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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-09-09, Page 1• Blazes level barns in Stephen; Clandeboye Dairrifien:pO"1;ei' Two area dairy farmers were. put out of business by fires Which levelled their barns this weak. and both ex- pect to take some time to con - alder whether they will rebuild. The fires destroyed barns on the farms of Hank Brand, three miles south-west of Ex- eter around 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, and at Art and Vic Hodgins, Clandeboye, around 10:00 p.m. Monday. Both dairy producers were under the same ROP inspec- tion and they spent Tuesday at the Shore Salesarena in Glanworth making ar- rangements to sell their. hiss. Each plans to spend the winter considerleg whether to rebuild. Their milk quotas will be held for them for one year. The first that Brand knew about the Hodgins fire was when he spotted the smouldering ruins while un his. *ay to Glanworth. The Hodgins had taken their cat- tle to Glanworth Tuesday tnorning, where they were milked, and tvill be sold by auction. The fires had. other similarities, as well. Both blazes apparently started in the hay mow areas, but neither believes that combus- tion of hay was the cause of the blazes. Both lost this season's straw and part of the hay cep, while firemen managed to save the milking parlours and the owners saved their herd records: Three fire brigades responded to each of the calls.. The Crediton fire department had tank trucks from Exeter and Huron Park to assist in the Brand fire, while the Lucan firemen were joined by those from' Ailsa Craig and Granton at the Hodgins blaze. The Brands have a milking herd of 30 animals and the Hodgins have35. Neither lost sap�yY of their 'main herd, alwughthree Or four calves were destroyed in the Stephen township blaze. The owners, with their families and neighbours, ma to get pens of calves and equipment bef� the out e levelled. A bull and a were steel,the latter destined for the lttand freezer, were also saved. Neither owner is certain about the condition of adjoin- ing silos. The Brands had three silos, two of which ap- peared to be okay, while one ..51144. -. . - . -. future after fires smaller one may have been damaged by the Intensive heat. The Hodgins family were uncertain about the con- dition of their, silos, but telt they too may have escaped ir- reparable damage. Neither owner could put a figure on the loss. "Where do you start figuring it out?" Art Hodgins asked. The Brands had just com- pleted steel siding op their buildinga week before the blaze. Neither suspected hay as the cause of the blaze. Fami- ly members had been in each - of the hay mows working on- ly an hour or two before the respective fires and reported they smelled or saw nothing out of the way. Both' barns were quickly engulfed in flames and firemen worked mainly on wetting down adjoining buildings and silos. The Crediton firemen were at the Brand fire for about seven hours anti then return- ed again for about two hours Friday night and four hours Saturday afternoon when the burning rubble spread towards the silos again. A bulldozer was finally brought in Saturday to push the nibble out of the area. Firemen were at the Clandeboye scene until early Tuesday morning and the blaze drew throngs of onlookers, many of whom were returning to their homes after the holiday weekend. Hank Brand (on tractor) 'troves gasoline tank to safety 'r a Brand barn quickly engulfed in flames Lucan fireman Dan Gwolchmai fights the Hodgins blaze h Huron, North*Iddtesex voca & North Lambton Since 1873 lucan, Granton and Ailsa Craig firemen at the Clandeboye fire Dealer closes business due to economic outlook Exeter Ford Equipment Sales Ltd. is going out of business and most of the firm's farm and office equip- ment will be liquidated at an . auction sale this Saturday. Dick Vandergunst, who has operated the business for the past 10 years at its Highway 83 East location, cited high in- terest rates and a poor outlook for agricultural com- modities as his reason for closing the doors and giving up the Ford dealership. Emphasizing that he was not being forced out of business, Vandergunst said he was making a business decision based on the current economic climate. "I think it's the right decision for right now," he said. Vandetgunst said he plans to open a smaller operation at another location in the future with his two sons, Derek and Mark, and a mechanic, Dan- ny Randin. Others on the seven= member staff will be laid off. The local dealer said the in- terest on new equipment was too excessive and was eroding his assets. in addition, with poor commodity prices and high interest rates facing farmers, equipment sales had declined drastically. "Equipment is not mov- ing," he said, adding that he could not envision any quick change in that respect. Exeter Ford leases the building and Vandergunst said the rental price had in- creased substantially when the 10 -year term came up for renewal and that added to the circumstances which pro- mpted him to give up the Ford dealership. He reported he had receiv- ed calls from many equip- ment dealers with whom he had become associated through his involvement in the business and said most of them indicated they wished 1 they could follow his curse of action. Vandergunst said he had cut back over the past couple of years, but had reached the point where he couldn't cut back any more. His plans for the future are in abeyance until after Satur- day's auction. • FIRST TIME STUDENT — Jimmy Robertson was his way to school for the first time Tuesday morning. His mother Carolyn provides the power for the trip to kindergarten classes at Exeter Public School. T -A photo Elections coming Municipal elections will soon be rolling around and there was evidence of that fact at Tuesday's session of. Exeter council. Direct comment came from Mayor Bruce Shaw, who ask- ed members to consider their plans for the future and make their intentions known at the next session of council. Ile explained this has been a tradition and that it gives other members and the public an indication of what vacan- cies may have to be filled. There was also some other evidence that election time is rolling around. Several items of discussion at Tuesday's session were delayed until after the meeting when coun- cil met privately. One Hundred and. Tefl ii TiDar : R6� EXETER, ONTARIO, September 9,1982 Price Per Copy 50 cents Lucan area: coup .Qet $100,000` Are: are t s.. afo.t aro win The schedule - ers . A. quick phone call to the HeavyToronto area traffic saw the cheque. I could read _chased Tuesdayat Becker's ,;re~ be Mites :As andxc t ken's prizemoney to other lttteiy altered it II" �y Co etion slowed the trip home and they those numbers easier than the Milk store in Lucan. winners. y . y the office Torbe?tar, my"the arrived back at their Lucan ones on weather, but; that was not the win and th the, ticket." The Hardy's plan to attend This is the second b' Win_ e, Nardy's were off area farm at 9:30 only As for plans for the money, the Wintario show when it ap- tanto wit'r in this area hi less reason that Gord and Joanne to collect their loot before 2 minutes before a load of cat- - Gord's reply was, "We run a pears at tIke Hardy of RR 2, Lucan quick -p.m. tle was to arrive. farm. Do I have to tell you ty Centre on Thursday, stiren lar pnzeronOc Winningtobe9, ly changed plans Friday '!'hey arrived at the lottery Asked of their initial nese what we will use the money September 23. 1981 were Bob. and Audrey afternoon. office about a half hour before '`y tion reaction, Gord Hardy for? It will be used for the They have been tot.! by Pooley of Exeter. It was just an ordinary its scheduled closing time of said, "You always hope to win mortgage and other debts." friends they will be asked to Previous to that Au work day until shortly after 12 5 p.m. It took more than an a big prize, but, I didn't real- The winning ticket appeartea noon when Gord came in for , hour to complete verification l • believe it for sure until I numbered 600217 was ' pur-sh the on the program. and $1 Bentley of Exeter was' a dinner which wasn't quite , and receive the cheque. y push the button to distribute 5100,000 winner. ready. So, he grabbed a copy This delay caused another of the London Frye press and shift in the Hardy schedule. 'started reading. When he They were planning to attend 'reached page four where the the Friday night presentation Wintarionumberswerelisted at the Huron Country he got a little interested. Playhouse at Grand Bend. He grabbed a book of Adding to the problems was tickets purchased Tuesday the fact Joanne had tickets for and said to his wife "I think themselves and a number of we have a winner." and when friends in her purse. A quick she said, "a windfall prize" he call from Toronto to the replied, "No, I think it's a lit- Playhouse with the numbers tle more than that." The little of the admission tickets allow - more turned out to be ed their friends to see the 3100,000. show. Municipalities meet over dump matter Representatives of six are municipalities met last wee to discuss mutual problem related to waste disposa sites. ► Arranged by the Exeter public works committee, the session was attended by coun- cil members from Usborne, Stephen, Zurich, Hay, Hertsall and Exeter. In reporting to Exeter coup• cil, Tuesday, Deputy -Reeve Alvin Epp said a good cooperative sharing session was held, with each council to consider its future plans for disposal units and possibilities of sharing sites. a He said a, type of garbage k packer was also discussed s and reported that the unit 1 which is capable of crushing material up to the size of railroad ties, would be on display in Stephen later this month and would be viewed by council members. The machine, known as a chipper, can compact gar- bage so less space is needed at disposal sites. in his drain committee report. Reeve Don MacGregor noted that the purchase of a land packer in conjunction with the PUC was being considered. Works superintendent Glenn Kells advised that the PUC had approved paving their share of the $965 machine to be used on local construction projects, and the used packer has already been purchased. MacGregor said the town had been renting a machine this year, and explained the rental charges to date were alrnost as high as (he town's share of the packer. One collision over holiday Three area residents sus- tained minor injuries in the only collision investigated over the final summer holi- day weekend by the Exeter I )PP. The lone crash occurred early Saturday morning and involved a vehicle operated by Paul J. Pavkeje, RR 2 Cen- tralia. He had been south- bound on Highway 4 and on entering his exit lane to the Crediton Road, struck a curb and then a pole in a flower bed at the A&K Service Centre. injured in addition to the driver were Cheryl Stewart, RR 1 Kirkton, and Clifford Hicks, RR 1 Crediton. Damage was listed at $3,000. The committee had also recommended that three more blacks of sidewalk be in- stalled at a cost of about $5,000. that being the amount that had been saved on the street paving budget this year. Council endorsed the move ' and were advised by Kells that some of the work was already completed- Two blocks of sidewalk on William SI: and one on James will be added to the list of projects for this year. HAPPY WINTARIO WINNERS Joanne and Gord Hardy and daughter, Lindsay ore shown with the $100,000 cheque they won in Thursday's Wintario 'draw. They made the trip to Toronto Friday afternoon to pick up their winnings. Two other children Lisa and Lora Lee were in bed when the picture was taken Monday night. - Ownership admitted in enumeration Dog takes iump • Exeter's dog population during the survey which took required only a gentle persua- look a considerable jump this her approximately 57 hours Sion to buy their tags." she summer; at least, those peo- as- . she visited ,most reported "Even (haw owners ple admitting they owned households. who didn't wish to purchase dogs increased substantially •'Most dog owners who tags were still generally polite . 1Vhen Brenda Pinder was didn't have tags for their dog towards me." hired for the summer under a • government •subsidized ex- perience program, council gave • her the lob of enumerating the town's dog population. She found a total of 55 dog owners who had never pur- chased tags for their animals. • Of those. 32 purchased tags from the student, but 23 still have not come forth. Miss Pinder, in a written report to council, said she found the local citizens "generally co-operative and friendly" and came up against only a few problems More good news There was more good news emanating from Dashwood industries Limited this week. The firm announced a fur- ther recall of 11 employees on Tuesday, bringing to 71 the total number recalled this month and bringing the staff back to 210. President Michael Shmety said the recalls stemmed from increased demand for - the firm's products through ti aggressive marketing tactics. and an improvement in the number of housing starts and renovations. Shurely said if the demand for renovation products con- tinues and recently announc- ed government incentives help strengthen the new hous- ing market. the firm can look forward to recalling the rest of its 35 employees still on layoffs On her travels, she reported three problem areas in the community for dogs running at large. These were iden- tified as the Dow subdivision. Carling St. North and the An- drew St. area around Hill Street. "l also received numerous complaints about the number of stray cats in several dif- ferent areas," she concluded. adding her thanks to council for the .learning opportunity she enjoyed this summer. Clerk Liz Bell reported this week that through the enumeration. Exeter's canine population has been establish- ed at around 270 Councillor Dorothy. ('hap - man asked what should be done about the 23 owners still Please turn to page 3 3 r •} A