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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-05-20, Page 1MTC's rejection of Hwy. 4 rebuilding angers council Blyth village councillors were upset, attheir monthly meeting May 12, at the attitude of G. R. Browning Regional Director for Southwestern Region of the On­ tario Ministry of Transport and Communications toward a request from area municipalities to rebuild highway #4 north of Blyth. Mr. Browning not only rejected arguments put up by Blyth village council, Morris township council and the Huron county engineer, but in a letter to Morris township had said he could not have a meeting to talk with the council VOL. 3 NO. 20 WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1987.40 CENTS Brussels Homecoming needs more help With the Brussels Homecoming celebration only a little more than five weeks away, plans for the four-day event are moving into high gear, but more people are urgently needed to help out on most of the nine committees already formed, says event chair­ man Gerry Wheeler. “This is a community event, and all proceeds are going directly back into the community,’’ he said. Most of the people we have so far were on the Centennial Homecom­ ing Committee (in 1972), and they are all 15 years older than they were then!’’ The week-long centennial cele­ bration attracted thousands of “old boys’’ and visitors to the village, and netted a profit of more than $10,000 1972 dollars, some of which was sowisely invested by then-chairman Hugh Pearson that it is still generating income for recreation today, including $10,000 donated to community projects as late as last summer. The official kick-off to the 1987 event was the Brussels Figure Skating Club’s fashion show last month, but the weekend proper gets underway with a community bingo on the evening of July 2, and continues with a ball tournament, scavanger hunt and tricycle races on the evening of July 3. Saturday, July 4, is the major day of the party, with events planned from 7 a.m. to past midnight, including a monster parade, a fishing derby and water sports at the Brussels dam, a soap-box derby, a beer garden, and sidewalk sales all day long. Sunday, July 5, begins with a pancake breakfast followed by an interdenominational community church service, followed by a pot-luck community lunch. In the afternoon, there are bathtub races, a water fight between the Brussels and Grey Township volunteer firemen, and a kids’ tractor pull. The day finishes with a beef barbecue and a free family dance and get-together. All proceeds from the weekend events will go toward community betterment and recreation pro­ jects. The next Homecoming com­ mittee meeting is planned for May 25, starting at 8 p.m. at the BMG Community Centre. More infor­ mation may be obtained from secretary Mary Lowe at 887-6923. West Wawanosh taxes up 4.57% for '87 Despite holding its own budget increase to a meagre .4 per cent for 1987, West Wawanosh councillors on May 5 adopted a mill rate which will see public school supporters in Planting for the future, Chris Mason, left, Karin Lee and Chris Caldwell, carefully set out one of more than 1,000 trees the Grades 5 and 6 students from Blyth Public School planted at the Hallett Wildlife Area on May 13, part of a day-long work session the children and their teachers donated to the Ministry of Natural Resources. the township pay 4.57 per cent more in taxes, and most separate school supporters pay a 4.98 per cent increase. Translated into dollars, this means that the average farm or residential ratepayer with an assessment of $5,000 will pay nearly $46 more to the tax collector as a public school supporter, or nearly $50 more as a separate school supporter. Most of the overall increase is due to inflated levies from both the Continued on page 22 because “Idonotthinkthere is anything to be gained from such a meeting.’’ Reeve Albert Wasson said Mr. Browning had relayed much the same comment to Dennis Merral, Huron County Road Engineer. Meanwhile the Huron County Council at its meeting May 7, passed a motion to be sent to Mr. Browning that the county supports Blyth and other area municipalities in getting improvements to the highway. Reeve Wasson said local mem­ bers of the provincial legislature have not yet been brought into the discussions but that was possibly coming He said he had done some footwork to get the Huron County Road Committee involved in the project and hoped they would carry the ball now. He said he didn’t feel it should be up to the taxpayers of Blyth to carry the costs of continuing the argument. Reeve Wasson said he was disappointed with Mr. Browning’s reaction because council had been assured in a meeting with MTC officials from the Stratford office that if they went through proper channels they would get a proper hearing. In his letter to Morris council, a copy of which was provided to Blythcouncil, Mr. Browning said a recent study of the section of highway showed that the pave­ ment should be widened from a present width of 6.1 to 6.7 M. to a width of 7 m. The reconstruction of the highway to meet the request of the municipalities, he said, would cost two or three times as much as the resurfacing. It meant, he said, that work on two or three other sections of highway in the province would have to be deferred or cancelled to find enough money for the Hwy. 4 project. In addition, he said, design and acquisition of additional property probably would delay the projects beyond the MTC’s current five year program. “In view of the relatively low traffic volumes on this section of highway and the favourable acci­ dent experience, it would be unreasonable to do much more than the work currently planned,’’ the letter said. He also noted that the plans would bring the section up to the same standards at the Blyth to Clinton section. In dealing with Morris’ com­ plaints about snow problems he said it was a common problem on north-south roadways and said it would be extremely expensive to build the roadway up to the point where snowbanks could be reduc­ ed. Londesboro girl drowns in pool Residents of a wide area from Londesboro to Belgrave were shocked last week by the drowning of a two-year-old Londesboro girl in a neighbour’s swimming pool. The Ontario Provincial Police, Goderich detachment were called to the scene at 8:48 p.m. Wednes­ day after the child’s body was found in the pool after a search of her own house and yard had failed to locate her. Amy Elizabeth Bosman was the daughter of Allan and Barbara Bosman. Coroner Dr. T. A. Steed pronounced the child dead at the scene of the accident. Details are still sketchy as police continue their inevestigation as to how the young girl managed to get into the locked pool area. Hundreds of people lined up to express their condolences to the family at the Tasker Funeral Home in Blyth on Friday. The funeral service was held Saturday after­ noon at the Londesboro United Church.