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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1965-05-13, Page 1Receives degree Resort PUC and council- air differences He also noted that the Coot- missioners were elected to run the PUC, and while councillors could question their Operation and make seggeetions, It was still up to the PVC to make the decisions. "And we're as interested as anyone in hydro rates," he added. "We have three people but no one can climb a pole", Wassmann noted, and Chalet:me said the VIM would review the situation and would attempt to come up with a comparison on the cost of hiring Ontario Ilyrdo men as opposee to adding a full-time lineman. teeing that if Ontario Hydro ever find it otherwise they draw it to the attention of the Com- missioners. However, he also said Ontario Hydro were inter- Wed from a financial stand- point only. Councillor Ory Wassmann wanted to know what it cost to have the Exeter crews in and was told It cost appreximately $200 for a full day. He made direct reference to a recent power failure in which a crew had worked for about two hours and the cost of this was estimated at $50. Teevins questioned if the re- sort would be better off to revert to Ontario Hydro supervision completely, but Oddleifson not- ed Ontario Hydro would actually like to divorce itself from muni- cipalities entirely. He also ex- plained a vote of the people would be required to sanction such a move, Other members of council wondered aloud if the resort would be farther ahead to hire a lineman, but Chapman told them they would have to pay top rates for a top man. CAN'T UNDERSTAND One of the main issues ap- peared to be over the financial statement prepared for the ratepayers by the PUC.Council members reported neither they nor the ratepayers understood it, and it did not tell the salar- ies of the employees and the cost of hiring Hydro crews. "People aren't happy over the financial report," Reeve Stewart Webb noted. Wasernann said It was "dee c eiving' Mrs, John Manore and Odd- leifson explained it was a stand-, and type of financial report used by Ontario Hydro. The reason salaries did not show ie come plete total was the fact the pay for employees was allocated tq various accounts, depending on the work they were doing. Oddleifson reported some 365 municipal PIICs use this type of statement and it is accepted by them all. He added that Ontario Hydro couldn't have each of the municipalities using a different bookkeeping system. "It isn't something the Grand Bend .PUC cooked up", Mrs. Manore commented, noting there had been endue criticism of the staff over the report. It was suggested by (Wide,. son that if council wanted a public meeting to explain the system to the ratepayers he would be happy to attend. The discussion then moved to the matter of delinquent ac- counts and council members chastised the PUC for having bought some pipe from a local man to straighten up an account reperted to be about $809 in arrears. Councillor Emerson Desiare dine noted the pipe wasn't bottle used and they could be drawing interest on the money, while Teevins noted that the man's account had again been allowed to go unpaid with no eaten. Oddleifson explained Ontario Hydro were unhappy with the pipe deal, although he had been under the impression council had perchased it. He admitted it was a mistake for the PUC to have bought it. Chapman said the PUO would accept the blame, noting every- one made mistakes, lie also explained the PUC had bought the pipe at a substantial Sav- ing. Oddleifson recommended the pipe be sold if possible, Council members suggested delinquent accounts should have their hydro cut off much sooner than the present policy employ- ed by the PUC. However, Chapman noted that the PUC realized some people —Please turn to back page Beverley Lindsey, formerly of Exeter, received his Bachelor of Theology degree at Huron College convocation recently. He is to be ordered Deacon by Rt. Rev. K. C. Evans, Bishop of Ontario, on Sunday in King- ston. The former Exeter resi- dent has accepted parishes at Milford and Wapoos, Ontario. Smokey helps kids plant trees Under the direction of Terry McCauley, ARCA field officer, students at Exeter Public School and Precious Blood Separate School planted several trees on their respective school properties, Fri- day. A surprise visitor to each location was Smokey the Bear, who helped the youngsters plant the evergreens and also left them with some conservation tips. Smokey is shown above at the Separate School. --T-A photo Ninety.second Year EXETER, ONTARIO, MAY 13, 1965 Price Per Copy 10 Cents Exeter's RAP committee has sever al renovation and im- provement projects on the drawing board, but learned at their meeting Monday that most of them will probably have to stay there for some time due to a lack of funds. The projects include; erec- tion of baseball lights, shifting of the ball diamonds to make better use of the grandstand for spectators, renovation of the arena gymnasium to provide two floors and space for more rec- TAX RATE JUMPS SLIGHTLY park were estimated at about $1,e00. RAP did approve an expendi- ture of $756 to repair the roof of the grandstand. Members agreed that they either had to Spend the money or the grand- stand would soon be of no use at all. Noting that it was used only — please turn to back page Board stalls plans --wait for one more Court has light docket amount of grant provided last year for Exeter's new swim pool. — Debt charges decreased by approximately $3,500 as the fin- al payment on the debenture for the William Street storm sewer was made last year. — Education reduced for the first time in some years as the Public School board dipped into their surplus to drop their re- quest about $5,000 from last year. at the school. The board requires only a majority of the municipalities to give consent (which they have) but they decided to wait for approval from one of the other three because they have not received approval from enough councils to represent a majority of the assessment in the high school district. While this is not required legally, members felt it would be best to have it. Due to their anxiety over de- lays, calls were put into Hay Township Reeve John Corbett who was conducting a special meeting of his council Tuesday night as well. However, when he was reach- ed he informed the board the council had still not approved the addition. He indicated he would call a special meeting Thursday night to deal with the matter. Kinsmen elect, arrange dance Claire Hoffman is the new president of the Exeter Kinsmen Club. Elected along with him in the 1965-66 slate of officers were; Gilbert Dow, first vice-presi- dent; Dave Cross, second vice- pres !dent; Ed Hearn, secretary; Ed Creaser, treasurer, and Pete Flannigan, registrar. The club has now been in- corporated and therefore has added three directors to its slate, Morley Chalmers, Peter Plantinga and Cal Wein. Ross Dobson is past president. The new officers take over in September. The club is preparing for its Spring Hoedown at the Exeter Arena on May 14. They will also be meeting with the Exeter Recreation, Arena and Parks Committee over plans for Ex- eter's playground program. Six club members are travel- ling to Buffalo May 22 for a Kinsmen convention. At a special meeting that became blustery at times, Grand Bend PUC attempted to answer some of the questions and criticisms that have been levelled at them by the resort council during the past months. The meeting was held Wed- nesday night with all members of council present, along with the PUC Commissioners and staff. Only absentee was man- ager Jack Hood. Also present was E. W. Odd- leifson, Ontario Hydro consu- mer service supervisor for Hurpn County. PUC chairman Cam Chapman explained that the purpose of the meeting was to clear up the misunderstanding that had aris- en between council and the PUC. He stated that comments made by certairt councillors had created a bad image for the PUC staff in the eyes of the people and the situation had built up into a mountain. Some of the main issues air- ed at the session centred around the use of Ontario Hydro crews from Exeter, the printing of a financial statement for the operation of the PUC, high costs of electrical power in the re- sort, delinquent accounts and Commissioners' expense while attending conventions, Chapman opened the meeting with an attempt to answer criti- cism laid by Councillor John Teevins who was quoted re- cently as saying "it was the last straw" when he saw an Exeter crew sweeping the park- ing lot at the PUC office. The chairman noted the crew had been in replacing some lights and one of the tubes had fallen off the truck as they turned into the yard. He said Ontario Hydro gangs had explicit instructions to clean up after them, and failure to do this can result in a day's suspension with no pay. "They have to be very strict because they are dealing with men's lives," he added. However, his explanation didn't appear to meet with sat- isfaction from Teevins, who said he believed the crew had just arrived in Grand Bend when he saw them cleaning up the lot, and that they hadn't changed any lights at that time. Oddleifson then entered the discussion by charging that Teevins was making the hydro crews "look ridiculous" with his charges. Upon questioning he learned that Teevins had not stopped to ask the men what they were sweeping up, and then suggested that he "shouldn't make re- marks like that" if he didn't know the facts. ALL QUALIFIED Moving to the next "charge", Chapman wanted to know what council members had meant by their statement that staff members of the PUC were not qualified. Teevins said he would like to know if manager Hood was a qualified lineman or a quali- fied manager, and if Phil Pre- sent, meter reader and clerical assistant, was qualified to work "on the ground" with a lineman. He was told Hood was a "qualified manager". Oddleifson described the PUC as being "operated efficiently", DR. DONALD GRA'ITON Exeter's third dentist New dentist moves here REVISE COSTS A revised estimate on the ad- dition was received from the architect and it now totals $1,- 687,041. Although they have received approval from a majority of the eight supporting municipalities, the SHDHS board Tuesday night indicated they would wait until approval had been received from one of the remaining three before proceeding with instruc- tions for the architect to com- mence detailed working draw- ings. Approval for the $400,000 debenture issue was received from Exeter, Zurich, Grand Bend and the Townships of Us- borne and Tuckersmith. Hen- sall, Stephen and Hay took no action on the matter at their June sessions. Board members expressed concern over the resulting delay as it could eliminate their chances of taking advantage of $180,000 available to them under the Municipal Works As- sistance program. Under this program, 25% of the loan is forgiven and the interest rate on the total is much lower than on most loans. They were also concerned over the fact that delays in the building program could create serious overcrowding problems DEBATE ROADS One of the issues which re- sulted in major discussion was the road budget, with council- lors finally agreeing to dip into the special reserve fund and use the $7,300 remaining of the original $12,000. Council will still be spending $30,000 on road maintenance and construction, but only $23,- 000 will come from this year's funds. Wooden commented that he did not favor the plan as it would eliminate the special fund es- tablished for providing perman- ent construction. "we defeat the purpose of the fund if we use it for routine maintenance," he opined. However, he noted he appear- ed to be alone in his opinion to increase the mill rate to re- tain the fund for additional work and asked only that no moneybe taken out of the special account until road expenditures exceed $23,000. — Please turn to back page Don Gratton, a former Grand Bend resident, has returned to Exeter to establiSh a dental practice. Dr. Grattan attended Forest District High School before gra- duating from the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry in 1961. After one year with the Brit- ish Columbia Dental Health Ser- vice, he engaged in pri vete practice in Fonthili, Ontario. Dr. Gratton opened his prac- tice Monday in the same build- ing as Dr. H. H. Cowen at 346 Main Street. Each dentist will maintain a separate practice, although they wilt share some of the facilities. Dr. Cowen's office has been expanded to take in the former barber shop occupied by Gerry Smith. A new waiting room has been —Please turn to back page RAP projects stalled due to cash shortage reation activities, alteration of the north end of the arena to provide storage space for an ice flooding machine such as the ones used in most NHL arenas and in some smaller ones as well. Estimates were not available for all the projects, but the costs on the ones checked into by RAP amounted to about $8,000. "Where are we going to find the money?" asked Mayor Del- bridge, who along with Reeve Boyle assured RAP there could be no funds provided bycouncil. Gord Baynham facetiously replied RAP was only interested in recreation, not about money. "But we're (council) inter- ested in being able to walk down the street safely," Mayor Del- bridge quickly replied, noting the hike in the mill rate that would be required to finance some of the projects. He said he would like to see them undertaken, but explained that many people in Exeter couldn't afford to pay higher taxes for recreation purposes. "There's no sense talking about it," Reeve Boyle noted. He said flood lights for the park were unnecessary, telling members people have played ball in Exeter for 55 years without any. He suggested that a sprinkler system in the arena was needed more urgently so the insurance costs could be reduced. This comment came after Alvin Wile lert pointed out the $2,000 pre- mium came due in July. Order inquest into fatality Crashes kill one, injure six Not asleep with figures After considerable paring, Exeter council set a mill rate only slightly above that of last year, when they completed their budget at a special meeting, Thursday. Residential mill rate jumps 1.6 mills to 85.3 and the com- mercial rate is increased 1.2 mills to a total of 93.0. It was stated at the meeting that the finance committee had at one time visualized a tax boost of up to six mills before they started cutting. In effect, the slight increase at which they finally arrived was due to the boost in the county rate, One member remarked that the slight increase was remark- able due to the fact that the re- cent purchase of a new police cruiser, truck and grader ac- tually equalled three mills. While several categories on the budget show increases, se- veral others are down from last year, resulting in a cancelling out process that enabled council to hold the rate at close to its previous level. Here are some of the accounts showing increases, with the various reasons: — General government, in- creased about $3,500 due to a boost in the audit fee; increases in stipends to council members because of a large number of special meetings in current ne- gotiations with Canadian Can- ners; and an expected jump In legal fees for the same reason, — Protection to persons and property, boosted some $3,400 from the purchase of a new police cruiser and a hike in fire expenses due to a bill of $1,400 incurred from the costly fire at Exeter Produce &Storage at the first of the year. The firemen have also requested a $300 eir- pack for use at fires. ==Public welfare shows an increase of $6,000, but this fig- ure is still much less than what council had anticipated. — County rate, up over $6,- 000. Some of the decreases which counter-balanced the increases are as follows: Sanitation and waste removal, down about $7,000 due to a re- duction in the amount of sewer construction planned for 1965. —Recreation and community services down about $5,000, the the blaze, which gutted the car and burned off the tires. Bend coroner, has ordered an inquest into the fatality. Date of the hearing has hot yet been set. Dr. McMaster was one of three doctors called to the scene. The others were ler. J. M. Rousseau, Crediton, and Or. V. Gulens, Dashwood. of Highway 4. The car involved was driven by Mrs. Kathryn McDermott, Crediton, and she lost control while eastbotuid on the road. The car went into the ditch and broke off a hydro pole, with Please turn to back page LADY HURT Earlier in the day at 6:15 a.m., Cpl. Mitchell investigated another accident on the Credi- ton Road about one mile west FREE MACHINE The ice flooder, which scrapes the ice and floods it at the same time, has been offered by the Exeter Kinsmen, but renovations have to be made at the north end to house the machine. It was agreed that this could be done at little cost, Baynham remarked at the Close of the discussion that the Kinsmen may also consider the $5,000 expenditure to Split the auditorium in half to provide an upper and lower floor for more recreation activities. Ron Bogart was asked to get costs on the changing of the ball diamonds and the removal of the band stand. Flood lights for the In direct relation to the com- mendable driving record of area drivers in the past three weeks, only two drivers were fined for infractions at Tuesday's court session in Exeter. Another pair were fined for illegal possession of alcohol. Two Hay Township brothers, Donald and Leonard Hoffman, appeared on the only traffic cases and each was fined $5 and costs of $1.50 by Magistrate Glenn Hays, Q.C. Both were charged with fail- ing to stop at an intersection in Hay Township before enter- ing Highway 84. They were charged by OPP Constable Bill Glassford. David Levy, 23, Blanshard Township, was fined $30 and costs of $7.50 when he pleaded guilty to having liquor in a place other than his residence. He had been stopped by OPP Constable John Wright in Us- borne Township on March 2. Three full bottles of beer and one opened bottle were found in his car. He pleaded guilty to the charge as did Jacques W. Eng- land, Crediton, who was charged with a similar offense and was fined $25 and costs of $7.50. The only other charge heard in court was withdrawn against Mrs. Doris Arnett, London, who had been charged with driving a vehicle while her license was under suspension. The charge Was withdraWn due to a technicality, Disastrous storm to 'strike' district Three RAP members and arena manager Alvin Willert recently attended the Ontario Recreation Association conven- tion in Toronto and the allow- ance of $25 per day tor each man drew some question froth Mayor Jack Delbridge. However, chairman Stan Frayne noted that his room at the Toronto hotel had cost $10 for each night, "If I can Spend $10 when I'm sleeping, I should be able to spend $15 when I'm awake", Frayne announced. Hundreds of Exeter residents will be flooded out of their homes this Saturday, Telephone lines will be down in all areas of Huron and strong winds will blow refuse from the Goderich dump onto the shores of Lake Huron. Trees and poles will clog most main highways. The devastation will be Caus- ed by "Ill-Wind", a hurricane that will carry wind velocity of approximately 131 M.p.h. However, before you panic and decide to evacuate, it should be explained that the hurricane is truly "man-made" and will really only affect a few people. Those people will be Emer- gency Meesures Organization personnel in Zone 2, which comprises the counties of Huron right through to Niagara Palls. The County EMO staff and officiate wilt hold forth in the county council chambers and direct emergency operations needed to cope with the monster hurricane. The play of this exercise has been developed frant actual hure ricane hietoties, with the ex- ception of the path and route travelled; so all should be re- alistic, definitely a story that could happen. Park park issue remains unsolved The area's superb driving re- cord came to a disastrous end this week when one man was killed and six others injured in three spectacular crashes. Dead is Dennis E. Tanner, Mt. Brydges, who was believed to have been the driver of a sports car which went out of control on the Crediton Road Saturday at 8:15 p.m. The car was owned by the 25-year-old man's father, Al- vin Tanner, Mt. Brydges. A London couple, Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Keller, 87 1/2 Wellington Street, London, are still in serious Condition in St. Joseph's Hospital, Londen, while a fourth occupant of the car, Miss Judith Lampert, RR 2 crediton, has been released from South Huron Hospital fol- lowing treatment for minor in- juries. All four were tossed froth the car which went out of con- trol after passing another west- bound car about three miles west of Crediton. The vehicle skidded across the road into the south ditch, rolled over and then struck a wooden fence pole and came to rest on its wheels facing in a south-easterly direction. The crash was investigated by OPP Constable Harry Reid. Dr. H. A, McMaster, Gran d Thus, many problematic situ- ations, relative to this type of disaster, Will be presented to EMO personnel and their de- partments and services for test solutions. Warden Glenn Webb will di- rect the Huron organitation as they receive reports on the storm progress and damage. And they'll have to come up with solutions to the problems that will arise; such Ss how to evac- uate the Exeter residents from the flood, how to reach various centres without the aid of tele- phones or vehicular traffic, and arty other problem that arises in the storm which will be ac- companied by torrential rains. White it's something that won't happen, EMO forces are being praeticed on what they would do if it ever did happen. "This is the only way to learn," ,stated EMO co-ordina- tor Stuart Forbes. He indicated that future planS call for leoe dated disatters in various sec- Hone of Huron to give local EMO groups a chance to prepare for any Mere heeds, such as stortns, fleas and fires. "It will show the executive what their responsibilities will Please turn to back page PULLED FROM WRECK On Wednesday afternoon at 2;20 p.m., Joseph D. Leforte, Kingston, narrowly escaped death when he was pulled from the flaming wreckage of his car by two personnel from RCAF Centralia. Leforte, who was reporting for summer duty at RCAF Cen- tralia, was involved in a col- lision with a loaded gravel truck owned by Lippert Trucking, Crediton, at the intersection of Highway 4 and the RCAF Cen- tralia sideroad, Driver Of the 20-ton truck was John R. Hodglns, 420 Carling Street, Exeter. OPP Cpl. C. J. Mitchell re- ported both vehicles were northbound on Highway 4 and collided at the north-west side of the intersection. The impact spun the Kerman Ghia Volkswagen around and it ended up facing north-west in the middle on Highway 4. The truck went into the West ditch facing north, After the impact, the 'Volks- wagen motor burst into flattes and the dazed driver was pulled from the car by le/0 Fred Hamlin and F/0 Hen Gladstone. They got the driver to the side of the road just as the gas tank exploded and engulfed the ear in flames. A cloudof smoke billowed some 200' Into the air according to persons at the Scene. The Exeter Fire Department and the RCAF brigade were tatted to the scene to extinguish Announcements 12 Church Notices • AI 1 • • • • 12 Crash claims life, injures three This is the sports Car Which went out of Control on the Crediton Road Saturday night and resulted in the death Of one of the occupants, Dennis Tanner, Mt. 13rydges. Three other etcuteutts were injured, two seriously. Doctors, spectators and ambulance drivers aLeL shownondowporreklengproevsest photo of the injured. Coining EVertts .. 12 Editorials . i ,r 2 Farm News i4a F eminine raCU 'N Vendee 8,2 ilensall • • • • • • 1 • • 4 Lucan • 0 • e • * • • * • la sports. .6 • 0 41 P If 'V . Want Ads * a • 4 • 0 0 10,11 of the swim pool. It was also decided thatpark- ing space for the ARCA office would be built east of the PUC reservoir at the pumping sta- tion. With this agreed, they decided to forward the plans to the Cen- tennial Committee and then on to RAP for their approval, The Centennial Committee apparently deeided to stay clear of the issue and they handed it onto RAP without any decision. RAP member Gord I3aynham explained that the entire park had been laid out for the kins- men by experts and their re- cOmMertdatioe was to use the area south of the ARCA office between Ahdrew Street and the park for parking. He said it was "ridiculous" to have space fer only 30 oars at the south end of the park for picnickers who had to carry feed and provisions to the near- by tables. Bill Tuekey said he didn't Plettse turn to back page A park isn't a good park I/ there's no place to park, but to take up too much room to park can spoil the park. That may be tented a bit of a Conundrum, but that's exactly what the parking situation at Riverview Park is turning into. The answer appeared to be solved at a special meeting of council, Thursday, but the Solu- tion only lasted until MOnday's meeting of Exeter's RAP come mittee. Council, which earlier dis- approved of a plan by the Cen- Wheal Committee to use the lands south of the Ausable River Censervatien Authority Office for parking, came up with what most me m berS appeared to egree was a better solution. They planned to extend the area at the south end of the main picnic area to permit room for 30 cars along Old Mill Hoed leading in from the highway and completed this sug- gestion with An ot h e t 20-car area along Andrew Street north