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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-03-15, Page 1When it carne time for conuilit. tee reports at Wingham town couneit meeting Monday ilighttit was. sol,,t of lilKe ewe have. g. news and bad news.. '� The good news was the an- n?uncernent by Councillor Mar- garet Bennett, finance chairrnan, that the auditors had indicated a 'surplus. of $30,784, most of which. Was $28,000 surplus with ° which the town started out the year. The other news was a motion that the 'pay of mayor, reeve, deputy reeve and councillors be, increased, for the mayor., from $1,000 per ranntlm to $1,500; for reeves and councillors to $800 per annum from $'450. The mayor, as member of Wingham PUC also received $400 per annum for that function. Speaking on behalf of the mo- tion, Mrs. Bennett said she had checked out rates. for neighboring towns of about this size and found Wingham elected officio% very low on the financial totem pole, -She felt the increases modest in view of the going rates. The bylaw which covers coun- cil pay also embodies.the recent increase's for PUC members, and also includes a $10 fee for special meetings of council. Councillor T. Willis thought a per diem allowance should be made for councillors taking a day off work for council business,. as he felt otherwise there was dis- crimination against an hourly - rated man who would lose a day's pay with noway of making it up. Mrs. Bennett replied that this bad been considered ' and bad been embodied in the thinking be- hind the pay increase. Mr. Willis explained that a spe- cial hardship is worked on Board of Education employees who sacrifice considerable through absence... being penalized in their retirement pensions for 'days absent frpan: school,, with opportunity to make up the: 10. time For pension penalty. He sai olid'' ire Ost�e is'� a ruling of the local board, has been legall determined, by the 'board, bu need: not exist in its present fount In' any event, hie protest Was n behalf of fa 'tory workers wh might be candidates for council . who would not feel penalized.if per diem allowances Would Mak up for pay losses, Reports • In other reports Coun. Hill Harris: reported good progress With improvements to the police -radio setup, and said arrange meats had been made far a smooth changeover of equipmen to the new police quarters in the renovated armories building. For public works, Reeve Joe Kerr reported 44. trees are being cut down in town, having been• adjudged unsafe. In answer to a question he .said the parks board was welcome to pick up the wood for firewood at the tourist camp if they saw fit. He reported his,•committee now buying cold:mix from Clin- stead' of Durham at a saving of ter r'Whici is much more effective .gave brief report on oat . in combatting a large fire. the recreation ° :co d- Be was strong in his •praise of noting present activity is Fire Chief Dave Cr -others for his trated on preparingfor Y leadership and also for his care- nual regional hockey t ful shopping for equipment. The commission will also • Wingham had 14 fires during . the financial benefit :that be derived from ' ins o the past year assessed at if ,il2o with Wingham s share of the area savings resulting from' operating deficit $1,423. tion of a sprinkler syste A `complete r .port for the de- arena. • Partmer�t wig issued e s when copies have been made available to the participating Townships of East.. Wawanosh, Turnberry, Morris, Howick and the Town of Wingham. For the industrial committee t Coun. Jack Hayes said that the committee would hold a session to decide whether it would be advisable to hold another "In- dustrial Appreciation • Night" such as was held last year. Just returned from a trip through the. southern United States, he reported an all-out drive on litter down there, with stiff penalties for . throwing rubbish about, even chocolate bar wrappers. He thought a con- centrated campaign with the co- otof' . $42-a 'load in price and transport costs. He also noted a half load times. An attempt will be mare to regulation is now in effect on Deputy Reeve Harold Wild find a suitable certified Wingham streets' other than con- ,Pel'?! ` necting links. • For property committee, Coun. cUngetting • John Bateson reported he is pro- Developer, nin .. cee ' g with estimates on repairs to the town hall, . and • tescribed,needed repairs to sills t0� compromise .on. p com para ion young people especially could work wonders in this direction. Coun. Jacks Gillespie, re for theayLyCare'Cent �1q stated.�a be :budget for thelh^. coming year is about 'ready Present. He mentioned ,the of an air conditioner to stalled in the downs the Centre building, as e� windows do not open. 'hie fa was overlooked When the bold was officially opened in the of last autumn. He thong good sized unit would .do it. He spoke of the need ler' two certified . persons on centre staff in case of the dir ° needing time off ' for it Regulations of ..the Minis - Social Service and Welfare',a clearly the centre 'roust not operated without a praoe!. certified person in charge at may'iy i a . streetat what 7m' and Court,. rodeos an excessive rate of speed. They considered they should br tea t anent 'with They did;. wit a• . dangerous drivii . What actually a w cor' to a +fie report was :that. a• ' vel fly north�y�On Jnlep ,and•V1, , � h f* • the , freer* �',. north at to Highway 4 as f;ltr 'Cam ,9 W� the took a rpt 'NT- n J andprnce!�' mat speeds; up to an estimated Miles an hour, thence to hwny 4 at 's. frons '90 to 100 # "hour i the north gild of` :W gham ;and down the main atr�eet at a clocke 00 ,miles an bour.'f vehicle took. n. half' left ,onto Diagonal mid, proceeded,'. .f •as. Vict a, where.: the, .driver rstop1, ' emerged and started :for afoot, , At :this .pert. tie was a- henderh ,. •Otherwise it was a quiet week. for local police, with only minor ghway Traffic Act violatl such .t nolsyywinf'flers:' and ung: the 14 windows. Fire Dept: For fire committee Coun. Tim Willis reported a request from the Wingham and Area Fire De- partment for $1,200 in necessary new equipment. He described a very new type of monitor, which accepts two hose lines and puts out a high powered stream of we - Developer and construction company president James A. Hayman of London, proponent of an apartment block and town house proposal for part of the Henderson Survey in Wingham ' which has been the topic of dis- cussion for several weeks locally, will meet with 'Wingham and trict Planning Board, Mayor,e; Witt Miller advised ; Wrngb Town Council • at ,the reg' meeting here Monday evening A preliminary meeting of Ce Planning Board tvith County Planner Gary 1��pp a<vidsoa of Goderich will he held Thursday, evening of this week, to be nfol. ° lowed by a special meeting Of' board with MIr, Hay. ai:Me • $ !T An application for a building permit, tendered to council more than a month ago by M. Hayman on behalf of Jayha '.Dafelop- ments which he 'heads, calls for construction of a 30 -unit apart- ment and 31 units of town houses, seven of the latter for immediate construction and a three-storey. apartment to be built on the low Tying area northeast of F. E. Madill Secondary School. Although accepted "in prin cipal" by Town Council in open session, the proposal has been balked at by Planning Board which turned it back to Council with a recommendation : that the permit be refused. Since then Mr. Hayman has met with Mayor Miller and in- vestigated alternative sites, and w.nild consider another location although still preferring to pro- ceed on the original site. There is an acknowledged need for modern rental housing in the town, but location is the sticky point to be resolved. Ontario Housing. Corporation officials were to inspect building sites here this week for senior citizens' and geared -to -income housing approved for Wingham. DAVID OBERHOLZER, Carling Terrace, was the winner of a beautiful clock radio in a draw at the Wingham Bowling lanes on Saturday morning. Proceeds (over $200) of the ticket sale were used to provide uniforms for the Wingham bowling team which Teff im- mediately after the draw to take part in the provincial championship in Toronto. From the left they are: Shirley Storey, coach; Jamie Smith, Bill Ohm, Ricky MacLennan, John Bennett and Sheldon Jones. (Staff Photo) AIONG THE MAIN DRAG By The Pedestrian By The FIRST ROBIN?— Sighting of a robin by Mrs. Joe Kerr on March 8 is the first entry in the spring robin sweepstakes. Any prior claims? 0-0-0 A TALL TALE— Bill Henderson, our neighbor- ing barber,. came up with an excellent photo this week which he has had framed at home since 1947. It was taken on March 10 or 11 of that year and he recalls 4 having to use a stepladder to get high enough to shoot over the piled snow in front of his shop on Josephine Street. Tuesday morn- ing the A -T cameraman stepped out of the office in shirt sleeves and took a photo from the same viewpoint of a dry and dusty scene. C'est la vie! 0-0-0 REPLACEMENT VALUES— In the event fire destroyed Wingharn town hall or Wingham arena, it would be difficult to evaluate damage to the struc- tures for insurance purposes, so council will engage Cooper Ap- praisals Ltd. to do an expert esti- mating job, in accordance with accepted fire underwriters' pro- cedures. Power Widespread dissatisfaction for the methods used by Ontario Hydro agents in acquiring land along the route of the proposed power line from Douglas Point to Seaforth surfaced last Wednes- day night at a meeting in Brus- sels. The meeting was called by the committees of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Huron and Bruce Federations to negotiate for landowners in- volved. Mason Bailey, president of the Huron County Federation chaired the meeting. Burton Hodgins, chairman of the Huron -Bruce committee told of one farmer who had signed an agreement last year because he was threatened with expropria- tion if he didn't. Not Approved Representatives of several township councils were angered at the negotiators claiming to in- dividual farmers that their town- ship council had already ap- proved the location of the line in the township, Reeve Allan Camp- bell of McKillop said his council had never given such approval, Cithee reeves agreed that they had not given approval either, Murray Gatf'nt, MPP for Huron -Bruce, said that after THE SEVENTEENTH OF IRELAND arriving this weekend brought out the Irish in Mrs. Ed Fielding, director of the training centre here for Registered Nursing Assistants, and Mrs. Martin Cretier, secretary to Wingham and District Hospital Administrator Morrey. They are. seen here in their continuing Mfrs,. n urng labor of love, decorating the wall.of the hospital's main corridor in the St. Patrick theme as they frequently do at other seasons, Saturday at 2 p.m, will see further tributes to the Irish when the ladies of St. 'Helen's Wi will hold a special candy sale at the hospital gift case, proceeds to the. Hospital Auxiliar t taf f 1 ricer Sodety bIItZ_.. slated for April 2nd The Huron Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society will conduct their annual canvass during the first two weeks of April this year. ' Here in Wingham, campaign chairman Marc Forrest an- nounces that the canvass --will take place Monday evening, April 2. Members of the Business and Professional Women's Associa- tion and other individual volun- teers will be working on behalf of the Society. The rural area will be canvassed by members of Wo- men's Institutes who will also begin their blitz on the 2nd. George Hetherington of Bluevale is rural campaign chairman. A kick -off -day has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 4, in the White Carnation in Holmesville. The kick-off day is billed as a daffodil coffee party and will feature Marjorie Hays Dunlop, a well-known actress from Goderich. She has starred in TV opera and at the 0 -Keefe Centre. Since,coming back to Goderich four years ago, she has worked with the Goderich Little Theatre and directed "What's Yer Fan- cy". The Little: Theatre is currently planning another show to be presented on May 3, 4 and 5. A fifth generation Goderichite, she is a member of,, the Canadian Opera Company. Mrs. Dunlop will be accom- panied by' Paul Baker, a dis- tinguished musician who currently is organist at St. George's Anglican Church in Goderich. Born in Birmingham, England, he came to Canada at the age of two and returned to Britain to study music. He holds three music degrees, F.R.C.O., L.R.A.M. and A.R.C.- M., haste 'lt two harpsichords and is presently constructing a clavichord. Both are pre -piano keyboard instruments. Mr. Bakgr is also a skilled piano teacher. The party is from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Hatrlst,n . man. killed when tractor overturns A. 24 -year-old man was ' killed Thursday when the farm tractor he was operating left the, road and overturned; pinning him. underneath. James Hymers of RR 4, Har- riston was killed in the accident, which occurred on Highway 9, one mile east of Clifford, at 11:40 p.m. Mount Forest Provincial Police are investigating. —Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Bennett and Mr. and Mrs. Ken Saxton Jr. attended the annual convention of ,Ontario Hydro held at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, last week. —Members of the Wingham United Church unior choir were guests, at the Brussels United Church on Sunday morning and sang several numbers during the worship service. They were accompanied by their leader. Mrs. Barry Passmore. •BRH ning of 'last w,ee directors cif the;. ciety met in with buslnf forBrussels Ag -4,40,2 - securing arattse��. such amusem. ents. ;are n maces- sary,partof a fair. An agreement was approvedand signed ori Saugeen Amusements Mi which was in Brussels in 1972 the Centennial :and ' fall :fair,", Certainspecifications were by d _ manded y:them this year as the 1972 fair was rained out and' a money loser. The parade the . year is to be at the fair grounds by ' 12:30 noon. This means more time forchildren to enjoy the amusements and is more profit: able for the amusement cotopany as their expenses are high. Thus the parade must start at 12 noon. Other problems dealt with were insurance; painting bleachers, the possibility of 'a 4-H club re-- gional show and inviting Perth - Huron Shorthorn Club to cme again this year, dances re- vising the committees. The meeting was presided over by, President Gerald Smith with an attendance of nine. The next • meeting is planned for April 4 when the prize list will be checked. Suggestions for changes or bringing it more up to date, would be gratefully received by any of the directors or officers of the society. line negotiators criticized at Brussels hearing the complaints at the meeting "everything I've heard about the Ontario Hydro nego- tiators seems true." "I've heard that one buyer told a farmer he'd better take the offer because `Murray Gaunt says it's fair'," he said. He said he couldn't understand the atti- tude of Ontario Hydro because it could blow a million dollars at Douglas Point and never worry, but it would spend long periods of time haggling with farmers over $50 an acre in the price of land. Get Counsel Mr. Gaunt said he expected to see quite a number of Huron farers going to expropriation and urged farmers to get the ad- vice of a good lawyer and land evaluators before going to court. He said the "injurious affection" clause (harmful side effects from the line for which the farmers should be compensated) is a very technical field in law and Ontario Hydro should not have the only experts. Many farmers spoke of Hydro buyers pressuring a farmer to sell because he was being offered more than a neighbor who' had supposedly already signed (but really hadn't). Mr. Bailey said it was hard to know just what Hydro's plans for the line were. He said he under- stood that the line from Douglas Point to Bradley Junction in Bruce County would be five towers wide; from there to Blue - vale would be four towers wide and the easement from Bluevale to Seaforth would be 120 feet wide. "1 would hasten to ,point out," he said, "that a lot of the facts we have may not be so." Candidate Speaks Paul Carroll, NDP candidate in the upcoming Huron riding by- election also attacked Hydro for the lack of information it gave the public orf projects. Information that should be public isd't being made public at the proper time in the planning processes, he said. He noted that Ontario Hydro is planning only 12 years ahead in the case of a possible new power station in Huron, while local officials are planning over a 20 -year period. He said Hydro ignores local planning completely on these projects. He called for joint planning be- tween Hydro and local officials on projects; for the .use of utility corridors which would mean 'gas line: hydro lines and highways would all use one route rather than being strung out all over the countryside; for changes in the planhing act which would mean Hydro was subject to part -lot controls just as anyone else is and for designation of land according to productivity so that such utilities could be guided to less productive areas rather than using the best farm land avail- able Mr. Hodgins noted that the committee had tried to have a representative of the 11,0% ernment to the meeting but they were unable to contact Eric Winkler and after contacting Premier davit' office had .•n tnlrl that the office didn't want to send arwone "to be questioned" at this time. Poor Offers There was general dissatisfac- tion with the prices being offered by the buyers. Mr. Hodgins said some farmers in Bruce had been told by the Hydro people and their evaluators that their bush landwas worth a certain figure but the farmers had sold the bush mforup to three times that amount to 'Wilber buyers and still had the land and the scrub timber left over. He said there seemed to be no logic to the offers in one place a farmer was offered $450 per acre for rough pasture while another farmer was offered only $377 per acre for well -worked land. Mr. Bailey told 10e meeting that he didn't like to give the im- pression that the Federation was opposing the power line. "If there are power stations there must be transmission lines," he said. "We're involved to look after the. interests of the farmer involved.'-' E cplains Committee He explained the structure of the committees. The Huron - Bruce Power Line Negotiating Committee is made up of farmers along the route of the line. They formulate points they would like put before Ontario Hydro. These - proposals are then presented by a special committee set up by the Ontario Federation of Agricul- ture which involves men with considerable experience in deal- ing with utilities. ,, One such expert from Lambton County told those at the meeting of his experiences with pipelines for natural gas and the new High- way 402 between Sarnia and Lon- don. He said in the construction of the interprovincial pipeline, Lambton County was .the only place along the line where there was organized resistance. He told farmers not to be afraid of expro- priation because the new expro- priation act is very fair and "if Hydro has registered the plan you are techni lly expropriated right now. Why not let it go to ex- propriation? I'd rather do that than put up with the horse trading they're doing now," he said. He explained that the expro- priation takes place on two levels, one for land value and the other for compensation. The negotiating committee, he said, could negotiate for land values but the matter of compensation would be on an individual basis depending on how each farmer was affected. He explained that the first step of the expropriation would see a board of negotiators who come to the home usually to talk over the problems. He said he found the board very fair and that a lawyer wasn't really needed at this stage. If, however, agreement could not be reached by the nego- tiators the next step was court and one should have a good lawyer because "it gets pretty technical". Mr. Bailey warned that he had talked to several people who thought giving an easement was like leasing the land, but this was just not so. As easement is really like selling part of the land, he said. Gives Warning Another speaker was Don Hoover, a representative of an Edmonton -based firrn of evalua- tors: He told the farmers they should be especially aware of the compensation aspect. He said the depreciation,caused to the rest of the farm may be greater than the actual amount of land lost. The loss of land can throw out the whole managerial balance of the farm, he said. He didn't know of any line in Canada as large as this, he said, so he didn't know of what effect the line mighthave on television and radio reception. radio reception. Mr. Bailey said the Huron County Federation through the Ontario Federation of Agricul- ture has asked the Ontario gov- ernment for an independent � feasibility study of this and 'all future lines to see if it is the proper location or if a location using marginal farmland could be found.