The Windsor Star from Windsor, Ontario, Canada • 3

The Windsor Star Local THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1998 METRO EDITOR: MARTY BENETEAU 256-5533 FAX 255-5515 A3 Ita tor dwfflty aisoou Hurst pessimistic province will reverse decision to axe Windsor pilot project ment know they are not listening to us." Paniccia laid a number of downtown businesses are sending letters of their own to Hodgson, The charity casino planned for 500 Ouellette Ave. would have meant $18 million in total investment to revitalize the downtown block. But casino backers demanding answers will likely have weeks to wait. Hodgson left on holiday right after his charity casino announcement and won't be back until July 31, said press aide Hillary Stauth. The interim Casino Windsor's fate won't be decided any sooner.

Talks on whether to keep the temporary site will resume after the new $505-million casino opens July 29, Hurst said. criteria which now applies to any future casino projects: voter support in a referendum and a strong business case. Windsor voters narrowly approved a second permanent commercial casino last November, but a government official said the question referred to the city's interim casinos not a charity club. Letter of protest Meanwhile, the City Centre Business Association decided Wednesday night to send a letter to Hodgson protesting Windsor's exclusion. "I think there is a lot of explaining to do about a major development that would have created 900 jobs," said Tom Paniccia, chairman of the association.

"I believe we have to let our govern P1 TlmJ'ii winui I said Wednesday. "Friends I have out there (who are) in the know are saying, 'Prepare yourself." Chris Hodgson, the Ontario minister in charge of casinos, shocked oDerators and in vestors June 26 Mike Hurst when he said pilot charity clubs will be tried only in Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Brantford and Point Edward, near Sarnia. Those communities met Vsi, li ill i i i By Sue Bailey star gaming reporter The fight to save Windsor's charity casino goes on, but there isn't much cause for hope Mayor Mike Hurst has received no answer to his June 26 request for an official meeting on the province's abrupt decision to axe all but four of 44 planned mini casinos, including Windsor's. 'People who have different levels of understanding and experience with this government" have told Hurst to expect a flat refusal to reconsider, he Historic building still pn market The wrecking ball may be poised over the Glengarda building but owner Chuck Mady is still open to offers for the property until the end of July came at Wednesday night's meeting of the Windsor branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

"Mr. Mady has said he is open to offers until the end of the month," said Pat Malicki, president of the branch. "I took two people through there on Monday and they seemed very interested." Malicki showed the property to two local men but they did not say what plans they might have for the building, shesaid. There is already an unidentified benefactor willing to put up $500,000 toward the expected selling price of between $3 million and $3.5 million. "He (Mady) is willing to listen to a serious offer," Malicki said.

Mady is planning to demolish the former convent and erect a high-rise condominium complex on the site. Last month Mady was given the demolition permit he had applied for after the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario applied for heritage designation for the building. The building is actually now designated a heritage site but that does not prohibit demolition. The application was simply a stalling tactic, Malicki said. "If the building comes down we will have a clear Malicki said.

"We've done everything we can." A complicating factor with Glengarda is the fact that the Windsor Art Gallery might like to move there but the Ontario Lottery Corporation has yet to notify the gallery of its plans for the temporary casino site. ll It The interim site is to close at midnight July 23. Any final decision on its fate will include city and provincial officials. "It's our desire to see discussions continue and have that second faoility reopen in Windsor," Stauth said Wednesday. Riverboat set to close Windsor Casino Ltd.

currently lacks the staff needed to run both it and the permanent casino. The Northern Belle riverboat closes after Sunday night and will be returned to its owners, Hilton Gaming said Ontario Casino Corp. spokeswoman Anne Rappe. The OCC has no plans to lease the boat for overflow patrons at Casino Niagara, she added. Fumdl to aid.

victim By Veronique MandXl star staff reporter Friends and co-workers of dock worker Tony Fracas, injured Monday in a near-fatal accident, have opened a special bank account to help him out financially "It's the least we can do. It was a terrible accident and we thought he'd need something more than flowers," said Randy Nagy, who spoke for workers at Morton Terminal. Fracas remains in critical condition in Hotel-Dieu Grace hospital after a cable on a ship's crane broke, sending a roll of steel weighing 20,865 kg crashing down on him. His left leg was amputated, surgery was performed on his right leg to repair crushing injuries and parts of his spine were fused. He is connected to a respirator and needs dialysis for kidney failure.

"The spinal surgery was a success," said his sister, Teresa Fracas. "He's heavily sedated now but he was Tony Fracas in good spirits before the spinal surgery Tuesday night." Fracas, 32, has a 14-month-old son who lives with the boy's mother. Nagy said news of the accident has shaken the staff at Morton Terminal "It was a terrible accident. It will take a long time before he's well and we feel very sorry for him end his family," said Nagy, one of the first to reach Fracas after the accident "It's usually safe around here, as long as the equipment holds out. But equipment on ships is something that's out of our control," he said.

Serious accidents are relatively rare around local dockyards, according to Doug Wilson, manager with Transport Canada in Toronto. In the past 30 years it appears there were at least three involving fatal or near-fatal injuries. Statistics scant Detailed statistics are elusive. "I've been trying to get decent stats for a decade and I haven't had any luck," said Todd Brown, of the Windsor Occupational Health and Information Service. "The way they keep stats in unbelievably terrible.

It's so unspecific it's disgusting." Citing the Transportation Safety Board, Brown said 76 shipping accidents and five accidents aboard ships were recorded in Ontario in 1995. "But absolutely nothing else, no details whatsoever." Most people working around docks and ships admit it can be dangerous, but Tom Baldwin, president of the Teamsters Union which represents about 20 workers at Morton Terminal said extra precautions are taken to make sure the workplace is safe "We consider Morton Terminal a safe workplace. Management works well with the union to keep it safe," said Baldwin. "But of course we can't speak for the ships. That's the responsibility of the captains." The broken cable is being examined by experts and Transport Canada is investigating what charges may be laid against the ship.

Donations to the Fracas Fund can be taken to the Scotiabank at 1570 Huron Church Road. I ft .1 Carried away told the man, who is now 38, he'd received counselling. The man said in an interview Wednesday he decided to pursue a criminal charge "to close a chapter in my life" and because he wanted to ensure MacLean wouldn't again have access to children through the church. "I don't hate the guy at all," he said. "I do believe he has to be accountable for his actions." Court was told MacLean, who ran several youth groups at Most Precious Blood parish, sexually assaulted the man twice when he was 13 or 14 years old.

The parents of the victim, described as a difficult youth who had been caught stealing and lying, had sent him to MacLean for help. After the sexual assaults "he felt total disrespect for the priest and the religion he preached, and he was angered with his parents for sending him to this priest," Crown prosecutor Corinne Sutheriand-Nikota told the court The man later developed drug and alcohol addictions. He became sober in late 1964 and two years later decided to do something about the haunting memories of his encounters with MacLean, court was told. A second victim went to police in 1997 after finding out that MacLean was a counsellor at the high school where he was enrolling his children, court was told. The victim told police MacLean counselled him when he was in high school in 1972 and 1973.

Court was told the vic Th Injuria were take and a fog machine produced a cloud of toxic' gas as Windsor flieflghtora drtmd In prataettva autts carried Kavln Cabana out of tho Wast Windsor Pollution Control plant during a mock chlorlna spH mii The fake dtaaater was part of a training axerclsa for tli Are department's hazardous materials response team, HAZMXT. star photo: Rob Gurdebeke Priest admits sex abuse of boys tim recalled being fondled or masturbated by MacLean about 10 times when he was 14 and 15 years old, including two incidents that took place at Most Precious Blood. The victim said MacLean told him "this was not a sin" and he continued to visit the priest after he moved to a London parish in 1977. The third victim was a member of MacLean's youth group and an altar boy at Most Precious Blood. He became friends with MacLean, whom he continued to visit when the priest moved to London in 1977.

During one of the visits he was fondled by Maclean, who stopped when he protested, court was told. In a letter read to the court the man said he didn't tell his parents because he didn't want the incident to damage their faith the way it had his. The fourth victim and his family be came close friends of MacLean when he was an associate pastor at St. John the Divine parish in London. He was 13 years old when he was sexually as saulted by MacLean.

He didn't tell his parents until years later. "One thing that solidified the friendship between Father MacLean and the complainants was that he was a young priest and drove a cool car," Suther iand-Nikota told the court MacLean is also named in a lawsuit by a London man who alleges MacLean "repeatedly sexually assaulted" him when he was between eieht and 12 years old. No criminal charges have been laid By Ellen van Wageningen star justice reporter A Roman Catholic priest who counselled troubled young people during the 1970s pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually abusing four boys more than two decades ago. Rev. Cameron J.

Maclean, 55, admit; ted indecently assaulting the four adolescent boys who were members of his parishes in Windsor and London. The incidents involved fondling and masturbating of the victims by MacLean. MacLean was relieved of his pastoral duties at St. Theresa parish in Windsor on Oct 17, 1997 shortly before the first charge was laid. He is living in Strathroy in a home owned by the Diocese of London.

He remains a priest and no decisions about his future will be made until after his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 13, said Rev. Tony Daniels, vicar general for the diocese of London. "He has no pastoral responsibilities whatever." MacLean was relieved of his duties at a parish in London in the 1980s following a complaint of sexual abuse but was later reinstated, Daniels said Wednesday No charges were laid in connection with that complaint On the advice of counsellors who treated him, the diocese allowed MacLean to return to work as a parish priest and he was being monitored regularly the vicar general said. "After the Kav.

Camerow Maclann allegation and after he sought treatment. Father MacLean has not reoffended." He said he was not aware how MacLean was monitored. MacLean and his lawyer, Andrew Bradie, declined comment Wednesday. Two of MacLean's victims still live in Windsor. One lives in London and another lives in Alberta.

Court was told that the first victim to pursue a criminal charge against MacLean returned to Windsor in June 1997 and met with the priest at a restaurant. MacLean apologized and stemming from that allegation..