HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-05-10, Page 1•
alt mine workers vote. to stri
hundred and ten, of the
mbers of Local 682, In-
onal Chemical Workers,
'n Sunday and voted
ously to take strike ac -
against DOMTAR
als' Sifto Salt mine at
h.
ork stoppage is expected
r before May 22.
tiating
committee
an for the union, Guy
Robinson, explained that the
Union -will meet in a new
negotiating session that day
and pointed out that no strike
was likely to take place before
that meeting was held.
Local 682 will be in a legal
strike position 16 days after a
"no settlement" conciliation
report is filed. The members
have been working without a
contract since that tune, March "
31. -.
Mr. Robinson told the
Signal -Star in an interview
Monday evening that the main
issues at stake in the
negotiations were hours of
work, vacations, medical
coverage and other fringe
benefits.
Wages, he said,. were not the
main issue at the negotiating
table although they remained
an issue with the membership.
The Union is asking for an in-
crease of 53 cents„ to bring them
on par with workers at the
DOMTAR mine at Windsor but
the company has only offered
an increase of 20 cents to date.
The Union also wishes to
negotiate a two year contract
while the company would like
to arrange a three year pact.
"Hours of work seems to be
one 'of the -big problems," Mr
Robinson explained, "the men
are working a great deal of
overtime and since the air un-
derground is not the beat they
don't want all that extra
time." Mr. Robinson said that
overtime was becoming "almost
compulsory" at the mine.
Local 682 is still awaiting
copies of the first conciliatiorf
report that was to have been
mailed out last Thursday as
well. Sixteen days after this
report is filed the Union may
strike.
t5
Other members of local 682
are employed at_'the DOMTAR
Chemicals' Evaporator Plant
in Goderich but the Union
spokesman said he did not feel
any strike at the salt mine
would effect workers at the
Evaporator Plant.
Members employed there
work under a separate contract
and still have 18 months left in
that agreement.
Although Mr. Robinson an-
nounced the strike vote Mon-
day Bill Coughlan, speaking on
behalf of DOMTAR
management at the salt mihe,
said negotiations were ,still in
the early stages and that there
were "several rounds of talks
coming up."
The Union spokesman said
the talks at the moment were
"broken down'= ' and weren't
likely to resume until May 22.
Story by Ron Show
YEAR - 19
ije 4obert.cjj ..
SIGNAL S
THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1973
R
SINGLE COPY 20c
a,
Goderich Municipal Police Force has now two new
ants one of them being Sergeant George Bacon.
ant Bacon Joins Mery Witter who was also promoted
rank of Sergeant. Bacon halt been with the local
force for over 12 years., (stall. photo) .
ding inspector warned
Among a number of changes within the Goderich police
'force which have been taking place over the past month
Mery Witter received promition to the rank of Sergeant.
Sergeant Witte► has been with the Goderich Municipal
Police Force for the past six weeks. (staff photo)
Such says planners
will interpret byluws
a meeting of Goderich
Board on Tuesday
Building Inspector Roy
idge raised the ire of
mber Bert Such when
ested that planning
should overlook
cies of five feet in a
allowance for the
Apartment building
a very unusual piece
y," Mr. Breckenridge
ut "and it should have
setback under the new
ut only has 15. -feet
roadway. This should
+ked though."
ch interrupted the in -
presentation asking
ping Board chairman
ower instruct the
Inspector not to inter -
,y -laws for the Board.'
sur job," he added.
'an Gower upheld Mr,
retest and asked the
to refrain from sub -
marks.
Breckenridge was
arecommendation
Planning Board ap-
nge of zone to R3 to
e apartment building.
report he noted "the
is ideal for apartment
conforms to arterial
setback but the
weie advised by me
that the requited set:
15 feet for front and
ide yards,"
new schedule issued
with third reading
dation forthe restric-
ialt by-law, this
WAR increased to 20
kenridge also recom4
PProval even though
es short four spaces
he by-law vOlich
1.5 spaces per apart -
Painted out that the
I was short some
15,464 square feet. Under the
by-law the required area for the
22 unit building, 10 one
bedroom units and 12 two
bedroom units, would be 42,400
square feet. The lot size
however is only 26,967. Mr.
Breckenridge in his report
however noted, "due to the
unusual corner cut off and the
large boulevard fronting the
property land area should be
accepted."
The' rear yard, for one por-
tion of the building, is short
some 9 3/4 feet of the 35 feet
required but the building' 'in-
• spector pointed out the remain-
der of the building had a rear_„
yard of 134 feet in depth..
The' report did point out that
services -were suitable with Mr.
Dixon having to provide storm
and surface water drainage to
the Elgin Ave. storm sewer.
"Zoning changes are
necessary on the new map
which will make the property in
question R-3 zoning„' the in-
spector explained.
"In ' conclusion,” Mr.
Breckenridege noted, "57 apar-
(Continued on page 14)
Pass new motion after
S.J.S. questions minutes
Dorothy Wallace, represen-
ting the Save the Jail Society,
attended Goderich Planning
Board meeting on Tuesday
evening in an attempt to set
matters straight regarding a
request over a month ago by
the S.J.S. solicitor to have the
zoning of the former Huron
County tail site changed from
ential to Park Land.
"It was 'my understanding
hen the request was discussed
at that time," she told the
• board, "that we were to be
asked to show our cause for the
request."
"We have never received of-
ficial notification of this factor
a guideline of. what was
required however," she ex-
plained. "We are unclear as to
what is expected of us."
Planning Board secretary Ed
Giesbrecht apologized saying
that he must have made an
error when recording the'
motion that would have
provided such notification in its
original form.
'A new motion was passed
authorizing the secretary to
notify the S.J.S. solicitor that
the board wished justification
shown, "with reasons and
precedents if any."
Planning Board also heard a
letter from W.E. Elliot pointing
out that a home on Waterloo
Street (in a residential area)
seemed to be setting up a fur-
ni'ture' business.
Bert Such moved recommen-
dation that the offender he
notified that he was making
nonconforming use of his
property under town zoning
bylaws and d'sked to cease
operations.
The Board passed the motion
but later Chairman Dave
Gower pointed out, that the
onus for action lay with
Town Council in accepting the
Planning Board motion.
"Council in the past has
chosen not to take action
against some nonconforming
uses. 'Some were sent letters
and smme not."
Board member Gus
Chisholm went on record as
saying that he felt itwas unfair
to enforce the bylaws against
some and not against all.
In other husineht' the Plan-
ning Board agreed to rechm-
mend to Town Council that a
planning student be hired for
the summer months to help
with planning in Goderich.
Secretary Ed Giesbrecht ex-
plained that he had spoken to
the councillors about this some
time ago and reported that he
felt council would support such
'a move if the Planning Board
felt the student could be put to
good use.
The town would have to pay
only 25% of the expense in-
curred with the Province
picking up the remainder.
County Planner Gary David-
son has agreed to be the spon-
sor and it was ter`fMtively
agreed the student would be
directed by -Mr. Davidson,
Planning Board Chairman
Gower, Secretary Giesbrecht
and Town Council.
Bert Such noted, "the town
will profit greatly by such a
program."
Gus Chisholm asked if it
might. be possible to get a
student from Goderich or the
immediate area.
Mr. Such suggested however
that it did not matter where he
came from since it was far more
important the town obtain n
"competent young person."
Suncoast offers cash
for completed sewer
A. •J.(Bert) Alexander of Sun -
coast Estates Limited has ad-`_�,
vised Goderich Town Council
the firm is anxious to get on
with the SouthStorm Sewer.
In fact; the company is so
anxious it has made an offer to
the town - a cash settlement of
$25,320 for the 4,220 feet of
storm sewer which is required
in the development land area
owned by Suncoast Estates
Limited at the southern edge of
the municipality west of
Bayfield Road, and the farm
grant credit "which could be
obtained".
It is understood the remain-
der of the costs would be paid
by other- land developers and
subdividers in the area as well
as the Town of Goderich.
Under The Drainage`Act, the
present suggested method of
financing the drain, local
homeowners in the area of the
sewer would be assessed a
sizable slice of total costs.
Suncoast Estates Limited
has already dug the largest por-
tion of the ditch, all under the
supervision of Burns Ross and
Associates, to facilitate the
company's own developments:
Beginning in 1968, parts of the
ditch were excavated so that
now with the most recent
diggings, the sewer` extends
•from-Bayfielt Road we11 "}rant
Eldon Street. However, it is not
yet to Furse Road where the
South Storm Sewer will con-
nett up with the existing flume.
The ditch is draining the
Suncoast development to date
and is providing an outlet for
some waters from the east side
of Bayfield Road as well as
some makeshift style drains in
the area. • .
"We have dug the ditch,
cleared the trees and main-
tained the ditch since 1968,"
Alexander wrote in his letter to
council. "There has been a lot
of money spent in this connec-
tion."
Alexander estimates about
$20.000 has been spent to this
time on the ditch.
The letter also suggested that
if the work could be under-
taken by the method suggested
by Suncoast Estates, the sewer
could be completed by June 15
this year "with no trouble at
all". He also inferred the work
could be accomplished at con-
siderably less cost than the
present estimate of $283,000 by
Todgham and Case.
In a private interview
Friday, Alexander told the
Signal -Star the continued delay
of the South Storm Sewer work
is costly for his company. He
said he was of the opinion
council was making "a big
thing,' out of what should be a
relatively simple project.
"There's no houses, no trees,
no wires, it's straight, clear
digging," said Alexander. He
said it was just a matter of
digging the existing ditch a lit
tle deeper, laying the sewer
pipe and covering it over, as
well as extending it the short`
distance to Furse Road.
"The flow of water has in-
creased drastically .over the
past couple of years due to the
extra illegal water dumped.
each' year," noted Alexander in
his letter to council. "It would
appear that building is , still_
going'on and still the 'sewer is
not settled."
• "We feel our offer is a good
one when you take into con-
sideration the delay that was
unnecessarily caused," wrote
Alexander.
"Another point we would like.
to suggest is that some storm
sewer fund should be started
for the future by way of a lot
assessment for odd lots so that
the whole town could be ser-
viced by storm sewers in the
near future," Alexander ad-
vised council
The letter also discussed
streets in the south' end of
Goderich.
"During the past winter and
Constable John Sills, 31, who was formerly with 'the London
England Pollee and most recently with the London Ontario
POCO Department, has Joined the Goderich Municipal Police
Department(staff photo)
spring the condition of Eldon
Street and Rich Street was a
disgrace to the town," wrote
Alexander. "We would ask that
you check back or your
correspondence to about a year
ago where we agreed to pay a
portion of the cost to put a
proper road bed on Sunset
Drive. This was turned down.
We feel that there -hould be
something done about these
streets before we go through
another winter.
The Signal -Star asked the
Town Administrator Harold'
Walls to comment on Alexan-
der's statements concerning the
streets. Walls said he believed
council agreed with . Alexan-
der's views but added that lack
of funds always curtails many
valuable projects.
The matter was referred to
the Public Works committee
meeting tonight (Thursday,
May 10) and to the town
eneineer.
trea townships
reject Ministry
The Ministry of Natural
Resources has sent out letters
to the various townships in the
Huron -Perth Counties asking
for. their approval to hold an
archery season on deer this fall
from October 29 until Novem'
ber25.
To date, only four townships
have replied. They all flatly
rejected the proposal. Goderich
Township in their reply stated
that they were "opposed to a
'deer season of any kind". The
ulinlit ,per .hunter ,would be one_...
deer.
It was the branch at Alymer
which started the "wheels tur-
ning" in this area as they sent
a letter to the Ministry office in
Wingham stating their inten-
tions to attempt to organize an
archery season there.
Such a season was held last
year in the Luther Marsh which
is a border line between East
and West Luther Townships. It
was very well accepted by all
those who participated, claims
Rene Jones, District Biologist
in the Wingham office.
Jones also stated that a
questionnaire had been mailed
to . those who took part in that
'runt and the replies indicated
that they would like to see
more activities of that type. In
that hunt, only one deer was
bagged for the whole month.
Signal customer
is delayed
Signal Star Publishing Ltd.
Printing Superintendent John
Buchanan announced this week
,,, that,....tJre Signal Star Printing, ,
operation recorded a first last
• Wednesday, if a rather unfor-
tunate one.
"We have been printing a
large number of customer
newspapers through our plant.
now since /966," Mr.
Buchanan • explained, "and we
are proud to say we have never
had misfortune befall any of
those papers, that is until last
week." •
The Seaforth Huron Ex-
positor was delayed by about
90 minutes last •week when
courier George Anderson of
Seaforth lost control of the
company vehicle and, went off
the roadway into a ditch near
Holmesville.
One of two new Constables to join the Goderich Police
Department le 27 year old Larry Webb. Constable Webb
comes to Goderich from the Metro Toronto Pollee force.
Constable John Hills has pled Joined the local Palos
Department. (staff photo)