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Carnations
$695 a bunch
spring colours
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COUNTRY fLOWfkS
Maw
Geiser nate
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itExperience
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Inside
Accused
A Zurich man
battles
Children's Aid
page 2
Playwright
School librarian
writes
fcr the stage
ease 10 __
#fir
Clocks
go
forward
Sunday
Walkathon
Sunday
afternoon
EXETER - The atxond annual
Sick Fids Waikathon will be
kicked off at 1 p.m.on.Sunday.
Walkers will be leaving:the Exeter
Lions Youth Centre on.a-nine kilo-
metre .trek to raise money for the
Childrens Hospital Foundation.
The walkathon is being organized
by Audrey and Steve Skinner,
again in memory of their daughter
who lost her battle with liver failure
two years ago.
Melissa Rossoni, this year's Mira-
cle Network Telethon Miracle'
Child will be cutting the ribbon on
the walkathon at 1 p.m., explained;
Audrey Skinner, but said some'
walkers needing to get a bead start
on the hour and a half route can
start early.
Sponsor sheets have been availa-
ble from local businesses for the
past few weeks, but Skinner said
anyone interested in joining the
walk without sponsorship is wel-
come. Donations will also be ac-
cepted.
Skinner also said she and her hus-
band just got word as to the out-
come of last year's walkathon
which saw 350 people raise about
523,000. The Children's Hospital
in London has purchased a STAR
ventilator for the pediatric critical
care unit. The $20,000 machine
will have an engraved plaque on it,
dedicating it to the memory of
Stephanie Lynn Skinner.
Since 1+73 Wednesday. April 1. 1992
Brno a da/fodil
Daffodil Day is this Friday and the Exeter Branch of the Canadian Cancer Society will be
selling 1,300 bunches of daffodils in town for $3 each, both on the street and from the
storefront beside Selah Books. From left are Donna Jones, representing the Beta Sigma
Phi sorority, Leona Brock, president of the Exeter Cancer Society, Ervin Sillery, also reprei
senting the Cancer Society, and (seated) Elaine Bogart with both the sorority and the Can-
cer Society.
Controversial study findings
Exeter 'just plain boring'
EXETER - The _Exeter BIA) had hoped to hear
some good news about how the town could better
promote its assets this year, but instead received a
scathingzepartfrorn a consulting company.
Ian Lirpa from Day One Marketing of Leaden
=presented his anal ysis -of Exeter's best assets to Fri-
-day's meeting of the BIA. The outlook, he said, is
not promising.
Lirpa said he expected that Exeter would have
"typical small-town quirks" that can work well to a
business area looking to capitalize on a unique im-
age-
"It would appear that most of the more fun events
Exeter has planned over the years all disappearedin
the 1970s," said Lirpa. "I understand the Peanut
Stomp and the Rodeo were excellent attractions in
their time, •but have since gone by the wayside."
When one BIA member pointed out to )_ rpa that
Exeter continues to have a very successful T=all Fair,'
he replied that his marketing survey did reveal the
strength of that event
"But everybody's town has a fair, and not all are
so close to the Western Fair either. You need some-
thing special," he said, adding that Zurich has it's
Bean Festival and Dashwood has Friedsburg Days.
Lirpa did point out the Legion's Chili Fest has
promise, so long as it continues in coming years.
"I have found that Exeter has had a problem hold-
ing 'second annual' events," he said.
When asked why the town's white squirrel popula-
tion did not constitute a genuinely marketable attrac-
tion, Lirpa said he too had at fust saw it as a valu-
able asset. After researching the squirrel's fame and
popularity in the region, he said he discovered "most
people thought it was a gag, like that albino
groundhog".
When shown a photograph of a white squirrel,
Lirpa said most of those surveyed were convinced it
was a doctored photograph ora practical joke.
"People just won't believe 'e"yre real," croaccded
Lirpa. "I don't see how we can get around that."
He also said the relative lack of knowledge about
the white wonder led him to test the awareness of
Exeter in general.
Lirpa said he picked 60. people at random in a
London shopping mall and asked them 10 name
lose communities north of London. He said the
mast common responses included Godetich, Clin-
im, Lucan, Arva, Clandeboye, and Delaware. Ex-
:alor,•he said, ranked just above Kippen in the total
mer of responses and for most people "wasn't
eat he map". .
*Let's face it he said. "Your town is just plain
boring. Even the town newspaper's last big stand
was to come out in favour of safe driving."
A BIA member at the back of the room was heard
to snort with derision and say that he didn't want to
see the BIA's good money being "wasted on a re-
port full of crap". Other members joined in to com-
plain about the content of the $2,500 study, but af-
ter the chairman calmed the meeting down, he
thanked Lirpa for the presentation and said it raised
"some very salient points about how our town is
perceived by the outside world. If we want to pro-
mote ourselves we have to know our weaknesses as
well as our strengths."
"And besides," he continued. "April FooL"
County taxes
to jump 6.3°10
GODERICH - There is good
news and bad news surrounding the
1992 Huron County budget.
Warden Bob Fisher said he was
4eod to announce the increase
, 1been kept to a minimal 6.3 pa -
atilt However, services throughout
the county are going to have to be
reduced drastically.
In Goderich on Thursday, council
passed the annual budget after a
_heavy session_ last week 11,Atich re -
some dcpartments''it iilaash
iuidividt gets eVer--Safer
to the bare bone.
'"Initially all departments had to
come in at a zero percent increase,"
said Fisher. ,
He estimates that services, like
roadwork, will be dropping five
percent. The library board had to
close seven branches in order to
keep their budget down.
"It wouldn't be a wise decision to
cut any further," said Fisher who
complimented the department
heads for the work they did on their
budgets.
The county portion of a Huron
County ratepayers total tax bill is
between 15 and 20 percent with the
remaining pan going towards mu-
nicipal and school board taxes.
"The ratepayers I've talked to
want reduced taxes but not a reduc-
tion in service," said Fisher.
The biggest increase for the
county will come in social services
and waste management.
With the increasing _ number of
CM/Ia. die eta social -assistance
-Wiitifteildifiton 32204,742
to $3,919,715. It was more than
$400,000over budget in 1991.
Huron County is currently look-
ing for a county wide landfill site
which they hope to have in opera-
tion by 1996. That has meant an in-
crease from $177,292 to $312,255.
Waste management, social ser-
vices and library were the only
three departments which did not
come in with a zero percent budget.
Fisher said that while the waste
Please turn to page 3
Provincial grant losses
may hike education
taxes six percent
By Ray Lewis
CLINTON - Trustees of the Hu-
ron County Board of Education
discussed preliminary budget esti-
mates at a special meeting last
Monday night in Clinton, and
while the budget has been placed
on hold, director Bob Allan fore-
-auggooseincrease.
'�tijltt now we are only able to
formulate a guestimate," said Al-
lan. "It appears the total county in-
crease could be between four and
six percent."
Allan explained that several fac-
tors must combine to provide the
board with their outlook. On the
revenue side, because of the market
reassessment which is taking place
in Huron County, the province has
not been able to give the board the
equalization factor on what grants
it will receive.
The equalization factor is a math-
ematical number which applies to a
municipality and is provided by the
Ministry of Education. However,
numbers must travel from Huron
County through the Ministry of
Revenue at route to the Ministry of
Edualfa `before being given to the
-board. Allan expected to receive
the factor between mid to late
March.
"'the purpose of that number is to
assure that our assessment lines up
equally with every other county in
the province," said Allan. As of
right now, the equalization factor is
missing, and without that factor we
can't calculate precisely what our
grant revenue will be."
What the board has done was
Please tum to page 3
Junes .have tical flavour
EXETER - For those of you who
happen to have a copy of the record
"White Wonder" released a few
years back, you might just want to
hang onto it
During Sunday's Juno Awards,
Cassandra Vasik of Blenheim beat
out country artists Anne Murray,
Carroll Baker and Joan Kennedy in
the country female vocalist of the
year category. Surprisingly
enough, Vasik sang harmony with
Peter Snell on the record.
"It was really exciting when I
heard about it," said Snell. "To
think of the company she was in, it
was quite an accomplishment."
Five years ago Snell and some
friends were busy at the SRS re-
cording studio in London. Vasik,
at the time, was working in the stu-
dio as a harmony singer, where she
was hired by Snell for the record.
River trail plans may take years to complete
EXETER - It might take years to accomplish, but
there is a plan on the boards to develop a nature trail
extending all the way from Exeter's MacNaughton
Park out to the fourth concession of Osborne Town-
ship.
The plan, drafted in the fall of 1988 is now edging
closer to being put into effect with a fundraising plan
by the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.
The Foundation, a volunteer group which works in
conjunction with the Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Authority, is raising money to 'establish a river trail
through a raffle on a Tammy Laye painting of Exeter's
white squirrel, and through the sale of limited edition
prints of the painting.
But putting money in the bank is no guarantee that a
river trail is in the works. Although many people don't
realize it, the land between MacNaughton Park and
Morrison Dam is mostly privately owned. The cross-
country ski trails between the park and the reservoir
arc created through wintertime easements. Come mid-
March, anyone walking along the river is actually tres-
passing.
in 1991 the ABCA sent letters to the various land-
owners along the river, asking if any were interested in
selling their part of the river "corridor" - the floodplain
land unsuitable for development or farming. Few indi-
cated they were willing to part with their river front.
"They don't object to the winter use, it's the summer
they're not too keen on," observed Kathy Monk, corn-
munications manager of the ABCA.
She said that many fear that opening the river up to
hikers and walkers would bring unwanted traffic to
neighbouring prop>,.:ties. Some even bought their
properties to be near the river.
While the possibility of purchasing or negotiating
casements for a river trail has been raised, Monk says
that the purchase of the entire corridor is a preferred
option.
"If they want to sell it, we'll buy it," said Monk, but
acknowledged this could take years to complete.
On the bright side, there are plans for subdivisions
within Exeter that flank the river. Because subdivi-
sions require five percent of land to be set aside for
parkland, the river area is a likely choice for this, main-
ly because it can't be developed anyway.
Another small parcel of land is on the ABCA's shop-
ping list. It would connect the farthest east part of the
trail with Concession 4 of Osborne, allowing hikers to
start at that end, or cross over the river to return on the
other side.
Anyone who wants to walk past the Morrison reser-
voir that far had better bring hip waders, because as
Monk explains, the trail has been mapped out but is far
from being easily travelled. The ABCA is even con-
sidering the creation of a pond upstream of the reser-
voir to serve as a filter for sediments and pollutants be-
fore the river reaches the fish -stocked reservoir, and
will likely become a favourite spot for waterfowl.
"It's an ideal corridor so people can go from Exeter
right the way out: said Monk, adding that such a trail
is not only recreational, but can be used to protect and
iKathy Monk of
the Ausabie B -'
-�< •.
field :Consery
Ion Author
observe mid&
Nesting boles can even be set up along the way to
encourage habitation of species that find fewer and
fewer places to live these days.
The Conservation Foundation fundraising, said
Monk, will go a long way to .get this project off the
"Getting funding from the province for this type of
thing is pretty tight," she said, pointing out that expro-
priation of river lands is not being considered.
She hopes that the curtent practice of arranging win-
ter easements for cross country skiing will eventually
serve as a pattern to create a permanent trail.
"There are some cases of vandalism, but I think that
is often a case of there not being enough people in the
[rival area," said Monk.
While there are no plans to extend the park/trail con-
cept further west, Monk agrees that connecting the cor-
ridor to Conservation Authority lands in the Hay
Swamp also may be a worthwhile goal.
But for now, the main focus is on the MacNaughton,
'Morrison corridor, and if completed in the next few
years, complete with boardwalks and bridges for the
more damp areas, Monk predicts it could become a
very vital part of the lifestyle of Exeter residents.
"Once spring comes there are always a few people
who come out [to Morrison Dam] to use die trails in
the evenings. There are always a few cars parked out
by the darn," she said.
The White Squirrel painting is being raffled off with
$10 tickets for a draw at the annual ABCA/Lions din-
ner auction on April 30. Prints are being sold at the
Conservation Authority office. All proceeds are going
towards making this vision of bringing the recreational
benefits of a riverside trail right into Exeter a reality,
even if it takes years to complete.