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Times Advocate, 1994-03-23, Page 1SEIP'S Congratulations Exeter Atom Broncos on advancing to the OMHA finals SEIP'S Serving South Huron r -- — — — — , 1 SUBSCRIBE! If you aren't subscribing to The 1 Times -Advocate, you're missing out.' Use the coupon below and subscribe today! 1 Name: 1 Address City 1 Prov I Postal Code SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada Within 40 miles • (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $30.00 plus $2.10 G.S.T. 1 Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter carrier address $60.00 + $4.20 G.S.T. Outside Canada 499.00 (d $BO.aooa.o.) 1 USE YOUR CREDIT CARD 000000 1 00000000 Card No. I Expiry Date ❑ Visa ❑ Master Card 1 1 ❑ Cheque enclosed Return to; TIMES ADVOCATE 424 Main St. Exeter Ont. NOM 1S6am em min am aso 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Inside Mobility Transportation linked to health page 2 UIC Hensall workers may get break page 3 Pet safety Seatbelts for dogs and cats page 5 Zurich on Ice Annual skating carnival page 17 Do firefighters get vacation pay, board wonders? EXETER - What constitutes a volunteer? The Exeter and Area Fire Board is mulling over that question after at least one firefighter applied for va- cation pay. Firefighters, although classed as "volunteers", are paid for fighting fires and attending practic- es. The Ministry of Labour has told the fire board that if it considers the firefighters its employees, then they are owed vacation pay dating back to 1991, councillor Robert Drum- mond told town council Monday evening. However, Drummond said the firefighters association isn't interest- ed in pressing the vacation pay is- sue as a group. "They assured us they don't want the pay," said Drummond. "if they receive vacation pay they may lose their status as a volunteers and be- come part-time employees." if the Ministry of Labour insists the firefighters are, in fact, part-time employees other problems may arise. The board is looking into oth- er possibilities under the Workers' Compensation Act, the Health and Safety Act, and the $500 exemption each receives under the Income Tax Act for their firefighter's pay. Drummond told council that the fire board has advised the ministry that they do not consider the rela- tionship with the volunteers to be on an employer-employee basis. Correction In last week's issue, the name of the Grand Bend man who died of injuries after a work-related acci- dent was misspelled. Brian Baird, not Laird, as report- ed in the paper, died Wednesday March 9 after being tjured by a truck dump box that fell on hispb- domen. Baird had dumped a load of leaves from his truck at the Green Haven Trailer Park and was lowering the box two days later when it dropped on him. He was operated on in London on Tuesday, but died of a blood clot on Wednes- day. The Times -Advocate regrets the error, and apologizes to the family of the deceased. North Middlesex & Ldmbton Next Tuesdayeveniog Strategic Plan hinges on who attends meeting EXETER - Next Tuesday eve- ning is a big night in Exeter's fu- ture, and town council are hoping enough residents will take the event as seriously as they. The Strategic Plan Meeting will be held at the South Huron Recrea- tion Centre, starting at 7 p.m. "We don't want to force the coun- cil's agenda or thinking onto the public. We want to know what they are thinking," said town ad- ministrator Rick Hundey at Mon- day's council session. "When all is said and done, we're the ones who are going to be mak- ing the decisions. We're going to have to base those decisions on the information we get." said mayor Bruce Shaw. He said the information council acts on will depend largely "on who shows up". On the agenda for the meeting are wide-ranging issues to plot the future of the town into the next cen- tury. Some topics that citizens will be asked to mull over once the meeting breaks up into groups in- clude the responsibilities council has to collecting and spending tax- es, how much attention the town should give to future development, and how much to providing servic- es to existing residents. Part of the meeting will be devot- ed to establishing a mission state- ment for the town, which may also help develop a picture of what Ex- eter should strive to be in coming years. Although the subject matter can seem intimidating, council has been assured the meeting will be struc- tured in such a way as to encourage a quick discussion of ideas. Smoking area is...outside Arena lobby goes smoke free EXETER - Local smokers may be getting a break on prices, but they're not getting a break from town council. With little debate, council Monday evening endorsed a rec- ommendation from the executive committee that the entire Lobby of the South Huron Recreation Centre be added to the arena's no - smoking areas. After sitting through a period of smoke-free hockey in the stands, smokers will now tuive to,go all the, wf!ay. ot►tdoiprs to Igg1 ,pp. The move came after the executive committee saw it as the best solution to making the eating area beside the concession booth smoke free. A proposal to allow smoking only between the entrance doors was rejected. Later in the meeting, councillor Ben Hoogenboom said a good ap- proach for council might be to review the whole smoking bylaw at some point. "There appears to be some people who continue to smoke in the ice surface area," said Hoogenboom, who asked how the new regu- lations were to be enforced. "Who's going to enforce it?" agreed councillor Dave Urlin. "Anyone can," said mayor Bruce Shaw, saying citizens only have to report errant smokers. In the end, council agreed to give to building official Dave Moyer the task of setting up the•new smoke-free area in the recreation cen- tre, including signage. The new regulations will leave the rental hall the only public part of the recreation centre where smoking is allowed. One administra- tion office is designated as a smoking area for staff. Since 1873 Wednesday. March 23. 1994 (84c + GC G S.T.) 90 cents Daffodils for cancer Volunteers from the Exeter Cancer Society and the Beta Sigma Phi sorority will be sell- ing bunches of daffodils in Exeter this Friday for their annual fund raising event. From left are June Esser)/ of Beta Sigma Phi, and Marie Brunzlow, and Veria Russell of the Cancer ?.Society. The dozen or so volunteers will be selling 1,300 bunches of fresh daffodils at $3 each at several locations around town and they are hoping the weather will be ap- Oropriate to the occasion. Lucan sets priorities for infrastructure grants LUCAN - Application has been made to the province of Ontario for the village of Lucan's share of funding under the joint provincial -federal infrastructure pro- , Chyncil recently approved seven projects to be un- dertaken at an estimated cost of $828,897. Infrastruc- ture grants will provide two-thirds of the total cost with the village contributing $276,299. The biggest portion of the monies in the range of $500.000 will he used for sewer infiltration problems. This figure includes engineering fees. While infiltra- tion probleins in the entire village will be addressed, the most work will likely be done in the Nicoline and Kleinfelt areas. It is estimated $100,000 will be spent on water and sanitary sewer extensions on Chestnut street from Butler street to the pumping station. The same amount will go for a sanitary sewer exten- sion on Kent street from the end of Stanley through to Beech street. Next on the list is $47,498 to extend the sanitary M funds t prof the arena a n sewer on Nicoline Avenue from Elm street to Conces- sion 4. About $18,800 of Lucan's share of $56,400 for put- - ting= a new roof oto . come from the arena Booster Club. The other part of the one-third portion of the total cost of $120,000 will be paid by the other three participating municipalities. At a recent meeting of the Booster Club it was decided to provide up to $40,000 for the arena roof repair. Renovations to the public works build- ing including insulation and heaters will cost $15,000 and $10,000 is expected to go towards new sidewalks. Under the infrastructure grant program , 35 percent of the total funding must be spent the first year of a three year plan. Council has pointed out that all of the $276,299 to be provided locally is al- ready in place. in addition to the Booster Club, these monies will come from the water revenue and project accounts, development charge funds and a public works equipment reserve. Mo of the will go o sewer repair ects, but village will get ew roof 12 percent of population. but who are they? Singles -only group planned for Exeter By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - Small town life can be particularly attractive to young families looking for a quiet, friend- ly place to raise their children. But that same lifestyle can be difficult for unmarried people trying to fit into the community. A group of churches has come to the conclusion that they can be do- ing more for the single population of Exeter. According to 1991 Cen- sus data, 38.1 percent of the town's population is unmarried, but that would include the 26.8 percent un- der 20 years of age. However, it leaves more than 12 percent of the town's adults as singles, and there are 115 single -parent families alone. "In a town like this, it's a mar- ried -couple dominated ethos," ob- serves Rev. Mark Gaskin, one of the four ministers who sees a need for some singles -only activities. Even dances sponsored by local service groups tend to cater to mar- ried couples. "Singles are always welcome, but they're always sold as $25 -a -couple ticket," he said. The $12.50 single tickets are never even printed up. Lorraine Hillan, one of the single women in Gaskin's congregation, agrees it is difficult to meet the sin- gle people who must be living in the community somewhere. She said there are few activities where singles can comfortably meet, out- side of the taverns. A friend of bers visited the town once and de - 4 clared "there were only nine single women in Exeter". New singles coming to town have a hard time making close friends the way married couples do, and find it hard to be accepted into the groups of people who have been friends since grade school. "The people here have been here all their lives. Their parents have lived here," said Hillan, adding that singles can remain "outsiders" for a long time. The solution to this problem, as Gaskin envisions it, is a for - singles -only group. An kick-off meeting is planned for April 15 at South Huron District High School's 4ibrary. "I guess it's an organizational meeting, although that has a deadly sound to it," admitted Gaskin, but said all that might come out of the meeting is a better sense of what is needed in Exeter, and maybe a steering committee could be set up to organize regular activities. What isn't in the plans is some kind of match -making, pressured atmosphere. Maybe the group will set up an occasional singles dance, perhaps a bowling night, or some- thing entirely different, speculates Gaskin. Two separate groups might even be needed to encompass the 25-65 age groups that Gaskin says fall into a "gap" of unmarried people in Exeter. "Single, of course, encompasses widowed, divorced, and never mar- ried. in all three of those casks, you could have people with chil- dren," said Gaskin, and added ba- bysitting might be more of an issue with a younger age group of singles than an older group. Although being "kicked -off' ,y ministers, there is no plan to de- velop the singles group within a church -oriented framework. "The churches do well with our married parishioners," said Gaskin, and said the singles group is be- yond what any one church can pro- vide. "We thought there was a need to provirh something, but it was better to open it to the community," he said. "We're assuming this is going to attract some people who share the same values." What shape the singles' group takes, if any, will be determined mainly by those who attend the April meeting, insists Hillan. "We're not saying what it is that has to come out of it," she said. Rev. Mark Gaskin and lorralne Hillan are only two of the people working towards the creation of a singles group In the Exeter area that would help bridge the `gap" In social activitles for these who don't tit into the married -couple dominated community.