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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-06-05, Page 1Hensall Spring Fair Friday and Saturday GE Gainer-Kneale Insurance Service Experience & Value 235.2420 Serving South Huron North Middlesex & Larnbton Inside Students of the year SHDHS selects its best page 12 Moga Madness High school students go wild page 31 Ar. Since 1873 a Wednesday, June 5, 1991 75 cents Public refuses to debate Grand Bend boundaries By Adrian Harte GRAND.BEND - By the time the meeting broke up, some were al- ready calling it a waste of time, but whatever the result, the Lambton Boundary Adjustment Committee certainly got an earful last Wednes- day evening. Chairman Larry O'Neil told those present the public meeting was called to discuss Grand Bend's pro- posed annexation of lMids in Ste- phen Township and whether or not the intrusion was considered minor; However, that issue were almost entirely ignored as the meeting dis- solved into a more emotional de- bate on whether or not Grand Bend should be allowed to expand at all. While many of the residents of the areas threatened to be engulfed into the resort communities boun- daries came out in complete oppo- sition to any kind of change, others insisted a larger Grand Bend was not only necessary, but beneficial in the long run. An overhead projection map was Firefighters fill food bank shelves EXETER - Over four tons of food were collected over the past week by -local firefighters during their campaign to provide relief for the less fortunate. "It's been overwhelming," said Ron Myles, who operates the Thrift Store and Food Bank in Ail- sa Craig from which the food will be distributed. Collections began in Exeter Thursday evening with firefighters canvassing door-to-door. Similar collections were held in Lucan, Parkhill and Ailsa Craig, where members of the local .fire depart- ments acknowledge the same kind of success. "It was a real team effort," added Myles.„ Firefighters did the col lecting, grocery stores donated bags and the Sanderson's in Ailsa Craig chipped in with the printing.” Myles said that ten pick-up trucks would be needed to ship what h been collected in the Exeter Opp alone. The goods will be taken to Ailsa Craig, where they are to be divided up and dispersed to the needy in each community from whence they came. "A lot of people want to know where the food is going," said Myles. "It's going back to help families in those same areas." Myles said that the most sat- isfying factor was watching how members of each community bond- ed together in the drive. "We had places like the canners donating 90 cases of vegetables, but we also had individuals donat- ing that one can which they really couldn't afford." The drive was such a success that Myles is having a problem finding a place to store all of the food until it is dispersed. A warehouse may be required, as the roof is leaking in the two of the current buildings. Anyone wishing to donate a few unwanted roofing materials to help alievia the problem would be greatly1ppreciated. shown to the roughly 90 people who attended the meeting, outlin- ing the boundaries Grand Bend council is seeking from both Bo- sanquet and Stephen Townships. The village's proposal shows an ex- tension north to lot four, and lot 4 to the south, and area which would encompass the remainder of South- cott Pines, Oakwood, and Grand Cove Estates. Boundary committee member Bob Langstaff said the the aim of proposal is to meet Grand Bend's expansion needs for the next 30 years. However, on January 31 the com- thittee released a compromise pre- liminary report suggesting Grand Bend could expand in those direc- tions, but without the developed Oakwood, Grand Cove, or South - colt areas. Grand Bend reeve Bruce Wood- ley presented the village's point of view on why those areas should be included in a larger Grand Bend ur- ban area. "Land for room to grow has, for all intensive purposes, run out," said Woodley, who also charged that the surrounding townships were not spending as much on their seasonal residential areas as they were collecting in taxes. Woodley said some Grand Cove Estates residents have told him they' would rather vote in Grand Bend elections, be a part of the village and not have to drive to Crediton to pay tax bills. Woodley referred to the Oak- wood Inn expansion, and said the resort would further benefit front the services the village could offer, especially sanitary sewer service. He even said the school busing system isn't efficient, when stu- dents living only yards from Grand Bend Public School have to be bused to Stephen Central School. Woodley also pointed out the vil- Continued on page 2 Meter issue alive Imax is justified, insists chief EXETER - While some may have thought the last Exeter PUC report had effectively quashed any thought of metering municipal water in town, the issue resurfaced at Mon- day evening's council meeting. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom brought up the topic during the councillor comments period, point- ing out that he understood Stanley Township cottage owners and resi- dents arc now to install water me- ters on their properties for connec- tion to the new Lake Huron water pipeline. Hoogenboom said that if a lake water pipeline was in Exeter's fu- ture, then meters may be a neces- sary consideration and proposed that all new residences be required to have them installed. "While we aren't going to change existing residences to metered wa- ter, at least we can get new resi- dences to have meters," speculated Hoogenboom, asking it to be turned over to the executive committee for further consideration. "Installing meters is not prob- lem," agreed councillor Ervin Sil- lery, but councillor Harry Klungel pointed out there was no point of charging metered rates until all homes in town had them. EXETER - In response to items published in last week's Times Advocate, police chief Jack Harkness says that the new town police fax machine is used for more than just parking ticket violations, even though town council at their last meeting dwelled on just the ticket issue when deciding to purchase the 51,000 machine. Harkness said he presented 12 reasons to the police committee on why the force should have its own fax, or at least move the town office fax to the police sta- tion. Harkness said that even though the machine had only been installed Friday, he had used it eight times that day al- ready. Aside from sending informa- tion to the Ministry of Transpor- tation about parking ticket viola- tors, Harkness says the machine can receive information about wanted persons from province or Canada -wide sources. Should a local person or child go missing, Harkness said the fax machine can send a photo to police departments 'across the province very quickly. The problem with the parking issue, said Harkness, is that the Ministry of Transportation is used to dealing with municipal parking bylaw enforcement peo- ple, but Exeter uses its police force to handle parking prob- lems. Consequently, confiden- tial information from the minis- try has to be faxed directly to the police station. Harkness said that while some town residents seem to believe the town police are on a spend- ing spree for new equipment, the chief said it isn't true. "They [council] are putting us under a microscope as far as spending and we have to watch every dollar," said Harkness. South marches to victor), In Hensall By Ray Lewis HENSALL - In what was de- scribed as the most violent conflict to spill into the streets of Hensall in years, the south rallied her troops and fought a fierce pitched battle, claiming victory in the an- nual North/South Challenge. The event was held in conjunc- tion with fitness week, with resi- dents north of Highway 84 trying to have more participants in Wednesday's 15 minute walk, than their southern counterparts. Southern volunteers fluffed off losses in the past two battles as flukes, stating that this was the big one they had been waiting for. This year's battle attracted the larg- est turn -out ever, with 22 percent of the village's population seeing action. The rebels marched through the streets of Hensall to victory, with 133 volunteers partic- ipating compared to the north's 110. Rumors circulating claim that the north took it easy on the south this time around, but southern r' antt: gena t 4i1. irea""i�ts to tow cars by next holiday weekend sympathizer Linda Ferguson at the village post office refutes this. "There are people from the north claiming that they let us win," said Ferguson. "But this was a big mo- ral victory for the south, and we won fair and square." Organizers for the event hope to have even more participants next year, when the north strikes back. Said Ferguson, "We'll see them again next year and they'll probably have a few new tricks, but we'll be ready for them." Ann Willert, assistant clerk for the Hensall Municipal Office, said her troops aren't too worried with this years loss. "Well be back," said Willert. There were rumours of espionage bandied around the troops, with southerners claiming they had suc- cessfully convinced a few northern- ers that the event was cancelled. Tempers have already seemed to have cooled off, but if things get too hot•for next year's challenge, both sides have indicated they may call in reserves. By Fred Groves GRAND BEND - Signs, signs, everywhere signs. Grand Bend will have 46 new signs put up immediately in an at -- tempt to stop weekend visitors from parking on the village's side - streets. Monday night, a recently orga- nized citizens group called the Rat- epayers Association, met with council and voiced their displeas- ure over the many cars that park in the residential areas or that crowd the streets on busy weekends. The biggest concern seemed to be the arca called Plan 24, also known as the jungle for it's closely built cottages. When the group had left after nearly two hours of discussion with council, it was decided that any cars not having a permit stick- er will be towed away. It is hoped this will be in place by July 1. "Citizens of Grand Bend are sick and tired of their community being turned into a problem area by a mi- nority of irresponsible people eve- ry long weekend," said Ed Flutter, president of the Ratepayers Asso- ciation. The Association met on Sunday in Grand Bend and had 70 mem- bers present. Bylaw enforcement Keith Craw- ford said if cars were towed away it might discourage some people from coming to the village. He also said it could create parking problems on other streets. "Signs arc working. We just got them up this year, give them a chance," said Crawford. Several local residents voiced their concerns, all of them agreed the cars without the permits should be towed away. Each residence will be given two permits. "I hope we don't drive the worse offenders into other areas," said councillor Dennis Snider. In the past, Sgt. Lome Smith of the Grand Bend OPP has said he would rather have people sleeping in their cars then driving while in- toxicated. "Once the people get drunk, we can't tow them. What do we do?" asked Grand Bcnd resident Peter Becker. "I talked to Lorne Smith and he said if we had permit parking back there it would stop a lot of prob- lems," added Becker. Crawford said he thought there seemed to be less people on the back streets than in past years. However, many of those at Mon- day's meeting disagreed. During the holiday weekends, Crawford and his staff are kept busy around the clock issuing nu- merous tickets for bylaw infrac- tions. He did say residents should be calling the police. "If the people on the road allow- ance are boozing, you shouldn't be calling me, you should call the OPP, suggested Crawford. Shirley Andraza who lives on 81 Crescent said there were a lot more people partying on her street over the long weekend than usual. She told Crawford of a camper that is always parked and thought it was against the law to do so. Craw- ford responded by saying the adults in the camper were well behaved and he often has to use his discre- tion when writing tickets. "If they're breaking a law, get rid of them. No one is safe," said Snider. Crawford said if he was to en- force all the bylaws there would be hundreds of tickets written. The group attending the meeting agreed Crawford should be able to use his own discretion. Todd Desaulniers, a resident of Plan 24, said another problem is that cottage owners who rent them out, are not keeping a close eye on the number of cars they allow on their property. Safety of children Pryde sidewalk issue resurfaces EXETER - A delegation Monday evening left council members won- dering whether or not the rights of individual property owners could override the greater public trust. Lynn Dawe of Sanders Street East came to council saying she w told rather see a sidewalk on Pryde Boulevard than on the south side of Sanders where the town plans to put one now. "There's just too much traffic on that street," said Dawe of Pryde Boulevard, who noted that in previ- ous years a decision to put side- walks on Pryde had been over- turned by residents. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom said Pryde Boulevard residents had opposed a sidewalk because it di- vided their lawns and was consid- ered unecessary. Hoogenboom told Dawe a ktter could go to all residents on Pryde asking them about sidewalks, but Dawe argued the letter should go to all residents of the subdivision, be- cause even though Pryde Boulevard homeowners might still oppose it, others whose children travel Pryde to school may think otherwise. "Technically we should provide sidewalks," said Hoogcnboom. "But I think it's silly to put in side- walks where nobody wants them." Administrator Rick Hundcy not- ed that PRiDE grant monies which arc subsidizing the current Sidewalk project could be reallocated if a sur- vey indicated a need. The present plan is to have sidewalks on Sand- ers Street East on both sides be- tween Pryde Boulevard and Eastern Avenue. 1 do feel it's important to ques- 1 tion everybody in the area, not just Pryde Boulevard," said Dawe. Hundey said a survey could also include a count of the children who use that street as pedestrians. "I think it's the residents who should say," agreed deputy reeve Lossy Fuller, chairing the meeting in the mayor's absence. Councillor Harry Klungel ex- pressed concern about the town's present sidewalk policy, noting that while residents can oppose a side- walk, he asked if others could over- rule that decision. Works superintendent Glenn Kells said work was to begin on Sanders south side soon, but it could easily be postponed until this matter is settled. "We have enough other areas to go to to keep them [crews) busy," said Kells.