Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1971-02-04, Page 1Main St. banks as wide as they were high 4 • 1111111} 7! TS C IMB AS A EA -OUT CO The area continues to dig out from one of the worst blizzards on record and indications are it will be some time yet before the area is back to normal, Township central schools re-opened Wednesday, but many students were missing as school buses couldn't navigate several roads. Snowplow crews have been working around the clock in surrounding townships and most residents have an access out with the exception of some Usborne Township farm families. Road Superintendent Bill Routly told the T-A Wednesday morning that about 90 to 95 percent of the people were out, "in a fashion". He said there was still a two and a half mile section on the 2nd concession from Clarence Knight's to the former Hurondale School that was blocked, along with a couple of farms on the 4th and 10th .• concessions. Snowplows have just been unable to move the heavily packed snow in these sections, although Routly said the milder temperatures which arrived Tuesday night were making the snows a bit easier to push, One of -Usborne's two graders broke an axle last week as it succumbed to the task. The other had some minor problems at times but it's been kept busy along with the plow of JIM Siddall. The latter's brother, Dave, who has been using a large loader to help move snow in Middlesex was expected to join the township crew yesterday to see if his equipment could dig out some of the trouble spots. Laverne Heywood aided in getting part of the 2nd concession cleaned out Tuesday. He opened up the road with his blower so Victor Knip could get some feed for his large flock of chickens and around midnight he had succeeded in getting the blower through past Bob Chaffe's, The trail there was still too narrow for vehicles, but the township grader was headjng out Wednesday to try and widen it. Actually, the township crew was well on the way to clearing up the roads last Thursday and Friday, but the weekend blow filled them all in again. By .Sunday, it was a matter of starting all over again. .The road superintendent had no idea yet of the cost involved in the snowplowing, but indicated it "will certainly wreck the budget". He had high praise for township residents. "Everyone's been very good and. we haven't received .any cranky calls at all," he said, There were only a few emergency calls. Plows quickly opened up roads to two homes where children were reported sick .and a trip to the hospital appeared a possibility. A scare arose TueSday when it was feared there may be a fire at the home of Murray Dawson. Roads to his farm were clogged. Fortunately, it turned out to be only the furnace motor and no immediate help was required. Some help While the high winds which accompanied the blizzard piled snow into mammoth drifts on most roads, it provided some relief for Hay and Stephen Townships, The winds were so strong they carried the snow right past a large section at the west of each of the townships and snow removal in that area wasn't too much of a problem. Gordon! Rats reported this week that driving into the area west of Shipka was like going into another country as snowfall was very light. Ail roads in Stephen were opened by Tuesday night to give residents access out. .$Ome "dead-ends" were created as the plows opened up from only one end. One bulldozer was called in to help in some of the trouble areas, Clerk Wilmer p..Wpin said the snowplowing budget was up about $500 from last year. Each of the road crew worked about 20 hours overtime during January. "We're not too bad now," Hay superintendent Karl Haberer reported Tuesday night, "but it will still take us three to five days to get back to normal". Crews have been on the roads with a truck-plow and • grader from 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. One stranded By Wednesday morning, only one farm in Tuckersmith was still isolated. "Summer can't come too soon," Reeve Elgin Thompson said, indicating that snow removal costs would be about double last year. He said council has already cut the gravel budget from 20,000 to 18,000 cubic yards for this year in anticipation of the hCgrelawnst snow wve beenbill' working around the clock. Costs mount The costs of last week's blizzard still are mounting and probably won't become clearly evident until tax rates are set. Road budgets for snow removal have doubled in some townships and Exeter's cost for the storm alone has been estimated at $3,000. Damage to pars in accidents during the storm has been estimated by area police officials at almost $35,000. Some farmers have been hit by having to dump milk and egg producers have reported loss of production as they couldn't get feed for their flocks. The Huron and Middlesex boards of education costs will be high. They'll have to pay for such things as food for thousands of students and staff who were stranded in schools, overtime for custodial staff, telephone charges, some damage to buildings and of course, snow removal. The Middlesex board has already set up an emergency fund of $15,000 to pay costs arising from the blizzard and Huron's will probably go much higher than that. Many area residents will face personal bills for towing services, snow removal, thawing frozen pipes, etc., etc. End of the line on an Usborne road Ninety-sixth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 4, 1971 Price Per Copy 15 Cents Some hundred cars involved Crash total near $35,000 Gert Nagle's home in the snow on Marlboro St. Snow removal job was mammoth one Storm created headaches for area dairy, egg men After a couple of runs ... it moved SHDHS students start home, Thursday About 100 drivers were involved in accidents in the area served by the Exeter and Lucan OPP detachments during the past week, Damage was over $28,000, In addition, several cars without drivers were in collisions as they were hit by snowplows and other vehicles after being stranded on area roads. Exeter detachment Cpl. Ray Brooks reports 20 collisions in his area with property damage estimated at over $13,000. From the Lucan Detachment, Sgt Sid Daley reports 22 accidents involving .49 vehicles with property damage amounting to over $15,000. At press time, the property damage estimates were still not complete. Police were attempting to contact a few drivers involved in the crashes during the storm. Exeter Police Chief Ted Day said this week his Officers investigated only a couple of minor crashes and damage was under $1,000 total, The most serious accident of the past week occurred on Saturday, One Mile north of Hensall, at 2:45 p.m, Drivers of the cars Involved were Maurice Orrioy, Rit 3 Kippen, and Wayne McLaughlin, Seaforth. Orriey was admitted to South Huron Hospital for treatment of a fractured arm and leg and chest injuries. The Seaforth man suffered facial lacerations and his passenger, Bedford Wayne Taylor, also of Seaforth, had leg injuries. Both were treated at Seaforth Hospital. Constables Bill Glassford and Ed Wilcox investigated and listed property damage at $3,300. As late as Sunday, motorists were still searching for their abandoned cars. Many had been towed in by Mathers Bros., Graham Arthur and Ray Shoebottom of Centralia. Some were still buried under mounds of snow and drivers Stephen farmer fractures his hip Preston Dearing is a patient in St. Joseph's Hospital, London, suffering from a broken hip. The popular Stephen Township sheep breeder fell at his home early Friday morning. Snowplows had to be called to clear a path to Exeter, He had an operation Saturday when a pin was inserted in his hip, were having difficulty finding them, because they weren't certain of their exact location. One chap finally found his after a lengthy search of one road. The only visible sign of the car was the aerial. Busy week It was a busy week for policemen in all areas and Chief Day told Exeter council this week his office had answered 240 telephone calls during the past week, most related to the storm, He said 68 of them were of a "more serious" nature, while Many were getting road reports, etc, During the height Of the storm on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Exeter OPP and local police Set up joint headquarters at the town hall so they could combine their efforts, "This was very helpful," Chief Day stated. Cpl. Brooks said the OPP had i5 occurrences ranging from requests for food, blankets, heat, rescuing stranded persons, transporting drugs, insulin and other necessities to people, Both Cpl. Brookt and Chief Day paid tribute to the — Please turn to page 3 How much snow fell in Exeter during the blizzard? Well, that's anybody's guess, but 2,450 tons (that's 78,400,000 ounces) was removed from a section of the Main St. alone in the past few days. Workmen started Sunday afternoon to whittle the huge banks that impeded traffic and it wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that the job was finished. Norval Jones estimated some 350 loads of snow were removed and taken to a dumping spot just north of the bridge on Main St. No estimate of the cost relating to the cleanup and plowing has been made as yet, but Works Superintendent Glen Kells reports it may run in the neighborhood of $3,000. Equipment being rented from local contractors was running between $55 and $90 per hour and they were at it for about 20 hours. The last street in Exeter was cleaned out Tuesday, but there's still only an eight-foot wide track , through it. The section is on William St. north of Nelson and equipment was working at it for almost two days before it was opened. Banks along the side of the road are already 12-feet high and Plan extension at Hensall mill Six more silos will be constructed this year at Cook's Division of Gerbro Corporation, Hensall, bringing the total number owned by the company to 35. Another continuous flow dryer is included in the expansion plans. Last year the company added six silos and a large receiving pit to their facilities. Harry F. Adamson, manager, said the expansion was necessary "because with the large crops of corn and beans grown in this area the business is here." He also stated the company hopes to give better service to farmers with the additional dryer, and would be able to offer custom storage for the first time with the addition of the new silos. The contractor is Dormer's Welding Company, and construction will start as soon as the frost is out of the ground. Mr. Adamson said the silos should be completed by the middle of August, in time for the fall crops. Dairy increases price for milk Exeter Dairy, similar to most dairies in Ontario, this week announced a price increase Of two cents per quart on milk. Theincrease stems from the Ontario Milk Marketing Board bOoSting the price to producers, effective February 1. The boost for producers was 20 cents per hundred, The Ontario Milk Marketing Board has indicated a further September ease yearome on 1. of this Kelis told council Monday night it would be most difficult to keep open unless the snow was blown away. Exeter pedestrians will be forced to use the roads on most Streets. It's impossible to clean the sidewalks. However, council decided Monday to clean a portion on one side of Main St. so school childien won't have to walk on the roads. Express need for line, road crews The Exeter PUC and council have each written Ontario Hydro requesting that a truck and hydro crew be stationed in Exeter during the winter months. A copy of the letter will also be sent to the Hon. C. S. MacNaughton. The action was taken as a result of the snow storm, when several areas near Exeter were without hydro service. Crews couldn't get to the trouble spots from their home base in Clinton and as a result service for many rural customers was restored by members of the PUC. It was noted that had a crew been in Exeter, they could have undertaken the work to provide service for many rural customers. Last week, Mayor Delbridge explained that the storm proved that centralization of such services was not good. Council and the PUC will also write letters to the department of highways and urge that the depot north of Exeter be maintained. Indications have been given to council that the department may close the local service area and centralize facilities. Monday night, Mayor Delbridge told council that without the department crews on hand locally, it would have taken a considerably longer time to get Highway 4 opened. Threat of flood is new concern The storm of the past week presented many problems for Exeter residents, but there was an ominous warning at council this week that another problem May still present itself. Councillor Mery Cudmore said he didn't want to press the panic button, but noted that if the right conditions existed this spring, the community could face a severe flooding condition in view of the, vast amount of snow. "It could be another July in February," he suggested in reference to the floods which have hit in the past two years during July. He said it was a possible dangerous situation and residents should be advised so appliances could be moved out of basements if flooding conditions presented them-MO-S. Reeve Derry Boyle was less pessimistic, "It takes a lot of snow to make a lot of water," he noted, "We've got a lot Of snow," Councillor Cudmore quickly replied. dollars worth of milk because truck pick-ups were stopped by last week's storm. When five milkings completely filled his holding tanks, Thomas Brock, RR 1, Granton, dumped three milkings. He estimated the value of the milk at from $70 to $80 per milking. The truck was able to reach the Brock farm late Saturday night, Various methods were used to store milk by area farmers and it was reported one used a brand new bath tub to store some milk until a truck arrived. In another instance snowmobiles were used to take milk in pails to trucks. — Please turn to page 3 George Busche resigns position George Busche, chairman of Exeter's committee of adjustment since its inception in June, tendered his resignation to council this week. He listed "personal reasons" for his decision. "That's too bad," commented Councillor Helen Jermyn when the letter of resignation was read, "He was most efficient." Council accepted the resignation with regret and a couple of names were mentioned as replacements. Mayor Delbridge Was asked to interview the men suggested to see if they would act. Approve tender for new truck Exeter tountil this week accepted the tender of Snell Bros. Limited for a new two-ton truck for the works department. The firth submitted the lowest bid of $4,G50, Whieh includes the!' trade=in of the present truck. It was one of four bids submitted from Weal dealers. Delivery of the new vehicle IS not expected until spring. The blizzard didn't provide many jokes but, if you'll pardon the pun, Harold Patterson had lots of "yolks",. . . but he wasn't laughing at them. The Exeter area egg producer ended up with between 40,000 to 50,000 eggs as his 10,000 chickens failed to realize trucks couldn't come to pick up their daily production. Throughout the storm, the birds continued to lay despite the fact Patterson ran out of feed for three days. Norval Jones dug ;the Patterson lane out Friday so feed could be brought to the farm, but Friday night's storm plugged it in again. "I've had it cleaned out four times in the past week," Patterson reported Tuesday night. He was expecting a truck around later in the evening to pick up his bountiful supply of eggs to take them to Strathroy, He ran out of egg cases early last week, and after using every available container, had to let the eggs remain in the laying cages. He finally secured some crates Sunday and it .took him about 12 hours to remove the eggs on Monday and through Tuesday morning. Patterson isn't certain what the lack of feed will do to his birds. Production dropped off slightly, but he says there's a chance they'll start to moult. If that happens, he'll have as much white stuff inside his barn as there is outside — as the feathers come flying off. The 2nd concession of Usborne, where he lives, still wasn't entirely cleaned out Tuesday as it was one of the many "impossible" areas the snowplow couldn't buck. He estimates the height of one snow "mountain" outside his barn at over 20 feet. He dreads to think what would have happened if the hydro service had failed at his place. Many of the birds would have suffocated. "I'd be out standing on the corner with a tin cup," he mused. Dump milk One district farmer was forced to dump more than two hundred a