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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-03-13, Page 1T -A Classifieds They really pay Call 235-1331 Serving South Huron North Middlesex & LarnL)totl Olt Gaiaer•Knen% Insurance Cali us for Comprehansive Competitive HOMEOWNERS 238-2420 Inside Unemployed A look inside page 2 Popular spot The Lucan Inn page 5 Carnival Zurich figure skaters shine page 9 Bye, bye Mudcats Mohawks win series Second front • Hibbert won't pay Hensatl for fire/calls HENSALL - The Village of Hen- sall won't be getting paid for the services of their fire department in battling two recent fires m Hibbert Township. The Hensall department's cover._ age area extends only to the -Tuck- ersmith border, but the firefighters were mistakenly called out to the. fires on the Hibbert side of the boundary and decided to fid t..them until the Seaforth department ar- rived. The Hensall Fire Depart- ment then forwarded a bill to Hib- bert in the amount of $1,254.00 for services rendered. The township, however, has rejected the bill on the grounds that mutual aid was not required. "When you're called out to a fire can you rightfully turn around?" . asked councillor Peter Groot at Monday evening's council meeting. "Morally you can't, but legally you can," observed councillor Jeff Reaburn. Groot pointed out that even if the wrong fire department is called to a fire, if they have the chance to save a life, they ought to. "It's a silly situation,' said Groot, who surmised many people in boundary area often don't know which coverage area they are in. Councillor Butch Hoffman, also Hensall's Fire Chief, said the emer- gency calls identified the fues as in Tuckersmith Township, even though they later found out to be on the other side of the townline. "You can't do much about it," said Groot sadly. "1t really puts you in a rough po- sition, no matter which way you go," said councillor Cecil Pepper. Hoffman said while it may be possible to reach an agreement with Hibbert for a policy on such mis- placed emergency calls, he said un- til then the department will have no choice but to turn around when they discover the call is from the Hibbert si , of the coverage area. Pupp stolen from pen EXETER - The Exeter OPP are reporting the theft of a 10 -week old SiberianHusky pup last Tuesday. Police say someone entered a pen outside the residence of Kathy Re- gier at RR 1 Kirkton and stole her puppy. The pup was with its moth- er at the time. The dog is described as being black and tan, female, and with one blue eye and one brown. Police also report a break-in at the Carter residence in Elimville on Thursday when unknown persons entered the house between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. and stole a Sean colour television, a top -loading VCR, and a Realistic sterno. An incidence of vandalism at the Ironwood Golf Course has been re- ported. Police believe that in early to mid-February, someone entered the course and on the fourth gouged the initials "SID" cir- cled it, probably using the heel of a boot. • $1.1 million total Exeter agrees to acceptextra PRIDE project funding EXETER - Town council elected to go ahead with the $1.1 million anti -recession project proposed by the provincial government, but has decided to finance the $440,000 shortfall it will create this year out of the town's own accounts. The province had offered the town the chance to do nearly five years work of capital improvement projects in the southwest corner of town in a single year in an effort to fight unemployment during this re- cession. The incentive is a $560,000 grant, so long as the work, which includes new sewage lines, sidewalks, a pumping station and a sewage forcemam, is com- pleted before January 1992. Clerk treasurer Liz Bell told council that while there were two other options to finance the town's contribution to the project - selling debentures, or borrowing the mon- ey from bank - it would be cheaper, she said, . to finance the project themselves because the interest could be about 2.5 percent below prime rate. Deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller said she was originally concerned about the cost of the accelerated project, but said her fears had been allayed by the financing proposals. "I think it's a good project, go ahead," said Fuller. Councillor Morley Hall, after re- viewing the thrx -year payment schedule, expet concern that council would be tying up funds that might be needed later for ex- pansion of the sewagelagoon sys- tem. "This is going to tie up all availa- ble funds, is it not?" asked Hall. "For a very short term," replied mayor Bruce Shaw. Works superintendent Glenn Ke11s noted that even if the sewage expansion project was started right aw . k would take at lost 11 years of engineering and planning before capital funds would be re- quired. Reeve Bill Mickle spoke out in favour of the project, dubbing it "PRIDE Two Plus". He pointed out that the sewage forcemain, be- fore the anti -recession funding, would have cost the town much more. "That means $200,000 of free money the town wouldn't have oth- erwise have," said Mickle. Council Dave Urlin agreed: "I thins it's money well spent". What the uprated project won't include is the paving of Mill. Mary, or Waterloo Sheets, although they will be graded after the installation of the sanitary sewers with the idea that paving can be included in a fu- ture works budget. The biggest potential holdup to the anti -recession project will be getting Ministry of the Environ- ment approval so that tenders can be called as early as June, ex- plained Kells. Nevertheless, if all goes to plan, Kells told council, the sewers could be installed by October, but hook- ups of residences cannot begin until the new pumping station is operat- ing, which may not be until late De- cember. Shaw noted that since the anti recession project's main goal is to generate employment in Ontario, he said it may make sense to hire workers or students to complete sidewalk work this summer in the PRIDE One area while the public works crews help with the more critical sewage line installation. Wiw the funding . ' 'on chosen by council, the S440,011 shortfall in the public works capital budget would be paid beck over three years, mainly through use of the sanitary sewer reserve fund. While the 1991 works capital budget would be pushed beyond the $ 1.9 million mark (compared to $465,000 last year), the five-year forecast shows the increase from taxation will be kept to leas than two percent up to 1994. Swans due back - GRAND BEND - Warm weather and the melting of snow means it's time once again for hundreds of spe- cies of birds to begin their annual migration northern& One of the earliest birds to arrive in our area is the magnificent white tundra swan. The flooded fields of the Thedford bog are one stop along their lengthymigration route from the state ofDelawareto the high Canadian Arctic. Last year over 10,000 tundera swans landed onthe fields behind the Lambton Herhage Museum. In addition over 15.000 Canada Geese and . le 20,000 vttr- led species of ducks also stopped on this favoured side. The Lambton Heritage Museum 'and the Pinery Provincial Park have once again planned a special bird - watching event for t*o Sundays March 17 and 24, from noon to 3 p.m. The Lambton Heritage Mu- seum will present informative films on the swans and their migration along with background about the life history of the swans. The Triple C Carving Club of Sarnia will demonstrated waterfowl carving both Sundays. As well, light re- freshments will be available at the museum. Wednesday, March 13. 1991 "Let 11i m rit" 75 cents Council told to drop deal for Gibbs' beach ByFred Groves GRAND BEND - If the ratepay- ers of Grand Bend have their say, the main beach in this poplar re- sort community could take on a different look. Saturdaymorning at the Grand Bend Legion, a public meeting was heid to ask the village's resi- dents whether or not their council should negotiate with Archie Gibbs, who owns the main beach, pending an appeal. The majority of the 225 in atten- dance felt Gibbs should run the beach anyway he wants to, and that the village should have no in- volvement in what he does. Last year, the village paid a por- tion of Gibbs' taxes on the beach in exchange for use of the beach house and beach while allowing Gibbs to operate the parking lot. Council hope to reach a similar agreement for this summer. However, the public felt Gibbs should pay his own taxes and therefore the village may be forced to build their own wash- room facilities, which some coun- cil members believed could cost as much as $60,000. "I'm surprised there wasn't more who wanted to negotiate," said Grand Bend reeve Bruce Woodley of the public's stand on the issue. "I wasn't surprised at the number - that said 'leave it alone and let him run ie." 'Gibbs became the owner of ap- proximately 33 percent of the beach following a December 1989 decision. His section of the beach, which extends from the Ausable River to the beach' house, is sand= wiched between two larger public sections of the beach. Last summer, Woodley estimat- ed it cost the village approximate- ly $26,500 to maintain the beach. That included having lifeguards, cleaning the beach and mainte- nance for the beach house. "I may be challenged on these numbers, but it gives you a good idea," said Woodley. The village has until March 15 to reach an agreement with Gibbs for the operation of the beach. While council says they want the same ar- rangement they had a year ago, Gibbs is asking to be allowed to put overflow parking across from Gov- ernor's Road, operate a chip wagon, have use of the Pier Booth building and to be able to operate a jet ski for family use. "Tourism is not going to be cheap in the village any more," said coun- cillor Dennis Snider. "The cost of maintaining the beach will be an important factor in the budget." Barry Strong of Grand Bend was one of the many ratepayers to voice his concerns. He said council should let Gibbs fence off his por- don of the . beach and do what he pleases with it. Strong was upset with the way the tounsts act in the summer when they migrate to the village by the thousands. "We're tired of our property be- ing wrecked. Everybody thinks we're interested in the tourists, we're not," said Strong. A 1983 Economic Opportunities Report estimated the tourist indus- ' try in Grand Bend area earned an income of about $33 million. That amount did seem to interest businessman Nick Carter who doesn't agree with some villagers that the tourists cause problems. "I've been down on that main beach for 20 years and I think they're pretty orderly," said Carter. "We have to have washrooms and keep the beach clean. As taxpayers it's a cost we have to bear." In a letter "from Gibbs lawyer Russel Raikes, it was indicated a number of groups have approached Gibbs about leasing the beach. Woodley suspected one of these groupspcould be a large brewing "We don't want to see any drink- . ing on the beach, but it is an option for Mr. Gibbs," said Woodley. ' Last summer Gibbs collected rev- ' Please turn to page 2 Rates may increase as Hensall gears up for anti -recession project HENSALL - Hensall ratepayers could be looking at water rates of up to $200 per year as the village attempts to match a $75.000 anti - recession grant awarded by the province. Hensall has been allocated $75,000 for the road reconstruction, improvements to the water distribution system, and streetlight up - des along Queen Street (one block north of King Street/Highway ). The village plans to complete the $338,800 worth of work this year to take advantage of the special provincial grant, and while council hopes further grants will be forthcoming from other provin- cial agencies, it will have to raise the remaining funds itself. Council will be holding a special meeting on March 25 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the projects with the PUC One of the topics certain to be of interest to those present will be the suggestion by village consulting engineers B.M. Ross that water rates be increased imme- diately and "it should be noted that a $200/year residential water rate is not unrealistic." Council and PUC will be looking at what parts of the water distri- bution system will receive first pn'brity for upgrading and how the rest of the project will be funded, possibly through the sale of deben- tures. .4 Few leads in gas bar robbery LUCAN - The Lucan OPP don't have many leads on , two gas bar robberies and a theft that they are currently investigating. Last Monday -evening, at around 9:45 p.m., two suspects entered the Olco Gas Bar at the south end of Lucan and confronted the torte fe- male attendant. While one man cut the phone line, the other demanded money. They received $256 and flex! on foot. Sergeant Brian Munro at the OPP said the two men were wearing scarves over their faces and stood hunched over to disguise their heigght. "We don't even know how big they were," said Munro. Noweapons were involved in the crime Police tracked footprint across the field behind the gas bar and believe the pais may have gone to a hidden vehicle. The second robbery within three weeks was reported at the Cargo Gas Bar in Arva. While the atten- dant was serving a customer, two men in ski masks entered the kiosk and took about $85 in cash. The men fled the area on foot after be- ing detected by the attendant. While police say there was no con- frontation involved in the incident, the thieves also cut the telephone lines in the office. "There's not too many leads in any of them," said Munro, also re- -faring to the Ee1rwHe21 robbery noeed at the Arva de- s were sketchy in all cases witnesses were few.