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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1997-03-19, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 -r Seaforth, Ontario Briefly Parking problems Council has "referred to transportation," concerns about parking enforcement and problem areas in Seaforth that are outlined in recent correspondence from the Goderich detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police. Sgt. Brad Sadler's letter said these may be "causing confusion to the public:" • Gouinlock Street (across from TD Bank has two signs on same post; • John Street has "no park- ing" signs on south side but has painted parking spots; • Handicap parking on Main Street has no defining area (ie. symbol on road) so you can not tell where handi- cap parking begins or ends. Spring will spring Spring will have sprung shortly. The seasons officially change with tomorrow (Thursday) morning's spring (or vernal) equinox at pre- cisely 8:55 a.m. That's when the sun passes the equator headed this way. Daylight saving's time begins the first weekend of April. New fire bylaw Council passed a bylaw last Tuesday regulating open-air fires in Seaforth, to be enforced by the fire depart- ment. it states, among other stipu- lations: "No person shall burn, light, ignite or start a fire of any kind whatsoever in the open air in or on any of the streets, parks or public property within the limits of the town, or on any private property within 100 feet of any building, except in an out-of-door fireplace or bar- becue used for the sole pur- pose of cooking food, and so located and constructed that no building or structure or inflammable matter may become ignited." The bylaw empowers Seaforth to recover the cost through taxes. Charge for false alarms? Seaforth is considering charging for the cost of false fire alarms. Council has previously dis- cussed the issue and mulled over developing a policy at its March 4 meeting. Administrator Jim Crocker reported this year there has been a false alarm at the Co- op, last year there were two false alarms at the public . school, in 1995 there were two false alarms at the retire- ment home and one at the high school, and the year pre- vious there was one at the public school. The town is considering recovering its costs in future incidents, and Crocker was directed to contact other municipalities to see what their policies are and, in the meantime, send out Tetters following false alarms. Deputy -Reeve Bill Teall wondered if a bylaw should be in place, saying Seaforth may seek reimbursement. March 19, 1997 — $1.00 includes GST PHOTO BY GREGOR CAMPBELL BREAKAWAY - Jason Wilson of the Seaforth mites made no mistake last week when he popped this puck by the sprawl- ing Bayfield goaltender at a March break tournament for two days at the local arena. Ten new channels Cable changes have been in the works as TMNJ," he said. Subscribers. with TMN will see their portion of the spe- cialty service and these super stations increase to $12.45 per month (plus tax) begin- ning April 1. Harmer said the interest for the new stations has been positive to date, and he expects more once the changes are complete. As for the future, he did say that Moviepix, another specialty channel which con- centrates on older, classic movies, will likely be avail- able sometime this fall, plus a channel which acts as a TV vide and lists ongoing pro- grams on each channel. The cable company, which employs 10 people, serves customers in Mitchell, Seaforth, Brussels, Blyth, Hensall, Zurich, Lucan, St. Joseph and Grand Bend and based is based in Dublin. BY ANDY BADER SSP News Staff The improvements sub- scribers to the Mitchell Seaforth Cable TV Ltd. have experienced recently have been in the planning stages for a few years, General Manager Dan Harmer says, with more improvements and changes on the horizon. Harmer outlined the addi- tion of 10 television channels to the package offered by the cable television company— stations in Barrie (CKVR) and two specialty stations (Vision and Stocks) were added last month, followed by three additional movie networks (to the existing TMN) and four American - based "super" stations a week ago. He said customer demand has a part to play in which new channels to offer, but new technology also has a role to play. He explained that the company has recently linked fibre optically with Rogers Cable in Stratford, which allows them to pur- chase new channels through the larger company, rather than.the expensive and ever- changing satellite feeds they usually purchase. "It opens the door for the possibility for adding even more channels," he said, not- ing that the fibre optic tech- nology is relatively new to them, therefore a learning process as well. "We can see more and more the potential it has," he said. "There will be a lot of changes over the next few years." The cable company has been rebuilding• links to "We had to offer them as a towns and switching and package, because we couldn't upgrading to coincide with offer the superstations with - the improvements. For out a premium station [such Wild night at Hensall Council as Councillor storms out, Reeve offers resignation Unseen letter warns of gas fumes instance, The Movie Network (TMN) was moved from channel 21 to 43, allowing the additions of TMN chan- nels on 44, 45 and 46 which offers essentially the same movies but a better selection for viewers. Harmer said the package is sold that way from TMN, as they try to compete with video rentals. "I think it's good," he said. "There's a lot more selection for the viewer, especially during prime viewing times." An add-on was the so- called "super" stations based in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and New York, on channels 49-52. Subscribers can only receive these stations— renowned for their movies and sports—if they receive TMN. BY CALE COWAN SSP News Staff First, Coun. Jeff Reaburn stormed out of the room in protest, then Reeve Cecil Pepper offered his resigna- tion. The clerk was criticized for hiding information and a small group of King Street residents was so angry they were afraid to leave. Just another night at Hensall council. The issue is a familiar one -- several homes along King Street in the village were affected by gas fumes around New Year's Eve. It happened again in February. The question of responsibil- ity for preventing any further danger has been hashed, rehashed and debated until all the participants are blue in the face, But the residents remained unsatisfied, council threw up its hands and various provin- cial and county agencies could only offer advice, "The problem is we have too damn many things being decided by one or two people when it should be council making the decision," said Coun. Reaburn, shortly before his abrupt departure from council. At issue was a special meeting of council on Feb. 21 to discuss this very matter. However, Reeve Pepper, who was sick and unable to attend, argued the meeting should never have been held because only he can call a meeting. He didn't want those min- utes accepted by council. Reaburn did and the fight was on. The Monday night meeting almost ended when Reaburn left as the remaining council- lors -- Dick Packham and Steve Towle — were reluc- tant to proceed without Reaburn. Pepper, however, agreed to a short recess while a resident requested Reabum's return so as issue cool at least be ssed. Reeve Offers Resignation However, when Reaburn returned, Pepper offered his resignation, reasoning that he must be the problem and should step aside. "I am no longer in charge ... you can pick your reeve," Pepper said after handing a hastily -written letter of resig- nation to clerk Luanne Phair. "This is not the first time this has happened ... but I have said nota ing for three years. If I'm the problem here, I'll leave. "With that outburst in coun- 'cli ... I hate to do this because it's only eight or nine months to the election) ... after 13 years I thought we could have gotten through this." He only made it as far as the door, however. Everyone agreed to sit back down and at least deal with the issue of the gas problem before anyone quit. (After an incamcra session later in the meeting, everyone stayed and the resignation was not mentioned again.) ids like an easy way out, Cecil. But you have a lot of stuff to deal with," resi- dent spokeswoman Julie Ritchie said. Unseen Letter Which finally brought council to the issue that caused alt the trouble in the first place ... and a previously unseen letter that apparently was the cause. ' It was a letter written by Huron health inspector Don Hullah, previous to council'$ Feb. 10 meeting, during which the King Street resi4 dents were present and thit{ issue was discussed at length*. In it, Hullah recommend. that all Hensall residents bit advised that there is a pote[td, tial problem (primarily in older homes) for gas fumes to enter through the storm sewer -- as they did on King Street. He warns there could be a danger of an explosion and advises that the municipal'd could be liable. Hullah ai offered possible solutions -- the homeowner's responsibil- ity --- by properly trappi ll CONTINUED on page Temporary ditch to alleviate flooding BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff Seaforth will build a tempo- rary drainage ditch, to be paid for by the developers, on the McTeague parcel of land east off Main Street North, where a field tile that is bro- ken is causing ongoing ground water problems and on occasion, severe flooding for some residents. Clerk/Administrator Jim Crocker reported to council last Tuesday "following the recent heavy rains, -I was able to contact Dan McTeague who has given the town writ- ten authorization to enter on his lands and carry out work that would' alleviate the drainage problem. "Mr. McTeague has agreed to pay the costs of such work" LATE THIS SPRING Crocker said town engineer Bruce Potter "toured the property with me and has suggested that a temporary ditch be constructed to ensure that surface water can get to the County drain." Seaforth Public Works Superintendent John Forrest met with county highways and B. M. Ross staffs on Mar. 3 to do field work on the design of the ditch, with an expected completion date for the work of "sometime late this spring." "It should be noted that this is a temporary solution until such time as the subdivision is started, during which a storm water management plan will be implemented," the administrator's report concludes. Town must pick up cost of highway maintenance Ontario's transportation ministry is cancelling "con- necting -link agreements" with all municipalities, including Seaforth's as of April 5. Connecting links are provincial roads that pass through municipalities, in Seaforth's case Highway 8. The cost-sharing agree- ments provided services such as winter maintenance (sand and salt), pavement marking and traffic control signal maintenance, and costing involved other factors, for instance depreciation on equipment. Seaforth administrator Jim Crocker estimated the annual cost of the connecting -link agreement as from $800 to $900 at the Mar. 4 meeting of council. At last Tuesday's council meeting subsequent corre- spondence from the ministry was noted and filed, stating "there may be an opportunity for the MTO to continue to provide these services to your municipality on a full cost recovery basis."