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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-11-15, Page 5Times -Advocate, November 15, 1989 A- i Flrst since 1944 Sisters reunite with brother DASHWOOD - Sisters Kaethe Freiter and Annie Zielman are "nervous" and "excited'. They are preparing for a very special family reunion. On Thursday the two take off for West Germany, to see their brother Henry whom they last saw 45 years ago. when Kaethe was 19, and Annie 11. Also going on the trip are an- other brother and two sisters from Leamington, and a brother from Winnipeg. The Janzen family had been sep- arated during the latter part of World War Two. Though Ger- man, they grew up in Russia. As the Germans retreated before the advance of the Russian army, Ger- man nationals left too. The Janzens were last all • to- gether in a camp,near Gdansk, Po- land, in April, 1944. From there, Henry was conscripted into the German army, and Kaethe was sent to a Polish hos . ital to be in training as a nursing assistant. She lost track of her parents, but kept in touch with Henry. As the Russians continued their forward push, the Germans, army and civilians, retreated before them. Annie, her parents, one sis- ter, a younger brother and her 88 - year -old grandmother pined a wagon train heading for Germany, arriving in February 1945, Annie remembered her brother Henry's field number. She wrote to him and was able to put him in touch with his parents. Kaethe, now working for the German Red Cross, found out where her parents were through corresponding with Henry. She spent an evening with them before reporting to .a hospital in northern Germany. In 1947, again through the Red Cross, Kaethe traced her parents and some of her brothers and sis- ters to a farm near the Danish bor- der. She learned that Henry had been wounded in the collapse of Munich, and sent back to Russia. An aunt who had remained in Rus- - sia traced Henry to Vladivastock, where he was working in a mine. Nbw, 45 years later, Henry, his two daughters and a son-in-law are in west Germany on holiday. The 16 -year-old last seen by his family in 1944 is now a 64 -year- old grandfather of eight. "We will have a lot of catching up to do," Kaethe said. Sister An- nie smiled in antici ation. All packed - Sisters Annie Zielman (left) and Kaethe Freiter will Over the years - Henry Jantzen, (right) was just 16 when his family was scattered. He is now the be reunited this week with a brother they last saw 45 years ago. grandfather of eight. Lucan meters reveal some waste water LUCAN - Water meters recent- ly installed in the village have re- vealed some interesting data on how homeowners use, or waste, water. Works superintendent Doug Johnston told council last Tues- day that his department surveyed some of the village's meters and discovered household water use varies between 6.4 and 50 cubic metres per month- often without explanation or justification. At present Lucan ratepayers are billed on a flat rate connection charge. Councillor Bryan Smith noted some families will be sur- prised at their water bills when alt households arc metered and the village charges for water use. Johnston said the Anglican Church's average monthly use of 9.4 cubic metres jumped to 98 cu- bic metres, because of one turkey supper event alone. "That's 21,000 gallons!" said • Johnston. The works department plan to install 95 more meters this win- ter. One hundred have been in- stalled already, but there are over 600 households in the village. "I really do feel we're missing out of a lot of revenue by not having meters in," said Johnston.- The meters will also help Lu - can's case with the OMB when it comes time to get approval for water system funding. "From what I see, there's too much of a variance to continue with a flat rate," said councillor Bob Taylor, saying that water conservation will be encouraged by metered billing. Burning leaves a hazard HENSALL - Disposal of leaves was discussed at a short and une- ventful council meeting. Leaves have been a growing problem, blocking catchbasins, and obscur- ing visibility when set on fire. Councillor Butch Hoffman said the ash residue can also be a fire hazard.. Works superintendent John Bak- cr said that for $50 he could test a machine that would suck up the leaves. If it worked, he predicted he could add -a hose and awagon, and for less than $4,000 put to- gether a• device to clear up the leaves each autumn and cart them to the dump. All property owners would have to do would be to rake the leaves onto the boulevards. Baker was given permission to test the machine. The works superintendent was asked to put the handrail at the left-hand side of the front entrance to the municipal building back on .with a threaded rod and bolts. Baker had removed the rail aftc it had been bent and partially b ok- en by children jumping on it. Councillor Peter Groot said that a handrail is necessary, especially with winter approaching. Councillors agreed to make up the balance so the local library branch can purchase a $3,000 Pub- lic Access-. Catalogue. Fund- raising efforts and a book 'sale have already raised $2,108, and some potential donors have not yet responded to a letter asking for fi- nancial assistance. Pineridge Barbecue has offered to provide free hotdogs after the tree -lighting ceremony scheduled for December 1. The village's bean mascot cos- tume will make its debut at the town's Christmas party or. Novem- ber 18. The'Hensall Co-op and General Manufactured Homes are among the Hensall businesses supporting an expanded BIA. A public meeting will be held on November 20 to give the public a chance to air their views on the proposed rezoning of the Bender property on part of Park lot 10 from special commercial to resi- dential medium density. Council called a special meeting on October 18 to open tenders for stoap sewer construction at the railway tracks. Four were submit- tcd, but one containing the lowest bid was not considered as it did not meet all specifications. The contract was awarded to La - vis Contracting who submitted the second -lowest bid, $20,897. Injuries in accident EXETER - Two people were taken to South Huron Hospital as the result of a two -vehicle colli- sion at tic; intersection of High- ways 4 and 83 on Monday morn- ing. According to the report from Ex- eter town police, Michael Ryan, Ailsa Craig, was driving an un- loaded tractor trailer eastbound on • 83 when Linda Stephens, Kirkton, southbound on Highway 4, failed to stop for the ted light and was struck by the truck. Stephens and a pas- senger were injured. Later, Chief Hardy expressed the force's -appreciation to all the citi- zens who assisted Constable Bren- nan at the scene of the accident. • New ambulance station planned ZURICH - Brad Lucas' request for a minor variance was granted at the regular November meeting of Zurich council. The variance is needed to construct a 36' by 54' one and one-half storey ambulance station on Quinby Drive. The structure will be 2.5 metres from one side of the lot in order to save a row of trees, but this reduces the amount of sideyard on the other side below the stipulated mini- mum. The six -metre requirement was amended to four metres. Arena manager. Jim Ramer has been given permanent employ- ment and a $1,000 raise on com- -Action of -his probationary period. In order to get the Dining for Seniors program sponsored Town and Country Homemakers going in the village, the weekly charge for the community centre will be temporarily reduced from the orig- inal $60 rate. Councillor Margaret Deichert said that as the Exeter Youth Cen- tre charges participants in the Ex- eter program $1 each, the Zurich rcc committee had decided to im- pose thesame charge for a• mini- mum of $40: Once the program is •established, the weekly rental will be raised to $60. . In their appeal for a reduced rate, a tetter from the Homemakers agency had pointed out as well that Bayfield charges $32 weekly for the ,Community Centre there, and the charge in Goderichto house the Dining for Seniors program is $12 per year, which is donated back to the agency. • Councillor Dave Gelinas brought.' a request from residents of the Blue Water Rest Home for paving along the shoulder of Highway 84 to al- low people to walk from the Home to the village. He was asked to set up a meeting among Home admin- istrator Josef Risi and representa- tives for Hay and Zurich councils to 'see what could be done. In recognition of Recycling Week November 20 to 26, the Zu- rich Torch Bearers will be given a citation of merit for the many years of collecting newspapers. Clerk Maureen Simmons asked if council- wished to have the fine paper from the municipal office saved for rec'yling. Her only prob- lem with this was how to deal with confidential documents, as the vil- lage docs not have a paper shred- der. She offered to tear up any- thing that could be considered confidential. Councillors also agreed to place barrels • with plastic liners at the. arena, Zurich Wood Products and Bedard's store to collect empty pop cans Council will take the respon- sibility of delivering the empties to the recycling depot until an indus- trial -commercial pick-up is in place next spring. • Eleven offers on the village's old truck and plow were opened. The bids ranged from a low of $850 to the successful bid of $2,500 from Robert Varna, Port Elgin. Dave Moore's Petrocan outlet in Exeter retained the contract to sup- ply the municipal office and the Community Centre with furnace oil. Moore's bid of 21.1 was the lowest of four tenders. Councillors unanimously sup- ported a motion from Orillia op- posing the provincial bill that will make facility in Frcnch mandatory in an ever-increasing number of government jobs. They also sup- ported a motion from the provin- cial PCs opposing the diversion of lottery funds to hospitals and other causes, and away from sports and recreation as originally set up. Two drivers fined EXETER -- Two' drivers were. fined in Exeter court on November. 7 while JP Doug Wedlakc presided. Jason Carter, Hcnsall, was given 30 days to pay $128.75 after plead- ing guilty to failing to stop for po- lice on March 18. He was pursued for two and one-half miles from Ex- eter north. - Leonard Smale, Hensall, was'as- sessed $250 andgiven a six-month suspension for driving while sus- pended. He had been seen driving on King -Street on July 16 by an of- ficer who suspected he was unli- cenced, Further investigation showed a suspension dating back to 1985 which was stillin effect. The- six=month suspension will begin at the end of the previous suspension. Page 3 Rau resigns, Hay seeks new officer ZURICH - After serving Hay Township for more than three years as water project officer, Barb Rau has resigned her posi- tion for personal reasons unrelated to the job. The position of water projects officer was created to oversee the petitions from subdivisions along Highway 21 that were slated to' be hooked up to a new Lake Huron Pipeline from the Port Blake pumping station. The pipeline was installed in 1987 in response to complaints from cottage owners about the quality of water along the town- ship's lakeshore. Rau attributed the complaints to a high content of sulphur and iron in the area's groundwater. . Rau said the amount of paper- work involved with the project, is staggering. OMB applications, bylaws to set water rates or hook- up costs, water samples and quar- terly billing alt added' up to a mountain of paperwork. Of the 24 lakeshore cottage sub- divisions, 17 have already con- nected to the pipeline. Seven oth- ers are still considering hookup. "There's a few that are reluctant to hook up," said Rau, explaining that some subdivisions have fewer complaints about their water quali- ty. The cost of connecting to the lake water supply has not- been considered a problem. Rau esti- mated the average property owner pays between $1,300 to $3,000 to connect to the line, depending on frontage. She says that is reason- able, considering the costs of drill- ing and maintaining wells. - "There 'haven't been many com- plaints about the cost of it," she said, suggesting that real estate values in the arca have improved since a reliable source of good wa- ter was introduced. Stanley Township is hoping to connect onto the north end of the 14 -inch pipeline within the next few years. Hay Township will be seeking a new water projects officer within the next few weeks. , Hydro increase Continued from front page $65,242 for transformers, followed closely by $61,728 for new under- ground distribution systems as well as extensions and added ser- vices. Davis suggested that working funds be increased to allow for .an estimated $130,000 renovation of the Sanders Street substation tenta- tively ;scheduled for 1991. Davis added that another big expense that year could be the purchase of - a computer estimated at $40,000 to $60*000. None of those figures include provincial or federal tax. An additional $281,500 has been badgetcd for operation, mainte- nance and administration expenses • in,the coming year. - Top award - Exeter's Safe Homes for Youth program received the ,off their award are some of the Safe Homes executive. From left Solicitor -General's award. for crime prevention. The program pro- -are Dr. Dave Hodder, Diane McQuaid, Sharon Wurm, Rev. Duke Vip- vides shelter for young people in family crisis situations. Showing 'german, Larry Hardy, Rick Graham, Deb McCann, and Bev Robinson.