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  Mr. & Mrs. Anthony MacNeil prepare to open their new General Motors dealership this weekend. MacNeil motors is situated at the corner of Fifth and Vinden Streets, formerly occupied by Warman Motors and Bourgeois Motors.

  New service equipment in the shop of MacNeil Motors bring smiles to the faces of service manager Jack Rutherford and chief mechanic, Oliver Dandenault. The new General Motors dealership will open this weekend.

  Conservation officer Fred Chew inspects wolf shot by Tom Caughey of Penetang Friday, near Sandy Bay Road on Midland Point. There is a $25.00 bounty on wolves. Mr. Caughey has been asked to let the head be used by St. Mark’s Church Cub Pack as their totem. [As a cub in that Pack, I remember that real wolf’s head.]

  Mayor Charles Parker makes a guess at how many balloons are packed into a car, one of the events at the grand opening of MacNeil Motors on the weekend. With him is receptionist Sandra Robinson. The correct number was 277. Clinton Truax and Frank Edwards came the closest, each guessing 278.

 Members of the Midland chapter of the SPEBSQSA, (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc.) Gene Stratton, Ray Atkinson, Elwood Marcellus and Lloyd Atkinson.

  Three veteran rural members of the MPDHS school board are pictured prior to a recent board meeting. Jack Rumble from Hillsdale, the Medonte representative; Nathan Brown, Tay Township and Nelson Jones, also a Tay resident but representing Simcoe County on the board.

  Charges are pending in this accident Thursday at the intersection of King St. and Dominion Ave. says Midland police chief Robert Cameron. Ernest Vincent of Honey Harbour and Robert Ellery of Kingston were the drivers. Passengers Mr. & Mrs. Fred Hewitt of Port Severn in the Vincent car suffered minor injuries. Damage is estimated at $350.00.

  Two MPDHS teachers have donated new trophies for the best actor and actress in the Georgian Bay Secondary School Drama Festival to be held in Orillia. Donors are Mrs. Cliff Peters, left, and Miss Grace McMullen. Radio station CFOR of Orillia has also donated a trophy for the best Canadian play entered in the festival.

  Penetang Council 1957 is shown following the inaugural meeting last Monday night. Councillors Godfrey Trilsbeck, Felix Turcotte, Joseph Duquette, Jan Ulrichsen, Mayor A. B. Thompson, councillors Ray McDonald, Ralph White, Deputy-Reeve Archie Verriere and Reeve Alf Cage.

  Fishing for a truck belonging to Great Lakes Boat & Machine that went through the ice of Midland Bay Friday. The four men riding managed to escape from the slowly sinking truck that was later retrieved from fifteen of water by Sylvester Sutter’s crane. Dual layers of ice made it more difficult. The men were transporting a welder to the SS Lemoyne.

  Frequent snow flurries hampered Pete Pettersen’s famed ski jumping team from getting in some practice before the big invitational meet at Midland on January 27th. Front, Hans Eder, Pettersen, Eric Kurle; back row, Louis Moser, Hubert Shaunig, John Prestov and Bob Straubhaar.

 

 Men attending the navigation classes at the Midland Marine School in preparation for exams that will lead to higher classifications. Dick Smith and Bob Carson of Midland; Bob Blanchard, Waubaushene; Allen Hurlbut, Midland; Don McFarland, Port McNicoll. Smith, Blanchard and Carson are studying for their master’s ticket and Hurlbut and McFarland for mates, home trade.

Front load washers are nothing new, witness this 1957 ad from Dunlop’s of Moonstone.

  Students at the Midland Marine School studying for their second mates papers and using table top models to simulate marine scenarios. Seated, N. Reid, Perkinsfield; Al Latour, Fred Harpell and T. Courtemarche all of Midland. Standing are Bill Thoms, Waubaushene, assistant instructor; Capt. E. J. Parrish, Midland, chief instructor of the navigation division; J. Brandon, Midland; and J. Parr, Sault Ste. Marie. There are nearly thirty students enrolled in the school which is sponsored by the vocational committee of MPDHS.

Six of the men attending Midland Marine School this year . Front, H. Gammon, Port McNicoll; Bill Smith and Ed Robitaille, Midland; standing, Malcolm Lafreniere, Midland; Wilfred Mayer, Victoria Harbour and Mike Lethbridge, Penetang.

• Three cars belonging to Canadian Name Plate employees are badly damaged in their driveways. The strike continues with over 100 employees back on the job. Firm offers a one thousand dollar reward for information.
• Armstrong’s Dairy and Dubbin’s Dairy announce five day a week milk delivery beginning January 30th. No delivery on Wednesday or Sunday.
• Chief Cameron vows immediate cleanup of “sin dens in Dollartown”. Edict comes after a drunken fight in a house on Elizabeth street ends with a near fatal wound caused by a broken wine bottle.
• After several years of accident free winter operation the Midland Public Works department has had another sanding truck accident. David StAmant, 63, of Dominion Ave. fell from the back of a sanding truck and broke his shoulder. Mayor Charles Parker said Friday that it is time to find a better way to sand Midland streets.
• Over sixty men are working around the clock preparing the approaches to the new Trans-Canada Highway bridge to be installed over the Matchedash Bay narrows at Waubaushene.
• The Department of Lands and Forests purchases the 87 acre Bass Lake park to develop it into a public recreation area.
• Ten Years Ago –  Mr. and Mrs. John Hanley, Sr., King Street, Midland, celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. * * * Snow plugged rural roads were partly blamed for the scarcity of fresh meat in Midland and Penetang stores. Only smoked cuts were available in most places. *** First Presbyterian Church, Penetang, celebrated its 60th anniversary. Rev. N.R.D. Sinclair, M.A., D.D., of Allendale was guest speaker. *** George Findlay, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. George Findlay of Midland, arrived in Midland following a 4,000 mile air journey from the N.W.T. * * * A farmer near Alliston lost $40,000 when a young champion bull died from an inoculation. Son of the famous “Marksman”, the $40,000 bid on the calf was the highest ever recorded in Canada. *** After six weeks of freedom, Melville Wilkie was back in the Ontario Hospital, Penetang. He was spotted in a Winnipeg hospital where he was being treated for chronic pneumonia. * * * Mrs. William Baron who was 94, attended the 79th birthday of her daughter, Mrs. D. Dorion of Penetang.
• Construction is under way on the new direct dial system in Honey Harbour. The current 48 customers will all receive the new five digit, two letter system, the exchange number being PLaza 6-1234.
• Georgian Bay Development Association Manager Neville Keefe revealed in his annual report to a conference of members in Midland today that 40 companies are currently showing interest in the Georgian Bay region. Mr. Keefe said his office is dealing with 21 municipalities in the region for specific industries within their own communities.
• Ray Dudley of Bowmanville is a young man who several years ago worked on the  boats for three summers. While docked at Port McNicoll, he used to visit Midland regularly. His other claim to fame rests in his acclaim as one of Canada’s best pianists. Winner of high awards in competition both here and in Europe, he had a notable debut at New York’s Town Hall during the past season and will make his debut with the New York Philharmonic – Symphony this May.
• 25 Years Ago – Robert H. Sallows, Victoria Harbour, had in his possession a Stradivarius violin. It had been purchased by his uncle in a Guelph pawnshop, 60 years previous. The violin was inscribed “Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciabat Anno 17”. The last two digits of the date had been obliterated but still showed the violin to be about 200 years old. * * * The old Beck residence on Fox Street, Penetang, after extensive remodeling was opened as a modern apartment building. The reconstruction had been carried out by the same  contractors who had the contract for the new addition to the Ontario Hospital. * * * Yee Bon, a young Chinese who, a year previous, had served as a waiter in the Ontario Cafe, like Byron, “woke up one morning and found himself famous.” Yee was an artist to whom no one paid much  attention until one of his paintings was noticed by an art patron. The painting was then put on display in the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. * * * The store of George Brighty was selling potatoes at 43c per bag; tomato juice, 3 tins for 23c; pork and beans, 14c per tin; and tea, 44c per pound. * * * A Coldwater hockey team continued its winning streak by defeating Midland 4-1 at the Palace Rink. They had previously defeated a team from Barrie, 4-3 in an OHA game.
• Port Weller is to build a 21,000 ton giant laker for the Upper Lakes company. Collingwood is building new ships as fast as the steel supply will permit. Has CSL written off the Midland yard completely? If so, isn’t it only fair that they make that fine, deep water site available for an economic use? (Free Press editorial)