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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-08-21, Page 31Development of GB harbour is boost to local economy The only place m town that it is legal to double-park and not get a ticket is along the Grand Bend municipal docks on the north side of the Ausable River. Of course, the vehicle has to be a floating one, and parked in the river not on the land. This past week end was one of the busiest times of the whole summer for Grand Bend Harbour and docking spaces were practically non-existent. Increasingly. the harbour has at- tracted many recreational boaters from both the United States and Cana- dian harbours in the last three years. According to the Spriet Report, a joint Federal and municipal- study of 1983-4-5. on the Grand Bend Harbour Development . it is't he attractions and amenities available in the harbour rather than distance or geographical location of each harbour, on which boaters base their distination decisions. Grand Bend harbour has blossom- ed and changed its appearance drastically in the last three years and the statistics are impressive! As one saunters along River Road amid the clap -tap -tap of rigging ropes against the masts, it is hard to con- centrate on the cold facts - that the Grand Bend Yacht club alone represents a "floating investment" of (conservatively) more than $2 million. Further up the river, quietly at dockside in front of the Grand Bend Cruising Club, is another $1 million or so in motor launches. The 900 ft. of municipal transient docking with an estimated usage of over 800 boats .per year represents and additional value of close to $10 million afloat not to mention the more than $2 million seasonal dockings, and then add those boats tied up at privately coned docks. The Siret report unassumingly refers to this as a "capital intensive" area. all compressed into a few hun- dred meters of 'the Ausable River. most of it west of Hwy. 21. The fishing industry reprsents another form of revenue producing activity in the Harbour area, vital to and directly inter -related to recrea- tional boating life. The 1983 figures show that the eight licensed commer- cial enterprises occupying the 588 ft. of dock on the south side of the river, ship a harvest of close to $2 million in value. It was this kind of revenue that real- ly brought the harbour to the attention of the federal government. It was the inexhaustible efforts of Tom Lawson. then appointed chairman of the new- ly formed Harbour Committee, that brought funding and active participa- tion on the part of government to har- bour improvements. Regular dredging of the sand which builds up in the mouth of the river due to wave action is a federal respon- sibility and cost. Not only. is it necessary for the fishing industry to have safe and easy access but of course it benefits the increased use by large pleasure boats as well. The at- tractive new docking facility for AID BOATERS — Speed and efficiency are the resuFt of team effort put forth by all the Grand Bend Harbour staff. Scott Hayter makes sure the bow rope is tied fast while Dana Bozzato prepares to top up the gas tank for a seasonal boater. Senior teams are idle Minor soccer squads play The Grand Bend Colonials were idle this past week. in league play they're against Blue Water at home August 25 at 6 p.m. The Grand Bend Ausable learn was .also idle this past week after their successful previous weekend becom- ing league champs. They will defend their "six aside" trophy in this annual tournament on the weekend. In bantam action, Glenn Hayter and Darryl Glavin scored for -Grand -Bend in their 6-2 loss to Petrolia. They play again August 27 in Wallaceburg. The Grand Bend pee wees lied 2-2 against Exeter 1 Cullen Kobe was the only goal scorer with both goals. August 21. they play at home to Nairn. The mosquitoes lost their first game of the regular season to Exeter III 4-0 with only nine players.Then,in a tournament on the weekend. they mel Exeter iII again only to lose again 1-0. even though they outplayed Exeter and only allowed three shots on net against them. They play August 27 at home to Exeter 11. In atom play. Grand Bend II did not play while Grand Bend I lost to Bryanston 2-0. Team Ii and Team i play against each other August 26. No report on the squirt team. They play in Lucan on August 22. United ('hurch News Due to weather. the United Church service was held indoors with a pack- ed auditorium. Door greeters were Jan Kobe and Alex Hamilton. The special music was provided by the Prouty Family. of Exeter, Dave and Beth Prouty and daughters. Christa and Salty. Rev. R. Peebles. back from vaca- tion, led a hymn sing to open the ser- sice. His meditation was titled, "False Security." Rev. Peebles open- ed his meditation talk about the pro- paganda of amazing and disturbing thoughts of a woman physicist. Obses- sions reach out to people like the ten- tacles of an octopus.God's word tells us that affluency is a false security. ('hurch of God Pastor and Mrs. Tom McCracken from the U.S., Missionaries home on furlough from work in Brazil. S.A., were at Church of God for all services on Sunday. During the.S.S. hour./ Pastor and Mrs. Mctracken showed Starling tMazdas y� d into goo���dl more. More Manias for us mean more good 1 deals for you. 5o starting today we're dealing on every Mazda in stock. Ever sporty RX -7. Ever world-class 626. F vcry economical GLC. So now's the best time to get '.Y,i i r best deal on the Mazda that's lust right for you. 'Cause starting today, we're turning Mazdas into a gcxxt deal ... more! . • BRUCE MaCPHEE i, / A, M -W MOTORS LTD ra Sales and Service 184 EAST ST., GODERICH ph: 524.2113 '4ia a torr¢' cal-mov_. slides and shared thoughts and com- ments about their work in Brazil. After the morning service. food and fellowship were enjoyed by those who remained. Plans.had been for an out- door meal. but having had -rain we re- mained inside, in the basement. The Young People were in charge of the opening exercises for the Even- ing Service with the missionaries fill- ing in with a few thoughts from the Bi- ble, with more slides and a commentary. Pastor and Mrs. McCracken will be attending the Camp at Thamesford, this week. Due to the Camp Meeting please note. there will be no Sunday School nor church services, Sunday August 25. about 25 boats was completed for use this summer of '85, as the first logical step m harbour expansion after the Harbour building itself had been com- pleted (though Federal BUILD. grants) for the summer of '83. . Alt levels of government are involv- ed in the work along this very precious resource, the Ausable River. The federal Small Craft Harbours Branch of the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans has direct responsibility under the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act of 1978 Provincially, the Ministry of Natural Resources oversees dock installations. Ausable- Bayfield Conservation Authority and the commercial fishing licenses. The municipality has control through the Planning Act and Building Code and has enacted a docking by-law to control the improv- meent of and quality of all docks 1tuNt. Clearly it is a complicated joint ef- fort of co-operation and goals which must be sought and adhered to in order to benefit not only the fishermen, the recreational vessels, but also all business enterprises in the town as well as the people themselves. The Spriet report on the Grand Bend Harbour Development was adopted by council in the fall of 1984. In it the overall plan proposed is outlined in three phases. Phase one deals with improvements for the Commercial fishing space and boat well/lift. Phase 2 outlines the only feasible area for dock expansion - the Old River bed where about 100 servic- ed docks, are estimated to cost more than -$11 _ million. Phase 3 addresses the further development of Yacht club facilities and the waterfront proper- ties leading up River Road to the Hwy. 21 bridge with 74 more docks. Can this dream ever be a reality'? Only single-minded dedication. ac- tive participation by all levels of government, private enterprise, and mostly civic pride can keep the mo menturliof_impravernent-going: The original initiative came from the village council with the purchase of the old Marine property at the south side entrance to the river. Once this initial investment ($55,000) was made the whole Har- bour basin came under the federal jurisdiction and grant money financ- ed the Harbour building and staff. Through rentals, sales of gasoline and other marinerelated services the har- bour docks become self- sustaining. The staffed launch ramp charges are $4.0 daily. $12 weekly or $40 seasonal and produce income of close to $3000 each year. Gasoline sales gross close to $60,000, dock rentgls over $10,000 and other. building ser- vices such as showers etc. another $2500. These figures represent an ap- proximate 50 percent increase over last year's revenues and certainly reflect the efficient and enthusiastic work of the five staff members. Deputy Reeve Harold Green, who serves on the Harbour Committee as well as village council. is anxious and ever watchful for opportunities to im- prove the harbour area expansion but sees the Spriet report proposals only as a guideline without too much pro- bability of becoming reality. Harbour Committee chairman Tom Lawson believes more fully in the logical Old River Bed expansion even- tually and Looks for increasingly more support from the Chamber of Com- merce to improve the facilities as viewed by the many visitors. Meanwhile, government represen- tative MP Sid Fraleigh has been in- vited to attend Harbour Committee this week to entertain a proposeal to procede with phase I development. in addition, the committee is also proposing to form a Grand Bend Aux- iliary Coast Guard to aid in all rescue operations and boats in distress. Fisherman Joe Green, in co- operation with some members of thea Grand Bend Cruising Club, proposes to modify his electronical equipped fishing boat and train a crew of workers in specialized rescue opera- tions as the core of this auxilary coast guard. Catholic ('hurch News Our pastor. Father Morrissey. was celebrant at all Masses this past -weekend. Father Van Zuphthen of London delivered the sermon. People often leave a special farewell gift to those they love, and Jesus' farewell gift to us was a loaf of bread, the bread of life; His own flesh in the holy eucharist. The more we eat of this bread. the more eter- nal life we will have in us: may we all come to truly appreciate what a precious gift Ile has left us. There are presently two persons about to take instructions about the Catholic Faith. beginning in mid- September. If anyone else is in- terested. please see Father so that he can include you in the classes. For couples planning to be married in. 1986, the "Marriage Operation Course" is required, which is given in Stratford. Please see father to be enrolled. as class sizes are limited. Father is also taking applications for C.O.K. weekends, the nextipne to be held on October 18-20, so please let him know. Congratulations to Andrea Wolff, the daughter of Dieter and Mary (Koncan) and to Derek I3altessen. the son of John and Janet i Ilendrikx ), who were both received into the Catholic.Cornmunity this past week by the sacrament of.baptism. The annual Pro -Life rally at Queen's Park. Toronto, is scheduled • for Saturday. September 21. This year's theme is "Justice for the t inborn." The members of the Catholic Women's League will be having a bake sale ori August 24.25, so ladies. bake up a storm. and remember your quilt raffle tickets. There has been a most welcome development at our church in recent weeks. that of married couples distributing Communion at Masses. Becoming lay distributors of the Ho- ly Eucharist can only serve to strengthen and bless the special union between husband and wife in their faith, and serve as beautiful examples of that faith to their church community. immaculate heart of Mary. Grand Bend. The C.W.L. ladies will be hav- ing a bake sale after all masses on August 24 and 25. On location or Studio BartDeVrie PHOTOGRAPHY - COMMERCIAL - WEDONGS • PORTRAITS • Gimps •PUBLICITY -Telephone 235.1298 • 117 Thames Rd., fast, hetet, OnI. Seamless aft ALUMINUM end ViNYL SIDING Aluminum Storm Doors a.d Windows Aluminum Awnings Replaconio.d Windows Renovations & General Constru ti • n "Free Estimates" JIM BEAKER CONSTRUCTION 17 15 )h Times -Advocate, August 21, 1985 Page 17A PROPOSE GUARD — Grand Bend licensed fishermon Joe Green, owner of the I. 8 R, docks on the south bank of the river prepares to unload the day% cdtch under the watchful eye of a family of seagulls. With some modifications to the vessel, the L 8 R would become an integral member of the proposed Grand Bend Auxiliary Coast Guard to aid in search and rescue operations along the lake in this area. Mary's Musings By Mary Alderson .nolo+`. �:'........ ...... ...................... .. •:�•: �:y It was seven years ago, while I was excellent standard of living. as good a student in journalism school, that as, if not tetter, than ours in North -Pieter Botha was first elected presi- dent orSouth Africa. It was a hot day, and one of my classmates, Jon. and 1 were .in charge of the radio news broadcast. We suspected that no one would be listening to our newscast, as it was getting late in the afternoon. even though the journalism school news was broadcast across the cam- pus of the University of Western Ontario. Jon and i decided to have some fun. We thought we were being terribly witty and clever when we opened our newscast with "There's going to be a lot of Botha in South Africa from now on," reading the word Botha like t .bother". America. The blacks, on the other hand. are forced to live in compounds. where the housing is basically lin shacks. The blacks are only allowed out of the compounds to go to work. While al work, they are never, never. allowed to mingle with whites. Any in- tergration of races is strictly forbidden. The alt -white South African govern- ment adopted the Apartheid police (which is really legal segregation) in the 1940's. The apartheid laws strict- ly define where and how blacks can live. As a result, most blacks live in utter poverty. Although there are many similarities, one cannot really com- pare the situation to the segregation problems in the southern United States in the 1950's and 60's. in the US. the blacks were a minority. In South Africa, the blacks are the vast majority. Unless Pieter Botha and his government starts recogniz- ing their plight. the horrors of the blacks will only escalate. The day is coming when the blacks. as hard working citizens of South Africa. will gain the right to,vote. They will form political parties and overthrow the white government. Let us hope that violence and bloodshed will be kept to a minumum as the blacks gain their rights. Let us hope the blacks. so long the,victims of apartheid, won't turn the tables onthe whites. We were no sooner off the air than we were summoned to the office of one 'of our professors. Evidently. he didn't find our newscast as witty as we thought it was. We were chastis- ed for trying to make the news funny. Also, our professor continued, if we wanted to be newsmen, we had bet- ter learn to pronounce the names of political figures. Botha, we were told. is pronounced with -'a "r' sound in the middle, not a "th" like bother,. Our lit- tle joke wasn't so funny, by the time the prof was finished with us. We thought we were being dismiss- ed when the professor added, "you know, you're right, there will be a lot of bother in South Africa." Then he asked us what we knew about that country. We both shrugged and shook our heads. Ile suggested (or rather told us, as professors are wont to do) that we prepare a documentary on the political unrest in South Africa. The figures amazed us. The coun- try is totally run by whites.Blacksare not even allowed to vote. let alone have any involvement in government.. Yet there are 10 times more blacks than whites. There are only two million white Afrikaners, whilethere are over 20 million blacks. The whites in South Africa enjoy an C►OE 1-• 1 I I P ()f (L [1i11 A STORE FULL OF BEAUTIFUL FURNITURE On the Main Street of Dublin 345-2250 Free Delivery ,ietf2'I and I want it on Discover for yourself why people who ,bap on a Serta perfect Sleeper' are spoiled for any other mattress, why they say. "1 want my Serial" Only Berta goes beyond (Wt being firm to create the Sorts Surface —layer, of comfort no other mattress ha,. Now you can pet your Sects on sale' Serta Perfect Sleeper Limited $ 2 999s RReg. 2 t SOD piece ,. 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