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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-02-04, Page 1Davis calls Ontario election for March 19 Riddell set to go; PCs seek Huron -Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell had a definite "yes" when the T -A called him• Monday afternoon to ask whether he'd be running in the March 19 election called earlier in the day by Premier William Davis. Riddell. who won the seat in a 1973 byelection and then went on to two other wins. indicated he wasn't too pleased with the decision to have what will basically be a winter election. He said it's the first elec- tion at this time of year since 1905 and comes on the heels of a federal election during tate winter of 1979 which caused some problems for compaigners in STREET HOCKEY — Saturday was an ideal day for street hockey in Dashwood. Shown ready for action are Bob and Bill Vandeworp. T -A photo Only two crashes; but thieves active The Exeter OPP in- vestigated only two ac- cidents this week, but a rash of thefts kept them busy. Only one injury was reported in the collisions, that occurring in one on Thursday when a vehicle driven by Elmo Forward, RR 1 Denfield, struck a Expect march to beat record The 1981 campaign for the Ontario March of Dimes in Exeter is expected to be completed thts year with successful results. Dorothy Pfaff Who has been the local chairman for the past 17 years said Tues- day morning. "Receipts now in are at $1,210. There are still 12 Marching Mothers to complete their canvass and we expect to beat last year's figure of $1,792." Mrs. Pfaff is retiring as local chairman and the can- vass in 1982 will be handled by the Exeter Lioness club. Says electric heat cheaper A long awaited report, comparing the cost- effectiveness of oil heating to alternatives. such as natural gas or electric heat, was presented to the Exeter Public Utilities Commis- sion. Tuesday. The report's charts and calculations based on them, done by PUC manager Hugh Davis. show the costs of heating by' oil are ap- proximately 18 per cent higher than the current market costs of heating by electricity. The report shows the current residential rate of 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour is equivalent to the cost effec- tiveness of oil at a price of 18 cents per litre. But oil is now selling for 21.2 cents per iitre. This assumes the efficien- cy of an older oil furnace is 50 per cent or less. By the same methods. if a heat pump is used in the heating system. the cost of oil heating is approximately 38.5 per cent higher than electric heat. The PUC is discussing changing over their office building to electric heat, as energy costs are cheaper. Davis told the commission the last nntario Hydro regional meeting, in London, discussed the possibilities of federal government aid to those wishing to convert from oil to alternate energy sources. Aid to consumers may in- clude a plan to subsidize up to $800 to homeowners con- verting existing oil heat to gas or electricity. It was said the federal government may also assist local utilities in converting their supply systems, such as in- stallation of transformers or heavier wiring, to serve con- verted houses. Davis said he was disap- pointed in the lack of infor- mation supplied at the Please turn to page 3 mailbox post on Stephen concession 2-3 south of County Road 21. Forward sustained minor injuries and damage was listed at $330 by Constable Jim Rogers. The other accident was on Sunday when a vehicle driven by Richard Webber, RR 1 Hensall, struck a vehicle which was stuck on the Usborne-Biddulph townline east of Highway 4. The stuck vehicle was owned by Rosa Harrigan, RR 2 Crediton. Total damage was set at $800 by Constable Bill Osterloo. There were five thefts investigated during the week by the detachment mem- bers. On Saturday, Bonnie Schenk, Zurich, reported the theft of a wire wheel disc from her vehicle while it was parked at the Pineridge Chalet. Value was $100 and Constable Jack Straughan is investigating. Four students from Centralia College reported the theft of their vehicle license plates on Friday. Constable Frank Giffin is in charge of thatfrinvestigation. Thursday evening, the Ontario Development Corporation offices at Huron Park were entered and a small amount of change was stolen. The fire hall was also entered the same evening, but nothing was reported missing. A quantity of meat was stolen from Scholl's Abattoir in Hensall last week. Con- stable Don Mason is in- vestigating. Numerous thefts from vehicles in Huron Park are being investigated by Constable Rogers. Much of the property has been recovered and tt,vo males, one a juvenile, have been charged with theft and will appear in court later this month. the snow -belt regions. "Why an election at this time of year goes without ex- planation," the Liberal member said, but added that it may have something to do with the fact Premier Davis has two children being married in May and June and he wouldn't want to in- terfere with those events. To change bankers Banking services for the Town of Exeter and local boards will be transferred to , the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, effective March 2. The decision was made by council, Monday, following approval of a recommenda- tion from the finance com- mittee which had met with representatives of Exeter's five financial institutions earlier in the day to hear their submissions for providing banking services. The decision will cover a two-year term. Council went to a type of tendering system for bank- ing services two years ago and the provision of banking services was given to the Bank of Montreal, which had handled the sevices for a number of years. Finance committee chair- man Bill Mickle said there had been five excellent sub- missions. "Have you purchased a car yet?" Reeve Don MacGregor asked of Clerk Liz Bell in reference to mov- ing the banking services to the north end from its previous location next door to the town offices. Mayor Bruce Shaw said there would be some obvious problems in the change, but; said he assumed the finance committee had studied all aspects of the transfer. There was no indication of what terms had been offered by -the bank to win the com- petition, nor were there any questions asked by council members regarding the various submissions. Okay new street lights Exeter council this week approved changing the street lights on Main St. between Waterloo and Gidley from fluorescent to high pressure sodium. Estimated cost submitted by the PUC is $10,750. In a letter to council, PUC manager Hugh Davis said most communities in the area have either started or completed replacement of fluorescent lighting in their business areas. The main reason for the change is the extra expense in the operating costs of fluorescent lighting in com- parison to high pressure sodium. Davis said that the latter will produce considerably more lumens at less cost and the lamp life is more than doable that of the fluores- cent. Forty-three units will be replaced on Main St. this year and the other 121 fluorescent lights still in ex- istence will be replaced over a period of four years. It was indicated the new lights will not be of a yellowish hue. but rather pinkish -blue. "Where is Anita Bryant when we need her?" asked Councillor Jay Campbell in commenting on the new colors which will be evident on Main St. CHAIRS HELP — Mark Bower and Gavin Poole found thqt chairs were a big help in getting around the Ice at the South Huron Rec Centre. The two bovs were part of the Sunshine Kids nursery school contingent on a recent skating trip. Riddell expects the con- stituency machinery to sw- ing into gear quickly. He's already been in touch with riding officials and they plan a meeting tonight (Wednesday) when the date for a nomination meeting will probably be set. He hinted that the nomina- tion could be as early as next week. Riddell sees the Ontario economy as the major issue in the campaign and added that he hoped the issues would be confined to provin- cial ones without getting into the question of Canada's constitution. However, he suggested that Davis will probably attempt to get that issue worked into the campaign. The Huron -Middlesex MPP says that the economy should be the major issue because Ontario is presently the slowest growing province in Ontario and has the highest rate of un- employment. "We have to get the economy stimulated," he said. adding that measures must be brought in to keep industries from closing down and to get more investment into Ontario industrie, The agriculture industry is another item that Riddell sees in the need for some serious thinking He suggested Ontario is presently importing far too deHavilland not coming Huron Park won't be the site of a $30 -million plant to be built by deHavilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. The company announced on Friday that the new plant will be built next to its existing plant in the Toronto area of Down- sview. Huron Park had been on the list of prospective sites, along with several cities in Ontario. The new plant will employ about. 1,000 people. much and some thought must be given to replacing those imports with provincially -grown products He said the country presently imports $4 billion worth of agriculture products and claims this should be cut in half. "Just trunk of the revenue that would generate." he noted. Riddell claims the Ontario government has forgotten about agriculture. One of the side issues that he predicts will surface is regarding environmental issues. particularly the Matter of liquid industrial waste disposal. "We don't want to run into a series of Love Canals," he said. PCs get ready As expected the Huron - Middlesex Progressive Conservatives had some ad- vance inkling of the pending election and the riding ex- ecutive met last week to set a date for a nomination meeting. • nominees Bruce Shaw. association the South Huron ret centre president, said the nomina- on Thursday. February 19. lion has been scheduled for However. the Exeter mayor indicated therewere no confirmed candidates as Please turn to page 3 GOLD WATCH -- John Tinney is presented a gold watch by Lionel Wilder in recognition of his service to Hay Township. Tinney was honored with an appreciation night Friday. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Eighth Year & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 4, 1981 §i x Y � Price per copy 40 Cents CHAMPIONSHIP CHEERLEADERS — The cheerleaders from South Huron District High School won the Black and Red in- vitational championship Friday with five schools competing. With arms extended across the top are Sandy Balmer, Cindy Janke, Michelle Durand, Kelly Livingstone and Sandy Somerville. Centre, Suzanne Mathers,.Kneelinq, Michelle Veri, Sally Ford, Jackie Sullivan and Kelly Tiedeman. T -A photo Two projects have overruns County road deficit $201,068 Huron County Council learned at their January 29 meeting that for the year 1980, the Huron County High- ways Department ac- cumulated a deficit on a cash basis of 8201,068. According to County Engineer Bob Dempsey, the deficit oc- curred when two projects during the year resulted in substantial overrens. The road construction of County Road 11, from the Perth Boundary to Highway 23, was originally budgeted for 8281,000 and $584,000 was spent on the project. The engineer and the road committee decided to con- tinue with the construction of County Road 11 beyond that originally anticipated in 1980 since weather con- ditions, manpower, equip- ment and time were available to continue with the work in August and September. It was understood, said Dempsey in his report, that this would result in some overrun but it would also permit the possibility of paving the road in 1981 rather than in 1982. In light of the rapid increase in petroleum prices, this would result in a substantial saving to the county by being able to pave the road one year earlier "Unfortunately, due to unforeseen problems." commented Dempsey, "we came in with a greater deficit than anticipated." All underdrains were replaced along the road last year because the road depart- ment prefers to see them in for one winter; if they Agreement near for HS teachers The Huron County Board of Education announced Monday it has reached a tentative agreement in contract negotiations with the secondary school teachers. The tentative agreement was reached early Saturday morning marking the end of the latest bargaining session that began last Thursday at the Holiday Inn, London. Details of the agreement will not be released until both parties have ratifiedthe collective agreement. The teachers are expected to vote on the new offer within the next week and probably Monday. As indicated in the fact - finder reportprepared by Malcolm Stockton, the teachers were seeking an increase of 15 per cent in a one-year contract from September 198010 August 31, 1981. At that time the board -had offered five per cent from September 1 to December 31. 1980 and an additional 1 per cent to August 31, 1981. The offer represented a 5.6 per cent increase over the one-year agreement The fact -finder had recommended an increase of 8.5 per cent in a one-year deal. The board did Teach agreement with secretarial employees members of CIPE Local 1428. The new one-year agreement calls for average wage increases of 9.5 per cent. Secretaries in classif- fication 1 now earn from $5.39 per hour to $6.27 under the grid while class two wages range from $5.72 to $6.60. Audio• visual technicians in class 1 will receive 88.39 and $8.89 in class 2. Effective May 1, 1981 wages in the clerical - secretarial class will range from $5.72 to 56.60, bubble, they can be replaced before the road is paved. Despite, the department s efforts to learn the number of drains to he replaced along the road before they proceeded, there were more drains along the road than anticipated. Bad weather also slowed down the road crews especially during the rains in September. The second project which saw a substantial overrun during the year was the construction of the Auburn garage. The original estimate for the garage of $400.000 did not include the cost of buying the land or relocation of the radio tower and additional costs. The original estimate was the cost of the building alone and 'the final cost of replacing the garage is close to 5700,000. Dempsey told council there are anticipated revenues which will reduce this overrun. such as the sale of the old property and the sale of the well on that property but these cannot be budgeted because they could be misleading. Dempsey reminded council that it was decided to build a more expensive building because the overhead and maintenance would be low. In presenting the• 1981 County highways budget to council, Dempsey. noted that an attempt had been made to reduce the county rate to a recommended level by reducing and eliminating proposed expenditures in 1981. The county rate in the 1981 budget rose 27 percent from $1.281.000. to 51,629.500. Under construction and paving, the engineer decided to eliminate there surfacing of County Road 20 from Huron County Road 1, west into Ashfield Township, a total of four kilometres, at a saving of 8157.000. A revised estimate of Road Cornier. Please on the completion 11 from Whalen's north four turn to page :3 Want suggestions for filling positions Councjllors Gavlan Jo':ephson and 13i11 Mickle volunteered Monday to sit on an ad hoc committee to con- sider a policy which Exeter council could adopt when filling vacancies on council or local boards. Mayor Bruce Shaw said there was no apparent policy in place at the present time and added that the com- mittee may well suggest that no policy he adopted. Council had to fill a vacan- cy this year due to the resignation of Councillor Barbara Bell and there was considerable debate before Josephson was named. The latter had been the losing candidate in the November election In the past. there have been some complaints regarding the manner in which council chooses members to sit on local boards when more than one person has come forth to volunteer for a position. Other recommendations approved by council this week from the executive commit tee were as follows: That Ronna Glanville be allowed to take the St. John Ambulance first aid course and that application be made to the Workmen's Compen- sation Board to cover the fee ' "21. l'hat Jay Campbell and G; vtan Josephson act as the negotiation committee for all town departments with the exception of the police. That Clerk Liz Bell attend a management workshop at the staff centre in Barrie Iron) :March 23-27 at a tuition lee of $200 That a tender for the public works pickup truck Much was submitted the morning after the tenders closed be returned unopen- ed That when the ministry announces the 'Involvement in Nlunic-rpa1 Administration Program the clerk make application for a student to work in the clerk's office Iron) May to September. The ministry pays 80'; of the wages and benefits to a max inion) of $125 per week for 20 weeks MARCH OF DIMES The March of Dimes campaign in Exeter is W141't' by o number of Marching Mothers. Above. canvassers Barb Hun:int bring their returns to campaign chairman Dorothy Pfaff Mrs po tion oft,?r 17 years of service. Arva bank hit again Area men char Two Lucan area young men have liven charged with the armed robbery early Monday afternoon of the At va branch of the Canadian imperial Bank of Commerce Andrew Spruv( 19 M RR 1. Loran and ,lohn MIcllhargey. 21 of RR t Denfield were charged Monday night and appeared in provincial court in London. Tuesday. Bank officials did not say how much money was taken hs two men armed with handguns Irony two women employees ,it about 1 p 10 There were no customers in the hank at the time Corporal 1)o nald Cox told the T -A 'A small blue car was seen in the area of the bank at the time of the holdup and the alert was put out along with roadblocks along Highways 4. 7 and 22 These roadblocks were manned by officers from the Strathroy and London detachments: He continued. ' • ,about being completed thik Tiedeman and Jule Pfaff is giving up the T -A photo ed three' and , halt hours later the two men were ap- prt'hended on Concession 16 in Losulor townshipabout one mile west of highway 4 bs ( onst,ibles Stables. Vance and Fleming of the I.ucan detachment DO -Inspector Charles Judson or( the O1'I' crirltktnal insestig.tion branch said weapons and some money was spited (-onstables G N luteol and 11 It Ihsher are con- tinuing the ins is,: tica tion J