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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-06-18, Page 1Grand Bend is part of 2001 Summer Games Sailing and beach volleyball events will take place on in the Village of Grand Bend By Heather Mir T -A Reporter GRAND BEND - An announce- ment at noon Tuesday confirmed that London has won its bid to host the 2001 Summer Games and that means big economic spin-off for the Village of Grand Bend. The 'Bend is a partner of the London. Alliance including St. .Thomas, SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Chickens, Ribs ,i n' more -3 Hot food ( to go ,.. Woodstock and the University of Western Ontario which apparently trade an impressive pitch to • host the games. Several. sources con- firmed Tuesday' by press time that London's bid was chosen over Ot- tawa -Carlton and the Niagara Re- gion. ' . The event is expected to generate $42 million in local spin-off for the four. partners. ' Grand Bend Mayor Cam Ivey, who spoke to the T -A early Tues- day, was hesitant to celebrate until the noon announcement confirmed London won the bid but he said the games would provide a once-. . in -a -lifetime opportunity. Plans to prepare Grand Bend over the next four years include up- graded beach facilities such as washrooms. He anticipates there will be a major corporate sponsor- ship plan put in place to ensure the• beach facilities are appropriate. He added the facilities will not be permanent and the location was chosen because of its natural as- sets. "What we will have is national media exposure for basically two weeks," said Ivey. The London Alliance bid has an overall budget of $18.4 million, in- cluding capital improvements worth $7.4 million to community facilities. In London this will mean a $5 million refurbishing .to J.W. Little Stadium at UWO and a $1.85 million upgrade to the Lon- don Aquatic Centre. - The games will require 6,000 vol- unteers to run the 16 events and or- ganize an estimated 5,000 athletes. The events include baseball, bas- ketball, canoeing, rowing, cycling, diving, swimming, field hockey, rugby, sailing to be held from - Grand . Bend's harbor, soccer, soft- ball - to be held in St. Thomas, ten- nis, volleyball and wrestling - to be held in Woodstock. Serving Exeter .incl .,rea since 1873 SEIP'tJ valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 New Release Ay- Videos .T 3 $1.99 ■ r SL1iBSCRIBE!,: ' 11 you aren't subscribing to The Times -Advocate, you're missing out. •' Use the coupon below and ' subscribe today!! Name: 'Address ity 'rov. 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 `postal Code —_ - ■ SUBSCRIPTION RATES. DNTARIO t1 year 535 + 2.45 GST•2 year 563 4 4.41 GST - 1 year163+4.414.41 GST�9+6.33GST 1OUTSIDE CANADA • 5102 00 I USE YOUR CREDIT CARD ODODODOQ 1 DDDDDDOO Card'No. sExpiry'Date ❑ Visa LI Master Card 0 Cheque enclosed Retum to• TIMES ADVOCATE II Exeter OPP 424 Main St. Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6ium an a George Robertson are pictured brim :hats Ontario police will be .tion from the sun's harmful rays. Detachment officers in Cyclone 97 visits Exeter on Sunday EXETER _ Exeter gets a chance to show off its hospitality skills on Sunday when more than 300 cy- clists will come rolling int t vn with Cyclone 97. Organized by Cy- cle Ontario Experience, thecyclists and support vehicles will be travel- ling an 80 -kilometre route from Ba- den on Sunday. Formal activities will be based in the area surrounding the•South Hu- ron Recreation Centre. The cyclists will sleep in tents in an area desig- nated as "Cyclone City" behind South Huron District High School. Upon arrival, they will enjoy lunch at the Exeter Public School Parents Association food booth. informa- tion and souvenir booths will also be in the area. Dinner and entertainment at the Agricultural Building will feature the high school jazz band. • In their free time. thc cyclists will be taking in thesites in Exeter. • • Recreation Centre staff and high school students and staff will be in- volved thoughout-the group's stay. According to a COE'brochure, Cyclone 97 is a seven-day tour from June 21 to June 28 through western Ontario. The cyclists are all ages, but most are 30 to 50 years old with varying degrees of cycling experi- ence. They come from all walks of life and from all parts of Canada. On Monday, the cyclists will be travelling to Wingham. • Alcohol a factor in serious motor vehicle accident STEPHEN TOWNSHIP - Police report alcohol was a factor in an ac- cident that caused serious injuries. According to Huron County On- tario Provincial Police, the collision occurred on June 7 at approximate- ly 8 p.m. on Stephen Township Sideroad 5, west of Conc. 6-7: A 1985 Ford pick-up, driven by Mat- thew Pegier, 17, of Crediton, left the roadway on the north side and rolled over. A passenger, John Ducharme, 16, of Huron Park and the driver were both taken to South Huron Hospital. Charges have been laid and police report both oc- cupants were not wearing seat- belts. Bernie Miedema and the newly -designed wide wearing to provide protec- OPP switch hats EXETER Exeter Detachment police officers recently received their new head • gear and`sti far. the public reception has been good. 'Ontario Provincial Police officers throughout -the -province are switch- ing from general service head gear to a new, wide brim hat that offers effective protection from over- ' exposure to ultraviolet radiation and its related health risks. _ According toJocarofficer George Robertson,. thc new -hats are •light and comfortable.. "The wide brim hat' will provide better 'protection for our officers and will be.a recognizable symbol of authority and public safety," said Commissioner Thomas O'Grady in a recent press release. The dark blue, •ail -around wide brim bat is made of a tightly - woven, .breathable nylon material. If replaces the cloth peak hat to pro- vide better protection from the sun For'the vulnerable neck and face ar- eas. According to the Canadian 'Dermatology Association,._ two. of every three skin cancers occurs in. the neck and face areas. The hats. are one way to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer and pre- venting ultraviolet overexposure. By the end of July more than 5,000 officers across the province will be wearing the wide brim hat. In addition to the change in uni- form hats, the OPP is developing an educational program for all members . to increase awareness about sun safety. Alternate sun protection measures are in place for officers in the OPP bicycle and marine units. Stephen will apply grant to Huron Park sewage system, STEPHEN TOWNSHIP - At its June 3 meeting, Stephen Township Council passed a motion to make application under the Canada/ Ontario infrastructure Works pro- : gram for the maximum •grant of $31,928 for repairs to the Huron • Park Sewage Collection System. In other business,• council passed a motion recommending that, to ad- dress safety concerns expressed by the public, the owner of Lot 21, Concession 4 construct a suitable berm or plant trees to separate the pond from Concession Road 4-5. The motion added the owner is to comply with all other re- quirements of the Ausable Bay- field Conservation Authority. * Continued on page 2 Skinner wants referendum as bitter battle looms over PUC restructuring By Bruce Shaw EXETER - The regular meeting of the local Public Utilities Commission on Thursday must have sound- ed a great deal like. what was happening to the city south of us over the last several months. Commis- sioners Chan Livingston and Bev Skinner met with a -delegation from Exeter Council including Reeve Bill _Mickle, Councillor 'Joe Rider, Administrator Rick Hundey and Mayor Ben Hoogenhoom, who Sits on both bodies. - • As background, council wrote a 'confidential' let- ter to the PUC outlining its plan on restructuring all phases of municipal government within the town,. as it is empowered to do under Bill 26. What followed was, at times, a heated debate as to who had the best interests of the community at heart. Mickle, speak- ing for the town, said that in opening the door to boundary adjustments with Hay Township, council . had the right to re -organize all of its fi- nancial operations and those of the PUC the; layman will have- difficulty :in • drawing a -link between the two actions. A package has been prepared for the Minister of Municipal Affairs, staling council's plans. The _ minister will likely decide to empower the town to include the PUC functions•undcr its umbrella of operations. Skinner asked, "How come the minister will help • us and not London with the .mess they're in?" Mickle replied,.j`The hydro department has already been restructured there, and besides, the minister doesn't want to become embroiled in that chaos." • Skinner mused, "I guess I don't understand where all these savings are going to come from. i would like to know exactly where you're going to come up with savings. 1 know this commission is very ef- ficient." Mickle:' "Council doesn't argue with the fact that you're efficient. What the Minister wants to do is re- structure so that there is no duplication in the entire system. There will be restructuring through down- sizing and re -assigning personnel over the. entire system. Both you and us tax the people of Exeter in one way or another. We're both trying to be ef- ficient; by bringing these two bodies together, there will be a level of savings for the people of Exeter. Council has taken the initiative, and we'd like your • cooperation with us, but remember, council docs have the right to restructure all aspects of municipal government:" Skinner: "You want cooperation like the meeting on. Fchruary 6 with [Deputy Reeve] Urlin and [Councillor] Boyle who -never told us the dates and what had been decided in one of your! 'hidden agen- • das'. I asked the mayor fora written.'explanation as to why we were not involved at step one; I still haven't heard from him. We wanted to cooperate, but past history '(sic.] shows you haven't coop- erated." Hoogenboom, in response, said, "Council has set the plan in motion. My question is, at what point do we proceed when the minister signs the , agreement with Hay?" - Livingston entered the debate: "Council could do it the minute negotiations started. You, Bill, said three . times you want to save the .taxpayers money. We "You w coop youw take were voted into office to do the same thing. We will do as we were elected to do until we're voted out. What. you're trying to do is miniscule in what you will have to do when you amalgamate with other municipalities. We• must be unique in the province; we have an administrator, a treasurer and -an assist- ant. The first question, is, have you. thought how much this is costing?" Mickle: "Yes, we have three individuals, but the restructuring is looking at_ .all points. We have al- ready absorbed in excess of one-quarter of a million dollars of a reduction in government grants. New tax dollars have not been called for [by us] to meet. this -.shortfall. We have had to re -think our priorities and budget to make savings, and we too are efficient; our surplus increased by 50 to 6- thousand dollars in 1996. Through time, this community will have even less money." Livingston:"This is a good political speech, hut. . .. You don't want to cooperate; you want to take over! Our job is to protect our users. We want to stay here asllong as the; customers are well -served. We don't want a fiasco like the one in Lon - .don." Mickle: "If you want to compare Lon- don to Exeter and use it as a scare tac- tic... but we're not removed; we're in touch' withthe public. We're_not - being secretive we, re fighting protectionism - you're protecting your empire! ' • . 1 Skinner: "Let's gc • to the public with a: ref- erendum!" I' • Mickle:."Fine, but we're still going to the minister with a proposal!" - Livingston: "Your joh is to protect your people. We all know that consultants say what you want them to say. (Editor's note: A consultant hired by the town said that various town functions/positions could be combined to reduce`the number of people on the payroll.) Wherever the cards fall - and you've asked for cooperation - you've accused us of pro- tecting our turf - but if you go as far as you want to protect your turf. The report said your building in- spector wasn't up to snuff and so you got him an- other job. The report also unloads two of our. girls." • At the point, Hundey jumped in to deny Li- vingston's interpretation of the report concerning -the building inspector and to say that the report talked of 'positions' not people. Livingston countered, "it's not hard to pick out the people [who will be .iffected]." But Hundey reiterated, "The report speaks to posi- tions,you may re -assign people to fill, the current position." • ' Skinner: "Sounds like were not -getting anywhere new. If you want us to cooperate, we have to be part • of alt decisions. We want to be helpful; I want to be helpful but only if I'm heard!" • Mickle: "I'm not aware of anything coming from - ' the PUC indicating an objection to our report. I don't always like being the one defending our strat- egies for being more efficient. i'tn not. being polit- ical, I'm not running. i speak from my gut. t want the people of. this town to know that their repre- sentatit'es arc looking after their interests. if one board is the model of governing, you will have a • Continued on page 2 don't ant to erate; ant to over!" How do you feel about women being ,� _ 0,- , ? - ,-: °� 0: = , -4 A . _ 4 le all g y allowed to take their ShirtS Off Ni public Craig Hesse, Exeter "1 feel it's their decision. Some other cultures are open about that kind of thing." Scott Masters, Exeter "I'm all for it. If guys can take their shirts off than it's their right to do the Shake hake what your • momma give'yal " Patty Masnica, Exeter "I think it's disgusting. All the guys are going to run." Ron Bogart, Exeter "There's a time and a place for that kind of thing." Scott McMaster, Exeter "I think it's okay. Every- one knows women have breasts. There's no point in pre- tending they're not there. " Kathie Atkin, Exeter "I don't know how I feel about it. It hasn't hap- pened yet." Rob Brouillard, Exeter "If they want to go topless, it's up to• them. i don't think It's that good with young ch/l- dren running around." Georgina Grotentraast, Khlva "I don't think women or men should bear their breast in pub- tic.