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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-03-09, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Congratulations To the Exeter Atom Broncos on advancing in the OMHA Playoffs Serving South Huron North Middlesex & Lanthton a7 g Since 1873 Wednesday, March 9, 1994 1 valu-mart 1 6r 83 Exeter 235.02621 lsee our winning line up1 - No Name 1 - dm.. 1 - G.R.E..E.N. - CLUB PACKS SAND MUCH MORE! %IL "1 (84c + 6c G.S.) .) 90 cents rs -----strategic plan meeting will guide future UBSCRIBE!� SUBSCRIBE! It you aren't subscribini to The 1 Times -Advocate. you're missing out Use the coupon below and Exeter _ the twenty-first _ _ _ _ _ _ �� m subscribe today! of 1 Name: 1 ' Address City Prov. 1 Postal Code I ▪ SUBSCRIPTION 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 , carrier address $60.00 + $4.20 G.S.T. Outside Canada -$99.00 find see.000.uy.i 1 USE YOUR CREDIT CARD ' 00000000 I 00000000 Card No. I Expiry Date ❑ Visa ❑ Master Card 0 Cheque enclosed Retum to: TIMES ADVOCATE ' 1_424 Main St. Exeter, Ont NOM 1S6�. s�i tt� ear tt�i E. No 1 1 1 1 1 Inside Duchess St. Lucan finally decides page 2 Small business Hensall hosts seminar page 5 Self defense Women learn rape prevention page 10 OMHA Playoffs Bantams tie up series Second front Council size still remains a mystery GODERICH - Municipal elec- tions may be just a few months away but it seems there is no indi- cation as of yet, how many people will sit on the Huron County coun- cil. Council has put forth a Private Members Bill which would see the current number of seats occupied cut from 32 down to one per munic- ipality, 26. However, while at one time there was strong support to make the size of council smaller, there seems to be a considerable amount of disa- greement now. The Ministry of Municipal Af- fairs have received written notifica- tion from both Exeter and Goderich that they are withdrawing their sup- port. Also announced Thursday. both Wingham and Howick Town- ship are against the new structure. It was suggested that the warden Allan Gibson and administrator Jocelyn Murray go to Toronto to see if they can have some influence on the bill. "Are we as council having a brief prepared? Are we going to voice our concerns?," questioned former warden Tom Tomes. if the bill is not accepted then council can either go according to guidelines set aside by the Munici- pal Act, the Elections Act or it can stay the same size. Pedestrian hit by car EXETER - An Exeter woman was injured Monday morning in after be- ing struck by a car on Main St. The OPP report that Molly Row- cliffe, 86 of Exeter, was crossing Main St. near John St. at abour 10:30 a.m. Monday when she was hit by a car driven by Marvin Rut- ledge of London. Police say apparently Rowcliffe walked directly into the path of the car. She was taken to South Huron Hospital for treatment of injuries. No charges have been laid in con- nection with the accident. By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - What Exeter will look like in 10 or 20 years is a hard enough question to answer. What town council will be looking for at the end of this month is some direc- tion from the public on what they_ want Exeter to look like in future years. A strategic plan meeting will be held March 30 at 7 p.m. at the South Huron Recreation Centre. Its main aim will be to gauge residents' priorities on how Exeter should be delivering its services, developing the community, and what the town aspires to be. Administrator Rick Hundey told council Monday evening that from short preliminary meetings he held, the public will expect some lead- ership from the town on how the strategic plan meeting should be structured. "They felt if too much was left to the public, the meeting wouldn't lead where it should," said Hundey. Hundey said his meetings showed some people want to see more unity in the town's various clubs and institutions, others want more emphasis on recreation facil- ities, others had concerns about the scenic park. Cathy Brown, from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, who will be facilitating the March 30 meeting, told council it must be prepared to follow through on the public's re - Pentecostal youth group headipg to England EXETER - A British invasion. That's what eight youth from the Exeter Pentecostal Tabernacle Church are taking part in for the next 14 days. As a matter of fact, the youth headed to Toronto last night for the flight they will share with a total of 220 youth who are on the same mission. And once the youth arrive in England they will divide into some 20 teams to do ministries in high schools and churches. "This is the first time this church has been involved in a mission of this kind overseas," said pastor Dave Austin who will be travelling with the group. But it isn't just a working trip. For the first three days they will stay in a youth hostel in London and do a bit of sight seeing. The Exeter team, ranging in ages from 15 through 19, will then be travelling to Congleton, England just four hours north of London for their mission. And while in this area, they will stay with sponsor fam- ilies. "Living with the families will give them a real taste for the culture," Austin said. During the two-week stay the group will be meeting with students at four different schools and will be teaching about their ministry as well as talking about Canada. Since November they have been busy preparing short dramas and music for the trip. "We have been meeting a few hours every week for the past three months," said Tim Robinson. "This is will be a real challenge," said Jennifer Brand. "I think we will come back changed." Heading to England on a youth mission are Kindi Tuck (front left) Tim Robinson, Rebekah Tuck, Jesse Stahle, Jen- nifer Brand, and behind are Pastor Dave Austin, Sheri Kel- ler and Jason Laurin. Absent is Jason Erb. N'Pt a'witch hunt' Environmental Farm Plan a voluntary effort to clean up Huron agriculture By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - A handful of Huron County farmers are taking a hard look at environmental issues on their own farms under a new vol- untary program. Called the Environmental Farm Plan, its 23 sections ask farmers to rate their own operations' health, safety, and environmental aspects with an eye to highlighting areas of The Environmental Farm Plan comes in an easy t oo under- stand binder, which contains questionnaires evaluating farm safety and environmental hazards on a point system. improvem0gt. George Thompson with the Soil and Crop Improvement Associa- tion says the plan came out of for- mer environment minister Ruth Grier's beliefs that Ontario farms were harming the environment. "She's a little bit radical," said Thompson, and explained that farm organizations decided to pre-empt any harsh environmental legisla- tion for agriculture with a pro- active approach "to restore the good faith people had in farms." He said the Environmental Farm Plan evolved from a health and safety program used in Wisconsin, but adapted to environmental is- sues. "The idea is if the farmer's' doing it voluntarily...then the government will hack off on an Environmental Farm Bill," said Thompson. But the large hinder with its questionnaires and score sheets is not intended to be a book of "skele- tons in the closet", said Thompson, but is intended to make farmers more aware of current regulations, and to find strategies to minimize the impact on the environment from their operations. Workshops which precede taking the book home to fill out have re- vealed that some farmers do need updating on regulations, and what they can mean to their farms and homes. One farmer, said Thomp- son, backed over his fuel tank and ended up contaminating his well for years. The Environmental Farm Plan isn't a government program, stress- es Thompson. It's information doesn't end up in ministry hands, and it doesn't advocate the most ex- pensive solutions to minor prob- lems. "The people who have taken the workshop have been relatively pos- itive," said Thompson, but ac- knowledged some are still a little skeptical. "i still think they fell that in a couple of years they'll have to do another one for the Min- istry of Environment." The Environmental Farm Plan was prepared by a coalition of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers' Federation of Ontario, AgCare, and the On- orPlease see Farm, page three. More to come Education cuts hit $3.5 million By Catherine O'Brien T -A staff CLINTON - Huron County Board of Edu- cation trustees and senior administrators have cut $3.5 million from the estimated $66.5 million in expenditures for 1994. But more cuts are still needed. in a special budget session tonight, trustees will be trying to cut an additional 52.5 million. The cuts are needed to avoid property tax mill rate increases of up to 19 percent which board officials say is largely the result of de- clining provincial revenues rather than from expenditure increases by the board. And even with such cuts, current mill rate projections, given that there is no further pro- vincial downloading of expenses to the local property taxpayer, will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 percent. In !i recent press release from the board, the cuts were called the most severe round of bud- get reductions ever in its history. "It's time to put away the axe and get out the guillotine," said board director Paul Carroll "I will ask the board to find at least $2.5 mil- lion additional reductions," he said regarding the meeting tonight. "Layoffs may be in the offing," he said. The board has already cut S2 million under terms of the Social Contract Act and through discussions with its six employee unions and the non-union staff Staff reductions in administration, special ed- ucation and program support staff totalling nine teaching positions have also been made. As well, reductions to the Oracle 7 and 8 Design and Technology/Family Studies pro- grams allowed for another; five reductions in staff. Increases to class sizes in elementary and secondary schools will result from additional staff cuts - expected to reach as high as 12 more teachers under the terms of the Social Contract Act. The number of senior administrators is also down by one position. a 17 percent reduction in cost. And if one additional position being vacat- ed at the end of June is not filled, the board will likely have the smallest ratio of superin- tendents to pupils in Ontario. "We must get our challenge under control," Carroll said, noting that the taxpayer will not accept the predicted double digit tax hikes. "That has been the pattern of (provincial] budget -setting in the last few years: cut, cut, cut - to soften the downloading passed on by senior governments. The school board has been blamed unfairly for a problem which is not of its making," Carroll said. quests, and not be pushing forward its own agenda. "When you do this you raise an expectation...It's very demoralizing to have your opinion asked and have your opinion ignored," said Brown, who said she agreed with councillor Bob Spears that the pub- lic will not want to hear a rehearsed presentation. "We can't go there with a pre- conceived outcome," agreed mayor Bruce Shaw. "I think we all have a different vi- sion...I think the meeting on the 30th should say what the people of Exeter want," said councillor Ben Hoogenboom. "There could be a lot of factors," said Shaw. "Who shows up and •'See Strategic, page three. Grant money going to sewers EXETER - Town council is allo- cating about 30 -percent of the fed- eral/provincial grant program to up- grading some sanitary and storm sewers in town. Although some councillors vigor- ously opposed allocating the infra- structure grant funds at this early date, three sewer projects got the go-ahead Monday evening. The Alexander St. West storm drainwiiite mended. at =approx.. innate cost of $122,000, the John St. sanitary sewer will be re-routed at a cost of $90,000, and an extension on the Rosemount Drive sewer will cost another $18,000. Councillor Ben ,Hoogenboom said the public works committee, which suggested this expenditure, suggested if tendered early, there might be savings on the projects, which total about $230,000 on esti- mates. The federal government's Red Book job creation- plan is allocating $790,018 to Exeter. one third of which would be paid by the town, and one third by the provincial gov- ernment. Reeve Bili Mickle, however, asked that the tendering of the pro- jects wait until the application un- der the program has been approved, which he said shouldn't be done un- til Exeter has a better idea how it will be spending all the funds. "We have to go with our total package, not piecemeal it through," said Micklc. Administrator Rick Hundey also agreed that all infrastructure pro- jects should be considered as a whole by council, perhaps as part of the upcoming strategic plan to be completed this spring. "Say you need $700.000 for one project, and you've already spent a portion of your money?" said Hun- dey. "We're not likely going to spend $750,000 on any one project," said Drummond, who said if these pro- jects can be applied for now, the town would be better able to spend the 35 percent of its allocation this year. "1 don't see making a few weeks delay will set hack this town on what it wants to do at all," said Mickle. Hoogenhoom said spending the grant funds on hard services like the sewers would he better received by the ratepayers in this time of re- straint, rather than spending it on "frills". He said the storm drain project has been on the books for throe years. "We'd better not be doing any- thing the town doesn't need," said Hoogenboom. Mickle agreed on the need, hut said he couldn't agree on the need to "hurry up and grab" the grants and spend them. A tie vote prevented the sewer project from being tabled, and eventually. council approved the projects, by a narrow margin of just one vote.