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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1977-06-09, Page 1Beyond committee's dreams Need money for extras now Activities add $25,000 to fund Members of the South Huron Rec Centre finance committee are still shaking their heads in amazement at the success of last week's telathon and walkathon. The two events have added about $25,000 to the campaign and have enabled the committee to reach the original objective of $254,000. Now all that remains is the purchase of tables and kitchen equipment and some funds for landscaping.. That cost has been tentatively set at around $15,000. "We know there are people who still plan to make donations and we hope they will do it soon so the extra equipment will qualify for Wintario grants," commented chairman Ron Bogart. The Thursday night telathon staged over the local cable TV outlet surprised even the most optimistic members of the com- mittee, It lasted for five hours and raised over $10,000. Cad Cann reported this week there were a total of 236 calls received during the show, which kept most local residents glued to their TV sets throughout the evening, Many residents said they sat down to watch the show "for a few minutes" and ended up not leaving their chairs. Housewives left their dishes unattended and there were several reports of people becoming so interested they, cancelled plans to go out for the evening. Program hosts JoAnne Dinney • and Bill Batten were kept busy answering phone calls for the en- tire show, and planned inter- views with some of the people in- volved in the rec centre had to be shelved when they were repeatedly interrupted with calls. Rob Grant, Carf Cann and Ron Bogart ended up with writer's cramp trying to keep the dona- tion totals up to date and techni- cian Dean Baker, of Ex-Cen Cable TV never had a chance to sit down while he followed the actions with his camera. As the show progressed, a bid- ding war started on Batten's beard and he was finally trimm- ed of his 10 and a half year growth by local barber Doug Parker who performed the task on TV. The beard ended up ear- ning about $2,300. Doug Ellison, who had his cur- ly locks jeopardized when the bidding started on a brush cut, escaped the confines of the cable station in Hay Township, and despite the efforts of OPP Constables Frank Giffin, and Don Mason, he was still at large. However, Ellison returned to Exeter on Saturday morning to lead the walkathon. He had about $155 per mile pledged for each mile he could run on the 11- mile route, and he managed to Complete the journey to put over $1,700 into the coffers. Ellison covered the distance in one hour and 25 minutes. Fellow Lion Doug Jamieson escorted him on the run and reported an average speed of over seven miles per hour. Floyd Westlake, Exeter , also jogged the entire distance in about the same time. He finish- ed the last mile in his bare feet. He had purchased new shoes for the outing, and when he could stand them no longer, he took them off. Betty Robinson also showed her stamina in the test. She pull- ed her young son in a wagon around the entire 11 miles. A total of 365 people par- ticipated in the walk. Six-year-old Graham Arthur was one of the youngest walkers to complete the course. Walk organizers were still attempting to secure the birth certificate of Councillor Lossy Fuller in their attempts to find out who won the honor of being the oldest walker. Some of the other adults who completed the walk were South Huron Rec Centre committee chairman John Stephens and finance committee chairman Ron Bogart. Some of the ladies who walked included Carol Arthur, Kaaren Batten, Sheila Veale, Jean Hem and Betty Robinson. Total proceeds from the walkathon are expected to be around $15,000 and chairman Doug Ellison has urged all walkers to get their money turn- ed in as soon as possible. The money will be picked up at the participating schools, while adults and pre-schoolers are ask- ed to take their money to Coun- try Flowers. Ellison said some inaccurate information was given out during the walkathon and that some of the totals shown for a few youngsters were higher than they should have been. "There are still many kids in the running to win one of the bicycles," he said. One bike goes to the youngster turning in the most money and the others will be drawn from the list of those who turn in their funds by the deadline. A RUNNING DRINK — Doug Ellison jogged the entire 11 Wplkathon, Saturday and raised $1,100 for the South Huron Rec Cen- tre. Above, Ellison who started out in a lion costume gets a drink on the run from Lion Doug Jamieson. T-A photo miles of the trlefer'ZimessrAbuocale One Hundred and Fourth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, 'JUNE 9, 1977 Price Per Copy 25 Cents Politicians' fate in voters' hands LION BEING TAMED — Doug Ellison who jogged the full 11 miles of Saturday's walkathon arrived at the starting line dressed as a lion. Handling the lion taming chores in the above picture are Heather Jamieson and Elmer Taylor. ' T-A photo Firefighters threaten to quit itt unless iqcome tax changed TENDER TOOTSIES — Floyd Westlake was one of the 364 participants in Saturday's walkathon for the South Huron Rec Centre and he followed Doug Ellison's example by jogging the entire distance in under an hour and a half. The area man had bought new shoes just prior to the event, and when they gave him some problems, he took them off and completed the last mile in bare feet. Lorne Preszcator of the rec centre com- mittee examines Westlake's feet following the event. T-A photo Hope to add Elliott property Town okays park land Unless , volunteer firemen across Ontario get a better break from the income tax department, there may not be any volunteer fire departments in the near future. That was the warning ,given Exeter council this week by Ted Wright. He stepped into the public gallery to make his comments as a "taxpayer". Wright is a member of council and the local fire brigade. Similar to many volunteer brigades in the area, the Exeter firemen were recently assessed for back income tax on money they had received from the fire area board. After those assessments were levied, firemen in Exeter, Clinton and Goderich took their case to MP Bob McKinley, who wrote finance minister Donald Mac- donald suggesting the tax deduction for volunteer firemen be increased to $1,000. It is presently $300. In reply to the letter, Mac- donald said that one of the basic principles of the income tax law is that, generally, no deduction is allowed in respect of personal and living expenses. "The tax exemption in respect S of volunteer firemen was one exception to the general rule," he said. He said it had been introduced at a time when the services of volunteer firemen were very necessary to communities and, in some areas, were the only such services of volunteer firemen are not as widespread throughout Canada as before. Wright argued that the local brigade still considered them- selves as volunteers, He said no one ever asked what stipend was to be received when they joined the brigade and he said the $11,500 paid to the 24 firemen in one year wasn't even three- quarters of the cost for just one full-time fireman, Wright also explained that the local firemen do all their own cleaning at the fire hall, had undertaken their own renovations and raised con- siderable 'Money for charity, mainly Muscular Dystrophy. He said firemen drive their own vehicles several hundred miles in Couldn't find dog . . so shots A series of rabies vaccination shots for six year-old Leigh Ryan of Kingscourt Crescent in Exeter have begun, The girl was bitten by a dog while playing on the Exeter Public School playground, Saturday May 14. Despite thorough searches by officers of the Exeter police and OPP forces the dog believed to be a Samoyed named 'Nixie was never located. The series of 14 shots began May 30 and continue each day until concluded. Ned Ryan, father of the girl told the T-A Tuesday, "The shots are painful for about an hour after being administered, but, they are not as bad as we were led to believe," Ryan continued, "We really appreciate the many hours put in by the police and the concern shown by many neighbours and friends," the line of duty and spend countless hours of their own time in training practice. While the local council member said some brigades may be getting past the point of being volunteers, this was not the case with most. He said Macdonald is not well informed on the situation and doesn't realize the far reaching results of his actions in not in- creasing the tax exemption. Wright indicated that unless the demands are met, there will be no volunteer firemen, adding they were not as concerned about the dollars and cents as the principle of the matter. He also argued against Mac- donald's note that all federal tax concessions are publicly financed because the loss of revenue they generate must be recouped from the taxpaying public throughout Canada. Wright noted that if com- munities lost their volunteer brigades and had to hire firemen - on a full-time basis it would cost them $140,000 to $150,000 a year. He said the cost to the municipalities wouldbe excessive in comparison to the tax revenue being lost at present in income tax exemptions. Councillor Steve Pfaff suggested council should cir- culate a petition in support of the firemen, "We owe these people a lot and they work for peanuts," he claimed. "We should stand behind them 150 percent." Macdonald's letter said that from the point of view of equity, volunteer firemen already enjoy a tax advantage over other taxpayers providing volunteer services. Please turn to page 3 Five weeks of election cam- paigning are over today as the three Huron-Middlesex can- didates give voters a chance to voice their opinions at the polls. 'The three candiates agree that the campaigning has been tough. "I had anticipated a tough campaign and intended to make it that way", said Conservative candidate Anson McKinley. Liberal incumbent Jack Riddell said "there have been numerous debates this year that we haven't had before." Last camfmign there was one public debate sponsored by the Federation of Agriculture and one debate at the high school, This year there were four high school debates, an open-line show with Bill Brady, and two public all-candidates debates, he said. NDP candiadate Shirley Weary said the campaign has been tough because "I've been working full- time and that's not the type of thing one should do." Predictions for provincial and local election results among the candidates varied along party lines. Riddell was optimistic for Liberal victories on the provincial level and in Huron- Middlesex. The Liberal party is rising nicely to its peak," he said. "We stand just as much chance of forming a minority government as anybody, and whoever wins the provincial election will have a minority," he said. Riddell MILL RATE SET Exeter's mill rate has been approved and the figures are about half a mill higher than originally reported. The residential rate is 175.6 mills for public school supporters and 175.4 for separate school supporters. The commercial rates are 201.8 and 201,57 respectively. predicted a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives in the provincial results with the NDP finishing a definite third. McKinley predicted a majority Conservative Provincial government and was optimistic about the Huron-Middlesex election results, "It's the first time I've been in an election like this and I'm optimistic", he said. McKinley and Riddell said Liberal and Conservative support has been strong throughout the riding but suggested areas where they would like to see stronger support. McKinley hoped his home area would be ,preaorninantly Conservative. Riddell hoped that Lucan and Bayfield, Conservative areas in the last election, would swing towards the Liberal party. Weary predicted a minority Conservative government and a doubled NDP vote in Huron- Middlesex. The candidates agreed that all- candidates meetings are a beneficial part of the election campaign. "All-candidates meeting give the people a chance to see the candidates in action," said Weary. There is nothing educational about the political advertising on television because each party presents its own view of the campaign, said Riddell. All- candidates debates provide people with and opportunity to weigh both sides of the issues", he said. McKinley questioned the role of all-candidates meetings in shifting votes but added that "it lets voters and young people play a larger role in campaign." McKinley said all-canctiaates meetings could be overdone because of the repetitious debate over the same issues, "It's the same old thing for us but it's not the same old thing if it's a different crowd," he said. Exeter council agreed to spend $6,000 Monday night to expand Riverview Park and another $1,800 to protect what is already there. Both projects are being carried on in conjunction with the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority. The first project is the pur- chase of land owned by Mary Elliott located on, the south-west side of the Highway 4 bridge in Exeter. At council's urging, the Authority has taken an option to buy the property at a price of $25,000, Grants will cover 75 percent of the cost and Exeter will pay $6,000. The other municipalities in the watershed will pay the balance. The only opposition to the purchase was expressed by Reeve Si Simmons. He wanted to know who was going to maintain the property. Councillor Ted Wright replied that it would be negotiated at a later date, but indicated the Authority hoped the property would be incorporated into the Riverview Park system and would be maintained by the town. Simmons said he doubted it would ever be incorporated into the park system. Wright noted that the price of the property was "right and reasonable" and predicted that TWO CRASHES The area accident total was low again this week, with only two collisions being investigated by the Exeter OPP, At 4:30 a.m., Saturday, a vehicle driven by William Montgomery, Wonderland Road, London, struck a bridge barrier on Highway 83, two and a half miles west of Exeter. The driver sustained minor injuries in the collision. OPP Constable Bill Osterloo in- vestigated and set damage at $2.800. The other accident occurred at 2:45 a.m., Sunday, when a vehicle driven by Cheryl Turkheim, Zurich, struck a tree on Highway 84, about two miles west of Zurich. Damage was set at $550 by Constable Frank Giffin. "down the road some time, people will realize it (the pur- chase) was the right thing to do". He said councils have been considering the property for the past 10 years. Simmons said the price of the property was cheap, but questioned if it was in fact cheap for council if it was no good to them. The Reeve indicated the town already had parkland not being looked after properly, referring to land east of Riverview Park and along the north bank. He said the Elliot property would never be used as parkland because it war split from the rest of the park by the. bridge. "It's part of the town's beautification," Councillor Lossy Fuller remarked. The debate ended when Councillor Barb Bell said council couldn't say now what the growth of the town would be over the next 20 years, but she predicted the community may regret it if the purchase was not undertaken. The other project approved by council this week was the in- Please turn to page 3 DANCEATHON FOR A TELATHON — Kelly Geiser presented a $500 check to Bill Batten and Jo-Anne Dinney on behalf of the Exeter Leo's Thursday. The money was raised during a 24-hour danceathon earlier this year. T,A photo OFF IT COMES While most men add to their facial foliage over ti five hour period, that wasn't the case of Bill Batten on Thursday's telathon, Doug Parker arrived to shave his beard off, with some in- sfructions being provided by Jo-Anne Dinney in the background. Photo by Jeff Carroll BEFORE AND AFTER —' Kaaren batten admires her newly-shaven husband Bill after a shaveathon Thurs. day, The ten-year old beard raised $2800 during the South Huron liec Centre Telathon. T-A photo