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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-05-20, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, May 20, 1992 'Regional wra -u. Pizza-Varlor destroyed by fire P RKHILL - Several down- town buildings were evacuated last Wednesday morning as fire swept through the pizza parlor -of the Old Mill Restaurant and Tavern on Main St. The fire apparently started in the basement storage area where the owner, Ed Labrose, had been working on a pump. Labrose left to pick up his wife at home, - only to return and find the build- ing ablaze. Damage is estimated at be- tween 5150,000 and $200,000. The building south of the Old Mill was evacuated as was a nearby beauty parlor and con- venience store. There were no injuries as a re- sult of the fire. St.' Marys -gets tax break ST. MARYS - Municipal tax-- es ax=es for the town of St. Marys will go up 2.89 percent this year, in- creasing the average St. Marys bill by $49.50 for public school supporters and 522.77 for separ- ate school supporters. According to a story in the St. Marys Journal Argus, supporters of public school will pay 3.43 percent more in taxes, and aver- age of the 2.89 percent munici- pal increase, 6.93 percent in- crease for elementary school and .51 percent increase for secon- dary school. Because the Huron -Perth Sep- arate School Board did not in- crease taxes, Catholic school supporters will have a tax in- crease of only 1.52 percent, an average of the municipal in- crease of 2.93 and the zero school tax levy. The municipality will spend $6,596,010 in 1992 running the. town, about $400,000 more than last year. The 2.89 increase is surprising considering the town budget shows revenues down, and ex- penditures up. Students attempt world record MITCHELL - Students at Upper Thames Elementary School are awaiting a decision from the editors of the Guinness World Book of Records, to see if their school has broken the record for the most people in a line dance. According to the Mitchell Ad- vocate, 549 people took part in the line dance last Friday while spelling out the letters of their school. The event was covered by newspaper, television and video recorder, and results, sto- ries and photos have thus been forwarded to the editors of Guin- ness for review. Thieves break into municipal offices SEAFORTH - Thieves broke into three municipal offices in Huron County between May 1 and 4, leaving few clues and managing to make dr with thou- sands of dollars. After cutting into the vault at the Township of Tuckersmith municipal office in Vanastra, thieves may have gone on a lakeshore drive to other munici- palities in what appears to be a spree of hitting municipal offic- es in townships patrolled by OPP. A,story in the Huron Exposi- tor reported that municipal offic- es for the villages of Bayfield and Grand Bend were also plun- dered by thieves as well as the Bayfield Liquor Store and Extended Services Office of Goderich OPP. Exeter woman killed in Usborne Township collision W INCHELS EA - An 80 -year old Exeter woman was killed in a broadside collision at the intersec- tion of Huron Street E. (Usborne Side Road 15-16) and County Road 11 just north of Winchelsea Mon- day afternoon. Police say Edna Mae Anderson of Exeter died as a result of the col- lision. _ The driver and the passenger of the second vehicle, George and lrene Simmons of London both re- ceived chest injuries and were treat- ed at South Huron Hospital. Police believe Anderson's car went through a stop sign at the in- tersection, into the path of the on- coming Simmoasgr, Zurich council rejects apartment application Continued from front page "Those buildings haven't been rented out anyway, better see something there than nothing," said Laporte, the only one who spoke in favour of the conversion. "So you come into town, you've got to build a great big building at the other end of town just for a little office," said Reichert.. "I don't think we should give up commercial space at this time." Council approved the motion to deny the variance, acknowledging Van - Pelt could appeal to the OMB within 28 days. The building is owned by Joanne Nevin and Death VanPelt. Ambulance crews attend to the Injured victims of a collision Monday afternoon in Usborne Township. The accident claimed the life of a woman who was driving the car In the foreground. Correct amounts for Lucan taxes LUCAN - Incorrect figures for the 1991 and 1992 village of Lu - can taxes appeared in last week's report. On an average assessment of $12,000, taxpayers this year will be charged $1,163.96 as com- pared to $1,080.89 in 1991. Council also put $6,500 into the budget for an arena reserve. Municipalities, service clubs sharing cost of fire rescue vehicle' ZURICH - The Zurich fire board is going to add an emergency res- cue vehicle to its fleet by purchas- ing a used one from the Erin Fire Department. Fundraising for new public school playground equipment nearing goal EXETER - Donations continue to come in for new playground equipment at Exeter Public School. The project to replace the aging playground at the school is being handled by the Exeter Public School Parents Association, who have received two large do- nation in the past weeks. The Exeter Lioness present- ed the Association with $500, and the Exeter Optimists 51,500 to add to other donations and funds raised by the Association over the past year. Association president Deb Homuth said the organiza- tion still has a little way to go to before reaching its 512,000 goal, "but by the end of the [school] year we should be okay". After a vote at a Parent's Association meeting, the goal to replace the existing equipment was decided upon, mainly because the present playground has been blamed for causing many minor accidents, and is too large for use by the smaller kindergarten to grade six children. A proposed budget of $15,000 was submitted to some playground equipment suppliers, but Homuth said that was not enough money to buy anything of ad- equate size. Consequently, the Association decided to take advantage of the technical department at the high school to design and build most of the equipment, and at a reduced cost of about $12,000. The department built a smaller playground at the Phoenix Second Stage Housing building last year. With the school year drawing to a close, Homuth said the Association is eager to tap into the experience of the high school students who will be building the equipment. "It's either build now, or wait until next spring to build," said Homuth. Because the equipment will be available for year- round use by all children in Exeter when it is installed behind the school near the soccer field, the Association was also able to tap into a fund managed by the Le- gion. That money, she said, got the project off the ground. "Without our service clubs, we cou'An't have done it," said Homuth, who estimates that another 51,500 is still needed to reach the fundraising goal. Speaker for aircraft club meeting The vehicle is being purchased " for $12,167, which includes some accessor' equipment. The fire board viewed the vehicle on May 13 and decided it was in excellent condition. Some concern had been raised by fire board member Jim Love that money should be set aside for a capital expansion to the Zurich fire hall so the vehicle could be stored inside. In the short term, however, the board agreed the rescue truck could be kept outside. The cost of the truck will be shared among the three member municipalities, Hay and Stanley Townships, and the Village of Zu- rich, but 50 percent of the funds are to be contributed by community service groups within the next two years. Zurich councillor Keith Semple noted that the Bean Festival Com- mittee has already presented $1,000 towards the vehicle. "We'd like to thank the Bean Fes- tival committee for getting things rolling," Semple told council. • The firefighters themselves have also committed themselves to an- other $2,000 of fundraising. The rescue vehicle is expected to be in use by the end of June at the latest. Well-known pilot lands in Huron Park HURON PARK - The runways here at the airport are becoming very busy this spring. Later this month, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be using the Huron Park Airport for the Grand Bend Air Show and on June 5-7 hundreds will gather for the RCAF Centralia reunion. But last Monday night, all eyes and ears were turned towards 79 year-old Carl Millard who was the guest speaker at a meeting of the local chapter of the Recreational Aircraft' Association of Canada meeting. Millard, who landed his Navajo 600 about half -an -hour after he left his home airport of Toronto, liqui- dated his own charter company Millardair a year ago. Born in 1913, he bought his first plane at the tender age of 23 but, according to Millard, it wasnit the biggest of aircraft. It weighed 390 pounds, and had a 26 horsepower engine. The Ingersoll native has always had the love of flying. "I didn't start walking until I was two. That's why I believe in trans- portation," he told a large gathering at the Terry Air hangar. From 1940 to 1955, Millard sat in the captain's seat for Trans Canada which became Air Canada. He ap- plied for the job in 1938. "It was the equivalent to a young man having an application in to the space program," he described. After leaving Trans Canada, he started his own company which at „....006-4ifite7-IlefF28 aircraft. During his many years as a pilot, Millard came across many different adven- tures including being the pilot for former Prime Minister Pierre Tru- deau. One story he told on Monday, was a pair of situations which hap- pened 30 years apart. In 1949 he was flying over Moncton, N.B. when the fuel pres- sure dropped and his co-pilot had to hand pump more fuel to keep the plane going. While flying the New- foundland cabinet, again over Moncton some 30 years ago, the fuel light came on. "If you fly, you have some belief in fate," said Millard. At 79, he is still flying but has to take tests every six months. "I have the same rating as I've al- ways had. You have to pass medi- cals that's the big thing." Busy group: The .Recreational Aircraft Association of Canada is a nation-wide group and the local chapter is 4987. President Wayne Steeper says there about 40 members, most of them pilots. He group is into promoting safe flying, building and re -storing air- craft. Steeper said there are 15 dif- ferent projects an the go. Wayne Super (left), president of the Huron Park Recreational Aircraft Association, stand with Carl Millard who was a guest speaker at the club's last meeting. Child Find bringing Green Ribbon campaign to Exeter EXE t'hR - The murder of a St. Cetharines teenager has given birth to a project to help raise money for Chitd Find. Child Find of Huron County will be going door to door through Exet- er this week, selling green ribbon in the Green Ribbon of Hope Cam- paign. Donations are going to- wards Child Find, an organization which coordinates efforts to locate missing children across North America. Zurich arena roof in better shape than thought ZURICH - Village council re- viewed a structural report on the condition of the Zurich Arena and seemed relieved that expensive re- pairs to the building are not yet necessary. "This letter's saying the roof's not as bad as we think it is?" asked councillor Marg Deichert. Acting clerk Steve Armstrong said he too understood repair of leaks in the roof is necessary, but "it's not a crisis today". Consulting engineers suggest re- pairing the roof leaks to prevent de- terioration of the wooden trusses, but should repairs not be successful they propose replacing the roof with heavier gauge pre -painted steel. Aside from some minor repairs and improvements, the engineers gave the building a clean bill of health until the next inspection is due in another three years. Deer once again hazard for motorists EXETER - Deer roaming the roads in the local townships are again becoming a hazard for motor- ists, especially at night. The OPP report two collisions be- tween cars and deer in just this past week alone. Thursday night, Karen Brock of RR 1 Granton struck a deer on County Road 6 near Win- chelsea. Early Saturday morning, Wayne Oke of Exeter hit a doer on Highway 4 near County Road 4. Police lay .435 charges in 'Bend Continue ' om front page long w • because the village towed over vehicles from no - parking zones. Weekend gots usually park their vehicles and giro _houte par- ties throughout the village. Once again there are 19 officers at the Grand Bend detachment.