Loading...
Times Advocate, 1995-02-01, Page 3• TN THE NRWS GraI Bend's Winter Carnival starts Friday First of two weekends of events GRAND BEND - Looking for a way to brighten up your February? The Grand Bend Winter Carni- val's first of two weekends starts this Friday with a children's snow sculpting contest and a fashion show at the Grand Bend Legion. Saturday, visitors can choose from taking their children to the chil- dren's village set up in the Colonial McGillivray roads to get new names 'Cont'tnue4'from front page "Hodgson said the main problem is coming up with names that don't conflict with any other road names in Middlesex's other townships, or villages. Towns will be able to keep their traditional names. He said the name "Trillium" had been prbpo cd for a McGillivray road, but that was found to conflict with several other municipalities. "They're almost to the stage of being adopted," Hodgson said of the new McGillivray road names, but said Thursday's public meeting was one of the last steps in finding out if anyone objected to the pro- posals, or had any better name ide- as. One man suggested that the sec- ond and fourth McGillivray conces- sions be named the First and Sec- ond Line Roads, since they were the only roads to span the entire township north to south. "One of the things they told us...was they wanted to stay away from numbers," township clerk Shirley Scott r' lied. Another m pointed out that the "Ptsebe Road" proposal for west of Parkhill was confusing. "If they [dispatch] go look for Pstebe, they won't look under P'," he said. "It's a short form for Point Sebe," said Hoggson. "And yes, we're, - aware 4heire,.cou1d,1 ackne spellingk- o• problems. ' The rekve said that "Prance Road" has been suggested as an al- ternative. Another jnan asked how much vandalism to the new road signs, or theft of sign can be expected. "We knovi all the signs are going to disappear like our mailboxes do," he said. Hodgson said some vandalism is expected, but there is as of yet no ide9 exactly what percentage of signs will be damaged or go miss- ing. He did say most of the hard- ware was designed to be as anti- theft as practical. The need for new road namoe'is not only something of value to a , 911 phone service, the audience was told. Over the years fire ser- vices have occasionally been dis- tched to the wrong township, ev though they had the right con- cessi mber. -- Op an presented a petition to Hodgsoii-,--uc`kiing him to reconsider the name of` "McGuffin Hills Drive" proposed for township's south boundary, east o arkhill. He was told it was based o -the name of a settler in that area 15 years ago. "That's actually no name I've heard in the 20 years I've been here," he said, asking that it be named "Westwood Drive". "I guess it was named "Skunk's Misery" before that," said reeve Hodgson, accepting the petition. After the meeting, however, Hodgson said the "Westwood" pro- posal was likely to meet with con- flict from other Middlesex mu- nicipalities. Council also accepted• a proposal to reconsider the "Mark Settlement Drive" name, perhaps in favour of "Mark Drive or the sake of brev- ity. But again, no other Middlesex municipality could use the same name. Hodgson said that Bell Canada is funding the largest part of the setup costs for 911 service, although the township has been budgeting for new road signs for some time. The actual subscriber cost for 911 service will be added to telephone bills, but Hodgson said the cost "is in the pennies, you won't notice it". The expectation is that it will be a small price to pay for a single, three -digit number to summon all emergency services to any town- ship home, replacing the several numbers now needed. • The OPP presently require an 11 -digit 1-800 number for service. Hotel's parking lot, watching the motorcycle races at the speedway, a kid's drive-in movie at the Public School, a teen talent contest at the White House Pub, and a gong show at Coconut Bay. Adults may be interested in watching the snowpitch teams battle it out on the diamond, the snowbird 1 golf tournament, a country and western evening at the Legion, or even sumo wrestling at Gables Tav- ern. Sunday, some of the events return, but there will also be puzzIemania and Scrabble at the Legion, a stars of tomorrow talent contest at Finn gan's, and a figure skating demon stration at the Oakwood Skating Rink. Anyone who misses the first weekend of the Carnival can always wail for the second weekend, which promises an even bigger slate of at- tractions. Competing with them, however, will be the Kirkton- Woodham Winter Carnival the same weekend. For more information on carnival activities in Grand Bend, check ei- ther the programs or advertising, or phone 238-6776. Times -Advocate, February 1, 1995 r Page 3 " What future is there for rail !ervice in rural areas? xeter's mayor says municipal mayor says municipal development is being hampered by the owners of private rail lines GODERICH - Some of them have been turned into,nature walking paths, others are still in use and still others just sit waiting for someone to use them. They are abandoned railway lines. Last Tuesday in Goderich at the Federal Lib- eral Rural Caucus meeting, MP Murray Calder from Wellington-Grey-Dufferin-Simcoe pre- Lz1sented information about the lines. One interested spectator who had a few uestions for Calder after his presentation was xeter mayor Ben Hoogenboom. "I was trying to see protection was in place to preserve the right of the railway as we know it, south of Exeter," said Hoogenboom. "If that guarantee isn't in place down the road, we're really going to be sorry." On September 29, 1994, the Honourable Douglas Young, Minister of Transport an- nounced the creation of a government task force on the commercialization of the Ca- nadian National Railway (CN). This task force was created to assess the fea- sibility of transferring the ownership of CN from the public sector. An important com- ponent of this mandate was to solicit advice on the importance of, and the provisions for, em- ployee involvement in the potential trans- action, said Calder in his speech to the caucus. The cost of maintaining railway lines and railroad companies escalating. CN's debt is currently $2.3 bil- lion. Since 1937, it has received (in current dollars) $96 billion from the federal govern- ment. In order to rationalize their operations, both CN and CP have applied to the National Transportation Agency to abandon a number of branch lines. This agency must determine whether there is a reasonable chance of it be- coming economically viable in the near future. RailTex has taken over operation of the Goderich-Exeter line and Hoogenboom doesn't seem to be very pleased with this com- pany's way of dealing with/faLure develop- ment. "They are really not friendly towards de- velopment in their jurisdiction," said Hoo- genboom. The mayor even went as far as to say that there are obstruc- tions which are preventing owners from developing their lands. "I got the im- pression (from Calder's presenta- tion) that they haven't come up with legislation to preserve the rights of the landowner. We're finding some of that concern whenever there is some development close to the railway track. They put up all these road blocks to prevent us from developing the land." It is clear to see that the rail lines are not be- ing used. Calder pointed out that 84 percent of all rail traffic is carried on only 33 perce.it of the lines. Some lines have been turned into walking trails, others are being used as bicycle paths and still others await the future. "1 think they should be preserved as long as possible," said Hoogenboom. "I think they should be preserved as long as possible." eep. Territory. Price of Admission. 1995 Jeep Cherokee Sport • Driver's side air bag • Side door impact beams • Available 4.0 L 190 hp engine • Available 4 -speed automatic transmission • Shift on the fly 4WD • Air conditioning • AM/FM stereo • Optional roof rack • Power steering/brakes • Dual manual remote control mirrors • Tinted glass • Available sport decor package & more 1995 Jeep YJ • Available 4.0 L 180 hp 6 cyl. engine • AM/FM stereo cassette • Most powerful engine in its class r • Shift on the fly 4WD • Removable soft top • Optional hard top • Power steering • Full floor carpeting • 5 -speed manual overdrive • Power brakes & more L1111.111 ion s 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee • Driver's side air bag • Side door impact beams • 4 -wheel anti-lock brakes • Available 220 hp V8 engine • 4 -speed automatic transmission • Shift on the fly 4WD • Air conditioning Jeep Territory Only At Your Local Jeep/Eagle Dealer. • Roof rack • AM/FM stereo cassette • Rear wiper/washer • Tilt steering/Speed control • Power windows/locks • Available aluminum wheels & more 'Al Eagle A Division of GwyMM Canada •