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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-05-13, Page 1roe exelerZtnesattuoca e One Hundred and Third Year . Price Per Copy 25 Cent$ EXETER, ONTARIO, MAY 13, 1976 J.F.Farm Machinery files for bankruptcy, plant to close down salaries and wages and $2500 in salesman's commissions were listed under preferred creditors. Unsecured creditors have no liens against company assets and must wait until secured and preferred creditors have been paid off before they can collect anything owed to them, Parks explained that as the result of new legislation, em- ployees' wages for the last three months must be listed under preferred creditors, up to a maximum of $500 per employee. In the case of J,F. Farm, Parks said that all actual wages will be Bros, of Elmira, which has purchased j.F.'s inventory of product lines, All other properties will remain under the control of the receiver, the Bank of Montreal and the Ontario Development Cor- poration, which were appointed agents for the secured creditors. At least a dozen J.F. employees were laid off from the plant last Friday, according to Parks, $11,320 in salaries and wages and $25,121 in salesman's com- missions were listed among the unsecured creditors of J.F. Farm, while another $7,000 in J.F. Farm Machinery filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, May 5. Although limited operations continue at the Exeter plant, located on Highway 83, the doors are expected to close in about four to five weeks, according to 0. W. Parks, an accountant with Clarkson Co. Ltd. of London, which had been appointed an agent for the receiver-manager for the Bank of Montreal. Some 75 employees will be affected by the permanent closing, however Mr. Parks in- dicated that a portion of them would be given jobs with McKee Usborne Township's interim levy is set at 50 mills Usborne township's interim tax levy, due by June 30, has been set at 50 mills, up 10 mills from last year's interim levy. According to township clerk, Harry Strang, council reached the new levy based on an increase in the requisition from the Huron County Board of Education of 14 mills over last year. Strang said that a finalized municipal budget for Usborne probably will not be struck by council until later this month, perhaps not until June, but in- dicated that it would be up over last year's overall budget which required 80 mills. "We're looking at 94 mills, anyway this year", he said. Strang added that he was not able to indicate whether the budget would go higher than the school board requisition increase of 14 mills. The requisition from Huron County stayed about the same as last year, Strang noted. Although the county budget is essentially the same as last year, requisition' rates were adjusted for the various municipalities throughout Huron, with some remaining the same, while others increased and deceased. The clerk remarked that one factor which might help keep Usborne's mill rate down is the general support grant from .the province of $51,000. It represents an approximate increase of 20 percent over the grant from last year. Generally speaking, the province is holding support grant keep the company in existence and pay off creditors without the Company having to file for bankruptcy. Hopes that the company would be able to continue to exist dimmed after "efforts to sell it as a going concern waned", Parks said. Parks said that in order to make a receivership work there should be assets over and above what is owed to the secured creditors and that J.F. did not have these assets. According to Parks Mr. Gravlev decided on his own to file for bankruptcy when he discovered that there was going OFFICIAL KICKOFF — Canvassing for a new arena got its literal and figurative kickoff when Jerry to be difficulty holding the MacLean, kicking, handed an $1,100 cheque to John Stephens while putting his foot into the ball. MacLean, receivership together and settle along with Norm Whiting and Bob Heywood organized the Country and Western Jamboree, from which the the claims on an equit able basis. funds were raised. Parks called Gravlev's decision a moral one. Parks said that $500,000 to $600,000 in company assets is still in the hands of Clarkson and Company to meet the demands of the secured creditors, $1,805,955 is owing to secured creditors. The secured creditor with the largest amount owing is the Bank of Montreal with $1,098,322. The list of creditors of J F. is extensive, taking in a number of Please turn to page 2 paid to the employees plus vacation pay for the past three months, once the secured creditors have been paid. Any vacation pay beyond the past three months, as well as severance pay comes under the heading of unsecured and the employees will not receive this money unless there are any company assets left over once the secured and preferred creditors have been paid off. A similar situation occurred at Halt Lamp of Huron Park about three years ago when that company went bankrupt. In that instance, the employees were represented by the UAW which fought for wages, severance, and holiday pay through the courts and finally reached a settlement with the receivers by which the employees received compensation for losses due to termination of employment without proper notice and remuneration. Originally, J.F. entered into a receivership in order to keep the company afloat and operating. It had been hoped by both the secured creditors and Erie Gravlev, president of J.F., that, some means could be found to increases down to 10 percent this year due to their restraints program. Fortunately, the province still recognizes that municipal budgets sometimes run into deficit situations due to unforseen circumstances and Usborne was able to realize a 20 percent increase in grant to make up for a deficit last year. Two areas of the municipal Spiked fence at town wading pool injures girl New officer joins force CONKLIN LUMBER became the first commercial donor to give to the fund for a new arena when they donated a $5,000 cheque. From left to right are Dave Conklin, president of Conklin,Ted Webb,area super- visor, Wayne Pearce, local store manager, John Stephens and Ron Bogart. T-A photo by Youngs. CONST. KEVIN SHORT Kevin Short, 22, formerly a police constable in Hanover became the newest member of the Exeter Police force this week when he began his duties last Sunday. Coast. Short attended Aylmer Police College and will be living in, town. He is single. People and events funds were cut off that the hospital board would be prepared to do one of two things, borrow from the bank or begin a fund- raising campaign. He added that he did not foresee the Ministry of Health going to this extreme to shut hospitals down. He said that present funds for Clinton Hospital extend to the end of May and he expects that the hospital will be hearing from the Ministry soon as to how much further funding they will receive. Acting Health Minister, Bette Stephenson stated that the Ministry has not considered abandoning its hospital closing program despite the court decision but would not indicate what further steps might be aken. Another hitch in the possibility of the Ministry withholding funds from the four affected hospitals could come from the federal government which provides a portion of the money that is funded to hospitals in Ontario under a cost-sharing agreement. II is quite possible that the Ministry of Health would have to get permission from the federal government before it could act to discriminate in funding certain hospitals. In addition to the Clinton Hospital, Chesley, Durham, and Doctor's Hospitals in in Toronto are affected by the court decision and will be allowed to reopen, A decision from the Divisional Court of Ontario has added fuel to the fire in the present con- troversy over the closing of hospitals in Ontario, including the Clinton Public Hospital. The decision which was handed down on Monday, disallows an earlier order from the Ministry of Health which closed 10 hospitals. According to the Court, the -question has three sides which are finished off at the top, but that when the fence was built 10 years ago, the builders ran out of fencing material and constructed the fourth side with the spiked fencing. He added that at the time that the fence was erected There had "been some debate ,iver going with a higher fence." The fence is about four ft. high. "We certainly feel sorry for the child, but Alvin Willert has said that it is the first accident with the fence in the 10 years that it has been up." Mr. Dickey had met with RAP chairman, Ruth Durand and McKinlay prior to t he RAP meeting and they had invited him to come and ap- proach the entire committee on the question. Manager Alvin Willert had indicated that removing the dangerous obstacle would require replacement of the entire section of fence,as removing the spike,,, alone, would only unravel the rest of the fence on that side. Vice chairman, Bob Pooley suggested that the fence should be left sharp at the top to prevent of her children from attempting to climb it, but McKinlay disagreed, saying that it wouldn't discourage fence climbers anyway because there were no Please turn to page 2 A fence enclosing the children's wading pool at Victoria Park came under scrutiny at the RAP meeting Monday night when Ron Dickey, father of a four-year-old girl told the committee that she had been seriously injured by spikes at the top of one portion of the fence as she attempted to climb over -i I . Dickey said that although his daughter had been in error for attempting to climb the fence that this did not excuse the fact that it represented a danger to children. "The idea of the fence I believe was to protect the children, not to injure them", he said. The incident occurred a week ago when the little girl had found several children playing on the inside of the fence in the wading pool and decided to join them by climbing the fence. As she reached the top, she caught her arm on the sharp spikes at the top and it took 15 stitches to close the wound under her arm. Dickey told the committee that he had been advised by the attending physician that the injury could have been even more serious because the gash from the fence had just missed opening an ar- tery, Rec. director, Jim McKinlay, explained that the fence in budget accounted for most of the overspending, roads, and the purchase of a new property for waste disposal. The new disposal site had not been included in the 1975 budget: The roads budget went up due to a large number of municipal drain requests last year, in- volving several of road allowance and crossings, which the municipality is totallyresponsible for financing. If the budget is limited to 94 mills, it would mean that an additional $42,000 in local revenue is required this year to support Usborne municipal operations and programs. One mill in Usborne is equal to just over $3,000. In other business, council received a letter from Exeter Council asking for financial support for an arena and hall in Exeter. Although no specific ,motion was passed, Council 'reittli'ated e`..a'rlier intentions that it will "assist the town in maximizing capital grants available for new construction and share an annual mill levy for recreational purposes." Council discussed the increase of interest rates on tile drain financing to six percent and loan ceilings of $52,700 which has been imposed by the Ministry of Agriculture. The matter was not resolved and further discussion was postponed until more in- formation can be obtained from the ministry. Coun. Gordon Johns was ap- pointed by council to represent Usborne on the Kirk ton- Woodham Community Centre Board for 1970. Council will ap- point the other members to the hoard at their next regular meeting. Usborne Council voted to proVisionally adopt the Ellerington-Prout municipal drain report prepared by Stephen township. Decision to keep hospitals open adds fuel to the fire Farmers protest dairy cutbacks Over 500 farmers were in Atwood May 5 to protest to Gilles Morin of the Ontario ombudsman's Office over the 15 percent cutback in dairy production quOta that they say may force many of them out of business. 500 of the 800 dairy farmers in Huron County are affected by this cutback. A closer examination of the cutback and the reasons behind it Are looked at in more detail on page 24. LOOKING FOR A WAY TO COOL OFF? Exeter's swimming pool will be open for public swimming beginning the 24th of May weekend. The idea is to encourage more of the public to take advantage of the pool during the good spring weather, in addition to the regular summer months. Additional programs will be offered at the pool this year, as well, in- cluding scuba diving lessons. So come on out even if its snow- ing. (The pool is heated.) THE SUBJECT OF PHONE BILLS — came up at Monday night's RAP meeting. It seems that there is some concern over the last two months of bills coming out the town recreation of- fice.Rec. director Jim McKinlay defended last month's bill of $170, saying that it included a number of long distance calls associated with the arena closing. He added that he tries to use the phone to save money, rather than waste it, citing statistics that indicate that a phone call of $3 or less i cheaper than writing a letter, when employee time is con sidered. McKinlay suggested that RAP should not implement any limitations on phone use until it has checked out phon costs far other town departments and private businesses, as well. A bank man indicates that his office goes through $300 in calls a month. ALPHA PI SORORITY has donated a sum of money that it has raised for use in repairing town playground equipment. 100TH BIRTHDAY — Mrs. Susan Merner of Dashwo d marked a century of life on Sunday, May 9 cis she observed her birthday with members of her family and friends. She has seven children, 19 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. Greetings come from all levels of government as well as a personal visit from Robert McKinley, M.P. for Huron. BUFFALO SAFARI — Dave Nelder of Grand Bend will go on the annual Buffalo Safari to Peterborough in three weeks. Hunting will have to be good in order to feed the many peo- ple expected to attend the event. THE ANNUAL CHICKEN BARBECUE at Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church will be held Wed., May 19 from 5.7 p.m. Proceeds are in aid of Missions tickets. THE EXETER LIONS CLUB will be trying to raise more money for the tennis courts at a dance Friday, May 14 in the Huron Park Recreation Centre. Joe Overholt will provide the enter- tainment. inaries y 14 at LUCAN DISTRICT LIONS CLUB — Talent Show prelim will be held in St. Patrick's School in Lucan Friday, Ma 7:30 p.m. Public Hospitals Act does not allow hospitals to be closed on the basis of spending restraints, The court ruled that in order to close the hospitals in the manner desired by the Ministry of Health, new legislation would have to be passed by the Ontario Legislature. NDP leader, Stephen Lewis said in an interview following the decision that his party would oppose any such legislation. Although Liberal leader, Stuart Smith would not comment on what action his party would take, M.P.P. for Huron-Middlesex, Jack Riddell predicted that Smith would ask his party to oppose the legislation, as well. It would mean that if the Conservatives introduced such a piece of legislation that there would be a good chance that it would be voted down and could force an Ontario election. It would be up to the Conservatives to decide whether the issue was significant enough to warrant the risk of another election at this time. In an interview with the T-A, Clinton Hospital administrator, Douglas Coventry said that the hospital board there was pleased with the Court decision. "Some of us have felt quite optimistic all along that the hospital would be saved", be said. Although the hospital had been ordered to cease admitting patients as of May 1 and to close its doors by June 1, Clinton's Hospital Board had decided instead to continue operations as usual after they first received word that the Court was reviewing the Ministry order. The provincial government apparently has one other option open to it if it seriously wants to close the hospitals down. The Ministry could withhold funds and force the hospitals to cease operating. Commenting on that possibility, Coventry said that he could not see how the government would have the legal right to do that, explaining that the government actually pays the hospitals for charges under the OIIIP program, rather than granting funds to operate. Ile said that in the event that eritage is show s of the Gwyn he Town aking by CRAFT SHOW AND BAKE SALE — The Exeter H Foundation is still taking entries for its arts and cra scheduled for the weekend of May 21 in the upstdi old Town Hall. Anyone interested tan contac Whilsmith at 235.2473, A bake sale is being held at t Hall on weekend, as well, and persons can donate b calling 235.1955 for information. HOW DOES IT LOOK? — Mary Fran Gaiser tries on a hat that wos fit, donated to the South Huron Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary Rummage Sale set for May 26 in Huron Park. Louise Giffin holds up a mirror so that she can have a look for herself as Vera Armstrong looks on, Mrs, Gaiser is co-convener df the rummage sale and Mrs. Giffin and Mrs, Armstrong are also on the committee. Pickup for the sale will begin at 9 a.m. on May 25. T-A photo by Leigh Robinson.