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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1995-03-08, Page 1A crushing experience Terry Vance of Paisley, suffered a jolting experience March 2 when his car was struck by a Ryder truck, driven by Timothy Batte of RR3 Walkerton, which was heading south on Hwy 4. An OPP. spoksperson says Mr. Vance stopped at the stop sign at the intersection of Hwy 4 and County Road 25, but then proceeded east before the way was clear. Mr. Vance, who suffered minor injuries, was charged with failing to yield. Snowmobile hits cars A last look? With the days getting milder this week, snowmobile enthusiasts made the most of Sunday's weather to enjoy the trails while they're still able. These two, like many others, tried their hand at the Blyth Sno-Travellers Poker Rally. Government Usborne reeve speaks in favour of logging Morris Tract See page 6 Community Blyth figure and power skaters perform 'Grease' See page 10 News Former Morris Twp. reeve marks 100th birthday See page 11 Sports Blyth Midget Bulldogs move on to next series See page 12 The North Huron itizen Vol, 11 No.10 Wednesday, March 8, 1995 61 t +40 GST650 County holds mill rate An 11-year-old Monkton area boy managed to escape serious injury following a snowmobile accident in Grey Twp. late Sunday afternoon. Sgt. King of the Wingham OPP said that Trevor Worth was travel- ling south on a public trail. As he approached the junction of County Goderich OPP are continuing their investigation-into a drive by shooting which occurred in Egmondville last. week. The victim, 14-year-old Julie Bachert, was shot in her bed while she slept. A police report states that she is doing well and is back home, having been released from Victoria A meeting to begin planning for Brussels' 125th anniversary in 1997 will be held April 19, Brussels vil- lage council decided Monday night. Cleric-Treasurer Donna White raised the issue with council, point- ing out it may already be too late to take on some projects for the cele- bration. It would have been nice to create a history book for the village but that takes a long time to put together. In addition there seemed to be no one interested in heading By Bonnie Gropp A proposal to recycle the busi- ness cardboard in the Village of Blyth is going to be given consider- ation by council. Larry Rutledge attended the March 6 meeting of council to explain the service. Mr. Rutledge had been contacted by Village Foreman John Rinn. Mr. Rutledge told council that he presently shreds cardboard to be used for livestock bedding. He will soon be switching to a different type of shredder, which, he said, will give him more markets. Mr. Rutledge said that he would pick up any kind of cardboard, pro- vided there were no contaminants, from each business at a cost of 24 Road 16, he lost control and slid onto the roadway, striking a car driven by Carol Glitz of Brampton. He then continued to slide and struck a second vehicle, driven by Alvin Draisley, RR3, Exeter which went into the south ditch on impact. The Worth youth sustained minor injuries. Hospital, in London. That same evening, a bullet was fired through the front window of the Vanastra Country Market. Win- dow damage was $200. The bullet was found in the wall and has been removed for investigation. It is unknown at this time whether the two incidents are relat- ed. up a history book committee, she said. A project may be undertaken by young people in the community to tape record the early memories of some of the senior residents of the village. The public meeting will be an opportunity for everyone interested in the celebration to give input and eventually a committee will be formed to continue the plans. cents per cubic foot. If the village chose to do the pickup and delivery themselves the cost would be Continued on page 3 OPP charge robber Wingham OPP have laid charges following an investigation into a robbery which occurred at the Brussels Variety on Feb. 27. John Norman MacKenzie, 43, formerly of Newry, was charged with robbery and cheque fraud. He is currently being held by Waterloo Regional Police after being arrested for committing four robberies in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. The final budget won't be passed until March 30 but taxpayers need not fear a tax increase because of increased expenses from Huron County operations. Warden Bruce Machan announced, Thursday, that all coun- ty departments had met the request that they hold the line for a zero tax increase for 1995. Preliminary iepartment budgets have been cir- culated to all councillors and dur- ing committee meetings throughout March, those budgets will be final- ized. Council will meet on March 30 to adopt the budget. A special March 23 meeting, dedicated to the budget, was cancelled because all department budgets have met the zero increase goal. The March meeting of the Agri- culture and Public Works commit- tee will see some money put back into bridge maintenance and road resurfacing, Engineer Denis Mer- rall promised. He was responding to questions from Bob Hallam, By Janice Becker As budget time rolls around again, the Huron County Board of Education is hoping to prepare local taxpayers for the inevitable education tax increase which has been legislated from above. The board relies on education grants to fund programs in the county and with budget cuts and reorganization at both the federal and provincial level, Director of Education Paul Carroll says, "The Reeve of West Wawanosh, who worked that the figures stated in his budget were sharp declines from 1994. "How long can we continue to reduce maintenance and resur- facing before we're in serious trou- ble for the future," he wondered. Mr. Merrall said the budget changes will mean his department will resurface 27 km of road, well below last year's 45 km but that was an unusual year. Ideally about 32 km of road should be resurfaced each year to keep on top of the situ- ation. It's impossible to point to exactly when deterioration of a sys- tem due to neglect starts, he said. "In 1995 we will be delivering a system that is pretty much a stand- pat budget — we're not going ahead but we're not falling back." Meanwhile the county had an unexpected cost overrun in the board of health budget in part because the Ministry of Health did- n't pass along any of the saving net impact could lead to an overall mill rate increase of six to seven per cent." The General Legislative Grants (GLG) have increased the local share by 5.34 per cent for the elementary panel, while decreasing provincial grants by 1.68 per cent. In the secondary school sector, the local share will rise 4.96 per cent and the grants will drop 3.08 per cent. The resulting changes will add an from the Social Contract salary adjustments, but kept the entire savings for itself. It means the county, both in 1994 and 1995, must pay more than its usual 25 per cent of the costs of shared pro- grams. With the continued success of the Municipal Employment Program in finding jobs for those receiving social assistance and the gradual improvement in the economy, the Social Services department is pre- dicting the same expenditures in 1995 as in 1994, with a contingen- cy reserve of $80,000. Last year Social Services cost the county $1,041,653. But while departments managed to meet the zero increase target for 1995, Bill Clifford, reeve of Goderich, warned "the 1996 budget will pose a whole new set of chal- lenges to be met". Pay Equity and Social Contract requirements will put stress on the salary budget, he indicated. estimated $1 million to the property tax requirement and the provincially determined value for property tax assessment will also add to the mill rate, says Mr. Carroll. "And this is just the beginning." "Spending estimates were reduced by approximately $4 million from 1993 to the actual figures seen in 1994, which is the largest expenditure reduction ever Continued on page 7 Shooting victim home Brussels plans for 125th Blyth considers proposal HCBE tax hike inevitable