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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-01-25, Page 7r n the Street By Jim Beckett h; recent announcement by J.ack Riddell that Usborne. Township was getting .a municipal road subsidy of 56,800 could put an end to the potential court battle be- twcen Exeter -PUC and the township. Both sides had dug into their positions. Osborne didn't want to pay the bill of S6,642 from. the Exeter. PUC for watcrmain relocation on •theAnderson municipal drain. Exeter was adarnant that their bill should be -Paid because they maintained Usbomc would be eligible for reimbursement in the form of the subsidy. PUC Officials say the. grant was always available... • This is a classic example of a needless waste of taxpayers' mon-. ey,.The only winners in the wholeexercise are the lawyers. '.. ******************.* . • - Dan Kierstead, a popular former Exeter police officer who is:now with the York -Regional Police: has been. honoured for saving a Mother and tot from a submerged car.' Kicrstcad was the- Vaughan Rotary Club's Policeman of the Month: His chief said there is no doubt that constable Kerstead's quick thinking and disregard for his own safety averted what could have been a tragic event. He was driving to a course in Toronto from Bradford when he was flagged.. down by a motorist who had seen a car drive into the Holland Ca- nal. . Rushing to the scene he found a female driver; chest -high in wa- ter holding. her .young son above her head in a partially -submerged and quickly filling -1987 Mustang. He entered the water and removed ,-the baby boy and the women through a passenger window. . *************** - . If you're interested in what the B.I.A. is doing tonight (Wed) is a.. good night to find out. The new board of management is ineeting at .the council chambers at 7:3(1 p.m. Board members are: Karen Pfaff, past chairman; Don Thompson, treasurcr; .Dave Urlin, council rep; - Susan Moore, Bcn Hoogenboom, Don,Romph, Bob Laramie, Kem Gertner, Heather Rogers and Allan Brand.- All B.1.A. meetings are open and visitors.are welcome.. - - Anyone who Makes adonation toward the Lions Youth Centre at - Standard Trust on Main St. will have -their donation matched by- the trust company. Manager Don Thompson told me his -firm will match total donations up to 52,500. This will probably result in a S5,000 boost for the project. JOKE OF THE WEEK - A young man had difficulty relating to and expressing -himself with his friends because of his extremely high IQ. He decided:to go to a Doctor seeking a remedy to his prob- lem and.after hooking him up to the:IQ measuring devise the Doctor confirmed the IQ was 185. "We can remedy this," the Doctor said.. "We'll just set the machine to gradually lower your IQ until it gets to an average level." The machine was running and the IQ was get- . ting lower when the Doctor was called away on an urgent phone call. When he returned the machine indicated an IQ of five; much lower than expected. The Doctor was curious about what a conversa- tion would be With anyone with such a low level of intelligence and decided to wake up his patient and see what the -results were: Gucss what the man's first .Words. were. If you guessed "Go Leafs Go,"- you're o,"you're right. • - _ Exeter's newest police constable is Dwight Monck who has been serving as an auxiliary officer. • I won't Mention any names regarding this item to. avoid embar- rassment: Onc of Exeter's real estate brokers was -leaving her home near Hcrisall with her garbage -and her dog in the car to begin what she thought would be an uneventful day. Shc hopped out of her car to drop off thcgarbage at the end of the driveway and when she tried to"get back in she discovered her little pet had pushed the door lock • down. . Back in time 10 years ago 'Arson was suspected as.the cause of a blaze which destroyed a vacant Crediton home: Neighbours heard an explosion in the early hours of morning, seconds later the house was engulfed in flames. •South Huron Ilospital was given two years to cut their number. of active care beds from 36 to 26. - . •Exetcr OPP constable Fjtink Giffcn found the lights on the roof of his crui'-serhadbeenstolen overnight infrontofhis home. The light rack was later rccrvercd,.abandoned on theUWO campus. 20 years ago - •James Hayter, reeve of Stephen Township and Dashwood garage owner was acclaimed warden of Huron County. Hayter was the third Stephen reeve in a row to take the county scat. - 50 years ago ' •One of the first full width headings seen in the Times -Advocate read "Exeter is Best Business Town in Huron County" County Valuator H.G. Mogg told -county council Exeter was•tops in business except Tor the summer months when edged out byGoderich.• He also described Wingharn as the neatest town in the county, said Clinton had aggressive mcrcttiltnts, but Scottish merchants in Seaforth spent too much time bemoaning the plight of the farmer. He noted that taS`�4rnC°l"" t ' said.) il1*U vUI 1IIib,. -jam •Huron County council finished 1938 with a surplus of S4,814. 70 years ago •"Back from the War: Ptes. Leon Treble and Gordon Hooper arrived home from overseas on Monday"evening and were met at the station by, a Targe number of citizens who gave them a warm welcome home.' Treble, before he enlisted was a member of the Times staff. •A.J. Clatworthy of Granton was advertising "War time prices" on fencing at 45 cents a rod for 6 strand wire fence, while J.Willis Powell of Exeter was advertising "The New Edison, phonograph with a sc)nl.,.,ownershitn of iliis instrutncoi- ill i1JW til the world literally at one scomnian--- •"Women workers in Great Britain ate making a vigorous fight.to secure the same wages paid mcn, for the same kind of work performed by the men," It's Your Business `Times -Advocate, January 25, 1989 Closed - Main Street business owner Marsha. Lemon points to the Queen Street Place on the corner of Main Street as an ex- ample of an attempt to bring winter business to • Grand Bend; an . attempt that fell flat. Few of the -businesses find trade brisk enough to stay open after Labour Day. • Where the money Is High- way 21 strip development is attracting development dollars to Grand Bend, but does it come at the expense of Main Street? Is there life on Main Street after Labour Day? By Adrian Harte - GRAND BEND - While most people -see -this resort community's wide, -sunny• Main. Street as. the centie of its business community, some are worried it might not stay. that way. Grand Bend's recent building boom has been much.pub-• licized, but a large portion of the builder's dollars arc focussing on de eloping Ontario Street= High wa\1. Bu ing per ' s issued in 1988 show t -. d businesses spent about S 9,000 on Main Street propertie , mostly for renovation of existing buildings:. However," more than 10 times that amount was spent on Highway 21, about S1.9 million. Some: local busi- nesspeople arc calling this a major problem because the lion's share of developers' dollars" are building year-round businesses on Highway 21 when only a handful of Main Street .stores stay open after Labour Day. 'The Main Street is getting tribe • very much summer only," said Marsha Lemon, former councillor and owner of The Book Store on Main Street. She. points out as little as five years ago there were a lot more year-round "stores on Grand Bend's main strip. Today; many have closed or moved to Highway 21 where there is more through traffic in winter. _ Farmer Bill's Flowers is one business that has left Main Street to open on the highway; and even the Liquor Store will soon follow. "There's the potential here," said Lemon, suggesting if more tour- ism -oriented stores weathered the winter season, then more tourists would be prepared to discover' Grand Bend's winter. -Lemon -thinks a case can be made for lur- ing cross-country skiers up from Detroit for ski weekends, "1 think what the Main Street needs is a BiA (Business improve- ment Arca), for the Main Street," said Lemon. She maintains that • with R 4, CLanriLicod could at: spruc- • • ing up the street and gain access to provitibial expertise on how to make strategies for increasing tour- ism. "It's important right now to fo- cus on the Main Street," said Lem- on. One of the major developments slated for the bottom of Main .Street is .the Devlon Group's Bcachplace condominium complex. Several merchants view the project as a catalyst for future Main Street. - growth; but Devlon president - 'James Hcvcy says.the S12 million, 72 -unit building is on hold until the Grand Bend/Gibbs beach dispute is resolved. - - - "I would like to .sec this trial over," :said Hcvcy.. "It's -a mess. I would certainly like, as a developer, • *to see this mess cleared up." - Hevey suggested the outcome of the trial could have bearing on his . property, and, -if necessary; he would consider cancelling the Beachplace,project. This, he says, would be a shame. - - - "They really need permanent rede- velopment .on Main Street," said Hcvcy, saying projects like his will greatly add to the village's tax base and pavethc way for community. programs for year-round residents. But for now he awaits the verdict expected within the next few months. - "I need certainty; not assump- tions," said- Hcvcy. "I'm certainly nervous." ' Dave Sheppard, president of the Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber's Citizens For a Public Beach also await a verdict before they will take action. If the village and province lose, the group plans an appeal. However, Shep- pard says the Toss of the beach would have a great impact on the resort, but it would not be devastat- ing, and as far as he knows, the trial has no(affected any other de- velopments in Grand Bend other than the condominiums. Sheppard supports the idea of a BiA for Grand Bend, even though he realizes some people aren't in fa- vour. But Sheppard envisions a BiA for the entire village to plan -overall strategics. He also doesn't - subscribe to the opinion that the Chamber Of Commerce would col- lapse under the introduction of a BiA. -s2001000"1!".TrIVVYMW0e more development in Grand Bend to cater to both the permanent retiree population and the more youthful summer crowd. "We Want them both.to feel wel- come," he said. He hopes part of Grand Bend's fu- ture success will be the expansion of the "shoulder season business" - - fall and winter. . • Page 7 Harvey Bierling Bookkeeping & Tax Service Authorized agent for several Trust Companies Contact us today for highest rate available on GIC's and RRSP's Judy Vincent Shipka 238-2894 Exeter 235-1424 kORD' EAST CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS MICHAEL A. SCOTT, C.A. -The partners of Ford Keast are pleased to announce the admission to partnership of Michael A. Scott, -C.A. Michael qualified as a chartered accountant in 1983 and was em- ployed by a national firm bf char- tered accountants in London for seven years before joining -Ford Keast in January 1988. Michael of- fers clients his business experience in owner -managed enterprises and in . microcomputer systems. Ford Keast is a local firm of-thartered accoun- tants in London providing a full range of auditing, accounting, taxation, data processing and financial advi- sory services to businesses in Lon- don and surrounding arca . "This town has thought seasonal for so long that people cannot -see that there is business in the winter- time," said Sheppard, noting the few hotels that do stay open in the off-season are usually fully -booked. . "There is life after Labour Day in Grand Bend," he concluded. -Deputy-reeve and developer George Kadlccik doesn't believe in any trends one might sec in the vil- lage. He simply views the current boom in Highway 21 properties. as . the result of business decisions in- volving properties that require more room, better parking and street ac- cess: the same reasons that led him to plan to move his own Kadlccik Construction from Main Street some time soon.. Kadlccik isn't too keen on the idea ofa BIA either. • "Five years ago I syas opposed to it," said Kadlccik. He suggested Businesses would be better off spending money on their own prop- erties than spending it on the street itself. He also doesn't think a BIA for the whole village is viable: • "1 think that becomes uncontrolla- ble," he said, adding that he didn't sec how it could encourage year- round business. • "Everybody would like to sec a shift to permanent business, but how arc you going to force it?" he asked. Kadlccik pointed out he built the Queen Street Place several years ago with thc idea that it be winterized and accessible year-round. After an initial effort to remain open, most of the plaza merchants now keep their stores silent until spring. "You still can't make a business stay open," said Kadlccik. "There's no such thing as trends," he added, but said village residents can expect to see more development and renovation of present properties in the next few years. • "We want to see development on Main Street -as well as on Highway 21," he concluded. ' Announcement G.W. Parsons & Associates Inc. JOE STEPHENSON Doug Denomme, General Manager is pleased to an- nounce that JOE STEPHEN - SON has joined the compa- ny. . Joe has an Honors Diploma in Programming/Business Management from the Cana- dian Institute of Business and several years of experi- ence in systems design, pro- gramming, network systems, staff training and computer operations. G.W. Parsons & Associates offers their clients a complete line of micro computer hard- ware, softwarte and related support services. METAL PRODUCTS LTD ' SALES ACHIEVER OF THE YEAR All you need to remember about home comfort is SYSTEMS BY LENNOX Serving from Lucan to Blyth INS1ALLED BY AILEY' of Hensall Ltd. 1 ING AND AiR GOND'TIOi9ING HENSALL We're proud to be your Lennox Dealer" i . RRSP Seminar -and Question Period! #�, Sponsored I), mo6 Gasser -Knell . en. Date: January 31, 1989 Place: Olde Town Hall, Exeter (upstairs) Time: 7:00 p.m. 1 imitnri cnnr r is AN►nilabl^ UALL NOW AND HESERVE YOUR SEAT 235-2420 BRIAN HODGINS Tony Relouw, President of Andex Ltd. is pleased to announce that Brian (Ace) Hodgins, is the 1988 sales achiever of the year, representing the Andex group of companies. This award acknowledges Brian's sales achievement as the leading -sales representative atAndex and atso-pays tribute -to. • his many years in'promoting the full Andex line of products within his territory. . •