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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-03-31, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, March 31,1993 Annesimmior 7N TNF. NFW' Regional wra Officer training to use pepper spray SEAFORTH KThe Seaforth Police Services have use -of force forms in place dr- comply with provincial legislation, Po- lice Chief Hal Claus told the Seaforth Police Services Board on March 10. Officers are re- quired to record when they pull their guns. Local policy is being amended AO conform with the provincial legislation,it was reported in the Seaforth Expositor. `Pepper spray has not yet bben approved for the Town of Sea - forth. Seaforth police officer Harro Maydell is scheduled to go for training at the Police College in Aylmer. He will then be able to train the other Seaforth police officers, should Seaforth decide to use the aerosol weapon. Arena smoking a hot issue ST: MARYS - Council's anti- smoking .advocate is calling on -the public to limit spending Money at the SL Marys arena untilsmoking is banned there. MidgeJcwson is Maimed that .a smoking area has been desig- nated forthe building, it was re- ported in -the Jotunal'Argus. •Town council has supported an arena board move to create the designated smoking area af- ter the March 5 incident when angry smokers reacted to Jew - son's imprecations to abandon their evil ways. "I'm not suggesting a boycott. 'art prggesting one. -method peo- '4)1g ve of showing -the arena board that they don't approve of this is to hit them in the pocket- book. Perhaps by not spending money at the canteen," she said. Klopp asks for input on budget GODERICH - MPP Paul Klopp addressed a meagre audi- ence of about 12 people in Goderich two weeks ago asking whether the govemment should reduce spending, increase reve- nue or allow the deficit to in- crease. In 1992/93 the NDP gov- ernment budgeted spending of $54.5 billion. "I believe no one option is the best. We need to do all three," he told the Signal -Star. Organizing a budget has be- come a. challenge, he said. About 300,000 jobs in Ontario have been eliminated during this recession, but demand on social assistance has nearly doubled. Inflation is forecast at two per- cent this year, with employment growth of 1.2 percent and unem- ployment at 10.8 percent. "We arc seeing a turnaround, but it's slow and weak," said Klopp. "We are going to see highaunemployment rates contin- ue in 1993." Firefighters tackle second barn fire MITCHELL - The second arca barn fire in Tess than 67 hours gutted the barn of 'Robert McDougall in a matter of min- utes, it was reported in the MitchelI Advocate. McDougall, of RR 3, Mitchell, was cleaning out the empty barn with Paul Cox March 18, when, just before noon, Cox smelled smoke. When he noticed some sparks in the ceiling, he tried to put it out with a pressure wash- er, "but it just seemed to spread," he said at the scene. By the time the Mitchell and District Fire Department arrived at 12:30 p.m.. the barn was lost. An estimated $200,000 damage occurred. Apartment owner says all repairs will be made -Continued fn.*u front page not have the carpets cleaned or walls repaired to painted as agreed upon. Many said they feared the land- lord was deliberately letting the buildings' upkeep slip and was avoiding necessary major repairs to the chronic leak problems. The words "Cheyanne North" were heard to be muttered a few tunes by residents, in reference to the infa- mous apartment complex in Lon- don. After the meeting, Sylvia Bowrrmrt said the whole purpose of the get-together was to make sure -nothing like Cheyanne's problems surfaced in Exeter. Several of the residents also ex- pressed annoyance at an apparent new rent policy, under which new tenants were paying about 5100 a month less for their apartments than previous tenants. "A lot of the residents who have been here for a number of years are upset about this," Bowman told the group. "They feel they have been taken advantage of." Most of the buildings' longstand- ing tenants are paying around $500 a month for their units, plus utili- ties, but new tenants are being of- fered apartments at $395 a month, with one month free. Bowman said the initial anger at seeing new residents paying less rent has been tempered somewhat by the realization they too have been taken advantage of because they have moved into units with dirty carpets and walls, and have to face the problems with leaks. Kim Weeks noted Rob McCann's apartment, arranged through Com- munity Living South Huron, did not go through at the lower rent. "Are we paying top dollar be- cause we're Community Living?" wondered Weeks. Gladys Simms, who called her- self the original resident of the buildings, having moved in in May 1979 when they were brand new, asked what rights the residents had ter make sure the repairs were made. "Are we justified in having to pay an increase in rent if those repairs aren't made?" she asked. Elsie MacDonald replied that she understood the Rent Control Act al- lows tenants to demand repairs be made, without fear of eviction. "We are recommending no one pays their increase until we see Rent Control," she said. ' "I can see no reason why we should be paying an increase in rent unless the repairs are made," agreed Simms. When asked about the new Land- lord- Tenant Act, bave Moyer said the legislation gives more power to tenants. He said he understood the Ministry of Housing not only has the power to freeze rents, but also to lower them until buildings are re- paired. Tony Vanderstraaten said he is a painter by trade, and told the group he would volunteer to paint their apartments, so long as he could ar- range to deduct the costs from his own rent. He said he had made owner of the buildings, Abdo Abdo said he only recently became aware Letter to Editor of the extent of the problems and said steps are being taken to make amends. "We have a maintenance man go- ing out there at least once a week," said Abdo. "I wasn't brought to light on these problems until two weeks ago," he similar arrangements with other landlords in the past. Wrapping up the meeting, Bow- man said that the noise problems had to be dealt with by the resi- dents themselves. "Because we're in an apartment situation we have to be considerate of each other," she said. Bowman also said the two - building complex has many good feauues which residents enjoy. She said she would be taking the list of complaints taken at the meeting to London to Abdo. She said he al- ready understands the problems with the leaks and cracks around the balconies and doors. She asked for a show of hands'to give the owner a chance "to make amends". Nearly all agreed. However, Bowman said this would have to be the last chance "because we've been after him for the past four or five years". After the meeting, Moyer said by looking at some of the buildings' complaint areas, most of the prob- lems appeared to be•minor in nature and easily fixed, given the time and money. He said the leaks in balco- ny and patio doors may be linked to the buildings' original design and may be harder to fix, but not impos- sible. When contacted in London, the Smoking by-law confusing To the Editor Now that the town has come up with this smoking bylaw, of two thirds non-smoking and one third smoking in public places I think they should have added one more rule. And that is that non-smokers must sit in non-smoking sections. There are still a lot of people that like to go to a coffee shop and have a coffee and cigarette. Then you find half the smoking section filled with non- smokers, so if you're lucky to find a seat where you can have a cigarette they complain when you light one. Meanwhile the non-smoking sec- tion is mostly empty. I just don't understand these par- ents that are concerned with their children and the second hand smoke, then take the children to the coffee shop and sit them in the smoking section anyway It sure doesn't make much sense to me. But then I guess it just gives them something to complain about. Phyllis Collett RR 1 Crediton Drama students Brent Jesney and Matt Jaques show their co- medic skills in the skit, The Critic, at South Huron District High School on March 25. High School comedy show EXETER - For two days last week students at South Huron Dis- trict High School proved that there is something funny in this region with the presentation of Comedy Show '93. The comedy show ran March 24 and 25, as part of the OAC drama classes study unit on comedy. More than 80 students and par- ents attended the second night of the two hour performance. The re- sponse was highly favourable as the audience laughed its way through the 37 skits. The skits were mostly improvisa- tion based on a scripted scenario. "The most difficult time was just before the show began," said per- former Barb Mortley. "Suddenly. every thought of what could go wrong flashes through your mind." But when the curtain went down both nights, the show wasn't over for the 30 performers. "They will be evaluated on all as- pects of the performance and their day to day activities leading up to the night," said Glenda Burrcll,OAC drama teacher. The students were expected to write, direct, and perform skits based on class lessons and they were responsible for additional re- hearsals. Burrell said its a positive experi- ence for the students. Performer Matt Jaques said as the shows deadline carne closer he made a great discovery: the class also came closer. Exeter rejects planning fees Continued from front page 558,200. (inc year later there were 160 consents and the department had an $11.500 deficit. "It's time we look carefully at the planning department's budget," said Shaw. Huron's Director of Planning and Development, Gary Davidson, said the cost of consents are not the same and when a consent is ap- pealed, it's the county's responsibil- ity to defend the decision. "It's very difficult to charge what the actual consent is worth ,so you have to spread it out and strike an average," said Davidson. He gave as an example. a particu- lar consent two years ago which took a month to complete and cost the county $20,000. Davidson added about the group of seven who do their own con- sents, "in none of our reportings have we ever said the seven munic- ipalities don't do the consents ade- quately." Shaw clearly pointed out to coun- cil, a scenario which illustrated how much the county should be charging for a consent. He stated that a senior planner with 20 years experience would charge about $33 per hour . for a consent, which Shaw said takes about three hours of that persons time. He said secretary time is about $21 per hour and mileage an- other 530 which comes to a total of 5151. "Under law, conditions on con- sents must be reasonable, they can not be arbitrary and 5750 is arbi- trary." Shaw also said ministry guide- lines state 5750 is beyond munici- pal authority and wanted to no why no information was given to the seven municipalities on the actual cost breakdown of consents. This year Exeter predicts county planning would cost the town 537,000 on truces, plus an addition- al S12,000 for consent fees. said, .adding -he took over owner- ship of the complex only last year. While he hadn't yet received the list of complaints taken at Thurs- day's meeting, Abdo said they would be taken care of. "They will see it," he said. "They won't have to hope for it. What needs to be done will have to be done." "They will be satisfied," insisted He said tenants concerns about the landlord -letting the property de- teriorate were unfounded. He said the building's problem were "noth- ing to do with money" but were more a symptom of poor communi- cation between Exeter and London, and between the property manag- ment company and himself. Abdo said he has plans to get the major repairs on the leaking doors and balconies done when the weather improves enough to allow pouring concrete. The ann al Times -Advocate Phone Book is scheduled for publication in August. Advertising in our phone book is sold only by Times Advocate employees who can be reached at 235-1331. Our Phone book, which is our most popular special edition, includes the following exchanges: Centralia; Cre- diton; Dashwood; Exeter; Grand Bend; Hensall; Kirkton/ Woodham; Lucan and Zurich. Advertisers are reminded not to confuse the Times= Advocate Phone Book with any other similar publication TO RESERVE ADVERTISING IN OUR ANNUAL PHONE BOOK PLEASE CALL BARB CONSITT AT (519) 235-1331 Huron Sports Outfitters Fishing • Hunting • Archery Camping Supplies GRAND OPENING THURSDAY APRIL 1 TO SUNDAY APRIL 4 Neoprene Waders from 8119.°° H.G. Ultralight or Spin Combo 854.°° The Flying Lure 836. ao Berkley Trilene XL or XT 82.20 /yard � Rubbe�c a Tac cIe 8mxes ... . Golden Eagle Pro -Predator :Compound Bow Package 8369.i00 Excalibur Exocet X -bow 8439.°0 Iainsuits 840.°0 Children Spin Cast Combo T 815.°O FREE FREE DOOR PRIZES Open Thurs.-Fri. till 8:00 pm. Sat. -Sun. till 5:00 p.nt. 42 Goderich St.. W.. 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