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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1995-09-20, Page 1SE/P'S valu-mart ec Ex ter 5-.0262 New Retease Video • Rentals -itie _ . • Sales 1.- r.______, SUBSCRIBE!'; •• If you aren't subscribing to The I Times -Advocate, you're missing out. Use the coupon below and , subscribe today, 1 Name: I Address City 1 Prov. Postal Code 1 SUBSCRIPTIQN RATES: Canada 1 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 1 carrier address $63.00 + S4.41 O.S.T. Outside Canada -599.00 Ord see a vo.*.wi 1 USE YOUR CREDIT CAR!? 1 DOC7C]0DD J 1 00000000 Card No. 1 I Expiry Date ❑ Visa ❑ Master Card 1 1 1 ❑ Cheque enclosed 1 Return to; TIMES ADVOCATE I mala. Exeter vim Ont. NOM Ambassador of the Fair Contestants vie for title See page 9 Experts page 11 Classifieds pages 19-22 Announcements pages 23-24 Things heating up in the warm EXETER - At Monday night's council meeting, Deputy Reeve Dave Urlin updated council on the progress being made on the warm room at the South Huron Recrea- tion Centre. Urlin said there's Tots of history and it's all negative. "Things didn't turn around until just recently when Tom McCann challenged us all to get the job done. He donated $ I0O0 and was followed by the Farquhar family and Exeter Minor Hockey with $1000 each," said Urlin. Urlin added Doug Geoffrey would take the lead in the building program and provided for council rough plans for the room: seating for about 100 people and handi- capped accessibility. The estimated cost at this point is between $20,(XX) and $25.000. Final figures will he available within the next week or two. Operation Impact coming [EXETER - Operation Impact, a 24-hour Canada -wide traffic en- forcement and awareness campaign, will take place on the first Saturday of October. Exeter OPP will be checking for seatbelts and those not wearing one will be fined $90 and two demerit points. Operation Impact's goal is to achieve a 95 per cent compliance rate over five years. Ontario's com- pliance rate now stands at 91 per cent. A properly worn seatbelt can re- duce the likelihood of serious injury or death in an automobile accident by 45 to 50 per cent. Wednesday,September 20, 1995 Apple season Len Whaling from Grand Bend Orchards displays some of the apples he has been har- vesting. His apple orchard on Hwy 83 sits on 32 acres of land and yields 400-500 (850 lb) bins of apples every year. This year has been a good growing year for the orchard pro- ducing big and juicy apples. • Seasonal docking fee on the rise in Grand Bend Harbor Advisory Committee makes recommendations Chris Skalkos T -A staff GRAND BEND - Grand Bend boaters will pay a little more to dock, and they'll be watching their speed more carefully next year. Grand Bend council discussed a report from the Harbor Advisory Committee recommending the wa- terway speed limit be enforced and seasonal docking rates be in- creased. The committees report requested council make a written submission to the Joint Ontario/Transport Can- ada Working Group on Rec- reational Boating Safety voicing their concern about the operation of personal watercrafts in the water- ways. The application process will en- able the OPP to enforce a 10 km speed limit for all vessels on the watercourse from the river mouth to the south limit of the village. Mayor Cam Ivey said a special request to the OPP was necessary because the waterway is crown property. "The OPP will not enforce the 5 mph speed limit right now on the river and what we're talking about is the ability for the OPP to en- force a 10 km speed limit," he said. According to Administrator Paul Turnbull, the municipality is re- quired to give 30 days notice so the public has an opportunity to give council feedback on the proposed speed limit. "This is a very strict procedure we have to go through and we've just started down that course," he said. Council will hear the public's concerns during their November 6 meeting. The Harbor Committee also rec- ommended seasonal dockage rates be increased by S2 per foot. Boat- ers will now pay $45 per foot plus GST if paid in full by January 31 or $52 plus GST if paid after January 31. Transient dockage rates will re- main at $1 per foot and launch ramp fees are not affected. "We didn't want to jack the price up too high but we felt there should be an increase," said Coun- cilor Barb Wheeldon. Letters will be forwarded' to current seasonal boaters advising them of the new 1996 rates for the first time because of the demand for docking space. Ivey said boating slips may be re- organized to better suit the size of boats needing dockage. "There is a potential for problems with the way it is now. If we put a small 15 foot boat into a 30 foot well we're losing revenue. From a practical standpoint we should al- locate them (boaters' to the best of our abilities but there may be situa- tions where somebody is in a 30 foot slip because that's all we have available but their boat is only 20 feet." Council passed a motion to re- ceive the Harbor Committee's re- port and accept the recommenda- tions. Steckle follows majority of MPs staying in pension plan The deadline for opting out of Parliament's pen- sion plan was last Monday Heather Mir T -A staff OTTAWA - Huron -Bruce MP Paul Steckle told the T -A last Wednesday he accepted Parliament's new pension plan but denies reports he could stand to make up to $1.5 million by the age 75. "Nothing could be further from the truth. They've got me all wrong," said Steckle. Steckle calculated his potential pen- sion earnings at under $400,000 and added if it weren't for some of the tax free money MPs get, they couldn't af- ford to live in Ottawa. All but one Re- form Party member and six of 177 Lib- eral MPs opted out of the pension plan after last Monday's midnight deadline. Members who have opted out could save taxpayers about $33 million, a watchdog group calculated. Steckle and other local MPs chose not to opt out of the plan. Liberals who did opt out include Herb Dhaliwal, David Kilgour, Dan McTeague, Alex Shepherd, George Baker and Karen Kraft Sloan. Delta B.C. M1 John Cummins broke Reform party ranks and refused to opt out of the plan which fel- low MPs called "obscene". The plan, approved in legislation this summers allows 89 senior MPs who have served a minimum of six years to collect their pensions regardless of age, once they leave Parlia- ment. The remaining 206 MPs elgcted in 1993 must wait until they are 55 to collect their pensions. The base salary for an MP is $64,400, this must stretch to cover maintaining two households. Back- benchers used to be eligible for $19,000 a year pen- sion and up to $48,000efter 15 years. The benefits of these plans will be 20 per cent Tess than the sen- ior MP payouts. Still, the MP pension plan remains twice as rich as what is available in the private sector and has unlimited protection against inflation. Along with senior, high-level MPs, cabinet. minsters, the party leader, Speaker and deputies can get higher pensions. There is a potential to make millions if they live long enough. The payout for the 238 members remaining the plan, assuming all cur- rent MPs live to age 75 and hold of- fice for at least six year is $218 mil- lion, according to David Somerville, president of the National Citizen's Coalition. Steckle said he openly ob- jected to the old plan which permitted double-dipping, collecting pensions from secondary appointments and agreed the age of 60 was appropriate to start collecting the pension. "1 believe the early entry into the pension was wrong and 1 said so, " said Steckle. "Ask David Sommer- ville...I'd like to know how much that man makes." MP Pa Pau Steckle Nearly $10,000 raised in area Terry Fox Runs EXETER - Terry Fox Runs in Exeter, Zurich and Lucan raised a total of $9,472.50. Lucan brought in $3,300 Sunday during its first annual Terry Fox Run. One hundred and five par- ticipants walked, ran, biked and rol- lerbladed the one, five and 10 km routes. In Exeter, 31 people took the 10 kilometre course to raise $1,522.50, beating last year's total by $247.50. Last year 30 Exeter participants raised $1,275. "It was a pretty good day for Ex- eter," said organizer Jane Hundey. Although participation and fund- raising in Zurich has dropped in comparison to last year's totals, it raised the most funds this year. Organizer Wendy Rowan said 38 people took part in the annual event to raise $4,620 for cancer research. 'That's down by half from last year," she said. "It's dwindling." "I think the town is fed . up with all the knocking on doors," said as- sistant organizer, Connie Keenan. "It's a sign of the times." Despite the disappointment of the Zurich organizers, they were proud of "old faithfuls," like George Ma- thonia, who has participated in the run for the past five years. Rowan and Keenan also enjoyed the fact many participants were children, out as part of a family event. "(The Terry Fox Run) touches everyone," said Hundey just before Exeter's run got underway.. Farmers Market proposal withdrawn Property owners pur- suing an application for bylaw change ZURICH - After many meetings and much discussion about a pro- posed Flea and Farmers Market, council was advised entrepreneurs Keith Miller and Mervyn Ryder have requested the application for a bylaw change be closed. In a letter to council dated Au- gust 30, Ryder said the principals have withdrawn their financial sup- port and Miller has personally lost interest in the project. "I am instructed by the President Mr. Keith Miller to inform you that 1111995 Ontario Limited has no further interest in pursuing the by- law changes," stated the letter from Ryder, adviser to the president. Roger Hayes, one of the owners of the property advised council they have revoked any authorization for Miller to pursue any bylaw change. The owners have stated in a letter to council they wish to pursue the temporary rezoning of the property themselves and will meet with council at the next regular meeting. Council agreed to hold off making any decision regarding a bylaw change until they have discussed the matter with Wayne Caldwell, Huron County Planner. Council rejects downsizing as Mayor breaks the vote By Bruce Shaw EXETER - "We have a chance tonight to indicate to the ministry (of Municipal Affairs) symbolically that we're prepared to do things differ- ently; by being open-minded, flexible and willing to change, we will be sending a signal to government that we're prepared to respond and provide effective leadership to our community." With these, words Reeve Bill Mickle tried to persuade Exeter Council to downsize its composition by two members. Mickle's motion, to recommend to the minister the number of councilors be reduced from eight to six, carried with it three supporting arguments. "i) To do our part to reduce, ii) to further County Council's action of eliminating deputy reeves and iii) to indicate to our neighbour that we are prepared to make changes at home". Councilor Bob Spears, in opposing the motion, said he sees the reeve and the deputy reeve as filling Exeter Council functions and the increased workload would not justify the meager savings. Deputy Reeve Dave Urlin also opposed the motion. "We're really only paid volunteers, and by the time the next election rolls around we may be a much larger municipality being part of Osborne and Stephen townships," said Urlin. In closing debate, Mickle said he didn't believe he was over-worked, and he works as hard as anyone. and although the financial savings are not much. the signal being sent to our neighbor and the government would show everyone that Exeter is ready for change. Mickle and Councilors Boyle, Rider and Triebncr supported the motion with Spears. Urlin, Drummond and Hughes opposed. Mayor Ben Hoogen- boom cast the deciding vote, and the motion was defeated. Lung Association funds medical technology Donation helps fund the purchase of a gas blood analyzer EXETER - The Lung Associa- tion, Huron -Perth Counties have made the purchase of a blood gas analyzer possible at South Huron Hospital. Clayton Hefty, past president of the volunteer board presented a cheque on Friday for $18,138 to Sandra Burtch, medical lab tech- nologist. This donation nearly covered the cost of the machine which was pur- chased in March, 1995. The man- date of the Lung Association is to raise funds to support community health education programs and medical research into respiratory disease. Lung Association programs of- fered throughout Huron and Penh Counties include asthma in- formation evenings. smoking cessa- tion workshops and support groups. The Breathe Easy program. the Bet- ter Breathing support group and the Lung,' Are For Life school pro- grams reach more than 3,000 stu- dents in the counties each year. Due to successful fundraising ef- forts, the association board mem- bers felt money would be well spent supporting other projects that lir Continued on 8 FAMILY FUN FOR EVERYONE AT EXETER'S FALL FAIR THIS WEEKEND • •