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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-04-24, Page 1S.H.D.H.S. presents FAME May 8•II i 4 GE Gaiser-Kneale Insurance Call us for Compr•h•nsly• Cr.mp•tltIv• HOMEOWNERS 235-2420 Serving South Huron North Middlesex & Larnbton Since 1873 Wednesday, April 24, 1991 le Inside Fame High School rehearses page2 Saga Book store in Grand Bend page 5 Car care Ready for spring? page 17-21 } Golf Choose your tee page 26 Thefts from Co -Op yard EXETER - The Exeter OPP are investigating the theft of about $8,000 worth of tools, pumps and radios taken from vehicles left overnight in a Hensall and District Co -Op yard. The vehicles were parked at thee_ Co-Op's yard at Lot 15 Concession 2 in Stephen township on the night of April 18 and 19. Someone en- tered the vehicles and stole proper- ty before work began at 7 a.m. Police are also looking into van- dalism at Zurich Public School which happened overnight on April 14. There are currently no suspects in the incident which sail/ damage to window and screens on the southwest corner of the school. And if anyone found a bed liner to a pickup truck, Don Meta of RR6 St. Marys would like to hear from you. He lost the liner on April 14 somewhere between Exet- er and Grand Bend between 1 and 4 p.m. Charge laid at ,134 Sanders EXETER - The Exeter Police Department have charged Paul Pridham with trespassing at 134 Sanders St. on Saturday. Pridham was told previously not to go to the apartment building. Senior citizens of the building recently sent a petition to the Hu- ron Housing Authority and MPP Paul Klopp requesting a cap be put on the number of non -seniors be- ing allowed to live in the building. Hanging around - Kyle Campbell and Chris DeJong found out that life in the old days may not ha so bad. Here they try an old fashioned tire swing Beach clock is tickin GSD BEND - The clock on the beach in Grand Bend is tick- ing. In just four weeks, thousands of tourists will flock to the resort community and although it may be a little cool to take a dip in Lake Huron, they will still head to the beach. However the question remains, whose beach will they go to. Archie Gibbs is the owner of what has been termed the 'main beach' and as of Monday night, council still had not heard from Gibbs or his lawyer in regards to a summer settlement. "There are no negotiations. They're makinn their own plans and we're ma' 'ins," said reeve Bruce Wo Although a pile u► gravel is on the beach, Woodley said there has been no indication of an expanded parking lot. Gibbs has threatened to put a Possible imppct on growth fence around the entire property but council doesn't think that will hap- pen. "Obviously we'd like to know what is going on, there doesn't seem to be any movement in fenc- ing the property or whatever. We believe he wants to charge for park- ing this year so likely will keep the beach open," said Woodley. Last summer, the village and Gibbs had an agreement. Grand bend would waive the mu- nicipal portion of Gibbs' taxes on the beach and in return, he would let the village use the bathhouse. A similar arrangement was not met over the winter and a public meet- ing was held. At that meeting, many local resi- dents indicated that the village should let Gibbs run the beach any- way he wants to. Earlier this month, Gibbs' lawyer Russell Raikes said they were in the process of having a large group lease the beach. "We've not had any of the volley- ball companies apl:coach us other than the original ones prior to the negotiations," said Woodley. "Either they've gone to Gibbs di- rect or they've not wanted to get in the middle of a situation." Gibbs not only owns the beach and the bathhouse but the turna- round at the end of Main Street. He could block this off although Woodley doesn't think that would be legal. "In the event he does have the right to do that, we'd direct traffic to the end of the pier and back," said Woodley. Washroom facilities remain a big question mark but Woodley said if the village and the public don't have use of the bathhouse an alter- native facility would become avail- able and it could be in place by the first long holiday weekend. 75 cents No answers for Standard Trust account holders By Adrian Harte EXETER - Local people who considered their accounts at Stan- dard Trust as safe as any other fi- nancial institution find it may be a long while before they are reunited with their money. Standard Trust's Exeter branch closed its doors Thursday after the federal superintendent of financial institutions declared the company did not have enough capital to cov- er its deposits. That decision came immediately after a group of 25 lenders blocked a deal to sell Stan- dard Trustco to the Laurentian Bank of Canada and petitioned to put Standard Trustco into bankrupt- cy. Laurentian had hoped to merge the two operations by July and ac- quire all of Standard's 30 branches. Standard had been plagued by a series of bad loans last summer, not the least of which was a $30 mil- lion loss to Owl Developments of Edmonton, projects of which in- cluded a condominium develop- ment in London. What lies in the future for Stan- dard Trust is uncertain. Calls to the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corpo- rations 1-800 number only found the line constantly busy. When contacted at the Exeter branch, manager Don Thompson claimed he had not received word yet on what will happen to custom- er accounts. "I have no info on this thing. I'm in the dark," said Thompson, who said more information could be had by calling Standard Trust's head of- fice in Toronto. A call to the head office, howev- er, revealed they were refusing to discuss the branch closings and were referring all calls to the CDIC's still -busy number. Whether it is possible for the Standard Trust branches to re -open or not is unknown. A "run" on the branches, in which nervous account holders would attempt to withdraw funds and close accounts would quickly deplete the company's working capital. The CDIC appar- ently discovered that Standard Trust did not have enough funds to cover deposits. All deposits up to $60,000 are in- sured by the CDIC, but anyone who needs access to some of their money right away is urged to con- tact the CDIC at 1-800-461-2342 (if you can get through). All loan and mortgage payments are expected to be paid as usual, and should be sent to the trust com- pany to be handled by the agent or receiver. One Exeter area woman who used Standard Trust for most of her banking said she was very con- cerned about not being able to gain access to her accounts. The 1-800 number is virtually useless, she complained. "You cannot get through. We tried and tried and you cannot get through," she said. Bluewater Recycling recefrresprrovittcfativas#e minimization award TORONTO - The Recycling Council of Ontario honoured sev- eral individuals and organizations including the Bluewater Recycling Association at its 1990 Ontario Waste Minimization Awards Ban- quet in Toronto on April 18. The Bluewater Recycling Asso- ciation (BRA) was named the most outstanding municipality with a population of between 20,000 and 100,000. Bluewater Recycling is an association of 37 municipalities. Prior to the awards banquet, BRA recycling coordinator, Fran- cis Veilleux, said the Association is extremely proud to be listed among the finalists for the out- standing municipality and out- standing recycling program opera- tor awards. Bluewater was the only organization to reach the fi- nals in more than one category. "We are proud to be recognized by the organization that is itself a leader in the world when it conies to the environment," said Veil- leux. The Recycling Council of Onta- rio was recently presented with the United Nations Environmental award. Also reaching the finals in the outstanding municipality category were the town of Richmond Hill, north of Toronto and Wellington County. The outstanding recycling pro- gram operator category award, in which Bluewater Recycling was named a finalist went to John's Cartage of Lindsay. Jim and Anne Russell of Burk's Falls also reached the finals in this category. In announcing Bluewater Recy- cling as the most outstanding mu- nicipality emcee Mike Carbone told the crowd of 350 gathered at the Royal York Hotel, that the Bluewa- ter curbside program collects the broadest range of materials in Onta- rio. Veilleux credited the success of the program to date to the efforts of the staff and the concern for the en- vironment expressed through the high level of participation shown by residents of 37 member munici- palities. Since 1984, the Recycling Coun- cil of Ontario has recognized sig- nificant waste minimization efforts in Ontario through the annual pres- entation of awards. Highways 83 and 84 could be downgraded to county roads GODERICH - One of the selling points for Exeter's industrial land is that the town is on the crossroads of two provincial highways, #4 and #83, but if a suggestion before the Huron County road committee comes to fruition that may not be the case in the future. The Ministry of Transportation's Stratford office has made a proposal to the committee to see if it would be practical and viabk for the county to take over both provincial highways #83 and #84 as county roads. MTO district engineer John Godden explained the proposal is aimed at "rationalizing the road system". He said the intention is to start discus- sions with the county and "take a look at what's the most efficient way to run the road system". Godden said that #83 (which runs from Russeldale to Port Blake) and #84 (which runs from Hensall to St. Joseph) are considered local high- ways because they don't extend much beyond the boundaries of the county and mostly serve a local need. Those two highways are currently the only ones being considered by the Stratford MTO office for downgrading from provincial hiatiways. Godden.said implications of road subsidies and how the cost of main- taining the roads will have to be examined by both MTO and county. "it will be somewhat involved," said Godden, adding he does not yet have any figures of what those costs are. Godden said he expects it will take six months to a year before it is known what the outcome of the proposal, will be. "Right now we'reust feeling our way around," said Godden. •Dennis Mortal], Huron County engineer, said there were a lot of ques- tions raised by the proposal of turning the highways over to the county - questions which might not be first apparent. Merrall said he already sus- pects the county road department docs not have the storage space for enough sand or equipment to handle an extra 60 kilometres of county roadway. "Basically, the ministry is offering to help us with the impacts, but whether that help will be enough or not we don't yet know," said Merrall. Even if the county decides against taking over the highways, the MTO still has the power to sign them over anyway. "We are not necessarily negotiating from a position of strength, agreed Merrall, saying it would be hard to dissuade the MTO from changing the roads' designations if they had decided it was in their best interest. A major concern which may become a topic for discussion in council chambers in Exeter, Hensall and Zurich is the fact that county roads do not have the same prestige as provincial highways, especially when trying to attract industry to the area. Provincial highways all meet a certain stan- dard as transportation corridors, but county roads vary considerably. "There's a lot of county roads in this province that are quite poor," said Marian, and although he said Huron's roads are often as good as or better than the highways, Investors in Toronto or Kitchener may not be aware of that. Godden agreed there is a problem with perception of highways versus county roads, even though they may be of similar quality. "What you call a road leaves some kind of impression," he said. Exeter's town administrator, Rick Huntley is also of the opinion that the loss of a highway designation could have an impact on future develop- ment. "There could be a minor perceptual problem," said Hundey. "It's more perceptual than functional." Otherwise, said Hundey, there may be some logic to handing over the care of the mad to the county, given its local nature, but he said he would rather sec such initiatives as part of an overall government policy to make services more efficient and not just a "piecemeal approach". Exeter reeve Bill Mickle appeared more certain the loss of provincial highway status would be a detriment to the area. "Transportation companies corning into this area don't always under- stand what a county road is," said Mickle. "1 think it would have a nega- tive iimpact from that standpoint....) don't think it's a good thing. i really iv' Another aspect that Mickle found even more disturbing was the ques- tion of how the roads' maintenance would be financed. He said current trends indicate the entire system of provincial and municipal relations may change in the future - to the point of drastic reductions or even the total elimination of road grants. Presently, the county and municipalities receive grants directly from the MTO to help maintain their roadways. Cutting off provincial assistance in that area, said Mickle, would also mean that the provincial taxes on gasoline would not filter down to help support those roads. That is not fair, he said. Mickle insisted the county should not take over highways #83 or #84 without a fight. "They've got them on their hands now - then they should have some very compelling reasons to get them off their hands," charged Mickle. One of the municipalities likely to be most affected by the plan is Zu- rich. If highway #84 returns to the county after becoming a highway in the 1950s, Zurkh could once again be without the status of being situated on a provincial highway corridor. Reeve Bob Fisher discussed the proposal with Zurich council last Tues- day "There's a lot of things to consider," said Fisher, noting there could be an initial "windfall" in funding to upgrade the roads, but said there are oth- er implications, such as policing and signage policy. "I'd appreciate if you all thicic about it," said Fisher, asking his council for a meeting to discuss it in length at a later date. The MTO office has confirmed that the repaving of highway 83 be- tween Russeldale and Exeter scheduled for this summer will still Qo ahead as planned. ts tr,