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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-06-03, Page 279ralest , '*ine 3,4ein PCBs to be removed ST. MARYS - PotendMlyllan- gerous PCBs stored in 26 electri- cal transformers at the St. George Street utility statbn in St. Marys will be removed this summer by a special process. As reported in the St. Marys Journal Argus, Rondar Inc. of Hamilton will complete the work in mid-July after ministry of environment approval has been granted. A 45 -foot trailer with decon- taminating equipment and eight, inch steel walls will be sur- rounded byearth as the dechtori- nating process takes place. A to- tal of 2,750 litres of PCBs must be removed from 26 of the 322 transformers tested by the St. Marys PUC over the winter. St. Marys man finds tombstone ST. MARYS - Rob Smink of Jones St. East in St. Marys was landscaping his lawn last Friday when he came upon a tombstone buried in the grass. The St. Marys Journal Argus reported the inscription read 'In Memory of John Bain. Died Mar. 9, 1862' and an oh' m the Stratford Beacon in 1 2 says that Bain died in Fullerton at age 77 after a short illness. A burial site was once located in a church and school yard at the corner of James and Queen Streets in the 1840s, but by 1860 people began using the cemetery at East Ward. The present day cemetery for St. Marys opened in 1885, and prior. grave . sites e ere tither re- located °ref ur be overgrown. legel to r f tourney PARKHILL - Hockey star Brad Schlegel will be honourary chairperson at the third annual Parichill/Strathroy YFC Campus Life golf tournament held at Ar- kona Fairways June 6.acoording to the Parkhill Gazette. Schlegel. a Nairn -.native, re- cently joined the Washington Capitals after waving as captain of the Canadian Olympic hock- ey team 'which captured the sil- ver medal at Albertville, France earlier this year. Hotel to become retirement lodge CLINTON - Should rezoning be approved in time, the Elm Haven Motor Hotel could soon become the Morrhouse Manor Retirement Lodge. As reported in the Clinton News Record, the Federal Busi- ness Development Bank has ac- cepted an offer to purchase the hotel, conditional on the town rezoning it. The hotel would then see reno- vations permitting 24 living units with an estimated project cost of $500,000. Bird haven danger GODERICH - A Goderich res- ident hopes to recreate a haven ler birds but Goderich Town Council is concerned the haven may be a danger for children. 7hc Goderich Signal Star re- ports that the Dr. Harry Cinder is building a pond at to bougm of his property east of beach road where a pond auraited foWl until the town filled it in to build the road. But council says the pond should be fenced as the water will be more than 18 inch- es deep, and their is a dispute over who owns the property. The two parties have tried un- successfully to reach an agree - mens over ownership of the land for tic past 15 years. Cieslar claims he has a lot description in the original grant from the Queen claiming ov►tnership'right to the Jakefront. _Vie Executive commtttee.of this weekend's RCAF Centralia reunion were putting the finishing touches on their plans last Wednesday evening. About 1,200 people are expected to attend 'the three-day event. From left are secretary Len. Wilcox, publicity and registration chairman Don Winter, president Bert Paxton, sesquicentennial representative and former base com- mander Jack Malone, treasurer Vera Armstrong, vice-president Rob Greenfield, entertainment chairman Lou Hill, and accommodation and catering chairman Dob Decher. Exeter approves bid for prism EXETER - The county will be moving quickly to support a peni- tentiary proposal, councillor Bob Spears told Exeter council Monday ' evening. Spears reported on the outcome of the Clinton meeting on the peni- tentiary which included those.mu- nicipalities interested in bringing the:multi-million dollar federal pro- ject to their locales. However, the county has decided that it will make only one submis- sion to the federal government, rather than several competing sub- missions from several townships. Which municipality will gain that favour will be decided at the next meeting on June 11. "The deadline for the [federal] application is the end of this month, so the county has to move with some haste - on it," explained Spears. Spears also saidanother idea is to get as much local support for the -penitentiary as possible - support from everyone from municipalities down to local a ervicerlubs. Another •focus • of -next weeks -meeting mill-be:she concerns over •social service expenses the county might run -into if.it were successful in attracting the penitentiary pro- ject. Spears said possible changes to policing costs, welfare costs, and other concerns will be addressed at the next meeting. Council. Spears said, should sup- port .the penitentiary plans, even .9hough:Exeter itself does not have -the land for such a project and which townships might be in the running are still unknown. Councillor Ben Hoogenboonn commented on the irony of seeing the same council which expressed concern over a Grand Bend casino proposal support a medium - security penitentiary. "Personally I wonder if one's more evil than the other," said Hoo- genboom. "One difference is one's locked up, the other one's running wild," said reeve Bill Mickle. "We know there's going to be $60 miction spent on this capital project, and we know there's going to be an- otherr$16 million spent on operat- ing," said Spears. "We know the money is going to be spent here, it's budgeted. With a casino we don't know the final figures" "I do believe it is a positive move from the aspect of economic devel- opment and controlled develop- ment," said Mickle. Hoogenboom agreed and second- ed Spears motion,-sayiingrdtere was no time to table it two later:date. Council voted in favour to:wppon the county's bid for the -:prison, wherever it might be. Stephen budget up 0.2 percent, but taxes depend on new assessments CREDTTON - Stephen Township ratepayers will see some differences in their tax bills this year,.but only a small part of that change will be due to the township budget. The budget, which was approved by council on May 3, puts overall township expenditures up only 0.2 percent to $2,336,13321.' However, a decaease in grant .revenues puts township _tatdiBen :atp ' 1.5 percent to $734;918.82. 'That small increase is expected to be offset by theassessment growth of the township in 1991. Nevertheless, most Stephen ratepayers will find their 1992 property tax bills do not compare to last year's. County -wide reassessnient, which ad- justed tax rates to 1988 property values, has brought its "shift" of taxation between urban and rural properties to Stephen. Township clerk administrator Larry Brown estimated that Waal ratepay- ers within Stephen can anticipate an average 19 percent decrease in actual property taxes. Urban dwellers, on the other hand, will pick up the tab, paying about 10 percent more. Not only does that shift affect the way county and education levies are collection within Huron County, but it also puts its "shift" onto Stephen Township's own tax structure because the municipality has both rural and urban taxation areas. Letter to Editor Saddened by Loss of child Dear Editor: .the way you We feel that you demonstrated Like many others in the commu- chose to report insensitivity tallier than good nity, we too were saddened by the this accident on judgement when you elected to in - special etaius in the Alexander grievous loss the Alexander family the front page of 16 form the community of.this child's experienced in the tragic death of the Exeter Times- theirdarling daughter Cassandra. Advocate of May family. What added to our sadness was 27, 1992. Yours sincerely, Ai and Ina de Haan Misinformation about accident Dear Editor: I have never written a letter to the editor before and I will prob- ably never again, but 1 felt 1 had to in this case to clear up some mis- information. I was totally outraged by the re- porting done by this newspaper concerning the accidental death of Cassandra Alexander, and the ad- ditional story of her father's acci- dent. As a member of the family, I found it hard enough to read about it on the front page of the paper, but to have a detailed description of what occwjed, actually made me ill. And what was the purpose of mentioning that she happened to be adopted? Is that supposed to make our grief any less? We are particularly irritated by the false information printed re- garding Paul (the father's) acci- dent. We feel the public should be trade aware that in that paragraph, the only thing that was correct was the spelling of his name. The asci dent involving Paul occurred in the late afternoon, not the morn- ing. he was not drivinga car, and thirdly, no one, not even Paul, was "treated" for minor injuries! With all the information this paper did print I'm surprised they didn't men- tion the circumstances leading to the accident. I thought a newspaper, or any media system had to verify its in- formation before printing h...Was the fact that either of these acci- dents took place not tragic enough, then the media had to exploit our family's grief even more. Our whole family, having lived in this arca ioelegur lives, have never been so dis appointed with the ob- tuse nnanner in which this story was written in an effort to fill column space. We lost a beautiful little girl, and a lot of people seem more con- cerned with what happened rather than how we- feel about our loss. We are all hurt by this devastating experience and the media just add- ed salt to our wounds, not to men- tion the numerous people who have cine from miles around to "see where it happened"! Fonunat .Iy, despite the callous behaviour of some, we would like - to thank all the people who ex- pressed their concerns and sympa- thy. Parents and family members should not have to go through something like this, but since we have no control over what the Lord has in store, we are grateful to the people who quietly consoled and supported us instead of feeding on our grief. It's too bad there aren't a few of these considerate people in the media. Next time maybe this paper will consider the family's feelings as well as getting the facts straight 'before' printing anything. C. Alexander Exeter. Bdlier's Nate: The information in the article was provided by the OPP. Some had believed the two accidents were connected, but upon inquiring we were told by the OPP the first accident was in the morning, and the press release slates Paul Alexander was driving a car. Evidently, this was errone- ous information. It is also police policy not to re- ldase detailed information about cases still wider investigation. 1 Over 1,000 expected for former etrbtnse reunion HURON PARK - "I would think we could end up with something amund 1,200," explaitied Jack Ma- lone, and the numbers he is refer- ring to are the expected visitors who will make the trek to Huron Park for the 25th anniversary reun- ion of the termer RCAF Centralia airbase. The aitlllllblepe tbdr30 years ago during the Inv as a flight training school for pilots. After the Anaons left the base after the war, newer aircraft such as the Harvards, Chip- munks, Expeditors, and Dakotas were used at the base up until it closed in 1967, becoming an indus- trial park and Centralia College. But over that 25 year period, some 15,000 people called RCAF Centralia their home, even if just for a brief training session before heading out to serve as military pi- -lets-all✓areendlhe-would.- -_-- The reunion, which Warts Uds day evening, includes plenty of time for meeting and reminiscing with those who served at the base. On Saturday there will be a small airshow for the visitors and for the general public. Admission is free, but there will be a fee for parking. The reunion will close with the dedication bf a cairn at the entrance to the present industrial park. Windows :shot -Jt EXETER - Police say their inves- tigation is continuing into a com- plaint of mischief and vandalism at Exeter Produce Limited on Thames Road W. Last Monday, police were called to investigate a number of windows -on the building that were apparent- ly shot out with a pellet gun. This weekend, police issued two 12 -hour license suspensions to driv- ers rawers who registered a "warn" on the roadside ALERT testing device. In -all, five --mettittsts were -stepped— over the weekend and charged with having open packages of liquor within their vehicles. Police eay this is a continuation of their "zero tolerance" program against drink- ing and driving. Seven convictions in criminal court EXETER - A Parkhill woman elected to have her case tried before a judge and jury at the Goderich courthouse in criminal court last Tues- day in Exeter. Leona McIntosh, charged on eight counts of fraud over $1,000, will appear before a judge and jury far a pre-trial on September 4 after making unauthorized transactions of funds to an account she had personal control of while em- ployed at the Bank of Montreal in Exeter. BAC over 80 ;RickyWein-of L13110 Crediton set.forth a guilty plea for operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol count exceeding the legal limit. The court was told that a constable found the accused unsteady on his feet and flatted when he pulled him over on May 1. Readings of the breath samptes.taken showed BACs of 170 and 180. Judge R.G.E Hunter suspended Wein's license for 12 months and gave him 90days topey the 51,000 fine. BAC over 80 James Poatiaga.also received the S1,000 fine for driving with a blood alcohol Cams over 80 mg after entering a guilty plea lo'the court. The court heard that on May 2, the accused was involved in a mo- tor vehicle accident ontaill-SLi riieasall in which Paortinga had driven his truck into two parked cars. The investigating officer said he was unsteady on his feet and he could smell an alcoholic odour. Readings of breath samples were 200 mg for every 200 mg of blood. The judge gave a choice of a 51,000 fine or 50 days in jail. He took into consideration that the accused had no prior record and he ' farms when giving him three month prohibition from driving any motorized vehicle but allowing him to operate his tractor for the re- maining nine months of the 12 -month driving suspension. Break and eater Troy Whyte of Huron Park was sentenced to 18 months probation and 75 hours of community service to be performed in nine months after the court beard facts on two counts of break and enter and mis- chief under S1,000. The court was told that sometime between May 1 and July 31, Whyte, with two young offenders, entered DeWitt Murphy's Chips Warehouse of Huron Park. The two young offenders entered through a main shed door and proceeded to open the door for Whyte and the trio took one and a half boxes of potato chips. The second offense took place between Jame 1 and July 1 at a trail- er owned by the Department of National Defense. The accused en- tered by breaking a window and took a military airflight book and left. Before entering the trailer, Whyte broke windows with a sling shot causing 5500 damage. Mischief William Towton of 31 Simcoe Se, Exeter entered a guilty plea to willfully damaging a 1992 GMC truck at Huron Motor Products in Exeter on December 21, 1991. The court heard that at about 4:00 a.m. on the above date, a num- ber of individuals were walking through the parking lots of HMP and Frayne's Chev. Olds when the accused broke the passenger mir- ror of the truck causing 5 100 damage. Judge R.G.E. Hunter sentenced Towson to a 5200 fine with 60 ,days to pay or 10 days in jail. - False pretenses Dianne Durward of 1919 Trafalgar SL, London, entered a guilty plea on six counts of false pretenses with intent to defraud not great- er than 51000. The court heard that on six occasions, between September 9, 1991 and October 24, 1991, Durward had written non -sufficient fund cheques at six Exeter businesses. Since the charges the accused had paid back five of the businesses. The judge sentenced Durward to 12 months probation and gave her 30 days to pay back the final NSF cheque of $49A9. Fraud under $1,000 WCs Morrison of 113 Kensington Ave., Huron Park pleaded gutty to a coarse of fraud under $ 1.000 for an incident ins olving an insu- rance claim for a stolen car stereo. The court was told that while the accused had reported his car ra- dio stolen on October 9, 199I and had received a cheque from the insurance company of 5905 as replacement, be had found out that a young offender had stolen the radio. Morrison approached the young offender telling him be wouldn't hon as long as he gave an excuse as to the whereabouts of the O if asked by police. Thus, when questioned by police of Octo- ber 30, the young offender said he had thrown it in the Crediton Riv- er. Judge R.G.E. kiwnter took into consideration that the accused had paid back the insurance company but that he also had a previous record of driving with blood alcohol cown over 80 mg when sen- tencing him to a 5400 fine with 60 days to pay or 20 days in jail. Assault Norman Atkins of 301 Senior St., lLxeter entered a guilty plea on an assault charge involving his girlfriend. The Acca tipd»geigad w having an alcohol problem. Judge R.G.E. Hunter sentenced Atkins to 12 months probation and ordered him to seek counselling for his drug and alcohol problem and anger control.