Moorehead Island Lodge burns to ground Christmas Eve: At 7:30 on the evening of December 24th, the hotel on Allumette Island at the Quebec end of the interprovincial bridge, burned right down to the ground. Moorehead Island Lodge was currently owned by Terry Murdoch of Portage du Fort who bought it last fall. Police report that Mr. Murdoch said he heard an explosion from behind the garage just before the blaze. Nobody was hurt in the fire which destroyed the entire building with an estimated value of three hundred thousand dollars. All staff and guests in the hotel were able to reach safety without injury. Constable Fortier of the Campbells Bay Detachment of Quebec Police Force is investigating the fire, with the assistance of an officer from the Arson Squad in Hull. At present it has not been determined whether the fire was of accidental or criminal origin.
Christopher Joseph Arch Hillier is Mr. Pontiac 1976: The first baby born at the Pontiac Community Hospital this year came into the world at 7:20 a.m. Saturday morning January 3rd. He is the first son, second child, to be born into the family of Mr and Mrs Arch Hillier of Charteris.
Grist and miscellaneous items: Two of the Pontiac’s oldest native sons celebrated their birthdays between Christmas and the New Year. Both are now ninety years of age. Herbert Cuthbertson was born in Bristol Township on December 28th, 1885. James C. McCuaig was born in Bryson, December 31st, 1885. Congratulations!
The latest word from the CSSS on the subject of the Shawville Old Folks Home is: “Les projets de Gatineau et de Shawville semblent bloqués.” Well, we can’t speak for Gatineau but the project at Shawville has seemed blocked to us for lo these past score years. However, the word might be wrong. The CSSS isn’t always up to date on Pontiac affairs for instance just before Christmas they sent us a lot of garbage about the Pontiac Community Hospital which we (thank goodness) checked up on with the local staff before publishing. It turns out the information they sent to us was totally wrong, so maybe this bit about the old folks home project being blocked is also wrong. Incurable optimists as we are, we still are hoping to have one by the time we are ready to move in!
One of our readers, who claims to have forgotten more about traffic problems than anyone in Shawville Council will ever learn, has come up with a much better solution for the corner of Main and Victoria than the four way stop. His suggestion is a flashing light with the red facing up and down Victoria and the yellow facing up and down Main. Sounds sensible to us.