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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-07-22, Page 1exelerZniesiabuocate iThree croups battle to save race track been stressed that meetings were open to the public, He apologized for not sending invitation to Shapton. McKinley said the objections to the site were coming at the ltth hour, but said "it's better now than when the bulldozer is on the site." Reeve perry Boyle said he had always thought the site was wrong and in fact had suggested it be placed in the south-east corner of the fairgrounds. However, he said the bulk of the people were not concerned about the track and added that horse racing was notes popular as some would suggest, noting the cen- tennial committee lost $4,000 on their races in 1973. Deputy-reeve lenn MacMillan argued that many people weren't concerned about ball diamonds either and reminded those at the meeting that when the agricultural society gave their land to the town there was a gentleman's agreement that the track would remain. Large Stephen barn destroyed by flames smell it, We were working close to the barn the day before removing an old hen house and we didn't notice anything." Asked about rebuilding, Fink- beiner said, "We will be building something but at the moment I'm not sure what it will be. It will depend on the condition of the silos, They suffered some damage from the heat. We are having tests taken this week, They will have to be reinforced to some degree. When representatives from the rodeo and fair board in attendace at.the meeting suggested demise of many activities due to the loss of the track, McKinley said it was not doomsday for all events and it was incorrect to suggest the grandstand would be lost as well. Councillor Ted Wright said the cost of finding a location outside the park for the rec centre could add as much as $40Q,000 to the cost and it would also delay construction for another year. "That's putting a high price on the track," he suggested, questioning if it was right to consider such an expenditure due to the limited use made of the track at present. Mayor Shaw wanted to know what the track had been used for in the past 12 months other than training horses, He learned that this was the only use made of the entire track, although some events had been staged in front of the grandstand. Wright wondered if the local track could accommodate chuck- wagon races and he was told by Dalton Finkbeiner that it would, although a small number of entries would be permitted per heat. "Why haven't they been tried Please turn to page 3 CREPITON BARN DESTROYED — A fire apparently started by lightning quickly destroyed a large barn on the farm of Eric Finkbeiner, just south of Crediton, Friday morning, T-A photo, Exeter council gave the race track at Exeter community park a "stay of execution" when they turned down a motion calling for them to accept the present site plan for the South Huron Recreation centre as proposed by the SHRCC, The debate, which has been simmering in the community for some time, reached council this week when three groups sub- mitted letters objecting to the plan to use a portion of the track es the site for the new facility. Those letters came from the Mid-Western Rodeo committee, the Exeter Agricultural Society and the local horsemen and turf club. The rodeo group termed it "paradoxical" that one facility would be destroyed for another and added that this was short- sighted. The letter said the popularity of the rodeo was in- creasing and noted that the loss of the track would preclude any attempt to stage chuckwagon or quarter horse races in connection with the Labor Day weekend show. It was also opined that once the *rack was lost, it would only be a hatter of time before the grandstand would be abandoned due to a lack of maintenance. The letter concluded by asking council to evaluate the wisdom in the choice of the site for the new recreation centre. The fair board also went on record as opposing the site, suggesting it would curtail ex- pansion of the fair and would exclude such activities as horse races or chariot races. The letter suggested consideration be given to placing the new arena east or West of the public school or on the site of the present arena. Local horseman Jack Darling said his associates were "con- cerned and worried" about the loss of their foremost recreation pursuit and said the track was as important to them as the arena is to hockey enthusiasts. Darling said the track was one of the best fair tracks in Ontario and said that the horsemen were planning races for this year's fell fair. He concluded by saying , it would be a shame to waste such a valuable recreation facility as the track, All three letters indicated the groups were in no way opposing the construction of a new recreation centre, nor did they wish to have the project delayed, The letter from the fair board was also critical of the fact their appointee to the SHRCC, Bruce Shapton, had not been informed of meetings since last August. When asked about this situation by Mayor Bruce Shaw, recreation director Jim McKinley said only the executive had been meeting with Cambrian Facilities Ltd. since last fall, although he said it had always One Hundred and Third Year Price Per Copy 25 Cents EXETER, ONTARIO, JULY 22, 1976 Schedule events to aid campaign Delay decision on commercial zoning Several special attractions are lined up during Ex- eter's sidewalk sale days in aid of the South Huron recreation centre campaign. The finance committee have scheduled a chicken barbecue for Friday supper time. It will be followed by a talent show featuring several of the area's top enter- tainers. Saturday morning, the Exeter firemen will be hosting a pancake breakfast, with proceeds going to the centre fund. Draws will also be held during the weekend. Top prize is a side of beef. Several other draws will be stag- ed by local citizens as part of their contribution to the campaign. The Shell car wash will turn over their proceeds to the centre. On Civic holiday, the California Cuties will be put- ting on a softball exhibition at the local park. They're one of the top summer attractions in North America. South Huron Recreation Centre-Donations this week Exe-Fibercraft Ltd $ 300 Interested Citizen 100 So Litit fibteri Regional React 500 Herbert Heywood 10 Hayter Electric Ltd. 200 Boyle's Ladies' Wear 250 Ron Hern Construction 200 A & H Food Market 500 Lorne Passmore 100 Edna and George 500 Elaine & Ron Bogart and family 500 Norris & Gee 150 The Exeter Times-Advocate 1,000 Total to date noted that allowing commercial development on the fringe area of town may kill the downtown section, Shaw replied that some commercial development would probably take place on the fringe area, and it appeared a question only whether it would be within the town limits or just outside. MacMillan said the greatest concern is in knowing how much land was being considered. His suggestion that the matter be returned to the planning board was approved. Lightning is believed to have caused the fire which destroyed a large barn on the Crediton area farm of Eric Finkbeiner, Friday morning. The Crediton fire department was called to the Finkbeiner farm which is located about a half mile south of Crediton on Concession 7 shortly before 8 a.m. when the blaze was first noticed by the owner. Finkbeiner estimates his loss at from $50,000 to $60,000 for the structure, $10,000 for equipment and about $8,000 for hay and feed. With the help of neighbours and passersby, nearly all of the cattle in the barn were evacuated and put in a corral near the barn About the cattle Finkbeiner told the T-A, "There were 72 in the barn at the time of the fire. We since have accounted for 70. I have heard of another one run- ning loose in the area. The last one may also be still at large as we didn't find the remains of any animals while cleaning up." The cattle being fed and housed by Finkbeiner are owned by Jack Morrissey. Volunteers from the Crediton and Centralia fire departments were first on the scene and the Exeter brigade was summoned when flames and extreme heat threatened the farm house which is located a short distance to the south of the barn location. The Crediton farmer says he is sure the fire was caused by lightning and not by combustion of hay in the barn. He commented, "A neighbour tells me there wassharp lightning about 3 o'clock that morning.I'm sure it wasn't combustion as the hay was put in a very dry con- dition. •I have had hay beet up - before and you could always Lightning blamed in fire fatality $67,883.83 .40.W.WWWENWEZERMn-diz.,'. HAPPY NEW DRIVERS — For two Dashwood area sisters, Monday was one of the happiest days of their lives as they received their driving licences. Sandra and Sue-Ann Schroeder, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Jake Schroeder are showing their newly acquired licences to Larry Snider and driver training instructor Ross Guenther. Snider Motors provide one of the vehicles for driver education. T-A photo. Face fines, work costs Receives jail term for kicking officer Out with downspouts! done and suggested there "are many" residences where these illegal hookups are in existence. "We have a law, but we don't enforce it," he continued. Building inspecdtor Doug Triebner said he recently checked homes in the Pryde Boulevard area and found 12 that had downspouts apparently hooked to drains. He told council that many new homes were in contravention of the bylaw, adding that it was not totally the fault of contractors as many people were hooking downspouts into drains after their homes were constructed, Wright said a letter should be sent to every resident advising them of the law and telling them that they would be given a certain time in which to remove the downspouts or legal action would be taken. Fines levied under the bylaw may be as high as $1,000. Deputy-Reeve Tom Mac- Millan suggested an amend- Please turn to page 3 GB taxes up 12% Most ratepayers in the village of Grand Bend will be facing a tax increase this year of 15.7 mills. This amounts to a hike of 12 percent for residential property owners. The 1976 tax rate and budget was accepted at Monday's regular meeting of council. The overall rate for residential taxpayers will be 145.7 mills. Last year's mill rate was 130. The commercial rate will be 160 mills compared to 140 mills in 1975. Despite the total increase of 15.7 mills, the general rate from which the village derives its monies is down a half mill to 37.7 mills. The largest rise comes in the secondary school levy which is up to 35,2 mills from 25.9 mills a year ago. The elementary school rate will be 39.3 mills up from 34.5 mills. The County of Lambton rate has risen 1,7 mills to 25 mills, The fire protection levy has risen by a half mill to 6.5 mills while the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation authority rate remains at two mills. The third and final instalment on 1976 Grand Bend taxes is due on September 30. Interim payments .were due on March 1 and May 31, The 1976 budget calls for ex- penditures totalling $437,253. Highest on the list is education at $160,090followed by public works and Lambton County at $59,268 and $56,473 respectively. Exeter council approved one more change in the new official plan and zoning bylaw this week, but held another zoning request in abeyance until some clarification could be made. Approved was a request from Ted Jones that his property in the mid-west section of town be zoned as agricultural. It had originally been designated as industrial on the plan. Mayor Bruce Shaw, who presented the planning board .recommendation,, said the town edit had 'ample industrial 'land available without designating the Jones property in that classification. The planning board had also recommended that a request from Len Veri be approved for rezoning an area north of High- way 83 and east of Highway 4 as commercial. It had originally been industrial as well. However, the motion to give approval to this change was with- drawn by Shaw after some question arose as to how much land Veri wanted included in the commercial zoning. The property involved is the former Wein farm, purchased by Veri about two months ago. Contacted by the T-A this week, Veri said he wanted about one- third of the land in the area rezoned. He said this was about 12 acres, Vert said he had no immediate plans for commercial develop- ment of the area, but said he felt this was the best zoning class for the land. The balance would remain industrial. The planning board also recommended to council that before any enterprise be un- dertaken in the commercial area owned by Veri an overall plan be presented to council and the planning board. Shaw said three developers and the industrial commission had already approached the planning board with their concern that there was not enough com- mercial land in the community. Deputy-reeve Tom MacMillan said planning experts had ad- vised against commercial development in the north end and said this was the reason it had been classed as industrial. "We may have accepted their advice too readily," he said. However, MacMillan also A severe thunder and electrical storm has been determined as the cause of the fire which destroyed the Stephen township farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Regier on Monday, July 12. The lightning bolt which is believed to have struck the house occurred at about 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 11, some 36 hours before the fire broke out. In the fire, 85 year-old Mrs. Irene Farwell, the mother of Mrs. Regier lost her life. Mrs, Regier said she smelled smoke throughout the weekend but despite a thorough check of the house including the basement was unable to find the problem, Officials from the Ontario Fire Marshall's Office participated in the investigation and determined the fire began in the basement with an explosion. Mrs. Regier said articles from the house were found some distance from the house which indicates an explosion. At the moment the Regier family is living in a mobile home which was moved to the farm home located on Lot 6, Con- cession 12, about a mile and a quarter north of Mount Carmel, The Regier's will be rebuilding on the same property but when depends on the availability of a contractor. The loss was partially covered by insurance. Albatross at Huron Park on March 3 of this year. They were Richard Arthur Stagg and Terry Arthur McDonald. Michael Anthony of Sarnia was fined $53 for driving a vehicle while liquor was available and $100 for failing to appear in court at an earlier date. A fine of $103 was levied against Stephen Thomas Smith of Zurich on a charge of careless driving while operating a motorcycle. Smith was clocked by Con- stable Rogers at speeds up to 80 miles an hour in a 50 zone on a gravel road and the constable dropped back in the chase because he felt conditions were dangerous. He was also fined $23 for having an improper endorsement on his motorcycle licence, Brian Mervin Dow of Listowel was fined $93 on an unnecessary noise charge. Charles S. Broadfoot of trucefield was fined $103 on a careless driving charge. A Centralia man, John R. Breen was sentenced to 10 days in jail by His Honour Judge Glen Hays at Tuesday's court session in Exeter. Breen was found guilty, of assaulting an off-duty police officer during an altercation on Centralia's Main Street on May 30. • Constable R. Wilkinson of the London police department saw erratic driving by the accused, stopped him and took the keys from the ignition. Apparently taking offence to 4t this move, the accused reacted by kicking and swinging at the officer, Constable Larry Christiaen of the Exeter OPP detachment was called to assist. His Honour Judge Hays in passing sentence commended Constable Wilkinson on his handling of the matter. Breen was also fined $200 and has his licence suspended for three months on an impaired driving charge. Two Exeter men were each fined $50 on charges of causing a disturbance outside the Club Several appeal sewer stipulation Exeter council have already received six appeals from local residents asking that they be excused from the edict that all sanitary sewers must be con- nected by November. Two weeks ago, council agreed that some consideration would be given to such appeals and asked the social services committee to rule on them. One letter read this week by Mayor Bruce Shaw suggested that all residents pay the sewer surcharge and in this way some people could be excused from hooking up while at the same time they would be helping to pay the operating costs, Last Wednesday's severe thunderstorm and ac- companying deluge created several flooding problems in Exeter, and council moved Monday night to take some action to correct the situations. The most stringent action 'was that of approving a motion whereby residents will be given 60 days in which to remove any downspouts connected to drains. Works committee chairman Ted Wright explained that the Marlboro Street pumping station couldn't keep pace with the heavy flow of water and he said one of the main problems was due to the number of homes which are illegally putting water into the drains. , He recalled that two years ago engineer B. M. Ross had advised that council should take some action to get downspouts disconnected from drains. Wright said this had never been Joe Clark would aid rural people Relax bylaw, allow homes However, to form a national majority party in the election of 1978, we must hold every seat we have and gain 47 new seats, The battleground will be Ont- ario." Jim Donnelly and Donna Woods presented Joe and Mau- reen with an atlas of the Counties of Huron and Middlesex saying "We want it back in two yeate with the inscription, Joe Clark', prime minister of Canada," Mr. Clark and Maureen were accompanied by Bob McKinley,. MP for Huron-Middlesex, sill Jarvis, MP for Perth-Willemet and John Wise, MP fOr Huron Warden Jack McCutcheott welcomed the temple on behalf of the County and the standing room only crowd gave them standing' ovation. group in Ottawa," says Mr. Clark. "We need the help of the people to make the govern- ment work," Mr. Clark says the Liberal party is falling apart more and more every day while the Con- servatives are putting forward a strong and united party. `,"When the Liberal party loses John Turner and Jean Marchand in such a short space of time, it has lost a senior English and senior French cabinet minister. That means problems within the party.'' HOwever, Mr. Clark sees WM- self as a realist. "We can't make too many gains in the west, and there aren't too many seats to gain in the Atlantic provinces. I believe we can win some seats in Quebec, not a lot perhaps, but some. prising spirit in Canada would be another priority of a Conservative government says Mr. Clark. He feels Canadians are in danger of losing the idea people can look after themselves and should be given the opportunity to do so, It should be possible for a person to start a small business and make it work without a • lot of intetference by the government, Agriculture will be another place a Clark government would place its emphasis. Mt. Clark says . agricultural policies would be determined by sitting down and talking with people who are actively engaged in the industry and the Minister of Agriculture, whoever he might be, would carry a good deal of influence in the cabinet. "This country is far too large to have policies set by a small The Progressive Conservative party would put more power in the hands of the local small communities, both rural and urban, according to its leader Joe Clark. Mr. Clark and his wife Maur- een were attending a meeting and reception at the Vanastra Shillelagh in Clinton Monday night Where he addressed aver 1,000 people gathered to take the opportunity to shake his hand and have a few words with him. Mr. Clark went on to say a majority Conservative govern- meet would encourage people to assume more responsibility in making, the small municipalities more effective. He said the big government approach. doesn't seem to have worked and we need to revitalize local initiative. Encouragement of the enter- Exeter council moved to relax terms of the zoning bylaw, Monday, As a result of an amendment, Males will now be permitted in areas which will not be im- mediately serviced by sanitary sewers. One stipulation, of course, is that a septic tank bed for the proposed home be approved by the Huron health unit. Members of council were of the opinion that home construction should not be automatically 466 denied in areas where sanitary sewers are not available.A Under 111, the zoning bylaw no construction was permitted unless sewers were available. CONt5AVATiVg LEADEFt JOE CLARK is greeted by Jack McOutcheon, right, Huron County warden, Mr, Clark and his wife Maureen attended a 111813tin0 and reception at Vanastra Monday night.