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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-01-11, Page 1if Ur *OM this non* Operation of snowmobiles within the Town of 'Winghamwill be banned completely in A short time if the nuisance et the in. discriminate use is r#ot halted, according to Police Chief Jim Miller, A seriee of reminders to the public seems to have been 14 ignored by what is thought to be a Minority of 'the snowmobile owners. Numerous complaints about 'vise and property damage thiA ALONG THE MAIN DRAG By. The Pedestrian. MINOR HOCKEY WEEK -'- Special plans are being made for observance of Minor Hockey Week in Winghan1 Jan. 20-27 With some special games Iikely to be scheduled here, possibly in the form of a tournament. Details had not been settled at press time. Meetings with, WOAA were scheduled for this week and more information was to be forthcom- ing at the weekend. Th annual observance is sponsored by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Asso- ciation. 0,0—o TAKE TAKE A LOOK-.-- probably OOK-- Probably by food luck more than good management there were no overheated stove fires to call out local firemen, on those sub zero nights last week. Fire Chief Dave Crothers reminds the public that pipes on stoves should be checked for hazards .such as rusted wiring, rusted pipet- that - have slipped apart or are touch- ing flammable partitions. Other sources of fire in,, cold weather are dusty or dirt hot air ducts t y cs -whret ctaosPr "nt'o� ams when .the heat Is turned up. Check now.. and heave a sigh of relief later The fire chief has approved ex tinguishers for those short of tha item, and the number to phone for fire prevention advice is 357 1470. • 0-0-0 TAKE ROAD GAME- In a hard-hitting game with lots of action, Wingham Kinsmen Bantams clipped Mildmay' 4-1 last Thursday night. Friday night there was hard hitting again, but harder luck, as they dropped a ' tilt with Palmerston here -7-4. Good game though! 0--a—o CALL FOR SAND— Freezing rain glazed the sur- face of Josephine Street to badly late last week that an urgent call , for sanding was put in by police to prevent likely collisions. Stop lights Were turned to caution position to avoid sudden stops j; While proceeding southerly or $• downhill on Josephine in view of the ,difficult conditions. Town workmen put in long hours under hazardous conditions to apply the sand where most required. ti4 0-0'-'-0 CALM AND QUIET— The main stem was extremely calm and quiet late last week as miserable weather combined with the after -holiday "ho - hums". The populace seemed `{' devastated by flu, rehabilitation from hangovers, most women going on diets, most men making and breaking resolutions. Simple fare and sobriety reigned tem- porarily. Shoppers were scarce and clerks were easing out of the exchange phase back into retail selling. Only 50 more weeks to Christmas. 0-0---0 DUCT OVERDONE— An overheated heating duct at Haselgrove's smoke shop on Jo- sephine Street Friday morning a about 9:30 gave Wingham fire- men a short walk from the fire hall, only to find nd- actual fine or damage. Fire Chief Dave Crothers discovered that some dust or lint in a hot furnace duct started to smoke, giving the im- pression a serious fire could be getting under way. CAR DESTROYED— Fire of unknown origin de- stroyed a 1970 Chrysler automom bile owned by Harold Kerr about 4:00 a.m. Friday, giving Wing. ham firemen a run. Mr. Kerr is a non-smoker and the idea of a cigarette butt smouldering in Up- holstery was eliminated. The fire was well advanced when the alarm was turned in and firemen were only able to put out the flames, most of the datnage being done. are 'being received by town po- lice. • Up until now there WC been an unwritten agreement that snow- mobilers would not use Josephine Street and WOtildprOCeed directly froxh their 'Nimes to leave town and return directly borne with the minirnwn of noise. Now Complaints are ,.being re- ceivedof young drivers, probably unlicensed, using town streets as Playgroundsand damaging prop- erty, such as hedges, lawns and fences, especially from the tinge school closes until late at night. Adults, too, have beenguilty of flagrant breaches of the agree- ment and have even . conducted ' multi -machine "drags" down the main street late at night Crack Down Mayor DeWitt Miller and Wingham Police Committee, under the chairmanship of Coun- cillor Bill Harris, have instructed Chief Miller that the law regal- ing' operation of snowmobiles only, by licensed drivers shall be rigidlyenforced, and where there is evidence of property damage, charges shallot* laid, fn several cases a police cruiserhas been used to appre- hend drivers of snowmobiles, but there are limitations to this and snowmobiles can easily elude a car. It is also dangerous.' Snowmobiles have been made available to the local police force and they will be . put into opera- tion if need be to clamp down on indiscriminate driving in town. IA the case of 'children Operat- ing without a license, parents °will. be .held responsible, as it is an offence for an owner toapermit an unlicensed driver to operate the machine. Prepare Bylaw If there is not, considerable im- provement in the situation im- Roy .Pattison is eIected Huron County warden Roy Pattison, reeve of East Wawanosh Township was elected . to the wardenship. of Huron' County on Tuesday afternoon. Na less than five-councille s werein the running for the office. Defeated on the first ballot was Reeve Harold Lobb, of . Clinton; Reeve,Ed Oddliefson Of Bayfield Was' eliminated: on the 'second round;. Reeve Everett Mcluwain of . Goderich Township was dropped on the third ballot. On the fourth ballot Reeve ugh Flynn o • Mullett Township Pat ' Mr, fcttin,. the latter on ar. ut�v'' c _ stay' Pattison ' 'lit'the , preeeht`' generation member of a pioneer. family in East Wawanosh; the first members of his clan settling there in 1867. He has been in- volved in municipal politics one way and another for the past 25 . years, originally as'a school lors have been elected in 'Huron s this year. Seven, of the new. mem: V becamereeveand a county coup- positions were made necessary mediately, a bylaw banning the use of the machines, In townWill be passed by council a en- forced by local police. The Prey"' sions i - .Bions of the 'bylaw under.CO* sideration would make Itneces- sary to truck or trailerMachines outside the town' ,lianlite bare operating them. This 0ouldvawse hardship in many caste where machines might be grounder for the rent of the winter forlack 01 a trailer or truck. 4 Unfortunately there"=AO or- ganization of the Machrne OWnirs locally which could pollee its members and abate the nuisance which causes complaints. - though there was a large Meeting of owners here at the stat of;thie season, relatively few of them were residents of Wingijaln. • There are several small Alba Or groups of owners in town, .but'no formal organization interested in clearing up the situation. _. In a survey of opinion of the local snowmobile dealers, The Advance -Times found the dealers are anxious to prevent the machines from ' being ' banned locally, and would co.operate any reasonable way to do what they could. However, they say there are a few irresponsible drivers who make most . of the trouble for everyone else; Sounded out the 'Misty of leasing propertyon cl a to town for a snowmobiling rea; they tee it as agood thi y ,�yand large feel it is up to the operators e ere are sola, own u no rma arra mission for pupuc operation. Banned Elsewhere The same' problem has. come;, elsewhere, resulting in complete bans on street operation... v LOOKING FORWARD TO A BUSY YEAR Is/this group of. municipal Officials of the Town of Wingham, as they appeared at the conclusion of the' inaugural meeting of Wingham Town Council' Jan. 2 Seated, are Deputy -Reeve Harold Wild, Reeve Joe Kerr, :Mayor pati._ Councillor Marg'®Bennett; standing -left to rights John Bateson, William Harris Jack Hayes,.. T Jack .Gillespie and Town 'Clerk Wiliia�rr ', Renwic ouncil mibves to do sou thing Th e good snowmobiling areas closeo expedite new t but fq 1 arrangements have been made to obtaur, per r Wingham Town Council lost no timeiin.1973 before passing reso- Pulutions required to expedite the iorion of additional homes for I z: a andfamiiliesltn l e Provisions of the F`Ontartda Reusing Development Corpora- tion. A recently -completed sur- vey clearly -indicated a need here for more housing, and additional units in 'both senior citizen and geared -to -income housing have been approved. P usl nl :; ,ritict Eilii industry from the "manufacturer on down, for failure to look ahead to the eventual problem of Where the machines are to be,operated without trespassing - =or causing property damage. In some areas provincial parks and _commercial ites such as Hully Gully at arna solve the problem satis- factorily for everyone involved. Here there is no such facility. 'The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is starting a survey of farmers to get their views on a proposal that they provide ac- ommodation for snowmobile users and rent time on sno wmo- ile trails across farmland. Study Problems The proposal was made by several members of an Ontario Legislature committee which is studying the problems created by snowmobiles and other all -ter- rain vehicles. • The commitee received a brief last week from the farm group which suggested there is a public responsibility "to assist in find- ing places Where the greatly in- creasing number of snowmobiles Can be used." The brief added that most snowmobilers have "little or no land" of their own and that farm- ers fear damage to crops and land by unauthorized and uncon- trolled trespass on their property 'by the vehicles. Farm Business Committee member Hugh Edighoffer, Liberal MPP for Perth said in an interview after the hearing, "We have summer farm vacation programs in. On- tario now, so why not the same for snowmobiles in the winter?" Mr. Edighoffer says farmers could start by laying out trails and providing meals for a day's . outing for snowmobilers, board member. He was elected to the township council in 1960 and hers are deputy reeves whose • cillor six years ago. under new regulations of the On, Seventeen new county council- tarso government. Seven accidents cause about x4,000 damage Seven car or truck accidents in the area racked up about $4,000 total damages over the past week, without any of the drivers being seriously injured, Provin- cial Police of the Wingham De- taehment report. One minor in- jury was suffered in a snowmo- bile accident Saturday at the Blyth CPR crossing when Don Pengelly of Belgrave was thrown from the machine. Damage to the Misliaps bring patient5 here for treatment Falls at work and play co tinued to account for painful in juries treated at Wingham an District Hospital last week. exploding motor and a shoots (mishap were responsible for t others. A fall while skating at Wing ham arena a week ago Wednes day resulted in a lacerated chi for Donna Ablett, aged 17 o Wingham, requiring sutures. Harold Kerr of Wingham ap parently started his car Friday a he contracting yard when it ex loded and caught fire. He suf fered burns to his right hand an ace and suffered from smoke in alation. His condition was re ported satisfactory. On the same day Murray Rae f Wingham slipped in the armor es building and received deea acerations to his face and hex njuries with concussion: He was eported in satisfactory condi ion. A fall on ice at home Sunday by radley King, 11, of'RR 2, Wing - am, resulted in fractured bones n his right hand. On Saturday Terrence Frey, ged 25 of Bridgeport, received a acerated right hand when a gun e fired caught his hand. He was lofting' on the farm of Donald Ismer, Whitechur1h, n- An n6 wo n f t P h t d 1 r t h 1 h snowmobile was minor. Andrew Rodger of Wingham escaped injury Tuesday of las week when a C. F. MacTavish Ltd. truck he was driving struck a telephone pole on Highway r south of the Maitland Rive bridge, Morris Township. Dam age was estimated at $450. About $1,500 total damage re- sulted from'a collision of vehicles driven by Douglas N. McDougall of Blyth and Robert E. Ruttan of RR 2, Wingham on Victoria Street east of Helena Street, Turnberry Township. There were no injuries. Damages of $600 were caused January 3 when the cars of Mur- ray D. Koetsier of Clinton and Judith A. Jamieson of RR 3, Wingham collided on Highway 4 north of the CPR crossing at Blyth. Neither was injured. Only minor damage resulted from a single car accident last Friday when Elmer Harding of Gorrie was ipvolved in a single car accident on Huron County Road 30 south of Con. 2-3 Howick Township. He was not hurt. Clifford Chapman of Kitchener was in a single car accident on Huron County Road 25 west of Highway 4 last Friday in which a road sign was broken and the car damaged to the extent of about $300. James B. Button of Blyth and William G. Blok of RR 2, Auburn involved in a collision in Blyth Saturday. Damages were estimated at $750. About $350 damages resulted to the car of Harold Finlay of RR 1, Wroxeter Sunday In a single car accident on 4he Huron -Bruce boundary west of Huron County Road 12. He was uninjured. During the week January 1-7 officers of the Wingham detach- ment carried out five investiga- tions under the LCA with .five persons charged; laid 16 charges under the HTA with 19 warnings issued and made 12 investiga• tions under the Criminal Code, Cpl, C. R. Croekill repports; Only minor action here Only a few • minor aedidents were recorded here during the past week by Wingham police, most of them attributed to winter driving conditions. No injuries were reported up until late Tues- day. Police were called to a dis- turbance on John Street late on January it when noise was the principal factor. Some beer was seized and appropriate charges laid. Extremely cold weather was a factor in keeping traffic down and streets clear and qui ; t for several days and nights With a consequently uncluttered police blotter. Separate resolutions were passed by the new council re- questing the provincial Housing Development Corporation to pro- ceed with construction of both types of homes, comprising 33 senior citizens' apartments and 14 family housing units. Counting the new units, the town will have • 69 senior apartments and 24 family homes. The immediate problem will be to find suitable locations for the new structures at prices the cor- poration will pay. Several possible sites were discussed briefly, but the matter of choice of locations was deferred until oWcials of the corporation visit Wingham to view possible sites. It is considered a must that senior homes be situated close -to downtown, while the family units could be located farther from the town's centre. In any event it is preferable to have the two types of housing separated. Welcomes Council At the outset of the inaugural meeting for the 1973 council, Mayor DeWitt Miller welcomed both the "old and new" council- lors. He spoke briefly of the re- sponsibility since council has to deal with a :great deal of money, m which of 1u ch is directed ..to Huron `County and is not control- lable,.. Rewever hetoads its duty is tif see the elti• zens get the best value for their tax' money. Throne Speech Looking ahead, Mayor Miller, in what might be. compared to a "speech from the throne" indi- cated a high-priority would be put on street maintenance and im- provement. He spoke of the five- year plan which is in the process of being laid out, under which council hopes to increase ex- penditures in that area and at the same time qualify for con- siderably larger grants from the provincial government. "There was a time when you could put ona little black top and consider a street paved," Mayor Miller observed, "but that is no longer enough. Now you have storm sewers, curbs, gutters and a great deal of excavation Not Adequate In recent years, he advised council, the town has been in re- ceipt of a provincial grant of about $20,000, being 50 per cent of maintenance costs of streets up to that maximum which he de- scribed as "not nearly ade- quate". The town has applied for a sub- stantial increase and the pro- posed ro .posed five-year plan now in the works will be one means bywhith this can be achieved. Most of the town's streets have been resur- faced in recent years, but there are still some to 4o, and he Kinsmen set Jan. 30 for cystic fibrosis The•evening of January 30 will be one of special significance in Wingham as at that time a "blitz"—campaign will be carried out by members of the Wingham Kinsmen Club on behalf of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foun- dation. They will be asking Wing - ham residents to purchase quan- tities of chemical ice -remover at competitive rates, proceeds to go toward easing the burden of cys- tic fibrosis. The energetic' Kin Salesmen will be purveying the ice -remov- er in 25 pound bags or drums of 100 lbs., so the salesman at your door may not actually have a drum under his arm right at the time. Cystic Fibrosis has been adop- ted as a project by Wingham Kinsmen and the Kinettes be- cause it is a serious chronic dis- order of Canadian infants and children and should be a matter of concern to all. There are chapterir of the Foundation all across Canada, with the 'nearest to Wingham be- ing in Guelph and London, serv- ing Western Ontario. In cystic fibrosis there is a mal- function of certain glands which renders children prey to bronchi- tis, pneumonia and other lung in- fections. Others suffer abnormal- ities calling for surgery at an early age. It can be extremely serious, largely because of lung damage. However, with early diagnosis and expert treatment, -most affected youngsters can now look forward to a longer and healthier life. Through the generosity of Wingham residents, Wingham Kinsmen hope to raise at Ieast $500 on their initial campaign to give to the Foundation to help maintain the clinics, research and teaching facilities and the provision of diagnostic and treat- ment services. Help, won't ou7 thought' that those particularly Rev.. ►bert Vitro which have built up over the ter of St. Andrew's presbifterian -years should have a high priority. Chuan was ill at . .~s r R.�I�i�lrl�; An . im r t dev .;` w,. tan el - n� P. hinn the f o �..r� �trci �ti�,` additional housing projectsill.- brfiief religligis service; ready reported..'He also assigned Mr.'Armstrong remmarked: precedence to renewal of street "We of the Ministerial A ocia- lighting standards which are in tion appreciate this opportunity "bad shape",, metal ones being , of having a part in . the corn -7, rusted with'the possibility of mencement of council's work" some of them breaking off and and reaffirmed a Christian view, constituting a real. danger. He of government generally,,•• though council should consider as his text chapter it of Paula new standards and possible new'letters to the Romans. The Chris- tian view is that authority and government are basically good. He noted that while many citizens do not hesitate to argue about de• cisions taken by council, 'seldom do they deny the right of council s� to make such decisions as elected.;'. representatives of the people. Wayne Martin to Abbey post A newcomer to Wingham's business community this week is Wayne. Martin, 25, a resident of RR 1, Lucknow, graduate of F. E: Madill Secondary,- School and University of Western Ontario. Wayne has been named sales representative for Wingham and district of Abbey Canada, with of- fice in the Mclntee Real Estate office, Josephine Street. Abbey Canada is an insurance firm specializing in registered retirement savings plans and longlterm investments. Until re- cently Mr. Martin was associated with Il. L. Turner Ltd., farm ma- chinery, London office, and is well-qualified for his new field, holding a degree from University of Western Ontario where he ma- jored in economics. Mr. Martin is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Martin of RR 1, Lucknow, and is presently mak- ing his home there. Since come , pleting his education he has been active in service clubs and enjoys curling and golf. He is far from being a stranger in the com- munity and is well-known to former neighbors and fellow -stu- dents, and looks forward to re- newing old acquaintances in Wi ham and district. Claim barn for horses dirty eyesore A deputation to the inaugural meeting of Wingham Town Coun- cil last week complained about the unsightliness of .,a, horse barn, the alleged lack of care in its maintenance and possible danger to children in the area.. The result was a promise .by ctilizicil to check into the circumstances with a view to 'remedial action. Composing the delegation were Richard Wharton and Mrs. Wharton, . Mrs. Tom Wharton, Mrs, Alvin Bannerman and Mrs. Arthur Hubbard. Subject of the complaint was a small shed or barn" reportedly used to shelter four horses by Archie Hull, on property believed owned by Mur- ray McDougall on McDermid Street. Mr. Wharton and the ladies were all outspoken in their com- plaints, contending the building concerned is too small for four horses and is not kept dean on a regular basis. One of the horses Mr. Wharton considered "nearly wild" and with what he regarded as inadequate fencing, could get loose and young children in the neighborhood "wouldn't have a chance".. No Bylaw In a general discussion it was pointed out there is no bylaw pre- venting the keeping of horses in town. Thies once was a wide- spread practice when delivery wagons and carriages were op- erated locally. There are several properly maintained horse barns in town which gine little reason for complaint. However, Mayor DeWitt Miller observed that if the shed had been built without a building per- mit there might be some re- . course, and also that a report would be obtained from ort Count