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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1974-09-05, Page 1T 4 Brussels rneetin After 0014 thron0 ronigl ° Wednelday mains, Hydro officials were noticeably rellOVed to find Turnherry and Morris Township farmers genuinely interested in flOro's new high on compensation policy at meeting held in the Brussels Legion Hall on Tburs, day evening. The meeting, which was one of five asked for by the Huron- Ihlice Hydro Power Negotiating Conimittee, was called's° that Hydro representatives could explain the high tensimi policy. About 15 local farmers turned out . to what was generally described as the best meeting yet between concerned farmers and Hydro Bob Hawley, head of Hydro's propertY appraisal 'division, opened the meeting by outlining the highlights of the new com- pensation policy. These points included a free choice to the farmer as to whether or not he wished to sell the land Hydro is expropriating outright or just grant yearly. easement rights, compensation to the farmer for special impact, lump " sum or yearly payments and uniform application of the Expropriation Act to all affected farmers. 120 -FOOT CORRIDOR Mr. Hawley pointed out that recent reduction in the amounts of land required by Hydro for -the 230 kilo -volt line through the area did not apply to farmers in the section from Wingham to Seaforth because the pOwer corporation had only wished to expropriate the minimum 120 ft. wide corridor in the area in the first place. Therefore, he said the meeting was to deal solely with comPensation to the, landoWners, affected. would operate, the head of the property appraisal division explained that the . policy had ,been changed in May of this year after some farmers charged that the crown corporation was grabbing up as much land as it could before applying 'the Ex- propriation Act and therefore influeneing the compensation allotted to farmers who had been holdouts or had decided to fight the corridor. Mr. Hawley stressed that while farmers in this area bad sonte effect On the policy change, the policy was changed after province -wide studies. From this point forward he said, Hydro will begin ex- pronriation proceedings before negotiating with any farmer affected. The spokesman's first example was compensation for . land valued hypothetically at $500 per acre with a hydro tower on it. Mr. Hawley explained t.hat studies had shown that a structure only ALONG THkilMN DRAG By Th Pedesti STANDPIPE— Well, workmen are back at it on Wingham's new standpipe. There was a break in the work but the crew is now involved in wrapping the new tower IFith steel cable to reinforce it. It shouldn't be long before the standpipe goes into operation. TOWN HALL REPAIRS— Someone has finally decided to take some much needed action in respect to repairs at the Wingham Town Hall. Workmen are now on the job repairing some of the building's faltering brick work. And it's about time. SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS— Unfortunately our reporter got a little behind this week and by press time he still hadn't come up with all the figures for this year's school enrollments in the area. However, by next week he will have them ready for you, OR ELSE! PRICE WAR— Well, gas prices, in Wingham seem to be going up and down like yoyos. After we reported the gas war at the south end of town last week, ti:_olers farther north droppe&-their prices. However, later in the week prices went back up to 66.9 cents per gallon at two South end stations but this week they are back down to 64.9. It seems someone wants to firdsh Whitt their conieddition started. really affected vle-fir fq an ACM but Hidro Mon would be hated On One e Per . tower. He continued, saying that HAM Will fay the farmer 75 Pe, cent Of the Market value of 0- )t acre ler the first tOwer, 80 per cent for an acre for a second tower and so ufkard by 5 per Cent kr each tower located on the ' land, For chtrifiCatiOn he noted that With ,the $500 hypothetical land value a farmer with three towers on his land would get $375 for the first acre, $400 for- the secOrid aere and $4,25 for the third acre. He added that even if the number Of towers should go over five, which would push the compensation upto 100 per cent of the land • valtte for the fifth tosver„Hydro will still increase that a farmer with six towers would get. 105 per cent of 'the market value for the sixth tower. Tpe Hydro representative explained that this policy Was adopted to compensate ,the farmer for the added in- convenience the structure would pose to his operation. For vacant land, that. is land under the lines, Mr. Hawley said Hydro would pay 100 per cent of the market value of the land plus a payment for injurious affection (what effect the power corridor Police keep watch 35 bikers in town Wingham had some visitors on .Saturday afternoon and again on Monday when about.35 members of the Windsor based Lobos motorcycle club passed through town on their way to and froni Port Elgin. Winghath Police C,hief Jim Miller said that members of his force kept the motorcyclists under stwveillance during their short stay in town just in case the group might have tried to live , up to the poor reputation that preceded them, The chief informed the Ad- vance -Times that the club members stopped in town on Saturday to have a motorcycle repaired at a local garage. They stopped on Monday to pick up the repaired.maChine. He said there was no trouble but the police were ready in any case. While the club held its annual picnic in the Port Elgin area tlielte' *ere :Several arrests on cers.felloWA the group along route home and Wingham police joined the escort from town and continued as far south as Clinton. Goderich OPP of- ficers followed the group from there to Sarnia. On Saturday Wingham officers investigated a rear end collision on Victoria St. near the Red Front Grocery. A police spokesman said that Terry Nesbitt and deorge Deyell, both of Winghanr, were involved in the $700 collision when the car Mr. Deyell was driving slid on rainsoaked pavement into the rear of the 1965 Dodge driven by Mr. Nesbitt. Both cars were headed west on Vietoria St. when the accident occurred. Mr. Nesbitt had signaled and was turning into a' laneway but although Mr. Deyell applied his brakes he couldn't control his car on the pavement. Damages to the Nesbitt car arnounted to $300 to the rear end and Mr. .Deyell's 1967 Chevrolet sustained ;400 damage to the front end. Police are investigating a case of vandaliSm • reported by Wingham resident Uoyd Mont- gomery on Friday. Mr. Mont- gomery told police that his house had been splattered with tomatoes during the night. Police believe the incident to be work of youngsters from th On Sept. 1, police took Iwo youths into custody after it Was reported that theY had (imaged a car behind the Manor Hotel.' Officers pursued the men after arriving at the scene and took them into custody. The name of the car owner and the suspects will not be released until the crown attorney decides if charges should be laid in the incident. Over the past week Wingham police laid two charges under the Highway Traffic Act, in- vestigated one accident with less than 5200 damage and laid one charge under the Liquor Control Act. land would have on the rest of thO because no two properties at* farm), pias a payment • for 0,- exactly the same, ,adjustments moments which includ. upward or downward would be lawyers' fees , incurred fa made on the land value .by for. *negotiations and up to 25 per cost, mule, He added that there be for special disturbance paymestO a separate appraisal -for each which cover prohlemit AM farm. unique to an individuat farm. The farmers were also told that Under this plan a farmer if they were not happy with prices turning over 4,5.acres of Yam* offered by the corpOration, they land to Hydro, which WW1 valtiatl could apply to the three.man at $500 per acre would get , Board of Negetiations to come tO ,compensation or $2,250 to stark the property, aPnraise it and theu with for the land, phis cas air: try to get a negotiated settlement example only) *$1,125 for in -.4 between the two parties. jurious affection plus (again only,: However, if Hydro or the farmer as an example) $825 for ' are not satisfied with that price disturbance payments Which. either may apply to the Land would come to $4,320. That, Compensation Board which will sum is almost double the market examine property and set a Price. value of . the land. In additiOn, If the farmer is still not satisfied Hydro would pay for any costs he will. then have to ,take the incurred for legal or survey' matter to court by applying to the fees. , Court of Appeals to take action in Besides all those paymen theikcase. Hydro will foot the bill for- eny - Mr. Hawley then'exp ained the damage to crops or property 'that' procedure which Hy o must work crews building the line",Of follow after the meeting, First, he Hydro employees mainteieint said, the exprOpriation" plan will the line after construction migtit be registered with the govern - cause, as well as any costs in, ment, and the farmer will get . burred by moving' buildings. 'to' notice that his land is being ex - erect the line or establish acceint , Dropriated. Following that Hydro routes which might be outside the . 01 have the land appraised and expropriation line. A ces# u4der section 25 of the. Ex- struction representative fro** prepriation Act, Hydro wilt send - Hydro, Bob Mathews, also in4* a copy of the appraisal to the formed the farmers that any, , farmer, along with an offer of additional problems that have the ,,,payinent based on that appraisal. new power line as their cause will' At'this point the landowner may aceept any money, offered to him for la land, but if he thinks the "' offer is too low he' can take One farmer wanted to know the money offered and continue how land would be valued. He negotiations or court action to was told that Hydro would take attain a higher amount. into consideration the value of similar land sold in the area, but . Please turn to Page 5 be rectified at Hydro's exeense, LAND VALUATION uth BACK TO SCHOOL Well, it's thattime again as youngsters in Wingharri join thousands of other children across the prov- ince in the trek to begin a new school year. In all probability the next few weeks will see the children swapping stories of this year's vacation as they be- corne involved in their new educational experience. (Staff Photo) re or t In a letter dated Aug. 26 County Clerk John G. Berry pointed out to Health Minister Frank S. Mill- er the fact that the Huron County Council had rejected the propo- sals contained in the Health Plan- ning Task Force Report, which contained far-reaching recom- mendations for changes in the present, system of delivering health care to the residents of this area. Chief among the recom- meridations wais the proposed five -county district to which Huron would be attached, stretching from north, of Wing - ham to Lake Erie and east to a point beyond Woodstock and in- cluding a population of some d50,000 people. Accompanying Mr. Berry's letter to the minister were the formal reports of Huron `County Council, Huron County Board of FIRE STRUCK THE HOME of Chri Gosling on- Bristol Terrace Saturday evening and Winghakt firemen rushed to the scene. The Goslings were out of town when the fire broke out and had to be notified by phone of the blaze. Fire Chief Dave Crothers gave no indication as to how the fire started but it is known that officials from the 'Ontario Fire Marshal's office have been asked to help in an investiga- tion. (Staff Photo) Children blamed for house fire Wingham Fire Dept. investi- gators and a representative of the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office have blamed children playing with matches for the fire that partially destroyed the home of Wingham ear dealer Chris ,Gos- ling on Saturday night. Wingham Fire Chief Dave Crothers and Don Reeds from the OFMO re- leased that decision on Tuesday. However, Winghatri police are still investigating the fire. The fire chief said that the alarm was turned in at 8:45 p.m. Saturday evening by OPP Cpl. Roe Croskill. Firemen spent three hours at the site on Bristol Terrace fighting the flames and then cleaning up the debris. Fire- man Lynn Hickey was taken to hospital when he injured his hand while fighting the blaze.40 The fire broke out in a storage location in the back of the garage and after destroying the garage , ignited the roof of the house itself No set damage estimates have been released but guesstimates have ranged from $15,000 to as much as $30,000. The loss is partially covered by insurance. The Goslings, who were out of town when the fire occurred, were scheduled to meet with in. Rurance adjustors .0 pin down the cost of repairing their home ear- lier this week. Earlier Saturday afternoon firemen fought a ear blaze when the Carburator of a car driven by G. Leece of Toronto flooded and caught fire in the Brewers' Retail parking lot at the ,north end of Josephine St. The car sustained $3,500 damage and the driver wasn't hurt. The car, a 1973 Buick, was owned by Grant Wont Hogan Leasing of Toronto. Health and Huron County Medi- cal Society. The Huron council's -response opened with acceptance of the basic principle of district health councils as propoSed by the Ministry of Health in 1972, but clarified that our interpretation would be that the (County) Board of Hf.alth, in conjunction with local'agencies, would be a better solution to operating district health councils than on such a large scale as proposed in the • ning Task Force Report)." Union, .management • Mustard Report (Health Plan - The Huron council was deeply puzzled by the method employed to determine the composition of the proposed five -county district council, pointing ont that other proposed districts are con- siderably smaller, e.g. Grey - Bruce, 114,000; Lambton-Kent, 206,000; Dufterin-Wellington, 136,000. The district in which Huron and Perth would be joined would have a population of 550,000, one of the largest outside the City of Toronto. • Appointed Board ^ Another point of concern to the Huron council Was the proposed powers of the regional director, who would be appointed by the ministry and would have far- reaching powers of decision and veto. Another point of disagree- ment was the mixture of rural and urban centres to be included in the large district, the feeling of the county representatives being that the focus should be on one or other of these areas 41 population rather than on both. (In this re- gard the City of London rejected the Mustard Report because of the belief that the heilth needs of the city could best be served by a district comprised of London only.) The Huron County report states, "There appears to be a lack of direct communication (in the Mustard Report) with the minister of health. Indications are that all communications will be channelled through the district health council, the regional health council, the regional di: rector and if he so determined, then to the deputy minister of health. Where is the communica- tion between the taxpayer, the local municipality and the elect- ed representative at Queen's Park?" Higher Costs The Huron document foresees that "cost of administration of the proposed regional health dis- tricts will be a tremendous Please turn to Page 9 both silent on strike As the strike at Stanley Door Systems stretches into its fifth week negotiators on both sides of the fence are remaining silent while rumors concerning the situation abound, Company negotiators are Man admitted to hospital following accident Wingham and District Hospital reports that Barry Bushell of Wingham was treated in hospital for lacerations to his right shoulder and scalp following an accident on Highway 86, west of Whitechurch. Mr. Bushell has been admitted to hospital for observation. The Wingham man was ap- which went out of control on the highway and rolled over. No further details have been re - Former resident wins scholarships Marilyn Irwin of Sarnia, for- merly of Wingham, and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ellwood Irwin, has successfully completed her Grade XIII with a 93 per cent average. She is the recipient of several scholarships: the Governors' Scholarship which covers academic fees; the C.N.R. Centennial Scholarship of $600.00, one of eight given across Canada ; a 1974 Carter Scholarship Award; and an Ontario Scholarship. Marilyn Avill enter McMaster University, Hamilton, this Sep- tember to begin study for her B.Sc.N. degree. reportedly holding a club ever the union as the strike continues by warning that if the strike costs the company too much the plant will close down for good. Union members have, however, remained firm in their attempt to have their demands satisfied. Wingham police have reported that company officials called them to investigate an incident of vandalism after someone entered the Stanley plant and deflated 16 tires on two transport truclot. Neither the company nor police have been quick to blame the vandalism on strikers but a police spokesman says the department has not ruled out that possibility. With no one talking publicly it is hard to evaluate the loss in man hours and wages the strike has claimed but passersby ave noted a reduction in the num of strikers manning the picket line. For now the whole situation INCREASE AID TO FLOOD VICTIMS Property owners who suffered Iheavy flood damage during the high water along the Grand River in May will reeeive provincial assistance on an unexpectedly large scale. The province will match local contributions to the flood damage fund at the rate of four -to -one. Previous settlements from Queen's Park for such dis- asters have been one dollar for each dollar raised locally. The provincial treasurer expects that the grants-in-aid may run to u much as 2.5 million dollars. Damage claims, however, could amount to $3.5 million. The 10eal relief committee in the Cam- bridge area is expected to raise about $625,000.