.
The data to be collected will show how many
people there are in the
local area and their distribution by age, marital
status, education, sex and
the like.
Additional information
to be gathered from one
out of every four families, will indicate average income, rent paid,
value of the home, means
of heating, modern appliances and automobile
owner ship, among others.
The findings, when as-'
sembled, will present a
detailed picture of social
and economic conditions
locally.
For manufacturers and
distributors, for advertisers, governmental agencies and others who use
such information to measure current demand for
products and services and
to lay plans for future
needs, such data' is vital.
In Clare County, on
the basis of preliminary
estimates and projections, elderly people and
young people represent
larger proportions of the
total population than they
did in I960. Today, about
12.7 percent are over 65,
as compared with 11.7
percent when the previous
census was taken.
The increase in the
proportion of people
under 20 has been even
more pronounced, however, with the result that
there has been a drop in
the median age. It is
now approximately 1.9
years below what it was
in I960, when it was 28.5
The "Natural" increase in the local population, which refers to
the surplus of births over
deaths in the 10-year period, is expected to be
close to 6.3 percent.
As to the amount of
schooling that Clare Co.
residents have been receiving, it will be found
to be greater than before.
The figures will show,
according to the predictions, that the average
person who has completed
his formal education and
is now 25 or older, will
have put nearly 1.4 years
more in school than his
1960 counterpart. At that
time, the median amount
of schooling in the area
was 10.3 years.
Incomes, also, have
been on the rise since
then. According to the
estimates made annually
the average income locally, after taxes, is in
the neighborhood of $2,310
per capita. It was $1,
459 in 1960.
As part of a Red Cross
participating county
Clare Osteopathic Hospital is able to offer one
of the most complete and
efficient blood program
available.
Under the Red ,Cross
Inventory Control Program, fourteen pints of
fresh whole blood are
shipped to Clare each
week. The blood not used
the previous week is sent
to the larger hospitals for
immediate use thus eliminating waste. This involves a turnover of 800
pints a year with actual
use of 250 pints by patients. Other hospitals
with their own blood programs can not afford to
stock an adequate supply
due to limited funds and
unqualified donors.
The fourteen pints received from the Red
Cross    mean   not   only
One Injured
The snow may be disappearing and the temperature rising slightly
in Clare County, but winter sports accidents are
still occurring.
The Sheriff's Department in Harrison reports
that a man received minor
injuries Sunday afternoon
when his snowmobile
struck an undetermined
object west of Harrison in
Section 35.
George Taylor, 54, of
Sheridan, Mich, was alone
on the vehicle at the time
of the accident* He went
to Clare Osteopathic Hospital where he was treated and released.
No tickets were issued
in the mishap.
quantity but also variety.
Fourteen pints are broken
down as two type B, and
one packed cell unit for
those who do not need
whole blood but only the
cells.
This variety of blood
types enables the hospital to transfuse a patient
with any blood type immediately. In an emergency, the availability of
blood may be a matter of
life and death. A patient
can not always wait for a
qualified donor to be
found.
In emergencies such as
a car accident where several people may require
transfusions, blood may
be transferred from one
Red Cross county to another. Generally two to six
units of blood are transferred to Gladwin or the
Mt. Pleasant State Home
each month. State police
are available to transfer
Red Cross blood at anytime of the day or night,
seven days a week.
The Red Cross Blood
Center in Lansing provides many services without charge to hospital laboratories. If a hospital
is having difficulties sel- .
ecting appropiate donors
for a patient with antibodies, the center will
screen the blood before it
is shipped to the hospital.
It takes five pints of blood
to find one pint compatible for a person with antibodies in their blood,
therefore, if this patient
required three transfusions it would take fifteen
pints to find three units
of blood compatible.
bets, that the county has only
three vsets of handcuffs for use
by'the seven-man department.
After deliberating for some
two hours, the commissioners
authorized the expenditure of
$165 for the purchase of three
new sets of cuffs, three pistols, a shotgun, and a flashing red light.
The board also approved the
purchase of a new dishwasher
for the county jail.
Lippold presented the commissioners a letter from District Court Judge John Rin-
gelberg which asks the Sheriffs Department to provide a
court bailiff. Lippold said
meeting this request would necessitate the hiring of a new
deputy. The board referred
the    judge's   letter to    the
Sheriff Committee for recommendations to be presented at
the next meeting on April 6.
In other business, Ken C.
Barnes, chairman of the
county planning commission,
requested permission to
change the name of the EBS
consulting firm on contracts
between the county and the
firm. He explained that EBS
has changed its name to Environments Research since-
contracting with the county for
a water and sewage survey
and a comprehensive planning
survey. The board approved
Barnes request.
Paul Clark of Harrison was
appointed as temporary Co.
Veterans Counsellor to fill in
for Inice Eaton who is convalescing with a broken wrist.
County Clerk Louis Becker
was also instructed to advertise for an assistant to the
Veterans Counsellor.
Frank Coker, cnairmanofthe
Clare County Social Services
Board of Directors, appeared
before the commissioners to
inform them that his department had already utilized half
of its 1970 budget. He said a
sharp rise in the number of
persons on welfare since last
November qas responsible for
the   increased   expenditures
which are now averaging $10,
000 per month.
Unemployment in Clare Co.
has now reached 7 per cent of
the available work force and
may go as high as 10 per cent
before the end of the year.
At this rate, Coker estimates
the Social Services will have
a budget .deficit of $20-30,000
by the end of 1970.
The  county  commissioners
voted to table until the next
regular meeting areportfrom
the Clare County Road Commission.
In other action Monday
night, the commissioners appointed a new Clare Planning Commission. Serving on
the advisory body will be Pete
Brown, John Myers, Ray Wha-
len, Ray Owens, and Mack
Thompson.
Mayor Willard Koch informed the group that the Garfield Memorial Library is operating with a budget balance
of $18,628.34 as of March 1,
1970. By the end of the fiscal
year on June 30, the library
will have an estimated surplus
of some $10,000.
Mayor Koch commended the
library administrators for
their efficiency, but added that
"no branch of the city government needs this kind of surplus."
Koch advised that the next
commission, following the
April election, should look
into the matter of the library's
budget allotment.
Glen Cain, city manager, introduced a motion that the city
advertise for curb and gutter
work planned for Cedar between State and Schoolcrest.
The question of who should pay
for the blacktopping of Cedar
received more discussion last
night, but no action was taken.
Cain produced statistics on
how surrounding towns finance
blacktopping of municipal
streets. In all cases, the resident of the affected street foots
most, or even all, of the paving costs.
Until recently Clare has
paid the costs of blacktopping
from the city budget, assessing residents only for curbing and guttering. At the March
2 meeting,. Cain suggested
having property owners finance at least 50 per cent of
paving costs.
Harvey To Speak
On "Nixon Way"
Six In Race For
Commission Seats
There will be race for
positions on the Clare City
Commission in the annual
election April 6.
Three Commission seats will
be up for grabs, and, as of
Monday, six persons had filed nomination petitions for
the available positions, according to City Clerk Madge
Ruark.
Included in the six are the
three incumbents whose terms
expire this year. They are
Willard Koch, present mayor
of Clare,  Richard Stoeker,
and Robert Walters.
Challenging the incumbents
are Ray Owens, former Commission member, Robert
Greer, and James Gorbett.
The Sentinel hopes to provide further information about
each of the candidates prior
to the election.
After the ballots are counted
April 6, the two candidates
polling the highest vote totals
will receive two-year terms
in office. The third highest
will serve on the Commission
for one year.
Congressman James
Harvey of Saginaw will be
the featured speaker
Thursday night at .the annual Lincoln Day Dinner
sponsored by the Clare
County Republican Party.
His address will center
on the "Nixon Way." In
a briefing, scheduled to
precede the 7 p.m. dinner
at the Hotel Doherty, Harvey will impart to local
Republican officials some
of the news from Washington, D.C.
Michigan Republicans
are facing an important
year in 1970, with all 19
of the state's Congressional seats up for election.
In addition, the biggest
target will be the Senate
seat held by Democrat
Phil Hart. According to
M,D. Thompson, Clare
County GOP Finance
Chairman, Harvey was a
candidate to oppose Hart
earlier this year before
Lenore Romney became
the party's officially endorsed candidate.
Harvey is currently
serving on the House Administration and Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committees.
Tickets to the annual
fund-raising affair can be
purchased from M. D.
Thompson or other members of the Finance Committee,. A. J. Doherty at
the hotel, or John Bicknell of Citizens Bank and
Trust Company of Clare.
Night of Shakespeare
tadsd;
By James Dunn
The presentation of
Shake Hands with Shakespeare, will be given at
Farwell High School on
Tuesday, March 24, at
7:30 p.m. by the Farwell
English Literature class.
The evening intended to
introduce the people of
this area to the world of
Shakespeare, will include
Shakepearian-based exhibits, costumes and
plays. Included in the
program will be a junior
high presentation of
"Macbeth," directed by
Frank Robison, and a
elementary presentation
of "Romeo and Juliet"
directed by Marilynn
Moore.   Both Frank and
Marilynn     are      senior
drama students and Thes-.
pians. .
The exhibits will include paintings, pictures
of Shakespeare, his plays
and   England during his
li^-
There    will   also   be
Shakespearian scenes
presented by high school
students. Beverly Schmid
will offer a sonnet, King
Lear" will be presented,
by Bill Smith, Sharon
Sharp, Connie Orton, Marilyn Eisenhower.
"Taming of the Shrew'
cast is Mary Sanko, Bob
Godwin. "Hamlet" will
be performed by Frank
Robison, Greg Sangle and
Connie Lower.
SHAKESPEARE NIGHT— Students of English literature at Farwell High School will present an evening
devoted to the most famous, of English writers on
Tuesday, March 24. The program will include excerpts from some of Shakespeare'splays, plusEliza-
bethan exhibits and costumes. Shown rehearsing a
scene from Hamlet^re: Frank Robison, as Hamlet,
and Connie Lower, as the Queen, Hamlet's mother.