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Clinton News-Record, 1985-09-18, Page 1lel NO. .38 120T11 YEAR, WEDNESDAY, SEP'T'EMBER 18,1985 COMMITTEE SURPRISED • Rec director resigns By Aute Narejko CLINTON - Recreation committee here sat in silence as recreation director Kevin Duguay read his resignation during their September meeting. His main reasons for leaving were personal, however, he did cite several points concerning his job that he was not satisfied with. "I'm not leaving because I don't like my job but this time I have to consider factors outside of it...It wasn't an easy decision to reach," he said. The first unsatisfactory point Mr. Duguay had with his job was his "relationship, or lack of relationship, with the clerk." "He has slandered my name and made my work difficult. This has affected my rapport with the municipal office," he said. "And it really hurt." His second point was "the attitude 'of certain councillors towards recreation." Mr. Duguay went on to explain that he was upset with the manner in which town council handled wage negotiations for himself and facilities' manager Butch Fleet during May of this year. Recreation committee had set the salaries for the positions and then agreed to give an additional raise of $500. Council was "irked" with this decision because the recreation committee negotiated the salaries that weren't approved by council. Mr. Duguay also felt that talk of closing the arena last fall instead of granting the recreation committee $10,000 was unappropriate. And he still feels the recreation office, belongs in town hall. Mr. Duguay, who has been with Clinton recreation since March 12, 1984 told the committee he hoped he wasn't leaving them on bad terms. "I feel bad because I think people expected me to stay longer." But recreation chairman Ron McKay reassured him, "Your resignation certainly comes as a surprise, but you are not leaving on bad terms." Councillor Jim Hunter added, "I'd like to express our thanks for setting up the recreation office. You've done a super job, organizing something of real value from nothing." Mr. Duguay has accepted a position as recreation director in Fergus. He will complete his job in Clinton on October 4 but has offered his time during evenings if the town needs him. Council says no, yes to new rec director By Shelley McPhee CLINTON - What began as opposition to the hiring of a new recreation director was turned around into an approved motion to appoint Steve Campbell of Clinton as the new head of recreation here. The decision was made at council's September 16 meeting. Clinton Council greeted the news of recreation director Kevin Duguay's resignation with dismay, surprise and anger. As in the past, council members remained clearly divided on the role that recreation plays, in the town and the services that a recreation director provides. A heated debate led council to a rushed decision to not appoint a new recreation director. A more thoughtful, closed council session turned that decision around. Some councillors initially suggested that the decision to hire a new recreation director be left to the incoming council, to be appointed after the November municipal elections. Other councillors, . in support of the recreation committee, emphasized the meed' to hire anew director as soon as possible. Councillor Jim Hunter noted, "The recreation committee wants the position to continue. They feel that Kevin Duguay built recreation in town and they want. to ,consolidate those gains and continue." He stressed that a "busy fall -winter season is now underway and we need• a recreation director to plan and pull the staff together." The biggest voice of opposition came from Councilor Charlie Burgess who suggested, "it was a bad mistake to hire a recreation director." He questioned the need of a trained• professional to do the work and said, "We can hire someone who can manage recreation more, efficiently and at less cost than the present recreation director." Councillor Burgess said that recreation programs were costing the town too much money and new programs were not bringing extra prosperity to the business community. He suggested that recreation was satisfactorily run by the arena manager, previous to the hiring of a recreation director. "We had swimming, hockey andball games," he said. Councillor Hunter pointed out that recreation needs and demands have changed, brought on by a society change in attitude and more available leisure time. He said that Clinton recreation was beginning to build programs with this in mind and noted, "you're going to pull the plug. on this." Councillor Gord Gerrits supported the need for a recreation director. He said that if council chose to erase the position, "we'll be going back in time." "Clinton," he noted, "has nothing to bring people to town. The shopping? No. The farmer brings his kids here to play hockey:" Deputy Reeve Frank Van Altena replied, "He played hockey before (Clinton had a recreation director). Why should he stop now?" Councillor Hunter said that if council' failed to hire a new recreation director, he would resign from :. the,recreation committee. He said that he wanot willing to work without the assistance of a recreation director. Councillor Gerrits agreed. As chairman of the town hall arts cominittee he said, "I don't have the time to set up events, to seek grants from the government," ( work done by the recreation director). A council show of hands indicated, that the majority of council preferred to make no immediate plans to re -hire a recreation director. Councillors Hunter and Gerrits persisted. Recreation committee chairman Ron Huron County fanners By Alan Rivett CI,INTON - Ontario Hydro's open house in Clinton on September 12 was a chance for Hydro officials to meet with the public and provide information about the proposed hydro route through Huron County. However, most farmers affected by the route accepted it with a little reluctance. According to Dave Ab'hott, 'senior com- munity, relations officer with Hydro, ap- proximately 34 attended the open house at the Clinton Town Hall which was good com- pared to previous open houses at Ripley, Zurich and Teeswater. At the open house, members from Hydro's media relations and route planning depart- ment answered questions about the propos- McKay was called to the meeting and a heated in-camerasession was held to discuss the possible prospects for a new director. When the meeting was re -opened, a motion was presented, to proceed with plans to hire Steve Campbell of Clinton as the new recreation director on a six month probationary salary of $20,000 per annum, effective October 1. Mr. Campbell, a recreation employee" with the town, is fully qualified for the position. A recorded vote saw the motion passed by a seven to one majority. Councillor Burgess was the lone opposer. He specified that he was not opposed to the appointment .. of Mr. Campbell, but he objected to the salary'rate. He said that an $18,000 sai'ary would be sufficient. Council asked that future recreation directors be hired through a contract basis. Councillor Ross Carter noted that this would "make a firm commitment and avoid leaving the town or recreation in the middle of the season. It would protect both employer and employee. ' Councillor. Hunter greed that •contraclt terms of employment could also be used in other departments, with public works and municipal employees, for instance. He reminded council that other town employees had resigned from their position with minimum notice, citing the resignations of two police officers this year, as a recent' example. "When you hire an employee, they have a right to move on," Councillor Hunter said. In reference to Mr. Duguay he said, that working conditions were difficult because of ' tension and disagreement between two parties, recreation and the municipal departments. "In some ways I'm relieved that the tension is over,". he said, but voiced his regret that the town lost their recreation director. ed M7 plan which includes a double circuit 500 kV transmission line extending from Bruce NPD to London. The Clinton open house is one of 22 scheduled for southwestern Ontario. Ideluded in Hydro's information concern- ing the route was an aerial photograph showing the preliminary survey work on the Bruce to London route and where it will cross property lines and right-of-ways in the area. Mr. Abbott says he received mixed reac- tions to the information Hydro provided at the open house. Those who attended asked him why Plan :3 wasn't chosen, a plan which would bypass the Bruce to London route. However, Mr. Abbott says this route cities Lori Consitt, of RR1 Varna, was crowned Huron County Queen of the Furrow at the Huron County Plowing Match held at the Nott Brothers Farm on Hwy 8 between Seaforth and Clinton. Kate Boon of Bluevale was runner-up. Yesterday, tomorrow highlighted at match By Stephanie Levesque A link with the past, present and future is 'how the Ontario Queen of the Furrow described the 58th annual plowing match held in Hullett Township this R,ast weekend. Lynne Dodds of RR 4, Seaforth, the reign- ing Ontario furrow queen emceed the 1985.86 Huron County Queen of the Furrow competi- tion at the county match held this past weekend. She said the various links were provided by the antique tractor and horse classes, the regular plowing classes and the soil cohservation class which saw seven en- trants. Good weather plus the fact that the Inter- national Plowing Match in Elgin County started this week thus allowing the Huron match to provide some practise for area plowers is what Graeme Craig says con- tributed to' the unprecedented 75 com- petitors. The secretary of the plowmen's association, Craig said there were 66 en= trants in the regular plowing classes,' two competitors with:horses arldthe seven in the ciinservation class which was co-sponsored by the plowmen and the Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement,Association. Sixteen -year-old Lori Consitt of RR 1, Var- na was crowned the Huron County Queen of the Furrow. She takes over from Valerie Johnston, 20, of RR 2, Bluevale who is com- peting this week at the international Plow- ing Match. Kate Boon, 19, of RR 2, Bluevale was the runner-up in the competition. Other Huron County young women competing were Carol Axtmann, 17, of RR 4, Walton, Tracy, Mac- Pherson, 18, of RR 5, Seaforth, Kendra Pap- ple; 16, of Egmondville and Dianne Hamilton, 15, of RR 1, Hensall. The winners in the plowing classes are as follows, in order of merit: Tractor class for those under 20, Murray Townsend of RR 2, Seaforth, Paul Dodds of RR 4, Seaforth, and Dennis Hallahan of RR 1; Belgrave; _ Tractor class for Huron residents, Brian McGavin of RR 4, Walton, Bevan Shapton of Exeter, and Bill McAllister of Auburn; ' Tractor class for all contestants, Ron Ab- bott of RR 2, Thorndale, Shelley Cumming of RR 2, Dobington, and Ron Scotchmer of Mitchell; Green class for those, under 15, Matt Townsend of RR 3, Seaforth, Leanne Whit- more of RR 4, Walton and Jeremy Becker of Dashwood; Tractor class for Huron residents under 20, Paul Dodds of RR 4, Seaforth, Matt Townsend of RR 3, Seaforth and Murray Townsend of RR 3, Seaforth; Huron non -competition plows, John Becker.of Dashwood, Paul Fear of Brussels and Paul Pentland of RR6, Goderich; Open, Peter Vandeborne of Seaforth, Ron Abbott of RR 2, Thorndale, Bevan Shapton of Exeter; ' Tractors drawing four or more plows, Gary Williamson of Walton, and Bill McAllister of Auburn; Antique tractor class, Ron Scotchmer of Mitchell, Mervin Dietz of Dublin and Arnold Harris of Mitchell; Horse class, Edgar Howatt of Belgrave and Bob McLaughlin of Seaforth; Conservation class, Dean Nott of Clinton, Ralph Weber of Dashwood, and Bob Fother- ingham of Brucefield. The junior champion for the match is Murray Townsend of Seaforth, with Paul Dodds of the Seaforth area runner-up. Bevan Shapton of Exeter is the senior champion and; Brian McGavin of 'RR '4, Walton is the runner-up. still unhappy with proposed route not have sufficient ''transcient stability" which would continue to put stress on the system. Most people who attended wanted to know what kind of compensation Hydro was offer- ing if expropriation of the land was necessary.. He said Hydro would base com- pensation around the market value of the land which also received mixed reaction. Some landowners, said Mr. Abbott; were concerned about how woodlots would be af- fected and how the loss of woodlots would be compensated. They wereFoncerned the loss of the woodlots on their properties would leave them open to more erosion with the loss of the trees for windbreaks. "Some would rather us run the lines through the fields than the woodlot," said Mr. Abbott. Peter Schuettell, a farmer in Colborne Township, said he came to the open house to learn more about the project which may af- fect his property. However, he remained un - wavered in his opposition, to the proposed hydro route. "We face a problem and every possible thing should be done t� avoid it. I don't want my neighbors to have it either. It shouldn't be in southwestern Ontario," he said, ad- ding that if hydro and the affected lan- downers worked together a better route could be found. Evert Ridder, a Goderich Township farmer'and member of the Foodland Hydro r;4 IV WRY WO 1 The class of 1957, 1958 and '59 from SS5 Hullett Township met in Londesboro on Sunday for a class reunion. They included (first row) Elaine ( Alexander) Cousineau, Helen (Buf- finga) Johnston, Elaine Vincent, Linda (Radford) Van Dam, Brenda (Kennedy) Brooks, Janice (Little) MacDonald, Harvey Carter, Keith Little, Raymond Radford, Doug Bylsma and Wayne Kennedy. (Second row) Leo Greidanus, .11e16 (Good) Lyons, Heather (Snell) McDougall, Karen (Radford) McVittie, Denise (Radford) McCabe and Kay (Carter) Engelstad. (Third row) Doug Vincent, Jack Vincent, Karen (Allen) Scruton, Johanna (Walinga) Veldstra, Audrey (Van Baaren) Boonstoppel, Douwie Wilts, Margaret (Stewart) Smith, teacher Viola (Van Egmond) Gullen, Gary Radford, Pat (Little) Schellenburger, Tim Bylsma, Heim Wilts, Ron Carter, Ralph Buffinga, Steve Carter, Clare Vincent and Albert Buffinga. (Shelley McPhee photo) ate` Committee, also voiced his opposition to Hydro's plans. Although the route bypasses his farm, he attended the meeting to recruit • more members for the committee which is dedicated to keeping transmission lines of prime farmland in HuronCounty. He says the information offered by Hydro at the open house was not new. Most who at- tended the meeting were already members of the committee and were totally opposed to the route. "Nobody here said 'come and put a tower in my field,' "said Mr. Ridder. Also at the open house, landowners had the opportunity to write down their concerns about the project. Mr. Abbott says different regions have different concerns -and all the suggestions from the open houses will be considered by Hydro. ."If they write it down, they're genuinely concerned about it. This is the kind of thing we take very seriously," he said. Besides the Bruce to London transmission line, Hydro is planning 500 kV line from Bruce to Essa, near Barrie and a line from London to the Nanticoke Generating Station which make up the M7 plan. On July 8, Hydro announced it preferred Plan 7 over three Other system plans cited to bring increased power into southern On- tario. Plan M1,,a route from Bruce to Lon- don and from London to ' Nanticoke was dismissed because of increased acid gas emmissions. elan 5, which included a dou- ble line from Bruce to London and a single line from Bruce to Essa was eliminated because of the impact on farmland. Plan 3 which runs fron Bruce to Essa and between the London, Milton and Hamilton areas was not desirable because it was found to be "technically unacceptable." In an environmental assessment study released to the public earlier this month. Hydro prefers the M7 plan because: -earlier in-service date than Plan 1 resulting in less locked -in energy, lower acid gas emissions and a reduced period for poten- tial customer outages. -It is preferred over Plan 5 environmentally, particularly With respect to agriculture as it requires only one line between Bruce NPD and London. -It maximizes use of existing right of ways, which addresses the concerns of the 7°aitn ter page`* •