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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-08-12, Page 1'Ur A 11 SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1981 — 18 PAGES $16 a year m advance Single Copy 40 Cents 122nd Year Whole No. 5818 SWIMMING ANYONE? — The three occupants of this vehicle escaped serious injury after the car went off a bridge just south west of ,Seaforth early Saturday morning. The car was heavily damaged, and charges have :been laid against the driver, Ronnie Coalman, 18, of R.R. (Photo by Ellis) Car pluhges, no 10.juries, A car took a header off a bridge near Egmondville early Saturday morning, Provincial' police at Goderich say driver Ronnie Coolman, 18, of R.R. 1 Centralia has been charged as a result of the mishap which caused an estimated $2,000 to the vehicle. Mr. Coolman's injuries were minor, as were those to the two passengers, Daniel Bejl of Exeter and Daniel Harris of R.R. 2 St. Peels. Police say the car was travelling south between township sideroadls 20 and 21. 1.3' KM north of Huron County Rd. 3, When it came to a curve and slid into the bridge. Hire -firm - to design' new fro hall here. Seaforth's fire committee is going ahead with plans'for a new firehall on" two lots on Main St, South. At a recent meeting B.M.Ross and Associates were hired (four firms" were considered) to design and construct the new building—. At Seaforth council. Monday night the move met with approval but the town suggested locking fire committee members into the agreement 'to build and finance the hall for five years. Tuckersm ith McKillop,Hullett and Hibbert townships are members A two year agreement had been suggested by the fire committee but mayor John Sinnamon told council , that was for talking purposes only and said he doubted that a five year term Would cause problems. Seaforth will pay its share of the )new fireball cost by cash rather than debentures. The town is seeking tenders to have the house and outbuildings on the property demolished aqd the site cleared. Council said no to a request from two public works employees who wanted to tear down a shed on their own time and recover the materials in it:, 'I'm worried we'd start a chain reaction. Everyone else in town should have the same chance," said reeve Bill Dale. "They could tender like anyone else." added mayor Sinnamon. Construction may start in the spring of 1982, council was told. Other fire committee information showed operating expenses- of S20.258.89 and re- venue 'of $5,316 for an opeiating loss of S14,942.89 at June 30. As ofJuly 9 there were 17 fire.s to date. compared with. 18 to that date in 1980. with fire losses approximately the same, chief Harty Hak reported. Hensall intends to designate its downtown a business improvement area (BIA) and is preparing notice as required under The Municipal Act. Council also appointed architect Nick Hill to draft and prepare a concept plan for the village's downtOwn at a special meeting with the newly-established Hensall Business Improvement Association (HBIA) July 29, the minutes of which were tabled Monday's regular council meeting. The BIA was. set up July 22 with Bevan Bonthron elected president: Jack Drysdale. vice-president: Mike Caers, treasurer; and Bob Gibson. secretary. Councillor Dick Peckham is the village representative on the • HBIA. Coun. Peckham, who was not at this week's Meeting. submitted a report to council on Mr. Inside this week .:WO/COgle to th-e club" said the mayor, Olt PrQ*1,14 tacitetimith counell.INAS told ,an entirely new boildihg would similar to arenas thIsse4 and: WOOL with all facilities on the ground floor tmaking access ‘, easy fer the handicapped)' hall seating double the present 208. and an ice surface, isible from the lobby. Seating on one side makes better use of space, Mr. 44aarsaid in answer to a queStion from Mrs. Hicknell. with storage and other space underneath. Clerk Jim Crocker told the Expositor Tuesday ministry of labour officials say the entire arena building will be padlocked Oct. 15 and not even staff will be allowed in after then. Hibbert reeve Roy Swart wanted to know how the arena trusses had rotted so fast. Mr. Meat and the mayor answered that•deterior- ation had set in rapidly since reconstruction of the roof in 1974, because of condensation and leaks. The bases •of each truss are severely deteriorated, Mr. Maat added and concrete piers under trusses are' cracked and ' bad shape". Rec director Bryan Peter outlined the ' grants eyal10.10 $1.S 1140414Y S,1'01i111ell would be ''Alvailahle Oen, Wintrirlo and commattitY centre 'gra.t?ta. leaving $51X1.000' to be. raised privately, witoirigonE WANT Both Mrs. Hicknell and reeve Swan said the first step should be to get the feeling of what peeple-wairit, since they'll be asked for contributions. A big public meeting. at the arena, was set for Wednesday, September 9 at 8 p.m. Others in attendance included building inspector Herman van Wieren and John Henderson. Council heard that one arena staff person can be transferred to the public Works department while the arena is closed. and other work, perhaps including renova- tionS on the third floor of the town hall can be developed for the others. Deputy reeve Bill Bennett said he's already had offer* of support for fund raising. "How can we help you?" He said the local. Junior. Farmers president asked him. The' first fund raising event, a barbecue and dance sponsored by that group will held this weekend. "That's the kind of input we need:" commented the mayor. ,n. • sided no l, 4dentolish the, ge.00-010 .,rtincOatt.'et"Oei, 15, itotuedia'tetY- but to hold a pttblicr tO'etitt*, Skpientbei, 4‘ to itivestigat6 Alternative of replacing the 30 year old structure. • Until this week, council had' favoured *mediate dernelftion ' and- winter 'construc- tion of a new structural shell, new ice pad ahe seating and incorporating the present arena hall. Council was "sung-ho" about getting underway, mayor John Sinnamon told the meeting but with the costs involved " we'd be jumping the gun to even think of construction before spring". Money raising. public meetings and input from the townships are needed. "I'd like to see it done right if done at all." Representatives of area township council attended Monday night's council meeting and heard a presentation from engineer Dirk Meat of MacLaren Engineers. Planners and Scientist Inc. on three choices for the arena. Mr. Meat said the alternative council had , previously favoured, which would retain the present arena- front and hall would cost $900,000, plus demolition, which could cost $50,000 to 5100.000. Winter construction would add an extra 10 to 15 per cetit. Its advantages are • relatively low cost and- retention of the recently renovated' arena hall. Disadvantages include a complex demolition procedure, the need to protect the exposed community hall during construction. the complex support system needed to•suPeell the community hall ceiling during construe- , tion and the fact that the community hall, its kitchen and washroom and the lobby area are about half the size recommended by the , ministry of culture and recreation. for the number who use the facilities. SECOND ALTERNATIV E ' • A second alternative 'Mr. Maat 'suggested. would see the town proceeding with the first plan, but adding a second, separate commun- ity hall to the north of existing facilities. Cost is estimated at $1,200,000. Although that would make, three halls (including the ice surfaCe area in summer) available.. mayor John Sinnamon said he doubted a community Seaferth's size could support two community halls. . Another community hall could create problems with fund raising. The Optimits, the Legion are both 'trying to operate halls, the mayor added. Each of these two alternatives would create "a bottleneck at 'the front of the recreation • complex which yoied haVe to live with for a long time", Mr, Meat said, Each alternative would also mean the roundhouse, designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, "would 'have to go" . Moving it. are board at a time, would be a major job, Reeve Bill Dale commented." Alternative three, which many 'at the meeting appeared to support would 'see Seaforth constructing an entirely new recrea- tional facility with arena seating, on one side, tor sU0-600 and a new hall- seating 400-500. Provision could be made for the 'construction of a second ice pad in future to be added at what Mr. 'Maat said would a relatively low cost. HIGHEST COST Advantages would include the elimination of demolition and protection costs. and the„ possibility of planning the Complex On-a new site with' better parking and traffic controls. 'He cited the cost, $1,500,000, and the fact that arena facilities renovated five or six years ago cannot be used as the major disadvantages. Mayor Sinnamon said the need for public input and the fact that winter, construction is costly and uncertain conVinced council to abandon it' plans, for immediate derholition and construction. Deputy Reeve Bill Bennett said the arena would have had probably Hill's meeting with Hensall businessmen July 15. In this report Mr. Hill describes downtown Hensall as "cold and drab" and a bunch of hard-edged buildings and nothing but ashphalt. concrete and brick." Mr. Hill met with council in committee of the whole before Monday's meeting. Please turn to page 15 . • ..-;- .400,090 revenue yeet and. .althoo haltthatWilt sacriffeitkleatos•-teams $.et time 04.00gcq. l~le .,4A4 -4g0.14 .4.V'-'01 the 10:Wn't atena indicates that although, a 40iter'S ice time will by fost. Users .come ' back when a new facility is ready next fall. You have to,look very hard at a -proposal that will cost $990.000basically to recover the ice surface Yve have now the mayOr told the Expositer; Reeve Dale added Seaftarth could save substantially on arena insurance costs With a new building. Marie HOlinell of McKillop council asked about a new arena site. The existing site is cramped, the engineer told her, and probably additional land must be acquired there for parking. "We'd look fora different location if alternative three is chosen," mayor Sinna- mon said. "I can't see doubling the hall size with existing parking." •- - To couhcillor Bob Broadfoot of Tucker- smith he said the town 'has no idea of site cost but land possbily could be acquired near the present arena. MeKillop reeve Harvey Craig got a lot of agreement when he said he was in favour of summer construction. ''but these .figures give me the shakes," BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Winter won't be' the same for many people without an arena in Seaforth. Area athletes will be doing a Oit,of their playing at Mitchell but most at rinks in Hensall, Zurich, Clinton and Brussels. Recreation director BrYin Peter has had his ear to the ground with preliminary scheduling since Seaforth's arena was condemned recently. He's 'been 'Making a lot of phone calls..3 Many hundreds of athletes 'in local broomball, hockey, ringette and figure skating organizations used 75 to 80 hours of ice time a week 'at Seaforth' Arena last season. The details of where and when they can play and practice this winter await, final confirmation, "which should be taken care of in a week or two." "We're fortunate having so many arenas close to us, though they're usually our competition," says Mr. Peter. "They have been co-operative and the times we're getting aren't bad. Nobody wants to play at midnight Mondays." There were roughly 700 athletes register- ed for broomball, minor hockey, junior hockey, oldtimer's hockey, industrial hockey, ringette and figure skating in Seaforth last season. This figure may be misleading because it doesn't take into account athletes who registered for more than one sport. , , WILL RENT The recreation director says renting ' out-of-town rinks this time, around may mean slightly ' less ice time, mor, rigid schedules and additional cost. Hopefully nothing significant. Winter sports haven't registered yet so it's hard to figure. Seaforth had an outdoor rink at the public scnool last year. Mr. Peter says the town might -try more outdoor rinks this winter, but nothing has been formally discussed. He agrees weather can have an unpredict- able effect on the success of outdoor ice. Seaforth won't have its own arena all winter. "We don't want to push and pay for it in years to tome, and winter construction is always iffy anyway," says the recreation director. The arena committee is waiting for the meeting Sept. 9 to see which way the public wants to proceed on the issue before fund-raising is, set in motion. Mail strike BY GREGOR CAMPBELL The postal strike which ended earlier this week was a headache Huron County didn't need. especially with other worries such as high interest rates, says the riding's member of parliament Murray Cardiff (PC). He thinks the post office is 'an essential service and employees shOuldn't have the right to strike. "Surely we can depend on the, post office and still be good businessmen." says Mr. Cardiff who disputes recent public state- Written notes were delayed by the postal strike. But little did the Seaforth Recreation Department know musical notes would also bd delayed. The strike is one of the reasons Sunday concerts won't be field in Victoria Park thins summer, accordink to Rick Fortune of the Recreation Committee. Dr. Charles Toll, a local dentist and musician, used to organize the concei4s. This year he retired from the duty and the recreation committee took up the task. Mr. Fortune.said Dr. Toll sent out form letters to. "People might have to bear with us for maybe a year and hopefully everything will wait out fairly well," says Mr. Peter. Seatbffh's tetitenaires hope to play' at Hensall and/or Brussels this junior D hockey season. Team president Glen McClure, still looking for a new coach, says he would prefer Hensall because it is more to the south and might present fewer problems' with snow conditions for travel- ling. Playing home , games out of town and practising might mean logistics become more hectic with the lugging of lots ot equipment around. and increased costs for referees and transportaiton. But Mr. McClure says other teams in the league, for instance Exeter and Luean, have survived condemned arenas in their home towns in recent seasons. St. Marys' arena was closed for two winters At that tiine St. Marys hada population of 4,800 but officials figured its arena served an estimated_ .13,000 people. In rough figures the new arena and community centre cost, $1,374,000 to build, not including the additional cost of later" ' futnishings, such as chairs and office equipment. Teehelplpay ftor this St. Marys got a community centre grant of 5150,000 and Wintario grant of $695,000.1n addition Blanchard Township received' a grant of Please turn to page 3 It's a farmer's ' market Saturday awing 'the strike because the striking Canadian Union Of -Postal Workers, only one of a number of unions 'in the 'post office, doesn't have a Seaforth local° Seaforth postmaster Stewart .Whitmore says it will take a week to 10 days before mail is moving smoothly again. 4 A random survey of Seaforth businesses shows most muddled through the incon- veniences caused by the postal disruption. Ken Roth of Roth's Food Market says he wouldn't have cared if the 'nties ever vent back. But his is a cash business. Topnotch manager Jim Cunningham was at the other extreme, incensed with a "pathetic and deplorable situation that hurts everybody". He points out the cost of money had increased at least 10 percent since the last major post'al Strike. This means increaped costs for many businesses when cash flow depends on cheques that come and go through the postal system. "Some people play it." Mr. Cunningham adds. meaning they take advantage of postal 'disruptions to delay keeping accounts up to date. The strike meant more footwork and increased costs for Ken Cardno of Seaforth. Insurance. A similar sentiment was echoed by Jim Gould. manager of the local branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, who notes some area people found themselves "running out of 'money" during the strike. Both businesses found themselves sJeliverfitg more mail by hand or courier - Away to Huron County Janice Murray, a McKillop 4-H member, participated in an exchange with 10 other Huron County members. These 11 members ex- changed with 11 Huron County members. Confused? See pg. 5 for details. Moto-Madness! Moto cross racers from across the province came to the Maitland Dirt Riders' annual rate at Cling Lee's farm just north of Walton. Photo- grapher Paul. Ellis caught some of the action on pg. 12. Henson plans . a MA Local PlaYer Rob Lane, a hockey player from St. Columban, has met some interesting players, including NHL star Brad Park. while coaching at Stratford Hockey School. Picture on pg. 13. Farmers get sympathy Ruth Jackson, vice-president of the Consuiners As- sociation, visited the Huron Federation of Agriculture meeting and reminded them that consumers are sym- pathetic to their plight. Story on pg. 15. ell rent ice time • Rec director calling area arenas hours. Which meant keeping a stiff upper Minor hockey and figure skating were set • lip in the face of inconvenience. back about 10 years in St. Marys• because its Because the new arena was also a arena was condemned several years ago: community centre the own got a bigger "They're just starting to come back now to -- government grant. Mr., Love says working where they were,..n.say that Perth County ' with surrounding townships on the arena town's recreation director Len Love. issue also meant more grant money. Seaforth will face a.siniilar Situation by the time the snow flies. Its arena has been condemned and must close by Oct. 15. St. Marys rented ice for minor sports at Embro in 1974-75, and Huron Park in 1975-76, while its old arena was torn down and replaced with a combined arena and communityeentre. But making the best of a bad situation still meant regis trations dropped, and athletic development was hindered by, the two winters without an arena says Mr. Love. Some effects are still being felt. The St. Marys Lincoins won an. Ontario Hockey Association junior B championship their last season at the old rink, but won only Iwo games last winter. Imports are restricted and the team found itself with a dwindling The farmer's market at Seaforth's Victoria supply of local hockey talent. Park, Saturday should have 15 or 14 vendors, , Without ice in the mid-70s, concerned "the most yet': says town recreation director parents and officials in St. Marys organized Bryan Peter. It wilitake place from 9 a.m. to 2 bus and car pools to cut costs and help On. transport young athletes safely to but-of- Exhibitors will be 'selling such things as town arenas. Open-air rinks weren't suc- arts and crafts, household items, baking, c essful because of the bad weather those fruits and vegetables, winters in the Stonetown. Embro and-Huron' This will be the third of four farmer's Park were obliged to honour the needs of markets to be sponsored by Seaforth's their own skaters first, and St. Marys' Recreation Committee this summer. The athletes found themselves playing at odd final market is scheduled for Sept. 12. „caused problems here BY GREGOR CAMPBELL ments by Postmaster General Andre Ouellet. "The strike certainly affected a lot of people in this riding, particularly photo finishing and mail-order businesses which have had their leanest days in a number of years." Mr. Cardiff adds-individuals who depend on government cheques and producers who depend on stabalization payments also had routines disrupted by the 42-day labour dispute. Seaforth's post office continued to operate Missing bond concerts? Postal strike blamed severak mounds and gave the recreation committee their names anti addresses. ' A couple of replies were returned but sent back to sender, because people weren't sure who was in charge. The rest of the replies were caught in the mail strike. Mr. Fortune found dealing with the bands difficult because Dr. Toll knew them personally and: "I didn't know much about it." There likely won't-be any concert this year. but Mr. Fortune said he "imagines we will be doing some next year." jr there isn't I/lather strike! P. '