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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-02-07, Page 1ther 1980 1979 Ml� LO HI LO JAN .rt -19. 6 --1 . - 4 t 7.6 -16 .... _. 1 .11 -20 FEBRUARY 1 10 .2 4 ..9 2 -11 -16 ..t$ 3 7 -1'6. - 6 ^ 7 4 - ,. 16 6 --12 Snow 28 -cm SnoW 19 em, After a lengthy debate at their tying theWallsback to the building to February 4 meeting, Clinton couti 'L prevent further shifting and is still, not sure whether they wari to - . rr'rovement. The engineers' estimate restore the `existing town -hall.. that 'this phase of the restoration However, by a slight margin, they would cost $80,000. agreed to find how much such a While Mayor Harold Lobb project would cost and -have' called suggested that council tender for the cillors, clerk and mayor voiced their estimated to cost $300,000, council Clerk Cam Proctor told council that Hill and Borgal's report showed no expansion for the existing building if more space is needed in the future. "You could build a bigger building on the same site," he -told council, "They (Hill and Bor-gal) made no prevision for replacing the thi ee old furnaces, cementing the floor and using the'sement. You'd never build 'a new one like this. There wouldn't be the wasted space." w 1f they canildo it for $80,060, then that doesn't seem like too .much. Let's just see where we stand The decision to open tenders, however, was not made until after a lengthy debate in which the coun- - ten d -e rs ,•oxr-- t ree-•-first--Phase: ~o he•—• .-oo•mp"l t -e dw p-e~s tai r a -t4 -a n - i. ch as._, ___apan;tans- tea. theme project. After the half hour disLussion on the decided only to tender on the first pros alto cons of saving the town hall, portion of the work. four councillors Ron McKay, Council. made it clear 'that by Rosemary Armstrong, George opening the tenders it did not mean Rumball ailed Rob Parr, favored a that they were going ahead with the motion to ask for tenders on the first project and as Councillor George phase. Three othi,r members, Rumball pointed out, "We don't have , Councillor Frank Van Altena, Reeve to accept it, but we should see how Royce Macaulay and Deputy Reeve much it will cost. If we• find that it Ernie Brown voted against it. , • costs $160,000, than the architect and • The first phase will make the town the engineer have done a Odor lob, but hall structurally adequate by repairing the walls and foundations of the 100.year old building. According to a architectural and engineering study prepared by Hill and Borgal of Goderich, this could be done by underpinning the footings and A highlight at the Wesley Willis Variety on Saturday was the magical per- formance put on.by John Parker, a magician from London. One of this many successful tricks included putting a sword through ,the neck of this somewhat hesitant assistant from the audience. (News -Record photo) , Vanastra electors want ward status By Wilma Oke Over 160 electors in Vanastra have signed a petition to Tuckrsmith Township council asking that an application be made to the Ontario Municipal Board -(OMB) to divide the township into a- ward' system, as pro'*ided, by the Municipal Act, so that Vanastra would have a separate ward status ,within the -Township of. Tuckersmith. The . petition was read . t members of Council at the Ti night session of council by Cler McLachlan. He said he 'hadh handed the petition -that mor his office in Vanastra, Councillor Frank Falconer would ndtAaVree to the last part : tie petition requesting "so that Vanastra would have a separate ward status within the township".. Reeve Ervin Sillerysaid, "We have been working' toward having the township one community and this would divide us " Over theyears_ and especially the last few months, complaints have been voiced that the township is first column divided into-- two parts --- Vanastra - and the rest of the township. Councillor William Brown made a motion that the petition be accepted far forwarding to the'OM'B but no one would second his motion. "I won't•go along, you would be just asking to separate the township," stated Councillor Falconer and made a motion to return the petition for the deletion of the last part' (as stated above), and the motion was approved. Clerk McLachlan informed council that because the petition was signed by such a large percentage of the electors (there are,about 400 electors at Vanastra and about 2,300 in the township) oleo s that if councildidnot whole p) c o act on their petition, then the '- petitioners -could ' forward the document themselves to the OMB. Mrs. Evelyn Garland of Vanastra, who has been a fairly regular spec- tator at council meetings in recent. months, was asked if she would care to comment on the petition. She stated the residents of . Vanastra were in favour of the petition as they would like to have a representative from by fitzgerald •._Vanastra---on-. eoune-i-I-. She• said the • petition was worth the try "to see what' the Ontario Municipal Board will decide for us". Mrs. Garland was told that a resident of Vanastra,. Vince Fowlie, had sat on council at one time, but had resigned before the end of his term. Mrs. Garland was asked who_had ,� Started the' petition and she replied that a'committee had started it. In other business, Elgin Thompson of RR 3, Kippen, was re -appointed for a three-year term on the committee of adjustment. The countdown has started for the politicians, as they begin their race down the home stretch towards the finish line. Yes', there is only 10 days left until Canadians decide who will run the country for the next four years (or maybe four months, who knows). Many voters are confused by all the b.s. flying around from the three parties lately, and many are still wondering who to vote for on February 18. Personally, as a small .busines•ssrnan, a supposedly educated professional, and a would-be farmer, I find the Tory's policies the- least acceptable. Crosbie's 18 per cent hike on the 'gas tax is -just the beginning, as he and the Clark team have cay.ed in to Alberta Premier Ayatollah Lougheed's demands for •higher prices for ''his energy, and the heck with the rest of the country.—" -If the price of oil goes up by the $4.50 per year until it reaches 90 per cent of the world price (which has gone up $6 a barrel in the last two .months) then farmers and small businessmen will be paying, an additional three cents per gallon for every dollar the price of oil goes up, which in five years would see a gallon of gas go up another 68 cents; plus the additional excise tax, with no promise of increased prices for their products. And that of course is only the tip of the iceberg, because so much today is either made of oil, uses oil in' the manufacturing proces§, and requires transportation, or all three. Everything from underwear to Atrex would skyrocket in.price. Crosbie says we have tr bite the bullet, only trouble is, he ' 'ants us to try and bite it while its mo 'ing! In other matters closer to home, we'd like to congratulate the focal Kinsmen club, who won the local zone Kinsmen hockey tournament in Monkton recently. How they did it is anybody's guess, but lady luck was sure with thei+n that day.. Still with hockey, we made a big mistake in last week's front page. . story about the founder of the Bantam Hockey Tournament. The tournament was actually founded by Clinton native, and then rec director Doug Andrews, now of Elderton, and Len Fawcett worked with Doug for a couple of years before taking it over when Doug left. Sorry about that fellows. .+ + + The Main Street wit says one of his friends is changing his mind, and the wit wonders if the new one will work any better. + -i -+ More bad news. The groundhog saw his shadow on Saturday morning, except in Clinton which doesn't count, and we will be- having six more weeks of winter (we usually do anyway). However, that shouldn't be too and to take as we haven't -ha -d uch winter to begin with, ac- cording to the weather office. Graham Campbell, keeper of such records in Goderich says the January this year was much warmer and drier than normal,' continuing a trend that began in December. • The mean temperature for January was -4.3 degrees C (24.3 F), way above he long-term average of 5.8 C ( •°', F) , and our snowfall only amounted to 50.7 cm, mostly in the last three days of the month, compared to the average of 66.6 cm. We had an additional 16.6 mm of rain, lower than the normal 23.4 mm. - + + + Lois and I, along with an er couple, had the opportunity to drop into the Canada Farm Show last week in Toronto, and after looking at all the shiny new farm equip- ment, I have come up with a new watch word for farmers: DEC - dear, expensive, costly! + + + The Clinton volunteer fire brigade were called 'out last Friday mor- ning to the new home being „con: struoted on Ontario Street for the Alilovic family. It seems a tot light bulb had started a wooden panel on fire, but no major damage was caused . .. _... Turn to page 20 • Coundill.+ r Ron McKay.questionned, "Can you guarantee ;that, anew building, built in 1981 would be satisfactory in the year 2,00?" Clerk Proctor replied by saying a new building would be more adequate than the existing one is. "I'n not asking for a castle," he • pointed au "r`I'm asking #ori-Ot -" sense and I don't think Hill and Borgal have used any. I'm here five days a week and if you're not going to listen to the propos Js I make, then we can't „carry on this discussion." Councillor .McKay noted, "All I'm saying is you can't build every 10 years to keep things adequate. Most .times you have to put'up wwhat Turn to pageith 3 • Townshou!d buy industrial land by Shelley McPhee Clinton's newly reviv3d industrial committee is trying to bring new life to the town and have asked the municipal council to look into the purchasing of industrial land. Committee chairman Mike Falconer told council at their February .A.meeting that_thetown has g no public land available for industrial development and without such land, no industries will be interested in situating In Clinton. "Industrial developers don't want to have to -wade through the red tape with private land changes and' waiting for servicing," he told council. While council fully" agreed that Clinton ,needs more industry, and more land that could be developed for it, they where hesitant on' Mr. Falconer's proposal on the possibility of •purchasing of 10 acres of land, a Thieves. hit stnrie, carlot Clinton police .reported that on January 29-30 a local business, BTR, on Issac Street was broken into. Shop owner Dirk Van Der Werf reported that over $400 in cash and cassette tapes were stoeln. On February 2, sometime between midnight and 8m, theives stole the wheels and tireS from a 1980 car Parked on Brown Motors 'lot on Ontario Street. Police say that the thieves parked in the alley beside the lot, removed the tires and put the car back on cement blocks. The tires and -- wheels were estimated to cost $500. A car driven- by Paul Stanley, 18, of Clinton received $3,000 in damages following a February' 5 accident. The, Stanley car was southbound on Victoria Street when the driver lost control on slush and ice after crossing the railroad tracks. The car then collided with the cement hydro pole on the west side of the street. The driver was unhurt. ` Clinton Police Chief Lloyd Westlake is warning Clinton dog owners that beginning on March 1, charges will be laid against anyone' who has not purchased their dog tags. The fine is $15. The Goderich OPP reported that slushy and icy roads.. caused two accidents in the,Clinton''area during the past week. On Febriary 2,- a car driven by Philip Brown, 56, of RR 4, Seaforth received $1,000 damage; but a second _car" driven by Richard Walker, 25, of Hanover was undamaged when the two collided. Both vehicles were westbound on County Road 13 and the Brown vehicle was attempting to turn onto Con- cession road 9-10 in Goderich Township , hen he slid' in the in- tersection and was struck in the rear by the Walker car. - On February 5, two vehicles receivedeach following a morning crash on High- way 8, just outside Clinton. A car driven by Helen Crocker, 36, of Seaforth was stopped for a school bus when a second car driven by John Thompson, 61, of RR 2, Seaforth slid into the rear,of. the Crocker car. proposal that Mr. Falconer admitted He added that presently one could be expensive, ,costing up to developer is looking at Clinton as a $100,000. - possible site to build an industry, "He He explained to council, "The town - sits, waiting that council can offer is a corporation and a business, and him something and Clinton can't like any business you have to spend afford to lose this industry." money to make money,. The minimum • Council promised to get back to the cost would be $100,000 for 10 acres, but . industrial committee as soon as you'll recover your costs. When an possible and if given council's ap-- industry comes you ran" sell tile, l'an`ai" ' at $10,000 an acre." Reeve Royce Macaulay com- mented, "We-` have to find out how we'll pay for -the land and how we'll service - it-. We all want' to do something but we want to know how and if we can first." Councillor Rob Parr replied, "I'm sure the corporation dan raise money somehow. But ,T 'think it's an im- portant enough matter to have the industrial committee looking for land now, not after we've decided we'll pay for it." Council agreed that the cost of a land purchase would be too much to add to the taxes for one yea and. agreed to look into ways of� pur- chasing such land, perhaps through debentures. Mr. Falconer stressed that council 'must make a . ecision as soon as possible. "Industries have looked at Clinton, but they come, look, and that's all. They usually locate elsewhere. We have nothing to offer them. proval; -- the.._industrial-- -co rcrrn1ttee would look into purchasing land within or near Clinton, Aceording` to Mr. Falconer, there are larlge parcels ofdprivately owned, industrially zoned land in Clinton, no one is interested in selling. He e suggested, that the only alternative would be to annex land outside the town's limits. •u ° ' • "It''s up to the council to give the industrial committee the power to go to some people andfind out their price or if they're willing to sell," he said. "We'd be fooling ourselves if we --- said we were all right," he told council. that :11jLr',;Fal'c©nes explained tha Clinton i's'beComing a "bedroom community" with a high percentage of senior citizens living in town, many houses for sale and no young people buying them.'' - "To keep our young people here, we have to expand our industries," he noted and assured council that young Turnto page 3 • The Grade 7 and 8 classe 'Ut'Cl1'iciii Public School put on three performances of The Swinging Piper this week. The Monday dress rehearsal, and Tuesday and Wed- nesday evening shows, which also featured the junior and primary choirs, told the musical story of how the piper not only lured? the rats away from the village, but ° the children as well. (News -Record photo) "If" budget causes furor at board of ed BY JEFF SEDDON Apolitical campaign has no place in a board of education meeting ac- cording to John Henderson, vice chairman of the Huron County board of education. Henderson made that clear at the board session Monday when a report from John Cochrane, the director of education, outlined what the Progressive Conservative budget would cost the board in the excise tax on gasoline. The report, prepared by the board's transportation manager R.L. Cun- ningham and submitted by Cochrane, estimated the budget would cost the board $101,956.32. That estimate was based on what Cunningham -called "my un- derstanding of the, Crosbie budget". He .told trustees the bard no. enjoy, ., it ui 1.5 cents per litre on gasoline purchased and a rebate of .3 cents per kilometer on mileage pad. He said both of those would disappear under the new budget and gasoline would increase foar cents per litre. He said that would mean a combined total increase of 5 5 cents per litre. Cunningham noted that the contract with bus operators would require the. board to pay an additional five cents per mile. He said the buses travel 8,914 miles a day for 487 'clays meaning the ad- eitionai five cents would total $83,345.90. The board purchases 315,317 litres of gasoline a year and at an increase of .055 that would total 'v317,342.44 annually. The board would also pay mileage for 422,661 kiiot><'letres at .603 cents totalfifig The report was prepared at the request of chairman Donald .MacDonald. The chairman_ said a taxpayer had asked him what in= creased gasoline costs would mean Jo the hoard and he promised to find out. McDonald said he did not mean the report to 'be apolitical orre hut was merely doing his job. Lucknnw trustee Marian Zinn commented "if Imes a party pooper I would take grievance with ° that report'. . . • Henderson' said he felt the report was completel-y out of order. Ie said the board had no business snaking statements of a political nature suggesting if a taxpayer wanted to know what the budget would cost he should go to Ottawa. "That's of no concern to us let the • taxpayer" find out himself," said Henderson.' t'acDonald .conceded that since the budget was never passed the in- formation was unnecessary, Put he added that he was asked to get ,the information and got it. Goderich trustee' Dave Gower said the figures given the board were "probably correct" but suggested the ''manner they -were exacted is questionable". Gower said he felt it was fair to estimate the costs when the budget was pertinent but questioned the need for them now. "As chairman he has the right to ask," said Gower:, -4 Seperate school, trustee Eugene Frayne said there .was nothing wrong with the request except "the tinning was wrong". .He said "six months froth now it won't matter a bit". i