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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-02-03, Page 1TRY AGAIN IN JULY?? Her attendant wore pants too Bride resplendent in jeans CHEQUING IN — Ron Bogart, left, chairman of the South Huron Recreation Centre finance committee didn't bother asking for iden- tification from the four men who presented him with cheques this week. Exeter's four financial institutions each presented dieques for $2,500' and the $10,000 total pushed the fund to $228,426. Presenting the cheques from the left are: Arn Laithwaite, Bonk of "Nova Scotia; iner Smith, Royal Bank; Ted Mackid, Bank of Montreal; Dennis Smith, Vic- toria & Grey Trust, The donation from each was based on a formula of one percent of the public share of the canvass goal, T.A photo e exeferqiniessakwocale One Hundred and Fourth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 3, 1977 Price Per Copy 25 Cents RESCUING BUS — Several hours of snow blowing by Ken Campbell allowed a tow truck to free a school bus from snow blocked concession 8-9 in Stephen township, Sunday afternoon. John Pritchard of the Crediton Garage is at the left. T-A photo Area unemployment figure is over 900 BLIZZARD LEAVES DISTRICT REELI The area started digging itself out late Tuesday from.the bliz- zard of 1977, although that job is expected to take several days in some rural areas where roads are packed solid after five days of snow and high winds. Banks along some of those roads had already reached major proportions due to the heavy snowfall earlier in the year and road crews are expected to have a difficult time in getting paths cleared. Even giant-sized snow removal equipment is having trouble. A large bulldozer with a 15-foot boom was being used in Stephen Township and reports are that the boom isn't long enough to toss the snow over some banks on the north-south roads, Township road superinten- dents say it will be several days before some of the roads will be open, "Everything is plugged," corn- Mr. and Mrs. Ron Dougall are cruising in the Caribbean this week. While they may be the envy of many people, their trip was not without some com- plications. Actually, the fact that they are Mr, and Mrs. is in itself rather surprising in view of the cir- cumstances which they faced. However, the weather failed to silence the wedding bells for the young couple, although it did create a delay and resulted in one of the most unusual wedding ceremonies staged in this area. The wedding of Ron Dougall and Judy Miller had been scheduled for Friday evening and the usual preparations were underway that morning. The bride's mother, Mrs. Herbert Miller, RR 1 Dashwood, was in Dashwood having her hair done, while the bride was also on her way to the hairdresser's along with her sister, Brenda. It was then that the blizzard hit and the wedding plans had to be delayed. After some harried planning, the groom's father, Harry, load- ed his son into their large stake truck and headed for Dashwood mented Usborne superintendent John Batten. He said the township has enlisted the aid of several farmers who have large blowers and they started the bat- tle after the blizzard blew itself out late Tuesday afternoon. He said the blowers will be required to "poke our way through." Batten said the crews will attempt to clear paths to all farms but said some spots in the middle of concessions may have to be left until later, Predictions are that it will be at least Monday until the majori- ty of roads are open and that is only if no more snow falls or there is no repeat of the high winds which would quickly block roads due to the sizeable banks. Few people were unaffected by the blizzard, Hundreds of motorists were stranded at various times throughout the weekend and on, in Exeter and Lucan were called on to in- Saturday morning. He was followed by a van driven by Den- nis Passmore, Also accom- panying the two drivers were Roger Dougall and Hank Bouw- man. Meanwhile, two snowmobiles driven by Glen Restemayer and Doug Weigand were leaving the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Frieter on the 14th concession of Hay. Their cargo included the bride and her suitcases, Judy was then transferred to the van and the wedding party made their way to the Lutheran Church in Dashwood for the ceremony performed by the Rev. Mayo Mellecke, *It was perhaps the most un- usual wedding party he h'ad seen. The bride, who was given in marriage by her brother-in-law, Hank Bouwman, was resplen- dent in her blue jeans, an outfit that matched that of the groom's. Roger Dougall acted as best man and the other attendant was Dennis Passmore. The father of the groom acted as photographer. Following the ceremony, the wedding party travelled by truck the Ontario Collegiate cham- pionship. Making his fourth appearance at the Exeter dinner will be Dorchester native Glenn Weir, a valuable member of the Montreal Allouettes, Also attending will be Don Bowman of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Representing tennis is the top amateur in Canada. He is Dale Power, a member of the' Canadian Davis Cup team in 1976. Power won the only two games for Canada in a 3-2 loss to Mexico, He was also a valuable member of the Peterborough Petes junior hockey club a couple of years ago, Jack Kopas who was named Canada's top harness race driver in 1976 will represent the pacing and trotting fraternity, Wrestling will be represented by Whipper Billy Watson and Pete Michienzi, The Whipper needs no introduction as a con- tinuing booster of crippled children causes. Michienzi has won 15 Canadian wrestling championships and is well known in Olympic and British Empire Games circles. The whole show will be kept iii motion by master of ceremonies Lee Paul of Kirkton, vestigate over 100 accidents. Some of those crashes involved as many as nine vehicles. Driving conditions were perilous at the best of times and impossible at the worst. Visibili- ty was reduced to nil as the high winds lashed over snow banks. Despite the large number of people stranded along highways, most managed to make it to safe- ty without any serious hardships. Residents along roads opened their homes to motorists whose vehicles became mired or were blocked by other stranded vehicles. Snow plow crews faced an almost impossible task of keep- ing up with the snow and they had to give up in many instances especially where stalled vehicles blocked their progress. The break in the storm came just in time for many area residents who were facing low supplies of fuel oil and feed for back to Exeter and they were then transported to the London airport where they managed to get a flight to Toronto and meet their •Sunday departure for their cruise. Ron was the last member of the Dougall family to.be married and as his mother said this week, "it's a wedding we won't forget". "Now we can laugh about it," commented the bride's mother in a telephone conversation with the T-A, Monday. She noted that the two families didn't really know where to start in their ef- forts to stage the wedding and get the young couple off on their honeymoon trip. Firemen save district barn Quick work by the Dashwood volunteer fire department was instrumental in keeping the loss to a Stephen township barn at a minimum at noon, Monday. Dashwood fire chief Emil Becker estimated damage to the barn owned by Bert Visscher on the north boundary of Stephen on highway 83 about four and a half miles east of Dashwood at $1,000. Chief Becker said the fire was well underway when his depart- ment arrived and it took almost an hour to be brought under con- trol. The Dashwood and Exeter brigade arrived at about the same time but the fire was in the former's coverage area. Tanker trucks from Exeter and Crediton each supplied 2,000 gallons of water. The Dashwood truck carried the same amount. Due to blocked roads the Crediton truck was forced to go by way of Exeter to the fire. The barn housed a number of cattle at the time. Mr, Visscher was attempting to thaw out frozen water pipes when the blaze broke out. BUSINESS BRISK. Downtown Exeter took on the appearance of the day before Christmas yesterday morning. The sidewalks were crowded with shoppers as area residents (those able to get through clogged roads) scrambled into town to replenish food supplies and other necessities which had been exhausted during the blizzard, With forecasts for more snow, it was evident that many shop- pers were becoming Wary and stocking up on more groceries than usual, animals. Many farmers were us- ing diesel fuel in their oil fur- naces as suppliers were unable to reach them. Food supplies were also low in some homes and even snow- mobilers were unable to cope with the poor visibility and deep snow to bring them any supplies. Some dairy farmers had to dump milk 4ecause trucks were unable to pick up their production. Fortunately, no major emergencies were reported in the area. Ambulance crews had to make a couple of runs with 'ex- pectant mothers, one arriving at South Huron Hospital just minutes before the stork. A barn on the farm of Bert Visscher on Highway 83 west caught fire around noon on Mon- day, but firemen from Exeter, Dashwood and Crediton were able to respond to the call and the blaze was extinguished with damage of about $1,500, All school students in the area managed to get to their homes safely before traffic was block- ed. Some classes had been cancelled on Friday, while at other schools, the buses returned home as soon as they arrived Over 40 accidents have been reported to the Exeter OPP since Thursday, although the detachment officers have been unable to investigate many of them because they just couldn't get cruiser's through to the crash scenes. OPP Cpl. Ray Brooks said it would be impossible to estimate the amount of damage in the crashes. He said that fortunately there have.only been three minor injuries reported. Several of the situations hays been listed as multiple collisions, meaning that three or m4c vehicles have been involved. On Friday, nine - vehicles were in- volved in one accident near the Kirkton Road on Highway 4. Five of the vehicles in that mix-up subsequently became involved in another accident, Highway 4 has been the scene of the majority of the crashes and on several occasions it was closed down by police. At times it was necessary to close the highway to provide police of- ficers and tow trucks an oppor- tunity to clear the road. Where accidents have oc- curred and the police have been unable to attend, the drivers have been advised to exchange names and then get in touch with police as soon as possible. Another problem plaguing the OPP is the large number of calls from people wanting to know road conditions. Cpl. Brooks ex- plained again that the detach- ment does not have information about district roads and this in- formation should be garnered from the ministry of transporta- tion and communications, He noted that calls of this nature tie up the OPP telephone lines and they are then not available for people who may be in emergency situations. The 9PP had one of their cruisers out of action for over one day. Constable Larry Christiaen was dispatched to in- vestigate a school bus accident south of Crediton on Friday and became snowbound. The officer when weather forecasts predicted the arrival of the bliz- zard around 11:00 a.m. Friday. Despite the accurate forecast, many people were stranded when they failed to heed the war- ning. Employees at area industries were marooned at their work Friday evening, but most made it to their homes during a lull in the storm Saturday morning. There was another brief respite on Sunday morning and this allowed more stranded motorists to reach their destinations.. ' However, people still tried to get back onto the roads on Mon- day and again the scene of snarl- ed vehicles in snow banks became prevalent. A bus with 11 passengers bogged down near Kippen, one of the worst stretches along Highway 4. They were led to safety by area farmer Keith Lovell, Kippen residents had many overnight guests and the highway north of the hamlet was still snarled Wednesday morning although the area south was cleared. A large convoy of oil tankers left London Wednesday morning was picked up on Saturday by another cruiser but the vehicle wasn't dug out until Sunday. Despite repeated warnings about the hazardous driving con- ditions, people still attempted to reach various destinations and many became statistics. Police advised most people to stay where they were if at all possible. Area CB radio enthusiasts aid- ed in providing traffic informa- Tenders are expected to be called in February for the con- struction of two new wells in Usborhe Township and the pipeline through which water will be brought to Exeter. PUC manager Hugh Davis told the Commission this week that the present estimate from the engineers is $608,920. One-sixth of that amount will be provided in grants. The Commission already has some funds set aside for the pro- ject and some materials have already been purchased. Davis said the debenture amount will be "considerably less" than, the $515,000 that the town will have to pay for the project. He reviewed the' plans with the Commissioners, outlining a vast amount of sophisticated equip- ment that will be employed to pump the water and keep the records that will be required by the ministry of the environment regarding the flow in the Ausable River, After the plans had been detail- ed, newly elected Commissioner Chan Livingstone said it sounded like a very complicated system and questioned why the PUC had decided on this type when they were within 15 miles of the Lake Huron water supply,system. Davis replied that water from Lake Huron would increase local in an attempt to get supplies to centres in Huron and Bruce Counties. tion and road conditions and snowmobilers assisted in check- ing abandoned vehicles to make certain their occupants had managed to get to safety. Home owners along most roads opened their homes to peo- ple who had become stranded, Police estimate it will be some time before the accident statistics for the blizzard are finally totalled. rates by three times. "It's too expensive to get Lake Huron water," he said. Mayor Bruce Shaw told Livingstone that he had thought originally it would be more sensi- ble to go to Lake Huron, but said that the studies done by the engineers into the cost had proven otherwise to him. • Want Commitment The PUC decided to ask developer Len Veri for a finan- cial commitment of $21,000 prior to March 1 if he wants the Com- mission to undertake the necessary service work on his planned 52-lot extension in the Riverview Estates mobile home park in 1977. Manager Hugh Davis said the cost for transformers alone on the project would be $18,000. Shaw suggested the PUC buy the transformers this year even if Veri does not plan to go ahead, However, Davis said that if the money was spent in that manner, there would be no funds to provide work for the employees on other projects. "The worst thing in the world is to drive through a subdivision and see our services up in the air and nothing hooked to them," Chan Livingstone commented in reference to the fact the PUC Please turn to page 3 While the end of the storm was welcomed by everyone, there was little cheer in view of the The deadline for filing applications for the 1977 Canada Works and Young Canada Works programs is tomorrow, Friday. John Gillespie, manager of the Exeter branch of Canada Man- power said Tuesday morning that applications are to be mail- ed directly to the London office so he wouldn't know until later of any local projects. ,0 He added, ``With the number of application forms taken out I would say there is more interest in the Young Canada Works pro- jects." Asked of the amounts of monies available for projects in this area Gillespie said, "There has been no indication of the Young Canada allocation but I would say the Canada Works amount will be less than the LIP grants which were $75,000." Young Canada Works allocations will depend on the predicitons for more severe winter weather to hit later in the week. relative unemployment situations throughout Canada. While on the subject of un- employment, the local manager said unemployment registrations at the end of December for the South Huron area were up about 25 percent from the same period a year ago. He said the unemployed total was now about 900 compared to 700 at the end of 1975. The South Huron area covers from Kippen on the north across to Lake Huron, south to Grand Bend, down to the Huron boun- daries on the south and east to the Huron limits including Usborne township. Gillespie said, "Technically Usborne is not in our area but for practice most residents are registered here for unemploy- ment purposes." He listed some of the reasons for the higher rate of unemploy- ment including an early fall stop- page in construction due to the weather. Layoffs at a number of in- dustries have contributed great- ly to the increase in the un- employment numbers. Snow stops snowmobiles Despite the unpredictable weather conditions plans are go- ing ahead for Whipper Watson's Snowarama for Timmy, Sunday. Postponed from this past weekend, more than 500 snow- mobiles are expected to take part in the 100 mile route, The Snowarama will begin and conclude at Hully Gully near Varna with about nine checkpoints in between. Competitors will stop at checkpoints at Clinton, Seaforth, Kippen Sunset Strip, Kirkton, Lucan Conservation area, Ailsa Craig, Mount Carmel, Jack Riddell's farm and the Pineridge Chalet. The local Snowarama is one of 18 expected to be operated throughout the province of On- tario. During the pass two winters participants have raised over $250,000 for the Ontario Society for Crippled Children. Nearly every aspect of the sporting world will be represented at Tuesday's Sportsmen's Dinner. It's the fourth time the Exeter Lions club have sponsored the event which draws a wide variety of sports celebrities. All proceeds are funnelled to help crippled children. Tickets are on sale from any Lion for $25 and are tax deductible, Lions president Max Dawson and dinner chairman reported Monday that Gates Brown of the Detroit Tigers will be in at- tendance, Attempts are still being made to include a member of the Toronto Maple Leaf organization in addition to scout and former star goalie Johnny Bower, Bell headliner The headline speaker will be Tom Bell who recently retired as a National Football League referee after a dozen years as a well known and respected official. go Also representing football will be Tony Gabriel, Darwin Sernotiuk and Don Bowman. Gabriel was named the top Canadian in the 1976 Grey Cup game, Semotiuk coached the University Of Western Ontario to Tiger star among dinner celebrities Over 40 area accidents reported sky Exeter OPP Tender call soon for Usborne wells STALLED BUS — A school bus returning students from Mt. Carmel school Friday morning was a victim of the storm and was abandoned in Stephen township southwest of Crediton. The above picture was taken Sunday afternoon. T-A photo