"Chris Van Alebeek has 25 grandchildren, had worked outdoors all his life, and was bored after four years' retirement. So he began a new career this year - as a crossing guard, shepherding school children across the busy stretch of Holland St. East, on their way to and from Marie of the Incarnation School. Mr. Van Alebeek was born in Dendungen, in the Dutch province of Brabant in 1900. He lived in Holland, working as a farmer until 1952, when he, his late wife Wilhelmina, and their five sons and two daughters made the move to Canada. The family emigrated, he told The Witness, because he had seen too much hardship and danger during the two world wars and wanted a better life for his children. The Van Alebeeks came straight to Bradford and stayed here. Their youngest children, twin girls, were born in Canada."
"Bradford Salad Festival organizer Leo Kleiss said yesterday that pre-sale of tickets for the festival are going well and he expects that very few will be left by the time the festival gets underway. Advertising and community bulletins should bring people from all over Southern Ontario and the estimate is that up to 15,000 people will attend. Area motels and hotels have been booked for the past two months. Last week the Bradford Rotary Club issued a challenge to the Bradford Lions Club to participate in what should be one of the funniest moments of the festival - donkey baseball. The Lions have accepted the challenge and the event will be staged Sunday, July 18. In addition, the Big A Amusements will be opening their variety of carnival rides and games on Tuesday, July 13 to run through until the following Sunday at 6 p.m. Tickets for all the events including the teen dance, salad feast and the baseball games can be purchased at the Festival office in the old Bank of Commerce building at the corner of Barrie and Holland St."
"Behind every club organization there has to be one person who has to make the final decision on behalf of that club. The past five or six years, Bob Fallis has had the not so honored privilege of handling the Bradford Queens senior ball club. Bob is no stranger to the Bradford sports fan as he has helped bring numerous Ontario championships to this town both as a coach and player."
"Katie Merschilz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Merschilz, Thornton Avenue, Bradford, received her secretarial science diploma from Ryerson Polytechnical School recently. Katie is presently employed by the Minister of Government Services."
"Peter John Winterkorn, 227 Church St., Bradford, was admitted to the Bachelor of Arts degree by the University of Toronto and the University of St. Michael's College Friday, June 18. The degree was conferred for an English specialist program in conjunction with a history minor program. Next year, Peter will complete a Bachelor of Education degree with the Faculty of Education of the University of Toronto."
"Many wise men in the game of softball have often said if you can hit the ball, they can always find a position for you, whether you can field or not. This basically holds true for Gary Baynes as his bat is strong enough that it would make any coaches decision in removing him from a game, very difficult. But the decision is even harder as Gary plays about three or four positions as if he's been there regularly. Barring the pitching mound, unless your allowed to throw the ball behind your back, there isn't any position in the field that Gary wouldn't feel at ease at after an inning or two."
"The town of Bradford bulged at the seams last week as an estimated 20,000 people jammed into the community to make an unprecedented success of the annual Bradford Salad Festival. From last Wednesday night, through Sunday, every event scheduled by the Salad Festival Committee surpassed organizers' highest hopes. Visitors and residents alike consumed hundreds of pounds of fresh salad, sliced their way through a ton of beef, sipped on soft drinks and other refreshments, danced til the wee hours of the morning, and generally paid tribute to the greatest growing area in Ontario."
"The Bradford Senior Citizens' complex was officially opened Friday. Residents, town and township officials all turned out to hear MPP D. Arthur Evans declare the building open."
"A meeting which has been scheduled to talk about what is going into Bradford's sewage system has been postponed now until September. It was supposed to be held in July. Principals at the discussion are to include Bradford Council, engineers Proctor and Redfern, representatives of local packing firms and representatives from the Ministry of Environment. Maybe getting that many people together in one place at one time, especially in the summer, is a difficult task to achieve. The meeting was called after town officials learned the industrial waste going into the system was three times as much as it should be."
"Bradford library is being whipped into shape. There is a new head librarian with new ideas. Ann Marie Newman started part-time in February and last week she began full time. Anne Marie is from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and she studied sociology at Dalhousie University. After graduation, Ann Marie was taken on staff of the University library. For two and a half years, she catalogued books in the Special Collection department. "I worked with all facets of technical library skills," explained Ann Marie. Dan Blake of Bradford's Library Board interviewed her and in February Ann Marie became head librarian."
