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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-06-16, Page 22 Smear Tinv..-Advocate Wednesday, June 16, 1999 In the News onal wra.""yup Huron County biggest producer of illegal pot plants BRUSSELS -- Since 1994, when the Ontario Pro- vincial Police began their aerial eradication pro- gram of marijuana in Ontario, Huron has been number one in the province, reports the North Hu- ron Citizen. "It's just overwhelming," said Goderich OPP De- tective Const. Mike Scott, of the over 10,000 plants found each season. "Last year we actually had to leave some because we couldn't get to it before our time with the helicopter ran out." Police will be participating in a public informa- tion session in Brussels on June 16 to teach farm- ers and rural property owners how to detect this type of illegal activity on their property. "It's an issue that is not as simplistic as one might think," said Scott. Improvements at St. Marys area boirn prime minister's grave site ST. MARYS -- As partof a federal government initiative to properly honour Canadian leaders, im- provements have been -made at a St. Marys area born prime minister's grave site, reports the St. Marys. Journal Argus. Parks Canada, with assistance from the Historic Sites and Monument Board, has worked with the Town of St. Marys to provide upgrades to Arthur Meighen's_grave at St. Marys Cemetery. Bilingual bronze plaques have been installed near .the cemetery chapel, just a few steps from the former prime meter's final resting place and a Canadian flag will grace the grave site as well. A special dedication ceremony has been planned for June 16 at the cemetery, beginning at 11 a.m. The date was chosen specifically_ by St. Marys Mayor Jamie Hahn as it's the 125th aiuversary, of Prime Minister Wisher'', birth. Mitchell Lions give significant support to new bath house MITCHELL .— A $418,000 bath house pro - has been given unanimous approval by the West Perth township council, reports the bell Advo- cate. Spearheaded by the Mitchell Lions Club, who built the • existing pool and bath hoosealmost a half -century ago; the service club has already paid engineering. costs of $4,500 to finalize a design which will see the current bath house torn down this fall, and a new one built almost directly on top. The Lions Club will commit $300,000 to the project while West Perth will contribute the re= maining $118,000. The design consists of a one -storey brick build- ing to be located on virtually -the same location as the existing -36-it. by 66 -ft. bung. The new structure will be wheelchair acme and see the construction of largerchange rooms. proper stor- age of chemicals and a separate room for employ fins. Beware of vacation scam HURON COUNTY — Huron OPP are warning the public to be wary of companies offering promo- tional give-aways. A scam was uncovered after several people were approached by two manat the Clinton Spring Fair from June 4-6. The men, both in their 20's, were demonstrating products and offering promotional prizes including a cruise - Siad trips to Las Vegas, Mexico, Orlando and Miami. Over the lest week, a number of people through- out the .region have received phone calls telling them they won these trips. In these cases winners 'were asked to make a deposit for the trip. The catch was that people were asked to give the r their credit card number over the phone to hold the vacation. Huron OPP have been actively investigating this company and have come up with two different names and addresses for this company. Police are asking anyone who has sent this com- p > money that was at the Clinton Spring Fair to tfidln immediately. Exeter family wins Dream of a Lifetime By Craig Bradford TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF EXETER — Too good to be true? Not so for a young Exeter family. Last week the Lovelace family won the grand prize in the charity Dream of a Lifetime lot- tery -- a $550,000 fully furnished, four bedroom dream home. "It's breathtaking," Vicki said of their prize that includes a $50,000 home theatre package. The home comes com- plete with dishes and cutlery, bedding and even books and orna- ments on bookshelves. The London dream home was the top prize in the charity lottery that raised $850,000 for London hospitals. The Lovelaces are awaiting word from their lawyers before deciding whether to stay in Exeter or move to London. "We would like to stay in Exeter," Vicki said, especially since the cou- ple bought their Carting St. home in Exeter two years ago and their chil- dren go to the nearby Precious Blood School. But Greg, 8, and Sarah, 6, are sold on the home and have even staked out their future bedrooms. The family plans on spending their summer vacation at the dream home and plan to hold a big party for family and friends. Vicki is a dietary aide at Strathroy's Strathmere Lodge and Brent is an industrial technician at Kongskilde in Exeter. Brent bought the win- ning $100 ticket as a Mother's Day gift for his wife. This is the third year the Lovelaces have bought a Dream of a Lifetime ticket. Zurich makes pies to em `Swiss heritage Continued trout front page fastest growing segments of the tourism sector by using heritage as a tool for community enhancement and economic development." The group intends to do this by educating residents about Zurich's Swiss past (the village was founded by a Swiss settler), erecting Swiss -themed signs in the vil- lage and holding promotional activities. McBeath said one possibility is a Swiss -Canada Week which will feature Swiss music, food and activities. The group may also partner with Zurich, Switzerland. The chamber's proposal says these initiatives will improve village business and revitalize the downtown core. The chamber has also drawn up a draft budget which sees expenditures of $41,000, although it also projects revenues of $41,000. Included in those rev- enues is a request to the Trillium Foundation for a $25,000 grant. McBeath cautioned council that the budget for the project is just a draft, not "true figures? Dream winners. From left are Sarah, 6,.r+aoniV dii, dad Brent and Greg, 8. Town puts gran on hold... Continued from front page cil outlining his idea the grant be used as seed money * fund aew.. capital projects like the- new library, a fitness centre or a medical centre. He said the money could be used to match or part- ner with money raised by various community groups er individuals. Mayor Ben Hoogenboom said -he talked to Darbishire about how important council thought fix- ing the arena roof is and why it tops the project list. The arena roof project is why' the issue was tabled temporarily. The arena board has received several quotes on replacing the roof but the quotes vary widely in nature and cost. The arena board hopes to have the quotes nar- rowed down and have a report for council at the earliest possible meeting. Egarnation meetings give. public a chance to express its concerns Continued from front page while all amalgamation meetings have been open to the public, they've been poorly attended and the public hasn't given input. Several residents also expressed concern about tax rates after amalgama- tion. Stephen Township administrator Larry' Brown said there is an opportunity to have lower taxes after amalgamation, although that will be dis- cussed more when a tran- sition board is formed to work out the details of the amalgamation. There were also con- cerns expressed about a study done that suggested Stephen taxes will go up after amalgamation. Brown said that study only included a portion of the taxes that will be paid and didn't include poten- tial savings like water, sewage and garbage. He said in the long run the new municipality will be more efficient and effec- tive and added that the taxes for the new munici- pality will be phased in over a three-year period. And while there will be one-time costs of moving equipment and supplies to one office, Reeve Harvey Ratz said the new municipality will save money our heat, electrici-"`` ty and water by running one municipal office instead of three. Buyout packages will also be offered to some staff members whose jobs will be deemed redundant in the new municipality. While Stephen council was challenged several times by its residents dur- ing the public meeting, the Exeter meeting a night before was a differ- ent story. After going through the draft, Exeter resident Hugh McMaster asked about Huron County's involvement in amalga- mation and if the county could force H a y Township to amalgamate with the South Huron "Taxes are going to go up. Let's not kid ourselves." -- STEPHEN TwP. RESIDENT JACK RIDDELL group. Exeter Reeve Roy Triebner said that is pos- sible, but the county would need the approval of the local population and Queen's Park. "Anything is possible," Triebner said, adding that a commissioner could even be brought in to force amalgamation as was done in Chatham - Kent. But so far, Triebner said, the county has opted to stay out of . amalgama- tion. . At the end of the Exeter meeting, which lasted only about 30 minutes, Mayor Ben Hoogenboom said he was glad to see there weren't a lot of resi- dents out with "an axe to grind" with council. The next step in amal- gamation is for the draft proposal to go to the three individual councils for approval. If passed, the proposal will go to the county level, although there have been sugges- tions from the county that it won't look at any pro- posals until September. The Usborne Township meeting is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Usborne Central Public School.