HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-01-06, Page 24
r£ T'c .
• 11410
'Trustee
Heywood sums up
first year
page 2
�88t6
Post Office
revitalized
page 5
stere irks, hash
Tie 3-3
Second front
First New
Yrr's baby
HENS9 .I-1 - the first baby of the
New Year born to a Times Advo-
cate subscriber came into the world
Monday afternoon at 5:06 p.m.
A baby girl was born to Sharon
and Brent Dawson of RR2 Hensall
at St. Joseph's Hospital in London.
The couple qualify for the -prizes
and gifts sponsored by Times Advo-
cate advertisers. for the New Year's
baby. contest. '
No charge for
debugging,
mayor craimull
ESIEEER -"Councillor Dave Ur-
JmistinRf:mayor Bruce Shaw, who
eiso tits on the police services
board, whether the town would be
paying any cost for the recent de-
Ahµggipg of the police station.
"Is.;titisee.sitch a .bili:*hat!would
come into the town for such a
thing," asked Urlin.during.council's
open comments session.
"The committee definitely did not "
authorize it," explained .Shaw, add-
ing that no bill or voucher has been
received by the board from the OPP
team which conducted the Decem-
ber 2 search of the station for elec-
tronic surveillance.
"If there is a charge the commit-
tee would have to authorize it," he
said.
Urlin asked if the cost of such a
service could have been paid for
out of petty cash.
"There certainly has been no pub-
lic money spent," insisted Shaw,
who added that he was unsure the
de -bugging had actually taken
place:until confirmed by the press.
The police board has not had the
chance to discuss the matter at a
meeting.
If there is a bill that comes be-
fore the board, I expect there will
be a lengthy discussion, but I ex-
pect there will be no charge," said
Shaw. ,
The mayor told council any out
of the oidigary expenses would
have :to be gpproved by the police
board. •�
"This would definitely ‘be out of
the ordinary?" asked Win.
"Definitely, That's an.uilderstate-
ment," said Shaw.
Police chief Jack Harkness has
not made any statement as to why
he requested the OPP's help in
searching the station and cruisers
for listening devices or whether any
such devices were found in the De-
cember 2 search.
The OPP Technical Support Ser-
vices said all inquiries about' their
.•,investigation should be referred to
the chief.
Man charged
after assault
in Hensall
EXETER - 'Ilio new year was
barely rung in when police were
4,;called to Hensall shortly afteregid-
;might on January 1 to inve a
Arreported assault. A,atthinktodn-
rtry Inman apatementasimitligg a
-male and female occur t. Heshio
wi111bIIy damaged a ,pinup truck
!;belonging to Michael Ceonyn.
Darcy Lefebvre, 24, of Stephen
,unship is charged with break and
:iggSat, mischief and two counts of
;1111.
::intMot ' esti
e
■ trir
s� f
A.\ at.,:;. -1..10
wettnnSrlaa Januar is. l cici
Historic �huvch to
be denwlished
By Fred Groves
T -A staff
CLANDEBOYE - Over 120 years of
history is coming to an end.
Somethme this week, St. Peters
Church on Highway 4, north of Exeter
will begin to be demolished.
SIM Demolition of Exeter will first take down the
wooden structure which was begun by the Franciscan
Friars and their parishioners and then the actual stone
church itself is scheduled to come down.
The church was built in 1871 and has been vacant
since the friars were asked to leave by John Sherlock,
Bishop of the London diocese. The adjacent cemetery
has headstones which date back to 1860.
"It's on property That is not needed. It's no use to the
_diocese," said Jim Austin of the London diocese.
In March, 1992, Bishop Sherlock said, at the time,
the diocese had no plans for the church and admitted
that it was .an -eye sore. The friars moved into St. Pe-
ter's in 1987. and stayed three years before a disagree-
ment between shemseives.and the bishop meant they
had to go.
"We have no particular dans for it," said Bishop
- herlock in March. "We'll either find away to use it or
"we'll tear it down, The cemetery will stay in tact. The
land will never be. sold."
Obviously Me diocese:Meld-not find a use for St.
Peter's so, it will be turn down.
With the help of parishioners, the friars renovated
the church, restored the sanctuary and were in the pro-
cess of completing a two-storey addition which was to
be their living quarters.
On Monday, while heavy equipment waited for the
weather to co-operate so workers could do their job,
the wind whistled trough the gaping holes in the
building which would have housed the friars upon
completion.
One of the parishioners, Ralph Devlaeminek, who
lives on Highvwy 4,near the church said the stained
glass windows std the bell have long since been re-
f moved.
He heard about the church being demolished a
;couple of months ago and said all the legal problems
'between the diocese and the parishioners who donated
money and their time; to ve been cleared up.
"I'm glad it's over but there was a mistake on the
bishop's part," said Devlaeminck who had a grandchild
baptized by the friars.
When first asked about the church back in March,
Devlaeminck said he did not know why Bishop Sher-
lock accepted the -friars into the London diocese in the
first place and after all the community assistance, he
wondered why they were asked to leave.
Please tarn to page 3
Restaurants give new restrictions mixed reviews
Over $120.000 unpaid
Sinokng b4aw InaY e Tax arrears
a iii% s to get used to highest ever
By Adman Harte
T -A Editor
EXETER - Although the bylaw came into effect
New Year's Day, don't expect to fuel your favourite
restaurant two,thirds atnc to free for aim days yet.
',,A+itirlff-enrvey-oFfeennyellithIllniakaufirteibte
while most have plans for dividing their tables into
-smoking,and tion -smoking areas, few have done so
find are waiting for official signage to arrive.
Town building superintendent Dave Moyer con-
firmed that while stickers and signs will be availa-
ble in the next few days, they haven't been printed
yet.
In fact, town council only Monday evening gave
their endorsement of a plan to provide the signage
free of charge to the restaurants, although they not-
ed some municipalities do require the restaurants to
provide their own. Total cost of all the signs is ex-
pected to be about $300.
Moyer said, depending on the ,restaurant, both
wall signs and "tent
style" table signs will
be used to mark the
non-smoking areas.
The Huron County
Health Unit is also pre-
paring a brochure on
the smoking restriction
bylaw, which is the
first of its kind in the
county.
Moyer • described the
bylaw as a we abieg un-
der a "co-operative
compliance" basis,
rather than under the
threat of fines or prose-
cution.
:'Nobody is going to
be slapping people's
wrists over. This," said
Moyer, although he
said he hoped the
Health Unit might take
over the responsibilities
of checking on the
smoking areas as pan
of their rout* food
handling inspections.
The building superin-
tendentalso said the original plans in the bylaw That
required increased ventilation of smoking areas
have been dropped since there is no provision (or
them in the Building Code and no means of doter -
mining their effectiveness.
Otherwise, Moyer said he expects the town's doz-
en or so eating establishments to have finalized zed
posted their non-smoking areas by the middle of the
month.
The new bylaw has been received by the restau-
rant operators with mixed emotions. Ron Pitt. at
Good Times said he expected no problems at all
with setting aside two-thirds of his seating as
smoke-free and called the bylaw something of a
"common courtesy"
Pitt said he is reserving the tables at the back of
the restaurant near the pool .table as his smoking
section, and notes that is where the ventilation is
best.
"No, it doesn't matter to me one way or the other,"
said dile.
Staff :at Donut Dchte pointed to the three tables at
the front of heir coffee shop as being the future no -
smoking section, but c-' "d they had thought the
bylaw required only :.cntttuthird as smoke-free, not
two-thirds.
Lucy Sedlak said the rions -were bound to
e problems. for.�iatrons, the majority of
� �[ tr te�$Pbeamo eers.'"
"Even the stodsnts who come in at lunchtime
smoke. I can't believe it. I don't know where they
get the money," said Sedlak, who said that even
with the majority of the seats set aside for non-
smokers, the small size of the shop won't reduce the
smoke that much.
Angelo Fragiskatos at the 3AAA Restaurant said
:Oat while he has had a no' -smoking section for the
rest three years, he is now faced with the problem
.of how to expand it to meet the bylaw. He says he
plans to divide both the dining room and the .coffee
shop areas into smoking and non-smoking areas, in
order to meet the needs of his patrons.
"1 think it's going to be tough," said Fragiskatos.
"But I'm going to do it.
A tett ss4rlcf$•f here at a favourite win-
dow seat may become a thing of the past.
I don't have any objec-
tions."
He said he does get
frequent requests for
non-smoking tables,
many through reserva-
tions, and the demand
is growing. He has
also met paeans from
London, Toronto, and
Sarnia who were
shocked to fend there
was no municipal b.y-
law in place until now.
Rearranging the sear-
ing areas will cause
some problems for reg -
War p siesners used to
a favourite table for a
coffee and a cigmeeuc,
said Fragiskatos.
"I hope people don't
get upset, but what's
going to happen is peo-
ple arc going to get
used to it," he said,
adding that be hopes
his arrangement will
skit the most people.
"In this business, you'vegtouogigpsc everybody."
lageeli to McDsmskI at ltf<sttiity's pub and Eatery
aa>id of.�be bylaw
Abe was "rpt, massed with it at
all. a1¢ m a nortiplatiker."
Sheth five s itlitien of setatitag will mean that the
only will be to reserve the bar
area �tbe rabies as nim -smoking.
"T iesibsbasc we can do. if you want a cigarette
in the of your finer, you'll pave to jog up to
the bar," Aid ilotirig alio .atY,attlpirl !
have seen At* ay, `formatted*
to allow for asst rl'-.
"Let's face it, trokare-iibrAgtiosehen people get
clinking, they,a,":Mid #fid.
Althouigh atlpilpre limos have been ask-
ing for a non-itseing section in the past year,
McDonald said abe expects to reoggiresibily more
complaints .about the .eiMenii1111 dais em
• smoking.
"We're bowed to get tlpk from the odd , but
it's not our fault • Miletit,to spoil," pa r! McDo-
o
a
x
Taxes at limit, says reeve
EXETER - Tax arrears in the
town are at the !highest level in
Liz Bell.
Bell told council that unpaid tax-
es now amount to $120,048, and
$54.000 of that is from one proper-
ty alone.
Council vete told the arrears
adds up to between ie and ten
penin► of the town budget.
Reeve Bill Mickle pointed out
that while some of the arrears arc
Board of Education funds, not the
town's, the town still has to pay for
the education levy.
"It that the highest you've every
seen it Liz?" inquired deputy -reeve
Lossy Fuller.
"Yes, it is," confirmed Bell, who
said the largest unpaid amount waw.
owed by the owners of the plaza at
north end of town, and that council
could -consider reclaiming the un-
paid taxes from the rents paid on
the property. Other claims have
been taken to small claims court.
"We're getting a bit of action
from two of thee of thein," said
Bell, adding that some properties
have peen unpaid for nearly three
years and will come up for sale lat-
er in 1993.
Mickle called the high arrears an
'indistion of the gyral 'economic
condition.
"I have not seen the delinquency
in - [payment) time like we have
now," said Mickle. "I'm going to
link it with our responsibilities as a
council, it is not an easy time for us
to push ahead...it means budgeting,
a real philosophy of how we're go-
ing to collect taxes and spend it."
"I don't believe unless we have
growth in this town we can tax any
more out of it...we have hit the lim-
it," Mickle continued.
Councillor Robert Drummond
agreed but pointed out the public
arc demanding more services from
their municipalities.
Mickle said such demands must
be handled in a manner so that peo-
ple understand delays in achieving
new projects and programs.
"I believe we are put here to man-
age the money we have in the best
way wc can...not to demand more
and more and more money," said
Mickle. "That's means sometimes
we have to say 'no' to the public,
'wc cannot afford what you want'."
Arena evacuated,
sick players sent
to Iocalhospitals
HURON PARK - A filet in the
ice -cleaning machine is ntly
Lire reason why Town-
ship Arena was adneS-
day afternoon.
Mesa ,turf f said aeve j people
were otanp)riaiag of ill and
43 pec -wee .aged 1Pleytald
were res d at the Stmt Huron
District Hospital in Exeter agtl*
Goderich hospital. •
Representatives from Union Gas
and the Fuels Safety Branch of*
Ministry of Consumer and Ca11-
rnorcial Relatigis investigated and
found high levels of carbon mon-
oxide present nt in the arena.
They determined the source of
the carbon mpaoxide to be the pro-
pane powered ice resurfacing ma-
chine (zamboni). Technicians from
Superior Propane [nave currectod
ale eAbaust omission problems.
Tile arena was reopened on Sat-
wy•
Attu
h
will
11
Hospital officials confimted that
those treated suffered carbon mon-
oxide inhalation. All eight teams
involved in the tournament, wore
immediately contacted and advised
"at they may have been exposed to
•t:arbon monoxide.
Township Administrator Larry
&own said it is suspected die high
Migcentration of carbon monoxide
,hirer a result of a combination of
-actors including exhaust emis-
entilation and frequent ice
W. immediately after
dieevacuated, the Exeter
OPP, Stephen Township Fire De-
partment, gmbulanee services and
Union Gas were on the scene.
The arena was closed at about 5
pm. after several players niportsd
headaches, nausea and vomiting.
Anyone who wits at the tourna-
ment and who felt ill because of the
clic c,arben monoxide is asked to
call the i'iwtrpn (Aunty Health Unit
at 1-WO.265.51W.