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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-07-03, Page 1• DAR RENTALS DAILY • MOWN • MONTHLY CALL t$ ADR 1NSURANCi itE/MCEAENT NEED! •Com"piete Ado QUaupt Contin • V Su 3 -3381 or 39 atter hours 1 t ' Serving South Huron Inside Libraries Attack on summer boredom page 6 Scholars SHDHS's top students page 8 No age gap Exeter lawn bowling page 14 Quilts Annual show at museum page 24 North Middlesex & Lamhton Wednesday, July 3, 1991 Gainer-Kneale Insurance Servk • Experience & Value 235-2420 Bank wants firm jrip on trust market share By Adrian Harte EXETER - The town's newest bank manager is facing long line ups of worried customers, and yet he is approaching the situation with a positive outlook. Don Thompson, manager of the former Standard Trust branch, is new managing the new Laurentian Bank at the same premises with the same staff. To the customer, only the signs have changed, but Thompson says that the purchase of the 30 Standard Trust branches by Canada's seventh largest chartered bank does give the operation new stability and a range of new bank- ing products. The stability of Standard Trust was brought into doubt when after Laurentian made an offer to buy out the retail banking operations of Standard, a group of unhappy credi- tors blocked the deal, plunging the trust into receivership. Thompson said that the closing of the branches on April 18 came as something of a surprise. He said that as late as 10:30 the night be- fore, he understood the branches would remain open, but the next morning the receivers arrived, clos- ing the doors and freezing all ac- counts. Last Tuesday, the doors re- opened under the Laurentian ban- ter, and steady flow of customers, eager to regain their assets, has been coming through the branch in the days since. The challenge for Thompson and ` his staff is to try and retain as much ftheir business for Laurentian as ib1e. All Standard Trust funds ere deposited by the Canada De- sit Insurance Corporation CDIC) into holding accounts. ustomers must decide whether to open accounts or purchase GICs ith Laurentian, or to withdraw eir money. ' Laurentian is offering interest 'rate incentives of one percent high- =er than the other major banks in an effort to keep their customers. However, Thompson says that with 51.3 billion coming up for grabs on Ontario's financial markets, the oth- er banks are hoping to get a piece of it. Exeter has a total of seven fi- nancial institutionst making the town something of a service centre for the surrounding rural area. "Our competition is bidding up to get those deposits," said Thomp- son, who added that he and his staff are taking the time to speak to cus- tomers personally and explain Lau- rentian's attractions. Naturally, that doesn't speed up the lines. "I find the customers are taking it well," said Thompson, as at that Break-ins in Zurich ZURICH - The Exeter OPP are investigating two break and enters in the Zurich area and are calling for public assistance. Both Seyler's Food Market and the Hay Municipal Telephone of- fice were broken into last week. The OPP are asking that if any- one has any information about these crimes to either call the OPP office at 235-1300, or to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-265-1777 if they wish to remain anonymous. The OPP have announced a break in the case of a rash of liquor thefts in Henshll.which date back to last October. One adult and four young offenders have_ -:..been charged. Charges include break and enter, theft, and breach of pro- bation. Concerns raised about ball diamond fencing EXETER - M least one member of the South Huron Recreation Centre Board will be voicing some concerns about the safety of the Exeter ball diamonds at the board's next meeting. Usborne council discussed the facility's safety at their June 18 meeting, speetfieally questioning the hei ht of the fence and the lack of padding at its top. Concerns have been raised that the height of the softball diamond fences are too low for adults, and that they lack the plastic tiling which pads the top of the fence seen on the hardball diamond. Deputy -reeve Pat Down and councillor Bill Rowcliffe are Us- borne's representatives on the rec- reation centre board. f+ t ta:i•}• , Yla Just short Qf gas line amber roHstwoJnJured EXETER - "They were lucky," said one officer at the scene of an accident Wednesday evening that had ambulance and emergency crews scrambling to the the aid of a couple trapped in a van that rolled over on Highway 4. Police report that Mary Bannon of Stratford lost control of the Dodge Camper van on the High- way south of the Crediton road. The van rolled in the east ditch, trapping the two occupants inside. Both Exeter and Stephen Town- ship Fire Departments responded to the call for an emergency extrac- tion, but the couple were able to be taken out through the windshield. The pair were taken to hospital to be treated for injuries, which were described as being mainly cuts and bruises. • One of the police officers pointed out that the van had come to rest against a wooden fence in front of a highway residence. Just behind that fence was the above -ground in- stallation of a gas line meter. The OPP report five other minor accidents last week in which no in- juries were reported. moment about a dozen people were waiting patiently for their turn at the wickets while free coffee and pastrieswere available to make the wait, about two hours, more pleas- ant. Some observers say Laurentian is managing to hold onto about 70 percent of Standard's business, but Thompson would neither confirm or deny those estimates, saying less concerned customers will be wait- ing until the line-ups die down in the branches. "People who are going to move their money will be the first ones on the doorstep," observed Thomp- son. When asked if he had heard sug- gestions that some customers would be taking their business else- where simply out of rejection of a Quebec -based bank, Thompson said that was a minor factor. "My answer to that is that two of the -MON dhtered banks -Tuve their head offices in Montreal," noted Thompson. Otherwise, he pointed out that Laurentian has been a stable bank for the past 140 years and currently operates 130 branches in Quebec. "I think there's an advantage to being a bank," said Thompson, adding that customers would be seeing more lending options opened to them, as compared to the previous Standard Trust operation which opened in Exeter in 1985. The staff face mountains of pa- perwork which accompanies each transaction. They have to consult three sets of records: Standard Trust, CDIC, and Laurentian; and they are, as Thompson explains, at- tempting to redo six years work in a matter of days. Lunches and din- ners are kept to a minimum and the lines do not show any signs of let- ting up. "The main thing is to keep up this pace," said Thompson. There is no immediate rush for customers to come in to the bank if they do not want to. The deadline for collecting the CDIC holding ac- count is not for a few years, and it will receive interest until then. In fact, explains Thompson, once cus- tomers receive CDIC statements in the mail and bring them into the branch, transactions will be quick- er. Personally, Thompson says he is relieved the deal to have Standard taken over by Laurentian finally went through. "I'm glad to be staying here," he said. ' I wasn't planning to move on." Continued on page 3 Usborne's mill rate actually drops EXETER - Usborne Township ratepayers will actually get a break this year on their tax bills after council passed its 1991 bud- get last week. The township plans to spend 5324,737 this year, and when added to school board and county levies the total budget will be 51.466 million, virtually identical to last year's figures. Because assessment in the township increased slightly over the year, council was actually able to approve a lower munici- pal mill rate for township proper - tics. However, when added to the increases of the school board and county levies, the overall mill rate shows only a slight de- crease for public school support- ers and a slight increase for sep- arate school supporters. "Some properties may see a slight increase, some less," con- firmed township clerk Sandra Strang, who also explained that some residential property owners which have been receiving a Min- istry of Revenue transitional sub- sidy will see it phased out this year. The subsidy was introduced to help certain property owners who saw great changes in their taxes when the township was reas- sessed in 1988. But regardless of the finer points of the final figures, the fact remains that most township prop- erty owners will be paying just about the same taxes they did last year. Permits sove some parking headaches By Fred Groves GRAND BEND - One of the biggest headaches that plagues this resort community might just be solved. Over the weekend, strict parking regulations were enforced along the streets of Woodward, Elmwood, Queen and Walker Streets in Grand Bend. The village had been looking for a way to cacc some of the conges- tion in these areas so decided to have permit parking. Each property on those streets were allowed two permits. Cars found without the ap- propriate sticker were ticketed and four of them were towed away. "The congestion wasn't there,. pan of that had to do with the over- night parking behind the Legion which went over well," said Grand Bend's bylaw enfoecement officer He and his staff wrote about 200 tickets half of those for pocking be- tween the hours of 2 and 6 a.m. which carried a 530 fine. Crawford also said there were seven or eight noise infractions. At least one Grand Bend mer- chant voiced his displeasure over permit parking. Jeff Mahoney of Guzzle Pizza said the strict parking rreegguulations are not the answer to solving the rowdy tourism problem. "My recommendation so the park- in committee is that we have per- mit parking throughout the village between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. I think the present council will agree with it. It really did make a difference." said Crawford. The municipal lot behind the Le- gion wag well used and visitors 10 rnntinnrri (W+ n+r••. 7 • sr` •r- ,