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Times-Advocate, 1985-12-18, Page 1Frhhiy the 131h lives up to its biIIIag Slippery road conditions helped Fri- day the 13th live up to its infamous reputation withe several area drivers. Three of the five collisions in- vestigated by the Exeter OPP occur- red on Friday, two of them within five minutes of each other at the same in- tersection, that being the corner of Huron St. W. and _concession 2, Stephen Township. The first occurred at 3:40 p.m., when a westbound vehicle driven by Erma Webb, Exeter, slid through the slippery intersection and collided with southbound vehicle driven by Glenn Osborne, Huron Park. The Exeter woman was taken to South Huron Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. There was $6,000 damage to -the Webb vehicle and $4,000 to Osborne's. About five minutes later, a west - bound vehicle driven by Marilyn Riley, Exeter, also skidded as it ap- proached the intersection and slamm- ed into the rear of a vehicle operated by Gerard Gielen, RR 2 Crediton, which stopped at the intersection. 'Damage to the Riley vehicle was listed at $1,000. There was none to the Gielen vehicle. The other Friday crash occurred at 4:05 p.m., when a vehicle driven by Julie Morrison, 170 Carling St., Ex- eter, skidded on the Kirkton Road and entered the ditch, resulting in damage of $300. The two other crashes of the week occurred on Tuesday, the first at 8:45 a.m., when a westbound vehicle driven by Dianne Willis, RR 1 Kirkton, skidded on the Kirkton R. entered the ditch and struck a hydro guy wire. Damage was $500 to the vehicle and $300 to the hydro property. At 10:30 a.m., a vehicle driven by Allan Becker, Zurich, turned left off Highway 84 onto concession 9 of Hay Township and collided with a vehicle ,driven by Douglas Keys, RR 1 Varna. There was $1,000 damage to the Becker vehicle and $1,500 to the Var- na man's. ' During the past week, local detach- ment officers investigated 22 general occurrences which included a ANIS SANTA VISITS FIRE HALL Santa Claus made his annual visit to the Exeter fire hall, Sunday afternoon,, Shown with the jolly old gent are Erin McLeod and Jody Lynn Hamilton. T -A photo WM 1 residence break and enter, some gas thefts and two missing juveniles (both were found). A total of 26 charges were laid for various offences. The weekly press release en- courages "continued diligence by the Exeter area public in not drinking and driving". In order to prevent unnecessary in- jury and death, the OPP note that the, "strict but fair" enforcement of highway regulations will ' continue through the holiday period. In November, provincial police thoughout Ontario laid 1,243 criminal driving charges and there were another .13,978 charges under the Highway Traffic Act. CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AT EXETER UC — The Exeter United Church Sunday. School Christmas program was presented, Sunday. The choir and cast is shown in a Saturday rehearsal. T -A photo Irn Serving So h 11 es ron, North Middlesex fiMP*):..:?�c dvocate & North tambton Since 1873 One Hundred and Thirteenth Year EXETER; ONTARIO, December 18, 1985 Price Per Copy 50 Cents Commercial zoning, trucks remain issue Despite making some major changes since hearing complaints from over 100 people about proposed changes in town, council members ' and the planning advisory committee learned this week that they still have some unhappy ratepayers. Most of the complaints from. the 35 people in attendance at a public meeting, Wednesday, centred around extending the core commercial and in maintaining restrictions on commer- Exeter fails in Toyota bid Exeter was among the° municipalities to receive a polite thank you letter from Toyota -Motor Corporation indicating it had not been . chosen as a site for the Japanese firm's new manufacturing plant. Contact witb the firm had been made by Reeve Bill Mickle, chairman of the economic development committee. • "We greatly appreciate the efforts 'made by you and your staff in help- ing us assess your site," wrote Tadashi Ohnishi, a director with Toyota. "The decision has been very difficult, but, based upon a combina- tion of variables most suitable to our needs, we have selected another site which will be (made public on December 12." •- Cambridge was the site selected for the firm's new Canadian plant. cial vehicles parking in residential areas. Local ratepayers were given their initial review of the major update of the official plan and zoning bylaws on January 31 of this year and at that time over 100 attended, many of them with objections to extending the core commercial area. In the past 11 months, the expansion was considerably reduced in scope, but some of those still affected let it be known Wednesday that they don't want their properties to become com- mercially zoned. • In January, Mayor Bruce Shaw ad- vised.that council would not under- take changes that would result in numerous appeals. "We won't give you any reason to complain," he ad- vised at that time. This week, tae said council would hope to avoid appeals, but indicated that some changes would probably be made even with the prospect of appeals. "We hope to make you all happy," he commented at the conclusion of the session, but quickly added,"We kspw we won't". The expansiop of the core commer- cial would take in the entire block of Main St. between Victoria and Well: ington, although under special designation, it would not permit some core commercial uses such as a hotel.. or motor hotel, a night club, tavern or public house and a private club or hall. A planting strip would also be re- quired where a commercial use is -established adjacent to an existing residential use and all uses would be subject to the provisions -of the new site 'plan control bylaw which forms part of the package now under consideration. It was explained that the area in the block could accommodate approx- imately 34,553 additional square feet of retail space, a figure virtually iden- tical to that forecast by planning stu- dent Stewart Findlater this summer in his projection of Exeter's needs over the next 10 years. Wayne Caldwell, senior planner with the Huron planning department. said he couldn't provide assurance that commercial development wouldn't devalue residential neighboring properties in the area, while Shaw indicated that property values could increase for residential properties rezoned to commercial. No answer was provided to one question of why the block between Victoria and Wellington was being considered for rezoning when the block between Gidley and Victoria had not yet attracted any new com- mercial development. When 4sked if the zoning change would be dropped if all the people on the blbck objected, Shaw replied,"Probably." Foxes in Exeter; rabies threat .cited' Two foxes have been seen in Exeter over the past few days and that brought another warning about rabies from Councillor Gaylan Josephson during the round of councillors' com- ments, Monday. "I would like to impress upon you the finality of a rabies bite," he said, noting that the threat of the disease is widespread in the area. "The scare is not over yet," he con- tinued, noting that he repeatedly told his childern -- actually ordered them -- to seek shelter at a nearby home if. they ever spotted a wild animal in their path. NEW ORGAN AT DASHWOOD - A recital on the new organ at Dashwood United Church featured Sunday's annual Christmas program. Shown with the organ are committee members Gertie McCrae, Bernice Boyle and Jack Gaiser. Missing was Idella Gabel. T -A photo Will benefit aII ages Legion gift commended Two members of the R.E. Pooley branch Legion were on hand at Ex- eter council, Monday. to receive com- mendation from meinbers and Police Chief Larry Hardy for the recent donation of video equipment to the police department. Hardy, after showing a portion of the equipment presented by the Legion. explained that it would be put to use for all segments of the com- munity for instructional purposes. in addition to "tons and tons"of video programs available to the police department for education pur- poses, Hardy noted that the depart- ment could also produce their own video tapes. Ile reported that a group of 40 students had recently toured the police station and had viewed one of safety, and letters from each of the 40 indicated the video presentation had a great impact on them. Hardy commended the Legion for the "marvellous job" they are doing in the community and urged them to keep up the good work. Legion president Paul McKnight, who was accompanied by second vice- president John Brintnell, said he was sure the equipment would benefit the entire community and added that was what the work of the Legion was all about. He accepted the gratitude on behalf of the local branch members. After the duo departed, a motion was unanimously approved by coun- cil that a formal letter/of thanks be sent to the Legion for their generous donation. The veterinarian, who reported diagnosing two suspected -cases of rabies in dairy cattle earlier in the day; noted that it is impossible to predict what wild animals will do and children' should be constantly warn- ed about the dangers involved. In another matter, Josephson remarked about the apparent in- crease in the number of hones featur- ing Christmas decorations this year and commended citizens. He said he was advised of one case where lights had been stolen and said that was most disheartening, Councillor Dorothy Chapman broached the subject of the long ser- vice of school board representative Clarence "King" McDonald and received unanimous support for her suggestion that a letter be sent t0 him in recognition of the time spent representing the community. A recent tour of 'a local industry taken by council sparked Reeve Bill Mickle to , suggest that perhaps members would like to visit other local industries to become better ac- quainted with what they are doing. Ile said he would be happy to ar- range such sours if there was suffi- cient interest. Mayor Bruce Shaw interjected that he would urge members to take part in the tours: - Congratulations to the Exeter Lioness and their helpers was extend- ed by Councillor Ben Hoogenboom regarding the group's assistance with the Christmas Bureau. Ile said he had been advised that the community responded most generously to the appeal and said it makes one feel good to see people so willing to share. Councillor Morley Hall took the oc- casion to invite members to see the cantata at the Pentecostal Church that is being staged again Sunday evening due to popular demand. Deputy -Reeve Lossy Fuller advis- ed council that the county now had its first -female warden and that Reeve Bill Mickle was a member of the executive committee by virtue of being chairman of the property and agriculture committee.' Councillor Tom Humphreys reviewed the work of the public works committee over the past year. while Mayor Shaw presented a request from some local businessmen for a special garbage pickup of large boxes and old appliances once a month dur- ing the winter months. Works superintendent Glenn Kelis said the department could probably arrange for the special pickup. but ex- plained he was hesitant about setting a specific day due to the fact snow removal may take priority. Mrs. Fuller questioned whether the special pickup could result in a pro- blem, but Shaw said it was needed due to safety where old appliances and such are left ih backyards. Chief building official Brian Johnston advised that all those who had objected last January, would' again have to file formal objections if that was their wish. Plan board member Dorothy Chap- man suggested' there may be a misunderstanding about the term commercial, noting that many businesses would still want to be in the present ,core area, while the new area would be of more interest to such things as saunas, health spas and offices. She explained that the committee had to consider thewhole toskih in the planning process and said that if zon- ing was not in place the town could lose prospective commercial ventures. • - • -.. - Member Dave Newton emphasized that point by noting Huron Motor Pro- ducts had moved out of town because the firm did not want to wait several months for a zoning change to facilitate their need: Shaw added that residential taxes would be lower with a better mix of commercial and intrial assess- ment and noted th Exeter taxes were now in the sam range as those in London. Audible comments from the au- dience indicated some thought Exeter taxes were higher and the Mayor said he had been advised of a house sell- ing in'Clinton for $21,000 while a com- parable home in Exeter was valued at $64,000: New regulations are included in the official plan amendments pertaining to commercial vehicles parking in residential zones, but they didn't satisfy a couple eLcommercial truck owners in attendance. The new regulations restrict vehicles by dimensions, rather than weight as in the current plan. The meeting was told the proposal could restrict some pickup trucks and vans Please turn to page 2 WE'LL BE EARLY The next issue of the Times - Advocate will be printed on Monday, December ;,3. All news items intended for publica- tion must reach the office by early Monday morning for inclusion in that issue. It will be in the mail on Tuesday. December 24. Deadline for the next regular issue will be as normal, as it will be printed on Tuesday, December 31. However, it will not be in the mail until Thurs- day, January 2. SNOWFLAKES TONIGHT The Exeter Public School Christmas con- cert will be held tonight, Wednesday. Shown as snowflake . re Lucas Forrest, Caleb McLeod and Crystal Davis:- T -A photo surplus, increases reluctantly approved • On the recommendation of the local cemetery board, Exeter council this week passed a bylaw approving five percent increases in most charges. The tarriff of rates requires ministry approval. Under the new rates. the cost of a single grave lot is $176 for residents and $214 for non-residents. Two -grave lots are *334 and *400 respectively, three -grave $553 and $650 and four - grave *650 and $735. interment charges will be $165 for residents and $190 for non-residents with extra charges for double depth interment, lowering of first burial or winter storage. The cost for annual flower beds is $40 and $375 for perpetual flower beds. The bylaw provides for vaults for infants or stillborns at *100 and $90 for vaults for cremation remains. At their December meeting, the board learned there was a surplus of approximately $5,000 in the budget and -the superintendent was in- structed to purchase items allocated in the 1986 capital forecast (pump. kit- chen renovation materials, fence i as far as the excess 1985 funds last. to retrieve the 1986 budget. The increase was somewhat reluc- tantly approved as was approval of the use of the 85.000 surplus.' "You never thought of returning it (surplus) to the taxpayers?"ques- tioned Mayor Bruce Shaw. Cemetery board member Morley Hall said that thought went through his mind. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom. noting that the surplus indicated the cemetery was obviously running well, asked why a five percent rate hike was suggested rather than only a four or three percent. Hall said the five percent was "the normal increase" and it was design- ed "to go along with other cemeteries". Deputy -Reeve Lossy Fuller also questioned the five percent, noting that provincial government grants to the town will be lower than that this coming year. Clerk Liz Bell, who is secretary of the board, said the rates were kept similar to other cemetries and noted the board is always in a deficit posi- tion and has been getting a $21.000 an- nual grant from the town. t ti