Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1986-06-18, Page 1NO, 25 121 YEARS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18,1986 50 CENTS A foursome from Mitchell were among the many out-of-town visitors on June 14 to take in the Kinsmen Car Show, barbecue and dance. Angie and John Rose and Linda ' `and Chuck Bremmer were all decked out in their '50s gear for the fun. (Shelley McPhee-Haist photo) RELIVING THE '50s AND '60s IN CLINTON 113 Chrome gleamed in the sunlight on Saturday as the sun shone down on the Kinsmen Car Show and Dance. Debbie Eidt•of Walkerton was hard at work giving a shining touch to her 1955 Chevie. (Shelley McPhee -Hoist photo) its • • Resignation stirs controversy By Shelley McPhee-Haist HAYFIELD - Rick Penhale hopes to see the end of the controversy that has surrounded his recent resignation as road superintendent for the village. After five years as road superintendent for Bayfield, Mr. Penhale submitted his resigna- tion to council earlier this month. Council agreed to accept it at the June 16 council meeting. Despite public support and pleas to recon- sider, as well as requests from council to stay on as road superintendent, Mr. Penhale has refused to re -think his position. Mr. Penhale submitted his resignation to council as the result of what has been called a difference of opinions between council and 0.himself. Mr. Penhale told the News -Record that the matter began at the first of the year when he Urged council to consider tendering for work • that required a loader and a backhoe for small jobs. "Council had been criticized for hiring without tendering on small jobs," Mr. Pothole' Mid. Council subsequently supported Mr. Pothole's idea and the firm of Ed Heard Con- struction was hired to complete all backhoe work for thevillage. Last Moni the particulars of the problem rose. Heard's backhoe was being used by Pothole atthe ball diamond, in the mean - me ti Councillor James quick and Reeve , o wstdtt ,were working at the south shore d+vellpg a beach area. They needed a • backhoe to dig a half dozen post holes. Mr. Penhale said he was called to the scene and the backhoe was requested. Learning that the Heard backhoe was in use, the coun- cil representatives chose to hire in Diemert Custom Backhoe to repair the beach area. Mr. Penhale said he voiced his opposition to this, reminding council members of ,the contract with Heard for such work. "I told the reeve that the job could have been done by the weekend, but 1 didn't know that it was such an urgent matter (the beach repair). Our priorities' were different," Mr. Penhale said. He went on to say that a, "heated debate" followed between he and the reeve. "I was told that 1 wasn't doing my job right." He further noted, "It's been a pretty smooth go for me up to this point as road superinten- dent. I've never been criticized like that before." Despite private conversation with Coun- cillor Cliff Freeman, acting as a mediator,. and a subsequent apology from Reeve Johnston, Mr. Penhale submitted his resignation: Connell members said that the resignation • came as a surprise, as they felt the matter had been resolved. -' Mr. Penhale noted, "The reeve did apologize and he offered me a six month leave, of absence so I could go and work with tray dad." ,. As well, many ratepayersintvegiveititti support to Mr, Pennate and, have enco ag- ed him to reconsider his resignation. Minutes.from the June 2 planning meeting report read, "Peg Willock said that she was indeed sorry to see this happen as Rick had done an excellent job of plowing the streets in the winter and hoped he would reconsider. Pat Muratori and Arlene Southgate voiced similar concerns. Terry Fitzsimons asked Rick as a personal favor to him to give the Matter a 24 hour cooling off period and then if he still felt the same, then hand in the resignation. Rick said he had been giving.the matter considerable thought for some time." Rick later told the News -Record that he had been happy with his work as village road superintendent up until the last month. He also noted however, that he has been giving some consideration to the prospects of work- ing with his father,.TomPenhale, in the horse wagon and buggy building business. "I've always°had.the option of working with my dad, building carriages and buggies and this aided my decision," he said. A full house audience packed into the Bayfield Connell chambers on June 16 to pro- test the resignation, and in turn the subse- quent hiring of a new road superintendent. John Graham, former arena manager, was given the job as new road superintendent. He is the son of Hayfield's clerk -treasurer Pat Greham. Public'questioning asked coma, why the position was not advertised. Chcryi. Toml1110on asked, "If theob wasn't vacantuntil today 'tow Corrie the rib was fill» Urn to page 2 cowicii remains silent BLYTII'- Council here still remain dos- ed mouthed about the recent resignation of municipal clerk -treasurer Larry Walsh; Reeve Albert Wasson said on June 12 that no now information was available regarding the clerk's resignation or an in- vestigation being carried out by the Wingbam OPP. In the interm, Anne Nesbitt has been hired as acting clerk -treasurer for the village. She previously worked as a part time secretary at the municipal offices. Council has also sought the help of the village auditor Bill Vodden who is helping prepare the 1986 budget for Blyth. As well, the auditors are re -assessing the village's 1985 financial statements. The statements were recently completed, then recalled for further examination. Reeve Wasson said that a special council meeting will be held to settle the budget and banking matters. He said that a "noble attempt" had been made to have the budget completed for council's June 12 meeting. ."It's critical at this point that we get this budget in place," Reeve Wasson said, noting that grants and outstanding ac- counts depend on the setting of the budget as soon as possible. It was further reported at council that an emergency meeting of the Fire Area Board was held on June 10. John Hesselwood, former secretary -treasurer, was asked to take over the books for the time being. Joint charges are laid CLINTON - The Ontario Ministry of the Environment charged the municipality and local company in connection with a deposit of sewage sludge on farm land. The Public Utilities Commission of the Town of Clinton and Merner Contracting Ltd. were jointly charged with one count under section 39 off the environmental pro- tection act which relates to depositing waste on a site that does not have a certificate of approval. The maximum fine upon convic- tion is $2,000. The charges follow a ministry investiga- tion of sewage sludge being deposited on farm land on May 15, 16, 17 of 1985. The site did not have a certificate of ap- proval allowing depositing of the material. First court appearance has been schedul- ed for 10 a.m. on June 23 in Provincial Court in Goderich. Chester Archibald, who was the mayor during the May 15-17 period last year, said he was, "floored to hear this." Although he did not know all the details, he did say there had been an excess amount of sewage sludge in the usual dumping loca- tion and arrangements had been made with a farmer to dump the sludge on his proper- ty. He did not know the location of the pro- perty. ro- ert p Garry Merner, of Merner Contracting Ltd., would not comment on the charges and PUC manager Gus Boussey is away. Bylaw passed to allow home By Anne Narejko CLINTON - Council here passed two bylaws concerning the Christian Reformed Retirement Home which will allow the land to be rezoned and allow council to have con- trol over what is erected., The proposed home will be situated off Charles Street at the north end of town. In order for the retirement home committee to build on this property, council had to pass an amending bylaw to change the zoning classification from future development to residential high density. With this amendment, a senior citizens' apartment building, a nursing home and a home for the aged or rest home could be built. The bylaw also requests that the retirement home committee provide a minimum of eight parking spaces for visitors in the side yard as well as the re- quired parking for residents in the rear yard. Residents whose homes are situated near the proposed site have expressed concern over the appearance of the building. They feel a large building, could devalue their property. Taking these residents into consideration, council has said the maximmni height of the. building cannot be more than 11 metres and can only contain two .storeys. Mayor John Balfour also said the committee is looking at two vtions— one is,an L-shaped two storey building and the other is a horseshoe shaped one storey building. "Community Within Community" Appearance andparking are two of the major concerns for residents in the area, but when Mac MacLean, a property owner near the proposed site, said he "had heard it would be a community within a communi- ty," and Clayton Groves said people were concerned about the home being open to on- ly the •Canadians of Dutch; descent, coun- cillor Case Buffinga took exception. Councillor Buffinga answered by saying, "Just because I'm Dutch, am I any less Canadian?" Mayor Balfour told council he had been assured that the home would be open to all. The idea for a retirement home was originally brought forward by the Christian Reformed Church a few years ago, said councillor Gordon Geirits, when five families moved to Brantford because there • was no room in Clinton. "And it is happening again," he said. Mr. Groves said it was not the retirement home itself that was causing concern, but the fact that a chapel and nursing home were included at one time. Mr. Groves also' said the proposed chapel has since been ex- cluded but 6.5 acres "is an awful lot of land for a senior citizens' building." Deputy -reeve Rosemary Armstrong ask- ed the two resident representatives if they had. done any research concerning the devaluation of land and Mr. Groves said he visited an area in Owen Sound which was located near a retirement home where "peo- ple would give the land away." Councillor John Cochrane said he recently heard of a study done in Kitchener which proved the value of surrounding property had increased. "The land is well kept (at the retirement homes) and the people (at the home) are quiet. It's better than a lot of noisy kids," he said. It was then suggested the home be built at the north end of town by the low rental homes and apartment buildings as the land is serviced. Councillor Cochrane took exception to this suggestion as he felt it implied seniors should be treated as second rate citizens. "As one of the closest people to (age) 65 here, I feel that what I'm hearing is you feel anything is good enough for seniors," he said. The response to this was the residents in the surrounding homes were not opposing the seniors, but they were opposing the nurs- ing home. It was also added that there are a lot of .kids in the.. area and the.,: noise my disturb those in the retirement home. To this, deputy -reeve Armstrong said, "I have dealt extensively with seniors and they love to hear the noise of every day life because they are not able to be apart of it." Site Control Before the discussion was cut-off, and the decision of whether to pass the bylaws was made, mayor Balfour said the major thing is the site control. "With the site control, council will have control over where the building is situated -to its appearance...Council will have tight con- trol," he said. Councillor Gerrits suggested a liaison committee, consisting of two council members, two representatives from the planning board and two immediate neighbors, should be set up. Mayor Balfour reminded everyone pre- sent that despite this committee, council will have final say. Before leaving the council chambers, Mr. Groves, on . behalf of the concerned residents, told council he was not opposing the Dutch, but the idea of having a retire- ment home built in that particular location. Anyone wishing to object to the rezoning has until. July 15 to hand in a written objec- tion to acting ' clerk -treasurer, Marie Jefferson. Doctors still at work CLINTON - The hospital here will not be. effected by recent actions to close emergen- cy departments as part of the Ontario doc- tors protest against the government. The emergency ward at Clinton Public Hospital cannot be closed, reported Dr. Art Steed, as no alternative medical facilityis available here. Doctors here have continued to work as usual and have not closed offices in response to the Ontario Medical Asssociation (OMA) call for further withdrawal of services. "We'll lose public support by closing," Dr. Steed said. "It would harm the people who we're seeking support from!" Doctors here have resigned from volun- tary boards and hospital committees. While they are reluctant to support further work - to -rule requests by the OMA, Dr. Steed noted that among the 17,000 member association there's a "growing swell who are asking for more drastic measures." He said that the complete withdrawal of services by medical doctors would be unethical. Doctors in Clinton and area continue to monitor the situation. "Things are happening so quickly, we (doctors) can't organize at a county level for meetings." Negative attitude in schools? By Shelley McPhee-Haist CLINTON - Janis Soots wants to do something about the negative attitude associated with education and schooling in Huron County. The Goderich mother originally took her concerns to Robertson Memorial School in Goderich and has now presented her ques- tions and comments to the Huron County Board of Education,. "The points I raise are not isolated to one school, but it affects all schools in Huron County," she told board members. Mrs. Soots presented an in-depth letter of explanation questions and suggestions to board mothers attheir June meeting. She voiced her opposition to the bad coin - malty image of the Goderich public school, but emphasized the positive work that is be- ing done at the scho& "I applaud the efforts of Mr. Angus Maclennan (school principal) to establish a nod school environment between. student- "):.. w . , her letter tree ..14lra�ots�wt,`ctc in Yte 5C11�101 �ld f to the board.. The need for good communications was a major concern that she raisd to the board. She suggested that more enllphasis in com- munications ommunications could help alleviate the negative attitudes towards school in Huron County, and involving the community could help achieve this goal. . Mrs. Soots also addressed the issue of stu- dent behavioral problems and appropriate disciplinary measures. She wrote, "1 question the situation of allowing a classroom or individual(s) behavioral problems go unchecked or to be dealt with spasmodically or inconsi'sten'tly, i, question the practice of allowing repeated temper tantrums, outrageous bursts of foul language and abusive behavior. directed at fellow students, teachers and the principal to continue when present methodsof deali'n'g with such situations do not always bring desired results." Mrs. Soots noted that some behavioral problems, are dealt with by short term Turn to page 2