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fire fund at three town banks rtiune stouffville leqion service nov 14 vol 88 no 24 phone 402101 stouffville- whitchurchmarkhamuxbridge thursday november 11 1971 16 pages 15 cents fire destroys business block the worst fire in stouffvilles history wiped out the ratcliff block main and market streets tuesday with a loss estimated at over onehalf million dollars at the height of the blaze smoke and flames soared 100 feet in the air ted cadieux narrow escape from fire eight apartments destroyed stouffville a narrow escape from fire which engulfed the ratcliff block left mrs stan miller shaken but thankful mrs miller was apparent ly the last person to leave the building she was alerted by- paul florence who went to all the apartments giving the alarm its a good thing i was washing my hair at the time she said otherwise i might have slept right through trying to escape by the front stairs mrs miller was confronted by a wall of flame and clouds of smoke she left by a rear exist in her haste to escape mrs miller was not able to save any of the contents of her apart ment her household effects- were not insured mayor has close call stouffville mayor ken laushway came as close as anyone to being a casualty in the ratcliff block fire tues day he was standing on main street with fire chief walt smith when the entire front section of brick building collap sed no one was hurt although the area was littered with de bris two volunteers were sav ed from injury by their hard hats paper delayed stouffville with no hydro tuesday the tribunes typesetting machinery ground to a halt page pasteups were com pleted by kerosone lamp offers of assistance came from neighboring weeklies at aurora markham and newmar ket era publisher david has kell took copy for setting at the newmarket plant gas leak area cleared stouffville a natural gas leak in the area of the pine tree restaurant prompted pol ice to cordon off an entire sec tion of main street from civic avenue to market all business places includ ing the bank of nova scotia next door were closed and em ployees sent home im just glad i got out never mind the furniture she said offers of aid stouffville offers of assistance to victims of tuesdays fire poured in all day mayor ken laushway told the tribune all have been accommodated he said a fund has been established at the three town banks stouffville seven apartments above the gutted village mall and one over the pine tree restaurant were soon emptied tuesday mor ning following discovery of the blaze about 8 am ushered down a rear fire escape were mrs wm risebrough mrs wm davidson mrs stanley miller mrs wm dougherty mrs jean reesor mrs betsy mcleod mrs charlotte florence and son paul mr and mrs david ku and family reside above the restaurant check for cause stouffville officers of the ontario fire marshals office arrived in stouffville wednesday to begin their in vestigation into tuesdays blaze the west wall of the main building was left standing for this purpose it is believed the fire started in this area praise for fire hero stouffville out of every tragic event emerges a hero one indivdual who in the face of danger considers others before himself nineteenyearold paul flor ence a resident with his moth er in an apartment above the village mall has been praised by tenants for his quick respon se he was the first to notice the blaze when he entered the downstairs premises to do care- taking duties tuesday morn ing he said the fire located near the west wall seemed small but spread quickly suddenly the front window blew out like a bomb he said he turned in the alarm then raced from room to room warning the people to get out by this time the stairway lead ing to the street was cut off by smoke and flames escape was possible only by a rear exit mr florence said some of the tenants were reluctant to leave without some of their per sonal belongings but there was just no time to save anything slashed with razor markham a 24 year old markham r r 2 resident was slashed across the face with a razor after he accosted two persons he felt were the same ones who had beaten him up in a markham restaurant one year ago albert huntrods told york regional police he recognized the men in richmond hill and followed them to bathurst street when he confronted them one attacked him with a tire iron and the other with a razor he was treated in york central hospital richmond hill and later released nine ontario scholars stouffville on fri day evening the spotlight of attention will be focussed on the academic accomplishments of students and student gradu ates of stouffville district sec ondary school graduation exercises begin at eight oclock included in the platform promenade will be nine recipi ents of ontario scholarships each with an average of 80 per cent or higher on seven grade 13 papers they are brian bak er gerard egberts allan fuller charles lynde jill mcwhinnie wayne morris bridget ramsey judith reesor and sally schell there will be no guest speaker however remarks will be made by the principal wm e duxbury and arthur e starr chairman york county board of education the valedictorian is william bodgers loss could exceed half million dollars fund is established stouffville an entire business block including eight second and third storey apartments were destroyed tuesday in what has been described as the worst fire in stouffvilles 94 year history the landmark site at main and market streets contained a ground floor music shop two offices a beauty salon a clothing store and a restaurant within a period of four hours all were wiped out while the blaze appeared to start in the west side of what was called the village mall fire chief walter smith declined to speculate as to the cause the loss in buildings and contents could exceed a halfmillion dollars the fire was first observed by paul florence caretaker of the premises he turned in the alarm then assisted by fred jackson blake street aroused the tenants upstairs all escaped by a rear exit leaving their personal possessions behind brigade units from uxbridge claremont markham and vaughan plus all volunteer personnel from stouffville waged a valiant but unsuccessful battle against the flames that soon developed into a raging inferno for a time it was feared that the post office too might go when the collapse of the malls west wall sent a shower of sparks onto the roof at one point the heat was so intense it broke the plate glass window in the betz building a hundred yards to the south mayor ken laushway and chief smith had a miraculous escape from serious injury when the front of the main structure suddenly crumpled to the street police im mediately cordoned off the area and all stores and business establishments were closed for the day three firemen were hurt don lehman suffered a cut across the nose don doner required five stitches to close a gash on one hand and a markham volunteer required hospital treatment when he accidentally struck himself on the foot with an axe for len and norma wilkes the scene was one of sadness next week would have marked their 22nd anniversary in business at the same site their store was destroyed along with the pine tree restaurant operated by mr and mrs david ku mr and mrs ku lived in the apartment above they like other tenants lost everything to assist in meeting the immediate needs of fire victims mayor ken laushway has announced the setting up of a fund donations will be received at the torontodominion bank in the plaza the bank of nova scotia and the imperial bank of commerce main street mr laushway said offers of assistance had already come from all parts of town it just goes to prove that people do care about other people he said bomb threat closes markham plant markham there wasnt much work done at the plant of chesebroughponds canada limited bullock drive mark ham on friday a bomb threat against 50 americanowned businesses was received b the rcmp it was supposedly in retaliation for the thenplanned nuclear test at amchitka chesebroughponds was included on the list firm president donald houston said all the female staff had been sent home with 16 work hours lost in the factory with 230 people on the pre mises most of them married we couldnt afford to take the chance mr houston was notified at 1130 pm thursday and ar ranged for security at the site to be tightened a search of the property was carried out by po lice with negative result mr houston admitted he was puzzled by the threat were run by canadians and we supply employment for can adians i guess some people dont always think of that sale of closed public schools remains controversial issue in an effort to halt the spread of the fire an aerial ladder truck from the town of vaughan was pressed into service sixty volunteers from five brigades tried unsuccessfully to check the blaze that was first noticed about 8 am york region the sale of closed schools continued to occupy the board of education at its meeting nov 8 and according to reg fairbanks it the purchase of lemonville school looks a lot more hopeful than it did a week ago a scheduled confrontation between the board and the lemonville residents was cancelled when a private meeting nov 4 brought certain explanations the board members maintained that their reserve is based tin the assessed value of the land and the loss of provincial grants if the schools are sold in the case of lemonville the land is assessed at si 1800 and sale of the school would mean the loss of a 17500 grant the board feels that this assessment is far too high and has stated the possibility of appealing it is now being studied a first step in this is to survey the property in question according to mr fairbanks a recent conversation with trustee morley kinnee revealed that two larger schools vandorf and ringwood are assessed at 7800 and 4800 respectively mr fairbanks also reported that mr kinnee said his com mittee in charge of the sales has been authorized by the board to negotiate directly with potential buyers it is felt this will give the lemonville residents a better chance to secure the school for a com munity centre during the nov 8 meeting mr kinnee announced that many enquiries had been received about the closed schools for which tenders were rejected accordingly the schools at pottageville bloomington melville and hagerman will be sold by public auction on nov 27 at the same meeting board members voted to accept an offer of 16500 for the pine orchard school those at pef- ferlaw and ringwood where offers were 7500 and 30000 respectively were rejected