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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-06-21, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Fresh Strawberries * Now Here! SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 9 p New �e Release Video Hot Line 35-3535 r--- — — ▪ S LIB S CRIBEO ! 1t you aren't subscribing to The 1 Times -Advocate, you're missing out. Use the coupon below and subscribe today! Name: I Address City 1 Prov. -- -- Postal Code ' SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada ' Within 40 miles - (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $33.00 plus $2.31 G.S.T. ' Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter carrier address $63.00 + $4.41 G.S.T. Outside Canada 499.00 ona $ee 40 pol•o4! ' USE YOUR CREDIT CARD 0LLICEICLI0 1 000000 Card No. 1 I Expiry Date (:1 Visa ❑ Master Card ❑ Cheque enclosed Return to; TIMES ADVOCATE , 424 Main St. Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6ma me WM En NM A1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 Exeter Boy Scouts Scouts adopt Morrison Dam See page 2 Century Farm First farmer in Biddulph See page 13 Experts page 18 Classifieds pages 19-23 Announcements pages 24-15 Lock cars in Grand Bend, warn OPP GRAND BEND - OPP arc warn- ing car owners in the Grand Bend area to lock their cars when unat- tended. Over the weekend, two un - k ckcd cars were entered and car stereos were stolen in both occa- siogs. gaily Sunday morning, six lawn chairs were also stolen from a prop- erty on Lake Road in Grand Bend. No suspects at this time. One fatally injured in car accident GRAND BEND - A vehicle trav- elling northbound on Army Camp road in the town Of Bosanquct, sud- denly overturned on Saturday at 5:30am, leaving one occupant fatal- ly injured. OPP arc unsure as to why the car overturned, and are still investigat- ing. Deceased is Angela Mary Wil - cocks, 18 of Hickory Rock Linc in Warwick Township. Three other occupants were all injured and taken to arca hospital. Extent of injuries was unknown at the lime the information was re- leased. The three arc James Darcy Cloud, 21 of Kettlepoint, Jeremy Jason George, 24 of Kettlepoint, and Selina Marie Powell, 17 of Bo- sanquet. You're risking your career warns PM Steckle broke ranks last week on gun control and anti -hate legislation By Heather Mir T -A staff EXETER - Last week Huron -Bruce MP Paul Steckle joined several other Liberal backbenchers who voted against their party on two controversial bills. During the weekend's summit in Halifax, Prime Minister Jean Cretien warned dissenters they are risking their careers by voting against government bills. The PM signs the nomination papers when there is an election and he made a point to reminded Liberal MPs of this privilege. Justice Minister Allan Rock's gun con- trol legislation passed its final reading last Tuesday with a vote of 192 to 63. But nine Liberal MPs, including Steckle, broke party ranks and voted against the bill. "I don't think it comes as any surprise to the constituents," said Steckle during a tel- ephone interview with the T -A on Wednesday. Lambton-Middlesex MP Rose -Marie Ur also voted against the party in support of her constituents who, along with many rural residents, do not support Bill C-68. Steckle and three other MPs also voted no on Thursday night to legislation which proposes to tighten sentences for hate crimes. Bill C-41 passed through the House of Commons with a vote of 168 to 51. Liberal MPs Tom Wappel, DanMc- Teague and Roseanne Skoke joined Steckle in a bold move voting against a bill which some claim will give special status to gays and lesbians. In April, 1995 three Liberal MPs were removed from their committee positions as a result of voting against the gun control bill on its second reading. Steckle was one of three members who were disciplined for bucking the party. He was removed from his position on the agriculture com- mittee. Ur formally abstained from voting on the second reading of the bill. "I had no choice but to deny the govern- ment my support...I believed in doing what was right," said Steckle. There were 267 amendments before the House on the third reading but due to the large number they could not be voted on in- dividually so they were grouped together. Steckle and his like-minded colleagues de- cided they would only vote on motions that stood on their own. "By voting one Steckle. Now the bill has passed its final reading, it will move on to the Senate. If passed at this level, the legislation would: •Bring in mandatory registration of an estimated seven million firearms •Ban future importation and sale of small handguns •Impose a minimum four-year sentence for crimes com- "!.had no choice but to deny the government my support...I believed in doing what was right" could incriminate themselves," said mitred with a gun 'Increase measures to prevent illegal weapons from en- tering Canada Currently only about 1.2 million handguns and other re- stricted weapons are registered. Debate has been heated over whether this bill will help to stem violent crime in Canada or serve to criminalize law-abiding citizens if they do not register their firearms. Steckle said he has received a lot of support from his col- leagues and holds no ill against those who were in favour of this legislation. Although most of the other members of parliament treat him as well as they had before, this con- troversial hill has affected Steckle's relationship with some of his fellow politicians. Whether the six new members who voted against the leg- islation on its third reading will be disciplined, Steckle could not say. The polls which Minister Rock points to in support of bill C-68 indicate that the great majority of Canadians agree with further gun control. A 90 minute telephone poll con- ducted by BC TV suggests just the opposite. Of the 23,598 people who phoned in to the station, only 16 per cent said they supported the hill. An overwhelming 84 per cent indicated they were not in favour of the pro- posed gun control legislation. "This is not reflective of the kind of polls we have been led to believe are out there," said Steckle. What will we do with the library? EXETER - The special committee created to explore all the options available for the disposition of the Library presented a preliminary re- port to Council Monday night. Councillor Roy Triebner outlined the report prepared by the Towns Chief Administrative Officer, Rick Hundy. Two options were dismissed at the start: keeping the shell and link- ing it to the Town Hall. Three were considered as being most practical: i) renovate the existing building (of approximately 2000 square feet) and add an addition of 2200 square feet. ii) demolish the existing building and build a new one iii) renovate and expand the former police station Triebner explained that the present Library is structurally sound and is probably good for another ten to fifteen years. The problem is that it will be very expensive to make it fully accessible. The three options will cost approximately, in order, $542,700, $538,300 and $426,000, but nothing can possibly be undertaken unless there is a significant government grant. Councillor Robert Drummond agreed with the committee recom- mendation of option 3: How many more buildings do we want? Trieb- ner replied, Youre probably right in teams of today, but a few years down the road if the Town Hall has to be expanded there will be no Flexibility. The committee sees the Library coming down in years to come. Reeve Bill Mickle suggested that Council look at a sub -option to the recommendation: Its an important piece of decision-making that we have accurate costs in either demolishing the Library or retaining it as a functional building. Councillor Joe Rider added that it is a good study to work on. I like the report. Its a good start. One of the key recommendations of the report is the need for a pub- lic meeting to consider all three options with both the positive and neg- ative implications of each. Park on schedule and within budget McNaughton Park project continues progress on schedule EXETER - John Stephens and Ted Jones, representing the Exeter Lions Club, reported to Exeter Council Monday evening on the progress at MacNaughton Park and discussed their plans for mainte- nance of the park both for thc long tern and in the years to come. Stephens advised Council that the project is on schedule and within budget. Lights are yet to be installed, and Jack and Jeff Taylor arc busy working on the gazebo and arbour, both of which they arc donating to the park. As well only $15,000 remains to be raised from the initial budget of $175,000. The delegation suggested to Council that the original mainte- nance plans be amended so that a committee of Lions would work with the landscape architect for the next two years to manage the park. The suggestion included a request that the Town cut the lawns and pick up any litter that may find its way into the park. The third and subsequent years would see a com- mittee composed of representatives from the contributing groups, which have been so generous to date. su- pervise the general lawn and garden repair and attend to appropriate dec- orations at various times of the year. Stephens added that he hoped it would not be necessary to place gar- bage containers in the park but rath- er across the lane. Were hoping that people will respect the area and keep it as beautiful as it is today. Reeve Bill Mickle, who attended the kick-off of the national Commu- nities in Bloom campaign in Toron- to, said that he was most impressed with the organization behind the project and is looking forward to meeting the judges when they come to town on July 24. Stephens, in an- nouncing that he hoped Council would support a Labour Day dedi- cation of the park, expressed bis tre- mendous appreciation to the entire community - those who have con- tributed and those who will put the campaign over the top. It couldnt have been done without the Arlt sup- port of the people of Exeter. Local citizens pull man from burning wreck Quick reactions of three witnesses may have saved a life Heather Mir and Chris Skalkos T -A staff , HURON PARK - The fire was still blazing when a neighbour and two witnesses pulled a London man from the rear passenger door of his vehicle. James Peever, 18, of London was driving in the northbound lane when his 1994 4WD GMC Sub- urban drifted west off of Conces- sion Road 2-3. Peevcr was listed in satisfactory condi- tion at South Huron Hospital shortly after the accident which occurred Friday morning at ap- proximately 7:00 am. He was later moved to Victoria Hospital in London. it was reported by the OPP that Peevcr remembered nothing of the ac- cident or the fire but thought he had fallen asleep at the wheel. He suf- fered a broken nose and several lac- erations but was speaking and co- herent at the hospital. "This guy is very fortunate to be alive," said Constable Rob Kern of the Exeter OPP. Randy Hart. 30, of Parkhill and Fred Wells, 39, of R.R.3 Ailsa Craig were on their way to work, driving in the same direction as Pecvcr, when they witnessed the accident from separate vehicles. Both men participated in helping to pull Peever from the burning ve- hicle and move him to a safe dis- tance from the wreck. While the driver was being removed from the vehicle, Cliff Hicks, 35, of R.R. 1 Crediton attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher but before long the tire was fully involved. Hicks was eating breakfast when he heard a noise and the lights in the house flickered. Shortly after Wells came to the house to ask for a fire extinguisher, then they both rushed out to the scene of the ac- cident. "I tried to keep the fire away from him so we could get him out. At that point the fire was pretty close to him," said Hicks during a telephone interview with the T -A on Friday night. • Wells and Hart tried to open the driver's door but it was sealed from the impact. According to the police report, the smoke and flames had begun to enter the cab so they pulled Pecvcr out through a rear door. The three men put aside any con- cern about their own safety and re- acted quickly in getting the victim to safcty before thc fire could en- gulf the entire vehicle. Hart went to the hospital to be treated for "Everything was just racing through my mind...the adrenalin was just pumping." smoke inhalation on the advice of an OPP officer. He was released after being seen by a doctor. "I sucked back a lot of smoke (dur- ing the rescue)," Hart told the T -A on Friday. Norm Hyde of the Stephen Township Volunteer Fire De- partment said that the men did a good job getting Peever out in such short time. It is particularly mean- ingful to know that local people are willing to jump in and help a fellow citizen in need. "We could sec the fire grow- ing...we couldn't just watch and lis- ten to him burn," said Hart. The accident took place just south of Huron Park were the ve- hicle, driven by Peever left the roadway and struck a large tree head on. The tree was uprooted with the impact. The Suburban caught tire almost immediately, explained Hyde. and Pcevcr was trapped inside un- conscious. He regained semi- consiousness as the men pulled him from the vehicle. The fire de- partment, Exeter OPP and Hoff- man's Ambulance arrived on the scene quickly after a call came in at 7:09 am. "Everything was just racing through my tnind...the adrenalin was just purnping. i don't think I'm a hero, anybody would have done it," said Wells, a former volunteer firefighter in Exeter. 6 Exeter OPP Constable Rob Kem and Norm Hyde of the Stephen Township Volunteer F7re De- partment inspect the wreck of a GMC Suburban which drifted off of Concession Road 2-3 Fri- day morning. The driver survived with few injuries due to the quick reactions of three witness- es. •