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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-10-21, Page 5MAIN FLOOR PLAN READY TO DIG — During Wednesday's sod turning ceremony for the South Huron Recreation Centre, mayor Bruce Shaw was at the controls of the bulldozer. He gets some help from town employee Bill Hirtzel. s.< Oct913er 21, 1970 Pager 5 Some join protestors Only 67 of a total a 290 employees showed up for work at Bendix in Hensall last Thurs, day, labor's national day of protest, General manager ,of the re, creational home plant, Andy blame said Thursday there were no retaliations planned "at this time" against those who jointed in the illegal strike. He said a rumor being spread to the effect that those who did not work Thursday didn't need to bother working Friday or trying to pick up their pay cheques before Monday was "someone's assumption" and, not a company ruling. Jon Dobbyn, director of employee relations of Dash- wood Industries said the plant was open for business Thursday but it had been affected by the day of protest. However, Mr. Dobbyn would not say how many men did not show up for work. "We do not want ,to open the way for any reprisals against those who chose to come to work," he said. BAD MONTH September turned out to be one of the worst months in some time for Exeter drivers according to the monthly report given to Exeter council by Chief Ted Day this week. There were 15 accidents during the past month, with six injuries and total property damage of $14,100. One of the vehicles damaged was the police cruiser. Other statistics given by Chief Day were as follows: 35 charges and 66 warnings under the High- way Traffic Act, 10 charges under the Liquor Licence Act, six places of business found in- secure, 9 animal complaints, 15 bike riders cautioned with two bikes and two mini-bikes being seized by police for a seven-day period, seven thefts with total loot of $338, two wilful damage complaints, one fraud, one assault, one charge of threatening violence and two break and enters. In the latter, two vehicles were stolen and later recovered. Final arguments . • • WALKWAY MECH. ROOM BLEACHERS( 750 PERSONS) eL,CACHER LAYOUT ',.WWE,'WOWYMOKftESMMIEW7MEN*MERWWW::,,W00MiiEM 'WW)AiiK Lk r4r44vas • Horsemen cite steam roller tactics .' • • Continued from front page Noting that she was a pessimist, Mrs. Bell said she had always considered the facility beyond the community's capabilities to operate and had never been enthusiastic about the . entire project. "I can't see the argument that this can't be moved," she con- cluded. In concluding the debate, Mayor Bruce Shaw said it was good to know one's strength and weakness and suggested one of his strengths was in trying to listen and give people a chance to speak. "If you do enough talking, you can usually reach a compromise that makes most of us happy," he said, but added that he regretted that a suitable solution was not possible. He continued that part of the blame for that situation rested with the people who didn't get out early enough to say the track should stay. The Mayor noted that the same situation exists with the town's official plan in that people don't have enough community spirit to get involved and they appear only after it's too late to voice ob- jections. "Public, meetings were held and the people who attended were heard," he said of the rec centre deliberations, Shaw opined that the SHRCC campaign would be hurt by Continued from front page ever seen Mr . Tuckey. He said he wondered where Mr. Tuckey's interest was during the planning stages, Stephens also explained that the SHRCC had no authority whatever and made only recommendations to council. "I think you should do some homework," he told Mr. Tuckey. After another interested spec- tator had suggested council call a vote of the people on the matter, Mayor Shaw asked Stephens to indicate what sup- port the track had in the 'surveys taken by the committee. Stephens said that out of 486 replies, only seven people had in- dicated they would be opposed to losing the track. However, Parsons said the turf club had circulated a petition in Exeter on Saturday and found the response was "90 to 1 the other way". He said the petitions contained a "whole lot of signatures". When asked to reveal the wor- ding on the petition, Parsons refused until Stephens revealed the wording on the survey. The latter replied that he did not have the survey with him and, Ai suggested if Parsons' petition was not worth reading it was not very important. At this point Huron-Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell addressed the meeting, saying he didn't like to interfere in local government issues but had been asked to at- tend by some interested parties,. He said he had also been asked to check out the ownership of the community park and whether members of the Exeter Agricultural Society could be held liable if the assets of the Society did not cover the costs of any legal action initiated by the group. Riddell indicated that records in Toronto gave full authority over the park to Exeter council. On the second matter, he said Agricultural Societies were in- corporated under the Societies Act but warned that lawyers could have a field-day With the Act in court. Noting ,that the two sides had two Very competent lawyers eng....ged on their behalf,4 said if the matter went tir court "some people wiltg:ert huit". He urged those in attendance to attempt to reach a satisfac- tory agreement, adding that some key people with whom he had talked in the townships were being "turned off" by the dispute and were not going to canvass for the rec centre fund. Tuckey followed that With indicating that the another appeal' to reach a solu- tion, horsemen and Agricultural council's decision, and said that in some cases this was a reasonable excuse for people not to contribute, but in many cases it was simply a "cop-out" and "insulting to themselves as in- dividuals". Continued from front page think the horsemen had done their homework nor filled their responsibility of providing council with facts on which to make a decision. He said they didn't even know whether Dow would sell his land and yet that was one of the main requirements for their proposal. Stephens said he too would like to see the work the horsemen had done, Parsons said the SHRCC figures were available and they would not challenge them and Tuckey remarked that it had been agreed to measure the site together and noted the committee had "run behind our back to measure it themselves". Stephens and the engineer measured the facility Monday night after council meeting and worked all Tuesday morning to Societies were given the word of town officials in 1947 that their grounds would remain intact. Turf club secretary Pete Con- don then told council "everyone is telling you you're wrong", but Mayor Shaw replied that this ' was not correct and many people in the community were saying "to hell.with the horsemen," He said council members would lose all sense of direction if they listened solely to pressure groups and said he had reached the point where he didn't care „what people thought as he was convinced council had proceeded in a logical way and he had only to justify that to himself and his Maker. SHRCC finance chairman Ron Bogart said he resented being termed a steam-roller and wondered why all of a sudden there was such great concern when the matter had actually been under debate for three years. "Where else does anyone have free facilities for a commercial enterprise?" he asked, referring to the horseowners' use of the track. Tuckey rose to explain his steam-roller label and said that Reeve Derry Boyle had threaten- ed a young Stephen farmer that he would have to pay if extra costs were involved due to the legal move by the Agricultural Society. He said this "threatened" the young man into helping have the writ withdrawn. Boyle said he had told the man in question that he could be re- quired to meet some of the cost and not that he definitely would. He said the town had a history of similar problems, naming the building of the hospital and the saving of the town hall as two examples. "Too many times people polarize and get married to a prepare arawings for the hor- semen to view in the afternoon. McKinley ' said the SHRCC figures were functional figures and not just concerned with the physical limitations of four walls. He indicated his main concern was over the loss of parking, noting the earlier compromise had already reduced the parking spaces to 225. He had reported that 432 was the ideal number. The rec director also said someone would have to prove to him there would be regular races at the park and said it was not practical to talk about moving a $1,000,000 building on the "chance of regular races", Marg McLeod asked what was more important, horse races or the livesp and sporting facilities for 400 to 500 young people. The only major exchange of arguments cropped up when "The possibility is still there," Boyle remarked. At this, Tuckey suggested such actions were Hitler tactics. Councillor Ted Wright entered the discussion to point out that "there's no way" council could consider building a $1,000,000 centre without ample parking and hinted that another site could be chosen for the track. He said he was surprised to learn that while the horsemen in- dicated they had plenty of money to take legal action they didn't have five cents, to help pay for another site. Mayor Shaw then asked Darryl Lane of Cambrian Facilities to indicate if the rec centre could be moved. Lane replied it could be moved laterally in any of the four directions, but it-would have to be redesigned if it was in any way rotated because the present design had taken heat loss and heat gain into consideration and a rotating move would alter all this. He also suggested that to wait until the present arena was removed would be too late to get within the time limit of the pre- sent tender and he said council had received a good price and this no doubt would increase if the job was re-tendered. Rodeo committee chairman Jack Malone agreed that many people may have been remiss in not attending earlier meetings of the SHRCC but noted that on June 23 his group had suggested it was paradoxical to destroy one facility to make room for another. He said there was resentment positioh from which they can not later divorce themselves," he claimed, adding that this often results in proponents and op- ponents attacking others as in- dividuals and not lust the ideas those individuals hold. Parsons asked how many professional hockey players Exeter had turned out. "Who cares?" came several replies. EMHA supporter Shirley Pratt said turning out professional hockey players was not the aim of the program and said it was designed to give them recreation and some help in growing up. An air of levity was created when Parsons then asked what the fastest growing sport in Ontario was He was hinting that it was horses racing, but Councillor Harold Patterson gave back the quick reply of "sex". Perry Laithwaite asked if the horsemen had considered the cost involved in delaying the project and received no answer, Mayor Shaw said the figure could run as high as $50,000 to $60,000. and hard feelings on both sides and suggested there had been a "double-cross". Malone said the appeal by the horse enthusiasts was not an 11th hour matter as they had registered their concern before the tenders had been called and the contract awarded. Wright replied that council had considered many alternatives and had even looked for other sites in the community for the centre. Mayor Shaw advised that because the size of the protest had mot been made known earlier, council had advanced to a certain point where it was now debatable if they could turn back. "It's a hell of a position to be in," he remarked. Tuckey again took the floor to charge that Bruce Shapton had been "coerced" out of continuing with the legal writ and the Stephen farmer had told Tuckey that the Agricultural Society would probably go if the track did. The former mayor charged that the decision to remove the old arena was an 11th hour deci- sion, but Shaw replied that this had been due to the fact some people thought the old building should be saved and pointedrout turf Club member Pete Condon as one of the main supporters of that contention. Nelson Monteith asked if it would be feasible to build the rec centre on the site of the present arena and he was advised it was possible, but it was explained that a lane had to be provided at He said he cared for the town as an individual and said he would , be running for mayor again and said this would be an opportunity for anyone to contest the election on the issue. He concluded by saying it had been a trying time for many and that some have suffered emotionally on both sides. "We must now pick up the pieces," he urged and see what we can do about the track, horse barn and the SHRCC campaign. When the motion was ap- proved, the decision was greeted by applause from the pro-rec centre audience. Council then proceeded to pass a motion to undertake to convert the track to three-eights of a mile and approved a subsequent motion to undertake the moving of the horse barn at the town's expense. Mayor Shaw then asked Parsons if he had any parting words for council. The turf club president replied that he would like council to consider purchasing 18 to 20 acres of land outside the town for a half-mile track. "An excellent idea," Mayor Shaw quickly replied, urging Parsons to come back to council at a later date to discuss the matter. "We'll be glad to look at it," Shaw said. the west side because this was the side on which the main access to the facility was located. Lane advised that some of the track would still be covered. Monteith then asked if there was any other site in the 22-acre park for the centre. Stephens replied that many other alternatives had been con- sidered and none was found to be satisfactory. Stephens said other sites were possible, but he said they also had to be feasible. Parsons then arose with his petition to say he was speaking for the residents of Exeter. "Not me," one lady behind him remarked and several other rec centre supporters echoed similar comments from various parts of the room. Parsons said the petition was signed by people who were strongly in favor Of retaining the track and relocating the rec cen- tre in the south-east corner of the park. Wright wanted to know if the 'petitioners had explained the problems of such a move to those who had signed. Tuckey said "if it is not feasi- ble, we shouldn't entertain it" and said he would like to measure the grounds and meet again to report on the findings. At this point, Deputy-Reeve Tom MacMillan said council members had gone through all the questions and answers for months and while some people may consider them "dumb bun- nies" they had looked at the situation thoroughly and had received information from all sources they thought beneficial. "Why should we be asked to go through all this again?" he ask- ed. He said he was quite willing to stand on his decision and his record of doing an honest job. "We're not just a bunch of gooks," he concluded. When Tuckey replied that they appeared that way on occasions, MacMillan reminded him that there were a hell of a lot of mis- takes made When he was head of Council as well. "When does this stop?" Stephens asked, "When do you (council) say I've got as much in- formation as possible?" Mayor Bruce Shaw replied "When the building is com- pleted", quickly adding he was being facetious. Boyle said council were at the point of no return. However, in a poll among eouncfl members a majority Voted in favor of calling Tuesday night's meeting to make a final decision. START BLIND CANVASS — Exeter Lions club members canvassed Ex- eter and Huron Park Thursday on behalf of the Canadian National In- titute for the Blind. Above, Lions chairman gives instructions to Lion Jim Pinder. T-A photo PRECIOUS BLOOD COUNCIL' — The student council for the 1976-77 school term at Precious Blood Separate School in Exeter was named recently. Back, left, secretary Corinne Weernink, Richard Weernink, president Sean Wright, Leah Van Roestel and vice-president, Jacky Van Roestel. Front, Cathy Hogan, Lawrence Vink, John Van Esbroeck, Marlene Winters and Joanne Kints. T-A photo. HALF TIME ADVICE — During a recent Huron-Perth junior girls basketball game, South Huron coach Pat Rowe at the extreme right gives instructions to the entire team. From the left are Michelle Vandergunst, Kelly Kernick, Sherry Gilfillan, Julianne MacLean, Patti Down, Bonnie Baynham, Kathy Wallace, Helen Muller, Sheila Penhale, Sue Zachar, Cindy O'Brien, Heather Riddell, Karen McAllister and Debbie Webster. POOR BOY DINNER — A large crowd attended Saturday's Poor Boy luncheon sponsored by the tucan Irish junior hockey team. Above, enjoying hot dogs ore Exeter Hawks manager' Fred Mommersteeg' rand Irish management Jim Freeman and Bob Taylor. T.A photo The decision on rec centre is made . • •