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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-11-13, Page 1PER COPY Usborne approves $1,000 to fight area hydro line At their meeting, Tuesday, Usborne Township council voted to donate $1,000 to the Foodland Hydro commit- tee to support the fight against hydro transmission lines being erected in the area. Patricia 'Down, representing the Foodland Hydro group, appeared at the session to explain that a preliminary hearing had been held on October 16 and that the next hearing is slated for November 13. She advised council that only agen- cies registered as having participant status could make presentations at the hearings and she had therefore registered Usborne for this purpose. The donation from council came after Down reported that several .y, TODDLERS SEE PLANES — Ryan Ralph and Amanda Chambers of the Toddlers Inn Nursery School visited Centralia airport Thursday. They are shown in a cockpit with Terry Stewart of Terryair. London lady hits husband's vehicle A runaway trailer and an accident involving two vehicles driven by a husband and wife were among the five collisions investigated by the Ex- eter OPP this week. On Wednesday,.a vehicle driven by Byron Clarke, RR 1 Crediton, had a trailer loaded with eight -inch cement blocks come unhooked on concession 2-3 of Usborne on the Morrison Dam bridge. The trailer -broke 'thrbilgh't'vGb"' guard rails and went down the em- bankment into the reservoir at the south-east side. Damage to the trailer was $250. The collision involving the vehicles operated by a London couple occur- red on Saturday on Highway 4 at the north of Exeter. Harold Littleton, 46 Queen Mary Crescent, was stopped behind a vehi- cle making a left turn and a car driven by his wife, June, was stopped behind him. A fourth vehicle operated by Barry Cleave. Zurich, collided with the rear of the vehicle driven by June Littleton and it in turn was push- ed into the rear of the vehicle driven by her husband. Total damage in the collision was listed at $4,000. . On Sunday, avehicle driven by Keith Johns, RR 2 Staffa, struck a hydro pole on concession 10-11 of Usborne south of Highway 83. The driver sustained minor injuries and damage was estimated at $2,750. The other two crashes occurecd on Friday, the first involving vehicles operated ' by Stanley Thibaudeau, Markdale, and Clayton Pfile, Dashwood. They collided on Highway 83 at Huron Road 2 and damage was set at $2,200. The other involved a vehicle driven by Jeffrey Thompson, Calagary. He lost control of the vehicle on wet pave- ment and struck a large cement light standard at Centralia College. Thompson sustained minor injuries and damage was set at $2,200. local municipal councils had made grants to the committee to help defray expenses incurred as a result of opposing the hydro corridor plann- ed to run through Huron County. Following receipt of a letter from former PC environment minister An- dy Brandt, council passed a resolution calling on the present minister to delay third reading on the controver- sial Environment Protection Act, also known as the "Spills Bill". The Act is to take effect on November 29. • Brandt explained the effect of the bill with respect to municipal liabili- ty and the cost of insurance premiums. He also advised that this bill includes manure spills or chemical spills associated with farm operations whereby farmers would be held liable for the cost of the cleanup and- restoration whether of not they were at fault. It therefore will in- crease liability insurance costs to the farming community, or prevent them from obtaining coverage at all since Insurance companies do not like to take on cases where they have no defense. The Usborne resolution calls on the bill to be referred to a legislative com- mittee for full, open and complete review, which would include par- ticipation from municipal representatives. ' Huron County planning department member Patty Munkittrick attended the council. meeting to update members on the OMB hearing which is scheduled for December 5 and 6 to hear opposition from a ratepayer who opposes the distance factor in regards to residences and livestock Operations. She advised that she had met with Dan Murphy, the solicitor appointed by council to act on their behalf at the hearing, and it was their hope that the Please turn to page 3 Ames - Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Thirteenth Year GREAT HONOUR Murray Traquair, treasurer of Hensall Legion Branch 468, received the legion's highest award, the Meritorious Ser- vice Medal, from provincial chairman Charles McEwan at the Hen- sall Legion's Diamond Jubilee Remembrance banquet. dvocate & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, November 13 1985 Price Per Copy 50 Cents Wages are main issue General Coach hit by strike Production ceased at General Coach on Mill St. in Hensall .when all 163 members of Local 3054 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America began a legal strike on Friday. Union and company represen- tatives had met seven times since August to try to reach a settlement on a new contract. The company's last offer on November 7 to give each employee a signing bonus of $400 (which works out to an extra 20e per hour for a year), a 20e per hour increase on November 1, 1986 for two years, and no change in the dental plan (which follows 1981 Ontario Dental Associa- tion rates) was turned down by the union. General Coach manager Andrew Imanse said the union asked fora Sot an hour increase the first year, 45e -the second year and an updateijl the.den- tal plan to 1986 rates. In a prepared statement, Imanse said, ""The company has .been negotiating with the carpenters union since August with a view of reaching a new agreement. "On November 7, in order to avoid a strike, the company presented a substantially improved offer. It is the company's understanding that a - secret vote was not held for the final offer and seemingly the offer was re- jected by the union. It is hoped that all employees will continue to serious- ly consider the offer. "The company's view .is that its proposal is fair and reasonable in light of increases to a compensation package that is already significantly higher than that of competition and other local industries. Current wages being $10.01, plus the cost of O.H.I.P., their drug plan, dental, major medical, vision care, and life in- surance brings the total package to $13.15 per hour for an employee with ten (10) years of service. "The company has taken a respon- isible position througho it and will con- tinue to do with with tfte objective of -providing this compensation package in face of increasing competition in Ontario and other markets." r Imanse said this is a slow time of year at General Coach, and normal - fly regular workers are turning out Vehicles to build up a backlog so that ektra employees do not have to be , hired in the spring•when demand for the company's products increases. Imanse pointed out that the Hensall company's base rate is from $1.25 to $2.30 per hour more than is paid by its major competitors in southwestern •Ontario"'He said he believed the com- -- pany's working conditions were good, and their wage offer fair. Although no further meeting 'with union negotiators is yet on the calendar,'m- anse said he is prepared to meet with them anytime. Adam Salvona, business agent for Local 3054, said a vote by secret ballot taken three weeks ago showed ap- SNIPS RIBBON Mayor Bruce Shaw snipped the ceremonial rib- bon to officially open the new Exeter branch office of Standard Trust, Wednesday. From the left ore Rose Roder director Wes Thompson, president Brion O'Malley, Mayor Shaw, former director George Clem - mons and Debbie Regier. Standard Trust president opposes gov't b�iI-outs Acknowledging that the recent col- lapse of two banks in Western Canada has created some loss of confidence in the nation's financial institutions, Standard Trust president Brian O'Malley is quick to point out that many of the concerns are not justified. However. getting that message to Canadians is made difficult. he ex- plains, because any concerted effort by the financial community to dispel some unwarranted perceptions could lead to a situation where it raises more suspicions than it quells. In Exeter for the opening of the firm's newest branch office, Wednes- day. the company president sug- gested the best way to rejuvenate con- fidence was to "continue to serve customers as you always have" and allow time to be its usual healer. He opposes the federal govern- ment's continued policy of bailing out investors and depositors in institu- tions which have failed. O'Malley feels that the market should provide disciplines for customers and when the government won't allow that to happen. it en- courages careless investment or poor management. "Everyone needs discipline." he added. noting that customers should he encouraged to read the financial statements of firms with which they invest as well as talking to the people with whom they are dealing so they get a feeling for the company. However. he is quick to point out the recent failures indicate that there should be a tightening up of the auditing process for financial institu- tions and they should be required to make clearer and more detailed presentations of their financial statements. - O'Malley also expressed displeasure with the amount of government involvement in the market place and the indication that it is continuing to grow. "It's too pervasive now," he ex- plains. adding that it tends to destroy individual initiative when govern- ments provide too many services and politicians often respond to pressures that are not in the best interest of the public in general. "This country grew because people were hungry and worked hard." he said, noting that appears to have been forgotten and "we -now think someone is going to do for us what we should do for ourselves." However. O'Malley notes that governments have now piled up so much debt that politicians can't find the money to pay for many of their promises "and it's coming close to the point where it may force more discipline on us." Ile says he finds it difficult to understand how governments can continue their huge deficits. "If an in- dividual had to take one-third of in- come to service debt, that indiviudal would be in a lot of trouble." While governments around the world are in similar predicaments, Canada has one of the highest debt ratios among the industrialized nations. Explaining to the audience at the of- ficial opening that area residents have almost $10 million invested with Standard Trust, the president said that establishing in Exeter was a mat - Please turn to page 3 proximately 95 percent in favour of a strike. He added the company's latest offer, good until November 15, was not brought before the membership for a vote because the negotiating committee had received a mandate absolving them from the requirement to bring back any ,settlement for ratification if the negotiating commit- tee was not going to recommend acceptance. ' - Salvona said he was very disap- pointed with the company's latest of- fer. He said General Coach wants to implement language changes affec- ting health and welfare benefits, and reduce the starting rate by another 'dollar per hour. He said new workers now begin at $8.86, receive an addi- tional 50 cents at the end of three months, and another 50 cents at the Please turn to page 3 ON STRIKE — Diane Hoy and Cliff Chipchase, members of Local 3054 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which began o legal strike at General Coach in Hensall on Friday, warm themselves before resuming picket duty. Area groups react to stiffer penalties Though all three local PRIDE (Peo- ple to Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) committees are in lim- bo at present because of lack of in- terest, spokesmen from each group said they were very pleased to hear that Ontario Attorney -General Ian Scott announced the government's in- tention to impose more severe penalties on drinking drivers. The government intends to quadru- ple the licence -suspension penalty for drinking and driving offences with an automatic one-year suspension for first offenders and two years for a se- cond conviction. In each case, suspensions are in ad- dition to whatever fines and/or jail terms may be imposed in -provincial courts. Present suspensions are three months for a first offence. six months for a second. The proposed changes in the Highway Traffic Act are part of new initiatives to keep drinking drivers off the road and reduce the annual death and injury toil which is now showing an encouraging decrease, Scott told the legislation. However, alcohol is still a factor in 50 percent of all fatal traffic accidents and 30 percent of personal injury ac- cidents, he said. In 1984, more than 550 persons were killed and 27.000 injured. He said public education cam- paigns appear to be getting results, with a 10 percent drop in alcohol related traffic deaths between 1981 and 1984. The transportation ministry soon will announce'new measures to deal with chronic offenders and tougher penalties for those convicted of driv- ing while prohibited or suspended. Melva Ecker one of the founding members of the Exeter group. said she welcomed the news of harsher penalties for those who drink and drive. !luring the two years the Ex- eter PRIDE group was active, she and PRIDE member Laurette Siegner monitored drinkjng/driving cases before various judges in London to note the disparity in sentencing. Most people convicted of driving while impaired received relatively light punishment. Mrs. Ecker said the switch to licences containing the picture of the driver was another of PRIDE's goals. Kim Marsden. assistant clerk - treasurer of Hensall. was instrumen- tal in the formation of a PRIDE com- mittee in that village. She said she was in favour of the government's ac- tion as "nothing else has helped." Kim feels the Hensall committee did accomplish its goal, which was to raise the public's awareness of the social consequences of drinking and driving, so that the act will become socially unacceptable. As secretary of Hensall PRIDE, she had also written the provincial government asking for harsher penalties after an impaired driver who ran through a young peo- ple's hay ride received a quite lenient sentence. Former Usborne Reeve Murray Please turn to page 3 No reviews for schools f Elementary and secondary schools in Huron County won't come under the close scrutiny of an accommoda- tion review this- year. The Huron County board of educa- tion made this decision at its November 4 meeting. - The last schools in Huron to undergo such a review are Vanastra public school, Hensall public school and J.A.D. McCurdy public school in Huron Park. The board has made a commitment to keep all three schools open. This year. only Central llurdn Secondary school in Clinton was add- ed to a list of schools that are.under their minimum effective enrolment. ", F.E. Madill secondary school in Wingham is also on the list. The Clinton high school has an enrolment of 806 students. while the least number of students the school should have to run efficiently is 849. The Wingham school. the largest in the county. has an enrolment of 938 students. The least number of students this school should have is 960. Both Hensall public school and Vanaslra public school remain on the list for elementary schools operating below the minimum number. At llensall. there are 144 students and the minimum numbershould be 145. The Vanastra difference is somewhat larger. This school has an enrolment of 83 -while the minimum number should be 98. All current enrolment figures are taken from September 30.