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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-01-19, Page 1•rApr 0 0 0 North Middlesex & Lambton Serving South Huron rt. tlri - - INN IMME a SUBSCRIBE! It you aren't subscribing to The I Times -Advocate, you're missing out Use the coupon below and subscribe today/ 1 Name: ' Address City . 1 Prov. 1 1 1 II SUBSCRIPTION Code ' $U@SCRIPTION RATES: Canada Within 40 miles (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $30 00 plus $2 10 G S T . 'Outside 40 miles (65 km) or any letter carnet address $60 00 + $4 20 G S T ' Outside Canada S99 00 or,a pre 40 ms.a0e1 1 USE YOUR CREDIT CARD ODUUUODU 1 UUUUUOUO Card No 1 I Expiry Date (J Visa J Master Card LJ Cheque enclosed Return to: TIMES ADVOCATE L24=ai�. =resin NOM 6J 1 1 1 Inside Sewers New plant could cost $12 million page3 30 years Local butcher right at home page 5 Deficit Rec centre loses money Second front Soil and Crop Annual meeting page 13 Eedy Publications grows by three LISTOWEL - The Times - Advocate's newspaper family has increased by three publications with the purchase last week of the Wingham Advance -Times, the Lis- towel Banner, and the Mount For- est Confederate. J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. com- pleted ttte purchase last Wednesday from the Newfoundland Capital Corporation of Halifax after lengthy negotiations. All three newspapers have been serving their communities for over 100 years. J.W. Ecdy Publications Ltd. also publishes the St. Marys Journal -Argus and thc Fergus Elora News Express. Because Wingham and Exeter represent readerships at both ends of Huron County. the news staff of both papers will be looking at ways to share news items of mutual inter- est. Thieves steal lottery tickets...but will they win? EXETER - About S1,300 worth of lottery tickets were stolen from an Exeter grocery store in a night- time break-in on Friday. The Exeter OPP say thieves broke into Darling's Food Market at about 3:45 a.m. Friday and made off with the Loto tickets. Police are also seeking suspects in a break-in at an Exeter residence that they believe happened between Wednesday and Friday. The OPP say the thieves entered the Sanders Street residence of Wayne Gaiser during that time a`nd stole a Hitachi stereo, a VCR, two speakers and a tape deck. Last Wednesday thieves broke into the O'Rourke residence in Ste- phen Township, making off with several bottle of liqueurs and a Pan- asonic stereo. Also last Wednesday, a 14 -foot aluminum extension ladder was taken from the Roy Ryan residence in Stephen Township. Since 1873 Wednesday, January 19, 1994 (84c s GC G.S.T.) 90 cents Snow blockage can be costly Clean out that hydrant, you may need it, warns fire chief CREDITON - Hardly anyone gives that fire hydrant on their street a second thought - unless look- ing for a place to park. However, with re- cent snowfalls in the south Huron area, many local fire hy- drants are buried, perhaps completely by the snow plowed off the roads. Stephen Township Fire Department chief Robert Pertschy is asking people in his township and fire coverage area to check any hydrants on their streets and make sure they are dug out enough to be visible and their caps clear. "If we need it as a fire department, you will probably need it worse than us," he said. In case of fire, hy- drants need to be quickly located by firefighters so that hoses may be hooked up rapidly. Any de- lay can be costly. While residents in some towns can rely on the PUC to take care of their hy- drants, as the PUC does in Exeter, rural residents should real- ize that they have to look out for their own hydrants. While the Exeter PUC takes care of fire hydrants in town, as Steve Skinner does here Monday afternoon, rural residents are be- ing advised to make sure hydrants on their streets are clear of packed snow and are visible to emergency crews. Goderich joins Exeter in county voting fight By Adrian Harte T -A Editor GODERICH - Goderich has joined in with Exeter in the fight against making county council a reeves -only club. Exeter, until now, with the sup- port of Howick Township, had been battling county council's plan to reduce all Huron municipalities to one -vote status at the county without the aid of any of the other four towns. Howe.ver, at last week's Goderich town council meeting, councillor Morns Jenkins hrougttt forward a notice of motion, requiring council to reconsider its stand. His motion passed, six votes to three, meaning the town now officially opposes a private members hill to allow pro- vincial legislation to restructure Huron County Council as a one - municipality -one -vote chamber. Presently, larger municipalities, such as Exeter and Goderich have two members attending county council, giving the towns more vot- ing power. However, population increases in the county raise the possibility of having a county coun- cil with over 40 members after the next municipal election. The one - vote plan was put forward to cut the council to 26 members, each with one vote. Exeter has opposed the plan ar- guing that larger population centres should be allowed more representa- tion, or at least more voting weight from their representatives. Goderich council now agrees. Jenkins said he was disappointed with the outcome of council's last vote, in which the one -vote plan was supported. He tried a few weeks ago to get council to recon- sider its position. "I tried to get some action then," he said, finally resorting to last week's notice of motion. "I've said its immoral to give up on two votes," said Jenkins, and added he agrees with Exeter's call for voting by population, perhaps with one vote per 1,000 people. Observers of Goderich politics say that council's original support of the county council came from fears that the county would reduce the town's grant for its airport. However, that grant may he due for phasing out anyway. Monday evening in Exeter, town council had praise for their Gode- rich counterparts after learning of their change of heart. "The logic is a little different in the stand we took, but the outcome is the same...there should he repre- sentation by population," stated mayor Bruce Shaw. "I think congratulations are in or- der for Goderich...they realize they made a mistake and they aren't afraid to own up to it," agreed councillor Ben Hoogenboom. Council agreed to send a letter of thanks and support to Goderich council. With Huron's two largest towns now opposing the one -vote -per - municipality plan, the fate of the private member's hill before the provincial government is now in doubt. The hill was needed to make the restructure of county council possible. because the cur- rent Municipal Act only allows for county representation by popula- tion. Staying at her daughter's California home Exeter woman experiences L.A. quake By Adrian Harte T -A Editor THE PALLISADES, CALIF. - While most of us could watch news of the Los An- geles earthquake on television, one Exeter woman could only rely on what she heard on a battery -powered radio and what she could see out the windows of her daughter's home. Margaret Hughes experienced the south- ern California earthquake first hand Mon- day morning. The 6.6 Richter scale quake rocked her daughter's home in the Palli- sades, about halfway between Santa Monica and Malibu, and only about 40 kilometres from its epicentre. "There's a lot of damage, a lot of dam- age," Laid Hughes in a telephone interview with the Times Advocate only four hours after the quake, and just before a series of aftershnrkc trembled through the area Hughes, a resident of Riverview Estates in Exeter, spends the winter with her daughter, a flight at- tendant who was on her way back from England at the time. Hughes weathered the 4:30 a.m. Pacific Time earthquake alone, with only two dogs in the house for company. Sur- prisingly, she was awake at the time, stirred from sleep by the restless dogs, outside. "One was very restless, mine, and I think he knew something was coming," she said. When the earthquake hit, she scrambled herself and the dogs into the hallway, the months \afect crust in the hoose, arrnr(iing to her daughter. She was able to close the bath- room door, for fear of the glass shower doors breaking. "Everything crashing down. The pic- tures are all crooked on the walls," she said. "It was wicked." Unlike the rest of North America that quickly got word of the aftermath, Hughes found herself without electricity and in the pre -dawn dark. "My neighbour loaned me a radio. There's several here, but no batteries," she said, but added the telephone. and gas sup- ply seem unaffected in her area. "It seems calm right now. There's no cars "Everything came crashing down. The pictures are all crooked on the walls." which she let came nn the freeway." the said. "t know there's a lot of damage and a lot of fires," she said, referring to radio reports, and the fact there had been a lot of activity at the fire hall down the street. As she spoke. sirens wailed in the distance. Although she was told not to expect elec- tricity to return for at least a day. she said her main concern was where her daughter's plane would land, perhaps in nearby Onta- rio, California. She was also worried the house was growing cold with the lack of a furnace. "We were lucky. There's a lot of dam- age, I'm sure," she said. Later in the day, as emergency crews sized up the earthquake's damage, at (cast 32 people were believed killed in the disas- ter, and it left about 15,(XX) homeless. Zurich businessman billed $2,100 for oil spill clean up But he insists leaked fuel may not be from his property ZURICH - A village businessman js being billed for an environmental cleanoV after furnace oil leaked into the Zurich drain. Doug Oesch, owner of the Tasty -Nu Bakery attended council Thursday evening to discuss the fuel spill matter, but was reluctant to state his case in front of news reporters. "I would like to request a closed portion of the meeting for this part of the discussion," said Oesch, who added that he felt that reporting of the incident might be negative. Clerk -treasurer Maureen Simmons asked on what grounds council would be going into closed discussion. Municipal councils can only hold secret meetings for legal matters, property sale matters, and personnel matters. When councillor Keith Semple made a motion to go into camera, it was carried, with the expla- nation they would be, discussing a combined property and legal matter. However, when the open session resumed af- ter half an hour of closed session, reeve Bob Fisher explained that the whole matter had be- gun several days ago when some residents com- plained of visuals sightings of oil contaminating the Zurich drain. Some homeowners also com- plained of oil odours coming up through their Lasement drains. "Our staff had done considerable investigat- ing," said Fisher, who said that checks of oil tanks began in the village in an attempt to trace the source of the oil. Eventually an abandoned oil tank behind Oesch's bakery was found to have no cap, and the surrounding soil was oil soaked. "Obviously some of that oil got into the Zurich drain," said Fisher. When the tank was removed from the proper- ty, Ministry of the Environment staff were' present and found the tank was rusty, leaking and in overall poor shape. Letters from the min- istry, the tank removal company. and village staff pinpoint the tank as the source of the leak- ing oil. Oesch's in camera presentation was apparently to argue that his tank might not be the only source of oil, and that he should not be billed the entire $2,100 it cost to clean out the Zurich drain. With Oesch present, council made a motion to direct the $2,100 invoice to him, and would re- imburse him only if it is Tater proved there were other sources of oil. "Thanks for coming in Doug, you didn't get the result you wanted, i know," reeve Fisher told Desch. "1 don't think it was indicative of a spill, I think our site showed signs of a slow leak, but I guess it's me against the ministry and the coun- cil," replied Oesch, accepting their decision. In addition to the bill for cleaning up public property, Oesch also has to pay for removing the tank and cleaning up the bakery property. In another matter, Oesch also accepted from council their advice on how he could reduce his water and sewage bills to his business. While council is not lowering village sewage rates just yet, they did advise him to investigate discharg- ing clean water into the sanitary sewer system, and did promise to consider approving a reduced rate for heavy users of water in the village. Desch observeckthat many neighbouring munici- palities have such rate structures. Oesch said his bakery paid $4,500 in water and sewage utility rates in 1993. He said other options include the installation of expensive wa- ter recovery systems and new air-cooled equip- ment. 1 A Technology centre in works for Huron CLINTON - The Huron County Board of Education is exploring the possibility of set- ting up a design and technolo- gy centre based on an Essex County model. . "This is a concept we might want to pursue," said Arnold Mathers, superintendent of schools, after trustebs viewed a video outlining the program and facilities that are housed in one complex. He said thc set up cost and bussing would not be any more than the board is spend- ing now. It would actually cost less," Mathers said. And since students would spend less time riding on the bus, there would be more time to spend working on the pro- grams. The board is also looking at adding six new programs to design technology, such as desk top publishing.