1970-08-12; Clare Sentinel

              CITY LIBRARY
4TH & a_E;vAN
4861?
XX
tHht Clare Sentinel
FIFTEEN CENTS
12 PAGES
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1970
OUR 92nd YEAR NEW SERIES
VOL. 78 NO. 49
SMALL HALLWAYS—Narrow hallways and exposed
pipes are two of the deficiencies noted by the
Michigan Department of Public Health in the older
portion of Clare Osteopathic Hospital. The hospital
has  been  issued a  warning  unless these and ap
proximately 46 other deficiencies are corrected the
state may refuse to renew the hospital's operating
license. A concerned citizens group ;is attempting
to develop ways of financing the needed improvements   which are expected to cost about $700,000.
Drowning, Car Accidents
Claim Lives Of Two Youths
A car-truck accident
claimed the life of a
•Clare County youth for
the second death as a
result of accidents in the
county during the last six
days.
Late last week a 15-
year old youth died as a
result of drowning while
swimming alone on Arnold Lake in Clare
County. The youth's
death was the first
drowning death in the
county this year, compared to three last year.
Killed when the car
he was riding in collided
with a tractor - trailer truck on US-27 in
Gratiot County was Donald B. Bigelow, 19, of
Route 4, Clare. The driver of the car in which
Bigelow was riding, David J. West, was critically injured in the accident and .is listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit of St.
Mary's Hospital in Saginaw.
The accident occurred
at 5:10 a.m. Saturday
one and three-tenths of a
mile from Jefferson Road
in Pine River Township,
according to troopers
from the Ithaca State
Police Post*
Troopers said the West
car collided with a truck
driven by Donald E. Zimmerman, 31, of Port Austin. He and a passenger
in the truck, Donald Zimmerman Jr., 12; were not
injured.
According to reports
issued by the state police
Zimmerman had just pulled onto the freeway from
thfc rest area when the
West Car collided with the
truck. Both motor vehicles were traveling south
when the collision happened.
No tickets have   been
issued   in   the accident
which is still under investigation by the state
police.
Bigelow is the son of
Mir. and Mrs. Donald
Bigelow* 8151 N. Mission in Clare and West
is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Harold West Jr., 3346
E. Herrick Road in Clare
County.
Clare County registered its first drowning
accident of the year when
a 15-year old boy
drowned on Arnold Lake
in Frost township, last
week.
The county's first
drowning victim was Joel
E. Magnus, 15, son of Mr.
and Mrs. John C. Magnus   of   Route  1,  Clare.
Clare County Sheriff
Ray Lippold reported the
youth jumped from a
dock on shore and began
swimming, to a raft anchored about 75 yards
from shore. Lippold said
witnesses reported the
youth reached the raft,
waited a few minutes and
began swimming back to
shore. He was swimming
alone both times and failed to reach shore the
second time.
A summer resident at
Arnold Lake, Paul Weber
23, of Mt. Pleasant saw
the Magnus boy struggle
and   swam out to help.
Weber pulled the youth
back to the raft and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while onlookers from the shore called
the sheriff's department.
Lippold attempted to revive the youth with the
department's portable
resusicitator.
Clare School Board
Reduces Tax Levy
Members of the Clare
School Board voted to reduce school taxes by half
a mill during their regular meeting at Clare High
School Monday evening.
The reduction in millage came in the area of
debt retirement millage
which was reduced from
an annual charge of two
mills to one and one half
mills. Officials said the
reduction was possible as
a result of increased state
evaluation. The higher
evaluation on property in
the school system generates the needed revenue at
the lower rate in order to
pay off past school building debts.
School officials also voted to maintain the operating millage levy at 15.5
mills, the same rate as
last year. Board members pointed out debt retirement millage was reduced by a similar
amount two years ago,
but property owners
didn't feel the effect because additional millage
was leveled by the former
Clar e County Board of
Supervisors.
In a related action School
Superintendent Richard L
Snyder reported that the
county election board approved   the board's re
quest for two separate
elections. The board has
scheduled an operating
millage levy renewal vote
for December 9 and a
special bonding issue for
March 1, 1971. Snyder reported to board members
that the bonding proposal
should be finalized by
October 1 in order to meet
state requirements to
place the issue before
the voters. Registered
property and non-property owners in the school
district will be eligible to
vote in the elections.
Board members also decided to meet With the Citizens Committee on Facilities prior to their next
scheduled meeting September 14 for a joint
meeting to discuss the
bonding and millage elections.
It was announced Clare
Schools will open September 9 while teachers will
gather one day earlier for
meetings and planning
sessions.
Board secretary Forrest
Sogge will represent the
school board at a meeting
Wednesday evening of the
Clare County Historical
Society. Sogge will officially present to the society the deed to the Old
Dover  School which was
recently restored by the
historical organization.
In other business board
members awarded a contract to supply milk for
school children at a rate
of 5.98 cents per half
pint furnished by Seal-
test Dairy of Clare. Other
bidders were the McDonald Dairy Company at 6.1
cents and Saniseal at 6.35
cents per pint.
Board members rejected
bids for gasoline to operate the system's 24 school
buses and other motor
cars because required
specifications were not
furnished by one of the two
bidders. Approximately
35,000 gallons of gas are
used annually by the
school system.
A decision was made to
postpone action of surfacing the north parking lot
at the high school until the
ground is graded and settled. In another related
property matter board
members tabled for further consideration a proposal to purchase the former Schug property near
the school. The board
hopes to purchase the land
which amounts to approximately one half a city
block, to use for future
parking facilities for
school buses.
RULING COSTS
SCHOOLS $8,500
While the total effect
of the recent state supreme court ruling requiring free textbooks for
all students is still not
known for the Clare
School System, the total
cost could run as much
as $100,000 if the ruling
is applied to its fullest
extent.
The $100,000 estimated
price tag was pointed out
to members of the Clare
School District Board of
Education by Richard L.
Snyder, superintendent of
Clare schools during the
board's regular meeting
Monday evening.
The ruling in question
concerns a case involving
the Ann Arbor School District which fought for
nearly four years a loosing battle to maintain authority to charge book
rental fees and other fees
for students enrolled in
the  Ann  Arbor  system.
The state supreme
court's decision struck
down what was an established practice in many
school districts throughout the state as a method
to obtain supplemental
operating fund's to help
pay for the costly school
book   budget   line   item.
In Clare, the court's
ruling will have the effect
of costing the school system approximately $8,500
the amount required to
furnish textbooks free to
secondary school students in grades 7 through
12 and to abolish the current events reading material charge in the elementary and junior high
grades. The additional
cost is nearly "equal to
the salary of one teacher
in the system. Textbooks
are furnished to elementary students, without
charge.
Previously Clare school
students at the secondary
level were charged an
annual fee  of $7.50 for
Few Contests Slated
In Township Elections
Republican candidates
will be opposed by Democratic candidates in the
November general election in seven of Clare
County's 16 townships,
according to a report issued by Clar e County
Clerk Louis Becker.
The report was compiled by the Clare County
Board of Canvassers
'from inform-atfon submitted by the individual election canvassing boards in
the various townshiips.
The township governmental candidates were
.elected in the primary
election last week which
saw incumbents Don Holbrook Jr., state representative from the 99th
District, and John F.
Toepp, state senator from
the 36th District, renominated.
Clare County voters also nominated on the Republican ticket Ray Lippold to seek the remainder of the four-year term
left vacant when former
Sheriff James Darling re
signed in March. Lippold
was appointed then by
a three-man committee
to fill the vacancy until
the   November   election.
Voters also elected
Alex Strange, probate
judge, from Clare County
to run against George
Johnson of Gladwin for
the probate judgeship seat
for the recently combined
Clare - Gladwfn Cbtinty
Probate   Court  District.
In the city of Harrison
voters nominated on the
non-partisan ticket Cecil
Phillips to oppose Dan
Sullivan for Harrison mayor. Harrison voters also
nominated , on the same
ticket, to run for the city
council Arthur G. Foote,
Kirk A. Nigro and Robert E. Roth.
The townships in which
there will be Democratic
challengers are Franklin,
Freeman, Hamilton,
Hayes, Lincoln, Redding,
Surrey and Summerfield.
The candidates, the
ticket and the office they
are seeking are listed ac
cording to townships below:
ARTHUR TOWNSHIP—
All Republicans, Norman
D. Myers, supervisor,
Glen L. Newman, clerk,
Agnes M. Davis, treasurer, Jack S. Richards,
trustee and Russell R.
Sanders and Clark Walters, both, constable.
FRANKLIN—Nial D.
Tr.esseq_.ie, (R) supervisor, John W. Sincic (R)
and Joyce Campbell (D),
treasurer, John Malone,
(R) trustee, Earl Town-
send (R) and Kenneth
Campbell and Delbert
Riske, both (D), constable
and Velma Davis (D) clerk
FREEMAN—Leo Harris
(R) clerk; Grace Lee, (R)
treasurer: 'v: Kenneth
Marhofer (R) and Ross M.
Howard and Justin L. Bain
both (D), constable; Keith
Blain, (D), supervisor;
and Frank Sarkozi (D)
trustee.
FROST--A11 Republicans, Leo Cooper,supervisor,     Lanora    Schulz,
Continued on Page-12
textoook rental and the
elementary grade publication charge was $1 per
year.
Board members agreed
to abolish book rental fees
and supply free textbooks
to all students in compliance with the court's
ruling. However, board
members also agreed to
postpone other fee
charges until further interpretations of the
court's ruling are made-
certain fees may be collected but if ordered to
do so the board will refund them.
The $100,000 price tag
to the school system
would occur if Clare
schools were required to
furnish other school-related materials.
Some of these materials
might include pencils, paper, pens, musical instruments for participation in bands and orchestras, gym suits and athletic equipment, yearbook, student newspaper,
material costs for art and
shop classes, caps and
gowns for graduation,
class rings, graduation
announcement cards and
many other items.
School officials emphasize that the matter of
charging fees for these
items is not clear as yet
and may not *be for a
month or longer. Officials
indicated until school
systems are prohibited
from charging these fees
by the courts past practices will continue under
close examination.
The annual fees for art
and shop classes at the
secondary level of $5 each
do not pay the entire cost
of materials for the classes but only supplement
the costs. Payment of all
costs could only add additional costs to the program and perhaps reduce
the quantity of materials
used by each student.
Farwell To Observe Centennial
^■4^
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FARM EXPERIMENTALIST-.-Josiah Littlefield and
his wife stand beside a stalk of corn grown by Littlefield as one Of his farming experiments during the
early days of Farwell. Littlefield's contributions
to the Farwell area and other early settlers will
be relived during the Farwell Centennial Celebration September 2 to 7.
Plans for the Farwell
Centennial are being finalized in preparation for
the community's 100th anniversary celebration September 2 to 7.
Throughout the 100-year
history of Farwell, the
village has compiled an
impressive history of
events and personalities,
both of which will be recalled during a special
centennial pageant as part
of the week's activities
observing the birthday of
the community.
A six-man committee
has developed most of the
plans for the celebration
assisted by several civic
and service organizations
in the area. Chairman of
the event is Don Luce,
assisted by Albert Eisenhauer as co-chairman and
chairman of the parade
committee.
Other members of the
centennial committee include Harold Eleribaas Jr.
secretary, Al Howard, financial secretary, Bernard Schofield, treasurer
Marilyn Pitchford, talent
show chairman, Mrs. El-
enbaas, pageant committee chairman and the Far-
well Teacher Club which
is sponsoring an ox roast.
The teacher's club also is
attempting to forma Far-
well area historical society.
A special centennial
book has been published
with much of the area's
history written by Mrs.
Hazel Littlefield Smith,
daughter of one of the first
settlers in the Farwell
area. A picture on page
4 points out a past industry of the area, the
Portland Cement Company. It was started by
Josiah Littlefield as an
attempt to provide continuing industry in the
area after a decline began in the lumbering industry. The business failed after a few years when
better natural supplies
and manufacturing methods were perfected
elsewhere.
Centennial activities
will get underway August
29 with the crowning of
the Centennial Queen during a ball in the Farwell
High School gymnasium,
Activities will move in
high gear with a special
centennial church service
September 2 at 8 p.m. in
the high school gym.
On September 3 a carnival will begin its week-
long run highlighted with
the centennial talent show
that night at 8 in the gym.
The main attraction of the
festival September 4 will
be the presentation of the
centennial pageant at 8
p.m. in the high school
parking lot, performed
by local talent.
A pony pulling contest
is scheduled for the afternoon of September 5
with the opening of- an
antique display area in
the high school, a little
league baseball game and
an r'Auld Lang Syne*' banquet at the high school
beginning  ar   6:30  p.m.