HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-12-06, Page 5Local grinches
Visitors to our community have remarked about the beauty of the
Christmas decorations lighting up the night in all areas of town but
every year it seems there are always some people who feel they
must put a damper on the holiday spirit. Several lights have been
stolen and for the first time in 13 seasons the thieves managed to
strike at our household stealing a homemade San Claus from our
front door. I'm not exactly sure what part of the mit d is missing in
. the individuals who sneak around at night removing]decorations.
Perhaps they have a reverse form of Christmas spirit where they are
upset by anyone else's happiness.
Successful parade
The Exeter Lions Club did their best to add to the Christmas spirit
in town with their annual parade Saturday. Lions parade chairman
Bob Sargeant has done such a great job over the past few years
there is a rumor going around he might get the job permanently.
Prizewinners arc: Best Float, Exeter Bible Fellowship; Best Theme
Float (Old Fashioned Christmas), Frayne Chev-Olds; Best Service
Club, Eastern Star; Best School Float, SHDHS; Best Business Float,
Big V Drug Store. Sargeant singled out Laidlaw Transport and Mo-
bile Home Express for making major contributions to the success of
the parade.
Skating accident
A freak accident at a skating party Saturday, November 25 at the
South Huron Rec Centre caused a fairly serious injury to an Exeter
youth. Todd McCann, son of Tom` and Pauline McCann, Edward St.
is recuperating in University Hospital after striking a corner on one
of the player door openings as he skated by. McCanns spleen was
injured.
Artistic fundraiser
You can support a famous Canadian artist and the country's finest
summer theatre by purchasing "Huron County", a limited edition re-
production by Jack Reid. A high quality print of the Lake Huron
shoreline would be an excellent investment and an exciting Christ-
mas gift. A brochure and information are available from the Huron
Country Playhouse in Grand Bend.
Top executive from Exeter
The rise to the top by' Burns Fry Ltd.; one of Canada's leading in-
vestment dealers, by Exeter native John MacNaughton proves that
nice guys can finish first according to former classmate George
Godbolt. Godlx)It describes MacNaughton as "always being a genu-
inely nice guy" who was voted by his Exeter classmates as being
most likely to succeed.
Off -ice partners
Two Exeter Mohawks will be working together after recently form-
ing a partnership in the contracting business Bill Glover and Kris
Bedard's venture is called B & K Seamless Eavestroughing although
they also do siding, soffit and fascia. If they work as hard off the ice
as they do playing hockey they should be assured of success.
Back
in time
10 years ago
•Two died in an early morning house fire in Huron Park. Three
escaped the blaze. Fire chief Norm Hyde said 'because of thefirewas
an electrical heater that was being used to dry the walls of a freshly
painted room.
•Editor Bill Batten was pondering Parkinson's law that stated
bureaucracies grow at a rate of 5.75 percent annually, regardless of
the work burden. Batten was noting the increased size of the Exeter
town banquet over the years and was wondering how long it would
bc before everyone in town worked for the municipality.
•Chuck Collins of RR 1 Varna, a grade 10 student in Clinton, was
one of the area's most successful motocross riders.
• The population of Greenway had climbed all the way to 36 with
the addition of a new family to the hamlet.
20 years ago
•Al Parker was sworn in as a Grand Bend councillor to fill the
vacant scat left by the resignation of Peter DeJong.
• A Tuckersmith Township woman was refusing to pay taxes on her
farm until the township cleaned up the water and air pollution
affecting her property. A nearby swine operation's sewage lagoon
was causing her nausea and vomiting several times a season.
•Reeve Oliver Jaques was elected in Hensall by a 116 vote margin
over Minnie Noakes. New to council was Paul Neilands, accompa-
nied by incumbents Hein Rooseboom, John Baker and Leonard Erb,
•Breath tests became a legal means of testing the impairment of a
driver as of December 1, 1969.
50 years ago
•The municipal election was coming.
"We understand that B.W. Tuckey, who has served two years on
the council, will contest the reeveship. Councillor Dignan is also said
to have his eye on the chief magistrate's chair but so far has not
declared himself."
•"The King will broadcast a message to the Empire Christmas Day,
it was officially announced Friday."
"in these trying days it is well to keep in mind the reply of the Duke
of Wellington when asked if he really thought that British soldiers are
braver than the soldiers of any other nation. 'No' was the emphatic
reply, 'but they can be depended upon to be brave fifteen minutes
longer than the soldiers of any other nation'." '
100 years ago
• 'Quite a sensation was caused in town on Friday last, when it was
known that a lady. recently a resident in this town, had beat -arrested
in Woodstock on a charge of poisoning her late husband....Some
eighteen months ago U.J. Whitley , of Goderich township, died, and
by some it was thought under suspicious circumstances, but the.
matter was not invested (sic). The widow afterwat'ids removed to
Clinton, where she resided until a short time since, when married an "
Edwards, of Woodstock, and went to reside in that town. During the
past week particulars have been obtained by the brother of the
deceased...a servant giri..,says khat she saw Mrs. Whitley putting
arsenic in a dose of medicine for her husband."
•"A pigeon shooting match will be held at the Central Hotel,
Exeter, tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 6th. This will be the largest shooting
match held in the county for some time, and will be attended bya latae
number of sportsmen from di ffercnt parts of the county. Thus far over
400 birds have been secured."
Times -Advocate, December 6, 1989
Page 5
The new ref - The rumors aren't true. Mohawks president Gabby Mol Christmas presents - Or Christmas presence? - Exeter Public School
and executive member Stewart Taylor aren't' looking for new hockey had it all wrapped up for Saturday's parade. -
officials.
Woodley defends condo project position
Letter to
• the Editor
Dear Sir:
I wanted to take this opportunity
to air my side of the Trillium Beach
Condo Development controversy
which has been recently discussed at
Grand Bend Council. My concern is
with a walkway which has been
proposed for the north side of the
development. This would be under
Village ownership and control once
the development and walkway arc
completed and would allow the pub-
lic to gain access to the beach as
the existing King St. entrance to he
beach will be closed by the develop-
er. One side of the walkway I under-
stand will be the cement wall of the
parking garage (structure), the other
side will abutt private property.
Although the site plan shows re-
taining walls on both sides in cer-
tain areas of the walkway and lesser
or no walls in other areas, the exist-
. ing arca where the walkway is to be
constructed is a 20-25 foot sand
' dune. In our last discussion with
the owner Mr. James Hevey; Friday
November 24/89 he indicated the
walkway would be following close
to if not totally existing slopes.
This would make it difficult for the
general public to, including the eld-
erly, disabled and those carrying
small children to go up and down
this dunc. A further concern was
that the walkway be 10 feet in
width as are the other walkways at
the end of Beach St. and Oak St.
This allows for our 8 foot plough
to clean out the wind blown sand
each spring.
Further, the site plan shows the
walkway ending at the sea wall
which surrounds the lakeside and
part of the northerly side of the pro-
posed building and property. The
land immediately to the north at
that point is under private owner-
ship. With the inability to go over
-the sea wall and if the abutting
landowners fenced their property,
the walkway would go nowhere; a
cement walk to your left, private
property to your right and a sea
wall straight ahead. How do you get
to the beach? I can imagine the hey-
day the public, let alone the_press
would have with the village know-
ingly allowing a walkway to be
constructed that could not bc used
other than'possibly for vagrants or
as a public washroom. I contacted
our village lawyer Dan Murphy on
Friday December 01/89 and he in-
formed me the walkway must stay
on Mr. Hevey's land till 'it meets
Crown land on the west. In that
case what happens to the sca wall
which is a necessary part of the de-
velopment to protect the building
from possible water and wind dam-
age?
I too am in favour of the devel-
opment. It will provide an anchor
for the village. It is an exciting and
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dynamic project, but frankly I can-
not understand why the balance of
our council approved this develop-
ment knowing of these problems
and further approving the develop-
ment agreement for the project
without even looking at a single
page of it. I saw it over a year ago
but as of the passing of the ap-
proval of this project, council only
saw the site plan. Approving the
development agreement which is
several pages in length without
even looking at it, is irresponsible
of Council•in my opinion particu-
larly since this agreement was
drafted by the developer.
Mr. Hevey has the approval of
council with 3 out of 4 votes but
he wants the unanimous approval
of council. 1 would be glad to give
my approval once my concerns
have been addressed. I would not
want to see the owner proceed with
further design plans on the build-
ing when the building may have to
be moved to accommodate a walk-
way that will go 10 the beach.
To complicate matters more, the
Executive of the Grand Bend and
Area Chamber of Commerce re-
quested a meeting with me last
Thursday November 30/89.I met
with the new President Keith Hog-
gard, Roger Culbert, 1st Vice pres-
ident, Lloyd Guillet and Norm
Johnson, Treasurer. At that meet-
ing, Keith urged me to declare a
conflict of interest on this issue
whether or not I had one so that
Mr. Hevey would have all of coun-
cil support for the project, since I
did not vote for the project till my
concerns were dealt with. I was
given a letter by Keith from Mr.
Hevey that gives me until Decem-
ber 11/89 to do so. I was threa-
tened by Keith that if I did not see
clear to do so he would auend eve-
ry council meeting and take apart
everything I did on council, each
meeting. So much for Democracy -
so much for the -Chamber and
Council working together. It is in-
teresting to note that Councillor
Shirley Mitchell owns property
closer to the proposed development
than I do and yet she has not de-
clared a conflict of interest, nor did
she get a letter from Mr. Hevey
giving her a deadline to declare a
conflict of interest. But there
again, she supported the develop-
ment. Was she told how to vote?
Roger Culbert, owner of Exeter
Glass and Mirror informed me of
the benefit this development would
have on his company providing the
windows and mirrors for each of 72
units. Although I am sure Roger ,
has a community interest, there
sure could be a personal benefit to
him. It then makes you question
the chambers motive for this pro-
ject with pressure tactics and possi-
ble personal interest. I called for a
private meeting between owner Jim
Hevey, Malcolm Boyd, Chief Plan-
ner, County of Lambton, Reeve
Bob Sharen and Ito meet to address
my concerns. Keith and the Cham-
ber of Commerce Executive met
with Jim Hevey in the morning of
Wednesday November 28/89. At
that meeting he was made aware of
the meeting I requested Malcolm
Boyd to set up. Keith said the
meeting between the four of us
only was taking place because of he
wanted it to and that he was going
to be there too. Lloyd Guillet said
he was going as, well and who
knows who else? After talking to
Jim Hevey for 1 1/2 hours on Fri-
day morning December 01/89 I re-
alized you get nothing accom-
plished with a large group of
people, particularly when most
know very little that has transpired
in the last 3 years this project has
been in the works. It is frustrating
to .try and reach an agreement when
others are involved who do not
know the facts.
Then I learned today that Jim He-
vey contributed to Reeve Bob Shar-
en's election campaign November
1988. Now things are coming into
perspective.
Those of you who attend council
meetings know I usually come well
prepared and give good representa-
tion. I enjoy my council work very
much. I cannot think of a place I
like more than Grand Bend. I want-
ed you the ratepayers of the village
to know I have done my homework
and registered my concerns. If the
majority of this Council chooses to
do nothing about these concerns,
whether it be a walkway, to no-
where or a development agreement
that Council cannot be bothered to
review, then at least you know I
have done my homework. You be
the judge of that.
Grand Bend Deputy Reeve
Bruce Woodley
R.R.SIP.
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