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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-04-06, Page 1Ames Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Seventeenth Year dvocate April 6, 1988 & North Lambton Since 1873 Price Per Copy 60 Cents CANCER CAN BE BEATEN -- The Canadian Cancer Society, in league with Exeter sororities, is gearing up for Daffodil( Day on Friday. From left to right are Joyce Black (representative for the Canadian Cancer Society), ..Z'i o'✓F�>.. <..= r,r.:�i.'.�i::%is':ate::c:<l�a«s;i.:i?v<ti:i :: R . ... _ . 3.: ElaineBogart ErvineGitelman y paidn) Leone Brock (president of the Exeter branch of the Cancer Society) and Rider (sorority member). Plan upgrading of crosswalks at busy main street corner Deputy reeve Lossy Fuller' told Exeter council Monday night that the public works committee would be applying for grants to upgrade the cross-over program at the inter- section of Main and Victoria SUCCtS. Late in 1987, ' crosswalk signs were put up at the busy intersection where many students cross to go to Exeter Public School Only a few days ago, the Mini- - stry.-of Transportation and Commu- nications announced a uniform stan- dard for pedestrian cross -overs and a mandatory regulatory amendment is expected in the near future. Fuller said the changes would in- clude the addition of internally illu- minated overhead signs with an "X" symbol and a pedestrian actuated amber flashing beacon. MOOMMUMWAVIONMIRVNitelei Biddulph residents win dispute with UWO What was intended to be a quiet PCBs are presently in use on the' since regrouped and is looking at public information session turned University campus where the ad- keeping the transformers and capac- into a Heated discussion as a crowd ministration fears .a fire could re- itors -on campus, possibly in an of angry Biddulph residents con- lease them into the atmosphere. underground vault, an alternative fronted proponents of the Universi- Biddulph residents crowded the Boyce described as costly. ty of Western Ontario's plans .to - township .offices to voice their The residents.expressed the fear store PCBs in the township. concerns to Darryl Boyce from the that -should a leak occur, the dam - The University presented its pro- University's physical plant and to age to the township's water supply posal tb build an enclosure -on its - Emil Czcrkawski of M.M. Dillon would be greater than if the PCBs -observatory -property in Biddulph consulting engineers who prepared were to leak in the city where the to house two- transformers and 12 the proposal to store the PCBs. • water supply comes from Lake Hu - capacitors which contain the poi- - 'Opposition to the project was so run. They were also worried the sonous insulating liquid. The - strong that the University has township facility would be more vulnerable -to vandalism. "This location is just about as remote as you'll- get," said Bid dulph resident Mike O'Shea, who was concerned that the University's daily security patrols would not give close enough inspection to the facility. "It's just an invitation for some goon to take a pot shot at it." Czcrkawski answered that the 11- guage steel container might be punctured by rifle fire, but "even if the transformer is punctured the liquid will not spill on the ground. It will spill in thc pan." "How well is Our local volunteer fire department prepared to deal with things like this?" asked O'Shea, noting that London fire de- partments have the training and equipment to cope with hazardous materials that smaller fire depart- ments do not have. Czerkawski noted technology docs cxist to destroy PCBs, but nonc is yet licensed for use in On- tario. "A way has .to be found to de- stroy them," he said. Some residents vented their frus- trations on Lloyd Zinger, a repre- sentative from thc ministry of the environment. "Our concern is the safety of the site," said Zinger, adding that as long as the University follows the PCB storage requirements set down by the Ministry, they arc powerless Briefs from council. When the topic of economic de- velopment was brought up by Dep- uty reeve Lossy Fuller, Reeve Bill Mickle commented, "It's a shame we arc in limbo. I hope it can be clarified soon by the executive com- mittee." * * A suggestion from councillor Morley Hall to designate a certain time period in the near future to "Clean Up Exctcr" will be dealt with by council at the April 18 meeting. In making the suggestion Hall said, " In walking a lot in the morning, I see empty pop and beer cans all over the place and it would be nice to have them cleaned up." In the same vein, councillor Tom 1lumphreys commended the public works department for their excellent efforts in sweeping the streets. * * * s Most members of council are in for a busy time next week with meetings scheduled for three consec- utive days. The public works com- mittee will be on thcir annual tour of town streets Tuesday night at 6.30 p.m. and an hour later the same night, the first meeting will be held to work on the 1988 bud- get. The planning advisory committee - meets in regular session Wednesday night at which time most council- lors will also attend and Thursday night, the regular monthly meeting Of the South Huron Rec Centre board will be held along with ,a meeting of area councils in Clinton regarding the fate of the county po- lice communications system. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom voiced his pleasure at the tremen- dous co-operation displayed by Ex- eter and arca businesses, service clubs and private individuals in making .the purchase of the new Olympia ice resurfacing machine at the South Huron Rec Centre a reali- ty. * * * * Councillor Tam Humphreys told fellow councillors about an incident which occurred Saturday night on Main street in front of his resi- dence. He said,"There was a small altercation and in just a few min- utes a yellow car pulled up. It was nice to see our police doing their jobs." * * * * Permission was granted to the Girl Guides of Canada to sell cook- ies in the town of Exeter on Satur- day, May 7. .m. Crime Stoppers Police arc looking for the person(s) responsible for the bomb threat at Dashwood Indus- tries on March 22,1988. The bomb threat was received the day Dashwood Industries was to cele- brate its 60th anniversary. The entire building had to be evacu- ated and the O.P.P. searched the arca with a police dog, police personnel and an O.P.P. helicop- ter, The search revealed that there was no bomb present.This type of prank endangers lives and costs thousands of dollars in lost reve- nue. In addition, the police, their equipment, and personnel arc tied up and may be delayed in respond- ing to a genuine emergency. If you have any information, about this or any other serious crime call CRIME STOPPERS OF HURON COUNTY toll-free at 1.800-265-1777. If your infor- mation leads to an arrest you could earn a cash reward of up to $1,000. Callers will not be asked to iden- tify. themselves nor testify in court. One accident and 77 traffic charges Officers of the Exctcr detach- ment of the Ontario Provincial Po lice investigated only one motor vehicle accident this week. It occurred Saturday on Queen street in Hensall when a parked ve- hicle owned by Kenneth Van Wier - en, Hensel( was struck by an un- known vehicle. Damage was light. During the week, officers issued 72 Highway Traffic Act charges along with 12 for Liquor Licence Act offences, one foie not having compulsory auto insurance and two Criminal Code charges. Local OPP officers will be con- tinuing the R.I.D.E. program with periodic checks of traffic during dif- ferent periods of the day and week. to prevent the facility's construc- tion. onstruetion. Likewise, the Township of Bid - Please turn to page 2 The updating is expected to cost about S10,700 and a 50 percent subsidy will be available under the existing connecting link agreement. These new cross -overs will be re- quired to meet warrants in order to be eligible for subsidy. Once the new provincial regula- tion is in place, all new installa- tions must conform to the new re- quirements. There will be a "grandfathering " period up to -April 1, 1992, within which all existing installations must be brought up to the new standards. Upgrading of existing unwarrant- ed cross -overs will not be eligible for subsidy after April 1,1992. Exeter's share of the cross-over upgrading will be included in the 1988 budget. Mickle nominated again for small urban municipalities Exeter will be well represented at the annual.convention of the Or- ganization of Small Urban Munici- palities in early May in Stratford. Reeve Bill Mickle who has been a director for a number of years was again nominated and will be joined at th, convention by Deputy reeve Lossy Fuller, councillor Morley' hall and clerk -treasurer Liz Bell for the full four days while councillors Dorothy Chapman and Gaylen Jo- sephson indicatedthey would attend for at least one day. Fuller in recommending as Busy year ahead Exeter PUC manager llugh Da vis anticipates a busy year ahead. He expects to add at least seven ad- ditional transformer installations to servicenew commercial custom- ers. "There's lots of construction talk, and I think- a great deal of it Will materialize", he told the regu- lar meeting of the commission on March 30. Davis also predicted that three lots in the Vern mobile home sub- division and eight on Riverside Drive "should go this year". The town and the PUC have dis- cussed the possibility of sharing a computer. Davis informed Com- mission member Mayor Bruce Shaw that the Harris company spe- cializes in software for utility com- missions, and their package was cheaper than that of IBM, which docs not at present have software designed specifically for such use. Shaw replied that the system might be suitable for the town, too. A representative from the Harris firm will be asked to give a presentation at both the PUC and the municipal offices. Davis had good news and bad news for the commissioners. The good news was that lineman Randy Kraul was moving to a management position. The bad news was that Exctcr is losing him, as he has ac- cepted the -job as manager of the Lu - can PUC. Davis had some bad news regard- ing the water department. The chlorinating system installed at the Hicks well recently at a cost of $120,000 is not working as it should. The continual trickle of water going through thc analyzer is not being carried away . Instead of passing through the stone -filled dry well and seeping into the earth as designed, it is running back up to the floor drain because the heavy clay soil is not absorbent enough. This will not cause any problems until winter, when the water in the pipe could freeze and bring thc whole system to a halt. The chlori- nation system must work all year round. - Davis is hoping the ministry of the environment will allow the many members as possible attend said, "It's an excellent conference." - It's important to 'stay there over- night. You get more valuable infor- mation in talking to other delegates between sessions than you do at the seminars themselves." All seminars arc taking on a Shakespearean flavour with titles such as "Taming of -the Shrew" for public relations, ' "Measure for Measure" dealing with municipal budgets and "We've Come to Bury Caesar" dealing with waste dispo- sal. for PUC commission to dump the water hack into the well. The water contains a buffer solution of carbon dioxide. The cost of any remedial action will be borne by the Exeter utility. "Engineers don't pay for engineering mistakes", Davis observed. Davis produced figures which showed that though water consump- tion and revenue have gone up in the past three years, expenses have climbed even more quickly. The PUC made a profit of 1.72c per me- tered cubic foot of water on a total consumption of 923,331.32 cubic feet and revenue of S311,203.70 in 1985, rising to 2.00 on 946,612.4(1 cubic feet and revenue -of S336,695.89. Last year, 1,781 Cus- tomers used 1,059,973.66 cubic feet of water, generating revenue of 5347,695.58, but expenses of pro- ducing and supplying that water re- duced profits to 1.0e per metered cu- bic foot. However, the good news in this case was the fact the com- mission had budgeted for a small deficit. The profit was welcome news. BEST BONNETS - Wednesday was Hats Day at Stephen Central School and shown here with special Easter creations"are Miranda Hayter and Keri -Ann O'Rourke. BIG SHOW Don't miss the Exeter Optimists Home and Garden Show special section FOR A DIME? What you can still buy for 10 cents in Exeter page 5 FASHIONS Lioness sponsor a spring show to iemember page 8 HAWKS SWEEP Exeter Hawks reach provincial final . page IA FREE TRADE Floss Daily presents pros and cons of issue page 6A