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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-02-16, Page 12AGENTS Po, a 12 Times -Advocate; February 16, 1983 Reach tentative agreement on sewer dispute What became public knowledge as a result of a hearing conducted by the On- tario Municipal Board in Grand Bend last week was a very small tip of the iceberg dispute between the village of Grand Bend, Stephen Township and Ridge Pine Park Inc. (developers of Grand Cove Estates east of the village.) The dispute was over charges for the subdivision in using the sewage system in- stalled primarily for use within the village limits. Grand Cove Estates is in Stephen Township. Grand Bend insisted the subdivision should pay the go- ing rate of;1,376 per thousand gallons of sewage plus a 20% surcharge. Ridge Pine Park Inc. rath r than pay, placed certain mo y in a trust ac- count with S phen Township until a judiciary body deter- mined the rate of payment. Co-chairmen of the hearing D. Rogers and J. Dobbs, who never did determine whether or not the dispute should be heard by the OMB (since the system is in fact owned by the ministry of the environment), adjourned the hearing after the first 45 minutes Tuesday morning to allow lawyers and principals time in private to try to work the problem through to some conclusion. So, for the hour before the public, there wet e about eight READY FOR A PARTY — Residents of Grand Cove Estates, Grand Bend are seers in the kitchen of the club house preparing for a valentine party Saturday. They are from the left, Mary Mallin, Dolly Abbott, Norma Brown and Joan Gosselin. Grand Cove Estates a real hive of activity Grand Cove Estates is a lively community of about 500 persons situated just to the east of the village limits of Grand Bend. Residents are quick to point out that it's not a community of elderly regimented persons with no interests. The only stipulation of residency is that there are no children living there permanently. In the clubhouse Saturday, president of the residents' board of directors, Ted Jackson explained that there were as many activities as could be used by such a com- munity. Apart from enjoying the proximity to Grand Bend, the residents, all of whom have a key to the club house, can enjoy any of a dozen or more facilities. Saturday, the clubhouse was a hive of activity in preparation for a valentines party. In one corner of the main hall a group of five men were playing cards. In another area residents were relaxing and reading beside the fireplace and in the kit- chen a group of ladies were working on sandwiches for the evening. A tour of the building revealed an exercise room, a ceramics room with a kiln, a room with two pool tables, a well equipped kitchen and another well equipped and bright laundry room. Outside the south door is.a good-sized swimming pool and within the housing area is a building equipped for woodworking. While the lots are small and the houses compact they al'e fastidiously kept by the residents. The land is owned by the developers (Ridge Pine Park Inc.) and the units, double -wide prefabricated homes, are owned by the residents themselves. Jackson said it was the ap- pearance of the small gardens and homes which drew him to the community when he decided to give up his apartment in Guelph some years ago. Ile golfs at Oakwood Golf Course across the road in the summer, curls in Exeter during the winter and enjoys the activity of the village in the summer and the quiet in the winter. It's a mobile community. In the winter about 40 percent of the residents travel, many of them to Florida. There's a car in every driveway. While the development began wittLaWut 100 unsold units, WC company Ridge Pine Park Inc. puts in units now only on demand. Manager„is Bert Pearce. Jackson speaks with great affection for his neighbours. If they don't see one another out and about the usual routine, there's always someone close to check. Mostly the air of fun and friendship is the thing which makes the community attrac- tive. As well there is attention to civic matters. Before the last municipal election the community had chosen a can- didate to run for Stephen Township Council. Unfor- tunately she became ill just at election time and her doctor advised her not to tackle the job. Jackson commented that the new three-year term was a bit discouraging but "there's so much talent here it seems too bad". READY FOR PARTY — President and vice president of the board of directors of Grand Cove Estates, Grand Bend, Ted Jackson, right, and Ted Hunt are seen at one of the tables in the club house of the community. Decorations for a valentine party were being prepared Saturday afternoon. Greenway ladies meet Sy ANNE WALPER Greenway The Februarymeeting opened with the Auxiliary prayer and the Lord's Prayer repeated in unison. Jeanette Hodgins read from Good News for Modern Men, Luke 2 verses 22-35. Doris Hodgins read, "A Thought for Today" from the Friendship book. The secretary's report was given by Donna McLinchey. Joyce Hodgins gave the report of the treasurer. Fees and roll call showed seven Resort comes to life ladies were present. Jeanette Hodgins reported that three parcels had been sent to Uganda. Committee members are busy making plans for the 75th anniversary to be held at the church May 29. We are hoping that all former members will attend. The meeting closed with grace. A delicious lunch was serv- ed by Della Jean Hodgins and Marilyn Rock. Marion Hodgins won the prize for having a birthday nearest to the meeting. Grand Bend 4-H clubs organize, choose officers number one, have held two meetings, one at each of the leader's homes, Nancy Stok- kermans and Rita Smits. ' Officers elected were: president, Theresa Baltessen, vice-pres., Tania Johnson; secretary -rotating and press reporter, Jenny Mommersteeg. The girls have chosen the club name "Super Chefs", for this Ontario Heritage course. Recipes tried were .pum- pkin soup, Anglesey eggs, Irish soda bread, maple bak- ed apple, celery soup, potato pancakes, deli special and Dutch Kuchen. Some of these are Indian, Mennonite and Jewish recipes, and some from countries of France, Ita- ly,. Wales, Holland and Ireland. The girls enjoyed sampling their cooked dishes for lunch. At 4:15 p.m. February 17, the, Grand Bend 4-11 club number two met at Bonnie Turnbull's home. The leaders are Marg Turnbull and Bren- da Love. We made pumpkin soup, Anglesey eggs and maple baked apples. Officers elected were: president, Bonnie Turnbull; vice-pres., Lori Hutchinson; secretary, Patti Love; press reporter, Heather Love. Susan Janssen, Stephanie Woods nad Wanda Turnbull are also members of this club. The food was sampled, and notebooks completed. The club name is to be discussed. Meeting closed at 6:15 p.m. Next meeting will be at Heather Love's at 4:15 p.m. February 14. The "International Eaters", Grand Bend 411 club number three, met Wednes- day at Christine Boogemans home. President, Kim Boogemans -opened with the 411 i;ledge and minutes were read by Julia Brown. They read pages 11-18 from their manuals on, "Learning to like new foods." At this meeting they made Deli special from Italy, Dutch Kuchen from Holland, and potato pancakes that they ate with apple butter. The girls tell me the best part of the meeting is to sit down after cooking to sample and .,eat what they made. Press reported by Julianne Rader. Next meeting is February 16 at Julianne's home. Dart score In the Legion dart game Tuesday night at Grand Bend the scores were: first, Gene Grenier and Marg Hedley; se- cond, Kevin Henry and Lori Hamilton. Couples club The Couples club met at the United Church Saturday evening with 12 in attendance. During their business meeting it was decided to hold the annual Easter Sunrise service and breakfast. Jean Weigtind led a discus- sion on the real causes of world hunger. ' In the social time all en- joyed a fun game where the men and ladies dressed in coveralls, stuffed with blown up balloons and each rolled on floor till balloons broke. This caused hilarious laughter from all participants. A box social was held for lunch with the boxes auction- ed off. Beaconaires meeting Nineteen Beaconaires met Monday night at the Church of God for a carry -in supper. Mrs. Irene Read led the devotions period, using scrip- ture from Luke 11-33-36 on the theme, "A little light in dark places can brighten many a life." Hymn choruses were sung accompanied with piano by l irs. Leila Finkbeiner. All enjoyed a film on, "The rise and fall of the Great Lakes." Personals At the progressive euchre party held Monday night at St. John's Parish hall, and sponsored by St. John's ladies group, there were 12 tables in play. Winners were: high lady, Janie Grenier; Jow lady, Grace Vibert; high man, Bill Fell; low man, Ernie Pilk- ington; lone hand scores went to Dolly Abbott and Tom Baxter. eleven ladies attended the Bible coffee• hour Tuesday afternoon at the home of Nita Sinclair in Southcott. The lesson was led by Betty Campbell and was a review of the study book, Learning to talk with God. Meeting will be same time 1:30 p.m.- and place next wool( t .vervnne welemmn Nineteen were out Wednes- day afternoon to St. John's Parish hall for a fun and games afternoon. The hall is being made available as a dropin centre for any age group, Wednesday after- noons, through courtesy of the Parks and Recreation Board of Grand Bend. In the social time they played Uno, crokinole, ag- gravation and euchre. The Grand Bend and area quilting ladies have been quilting this week at Norma Walper's and Mabel Gill's. Clarke and Irene Kennedy are home again after a few holidays. Irene with her sister Mrs. Mary Barbour, in Toron- to, Clarke and his sisters in Lindsay, also in Owen Sound with Mary Lynn and Jim McGregor and grandsons Brent and James. Mr. and Mrs. Gary Bren- Community spirit thrives Winter Time for activities, not doldrums While the fast food places in Grand Bend are closed on Main Street and the pitf'ball machines are gone for (he winter. the resort is far from dead, as is the popular belief. Vetranmainstreeter, Griffin Thomas will attest to the fact that it's in the winter when the activity of the village becomes interesting. Griff has watched the pass- ing scene from his desk in the Furniture Store for almost 34 years --longer than•any other merchant on the street in Grand Bend and has par- ticipated in the triumphs and agonies of the unique resort as closely as any resident. Those triumphs and agonies reflect the contrasts to which Grand Bend has always been subjected. One third of the village's boundary is controlled by irascible Lake Huron. The mile of sand beach can be a paradise of sun and water or a place from which to flee, depending on the weather. To accom- modate good weather, mer- chants in the summer are prepared to work 18 hours a day. If the weather is bad and the lake is "up" they can he left with their adrenalin hang- ing for days at a time. To sur - INN KEEPER Bonnie Klapp is seen behind the counter in the familiar lobby of the Colonial Hotel, Grand Bend. Her father opened the establishment for business under the family name 25 years ago. vive, it takes a steadyheart- beat and a calm philospohyr Perhaps because of the con- trasts, and the small popula- tion of the three-quarters of a square mile village proper, the volunteer burn -out syn- drome takes it's toll. "They come and they go," says Griff, "and people forget the thousands of hours and thousands of dollars donated by Grand Bend residents over the years." He recounts with pride that the first meeting to form the Grand Bend Lions Club took place in his store. He was the charter first vice-president. The legendary Eric Mcllroy was the charter president. 1t was the first group to have a collective vision for the future of the village, Duringthe summer of 1966 when the Riot Act was read on the main street, Thomas was president of the Chamber of Commerce. "1 spent more time trying to sort that out than I did with my business", he commented. Ile looks at the extremes of activity in the village in the summer as just passing fads "One year the kids were bouncing up and down all summer on trampolines, another they were hoola- hooping all the way down the street. Last year it waselec- tronic games." They come and they go. He paid tribute to Harold Klopp, another stalwart, and owner of the Colonial Hotel on the corner of Main and On- tario street. There has been a Colonial sponsored sports team in the village since Klopp took over the old Bren- ner House 35 years ago. Now he has four daughters involv- ed in the business. They have learned the skills of hotel -keeping by living with the business from the time they were small. They are Linda (Anderson), Bonnie (McCann) Jane (Musser) and Judy (Mason). For their business, a good winter means lots of snow for winter sports to bring people to their establishment. This last winter they have run a successful euchre tour- nament in the Gables next door for area residents. There are movies shown oncea week in the Colonial bar and their special menu includes Lake Huron fish. - Dennis Mathers, of the well known Cheryl Ann, is another second generation owner of a long established business on main street. It isn't officially summer until the Cheryl Ann is open for business. For 10 years Mathers organized a "super" Santa Claus parade, according to Thomas. This past year Mathers has become leader of the Beaver pack in the village. ' Some of Thomas' happiest years were spent when he coached tykes in hockey. Speaking of organized sports he said "It's an education they can't get anywhere else. Kids should be in some sort of organized sport as they grow up. It's a great way to learn the facts of life." What brings people hack again and again to Grand VETERAN MAINSTREETER - Griffin Thomas stands in front of his store on the main street of Grand Bend. He has watched the passing scene in the village longer than any other merchant. Bend? People watching is one factor, Thomas feels. "People draw people" and "the lake of course" but there's an "air" about it he says, an "in- describable thing" which makes people feel at home in the village. "We are lucky to have the outlying developments", he comments. Any community in the world would feel good about a development like Southcott Pines and Oakwood with that golf course". He • spoke also of the unique set- ting in Beach 0' Pines and the "wonderful" people in Grand Cove Estates. He speaks about the sense of community. "When our family was stricken with hepatitis we didn't make a meal for a month. There was always someone with food pt the door." Grand Bend may be a small town but it's big in communi- ty spirit. 'Diana's BULK FOOD Fleischmann's Yeast 30C es. sit 00/010 srN0 2 hours behind closed doors with lawyers from the ministry of the environment, the village, the township and Ridge Pine Park working at formulating some policy which would be satisfactory and publicly presentable. What they came up with was an agreement stated by the developers' lawyer Ken McCabe, that sewage from the development would be metered. Response from village solicitor D. Murphy was that, with the sanction of the environment ministry, the rate per thousand gallons would be the same for sub- division residents as it is for vallage residents. It was also apparently decided that there would be an agreement in writing from the minstry. The problem has been festering since the subdivision hooked into the system in March 1982 and released an accumulation of nine months of sewage (previously held in small lagoons) into the system. Because of the densi- ty of the development its growth has depended on such a sewage system. A village spokesman com- mented that the village was willing to cooperate in .gay way with did not adversely af- fect village taxpayers. When there seemed to be an impasse, Stephen Township requested the OMB hearing. Chairmen never did come to terms with the jurisdictional issue but simply proceeded in a manner which would lead toward solution. One. shocking discovery which became public at the beginning of the hearing was that neither Stephen officials, nor their solicitor Peter Ray- mond, remembered that there was already an agree- ner, of St. Augustine Florida, flew home to attend the funeral of his father, Glen Brenner last week. Mr. and Mrs. J. Nancar- row, of Southcott Pines have returned from a visit with their son, in Yellowknife. Turnbulls Grove news Last Saturday evening ten year round residents of the Grove went to visit one of their summer neighbour residents of the Grove, Mrs. Dorothy Mitchell at her farm home near Granton. Those attending were Ina and Alex Russell, Ann and George David, Jean and Art Chambers, Eva and Harold McGonigle and Marg and Bob Hedley. Other summer residents who attended the get together were Betty and Emil Wydareny of London, Rene and Ken Woods, Lucan. In the social time they en- joyed card games and dancing. Mrs. Mitchell and her sister-in-law Doris, of London, served delicious lunch refreshments. Church of God ladies meet The women of Church of God met Thursday evening at the church. Fifteen answered a roll call on, "A good neighbour deed." In the study time Millie Desjardine did a study on Churches of God in Europe, how they started and how they are progressing. During the business a completed quilt was shown to the members which was later presented to Ivan and Shirley Grigg. In a period of craft time they learned to cover coat hangers. Lunch hostess was Irene Reed COMPt, FIEIAO BOOKKEEPING INVESTMENTS IN LEADING TRUST ('O.HP.4.VII ART READ Chartered Accountant (319) 238-2388 Grand Bend, Ontario 39 Woodpark Cres. �1, IN 83 BUY OR LEASE CHRYSLER OUR LOW PIKES WILL OIT YOU, OUR SERVICE WILL KEEP rOUI COME 1111 US TWAY E' IWARNER AU10 MARINI ment between the township and Grand Bend to handle sewage at the going rate in another part of the township in the location of Iluron Coun- try Playhouse. The meter system was re- quested by Ridge Pine Park to begin with but the rate was never settled. The chairman adjourned the hearing sine die ( without a date) until February 9, 1984 or until the application should be dismissed or brought on by those involved. Just spent a week in friend- ly Manitoba — actually I didn't get outside of lovely Winnipeg, or Winterpeg, as those of us from warmer climates call it. The Winnipeggers tried all week to convince us that they, too, were having a very mild winter. I admit that they didn't have any more snow than we have, but it was still cold. How cold was it? Well, that's the kind of cold that freezes your nostrils the minute you try to breathe once you step outside. 'It seemed colder, too, because of the amount of time they spend in the dark. You see, they are just that much further north and their days are shorter. While we in southwestern Ontario are en- joying our lengthening days and longer sunlight as spring approaches, it is still quite dark in Winnipeg at 8:00 a.m., and gets dark again at about 4:30 p.m. It makes you ap- preciate our longer sunlight hours! But Winnipeggers are well adjusted for the cold climes — I noticed many beautiful fur coats on Portage Street, on both males and females. Almost makes you wish the thermometer did drop a little lower here so you could justify the purchase of such beautiful apparel. They also compensate for the cold temperatures by keeping the indoor temperatures down. A note on the hotel room door asks that the room temperature be maintained at 68 degrees F., and I noticed the convention centre was seldom warmer than that.. Shopping malls -and stores also seemed cooler than they are around here. But I'm certainly not com- plaining about that — I wish some of our mall managers and restaurant operators would set the thermostats back. It makes more sense to keep things at a comfortable 68 degrees F these days. Most people' wear sweaters or jackets and are prepared for cooler temperatures. I really don't have any right to complain about the outside temperatures, either. I was actually only outside for a very few minutes during the entire week. I was attending a convention at the Winnipeg. Convention Centre and stay- ing at an adjacent hotel which is connected by a skywalk. KS Mary's • musings By Mary Alderson Shops and restaurants are alo connected, so that virtually everything one needs is under one roof. No, I wasn't at the famous Conservative convention where Joe Clark resigned. In fact, the PC's were just mov- ing out as we arrived. I was at a convention of the Western Fertilizer and Chemical Dealers Association. You see, I write for the WFCDA Com- municator - a magazine published for the association. And while we missed the excitement of the PC conven- tion, we certainly made our own. At the trade show, you could see exhibits of everything connected with the industry — from gigantic floater applicators right down to tiny grains of fertilizer. And there was entertainment galore, from Ukrainian folk dancers to singer -songwriter Hoyt Axton. Fertilizer and chemical dealers sure know how to have a good, and busy, time! And as if our arrival in Win- nipeg wasn't enough for the city to handle, our visit coin- cided with a huge curling bonspicl.`The airport was crowded with happy curlers mixing with happy ceemical and fertilizer dealers. Arid the cabs were full of curlers, go- ing from bonspiel to bonspiel, arena to arena. But the curlers took themselves seriously too, as evidenced by four ladies I noticed in the airport. We flew from London to Winnpeg with a brief stop in Windsor. These four women got on the plane in Windsor, all discussing curling. They were from Detroit and this was to be their first competition with Canadian curlers. We got off the plane in Win- nipeg and crowded around the baggage claim area. Everyone's suitcases carne along promptly, but still these ladies stared at the rotating platform. Finally, I overhead them discussing their pro- blem. Their curling brooms hadn't arrived! After seeking out some Air Canada officials, the brooms were traced and they arrived safe and sound — each wrap- ped in sponge, and tissue paper and then surrounded in brown wrapping paper. When your brooms come gift- wrapped, you know you're a serious curler! 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