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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-03-16, Page 1SEIP'S vett-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Large Tropical Plants 14.010 pot WN 1 • 4ITIS-n'4__i,- --V SEIP'S i valu-mart � A & 83 Exeter 23=5 BB Presidents I With ponce! of any 1. Pop 1 la Deli Made Pizza 1 Expire Mar. 23/94 1 Coeyoa tams s Serving; South Huron Nutth Mititlles;ex & Latnhton Wednesday. March 16. 1994 -----ttti rills rt� S UBSCRIBE! It you aren't subscribing to The 1 Times -Advocate, you're missing out. Use the coupon below arfd 1 subscribe today! 1 Name: 1 Address City 1 Prov 1 1, I Postal Code Canada 1 Within 40 miles - (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $30.00 plus $2.10 O.S.T. Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter I carrier address $60.00 + $4.20 O.S.T. Outside Canada -$99.00 rind see 40 po 1 USE YOUR CREDIT CARD ❑0000000 1 D0o00000 caro No. 11 IExpiry Date ❑ Visa U Master Card 1 1 1 ❑ Cheque enclosed Retum to; TIMES ADVOCATE I. `24=ai�. =teinNOM 8ma Inside Grant Grand Bend lands $172,000 page 2 Klrkton honoured Stamp celebrates Eaton anniversary page 7 Cutbacks Huron can't take any more page 10 Playoffs Irish on the ropes page 14 Grand Bend man dies of injuries after home-made dump truck box collapses GRAND BEND - A Grand Bend man died last Monday after a home-made dump truck box col- lapsed onto his abdomen. Pinery Park OPP say they are continuing to investigate the death of Brian Laird, 22, who was crushed when a dump box on the truck he was using for cleaning away leaves at the Green Haven Trailer Park fell on him. A friend of Laird's quickly lifted the box up. Laird was able to walk to a tractor, was driven to his broth- er's house and then taken to South Huron Hospital. He later died as a result of inter- nal injuries at a London hospital. The truck was Laird's own, and police say he built the box mecha- nism himself for his business' use. They report that some chains and a come -a -long device used to support the dump box gave way. The Ministry of Labour is also in- vestigating the accident and a deci- sion on whether there will be an in- quest will be made at a later date. Sometimes school can be sweet as students at Ste- phen Central School dis- covered last Tuesday when they visited Brownlee's sugar bush in Crediton. At top Lindsay Doroshenko (left) and Samatha Ed- wards taste the sweet sap. At right Amanda Steeper (left), Lindsay Doroshenko, Samantha Edwards, Mandy Werrett, and Melissa Mar- shall watch the maple syr- up being boiled. Not much loot for a night's work Arena safe cracked by Sunday night thieves EXETER - A break-in at the South Huron Recrea- tion Centre Sunday night probably didn't pay off.for the thieves as well as they had hoped. Officer Dwight Monck of the Exeter OPP who in- vestigated the break-in said that the thieves "at- tacked" the building's safe, and 1i ely spent about three or four hours to get into it. Once open, the found only what he described as a "small amount of cash" and not the haul they probably expected. The money included a large quantity of coins. The proceeds from Sunday evening's Mohawks hockey game were not in the safe, but may have been the thieves' real target. Monck said the break-in took place between I a,tn. and 8 a.m. and it appears the safe was the cul- prits' only aim. The rear door to the arena was pried open, and a couple of other doors were dam- aged. Otherwise. nothing else was broken. The safe, however, is another story. "It's a mess," said Monck, who added that 'the OPP are continuing their investigation into the bur- glary, including the possibility a similar crime in Elora the same night might be connected. The police have no suspects at this time. Building is worth no more than in 1979 WUl council sell pollee statlon? By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - The town's executive committee was meeting behind closed doors Monday evening to decide the tate of the former police station, sitting empty since the Exeter Police disbanded in November. The prospect of putting the building up for sale on the open market no doubt had them concerned: the estimated value of the building is tar less than the town paid for the property, at least in inflation-adjusted dollars. An appraisal of the station by Karl A. Douglas and Associates of St: • Marys suggested the building could be put on the market for about $145,000. The appraisal suggested the building was a good location for a commercial operation or profeuional office, given its good parking. However, the town built the station for $144,814 in 1979. The prop- erty cost $44,000, demolition of an existing house cost $1,865, and construction of the new station cost S98,949. The project was offset with $25,000 in fire insurance money on the las of the previous sta- tion, and $10,000 on the sale of its property. Given the inflation over the past 15 years and the increases in prop- erty values elsewhere in town, council was understandably concerted about the appraisal when it was reviewed last week. The executive committee, to which the item was referred, elected to go into closed session Monday evening to review the options for the station property. Should council choose not to sell the building, other possibilities on the books include renovating it to house the public li- brary, or even connecting it to an extension of the Old Town Hall as a municipal office complex. Although the station has a garage attached, the appraisers considered it be of only minor value to potential purchasers of the property. A Education board achieves target cuts, but details undisclosed By Catherine O'Brien T -A staff CLINTON - The Huron County Board of Education managed to achieve its goal of $2.5 million in budget cuts during a special board meeting last Wednesday evening. But exact details of the budget will not be known until the board final- izes negotiations with union groups on the issue of staff adjustments that are needed to cut costs. Board trustees were able to make $1.5 million in cuts from operating costs before going into a closed session to dis- cuss how they could trim another $1 mil- lion from the employ- ee side of the budget. Paul Carroll, board director, said that al- though the board was attempting to keep the budget process open and the public up to date, there are some issues, such as teacher contracts, that can't be discussed in public. And while the board has tentative- ly reached its target, the process wasn't easy as trustees attempted to cut from what many have termed an already lean budget. As well, cuts were difficult be- cause existing government legisla- tion and contract agreements protect a large portion of education expens- es from being touched. `fie estabb base so re Trustees made a last ditch effort to trim from the 'nickel and dime' sources of revenue in the opera- tions portion of the budget. The de- cision was then made to begin ne- gotiations on staffing issues where 80 percent of the budget is spoken for. "In the last five years we have re- duced operating costs by 26 per- cent," Carroll said before trustees began suggesting areas to trim. And while design and technology as well as Junior Kin- dergarten were on the carving block at one point, trustees decid- ed against such cuts. Trustees were told that enrolment in Hu- ron County schools is going down even when the JK pro- gram is factored in. "If you reduce the enrolment from 25-15 students, that means less money from the government, yet the cost of the pro- gram still remains the same," said Glenn Lamb, financial services ad- ministrator. Basically, $ 1.5 million in cuts were made by readjusting operat- ing reserves. The board reduced spending on replacement furniture, equipment and some capital pro- jects. These cuts were possible by de- ' Please see School, page two. have to look at ishing a for new urces of venue, Will you watch? Town council may be teievised on local cable channel EXETER - Is there an audience for a televised town council meet- ing? The Exeter Lions Club is pon- dering that very question after being approached by Ex-Cen Cablevision about sponsoring televised council sessions. Terry Schwartzentruber, a Lions member, said the club is taking the proposal seriously, but there are many unanswered details about how such broadcasts would be created. One possibility is if the council meetings were to be videotaped and broadcast the following evening, rather then go out on the communi- ty channel live. If taped, would they need to be edited, asks Schwartzentruber? "It could be a big project for us, or it could be simple," he said. Monday evenings, the Lions Club is already on the airwaves with its televised bingo games. If broad- cast live, the council meetings, mi- nus the first half hour, "could be an extension of our bingo night", said Schwartzentruber. While he said he still believes more use could be made of the community cable channel, Schwartzentruber said the Lions aren't yet sure if there is an audi- ence large enough to make tele- vised councils worth the cost and expense. Few, if any, members of the public attend the sessions in person. At. last week's meeting. council gave a tentative nod to the project, suggesting that should the Lions wish to go ahead with the broad- casts a six-month trial period might be the best way to go. $3 million project Township puts dibs on first $50,000 from Exeter pipeline CREDITON - Although Stephen Township will benefit from a $3 million water pipeline project for Exeter, the township wants the first $50,000 in revenue from the pro- ject. Township council, at its March I meeting, passed a resolution asking that it get the first $50,000 collect- ed in frontage fees from connec- tions to township homes along the pipeline which will extend into Ex- eter. The remainder of the frontage fees would be split 30/30 with Ex- eter, decided council. The money would be "in consid- eration of Stephen Township's ex- tensive contribution to the proposed Township water expansion into the Town of Exeter" reads council's resolution. Council has also asked the Onta- rio Clean Water Agency to prepare an agreement to govern the installa- tion and operation of the pipeline. Signers to the agreement would in- clude the township, the town, and the Exeter PUC. The proposed project aims to sup- plement Exeter's water supply for at least 20 years' growth by extend- ing the present Lake Huron Water Supply System pipeline along County Road 4, the creation of a trw pipeline along Stephen Con- cession 2, and the construction of a new booster station in Crediton. 1