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Times-Advocate, 1987-12-02, Page 391 There's lots more on. the inside... • Centre for -patients 2 • Festival ands 11 • Ileyball feature 2A • n Cup 5A • nta parades 7A • rand Bend rch bearer 8A • nsall train Derailment 10A Suspect aarea arson case There is a general feeling of relief in the Town of Exeter this week af- ter local police arrested and charged a 24 year old Exeter man with ar- son. Paul Douglas Broderick of Exeter was charged with one count of mis- chief and four counts of arson early Thursday morning (Dec. 3) after a police cruiser was set on fire behind- the ehindthe Exeter Police Station. Exeter Police Chief Larry Hardy expressed that feeling Thursday evening during a press conference held at the Exeter station. "I know that there's a sense of re- lief from us and I'm quite sure there's a sense of relief from the public," he said. Police were alerted of the cruiser incident at 1:57 a.m. after Leslie McDonald of Exeter discovered the fire in the car and managed to extin- guish it by smothering the flames. with his coat. Broderick was apprehended one hour later in front of the Library on Main St., less than one blockjrom the scene of the fire which caused $1,000 in damages. The suspect appeared in court Monday in Goderich for a bail hear- ing and was formally charged with the arsons at the Exeter District Co- op, the Exeter Public school, the Usborne Public school, and a garage fire on John St. He has also been charged with mischief for the fire set in the Police cruiser. Chief Hardy estimated that damag- es from all the fires totalled roughly $3 million. The bail hearing was adjourned until Monday', December 14 and a ban on publication, written or ver- bal, was placed on the court pro- ceedings at the request of Broderick's attorney. Broderick has been remanded in custody to the Stratford Jail pending the bail hearing. Arson carries a maximum sen- tence of 14 years in prison. Broderick's arrest ended an exhaus- tive investigation carried out jointly by the Town of Exeter Police and the Exeter OPP, which lasted longer than three months. "We had a joint forces operation with the OPP and ourselves," Chief Haiy told reporters Thursday. "We had 38 suspected names for one rea- son or another, that we ran down, as well as additional leads and informa- tion that came in throughout the in- vestigation." A special team of investigators, made, up of six OPP officers who Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Seventeenth Year 4. fA: 7Y worked on the case full-time, as well as two of the seven officer complement of the Town Police, began investigating all leads begin- ning with the first fire date, August 18. • "We had assistance from a senior criminal investigator who had been involved with arson cases before, who assisted us.in drawing a profile of the suspect we would be looking for and the type of individual that may be responsible for this type of crime, or series of fires," OPP offi- cer Rick Borden said during the press conference. Please turn to page 2 vocate & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, December o 19P7 Council okays loan to washroom group The South Huron Rec Centre washroom committee will receive an additional loan from Exeter coun- cil to complete their project at the agricultural building behind the Rec Centre. The loan of $1,750 was approved, but before it became a reality con- siderable discussion occurred along with a defeated motion, an attempt- ed rescinded motion and then a suc- cessful one. The subject was brought up by Mayor Bruce Shaw who attended a meeting of the committee last week. A few months ago council ap- proved a loan of $5,000 with' the understanding that this amount would complete the project. Now there is still a deficit of $1,750. Shaw told council he had been as- sured this latest loan would certain- ly complete the washrooms and the entire loan of $6,750 would be re- paid by next September. Councillor Gaylan Josephson was the first to comment, " I agree we have to cover this, but where does it stop." Reeve Bill. Mickle was quick to add, " I am completely disgusted. All we are asked to do is give, give, give.This budget isn't worth any- thing", as he threw it on the floor. Mickle continued, "Money should be up front before we assist any- one. Pressure groups can come here and get us to bale them out.It's nice to be nice. If it was our own money we would be more rational." After the original motion to ap- prove the loan was defeated, coun- cillor Ben Hoogenboom said, "My only concern is that we often spend money with little to show for it in return. This project is tangible." Hoogenboom was referring to monies spent by the development commiuee. To this Mickle retorted, " Our development committee has provided growth in Exeter and growth saves taxpayers money eve- ry year. Because of .growth and as- sessment we keep taxes down." At this point ,Shaw interjected, "What happens if the committee walks away from it all. If I was them I would.This is a mis- take.These are volunteers who have given much of their own time. We have probably both made mistakes. The reality is they need $1,750." The mayor continued, "We have the problem. You turned down a re- quest for $1,750.I have been assured this is the final deficit and they will be ableto pay! it back by Septem- ber." When councilor Tom Humphreys suggested asking the committee if they can get more donations now, Shaw said, "These bills have been oustanding since September." Josephson tried to rescind the first motion, but that was not necessary as it had been defeated. A new motion proposed by coun- cillor Peter Snell was passed with Mickle casting the only negative woe Mickle quoted figures Tuesday morning which backed his state- ment of the night before that eco- nomic development has reduced the local tax rate. Please turn to page 2 Important for retailers Tomorrow night, Thursday is an important date for all merchants in the downtown arca of Exeter and members of their staffs. At 9.15 p.m. in the upstairs of the Old Town Hall, police chief Larry Hardy will be presenting videos which all should take to heart. One is on the subject of shoplift- ing and the other is on robbery.This . is important and timely information and is being presented as a service to all -members of the Business Im- provement Association. Merchants will have the opportu- nity to get first-hand information on the various techniques used by both amateur and professional shoplifters and thieves. Chief Hardy said this week, " The best defence is a good offence. Sec that you art prepared." • Price Per Copy -60 Cents STILL HUNGRY - Rev. Roger Mason of the Lucan Revival Centre and Biddulph-Lucan School vice-principal Steve Wanamaker come up for air during a pie eating contest sponsored by the Lucan Nursery School. Line streets to watch. parade The 1987 Exeter Santa Claus pa- rade held Saturday was .an over- whelming success as literally hun- dreds of spectators lined Main street from Huron to Victoria streets. Parade co-ordinator for the spon- soring Exeter Lions and Exeter Business Improvement Association Bob Sargeant said he was very pleased with the large turnout of not only spectators, but also partici- pants. Sargeant said there were a total of 78 floats and entries in the long proccssion and he wishes to thank everyone for their great co- operation. TRUCK TOPPLES - A Dave Moore Fuels truck toppled over while backing out of a laneway north of Exeter Mon- day afternoon. Driver Bob Dinsmore was not injured. Fire chief Gary Middleton is shown at the extreme right. Sfephen purchases new truck Stephen township council recent- ly authorized the purchase of a new • pickup truck, but the competition was keen. A 1988 eight -cylinder, f9ur-wheel drive vehicle will be obtained from Grand Bend Chrysler for $14,905.10. The successful tender, was the lowest of 12 bids received. Reeve Tom Tomes and Clerk Wilmar Wein were authorized to sign the new' agreement for Ste- phen's participation in the Exeter and arca fire board. Council supported a resolution from the township of Ekfrid which asks the Ministry of Natural Re- sources to reinstate predator controls in the Ministry's budget for 1988 and the future. No objection was voiced to a severance application from Doris Gore in tho township of Hay. Three hotel rooms are being re- served ifi Toronto for township offi- cials attending the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association conven- tion set for February 7 to 10, 1988. Chuck Ford will replace Ken Bak- er as the Dashwood men's club rep- resentative on the Dashwood Com- munity Centre board. Resigning from the Crediton Community Centres board are Stan and Shirley Preszcator and Norm Eveland. The judges had a very long and difficult chore in coming up with winners in four prescribed catego- ries. In the overall category, the winner' was the Snowman entered by Jamie and Rob Haines followed by the Keegan's Inn of Centralia Snowy Christmas float and the Purple Turtle with Willy Partridge and Mark Burton. Winners in the organization or club divisionwere the Eastern Star, the Exeter Lionesses and the Exeter junior Hawks. In the school classi- fication, the best were Exeter Public School, J.A.D. McCurdy Public School and South Huron District High School. The Exeter Bible Fellowship float was judged best in the Best Christ- mas Theme category. Next came the Laidlaw Transport Social club and Disney Christmas from the Bank of Montreal. Special mention goes to Lion Don Haines and his family for their extra efforts in making the parade a success.They not only won a prize, but also supplied flat bed trucks for the South Huron High School band, the Mainstreet jug band and the float carrying the jolly old fellow in the: red suit to bring up the rear of the parade. Other bands adding holiday music to the festivities were the Mitchell Legion, the Perth county pipe band and the Stratford 5ca Cadets along with the Ontario Provincial Police colour party. Members of the Exeter Lioness club were along the parade route collecting letters to Santa Claus from area youngsters. At the South Huron Rec Centre, Santa Claus was a very busy and patient fellow as he talked for al- most two hours to about 450 area boys and girls. Following Santa's visit, Ron Crawford of Hostcss provided potato chips to the visitors and Tuckey Beverages were responsible for the soft drinks and rental of the Rec Centre ice surface. Middleton hired as fire chief on full-time basis Gary Middleton who has been Ex- eter fire chief for a number of years on a part-time basis will become the chief fire official for the Exeter and arca fire board. As the result of a resolution from a recent meeting of the fire arca board, Middleton will be hired on an almost full-time basis. His annual salary as Circ chief will be $32,500, effective January 1, 1988. Any work time not needed on fire arca work, chief Middleton will be hired by the town of Exeter and paid by the hour at the going rate of his position. Reimbursement will be paid by the town of Exeter to the fire arca board. The fire board has priority on his services and the time will be moni- tored for reconsideration in Novem- ber of 1988. Benefits and car mile- age will be paid at the current town of Exeter rate. A previous fire board resolution calling for a four day work week for tit 'Middleton was rescinded in favour of the full time post with any free time being devoted to the town. Co-ordinator for waste management Mayor Bruce Shaw confirmed Monday night that George McE- wan, a science teacher at South Hu- ron District High School has ac-' cepted the position of waste management co-ordinator for the town of Exeter. McEwan will advise council as to where it should direct its energies in this arca and suggest alternate meth- ods of waste disposal including the recycling of various wastes. Shaw added, "He is empowered to, add individuals from the community to his committee tei assist. McEwan has a budget,'at the moment un- specified, but sufficient to meet his. needs. Police to deal with NSF cheques Exeter retailers are advised to call police immediately when they receive an N.S.F. cheque. This was the message delivered by police chief Larry Hardy at the regular B.I.A. meeting last Tuesday evening. The chief said "never accept the offer of the cheque writer to pay you at a lat- er specified date, because then you're offering the individual credit and ruining any possible chances of criminal action. If you offer credit and then do not receive the money the best you can do is begin a civil action yourself to collect. The chief said he can under- stand why some people write cheques when there is a shortage of funds in the account. "Joint accounts where two people write cheques at the same time can cause problems where there never was an attempt to defraud any- - one," the chief added. Hardy urged retailers to use common sense when calling his department. "If a cheque comes back from a good customer who has given you cheques previous- ly, call the customer instead of us," he said. only two B.I.A. board mem- ; bers and six other retailers were , at the Tuesday meeting to hear chief Hardy who was prepared to help merchants protect them- selves against shoplifters. Another attempt will be made to get merchants together soon at a more convenient time. Hardy said shoplifting is big business, citing estimated losses in Gode- rich at between S300,000 and $400,000 annually. Chief Hardy also told B.I.A. members he has never received a call that he has termed a waste of time. "We would rather investi- gate ahead of time and perhaps prevent something from happen- ing than spend hundreds of man ! hours on a investigation later," ' he stated. In responding to questions about his department issuing parking tickets for those over- staying the two-hour limit, the chief said he didn't see parking as a serious problem. Recently, police marked tires on several occasions and checked the results two hours later, only to discover one offender... a member of the B.I.A. He said the department is under a pretty heavy workload with many demands on the time of the local officers. In 1988 the de- partment will have handled ap- proximately 4,000 calls com- pared with 1,900 in 1985 when Hardy arrived in Exeter. "We're doing this with the same man- power we had then," the chief said. "This demand on our time does not mean we're not going to en- force parking," Hardy said, "We'll be doing it on a priority basis and when we have the man- power available." In case anyone thinks they can park as long as they want on Main Street and even if they get caught it will still be cheap parking, they had better think again. The original ticket is for 55, but it can soon get worse. If it is not paid within 48 hours the fine increases to $10, and this still is not the end. If you neglect to pay your fine i1t under seven days the amount jumps to a r�hopping $53.