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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-08-08, Page 13AUGUST 8,1979, Price Per Copy 25 Cents Page IA Atto ,c8 W." Eli ti DAN6 STRONG -1INPEPT 011, tM ?4,10 e'r'A1.4fr ON THE BEACHES — Civic Holiday provided an opportunity for many people to enjoy Grand Bend's beach, Above swimmers jump the waves despite a red flag and warning sign. Left, Tyler Love of Corning, New York swings a bucket of wet sand. Right, Michelle Moore of Guelph finds a better use for her bucket. „ , • ••• „ -' • By-laws need enforcement Parking problem tops list %two& South Huang, hotth Pletldleset 4 North tamhtln1utcr • 144 MAKE AN OFFER — Parkhill resident Archie Gibbs told Grand Bend council he was prepared to sell them the beach within the next 10 days. BY MARY ALDERSON PINBALL WIZARDS — Julie Fletcher of Windsor and Arlene Clarke, Chatham, can't remember when' these antique pin ball machines were made but they still enjoy a game in the 5, arcade. FULL HOUSE — Grand Bend residents crowded into council chambers Tuesday night to hear Archie Gibbs proposal on the beach property. Corn gobbled at Pinery party q „,„ .4 40" a ,7, - , * ‘k "I iZr *4:;4.° 4. .** p , ' . so 4 1#'• ,.* * e • 0 • PY .A 4 .„ tt: 4"0' s t TA I • * At , 1 ,e i:4:4' ' 000 ....A , s,.. , — ,..—At '''',, IMPROVISING —When you can't bring your table with you, you make one. Enjoying a cool drink out of their Thermos jug are John Beattie, Mary Waters, Tawny Stoyanovich, Peter Ormesker, Cheryl Rolfe, "Starsky" Varriano, Gisette Ronget, nine Godin, Charlene Adam, and Rick Paquette, all of the Windsor area. ':#;•• '11,6,7.: ° . • '4. • Grand Bend council decided that the parking problem will become their number one priority as soon as sewer work is completed. Several letters and one petition from the public were read at Tuesday night's council meeting outlining the difficulties in finding parking places, and the hazards involved when traffic is blocked with illegally parked cars, In his letter George Lind- say of Hill Street asked that tax money be used to enforce parking by-laws. Ken • Rohrar of Beach Street complained that weekend visitors take all the parking spaces and don't leave room for his family to park in front of their cottage. A letter from E. Ferguson complained about the parked cars which block traffic on River Road near the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store. A petition bearing eight signatures from residents at the corner of King and Pine Streets complained about the lack of parking, They also said that the village should have a by- law enforcement officer to look after noise problems. Mrs. Raycraft came before council to speak on behalf of the petitioners, She said that residents in that area have been harassed time and again because cottage owners rent to large crowds. She said that the amount of noise pollution was "horrendous" and that women and children suffer verbal abuse if they walk by these cottages. Councillor Keith Crawford replied that council was aware of the problem, and said that the solution to the problem was to hire a by-law enforcement officer, That would cost in the area of $15,000 and "Where we'd get the money, we don't know," Crawford said. Later in the evening Reeve Sharen read some notes he had prepared on the parking problem, He said that more parking lots were needed, and that a ban on overnight parking should be created, Too many vans were being slept in on village streets, he said, One way streets may be considered. He also said that cottage owners will have to soon provide their own parking space on their own property. "Two or three cottage owners may have to buy delapilated cottage down the street, knock it down and put in parking," Sharen said. Council also discussed hiring a student next sum- mer to act as a parking by- law enforcement officer. This person would have cars which were illegally parked towed away, and ticket other cars. Councillor Crawford said he was reluctant to be harsh on visitors. "Until we can provide places to park, we might as well tell the tourists to keep the hell away," he said. Dale Hayter came before council to discuss the agreement he had made with them concerning a parking compound for cars that had been towed away. When council receives complaints about parked cars blocking driveways or traffic, they Nolan leads Colonials on Sunday was a big day for Dave Nolan of the Grand Bend Senior Soccer team, "The Colonials," Nolan scored six goals in one game. "The Colonials" took an eight to two victory over Forest. Tony Mennen and Bill Vandenberk each scored one goal. The first half of the game was a close match and ended two to one for Grand Bend. Team spokesman Tony Mennen said that in the second half the Forest team got tired and didn't have enough substitutes. "We just started clicking," Mennen says. • "The Colonials" haven't been topped yet this season. Their next game is Sunday in Exeter at 4:00 p.m. The Grand Bend Bantams won 3-0 over Taxandria last week, and the Peewees took a game from Kincardine. will have Hayter tow them away, and keep them in a compound. In other business, council passed a by-law increasing the mill rate over last year. The commercial mill rate rose to 199,5 over 184.3 last year, and the residential rate came to 174.7 over 161.5 last year, The tax bills have already been printed, and all the councillors had agreed ahead of time that the by- law would be passed at the meeting, Reeve Sharen said they would have liked the in- crease to be lower, but with a decrease in assessment, he thought they had "done well". The cost of fire protection was the only area in which the mill rate had dropped. The rates for the county, schools, and general use increased. Reeve Sharen showed council a resuscitator which had been donated to them by the Grand Bend Athletic Club, to be used by the lifeguards. The Athletic Club is a group of men who raise money through golf tour- naments and other such projects. They have donated funds to the village and rec committee. Councillor Bill Baird complained about the truck which council had allowed to park on the beach earlier in the season. "The whole thing is a poor excuse," Baird said. Baird added that council had told the owner to take the wheels off and he hadn't done it, There were also complaints received by other council members about the use of the loud speaker system in the truck for advertising, Council decided to send the owner a registered letter telling him to comply with their demands in three days, or he would be charged. "Let's get rid of him, we didn't want him in the first place," Baird said. A tender made by John Bullock for 900 yards of clay at $1500 was accepted by council. Three other tenders were received. The clay is used at the village's waste site. • I was going to give you a big top of-the-page feature on pinball this week. An easy topic for me to handle, I thought. Afterall, I was a pinball expert from a way back, But, alas, there was my problem. Pinball has come a long way since my day, Drastic changes in the world of electronics have made pinball a far cry from the mid-sixties when I was developing my expertise. Those were the days when my summers were spent at Ipperwash Beach, prior to that sad night when fire destroyed the big Ipperwash Casino. And back then the Ipperwash Casino was the pinball capital in Bluewater Country. It took only a nickle to operate one of those magic machines, That meant if you could find five pop bottles on the beach, you could play two games, Bottles were exchanged for two cents each, Of course, if you were any good at all, you could keep going by winning free games arid those five pop bottles would last all af- ternoon. In those days pop cans were unheard of, and people left the valuable bottles laying all over the beach. We didn't call it littering, because they left them there knowing that kids like me would soon snatch them up. But today in the various arcades you soon learn that most machines require at least a dime or a quarter. And they work differently, too. One arcade operator in Grand Bend tells me that "Charlie's Angels" is the most popular machine. The numbers add up on the back and look like somebody's digital watch just went wild. Another machine which I figured had to be popular because of the crowds around it featured the rock band "Kiss." This machine startled me when it blared music after I made a lucky shot. Noise seems to be a feature added to pinball in the past decade. If you play the baseball electronic games, the crowds roar when a home run is hit. The little figures run around the bases, and the outfielders chase the little electronic ball. I played one, and quickly lost my quarter. Some of the machines look like overgrown versions of a pocket calculator. They beep and bleep when the score adds up, not like the ringing bells of the older games. The sound effects of today's games have made the shooting machines more popular, Now you can hear the explosion when your topedo hits a sub, There were line-ups at one Pleate turn to page IA Malcolm Alexander "Archie" Gibbs offered to sell the beach he says he owns to Grand Bend council at Tuesday night's meeting. Reeve Robert Sharen , invited Gibbs to step before council but kept him waiting for a few minutes while council members hunted for their solicitor. Sharen in- vited Gibbs to sit down and relax, but Gibbs said he preferred to stand while he addressed council. "I am present this evening to make you aware of the fact that I have in my possession all legal documents making me, Malcolm A. Gibbs, the owner of part of Lot number one, Lake Road West Concession in the Village of Grand Bend in the county of Lambton known as Gibbs Beach. And being so, I am open to reasonable offer to pur- chase, by the council of Grand Bend the said parcel of land. This offer valid until August 17, 1979." Gibbs read the prepared statement. Gibbs claims he recently purchased the beach from his uncle Harold Gibbs for an undisclosed sum of money. For several years Harold Gibbs has been claiming ownership of the beach, and there have been numorous disputes. Gibbs left the council meeting abruptly when Sharen told him that council objected to his signs being posted on public property. Gibbs refused to discuss the sign matter, saying "Good evening, thank you for your time," and leaving. Sharen said that council would keep their same stand. Later in the evening when questioned as to what council's stand on the beach property was, Sharon said "We own it." Council's solicitor Dan Murphy of Goderich said that he had considered the beach ownership question a few years ago, and there were no claims to the land at that time. He said that he didn't think anything had changed, but that he would look at the title and report back to council. About 3,000 ears of corn were gobbled up Monday in a celebration for International Year of the Child at Finery Provincial Park. Head of Visitor Services, Terry Crabe, says that it was impossible to count the number in the crowd but he estimates that it took about Earlier in the evening council had chosen to ignore a bill for rent on the beach from Harold Gibbs in the amount of $6425, including interest. Clerk Louise Clipperton, says that the family sends bills for $2500 a year for rental of the beach. Council always ig- nores them, she says. Council also decided to send a registered letter to Gibbs telling him he will be charged if he continues to post signs on public property. Gibbs has posted 700 people to eat that much corn. Cars with children under the age of 18 were given free admission to Provincial Parks on Monday, Special events at the Pinery included games for children prior to the corn roast. The games were held near the nature signs saying "Private property" on street light poles on the beach. "I'm getting sore fingernails from pulling the damn signs down',' Councillor Harold Green said, Council chambers were filled with interested spectators who left right after Gibbs walked out. Several visitors were property owners on the lake front. Reeve Robert Sharen thanked them for coming, and told them they should come and watch more often. display centre in the area used as a skating rink in winter. After dark, camp fire and singsong entertained the children. "It was a great day, we had nice weather and alot of people out," Crabe said. Gibbs offers to sell ch, council threatens to fine him •