HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-03-11, Page 1News Sports Entertainment \
County officials
to look at debenturing
for Huronview, waste site
Bulls down
one game
in series finals
Woman in black
now haunts
the Grand
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CitizenTheNorthH u ro n County council plans
closure of 7 libraries
Vol. 8 No. 10 Wednesday, March'll, 1992 60 cents
Library branches in Belgrave,
Belmore, Bluevale, Ethel and Wal
ton will be among seven county
library branches that will close this
spring to cut costs for the Huron
County Library system.
Huron County Councillors voted
Thursday to adopt a Library Board
recommendation to close those
Digging deep
Field testers were using a drill rig on the VanLoo property
at Cone. 33, Lot 13 in Grey Township last week to look for
the depth of bedrock. The process is being done to
examine this property and others in the area as the
potential county landfill site. Grey 3, of which the Van Loo
property is part, is the second last of six possible sites to
be investigated.
libraries along with branches in
Brucefield and Crediton in order to
meet the county’s request the
library have no increase in its bud
get for 1992. The closures, Chief
Librarian Beth Ross said, would
save about $10,000 in direct costs
and an equal amount in indirect
costs for such things as the books
that are now in use at those
libraries that can be used in other
libraries, and the staffing costs to
circulate books into those small
branches.
In addition to the branch clos
ings, the library also cut its pur
chase of equipment for 1992 by
$10,000, cut book and materials
purchases by $10,200 and Ms Ross
cancelled attendance at the Canadi
an Library Association Conference
to save $1000.
But while council voted 23-7 in a
recorded vote to support the clo
sures, reeves of the municipalities
directly effected expressed their
displeasure. Grey Township Reeve
Leona Armstrong said she had
always felt the municipalities were
in partnership with the county
library board in running the branch
es but the township hadn't been
consulted at all before the Board
voted to close the Ethel and Walton
branches. People in the north end
of Grey won't travel to Cranbrook,
the only library left in the town
ship, she said. Instead they'll have
to travel to Listowel and pay extra
for the use of the out-of-county
library. Part of the reasoning
behind the closure of the
Molesworth branch was that people
could still travel to Ethel to get
books. She argued that there should
be some opportunity to look at
alternatives to the closures such as
the township paying the rent on the
building. She commended Ms Ross
for giving up her convention to
save money and noted: "I too
would give up my convention if
service could be reduced rather
than ended," she said.
Morris Reeve Doug Fraser,
whose township will be effected by
the Belgrave, Walton and Bluevale
closings, sent a letter to the council
noting that the ratio of books bor
rowed per registered user was high
er in Belgrave (25 books per
borrower) and Walton (15 books)
than in Goderich, (13). "Why not
cut back on the services provided in
larger centres. The residents in
continued on page 7
2 Grey candidate sites in question after drilling
Drilling began at the end of
February on the candidate sites for
the county landfill and last week
found them checking properties on
Grey 3.
Of the six original sites there is
only Howick 1 left to do.
Joanne Richter,. Waste Manage
ment Project Coordinator said that
cooperation has been good with the
landowners in getting permission
for access to property for drilling.
They have been able to drill in all
locations that the hydrogeologists
have wanted. The purpose of
drilling is to check the soil charac
teristics from soil to bedrock. They
will also be looking at the soil's
agricultural capabilities. Soil sam
ples will be sent to the lab for anal
ysis, then the consultants will make
their report with recommendations
based on field work for county
council. The report will be part of
the Stage 2B final report.
When drilling took place on the
Grey 2 and Grey 6 sites, Ms
Richter said, it was discovered that
the bedrock was shallow. Thus, she
said, it is likely that the consultants
will recommend they be eliminated
as candidate sites. "However, it is
county council's decision so it will
have to wait until it goes through
that formal process," she explained.
The Goderich site was eliminated
earlier, because, Western Foundry,
which had used a private site, indi-
Belgrave native covers referendum
A former resident of the Belgrave
area and now CBC radio journalist
Joan Leishman, left Sunday for
Johannesburg, South Africa, where
she will cover the whites-only ref
erendum scheduled for March 17.
The referendum has been called
by President F.W. de Klerk to pro
vide the white South African popu
lace with the opportunity to state
whether or not they want the Presi-
cated to the county that they would
be coming to the county site. The
consultants recalculated to include
dent to continue negotiations that
will eventually end apartheid, lead
ing to a multi-racial government.
Though many whites are
opposed, a number of political ana
lysts have said that though the bal
lot will be close de Klerk will win
in his efforts to abolish apartheid in
favour of power-sharing with the
30 million black majority.
Ms Leishman says that she is
the foundry waste and discovered
that the Goderich candidate site
was no longer large enough.
excited about the opportunity to be
in on what will be a historical
event. "Historically this is a really
phenomenal time. We will essen
tially be seeing a country bom for
the first time and hopefully the
birthday of a democracy soon. It
will be very exciting to cover.
Ms Leishman will return to
Toronto, where she and her hus-
continued on page 7