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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-05-21, Page 1Air* A NATURE TRIP — Students -of J.A.D. McCurdy -Huron Hope School enjoyed a Wednesday trip to the • CCAT experimental farm bush. Above, Jim O'Toole of the College staff identifies some plants for Mat- thew Culp, Nathan Barfett and Tammy Graham. T -A photo. Talks between Exeter ' and two neighboring township over grantsto the South Huron rec centre board took a torn for the worse this week when Stphen Township Reeve Tom Tomes announced his council would not pay' t1 $12,868 they were told would be "their share for this year. That represents an increase of 10 times the $1,200 the township now cpptributes. ;'tortes, along with Exeter Mayor Bruce Shaw .and Usborne Regve Gerald Prout, had met on April 14 to discuss the rec centre operation with Ministry of tourism and recreation consultant Melanie McLaughlin. At that time, it was indicated that Stephen's share should be $8,520. However, before Tomes could relay that figure to council, Ms. McLaughlin advised that by using the 1985 figures from the centre, Stephen's contribution should be those registering in adult or minor $12,868. sports in Exeter be told that if they Tomes, in a letter to Shaw that was come from Stephen, that's where they read at this week's meeting of Exeter should play". council, said the first reaction of his council was "forget it, let's get out and stay out". The Stephen Reeve said that one of the main ideas presented at a joint recreation meeting last year was that if a rec centre served the surrounding townships, the only fair way to assess contributions would be to create areas and then pay according to percen- tages of assessment or households. "We in Stephen prefer households as it reflects onto the potential or ac- tual users. If this was to happen, those,, from out of that area would pay extra." Saying he recognized that people In reference to the latter. Shaw said from Stephen go to Exeter to par- the ministry consultant had set ticipate and vice versa, Tomes said Usborne's share at near the amount "one thing we would encourage is that the township now contributes. "In conclusion, we feel that the tax- payer has got to be thought of and therefore we cannot accept the pro- posed plan of paying $12,868." When questioned about the letter, Shaw said there was no indication in it of what Stephen would be willing to contribute, if,anything. The Mayor then noted he had some alternatives to suggest to council in the wake of Stephen's refusal, but Reeve Bill Mickle suggested any discussion of the alternatives be left until word is received from Usborne regarding their contribution. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Complaints get reinstatement of partial service Ball la ers win coo nowise Faced with a barrage of complaints from local ball players, the South Huron rec centre board agreed this week to offer a compromise regar- ding maintenance of the five town diamonds. The complaints stemmed from a unilateral decision made by facilities manager Cam Stewardson to withdraw the service of dragging and liming the diamonds. Stewardson, admitting at Thurs- day's meeting he -should have discuss- ed the matter witttthe faciliJjes com- mittee, explained that he had advis- ed the diamond users of the withdrawal of service after town council had chopped the proposed budget of the rec board. The teams were advised that in an effort to keep the operating deficit in line with council guidelines, the ser- vice would be curtailed. " "I decided I had to do something right away," Stewardson said in reference to the fact the town did not provide the board with the total grant requested. Letters of complaint to theboard were received from the Exeter Greys, SKIP FOR HEART FUND - Tammy Belton and Rosie Brand were two of the many participants in Wednesday's Heart and Stroke Founda- tion Skipathon. Massey picks name from Exeter roots There'll be a page 'from Exeter's history involved in a planned change of name for Massey- Ferguson Ltd. The company will 1x'come known as the Varity Corp., a variation of the Verity Plow Co., which Massey pur- chased nearly 100 years ago. Massey-Ferguson's predecessor, the Massey-Ilarris Co.. bought the Verity Plow Co. of Exeter in 1892. Farm implements manufactured by the company will continue to hold the Massey -Ferguson name. Massey -Ferguson, one of Canada's oldest companies and one of the most successful until the recent farm slump put it into the red, is joining other companies changing their names in an effort to improve their image with investors and customers. international Harvester, one of Massey-Ferguson's competitors, changed its name to Navistar inter- national Co. last February to get away from its association with the ail- ing farm implement business. Now it's Massey-Ferguson's turn, and chairman Victor Rice said the move was made to better reflect the diveristy of interests held by the com- pany. Like international harvester, he said Massey..Ferguson has a name that is too much associated with the farm implement business. The name change comes only two months after shareholders approved the third major restructuring of the company since 1981. Rice said the plan will end Massey's "intolerable financial bloodshed". One of the most important aspects of the scheme is to detach the money-losing combines division into a separate company. in which Massey has only a'iivinority interest. Rice said the Varity name, which will become official after shareholder approval on June 17, was chosen from a list of 1,5600 candidates. The company liked the name because it was simple and was a single word, it did not pose registration problems, it could use the company's existing triple -triangle trademark and it drew • on a part of the Massey history. Rice said the company won't downgrade its agricultural im- plements divisions, but it expects they will play a smaller role in the com- pany in the future. The various divisions under the Varity name will include Massey - Ferguson tractors and other farm equipment. minor softball, men's rec league and the ladies' slow pitch league. Mike Soldan, who wrote on behalf of minor softball and the men's rec league, explained that local teams had provided large sums for the development of the diamonds. "The point being made here is that people who use the facilities are more than just tenants... they have built, donated and developed for the overall benefit of the community," he wrote, The letters explained that coaches were rushed erlAugh tP,get to games without having to- find time to float - and mark the diamond when they arrived. "We sympathize with the financial .situation, but this move is small potatoes in comparison to overall losses of the facility," Soldan argued. Janet Buchanan, writing for the Greys, said she had checked with German is back again other parks and found that they main- tained the diamonds and charged less than Exeter's rate. She argued the local diamonds were in need of more maintenance last year and the new policy would make them almost unusable this season. Maybe we could cut the grass for you as Well," she sarcastically com- mented, adding that withdrawing the service•was akin to asking hockey teams to be responsible for flooding Ice between perjods of thei gentles. •"I'm sure your liability insurance will jump quite a bit when the in- surance company finds out that on town property, every day during the summer someone different, and not all reliable, will be racing around the diamonds with a 'car seeing how many kids on bikes he or she can pick off," Buchanan concluded:'. "We do not`feel that our league has the proper knowledge or equipment to undertake this task successfully," commented president Marj Cooper of the slo-pitch league. Stewardson explained to the board rosithat the dian)onds represent one of the highest deficit areas, saying that the annual cost of maintenance is about $10,000 and the revenue generated is about $3,000. "I don't think people realize the costs," he said, admitting that once a service is provided it is difficult to take it away. He said diamond users in Stephen and Usborne provide the service themselves. He said that curtailing the service would save about $4,000 to $5,000 dur- ing the season, noting that it takes about two hours daily and reduces the amount of time the tractor is available for grass cutting. "The diamonds are just starting to look good, "Abinnatenteek rtlyllis Johnson. "It would be a shame if we Please turn to page 3 German businessman Fritz Mur - mann arrived in Exeter on Sunday for his second visit to the community in a year to again look at prospects for expanding his firm's porcelain business. Accompanied by his teenage daughter, Murmann is being hosted by Reeve Bill Mickle this week and will stay with the Reg Finkbeiner family in Crediton this week. The German visitors were at Ex- eter council's Tuesday night session where they were welcomed by Mayor Bruce Shaw. Murmann is looking to set up an operation in Ontario to handle the finishing and distribution of decorative porcelain pieces produced by his firm in the northern part of Bavaria. The firm employs seven people and their wares sell in Germany, Den- mark, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. Many of their pieces are decorated with pure gold. Prior to Tuesday's council session, Murmann advised that his town is located about 1,300 km. from the site of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. Ile reported that all the farmers in his area had been advised to plow down their vegetable crops in view of the potential for nuclear contamina- tion. Ile said the crop shad been planted about three weeks prior to the nuclear plant fire. READY TO OPEN CAMPOUT — The official opening of the weekend campout sponsored by the Ausable River Nomads was held Saturday night. Shown here are Exeter reeve Bill Mickle, Ontario Campers Association directors Bob and Ruth Hughes, president Ed Jowett, Nomads presidents Shirley and Floyd Cooper and Tom Tomes of the South Huron Rec Centre board. T -A photo Mill rate approved Exeter's 1986 mill rate was official- ly adopted by council, Tuesday, call- ing for a 5.5 percent increase for public school residential supporters. It's slightly less for separate school supporters. The mill rate for public school sup- porters is 312.62 and 312.34 for separate school supporters. The cor- responding rate for 1985 were 296.82 and 297.68. The rate for commercial, industrial and business is 367.79, compared to 349.19 last year. Total tax to be paid this year will be $2,016,83 'compared to $1,818,831 in the previous year. Of that total, $766,047 will go for the general town levy, $256,362 for coun- ty purposes, $426,965 for secondary school, $534,309 for public school and $33,149 for separate school purposes. The Ausable River Nomads celebrated their 15th birthday on the weekend by hosting a very successful camporee. More than 275 camping units began arriving at the South Huron Rec Cen- tre grounds early Friday afternoon. The hard worJcing Nomads who are visible throughout the year by spon- soring and operating two Red Cross blood donor clinics kept the visitors of all ages on the move with a busy schedule. Many of the campers satisfied their Saturday morning appetites by atten- ding the Exelet firemen's pancake and sausage breakfast. Saturday afternoon activities featured a fashion show. Taking part as models were four members of the Nomads. They were Lois Armstrong, Rurdine Morgan, Marie Brunzlow and Penny Meikle. Nancy Rooth of ,Jacqueline's -Ladies Wear was the commentator. The campout was officially opened Saturday night with brief ceremonies. The campers were welcomed to Ex- eter by reeve Bill Mickle, Tom Tomes of the South Huron Rec Centre Board and Nomad presidents Floyd and Shirley Cooper. Also on stage were Ontario -Camper Association officials Bob and Ruth, Ilughes and Ed Jowett and the On- tario and National Campers King and Queen Lynn and Phyllis Williams of London. Mrs. Williams is the former Phyllis Gibson of the Exeter area. A large number of the campers at- tended a Sunday morning church ser- vice with Bob ileywood as the guest speaker. Bea Ersman was the con- vener, iry Armstrong was chairman and Kim Talbot provided the musical accompaniment. Although a few of the camping units had a little trouble getting off the grounds Monday morning due to the wet weather. all had an enjoyable weekend. While holiday weekend campers at area provincial parks came in for some sharp citicism this week over the mess they left in the parks, that was in contrast to the expressions regarding the campers who were in Exeter for the weekend. The Ausable River Nomads hosted over 250 camping units at the com- munity park and several members of council noted on Tuesday that the park was left in immaculate Condition. Reeve Bill Mickle said that the hosts were concerned about the wet grounds when the campers got set to move on Monday "and did their best not to do any damage." Councillor Dorothy Chapman said she visisted the camping site and ad- vised there wasn't a scrap of paper to be found anywhere. She said it was unfortunate that the young campers at the provincial parks gave campers a bad name. LARGE CROWD AT BREAKFAST — Saturday's Exeter firemen's breakfast attracted a large crowd. Above, firemen John Morgan serves Doug Knowles and Sandy and Catherine Bergman.