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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-11-05, Page 1— ... ...-----— VOL. 2 NO. 45 Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1986.40 CENTS Halloween lively Hallowe’en damage in the Citi­ zen’s readership damage was not extensive, but more of a nuisance, according to reports from the Wingham detachment of the Ont­ ario Provincial Police, and from officials in both Brussels and Blyth. The potential for a serious incident was averted by Brussels Volunteer Firemen when they answered a call at 4 a.m. Saturday morning to battle a blaze which had presumably been set in an aban­ doned and derelict house on Alexander Street, belonging to Irwin Weidner of RR 3, Bowman- ville. Fire Chief Howard Bernard said Monday that his men spent half an hour extinguishing the fire, which was well started when they arrived, and that several firemen stayed all night at the fire hall to keep an eye on any further flare ups. During the night, the firemen extinguished several other small fires on Brussels streets, but in each case the perpretrators fled before they could be recognized. No charges have been laid in connection with the fires, but Corporal Bill Skelding of the Wingham OPP said that there were “a number of incidents of willful damage” in the detachment’s reporting area, but that only one charge was laid in connection with Hallowe’en. Corporal Skelding said that Hallowe’en pranksters seemed ‘‘a bit more rambunctious” than is usual for the night, a fact that he attributed to having Hallowe’en fall on a Friday. ‘‘There were a lot of young people out there making a nuisance of themselves,” he said. Brussels administrative assis­ tant Donna White reported that the wrought iron railings on the Brussels Library steps had been wrenched off and had disappear­ ed, addingthatshewas ‘‘disap­ pointed in our young people.” The only prank reported in Blyth was a report of a house on Morris Streetbeing ‘‘wrapped in toilet paper,” but no monetary damage resulted. ACCIDENT The Wingham OPP report that two young women were slightly injured in a single vehicle accident which took place on sideroad 15, Morris Twp. late Saturday even­ ing. A 1984 Dodge driven by Lisa M. Glanville, 19, of Brussels sustained $4,000 in damage when it swerved ‘‘to avoid an animal on the road.” A passenger in the vehicle, Cathy Noble of Walton, was also slightly injured as the car left the road and struck a culvert. Both girls were taken to Wingham hospital by private car and releas­ ed. Corporal Skelding said no charges would be laid. He reports that the matter of the vehicle leaving Highway 4 and running up on the lawn at Queen’s Villa in Blyth on October 11 was still under investigation. In that incident, an unknown driver left the highway and ran down two trees and a fence before coming to rest on the lawn, resulting in $300 damage to the property. Happiness is having a warm, fuzzy bird for a friend, as Joanne Josling, 6, right, found out at the Halloween costume parade held at Blyth Public School last Friday. It turned out that Joanne’s cousin, Kelly Cook, was in the bird suit, which later won the top award for the best home made costume at the school. Both girls are from Blyth. B of E faces assessment loss BY TOBY RAINEY Concern that the Huron County Board of Education could lose two ofits elected trustees, and possibly a percentage of its provincial funding, has again become a priority item to board members as the deadline for the implementa­ tion of the controversial Bill 30 approaches. In a resolution passed at Mon­ day’s Huron Board of Education meeting, it was confirmed that the major impact of the implementa­ tion of the Bill on Huron County would be in the transfer of secondary school assessment and the impending loss of separate school representatives from the board. ‘‘We have been assured in general terms (by the ministry of education) that there will be no loss in funding when our assessment funding ‘goes across’ to the Huron/Perth board in January, but we have no real knowledge of what the situation will be,” said Bob Allan, director of education for the Huron County board. Bill 30 provides all secondary Peterson gives tie for 'Back the Biter' auction The latest addition to the Novelty Auction to be held Novem­ ber 29 as part of the Londesboro Lions ‘‘Back the Biter Day” is an autographed tie from Ontario premier David Peterson, accord­ ing to the weekly update of events from fund-raising chairman Dave Overboe. He adds that MPP Jack Riddell will be on hand to see that auctioneer Richard Lobb gets a good price for the item, as well. The auction is part of a day-long campaign to raise $30,000 for a school students in Ontario with full access to both public and separate high schools, and also brings into effect property assessment and Continued on page 31 fully-equipped vanfor Lion Ron Nesbitt, who was injured in a swimming accident last summer and is due to be released from hospital soon. The auction will be one of the main attractions of the event, which is the most ambitious fund raiser ever undertaken by the community. Donations to date total more than $5,000, with more coming in each day, as well as a wide variety of items and pledges made to the auction. Anyone wishing to parti­ cipate is asked to call chairman Al Bosman at 523-4286. BMG pool shows profit in first year Brussels, Morris and Grey swimming pool turned a profit of $12,587 in its first season of operation, Pool Committee chair­ man Paul Mutter reported to Brussels council Monday night. The profit was due to attendance that was far higher than expected. Pool attendance was so high, Mr. Mutter said, that there were a few days the staff had to limit the number of people allowed in at any one time because pool capacity was limited to 80. The pool operated at or above capacity on 18 separate occasions during the year. Overall, combining swimming lessons and public swimming sessions, the pool wasfilled on average three times during each and every day of operation. Attendance shows that the proper size of pool had been chosen for the community, Mr. Mutter said. Attendance hit 1568 for June, 2857 for July and 1821 in August. About 40 per cent of pool users came from Brussels; 37 per cent from Grey; and 17.5 per cent from Morris and 3.5 per cent from McKillop. ‘‘I think a large part of the success was due to the staff we had thisyear,” Mr. Mutter said. ‘‘I don’t know if we could have had a better staff under the circumstan­ ces.” The high attendance increased expected revenues by a large amount. In the early projections, income from swimming lessons was put at $4,000. A later projection put this at $4,709. Actual income was $9,072. Like­ wise, income from public swimm­ ing went from $3,500 in the initial prediction, to $4,190 in the final budget to an actual income of $5,808. In addition, the pool was helped out by a $6,980 grant from Wintario and by municipal grants of $2,886 in 1985 and $6,000 in 1986. Total income for the pool was $31,215 (compared to only $13,500 in the very early projections.) Figures from the expense side of the ledger show the pool commit­ tee had done its job well in predicting expenses. Pool chemi­ cals, for instance, had been budgeted at $2,100 in both early projections. They came to $2,121. Utilities, budgetedat$l,200, came to $1,262. Insurance came to $501 instead of the $500 budgeted. There was one expense for sup­ plies and miscellaneous for $623 which had not been included in the original budget. The other item significantly over budget was wages and employee benefits, due directly to the increased use of the pool. They increased to $13,724 from the revised budget level of $11,286. Mr. Mutter said when his committee had presented this report to the BMG Recreation committee earlier, it had recom­ mended that $11,000 of the profit be invested in short term deposits to mature June 1, 1987 and the remainder be kept for earlier expenses. Councillor Neil McDonald con­ gratulated the committee on a job well done. Reeve Hank Ten Pas wondered if Mr. Mutter had any indication if the Brussels pool had hurt any of the other area pools such as Atwood or Gorrie. Mr. Mutter said he had not information on that but felt it couldn’t have done too much damage to Atwood since officials from Atwood are investigating putting in a new pool there and had visited Brussels to see its setup.