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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-09-18, Page 1Hope Wintario will help with cost Rec centre beset by water problems "1'd hate to guess what you could spend," engineer Cliff Marsden com- mented after advising the South Huron rec centre board of manage- ment about several areas needing repair in the rec centre. Marsden described as "serious" some places in the building where water is entering and said some of the cement blocks are already scalding. He said the board members were not alone in the problem as many of the arenas built in the last decade were experiencing similar problems. It was explained that many of the facilities were put up as cheaply as possible and boards "inevitably don't have enough money to maintain them properly". ti Marsden, who Iliad been asked to FURROW4 UE K. E — Lori Consitt; 'RR 1 Varna was crowned Huron County Queen of the Furrow at ,the' county plowing match held at the Nott Brothers Farm �n 1-lighwayi 8 between Seaforth and Clinton. Kate Boon of Bluevale was runner-up. review the building after problems were noted during the heavy rains in August, reported on Thursday that several flashings on the roof had opened up and the roof on the auditorium section had not been in- stalled properly in that it was dry around the outlet -drain but water up to an inch and a half was laying elsewhere. He said that when water starts to seep into the cement block walls, the freezing and thawing cycle leads to a situation where tie blocks can lose their structural integrity. While emphasizing that the rec cen- tre was not in serious shape at the present, he noted that delays in mak- ing the necessary repairs and em- barking on a preventative Ames Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Twelfth Year 55 maintenance program could lead to some sizeable repair bills in the near future. The board hopes to get a Wintario grant for some of the repair and maintenance work recommended by Marsden. Wintario will pay one-third of the cost for building conservation. Deadline for grant applications is the end of September and the board asked Marsden to' prepare a report with the items in priority so they could proceed with the application. It was agreed to meet again this Thursday to review the engineer's fin- dings and to prepare a presentation for Exeter council. After asking how much doom and gloom they wanted in the report. Marsden was advised by member E:< Carolyn Merner not to make it too critical of the facility. "We don't want them to close the place down the next day," she joked. Earlier in the meeting, the board received a recommendation from the facilities committee to use $2,125 from the captial reserve fund to install con- crete parking curbs from the Exeter Public School around the rec centre playground, down to the agricultural building, and up to the roadway leading to the Legion ball diamond. The curbing is intended to protect the grass areas at the park from vehicles. It was decided to hold a decision in abeyance to study the Wintario grant system more fully to see if the project would be eligible for assistance. vocate & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, September 18, 1985 Price Per Copy 50 Cents Huron Park gets auto supply firm A firm which will soon be supplying all the prop shafts for General Motors production plants throughout North America is springing to life in Huron Park. Grant Wilson, a resident of the Granton area for the past 12 years, is president for the new firm, GRW Industries. He's vice-chairman of the Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association and has had a long history in the automotive parts business. Between 12 to 15 employees have started limited production in the former Hughes Boatworks building at Cyclist hurt in collision One minor injury was reported in the three collisions investigated this week by the Exeter police department. That injury was suffered by cyclist Randy Mathers, Exeter, whose bike was in collision with a vehicle driven by Robert Lammie, Hensall. The mishap occurred on the South Huron District High School parking lot on Friday. Damage was set at $180. On Saturday, a two -car collision was investigated at the corer of Main and George St., involving vehicles operated by Brian Rice, Wallaceburg, and Reginald Chappel, Staffa. - Both vehicles were northbound and the Chappel vehicle was turning right onto George when struck by the Rice vehicle from the rear. Damage was set at $1,100. t,,eorge Bromley of Huron Park was driving his 1976 Volkswagen on Main St. on Sunday when the engine caught fire. He was in the right spot at the right time. He stopped in front of the Exeter OPP office and the fire was extinguished by OPP Constable Wright. Cuc HA, Sanders St., reported that his motorcycle was damaged while parked overnight on Saturday. Both mirrors were damaged to the extent of $50. Kierstead quits for York police Dan Kierstead, a member of the Exeter police department for the past five years. has resigned to take a posi- tion with the York Regional police. The 32 -year-old has actually been a member of the local department on two separate occasions and will --be leaving for his new position on Oc- tober 11. Kierstead and his wife. have twin sons. "He's done an excellent job and been an asset to the department." commented Chief Larry Hardy. Hardy said the department will hire a fourth class constable to replace Kierstead. An advertisement for the position appears in this week's issue. v the area industrial park and the number is expected to escalate to bet- ween 50 and 65 early next year when all the production machinery is in place. Most of the equipment is being shiped from GM plants in Saginaw, Michigan, and Parma, Ohio, where the prop shafts are presently being manufactured. GRW will start off with 35 percent of the GM business and will be the sole manufacturers in the near future. Wilson said another manufacturing plant will be built to handle some of BOOK BOUND — SHDHS student council president Angela Fleming, Irene Dietrich and Tammy Durand are loaded down with books at Saturday's huge garage sale at the high school.. T -A photo Plenty to crow about at upcoming fall fair There will be lots to crow about at this year's Exeter Fall Fair which gets underway Friday night and con- tinues through Saturday and Sunday. The theme of the fair is "Focus on Fowl" and the features of Friday night's show at the South Huron Rec Centre is a rooster crowing competition. Contestants attempting to make a rooster sound off will be Usborne reeve Gerry Prout, Stephen reeve Allan Walper, Exeter mayor Bruce Shaw and a representative from Hay township. The fair will be officially opened Friday night by Miss Elaine Pym who was recipient of the Ontario Youth Award for International Youth Year. Saturday's fair parade starts at a new time. It gets underway at 11 a.m. Children classes are asked to line up at the Exeter United Church while adult participants will leave from South Huron Di§trict High School. At the fairgrounds Saturday will be a long line of events. They include an Arabian horse Wow, 4-11 horse and pony club show, poultry juding, draft and tiaflinger horse show, Canadian Goat Society show, 4-11 calf club com- petition and the annual sale of the calves at 3 p.m. Registration for a children's pedal tractor pull will be at 1 p.m. with the action starting a half hour later. This event will be operated by The First Exeter Scout Troupe. There will be three classes depen- ding on the weight of the youngster. They are up to 49 pounds, 50 to 74 pounds and 75 to 100 pounds. Registration fee is 50 cents and the first 25 children will be accepted in Sportsfest has profit This summer's Lake Huron Zone Sportsfest, hosted by Exeter, has managed a profit of about $8,700. In making the announcement at Thursday's session of the South Huron rec centre board of management, rec director Lynne Farquhar said that the local groups involved in the organiz- ing of the event would be meeting soon to decide what to do with the profits. She said she was extremely pleas- ed with the way the weekend went as all events were on time and the com- petition was even. There was disappointment that some events did not attract as many competitors as hoped, but overall the response was good. About 2,400 par- ticipated in Sportsfest which was be- ing held in Exeter for the first time. i CREDITON FIREMAN HONOURED Don Dinney, a Crediton volunteer fireman for 30 years was honoured Friday night. Presenting awards to Dinney and his wife Marie were Gerry Sunstrum of the Ontario Fire Marshal's office at the. left and Crediton fire chief Charlie Browning. T -A photo each class. There will be lots of oh's and ah's from the youngsters and _�ppaarents alike. One important hint for the com- petitors. Keep the pedal at the top. Mrs. Mac Hodgert, president of the homecraft, ladies and men's divisions reports that fowl will be the attraction for many specials in this department. These exhibits are on display in the foyer and the arena, Friday evening and Saturday. Five special activities will take place in the auditorium of the Rec Centre Saturday afternoon. Deb Campbell assisted by Centralia Col- lege students will demonstrate the cooking of fowl at 1 p.m. At 1:50 Kelly Hern, a SHDHS stu- dent will provide piano selections and 10 minutes later Vicki Pfaff will host a fashion show along with four local merchants to background music pro- vided by Peter Snell. A cooking demonstration with eggs conducted by Gwen Dykeman and the Ontario Egg Producers goes at 3 p.m. At 3:45 p.m. Marjorie Johns will provide the music for a bird dance for toddlers to adults. Mrs. Hodgert says, "Everyone flap your wings." Other displays and demonstrations will include smocking by the Huron - dale WI, an array of bird species by Bill McNutt, decorating eggs by Sheila and Wendy and the Ministry of Natural Resources on preserving wild birds and promoting the rabies arm- ed bait trails planned for Huron this fall. The Exeter Girl Guides will be ser- ving tea and cookies throughout the afternoon. At 4 p.m. a number of the baking and egg specials will be auc- tioned off to the highest bidder with all proceeds going to the Huron Coun- ty Christmas Bureau. Visitors to the fair will have a chance to buy tickets on two draws. Prizes on the ladies draw are a quilt, a sweater and a hoop picture. The Agricultural Society draw pro- vides a quarter of beef, side of pork, 825 and a case of soup, $30 of mer- chandise, a turkey, a case of oil and a bushel of apples. The draws will be made at the Saturday night dance when the Main Street Jug Band will provide the music. A new car show will be held Sunday afternoon in the Rec Centre. It will be sponsored jointly by the fair board and the Exeter Kinsmen club. the production, while there are also plans to expand the Huron Park facility. He expects the firm will have a staff of betwegen 130 to 175 when production reaches its peak. Canada Manpower is screening prospective applicants and Wilson in- dicated that former employees of the Huron Park boat firm were among those being considered for jobs. Both skilled and unskilled positions will be available. The firm's production facilities will have capacity to produce other types of products. Wilson previously headed two other firms in Western Ontario. They were St. Marys Tube and Wilco Canada Ltd., which had a plant in Glencoe. Those companies were closed through bank action, Wilson explain- ed, noting that the Glencoe firm was very profitable. About 100 people were employed by the two firms and many of those jobs were lost to the U.S.A. Wilson indicated that General Motors approached him about star- ting the firm in Huron Park and they will be supplying much of the equip- ment used in the manufacturing of prop shafts, which drive the power train. GM also supplies a large portion of the prop shafts used by Chrysler. Addition is planned for Zurich school Although no dollar figure rias been attached to the plans, drawings have been sent off to the Ministry of educa- tion for approval of an addition to St. ' Boniface separate school in Zurich. The preliminary plans provide for the addition of two regular classrooms, a kindergarten room, a special education classroom and two change rooms. The need for the larger school facilities follows the closing of Ecole Ste. Marie at St. Joseph's and the transferring of students to St. Boniface. School board chairman Ron Marcy said the board has to first find out if the education ministry will fund the project before any further action is taken by the board. In related matters, the school board agreed to sell Ecole Ste. Marie. Despite a drop in the expected number of students in French immer- sion classes in Stratford and Goderich, a spokesman for the Huron - Perth Roman Catholic separate school board predicts a great future by �.�♦ for thg program. Superintendent of education Gaeten Blanchette told the September 9 meeting of the Catholic school board that no students have been withdrawn from the program since it started on • September 4. However, less staff are need at the Stratford school because of the drop in numbers. Only 55 kindergarten, grade 1 and 2 students showed up at St. Michael's in Stratford to take part in the French immersion program. This compares to an expected number of 76. The school board has reduced the number of full-time teaching positions in the French immersion program at Stratford from three to two. Goderich has three full-time teaching positions for 64 students. A total of 68 students were expected. Blanchette said most of the students pulled from the program before it started actually moved away. He did say though, that some children did turn to the public school system which doesn't offer French immersion. IS IT FOWL ADVICE? — Veteran poultryman Don Dearing is giving tips to Usborne reeve Gerry Prout on how to make a rooster crow. Prout will be competing against area reeves and Exeter mayor Bruce Show in a rooster crowing contest at Exeter Fair Friday night. Province expected to pay sludge cost At a special meeting Thursday afternoon, Exeter council agreed to award the contract for removal of the sludge from the existing lagoons at the sewage disposal site. The contract will be awarded to Jarsno Equipment Inc. in the amount of $195,852, subject to the town receiv- ing formal written confirmation of provincial funding to cover the entire cost. When the tenders were opened at the last regular session of council, a decision was held in abeyance in view of the high bids received. It was not known at that time whether the ministry �f the environment grant would cover the entire cost. Engineer Bruce Potter explained at that time that the higher than ex- pected bids were the result of the long hauling distance to the farms where the sludge will be spread on fields. . Some of the sites are up to five miles away from the sewage lagoon which is just west of Canadian Canners. The sites approved by the ministry include the Stephen and flay farms of D. Mousseau, I). Munn, F. Elder. J.G. Muss, L. Elder, 11 Campbell, S. Triebner, G. Triehner, D. Finkbeiner, K. Brittain and G. Dearing. It is expected that the removal of the sludge from the lagoons and the spreading of the material on the farm fields will commence as soon as the ministry advises council on the fun- ding situation. Removal of the sludge is part of the sewer expansion project •