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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-01-13, Page 1Conestoga Husk Flower Arranging course begins Jan. 26. pre -registration required ` COUNTRY f IOWMS Exeter Inside Trailer Ready for disaster page 2 Theatre grant Playhouse gets boost page 3 Orange ribbons Ambulance attendants call for reforms page 5 .90 years South Huron WI anniversary page 6 MVP Hawk's centre gets All-star honours Second front Usborne budgeting for salary increases EXETER - Usborne Township council has directed municipal staff to go ahead with an analysis of sal- ary increases of up to two percent for township employees. Township clerk Sandra Strang ' said that she willi a finding out the effects of such salary increases on the 'WltligbG bringing her findings to the council session on January 19. Council is also reconsidering its appointments and committee repre- sentation for the year and will have a decision on that soon. The building inspector's year end report revealed to council that 25 building permits were issued for Usbome properties in 1992, worth a total of $1.02 million. That com- pares with 1991 building starts worth $1.9 million, and 1990 totals of only $404,000. Two demolition permits were is- sued during the year. A petition is being circulated in Kirkton in preparation for the up- coming joint Usborne/B.lanshard meeting in March. Apparently some residents want the municipali- ties to add a new street light at the Aberdeen Hall and to renovate the village's aging sidewalks. "They have sidewalks there, but they are quite old and overgrown with grass," acknowledged Strang. Police seek suspect who doused car •in gasoline EXETER - Town pblice are seek- ing an arson suspect after a car was doused in gasoline, ready to be set on fire. Police believe they any have frightened off the suspect when pa- trolling the back alley west of Main Street last Monday night. The car was found behind Estate Realty, soaked with gasoline. The car was towed away to pre- vent further harm and the police in- vestigation continues. Last Wednesday, during the early morning hours, police responded to a complaint -9f a man acting in a suspicious mnner behind Gerrard's clothing store off Main St. 'They arrested an 18 year old Centralia man for theft from vehicles. Appearing in Exeter court on February 23 to answer charges of theft under 51,000 is William Gra ham of Centralia. Police also report they conducted 28 different investigations over the past week, including a liquor sei- zure from a motorist on Saturday. Police were also called to three mi- nor accidents without injuries. n� -..•1 Galser meals Insurance eviikmee Value 235.2420 Siert- 1 S4 3 W('tine'/ia% 1,,rii,ar, 13 1993 o it f 7S rents-, Ministiy piesses poiic board to veSig1 By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - The police services board will not back down from its confrontation with the town police chief, despite considerable pressure from the solicitor general's office to see the whole board resign. A press release issued by the board's lawyer to the Times Advo- cate Monday stated not only would the board continue with their posi- tion up to, and including, an inquiry into its actions and those of the chief, but also finally gave a hint as to what led the board to suspend police chief Jack Harkness in Sep- tember. "The board attempted to termi- nate the chief in September based on its observations that the chief was failing to perform his duties properly. Such termination was im- proper - the chief continued to be paid - and was subsequently rein- stated," reads the release. 'The release also notes the Solici- tor General of Ontario has begun an investigation into the conduct of the members of the board, but that the board is countering with the re- quest any investigation also include the activities of the chief. There are also statements the board withheld laying Charges against the chief, hoping instead to rely on negotiations to solve the problems "but now that the chief has proceeded with complaints as 51x -year-old Julie Pruitt of Usbome tickled a rocking -cow under the chin during the Us- bome-Blanshard Levee in Kirkton on Sunday. The cow,was one of the many crafts on dis- play. (For more coverage on the levee, see page 7.) dtrctarrettring after 38 years, passing on tradition of an old town practice By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - Dr. Wally Read, a family physician in town for the past 38 years, will be winding up his practice at the end of this month and will be passing the torch along to Dr. David Hodder, who is joining his practice to Read's. Read, his father a doctor in London before him, graduated with the U.W.O. school of medi- cine's class of 1952. He served as an intern in Kitchener for a year, and spent another year with Dr. Ed Letts in Ailsa Craig. Then, in the summer of 1954, Read took over the family prac- tice of Dr. Fred Milner in the Main St. house two doors nosh of the bowling green, where it has been ever since. In fact, the house has been a doctor's office for as far back as most can remember. Some will recall that Drs. Dunlop, Grahm and others practised medicine from the same location. Dr. Hod- der will be continuing that tradi- tion by relocating his practice to the house on February 1. Read will be moving to Oak- ville permanently, a place he says is now "home" where he can spend a liule more time with his second wife. He will still be practising medicine, however, by working part-time at a walk-in clinic for what he calls his "semi- retirement". Read says he usually doesn't have much time for walk-in clin- ics, calling them too much of a "big business", but this one he says is a little different and is op- erated by a group of physicians. "This is not usually what peo- ple think of as a walkrin clinic," and Read, adding that he has to Dr. Wally Read, retiring from his Exeter practice after 3+ years and over 1,000 babies delivered. A get used to a different clientele - one shift he worked there the old- est patient he saw was only 15. His Exeter practice has seen "lots of changes, slow changes" over the years. A few of his pa- tients have called him their fami- ly doctor all their lives, but he notes "people move away now. They don't stay". The busiest time for Read was before RCAF Centralia closed in 1967. "It was almost a baby a day at its peak," he said, adding that be- fore he gave up counting, he de- livered over 900 babies to local families. "So it was a little over a thou- sand that I delivered," said Read of the days before the hospital closed its obstetrics unit in favour of the London hospitals that have access to better equipment and surgery techniques for when things go wrong. "I've never regretted any of it. When you run into a problem you wish you'd never seen a delivery before, but when it's over you're glad," said Read. "On the whole, I miss it. It's too bad we're not delivering babies anymore." The majority of his patients are more elderly now. "There's still some young ones, but the practice grows old with you," he said. Read palls Exeter a good town for being tl' doctor in, citing a spirit of co-operation among phy- sicians some other towns don't enjoy. ,Still, he missed the days when the hospital had active ob- stetrics and surgery departments. "The surgery we've done up here was kind of amazing...that's when you really felt you were do- ing something, but I guess it wasn't meant to be to stay that way," said Read. In all,eRead says he is pleased to pass along his practice and the tradition of the "doctor's house" in which it is located to Dr. Hod- der, who plans to keep much of veryfamiliar to the tele. to the board's actions, the board has requested that the inquiry be ex- panded to include investigation into the chiefs management abilities and abilities to lead the force". Mayor Bruce Shaw, council's only representative on the board, said he wouldn't elaborate further on the "management abilities" called into question in the reltase„ saying that the board's complaint was with Harkness' "dealing with people". Shaw did say that while the board had enough evidence to consider laying charges against the chief in September "they weren't laid at the request of the lawyer". "The charges will be laid if the problem isn't resolved to our satis- faction," insisted Shaw. The board's main problem now is with the Ministry of the Solicitor General which has been called in to investigate the board by the Ontario Police Chiefs Association. Minis- try officials have already threatened the board with an inquiry into their actions regarding the chief. "They have told us a hearing could be avoided if the members of the board stepped down," said Shaw. "We've told them we're not going to resign." Shaw said the board feels that the ministry is currently only working on information provided by the Chiefs Association and does not have the full story behind the board's actions. The board is send- ing a submission to the solicitor general's office to tell the other side of the story. Shaw confirmed Harkness' law- yer's position is the board should also "resign immediately". The mayor claimed the board's only error in handling the police chief situation came right at the start. "Our activities were based on all the information we had at the time," said Shaw. "From every- thing we have heard since then, and although we went about it in the wrong way, we still believe our aim was correct." "Our only mistake we made was believing the chief worked for the town," said Shaw, but would not elaborate on the meaning of that statement The mayor said if he were al- lowed to reassure the town's rate- payers, he woold like to say that the board has not "any interests in mind other than the town's", and that its main concern is to keep the costs of this whole' dispute as low as possible. Police services board chairman John Stephens agreed with Shaw that the costs of the process factor heavily in the board's decisions. "We're all taxpayers too," said Stephens. Continued on page 2. Heritage Foundatin holding meeting to save railway station EXETER - An open meeting will be held on January 20 in the hope that eAks,#ieritege. Foundation esaJ4rad,a wayAa;,stwe-shen id Eaeter Railway Station. The meeting will be held at 8 p.m. in the Old Town Hall. Invitations have been sent to several community and service groups, and other interested parties. The foundations says it hopes to achieve some kind of consensus as to whether the preservation of the old railway build- ing would be either feasible or practical. The note many other communi- ties have rallied to the same cause with the final result an excellent home for a retail outlet, museum, archives or a meeting place. The station's present owner, the Goderich Exeter Railway has offered the building to the community for 51. The only stipulation is that the his- toric terminal must be moved to a new location. The Exeter station is the last one still standing near its lines on the Lon- don Huron Bruce Railway, but the station itself is not the original 1875 structure, having been rebuilt after a fire. Bob Heywood, chairman of the local foundation says he believes the sta- tion would be a very worthwhile project, but acknowledges that much gov- ernment funding has dried up. Town administrator Rick Hundey will be on hand at the meeting to advise what is available in funding these days, but Heywood concedes that in recessionary times, most the money will probably have to come from from local fundraising. Heywood says he is also happy that Clinton author Elizabeth Willmot, who included the station in her last railway history book will be on hand to speak briefly of her experiences in researching the history of the local sta- tion. Heywood says that those interested in seeing some Exeter nostalgia pre- served, or anyone with ideas on what can be done, are welcome to attend the meeting. Cat fight Hensali cat bylaw still on prowl HENSALL - The new cat bylaw in Hensall, passed January 1, was met with opposition at Monday eve- ning's council meeting. Armed with letters outlining their objections, seven town residents voiced their concern for the bylaw and their pets. Rachel Schwalm read her Tetter emphatically urging council to rescind bylaw 017-92. The bylaw essentially states that cat owners be responsible for tag- ging their cats for identification pur- poses. ft also prohibits owners from allowing their cats to be at large. Failure to comply with these regulations could lead to the wan- dering cat being seized by the cat - catcher and impounded until claimed by its owner. Owners have up to 72 -hours to claim their pets, other- wise the animals may be sold or dis- posed of in a humane manner. Those claiming their pets from im- poundment arc required to pay a $50 fine for the release of their cat. In her letter, Schwalm extols cats as a necessity in a grain -producing community such as Hensel). "Hensel) is at the heart of the bean and grain country in south-western Ontario. Whose interests do you have at heart? Why are you prevent- ing the cats from doing what they, do naturally—controlling the rat and mice population?" Schwalm asked council in her letter. Dave Groot, acting cat -catcher for Hensel) responded to the irate cat owners by explaining that he has re- ceived many complaints about the "cat problem" in town. "We're not after all cats --we're after stray cats. By tagging cats for identification we can differentiate between strays and owned cats," he explained. Groot emphasized that eliminating stray cats in the arca will take the heat off the other cats. "We have to start somewhere. We can't just throw our hands up and do nothing. It's an education— once it gets going, there will no problem. Cat owners, however, may have another idea: They are banding to- gether to, have the bylaw rescinded and are looking forward to the next council meeting when the lesue will be discussed further.