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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1970-09-03, Page 1Jack Hale, secretary-manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, addresses some 300 taxpayers at the high school Monday eight while other dignitaries listen. Gordon Hill, OFA president; Charles MacNaughton, provincial treasurer; Murray Gaunt, M.P.P. for Huron-Bruce; and Robert McKinley, M.P. for Huron, await their turn. — staff photo. Huron roads cracking up despite care Ken Ritchie (lefty and Leslie took, both of myth, 104 op, op, up, ai the display of corn showint at Blyth mall pair on Saturday. But the corn waS for looking While the candy floss was for eating.- staff Photo. linton 105th YEAR Np, QNTARJO THOR$PAY, EPTEMEER 3, 1970 PRIQE PER COPY 15c MocNaughton. refuses to..linker with budget for farmers Three hundred Huron County farmers clashed head on with Provincial Treasurer Charles MaeNaughten Monday night in Clinton over the fight of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to have education tikes removed from property taxes, Mr. MacNaughton refused to budge. during the • three-hour meeting held at Central Huron Secondary School. He .said the government would like to remove education from property taxes,but that he had learned in four years he has been with the treasury department that once you start "tinkering" with one part of the tax structure, avenues opened up in all direbtions' that had .to be dealt with. He told the group that the situation was not as simple as they might think. He pointed out that income tax was a shared field ; that the Ontario government got 28 per cent of all federal income tax raised in Ontario and 52 per cent of corporation taxes. He said that one per , cent of income tax raised about $30,000,000 and asked them to imagine the huge rise in income tax which Would result if the approximately 50 per cent of education funds that now come from property tax, were suddenly thrown onto income tax. He warned the goose that laid the golden egg might stop laying. He said his government had, been "unrelenting in its attempt to persuade the federal government that the province needs more money from federal tax abatements." He said that during this fight he had never had support of the OFA in putting pressure on the federal' government, His -government wanted to have t, tal tax reform, he said, 7 he first column The first of September brings the beginning of school for the kids and seems to bring heavy news load for newspapers too. What with council meetings and meetings of angry taxpayers, we're full to the hilt with news this week so we hope we haven't left anything of particular interest to any reader out. * * * Next Monday is Labour Day which means the post office will se closed. There will be no rural Delivery or wicket service but the lock box lobby will remain open and the street letter boxes will be cleared at 4:15. Mail will be received and dispatched at 6:30 p.m. * The burglars have been busy again this week. In the last week the Salesbarn, a house on Ontario Street and Paul's BP have all been victims. A collection of 50-cent pieces was taken from the house and some money from the service station. Householders should be on the lookout in case this sort of thing happens to them. Keep your doors and windows locked and let the police know if you are going to be away from home for a long period of time so they can keep an eye on your house. * * Clinton firemen went scurrying on Monday afternoon about 4 p.m. when the fire alarm went off but it proved to be a false alarm when they arrived at Huronvievv south of town. Colts play formula Monday Clinton colts begin their playoff series with Corunna on Saturday at 3 p.m, with a game in Corunna. The sCoIts will host Corunna felt the second pine of the series at the park oh Monday, Labour bay at 2 p.m. Weatho 1070 1969 HI LO HI LO. Aug. 26. 68 8a :26 86 54 is 21 '77 50 E46 28 75 60 86 20 61 44 86 80 - 82 68- 00. 81 65- 45 80 'Bald ,86". Rain ,51n not just to tinker ih one area. If the philosophy of taxes ,on people for services to people were followed to its logical conclusion, he said, then health and welfare, next to highways and education in expense to the provincial government, should also he added to the income tax. "My job is to advise the government on tax policies in the best interest of all," Mr. MacNaughton said, He said he had been doing this to the best of his ability. If the OFA could find someone to tinker with the situation and make it come out all right then they should "hire him quick," he said. If the OFA hadn't heard from the government until now on their demand for a change in the tax structure it was because the government didn't have the magic formula for solving the, situation. Gordon Hill, of Varna, BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER When the time comes, the people of Huron County will engage a full-time planning staff rather than consultants who are available on a somewhat random basis. In his report to Huron County Council last Friday, Anson McKinley, chairman of the planning board, said that no steps would be taken to hire staff until 1971. He added, however, that it is rather important to mike the decision now to hire a staff in order that further programming can be determined. At a meeting of Huron County Council held Friday morning in the court house at Goderich, reeves and deputy reeves from the 'municipalities passed the necessary bylaw to permit two more members to be added to the Huron County Board of Education. Council members learned the population in Huron has risen to 51,095 according to the records of the county assessor. The Ministex of Education has President of the OVA, speaking earlier in the meeting said that farmers had to draw the line somewhere and the time to draw it was now. He said that he didn't want to go through with the tax withholding strike,whleh the OFA had called for among all , property owners , in the province at the end of September if the demands are not met, but added that sometimes people had to do things they did not like. Jack Hale, Secretary-Manager of the OFA and a member of the Metropolitan Toronto School Board, was guest speaker at the Meeting. He said that the tax strike was not illegal because farmers withholding the education portion of their taxes knew the consequences and were ready to face them. (The law says that any property owner three years behind in taxes can have his property seized and sold The planning staff will. be engaged with the understanding that it will be available to any municipality in the county subject to the discretion of the board. It is also understood that the administrative costs of the planning staff would be a direct charge to the county through the county inill rate. It was learned that progress is being made on the Huron County plan . by the county's present consultant. It is expected that a report will be tabled concerning the findings of the study at the next regular meeting of county council in September. advised Clerk John Berry that it will be necessary to comply with the regulations set forth by the Ontario Department of Education despite council's hesitancy to do so. Council had hOped that in view of the fact that the increase in population was barely over the 50,000 mark, and could drop back below 50,000 very quickly, it would not be imperative to make additions to the school board membership at at public auction.) Mr, Hale said the action was not immoral because "we believe it is 'moral to right an injustice." ' Mr. Hale said that many people bad come out in support of their goal but not With their method of obtaining the goal through a tax strike. He argued that the only way of convincing the government that action was needed was in this drastic action .because if they waited for an election, as some suggested, the government would be sure that in the long run the farmers would "fall in line." He said that negotiations on *the problem had begun 20 years ago and today they are no farther ahead with the same government. He said letters sent opt by the OFA had brought support from many municipal councils and even some school boards, He Please turn to page 3 In the meantime, the planning board has recommended that the establishment of any additional local planning boards be deferred until a decision is made as t'o who will be responsible for future planning functions. It is the opinion of the planning board that the planning function be centralized on as large an area as possible, ideally on a county basis with the local input being provided by committees of council of the various municipalities. "In five years time we will have regional planning," observect Harold Lobb, reeve of Clinton. two this time. Right now, there are 14 members on the Huron County Board of Education, 13 public school representatives and one separate school representative acting on behalf of all separate school supporters in the county. There are 10 divisions in Huron County for education purposes. Three of these divisions already have two members each on the board. They are Stephen; Exeter, BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER County engineer James Britnell told members of Huron County Council meeting Friday morning in. Goderich that three roads in the county road system are developing fairly extensive Usborne division; TuckerSmith, Seaforth, Stanley, Bayfield division; and Clinton, Hullett, McKillop, Blyth division. The two new members will come from the Town of Goderich and the division of Brussels, Norris and Grey making it a 16 member board of education having 15 public school representatives and one separate school representative. The members of the Executive Committee chaired by J. P. Alexander, reeve of Wingham, recommended to county council that the two divisions with the next highest assessment over and above the divisions that already have two representatives be given additional representation. Council complied with this recommendation under some protest. Reeve Everett , Mcllwain, BY SHIRLEY J, KELLER The Huron County Highways Department predicts an estimated surplus of $23,365 at the end of 1970. This will be possible because the Ontario Department of Highways has approved only $826,000 in subsidy or about $23,300 lesS than requested. "This means our , total program will have to be reduced by $46,600 and will result in a surplus of county funds of $23,300," reported Elgin Thompson, Tuckersmith. "While it is a little early to say for certain, we feel that by deleting only a few minor items we can complete all major construction projects planned for 1970," continued Thompson. "ThiS is possible dtte to savings Made and by having completed some projects to date under the estimate," The 1970 roads program and estimates includes maintenance, roads and bridges, $58000; road 'construction,'$601,400; bridge construction, $286,000; and bank interest and cointeittee pay, $60,000. A Long Halve Plan for road reconstruction hi Huron County Was approved by council at Friday itiOrnines Meeting. The pavement cracks despite the fact that all, three projects were constructed in accordance with the best known road construction methods and practices using acceptable materials. Britnell advised council that Goderich. Township, suggested the department of, education should consider a "buffer zone" which would allow the population to grow about 5,000 over the one level before making it mandatory for a county to move into the next category as far as , school board representation is concerned. Reeve Harold Robinson of Howick claimed it was a "crying shame" that the department of education could decree that the county should incur these "extra expenses for such a few extra ratepayers." "What would happen if we just didn't approve the addition of two more school board representatives?" asked Robinson. "You would just simply be breaking the law," answered John Berry, three top priority roads are Saltford Hill (0.5 miles); Highway 87 at Fordwich (1.6 miles); and County Road 1, Benmiller Corner, (0.6 miles). Council also passed a bylaw approving a gross load limit on a county bridge on a township of Morris boundary road in Bluevale to 10,000 pounds or five tons. BY ERIC EARL A 27-year-old London man died oh Friday after suffering la heart attack as he climbed a hill from the beach at the foot of Howard Street in Bayfield, Gordon RoSa Hills was returning from the beach when h&suffered the attack at, the top of the long flight of stairS. Cottager John Wismer was first to arrive on the scene and applied resuscitation while MrS. Annelid Mannis consoled Mr, Hills' wife/Agnes, A summer resident, br. W. Tillman of London and Misses all three roads were constructed in 1968 and paved in 1969 with a one and a half inch lift of hot mix pavement 20 feet wide in accordance with revised department of highways standards for road surfaces. The Brucefield-Varna road (county road 3) was constructed by contract as Development Road 899 by George Radford Construction Ltd., and s was under constant supessision by the DHO and consultants' staff during construction. County Road 12 (Wroxeter South) and County Road 30 (Fordwich South) were constructed in the same years by county forces with county supervision, The first signs of cracking were noticed in November of 1969. The pavement cracking became worse as the winter went on and was of two types — a longitudinal crack running along the pavement from six inches to 24 inches from the edge, and a circular crack 12 inches to 24 inches in diameter mainly in the wheel tracks. "At our request the 1)110 Materials and Testing Branch carried out extensive testing on all three prOjects in the spring and summer of 1970," Britnell explained to council. "The report states that in their opinion the main reason for cracking was frost action on the pavement since no other reason for failure could be determined in all the exhaustive tests carried out." "Senior engineers have stated that they would not recommend a single change in the depth or the type of material or the construction method used in 1968 or 1969 if we were starting to build any of these three sections today," concluded Britnell. Reeve , Ed. Oddliefson of Bayfield suggested the narrower pavement width determined by the department could have something 'to do with the increased iricidents of cracking. "Also from a safety sta d p i n t," said Reeve Oddliefson, "a narrow road is Laurie Chapman and tliZabeth Perrier, registered nurses from Toronto Western Hospital, took over from Mr. Wismer and rushed Mr, Hills to Clinton Public Hospital by ambulance where he died later that evening. The Hills had no children but Mr, Hills was survived by his mother, Mrs. Bert Hills of Ridgetown, two brothers and a sister, Funeral services took place Monday from th e Mcl<1 nla y -McKellar Funeral Home in Bidgetown With burial in greenwood Cerneteryi RidgetoWn, not 'quite as safe. People have become used to a wider road. All of a sudden we narrow it and I think we're increasing the possibility of accidents." Anson McKinley, Stanley, wondered if the road bed was also narrower or if it was only the road surface that had been narrowed. He learned that the road bed had been narrowed alright, but that' cracking 'had. occurred in the middle of 'the pavement as well as the edges, discounting McKinley's theory that a broader base was the answer. "Every time we think we have an answer something else comes up to prove we're wrong," said Britnell. "We're very concerned about it." Britnell also told council all cracks had been waterproofed in an attempt to prevent additional heaving. John Flannery, Seaforth, questioned the wisdom of using so much salt. "We're doing our best to train our men when it is best to salt the roads," answered Britnell, "but we'll never be right all the time. There will always be a time when you have egg on your face because human, judgement is such an important factor." The question ot studded tires damaging road surfaces was also discussed bkiefly but council is still of varied opinions on this subject. • Some feel the added safety value offsets the damage to road surfaces, OPP constable graduates Ontario Provincial Police Constable G. J. Graham recently graduated from the Ontario Provincial Police' College, T oronto, after successful completion of the Recruit Prientation Course, The son of James and Lillian Graham of Clinton, he attended Central Huron Secondary School, He was born hI LiStowel On March 19,194$, Upon graduation Constable Otalibni was posted to Downsview Detachment, No. S District, Dovviisvie*, His hobblei include flying andolting, 54 50 42 56 61 62 62 County Council adds Huron will get planning staff when need arises members to Huron Board County Highways Department expects surplus for year London man dies after climbing steps from Bayfield beach