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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-12-18, Page 1Don't Drink and Drive This Holiday Season k Gaiser-Kneale Insurance Service Experience & Value 235.2420 North Middlesex & Lambton Since 11373 Stephen hopes for landfill extension CREDITON - As the Stephen Township landfill site nears its pro- jected capacity, requests have been sent out to all local municipalities to see if they have the capacity to accept Stephen's garbage. One by one, those requests are being turned down, but Township administrator Larry Brown says that is to be expected. , "That's just a formality of the pro- cess," said Brown, acknowledging that ministry requirements require all avenues be explored before al- lowing an application for an expan- sion of the present township dump. Brown said he hopes the town- ship will get approval for the ex- pansion of the Concession 14 site within a month. If approved, the five-year exten- sion should be all that's needed be- fore Huron County opens its own county -wide landfill. "That's to get us to that point," said Brown. Michael Glannandrea and Bdttney Schroeder help decorate a ginger bread house made by Kathy McMillan during Thursday morning Christmas activies in the Exeter Pentecostal Church at Toddler's Inn nursery school. Quick action saves children from fire EXETER - Tina Robson told fire- fighters later that she didn't know what woke her up, but something Thursday morning disturbed her sleep to find her house filled with smoke. Robson called_the fire department and then got her four children to mtssifety. "I give her a lot of credit for stay- ing calm like she did and getting the kids out," said fire chief Gary Middleton, who was flagged down by Robson as he was responding to the fire call in his car. Middleton, concerned there may be more people in the Andrew Street house, grabbed a fire extin- guisher and went inside. He man- aged to knock down some of the flames before the rest of the fire de- partment arrived, but acknowledges he probably shouldn't have gone into the house without breathing apparatus. "She flagged me down and I went in like a damn fool," said Middle- ton. The fire department quickly ex- tinguished the blaze and cleared the house of smoke, keeping overall damage to about $1,000. But Middleton says that it was very fortunate the outcome was not much worse. "It could have been very tragic," he said. Robson had just moved into the house and had not yet installed smoke detectors. The blaze is believed to have been started by a pot of cooking grease kept inside the oven. One of the children may have been playing with the oven's controls. Zurich's Bob Fisher elected new Huron County Warden GODERICH - After 13 years of municipal politics, Zurich's Bob Fisher is sitting in the big chair of Huron County. Last Tuesday afternoon, Fisher defeated Stephen Township's Tom Tomes to become the warden of the county. In front of his friends, family and fellow county councillors, Fisher Outgoing Huron County warden Jim Robinson, left; presents the key to the county to Bob Fisher. was sworn in by Mr. Justice Fran- cis Carter. After Fisher took the oath of of- fice, Justice Carter looked back at the last 150 years of county govern- ment. "A hundred and fifty years ago, the population of the area was 7,190 and there were only 14,000 acres cleared. I don't know if this is progression or digression, but there were three distillers and two brew- eries," said Justice Carter. He added that the first Huron County warden, Tiger Dunlop, failed to show up for his first meet- ing at what now is the Historic Gaol. However, the next day Dun- lop made it to a meeting which was held at a local hotel. Looking out into the council chambers, Justice Carter said, "you sad members of parliament have been elected to lead, not to be led." "The voters are only too willing to follow but they can not go in sev- eral separate directions." On Tuesday, each county council- lor stood and announced his or her vote. Fisher was ahead seven votes before Tomes received his first. Fisher finished 22 votes and Tomes 10. Last year's warden Jim Robinson of Hensall, who is taking a rest from politics, presented fisher with the key to the county, his chain of office, gavel and pin. Fisher thanked Robinson and his wife Velma for being excellent rep- resentatives of the county. "You did a very fine job and I wish you and Velma all the best in Please turn to page 2 Wednesday, December 18, 1991 75 cents Royal Bank announces plans for new Exeter branch EXETER - If new construction is any indicator of economic stability, then some will take comfort in the news of two significant projects that will alter the Exeter skyline in early 1992. The first is a 15 -unit motel which will be built on Highway 83, the second is a new location for the _ Royal Bank which will be constructed on the now - vacant property where the town's old fire hall used to stand. "I hate to tell you to dispel the rumours that the Biway people are not coming to town, Burger King is not coming to town, neither is Wendy's," said Pat Palmer, vice- president of retail banking for the Royal Bank, at a Thursday eve- ning press con- ference. "The Royal Bank is the organization that purchased the land at the corner of Victoria and Main Street....We will be commencing as soon as we can to erect the most modern banking facility north of London, Ontario in the town of Exeter." "Our new seniors facility will be in this building that will blow your minds off," continued Palmer. Contractor Donald Leahy credited the town staff with helping get the project this far. He said it is difficult to build in London, and projects "seem to take forever", but contrasted that with his experi- ence in Exeter and his work with the staff. "It has been a real pleasure to deal with individu- als like that, co-operative, everything that we would want city officials to be. They're that and more." said Leahy. Mayor Bruce Shaw interrupted and asked if the media was taking note of these comments. Leahy continued and said he was aware of the dif- ficulties of traffic flows on Main Street and an over- all lack of parking. This, he Said, influenced the de- sign of the new building, which will have separate entrances and exits off Main Street and another driveway onto Victoria Street. Leahy said one of the reasons downtown London is suffering is that people all too often have trouble finding parking. "Even if the egiglf'tl tj,. fs-fall Friday night, they'l still be parking here," said Leahy. The new 7,600 square foot bank will replace the current 2,500 square foot facility beside MacLean's Hardware. "I think I should let you know that in 1992 the Royal Bank is only building six new branches in the whole province," said Palmer. "One of them is in Exeter, and I'm pleased to say the other is in Sauble Beach...we're getting two of the branches in the Lake Huron area." Huron -Perth area manager Garry Hartman said the building will also feature•two drive-through Per- sonal Touch Banking machines to allow customers access to accounts at all hours without leaving their cars. "Both of those will be quite busy on a Friday night," suggested Hartman. Leahy sP010 of the great number of "heritage" type buildings in Exeter, and he said the architect has worked to blend some of that style into this commercial building. "All too often people come to a town and crack up a square box with a steel sign band and say 'this is our commercial building'...We think we have taken on the architectural flavour of the town," said Leahy. Shaw said, somewhat tongue in cheek that "it's good to see the Royal Bank spending some of its huge profits on Exeter" and congratulated the organ- ization on what appeared to be an "absolutely excel- lent" project. Palmer said part of the reasoning for a new branch was that projections show demand for senior citizen services will increase in the next few years in Huron County. "They are coming back to the communities from the cities," said Palmer, who said the branch will in- corporate electronically activated doors and other technologies to encourage seniors' business. Palmer said the issue is significant, because many communities which are seeing an influx of retirees are futding they do not have the infrastructure to meet their needs. Hartman said the branch will have 23 employees to start when it opens on or about the Victoria Day weekend, and it will incorporate the agricultural fi- nancial services currently run from a downtown Ex- eter office. Hartman described the agricultural busi- Mi li "second to two in this part of the province". Shaw said it was gratifying to see the bank had such confidence in Exeter to make such a substan- tial investment. Leahy agreed, and commented that Exeter appears to be defying the "withering" trend which has affected many small towns in the prov- ince. P • t R uepos"s ordees • Plans for a new Royal Bank were announced Thursday evening. From left are deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller, vice-president of retail banking Pat Palmer, branch manager Sandra Reinhardt, mayor Bruce Shaw, Huron -Perth area manager Garry Hartman, and developer -contractor Don- ald Leah . Student's project offers solution to tare storage problem EXETER - The storage of used tires, while a big is- sue for town council last year, is still a problem in Ex- eter. Algoma Tire, which originally complained about tightening provincial restrictions .on tire storage after the Hagersville fire, but was offered no means to dis- pose of them, still has a pile of about 5,000 tires with no future. However, Monday evening, high school student Fred Steciuk presented a geography project to council which highlights a way in which the town can help Algoma dispose of its tires at little cost to taxpayers. Steciuk said a new provincial grant will fund up to 50 percent of the cost of shipping tires for recycling and could be administered through the Bluewater Re- cycling Association. His proposal is that the town share the cost of disposing of the tires with Algoma and then collect the provincial grant, which takes sev- eral weeks or months to be reimbursed, thus causing "no or minimal cost to the taxpayer". Councillor Robert Drummond asked Steciuk if the disposal would be an ongoing project, but he replied that the plan is only needed to ship the 5,000 tires cur- rently being stored. Algoma is not adding to the pile because a recycling bin is emptied each month by a Strathroy company at a cost of $1.50 a tire. Steciuk said all other tire dealers in town, with the exception of one service centre, make use of the Algoma bin. Councillor Bob Spears asked what the net cost of the plan would be. Steciuk said about four trailer loads would be needed to move the pile at $1,500 per trailer. Steciuk said the plan is expensive, especially in these economic times, but it offers the tire dealer a chance to take advantage of a provincial grant program which will return some of the money collected under the $5 tire tax over the past four years. "It is working successfully for four other communi- ties," said Steciuk. "If we can work out the fine details, I think we should go for it," said councillor Ben Hoogenboom, who called the present tire pile "unsightly". Urlin agreed and said he considered the program a good deal to make sure "we don't have something like another Hagersville". Mayor Bruce Shaw asked if town staff were aware of this grant program. Administrator Rick Hundey said he knew of the grant, but had been unaware it could be used in this manner to help subsidize tire re- moval. The program was given the unanimous consent of council. Stociuk said he was interested in seeing it through and said he would like to help "work out the bugs" with Bluewater paperwork. Council agreed, and at Hundey's suggestion appointed Steciuk as a member of the town's waste management committee. If the plan goes ahead, Algoma Tire say they are hoping to begin removal of the tires next spring. • Inside Generosity Christmas Bureau receives and gives page 2 ., k 1 Songs of the season Renaissance for band music page 6 i. F. Ringing true Trivitt's belts a rare treat Second front R r Three teams O'Rourke guiding Panthers Third front Stephen hopes for landfill extension CREDITON - As the Stephen Township landfill site nears its pro- jected capacity, requests have been sent out to all local municipalities to see if they have the capacity to accept Stephen's garbage. One by one, those requests are being turned down, but Township administrator Larry Brown says that is to be expected. , "That's just a formality of the pro- cess," said Brown, acknowledging that ministry requirements require all avenues be explored before al- lowing an application for an expan- sion of the present township dump. Brown said he hopes the town- ship will get approval for the ex- pansion of the Concession 14 site within a month. If approved, the five-year exten- sion should be all that's needed be- fore Huron County opens its own county -wide landfill. "That's to get us to that point," said Brown. Michael Glannandrea and Bdttney Schroeder help decorate a ginger bread house made by Kathy McMillan during Thursday morning Christmas activies in the Exeter Pentecostal Church at Toddler's Inn nursery school. Quick action saves children from fire EXETER - Tina Robson told fire- fighters later that she didn't know what woke her up, but something Thursday morning disturbed her sleep to find her house filled with smoke. Robson called_the fire department and then got her four children to mtssifety. "I give her a lot of credit for stay- ing calm like she did and getting the kids out," said fire chief Gary Middleton, who was flagged down by Robson as he was responding to the fire call in his car. Middleton, concerned there may be more people in the Andrew Street house, grabbed a fire extin- guisher and went inside. He man- aged to knock down some of the flames before the rest of the fire de- partment arrived, but acknowledges he probably shouldn't have gone into the house without breathing apparatus. "She flagged me down and I went in like a damn fool," said Middle- ton. The fire department quickly ex- tinguished the blaze and cleared the house of smoke, keeping overall damage to about $1,000. But Middleton says that it was very fortunate the outcome was not much worse. "It could have been very tragic," he said. Robson had just moved into the house and had not yet installed smoke detectors. The blaze is believed to have been started by a pot of cooking grease kept inside the oven. One of the children may have been playing with the oven's controls. Zurich's Bob Fisher elected new Huron County Warden GODERICH - After 13 years of municipal politics, Zurich's Bob Fisher is sitting in the big chair of Huron County. Last Tuesday afternoon, Fisher defeated Stephen Township's Tom Tomes to become the warden of the county. In front of his friends, family and fellow county councillors, Fisher Outgoing Huron County warden Jim Robinson, left; presents the key to the county to Bob Fisher. was sworn in by Mr. Justice Fran- cis Carter. After Fisher took the oath of of- fice, Justice Carter looked back at the last 150 years of county govern- ment. "A hundred and fifty years ago, the population of the area was 7,190 and there were only 14,000 acres cleared. I don't know if this is progression or digression, but there were three distillers and two brew- eries," said Justice Carter. He added that the first Huron County warden, Tiger Dunlop, failed to show up for his first meet- ing at what now is the Historic Gaol. However, the next day Dun- lop made it to a meeting which was held at a local hotel. Looking out into the council chambers, Justice Carter said, "you sad members of parliament have been elected to lead, not to be led." "The voters are only too willing to follow but they can not go in sev- eral separate directions." On Tuesday, each county council- lor stood and announced his or her vote. Fisher was ahead seven votes before Tomes received his first. Fisher finished 22 votes and Tomes 10. Last year's warden Jim Robinson of Hensall, who is taking a rest from politics, presented fisher with the key to the county, his chain of office, gavel and pin. Fisher thanked Robinson and his wife Velma for being excellent rep- resentatives of the county. "You did a very fine job and I wish you and Velma all the best in Please turn to page 2 Wednesday, December 18, 1991 75 cents Royal Bank announces plans for new Exeter branch EXETER - If new construction is any indicator of economic stability, then some will take comfort in the news of two significant projects that will alter the Exeter skyline in early 1992. The first is a 15 -unit motel which will be built on Highway 83, the second is a new location for the _ Royal Bank which will be constructed on the now - vacant property where the town's old fire hall used to stand. "I hate to tell you to dispel the rumours that the Biway people are not coming to town, Burger King is not coming to town, neither is Wendy's," said Pat Palmer, vice- president of retail banking for the Royal Bank, at a Thursday eve- ning press con- ference. "The Royal Bank is the organization that purchased the land at the corner of Victoria and Main Street....We will be commencing as soon as we can to erect the most modern banking facility north of London, Ontario in the town of Exeter." "Our new seniors facility will be in this building that will blow your minds off," continued Palmer. Contractor Donald Leahy credited the town staff with helping get the project this far. He said it is difficult to build in London, and projects "seem to take forever", but contrasted that with his experi- ence in Exeter and his work with the staff. "It has been a real pleasure to deal with individu- als like that, co-operative, everything that we would want city officials to be. They're that and more." said Leahy. Mayor Bruce Shaw interrupted and asked if the media was taking note of these comments. Leahy continued and said he was aware of the dif- ficulties of traffic flows on Main Street and an over- all lack of parking. This, he Said, influenced the de- sign of the new building, which will have separate entrances and exits off Main Street and another driveway onto Victoria Street. Leahy said one of the reasons downtown London is suffering is that people all too often have trouble finding parking. "Even if the egiglf'tl tj,. fs-fall Friday night, they'l still be parking here," said Leahy. The new 7,600 square foot bank will replace the current 2,500 square foot facility beside MacLean's Hardware. "I think I should let you know that in 1992 the Royal Bank is only building six new branches in the whole province," said Palmer. "One of them is in Exeter, and I'm pleased to say the other is in Sauble Beach...we're getting two of the branches in the Lake Huron area." Huron -Perth area manager Garry Hartman said the building will also feature•two drive-through Per- sonal Touch Banking machines to allow customers access to accounts at all hours without leaving their cars. "Both of those will be quite busy on a Friday night," suggested Hartman. Leahy sP010 of the great number of "heritage" type buildings in Exeter, and he said the architect has worked to blend some of that style into this commercial building. "All too often people come to a town and crack up a square box with a steel sign band and say 'this is our commercial building'...We think we have taken on the architectural flavour of the town," said Leahy. Shaw said, somewhat tongue in cheek that "it's good to see the Royal Bank spending some of its huge profits on Exeter" and congratulated the organ- ization on what appeared to be an "absolutely excel- lent" project. Palmer said part of the reasoning for a new branch was that projections show demand for senior citizen services will increase in the next few years in Huron County. "They are coming back to the communities from the cities," said Palmer, who said the branch will in- corporate electronically activated doors and other technologies to encourage seniors' business. Palmer said the issue is significant, because many communities which are seeing an influx of retirees are futding they do not have the infrastructure to meet their needs. Hartman said the branch will have 23 employees to start when it opens on or about the Victoria Day weekend, and it will incorporate the agricultural fi- nancial services currently run from a downtown Ex- eter office. Hartman described the agricultural busi- Mi li "second to two in this part of the province". Shaw said it was gratifying to see the bank had such confidence in Exeter to make such a substan- tial investment. Leahy agreed, and commented that Exeter appears to be defying the "withering" trend which has affected many small towns in the prov- ince. P • t R uepos"s ordees • Plans for a new Royal Bank were announced Thursday evening. From left are deputy -reeve Lossy Fuller, vice-president of retail banking Pat Palmer, branch manager Sandra Reinhardt, mayor Bruce Shaw, Huron -Perth area manager Garry Hartman, and developer -contractor Don- ald Leah . Student's project offers solution to tare storage problem EXETER - The storage of used tires, while a big is- sue for town council last year, is still a problem in Ex- eter. Algoma Tire, which originally complained about tightening provincial restrictions .on tire storage after the Hagersville fire, but was offered no means to dis- pose of them, still has a pile of about 5,000 tires with no future. However, Monday evening, high school student Fred Steciuk presented a geography project to council which highlights a way in which the town can help Algoma dispose of its tires at little cost to taxpayers. Steciuk said a new provincial grant will fund up to 50 percent of the cost of shipping tires for recycling and could be administered through the Bluewater Re- cycling Association. His proposal is that the town share the cost of disposing of the tires with Algoma and then collect the provincial grant, which takes sev- eral weeks or months to be reimbursed, thus causing "no or minimal cost to the taxpayer". Councillor Robert Drummond asked Steciuk if the disposal would be an ongoing project, but he replied that the plan is only needed to ship the 5,000 tires cur- rently being stored. Algoma is not adding to the pile because a recycling bin is emptied each month by a Strathroy company at a cost of $1.50 a tire. Steciuk said all other tire dealers in town, with the exception of one service centre, make use of the Algoma bin. Councillor Bob Spears asked what the net cost of the plan would be. Steciuk said about four trailer loads would be needed to move the pile at $1,500 per trailer. Steciuk said the plan is expensive, especially in these economic times, but it offers the tire dealer a chance to take advantage of a provincial grant program which will return some of the money collected under the $5 tire tax over the past four years. "It is working successfully for four other communi- ties," said Steciuk. "If we can work out the fine details, I think we should go for it," said councillor Ben Hoogenboom, who called the present tire pile "unsightly". Urlin agreed and said he considered the program a good deal to make sure "we don't have something like another Hagersville". Mayor Bruce Shaw asked if town staff were aware of this grant program. Administrator Rick Hundey said he knew of the grant, but had been unaware it could be used in this manner to help subsidize tire re- moval. The program was given the unanimous consent of council. Stociuk said he was interested in seeing it through and said he would like to help "work out the bugs" with Bluewater paperwork. Council agreed, and at Hundey's suggestion appointed Steciuk as a member of the town's waste management committee. If the plan goes ahead, Algoma Tire say they are hoping to begin removal of the tires next spring. •